Chapter 51: Drum Kingdom

After assuring to the crew that Kureha was in fact NOT a witch, we were escorted by Dalton and his militia towards their base of operations.

Zoro volunteered to stay behind to guard the ship and look after an immoblised Carue, said duck outright trembling from the winter cold under the thickest blanket we had that was big enough to wrap around it.

And Sanji, being the ever gentleman that he was, had taken upon himself to carry the sick Nami on his back, though his perverted side came out a little when she was placed on his back and he likely felt the soft pillows that were her shapely boobs pressed up on him.

A grunt left my mouth as I struggled to pull my foot out of the snow, "How do you guys even walk through this?"

"Experience, I suppose." One of the militia told me, "Small tip, aim for the parts that are packed together."

"I'll try… damn, this is tricky…"

Vivi walked up to Dalton and asked, "My apologies if this comes off as rude, but isn't this place the Drum Kingdom? The kingdom known for their advancements in medical science?"

"It used to be called that, yes." He noted with a sigh, "But when our king left, we decided not to call our home by that name anymore."

"Your king left his kingdom!?"

"Ah! A bear! Quick, everyone, play dead!"

That drew Dalton's attention as he calmly told us, "Ah. Don't worry; it's just a Hiking Bear. It won't hurt you if you show it the proper manners."

We followed Dalton's lead and bowed to the massive bear passing by, while walking on its hind legs and holding a hiking stick; said bear bowing back in response as it walked past us with no trouble.

All the while Usopp laid face-down in the snow while pretending to be a corpse, while the odd bear walked right past him and not even batting an eye at his act, which was honestly a good thing considering what bears do to actual corpses.

Which I swiftly pointed out to him moments later, "You know playing dead is just going to get you eaten, right?"

"Huh!? Really!?"

That immediately got him to jump to his feet in a panic, as one of the militia members let out a small chuckle at the admittedly goofy moment before getting nudged by his comrade to stop.

The sniper then gave me a glare with red cheeks, "Damn it, Rein. Why didn't you say anything!?"

"How was I supposed to know that you would do that?" I pointed out to him, "But it is a good thing that bear isn't that interested in you, huh?"

"The Grand Line sure is… odd…"

"Tell me about it. And we aren't even getting to the truly weird stuff yet."

"It gets even weirder!?"

"So much weirder…"

As we carried on through the thick snow, Vivi got close to me and whispered, "Did you already know this kingdom would be like this? Without its king?"

"Yes, I did." I nodded, "And we have already met their former dictator yesterday."

"We did?"

"Remember when we got attacked by pirates?"

The princess's eyes widen in realisation, "Wait, them!? They are from the Drum Kingdom!?"

I nodded, "And their 'captain'? The one that called 'your majesty'? He is the former king. And he is a horrible one, too."

"He definitely sounds obnoxious… to think that a king would be out at sea playing at being a pirates…"

After some difficulty trudging through the snow, and me finally figuring out where to step so not sink into it, we made it to the town of Bighorn.

Like it was drawn in the manga, it was a small cozy town with houses of a cylinder design that had tall steep cone roofs of red tiles, with its residents going about their day easily walking through the thick snow without much issue.

It was exactly what I had expected a town in a place of near endless snowfall would looked like, with buildings that were built solely to keep whatever warm they had within.

Luffy looked around with awe-filled eyes when a hippo-esque animal in thick white fur walked passed him, "Whoa, look at the strange animals!"

"A real snow country, to be sure!" Usopp agreed.

Sanji turned to the semi-conscious Nami on his back, "Nami, it's a town! We are almost there!"

"Good work, everyone." Dalton addressed his men, "Those not on guard duty can return to their jobs."

One of them spoke up, "Are you sure you can handle all of them by yourself, Dalton? They are still pirates."

"Don't worry. My instincts tell me that they should pose no harm."

"If you say so…"

As the men dispersed and made their way into the city, Dalton walked up to us and told us, "Follow me. My house is this way. You can have your friend rest there for the time being."

"Are those men not soldiers?" Vivi asked him.

"No, all of them are normal civilians."

"So they are just the local militia? Does this kingdom not have a standing army?"

"It did, but… it's complicated."

Vivi gave a me look which I swiftly shook my head in response; there was no way I was about to spill all the mess the former Drum Kingdom was in right in front of the guy that wields a bladed spade.

As we followed him down the snow-covered road, a big rotund woman walked up to us with a basket of groceries in her hand, with Luffy and Usopp quickly bowing to her in the same manner in which we did moments ago with the Hiking Bear.

An action that had me slapping them in the head for their blatantly rude assumption about her appearance, even if she did look rather bear-like.

"Oh, Dalton! I've heard there were pirates. Is everything alright?"

"Ah, yes, ma'am. Rest assured, everything is under control."

The woman let out a small laugh reminiscent of a friendly housewife, "I see, I see! Thank you again, Dalton!"

As she walked away, an elderly man passing by called out to him, "Ah, Dalton! I'll be looking forward to the election! Everyone says they'll be voting for you!"

"That's preposterous. I bear too much sins for such a position…"

"Oh, enough of that nonsense! There is no one more worthy than you!"

The man walked away before the mayor could retort, leaving him looking rather conflicted about the whole exchange, which was natural considering what the people was basically asking him to do.

He quickly shook it off and continued to lead us into his house, which was a rather humble abode with the bare minimum of furniture for a single man.

"You may use the bed over there." He told us as he put down his musket and his spade sword before heading to the fireplace, "Just give me a moment to heat up the room."

"Thank you for your hospitality, mr…?"

"Apologies for the late introduction. I am Dalton. And no need for the thanks. It was the least we can do after shooting your friend."

I shrugged my shoulders, "No, it is quite alright. We are pirates, after all."

"Thank you for your understanding."

Moments later, Dalton had his fireplace lit and the cold room began to warm up in no time, just as Sanji tucked Nami into the bed, sweat pooling down her flushed cheeks.

He then turned to Vivi, "Excuse me, miss. If you don't mind me asking, have we met somewhere before?"

That had the princess flinching as she quickly shook her head, "I-I think you have mistaken me for someone else…! I'm pretty sure I've never seen you before…!"

"Is that right…?"

"Bu-But more importantly, can you tell me about this witch?"

While miffed at her desperate attempt to change the topic, Dalton appeared to let it slide, "Ah, yes. You came here looking for a doctor for your friend, yes?"

"That's right!" Sanji nodded, "She got infected with some strange disease and we were told that the only doctor that can cure her lives on this island. Do you know where the hell we can find her?"

"Do you see those mountains from that window?"

"Ah, you mean the ones with the—the hell!?"

"Hey, guys! Check out my Hyper Mr Snowman!"

"And my snowzilla! Not bad, right!?"

One glance out the window and we were greeted with the splendid snow sculptures that Luffy and Usopp had somehow managed to create in the short time we had spent talking to Dalton.

It was honestly impressive that Usopp was able to crave out such an intricate godzilla snow sculpture so quickly, and by hand too.

Though Sanji was not at all amused at their antics, "That's it! I'm kicking both your asses!"

After knocking down their snow sculptures, the two of them were dragged into the house before being forced to kneel on the floor like the mischievous children they were as Dalton explained.

"Those mountains over there are called the Drum Rockies. On top of the tallest one lies a castle known as Drum Castle, one that currently is without a king."

Sanji nodded, "I can see it. So what about it?"

"The one people call a witch and this island's sole remaining doctor, Dr Kureha, is residing in that very castle."

"Se-Seriously…!?" The cook glared out the window towards the mountains, "Of all the places to… Is there a way to call her down?"

"Unfortunately, we don't have any way to contact her."

"And she calls herself a doctor!? What is with this woman!?"

Dalton let out a sigh, "Her skills as a doctor are undeniable, but she's a bit of a kook. And she is rumored to be over a century old. Oh, and she also happens to like pickled plum."

"A century—is she even human at this point!?"

That information left Vivi flabbergasted as she quickly turned to me, which I nodded in agreement, despite how absurd it actually was; there had been many fan theories about her that Oda had yet to confirm.

If anything, her supposed immortality was among the biggest mysteries of this world, right next to Joyboy and the Poneglyphs.

"But then, what do the people of this country do when someone falls sick or gets injured?" Vivi asked.

"Well, she does comes down the mountain whenever she feels like it." Dalton explained, "She then finds patients to treat, and takes whatever she wants as payment afterwards."

"Wow, that is one mean old hag." Usopp noted, "No wonder she's called a witch."

"She's practically a pirate!" Luffy huffed angrily.

"How does she even get down from the mountain?" Vivi asked.

"According to eyewitnesses, she supposedly rides down on a flying sleigh on moonlit nights. That is why people has taken to calling her a witch. There were also reports of a bizarre creature travelling with her…"

"Ah! I knew it! I knew there will be snow monsters!" Our sniper cried out, "I bet there are also yetis lurking on those peaks too!"

Dalton rolled his eyes at the exaggeration before pointing out, "At any rate, the best course of action is for you to wait for her to come down and hope that she is coming this way."

"How can this be…"

Sanji grumbled as he bit on the end of an unlit cigarette, "Some shitty kingdom this turns out to be… to have one doctor and for her to be some whimsical old hag…"

"It didn't used to be just her." Dalton let out long tired sigh as his shoulder sank, "We used to have more doctors, but… our former king took all of them with him when he left."

"That's some shitty king."

"Indeed, he is."

Vivi turned to me for clarification, which I simply nodded in response; not much to say about Wapol besides being a dirtbag that was better off elsewhere than in the kingdom he terrorised for years.

"Nami. Hey, Nami." Luffy patted our sick navigator's cheek, "You there?"

The redhead turned to our captain with a half-opened eyes, "Luffy…?"

"Listen. The doctor we are looking for is up on the mountain. So we are hiking up there."

"Wha—are you crazy, Luffy!?" Sanji cried out, "You can't just bring a sick person with you to climb a damn mountain! You are going to exacerbate her condition! "

"It will be fine. I'm carrying her. And we need to get her to a doctor as soon as possible."

"That's not the point!" Vivi cried out, "Have you seen these mountains!? There's nothing for you to hike up on!"

"Then I will just climb it."

"That's—no, wait…"

Vivi swiftly pulled me to the side before whispering to my ear, "Rein, you know when she is going to come down, right? Can you tell us where she is going to show up?"

"…actually, I can't."

"Huh? What not?"

I sheepishly laughed, "It has been two years since I actually read the book, so I don't remember every single detail as well as I wished."

"Th-Then, how much do you remember about this part?"

"After this? Luffy and Sanji will head for the mountain with Nami, then they will reach the top where Kureha and our future ship doctor will be waiting."

The princess let out a barely audible groan, "So in the end it is that mountain… are there any other options…?"

I wanted to tell her that there was also the ropeway that Wapol had used to ascend and descend the mountain back when he was still this island's ruler, the same ropeway that Kureha was using to come down from the mountain in the first place.

But I couldn't for the life of me remember where one was, so I kept silent on that. And we have another option besides those two that the original cast did not have.

"I can help carry Nami up the mountain." I pointed out, much to the shock of everyone.

"Are you kidding me!?" Vivi cried out, "You're talking about possibly scaling that mountain with a sick person!"

"Vivi." I turned into my half-dragon form and flapped my wings a little, "I have wings, remember? I can just fly them up there."

Unlike in Canon, the Straw Hats now had me and my dragon abilities, which opened up another option that the original Straw Hats did not have. And while intimidating, I had flown past the clouds in the past, so making the ascend wouldn't be too difficult for me.

Plus, if we didn't take the original route, we wouldn't have to deal with the killer rabbit-bears that were Lapuns or deal with Wapol and his two underlings, we would reach the castle way faster.

"E-Even so, do you not see how tall those mountains are!? Can you even fly that high with two people in your arms!?"

"Not in my 'arms', per say."

"…What do you mean by that?"

I returned to my human form and explained further, "You know Zoan type Devil Fruit users have three different forms, right? A human form, a half-human form, and a full animal form?"

"That's right. But what does that have to do with…" Vivi's eyes widened in realisation, "Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever seen you in a full animal form."

"Now that you mention it…" Sanji snapped his fingers, "None of us have seen you become an actual dragon before. It has always been a half-dragon form."

"Well, I'm going to use that form to carry both Luffy and Nami on my back."

"And you think you can make it there?"

"Most definitely. And even if I couldn't…" I pointed at Luffy, "There's always plan B."

Vivi grimaced, "That doesn't really bode well…"

"Even then, we can't afford to wait for Kureha to come to us. You saw how fast her condition deteriorated in just a few days. And there's no telling when she'll come down here, right?"

"Rein…"

I walked up to our semi-conscious navigator, "So, Nami, what do you say? Want to take to the skies with me?"

Nami let out a weak laugh before weakling raising her hand, "I'm… counting on you… not to drop me…"

A chuckle left my mouth as I gave her hand a solid pat, "Heh, I'll try my best."

"Remember, Luffy! Letting Nami fall even once could mean the end of her life!"

Luffy let out a nervous gulp in response to the sniper's warning, "Even once…? O-Okay, got it!"

"Just a little more…" After tightening the knot, Vivi patted the sash used to secure the sick Nami onto Luffy's back, "That should do it. I think we're set here."

"Thanks, Vivi." Our captain adjusted the sheathed Ryuga under our feverish navigator, "Just hang on a little longer, Nami."

Nami let out a tired grunt, "Don't… drop me… please…"

"Shishishi, I won't!"

"We'll keep an ear out for this Dr Kureha." Sanji told me, "If we hear her coming our way, we'll direct her back to the castle."

I nodded, "Appreciate it, Sanji."

"Just make sure you get Nami to that quack doctor."

"No need to tell me that."

"If you are truly serious about doing this, I won't stop you." Dalton told me, "Just try to be careful. The winds of this country can be quite strong, especially around the Drum Rockies."

"Understood." I removed my jacket and handed it over to Luffy along with my boots, "Hold on to these for me."

"Uh… why are you stripping…?" Usopp asked me, "Not that I don't mind a show, but…"

"Because that is the one winter jacket I have, and I don't want to rip it." I told him as I tried to ignore the biting winter air, "Now stand back. This form isn't exactly small."

"How big are we talking about?"

"Very; so step back unless you want to get squashed."

As my crewmates took a few steps back, I visualised the form I wanted my body to shift into like how I had always done, but this time it wasn't the half-dragon form but my full dragon form.

The usual numbing sensation came in as I felt my body changing shape, my bones reforming along with my skin and flesh as my anatomy changed from human to something more reptilian.

My sense of balance moved forward and I instinctively went on all fours as my body began to grow larger and larger, until the numbing sensation stopped and I stood there in my full dragon form.

Usopp looked up at me in awe, "…That's pretty big."

"Why do you think I don't use this form often?"

As large as Going Merry itself, my dragon form towered over the town of Bighorn with large white scales all over my body and sharp claws that dug into the snow beneath my legs, as I tried to keep my massive tail from hitting any of the nearby houses.

Which nearly caused me to fall over as I struggled to get used to being a quadrupedal instead of a bipedal, barely stopping myself from nearly crashing into Dalton's house.

"…Sorry. It's been a good while since I've been in this form."

Dalton let out a chuckle, "I can see that."

Vivi let out a long sigh, "I'm starting to have doubts about your plan…"

Ignoring the princess's pessimism, I laid down on the snow and allowed my captain to climb onto my back, "Now hold on tight."

As I felt his hands grabbing onto my scales, I spread my massive wings and turned towards the direction of the mountains before running into the forest as fast as I could while flapping my wings.

Moments later, with snow flying everywhere with each flap of my wings, I ascended into the air like a plane and swiftly took to the skies, Bighorn disappearing from view in a blink of an eye as I flew towards the Drum Rockies.

"Woo-hoo!" Luffy cheered, "This is awesome!"

"Glad to see you are enjoying yourself back there." I noted as I flew higher and faster with each urgent flap of my wings.

The nonstop falling snow had made it a bit difficult for me to see, especially when the winds began to pick up as I got closer to the mountains, forcing me to flap my wings harder to not get blown off course.

I glanced down a bit and saw the round but dangerous Lapuns roaming about the forest beneath me, mere balls of fluff between the trees as I rose higher into the skies; an indication that I was flying in the right direction.

When I looked back up through the falling snow and saw the familiar steep cliffs, I swerved to the side and began ascending up the mountain in an upward spiral motion.

"Huh? Why aren't we flying straight up?" Luffy asked, "Wouldn't that be faster?"

"Not for cliffs this high." I explained, "Trust me, it is a lot harder to fly straight up with wings than you think."

The first time I tried doing so was back when I was just getting used to flying with my wings, and I was barely halfway up one of the cliffs on Temasek before it became too much for me.

And those were barely a hundredth of the staggering cliff of the Drum Rockies; if I tried it here, I might end up plummeting from exhaustion and sending both my captain and our sick navigator to their deaths.

Not to mention that this form drained my stamina like crazy, so I had to at least tried to conserve as much as I could until I reach the peak—

"What the!?"

"Hang on!"

The sudden shift in the winds had me nearly lose control of myself, sending me tumbling through the air as Luffy quickly wrapping his legs around my body to keep himself from getting blown off of me.

I barely managed to regain control and hastily flapped my wings to try and right my posture, before trying to keep myself from getting blown off course by the insane winds.

It was akin to flying through a powerful storm, which I hadn't done since the last time I did so ended pretty badly for me.

But that was not going to stop me from reaching the top, I flapped my wings even harder to fight against the powerful gusts, adjusting my posture as I did so to keep my body from getting blown off course.

"Ngh…"

"Rein!"

"I-I'm fine! Just don't let go!"

"Ri-Right!"

Snow pelted against my body as I flew through the harsh winds, panting and gasping while my wings ached from overexertion, my stamina draining rapidly the higher we go.

In hindsight, I should had long expected for this plan of mine to go sideways this quickly, that it wouldn't be as simple as just flying up to the castle without much of an issue.

Even so, I was already committed to this, so I had no choice but to go for it with all I could, pushing myself to fight against nature as it tried to keep me from reaching the peak.

Strangely enough, the longer I flew against the pelting snow and harsh winds, the easier it became for me to push through them, as if the environment had became less harsh on me as time went on.

My wings became lighter as I easily cut through the powerful gusts, the snow that was pelting against my scales became less of a hindrance than before, and the cold that passed through my scales was no longer an issue.

"Woah, Rein…! Your body just…!"

I could barely hear Luffy's words through the strong winds against my ears, but I could definitely sense the awe in his voice, a sign that something had indeed changed about my dragon form that made the flight somewhat easier.

'Is this another power of my Devil Fruit I didn't know about?'

But as curious as I was about the changes to my form, I pushed it down and focused on ascending the mountain as fast and as steadily as I could, to reach the peak and Drum Castle as soon as possible.

Because despite being easier to fly through the winds, it didn't change the fact that my stamina was just about reach its limit; as such, I must reach the top before my body gave out on me.

Soon enough, I could just about see the snow-filled edge right above us, which meant that I was getting close to the summit and the castle.

'Just about…!'

"Gah!"

Then, the wind suddenly shifts and a sharp pain of sprained muscles erupted from my back as my wings were blown back in an awkward position, causing us to tumble through the air.

My arms quickly reached out towards the cliff and dug my claws deep into the stone as I tried to stop myself from falling any further, leaving behind large groves before eventually coming to a stop.

"Ar-Are you all okay back there!?" I quickly asked my captain, "Is Nami still alright?"

Luffy let out a strained grunt, "Ye-Yeah…! I think so…!"

Looking back up, I could still barely see the snowy edge of the plateau that was the peak of Drum Rockies, so close yet it felt so far away.

I tried to flap my wings, and flinch in pain as my sprained muscles ached badly from use, stopping me from moving them even further and leaving me unable to fly.

'Time for plan B, I suppose…'

After closing up my wings, my arm reached up and dug my claws into the stone, muscles straining as I pulled myself up and I began a long and strenuous climb towards the peak, one Luffy would have done if I hadn't suggested my idea.

Thankfully, unlike my captain, I had claws that assisted me in climbing this steep wall of almost flat stone, with barely any gaps in the rocks that could act as handholds for any wannabe mountain climber.

Even then, with my stamina already at its limit from the intense flight up here, the climb itself was already pushing my tired body to its absolute limit, my muscles screaming at me to stop moving and rest.

"Hah…hah…"

But I chose to ignore them and pressed on upwards towards the peak, forcing my already exhausted body to climb ever the more closer to the snowy edge above us, fueled with nothing but the determination to get Nami cured.

As I got closer, I could faintly hear voices above me, an older female voice that I believed belongs to one Dr Kureha, and a younger boyish one that no doubt belongs to our future ship doctor and lovable mascot.

'Good, looks like we made it just as they are coming back…'

I hastened my climb and forced my limbs to move faster and reach higher, to make it to the top before Kureha entered her ill-gotten castle.

So when my fingers finally grasped upon the edge of the cliff, I used all of my remaining strength to pull us over and onto the plateau, and was greeted with an amazing sight as I shifted back to my human form.

The only castle I was somewhat familiar with was the one in the capital of Briton back in the East Blue, and Drum Castle was at least as big if not bigger than it in every sense of the word.

Tall cone roofs with white stone walls that seemed to blend into the snow but stuck out of the pine trees that grew around it, it definitely gave off a vibe of a castle frozen in snow.

And standing in front of it were the two people I knew would help us, the taller of the two looking at from behind her shades with a enigmatic smile,

I turned to Luffy as I told him with the last of my strength, just as my exhaustion finally caught up to me and my consciousness began to fade.

"Over to you now, Captain."

…
To be continued…

Alright! Done with the next chapter of this arc'

Sorry for taking so long! Had been focused on my Danmachi fic since I was just a chapter or two away from the end of its third major arc.

Also, the Drum Kingdom arc ended up being a lot tricker to write than I realized, especially when you considered all the intertwining events that played into each other that missing just one would have dire circumstances for another.

So yes, this arc ended being way more complicated than I had once thought.

With that, I thank you all for reading this!