Kong Tai immediately understood Indigo’s thoughts and rolled his eyes at him.
What’s wrong with a small country?
Aren’t their kings still important figures?
It seems everyone on the ship has become arrogant!
To the point where killing a king is considered a trivial matter.
Kong Tai drank his tea and turned to look at Kuina, who was lying on a lounge chair next to him, a hint of tenderness in his eyes.
The one who had made the most progress these past few months wasn’t Ah Hua, nor Ah Luo, nor Ah Tao who had just eaten a Devil Fruit, but Kuina.
In these past few months, Kuina had not only fully mastered all the energy control techniques of a great swordsman.
She had also elevated her Observation Haki to a higher level.
It was important to note that Observation Haki was a much more difficult ability to improve than Armament Haki.
With Kuina’s current Armament and Observation Haki strength, an average Marine Vice Admiral should no longer be her match.
To fight her, one would need someone at the level of Onigumo or Momonga at the very least.
And even such elite Vice Admirals might not necessarily defeat Kuina.
To guarantee a victory, one would likely need a top-tier Armament Haki user like Momonga.
Therefore, her current strength should be enough to trade a few blows with an Admiral, rather than being easily defeated.
“What is it?”
Kuina shifted her gaze from the newspaper and looked up at Kong Tai.
The past few months at sea hadn't seen a decrease in news just because they were absent; on the contrary, there had been plenty of big news due to a series of actions by the Four Emperors in the New World.
For example, the news that Kaido had once again committed suicide, and in the process, had completely defeated the Supernovas of that year.
Anyone who knew his personality could see at a glance that this guy was specifically targeting these Supernovas.
If he were truly bored, he would seek out true powerhouses among the other Four Emperors' crews or the Marines, not resort to such a ridiculous method of suicide as jumping from a height of tens of thousands of meters.
Just because Kaido was tall and burly didn’t mean he only acted with brute force.
In reality, this man was a meticulous planner, a strategist, and a true pirate.
Everything about Wano Country was this guy's doing.
Another major event was that last year's super newcomer, "Fire Fist" Ace, after challenging Whitebeard for several months, had finally joined the Whitebeard Pirates, immediately taking on the position of captain of the Second Division.
Apart from these two, the news of the past few months had been minor in their eyes.
“Nothing.”
Kong Tai’s lips curved upwards as he reached out and gently ruffled Kuina’s hair, “It’s just that you seem to have gotten tanned these past few months.”
“Oh!”
Kuina put down the newspaper, glanced at the color of her arm, then looked up at Kong Tai’s gentle gaze, her eyes narrowing into crescents as she smiled.
“You don’t like it?”
“I like it. I like you no matter what you look like.”
Kong Tai quickly replied.
Although they had all gotten tanned, Kuina’s skin hadn’t become as dark as Robin’s after spending years in the desert. Instead, it had taken on a healthy yellowish hue, which, rather than her original fair skin, gave her a more vibrant beauty.
“As long as you like it.”
Kuina’s lips curved upwards as she looked at the sky, “It seems to be snowing.”
As she spoke, she held out her hand and caught a snowflake drifting down from the sky.
However, before she could get a good look, the snowflake melted in her hand.
Just then, Ah Luo’s voice came from the lookout post above.
“Kong Tai, we should have entered the territory of a winter island. I imagine our destination, ‘Drum Island,’ is just ahead!”
The two antennae on Ah Luo’s head twitched. He hadn’t sensed any strange weather nearby, so this snow must be due to another reason.
In the Grand Line, what other reason could cause the surrounding sea to snow, apart from unusual weather, if not a winter island?
Therefore, he was certain that it must be a winter island ahead.
Considering that Drum Island was also a winter island, it was not difficult to deduce that they had reached their destination.
“Understood.”
Kong Tai replied loudly, withdrew his hand, and stood up. He walked to the bow of the ship, gazing at the thick cloud layer in the sky ahead and the increasingly heavy snow all around, a cold glint flashing in his eyes.
“Wapol, are you ready to die?”
He looked ahead, shook his head, and banished the disgusting image of Wapol from his mind. Then, thinking of the blue-nosed reindeer, the cold glint in his eyes disappeared, replaced by a smile.
At this moment, Chopper was still studying medicine under the nearly 140-year-old beautiful girl, Dr. Kureha!
He had initially considered Chopper as his ideal doctor, but considering his own charm, he wasn’t sure if he could convince Chopper to join him. Moreover, Chopper’s medical skills might not yet be fully developed. Later, he was fortunate enough to meet Indigo and invited him aboard, gradually abandoning that idea.
Despite abandoning it, he was still very interested in Chopper.
…
Drum Island.
Big Horn, a village by the sea on Drum Island, was also the place where the Straw Hat Pirates first landed after two years.
At the dock.
A burst of laughter echoed throughout the entire harbor.
“Moo! Hahahaha!! Finally arrived? The Marines.”
A corpulent, ugly man with deep purple hair, a huge mouth, and a cylindrical tin plate attached to his chin, was riding a giant hippopotamus and laughing maniacally at the Marine warships in the harbor ahead.
Behind the hippopotamus followed a team of doctors and soldiers.
This man was the King of Drum Kingdom, “Wapol,” also known as “White Iron,” the son of the previous king, and a user of the Mogu Mogu no Mi.
Superhuman: “Mogu Mogu no Mi!” was a quite powerful fruit.
The user of this fruit could eat anything, even another Devil Fruit user, and fuse with them, allowing the Mogu Mogu no Mi user to wield the abilities of the Devil Fruit they had consumed.
However, like most Devil Fruit users in the world of One Piece, Wapols abilities only remained at the level of when he first ate the fruit, without any further development.
This was why this guy was first taught a lesson by Blackbeard and later defeated by Luffy.
If this guy had truly developed his fruit seriously or used it to train his body, instead of merely eating,
He might have been another boss-level character that Luffy encountered upon entering the Grand Line, rather than a mere elite monster.
On the Marine warship, a young Vice Admiral stood at the bow.
He was the Marine officer sent to Drum Island to escort Wapols to the Holy Land Mary Geoise for the World Government Conference.
He looked at Wapols with a stern expression and said, “Wapol, let’s go! We’ll head directly to the Sabaody Archipelago.”
“Moo! Hahahahaha!! Sabaody? That works too, the slave market there is quite something to see.”
Wapol laughed heartily, seemingly quite pleased.
Indeed, not long ago, in his royal palace, he had met the tenth commoner that month who had come begging for medical treatment due to illness.
Every time he saw these commoners kneeling and begging him profusely for medical care, he felt immense joy and was immensely proud of his plan to drive all the doctors on Drum Island away.
This was a plan he had devised specifically to rule Drum Kingdom!
In front of the hippopotamus, Wapols two subordinates, one with black afro hair and the other an archer with a quiver on his back, heard their king’s words and were the first to walk towards another ship docked at the pier.
This ship was their king’s exclusive vessel.
Its name was the “White Iron King,” a large submersible surprise attack sailing ship with a hippopotamus for a prow.
“Huh?”
Just then, the archer leading the way, “Jeez,” suddenly stopped.