On the other side, inside the mountaintop castle of Drum.
This was the royal castle of the Drum Kingdom.
Inside the castle, a man sat upon the throne. He was obese, with purple hair and eyebrows, an upper and lower jaw made of white metal, wearing thick winter clothes, white metal armor on his arms, and draped in white animal fur.
He called out to a man below him:
"Jesse! How is the 'Eradication' of the doctors progressing?"
As soon as he said this, the man called Jesse below immediately responded:
"Your Majesty, King, almost all the doctors have been expelled from the country. Only Hiriluk and Kureha remain!"
"Hmm! Not bad!!"
Wapol nodded in satisfaction, a smile appearing on his face, then he spoke again:
"That old hag Kureha has lived for so long, just let her stay in the country!"
That's what he said, but the real reason was that he wasn't confident he could subdue that old hag Kureha, and her medical skills were far superior to the twenty doctors he had kept.
Doctor 20 could treat the vast majority of illnesses, but if they encountered a truly difficult and complicated case they couldn't handle, they would have to seek help from Kureha.
Keeping Kureha on the island also served as a kind of security for him.
As for Hiriluk?
Who cares about that quack doctor?
His medical skills weren't even good enough to be a veterinarian, right?
Would anyone dare to be treated by him even if he dared to treat them?!
However...
Thinking of Hiriluk, Wapol's eyes suddenly narrowed, a flicker of cold light flashing within them.
He didn't care about his poor medical skills.
But he heard that guy had always been trying to use some 'Cherry Blossom Miracle' to heal the people's hearts, frozen by tyranny??
Tyranny?!
How could his, Wapol's, rule possibly be tyranny!!
He used violent means to rule the people mainly to protect them!
This group of ungrateful people simply didn't understand the good intentions of their king.
Hiriluk was planning to overthrow his rule!
Thinking of this, the cold light in Wapol's eyes grew sharper.
He had to find a way, seize an opportunity to kill this guy Hiriluk.
Regarding those ordinary doctors, although he said 'eradicate,' it was actually just expulsion.
But for someone like Hiriluk, who wanted to overthrow his rule, he could only send him to hell!!
——
At that moment, on the other side of Drum Island.
Kyle, along with the other person and the raccoon, was currently in a certain village.
But Kyle's brow was slightly furrowed.
No doctors!!
They had searched the entire village but hadn't seen a single trace of a doctor.
After asking around, they learned it was because Wapol had expelled all the doctors, leaving only twenty doctors to serve him.
This way, if the people got sick, they had to beg him for help, and for the same reason, they didn't dare to rebel against his rule.
Because he held the people's lifeline.
Who could guarantee they would never get sick? Never have to beg him for something?
"Bastard!!"
"How can this Wapol still be fit to be a king when he treats his people like this?!"
...
Sabo was constantly cursing and swearing beside him.
At this age, Sabo naturally had a youthful temperament and was extremely indignant when faced with such injustice.
Kyle's eyes also narrowed slightly, a trace of cold light flickering within them.
Although he knew that besides Doctor 20, there were still two doctors, Hiriluk and Kureha, on the island.
If he wanted to, he could easily find traces of them and have them treat Chopper.
But he didn't want to do that.
He was determined to have Wapol's Doctor 20 treat Chopper!!
Logically speaking, as Drum Kingdom was a major medical nation and one of the World Government's member states.
He, as a Marine, couldn't easily interfere in its internal affairs.
But emotionally, he couldn't stand Wapol's behavior like this.
Tyrannical rule, abandoning his own people when facing fierce pirates – this was absolutely not how a king should behave!
But still, from the standpoint of a Marine, he couldn't do anything to Wapol.
What if he wasn't a Marine, though?
He didn't have only the identity of a Marine.
Anyway, this wasn't the first time he'd done something like this.
Kyle turned his head to look at Chopper and said:
"Chopper, transform into that big form of yours!"
During the journey, Kyle had already named Chopper.
It was the same name as in the original story. After all, he had been called that for so many years; suddenly changing it might feel strange.
"Huh? Oh!"
Chopper was stunned for a moment before reacting, using his ability to transform back into the big form he had when they first met.
"Hmm! Not bad!"
Kyle nodded.
He took out two black robes and gave one to Chopper and one to Sabo.
At the same time, he took out one for himself and draped it over his shoulders.
"Come on! I'm taking you two to have some fun!"
"But remember, we're not Marines anymore now. Our identities..."
"Well..."
Kyle was silent for a moment:
"What do you think our identities should be?"
Sabo looked at the black robe in his hand, then at Kyle, and said:
"You mean... we change our identities to go and cause trouble for Wapol?"
Kyle glanced at him.
"The boy is teachable!"
Almost instantly, Sabo understood Kyle's intention in doing this.
With their identities as Marines, it was indeed inappropriate to do anything to Wapol.
Wapol was the king of a World Government member state. How he governed his country was his own business. As Marines, they had no reason, no standing to criticize Wapol, let alone lay hands on him.
Otherwise, the World Government would definitely not let it slide.
To avoid trouble, hiding their identities was the best choice!
Beside them, Chopper looked at Sabo, then at Kyle, his face full of confusion.
"What are you talking about? What does it mean!"
"Well..."
Sabo started explaining to Chopper, but after a long while...
"What does it mean?! I don't really understand!"
Chopper asked again, his soul-searching question, looking at Sabo with a face full of thirst for knowledge, but this time Sabo didn't speak again, the corners of his mouth twitching constantly.
God knows how many times he had explained it to Chopper just now, but every time Chopper listened, he would come back with this 'I don't understand'!
He was tired. Let it all burn!
Seeing this, Kyle couldn't help but laugh and shake his head.
Chopper now had never been exposed to human society, so it was normal for him not to understand many things. He would learn gradually over time.
Feeling Sabo's pleading gaze, Kyle spoke:
"It's okay! It doesn't matter if you don't understand!"
"Chopper, just remember one thing for now. Until I tell you to change back, you keep this form!"
"When we take you for treatment later, don't say anything. Just leave it to us!"
A slip of the tongue could cause trouble. As long as Chopper didn't speak, it would be hard to expose them.
As for whether Doctor 20 would recognize Chopper's appearance when treating him...
Heh~
He was taking an ape for treatment, and bringing a raccoon back to Marine Headquarters.
What did that have to do with him?
...
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