Dr. Kureha smiled and rubbed the head of her foolish son, then looked up at White Ghost.
"Brat, I'm leaving this son of mine to you. You'd better take proper care of him."
White Ghost still found the whole thing strange.
He had wanted Chopper aboard from the start, of course—but wasn't Chopper supposed to belong to someone else?
Then again, what did stealing someone else's future crewmate have to do with him?
He had already crossed into this world. Who still cared about that sort of thing?
If some so-called destined person felt upset, then let them be upset.
Wasn't it better for White Ghost himself to be happy?
So when it came to digging up someone else's wall, White Ghost felt not the slightest bit guilty.
He smiled and nodded.
"I think my crew will really welcome Chopper, this future famous doctor. They'll definitely like him too."
"Future famous doctor? Idiot! Even if you praise me like that, I won't be happy!"
Chopper immediately struck his signature pose.
He clapped his hooves together, swayed left and right, blushed shyly, scratched the back of his head, and waved his arms in that ridiculous, wiggly way of his.
Everyone watched the adorable little reindeer with smiles on their faces.
Dr. Kureha then said, "Go pack your things, Chopper."
"Okay, Doctorine!"
Chopper happily ran into his room to pack.
Once Chopper was gone, White Ghost turned to Dr. Kureha and asked, "Do you need help dealing with this country's problems?"
Dr. Kureha smiled. "At least you've got a little conscience, brat. Since you offered, then sure. This old lady's getting old—I can't be bothered anymore. I'll leave it to you."
White Ghost smiled slightly.
"It's a small matter. I got quite a lot out of this trip, after all. If I didn't do something in return, I'd feel a little bad."
Dr. Kureha's mouth twitched.
She couldn't be bothered responding to this shameless bastard, so she simply drank her wine on her own.
White Ghost glanced at Kuro.
"Keep it clean. Leave Dalton alive. The others aren't needed."
Kuro nodded and left with Akin.
Under the night sky, the two spread the wings on their backs and flew toward the kingdom.
Dr. Kureha said nothing about it.
She had seen this sort of thing countless times in her youth.
To her, it was nothing unusual.
Not long after, Chopper came back out carrying his special little backpack. He clung to Dr. Kureha's leg, his eyes full of reluctance.
"Doctorine, I'm leaving. You have to take good care of yourself when you're alone. Don't drink all the time. It's bad for your body."
Listening to Chopper's endless stream of worried words, Dr. Kureha felt warm inside.
But on her face, she only showed a trace of disdain.
Then, getting impatient, she kicked him.
"Get lost. I'm only a hundred-something years old—I'm still young. Don't stand there acting like I'm about to die. Hurry up and scram, or I'll beat you myself!"
After being kicked, Chopper felt no grievance at all—only reluctance.
After all, this was his mother.
White Ghost reached down, grabbed Chopper, and placed him together with the Lapahn rabbit. Then he set a Den Den Mushi on the table.
"We're leaving. If you run into trouble later, call me on the Den Den Mushi. If I'm free, I'll consider whether I feel like helping."
After saying that, White Ghost turned and walked out.
Chopper held the little Lapahn rabbit in his arms and looked back at Dr. Kureha with a face full of reluctance.
Dr. Kureha took a sip of wine.
"At least that brat has a little conscience."
Outside, White Ghost spread his wings and flew off with the two little animals in his arms.
Dr. Kureha watched him disappear into the distance and muttered softly to herself,
"You were right.
"Why not let go of some things and try accepting something new?
"A prophecy that's been hanging around for hundreds of years… or the future right in front of me.
"This old lady can still tell which one matters more."
Then she looked one last time at White Ghost vanishing into the clouds and said quietly,
"Be careful out there, Chopper."
White Ghost might be strong, but that brat had no shortage of enemies either.
Chopper was held in White Ghost's arms, while the Lapahn rabbit was held in Chopper's.
And just like that, one man and two little animals flew through the sky.
"So this is what flying feels like? Amazing!"
Chopper's eyes sparkled as he looked down below. He couldn't make out much clearly—just endless layers of white snow.
Then he suddenly remembered something and turned to White Ghost.
"Right! What about your other two companions? Aren't we waiting for them?"
White Ghost glanced toward the kingdom and said, "They went to free this country. Its king wasn't fit to rule."
"Really?"
Chopper's eyes lit up.
Naive as he was, he simply assumed that meant they were going to beat the king up and throw him out.
He had no idea that at this very moment, the kingdom was already awash in blood—and the blood had frozen into solid ice.
With a smile on his lips, Kuro walked step by step toward Wapol's bedchamber.
Silent killing was what he did best.
Meanwhile, at the prison, Akin—dressed in black robes, his fingers transformed into blades—was steadily harvesting the jailers one after another.
"Ahhh—!!!"
Inside his cell, Dalton listened as one scream after another rang out, suspicion rising in his heart.
Has someone come to save me?
But he couldn't imagine who would take such an enormous risk to rescue a condemned prisoner like him.
After killing the last jailer, Akin walked to the iron cell door and threw a punch.
Bang!
In the light, Dalton watched as the not-so-thick iron door was blasted open. All he could see was a fist.
"Who is it?"
Weak and injured, Dalton forced his eyes wider, trying to see who had come.
To his disappointment, the man revealed nothing.
Clad in black robes, Akin walked up to Dalton, tossed down a ring of keys, said nothing, and turned to leave.
Dalton looked at the keys on the ground, then struggled to pick them up and hold them in his mouth. He worked them against the Seastone handcuffs.
Click. Click.
Clang!
The Seastone cuffs fell to the ground, and Dalton immediately felt his strength returning. The wounds inflicted by Seastone bullets began slowly healing under his Zoan vitality.
Wapol had been afraid Dalton would die too quickly, so he had the Seastone removed from the wound and instead shackled him with expensive Seastone handcuffs he had bought at a high price.
At the palace, Kuro's hand punched through Kuromarimo's chest.
Kuromarimo coughed up blood, staring in disbelief at the hand protruding from his own chest.
Thud.
He collapsed to the floor, eyes wide open, dying without closing them, staring toward Chess's corpse not far away.
"Useless trash!"
Watching his two most capable subordinates get instantly killed, Wapol cursed loudly and raised his Seastone pistol to fire.
Bang!
The gunshot rang out, but the figure in front of him vanished before he even had time to react.
Then his chest suddenly hurt.
Wapol lowered his head and saw a hand clutching his heart.
It was still thumping in that hand.
Thud.
Wapol collapsed to the floor as well, dying with his eyes wide open.
He couldn't understand why this man had begun killing without a word.
Kuro pulled his hand back, tossed the heart aside, then licked the blood from his fingers with an intoxicated expression on his face.
By the time Dalton had recovered enough strength to come out and look around, shock was continuously surging through him.
Every death had been a one-hit kill.
Not a single survivor was left.
When Dalton finally reached the palace, he saw the three bodies lying there, all with holes torn through their chests.
Though he was shaken, Dalton understood one thing clearly.
The person just now had come to help him.
Looking at Wapol's corpse on the ground, Dalton smiled.
"This country… is free.
"Thank you, whoever you are."
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