A bucket of freezing seawater was poured down.
"Cough—cough—!!"
Wapol woke up choking violently. A splitting headache made it feel like his skull was about to crack open.
When he opened his eyes, he discovered that he had been tightly tied to the mast of the Going Merry.
In front of him stood the terrifying man with the staff, smiling kindly. Around him were several others whose eyes clearly carried bad intentions.
"W-what do you want?!"
Wapol shouted in panic, struggling desperately, only to realize the ropes were tied extremely tight—Nami had personally reinforced them.
"I am the king of the Drum Kingdom! Let me go! Otherwise the World Government won't let you get away with this!"
"Save it, Your Majesty."
Ronan crouched down so his gaze met Wapol's, a faint smile curling on his lips.
"Your subordinates already abandoned you. Right now, you're just our prisoner."
Seeing the empty ocean around them, Wapol's heart sank.
With a pitiful expression, he began begging.
"Please spare me! I have money! I've hidden tons of treasure in my castle! I'll give it all to you!"
"Letting you go isn't impossible."
Ronan patted Wapol's chubby cheek. His voice sounded gentle—but carried a chilling edge.
"But first, you need to prove your value. I hear your Munch-Munch Factory can produce some interesting things."
Under Wapol's hopeful yet confused gaze, Ronan pointed to a large pile of scrap metal nearby.
It was made up of confiscated rifles, swords, and blades from the Bliking soldiers, along with some abandoned metal junk Usopp had dug up from storage.
"Eat them."
Ronan gave the order calmly.
"Then use your ability to fuse and refine them, and spit out a self-repairing memory alloy."
"Don't tell me you can't do it. I know exactly how far your Devil Fruit ability can be developed."
"M-memory alloy?"
Wapol blinked in confusion.
"I… I've never tried that…"
"Then try it now."
Ronan's eyes turned cold instantly.
He lightly tapped Wapol's swollen belly with his ebony staff, producing dull thumping sounds.
"If you can't make it…"
"I'll knock your head straight into your stomach so you can taste yourself."
Looking at Ronan's half-playful yet cruel expression, Wapol's entire body trembled.
He knew the man wasn't joking.
The killing intent around him was colder than the raging snowstorm.
"I'll do it! I'll do it!!"
Wapol shouted with tears in his eyes.
And so, a strange scene appeared on the Going Merry.
With the ropes loosened around his upper body, Wapol sat there crying while munching metal like potato chips.
Crunch. Crunch.
He chewed through gun barrels and sword blades.
As large amounts of metal entered his stomach, his body began undergoing a strange transformation.
"Munch-Munch Factory… Fusion!"
His stomach turned into a massive furnace.
Moments later, he opened his mouth and stuck out his tongue like a conveyor belt.
"Blargh—!"
Amid rising steam, chunks of silver-gray metal with a strange luster slid out of his mouth.
Ronan picked up one piece that was still warm.
He bent it into a ninety-degree angle—then released it.
Crack.
The metal shattered instantly in Ronan's grip.
"Not memory alloy."
Ronan handed it to Usopp.
"Keep feeding him until he produces memory alloy."
With tears streaming down his face, Wapol continued his miserable "eating" job, completely reduced to the Straw Hats' personal metal-processing machine.
…
Time passed.
The snowstorm continued.
But everyone still had a heavy weight on their hearts—Vivi's worsening condition.
Several hours later, as the Going Merry continued sailing through the endless sea, Sanji suddenly stiffened at the bow where he was keeping watch.
He quickly removed the cigarette from his mouth and pointed toward the distant horizon.
"Hey!! Everyone!! Look ahead!!"
"That's…!"
Hearing his shout, everyone rushed to the bow.
Through the thick swirling snow, they could faintly see a massive silhouette in the distance.
As the ship approached, the island's true form gradually revealed itself.
It was a winter island completely covered in ice and snow.
At the center of the island rose several peculiar mountains.
Unlike ordinary peaks, these mountains were cylindrical and shot straight into the clouds.
Their tops were flat like drumheads and covered in thick layers of snow.
They stood tall and majestic, like gigantic drums carved by nature itself, radiating a solemn and sacred aura in the blizzard.
"An island!!"
Luffy jumped onto the sheep figurehead and cheered loudly.
"It's an island! We found land!!"
"Thank goodness…"
The tension in Nami's body finally loosened, tears welling in her eyes.
"Finally… we finally found an island…"
Ronan looked at the drum-shaped mountains rising like chimneys across the island.
Relief flickered across his expression.
"This is it."
He inhaled the icy air deeply.
"That's Drum Island—the nation once famous for advanced medicine, but stripped of its doctors because of tyranny."
The Going Merry slowly sailed into the island's internal canal.
The entire world seemed reduced to one pure, monotonous color—
White.
The sea was no longer deep blue, but a lifeless gray caused by extreme cold.
Chunks of drifting ice scraped against the hull, producing sharp cracking sounds.
"Wow!! So much snow! I've never seen this much snow! I'm so happy!!"
Luffy stood on the figurehead, dancing excitedly.
Snowflakes landed on his nose and instantly melted from the warmth of his body.
Sanji stood beside him.
Even on this freezing winter island, he still wore only his thin black suit.
The cigarette in his fingers burned stubbornly against the wind and snow.
Looking up at the towering drum-shaped mountains, he sighed in admiration.
"The weather's terrible, but those mountains are unbelievably impressive."
"Hey… you three…"
Nami climbed out of the cabin, wrapped in a thick wool coat like a round dumpling.
Her nose was red from the cold and her voice trembled.
"Luffy! Ronan! Zoro! Are you idiots missing your sense of pain?!"
"It's minus ten degrees right now! The kind of cold where even bears start digging holes to hibernate! And you're still wearing thin clothes?!"
She wasn't exaggerating.
Ronan still wore only a light outfit.
Zoro stood with his arms bare, muscles like forged steel.
And Luffy hadn't even bothered fastening his vest.
To Read60+ AHEAD advanced Chapters, head over to P@treon
patreon.com/DarkVerse146