Chapter 173: The Flag Will Never Fall!
Halfway up Drum Mountain, excavation work was proceeding with intense urgency.
Usopp and Dalton directed the newly organized militia, digging through the heavy snow to rescue one person after another buried by the avalanche.
Mostly, they were soldiers from Wapol's royal guard and the twenty doctors in white coats.
"Confiscate their weapons!"
Dalton pointed at the still-shaken royal guard soldiers, "But do not harm them. They were also coerced by Wapol."
The militia complied.
The royal guard soldiers offered no resistance; most had long lost their loyalty to Wapol and had only followed out of fear.
The behavior of the Doctor 20 team was even more unexpected.
The lead elderly doctor approached Dalton and bowed deeply:
"Captain Dalton... no, Mr. Dalton. We... we endured humiliation and hardship all this time, just to preserve the last spark of medical knowledge in the Drum Kingdom. Wapol threatened our families; we had no choice..."
Dalton fell silent for a few seconds, then patted the old doctor's shoulder:
"I understand. For now, focus on saving lives."
The doctors immediately sprang into action.
Opening their portable medical kits, they skillfully treated the wounds of injured soldiers and militiamen.
Usopp watched the scene with mixed emotions.
He was both amazed by the doctors' medical skills and saddened by their past submission.
Just then—
"Over here! There's someone here!"
A militiaman shouted.
Usopp and Dalton rushed over.
Shoveling away the last layer of snow revealed... something beneath.
It was three people.
Or rather, not three people.
A merged monster with three heads, six arms, and six legs, wrapped in a massive padded coat.
Three heads poked out from the collar: Nami on the left, Zoro in the middle, and Vivi on the right.
Usopp stared blankly for two seconds, then burst out laughing:
"What... what kind of look is this?!"
But as he laughed, his expression shifted to one of amused exasperation:
"Still... it's good you're alive. Though this state... tsk tsk, it's worse than death."
Dalton crouched down to examine the merged state, "This is the power of the Baku Baku no Mi... To separate you, there are only two ways. Either have Wapol use his ability again to actively undo the fusion, or... it would require an exceptionally skilled surgeon to manually perform a separation surgery."
The elderly doctor from Doctor 20 approached, observed carefully, and shook his head:
"This kind of fusion involves the power of a Devil Fruit. Manual separation carries extremely high risks; the slightest mistake could cause permanent damage or even death."
"Then let Wapol undo it!"
Usopp clenched his fist, "Lufia and Sanji will definitely catch him! And Ralph—he's the most reliable person on our ship! He'll definitely have a way!"
He looked toward the castle at the summit, his gaze resolute.
At the summit, in front of the castle.
The battle had reached a fever pitch.
Wapol, watching his two ministers struggle even more than before against Lufia and Sanji, cursed furiously:
"Useless! Two against two and you still can't win! What good are you?!"
Chess fired an arrow at Sanji, who dodged it using Geppo; the arrow embedded itself deep into the snow.
Kuromarimo's static-charged fur balls blanketed the sky, clinging to Lufia's body. Far from hindering her combat ability, Lufia instead exclaimed how fun it was.
Her companions were right behind her.
Inside the castle were friends she needed to protect.
This conviction to defend them squeezed the last reserves of strength from her weary body.
Seeing this, Wapol transformed with a boom, swelling to the size of a house.
His massive mouth opened like a door, swallowing both of them in one gulp.
Then his body began to twist and contort, emitting a grating, teeth-grinding creak.
A few seconds later, he spat out a new entity with a ptui, the door-like mouth opening wide.
Four arms, two heads stacked one above the other—it looked like one person carrying another on their back, yet they shared the same bloated torso.
Baku Baku no Mi Fusion Technique: Chessmarimo!
"Wow!"
Lufia's eyes lit up,
"So cool! You can fuse like that?!"
Both heads of Chessmarimo spoke simultaneously, their voices overlapping:
"Straw Hat brat... Blondie cook... and blue-nosed monster... Today, you all die here!"
Lufia wanted to keep fighting, but her legs gave way,
"Ah... so hungry... no strength left..."
Sanji also dropped to one knee, panting heavily.
Just then, a small blue figure stepped in front of them.
Chopper.
He stood with his back to the two of them, facing the four-armed, two-headed monster. His voice was soft but firm:
"Leave the upcoming battle... to me."
Lufia and Sanji were both taken aback.
"I have my own reasons I must fight, too."
Chopper raised his head. Behind him, atop the castle, flew Dr. Hiriluk's Pirate flag—the cherry blossom skull flag.
He turned to Wapol, "Wapol... you came to reclaim the castle, right? I won't let you succeed. This place... is already Dr. Hiriluk's grave!"
"His dream of saving this country flies above the castle! And you—a king who abandoned his country and his people—don't deserve to return here."
Wapol thought for a moment, then his face twisted with disgust.
"Hiriluk... I remember now."
Chess's head continued:
"That quack who went around spreading nonsense about 'the country needs saving.'"
"Blue-nosed monster," Kuromarimo's head chimed in, "You're the one who came to the castle and caused trouble after he died, aren't you?"
Wapol looked up at the cherry blossom flag atop the castle, a flash of brutality in his eyes:
"Trash... how dare it fly over my Drum Castle!"
He opened his mouth, and a thick cannon barrel extended from deep within his throat.
The muzzle aimed squarely at the flag.
Boom—!!
The cannonball fired.
The flagpole snapped, and the cherry blossom skull flag fluttered down through the air like a bird with a broken wing.
Chopper didn't even have time to grieve—someone moved faster.
"Sanji!"
Lufia's voice rang out, "Send me up!"
Sanji understood instantly.
He rushed to Lufia's side. Lufia grabbed his leg, and Sanji mustered his last ounce of strength—
"Kick Technique: Delivery!"
Lufia shot into the air like a cannonball, arcing through the sky and catching the falling flag with pinpoint accuracy.
She flipped mid-air, her rubber arms stretching out to grab protrusions on the castle's outer wall. With a few leaps, she scaled the roof.
Then, under the gaze of everyone, she tied the cherry blossom skull flag back onto the highest remaining flagpole.
The wind blew, making the flag flutter and snap.
Lufia stood on the rooftop, her eyes beneath the straw hat shining brilliantly:
"Though I don't know whose pirate flag this is... I know it must represent someone's conviction!"
Pointing at the flag, her voice carried across the entire mountaintop:
"Firm convictions will not fall! Just like this flag—it will never be lowered!"
At that moment, time seemed to stand still.
Sanji looked up at Lufia on the rooftop, without his usual heart-shaped eyes or infatuated expression.
In his eyes, there was only pure reverence for his captain.
Chopper's tears welled up and overflowed.
He wiped them away forcefully, but they wouldn't stop.
Wapol raged:
"Jess Malimon! Kill them!!"