One Piece: The user of the Nen-Nen Fruit, who overturned the sea.

After saying goodbye to the two giants.

The Ark Proverb flew in the clouds for two days.

The following evening, a white island appeared on the horizon.

It's not the white of the sand, it's the white of snow.

Drum Island.

The entire island was covered with thick snow. From the air, the cylindrical peaks of Cigu Mountain looked like giant stone pillars standing on the white earth.

On the summit of the highest mountain, the outline of a castle can be vaguely seen.

"Wow—" Yamato exclaimed, leaning against the ship's railing, her eyes shining. "Snow! So much snow!"

Pea, wrapped in a thick coat brought from Beehive Island, huddled behind Roy, only half her face showing: "It's...so cold..."

Enel floated in mid-air, curling his lip in disdain: "Mere wind and snow? I've seen plenty of that on Skypiea."

As soon as he finished speaking, a gust of cold wind mixed with snowflakes rushed into the back of his neck.

He shuddered, silently lowered his flight altitude, and hid behind Tesoro.

Tesoro: "...Aren't you immune to the cold?"

"I'm not afraid! This is... this is strategic concealment!"

The Ark Proverb landed on a snowy patch on the coast of Drum Island.

The moment the hatch opened, a blast of cold wind carrying snowflakes rushed in, and everyone shivered in unison.

Yamato was the first to jump off the ship, rolled around in the snow, and yelled excitedly, "So cool! So comfortable!"

Pea carefully stepped onto the snow, her foot sinking halfway in, and she almost fell over, but Kazami caught her.

"Thanks……"

Kazami nodded and released his grip.

Roy used his telekinesis to create a protective shield, blocking out the wind and snow.

The group walked along the coast toward the village of Big Horn.

Big Horn Village is the only port village on Drum Island.

But when Roy and his group entered the village, the streets were deserted.

The doors and windows of the house were tightly closed. Occasionally, someone would peek out through a crack in the window before quickly drawing the curtains back up.

"What's wrong with this village?" Tezzolo frowned. "It's like it's haunted."

Roy's Observation Haki swept across the entire village—the villagers huddled in their homes, a gray fog of fear enveloping the whole village.

He walked up to a house where smoke was still rising from the chimney and knocked on the door.

No one answered.

I knocked a few more times.

The door opened a crack, and a middle-aged man peeked out, eyeing them warily.

"You are...outsiders?"

"Just passing by," Roy said. "Looking for a doctor."

The man's expression changed instantly.

He lowered his voice and spoke very quickly:

"You'd better get out of here right now! If the 'Hunter Doctors' see you looking for a doctor, they'll arrest you all!"

"A hunting doctor?"

The middle-aged man looked around to make sure no one was on the street before opening the door a crack wider and explaining rapidly:

"King Valpo issued a decree that only the royal physicians' medical corps of twenty were allowed to practice medicine throughout the country, and all other doctors would be exiled or arrested."

Now, on the entire Drum Island, besides the group in the palace, only one doctor dares to practice medicine openly.

"Who?"

"Dr. Kureha the Witch".

The man lowered his voice even further when he said this.

"She lived in a castle atop Drum Mountain, and Walpo's soldiers dared not go up there—those who did were all driven down by her."

But if you want to find her, you'll have to climb up Cigu Mountain yourselves.

That mountain is very steep, and the wind and snow are fierce; ordinary people simply cannot climb it.

Roy nodded. "Thank you."

Before closing the door, the man added, "Be careful."

Valpo's patrols roam the village daily, specifically targeting people looking for a doctor.

The door closed.

Roy turned and looked at the highest peak of Drum Mountain. The outline of the castle was faintly visible in the wind and snow, like a ghostly ancient castle.

"Let's go."

He did not take the mountain path.

They enveloped everyone with their telekinetic power and flew directly up from the foot of the mountain.

Cigu Mountain is higher than I imagined.

The straight-line distance from the foot of the mountain to the summit is over five kilometers, and the rock walls along the way are covered with icicles.

The cold wind howled between the cliffs, forming visible cyclones.

Yamato, propelled upwards by telekinesis, still had the leisure to look around: "Wow, this mountain is so steep! It's even more exaggerated than Mount Fuji in Wano Country!"

Pea closed her eyes, clutching Roy's clothes tightly, too afraid to look down.

Enel floated at the top, using his Observation Haki to detect the airflow ahead and provide early warnings.

When we flew to the middle of the mountain, the wind and snow suddenly intensified.

Visibility dropped to less than three meters, and the gale-force winds, carrying ice particles, pounded against the psychic shield, creating a dense crackling sound.

Roy remained expressionless, steadily maintaining the shield with his telekinetic output, while also diverting some of his telekinetic power to sense changes in the surrounding airflow and avoid the most dangerous gusts of wind.

Ten minutes later, the snowstorm suddenly stopped.

It wasn't that the weather had improved; it was that they had broken through the snow and ice.

The summit of Cigu Mountain is actually above the clouds.

Sunlight shone on the pristine white snow, reflecting a dazzling light.

The castle was built on a flat area atop the mountain, with gray stone walls and pointed towers that seemed out of place yet strangely harmonious with the surrounding snowscape.

At the castle gate, a tall, silver-haired old woman leaned against the doorframe, holding a bottle of plum wine in her hand.

She saw Roy and his group fly up from the cliff edge, raised an eyebrow, and took a swig of wine.

"Hey, isn't this the Heavenly Emperor of Beehive Island?"

What wind blew you to this old woman's dilapidated castle?

Roy landed and deactivated his psychic shield.

"Introduced by Senior Crocus."

"Clowcas?"

Dr. Kureha's eyes lit up.

"That old guy is still alive?"

"They're doing quite well. They even have a baby whale."

"Tsk, incorrigible."

Kureha took a swig of her drink, her gaze sweeping over the group of people behind Roy before finally settling on Roy.

She squinted and stared at Luo for a few seconds.

"Platinum lead disease?"

Luo's body stiffened slightly.

"Come in." Kureha turned and walked into the castle. "It's cold outside. If you freeze to death, the old woman won't be responsible for burying you."

The castle interior was much larger than I had imagined.

Kureha led the group into a large hall with a fireplace, then sat down in a rocking chair, crossed her legs, and took a swig of wine.

"Tell me, what's going on?"

Roy briefly recounted Roy's experiences—the outbreak of platinum lead poisoning in Fryvanos, the government's cover-up of the truth, Roy's escape, joining the Don Quixote family, Rosinante stealing the fruit of surgery for him, and finally being taken away by Roy.

After listening, Kureha remained silent for a while, then looked at Luo.

"Kid, take off your clothes."

Luo hesitated for a moment, then took off his shirt.

The white lesions have spread to his chest and arms, and in some places the skin has begun to harden, feeling like rough tree bark.

Kureha stood up, walked over to Luo, and gently scraped the white spots with her fingernail.

She lifted his eyelids again to look at him, then placed her fingers on his wrist and closed her eyes.

The hall was so quiet that only the crackling of the burning wood in the fireplace could be heard.

A moment later, Kureha opened her eyes.

"You're lucky to be alive."

Luo lowered his head.

"Platinum lead poisoning has seeped into the bone marrow."

With the old woman's medical skills, she could only suppress or delay the symptoms, not cure the disease.