172 172- Drum Island

Another whole day had passed and now in front of Ethan's eyes was a very familiar island.

Drum Island is an extremely snowy country, with absolutely freezing temperatures that can be felt even from the surrounding seas.

There's a river that cuts deep into the island and where a waterfall of snow flows into.

The country features a series of drum shaped mountains known as the Drum Rockies.

Contrary to the original story, they were not surrounded by the people of the country armed with guns.

'That's weird, are they afraid of our fame.' Ethan looked around and didn't find a single person.

Everyone was wearing winter clothes in different colors according to their favorite color, and Clara was the one who made these clothes.

Lucy wore a red winter jacket with black lining and black gloves, and also wore black shoes instead of the usual sandals.

Ethan wears the same clothes as Lucy, but only in black.

Sora is wearing a crisp white jacket with white shoes and a white small bag, and she is currently sitting on the back of the tigress, apparently using the tigress to move around a lot lately.

The rest of the girls wear jackets of different colors. (For curious people: Nami and Mikita are wearing a yellow jacket, Ann is wearing a cyan jacket, Nojiko is wearing a blue jacket, Zora is wearing a green jacket, Kuina is wearing a dark blue jacket, Sanju is wearing a black jacket, Alvida is wearing a pink jacket, Clara is wearing a gray jacket, Hailey is wearing a purple jacket, Desire is wearing a brown jacket, and Kaya is wearing a white jacket, Makino is wearing an orange jacket and Carmine is wearing a scarlet jacket.)

"We don't know how long it will take for the log pose to reset so we will go to the nearest village to inquire. If the reset takes too long we should buy an eternity pose for Alabasta" the girls nodded upon hearing Ethan and then the group began walking together to the nearest village.

After a while of walking, Ethan and the girls arrived at Bighorn Town.

Most of the houses in Bighorn are cylindrical and feature roofs with an unique conical shape.

Ethan was surprised when he saw that some houses were dilapidated and there were many civilians lying on the ground, half of their bodies covered in snow.

"Girls, look for any survivors." Ethan frowned because this was a completely unexpected event but after a while his expression relaxed, 'Maybe Wapol got here before us.'

Ethan and the girls disperse to search for survivors and find many of them, and Kaya begins to treat them.

Among the survivors, Ethan recognized one of them.

Dalton is a former Royal Guard who once served under Wapol.

Dalton is an imposing tall man, with slicked black hair and a goatee. He wears a long, white fur-lined green tunic and has armor plates on his arms and he wears long boots.

He carries his weapon, an extra-large spade, in a sheath that hangs on his back.

"Hi, my name is Ethan, can you tell me what happened here?" Ethan patted Dalton on the shoulder and then sat down in front of him.

Dalton looked at Ethan gratefully and then told him what had happened.

As Ethan predicted, Wapol was the one who caused all this.

"Dalton-san, let's make a deal." The corner of Ethan's lips rose to form a smile as he stood.

Dalton also stood up and looked at Ethan seriously, "What kind of deal are you talking about?"

"Simple, I will liberate this kingdom from the cruel king and make the citizens of this island appoint a new king." Dalton kept looking at Ethan without speaking and wanted him to continue talking and mention his conditions for help.

The smile disappeared on Ethan's face and he looked at Dalton seriously. "In return, I want this island to be part of my territory. I will protect this island and in return you will do everything I want from you."

"I am grateful that you saved my life and civilians but excuse me for saying this. Words would be useless if you didn't have enough power to apply them, so please let me test your strength myself." Dalton transforms into his bison-human hybrid form that resembles a minotaur.

Then Dalton rushed towards Ethan at great speed, and as soon as he got close, Ethan grabbed him by the head and stopped him from moving.

Dalton tried to retreat or move, but he couldn't, which made him feel shocked. Then he grabbed Ethan's hand with both hands and tried to move it away from his head, but he couldn't move it an inch. 'How can someone have that much strength?'

Ethan noticed that Dalton still wanted to resist, which made him smile sarcastically and then began pressing Dalton's head so hard that he screamed in pain.

After a few seconds, Ethan let go of Dalton's head and said sarcastically, "I think that proves my strength."

Dalton fell to his knees on the floor as he returned to human form and then looked at Ethan at each other while breathing rough, "Before I accept your deal, can you tell me what you mean by making us do everything you want?"

Ethan looked at Dalton indifferently. "Are you an idiot, everything means everything. Even if I tell you to throw yourself into the fire you should do so. Although I wouldn't make such ridiculous and worthless requests."

When Dalton looked at Ethan he felt a great pressure crushing his body which made his body sweat profusely despite the very cold weather.

Dalton begins to feel that this situation is similar to entering the mouth of the dragon to escape the lion, but it seems that he can not get out anymore so he agreed to make this deal with Ethan.

Kuina looked at this and then said in astonishment, "This is completely different from the deal Ethan made with Vivi."

"The reason is very simple." Zora said sarcastically.

"what is the reason?" Carmen asked curiously.

"Because Vivi is a girl and Dalton is a man." Nami sighed while looking at Vivi, who didn't notice what happened while helping Kaya treat civilians.

"I bet if Dalton was a female, Ethan wouldn't act like that." Alvida let out a chuckle.

After Ethan finished talking to Dalton, he walked over to the girls and smiled, "Girls, I'll go kill the king and be back in a few minutes."

"I'll go with you. It's boring to stay here." Lucy hugged Ethan from behind while wrapping her rubbery hands and feet around him and tightly clinging to him.

"Daddy, Sora will go with you too." Sora rides on the back of the tigress and then makes her follow Ethan.