Chapter 134

Dalton fills Vivi and Usopp in on the man who recently menaced them: Wapol once ruled this country. Rather than shield his subjects when Blackbeard's crew struck, he bolted with the national army and posed as a pirate to slip away. Vivi struggles to accept a monarch capable of such betrayal. Far worse, the deposed ruler now sits within sight of his old shores, intent on seizing power again.

Higher up the slopes, Luffy hauls the feverish Nami while Sanji walks alongside, the two trading talk until a young lapahn ambushes them. Sanji dispatches the cub with ease, only for a wall of full-grown lapahns to block their path. Elsewhere, the island's single doctor, Kureha, has descended to a nearby settlement, where she treats a gravely ill boy. The locals balk at her blunt manner and steep charges, until her swift, exact diagnosis silences every doubt.

Dalton confirms that Wapol fled Drum Island the moment the Blackbeard Pirates attacked. Vivi lets slip that she encountered Wapol earlier at the Levely, a gathering of monarchs, which nearly betrays her royal background to Dalton before she steers the talk away. Kureha, the realm's only practicing physician, is shown at work, accompanied by a reindeer assistant later identified as Tony Tony Chopper.

The cover continues the Jango's Dance Paradise serial with a side piece on Kaya, who has taken up medical training and is thriving as a doctor's apprentice. Tamanegi, Ninjin, and Piiman, no longer playing at piracy, make a daily habit of walking her safely through town. The installment plants the first glimpse of Chopper at Kureha's side without yet naming him.