Half a day ago.
Hiluluk, accompanied by two Alabasta elite soldiers, set off from a dock town to go inside the Aden Kingdom to investigate.
On the way, Hiluluk kept saying things to the two soldiers.
"Ah ha ha ha ha, the Aden Kingdom, the weather is really good!"
"Oh oh! The scenery is nice. It's different from Drum Island, it has a unique charm!"
"I wonder what special food they have here."
"Hey hey, look over there..."
"..."
Facing the two strange soldiers, Hiluluk acted very friendly, even to the point of being "noisy."
To this, the two young soldiers could only shake their heads and smile wryly, letting Hiluluk do as he pleased.
After all, who could dislike such a funny and kind doctor?
——Even though everyone calls him a "quack."
...
They followed the main road, continuing to go deeper into the Aden Kingdom.
It must be said that if you ignore the "unknown infectious disease" spreading in the country, the Aden Kingdom is actually a nice place in terms of scenery alone.
Unlike the snowy scenery of Drum Island, the exotic atmosphere of Sky Island, or the desert boldness of Alabasta.
The Aden Kingdom is filled with pleasant rural scenery.
Like the green wheat fields that can be seen everywhere, the simple houses built of white bricks, and even a few windmills that can be seen turning in the wind not far away.
The only drawback—
There is a lack of "life" here.
According to the old man, after the unknown infectious disease broke out, the Aden Kingdom's royal family immediately abandoned their country and went out to sea to escape.
Before they went to sea, they even destroyed all ships that could sail far, except for their own, under the pretext of "preventing people with ulterior motives from harming the world."
The residents of the Aden Kingdom could not go to sea for help, so they could only choose to stay at home, trying to delay time as much as possible through self-isolation, and then seek a way to cure the disease.
In their minds, they had contracted "highly contagious" Lead Poisoning.
Therefore, when the Four Seas Alliance loudly declared that it would send medical teams to help Lead Poisoning patients in the North Sea, they finally saw hope.
They waited and waited, and finally the Four Seas Alliance's ship docked.
And so, that's how the scene from the beginning happened.
...
As the journey continued.
Soon, the three became familiar with each other, and the topics of conversation became more in-depth.
One soldier asked curiously, "Mr. Hiluluk, I heard that you hope to invent a 'cure-all' medicine that can cure everything?"
Hiluluk smiled and nodded, "Yes, and I've made a lot of progress recently!"
"A cure-all medicine? That can't exist, right?"
The other soldier seemed a little incredulous.
"If you were using a metaphor, we could understand, like you could become a great doctor who can cure all diseases, but..."
The soldier paused, "Even an amateur like me knows that every disease has a different cause, and the treatments will be different. How can there be one medicine that can cure everything?"
Hearing these words, Hiluluk suddenly moved closer to the soldier, staring at him with his eyes, making the other person feel uneasy.
Oh no, I think I... offended the doctor?
But then, Hiluluk laughed and patted him on the shoulder, comforting him, "Don't worry, I've heard words like that too many times. I'm used to it!"
The soldier breathed a sigh of relief.
But Hiluluk changed the subject and emphasized, "But I still have to say, you're wrong!"
The soldier scratched his head, looking confused.
Hiluluk pointed to the "beautiful" but "desolate" scenery in front of him and slowly said, "Let me ask you, what do you think is the 'disease' in this country?"
The soldier shook his head, looking embarrassed, "Um... I don't understand medicine. I can't tell."
"No, you should be able to tell."
Hiluluk narrowed his eyes and explained, "Because this 'country' itself is sick!"
"Huh?"
The two soldiers were even more confused when they heard this.
Hiluluk continued, "Imagine if this infectious disease broke out in the Four Seas Alliance—or even in Alabasta, what would happen?"
The soldiers thought for a while and replied, "No matter what, Great Ancestor and King Cobra would never run away in the face of danger, right?"
"That's right, because that's the kind of people they are."
Hiluluk asked again, "If the emperor and king are like that, what about the officials? Would they run away?"
The soldier confidently replied, "No, Igaram, Bell, Chaka, and everyone in the guard would never abandon their country!"
"Next question."
Hiluluk slowly said, "If—I mean if, Mr. Rowan took the royal family away as quickly as possible, what would you think?"
The two soldiers thought for a moment and answered almost simultaneously:
"We would choose to trust them!"
"Yes, that's right."
Hiluluk nodded and said, "Faced with an unknown disease, choosing to fight head-on might be reckless, but at the very least, the rulers should not abandon their country, and the people of this country should also have the confidence to believe that they will not be abandoned!"
"But now, look at this place..."
Hiluluk looked around, and the vast rural scenery was empty.
He frowned and said:
"In the Aden Kingdom, the royal family ran away, and the surviving civilians chose to stay at home, waiting for help from the outside world!"
Hiluluk's fist gradually clenched.
"This country itself is sick!"
He pointed to his chest—the location of his heart.
"This place is sick."
After saying this, the originally lively trio fell into a brief silence.
The two soldiers were thinking about Hiluluk's words, and they seemed to finally understand why the man in front of them, despite lacking medical skills, could get along so well with Kureha, who was so skilled in medicine.
Just as Hiluluk said, what he wanted to heal was people's "hearts."
...
The three continued to move forward and finally arrived at a sizeable city in the evening.
In the city, traces of life could still be seen, but it was still empty.
"Ah, it seems we're going to have to sleep on the streets tonight, or just spend the night outside the city?"
Even though there were people inside the houses, none of the three planned on knocking on the door. After all, it was best to be cautious in a country where an infectious disease was spreading.
The three planned to take a walk around the city, slowly searching while investigating.
If there was no suitable place, they would go outside the city to find a hidden corner to rest.
However, just as they turned a street corner, they saw a scene they had never expected—
A group of people were clustered together, kneeling on the ground, rustling.
One soldier couldn't help but be curious.
"What are they doing? Eating something?"
"Something's not right. Stay alert!"
The other soldier gripped the sword hilt at his waist and slowly stepped forward.
But before he could take a few steps, Hiluluk suddenly saw the shadows on the ground.
Above, there were obvious unnatural bulges, as if countless stones were attached to those people, making them look bumpy all over.
"Run..."
Hiluluk suddenly said.
The two soldiers hadn't reacted yet.
Hiluluk looked up and saw that the eyes of those "people" had turned to the three of them.
They've been discovered!
He said even louder, "Run!"
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