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Huff...
Huff...
Huff...
On Grove 1, the Fish-Man Lobster, the human Herman, and the Longleg Race Leg were running frantically.
They were still wearing the simple slave attire they had worn when they were slaves. Their knees, elbows, and palms were raw and bleeding from their previous servitude as mounts for the Celestial Dragons.
Suddenly, the trio encountered a group of Marines on the road, their hearts leaping in alarm!
The Marines were the Celestial Dragons' protective shield!
And they, once slaves of the Celestial Dragons, were now fugitives...
But the three quickly remembered that their collars, handcuffs, and leg irons were long gone. They were no longer slaves.
"Not long ago... a woman with flowing sleeves arrived at the entrance of the Slave Auction."
"The woman observed them for a moment. Suddenly, her tied-up hair broke free from its ribbon and cascaded down like a waterfall, dancing with a life of its own as it surged toward the collars around their necks and the chains on their wrists and ankles."
"Before they could even react, the long hair swiftly slipped into the keyholes, effortlessly unlocking the collars, handcuffs, and shackles one by one…"
"As the three of them stood there in a daze, staring at the fallen handcuffs, shackles, and collars, the woman murmured thoughtfully, "So that's how it is.""
"As if jolted awake from a dream, the three men looked up to see the woman who had freed them. Her waterfall of hair had spontaneously coiled back up, reassembling into its original bun and securing itself. Alone, she strode into the auction hall…"
...…
Liam's hands remained cuffed, his long black hair coiling itself up as if alive, gathering into a neat bun at the back of his head.
Rayleigh, himself a long-haired man, watched in astonishment, immediately recognizing the practical advantages Giorno's ability offered in daily life.
Since mastering Life Return, Liam no longer even needed hair ties; his hairstyle relied entirely on his hair's "self-awareness."
The auctioneer, however, stood frozen in shock. His stupefaction wasn't due to Giorno's "fully automatic hairstyle," but rather…
'What the hell is going on with these two?!'
'Is the Slave Collar... fake?'
'How did the old man just casually remove it like that?'
'And how did Giorno use his hair like a key to unlock the Slave Collar?!'
'This is a Slave Collar that can explode and kill people!'
'Why are Giorno and that old man acting like it's nothing?!'
'These two... doing this in front of everyone, they're practically destroying the slave trade's foundation!'
Witnessing this spectacle, the Slave Collar's credibility seemed to falter.
In the audience, some began to quietly slip away.
The smart ones had already realized that Giorno Giovanna hadn't been captured at all, this pirate had surrendered himself on purpose!
He didn't give a damn about the Slave Collar!
In the entrance tunnel, Robin, who was about to leave, suddenly stopped. With a subtle movement of her slender hand, one of her Flower Eyes silently bloomed beneath the eaves outside, revealing a swarm of marines sealing off the entire Slave Auction.
Meanwhile, on the stage in the main auction hall, Liam watched the departing guests with displeasure. "Leaving already? I haven't even introduced myself yet!"
'Who doesn't know you?!' the fleeing attendees cursed inwardly, lowering their heads and fleeing even faster.
Clang, clang! Liam raised his chained arms, the iron chains clanging loudly, and aimed at the ceiling with the same pose he had used against the Celestial Dragons earlier.
"Keep your dog eyes wide open," Liam grinned at Charlos, who was still staring at him with naive cluelessness. "I'll only demonstrate this once."
'What's he saying? I can't hear him from this far away…' Charlos tilted his head in confusion and turned to ask his father, only to realize he couldn't hear his own voice. 'Am I mute now?'
His father and younger sister stared ahead in shock as Giorno's raised hands unleashed a massive shockwave from the stage, erupting with an earth-shattering Bang that drowned out their and Charlos's dumbfounded muttering...
'This guy! He's coming for us?!' Behind Rozwald's sunglasses, bloodshot veins flared in his eyes.
Bang-!!!
The colossal shockwave ripped the entire roof off the Slave Auction hall.
The building shook violently, shuddering like an earthquake.
Even on the surrounding islands, the towering plume rising from Grove 1 was visible.
"A volcanic eruption?"
"Impossible! This is Tree Island! There's no volcano here!"
"But what is that...?"
Outside the auction hall, Marines stared upward in stunned silence. 'What's happening inside? Did someone blast the ceiling open with a giant-scale cannon?!'
Zephyr spat out his toothpick with a pfft, waved his massive hand, and grinned. "Move in!"
...
Robin rubbed her forehead, sighing inwardly. 'Just as I feared.'
The first to leave the banquet stumbled violently mid-stride, some even collapsing from the massive tremors behind them. Marines rushing in from behind caught them. "Are you alright? What's happening inside?"
"It's Giorno... it's all Giorno!" The survivors gripped the marines' arms, their voices trembling. "Stop him! Hurry!"
Others spotted the purple-haired powerhouse leading the marine charge. "It's Zephyr Admiral!" they shouted.
"Thank goodness! Zephyr Admiral, stop Giorno at once!"
'Admiral?' Robin, hiding nearby, was stunned.
Someone roared, "Giorno's going after the Celestial Dragons!"
The shouter immediately fled, while Zephyr led his subordinates toward the surging crowd. Suddenly, he stopped, turning his head sharply to the side.
Narrow eyes, gleaming faintly in the dim light, met Zephyr's gaze. B.I.B. stood motionless, arms crossed, the panicked crowd flowing through its incorporeal form without resistance.
...…
The host was so terrified he nearly shat himself, scrambling off the stage on his hands and knees.
'This is chaos! Utter chaos!'
'Giorno has lost his mind! To flaunt his power before the Celestial Dragons, he clearly doesn't value his life!'
'I'd better hide first!'
"What kind of ability is that?" Rayleigh asked in astonishment.
"Impact Fruit," Liam replied casually, dropping his hands. With a nonchalant flex, the chains binding his wrists and ankles snapped apart with a crack.
He glanced back and asked, "Interested? I could give it to you."
"Ah, better not!" Rayleigh waved his hands dismissively. "This old man still enjoys swimming too much."
Liam chuckled, raising his hand and making the same gesture toward the three Celestial Dragons in the VIP box.
"Daddy, what's he trying to do?" In the VIP box, among the family of three, only the snot-nosed Charlos remained oblivious.
Rozwald and Charloss, on the other hand, had wet themselves in terror. 'What does this pirate want?!'
'Insurrection! Insurrection! How dare this commoner disrespect the descendants of the gods?!'
"Giorno! You, " Rozwald stood up, bellowing, "Aren't you afraid of a Marine Admiral?!"
"Run, Papa!" Charloss, the Celestial Dragon girl, scrambled out of the VIP box.
"Afraid of a Marine Admiral..." Liam tilted his head, shockwaves gradually erupting from his palm, the flickering light casting his face into shadow, making it seem dark and indistinct. "What's it to you?"
BOOM!!!
A vast shockwave surged forward... Charlos finally realized what was happening, his face slowly blooming into an Enel-esque expression of terror.
A towering purple figure intercepted the shockwave, positioning itself between the Celestial Dragons and the blast.
Blackentwine coiled around his massive right arm. He slammed his fist into the shockwave.
BANG!
The shockwave shattered with a single punch!
Tremendous aftershocks radiated outward, shaking the already ceiling-less auction hall to its foundations, cracks spiderwebbing across the walls.
The Rozwald family, father, mother, and daughter, were hurled through the air by the force, tumbling head over heels before crashing to the ground, blood streaming from their battered heads.
Rozwald scrambled to his feet, bellowing, "Zephyr! Kill him! Kill them all immediately!"
"Zephyr?!"
"Is that a Marine Admiral?!"
The host, hiding at the edge of the stage, and the wealthy bidders who hadn't managed to escape yet, were jolted by Rozwald's shout.
'A Marine Admiral had been deployed?'
This was a major development!
Hearing the command, Zephyr lowered his massive, pitch-black fist and glanced back at the disheveled Rozwald and the two Celestial Dragon brats.
Rozwald roared, "They dared to attack Celestial Dragons! What are you waiting for?! Kill them now!"
"..." Zephyr remained silent, his gaze shifting to the stage where Giorno had just lowered his steaming hand.
Then, Zephyr's eyes slowly drifted to the silver-haired old man beside Giorno. His voice dropped to a grave tone. "'Dark King' Rayleigh... I never imagined you were truly hiding on the Sabaody Archipelago!"
"Black Arm" Zephyr," Rayleigh said, raising his hands and feet to snap the handcuffs and shackles. He chuckled, "I didn't expect... you hadn't retired yet!"
This simple exchange nearly paralyzed everyone who heard it with shock.
'What?'
'What King? What Leigh?'
'"Dark King" Rayleigh?'
'That... the Pirate King's right-hand man, Dark King Rayleigh?!'
The host, hiding at the edge of the stage, frantically clamped his hand over his mouth, desperate to stifle even the sound of his breathing. He wanted nothing more than to vanish into a crack in the floor, to disappear completely. That was "Dark King" Rayleigh!
'The legendary pirate!'
'How could he be mixed up with Giorno? Did Giorno actually know "Dark King" Rayleigh all along?!'
'Now even the Marine Admiral has arrived…'
'A clash between the Marine Admiral and "Dark King" Rayleigh?'
Many momentarily felt as if they'd stepped into one of those fabricated pirate tales from newspapers and magazines, a scene both absurd and terrifying!
'Run... Hurry…'
The fleeing crowd's eyes rolled back in their heads as they foamed at the mouth, collapsing to the ground with dull thuds. Pū Tōng... Pū Tōng... Pū Tōng...
At Zephyr's feet, Charlos lay foaming at the mouth, as if he'd overheard the Marine buffoon muttering something about "Eight Kings' Colors and Eight Kings' Auras"... Eight Kings' Colors... Just how colorful could that be...? Ugh, Charlos completely lost consciousness, collapsing onto his foaming father and younger sister.
"Haoshoku Haki?!"
The hastily arriving Marines were utterly shocked. Soon, someone recognized the silver-haired old man standing beside Giorno on the stage, that bastard was "Dark King" Rayleigh?!
How did Giorno get involved with this legend?!
"Take the others away," Zephyr ordered without turning around, his gaze fixed on Giorno and Rayleigh on the platform. Naturally, his attention was mainly focused on Rayleigh. "These two... leave them to me."
"Admiral Zephyr! That's 'Dark King'!" "And Giorno's with him..." "You're going to take them on alone?" These Marines had grown up hearing terrifying tales of the legendary Roger Pirates. They couldn't even begin to imagine, or dare to imagine, the true power of the "Pirate King's Right Hand." But they had no choice but to obey the Admiral's orders. They began carrying away the unconscious crowd, especially the three Celestial Dragons, and fled outside.
Rayleigh didn't try to stop them, merely smiled at Zephyr. "Taking on two opponents alone? Aren't you a bit too confident?"
"Hmph!" Zephyr scoffed. "You're just a washed-up old man now. Still clinging to that 'Pirate King's Right Hand' title?"
"The Pirate King is gone. What 'right hand' could there possibly be?" Rayleigh chuckled. "Besides, you're not getting any younger yourself, Zephyr!"
"Hold on a second, you two!" Liam interrupted the old men's conversation, instantly drawing their attention.
Liam pointed at Zephyr. "This Admiral I lured here by stirring up trouble..." He jabbed a thumb at himself. "He's mine, right?"
Soon, the auction house, already battered from two uses of the Impact Fruit's power, erupted in another series of earth-shattering bangs, as if two ancient behemoths were locked in mortal combat.
Bang!
Bang!
Each thunderous crash was accompanied by violent tremors, shaking the dilapidated building to its foundations.
"They're fighting?"
Robin glanced back, retrieved Vane from her backpack, pressed it against the wall, and whispered, "Color..."
The Den Den Mushi swiftly camouflaged itself, slithering up the wall, across a City Fortress tank tread, and vanishing from sight.
Behind her, the battle had erupted into its familiar "house-wrecking" rhythm. Robin blended into the crowd of Marines carrying the unconscious masses and bolted toward the exit.
Suddenly, Robin noticed that some of the Marines were carrying unconscious Celestial Dragons on their backs. More importantly, her Observation Haki sensed B.I.B. drifting toward them.
Snap! A pitch-black hand gripped the black battle armor's menacing claw.
B.I.B. turned to see Robin shaking her head at it.
'No biggie,' B.I.B. thought. 'If Sister Robin doesn't want me to say hi to the dear Celestial Dragons, then fine by me…'
"Go back and help your main body," Robin murmured as she ran. "I'll deal with the Marines outside."
B.I.B. nodded and vanished through the crowd like a phantom, heading back against the flow.
"Who are you talking to?" a running Marine noticed something amiss. "Wait, who is this woman?!"
Robin smiled faintly. She didn't even need to use Hana Jizai's heart-shattering or crushing techniques. With a single punch, she sent the Marine flying.
Though she rarely engaged in hand-to-hand combat, this didn't mean Robin lacked practical combat skills.
If she relied solely on her own training, a self-taught martial artist like Robin might only rank in the middle to lower tiers among the female warriors of Kuja Island.
However, she frequently wore Liam's B.I.B. armor. While armored, she could experience Liam's various powers, which greatly aided her training. As a result, despite her lack of formal martial arts training, Robin's combat prowess rivaled that of even the mid-to-upper tier warriors on Kuja Island, a place populated entirely by female warriors.
Against these relatively weak Marines, Robin didn't even need to use her Hana Jizai.
Still, when necessary, she would act. After knocking out the Marine who had recognized her identity, Robin slipped into the shadows, surveying the Marines surrounding the building and the reinforcements arriving in the distance. She took a deep breath, subtly raised her hand, and hundreds of flower petals silently appeared on the backs of the Marines, only to quickly drift away...
"What's happening to them?!"
Three Marine soldiers carrying the Celestial Dragons, a family of three, hurried forward. Glancing back, they were shocked to see their colleagues guarding the slaves... guarding the "Human Resources Agency," collapsing in droves like grass being scythed down.
"Put us down!" The Celestial Dragons on their backs had awakened. Rozwald barked, "Who authorized you to carry us? Lowly commoners are only fit to crawl on the ground and carry us!"
'How could this be happening...?' The three Marines endured the awakened Celestial Dragons' merciless beating and humiliation, punches and kicks from both the adult and the children. They hung their heads low, not even daring to clench their fists, fearing the Celestial Dragons' wrath if they were noticed.
"Filthy commoner! Filthy commoner!" Charlos's short legs kicked the Marine who was kneeling on the ground with his head in his hands. He was getting tired from the kicking, and snot was about to drip from his nose when suddenly a shadow completely enveloped him.
"Father... Elder Brother..." Charloss's voice trembled slightly.
Charlos and Rozwald looked up and saw a Fish-Man, a human, and a Longleg Race woman... their three former slaves!
The Fish-Man Lobster, the human Herman, and the Longleg Race woman Leg surrounded them, coldly glaring down at the three Celestial Dragons.
"Huh?" Completely oblivious, Charlos exclaimed happily, "I thought my slaves had run away..."
(End Of This Chapter)