"So you've been thinking about this since all those years ago?"
Robin didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Was that really necessary?"
Liam burst out laughing, clutching his stomach. "Don't you think… when they eventually realize that the Shichibukai they recruited is actually the 'Devil Child' they've been desperate to erase from the world, their expressions will be priceless? Hahaha…"
Robin pressed a hand to her forehead and sighed softly. "I thought you just wanted the identity of 'Nico Robin' to disappear in the eyes of the Marines…"
Liam kept laughing to himself, not even hearing her mutter.
"…" Robin looked at him, such a childish guy… But had he never even considered making the dangerous "Devil Child, Nico Robin" truly vanish from the world?
She smiled faintly, then pulled him along into the Den Den Mushi castle.
Inside the small boat's cabin, only the vane on the table remained, along with the black armor calmly steering through the stormy New World seas…
Puchi, even B.I.B. chuckled.
......
Marineford, Marine Headquarters,
In the corridor, startled shouts from Marines rang out: "Vice Admiral Garp, why are you lying here?!"
Pop!
Garp's snot bubble burst. He sat up, scratching his head, looking confused. "Why am I sleeping here? How strange… Ah, whatever, time for breakfast."
"That's way too indifferent, isn't it?!" Several Marines exclaimed in disbelief as they watched the Hero of the Marines swagger off.
Meanwhile, in the Admiral's office, Sengoku, who had thrown Garp out earlier that morning to wake him up, hung up the Den Den Mushi and sat behind his desk with arms crossed, deep in thought.
Perhaps after some time, once the Celestial Dragons' incident had settled down, they could send someone to make contact with the JoJo Pirates first…
The Shichibukai roster had vacancies for too long, it couldn't go on like this!
It seemed Giorno and the others had fallen out with Whitebeard… And on the Shichibukai side, the one who replaced Haiyna was Empress Boa Hancock, who had a close relationship with the two of them. They probably wouldn't refuse to stand on the same side as Hancock…
The Buddha-like Admiral thought of that national treasure, an almost monstrous beauty, the eternally youthful Kuja Empress…
Her already domineering and overwhelming beauty had been further amplified by the Medusa Fruit, elevating it to an almost tyrannical level. It made people afraid to stay near that Snake Princess for too long, who knew when they might fall under her bewitching charm…
Even brief contact had such an effect. Having spent so much time with her, Jolyne Cujoh and Giorno Giovanna were probably already completely captivated by that overbearing Empress…
Sengoku felt mentally exhausted; as he thought, his mind began to wander…
......
New World, somewhere on the sea,
A violent storm raged between heaven and earth. The black ocean surged with towering waves. A web-like flash of lightning suddenly appeared in a corner of the gloomy sky, followed seconds later by a thunderous explosion…
The lightning illuminated a small boat, looking pitifully isolated and helpless as it was tossed upon the raging sea.
Inside the cabin, the Den Den Mushi castle on the table remained unmoved, sleeping soundly.
The invisible black armor steadily held the helm, turning it according to the instructions of a woman nearby, full left, then full right… If it were an ordinary helmsman under such extreme conditions, they would already be in chaos, their arms too exhausted to lift. But it remained calm as ever, turning wherever Robin directed,
"What is going on with this sea?" Robin stared at the Log Pose Marco had given them. All three needles were shaking violently. "The magnetic field isn't stable for even a moment…"
At that moment, the left needle suddenly began spinning in circles…
The right one was even worse, it simply stopped, as if the island it had been pointing to had suddenly lost its magnetic pull entirely…
All the navigation skills Robin had learned before seemed useless on this sea.
"So this is the New World…"
On the table, inside the Den Den Mushi that was dozing in the rocking cabin, lay a castle city remodeled over years into the most comfortable living space for the two of them. At that moment, in the living room on the lowest floor of the castle, Robin, wearing a white shirt and shorts, her long fair legs crossed, sat on the sofa, staring solemnly at the Log Pose in her hand, murmuring to herself.
The one outside cooperating with B.I.B. to sail was naturally just one of her flower clones.
The Flower-Flower Fruit's clones, like the Castle-Castle Fruit, extended across her body, so naturally, even the items she held, like the Log Pose, were replicated along with her.
Liam sat on the carpet nearby, opening one eye as he teased, "Need me to switch to the Magnet-Magnet Fruit to help?"
Robin bit her lip, seemingly unwilling to admit defeat. "I can still manage… barely."
Liam did, in fact, have something to do.
Because of Marco's matter, he had left Sabaody Archipelago ahead of time and never even made it to Fish-Man Island… Only now did he finally have the chance to settle down and properly digest everything he had experienced during this period.
His sparring with his Stand and Rayleigh, and most importantly, the new technique he had learned: how to use Ryuo (Flowing Sakura)…
Liam sat cross-legged on the carpet, eyes closed in contemplation.
In his hands, streams of Haki would occasionally and naturally flow into existence…
Ryuo (Flowing Sakura) was merely a technique for using Haki.
A realization dawned in Liam's mind: technique was still just technique!
If one became too obsessed with technique, it would be putting the cart before the horse. Haki, at its core, was about refining and strengthening Haki itself!
Could a novice's Ryuo (Flowing Sakura) defeat a Yonko's hardened Haki?
Busoshoku Haki (Armament Haki)… at its most fundamental, most essential, and most unadorned level, came down to a single word, hardness!
No matter how well Ryuo (Flowing Sakura) was practiced, it wouldn't improve the quality of one's Armament Haki.
When facing an opponent like Kaido, whose defenses were nearly impenetrable, then Ryuo (Flowing Sakura) could be considered as a specialized counter… With that thought, Liam settled on a plan: in normal combat, he would still rely primarily on standard Armament Haki hardening.
As for a technique like Ryuo (Flowing Sakura), it was simply a matter of knowing it or not. Since he already knew it, all he needed was to maintain familiarity so he wouldn't forget it when the time came.
Then there was the battle with Whitebeard…
As expected of a "top-tier contender" who once rivaled Roger, the leader of the Rocks Pirates…
The sheer strength of Whitebeard's Haki after regaining his health left an indelible impression on Liam.
That alone made the trip to the Moby Dick worthwhile.
As for whether Blackbeard lived or died, that was the least important matter of all…
......
The seas of the New World truly had insane weather. Because the magnetic fields of some islands were unstable, or even vanished at times, the resulting chain reactions made the climate far more erratic than in the first half of the Grand Line.
No wonder the first half was called "Paradise"… it wasn't just because the second half was ruled by more terrifying pirates. The climate alone was completely different.
Liam and the others' new small boat drifted for an entire day and night through wildly shifting conditions, violent storms, torrential rain, blizzards, hail, scorching sun, raging winds… yet they still hadn't found a single island.
Robin was a polymath, but she couldn't compare to someone like Nami, who could instinctively sense weather changes.
And Liam was even worse, he didn't understand navigation at all.
That night, inside the Den Den Mushi castle, in the bedroom,
Exhausted in both body and mind, Robin slept soundly on her side, her head resting on a sturdy arm.
Liam held her in his arms, snoring away, when he suddenly felt someone tapping his head. He jolted awake, only to see his Stand, B.I.B., right in front of him.
B.I.B. pointed outside and said: Looks like thanks to the fact that neither of you knows how to sail in the New World… you've accidentally run into something interesting.
(End Of This Chapter)
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