Dong…
Dong…
Dong…
From atop the stone towers of the mysterious city on the giant elephant's back, a series of bell chimes rang out.
"The welcome bell is ringing?"
"Oh my, are there visitors…?"
"How unexpected…"
In the ancient city streets under the night sky, pairs of beast-like eyes glimmered faintly as they turned toward the source of the bell on the city wall.
Outside the city, on the moss-covered back of the elephant, the flower clone murmured, "So I've been discovered…"
That furry figure just now, could it be…?
Thinking this, her upper body braced against the mossy "ground" as if climbing out of a pool. Her full form emerged from the petals at her waist.
With a wave of her hand, petals gathered beside her and formed a head, Liam's head.
Naturally, Robin assumed Liam didn't know there was a city on the elephant's back, so she used her Hana-Hana Fruit to create a clone of his head to "bring him along" to see.
But since she controlled the clone herself, instead of splitting her attention between controlling both her own clone and Liam's, she chose a simpler way, just creating his head.
The flower clone bent down, picked up the head, and held it in her arms. This way, she didn't have to control it, yet could still "bring him along" to look.
Holding the head up toward the city, she asked, "How's the view?"
Through the clone's eyes, Liam could indeed see the Mink Tribe's city walls, but he couldn't control the clone to answer…
Idiot, you can just answer me with your real body, Robin's true self, still in his arms below, thought with a suppressed smile.
While splitting his attention between what the clone's eyes saw and his own movement, Liam carried Robin upward along the elephant's leg using Geppo.
…
Meanwhile, the flower clone on the elephant's back simply walked toward the mysterious ancient city, holding a human head in her arms.
As she approached, the furry figure ringing the bell atop the stone tower saw a woman carrying a severed head and immediately broke into a cold sweat. The rhythm of the bell suddenly changed.
DANG DANG DANG DANG… DANG DANG DANG DANG…!!!
The bell became rapid and urgent, filled with tension like a storm. The beast-like eyes in the city widened in shock.
"The bell changed? What's going on…?"
"That's the alarm bell for an enemy attack!"
"No wonder you don't recognize it, it hasn't rung in a long time…"
At the same time, deep within a dense forest on the other side of the city, a pair of resting vertical pupils suddenly snapped open, revealing a wild and unruly gleam. A wide mouth full of sharp teeth curled into a grin.
"So… we've got 'guests'? How interesting! Nyahaha!!"
Before his subordinates could react, he had already turned into a massive black shadow, leaping out from the treetop dwellings and rushing toward the sound of the bell.
…
Outside the city wall, the flower clone holding Liam's head leapt high, grabbed onto an arm-shaped protrusion growing from the wall, and in just a few movements scaled to the top.
"This is…"
Standing atop the wall, the entire city spread out beneath the pale moonlight, crisscrossing streets and houses filled with glowing, beast-like eyes, many of them fixed in her direction…
And directly ahead, a large figure was rapidly charging toward her!
Wherever that figure passed, the city's inhabitants showed expressions of relief, as if their guardian had arrived.
"Let me see who's got the nerve to come here, !!"
The charging figure was incredibly fast. In an instant, the flower clone on the wall saw him clearly under the moonlight, and couldn't help but feel a bit surprised.
Nekomamushi lunged aggressively toward the top of the wall, but the human woman suddenly leapt backward, jumping off the wall.
"Trying to run? Hehe…"
Instead of anger, Nekomamushi felt excitement, the feline instinct to toy with prey kicking in.
But when he reached the wall and saw the woman hurriedly running toward the edge of the elephant's back, she glanced back at him once, then, without hesitation, jumped off.
Nekomamushi stood at the top of the wall, a question mark practically popping above his head, utterly bewildered.
"They didn't even fight, why did that woman just jump into the sea like suicide… Humans these days are getting stranger and stranger!"
"But… that woman, and the head she was holding… I feel like I've seen those faces somewhere before…"
As Nekomamushi returned to the city, someone nearby suddenly shouted, "Daxi is gone again!"
"She wouldn't have, " the others exchanged looks, "gone to jump into the sea again, right?"
Members of the Musketeer squad who rushed over immediately felt a headache coming on. The lion mink leading them grumbled irritably, "This is why I hate dealing with kids!"
…
After the flower clone leapt off, it scattered into petals midair, dissolving into the fog.
Far below, tap, tap sounds echoed as Liam carried Robin, stepping against the elephant's body and leaping upward again and again.
In his arms, Robin murmured in shock, "It's the Mink Tribe… I never imagined their country would be on the back of such a giant elephant! The Mink Tribe is said to have a history of over a thousand years…
"Which means… this mountain-like elephant has lived for at least a thousand years?!"
The giant elephant was like a living piece of history itself; no wonder Robin was so astonished.
Liam said curiously, "Only a thousand years?"
Robin replied, "According to recorded historical documents, the earliest confirmed appearance of the Mink Tribe dates back a thousand years. Anything earlier is either lost or too vague to verify; there's no reliable trace of them before that."
"A thousand-year-old city… there should be plenty of historical artifacts there that interest you," Liam said with a smile.
Suddenly, he looked up and saw a figure falling from above.
Whoosh!
The figure shot past Liam, who dodged instinctively.
"Ahhh, ..."
The scream rose and fell, quickly vanishing into the fog and sea below.
"What was that?" Liam, still holding Robin, clung to the elephant's rough surface and looked down.
"I thought it was someone covered in blood and stabbed full of blades…" Robin muttered, "but it looked like a Mink."
The black armor flew over. Liam gestured to it, and B.I.B. immediately turned and dove downward in pursuit.
"You're not an ability user right now," Robin said. "You could've gone down to save them yourself."
"I just want to hold you a bit longer," Liam replied.
Robin smiled lightly in his arms.
"Looks like other minks are going to rescue them…" Liam glanced upward. "Let's keep going."
With that, he pushed off the elephant's body and continued leaping upward with Robin in his arms. Through the fog, they saw a lion-like figure rapidly descending along the elephant's body.
The lion mink, Sicilian, caught sight of the two figures stepping through the air and was startled. Could those humans fly?
But he was in a hurry to save someone, so he sped up his descent.
…
The black armor silently plunged into the sea. Its faintly glowing eyes streaked through the dim water.
Visibility was poor, but that wasn't a problem; it used Kenbunshoku Haki to locate its target.
Even from a brief glimpse, it had already memorized that presence. There was no mistaking it for a sea beast.
Soon, B.I.B. found the mink drifting in the water like a lifeless fish…
It was a small cat mink, just a child.
Not moving… was it a Devil Fruit user?
As the Stand drew closer, it instinctively sensed it, there was indeed a Devil Fruit "chip" inside the child.
Just as it was about to extract the ability using its left arm, it noticed something,
The little cat mink blinked its bright, watery eyes, fluttering in the sea as it stared at it.
It could see it?
B.I.B. was surprised, though not overly so. The Mink Tribe was known as a warrior race, even children were born fighters. Being able to sense its presence wasn't too shocking.
What truly surprised it was,
The little cat wasn't drowning at all!
"Who… are you?"
The cat mink child actually spoke underwater, words slurred with a childish lisp…
(End Of This Chapter)
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