Both Law and Rosinante knew exactly how powerful Vergo was.
After all, not long ago they had both been brutally beaten by those jet-black, Haki-covered fists of his.
Yet before either of them even had time to worry about Giorno, he had already reached out and...
'Smack!'
...casually caught Vergo's incoming punch.
'What?!'
Vergo was stunned. His fist was coated in Armament Haki tempered through countless battles. And Giorno had stopped it so effortlessly?
"Full-body Armament Haki. Pretty impressive."
Liam gripped Vergo's blackened fist. A layer of Haki wrapped around his own hand as well.
"But I'm stronger."
'Bang!'
Vergo's eyes lost focus. His fist was still trapped in Liam's grip, but his body violently folded forward as Liam's other fist slammed into his abdomen. The blow felt as though it had nearly punched straight through his body, and the pain was so intense that he almost lost consciousness.
'This man's... Armament Haki...'
Vergo's heart sank. In that instant, he understood. Giorno's Armament Haki was on an entirely different level from his own.
Gritting his teeth, he swung a leg upward, coating it in Haki as he kicked toward Giorno's neck.
Liam neither dodged nor retreated. Instead, moving later but arriving first, he raised his own Haki-coated leg.
'BOOM!'
The two blackened legs collided head-on.
'Crack... Crack...'
The corner of Vergo's eye twitched. An intense pain shot through his body like lightning.
The bone in his leg... had cracked.
'This man's strength...'
Roaring, Vergo forced himself to continue the clash despite the fractured bone. In the end, Liam casually kicked him away. He rolled across the snow and came to a stop face-down, his sunglasses reflecting Giorno's approaching footsteps.
'This man's strength...'
In the reflection of his lenses, the approaching foot suddenly drew back. A layer of black Haki covered it. Then, it shot forward.
'BANG!'
Vergo barely managed to raise an arm to block. Even so, he was kicked high into the air.
'This man's strength...'
But before he had even traveled several meters, a sharp 'whoosh' sounded behind him. Giorno's speed was absurd. Once again, he moved later yet arrived first, intercepting Vergo in midair. Grabbing the Marine spy by his mushroom-shaped hairstyle, Liam slammed him straight back toward the ground.
'BOOOOM!!!'
The Haki-covered Vergo smashed into the snowy earth, creating a giant crater webbed with cracks. He coughed up a mouthful of blood and staggered to his feet. Pulling out his signature bamboo staff, he looked up grimly.
'His strength is far beyond what I estimated...!'
"Where are you looking?"
Liam's voice suddenly came from behind him.
'What?!' Vergo's heart lurched.
Instantly coating his bamboo staff with Armament Haki, he swung it backward with all his strength. The blackened staff tore through the air with a shriek.
It hit nothing.
"I don't have time to play with you."
Liam's voice sounded once again, from the direction that had been in front of him just a moment ago.
Vergo swung again.
'BANG!'
This time, the Haki-coated staff struck Giorno directly in the neck. Yet Giorno did not move even an inch. The black bamboo staff pressed down against Liam's Haki-covered neck.
Then...
'Crack!'
The staff snapped in half.
At that same moment, Liam spread his fingers and placed a hand over Vergo's face.
"Rokuogan."
...
'BOOOOM!'
A thunderous shockwave exploded. Snowflakes burst into the air before gradually settling back down.
"Ugh... ugh..."
Vergo's eyes rolled back. Even though he had desperately reinforced his face with Armament Haki, his head was now split open and covered in blood. His body went limp, and he began to collapse in front of Liam.
Yet somehow, he forced himself upright again, roaring as he threw another Haki-coated punch toward Liam's head.
Liam merely tilted his head slightly. The blackened fist brushed past his hair.
'BANG!'
Liam drove a knee into Vergo's chest and abdomen. Vergo's pupils lost focus as another mouthful of blood sprayed from his lips.
'Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!'
For several seconds, Liam treated Vergo like a training dummy. His fists and kicks blurred into afterimages, and blood flew everywhere as Vergo was battered mercilessly.
Finally, Vergo collapsed. Covered in wounds, he lost consciousness, blood flowing from his body to stain the snow beneath him red.
"Phew..." Liam exhaled. "That was a decent warm-up."
Turning around, he found Law sitting in the floating treasure chest beside Robin, while Rosinante stood nearby. Both wore exactly the same dumbfounded expression.
The sight of Vergo, a man they considered overwhelmingly powerful, being completely dominated without the slightest chance to fight back had shattered their understanding of strength.
Naturally, Rosinante was even more shocked than Law. He had known that Giorno, whose bounty had once reached '400 million Berries', was powerful. But witnessing it in person was entirely different. Only now did he truly understand just how terrifying this pirate was.
'If someone like him were a Marine... At the very least he'd be a Headquarters Vice Admiral. Maybe he'd even be on the level of Admiral candidates like Aokiji, Kizaru, or Akainu, with a title of his own!'
"If there's nothing else, we'll be leaving." Liam brushed dust from his clothes and casually pointed toward a direction outside the Birdcage. "The Marines' battleship is over there. Since you're a Marine, go find your people."
Law suddenly felt a sensation of weightlessness.
'Thud!'
The floating chest he was in hit the ground with a jolt as Giorno released his control and walked past them.
Robin looked at the dazed boy suffering from Amber Lead Syndrome and said, "Goodbye." She turned and followed after Liam.
But then Law shouted from behind them, "But, there's no way out anymore!!"
Liam and Robin looked back.
Law scrambled out of the chest and spread his arms wide, pointing anxiously at the gigantic cage covering the sky and the entire island. "Corazon said this was created by Doflamingo! He wants the Op-Op Fruit that Corazon made me eat. Unless he gets it, he won't remove this cage or let us leave!!"
"Idiot! Don't tell them that!" Rosinante shouted.
Then he sighed. Letting someone who could steal Devil Fruit abilities know that Law possessed the Op-Op Fruit? That was terrible.
And just as Rosinante expected, Giorno immediately turned around and walked back toward Law.
"Giorno." Rosinante bit down on his cigarette and stepped in front of Law protectively. "The Op-Op Fruit is extremely important to Law. He's suffering from Amber Lead Syndrome."
Law didn't understand why Corazon was saying that. Then he watched Giorno casually shove Rosinante aside with one hand. Already heavily injured and exhausted, Rosinante staggered several steps before collapsing into the snow.
"Hey! What are you doing?!" Law shouted.
But in the next instant, he froze.
Giorno's left arm had plunged directly into his chest, right into his body.
'Am I going to die?'
Seeing the blank, stunned look on the afflicted boy's face, Robin couldn't help remembering her own first meeting with Liam years ago.
He was still the same. No warning. No explanation. Just casually sticking his hand into someone else's body. Anyone would be terrified.
Rosinante was certainly terrified.
"What are you doing?!" he roared.
Then he saw Giorno calmly withdraw his hand from Law's body without causing any injury. Rosinante shuddered. Although Giorno's hand appeared empty, it looked as though he were holding something invisible.
'The Op-Op Fruit's ability...?'
"Cough! Cough!"
Suddenly, Law began coughing violently. His breathing became difficult. Dropping to his knees, he spat out blood.
Rosinante's face changed. Had Giorno stolen Law's Op-Op Fruit and injured him?
Robin knelt beside Law and supported him. She examined his sweating, white-spotted face and gently patted his back. "Don't worry. This isn't because of Giorno." She sighed. "His Amber Lead Syndrome is acting up."
Only then did Rosinante realize he had misunderstood.
'Misunderstood my ass!' Giorno had absolutely taken Law's Op-Op Fruit!
"Haa... haa..." Law knelt on the ground, drenched in sweat and struggling to breathe.
Rosinante clenched his teeth. Looking ready to fight to the death, he glared at Liam. "Give the Op-Op Fruit back to him!"
"The Op-Op Fruit, as its name suggests..." Liam completely ignored him. Instead, he nodded toward the Black Battle Armor standing nearby with only one arm remaining.
B.I.B. handed over the Op-Op Fruit chip it had extracted from Law.
"The user can create an operating space that is entirely under their control."
'Operating space?' Rosinante was thoroughly confused. What exactly was this man trying to do?
Liam removed his own Magnet-Magnet Fruit chip from beneath his armored left arm, and B.I.B. inserted the Op-Op Fruit chip into his body. Once the swap was complete, he finished speaking.
After adapting for a couple of seconds, Liam opened his palm. A small vortex of air spun beneath it.
"ROOM..."
He clenched his hand. Immediately, a faintly visible hemispherical field expanded outward. A sphere roughly ten meters in radius enveloped the area around them.
"Inside this operating space, the user becomes the surgeon," Liam smiled. "And they can freely manipulate anything within it."
As he spoke, he casually flicked a finger toward the kneeling Law.
'Biu!'
Law vanished.
Rosinante was shocked. Then he heard a weak cry from overhead. Five meters in the air, Law was falling. But before he could even drop half a meter...
'Biu!'
He vanished again, reappearing seven meters away in midair.
'Biu! Biu! Biu!'
Liam waved his finger around like a conductor. Law repeatedly blinked in and out of existence throughout the sky, his weak cries echoing from different directions and heights.
"That's enough!" Rosinante shouted anxiously. "We get what you're trying to explain! Put him down already!"
"Huh?" Liam tilted his head. "He looks like he's having fun."
Rosinante roared, "You're the one having fun!"
Robin sighed and lightly chopped Liam on the shoulder with the side of her hand. Shrugging, Liam crossed two fingers.
'Biu!'
Law reappeared on the ground. His eyes were unfocused, his breathing was ragged, and he looked completely traumatized.
Rosinante swallowed. "So... with this ability, you can escape Doffy's cage."
"Not only that," Liam grinned. "There's something even more interesting. It's not limited to exchanging positions in space. It can also work on the level of souls."
'Souls?'
Not only Law and Rosinante, but even Robin looked puzzled.
"Cough... cough..."
A coughing sound suddenly came from nearby. Then, a hoarse voice spoke up.
"Giorno... someone as powerful as you... why are you here?"
Robin turned. Vergo had somehow climbed back to his feet from the pool of blood. His body was covered in wounds.
Breathing heavily, he said coldly, "Don't tell me the Marines hired you specifically to deal with Doffy. If that's the case... I won't stand by and watch."
'Deal with Doflamingo?!'
Law and Rosinante had already received so much shocking information in such a short time. Hearing this left them completely stunned.
But what happened next was even more surprising. After making such a fierce declaration, Vergo suddenly turned around and began running away at full speed.
"Dooooo..." he shouted toward the sky.
"ROOM........."
Air swirled beneath Liam's palm, and the operating room expanded instantly. From a radius of ten meters... to two hundred meters. Vergo was easily swallowed by its range.
He had only managed to shout the first syllable when Liam casually pointed at him from afar.
Then he flicked his finger more than a dozen times.
'Whoosh...'
While running, Vergo's upper body suddenly separated from his lower body at the waist. Then, a crack appeared from the top of his head all the way down, splitting his body vertically. Another cut ran from his left shoulder to his right ribs, and another from his right neck to his left hip.
'Puff!'
"Doffy..." Vergo tried to continue shouting.
But as he took his next step, it was as if dozens of invisible sword slashes had passed through him. His entire body instantly fragmented, and dozens of pieces scattered across the snowy ground.
'Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.'
Chunks of flesh fell everywhere. One piece still wore his sunglasses, and behind them, his eyes were filled with disbelief. Another piece contained his mouth. His lips moved slightly.
In a faint voice, he whispered, "Doffy..."
(End of Chapter)
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