Everything happened too quickly to process. At least, it did for Vergo.
'I've... been chopped into dozens of pieces?'
Like fruit scattered from an overturned platter, dozens of pieces of Vergo's body lay strewn across the snow. The parts containing his brain were thoroughly confused.
Yet, he felt no pain whatsoever. More importantly, he didn't feel injured at all.
'Is this Giorno's ability?!'
"So that's the power of the Op-Op Fruit?!" Rosinante stared, his eyes wide.
He had clearly seen Giorno merely flick his fingers a few times from a distance, yet Vergo had been sliced into dozens of pieces.
"Hm?" Robin suddenly noticed that something had fallen out from among the scattered pieces of Vergo's body.
"But Vergo..." Rosinante said hesitantly, "...doesn't seem to have died."
Jolyne Cujoh walked over to pick up whatever had fallen out. Rosinante watched closely as one of Vergo's severed arms actually tried to attack her. Robin casually swatted it away. After all, it was only a detached arm.
"..." Law opened his mouth slightly.
Everything happening before him, especially Giorno's demonstration of the Op-Op Fruit, had deeply shocked him. He murmured, "A doctor doesn't harm patients on the operating table..."
"Exactly." Liam nodded approvingly. "Kid, you've got talent." He looked down at the white-spotted boy. "Now then... where were we?"
Rosinante and Law both looked completely lost, question marks practically floating above their heads.
Robin returned after collecting the item from Vergo's remains. "You were saying that it works on more than just spatial exchanges," she reminded him. "It can also work on the level of souls."
"Oh, right!" Liam snapped his fingers. He casually formed finger-guns with both hands and pointed them at the bewildered Rosinante and Law. "Exchange."
His fingers crossed.
As he switched their positions, the confused Rosinante and Law suddenly felt a strange sensation of weightlessness deep within their souls. At the same time, something astonishing happened: a red, heart-shaped phantom emerged from each of their chests.
As Liam switched his fingers, the two phantom hearts shot from their owners' bodies, 'whoosh!', and flew into each other's chests.
Law felt momentarily dazed, but then everything returned to normal. He looked at Liam and Robin. "What just happened...?" Then he blinked. "Why do you look so short?"
His expression froze. "Huh?! My voice..."
Law's face changed dramatically. He hurriedly checked his body and immediately felt pain everywhere. "Urgh..."
There was the pain from Vergo's brutal beating, and the agony of the gunshot wounds received while stealing the Op-Op Fruit. Law stared blankly at his much larger hands, at the bloodstained shirt he wore, and the black feathered coat draped around his shoulders.
"Cough, cough!" He spat out the cigarette dangling from his lips and turned in disbelief. "Mr. Corazon, why have I become y..."
His pupils contracted. On the snowy ground nearby, he saw... himself. Or rather, the body that used to be his.
Robin stared in shock. "Don't tell me..."
"Yep." Liam grinned. "Otherwise, why call it a soul-level exchange?" He turned toward Robin and gestured between them. "Want to try it?"
Robin shoved his head away with one hand.
"Mr. Corazon!" Law suddenly shouted.
He was an intelligent, unusually mature child, and at this point, he fully understood what had happened. But before he could process the shock, the person in his old body suddenly coughed up blood.
'Cough!'
Bright red blood splattered across the snow.
"Urgh..." Law's body, now occupied by Rosinante, knelt trembling on the ground, a faint sob escaping him.
Law, now inhabiting Corazon's body, crouched beside him. He reached out, then hesitated. "Mr. Corazon...?"
The child-sized Rosinante stretched out a small hand toward the blood soaking into the snow. Looking up with tears in his eyes, he said sadly, "So all this time... you've been enduring this pain every second of every day?"
"...!!"
Law's eyes immediately reddened as well. Tears and snot streamed down his face. Clutching the bullet-riddled body covered in wounds, he laughed and cried at the same time. "Your body hurts so much too... Mr. Corazon..."
---
Watching the two of them cry together while embracing each other's suffering, Robin couldn't help but be moved. Smiling softly, she wiped at the corner of her eye.
Meanwhile, Liam strode forward, B.I.B.'s armor covering both of his arms. As he walked, he removed the Op-Op Fruit chip from his own body.
"If you two have a touching story to tell, save it for after you get out of here."
With his right armored hand covered in red flame patterns, he pushed the triangular Op-Op Fruit chip, marked with its characteristic surgical swirl design, directly into Law's chest.
"..." Rosinante, currently in Law's body, stared blankly as Giorno's arm disappeared into his chest. By now, he had already guessed how Giorno stole and granted Devil Fruit powers. But... 'Why are you giving the Op-Op Fruit to me?!'
"Giorno! Didn't I tell you already?! The Op-Op Fruit is supposed to, " Rosinante jumped to his feet and shouted. Then, he suddenly realized something. To look Giorno in the face, he practically had to tilt his head back until the back of his skull was almost parallel to the ground.
That's right. He was currently in Law's body.
"You have a problem?" Liam looked down at him. "Little guy?"
Rosinante seriously wanted to punch him. "A huge problem!" he shouted. "I don't know anything about medicine! Even with the Op-Op Fruit, I can't cure the Amber Lead Syndrome in this body! And another thing!" He grabbed his head in frustration. "Why am I still Law?! This accomplishes absolutely nothing!"
"Everything you said is correct..." Liam replied. He paused dramatically as both Rosinante-in-Law's-body and Law-in-Rosinante's-body looked at him expectantly. Then, Liam calmly said, "But I refuse."
...
There it is again. Robin silently pressed a hand against her forehead.
---
Although it felt like a great deal had happened, from the moment Liam encountered Rosinante, Vergo, and Law until now, with all the battles and bizarre operations included, only about ten minutes had actually passed.
Liam completely ignored the resentful looks being shot at him by Rosinante (in Law's body) and Law (in Rosinante's body). He waved a hand dismissively. "Come on. The Op-Op Fruit is already inside you. What's there to complain about?"
He pointed casually. "Whether it's escaping the Birdcage or switching your souls back, if you work hard enough, there's still hope. Keep it up!"
Then, he laughed loudly and walked away with Robin.
Behind them, Law and Rosinante stood there looking like two people sharing the same tragic, bewildering fate.
'You used those abilities instantly after getting the Op-Op Fruit! But when it comes to us, suddenly it's 'if you work hard enough, there's still hope'? Explain yourself properly! And if we can't switch back... Corazon in my body / Law in my body will be in serious danger!'
Both of them thought exactly the same thing. Yet Giorno and Jolyne simply walked away without even turning around. Especially Giorno, he didn't seem like the type of person who would ever change his mind.
Which meant they could only rely on themselves.
"At least..." Law, currently in Rosinante's body, took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down, "...he showed us how the Op-Op Fruit works." He coughed twice and pressed a hand against his chest. Then, he turned and lightly tapped the leg of his own body. "Let's go, Law." His voice softened. "I'm not going to let you die here."
"Mm!" Rosinante, currently in Law's body, smiled and nodded. Then, he took a step forward.
"OWWW!" a shout immediately came from beneath him. "Watch where you're stepping, idiot!!"
"Ah! Sorry! I mean... sorry, Mr. Corazon!"
---
Liam and Robin continued onward side by side. They hadn't gone very far when a voice emerged from the pile of Vergo pieces behind them.
"The two of you... can't defeat Doffy."
Robin stopped walking. Liam also turned around.
"You don't understand..." came Vergo's voice from one of the chunks containing his mouth. "You don't understand Doffy's past..."
Liam walked over. After briefly taking aim, he kicked the speaking piece.
'BANG!'
The chunk flew away, shooting toward the distant edge of the Birdcage. Liam then began kicking piece after piece.
'Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!'
Vergo's body fragments flew everywhere. Robin looked at the remaining pile. "If he's that small now, won't he slip through the gaps in the Birdcage?"
"Oh." Liam lowered the leg he was about to swing again. "You're right. Then never mind."
Robin raised a hand. Flower petals surged from the snow and formed a massive arm. The giant arm grabbed the remaining chunks of Vergo's body and hurled them toward the horizon beyond the Birdcage. They vanished from sight almost instantly.
"Phew..." The flower arm dissolved back into petals. Robin slowly exhaled and shook her head before turning away. As for the single severed right foot still lying on the ground, she couldn't be bothered.
Liam didn't care much either. With his hands in his pockets, he caught up to Robin. "What's wrong?" he asked. "It's rare to see you this angry."
Behind them, the black armor picked up the remaining right foot from the snow. After weighing it in its hand, it struck a baseball pitcher's pose.
'Whoosh......'
The foot disappeared into the distance beyond the Birdcage.
---
Far away in the New World, aboard the 'Moby Dick'...
Whitebeard suddenly looked up at the blazing sun overhead, then down at his right hand.
"Hm?"
Why had he just felt, for a brief moment, as though he were standing in a frozen wasteland? And why did it feel like he had grabbed something and thrown it away?
---
Meanwhile, back in the North Blue...
Liam and Robin continued deeper into the ruined town trapped within the Birdcage. Along the way, they saw the corpses of pirates who had slaughtered one another under the control of Parasite Strings.
"So that's why..." Robin took out the small scroll that had fallen from Vergo's scattered body. Opening it, she handed it to Liam.
The moment Liam saw an entire page filled with words, he immediately lost interest. However, he caught sight of the word "Dressrosa." Instantly, he understood. This was the intelligence document Rosinante had entrusted to Law, the evidence detailing the Donquixote Family's plan to seize Dressrosa's throne.
'Wasn't this supposed to be torn up by Vergo?' Liam shrugged. 'Butterfly effect, I guess.'
Robin quietly read through it. "The Donquixote Family is planning something truly cruel for Dressrosa..."
She had fond memories of that island. The Tontatta dwarves, the legendary gladiator hero, the king, the princess... Especially Princess Mansherry of the Tontatta Kingdom and King Riku's granddaughter, Rebecca. She liked both of them.
'Nico Robin. People label me a pirate... And when I fight...' Then, she suddenly paused. "...Wait."
Robin laughed and shook her head. When had she started imitating Liam's jokes?
Still, she completely agreed with the second half. Even someone called the Devil Child could recognize genuine evil when she saw it.
Donquixote Doflamingo...
Robin raised her head. At the same moment, Liam also slowed to a stop.
Ahead of them, standing in the middle of a snow-covered road outside the ruined town, were three figures.
In the center stood a man with spiky blue hair, goggles, a white mask, and a black leather coat, his hands tucked into his pockets. To his left stood a powerfully built old man wearing a rabbit-eared hat and a tight training suit. To his right stood a tall woman with flamboyantly colorful hair, cartoonish glasses, and a fur sweater.
'Splash... Splash... Splash...'
A strange sound, like someone swimming, came from behind them. Liam turned around.
A tough-looking man in a suit and sunglasses emerged from the snow as though it were a swimming pool. He rose from the ground, exhaled a puff of smoke, and asked calmly:
"Where do you think you're going?"
(End of Chapter)
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