"Have you heard of... the 'Awakening' of a Devil Fruit?" Liam casually brought up a topic, holding a magnetic orb in one hand and a green Den Den Mushi in the other.
Robin reminded him: "You've talked about that before…"
"Huh? Really?" Liam looked baffled, he had completely forgotten. He glanced puzzledly at the black armored figure silently training on the pink grass nearby.
Sensing something, the figure turned around, its narrow, glowing white eyes gazing back. But it didn't access its memory bank to remind Liam that he had discussed Devil Fruit Awakenings with Robin before. It was simply too far away to hear what Liam and Robin were saying.
"That was when we first entered the Calm Belt, on Rusukaina Island…" Robin spoke with certainty, holding the transceiver. At some point, she had relaxed completely, now lying comfortably on the pink grass, gazing at the endless blue sky.
If she remembered correctly, it had been nighttime back then, the starry sky was beautiful. She was bathing by a lake under the moonlight, while Liam leaned against a rock nearby and started talking about this topic.
"That was not long after we got Dr. Vegapunk's research notes," Robin recalled. "You said some Devil Fruit Awakenings could involve assimilating the natural environment. Like, if my Flower-Flower Fruit (Hana Hana no Mi) awakened, it might be able to turn the earth, stones, and buildings into endless petals…"
"So, picking up where we left off, " Liam looked down, fiddling with magnetism and the Den Den Mushi, and said nonchalantly, "What the Awakening of a Logia-type would look like, we don't know for now. As for Zoan-types, we might have already seen it…"
'Already seen it?' Robin was surprised at first, but quickly realized Liam was referring to Annie's Human-Human Fruit: Red-Haired Orangutan Form.
"As far as I know, a Zoan Awakening grants incredible stamina and recovery power. And many awakened Zoans often maintain an almost fully animalized form for long periods…" Liam was obviously referring to those Minotaur-like beast jailers from Impel Down.
"If we analyze just the literal meaning of the word 'Awakening', then the idea behind a Zoan Awakening is likely about more fully activating and utilizing the beast consciousness within the wicked bloodline factor… So what about Paramecia?"
"We've talked about that before, too, haven't we?" From 50 meters away, Robin recited: "Super physique, super matter, super ability."
"Super physique, like someone whose body is made of mochi. After Awakening, they can turn the ground into mochi, too. Super matter, like your flower power. When awakened, you might turn the environment into petals and manipulate them…" Liam explained while his brows slowly furrowed.
He had been fiddling with the magnetic orb for a while now, but oddly, the signal quality of the call with Robin hadn't experienced any interference, not even a hint of signal fluctuation.
'What the hell? Is my magnetic manipulation just not strong enough? Or is this little guy's signal too stubborn to mess with?'
The green Den Den Mushi blinked innocently in his palm, giving a couple of innocent "Burururu" sounds.
"…But what about the super ability category of Paramecia? What would Awakening look like for that type?" Liam continued fiddling with magnetism. "Like the Magnet-Magnet Fruit I'm using now… If I develop it to the level of Awakening, what would happen? Magnetism is something you can't see or touch. Strictly speaking, it's an invisible energy field, right? Surely it wouldn't mean that after Awakening… the earth, the buildings, everything gets annihilated and turned into a massive magnetic field?"
That would be too outrageous…
Robin imagined that scene, an entire island suddenly disappearing, replaced by a gigantic magnetic storm, with Liam's tiny figure at the center of it all…
While they were casually chatting across 50 meters via Den Den Mushi, Koala had already finished a lavish meal and even cleaned up the bowls, utensils, and picnic blanket.
"Giorno Nii San," Koala stood nearby, holding a bundle of picnic gear wrapped in the blanket.
Liam looked up and said, "You're done eating? Just leave it. The Okama folks will clean up when they come back."
"It's okay. I want to walk around a bit too." Koala looked completely at ease carrying the heavy load. "This island is so beautiful…"
Liam naturally didn't object. He nodded and went back to fiddling with the Den Den Mushi.
"That little girl's just taking a walk… why is she grinning like a goof?" Liam said offhandedly into the mic.
"What?" The green Den Den Mushi mimicked Robin's face and tone based on the signal 50 meters away.
"I was talking about Koala… Never mind. Not important."
Robin sat up on the grass and saw Koala turning back with a cheerful smile and a head shake.
Robin smiled knowingly and murmured, "Little girl…"
"What?" This time, her Den Den Mushi mimicked Liam's expression.
"Nothing…" Robin lay back on her side. "How's it going on your end? From what I can tell, your call hasn't had any noticeable effect."
"Thank you for the reminder, dear Captain. I'll keep working on it." Liam tried boosting the magnetism and carefully sensing the green Den Den Mushi mimicking Robin's expression. There had to be some kind of signal flow between it and the one 50 meters away near Robin…
"I wonder how Hancock's doing," Robin said, watching the white clouds drift across the sky.
"That's quite the sudden change of topic." Liam was puzzled. He still couldn't sense anything.
Could it be that Den Den Mushi signals have nothing to do with electromagnetism?
"Anyway, I can't really help with developing the Magnet-Magnet Fruit... I don't have much to offer in terms of suggestions," Robin said as she used her Flower-Flower Fruit (Hana Hana no Mi) to pull a book out of her backpack and bring it in front of her. She lay sideways on the pink grass, her green-highlighted long hair unbound, cascading like a waterfall down her smooth, jade-like neck as she casually flipped through the book.
Liam said offhandedly, "If you miss her, why not just bring her out and have a chat?"
"Hmm... huh?" Robin paused mid-page and looked surprised. "You mean... summon a clone of Hancock using Hana Hana no Jizai?"
"Yeah, what else?"
Robin thought for a moment. It did seem doable. She closed the book and sat up.
Crossing her hands in front of her, she activated the power of the Flower-Flower Fruit and recited: "Hana Hana no Jizai, "
Whoosh, clusters of petals rose up on the pink grass in front of her, rapidly forming the silhouette of a tall woman over 1.8 meters in height.
Liam noticed the little green Den Den Mushi had gone silent after a while, so he looked up in confusion toward Robin, 50 meters away.
What he saw was the petal-formed tall female silhouette in front of Robin suddenly collapse and disintegrate into countless petals, scattering across the grass.
"..." Robin frowned.
Her Den Den Mushi, mimicking Liam's voice and tone, asked, "What happened?"
Robin spoke into the receiver: "It failed... Hana Hana no Jizai couldn't create a clone of Hancock..."
Elsewhere,
Run!
Run for your lives!!
On the seaside of Momoiro Island, drenched in a pink Barbie-like aesthetic, a group of people were frantically running for their lives.
And chasing far behind them… was a terrifying horde of muscle-bound Barbie monstrosities, Okama freaks with bulging biceps, strutting with a gait full of deadly sass, fluttering their lashes with killer winks, and letting out coquettish roars like thunder:
"Don't run~ Sweethearts, wait for us~~"
The fleeing group looked back and nearly dropped dead from fright. These damned Okama, why were they so good at chasing people?!
"Damn it! Where the hell did they hide our ship?!"
"Hey! Wait for me!"
"Don't let me be the last one, assholes!!"
Tears flew behind them as they sprinted like mad, cursing and panicking, all with the same desperate thought: as long as I'm not the first to get caught, maybe I'll survive!
But seriously, what kind of nightmare was this?!
They were once well-known fighters on the Grand Line, bodyguards for the rich, security for merchant vessels, even bounty hunters who'd taken down pirates!
But lured by the legend of the "World's Strongest Swordsmen Tournament," they had set sail… only to end up marooned on this godforsaken, bizarre island. They had assumed it was some kind of dreamy paradise. Who could have guessed it was home to a terrifying army of gender-bending, perverted Okama, and they were absurdly strong!
They couldn't fight back. They couldn't outrun them. And as for what would happen if they got caught...?
Who the hell was willing to find out firsthand?!
One swordsman named Soya glanced back, shuddering violently at the sight of those Okama freaks closing in fast. Fear pushed him ahead of the others.
Seeing this, the other swordsmen from the outer seas panicked even more. Teeth gritted, they pushed their bodies beyond their limits, and their speed jumped up another notch.
"Oooh, how annoying~ You boys really love to play hard to get, huh?" the Okama giggled as they chased, relentless and faster than nightmares.
The swordsmen veered off the beach, charging into forests, over hills, across rivers, they were nearly dead from exhaustion, and still couldn't shake the Okama! This was pure horror!!
"Huff... huff..."
Soya's chest burned like it was on fire, his mind going hazy, when suddenly he heard a companion gasp beside him, "It's her!"
Looking up, he saw a brown-haired little girl by a pink stream, curiously petting a small animal... that was wearing Okama makeup.
"She was talking with a man and a woman earlier, those three must know the Okama!"
"Grab her!"
Too tired to keep running, the outer sea swordsmen roared and unsheathed their swords.
The Okama-makeup-wearing animal yelped and ran off. Koala turned her head, startled by the wicked-looking group of swordsmen charging toward her.
"S-Sorry!" she panicked instinctively, not even knowing what she was apologizing for.
"Gotcha!"
Soya, in the lead, lunged at Koala,
And missed completely. BANG! He slammed face-first into the ground.
The others were caught off guard and crashed right through Koala's body like she was smoke, tumbling over one another and collapsing into a heap.
Realizing something was wrong, Koala began apologizing again and again: "I'm sorry, I'm sorry…"
"What the hell just happened?!"
"Asshole, you crushed me!"
"Get your damn elbow out of my mouth!"
"That's not my elbow...!"
The chaotic pile of swordsmen finally managed to scramble to their feet, ready to scold the endlessly apologizing little girl, only to freeze as several Okama loomed nearby, their stubbly chins and thick fake lashes blinking flirtatiously as they stared the men down…
(End Of This Chapter)
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