[Boom!]
Jabra spat out a mouthful of blood, his eyes burning with a wolfish crimson light. He slammed his foot down, and with a sharp, explosive crack, launched himself high into the air.
"Pa! Pa!" A blur of Geppo steps carried Jabra higher, soaring into the sky.
"Go to hell!" he roared, unleashing a monstrous, crescent-shaped kick, a blade of compressed air sliced down like a sword slash.
The Rankyaku wave cut straight for Liam, but the pirate dipped an impossible half-step, the attack whistling right over him. Instead, the edge of the blast clipped the unfortunate Blueno beneath Liam's feet, spraying a fresh burst of blood from his shoulder.
Liam stepped onto Blueno's back, knocking him out with a casual, dismissive kick that sent his eyes rolling back. In the same breath, Liam used his own Geppo, Pa! Pa!, surging upward until he was level with the astonished wolfman.
"This… how is this possible…" Jabra muttered, disbelief twisting his feral features. They had trained until their bones screamed since childhood to master the Rokushiki, yet this strange pirate had learned all six techniques, and not only learned them, but his mastery seemed to surpass their own…
Before him, the afterimage of Giorno the Long-Leg flashed past, followed by dozens of whirling wind blades that completely engulfed Jabra.
A mist of blood exploded from Jabra's body midair.
Liam stomped down sharply, the air cracked, and he shot straight in front of his target.
Through the haze of blood, Jabra saw a figure rushing toward him, both fists extended. The hands punched through the mist, pressing directly against his chest.
"This… no way…?!"
Jabra's eyes went wide with pure horror. It was his last conscious thought before the world went black.
"Rokuōgan?!"
Rob Lucci's expression shifted slightly, the whispered word hitting him hard.
"How is that possible!" Fukurou exclaimed, his large eyes bulging. "The Rokuōgan is the ultimate secret art, only those who've perfected all six forms and achieved complete integration can wield it! He's just a pirate, "
His voice trailed off, strangled.
"Isn't he?" Blueno finished the sentence for him with a weary, painful sigh. "That pirate Giorno, hasn't he already reached that level? He can maintain Tekkai and still move freely. His Shigan isn't limited to fingers, fists, or palms, he's even broken the boundary between Shigan and Tekkai. Someone like that… hasn't he already unified the Rokushiki entirely?"
Jabra, now conscious but dazed, muttered blankly, "I thought the only one who could rarely master the Rokuōgan was Lucci…"
"…It's not just the Rokushiki," Lucci said, his tone turning cold and serious. "According to intel from the Sword Hero Tournament, Giorno used his hair as six blades, the Six-Sword Style, to defeat Marine Vice Admiral Onigumo. His mastery of Life Return is extraordinary. Frankly, if someone like that couldn't use the Rokuōgan, that would be the truly strange part."
Jabra, Blueno, and Fukurou fell silent. They didn't want to accept that conclusion… but couldn't refute it either.
Jabra clutched his bloodstained chest. "So, you smug leopard… can you defeat him?"
Lucci didn't answer the challenge. "Don't get it twisted. Giorno isn't our target."
Blueno coughed a few times, spat out blood, and seemed to feel marginally better. "Then, what did you find in your investigation of the Kaiki Chamber of Commerce building?"
"From the financial records, the Kaiki Chamber of Commerce regularly moves huge, untraceable sums of money with no clear destination." Lucci pulled a small glass vial from his coat. "It's likely the senior officials' suspicions were correct, the fall of the Igor Kingdom, the decline of the Prosperous Nation… all linked to a certain pirate."
He swirled the transparent liquid inside the vial, his eyes shadowed as he smiled faintly. "The so-called 'King of Usury' couldn't stretch his influence from the New World into Paradise alone. The Kaiki Chamber of Commerce wouldn't have dared to tamper with the Heavenly Tribute otherwise."
"Indeed…" Blueno murmured slowly. "But without solid evidence, even we can't move against a Shichibukai."
"Who cares about that stuff!" Jabra barked, truly living up to his Zoan nature. Just moments ago he'd been half-dead, yet now he was back to shouting. "Lucci, what the hell's in that bottle?"
Fukurou blinked. "Did you take it from the Kaiki Chamber of Commerce?"
"This," Lucci said, pulling out the cork, "is what they call 'Wealth Water'… or 'Redemption Water.' Want to try it?"
He poured a bit into Jabra's outstretched palm.
Jabra licked it. "No taste… it's just plain water! You're screwing with us."
"Plain water?" Fukurou said, and, before anyone could stop him, he gulped down the entire small bottle.
"Hey! You idiot, why'd you drink the whole thing?!"
Jabra roared, slapping Fukurou across the room with a single, furious blow.
Blueno grabbed Jabra's shoulder to restrain him, but Jabra lashed out instinctively, his claws scraping Blueno's cheek and drawing blood.
"Grrr…" Jabra growled lowly, his eyes burning red. His body suddenly shifted, fur sprouted all over his skin, his claws extending into razor-sharp talons. "Blueno… are you trying to destroy the quest item like that idiot did?"
"What's wrong with you, Jabra!" Blueno barked back, his voice stern.
"Go to hell!" the werewolf roared, lunging straight at Blueno.
Bang!
The wolfman was slammed to the ground.
Lucci, his head now transformed into that of a spotted leopard, pinned Jabra underfoot. His long, muscular leopard tail coiled tightly around Jabra's neck, choking him as he said coldly, "Calm down, Jabra."
"What happened to him?" Blueno wiped the claw marks from his face, staring in disbelief at the subdued Jabra beneath Lucci's massive paw.
Jabra panted heavily, the madness fading from his blood-red eyes. He blinked in confusion. "Huh? What… what happened just now?"
Lucci released his tail, his tone slow and measured. "The Igor Kingdom collapsed completely in just a few short years. From the limited information available, those years of downfall were always accompanied by widespread madness among the population… and riots across the nation."
"When a kingdom's on the verge of collapse, it's normal for people to revolt, isn't it?" Jabra said, sitting up.
"That's not the point," Lucci replied coolly. "There should've been resistance, people trying to find a way out, fighting against the chaos. But there wasn't. In Prosperous Kingdom, the situation's becoming similar… every time the royal treasury was robbed, riots broke out around the same period. And at the same time… cults worshipping so-called 'chaotic evil gods' started spreading everywhere."
"They were probably crushed by debt and turned to religion for comfort, right?" Jabra suggested.
"No," said Lucci. "They didn't find comfort. They abandoned reality. Look at Fukurou."
"...?"
Blueno finally realized Fukurou had been silent for a while. He turned, and saw him lying on the floor, curled up and unmoving. "What's wrong with him?"
"Hey!" Jabra flipped Fukurou over. "Don't be mad, okay? I didn't mean to hit you that hard, huh?"
Fukurou's face was a mask of despair. His eyes were unfocused as he mumbled to himself, "I'm sorry… I shouldn't be alive… I always leak classified information… I'm not fit to be a Cipher Pol agent… I don't deserve to live… I should just die…"
",---?!"
Jabra and Blueno were both stunned into silence.
Beside Fukurou, the empty vial rolled across the floor, droplets of water slipping from its mouth…
"This water's got a problem," Jabra said darkly.
"Obviously," Blueno replied in the same grim tone. He glanced back at the half-wolf Jabra who had backed away a good distance. "Do you really need to stand that far? There's not a single drop left."
"You idiot!" Jabra roared. "That stuff either makes you want to kill someone or kill yourself! It's terrifying!"
"…" Lucci was silent for a moment, then suddenly asked, "Where's Giorno? Didn't you say he was looking for me?"
Jabra shook his head quickly. "How would I know? He almost beat me to death!"
"Could it be that he…"
Lucci slid his hands into his pockets, staring toward the crimson sunset. On his shoulder, the white pigeon wearing a tiny tie opened and closed its beak, as if speaking human words: "Time to go home for dinner?"
"How could that possibly be it?!" Jabra yelled.
"What's for dinner?"
Following the faint sensation of his Stand, Liam easily found Robin and Ross within the royal city.
(End Of This Chapter)
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