Sikeal Kingdom – Damp Town
It was almost a replay of the scene at the coast earlier. Hundreds of townspeople glared up with open hostility at Princess Ross, who stood atop a rooftop, arms spread wide, shouting down to them with desperate sincerity.
"Please believe me, everyone! This country, all of us, have been deceived by Heina! It was she who used the power of the Decay-Decay Fruit to create the rot disease! She spread the seeds of corruption, binding the people of this nation in endless wars and despair!"
Ross shrieked with anguish, but the townspeople gathered in the streets only looked angrier.
They looked at the girl standing beside her, Robin. A pirate!
"So it's just as Lady Heina said. Princess, you've become a pirate…" "She's no princess, just a traitor who abandoned us!"
The crowd's emotions boiled over.
Behind the windows of nearby homes, however, a few elderly faces appeared, solemn, hollow. They had no energy to join the shouting mobs, nor to condemn the citizens who now lived consumed by fear of the rot disease, or by bitterness toward those whose minds and bodies had been twisted by its cure.
They simply sat numbly, weaving thick hemp rope, preparing for a final, hopeless act later that evening.
But suddenly, the rope in one old man's hands snapped in two.
"Huh…?"
He looked down blankly at the broken ends, never noticing the single, translucent flower petal that melted into the air beside his feet.
Robin lowered her gaze.
The people in the street had completely lost control; their anger surged higher and higher, and more of them began raising weapons toward the figures on the rooftop.
She turned to Ross.
Ross bit her lip, then nodded.
Robin jumped lightly down from the roof. With her descended a faint, black, unseen shadow, something only she herself could perceive.
At the Shore – The Phantom Ship
Coyatel arrived at the coastline with her pirates, only to find the ground soaked in blood.
"Lady Coyatel, we've found their pirate ship!" "The flag, Butterfly, and Ladybug! A shabby, single-masted sloop… It really is the JOJO Pirates!"
The pirates quickly discovered Liam and Robin's vessel beached nearby.
They climbed aboard and searched every corner, but, of course, found nothing.
"This is weird. There's only a pile of books and some basic rations…" "Those two are supposed to be insanely strong, right? Then why are they this broke? We couldn't even find a handful of money!"
The members of the Red-Clad Pirate Crew were utterly baffled. Two pirates with bounties totaling over 700 million Belly, choosing to sail around in such a tiny, shabby boat, fine, maybe they were eccentric. Their entire crew only had two members anyway.
But to be this broke?!
"Lady Coyatel… something's off," said one of the more seasoned pirates, frowning. "There's not a single sign that anyone's been living on this ship." "Impossible!" someone exclaimed. "It looks exactly like the one in the papers!" "Don't tell me… they built a new one that looks identical to the old ship?" "No way!" "Then… could it be, "
They all gasped together, shivering as the same thought crossed their minds.
"A… ghost ship?!"
"Eh?" Coyatel blinked innocently, reaching out her pale, delicate hand toward the trembling pirates.
"Don't scare me like that…" she murmured pitifully.
"Forgive us, Lady Coyatel!!" the pirates screamed, and in blind panic, they hurled themselves overboard into the sea.
BOOM!
Under Coyatel's soft-looking palm burst forth an astonishing wave of power, tearing up an entire section of the coast. The tremendous force rose like a storm, engulfing the Butterfly-and-Ladybug JOJO pirate flag and swallowing the sloop whole.
…
Damp Town Outskirts – Second Round
Robin, B.I.B., and Ross were walking together toward the next city.
Even along their path, traces of old battles were everywhere. The soil had turned a dark, ferrous black with fragments of rusted armor and broken blades buried among the dirt and grass.
Every hundred or two hundred meters, they passed the same kind of scene again. It seemed that on every inch of this island, blood had once been spilled, that senseless conflict had raged everywhere.
Robin glanced toward B.I.B.
B.I.B. looked far into the distance and said quietly:
"Heina is still in the royal city…"
Ross lowered her head, her expression heavy. Then suddenly, she heard it.
A familiar, earth-shaking rumble from behind.
She spun around, and sure enough, saw the trail of rising dust and the enormous silhouette of a rhinoceros barreling straight toward them!
"Ooooohhh, this time, I won't lose!!"
It was Kamui again, in her Ox-Ox Fruit: Rhino Form, eyes wide with fury, charging forward with even greater power than before!
Ross hurriedly leapt aside, while Robin and B.I.B. stepped forward together to meet the oncoming beast.
Robin raised her hand, her wide, flowing sleeves fluttered as flower petals swirled out, coalescing into the jet-black, muscular form of a giant arm, streaked with Haki. The phantom arm wrapped around her own slender limb, merging with it. She extended it forward and met the massive rhino's horn head-on.
Clash!
"Hmph! Just a 300-million weakling… huh?"
From the enormous rhino's mouth came a young woman's disdainful voice, but almost immediately, she felt that all-too-familiar weightless sensation as her body lifted off the ground.
A second hand, made of flowing gold, streaked with fire-like red patterns, snapped out and joined the first, gripping the massive horn aloft.
The two hands, the phantom and the golden aura, together held the beast's horn and swung her in a full circle before flinging her away!
"Wha… whyyyy… agaaaaaain…!!"
The huge rhino let out a roaring gust of wind, her indignant voice trailing into the distance as her body shot skyward, vanishing at the horizon.
…
Liam lay in a humanoid-shaped crater, feeling a deep vibration course through his arm.
Ah… that's Robin-sis using the Floral War Armor and B.I.B. again, Liam realized.
As he looked up, he saw a dozen hideous baboon faces peeking over the crater's edge.
"Oooh… oooh… oooh!"
The baboons howled at him one after another. Each wore crude armor, some even holding weapons. They leaned closer, studying the human lying helpless in the pit, eyes glinting with a cold, predatory malice.
I can't even move a muscle… Liam thought bitterly.
A baboon holding a spear was sent flying backward with a single punch.
"Phew…"
Liam stepped on the body of the unconscious baboon, its eyes rolled white, then exhaled in relief.
Standing atop a pile of defeated baboons like a small mountain, he muttered to himself:
"Strength's back! … Damn, almost messed that one up."
…
Ross stared toward the horizon, where the giant beast had once again been sent flying out of sight.
Robin and B.I.B. clapped their hands simultaneously, smiling.
"Let's go," Robin said lightly.
Ross nodded, following alongside Robin toward the next city. Each time they passed another scarred battlefield, her mood grew heavier, and her hatred toward Heina deepened further.
When they finally reached a town that had been completely reduced to ruins, Ross couldn't hold back her anger any longer.
"That woman, Heina, she…!"
"Ross." Robin's calm voice cut in.
"Hm?" Ross looked up, only to find Robin staring off in another direction.
Ross followed her gaze, and her pupils instantly shrank.
Amid the rubble of the ruined town stood a large, bare tree. All its branches had fallen away, leaving only a thick trunk that someone was methodically carving with a sword.
Judging by the clean, deliberate cuts, the swordswoman seemed to be shaping it into a massive cross-frame.
But Ross's attention was fixed on the figure doing the carving.
Flame-like seaweed hair cascaded down her back. Her tall, flawless form exuded a dangerous allure. When she turned her head slightly, the corner of her lips curved into a faint, wicked smile.
"Heina?!"
Ross gasped, covering her mouth in shock.
Robin, too, was stunned, forcing herself not to glance at B.I.B. Hadn't Liam just confirmed that Heina's aura was still in the Royal City, far away from here?
B.I.B.'s long, narrow eyes glimmered as it stared silently at the woman before them.
The female pirate, Heina, lazily lowered her blade, giving Robin an appraising look from head to toe.
Then she smiled.
"I like strong women…"
She raised her sword again, the blade flashing coldly in the dim light, and pointed it straight at Robin.
"Be my woman, Kuujou Jolyne."
(End Of This Chapter)
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