September 24, 1503, Age of the Sea Circle
After Orion left the royal castle of Dressrosa to rescue King Riku, Giolla remained behind with the mission of recovering Princess Viola from the hands of the rest of the Warlord's crew.
Fortunately for her, the strongest members of Doflamingo's crew were not present at the castle, although that did not mean the task would be simple. Even so, both Orion and Giolla herself trusted that she would be able to succeed, since her objective was not to defeat her enemies, but merely to rescue Viola.
Using Soru, Giolla sprinted once more toward the depths of the castle at full speed, leaving behind only beautiful afterimages in her wake. Had there been anyone there to witness her graceful figure running with such seriousness and resolve, they would undoubtedly have fallen in love at first sight.
Over the years, the influence of the system and her nights of passion with Orion—which functioned as a kind of dual cultivation—had made her appearance even more beautiful than before. Although she had already been truly stunning, standing at the peak of beauty when she met Orion years earlier, her current appearance was now enough to provoke wars fought in her name.
Not only was her body voluptuous and sensual, but her face was as delicate as a work of art. Her eyes carried a charmingly lazy air, while her pink lips always bore a faint smile that conveyed confidence and further enhanced her beauty.
She did not know it, but her encounter with Orion had forever changed her life and her destiny, and of course her appearance as well; otherwise, her original beauty would have deteriorated rapidly, until becoming completely unrecognizable.
In the world of One Piece, there existed all kinds of magical phenomena and mysterious rules, and one of those rules dictated that people who abandoned their dreams tended to "age badly," their physical appearance growing worse and worse, as though it were reflecting their inner and spiritual reality.
For Giolla, meeting Orion and finding love while simultaneously reaching the pinnacle of her art had been her salvation, though she was about to come face to face with a version of herself who had not been so fortunate.
Giolla spread her Observation Haki as she ran through the vast corridors of the castle, and finally detected the group of invaders, who were gathered in a nearby chamber, fighting against King Riku's soldiers tasked with protecting the castle.
Stealthily, she used the abilities of her Ato Ato no Mi to partially alter the structure of the castle, creating a new corridor that led directly to where her enemies were located, but without forming an exit door.
Reaching the end of the corridor, she came to a stop and, closing her eyes, pressed her ear against the wall, while simultaneously extending her Observation Haki to its limit.
Although Giolla had gained the ability to use Haki thanks to the help of Orion's system, she was not particularly proficient with it, and could only do her best to discern her enemies' movements in this way.
Inside the large chamber, the group of pirates was acting arrogantly, eliminating the opposing soldiers, while Viola watched everything unfold with tears in her eyes. With the power of her Devil Fruit, she could clearly see everything that was happening throughout the kingdom, and she was suffering terribly as she witnessed the tragic fate of her father.
However, just as the situation reached its darkest point, a mysterious figure appeared in the midst of the chaos and began fighting against Doflamingo and the other invaders.
Hope returned to Viola's eyes, and clasping her hands together, she prayed for the victory of this unknown hero who had arrived to save her father, and possibly all of Dressrosa.
"The strength of these soldiers is disappointing! Young people these days don't know how to train their bodies properly, G!" said the flamboyant elderly man, as he slammed two unconscious soldiers to the ground.
"It's better for us if the soldiers are weak; that way we avoid trouble. In any case, I poisoned in advance all individuals who might have been problematic, so their physical capabilities are even worse," Monet said with a smile, adjusting her large glasses with one hand.
"There is nothing artistic about this place. Once the young master takes control, I must ask him to allow me to redecorate the castle and make it worthy of someone of his greatness!" said the fat artist, with a wide grin and eyes overflowing with madness.
Had Orion been present, he would not have been able to recognize that this strange woman was in fact the Giolla of this timeline, since her appearance was completely different from the one he knew.
"Don't lower your guard. One should never underestimate the enemy, even when they seem to be on the verge of death," said Senior Pink, his arms crossed and his expression cool. He was known as the most stylish of the group, and was generally also the one who appeared the most normal among the colorful pirate crew of Doflamingo.
Little by little, they eliminated the remaining soldiers in the area and took control of the castle without much difficulty. Now they only had to wait for Doflamingo and the three executives to perform their act as heroes before the entire kingdom, returning triumphantly to the castle to usurp power.
In the future, this castle would become their new home and base of operations in the New World, and Doflamingo's pirates already considered it a foregone conclusion.
Just as they were organizing themselves to welcome their captain, one of the walls of the great chamber suddenly collapsed, and a beautiful, curvaceous woman burst inside at full speed, catching them completely by surprise.
"Art Projectile!"
Giolla swung her paintbrush — the tool she used as a medium to channel the powers of the Ato Ato no Mi with greater intensity — launching several projectiles toward the pirates present.
Monet reacted immediately, grabbing her sister Sugar and moving her to safety through the use of her Snow-Snow Fruit, which allowed her to create a protective dome-shaped shield.
Giolla's projectile crashed against the wall of snow, staining it with vivid colors, and in a single instant she took control of her enemy's shield, transforming it into a brilliantly colored spear that attacked Sugar mercilessly once again, forcing Monet to step into the path of the attack to protect her.
The projectiles launched by Giolla were not ordinary ones, as they were an extension of her Devil Fruit powers, which she had developed to improve her combat capabilities. Using her brush as a medium, she was able to fire these projectiles at great speed, and anything that came into contact with them could be affected by her artistic power, being molded according to her imagination.
It did not matter whether they were weapons, shields, or even people — everything that came into contact with her projectiles was at her mercy, to be transformed according to her whims.
Obviously, her abilities were not omnipotent, and they had limits. Giolla struggled when fighting against groups of people, since she required greater mental power to control her enemies, in direct proportion to their strength and Haki.
That is to say, if she faced a group of weak individuals, she would have no problem subduing them with her powers, but if she faced people with power similar to or greater than her own, the use of her Ato Ato no Mi became far more limited.
Generally speaking, someone with Doflamingo's level of power, for example, could only be affected by her abilities for a brief moment, which meant that even a surprise attack against him would be nothing more than suicide for Giolla. Orion knew this, and that was why he had told her that her objective was only to rescue Viola, not to fight to the death against the Warlord's crew.
Aside from Monet, only two other people managed to successfully repel Giolla's surprise attack: Lao G, and the other Giolla.
Lao G escaped thanks to his superior physical abilities, while Giolla managed to repel the attack using her own Ato Ato no Mi powers.
Seeing that three of her enemies had escaped successfully, Giolla clicked her tongue in irritation, thinking that her initial plan had failed. She did not want to engage in a prolonged conflict with the group of pirates, because she knew she had no chance of winning.
At this moment, almost the entire group had been transformed into grotesque beings, with their limbs turned into paint, dragging themselves across the floor with difficulty while leaving behind trails of vibrant colors. However, the three individuals who had evaded her surprise attack were undoubtedly a problem for her.
Knowing that she would not be able to maintain full control of the situation for long, Giolla immediately sprang into action. She first attacked Sugar with a spear created through her Devil Fruit powers, while simultaneously launching an attack toward Lao G.
Giolla possessed sharp observational skills and was highly intelligent, so she immediately understood that the most dangerous person in the group was Monet, a Logia user. At the same time, she identified that the small girl at her side was her weak point, since Monet had done everything in her power to save her from the previous attack.
Once she realized this, her combat plan to deal with Monet became clear: she would focus her attacks continuously on the small girl, forcing Monet to reveal weaknesses in her defense that Giolla could then exploit.
On the other hand, the elderly man appeared to be a purely physical fighter, so Giolla decided to take him out first before dealing with the mysterious fat woman who provoked a visceral sense of rejection in her.
"Art Wings!"
Majestic, multicolored wings emerged from Giolla's back, and with a powerful flap she vanished from where she stood, reappearing directly in front of Lao G and launching a devastating punch with her fist coated in Armament Haki.
Lao G defended himself against Giolla's attack with the palm of his hand, but the moment his enemy's fist made contact with his body, he felt the world around him begin to spin, and his body collapsed to the ground, turning into a puddle of paint.
The experience was utterly terrifying for Lao G, but fortunately for him, the effect of this technique was not permanent. Giolla could have affected him permanently if she had wanted to, but doing so would have required far more mental power, and if she chose that option, she would not be able to maintain control over the rest of the group. As a result, she had no choice but to settle for temporarily knocking them out of combat.
Although Giolla performed several actions in quick succession, everything happened in a single instant, almost like a blink. She was so skilled in the use of her Devil Fruit and her body as a whole that in the span of a heartbeat she had rendered the entire group of pirates unable to fight, and even if it was only for a few moments, it was more than enough to achieve her goal of saving Viola.
Kicking off the ground, Giolla sent a large amount of debris flying toward Monet and Sugar, who had already overcome the previous attack with the multicolored spear.
The snow woman sensed danger approaching once more, and immediately raised several walls in rapid succession to defend herself from the new assault.
Bang bang bang bang!
The debris kicked up by Giolla began to explode violently upon making contact with Monet's snow wall, as Giolla had used the brief moment of contact with the rocks to imbue them with her powers, preserving their external appearance while altering their interior, transforming them into explosive bombs.
This was a trick Orion had taught her, showing her the true potential of her Devil Fruit. She could not only change the external appearance of things, but also modify their very essence, altering their attributes.
Naturally, the greater the change produced, the greater the amount of energy consumed, although fortunately for her, producing changes in inanimate objects was far easier than in those that possessed a will of their own — since will acted as a natural resistance against her powers.
With a beautiful smile capable of making any ordinary man fall in love, Giolla spun through the air as her sensual body became covered in paint, forming an extremely revealing outfit that displayed her beauty in all its glory.
"Art Armor."
With her wings spread and her new artistic armor in place, Giolla charged at full speed toward the other Giolla, like an angel drawn straight from an epic tale. Upon seeing her approach, the ugly artist felt an overwhelming surge of rage, because the woman before her embodied everything she hated.
Her enemy's art was beautiful according to traditional standards, just like her body, which was beautiful by the standards of people with ordinary tastes. To the ugly Giolla, Giolla represented everything she despised, and everything she had fought against for years.
For that reason, the deranged artist stepped forward in fury, intent on proving to the damned sensual bitch standing before her who the true best artist in the room really was.
"Broken-Fu Art!"
A multicolored wave surged toward Giolla, who merely looked at her counterpart from this timeline with pity, wearing a beautiful smile.
"Your art is ugly… and weak," Giolla said as she swung her brush once more as if it were a sword.
A wave of colors similar to the one launched by the ugly Giolla shot forth from her brush, colliding midair with her enemy's attack and creating a brief stalemate, which began to distort everything around them, transforming the interior of the castle into all kinds of strange geometric shapes.
However, just as Giolla had said, her counterpart's art was weak, for it was the art of an artist who had been defeated by the world and had abandoned her dreams, and in the fantastical world of One Piece, where spirit was so important, that was a fatal flaw.
The brief stalemate between the two artists' attacks finally broke, and Giolla's art began to consume that of her enemy, dramatically transforming everything around them and changing the scene into something truly breathtaking.
Even a person with no knowledge of art whatsoever could look upon the scene painted by Giolla and feel that they were witnessing something wonderful, even if they could not explain why. That was the purest form of art — the very thing the ugly Giolla despised so deeply, and which Giolla had mastered thanks to her ability to sublimate her emotions with the help of her husband's love.
Like a hot knife cutting through butter, Giolla's wave of art pierced through her enemy's, crashing directly into her body. The ugly Giolla let out a scream of pain as she was defeated so easily by the sensual woman she hated with every fiber of her being, though more than physical pain, it was her spirit that had been shattered.
The ugly Giolla's body began to change, eventually transforming into a beautiful stained-glass window, filled with gorgeous images that ran across her entire form. Even she herself had to admit that the art now covering her body was truly magnificent.
However, she was unable to admire the artwork enveloping her for very long, as Giolla appeared before her like a specter at incredible speed.
"It pains me to see you in this state," Giolla said as she focused her Armament Haki into her fist, before adding,
"I can't imagine what you must have suffered to reach this point… Let me free you from your sorrow."
Giolla's words fell like a death sentence, and then the punch descended from the heavens like a divine act. The last thing the frustrated artist saw before perishing was the dazzling appearance of her other self, with beautiful wings, imposing armor, and a hegemonically beautiful face, covered by an expression of sadness and pity.
Crash!
The body of the Giolla of this timeline exploded into a thousand pieces, scattering shards of beautiful glass throughout the area. On this occasion, Giolla had used her abilities to their fullest, leaving no salvation for her counterpart in this world.
Feeling a deep fatigue wash over her, Giolla cast one last, sorrowful glance at the fragments of glass before beating her wings once more, soaring straight through the ceiling with the stunned Viola in her arms.
As she ascended, she channeled her remaining energy to generate a massive artistic vortex within the great chamber, effectively keeping the group of pirates occupied—who by then had already returned to their original forms, since Giolla was far too exhausted to continue controlling their appearance.
Flying through the night sky of Dressrosa like an angel, Giolla thought sadly of the image of the other Giolla she had just eliminated. Even though she was not entirely sure what was truly happening in this place, or how they had suddenly appeared in the middle of a Dressrosa engulfed in flames, her intuition was remarkably sharp.
She knew that the fat woman who possessed the powers of the Ato Ato no Mi like herself, and whose only physical similarity to her was the color of her hair, was without a doubt another version of herself.
Taking into account the fact that that woman appeared to be much older than her, Giolla came to the conclusion that it was probably a future version of herself, even though she refused to believe that she could ever end up like that.
Beyond physical appearance—which was not particularly important to Giolla—what had impacted her the most was the spirit of her other self. The Giolla of this world was completely destroyed on a spiritual level, and her art had been distorted as a result.
For anyone else, realizing something like that would have been impossible, but Giolla had been able to clearly perceive the essence of her other self in the brief instant when their arts had collided. Her enemy's art was fragile because her spirit was fragile; it was simply the way her Devil Fruit worked.
Seeing a version of herself in such a deplorable condition, utterly unrecognizable to her, had filled Giolla with deep sadness, and for that reason she had changed her original plan, risking being captured by her enemies solely to completely erase her unfortunate other self from this world.
For Giolla, who lived through her art—setting aside her love for Orion, which was another of the pillars of her life—the state of her other self was practically the same as being dead while still alive, and therefore the most merciful thing was to free her from her suffering, much like someone putting down a wounded animal that can no longer fend for itself.
Giolla was immersed in sorrow over having had to destroy her other self when, all of a sudden, Viola began to struggle violently, trying to break free from her grip.
Giolla immediately snapped back from her thoughts, focusing on the present. She did not have the luxury of philosophizing about life right now, since they were still in a dangerous situation, with enemies all around them.
Regaining her composure, Giolla showed a somewhat tired smile and said to the agitated Viola,
"Viola, don't be afraid. I have no intention of hurting you. On the contrary, I'm here to rescue you from Doflamingo's pirates."
Viola stopped struggling and, using her powers, confirmed that Giolla was telling the truth. Even so, she could not remain idle while her father was in danger.
"My father… I have to help him," Viola said, now that she had regained her freedom and wanted to go to his aid.
"Don't worry, my husband will save him without fail. If you don't believe me, you can use your powers to see it with your own eyes," Giolla said, and although she could not see the fight between Orion and Doflamingo, she trusted her man completely.
Viola activated the powers of her Devil Fruit and saw Orion fighting against Doflamingo, just in time to witness the moment when the battle was coming to an end.
Immediately, she calmed down and allowed Giolla to carry her in her arms without further resistance. Gazing at the kingdom in flames from high above the sky, Viola's eyes filled with tears once again, thinking that the centuries of peace of Dressrosa had finally come to an end.
Giolla said nothing to comfort the girl, as she was using all of her concentration to travel as fast as possible toward Flower Hill, where she was supposed to reunite with Orion as promised.
Meanwhile, in the great chamber of the castle where the conflict had taken place moments earlier, Monet looked at the beautiful fragments of glass scattered across the floor and let out a bitter sigh. This time, they had failed miserably, and the young master would not like it at all.
Taking out her Den Den Mushi, Monet called Doflamingo and said,
"Young Master, an enemy attacked us at the royal castle—they've taken Viola!"