First Half of the Grand Line, on an island covered in towering cacti...
Liam suddenly remembered a powerful sense of déjà vu. It was unmistakably the same place from the manga: the very first island the Straw Hat Pirates landed on after entering the Grand Line.
The one Zoro had called "a bounty hunter's den", Whiskey Peak, is located on the Cactus Island.
Yes, that's right, it was literally named Cactus Island. Such a simple name.
Liam was so certain because he was now wearing the B.I.B. helmet. Through the Stand's eyes, he was rewatching chapter 106 of the Pirate King manga from his previous life...
On the surface, the people who welcomed the Straw Hat crew seemed like ordinary islanders. But in truth, they were bounty hunters stationed at the entrance of the Grand Line, waiting to capture overconfident pirates who dared venture in...
And those bounty hunters? They were actually members of the Baroque Works, working under Sand Crocodile to fund the criminal syndicate...
But even among them, the leader Igaram was in reality the Captain of the Royal Guards of Alabasta, and one of the members who brought the Straw Hat crew here, Miss Wednesday, was actually the Princess of Alabasta...
The Grand Line's wild and erratic weather is due to the immense magnetic whirlpools on each island. These magnetic forces pull on one another, creating chaotic interactions.
Because of this, every island in the Grand Line is uniquely distinct.
There are Spring Islands, Summer Islands, Autumn Islands, and Winter Islands. And each type has its own internal cycle of four seasons, leading to a total of sixteen different seasonal climates. This vast separation by sea has allowed each island to evolve its own ecology and culture.
Some islands may closely resemble the cities of Liam's previous life, while others remain primitive and undeveloped. Like Little Garden, where two giants have been fighting for a hundred years and ancient creatures like dinosaurs still roam.
It's precisely because of how uniquely distinct these islands are that Liam found it odd, a cactus-covered island like this one is quite rare.
He roughly calculated the distance they'd traveled since leaving Momoiro Island.
The island in front of them, Foolshout Island, Koala's hometown, was likely very close to the Grand Line's starting point, Cactus Island. They probably shared similar climates and ecosystems.
Liam activated his Magnet-Magnet Fruit powers and, focusing his senses, discovered, amid the strong magnetic field beneath this massive island, several other magnetic swirls not too far away.
With that in mind, Liam disembarked with Koala and Robin, stepping onto Foolshout Island.
Stepping onto her homeland, Koala couldn't hide her excitement. She gripped the straps of her backpack tightly.
"You stay here," Liam said.
He was speaking to Robin. Robin halted, slightly surprised, and asked, "You're planning to…"
Having known Liam for years, she understood him far too well. She sensed his intentions in asking her not to follow them home. Liam placed the B.I.B. helmet on Robin's head.
Through the narrow eye slots of the glowing helmet, Robin met Liam's gaze.
Unlike Liam, who could always see through B.I.B., Robin's vision wasn't affected unless she used Kenbunshoku Haki (Observation Haki), without it, the helmet didn't alter what she saw.
Liam extended his massive hand, large enough to palm Robin's head like a basketball, and tousled her hair, which she had dyed green in imitation of a certain prison-dwelling girl. He said:
"Aren't you still reading A Song of Ice and Fire? Keep going. I'll take her home and be right back."
"Alright," Robin nodded in agreement.
Looking down, she saw Koala's surprised and confused expression.
Koala tugged gently at Robin's coat. "Jolyne-nee… you're not coming with me?"
Robin crouched down and touched the girl's cheek. Words of comfort swirled in her mind, but in the end, she simply gave a soft smile and asked:
"Koala, do you believe in gravity?"
"Hey!" Liam interjected.
"…?" Koala looked up at Jolyne-nee with big, teary eyes.
"There's gravity between people, too," Robin said gently, wiping Koala's tears with her fingers. "The sea is so vast, with so many people drifting across it… So many have escaped from Mariejois, yet it was you who met us..."
She paused, then smiled again: "Giorno and I were separated once, and I thought that was the end. I didn't know how much longer I could last. But we still met again, on the sea, in ways we never expected, at a time neither of us could have imagined."
"I think… that's what gravity between people is."
"So, Koala, I believe, we'll definitely meet again someday."
"Somewhere out on the sea."
"On some day."
With each sentence Robin spoke, Koala's eyes grew redder until, finally, tears gushed out and she burst into sobs with a loud "Wuuu waa!"
"Jolyne-nee!" The little girl threw herself into Robin's arms, sobbing, "Thank you… you and Giorno-nii… for bringing me home…"
Robin gently patted Koala's small, trembling back.
As the sobbing subsided and Koala began to calm down, she heard Liam mumble above her head:
"'Somewhere out on the sea'? But what if Koala never leaves this island again…"
A flower bloomed on Liam's shoulder, and from it, one of Robin's hands reached out and pinched his cheek.
"...Who can say what the future holds!"
With his arms crossed and a flower-hand tugging at his face, Liam's speech came out slightly garbled.
He finished speaking and casually reached out toward the ship's green Den Den Mushi.
A black iron rod shot out from the open mouth of the Den Den Mushi with a sharp whoosh. Liam caught it with a crisp clack, spun it around, and rested it on his shoulder.
With no further words, Robin, still wearing the Stand helmet, turned and returned to the JOJO ship. Standing beside her was a pitch-black, headless mecha, continuously waving at Koala as she walked off with Liam into the heart of the island.
"Goodbye~~ Jolyne-nee~~"
As the small boat by the shore and the sister on the deck faded into the distance, Koala lowered her waving hand and wiped the tear stains from her cheeks.
Just as she was about to guide Giorno-nii toward the direction of her home village, she was surprised to discover, they were already heading the right way.
She heard Giorno-nii speak from above her:
"Remember how to use Elementalization?"
Koala looked up and nodded. "Yeah, I remember."
She demonstrated, her small hand waved out to grab at Liam, but her arm turned into a stream of vapor and scattered, showing she truly remembered.
"Watch carefully, Koala. The Gasu Gasu no Mi (Gas Gas Fruit) works like this…"
Liam walked and talked, giving the iron rod on his shoulder a spin. "Oh, Little Kuro isn't here... Never mind then."
Koala followed beside him, puzzled, as Liam continued, "Here's what you need to remember, you're now a gas person, someone who's eaten the Gas Gas Fruit. Anything related to gases, you can manipulate. So from now on, you need to start learning more about gases. Even just the basics is fine."
"Oh, okay!" Koala nodded obediently.
Liam continued, "For example, you could use your own stamina to create a vacuum. Do you know what a vacuum is? It means no air. Without the air we need to breathe… even someone as strong as your big brother here would be helpless. Got that?"
Koala listened, a little confused. "So… that's a powerful technique?"
"Very powerful," Liam said, looking down at her. "And there's more, like producing pure oxygen. Humans need oxygen to survive, but too much of it turns it into a deadly gas. Tricks like that… learning how to control gas will be really important for you… actually, you'll probably need it pretty soon."
"…Huh?" Koala froze in place.
Liam stopped, bent down, and placed his large hand gently on her slender left shoulder. He looked into her confused eyes.
(To Be Continued…)
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