Chapter Header Serialization: Lovesickness Becomes Disease, Part Five — Hancock, She, She, She...
Bonney, running breathlessly, gestured wildly as she spoke. All the members of the Kujapirate crew were struck with panic. Marigold's face turned pale with fright, and the two large stacks of cargo slung over her shoulders fell to the ground…
…
To be honest, pirates like Chopper Giorno, with a 200 million Belly bounty, sound pretty terrifying. But recently, on this vacation island, his arrival didn't create such a shocking impact.
Because of a sword hero tournament, touted in newspapers for months as the world's greatest, this already famous Grand Line vacation island has felt like the world's focal point for over half a year...
As the official start of the competition approaches, the island is increasingly mixed with fish and dragons. People from all over the world are here, every kind of person imaginable.
Sword hero masters stroll around the island, shopping and sightseeing. Even passersby can tell many participants are long-time wanted pirates with big bounties!
Everyone knows this, but nobody says a word.
The Marines seem aware, but there's no sign of them taking action.
Pirates themselves seem aware, so most either stick to the competition area or keep a low profile while out shopping.
This has caused the island's residents, tourists, and many reporters to grow numb to seeing those faces printed on bounty posters repeatedly.
200 million Belly bounty?
Oh, so impressive.
Even if Giorno appears on the vacation island, the welcome he receives is just about at that level.
As for strange rumors surrounding this peculiar pirate, like ghosts or Devil Fruits...
Especially the rumor that he can steal other people's Devil Fruits.
Honestly —
It really doesn't concern ordinary people! To many, Devil Fruits are just legendary myths, sometimes even doubted if they are made-up stories. Even if this pirate Giorno can steal Devil Fruits, what's that got to do with us? Whether or not he has that ability, he's just a villain ordinary folks can't afford to mess with!
There are many villainous pirates on this island for the tournament and vacation, but nothing majorly wicked has happened...
But what just happened completely refreshed people's understanding of the pirate Giorno.
He actually appeared floating above the sea, confronting Hawk Eyes Mihawk and the daughter of a Sea Emperor head-on, and it looked like he wasn't losing at all!
Reporters suppressed their excitement and wildly snapped flash photos of those three groups, two of which had only one person each, and behind Mrs. Charlotte Amande, the "Ghost Lady" pirate, was a whole group of pirates.
This island hosting the world's greatest sword hero tournament? It's packed with sword heroes, hunters, pirates from all over the world... For months, the island seemed calm on the surface but was actually roiling beneath.
Especially the pirates, how could they quietly behave? Some are clever enough not to provoke the Marines too much, while others, reckless ones, get wiped out before causing big trouble thanks to some powerful forces. Whether those forces are the Marines, the official tournament pirates, or some behind-the-scenes big boss is debated.
But pirates differ from pirate.
The daughter of the Sea Emperor, Charlotte Amande, called the "Ghost Lady" in the New World, hasn't been on the vacation island for very long.
However, the obvious change was that other pirates dared not cause trouble on the island, especially outside the arena area, they kept a low profile and acted like thieves in the shadows.
But Charlotte Amande acted with ease and confidence, doing things her own way. It didn't seem like she, as a pirate, was worried about the Marines. Rather, it was the Marines who feared whether she might do something excessive.
A similar style was shown by a lone wolf who arrived even later to the vacation island, a sword hero and pirate known as Hawk Eyes Mihawk.
This great sword hero pirate, who once single-handedly swept through several districts in Sabaody and even had a direct confrontation with the Marines, was considered the biggest favorite to win the tournament when he first set foot on the island. He was regarded as the greatest rival to the "Ghost Lady" Charlotte Amande. It's unknown how many participants gave up their swords and withdrew outright upon hearing news of his registration, unwilling to face this man head-on.
One swordsman who left bitterly said, "Facing those eagle-like eyes, I feared I would lose the courage to hold a sword again."
Naturally, more people who gave up had very straightforward thoughts: "I'm afraid of dying. With the Ghost Lady here, there's a good chance I'll die. Now Mihawk the Hawk Eyes is here too... the chances of dying are even higher. Only a fool would keep participating. I'm not going to win anyway!"
Charlotte Amande.
Hawk Eyes Mihawk.
Just these two names alone scared many participants out of their wits.
During these days, wherever they went, they drew the attention of too many people on the island.
And as the competition day approached, the entire world watching the tournament grew extremely eager to see how these two would perform.
That's why today, this small clash by the seaside was so tense and exciting, drawing countless onlookers.
So many reporters crowded in, secretly hoping these two would escalate the situation, preferably fighting violently before the competition even started, ideally hacking each other bloody but ending without a clear victor. That way, their follow-up reports on the tournament would be full of suspense, and newspaper sales would surely skyrocket!
But in the middle of this minor conflict between the two, suddenly someone came from the sea and interrupted.
He actually had the strength to step in between these two?
Chopper Giorno!
No matter what happens next, just the news factor of "Giorno x Hawk Eyes Mihawk x Charlotte's Amande" is eye-catching enough!
In fact, it wasn't only ordinary people who were shocked, even the Big Mom pirates, who were used to the chaos of the New World, were stunned speechless by Giorno's dazzling arrival.
"Are you kidding? This kid is really that strong?"
"He actually blocked Lady Amande's blade…"
"Not just Lady Amande, but also Hawk Eyes Mihawk's sword!"
Robin quietly stood on the edge of the crowd, listening to the astonished shouts after Liam's appearance drew everyone's attention, a faint smile playing on her lips.
She stood at the edge, but others recognized her as the one who came flying with Giorno from midair above the sea, quickly giving way some space behind her.
Liam looked around, especially glancing several times at the Big Mom pirates behind Amande. He was quite annoyed by these "random bystanders'" amazed reactions and really wanted to go over and teach them a lesson…
But in the end, he didn't move. Instead, he turned curiously to Hawk Eyes and asked, "You know me?"
Amande, coldly smoking, said, "With abilities like yours, did you really think… You could avoid everyone's attention?"
"Is that so?" Liam scratched his head and laughed, "It's just that I can play around with other people's Devil Fruits, it's not that amazing! Ha ha ha ha…"
(End Of This Chapter)
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