You can read ahead up to 30 chapters on my patreon https://www.patreon.com/marvel6395
Chapter Serialization ・ Love-Sickness 28 ・ Heihō-ryū (Flat Blade Style)
The Kuja Palace was silent.
Soft and light footsteps echoed quietly down its halls. Hancock walked alone to the depths of the palace, through a secret passage that led to a secluded mountain valley. She slowly approached the square Poneglyph at its center.
Her long black hair flowed down to her waist, her long sleeves fluttering gently. Hancock raised her head, staring at the Poneglyph for a long time. She couldn't understand a single word carved into it.
From her sleeve, she drew a carving knife. With a casual flick of her wrist, a flash of cold light sparked, stone chips scattered into the air…
…
The monstrous blade of Hakientwine Thunderain came slashing toward Liam's neck, but he simply raised a large hand and caught it barehanded.
"...?!"
Covered in blood, breathing heavily through one eye, Shiryu's other eye widened in sheer disbelief.
'This guy… actually caught my sword with his bare hand…'
'Was it because his own wounds had weakened his Haki too much? Or was it… that this monster's physical body and Haki were just too overwhelming?'
The pitch-black hand clamped tightly around Shiryu's blade. In the other hand, Liam raised his iron staff, its swing whistling through the air with a deafening howl.
His stamina… it doesn't drop at all?!
Shiryu's eyes were bloodshot. The staff came crashing down, each strike exploded with black lightning, his arm bones shattered with cracking sounds: kā chā kā chā.
Shiryu let out a muffled scream, his face twisting in agony.
Not far off, Mihawk stood with arms crossed, silently observing, his gaze focused especially on Giorno.
"..."
Then suddenly, Liam's assault stopped.
He clutched at his throat...
The small wound in his trachea, where hair sharpened with Life Return and Armament Haki had pierced through, had already healed. But his mouth and nose were still sealed with gold, making him unable to breathe again.
That brief pause was all it took, Liam looked down once more, only to find the yellow sand stained with blood, but Shiryu of the Rain was gone. He must've escaped while he had the chance.
"..."
His staff hung low.
Drops of blood dripped slowly from the tip, soaking into the sand. The black Haki around the weapon faded, retreating up the shaft and back into Liam's body.
He said nothing, the fight had lost its meaning.
Kā kā…
The black battle armor covering him began to detach piece by piece, gathering in front of him to reform into his Stand, B.I.B.
B.I.B. took the staff, then pointed behind Liam.
Liam turned, There stood Robin, wearing her backpack, and crouched at her feet was a large green-haired man.
Liam strode over to them.
As he got closer, Robin saw more clearly: the lower half of Liam's face was coated in a layer of gold, as if it had melded into his skin, making it impossible for him to speak or breathe!
Robin opened her mouth, panic rising, then suddenly realized: it must be the ability of that green-haired man on the ground!
Liam raised a hand to signal her to wait. He snapped his fingers twice, Snap, Snap.
Without a word, B.I.B. crouched beside the unconscious Tesoro, extending his left hand covered in blue flame-like patterns, and thrust it into Tesoro's back.
From inside his body, he extracted a glowing golden triangular chip...
Liam allowed the Stand to remove the Magnet-Magnet Fruit chip from his body and then implant the freshly obtained Gold-Gold Fruit chip in its place.
He paused for half a second to adapt...
Then, raising his hand, Liam wiped across the golden mask on the lower half of his face; the gold, embedded in his skin, suddenly flowed like a living stream, leaving his face and flying into the air.
"Huff--!"
At last, his nose and mouth were freed, Liam took in a huge breath of air and slowly exhaled, feeling the tension release from his chest.
Robin finally relaxed.
She looked up at the floating mass of gold, dancing around Liam's fingertips. Curious, she asked: "That's…?"
A brief moment of thought, then she remembered it from the Paramecia-class Devil Fruit Encyclopedia she had read before:
"The Gold-Gold Fruit! It grants the power to manipulate gold… So this whole island… was laced with golden particles under his control…"
Liam nodded. The small cluster of gold hovered in his palm, under the control of the Gold-Gold Fruit, it bent, flattened, and twisted freely into any shape he desired.
Robin was startled, That meant… everyone on the island had been unknowingly breathing in gold particles from the air?!
No wonder...
She'd seen gold fly out of Liam's body and seal his mouth and nose earlier, so it wasn't a misconception.
"Let's study that later," Liam said, glancing toward the other side as he took the iron staff back from B.I.B.
The wind blew. Yellow sand swept across the battlefield.
Robin paused, then followed his gaze.
Over there, where the arena had been reduced to a field of yellow sand, Hawk-Eye Mihawk stood in place, the Black Blade Yoru strapped to his back. Arms crossed, he stared across the distance at Giorno.
The scene… this atmosphere… It looked exactly like the prelude to a clash between two titans, about to fight it out and decide a victor.
Behind a nearby sand dune, the host and a few judges, disheveled and covered in sand, nervously peeked out, tense, but excited.
And across countless giant screens all over the world, audiences watched in suspense.
Two towering figures, one on the left, one on the right, faced off on a wide-open desert field. You could practically feel the electrifying tension in the air, a battle ready to explode at any moment.
"I've always wanted to know…" Liam casually weighed the iron staff in his hand, smiling as he asked: "Between you and Shanks… who actually won?"
The intense mood shattered in an instant as a grin formed beneath Mihawk's small mustache.
"I'd like to know that too."
"Huh? You two never fought?" Liam asked, clearly intrigued.
"We've crossed blades," Mihawk replied, still with arms folded. "But never had a true duel."
"Ohhh~~" Liam nodded in understanding.
Then Mihawk added: "That red-haired man is on this island right now. Go have a fight and see for yourself."
"Shanks is on this island?!" Liam was genuinely shocked.
For one, back in the day, he didn't have Kenbunshoku Haki (Observation Haki), so he had no idea what Shanks' presence felt like. And second, this vacation island had recently become a chaotic mess, with a wild mix of all kinds of people. With so many unfamiliar auras coming and going, it was impossible for Liam to monitor them 24/7.
Sure, he was a stamina freak, with bottomless energy reserves, but he wasn't bored to the point of tracking every single aura on the island.
"Then let's go! Time to meet in person!"
He beamed with excitement. With a smooth motion, he stuffed the iron staff into Robin's backpack, along with the Den Den Mushi, tucked neatly into the City Fortress inside the bag.
Liam and Robin began walking away from the battlefield, now nothing but a miniature desert. Mihawk, carrying the Black Blade, followed them.
And just like that, the three of them left, leaving behind only the host, a few judges, and a scattering of spectators who hadn't yet fled.
Everyone stared blankly. No one said a word. They looked at each other in stunned silence.
They… just left?
After all the chaos and destruction, You'd think they might as well just finish the final match, right?
But perhaps this is just how the strong behave.
Across the world, audiences stared at the giant screens now displaying only a vast field of yellow sand.
No one knew what to say.
To fighters like Mihawk and Giorno, perhaps it's actually rare for them to obediently follow the rules and compete in a formal tournament. The so-called "rules" were never a restriction; they obeyed them only when they felt like it.
They had followed them before because they chose to. Now, they walked away in front of the entire world, because they couldn't be bothered anymore.
The battlefield was empty. A breeze blew through, stirring up trails of fine sand. The gusts swept across Tesoro, still lying unconscious in the dirt...
On the beachside of the vacation island, the Red Hair Pirate Crew lounged around in their usual disorderly fashion, drinking, bragging, laughing it up.
Suddenly, Red-Haired Shanks looked toward a certain direction. His eyes lit up and he laughed heartily:
"Isn't that Giorno?! Hahaha!"
(End Of This Chapter)