The ground on the shore was soaked in blood and scattered with pirate corpses.
The pig-headed giant eagle, covered in wounds, softly called out and nudged the fallen old man. It slowly helped him to his feet.
"Thanks for the trouble," the old man said, patting the eagle's pig-like head. He glanced at the pile of pirate bodies, but his deeply wrinkled face showed no reaction.
He had witnessed the destruction of his country on this island and had long since come to terms with life and death. Otherwise, he would have fled with everyone else long ago.
Besides, the dead were all pirates; he felt no pity for them. If it hadn't been for the incredibly skilled young man, this old man would likely have been killed today.
Robin was not surprised by the old man's indifference to the bloody scene, but nearby, Rosé, the princess of a nation, though pale, appeared surprisingly composed.
Robin had expected this timid, seemingly weak girl to show terror or discomfort at such a scene.
The old man sighed and asked Rosé her age.
She looked small and fragile yet hadn't flinched at the carnage. Even at her young age, she seemed to have endured much.
"Fifteen…" The old man sighed again upon hearing this.
Standing beside Robin, the black-armored B.I.B. with narrow, gleaming eyes, glanced at her.
Robin herself was not yet sixteen. Yet, at just over 1.8 meters tall with full, graceful curves, she did not look like a sixteen-year-old girl. In the original timeline, at this age, Robin was still hiding in West Blue, living a life of constant fear. Here, under Liam's care on Kujai Island, she had grown up healthy. Her figure rivaled, if not surpassed, her debut appearance at twenty-eight in the manga.
The slightly mature "Jolyne mask" she wore, combined with her calm, composed demeanor, made it impossible for anyone unfamiliar with her to guess that she was still underage.
Robin sensed the gaze and turned her head, smiling and asking, "What's the matter?"
Her sudden voice drew the attention of the old man and Rosé.
B.I.B. folded his arms and said, "They probably think you're twenty-five or twenty-six..."
Robin understood exactly what he meant. Just now, the old man had comforted fifteen-year-old Rosé. She smiled slightly and winked, saying, "Perfect timing, little bro. Still under eighteen."
B.I.B. remained silent. The main body often called her "Robin-nee," so perhaps that was why she shaped her face to appear older.
The old man stared in amazement at Robin, who was speaking to thin air. He was unsure what to say. Could this young lady be the most unsettled by the bloody scene?
Rosé, a little startled, watched Jolyne speak to thin air. She suddenly recalled her previous experience on the JOJO pirate ship. Could there really be a ghost on this pirate crew?
"Ah! Too bad!"
The sudden voice made Rosé flinch. It was Giorno, emerging from the Iron Boots pirate ship's cabin.
Liam jumped down from the deck, carrying a green Den Den Mushi.
He had toured the ship with the little green creature, looting money, food, and anything else they could take and stuffing it into the Den Den Mushi City.
Unfortunately, even after searching the ship's fridge, they found no milk and only a few fresh fruits and vegetables remained.
"Then we'll just pick some from the orchard and head to the next island," Robin said.
Liam agreed and stepped forward. "Oh," he said to the old man with a smile. "These guys are yours now. Ignore them, bury them, or take their heads to the nearest Marine branch for money; it's up to you."
"With this little guy's strength, he can probably carry a pile of heads," he said, glancing at the pig-headed giant eagle beside the old man. Upon meeting his gaze, the eagle shrank slightly behind the old man.
Rosé finally realized that her grandfather could easily fly off the island on the giant eagle, yet he chose to stay behind and live alone on this desolate island.
"I'm not a pirate hunter. If they like the sea so much, just toss them to the sea beasts," the old man grunted. "You want to go to the orchard? I'll take you." Some fruits shouldn't be eaten randomly..."
"No trouble at all," Robin said cheerfully as she followed the old man.
Liam toyed with the LogPose as he followed behind.
Before long, they had picked a bunch of various wild fruits and stuffed them into Little Green's body. The old man and the pigheaded giant eagle watched in amazement, but they quickly guessed that this Den Den Mushi must have eaten some kind of Devil Fruit too.
Indeed, with Liam's Munch-Munch Fruit powers, even poisonous fruits were harmless. Steel, wood, or even stone could be chewed and swallowed as easily as chocolate; what was a little wild poison?
"The LogPose of this island takes about seven hours to fully charge," the old man said as he rode the pig-headed eagle. "You'll need to stay a few more hours before setting sail..."
Before he could finish speaking, he noticed that Giorno's Log Pose was no longer pointing to the current island. The magnetic force had finished logging and was now pointing to the next island.
"How is that possible?"
On the shore, the old man watched Liam pull a ship out of the Den Den Mushi's body and toss it into the sea. He watched the three of them jump aboard and sail toward the horizon with the sun dancing on the waves.
"Pirate ship!" the old man exclaimed belatedly. "It really is a pirate ship..."
After a moment, he sighed softly. "Let's go, Pigg."
The pig-headed giant eagle called softly, helping the old man toss the dozens of pirate corpses one by one into the sea.
While resting on the Iron Boots pirate ship, a sea breeze blew through. Papers and other documents scattered from the disheveled cabin. A few bounty posters stuck to the old man's face. Upon inspecting them, he noticed two posters with photos of Giorno and Jolyne and their bounties listed as dizzyingly long numbers:
"400 million Belly... 300 million... 30 million..."
Holding the posters against the horizon, he muttered, "In this sea called 'Paradise,' there are still such monstrous pirates... Truly, they remind me of those terrifying names from the past..."
......
On the JOJO pirate ship, in the relatively small cabin, Rosé was alone again.
After the two pirates boarded, she hadn't spoken a word when they vanished in the blink of an eye.
(To Be Continued…)
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