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On the shore, Ross stood frozen, staring hard toward the horizon where the blazing ship had completely sunk beneath the sea, her eyes filled with sorrow…
In a daze, she suddenly heard Robin's voice.
"Over there…"
"What?" Ross rubbed her eyes with the heel of her palm, blinking her red, tearful eyes rapidly as she looked blankly toward Robin.
Robin, who was wearing a black battle armor helmet invisible to Ross, pointed toward the other side of the coastline, several hundred meters away along the beach, and said:
"It seems something just drifted ashore over there."
"Could it be…?!"
Ross's eyes lit up with both shock and joy. She immediately sprinted in the direction Robin pointed.
Robin removed the battle armor helmet and handed it back to B.I.B., then quickly followed after Ross along the coast.
As Ross neared that stretch of sand, she saw the battered, unconscious figure of Gance, lying motionless on the beach.
B.I.B. trailed behind Robin.
When its main body (Liam) had gone to locate the artillery-firing vessel, Robin had worn B.I.B.'s helmet and partially armored up, allowing her to borrow its Kenbunshoku Haki (Observation Haki).
B.I.B.'s Observation Haki, copied directly from its main body, was extremely adept at distinguishing and filtering different life auras. Because of this, Robin quickly located Gance's presence in the nearby waters of the burning wreck.
From there, things became much easier. Robin used her Kenbunshoku Haki to lock onto a sea beast, then used her Flower-Flower Fruit (Hana Hana no Mi) to make flowers bloom upon its body. Once the petals touched the creature, the fruit memorized its aura, and Robin instantly recreated an identical Flower Sea Beast from her power.
From the Flower Sea Beast's forehead, petals bloomed and sprouted Robin's eyes. The creature swam swiftly through the sea, dove beneath the burning waters, clamped its jaws around the drowning, unconscious Gance, then darted toward the shore at high speed.
After tossing Gance onto the sand, the Flower Sea Beast dove back into the sea, its massive body bursting apart into countless petals, which were swept away by the currents, drifting into the ocean's depths…
"Gance! Thank goodness…"
Ross didn't know any of this, she simply thought Gance was lucky enough to have drifted back ashore with the current.
Already severely injured and never properly treated, Gance had nearly been killed again by cannon fire and drowning. Now he was in a deep coma, no matter how much Ross shook him, he wouldn't wake, but at least he was alive. Tears of relief streamed down her face.
Robin reminded her, "Let's bring him back to City Town for treatment first."
Ross nodded repeatedly through her tears. The young princess tried to lift her unconscious commander onto her back, but her knees buckled and she almost collapsed under his weight.
So Robin quickly handed her Little Green (the Den Den Mushi), reminding her of their miraculous communication snail.
"Let's go together," Robin said as she led Ross back toward City Town.
"What about Giorno?" Ross carefully cradled Little Green in her hands, gazing back toward the endless sea. To be honest, she hadn't seen which direction or ship Stiel had been on when he attacked Gance's vessel. Liam had simply walked across the air and disappeared into the distance. Ross couldn't help but feel worried.
"He'll come back," Robin said with a small smile as she led Ross inland toward the island.
But in truth, not long after the two of them had left, a mass of petals rose from the beach and merged together, forming another Robin clone.
"Chopper-na… Giorno?"
The Den Den Mushi, with long, narrow, beautiful eyes, gazed up at Liam, yet somehow exuded a commanding aura as it mimicked the cold, detached female voice from the other end of the call.
"This is the second time, isn't it?" Liam grumbled. "You people hiding behind the scenes, do you all have this habit of calling me after your subordinates get killed by me?"
Perhaps not expecting Liam's tone to be so flippant, the Den Den Mushi fell silent for a moment before speaking again, slowly: "So… it seems you already know who I am."
"I've got things to do. Goodbye." Liam said gravely, pressing the fallen receiver back into the Den Den Mushi's shell-mounted base.
"Well then…" The voice from the Den Den Mushi abruptly cut off, and the cold, hawk-like eyes it had mimicked faded away, reverting to those of an ordinary Den Den Mushi.
Kuraikana Island, Sikaiar Kingdom, Inside the tent, a Den Den Mushi rested on the table. Hyena sat with one hand propping up her chin, two youthful, fashionable girls in swimsuits nestled in her arms. With her other hand, she held the Den Den Mushi's receiver and said lazily:
"Then I suppose you've understood now, whatever you do will bring the consequences it deserves…"
"Lady Hyena," the blonde girl leaning against the pirate woman's chest reminded softly, "The Den Den Mushi call has ended."
The female pirate, over two meters tall, lounged in a grand, luxurious chair. The two swimsuit girls, both around 1.7 meters, looked like petite, adorable kittens as they huddled in her embrace.
"...I saw that." Hyena's expression remained calm and almost emotionless as she placed the receiver back onto the Den Den Mushi's shell.
The other girl, a blue-haired beauty in a swimsuit, rubbed her cheek affectionately against Hyena's fiery red curls and pouted: "Who's this 'Giorno' guy anyway? So rude to Lady Hyena…"
"..." Hyena said nothing, she only smiled faintly.
"Goodbye," huh…
It seemed Giorno not only knew who she was on the other end of the Den Den Mushi but was also quite certain of where she was.
And now… they were planning to come to Kuraikana Island.
That little girl Ross, she'd not only overcome the power of the Rot-Rot Fruit (Decay-Decay Fruit), but also managed to find some rather interesting allies.
Soft, flirtatious laughter filled the tent…
Hyena fondled the two girls in her arms playfully for a while, until a respectful voice called from outside the tent: "Lady Hyena, a patient has arrived…"
"Bring them in," said the female pirate without lifting her head, nor did she stop what she was doing.
"I, Giorno Chopper-na, have one regret…"
On the deck, Liam looked solemnly at Stiel's corpse, rubbing his chin with a conflicted expression.
"I probably shouldn't have let that Whisper-Whisper Fruit slip away just now…"
But that minor regret quickly left his mind.
"Eh, whatever. What's done is done."
Liam burst into hearty laughter, bent down to pick up Stiel's Den Den Mushi, then leaped high into the air. With a swift downward kick, he released a curved slash of compressed air, slicing the not-so-small ship cleanly in half. Bang!, the vessel split down the middle, slowly sinking into the sea.
Carrying the Den Den Mushi, Liam stepped through the air using Geppo (Moonwalk), until he reached the shores of True Gold Island.
Robin and Ross were no longer there. Sensing the position of his Stand, Liam confirmed they were indeed within City Town on the island.
But instead of heading straight there, he followed the coastline using Geppo and landed several hundred meters away, on another stretch of beach.
There, a line of footprints marked where someone had paced back and forth repeatedly. Clone Robin, formed from flowers, looked up at the airborne Liam and waved at him with a smile.
Back in City Town, Ross cradled Little Green (the Den Den Mushi) in her hands, guilt filling her eyes. These past two years, what had she even been doing? She'd stayed on Drum Island for so long, yet hadn't learned a single bit of medical skill…
As she and Robin searched frantically for a doctor to save Gance, Robin suddenly froze mid-stride. Through the eyes of her flower clone, she had seen Liam's return, and the smile on her lips quickly curved into surprise.
"Stiel used the Whisper-Whisper Fruit… to steal your Stand?"
On the way to City Town, Clone Robin, walking beside Liam, expressed full astonishment as she listened to his explanation.
"But B.I.B. has its own independent consciousness. Even if he did steal it…"
She clearly misunderstood. Liam shook his head. "It's not that he directly stole B.I.B., it's that he awakened a Stand of his own. It wasn't a battle armor, it was a humanoid Stand with a dog's head… ah, damn it!"
"Huh?" the clone tilted her head, confused.
"I forgot to ask him what his Stand's name was…" Liam said with a grim expression.
Clone Robin sighed, lifted her hand, and gave him a light karate chop on the head.
(End Of This Chapter)