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**[Side Story 2 – “Calling Headquarters!!”]**
**[On the Grand Line, aboard a large ship burning with smoke, as if it had just been through a fierce battle, chaos ensued. Bloodied Marines desperately called for help through a Den Den Mushi. In the shadows, a cloaked man picked up a newspaper, and two bounty posters slipped out from it.]**
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Circles of purple light beams shot up from the snowy ground towards the sky, precisely targeting the flying 『B.I.B.』.
This was the power of the Blind Swordsman’s Gravity Fruit.
Once hit by his gravity waves, the target would immediately experience increased gravity, being dragged down to the ground by the Blind Swordsman.
The black armor-like Stand’s eyes slightly glowed white as it glanced at the purple beams shooting up from below… It allowed them to pass through, flying higher into the sky, soon disappearing without a trace.
“…”
In the snow, the Blind Swordsman hesitated for a moment.
His attack should have hit the target. Yet, it seemed as though the gravity beams couldn’t touch the opponent… They simply passed through.
In that brief moment of distraction, his Kenbunshoku Haki (Observation Haki) sensed that the figure didn’t linger in the sky but continued along its trajectory and speed, flying away from the island into the depths of the Grand Line.
The Blind Swordsman sheathed his sword, pondering for a moment before murmuring to himself, “I see… So when that little brother in the restaurant said there were only two people… The third person actually ‘didn’t exist’? Even my Gravity Fruit couldn’t interfere… What kind of Devil Fruit ability could it be…?”
In the vast snowfield, the Blind Swordsman continued his journey on foot.
—
Meanwhile, despite bringing back the achievement of discovering Dr. Vegapunk’s hidden research lab… Vice Admiral Borsalino couldn’t avoid getting scolded by Fleet Admiral Kong for failing to capture the two wicked little criminals.
“You searched the entire island for three whole days and found nothing?”
Fleet Admiral Kong, who looked like a giant gorilla, sat behind his massive desk, crossing his arms with a commanding presence. “Is that your answer, Vice Admiral Borsalino…?”
“I believe so, yes~,” Borsalino replied calmly. “This also proves that either the enemy escaped before I arrived at Karakuri Island… or Captain Jolyne’s Devil Fruit has a hiding ability so flawless that even I couldn’t detect it… How terrifying!”
“Giorno’s ghost ability, and Captain Jolyne’s ability to disappear into thin air…” Fleet Admiral Kong frowned, thinking for a moment before setting it aside.
As the Marine Fleet Admiral, he had countless affairs to deal with every day and couldn’t afford to dwell on issues involving a mere 100 million bounty pirate for too long.
After reporting his mission, Borsalino left the Fleet Admiral’s office.
Around the corner, he ran into Vice Admiral Kuzan, accompanied by “Marine Hero” Garp and Marine Admiral Sengoku. Garp, at 57, had long been eligible for promotion to Admiral but repeatedly declined the offer;
Sengoku, at 58, was regarded as the most likely candidate to succeed as Fleet Admiral, known as the “Marine Resourceful General.” The two were leisurely strolling, one munching on senbei, the other walking a goat, casually chatting with Vice Admiral Kuzan.
As Borsalino approached, Kuzan remarked, “I heard you slipped up this time?”
“Don’t make it sound so bad~,” Borsalino pouted, speaking in a laid-back manner. “I should be asking you. That so-called ghost that only Kenbunshoku Haki (Observation Haki) can detect… I practically wrapped the whole island like a ball of yarn, but I didn’t find a single trace. You weren’t just pulling my leg, were you?”
“Hā hā hā hā!” Garp laughed heartily while munching on senbei. “Maybe your Kenbunshoku Haki (Observation Haki) is just too weak, Borsalino!”
“In front of you, old man, I can’t really deny that~,” Borsalino replied nonchalantly. “But it seems those two 100-million bounty rookies are indeed worthy of their bounties. In the future, any Marine who spots them will need to be a hundred thousand times more careful…”
*Crunch!* Garp chewed his senbei, grinning as he muttered to himself, “More powerful youngsters are heading to the sea, huh…”
“Roger’s wicked spirit…” Admiral Sengoku, feeding paper to his goat, sighed with a slight headache. “These brats were bold enough to pull off such incidents! Their first bounty reaches a whopping 100 Million Belly… And they vanished without a trace, even under Borsalino’s pursuit at top speed… That Roger guy, even in death, doesn’t make things easy!”
****
Stand 『B.I.B.』 glided steadily across the turbulent sea.
Inside the internal castle—
Although their food reserves weren’t critically low, they weren’t abundant enough for Liam to be wasteful, so he slightly reduced his training regimen.
In fact, 『B.I.B.』 had been out for over five days, evading Vice Admiral Kizaru’s island-wide search. The mere thought of the strain when retracting 『B.I.B.』 was already enough to give Liam a headache.
In the training grounds, the green Den Den Mushi, now possessing the powers of the Shiro Shiro no Mi (Castle-Castle Fruit), grew wheels and scurried around wildly, climbing from the floor to the walls without stopping for a moment.
Robin, as usual, remained quiet. If Liam didn’t call for her, she could spend the entire day absorbed in a book without getting tired.
Occasionally, Liam would even notice that the book in her hands was a Chinese novel stored in the uppermost study, created by 『B.I.B.』. At first, Liam thought Robin had miraculously taught herself Chinese, but when he asked, he found out that she just found the square characters aesthetically pleasing and read them for fun… Liam laughed and said, “Do you want to learn? I can teach you.”
“Sure,” Robin replied, holding her book.
“Next time, then,” Liam said, lying down on the bed. He had 『B.I.B.』 activate a screen on the wall, playing back the copied research data from Vegapunk’s lab, projected from his memory. “For now, let’s go through Vegapunk’s research files…”
“Oh…” Robin sat on the edge of the bed, turning her gaze toward the wall.
The wall, under the influence of the Shiro Shiro no Mi (Castle-Castle Fruit) ability, quickly transformed into a massive screen.
The screen displayed a first-person perspective inside the cave laboratory. The viewpoint switched between Liam and 『B.I.B.』, while the content of the screen flashed through research documents, each only visible for less than half a second.
However, under 『B.I.B.』’s control, even those fleeting frames could be paused and carefully examined, word by word, line by line.
…
「…Interestingly, such components—I’ll call them ‘factors’ for now—can be extracted not only from seawater but also from ordinary drinking water…」
「…These ‘factors’ can even be found in blood. Not just human blood, but animal blood as well…」
「…Could it be hypothesized that similar ‘factors’ exist in any liquid? If so, why?…」
「…It’s rumored that Devil Fruit users are cursed by the sea. All users are unable to swim. Why? Could it be related to these ‘factors’ found in both the sea and human blood?…」
…
「…No one could imagine how excited and unnerved I felt when writing this down. Tracing those ‘factors’ hidden within human blood, I ultimately discovered that they were merely a tiny vine clinging to the grand tree of human life… Following this vine, I finally reached the base of that tree, which symbolizes the continuation of humanity… I call it the ‘Lineage Factor’… Or perhaps it should be called the ‘Blueprint of Life’…」
「…Blueprint… Within this diagram, I saw not only the human form but also wolves, fierce tigers, crocodiles, elephants, and even monkeys… There were also plants, trees, and even things like wind, fire, lightning, and light… Why does the human body, within the ‘Lineage Factor,’ harbor so many seemingly unrelated fragments? Are they redundant waste, or inherited information passed down through generations? …」
……
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