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**[Cover Story: 100 Million New Star Part 3 – ‘Captain, is this the guy you were talking about?’]**
**[Grand Line, at a banquet on a certain island, Shanks is being wildly encouraged to drink by Vice Captain Ben Beckman and others. [Sniper Yasopp, holding a bounty notice that came with the newspaper, laughs loudly as he joins a chubby man eating a drumstick.]**
—
“…Devil Fruit users, some can transform into animals, some possess superhuman abilities, and some can even turn their bodies into flames or lightning. Could these powers be related to the fragments hidden within the ‘Lineage Factor’… fragments beyond ‘human’?”
…
“…Predictably, I found fragments of ocean creatures within the human ‘Lineage Factor.’ However, just like those non-human fragments, they are always in a suppressed, dormant state…”
“…The Fish-Man race, the Mermaid race, what exactly are they? And what are we?”
“…The Giant race, the Longarm race, and the rumored Dwarves race, this world has so many groups considered inherently different… But perhaps we aren’t so different after all…”
“…And about the Devil Fruit. If Devil Fruit users are powerless in water because the ‘factors’ in seawater suppress the ‘Devil Fruit’ they consumed, could we hypothesize that a special ‘factor’ with a specific wavelength exists? Or could we create a special ‘factor’ using seawater’s properties to attract the ‘Devil Fruit’?… Well, this is something to explore further if I ever get my hands on a Devil Fruit…”
“…Or perhaps not. If I hypothesize that the superhuman abilities of Devil Fruit users are linked to those ‘discarded’ fragments within the ‘Lineage Factor,’ why not try to activate those fragments myself and see if I can create a ‘Devil Fruit user’? Or rather, let’s call it a ‘super ability user’…”
…
“…I don’t know whether to be happy or angry… Today, I made a dog named Paulie spit out artillery… I activated a cat’s strength to make it as powerful as a bear…”
“…Am I the one who’s gone mad, or is this world just crazy?…”
…
No matter how many times Liam and Robin read Dr. Vegapunk’s research notes and these disorganized logs, they always ended up in silent contemplation.
The more they thought about it, the more terrifying it became.
Robin looked at her hands, watching as flowers bloomed and sprouted additional arms from her forearms. She murmured, “Could it be that the power of my Flower-Flower Fruit (Hana Hana no Mi) activated some fragment within my ‘Lineage Factor’ that relates to ‘flowers’?”
“Or maybe,” Liam mused, staring at the room built within the Stand City, “the Flower-Flower Fruit (Hana Hana no Mi) itself is just a piece of ‘flower-related Lineage Factor’… And the reason my ghost can extract and grant Devil Fruit powers… is essentially manipulating the Lineage Factor within the human body? Or perhaps even deeper… it’s operating on the ‘Life Energy’ level…” He recalled his innate talent for Life Return that came with his Stand powers.
‘JOJO’ is a hymn to human courage.
Then perhaps Stand is the miracle of life.
As Liam thought this, white fluid surged from the floor and transformed into a black suit of armor, reminding him, “We’ve reached a new island, want to disembark?”
“Naturally!” Liam stretched, “I’m starving!”
****
**[Grand Line, Lulusia Kingdom]**
**[City Town—]**
Like a ghost, ‘B.I.B.’ floated into an alley by the street. Liam and Robin leaped out of the city fortress door in its chest, and with a “BIU!” sound, it returned to its original size.
“…” A homeless man rummaging through a trash can in the alley stared blankly at the two people who had suddenly appeared.
“Yo!” Liam saluted, smiling. “Excuse me, which way to the restaurant?”
The homeless man looked at the two and pointed in a direction toward the street corner.
Liam reached behind him, and with a flip of his hand, conjured some leftover food, tossing it to the homeless man. It landed perfectly in his arms.
“Thanks.”
Liam swaggered out of the alley.
Robin followed closely behind. Just before exiting, she leaned toward Liam with her hands behind her back and slightly tilted her face upward.
“Disguise, full marks.”
Liam made two OK signs with his hands and pressed them against Robin’s cheeks.
The disguise created by the Flower-Flower Fruit (Hana Hana no Mi) felt and bounced exactly like Robin’s real face…
“Just help me check next time…” Robin touched her cheeks and followed him. Guided by the homeless man’s directions, Liam soon found a small but busy restaurant.
The restaurant was indeed small, with no waiters; the owner, who also served as the chef, was a young man with a golden afro. The afro was naturally hidden under the chef’s hat, leaving only the lower half visible.
Liam doubted whether this place could satisfy his hunger.
This might sound arrogant, but with just one chef, Liam wasn’t optimistic about his ability to cook and handle other customers simultaneously.
“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure you leave satisfied!” The young chef with the golden afro wiped his hands on his apron and gave Liam a thumbs-up. “The one cooking for you is a future Marine base chef, after all!”
When they heard him say this, the regulars in the room burst into laughter. Clearly, they were all familiar with the golden-afro young man’s ambitions.
“Well, keep it up!” Liam sincerely returned the menu to him, adding, “I’ll take everything on this menu.”
“Huh?” The golden-afro young man thought he misheard.
Robin chuckled softly.
After double-checking Liam’s order multiple times, the young chef had no choice but to muster his determination and head back to the kitchen for battle. Along the way, he couldn’t help but wonder why these two customers seemed so familiar.
Soon, steaming dishes were brought to the table.
Not only did Liam, who always had a hearty appetite, start devouring the food with intense vigor the moment it was served, but even Robin, who had been fasting for a few days, found her appetite increasing, eating half a plate more than usual in the brief pauses between Liam’s storm-like eating.
The new customers were so intense that the chef no longer had the luxury of pondering why they looked familiar; he was too busy juggling the cooking.
As dish after dish was brought out, Liam happily accepted everything, enjoying his meal. Suddenly, he felt a faint breeze brushing past him.
Liam continued eating, not even raising an eyelid.
Robin noticed a burly man from another table throwing a punch at Liam’s head, only for it to stop trembling in mid-air just before making contact.
“What… what did you do?!”
The burly man looked puzzled and terrified, as if his fist had been caught in the air by something invisible, rendering him unable to move.
“What are you doing?” Liam, chewing a mouthful of meat, looked at him innocently.
‘B.I.B.’ grabbed the burly man’s arm and pushed him backward, causing him to stumble and fall onto the ground with a loud thud.
“It’s them! Those two!” The burly man pointed at Liam and Robin, pulling out a newspaper from his pocket. “They’re wanted criminals!”
The diners saw the two bounty posters rolled up in the newspaper.
Indeed, the photos matched Liam and Robin!
“Wait! How much is the bounty?”
“Am I seeing this right…?”
“Oh my gosh!”
Everyone counted the long string of zeros repeatedly, and then, taking in the smell of food and oil smoke in the air, they shouted in shock, “One—hundred—million—Beri!!”
What’s happening? While everyone was stunned, Liam didn’t stop eating. Robin, however, was already somewhat full and quietly said, “We’re being hunted because of that incident at the research lab… under the names Giorno and Jolyne!”
Some people managed to suppress their shock, convinced that the two kids were no threat, and rushed at them with chairs and stools.
“Seems like it!” Liam replied, smiling with a bowl in hand.
He moved effortlessly among the attackers, casually kicking and nudging them, turning the restaurant into a chaotic scene in no time.
Robin wasn’t surprised by his skills. She had already packed her bag and was ready to leave.
Liam squatted on the fallen attackers, eating the last bit from his bowl while glancing at the bounty posters scattered on the floor.
“Wow, a little goal achieved!” He said, laughing. “Captain Jolyne, your price went up!”
Robin rolled her eyes. “Let’s go.”
The restaurant was left in disarray as the young chef, holding a spoon, ran out, clutching his head in despair. “What the heck?! Oh no, I still need to save up for this year’s ‘Heavenly Tribute’ to the King and the Celestial Dragons…”
Liam and Robin walked down the streets of this town.
A bounty of 100 million, along with the freshly printed bounty posters, was certainly powerful.
They hadn’t even walked halfway down the 100-meter street when several groups of people recognized them and came charging at them, shouting threats.
And some had already gone to notify the nearest stationed Marines.
“How about we sell ourselves for 200 million?” Liam joked, glancing at ‘B.I.B.’ beside him. “We even have the bounty hunter ‘Jotaro Kujo’ with us…”
Robin: “…” What expression should she make at a time like this?
It really seemed like Liam was serious!
“Forget it! Money doesn’t interest me that much anymore…” Liam shook his head. Although it was doable, it was just too much trouble…
As they walked, intending to gather some supplies before leaving, they suddenly heard faint sobbing.
Looking toward the street, they saw a man in front of a crying girl, painting his face with greasepaint, trying to amuse the weeping child by acting like a clown. Meanwhile, a woman was waving a pendant in front of the crying girl, seemingly trying to hypnotize her… Seeing the would-be hypnotist, Liam’s hand itched, and he felt the urge to pull out a metal rod and give them a good whack.
“Waaah… Daddy couldn’t pay the Heavenly Tribute and died…” the girl cried, her tears uncontrollable.
……
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