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“Nope, didn’t throw my back out!!”
Ivankov shouted as he struck a pose, twisting his waist with ease.
“You didn’t hurt your back! You totally fooled us, Iva Sama!!” The muscular okama who had been chasing Liam all fell to their knees in adoration of their queen, playfully egging him on.
Liam laughed, “Ha ha ha ha, that wasn’t funny at all!”
“…” Robin glanced at Liam, then looked at the group in front of her. She wasn’t sure whether to call them men or women… Was everyone on this island like this?
Ivankov stepped toward Liam. Standing at 4.49 meters tall, his head alone must have been at least two meters long. His enormous head loomed over Liam, his thick lashes fluttering. One eye large and the other small, he stared at Liam for a moment, then suddenly winked!
“Passionate~ WINK~!”
A blast of energy shot out from Ivankov’s wink, barreling towards Liam, who was lying on the beach.
Liam quickly rolled away and yelled, “Are you crazy?!”
“No wonder you’re worth a 100 million Belly Bounty, GiornoBOY (a pirate-world term, not Earth English!)~” Ivankov cackled as he pulled out two bounty posters from his coat: one for “Kūjō Jolyne” and another for “Chopper na Giorno.” “You actually dodged my WINK attack— though I wasn’t being serious!” The Okama followers, eyes gleaming with hearts, chimed in, “Oh, you weren’t serious! You scared us~!”
Liam was curious, “That move was impressive. Was it some kind of mechanism in your fake eyelashes, or did you use Haki?”
“Oh my, you actually figured out the fake eyelashes…” Ivankov gasped in exaggerated shock, stumbling backward and striking another pose as he fell, shouting, “It’s not fake eyelashes!!”
The okama were about to cheer again when Liam interrupted, exasperating, “Alright, enough already! This joke’s getting old!”
So it wasn’t fake eyelashes… Could it be that Ivankov used his Horm-Horm Fruit powers to grow such thick lashes?
“Ah, so you know about Haki!” Ivankov placed his hands on his hips and looked down at Liam, then turned to gaze at the receding sea, his eyelashes trembling slightly. “Whether it’s Haki or not…”
*Snap!*
He forcefully winked.
“Hell WINK~!!”
His thick eyelashes slammed shut, unleashing a far more terrifying shockwave than the one he’d tested on Liam earlier.
The invisible blast ripped through the ocean like a cannonball, carving a clear path in the water and sending towering waves surging into the air.
“Care to try it for yourself?” Ivankov withdrew his gaze, giggling as he looked down at Liam. His dense eyelashes were still smoking… He panicked, “Ah! My eyelashes are on fire! I’m gonna die… Just kidding, I won’t die!!”
“Oh, so you won’t die after all!!”
Again? Liam could only hold his forehead in frustration. Was this endless energy just part of being an okama, or was it a side effect of the Horm-Horm Fruit?
“So what’s your name?” Liam asked, even though he already knew. He had to go through the motions.
“Emporio Ivankov, Queen of Kamabakka Kingdom!” Ivankov struck another pose. “GiornoBOY, you came to this island without even knowing that?”
“Emporio? Your name is Emporio?” Liam asked.
“That’s right, Emporio…” Ivankov nodded before shouting, “It’s EMPORIO!!”
With that, he unleashed another WINK at Liam!
Liam and 『B.I.B.』 both focused on Ivankov’s forcefully fluttering, thick upper and lower eyelashes.
*Boom!*
Liam didn’t dodge this time. He took the full brunt of the WINK attack, coughed up blood, and was sent flying across the beach.
“Giorno…” Robin rushed over, worried.
“Why didn’t he dodge?!” The Okama were all concerned for Liam. Even Ivankov was surprised, puzzled, “I wasn’t even that fast with my attack, he could have dodged, right?”
*Cough, cough…*
Liam spat out blood, supported by Robin. He wiped his mouth and clutched his chest, which was still numb from the WINK’s impact.
He exchanged a glance with 『B.I.B.』 and smiled, “I see now… It’s a technique similar to ‘Rankyaku’! In the end, it’s all about using Life Return to control the eye muscles, even the eyelashes, and unleash a sudden burst of force… generating a shockwave…”
He took my attack head-on just to understand the power behind it? Ivankov thought, startled. Then, confused, he asked, “Life Return, GiornoBOY, what is that? You’re pulling my leg… Ha ha! This time I really don’t know!”
“Such a trickster! You fooled us!!” The Okama cheered and laughed.
Still supported by Robin, Liam asked curiously, “You don’t know what Life Return is?”
Ivankov crossed his arms and replied, “Why would I know that?”
“What about Rokushiki?”
“Hmm… sounds familiar, yet unfamiliar…” Ivankov was about to strike a pose but, under Liam’s gaze, lost interest. “Never heard of it! What’s the deal, GiornoBOY? Is it something interesting?”
Liam nodded.
It’s different from Haki.
Haki is an internal energy. Forget training this latent power—just discovering it in the first place is already a high barrier to entry.
But Life Return seems different…
Rokushiki sounds advanced, but as a high-tier military skill derived from Life Return, it’s essentially about honing the human body itself.
Life Return is about mastering life energy, Life Energy.
It’s the art of refining the body itself.
As long as a person is alive, they are using their body, constantly consuming their life force.
Everyone has Haki.
And everyone, whether they realize it or not, is on the path of Life Return. Even if they never consciously know of it… Life Return, literally speaking, is the journey of life itself, from birth to death, right?
Ivankov, being a physically formidable fighter, his superhuman abilities are a testament to the immense potential of Life Return, as a fundamental trait of humans in this world.
However, since he hasn’t grasped the essence of Life Return consciously, he can’t use it as freely as Liam does. For instance, he might not be able to rapidly digest massive amounts of food energy in a short time…
“Speaking of which, how did you two end up here, JolyneBOY?” Ivankov glanced at the empty seashore. “I don’t see your ship anywhere.”
“Where did you see her as a BOY?” Liam pointed at Robin.
“Oh?” Ivankov flashed a dangerous smile, his black leather gloves revealing five sharp spikes at the tips of his fingers. “Are you suggesting I turn her into a BOY instead?”
Not understanding the situation but still wary, Robin quickly shook her head and hid behind Liam.
Ivankov quietly switched the male hormones in his spikes to female hormones, smiling as he looked at Liam.
But Liam wasn’t looking at him. Instead, his gaze was fixed on another direction, deeper within the island.
There stood Dragon, his coat billowing despite the absence of wind, silently observing them from a distance.
……
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