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Robin slowly woke up.
She blinked and touched the thin blanket covering her.
Sitting up, she tried to recall what had happened before she fell asleep.
Liam had swapped her **Flower-Flower Fruit** (*Hana Hana no Mi*) with the **Gasu Gasu no Mi** (*Gas Gas Fruit*)…
Curious for once, Robin decided to try the Logia fruit’s ability that Liam often used: **Elementalization**.
The green **Den Den Mushi** was dozing on the forest floor when suddenly, wisps of gas began to seep out of its body… As soon as the gas left its surface, it expanded with a *BIU BIU* sound, turning into a mass of cloud-like vapor.
It was already noon outside.
From within the emerging cloud, Robin’s head appeared, and she chuckled— it was quite fun.
Suddenly, she heard the sound of blows nearby.
*Bang! Bang!…*
Robin turned her head and saw several adult-sized arms sprouting from the ground nearby, all attacking something invisible in the air.
“Hey, good morning!”
Robin looked up to find Liam perched on the treetop, casually munching on a bright red fruit. In a relaxed mood, he leaned against the branch and, seeing her smoky form emerge from the **Den Den Mushi**, waved and tossed a fresh piece of fruit down to her.
Startled, Robin instinctively caught the fruit inside her gaseous form, her vaporous arms condensing to hold the fruit and bring it to her mouth for a light nibble.
Floating like a cloud, she drifted up to the treetop, circling around Liam as she munched on the fruit, looking toward the scene on the ground. The circle was still there, but Liam’s arms weren’t confined to attacking just within the circle’s bounds…
Robin immediately realized that Liam could see his own **ghost**, so naturally, he wasn’t limited by the circle.
Unlike Robin, Liam could also physically interact with his **Stand**.
Even with arms grown from the **Flower-Flower Fruit**, he was able to land solid blows all over the headless armor’s body, making it struggle and forcing it to focus even more, desperate to awaken **Kenbunshoku Haki** (*Observation Haki*).
Just as the armor started to get a sense of something, the barrage of punches and kicks from Liam’s **Flower-Flower Fruit** arms stopped for a while.
The headless armor, frozen in place, had a question mark slowly forming at its neck.
It waited patiently. All morning, the body had played similar tricks: launching a dense attack and then pausing for a moment before suddenly striking again…
It kept waiting. The body was still waiting? It could almost imagine that dozens of fists were probably surrounding it, poised to strike at any moment, mocking its obliviousness…
It continued to wait…
Wait for what, exactly?!
Considering the time, it was nearly noon— its body had probably gone off to grab lunch!!
The black helmet flew out of the **Den Den Mushi**, glanced at the headless armor stuck in place, helplessly waiting, and imagining a circle of fists ready to strike…
How silly!
**B.I.B.** thought to itself, as expected of the body, to pull something like this.
There were no fists surrounding the headless armor, just scattered petals on the ground that were blown away by the wind…
…
A petal drifted down.
It solidified into Liam’s fist, striking the shoulder of the headless armor.
A short distance away, Liam and Robin were sitting together on a tree branch.
Robin, looking calm and well-mannered, was quietly reading a book. Meanwhile, Liam casually used the **Flower-Flower Fruit** to create arms and legs around the headless armor, launching erratic attacks as he devoured a heap of food… It had been several days since he started using the helmet-free training method to initiate **Kenbunshoku Haki** (*Observation Haki*), and during that time, he hadn’t recalled **B.I.B.** even once…
*Chomp chomp chomp!* Liam’s eating speed only increased.
…
Liam thought to himself, “I’ve been storing up energy for the past few days. This should be enough to pay it back for all the beatings it’s taken recently.” He took a few more hearty bites of his food.
In the past few days, besides training to initiate his **Kenbunshoku Haki** (*Observation Haki*), Liam and Robin had been traveling back and forth between the inside and outside of **Kuja City** using the camouflaged **Den Den Mushi**.
Within the city, they secretly observed the daily training of the Kuja warriors, hoping to gain some inspiration and maybe sense the Haki leakage from these Haki users up close, which could help in his own Haki awakening.
When hungry, they would have the **Den Den Mushi** scuttle up the city walls to find food outside, and Liam would also train his **Stand’s Kenbunshoku Haki** with no restraints.
Liam’s fist struck the shoulder of the headless armor.
The armor slightly twisted its shoulder, managing to dodge the blow.
Liam jumped up from his spot, startling Robin beside him. “What’s up? I swear I wasn’t sneaking into Kuja City to find books to read… huh?”
She watched as Liam leaped from the high treetop, landing with a thud. He walked toward the eerie scene of dozens of interwoven arms attacking. With a wave of his hand, the mass of arms disappeared into petals that scattered and faded away.
The petals condensed into a single arm.
Liam stared intently at the headless armor, clenching his fist and giving it a light swing.
On the other side, the flower fist swung toward the seemingly oblivious headless armor.
The armor sidestepped, dodging the punch.
“Hey! Finally got the hang of it!” Liam cheered with a wave of his hand. “That’s my stand!”
As he waved, a second arm grew beside the headless armor, reaching for its ankle.
The armor simply lifted its leg and dodged, almost stepping on the arm that sprouted from the **Flower-Flower Fruit**.
A third arm, a fourth, a fifth, a sixth…
More and more arms grew around the headless armor. As the number of attacks increased, it seemed to become more skilled, dodging and weaving between the attacks with a grace that suggested it was beginning to predict where punches would come from. Occasionally, it would get hit from unexpected angles, but it gradually moved with increasing fluidity, keeping up with the barrage of punches.
Liam nodded to himself. **B.I.B.** perfectly copied his abilities, and his physical abilities were already far beyond normal. His **Haki** potential was above average; it just needed the right trigger to be fully realized. Now that **B.I.B.** had initiated **Kenbunshoku Haki**, it progressed quickly, surpassing the beginner stage and adapting with ease, despite having a harder time awakening than other Haki prodigies.
“Is there any progress?” Robin, now a cloud of vapor, floated around Liam.
“Looks like the **Kenbunshoku Haki** is initiated,” Liam smiled and nodded. “Scared me for a second— I almost thought I was really a Haki idiot! That would have been embarrassing!”
For a moment, he had considered the possibility: what if he couldn’t use Haki? But with **Life Return**, he could still carve his own path on the sea.
**Busoshoku Haki** (*Armament Haki*)— was it necessarily tougher than **Tekkai** (*Iron Body*)?
Even without **Busoshoku Haki**, Garp’s Iron Fist could smash the heads of many pirates who could use **Armament Haki**.
If his **Tekkai** wasn’t tough enough, it just meant it wasn’t up to par with **Busoshoku Haki**.
As for dealing with Logia ability users… at worst, he could spend some effort and find some Seastone.
During his doubts about not having Haki, Liam had briefly considered Smoker’s jitte, though the one he had seen didn’t yet have Seastone embedded.
Aside from Smoker’s weapon, Liam recalled several Seastone appearances in the manga: the prison that held Luffy and Smoker, the arena fence in Dressrosa, Seastone handcuffs in Punk Hazard, and the abundant Seastone mines in Wano Country…
However, now that he’d successfully initiated **Kenbunshoku Haki**, those concerns were irrelevant.
Although Liam didn’t mind relying solely on **Life Return**, he wasn’t stubborn enough to refuse Haki when it was accessible…
“But as for starting **Busoshoku Haki**…”
Liam scratched his chin, pulling **B.I.B.’s** helmet out of the **Den Den Mushi**. He looked into the white glowing faceplate and mused, “It’d be more efficient with some sparring against other Haki users!”
Robin chimed in, “Yesterday during their training, they mentioned today is the day they train outside the city each month…”
“So, are you suggesting we snatch one of them?” Liam teased. “Wow, you’re so bad, Devil Child!”
Robin: “…”
I didn’t suggest that at all…
She looked down, noticing Liam’s right arm had entered her chest. He swapped back her **Flower-Flower Fruit** (*Hana Hana no Mi*).
…
The city gates bearing the large Kuja emblem swung open, and two squads of young female warriors marched out along the small embankments lining the canal.
The green-haired second sister cheered, “Finally started **Busoshoku Haki** training—I can join the outside sessions now!”
The orange-haired third sister also joyfully exclaimed, “This is my first time leaving the city.”
“There’s nothing fun outside the city,” Hancock said listlessly, watching the horizon from within the group. “Only where the wind is— it’s the true outside.”
…
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