The commander of the opposing Kingdom’s guard looked thoroughly displeased, gritting his teeth and saying, “Just for this, we need to verify if the Devil Child is still on this island, you dare collude with pirates and jeopardize the safety of the island’s residents?!”
“Don’t be so harsh, commander,” The burly man dispatched by the Gunpowder Headquarters to the island exhaled a puff of cigar smoke. “After all, it’s the Devil Child! Your King should have no problem doing a little favor for the World Government, right? The safety of some ordinary citizens of the nation is nothing, right? Hehehe…”
“World Government? You are the ‘Gunpowder,’ the Mafia!” Retorted the guard commander coldly.
“Hehehe… Commander, be careful with your words,” The Gunpowder’s burly man, holding a cigar, said, “Indeed, we are not particularly concerned about that 79 million bounty girl wanted by the World Government, but…”
He paused coldly and continued, “The so-called spirit of the pirate king dared to destroy our branch on this island, and killed our people. We can’t let that go! The timing of the appearance of the spirit coincides entirely with the Devil Child. It’s likely that the person behind the spirit is trying to protect that girl! Since that’s the case, how can we let them succeed? Commander San, the upcoming search is up to you. The Devil Child is yours, and the spirit is ours.”
The Gunpowder’s burly man ground his cigar on the ashtray.
“We don’t need you to worry!” The commander said, sweeping his sleeves and leaving with his men.
…
In the evening, just as usual, Liam, with an expression of heroic sacrifice, finished a day of training, and retrieved his armored Stand, thanking it for the trouble.
In an instant, a strong soreness and a heavy sense of fatigue rushed into Liam’s body, flooding his limbs and almost bursting his head.
“Aaahhhh…” Liam panted heavily as he knelt on the grass, veins throbbing on his forehead, twisting and turning, pulling at the grass. Finally, he endured the most painful stage, and slowly, he felt a trace of powerful energy growing within him.
Exhausted, he lay back, and the double gains felt great, making the double pain quite enjoyable.
Fortunately, this agonizing experience only occurred for a brief moment when retrieving the Stand Fusion. Enduring it was just a matter of gritting his teeth!
Otherwise…
If he had to endure the delightful pain of double training throughout, Liam really doubted whether he would continue using the Stand-accelerated training method.
Phew, silently and seamlessly, Liam released the pitch-black armor, and the Stand, Fusion Chip of the Flower-Flower Fruit (Hana Hana no Mi), was planted back into his body.
“It’s getting late. Let’s go and collect the bounty.”
Liam said, lying on the ground and reaching out his hand. ‘B.I.B.’ pulled him up, nodded, and floated away toward the small city near the beach.
“Let’s go, it’s dinner time!”
After a short rest, Liam went back to his room, greeted Robin, and then, step by step, a flower sea surged, disguising him and Robin with additional disguises.
Pulling up his big windbreaker, with his stomach growling, Liam stuffed the rebellious Den Den Mushi, Little Green, into his pocket and led Robin out.
…
In the bustling city area, ‘B.I.B.’ moved like a black phantom, ignoring all walls and obstacles, heading straight forward.
It passed through buildings, and traversed streets and alleys…
“You guys are in charge of that street ahead. Keep it low-key and inquire at every house.”
“How could Devil Child hide on the island for so long? We don’t know what she used, but we must search carefully…”
‘B.I.B.’ overheard this conversation and abruptly stopped.
The pitch-black armor floated towards the conversation, and there it saw several guards dressed in uniform, with serious expressions, dispersing to different streets, knocking on the doors of various houses along the way.
Facing the guards’ inquiries, the homeowners looked surprised and nervous, glancing at the Bounty order for the “Devil Child” Nico Robin, shaking their heads repeatedly to deny any knowledge.
‘B.I.B.’ floated nearby, almost face to face with them, observing the guards and the questioned residents.
‘B.I.B.’ continued to drift through the streets, quickly spotting individuals dressed in regular attire. Their eyes occasionally scanned the people walking on the streets, each clutching newspapers or books, with a corner of the Bounty order visible.
Silently observing, ‘B.I.B.’ hastened its pace and floated away, heading straight out of the city.
Upon leaving the boundaries of the royal city, it noticed patrolling guard members at the intersection, inspecting passersby with sharp eyes, particularly paying attention to children of Robin’s stature.
“What a mess! Creating such a big fuss for a little girl.” Short and elderly merchant Henry dealt with the guards, muttered a few curses under his breath, and led his caravan out of the city. “If they want to blockade, they should just seal off the entire island. This half-hearted search is worse than doing nothing at all…”
‘B.I.B.’ quietly left the city, crossing the open fields beyond the city, passing through the woods, and soon the moist sea breeze became noticeable. The small city town was vaguely visible in the distance.
As the sun set, painting the sky with hues of red, the old town mayor, accompanied by a few people, placed a box of money in front of the massive water tank in the center of the street.
The large water tank remained untouched, and the inscription on the tank’s wall, stained with blood, had dried up, appearing somewhat blurry.
The bounty received from the Marines totaled 43 million Belly.
Gritting his teeth, the old town mayor gathered the money and stuffed 50 million Belly into the box.
Just as the residents of the town nervously waited, suddenly, the money box in front of the water tank moved – as if lifted by an invisible hand.
The spirit had arrived! Including the old town mayor, everyone tensed up.
The money box floated in the air at a fixed height, and the invisible ghost silently approached, completely ignoring the intentions of the town’s people.
The young residents of the town subconsciously followed the floating money box. Suddenly, the box stopped, startling everyone. They hastily retreated, and those with less courage jumped through nearby windows, causing a commotion.
The money box was thrown high in the air, and cleared the wall, but the residents didn’t hear the sound of it landing.
After a long time, everyone cautiously approached the wall. The space behind it was empty; the money box and the ghost were nowhere to be found.
…
Dragging his weary body, Liam brought Robin to a restaurant in the city, ordering a large table of delicacies as usual.
“Liam, today… the atmosphere seems a bit off…” Robin whispered. Throughout the way, she had been observant of the surroundings. “There are more guards from the escort team…”
“Yeah, I noticed too.”
As soon as Liam sat down, he started eating voraciously. While nodding, he activated the ability of the Flower-Flower Fruit (Hana Hana no Mi).
Within the range covered by the ability, flowers quietly blossomed in every concealed corner of the restaurant, forming ears and eyes for Liam to spy and eavesdrop on the movements and conversations of others.
Liam keenly sensed that the atmosphere in the city had changed this afternoon.
The restaurant patrons also lowered their voices, whispering about something. Under their table, a petal-formed ear grew stealthily, clearly capturing the contents of their conversation.
“Island-wide search…”
“Devil Child…”
“Restricting entry and exit, thorough inspections…”
After Liam and Robin finished their meal, they left the restaurant and walked home as usual, seemingly unfazed.
A Black-Clothed Person reading a newspaper on the roadside carefully scrutinized them—especially the short-haired child. After realizing that it was an ordinary-looking boy, the person shook their head and looked elsewhere.
Meanwhile, on the wall behind the person, eyes staring at them disintegrated into tiny petals, falling one by one.
(End of this chapter)
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