“How old are you this year?
“On the outside, I’m an 11-year-old kid, but my wisdom is beyond my years. Inside, I’m probably in my twenties or thirties.”
“Hā hā, you really know how to joke. But this courage of yours, it must be the reason why you can hunt pirates at such a young age, right?”
“If you say so.”
“As far as I know, the first pirate you hunted had a bounty of only 130,000 belly, but now the highest bounty you have hunted is of a pirate with 10,000,000 belly. Why such a difference? Is it because you were more cautious at first, and later you realized that these so-called pirates aren’t all they’re cracked up to be? Have you thought about hunting pirate crews with bounties in the millions or even over 10 million belly in the future? Just like the latest mysterious pirate hunter, Kūjō Jōtarō.”
“Jōtarō is my idol.”
At a table in the restaurant, there was a spread of delicious crocodile meat dishes. Liam sat on one side, the journalist from *The World Economy* on another, while ‘B.I.B.’ sat on the opposite side.
Liam spoke as he ate, “It wasn’t about being cautious, but at first I could only handle these weak pirates… As for why I’ve grown to 10,000,000 belly, well, of course it’s because I’ve become more powerful!”
The journalist chuckled, not quite believing it. How could someone jump from hunting weak pirates with 130,000 Belly to hunting not-so-weak pirates with 10,000,000 Belly in just a few days?
Besides, looking at the boy, he seemed to be unharmed.
A truly exceptional young genius.
“Have you ever thought about joining the Marines?” the journalist asked, “At your age, it’s not too late to enlist. With your skills at such a young age and your experience hunting pirates, you might even become a Marine officer in the future!”
Liam ignored him, tapped the edge of his plate with a meat bone and called out, “I’m Giorno, I’m starving,” raising the meat bone high, “I could jump into the sea from here and still not become a Marine!”
The puzzled journalist continued to ask questions and Liam nonchalantly brushed them off. Finally, the journalist took out a camera and took some pictures.
“Your story is quite interesting, it should be in the paper. Keep an eye out for the next issue.” The journalist smiled politely, left a few bills on the table, and got up to leave.
…
Puh, Liam spat out a meat bone. It was time to leave this island.
Thinking so, he ate and casually looked around the restaurant. Suddenly, not far away at another table, he noticed an old man who looked familiar.
“Who’s that…” Liam muttered as he gnawed on the crocodile meat, his brow furrowed in thought.
After a moment of pondering, he gave up and asked his memory database directly, “Hey, B, who’s that old guy?” He pointed with a greasy mouth from eating.
B.I.B.’ focused on the person indicated by the body, his eyes glowing with white light, and quickly replied, “We met him on South Chicago Island, he’s the old steward of a merchant ship… Everyone calls him Old Henry.”
“Oh, oh!” Liam remembered, immediately waving the meat bone and cheerfully calling over, “Old Henry! Over here!”
At the same time, Liam picked up the bills the journalist had left, “Waiter, bring more good stuff! I’m treating.”
…
“Who are you?”
Old Henry and a few others at the table came over and looked at the black-haired young man with curiosity.
“I’m Giorno, we met before on South Chicago Island!” Liam smiled and said, “No need to be formal, this table’s on me. The crocodile meat here is delicious!”
Old Henry was confused at first, but now that he saw Liam’s eating habits, he suddenly remembered.
“So it’s you.” He didn’t remember the boy’s name, but he often saw this unusually hearty young man in the taverns of South Chicago Island.
“Giorno?” The others paused immediately. “Could it be… that Giorno?”
“The young hunter who has become quite famous on this island in recent days?”
“Is it really him?”
“He eats so much, it has to be…”
“The big one who often hangs around with you, and the other little one?” Old Henry looked around, but indeed there was only this young man.
The waiter brought another pile of signature dishes and various drinks. Liam sighed, “Life has dreams, each with its own brilliance!”
“Huh?” Old Henry and the others were confused.
Liam continued, his words flowing freely, “Old Henry, could I hitch a ride on your merchant ship to get away? I’ve been thinking lately about exploring elsewhere, maybe finding some suitable pirates to play with…”
…
Under the name of the young hunter and with a little help from Belly, Liam discussed boarding the merchant ship with its crew.
However, they wouldn’t be leaving today; they had some business to take care of with the ship and would be leaving for the next island tomorrow morning.
That being the case, Liam first returned to the inn to pack – mostly to organize his banknotes.
In this pirate world, where electronic payments did not exist, it was fortunate that the denominations of the paper currency were large enough. Otherwise, carrying tens of millions to billions of belly in cash would be a real hassle.
Due to the recent efforts of “Kūjō Jōtarō,” Liam was carrying too much cash for his original backpack to handle.
Too lazy to go shopping himself, Liam instructed “B.I.B.” to mimic his appearance, donning a baggy trench coat, hood, and star-shaped mask, and went out on the street to buy a larger suitcase.
As for himself, he played with the green Den Den Mushi and happily ran off into the woods.
“I probably won’t be able to change my body color,” Liam placed the little green on a rock and folded his hands in a gesture of respect, “but how did you strengthen your body to become hard? Like the burst of leg strength similar to ‘Soru’, I have a little idea, but how to improve defense with incarnation, I have no idea…”
The green Den Den Mushi expressed confusion, “Boroboro?”
Asking about everything in disorder, aren’t those things that are innate? Those things, do they still need to be learned?
Humans are really strange!
…
On the street, ‘B.I.B.’, with his highly recognizable appearance, went shopping, causing pedestrians to quickly move out of the way.
“Hey, did you see that? Isn’t that… Kūjō Jōtarō?”
“The star-shaped mask… It must be him!”
“Such a terrifying presence!”
“Indeed, as silent as rumored!”
“Is he buying a box? Uh, the boss’s legs are shaking…”
B.I.B.’ silently entered the shop and came out with a new box under the shopkeeper’s relieved gaze. Along the way, it observed every face, imprinting them in its “memory bank”, comparing them with the “West Blue Pirate Bounty Encyclopedia”…
Indeed, some people in the crowd were frightened and hastily looked away. After some consideration, B.I.B. decided that wearing clothes and carrying a suitcase like that was not suitable for hunting, and decided not to cause any trouble for his main body.
Old Henry and his companions were also in the crowd, watching the tall figure in the fluttering trench coat and muttering, “It would be great to have a bounty hunter like that as a guard on our ship! We wouldn’t have to sail out every time in fear of encountering pirate crews…”
“That Kūjō Jōtarō single-handedly wiped out pirate crews with bounties of tens of millions,” a companion said earnestly, “we can’t afford such a skilled person.
…
The Den Mushi don’t actually speak.
Or rather, they don’t speak human languages.
When they communicate, it’s through biological electrical waves transmitted from the other end, interpreting what the Den Den Mushi on the other end hears and sees, and then mimicking it completely and consistently.
Therefore, of course, the green Den Den Mushi couldn’t speak human language to guide Liam.
It didn’t even mimic Liam’s words clearly, like a parrot-perhaps the Den Den Mushi could only mimic the electric waves of another Den Den Mushi.
But it wasn’t teaching; but Liam could learn.
With an unfriendly expression, he stretched out his fingers and pressed down on the green Den Den Mushi, poking around its body.
The little green was furious and opened its mouth to bite.
Unable to bite Liam’s finger, it could only harden its body in defense.
Originally a soft Den Den Mushi, Liam’s finger touched it and immediately felt the difference.
Liam carefully examined the differences.
Remembering the posture of the the women’s hard incarnation body on the flower boat, “Tekkai” and “Rokushiki” to defend against the sword.
“It must be said that this trick is really salty…” Liam sighed, “It’s really hard for Big Mom’s 43rd husband…”
In the forest, he spent most of the day practicing Tekkai, exhausted, Liam returned to the inn.
After all, the fresh flowers by the window were not made of the Flower-Flower Fruit (Hana Hana no Mi), which could not bloom brightly at any time. At that moment, the flowers on the window had turned yellow and were slowly wilting.
Liam heated a cup of milk and broke the yellowed petals in half.
Sniffing it, he said with a wry smile, “The blossoms of the Flower-Flower Fruit (Hana Hana no Mi) smell even better!”
He drank it all at once and went to bed.
…
The next day, Liam carried his backpack and a large box to the harbor, where he saw Old Henry and his two-masted merchant ship.
“Giorno, over here!”
“Morning! Come on up!”
The person Liam had met at the restaurant yesterday greeted him aboard the ship.
Liam stepped onto the gangplank, carrying his backpack and a large box in one hand, and walked steadily onto the deck.
As the crew watched him step onto the gangplank, which bent under the curve, they knew that the box this kid was carrying was really heavy!
“That box looks heavy, let me help you with it!” A sailor came over with a grin. “Come on, let uncle take you to the cabin, your room.”
Seeing this, Liam said, “All right.”
He handed the man the box. Immediately, the man’s expression changed as he felt the weight. “Wow, this is really heavy.”
Others laughed and joked, “Is the box full of stone toys?”
Liam replied, “It’s full of money.”
Hearing this, not only the one helping with the box, but also the others subtly exchanged glances with slightly different expressions.
“Come, come, let us elder brothers take you to the hut!”
“Don’t strain yourself…”
Liam seemed unaware of this and casually followed.
On the way he met Old Henry. Old Henry frowned at his white eyebrows and asked, “What’s all the fuss about?”
Liam laughed, “Oji- San, Nii Sans know my box of money is really heavy, so they’re helping me carry it.
The enthusiastic sailors immediately fell silent.
“Pathetic!” Old Henry scolded, “To make a child carry such a load!”
The sailors didn’t mind; they were letting the boy suffer a small loss now to prevent a big loss later. What’s wrong with a little reward?
Liam asked cheerfully, “Henry Oji San, what’s down here?”
He stomped on the deck of the hold.
Old Henry was taken aback, thought for a moment, and replied, “I remember it’s the storeroom, pretty messy, rarely visited… What are you up to?”
“Oh!” Liam turned around, took the large box from the eager sailors, waved his hand with a smile, “Thanks for the trouble, see you later~”
Just as the eager sailors were leaving in astonishment, Liam stepped lightly onto the deck.
Whoosh-
The ground beneath the sailors’ feet instantly expanded into a huge hole, and several of them fell with a series of bangs.
Bang, clang, Crash – sounds of falling and colliding objects followed by screams of pain echoed. As the huge hole in the deck quickly closed, the various sounds from below also abruptly stopped, as if they had sunk into the sea.
“You… that…?” Even Old Henry was stunned and stood still.
…
Cutting through the waves, the merchant ship sailed out to sea.
Liam packed his bags and returned to the deck to get some air.
The few sailors gathered, looking bedraggled. When they saw Liam, some looked as if they wanted to rush up angrily and reprimand him, while others hesitated and kept their distance.
“You want to fight?” Liam leaned against the railing, enjoying the sea breeze.
Meanwhile, on the unseen dark deck beside him, a “ghost” was diligently training every day.
“Come back!” Someone restrained an eager sailor, reminding him, “He’s the one who took down a 10,000,000 bounty pirate…”
The sailor, dust-covered and disdainful, retorted, “What bragging! He must have used some kind of trick like before… With his little arms and legs, I could crush two of him with one hand!”
In less than half a minute, the deck shook with a “bang” and the sailor who had been bragging found himself upside down, proving to everyone that he couldn’t crush two Liams with one hand.
Liam, on the other hand, moved quickly and effortlessly taught him a lesson in front of everyone.
“Don’t embarrass yourself!” Old Henry rushed over and shouted angrily, “Anyone else wants to disrespect Giorno, you can! If you lose, admit defeat and jump right off the ship!”
He glared, mustache bristling, “Jump into the sea!”
“Really?” Liam brightened, “That sounds exciting! Come on, want to fight?”
He approached the sailors, rubbing his hands together.
The sailors immediately scattered, fleeing in all directions, leaving Liam laughing heartily.
After watching the young man for a while, Old Henry finally asked, “Did you… eat a devil fruit?”
Liam chuckled, “Yes.”
“Why didn’t you ask me how I knew about Devil Fruits?” Old Henry held back his words with some discomfort and finally sighed, “Truly an extraordinary young man! No wonder he can handle pirates all by himself.
…
From far across the sea came a strange, mournful wail.
Liam, like the others on deck, stopped and turned to look.
The sea split open and a huge black whale, the size of a small mountain, emerged, followed by a second, a third… In a flurry of activity, dozens of huge black whales surfaced, emitting long cries, followed by bursts of water spray from their blowholes.
Farther on the horizon, the sunset was half submerged in the sea. Dozens of high sprays of water, scattered by the setting sun, reflected in a rainbow of dazzling colors.
“A rare sight!”
“It’s a symbol of good luck; the voyage will be smooth!”
The sailors on deck cheered, some taking off their shirts and waving them at the rainbow shadows of the dozen or so black whales.
Beside Liam, Old Henry said, “Those are island whales…”
Liam also watched the evening rainbow created by the dozen or so Island Whales on the surface of the sea.
“A long time ago, there was a group of fellows who were good friends with a little Island Whale…” Old Henry muttered to himself, “I wonder how those people are doing now!”
Liam said, “Still dreaming on the sea.”
……
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