In a dark and gloomy alley.
A homeless-looking man huddled in a corner against the wall. Several men in black suits surrounded him, cursing and kicking him.
The homeless man remained silent, holding his head and enduring the beating.
“If you don’t pay us back by the day after tomorrow, you’re finished,” One of the men in black spat, smiling ominously. “We’ll throw you in the sea. Maybe you’ll be lucky enough to catch 1~2 Fish-Men to pay off your debt!”
“Hā Hā Hā Hā Hā!”
The men in black laughed out loud and walked away.
“Ouch…”
The homeless man cried out in pain and struggled to get up. At that moment, a pair of shoes appeared in front of his eyes. He lifted his dirty face and saw, through the greasy and tangled hair, the figure of a young man standing in front of him.
The young man crouched down and squinted as he examined him closely.
[“Who threw up on the deck?! Hey, Liam, clean up this mess!”]
With “Battle Armor Earphones” in his ears, Liam’s vision unfolded into a virtual screen that played fragments of memories that “B.I.B.” had uncovered about the original owner of this body.
In the footage, the person cursing at “him” looked exactly like the homeless man before him now.
This was the original Liam who left home and ended up on a pirate ship.
Later, this pirate group was almost completely wiped out in the pursuit, and the original owner of the body was relatively lucky, drifting in the sea until he finally washed ashore on South Chicago Island.
Unfortunately, being only a child, battered by storms and disease, he died on the side of the road, treated like a dead dog, thrown on a garbage heap, and left to rot…
Then Liam came along and breathed new life into this body with his vibrant vitality.
“Liam?”
The homeless man pulled back the dirty hair that covered his face, barely able to believe it.
“It’s me,” Liam said.
He reached out to the side and ‘B.I.B.’ flew over from afar, tossing several freshly warmed wallets into his main body’s hands.
Opening the wallets borrowed from the men in black, Liam casually flipped through them and handed a stack of cash to the dirty and disheveled homeless man in front of him.
“How did you end up like this?”
“How is that even possible…” The homeless man stared blankly, clutching the thick pile of bills in his dirty hands. “How are you still alive?”
“I guess I got lucky!” Liam shrugged. “And you, how did you manage to survive?”
The homeless man looked down at himself and chuckled bitterly. “Does this even count as surviving?”
—
Outside the restaurant, Liam specifically requested a table to entertain this former shipmate who had fallen on hard times.
Accompanying them was the skirt-wearing giant Morley, who came to mooch off the rich Liam’s meal.
“Why do you keep staring at him?” Morley gnawed on a huge roast beef, playfully taunting in a deep voice, “Do you like him?”
Shivering, the homeless man continued to answer Liam’s questions, “I was just lucky enough to drift with a broken plank. Later I drifted to this island and never left.”
“Why didn’t you leave?” Liam asked, “Wouldn’t you rather be harassed by a criminal organization on this island?”
The homeless man smiled bitterly, “It’s still better than… than being found by… that person and hunted down again.”
“Isn’t that an exaggeration? It’s been so long, how could that guy possibly remember? Even if he did, he might not be able to find you or recognize you!”
“You underestimate that… terrifying man!” The homeless man sighed, “He is known as the ‘Demon Sheriff’ because of his… infamous character! Once he sets his sights on a target, he will relentlessly pursue them, no matter how far they run, they can’t escape his pursuit…”
Indeed, the Demon Sheriff can fly! Having that ability on the sea must be a huge advantage.
“He’d never forget what we look like once he’s seen us,” The homeless man chuckled bitterly, “Rumor has it that he’d never forget anyone caught in his eyes…”
“Are you talking about that ‘Demon Sheriff’ Laffitte?” Morley interjected suddenly, bowing his head.
—
The homeless man jumped in fright, almost diving under the table. Liam said, “Yes.”
“So you were captured by him before…” Morley muttered, “I heard he has a bird-like Devil Fruit ability! And he’s also a famous hypnosis master in West Blue! With his hypnosis skills, he really can’t forget the faces of everyone he’s seen before… Rumor has it that he likes to use hypnosis to torture criminals.”
The homeless man turned pale and trembled with fear.
“That’s quite a psychological shadow!” Liam sighed inwardly.
“He can fly, has an unbeatable memory, is a demon sheriff, and has no shortage of sources. He seems pretty scary!” Liam pondered, “But I’ve been wandering around West Blue for several months after barely surviving. Why hasn’t he come after me?”
The homeless man brightened. Maybe… the rumors about this demon sheriff were exaggerated? Escape from this island might not be dangerous after all?
“Maybe the person who casually threw you into the garbage heap… was Laffitte himself!” Morley suggested.
The homeless man shuddered, “Absolutely! He must have confirmed your death before he crossed your name off…”
Liam looked back at the pale face in the memories of the body’s original owner, who looked as sinister as a pervert. Thinking of the scenes of Laffitte in the manga… what a troublesome guy!
“By the way, do you remember who I am?” Liam tapped his finger on the table.
The homeless man hesitated.
“After my lucky resurrection, I forgot a lot of things…” Liam tapped his temple nonchalantly, “Did I ever tell you where I came from? My hometown… which island?”
The homeless man looked puzzled, furrowing his brow as he thought, hesitating, “I think… it was Lasgap Island, maybe? They seemed… to have set sail to find something.”
“To find something?”
“I don’t remember.”
“Don’t remember…” Liam paused, his finger tapping on the table, “Oh well.”
—
The homeless man left.
Whether he gambled away Liam’s money, spent it on alcohol, or actually used it to pay off debts… was no longer Liam’s concern.
It wasn’t Liam’s money.
“So, next up is this pirate group!”
At Coast. Liam spread out a map of the West Blue Sea on the floor, pointed to a certain area, and said to Morley beside him, “They’ve been spotted here recently. If we go now, we might catch them!”
“No problem catching pirates,” Morley said with a flick of his manicured finger, “Do you know that your hometown is Lasgap Island? Don’t you want to go back and see it?”
Liam looked down at the corner of the nautical chart. Lasgap Island… geographically it’s similar to the island where Loguetown is located in East Blue. Both are closest to the entrance of the Grand Line.
“Well, let’s leave that for another time!”
—
Morley was about to dig a hole and proceed underwater as usual, but Liam stopped him.
“I have a new idea,” Liam smiled, “How well can you swim?”
With a wave of his hand, ‘B.I.B.’, wrapped in dark Stand energy, flew onto Morley and ripped the core of the Oshi Oshi no Mi from his body.
“…” Morley looked at his own large hands and laughed innocently, “So it was you who saved me before!”
Liam also laughed, “You found out a long time ago.”
“No problem, I can swim really well!” Morley gave a thumbs up, cheered loudly, and jumped into the sea, creating a heavenly wave that soaked Liam on the shore.
“… ” Liam, with the Devil Fruit ability, felt slightly uncomfortable. He walked over to the edge of the sea and reached a hand into the water.
Activating the Devil Fruit ability…
With his submerged hand as the starting point, he horizontally opened a circular passage below the sea’s surface.
Liam kept his hand in the water, maintaining the ability. He also jumped into the sea, entered the straight passage created by the ability, was about to pass through it again, fell deeper into the sea, and then was trapped by the sea, unable to exert any power, when… a dark “spirit” flew in at the right time, appeared beside him, and hugged his shoulders.
In this way, in the straight passage below the surface of the sea, Liam was “suspended” here, with only one hand reaching into the water outside the passage to maintain his stability.
B.I.B.’ held the main body and flew effortlessly through the passage created by the Paw-Paw Fruit ability, shuttling forward.
Morley, who was standing beside him and swimming freely, saw this scene and couldn’t hide his surprise.
—
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