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When Robin opened her eyes again, she saw…
“Huh…”
She had thought of a few possibilities.
It might be like the first time she used the Shiro Shiro no Mi (Castle-Castle Fruit). Since she wasn’t familiar with it, the interior of the City Castle was the most basic structure, essentially a bare room with nothing inside.
Or it could even be a transparent City Castle… After all, Liam’s spirit was transparent…
But she hadn’t expected it to be like this…
It was a rather ordinary apartment with two rooms and a living area: a bedroom, a small study, a bathroom, and a small kitchen.
The room wasn’t very large, and even though the decor was a bit odd, it was still within Robin’s understanding.
Except for the books on the shelf…
Curious, Robin went into the study first. There weren’t many books on the shelves, and some of them were very new. She stood on tiptoe to pick one up, and when she opened it, she couldn’t read a word…
There were square characters, somewhat similar to ancient scripts… Robin’s fingers brushed over the Chinese characters on the page. She turned a page and said, “Huh?”
It was blank.
Scanning quickly, she saw that many of the books were missing pages – some were missing ten, some a hundred, and some were completely blank.
“Is it because Liam doesn’t remember the contents of the books?” Robin thought, carefully putting the books back on the shelves one by one.
She had experience using the Shiro Shiro no Mi (Castle-Castle Fruit). When she had created the “Tree of Knowledge” in her City Castle, she had produced several walls of books, reproducing at least tens of thousands… But she could only fully replicate about seven hundred books based on her memory…
“Wait, no… This ‘City Castle’ was supposed to be built by Liam’s spirit… So this bookshelf, these books, and their contents should have been created by his ghost…”
Robin blinked, a little confused.
With her hands behind her back, she walked around the study.
A very strange study.
Especially the desk, which was unlike any other she had ever seen.
There were hardly any books, but a large square of black glass took up most of the space… Robin sat in the computer chair, her feet dangling. She rocked against the desk; it had wheels. The chair was quite comfortable…
Robin leaned closer to the black glass on the desk – the computer monitor. She blinked. This was a strange mirror, not very clear… Using her Flower-Flower-Fruit (Hana Hana no Mi), she looked at the wall behind the monitor and was surprised to see that the “mirror” was made of metal on the back… with strange cables attached…
The petals fell, and Robin followed the cables, growing an eye under the desk and seeing a vertical metal box…
“What a strange object…”
Robin reached out a finger and carefully pressed the mechanical keyboard. It made a crisp clicking sound.
She grabbed the plastic block on the right side of the keyboard… A mouse? Connected by a cable to the box below…
“Too bad it can’t be used.”
Robin was startled by the sudden voice. She turned to see Liam leaning against the study door, watching her on the computer chair.
Embarrassed, Robin got out of the chair. Liam strolled over, flopped down carelessly, and tapped randomly on the mechanical keyboard. He grabbed the mouse and twirled it around before finally pressing the computer’s power button… Predictably, the screen went blank.
The Shiro Shiro no Mi (Castle-Castle Fruit) Ability user was essentially the creator within their City Castle.
The construction and layout of the Castle, the interior decoration, all of it could be customized as desired. Even the furniture could be created with a single thought.
Even candlelight and electricity could be provided.
Liam speculated that the cost of all this was probably the Ability user’s stamina or energy.
In the Big Mom arc of the manga, Bege’s City Castle even had a working refrigerator.
If you didn’t mind being a little evil… You could use the ability user’s stamina to make water or basic food inside the castle. It might not be impossible.
Liam wondered if the Straw Hat crew bathing in Bege’s City Castle were using water they brought with them, or some strange water…
“You’re no good, kid. You can’t even get a computer to work!”
Liam pushed the keyboard aside, leaned back, and spun around in the computer chair.
“Computer?” Robin wondered as she saw a mass of white substance rise from the floor and quickly solidify into a… Huh? She widened her eyes at the sight of a tall, pitch-black figure that appeared to be clad in full body armor.
The streamlined shell, defined lines, and mechanical aesthetic of the armor were striking… The face had only eye slits, glowing with a cold, white light.
She noticed the figure’s hands. The left hand was covered in blue flame patterns, while the right hand had red flames.
The red and blue flame patterns extended along the arms, converging at the chest, where a white-glowing inverted triangle seemed to encircle a full moon…
This blue flame-patterned arm… Robin recalled that it looked exactly like the arm Liam’s ghost had made with the Flower-Flower Fruit (Hana Hana no Mi)!
So this is Liam’s ghost?
“Yes,” B.I.B. said to Robin, nodding slightly, and then to Liam, “I can replicate most of the components from the case, but I can’t when it comes to the complex circuitry.”
“So this is just for show, huh!” Liam lamented as he got up.
Leaving the study, Liam wandered through the living room, bedroom, and small kitchen.
“I’m not even done living here yet…” Liam said regretfully. Seeing Robin’s confusion, he casually added, “During my third year of college, I got an internship and rented this place for the summer…”
His explanation only made Robin more confused.
Since there were doctorates in the world of One Piece, there were certainly schools. But terms like “third year of college” might not translate directly, and “summer vacation” was a foreign concept to Robin, who had earned her doctorate at the age of eight.
Liam, having said this casually, didn’t bother to explain further.
“Let’s check out the next level,” Liam smiled. “It’s a boys’ dormitory.”
Robin followed Liam and his ghost to the next level.
So this is what his ghost looks like… Robin thought the design was very different from what she had imagined.
The next floor was Liam’s college dorm.
The floor below was his high school dorm…
“I got to say, Old Black, you really know me,” Liam commented as he walked around, feeling a pang of nostalgia. He paused at the door of the high school dormitory, resting a hand on 『B.I.B.』’s shoulder and complaining, “You’ve made me all sentimental…”
Then they reached the last floor, the very bottom.
Liam walked down the stairs and abruptly pushed open the door.
The lights were bright.
The decor was cozy.
Every piece of furniture, its construction, placement, even the worn spots… were just as Liam remembered.
Compared to the first floor, this one had a much more lived-in feel.
The kitchen was bigger and seemed to be well-used.
The bedroom, however, was different, with posters Robin hadn’t seen before, and it felt like the room’s owner was younger than the one on the first floor…
“Sit down, make yourself at home,” Liam invited, jumping onto the small bed in his room. “Old Black, show us the outside.”
Robin saw the pitch-black armor at the door extend its arm and point at the wall opposite Liam.
The wall transformed into a white, liquid substance that quickly became a giant, mirror-smooth screen. With a beep, the screen lit up, showing an endless sea with the Viewpoint hovering above it.
So his mind can fly too… Robin sat down on a chair by the desk and watched the screen on the wall.
In the screen, a massive red mountain, or rather a “wall,” was drawing nearer on the sea ahead.
That was the Red Line.
Reverse Mountain was almost there.
……
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