The JOJO Pirates' small ship slowly approached the shores of Kraikana Island. Liam, Robin, and Ross were the first to disembark.
They had barely taken a few steps before stopping in their tracks.
Before them stood a crowd of hundreds, perhaps even thousands. Most wore armor, clearly the soldiers of this island, but there were also many ordinary townsfolk among them. Yet all were armed, swords, blades, even farming tools, clutched tightly in their hands.
"Everyone…" Ross couldn't help but murmur.
The mass of people before them glared with full vigilance, their countless eyes locked onto her, and onto Liam and Robin standing at her side, filled with disgust, suspicion, hostility…
Brimming with animosity!
Ross's pupils contracted as she suddenly recalled the conversation they'd had earlier on the ship…
…
(Flashback: Aboard the JOJO Pirate Ship)
"Heina already knows that we're heading for the Kingdom of Sikeal…"
When the JOJO Pirate ship was still sailing across the sea toward Kraikana Island, Robin had said that to Ross inside the Den Den Mushi City Fortress.
Ross had been shocked. "How could that be? Didn't Liam already?"
Liam, lounging on his chair with his long legs propped up on the table and his golden iron staff resting across them, watched Ross's mouth hanging open in surprise. When she didn't finish her sentence for a long while, he rolled his eyes and completed the thought for her:
"Kill him! Hey, don't leave sentences hanging like that. It sounds weird."
"I'm only saying it's possible," Robin said as she took the golden staff from Liam's lap and tapped him lightly on the head as punishment. Shaking her head, she continued, "When Liam went to deal with Steel, Steel was in the middle of a call with Heina. Which means… it's very likely he reported everything that happened in the Prosperous Kingdom to her. At the very least, we should assume that's the case."
"But when I appeared in front of Steel before, Liam had already used the Munch-Munch Fruit to alter my appearance," Ross said softly. "So Steel shouldn't have recognized me at all… Ah!"
The princess suddenly gasped, as if realizing something.
"You've remembered?" Robin said pointedly. "When you stepped in front of Gans to stop him, your expression was pleading, but Gans clearly didn't recognize you. That brief exchange between you two was seen by Steel, who was present at the time."
"Even so…" Ross murmured.
"If that were the only thing, it wouldn't mean much," Robin continued calmly. "But if we add the final result, then things look completely different."
"What result?" Ross asked.
Robin looked straight into the young princess's eyes. "That Gans is still alive."
"…" Ross pressed her lips together.
Robin gave a faint, knowing smile. "Remember what Liam said in the ruins of the royal palace?, 'I'm the kind of man who doesn't kill a few kinds of people: good people, idiots, interesting people, and people I don't dislike.'"
"Hey," Liam interjected, "I just said that for fun!"
"Is Gans a good person?" Robin asked, giving Liam another gentle tap on the head with the golden staff.
Ross shook her head.
Whatever else could be said, Gans had used his Gun-Gun Fruit powers to kill many in the Prosperous Kingdom, Marines, palace guards, even ordinary civilians. That was an undeniable fact. Even Gans himself wouldn't have the face to call himself a 'good person.'
"Then is he an idiot?" Robin asked again.
Ross shook her head once more. Gans wasn't stupid, just morally corroded by the Decay-Decay Fruit.
"An interesting guy, then?"
Ross could only give a bitter smile.
"Then tell me, why did he survive Liam's hands?"
Liam raised a hand in protest. "Hey, there's still the last category! Maybe I just don't hate him?"
Robin looked at him.
Liam shifted the leg he had propped on the table, leaned back with his hands behind his head, and grinned. "Fine, fine. Not totally hate him."
Robin turned her gaze back to Ross and sighed. "Heina is a very powerful woman."
Ross lifted her head to meet her eyes.
"It's because she's powerful," Robin said seriously, "that she's the most likely to have realized the truth. Gans surviving an encounter with a top-tier fighter like Liam is nearly impossible, unless…"
"Unless Gans is on our side," Ross said, clutching her head. "And then me, crying and trying to stop Gans like that, a girl about the same age as the fugitive princess, suddenly looks very suspicious."
"Anyone fit to be a Shichibukai and deal with the World Government must be a pirate with brains," Robin said. "Heina has probably already put the pieces together. This ship will reach Kraikana Island soon, and we have to prepare for the worst-case scenario."
"Even if she already knows, so what?" Liam said, clapping his hands together and catching the golden staff Robin swung at him. "We're going there to defeat her anyway, right? Doesn't matter if she finds out sooner or later!"
Robin tilted her head. "Weren't you going to see the baboons?"
"Yeah, yeah, see the baboons…" Liam nodded quickly, then glared at the smirking Robin.
"No… just defeating Heina won't be enough…" Ross finally came to her senses and sighed in distress. "What happened in the Prosperous Kingdom, under Heina's influence and in the land of Sikeal itself, will only grow worse… Two years ago, when I left, the people on this island were already fighting among themselves under the effects of the Decay-Decay Fruit. By now, it must be far worse. Even if we defeat Heina, the hearts of those she has twisted… I'm afraid they won't simply repent and return to who they once were…"
"So," Robin asked calmly, "what do you plan to do?"
Ross felt a tremendous weight pressing down on her.
"That kind of thing," Liam said, waving a hand, "we can think about after we defeat Heina! Otherwise, it's all just empty talk, right?"
Ross bit her lip, frowned, and after a moment of thought, lifted her head and said resolutely to Robin, "I have an idea."
(End Flashback)
…
Not long after, as the sea weather gradually settled, an island slowly came into view on the horizon.
The gloomy sky, the chaotic, almost demonic landscape, it all looked strikingly like the place in the manga where Hawk Eyes lived and trained Zoro in swordsmanship for two years.
B.I.B. thought so too, letting go of the helm as the golden strands flowing around him stopped swaying and obediently dropped onto the table.
From within the Den Den Mushi City fortress, Ross stepped out and, upon seeing the scene before her, her eyes reddened. She murmured, "Sikeal… how did it become like this? Heina, what have you done to this land…"
As their small boat drew closer to the shore, Liam hefted his golden iron staff and asked, "Are you sure you want to go ashore?"
Ross was puzzled by the question, until Liam raised his staff and pointed toward the bleak, foreboding coastline. Just moments ago, a casual sweep of his Kenbunshoku Haki (Observation Haki) had revealed the dense presence of hundreds, even thousands of people gathered along that stretch of beach.
"Looks like our captain guessed right," he said. "These people… came prepared."
Ross froze at his words.
"We'll leave the ship here," Liam said over his shoulder. "No need to store it inside the City Fortress this time."
"Ross?" Robin asked quietly, looking down at her.
Ross straightened her back and said firmly, "We'll proceed according to our original plan."
In front of them was a sea of people, dark, dense, overwhelming.
If it had been only one person glaring with such hostility, Ross might have merely felt uneasy. But now, with this vast crowd arrayed in battle formation, every single gaze filled with enmity toward her and her companions… Ross felt a crushing weight, like a mountain bearing down upon her.
She opened her mouth, there were words she wanted to say to these people, her own people, but the shame was so deep, she couldn't even hear her own voice.
A hand rested gently on her shoulder. It was Robin's.
Ross was sweating, feeling deeply ashamed. These were the very people she'd vowed to save, and yet now, standing before them, she found herself afraid, so afraid she couldn't make a sound.
"To think you'd side with pirates!"
From within the crowd blocking the shore, a man in armor stepped forward, clearly the leader. He spoke with scorn:
"Princess Ross, the traitor who abandoned her country. You're not welcome here!"
"Traitor!"
"Not welcome!"
"Traitor!"
"Not welcome!"
The chants of hundreds, thousands, filled the air.
Ross's slender shoulders trembled. She looked up and saw Robin smiling at her encouragingly, hand still firm on her shoulder.
On the other side, Liam appeared utterly at ease. Though surrounded by a sea of hostile faces, he looked as if he didn't even notice them, his eyes wandering toward the distance, perhaps searching for those baboons he'd been talking about.
Ross drew in a deep breath and shouted to the crowd:
"It's not like that! I didn't betray this country! It was Hai…"
"Traitor!"
"Traitor!"
Her voice was drowned out by the roar of the mob. She had to shout even louder:
"It was Heina's plot! The corruption, right from the start, it was all her doing!"
But those words only seemed to enrage the people further.
"How dare you slander Lady Heina!" "Lady Heina is the benefactor of us all!"
Clang!
The leader drew his long blade, glaring at Ross with fury.
"Get out!" he roared.
"Get out!"
"Traitor!"
"Get out!"
The sheer force of that anger and hatred, burning like wildfire through the crowd, was immense, shocking, terrifying.
Ross was about to speak again when Liam hefted his iron staff and laughed:
"You know, every time something like this happens, I can't help but think of Hancock…"
"You're thinking about her Haoshoku (Conqueror's Haki), aren't you?" Robin replied.
At that moment, the crowd of hundreds, perhaps thousands, before them, faces twisted in rage, surged forward, weapons raised high as they charged.
"Looks like you were wrong before," Liam said, watching the oncoming tide of people whose fury had long since drowned out reason. Resting his golden iron staff on his shoulder, he chuckled. "Corruption really does make people stupid."
"Perhaps it does," Robin replied, raising one hand.
"Please, don't kill them…" Ross pleaded.
Just a few minutes later, the gloomy shoreline of Sikeal was strewn with bodies, hundreds of them, lying in every direction.
Above the mounds of unconscious figures, Robin slowly lowered her hand. The petals that had bloomed from her powers quietly disintegrated into dust among the fallen.
Ross drew back her hands and stood up.
Liam came over, dragging the armored leader of the mob behind him. The man's head was covered in blood, eyes rolled back, completely unconscious.
Without much care, Liam tossed the man toward Ross's feet. Glancing around at the defeated crowd, he clapped his hands and said,
"Well, that was a bit of an unexpected opening… but shall we proceed as planned?"
"Let's make it loud," Robin said with a smile.
"Got it!" Liam hefted his golden iron staff. "And maybe I'll go check out those baboons whi, hm?"
He suddenly turned toward the island's interior.
Robin noticed his reaction and followed his gaze. In the distance, a trail of dust was rising, within it, a massive shadow was charging toward them, the ground trembling with its every step.
Ross, still tending to the fallen, was the last to notice. When she finally looked up, that gigantic figure had already reached them, storming forward like thunder,, and slammed straight into Liam!
BOOM!!!
Ross screamed, the ground shaking violently beneath her feet. Robin grabbed her arm to steady her.
"What… what is that, ?!"
Still shaken, Ross looked up, and froze.
Charging through the haze was an enormous rhinoceros, towering like a small mountain, its single horn gleaming.
And Liam, had his hand braced against that massive horn.
His arm swelled, muscles visibly bulging and doubling in size, raw power crackling through him. His legs were planted firmly into the earth, unmoving. With just one hand, he had stopped the colossal beast's charge dead in its tracks.
The rhinoceros's huge, lantern-like eyes glared at him, and from its mouth came a surprisingly clear, feminine voice:
"As expected of a pirate with a 400 million Belly bounty… ah!"
She didn't even finish her words before Liam grabbed her enormous horn with both hands and heaved.
Whoosh!!
The rhinoceros, massive as a mountain, was lifted clean into the air, spun twice overhead, and then flung far, far away.
"Ahhh!" The delicate voice, so at odds with that monstrous body, faded rapidly into the distance.
"What a bizarre creature," Liam muttered, shaking his now-normal arm. The thick cords of muscle that had swelled moments before shrank visibly, returning to their usual size before Ross's stunned eyes.
Robin followed the arc of the flying rhinoceros until it disappeared over the horizon with a faint ding!
"A Zoan-type Devil Fruit user," she said thoughtfully. "Must be one of Heina's subordinates."
Ross pressed her lips together. Heina had clearly noticed their arrival.
"Not that surprising," Liam said with a grin. "She was already a big name before the Great Pirate Era, her bounty reached 790 million Belly back in the day. Same generation as Roger, Whitebeard, Golden Lion, Wang Zhi, and Silver Axe… You expect me to believe she doesn't know Haki? No chance. She probably sensed us with her Kenbunshoku Haki the moment we got close."
Robin nodded. With Heina's Observation Haki, it would've been impossible to miss the overwhelming presence that was Liam.
"Then, as planned, let's split up."
Liam waved casually and strode off in another direction, his golden staff resting on his shoulder.
(End Of This Chapter)
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