[Cover Story - Days on the Eastern Road of Amazon Lily · Bug Fix · "Pretend Nothing Happened"]
[Hancock walked in front with Robin behind her, both women returning as though nothing had happened while Liam continued training nearby. Hancock still couldn't see, but with Observation Haki helping her, she managed to act perfectly normal as she urged Liam to switch their Devil Fruit powers back.
{B.I.B.}floated over and first removed the Flower-Flower Fruit from Hancock. Then it moved to Robin, extracted her Medusa Fruit, and immediately placed the Flower-Flower Fruit back into her chest.
As {B.I.B.}went to return the Medusa Fruit to Hancock, Robin casually raised a hand and formed a Jolyne mask over her face.
Hancock glanced back.
Their eyes met.
Robin smiled faintly.
Hancock quickly looked away…]
...
West Blue, Rasugapu Island...
The already bustling town was even livelier than usual today.
The reason was simple: the hugely popular star Victoria Cindry was currently touring the West Blue.
Even pirates who had originally planned to stop here only briefly before making their final push toward Reverse Mountain and the Grand Line changed their plans when they heard the news. Plenty of them decided it was worth staying long enough to catch her performance.
Among them were the Tyrant Pirates, whose captain carried a bounty of 62 million Berries.
They were heading toward the crowded theater as well. They'd heard that Cindry was both beautiful and elegant, and since they were lucky enough to run into one of her performances, it would be a waste not to see her in person. Once they entered the Grand Line, who knew when they'd get another chance?
"Captain, if we stay here much longer, the Marines might notice us," one of the crewmen said nervously as they blended into the crowd heading toward the theater.
Their captain, Owo Pellin, swaggered along in a classic pirate captain's coat, dripping in gold and jewelry, with a sword on one side and guns on the other.
"What are you scared of? If you're that afraid of the Marines, why become a pirate?"
People in the crowd gradually noticed them. Some recognized the group immediately, their faces turning pale.
"Pirates…"
"It's the Tyrant Pirates! Their captain, Owo Pellin, has a bounty of sixty-two million Berries! What are they doing on this island?!"
"They're going to the theater too? Aren't they worried the Marines will find them?"
"Why would they be scared? The Marines should be scared of 'them'… Tch. Actually, my stomach suddenly hurts. I'm going home."
Before they even reached the theater entrance, the crowd around them had already started scattering.
Captain Pellin grinned proudly. As expected, he was still a terrifying big shot!
'Bam!'
A tall man walking the other way bumped into him hard enough to send him stumbling. Pellin nearly fell over.
"Hm? Oh, sorry. Wasn't looking." The man glanced down at him.
"You mother..."
Pellin looked up.
Then he saw the man's face.
The rest of the curse died in his throat. He abruptly pointed at one of his own subordinates behind him.
"...mother's in great health!"
'What the hell am I even saying?!' Pellin mentally slapped himself.
None of his men laughed. Every last one of them had gone rigid.
The weather was fairly warm, yet cold sweat instantly broke out across their foreheads. Nobody dared make a sudden move.
"Oh? That's good to hear." Liam casually patted the captain on the shoulder and kept walking.
Only after he was gone did Pellin's legs finally give out. He nearly dropped to his knees. Sweat poured down his face as he stared after Liam in terror.
"Damn it… Am I having a nightmare? I'm just walking around the West Blue, and I run into a monster like that?!"
"C-C-C-Captain! That's a Warlord of the Sea! Why the hell is he here?!"
"Boss… are we still going to see Cindry?"
Pellin immediately straightened up and marched stiff-legged toward the harbor.
"See my ass! We're getting the hell out of here!"
"Yes, sir!!"
His crew enthusiastically followed, heads held high as they fled.
---
On the crowded street, Robin soon caught up with Liam. She had bought two pairs of sunglasses, handing one to him and putting the other on herself.
Liam slipped them on and glanced back at the theater entrance.
A huge poster displayed the face of Victoria Cindry, now one of the biggest stars around. Compared to the somewhat famous young actress they had met years ago, she had become noticeably more mature and glamorous.
So many years had passed in the blink of an eye. After all their travels, Liam and Robin had somehow found themselves back in the West Blue.
"Want to go in and watch?" Robin asked with a smile.
Liam shook his head. "A stage play? I'd fall asleep."
The two turned away from the theater and headed toward a small village elsewhere on the island.
Only after they had left did many people on the street quietly breathe a sigh of relief.
That had been terrifying. They had gone out for an ordinary stroll and somehow run into two figures who had recently dominated newspaper headlines.
These weren't celebrities, they were world-famous pirates. One of them was a Warlord of the Sea who had only recently crushed a major criminal power in the North Blue.
Nobody had the nerve to walk up and ask for an autograph or a photo.
---
On the second floor of a building beside the street, a window slid open.
Standing there was Capone Bege, Godfather of "Bullet," one of the five major criminal organizations of the West Blue.
With a cigar clenched between his teeth, Bege stared gloomily at the two figures disappearing into the distance.
'My damn Castle-Castle Fruit…'
Back when he first learned the truth, Bege had seriously considered hunting down those two bastards to take his Castle-Castle Fruit back.
Then he kept seeing Giorno and Jolyne Cujoh in the newspapers.
The swordsmanship tournament.
Their clash with Whitebeard.
Becoming Warlords of the Sea.
Destroying the Donquixote Family.
Their bounties had skyrocketed again and again until, eventually, the bounties were simply removed entirely.
Bit by bit, Bege's desire for revenge had cooled.
Revenge was still possible, it just wasn't necessary right now.
Bege ran the numbers in his head. Even if his entire "Bullet" organization joined forces with the other four major criminal syndicates of the West Blue, they probably still wouldn't match the Donquixote Family of the North Blue.
With forces like that, trying to deal with either Giorno or Jolyne Cujoh would be nowhere near enough.
'My damn Castle-Castle Fruit…' Bege brooded bitterly.
---
Outskirts of the Village, Hillside...
A grassy clearing lay surrounded by wildflowers. At its center stood a single gravestone.
A light breeze passed over the hillside as Liam and Robin arrived hand in hand, just as they had once before.
"Hey~" Liam waved at the gravestone from a distance. "How many years has it been again? Whatever. I'm back."
"Eight years," Robin reminded him.
Liam smiled. He walked over and sat cross-legged in front of the grave, looking at the photograph attached to the stone.
The woman in it was laughing brightly.
Liam spoke as casually as if he were chatting with an old friend. "I got hurt a little while ago, but it's fine. I'm ridiculously strong now. Injuries like that heal on their own."
He rubbed his cheek. The bloody hole Doflamingo had punched through it with an awakened attack had already healed, as had the cuts of various depths across his shoulders and body from Doflamingo's strings.
There were barely even any scars left.
Standing behind him, Robin smiled gently. She reached into Vane's City Castle and took out a flask of liquor and three cups.
A skull with snakes for hair was printed on the flask, and the stopper was tied with a thin, flower-wrapped cord.
Liam took it and filled all three cups. Robin picked up one, Liam took another, and the third was placed before Lily's grave.
"We brought this from Amazon Lily. Hope you like it."
Liam raised his cup and drained it in one go. Then he smiled.
"That place should be the kingdom founded by Princess Lily of the Kano Country, the woman you admired ever since you were little…"
(End Of This Chapter)
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