"…Seems like her luck after setting out to sea wasn't much better than yours. She led a group of women from the Flower Ship into the Calm Belt, founded a women-only kingdom on Amazon Lily, and even established a law forbidding men from entering."
Sitting cross-legged in front of Lily's grave, Liam held his cup and casually shared bits and pieces of what had happened since he set out to sea. Naturally, he spent a little more time talking about Amazon Lily.
"If the Flower-Flower Fruit hadn't been recognized back then, things probably would've gone pretty badly. Hahaha…" He pointed at Robin beside him. "See her? She's a Princess of Amazon Lily now. A real big shot. Technically speaking, she's basically the successor to Princess Lily, the woman you admired so much…"
Robin smiled softly and sat beside Liam with her legs folded to one side. She lowered her eyes as Liam's left hand, covered in blue armor, reached toward her chest.
She made no move to stop him as he removed the Flower-Flower Fruit from her body. The Jolyne mask covering her face crumbled into tiny petals and drifted away.
"If you'd mentioned in your letter that this so-called 'national treasure' was actually the Flower-Flower Fruit…" Liam held the triangular chip covered in flower-like spiral patterns between his fingers and sighed. "I could've shown it to you eight years ago. Wouldn't have had to wait until today."
He held it up toward the grave. "Here. This is the national treasure you were looking for."
The woman in the photograph on the gravestone continued smiling just as brightly as ever. A gentle breeze passed through the hillside, carrying the scent of nearby flowers.
"…"
Liam sat there for a while longer before setting down the flask and cups. "Well, I'm heading out. We'll talk again next time."
He transferred the Flower-Flower Fruit chip to his right hand and rose to his feet. "This time, I'll make a trip to Kano Country for you."
He glanced down at Lily's laughing face in the photograph. "As for your grave, I'm not going to move it around for no reason. Flowers drift wherever the wind takes them… Since this is where you ended up, then this is where you should stay."
He smiled faintly. "As long as I know you're here, that's enough… right?"
Red, flame-like patterns appeared over Liam's right arm as the armor materialized and fitted itself into place. Still holding the Flower-Flower Fruit chip, he pressed it back into Robin's body.
Robin walked up to the gravestone and bent down. Her slender fingers paused over each of the three cups in turn.
A single pure-white petal bloomed from each fingertip and floated down into the bottom of a cup, where the remaining drops of liquor dampened it.
She lowered her sunglasses and winked at the woman in the photograph. "I know too."
Then she straightened with a smile.
"Let's go," Liam said, turning away.
Robin walked backward for a few steps, waving at the grave before turning around to catch up with him.
"Not going to visit the people in the village?"
"Forget it. Who knows how they'd react if two pirates like us suddenly showed up…"
The two soon disappeared into the distance.
A fresh breeze swept across the hillside. The petals resting at the bottom of the three cups spun gently in the wind, but none were blown away. The thin cord attached to the stopper of the flask occasionally fluttered upward, making the small string of flowers wrapped around it sway before the photograph of the brightly laughing woman.
"Hm? Did someone come by?"
A short, hunched figure approached from nearby. The elderly village chief had nothing better to do and had come out for a walk. From a distance, he noticed a flask sitting in front of Lily's grave and wandered over in curiosity.
Beside it were three cups, each containing a single flower petal.
"This…" The old village chief picked up the flask and turned it around. When he saw the skull with snakes for hair printed on its side, he froze.
Then realization struck him. "Liam came back?"
The old village chief immediately grew annoyed. "He's become some infamous pirate and still has the nerve to come back here? Warlord, Warlord… so what if he's a pirate recognized by the World Government? He's still a pirate!"
He grumbled bitterly, "If everything the World Government said was automatically right, this world wouldn't be such a rotten mess in the first place."
After muttering to himself for quite a while, the old village chief looked at the woman in the photograph. "Your son came back to see you. You must be thrilled, huh? Look at you, grinning like that…"
As he spoke, he couldn't help smiling too.
Then he shook the flask in his hand. "Oh? There's still plenty left!"
---
Rasugapu Island, Coastal Harbor...
A Marine battleship was docked at the port.
Numerous Marines stood on deck while a female officer from the island's Marine branch paced back and forth impatiently.
"Colonel! They're here!" A Marine beside her suddenly pointed inland.
The female colonel looked over. Sure enough, a man and woman were approaching from the distance.
'There was only a small village in that direction, wasn't there? Why had those two deliberately gone all the way around just to visit it?'
"You took long enough, Jolyne Cujoh, Giorno Giovanna." She suppressed her anger as the two approached the harbor. "All of us have been waiting here for more than an hour!"
The Marines behind her looked equally unhappy. They were Marines who upheld Justice, yet here they were waiting around like subordinates for two pirates to board their ship. It was humiliating.
Liam and Robin climbed aboard the battleship.
Liam glanced back at the female colonel standing near the railing. "Now we're the ones waiting for you. Get moving."
"You...!" The colonel glared at him.
Unfortunately, Liam had already turned away and started walking toward the cabins. He rubbed his stomach as he called out, "You got enough food on this ship? I'm starving. Where's the cook? Get me something to eat!"
The two disappeared into the battleship's interior.
The Marines left on deck silently cursed him. 'The first thing he asks is whether there's enough food? What does he think he is, a Sea King? There's no way one man could eat through the provisions of an entire battleship.'
The female colonel took several deep breaths before shouting, "Set sail!"
"Yes, ma'am!" Her subordinates answered in unison and scattered to their stations.
Before long, the battleship slowly left the harbor and sailed out into the vast sea.
---
In the battleship's mess hall, empty plates were stacked like a mountain in front of Liam.
The surrounding Marines stared in stunned silence.
One of them muttered, "…Should we start catching extra fish along the way?"
Another Marine rolled his eyes. "At this point, it'd be more realistic to stop at ports more often."
---
During the voyage, the battleship encountered a pirate ship at sea.
'Boom! Boom! Boom!'
The battleship's cannons fired volley after volley, but unfortunately, the pirate crew they were facing was a tough one. Ordinary cannon fire wasn't enough to do much damage.
The pirates were just starting to get smug when the sound of something cutting through the waves came from beside their ship. A huge shadow suddenly fell over the deck.
Everyone looked up, and saw an enormous Sea Beast flying through the air before crashing straight down on top of them.
Liam, wearing nothing but a pair of oversized shorts, leaped out of the sea and landed on the Sea Beast's corpse. He looked around in confusion.
"Huh? Did I get on the wrong ship?"
The pirates pinned beneath the Sea Beast were scattered all over the deck, groaning and crying out in pain. They nearly coughed up blood from sheer frustration.
'Where the hell had this guy come from?! Damn it, if we ever get our hands on...'
The pirates angrily raised their heads, only to freeze when they finally got a clear look at the man sitting on top of the Sea Beast.
Then, without a word, they quietly lowered their heads again.
'Damn Marines! Why haven't you brought that battleship over here yet?!'
---
Inside the battleship, the Marines were having a great time.
The female colonel sat nearby with a speechless expression while Robin calmly sipped her tea. Liam had one foot planted on a Marine who had tried to steal his food. The poor man kept slapping the floor in protest, but Liam ignored him and leisurely finished eating before finally letting him go.
---
Inside the Den Den Mushi Castle, Liam sat on the sofa with Robin sitting on his lap. Her head rested just beneath his as they both watched B.I.B. practice Hasshoken in the open space of the living room.
"I'm seriously starting to think Rayleigh was messing with me..." Liam idly rubbed Robin's chin. After a while, his hand naturally wandered lower as he frowned in thought. "Hasshoken's fine for training the body, and at best it might help with Armament Haki... but what does any of that have to do with Conqueror's Haki?"
"Liam."
"Hm?"
"My clothes are getting messed up..."
---
The battleship stopped at several ports along the way. Some of the Marines remained aboard while the others went into town to purchase supplies.
Liam and Robin changed into matching outfits and wore identical sunglasses as they strolled through town together. The pirates in West Blue had such pathetic bounties that Liam couldn't even be bothered to put on his star mask and relive his old bounty-hunter days.
When they finally returned to the battleship, the female colonel once again glared furiously at the pair for being late.
---
Liam stood by the ship's railing, fishing.
Beside him, a Marine's fishing rod suddenly bent sharply. The Marine yanked hard, only to get dragged straight overboard by whatever had taken the bait.
'Splash!'
Liam casually pulled up his own fishing rod with one hand. A Sea Beast dozens of meters long came flying out of the water.
The female colonel stared in shock. 'Was that fishing rod seriously that strong?'
Then she took a closer look and realized the rod in Giorno's hand was coated in a layer of black. Her expression instantly went blank.
'He was using Armament Haki... just to fish?!'
---
Several days passed in the blink of an eye.
---
Kano Country, Water Capital...
Deep within the royal palace nestled among towering mountains stood the Cold Fragrance Garden.
The royal rear garden was filled with artificial hills, mountain streams, spring-fed ponds, pavilions, and elegant towers. But the most eye-catching sight was the sea of flowers covering nearly the entire garden. Some were familiar, others impossible to name, red, blue, white, yellow, bright and pale blossoms grew together in perfect balance.
The Vice Minister of Kano Country hurried through the garden with his sleeves gathered in his hands, crossing bridges and passing pavilions without sparing the scenery a glance. Before long, he reached the deepest part of the Cold Fragrance Garden.
Ahead lay a seemingly endless grove of flowering trees, their branches covered in blossoms of every color. Hidden among the dense leaves and flowers, an enormous black shadow moved slowly through the grove.
A claw covered in thick scales emerged from the flowering canopy and gently plucked a cluster of pale vermilion blossoms.
"Vice Minister…" A deep voice rumbled from within the grove, sounding like the growl of an ancient beast. "What is it?"
"Your Majesty," the Vice Minister said respectfully, bowing his hands, "we've found traces of the remnants of the Demon Alliance…"
(End Of This Chapter)
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