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Chapter Title Serialization ・ Lovesickness 13 ・ Flower, Blade, and Stone
That day.
Kuja City.
The Royal Palace.
In the quiet, empty chamber, the beautiful face of Hancock still bore the fading blushes of an earlier flush. Barefoot, she walked toward the stone statue of the former Snake Princess lying silently in the corner. As she moved, she used a silk scarf to wipe away the heat and sweat still clinging to her temples, behind her ears, her jawline, neck, and the base of her chest from her earlier episode...
The damp scarf was casually discarded.
Staring at the unmoving stone figure, Hancock's expression remained blank. Slowly, she raised her slender hand, and in it was clutched a dagger-like carving knife…
…
Meanwhile, on the deck of the ship,
The ship's doctor, Aladin, stood watch when he heard shouts and screams from behind, Hatchan and Arlong's cries of alarm and pain. His heart jumped.
But just then, his eyes lit up.
He saw Tiger and Jinbe rushing back from the direction of the town, along with others, all covered in injuries!
"Tiger Oyabun! Jinbe Nii San!" Aladin shouted, slamming his trident down to knock the gangplank over the side so his brothers could run up to the deck.
The wounded Fish-Man brothers helped each other along, stumbling after Tiger Oyabun and Jinbe. Some were too exhausted to even run and simply dived straight into the sea instead. After all, as Fish-Men, it was always more comfortable to soak in the water…
"The Marines have moved in," Tiger said, clutching a wound on his torso. "We've drawn too much attention, set sail, and leave."
The other Fish-Man brothers responded and, injured or not, hurried to prepare the ship.
The massive sail of the Sun Pirates caught the wind and slowly pulled away from the shore of the resort island.
Aladin fetched the medical kit and began treating Tiger, whose injuries were the most severe. As he wrapped bandages around him, he couldn't help but glance at Jinbe, stunned by wounds and fatigue he had never seen on him before.
To be honest… while everyone respected Tiger as the Old Boss, when it came to true combat strength, the brothers on board, including Tiger himself, all knew:
Jinbe was number one.
And even someone like Jinbe, one of the top fighters from Dragon Palace… had lost?
He was beaten into this state by that human pirate called Giorno?
"Tiger Oyabun, Jinbe Nii San," Aladin asked while bandaging Tiger, unable to hold back his question, "what happened in the end? That Giorno guy…"
Surely, after injuring Arlong and all our Fish-Man brothers, he must've paid some kind of price, right?
But upon hearing Aladin's question, all the returning Fish-Men fell silent. They looked at each other without speaking, tending to their own wounds or sitting against the ship's rail, resting. In the sea beside the pirate ship, injured and exhausted Fish-Men swam slowly, following their crewmates and ship...
They had all ganged up on Jolyne Kujo, a woman. And Chopper-na Giorno, a human pirate. And the result?
All of them were wounded.
And the enemy?
Those two pirates…
No, not two.
From start to finish, it was basically just Giorno dealing with all of them by himself!
Tiger Oyabun and Jinbe Nii San, even with the other brothers assisting, still couldn't take down that one human man.
In fact…
Everyone shared the same unspoken feeling, or rather, everyone clearly saw: Giorno, while being surrounded and attacked by them, never even viewed them as real enemies.
With Giorno's strength, aside from Tiger and Jinbe, none of the Fish-Men could survive a single serious punch from him.
And based on his speed during the battle, if he had wanted to, he could've slaughtered all the Fish-Men right then and there, and even Tiger and Jinbe wouldn't have been able to stop him!
Maybe in the ocean, Tiger and Jinbe could have done something, but not on land.
On land, even Jinbe couldn't keep up with that human's speed.
He was a monster.
But this monster, didn't kill them. Even though they attacked him like that.
Just like he said at the very beginning: He simply couldn't stand Arlong, and he was just targeting Arlong.
On the deck and in the water, following the pirate ship, the Fish-Men were scattered, all hanging their heads in defeat.
Maybe…
Just maybe,
Somewhere deep in their hearts, a fleeting thought passed through their minds: If that man hadn't hated Arlong so much, Maybe… he could've actually been… a pretty good human friend.
After all, he seemed to have a decent relationship with Jinbe from the start.
Tiger, his entire body wrapped in blood-seeping bandages, sat leaning against the ship's railing on the deck. In a low voice, he said:
"The Marines came to capture me… No matter which pirate was nearby, the Marines definitely intended to capture me first… to deliver me to the Celestial Dragons…
But in the end, it was that Giorno and his female captain who stood in the way of the Marines, blocking their pursuit…"
"Is that so…" Aladin sighed after hearing this, his tone complex.
"What a strange man! I really can't understand why he hates Arlong so much…"
"..." Jinbe remained silent, rubbing his aching wrist.
That Giorno was clearly a human, yet his grip strength had actually surpassed Jinbe, a Fish-Man. The man's physical power wasn't just about his steel-like defense, but also included the explosive force of his stamina and strength.
Jinbe looked toward the fading resort island in the twilight, recalling the intense exchange he had with Giorno during the battle.
[Five-Thousand Tile True Punch!]
Jinbe threw a full-force punch, Fish-Man Karate, and collided fist-to-fist with Giorno.
Ka-cha… It might have been an illusion, but in that moment, Jinbe had the terrifying sensation that his wrist bones cracked under the impact.
Jinbe's bloodshot eyes glared fiercely. He roared: "We could have been friends!"
Giorno gave a regretful smile: "Yeah. But do me a favor, ask Arlong what it feels like to be a red-haired ape, mankind's closest cousin."
Then Giorno smiled, and punched both Jinbe and Tiger Oyabun flying…
Back on the resort island, in the center of City Town,
The bystanders had retreated, now watching from afar.
The JOJO Pirate Crew's Jolyne Kujo and her only crew member, Chopperna Giorno, were now confronting the Marines head-on.
It wasn't just the tourists or locals spectating this clash between Marines and pirates in the middle of the street.
Among the crowd were many swordsmen, participants in the Sword Hero Tournament, some famous, some obscure, some even pirates themselves… All were quietly observing the chaos unfold.
"That's Onigumo, Vice Admiral from Marine Headquarters!"
"And that's Commodore Gion! She's so beautiful, just like the rumors said…"
"Is that Rear Admiral Gashi? So he came from HQ too!"
"My god, with firepower like this, that JOJO Pirate Crew with just two members is doomed…"
The crowd murmured and gossiped nonstop.
"What did you do to them?"
Gion, with sword in hand, blocked Robin's path. She glanced at the ground, where numerous Marines lay moaning and writhing in pain, her eyes burning with fury.
"Jolyne Kujo!"
Robin, clad in flowing robes and wearing sunglasses like Liam's on her head, looked more like a stylish Taoist priestess than a pirate.
She smiled and said:
"Who knows?"
(End Of This Chapter)