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Chapter Head Serialization ・ Lovesick Serialization Temporarily Paused Four ・ Home at Last!
The Junmei ship docked at a remote little island. Some of the guards remained behind to watch the ship, while others disembarked to follow the white horse prince ashore.
As they approached a small village on the island, Cavendish noticed from a distance a little girl at the village entrance playing with a wooden toy boat. She looked strikingly similar to Annie. That must be… the daughter she'd been thinking about day and night, Amoline!
Annie slowly walked past Mari'an toward the girl. Only then did Cavendish notice the graffiti on Annie's back, the same graffiti that had brought about her current calm and almost Buddhist state of mind. He hurried forward, wanting to help wipe it off.
But as he got closer, he suddenly froze. And then quietly stepped back again.
With composed and steady steps, Annie walked slowly toward her daughter.
But despite her peaceful face, her tears were already streaming uncontrollably...
…
Hundreds, no, thousands, of gleaming blades shot skyward, drawn by an invisible magnetic force!
Under the wide-eyed gaze of everyone, the countless swords swarmed like a locust plague, forming massive rivers of metal that surged toward the center of the arena.
Or more precisely… they converged above Chopperna Giorno.
Above his head, guided by his hand gestures, the swords, along with the two hundred-plus that had already been floating, reformed into an even larger, denser sword formation.
"What… is he planning to do?"
On stage and off, hundreds of sword hero contestants, all now empty-handed after their swords had been taken, stared in stunned disbelief at the enormous metallic torrent forming above the arena.
Naturally, there were still some powerful sword heroes who managed to resist:
their arm muscles bulged as they clung tightly to their swords, desperately trying to keep them from flying away.
What kind of monstrous power is this?! They held on for dear life, inwardly shaken. Was Devil Fruit power always this unreasonable?!
The opponent's ability was so shamelessly effective, it was practically a hard counter to all swordsmen.
How the hell are we supposed to fight this?!
"..."
Mihawk stood with his arms crossed, the Black Blade on his back unmoving. Around him, those contestants now left with only empty sheaths looked on blankly.
"So that's it… What a troublesome power," Charlotte Amande muttered, gripping her blade tightly. The blade was now coated in a layer of black Armament Haki. She smiled faintly:
"But Busoshoku Haki (Armament Haki) can isolate or even negate the effects of a Devil Fruit."
Next to her, the Ghostly Madam was still calmly smoking.
Her elegant hand rested lightly on her sword's hilt.
The blade remained still in its sheath.
Liam stood calmly in the center of the stage.
He gave a slight turn of his upraised palm.
Shiryu held his Black Blade, clenching his cigar in his teeth as he looked up.
In the skies above, the countless swords followed Giorno's gesture, and uniformly turned their edges downward...
Now aimed at the arena below, hundreds, even thousands of shining blades…
Many of the now-unarmed sword heroes paled visibly.
Is this Giorno really insane?!
Just how crazy is this guy, does he intend to become the enemy of every sword hero in the arena?!
"Don't move…"
Liam let out a carefree laugh:
"Or if the blades miss their mark... I won't be responsible!"
As soon as he finished speaking,
the blades in the sky shifted…
And then they rained down like a forest of knives!
"He's insane! He's really going through with it!!"
One contestant below shouted in horror, breaking the silence,
and with that, the massacre began.
From that point on, the arena was filled only with the sounds of:
Screams.
Flesh being pierced , pū chī!
Blood spraying in all directions.
Nothing else could be heard…
Shuā Shuā Shuā! Shuā Shuā Shuā!
Shuā Shuā Shuā Shuā Shuā Shuā!!
Screams. Blood. Panic.
Countless swords flew down from the heavens, filling the screen entirely with glinting blades.
Across the entire world, everyone watching on broadcast screens was stunned speechless.
No one had anticipated… anything like this.
"Damn it!!"
At Marine Headquarters' training base, a small Den Den Mushi monitor was set up to watch the Sword Hero Tournament broadcast.
The screen was currently showing that very horrifying rain of swords descending.
The one shouting "Damn it!"
and slamming his fist into the table, was Smoker.
He still smoked cigars, though no longer as excessively as before.
Now, he only held one at a time, and even had to cut back.
After losing the Smoke-Smoke Fruit, his body, spoiled by the Devil Fruit, had become even less resistant to nicotine than a normal person.
"This move again… That bastard Giorno!"
Smoker slammed his fist into the desk,
and black solid matter unintentionally grew from his wrist, locking the tabletop in place.
"Smoker… Hina thinks your compatibility with the Cage-Cage Fruit isn't great,"
a pink-haired female Marine strolled up casually.
She too smoked now, not some dainty feminine cigarette, but full-sized cigars, often holding two or three at once just like the old Smoker used to.
Not because the Smoke-Smoke Fruit users were all chain smokers,
but because puffing on multiple cigars actually helped them better channel the power of the fruit…
and even feel more in tune with its abilities.
Hina exhaled a thick cloud of smoke and said softly:
"You need more practice… Want Hina to give you some guidance?"
Smoker shot her a helpless, bitter look.
…
Shuā Shuā Shuā!
Blades rained down like a storm.
Pū chī!
One of the blades fell too fast, too fiercely, stabbing straight through a defenseless sword hero's thigh, impaling him completely. Blood dripped to the ground.
"Aahh!"
Someone tried to dodge but was instead pierced through the shoulder blade by a falling sword. Their expression twisted in agony.
Ding! Ding! Ding!
Mihawk, who knows where he pulled it from, casually flicked a tiny pocket knife through the air without even raising his head. From his spot, unmoving, he deflected blade after blade aimed at him.
Meanwhile, as hundreds of contestants were wounded by their own swords falling from the sky, Charlotte Amande and her sister Charlotte AmandeMonde wielded their blades with graceful force, entwined with Armament Haki, shattering the attacks from above.
Broken swords rained down around them.
Not far away, many other swordsmen, now covered in wounds and frozen in fear, trembled as they watched.
Ding! Ding! Pū chī...
Some powerful sword heroes did manage to strike away some of the falling blades, but even they couldn't avoid one or two random hits, and the wounds on their bodies kept multiplying.
"Damn it! It's hard enough just holding onto my sword…"
"That Giorno, he's a lunatic!"
"I'm gonna cut that bastard to pieces!!"
"Screw that, let's just survive this first!!!"
"AAAHHH!!"
Countless screams and cries of pain slowly faded… As the Shuā Shuā Shuā sound of cutting air from the blade storm also died down.
Inside the vast coliseum, more than half of the contestants had been taken out by Liam's Magnet-Magnet Fruit ability, his so-called "arena cleansing."
The announcer, holding the broadcast Den Den Mushi, opened his mouth but, for the first time in his career, found himself speechless.
At the edge of the arena, over 600 sword hero contestants had now collapsed in pools of blood. Those still standing were few, and most of them were wounded, angry, and glaring toward the stage.
In the stands, the audience was in utter shock. No one could speak.
They had come to watch a sword hero tournament. Even though they were prepared for some bloodshed… No one had expected something like this.
It was terrifying! Thankfully, Giorno hadn't completely lost it and aimed the blades at the audience!
Many spectators were in tears from sheer terror. But some… Some were so thrilled by the spectacular and brutal scene that they felt their ticket price was more than worth it.
Hundreds of swords were now scattered across the arena floor, planted like spikes.
After that rain of blades, very few were left untouched by blood.
The Charlotte sisters didn't react much.
Several veteran sword heroes wore grim expressions.
No one had expected that such a young pirate would truly possess such terrifying strength…
One sword hero from the New World slowly returned his sword to its sheath, trembling internally: "This kid from Paradise…"
Mihawk gave a faint snort and slotted his tiny knife back into the cross-shaped pendant at his neck.
Besides these warriors, Robin, of course, remained completely unharmed. In fact, had the timing not been so inappropriate, she might've taken out a book to pass the time...
Because she knew: Not a single one of Liam's blades would ever target her.
With Liam's Observation Haki, he could lock onto everyone in the area, and even selectively treat people differently based on strength and intent.
That's the power of Kenbunshoku Haki (Observation Haki).
As for what Liam had just done, injuring hundreds of people in one massive move...
Robin didn't exactly like it. But she didn't dislike it either.
What she did like, though, was seeing Liam like this.
Radiant.
In control.
Smiling freely.
He looked good.
She liked watching him. So, whatever he wanted to do, let him.
Robin stood in place, smiling sweetly as she watched the stage.
At that moment, the 190+ contestants whose weapons had been taken from the very beginning were now all down, each one with blades stuck in their bodies or the ground nearby, groaning in pain.
Crimson blood flowed through the cracks in the arena's stone floor…
And on the stage, only one man remained standing:
The 2.4-meter-tall young man slowly lowered his hand and casually dispersed the crackling magnetic energy in his palm with a flick.
"Well? Didn't I clean out a lot of small fry for you?" He clapped his hands together, his face showing a bright, helpful smile, broadcast across the giant screen for the entire world to see.
"Ha ha ha! Now that is exactly the kind of thing this kid would do!"
Outside the arena, the Red-Haired Pirates burst into loud laughter, completely out of place among the stunned and terrified crowd.
(End Of This Chapter)