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Chapter Serialization · Lovesickness 31 · What Are You Doing?
In the dim depths of the palace hall, Sandersonia walked and searched. Soon, she discovered a hidden door. Pushing it open, she found a secret passage dug into the rear mountain behind the palace.
Sandersonia's heart shook with shock. The tunnel was even darker than the hall. After dozens of steps, the path suddenly opened up, faintly resembling a valley… Just as she was about to continue forward, a cool and icy voice came from the entrance behind her, frightening her so much that the scales on her arms, cheeks, and neck all stood on end!
She turned back, and out from the shadows of the passage emerged a tall figure. It was her elder sister, Hancock. The Empress walked forward expressionlessly, dragging along Marigold, who didn't dare meet her second sister's eyes…
…
"That was about three years ago… I encountered a strange pirate named Marshall D. Teach…"
The Red-Haired Pirates' ship cut through the waves of the sea. Standing by the rail, Shanks, accompanied by the sound of crashing surf, told Mihawk, Liam, and Robin about the man who had left three scars across his left eye.
Even Mihawk, usually so composed, revealed an astonished expression as he listened…
Robin was surprised, but her emotions stayed steady… As for Liam, having read the manga, he already knew Blackbeard was the one who scarred Shanks. Hearing Shanks say it happened three years ago, he couldn't help but think back. Three years ago, when Shanks was clawed by Blackbeard, he and Robin had still been living quietly on Amazon Lily Island with Hancock and her sisters…
"…"
Flicking his spent cigarette into the sea, first mate Benn Beckman lit another, quietly listening to his Captain's recollections.
"So," Mihawk said slowly, "He clearly had tremendous power, yet he was willing to live nameless under Whitebeard's banner…"
Beckman exhaled a smoke ring.
"The look in his eyes when he scarred the Captain, that was the gaze of someone who sees no one else, someone whose mind is filled only with ambition. For such a man to suppress himself and live in Whitebeard's shadow, deliberately making himself appear insignificant…"
"It's hard to fathom… just what is he thinking?"
Shanks stared into the distant, rolling waves and the occasional sea beast leaping from the waters, murmuring to himself: "I have a gut feeling, that man called Teach… is an extremely dangerous person."
"Yes, very dangerous…" Liam nodded slowly beside him. "For example, right now, you're in danger."
Shanks blinked, turning his head toward Liam. "What did you say?"
"…"
Beneath the brim of his hat, Mihawk's eyes fixed on Shanks's back.
A pitch-black humanoid shadow appeared, clutching something in its hand. It slowly drove its fist into Red Hair's back. The strike should have pierced straight through his chest, yet no bloody fist emerged from the front.
The shadow's entire arm had sunk into Shanks's body… Taking with it the thing it carried.
"…" Mihawk's hawk eyes gleamed with thought.
When Shanks turned, he saw Liam's black ghost behind him and said speechlessly: "Liam… what are you doing?"
"This is called fulfilling a promise!" Liam gave him a thumbs-up. "Did you forget? Back then, I promised to give you the most useless Devil Fruit, to turn you into a landlubber."
B.I.B. (the Black Shadow) withdrew its right hand from Red Hair's body and silently returned to Liam's side.
"You're still hung up on that?" Shanks stuck out his tongue, his face scrunched in a bitter gourd expression. "The most useless Devil Fruit… so what did you shove into me?"
Liam grinned. "Try it out and you'll know."
"Devil Fruits aren't that simple to use…" Shanks pressed down his straw hat in exasperation. "Not everyone's like you…"
Standing there, he tried to sense the Devil Fruit power that should now be inside him…
Benn Beckman watched from the side, deeply unsettled.
Even Robin didn't know what Devil Fruit Liam had given Shanks… The "most useless"? So he and Shanks had such an agreement? But the most useless, what did that mean in Liam's eyes? It was hard to guess.
The Shiro Shiro no Mi (Castle-Castle Fruit) was still with little Green, so Liam had only two Devil Fruit chips at the moment: one was the Magnet-Magnet Fruit, the other was the newly acquired Gold-Gold Fruit…
Half a minute later, the Red-Haired Pirates were bathed in laughter across the Ocean…
Shanks was surrounded by his pirate crewmates, who crowded around him as if admiring some great treasure, laughing and joking at the spectacle before them.
"Ah…" The red-haired man wearing the straw hat opened his mouth. "This…"
The scene pulled outward from the depths of his eyes, his golden pupils, golden eyeballs, golden eyelids, golden scars, golden cheeks, golden hair, golden head, golden neck, golden clothes, golden body… At this very moment, Shanks had turned into a statue of solid gold. Even the famed western blade at his waist, Griffin, had become a sword of gold.
"Ha ha ha ha! Captain, you're worth so much money now!!" sniper Yasopp roared with exaggerated laughter.
Fatty Lucky Roux, gnawing on a chicken leg, called out: "No, no! The Captain was already worth a fortune! Now he's--"
Other crewmates burst out laughing: "Worth even more!!"
The bunch of pirates showed their Captain no mercy, laughing so hard tears streamed down their faces. Naturally, some had eyes sparkling with admiration, shouting in awe:
"Captain's turned into the Golden Man! So cool!!"
"Really? Cool?" The golden statue Shanks struck a pose, then quickly shrugged off his golden coat onto the deck. "But seriously, what use is this fruit?"
Bang!
The golden coat hit the ground and deformed instantly. Gold wasn't that hard, an ordinary person could bite into it and leave teeth marks…
Liam reassured him: "Relax, if it were actually useful, I wouldn't have given it to you, would I?"
Shanks rolled his golden eyes.
Soon, the Red-Haired Pirates' ship rang with bursts of pirate songs. Drinking, singing, gnawing meat, they even lifted up their Captain with laughter and tossed him overboard.
As he fell freely toward the sea, Shanks pressed down on his golden straw hat, wearing an utterly speechless expression.
Splash!
"Oi, Captain!" The Red-Haired Pirates leaned over the rail, arms around each other's shoulders, shouting down to him: "You'd better tell us what it feels like for a Devil Fruit user when they fall into the sea!"
Splashhh!
B.I.B. fished Shanks back up. Drenched, he lay on the deck as his first mate stomped repeatedly on his bloated belly, Shanks coughing and spitting out mouthful after mouthful of seawater…
Very soon, Shanks donned Liam's Stand, his face twisting into a wicked grin, and shoved the Gold-Gold Fruit chip into the bodies of the crewmates who had just been laughing at him.
"You want to know what it feels like?" Shanks chuckled, then booted the heartless bastards into the sea. "Best way to find out… is to experience it yourself, assholes!"
The deck erupted with clinking mugs and roaring laughter.
He didn't let them drink too much seawater, though. Shanks personally dove back in and dragged them up.
"Glug glug…" One man, bubbling at the mouth, hung over Shanks's shoulder as he was carried back aboard. "Damn it… only idiots would ever want to be Ability users… ugh!"
He opened his mouth and vomited a large mouthful of seawater right onto Shanks's face.
Yasopp and the others slapped their legs with laughter until Shanks's sharp gaze swept their way. Yasopp bolted, hiding behind the first mate in a flash.
"Oi, Shanks…" Even the steady, reliable Benn Beckman suddenly looked uneasy. "Wait a second, "
"Wait for what! Something this fun, naturally, we all have to try it together!"
Splash!
"Heh heh heh…"
Robin and Liam sat on the edge of the crowd, using a wooden crate as their table. Liam clinked mugs and matched the Red-Haired Pirates in drinking, while Robin gently sipped a steaming cup of black tea. Of course, there was no black tea on the Red Hair ship; this was prepared by little Green inside the Castle and brought out.
Watching the noisy, chaotic scene on deck, Robin smiled. "Their bond really is wonderful."
(End Of This Chapter)