Grand Line
After the storm, the skies began to clear.
Upon the merciless sea drifted a small sailing ship, its fragile presence strikingly out of place amid the heaving waves.
On the canvas sail gleamed a pirate emblem, yet unlike any ordinary Jolly Roger. The crossed bones curved into twin, axis-symmetrical "J" shapes. One of the skull's eyes bore the mark of a butterfly, a symbol of Kujo Jolyne; the other shone with the pattern of a ladybug, the emblem of Chopperna Giorno.
This was the ship of the JOJO Pirates.
The cabin lay empty, but atop the helm's table rested an Eternal Log Pose, its needle locked onto a single word carved into the dial: Drum.
Beside it, a green Den Den Mushi slumbered quietly. Suddenly, its mouth snapped open, releasing a thin shadow of black smoke, something no ordinary human could perceive.
The phantom drifted forward, wrapped its hands around the helm, and carefully aligned the course with the Log Pose's unwavering needle.
From the half-open mouth of the Den Den Mushi spilled fragments of light, accompanied by faint, muffled groans of a man.
Inside the fortress city, Liam rested his head on Robin's lap, teeth clenched in pain.
Robin lowered her gaze, her eyes glimmering with teasing amusement. She extended a slender finger and pressed against the deep furrow of his brow.
"You're the one who refused to recall your Stand for more than a month straight… Now you're paying for it, aren't you?"
Liam's torso was bare, his physique hard and compact like hewn stone. His skin flushed with unnatural heat, faint wisps of steam curling upward from his body.
This past month has been far from ordinary.
Countless times, B.I.B. had crossed blades with legends, Shanks, Mihawk. They had not fought to the death, but a month of repeated, body-splitting combat was punishment enough. Now, as Liam finally recalled his Stand, the recoil upon his body and mind was nothing short of brutal.
Indeed, Liam had grown, both in strength and in willpower, far beyond what he once was. But equally, the exhaustion and pain rebounding on him were no longer anything like what his former self could endure.
"Feeling better?" Robin asked, massaging his temples as his head rested against her thighs.
"…Yeah." Liam pushed himself upright.
One of Robin's flower-clones approached with a steaming cup of floral milk tea. She smiled lightly.
"So, what are you carrying now, the Gold-Gold Fruit? Or the Magnet-Magnet Fruit?"
Liam shook his head. He would never pretend to be a Gold-Gold user.
"Still… when I turn into a golden man, the ability coats everything, skin, clothes, weapons. They all transmute with me. If I really wanted to, I could repeat the process until I had piles of golden clothes." He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Not a bad way to make money…"
"Exhausting though, isn't it?" Robin leaned back with her book, unbothered now that he seemed lively again. "Besides, it is terribly inefficient. Didn't you say the Gold-Gold Fruit lets you sense underground veins of gold? Added to that, you can control any gold you've touched. Instead of turning clothes into treasure one set at a time, wouldn't it be smarter to seek out gold deposits across the world?"
There was no reply. She glanced up, only to see Liam already training a short distance away.
The Stand steered the ship; the body trained relentlessly.
Around Liam, petals gathered in the fortress courtyard, blossoming into five Robin-clones, and five Liam-clones born of Hana Jizai.
The true Robin lounged on the sofa, sipping her tea and reading, while her ten clones moved in unison. Liam did not falter despite the fivefold sensory burden of his duplicates, and Robin herself wove their movements seamlessly, pushing her Flower-Flower Fruit to its limit.
Liam trained his body. Robin trained her will.
If the Flower-Flower Fruit had once been Kano Country's sacred treasure, then she knew one thing with certainty, when Liam eventually returned to Kano, the stronger her mastery became, the more she could help him.
A delicate snowflake drifted in on the sea breeze, settling softly atop the shell of the dozing green Den Den Mushi. B.I.B. stirred.
The storm had passed. The weather had stabilized long enough.
They were close to Drum Island.
B.I.B. gripped the helm, guiding the ship onward until, at last, the silhouette emerged, a mountainous isle crowned with towering, chimney-like peaks.
Drum Island.
In the original timeline, this land would one day be reborn as the Sakura Kingdom, after Chopper and Doctor Kureha fulfilled the dying wish of Doctor Hiriluk.
But for now, it belonged to King Wapol, a coward who, when Blackbeard's crew invaded, had abandoned his people and fled with his soldiers without a second thought.
And it was Wapol, bearer of the Munch-Munch Fruit, who stood as one of Liam's objectives this time.
The island loomed ever closer.
The figure with narrow eyes glowing white, B.I.B., spoke at last.
"Little Green."
The green Den Den Mushi understood, and within the City Fortress inside its body, countless clones welled up, echoing back at B.I.B… Wow, so many of its bodies… and so many human women… The snail had no words for it all. It just gurgled twice: "Buru buru."
"At last, we've arrived."
Liam, carrying Robin, flashed out of the Den Den Mushi's City Fortress in a quick series of "BIU, BIU."
"Strange," he muttered with a grin, "this whole trip, there was not a single delay or unexpected fight. Feels almost… unnatural."
Their small boat drifted toward the island ahead.
No one? Liam frowned. In the manga, when Luffy first set foot on Drum Island, the villagers had surrounded him with guns in fear, because Blackbeard's crew had ravaged the place not long before. But here, over twelve years before that day, none of it had happened yet. Blackbeard hadn't come, hadn't ruined anything.
The only scourge upon the villagers now was their king, Wapol.
The island was buried in white, clad in silver. The wind howled, snow danced endlessly in the sky.
Robin smiled.
"A winter island. How beautiful."
She reached into Little Green's City Fortress and pulled out two thick coats, slipping one onto Liam and one onto herself.
Bundled against the cold, they stood side by side at the bow of the ship. When the boat scraped the shore, they leapt down together into the deep snow.
B.I.B. shoved the Eternal Pose into Little Green's mouth, then carried the Den Den Mushi in one hand as it floated after them.
"Little Green, open up."
Liam grabbed the small boat by its prow and, with one arm, lifted the entire vessel and shoved it into the Den Den Mushi's mouth.
Robin chuckled, coaxing the snail like a child before tucking it into her shoulder bag.
"Well then… let's go."
With a sweep of Liam's arm, the two of them began trudging through the snow, creak, creak, heading toward where there should be signs of human life.
Behind them, the black war-armor form of B.I.B. drifted silently, passing over the fresh footprints they left in the snow…
(To Be Continued…)
You can read ahead up to 30 chapters on my patreon https://www.patreon.com/marvel6395