The ghostly left hand, veined with glowing blue patterns, pressed against Heina's chest, but couldn't sink in.
"…?"
Heina's eyes sharpened in realization. With a swift motion, she swung her sword in a horizontal arc before her.
B.I.B. remained intangible; the slash passed cleanly through its form without resistance, striking nothing.
"How interesting."
Heina's arm shimmered as Armament Haki wrapped around it. She drove an elbow forward, slamming B.I.B. back.
The black-armored figure was blasted a dozen meters away before halting abruptly in midair, stopping its spin and backward momentum.
Her reaction…
B.I.B.'s narrow eyes glowed white as it stared silently at Heina, who stood amidst the ruins, before the enormous wooden cross at the city's center.
You've got to be kidding me… He's still alive after that hit?
The thought flashed through Coyatel's stunned mind just as her vision was blocked by a massive hand bursting out from the shimmering, heated air, five steel-like fingers clamping around her skull.
"Nice pair you've got there, lady," drawled a familiar male voice.
Even though her vision was obscured, the instant Coyatel heard Liam's voice, she didn't hesitate. She lifted her hand, aiming straight at the sound, at his face.
"Ah!"
But before she could unleash the Shock-Shock Fruit's power, pain jolted through her palm.
"He bit me?!"
Furious and shocked, Coyatel struck forward with her other hand.
Impact,
Liam drove his knee upward, knocking her palm aside, then grabbed her by the head and hurled her downward with brute force.
BOOM!
The blonde, well-endowed woman smashed into the web-like crater below, deepening the cracks in the ground.
Liam noticed something at once, the bespectacled swordswoman who'd been lying in that crater was gone.
"So you both like to…" He sighed softly.
Behind him, a blood-streaked Gabard leapt high, her soft sword lashing out like a viper.
"Jumping behind people for sneak attacks?"
Liam turned, hand snapping out to seize the stabbing blade, Huh? Strange. She hadn't hardened her weapon with Armament Haki this time?
Gabard's eyes gleamed pale white. She whispered, "Bubble , Great Waterfall."
An enormous torrent of soapy bubbles burst from her palm gripping the sword's hilt, racing down the blade and erupting outward, engulfing Liam entirely.
The Bubble-Bubble Fruit's power could wash away anything, stains, impurities… even a person's strength itself.
Earlier, when Liam was kicked out of the sky mid-Geppo, it was one of Gabard's "bubble slashes" that had brought him down.
This whole forest's air had long been saturated with microscopic soap bubbles she'd released, the reason Liam's hair had felt damp and slick earlier. His body strength had been quietly drained away over time by her ability.
Now, with Gabard unleashing a massive, face-to-face surge of bubbles that swallowed him whole, suddenly, from within that shimmering foam came a counterforce.
Something gripped her sword, and yanked her in.
"I do enjoy a good bath," a deep voice rumbled from inside the bubbles.
A muscular arm burst forth from the foam, followed by another hand that clamped around Gabard's delicate neck.
"But you don't need to use this much soap on me."
His fingers tightened. The pale skin of her throat strained under the grip, blue veins standing out.
"I… see…" Gabard gasped, pain twisting her features.
Then, suddenly, she released the hilt of her sword and wrapped both hands around Liam's arm. Her palms slid upward, caressing from his wrist toward his shoulder.
Where her hands passed, Liam's rugged, sinewy arm lost its edges and definition, its texture smoothing out, the muscle turning sleek and glossy, like the arm of a lifelike porcelain doll.
The strength in that arm suddenly drained, forcing him to release his grip on Gabard's neck.
Gabard didn't even waste a second to cough or catch her breath, she darted straight into Liam's embrace.
Naturally, it wasn't out of affection; she pressed close simply to close the distance, her soft, slippery hands roaming rapidly over every part of his body.
His shoulders, armpits, the firm ridges of his chest, the rising lines of his ribs, the rugged contours of his abdomen…
"This handsome guy…"
Her hands slid over his neck, head, the taut curve of his waist, the explosive muscles of his hips and thighs, the backs of his knees…
"Looks like you're still not clean enough."
Not even his most private areas were spared. In less than a second, Gabard's hands had glided over every inch of Liam's body.
Before long, the once powerfully built, muscular man before her transformed, his body becoming smooth, glossy, and soft like that of a polished doll.
His thick arms and long legs lost all definition; even his rounded feet slipped when they pressed against the tree branch.
Wrapping her arms around Liam's neck, Gabard pressed close, biting playfully on his earlobe. As her teeth grazed the last rough spot and smoothed it away, she smiled.
"Much better now."
With a gentle push, she sent the newly polished "doll" tumbling downward.
He fell from the treetop where the bespectacled swordswoman perched. Before he hit the ground, a surge of force exploded upward, a shockwave that hurled his falling body aside, slamming him into the dirt with a crash.
In the fractured crater below, Coyatel stood with her palm raised, white smoke curling from it, the lingering trace of her Shock-Shock Fruit blast.
"Slut," she spat, scorn dripping from her voice. "Rolling all over that man like that."
Gabard retrieved her soft sword and leapt down from the tree, adjusting her glasses with a smirk. "And you're an idiot with big tits, don't think everyone's as small-minded as you. If it weren't for this slut, with your head-on fighting style, you'd already be dead under that pretty boy's fists."
As she spoke, Gabard flicked her flexible sword, hooking Coyatel up out of the crater.
"How cruel," Coyatel trembled dramatically, pretending to tear up.
Gabard sighed. "Oh, drop the act already. It's disgusting when you do that in front of me."
"Tch." Coyatel pouted. "I'll do what I want. Heina likes it. Who cares what you think?"
The two women bickered as they each lifted their swords and began walking toward Liam.
"What a monster of a rookie…" Gabard murmured, rubbing her neck. For a moment back there, she had really thought she was going to die. "How old is he, even? To have power like that, he's already beyond both of us."
"Even in the New World, only a handful of true monsters could suppress someone like him," said Coyatel, stepping toward the glossy, doll-like man. "But your 'Relaxing Bubbles', why didn't they work properly on him? Was he constantly defending with Armament Haki? That's impossible. He couldn't have kept his whole body coated in Haki the entire time…"
"You're asking me?!" Gabard huffed, pushing up her glasses again. "If I knew, would I have gotten beaten up that badly? I almost died, you know." She gave a wistful sigh. "Shame he's a man. If he weren't, someone that mysterious and powerful, Heina would definitely fall for him."
Coyatel sneered. "Sounds like you're the one getting horny. Control yourself. Your ability's weak to water, remember?"
"Oh right," Gabard replied with mock seriousness, "bubbles disappear the moment they touch water." She eyed her companion meaningfully. "No wonder my ability's never worked on you."
"What?! You looking for death?!" Coyatel roared, fury flaring like a wave.
Gabard cracked her soft sword in response. "Wanna test that theory?"
"You, " Coyatel raised her hand but suddenly froze, eyes locking on Liam.
The man who had been turned into a smooth, doll-like figure by Gabard's bubbles was… moving.
He raised one arm and flicked something toward them.
"Watch out!"
Coyatel shoved Gabard aside, just as a splash of warm liquid splattered across her eyes.
Impossible… even that didn't work on him?!
Gabard's pupils constricted sharply as she caught a glimpse of what it was. "Blood!"
The sticky red substance smeared across Coyatel's face wasn't soap, it was blood.
And as Gabard looked closer, she realized, though most of Liam's body still glistened like a doll, his left arm had returned to its muscular, living form. His skin was streaked with the red traces of blood.
So that's it!
When she'd used the Great Waterfall Bubbles earlier, Liam had grabbed her sword, he'd deliberately let the blade cut his palm back then.
He'd used the blood from his wounded hand to rub off the bubbles coating his arm. But how had he known that "water" could neutralize her power?!
"Heh. Didn't expect that, did you?" Liam sneered. "That's my…"
He reached down with the hand that had been cut by her soft sword, trying to touch his legs to restore them too, only to realize awkwardly that the wound had already scabbed over.
(End Of This Chapter)