Cross-frame Ruins:
Pitch-black Stand energy wrapped around B.I.B. as it hovered in midair.
Its narrow eyes glowed white as it looked down at Haiyna, who it had sent flying with a single punch. She landed atop the wooden, cross-shaped frame, spitting blood.
Haiyna hung there crookedly, the light in her eyes gradually fading. She coughed lightly, and a dark green tint seemed to be mixed in with the bloody foam she spat out.
The long blade in her hand slowly slipped free.
The moment the blade left her grip, it seemed to melt, rapidly turning into a dark green liquid that trickled slowly down the grain of the giant wooden cross.
.........
Forest
From the bodies of the unconscious Coyatl and Jiabode, large quantities of dark green liquid suddenly surged out and quickly enveloped them.
What is this?
Liam wondered. Whatever it was, hitting it first was the right move.
He swung his metal staff, the wind whistling as it came crashing down toward the two women on the ground.
But the previously unconscious Coyatl and Jiabode suddenly raised their palms together and caught Liam's strike.
Boom!
As they forcibly received the blow, the cracked ground beneath them collapsed further.
"Chopper-na..."
With her entire face covered in dark green liquid, Jiabode slowly bared her teeth and spoke.
"Giorno..." Coyatl followed, her appearance just as grotesque.
The two women, wrapped in dark green liquid, looked utterly sinister as they both raised their hands to catch the metal staff.
Liam said nothing. He pulled the staff back, and Busoshoku Haki (Armament Haki) flowed from his palms into the weapon. The gilded iron staff was completely covered and turned pitch black.
"Try catching this one too."
His gaze sharpened as he swung with full force.
Bang... Rumble!
Black Haki lightning erupted outward from the point where the black staff struck. Within a radius of over ten meters, the ground was completely shattered, with dust billowing and rocks flying and breaking apart.
.........
Royal Palace — City Fortress
"So that's one of Haiyna's Four Knights?"
Ross watched the battle between her elder sister, Jolyne, and the scar-faced woman with a pounding heart.
"To think she deliberately stayed by my father's side..."
Avoiding the fight she couldn't interfere with, Ross quietly edged toward the corner of the room in the City Fortress.
At the start, Rasha had grabbed the palace guards and hurled them like stones toward Robin, kicking off the battle. After that, Rasha ignored them entirely.
Though humiliating, the guards knew that not being targeted by a monster like one of Haiyna's Four Knights meant they had kept their lives. All they had to do now was stay quiet, hide in the corner, and protect His Majesty the King.
Of course, if there were a chance to quietly slip away, that would be best.
Princess Ross?
Princess Ross?!
The guard jolted and raised his blade toward Princess Ross, who had unknowingly crept close.
"Ross, don't come over," The King said, his hair disheveled as he raised a hand to stop her. With reddened eyes, he gritted his teeth. "Leave now. I'll pretend you never came back."
"But Father..." Tears welled in her eyes, and she cried and smiled at the same time. "You actually want to hug me, don't you . . .?"
"...?"
The king looked down. What he thought were hands reaching out to reject Ross were actually forming an embrace, as if welcoming a daughter home.
"How could I...this...?"
Pain crossed his face. Ross wiped her tears.
"It's Haiyna's Rot-Rot Fruit..."
"Rot-Rot Fruit?"
The red-eyed king and the wary guard were both completely confused. In that moment, Princess Ross suddenly opened her mouth.
What should have been a dainty girl's mouth suddenly transformed into an enormous, bottomless maw taller than a man. Without giving the king or the guard time to react, it swallowed them both whole.
"Mmm... Mm...!"
The two struggled inside the giant mouth as Ross activated the power of the Munch-Munch Fruit, breaking down and reconstituting anything within her reach.
Practice makes perfect. Very quickly, she "chewed" the rot poison out of the king and the guard.
Rot poison was nothing to her—she could even eat steel. Once swallowed, it was instantly digested.
"Pwah!"
Ross spat out the king and the guard. Because of the Munch-Munch Fruit's powers, there was no saliva or anything else clinging to them. Her mouth quickly returned to its normal size.
"Is that all there is to a pirate with a 300 million Belly bounty, Kujo Jolyne?"
Meanwhile, Robin and Rasha were still locked in explosive exchanges, nearly tearing the entire City Fortress room apart.
Meanwhile, the King finally snapped back to reality.
He looked at his daughter, tears bursting forth. "What have I done... My good daughter, Ross..."
The king reached out with trembling hands. Ross cried out, "Father!" and threw herself into his arms, sobbing.
"Princess Ross," the guard called out.
"W... Wahhh..." Ross sobbed in the king's arms. "It was Haiyna, she used the power of the Rot-Rot Fruit to do horrible things to everyone..."
"Princess Ross!" the guard shouted, but his cry was cut off abruptly.
"Talking about me like that would hurt me, you know." Haiyna's smiling voice suddenly sounded from behind them, making Ross's heart skip several beats.
"That's impossible..."
Ross spun around sharply. Standing behind her was a woman with a tall, statuesque figure, nearly two meters high; long hair like flames or seaweed; a mature, alluring face; and, above all, narrow, wicked eyes.
It was Haiyna!
The palace guard was already unconscious in Haiyna's hand.
She casually tossed the guard aside and looked back and forth between Ross and the king, interested. "So that's how it is. Giorno gave you another Devil Fruit ability, didn't he? What an interesting power, being able to neutralize my poison. Heh heh heh..."
The king instinctively tried to shield Ross behind him. Upon hearing this, he felt as if he had been struck by lightning and glared at Haiyna.
"Y-you admit it?!"
"Oh? Slipped up." Haiyna waved her hand indifferently. "Just pretend you didn't hear that, all right?"
"How could we?" Ross shouted through her tears.
With reddened eyes, the king demanded, "So it was all you? You spread the initial rot poison throughout this country. Then, you came pretending you could cure it and became the benefactor admired by everyone. Yet, you kept using that Devil Fruit of yours to poison the minds of this nation. Why would you do something like this?! You're already one of the Shichibukai. Why go this far?"
"Why..." Haiyna thought for a moment. "Because I can."
"What?!" Ross stared at her in disbelief.
Haiyna smiled. "Besides, it's fun."
"Fun?" The king let out a bitter laugh, and pain etched his face.
"Ross, me, everyone...it's because of this, because of you...that this country has become what it is today...beyond saving..."
"That's the fun part," Haiyna laughed, clapping her hands.
"Do you really think I poisoned everyone in this country with rot? Ha ha ha ha... How amusing!"
"What did you say?!"
Ross and the king were utterly shocked. At that very moment, Rasha was sent flying by a combo attack that Robin seized the opportunity to unleash.
"...!"
Haiyna's eyes sharpened. She flashed over and caught the flying Rasha with one hand.
"Cough—cough!" Rasha spat a mouthful of blood onto Haiyna's cheek. Embarrassed, Haiyna raised her hand to wipe it away. "I'm sorry, Captain..."
"Don't talk." Haiyna didn't care, gripping her hand instead.
Haiyna gently felt Rasha's injured throat, then looked up at Kujo Jolyne, who had been chasing her but stopped the moment she noticed Haiyna.
"How could this be?" Robin was completely stunned to see Haiyna there.
She abruptly looked toward the distance outside the window of the City Fortress. Had something happened on Liam's Stand's side?
"Captain, her ability... cough, cough!" Standing beside Haiyna, Rasha struggled to speak. "Maybe it's an illusion. The pain was incredibly real. The heart..."
With each word, more bloody foam spilled from her mouth. The harder she coughed, the more blood came out. Yet she still tried to convey all the information to Haiyna until she covered her mouth.
Looking at Robin, Haiyna said calmly and slowly, "Chopper-na. Giorno. If you spare those two women, I'll spare your woman's life."
"...?!
With her mouth covered, Rasha's eyes filled with shock. Meanwhile, Robin was breathing lightly and barely processing what the female Shichibukai was saying.
.........
Cross-Frame Ruins
Under the gaze of the floating B.I.B., the Haiyna hanging atop the cross frame rapidly changed. Her entire face and body seemed to erupt with dark green liquid from every pore as if her entire form were collapsing and disintegrating instantly.
.........
Forest
Within the several dozen meters of ground that Liam had shattered with a single strike, there were no corpses of Coyatl or Jiabode.
The two women had leapt away to either side, narrowly dodging the blow.
Liam rested the metal staff on his shoulder and looked over. Both women were now completely wrapped in dark green liquid, and their eerie forms spoke alternately once again:
"Chopper-na."
"Giorno..."
This vibe... Venom or something?
Liam shook his head and charged forward with the staff. But the two symbiote hosts, the two women wrapped in dark green liquid, spoke again, one on each side.
"Spare those two women, and I'll spare your woman's life."
Whoosh!
The metal staff stopped in midair. The force of the halted swing sent a gust of wind sweeping past the two women.
Huff... haa...
The dark green liquid on Coyatl's and Jiabode's faces receded by more than half, as if seeping back into their bodies. Their original appearances were revealed.
"This is..." Coyatl said in shock.
"Haiyna saved us," Jiabode said, letting out a bitter smile. "Sorry... we let you down."
The remaining half of her face was still covered in the liquid. The liquid tugged at the corner of her mouth, which curved upward. A voice spoke through it.
"How could I ever be disappointed in you?"
The dark green "mask" on the other half of Coyatl's face continued.
"Giorno's strength far exceeded expectations. It was my misjudgment that caused you to be injured."
"How can you say that?" A faint blush rose on Coyatl's pale face.
"Done talking?" Liam spun the metal staff on its opposite side, then pointed it at the sky. "Watch your heads."
Coyatl and Jiabode looked up, but there was nothing there.
.........
"...?!
Haiyna was facing off against Robin, Ross, the King, and the others. She was supporting the injured Rasha while remotely manipulating the rot poison inside of Coyatl and Jiabode. They were in the forest on the other side of the island, conversing with Giorno.
Suddenly, she snapped her head upward. Without hesitation, she drew her sword.
Bang!
A terrifying surge of sword energy swept upward, cleaving the city fortress cleanly in two.
Encased in black battle armor with narrow, glowing white eyes, the flame-like patterns on its right fist were pitch black from entwined Haki.
The slash, which was dozens of meters long, passed over B.I.B. as if it were nothing and continued straight into the high sky behind it.
What was that black shadow?
Rasha stared at the sky in disbelief. Had her captain's slash actually been ineffective?
B.I.B. descended from above, a fist crashing straight down toward Haiyna.
.........
At the top of the cross-frame, after the dark green liquid flowed away, only a single unfamiliar person remained hanging there, completely unconscious.
.........
After the city fortress lost its "crown" and collapsed, another massive tremor erupted from within. Even from far outside the fortress, one could see streaks of black lightning bursting and leaping wildly.
Like a violent gale, the once-luxurious chamber of the City Fortress was not only roofless but also utterly devastated.
Ross the King and the others stared in shock at Haiyna, who was punching straight into empty air.
"..."
Robin saw far more than they did. Through her Kenbunshoku Haki, she could see B.I.B. descending from the sky and throwing a punch. After Haiyna failed to slash at the sky, she crossed her sword to shield Rasha with one hand while clenching her other fist. She entwined it with jet-black Haki and directly opposed B.I.B.'s punch.
B.I.B.'s martial arts and Haki were completely copied from Liam. Haiyna herself had been a top-tier pirate with a 700-million-Belly bounty many years ago.
When two Haki masters like this clashed head-on, the shockwaves from their presence alone were enough to make one's heart tremble.
A single Haki-infused exchange of fists felt as though it could shatter heaven and earth.
Rasha's gaze turned cold. She flipped upright and leapt.
"You bastard... cough, cough!"
Coughing up blood, she wrapped Busoshoku Haki (Armament Haki) around her leg and kicked toward B.I.B., who was locked in a fist clash with Haiyna.
The black, armored figure raised its leg to block.
Such terrifying Busoshoku Haki... Rasha's eye twitched. Despite her own Haki-hardened leg colliding with the black phantom, she felt a dull, lingering pain.
"..."
Haiyna seized the moment. Her sword, dyed black with Busoshoku Haki, slashed toward the neck of the strange black specter.
B.I.B.'s head was severed in a single stroke and sent flying.
"It worked!" Rasha landed on one foot, shouting, only to immediately start coughing blood again.
Haiyna said calmly, "It seems… it had no effect at all."
Within her Kenbunshoku Haki (Observation Haki), the black specter's head was quietly floating above its body, showing no sign whatsoever of injury.
Rasha was stunned.
What kind of monster was this? Even for an invisibility- or ghost-type ability user, shouldn't losing its head mean death?
B.I.B. drifted backward, its helmet clicking back into place onto its body.
"And also, Rasha," Haiyna sighed softly, pinching Rasha's cheek in exasperation.
"I've told you many times, if it's a one-on-one duel, don't jump in so casually."
'I just wanted to protect you…' Rasha tried to speak, but Haiyna pressed a hand over her mouth.
"Alright, I understand. You insist on not eating a Devil Fruit for this very reason, right?"
A smile curved at Haiyna's lips. A faint blush appeared on Rasha's scarred face…
"......"
Robin used the opportunity to rest and recover some stamina, watching the pair of female pirates coldly from the side.
And at that very moment, a figure fell from the sky.
Amid the dust, a tall silhouette slowly stood up…
It was Liam.
(End Of This Chapter)
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