"What are you doing?!"
"Giorno Giovanna!!"
"You bastard..."
The sixteen squads of Whitebeard Pirates on the Moby Dick's deck erupted in fury, swords and guns all trained on Giorno, who had plunged his fist into Marco's chest.
The commanders looked grave. Jozu's fist transformed into a diamond, Vista gripped his Flower Sword, and Izo instinctively tightened his finger on the trigger...
Even the newly joined trio, Lobster, Herman, and Rege, were stunned and bewildered. They never imagined Giorno would do such a thing! Yet Giorno was their benefactor... This...
Under the intense scrutiny of the crowd, Giorno, his left arm still embedded in Marco's chest, remained unmoved. The female Captain beside him, however, cast a wary glance at the crowd, though everyone could see she was prepared for anything.
"What are you..." Marco lowered his head.
"Put your weapons down!" Whitebeard suddenly sat down with a thud, picked up his massive sake bottle, and took a swig. "Don't make us a laughingstock..." he said calmly.
Giorno's left arm pierced through his body, yet Marco felt no pain whatsoever... Naturally, Marco knew that even if his chest were truly pierced, his Phoenix-Phoenix Fruit powers would prevent him from truly dying. But even then, he would still feel something.
Yet now, he felt absolutely nothing...
His fist and arm hadn't even touched Marco! Teach stared intently at Marco's back. Given the length of Giorno's arm, it should have pierced through Marco's chest and emerged out the other side long ago.
Amid the brief chaos, no one noticed Robin seizing the opportunity. Feigning a defensive stance, she subtly flicked her fingers repeatedly. Without anyone realizing, petals sprouted on the hems of everyone's pants, including Whitebeard's, only to quickly wither and vanish.
Well, someone did notice. B.I.B. had been watching her subtle movements from behind the entire time. Sister Robin's ability to survive alone in the West Blue and evade pursuit across the Grand Line for twenty years in the original timeline wasn't purely due to luck or a certain ice chicken's mercy…
…
Under the skeptical gaze of the Whitebeard Pirates on the first deck, Liam slowly withdrew his left arm, armored with a gauntlet emblazoned with Blue flame patterns, from Marco's chest.
No blood... The surrounding pirates saw clearly that neither Giorno's arm nor Marco's chest bore any traces of blood.
Yet Liam withdrew his arm with excruciating slowness, as if performing a delicate operation, causing the commanders, Jozu, Thatch, Vista, and others, to hold their breath and sweat for Marco.
Marco asked gravely, "Is it easy to make a mistake, is that why you are pulling it out this slowly?"
"Oh, you think it's too slow? That's an easy fix," Liam said, yanking his arm out with a slurp and looking puzzled. "Who said there was a chance of error?"
"Then why were you pulling it out so damn slowly with that deadpan expression?!" the exasperated pirates roared in unison. "You made us think it was really dangerous!"
Liam was beside himself with glee, juggling a nearly invisible triangular chip in his left hand. He laughed heartily, "That's the fun part, isn't it? Seeing you all so serious, I just couldn't resist playing along! Thank you for your cooperation!"
"Who needs your cooperation?!" the surrounding pirates roared, baring their fangs.
"What's so funny?!"
"We were so tense we didn't even dare to breathe, you asshole!!!"
Many were seething with anger, and several couldn't resist drawing their swords and charging forward, desperate to slash that detestable grinning bastard. Their comrades frantically held them back, shouting, "Calm down! Calm down! He hasn't healed the Old Man yet..."
"This is..." Marco stared intently at the object Giorno was idly tossing in his left hand.
He could clearly sense that something had been taken from within him.
The Bird-Bird Fruit, Vermilion Phoenix Form, the Phoenix's power, it had truly been extracted from his body.
Marco smiled. 'Excellent! Now the Old Man's accumulated injuries can finally be healed!'
Jozu, Vista, Izo... and Teach, lurking at the edge of the surging crowd, their Observation Haki remained fixed on the object Giorno was casually tossing in his left hand.
To Liam himself, the Stand B.I.B. and the Devil Fruit chip it had extracted were rendered in stunning 4K Blu-ray clarity. But for everyone else relying on Observation Haki... the image quality was abysmal, likely no better than 144p! Even 240p resolution would be considered exceptional mastery of Observation Haki, while 360p clarity was likely achievable only by experts like Katakuri, renowned for his extraordinary proficiency in Observation Haki.
Robin often used B.I.B.'s eyes to access books and other materials in the memory banks. The process was simple: she donned her armored form and borrowed B.I.B.'s vision to view what was within its field of view, naturally rendering everything in full 4K resolution.
However, even with the blurry 144P or 240P resolution, the swirling feather patterns on the chip's surface remained indistinct. Still, Teach and the others could discern that Giorno held a faintly glowing, triangular object in his hand.
It was Marco's Phoenix-Phoenix Fruit!
'Damn it! How dare he handle such a rare and precious Mythological Beast・Phoenix with such flippant carelessness! Flipping it around so casually? What if it breaks?!'
"Then I'll leave it to you," Marco said with a smile to Liam.
Liam nodded and strode directly toward Whitebeard.
The crew on deck parted to either side, clearing a path to Old Man Whitebeard. Every member capable of using Observation Haki focused intently on the man's deliberate motions as he seemed to weigh something between his hands, their hearts pounding with anxiety. They wanted nothing more than to grab his head and yell in his ear, "Can't you take this seriously?! If something goes wrong with the Phoenix-Phoenix Fruit, not only will Old Man's treatment plan be ruined, but Marco will lose this priceless Devil Fruit forever!!"
Teach's breathing grew ragged.
It was true that his lifelong ambition had been to obtain the Dark-Dark Fruit. That fruit was the cornerstone of his grand scheme, the first step toward realizing his ambition and building his empire. Without it, everything would crumble!
But even after acquiring the Dark-Dark Fruit, his plans inevitably included hunting for other powerful Devil Fruits.
Marco's Phoenix-Phoenix Fruit was undeniably an incredibly powerful and precious ability! Possessing this Devil Fruit was almost like gaining an immortal body, which is why, despite being a Bird-Bird Fruit, Vermilion Phoenix Form, it was always referred to as the Phoenix-Phoenix Fruit.
But...
Even the Phoenix-Phoenix Fruit paled in comparison to the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, the strongest Devil Fruit with the power of earthquakes!
Teach's burning gaze followed Giorno step by step as he approached Old Man Whitebeard, who sat regally at the foot of the steps.
Whitebeard chuckled softly. "Go ahead, boy."
Liam's left hand shot out, and under the intense scrutiny of everyone present, he repeated his earlier move on Marco, plunging his hand straight into Whitebeard's chest and swiftly withdrawing it. Sure enough, Giorno held a faintly glowing, triangular object in his palm.
That was the legendary Tremor-Tremor Fruit, renowned throughout the world!
Teach's heart lurched ruthlessly, it was the power of earthquakes!
Enough to overturn the Four Seas and the Grand Line, capable of sinking an island with a snap of the fingers, and obliterating a country without breaking a sweat!
Whitebeard could even shatter space with a single punch using this seismic force!
Such a peerless Devil Fruit... was dangling right before his eyes... casually held in that brat's hand!
Did he even realize what he was holding?!
If it were Teach, he would have already snatched the Phoenix-Phoenix Fruit and the Tremor-Tremor Fruit and fled! It took immense willpower to restrain his body from acting rashly, but his eyes remained glued to Giorno's hands, watching helplessly as his right hand pinched the white triangular object he'd taken from Marco earlier. Just like his left hand before, he gently pressed it into Whitebeard's massive, broad chest...
The instant Liam's right hand withdrew, all the old scars on Whitebeard's chest vanished without a trace.
(End Of This Chapter)
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