Cover Serial: Heart Pirates, Part 6 - "I Don't Know"
Giorno and Jolyne Cujoh really did take down Doffy...
Law, now in Rosinante's body, looked dazed. Rosinante, in Law's body, asked him, "You hated your biological brother so much. After all the evil he committed, he's finally been punished. Aren't you happy?"
Law remained silent for a long time, staring down at the small hand that wasn't truly his. They were no longer even related by blood, and yet...
At last, he shook his head.
"If it had been up to me, I don't think I could ever have brought myself to pull the trigger and kill Doffy."
...
The boy in coarse clothes held out an oil-paper parcel to the masked woman, but she made no move to take it.
"I don't need it," Sienna said. "Save it for our elder sister."
"She must hate us now..." Ryudo muttered. He didn't press the issue and handed the parcel back to the mute old man. "Give it to her."
"Aah, aah." The old man nodded repeatedly.
"Let her hate us..." Sienna closed her eyes and took several deep breaths. When she opened them again, her expression was resolute. "Once this is over, she'll treasure her life as though it belongs to all three of us. Worst case, when we meet again in the underworld decades from now, we'll kneel and apologize to her!"
"Right!" Ryudo nodded firmly.
"Aah... Aah..." The mute old man looked close to tears. He gestured wildly and wailed, occasionally pounding his chest and stamping his feet. Then he rushed to the cave entrance and cried mournfully into the wilderness. "Aah... Uuuh..."
"He's been acting strange ever since he came back," Ryudo said.
"Did he tell someone about us?!" Sienna's broken eyebrow shot upward as she ground her teeth. "I knew that damned old fool couldn't be trusted..."
"No, that's not it," Ryudo hurriedly said. "He looks like he saw a ghost while he was out. He seems terrified!"
"Aah... Aah..."
The old man stared out at the desolate mountains beyond the cave, his face full of fear as he whimpered words no one could understand.
Sienna changed clothes and walked to the cave entrance.
"Take good care of our elder sister," she said coldly. "If anything happens to her, my brother and I will haunt you even after we're dead."
"Aah, aah, aah..." The old man shook his head frantically.
Sienna snorted, leaped from the cave in the cliffside, and vanished into the forest below.
Ryudo gazed into the distance. He seemed about to say something, but in the end, there was nothing left to say.
"We're leaving, then!"
He jumped after his second sister.
"Aah..."
The mute old man nodded again and again.
"Aah..."
He stood there whimpering blankly, slapped himself twice, then pounded his chest and stamped his feet in anguish.
...
Happo Navy Mountain Stronghold...
Members of the Happo Navy poured out from all over the mountains, eager to watch old man Chinjao's duel with a Warlord of the Sea.
Ever since the legendary Marine hero had caved in his drill-shaped head with a single punch, turning it flat, Chinjao had lost heart. He hadn't truly fought at full strength in years.
And this time, his opponent was one of the Seven Warlords, a pirate whose name had frequently appeared on newspaper front pages in recent years!
Well, technically, Jolyne Cujoh was the Warlord and captain. But anyone with eyes could tell who really called the shots in the JoJo Pirates.
Before many of them had even arrived, they could already feel the ground trembling beneath their feet and hear thunderous crashes coming from ahead.
"Incredible..."
The spectators spread out across the surrounding hills and stared in awe at the two figures battling through the wilderness.
Standing over five meters tall, Chinjao resembled a white-bearded beast. He rampaged through the landscape, smashing apart an entire cliff with a single headbutt.
But what shocked them even more was Giorno.
Even against Chinjao's all-out assault, he wasn't giving an inch. He either slipped aside or met the attack head-on. When he dodged, he drifted around Chinjao's Armament Haki-coated headbutts as lightly as a sheet of paper. When he counterattacked, he raised his fist against Chinjao's Hasshoken technique, Butō, and matched him blow for blow.
Of course, they had expected him to be strong. A pirate who had earned such a fearsome reputation on the Grand Line and become a Warlord of the Sea naturally had to be capable of dueling Chinjao.
But Chinjao's strength was something they had witnessed firsthand, while Giorno had always seemed distant, little more than a famous name from the newspapers.
Only now did they truly understand that this young pirate was a top-class fighter capable of standing toe-to-toe with Chinjao.
"Standing toe-to-toe?"
Tian, seated nearby, overheard the Happo Navy members whispering and let out a mocking chuckle.
Sai frowned. "What are you trying to say, Dad? Aren't they evenly matched? Giorno doesn't look much older than me. All I can do against Grandpa is take a beating, but he's fighting him back and forth. That's already incredible!"
"Butō Kaiten!"
Chinjao roared and clapped his palms together. A glossy layer of black Armament Haki spread across his flat head as he leaped into the air, flipped upside down, and plunged toward Liam.
Liam grinned. He extended one palm while drawing his other fist back to his waist. With a twist, the fist turned pitch-black with Armament Haki.
He growled and punched upward, meeting Chinjao's descending head.
BOOM!
Black lightning erupted between Chinjao's skull and Liam's fist. Sand and stones flew across the mountainside as tree branches snapped one after another.
Giorno's punch sent Chinjao flying. The old man spun several times through the air before crashing heavily to the ground.
With another roar, he charged at Giorno once more.
"Butō Kaiten: Ranbu!"
...
Tian scratched his unruly mustache and chuckled.
"Sai, the fact that you call this an even match proves you've still got a long way to go with your training!"
Sai's eyes widened. He focused his Observation Haki as hard as he could, yet Chinjao and Giorno still seemed evenly matched to him.
Was his father claiming Giorno was stronger simply because he looked more relaxed while Grandpa seemed a little impatient? That could just be a difference in personality!
Besides, the Marine hero had crushed Grandpa's drill, sealing away more than half his strength!
Sai glanced toward another cliff, where Giorno's female captain, Jolyne Cujoh, sat alone watching the battle.
This time, however, as Sai strained his Observation Haki to its limit, he suddenly noticed a pitch-black figure beside her.
What the hell was that?!
"The JoJo Pirates..." Tian also glanced toward Jolyne Cujoh on the cliff. The woman appeared to be speaking with the dark figure beside her, though he couldn't tell whether they were discussing the battle between Chinjao and Giorno or something else entirely. "They really are unfathomable. No wonder they were chosen to join the Seven Warlords of the Sea..."
Sai gave him a sidelong look.
"If you're so perceptive, Dad, then why is Grandpa always angry with you? Why won't he pass the position of Pillar on to you?"
Tian stroked his messy mustache and chuckled.
"You want to know?"
"Huh?" Sai hadn't expected his father to finally answer. His eyes lit up. "Of course I do! Hurry up and tell me!"
"Then I'll have to start with a thief from more than thirty years ago..."
Tian raised his head toward the sky. Giorno and Chinjao had been fighting for a long time, and dusk was gradually settling over the mountains.
The sky had looked just like this on that day all those years ago, dark and gloomy, as a petty thief snuck into the Happo Navy's mountain stronghold to steal food...
"Who's sneaking around over there?"
A young Tian spotted a suspicious figure skulking near the navy's storehouse. He drew his great saber and gave chase.
"Stop right there!"
The thief was carrying a bundle several times larger than their own body, stuffed full of food stolen from the Happo Navy's stores.
Hearing Tian shout from behind, the thief actually stopped.
"Fine, I'll stop."
The thief turned around, and only then did Tian realize she was a girl.
A very young one, too, fifteen or sixteen at most.
"Give that food back!"
Tian swung his saber at her.
"You've got so much food. What's wrong with sharing a little?"
With that shameless excuse, the girl balanced the enormous bundle on her head and fought Tian without putting it down.
The longer they fought, the more alarmed Tian became. She didn't even have a weapon, and she was carrying such a heavy load, yet she could match his saber using nothing but her legs.
How was she this strong?!
The girl kicked his blade aside and stuck out her tongue.
"Lots of people outside are starving to death. Don't be so stingy!"
Laughing, she sped out of the Happo Navy's mountain stronghold.
Still bewildered, Tian glanced back at the fortress beneath the night sky. Then he gritted his teeth and followed her.
The thief led him into town, then beyond it into places he had rarely visited. Tian had never imagined that the villages outside the Happo Navy's territory could be so miserable.
Starved corpses lay beside the roads.
Children with empty stomachs and bodies reduced to skin and bone wandered barefoot and naked across the dusty ground.
The girl distributed the stolen food among the children and elderly residents of one impoverished village. Afterward, she fashioned a feathered shuttlecock from scraps of cloth and began playing with the children.
When she noticed Tian standing frozen at the village entrance, she beamed and waved at him.
'This is ridiculous...'
'She's only a thief. Why isn't she afraid of me?'
Tian stood there in a daze. It took him a long time to realize that his face had twisted with emotion and tears were already streaming down his cheeks.
From that day onward, the thief became a frequent visitor to the Happo Navy's stronghold.
Tian never spoke another word to her, but he never tried to catch her either. In fact, he volunteered to guard the granary and always turned a blind eye whenever she came to steal food.
Eventually, Chinjao discovered that Tian had been neglecting his duty and deliberately allowing the food thief to escape. Tian was stripped of his post, and Chinjao had remained angry with him ever since, refusing to pass the position of Pillar on to him.
"Dad?"
Sai waited and waited, but his father said nothing else.
"You said it started with a thief from more than thirty years ago. Well? Start talking!"
"Ah..."
Tian sighed wistfully before returning to his senses.
"Huh? Didn't I just tell you?"
"You were so busy reminiscing that you forgot to say any of it out loud!"
Tian waved dismissively.
"Forget it. Telling the whole thing again would be too much trouble. Let's leave it there."
"Were you messing with me?!"
Sai flew into a rage and kicked Tian in the face.
"Don't think I won't hit you just because you're my father!"
The father and son promptly started a smaller battle beside the main battlefield. As if providing accompaniment, Chinjao and Giorno traded thunderous blows on one side while Tian and Sai pummeled each other on the other.
The Happo Navy members watched in speechless resignation before calmly clearing some space for the father and son to deepen their family bond.
...
"That's roughly what I heard."
Robin glanced at Sai and Tian fighting in the distance, then looked away.
Earlier, her curiosity about the elderly village chief and Ayu had caused her to "accidentally" overhear their conversation on the journey back to the village. She now gave B.I.B. a brief account of what they had said.
"So... the young wandering heroine they were talking about was 'my' mother?"
The armored Stand stood beside Robin with its arms folded. A faint light gleamed in its narrow eyes as it gazed down at its true body fighting Chinjao below.
Robin sat at the edge of the cliff with one knee drawn up.
"She learned everything the village chief could teach her in less than a year. She traveled throughout the Kano Country as a child, helping the weak and fighting injustice. They described her as a woman with the spirit of a great hero... Doesn't that sound a lot like you, Liam?"
B.I.B. lowered its head and looked at her.
Robin smiled.
"Well, except for the 'woman' part."
"She left the Kano Country more than thirty years ago, and no one ever heard from her again..."
As B.I.B. repeated those words, Robin fell silent as well.
They both knew why there had been no further news.
Lily had contracted a terminal illness and quietly passed away in a small village on the distant Rasugapu Island, far from her homeland.
Robin felt a pang of regret.
An orphaned beggar who had roamed the country, fighting for justice...
It was a shame she would never have the chance to meet that heroic woman, the wandering heroine who had once blossomed like a flower.
...
The long night finally began to fade.
The first light of dawn outlined the mountain ridges in white. A diamond-shaped flare of sunlight reflected off Chinjao's flat head, making the black Armament Haki coating it look almost greasy.
"We've been fighting all night," Liam said helplessly. "Why do you keep attacking me with your head? Didn't I tell you I came here to test your Hasshoken?"
Chinjao pressed his palms together, panting heavily.
"The fact that you would ask that proves you still don't understand Hasshoken! Hasshoken isn't any one specific technique!"
"Huh?"
Liam seemed to realize something, but Chinjao had already let out a deafening roar.
"Non-Drill Dragon - Non-Drill Nail!"
The old man leaped high into the air once again, palms pressed together. Arching backward, he aimed his now-drill-less head at Liam and came crashing down.
The force behind this attack surpassed every strike he had unleashed throughout the entire night.
"How about we call an end to the physical contest and skip ahead to the battle of wits...?"
Liam smiled faintly and gripped his golden iron staff. It was the first time all night that he had used a weapon instead of fighting barehanded.
Dense Armament Haki wrapped around the staff.
With a low growl, Liam swung it viciously upward at the black, bald head plummeting toward him like a meteorite.
BOOM!
A terrifying burst of Haki lightning exploded outward.
Chinjao's eyes bulged from their sockets as Liam's blackened staff slammed into his flat head.
A huge lump suddenly swelled from his skull.
Then, with a sharp whoosh, it stretched into a pointed drill nearly a meter long.
Chinjao was launched high into the air by the blow, his enormous body spinning wildly.
Yet he was laughing.
Laughing and crying at the same time.
"WAAAAAH! MY DRILL! IT'S BACK! AWOOOOOOOO!"
The old man's thunderous sobbing echoed through the mountains and valleys.
On the ground, Tian and Sai covered their flushed faces in embarrassment. The other Happo Navy members, however, were overjoyed. They embraced one another excitedly.
"Leader Chinjao is cured!"
Chinjao came crashing down headfirst. His restored drill split the earth open, carving out a massive fissure.
The old man remained stuck upside down in the crack, still bawling at the top of his lungs.
"WAAAAAH! Giorno, from this day forward, you're the great benefactor of the Happo Navy! AWOOOOOOOO!"
Robin had just descended from the cliff when she arrived to witness this scene. A bead of sweat rolled down her face.
She had never seen a man Chinjao's age cry so miserably.
Liam breathed a sigh of relief.
At least he hadn't embarrassed himself. He had successfully knocked the old man's drill back out with a single strike.
It wasn't that he had particularly wanted to help Chinjao.
But if he had failed, wouldn't that mean he had lost to the Luffy from Dressrosa?
That was unacceptable.
Completely unacceptable.
Liam walked over to Chinjao, who was still stuck headfirst in the fissure, and crouched beside him with the golden iron staff resting on his shoulder.
"So what exactly is Hasshoken? And why did Rayleigh think your Hasshoken could help someone awaken Conqueror's Haki?"
(End of Chapter)
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