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Sabaody Archipelago, District 13, Shakky's Rip-off Bar…
"Rip-off Bar?"
Several pirates, spotting the audacious name of the treehouse hotel, tightened their belts and roared with laughter. "Such a brazen name! Alright, let's go give it a good rip-off!"
They charged to the entrance and pounded on the door. "Excuse us, we're here for a rip-off…"
The woman who greeted them was someone they had only seen in newspapers and on Wanted Posters:
Jolyne Cujoh!
Could she... be here for a rip-off too?
Robin sat at the bar, swirling the rim of her glass, casting a sidelong glance at the pirates who had burst through the door.
The pirates recalled the recent news circulating throughout Sabaody Archipelago and suddenly felt a chill run down their spines. "S-sorry! We didn't mean to interrupt... Aaaah!!"
They turned to flee, but as they took their first step, a searing pain ripped through their hearts. One by one, their eyes rolled back as they collapsed into unconsciousness.
"This is..." Shakky, behind the bar, looked puzzled. "Conqueror's Haki?" She chuckled. "No wonder you're the Captain. Giorno doesn't seem to have it..."
Before Robin could reply, two figures BIU-ed out of Vane's body on the table. One was Rayleigh, and the other...
"So what if I don't have Conqueror's Haki? So what?" the other one grumbled, looking disgruntled. "It's a legendary trait, only one in a million people possesses it. Of course I wouldn't have it!"
Rayleigh patted Whitebeard's floral decoration. "You sound rather resentful..."
"A little," the other one nodded. "I have my own theories about Conqueror's Haki. We can talk about it later, oh, but actually, we don't even need to wait. It can talk to you directly."
He clapped the shoulder of the Black Battle Armor floating beside him, which had emerged from Den Den Mushi City Fortress. As a Stand User, he didn't need Haki to physically touch B.I.B.'s materialized form.
"You…" Rayleigh was about to speak when Shakky interrupted, "Don't tell me... he's Giorno's little brother?"
Shakky, cigarette dangling from her lips, pointed at the young man standing beside Rayleigh.
The purple vest accentuated his muscular upper body. Though he stood nearly as tall as Rayleigh at around 1.9 meters, his overalls accentuated his well-proportioned physique. The gloves on his hands could also be seen as protective gauntlets. Shakky naturally recognized this outfit, it was the set Jolyne had specially chosen for Giorno when they were shopping together yesterday.
The problem was, this young man looked nothing like Giorno. He was noticeably shorter, and even had a slightly crooked nose. Could he really be Giorno?
Rayleigh stroked his chin, recalling the scene he'd witnessed earlier at the Den Den Mushi City Fortress. He had been just as astonished then…
...
"Hey, Giorno, what's wrong with you?"
Rayleigh watched as Liam's towering height suddenly shrank, exclaiming in alarm, "Are you feeling unwell?"
Thump! Liam shrank again, his towering frame, originally over two meters and forty centimeters tall, instantly becoming about the same height as Rayleigh. Rubbing his shoulder, Liam turned around and muttered to himself, "This is the first time I've shrunk this much. My body feels a bit strange... Oh well, I'll just have to bear it..."
"Huh? What's going on?" Liam asked, startled by Rayleigh's peculiar stare.
Rayleigh retorted speechlessly, "Shouldn't I be the one asking you that? What's happening to your body?"
"Oh, this?" Liam replied, covering his face with his hands, which had visibly shrunk after making a series of crackling pī lī pā lā sounds, and rubbing them vigorously. "Since going to the Marine base would be a hassle, I just changed my appearance..."
Rayleigh said, "Would a normal person even think of doing something like this? Your face..."
Under his gaze, Liam removed his hands from his face, revealing a face that was completely different from before. His eyebrows had changed shape, and the muscles in his face had shifted...
Rayleigh exclaimed, "Life Return? You can actually use Life Return to do something like this? You regrew your eyebrows and then manipulated your muscles and bones to 'reshape' your face...?"
"A little Kami-e combined with a bit of Life Return, that's about it," Liam said nonchalantly, his appearance completely transformed. "Just a little plastic surgery, nothing special."
Compared to that perverted chef who could reshape a hideous face into a handsome one with just his feet, Liam considered his own method quite scientific!
...
"Hello, Big Sister Shakky," Liam said with a cheerful grin. "I'm not Giorno anymore! My name is Joestar Joseph now!"
"..." Robin facepalmed.
Even Shakky, with her vast experience, couldn't help but show a look of surprise. She took two deep drags from her cigarette and said, "Your nose is crooked."
"Oh?"
Liam touched his nose. Sure enough, it didn't quite fit his current face. He raised his palm and said, "Just a moment..."
Shakky watched in astonishment as his nose began to writhe on his face, twisting like a living thing until it settled into a more natural shape. Then, Giorno, no, Joseph, snapped his fingers with a flourish and grinned mischievously. "NIIIIICE~! How's that?"
"Better," Shakky replied calmly, nodding slightly, unsure how to react.
"Here," Robin said, handing Liam the scarf she had spent ages selecting.
Liam wrapped the scarf around his neck, ruffled his overly long black hair, and with a swift motion, transformed his hairstyle at lightning speed. Striking a Two-Jo pose, he asked Robin, "How's this?"
Robin clapped her hands together, exclaiming in admiration, "Perfect!"
"Top-tier cosplay," Stand added from beside her.
Robin and Stand exchanged amused glances, and as Rayleigh and Shakky watched with puzzled expressions, "Joseph" hooked his foot under the pirates sprawled across the doorway, hoisting them up and preparing to leave.
"Are you... planning to..." Shakky began to realize his intentions.
"A man's gotta earn a living!" Liam sighed dramatically, throwing his head back as he stood in the doorway. He then enthusiastically carried the pirates away.
Shakky turned to Robin. "He's just playing around, right?"
Robin chuckled and nodded, raising an eyebrow. "It is rather amusing, isn't it?"
Rayleigh burst into hearty laughter, tears streaming from the corners of his eyes. "It's thanks to pirates like him that this sea isn't so boring!"
He couldn't help but reminisce about his former crewmates, especially their Captain, Roger, another reckless and impulsive troublemaker!
"..." Shakky was even more astonished by Giorno's younger brother's "transformation" ability. "A pirate with a 400 million bounty dared to bring pirates to a Marine Base to collect bounties... If the Marines ever found out the truth, I wonder what they'll, wait a minute!"
Shakky suddenly realized something. "You wouldn't have been doing this often before, would you?"
Robin smiled enigmatically and took a sip of her black tea.
Yesterday, while shopping, they had casually bought some black tea leaves to brew. After all, Robin didn't care for alcohol.
"What aliases did you use before?" Shakky, the information broker, asked curiously, tugging at Robin's sleeve and whispering. Robin thought to herself: Actually, even the names Giorno Giovanna and Jolyne Cujoh are fake...
"So then," Rayleigh said, putting on his glasses and turning to the shadowy figure beside him. "What were we going to discuss again?"
B.I.B.'s narrow eyes glinted as he pointed to the Den Den Mushi on the bar counter. Rayleigh nodded, reached out, and pressed the device, vanishing into thin air once more…
...
No. 66 Marine Base -
"Pirate Bagman, bounty 40 million; Pirate Jera Dean, bounty 53 million..."
The Marine officer at the verification desk checked the pirates' identities, then looked up, puzzled. "Joestar Joseph... you're a new face here. Are you a rookie bounty hunter?"
"My alias is 'Dragon Tongue Lan'," the man replied with a stern expression. "Remember that name!"
No. 41 -
"Phew... finally made it. Let's hope this trip isn't another wasted effort."
A figure landed on the archipelago, stepping onto the island.
(End Of This Chapter)