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"Whitebeard Pirates and JoJo Pirates in Direct Conflict! Risking Death to Secretly Photograph the Incident…"
Seeing a headline like that, Robin was naturally a little surprised.
Especially when the newspaper actually included photographs of Liam fighting Whitebeard aboard the White Whale, though the images were rather blurry, she couldn't help but admire how omnipresent the World Economy News Paper was.
Where exactly had they taken these secret photos from?
Robin involuntarily imagined a chibi-style scene in her head:
On the rough, thick-lined, wavy sea, Liam and Whitebeard were fighting atop the White Whale ship, while high in the sky, a cute News Coo carried a camera Den Den Mushi dangling from its bag, going click-clack, click-clack as it secretly snapped photos below…
The headline article exaggerated Giorno and Whitebeard's frontal clash to the utmost degree, to the point that one had to question the author's stance.
The way the article hyped up Giorno made one wonder:
'Are you secretly a JoJo Pirates fan or something?'
Mixed throughout the article were numerous candid photographs, but the one that attracted the most attention was undoubtedly the image of gigantic phoenix wings spread wide across the White Whale.
The article reported:
"...Allow me to be blunt: although Whitebeard Pirates First Division Commander Marco is indeed powerful, his phoenix wings are absolutely not of this size! Given the rumors that pirate Giorno Giovanna possesses a unique ability allowing him to freely swap Devil Fruit powers, I have reason to suspect that the owner of these gigantic phoenix wings captured in the photograph is actually Whitebeard himself, Edward Newgate! …"
…
Countless News Coos flew across the seas, toward every corner of the world.
Far beyond the horizon.
…
In the New World, on some island, pirates unfolded the newspaper.
The more they read, the graver their expressions became.
"Something like this actually happened?!"
…
In a member nation of the World Government, residents passed the paper around in the streets.
Each person who read it became more mentally broken than the last.
One after another.
The entire populace sank into panic.
"That ghost-like monster Whitebeard got even stronger?! Oh no! What are we supposed to do?!"
Although this portion of the article was technically just speculation from the writer, it was extremely convincing.
More importantly…
There were photographs as evidence!
And with photographic proof, how could it possibly be fake?
Though the images were blurry, in the scenes showing Giorno and Whitebeard battling aboard the White Whale, Whitebeard seemed to maybe, vaguely, sort of, perhaps indeed not have used his world-shaking Tremor-Tremor Fruit powers.
Instead, his attacks appeared accompanied by waves of blue flames…
…
Would Whitebeard now be a Phoenix ability user?
Maybe yes, maybe no.
Until the next time he publicly displayed his abilities, no one could know for certain.
"Ma ma ma ma ma… Whether it's Phoenix Whitebeard or Earthquake Whitebeard, it makes no difference!"
At Whole Cake Island in Totto Land, former crewmate of Whitebeard and current Yonko, Big Mom Charlotte Linlin laughed loudly while clutching sweets.
"Newgate was already a monster before he ever got the Tremor-Tremor Fruit! Otherwise, do they really think having earthquake powers alone would have let him rival Roger? Do those idiots think Newgate was some kind of weakling? Ma ma ma ma ma…"
…
In Wano Country, another former crewmate, Kaido, drank alcohol while holding a newspaper that looked tiny as a photograph in his enormous hand.
As he read, he suddenly burst into wild laughter.
"What guts! Raise all the hell you want!!"
Seeing this, the subordinates nearby hurriedly fled.
When the boss got emotionally unstable, the wisest course was always to stay far away and avoid becoming collateral damage.
…
"Fuf fuf fuf fuf fuf!"
In the North Blue, on some island, Donquixote Doflamingo glanced down at the newspaper being held up high by Baby 5.
Walking along with a swaying Geppo-like air walk, he laughed exaggeratedly.
"Giorno Giovanna… This guy really is outrageous! To actually dare do something like that… Fuf fuf fuf! That crazy brat actually survived too. Unbelievable…"
…
In Paradise, the Red Hair Pirates, sailing toward Twin Capes, had docked temporarily at an island along the way.
Wearing his straw hat, Shanks sat on a rock reading the newspaper.
Beside him, Benn Beckman lit a cigarette, exhaled smoke, and said:
"He only did this because of what you once told him, right?"
Shanks stuck out his tongue and pouted.
"If I'd known, I wouldn't have told him! To actually do something this dangerous…"
Yasopp walked over, spinning his guns in hand.
"I did hear rumors that after Whitebeard got older, his health started declining. But I never imagined they'd use this kind of method to treat Whitebeard's aging body…"
"…" Shanks looked at the newspaper and smiled faintly.
"Yeah."
…
At Marine Headquarters, Sengoku looked at the newspaper in front of him and instinctively felt irritated.
"That bastard Morgans, relying on his ability to tame News Coos, he's spread his bird network all over the entire world…"
When the Marines sent even a battleship commanded by a Headquarters Vice Admiral, they had to approach the White Whale cautiously, terrified that one wrong move would get them sunk by the Whitebeard Pirates.
Yet that damned birdman Morgans, had managed to obtain this kind of firsthand material by sending out just a single bird.
How infuriating was that?
But…
As Sengoku read the bolded text in the article, a thin layer of cold sweat appeared on his face.
"So that's why…" he muttered to himself. "Even though Giorno helped Whitebeard tremendously, they still fought fiercely aboard the White Whale. I had been worried it was just an ordinary spar that accidentally escalated… So this is what really happened…"
In the newspaper, the bold print read:
"According to insiders, Giorno Giovanna openly declared aboard the White Whale, in front of Whitebeard himself, that he intended to kill one of Whitebeard's veteran crew members…"
"Has Giorno gone insane?" Sengoku shook his head. "Did he think helping Whitebeard once meant he could do whatever he wanted?"
"To openly announce in front of Whitebeard that he wants to kill one of his sons, there's probably nothing Whitebeard finds less tolerable than that…"
As for why Giorno had been left alive, whether he had been defeated and escaped, or whether Whitebeard had deliberately spared him, in Sengoku's view, there was no real difference.
Giorno and the Whitebeard Pirates were now irreconcilable.
"There's a high chance this 'insider' is someone from Whitebeard's own crew, dissatisfied that Giorno was allowed to leave alive…"
…
On Zou Island,
Inside the Mokomo Dukedom, in Kurau City.
Inuarashi said in a deep voice:
"I once served aboard Whitebeard's ship. I know exactly what kind of man he is. Yet you actually declared in front of him that you intended to kill one of his sons…"
He gave Jolyne Cujoh a deep look.
"The fact that you survived is already remarkable."
Was this information intentionally released by Whitebeard? Robin thought as she looked at the paper.
Whitebeard knew Liam intended for her to become one of the Seven Warlords, so had he deliberately sent this kind of signal to the Marines?
If that were true, then the information Whitebeard leaked had been perfectly measured.
He hadn't announced something like:
"The Whitebeard Pirates are irreconcilable enemies of the JoJo Pirates, next time, one side dies."
Instead, it was merely:
"Giorno declared his intent to kill one of Whitebeard's crew members."
After that, all that was needed was for people familiar with Whitebeard's personality to fill in the blanks themselves.
But Robin knew the truth.
Although Liam had openly declared his intention to kill that poor-toothed man, he had never intended to bypass Whitebeard.
This situation was different from what had happened with the Fish-Man Pirates.
Because in Liam's eyes, Captain Tiger and Whitebeard clearly carried completely different weight.
When Liam wanted to kill Arlong, whether Tiger stopped him or not made little difference, so Liam simply didn't care.
But if he wanted to kill that poor-toothed one while deliberately going around Whitebeard,
In Liam's eyes, that would basically amount to a sneak attack. An assassination.
And Liam disdained doing such things.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have bluntly said it directly to Whitebeard's face.
Whitebeard had clearly understood this as well.
Giorno genuinely wanted to kill Teach, yes.
But as long as Whitebeard was still alive, Giorno would never stoop to sneaking around him to secretly assassinate Teach.
Although Whitebeard naturally disliked Giorno's killing intent toward Teach, he also admired this straightforward, honest, reckless fool who said exactly what he meant and charged straight ahead.
And that was precisely the nuance this newspaper could never convey,
The part most likely to be misunderstood by the world.
So in response to Inuarashi's words, Robin neither confirmed nor denied anything, merely smiling as she said:
"So you were once Whitebeard's crewmate?"
Inuarashi waved a hand and sighed.
"…That was many years ago."
Crash!
At that moment, a figure leapt in through the shattered window.
It was the all-out Sicilian, the lion, baring fangs and claws as he lunged toward Liam.
Blue-white electricity surged across his lion claws, but Liam casually blocked the strike barehanded.
How is it having no effect?! Sicilian was shocked.
Liam grinned.
"Kitty cat, compared to that big cat, your electricity isn't quite strong enough!"
Bang!
He struck Sicilian backward.
The lion flipped gracefully through the air, landing lightly on the windowsill and preparing to continue the fight, only to be stopped by Inuarashi raising a hand.
"That's enough, Sicilian."
"Yes, Duke!"
With a leap, Sicilian dropped to his knees before Inuarashi with a loud boom.
This lion really is too passionate… Robin thought.
Even Inuarashi couldn't help looking a little embarrassed.
Liam patted away the residual heat from the electricity on his hands and smiled.
"You know something interesting?"
He pointed downward.
"The elephant beneath our feet is actually a Devil Fruit user."
Robin looked surprised.
Meanwhile, Inuarashi and Sicilian both froze for a moment, seemingly unable to process what they had just heard.
After confirming he hadn't misheard, the lion mink Sicilian, his mane thick and wild, looked utterly baffled.
"What nonsense are you talking about?"
"If Zou is an Ability User, then how could it possibly walk on the sea?!"
(End Of This Chapter)