Jora was knocked to the brink of death by Liam's punch, losing consciousness completely.
For most Devil Fruits, once the ability user is truly knocked unconscious, or simply dies, the effects of the ability disappear as well.
Take Doflamingo's Birdcage, for example. Once Luffy defeated him, it immediately began to unravel on its own...
Naturally, there are exceptions.
The most famous example is Brook's Yomi Yomi no Mi, the Revive-Revive Fruit. Its true power only takes effect after the ability user dies. Brook claims that "the power of the Yomi Yomi no Mi brought me back from the underworld," but Liam has always been skeptical of that explanation. This world may not even have an actual underworld. The true nature of the Yomi Yomi no Mi can be glimpsed from Brook's training results two years later: he became capable of freely controlling his own soul, passing through walls, traveling outside his body, and even disguising himself as a wicked spirit to scare people...
In other words, as a superior version of Big Mom's Soul-Soul Fruit, the Yomi Yomi no Mi's fundamental ability may actually be strengthening the user's soul.
And unlike most Devil Fruit abilities, that enhancement doesn't disappear after the user dies.
Liam suspected that even while Brook was still alive, he could probably have developed the ability to project his soul outside his body...
But back to the matter at hand!
Jora lay unconscious in the crater, blood covering her head and her eyes rolled back. With her out cold, Liam and Robin's abstract-art bodies instantly returned to normal.
"Ah..." Robin sighed softly, sounding almost disappointed to be back to normal.
"That's enough already..." B.I.B. silently commented from the side.
Robin said, "I want it."
B.I.B. nodded. The left arm guard, covered in blue flame patterns, detached from its body and flew toward its counterpart ahead.
"I know you want it!"
Liam called out from the other side and waved his hand. Without even looking back, he reached behind him, and the flying left arm guard slipped perfectly onto his left arm.
Robin smiled brightly. Then, from the corner of her eye, she caught sight of a figure rushing past.
Liam grabbed Jora by her colorful hair and lifted her up. With the left arm guard covered in blue flame patterns now fitted over his hand, he reached directly into her body and pulled out a triangular chip covered in colorful swirling patterns.
Art-Art Fruit Chip.
He pinched the chip between two fingers and tossed it backward to B.I.B., then clenched his right hand into a fist.
"..."
Liam swung his fist toward the unconscious Jora.
A figure suddenly rushed in.
Bang!!
Señor instantly appeared between Liam and Jora. Liam's fist slammed heavily into his back, and the tremendous force shattered Señor's sunglasses.
"Gah!"
Señor spat out a mouthful of blood, his eyes bloodshot.
Behind them, Robin lowered the hand she had raised. Once she realized the suited man hadn't attacked Liam but had instead stepped in to protect his companion, she made no attempt to stop him.
"Cough, cough!"
Señor coughed up several more mouthfuls of blood. His breathing was labored, his vision kept going dark, and his body was growing weak, but he forced himself to remain standing and shielded the unconscious Jora behind him.
"..."
Liam lowered his fist and flattened his hand into a blade.
"Cough... cough..." Señor was already covered in wounds, his black hair disheveled and his eyes bloodshot. He glanced back at the expressionless Giorno and the hand blade raised beside him.
"Young lord... this is as far as I can go..."
With that, he closed his eyes and finally passed out completely.
Liam raised his hand blade, but instead of striking Señor in front of him, he swept it horizontally overhead.
A cyan flying slash more than ten meters long erupted from his bare hand. It tore through the air with a shriek, shooting toward the figures slowly descending from the sky.
"What the hell is that?! He doesn't even have a sword!" Machvise shouted in shock.
Trebol gasped, snot dangling from his nose. "Is that a Rankyaku from Rokushiki?! But he didn't even kick it out!"
"Damn it!" Diamante whipped his cape around and stepped in front of Trebol.
"..." Doflamingo coldly raised his right leg.
Bang!!!
The enormous flying slash swept past the five of them and shattered into several pieces. Some fragments gradually dissolved into specks of energy and disappeared, while others split into smaller slashes that continued toward the higher ground behind them.
They narrowly missed Buffalo and Baby 5, making Buffalo cry out in alarm. When he looked back, the tiny blade-like slashes struck the Birdcage wires high above with a series of bangs, breaking apart into points of light before disappearing as well.
"How is he even more like a weapon than I am?!" Baby 5 cried out. "That's terrifying..."
"I think we should stay farther away..." Buffalo said, cold sweat covering his chubby face. "We can't get in the young lord's way..."
"You've got to be kidding me!" Diamante stared at the cape he had used to shield Trebol. There was actually a slash mark across it.
"This may be a cape, but it's made of steel!!"
"..."
Doflamingo glanced downward. On the leg covered in Busoshoku Haki, his trousers split with a faint tear.
He lowered his leg, slipped both hands into his pockets, and calmly looked down at them.
"You did well, Señor."
Doflamingo stood in the center, with Trebol and Diamante on either side, while Pica and Machvise completed the group of five as they slowly descended from the sky...
Each of them had an almost invisible, thin string attached to their back, connecting them to the Birdcage wires high above.
Liam looked up and grinned. "Yo, five hanging corpses. Is this how you chose to die?"
"Giorno Giovanna, what are you doing here?!" Machvise shouted down at him. "Weren't you and Jolyne Cujoh in the New World?!"
Trebol was still shaken. If Diamante hadn't stepped in to protect him just now, it looked like Giorno's flying slash would have cut him in half. Was this kid even human anymore?!
"Behehehe..."
Trebol sniffed and wiped his nose. "That female Captain of yours became a Shichibukai a few days ago. Did you come here specifically to help the Marines deal with us? Behehehe... Well? Is that it, Giorno? Are you helping the Marines, Jolyne Cujoh? Well...?"
Unfortunately for him, Liam didn't even spare him a glance. He was staring only at Doflamingo.
"..."
Doflamingo's distinctive sunglasses reflected the smiling Giorno looking up from the snowy ground.
Pica spoke in his sharp voice. "Is that your way of saying you don't speak to people beneath your status?"
"Eh? Isn't Jolyne Cujoh the Captain of the JoJo Pirates? Behehehe..." Trebol looked down at them with a sleazy grin. "Well? You're the Captain, right, Jolyne Cujoh? Aren't you?"
Unfortunately, Robin didn't even look at him either. She was also staring at Doflamingo.
Diamante shouted angrily, "There's a limit to how much you can joke around! Don't tell me you two have two Captains?!"
Machvise laughed. "A pirate crew like that is bound to run into trouble sooner or later!"
But no matter how much they shouted, Liam and Robin completely ignored them. It seemed Doflamingo was the only person here they considered worth speaking to.
"..."
Doflamingo's sunglasses reflected the bodies of Gladius and Lao G sprawled across the snow near Giorno and Jolyne. He said nothing. He merely raised one hand and lightly moved his fingers.
Robin's eyes shifted. The body of the explosive man lying nearby suddenly rose to its feet. Then she looked toward the other side and saw the muscle-bound old man slowly stagger upright as well...
What a strange posture...
Of course. Doflamingo was controlling their bodies with his "strings."
Robin focused her eyes and, sure enough, spotted several thin strings attached to the still-unconscious muscle-bound old man, leading all the way up to Doflamingo's hand.
Was he planning to take them away...?
Señor, who was unconscious in front of Liam, and Jora, who had been protected by him and was likewise unconscious, were also connected by two Parasite Strings. They began moving away from Liam's side.
"Did I say you could take them?"
Liam reached out to grab them, black Haki instantly entwining his hand.
"...?!"
Doflamingo, suspended above them, frowned. The movements of his five fingers suddenly accelerated.
Gladius collapsed to the ground again. Señor, who was standing in front of Liam, suddenly became incredibly agile. With a sharp whoosh, he was yanked away as though something had grabbed him and forcibly dragged him out of the way of Liam's hand. Liam's hand closed directly around Jora, whom Señor had been protecting.
"Heh..." Liam suddenly laughed as he held Jora.
"..."
Doflamingo remained expressionless. One hand stayed in his pocket while the fingers of the other twitched lightly. Lao G and Señor staggered away like two zombies.
Liam casually twisted Jora's neck and tossed her aside. He smiled. "So compared to the suited guy, this woman has no value to you anymore because she's lost her Devil Fruit?"
"..." Doflamingo looked down at him coldly. "What are you trying to say?"
Liam sighed. "You call yourselves the Donquixote Family. You really are one loving family."
"You're trying to drive a wedge between us?" Machvise laughed.
"He seems to have misunderstood something..." Pica said in his shrill voice.
Diamante gave a strange laugh. "He's a Great Pirate from the New World, yet he's surprisingly naive! Wah-ha-ha-ha..."
Trebol sniffed, snot hanging from his nose. "Behehehe... Doffy, he's misunderstood us. And he's misunderstood you too, right? Doffy..."
Robin looked up at them, puzzled. For a moment, she couldn't understand what they meant.
"Fuf fuf fuf fuf..." Doflamingo chuckled softly with one hand in his pocket. "You think they aren't prepared to be abandoned by me when necessary? Fuf fuf fuf fuf..."
The other four burst into laughter, as though mocking the two people below for making such a fuss. They were pirates. What did it matter if they sacrificed themselves for their young lord?
"How cold..." Robin looked at the five people above her and sighed softly. "That's not what 'family' is supposed to be..."
She had once had a family too.
Professor Clover had no blood relation to her, yet he had always treated her kindly...
She hadn't spent much time with her mother, but to protect Robin, her mother had endured the pain of pretending they weren't related...
Saul had only known her for a few days, yet he had cared for her like an elder...
No. It wasn't that she had "once had" a family...
Robin looked at Liam's back and smiled faintly.
She had one now, too.
She always had.
"Hey, didn't I already tell you, Doflamingo?" Liam looked up at him coldly. "If you keep going 'fuf fuf fuf fuf' in front of me, I'll kill you."
"Fuf fuf fuf fuf..."
Doflamingo stood on a taut strand stretched horizontally through the air. He looked down with an evil grin. "Is that so?"
Pica's shrill voice was filled with anger. "How dare you mock Doffy in front of us..."
Diamante gave a bizarre laugh. "You think walking around the New World makes you something special? Looks like you have no idea what level Doffy is on..."
Trebol grinned through his dangling snot. "Completely ignorant, yet you came all the way to Doffy to throw your life away. How pitiful..."
Liam treated every word they said like garbage and ignored them completely. Robin, however, grew wary.
What were they implying? Could Doflamingo really possess strength beyond what they had expected?
After reuniting with Liam, B.I.B. had obtained the memories Liam had accumulated while he was away. Robin had also caught glimpses of the astonishing battle between Katakuri and Aokiji.
Could Doflamingo actually be above those two? At the very least, could he be on Katakuri's level or higher?!
Robin showed nothing on the surface, but inwardly she became much more cautious.
"I've had enough! This guy is seriously annoying!"
While Robin was thinking, Machvise suddenly flew into a rage above them. He shouted, and the thin string connected to his back was withdrawn.
Instead of descending, however, Machvise rose higher. He floated upward for a short distance before gradually coming to a stop. Staring down at Giorno Giovanna, he roared, "Ton-Ton Fruit - Twenty Tons!!!"
BANG.......!
Machvise's weight skyrocketed instantly. Like a humanoid meteor falling from the heavens, he plummeted toward Liam at terrifying speed, the wind howling around him.
The twenty-ton humanoid monster rapidly closed in. Liam stood completely still, but in the blink of an eye, an invisible black shadow drifted in front of him and raised a fist to meet Machvise's falling body.
"What is that...?!"
Doflamingo, Diamante, and Pica all narrowed their eyes. To varying degrees, they sensed the black figure standing in front of Giorno.
"Pfft!"
Machvise's twenty-ton body slammed down onto the fist covered in Busoshoku Haki, but the enormous recoil injured him internally instead, forcing up a mouthful of blood.
He looked down in disbelief. He was still several feet away from the expressionless Giorno. He hadn't even touched him!
"Why...? How... How is this possible?!"
B.I.B.'s narrow eyes glimmered faintly. It grabbed Machvise by the shoulder, swung him around several times in midair, and hurled him toward the sky.
Trebol saw Machvise flying toward them and screamed, "Hey.......?!"
Bam!
Machvise crashed into him, sending both of them flying into the distance.
"What the hell is that thing?!" Diamante shouted twice before drawing the long sword at his waist and thrusting it downward. "Snake Sword!"
Whoosh!
The steel sword, manipulated by his Hira Hira no Mi into the shape of a flag, twisted downward like a giant snake and stabbed straight toward Liam.
Suddenly, a mass of petals erupted from the ground in front of Liam. They condensed into a thick arm that caught the Snake Sword with its bare hand.
"Hm?!" Diamante was startled.
The massive arm growing from the ground yanked hard, dragging Diamante down along with his sword, then swung its fist at him!
An uppercut sent him flying, just like Machvise and Trebol before him.
"Hey......."
Pica turned to watch Diamante's figure and voice disappear rapidly into the distance. When he turned back, his eyes were bloodshot.
"You..."
Robin put on her sunglasses and gave Pica in the sky a faint smile. "I don't want to interfere with their fight. How about we take this somewhere else?"
"A woman hiding behind Giorno dares look down on me..."
Pica was barely able to keep his fists under control. Doflamingo calmly said, "Pica, go with her. Join Diamante, Trebol, and Machvise over there..."
"Doffy!" Pica cried sharply.
"Fuf fuf fuf fuf..." Doflamingo stood on the horizontal string with his hands in his pockets. "I mean, the four of you should kill her together."
Robin was already walking in the direction where the three men had been sent flying.
Pica's shrill voice rang out. "Doffy, then I'll leave him to you! We'll definitely kill that woman, Jolyne Cujoh." With that, he hurried after Robin.
...
And just like that, only Doflamingo remained in the air, with Liam on the ground below and the bodies of Gladius and Jora nearby.
"Fuf fuf fuf fuf..."
Doflamingo stood on the long string connecting the two ends of the Birdcage, his hands in his pockets as he gave a low laugh. "That Black Shadow isn't going to help Jolyne Cujoh?"
Liam said coldly, "Are you seriously still doing that damn 'fuf fuf fuf fuf'? They're all unvoiced sounds. Just hearing it makes my blood boil!"
"..."
Doflamingo's grin widened.
Whoosh, whoosh...
The biting winter wind swept through the falling snow. His pink feathered coat fluttered gently, while his long black hair streamed in the wind.
The Flamingo lightly leaped from the line in midair. His pointed dress shoes were instantly coated in dense black Haki.
Liam also raised his foot from where he stood and viciously kicked at Doflamingo as he came crashing down.
BOOM!!!!!
The two blackened feet collided, sending countless streaks of black-and-red lightning exploding between them. The fine snow swirling through the air was blasted away in an instant, clearing the wind and snow from more than a hundred meters around them.
(End of Chapter)
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