I'm Not Interested in Devil Fruits

At the break of dawn, a group of young villagers bound the naked pirates, dragging along the man whose head had exploded by "his own" hands. They contacted the nearest Marine base.

Being an Allied Kingdom Member, every house on the island not only paid a Heavenly Tribute to sustain the Celestial Dragons in Marijoa but also contributed money as taxes to the World Government. In return, the World Government provided protection to the Allied Kingdom Members.

Since Marines were not involved in production, their military budget came from taxing the citizens of the Allied Kingdom Members. Therefore, when something happened on the island, disturbed by pirates, the Marine base was duty-bound to handle the situation promptly.

In a sense, the World Government and Marines weren't much different from the Yonko (Four Emperors) like Whitebeard, Big Mom, or Kaido.

The World Government sheltered the Allied Kingdom Members, collected taxes, and represented the Celestial Dragons in extracting additional Heavenly Tribute. In return, they provided legal military protection to the Allied Kingdom Members.

The Yonko (Four Emperors), on the other hand, gathered a portion of non-Allied Kingdom Members, either forcibly or non-coercively, under their pirate flags. They offered protection while collecting fees for their services.

The so-called balance on the seas, maintained by Marines, was largely based on this equilibrium.

If there were upheavals among the Yonko (Four Emperors), the non-Allied Kingdom Members under their respective flags would descend into chaos. More people, losing protection, would find it difficult to lead normal lives and would eventually turn to piracy.

In the end, the misfortune fell on the heads of the Allied Kingdom Members and, by extension, on everyone worldwide.

Sometime later,

The personnel from the Marine branch base examined the exploded heads, interrogated the naked pirates, and carefully inspected the Den Den Mushi. Eventually, they confirmed that this Den Den Mushi had indeed been in contact with the Upwind Pirate Crew!

It wasn't about reading Den Den Mushi data...

The Marines spared no effort, bringing out the finest Den Den Mushi food from the base, offering the best-maintained, glossy-skinned Den Den Mushi to alleviate its boredom. Through this, they extracted information from this Den Den Mushi about the call it made to its fellow Den Den Mushi on the Upwind Pirate Crew's ship.

In short, this was a pirate with a bounty of 17 Million Belly! Placed in the weakest East Blue, a pirate with such a bounty was already a top level individual.

Even in their West Blue, this pirate crew could be considered a Large-Scale pirate group. Hence, the Marine branch bases in West Blue were struggling, unable to apprehend or eliminate them.

Of course, West Blue had seen even more formidable pirate crews. However, those crews, with chilling reputations and bounties in the tens of millions, were mostly ambitious wicked individuals who had long since grown tired of staying confined in West Blue. They had leaped from Las Camp island into the Grand Line.

The extraordinary pirate crews naturally had counterparts in the Grand Line, and the Marine Headquarters had people handling them.

This individual with a bounty of 17 million was now the responsibility of the Marine branch bases in West Blue.

It was just unexpected that such a pirate would believe in ghost stories about a pirate king's ghost! The Marines were utterly speechless, thinking that pirates were simply illiterate and barbaric people.

The young villagers either lowered their heads, gazed at the sky, or whistled nervously.

They didn't want to testify that the ghost of the pirate king was real. What benefits did they get from it?

At that time, the ghostly figure of the pirate king protected them from those fearsome pirates. On the contrary, if they betrayed the ghost pirate by informing the Marines about the ghost's existence, the pirate king might not be so kind to them.

They had witnessed how those menacing pirates, under the manipulation of the unseen spirit, were powerless and helpless.

The young villagers had no intention of getting involved with such an eerie existence.

Among them, a figure silently stood— black from head to toe with blue flame patterns on the left arm, and red flame patterns on the right arm. Its face mask revealed only a pair of glowing white eyes. It was the combat armor.

It had followed all the way to the Marine branch base without being noticed by anyone. When the Marines dismantled the pirate's Den Den Mushi, 'B.I.B.' even approached to observe the process, carefully noting the steps, logging them one by one in its "mind."

It also observed what kind of feed the Den Den Mushi consumed.

'B.I.B.' believed its host might be interested in this.

After all, it originated from Liam.

To a certain extent, it was an aspect of Liam's personality, a unique individual born from the combination of Liam's latent Life Energy. Nobody understood Liam's thought processes better than it did.

Finally, a squad of Marines, armed with swords and guns, escorted the young villagers back.

The Marines scattered throughout the village, entering various coastal towns, inquiring about news, and monitoring pirate activities.

'B.I.B.' lingered for a while, observing the sky. Its host should be waking up soon.

It floated between the villagers and the Marines and passed by Henry and their merchant ship, swiftly moved between houses and walls, and traversed the wilderness between the coastal town and the capital city, like an invisible phantom cutting through the forest...

Soon, the dark combat armor returned to the outskirts of the capital city, passing through walls.

Liam was yawning, tousling his messy hair, squeezing Robin aside a bit, and brushing his teeth in front of the mirror.

Suddenly, he sensed something and turned his head to see the black head of the combat armor emerging from the wall.

"Wait, I'm brushing my teeth." Liam hastily spat out a mouthful of foam, stopping the hummingbird-like Stand in its tracks. "You are really restless, just sit for a while! Oh, you don't have to sit. Just stand then."

Liam continued brushing his teeth while 'B.I.B.' silently stepped aside, standing at attention like a set of Iron Man armor on standby.

Robin had become accustomed to such occurrences and knew that Liam's invisible ghost was around.

After finishing their morning routine, Robin joined Liam in preparing breakfast.

Robin found him peculiar. Sometimes he would ask her to prepare things like milk, and when she cleaned the house, Liam wouldn't hesitate to help, showing no sign of embarrassment. 

Yet other times, Liam would enthusiastically clean or cook at home, and Robin engrossed in reading, wouldn't be asked to assist. Initially perplexed, Robin gradually understood...

It was like interacting as normal friends.

"Ah!"

Liam, at the table, cheerfully finished his flower milk tea and quickly stood up.

Robin, unperturbed, was already used to this.

"I'm going to read." Robin finished eating and announced.

Liam grinned, his attention seemingly elsewhere. Waving his hand, he reminded her, "Don't go out casually. Marines have been spotted on the island these days."

Robin's heart skipped a beat; she was naturally afraid of the Marines.

Nodding silently, Robin, seeing him busy, took the initiative to clean the utensils and wash them. Doing household chores, however, didn't make her feel lonely and oppressed, unlike at her aunt's house.

Liam, meanwhile, had both feet propped on the table, rocking his chair with his hands behind his head. He checked the memories of the other perspective flooding into his mind through 'B.I.B.' after it absorbed them.

However, he didn't directly recall them himself.

Instead, he released 'B.I.B.' once again, wore it, and replayed those memories through its helmet.

Seeing with his own eyes felt more intuitive!

Trashy pirates...

Marine branch...

Den Den Mushi... Oh, so that's how this thing is dismantled and assembled...

Huh? Den Den Mushi can also be used as a beauty trap. These Marines are really something!

Liam quickly browsed through, occasionally nodding in approval.

"Wait! Pause for a moment."

Suddenly, as Liam swiftly skimmed through the last segment of memories, especially the scene during 'B.I.B.' return journey through the forest, his peripheral vision caught something.

"Go back a bit, a bit more..."

"Over there, yes, that's about it. Forward, forward... stop!!"

Liam exclaimed.

Wide-eyed, he stared fixedly at the memory footage inside 'B.I.B.' as it moved through the forest. In a corner of its field of view, a rapidly passing and easily overlooked small thing caught his attention.

That little thing clung to a tree branch, with two eyes like lollipops, staring directly at the advancing 'B.I.B.'

This guy had actually noticed the existence of 'B.I.B.'!

Liam, through the double eyes displayed in the helmet, locked eyes with the green wild Den Den Mushi perched on a tree branch in the corner of 'B.I.B.'s' vision.

(End of this chapter)

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