I'm Not Interested in Devil Fruits

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''B.I.B.'s left arm slowly withdrew from the King's chest...''

Meanwhile, King was gripping the neck of a burly pirate, squeezing so tightly that the pirate's face turned crimson, his eyes bulging, and his expression twisted in agony.

B.I.B. paused for a moment, then turned its gaze to the seemingly frail and unassuming Princess Oroson, who had been quietly following King all along.

Princess Oroson stood eerily behind King, raising her hand and waving it in front of the pirate, whose face was flushed from being choked. 

The pirate let out muffled sounds, horrified to realize that King seemed completely unaware of Princess Oroson's actions. Under the illusion cast by her hand, the pirate's eyes gradually grew unfocused, and his thoughts became increasingly muddled...

Soon, King let out a cold snort, releasing the pirate who was now completely under his control, and barked, "Go down."

"Yes..." The pirate's eyes gleamed with an eerie light, his expression calm as he descended the stairs into the underground laboratory. He naturally found the workbench, picked up a bloodletting tool, and made a cut on his own body. Blood flowed through the tubes into a container, filling it in steady pulses...

King followed silently behind, his eyes also flickering with the same strange light as the pirate.

B.I.B. observed the scene like a ghost in the underground chamber. Finally, with a swift, shadowy movement, it floated behind Princess Oroson and unceremoniously thrust its left arm, covered in blue flame patterns, into her back...

As B.I.B. departed with the Magnet-Magnet Fruit chip, flying toward the direction of its main body, the underground chamber echoed with Princess Oroson's piercing, bone-chilling scream...

…

The Kuja pirate ship cut through the waves, sailing across the South Blue.

On the deck, Liam and Robin leaned against the railing, facing the sea breeze.

"So, the true Magnet-Magnet Fruit user was actually Princess Oroson..." Robin said after listening to Liam's explanation. 

She turned to look back, but the endless horizon no longer showed the outline of Magnifique Island. "She was the one who incarnated as the 'Iron Demon,' conducting secret experiments, and she was the one who manipulated King into hosting the grand tournament, luring more Devil Fruit users into her trap..."

"But how did she control others?" Robin asked, puzzled. "Does she know hypnosis, like you?"

"I don't know," Liam replied, pulling out a lazy green Den Den Mushi and retrieving his iron rod from its mouth. This was the same rod he had bought when leaving West Blue, now refined and improved through magnetic tempering. 

Liam casually twirled the rod in one hand while tapping his forehead with the other, explaining to Robin, "But what I do know is that the human brain contains weak electrical currents. Since electricity and magnetism are inseparable, there must also be magnetic fields within the brain."

Robin was even more surprised. Whether or not weak magnetic fields truly existed in the human brain as Liam claimed, the idea of using the Magnet-Magnet Fruit's power to manipulate someone's brain to the point of turning them into a puppet was astonishing.

"All I can say is that if she really achieved that through the Magnet-Magnet Fruit, then her level of mastery over the fruit's abilities is truly impressive."

Liam sighed. Manipulating the iron in blood using the Magnet-Magnet Fruit was already an incredible feat, something even the Supernova Kid from the original timeline hadn't accomplished. 

Liam had possessed the Magnet-Magnet Fruit for several hours but hadn't managed to achieve that level of control, so he had given up.

Spending time developing a Devil Fruit ability that he might discard at any moment, for a power that might not even significantly enhance his strength? Rather than waste time on that, it was better to focus on training his Haki!

"Actually, if we think about it from another angle..." Liam smiled and turned to Robin, who looked back at him curiously, meeting his bright, piercing gaze.

"Who's to say that hypnosis isn't essentially using the hypnotist's brain's magnetic field to interfere with the subject's brain, thereby achieving the hypnotic effect?" Liam's voice faded in Robin's ears as her eyes visibly glazed over. 

Finally, a sharp snap of his fingers brought her back to awareness. Robin shot Liam a reproachful look, but he grinned mischievously and said, "Actually, it wasn't me who hypnotized you just now."

Robin was puzzled at first but quickly realized the truth. Focusing her Kenbunshoku Haki (Observation Haki), she soon noticed the dark Stand standing beside her— it was B.I.B. that had hypnotized her!

"Just now, my eyes were merely a tool to assist it..." Liam explained. Back on Magnifique Island, when B.I.B. hypnotized a crying boy on the roadside, the boy couldn't see it. 

B.I.B. had simply picked up a small pebble, suspended it in front of the boy, and used it to capture his attention, successfully hypnotizing him. "But tools are just aids. The one who truly hypnotized you was B.I.B. Yet, you didn't see it or even sense its presence. So how did it hypnotize you?"

"B.I.B. is essentially your own life energy..." Robin thought for a moment and slowly said, "The weak electromagnetic fields in the brain are also energy, generated by the brain's organs. This ties into the concept of Life Return..." She smiled. "You once thought hypnosis was an advanced application of Life Return."

"Different paths lead to the same destination. In the end, it all comes down to the same thing."

Liam chuckled and stretched lazily. He already knew a more convenient form of hypnosis, so he had little interest in delving deeper into the Magnet-Magnet Fruit's potential for brain manipulation.

Looking at the iron rod in his hand, Liam thought of Princess Oroson and Dr. Vegapunk's research, musing, "The key to giving objects 'Devil Fruits' might lie in implanting a portion of 'Lineage Factor' into the object. That way, the Devil Fruit factor has a foundation to attach to..."

Whiz Whiz Whiz...

Liam tossed the iron rod into the air. It spun rapidly, soaring into the clouds and startling a passing news bird. Then, an invisible force gripped the rod, halting its spin. The rod stood upright, whizzed downward in an arc, and chased after the red ship on the sea.

Snap!

Without looking, Liam reached out and caught the rod as it flew back at high speed, drawn by magnetic force.

Beside him, Robin tilted her head slightly, a question mark appearing above her.

Liam couldn't help but burst into laughter, unable to contain himself. He threw the rod out again, this time skimming across the sea's surface, covering hundreds of meters in an instant before being pulled back by a powerful magnetic force...

And so, on the deck of the Kuja pirate ship, an iron rod kept flying out at high speed from various angles.

"Rod, come!"

"Stick, return!"

"Mjolnir!"

The rod even plunged into the sea a few times, but no matter which direction it flew, it was always pulled back by a strong magnetic force, landing back in Liam's hand. Each time he caught it mid-air, he would laugh like a fool for a while.

"Heh heh heh..."

Liam amused himself endlessly, while Robin could only smile helplessly. It vaguely reminded her of a past memory...

Back when Liam had given her the Shiro Shiro no Mi (Castle-Castle Fruit), he had played around just as happily...

Hancock, who had just arrived, was utterly confused. Sandersonia was equally baffled, while Marigold remarked, "So even Giorno can look this silly sometimes!"

"So foolish," Hancock muttered, glancing at Giorno's smiling face. She thought to herself, "I've never seen him laugh like this before... but it's actually kind of nice!"

She casually asked, "Where are we heading next?"

Mari looked at Sander, who in turn looked at Princess Jolyne. Robin thought for a moment and replied, "Probably Karate Island..."

"Leviathan Axe!"

"Dragon Capture Technique!"

The Kuja pirate ship sailed along its course, with a slender iron rod occasionally flying off the deck.

"Men are so childish..."

.........

The Red Line loomed like a towering cliff.

On the cliff face, a tiny figure crawled upward like a snail, leaving a thin trail behind.

Looking closer, and closer still... the "snail's" trail was actually made of ice crystals.

(End Of The Chapter)