I'm Not Interested in Devil Fruits

"How come…"

Liam looked at the eight-year-old girl with long black hair in front of him, then glanced at the stray dog by his feet and realized, "You followed it, didn't you?"

Robin remained silent but nodded slightly.

"Is it because I didn't mention your situation to that person that you feel like you can trust me?" Liam chuckled when the young girl started to look a bit uneasy. "Actually, it's just that you don't know where else to go, right? That's quite unfortunate."

Robin's frail body shivered, and she clenched her fingers.

"That person from yesterday… didn't die."

She finally spoke. This was the first time Liam had heard her talk, and her childlike voice sounded slightly hoarse, probably due to not speaking much for a long time.

"Those criminal organizations… might come looking for you…"

"Do you think you've caused trouble for me?" Liam laughed. "You came to remind me?"

The black-haired girl bit her lower lip and remained silent.

"Well, don't worry about it. I'm not exactly a good person! Those who want to kill me would have to line up from here to Wano Country, then from there to Laugh Tale. What's a few criminal organizations?" Robin seemed a bit puzzled. Laugh Tale sounded familiar, but what was Wano Country? And who was Momonosuke?

However, Liam might have said that, but it could still be quite tricky when being targeted by local criminal organizations.

Liam felt that he needed to come up with a plan. As someone new to this world, his primary focus should be on growth and leveling up. Once he had more power, he could start causing trouble for others.

At that moment, the white light flashed around Liam's narrow eyes, just below his "helmet," and 'B.I.B.' made an electronic sound: "Extraction… Release…"

As if they shared a telepathic connection, Liam looked down at his own hands. The left arm's "armor" had blue flame-like patterns, while the right arm had red patterns. The shapes of the flame patterns were subtly similar to the characteristics of something…

A Devil Fruit?

When the young girl, Robin, saw Liam, who was slightly older than herself, seemingly making eye contact with the air, she couldn't help but recall what he had done to the criminal organization member the night before.

Saul had mentioned that there were many people at sea who had consumed various unique Devil Fruits, granting them extraordinary abilities. This boy, just like herself with her Flower-Flower Fruit (Hana Hana no Mi), had likely consumed a certain type of fruit… perhaps a ghost fruit?

While she was lost in thought, the boy in front of her suddenly reached out his right hand toward her. He lightly tapped her worn-out dress's neckline, frowned, and then pulled his hand back.

"…?" Robin was a bit perplexed, but she saw Liam switch to his left hand this time. Surprisingly, it went in without any resistance, directly into her chest.

"…!?" Robin lowered her head, staring blankly at the boy's hand, which had entirely entered her body.

But… why didn't it hurt…?

Was the pain numbed by the extent of the pain itself?

At that moment, Robin's mind flashed with a series of images.

As a child, her aunt hadn't treated her well; she was always hungry and cold, constantly bossed around. Finally, she had earned some success in history, thinking she could study history alongside Professor Clover and others.

However, her hometown had been turned into a sea of flames by the Buster Call of the Marines. She had made her first friend, who happened to be a Giant, and he had taught her how to smile. But in the end, he died protecting her. She had finally seen her mother, thinking she could stay with her and live together, but she was pushed away…

She was now the last person from Ohara, and the hope that Professor Clover, her mother, and everyone else had sacrificed so much to preserve was about to be extinguished here…

"I'm sorry, Professor, Mom, but I'm the kind of person who will always disappoint you…"

"Saul, you said that as long as you go to sea, you'll always find companions. But I'm sorry, I'm about to be stabbed through the chest, and my bloody heart is going to be ripped out…"

When her body was completely cold, would it be devoured by stray dogs and crows by the roadside, or would someone pick it up and take it to a Marine base in exchange for a bounty?

"Hey, what are you doing?"

The boy's voice abruptly snapped Robin back to reality.

She realized that her slender chest was intact, and there was no pain, not even a tear in her dusty dress.

The boy had withdrawn his hand. Robin stared at his left hand in amazement. Not a single drop of blood, as if he hadn't pierced her chest moments ago.

"Little friend, do you have a lot of question marks in your head?" Liam teased, mimicking the bewildered expression Robin had when she was rambling earlier. "Oh, wasn't I supposed to be killed by him? What's going on here?"

Robin gritted her teeth, feeling a bit embarrassed and annoyed.

Unbeknownst to her, within Liam's left hand, which was covered by blue flame-like patterns, he held a triangular crystal shard emitting a faint blue light.

The surface of the triangular crystal shard was engraved with swirling patterns resembling clusters of flowers.

"What did you do?" Robin asked softly. She was observant and noticed Liam's gaze fixed on his own left hand. What was he holding? Did it have something to do with his Devil Fruit power?

"Why don't you try to use your Flower-Flower Fruit (Hana Hana no Mi) ability now?" Liam suggested.

Robin was taken aback before she immediately crossed her arms and attempted to use her ability to make arms sprout in front of the boy's face and chest, following her instinctive method. But to her surprise, it had no effect.

Inside her body, it felt empty, like she had lost something.

Had she lost her Devil Fruit ability?

Liam grinned slightly, swapped the triangular Flower-Flower Fruit (Hana Hana no Mi) chip from his left hand to his right hand, which had patterns of red flame swirls, and forcefully inserted the chip into his own chest.

Robin saw him suddenly "self-harm" and let out a shocked gasp.

But the next moment, she had a revelation. Could it be…?

After inserting the Flower-Flower Fruit (Hana Hana no Mi) chip into his body, Liam took a deep breath and felt a strange "intuition" throughout his body. He grinned, slightly lifted his hands, and astonishingly, two arms — Liam's arms — sprouted on either side of Robin's slender neck.

The hands on her cheeks were attached to the sides of her face, and Robin mumbled with a puzzled expression, "You… you took my ability away… It feels weird."

"It seems that way," Liam chuckled. "It's a fascinating power, quite fun."

With that, the hands that had been pinching Robin's cheeks gradually transformed into petals, gently falling onto the girl's delicate shoulders.

"You," Robin looked at the petals that had landed in her palms, feeling panicked and despondent. "How could you do this…"

This was the ability she relied on for self-preservation. Without the Flower-Flower Fruit (Hana Hana no Mi), how would an eight-year-old girl like herself survive in this harsh world?

Little Robin's heart sank bit by bit, unsure of what to do.

"Hey, you two kids!" At that moment, a voice suddenly echoed from the end of the alley.

(End of this chapter)