I'm Not Interested in Devil Fruits

Watching as his legs immersed in the small river, Stand 'B.I.B.' immediately malfunctioned like a phone exposed to water, convulsing slightly…

Liam couldn't help but fall into contemplation.

Should he retract this thing?

Robin, on the side, finally couldn't resist asking, "There… is your ghost there? The strange arm that grew with the Flower-Flower Fruit (Hana Hana no Mi) just now, is that also your ghost, right?"

She pointed to the location where Liam's gaze was focused on the riverbank. It was the position where the Stand currently resided.

"Sort of," Liam replied.

He pulled 'B.I.B.' up onto the bank entirely and asked, "Can't you disable the 'attack' on the river water? That way, you won't be touched by the water and won't be affected, right?"

'B.I.B.' had white lights flashing in its eyes and emitted electronic sounds, "Not being touched by water… will still be affected by the special energy in the water…"

"Is it that powerful?" Liam wondered, trying to put both of his legs into the water.

Robin exclaimed. She knew what it felt like for an Ability user to touch water.

Sure enough, as soon as Liam's legs entered the water, he immediately felt weak and moaned a few times.

Clutching his chest, Liam said, "It feels like being in a bath for too long, muscles sore and weak, dizzy, and breathless…"

And this was just his legs!

If his entire body submerged, wouldn't he just die instantly?

No wonder even beasts like Luffy and Whitebeard's second commander, Ace, who had ventured into Wano Country, could only rely on Haoshoku to be lucky enough to be rescued after falling into the water.

Once an Ability user fell into the water, unless they were a Fish-Man or someone saved them, it was undoubtedly lead to their death.

Liam deeply understood this point. After pulling his legs out of the water with difficulty, he sternly warned the Stand standing guard nearby, "Remember, when you stay inside me, you must ensure that I'm not an Ability user. After you come out, implant the 'devil fruit chip' into me again…"

'B.I.B.' nodded silently.

Liam looked at the white inverted triangle on its chest, and the Stand immediately understood. It used its left hand, wrapped in blue flame patterns, to insert into Liam's chest.

From Liam's body, 'B.I.B.' extracted the "Flower-Flower Fruit (Hana Hana no Mi) chip" previously taken from Robin's body, then placed it neatly in the inverted triangle area on its own chest.

Perfectly seamless integration.

"Phew, let's try it now." Liam took a deep breath, determined.

'B.I.B.' transformed into black energy and surged into Liam's body.

Liam twitched a couple of times, adapting to the fatigue and memories flowing into his body and mind.

He raised his hand and, to the disappointment of the curious Robin, failed to produce any flowering effect on her face.

Indeed, the "Devil Fruit chip" stored in the "reactor" inside 'B.I.B.' was just for storage.

Liam tried once again to immerse his legs in the water, and this time, he only felt the refreshing coolness of the river, extremely comfortable, without any discomfort from before.

He felt perfectly fine, leaving Robin with a head full of question marks.

In a place she couldn't see, the black Stand energy flew out of Liam's body again, condensing into the form of the armored Stand 'B.I.B.'

'B.I.B.' used its right hand with red flame patterns to scoop out the white inverted triangle "Flower-Flower Fruit (Hana Hana no Mi) chip" from its chest and pressed it into Liam's body.

Liam hurriedly got out of the water.

"Very well, from now on, it will be like this." He instructed the Stand, "At least, ensure that one of us is not affected by seawater or Seastone… Now, let's proceed to experiment with something else."

Liam felt that he currently had no combat power, so naturally, he had to figure out a solution from the Stand first.

Ordinary people cannot see Stands, which is undoubtedly a significant advantage. Through the tactic of "Eggshell Warfare," there should be a remarkable effect.

But what if the opponent is not a man?

What if the opponent is not even a human, with no eggs to speak of?

Liam first thought of the obvious characteristic that Stands were not tangible entities.

As demonstrated before, a normal person's guns, or even rain, could not touch 'B.I.B.' at all without its active "confrontation."

It was just a mass of energy, a phantom without substance, and it could even scale its own size.

In JOJO's anime, Jotaro even had his Stand reach into his chest, grabbing his own heart to suppress his heartbeat to avoid enemy detection. For this, his Stand, Star Platinum, gained the nickname of a platinum pacemaker…

The protagonists had also shrunk their Stands to enter the human body, performing various tricky maneuvers within blood vessels.

In other words, Liam could also achieve the goal of becoming a means of combat through similar methods.

For example…

In battle, he could let 'B.I.B.' directly extend its hand into the opponent's chest, grab their heart, and then materialize.

Boom!

The heart would stop beating.

The battle would be over.

As long as the opponent couldn't see 'B.I.B.' and couldn't attack it, this tactic seemed to be unbeatable.

"Let's test it!"

Liam said and did it. Of course, he wouldn't joke about having his heart played with, so he extended his arm— after some thought, he beckoned on Robin's shoulder, and a flowering arm composed of his ability emerged.

"Try using this."

Robin only saw… well, she couldn't see 'B.I.B.' approaching her. Instead, she extended a hand toward Liam's arm on her shoulder.

'B.I.B."s hand, like an illusion, directly entered the flowering arm of Liam on Robin's shoulder.

The materialization of the Flower-Flower Fruit (Hana Hana no Mi) created entity shares the senses with the Ability user. However, when 'B.I.B.' made its hand coincide with Liam's arm on Robin's shoulder, Liam didn't feel anything unusual…

Until the next second.

"I—Damn—!!"

Liam's face changed, and he shouted in pain.

In that brief moment, the fingertip of one of the fingers inside 'B.I.B.' placed in that arm manifested an intention to "confrontation," equivalent to having a tangible presence.

In that instant, Liam felt as if a bullet had been forcefully embedded in his arm!

Flesh tore, split open, and the pain was excruciating!

Hearing the cry of pain from the main body, 'B.I.B.' immediately reverted its finger to an illusion, and the arm on Robin's shoulder also dispersed into petal-like fragments.

"At least it worked…"

Liam laughed while rubbing his arm. Although there was no bleeding, the pain transmitted through the ability still lingered within his arm.

He was also fortunate that it was just a fake hand shaped by the Flower-Flower Fruit (Hana Hana no Mi). The transmitted pain wasn't comparable to the real thing.

It was just a touch in the arm, and it hurt so much.

If he directly reached into someone's chest, into their head, crushed their heart, mashed up their brain… wouldn't that be something else?!

"I'm invincible."

Liam chuckled, thinking, Well, on the level of ordinary people…

"Let's go! Let's check out the City…"

He called out, inviting Robin and the stray dog.

The pitch-black armored Stand didn't need an invitation; it silently followed its main body.

"Howl!" The stray dog barked and trotted along with Liam's steps.

Robin, on the other hand, remained completely puzzled. What had this boy done? He always seemed a bit unpredictable…

The boy lifted his foot, ready to head towards the main City of the island, but Robin didn't move.

"We'll be discovered," She said, "My appearance is all over the Bounty posters…"

"Oh ship, I would have forgot if you hadn't mentioned it!" Liam took a pair of scissors from his pocket, which he casually acquired from the previous encounter. With a snip-snap, Liam smiled at Robin with ill intentions, "I've always been curious. Since you're evading pursuit, why not change your appearance a bit?"

Robin's little face turned pale with fear. Was this person going to use scissors to ruin her face and completely disfigure her?

(End of this chapter)