INIIDF-Chapter 129 Go Ahead and Scout

'Thinking about it now, that day on the flower ship… I might have been a bit greedy! Originally, I wanted to kill that scum Caesar with a single blow and be done with it, but if I killed him first, his Devil Fruit would disappear...'

By the lakeside, behind a rock, Liam gazed up at the starry sky, wearing his battle armor mask. Naturally, he wasn't regretting anything, nor did he feel like there was anything to regret. He was just bored and looking for something to talk about.

As for why he didn't go far away and mess around with the cute animals on the island since he felt bored?

The 'B.I.B.' mask had been taken off Robin's face by him, so naturally, he couldn't keep watch for her. The island was full of fierce beasts, and it was possible that the freshwater lake had water monsters, giant fish, and the like... Naturally, Liam wasn't at ease to go far.

Water splashed behind him in the lake, followed by Robin's voice: "Didn't you say you weren't interested in Devil Fruits?"

"Well, since I was already there, I figured I'd grab it and play with it a bit," Liam said indifferently. "Do you want it? I can swap it for you right now. Come to think of it, you've never experienced a Logia Devil Fruit, right? Elementalization is quite interesting, you know!"

The water splashed again. "No thanks, I quite like my Flower-Flower Fruit (Hana Hana no Mi)."

"Speaking of which, there's a theory about Devil Fruit "Awakening"! When a Paramecia fruit awakens, it can transform the environment into a similar "substance". Logia fruits probably work the same way…"

The water stopped for a moment, as if in thought. "So that's why your clothes can also turn into gas?"

"That's why I suspect that Logia fruits are naturally semi-awakened." Liam looked up at the starry sky. "If Vegapunk's theory is correct, and the power of Devil Fruits is tied to a special gene, then the awakening skill that allows you to transform the ground and buildings into different materials... Does that prove that at the most microscopic level, everything in this world has the same essence? Human flesh, cold stones, all containing similar genes? Is that why objects can consume Devil Fruits? A gun that eats a Zoan-type animal fruit isn't that much different from an awakening skill... even though Zoan-type awakenings don't work that way…"

'…' Robin sat on a stone in the shallow water by the lake, surrounded and scrubbed by many soft hands that she had conjured. She looked helpless as Liam once again started talking about things that went over her head. 

Awakening? Flesh and stones? Objects eating Devil Fruits? It all sounded like top-secret information, but he was speaking so casually, so indifferently... She continued washing, using petals produced by her Flower-Flower Fruit (Hana Hana no Mi) to bathe. 

'Can Flower-Flower Fruit (Hana Hana no Mi) awaken too? I wonder what that would be like...'

She thought about it... The ability of the Flower-Flower Fruit (Hana Hana no Mi) is to produce petals that can form parts of the user's body...

So, according to Liam's description of awakening... Could the Flower-Flower Fruit (Hana Hana no Mi) awakening allow one to turn stones, the ground, buildings, even trees into "flowers" of the Flower-Flower Fruit (Hana Hana no Mi)?

But how is that different from directly creating flowers...? Robin sweated a little at the thought. This kind of awakening skill didn't sound all that impressive...

But then she imagined the entire island, covered in a sea of flowers, turning into a giant version of herself... Robin thought for a moment and found the idea rather amusing.

...

Robin finished bathing, held out her hand, and waited for a moment, but there was no response from the 'ghost' on her body. She then remembered that, just before she got undressed and entered the water, Liam had waved his hand in front of her face... so that was when he took away the helmet on her armor, wasn't it?

'Liam, my clothes...' Robin finally had to ask for help."

A set of clean clothes quickly popped out from her chest area. Robin hurriedly caught them and changed in just a few moments. Even though one of her arms couldn't move, with the Flower-Flower Fruit (Hana Hana no Mi), she could have countless arms to help her.

Behind the rock, Liam stood up and removed the Stand mask from his face.

"In the name of the Father, I command you to go ahead and scout the way..." He murmured softly as he held the mask close, then, after a moment of silence, he tossed the Stand mask into the night sky. 

The pitch-black mask flew up about ten meters, its eyes glowing white. It hovered in the starry sky for a moment, floating in a ball of energy, then randomly picked a direction and flew off without looking back.

Robin, who had just come ashore, witnessed this scene but didn't understand what was happening.

"Splitting up!" Liam briefly explained. "Just a reminder, since the little black guy can't see or hear for you right now, be more alert on this island and take control of its power yourself..."

So it can be used like that? Robin was surprised and added another note in her mind to her understanding of Liam's ghost ability. She nodded, "I understand."

Liam had already shouted, took two steps, and then leaped towards the lake.

Robin sat behind the rock where Liam had been sitting earlier. 

Hearing the sound of a splash where Liam entered the water, different from where she had bathed, she thought to herself that although Liam appeared carefree, he actually paid attention to details... like how he had taken the ghost's "eyes" away earlier... 

As she was thinking this, she suddenly realized something was off—there was no sound at all coming from the water!

A minute later, Robin nervously watched as Liam, who had submerged in the center of the lake, suddenly burst out of the water, exhaling a large breath, and laughed, "I accidentally jumped too far and sank right away..."

The left arm of his armor, covered in blue flame patterns, shot out underwater, holding a Gasu Gasu no Mi (Gas Gas Fruit) chip taken from his body. It flew back to Robin's left arm, guided by its connection to the other armor components, and returned to its place.

Liam finished washing in two minutes. Robin noticed that her left hand was holding onto something invisible... 

She guessed that this might be the "Devil Fruit" Liam had taken out with his ghost ability... She played with the "air" in her left hand, transferring it to her right hand, but then heard Liam shout, "Hey, you dropped it!"

"Huh?" Robin panicked, quickly squatting down and groping around on the ground like a blind person, "Where did it drop?"

"Now it's really dropped..."

"..." Robin shot him an annoyed look, and he laughed, "You're pretty good at this! You even knew to switch it to your right hand. Well, it's already picked itself back up into your right hand."

Robin walked up to Liam and directly thrust her hand into his chest.

Having been stabbed before, now seeing it from this perspective, Robin found it quite amusing...

...

They stayed on the island for two more days.

Liam dealt with ordinary beasts using just his fists and feet.

When faced with powerful beasts, ones so fierce they could spar with Fourth Gear Luffy, Liam would use the Gasu Gasu no Mi (Gas Gas Fruit) to easily escape from danger.

Robin, on the other hand, was interested in exploring the ruins of human structures on the island.

"Based on the clues we've found, this island once had a human kingdom... However, in the laws of nature, human civilization lost to the island's animals and was eventually eliminated..."

Robin's small face showed a bit of sadness.

This is history. And this is the meaning of studying history... What is the truth behind the great kingdom during the "Void Century" that the professor spoke of?

"It's snowing." Liam extended his hand to catch a falling snowflake.

Robin looked up and saw the sky filled with large, fluffy snowflakes. The weather on the Grand Line was already strange, but the climate on this Calm Belt island was even stranger... When they first arrived on this island, the weather went from autumn-like to scorching summer, lasting about a week, and now it was suddenly snowing...

The snowflakes landed on the crown of a tree in front of them that resembled a giant white radish.

"The closer we get to this place, the fewer beasts there are. There isn't a single trace of animals near this tree..."

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