Vice Captain of the Straw Hat Pirates

Next Day;

Cocoyashi Village, East Blue;

"So, what's the deal with Nami? No calls, no letters! Do you know how worried I was? Especially when we have transponder snails to contact Nami."

Nojiko held Liam's nose hard and shouted in his face.

Looking at her worried expression, Liam couldn't say anything. After all, it made sense for her to be worried.

If there were no communication between them, it wouldn't be a problem. But since both sides had communications, he didn't understand why Nami hadn't contacted Nojiko.

He still remembered how she used to call her sister every day through a secure line.

After all, he had slept with Nami many times and seen her talking to Nojiko.

Finally, he apologized.

"I'm sorry, Nojiko. I am busy these days and don't know why Nami hasn't contacted you. But believe, she will contact you as soon as I return to the ship."

Nojiko reluctantly let go of her hand. She was just having fun. If she didn't know the relationship between Liam and Nami, she would have never been this casual with him.

After all, Liam was a big pirate with the bounty of 2.5 Billion Berries.

It was certainly a force that could shake the world. She wouldn't even dream of pinching the nose of someone like him.

But because of his relationship with Nami, she learned a lot about him. And, because of their daily conversation, she also learned a lot about the crew.

So, despite their position in the world, she didn't fear them.

"So, what brought you here? And, you didn't come with the crew."

Nojiko asked.

"We have a situation at hand. My friend can teleport me and others to different parts of the world, which makes it easier to handle this situation."

"Sanji's family is targeting Baratie. You don't know him. Just think of his family as our enemies. So, in the future, if someone does tell you that he is a family member of one of our crew, don't trust him immediately."

Liam replied.

Hearing that, Nojiko was stunned. She grew up with a woman who adopted her. Before that, she didn't have that much memory of her childhood.

But even someone who adopted her could be so good to her, so she didn't understand how could someone's family be his enemy?

(A/N- I don't know if Nojiko had a good life before the war that destroyed the kingdom and made them homeless. So, I am just using what I have to write their understanding.)

Seeing her look, Liam was puzzled.

"What? Did someone come here before?"

Nojiko came out of her daze and shook her head.

"No, I just can't imagine families being enemies."

Only then did Liam understand the situation and sigh.

"You don't know much, Nojiko. In this world, many times, foster fathers are better than their own fathers. The one who brought me here has a daughter who isn't his daughter by blood."

"But he is willing to sacrifice his life for her. But you know Usopp, right? His father is a real piece of shit. That guy abandoned Usopp and his wife just to become a pirate."

"What's even worse is that when she died, he neither showed up for her nor his son, even though he just partying a few islands away from Usopp's home. Sanji's true father is even more of a scum than this guy."

Hearing that, Nojiko absentmindedly sat next to him and curled her legs. She wrapped her arms around her legs and said.

"It's hard for me to imagine that. Because all my life that I can remember, I have only one mother who gave me a good life. It wasn't perfect. We weren't rich."

"But I never felt bad. When I lost her devastated. I couldn't understand why Nami would join someone like Arlong, who killed our mother, but I knew she would not do it without a reason."

"When I found the reason, my mood got worse. I always stayed out of trouble, but that moment made me realize that I was just a coward, unlike my sister."

"I tried to help other people, stop them from throwing their lives away. After you guys came and saved us, I started living alone, but this made me miss Bellmere even more."

"Despite our difficulties, I couldn't imagine having a bad parent."

Hearing that, Liam raised his hand and rubbed her head.

"Sometimes, that's how the world is. I'm glad that you and Nami found Bellmere. But I am also glad that Bellmere found you two. Because you two gave her a motivation to keep living."

"She was a marine, a good marine, but she couldn't save those innocent people that day. She must have been devastated. You two gave her a hope to live on."

"Nami and you are different. You don't have to compare with her because sometimes, comparing yourself with others can be quite annoying."

"No matter how strong we become, no matter how rich she gets, she will never forget her sister. Just wait for her to return."

Knock! Knock!

At this moment, there was a knock on the door.

"Liam, I have found their location."

Kuma spoke from outside the house as his body was too big to enter through this door.

Liam stood up and looked at Nojiko. He hesitated for a moment, which Nojiko saw and said.

"Come on, are you trying to confess to me?"

"No, no, I won't cheat on your sister." Liam hurriedly shook his head.

"Then, why are you hesitating so much?" Nojiko rolled her eyes and asked.

Liam took a deep breath and said.

"There will soon be a war. After that war, I will disappear from this world. I don't have a choice here. So, once I disappear, your sister might do something risky and insane."

"So, try to convince your sister to stay calm and forget about me. Don't worry, I am not going to die, but I can't come back either. I can't tell her. So, you have to do it for me."

Nojiko froze for a moment. As much as Liam tried to explain, she still felt confused.

But before she could react, Liam had already disappeared.

"Wait!"

Nojiko shouted, but Kuma and Liam had already left the island.

No matter how hard Nojiko tried, she couldn't find Liam.

'Damn it!'

Nojiko stomped on the ground and angrily snorted before sighing with helplessness.

She couldn't do anything. If it was something Liam couldn't solve, how could she solve it?

But she also wanted Liam to confess this to her sister.

After all, she knew her sister well enough. If he did disappear without telling her anything, she might do something crazy.

At this moment, Liam and Kuma were floating above sea level. Liam was using Geppo while Kuma was using a bubble.

"You should know that everyone in the crew knows about your situation, right? Then, why don't you explain to them your situation?"

Kuma gently asked.

Liam shook his head and said.

"Kuma, if Ivankov didn't give you that encouragement, would you have ever thought of going against the World Government?"

"Maybe you would. But you definitely wouldn't have taken action. You might even die to save someone."

"But imagine if you didn't have that Devil Fruit there. Could you still have the ability to escape from the hands of the World Government?"

Kuma suddenly turned silent.

Liam continued.

"It's not that I don't want to say it, but they don't understand it. I don't even understand what's truly happening to me. Just yesterday, I felt half of my hand disappear."

"Only then did I realize that I was living a normal life back in my world. But since a major part of the soul of my original body has transferred to this body, that body is having a hard time living a normal life."

"Right now, he doesn't know that's going on with him. He doesn't know whether he is slowly dying or not. His depression is consuming him."

"He is finishing his college, but because of his problem, he doesn't even want to get a job. He is so depressed that he sits in front of his computer and waits for a new episode just fill his heart."

"That made me realize something. I might be having a good life here. But I didn't even realize just how hard my other life is there."

"If I don't return, he will die of depression. Even if I do change my mind and keep the timeline the same, I still have no choice but to return."

"But once I return, I can't come back."

Liam turned his head towards Kuma and spoke with a serious expression.

"Kuma, my presence in this world was a bug, an anomaly, something that is seriously breaking the timeline of this world."

"I am causing problems in both worlds. I have to make a choice. I have to fix this."

.............

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