While Kael was trading blows with Sakazuki and Kuzan in that earthshaking clash out on the sea, at the other end of Ohara, on the brink of ruin, another life-or-death escape was unfolding in the burning forest.
A gigantic figure crashed through the trees, each step making the ground tremble.
The giant, Saul, was running as carefully as a giant could. He cupped a tiny girl in his broad palm, using his body as a living shield to block shrapnel, flying branches and splintering trunks for her.
Boom.
Another shell detonated nearby. The searing shockwave rolled through the trees, igniting everything in its path.
Saul grunted, his back scorched black by the flying embers, but his pounding strides never slowed.
"Please, Saul…" The girl in his hand, Robin, was crying so hard her voice was breaking. Her small fingers clutched his clothes like a lifeline. "Mama… Mama still hasn't escaped!"
It felt like an invisible hand gripped Saul's heart and squeezed hard enough to stop his breath.
He looked back once. In the distance, the Tree of Knowledge was swallowed by sky-high flames, and out at sea, towering icebergs and blazing magma shells filled the horizon.
Why? Why are the Marines doing this… why are Kuzan and the others…
Olvia's last words echoed in his ears.
"You must let Robin live!"
He did not dare stop. He definitely could not turn back.
"Robin, you have to believe in your mother." Saul tried to comfort her with his trademark laugh, but his voice was heavy in a way he could not hide.
"We'll find a safe place to hide first. When this is all over, you'll see her again."
Behind them, the shouts and gunfire of pursuing Marines grew closer and closer.
Saul knew he was too conspicuous. With Robin in his hand, neither of them would ever outrun the Marines in the forest.
He grit his teeth and burst out of the burning trees, stumbling onto a relatively hidden stretch of rocky shore.
There, an old, abandoned fishing boat lay beached among the rocks. In the storm of Buster Call bombardment, it had somehow survived by luck alone.
Saul gently set Robin down in the cabin, speaking in the softest tone his booming voice could manage.
"Robin, stay here and hide. No matter what, do not come out, and don't make a sound. I'll go lure those bad guys away and come right back."
Robin nodded hard, tears still hanging on her lashes.
Saul gave her one long, lingering look, as if he wanted to carve her face into his soul.
Then he turned away, let out a roar, and charged off in the opposite direction from the boat, dragging all pursuit with him.
Curled up in the cramped cabin, Robin peered through the gaps between the planks, watching Saul's huge back vanish into smoke and fire.
Endless fear and exhaustion crashed over her. Hugging her knees to her chest, she cried and cried until she finally fell into a heavy sleep.
…
She did not know how much time had passed when broken fragments of voices dragged her out of the nightmare.
"Moria, seriously, this is the ship you spent all that effort talking up?"
A lazy, faintly disgusted male voice drifted over.
Robin's heart clenched tight. She crept up carefully and pressed her eye to a wider crack in the boards.
In the light of the setting sun, three figures stood on the beach, looking her way and openly judging the decrepit fishing boat she was hiding in.
It was them.
The three weird uncles who had chased her through the forest.
Robin's mind went blank.
Saul had told her: the ones who caused that chaos at the harbor, who even defeated a Marine Vice Admiral, were these three.
"Gihihihihi… you should be glad there's anything left at all." Moria's odd laugh carried a trace of helplessness.
"Most of the ships were sunk by Marine cannon fire. Even their warships got sliced in half by that guy over there, remember?"
The man with the black sword on his back, Mihawk, glanced off to the side, his expression just the tiniest bit awkward.
Robin yanked her head back at once, ice-cold fear flooding her. She crawled toward the very back of the cabin on hands and knees, where there was an old wooden storage chest for smoked fish and dry rations.
She pried the lid open with effort, squeezed herself inside, then carefully pulled it shut, leaving only a hairline crack.
Darkness wrapped around her, but right now, that darkness was the only thing that made her feel even a little safe.
She heard their footsteps thudding across the deck overhead. To her, every step sounded like a boot on her chest.
"Think there might be any Ohara survivors hiding on this tub?" Moria's voice rumbled right above her.
Robin's heart leapt into her throat. She clamped both hands over her mouth, barely daring to breathe.
The air inside the chest was thin and stale, and the crushing fear made her head spin with suffocation.
"How could there be?"
That lazy voice spoke up again, full of unshakable confidence.
"Gihihihi, and how exactly are you so sure?"
"Relax." The voice's owner sounded like he was stretching, utterly at ease. "I already swept the whole place with my Observation Haki. Not a soul onboard. Not even a mouse. It's squeaky clean."
Hearing that, Robin's nerves, stretched to the breaking point, finally loosened just a little.
She sagged against the inside of the box and gulped down the stale air like it was the sweetest thing in the world.
Safe…
They hadn't found her.
The moment that thought formed, there was a soft click.
The lid of the chest was pulled open from outside in one smooth, decisive motion.
Blinding light flooded in. Robin flinched, raising her hands to shield her eyes.
Through her fingers, she saw a handsome face leaning down close, golden irises gleaming with mischief.
Kael crouched there, smiling with harmless warmth at the tear-streaked, terrified little girl packed into the box.
"Just kidding.
Got you, Robin-chan."
…
"Gihihihihi… Kael, look what you did." Moria's laugh was tinged with gloating. "You scared the poor girl so badly she passed out."
The harmless smile on Kael's face froze for a second. He coughed lightly, straightened up and protested with serious dignity.
"'Scared'? Excuse you. How could a gentle and handsome big brother like me possibly scare anyone?"
He adjusted his collar and put on a perfectly natural expression.
"This kid has had her mind and body pushed to the absolute limit. Now that she finally feels safe, she's just relaxed enough to fall asleep."
At that moment, Mihawk stepped calmly out of the cabin.
Kael leaned around him and caught a glimpse of Robin's arm, now carefully wrapped in clean bandages.
Kael slung an arm around Mihawk's shoulders and clapped him firmly.
"Not bad, Little Hawk. A proper ship's doctor, through and through. Solid professional skills."
Mihawk's hawk-like eyes slid his way, full of naked rejection.
Kael chose to ignore the look entirely and pushed further, speaking as if it was the most natural thing in the world.
"Oh, right. Since the doctor's work is done, the cook's work can follow. Go whip up a couple of dishes for me, I'm starving."
A vein throbbed at Mihawk's temple. His hand drifted, by habit, toward the hilt of Yoru on his back.
But as soon as he remembered that apocalyptic strike out on the sea not long ago, the hand that almost grabbed the sword quietly dropped away.
Kael raised an eyebrow.
Oh my God, a powerful crewmate who can cook, play doctor, and is tall, cool and handsome on top of that. This has to be a gift straight from the heavens.
If I can manage to recruit a few more like this, I wouldn't mind going for Pirate King myself. With full loot included.
On the side, Moria watched Mihawk's face darken to the color of burnt charcoal and burst into another round of "gihihihihi" laughter.
Right. Without Kuzan's mercy from the original timeline, could Saul really survive Sakazuki's onslaught this time?
That guy Sakazuki was practically venting his frustration by blasting magma shells across all of Ohara. Going full tilt at the drop of a hat. That mutt has issues.
Hope Saul makes it. Kael was already thinking he might need someone to swing by Elbaf later and pass a message to Gaban.
Stop wasting away in that cave, Gaban.
…
Robin did not know how much time passed before her consciousness clawed its way out of the dark.
She heard low voices, snatches of conversation, and the faint crackle of burning firewood.
Slowly, she opened her eyes and saw the dim, worn planks of the cabin ceiling.
The air was thick with the smell of food and a faint trace of medicine.
She shifted and felt a twinge in her arm.
Glancing down, she saw her wound carefully wrapped in clean cloth bandages.
She propped herself up and looked toward the source of the voices.
Not far away in the corner of the cabin, three men sat around a small fire.
Moria was hunched over a massive hunk of roasted meat, tearing into it like a starving beast. Mihawk, by contrast, was calmly slicing thin pieces of fish with a small knife.
Kael lounged against the hull, a bowl in his hand, but his gaze passed over the fire and settled quietly on her.
Their eyes met.
Robin's heart seized. She instinctively tried to shrink back into hiding, but her body refused to move.
Kael did not speak. He merely jerked his chin toward her side.
Following his gaze, Robin realized that at some point, someone had set a steaming bowl of meat soup and a small piece of bread beside her.
Her mind was still a mess, fear and confusion knotted together.
Just then, the boat rocked slightly. Through the round porthole, she could see the world outside.
A blood-red sunset was sinking into the sea, staining sky and water with a tragic orange glow.
Against that burning backdrop, Ohara's silhouette was vanishing in a curtain of flame.
The remains of the Tree of Knowledge stood like a colossal black torch, stabbing into the sky, silently protesting this unjust annihilation.
Mama…
Saul…
Every face, every voice, crashed down on her all at once.
Crushing grief and despair surged up like icy seawater and swallowed her whole.
Robin dragged her gaze back from the inferno and looked again at the three men before her.
They had walked out of the Buster Call's hellfire without a scratch. They had power. Power strong enough to shelter her in this brutal sea.
She thought of her mother, Olvia's, last words. Of the path Saul had carved out with his life so she could escape.
Live.
You must live.
If she let them go, what awaited her would be endless pursuits and betrayals.
A chill rose from the depth of her soul, making Robin's small body tremble uncontrollably.
She could not die here.
She had to live.
Robin scrambled off the hammock, staggered a few steps, and stood before the three men.
Under the slightly surprised gazes of Kael, Mihawk and Moria, she gathered every ounce of strength left in her body and dropped to her knees.
The cold planks bit into her knees, but she did not care.
For the first time, that tear-streaked little face showed a resolve far beyond her age, a resolve that would let her throw away everything else.
Tears that had been clinging to the corners of her eyes finally spilled over.
"I want to live!"
Her hoarse, cracking scream echoed through the tiny cabin.
"Please take me with you!"
"I'll do anything!"
"Anything?" Kael's expression did not change, but his tone suddenly shifted.
"In that case, please prove that every even number greater than two can be written as the sum of two prime numbers."
Robin's mind went completely blank.
The tears that had been about to fall just hung there at the edge of her lashes, frozen in place.
She knelt on the freezing deck, face smudged with dust and tears, staring up at the man in front of her, utterly lost.
Even Moria's "gihihihihi" laugh got stuck halfway up his throat and turned into a strangled wheeze.
Mihawk's eternally stoic face twitched, one eyebrow jerking upward.
The entire cabin fell into a weird, heavy silence.
"Just kidding. Just kidding."
The teasing light vanished from Kael's face. He crouched down to meet her eyes at the same level.
The mischief in his golden irises faded, turning into something calm and gentle, like still water.
He reached out and laid a large hand lightly on Robin's head, ruffling her brittle hair.
"What a stubborn little kid."
Mihawk watched, and his gaze turned complicated.
For a heartbeat, he almost thought Kael's next words would be that famous line: "Become my daughter."
Just like the time he himself had been told, in the same totally matter-of-fact tone, "Become my son."
In the end, Kael simply forgot to say any of it. He was busy appraising Robin with a critical eye.
The future Miss Nico Robin, pale, elegant and long-legged, was right now dark, skinny, and fragile, like some poor countryside child being abused by awful relatives. Pitiful did not even begin to cover it.
It wasn't like his villa could not afford one more mouth.
Raising a queen from childhood. Yeah, he could do that.
…
A battered fishing boat drifted across the endless sea.
Patches covered its hull. The sail was riddled with holes. The whole thing radiated such an air of poverty that passing pirate crews sometimes felt bad and tossed a bag of Berries onto the deck as charity before sailing on.
At the stern, Mihawk swung his blade at the sea without a change in expression.
Every stroke carved a deep trench into the water, and the recoil from each slash served nicely as propulsion for the miserable little boat.
From inside the cabin came Moria's occasional "gihihihihi" as he immersed himself in studying the secrets of shadows. From time to time, thin wisps of darkness seeped out of the gaps in the planks and slipped back in again.
On deck, Kael lay sprawled out, hands behind his head, sunbathing in the ocean breeze.
After several days together, Nico Robin had gradually let go of her initial terror and distrust.
In her small world, the three men who had saved her now all carried a strange little label.
Moria, terrifyingly huge but secretly kind.
Mihawk, cold and silent but secretly kind.
Kael, monstrously strong and always fooling around, but secretly kind.
The "Yasashii Trio" had officially assembled.
"Robin-chan, read today's paper."
"Roger that, Lord Kael."
Robin held a newspaper in both hands and read it out loud, one syllable at a time, her young voice still tinged with childish softness.
"'Red Count' Patrick Redfield clashed with Fleet Admiral 'Steel Bone' Kong at the entrance to the New World yesterday. Though he ultimately emerged victorious, exhaustion left him unable to resist the Marine hero Garp, who arrived shortly afterward and recaptured him. He has been returned to Impel Down…"
Finishing that section, Robin flipped the page. When she saw the photo and headline there, her small body trembled.
She drew a deep breath, and then, putting all her strength into it, recited the words as clearly and dramatically as she could.
"'Wave King' Kael Grylls!"
"Bounty: 4,198,000,000 Berries!"
"Dead or alive! Heinous and unforgivable!!!"
She emphasized those last four characters with especial force, her childish voice carrying a solemn awe.
"Cough." Kael couldn't help a wry smile. "You don't have to put that much feeling into 'heinous and unforgivable'…"
He sat up from the fishing net and stretched, joints popping crisply.
Then he turned to the stern where Mihawk was training and called out.
"Hey, Little Hawk. Mark down the route to Ohara."
Mihawk paused mid-swing and glanced over, hawk eyes full of puzzlement.
"After the Buster Call, it should be nothing but a barren island."
His tone was as flat as ever. A place the World Government had erased completely from the map should hold no value in going back to.
Kael did not explain much. He only smiled mysteriously.
"A few months from now, some very interesting people will be headed there."
Bro, I am literally a New Game Plus, full-achievement player.
Mihawk did not press him. Silently, he carved the coordinates of that sea into his memory.
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