West Blue, Ohara. An elegantly decorated restaurant.
On a silver candlestick, the bright flames of several burning candles illuminated the only two guests in the dining hall.
Little Robin, dressed in a Gothic Lolita outfit, sat at the dining table. Knife and fork in hand, she stared blankly at the bespectacled man opposite her, her large, jet-black eyes filled with astonishment.
Across the table, Sherlock was methodically dealing with the cuisine on his plate. The movements of the knife and fork in his hands were brisk yet steady; even his most inadvertent small gestures revealed an unspeakable sense of nobility and magnificence. Under his clear lenses, a faint light shimmered in his deep black eyes. It seemed the food on the plate suited his palate quite well.
(I remember reading in a book that this kind of elegant and magnificent table etiquette was very popular in aristocratic circles many years ago. Could it be that Sherlock is the descendant of some great noble or royalty?)
Little Robin wondered inwardly. After all, this was the first time in her life she had seen someone eat in such a pleasing and eye-catching manner.
(Also...)
Looking at the plates that had already piled up into a small mountain on the table, a drop of cold sweat slid down Little Robin's forehead.
(This is also the first time I've seen someone who can eat this much. Phew... fortunately, I'm not the one treating him.)
Finishing the last piece of food on his plate, the Warlock elegantly wiped the corners of his mouth with a napkin and looked at Little Robin.
"Why aren't you eating, Robin?" Sherlock frowned slightly. "Does the food here not suit your taste?"
"No, no, no, I was just thinking about something." Little Robin snapped back to reality. She forked a piece of roast meat and put it in her mouth, and the expression on her face instantly froze.
(So delicious...) Little Robin, who usually ate coarse tea and plain rice due to her wicked aunt, was tasting such delicious cuisine for the first time today. She was stunned for a long moment before she began to gorge herself.
"Don't rush, eat slowly. I've booked this entire restaurant. No one will disturb your meal." Watching the little Lolita wolfing down her food, the filthy rich Sherlock adjusted his glasses calmly.
"Um, Sherlock." Little Robin swallowed the food in her mouth, her large blue-black eyes staring intently at the Warlock across from her as she asked again:
"Where exactly do you come from?"
Although Little Robin already considered Sherlock her close friend in her heart, she knew almost nothing about this "close friend's" specific background.
"Didn't I tell you that already?" Sherlock swirled the goblet in his hand; the burgundy grape juice reflected a captivating glow under the candlelight.
"I traveled here from the future."
"..." Little Robin put down her utensils and looked at Sherlock with a gaze full of resentment, remaining silent.
"Alright, alright, don't look at me with that look. I'm really not joking."
Little Robin wrinkled her nose at his words. "Really? Since you're from the future, then tell me what happens in the future."
"Hmm... I can't tell you that." Sherlock set down his goblet and gently pushed up his glasses, implying something significant:
"Because a certain [Scary Big Sister] once told me: people who spoil the story get their necks snapped while they sleep."
"What kind of excuse is that..."
Dark lines formed on Little Robin's forehead. She stopped looking at Sherlock and continued eating on her own.
(So stingy! If you don't want to say it, just say so. Why trick me like a child?!)
(But, 'Scary Big Sister'?) For some reason, when Sherlock said this, a very subtle feeling arose in Little Robin's heart.
It was as if that big sister had some special connection to her.
Looking at the Gothic Lolita across the table, who was burying her head in her food with an indignant look, the corners of Sherlock's mouth curbed up slightly. He was just about to explain something when his expression suddenly changed.
—Visual Transmission Mirror!
The ability of the Mirror-Mirror Fruit activated, transmitting the scene outside the restaurant directly into his mind. Sherlock was startled to discover that the restaurant he had booked had been inadvertently enveloped by a thick mass of fog.
That fog was the color of a rainbow!
"..." Sherlock narrowed his eyes slightly. He fell silent for a moment, turned his head to glance at Little Robin, who was still sulking, and sighed softly.
"Robin."
"What?"
Sherlock stood up and straightened his black trench coat. "I need to step out for a moment. You take your time eating."
"Oh, okay." Robin didn't think much of it and nodded obediently.
Sherlock took one last look at Little Robin, as if trying to etch the little one's appearance deeply into his mind. Then, without looking back, he left, leaving Robin alone to eat quietly.
A moment passed.
Suddenly, Little Robin's eating motion stiffened violently. For no apparent reason, an inexplicable palpitation rose in her heart, as if she had lost something important.
(Sherlock?!)
Little Robin took a deep breath. Without a word, she put down her utensils and ran quickly out of the restaurant. But when she arrived outside, what entered her vision was the familiar street, and a thin layer of rainbow-colored mist that was gradually dispersing.
"Honored guest, what is the matter?" Several waiters—who believed the customer with money is king—hurriedly gathered around with fawning expressions, evidently conquered by the Warlock's Berry offensive.
As if seeing a life-saving straw, Little Robin rushed forward, grabbed a waiter by his clothes, and asked anxiously, "Where did Sherlock go? Have you seen him?"
"Sherlock? Oh, do you mean that gentleman with the glasses?"
The waiter recalled briefly and answered, "Just now, a rainbow-colored fog inexplicably rose up here. That gentleman walked into the thick fog. Not long after, the fog began to dissipate, and the gentleman disappeared without a trace."
"Oh, right, he left a note for you." Saying this, the waiter handed over a neatly folded square of paper. Robin hurriedly took it and unfolded it to read:
[Forgive me, Robin. We will meet again. —Sarsalian Sherlock]
"Sherlock..."
Softly murmuring this name, Little Robin's face turned pale, and two lines of clear tears slowly flowed down.
Now, she had become just one person again.
The port of the neighboring village to Cocoyasi Village.
To expand its influence, the Goldglint Trading Company held a very lively trade festival locally every time they set sail, even featuring a traveling circus performance.
And since Anna had previously very generously "lent" Robin a considerable sum of money, the latter was able to take the two little lolis out to play unscrupulously.
Robin was someone who liked children very much. Looking at the innocent and pure smiles of the two little lolis, her heart, which was always tight with vigilance due to her own experiences, gradually relaxed. A faint smile appeared on her face, which was usually as still as an ancient well, and she even temporarily threw the matter of finding a way back to the back of her mind.
Watching the circus, eating barbecue, buying gifts—in short, Robin led Little Nami and her sister Nojiko to experience almost all the delicious food and fun activities, making the two little ones shout with joy.
Happy times always pass quickly. Soon, it approached dusk. The sun slanted to the west, and several seabirds returning to their nests flew across the sky. Their crisp calls seemed to remind people: it is time to go home.
The three of them, a bit tired from playing, sat on the reef by the coast, gazing at the setting sun on the distant horizon, quiet and peaceful.
Under the shine of the setting sun, the sea at this moment looked as if it were draped in a beautiful golden veil. Blowing in the breeze, it fluttered with the wind, like a fairy dancing lightly.
"So beautiful~~~~" Little Nami and Little Nojiko exclaimed in unison.
"Yes, so beautiful." Robin rested her chin in her hand, her jade-like neck tilted slightly, and turned her head somewhat lazily to look at the two lolis sitting beside her.
"Did you have fun today?"
"Yes! Very much!!" Both lolis revealed huge smiles.
Nami glanced at the gift bag placed beside her, little stars twinkling in her eyes. "How wonderful it would be if every day was like this."
"You're thinking too beautifully. Big Sister can't take us out to play like this every day." Nojiko hugged her knees. "Besides, our family doesn't have that much money."
However, because of this inadvertent remark from Nojiko, the brilliant smile hanging on Nami's face slowly darkened.
"Yeah, Bell-mère's family is very poor, and she became even poorer after adopting us."
Little Nami lowered her head and whispered, "Nojiko, sometimes I think, since we aren't related by blood anyway, if we hadn't been picked up by Bell-mère back then, but adopted by a rich person like Big Sister instead, would that have been better?"
Hearing this, even someone as calm as Robin was slightly stunned, and Nojiko cried out in direct surprise, "Nami, wh-what are you saying?!"
"Isn't it true? If Big Sister were our mom, we wouldn't have to wear old clothes, we could be happy like today every day, and I wouldn't have to go to the bookstore to steal books."
Perhaps because she had spoken the thoughts hidden deep in her heart, Little Nami's voice suddenly rose, and her tone became agitated.
"And, without us two burdens, Bell-mère's life would be much freer. She could buy new clothes, eat delicious food, and do the things she likes."
"Maybe... maybe..." Speaking to this point, Little Nami's nose stung, and tears faintly shimmered in her eyes.
"Maybe our family meeting each other was a mistake in itself!"
Whoosh~~~~~ A gust of sea wind blew past, lifting the hair of three people with very different moods.
"Nami..." Nojiko fell silent. She lowered her eyes, feeling very bitter in her heart. Because although Nami's words were a bit willful, every sentence was true, leaving her, as the older sister, unsure of what she should say.
Sighing lightly, Robin was originally a woman of few words, but now she understood that she had to say something.
"Nami, do you know? Actually, I envy you very much. I envy that you have a good sister and a foster mother who loves and cherishes you."
The two little lolis were stunned at the same time and looked at this kind-hearted big sister in confusion.
"Because when I was two years old, my mother left me for work reasons. She was gone for six years." Robin looked up at the sky, revealing her neck, slender as a swan's, her heartbreakingly beautiful face full of reminiscence.
"By the time I was eight, when my mother came back, I had even forgotten what she looked like."
"Then did you meet your mom, Big Sister?" Nojiko asked aloud.
"Yes, we met." Robin paused here, countless images flashing through her mind: the towering tree burning in raging flames, the frozen bearded giant, the Government agents wearing sunglasses...
"However, that was also the last time we met."
Robin's tone was very flat, as if she weren't telling her own story, but both little lolis heard a faint sorrow in it.
"The last time?" Little Nami was stunned at first, then she covered her mouth in shock, her gaze toward this charming woman becoming increasingly sympathetic.
"Family, home, a mother's love... Heh, these things are simply too far away for me."
Nico Robin shook her head with a bitter smile. Then she reached out and rubbed Nami's silky orange hair, whispering, "Even without blood relations, even if life is poor, compared to my childhood, you are already very lucky, aren't you?"
"Don't wait until you lose it to understand how to cherish it."
Wiping the tears from the corners of her eyes, Nami lowered her head with a look of guilt, remaining silent, seemingly reflecting on her previous remarks. Watching her sister, Nojiko smiled knowingly.
Just then, a very familiar voice suddenly came from the distance.
"Nami! Nojiko! What are you doing here?"
The two little lolis looked back and found their foster mother standing in the middle of the road not far away. Genzo, who had been dragged along as a coolie, was standing to the side pulling a cart of daily necessities, the pinwheel on his police cap spinning in the wind.
"Bell-mère?!" X2
They hurriedly ran over and plunged headfirst into Bell-mère's arms, hugging her tightly. Their passionate behavior greatly puzzled their foster mother.
"Alright, alright, why are you two so affectionate today?" Stroking the heads of her two precious daughters, Bell-mère took back the scolding words she had prepared and asked in confusion, "Didn't I tell you to watch the house? Why are you so disobedient? Also, who was the woman sitting with you just now?"
"Ah, that Big Sister said she was a friend from when you were in the Marines. she brought me and Nami here to find you." Nojiko turned her head, only to find that Robin had disappeared in the blink of an eye.
"Strange, where is Big Sister?"
"Yeah, I clearly saw a person there just now?" Genzo was completely confused. "Besides, aren't your mother's friends from back then all..."
"Enough, Genzo, let's not mention those things for now."
Bell-mère stood up and pointed to the cart beside Genzo. "Today is a big haul! Let's have a feast tonight!"
"Wow! Long live Bell-mère!"
"Genzo, you come too. You really worked hard today," Bell-mère laughed.
"Ah~~~~ That's embarrassing, hahahaha."
Little Nami looked teasingly. "Eh? Uncle Gen is shy."
"He's shy, he's shy," Nojiko chimed in from the side.
"Aaaaaah, you two brats! Nami, I haven't settled the score with you for stealing books today!" A certain police officer flew into a rage out of humiliation.
Under the setting sun, the air was filled with laughter and joy.
On the other side.
(It's so good to have family... But a woman like me who only brings misfortune will probably never possess such a thing in this life.)
Hiding behind a reef not far away, Nico Robin listened to the laughter gradually fading into the distance and silently closed her eyes.
(Family, partners...)
Thinking of partners, abruptly, the image of a somewhat old small sailboat with a sheep's head figurehead floated into Robin's mind. The black pirate flag with a straw hat printed on it flapped in the sea breeze. In a trance, she seemed to hear that strange "Dereshishishi" sound again, startling her into hurriedly opening her eyes.
Then, this exquisite beauty was surprised to discover that a mass of thick fog was drifting over from the distance, shaped like seven colors, resembling a rainbow.
"This mist, is it here to take me back? Back to that small boat."
Robin composed herself, then walked calmly toward the rainbow-colored mist. At the same time, a thought she had never had before rose in her heart.
(Partners... is it?)
Thinking and thinking, the corners of Robin's mouth subconsciously hooked up into an elegant arc.
That smile was very sweet, very beautiful.
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