Punk Hazard Research Institute's main base.
Robin sat upright in the boss's chair, handling one matter after another.
On a distant desk, hands with eyes growing from them were also flipping through different reports and documents at the same time.
Clearly, she was multitasking as she managed affairs for the entire team.
The captain was a hands-off manager who had no interest whatsoever in dealing with trivial matters.
Even after staying on Kuja Island for three days and fighting Hancock until heaven and earth seemed to turn upside down, he still had not come by to see her even once.
Instead, the moment the Revolutionary Army sent news, he directly ran off to Hachinosu to prepare for a confrontation with Red Hair.
Although she did not know how things would develop afterward, she was certain her captain would not lose.
So she continued handling the tedious and heavy workload with peace of mind.
To be honest, it was indeed somewhat dull and boring. Most of it was minor business, yet none of it could simply be ignored.
Among the team, Nami was focused on researching sea charts. Nojiko lacked that vision and ability, and preferred strengthening herself.
Vivi understood administrative work a little, but because she had little exposure and no experience, she could not yet shoulder major responsibilities.
When calculated carefully, she was the only one in the entire team who could support the position of central administrator.
Of course, Robin was not complaining.
Compared to the time when she had first joined Ren's crew, when there had been nothing she needed to do, the panic she had felt from being unnecessary and possibly abandoned—
The work she had now actually made her feel more secure.
At the very least, she was extremely certain that once this team left her, its operating efficiency would plunge by ninety percent!
So no matter what, there was no way she would end up abandoned.
Ren was not that kind of person either.
She was just a little… irritable.
Nami had already secured the position of main wife. Nojiko was her older sister, and as sisters, the two of them had almost taken control of the main positions in the entire system.
Then there was Vivi, Her Highness the Princess, who had joined the team at almost the same time as her and had also taken a seat within that system.
But she, who had basically joined this team at the same time, had still made no progress at all.
If that were all, then so be it. The key point was that there was someone who had come from behind and overtaken her.
Not Monet. To put it bluntly, that person was Ren's RBQ, someone who had completely given up on herself and become obsessed with pleasure.
It was Hancock!
Although Hancock was the world's most beautiful woman, and even Nami, after seeing her, was willing to admit that Hancock had one or two points where she surpassed her,
She herself was not bad either!
In terms of joining time, Hancock could not compare to her. In terms of contributions to the team, still no comparison. In terms of looks and figure, Robin was confident that she was at least on the same level.
Then why had things turned into her watching everyone else constantly enter that system while she herself remained excluded from it?
"…"
Robin signed Ren's name, but her pen paused there. Somewhat irritated, she sighed.
"Is it because I don't have enough contact with him… No, I've still seen him before. Then is it that I'm not proactive enough?"
"Proactive about what?"
A puzzled voice sounded beside her ear. Ren had arrived here through Combat Dispatch.
"Ren?"
Robin's heart startled. Then she quickly stood up and gave the captain her seat.
Ren did not stand on ceremony either. He sat down in Robin's seat at once and casually glanced at the document she had just signed.
"Cross Guild's?"
"Yes."
Robin thought for a moment, then reported, "The number of outsiders joining Cross Guild has increased. At present, there are roughly over ten thousand people."
"What's their composition?"
"Part of them heard of your deeds and came to follow you, hoping to join under your command and realize their ideals.
"But I tested them a little. Quite a few of them were former pirates. They probably saw the situation turning bad and disguised themselves to join."
"Deal with them. I don't like pirates."
"Understood."
"What else?"
"There are some who should be spies from the World Government. But there are also people coming over from the Marines. These two groups have mixed together."
"Not the ones who came after the Marineford War?"
"No."
Robin said, "While you were in closed-door training, the Marines attacked the NEO Marines. Kizaru took action and killed Zephyr.
"The NEO Marines were crippled. The remaining remnants were led by someone named Ain and joined Cross Guild.
"That person's Devil Fruit ability is very interesting. It is a kind of temporal regression. Taking the Reincarnation Pool into consideration,
"I had her join and arranged several Angels of Glory there. You can go over whenever you want.
"The World Government's spies also joined during that period under the identity of NEO Marine remnants."
"So it was her…"
Ren rubbed his chin, then said, "Have Stussy take the lead, with Smoker and Ain as executors. Find those spies and kill them all.
"Although I don't care much about those ants, it would still be troublesome if they caused some incident."
"Yes."
Robin did not say that this was exactly how she had been handling it. She only nodded.
"Besides that, there is one more matter to report."
"What?"
"The Revolutionary Army hopes to study Pluton's technology together with Vegapunk and achieve further breakthroughs."
"…Allowed."
Ren thought about it, then still permitted the matter.
After the Wano incident, Pluton had been handed over by him to Dragon and the others. Together with Pluton's blueprints and Tesoro's resources,
It could be said that the Revolutionary Army was already researching how to replicate Pluton.
Although at his current stage, whether or not he had Pluton no longer mattered, it was still better to be safe.
In any case, Tesoro had plenty of money.
As for what kind of weapon would result from the Revolutionary Army and Vegapunk joining forces, plus Tesoro's wealth, Pluton, and the blueprints—
He did not care about that either.
No matter what kind of weapon it was, it could not compare to him, the Blazing Sun himself.
"Is there anything else important?"
Ren asked. He did not pay much attention to the world's situation.
Robin truthfully reported what had happened recently. Aside from the shock brought about by various major incidents, there was actually not much else worth mentioning.
If one had to name one thing, it would be that… the Marines' World Military Draft seemed to have produced results.
A man codenamed Ryokugyu had joined the Marines and become one of the Three Admirals.
In addition, two Admiral candidates had also become part of the Three Admirals. Akainu was still in a "title-sealed" state for now, with no news.
Meanwhile, the World Government seemed to be making some moves, but she could not investigate the specifics. She only knew that it seemed to be related to Wano.
Cross Guild's momentum was extremely strong. After Whitebeard's death, the Whitebeard Pirates fell apart, and their territories were naturally plundered.
However, at that time, the Angel Legion appeared out of nowhere, waging war and slaughter everywhere.
After several large-scale battles, not only had they suffered no reduction in numbers, the number of angels had instead snowballed to tens of thousands.
Furthermore, elite angels made up more than sixty percent of them, and every angel possessed enough strength to single-handedly kill a pirate with a bounty in the hundreds of millions.
Even the weakest batch, in Robin's evaluation, were each monsters whose strength was close to the hundred-million level.
This was actually very normal. The angels were originally meant to snowball by feeding war with war.
Their experience accumulated at frightening speed, forming terrifying battle instincts. They were living metal beings to begin with, and also possessed the vitality of Zoan-Type Devil Fruit users.
Their weapons had also undergone several iterative upgrades. To speak only of recent developments, Vegapunk's satellites had equipped a small number of angels with laser cannons.
In their eyes, the existence of the angels utterly surpassed the Pacifista they had researched!
The combination of many factors formed a snowballing crushing advantage.
The result brought by an army of this scale and quality was that the small pirates of the New World had been completely swept clean.
Medium and large factions were also being wiped out one after another.
Even if powerful individuals appeared, they could not stop the other officers from intervening.
As of now, after Hachinosu had been uprooted, the New World basically had only two remaining Yonko territories.
The territory of the Beasts Pirates, and the territory of the Red-Haired Pirates.
But very soon, both would cease to exist.
At least Robin now knew that Red-Haired Shanks was already dead, and the Red-Haired Pirates basically no longer had anything worth fearing.
As for the Beasts Pirates, they were probably almost finished too.
Sure enough, after thinking for a moment, Ren said, "Draft a declaration. Use Shanks's death to tell the world
"That we are serious, and Cross Guild is serious as well. At the same time, announce the next… or rather, the next two Yonko's destruction.
"The content is very simple. Cross Guild will issue a hunting order in Wano.
"All pirates on that land must die beneath the hunt, until not a single pirate remains."
"Yes."
Robin immediately nodded. Then she asked, "Would this be too hasty?"
Ren shook his head. "No, it won't. I've already reached the level I envisioned."
As he said this, he suddenly slapped his forehead. "How is Kozuki Hiyori doing on Wano's side?"
"Although she has found others who still believe in the Kozuki family, she has yet to form a reliable army."
Robin quickly reported. Clearly, she had also been following up on that matter.
"At the very least, there are still quite a few people internally who refuse to accept her. They are all people who jumped out to fight for power after Kurozumi Orochi's death, but could not win against the Beasts Pirates."
"Is that so… Looks like I can go there ahead of time."
Ren rubbed his chin, then looked at Robin.
"During this period… No, I should say, all this time, you've worked hard.
"As captain, I think I have a duty to give you some reward. If there's anything you want, you can bring it up."
"Poneglyphs?"
"You were always going to get those. I mean something extra."
"…"
Robin stared at Ren for a long while, then suddenly said, "Did someone say something to you?"
"…Nami said you've been working very hard recently, and hoped I would do what a captain should do."
Ren froze for a moment, then explained the reason.
After he resolved the tsunami, he had spent some time with Nami and the others. He had originally planned to do something, and also learn about the outside situation while he was at it.
But… Nami pushed him over here with the reason: "If you want to understand the situation, go find Robin. Don't get in the way here. Also, pick up your captain's responsibilities and show some concern for your subordinate."
"So that's what happened."
The corners of Robin's mouth rose, revealing a bright smile. Then she swept up her long hair and sat on the office desk in front of Ren.
Although they were on a sky island ten thousand meters above the ground, the research institute's facilities were complete.
Her clothes today were no different from usual, all garments that could emphasize a woman's charm.
In fact, they were very simple. Her long hair was pinned up high, with a pair of orange sunglasses resting against her forehead.
A pure cotton white T-shirt covered her upper body, while her incomparably full curves pushed the fabric beneath the collar high.
Looking further down, there were pink hot pants so short they reached the very top of her thighs, wrapping around the alluring curve of her hips.
Her long, smooth, fair legs crossed together on the desk, roughly like this:
This was a very rare sight.
At least, it was rare in his interactions with Robin, because whenever they usually met, it was basically always due to various matters.
Ren paused. Then a look of sudden realization appeared on his face.
"You seem to have understood something, Ren."
Robin smiled slyly. Then, with a teasing lift of her leg, her shoe flew off, revealing a fair and delicate jade-like foot.
"I just didn't expect this particular angle."
Ren said honestly, "After all, turning everyone inside the team into my own women… doesn't that feel a little too, well, you know?"
"Then why not think about it the other way around?"
Robin moved slightly and used her ability, causing arms to bloom from the target within her line of sight.
"In a cohesive team, a small group has appeared within the larger group. That small group is also connected to the team's highest leader, making their relationship almost closer than everyone else's."
"As long as one joins that place, one becomes much more tightly connected than the other members. Under such circumstances, the person excluded from it would never be happy, no matter how you look at it, right?
"Of course, That is also because I don't dislike you. In fact, I even somewhat—like you."
Her tone suddenly shifted, becoming calm yet certain.
"Perhaps I should say I worship and admire you, and want to get close to you.
"You know my background and history, so you should understand what the World Government means to me.
"In the past, I never thought about overthrowing the World Government to avenge the people of Ohara, because in my eyes, that was something impossible.
"But now it is different, Ren. Your existence has allowed me to see a true inevitability.
"The World Government will inevitably collapse before you. The hatred I did not even dare imagine avenging can be paid back as long as I follow behind you."
"That's emotion, isn't it?" Ren was a little puzzled.
"Girls are like that. Creatures of emotion, while also possessing a rational angle."
Robin said softly, "A woman like me, who has experienced many things, considers matters in a more complicated way.
"But no matter how I think, no matter how I look at it, you are the best choice.
"Since that is the case, why hide it?"
She was very frank. In fact, she was almost excessively direct. After all, she was a woman approaching thirty.
Having experienced so much, someone as dark as her naturally would not have the ordinary love-struck mind of a common woman.
More practical things were what she thought about and needed.
And Ren undoubtedly fit those needs very well.
Absolute strength ensured that for the rest of her life, she would no longer have to live while being hunted.
That same absolute strength could also avenge Ohara for her.
His prophetic ability plus absolute strength gave her the chance to see the complete Void Century.
For example, she knew that another Poneglyph was on Fish-Man Island.
Putting aside the issue of being unfaithful, Ren had almost nothing that could be criticized.
The problem was, in this world, among those with any ability and status, which one of them did not have several wives?
It could be said that monogamy was the extreme minority in this world.
Robin, who had seen too much, naturally would not treat this as any major problem.
Besides, she also understood Ren's monstrous degree very clearly.
He was a man so outrageous that even Nojiko, a Zoan-Type ability user, said he was "a little too much to endure"!
(End of Chapter)