VIP Shoutout: Massive thanks to A P and Sahaib Ibrahimfor joining the Inner Circle!
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"Robin, are you operating alone today? Where's your guardian?"
Kaitou Kid looked at the boy across from him and asked with a smile.
"Batman has more important things to do. Dealing with you doesn't require his involvement."
Robin snorted coldly.
"And besides, Batman is not my guardian!"
As he declared this, he swung his long staff and charged at Kaitou Kid.
Robin's staff technique was remarkably sharp, fast, precise, and ruthless, each strike aimed squarely at vital points.
Kaitou Kid dodged by the narrowest of margins.
Seeing this, Robin's attacks grew even fiercer, leaving Kaitou Kid almost no room to retreat.
Interesting.
Kaitou Kid's movements look frantic on the surface, but he always avoids the strikes at the last possible moment. That means his reflexes are outstanding, but he lacks real combat experience.
As Kaitou Kid continued to evade every blow, Robin analyzed the situation in his mind.
"Then let's see if you can dodge this one."
Robin twisted the end of his staff, and sparks of electricity suddenly flared from both ends.
He attacked Kaitou Kid again, even faster than before.
With a sharp whoosh, the sparking staff came within centimeters of Kaitou Kid's face.
Clang!
At the critical moment, Kaitou Kid raised his Card Gun and barely managed to block the strike.
"Hey, isn't this thing a little too dangerous?"
Kaitou Kid complained, eyeing the crackling sparks at the tip of the staff with lingering fear.
A mysterious smile appeared on Robin's face.
"There's something even more dangerous."
Seeing that expression, Kaitou Kid sensed trouble and hurried to retreat.
But before he could move, Robin's staff suddenly split into three short sections, linked together by thin metal chains.
The foremost section whipped toward Kaitou Kid's neck in a way that seemed almost impossible.
In the next instant, Kaitou Kid's body jerked violently as electricity surged through him.
With a heavy thud, Gotham's rising phantom thief, who had toyed with the GCPD time and again, collapsed to the ground and lost consciousness.
Robin approached cautiously, step by step. Even when he reached Kaitou Kid, there was still no sign of him waking up.
The unconscious Kaitou Kid still had a steady heartbeat. He was a real person, not a dummy.
What? I thought Kaitou Kid would be harder to deal with. Is this all he's got?
Looking down at the thief lying face down on the ground, Robin did not know whether to feel pleased or disappointed.
I went through so much trouble and stayed up so many nights for this guy, only for him to be taken down in a few moves…
Robin let out a hollow sigh and took a pair of Bat-cuffs from his belt, preparing to restrain Kaitou Kid.
"Wait. Something feels off."
Just then, Samantha, who was standing nearby, spoke up.
"What?"
Robin looked at her in confusion.
"This place… it feels strange. Like something is missing…"
Samantha said uncertainly.
"Something is missing?"
Robin quickly scanned the surroundings.
Aside from himself, Samantha, and Kaitou Kid lying on the ground, there was nothing else.
But there had not been much here to begin with, so what could possibly be missing?
"I remember now. It's William. William is gone!"
Samantha cried out.
William, who had been lying on the ground just moments earlier, had vanished.
How could a living person disappear into thin air like that?
"Huh? No…"
Suddenly, Robin realized something.
He quickly flipped over the unconscious Kaitou Kid.
Sure enough, the face that appeared before Robin and Samantha was William's.
No wonder "Kaitou Kid" had been lying face down. The white cape on his back concealed the difference in build between William and the real thief, making it impossible to tell them apart in the darkness.
"This… how is this possible?"
Robin stared at the unbelievable scene in shock.
The person he had just fought had definitely been Kaitou Kid himself, and Robin had kept his eyes on him the entire time. He had never left Robin's sight from the moment he was electrocuted and collapsed.
There was no way Kaitou Kid could have had the time to dress William up as his double.
And when had the two of them switched?
He could not figure it out at all.
The situation before him was completely beyond Robin's understanding.
None of the scientific logic he relied on could explain what he was seeing.
"Does Kaitou Kid really know magic?"
Robin thought in disbelief.
"When you encounter something you can't understand, you just call it magic. Is that how Batman taught you?"
A voice echoed from all around.
"That's Kaitou Kid's voice."
Robin kept scanning the area, trying to locate him.
Flutter.
A strange sound came from above.
"He's up there!"
Robin tightened his grip on his three-section staff and looked up.
Then he saw it.
A white pigeon...?
Not Dove from Hawk and Dove, but a pure white pigeon.
"No, not just one…"
Robin murmured.
The first pigeon hovered overhead. A second flew in from slightly to the left, a third from farther away.
A fourth, a fifth, a sixth… countless white pigeons came from every direction, gathering and circling above Robin.
When no more pigeons appeared, the flock descended together and clustered tightly.
And in the very center of that flock, where there had been nothing just moments before, Kaitou Kid's figure appeared out of thin air.
The sight before them was so astonishing that Robin and Samantha stood speechless for a long time.
"Robin, I've heard that you, like Batman, enjoy thinking of yourself as a great detective. In that case, listen carefully~~"
With his back to Robin, Kaitou Kid turned his head slightly, a proud smile playing on his lips.
"If a phantom thief is a creative artist, then a detective is nothing more than a critic who follows behind, nitpicking at everything."
"What did you say?"
Robin caught the disdain in Kaitou Kid's tone and felt a surge of anger.
He snapped his three-section staff back into a single long staff and charged straight at Kaitou Kid, who stood surrounded by the pigeons.
A second later, Robin burst through the flock and emerged on the other side.
Not only had he failed to touch Kaitou Kid, he had also startled the birds.
Coo, coo, coo~~
The white pigeons fluttered and scattered.
And Kaitou Kid was already gone.
Only a white card drifted down to Robin's feet.
"I'll be taking the emerald necklace. Until next time, little bird of the Bat Family."