The aftermath of the brutal battle had left Marine Branch 329 in ruins.
In the reception room, Captain Bakko, the highest-ranking officer of the branch base, greeted the two Rear Admirals with tears practically streaming down his face, vigorously shaking Nao's right hand.
"You're simply too powerful, Rear Admiral Nao!"
"I saw everything just now with my own eyes. Thanks to you, otherwise, our Branch 329… if it had been overrun by pirates, the consequences would have been unimaginable!"
His emotions were incredibly genuine, his voice even changing pitch from excitement.
Nao struggled to pull away from the man, his eye twitching as he looked at the liquid on his hand, unsure if it was snot or tears. Gion, standing nearby, found it quite amusing.
"As fellow Marines, providing support is simply part of our duty. There's no need to thank me so much."
Suppressing the urge to kick the guy, Nao sat down on the sofa, crossing his legs, and looked at Bakko, shaking his head slightly.
"Besides, Captain Bakko helped me out a little once, so I'm just returning the favor this time."
Helped you out a little?When did we ever meet?
Captain Bakko stared blankly at Nao. He only knew that the man before him was a newly transferred Rear Admiral and Deputy Base Commander from Headquarters, and they shouldn't have had any dealings with each other…
"When you first saw me, that's when you saw him," Gion said calmly, sipping her tea.
"Huh?"
Bakko immediately froze.
When did I first see Gion?
He remembered it very clearly, about half a year ago. That day, the entire Branch 329 Base was in an uproar due to the arrival of that renowned beauty from Headquarters.
He had been incredibly excited then, too, but Gion had remained cold and distant throughout, never giving him a chance to build connections, which he found quite regrettable.
The same day, then…
Bakko looked at Nao again. The strikingly handsome face before him suddenly overlapped with a somewhat blurry figure from his memory. His eyes widened, and he cried out in surprise:
"It was you!"
That brat who disturbed his peaceful sleep and demanded a ship in the middle of the night!
Was it really that hard to recognize me?
Nao picked up his teacup, feeling a bit speechless.
However, it had been at night, the light wasn't clear, and his appearance and demeanor had changed quite a bit in the past half-year. Now, wearing the white Justice cloak, exuding the dignity of a Marine Rear Admiral, it was understandable that Bakko didn't make the connection immediately.
But…
Nao glanced at Momousagi, chuckling inwardly.
Bakko probably never imagined that the Gion he saw back then was also him.
"R-Rear Admiral…"
Bakko's heart was uneasy, a fawning smile plastered on his face. He stammered, "Th-that night, I failed to recognize your identity, and my attitude was… a little problematic. Please… please understand…"
How disappointing.
Nao saw his reaction and inwardly shook his head. Before the meeting, he had thought that with Bakko's brilliant achievements over the past six months, his strength and character might have improved, perhaps even transforming like Koby.
He hadn't expected him to still be this insufferable.
"No need for that, Captain. I'm just a little nostalgic seeing an old acquaintance; I'm not here to settle scores," Nao waved his hand, not wanting to deal with this guy any longer. After finishing his tea, he turned to Gion and smiled, "It's rare to be back on Gull Island. Want to look around together?"
"What do you mean 'back'? I've never been here," Gion gave him a sideways glance, but still stood up and stretched. "Whatever you want, let's go."
She naturally extended her long, fair right hand, and Nao, as if already accustomed to it, grasped her hand.
Their fingers intertwined, they walked out the door closely, stepping onto the snow outside, leaving Bakko with two receding figures.
Huh?
Bakko's eyes nearly popped out of his head in shock.
What's going on? The two Rear Admirals of the First Branch Base are actually a couple????
The other Marines from Branch 329 nearby looked enviously at Nao's disappearing figure.
Having seen Gion half a year ago, they were already captivated by this famous beauty from Headquarters, long since charmed by her grace and charisma.
They never expected that upon meeting her again, she would already be taken.
A sour atmosphere permeated the reception room. After recovering from his astonishment, Bakko sat on the sofa, his eyes flickering. He pondered for a moment, then suddenly stood up and left the reception room.
Walking down a long corridor, he went straight back to his room.
He locked the door, went to the window, cautiously peered left and right, and only after confirming that Nao and Gion had gone far, did Bakko retrieve a miniature Transponder Snail from his bedside table drawer.
The Transponder Snail was entirely dark blue with black stripes, a rare type that encrypted calls, making them extremely difficult to eavesdrop on.
After the "buruburu" sound rang for a long time, someone finally picked up the phone.
"How are things? Did you escape?"
A deep, mellow male voice came from the other end.
"No, I didn't escape. Thanks to those pirates' intention to 'fish,' they dragged it out until the First Branch's reinforcements arrived."
Bakko glanced at the floor by his bed, where he had prepared an escape tunnel earlier.
"But this time, shouldn't you give me an explanation? Why did Arkin, the one I killed before, have such a powerful older brother? I almost died by his hand, you know that?"
There was silence on the other end, then a voice spoke softly:
"What, are you questioning me?"
The voice was sinister. Even thousands of miles away, it made Bakko shiver. He suppressed the resentment in his heart and said cautiously, "Of course not, Mr. Corleone. I'm just saying… if we want our plan to succeed faster, maybe you could be a little more selective with the next targets—"
"That's not for you to remind me."
The man on the other end coldly interrupted him. After another moment of silence, he said faintly:
"Don't worry, this kind of thing won't happen again. Once the Marine's decision to transfer you to the First Branch is officially released, I will arrange a major achievement for you."
"If all goes well, you'll be promoted to Commodore and transferred to Marine Headquarters within six months at most."
"Major achievement?" Bakko paused slightly. "Are you finally planning to hand that girl over to me to…"
"Not her. It's too early for that." A "snap" sound came from the other end of the phone, as if the man had lit a cigarette. "Until we've squeezed every last drop of value out of her, there's no reason to discard that card just yet."
"Yes, I understand."
The call ended.
Thousands of miles away, on a small island, a blonde man of about forty or fifty casually tossed the Transponder Snail aside, lit a cigar, and left the room, heading into a secret chamber underground.
Inside the secret chamber.
A small figure was huddled in the corner, clutching her knees, her entire being seemingly swallowed by the shadows untouched by candlelight.
Hearing footsteps, she numbly raised her head, revealing a delicate and pretty face.
This was clearly a little girl, less than ten years old, with long, straight black hair, a pale and haggard complexion, wearing a worn, faded white dress. She had Seastone handcuffs on, and there were marks of beating on her body, with scabs that hadn't yet healed.
Her dark green eyes should have been beautiful and captivating, but at this moment, they were vacant and dull, without a trace of light.
"Lunch is done. Had enough rest, haven't you?"
Corleone surveyed the black-haired girl in the corner, exhaling a puff of smoke.
The black-haired girl pursed her pale, dry lips, remaining silent.
"Explain the Arkin situation this time."
Corleone didn't seem bothered. He narrowed his eyes and asked calmly, "Bakko almost died in this revenge operation. Did you know about the White Dove Pirates' connection to Arkin, and deliberately chose him as the target? Did you intend to use him to thwart my plans?"
The black-haired girl silently lowered her head, still offering no reply.
"Still so stubborn, even after being in my hands for half a year."
He sneered, slowly drawing a thin leather belt from his waist. "If you don't answer honestly, you know the consequences, don't you?"
Thwack!
With a sharp crack, the belt whipped out like a lightning-fast lash.
In the candlelight, the black-haired girl's frail body trembled violently, curling up painfully in the corner, yet she still didn't utter a sound.
"Are you going to talk, hmm?"
Several more lashes followed. Despite the girl's best efforts to dodge, her skin still broke, and blood welled out.
"You can really endure, Nico Robin."
Corleone sneered as he whipped her. "But while you can endure, your family might not, right? I had originally improved their treatment somewhat, seeing as you'd earned some merit recently. Now it seems it's time to put them back in the dungeon to suffer a bit…"
Family?
The belt rained down upon her, and little Robin, already numb to pain, felt her heart clench at the word. She instinctively bit her lip.
Ohara was destroyed. Everything was irreversible. All the familiar faces had perished in the fire. Only her aunt and cousin's family, whom she had finally reunited with after escaping, were her sole remaining relatives in this world.
Even if her aunt's attitude towards her hadn't been friendly back then, even if this man used their lives as a threat to keep her under his control, making her work for him, and thus tormenting her for half a year…
Ultimately, she couldn't abandon her aunt and sister to drift alone on this vast sea.
"I don't know, Mr. Corleone…"
Robin finally looked up and spoke, her voice hoarse and dry, sounding unlike her age: "I just followed your instructions. Arkin's pirate crew had a captain with a bounty of 23,000,000 Berries, which perfectly met your criteria. He was most suitable for providing Captain Bakko with military merit…"
"Oh? So it seems my previously set criteria were too broad, giving you too much freedom to improvise?"
A cold glint flashed in Corleone's eyes, and he whipped her again forcefully. "Whether you meant to or not, there won't be another chance like this. From now on, before identifying a target, you must first call and report to me, and I will make the decision, understand?"
Thwack!
This time he used all his strength. Little Robin was in so much pain she almost fainted. She curled into a ball, large beads of sweat constantly seeping from her forehead.
After a long while, she managed to move her lips with difficulty, weakly saying: "I understand, Mr. Corleone…"
"If I ever find you have ulterior motives again, what I'll use to whip you won't be my belt, but your sister's corpse."
He coldly snorted, retracted his belt, and tossed over a bounty poster and a small black pouch:
"Also, I've already chosen the next target for you. You'll follow the same procedure as before. Depart tomorrow, sneak onto their ship, and find a way to lead them to the designated sea area to kill them. Captain Bakko will be waiting there. Understood?"
"Yes, sir…"
As his footsteps faded away, Robin numbly watched him leave, then lowered her gaze to the bounty poster in her hands.
The pirate grinned wildly in the photo. Below, a bounty of 32 million Berries shimmered under the candlelight.
What a miserable soul. Soon to fall into Marine hands, become a corpse, and an indispensable entry in Bakko's ledger of achievements for climbing the ranks.
Perhaps being a corpse isn't so bad after all…
Little Robin lowered her head, scoffing at herself. She then opened the small black pouch. Inside were two familiar bags of powder. One package was labeled "Latest Research," "Enhanced Sedative," and the other "Disguise/Impersonation."
Another drugging this time?
Robin shook her head and closed her eyes. Memories from the past half-year flashed through her mind like a revolving lantern.
Sometimes she pretended to be a castaway rescued at sea. Sometimes she walked right into a bar and asked to join a pirate crew.
For the past six months, she had used all sorts of methods to get onto various pirate ships. With her frail and adorable appearance, she gained trust, only to turn around and betray these pirates, leading them into death traps, turning them into one battle merit after another…
The faces of those "comrades" in disbelief...
The screams and wails after having their necks twisted by the Hana Hana no Mi…
And Bakko's satisfied, smug laughter…
Like the whispers of a demon, they haunted her every night, every dream.
She was truly sick of this kind of life.
But besides abandoning her aunt and cousin's family, leaving them to fend for themselves, what other way did she have to escape this nightmare?
The Corleone family was the most powerful underground criminal organization in the West Blue. Weapons, slaves, and even Devil Fruits… there was nothing they wouldn't touch.
She even heard they recently made connections with powerful pirates in the New World…
No matter how she schemed or tried her best, how could she possibly stand against such a behemoth?
Whoosh…
A cold wind suddenly blew in from the narrow, cramped window.
The candle flickered, then went out—just like the fading light in the dark green eyes of the girl curled in the corner, swallowed by despair.