Robin's pov
It started with the way he didn't blink.
Most people blink when you look at them. Even the confident ones. Even the liars.
But not him.
White hair. Cold eyes. A quiet that wasn't shy — it was dangerous.
He'd been spotted three times in three ports. Never close. Never hostile. But always there. Lurking just outside their reach like a thought you try not to finish.
Robin noticed.
Robin always noticed.
She had lived with liars. Worked for murderers. Been hunted by governments and monsters. She knew the weight of people who watched from shadows.
This man—Kael—wasn't here to browse the market or drink in a tavern. He wasn't looking for help or food or company.
He was waiting.
For something.
Or someone.
She pulled a thread the next day.
A name overheard from a spooked merchant. Paid off with a soft smile and a few coins. Then another thread in a tavern — a grizzled bounty board manager muttering, "Shouldn't say his name too loud. Bad luck."
Kael.
It wasn't even a full name. Just that.
But it was enough.
The Archive Clue
At the next island stop, she slipped into a dusty marine post archive. Empty. Forgotten. The kind of place where old warrants and bounty logs were left to rot.
She cracked open a registry from three years ago. Then another. Then another.
There he was.
Kael the Ghost
Designation: Independent Contractor / Bounty HunterStatus: Unaligned — Denied Marine OfferThreat Assessment: Extremely Lethal. Strategic. High Escape Rate. Avoid confrontation.
Not a pirate.
But not a hero.
"They offered him a rank," Robin muttered, brushing fingers over the old file."He turned it down."
Another line caught her eye:
"Noted for efficient high-risk takedowns. Leaves no bodies in public. Suspected to have eliminated multiple pirate crews without Marine backup. Has no known allies."
And yet… here he was. Hanging around them.
The Straw Hats.
Robin closed the book gently. Her expression didn't change. But her mind sharpened like a knife.
She returned to the ship by sundown. Luffy was laughing with Chopper over something dumb. Nami and Usopp were yelling about treasure maps. Zoro snored on the upper deck. All normal.
Too normal.
She passed by Luffy, pausing slightly.
"Hey, Robin!" he grinned. "You look all thinky. You got one of those history headaches again?"
"Something like that," she replied softly. "Say, Luffy… that man who's been watching us?"
"Oh, ghost-hair guy? Yeah, he's weird. I offered him fruit. He said nothing and walked off. Kinda rude, honestly."
She almost smiled.
"Don't talk to him alone."
Luffy blinked. "Huh? He's not that scary."
She looked at him.
"He is."
Robin's Thought (Internal Monologue)
"People like Kael don't chase attention. They don't make threats. They make decisions."
"And when they act... it's already too late."
That night, she didn't sleep.
She watched the shadows beyond the ship. The spots a knife might slip through. The angles where Kael might wait.
She didn't know what he wanted.
But she knew this:
They were being hunted by someone who knew exactly how to kill them.