"By the way, why did you choose Ohara as our first stop?"
The ship was in complete disarray.
After the two had clashed swords for over an hour, Mihawk had finally vented his frustration.
Only when Orin snapped his fingers and restored everything on the ship to its original state did Mihawk remember to ask.
"The reason, huh..."
With the sea breeze brushing against his face, Orin leaned against the side of the ship with both hands, gazing far into the distance, to the other side of the sea. At the edge of the horizon, a tiny black dot was rapidly expanding at an exaggerated speed.
"Of course it's because if we don't go now, we might never get to see it. It's a journey, after all—gotta check in at all the spots."
"Never see it again?" Mihawk didn't understand.
It's not like the island could run away—how could they not see it again?
With the speed of his Warp-Warp Fruit, getting from the Grand Line to Ohara didn't even take long.
As for the occasional pirates who tried to hijack the ship along the way, they either couldn't keep up with the teleportation, or were sliced clean in half by Mihawk.
As the ship drew closer,
The Oro Jackson slowly came to a stop near a cliff rather than a dock. Orin and Mihawk teleported directly onto the so-called "Island of Knowledge."
"Just like the stories said—what an insanely huge tree!"
Looking from a distance, Orin spotted the massive tree in the center of the island, so large it nearly blocked out the sky and sun.
"They say every book in the world is stored inside. I wonder if it even has those kinds of books..."
"What?" Mihawk frowned, clearly not following.
"You know... those kinds... never mind, forget I said anything."
Seeing Mihawk's puzzled, upright expression, Orin finally remembered—this guy had zero interest in women.
They didn't teleport directly into the tree itself. While that would've been convenient, it would've robbed Orin of the travel experience.
What he loved about traveling was seeing everything with his own eyes—not racing to each place only to leave again in a hurry.
If he did it that way, Orin was confident he could check off every island in the world in just a few months.
But that special-forces style of travel didn't interest him at all.
Coming out of the forest by the cliff,
The two weren't worried about getting lost—partly thanks to Observation Haki, but mostly because the tree was simply too massive. They could just follow their line of sight.
As they walked, Orin sensed a few kids in his range of Observation Haki.
One in particular caught his attention.
Mihawk noticed Orin suddenly change direction but didn't ask questions. He just raised an eyebrow and followed.
Soon, the two reached the other side of the forest—right into a chaotic scene.
"Look, it's that freak again!"
"Everyone, throw tomatoes at her!"
"Hahahaha!!!"
Children's malice is often instinctive—maybe for fun, maybe just to follow the crowd.
And clearly, an orphaned, introverted little girl who only liked reading was the perfect target for bullying and amusement.
The tomatoes hitting her head didn't hurt much, but they were a pain to clean off.
What she worried about more was needing extra soap when she got home—would her aunt scold her?
But it wasn't stopping there. A few boys in the back clearly hadn't had enough.
With no choice, she used the ability that had worked before—the one that made people call her a freak—hoping to scare them off.
Unfortunately, she'd used it too many times. Several kids weren't afraid anymore. After all, how strong could the power of a starving little girl be?
So, with her arms wrapped over her head, preparing to take the abuse and then hurry off to the library, what she expected to happen... didn't.
"W-What's going on?"
What did she see?
She looked up—and saw a tall, imposing figure standing in front of her.
The bullies who always tormented her were now dangling by their collars in this figure's hands, their heads covered in lumps.
Who... is he?
Is he... protecting me?
"You little brats are already this ugly, and you still go around bullying others. Guess it's true—ugly kids act out the most."
Each one got a few more bumps on the head and then ran away crying.
Mihawk watched Orin beat up a group of kids with a satisfied and mischievous look—he was a little speechless.
There wasn't a trace of dignity in the man.
Still, having seen what happened, Mihawk didn't like those bratty kids either.
Orin felt pretty pleased with himself. After all, since he was six, he'd been the kid king of Dula Moss Island.
Under his rule, it was always him bullying others—not this weird mutual bullying kids seemed to do.
"Hey, Nico Robin, where do you think you're going?"
Seeing the kids flee, Orin turned to look at Robin, who was quietly trying to slip away.
She froze instantly.
Did he just call her name?
"Yeah, I meant you. Show us around the island a bit. If I'm in a good mood, I might even give you a reward."
Orin grinned.
But despite his high charm stat, this time he messed up. Robin, scarred by a tragic childhood, didn't trust strangers at all.
She turned and bolted toward town.
"Tsk... you're making this hard."
Orin clicked his tongue. After spending so much time among red-light district girls, he thought his likability was maxed out.
He then spoke softly.
"Don't move, Nico Robin."
With that crisp command, a strange phenomenon occurred.
The thin, timid girl sprinting forward suddenly froze in place as though struck by a binding spell—unable to move at all.
Even her terrified expression stayed frozen in time.
"What... is this?"
Mihawk frowned. This was his first time seeing this technique from Orin.
Was it a newly developed fruit ability?
Orin looked at the immobilized Robin. As if reminded of something, he grinned with a mischievous glint in his eye, and stepped forward, reaching out his dark, evil hand... toward her book.
"Hey, little Robin, if you try to run again, I'll burn your book."
The evil glint in Orin's eyes flickered as he pulled the tightly-held book from her arms.
He couldn't understand what was written on it.
Not surprising. Raised by pirates, he'd never even been to school. He could barely read the words in the newspaper.
By the standards of this world, Orin was technically just another literate-challenged citizen.
Sure enough, after hearing his evil threat, and once Orin released her from the freeze,
Robin didn't run again.
She just stared at him—afraid, trembling—with the eyes of a little girl looking at a man who was handsome but cruel.
"P-Please don't burn my book..."
(Don't worry—he's not going to become the crew babysitter or anything.)
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