"Since you've boarded my ship, you won't leave without my permission!"
Hearing this, Robin looked at Luffy, her eyes filled with curiosity, and said,
"I know you, Monkey D. Luffy!"
"You are the pirate known as the 'Worst Generation,' with a bounty of 60 million Berries."
"That's truly astonishing, this bounty."
"It's really impressive for a rookie pirate."
"But unfortunately, your opponent is Baroque Works."
"You've chosen the wrong opponent, Monkey D. Luffy!"
Luffy smiled, appearing completely unconcerned, and said,
"He's just a Shichibukai."
"More than that, what I'm more concerned about now is that I'm going to keep you and make you my crewmate."
Upon hearing Luffy's words, everyone on the ship immediately exclaimed in surprise.
"Luffy, what are you saying? That guy is an enemy!"
"That's right, Luffy. Igaram was killed by her. How can such a person be a companion?"
"Luffy, Ms. All Sunday is Mr. 0, which is Crocodile's partner. It was she and Crocodile who persecuted this country together."
The last sentence was spoken by Vivi, crying.
She desperately tried to dissuade Luffy, saying that such a person would surely lead to the destruction of Luffy's group.
Facing everyone's dissuasion, Luffy just smiled and said,
"I don't think she's a bad person."
"Vivi, at that time, didn't I trust you just as much?"
When Luffy finished speaking, everyone else was stunned.
Vivi's expression was even more blank, as she recalled Luffy's trusting demeanor when he first met her.
But…
Looking at this person who persecuted Alabasta and killed Igaram, Vivi still couldn't bear it.
Luffy continued,
"Besides, didn't you say she's Crocodile's partner?"
"Then if she joins us, won't we be able to get a lot of information about Crocodile, and wouldn't that make it easier to save your country?"
These words made the rest of the Straw Hat Crew nod repeatedly.
"That makes sense! If that's the case, it will be easier for us to deal with Crocodile."
"Although this woman is an enemy, if Luffy trusts her, then there shouldn't be too much of a problem!"
"But can she join us so easily?"
Seeing the Straw Hat Crew change their attitude so easily because of a single sentence from Luffy, Vivi was again puzzled, wondering,
"Why? Why did everyone suddenly accept it?"
"They were clearly against it just a second ago!"
Vivi was very confused by this; she didn't understand this team.
She also didn't understand why everyone in this pirate crew trusted Luffy so much.
As if seeing Vivi's thoughts, Nami suddenly came over, put an arm around Vivi, and said with a smirk,
"Hehe… Vivi, you'll know after sailing with us for a while."
"Although Luffy is a bit of an idiot, he's still very reliable."
"I used to be like you; I didn't believe him at first either."
"But after he saved my village, I've always relied on him."
"Vivi, with him here, your country will definitely be safe."
Vivi looked at Nami, her eyes filled with tears, in a daze.
Then she looked at Luffy again, asking herself in her heart,
"Can Luffy… really save my country?"
"Hehehehe…"
Just then, Robin suddenly covered her mouth and chuckled, looking at Luffy with a curious and interested expression, and said,
"You truly are a trustworthy Captain, Mr. Luffy."
"But, should I say you, the Captain, are stupid, or that all of you are stupid?"
"Don't you understand yet?"
"Your opponent is the pirate recognized by the World Government, one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, 'Crocodile' Sir Crocodile!"
"Before he became a Seven Warlords of the Sea, his bounty had already reached 81 million Berries."
"Moreover, after becoming a Seven Warlords of the Sea, this bounty is frozen."
"In other words, if he weren't a Seven Warlords of the Sea now, his bounty would only be higher than 81 million Berries."
"Mr. Luffy, even so, do you still think you can defeat him?"
Luffy didn't want to explain; merely speaking was useless. He just said,
"You'll know when you see it for yourself, won't you?"
Then, with a smile on his face, he looked at Robin and asked,
"Well? Do you want to agree to join us directly, or do you want me to forcibly keep you here?"
Robin looked at Luffy quietly; she saw infinite confidence in his eyes.
But she still couldn't hide her curiosity and asked,
"Why do you want me to join you?"
"You don't understand me at all, do you?"
"Besides, we are still enemies."
"Isn't that strange?"
Luffy replied.
"No reason."
"I just feel like you belong on my ship, so I wanted to keep you."
Hearing Luffy's reply, Robin was stunned.
No reason?
Feels like she belongs on this ship?
What kind of strange ideas are these?
Robin laughed again.
"You are truly interesting, Mr. Luffy."
"But I'm sorry, I cannot accept your invitation."
"Crocodile will consider this a betrayal and kill me."
"If you want to keep me, rely on your own strength!"
With that, Robin crossed her arms and made a peculiar gesture.
"Two Flower!"
With a soft cry, everyone on the ship saw two arms suddenly grow from behind Luffy, tightly gripping his head from the back, pulling it backward, in a strangling motion.
"What… what is this?"
"Is it a Devil Fruit?"
"What a strange ability! Arms are growing out of her body."
Robin looked at Luffy, whose neck was about to be twisted backward, and smiled softly, saying.
"With this kind of strength, you can't keep me, Captain Luffy."
As soon as she finished speaking, Robin's eyes suddenly showed shock.
She incredibly saw that Luffy's neck, which she had tightly restrained, suddenly stretched, breaking free from her bondage.
Then it coiled up to the second floor, wrapping her up like a zongzi.
Then, Luffy brought his head close to Robin and smiled at her, saying.
"It seems I'm your natural enemy!"
"Your ability is completely useless against me."
"How about it? Still want to continue fighting?"
Robin was sweating on her forehead at this moment; she truly hadn't expected Luffy's ability to be like this.
Her ability mainly relies on twisting people's joints, but Luffy is a rubber man; twisting his head ten times would be useless.
"Whew…"
Robin exhaled, feeling helpless, and looked at Luffy, saying.
"It seems I have no choice but to stay here."
Luffy was overjoyed at the words and immediately released her.
Then he looked at Robin and asked.
"What is your real name?"
Robin felt no malice from Luffy; in fact, she even felt that he seemed to trust her greatly, vaguely giving her the feeling that he was treating her as a companion.
This strange feeling gave Robin a mysterious trust in Luffy, and she spoke.
"Nico Robin!"
Upon hearing this, Luffy suddenly shouted loudly on the deck.
"Everyone, let's have a banquet!"
"Welcome Vivi and Robin to join us!"
As soon as Luffy finished speaking, a sound suddenly rang out.
"Gak!"
Turning his head, he found Vivi's mount and pet Karu looking at him, seemingly saying he had forgotten it.
Luffy smiled and added another sentence.
"And Karu!"
"Gak!"
Karu cried out again, a look of joy in his eyes.
"Luffy, didn't we just attend a banquet?"
Nami said helplessly.
"That's different; this time is to welcome new members, so of course, we have to have a banquet."
Luffy explained.
"Yes, yes, yes! Who told you to be the Captain?!"
Nami responded.
Then, the rest of the Straw Hat Crew went to prepare for the banquet.
Vivi watched all of this, with worry and helplessness in her eyes, thinking to herself.
"Is this the time for a banquet?"
Robin, on the other hand, kept curiously observing Luffy, observing this pirate crew, her interest growing stronger and stronger.
"What a strange group of people!"
...
The morning sun rose in the east, dyeing the distant horizon where the sea met the sky a fiery red.
Above the sparkling sea, a sheep-headed sailing ship slowly advanced towards the rising sun.
On the deck, a pile of people lay sprawled out, snoring incessantly.
The scattered plates and wine glasses around indicated that a joyful and pleasant time had recently been spent here.
"Whoa! Sea Kings, take a punch from me, the brave sea warrior Usopp!"
Usopp suddenly got up in his sleep, threw a punch at the air, and then lay back down again.
"Oh! Beautiful lady, don't leave me; let's stay together like this forever!"
Sanji looked blissful, hugging a wooden barrel and wiggling his body.
Luffy, meanwhile, was drooling at the corners of his mouth, constantly muttering indistinctly.
"Meat… meat…"
Happiness filled every person's face.
Vivi stood on the second floor, looking at the group of people on the deck below, her expression complex.
"What an interesting group of people!"
"Isn't that right, Princess Vivi?"
A voice suddenly rang in her ear, and Vivi abruptly turned her head, a hint of anger immediately appearing in her eyes.
"Ms. All Sunday!"
She said sharply.
"Don't come near me!"
"Even if Luffy and the others accept you, I will not forgive you."
"You killed Igaram, and Alabasta is also because of you and Crocodile…"
As she spoke, tears welled up in Vivi's eyes again, and she tightly clenched her fists, her eyes filled with hatred.
Robin sat on the railing, legs crossed, hand supporting her chin, gazing at the distant red sun, and said leisurely.
"Mr. 8 is still alive!"
"Eh?"
Vivi was suddenly stunned by the words, stopped her tears, and looked at Robin in confusion.
Then she questioned again.
"You're not lying to me, are you? I clearly saw his ship explode in the sea."
Robin turned her head and met Vivi's angry eyes, saying.
"I'm not interested in killing you."
"And I didn't receive any orders to kill you this time; I came on my own."
Vivi was puzzled.
"Why? Then why did you blow up his ship?"
Robin looked at the morning sun again and said faintly.
"Princess Vivi, you are too naive."
"If Mr. 8 returned alone so obviously, he would definitely die on the way."
"I just let him 'die' prematurely to dispel the idea of other Baroque Works members pursuing him."
Vivi was stunned by what she heard, looking at Robin in confusion and asking.
"Why? Why would you do that?"
"Don't you want Alabasta to perish? Why would you help us?"
"At that time… we followed you and discovered that Mr. 0's true identity was Crocodile."
"You deliberately let us know that, didn't you?"
"What exactly do you want to do?"
Facing Vivi's questioning, Robin just quietly gazed at the sea, her tone carrying a hint of bewilderment as she said.
"I don't know either!"
"Why did I help you?"
"Perhaps… I wanted to see if your desperate and serious efforts could change anything?"
"Perhaps… that's it!"
For Robin, she had always lived a life on the run.
Therefore, she was very confused about the future.
Sometimes, she didn't know why she did the things she did.
She just followed her inner thoughts.
Vivi looked at Robin with tear-filled eyes; she saw the bewilderment in the other's eyes.
For a moment, her hatred for Robin diminished a little.
...
"Purupurupuru…"
"Purupurupuru…"
On the way to the next island, the sound of a den den mushi suddenly rang out on the ship.
Everyone on board looked over and saw Robin take a den den mushi from her in my arms and quietly look at Luffy.
Her meaning seemed to be to ask for Luffy's opinion.
After all, as things stood, Robin had been forcibly kidnapped onto the ship by Luffy.
Luffy came to Robin's side and answered the den den mushi.
Soon, an angry voice came from the other side.
"Where have you been, Ms. All Sunday?"
"The Unlucky Duo reported to me that Mr. 5 and Ms. Valentine, whom I sent to hunt down Vivi and Igaram, were defeated by a group of people, and those people also learned the secret of my identity and plan to escort Vivi back to Alabasta."
"Among those people, there was a guy wearing a Straw Hat."
"That guy is the pirate Monkey D. Luffy, with a bounty of 60 million Berries!"
"I want you to come back immediately and send people to intercept them halfway."
"They absolutely cannot be allowed to take Vivi back to the country and ruin my plan."
As these words fell, the air fell into a brief silence.
Seeing no reply for a long time, the voice on the other end of the phone grew angrier.
"Hey! Answer me, Ms. All Sunday."
On the other end of the den den mushi, Crocodile, biting on a cigar, was trembling with anger.
In front of him was a wanted poster, and he held the den den mushi in his hand.
Just looking at the Straw Hat guy on the wanted poster was enough to make him angry, but even Ms. All Sunday, who usually answered him promptly, was not replying today, which made Crocodile even more furious.
"I am Monkey D. Luffy!"
Suddenly, such a voice came from the other end of the den den mushi.
Immediately, Crocodile's expression froze, and he stared blankly at the den den mushi, speechless for a long time.
Suddenly, Crocodile frowned, his face turning extremely grim. He bit down hard on his cigar, his eyes filled with immense killing intent and rage, and asked in an extremely deep and cold voice.
"Where is Ms. All Sunday?"
Robin's voice came from that side.
"I fought Straw Hat Luffy, lost to him, and am now forcibly kept on their ship."
Crack!
The cigar in Crocodile's mouth was bitten off and fell. Even through the den den mushi, one could hear Crocodile's heavy, angry breathing.
"What do you... intend to do?"
Luffy listened to Crocodile's extremely angry and cold voice, and just said lightly.
"Knock you flying!"
The den den mushi fell silent.
The next second...
"Guha... Guhahahahahaha..."
Crocodile laughed in extreme anger.
Suddenly, the laughter stopped abruptly, and Crocodile said fiercely in an extremely angry and low voice.
"Straw Hat, you have angered me."
"Aren't you coming to Alabasta?"
"Then come!"
"I will personally... bury you in hell."
"I will make you pay for your stupidity and let you know that you and I... are not pirates of the same caliber!"
After Crocodile finished speaking.
Then, he heard Luffy's low voice.
"You and I are indeed not pirates of the same caliber!"
Crocodile's lips curled into a smile, his eyes filled with pride and arrogance.
The next second...
"You... are not worthy of being compared to me!"