"Hohoho, I really didn't expect this."
A leisurely voice tinged with the weight of years drifted from the lighthouse entrance, carrying the wisdom of decades spent in solitude.
"The famous Natural Disaster Kai would actually perform such a good deed as saving people."
An old man with hair styled in an exaggerated saffron flower shape and wearing round-framed glasses slowly emerged from the shadows. He wore a flashy pink shirt that seemed to clash deliberately with his casual light blue shorts and sandals. Aside from the giant syringe slung over his shoulder like a badge of his profession, he looked like nothing more than a retired beach enthusiast enjoying his golden years.
"Weren't the Roger Pirates, called the embodiment of evil by the World Government, known for doing similar things?"
Kai studied the old man with keen interest, his eyes gleaming with recognition as he countered smoothly. "Am I right, Roger Pirates' ship doctor, Crocus-san?"
The collective gasp that followed was audible across the entire group.
"Roger Pirates?!" The exclamation came from multiple throats simultaneously.
"Was this the Roger they all knew about?"
"But why would the Pirate King's doctor be here of all places?!"
Questions flew through the air like startled seabirds, each person trying to process this unexpected revelation.
"Heh, I really didn't expect young people nowadays would still remember this old fossil."
Crocus pushed his round glasses up his nose with one weathered finger, his gaze lingering on Kai's face for a long moment before he sighed with something that might have been nostalgia.
"I thought after all these years, only two young people would remember my identity."
Shanks and Buggy, Kai realized immediately, understanding the weight of that statement.
BOOM!
Before Crocus could finish speaking, the sea surface that had just returned to calm suddenly churned violently once again. The water seemed to boil with some tremendous force from below.
At the same time, obvious tremors ran through the ground beneath everyone's feet, making the lighthouse itself sway slightly on its ancient foundations.
Crocus's weathered brow instantly furrowed, the leisurely expression vanishing from his face like morning mist before the sun.
"Can't chat with you folks anymore."
Before his words had fully left his mouth, he was already moving toward the shore like an arrow released from a master archer's bow. He leaped into the churning sea with agility that seemed impossible for someone his age, his speed creating only an afterimage on their retinas before he disappeared completely beneath the waves.
Violet watched the splashing water settle and murmured with newfound respect, "Now I believe he really was a Pirate King crew member."
At his advanced age, demonstrating that kind of swimming speed meant the old man had definitely been extraordinary in his youth.
"Decided!" Yamato's eyes lit up like stars as she excitedly clenched her fists with barely contained enthusiasm. "I want to fight him! A Pirate King crew member must be incredibly strong!"
Kai held his forehead with one hand, feeling a familiar headache coming on. "Yamato, please don't bully the elderly. Crocus-san is a ship doctor, not a combatant."
He was genuinely afraid Yamato might get overexcited and accidentally send the old man directly to meet Roger with one overpowered blow.
"Um, that..."
A weak voice spoke up hesitantly, cutting through the somewhat chaotic atmosphere that had developed.
Robin took a deep, steadying breath and gathered what courage she could muster to look directly at Kai. Her words came out in a rapid rush, as if she feared losing her nerve.
"Kai-sama, I'm really not any kind of princess, just a helpless orphan who's completely unsuited to your apparent interests."
"I will definitely find a way to repay your life-saving grace. May I please leave first?"
Kai's expression darkened considerably as he shot another harsh glare in Violet's direction, his displeasure evident.
You've completely destroyed my reputation with your wild theories.
He turned back to Robin and, under her hopeful and increasingly desperate gaze, slowly shook his head with finality.
"Nico Robin." Kai's voice was calm and crystal clear, cutting through her hopes like a blade through silk. "The sole survivor of the archaeological holy land, Ohara, the Devil Child with a seventy-nine million berry bounty..."
As Kai gradually revealed the details of her true identity, Robin's face grew progressively paler, and her body began trembling involuntarily, like a leaf in an approaching storm.
Her last trace of hope crumbled to dust.
She was now absolutely certain that Kai was after the forbidden knowledge locked away in her mind, just like all the others who had used and betrayed her over the years.
Robin felt a familiar bitterness rise in her throat.
Because she understood with crystal clarity that knowing Kai's purpose didn't improve her situation in the slightest.
As Kai had said with such casual cruelty, the weak have no right to choose their fate.
"That's me, Kai-sama." Robin resignedly lowered her head in defeat, her voice barely above a whisper.
Before this man's overwhelming power and knowledge, denial and resistance would be utterly futile gestures.
Kai nodded with evident satisfaction at her acceptance. "Then join me. I need your abilities."
As expected, Robin thought with crushing disappointment.
The last glimmer of light in her eyes dimmed completely, leaving only deep disillusionment and bitter self-mockery in their depths.
Since escaping from Ohara's destruction, every single person who had extended a so-called "helping hand" to her had always harbored the exact same ultimate purpose.
Decipher the Poneglyphs. Help them obtain the legendary One Piece. Use her knowledge and then dispose of her when she is no longer useful.
"I'm willing to decipher Poneglyphs for you."
Robin spoke these words she had been forced to repeat countless times over the years, each repetition carving deeper scars into her soul.
The only difference was that before, she had still maintained some confidence that she could use her intelligence and Devil Fruit abilities to eventually escape those people's control.
But this time, her analytical mind told her with cold certainty to simply accept her fate.
"No, no, no."
Kai suddenly raised his index finger and gently waved it before her downcast face like a teacher correcting a student's mistake.
"I was very clear about what I said. I want your abilities."
"As for that knowledge about Poneglyphs stored in your head?"
He paused deliberately, his tone carrying a casualness that was almost contemptuous and completely unexpected to Robin's prepared assumptions.
"To me, it's completely worthless."
"Hm?!" Robin's head snapped up in genuine shock.
Robin looked up with undisguised surprise painted across her features. "Kai-sama, you... you don't need me to decipher Poneglyphs?"
Kai's grin broadened, his smile radiating the kind of confidence that came from holding all the cards in a high-stakes game.
"I have someone far more professional than you who can decipher Poneglyphs."
Then, under Robin's completely bewildered and uncomprehending gaze, Kai turned to look directly at Kozuki Hiyori, who stood gracefully nearby with a sword at her waist.
"Hiyori, show our new friend that special language you learned from your grandfather Sukiyaki."
Since he knew with absolute certainty that the Poneglyphs had been carved by the Kozuki clan's ancestors, and that the Kozuki family had always passed down the sacred knowledge of reading those ancient stones through their bloodline, Kai naturally wouldn't have missed such a golden opportunity.
He had sent Hiyori to learn from Sukiyaki long ago, preparing for exactly this kind of moment.
"Yes, Kai-sama."
Though Kozuki Hiyori appeared somewhat puzzled by the request, she obediently nodded with the grace of someone accustomed to following orders without question.
She cleared her throat delicately, then allowed a string of ancient, obscure language with peculiar syllables to flow from her mouth like an otherworldly chant carried on ocean winds.
Robin's pupils suddenly contracted to pinpricks as the implications hit her like a physical blow.
Her brain felt like a bomb had been detonated inside her skull, thoughts scattering in all directions.
Though she couldn't fully understand every single word that Hiyori spoke with such fluid confidence, those scattered phrases and the unique grammatical structures were unmistakably the ancient script that had been lost to the world for eight hundred years.
Even Dr. Clover, the brilliant director of Ohara's legendary Tree of Knowledge library, couldn't have used that ancient script so fluently in spoken form. Though Ohara's scholars had indeed succeeded in deciphering the ancient written script and understood their meanings through painstaking research, knowing their meanings was vastly different from knowing their proper pronunciation.
The scholars could only attempt to restore the pronunciation of ancient script based on various fragmentary materials and educated guesswork, but before any breakthrough progress could be achieved, they had encountered the devastating Buster Call that erased their island from existence.
At this moment, Robin finally understood completely the true source of Kai's unshakeable confidence in this matter.
"But... if you don't need my knowledge? Then why?" Robin asked, her voice carrying genuine confusion and the first stirrings of something that might have been hope.
She was acutely aware that her greatest perceived value to anyone had always been her unique ability to decipher Poneglyphs and unlock their ancient secrets.
"I need a capable secretary, and you happen to fit my aesthetic preferences perfectly."
Kai shrugged with casual indifference, offering an answer that completely stunned Robin into speechless bewilderment.
"Just... just like that?" Her voice was barely a whisper of disbelief.
"If you think that reason isn't sufficient justification, you can also understand it as me not wanting those other ambitious individuals to get their hands on you."
Kai's lips curved into a playful arc that suggested he was enjoying her confusion immensely.
This secondary reason was certainly valid from a strategic standpoint, but Robin's experienced heart instinctively rejected it as the complete truth.
The reason was devastatingly simple in its logic. If Kai truly wanted to prevent others from obtaining her knowledge, he could simply kill her outright.
That would be the most reliable and permanent method imaginable.
Dead people, after all, don't share secrets or decipher ancient texts.
But would someone really risk enormous danger and potential complications to take her in simply because they needed administrative assistance?
Looking at this utterly unfathomable man standing before her, Robin found herself doing something she hadn't done in years.
She smiled. Not the practiced, careful smile she used for survival, but something genuine and tentative.
"I'm willing to serve you."
No matter what his true motivations might be, she reasoned, she wouldn't be any worse off than she had been before this encounter, would she?
Besides, she had come to the Grand Line this time with the desperate hope of finding refuge under some powerful force that could offer her even the barest chance of survival in a world that wanted her dead.
Looking across this turbulent and dangerous sea, weren't the strongest forces capable of directly confronting the World Government and Marine Headquarters those legendary Emperor pirate crews that ruled the New World with iron fists?
Perhaps this seemingly accidental capture was actually a turning point that fate had finally decided to grant her after so many years of running and hiding.
For the first time in longer than she could remember, Nico Robin allowed herself to feel something that might have been cautious optimism about her future.