Chapter 35: Grabbing Nico Robin's throat
Nico Robin, perched on the tree trunk, was surprised to hear this. She adjusted her posture to appear more dignified, pinched her chin in a feminine manner, and asked, "I've met many bounty hunters, but you are the first one who seems so professional. It's strange you can tell who I am just by my voice. Have we met before? "
"I haven't seen you before," Bane replied while picking up another piece of barbecue and eating.
At that moment, some of the bounty hunters around Bane started to spread out, surrounding Nico Robin in the tree, forming a circle.
Zoro also stood up from the wooden block. He placed one hand on the hilt of his sword and looked around with a watchful expression.
It was clear that Zoro had noticed something was off with the group. Several bounty hunters did not seem to agree with the others, either in their positions or their expressions.
Nami seemed to notice this issue too and moved closer to Zoro. She had learned from experience that when Bane took action, Zoro often acted as her bodyguard.
Bane was not surprised there were bad people in the crowd.
He had brought all these people from Whiskey Peak, which was a key base for Baroque Works. Among the hundreds of people, at least a few dozen were from Baroque Works.
This was likely why Nico Robin was able to find him so easily and sneak into the small garden without anyone noticing, appearing from behind him in a strange way.
After saying, "I haven't seen you," Bane continued to eat barbecue without saying more.
Nico Robin waited for some time and noticed he wasn't responding at all. It felt a bit awkward to be stuck in the tree.
Just as the atmosphere became silent and uncomfortable, Bane suddenly bit a bone and broke it into pieces. At that moment, his eyes were sharp like an eagle's, looking towards a distant hill. There was a thick forest there that looked lush, with large dinosaurs occasionally moving through it.
At the same time Bane looked that way, Nico Robin's real body was sitting on a thick vine-covered branch of an ancient tree in the dense forest. Her eyes seemed to connect with Bane's at that moment.
The ability of the Flower-Flower Fruit allows its user to grow their body or different body parts at will within their sight.
From the very start, Bane didn't care about Nico Robin behind him. He was certain that it was just a prosthesis created by her ability, and it meant nothing to him.
So, he acted like nothing was wrong and enjoyed the barbecue while using his Observation Haki to search carefully.
Honestly, his Observation Haki isn't very good. He just learned it recently. If a strong and skilled master was nearby, they would be able to see what he was doing.
Fortunately, out of the people he brought, only Zoro knew a bit about Observation Haki. Nico Robin, while experienced, wasn't very strong. Although she had heard of Haki, she didn't know much about it. She thought Bane was just playing tricks and didn't realize he was using Observation Haki.
When Bane and Robin made eye contact across the valley, even from a long distance, Bane smiled and said, "Nice to meet you, Nico Robin. "
Nico Robin, sitting in the tree behind him, realized she was exposed. Yet, at such a long distance, she felt no panic. She replied calmly and confidently, "It seems that the timing of our first meeting may not be good. In that case, please allow me to visit you again next time. "
She was very clever. She showed herself this way to create a mysterious, odd, or powerful image to use as a base for talking to someone like Bane. However, she didn't expect her trick not to work at all. After this brief interaction, Nico Robin determined that Bane was very dangerous. This was clearly not a good time to talk, so she decided to wait until next time.
She quickly chose to end the meeting and planned to take a boat to the sea from the inland river on the other side of the valley. Given Bane's situation, he couldn't catch up to her. The two inland rivers led to different outlets to the sea. Now, Bane's team had wolves among them. If he didn't investigate his team, who would dare to go out to sea to hunt her?
What if a traitor sank the ship on the way? Who could handle that?
However, the plan was solid, and her actions and decisions were quick and clear. But Nico Robin didn't consider Bane's Dark-Dark Fruit ability, or in other words, she had no information about the Dark-Dark Fruit!
As a person with special abilities, once she was revealed to Bane, she couldn't escape.
"Hahahaha, how can it not be wonderful! ? " Bane laughed, and as he stood up, thick black smoke came out from behind him. With his tall, strong physique, he looked especially dominating.
"If we let the guests leave unhappy, others will think I don't know etiquette if they hear about it. Now that you are here, please come and sit in front of me! " Bane said this while reaching out his hand towards Nico Robin's real body.
At that moment, when he stretched out his hand, Robin suddenly felt panic in her heart, as if she had encountered a natural enemy. This feeling made her very uncomfortable, and she didn't want to say anything more. She quickly used her ability, jumped off the tree trunk, and got ready to jump onto the boat and escape.
As a result, she fell from the tree, and mid-air, she suddenly felt a pulling force. This strange force came so suddenly that Robin flipped half a circle in the air. Before she could react, her body was pulled out of the valley by this force.
At the camp, dark elements formed in Bane's hands, filling the ground and air within ten meters around him. These dark elements looked like flowing smoke, swirled in the environment, and gave off a strange halo of power.
It was clear to see that as the darkness pulled her, Nico Robin's figure was dragged over from the other side of the valley. She struggled several times in the air but found it was useless. Surprise and fear filled her eyes.
However, she had been surviving in this dangerous sea since she was eight years old. Once she realized she couldn't break free from this power, she quickly steadied her mindset, pushed down her fear, and her face returned to a calm look.
A few breaths later, in the camp, Bane grabbed Nicole Robin's delicate wheat-colored neck with one hand and lifted her high into the air. He then said, "Your strength doesn't seem to match the bounty of 79 million Baileys. Devil's Child, Nico Robin. "
Nicole Robin did not struggle. She held onto Bane's strong arms with both hands to feel a bit more comfortable. She could also sense that even though Bane had her neck in his grip, he did not mean to strangle her.
This allowed her to respond more easily.
"Your strength and cleverness are a bit more than I expected," Robin said softly.
She had seen pictures of Bane. In the pictures, Bane looked rough, with a strong build, a tough face, and a bright smile. He gave the impression of being simple-minded and having a kind personality.
People like this often have weaknesses such as being reckless and impulsive, thinking strength can solve everything. Over the years, Nico Robin had encountered many such people and had dealt with a lot of them.
This mentality made her a bit arrogant. That arrogance ended up causing her to be strangled by Bane.
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