"Why bring this brat along? You planning to let her on the ship?"
Coldly watching little Robin leading the way—wanting to cry but not daring to—Mihawk finally couldn't hold back his question.
Not that he cared either way. He was just traveling with Aus. The decision wasn't his to make.
"Huh? Why would you think that? I don't babysit during trips. Hell, I didn't even bring my beloved No. 6 and No. 7 aboard.
I just figured, since we're here anyway, might as well meet the main character of this whole shitshow."
"Shitshow?" Mihawk frowned.
"Yeah, should be happening real soon. You'll see."
Aus kept it mysterious.
In his view, the so-called terror of a Buster Call only applied to ordinary countries and isolated strong fighters.
For him and Mihawk? Zero threat.
Watching little Robin trudge ahead, ignoring whatever they were discussing, just walking with her head down, Aus initially thought she'd take them sightseeing around town. But scanning with his ten-kilometer Observation Haki, he caught something interesting.
"She's leading us somewhere weird."
Walking along, Mihawk glanced around. Having zero directional sense, he could still pick up on the obvious clues.
Aus nodded, hands in his pockets, ignoring little Robin's scheming up front. A smile tugged at his lips.
This Robin—just messed with her a little and she's this paranoid. Taking them straight to find her guardian.
Did the little brat think this would save her ass?
Maybe sensing Aus's stare, little Robin panicked and headed toward a cliff. Finally, not giving a damn about Aus's freaky ability, she sprinted desperately toward the cliff edge.
Obviously not to jump.
"Saul!"
She shouted, tiny figure running full speed. No time to wonder why those two bastards behind her weren't stopping her.
"Looks like we've been pegged as the villains. Though I don't really look like one, do I?" Aus rubbed his chin, then turned to Mihawk.
"Hey, little hawk. Do I scream 'bad guy' that much?"
Mihawk chose to ignore this completely.
Instead, he drew the black blade from his back. Sharp eagle eyes locked on the cliff ahead.
As the ground trembled, a massive shadow fell. A giant dozens of meters tall!
Former Marine Giant Vice Admiral Saul!
Muscular upper body with stubby legs gave this giant hilariously unbalanced proportions.
He was also young Robin's best friend.
"What happened, Robin?"
Lifting the crying, panicked little Robin into his hands, Saul's beady eyes showed massive confusion. Then he spotted the two men who'd followed Robin.
The moment he saw one of them, recognition hit like a freight train.
"You... you're..."
Had to be mistaken, right? No way it could be...
No fucking mistake!
"Black Gun" Aus?!
Horror flooded his eyes. His massive body stumbled back two steps.
That figure carrying blade and gun—absolutely burned into every Marine's nightmares!
But hadn't he vanished from the seas for years?!
Seeing the giant's shocked, disbelieving stare, Aus just smiled and waved.
"Come to think of it, been ages since I've seen a giant. Last time was hitting Elbaf with Captain Roger."
Before he finished speaking, Aus had somehow materialized in Saul's palm, hands in pockets, studying him with casual interest.
Even though Aus looked tiny before this giant dozens of meters tall, Saul didn't dare twitch.
Though he'd never personally witnessed the legendary "Next Generation King's" power, he knew his buddy Kuzan's strength inside and out.
To him, Kuzan was an unbeatable monster.
And this guy was supposedly way more terrifying than Kuzan.
Two years back, he'd visited Kuzan's busted leg. That kind of monster took a full month just to walk normally again.
Looking at Robin frozen in terror, Saul didn't dare make any sudden moves with Aus standing on his hand. His face darkened, voice pleading:
"Please don't hurt Robin. She's really a good kid!"
"If she pissed you off somehow, then...
Please take my life and spare her!"
"Saul! Waaah!"
Watching this touching scene between giant and little girl, Aus's expression went weird. His eye twitched. How the hell did his arrival become equivalent to a Buster Call?
Was his reputation really that fucking evil?
"Hey! You two... can you understand human speech, or do you have some persecution complex?
I'm just here on vacation! Having a local show us around is perfectly normal!"
...
Finally realizing how terrifying his name had become after two years of spreading infamy, Aus left that forest feeling pretty bummed.
Meeting an original character for once, and he ended up looking like some creepy predator...
This experience successfully killed Aus's rose-colored glasses about main story characters.
They weren't much different from most people in this pirate world.
Aus found it boring as hell.
So he dragged little hawk around Ohara Island himself. Sampled local food, toured the giant tree at the island's center.
Most importantly, took tons of photos with his camera snail.
Looking at the stack of pictures, Aus nodded with satisfaction.
Great variety.
Little hawk reading with his legs crossed in the giant tree, Aus with his arm slung around Mihawk's shoulder, aerial shots of all Ohara from a kilometer up...
During this whole tour, even when Mihawk showed reluctance, he still half-heartedly went along with Aus to hit every worthwhile spot on Ohara.
Classic case of bitching while cooperating.
Aus didn't call him out. Just grinned watching Mihawk, who'd claimed he wasn't hungry but was now munching Ohara's special tree fruits.
"What are you staring at?"
Little hawk squinted suspiciously.
"Nothing... I just wanted to say,
our Ohara tour's wrapping up. Some old friends just showed up on the horizon."
Aus chuckled.
With his insane-range Observation Haki, he easily spotted countless warships bristling with cannons, cutting through waves straight for Ohara.
Facing the incoming world-feared Buster Call, neither Aus nor Mihawk felt even a flicker of tension.
"Well been way too long since we've seen them. Come on, Mihawk. Let's go say hi"
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