While Kyle, Sakazuki, and Kuzan were clashing fiercely, a different life-or-death escape was unfolding on the other side of the rapidly burning island of Ohara.
A colossal figure crashed through the woods, each step making the ground tremble. The giant, Sauro, carefully cradled a small girl in his broad palm, doing his best to shield her from flying shrapnel and splintered branches.
Boom!
Another cannonball exploded nearby, and a wave of scorching heat swept through the trees. Sauro grunted as embers seared his back, but he didn't slow down.
"Please, Sauro..." Robin cried heartbrokenly from his hand, her small fists clutching his clothes. "Mama... Mama hasn't escaped yet!"
Sauro's heart felt like it was being squeezed. He glanced back at the Tree of Omniscience, now completely engulfed in flames. He saw the massive icebergs and the rain of magma bombs out on the sea. Why, Marines? Why, Kuzan?
His friend Olvia's last words echoed in his ears. "You must let Robin live!"
He couldn't stop. He couldn't look back. "...Robin, you have to believe in your mama!" Sauro said, trying to force his signature laugh, but his voice was heavy with grief. "Let's find a safe place to hide. When this is over, you'll see her again!"
Behind them, the shouts and gunshots of Marine soldiers grew closer. Sauro knew he was too big a target. With him, neither of them would escape. He gritted his teeth, burst out of the burning forest, and arrived at a secluded, rocky beach. An abandoned, dilapidated fishing boat was tied up there, having somehow survived the bombardment.
He gently placed Robin inside the cabin. "Robin, hide here and be a good girl," he instructed in the gentlest voice he could manage. "Don't ever come out, and don't make a sound. I'll go lead those bad guys away. I'll be back soon."
Robin, tears streaming down her face, nodded. Sauro took one last, long look at her, as if to burn her image into his soul. He then turned, let out a mighty roar, and charged away from the boat, drawing all the pursuers after him.
Robin curled up in the cramped cabin. She peeked through a crack in the wooden boards and watched Sauro's massive back disappear into the smoke and flames. Overwhelming fear and exhaustion washed over her. She hugged her knees, cried, and finally fell into a deep, troubled sleep.
She awoke sometime later to the sound of fragmented conversations.
"No way, Moriah. You went through all that trouble for this piece of junk?" a voice said, tinged with laziness and disdain.
Robin's heart skipped a beat. She quietly moved to a wider crack and peered out. In the light of the setting sun, three figures stood on the beach, staring at the broken-down boat she was hiding in. It's them! The three strange men from the forest!
Robin's mind went blank. Sauro had told her about them—the ones who had caused so much chaos at the port, the ones who had even defeated a Marine Vice Admiral.
"Kishishishi... Hey, if it floats, it works!" Moriah said with a helpless laugh. "The Marines' cannonballs sank most of the other boats. And that guy over there cut one of their warships in half, didn't he?"
Mihawk, carrying his black blade, looked away, seeming a bit embarrassed.
Robin quickly pulled her head back. A cold dread filled her as she crawled to the deepest part of the cabin, where she found a wooden cabinet used for storing fish. She pried the door open, squeezed inside, and carefully pulled it shut, leaving only a tiny crack. The deep darkness gave her a small, fragile sense of security.
She heard their footsteps on the deck above, each one thudding like a hammer against her heart.
"You think there could be any survivors from Ohara hiding on this boat...?" Moriah's voice sounded from right overhead.
Robin's heart leaped into her throat. She clamped a hand over her mouth, trying not to breathe.
"No way," the lazy voice said with undeniable confidence.
"Kishishishi, how can you be so sure?"
"Relax, relax," the man said, sounding like he was stretching. "My Observation Haki already swept the whole thing. Forget people, there's not even a mouse on this ship. It's completely clean."
Hearing this, the knot of terror in Robin's chest finally loosened a little. She leaned against the cabinet wall, gasping for the stale air inside. I'm safe... They didn't find me.
Just as she had that thought...
Click.
With a soft sound, the cabinet door was pulled open from the outside.
Dazzling light flooded in, and Robin instinctively threw her hands up to shield her eyes. Through the gaps in her fingers, she saw a handsome face right in front of her, his golden eyes sparkling with a playful glint. Kyle leaned down, a harmless smile on his face, and spoke slowly to the tear-stained, terrified little girl.
"Just kidding. Gotcha, Robin-chan."
"Kishishishi... Kyle, look what you did," Moriah's laugh was full of amusement. "You scared the little girl so much she passed out."
Kyle's smile froze for a second. He cleared his throat and stood up straight. "What do you mean 'scared her'? A gentle, handsome guy like me couldn't possibly scare anyone," he retorted earnestly. "The poor kid was clearly at her physical and mental limit. She just finally relaxed and fell asleep."
Mihawk walked calmly out of the cabin. Kyle peeked inside and saw that Robin's arm, which had been scraped during her escape, was now neatly bandaged. Kyle threw an arm around Mihawk's shoulders and patted him hard. "Not bad, little Hawkeye! You're a proper ship's doctor! And a man of many talents!"
Mihawk shot him a look of clear annoyance. Kyle ignored it completely. "Oh, right, since you're done with your doctor duties, you can handle the cook's work, too. Go on, fry up a couple of dishes for me. I'm hungry."
A vein twitched on Mihawk's forehead, and his hand instinctively went to the hilt of his sword. But then, he remembered the earth-shattering power he had witnessed on the sea just a short while ago, and his hand silently dropped back to his side.
Robin's consciousness slowly returned. The faint crackling of burning wood and fragmented conversations reached her ears. She opened her eyes to the dim ceiling of the cabin. The air smelled of cooked food and medicine. She tried to move and felt a slight sting in her arm. Looking down, she saw that her wound had been carefully bandaged.
She sat up and quietly looked toward the voices. In a corner of the cabin, the three men were sitting around a small bonfire. The tall Moriah was devouring a large piece of roasted meat, while Mihawk was meticulously slicing a fish with a small knife. Kyle was leaning against the wall, holding a bowl, his calm gaze meeting hers over the fire.
Robin's heart constricted. She instinctively wanted to hide, but her body wouldn't move. Kyle didn't say anything. He just tilted his chin toward her side. She followed his gaze and saw that a steaming bowl of meat soup and a small piece of bread had been placed there for her.
Her mind was still blank with fear and confusion. Just then, the boat swayed. She looked through the cabin's porthole and saw that the bloody sunset was sinking into the horizon, dyeing the sea and sky a tragic orange-red. Against that backdrop, the island of Ohara was being mercilessly consumed by flames. The burnt remains of the Tree of Omniscience stood like a giant black torch, a silent accusation against the heavens.
Mama... Sauro...
All the faces, all the voices, flooded her mind. An immense sorrow and despair, as cold as the sea, washed over her. Her gaze returned from the sea of fire to the three men in front of her. They had survived the Buster Call. They had the strength to protect themselves in this cruel world. She remembered her mother's last wish and the sacrifice Sauro had made for her. Live. She had to live.
The thought of facing the world alone, of endless pursuit and betrayal, sent a chill deep into her soul. She couldn't die here. She had to live!
Robin scrambled down from her hammock and stumbled before the three men. Under their slightly surprised gazes, she knelt heavily on the deck. The cold wood bruised her knees, but she didn't care. On her tear-stained face was a desperate determination that no child should ever have.
The tears she had been holding back finally gushed out.
"I want to live!" the girl's hoarse, tearful cry echoed in the small cabin. "Please, take me with you! I'll do anything!"
"Anything?... Then please prove that any even number greater than 2 can be written as the sum of two prime numbers."
Robin's mind buzzed and went completely blank. The tears hanging on her eyelashes forgot to fall. She knelt there, her small, dirty face looking up at the man in total confusion. Even Moriah's "Kishishishi" laugh got caught in his throat. On Mihawk's perpetually icy face, an eyebrow twitched uncontrollably.
The cabin fell into an eerie silence.
"Just kidding, just kidding." The playful look on Kyle's face vanished. He squatted down to meet her gaze, and the glint in his golden eyes softened into a gentle warmth. He reached out and placed a large hand on her head, gently ruffling her hair. "What a stubborn child."
A few days later, a dilapidated fishing boat drifted on the boundless sea. Pirate ships that passed by would sometimes take pity on its sorry state and leave a bag of Berries on the deck.
At the stern, Mihawk practiced his sword swings against the sea, the force of his slashes providing a surprising amount of propulsion for the broken boat. In the cabin, Moriah's strange laugh could be heard as he studied the mysteries of his shadows. On the deck, Kyle lay leisurely in the sun.
Nico Robin had gradually let go of her initial fear. In her small world, these three strange men were the "Gentle Trio."
"Robin-chan, read me today's newspaper!" Kyle called out.
"Hai, Kyle-sama," she replied, her voice still childish as she read the paper to him.
"'Red Count' Patrick Redfield fought Fleet Admiral Kong at the entrance of the New World. Although victorious, he was captured by Marine Hero Garp due to exhaustion and has been re-imprisoned in Impel Down..."
She turned the page, and her small body trembled when she saw the next photo. She took a deep breath and, with great solemnity, read the text.
"The 'Wave Guiding King,' Aaron Kyle!"
"Bounty—4,198,000,000 Berries!"
"Dead or Alive! Extremely Heinous!!!" She emphasized the last two words with a childlike shock.
"Cough," Kyle said, amused. "You don't have to read 'Extremely Heinous' with so much feeling..." He sat up and stretched. "Hey, little Hawkeye, remember the way back to Ohara."
Mihawk stopped his practice, a hint of confusion in his eyes. "After the Buster Call, that place is just a deserted island." A place erased by the World Government had no value.
Kyle didn't explain. He just smiled mysteriously. "In a few months, some very interesting people will be going there." He already knew things that were yet to happen. Mihawk didn't press the issue, only silently memorizing the coordinates of this sea.
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