"Master, I've finished reading."
Robin did not keep Kahn and the others waiting long.
After deciphering the Poneglyph, she spoke to Kahn at once: "This stone records the location of one of the three Ancient Weapons of legend, Poseidon. It's beneath the Sabaody Archipelago, ten thousand meters down on Fish-Man Island."
Having accepted Kahn as her Master for life, Robin hid nothing.
If Kahn's ambition was to awaken an Ancient Weapon, Robin would help without fail.
Being saved as a child and being saved as an adult are different.
Child Robin was a blank page, easily colored by those who treated her well.
Grown Robin is an adult whose values are set, rich in experience and thought.
Children and adults act differently.
Child Robin only knew Kahn treated her extremely well, so she must be extremely good to Kahn, even more than extremely.
Adult Robin would consider whether what she did for Kahn truly helped him, whether it might harm him, and might choose not to speak the Poneglyph's contents aloud.
"An Ancient Weapon?"
Kahn feigned surprise. "The god-titled weapons of legend really exist?"
"Yes, I was shocked too." Robin nodded slightly, a shadow passing through her eyes.
In that instant she understood why Ohara had suffered a Buster Call and afterward been branded as attempting to awaken Ancient Weapons.
Some stones truly record information about them.
Those scholars were the keys to awakening an Ancient Weapon.
"An unexpected boon."
Reading her heart, Kahn passively heard Robin's thoughts.
He did not explain that the World Government erased Ohara not only for the key to Ancient Weapons, but also because of the Void Century.
More than Ancient Weapons, they fear someone uncovering those hundred blank years.
"Robin, there's a passage here."
Just then Hancock's voice pulled Robin from her tangle of feelings.
Following it, Robin saw Hancock pointing to a spot on the stone where another line of Ancient Script was carved.
"I came here and will carry this text to the ends of the world — Pirate… Gol D. Roger?!"
She read it aloud without thinking, and at the last name her eyes tightened. "The Pirate King was here in the sky as well? How can he write the Ancient Script?!"
Because of the universally loved Kozuki Oden, Kahn grumbled inwardly.
Out loud he only sighed. "As expected of the Grand Line. Any random island holds adventures the West Blue could never offer. I'm only growing more interested in the New World, the strongest sea."
"The Pirate King, Gol D. Roger, Sis, I think I've heard that name."
"Said to be the king above all pirates, but he's dead."
The Boa sisters discussed Roger.
With no one to explain further, Robin pressed down her shock and doubts.
For a moment it felt as if the mist over the world's true history had thinned.
This world hides countless unknown secrets.
After viewing the Golden Bell, they descended from the sky-piercing vine and explored the forests of Apayado.
Soon they found heaps of gold scattered among the ruins.
"Are you kidding, is all that gold?"
"Real gold or fake?"
"If it's real, why is it dumped here like trash? Are sky islanders that rich?"
At the sight of such a mass of gold mixed with rubble, the Boa sisters were reeling.
Even from the Calm Belt, where there are no nearby islands and trade, and one must raid pirates or merchants for supplies, they knew gold's importance.
How could sky islanders—who think all Blue Sea folk are rich—leave so much gold lying around like this?
"It should all be real."
Robin stayed calm. "They use iks here. Beli is incredibly valuable on the sky islands, but that doesn't mean gold is."
"There's no land here. The only land is a single island. Sky islanders build tools mostly from special dials, and there may be no ore here, so gold is almost useless scrap."
"I see."
The sisters nodded, then Mary's eyes lit up. "If it's all real, then I'm rich."
"Exactly."
Kahn smiled and nodded. "As long as we move this gold, I won't have to worry about money for at least ten years."
"Great."
Mary and Sonia cheered.
Hancock folded her arms and pretended to be composed.
These days she'd realized how lacking she was.
No matter the situation, Kahn and Robin stayed unshaken, impossibly cool.
She, by contrast, reacted with startlement to everything.
Set side by side, the three of them looked like country bumpkins.
And indeed, from the Calm Belt, they were country folk.
But as her shadows faded and her pride returned, Hancock refused to show such a shameful side again.
So she began to imitate Kahn and Robin without thinking.
Hancock also wanted to be as cool as Kahn and Robin.
Watching her sisters heft gold bars the size of paving stones, Hancock suddenly asked Kahn, "Master, each of these pieces is huge. Can the Grantaine's holds fit them all?"
"Good question."
Impressed by her quick grasp, Kahn gave her a thumbs-up, then glanced at Robin's faint smile and said, "Time to use my secret weapon."
"Secret weapon?"
Hancock tilted her head, a big question mark seeming to pop over her delicate face.
Kahn didn't explain yet. "Sonia, Mary, take those back first."
When the two had carried the ingots away, Kahn said to Robin, "Robin, bring it out."
"Yes, Master."
Robin nodded and, under the sisters' curious gaze, opened the silver metal case she never let out of her hand whenever they went ashore.