In the crowd, Robin quickened her pace.
She never expected that after entering the Grand Line only yesterday, someone would recognize her today.
Her wanted poster still showed her at eight years old.
She was twenty-three now.
Since coming of age, Robin was rarely recognized in the West Blue.
Even so, to avoid the all-pervasive CP organizations, she still wore a cloak in crowded places.
Yet she'd been recognized.
Was this really the Grand Line?
Fortunately, Robin's composure was strong; when she heard her name, she didn't falter.
But she couldn't linger here.
From that brief glance, Robin was certain she didn't know the man.
Precisely because she didn't, she was eager to leave.
After all… mystery meant danger.
Unfortunately, just as she left the city and headed for the docks to slip away under cover of night,
that unfamiliar voice reached her again.
"Dark Water!"
At the word, Robin suddenly lost control of her body.
An irresistible gravity, like an unseen giant hand, plucked her from the ground and dragged her rapidly toward a point ahead.
She turned her head toward the direction she was being pulled.
Out of the night stepped three figures—one man and two girls.
The man in front was the one who had recognized her on the street.
"Eight-Wheel Bloom!"
Seeing Yami, Robin didn't hesitate. She crossed her arms over her chest and unleashed the power of the Paramecia—Hana Hana no Mi.
Petals appeared from thin air, swirled around Yami, and on different parts of his body sprouted eight jade-white arms.
Those arms seized his neck, arms, and legs, trying to bend him backward and snap his spine.
Once a spine is broken, the target convulses and instantly loses the ability to fight or move.
Since growing up, Robin had used this very move to deal with those who came after her—almost always with success.
Sadly for her, those pursuers were small-time West Blue thugs.
So when she tried to break Yami's spine the way she had with West Blue small fry, her expression changed abruptly.
The eight hands growing from Yami might as well have been a child trying to bend a steel bar; they couldn't move him at all. Pushing too hard only made them shatter like struck limbs, scattering back into drifting petals.
At the same moment the petals vanished, Robin flew into Yami's reach and was caught by a single hand on her shoulder.
In an instant, the shock on Robin's face drained to stark white.
Her Hana Hana power was gone.
"How is that possible?!"
Robin stared at Yami in disbelief.
Carina and Nami could read the incredulity, fear—even despair—in the beautiful eyes of this "big sister."
Nami didn't understand.
Why was this big sister afraid of Master?
Carina, by contrast, was thoughtful.
It seemed like the woman feared being recognized—or captured. A wanted criminal, perhaps?
"Didn't think I'd meet the one I've been looking for this soon on the Grand Line. Seems my luck is good—I won't need a special trip to the West Blue."
Yami grinned, then spoke with blunt dominance. "Become my subordinate, Nico Robin."
Hearing that, the helpless fear in Robin eased with a breath.
Not CP or the Marines, nor a bounty hunter chasing the seventy-nine million berries on her head—rather, another "ambitious type" who wanted the Devil's Child.
People who sought to use that title to make a name for themselves—Robin had met too many to count across her years on the run.
In the end, they were forced to abandon her by the Marines—or she abandoned them.
She was used to it.
So Robin quickly steadied herself, put on that mask-like smile, and said, "No problem. I'm willing to join."
"Hahaha… very sensible. As expected of the Devil's Child, bounty seventy-nine million at eight years old."
Yami laughed with delight, the grip on her shoulder turning into a light pat.
At those words, Carina, Nami, and even Robin herself showed a flicker of change.
Carina and Nami looked at Robin like she was a monster, eyes full of disbelief.
You're kidding—seventy-nine million at eight?
Arlong's bounty had been only twenty million. This big sister at eight had nearly four times Arlong's bounty?
In that moment, without knowing about Ohara, Carina and Nami couldn't help but feel a little afraid of Robin.
As for Robin, she noticed that when the man lifted his hand from her shoulder, her power returned.
Just like the girls, she now looked at Yami as if he were a monster.
Who on earth was he?
Could he seal other people's Devil Fruit powers?
Soon enough, Robin smoothed the surge in her heart and kept smiling. "Thank you for the compliment, Captain."
"Hahaha… just what I liked about you. I admire you even more now."
Watching Robin's calm facade over storming emotions scratched Yami's mischievous itch, and he laughed again.
In high spirits, Yami swept his arm. "Come on—let's celebrate our new crewmate. We're going back to throw a banquet!"
He truly was in a great mood—happier than picking up a top-tier Devil Fruit on the road.
As he'd said, Robin was someone he'd always been searching for.
If not for the Barrier-Barrier Fruit and the Flame-Flame Fruit, his first stop would never have been the East Blue but the West Blue,
to recruit Robin before Crocodile ever could.
As a traveler, Yami stood above countless people at the narrative level, knowing most of this world's secrets.
But only most, not all.
When Yami crossed over, the One Piece manga hadn't yet concluded.
The One Piece itself, the Void Century, Imu's abilities, the full might of the Ancient Weapons—he didn't know.
What he was certain of, though, was that these secrets would be revealed in the final saga.
And Robin was one of the most important puzzle pieces in that final saga.