"A bounty of 400 million berries... this is the first time I've had the chance to hunt such a prize." Mr. 3's eyes burned with fervor.
If the current situation didn't prevent him from using his intellect, he might have already prepared to try schemes and other tactics.
He wanted to see if he could take down this guy who was somewhat famous worldwide.
But things were fine for now. With Mr. 1's strength, and by joining forces with Mr. 1, there was a chance they could take down the Sea-Cleaving Swordsman Hiroto.
In contrast was Miss Goldenweek, who was huddled in a corner.
Her combat power wasn't particularly strong. At best, she was a very capable support.
As for Robin...
Her position had changed. She had quietly moved from being shielded behind them to standing near the window.
Compared to the two confident Chief Officers, she was much more level-headed and clear-eyed.
"Hunt me? Deal with me? Just the two of you?"
Hiroto tightened his grip on Shusui's hilt, Armament Haki covering the long blade.
"Three."
The moment the word left his mouth, Robin immediately activated her Flower-Flower Fruit ability.
Ocho Fleur: Clutch!
Eight arms abruptly sprouted from Hiroto's body, grabbing his neck, arms, and thighs, attempting to force Hiroto's body to twist backward.
However...
The moment Robin's manifested hands made contact, Hiroto's figure shattered like a bubble.
While the echo of 'three' still reverberated in the tavern, Mr. 1's pupils reflected a scene from the side.
Someone had appeared right in front of Mr. 3.
"?"
Mr. 3 instinctively raised his fist, but at that moment, his movements were incredibly slow. In contrast, a flash of a blade, fast as lightning, slashed down from above.
Squelch!
Intense pain surged through his entire body. Before Mr. 3 could even figure out what had happened, his vision went completely black.
So fast?
Mr. 1 had barely reacted to his companion being slain in a single strike when he heard the sound of something shattering.
It was Robin, who had smashed through the window without hesitation and was making a run for it.
Though he didn't understand it, and though he was horrified by the opponent's speed, Mr. 1's battle instincts drove him into a stance.
Spider!
As a Dice-Dice Fruit user, Mr. 1 possessed a hardness that made him invulnerable to blades and bullets. When using his techniques, this steel-like hardness would increase even further.
No matter what, he should be able to block the enemy's slash.
"Two."
Pfft!
The long blade slashed straight down, splitting Mr. 1 in two as if a hot knife through butter.
It wasn't until his field of vision split left and right and intense pain swept through his body that he finally realized in his final moments that it was useless.
The enemy... was strong beyond imagination.
Hiroto held Mr. 1 by the throat with one hand and Shusui in the other, his gaze piercing through the tavern walls as his Observation Haki locked onto the fleeing Robin.
"One."
Outside the tavern in the snowy landscape, cold sweat appeared on the fleeing Robin's forehead as fear sprouted in her heart for the first time in a long while.
Mr. 1 and Mr. 3 were too naive. Or rather, because they had stopped in the first half of the Grand Line, they had no concept of how strong a truly powerful person could be.
The strength represented by a 400 million berries bounty was simply not something they could touch.
But fortunately, at least she...
Robin's footsteps faltered as a terrifying pressure overwhelmed her from behind like a mountain-toppling wave.
Her skin crawled, her heart skipped a beat, and her vision began to darken. In a daze, she seemed to see a pair of cold eyes looking down at her from above, like an eagle soaring in the sky targeting a mouse scurrying on the ground that couldn't find a hole.
Robin ran slower and slower because that pressure grew more intense, even reaching a bone-chilling level.
In the end, she simply stopped and turned back toward the tavern. The sense of pressure lightened accordingly.
'Was I discovered?'
Robin realized the problem. From the enemy's standpoint, directly hunting her down would be much more logical than the current situation.
This meant that her most critical identity, the 'Devil Child,' was already exposed to that terrifying man.
Most importantly, she still didn't know what Hiroto wanted.
The reason Crocodile had taken her in was that he needed a historian who understood poneglyphs to find Pluton.
This man... what did he need?
Stay calm. At least there's still a chance. Since he has no intention of killing me, he must want to obtain something.
If it's just for money, for my 79 million berries bounty, I can use the location of Pluton to make him hesitate.
Even if it's for something else, I can use news of Pluton as a bargaining chip.
With Crocodile's reaction speed, he should soon know that I've fallen into enemy hands, plus that Logia type Cloud-Cloud Fruit.
He definitely won't sit idly by and Miss Goldenweek is also an opportunity.
Thinking carefully, there are no instances of the Sea-Cleaving Swordsman Hiroto attacking civilians.
Perhaps I can have Miss Goldenweek pretend to be a poor soul who was kidnapped because of her abilities.
In the short span of less than half a minute returning to the tavern, Robin had already devised a plan to extricate herself and continue living to seek answers.
For her, this wasn't exactly easy, but she was well-practiced in it. After all, she had been wanted for 79 million berries since she was eight years old, living in an environment of deception and intrigue since childhood.