Black's words were meant to comfort, but his tone carried a trace of teasing and schadenfreude.
Olvia, already weighed down by unspoken frustration, instantly broke down, tears flowing like a gushing spring.
"What did we do wrong, after all?"
"That was an entire island of living beings!"
Black shrugged. What did that have to do with him?
Not to mention that Black wasn't the one who gave the order. Even if he had been, he wouldn't have seen any problem with it.
It was simply a matter of one's position determining one's perspective.
"What did you do wrong?"
"Since you think you did nothing wrong, why didn't you investigate openly?"
"You chose to do everything secretly, yet you still ask me what you did wrong?"
"If you weren't prepared to pay the price, what right did you have to touch the World Government's taboo?"
"Forget it. Why am I even telling you this?"
"Lock her in a cell to cool down for a few days. Don't let her out without my permission."
With that, Black stopped paying attention to Olvia. He turned around and returned to his seat to continue eating.
The law never forbids you from doing something; it simply tells you what kind of punishment you will receive if you are caught doing it.
If you are not prepared to accept the punishment or do not possess the power to resist it then do not touch the law.
Ohara secretly researched the Ancient Script while clinging to the slim hope that they would not be discovered.
After they were discovered, they still fantasized that the World Government would show mercy.
After that fantasy was shattered, they still looked as if they couldn't accept the reality.
This was what Black disliked most about them.
Black understood a principle from his previous life: people always have to pay a price for every choice they make.
Neither Ohara nor Hogback had truly been prepared to pay that price.
The difference was that Hogback was simply foolish he didn't even realize what he was doing.
Ohara, on the other hand, buried its head in the sand and deceived itself.
Well... didn't that seem even more foolish?
Black felt he shouldn't criticize scholars with grand ideals in such a way, but that was honestly how he saw it.
"Maybe I'm just a selfish person by nature."
After muttering a self-deprecating remark, Black turned his attention back to his food and stopped thinking about the matter.
...
The Ohara incident also had a significant impact on Robin.
She had been gloomy for several days.
Stella often brought Koala to comfort her.
The aloof Mandy would care for Robin in her own quiet way.
Even the mischievous Perona tried her best to cheer Robin up.
Black felt quite satisfied when he saw this scene.
He believed that with time and everyone's help, Robin would soon emerge from her inner gloom.
After all, Robin's current situation was already much better than in the original story.
...
The sanctuary drifted along the main shipping routes of the North Blue for an entire month, and Black gradually felt that this journey was rather unsatisfying.
Experiencing the pomp and ceremony reserved for Celestial Dragons once or twice might feel novel.
But every time they passed an island, the kings of the affiliated nations would receive them according to a rigid, predetermined protocol.
Long before Black arrived, they had already prepared everything, trying their best to present their country in the most perfect state to welcome a Celestial Dragon.
The same routine repeated over and over again, and Black gradually became bored.
According to the intelligence he had gathered, Doflamingo's stronghold was located in the port city of Spider Miles.
Flevance the famous "White Town" was also nearby.
The frustrating part was that they were already not far from Reverse Mountain.
This meant that if Black wanted to find Law, he would have to travel across almost the entire North Blue.
Bored out of his mind, Black finally gathered everyone together and made a decision that went against ancestral tradition.
"What?"
"No! Your Highness! Absolutely not!"
"Alright, alright!"
Seeing the women's exaggerated reactions, Black smiled helplessly.
"I just want to go down to the next island without the CP agents, that's all. There's no need to react so strongly, right?"
"There are no outsiders here, so we won't be discovered. It's not good to always stay so tense."
"But what if you encounter danger without CP members around?"
Stella's first concern was Black's safety.
Black himself was not worried.
He could now defeat Douglas Bullet at his peak with relative ease.
With such combat power, even if he faced an Admiral or one of the Four Emperors, he could remain undefeated for a short period by relying on his Iron Balloon-like defensive ability.
The number of people on the Grand Line capable of threatening him could already be counted on one hand.
How could such monsters possibly appear in some remote corner of the North Blue just to trouble him, an unremarkable Celestial Dragon?
These days, Black bringing CP agents with him when going to sea was more about maintaining appearances.
If he truly encountered a situation that he considered dangerous, the presence or absence of those two CP members wouldn't make much difference.
Black wrapped one arm around Mandy and placed his other hand on Koala's head.
"Aren't Mandy and Koala here? You two will protect me, right?"
As he spoke, he looked down at the two girls in his arms.
Mandy's face flushed slightly, and she shifted uncomfortably, letting out a soft hum.
Koala, however, looked at Black seriously and nodded firmly.
"Your Highness, don't worry. I will do my best to protect you."
"Hahaha..."
Black burst into laughter.
But Robin immediately poured cold water on the idea from the side.
"I really don't know what you expect to see on those islands. You can't even bargain, and you'll probably end up shouting something like 'Buy the entire island!'"
Black choked and glared at Robin.
"What do you know? This is called experiencing the hardships of life."
"How rare. Life has apparently become so difficult for you that you need to experience it personally."
Robin closed the thick book in her hands.
"I bet you won't last three blocks before you get frightened by the killing intent of a fishmonger."
"And when you get kidnapped by pirates, I will definitely carve your glorious deeds onto a stone tablet in the style of a poneglyph."
Black's eye twitched at her sharp retort.
Ever since the Olvia incident, Robin had become more and more uninhibited.
Black didn't know exactly what she was thinking, but overall it wasn't a bad thing.
However, what gave him a headache was that Robin increasingly enjoyed teasing him.
Whenever Robin addressed him with the honorific "you," it was always followed by a barrage of sarcasm.
Still, there was a more interesting project waiting this time, so he decided to let it slide.
"Stella, go tell someone to take down the World Government flag from the ship and disguise the sanctuary as a merchant vessel."
"No..."
Black suddenly remembered that his sanctuary had been built extremely luxuriously, which would make disguising it as a merchant ship rather difficult.
"Actually, let's do this. Disguise it as a wealthy family traveling."
Seeing that Black had already made up his mind, Stella did not try to persuade him further.
In fact, both Stella and the others knew that Black possessed considerable strength.
After all, they had trained together for quite some time, and it was obvious that Black's strength even surpassed Mandy's.
They simply couldn't imagine how high Black's true combat power actually was.
After Stella left, Black asked the others to change their clothes.
He himself quietly removed his spacesuit and took off the transparent bubble helmet.
After a flurry of activity, everyone changed into ordinary clothes and gathered excitedly on the deck.
Black looked around, found no obvious flaws, and nodded in satisfaction.
"Depart!"
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