Don't Shoot, I'm on Your Side!

Olvia wiped away her tears and turned to follow Dr. Clover toward the Tree of Knowledge, which was engulfed in flames. Just then, the figure of a black-haired young man suddenly appeared silently behind her.

Olvia noticed nothing until a large hand reached around from behind and roughly clamped over her mouth.

Who?!

She was startled, but an irresistible force gave her a gentle push, lifting her body uncontrollably off the ground. Someone tucked her under an arm, leaving her unable to move.

The next instant, the scenery raced past her eyes. In the blink of an eye, the Tree of Knowledge, which had been blazing before her just moments ago, and Dr. Clover, who had resolutely charged into the sea of fire, vanished from sight. Clearings, firelight, thick smoke, woods... flashed past her eyes. Who is this? He runs so fast!

"Mmph! Mmph!"

Held tightly under his arm, Olvia twisted and struggled with all her might. His large hand covered her mouth like an iron lid, and all her attempts to make a sound were futile.

"Whoosh..."

A shell flew overhead like a fiery meteor. Ruidio glanced up and, still carrying Olvia, darted onto another forest path. With a boom, flames erupted behind him where he had just been. He continued west toward the coast, following the enormous footprints Jaguar D. Saul had left behind.

Trying to find a way to survive on Ohara under the Buster Call, Ruidio naturally thought first of the direction guarded by Kuzan's warship. Of course, Kuzan was still only a Vice Admiral at this point.

But not having the rank of Admiral didn't mean he lacked the fighting strength. Vice Admiral Kuzan was nearly thirty and in his prime; it was hard to say he was necessarily much weaker than the Admiral Kuzan of later years.

The Buster Call's ten warships and five Headquarters Vice Admirals were carpet-bombing the island. Ruidio didn't know who the other two Vice Admirals were, but among those he did know, Kuzan was probably one of the more humane ones...

Come on, Kuzan!

You were going to go soft and let Robin live in the end anyway, so do me a favor and let little Robin's mom go too, would you? This is really important to me!

Ruidio raced onward with Olvia under his arm.

"Boom!!"

As soon as he neared the western coastline, he heard a cannon blast, mixed with a cry of pain from the air. Jaguar D. Saul had come under fire from the warships offshore.

Ruidio sped over and hid for the moment in the bushes behind them, watching in secret. Jaguar D. Saul, who had taken a direct hit to the head from a warship's cannon, forced himself to stand firm and gently set little Robin down on the ground beside him.

Olvia suddenly struggled fiercely in his arms. Ruidio warned her, "Stop struggling. Even if you turn back now, it's too late. Your scholar friends and those books have probably all but perished in the flames by now."

She stopped struggling. Warm liquid ran down the back of Ruidio's hand.

He let go, and Olvia burst into tears.

"Accept your fate!" Jaguar D. Saul, his head and face covered in blood and soot, actually grabbed a Marine warship and hoisted it high. "Those who stand against me won't meet a good end!" He slammed it down on another warship, and both vessels immediately snapped in half, finished!

How many thousands or tens of thousands of tons of force did that fucking take?!

Even though Ruidio had long known this happened in the manga, seeing it with his own eyes still left him deeply shaken. Precisely because he trained his muscles too, he understood what a terrifying amount of strength that was. No wonder the World Government drooled over the Giant Race day in and day out...

As Jaguar D. Saul wreaked havoc on the warships, he urged little Robin to hurry aboard the nearby Evacuation Ship. Tears streamed down her face as she bit her lip and stood on the slope, looking at Jaguar D. Saul as he crushed warships underfoot, raging like a demon, and at the distant Tree of Knowledge, which had become a towering torch. Her face full of anguish, she turned and ran toward the Evacuation Ship.

There was no ladder, so little Robin used the Flower-Flower Fruit's power to create dozens of arms linked together like a rope and clung to the ship's rail. The Ohara refugees aboard cried out in fear that she was a monster. Some kept pounding the hands gripping the side of the ship, cursing at her to get lost.

"Evacuation Ship! Don't let that brat aboard!"

A booming order came from the south. It was a World Government ship, and standing at its bow was the leader of the men in black suits who had initially tried to take Olvia away. Holding a megaphone, he shouted in a carefree manner, "This brat's an archaeologist too! She's a criminal! She must be eliminated!"

Little Robin froze there for a moment. With no time for despair or anguish, she could only lower her head and keep fleeing farther north.

She ran as she cried, but she had no idea where she could escape to.

Mom's dead, the doctor's dead, and Jaguar D. Saul's going to die too. Everyone calls me a monster, and the government and the Marines want to eliminate me too... The world's so big, but it seems like it never wanted me to go on living... Mom, why are you so cruel to me? Why do you still want me to live...

"Robin..." Olvia looked at the lonely, slender little figure and wept bitterly.

She had given up struggling and let Ruidio carry her along helplessly as he ran.

"It's heartbreaking, isn't it?" Ruidio said as he ran. "Even if she survives this time, what will keep her going after this? At eight years old, she'll have a huge bounty on her head as the Devil Child. Everyone she meets, even a kindly old grandmother, will sell her out to the Marines for the reward. She won't be able to trust anyone. She'll be so desperate she'll scavenge for food with stray dogs, and every time she sees a cliff, she won't be able to stop herself from wanting to jump and end it all. But she can't jump. After all, her mother told her to live when they parted, didn't she? I remember someone once said: love is the most twisted curse."

"Stop... Please stop..." Olvia's face was covered in tears.

Carrying her like that, Ruidio followed the fleeing Robin from the cover of the woods. The Marine warships offshore and the ships of the World Government's Cipher Pol No. 9 agents were also pursuing the little girl as she raced along the shore.

Seeing this, Jaguar D. Saul, who had been fighting a bloody battle, hurried after her to hold off her pursuers. But he failed to notice the spikes of ice attacking from behind. The extreme cold merely grazed his calf, yet it nearly froze his blood and stiffened his muscles. Unable to run any longer, he stumbled and crashed heavily to the ground.

"Mr. Kuzan!"

"It's Vice Admiral Kuzan!"

The Cipher Pol No. 9 agents and the people aboard the Marine warships shouted in unison.

Wreathed in bone-chilling cold, Kuzan walked toward Jaguar D. Saul, who was on his knees. The boundless, hellish flames raging across the island were reflected in his sunglasses.

"When positions are reversed, justice bares its fangs."

Ruidio smiled as he spoke, watching as Jaguar D. Saul finally used his own body to withstand Kuzan's freezing attack and shield Robin in front of him, letting out a strange laugh that shook the air:

"Dereshishishi! You have to live, Robin! They'll be waiting for you out on the sea! Your friends! Dereshi, dereshishishi..."

Little Robin cried out in despair, "Sau—" Just then, a figure rushed out from the side. It was a black-haired young man carrying a white-haired woman. Mom?!

Ruidio had no time to pay attention to the astonished little Robin. He rushed over with Olvia, hoping to catch some of Kuzan's Ice Time Capsule. The move hadn't killed Jaguar D. Saul in the original story; later, after being frozen solid and thawing out, Saul had survived. If Olvia got caught in the freezing attack, she could fake her death and hold out until the Buster Call ended...

But as he carried Olvia over to take the Ice Time Capsule head-on, another stream of cold came for Ruidio.

Wait, why are you coming for me?

Watching the cold rush toward his face, Ruidio's thoughts raced. If I get frozen too and stay that way until the Buster Call ends, will the mission count as complete even if I'm unconscious in the ice?

But what if someone bumps into me while I'm frozen and I shatter? Wouldn't I just die on the spot?

No!

There are too many uncontrollable factors. I can't get frozen!

[You have chosen to return]

"Fuck! Cold, cold, cold, cold, cold!"

The Counterclockwise-Rotating Transparent Prism suddenly vanished, and Ruidio appeared out of thin air, cursing.

He looked up and saw that he was still on the rooftop where he had summoned Robin with the Loudspeaker. The passersby whom Robin had knocked out by "striking their acupoints" were still lying on the ground.

"So you really are Kuzan's subordinate?" Robin's quiet voice rang out.

Chapter 27: Don't Shoot, I'm on Your Side!

[Cover serial: Bonney Basking in the Sun 3: "I Can't Forget This"]

[Bonney is about to leave with her little schoolbag on her back when Yuyu and the other fishermen hurry after her with the pocket watch Nami gave them.]

**********

The moment he returned, Ruidio checked the system's mission list.

The good news was that he could retry the mission. The Deployment Function seemed to be like an ultra-long-distance teleportation function, with unlimited uses and almost no cooldown.

The bad news was, why was Robin still here waiting to ambush me?

And Kuzan's subordinate?

What does that mean?

It was only after hearing Robin say that that Ruidio noticed the cold still lingering around him.

At the last moment before he had decisively returned using the system mission's Deployment Function, Kuzan had blasted him in the face with a wave of cold using that fucking Ice-Ice Fruit power of his...

What does this mean?

Why did that cold follow me back?

Was the place full of cannon fire where the system's mission had deployed me not some virtual "Ohara Buster Call limited scenario," but a real instance world created directly by the system?

Or... did this system mission really send me to Ohara seventeen years ago?

"Hey, Nico Robin,"

Ruidio stood there thinking for a while, then glanced at the woman in the Cowboy Hat who was silently watching him. She was only twenty-five herself.

"You might not believe me if I told you... Forget it, I won't say it."

"?"

A question mark appeared over Robin's head. Before she could say anything, the mysterious black-haired young man abruptly asked, "How did your mother die?"

Robin's heart jolted, and she glared sharply at Ruidio.

Ruidio acted as though he hadn't noticed and continued, "The last time you saw her, was it in front of the Tree of Knowledge or by the sea?"

If the system sent me to the real past, then I changed how Nico Olvia died. Robin was right there at the time, so she should remember it... right?

Tap! Robin took half a step back, disbelief on her face. Only after a long while did she ask, "How do you know about my mother and Ohara? Who are you, really? Are you really Kuzan's subordinate?"

Ruidio said, "I'm someone doing a mission. I'm not Kuzan's subordinate. I'm asking you to answer my question, all right?"

A mission?

Not understanding, Robin murmured, "It was in front of the Tree of Knowledge... I watched my mother rush into the sea of fire... Your special ability doesn't just let you teleport instantly. Can you read my memories too?!"

Robin's memories didn't change?

So the system didn't deploy me to the real past?

Ruidio pondered this, then looked up and asked, "How long was I gone just now?"

Robin stared at him. "Less than five seconds. I'm asking you to answer me too. Can you read memories?"

"Only five seconds?"

Ruidio nodded and turned around. "Read minds? I wish I could. See you!"

"Wait!"

Robin quickly crossed her arms and used her power, trying to make him stay.

But Ruidio's figure vanished into thin air once again. The Flower-Flower Fruit left only petals where he had been, drifting gently down past the Counterclockwise-Rotating Transparent Prism, which had appeared again, floating above the ground.

"..."

Robin slowly lowered her hands, bewildered and suspicious. Before she could recover, only a few seconds later, the Counterclockwise-Rotating Transparent Prism suddenly vanished again!

"Shit!"

Ruidio appeared out of thin air once more, cursing.

This time, it wasn't cold lingering on him, but a smell of... gunpowder?

Robin sniffed, greatly surprised. How had this person managed, in just a few seconds, to look as though he had gone charging through a battlefield raging with gunfire?

His face was smeared with black soot, and there were even specks of blood spattered across it. Wait, was that a shred of flesh on his collar?

Noticing Robin's gaze, Ruidio wiped his face. This time, he hadn't even reached the coast before a moment's inattention had let a Buster Call shell come crashing down from above.

Fortunately, he had reacted quickly enough. He had flung Olvia, whom he was carrying, upward with all his strength, and as she and the shell exploded into a firework of blood and flesh in his face, he had taken the opportunity to activate the system mission's deployment return function.

Although an independent instance like this, which seemed both real and unreal and reset its contents every time, felt rather like entertaining himself, Ruidio was after the mission reward anyway, so he didn't nitpick the damned system.

A five-star difficulty mission. I wonder if it'll drop an item reward.

It definitely will!