Cipher Pol No. 9

Ruidio chose to deploy again, vanishing from where he stood and leaving behind a counterclockwise-rotating transparent prism... Robin had seen it several times already and was no longer interested in trying to stop him. She only wanted to see what he was doing.

The Deployment Function was like ultra-long-distance teleportation: it had a margin of error.

It didn't matter, though. The enormous ancient tree at the center of Ohara was visible at a glance. As soon as Ruidio appeared, he ran toward the Tree of Knowledge, now familiar with the way.

"Robin! There you are, I've been looking for you! So you found Olvia!"

"Jaguar D. Saul! Please take care of Robin! You have to make sure my daughter gets away from here!"

"No! What about you, Mom? Aren't you coming with me?"

"Even if we can save just one more book, it will be part of your future. We can never give up!"

"Mom!!"

Little Robin's anguished cries quickly receded into the distance, accompanied by the giant's heavy footsteps.

Olvia stood where she was, covering her face as she wept.

Dr. Clover, who had been silent beside her, shed tears and sighed, "Let's go." He charged toward the Tree of Knowledge amid the sea of flames.

"Mmph!"

Olvia was about to follow Dr. Clover when a hand suddenly clamped over her mouth. She gave a muffled cry as she felt herself lifted off her feet. Someone who had appeared from nowhere carried her off, charging without pause into the woods, where flames and smoke were everywhere, and running at full speed.

The first time had been unfamiliar, the second time easier, and by the third, Ruidio had started following a walkthrough.

He followed close behind Jaguar D. Saul and little Robin, deliberately showing Olvia the moments when the Marines and World Government agents blocked their path, when little Robin was frightened, desperate, suffering, and at a loss. All the while, he repeated his lines without emotion, as if reciting a script:

"Poor thing, isn't she? Even if she survives this time, what will give her the strength to go on living? At eight years old, she'll be branded the Devil Child with a huge bounty on her head. Everyone she meets, even a kindly old grandmother, will sell her out to the Marines for the bounty. She won't be able to trust anyone. She'll be so miserable she'll scavenge for scraps with stray dogs. 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 before they parted, didn't she? I remember someone once said: love is the most twisted curse."

Sure enough, those lines were still the easiest way to crush the will of Olvia, Robin's mother. Soon, his words had her trembling all over, breaking down and weeping uncontrollably.

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

"Jaguar D. Saul!"

Hearing their exchange from a distance, Ruidio knew Kuzan was about to enter the scene. He patted the cheek of Olvia, who was weeping numbly in his arms, and said, "In a moment, a Marine Vice Admiral with freezing powers will fight Jaguar D. Saul. He and Jaguar D. Saul used to be good friends, so he won't really freeze him to death. What you need to do is pick your moment, rush over, and get caught in a freezing attack! Don't worry, when you thaw out, you'll come back to life, and then you can reunite with Robin. Surprised? Happy? If you're happy, get going! Now, charge!"

There was no time to say more. Ruidio shoved the stunned Olvia out of the woods. She stumbled forward and instinctively rushed toward Robin, running straight into the billowing cloud of freezing air Kuzan had used on Jaguar D. Saul. Just like Jaguar D. Saul, she turned into an ice sculpture on the spot, frozen in a running pose.

"Mom?!" Little Robin stared in shock from the other side.

[The death of Nico Olvia has caused this mission to fail. Returning shortly...]

Huh?

Kuzan, did you do that on purpose or by accident? How did you freeze her to death outright?

Annoyed, Ruidio kicked at a nearby tree, but vanished on the spot before his foot landed.

Had she died so easily because that freezing air was meant for a giant like Jaguar D. Saul, and Olvia, an ordinary human woman, couldn't withstand it... or because Kuzan's attack had never been intended to spare Jaguar D. Saul's life in the first place?

Had Jaguar D. Saul thawed out and come back to life in the heat at the end purely by accident?

Had Jaguar D. Saul drifted to Ohara by chance, only to be revived by Ohara's flames by chance as well, and then taken away the books and knowledge Ohara had left behind?

The Counterclockwise-Rotating Transparent Prism vanished, and Ruidio appeared out of thin air, feeling somewhat numb.

Kuzan couldn't be trusted. What a shit monster!

He had to find another way to clear the mission.

When he appeared again, Robin seemed to want to say something, but Ruidio wasn't in the mood. He immediately chose the mission teleport and returned to the original teleportation point.

East Blue, Syrup Village, Kaya's home—

Rather than use Three-in-One to make himself a meal, Ruidio ate with Kaya's family.

Although Robin had seen him disappear and reappear several times, and only a dozen or so seconds had passed apart from their conversation, that wasn't how long it had felt to Ruidio.

Ruidio had carried Olvia back and forth several times amid the relentless bombardment of Ohara's Buster Call, and he was a little tired.

At the table, Kaya noticed Ruidio staring blankly into space, frowning from time to time as if something were on his mind. Had he drawn that picture for someone? Had that person failed to appreciate it, putting him in a bad mood?

"I'm going for a short walk."

Having finished dinner, Ruidio nodded to Kaya's family as he spoke.

"I'm done eating too." Kaya hurriedly took two more bites, put down her knife and fork, and quickly followed him. But even after following him all the way to the garden in the front yard, she couldn't find any sign of Ruidio.

Ruidio deployed to Ohara once more.

This time, however, he happened to appear right in front of the Tree of Knowledge at the center of the island, among the Ohara scholars being held under guard by agents in black suits. He arrived just in time to hear little Robin call out tearfully to Olvia, who was being led away by three Cipher Pol No. 9 agents:

"Are you... my mother?"

The three Cipher Pol No. 9 agents turned their heads and asked the white-haired Olvia a couple of questions. Her legs soon gave way, and she fell to her knees.

Ruidio remembered that the leader of these three Cipher Pol No. 9 agents was Spandine, the father of that good-for-nothing Spandam from the Enies Lobby arc. He was just as useless and couldn't do a thing.

Of the other two skilled Cipher Pol No. 9 agents, the refined, handsome middle-aged man was the father of Kalifa, the leather-clad female Cipher Pol No. 9 agent from Water 7. As for the other tall, red-haired agent, Ruidio didn't know who he was.

"It's me! I'm Robin! I've grown up. Do you still remember me? I've been waiting for you to come home..."

Little Robin was still crying out to Olvia, while Ruidio had already turned and left the crowd. Robin's sobbing cries of "I've always studied really hard... please don't leave me all alone again..." slowly faded behind him.

The mission reset to the very beginning every time he came in anyway, so he might as well use this visit to take a good look around!

As Ruidio thought this, he passed Jaguar D. Saul, whose footsteps and labored breathing were both as loud as thunder.

Ruidio considered it. Since the Evacuation Ship and Kuzan were due west...

Sigh, Kuzan!

He'd better check the north first.

Ruidio headed north.

Was there somewhere on the island itself where someone could hide until the Buster Call was over?

Whenever Ruidio found a hollow tree, cave, hole in the ground, fissure, or the like along the way, he crawled in to try it out, but each time he was soon forced back out by thick smoke reeking of gunpowder.

As far as the eye could see, the island's woods burned beneath a rain of cannon fire. Thick smoke, like a silent devil, destroyed every breathing creature in its path.

On the way, he ran into an agent in a black suit who was also hurrying along in a panic amid the Buster Call. The Buster Call was a Marine operation, while these agents worked for the World Government. The two sides hadn't coordinated properly, leaving even the agents in danger of being caught in the attack.

"Hey! You're—" The agent had just raised his gun when his vision was suddenly flooded with red, and a sharp, hot sensation shot through the bridge of his nose. Blood spraying, he flew backward.

The rifle was still in midair when Ruidio casually caught it and continued on his way without slowing down.

Passing the northwestern coast, Ruidio saw from afar that the sea there was covered in crimson magma. A ship was reduced to nothing in the raging flames, and faint screams and sobs came from the smoke.

Sigh, Akainu!

Carrying the rifle, Ruidio took a detour and continued scouting toward the northern shore.

But as soon as he emerged from the woods and looked up, he saw two enormous warships positioned apart from each other on the sea, their cannons bombarding the island in his direction without cease.

Boom, boom, boom-boom-boom, boom-boom...

On the deck of one of the giant warships, where rows of pale smoke and flashes of fire appeared, an even more dazzling point of golden light suddenly lit up.

In the blink of an eye, the golden light arrived above Ruidio's head.

"How scary. I almost overlooked you..." The golden light condensed into a figure who spoke in a flippant tone. "Sorry, but apart from those who boarded the Evacuation Ship, we can't let a single one go."

Uncle, don't shoot! I'm on your side!

"By the way, is that a government gun you're holding?"

A laser was already gathering above his head, so Ruidio had no choice but to select [Deploy] and return.

Sigh, Kizaru!

Ruidio suddenly appeared in Kaya's garden and patted his hair, which seemed to have been singed a little by the laser. Then he abruptly realized he was holding something and froze.

Hearing the noise, Kaya lifted her skirt and came running over. When she saw Ruidio standing there in a daze, holding a rifle, she was startled. She reached out and ran toward him. "Ruidio, even if you were rejected, don't do anything rash!"

Chapter 28: Cipher Pol No. 9

[Cover serial: Bonney in the Sun, part 4: "Nice and Warm"]

[Bonney led the way, happily running out of the church and waving at the blazing sun high in the blue sky.]

Kaya came rushing over. Ruidio reached out, caught her by the waist, and flipped the little girl all the way around in midair. When her feet finally touched the ground again, she blinked dazedly and looked up at him.

"What do you mean, don't do anything rash?" Ruidio asked with a smile.

"Ah!" Kaya started. "You were holding a gun... huh, where's the gun?"

Ruidio showed her his empty hands. "What gun?"

"Huh? Huh?"

Thoroughly confused, Kaya followed him, looking all around beneath the flower beds with a puzzled expression.

After nightfall, Ruidio lay in bed and took the rifle out of his system inventory, running his fingers over the World Government emblem on its body: a cross and five circles.

What did this mean? Could he bring things out of the mission instance the system had created?

That was awesome!

If he got a similar mission next time and there happened to be a Devil Fruit in the instance, wouldn't he be able to haul them out like crazy?

He'd practically be wholesaling Devil Fruits.

Ruidio deployed to Ohara again, and the familiar sound of the Buster Call's bombardment greeted him right on cue.

"Robin!"

"Jaguar D. Saul!"

"Mom!"

Ruidio paid no attention to the three of them parting in the face of life and death. Since it wasn't wise to wander around in the north...