Rise Again! My, Uh

Laugh Tale held the truth of the history erased by the World Government.

Gathering the four red Road Poneglyphs would lead one to Laugh Tale.

Those two facts alone were precious information.

Robin had been on the run since she was eight, able to search for every scrap of information about the Poneglyphs only in the intervals between escapes. Yet the Poneglyphs she found after untold hardships often contained little of value. Some were even just essays with no known author.

Until now!

She looked at the thirty squares Ruidio had casually drawn in the sand, and at the four "red stones" he had filled in. The path ahead and her future, once shrouded in uncertainty, had never been clearer.

Find those four red stones! Go to Laugh Tale! Uncover the truth of history!

"Actually, you could just find a member of the crew who reached the island with Roger and ask them," Ruidio said, studying Robin's eyes. "They probably wouldn't give it up easily, but you might be different, as the last surviving spark of Ohara."

A six-star mission!

That was one star more than this damned "Time Travel" mission.

Wouldn't it be great to take a shortcut and have Robin ask the Pirate King's old ship's doctor at Twin Cape, the entrance to the Grand Line?

"No."

Robin shook her head slowly. "Even if I can find a member of the Pirate King's crew you mentioned, and even if they're willing to tell me, I... still want to see and hear the firsthand information hidden on Laugh Tale for myself."

[Mission in progress: The truth of history]

[Mission objective: Assist Nico Robin in uncovering the truth of history hidden on Laugh Tale.]

[Client: Nico Robin]

[Distance: Near]

[Estimated difficulty: ★★★★★★]

As the mission's client, if Robin managed to gather the red stones and reach Laugh Tale herself, Ruidio would still receive the mission reward.

Who said giving her information about the red stones didn't count as assistance?

So, in theory, Ruidio could go home now, hide out in East Blue for five years, and wait for Luffy's crew to take Robin to Laugh Tale and finish the story. Then he could sit comfortably at home and wait for the six-star mission reward to fall into his lap.

But... that was a loser's way of thinking!

Ruidio smiled to himself. I'm going to set foot on Laugh Tale before Nika Luffy does!

"What's wrong?" Robin noticed the strange look in his eyes.

"I was thinking about how to help you complete this mission," Ruidio said.

"What mission?"

Robin shook her head. "I didn't give you a mission. This is my own business."

"Hey, seriously?"

Ruidio patted her shoulder. "I've told you such important information, and you still feel insecure and can't trust a 'partner.' Can't you do something about that?"

Robin studied him with her pale lavender eyes, then broke into a smile. "I barely know you. How can I consider you a partner? Who exactly are you, and what's your name? Why do you seem to know me so well? What exactly is your goal?"

"My name is Ruidio."

Ruidio smiled faintly. "Now, are you ready?"

"What?"

Robin froze. Before she could react, the scenery before her changed abruptly.

[You have selected deployment]

Where did it drop me this time?

Ruidio appeared lying atop a vast, dense canopy of leaves. Suddenly, he heard a little girl crying out below:

"Are you my mother?"

So he'd been dropped onto the Tree of Knowledge at random.

Ruidio looked around. Where's my Robin?

He could teleport together with people he employed. That had given him an idea: since the mission's Deployment Function was so much like teleportation, could he bring Robin along to "enter the dungeon"?

Robin's Flower-Flower Fruit powers might be a great help in completing the mission.

But where's my Robin?

Did I fail to bring her in?

Ruidio jumped around the top of the Tree of Knowledge. He made a circuit without finding the mysterious arm woman, and just as he was thinking what a killjoy this damned system was, something suddenly occurred to him:

Why has little Robin stopped crying out to her mother?

Little girl, why aren't you sticking to the script?

Robin hadn't understood what Ruidio meant by asking if she was ready, but the next second, the scenery before her abruptly changed. The endless desert became a stretch of green grass, surrounded by a great many people. They were all Ohara scholars she had once known, along with Dr. Clover...

Most importantly, there was the woman with long white hair being led away by three black-suited Cipher Pol No. 9 agents. That was her mother, Nico Olvia.

"I..."

Robin raised her hands and looked at them. They were a little girl's slender hands.

I've become my eight-year-old self?

Is this the day Ohara was destroyed?

"Robin! Come back!" Dr. Clover, with his clover-shaped hair, called to her urgently from nearby. "Don't say anything reckless. Don't act rashly."

Because little Robin had cried out only once before falling silent, Nico Olvia hadn't broken down and fallen to her knees, unable to walk. So when the Buster Call's shells arrived as expected, Spandine hadn't been so panicked that he ordered his two subordinates to abandon Olvia...

When Robin saw the three black-suited men dragging her mother away, she still couldn't make sense of what was happening, but she instinctively used her Flower-Flower Fruit powers.

With eyesight honed through countless trials, she spotted the key "points" on the three men at a glance. She produced petals that sprouted into numerous arms, gripping their joints!

"What is this?!"

"I can't move..."

"Hey, get them off, get them off!"

Even a Cipher Pol No. 9 expert like Kalifa's father, who had once pierced Ruidio with numerous bloody Shigan holes, was instantly immobilized when all his joints were caught off guard and restrained.

What good were great strength and exquisite martial skills if he couldn't use them at all?

Crack! Crack! Crack!

The arms Robin had produced on the three men bent their necks backward at the most inhuman angles, using the smallest amount of force. They spat blood and collapsed unconscious.

The ordinary black-suited agents guarding the Ohara scholars stared in astonishment. They were just raising their guns to act when petals appeared on all of them as well, sprouting arms...

Crack! Crack! Crack!... Every black suit present was taken down in an instant by Joint Locks at [ultimate] proficiency combined with the Flower-Flower Fruit. The scholars were dumbstruck.

Robin raised a hand, and slender arms extended one after another from her palm. They shot forward and pulled Olvia over, who still didn't understand what had happened.

"Mom." Tears filled the eyes of Robin, who looked only eight years old, as she stepped forward and gently embraced the bewildered Olvia.

Thud, thud, thud! To the northwest, a giant in ragged clothes was hurrying over anxiously.

Bang! Ruidio descended from the sky, landing beside mother and daughter.

"What a touching sight," he said with a smile. "Nico Robin."

Chapter 32: Rise Again! My, Uh

[Chapter-opening serial · Bonney sunbathing 8 · "Thank you for saving our lives"]

[Yuyu and the others took off their wet clothes and wrung them out. The two survivors explained to the Queen Mother that they had encountered a group of terrifying pirate women at sea. The fat man exclaimed that they had nearly lost their ship and their lives, while the thin man repeatedly bowed to the ground to thank the Queen Mother and the others.]

Robin released Olvia, wiped away her tears, and said, "Is this the 'Psychological Therapy' you mentioned?"

"Robin, you're..." Olvia murmured in disbelief. "Just what..." She couldn't help reaching out to touch the little girl's face. She had been so fragile and lost before, enough to break one's heart. Yet although she was still crying now, her eyes were resolute.

And who was this young man who had jumped down from the Tree of Knowledge?

Was he Robin's friend?

Ruidio said, "If you really want treatment, then help me get your mother through this disaster."

"..."

Robin simply shook her head, pulled Olvia to her feet, and looked around at the Ohara scholars, who had long since been struck dumb. Smiling through her tears, she said, "Mom, Doctor, aren't we supposed to save those books? Take me with you this time."

"Robin, you—?!"

Dr. Clover snapped out of his daze. Though shocked, he had no time to think further. He let out a long sigh. "Alas!" Then he turned and rushed with the others toward the Tree of Knowledge, which had caught fire.

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

Jaguar D. Saul came rushing over, his footsteps shaking the ground. But Robin only looked up at him and smiled through her tears. Her smile left Jaguar D. Saul baffled and a little unnerved. What's wrong with this little girl? Could suffering have driven her mad?

"Mom, let's go." Robin took her mother's hand and headed for the Tree of Knowledge.

"Go where?"

Ruidio scooped up mother and daughter, one in each arm, and sprinted toward the eastern coast. He looked back and shouted, "Hey! Big guy, you come help too!"

"..."

Jaguar D. Saul didn't know Ruidio, but Olvia and Robin were both his friends, and that was enough. With that thought, he strode after them.

"Ruidio, let me go!"

Robin struggled all the way, crying, "What's the point of doing this? I only want to be with my mother and the Doctor and the others..."

"Die together? I won't allow it."

Ruidio spoke as he ran through the woods, where flames raged everywhere. "And let me remind you: if you rush into that tree and burn to death, you'll very likely die for real. You and I are different from them. We only have one life each." I just got this six-star mission. How could I let you die?

Robin was shocked. I could die? Isn't this some kind of mental illusion?

She stopped struggling and met the eyes of her mother, held under Ruidio's other arm. Olvia looked at her with a complicated expression and asked, "You're not the Robin I know, are you?"

"Mom..."

"Save the emotional talk for later," Ruidio shouted at the top of his lungs. "Jaguar D. Saul, go seize a warship and bring it over. Can you do that?"

"No problem," Jaguar D. Saul said.

He raced to the shore with great strides and headed straight for the nearest Marine warship. He spread his arms around the entire bow, lifted the ship, and shook all the Marines aboard into the water as though shaking out flour. Cries and shouts rang out everywhere.

With a thunderous bang, Jaguar D. Saul set the warship back on the water and shouted, "Get aboard, quickly!"

But just then, an icicle shot in from the sea to the south and struck Jaguar D. Saul's shoulder. The blood that sprayed out quickly froze along with his shoulder.

Damn Kuzan! Why are you everywhere?

Holding Olvia and Robin under his arms, Ruidio was about to rush aboard the warship, but he immediately stopped and ran north. "Change of plans! Jaguar D. Saul, hold Kuzan off! Hold him off even if it kills you!"