Robin's Painful Past, the Tragedy of Ohara (Part 2)
High above, on the screen, the Jianying video showed Robin meeting the gravely wounded Marine giant Saul on the beach.
As they spent time together, the two quickly became good friends. During that time, Saul also taught Robin a strange laugh that was uniquely his own.
Sadly, happy times were always short-lived. One day, while talking with Robin, Saul learned that she was an archaeologist and that she was the daughter of Olvia, the archaeologist he had personally set free. At the same time, he learned that the place he was now in was Ohara, the destination he had originally set out to reach.
He immediately told Robin that she had to keep her identity as a scholar hidden and not tell anyone from the World Government, because the World Government was preparing to wipe out every scholar on the island. He also told her that her mother had probably returned to the island already, and that if she hurried back to town now, she should be able to see her.
Robin was startled by the news at first, but then she was overjoyed. She could finally see her mother, whom she hadn't seen in years.
However, by the time Robin rushed back to town and reached the library, she was a step too late. Her mother had already left.
Even so, Clover Dr. Clover and the others were surprised when Robin asked where her mother was. But to keep her safe, they chose to lie, telling her that her mother hadn't come back.
At their words, disappointment appeared on Robin's face, and her spirits fell at once.
But she soon remembered the other reason she had rushed back and immediately told Clover Dr. Clover and the others that Marines were coming to arrest them and that they had to leave quickly.
Clover Dr. Clover and the others, who had received the news long ago, weren't surprised. Instead of fleeing, they warned Robin never to tell the World Government that she was an archaeologist. They would never suspect a child as young as her.
Clover Dr. Clover had just finished speaking when the doors were shoved violently open. Government agents in black suits carrying rifles came in and ordered everyone outside so they could search the place.
Before long, Clover Dr. Clover and the others were taken under guard to the open ground outside.
During this time, Clover Dr. Clover kept urging Robin to hurry to the west coast. He had just heard from fleeing civilians that there was an evacuation ship there, and as a child, she would certainly be allowed aboard.
Robin stubbornly refused, saying there wasn't a single good person on the ship and that she wanted to stay with everyone. She nearly exposed her identity as a scholar.
Fortunately, Clover Dr. Clover interrupted her before she could give herself away.
Just then, an utterly arrogant laugh rang out from nearby.
Spandine came over with two government agents. One of them had a person slung over his shoulder: Robin's mother, Olvia.
The man didn't treat Olvia gently because she was a woman. Instead, he roughly threw her to the ground.
Spandine told Clover Dr. Clover and the others why they had come to the island: to capture Olvia's accomplices, because she had been deciphering Ancient Script forbidden by the World Government. If he found any evidence there that they had been doing the same thing as that woman, they were as good as dead.
Just as Spandine finished speaking, an explosion rang out from the library. Clearly, the government agents were a bunch of brutes who didn't understand the importance or value of the books in the library, so they had chosen the simplest and crudest method to search for the evidence they needed.
This immediately provoked the dissatisfaction and indignation of Clover Dr. Clover and the others, but there was nothing they could do about it.
Not only that, but just then, Spandam's Den Den Mushi suddenly rang.
The person on the other end reported that they had found evidence that Clover Dr. Clover and the others had been studying Poneglyphs and Ancient Script!
Spandine immediately laughed with excitement, pronounced Clover Dr. Clover and the others guilty of a capital crime on the spot, and prepared to report it at once to his highest superiors, the Five Elders.
Robin, who still didn't understand what was going on, asked in confusion why they had to be killed for merely deciphering ancient literature.
Spandine immediately told her it was because Clover Dr. Clover and the others wanted to awaken powerful weapons and massacre large numbers of people.
Robin immediately argued back that Clover Dr. Clover and the others were only scholars and would never do such a thing!
But she had barely begun speaking when Clover Dr. Clover interrupted her. He said there was no need to say so much to an errand boy like Spandine. He had no idea that what the World Government feared might not be powerful weapons at all.
Just then, the call to the Five Elders connected. Clover Dr. Clover immediately said that he wanted to speak to them and report some of his conjectures about the "Void Century." At the same time, he urged Robin to leave quickly, because if she heard what came next, she too would become a criminal.
In the Jianying video, as soon as Clover Dr. Clover said this, a flood of comments appeared on the screen.
{Huh? A conversation with the Five Elders, the world's highest authority? That's a world-class secret! Is someone like me really allowed to hear and see this?!}
{Huh?! I don't want to see or hear secrets like that!}
{Just hearing it will make me guilty? I didn't hear anything, and I didn't see anything. The World Government and the Five Elders won't come after me, will they?!}
{Stop it, quick! God from beyond the realm, we don't want to die yet!}
{I'd better hurry and find a room where I can't see the sky!}
{I'm going to hide in a cave for a while. I'll come out later!!}
{...}
{...}
However much the comments on the screen protested and pleaded, the conversation between Clover Dr. Clover and the Five Elders in the Jianying video arrived as expected.
"This is truly regrettable! But you were the ones who broke the laws of this world! We cannot stand by and do nothing!" The regretful voice of the Five Elders came from the other end of the Den Den Mushi.
"Spare me your hypocrisy, Five Elders," Clover Dr. Clover said coldly.
His words immediately displeased Spandine, but no one present paid him any attention, including the Five Elders on the other end of the Den Den Mushi.
"You are Dr. Clover of Ohara, an authority on archaeology, are you not?"
"You have made outstanding contributions to the world's culture. We have heard much about you!" the Five Elders said with emotion. "We never imagined that a great scholar like you would also take the path of crime!"
"Crime?! History belongs to all humanity. No one has the right to stop people from satisfying their curiosity about it," Clover Dr. Clover declared righteously.
"But if you decipher the Poneglyphs, you might awaken Ancient Weapons and bring disaster upon this world," the Five Elders warned. "Even if you bear no ill intentions, the final result will be the same if an evildoer appears and tries to make use of them."
"No matter what history is like, as long as it was created by humanity, we should accept all of it," Clover Dr. Clover said sternly. "If we can learn everything about it without fear, then whatever happens in the future, there will be a way to deal with it."
"That is idealism," the Five Elders said somewhat helplessly.
"Oh! Is it?" Clover Dr. Clover didn't argue. Instead, he gave a cold laugh and said, "I think it's because history holds secrets you don't want people to know!"
"Hmm? What do you mean by that, Dr. Clover?" the Five Elders asked in confusion.
"Of the many facts that still exist in this world, what we wish to know, even more than the contents recorded on the Poneglyphs, is why they exist. Why did our predecessors deliberately choose stone to record history and pass it down to future generations? They carved history into indestructible stones and scattered them across the world, most likely because anything recorded on paper or in books would have been at risk of being destroyed!"
Clover Dr. Clover slowly revealed some of the conjectures he and his companions had developed over years of studying the Poneglyphs. "In other words, there was a force in this world hostile to them."
"What are you trying to say, Dr. Clover?" the Five Elders said in a grave voice.
"Suppose they were destroyed by some enemy. Their enemy would still have existed in the history that followed. Coincidentally, the World Government was born at the end of the 'Void Century,' eight hundred years ago. If the enemy of those who were wiped out was the present-day World Government, then the 'Void Century' can be understood as a dark chapter of history that the World Government itself erased because the facts were unfavorable to it." Clover Dr. Clover continued from his earlier conjecture.
"By deciphering writings from long ago and several Poneglyphs, we finally discovered that a country once existed. The documents revealed the magnificent figure of a vast kingdom. It seemed to have once possessed tremendous power, yet now every record of it has been completely erased. They must have realized, when faced with the allied forces led by the World Government, that they were going to be defeated. So, to ensure their will would be passed down, they carved the whole truth onto stone tablets. Those are the Poneglyphs that survive to this day."
"I see. That is quite a bold hypothesis!" Although the Five Elders' tone was still calm, a trace of panic had begun to show.
"Ancient Weapons can indeed pose a danger to the world, but the existence of that kingdom and its ideas, which would be revealed along with its history, are the real threat to your World Government, aren't they?"
"Although we have yet to fully understand how it threatens you, the key to all these mysteries lies with that once-prosperous kingdom. And its name is..."
Clover Dr. Clover had only reached that point when the furious voice of the Five Elders came from the other end of the Den Den Mushi. "Kill him!"
Spandine, who had already grown impatient, immediately drew his gun and shot Clover Dr. Clover in the body.
Clover Dr. Clover fell to the ground at once.
The Five Elders then issued the order to destroy Ohara, and the Buster Call was set in motion!