Capturing Robin / Leaving Everything to Fate

"So, this is my apology to you." Arthur released Luffy's fist and looked at him. Luffy was furious, but he hadn't chosen to throw a second punch. Arthur knew that the Instinct he had inherited from the Monkey Family had come into play, so he said, "Take this feeling of suffocation to heart. It will be a tremendous help to your growth in the future."

With that, Arthur paid the three silent men no further attention. He turned to Robin on the cabin roof and said, "Miss All Sunday, you're my target. Sorry for the trouble, but please come with me."

"Oh... I'm honored to receive an invitation from the Wind Sword Knight, who's so famous in the East Blue..." Robin smiled gently and slowly stood up. "But please allow me to refuse. Goodbye!"

With that, Robin jumped backward, landed on the sea, and rode away on her sea turtle.

Having seen Arthur's strength, Robin had a bad feeling. She even abandoned her objective for this visit and chose to flee.

"Wind Sword Knight, so it was you."

Hearing Robin's words, the people present finally recognized Arthur.

Zoro in particular couldn't help widening his eyes as he looked at Arthur, whose bearing was noble and sacred.

According to the rumors in the East Blue, the Wind Sword Knight's identifying feature was an invisible sword.

Arthur hadn't even needed a sword to teach them a lesson earlier, so Zoro hadn't recognized him.

Now, to his surprise, the person who had made him experience that suffocating feeling again was a former colleague, someone who had always been a step ahead of him and whom he had always wanted to challenge.

"The Wind Sword Knight, the legendary bounty hunter of the East Blue?" Sanji and the others also widened their eyes.

"Who's that?" Luffy looked utterly bewildered.

"Idiot, the Wind Sword Knight! He's the Wind Sword Knight!" Usopp smacked Luffy hard on the head and whispered, "He's the bounty hunter who defeated every major pirate in the East Blue, the one whose story spread throughout the East Blue. He's the strongest person there."

"Oh, I see." Luffy nodded in faint understanding, pounded his right fist into his left hand, and said seriously, "Never heard of him."

"..."

Ignoring the comical scene beside him, Arthur watched Robin leave, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly.

Then, under the Straw Hat Pirates' watch, Arthur leaped from the Going Merry onto the sea.

A surprising sight followed.

Arthur's feet landed on the sea, but instead of falling into the water, he stood on its surface as if it were solid ground.

"That's amazing! Zoro, Sanji, look! He can actually stand on the sea!" At the sight, Luffy promptly forgot that Arthur had just attacked them. As though he had discovered something fascinating, he pointed at Arthur, his eyes shining gold, and shouted to Zoro and the others.

Sanji calmly analyzed it. "The Wind Sword Knight, the blond boy who holds the wind in his hand—that's how people in the East Blue describe him. He must have eaten a Devil Fruit that lets him control the wind. Devil Fruit users fear seawater, so he can't really be standing on the sea. He's probably using the wind to support his body and keep himself suspended for the moment."

Zoro remained silent. He still hadn't recovered from that suffocating feeling.

Both had come from the East Blue, both were swordsmen, and both had worked as bounty hunters, yet the gap between them was like an impassable chasm.

Of the Straw Hat crew's three strongest fighters, he had suffered the greatest shock.

It would be hard for him to recover without some time.

Of course, Zoro's fighting spirit hadn't been crushed. Instead, his determination burned fiercely.

Just as Arthur had said, he would carry that suffocating feeling with him and drive himself to grow stronger at a frenzied pace.

After leaping onto the sea, Arthur stood on it as if it were solid ground.

Watching Robin's retreating figure, he pushed off lightly and shot forward like an arrow released from a bow.

—Blessing of the Lake Fairy

Arthur Pendragon's body had been blessed by the Lady of the Lake, so no water, however deep, could stop him.

With this blessing, Arthur could walk even on the sea as if it were solid ground.

Chapter 26: Capturing Robin

"This is bad..."

On the sea turtle, Robin watched Arthur running toward her across the water. Her earlier composure was completely gone, replaced by helplessness and regret. If she had known, she wouldn't have gotten involved in this mess.

Not only had she failed to accomplish her objective, but it also seemed a monster had set his sights on her.

"Six Fleur chokehold!"

As Arthur drew closer and closer, Robin refused to sit and wait for death. She attacked him directly.

In an instant, three arms sprouted from each of Arthur's shoulders as he approached from a short distance away. They reached for his head, attempting to snap his neck and kill him in one blow.

"Heh..." Arthur chuckled softly and did nothing, as if he hadn't seen them.

Smack!

Before the six arms could touch Arthur's head, they seemed to be struck by something and turned into bright flower petals that scattered down.

At the same time, Arthur leaped from the sea, landed on the turtle, and came before Robin.

"Now then, will I need to use force, Miss All Sunday?"

"I don't think that will be necessary, Sir Knight." Robin smiled and spoke gently, raising both hands slightly as she resigned herself and surrendered.

"Very wise, Miss All Sunday."

Pleased with her answer, Arthur nodded. Then he tapped the turtle's shell with his foot and said evenly, "Turn around and head for the back of Whiskey Peak."

As his words fell, a pressure radiated from Arthur. It was directed solely at the turtle and could not be sensed by ordinary people.

Only giant beasts could understand how terrifying that pressure was. The turtle seemed to see the corpses of countless creatures of its own kind. The aura made it tremble uncontrollably, and it hurriedly changed course, heading back toward Whiskey Peak.

Robin was a little surprised. Had a sea beast that cumbersome been tamed so easily?

She had no idea it was because of the aura surrounding Arthur.

—Giant Beast Hunt (A).

This was another innate skill. King Arthur had fought the giant beasts that ravaged Britain and struck down every one of them. The skill gave Arthur a wealth of experience fighting enormous creatures.

With this skill, Arthur had displayed extraordinary fighting power against the enormous sea beasts in the ocean.

Over the past month, Arthur had often dived a thousand meters beneath the sea to train, using Excalibur to experience that feeling of looking down upon everything. Who knew how many sea beasts had died beneath the golden torrent?

Each enormous sea beast he killed added to a pressure within him, something like killing intent that worked in much the same way as Conqueror's Haki.

Although this pressure could not compare to Conqueror's Haki, as it grew stronger, it could intimidate some timid giant beasts into submission.

Its only flaw was that using it on naturally ferocious giant beasts would very likely backfire, forcing them to fight to the death.

"Whew... Thank goodness they didn't come back."

The turtle went straight around the Straw Hat Pirates and took a detour toward the back of Whiskey Peak from another direction.

Seeing this, Usopp breathed a long sigh of relief.

"The Grand Line really does live up to its name as a pirate graveyard... Luffy, we can't afford to keep letting our guard down." Zoro pulled the bandanna from his arm and tied it tightly around his head. His eyes flashed with a sharp light as he said firmly, "The other agents from Baroque Works will definitely come after us next. Things won't always go like they just did. We need to be stronger when we face our enemies."

"Yeah... I have to admit, that guy really did mean well when he taught us that lesson." Sanji spoke evenly and tried to light a cigarette, but it had gotten wet when he fell into the water, so he gave up.

"I'm sorry. I've caused you trouble," Vivi said, overwhelmed with guilt and taking all the blame for what had just happened upon herself.

"Don't worry, none of this is your fault..." The mature Lila hurried to comfort her.

Arthur knew nothing of the Straw Hat Pirates' reactions.

He sat in Robin's personal seat and studied her closely. His eyes were perfectly clear, filled with appreciation, as though he were looking at a work of art. Rather than making her uncomfortable, his gaze even gave her a slightly favorable impression of him.

"Sir Knight, is there something on my face?" Robin could see that there wasn't a trace of lust in Arthur's gaze, but the more that was the case, the more flustered she became.

Robin trusted her intuition. She had spent her life on the run since childhood, moving among different factions, living in constant fear, and treating betrayal as an everyday occurrence. She was practically an upgraded version of Nami.

And now, the bad feeling welling up inside her was making her panic.

Could it be... he's already seen through my real identity?

At that thought, Robin hurriedly struck up a conversation, trying to divert Arthur's attention.

After all, the man before her was a bounty hunter.

A hyena who loved money as much as his own life!

And her bounty was—79 million Beli.

Little did she know that Arthur had long since known her identity, as well as everything she had been through since childhood.

Arthur was in no hurry to expose her. Instead, he played along and smiled. "There is something on it, but unfortunately, it can't be wiped off."

"What is it?" Robin asked, touching her cheek.

"Beauty," Arthur said with a chuckle. "It's called beauty, the mature beauty that belongs to you alone, Miss All Sunday."

"..."

Robin was speechless. After Arthur said that, even she, normally so good with words, didn't know how to respond for a moment.

She could only think that he was very good at conversation.

It was also the first time Robin had ever received such an elegant compliment, and from a knight at that.

Somehow, Robin relaxed a little and felt less panicked.

Arthur, who had taken it all in, nodded to himself. The atmosphere had eased, and getting along from here on would be much easier.

At the same time, Arthur continued studying Robin.

He had to admit that Robin's intellectual beauty was indeed extraordinarily captivating.

At 188 centimeters tall, she was seven centimeters taller than Arthur. Ten years older than Nami, she had shed her youthful innocence and radiated an alluring, mature beauty. She had long black hair, a stunning face, fair skin, and a 100-centimeter bust beneath her collarbones that naturally formed a deep cleavage. Looking farther down, her waist was slender enough to encircle with both hands, and her legs were long. Without a doubt, she had an exceptionally gifted figure. [PS: Robin's skin is fair, but the anime team got it wrong. They changed it back to fair after the two-year time skip, and in the Sky Island flashback in episode 770, Robin's skin is fair again.]

Chapter 27: Leaving Everything to Fate

"Who is she?"

On the deck of the small cabin sailboat behind Whiskey Peak, Nami, who had already woken up, looked at Robin, whom Arthur had brought back, and asked.

She made no attempt to conceal the hostility in her gaze. Clearly, the mature and beautiful Robin made the still-youthful Nami feel threatened.

As Nami studied Robin, Robin was studying her in turn.

First impressions were important. In Robin's eyes, at least, this was a very pretty girl with a lively air about her and the youthfulness that had vanished from Robin before she had ever experienced it.

Robin also sensed no aura of a strong fighter from Nami, which made her a little envious. This girl must have been well protected by him.

"Beli."

Arthur knew nothing of what either of them was thinking. Hearing Nami's question, he smiled and gave that answer.

"How much!?" Sure enough, Nami's expression changed at once, and her eyes turned into dollar signs.

"Seventy-nine million."

"Ah... that's four times Arlong's bounty! I love you, Arthur!"

The enormous figure made Nami sway and stagger back several steps, clutching her head as though she were about to faint from happiness.

Arthur smiled and shook his head.

Behind him, Robin's expression changed drastically. She stared at his back, her eyes full of fear.

She could hardly believe that Arthur, who had been complimenting her only moments ago, could say something so terrifying the next.

Relying on that bearing of his, he had clearly recognized her long ago, yet pretended to be completely harmless. Then, in the blink of an eye, he had turned into a hyena baring his fangs—this man was terrifying.

At that thought, Robin turned her gaze to Nami, whose cheeks were flushed and whose expression was blissful.

Her eyes showed a hint of guilt, but she slowly raised both hands anyway.

Smack—

At that moment, Arthur, as though he had eyes in the back of his head, slowly turned around and placed a hand on Robin's shoulder. He smiled. "Until we find a Marine Branch, I'm afraid you'll have to stay here for a while, Miss All Sunday. No, I should say Miss Robin."

"..."

As those words fell, a feeling of suffocation washed over Robin. It came from Arthur's presence, as well as the shock she had suffered.