Next Step

After Robin recovered, looking at the chaotic casino and the surrounding crowd, he immediately called out to Xia Qiu to leave the Rain Country and enter the desert, walking towards the distance.

"Little Qiu, what are you doing? Why are you attacking Crocodile?"

After walking for a while, Robin stopped and looked at Xia Qiu with a puzzled and angry expression.

"A great opportunity!"

Xia Qiu wrote a few lines in the desert.

"A good opportunity?"

Robin looked at Xia Qiu and asked, puzzled, "I'm not asking about the timing, but why you wanted to kill him?"

"He is dangerous."

Xia Qiu wrote a few more words on the sand.

"Danger?"

Robin looked at the words and asked, puzzled, "He is indeed very dangerous, and what he is after is terrifying, but he hasn't harmed us yet and is still protecting me. Why do you want to kill him?"

Xia Qiu did not answer, but lowered her head.

"Tell me what you're thinking, okay?" Robin walked up to Xia Qiu's head and looked into Xia Qiu's eyes.

Xia Qiu hesitated for a moment, then slowly wrote, "You said you didn't like this kind of life, that it was dangerous and might hurt you..."

Is that so?

Robin suddenly understood why Xia Qiu attacked Crocodile after seeing this line of text.

Little Qiu and Crocodile had no grudges against each other, and had never even met before. Before she told him Crocodile's true identity, Little Qiu didn't even know who he was.

Why did Xia Qiu attack him?

It certainly wasn't for his own sake.

The only connection between the two of them is me.

I told Little Qiu that I didn't like this kind of life, but only Crocodile and Baroque Works could protect me.

It was also me who told him about Crocodile, that he was dangerous, and that being with him meant constantly being on edge.

He told Little Qiu without hesitation because she was the only one he could confide in.

But it formed a concept in his mind.

In Little Qiu's eyes, he was dangerous and might hurt her, which is why she killed him.

Otherwise, he would have no reason to attack him and would risk this danger.

It turns out it was for my sake.

Robin looked at Xia Qiu and asked softly, "So you didn't want me to live this kind of life, so you killed him, right?"

"Right."

Xia Qiu nodded and nudged Robin with her head.

"You..."

Robin's resentment vanished, and he hugged Xia Qiu's head, saying, "But do you know that for now, only he can protect me?"

"I'll protect you."

Xia Qiu wrote a few lines on the sand, "Come back to the island with me."

"I know you will protect me."

Robin shook his head and said, "But I still need to obtain the Poneglyph. I've told you about my past, and you should know how important this is to me. I'll do it even if it costs me my life. But I can't do it alone. I can't even see the Poneglyph of Alabasta."

Xia Qiu wrote again, "I'll go with you."

"It's impossible."

Robin's eyes softened as he said, "The Alabasta army numbers in the hundreds of thousands, and they have siege crossbows, cannons, and bombs. On land, you're no match for them underwater. Besides, you don't even know where the Poneglyph chamber where the Alabasta are stored is."

Upon hearing this, Xia Qiu lowered her head and looked at Robin apologetically.

Robin sighed, unsure of what to do next.

Xia Qiu thought for a while and then suddenly wrote, "Baroque Works will also help you."

"Baroque Works? It's useless. Mr. 0 is dead. Baroque Works is incapable of maintaining itself."

Robin shook his head. The president of Baroque Works was Mr. 0; his orders were absolute. Now that he's dead, there's no one left...

"No, that's not right."

Robin suddenly thought of something.

To some extent, I also have a great deal of authority; at least the commands I issue will be executed, although they are not at the same level as mr0's commands.

More importantly, apart from himself, it seems that no one knows Crocodile is Mr. 0, nor has anyone ever seen Mr. 0.

Only you can prove who Mr.0 is.

This means that if you find someone to impersonate Crocodile, Baroque Works can still work for you.

By utilizing the Baroque Works, we can control and expand this force.

I don't need to steal a country, I just need to obtain the Poneglyph.

Moreover, could they possibly find Poneglyph from other countries?

Robin's eyes slowly lit up, a hint of joy in his expression.

Seeing her expression, Xia Qiu knew that she had figured out what to do on her own, so she didn't give any further hints and just lay there, doing nothing more.

Robin smiled and said, "Little Qiu, I've thought of a way to take control of Baroque Works."

"Um?"

Xia Qiu looked at him curiously.

Robin shared her thoughts, Xia Qiu immediately stood up straight, looked at her, and nodded vigorously.

Robin paced back and forth a few steps before saying, "But the only problem is that my strength isn't enough to control the entire Baroque Works. If I'm not discovered, that's fine, but what if someone notices something's wrong?"

Robin recalled two names: Daz Bones and Mr. 1. They had joined Baroque Works at least two years earlier than him, putting them ahead of everyone else.

Moreover, they all exercised great self-control in their abilities.

One is the Slicing-Slicing Fruit, which allows the body to transform into blades; the other is the Spike-Spike Fruit, which allows the body to grow thorns.

However, their own Flower-Flower Fruit can only grow on their own body parts and cannot withstand attacks from blades and thorns, making them completely vulnerable to their attacks.

Xia Qiu immediately wrote a few words on the ground, "I can help you."

"And Little Qiu."

Robin looked at Xia Qiu and felt confident. Little Qiu was incredibly strong, and with his cooperation, no one could defeat him.

For example, Daz Bones and Mr. 1 are troublesome for her, but not a threat to Little Qiu.

"This might be a good thing."

Robin suddenly spoke, her expression turning serious, "Crocodile is ruthless, and being with him is always dangerous. All along, I've been living under someone else's roof, relying on their power to achieve my dreams. But all I've received is betrayal, deception, and treachery. Everyone who protects me is only doing so for their own benefit. But now, perhaps I can change my approach. I can take control of my power and protect myself."

Xia Qiu immediately wrote in the margin, "Me too!"

"That's right."

Robin felt a warmth in his heart when he saw these words, and said with a smile, "Little Qiu is still here."

Anyone in this world could betray me, but Little Qiu wouldn't.

"Alright, let's go."

Robin patted Xia Qiu on the shoulder and said, "Leave here, and then think carefully about how to take control of Baroque Works."

Robin jumped onto Binchi and walked away into the distance.

Seeing that Robin was determined to continue using Baroque Works, Xia Qiu grinned and followed slowly.

But then Xia Qiu frowned. "The heat has disappeared. There's not much of it."

Xia Qiu felt the heat in her body slowly disappear and was somewhat dissatisfied.

The heat flow was not as much as he had imagined, not much more than Brigadier General Yuchimura's.

But thinking about it, it makes sense. Crocodile's strength lies mostly in his Devil Fruit ability. His Devil Fruit ability is so powerful that he can easily defeat Luffy by using it.

However, after being unable to use his Devil Fruit ability, his strength decreased, and he was defeated by Luffy.

After defeating Crocodile, Luffy fought six life-or-death battles during the Summit War, and with Gear Second and Gear Third, he barely reached the minimum level of Vice Admiral.

The current Luffy hasn't improved much; he can't use Gear Second or Gear Third, and he's been poisoned. Crocodile can't defeat him even without his Devil Fruit powers.

Crocodile's physical attributes and combat skills are self-evident.

It's strange that Crocodile was able to withstand Hawkeye's slash and Doflamingo's kick without using his powers during the Summit War.

How did he get to Whitebeard's side in an instant?

With that power and speed, defeating Luffy at that time would not have been a problem, so why didn't it show up then?

Was he trained in prison?

Xia Qiu couldn't understand, and what she understood even more was why Crocodile, a Devil Fruit User, had water as a weakness, and why he built his office in the middle of a lake.

I guarantee at least three updates in October. I'm currently trying my best to save up some chapters, and once I have those, I'll set a fixed update schedule.