CPU

After settling the matter, Ross did not continue bothering Zephyr. He took Robin and left the stern.

The Marines aboard were somewhat flustered, but they all followed Sakazuki. Sakazuki himself had a fiery temper and was prone to hurting even his comrades, so they adapted quickly.

Finding an empty corner, Ross set Robin down, though he still held her arm.

"Hold tight to the railing. I don't want you falling overboard because you weren't careful."

"Ah, okay!"

Robin hurriedly stretched out both hands and gripped the railing. The warship was moving extremely fast, and with the entire hull tilted, her small body could easily be flung away if she was careless.

"Ohara was destroyed. What do you plan to do from now on?"

Ross had no intention of treating Robin like an eight-year-old child and asked directly.

Although Robin was young, she had experienced the warmth and coldness of the world. She was also a historian no less talented than Olvia.

"Can you let me leave?"

Robin pressed her lips together, hope flickering in her eyes.

"Just you, or you and Olvia?" Ross asked with a faint smile.

"I..."

Robin hesitated. Thinking of what Olvia had done, her gaze finally became firm.

"Just me!"

"Just you?" Ross rubbed Robin's head with an amused smile. "Do you have any family out at sea?"

"No."

"What skills do you have to support yourself?"

"I can read history..." Robin said softly.

"But not everywhere welcomes storytellers. Besides, knowing history and telling stories are two different things."

Ross shook his head with a smile. Ignoring Robin's disappointed expression, he pressed on.

"Do you have the strength to protect yourself? You're no longer a citizen of the Allied Nations. Most undocumented people from non-Allied Nations get captured and sold as slaves."

"I..."

Robin was speechless.

How could she possibly protect herself? With her current Devil Fruit ability, she could not even defeat Olvia, much less the pirates found everywhere.

Now, even she felt that her idea had been childish.

Yeah.

Even if Ross let her go, could she really take care of herself?

Watching Robin sink into confusion, Ross's lips curled upward.

"Why do you want to leave?"

"I want to get away from Olvia!" Robin answered without hesitation.

She did not dare say that she disliked Ross. In truth, her feelings toward him were complicated.

She clearly knew that Ross was the chief culprit behind all this.

But when she carefully considered things from Ross's perspective, it seemed that he had not actually done anything wrong.

Those historians, including Olvia, were madmen. No wonder the World Government had carried out a Buster Call on Ohara.

She had learned yesterday that Ohara's civilians had all been evacuated. Only the historians had died.

And the World Government had not killed anyone at all. Only Ross had killed Professor Clover and Sauron, the two people closest to her.

Even though Ross had acted under orders and had treated her fairly well, Robin still could not forgive him for the time being.

As for everyone else, Olvia had killed them all.

For the sake of researching the Poneglyphs, Olvia had already gone mad.

"Run away from Olvia, and then what? Let her continue researching the Poneglyphs?" Ross raised an eyebrow.

"Why is she so obsessed with the Poneglyphs?" Robin's expression darkened.

If that madwoman Olvia continued researching the Poneglyphs, then would those historians not have died for nothing?

Robin had not thought of asking Ross to do anything. She no longer had anything she could offer in exchange, and this was something Ross had promised Olvia.

In Robin's eyes, Ross was a man who kept his word. She also hoped he would continue to be one.

At least that would ease the guilt in her heart a little.

After all, in that moment of danger, she had been the one to ask him to save Olvia, which had led to Sauron's death.

Sauron did not have to die in the first place. If only she had chosen to save him back then.

Robin thought dejectedly, her mind a complete mess.

With her knowledge and experience, she simply could not process so much information, especially after having just gone through such a drastic change.

"Why are you obsessed with the Poneglyphs?" Ross looked at Robin with amusement. "You're the youngest historian who understands the Ancient Language, and you're asking me that? I want to ask you people the same thing. Why research forbidden things when there are so many other things to study?"

"Ah, how did you know I understand the Ancient Language?"

Robin did not even hear the rest. Just hearing Ross say that he knew she was a historian made her tremble in fear.

Ross and the others had not avoided speaking in front of her. She knew that the World Government had issued wanted notices for every Ohara historian outside the island who knew the Ancient Language.

"You thought you hid it well?"

Ross shook his head with a laugh, placing a hand on Robin's head as he spoke earnestly.

"Robin, remember this. Only something no one else knows can truly be called a secret. Once a second person knows, it will eventually become common knowledge."

"I see..."

Robin fell into thought.

Professor Clover had always said that their research was very secretive and that the World Government would not discover it.

But just as Ross had said, how could a secret remain undiscovered forever?

Once the World Government discovered it, Ohara, which lacked strength, would inevitably be reduced to a sea of flames.

"So it still comes down to strength..." Robin muttered.

The power Sakazuki had displayed yesterday made her truly imagine a certain possibility.

Unfortunately, Ohara could never possess someone as powerful as Sakazuki.

"You still haven't answered me. Why did you research the Poneglyphs?" Ross asked again.

Chatting with Robin was always easy. He did not have to think too much.

He had always liked Robin before. Now that he had the chance to raise her from childhood, he had even less reason to let it pass.

"Grandpa Clover said that those one hundred years were the Void Century, and that a historian's duty was to uncover every blank space in history," Robin repeated, pressing her lips together.

She did not understand the significance of uncovering those blanks. She had merely remembered it as a historian's code.

But Ohara's fate had proven that Professor Clover's words were wrong.

"What do you think?" Ross asked in return.

Robin was a very smart person. Though she was still young, after experiencing so much, she would inevitably have thoughts of her own.

All he needed to do was guide her.

Even if Robin truly turned dark... he would only like her more.

"I think Grandpa Clover was wrong."

A trace of resolve flashed through Robin's eyes. She was not very wary of Ross, since it would have been far too easy for him to kill her.

In truth, she also wanted to know whether her own thoughts were right.

Especially after everything that had happened yesterday, which had completely changed her previous views.

"Saint Ross, I believe history has never had blanks or truths and falsehoods. Only those who survive have the right to record history."

"And the history we see is also the history they recorded. Trying to restore that so-called blank century is completely meaningless."