What was hell? Robin felt as though she were standing in hell itself.
Artillery fire filled the sky, flames devouring the entire island. The former sanctuary of knowledge had been utterly erased. People wailed as they tried to flee, only to discover that those who should have protected them had raised their butcher's blades instead.
One familiar face after another fell. Half the archaeologists who had always shown Robin kindness now lay amid the sea of flames.
Not only them—even the mother she had only just reunited with had fallen before her eyes while protecting her.
"Mom, get up... I'll save you. I'll definitely save you! I know a place. If we go there, you'll be safe!" Robin wept as she tried to lift Olvia.
The blow had been too great. She had even forgotten about her Flower-Flower Fruit ability, doing nothing but tugging at her mother again and again.
Olvia gave her a gentle smile. "Robin, it's all right. Run. This sea is fair to everyone. You must escape with all of our wills on your shoulders. One day, you'll meet companions willing to give everything for you. Mommy will watch over you from the sky..."
Her words came in fragments. The shockwave from the shell had injured her lower leg, and in her condition, there was no way she could keep running.
Robin looked up through her tears. A pitch-black shell descended, headed directly for where she stood.
Boom!
The shell grazed past Robin's body, hit the ground, bounced twice, and then went still... a dud!
Robin turned around and stared at the shell beside her in disbelief. The odds of a dud shell were far too low. With the Pirate World's current technology, shells occasionally misfired—but for one to happen under these exact circumstances felt far too