Casting Aside Unnecessary Sympathy

About ten minutes later, Robin's small figure made her way to the clearing in the woods as usual, following the familiar path with ease.

However, the cabin was dark and silent tonight. She pushed open the door to find it empty. The familiar belongings were still in their places, but the comforting presence was gone.

"Dawn? Stella?"

Robin called out tentatively, but only an empty echo answered her.

A familiar sense of loneliness seized her at once. Fighting back the sting in her nose, she searched around and soon found a note pinned beneath something on the table.

By the faint moonlight filtering through the window, she read the brief farewell message.

It said that they had urgent business and had to leave immediately, with no definite return date, and told her to take care of herself.

The note slipped from her fingers.

She was alone again...

Overwhelming loss and sorrow washed over her like a tide. She stood there for a long while without moving.

In the end, she held back the tears that were about to spill from her eyes. She did not cry aloud, merely turned around in silence and left the little cabin that had brought her warmth for an entire year.

She needed somewhere quiet, such as the shore where she could hear the waves.

She wandered to the coast in a daze, letting the sea breeze brush against her small body. It was there that she easily spotted Saul, stranded on the beach.

Robin quickly became friends with the giant, who looked fierce but was actually cheerful, simple, and honest. Saul's laughter brought her a little comfort as well.

But in Robin's heart, Saul was a newly made friend, while Dawn and Stella had been the only light in her dark life over the past year. The void left by the sudden disappearance of that light was far beyond what Saul's presence could immediately fill.

Three days later.

In the waters near Ohara, on an unremarkable medium-sized island.

Under cover of night, Dawn and Stella quietly descended into a dark, deserted alley.

They changed their outfits and discreetly left the alley, preparing to find a temporary place to stay. As they passed a rather lively tavern, its door stood half-open, and the noisy chatter of drinkers drifted out.

"...Have you heard? So many warships! Too many to count! Just yesterday, they all sailed in force toward Ohara!"

"Ohara? That island full of scholars? What is the Navy planning with such a huge operation?"

"Who knows... Maybe those scholars studied something they shouldn't have and angered the World Government..."

Upon hearing the discussion, Stella's expression changed instantly. She instinctively moved closer to the blond youth beside her.

"The Navy... Could they be targeting the scholars of Ohara? Robin... could she be in danger?"

"The situation is unclear, but we can't rule that out. Stella, stay here. Keep looking for a suitable place to stay and gather more information. I'll return to Ohara immediately and take a look. If Robin is truly in danger, I'll find a way to save her."

Dawn gave his instructions with grave sincerity, though inwardly, he was delighted. He had been wondering what suitable excuse he could use to return to Ohara, only for the perfect reason to fall right into his lap.

Knowing that Dawn was difficult to dissuade once he had made up his mind, Stella did not ask to go with him. She merely raised her head, looked at his handsome and resolute profile, and warned him with concern:

"Be careful. You have to come back safely."

Dawn bent down and gently kissed Stella's smooth forehead, making the girl's cheeks flush as she let out a soft, bashful protest.

"I'll be back soon."

With those words, he shot into the air. The air beneath his feet exploded as Geppo flashed repeatedly, and after only a few leaps, he vanished into the clouds, racing toward Ohara.

Two days later.

Ohara, near the northwestern coastline.

Dawn hovered in midair. Using the power of the Dark-Dark Fruit, he wrapped himself in a thin layer of darkness, perfectly concealing his form.

The scene below, already transformed into hell, was reflected in his pupils.

Ohara Island, once steeped in scholarly atmosphere, had now been consumed by endless flames and thick smoke.

Explosions rang out one after another. Buildings collapsed beneath cannon fire, while cries and wails could faintly be heard even from high in the sky.

The Buster Call fleet that represented "justice" surrounded the small island, continuously raining down devastating artillery fire.

Dawn watched it all without expression and slowly let out a breath, as though trying to expel some indescribable feeling from his chest.

"Sorry, Robin."

He spoke silently in his heart. The reason he had left Ohara early was precisely to avoid this moment—to avoid directly facing the possibility that Robin might ask him to save her mother, Olvia, and Doctor Clover.

During his time staying in Ohara, Robin was the only person Dawn had interacted with.

He had no ties to either of them. Saving them would do little more than slightly raise Robin's already overwhelming affection for him, while offering almost no benefit to his own plan for revenge.

He had never considered himself a saint or a savior. He understood his own role clearly—

A pirate seeking revenge against the World Government, a darkness destined to stand against the world.

For that, he had to learn to cast aside unnecessary sympathy and pity, making rational—even cold-blooded—choices that best served his survival and goals.

His gaze swept across the sea, where a path of ice reflecting a cold gleam beneath the firelight stretched from Ohara's shore into the distant ocean.

Without any hesitation, Dawn moved, flying at high speed low above the surface along the icy path.

Not long after he left, a tall young man with curly hair and a body radiating biting cold slowly raised his head from a shadow twisted by the bombardment below. His sharp gaze fixed on the air where Dawn had just hovered. His eyes flickered as though he were sensing and considering something, and an unfathomably deep expression appeared on his face.

Two and a half hours later, following the path of ice, Dawn found a small wooden boat drifting slowly on the sea far from Ohara.

There was only one small, curled-up figure aboard.

It was Robin.

Dawn dispelled his invisibility and landed soundlessly on the stern of the boat, as light as a feather.

The sudden appearance startled Robin. She looked up in terror, but when she saw that it was Dawn, the tension holding her together instantly snapped. The fear, grief, and despair she had suppressed for so long burst forth like a breached flood.

"Dawn—!"

She cried out through tears, sprang up from the deck, and threw herself desperately into Dawn's broad, solid embrace, sobbing loudly.

In broken fragments, she told him of the horrific attack on Ohara: the scholars being hunted by CP9, her mother Olvia finally falling before her eyes, and the horrific sight of the entire island being consumed by flames.

At last, she lifted her tear-blurred face, her voice carrying both grievance and accusation.

"Why... why did you leave without saying goodbye? If you had been there... if you had been there..."

Dawn held her trembling little body tightly in his arms. He could feel the grief and helplessness that were nearly crushing her.

He gently stroked Robin's dark short hair, his voice low and full of remorse:

"Sorry, Robin. I came too late. I was on a nearby island when I happened to hear that a large number of Navy warships had been sent to Ohara. I was worried something had happened to you, so I rushed back immediately."

He paused, as though he had made some sort of decision. His tone became sincere and heavy:

"As for why I left... it was because of my surname—David. The very existence of the David Family is something the World Government cannot tolerate, a taboo that must be erased.

We're friends, Robin. I treasure this friendship, so I didn't want you to be dragged into the whirlpool of my grudge against the World Government because of me. It was too dangerous. I'm sorry I'm only telling you the truth now."

Hearing this explanation, Robin looked up at Dawn in a daze.

She had thought that from now on, she would have to walk the long road of uncovering history and fighting the World Government's darkness alone, never again finding a companion who shared her ideals.

Yet she never expected that the first friend she had met, and the one she trusted most, had already been walking this thorn-covered path.

After all the twists and turns, fate seemed to have played a huge joke on her. The person who understood her situation best, the one most suited to walk beside her, was the person standing before her—the one she had known so well all along.

For a moment, overwhelmed by countless emotions, she did not know what to say.

Dawn took a deep breath, lowered his head to look into Robin's eyes, and extended his hand to her with a formal invitation:

"So, Robin, we're on the same side now. We're both people the World Government cannot tolerate.

No matter how much I want to keep you away from my danger, it's useless now.

So... will you come with me? Will you live on this sea with me?"

Robin looked at Dawn's outstretched hand. Tears shimmered in her eyes, but there was something stronger there—a resolve born from finally finding where she belonged. She nodded firmly, placed her small hand in Dawn's broad palm, and answered in a tearful yet exceptionally clear voice:

"Yes, I will!"