Discarding Unnecessary Sympathy

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

Yet the cabin was dark and silent tonight. She pushed open the door and found no one inside. The familiar belongings remained where they had always been, but the comforting presence was gone.

"Dawn? Stella?"

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

A familiar loneliness instantly seized her. Fighting back the sting in her nose, she searched around and quickly found a note pinned beneath something on the table.

By the faint moonlight filtering in through the window, she read the brief farewell message. It roughly said that they had urgent matters to attend to and had to leave immediately, with no set date of return, and told her to take care of herself.

The note slipped from her fingers.

I'm alone again...

An immense sense of loss and grief washed over her like a tide. She stood there for a long time without moving.

In the end, she held back the tears that were about to spill from her eyes. Without making a sound, she turned and left the little cabin that had brought her warmth for the past year.

She needed somewhere quiet to be alone—perhaps the shore where she could hear the waves.

She wandered to the coast in a daze, letting the sea breeze blow over her little 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, straightforward, and simple-minded. Saul's laughter brought her some small comfort as well.

But in Robin's heart, Saul was a new friend, while Dawn and Stella had been the only light in her dark life over the past year. The void left by that light's sudden disappearance was far from something Saul's arrival could immediately fill.

Three days later.

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

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

The two changed their attire and quietly left the alley, intending to find a temporary place to stay. As they passed a rather lively tavern, its door stood half-open, and the boisterous chatter of drinkers drifted out from within.

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

"Ohara? That island full of scholars? What does the Navy want with such a huge force?"

"Who knows... Maybe those scholars researched something they weren't supposed to and angered the World Government..."

Stella's expression changed instantly upon hearing the discussion. She unconsciously moved closer to the blond youth beside her.

"The Navy... With a force like that, could they be going after Ohara's scholars? 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 to take a look. If Robin really is in danger, I'll find a way to save her."

Dawn spoke with grave sincerity, while secretly delighted. He had still been wondering what excuse he could use to return to Ohara, but this ready-made reason had practically fallen into his lap.

Knowing full well that once Dawn made up his mind, he would not easily change it, Stella did not ask to accompany him. She merely raised her head, looked at his handsome and resolute profile, and reminded 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, coquettish protest.

"I'll be back soon."

With that, he shot into the air. The air beneath his feet boomed as Geppo flashed repeatedly, and after several 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 Yami Yami no Mi, he wrapped himself in a thin layer of darkness, perfectly concealing his figure.

His pupils reflected the scene below, which had already turned into hell.

The island of Ohara, once steeped in academia, 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 above.

The Buster Call fleet, which represented "justice," surrounded the small island and relentlessly rained down devastating artillery fire.

Dawn watched it all without expression and slowly exhaled, as though trying to expel some indescribable emotion from his chest.

I'm sorry, Robin.

He silently spoke those words 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 temporary stay in Ohara, the only person Dawn had interacted with was Robin. He had no ties to those two, and saving them would offer him almost no benefit for his revenge plan beyond slightly raising Robin's already sky-high affection for him.

He had never considered himself a saint or a savior. He understood his role very 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 compassion, making rational—even cold-blooded—choices that best served his survival and his goals.

His gaze swept across the sea, where a path of Ice reflected a cold gleam beneath the firelight, stretching from Ohara's shore toward the distant ocean.

Without hesitation, Dawn moved, speeding low over the sea along that path.

Not long after he left, a tall young man with curly hair and an icy aura slowly raised his head from a distorted shadow below, warped by the bombardment. His sharp gaze fixed on the patch of sky where Dawn had just been hovering. His eyes flickered as if he were sensing and contemplating something, and an inscrutable depth appeared on his face.

Two and a half hours later, following the path of Ice, Dawn found a small wooden boat drifting slowly across the waters far from Ohara.

There was only one small, curled-up figure aboard the boat: Robin.

Dawn dispelled his concealment and landed soundlessly at the stern of the boat, as lightly as a feather.

Robin was startled by the figure that had suddenly appeared. She looked up in terror, but the instant she saw that it was Dawn, her tightly strung nerves snapped. The fear, grief, and despair she had suppressed for so long burst forth like floodwaters breaking through a dam.

"Dawn—!"

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

In broken fragments, she told him of the horrific attack on Ohara, how the scholars had been hunted by CP9, how her mother Olvia had ultimately fallen before her eyes, and how the entire island had been swallowed by flames.

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

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

Dawn held the trembling little body in his arms tightly. 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 apology.

"I'm 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 deployed to Ohara. I was worried something had happened to you, so I rushed back right away."

He paused, as if making 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 Clan is something the World Government cannot tolerate, a taboo that must be erased.

"We're friends, Robin. I cherish 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 stared blankly up at Dawn.

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

Yet she had never expected that the first friend she had met—and the one she trusted most—had already been walking this thorn-filled road.

After all the twists and turns, fate seemed to have played an enormous joke on her. The person who understood her circumstances best, the one most suited to walk beside her, was actually the person standing before her—the person she had long known so well.

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

Dawn drew a deep breath, lowered his head to meet 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 wanted to keep you away from my danger, it's useless now.

"So... are you willing to come with me? To survive together on this sea."

Robin looked at Dawn's outstretched hand. Tears glimmered in her eyes, but even more than that was the resolve of someone who had found where she belonged. She nodded firmly, placed her little hand in Dawn's large palm, and answered in a tearful yet exceptionally clear voice:

"Yes, I am!"

To Be Continued