Morning light filtered through the expensive glazed windows, scattering specks of light across a velvet bed so soft one could sink into it.
Robin's long eyelashes trembled a few times before she slowly opened her eyes.
What greeted her was an unfamiliar ceiling carved with intricate vine patterns, while the air was filled with a crisp, expensive fragrance.
"You're awake."
A gentle yet unfamiliar female voice came from beside her. Robin jolted, instantly fully awake, and turned her head warily. Sitting by the bed was an exceptionally beautiful blonde woman. Her sapphire-blue eyes were like a tranquil lake, and she looked at Robin with a faint, gentle smile.
She wore a perfectly tailored silk gown, her bearing impeccably elegant.
"Who are you? And... why am I here?"
Robin pushed herself upright and instinctively clutched the thin blanket, her voice carrying the wariness she had developed over the years. The chaos and flight from yesterday remained vivid in her mind, but what came afterward was somewhat hazy.
"My name is Stussy,"
the blonde woman said with a faint smile, her voice unhurried and carrying a soothing magic,
"I'm Adams's woman. As for why you're here... you'd already fallen asleep while he was bringing you back yesterday. What, you don't remember at all?"
"It does seem... like that happened."
Robin tried hard to recall. Fragments of memory gradually came together—desperate flight, a warm embrace, a reassuring presence, and the overwhelming exhaustion that had crashed down on her after a string stretched too tight for too long suddenly loosened.
It seemed that she really had lost consciousness completely and fallen into a deep sleep in that man's arms. At the thought, an indescribable warmth quietly passed through her heart.
But then Stussy's introduction hit her like a bucket of ice water, making her shudder.
"Wait, did you just say... you're his woman?"
There was a trace of urgency in her voice that even she had not noticed, along with... resentment.
Stussy immediately caught the little girl's subtle thoughts. Her lips curved into an amused smile as she deliberately dragged out her tone and teased,
"That's right, little sister~ Sorry, but your big sister here... got there first."
"W-Why are you telling me that?!"
Robin's cheeks grew slightly hot. Somewhat flustered, she looked away,
"I don't have those kinds of feelings for him! I didn't before, I don't now, and I absolutely never will in the future!"
Stussy found the obviously dishonest little girl before her rather amusing.
She stopped teasing Robin and elegantly took out two Den Den Mushi from beside her. One was an ordinary communication Den Den Mushi, while the other had a black shell and was a special anti-eavesdropping model.
Robin caught sight of her actions from the corner of her eye, her face full of confusion.
Stussy then placed a slip of paper with a string of numbers on the exquisite bedside table and explained,
"He asked me to tell you that someone... has been waiting for you for a long time."
Robin's heart suddenly skipped a beat. An unbelievable yet desperately desired possibility rose in her mind.
Half-believing and half-doubting, she picked up the communication Den Den Mushi. Her fingers trembled slightly as she dialed the numbers on the note.
Seeing this, Stussy gave a knowing smile, silently left the room, and gently closed the door behind her.
"Purururu—Purururu—"
The Den Den Mushi rang several times before being answered. There was a moment of silence on the other end, followed by a voice Robin had missed day and night.
"Mosimosi..."
That single tentative greeting made Robin's tears burst forth instantly. Large drops rolled down her cheeks, soaking the silk bedsheets.
The circular Arena.
Violent collisions rang out without end. In the center, two figures darted about at high speed, crossing and clashing as they sparred.
Lucci gritted his teeth and pushed his speed to the limit. His fingers danced into a skyful of afterimages as they attacked the silver-haired youth before him.
Lucci's swift attack trajectories reflected in Adams's pupils, yet his gaze remained calm and still. There was not even a trace of seriousness on that extraordinarily handsome face.
From Adams's perspective, Lucci's fierce assault—enough to leave ordinary agents dizzy and despairing—was so slow it seemed almost motionless.
This was not Observation Haki, but purely the result of monstrous neural reflexes and dynamic vision.
His body merely swayed slightly from side to side, shifting in small movements to evade every Shigan by the narrowest of margins. He looked as leisurely as though he were taking a stroll through a courtyard.
"What's wrong? Is this all you can do?"
Adams spoke casually, his voice carrying a relaxed magnetism.
A flash of anger passed through Lucci's eyes. He snorted coldly, exerted force through his feet, and suddenly slid back more than ten meters, widening the distance between himself and Adams.
Then he lashed out with a high kick that tore through the air—
"Rankyaku: Hyoubi!"
A vacuum slash shaped like a sharp bird roared forth, ripping through the air.
A faint look of appreciation finally appeared in Adams's eyes.
"Oh? Compared to when I first met you, both its scale and power have increased quite a bit. Not bad progress."
As soon as he finished speaking, he casually raised his right leg and seemingly kicked forward without effort—
Rip!
An even larger, gigantic azure vacuum slash appeared out of nowhere, nearly covering half the Arena as it howled forward with crushing force.
Boom!!
The instant Lucci's Hyoubi came into contact with it, it shattered and vanished as easily as fragile glass.
The Rankyaku Adams had unleashed continued onward without losing momentum, carrying a destructive aura.
Lucci's pupils shrank abruptly. The intense sense of danger made every hair on his body stand on end, and he threw himself desperately to the side.
Whoosh—!
The massive Rankyaku flew past his scalp by a hair's breadth, its fierce wind lashing his cheeks with pain.
The slash finally slammed into the protective forest at the edge of the Arena. Amid a string of grating snapping sounds, dozens of thick trees were cleanly severed at the waist, wood chips raining through the air.
Adams glanced at the mess and sighed helplessly.
"Tch, I'll have to transplant another batch from below again. What a pain."
Unlike Adams's casual manner, Lucci was kneeling on one knee on the ground. Cold sweat beaded on his forehead as towering waves had already risen in his heart, to the point that he was beginning to question his life.
This guy's Rankyaku... his mastery is actually far beyond mine?!
Boundless humiliation and unwillingness instantly swallowed him. Clearly... clearly, I was the one who began training the Six Powers first, and I had even taught him the basics.
I'm actually... being utterly crushed by him with an absolute advantage in the field I'm most proud of?!
A powerful unwillingness surged within him.
TO BE CONTINUED