Five days later.
Ohara, northwest coast, Saul's hideout.
The sea breeze stirred the sparse blades of grass, scattering the charred fragrance of roasted meat.
Saul's massive body nearly filled the crude rocky hollow he was hiding in. Sitting cross-legged, he made the steak in his hand look exceptionally tiny. He swallowed it in one bite and let out a muffled, satisfied sigh:
"Dereshishishi! Delicious! This meat was prepared really well!"
He raised a finger and handed the remaining steak to the little girl on the boulder:
"The rest is yours, Robin!"
Robin shook her head, indicating that she wasn't hungry. Then her gaze nailed itself firmly onto the giant.
Saul froze. He met those overly calm eyes. His rugged brows furrowed, and his voice carried baffled disbelief.
"You still want me to thank you?"
"Mm."
Robin's voice was very soft.
The giant fell silent for several seconds. The muscles in his face tensed, then relaxed.
He suddenly grinned, flashing a mouthful of white teeth, and burst into louder laughter that somehow sounded a little awkward:
"Dereshishishi! Dereshishishi!"
Before his laughter faded, he suddenly leaned forward. With a sweep of his giant hand, he stuffed all the remaining steaks into his mouth at once. Muttering indistinctly, he rose to his feet and stirred up a gust of wind:
"I'm going to build a raft!"
His huge body moved with the clumsy haste of someone fleeing as he strode toward the logs piled up by the shore.
Robin did not move. Her gaze simply followed him.
She watched him easily lift a massive log that would have required several people to wrap their arms around. Knotted muscles rolled beneath his bronze skin, producing dull sounds of friction.
"By the way, why are you so free? You've been here for days. Don't you get along with your friends or parents?"
Saul's voice came from beneath the heavy log, rumbling with an echo.
"I don't have a father. I have a mother, but she went out to sea when I was two. As for friends, I only had one, but he suddenly went to sea without saying anything a while ago. The other children on the island think I'm strange, so they don't play with me."
Robin's voice was as calm as if she were telling someone else's story. The moment she finished speaking, she lightly raised her slender wrist.
Dozens of little-girl arms suddenly sprouted from Saul's thick right arm as he held up the log. He slowly lowered his head and stared at the unbelievable sight on his arm.
A few seconds later, laughter carrying a strange note of acceptance rumbled from deep within his chest:
"Dereshishishi! So you're a Devil Fruit user. That power really is convenient!"
"No matter how many times I hear it,"
Robin's gaze did not leave the little hands wrapped around the giant's arm,
"I still think your laugh is really strange."
Saul paid no mind to Robin's jab and laughed loudly again:
"Dereshishishi, don't say that. Laughing makes people happy."
Robin's voice remained calm, but there was unquestionable seriousness in it.
"I think you only want to laugh when you feel happy. My friend said that forcing a smile when you don't truly feel happy looks awful."
The muscles in Saul's arm tightened beneath the log, as if he were pressing its heavy weight deeper into his shoulders and back. He was silent for a moment before answering in a muffled voice:
"Dereshishishi... Your friend... that does make some sense."
As the giant's deep laughter and the girl's calm words intertwined in the wind, atop a jagged reef not far from their hideout, a protrusion identical in color and texture to the surrounding rock subtly adjusted the angle of its "gaze."
Information passed through thick rock and earth, instantly reaching the underground space.
"Looks like my appearance hasn't drastically changed the plot."
Adam's words stirred faint echoes through the empty cavern, cold and certain.
After confirming that events on the coast had not deviated, he instantly withdrew his attention from this damp darkness. Like invisible tendrils, it extended through the earth, leaping to the soil messengers scattered across other corners of the island.
Next, through the eyes of the miniature earthlings, he watched a series of events unfold: Olvia's return, Olvia being severely injured by Cipher Pol, Cipher Pol driving the scholars from the Tree of Knowledge, Robin meeting up with the scholars and recognizing Olvia as her mother, and more.
The scene jumped again, this time from inside a black reef polished smooth by the waves near the shore.
The evacuation ship carrying Ohara's last hope looked small and fragile upon the icy sea.
The faces of Ohara's civilians—people who usually looked at Robin with disgust and treated her as an outcast—were now twisted by extreme terror.
When little Robin tried to board as the soldiers prepared to leave, that despair instantly found an outlet.
"Monster! Get lost!"
"Don't let her aboard! She'll bring bad luck!"
"It's all because of you scholars! And that demon!"
Their abuse and curses shot toward the lonely, frail figure standing before the gangplank like a dense barrage of poisoned arrows.
Robin's body stiffened. The last trace of color drained completely from her little face, leaving only ash-gray pallor and a vast emptiness.
In the end, Spandine's announcement broadcast became the last straw. Robin could no longer endure it and left with a sob.
Not long after Robin left—
Boom!!!
A massive shell erupted from the main cannon of a distant Navy warship, crossed the icy sea, and struck the evacuation ship packed with lives with flawless precision.
Screams, cries, curses—all human clamor... was completely erased the instant that crimson light devoured everything.
The soil messenger within the reef faithfully recorded the annihilation unfolding only a stone's throw away.
Deep underground, Adams, floating in the darkness, slowly opened his eyes.
"It's my turn."
He murmured, his voice exceptionally clear in the empty cavern.
The instant his words fell, his floating body suddenly dropped.
"Ha!"
With a low exhalation, the power accumulated through two years of waiting erupted. His fists, covered by earthen gauntlets, were like two giant hammers meant to break city walls. Accompanied by shrill howls that tore through the air, they drove into the rock above without restraint.
He could descend through assimilation, but the scholars could not. He had to open an escape route for them.
Inside the Tree of Knowledge.
A deafening boom that seemed capable of stopping hearts exploded from deep underground. The bookshelves were shoved by invisible giant hands and crashed down, while heavy tomes rained down like an avalanche.
Years of dust sifted down from the dome, mixing with the ash produced by the flames and forming choking clouds of smoke.
The terrified cries of the scholars trapped in the sea of fire were drowned out by the continuous thunderous rumbling. Dr. Clover staggered, only avoiding a fall because Olvia beside him gripped him tightly.
His wrinkled face was filled with shock, his clouded eyes fixed on the violently shaking ground at the center of the library.
Boom!!!
The hard floor burst apart like a fragile eggshell. Fragments shot in every direction like cannonballs, striking the burning bookshelves.
A huge hole suddenly appeared, and swirling smoke and dust billowed out like the breath of an underground beast, instantly spreading everywhere.
A figure took shape amid the billowing smoke.
Dr. Clover covered his throat, aching from the choking dust, and stared in shock at the figure that had suddenly emerged from underground:
"Ad... Adams? You..."
"There's no time, Doctor! If you trust me, grab the books and jump down! Now!"
TO BE CONTINUED