Robin with Nowhere to Run

Saint Jalmack's Son paused mid-skewer, glanced back at the mountain of flesh, and said to Cairns, "He ruined my appetite."

"Understood, sir!" Cairns immediately set down the skewer in his hand, wiped his hands, and walked smiling toward Nelson's group.

"You've got some nerve..." Before the lead Marine soldier could finish, Cairns kicked him in the stomach, sending him flying into the sky like a shooting star.

"Outrageous!" Admiral Nelson flew into a rage. "Get them! Arrest them!"

After a round of screams, Marines lay rolling about all over the ground, while Admiral Nelson, bruised and battered, had passed out atop the collapsed carriage.

Saint Jalmack's Son ate his skewers as he watched Cairns perform, kicking the towering Marine soldiers around like balls with effortless ease. Every punch, every kick, every move was too fast to see clearly. Although he had already grasped some of the basics of Life Return, his eyes still could not keep up with Cairns's movements.

A Marine soldier had barely started to raise his gun—or rather, had barely thought about raising it—before he was struck down and knocked unconscious. To them, Cairns moved as fast as bullets. They had no ability to resist whatsoever.

After dealing with them, Cairns casually returned to his seat. The surroundings fell silent.

The onlookers were dumbfounded. Then someone suddenly screamed, and they scattered in every direction. Nearby stalls and shops shut their doors, and the once-bustling street became completely deserted.

The owner was already terrified out of his wits. Trembling, he said, "E-esteemed guests, you beat up Admiral Nelson of the Marines!"

Saint Jalmack's Son pointed at the lamb chops. "He probably won't be eating them now. Grill them all for me."

Being able to eat was one of the traits of Life Return. It converted food into one's own energy, allowing even severe injuries to heal quickly. For Saint Jalmack's Son, who had just depleted the overflowing Twelve Gods energy within him, the emptiness of desperately needing energy replenishment was simply unbearable. His ravenous stomach was a bottomless pit!

But as long as he had something tasty in his mouth, it felt great.

In his previous life, whenever he watched the anime and saw Luffy's group eat until their bellies were round and bulging, he had felt envious. Now he could eat like that too. It really did feel amazing.

From the other side of the street came the footsteps of a large force, along with gunfire.

Someone shouted, "Catch her! Don't let her get away—!"

Out of the darkness, a black-haired girl of around ten, carrying a tattered backpack and clutching a large book to her chest, came running over while panting. When she suddenly saw the Marines sprawled across the ground, she froze in fright. Then her eyes met Saint Jalmack's Son's, and both of them were stunned.

"Robin?" Saint Jalmack's Son blurted out.

Nico Robin, the Ohara survivor who had received a ten-million-Berry bounty at only eight years old.

For Robin, there was only one possibility for someone to know that name: he had seen her wanted poster. After all, every one of her relatives and friends had either been captured or killed.

Yet the unconscious Marines all over the ground, along with the Marine admiral lying there battered and bruised, allowed Robin to keenly sense a sliver of hope. The sounds of pursuit behind her drew closer and closer, while shouts from Marines came from the street ahead as well. With nowhere left to go, Robin ran toward Saint Jalmack's Son without hesitation, crawled beneath the table where he sat, and pulled the tablecloth down.

Cairns did not stop her, because he sensed that Saint Jalmack's Son was forcibly suppressing his shock and excitement. He immediately recalled that important name—one of Saint Sanming's true loves from his Celestial Dragon prophetic dreams, Nico Robin, Ohara's sole survivor, who had received a seventy-nine-million-Berry bounty at the age of eight and been called the "Devil of Ohara."

Her crime was "destroying six Marine warships," but in truth, her only crime was being the world's youngest doctor of archaeology.

She appeared! Cairns was no less shocked and excited than Saint Jalmack's Son, because this encounter proved just how real Saint Sanming's prophetic dreams were!

Eleven-year-old Nico Robin had encountered Saint Jalmack's Son at a skewer stall in Vasa Port.

Saint Jalmack's Son passed the skewer in his hand beneath the table, and a small trembling hand took it. She ate carefully, not daring to make even the slightest chewing sound.

A squad of armed men rushed over, but they were not Marines. They were agents dressed in black suits. Their leader was Spandine, the head of CP9, a very strong man.

Spandine could not help but freeze when he saw the scene at the skewer stall. Nelson, Vasa Port's Marine admiral, had been beaten into a pulp, and the dozens of Marine soldiers he had brought were all unconscious on the ground. Yet two people were casually eating skewers?! There was no need to ask—they had definitely done it.

Before he could ask anything, a large group of Marines charged over from across the street and shouted at the two of them, "It's them!"

"Bastards!" Cairns rose to his feet. "How dare you disturb Saint Sanming's meal!"

Things had reached this point. It was impossible to resolve this without revealing their identities.

"Saint Sanming...?" Everyone immediately realized the severity of the situation.

"It's Saint Jalmack's Son! And Lord Cairns of CP0! Put down all your guns!" Spandine recognized them at once, his face turning green as he immediately slammed his forehead to the ground. "This subordinate deserves death for his sins!"

As the head of CP9, Spandine frequently entered and left the Holy Land of Mary Geoise, so he knew the powerful Celestial Dragon nobles very well. Especially the CP0 agents serving the great families—every one of them was a top expert, ranked above CP9, and someone Spandine had to curry favor with.

Now that Cairns of CP0, who served the Bird Family, had appeared, the young man beside him had to be the Bird Family's young master, Saint Jalmack's Son. Coincidentally, several years ago, when Spandine had been ordered to launch the Buster Call that destroyed Ohara, some Celestial Dragons had wanted to watch the spectacle. Saint Jalmack's Son had been among them. He had been younger then, but Spandine's famously sharp eye still recognized him.

"Bastards! Get on your knees—!" Spandine knew exactly what to do. Without needing further instruction, he immediately berated the stunned Marines across from him mercilessly.

Nelson, who had been slapped awake, was completely bewildered. What had happened? He had tried to fight a Celestial Dragon over meat?

Nelson kowtowed until his forehead split open, every blow against the ground ringing out like thunder.

"Enough! Get lost, and don't disturb my meal!" Saint Jalmack's Son deliberately spoke in the arrogant, vicious tone befitting a Celestial Dragon.

From between his thighs beneath the table came Robin's uncontrollable trembling. It was easy to imagine how terrified she was at that moment.

Saint Jalmack's Son calmly passed the teapot beneath the table. Everyone around them was kowtowing, so no one could see anything. He had accidentally called Robin's name earlier, but fortunately, the owner and his workers had been too far away to hear it. Cairns, the only one who had heard, immediately understood what to do.

Robin accepted the teapot. Her fear gradually faded, and she stopped trembling.

A Celestial Dragon?! Why would a Celestial Dragon help her? Could there really be kind-hearted Celestial Dragons in this world? And he knew her name, which meant he certainly knew she was a wanted criminal with a bounty of nearly eighty million Berry!

"This subordinate is pursuing a wanted criminal. Please forgive me, Saint Sanming and Lord Cairns." Spandine cautiously took out Nico Robin's wanted poster. It showed a little girl holding a book, wearing the exact same dress as Robin beneath the table.