Crocodile's face fell in shock. Why was this man here?!
The members of Baroque Works were drawn by Crocodile's shocked reaction.
Mr. 1 Daz Bones immediately came out onto the balcony and followed his gaze. Like Crocodile, he froze there.
Seeing their expressions, Robin guessed things had taken a bad turn and began considering how to escape.
She shifted her body slightly, ready to leave at any moment.
Lofan adjusted his Black Square-Frame Glasses and stepped into the air, coming to stand face-to-face with the two men on the balcony.
"You know me?"
Robin looked toward the voice. Her eyes widened slightly, her heart began pounding wildly, and sweat had already seeped into her delicate palms.
She remembered the report she had read.
The man in the photograph had overlooked the naval harbor at Marine Headquarters, Marineford.
His gentle, refined air and faint smile made him a rare sight among the Marines.
Yet the report's headline had read: Justice that reigns over the world!!!
Its contents read: Cloud Gull Admiral defeats the Strongest Creature, Kaido! The former member of the Four Emperors' fate remains unknown...
She swallowed instinctively, her mind filled with only one word: run!
She knew what a so-called Admiral was, like the man who had taken her only friend away.
The current Admiral Aokiji.
That bone-chilling cold could bring nothing but despair.
That was an Admiral!
Blades had already instinctively covered Daz's body.
Even though the man still had not so much as glanced at him, the sense of death followed him like the wind.
A bead of sweat rolled down his shaved head.
It was not the newspaper report that terrified him, but merely having this man before him.
That alone made him feel he could die at any moment.
Crocodile gritted his teeth and came back to his senses.
With a guarded expression, he spoke in what could be considered a fairly civil tone:
"Who on the seas hasn't heard of Cloud Gull Admiral?"
Though he smiled, the veins at his temples stood out like roots breaking through the soil.
He had faced Whitebeard himself and knew how terrifying someone at the level of the Four Emperors could be.
But he was a Shichibukai now! He had the World Government's name behind him.
He did not believe this Admiral would dare commit such an outrageous act!
"Don't bluff. It only exposes your weakness further."
Crocodile's eyelids twitched violently.
Reason told him he could not attack, but he could barely endure being treated with such contempt.
Lofan had already seen Robin beyond the two men.
The girl with wheat-colored skin, wearing a skimpy tank top, happened to be looking at him too.
He paid Crocodile no further attention, descending past them and walking straight toward Robin.
This act utterly trampled Crocodile's pride.
But his past defeat against Whitebeard lashed at his mind constantly, telling him:
Only by enduring today's humiliation could he bring his years of planning to fruition.
"I need you, Robin. No one needs you more than I do."
Robin had no idea what this young Admiral was talking about.
She was called the "Devil of Ohara" and had been wanted since she was eight.
Yet one of the leaders of the force she hated was telling her with clear, bright eyes that he needed her.
"What's wrong? You look frightened. Do I usually look that terrifying?"
She could not believe this was real, but with his strength, he had no need for tricks. She asked instinctively:
"Why?"
Curiosity still held sway over this beautiful woman's instincts.
"So-called rules are only made for those who cannot survive without following them.
"And I need to reach the end of those rules."
"She's already my subordinate! Cloud Gull Admiral!"
No matter how hard he tried to calm himself, Lofan showed absolutely no regard for his dignity.
The man had begun poaching his subordinate right before his eyes. Not attacking was already the greatest restraint he could muster.
But as though he had not heard those words laden with murderous intent and anger, Lofan did not hear Robin's answer either.
"Do I have a choice?"
"We're all merely drifting with the current on the sea of fate. None of us has a Log Pose.
"But some people are bound to meet on this sea of fate, just as we have now.
"Of course you have a choice, but will you reject our meeting?"
Robin looked at this man with the sunlight at his back. She could keenly sense one thing.
Though he seemed to wear a smile and have a friendly manner,
his heart held a loneliness so much like her own, an unnamed longing.
"No one stays alone forever on the seas! Dereshishi! Dereshishi! Dereshishi!"
Could she ask someone else for a place to stay? Could she wish, from the bottom of her heart, to live?
A fierce gust struck toward Lofan's back. The golden hook reflected the light, illuminating Robin's dim eyes for an instant.
Without any visible movement from Lofan, Crocodile's entire left arm was severed.
Before blood could even spurt out, his arm and body were embedded in the wall beside them.
Daz had failed to keep up with his boss's movements. When he recovered a moment later,
all he saw was the man hailed as a hero by Alabasta, the man to whom he was utterly loyal.
His blood splashed across the ceiling as he clutched his arm and roared.
"Aaaah!!!"
The roar made Lofan frown. He turned toward this Crocodile who did not know what was good for him.
"It must be hard for you to let go. That's all right. You can keep holding it and leave on your own."
Enduring the searing pain of his severed arm, Crocodile's eyes turned bloodshot.
He could die here.
But even if he died, he would still leave no impression on this Admiral who bore justice.
"Let's go, Daz."
Daz followed his boss in silence.
Without a word, Crocodile used elementalization to stop his wound from bleeding.
His right hand gripped his severed left arm tightly as he left through the balcony.
Since the man had allowed him to live, he would make this bastard pay.
Even if it was the only thing he did in this life, he had to carry it out.
Otherwise, that Crocodile, the Crocodile who had dared bare his blade at Whitebeard, would have died in this room forever today.
"You're a Marine Admiral, and I'm a criminal wanted by the World Government. You're going to let him go?"
Robin found this man's way of doing things increasingly inscrutable. He could not possibly have overlooked such a simple issue.
"I don't want Sengoku calling me in for a talk over a small fry like him, or to have to find another Shichibukai."
Lofan was not worried at all that Crocodile would reveal what had happened today.
The man's pride would not allow him to expose his own disgrace. Besides, it was only another Illusion.
And Lofan had spared this man only because he looked forward to a future in which he carried everything on his shoulders and kept moving forward.
Until he encountered that destined favorite of heaven. Lofan had to find out.
Whether there truly was such a thing as Destiny, whether the world bestowed its favor.
A little experiment like this
would be enough for him to work out how to deal with the Human-Human Fruit, Model: Nika, which had terrified the World Government for centuries.
Before you continue