Insistent Assistant 24 (Patreon)

Insistent Assitant

Chapter 24

-VB-

When we landed at our next island with Marine presence, I turned over the pirates, both dead and alive, for a nice bounty from the Marines. Despite the fact that Baroque Works was the fleet under Warlord Crocodile, the laws of the World Government only froze the bounties of the “core crew” of the warlord in question, meaning that aside from Miss Sunday, everyone else that had fought us had been fair game to us and the Marines.

As for Miss Sunday, she got to enjoy a nice seclusion until she was ready to talk.

And she was still there when we sailed out to the seas again.

“So,” I began as I dragged a chair over and plopped it down. “Hello, Miss Sunday.”

She stared at me inscrutably. “How did someone like you and your first mate not get noticed?” she asked me. “Both of you are strong enough to become an elite member of the Baroque Works, yet here you are roaming the South Blue.”

“Which you yourself was doing when we caught you,” I grinned. “But let’s move on past that. It’s boring and not relevant.”

“It is,” she agreed with a hum. “Why didn’t you turn me over to the Marines?”

I stared at her momentarily before sighing. “Well, it’s because I’m not a fan of the World Government. I just happen to be working for a kingdom whose king was respectable enough despite his appearance.”

“I see,” she replied noncommittally. “But if you know who I am, then why didn’t you turn me over?”

“You mean aside from handing you over to be executed… Miss Nico Robin?”

She froze.

She woodenly looked up and saw me looking back at her while looking completely relaxed.

“Oh, I know all about you,” I grinned, lording my foreknowledge over her. “Ohara. Poneglyphs. I know about them. I also know that’s the reason why Crocodile took you in.”

I wanted to see how she would react.

Robin stared at me with wide eyes. She looked shook.

… But she recovered.

“So that’s why you didn’t turn me over to the Marines,” she sighed in relief as her shoulders sagged. “I was wondering why.”

“Yeah,” I smiled. I reached over and undid the ropes binding her. She rolled her arms around and nursed her abused wrists. “But I just wanted to let you know a few things before I let you go somewhere more suitable for someone of your … persuasion.”

“And what would that be?”

“I assume you know why Crocodile wants the translation of the Ponegylphs.”

“No.”

I blinked. She didn’t know? “You don’t know?”

“I don’t know for certain,” she corrected herself. “I have guesses. All powerful people like Crocodile have a fixation, and I’m just not sure what that is for Crocodile.”

I … supposed that made sense. Their relationship was a business-like one, which meant that both sides held cards they didn’t show to the other unless the circumstances demanded it.

“Well, the Poneglyph under Alabaster’s Royal Palace won’t lead you anywhere,” I told her. “You’ll want to know because that’s just a part of you but it isn’t something Crocodile wants.”

“... And what do you think he wants?”

“Oh, I know what he wants, Robin,” I grinned. “He wants power. To become the pirate king. Actually, that makes him your run-of-the-mill psychopath.”

She raised an eyebrow. She looked more relaxed now. “You think the Pirate King is something psychotic?”

“I mean, isn’t it? What happens once you become the Pirate King? You stand at the top of … what? We have ships, ropes, money, booze, and food in the quantity we do so far because we live in a world with civilization. Piracy is a form of parasite that wears down the foundations of civilization. So a Pirate King? That’s psychotic. It’s stupid. It’s destructive.”

She looked at me more critically, her eyes slightly narrowed and her eyes definitely searching for something.

“What will happen to me, then? You said you will let me go. You told me things. And you’re just going to … release me?” Ah, switching topic.

“Yup. Even though you attacked me.”

“Even though I attacked you.”

“Yup. Because you are involved in something that’s quite bigger than I am, you’ll understand in the future,” I grinned.

-VB-

Two weeks of blissfully peaceful - and gainful - voyage later, we found another island with a trade port and dropped her off there.

“You think it is wise to let her go?” Illaoi finally asked me once Robin blended into the crowd of the brick-and-mortar port town.

“I don’t want to meddle too much in the affairs of how this world turns out,” I replied. “At least until I am ready to shoulder it all myself.”

“Hoh? You think you’ll become that strong?”

“Eventually? Yeah. Nagakabouros, if you somehow teach me to summon, will be a game changer by herself.”

“Hmph! Don’t expect me to make you a priest or warlock of the faith unless you show true devotion!” she harrumphed but paused. “But I suppose that there are things I can help you with.”

That got my attention.

“And what would that be?”

“Nagakabouros is but one help I can call upon. There are others.”

“Others like …?”

She grinned. “We will find out soon enough. I have a feeling.”

I huffed. “You definitely are a woman.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

I didn’t answer. She took that as a challenge.

The quartermaster scolded us for putting holes in the deck of the ship.