After Robin recovered, she looked at the chaotic casino and the surrounding crowd, then directly called out to Xia Qiu to leave Rain Country and enter the desert, walking into the distance.
"Xiao Qiu, what exactly are you doing? Why did you attack Crocodile?"
After walking a distance, Robin stopped and looked at Xia Qiu, her expression a mixture of confusion and anger.
"Good opportunity!"
Xia Qiu wrote a few lines on the desert sand.
"Good opportunity?"
Robin looked at Xia Qiu and asked in confusion, "I'm not asking about the timing, I'm asking why you wanted to kill him?"
"He's dangerous."
Xia Qiu wrote a few more words on the sand.
"Dangerous?"
Robin looked at the writing and asked, confused, "He is indeed dangerous, and what he's after is terrifying, but he hasn't harmed us yet, and he was even protecting me. Why did you want to kill him?"
Xia Qiu didn't answer, lowering his head instead.
"Tell me what you're thinking, okay?" Robin walked to Xia Qiu's head and looked into his eyes.
Xia Qiu hesitated for a moment, then slowly wrote, "You said you didn't like this kind of life, and he's dangerous, he might hurt you..."
"Is that so?"
Seeing this line, Robin's expression cleared, and she understood why Xia Qiu had attacked Crocodile.
Xia Qiu and Crocodile had no prior grudges, nor had they even met before. Before she told him Crocodile's true identity, Xia Qiu didn't even know who he was.
Why would Xia Qiu attack him?
It certainly wasn't for himself.
And the only connection between them was her.
She had told Xia Qiu that she didn't like this kind of life, but only Crocodile and Baroque Works could protect her.
At the same time, she had also told him about Crocodile, saying he was dangerous and that she was always on edge with him.
She had told him all this without reservation because Xia Qiu was the only one she could confide in.
But this had formed a concept in his mind.
In Xia Qiu's eyes, he was dangerous and might hurt her, so he had to kill him.
Otherwise, he had no reason to attack him and take such a risk.
So it was for her.
Robin looked at Xia Qiu and asked softly, "So you didn't want me to live this kind of life, that's why you killed him, right?"
"Yes."
Xia Qiu nodded, nudging Robin with his head.
"You..."
Robin's resentment vanished without a trace. She hugged Xia Qiu's head and said, "But do you know that for now, he's the only one who can protect me?"
"I'll protect you."
Xia Qiu wrote a few lines on the sand. "Come back to the island with me."
"I know you'll protect me."
Robin shook her head and said, "But I still need to obtain the Poneglyphs. I've told you about my past, you should know how important they are to me. I'd even sacrifice my life to achieve it. But with my own strength alone, I can't do it. I can't even see the Poneglyph in Alabasta."
Xia Qiu wrote again, "I'll go with you."
"You can't."
Robin's eyes softened, and she said, "The Alabasta army has hundreds of thousands of soldiers, siege crossbows, cannons, and bombs. You're not as good on land as you are underwater, you won't be a match for them. Moreover, you don't even know where Alabasta stores the Poneglyph."
Hearing this, Xia Qiu lowered his head, looking apologetically at Robin.
Robin sighed, unsure of what to do next.
Xia Qiu thought for a moment, then suddenly wrote, "And Baroque Works, I'll help you together."
"Baroque Works? It's useless, Mr.0 is dead, Baroque Works can't be maintained."
Robin shook her head. The president of Baroque Works was Mr.0, and his orders were supreme. Now that he was dead, no one...
"No, that's not right."
Robin suddenly thought of something.
In a way, she also had considerable authority. At least, the orders she conveyed would be carried out, although not at the same level as Mr.0's.
More importantly, besides herself, it seemed no one knew Crocodile was Mr.0, nor had they ever seen Mr.0.
Only she could prove who Mr.0 was.
This meant that if she found someone to impersonate Crocodile, Baroque Works could still work for her.
Using Baroque Works, I can seize this power and grow stronger.
I don't need to steal a country; I only need to obtain the Poneglyphs.
Moreover, by relying on them, can I find the Poneglyphs of other countries?
Robin's eyes slowly brightened, a hint of joy in her expression.
Seeing her like this, Xia Qiu knew she had already figured out how to proceed. He didn't offer any more hints, just lay there, doing nothing else.
Robin smiled and said, "Little Qiu, I've thought of a way to control Baroque Works."
"Hmm?"
Xia Qiu looked at her curiously.
Robin explained her idea, and Xia Qiu immediately sat up straight, looked at her, and nodded vigorously.
Robin took a few steps where she stood and said, "But the only problem is, my strength isn't enough to control all of Baroque Works. If no one notices anything amiss, it would be fine. But what if someone senses something is wrong?"
A pair of names flashed through Robin's mind: Daz Bones and Mr. 1. They had joined Baroque Works more than two years before her, surpassing everyone else.
Furthermore, their abilities were both extremely effective against her.
One had the Slicing-Slicing Fruit, allowing his body to turn into blades, and the other had the Spike-Spike Fruit, enabling his body to grow thorns.
Her Hana Hana no Mi, on the other hand, could only grow her own body parts, which couldn't withstand the attacks of blades and thorns. She was completely suppressed by them.
Xia Qiu immediately wrote a few words on the ground: "I can help you."
"And Little Qiu."
Robin looked at Xia Qiu, her confidence growing. With Little Qiu's immense strength and his cooperation, no one could defeat her.
For instance, Daz Bones and Mr. 1 were a problem for her, but they posed no threat to Little Qiu.
"This might be a good thing," Robin suddenly said, her expression turning serious. "Crocodile has a ruthless personality, and being with him is always dangerous. I've always been living under someone else's roof, using others' power to achieve my dreams. But all I've ever received is betrayal, deceit, and abandonment. Everyone who protected me did so only for their own benefit. But now, perhaps I can change my approach. I can control the power myself and protect myself."
Xia Qiu immediately wrote next to her, "And me!"
"That's right."
Robin saw the words and felt a warmth in her heart. She smiled and said, "And Little Qiu is here."
In this world, anyone else might betray me, but Little Qiu won't.
"Alright, let's go."
Robin patted Xia Qiu and said, "Let's leave here and then think carefully about how to control Baroque Works."
Robin jumped onto the Banchi and rode off into the distance.
Seeing Robin's resolve to continue using Baroque Works, Xia Qiu grinned happily and slowly followed.
But then, Xia Qiu frowned. "The heat flow has disappeared. It's quite little."
Xia Qiu felt the heat flow within him slowly dissipating and was somewhat dissatisfied.
The heat flow wasn't as much as he had imagined, not much more than what he got from Commodore Yuchimura.
But it made sense. Crocodile's strength was mostly in his Devil Fruit abilities. His Devil Fruit was too powerful; he could easily defeat Luffy when using his powers.
However, after being unable to use his Devil Fruit abilities, his strength declined, and he was defeated by Luffy.
After fighting Crocodile, Luffy's six life-or-death battles up to the Summit War, combined with Gear Second and Gear Third, barely reached the minimum level of a Vice Admiral.
And the current Luffy, without as much improvement, not using Gear Second or Gear Third, and poisoned, couldn't even defeat Crocodile without using his Devil Fruit abilities.
One could imagine Crocodile's physical fitness and hand-to-hand combat skills.
So, it was strange how Crocodile, without using his abilities, could withstand Hawk Eyes' slashes and Doflamingo's kicks during the Summit War.
And how did he instantly appear beside Whitebeard?
With that strength and speed, defeating the Luffy of that time shouldn't have been a problem. Why didn't he display it then?
Did he train it in prison?
Xia Qiu couldn't figure it out. What he couldn't figure out even more was how Crocodile, as a Devil Fruit user whose weakness was water, built his office in the middle of a lake.
There will be at least three updates in October. I am currently trying my best to save drafts, and once I have enough, I will set a fixed update time.
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Translation by: randomtranslator.com
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