Chapter 389: Robin Faces Her Nightmare
"Aokiji?"
Surrounded on all sides, the Straw Hat crew showed varying degrees of shock and wariness.
The Reincarnation Game didn't just grant players immense power—
it also introduced features like teleportation arrays, friend systems, game chat, and party formation…
all of which drastically improved connectivity among players.
In the vast world of One Piece, before the game,
even marines from the same faction could rarely meet unless major events occurred.
Even with the news-carrying albatrosses,
information flow remained slow.
But now, the Straw Hat crew clearly knew who stood before them.
He'd appeared in multiple town livestreams.
Marine Admiral Aokiji—
a close-combat ice mage who had completed the full [Ocean of Magic] silver armor set and carried twenty skill engravings.
[Combat Power: 2700]
According to player metrics, that placed him just beneath the top-tier elites—an unquestionable first-rate player.
The Straw Hats were on high alert. After all, the tension between pirates and marines was eternal.
All except for Luffy.
"Aokiji? Who's that?"
Luffy absentmindedly picked his nose, flicking a dark blob forward without care.
By the time the booger hit the ground,
it had frozen solid midair from the cold and struck the floor like a pebble.
The freezing aura
came from the tall figure at the center of the marine force. Frosty mist coiled around Aokiji's body, and even the air crackled as it froze.
Though it wasn't winter,
every marine accompanying Aokiji wore thick fur coats to guard against the bitter cold.
Clang.
Zoro drew all three swords,
his expression serious as a swirl of ghostly purple energy appeared behind him, faintly forming a demon's shadow.
He stood firm against the hostility radiating from the cold.
Fsssh…
Four magical constructs materialized to defend Nami.
The shadowy [Dark Night Cat], the electric [Silver Horn Eel], the fiery jack-o'-lantern [Jack Bomb]...
And finally, the frost-emitting [Snow Yeti].
However—
even the Snow Yeti's cold couldn't compare to Aokiji's presence,
not when the strength gap between them was so enormous.
"Should I drive you away… or arrest you on the spot?"
Aokiji's words fogged the air, though his tone lacked any hint of killing intent.
He sounded more like a middle-aged man deciding between ramen or BBQ after a stroll through a street market.
"Marines?!"
Luffy's eyes widened in disbelief at Aokiji's words.
Beside him, Sanji covered his face with a sigh. "Even if you don't know Aokiji, surely you recognize a marine's cloak?"
But that was just how Luffy was—he could only remember enemies and friends.
He used to see marines as enemies, so he remembered them.
But now that the Reincarnation Game had shifted his focus to corrupted monsters,
he saw them as the real enemies.
And so, marines—who were also monster hunters, but not quite enemies or friends—got pushed to the forgotten corners of his mind.
After some thought…
"Admiral Aokiji, this general's tomb—the one with the Ghost General—our Straw Hat crew found it first."
Nami's eyes flicked around, warning everyone not to act rashly.
Especially Zoro—he should not initiate combat unless the marines struck first.
Luffy was their strongest fighter—
a melee physical class [Blue-Fist Saint Envoy] with fourteen skill engravings.
He also had holy attacks from his [Lightborn Bloodline] and wore three pieces of the [Ocean of Magic] armor: shoulders, greaves, and boots.
[Combat Power: 1900]
Zoro the Ghostblade and Sanji the Flame Mage were nearly even in power, just a bit behind Luffy.
But even with all of them combined,
they still fell short by almost a thousand combat power.
No amount of numbers could bridge that gap.
Even if they fought to the death, they could only barely fend off Aokiji.
It was the price of being backed by the strongest faction—the [Marine Alliance]—alongside Aokiji's natural talent.
Though the Straw Hats weren't helpless as in the original timeline,
the gap, while narrowed, still existed.
"Capturing you would cause heavy losses."
Aokiji analyzed the situation.
He was confident in victory, but his soldiers would suffer dearly.
The Marine Intelligence Division had already confirmed through civilians of the Oykot Kingdom
that the Straw Hat crew had taken down the notorious Emperor Kaido,
and possibly held their ground against Whitebeard during a clash with Red-Haired Shanks.
And they were probably still growing stronger.
Aokiji's gaze finally landed on Robin, and he gave a faint smile. "No wonder you're so fearless. You've gathered a crew of strong disposable pawns, haven't you?"
The final spark of Ohara—
the Demon Child, branded by the World Government.
Aokiji had secretly watched her for years—watched her stumble in fear and ignorance, hide from one faction after another,
only to evolve into a cold pirate mingling with ambitious schemers.
The last known report was that she had joined forces with Crocodile in Alabasta.
But after the royal family rose to power, she had disappeared from the record.
Until now—
reappearing as part of the Straw Hat crew.
"Disposable… pawns?"
Usopp looked confused, not understanding what Aokiji meant.
But Robin, who had been silent the whole time, trembled slightly.
"That's right. Disposable."
Aokiji continued casually, "You've jumped from faction to faction, hiding your identity.
And when exposed, you sell out your comrades and flee."
"By now, you've left behind too many betrayed allies to count, haven't you?"
His tone was cold. His gaze, even colder.
Although the Marine Alliance had severed ties with the World Government,
they still maintained a fragile cooperation—
both working to uphold stability across the Four Seas and the Grand Line.
Alone, neither the Marines nor the Government could stand against the tidal wave of this new era.
Their cooperation was equal.
The Marines could freely choose whether or not to honor the World Government's bounties.
Among them… was the one for the Demon Child.
"Those things…"
"How could that be…"
Usopp and Nami were in shock. They hadn't expected Aokiji to say something like that.
Clearly,
he knew Nico Robin well. Was this confrontation aimed at her?
"Still not talking, Ohara's sole survivor?"
Behind Aokiji's icy expression was a deep sense of disappointment.
His dearest friend had given his life to protect the last hope of Ohara.
In a way, that hope became part of Aokiji's own version of justice.
Everything Robin had done
shifted the weight of that justice inside him.
Now,
seeing a woman who hadn't changed at all—who had seemingly fallen into darkness—
Aokiji felt his beliefs sliding closer to Akainu's brand of justice.
"…Yes. I'm the survivor of Ohara."
Robin, who had stayed silent all this time, finally raised her head.
She met Aokiji's gaze head-on, without a trace of fear.
"You're right. To survive, I've betrayed countless allies."
She had once chosen to believe.
But cold, brutal reality had shut her down. She had been reported by kind-looking old women,
betrayed by people she trusted,
turned over to the marines by friends she had once saved herself.
"So in the end…
the seed Saul gave his life to protect
bloomed only into disappointment."
"This experiment in chasing justice…
looks like I'm the one who failed first."
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