Lorka immediately understood—it must have been Admiral Sakazuki...
But what he didn't know was that Sakazuki had just, right in front of Robin, casually talked about wiping out an entire country.
Which made him suspect that the destruction of Ohara had likely been carried out in the same offhanded manner.
That's what had Robin so terrified... just casually deciding the fate of an entire kingdom.
Robin rested for a while, regained a bit of her strength, let go of Lorka's arm, and stood up.
Seeing Robin forcing herself to stand, Lorka said:
"Let's take a day off today."
"You're not in any shape..."
Robin quickly shook her head:
"No!"
"Let's leave now!"
"I'm fine!"
Saying that, she stiffly began walking toward the port.
Lorka shook his head.
...
North Blue, aboard a departing merchant ship.
Robin stood by the railing, gazing out at the vast blue sea, her mood easing considerably. They'd gotten away...
Lorka walked over, smiling:
"Feeling better now?"
Robin nodded:
"Mhm!"
"Much better."
Lorka chuckled softly:
"That's good. Enjoy the scenery of the North Blue for a bit."
He stretched lazily:
"Ah~"
"Feels nice."
Robin mimicked Lorka and stretched as well, finally relaxing.
Admiring the seascape:
"So many ships out here."
"Compared to the West Blue, the vessels here are everywhere."
A burly, bearded captain approached from behind:
"Of course."
"It was just cleaned up recently."
"Now everyone can travel safely. You almost never see pirates anymore."
"All thanks to the Navy."
Robin said in surprise:
"The Navy..."
Lorka smiled at the bearded uncle and said:
"Captain-san, tell us a bit about the changes in the North Blue lately."
The bearded captain looked extremely proud:
"You've asked the right guy."
"Back when the Navy conducted their anti-pirate sweep..."
"I was the first one to seize the opportunity and follow behind their warships."
"Transported a huge amount of cargo."
"Just that one trip, and my son had enough for a new home."
"I've been working nonstop for half a year, riding that wave."
"Trying to save up. Opportunities like that don't come often."
"Before, only the big companies had ships with military protection. Now even small vessels can sail freely."
"All thanks to that Admiral-sama of the Navy."
Lorka asked curiously:
"Oh?"
"But I've heard... that Admiral-sama doesn't exactly have a great reputation."
"People say he's a ruthless killer, bloodthirsty. His face has been plastered all over the newspapers recently."
"Always with gory severed heads."
The bearded captain looked displeased:
"That's all crap."
"Where else are you going to find such a good Admiral?"
"Those heads were all pirates who deserved it. If anything, I think he hasn't killed enough."
"From how you talk, you must be pretty strong yourself."
"But you wouldn't know what it's like for us ordinary folks. We see things differently."
"All we want is to live peacefully."
"In the past, who would dare sail these seas?"
"You'd have to have a death wish."
"At best, pirates would take all your goods. At worst, they'd leave you in pieces."
"A pirate's blade goes in, and that's it. Then they set the ship on fire. You wouldn't even leave behind a corpse."
"I..."
Suddenly his voice trembled, choked with emotion, and tears began to stream down his face uncontrollably.
This seemingly strong family man now looked so fragile. He covered his face with one hand to hide his breakdown.
His trembling body finally calmed after a while.
With red eyes, he said:
"Sorry for embarrassing myself."
Lorka shook his head and handed him a tissue:
"It's okay. You don't need to apologize."
"Did something sad come to mind?"
The bearded captain took the tissue and wiped his eyes:
"Thank you."
"Talking about all this suddenly reminded me of my father and my older brothers."
"It's been so long I almost forgot what they looked like."
"Just now, it all came back, and I lost control."
Lorka nodded:
"Because of pirates..."
The bearded captain, still choked up, said:
"Yeah."
"I was only seven. I was with my father and two older brothers on a trip to visit relatives by sea."
"In the middle of the night, pirates attacked."
"My father stuffed me into a barrel and threw it into the sea. That's the only reason I survived."
"But he and my brothers didn't make it."
"Everyone on that ship was slaughtered. After robbing everything, the pirates set it ablaze."
"I was stuck in that little barrel, watching helplessly from afar as the fire consumed everything."
"Nothing remained but ash."
"Only the pirates' maniacal laughter echoed across the sea."
"I drifted for two days before a kind merchant ship found and rescued me."
"Not long after I returned home, my mother died from grief."
"Later, when I finally grew up, started a family, saved a little money, I went to look for the kind captain who saved me back then."
"But all I found was a ruined town."
"That kind man had already been killed in a pirate massacre years ago."
"The whole town was abandoned."
"Tell me..."
"How could I not hate them?"
"I wish I could kill every pirate in the world. And I hate myself too—for being so powerless, for lacking the talent to even get revenge."
"If only my father and brothers could see those newspaper photos."
"Let them see the fate of pirates."
"I hope that before I die, I can see that Admiral-sama wipe out every last pirate."
"Then I'll go down and tell them the good news."
"They'd be happy too, right?"
Lorka smiled confidently:
"That day will come for sure."
"I want to see it too."
The bearded captain nodded firmly:
"It definitely will."
"I believe in them."
Lorka softly replied:
"I believe too."
He leaned his elbow on the railing, resting his chin in his palm, gazing at the sea, lost in thought.
After a long while...
Lorka came back to his senses and looked around. The bearded captain had already left. Robin was still staring blankly out at the sea.
Lorka said gently:
"Robin."
Robin looked out at the sea, her voice dazed:
"Are the Navy really the good guys?"
But... all those innocent scholars and residents of Ohara... they were all...
Lorka thought for a moment and said:
"Well..."
"In this world, there's no such thing as pure good or evil—just different perspectives."
"Good and evil, right and wrong, are just products of where you stand."
Robin nodded thoughtfully. Suddenly, she heard Lorka say in a sinister tone:
"Who knows? From some point of view, I might be the bad guy..."
"Jihihihihihi~"
Robin rolled her eyes.
Childish!
...
North Blue, Germa Kingdom.
Inside a massive castle's laboratory.
Like a flowing assembly line, tanks filled with green nutrient solution rotated continuously—each one housing a clone created through modifications of genetic lineage factors.
On the deepest monitor equipment, Enel was copying files, transferring them to spare machines.
Nearby, Judge's bones were once again broken and twisted… as for why...
He had never expected that damn lightning brat to actually understand this stuff—he's a scientist?! I'll *****
As Enel copied the data, he flipped through the experiment logs and suddenly shouted in surprise:
"Hey hey hey, you bastard."
"You're completely insane."
"Running experiments on your own pregnant wife?"
"Just the data alone fills more than seventy pages."
"Bullet."
"Let's beat this guy to death!!!"
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