The combat team, including Sanji and Zoro, had already moved ahead to carry the wounded. After the ambush, Robin's quick reflexes had safely brought Nami back.
Returning to the deck of the Going Merry, Nami recalled the scene with lingering fear, those people holding strangely shaped flintlocks, wearing knightly robes that looked like they had stepped out of an old painting.
"Who... who were those people, Robin?" Nami asked, turning to her.
Robin's right shoulder had been grazed by a bullet, but Chopper had already treated it, wrapping it in a thick layer of bandages. Upon hearing Nami's question, everyone in the Straw Hat crew, including Chopper, who was still treating the Shandians, focused their attention on Robin.
"I don't know their specific identities, but I saw it then," Robin explained, clutching her wound. "They don't have wings on their backs. They are people from the blue sea, just like us."
"Is it the two forces Conis mentioned, the ones fighting over Upper Yard?" Usopp theorized.
"It's possible. But the problem is, I saw the emblem on their clothes..." As Robin spoke, a cross-star symbol surfaced in her mind. "That is the symbol of the World Government."
Upon hearing this, Chopper nearly spilled the medicine he was applying. Although he had lived on Drum Island his whole life and only recently joined the Straw Hats to go to sea, anyone who wasn't a fool knew what the World Government was.
"So, the Government is fighting another power for ownership of Upper Yard?" Sanji was the first to recover from the shock. He raised a hand and asked, "Who is the other side? There aren't many forces in this world brave enough to go toe-to-toe with the Government."
"Ugh... hngh..."
At that moment, a moan of pain came from a Shandian woman. Following her, the other Shandians began to wake up one by one.
"Oh! They're awake! They're awake!" Luffy shouted excitedly.
"Blue Sea dwellers!"
The woman's reaction was no less intense than Wyper's earlier. Seeing Luffy's face so close to hers, she instinctively swung her hand, slapping Luffy away.
"Wait, Raki," Wyper spoke up from the side. "Stop. They are outsiders; they mean us no harm for now."
Although he loathed Blue Sea dwellers because of the forced occupation of Upper Yard by the Government and the Immortal Pirates, he wasn't one to bite the hand that fed him. After all, the Straw Hat crew had saved their lives.
After a brief explanation, the other Shandians learned what had happened. Some thanked the Straw Hats, while others, like Wyper, remained silent.
"Can you tell us exactly what is happening on Skypiea?" Robin asked the Shandian woman named Raki, who had side-swept bangs. Having seen the truth and thanked the crew, Robin felt Raki would be willing to share some details.
Raki looked around, and seeing no objections from her comrades, she began to explain everything, from Enel's disappearance to the current state of Skypiea. Her explanation was far more detailed than what Conis had provided.
"How awful," Nami said, biting her lip. "Forcibly seizing your land and driving you away just because they have more power..."
Luffy was also fired up, stomping his foot. "Exactly! Exactly! That's so mean!"
"However, this isn't something we should get involved in," Robin remarked, her rationality contrasting with the others' excitement. She rested her chin in her hand, thinking. "One side is the World Government. The other, though we aren't clear on who they are, is a force capable of rivaling them. It's not something the current us can..."
"Robin, what are you saying!" Luffy interrupted impatiently. "After seeing such a pitiful group of people, don't you want to help them?"
Robin choked on her words, unable to respond. She had only recently joined the Straw Hats. Before she would eventually pick up the habits of Luffy and the others, getting involved in everything, she still carried the heavy influence of her past: she was used to weighing benefits and thinking from a safety perspective. Joining the Straw Hat Pirates was a temporary way to hide from the Government; her sense of "comradeship" wasn't yet that strong.
According to her experience of twenty years on the run, now was the time to stay out of it and leave as quickly as possible. But seeing the righteous indignation on the faces of Luffy and the others, she felt she no longer had a say.
"Hey," Wyper, who had been silent, finally spoke. "This is our fight. We don't need you Blue Sea dwellers meddling. If you have nothing else to do, leave this place immediately."
"Hey! How can you be so rude!" Nami snapped back.
"I don't care what you say, I've already decided!" Luffy slammed his left fist into his right palm, grinning as he uttered his famous line: "I'll send them all flying!"
Seeing this, Robin moved her hand slightly up to cover her mouth, contemplating the next move. Luffy and the others acted too much on emotion, and the Shandians didn't understand the sheer power and history of the Government. Regardless, this was a battle they absolutely could not win. As the only one in the Straw Hat crew currently looking at the big picture, she had to make plans early.
…
The Immortal Pirates' interference with the Government's aerial branch construction was still ongoing. They were waiting for the Paramount War to begin. When Whitebeard launched his all-out attack on the Navy, they would launch their all-out attack on the Government, specifically, the Government on Skypiea.
It had to be said that the Government's foundation was incredibly deep. In the Skypiea conflict so far, the Government held the upper hand. The units Alucard had sent, led by Aranea and Bartholomew Kuma, had only managed to interfere and delay, not destroy.
"Boss Fallon!"
The members of the Black Thorn Pirates, who were eating, turned their heads to see a grey-haired young man running toward them.
Captain Keith Fallon chewed on a bird leg and grunted unhappily, "What is it? What's all the fuss about?"
"Someone is attacking the Government's construction project." The reporter was Machina Winter, a newcomer to the Black Thorn Pirates currently responsible for scouting.
Fallon and the other officers looked bored. "Who started it? Aranea's Pacifista unit? Or that brat Jewelry Bonney?"
"No, neither. It's a group of natives led by a kid wearing a straw hat," Winter reported.