"Food from the World of the Living?"
The moment Robin brought out the tray, all four Hollows stared at it.
If they wanted to understand this strange man who had suddenly appeared in Hueco Mundo, then naturally they needed to gather as much information about him and his companions as possible.
"Want some?"
Cyrus smiled.
The four Hollows didn't bother pretending to be polite.
They immediately reached for the fruit from the One Piece world and began eating.
Cyrus didn't rush them. He simply watched as they finished what they had taken.
"Is there more?"
Nelliel was the one who asked.
"Baby 5."
Cyrus waved a hand.
The maid moved quickly, returning with another large tray piled high with fruit.
"Thank you!"
Nelliel brightened immediately, seeming to forget her current predicament altogether.
"That's enough. You can eat on the way."
Cyrus abruptly cut in.
"It's time for you to get moving."
Nelliel promptly took the entire tray out of Baby 5's hands.
"Got it!"
Starrk nodded, then turned and jumped down from the ship.
The other three female Hollows followed him.
Robin walked over to the railing and watched as Starrk's group met up with the strange-looking Hollows in the distance before disappearing across the desert.
Then she turned back toward Cyrus.
"They don't seem to have reacted badly to it."
"Yeah. Looks like our food doesn't cause them any problems."
Cyrus nodded.
"That's good news. If food from our world works normally for them, then perhaps food from this world will also be safe for us."
Robin considered the idea.
"Not necessarily."
Cyrus shook his head.
"At least in terms of energy content, I doubt food from this world's living realm can compare to what we're used to."
Whether fruit, vegetables, or meat, food from the One Piece world contained a ridiculous amount of energy compared with ordinary food.
Soul Society might be a different matter.
"Are you planning to establish a base here?"
Robin stepped behind Cyrus and rested both hands on his shoulders, gently massaging them as she asked.
"I am."
Cyrus nodded.
"We still don't know whether the connection between worlds always opens at the same place, or whether the possible range is simply limited to Hueco Mundo. If it's the latter, then I need Hueco Mundo under control."
That was the real reason he had started recruiting the Hollows instead of simply killing them.
"The Shinigami we met earlier has his own agenda. He seems to have withdrawn for now, but he'll come back eventually."
Cyrus rubbed his chin, wondering what Aizen would do next.
There was no question that the unfamiliar power Cyrus possessed had caught Aizen's attention.
Aizen's existing plans were important to him, but an unknown existence like Cyrus—someone powerful enough to disrupt those plans—was equally important.
Still, Cyrus doubted Aizen would immediately try using unrelated outsiders to probe him.
There were too many unknowns surrounding Cyrus for that to be safe.
Sending someone Aizen could fully control, however?
That was entirely possible.
"Shinigami?"
Robin continued massaging his shoulders.
"Is that a race in this world?"
"No. More like a profession."
Cyrus thought for a moment.
"Similar to Hunters."
Robin understood immediately.
"So, an organization whose members have access to specialized abilities?"
"Exactly. And some of those abilities are pretty unusual."
"Which means we could try making contact with them?"
As Robin spoke, the pressure of her hands gradually increased.
Cyrus leaned back slightly against her and nodded.
"We could. But I don't intend to go looking for them. They can come to us."
His gaze drifted toward the desert.
"Before that happens, though, I want this place under my control."
"So that's why you didn't kill those Hollows earlier."
Robin smiled.
"Exactly."
Cyrus returned the smile.
"That was fairly obvious."
Hancock's voice came from nearby.
She had changed into a close-fitting outfit and walked over before sitting opposite Cyrus, casually displaying her flawless figure as she relaxed.
"That woman's power was strange. She didn't know Haki, but her body had something similar to it. It could resist Haki to an extent, but it couldn't completely defend against Devil Fruit abilities."
"We can study it."
Cyrus nodded.
"Shinigami abilities, Hollow abilities—either could be useful to understand. But there's no need to chase after them blindly. Their power systems might not suit you."
"And what about you?"
Robin released his shoulders, leaned forward, and rested her chin lightly against him with an amused smile.
"If I'm guessing correctly, this isn't your original world either, is it?"
"No."
Cyrus sighed faintly and admitted it.
"But you know a lot about this world too, even though it's your first time here."
Robin's curiosity sharpened.
"So you know about even more worlds?"
She leaned in and kissed Cyrus on the cheek.
"Or perhaps…"
Her eyes gleamed.
"My man, are you actually a god?"
The possibility had occurred to Robin long ago. She had simply never asked him directly.
"A god?"
Cyrus blinked, then laughed.
Hancock immediately looked interested as well, her eyes lighting up at Robin's suggestion.
Baby 5, meanwhile, merely stared at them in confusion.
"I'm definitely not a god."
Cyrus paused.
"As for my original world… how should I explain this?"
He sat up straighter, reached behind himself, and pulled Robin around into his arms.
"You've read stories written from someone's imagination before, right? Stories that were printed into books and sold."
Robin's mind worked quickly.
"Wait."
Her eyes widened.
"Are you saying our world was imagined by someone?"
Hancock's expression instantly became as blank as Baby 5's.
"That's basically it."
Cyrus's hand began wandering idly while he spoke, but Robin was far too distracted to care.
"Then this world was imagined too?"
She drew a slow breath.
"Yes."
Cyrus smiled.
"But don't misunderstand. My world doesn't have supernatural powers. Almost everyone there is just an ordinary person."
"You can't possibly call them ordinary."
Robin immediately shook her head.
"If people in your world can somehow imagine entire worlds like ours, then what exactly does that make us?"
"You?"
Cyrus looked at her.
"You're obviously real."
His hand tightened slightly.
"Can't you feel the warmth of my hand? Don't you have your own thoughts right now?"
Robin's eyes widened at the sudden squeeze.
Cyrus chuckled.
"Maybe information from your world somehow reached people in mine. They sensed fragments of it without realizing what they were seeing, then thought it was inspiration and wrote stories based on it."
"All right."
Robin stopped arguing, though that didn't mean she actually accepted his explanation.
The entire concept was far beyond anything she had ever considered possible.
Hancock, meanwhile, had suddenly focused on something else entirely.
"So people in your world saw things that happened to me?"
Her brows drew together.
"For example…"
Her expression darkened.
"When I was bathing?"
Cyrus's mouth twitched.
"Well…"
Bathing was the least of it.
If fan works counted too…
Naturally, Cyrus had no intention of finishing that thought aloud.
Instead, he stood up, grabbed both beauties, and headed straight into the cabin.
Baby 5 stared after them.
"..."