Crocodile's movements froze.
Robin had already turned her attention away from the confrontation, running her hands along the tomb walls, examining the coffin at the chamber's center, and finally studying the mural painted behind it.
"This should be the tomb of a king from eight hundred years ago, right? But... the mural doesn't show any of his achievements or conquests. It's more like... a design. A symbol of the sun."
The drawing was simple, a large circle at the center, surrounded by countless smaller circles radiating outward.
"And these brushstrokes... they look more like worship. Or maybe prayers? Come to think of it, according to historical records I've studied, the ruler of Arabasta should have been a woman. So why is this tomb decorated like a burial site for a man?"
She continued examining the paintings and architectural details.
A kingdom founded eight hundred years ago. A history so ancient it brushed right up against the Void Century, that hundred-year gap in recorded history that the World Government desperately tried to keep hidden.
And that, of course, was the real reason she'd been lurking here all this time.
"The Poneglyph should be in a hidden chamber nearby..."
She circled the stone pillar that represented history itself. It didn't take long before she spotted the mechanism, subtle wear patterns in the stone that suggested movement.
She activated the hidden switch, and a section of wall slid aside. "It really is incredible. Arabasta had craftsmen skilled enough to build something this precise without any modern technology."
But most of her attention was fixed on the massive stone that had been revealed, square, imposing, covered in ancient script.
The Poneglyph. It contained the records she'd been searching for. As she approached and began reading the text, her expression shifted. Though she'd anticipated this possibility, seeing it confirmed still hit hard. This really was the resting place information about Pluton.
The desire she'd suppressed for years surfaced on her face.
"What does it say?"
"What's written here might not be what you were hoping for."
Crocodile's frown deepened. "What do you mean?"
Robin began reading the text aloud, translating word by word.
Crocodile's expression grew darker with each sentence.
"Enough. You're telling me this stone doesn't tell us where Pluton is?"
Robin nodded slowly. "What's recorded here is only history. The events of eight hundred years ago. Nothing about the weapon's location."
Crocodile's eyes burned into her. "You really think I know nothing?! I'm not some fool who can't read between the lines."
"The truth is what it is," Robin spread her hands. "There's nothing here about Pluton's whereabouts."
But Crocodile wasn't having it. "You know, I thought highly of you. You were useful, more than that, you were someone I could actually rely on. But why? Why do even you have to betray me? Or... did you never intend to tell me the truth from the start?"
Was his dream of an ideal kingdom really so worthless? So laughable that everyone who learned of it chose to abandon him?
Mr. 2, Mr. 4, all those Baroque Works agents he'd barely cared about. And now Robin too.
It was enough to make him question everything about himself and his plans.
Robin watched Crocodile's internal struggle but said nothing. There was nothing she could say that would make this better.
And honestly, Crocodile didn't need her response anyway. After his moment of self-doubt, something seemed to break inside him. The questioning look vanished.
"None of this matters anymore. Traitors must die."
In that instant, Robin's body began transforming into flower petals, scattering and disappearing piece by piece as she activated her Devil Fruit power.
"You're not getting away that easily."
Crocodile had already locked onto her real position, behind the stone pillar where she'd circled out of sight. He'd noticed her movement the moment she'd started retreating. He just hadn't said anything, giving himself one last chance to hope he was wrong about her betrayal.
Robin was caught almost immediately. She turned back, crossing her arms in front of her defensively.
"Tres Fleur: Clutch!"
Arms sprouted from Crocodile's body, one wrapping around his neck while her other hand pulled a glass of water from inside her jacket.
But the one who caught the glass wasn't Robin. It was Crocodile himself, snatching it out of the air before she could use it.
"You think a little bit of water like this could nullify my ability?" Crocodile looked insulted, glaring at her. "Did you really think I was that weak?"
Robin's eyes widened.
"You know why I can operate out of Rain Dinners, despite my weakness to moisture? Because even if water comes flooding in, I can dry it all up before it touches me."
As he spoke, the glass in his hand crumbled to dust. The water that had been inside? Already absorbed and evaporated.
Robin let out a quiet sigh and released her Devil Fruit power, her sprouted arms disappearing.
Her gaze drifted past Crocodile's shoulder to where the Poneglyph stood. Then she closed her eyes.
History remained just history, perhaps never meant to be fully uncovered.
It wasn't just Crocodile who was filled with doubt and self-destruction. It wasn't just Cobra who had resigned himself to death.
Robin carried both those burdens now.
The moment she abandoned resistance, Crocodile's hook slid silently toward her abdomen.
She waited quietly for death. After so many years of running... she was tired. Maybe this was finally release. Maybe she could finally see everyone from Ohara again.
Her eyes stayed closed.
But the pain she expected never came.
Instead, she felt warmth. Strong arms wrapped around her, pulling her away from danger.
Her eyes snapped open in shock.
She found herself in the arms of someone she'd only met once before, that member of the Straw Hat crew who'd seen through her clone immediately.
Marcus.
"Why?" The question came from Crocodile, his brow furrowed as he stared at the newcomers.
Standing beside Marcus was Luffy, looking completely recovered from his earlier injuries.
"Why are you interfering?"
"I told you, if you don't use your real strength, you'll lose!" Luffy's eyes locked onto Crocodile. "Besides, our fight isn't over yet. You ran away before we could finish it."
Crocodile's gaze lingered on Luffy.
Then his eyes shifted to Marcus, studying him carefully. Just minutes ago, Luffy had been bleeding out from multiple injuries, barely conscious. Now he stood strong and healthy, showing no signs of damage. There was only one explanation for that kind of recovery. It had to be Marcus' doing somehow. And just now... that man had moved faster than he could track. That wasn't just speed, it was instantaneous teleportation.
The Op-Op Fruit?
That was the only Devil Fruit he knew of that offered both healing and spatial manipulation. Trafalgar Law, the infamous Surgeon of Death, possessed that fruit. But this man looked nothing like the descriptions he'd heard of Law.
"Don't think that just because you're healed, you can defeat me."
---
"Why..." Robin started to speak, but Marcus seemed to suddenly realize what he'd done.
"Ah, sorry about that. It was kind of an emergency." He quickly helped her stand properly.
For someone who'd grown up watching One Piece, Robin was basically the dream girl of every fan. Her mysterious introduction, that intellectual mature woman vibe, and then after the timeskip, the charm and confidence she radiated. She was the definition of what guys meant when they talked about the ideal mature woman.
If it had been a few months ago, he might have felt the same way as every other fan. But now… he simply saw her as a beautiful woman, nothing more.
She stared at Marcus and shook her head. How did his entire personality flip like a switch? Her expression shifted through a rapid succession of emotions before finally calming. "This is an internal matter within Baroque Works."
"Well, right now it's just my captain and your boss having their private duel. So let's not disturb their fight, yeah?"
Marcus walked over to where Cobra was still kneeling before the coffin, and a golden apple materialized in his hand.
"Want one?"
Cobra looked up at the young man offering him food. "You're the one Igaram mentioned, the boy with the mysterious abilities?"
"That'd be me."
Cobra studied Marcus carefully, as if trying to read something deeper in his expression. But under that scrutiny, Marcus just smiled calmly back, completely unfazed.
"Alright then, thank you. Though I've been kneeling here quite a while... could you help me up?" He chuckled as he accepted the apple.
Marcus just ignored the request and walked away.
Cobra blinked in surprise, then laughed and shook his head. Kids these days...
"What?!"
The moment he bit into the golden apple, he froze. He stared down at himself in shock.
Ever since arriving at the tomb, he hadn't eaten or drunk anything, just knelt in vigil until now. At his age, going four days without food or water should have killed him. His body should have been shutting down.
Instead, after eating that golden apple, he felt miraculously energized. Like he could jump up and spar with Crocodile himself if he wanted to.
What kind of apple was this? What kind of effect could do something so impossible?
That's when he realized why Marcus hadn't bothered helping him up. He didn't need help anymore.
Truly a miraculous ability...
Now he understood why Igaram had used that exact word to describe it.
"Marcus!" Luffy's eyes stayed locked on Crocodile, not looking away for even a second.
"You sure about this? If I seal you in, I won't be able to see what's happening inside. If something goes wrong—"
"Trust me."
"Alright."
Marcus didn't waste any more time. His staff glowed as he manipulated the space around them.
A sealed prison made entirely of obsidian materialized around Luffy and Crocodile. Multiple layers of walls, each one a meter thick, trapping them in a lightless box, except he had embedded glowstone blocks throughout to provide illumination.
He'd been saving this technique specifically as another way to trap enemies. After all, if you started with obsidian right from the beginning, your opponent had zero chance to resist or escape.
Of course, it could also work as a protective shell if needed.
"What is this?" Cobra stared at the massive black structure that had appeared in an instant.
Both he and Robin had witnessed the transformation, but it happened so fast they barely had time to process it.
Robin reached out and touched the dark surface. Cold and hard.
"Ordinary stone won't stop that man's ability," she said quietly. "He can turn rock into sand."
Marcus waved dismissively. "No problem. If it turns to sand, I'll just replace it again. Simple."
He walked over to the Poneglyph.
"So this is the famous Poneglyph."
"Are you interested in history?"
Marcus shrugged. "Sort of. But honestly, I'm more interested in what this thing's made of."
He knocked on the Poneglyph with his knuckles. "This is supposed to be indestructible, right?"
Both Cobra and Robin nodded instinctively. Anyone who knew about the Poneglyphs understood that the stones recording history were completely indestructible, that's how they'd survived for eight hundred years.
"But how did they carve the text into it in the first place? Was it some kind of power? A special forging technique?" Marcus pulled out a diamond pickaxe. "I'm not really interested in those details. I'm just curious about one thing."
He raised the pickaxe. "Can I mine it?"
"Wait, what—?" Cobra didn't quite understand what he meant.
Then he watched as Marcus started tapping the Poneglyph with that bright blue tool.
There were no sparks. He almost wanted to laugh, how could such a small pickaxe possibly damage the hardest substance known to exist?
"What?!"
Pop.
A perfect cube-shaped block appeared in Marcus' hand.
"Huh. Not even as hard as obsidian." He placed the block back into the Poneglyph, where it seamlessly merged with the original structure.
Cobra rushed forward to examine the spot where the block had been removed. The surface was perfectly smooth, as if nothing had ever been taken from it.
"How... how did you do that?"
The Poneglyph was the hardest known material in existence. Explosives couldn't destroy it. Time couldn't erode it. Practically nothing could damage a Poneglyph.
What Marcus had just demonstrated shattered everything he thought he knew. If he could remove pieces of it that easily, that meant his ability could destroy the historical records, and he'd done it like it was nothing.
Robin was equally shocked. She knew better than most just how impossibly hard these stones were. Scholars had tried for centuries to understand their composition without success.
"Your pickaxe..." she started, but couldn't find the words.
"Relax, I didn't damage it," Marcus said. "I'm just curious about stuff. But honestly? It's just a stone made from special material. Seems really hard, but it's actually pretty ordinary."
He had seen the item's properties when he'd mined it. The label had simply read: Black Stone.
Effect: None. Value: None. Transmute? Transmutation value: 2.
That meant it was worth the same as normal stone in Minecraft terms. He could convert real-world items into MC materials, but the transmutation reflected each item's actual properties. Medicinal herbs Chopper had given him required higher transmutation values because they had genuine effects, meaning they'd be useful in Minecraft too.
But with a transmutation value of only 2? This "indestructible" material was literally no better than regular cobblestone in his system.
Sure, maybe it was hard in the One Piece world. But so what? The blocks he created were just as hard, if not harder. Obsidian especially, that stuff could survive explosions and open portals to the Nether.
He had been hoping the Poneglyph material would be like bedrock, the truly unbreakable stuff. If it had been, he would've considered converting it and using it as a weapon. After all, if you could lift a Poneglyph block, you could probably use it to crush your enemies.
He'd even imagined the setup: connect blocks together using fence posts as a handle, with the Poneglyph block as the head of a massive club. The weight distribution would be based on the Poneglyph's mass, so he would be swinging this "indestructible" stone around like a warhammer.
The mental image alone was pretty badass.
But no. Just regular hard stone. Disappointing, really.