Robin looked at Marcus, who seemed completely unbothered by what had just happened. She opened her mouth to say something, then closed it again. What could she even say? He'd just mined a piece of the "indestructible" Poneglyph like it was made of cheese.
Cobra, meanwhile, was staring at the restored historical text. The royal family of Arabasta had guarded several secrets for generations, secrets recorded on these very stones.
The location of Pluton.
And a letter. A letter signed by Lili. Nefertari D. Lili, to be exact.
It was something their family had inherited and passed down through countless generations. Plenty of kings throughout history had found the whole thing boring and ignored it, but the tradition had survived anyway, making its way down to the present day.
But he intended to let it die with him.
After all, the future of the Nefertari bloodline itself was uncertain now. Vivi had made her choice. And he had to shoulder the consequences of allowing that choice.
That was why he'd chosen to kneel in this tomb for days. It was an act of love for his daughter, but also a kind of penance for being the generation that would lose the legacy. When you held secrets this big and couldn't speak them, maybe letting them go was its own kind of path forward.
But...
He glanced at the silent Robin, wanting to ask why she'd lied earlier about the Poneglyph's contents. But with Marcus standing right there, it didn't feel like the right moment.
Marcus, for his part, had already gotten what he wanted, confirmation that it was just really hard stone. He turned and immediately noticed the weird tension between the other two. Their expressions were way too obvious to ignore.
"You two got something you need to talk about?"
Cobra was the first to respond, directing his words at Marcus. "You're Vivi's friend, right? If that's true, please don't ever think about damaging the Poneglyphs again. They're important to the world."
Marcus looked at him in surprise, then waved dismissively. "As I said before, I was just curious about the material. I'd heard it was supposed to be super hard, so I wanted to test whether my abilities would work on it. Now that I've tried it, turns out it's pretty ordinary."
He pointed at the obsidian prison containing Luffy and Crocodile. "It's not even as tough as the stuff I make. Don't believe me? Look, Crocodile still hasn't managed to erode his way out of there, has he?"
Cobra studied the black stone, then glanced at the matte black Poneglyph nearby. He shook his head, dismissing the idea that they could be made of the same material. The surfaces were completely different.
Robin, however, was surprised for a different reason. There was actually something Crocodile couldn't turn to sand? Her expression grew complicated. "Crocodile is a major pirate, and a Logia user. Normal attacks can't hurt him at all."
Marcus was checking his minimap, watching the two figures moving inside the obsidian box. "I know. But do you know about Haki?"
"Haki?" Robin frowned, searching her memory. "I think I've heard of it."
After a moment, it came back to her, information from a bounty hunter who'd returned from the New World. According to him, there was a technique in the New World called Haki that could enhance attacks, even coating bullets with explosive force.
The reason that piece of information had stuck with her was because Crocodile had been curious about it at the time. But when he'd learned the bounty hunter himself hadn't actually mastered Haki, he had dismissed it as irrelevant. So Robin had never paid attention to it again.
Marcus was surprised she knew about it at all, even vaguely. "Haki lets you hit the body of Logia users. Means you can really hurt them, bypass their elemental forms entirely."
He paused, then added, "If you mastered Haki, with your Devil Fruit abilities, you'd be seriously dangerous. Like, top-tier fighter dangerous."
Robin blinked in surprise at the compliment, then thought about her powers. The Flower-Flower Fruit let her sprout limbs directly on other people's bodies. If she could coat those limbs with Haki... yeah, that would be basically unavoidable.
The thought made her smile. "Maybe someday, if I get the chance."
Marcus looked at her thoughtfully, then his eyes drifted back to the obsidian prison where Luffy and Crocodile were still fighting.
That's when it hit him.
In the original story, Robin had joined the crew because Luffy had saved her when she'd completely given up on living. But... if she wasn't in mortal danger now, would she still join?
Actually, thinking back, when he'd grabbed her to pull her away from Crocodile's attack, she'd already stopped resisting. She'd been ready to die.
Sweat broke out on his forehead. When he'd saved Robin on pure instinct, he hadn't thought about the consequences at all. What if his interference meant she never joined the crew? What if he'd just screwed up one of the most important recruitment moments in the entire series?
Sure, his presence had already brought Alvida, Kira, and Bon Kurei aboard, changing things from the original timeline. But who the hell would want to trade Robin for anyone? She was Robin!
"So, uh..." he started, then immediately regretted opening his mouth. "What do you think about pirates?"
Robin looked confused by the random question. She pointed at herself. "You're asking me?"
Marcus nodded, internally cursing himself. Why had he asked such a stupid question? What kind of transition was that?
Robin gave him a strange look, but after thinking about it, she answered honestly. "A bunch of lawless criminals."
Marcus' mouth twitched. He'd expected that answer, of course. Ever since the Great Pirate Era began, the seas had been flooded with pirates, and countless innocent people had suffered because of them. It made sense that she'd see them that way.
But before the Great Pirate Era, things had been different. Pirates used to be more like a symbol of freedom, people yearning to explore the unknown seas. That romantic ideal had existed before Roger turned everything upside down.
He had learned all this since arriving in this world. In the previous era, islands were isolated from each other, and many people dreamed of sailing to discover new lands. But once at sea, they often couldn't secure food supplies. Some would work for their provisions, offering labor in exchange. But more often, desperate sailors would just steal supplies and run.
That's how they came to be called pirates. But many of them weren't really criminals, they were just people trying to survive and explore. Some even glorified their adventures when they returned home, turning piracy into a symbol of dreams and freedom, the romantic ideal of that age.
Of course, those were stories from a bygone era.
He scratched his head. "So, uh… if I asked you to join our crew, to become a pirate and sail the seas, and Luffy agreed, would you… refuse?"
The sudden invitation left both Robin and Cobra stunned speechless.
Wait, weren't these people enemies just a little while ago? And what kind of reason was that for inviting someone to join a pirate crew?
Cobra stared at Marcus, trying to figure out what the kid was thinking.
But then his mind made a connection. Robin could read the Poneglyphs. That reminded him of a certain nation, a place every scholar had once dreamed of visiting.
Ohara.
Though it was gone now, erased from the maps by the World Government.
But as a king who knew the secrets of Pluton, he had naturally taken note of Ohara's destruction. After all, it was connected to Professor Clover's research, someone who'd studied the Poneglyphs in his youth.
"Your name is Nico Robin, right?" Cobra said quietly. "The survivor of Ohara."
When Cobra spoke her full name aloud, Robin didn't even flinch.
She'd already known this was coming. The moment she'd read the Poneglyph, she'd caught the shift in his expression. The old king knew she was lying, and she knew that he knew.
So hearing her real name spoken in this tomb wasn't a surprise at all.
"That's right. I'm the Devil Child, Nico Robin." She turned her gaze to Marcus, studying him carefully. "So... are you sure you still want to invite someone like me onto your ship?"
She wanted to ask it directly, to cut through the pretense and get to the truth. But instead, she let out a quiet sigh and stayed silent.
The situation was already clear enough. Why bother asking questions when the answer was obvious? She'd appeared here, in this tomb, at this exact moment. Marcus had extended his invitation out of nowhere, with no prior relationship or reason to trust her.
What other explanation could there be? They just wanted her to read the Poneglyphs for them.
Marcus watched her expression, seeming to realize something was bothering her. After a moment of thought, he asked, "Now that you've broken ties with Crocodile, do you have anything you want to do? Any plans for the future?"
Robin fell silent at the question.
The future. What a strange concept that was for her. She'd spent her life living day by day, moment to moment, because this world had never given her the luxury of planning ahead.
Her options had always been simple: run, or be driven away. The only real choice she'd ever had was deciding whether to run before they forced her out.
"Since you don't have a choice anyway, why not just let us use you? Come aboard our ship."
That caught Robin completely off guard.
There was no manipulation in his words. Just straightforward sincerity, the kind she'd never encountered before in her life.
Even Crocodile, who'd also wanted to use her, had at least dressed it up in pretty lies. He'd talked about the "Operation Utopia" and painted himself as an enemy of the World Government rather than its puppet. He'd claimed they were natural allies because they shared a common enemy.
It had all sounded so noble.
But underneath, it had been nothing but manipulation from the start.
Of course, she had been using him right back. She'd known exactly what kind of man Crocodile was, and she'd played along with the charade of their "harmonious partnership" because it served her purposes.
But this...
"Pfft... hahaha!" Robin couldn't help herself. "You really are honest, aren't you?"
Her laughter faded, but a small smile remained. "But you're assuming we'll even survive Crocodile first. Your friend might not be strong enough to beat him." She hadn't agreed to anything directly, but the fact that she hadn't refused was enough.
Marcus relaxed. Just getting her to not say no felt like a victory.
"Don't worry about that. Our captain's really strong."
Cobra cleared his throat. The old king had been silent during their exchange, but now he stepped forward.
"Wait. Before you finalize this invitation..." He looked directly at Robin. "There's something I need to ask her first. After I get my answer, then you can decide whether you really want to invite her aboard."
Marcus frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Cobra ignored him, keeping his focus on Robin. "You can read the ancient text, so you know what it actually says. Why did you lie about the contents? Hiding that information doesn't benefit you at all."
Robin met his gaze steadily. "I was only curious about the history. The rest doesn't concern me."
"Then why hide it?"
"Because I didn't want to cause problems for anyone else."
Marcus watched the two of them go back and forth, speaking in riddles and half-truths that would've driven most people crazy with curiosity. He understood perfectly well what they were dancing around, the location of Pluton was recorded on that Poneglyph.
Cobra was testing Robin's intentions. And she was making it clear that even though she knew the secret, she had no plans to share it with anyone.
After hearing Robin's answer, Cobra seemed to relax.
He turned to Marcus with an expression that was almost fatherly. "She's a good person. You should invite her to join your crew."
Marcus blinked in confusion. "What? I already did invite her. That's what we've been talking about this whole time."
The comment made both Cobra and Robin exchange weird looks.
They'd been speaking in code for the past several minutes, layering subtext upon subtext, expecting him to at least ask a few questions about what they were discussing. That was how these conversations usually worked, you tested people by seeing how they reacted to masked information.
But he had just... stood there. Not asking anything.
Cobra had assumed Marcus would eventually crack and start demanding answers. Robin had expected the same. But he'd just let them talk in circles without showing any signs of curiosity.
Finally, he couldn't take it anymore. "You're not even curious about what we were just discussing?"
"You mean about Pluton?" Marcus said it. "The Ancient Weapon described in the Poneglyph? Part of Crocodile's whole 'Operation Utopia' plan? Yeah, I already know. Bon Kurei told us all about it."
Cobra stared at him. "So... you also want this weapon?"
After all that circling around, he'd finally gotten to his real question.
Robin leaned forward slightly, curious about his answer.
Marcus let out a sigh, and shook his head. "Can't you two just talk normally? All this dancing around and testing people... it's exhausting. A weapon that can destroy an island in one shot? That sounds tempting. But it's not like I couldn't do that myself if I really wanted to."
Both of them stared at him.
Seeing their expressions, he spread his hands helplessly. "See? I tell you the truth and you don't believe me anyway."
He thought for a moment, then continued more seriously. "I'll say it again: you don't have much choice in your situation, so why not just accept being used by us? Join our crew. Words aren't as convincing as actions, right? Judge us by what we do, not what we say."
Robin stood frozen, staring at Marcus as he extended his invitation for the second time.
Something stirred in her memory, words from long ago, spoken by a giant who'd protected her when she was just a child.
The seas is vast. Someday you will meet brave friends who will protect you. Go and live with them Robin.
Could this person standing before her be what she'd been searching for all these years? Could he and his crew be the "companions" that giant had promised she'd find?
Her heart wavered. But only for a moment.
Marcus was right, actions spoke louder than words. She'd been betrayed too many times to trust promises alone. If his crew could defeat Crocodile, if they could protect her from the World Government's pursuit, then maybe... she could let herself hope again.
Just as she opened her mouth to respond, a sharp cracking sound echoed through the tomb.
Crack. Crack. CRACK.
Countless fists burst through the obsidian prison, shattering Marcus' supposedly indestructible creation.