-Real World: Grand Line Waters-
The ice bicycle cut through the waves with supernatural grace, its crystalline wheels leaving trails of frost that sparkled briefly before dissolving back into the ocean's embrace. Admiral Kuzan's Hie Hie no Mi (Ice-Ice Fruit) made such travel effortless, transforming the chaotic sea into his personal highway with casual mastery that spoke of decades of experience.
Seated behind him, Nico Robin maintained the composed silence that had served her well through twenty years of survival as the world's most wanted fugitive. Her hands rested calmly in her lap, showing no sign of the despair that churned beneath her carefully maintained facade. After two decades of running, hiding, and betraying temporary allies to preserve her own life, she had finally been caught by the one force she could never hope to outrun.
The Marines.
I knew this day would come eventually, Robin thought with bitter resignation as she watched the endless expanse of blue pass beneath them. I just didn't expect it to arrive so soon.
The irony wasn't lost on her. For the first time in years, she might had found something approaching genuine companionship shown in the Sky Screen. Luffy's unconditional acceptance, Chopper's innocent kindness, even the crew's chaotic but sincere camaraderie had begun to crack the emotional walls she had built to survive in a world that wanted her dead.
And now it was ending before it started.
"The Sky Screen showed us five years into the future," she murmured, more to herself than to her captor. "But perhaps that future was never meant to happen. Perhaps it was just... a beautiful dream."
Kuzan's posture didn't change, but she noticed his grip on the bicycle's handlebars tighten slightly. The Admiral's internal conflict was more visible than he probably realized, though Robin had learned to read such subtle signs during her years of navigating the criminal underworld.
"Don't let your imagination run wild," Kuzan said suddenly, his voice carrying the flat authority of someone accustomed to being obeyed without question. "Just listen to me when we get back to Marine Headquarters."
"Of course, Admiral," Robin replied with hollow politeness, already knowing that whatever orders awaited her would likely involve either immediate execution or something far worse.
The World Government had two primary options for dealing with her continued existence. The quick solution would be public execution—a dramatic demonstration of what happened to those who sought forbidden knowledge. It would serve as a warning to future archaeologists and historians who might be tempted to follow in her footsteps.
The alternative was far more insidious. They could force her to translate every Poneglyph in their possession, extracting the complete history of the Void Century before eliminating both her and every trace of that forbidden knowledge. It would be the ultimate victory over the scholars of Ohara—using their last surviving member to help destroy everything they had died trying to preserve.
Either way, her story was ending where it had begun: with the World Government's determination to bury the past.
The ice bicycle suddenly lurched violently, nearly throwing both riders into the churning sea. Robin gasped as the previously calm waters erupted around them, massive fissures opening in the ocean's surface as if some titanic force was literally tearing the sea apart.
This wasn't natural. No weather phenomenon could create such precise, geometric divisions in the water itself. Someone with incredible power was approaching, and their very presence was warping reality around them.
Kuzan reacted with the split-second reflexes that had earned him his Admiral rank. One arm swept Robin against his chest while the other extended toward the chaos below, ice already forming around his fingertips.
"Ice Age!" The technique erupted from him with devastating efficiency, flash-freezing everything within a dozen kilometers. The raging sea became a solid plain of ice in seconds, the supernatural fissures trapped mid-formation like scars in crystal.
They landed on the newly formed ice sheet with enough force to crack the surface, but Kuzan's creation held firm under their combined weight. Robin found herself still pressed against the Admiral's chest, close enough to feel the unnatural cold that radiated from his Devil Fruit-enhanced body.
Even his kindness is cold, she thought with dark humor. How fitting.
"I may not be able to take care of you for a while," Kuzan said quietly, his tone carrying an ominous note that made Robin's survival instincts scream warnings. "You should try to escape on your own. If you can't manage it..."
He paused, and when he continued, his voice carried the weight of a promise she wasn't sure she wanted him to keep.
"I won't let you fall into his hands. I'm sorry."
Before Robin could ask what he meant, Kuzan was already reaching for his Den Den Mushi, the urgency in his movements suggesting that whoever was approaching represented a threat even an Admiral took seriously.
The transponder snail connected almost immediately, projecting Fleet Admiral Sengoku's authoritative voice across the frozen wasteland.
"Kuzan, report. Have you successfully captured the Devil's Child?"
"Mission accomplished, but we have a complication," Kuzan replied, his eyes scanning the ice around them for signs of their approaching visitor. "I may not be able to protect the prisoner."
"Explain. What force could possibly threaten a Marine Admiral?"
Kuzan's enhanced senses were already detecting the approaching presence—a figure moving across the ice with casual confidence, radiating an aura of power that made the air itself feel heavy. The distinctive silhouette, the familiar gait, the unmistakable red nose visible even at this distance...
"Buggy the Clown has appeared in the Grand Line," Kuzan reported grimly. "His injuries from the previous fight appear to have healed completely."
The silence that followed lasted several heartbeats before Sengoku's voice exploded through the transponder.
"BUGGY THE CLOWN?!"
Even the Den Den Mushi seemed to recoil from the Fleet Admiral's shock, its expression perfectly mimicking Sengoku's horror at this development.
"New orders, effective immediately," Sengoku commanded, his strategic mind already processing the implications. "Do not engage Buggy in extended combat. Eliminate the Devil's Child immediately if capture becomes impossible, but your primary priority is your own survival. The Marines cannot afford to lose an Admiral-level asset to that monster."
The transmission cut off, leaving Kuzan and Robin alone on the ice as their enemy continued his leisurely approach.
In the operations room, the news of Buggy's appearance sent the assembled officers into barely controlled chaos. Maps were unrolled, communication lines were established, and tactical assessments were hastily compiled as the full scope of the crisis became clear.
But it was Admiral Sakazuki who provided the most immediate response.
The magma-powered Admiral shot to his feet with such violence that his chair flew backward, crashing into the wall behind him. His eyes blazed with fury that made the air around him shimmer with heat as molten rock began seeping through his clothing.
"That red-nosed bastard!" Sakazuki's voice carried the promise of volcanic destruction as he strode toward the exit. "This time I'll reduce him to ash and scatter the remains across the sea floor!"
"Admiral Sakazuki, wait!" several officers called out, but the man was already pushing through the operations room doors with single-minded determination.
"Stop him!" Fleet Admiral Sengoku's voice carried across the chaos. "Someone restrain Sakazuki before he—"
"Vice Admiral Garp is moving too!" Vice Admiral Onigumo reported with alarm. "He's heading for the harbor at full speed!"
The unlikely alliance between the aggressive Admiral and the ex-Marine Hero would have been comical under different circumstances. Two men who rarely agreed on anything, united by their shared desire to destroy the pirate who had humiliated them both.
By the time Sengoku reached the harbor, both men had already commandeered the fastest warship available and were ordering the crew to set course for Kuzan's last known position. Their combined authority made it impossible for anyone to countermand their orders.
"Damn stubborn fools," Sengoku muttered, watching his two most powerful assets disappear over the horizon. "They're going to get themselves killed."
But even as he criticized their rash behavior, the Fleet Admiral was already dispatching a medical ship to follow them. If they somehow managed to succeed where previous attempts had failed, the Marines would need every advantage they could get.
The hunt for Buggy the Clown had become personal.
Robin watched the approaching figure with growing fascination and dread. Even at this distance, Buggy the Clown's presence was overwhelming—not just physically, though his nearly four-meter frame would have been intimidating enough, but spiritually. The air around him seemed to bend and warp, reality itself acknowledging his power.
So this is what a true monster looks like, Robin thought with academic detachment. No wonder the World Government fears him so much.
Kuzan's body had shifted into full combat readiness, cold mist rising from his skin as his Devil Fruit powers prepared for battle. Half his face was already covered in protective ice, and the temperature around them was dropping rapidly enough to make Robin's breath visible.
"Admiral Kuzan!" Buggy's voice carried easily across the ice, friendly and conversational despite the circumstances. "What an unexpected pleasure! I really must thank Sakazuki for his... hospitality... during our last encounter. It took quite some time for my injuries to heal properly."
The casual mention of surviving a fight with Admiral Sakazuki sent chills down Robin's spine that had nothing to do with Kuzan's ice powers. She had witnessed the magma Admiral's capabilities firsthand during the Ohara incident—the idea that anyone could not only survive his attacks but speak of them so casually was terrifying.
"Buggy." Kuzan's voice carried none of his usual lazy drawl, replaced by the focused intensity of a predator recognizing an equal threat. "You're blocking my path. What do you want? Are you here for her?"
He gestured toward Robin, and she felt the Admiral's killing intent spike dramatically. The psychological trauma from her childhood reasserted itself with crushing force—the memory of ice and fire destroying everything she had ever loved, of watching her teachers and friends die for the crime of seeking knowledge.
Her entire body began trembling uncontrollably, adult composure cracking under the weight of suppressed terror. The night Ohara burned played through her mind in vivid detail, every scream and explosion as fresh as if it were happening again.
"Oh, Kuzan," Buggy said with theatrical disappointment, shaking his head sadly. "You lolicon, still using threats you have no intention of carrying out to frighten young women. I simply cannot stand watching this anymore. Look how terrified you've made poor Miss Robin."
The accusation hit like a physical blow. Robin stared at the Admiral in shock, seeing him in an entirely new light, while Kuzan's face began shifting through several shades of red that had nothing to do with temperature.
"Buggy, what are you talking about?" Kuzan demanded, but his voice carried a note of panic that suggested the clown had struck uncomfortably close to the truth.
Rather than answer directly, the Admiral released a devastating breath attack that instantly froze everything in front of him, including the eloquent pirate. Ice spread outward in a perfect cone of destruction, trapping Buggy in what appeared to be an impenetrable crystal prison.
But Kuzan didn't relax, his combat instincts warning him that the battle had only just begun.
Click. Click. Click.
The first cracks appeared along the ice sculpture's surface, hairline fractures that spread with mechanical precision. What followed was a display of Devil Fruit mastery that defied conventional understanding—Buggy's Bara Bara no Mi (Chop-Chop Fruit) somehow affecting the ice that contained him, turning his prison into countless fragments that simply fell away like shed skin.
The technique that had instantly killed Crocodile, one of the most feared pirates in Paradise, had been negated with almost insulting ease.
"Really now, there's no need to be so touchy about it," Buggy continued as if the interruption had never occurred. "Is it such a crime to tell the truth? After all, Vice Admiral Saul is still alive, isn't he? I imagine you've hidden that particular secret from quite a few people."
The words hit Robin like lightning, splitting through her despair and confusion to strike at the deepest wound in her soul. She turned to stare at Kuzan with desperate hope and disbelief warring in her expression.
Saul. Her giant friend, the Marine who had given his life to save her, who had been frozen solid by this very man's power twenty years ago. Could he really still be alive?
Kuzan neither admitted nor denied it, he just stared at the face of Buggy. Why did he know such a secret? Was he also present on the night of O'Hara's destruction?
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