-Real World: Frozen Battlefield-
O'Hara—the forbidden word that represented everything the World Government feared most about knowledge, scholarship, and the dangerous pursuit of truth.
Across the world, people knew what had happened to that island of scholars twenty years ago. They knew about the Buster Call, about the complete annihilation of an entire culture dedicated to preserving history. They knew, and they chose to look away, to cover their ears and close their eyes, to pretend that such systematic destruction was somehow necessary for the greater good.
The conspiracy of silence that surrounded O'Hara's destruction was perhaps more damning than the act itself. Countless individuals—Marines, government officials, ordinary citizens—had chosen complicity over compassion, allowing the World Government's war machine to operate without meaningful opposition.
For Robin, hearing the island's name spoken so casually after years of it being an unmentionable taboo was like having an old wound torn open. But Buggy's next words hit her with the force of a revelation that shattered twenty years of grief.
"Is Mr. Saul really not dead?" The question escaped her lips as barely a whisper, tears streaming down her cheeks before she could stop them. In all her years of survival, of hardening her heart against hope and disappointment, she had never dared to imagine that anyone from that terrible night might have survived.
The giant Vice Admiral who had defied orders to save her, who had been frozen solid by Kuzan's ice powers as she watched in horror—could he truly still be alive?
Kuzan's silence was answer enough. The Admiral's refusal to deny Buggy's claim spoke volumes about the moral compromises he had made, the secret acts of mercy he had performed while maintaining his facade of absolute loyalty.
He saved Saul, Robin realized with crystalline clarity. All these years, he's been carrying that secret, protecting the man who betrayed the Marines to save me.
The psychological complexity of her situation was overwhelming. The same man who had just threatened to kill her rather than let her fall into enemy hands was also the one who had preserved the life of her dearest friend. Admiral Aokiji was simultaneously her potential executioner and her unwitting protector.
"After the giant Saul retrieved the books from the lake, he returned to Elbaf to serve as a librarian," Buggy continued with casual authority, as if discussing the weather rather than revealing state secrets. "He treasures the knowledge rescued from O'Hara, preserving it in the safest place in all the seas. As a defender of truth, he awaits the right person to unlock O'Hara's secrets."
The words hit Robin like physical blows, each revelation reshaping her understanding of the past two decades. The Tree of All-Knowledge—the ancient repository that had contained thousands of years of accumulated wisdom—hadn't been completely destroyed. Someone, in the final moments before the Buster Call's artillery reduced everything to ash, had managed to save a portion of that irreplaceable library.
They threw the books into the lake, she realized, her mind immediately grasping the logistics. Someone inside the Tree knew they were going to die, so they preserved what they could for future generations.
The sacrifice was staggering. Her teachers, her friends, the scholars who had dedicated their lives to understanding history—they had used their final moments not to flee or fight, but to ensure that their work would survive even if they could not.
And now those precious materials were safe in Elbaf, the legendary nation of giants where even the World Government's reach was limited. There was perhaps no safer place in the entire world for such dangerous knowledge.
"Do you want to spy on the secrets of the world through Robin?" Kuzan's voice cut through her emotional revelation, his tactical mind immediately jumping to the most obvious explanation for Buggy's interest. "Is this about translating Poneglyphs? Acquiring Ancient Weapons? Another ambitious fool trying to overthrow the World Government?"
The Admiral's assumptions were logical, even reasonable given the historical pattern of those who sought the world's hidden truths. Every generation seemed to produce someone who believed they could use forbidden knowledge to reshape the balance of power.
But Buggy's response was unlike anything either of them had expected.
"Sometimes ignorance is also a sin," the red-nosed pirate said with a faint smile that carried undertones of genuine sadness. "The secrets I already know are beyond anything Miss Robin could learn in a dozen lifetimes. It's simply that I despise the Marine's methods. Some things must develop naturally, must be completed step by step rather than forced through violence."
The cryptic words hung in the air like a philosophical challenge. Robin found herself studying Buggy's expression, trying to parse meaning from his seemingly contradictory statements. He claimed to know secrets that surpassed even the Void Century's mysteries, yet he spoke of natural development and organic progress.
What is he really after? she wondered. If not power, if not revenge, then what drives someone to challenge the World Government so directly?
But the time for contemplation ended as Buggy's demeanor shifted from philosophical to predatory. The pleasant conversation was over—now came the violence that seemed to define every significant encounter in this brutal world.
"One-Dimensional Split."
The technique erupted from Buggy with casual mastery, his Bara Bara no Mi (Chop-Chop Fruit) manifesting in ways that defied conventional understanding of Devil Fruit limitations. Where Kuzan's ice sought to freeze and preserve, Buggy's power sought to separate and divide—and the fundamental opposition between their abilities created a spectacular display of supernatural warfare.
Kuzan's ice, which had flash-frozen entire seas and stopped Admiral-level opponents in their tracks, simply... came apart. Not melted, not shattered, but divided at the molecular level until it ceased to exist as a coherent structure.
"It can split magma, and it can also split my ice," Kuzan observed with grim professionalism, though Robin could hear the underlying concern in his voice. "That's a terrifying Devil Fruit."
The implications were staggering. Everything Kuzan had built his fighting style around—overwhelming freezing attacks, environmental control, the ability to transform battlefields to his advantage—was being systematically negated by an opponent who could simply divide his techniques into harmlessness.
None of his attacks were landing. Every ice spear, every freezing wave, every environmental manipulation was being split apart before it could reach its target. Buggy seemed to exist within a sphere of division that automatically destroyed anything that came too close.
It's not just immunity, Robin realized as she watched the battle unfold. It's active negation. His power doesn't just protect him—it unmakes anything that threatens him.
"Leave her to me," Buggy said suddenly, his voice carrying new authority. "I'll send her somewhere safe."
The punch that followed was wreathed in Conqueror's Haki, black and red lightning crackling around Buggy's fist with enough force to make reality itself seem to bend. The attack moved with deceptive speed, covering the distance between them in a heartbeat.
Kuzan's survival instincts kicked in with Admiral-level efficiency. Rather than attempt to tank an attack that had left Sakazuki coughing blood, he immediately shifted into his elemental form and merged with the frozen sea beneath them.
Smart, Robin thought with professional appreciation. No point in testing durability against something that's already proven devastating.
From his position within the ice, Kuzan launched his counterattack with surgical precision.
"Ice Tree!"
Crystalline roots erupted from beneath Buggy's feet, growing with supernatural speed and complexity. Ice spread across the pirate's body like living vines, drawing moisture not just from the environment but from Buggy himself. Within seconds, a hundred-meter ice tree had grown around him, its crystal-clear structure beautiful and deadly in equal measure.
Robin stared at the magnificent creation in awe. The entire tree was translucent, refracting light into rainbow patterns that danced across the frozen battlefield. Only Buggy's head remained visible above the icy embrace, his expression frozen in what might have been surprise.
Is that it? she wondered. Did Admiral-level technique finally overcome whatever defense he was using?
But even as she watched, doubt crept into her mind. Buggy's earlier words about natural development, about things proceeding step by step, suggested a level of planning and foresight that wouldn't be undone by a single technique.
"Don't be distracted," Kuzan warned, his voice tight with continued tension. "I haven't finished dealing with him yet. Do you really want to go with him?"
The Admiral's question was answered before Robin could respond.
"Shin Bunkatsu Sekai!" (True Split World)
The technique that erupted from within the ice tree was beyond anything Robin had witnessed in her twenty years of running. Buggy's Bara Bara no Mi manifested not as simple division, but as fundamental separation of reality itself.
The ice tree disintegrated from within, but that was only the beginning. The frozen sea that served as their battlefield began tearing apart along precise geometric lines, creating a maze of chasms and abysses that stretched for more than ten kilometers in every direction.
Everything was being divided. The ice beneath their feet, the air around them, even the clouds overhead were being split into constituent fragments with surgical precision. The scope of destruction was so vast, so comprehensive, that it defied belief.
This isn't just a Devil Fruit technique, Robin realized with fascination and primitive terror. This is reality manipulation on a scale that approaches Ancient Weapon capability.
The splitting effect showed no signs of discrimination. Anything that entered its range—ice, water, air, even Haki-enhanced attacks—was automatically divided into fragments too small to maintain coherence. It was indiscriminate annihilation masquerading as precise technique.
Kuzan had no choice but to retreat, grabbing Robin and skating across the increasingly unstable ice surface with all the speed his Admiral training could provide. Behind them, the destruction continued to spread, turning what had been a pristine frozen battlefield into a chaotic landscape of floating debris.
"What terrifying power," Robin breathed, looking back at the ongoing devastation. "Anything that falls into that area gets torn apart completely."
The portion of her mind was cataloguing the technique's properties even as her survival instincts screamed warnings. The indiscriminate nature of the destruction, the way it affected both physical matter and energy, the sheer scale of the effect—it suggested mastery over fundamental forces that should have been impossible for any Devil Fruit user.
"I really can't compete with that monster," Kuzan admitted with unusual candor, his professional assessment overriding any concerns about appearing weak in front of a prisoner. "I'm not Sakazuki—I don't fight battles I can't win just to prove a point."
The distinction between the two Admirals was telling. Where Sakazuki would have charged into the destruction zone with magma-powered fury, Kuzan chose tactical withdrawal over pointless heroics. Different philosophies of justice led to dramatically different approaches to combat.
But even retreat wasn't going to be enough.
A new figure appeared in their path with the casual confidence of someone who owned the battlefield. Female, with clown makeup that mirrored Buggy's distinctive style, complete with the iconic red nose that marked her as somehow connected to the ongoing chaos.
Robin felt the newcomer's gaze focusing on her chest with obvious appreciation, a casual objectification that somehow felt more threatening than Kuzan's earlier death threats.
When Kuzan saw the face of the person blocking their path, his tactical mind immediately tried to process what he was witnessing. The resemblance to Buggy was unmistakable—the same general facial structure, the same distinctive makeup style, the same aura of casual menace.
This isn't Alvida, he realized.
His first instinct was to assume some form of gender manipulation, perhaps a technique that allowed Buggy to alter his physical appearance. The similarities were too pronounced to be coincidental.
But the destruction behind them was still ongoing, Buggy's presence still radiating from the center of the chaos zone. If the male clown was still active behind them, then who was this female version blocking their escape?