Thanks to the deliberate leniency of certain unscrupulous Marines, the Going Merry broke through the layers of naval encirclement with ease—so easily, in fact, that a certain bespectacled man who had fully prepared for the worst found it somewhat unbelievable.
(What on earth are these Marines doing...)
(For some reason, I get the feeling that our easy escape from the Marines has something to do with that little girl named [Lan].)
Sherlock leaned against the ship's railing, gazing out at the boundless sea, lost in thought.
Meanwhile.
"Hey, hey, hey, didn't we already escape the Marines?" Zoro looked helplessly at Luffy and the others, who were lying on the deck looking half-dead.
"If you guys missed Vivi that much, you should've just kidnapped her and brought her along back then."
Chopper: "Barbarian!"
Nami: "How crude!"
Sanji: "Mosshead!"
Luffy: "Three-Sword Style~"
Usopp: "Luffy, 'Three-Sword Style' isn't an insult."
"Four-Sword Style~"
"Adding another sword doesn't make it an insult either!" Usopp was speechless. He then looked toward the Warlock who was dazing off by the railing not far away.
"Hey, Sherlock, it's your turn."
"Huh?" Sherlock snapped back to reality, puzzled. "My turn for what?"
"Insulting Zoro. We've all done it; you're the only one left."
"Mmhmm." Luffy, Sanji, Nami, and Chopper nodded in unison. It seemed they all wanted to see how Sherlock would insult someone.
"Oi, oi, haven't you guys had enough?!" The green-haired swordsman had black lines over his face.
Sherlock looked at the five listless idiots, then at Zoro, whose expression was quite ugly. He pushed up his glasses gently and said indifferently:
"Truly stupid..."
"..." Hearing the Warlock's words, everyone fell into a mysterious silence.
(Why does it feel so natural coming from his mouth? It doesn't feel out of place at all. Also, why do I get the feeling he's talking about all of us?) Nami and the others thought to themselves.
"Haha, Sherlo, well said!" The idiot captain laughed heartily. His heartless, goofy demeanor made everyone else heave a sigh of relief.
Creak~ The wooden cabin door opened, and a mature, enchanting figure walked out gracefully.
"My, have we already shaken off the Marines' pursuit?" Nico Robin brushed back her long, smooth black hair and smiled slightly at the dumbfounded Straw Hats.
"Thank you for your hard work!"
"Are you here to avenge your organization?" Zoro gripped the hilt of Wado Ichimonji tightly. It seemed that if Robin showed the slightest intent to attack, he would make this beautiful woman spill blood right there.
"Why is a dangerous woman like you here?" Nami looked astonished. "Also, you're wearing my clothes, aren't you?!"
"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!" Usopp was on the verge of tears.
"Who is this person?" The blue-nosed reindeer, meeting Robin for the first time, tilted his head.
"Ah, it's that beautiful big sister~~~" The lovestruck cook's exposed right eye turned into a heart.
"Aren't you that woman who was with the bastard Crocodile?" It really wasn't easy; the idiot captain actually remembered who Robin was.
Facing the Straw Hats' interrogation, Robin didn't answer immediately. Instead, she walked calmly straight to a certain bespectacled man, stopped, and gave a quiet smile, her blue and black eyes curving into crescents:
"We meet again, Sherlock."
"Indeed, we meet again."
An intoxicating floral scent wafted over. Sherlock looked calmly at the charming woman before him, the corners of his mouth curling up elegantly.
"It is truly incredible that you weren't arrested by the Marines." Judging by his calm demeanor, it seemed the Warlock had long since realized there was an extra person on the ship.
The two locked eyes, both silent, but the elegant smiles on their lips were surprisingly similar, as if carved from the same mold. For a moment, the atmosphere between the man and the woman became very subtle, plunging the entire ship into a strange silence.
The others looked at Sherlock, then turned to look at Robin, all wearing peculiar expressions.
(What exactly is going on with these two?)
Although the man and woman were both smiling, looking like reunited friends who hadn't seen each other in a long time, watching the mysterious smiles on their lips gave Nami and the others an inexplicable "hair-raising" feeling.
(What exactly is this woman plotting?) Sherlock looked into Robin's charming eyes and broke the silence first:
"I told you before, it's not right to board someone else's ship without buying a ticket."
"Last time, you used the Eternal Pose to Alabasta. What do you intend to use to pay for your ticket this time?"
"Pay for a ticket? What are you talking about..." Robin smiled faintly. She walked to the side, set up the deck chair Sherlock often used for sleeping, and lay down comfortably, looking as lazy and casual as if she were in her own home.
"Am I not already [yours]?" Crossing her legs elegantly, Robin closed her eyes and spoke some extremely shocking words in a flat tone.
"What???!!!" Hearing Robin's very suggestive words, the others were instantly stunned.
"..." Sherlock's expression changed slightly, but before he could say anything, a certain lovestruck curly-brows appeared in front of him as if by teleportation.
"Sherlock, you four-eyed bastard!" Sanji grabbed Sherlock by the collar and shouted questioningly:
"What kind of enviable things did you do to this beautiful big sister?!!"
"Oi, Sanji, you accidentally said your inner thoughts out loud." Usopp rolled his eyes.
Fifteen minutes later...
Sherlock concisely explained to everyone what he had done back at Rain Dinners.
"You deliberately spoke so ambiguously just to fool Crocodile's subordinates?" Having calmed down, Sanji lit a cigarette and looked at the bespectacled man with a resentful gaze. "Why didn't you call me for such a good thing? If anyone should pretend to be Robin-chan's lover, it should be me!!!"
"Alright, next time there's a similar situation, I'll leave it to you, Sanji." Sherlock pushed up his glasses, looking helpless.
"So that's why you asked me for anesthetics back then, Sherlock." The blue-nosed reindeer realized.
"Still, for this woman to actually agree to such an absurd bet back then, it's really..." Zoro glanced at Robin lying on the deck chair.
"..." Even with Robin's good self-control, being looked at like an idiot by the green-haired swordsman ignited a nameless fire in her heart. At the same time, her resentment toward the Warlock deepened.
That incident could be said to be one of Nico Robin's few "dark histories."
Just then, the navigator, who had been giggling since who knows when, finally snapped out of it. She floated over to Sherlock, her movements as cheerful as a dancing butterfly.
"Sherlock, where are your winnings?" Nami's voice was sickeningly sweet, little stars twinkling in her beautiful big eyes. "Where did you put that 4 billion Berries?"
"Ah, you mean that." Sherlock pushed up his glasses, his face calm. "To avoid extra trouble, I left it at the casino."
"Left it at the casino??!!" The expression on Nami's face froze instantly.
Crack. The people around them seemed to hear a crisp shattering sound.
"Yeah." Sherlock nodded solemnly and continued, "Besides, those were all chips. Exchanging them for Berries would have wasted too much time and been too much of a hassle, so I couldn't be bothered to take them."
(Couldn't be bothered to take them??!!)
Nami stared wide-eyed at the calm bespectacled man. She opened her mouth but didn't know what to say.
In all her life, this was the first time she had heard of someone giving up a whole 4 billion Berries just because it was a hassle.
Inhumanly rich, truly inhumanly rich!
ORZ. Nami collapsed onto the deck on her hands and knees in utter despair.
Ignoring the broken navigator, Sherlock turned his head to look once again at the enchanting woman who had commandeered his deck chair.
(What a vengeful woman.) Sherlock sighed lightly in his heart. Although he wasn't clear on Robin's true intentions for being here, the Warlock still sensed a faint hostility coming from her.
"I already handed you over to the Marines as a gift back then, so there are no longer any ties between us." He paused, his black eyes narrowing slightly behind his lenses.
"Now, shouldn't you tell us exactly what you want to do here? Nico Robin."
Hearing this, Luffy and the others also turned in unison to look at the beautiful woman.
Robin sat up straight. Resting her chin on her hand, her beautiful blue and black eyes swept over the Straw Hats one by one, pausing briefly on Sherlock's face before finally settling on the idiot captain.
"Let me be your crewmate." Robin once again calmly spoke some incredibly shocking words.
"What???!!!" Except for the idiot captain, the lovestruck cook, and a certain bespectacled man, everyone else exclaimed in surprise again.
Before the Straw Hats could react, Robin continued:
"I had intended to give up on life back then, but you saved me, Monkey D. Luffy." For some reason, Robin subconsciously emphasized the "D."
"With Baroque Works destroyed, I have nowhere left to go."
Saying this, Robin looked up at the top of the Going Merry's mast, where the Jolly Roger bearing the Straw Hat Pirates' insignia was flapping loudly in the sea breeze.
"This is all your fault, so you have to take responsibility."
(What kind of hooligan logic is that...) Sherlock sighed silently, then looked at the frowning idiot captain, a very bad premonition rising in his heart.
However, as if to verify the Warlock's guess, Luffy didn't even think before nodding solemnly:
"Yeah, what you said makes sense. Can't be helped then."
"Okay." Luffy agreed with extreme decisiveness.
"..." Except for the lovestruck cook who was excited beyond belief and the little reindeer who didn't know anything about Robin, everyone else looked exasperated, clearly very opposed to this mysterious woman joining.
Nami gently tugged on the Warlock's clothes and winked, seemingly wanting him, the strategist, to talk some sense into the goofy captain.
"Give it up, Nami. Once that idiot Luffy decides on something, it can't be changed." Sherlock shook his head. "After all, he is our captain."
The Warlock then looked at Robin, who immediately returned a charming smile, displaying all the moving allure of a mature woman.
(It seems life from now on will become even more "interesting.") Sherlock gently pushed up his glasses, the clear lenses reflecting two stunning glints of light.
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