Eh, why can't I control this damn hand?
Can't blame Robin, really. Twenty years of following the manga made me feel way too familiar with her. It felt like seeing an old friend the moment we met.
Besides, I've already ruffled the heads of Luffy, Nami, and the duo Zoro and Sanji…
This hand of mine just got habitual; before I knew it, I started ruffling again.
"Sorry about that."
He casually withdrew his arm, grinning, "I'm used to comforting my sister this way. Forgot you're older than me. It's really inappropriate, but anyway… about outing your identity…"
Shano suddenly squatted down, looking at Robin eye to eye, "It's not to threaten you, but to tell you—"
"From today on, those days of staying on edge and hiding are over~!"
The sunlight danced on his eyelashes, casting a warm glow on his cheeks, and he stretched out his right hand, chuckling:
"Hey, Robin, want to come aboard my ship? I happen to be quite interested in historical texts and want to gather some. Just missing a legitimate archaeologist."
"..."
Robin stared blankly at the black-haired boy in front of her.
She hadn't even figured out how to speak up… had even abandoned the thought, yet she was being invited onboard?
Sixteen years…
For the first time in sixteen years, someone, fully aware of her dark past, offered a warm hand instead of a blade.
Those years of being hunted by the World Government, those days drifting among dark forces now seemed so distant in the face of this absurd gentleness.
She recalled those beaming faces on the bounty posters, the scene of them laughing around the bonfire at Little Garden…
That warmth was once a dream she thought unreachable.
Now…
Was that hand reaching out to her just within reach?!
"I…"
She subconsciously reached out her right hand but quickly retracted it as if scalded just before touching.
"What's up with that?" Shano glared at her in discontent, "At this point, why are you still hesitating and wavering? Just put it up there!"
"You, you don't understand."
Robin's gaze dimmed, her voice almost swept away by the sea breeze, "My existence itself is a calamity… The forbidden flames of O'Hara would burn your ship, and the World Government would shadow you all…"
She lowered her eyelashes, casting a faint shadow, "The smiles you see now, the bonfire, comrades fighting side by side… will someday turn to ashes because of me."
"Stop blabbering."
Shano rolled his eyes, suddenly grabbing her withdrawn wrist, his warm palm pressed against her cold hand, forcibly completing a high-five.
"Alright, let's consider this officially onboard then. Hook's on, no running away. From now on, you have to call me Captain."
Shano sat back down, grinning as Robin dumbfoundedly watched:
"What taboo, what flames, what nonsense are you saying. Haven't you read the paper? Didn't you see my current bounty?"
"F-Five hundred million…"
"It's five hundred and forty million Belly, oh!"
He held up six fingers, "Your bounty times six, still doesn't match up to mine. After you board, your bounty's only second last. Who'd have the time to focus on catching you when there's a bigger target?"
"But…"
"Trying to emphasize O'Hara's special nature again, right?"
Shano sneered, "Navy Headquarters, World Government, sounds scary but what can they really do? The ocean's so vast, can't send everyone out to besiege us, right? At most, it's a Buster Call!"
He let out a cold laugh:
"A grand admiral, five vice admirals, that's the setup for a Buster Call. I just battled a grand admiral and managed to take down a couple of vice admirals… Hmph, if anyone's foolish enough to try and nab you, they'll have to get past me first!"
The boy's voice echoed over the sea.
The sea breeze blew, bringing silence to the turtle shell.
"What, why aren't you talking anymore?" Shano laughed heartily, "Were you dazzled by my words?"
Robin blinked, then broke into a smile.
She lowered her eyelashes, fingertips brushing over the creased fabric on her knee, her voice as light as a sigh:
"Yeah, very dazzling."
—Of course, he was. So dazzling that her eyes grew hot.
So, the shadows that weighed on her heart for sixteen years were merely paper to be crushed in his eyes?
"Captain," Robin suddenly spoke up.
"Hmm? What's up?"
Shano grinned, finally accepted? Being called Captain is really something.
"Your poison's acting up again…" Robin said softly.
Huh?
Shano froze, quickly rushing to the edge of the turtle shell to check his reflection in the sea.
A guy resembling a mix between Thanos and the Hulk was staring right back at him.
His expression stiffened instantly.
Wait.
Did he just deliver all those cool, impressive lines to Robin with a face like this?
"Ahhhhh!"
A desperate cry broke out on the turtle shell, "Robin, why didn't you say something earlier!!!"
————
The cold wind howled, with swirling snow falling like goose feathers, sheathing Drum Island's mountains in a layer of silver.
The turtle, with a pipe in its mouth, slowly navigated the river into the island's depths,
with the towering pine trees on both sides bending under snow weight, occasionally shedding a plop of snow.
"This place is seriously freezing…"
Shano rubbed his arms, his breath instantly crystallized, he glanced back at Robin, who was drawing her cloak tightly, shivering, her nose tip slightly reddened from the cold.