Eight years ago in Fusha Village.
At twenty years old, Robin stood atop a small hill in Fusha Village where trees grew, gazing at the crimson sunset that had begun to fade into the horizon.
The sunset on the horizon seemed calm, but the red sky reflected in her violet eyes began to ripple.
The red sky transformed into a gigantic wave of flames, scorching a massive tree.
And the eight-year-old Robin watched that tree burn from afar through her violet eyes, tears streaming down her face as she ran away in the opposite direction.
'Already twelve years have passed.'
'But no matter how much time passes, that memory never fades.'
Lost in thought, Robin recalled the memories that followed that day.
The first memory was of not long after that day, panting for breath in the alleyways of some town.
At that time, Robin, listening intently toward the mouth of the alley, overheard people talking as they stared at a wanted poster bearing her face.
"79 million Berries? They put such a high bounty on a little girl?"
"I heard she was the only one of Ohara's devils who survived and escaped after trying to endanger the world."
"They say she inherited the dangerous ideology of those devils and even sunk several warships during her escape..."
Robin's recollections, overhearing those words, began to blur from that point on.
"She's Nico Robin! I saw her on a wanted poster!"
"Don't come near my girl!"
"One of Ohara's devils...I won't sell you anything here!"
The gaze cast upon the young girl called one of Ohara's devils was filled with caution and fear.
"I'm sorry, Robin. I needed the money, so it came to this."
"Sir...!"
"That is definitely Nico Robin! Open fire!"
"I told you she was here! Hand over the bounty first!"
Countless times, she was betrayed by kindness that hid deception.
"It's the Marines, Captain!"
"Let's hand over Robin and run! Where is she now?!"
"She's been gone for a while. I think she escaped!"
"That damned girl doesn't even recognize the mercy shown to her...!"
As the years passed, Robin slipped into the shadows and, at some point, began to betray others first.
Relationships became a cycle of two outcomes: she betrayed first, or she was betrayed first.
Now twenty years old, Robin found herself in Fusha Village,
"I ended up rambling on about myself for far too long."
"That must have been boring, Luffy?"
"No, but I think you went through a lot, sis."
Robin answered Luffy, who was sitting beside her, looking up at her.
'I'm such a fool, talking to a kid like this and ending up spilling my past.'
'I did hide my name and certain dangerous details, but even with what I just said, the World Government could track me down easily.'
'I really shouldn't have left any room for them to pursue me like this...but I was too lonely on my own and couldn't push away this kid who reached out first.'
'Yeah. From today on, no more of these stupid mistakes.'
"Sis, then what are you going to do from now on?"
"Everyone said no one ever helped you properly, so if you're really in trouble, I'll ask my grandpa for help."
'Luffy, unfortunately, my problem is something even your hero-of-the-Marines grandpa couldn't fix.'
'Not to mention, from my point of view, I don't even know if your grandpa is truly someone I can trust.'
"It's okay, Luffy. I'll accept the thought."
"...Okay."
'What I can be certain of now is that you genuinely worry about someone you've never met before.'
'I won't make such a foolish mistake again...this level of conversation is enough...'
With those thoughts, Robin lifted Luffy's straw hat off the back of his head and began running her fingers through his hair.
'To you, who's worried about me right now, I want to act like the little girl I once was.'
After brushing his hair for a while, Robin pulled her hand away and spoke.
"Luffy, I've had something on my mind lately."
"What's on your mind?"
"Normally I'm fine...but sometimes when things get tough, I feel like doing something bad."
"Is there a connection between feeling down and wanting to do something wrong?"
"Of all the ways to solve a really tough situation, the easiest ones often happen to be bad deeds."
"But that's wrong..."
"I know it's wrong, too. That's why so far I've forced myself to endure by taking the hard way."
"But there are times when...it's too hard to keep holding on."
Robin remembered a recent event.
Standing in a room, she looked down at a woman sleeping on a bed, a dagger in her hand.
She gripped the dagger with both hands and lifted it above her head, but after a moment of silence, she lowered her arm.
"This is the woman I reported!"
"Surround her! Don't let her escape!"
"She hid that she's a criminal from me! I had no idea...!"
And not long after, that woman—whom Robin had pointed her dagger at—was the one who reported her and called in the Marines.
At that moment, Robin clutched her shot left arm and ran off, leaving the hail of bullets behind her.
"So if I could avoid a tough situation in the future, I might not hesitate to do wrong."
"What should I really do...moving forward?"
"Hmmm..."
'Luffy, it's not that I really want an answer from you.'
'All I wanted was to see your face caring about me.'
Just as Robin smiled at him, his expression suddenly serious, Luffy broke the silence.
"Sis, you remember what I said about Dadan earlier?"
"Yeah, I remember. You said she's a bandit who took care of you."
"When Dadan gets drunk and completely wasted, she keeps talking to herself."
"She says things like, 'I shouldn't have done that, I want to go back, I regret it.'"
"Later I found out...Dadan's bandit father made her do a lot of bad things since she was little."
"Now Dadan doesn't do bad things anymore since her father was caught by my grandpa, but she's been regretting all the wrongs she was forced to do."
"I see."
"Grandpa told me: don't lose your kindness, and if you can, try to forgive."
"No matter how painful or difficult it gets, never give up on becoming a better person."
"Live doing your best, that's what he said."
Luffy looked up at Robin, whose smile had vanished, and continued.
"I haven't been through what Dadan or you went through myself."
"So I shouldn't say it carelessly...but this much is clear."
"If Dadan had given up on trying to get better without regretting what she did wrong, I honestly would have hated her."
"...Then no one has to know, right?"
Robin stood and, with a hint of excitement, responded to Luffy's words.
"I can just make sure no one knows the wrong I'll do."
"It's not even a situation I brought on by my own mistakes, so why should I have to go that far when I'm the one being wronged?"
"Most of the people causing me pain do wrongs and still live just fine as if nothing happened!"
"Sis..."
"Getting a bit of stain on my clothes isn't the same as ruining my life—in fact, it could even get better!"
"Why can't I live like that?!"
...
After her outburst, a brief silence fell between them, and Robin gradually calmed down as she thought,
'I'm really crazy...venting all this at a child...!'
"You already know, sis."
"...What?"
Luffy broke the silence and continued speaking.
"You already know what's wrong."
****
Back in the present, as the sun set just like before, Robin greeted Luffy from the deck of the Going Merry.
Her bangs were cut straight and neatly above her eyes, and her back hair had grown just enough to brush her shoulders.
Her slender eyes, framed by thin yet dark eyebrows, held violet irises, and beneath them sat pronounced dark circles.
The slight upward tilt at the corners of her eyes gave their angle a near-horizontal appearance.
The clear bridge of her nose, narrowing slightly at the tip, sat above gently curved cheeks whose contours from cheekbones to jawline appeared almost straight.
Her skin, neither too pale nor too dark, added to her sharp yet somewhat somber beauty.
"Sis~? Luffy! Could that person be Makino?"
"She doesn't have green hair, Usopp! Then is she that sister Anne who's said to be your foster sister?"
Usopp and Sanji, seeing Luffy call her sister, pointed and asked who she really was.
"No, not those sisters... I mean the one I told you about earlier..."
"Ah~ right! The one you said had violet eyes...!"
"Luffy's first love! She's an incredible beauty~!!!"
"...First love?!"
"You thought of me that way?"
At Sanji and Usopp's words, Hancock's eyes gleamed as she looked at Robin, and Robin, reacting to that, stepped forward in front of Luffy.
"You've grown so much, Luffy—you look really dependable."
"No, more than that, why did you..."
As Robin walked up to Luffy and glanced up at him, Luffy lowered his head and his gaze naturally drifted from her face down to her cleavage,
'I swear they're bigger than they used to be...'
"Where are you looking, you perverted brat?"
"No, I was just..."
"Snap out of it, Luffy!"
As Robin called to Luffy, sensing his gaze, Hancock grabbed the lapel of his coat from behind.
"Luffy, forget sis and all that—there's something more important to settle right now."
"They say that woman is Crocodile's right hand, right?"
"Well said, Zoro! That's exactly what I was going to tell Luffy!"
"Luffy! I don't know what your relationship with that woman is, but she is indeed Miss All Sunday, Crocodile's partner!"
Right after Hancock agreed with Zoro, Vivi looked at Robin and spoke.
"She was the only one who could truly know Mr. 0's identity."
"Thanks to Igaram and me tailing that woman, we found out the boss was Crocodile!"
"To be precise, you helped me follow her."
"The moment you sent out your official agents, I caught on!"
"And you must have been the one to tip Crocodile off about Igaram and me!"
"There's a simple reason why I did that."
"I just wanted you to give up since our enemy is Crocodile and Baroque Works."
"Do you think I'd give up?!"
"Too bad I don't think you will...by the way, you really thought you escaped the company's pursuit by defeating Wapol, right?"
"So you came here having been ordered by Crocodile to eliminate us?"
"I didn't come here on a mission, princess."
"I came to let you know that, because of one of your party's sloppy lies, the boss sent Mr. 2."
As Robin said this, the perspective shifted back to when the crew had stopped at Little Garden and Sanji was communicating with Crocodile via Transponder Snail.
Inside the roughly fashioned large tent, perched around Sanji were an eagle and an otter, each larger than a person, lying unconscious with sunglasses on.
****
"Your name was...Chess, wasn't it?"
"...You remember, boss."
"Mr. 3...the guy attached to Wapol, right? What was that noise I just heard?"
"Ah...that captain still had some life in him."
"But you don't have to worry anymore. I've definitely cut off his airway now."
"You just said Wapol dealt with Monkey D. Luffy's crew and Princess Vivi."
"But if he still had life, that means you and Wapol dared lie to me."
"In any case, I've definitely taken care of him."
"So there's no need to send any pursuers from now on, right?"
"...Obtain the Permanent Log from the Unluckies headed for Alabasta."
"There's Drum Island on the direct route from Little Garden to Alabasta, so they can return home. Consider the debt you owe me settled as promised."
"Yes...I will relay your message to Lord Wapol properly."
"I have an important matter to attend to, so there will be no contact via Transponder Snail for a while. It'd be a hassle if the Marines tracked me down."
"If I need to contact you, I'll send someone to Drum Island. You'd be wise not to ignore my message."
"Understood."
After the call ended, Sanji looked down at the animals strewn around him.
They were the ones who had attacked Sanji during the call, only to be defeated by him.
'If these are those so-called Unluckies they mentioned, then this Permanent Log is...?'
Sanji picked up the Permanent Log that the fallen Unlucky had dropped on the floor.
Just as Sanji obtained the Permanent Log for Alabasta, Crocodile sat in a room tapping the numbers on a Transponder Snail shell with his finger.
He was a middle-aged man with a long scar running horizontally across the center of his face, including over his nose. His black hair was slicked back, and he wore a coat with fur lining the collar.
"Miss All Sunday, I'm giving you orders."
"What's the mission, boss?"
"Send Mr. 2 on a straight course from Alabasta to Little Garden."
Robin sat astride a small sea turtle's shell—acting as a saddle—with a Transponder Snail, receiving Crocodile's message.
"You didn't handle the mission properly, yet you sent word through your subordinates that it was a success."
"He was garbage who refused to repay borrowed money, but I had overlooked it out of respect for his royal status and strength."
"But he got on my nerves one time too many, so send Mr. 2 to the Drum Kingdom to deal with him."
"Report back to me once you have the results."
"Understood."
****
"Later, when you left Little Garden aboard Wapol's ship, I got a rough idea of the situation."
"But the fact that Mr. 2 is moving along the straight route from Alabasta to Little Garden also means that there's a good chance you're going to run into him on your way to Alabasta."
"In other words, you've failed to evade the company's chase."
"Hey, pervert cook, didn't you say it was all settled earlier?"
"Shut up, Marimo. Do you think you could have responded so well to a sudden Transponder Snail call?"
After Sanji retorted to Zoro's words about Robin's report, Luffy and Hancock turned toward the cabin with shocked expressions.
"W-what is this...?"
At the same moment, something like purple powder seeped out from between the sliding door to Nami's room on the second deck and drifted along the floor toward them.
Using her [Observation Haki], Hancock sensed its movement and swung her whip-sword at it, but the cluster of purple powder passed right through the blade's center as if nothing was there.
The powder curved around the area where the crew stood and approached Robin, climbing up her clothes before disappearing as if absorbed into her palm.
"It came from Nami's room...Nami!"
"What was that powder that just vanished from your hand! What did you do to Nami?!"
"Kestia is a dangerous venomous flea—without a proper antidote, it's hard to recover."
As Hancock dashed into Nami's room and Vivi shouted, Robin looked at her and answered.
"My main job is an archaeologist, but thanks to the ability I gained from my Devil Fruit, I sometimes work as a doctor on the side."
"I can impart the properties of substances I've gathered into the powder I create with my ability, then have someone absorb it to induce illness or prescribe it as medicine."
"Just now, I used my ability to deliver the ingredient used in a Kestia antidote to the girl in the room."
"Why should we believe you!"
"Vivi..."
After Vivi shouted, Hancock came out of Nami's open room, calling Vivi's name as she continued.
"Nami's fever topped out—but it's gone down a bit...the warmth from those red blotches has also lessened."
"Could it be...you actually treated Nami?"
'Even though meeting the sister Robin in my hometown was surprising enough, why does she not only have the archaeologist role from the original story but also act as a doctor?'
'And unlike the original, she ate a different Devil Fruit—originally she ate the Flower-Flower Fruit that let her blossom parts of her body like flowers.'
'Anyway, although I had Observation Haki active, I couldn't sense Robin's powder sneaking onto the ship.'
'Did she plant it on the ship before I showed up...? I mistook the movement I felt in the room for Nami's.'
As Luffy pondered and the crew looked on in confusion, Robin spoke, looking at Luffy.
"Luffy, considering the missions you accomplished in the Marines and the strength of the pirates you defeated, I can estimate how strong you are."
"And having quit the Marines and reappeared, you must be even stronger now. Mr. 2, let alone I or Mr. 1, won't be a match for you."
"But that doesn't mean you could take on Crocodile. He's strong enough to make a name for himself even in the New World, the latter half of the Grand Line."
"Besides, if you were to fight Crocodile, you wouldn't just be facing him—you'd also have to battle the company that follows him."
"So forget about fighting him. Drop the princess off on Drum Island, which we should reach tomorrow, or the next stop, Alabasta."
"That's more than enough kindness shown to a princess in crisis."
"Sis...no, Robin, setting that aside and assuming it's true that you healed Nami, let me say this."
"Thank you for helping."
Luffy's flustered expression faded. With a determined look, his golden eyes met her violet ones.
"But why should we do that?"
"Don't be stubborn. The situation you're facing isn't something that can be resolved with mere sympathy or a sense of justice."
"Why are you siding with Crocodile?"
"I just share the same interests as Crocodile."
"It's not like it's a land ruled by some worthless king—it's a nation governed by a wise king you're helping to overthrow?"
"When I met him, Crocodile, who founded Baroque Works, had already laid out the entire scheme in Alabasta."
"In the end, it was a doomed country whether I was involved or not—someone else would have stepped into my role...!"
"That's enough!!!"
Luffy cut her off and shouted loudly.
The crew, excluding the sleeping Nami, tensed up as they watched an enraged Luffy from behind.
"Even if I don't do it, others will—because I'm a victim too. I'm sick and tired of hearing that."
As Luffy spoke, he recalled Dadan's figure: in a cramped room with a single lamp lit on the table, she had chugged alcohol down her throat, rough and alone.
"After we parted...so much time passed, my memories were hazy."
"So all I could remember up until a moment ago was the sister with violet eyes I met in Fusha Village."
"But now the memories are coming back more clearly—you answered the question I asked you then."
"So I have nothing more to say."
With that, Luffy, his face flushed with anger, looked at the surprised Robin and continued.
"The answer to what I just said...you already gave it in Fusha Village!"
"...That's right, you did, Luffy."
"Still, let me make this clear now: I have no intention of backing down from this."
With those words, Robin, her expression turning sorrowful, turned away and walked off.
"I've prescribed the antidote to your comrade, but I recommend administering antibiotics continuously for the next five days. If you run out, stock up thoroughly on Drum Island, which you should reach tomorrow."
"The Drum Kingdom on that island is traditionally a medical powerhouse, where you can find a variety of rare medicinal herbs and their remedies."
"But thanks to Wapol's foolishness, there's only one doctor left on the island...you'll need luck to find him."
"Wait—are we really supposed to let her go like this? That woman...!"
As Usopp spoke, watching Robin throw herself off the side of the ship, Zoro and Sanji grabbed his shoulders from either side.
"Let it be, Usopp."
"She'll be fine on her own."
"Sure, but what about Vivi..."
"I'll be...okay, Usopp."
After Vivi responded to Usopp, Robin—who had leaped off the ship—sat on a chair perched atop the shell of a large sea turtle.
After Luffy reached out toward Robin as she departed on the turtle, he slowly withdrew his hand.
As Robin drifted farther from the Going Merry, placing a small lantern by her side, the sunset faded and darkness enveloped the sea and sky, prompting her to recall the time she first met Luffy.
****
"You already know, sis."
"...What?"
"You already know what's wrong."
Luffy, breaking the silence with those words, continued under the red sunset.
"They say that if you keep doing wrong things knowing they're wrong...at some point you lose the ability to feel shame."
"If you become someone who doesn't know shame like that, you'll be a completely different person from who you are now."
Hearing those words, Robin recalled the people she had met in her childhood.
"Congratulations, Robin! From today on, you're an archaeologist of Ohara in our eyes!"
"You passed every test we gave you! It's amazing!"
"You're the youngest archaeologist in Ohara!"
The first people she remembered were those—an elderly man included—who recognized her as an archaeologist.
"Robin, Ohara just wanted to preserve history, which belongs to all of humanity."
"We can't give up on the future you'll live in!"
"You have to survive, Robin!"
The second was the image of a woman with long white hair—who resembled her future self— speaking to her tearfully,
"Listen well, Robin! The sea is vast!"
"There may be times when you have to live on alone, lonely!"
"But one day, you'll meet comrades to journey alongside you!"
The last memory was of a middle-aged giant, over ten meters tall, with messy orange hair and a beard, shouting to her.
"I want to live with pride, sis, so I don't want to do wrong if I can help it."
"Even if I want to live proudly, if I've done too many wrongs, I won't be able to do anything because of the shame that reminds me."
"If you really face a difficult situation, I think you might have no choice but to commit wrongs."
"But if you regret it and still try not to repeat your mistakes..."
As Luffy spoke, Robin sat down on the ground and held the young boy in her arms.
Cuddling the startled Luffy, she continued, tears streaming down her face.
"That's right, Luffy...that's how it was meant to be."
"The people who accepted me and saved me were those who stood proud of what they did."
"They must have wanted me to live without shame."
"Sis..."
"It was so hard I forgot...but thanks to you, I remembered again."
"Truly...thank you, Luffy."
****
Returning to the present, with those memories in mind, Robin's surroundings shifted from the fading red sunset back to the dark sea and sky.
"I'm sorry, Luffy. I wasn't able to uphold the lesson you taught me back then."
"Since then, I tried to live without shame in front of you and those others, but for this matter, that vow I made scattered like sand on the shore."
"Even if it means aiding Crocodile and plunging many people into suffering, as an archaeologist determined to carry on Ohara's will, I cannot step back from this."
"I must uncover the truth of the Void Century that's been erased from history."