Brief note on the title: Sansen Seikai (Three Thousand Worlds) is one of Zoro's attacks. It's the one where he spins his swords around - the last move he tries in his fight against Mihawk.
//
With a third girl, their crew had evened out, at least in terms of gender. Cook-san was going to have trouble keeping up, Robin thought, with no small trace of amusement.
They had left Whiskey Peak behind to the fog and the night. Dawn stretched out before them, spreading wide its inviting pink embrace. A few hours ago, Navigator-san had triumphantly announced that they were now on course for the next island, whatever it may be. Robin was taking advantage of the first light of day to catch up on her reading. Despite having been targeted for death by one of the Shichibukai, the Strawhat pirates were in high spirits. Luffy had suggested, of all things, a Hit List party, because "not everyone's on the Shichibukai's Hit List!" Navigator-san had had a few things to say about that, mostly with her fists, but once Luffy saw an opportunity to eat meat, he never let go. Even Miss Wednesday, their newest member, was timidly entering into the celebrations. Robin remembered how that felt, and offered an understanding smile over her book. If Hurricane Luffy took its course, pretty soon Miss Wednesday would feel just as much a part of the crew as the others. Herewas Luffy's greatest gift: the ability to make people feel welcome, feel at home, feel like nakama.
A shadow passed over her book. It didn't appear to be cloud-shaped, and she looked up, startled.
"Some sort of bird?" she murmured to herself.
"What was that, Robin-chwan?" Cook-san twirled into her line of vision. "Did you want another drink? I will gladly prepare it with all my love!"
Robin fought back a smile. "I'm fine, Cook-san. I just thought—"
"Oi. So the ship was here." Robin looked over just in time to see a silhouette leap aboard the Going Merry. It straightened up into a man, golden earrings swaying, the picture of careless self-assurance despite being aboard a strange pirate ship. "Yo," he offered by way of greeting, one hand reaching up to scratch lazily at the back of his head, the other hand going automatically to his hip, where three swords rested in their scabbards: two black and one white.
"Who are you?" Luffy demanded, turning around in his seat on the goat's head.
"Isn't that—?" Long Nose-kun began.
But it was Miss Wednesday's gasp that drowned out the other voices. "Mr. 1," she whispered, sinking to her knees. "Why… Why are you here?"
"Mr. 1?!" Navigator-san demanded, looking around wildly. "Isn't that right next to 0? Is his partner here too?"
"Mr. 0, Mr. 1, and Mr. 2, are the only Officer Agents who don't have partners," Miss Wednesday explained. "They are truly the Top Three of Baroque Works. Mr. 1 is also the only one who knows Mr. 0's true identity. We receive… received all our orders from him."
Apparently unimpressed by this introduction, Mr. 1 continued to scratch his head. "Why'd you have to make this ship so hard to find?" he said finally, ungracefully taking a seat on the railing. "I meant to get here hours ago but you weren't where you should've been."
"And where should we have been?" Navigator-san demanded. "More to the point, what are you doing on our ship? Vivi, is there anything else we should know about this man?"
"Yes." Miss Wednesday's fists were clenched on her lap; her face was drawn tight with pain, or perhaps anger. "This man is most likely… the one who killed Igaram!"
"Don't jump to conclusions, Miss Wednesday," Mr. 1 drawled lazily, casting his gaze about the ship. "Igaram is alive, if… slightly delayed. Who knows, you might even see him again, if you live."
"Then…"
"Relax, I'm not here on orders. I'm just here to—" Mr. 1's gaze stopped on Robin. She watched his expression go from surprised to pleased to smug in a matter of moments. "Miss Wednesday, I'm surprised at you," he said, though he didn't take his eyes off Robin. "Not reporting meeting such an infamous woman. Mr. 0 would've loved to hear about her."
Mr. 1 swung down from his seat and walked towards Robin, no hurry at all in his insouciant steps. His hand had yet to leave the hilts of his swords.
"Hold it right there, Marimo-head." Cook-san moved in to cut Mr. 1 off, putting himself in a better stance for kicking. "I won't let you lay a hand on Robin-chan." At this, Long Nose-kun aimed his slingshot, Navigator-san pulled out her staff, and even Luffy put a hand on his upper arm, getting ready to stretch it if necessary.
"Marimo?" Mr. 1 demanded. He paused in his steps to half-draw one of the black swords, apparently more concerned about the remark on his hair than the various weapons that were aimed at him.
"Your head looks like a giant marimo," Cook-san declared, dropping his cigarette and scuffing it out with his boot. "Maybe we should put it back in the ocean where it belongs."
"Say that again, Target-eyebrows," Mr. 1 snarled, lowering to a fighting stance. He parried the kick, turned to cut Long Nose-kun's Fire Star out of the air, and used the same motion to disarm Navigator-san. Before her staff had clattered to the floor, Robin was calling forth her hands, intending to pull the sword right out of Mr. 1's grip. As soon as her hands touched the blade, however, Robin collapsed forward onto the table, feeling like all the energy had been pulled out of her.
"Robin-chan!" Cook-san half-turned, trying to check on Robin while keeping Mr. 1 in his sight. "What did you do to Robin-chan, you shitty marimo?!"
"These katana are made of Sea Stone," Mr. 1 said, sheathing it without looking. "A little heavier than most blades, but useful. As you can see." He shouldered his way past Cook-san. Robin looked up as he approached, still drained from the contact with Sea Stone.
"Didn't I tell you to keep away from Robin-chan, Marimo?" Mr. 1 turned at the sound of Cook-san's voice, and Cook-san took the opportunity to swing a hard roundhouse at the agent's face. Mr. 1 managed to avoid having his neck snapped by ducking in time, but the strike clipped his face, drawing a red welt as it passed.
"And didn't I tell you to relax?!" Mr. 1 snarled right back. His hand went back to the sword, but he didn't draw it. "I told you, I'm not here on orders."
"Like we're supposed to believe that?" Cook-san launched another kick.
Mr. 1 dove out of the way, rolled, and came up holding both of his black swords. "All right, but you asked for this, he growled, and charged.
"S-Sanji, watch out," Long Nose-kun cautioned, from a safe distance. "I know who he is! That's Roronoa Zoro, the Pirate Hunter! He uses three swords and wears a green haramaki! No doubt about it—"
"I'm trying to focus here!" Cook-san leapt out of range of the swing, and took the moment when he landed to catch his breath. "What, not going to use that third sword? Think you can take me without your full power?"
Mr. 1 glanced down at the white sword that was still sheathed at his side. "I don't use this katana for Baroque Works business," he announced flatly, looking up at Cook-san as though daring him to argue.
"I thought you weren't here on orders," Cook-san sneered.
"I don't use this katana as long as I'm a member of Baroque Works," he amended. "I may work for that man, but this katana doesn't. Now are we going to do this, or what?"
"Huh." For a moment, Cook-san paused, curious. Robin took advantage of the moment to grow her hands out of Mr. 1's back, grabbing his arms by the biceps and pulling them in.
"Oh? Recovered already?" Mr. 1 turned to her and smirked. "Not bad."
"Now, Cook-san," Robin shouted, ignoring him.
"At once, Robin-chan!" Cook-san agreed, hearts in his eyes as he charged.
Unworried, Mr. 1 tossed one sword into the air with an easy flick of the wrist. Robin watched it flip through the air, flashing as its blade caught and reflected the light. As it came down, Mr. 1 caught it by the hilt.
In his teeth.
Grinning around the sword, Mr. 1 swung his head around to block Cook-san's kick. Rather than take the full force of the blow with a blade stuck between his teeth, Mr. 1 ducked under Cook-san's foot. With another twist of his head, he swung the sword toward one of Robin's hands. She managed to release him just in time to avoid another touch of that Sea Stone blade.
Straightening, Mr. 1 took the sword from his mouth. "What?" he asked innocently, looking around the ship again. "How did you expect me to hold the third sword, with my toes?"
He didn't seem to expect a response as he rubbed his cheek with the back of his hand. "Not that this isn't fun and all, but I didn't come here to fight."
"Then why did you come here?" Navigator-san asked, stepping out from behind the mast. "Sanji-kun, if he says he doesn't want a fight, let's try to avoid damaging Merry, all right?"
"Of course, Nami-swan!" Cook-san straightened at once. Mr. 1 shot a look of shocked disgust at the hearts that floated around Cook-san's head, and Cook-san growled at him. "Want to start something?"
Mr. 1 looked like he wanted to say something, then rolled his eyes and turned away. He placed both swords in their sheaths as he finally completed his journey to Robin's table, where Robin met his eyes warily.
"Are you going to tell us the best path to Arabasta?" Robin suggested, and Mr. 1 pulled back, confused.
"Why would I know anything about that? I'm a swordsman, not a navigator."
"Guess not, then." Robin shrugged. "It seemed right to me, that's all."
"I'm just here to talk to you."
"And why do you want to speak to me so much?" she asked. "How do you even know who I am?"
"Nico Robin," Mr. 1 shrugged. "Your face was posted everywhere when you were only eight years old. Pretty famous, I'd say."
"I've been in hiding for twenty years," Robin protested.
"No one can hide long in this ocean," Mr. 1 laughed. "Mr. 0 has been looking for you a long time, and suddenly you turn up right under his nose in Whiskey Peak? He'd throw a party if he knew. Inside he would, anyway." Mr. 1 made a face. "That guy needs to learn how to lighten up."
"Why is he looking for me?" Robin asked, though she was pretty sure she knew why.
Mr. 1 gave her a look that said that they both knew that he knew that she knew, but that he was going to humor her anyway. "Does the name Pluton mean anything to you?"
Though she was expecting it, Robin gasped, pushing her chair back to rise to her feet, half expecting at any moment to feel a blade at her neck.
"Robin-chan!" Cook-san dashed over. "Do you want me to kick this guy into the sky?"
"How many times have I told you? Relax." The smirk didn't leave Mr. 1's face as he leaned casually against the ship's side. "Mr. 0 never even has to know that you're here."
"He will if you tell him," Robin pointed out.
"And he won't if I don't. Easy, isn't it?"
"But you will." She didn't think there was any point pretending otherwise.
"Don't jump to conclusions," Mr. 1 told her. "You don't know anything about my motivations. The only reason I'm doing Mr. 0's dirty work is because he promised he'd help me find you—and here you are, no help needed. If you have what I want, I have no reason to even work for him anymore, much less tell him you're here."
"And what do you want?"
"Rising Dawn," Mr. 1 said, and Robin felt her back go stiff.
"What do you know of that book?"
"I know I want it, and I know you have it." Mr. 1 grinned like a shark. "Isn't that enough, in circumstances like these?" He toyed idly with one of his black swords, making metallic sounds as he slid it out of its sheath and let it fall again.
"I can't pretend to know what book you're talking about," Cook-san interrupted, "but Robin-chan's not giving you anything she doesn't want to."
"And then? When Mr. 0 sends his two thousand assassins after her?" Mr. 1 inclined his head without looking toward Miss Wednesday. "I'm sure our former agent can tell you a bit about what it's like to have the full force of Baroque Works after you."
"What do you want with Rising Dawn?" Robin asked quietly. "Immortality? Invincibility? The power to control life and death? Trying to interfere with the course of nature is a dangerous idea, Mr. 1."
"I don't care about any of that." Mr. 1 cast his gaze out to sea. "I just need a few more years. One, two. It won't take any longer than that."
"Robin," Navigator-san began questioningly.
Mr. 1 met Robin's gaze suddenly. "I just need to live a little longer than my body says I can, that's all. And to do that, I need the book you have."
"I'll show it to you," Robin decided, "but it won't help you."
"What do you mean?" Mr. 1 leaned forward, eyes narrowing suspiciously.
"You'll see." Robin retrieved the book from the women's cabin with the help of her Devil's Fruit. She set it down on the table and looked up to make sure Mr. 1 had read the gold-engraved title on the cover. Without a word, she opened it to the first page, which was blank. She picked up a sheaf of pages and flipped through them with her thumb, so that Mr. 1 could see they were all blank.
"Impossible." Mr. 1 ran up to the table and began paging frantically through the book. For the first time since he'd arrived, the confident smirk had vanished from his face. "Rising Sun contains the secret of beating death. How can it be blank?"
The other pirates had crowded around the table too, looking on in bewilderment.
"I looked at every single page," said Robin. "There's only one that's not blank."
"Only one?" And Mr. 1 stopped flipping suddenly. He set the book back on the table, opened to its one illustration. The Strawhat pirates studied it dutifully for a moment, then looked up at Robin, faces as blank as the book. Mr. 1, however, reeled back as though hit.
"You too?" Robin asked, looking up at him.
"It's… it's her," he stammered, and Robin was almost amused to hear the confident secret agent fumbling with his words.
"You know her?"
"Quit fooling around!" Mr. 1 snapped. "You know her too, don't you? It's written all over your face. You have the dream too! You've seen her. You…"
He trailed off, and Robin smiled.
"But." He put a hand to his head, as though trying to jostle the images into place. "Doesn't she look… wrong to you? Her… her hands. And her legs. They're…"
"Too straight?"
"Too pale."
"Too few."
"Too…" Mr. 1 shook his head. "Why isn't she an octopus?"
There was a brief silence. Then the Strawhat Pirates, as one, broke into laughter.
"H-hey!" Mr. 1 snapped. He looked terribly confused, and who could blame him, when he'd been transformed from threat to laughingstock in the span of two seconds?
"You're funny!" Luffy said, adding the voice that had been conspicuously absent the entire time. "You put swords in your mouth and you think girls should be octopuses. Want to be my nakama?"
"What?!" Cook-san stopped laughing. "You can't be serious. Why would you want this stupid marimo—"
"—who tried to kill us!" Long Nose-kun interjected helpfully.
"—to join our crew?" Cook-san finished.
"Because he's cool!" Luffy gave Mr. 1 a good-natured slap on the back. "How about it? Want to join?"
"Don't joke with me," Mr. 1 snapped, pulling away. He shot one last glance at the girl pictured in the book, then scowled up at Robin. "How is that one picture supposed to be the answer?"
"You tell me," Robin shrugged.
Mr. 1 let out an irritated sigh. "Dead end again, I guess." He strode back across the deck to the opposite side of the ship. "Banchi," he called over the railing, then stopped. He looked upwards sharply, grabbing the swords at his waist. The bird Robin had seen earlier was back, and it was circling over Mr. 1's head. It was a vulture, she realized, carrying a—was that an otter? She wondered if it bothered him a little that there was a vulture circling over him. Surely he wasn't about to die?
"The Unluckies," Miss Wednesday gasped, as bird and otter lowered. The otter held out a rather good pencil drawing of Robin's face, hat and all.
Mr. 1 considered it for all of a second before he drew his sword, slicing it down and resheathing it faster than the eye could follow. The vulture tumbled to the deck of the Going Merry, bloody black feathers scattering everywhere. The otter fell after it, clutching half of Robin's picture in each hand.
"You—you killed the Unluckies?" Miss Wednesday demanded, voice horrified.
"You showed me the book," Mr. 1 shrugged. "Nothing useful in it, but you showed it to me anyway. This way Mr. 0 won't find out you're here. Seems fair to me."
"But… but you killed them," Miss Wednesday insisted.
"Yeah, I guess they did lead me here. Don't know if I'll be able to find my way back now."
"That's not the point! If Mr. 0 hears about this—"
"Who's going to tell him?" Mr. 1 grinned and raised a hand. "Later."
"I'll keep working on the book," Robin called after him. "It's important to me too."
If Robin had been hoping for surprised gratitude, she would've been disappointed. "Thanks," Mr. 1 said simply, and hopped overboard. "Let's go, Banchi!"
Luffy ran after him, the others a step behind, just in time to see a giant turtle swim away, Mr. 1 on its back.
"Whoa, so cool!" Luffy yelled after him. "Now you definitely have to join our crew!"
"Like hell," Mr. 1 and Cook-san yelled at the same time.
Cook-san waited until Mr. 1 had vanished into the distance. Then he walked to the otter. He inspected it for a moment, then reached down and took the two pieces of paper out of its motionless hands.
He looked up to see Miss Wednesday staring at him, horrified. "What?" he asked. "It's a good picture."
The next time they saw him was two weeks later. They were sitting around the kitchen table, having a seafood lunch, when a baby den den mushi rang.
Navigator-san turned to Miss Wednesday. "Vivi, do you have a den den mushi?" she asked.
Miss Wednesday shook her head and turned to Cook-san. "Cook-san, maybe it's yours?"
"I don't have one either," Cook-san said. "The first time I saw one was on Little Garden, when I found Mr. 3's—" He froze suddenly.
There was a loud yawn, and then Mr. 1 sat up in the dark corner where he had been napping. "Yeah? It's me," he said into the mouthpiece, adjusting the front of his shirt.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?"
"Is there someone else there?" The den den mushi said suspiciously. It managed a supremely unhappy expression, for a snail.
"Don't worry about it," said Mr. 1 calmly. "I'm on a boat. Did you want something, Zero?"
"That's Mr. 0?" Navigator-san hissed, while Miss Wednesday fixed her gaze on the den den mushi as though she might kill the person on the other side of the line if she glared hard enough. So this was the infamous Shichibukai, Crocodile.
"How nice of you to ask," Mr. 0 said jovially. "Now that you mention it, yes… I did want to know where you've been for the past two weeks."
"Oh, that." Mr. 1 waved a dismissive hand, though Crocodile couldn't possibly see it. "I headed back from Whiskey Peak on Banchi, but Arabasta wasn't there, so I turned around again. Has it been two weeks already?"
"What do you mean, it wasn't there?" Mr. 1's voice lowered dangerously. "All you had to do was follow the Eternal Pose. Even you couldn't have gotten lost.
"You have an Eternal Pose?" Navigator-san said eagerly. After Little Garden, and then Wapol, no one wanted to risk having to go to another dangerous island.
"Eh?" Mr. 1 looked up at her. He dug one-handedly into his haramaki until he produced the Eternal Pose, which he tossed to her carelessly.
"Is someone else there?" Mr. 0 asked again, as Navigator-san grabbed desperately for the Eternal Pose that flew past her head. Cook-san dove to the floor to make the catch and came up with his eyes full of hearts.
"Nothing to worry about," said Mr. 1. "I'm on a boat heading for Arabasta now. Go feed your crocodiles or something, I'll be there soon."
"Mr. 1," Crocodile said, "I'd hoped that you would have learned to show respect by now. Or do you want to die the next time you try your three-sword trick?"
"It's not a three-sword trick," Mr. 1 ground out, "It's Santouryuu. And when I can use it again, I might just kill you with it. Bye then!"
Mr. 1 hung the mouthpiece up, put the den den mushi away, and then, without another word, lay back down.
"Hold on," Cook-san said, jumping to his feet. "We find you stowing away on our ship, and you don't even offer an explanation?"
"Tired," said Mr. 1. "Nap." Almost as soon as he finished his monosyllables, he began to snore.
"That stupid marimo!" Cook-san strode over to the corner.
"Er," said Doctor-san, "I don't know who this is, but is it okay to attack someone while he's sleeping?"
Cook-san looked like he was seriously considering kicking the swordsman's face in, sleeping or no. He backed down reluctantly. "If he weren't asleep," he muttered.
"Oi, I forgot to ask." Mr. 1 sat up suddenly.
"YOU WERE FAKING? I'LL KICK YOU THROUGH THE WALL only not, because Nami-swan would be upset if I broke the ship."
Navigator-san nodded in self-satisfaction. "They can be taught! By the way, Mr. 1," she pronounced the name like a scam, "if you couldn't find Arabasta, how exactly did you find your way back to this ship?"
Mr. 1 shrugged. "I just followed my instinct."
"So basically, you got lost," Robin said.
Mr. 1 cleared his throat. "I meant to ask—have you found anything out about the book?"
"I have a few theories," Robin hedged. "There is one thing before we begin, though. I had Long Nose-kun make a few changes to the picture, which I'd like to show you."
The book was lying nearby; she had been staring at it on and off for the past two weeks. She opened it to the page, which was now bookmarked, and held it up for Mr. 1. "Does this look about right?"
Mr. 1 got up and had a seat at the table, leaning in to inspect the picture more closely. Watching his expression, Robin could tell when Mr. 1 saw the rather intricately detailed tentacles, and when his eyes traveled to the trees and flowers Long Nose-kun had added to the background, thanks to something he called artistic license.
"It looks right, but…" Mr. 1 put his hand on the table, where he accidentally knocked over a plate. An octopus—fully cooked, finely sliced, but still recognizably an octopus on account of the suckers on the tentacles—tumbled out. An expression of absolute disgust filled his face, but before he could do anything, a hand sprouted out the table, picked up the piece of octopus, and threw in Luffy's direction. Luffy stretched his head up and caught it in his mouth, dog-like.
Mr. 1 shot Robin a questioning look.
"It's been bothering me this entire time too," Robin explained. "You were saying?"
"Ah. It looks fine, but what's with this fountain?"
"I thought the background was missing a little something," Long Nose-kun stepped in. "I bet you didn't know the Great Usopp-sama was such a talented artist, did you?"
Mr. 1 looked at him. Paused. "Who are you?"
The long nose bent as the Great Usopp-sama banged his forehead against the table.
"Usopp!" Doctor-san cried, rushing over. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?"
"Just my pride as a man," Long Nose-kun moaned.
"It's a good fountain though," Mr. 1 said, sounding more like he was puzzled than like he particularly wanted to be comforting. "The, uh, fairy at the top is very detailed."
Long Nose-kun sat up, past wounds instantly forgotten. "Ah, yes, good eye for detail! That is actually an angel on top of the fountain, modeled after the most beautiful woman in all the seas. I'm impressed that you managed to catch that! Luffy, I can see why you wanted him on your crew. The Great Captain Usopp gives his approval."
"I thought Strawhat was the captain?" Mr. 1 said. Then he shook his head. "This place is crazy. What did you say you found out about the book?"
Robin smiled. "It's a good kind of crazy. You might like it here."
"And the book?" Mr. 1 insisted.
"Hmm," she said. "Well, there was also something else."
"Another 'one thing' before we begin?"
"Yes. A question, if you don't mind."
"Don't mind if you ask," said Mr. 1, which meant he might not be as inclined to answer.
"I already did. Two weeks ago."
"And I already answered."
"Then—why do you need an extra year or two? It seems like such a small amount of time for such a lot of trouble."
She could see Mr. 1 debating whether or not to answer the question. Finally, he did something completely unexpected—he lifted up his shirt.
"That looks terrible," Miss Wednesday whispered.
"Doesn't look so bad to me," said Cook-san dismissively.
"Whoaaa," Luffy said, leaning in excitedly. "What a huge scar! That's so cool, be my nakama," he added in the same breath.
"Luffy, don't choose your nakama based on their scars," Navigator-san hissed.
"He has a den den mushi, too!" Luffy offered.
"Not good enough."
"He hates octopuses."
"NO."
"Uh, Mr. 1?" Doctor-san asked. "Do you need some help with that? I'm a doctor."
"I'm fine." Mr. 1 pulled his shirt back down. "…And that's why," he added, when Robin continued to look at him expectantly.
"Why what?" Robin asked.
"Why I need to beat death."
"I must admit, I'm still a little confused."
"I skipped the boring details," Mr. 1 confessed. "Now can we—?"
"Surely it's not life-threatening?" said Robin.
"It looked mostly healed to me," Doctor-san agreed.
"Ah," Long Nose-kun said wisely. "That's how it looks to the untrained eye. However, only experience will tell that Mr. 1 is actually suffering from an extremely rare medical condition, one that will soon kill him. Painfully. That's why he needs more time."
"But Usopp, I'm a doctor," Doctor-san said, reproachfully.
"Er."
"If you really want to know," Mr. 1 sighed, looking around at a table of his enemies. "I won't die from this as I am. I got it challenging the greatest swordsman in the world for his title. I lost, so he gave me this."
"A huge scar?"
"It's a promise," Mr. 1 corrected. "I promised to train myself harder and fight him again when I'm stronger. Problem is, it didn't heal right. As soon as the training gets a little intense, the thing splits open, blood everywhere. The first time it happened, I ignored it."
"You kept training?" said Navigator-san.
"See? Cool scar! We should get him!" said Luffy.
"Well, you get the idea. After they had to fix me up a couple of times, the doctors stopped taking me in."
"What do you mean by fix you up?" Navigator-san muttered under her breath. "And just how many is a couple?"
"If I can't train, there's no way I can beat him. I can't get stronger either—I'll always be stuck at this level."
"You probably can't fight to your fullest either. A promise that defeats itself," Robin mused.
"That's why I just need a year or two—long enough to get strong, to win my title, to meet my promises. Then I don't care if I die." Mr. 1 drummed his fingers on the table. "If we've had enough of my personal history, can we talk about—?"
"I know there wasn't a mistake in printing," Robin segued smoothly. "It's the only copy in existence. Any rumors about it can't refer to any other version."
"So you're saying it's supposed to be all blank except for that one page."
Robin looked at him, surprised. Somehow she'd expected him to be rather slow on the uptake, all muscle and no brain. "Yes, that is what I'm saying. That means that this woman is the only clue we have. I guess we're supposed to talk to her. Maybe she's the only one who knows how to beat death."
"Hmm," said Mr. 1, as he processed this.
"Do you believe that?" Robin asked.
Mr. 1 looked up, startled at her tone of voice. "You mean you don't?"
"I'm asking what you think."
"It sounds okay, but it doesn't feel right."
Robin nodded, satisfied. "I agree with you."
"Robin-chwan!" Cook-san swept over to the table suddenly, bearing a tall, cool drink. "I made you this drink with all of my heart!"
"That sounds disgusting—wait." Mr. 1 looked around suddenly. "Where did they all go?"
"Thank you, Cook-san. They all left when we started talking. They said something about strange currents." Robin smiled. "Didn't you notice, Mr. 1?"
"Uh." He cleared his throat. "You were saying?"
"We both just agreed that my theory, while plausible, was most likely wrong."
"Ah." Mr. 1 leaned in. "So what's your real theory?"
"You're much more perceptive than I expected," Robin noted, then continued, "I think what we need to do in order to beat death is—"
"Sanji-kun! Robin! We need you out here! Something's coming out of the water!"
"Yes, Nami-swaaan!" Cook-san pranced out, then stopped suddenly. "What is that thing?"
"It looks like…"
"YOU MEAN THERE REALLY IS AN OCTOPUS WOMAN? I THOUGHT ROBIN WAS JUST MAKING FUN OF US!"
Robin looked over to Mr. 1, but his chair was already empty. She only paused long enough to grab the book before running after him. On the deck, the object of her dreams and waking studies awaited, a vision in white and tentacle. When it moved, it made a wet, sucking sort of sound.
"It's a little larger than I expected," Robin remarked.
Mr. 1 had put the white sword in his mouth before he realized what he was doing. He hesitated, then drew another sword.
"You know what I was going to say, right?" Robin asked him, as she watched Cook-san struggle between adoration and revulsion at the lady/octopus combination. "I think the only way to beat death is to kill her."
"Ah." Mr. 1 looked down at the sword in his hands for a moment. "That sounds about right to me." He drew his last sword.
Luffy was hitting the tentacles as hard as he could to make them let go of Doctor-san. Tired of waiting, Doctor-san transformed into his larger shape, grabbed the nearest tentacle, and yanked.
"Maybe you should write that down in the book," suggested Mr. 1.
"What? That she needs to be killed?"
"Yeah. You don't care if I take this fight?" Mr. 1 untied a dark bandana from his arm. "For all we know, only the person who kills it will be able to—"
Octopus-woman hissed in displeasure as Luffy bit one of her arm-tentacles. She managed to dislodge Luffy's rather impressive teeth as well as Doctor-san's firm grip, but the mad thrashing overbalanced her many tentacles. With a confused screech, she tumbled overboard, and vanished into the ocean.
Cursing, Mr. 1 ran over. Pausing only to tie on the bandana, he dove in after it, three blades shining briefly before he submerged.
"Didn't he say he couldn't—?" Navigator-san began.
"He did," Robin agreed. She leaned over the railing, but all she could see below was the dark, churning ocean. She hoped Mr. 1 was a good swimmer, but recognized that it probably wouldn't make a difference. "What do you think we should be looking for?" she wondered aloud. "Blood would probably be easiest to see against the water."
"That's horrible," Navigator-san said, without malice.
"It's not," said Robin. "He's not nakama. We tried to help him, but he is the enemy. We might all be dead within the week anyway, once we face Crocodile."
"That's why I said we should've made him our nakama," Luffy whined, head and arms dangling limply over the railing. "Now it's too late. Sanji, maybe you could—"
"Not a chance. The stupid marimo jumped in by himself," said Cook-san. Then, maybe taking pity on Luffy, he added, "Who knows. Maybe he's winning."
Luffy quickly got bored of watching an empty stretch of ocean. "They probably went too deep," he grumbled, disappointed, and turned to go find some food. "Robin, tell me if you see him."
"Of course," she agreed. When the crimson stain finally did appear on the surface of the water, she decided not to say anything. It wasn't exactly him, after all.
Who knew. Maybe he'd won.