“Strange, Robin, why are you looking at me that way too? Is today some kind of weird day?”
“No, it’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.”
Robin chuckled softly and let the subject pass as well.
That look was nothing other than affection.
Tracing it back to its source, Arceus and Blissey looked at Yamato with such affection because they had raised her. Logically speaking, even if a Pokémon meeting Yamato for the first time became close to her under the influence of the Power of Viridian, it would not feel affection toward her.
However, this Pokémon was Metagross. Alongside its highly developed brain, it was also more emotionally cold and did not conceal its feelings. At times, Metagross was more like a machine.
When it determined that it could not defeat an enemy, it would tightly seize them with all four limbs before using Explosion, perishing together with its opponent.
It was Yamato’s frequently disconnected thought process, combined with the Power of Viridian and Metagross’s own characteristics, that had produced this emotion.
As for Robin…
She had developed a similar feeling after seeing that Yamato had failed to notice anything unusual. Although the emotions were similar, their origins were completely different.
“Right, what were we talking about just now…? Oh, those pirates. Robin, go deal with them. It’s not good to keep letting them move around freely in Wano Country.”
“Uh… me?”
“Yeah. They’re contributions delivered right to our doorstep. The ordinary officers don’t know about them, so we might as well deal with them quietly. Their captain is already in Udon anyway, so let’s send the rest in with him. You should be able to handle opponents at this level, right?”
Contributions that had practically delivered itself was the sort of thing one would be foolish to refuse. Speed and the others had already gone out to war with the fleet. Of those still on Onigashima who needed contributions and were close to Yamato, only Robin remained.
She also happened to be familiar with the entertainment Kaido had arranged, so having her take care of the cleanup made little difference.
Sometimes, even a simple train of thought was enough to break convention. At the very least, Robin had never expected Yamato to ask her to handle something like this.
“You really are full of surprises.”
“What? You can’t deal with the few of them?”
“That… should not be a problem. Although I do not fight very often, some battles are unavoidable when necessary.”
“Muhahaha! Don’t worry, Young Miss. Leave the extra matters to me. With me here, those brats definitely won’t stand a chance.”
Robin truly lacked a clear assessment of her own combat strength. Just as Yamato was considering whether to send a reliable fighter along to prevent any accidents, such as Mandrell to keep things under control, Queen volunteered himself.
“Come on, little girl from Ohara. The contributions from this will count as yours. I’ll just watch from the side.”
Queen did not even give Robin time to react before grabbing her and shooting off. The way he moved was so close to teleportation that calling it shooting off hardly made any difference.
“What the hell? Why is everyone acting so strange today? Dad above, there isn’t something unclean lurking around Onigashima, is there? Rotom!”
Yamato sat down in Kaido’s former seat, then instructed Rotom to bring up the surveillance feeds for the entire island. She wanted to see whether some unidentified creature had slipped into Wano Country.
While Yamato fiddled with the surveillance system, Queen had already dragged Robin across Wano Country’s inland sea, traveling from Onigashima to the mainland.
“Sir Queen, what are you trying to do? Taking the initiative like this does not suit your personality.”
“What are you talking about? How does this not suit my personality? Doing whatever I want is my way of life. I don’t mind helping you deal with those minor nuisances. I only have one request: tell me what that Young Miss is plotting now.”
“Plotting? I do not understand what you mean. Do you really think ‘plotting’ is the appropriate word?”
“Then let me put it plainly. Has she been thinking about beating anyone up lately? Me, for example.”
Queen still remembered Kaido’s earlier order to have Yamato keep him in line.
It was known that Yamato resisted some of Kaido’s orders. It was also known that Yamato had no objection to beating up Queen. So what would happen when Kaido ordered Yamato that she was allowed to beat up Queen?
Queen did not know, nor did he want to know. He had absolutely no desire to be targeted by that father and daughter.
Since he could not predict what her body would do, he would study what was going on in her mind instead. That way, he might be able to avoid some of the risks.
“Hmm… she did not mention it before. She may have forgotten about you, but now I cannot be so sure.
After what you just did, once Yamato comes back to her senses, she will definitely set her sights on you again.”
Crack… crack…
Robin felt as though she could hear the sound of petrification. She even noticed Queen’s colors gradually changing toward ash gray.
“Sir Queen? Sir Queen? Snap out of it. You have not finished what you came here to do.”
“What thing?”
“Did you not say you would be responsible for rounding up that entire group? I have already found their location. It is time to get to work.”
“I suddenly don’t feel like doing it anymore. This world is too dull and feels so cold. Why don’t you go by yourself? The most troublesome one, their captain, has already been taken care of by Boss Kaido. You should be able to deal with the rest.”
As someone whose integrity was basically in the negatives, Queen was already planning to go back on his word. However, sometimes, once something had been promised, taking it back was not so easy.
“That is fine with me. However, if the Young Miss asks, I will answer truthfully.”
Robin twirled a lock of her hair, with no intention of letting this free labor slip away. After all, Queen had offered himself up.
“You’re threatening me?!”
“Of course not. Sir Queen, you are free to do whatever you wish. But you cannot expect me to lie to the Young Miss, can you?”
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