Unlike the Robin from the original timeline who wandered between various forces at the age of eight, the current Robin has experienced a little less, and it is difficult to grow without experiencing some things firsthand.
The companies under Beasts Fruits are all legally registered with the World Government, but while the companies are legitimate, the business dealings are far from simple. It is rife with numerous illegal transactions.
Nowadays, any company worthy of mention in Mariejois operates as such. Each has their own trading partners. Robin was arranged to first learn from Tesoro for a while until she became familiar with these matters, then she could act on her own.
Apart from some clothes and books, the only things she brought with her were gifts from her friends and the Sobble.
Elizabeth didn’t feel much about her own offspring and entrusted it to Robin with great confidence.
Tesoro didn’t take it seriously, treating it as merely having an intern around. After all, at sixteen, one could be considered an adult. He was able to take care of Baccarat and Ann well, so in his view, taking care of the adult Robin shouldn’t be too difficult.
“Oh, by the way, pay more attention to that tattoo on your shoulder, don’t expose it. If someone finds out, remember to tell me, I’ll take care of it.”
Some things are better left unsaid. Even though those people know that Beasts Fruits is a front for the Beasts Pirates, they still allow its development in front of huge profits.
Just like how the World Government tolerates Morgans, as long as the profits are substantial and don’t disrupt their balance, it can exist.
However, maintaining appearances was crucial. Having the same name might be passable, but they wouldn’t accept anyone freely entering and leaving the Red Line with a pirate flag.
Thus, Beasts Fruits has its own unique logo, so that people with pirate flag’s tattoo will not expose themselves.
“Don’t worry, it won’t cause any trouble.”
Saying that, Robin covered the area with a sleeve and even demonstrated her ability a bit. Petals danced around her shoulder, concealing the tattoo that was originally drawn there. She was indicating that even if the sleeve accidentally slipped off, she had a way to cover it up.
That was an additional application of her Flower-Flower Fruit ability. The Flower-Flower Fruit’s ability is to create more body parts like blooming flowers. In addition to the usual hands, feet, and facial features, skin is also within her range of creation.
This isn’t actually difficult; it’s part of the basic ability of the Flower-Flower Fruit. Previously, she hadn’t had time to develop her devil fruit ability, but with someone helping to strategize, she has made some additional developments to her devil fruit.
For example, generating skin to cover something up. Since it’s her own skin, there’s hardly any noticeable difference.
However, activating the ability requires time and energy, so most of the time, she still chooses to cover that area with a sleeve.
In the subsequent period, Tesoro noticed something off about Robin. It wasn’t that she was learning too slowly, but rather she was learning too quickly. At first, she just followed behind Tesoro, listening to his negotiations with people.
No one was surprised that Tesoro brought a new woman in such situations. In fact, it was strange that Tesoro had only one female companion before, which was Stella.
Although Baccarat also followed Tesoro, the difference in their status was obvious, showing that they didn’t have that kind of relationship. But Robin didn’t have that very respectful feeling towards Tesoro; she seemed more like a partner.
Changing female companions was normal for the men here, so Tesoro made them more accustomed to it. However, after only a few months, they didn’t want to see Robin anymore.
Compared to Tesoro, her negotiation skills were simply terrifying, and her scheming nature sometimes made her even more difficult to deal with than Tesoro.
Tesoro could only estimate the opponent’s habits through Ann’s ability, but Robin directly eavesdropped on their conversation. They didn’t even notice the extra ear in their blind spot.
After working as a secretary at Beasts Fruits for several months, Tesoro had to admit that he had nothing more left to teach her, so he let her do as she pleased.
This identity worked well outside and made it very convenient for her to move on the Red Line.
However, the ruins she wanted to investigate weren’t on the Red Line, and the places she wished to explore were typically avoided by archaeological teams. Those who dared to operate in those areas were usually associated with illegal organizations.
This was the aftermath of the Ohara incident. The World Government’s strategy of killing one to warn a hundred had a certain deterrent effect, and to explore the many archaeological islands, they now had to consider many factors.
In order to find opportunities to explore the ruins, she needed to infiltrate an illegal organization. Therefore, under Tesoro’s arrangement, she temporarily left Beasts Fruits.
Then, she subtly changed her appearance and, posing as a fake accountant, joined a shell company of an organization. According to intelligence gathered by the Beasts Pirates, this organization had been secretly exploring a ruin.
She was just a secretary, not a wanted criminal. Nobody knew her specific identity, so she easily infiltrated the organization and followed their people to a ruin on an unknown island.
“Hey, Robin, tidy up the accounts a bit. If those guys catch on, it’s going to cost us a fortune.”
“I know, I’ve already taken care of it.”
Their sailing was just a means of laundering money, aimed at making the money in their hands cleaner. This is also the purpose behind their exploration of this ruin. If they happen to find treasure, it’s a bonus, but there’s no great regret if they don’t.
“Too bad, there is only this broken piece of stone on this island, and the remaining treasure isn’t enough to share.”
One of them was complaining about this problem. However, there has always been a strange way to divide things since ancient times. If the resources to be allocated cannot be increased, then the number of people to be allocated will be reduced. And so, internal strife broke out in the organization.
“Are we really going to do this?”
Looking at the gun pointed at her head, Robin didn’t panic at all. Instead, she calmly asked the other person.
“Well, although there isn’t much treasure, it’s enough for a few of us. Although you did a good job with the accounts, if you’re alive, they might find out about us, so we have to bid you farewell.”
“Get used to it in the next life. Betrayal is commonplace in organizations like this.”
“Thanks for the reminder, but I’m going to return these words back to you. I’ve betrayed you all from the very beginning. I should say we were never on the same side.”
Before Robin’s words even finished, the other person felt something was wrong. He wanted to pull the trigger, but his fingers couldn’t exert any force. A slender tail with a blade had already severed his arm.
Elizabeth had appeared here at some point, and on the coast, the Shadow Fox Ship also revealed its presence.
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