Chapter 23: Helpless Nico Robin

"Nico Robin, the World Government has issued a bounty on your mother. Do you know where she is?", Rosse ignored Saul and instead focused his attention on Robin.

Saul's fate was already sealed; he had no interest in dealing with meat already on the chopping block.

"Eh? Why are you putting a bounty on Mom? I don't know where she… wait, no, I won't tell you where my mom is!", Robin watched Rosse warily, already recognizing him and the others as bad people.

"I'm not asking you. Since you say you don't know, I'll kindly tell you then. She's currently on this island. Now, take a guess. What do you think she's doing?"

Rosse smiled gently at Robin. Despite not having Zannie's demonic appearance, he looked more like a demon than Zannie.

"Mom is here!", Robin's attention first focused on the fact that Olvia had returned, but she quickly realized the problem and glared angrily at Rosse, "You're not allowed to use me to lure Mom out!"

"Oh? So you think Olvia came back to look for you?"

Rosse chuckled lightly and then suddenly shook his head, "No, you're wrong. She didn't come back for you. In her heart, what she's doing now is far more important than her daughter."

"No way, you're lying!", Robin stared hard at Rosse. When she was two years old, she had been abandoned in Ohara by Olvia and raised by her uncle's family.

Back then, only Professor Clover had shown her kindness. Everyone else, including her uncle's family and the neighbors, hated her.

She didn't know why; she just felt wronged.

Luckily, Professor Clover taught her history. He was also her mother's friend and told her many things about her mother.

So even though she had barely seen her mother, she still held deep admiration and affection for Olvia. She believed her mother simply had no time because she was busy.

"Stop talking!", Saul realized what Rosse was trying to say and roared angrily to stop him. He placed Robin behind a dirt slope and clenched his massive fists, glaring at Rosse.

"Why shouldn't I say it? Since even Olvia herself thinks her daughter is less important than history, why should outsiders be forbidden from saying it?", Rosse calmly looked at Saul and said it outright.

Even if Rosse didn't consider himself a good person, he still looked down on the so-called mothers of the pirate world.

In the pirate world, being a mother basically meant doing nothing decent. Unless they died giving birth, most mothers were awful.

Leaving a 2-year-old daughter to her brother's family, not asking about her well-being, caring only about researching history. What kind of mother does that?

If you didn't want to have kids, then don't give birth in the first place.

"That's not true! Mom definitely isn't like that!", Robin stubbornly looked at Rosse, refusing to believe his words.

Professor Clover had told her that her mom was the kindest woman in the world to her. She was just busy researching history to uncover the unknown and bring lost secrets back into the light.

That was a great mission.

"That's enough!", Saul clenched his teeth, and his massive fist suddenly smashed toward Rosse.

He couldn't tolerate Rosse slandering a mother in front of her own daughter.

'All mothers love their children, they're all great!'

BOOM!!!

Saul's punch was easily blocked by Zephyr.

Despite the massive difference in fist size, Zephyr's relatively small fist firmly stopped Saul's mountain-sized blow.

"Looks like those historians really aren't good people," Zephyr stood in front of Rosse, frowning as he looked at Robin with pity.

He had been with Rosse for over a month. Rosse generally didn't lie like this in public.

If Rosse, even as a Celestial Dragon, thought these parents were problematic, they were probably even worse than he had imagined.

At the same time Zephyr blocked the attack, Zannie's figure appeared on Saul's shoulder, "What a drag. Can't you just die quickly on your own?"

Zannie sighed lightly and instantly transformed into her succubus form. Her long tail coated in Armament Haki viciously struck Saul's neck.

BOOM!

Saul's giant body was actually flung away by that tail strike, smashing into nearby rocks. Countless pieces of stone fell, and the ground trembled.

"Saul!!!", Robin shouted, tears pouring uncontrollably from her eyes.

But the earthquake caused by Saul being struck was so intense she could barely stay on her feet. She had to rely on her Flower-Flower Fruit's power to avoid falling.

"I'll help you! I can help you…", Robin cried helplessly and desperately activated her powers. Countless small hands appeared around Saul, grabbing his body, trying to pull him up.

Her face turned red from effort. She gave it her all, but she still couldn't move Saul's massive body.

"Don't waste your strength. Make a choice," Rosse's voice suddenly exploded in Robin's ear.

She was so startled she instinctively stepped back and stumbled onto the ground.

"You… you…", Robin looked at Rosse in fear, 'They were just on that hill, how did he get here so fast?'

"Little one, don't cry, or you won't have any tears left for later," Rosse smiled and gently grabbed Robin's little hand, pulling her up and kindly dusting her off.

"Another choice… how troublesome…"

Gion stood beside Rosse, her strange gaze scanning between Rosse and Robin.

'Troublesome?'

'Couldn't be…'

Even though they'd only been together a few days, she was confident, Rosse only liked grown women.

"All right, it's your turn to choose," Rosse slightly crouched down so his eyes were level with the flustered Robin's and slowly spoke, "I'm giving you a chance to choose, Saul or your mother. If you choose Saul, I'll spare his life. But in exchange, I'll kill your mother. On the other hand, if you choose your mother, I'll let her live. But I'll kill Saul."

"Okay, you've been given the choice. Make your decision. I'll give you only five minutes. If you take too long, I'll assume you've given up, and I'll kill them both."

"Now, the five-minute countdown starts."

As Rosse spoke, he casually pulled out a timer, set it to five minutes, and pressed start.

This world didn't have advanced technology, but simple mechanics existed, and there were even some bits of black tech.

Behind Rosse, Gion looked at Robin with pity.

Sure enough, she was right. Rosse was a Celestial Dragon with a twisted sense of fun.

'Making a little girl choose like this, isn't this too cruel?'

But Gion only thought this in her heart and didn't say it aloud.

Olvia and Saul were both on the wanted list, high-priority targets.

Turning their guaranteed deaths into a one-death-one-survival deal…

If one of them could live, that would actually be Rosse showing mercy. After all, only someone like Rosse, a Celestial Dragon, could make such a thing possible in Ohara.

It was just a shame for this little girl, becoming the victim of Rosse's twisted amusement.

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