One Piece: The sky is azure, I just time-traveled today.

Page 26

Using those two hands that terrified her and were seen as a symbol of monsters by everyone... to bully her back?

She looked down at her hands.

Could that strange ability really be used to... protect oneself?

Liu Jiu didn't explain further and stood up.

"Just remember it."

He stopped looking at her and turned to tidy up the embers of the campfire.

Robin stood there, still clutching the wooden chopsticks tightly in his hand, Liu Jiu's words echoing repeatedly in his mind.

Ignore the adults...

If you're bullied, bully them back...

Use...ability...

The sea breeze ruffled her disheveled hair, carrying a salty, fishy smell and a hint of grilled fish.

She looked at Liu Jiu's silent, busy back, and then at her own hands, which seemed ordinary but contained "monster" power.

In my heart, something seemed to have quietly cracked open.

A faint but never-before-seen thought called "resistance" peeked out tremblingly from the crack, like a tender sprout.

Chapter 25 Robin's World

After that day, Robin stayed on Liu Jiu's cliff.

At first, she felt uneasy and apprehensive. Although her relatives hadn't treated her well, it was, after all, the only place she was familiar with and could call "home." She couldn't help but look towards the town, a faint hope still lingering in her heart—perhaps someone would come looking for her? Perhaps her relatives were just angry for a moment?

Liu Jiu noticed her unease but said nothing.

I remember it was evening three days ago.

As Robin stood on the edge of the cliff, gazing blankly at the twinkling lights that gradually illuminated the town, Liu Jiu walked up to her.

"What are you thinking about?" he asked.

Robin lowered his head and whispered, "...Will they...look for me?"

Liu Jiu gazed at the distant lights and remained silent for a moment.

Then, he turned to Robin and made a suggestion in a calm tone:

"Make a bet."

Robin looked up in confusion.

"We'll bet three days," Liu Jiu said. "Starting tomorrow. Within three days, if anyone comes looking for you, asks where you've been, or shows any indication that they're looking for you..."

He paused, looking into her eyes.

"You can go back anytime. I'll take you."

Robin's heart skipped a beat. Go back?

“If…” Liu Jiu continued, “three days pass and no one comes looking for us.”

He didn't mention the consequences, but his meaning was clear.

Robin was stunned.

Is someone looking for her?

This bet, like a needle, gently pierced the last vestige of her unrealistic fantasy.

She looked at Liu Jiu's calm and expressionless face, and then at the distant lights that seemed warm but had never truly embraced her.

A surge of inexplicable courage, or rather, a resolute determination to give up entirely, welled up within me.

She nodded vigorously, her voice soft but carrying a heaviness beyond her years:

"……it is good."

On the first day, Robin spent almost the entire day in a prominent spot with a view of the path leading to the cliff. She listened intently to any sounds in the distance, and every rustle of wind made her heart race.

The only sounds were the cries of seabirds and the rustling of the wind through the trees.

The next day, she spent less time at the cliff edge, mostly helping Liu Jiu organize the firewood he had gathered or watching him process the fish he had caught. But out of the corner of her eye, she kept an eye on the path.

There wasn't even a single villager who went up the mountain to chop firewood.

On the third day, from dawn to noon, and then to sunset.

There was no one at the other end of the path.

Night fell again, and the town's lights were still scattered, but none of them were lit for her.

Robin sat on the rock, hugging his knees, gazing at the lights for a very long time.

Until the night completely swallowed everything.

She slowly lowered her head and buried her face in her knees.

His shoulders twitched slightly.

Liu Jiu walked to her side, but didn't say anything; he just stood there quietly.

After a long while, Robin finally raised her head.

There were no tear stains on her face, but the last glimmer of light in her dark eyes had been extinguished. In their place was a bottomless calm, or rather... numbness.

"Uncle," she said softly, her voice a little hoarse, "I lost."

Liu Jiu hummed in agreement.

“From now on…” Robin paused, seemingly processing this fact, or perhaps making a major decision, “…can I stay here?”

Her voice was very soft, with a hint of pleading that was barely perceptible.

Liu Jiu glanced at her and nodded.

After saying that, he turned and walked back to the shed, as if it were just a trivial matter.

Robin watched his retreating figure, then looked at the dark cliff behind her, which inexplicably gave her a sense of security.

I've given up...

From this day forward, the town of Ohara, her so-called relatives, those who mocked and drove her away... all became irrelevant to her.

Here, on this simple, windswept cliff, and with this taciturn uncle, became her only refuge.

The sea breeze carried the coolness of the night.

She stood up, dusted off her skirt, and walked towards the shed.

My steps were decisive, no longer hesitant.

Life on the cliff began to move at a new rhythm.

Robin stopped looking in the direction of the town. She gently, yet completely erased it from her world.

Liu Jiu remained silent, but the presence of another person in the shed made a difference. The things he brought back from his trip were no longer just simple food.

He started going to the town market every few days. He would come back carrying bags of rice, some fresh vegetables, and even a small piece of meat wrapped in clean leaves.

Robin was sitting on a rock outside the shed, practicing her still-developing skill of making her little hands grow out of different places on the branches.

She paused for a moment when she saw the food in Liu Jiu's hand that was clearly not from the area where food could be gathered by the sea.

Liu Jiu didn't explain, he just put the things down, started a fire, and washed the rice. His movements weren't very skilled, but they were methodical.

As the aroma of rice mingled with the smell of stewed food wafted across the cliff, Robin couldn't help but swallow hard. It had been a long time since she had eaten a proper, hot meal.

Liu Jiu served her two bowls of rice, handing her one of them along with chopsticks.

The rice was snow-white and steaming hot. The dish was simple, just meat and vegetables stewed together haphazardly, but it was glistening with oil and smelled wonderful.

Robin took the bowl, thanked her quietly, and then lowered her head to eat quickly but quietly. The rice was soft, the vegetables were sweet, and the meat was stewed until tender... It was the taste of "home" that she had almost forgotten.

She secretly glanced at Liu Jiu, who was eating silently across from her.

Uncle... it turns out he's not just good at grilling fish.

From that day on, rice and vegetables began to appear regularly on their table, and occasionally meat other than fish. Liu Jiu didn't seem to care much about the quality of the food, as long as it was edible and filling, but the portions were always enough for two people.

Robin didn't ask where these things came from or what she traded them for. She just ate silently, and her body seemed to be visibly becoming less frighteningly thin.

With her stomach full, the door to another world began to open for her.

The scholars of the Omniscient Tree eventually discovered this little girl who had been living away from home and had an amazing thirst for knowledge. Perhaps out of compassion, or perhaps out of appreciation for her talent, the elderly doctors began to allow Robin into the library and occasionally give her guidance.

Robin's life suddenly became much more fulfilling.

Every morning, she would help Liu Jiu tidy up the shed, then carry an old, faded cloth bag that Liu Jiu had somehow found, and walk down the mountain along the path toward the temple of knowledge—the Omniscient Tree Library.

There, she absorbed all the knowledge she could get her hands on with an insatiable thirst. Ancient scripts, obscure histories, strange biological illustrations… those heavy books and parchment scrolls became her best companions. The doctors were amazed by her talent and focus, and their guidance increased.

As evening falls and darkness descends, she leaves the library on time and returns to the cliff along the same route she came from.

Liu Jiu usually had dinner ready. Sometimes it was simple rice with salted fish, sometimes it was a well-cooked meat soup. He never asked her what she had learned or seen during the day, just as she never asked him where he had gone or what he had done.

The two finished their dinners in silence.

Then, by the dim light of the grease lamp in the shed, or by the moonlight, Robin would take out the books she had borrowed from the library or secretly copied and continue studying. When she encountered unfamiliar words or parts she didn't understand, she would write them down and ask the professor the next day.

Liu Jiu usually sat outside the shed, looking at the dark sea or wiping his knife.

The sea breeze remains the same, the sound of the waves remains the same.

Knowledge became Robin's strongest armor against external malice and inner loneliness.

The windswept cliff and the silent uncle became the only safe haven she could return to when she was exhausted.

She stopped thinking about whether she was a monster, and she no longer cared about the way the people in town looked at her.

Her world has both shrunk and expanded.

Chapter 26 When I was eight years old

The days passed steadily by, washed by the waves and turned in the pages of a book.