Robin shuddered all over.
Instinctively, she took half a step back, her heel sinking into the sand, and her mind went buzz—exploding into a flood of images.
Ohara in flas.
The scholars' screams.
Her mother's last smile.
And on that warship, Saul's hoarse roar—"Live!"
Twenty years.
Those scenes were carved into her bones. Touch them even slightly, and the pain would choke the breath out of her.
"Y-you…"
Her voice started shaking.
"What did you just say? The World Governnt… was destroyed by you?"
She shook her head, again and again.
"No. That's impossible. Absolutely impossible."
That was the World Governnt—an eight-hundred-year-old monster that ruled this world.
Its roots reached into every corner of the sea. Its power was enough to reduce any rebel to ash.
Destroy it?
Even the Emperors wouldn't dare say sothing like that lightly.
Rei Ao jumped down from the reef.
He landed lightly, almost without a sound.
He walked toward Robin, still unhurried.
"Impossible?"
He repeated the word and tilted his head.
"Then what do you think is impossible about my existence?"
Robin choked, speechless.
Rei Ao stopped in front of her, close enough that she could see her own reflection in his pupils.
"I can do far more than you imagine."
He paused, deliberately drawing out the next words.
"For example…"
Robin's breathing stopped.
She didn't know what he was about to say, but her body tensed before her mind could catch up.
Her fingers dug into her palm, leaving deep marks.
"Bring your mother back to life."
When Rei Ao said it, even the air went still.
The sea wind stopped.
The waves went silent.
Even the little blue flowers wedged in the cracks of the rocks seed frozen in that instant.
Robin parted her lips, but no sound ca out.
Her mind went blank—like soone had swung a sledgehamr into the back of her head.
Every thought, every shred of reason, every ounce of caution and defense she'd trained for years—shattered, one by one.
Shattered completely.
"Y-you… w-what…?"
Her throat tightened; her voice ca out hoarse, unfamiliar.
"What did you say?"
"Nico Olvia."
Rei Ao spoke each syllable clearly.
"And all of Ohara—the entire island. Everyone. Every book. Every mory."
He watched her eyes redden in an instant and continued.
"I can return all of it to this world. Whole. Intact."
Robin stood there, unable to move.
Not because she didn't want to—her body simply wouldn't obey.
Her legs went weak. Her hands trembled. Her vision blurred in an instant.
Warm liquid surged from her eyes and stread down her cheeks.
She didn't wipe it away.
She just stared at him—stared as if she ant to carve every detail of his face into her eyes.
"Really?"
She asked, her voice shaking beyond control.
"This isn't a hallucination? You're not… not lying to ?"
Rei Ao didn't answer.
He lifted a hand and gently brushed a fingertip across her cheek, wiping away a line of tears.
The motion was light—so light it could almost be called tender.
"I never lie."
Robin's tears spilled even harder.
She couldn't stop them—like a floodgate had burst, rushing down in waves.
She bit her lip, trying not to make a sound, but the sob still squeezed out of her throat.
Broken. Ugly. Like an injured little animal.
"Mom…"
She murmured it, over and over.
"Ohara…"
A place she thought she'd only ever see in dreams. People she thought she'd never et again.
And now soone was telling her he could take her back.
"All you have to do is agree to co with ."
Rei Ao withdrew his hand, his tone turning serious.
"Right now, I can take you to see them."
Robin lifted her tear-blurred face.
She looked at him for a long ti.
Then, very slowly, she nodded.
Rei Ao took hold of her wrist again.
This ti, Robin didn't dodge.
She even leaned in a little, fingers trembling as they caught the edge of his sleeve. Light—but gripping tight, like she was clutching a lifeline.
"Don't be afraid," Rei Ao said.
A pale violet glow spilled from his fingertips again, wrapping around both of them.
Space began to twist. That familiar tugging sensation returned.
Robin closed her eyes.
When she opened them again, there was nothing beneath her feet.
No—not nothing exactly.
She was standing on a transparent barrier, like a massive sheet of glass.
Below it was deep blue seawater, almost black.
An endless ocean—no islands, no ships, not even a seabird.
Only the wind, howling, whipping her hair into a ss.
Robin lowered her head.
Her gaze fell to the surface of the sea—and she froze.
This place… she rembered it. She rembered it too well.
The color of the water, the curve of the sky, even the way the wind felt against her skin—burned into the deepest part of her mory, unchanged after twenty years.
"Th-this is…"
She tried to speak, but her voice caught.
"Ohara."
Tears surged up again.
This ti, she didn't hold them back.
She let them fall—drop by drop—splattering against the transparent barrier beneath her, breaking into smaller beads.
"It sank," she whispered.
"There's nothing left. The houses, the library… everyone… all of it…"
She raised a hand, fingertips pressing lightly to the barrier.
Cold.
As if, through this transparent separation, she could touch the sea below—the sea that had buried everything.
Her mind started playing it all again: scholars collapsing in the bombardnt, books burning, her mother standing on the shore waving at her—smiling.
"Watch closely."
Rei Ao's voice ca from beside her.
Robin turned and saw him lift his right hand, long fingers flicking gently through the air.
"Snap."
A crisp sound.
Not loud, but on the empty sea it carried with startling clarity.
And then—the ocean moved.
The deep blue water was torn apart as if by an invisible pair of hands, splitting from the center and rolling back to either side.
White spray leapt high, then turned into fine mist midair.
The seabed was revealed—but it wasn't mud or rock—
It was an island.
A whole island—lush, green, complete—slowly rising from the depths.
Robin's eyes went wide.
She clapped a hand over her mouth, fingernails digging into her cheek, but she couldn't feel any pain.
All her attention, all her breath, all her thoughts—were swallowed by the scene in front of her.
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