Chapter 204: Adventure (3)

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Using her Wisdom Eyes, Raki guided Robin to an empty area where people weren't around. It didn't even take seconds before they were surrounded by people clad in black.

"Yo, you guys sure you're not targeting the wrong bunnies?" Raki stated with her hand resting on one of the two swords that rested on either side of her waist.

Unlike before, she doesn't use Kitetsu II and III anymore. She rather uses Shiki's twin blades that are both one of the 21 Great Grade swords. Kitetsu II went to Tsumi and Kitetsu III went to Brook, and they haven't shown any signs of being cursed by the swords. At least Tsumi hasn't, noticing Brook being cursed is a bit hard.

Among the 7 people surrounding them, one of the fragile-looking ones stepped forward. The person raised their hand towards their robe and pulled it down, revealing the face of a beautiful light-blue haired girl.

"I sincerely apologise to greet you like this, I had no other choice." The girl said. "I am the first princess of Suzdal Kingdom, Suzdal Eula. It's a pleasure meeting you." She curtsied by tugging her gown with a dignified look on her face.

Robin stopped Raki from drawing her sword and revealed a professional smile. "I have met you before, Princess Eula. But would you mind explaining your actions? We were supposed to be received by your younger brother, Prince Lucard, correct?"

The Princess thinned her lips. "You’re correct, but I have my reasons.”

“Oh, and what might they be?”

“...This morning, I have gathered that my brother, Lucard, has made a deal with the neighbouring Yashuk Kingdom. From what I've gathered, Yashuk Kingdom has promised him the throne if he manages to kill you, Miss Robin." She said looking at Robin's huge frown. "I am afraid if you'd chosen to ride with my brother, you would have been assassinated."

"I see....” She went silent before continuing, “But do you have any evidence? How can I trust that you haven’t been offered the same offer as your brother?" Robin started, but she was interrupted by Raki.

"Hey, c'mon, Robin. Look how beautiful she is. Do you believe she can lie?" Raki put an arm around Robin's shoulders while her eyes examined the curves under the robe the Princess was wearing. "She looks so genuine about it."

Robin wanted to say something, but before she could, Raki added, "And besides," a small smile formed on her lips as she locked eyes with Eula. "Even if the one wanting to kill you is the Princess, not the Prince – the changes that create are close to zero."

Robin looked at her as the sudden realisation hit her. Raki smirked, "They want to assassinate you, so they have prepared people strong enough for you. But they didn't expect me to tag along, did they?" A small chuckle left her as she stared at the Princess' eyes with her snake-like golden pupils. "I want to see anyone even try touching your hair. It doesn't matter if it's the Prince or Princess, I would like to see how they stop me from burning this kingdom if something happens to you."

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'Kill Robin…? Do they have a death wish?' Raki is usually sarcastic and laid back. But this was not one of those situations.

She didn't say those lines because she would be sad at Robin's death, she said it because – if anything happened to Robin, Amon would destroy everyone related to it. Robin was a valuable asset, her death would be a blast to Amon's plans and professional life. Not only would he lose the only person who can read the Poneglyphs, but he would also lose the person who's been managing all the business he owns by herself.

Of course, new people can be assigned, but it would still be a bothersome thing to do. Raki believed, if Amon suffered that great of a loss at this point of his life when he is very close to taking over the world – he would not only go berserk, he might even destroy the world with his own hands. Of course, that's what she was assuming, because that's what she would do – she assumed her brother would do the same.

Raki doesn't know Amon's final goal, but what she does know is – Amon wants to gain power. So much power that it shouldn't be possible to gain on this planet, so he wants to travel the space, seize more powers from different species inhabiting this universe – and finally reach the top of the food chain.

But his obsession didn't end with power alone, he was obsessed with control. He doesn't only want Absolute Power, he also wants absolute control over everything – though Raki didn't know why. It's almost as if he had a past that she isn't aware of, a past that had changed his mind to become that of a control freak that lives today

With that obsession of his, now that he is so close to taking a big step and gaining control over this whole planet, she believed he would go on a killing spree if a valuable asset such as Robin was to die.

She turned her gaze from the horizon outside the window and looked at Robin conversing with the Princess named Eula. They entered the steam engine carriage that Eula brought and went to the Capital.

"Miss Eula, what more information did you gather?" Robin asked. "If your information network is strong enough to gather information on my attempted assassination, you must have more knowledge right?"

Eula seemed hesitant as she sighed. "Truthfully, I am not brave enough to say it."

"It's fine. I can at least assure you some mere words won't make me angry. Not unless they are about a certain someone." Robin stated calmly.

"Then…" The Princess said, "It seems the Big Mom Pirates are the actual culprit behind this. Since the Yashuk Kingdom is their territory, it seems they ordered the assassination. As for why I was unwilling to say this, I have heard Emperor Amon has a good relationship with Big Mom, so I was quite unsure if this information is correct or not."

Robin frowned hearing this. "Is that so…” She paused. ‘But it doesn't make sense… Luci once told me how Big Mom was interested in me and even offered a big sum if he would agree to trade me. I don't think she would want to assassinate me…'

A silence fell in the carriage as only the sound of the engine was present there.

"Well, maybe try connecting the dots in another way?" Raki broke the silence. "Maybe, Big Mom wants to fake the assassination and kidnap you instead? That way, Brother would assume you were killed by the Yashuk Kingdom, he would direct his rage at them. In the meantime, the real culprit, Big Mom, would still be able to maintain a good relationship with Brother? After all, I don’t even think she wants to go to war with another Emperor."

This caught both Eula and Robin off guard. Now it was clear as water… it is certainly a possibility, indeed.

Robin made a thinking pose. "That's right. More so, when Luci would realise that I have been killed and would want to avenge me, Big Mom would lend a helping hand by destroying the Yashuk Kingdom, her own territory, to solidify her friendship and form some form of alliance." Robin's eyes went wider the more she talked and realised the weight of her own words as she looked at Raki. "Raki, you're a genius!"

Raki casually shrugged. She was quite smart. Just copying Amon for 20 years of her life was enough for that to be true. She played around most of the time so people assumed otherwise. Robin was one of them, so this was quite a surprising situation for her.

The princess, Eula then parted her lips. "So–"

BANG!

But the sound of a gun firing cut her. Immediately after the sound was heard, time froze for Robin and Eula.

The window's glass of the carriage shattered as a bullet rushed towards Eula's head. The said princess didn't even know her death was this close to her, and she wouldn't know either – since a beam of light rushed towards the bullet at light speed and vaporized it in an instant.

"Kya!" Time returned to normal as Eula covered her ears and released a squeak.

The carriage came to an abrupt stop after another gunshot was sounded. Eula and Robin could only assume the reason being the diver's death.

"Are you alright?" Eula looked up to find Raki looking at her with an indifferent look on her face while her finger was pointed at the window, a line of smoke was coming out her finger, her palm slightly green and her nails long, indicating her partial Zoan transformation. "It's a bunch of weaklings, no need to get worked up."

While Robin placed a hand on Eula's shoulder to calm her down, Raki stood up from her seat and pushed the door of the carriage and walked out casually.

Outside, a black carriage slowly stopped as five men with guns walked out.

A skinny middle-aged man with a bald head and a cigarette in his mouth raised an eyebrow while casually playing with the revolver on his palms. "Aye, this chick looks familiar… scratch that, she looks very familiar." After narrowing his eyes for a second, his eyelids jumped up as a horrified expression took over his face. "Wait, is that–"

Pew!

He wasn’t able to finish as a yellow beam of light rushed towards his face blinding the whole place with the sound of an explosion travelling far and wide.

Boom!

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Author Note: Big Mom wants to maintain a good relationship with Amon, but that doesn't mean her greed for Robin has lessened a bit than canon.

We also see that Raki has her own belief of what might Amon do and might he not. She probably knows the most about him, his goals, and his mindset, but that doesn't mean she is always accurate.