West Sea, Kusk Island.
Rolca led Robin towards a cosmetics store.
Beside him, Robin was wearing a small black trench coat and a little masquerade mask on her face, something she had pestered Rolca to buy for her a few days prior.
Following Rolca into the cosmetics store, Robin was a bit puzzled as to why they were there.
However, the store owner greeted Rolca with great enthusiasm:
"Mr. Rolca!"
Rolca chuckled and nodded:
"Has what I pre-ordered arrived?"
The shopkeeper, beaming, replied:
"Yes, yes, it's all ready for you."
He quickly retrieved a exquisite gift box from under the counter and handed it to Rolca.
Rolca took the gift box and examined it for a few moments:
"Excellent, not a single item missing."
"This is your payment."
"Pleasure doing business with you."
Reaching into his bag, he produced a thick stack of Beri and handed it to the owner.
The owner's eyes sparkled as he accepted the money:
"Pleasure doing business with you, indeed."
"Heh heh."
Rolca then handed the gift box to Robin:
"Hold onto this carefully, young lady."
"This is a gift for you."
Robin blinked in surprise:
"A gift."
The owner, counting the money, chimed in:
"So it's a gift for you."
"Mr. Rolca spent two hundred thousand Beri on these cosmetics."
"Your brother truly dotes on you."
Rolca chuckled softly:
"You talk too much, shopkeeper."
"We're leaving."
He tugged the stunned Robin out of the store.
The owner quickly slapped his own mouth:
"Ah, look at me, what a mouth!"
"My apologies! My apologies!"
"Please come again!"
He hastily tried to remedy the situation as the two left.
He felt a pang of regret, intending to add to their joy but instead upsetting them, potentially losing a valuable customer.
Looking at the two hundred thousand Beri in his hand, the joy of earning a hundred thousand Beri had significantly diminished...
----
On the street, Robin clutched the box tightly, afraid of dropping it.
After all, the contents were so precious, and...
This was the first time anyone had ever given her a gift, so she tightened her grip on the box.
Rolca smiled seeing this:
"Don't hold it so tightly."
"You might break it yourself before you drop and break it."
Hearing Rolca's teasing, Robin blushed and loosened her grip slightly.
Rolca said:
"Let's go, I'll buy you a couple more outfits."
"Then we'll head back to the hotel."
Robin nodded:
"Mhm!"
----
In the hotel room that evening.
After discarding the newly bought clothes on the bed, Robin watched with curiosity as Rolca took out small bottles from the gift box.
Seeing seven small bottles laid out on the table, Robin couldn't help but say:
"Just these few things are worth two hundred thousand Beri."
"That's too expensive."
Rolca, having arranged the small cosmetic bottles on the table, suddenly grinned eerily:
"Expensive?"
"No."
"Compared to the rewards, it's far more abundant."
"Wouldn't you agree?"
"The Devil Child with a bounty of seventy-nine million."
"Nico Robin."
Rolca's low voice whispered in Robin's ear.
Looking at Rolca's eerie smile, Robin's mind went blank.
She felt a chill run through her body, trembling uncontrollably.
Why... why was Mr. Rolca... all fake...?
Was it true that I shouldn't be alive in this world...?
Tears of despair streamed down her face as she saw Rolca's large hand reach out.
Robin wanted to move, but her body wouldn't obey.
She closed her eyes in despair, as that hand drew closer...
Finally...
Rolca's hand pressed onto her head.
*Crack—*
A strange sound echoed, but the expected pain didn't come.
Moreover, Rolca's hand was trembling, and he opened his eyes slightly.
He saw Rolca continuously pressing the shutter button on his camera, his face shaking with suppressed laughter:
"Just kidding."
"Hahahahaha."
"This expression is so amusing."
"A black history, Robin."
Robin's face instantly turned crimson, and she yelled indignantly:
"Mr. Rolca!!!"
She clasped her hands together, activating her powers.
Rolca, who was still laughing, suddenly grew several hands on his shoulders, reaching for his face.
Rolca struggled:
"Hey, hey!"
"Don't pull my mouth!"
"I was wrong, I was wrong!"
"I was just teasing you!"
"That's my nose!!!"
"Ah!!!"
After a while, Robin, her face still flushed, snorted.
"You already knew, didn't you."
Rolca chuckled helplessly:
"I knew the first time I saw you."
"After all, such a clumsy wanted criminal."
"You're the first I've ever seen."
Robin, thinking her fake name had been successful, crossed her hands again.
Rolca quickly waved his hands:
"Whoa, whoa! Stop, stop!"
"Let's talk about important things!"
Seeing Robin lower her hands, Rolca breathed a sigh of relief:
"Let's talk about important things."
"These cosmetics are for your disguise."
"What I find strange is, you never thought of using makeup and changing clothes."
"A wanted criminal who can't disguise themselves isn't a good wanted criminal, Robin."
Robin looked confused:
"Makeup?"
She searched her mind for the meaning of those words, suddenly recalling her rude aunt.
Every time she went out, she would put various things on her face. Was that makeup...? But she looked even uglier after applying it...
Seeing Robin's bewildered expression, Rolca rubbed his forehead:
"It seems you don't know."
"At your age, children are usually quite vain, aren't they?"
"Come here, I'll teach you."
Robin was stiffly pushed onto a stool by Rolca.
In less than half an hour, the makeup was done.
Rolca placed a mirror in front of Robin.
Robin stared at her reflection in astonishment.
Her skin was fairer, her eyes bigger, her eyebrows finer. Her features hadn't changed at all.
But after Rolca's makeup, she looked like a completely different person.
With a change of clothes, no one would connect her to the dirty child on the wanted poster.
"This..."
"This..."
Rolca smiled:
"This is the first lesson I'm teaching you."
"Disguise."
"The magic of makeup is that."
"After applying it, you become someone else."
"No one will recognize you as that Devil Child."
"And if you go further."
"If you want to change your body shape."
"I think your abilities should allow you to do so easily."
"For example, by channeling your power into your face or legs."
Robin stared blankly at the mirror, Rolca's words echoing in her mind.
With the inspiration, Robin had already envisioned several disguised appearances. Such a simple method.
Was she truly too stupid for not thinking of it...?
Rolca looked at Robin's doubtful expression and knew what she was thinking.
He gently ruffled Robin's hair:
"Don't overthink it, you're not too stupid."
Robin's mind cleared. Yes, it definitely wasn't that I was too...
"It's that I'm too smart."
Before she could finish her self-affirmation, Rolca's triumphant voice reached her ears.
A dark line appeared on Robin's head as she crossed her hands!
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!!!!"
A moment later, Rolca, with a disheveled appearance, sighed helplessly:
"Kids these days, why are they so sensitive to teasing."
"Not cute at all."
Seeing Robin raise her hands again, Rolca quickly surrendered.
Robin snorted and turned her head away.
After a moment of silence, she said:
"Why didn't you capture me."
Rolca leaned back in his chair and stretched:
"Hmm~"
"Why would I capture you? Just seventy-nine million, that's all."
"Money is something I don't lack."
Robin turned to look at Rolca, momentarily speechless.
Indeed, if he wasn't short of money and wasn't affiliated with the government, there was no reason for him to capture her.
But... something felt off.
Rolca continued:
"As for the reasons you carry, like destroying the world."
"That's just to fool the masses."
"I don't agree with those foolish historians of Ohara."
"That they could uncover anything significant."
Robin couldn't help but retort:
"The scholars weren't foolish at all."
"Everything they did was to understand the truth of the world!"
"So that the people would no longer be deceived by the government!"
Rolca's lips curled, and he said leisurely:
"Even if that so-called truth were to spread across the world tomorrow."
"So what."
"It would just be empty words."
"History represents the past."
"And the past cannot be undone."
"To sacrifice the lives of an entire island for something that cannot be undone."
"Isn't that foolishness?"
Robin opened her mouth, her mind in a whirl, wanting to say something but unable to form a rebuttal.
Rolca looked up at the ceiling:
"Even if you know the truth, so what."
"It's meaningless."
"Do you know why the World Government has been able to rule the world for eight hundred years?"
"If you want to overthrow them, or more simply, just overthrow a country."
"What do you think is needed?"
"Is it the truth?"
"No, no, no, then what is it?"
Robin thought for a moment:
"Power?"
Rolca stroked his chin:
"Power..."
"How to put it, that's too broad."