To Reach the Future

Saul roars as he hurls a Marine warship, and the great hull crashes down into the water near Ohara. Robin watches in shock from the burning shore. Behind her, the Tree of Omniscience burns under the Buster Call, and the sea around the island is filled with warships and smoke. The attack has become a chaos of cannon fire, screams, and desperate movement.

The Marines realize who is attacking them. They shout, "It's Vice Admiral Saul!!!" and "Vice Admiral Saul, who escaped with Olvia, is attacking us!!!" One panicked Marine asks, "Why the hell is he here!!?" Saul, battered but still moving, declares, "I have no idea, sir!!! This island isn't gonna make it!!! Everything will be burned!!!" Around the Tree of Omniscience, scholars carry books from the flames and shout, "We must pass on the history!!!" and "Protect the books!!!" They know Ohara will burn, but they refuse to let its knowledge vanish without a fight.

Robin cries, "Saul!! Please, stop, or you'll die!!!" while Saul keeps fighting. Inside the library, scholars throw books through the windows and shout, "Throw them out the windows, into the lake!!!" and "That's better than having everything burned to ashes!!!" Others call, "Hurry!!!" "Dump the documents outside!!!" "As many books as we can!!!" and "Protect as many sentences as we can!!!" Olvia and Clover carry armfuls of texts, hoping that several thousand years' worth of ancient writings will somehow find a way "to reach the future."

Saul shouts across the destruction, "Robin!!! Run to da evacuation ship while ya can!!!" Robin, crying, hears him warn, "If ya stay on dis island!!! Ya ain't gonna survive." The Tree of Omniscience burns behind her, the ships fire from the sea, and explosions tear apart the ground. Robin stumbles through the smoke, breathing "Haa" as shells crash around her. Every path is dangerous, but Saul keeps pushing her toward the only possible escape.

Robin turns back toward the burning island and cries, "Moooom!!!" Olvia's last wish answers through the smoke: "Live, Robin!!!" The Marines shout, "Aim for Saul!!!" while others call, "Wait!! Somebody's coming!!!" and the evacuation ship announces, "Evacuation ship will be departing now!!!" Robin is torn between her mother, Saul, and the ship that might save her. She runs through falling debris, still calling for the people she cannot bear to leave.

The people on the evacuation ship see Robin and turn against her. One shouts, "A monster!!!" Another recognizes her from the newspaper: "No, wait, I recognize her!!! I read about her in the newspaper! Isn't she the daughter of Olvia, the criminal!?" Others yell, "The monster girl's still on the island!!!" "Oh yeah, go away, monster!!!" and "Hey!! Don't be a fool!!" Fear spreads through the crowd: "If we let her on the ship, we'll be killed, too!!" When someone says she is just a child, another answers, "Don't be silly!! She's just a child!!! Let her on!!" but the mob panics anyway, screaming "Monster, monster~!!" Robin, hearing all of it, says only, "It's ok, I can climb up on my own."

Spandine spots Robin and turns the evacuation ship against her. He shouts, "I've found her!!! Evacuation ship!!! Don't let that brat board the ship!!! Even if she's just a little girl, she's still an archaeologist!! She's also a target of this attack!!!" The ship's crew asks, "... Is... is that true!?" and Spandine answers that if they allow her onboard, they will be in danger. Robin slips and hangs from the side of the ship, while Saul notices her and cries, "Robin!?" He sees CP9 stirring the panic and snaps, "What nonsense...!!"

The Marines report, "Vice Admiral Saul is coming this way!!!" and open fire: "Shoot!!! Shoot!!! Fire!!!" Saul charges through the bombardment toward Robin, but Kuzan steps in. Saul attacks with "Partisan!!!" while Kuzan answers with "Ice Block." Ice forms around Saul as Robin cries, "Saul!!!" and the Marines shout, "Kuzan!!!" and "Kuzan-san!!!" The battle between two Marine vice admirals has begun in the middle of Ohara's destruction.

Kuzan faces Saul with a grim calm. "My, my, my... If an ex-Marine gets in the way of Buster Call, it wouldn't be good for us, would it...?" he says. Saul, looking at the burning island, asks, "Kuzan...!! Can you be proud of this attack!?" Marines call for everyone to retreat while Kuzan answers that if this is for the greater good of the world, he has no opinion. Saul calls it strange and says, "You should know it well!!! This is just to create an 'example'...!!! They're going to obliterate Ohara for that purpose!!!" Kuzan replies that the scholars are breaking the law after all.

Kuzan tells Saul, "The thing called 'justice' changes its shape depending on where you stand. So, I won't blame you for 'justice.' But if you get in our way, I can't leave you be...!!!" Then a massive explosion erupts at sea. Robin stares in horror as the evacuation ship is destroyed. Voices cry, "Oo-waaah!!! The evacuation ship exploded!!" and "Wha...!? Why did that happen!!?" A Marine confirms the source: "From Vice Admiral Sakazuki's warship!!!" The Buster Call has now killed even the civilians it claimed to evacuate.

Sakazuki's logic is revealed. The page identifies him as "Marine Headquarters Vice Admiral Sakazuki (Later known as Admiral Akainu)." He says, "If we're going to do it, we do it thoroughly...!!! If any of the scholars had managed to sneak onboard, all sacrifices would've been a complete waste...!!! Evil needs to be rooted out!!!" Saul, horrified, asks Kuzan, "Can you still be proud of yourself after this!? Is this a deed of your justice...!?" Then he grabs Robin and says, "Let's run, Robin!!!" Kuzan admits he was not going to overdo it as much as Sakazuki, while the Marines marvel that Saul's strength is extraordinary.

Saul flees with Robin while the warships continue to fire. Marines shout, "Saul fled!!!" and "He's got one of the scholars with him!!!" Kuzan uses "Ice Time Capsule!!!" and a wave of ice races over the ground toward Saul. Saul carries Robin through the smoke as she cries, "Saul!!!" and "Wait!!" The attack catches him from behind, and the danger tightens around the only person still trying to save her.

Saul keeps moving despite the ice and tells Robin, "Run wi all yer might!!!" He warns her that if she stays on the island, she will die, and asks, "What about Saul!?" Robin does not want to leave him, but he presses on: nobody on the island can answer her, and she must find the sea. "The sea is vast..." he says, "Ya're gonna meet yer nakama, Robin!!!" He promises that someday, somewhere, she will find people who will protect her.

Saul gives Robin the words that will carry her through the future: "Once ye'r born into dis world, yer neva gonna be alone!!!" He tells her to run, and when she cries, he reminds her to smile: "Smile, like this!" Then he laughs his strange laugh, "Dereshishishishi!!!" Robin says, "Saul, watch out!!" but he tells her to remember how to laugh. Even as ice closes in, he shouts, "Ya will surely meet yer nakama, Robin!!!" and Robin cries after him, "Saul!!!"

Saul is frozen and collapses, still telling Robin to "live with them!!!" Robin screams, "It's no use! It's falling off!!!" as the burning Tree of Omniscience collapses in the distance. Olvia and Clover remain with the scholars inside the doomed island. Olvia says, "I'm sorry, Robin... I couldn't stay alive and see you grow." Clover calls for the tree to be protected until the end. The voice of Ohara's scholars says that the Tree of Omniscience is falling, but the will to protect history remains unbroken.

Robin runs alone through the ruins, coughing "Ack!" as Saul lies frozen behind her. Kuzan appears and tells her, "... Absolute justice sometimes drives a person insane." He says he has decided to let her leave the island and that the strange "seed" Saul protected must be watched to see what it becomes. Robin, terrified and furious, says, "I'm not your friend. If you do anything, I'll fight you." Kuzan answers that he is prepared to fight her, but if she wishes to die on the island, that is up to her. Robin can only scream, "No one can survive...!! My mom is on the island."

Kuzan asks Robin, "Do you like books?" and tells her that two scholars are fighting fiercely for her. "Be proud, Robin! Ohara is honored," Saul's words echo, while Olvia's voice tells her not to give up on the future. Saul's laugh, "Dereshishishishi," follows her as Kuzan says that if he allows her to live and someday decides he was wrong, he will be the first one to catch her. Robin, trembling, remembers the promise of nakama and thinks that somewhere out there in the sea, she may still find them. She turns away from the burning island with the message to live.

Robin forces herself to smile through tears: "Dereshi!! Dereshi!!!" Behind her, Saul remains frozen and Ohara burns. She remembers his laugh, "Dereshishishi," and his promise that she will surely meet her nakama. Then the chapter closes on the sea, where a small boat moves away from the annihilated island while the screams and flames fade behind it. Robin has survived, but survival begins as exile.

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