Ohara vs. the World Government

Marine warships surround Ohara while the Tree of Omniscience towers over the island. A voice from the ships asks, "Do we have an order yet?" and another answers, "Still waiting." In town, panic erupts as word spreads: "Marine warships are flooding in from the sea!!!" and "The scholars' crime is confirmed!!!" Villagers run through the streets shouting, "What's gonna happen...!!?" and "Run for the evacuation ship!!!" The island is not yet under fire, but fear has already overtaken it.

Inside the Tree of Omniscience, Government agents stare at the forbidden stone. One asks, "What... is this?" Another says, "This seems to be the so-called 'Poneglyph.'" They note that there is no damage, "even if we bomb it or do anything else to it," and one agent recoils: "What a creepy stone... and the world's dotted with these." Outside, the massive tree shakes as Saul notices the danger and rushes toward Ohara, realizing too late that the crisis has already begun: "Shit...!! Hope it ain't too late! How'd I not see dis comin'...!!?"

Saul bursts into town like a living wall, shouting, "Robin!!!" and "Get away from this island!!!" The villagers scream, "A giant!!!" and "Wooaaaah!!" while he towers over the streets. Near the gathered scholars, Spandine receives confirmation: "We've found the evidence... so we're just waiting for your order." Spandine answers, "I see. So that was it. Yes, they'll be sentenced to death." When the transponder snail relays, "No other way. It is indeed regrettable..." Clover snaps, "Stop trying to be diplomatic, Gorousei!!" Spandine cuts him off: "But you broke the law. We can't let you go."

The call reaches the highest authority of the world. One of the Gorousei recognizes Clover: "Dr. Clover of Ohara, huh...?" and says, "You're a great contributor to the world's culture. I know your name well." Clover answers, "I can't believe you've strayed from the path..." Robin stands nearby, and a scholar warns her, "Robin, get away from here! You'll be one of the criminals if you listen to my story." But Clover continues because the truth matters more than his own life. Olvia says, "The past belongs to all mankind. Nobody can stop the desire to know untold history." Clover explains that reading the Poneglyphs could revive the ancient weapon and endanger the world, but even if nobody bears ill will, someone might misuse that knowledge. Still, he insists that if mankind can understand history without fearing its consequences, it can take countermeasures.

Clover rejects the Government's simple explanation. When they say the scholars' concern is just an idealistic theory, he replies that of all facts in the world, the one they most want to know is the contents of the Poneglyphs and the reason they exist. He asks why people of the past engraved text onto hard stone "in an attempt to deliver a message to the future." If paper or books would have been destroyed, then carving history into unbreakable stones and scattering them across the world means the people who left them had enemies. Spandine asks, "What are you implying, Dr. Clover...?" Clover answers, "Meaning, it's the proof that whoever left this to us obviously had enemies!!!"

Clover builds the hypothesis step by step. If the people who left the Poneglyphs were defeated by enemies, then those enemies likely lived on into the history afterward. "Surprisingly... when the Void Century ended 800 years ago, the World Government came to existence." If the enemy of the "fallen people" is the current World Government, then the Void Century could be the very inconvenient part of history the Government wanted to conceal. From the old documents and Poneglyphs Ohara has found, Clover says they eventually realized that there once existed another country, though nothing remains of it. The documents verified "the existence of this enormous kingdom...!!!"

Clover explains that the ancient kingdom prided itself on great power, yet all information about it was erased. He concludes that when its people realized they would be defeated by the Alliance Power, later known as the World Government, they engraved all the facts onto stones and passed their ideas to the present world as Poneglyphs. To Clover, the ancient weapon is a threat, but the larger threat to the Government is the existence and idea of that kingdom. The Gorousei says, "That's a bold hypothesis, isn't it...?" Clover replies that they will not know the threat until they clear it up, and then begins to say the most essential thing: "The name of the prosperous kingdom, ...!!" Before the name can be revealed, the order comes: "Kill him!"

A shot rings out, and Clover falls before he can finish speaking the kingdom's name. Robin screams, "Doctor!!!" while the scholars and townspeople cry, "Bastard, how could you...!?" The transponder snail gives the chilling verdict: "Dr. Clover has learned too much...!!!" Offshore, the warships receive their next order: "Prepare for attack." The silence around the fallen professor says what the bullet has done: the Government has not answered Clover's theory, only stopped him from saying the final word.

After Clover is shot, agents shout, "Nobody move!!!" and "You must not allow anyone to escape!!!" At the west shore, people are rushed onto the evacuation ship: "Get onboard, quickly!!" and "Hurry to the evacuation ship!!!" A voice calls, "Wait for me, Robin!!!" while Robin runs to Clover, crying, "Doctor!!" Clover, still alive, tells her, "Robin... you fool...!! You must not stay here...!! Run!" Spandine lifts the golden Den Den Mushi and says, "... And now, I'll just use this golden Denden-mushi that I got from Admiral Sengoku..."

Spandine presses the golden Den Den Mushi with a sharp "Click!!!" and declares that he will leave everything else to the Marines "to trigger the 'Buster Call'!!!" Robin freezes, and one of the scholars urges her, "Hurry to the evacuation ship, Robin...!!" Robin answers through tears, "No... I don't want to be alone...!! Don't be silly at a time like this...!!" Olvia calls, "Robin," as the ships offshore receive the signal. The silver Den Den Mushi rings, "Vee vee veeeee!!!" and a Marine voice calls, "Request for the Buster Call!!" The order spreads across the fleet: "All ships, make ready! Prepare to fire!!"

The Tree of Omniscience catches fire. Someone screams, "Hey...!!! Look..." and another cries, "The Tree of Omniscience is on fire...!!!" The scholars are horrified: "Hey, World Government, what the hell are you thinking!!?" An agent says the fire was probably caused by the earlier explosion, but the scholars are already moving. "Put out the fire on the library!!!" one shouts. Another begs, "Don't be a fool!! Do you have any idea how many important documents we have in there...!?" The agents try to keep them still, but Spandine says, "Ah... forget about shooting them, Government agents. Let's go." Robin watches as the scholars' first instinct is not to save themselves, but to save the books.

As the library burns, the scholars rush to save its contents: "Pass the water!!!" and "Get the books out of the library!!!" Spandine orders, "Bring that woman along!!" and says Olvia "knows something that no one else knows. She can't die just yet." Olvia is dragged away, but her thoughts are fixed on Robin: "Robin...!! Please run away...! Don't you die here...!!" Robin stands still while the scholars plead, "Robin, don't waste time." Clover calls, "Robin-chan..." and tells her to hurry. The island is collapsing into fire and orders, but mother and daughter are still separated by a few impossible steps.

Robin finally asks the question she has carried for years: "Are you my mother...?" Olvia is shaken, and someone asks whether Olvia will get on the ship or not. Robin remembers crying after her mother left: "Moooom!!" and "Moooom, waaaah!" Olvia breaks under the weight of what she has denied. "I'm sorry, Robin!! I can no longer claim to be a mother!!" she says. "No way can't be forgiven now!! I can't be a mother...!!" Robin looks at her and refuses to let the denial stand.

Robin's memories pour back: being held as a baby, the town children calling "Monster~! Monster~!!" and asking, "Her mom abandoned her. Was it because she's a monster!?" She remembers being scolded by Roji: "Robin, that's my daughter's dress!! Why are you wearing it!?" and apologizing, "I'm sorry, aunty...! I just wanted to try it on." She remembers being mocked as a freeloader and wandering alone with a small "Ooweeeee..." All of that loneliness leads to the present, where she points at Olvia and asks, "Are you... my mother!?"

Olvia and Robin stare at one another, both in tears. Spandine notices the implication and asks, "Hmm? What, you have a kid?" Clover says, "No," trying one last time to protect Robin. Robin apologizes softly: "... I'm sorry." Olvia, weeping, thinks, "Forgive me, Robin...!! I don't want you to be the daughter of a criminal!!" Robin answers aloud, "I think... you've got the wrong person..." It is a child's lie offered back to her mother as mercy, and it breaks the scholars' hearts.

The agents dismiss Robin as a "weird kid" and move on: "Come on, let's go!!" But Robin cannot keep pretending. She screams, "I-!! I'm Robin!!!" and then pours out everything she has held back: "I've grown... but don't you remember me!? I've been waiting for your return!!!" She says she wanted someday to hold Olvia's hand and walk with her. When Olvia turns back in agony, Robin asks, "Are you... really not my mother?" The lie can no longer protect either of them.

The Buster Call begins. Robin cries, "I...!! I've studied so hard and I've become an archaeologist!!! I can read the Poneglyphs, too!!!" Then she begs, "Please let me be with you, Mom!!!" and "Weeve me arone anymohr!!!" Behind her, the warships open fire on Ohara. The order goes out: "We'll start the Buster Call now!!!" and "All ships, begin fire at once!! Everything on the island of archaeology, Ohara, is the target!!!" Olvia cries out, "Robin...!!" while others shout, "Stop it, Robin!!" and "That brat can!?" The page ends with the island exploding under cannon fire as Robin's confession and Ohara's execution happen at the same time.

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