Chapter 46 (1/2)
Grandline, Paradise, Jaya
The morning after the party was accompanied by a lot of groaning and swearing to say the least. One of those people was none other than Azul himself, having drunk a shitload the night before, and through all the dancing swiftly brought it into his system. And thus we find said young man sitting at a table with a wet towel on his head, staring blankly up at the ceiling, trying to ignore the pounding in his head. Besides him sat his dancepartner from last night Nico Robin, who didn't look to be doing any better in that aspect, since she had never let herself go like that before. Even though she enjoyed the party immensly she began to doubt if the fun was worth the cost...
Soon the rest of the strawhats woke up as well. Some groaning, and some like Luffy with a chipper smile, too bright for Azuls eyes so early in the morning, which resulted in Luffy taking a feel of the morning air, unwillingly I might add.
A few hours and a good breakfast later, Azul was sitting at a table with his drinking buddy Robin, wondering how to proceed from here. Should he set sail tomorrow? After all he had been staying on this island for quite some time now and it was pulling him out to the sea again.
His ruminations were interrupted by the whitebeard pirates limping towards them, which made Azuls eyebrow rise, not knowing what they wanted. Did they want to thank him maybe?
”You are Nico Robin, correct? We are the members of the Whitebeard pirates that were send to bring you into the new world. Sadly, our current condition is not really something to be travelling the grandline with. Either you find yourself a different way to reach the new world or you wait here with us until we are recovered, which though may take a little bit...” one man from the entourage spoke, bringing a thoughful look onto Robins face, meanwhile Azul got even more confused.
”Wait, Whitebeard? You joined his crew?” Azul asked into the thoughtful silence of the group.
Robin turned towards him and was about to answer when another member of the group spoke up in her stead.
”You are the one that beat Teach, weren't you? Pardon me, you know him under the name of Blackbeard. Thank you for doing so but your help may not be received with much gratitude when it comes to the captain...” the woman said with a frown while Azul still hadn't received a satisfying answer to his question, but he didn't insist on one since it wasn't really his buisiness anyway.
Surprisingly though, Robin still gave him one that made him pause.
”Yes, I joined Whitebeard to finally find some peace while following my dream. I have always been and probably always will be hunted by the world government, since I am the only survivor of the massacre that befell Ohara...” Robin spoke with a blank face, though her eyes spoke of all the feelings that ran through her at the thought of her past and Azul was probably one of the very few people that could see everything that was going on behind that fassade Robin was putting up in public.
”I see. Ohara hmm? But you must have been just a child at that time. Why would they still hunt you? Or do you possess something they want from you?” Azul asked her, completely ignoring the rest of the group that had decided to sit down on a table next to theirs.
”Yes, I do but it may be something a little different from what you may expect. I am able to read the ancient poneglyphs that are scattered all over the world. Back then, the scientists began to research those texts and the world government found out about it, sending a b-bustercall to Ohara, annihalating its existence from the map...” Robin spoke with milky eyes, not being able to contain a slight choke at the word bustercall, considering the horrible memories that came along with it.
Azul just sat there, listening to her words, wondering just what could possibly be written in a text that would justify the extinction of a whole island but in the second he finished that thought, he chastised himself, knowing fully well that justice does not really exist.
After Robin finished her monologue she looked towards Azul, searching for some expression on his face but found none. Just a blank slate with penetrating eyes that viewed her very being to the last cranny of her soul. It made her feel very exposed but could do nothing against it in the end, so she simply waited until Azul averted his face from hers, while speaking his thoughts, making her pause at his words.