Chapter 157 - 157: Robin and Lorka
West Blue, Cusque Island.
Lorka led Robin toward a cosmetics shop.
Next to him, Robin wore a short black trench coat and a small masquerade mask on her face—the one she had pestered Lorka to buy for her a few days ago.
As she followed Lorka into the cosmetics shop, Robin was a bit confused. Why were they coming here?
But the shopkeeper inside lit up at the sight of Lorka.
"Lorka-sama!"
Lorka gave a small chuckle and nodded.
"Has the item I ordered arrived?"
The shopkeeper beamed with a wide smile.
"It has, it has. Everything's ready for you."
As he spoke, he hurriedly took out a beautifully wrapped gift box from under the counter and handed it to Lorka.
Lorka took the gift box, opened it, and glanced inside.
"Not bad. Everything's here."
"This is your payment."
"Pleasure doing business."
He reached into his bag, pulled out a thick stack of Belly, and handed it to the shopkeeper.
The shopkeeper accepted it with sparkling eyes.
"A pleasure! A pleasure indeed."
"Heh heh."
Lorka handed the gift box to Robin.
"Here you go, young lady."
"This is a gift for you."
Robin was stunned.
"A gift?"
The shopkeeper, while counting money on the side, chimed in enthusiastically:
"So it's for you, huh?"
"Lorka-sama spent 200,000 Belly on those cosmetics."
Lorka chuckled.
"You talk too much, shopkeeper."
"Let's go."
He pulled the still-stunned Robin and left the store.
The shopkeeper quickly slapped his own mouth.
"Ah, my big mouth."
"Sorry! Sorry!"
"Come again next time!!!"
Watching the two push open the door, he hurriedly tried to recover.
A bit of regret filled him. He had tried to add a cherry on top, only to end up offending a major customer.
Looking at the 200,000 Belly in hand, even the joy of making a 100,000 Belly profit diminished significantly...
...
On the street, Robin clutched the box tightly, afraid she might drop it.
After all, the things inside were so expensive, and...
This was the first time someone had given her a gift. Her arms tightened around the box even more.
Lorka saw this and smiled.
"Don't hug it so tight."
"It'd be a shame if you didn't drop it, but crushed it yourself."
Hearing Lorka's teasing, Robin flushed slightly and loosened her grip a bit.
Lorka said:
"Let's go buy you a couple of outfits."
"Then we'll head back to the inn."
Robin nodded.
"Okay!"
...
Evening. Inside the inn room.
Robin curiously watched Lorka take out the small bottles from the gift box, while tossing the newly bought clothes onto the bed.
Seven small bottles were placed on the table. Robin couldn't help but comment.
"All this stuff... costs 200,000 Belly?"
"Isn't that too expensive?"
Lorka, who had laid all the small cosmetic bottles on the table, suddenly gave a strange smile.
"Expensive?"
"No."
"The return is far more valuable than the cost."
"Don't you think so..."
"Devil Child, with a bounty of 79 million."
"Nico Robin."
Lorka's deep voice echoed beside Robin's ear.
Seeing Lorka's eerie smile, Robin's mind went completely blank.
Her whole body went cold, trembling uncontrollably.
Why... Why is Lorka-sama... Was it all fake...
So it's true... I shouldn't even be alive...
Tears of despair rolled down her cheeks as Lorka's large hand reached toward her.
Robin tried to move, but her body wouldn't obey.
She closed her eyes in hopelessness, that hand drawing ever closer...
And then...
Lorka placed his hand on her head.
Click—
A strange sound rang out, but the pain she had expected never came.
Instead, Lorka's hand was trembling slightly. Robin cracked one eye open.
What she saw was Lorka holding a camera, repeatedly pressing the shutter button, his face trembling as he tried to stifle his laughter.
"Gotcha."
"Hahahahahahaha."
"That face is priceless!"
"A little blackmail material, Robin~"
Robin's face instantly turned bright red, shouting in frustration:
"Lorka-sama!!!"
She crossed her arms and activated her ability.
While still laughing, Lorka suddenly had several hands sprout from his shoulder and reach for his face.
Lorka struggled.
"Hey hey!"
"Don't pull my mouth!"
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"
"I was just teasing!"
"That's my nose!!!"
"Ahhh!!!"
A while later, Robin's face was still a little flushed. She let out a huff.
"You knew all along, didn't you?"
Lorka smiled helplessly.
"I knew the first time I saw you."
"After all, you're the most clueless wanted fugitive I've ever seen."
Robin thought of the fake name she used and had thought was so clever... She crossed her arms again.
Lorka quickly waved his hands.
"Hey hey! Stop stop stop!"
"Let's be serious!"
Seeing Robin lower her arms, Lorka let out a breath of relief.
"Back to business."
"These cosmetics are for disguise."
"What really surprised me is—you never thought of using makeup or changing your clothes?"
"A wanted fugitive who can't disguise herself isn't a very good one, Robin."
Robin looked confused.
"Makeup?"
She searched her mind for the meaning of the word and suddenly recalled her rude aunt.
Before going out, that aunt would smear all kinds of stuff on her face. So that was makeup? But she always looked uglier after...
Seeing Robin's confused face, Lorka rubbed his forehead.
"Looks like you really didn't know."
"At your age, most kids are already pretty vain."
"Come here, I'll teach you."
Robin was stiffly pressed into a chair by Lorka.
In less than half an hour, the makeover was done.
Lorka took out a mirror and placed it in front of Robin.
Robin was stunned by her reflection.
Her skin looked fairer, her eyes bigger, eyebrows more refined. Her features hadn't changed—but under Lorka's makeup, she looked like a completely different person.
With a change of clothes, no one would connect her to the dirty little girl on the wanted poster.
"This..."
"This..."
Lorka smiled.
"This is your first lesson."
"Disguise."
"The magic of makeup is..."
"Once done, you become a new person."
"No one will recognize you as the Devil Child."
"And even further—"
"If you want to change your body shape..."
"I think your ability could easily handle that."
"For example, filling in your face or your legs using your power."
Robin stared at the mirror, Lorka's words echoing in her head.
With just a little inspiration, she could already think of several disguises. Such a simple method...
Was I really too stupid not to think of this...?
Lorka looked at Robin's doubtful expression and knew what she was thinking.
He gently patted her head.
"Don't overthink it. It's not that you're stupid."
Robin snapped back to reality—yes, of course it's not that I'm...
"It's that I'm just too smart."
Before she could finish reassuring herself, Lorka's smug voice sounded beside her ear.
A black line twitched over Robin's head. She crossed her arms again.
"Hey hey hey!!!!"
A moment later, a thoroughly messed-up Lorka sighed in resignation.
"Kids these days are so easy to tease."
"Not cute at all."
Seeing Robin raise her hands again, Lorka quickly surrendered.
Robin huffed and turned away.
After a moment of silence, she asked:
"Why didn't you turn me in?"
Lorka leaned back in the chair and stretched.
"Hmm~"
"Why would I?"
"79 million? Pocket change."
"Money? I don't need it."
Robin turned to look at Lorka, momentarily speechless.
True. If he didn't need money and wasn't part of the government, he had no reason to catch her.
But... something still felt off.
Lorka continued:
"As for that whole 'destroy-the-world' narrative they put on you."
"That's just propaganda to fool the public."
"I don't believe those dumb historians in Ohara could uncover anything that significant."
Robin couldn't help but protest:
"The archaeologists weren't dumb!"
"Everything they did was to uncover the truth of the world!"
"To stop people from being deceived by the government!"
Lorka's lips curled up as he spoke slowly:
"Even if that so-called truth spreads across the world tomorrow—"
"So what?"
"It's just empty words."
"History is the past."
"And the past can't be changed."
"To sacrifice an entire island for something irreversible..."
"Isn't that foolish?"
Robin opened her mouth, her mind in chaos. She wanted to refute him but had no idea how.
Lorka looked up at the ceiling.
"Even if you learn the truth—so what?"
"It's meaningless."
"Do you know why the World Government has ruled for 800 years?"
"If you wanted to overthrow them—or even just take down one nation—"
"What do you think you'd need?"
"Is it truth?"
"No no no, what is it really?"
Robin thought for a moment.
"Power?"
Lorka rubbed his chin.
"Power, huh..."
"How should I put it? That's a bit too vague."
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