10. An Eyesore

“Oh dear, what a troublesome young lady.” Kuzan pinched the bridge of his nose.

He pulled down the eyepatch covering his forehead to shield his eyes and lay back down.

Meanwhile, the ice sealing the room began to melt, and sunlight once again streamed through the window into the chamber.

“Let’s go, Nico Robin.” The voice of the Navy Vice Admiral was as cold as his Devil Fruit ability.

Only then did Robin lift her head and glance at Kuzan.

“Robin, let’s go,” Salia said softly to her. “We will meet again someday.”

Robin sniffled and responded with a small “Mm,” tears welling up once more.

The vast ocean stretched endlessly—she feared it would be difficult to encounter Miss Judith again in the future.

After gathering her belongings, Robin was about to leave but was held back gently by Salia.

“Robin.” Salia looked at Kuzan, who seemed to be asleep, and sighed. “Whether genuine or feigned, I think you should say ‘thank you’ to Mr. Kuzan.”

Without the oppressive gaze of the Vice Admiral, Robin felt considerably lighter.

She glanced at Miss Judith once more.

Then, bowing deeply, she addressed Kuzan with much more sincerity this time, “Thank you, no matter what.”

Thank you for sparing me once again.

Though Kuzan appeared asleep, deep within his calm and serene heart, a hidden, tender corner was gently stirred by her words.

Since Kuzan was on the side near the door, Robin, shouldering her bag, chose to leave through the window instead.

Before leaving, Robin looked back at Salia. “Goodbye, Miss Judith.”

Salia waved at Robin, her gentle eyes watching the departing figure.

“Take good care of yourself, no matter where you are.”

“The Vice Admiral is your benefactor; if you ever hear unfortunate news about him, don’t forget to burn some paper offerings for him.”

Robin paused mid-step and couldn’t help but turn back.

“Hey, wait, that last part wasn’t necessary, was it?” Kuzan yanked the eyepatch off his head and sat up.

Seeing Kuzan sit up, Robin turned around again and quickened her pace to leave.

Salia feigned ignorance, “I don’t understand, Vice Admiral.”

Every word dripping with sarcasm.

After teasing Kuzan a few times, Salia’s mood lightened considerably.

So far, Kuzan truly bore no ill will toward her.

A positive appraisal, indeed.

“Since Robin has already left, Vice Admiral, your purpose here has been fulfilled, so I suppose I should go as well.” Salia lifted her eyelids and looked toward Kuzan.

She wanted to leave, but if Kuzan didn’t allow her, she wouldn’t be able to.

“Oh dear, miss, you can just call me ‘Kuzan’.” He scratched the back of his head lazily.

“Have you really no interest in joining the Navy?” Kuzan pondered the reason the psychic lady had refused earlier and added, “You wouldn’t have to deal with paperwork all the time if you were in the Navy.”

After all, Sakazuki was there.

Though Kuzan didn’t like his Navy colleague much, he had to admit Sakazuki was quite capable.

“Though we’re not that close, are we, Cauliflower Vice Admiral?” Salia lowered her guard a bit and teased him.

“What, you’d skip work like you do? Your deputy must constantly want to kill you.”

Using her Devil Fruit power, she fished out two bottles of milk from the room, tossing one to Kuzan.

Kuzan recalled that his deputy did indeed always seem anxious and irritable.

“It’s still hard for my deputy to kill me.”

Salia: “...That’s true.”

If I could kill you, I’d want to fight you right now and turn you into crushed ice.

“I have no interest in joining the Navy,” Salia rejected once again.

She picked up the comparison chart of ancient and modern scripts that Robin had written earlier and examined it.

Normally, her “Memory” attribute hovered between 60 and 70.

After all, she hadn’t eaten Vegapunk’s Brain-Brain Fruit.

An excessively high “Memory” attribute would cause too much information and useless details to be stored, overburdening the brain and causing headaches.

Now, she had pushed her “Memory” attribute to the maximum value of 79.

Page by page, she flipped through, though she didn’t understand, committing everything to memory by rote.

“Is it a lie that the psychic lady isn’t interested in the historical texts?” Kuzan probed Salia.

If the psychic truly cared about the historical texts, she would have sneaked a look at the comparison chart left by Nico Robin.

At present, Kuzan couldn’t tell whether the psychic was truly interested in the historical texts or not.

This woman seemed to possess the power to see through people’s hearts, Kuzan thought.

Yet she herself was hard to read.

Kuzan took a sip of milk and calmly stated a fact, “I’ll imprison those who explore the ancient texts in the Impel Down.”

After quickly recording all the comparison charts Robin left behind, Salia turned around and rolled her eyes at Kuzan.

“The devil’s child was just set free by the dog earlier.”

Salia tossed the notebook to Kuzan with an expressionless face, “Just wanted to see what those ancient writings were. So many live and die for them—is it really worth it?”

Kuzan took the notebook but said nothing.

He recalled the incident at Ohara.

The psychic lady’s words were always harsh and cutting.

Salia pulled a bomb and a lighter from a corner of the room.

She had planted other bombs in the house, all meant for destroying evidence once Robin left.

Swiftly, while Kuzan was still examining the notebook, she detonated the bomb.

She quickly climbed out through the window.

The bomb’s power was average but sufficient to destroy a small house.

After the explosion, the house quickly collapsed. Using her Devil Fruit ability, Salia controlled the debris, confining it to a certain area to prevent fragments from flying everywhere.

She then used the lighter to set the house on fire.

She was quite practiced at this.

Within less than a minute, the evidence was obliterated.

Before ordinary people on Rag Island could see her, she swiftly moved away from the place where Nico Robin had lived for a year and rested beneath a lush tree.

“It was to destroy evidence, so the World Government wouldn’t find traces of Robin’s life here,” Salia explained softly as she leaned against the tree.

“You said it would be hard for your deputy to kill you.”

“Ah, the psychic lady is truly ruthless.” The ice beside Salia slowly condensed into a tall figure.

“Beautiful lady, what have I done to offend you?”

Kuzan scratched his head in confusion.

He didn’t understand what exactly had angered the psychic lady.

Salia smiled, “Not at all.”

It’s just that this wild Navy officer annoys me a bit.

Having noticed Kuzan’s apparent interest in her and that he wasn’t angered by her sarcasm, she was just paying back a little.

Can’t kill you, but can at least disgust you, right?

Kuzan also leaned against the tree trunk, his tall figure casting a shadow over Salia.

He sighed and opened his palm.

Transparent ice rose from his broad hand, growing and expanding, forming a delicate shape—a crystal-clear ice rose.

Kuzan handed the rose to Salia and cleared his throat, “Calm down, Psychic Lady?”

From his experience, beautiful ladies liked pretty but impractical things like this.

Salia: “...”

She didn’t take it.

She understood the meaning behind the rose, which made her feelings somewhat complicated.

Though her “Judith” avatar was indeed an adult, and her core self was an adult, her physical body was still a fifteen-year-old child.

In the world of One Piece, people were quite open about such matters.

But Salia preferred to wait until her core self was an adult before addressing this.

In her previous life, she was a brewer and enjoyed tasting wine.

But now, being underage, she mostly drank milk.

“If you don’t become a Navy officer, becoming a professional ice sculptor would surely be very profitable,” Salia gave Kuzan a thumbs up. “No wonder you’re a candidate for Navy Admiral; your skills are impressive.”

“I have other matters to attend to; I’ll be going now.”

Not wanting to engage further with Kuzan, Salia altered her gravity with her Devil Fruit ability and soared into the sky.

She even activated a psychic field to accelerate her speed.

Flying away from Rag Island, Salia hovered midair, the endless ocean stretching beneath her feet.

She had originally intended to return to her core self.

Her core self lived alone in a detached house near the 193rd Navy Branch on the Gonge Archipelago in the West Blue.

Her public persona was a child who disliked going out, socializing, or dealing with others.

Her older brother, Grochi, had risen through the Navy ranks from the 193rd Branch to Headquarters and was considered a great success and a pride of the branch.

Being Grochi’s younger sibling and still a child, the 193rd Branch Navy treated her well.

Salia occasionally used her Devil Fruit ability to boost the “Strength” attribute of the 193rd Branch Navy as a form of repayment.

While controlling the avatar, her core self was in a state of suspended animation.

Although she was supposed to be reclusive on the Gonge Archipelago, it would be disastrous if someone came looking and discovered her core self “dead.”

“Hey, Cauliflower, why are you following me?” Salia looked back irritably.

Damn, is a Navy Admiral really this strong?

Using the Moon Step technique to catch up to her flying at accelerated speed with a psychic field?

So frustrating.

Salia thought bitterly, one day she would reach this level of power too!

Kuzan, carrying a bicycle and stepping with the Moon Step, caught up to the flying Salia.

“Oh dear, Psychic Lady, if you don’t mind, shall we travel together?”

Previously, Kuzan had heard views and opinions from the psychic lady about Robin that he had never encountered before.

So now, feeling confused about his own sense of justice, Kuzan somewhat wished to have a chat with the psychic lady.

Salia showed no expression. “I mind. Very much.”