4 Some Matters

Nico Robin caught the bracelet, feeling both touched and slightly amused.

She nodded, following Salia’s lead, and offered a compliment, "Miss Judith, the bracelet you made is perfect."

She added sincerely, "I really like it."

Salia looked at Robin, "Then, would you be willing to wear the Sora-style uniform for me as a reward?"

Robin: "..."

The smile on her face stiffened for a moment.

Oh dear.

Robin quickly changed the subject.

"By the way, Miss Judith, aren't you going to take a look at the comparison table you requested?"

At the same time, she couldn't help but ask, "Don't you want to know what is recorded on the Poneglyphs?"

Salia lay half-reclined on the bed, her attitude indifferent, "That stuff? What’s there to know? It’s not important."

History is nothing more than the same old stories, just a cycle of dynasties rising and falling.

Besides, Salia had no grand ambitions. She didn’t want to be the Pirate King, nor did she want to overthrow the World Government like the Revolutionary Army.

She only wanted to stay in her own little corner of the West Blue, living a quiet life and coasting until the very end of the plot.

As for the work of rebellion and freedom, that was for Luffy, the child of destiny, to handle.

To her, the Poneglyphs were truly of no importance right now.

"B-but that’s a Poneglyph!" Seeing Salia’s nonchalant attitude, Robin couldn't help but emphasize, "Poneglyphs are very important."

Perhaps because she had certain expectations of Miss Judith, Robin wanted to earn her approval. She did not agree with Miss Judith’s point of view.

How could the Poneglyphs not be important?

Robin pursed her lips slightly and said, "Miss Judith, you’ve been to Ohara. Wasn’t it because of the Poneglyphs that the Navy destroyed Ohara?"

"If the Poneglyphs weren't important, why would Ohara have been destroyed?"

Ancient scripts, Poneglyphs—of course, they were incredibly important. After all, they were the very goal she had dedicated her life to pursuing!

Salia replied calmly, "I’m just an ordinary person who wants to live a simple life. I don’t want to overthrow the World Government like you scholars of Ohara."

"To me, the importance of a Poneglyph doesn't even rank higher than the question of what to eat for lunch today."

"Anyway, Robin, I’m a bit sleepy. I’m going to take a nap. Wake me up when it’s time for lunch, okay?"

Salia yawned.

"The scholars of the Tree of Knowledge didn't want to overthrow the World Government," Robin couldn't help but defend them. "They just wanted to know what happened during the Void Century; they just wanted to know the truth."

"Ah—" Salia lay down on the bed and countered, "Your scholars clearly knew that the World Government forbade the study of ancient texts, yet they studied them anyway."

"And they didn't do it secretly, either. They brazenly sent out multiple teams to track the Poneglyphs all over the world, without any attempt at concealment."

"The Poneglyphs are basically the ancestral graves of the World Government. It’s no wonder the World Government took offense to your scholars digging up their ancestors' graves so openly."

Upon hearing Miss Judith’s words, Robin’s expression shifted, and her voice rose slightly. "But the scholars only wanted to restore the buried history. What was wrong with that? What did Ohara do wrong?"

To Robin, Professor Clover and the other scholars of the Tree of Knowledge were her mentors; she didn’t want Miss Judith to misunderstand them.

"It was because the government didn't want the scholars to study ancient texts or decipher the Poneglyphs that they destroyed Ohara."

Salia looked at Robin’s agitated state and sighed slightly.

"Perhaps the scholars weren't wrong, but they were overly naive. Naive enough to think they were just focusing on a noble cause, and naive enough to think that even if they dug up the World Government’s ancestral graves, the government would tolerate them."

"But, would a World Government that could raise arrogant, tyrannical Celestial Dragons be so tolerant of rebels?"

"Robin, think about it carefully," Salia said softly. "Suppose the scholars, when studying the ancient texts, had found an uninhabited island to conduct their research in private, or had stopped their research when the World Government warned them."

"Would Ohara still have faced the Buster Call?"

Robin fell into deep silence, a bitter feeling rising in her heart.

She understood that if things had been as Miss Judith described, Ohara would most likely not have been destroyed, nor would its traces have been so ruthlessly erased from existence.

However, the scholars had simply wanted to uncover the truth of history.

Seeing that Robin had gone quiet, Salia was very satisfied.

"Think about it a bit longer, really mull it over."

Contemplating life’s philosophy takes time, after all—as long as she didn't disturb her sleep.

The "Judith" clone closed her eyes on the bed, ready to drift off.

Robin sat down and lowered her head.

Were the scholars wrong? Was the conviction she had held onto all this time incorrect?

Saul’s sacrifice, the sea of flames that engulfed Ohara, the screams of the people on the island...

Lost in her memories, Nico Robin fell into silence. Her expression gradually became complex, her eyes filled with a mixture of struggle, confusion, and deep bewilderment.

"Could it be... that doing this was wrong?"

After several minutes of silence, a bewildered Robin looked up at Miss Judith, wanting to hear more of her perspective.

Only to see Miss Judith, tucked into her bed with her eyes closed, looking every bit like someone who was saying, "I'm asleep, don't bother me."

Robin: "..."

Robin couldn't help but feel a flash of anger at being teased.

Miss Judith’s words had shaken the facts she had always believed in, yet here she was, leisurely sleeping on her bed.

How infuriating!

Robin stared at the bed and said gloomily, "If Miss Judith is asleep, I will use 'Tres Fleurs' to wake you up."

She crossed her arms over her chest and counted down silently.

Three, two, one...

"Tres Fleurs: Twist!"

As Robin shouted the attack, Salia launched herself off the bed and floated into the air.

Salia made a "please continue" gesture toward Robin. "Hello, your customer service representative is online. What question would you like to consult?"

The six arms sprouting from Robin’s body slowly vanished.

"Miss Judith, please take this seriously!"

Taking a deep breath, Robin pleaded, "Please, Miss, answer my previous question. This is truly, truly important to me."

"Ah, Robin, I was just speaking off the cuff earlier." Seeing how serious Robin was, Salia scratched her head.

It seemed that people in the world of *One Piece* took "conviction" very seriously.

She seemed to be a bit different.

If the World Government were willing to pay her a billion or two billion Berries a year, working for them wouldn't be out of the question.

But the World Government was destined to be the villainous boss that would be overthrown; she wasn't going to take a dead-end job working for a villain.

Besides, she had already successfully started her own business and was a boss herself.

Still, Salia gave Robin a serious answer.

"Any attempt to distort or tamper with history is unacceptable. Any distorted history will eventually be corrected one day, and the more severely it is twisted, the more violent the backlash will be."

"As for Ohara, you weren't wrong."

"The scholars were too arrogant and naive, the World Government was shameless and brutal, and the Navy blurred the lines of justice—there were too many factors at play, which is why Ohara was destroyed."