In the Reality Marble, Valhalla, a beautiful figure floated above the altar.
She had long white hair and a face that was nearly identical to Robin's, at least ninety percent similar. She appeared around twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old, the same age Robin was now, at the height of her maturity and beauty.
The white coat draped over her body was dignified and heroic.
Beneath it, her figure was full and graceful, but she did not look like a fragile, delicate woman. Instead, she gave off an air of heroic strength.
At this moment, Robin's mother, Olvia—the scholar who once dared to sail alone in search of the Poneglyphs—had completely transformed into a Heroic Spirit, slowly awakening.
The Heroic Spirit Olvia opened her eyes, filled with confusion. "Where is this? Wasn't I already dead?"
Her memory remained fixed at the instant when the cannon shell exploded, when the blazing flames consumed her vision.
But now, as she opened her eyes, she saw a smiling man surrounded by a group of curious girls.
She felt a natural closeness to that man, as if their bond ran deeper than even her late husband.
Though she had never seen him before, Olvia inexplicably wanted to draw near to Caelan.
Following her instincts, she looked at him and blurted out a sentence. "Excuse me, are you my Master?"
The moment she became a Heroic Spirit, she instinctively knew the man before her was her Master.
But saying it aloud still left her feeling embarrassed.
"I guess so."
Caelan was momentarily stunned, answering somewhat awkwardly.
He hadn't expected his mother-in-law to call him Master the moment she awakened.
Exciting as it might be, Robin was standing right there!
"Why would I say something like that?"
Olvia was confused, but her thoughts were soon pulled in another direction.
Among the many girls, her eyes instantly locked onto the black-haired Robin.
Twenty years later, the eight-year-old girl in her memory had grown into a twenty-eight-year-old woman, mature and elegant.
Though time had changed her, Olvia recognized her daughter at once.
"Robin!" Olvia murmured in shock and joy. "Am I dreaming? Or is this an illusion from death?"
In her memories, Robin was still just a child. How could she have grown so much in the blink of an eye?
She clearly remembered dying under the Buster Call. How then could she suddenly awaken here, resurrected as a Heroic Spirit?
And why did she feel closer to Caelan, a man she had never met?
Countless questions flooded Olvia's mind.
"Mom!" Robin threw herself into her mother's arms, tears streaming as she exclaimed, "This isn't a dream! Caelan brought you back!"
Though twenty-eight, Robin curled up in Olvia's embrace like a child, pouring out the story of the last twenty years.
The suffering before meeting Caelan she only mentioned briefly, but she described in detail the wonderful life that followed.
"Thank you…"
Olvia gently stroked Robin's back, calming her daughter's emotions.
From Robin's words, she pieced together the truth.
Twenty years had passed since O'Hara was destroyed by the Buster Call.
Though Robin glossed over the hardships, Olvia knew well how the World Government would treat an eight-year-old girl who carried the burden of forbidden knowledge.
How had her daughter endured?
Olvia gazed at Robin with deep affection.
Fortunately, Robin had met Caelan, who gave her the stability she needed to survive.
Caelan appeared again and again in Robin's story.
Defeating the Warlords of the Sea, killing the Celestial Dragons, standing against the Marine Admirals, and rising to the level of a Yonko.
A man the World Government despised but could not stop.
It was this legendary son-in-law who had resurrected her, turning her into this miraculous existence called a Heroic Spirit.
His only flaw, as Olvia saw it, was his fickle nature.
Her head throbbed slightly as she glanced at Caelan surrounded by so many women.
What troubled her more was the fact that she found herself drawn to him, perhaps even more than she had ever been to her late husband.
No… I must not compete with my daughter for a man! Such a relationship is unthinkable!
…
On the other side, Nami and the others gave the mother and daughter space, gathering around Caelan instead.
"It really worked. He actually brought the dead back to life."
"No matter how long I look at it, it still feels unreal. That woman's been dead for twenty years!"
Nami spoke in awe as she watched Olvia, who looked no different from a living, breathing human.
Everyone knew the dead could not be resurrected, nor could humans escape mortality.
And yet, Caelan had overturned this truth.
"She looks completely normal, without a single side effect."
Gion observed Olvia carefully.
No matter how long she examined her, Olvia's form was flawless. A Heroic Spirit's body, complete and perfect.
Still, Gion believed all things came with a price.
If Olvia seemed fine, it was only because Caelan had borne the cost.
But Caelan himself remained calm, unbothered, as if the miracle had cost him nothing.
Meaning that the price of resurrecting Olvia was negligible for him.
"I don't even know what to call you anymore." Gion gave him a look filled with awe. "God Slayer Caelan? Your Excellency? Or perhaps God of Life and Death, Your Majesty?"
To casually step across the boundary between life and death, reviving souls that had perished twenty years ago, and granting them immortal Heroic Spirit bodies at will—such a man was indeed godlike.
"Don't bother. Just call me husband or dear."
Caelan replied with a gentle smile.
His majesty did not need to be declared by his women. The world itself would worship him like a god.
With them, he preferred intimacy.
"Shameless."
Gion rolled her eyes, but she felt a quiet happiness in her heart.
…
Suddenly, as Olvia was warmly speaking with Robin, her body weakened and she collapsed into Robin's arms.
"What happened? Why did she faint all of a sudden?"
Robin's face paled as she held her mother tightly, her voice trembling.
Having reunited after twenty years, she could not bear to lose her again.
But why?
The examinations had shown Olvia's body to be perfect, no different from her own or Nami's Heroic Spirit body.
Why now?
Caelan stepped forward, checked her carefully, and then spoke with calm assurance. "It's nothing serious. I just infused her with too little magic. I only need to replenish it."
It was his first time resurrecting someone, and he had miscalculated the amount of magic required. Next time, he would be more precise.
"Magic replenishment!?"
Robin froze, her face flushing.
That meant exchanging bodily fluids with Olvia.
At the largest scale, the act of union. At the smallest, a kiss to transfer energy.
Either way, it was embarrassing.
Still, Robin bit her lip, then pushed her mother into Caelan's arms, her face burning.
"Kiss her if you must… As long as she's safe!"
Compared to her own embarrassment, her mother's life mattered far more.
(To be continued.)
***
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