The night over Little Garden burned bright.
Gigantic slabs of dinosaur meat roasted over open pits carved into the earth. The smell of charred flesh and wild herbs filled the humid air, as sparks rose into the dark sky like drifting fireflies.
Sanji stood atop a rock, directing cooking operations like a battlefield commander.
"Turn that! Nojiko, salt there, Luffy, stop eating it raw!"
"I wasn't!" Luffy said through a mouthful of half-cooked meat.
Bartolomeo carried chunks of dinosaur leg twice his size, stumbling proudly. "For the warriors!"
Dorry and Brogy sat opposite each other, across a massive stone fire pit, each holding a roasted dinosaur rib the size of a tree trunk.
"GYAGYAGYAGYA!" Dorry roared.
"GABABABABA!" Brogy answered.
Their laughter rolled through the jungle like distant thunder.
Vivi watched them carefully.
"For a hundred years…" she murmured. "And they can still laugh and feast like this."
Cassandra stood beside the flames, watching the giants not with amusement.
They ate like warriors.
They drank deeply from barrels of booze the Straw Hats had on their ship.
"This is the first time in a century," Brogy said proudly, raising the barrel. "FINALLY SOME ALE!"
Dorry clashed his barrel against it.
"THEN LET IT WITNESS OUR RESOLVE!"
They drank.
The crew laughed.
For a moment, Little Garden felt less like a battlefield and more like a place suspended in time.
But Cassandra's gaze never stopped measuring.
The weight of their weapons.
The balance in their grip.
The ease in their shoulders.
These were not just giants.
They were masters of a forgotten era and she wanted to learn everything she could from them.
Dawn broke heavy and humid.
The feast fires had burned low and the remains of dinosaur bones lay scattered, like the aftermath of a prehistoric banquet.
The Going Merry was ready.
Supplies secured.
Eternal Pose set.
Dorry and Brogy stood before the ship, towering silhouettes against the rising sun.
"YOU HAVE EARNED OUR RESPECT!" Brogy declared.
"GYAGYAGYAGYA!" Dorry laughed. "WHEN YOU RETURN, WE SHALL STILL BE DUELING!"
Luffy grinned widely. "Don't die before we come back!"
The giants roared with laughter.
"WE WILL NOT FALL SO EASILY!"
The Merry began to move.
The shoreline drifted backward.
Then the sea changed.
The water ahead bulged unnaturally.
The ocean split.
A colossal shape rose from beneath the surface, larger than anything they have ever seen.
An island-eating Sea King looking like an oversized goldfish.
Its mouth opened wide enough to swallow the Going Merry whole.
Nami screamed. "We can't turn in time!"
Nojiko gripped the helm desperately. "The current's pulling us straight at it!"
Luffy leaned forward excitedly.
Cassandra's hand moved toward her blade, but the giants moved first.
Dorry and Brogy leapt into the surf, weapons raised.
Their massive silhouettes framed against the rising sun.
They didn't hesitate.
They didn't shout.
They planted their feet in perfect mirrored stances.
Cassandra's eyes sharpened instantly.
There it was.
The alignment.
The weight transfer.
The stillness before release.
The legendary technique of the giant race.
"HAKOKU—"
"—SOVEREIGNTY!"
Their voices merged.
A shockwave erupted from their weapons. A compressed blast of pure force, that carved through air and sea alike made its way obliterating everything in its path.
A gigantic hole was blasted into the massive Sea King.
The ocean behind it parted in a straight line stretching to the horizon.
The blast continued and then with a load crack, both weapons shattered.
The weapons were old and couldn´t withstand a blow this mighty.
Dorry's sword fractured down the center.
Brogy's axe splintered at the haft.
Fragments of ancient steel fell into the sea.
The giants stood still for a moment, staring at the broken remnants in their hands.
Then they laughed.
"GYAGYAGYAGYA!"
"GABABABABA!"
"AT LAST!"
Brogy hurled the broken axe aside.
"Our duel was decided long ago!"
Dorry dropped his shattered blade.
"And now it begins anew!"
The Sea King's remains sank slowly into the red-stained water.
The Merry drifted safely through the divided sea.
Cassandra remained frozen.
Not in fear, but in focus.
She replayed it again.
The power, the timing. How two wills striked as one.
Weapons breaking because they could not withstand the force channeled through them.
"I will master this technique," she whispered grinning wide.
The sea calmed.
Behind them, the giants stood tall and unarmed.
Ahead, the Grand Line opened once more.
Little Garden faded behind them, mist swallowing the silhouettes of Dorry and Brogy, as their laughter echoed faintly across the waves. The Going Merry sailed forward into open Grand Line waters, the air cooler now, heavier somehow.
Cassandra stood near the rail, replaying Hakoku Sovereignty in her mind.
Timing. Alignment. Shared will.
Her fingers twitched faintly.
Then suddenly without anyone noticing.
"Ara Ara this is a nice ship."
The voice came from behind them.
The voice sounded soft. Calm and very cultured
Every head turned at once.
A small boat drifted beside the Merry, as though it had always been there.
Sitting on the railing of the Merry was a tall woman, dressed in dark violett attire, that showed a lot of skin. Her long black hair flowed gently in the sea breeze.
She wore a cowboy hat with the same color, as her outfit.
Vivi froze.
"It's her… Miss All Sunday. What are you doing here."
Luffy blinked.
"What are you doing on our ship?"
Robin smiled faintly.
"Good afternoon little pirates."
Sanji stiffened immediately. "A beautiful woman… on open water… without warning?"
Bartolomeo took half a step behind Luffy. "She's one of them…"
Cassandra did not move, but every instinct sharpened.
She knew Robin wasn´t evil and she wouldn´t attack them now, but this silent approach was a bit scary. It showed her skills as an assassin.
"How bold," Robin said softly. "Defeating Mr. 3 and leaving Little Garden alive."
Her eyes drifted over the crew.
They paused on Cassandra, especially on her swords and lingered.
"You carry quite the collection."
Cassandra's hand rested loosely near Yurei.
"And you carry too much curiosity."
Robin tilted her head slightly.
"Curiosity is what keeps the world interesting."
"And gets people killed."
Robin smiled faintly at that.
Robin raised her hand slightly and quickly disarmed Nami and Nojiko, who had raised their weapons with her Devil fruit power, before anyone could react.
Her hand reached forward and she suddenly twirled Luffy's straw hat on her figer, before putting it on her own hat.
The crew froze.
Sanji's cigarette fell from his mouth.
Bartolomeo gasped audibly.
Nami's eyes widened in horror.
Luffy blinked at the empty space above him.
Robin examined the hat casually.
"So you´re the Straw Hat Captain. I´ve heard so much about you Monkey D. Luffy."
The air changed.
It wasn't visible, but it shifted.
Cassandra felt it instantly.
This wasn't a random gesture.
This was a test.
Luffy stepped forward, expression unreadable.
"That's mine."
Robin looked at him over the brim.
"Yes. Do you want it back?"
Her tone was playful, almost teasing.
"You don't seem nervous."
Luffy looked her deep in the eyes and then he shrugged.
"You don't feel like you're gonna hurt us and just destroy my hat."
Cassandra's eyes narrowed.
She watched Robin's fingers carefully.
Cassandra was ready to act, if the story seemed to change.
Robin stood up and gently tossed the straw hat back on Luffy's head.
It landed perfectly aligned.
"You're very trusting," she said.
Luffy grinned.
"I hear that often."
"She is the enemy Luffy," Vivi chimed in.
"You are more foolish than I thought Mrs. Wednesday, or do you prefer princess Vivi."
Vivi gritted her teeth.
"Not only did you infiltrate Baroque Works even so you are the princess of Alabasta, now you even sought the help of young and naive pirates."
Robin's gaze shifted again to Cassandra.
There it was again. This look that measured her and evaluated every move she made.
"You," Robin said softly, "don´t seem naive."
"No," Cassandra replied evenly. "I'm not."
Vivi clenched her fists.
"What is your purpose here?"
Robin folded her arms lightly.
"To see you."
"To see the people foolish enough to challenge Baroque Works so openly."
Her eyes returned once more to Cassandra.
"And to see the swordswoman who doesn't hesitate to slaughter our men."
Cassandra felt the faintest flicker of irritation.
"I don´t kill everyone I see."
Nami, Nojiko, Sanji and Vivi gave her a doubtful look.
"Hey I don´t," Cassandra said pouting her cheeks and trying to sound offended.
All four rolled their eyes.
Robin's gaze sharpened slightly.
"Do you?"
Silence.
The wind shifted.
Robin's presence felt judging and deep, like standing at the edge of very dark water.
Sanji stepped forward protectively, though still trying to appear composed.
"If you're here to fight than."
"I'm not."
Robin turned lightly toward the sea again.
"If I were, this conversation would have ended differently."
Bartolomeo swallowed.
"Then why show yourself?"
Robin looked back over her shoulder.
"Because your story interests me. After all I don´t hate high spirited people."
Her eyes softened just slightly.
"And because I wanted to confirm something."
"What?" Nami demanded.
Robin's gaze drifted across the crew.
"You're more dangerous than Crocodile expects."
A small pause.
"And less predictable."
She stepped back onto her boat.
Cassandra's hand tightened slightly on her sword.
For a heartbeat she considered, to strike first..
Catch the intelligence arm of Baroque Works now and let Crocodile sit in the dark.
Maybe Luffy could even talk her into joining the crew.
Robin noticed.
Her eyes flicked down to Cassandra's hand.
A faint smile touched her lips.
It was not mocking, but appreciative.
"I'm glad you didn't," she said quietly.
Cassandra did not reply, but sighed.
She still wasn´t sure, how much of the plot she can change, without risking mayor fallouts later.
Robin pushed off from the Merry gently.
Her boat drifted backward into open water.
"Until next time," she said. "That is if you survive."
The sea swallowed her presence almost immediately.
Silence lingered long after she vanished.
Nami exhaled sharply.
"I hate her."
Sanji picked up his cigarette and relit it.
"She's… unsettling, but so beautiful."
Bartolomeo muttered, "She touched the hat…"
Luffy adjusted the brim casually.
"She's weird."
Cassandra remained staring at the horizon.
"She's patient," she said quietly.
"And patient enemies are the worst kind."
Nami glanced at her.
"You looked like, you were about to attack."
Cassandra allowed herself a faint smirk.
"I was considering it."
A pause.
"And?"
Cassandra turned toward the helm.
"She's dangerous."
Another pause.
"…And Sanji is right. She is indeed very beautiful. Also this body."
Nami blinked.
"Of course you'd say that."
Cassandra's eyes flicked once more to the horizon.
"The most dangerous thing is, how intelligent she is."
"We have to defeat them," Vivi muttered.
Alabasta awaited them.
And somewhere beyond sight, Crocodile was already preparing.