58 Mischievous Brats
...
"It's God punishing me for being a good person?"
""Hey, mister. Let's play!""
"-Sob, sob, sob-... My precious sanctuary has been turned into a kindergarten..."
"Come on mister. Don't be so exaggerated... Now, let's play!"
"Yeah, mister, let's play!"
"Let's play, let's play!"
"You damn brats... Can't you see that I'm busy?"
""Doing what?""
"I'm... reading this"
-Crackrakak-
"A newspaper...? -Sigh...- Mister, you sure are boring...~"
"How boring...~"
"Boooring~"
"Tsk, kids these days are getting more and more ill-mannered!... When I was as young as you, I always respected my elders!"
"I don't think so"
"I don't think so"
"I don't think so"
"Tsk... Why you...!"
"Ahhh...! Run!"
"Mister is angry!"
"Evacuate the area!"
-Tap, tap, tap, tap...-
...
-Sigh...-
As the three children ran away, Farid swept his whole face with his hand as a tired expression appeared on his face, before he then shook his head and started walking towards the table where Robin was chuckling at him.
-Giggle-
Taking a seat while ignoring Robin's funny expression, Farid poured some tea into a cup he had used in the morning before he leaned back on the chair and began drinking from it with a lifeless expression.
Seeing him act like that, Robin smiled warmly before leaning forward and supporting her head on her palm as she spoke to Farid.
"It seems like those kids adore you"
"Adore me...? More like those little imps want me to die from exhaustion..."
"Fufufu, it didn't seem like that to me"
"Tsk, believe what you want..."
-Sip-
"...They are just... a bit grateful to me"
"Hmm, now that you mention it, I'm curious... How did you meet them? They didn't seem like they were familiars of yours"
Hearing her, Farid raised an eyebrow for a moment before looking away as he started remembering how he had met those kids.
"They arrived one day here by casualty, completely malnourished and dehydrated as if they had not eaten or drunk anything in several days. Because of that, I helped them a little and gave them some food and water... -Sigh...- They seemed like really timid children at that time, who would have thought that they would be such mischievous brats in reality...?"
Shaking his head with an exasperated expression, Farid then sighed, before he looked back at Robin and started explaining the next part of the story.
"After that, I brought them to the place where their village was situated. However, by the time we arrived there, everything was already destroyed... by a sandstorm"
"...!"
Raising an eyebrow as he glared at Robin, seemingly implying something with his last words, Farid then closed his eyes, before he looked at the old man, who was now lying asleep on his couch since he was exhausted from the trip he had done with the kids until his home and pointed at him using his head.
"... Fortunately, the head of their village had been waiting for them all that time. So I was able to leave them under his care, and I gave them a little money so that they wouldn't have a problem surviving for a few months... -Sigh...- Who would have thought that those kids could be able to remember all the way to my home? There goes my privacy..."
"I see..."
As Farid finished telling the story, Robin looked in the direction where the children had left, before a complex expression arose on her face. Seemingly having remembered something that made her mood sour.
After all, she was, in a certain way, an accomplice of all Crocodile had been doing all this time. Which included the destruction of those kids' villages... And every problem that had arisen in Arabasta since both of them arrived.
'I was really too engrossed in my wish...'
She had been accustomed to seeing the entire world as her enemy. And as such, she felt no guilt for those affected by her actions, thinking that it was the world that was in the wrong for attacking her constantly, and that she had no other option.
However, now, seeing those little kids being affected by her actions, she couldn't help but clench her fist as she noticed how much pain her actions had brought to others.
'...I'm such a horrible woman... Aren't I?'
As she thought of all the mistakes she had done until now, her heart began clouding with guilt and sorrow.
"..."
"Hmph"
At that moment, as if noticing the change in Robin's emotions, Farid snorted, before he then picked up the teapot, and waved it in front of Robin's eyes as he asked her.
"More tea?"
Noticing Farid's gesture, Robin widened her eyes in surprise for a moment, before she then chuckled and nodded her head.
-Glugluglu...-
-Sip-
Then, after pouring some more tea into Robin's cup, Farid began drinking from his tea again while he looked to the side, as Robin began drinking her tea as well while chuckling at Farid's actions.
After that, both of them began enjoying the silence in peace.
-Stare...-
That was, however, until the figure of three kids appeared beside the table, and looked at the pair with curious eyes.
"Hey, mister, is this miss your wife?"
-Pfft!-
Almost spilling all the tea out of his mouth because of the surprise he had after hearing that question, Farid gulped down all the tea in one gulp, before he then looked at the three kids, and shot them a ferocious glare.
"Oi, you damn brats...-!"
"Who would have expected that despite being so rude, mister would be married"
"Well, he is actually a good guy. So it's no wonder that he is married"
"I bet they made their house here to have some intimacy"
-Slam!-
Slamming his fist on the table, Farid stood up, before he then cracked his knuckles as he approached the three kids with a murderous gaze in his eyes.
"Alright, that's enough! I'm feeding you little brats to a sandworm!"
Seeing the imposing figure of Farid approaching them with vile intentions, the kids paled up in fear, before they looked at each other, and began running away.
""Run away!!""
-Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap-
Unfortunately for them, they were not opponents to Farid in terms of speed.
...
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|Later, at night...|
...
After the berating that Farid gave to the kids, Farid played around with them for a little bit despite his initial refusal and listened to how their lives had been going so far after he helped them at that time. Getting to know that now the villagers of that destroyed village were looking to make a new village, now that the kingdom had entered into a prosperous road, and that everything seemed to be going well for the kids.
Hearing that, Farid couldn't help but feel relieved. Fortunately, it seemed like all the trouble he went through to catch Crocodile hadn't been for nothing.
Though, he still had to check on that old man living in the abandoned village. He began moving against Crocodile because that old man would eventually die if he didn't do anything, after all.
After that, the three kids and the village head went back home. Though, not before he apologized to Farid a hundred times for inconveniencing him by bringing them there.
Now, at night, Farid had gone to sleep. The kids had drained him mentally more than what he thought, and now he only wanted to relax in his room.
Because of that, now there was only one room in the house that was illuminated.
Robin's temporary room.
-Flip-
-Sigh...-
Robin, who was now resting on her bed while reading a book, suddenly let out a sigh, before she put down the book and looked at the ceiling with a complex expression on her face.
Farid's words from earlier still echoed deep within her mind. The words that had reminded her of what she had been doing for the past 20 years, all while ignoring what her actions were causing around her.
Before, she already knew that her actions were causing things like that, but since she had grown unfeeling to those around her due to her big distrust, it never really bothered her that much. Thinking that maybe, even if she helped them, they would betray her as well.
However, after almost dying back there at the Tomb of kings, Robin snapped and realized how wrong she had been living her life until then. Which made her understand now, how her actions had brought sadness and horror to the lives of many. Even if it was indirectly like with the kids' case, where her inaction in front of Crocodile evil acts had made so many people suffer.
Even if Farid had not mentioned it, she would easily guess that considering that the elder was seemingly the one taking care of the kids, it was very probable that the sandstorms had not only ended with the kids' village, but also with the lives of the kids' parents.
In a way, she was no different from those marines that had destroyed her home island. Who by blindly following orders, had ended with the lives of many innocent people.
Remembering that, Robin couldn't help but ask herself a question that she had been doing herself since that day when she almost died.
"Is really wanting to know the history of this world, wrong?"
Remembering every one of her memories when she was still learning from the archeologists, Robin shook her head. No matter how she looked at it, there was nothing wrong with trying to know about the past.
However, when she considered all the pain and damage that such a path was bringing not only to her but also to the people around her, she started to believe otherwise.
It was at that moment, however, that the face of the only person that had not been affected by her actions, and that had actually solved most of her mistakes here in Arabasta, appeared in her mind.
A man that, despite knowing who she was and all the dangerous rumors about her, seemed not to care about it at all, and that, for once in many years, had judged her by who she was, rather than by what the wanted posters and the world said.
At that moment, she remembered the elder's words when he and the children had arrived and had given that man a surprise.
{"... Good evening, and... I'm sorry Farid... They were too eager of meeting you again, so I simply couldn't tell them no..."}
"Farid"
Unconsciously, she muttered that name. Then, looking at the door of the room for a few seconds, soon a question rose in her mind.
'Is that his name?'
Until now, that man, whom she had been working with for several weeks by now, had not told her his name. Always avoiding the question, and saying things like "My name is unimportant".
Almost as if he was hiding it.
But honestly, she couldn't understand why.
"Farid... It's a nice name..."
Muttering that with an absentminded expression, suddenly Robin remembered the words of the children when both of them were having tea and blushed slightly.
{"Hey, mister, is this miss your wife?"}
However, that didn't last much, as soon her blush disappeared and her expression turned into a frown.
Then, sighing in a tired manner, Robin muttered something in a low voice as she eyed the door of the room.
"I can't believe a woman like me it's thinking about such things... -Sigh...- Let's just sleep..."
-Fuh-
After that, Robin blew out the candle that was illuminating her room and lay her body down on the bed.
She thought that her mind would be clearer after a good night of sleep.
...
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|Royal castle, at the throne's room...|
...
Standing in front of her father with a serious expression on her face, Vivi could be seen looking both at Cobra and at Igaram, who was standing right next to the king and looking at Vivi confusedly, with a decisive look in her eyes.
"Father, I must ask you something"
"H-hmm? O-oh, what is it, Vivi?"
Surprised by Vivi's unusually strong tone, Cobra raised an eyebrow, before he leaned forward a little bit and heard whatever she had to say,
"When you met that person with the cow mask back at the Tomb of kings, you said his voice sounded different, right?"
"Hmm? Oh, yes... Why do you ask?"
"How did it sound before that?"
"How...? Well, it sounded relatively youthful... More than I would expect from someone so strong..."
Hearing that, Vivi squinted his eyes, before she then glanced at Igaram, and asked another question.
"Igaram, you said you met him at Nanohana, right?"
"Hmm? Yes. He arrived when I was about to get killed, and taunted Mr.1 by calling him baldy"
Hearing him, Vivi almost tripped. She didn't remember hearing that last part.
However, recovering her composture immediately after that, Vivi's eyes squinted for a moment, before she nodded her head and looked at her father with a convinced expression.
"Father, I may know who the man behind the cow mask is"
"You do?!"
"Vivi-Sama does?!"
Nodding her head, Vivi then pointed at herself with her hand, as she spoke.
"It is just a possibility. However, if my guess isn't wrong, then that person isn't a danger to the kingdom... Which is why, please let me go and find him!"
Confused, Cobra raised an eyebrow as he looked at Vivi with a questioning gaze.
"Wait for a second Vivi, who is this man for you to be so sure that he isn't dangerous?"
Hearing Cobra's question, Igaram nodded, before he then glanced at Vivi with the same inquiring gaze that Cobra was giving her.
Who was this man, if Vivi already knew about his identity? Both of them asked themselves that question.
However, when the answer left Vivi's mouth, both men widened their eyes immensely, as their surprise turned into shock.
"It's Farid"
...
-To be continued-
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(A/N: New chapter in less than a day?! Impossible...
Anyway, Here it is. Some romance at last... Let's just hope that didn't make anyone cringe...
It almost did with me.
By the way, I have to ask you guys, how in hell are you level 10? The highest level I remember seeing here on web novel was always around level 5 or 6. Yet, I'm seeing guys with levels between 10 and 14 nowadays... Did web novel update something and I didn't notice?
It certainly would be the first time...)
