INIIDF-Chapter 137 Nico Robin Remained Still

**Cover Story Serial - Big News 4: "Do you know where this person is?"**

**South Blue.** On a certain island, in a town, an old man wearing a pointed hat held an old newspaper, asking passersby if they knew the whereabouts of the person mentioned in the article. The locals turned pale, shook their heads, and quickly avoided him.

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The second sister of the trio, with long, soft, curly green hair resembling seaweed, named Boa Sandersonia (her name derived from the Chinese lantern flower), noticed that her older sister, Boa Hancock, was distracted and reminded her, "Elder sister, Cosmos-Sensei is watching you..."

"Who cares?" Hancock continued to look elsewhere.

"Hancock!" The tall, golden-haired adult female warrior named Cosmos, with a snake coiled around her shoulder, sternly scolded the black-haired girl in the front row of the group of girls. "It's training time. Please focus."

"But…" Hancock turned her head, lightly biting her soft pink lips, looking pitifully cute. "Haki is so easy for me that I can't get into it. I just get distracted so easily..."

Her elder sister was so adorable… On either side of her, the green-haired second sister, Boa Sandersonia, and the orange-haired third sister, Boa Marigold (named after the marigold flower), stared at their elder sister in a daze.

The other Kuja girls participating in the training, regardless of their age, were similarly entranced by Hancock's coy and bashful demeanor.

Not far away, sitting in front of the gateway to Stand City Fort, Robin also found herself momentarily spellbound by Hancock's beauty. 

Hancock had already been shockingly pretty and cute when she was expressionless, but now, as she deliberately played up her charm, seeming both shy and vulnerable, it was impossible to resist her appeal. Even Robin's heart softened...

With such beauty, why did she need such acting?

And with such acting, why did she need such beauty?

The combination of extraordinary beauty and captivating acting resulted in a devastating charm.

As she was appreciating the scene, Robin unintentionally glanced to the side and saw Liam sitting next to her, similarly enraptured by Hancock's charm.

"..." Robin snapped out of it.

Meanwhile, Liam muttered to himself, "Damn, this girl is this stunning even without eating that Devil Fruit?"

Thinking it over, it seemed like the manga never explicitly stated that the Empress's extraordinary beauty was a side effect of the Love-Love Fruit.

The only possible hint was in chapter 521 of the manga when the Empress tearfully confided in Luffy: "The irony is… back when we were slaves… the Celestial Dragons made us eat the Love-Love Fruit and the Snake-Snake Fruit (two different fruits) for fun, which allowed us to deceive the nation… and keep the secret (the Celestial Dragons' slave mark on our backs, the Hoof of the Flying Dragon)…"

At first glance, it seemed like she was saying that the Love-Love Fruit gave her an unbeatable charm, making everyone forgive her no matter how harsh she was, allowing her to easily deceive the nation.

But if that were the case…

There would be no need to mention her two younger sisters eating the "Snake-Snake Fruit."

Conversely, deceiving the entire nation required both the Snake-Snake Fruit and the Love-Love Fruit to be equally important.

To fully understand the Empress's words, we need to review how she deceived the Kuja Nation…

It was through the legend of the Gorgon Sisters' battle with the Medusa.

"The Medusa was a monster that once appeared on the open sea, and just making eye contact with it would turn people to stone. After an adventure, the three Gorgon Sisters managed to defeat the Medusa. 

But before it died, the monster placed a terrible curse on them... The curse left a massive eye on their backs, and whenever they revealed it by removing their clothes, anyone nearby would turn to stone and die..."

This is how the Gorgon Sisters deceived the nation.

Not through beauty.

But through fear and inspiration.

The fear of turning to stone after seeing their backs.

And the inspiration of the three sisters being brave warriors who defeated the terrifying monster, deeply moved the citizens who valued strength.

So…

The Snake-Snake Fruit supported the elaborate lie.

And the Love-Love Fruit played a similar role.

The lie only became believable when people actually turned to stone after seeing their backs, making the legend of the Medusa seem real.

This made the citizens believe that Medusa truly existed.

And thus, the sisters' heroism and the curse they supposedly carried became credible to the citizens, spreading the fear of the "curse" far and wide.

In this way, the sisters were able to hide the traumatic memories of their enslavement by the Celestial Dragons, as they desired. 

Whether the Love-Love Fruit actually gave the Empress a stronger, unbeatable charm became irrelevant. Even if the sisters had been ugly, in a society that valued strength like Kuja, the lie would have worked just as effectively.

…Liam nodded to himself, lifting the visor he'd been reading the manga through off his face and tossing it out the window, where it returned to 'B.I.B.'.

"Huh?" Liam noticed that the girl beside him, Robin, seemed completely unaffected by Hancock's charm, her expression as calm as usual. Surprised, he asked, "You didn't feel anything?"

Robin smiled softly, "Not at all."

"Of course!" Liam nodded, recalling Robin's unique and difficult-to-explain sense of aesthetics.

"..." Robin glanced at him, a bit annoyed that he hadn't noticed her displeasure. She began to feel a little frustrated.

Should she try to show she was more upset?

But she wasn't really that upset...

Then again, why would she even be upset?

Robin rubbed her chin, lost in thought.

She stood up and headed into the ghostly city fort. "I'm going to read."

Before she had taken more than a few steps, Liam grabbed her by the wrist, pulling her back in surprise. She stumbled, and he guided her back to sit down.

After weeks of daily training and an abundance of food, Liam's body had grown quickly. Now, at nearly twelve years old, he stood close to 170 cm tall. His proportions were balanced, with well-defined muscles. If it weren't for his overly youthful face, he could have easily passed for a short young man…

"…" Robin turned her head to look at him, feeling perplexed.

Liam pointed to the Kuja warriors who were explaining Haki training outside. "You should listen too. If you can learn it, it's better to learn together."

Robin paused for a moment before obediently sitting back down and nodding. "Alright."

"If you want to find the Poneglyphs, you need to have the ability to face the World Government and survive Marine pursuits. Enhancing your combat skills is never a bad idea," Liam said. "I'm curious to see how your Hana Hana no Mi would combine with Busoshoku Haki (Armament Haki). I wonder what that would look like…"

Busoshoku Haki… Robin listened to Cosmos' explanation and suddenly realized, "So this is why their arrows have such incredible destructive power, right?"

She couldn't help but imagine: if her arms, grown from her Hana Hana no Mi, could also be infused with that kind of power…

Perhaps, it would be quite impressive.

(End Of Chapter)

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