Rowan's expression turned stoic as he heard Robin's bold statement.
He couldn't help but reminisce over the time when he recruited Cavendish, Alfred, and Farul into his crew, just for the 490 million Beli they were in possession of; he wasn't that picky when it came to choosing the crew members.
However, something irked him: the fact that she would make a decision to betray her affiliation after being their hostage for one day only. It was as if she didn't trust anyone at all, and prioritized her own life over anything else. Frankly put, Rowan's first impression of Robin wasn't great, and he couldn't afford to blatantly trust her.
'Accept her into the crew for the information that may benefit us by a large margin, and risk for a potential betrayal... or reject her deal and gather the information ourselves.' Rowan thought grimly, weighing each option.
Without any interruption, Rowan's crew silently waited for him to speak. Robin's eyes didn't leave Rowan, patiently waiting for his answer.
"...You know what?" After a moment of contemplation, Rowan opened his mouth again, "Blindfold her back."
After leaving Cocoyasi village and becoming wanted with a high bounty, his crew was the only home he had. The idea of recruiting someone he found untrustworthy into his family... he hated it.
Robin's eyes lowered dully as she heard Rowan's order to his crew, and Dan stepped forward to place the blindfold back on her eyes.
Afterward, the night swiftly passed by, and Rowan and his crew were rejuvenated to some degree.
Realizing that the situation required their caution, they decided to travel swiftly and garner information. Being confident is good, but unknown enemies mustn't be underestimated.
Now, with Robin on top of Farul yet again, the crew sighted a town in front of them, packed with a vast number of civilians, unlike Tamarisk.
"Katorea..." Carina's eyes sharpened as she sighted the commotion ahead of them, "Large crowd gathering up; they must be the rebels."
As they approached closer to the town, they witnessed the armed civilians standing in an orderly fashion and glaring at them with hostility, with their guns pointed at them.
"To think Sir Crocodile's warnings were true!" One civilian muttered as he angrily held up his gun with a shaky hand, "Just how despicable has king Cobra become, for him to hire the pirates to stop us!!"
Another civilian, standing next to him, whispered back fearfully, "A-are we sure about this? He said that they are too strong for us to handle! He is mobilizing forces to personally deal with them himself—can't we just retreat?"
In the middle of the front line, a blond-haired man with a scar on his left eye, wearing purple sunglasses and a blue scarf around his neck, was seen to be standing firmly with his arms crossed.
"Rowan the Grimheart." The man growled in a cold sweat, "A man with a bounty of 205 million Beli on his head. Disappeared three years ago, only to reappear for an act as evil as this... a pirate indeed."
'Crocodile's manipulation, distrust to the kingdom, and rebellion.' Rowan quickly got the gist of what is going on. 'So in their perspective, we are supposedly the hired mercenaries of the king.'
The air around Carmen heated up, indicating that she's irritated. Simultaneously, Cavendish's hand reached for his sheathed sword, ready to use it if necessary.
Shrugging casually, Rowan turned his head to Carina and Dan, who stood on his right, "Hey Carina, Dan, how much did we receive from the king?"
Carina tilted her head in faked confusion, "We received money from him?"
From behind her, Dan peeked through, "We met him before?"
"Hey," Under the stupefied gazes of the armed common folks in front of them, Rowan shouted out, "Is your king's name Aoki Ichiro? That's the only king we ever met in the past."
"What?" One man cried in confusion, "King's full name is Nefertari Cobra! Who the hell is Aoki Ichiro?"
"Don't tell me?!" Another one gasped in a sudden shock, "A conspiracy?? King Cobra was long dead, and replaced by an imposter?!"
They began to talk among themselves with panicked expressions, thinking of all sorts of possibilities.
"STOP!!" The man with sunglasses commanded in a charismatic manner. "Don't be swayed by the words that came from criminals! How can you trust such words over the years of injustice we have received?!"
"Haa..." Rowan sighed seeing the man's stubbornness. "Carmen." In a serious manner, he called out to Carmen, who nodded before raising her hand up high in the sky.
*BOOOOOOM* A large stream of fire exploded from the top of her hand and blasted upward to the sky, creating a horrifying view to the opposing force. They felt the heat that radiated from the fire, and couldn't help but gulp in fear.
"I won't say it twice." Rowan stated in a cold tone. "Whether you believe in my words or not, I don't care. But if you don't wish to get yourselves killed for nothing, move aside."
The civilians look horrified. Turning to their leader, they asked fearfully, "K-Koza, what should we do??"
Koza, the man with sunglasses, shook his fist in helplessness. After sighting a display of power by Carmen, he quickly realized that there is no chance for them to retaliate, just as Crocodile warned. Gritting his teeth, he lowered his head and commanded, "...Let them pass through. Don't act rashly."
As the rebellion opened the way to expose an entry to Katorea, Rowan and his crew silently passed through them. The first thing they did was to refill their reserve of water, for Katorea was a large oasis with plenty of water to spare.
Quenching his thirst, Rowan turned around with narrowed eyes, staring at the rebels, who were intently monitoring them. Specifically, his eyes were locked onto one average-looking individual, who was staring at them while sweating profusely.
Under the watch of many, Rowan suddenly raised his hand up toward that person, with his index extended.
Seeing this, Koza's eyes widened, "Scum, what are you about to do-"
"Bounce pistol." With a small booming sound that came from Rowan's index finger, the man Rowan was staring at suddenly fell with a yelp while puking blood, as a bloody hole abruptly appeared on his chest.
"You bastard!!!" Koza roared while clenching on his sword and the rebels around snarled with their weapons in their hands. He rushed towards Rowan without thinking any further, ready to strike Rowan down.
*BOOM* However, unlike what Koza expected, his sword powerlessly shattered upon reaching Rowan.
With a shocked visage, Koza stared at the hilt of the sword that he was holding onto.
"Listen buddy," Casually refilling his bottle and gulping down the water for the second time, Rowan spoke up, "I don't know what happened to you and the other civilians here, for you to accumulate so much hate towards the kingdom."
Crouching down, Rowan refilled his bottle once again and tucked it on his waist. "But the same applies to you. You got no right to judge me, when you have no idea what kind of person I am. Now, let me tell you one thing."
He stood back up and signaled to his crew members, "I don't harm the weak—unless they deserve it."
With the whole rebel force frozen on their spots, Rowan and his crew walked away from them, not bothering themselves to stay any longer and explore the town.
Koza stoically stared at the Grimheart pirates for few moments, before turning around and shakily walking towards the dead man. Koza took off his sunglasses and inspected the corpse.
"This guy joined us quite a long time ago." One man close to Koza muttered.
Crouching down, Koza slowly rolled up the sleeve of the shirt that the corpse was wearing—and sighted a tattoo of a particular jolly roger. Said jolly roger had rapiers crossing one another at the back of the skull, replacing the bones, and had a pair of purple wings.
The civilians witnessed this, and their expressions distorted into a confusion. Why would someone within their rank have a jolly roger symbol tattooed?
"How can this be..." Someone weakly mumbled. "Why would one of us be wearing a pirate's symbol?"
Koza's face broke out in absolute fury, as the veins popped up from his forehead and his fists clenched so hard that they turned red. Standing up with his whole body shaking in anger, Koza slowly spoke, "...Check everyone thoroughly and bring whoever has this symbol on his or her body. Right now."
Unknown to Koza and the rebels, one man, who was standing along with them, frowned. Sneakily, he moved himself to a nearby dark alley, before his appearance completely transformed—into a male with unique make-ups on his face, wearing ballet clothes, and swan-like garments on his back. He was Mr. 2, one of the top officer agents within the Baroque Works.
He took out a small Den Den Mushi from his attire and dialed for a call.
"Pururu- Report." The recipient, Crocodile, immediately took up the call. Usually, Robin, who went by the alias of Miss All Sunday, would've received the report and relayed the information to Crocodile, but she was missing at the current moment.
"Oh, hi there~!" Mr. 2 talked into the dial jovially with a grin, "Currently, the Grimheart pirates already passed through Katorea-"
"What?!!" Crocodile's voice from Den Den Mushi exclaimed in shock, "How come?! The travel from Tamarisk to Katorea is supposed to take at least a week!!"
"Annnd," Mr. 2 brought his face closer to the dial, pausing for a second, "one of our agents got discovered due to Grimheart~!"
Crocodile was silent hearing that. The expression of Den Den Mushi seemed dark and murderous, reflecting how Crocodile felt.
"Heeello? Are you still there~?" Mr. 2 asked in confusion after waiting for a while.
"...Continue."
_______________
"Instant discovery of a spy who wasn't discovered for years. An exquisite mastery over the Observation Haki-" Crocodile growled as his hand, which was clenched onto the dial of Den Den Mushi, tightened, "-that has to be the only plausible explanation. A pirate with a capability to use Haki, within the early Paradise..."
Taking a deep breath, Crocodile calmed himself down and lit up a cigar with a lighter.
"Plan can no longer be delayed. Discard the symbol of Baroque Works and state that it belongs to another pirate crew hired by the king." Crocodile puffed smoke out as he stared at the map of Alabasta that laid out in front of him. "Civil war between the royal army and rebellion will begin. Distract the Grimheart pirates and acquire Miss All Sunday. Locate Poneglyph, and finally, Pluton.
However, against the pirates who awakened Haki... current Baroque Works may not have enough strength to seize victory." Crocodile stared at the Den Den Mushi, void of any emotion. "It seems that I got no choice but to gamble... with the marines."
With a thick, dark-coloured fur coat draped around his shoulder, Crocodile stood up and walked out of his office.