The silence of the study was absolute, broken only by the rhythmic rustle of parchment as Nico Robin turned another page. She was deeply immersed in her research, the weight of history hanging heavy in the air—until the space in front of her began to fracture.
A soft, prismatic hum vibrated through the room. Robin looked up, her calm expression faltering as she saw a human silhouette gradually flickering into existence amidst the drifting dust motes. It wasn't the fluid movement of a Soru master or the elemental swirl of a Logia user; it was as if reality itself was being rewritten to accommodate a guest.
She froze, her book forgotten in her lap. As the form solidified into the unmistakable features of Li Ke, her breath hitched.
"Mr. Li Ke?"
The name left her lips before her mind could even process the impossibility of his appearance. The impression he had left on her—a whirlwind of sensations that had challenged her legendary composure and introduced her to heights of pleasure she'd never imagined—was far too vivid to ever fade.
The man who had watched her vanish from his side was now standing right in front of her, looking exactly as she remembered him.
"Ah, it's me, Robin. I'm just dropping by for a little business." Li Ke gave her a casual wave.
Robin, ever the pirate, immediately went on high alert. If Li Ke was simply "craving" her body again, she didn't mind all that much—worst case, she could just sprout a few clones or deal with it herself. Or, she could just knock him out.
As a pirate, her moral compass was flexible, but more importantly, Li Ke had once saved her life. Still, her survival instincts won out; she kept her guard up as she watched him warily.
"Very well. What kind of 'business'?"
"Mainly just staying in this world for a while to farm some Energy Points."
Li Ke wasn't worried about his safety. The moment he had arrived, he had already opened his (Endless Traveler) interface. He could see clearly now: from the One Piece world, traveling to the Naruto world cost only 10,000 energy points, while a jump to Shokugeki no Soma was a mere 1,000. Even returning to the world of Dungeon & Fighter was only 20,000 points—amounts he could easily gather with a bit of time.
Strangely enough, the cost to jump to the League of Legends world had skyrocketed to a staggering 300 million points. It was an absurdly high price.
I guess even if I hadn't given that tablet to Azula, I wouldn't have been able to trade it for Lux's 'first time' anyway, he thought with a mix of relief and lingering regret.
He turned his focus back to the woman in front of him, looking Robin straight in the eye.
"You're still carrying the power you obtained from that other world, aren't you?"
Robin's expression didn't flicker, but she looked at him with a veil of confusion. "I'm not sure I follow. What do you mean?"
Robin had indeed brought that power back with her. She had grown quite fond of the ability to excavate massive tunnels in an instant, and the Construction System had proven indispensable. With it, she could establish a hidden base anywhere, slipping in and out of ancient ruins with ease, completely bypassing the hazards of pursuit or environmental dangers.
It was a life-saving trump card. And in her world, no one surrendered their trump card willingly. Until Li Ke presented undeniable proof, she wasn't going to admit to a thing.
"Fine. It seems you have no intention of coming clean," Li Ke sighed, sensing her defiance. "But that's alright. You might want to hear my terms first."
He extended his hand. In the next heartbeat, a brilliant golden radiance flickered into existence within his palm—the shimmering glow of Conceptual Longevity.
"What terms?" Robin asked coldly.
Behind Li Ke's back, several arms had already sprouted from the floor and walls. If he made a move to attack, she wouldn't hesitate to snap his neck or restrain him instantly.
"The resurrection of your mother," Li Ke said calmly. "I have the power to bring her back for three hours right now. I can reclaim the energy within you, convert it into longevity, and use that life force to trade for your mother's return. I'll take a thirty-percent cut for the service—that's the real reason I've come to find you, Robin."
Robin's "level" wasn't low. By the time of the Blood Moon, even a bit of zombie hunting could push someone to level sixty or seventy overnight. Li Ke estimated she was around level seventy, which meant she could provide him with roughly twenty-one years of Conceptual Longevity.
That was plenty. He wasn't a greedy man; after all, he could generate this energy himself.
"Is that so..." Robin shrugged, her voice dripping with skepticism.
Li Ke's offer sounded beautiful, but as a survivor of the Void Century's secrets and the World Government's hunt, she didn't believe a single word of it.
"I figured you wouldn't believe me. Well then, Robin—consider these next three hours a free sample."
Without a moment's hesitation, Li Ke crushed the three hours of Conceptual Longevity in his hand. He initiated the sequence: Resurrect Nico Olvia.
Gold light erupted, blinding and intense. Before Robin's widening eyes, the radiance from Li Ke's hand surged into the air, swirling violently until it tore open a shimmering golden vortex in the center of the room.
Then, a woman covered in scars began to emerge from the golden vortex.
She was draped in a shimmering radiance that acted like a healing balm; wherever the light touched her, the jagged wounds on her body knit themselves back together in an instant.
Robin stood frozen. The woman before her was a mirror of her own memory—identical in every detail. Although she had only seen her mother a few times in her life, the image was burned into her soul. Her jaw dropped, her mind reeling at the sheer impossibility of what she was witnessing.
"This... this can't be..."
Li Ke couldn't possibly have known her mother. Even if she had somehow survived all these years, she should have been a grey-haired old woman by now. Why did she look exactly as she did in the prime of her youth? More importantly, she was frozen in time—looking precisely as she had the very last time Robin had seen her. It defied all logic.
As the golden glow in his palm flickered out, Li Ke saw Nico Olvia's eyes flutter open. Sensing it was time for privacy, he tactfully turned and walked out of the room. He leaned against the wall outside and pulled out his phone, deciding to use the downtime to brush up on his languages.
The primary language of this world was essentially English, which was why he could communicate with Robin so easily. However, just to be safe, he needed to study the local nuances; his own English was, frankly, a bit "watered down" and basic.
Inside the study, Robin stared blankly at the woman. Nico Olvia looked back, momentarily stunned by the sight of the grown woman before her. Aside from their hair color, their features were almost carbon copies of one another. Olvia looked down at her healed hands, then back at Robin, her voice trembling with disbelief.
"Robin...?"
Though the girl was no longer the tiny child she remembered, a mother's instinct bridged the gap of years instantly. She knew.
Robin's eyes welled up. Hearing that voice and feeling the pull of their shared bloodline shattered her iron-clad composure. All her skepticism and defenses evaporated in a heartbeat as she threw herself into her mother's embrace.
Outside, Li Ke could faintly hear the sounds of sobbing through the door. Exactly three hours later, the door creaked open. Robin stood there, her face a mask of cold stoicism once again as she looked Li Ke in the eye.
"How can I believe you'll follow through?"
Li Ke: "..."
"Are you trying to play me for a fool?" Li Ke asked, his voice flat.
"Believe what you want. If you're not interested, I'm leaving. I could use a guide, but you aren't my only option. Besides, these years of life are just a currency I can earn whenever I want. For you, though? I doubt they're so cheap."
Li Ke spoke with total indifference. Whether Nico Robin chose to trust him and hand over her 7 Days to Die powers or not didn't actually matter to him. If push came to shove, he could always head back to the DNF world and "farm" longevity from Seria.
This conceptual longevity was his ultimate life-saving trump card. As long as he didn't stupidly provoke the Will of the World, he didn't have to fear death. Even when Azula had drugged him, he hadn't been worried—with his longevity active, he simply couldn't die. Unless he ran into a world-ending entity or a "Child of Fate" with overwhelming luck, death was an obsolete concept to him.
"I see. It seems I only have one path left: to trust you," Robin murmured. "But unfortunately, I don't plan on resurrecting my mother right this second. Can you wait for a while?"
"How long?"
"About twenty years."
"I'm out."
Li Ke stood up immediately, ready to vanish. He figured he'd just head to the East Blue, find Nami, and use ten years of life and some gold bars to trade for her and her sister. He could harvest plenty of power from them. As for this utterly insincere Robin? It was better to just part ways and forget each other.
"Wait!"
Seeing him actually about to leave, Robin reached out and grabbed his arm, tilting her head slightly.
"If you take me with you... to help me learn to trust you... I can let you have your way with me every day. I can even sprout extra limbs, or extra heads, to make sure you're... satisfied. In any way you can imagine."
Li Ke: "..."
Do I look like I'm that desperate?! Am I really that kind of man?
---------- Thirty minutes later ----------
"So, we're heading to the East Blue?" Robin asked curiously, standing on the deck of their vessel.
"That's the plan," Li Ke replied, adjusting his gear.
"That might be a bit of a headache. Traditional routes won't get us there easily," Robin said, her smile now incredibly attentive and sweet. "But don't worry, I have a way."
"Which is?"
"...A hot air balloon," Robin repeated, her smile widening into something almost predatory yet sweet.
Li Ke stared at her for a long, silent moment. He thought about the [Endless Traveler] system in his mind, the god-tier technology he'd just handed to a Fire Nation psychopath, and the fact that he could trade literal lifespans for miracles.
And now, his grand journey across the most treacherous sea in existence was apparently going to involve a wicker basket and a giant bag of hot air.
He let out a long, weary sigh. "You know, for a woman who can sprout a thousand arms, your travel suggestions are surprisingly... low-tech."
Robin let out a soft, melodic laugh, leaning closer to his ear. "Don't worry, Mr. Li Ke. If the wind fails us, I can always sprout a few hundred more arms to paddle through the clouds. It'll be... quite the workout."
Li Ke: "..."
I really need to stop letting my lower half make the executive decisions, he thought, as the first gust of heat began to fill the silk above them.