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(1) Lesson: A cup of water is not yours until you drink it. Likewise, knowledge.
All scholars of Ohara memorise via the method of loci, and Nico Robin, at eight years old, is no exception. Her favourite is a temple hewn from stone, a wise king's magna opus as reconstructed from academic blueprints. There, she stores the lessons she learns: a kind elderly lady still calls for the marines in the night after she's fed you; a knife in the hands of a frightened child can still slit a soldier's throat; a powerful man is still not quite immune to the intrigue of a beautiful woman.
She drinks deeply from the cup of knowledge and suffering, and two pillars form in the forefront of the temple. The first is who she has always been—the pursuit of good things, knowledge for knowledge's sake, building up, preserving, and leaving a legacy for all humanity. The other is who she discovered she was when the world government placed a bounty on her head—an immovable strength, manifesting in guile, bloodshed, and conquest.
Her surprise is only at how readily she accepts these as her foundation—the twin load-bearing columns of the woman she now is.
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(2) Aphorism: Scientia potestas est. (Translation: Knowledge is power.)
"Read it," demands Crocodile. Then he raises a hand to call her to pause and adds, almost smugly, "Out loud."
He thinks he's clever. Robin smiles. He's not stupid, but Robin is really, really clever.
She hadn't intended deception when she'd first sought out the most comprehensive history of Alabasta. (Three archaic hand-scribed manuscripts and a yellowed but hardly-used guide. It was technically restricted access, though that hardly mattered in the face of Robin's devil fruit.) She had merely wanted to know—the first pillar of Nico Robin.
She recites this knowledge from memory, trailing her fingers along the runes of the poneglyph before her, retrieving the words verbatim as she walks through the temple rooms in her mind. She fully expects Crocodile to interrupt her, to point to one word or the other and demand its meaning. She already has the textbook explanation on why translation is an imperfect art on the tip of her tongue. She doesn't get that far.
He's never been a patient man, especially when it comes to failure.
(3) Quote: Death never takes a wise man by surprise; he is always ready to go.
He deals her a mortal wound and leaves her to bleed out in the collapsing tomb of this country's kings. The age-old stone crumbles and groans, weary and slow to return to dust. She closes her eyes and waits.
It's surprisingly peaceful.
(4) Comment: As implied ibid, "life is full of surprises".
(5) Fallacy: Appeal to pity.
Straw Hat Luffy saves her and she demands 'why' but receives no answer. As she dusts herself off, she decides a fitting consequence for his unwelcome charity. She invites herself to his crew.
A strange group—they actually accept her, welcome her into their lives and their home despite being enemies three days before.
Over time, she learns that if she drops into a light doze below deck beside Nami, the next morning will come with warmth, the smell of breakfast wafting in from the adjoining kitchen, and that strange, unconditional acceptance.
(6) Study: Repeated exposure to similar situations without negative stimuli result in dissociation of situation and stimuli.
. . . and she is . . . happy?
(7) Supra (4).
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(8) Truism: Nothing lasts forever.
(9) Quote: Only a fool can be happy.
The government finds her, as they have many times before. This time, however, she can't bring herself to offer these people as sacrifice in her place. She tries desperately to think of an alternative to the offer laid before.
She becomes the illusion of stillness, there is no stillness in her. Her mind is structure and movement all at once—the earth in revolution beneath the temple's foundation stone. Her mind moves as the celestial bodies, a million miles a minute, yet imperceptible. She is perfectly grounded as the centrifugal force tears her apart.
A lifetime ago, she was taught to smile when she wants to cry, so she smiles now. A mind built by the wisest men in history and it yields no solutions, so what use is it? What use is she? She's only good for secrets, sabotage, and smiles like sweet poison.
Even the greatest temple cannot stand forever.
(10) Quote: The only way to have a friend is to be one. Nb. This implies friends are worth having. Comment: The author agrees.
(11) Quote: There is nothing worth living for, unless it is worth dying for.
(12) (Non-)issue: Hobson's choice.
(13) Principle: Occam's razor.
She takes the offer.
===/\===
(14) Policy: No man left behind.
The friends she tried to save came for her. They stand in proud defiance of the authorities that have wronged her all her life, figures of would-be legend backlit by the sun, their shadows stark and black, bridging the deep chasm she stands on the other side of, alone.
It borders on the absurd. They shouldn't have, it makes no logical sense. And yet, there they stand.
(15) Quote: When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.
She fails to understand and finds that for once, she does not need to know. Equally illogical hope wells up in her. (The temple is shored up, its glory to be restored. Not yet, but in the future promised.)
"Say you wanna live," shouts Luffy, and he waits for her answer, as if he has all the time in the world. As if time itself will yield to his force of will.
It almost does. The mad rush of adrenaline blocks all noise except the rush of blood in her veins, her captain's voice ringing in her ears. She has the split-second to wonder if all great turning points in history are like this, destiny at the mercy of a momentous decision, all the world in bated breath.
She doesn't stop to wonder if she dares. The second pillar of her identity commands her to be bold.
(16) Proverb: Fortune favours the bold.
"I want to live," she cries across the divide—
—and—
(17) Supra (4).
—she is saved.
===/END\===