One Piece: Mandala Swordsman

Chapter 46 ill-intentioned kindness

"Are you alright?"

Rosinandi saw the blue sky and a smiling face, which made him a little flustered.

"I am fine."

Without his disguise, Rosinandi is definitely a gentle and kind man, and he loves children. As he gets up, he reaches out to Roman with a fruit candy wrapped in rainbow wrappers.

"Are you alright? Were you thinking while walking? How could you fall like that?" Roman couldn't help but chuckle as he recalled the comical scene.

"Ah..." Although he did have something on his mind, it had nothing to do with his fall. Even if Rosinandi was walking with complete concentration, falling was almost inevitable.

"I can sense it. You're feeling very down and somber. Oh? Your emotions clearly fluctuated just now? Was it yourself? A relative? Your parents? Your siblings?"

My emotions fluctuated again.

"So you're brothers?"

Rosinandi: Σ(っ°Д°;)っ

In front of this girl, it seemed that he had no secrets at all. The feeling of having his secrets exposed was less about being angry and more about being so surprised that he couldn't even get angry anymore.

"How did you know that...?"

The fact that he could appear in Marineford, dressed in a marine uniform, and looking quite young, suggests he's not a dangerous person. However, his ability to have his secrets exposed seems...

“It’s not that I know, but your reaction tells me. Don’t underestimate a child living alone at sea. Reading people’s expressions is a survival skill for us,” Roman replied slowly.

……

This time, the two sat under a parasol in a flower shop, with sunflowers representing sunshine in a glass. Roman was also holding a three-layer ice cream with strawberry, chocolate, and milk flavors.

Ah, it was Rosinante who paid the money.

Including the candy from earlier, this is to thank Roman for his kindness.

As for choosing a place next to the flower shop, they needed a quiet place to chat, and a flower shop at noon was perfect. After buying a bunch of sunflowers to act as customers, the two sat down comfortably.

"So, you only officially joined the Navy today, Black Cat?" Gentle Rosinante immediately remembered the details after learning Roman's preferences.

"Yes, I should be officially back at work tomorrow. But my boss seems to prefer sleeping to working. This is truly the first time I've ever worked under someone like that."

"Vice Admiral Kuzan is an excellent naval officer, and my father favors him greatly, so don't worry. Besides, it seems he used to be a very passionate young man, but something must have happened to him. My father often sighs about this."

The father Rosinandi refers to is not his biological father, but his adoptive father, a general from the Warring States period.

"Don't you have more worries than me? I can feel your struggle. If you don't resolve this soon, you might end up like Lieutenant General Kuzan."

"Is this the power of Haki? Your Observation Haki is exceptionally strong, but it's best to keep quiet about this kind of thing." The kind-hearted Rosinante once again expressed his goodwill.

Of course I know you're a good person, that's why I said that. Roman knew very well that this kind-hearted person was the epitome of gentleness.

"If you don't want to talk about it, that's fine. After all, it's only our first meeting. I just thought I should give you some advice. Of course, it might not be helpful, but it's better than you worrying here alone," Roman offered his "kind" suggestion.

"Thank you for your advice." Rosinandi's expression relaxed slightly. "But this is not something that can be easily explained."

Even without being told, it's almost obvious that Doflamingo was already somewhat famous when she left Flevans, which means that his actions had reached a very bad level. Watching her beloved brother walk step by step into the abyss, yet being powerless to stop him, Rosinante's inner collapse is unimaginable.

Although the two brothers parted ways because of Doflamingo's killing of his father, Rosinante always wanted to save Doflamingo.

Gentle kindness and pure malice—that's Rosinante and Doflamingo.

The tragic ending was not because good lost to evil, but because the weak lost to the strong. Both good intentions and malice need to be supported by strength, otherwise they will backfire sooner or later.

“I know, I was just feeling sentimental. I could tell you were sad because of your brother. I’ve had a similar experience. Although he wasn’t my biological brother, I used to have a child who gently called me ‘sister,’ but he went astray and insisted on joining some kind of mafia family, some Don Quixote. I really don’t know…”

Suddenly, Roman's shoulders were gripped tightly, the force so great that even Roman, who was mentally prepared, frowned slightly.

"What's wrong?" Seeing Rosinante lose control, she thought to herself, "He's taken the bait."

"Are you referring to the 'Don Quixote' gang from Beihai?"

"Yes, they always trample on the bottom line of the law, and they have a terrible reputation in Beihai. What's worse, they seem to be recruiting soldiers and are even willing to take in children. They must have something up their sleeve. If I don't leave Beihai, I will definitely teach those guys a lesson. However, if we leave them alone, that family will eventually become powerful. You seem very concerned. Do you know anyone there? You haven't joined that family either, have you?"

"I..." Rosinandi ultimately didn't say it.

"If that's the case, it's best to advise him to turn back from his misguided path, otherwise he will eventually suffer the consequences, and focusing his happiness on others will only lead him into a deeper abyss."

"Are you really a child? I always feel like you know a lot and can say some amazing things." Rosinante calmed himself down and began to look at the incredible child in front of him.

"You're not the first person to say this to me. My hometown was occupied by pirates, but before that, I loved reading. Thanks to that, I was able to look at everything in the world with a more rational mind. After that, I was on the run from XZ, experiencing the warmth and coldness of human relationships and witnessing many tragedies. But I will never forget the beautiful things I encountered. A person who is consumed by hatred has only hatred in their heart. Such a person cannot even obtain their own happiness."

Moral high ground, lofty ideals, and the end of pretentious posturing.

"What you said is so...so true, I really..."

To Roman's surprise, Rosinante suddenly hugged her and started crying.

It's like venting, yet also like expressing sentiments.

Tears fell on her like a fountain.

Although she's not a germaphobe, you can't let snot get on her!

In the end, Rosinandi not only lost the money for the ice cream, but also the cost of cleaning Roman's military uniform.