Vol 3 - Chapter 2 - Robin takes over the stage

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Away from the Palazzo del Signoria and the two leaders of Fiorenze, in the San Marco District, Robin, who was standing at the center of the main room with her hands clenched at her chest, slowly relaxed, and with a gentle voice called out for the dog.

"Blacky, come here. We will go after I take a break to the market to buy something. In the meantime, I will also look for some jobs."

*Woof* The dog quickly appeared from an adjacent room and took a guard stance looking at Robin's face. After that, he got closer to her and wiggled his tail, barking happily.

"Haha, you are pleased with how the cleaning went? I am really good at this." remarked Robin while wiping her forehead sweat.

Saying that she walked toward her private room, using her devil fruit to pick up the backpack placed in the main room's corner. Entering inside the room, fully equipped with a bedroom that she cleaned and settled down, along with everything required for a living. There was a small office made from walnut that was empty but next to it was a small library that too lacked any books.

"Such a shame there are no books in this library. No problem, with time, it will be filled by me. For now, let's put my books there, so it's not really so naked."

With her backpack on the bed, she began taking out her clothes, sorting them out in order, before later bringing out book after book, making it seem as if her backpack only contained books.

Albeit the black dog beside her began looking curiously at her while also starting to sniff her clothes, she took a glance at the dog and tapped with her index finger on its snout, saying with a complaining voice.

"If u start slobbering my clothes, we will get angry."

The black dog understood what Robin said and moved away from the clothes he was about to drool over and instead just watched her moving her books in the library. From the book "Legends of Atlas", "Kingdoms and the Sea", "Exploring the Blues", "All Blue", "Rainbow Mist", "The Marks of the Past", "History of Marines" along with many other books that were old without a cover mark on them.

Along with that, there were some sheets of paper bound together that she placed meticulously on the part of the library, later hiding it with some other books.

"Phew, this is all?" asked Robin, looking at her backpack that was empty.

*Woof* Barked the dog, noticing that Robin went to bed, resting herself, laying on the comfortable bed.

"No, stay down. I just cleaned the bed. Are you going to clean it if you get it dirty?" asked Robin with a sarcastic tone, making the dog put some puppy eyes.

"No, is no, Blacky. Hah, let's put on the clothes too, and after that, we will go out."

When hearing that, the dog had bright eyes and stepped back, giving Robin enough space to move around the room.

Soon, after she was done, she tidied her clothes and hair, and when Robin called out the black dog, it took a bit for him to make his appearance, but when he returned to her, she noticed that he had a leash on his mouth.

"You want me to put that on you?"

*Woof* Barked the dog while wagging his tail, pushing the leash with his front legs toward her.

Seeing such an intelligent dog was a first even for Robin, and while chuckling, she lowered herself to pick the leash. Patting the dog's head, she placed the leash on him.

"Well, everything is settled here. Let's get accustomed to our surroundings Blacky."

Getting out of the house and locking it, she started moving toward the city's markets, holding the large black dog's leash in her right hand. The contrast between the gentle-looking young lady and the threatening black dog was a sight to behold.

Along the way toward the market, most of the citizens were surprised to see the black dog being walked by this young lady and made way for her, mainly for the black dog to pass without much interaction.

Blacky looked up at Robin and made a sad expression while going at a slower pace next to her.

"Don't worry, it's not that they don't like you, they are afraid of your big size. It is normal for us humans to be afraid of threatening creatures. However, you are not one of those creatures." ended Robin saying while ruffling the head of the black dog.

The dog felt better hearing that comment and instead barked happily, making the other people who tried to avoid him, especially the women with children, calmer.

There was a kid that was curious about Blacky and walked in his direction, moving his hands to pat the black dog head.

Blacky reacted calmly and didn't growl or bark at the kid, and when the child began laughing happily as he started licking his face, Robin just had a gentle smile on her face.

"Madame, don't worry. The dog is smart and will not harm your child." said Robin to the mother's child who played with Blacky.

"Phew, thank you, young lady. I almost had a heart attack when I saw your dog lick his face. I haven't seen you around this place. Did you come in recently?"

"Indeed, madame. I just moved today to Fiorenze, now I am looking around the city with my dog. Pardon me if I ask, but do you know in which direction there is the Theatre House?"

"The Theater? It is facing Piazza Calcio. It would be the first large building you would see when you enter the square. Could it be, you are an artist?"

"Just a small one. This is the reason I even come to Fiorenze, to build a name on the larger scenes and play in front of a greater audience."

"Really? I am a big fan of Theater Plays, open plays or indoors. Can you tell me your name?"

"My name? Madam, I am not really known except for the small cities I played in."

"Not for that, young lady. I ask, so in the future, I hear your name being shouted in the square and markets by the publicizing boys, I can attend and support you."

Robin was a bit taken back, but with a calm, she responded to the lady. "Voclain Rose."

"My, my. Even the sound of the name calls for big stages. I will remember this name and hope you find success in your path Rose. Luciano, we need to also get going. We can't have this sister stay here and let her dog play with you."

"Nooo, I want to play more with the dog. Big sister, can you let me play with the dog a bit more? Please."

*Woof* Barked Blacky in a friendly manner, looking at the kid, later turning at Robin.

"I can't stay here all day, so if your mother allows you to play for a bit more, I will not stop you." replied Robin lowering herself to pat the child's head.

"Yeey, mommy, can I?" asked the kid that seemed to be in the range of 6-7 years old.

"Luciano, after this, you better don't ask for sweets." said the lady before saying to Robin.

"Let's move to the park. It is not that far from here. I can tell you more about the city without blocking the other people."

Nodding her head at the lady, Robin followed the lady while Blacky had the child on his back, looking like a horse, and so having both women laugh at this sight.

"Rose, you sure have an interesting dog. From where have you got it? He is so smart and obedient, that makes the rest of the dogs a laughing." asked the lady, who Robin found was called Selena, as they stood on a bench and looking at Luciano playing with Blacky, who wasn't on his leash.

"Well, to be honest with you, Selena, this dog was gifted by an old gentleman from which I rented a house. He is called Giorgio de Pazzi. Do you know anything about him?"

When Robin ended saying that, the lady next to her looked with big eyes and asked again to confirm what she heard.

"You said that old person was called de Pazzi?"

"Indeed, is there anything surprising? He seemed to be an old merchant by how his clothes looked to be."

"No, Rose, you are wrong. Way too wrong about who this gentleman is. Still, at the same time, you also got privileged to meet His Excellency de Pazzi. Congratulations. So you know in the future, he is the Commander of the Army in the entire Republic, making his status similar to Doge Lorenzo."

'That one, I didn't expect it at all. So that old sir had such status here.'

"Thank you for telling me that, Selena. In the future, when I meet him, I will not embarrass myself by creating a bad image." ended Robin adding, looking around herself and admiring the well-maintained park.

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Not long since then, about 15 minutes passed, and Robin, who talked with Selena, found some interesting information that would prove helpful for her. The artists' pay in the city was high, being a respected job all around, with wealthy merchants sponsoring art and plays all alike.

Apart from such information, she found a new commodity that appeared on the market of Fiorenze, taking it by storm, coffee.

The time for her to go on the market arrived, with Selena and Robin departing on their separate ways.

Taking on the alleys, she contemplated the information picked up by coincidence thanks to Blacky, who now was moving obediently next to her.

'Coffee? What's that? I never heard of it in Siciliana. I might buy some after I make some money.'

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She entered the market with Blacky staying close to her, so they wouldn't create unnecessary trouble for themselves, and seeing the variety of food she could pick up, it imprinted the idea that Fiorenze was indeed the place to stay and continue her research on the Poneglyphs.

Buying ingredients for about 3.500 𝔅 she moved with some bags in her hand, moving in the direction of the square. Selena mentioned that the Treater House was Plazza Calcio.

When she got there, she was shocked to see how many people there were, a bustling square, where people were gathered doing various things, from talking with friends to relaxing. There was even a large wooden stage raised where some people were staging a play, and most people gathered around to check.

She moved closer to the stage with curious eyes while Blacky made his magic and started biting some people that were in Robins way of getting forward to the front part of the stage, mesmerized by the atmosphere.

She watched the actors staging their play, a scene about looking for what the heart desired the most, about how the heroine of this play tried to search for her lost love. With ups and downs, the heroine, a decently looking young lady, kept her play professionally, giving off the emotions of the scenario.

Slowly, with the coming of the play's end, the public started clapping their hands vigorously, with some men started whistling intensely.

The actors on the stage gathered around, and started bowing down to the public in their clapping, and started to get off the stage.

Later after they walked out of the stage, a middle-aged man walked the stage and asked the public with a wide smile on his face.

"Well, who else wants to show their talent to the public? Apart from the local troupe of Malcenete that we all know, who else wants to take on the stage?"

There was silence, as no one wanted to go on the stage, Robin too, who held her bags with groceries, looked around, and then when the middle-aged man was about to walk off the stage with a long sigh, he heard the loud barking of a dog.

Stopping in place, he looked for where the dog bark was and found Robin standing close to the stage with unsure eyes.

*Woof* Blacky kept barking as if trying to point at Robin.

"My, that was unexpected even for me. Young lady, don't tell me your friend is encouraging you to get on the stage?"

Robin looked at the middle-aged man, and before she could respond, the public started to make way for her, having an open circle around her and Blacky being formed.

'Ahh, but I didn't prepare myself for anything today. Blacky, you goofball, I got nothing on me.'

"Don't be shy, young lady. Step on the stage. We will take care of your groceries and dog." said some people in public.

After some seconds of pondering, she nodded her head and walked to the stage together with Blacky. Placing down her grocery bags on the stage, she greeted the middle-aged man who gave her a smile, getting rather quickly off the stage, leaving Robin alone with Blacky standing on guard at the grocery bags.

"Ahem, thank you for allowing me to take the stage. I don't have a deep artist program in mind since even I was surprised, but I will sign a sound written by me. I hope you like it."

Gazing at the crowd that didn't disappear with the end of the actors that played before her, a crowd of 3.500 people, she started singing with a gentle, clear voice about a song of the past heroes and the injustice of them being forgotten.

The first part of her poem, adapted into a song, was an introduction to the main character who started his fight with life, from a lowly born peasant to fighting all his setbacks at the start of his life.

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With her eyes closed, Robin managed to captivate the entire crowd with her voice. Her song was more of a mesmerizing spell than a typical song with almost no meaning behind it.

Finishing her introduction to her character, she changed the intensity of her voice, getting deeper, starting to sing about his next hardships, the wars, the loss of comrades and later, with a slow voice, she sang about his final wins of his wars.

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Taking the hearts of the public in her hands, with her singing and story, she started with a clear, gentle voice to tell about the sweets of his life, about how he who won the war with his comrades has settled down, meeting the love of his life and living on a happy life, being blessed by the Gods with a son and daughter.

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Ending her singing, she took some breaths and only after that did she started to open her eyes to watch the silent crowd.

'Sigh, unfortunately, they didn't like it at all.' thinking that her face turned a bit sad, preparing herself to leave, but then Blacky started barking and getting at the front of the stage.

It was at that moment that the public woke from their trance and started applauding like crazy, exceeding their ovations compared to the actor's troupe.

"Bravo!! Bravo!!" acclaimed the public, clapping their hands and turning Robin's thoughts all over her head.

"This is the best performance of an unknown artist since Sincero made his appearance in Fiorenze one year ago." commented some of the public with smiles on their faces as they applauded Robin.

Robin didn't know what to do since this was her first play in front of such a crowd. Bowing down, she saw then some roses flying toward her, dropping on the wooden platform.

"Lady, tell us your name!" cried out some boys from the crowd.

"Yes, lady, let us know who you are! We will not miss any of your plays following this day!" shouted another boy who was mesmerized by Robin.

Taking a bit to react, she said to the public with a shy tone. "Rose. Voclain Rose."

Then the crowd started applauding more with Robin's introduction.

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Meanwhile, as all of this played out, from the top of a large building that looked to be the Theatre House, an old man wearing expensive clothes, having a monocle on his right eye, listened to a snail that was connected to the platform placed on the square as Robin was singing while his view was directly on the stage placed down.

Nodding his head with a pleased expression, he called someone on the other dialling snail he had beside him, where not long after, the voice of the same middle-aged man that presented over the stage could be heard.

"Lord Silveo?"

"Pietro, have that young lady meet me tomorrow. I want to present to her my offer to play for me. You better don't creep her out. I don't want to lose such talent. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Your Excellency. Don't worry, I will conduct myself professionally and won't womanize after her. With this girl, I too have no problem allowing her to the Theater."