Making my way through the One Piece Heroines novel and so far Robin's chapter where she's traveling with the Revolutionary Army is my favorite! And it was set during Robin's journey to Sabaody, which means all kinds of stories like this could have happened over those two years she was with them!
Robin didn't used to like looking at the ocean at sunset because it reminded her of Ohara burning (cries)
Sabo hates being excluded from chores and regularly puts himself in the roster. In this story, he's the chef for this voyage because its a short trip that doesn't require a professional chef. He seems to be a decent cook, though he ends up botching a recipe with bitter mushrooms but nobody says anything because a) food is too precious to waste and b) they don't mind rubbery shrooms if Sabo was the one who made them.
Part of the Revolutionary Army's duties include preserving historical ruins, texts, and artifacts in conflict zones and transporting the relics to universities where they'll be safe (Teacher Dragon intensifies)
Koala is willing to study a stone tablet all night, analyzing symbols and comparing them to languages she's found in other texts simply because she wanted to understand what it was this person from centuries back wanted so badly to preserve on a stone tablet that was buried underground where it was sure to last. There's a direct parallel established between her and Robin who felt that same joyful sense of discovery and connection when she was learning to decipher inscriptions at Ohara.
Apparently Rome or some Roman equivalent exists in Blue Planet since the language system is divided into two categories : pictographs like the Caligraphic strokes in Wano and the letters of the Roman alphabet.
The tablet came from Eucaly, a city-state that had formed in between the friction of its two surrounding nations that maintained its independence for a while until it was absorbed into the World Government. Even though their script was different, their spoken language was unified with the common tongue, Kayogo, which meant Koala was able to use a phoneme grid called Soncrucian to translate the tablet. And what does it turn out to be?
A recipe for mushroom and egg soup.
A mushroom soup that they make the next morning which everyone loves and even Dragon, who was holed up in his chambers for the past few days, comes out for a bowl! 😭😭
I adore the insight we get in novelizations of visual media because this shit is GOOD.
Robin learning to overcome trauma induced avoidant behaviors? Amazing, excellent showing of character development from the inside.
Sabo having a pathological need to be helpful/useful? Delightful, he either needs therapy, or he has learned to recontextualize this need as a self-soothing behavior for restlessness through therapy.
The Revolutionary Army Indiana Jones-ing this shit on the regular? Beautiful, also in line with the Amaru being depicted in places of knowledge but that’s the tinfoil hat talking.
Koala being a little nerd oh my god I love her. Archeological romanticism is fucking awesome because how many recipes in the world have been rediscovered in this way?
Also One Piece Rome? Interesting. I wonder of if it was near Dressrosa, or had some entwined history with Dressrosa.
If Dragon being batshit insane enough to build an entire army that’s putting a helluva lot more than a dent in the 800 year status quo within twenty or so years isn’t proof enough that he’s a Monkey D, being lured out of his den by the promise of yummy food definitely is. Give that man a bowl, paperwork don’t get done on an empty stomach!