And so begins the birthday story! I'll post a new chapter for each of the current 9 Strawhat pirates when their birthdays occur. More details after this chapter.
All of these take place when the crew has 9 members.
"Say, Robin . . ."
"Mm?" Robin looked up from her book towards Nami.
"I was just thinking . . . I don't think you've ever told anyone when your birthday is."
She looked at Robin expectantly. Robin looked up in thought then shook her head.
"You're right; I don't think I have."
And she went back to her book.
Nami sighed. "Robin?"
"Yes?"
"When is your birthday?"
"You mean the date?"
"Yes, I mean the date."
"February 6th."
"Oh!" Nami looked up. "So that's . . . pretty soon, isn't it?"
"I suppose so," Robin murmured. "I hadn't really thought about it."
"Who doesn't think about their birthday?" Nami asked skeptically.
"I stopped celebrating mine about ten years ago," Robin replied. "It seemed pointless."
". . . oh," Nami said. "I see . . ."
She strolled off somewhere, leaving Robin to her book.
Robin had indeed stopped celebrating her birthday a while ago. Not only was it sometimes difficult to keep track of the date when on the run (she was often forced to search through garbage bins for newspapers), but she had no one to celebrate it with, and no one who would consider wishing her a happy birthday. She had merely kept track of the years, noting without pleasure whenever another birthday passed.
Despite the fact that she was now with Luffy and the others, she had no desire to start celebrating again. It just seemed like too much trouble to go through, for one silly day of the year that was almost exactly like all the others.
However, based on Nami's actions and questions, Robin suspected that the navigator was planning to throw a party for her anyway. And based on her attitude, Robin also suspected that it would be a surprise party.
Although she hated to ruin their efforts, Robin would not be playing along with their game.
When February 6th came around, Robin was ready. She had noticed the others meeting in secret yesterday, and highly suspected that they were preparing the surprise party, if that was indeed what was happening.
She quietly rose and headed for the door of her and Nami's room, noting that the navigator was already gone. She went to the kitchen, but before entering, checked inside by sprouting an eye in a corner.
Everyone was sitting around the table except Sanji, who was behind the counter, and Zoro, who was apparently still sleeping. Robin allowed the eye to vanish and entered.
"Good morning, Robin-chwan~!" Sanji exclaimed upon her arrival. "Did you sleep well, my dear?"
"Good morning, Sanji," she said, smiling. "Yes, I slept fine. Good morning, everyone."
The others said similar greetings without any mention of birthdays. Robin thought that the party, if it was indeed happening, must be set for later.
Later that day, Robin noticed that everyone seemed to have disappeared from the deck. No Luffy, Usopp, or Chopper playing games; no Franky practicing dance moves; no Nami reclining on the bow . . .
Slightly concerned, she headed up to her and Nami's room, though not before checking inside. After confirming that only Nami was inside, resting on her bed, she entered. Nami looked up.
"Hey, Robin," she said tiredly. "You need something?"
"Oh, well . . ." Robin said. "I noticed that no one was outside, and it seemed odd. I was wondering if you knew where they were."
"They must be around somewhere," Nami said indifferently. "I'm sure nothing terrible happened. Just search the ship or something . . . you want help?"
Robin shook her head. "That's okay; you look tired."
"Mm . . ." Nami rolled over on the bed. Robin quietly left.
Upon searching the ship, she found that Franky and Usopp were working on a cannon below deck; Luffy was pestering Sanji in the kitchen; Chopper was mixing something in his room; and Zoro and Brook were up in the crow's nest, meditating—no, Zoro was meditating while Brook danced around the room, singing something.
She sighed and headed for the library.
The end of the day came soon and not a single member of the crew had wished her a happy birthday. It was silly, Robin thought as she entered her and Nami's room, shutting the door behind her, to have thought that anything would have happened in the first place; Silly to think that her crew would attempt to throw her a surprise party. She didn't know why she had expected something in the first place.
After all, birthdays were such a trivial thing, she told herself as she changed into her nightclothes and went to bed.
Robin rose the next morning, February 7th, and saw that Nami was already gone. Figuring that she must be in the kitchen, Robin got up, got dressed, and left the room. She went to the kitchen and opened the door . . .
. . . Only to be met with a huge shout of "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" ("Robin-chwan!") ("Robin-san!") from the entirety of the crew.
She stared in shock. The whole kitchen was decorated with paper streamers and balloons gotten from somewhere, there was a large purple cake in the middle of the table with 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY' written sloppily (probably by Luffy) in pink frosting. The Strawhats themselves surrounded the table, wearing conical party hats; Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper had noisemakers in their mouths, which they blew repeatedly.
"Robin, hi!" Luffy said around his noisemaker. "Happy birthday!"
"Nami told us today was your birthday," Usopp explained, also talking around his noisemaker, "so we set this up!"
"Robin-chwan, I don't know how you do it," Sanji said happily, "but you somehow look even more radiant today~!"
"Robin-san?" Brook asked. "Are you quite alright?"
Robin stared at them. "I . . . I . . ."
"Oh, don't be so shocked," Nami said happily, nudging her with a grin. "Don't tell me you didn't suspect!"
"Well . . ." Robin cleared her throat. "I hate to burst everyone's bubble . . . but my birthday was yesterday."
. . .
"Today's February 6th, isn't it?" Chopper asked.
Robin shook her head. "No . . . I'm afraid today's the 7th."
"Are you serious!?" Franky yelled.
Usopp ran off somewhere and came back with a calendar. "Dammit, she's right! Yesterday was the 6th!"
"Oh, come on!" Nami exclaimed. "That's so unfair!"
"You'd think one of us would have noticed," Zoro muttered.
"I can't believe we messed up!" Chopper wailed.
"Robin-chwan, can you forgive my poor bumbling self?" Sanji cried pitifully.
Robin felt a smile spreading across her face. "I don't mind celebrating today, everyone. We can always pretend today is the 6th."
"Oh, good!" Luffy said, blowing his noisemaker. "Party time!"
"Are you certain, Robin-san?" Brook inquired.
She nodded. "I'm absolutely sure. Shall we begin the festivities?"
And so the party commenced. As Sanji guarded the cake from Luffy, Robin smiled and thought that, just maybe, birthdays didn't have to be so trivial after all.
Happy birthday, Nico Robin!
So every time one of the Strawhats has a birthday, I'll post a new chapter. In other words, the next chapter will be on March 2nd, since that's Sanji's birthday.
No, I will not be doing chapters for characters outside of the Strawhat crew. While I would like to, that would be way too many characters, and some of them we don't know enough about to give a proper chapter to.
I'll try to make every chapter different - some will be surprise parties, some won't.
