A/N: To those who have already read my first chapter, I decided to redo this chapter as my original did not seem to have any particular meaning in it.

The setting in this new chapter was the same as the original which is, for those of you who is reading this story for the first time, on the sea train after Robin had been captured by the CP9 and after Sanji, Usopp - or should I say Sogeking - and Franky, failed to rescue her.

So here it is and I do hope it is better than the last chapter.

Please enjoy!

Robin sighed in defeat as she stepped out of the mystical world through the gateway suspended in mid-air, alone. Completely and utterly alone.

A large man dressed in black followed not far behind her and as soon as his feet touched the floor of the sea train, the entrance leading to the parallel universe vanished, leaving no mark behind. Taking a quick glimpse of her surroundings, she found herself back inside the train her friends had desperately tried to take her away from. In the corner of her eye, she spotted the mysterious cyborg who had tried to help her crewmates – ex-crewmates – rescue her from her fate with apparently a 'back plan' which had obviously failed. Franky was his name, if Robin recalled correctly.

Though cuffed – Robin secretly wondered how the CP9 managed to fit his huge arms into those tiny cuffs – he was resting his back leisurely against the wall of the sea train as though he were not currently being shipped off towards his death. He was clad in an exotic, purple T-shirt which was unbuttoned, baring his chest and stomach to the world. It was plainly decorated with all different kinds of tropical palm trees in all sizes, large and small. On his thin legs or more accurately, only the top of his legs, was a pair of dark blue underwear. Two distinct, azure stars were also tattooed onto his forearms.

Brash, foolish and indecent were the first words which popped into her head, but before she could conduct any further observations, her wrists were caged in handcuffs and she was then raucously yanked away, towards next carriage. With her crewmates – no, ex-crewmates – left behind, Robin, through a remarkable display of self-control, made her way towards the door of the next carriage. Her head was held high, and she betrayed none of the torment and fear she felt over her nakama's – no, ex-nakama's – safety. Feeling the heavy stares of the CP9 boring into her back, she walked through the door exiting the first carriage, and entered the second.

Behind her, Robin could still hear the anguished shouts of her beloved nakama – no, ex-nakama – ringing loud into the night. Even though the thunderous chugging of the sea train and the deafening roar of the vicious waves of Aqua Laguna where so thunderous that she could almost feel her ears bleeding. The faint voices of her friends calling out to her was all that her mind could register and though she had already resigned herself to death, she clung onto the fading cries and etched them clearly into her mind. This would certainly be the last time she would ever hear their precious voices.

Over the course of a few mere weeks, the Strawhat's crew members had well and truly managed to work their way through, iron walls, metres thick, and into Robin's heart. Though cautious and wary at first, Robin had likewise learnt to let her friends into her heart, something which she had not done for decades.

They were the first to view her as more than a tool to use at their disposal, building an unbreakable friendship with the enigmatic, young lady. They held an irreplaceable position in Robin's heart and were as close as the family and the fellow archaeologists she once had in Ohara. And it was because of this powerful bond that Robin made the difficult choice of saving the Strawhats from the formidable 'Buster Call' at the expense of allowing herself to be captured by the world government.

"The Strawhats, excluding myself, will be left unharmed until they leave Water 7." Robin said calmly, "And in exchange, I will hand myself over to the World Government."

Spandam paused, considering the offer for a few seconds before deciding.

"It's a deal," he sneered in reply, "it was about time you were captured, you conniving bitch,"

Robin did not let the last comment deter her, though the prospect of leaving behind her nakama did not sit well with the woman. They would be safe, she told herself over and over again, and that was all that mattered to her.

Emitting a soft clicking sound, Bleuno opened the carriage door and pushed her inside and as soon as he left, Robin returned to the seat she was in before her crewmates - no, ex-crewmates – had come to rescue her. Next to her lay the food tray that Wanze the cook had provided her with. The food had been left untouched as Robin, though hungry at the time had not been in the mood to eat. Needless to say, she was feeling the same now.

Becoming more and more exhausted as the adrenaline rush in her body wore off, Robin rested her back against the cushion of the sofa. Her dark eyes followed the repetitive splash of the tidal waves smashing against the side of the train.

With her thoughts having no choice but to remember the previous events of the day, a stray tear slid down Robin's fair cheeks.

Out in the distance, a scaly sea monster with stripy blue skin and a funny flat face suddenly leaped out of the water.

A flat face…like the ones of the gigantic pythons they saw in Skypiea. The flat and joyful face of the python as it danced around the camp fire with her ex-nakama, singing and laughing as best as a python could with her frolicking ex-nakama. They would have been dancing around to terrible music which they made themselves, all the while with a merry expression on their faces.

Zoro and Nami would be having drinking contests with other skypieans and shandians. Luffy would the first to dig into the food, picking all the meat out for himself. Chopper and Usopp would have been their normal idiotic selves, dancing on table tops with chopsticks in their noses.

And she…she would have been with them. With them when they were rejoicing. With them when they were down. With them through all the good and the bad times they experienced and always, she would have a smile on her face. It was not one of those smiles she wore when she was begging for food. Not one of those smiles where she was trying to charm the socks off an old lady into giving her a job. But a real, genuine smile, one full of happiness and love.

Now, she needed to leave all those memories behind and be strong…for them.

Suddenly, the door behind her clicked open letting in a gale of cold wind before it click shut again. Heavy footsteps sounded, each louder than the one before.

Is it a CP9, Robin wondered as she heard the heavy footsteps approaching her from behind. Hastily blinking back her tears, she straightened her back and her expression resumed its original stony look.

Much to her surprise, it was not a disconsolate CP9 who approached her but Franky whom she saw earlier.

Franky gave her a contemplative stare, which Robin returned, before settling down on the sofa opposite her, putting only a coffee table's distance between the two. Mimicking Robin's posture, he relaxed into the sofa exhaling a loud sigh. After fidgeting around slightly, attempting to get his body into a comfortable position, he opened his mouth as though he were about to say something but suddenly stopped.

Noticing the glistening, wet trail marks running down the sides of Robin's cheeks, his body promptly stiffened. Suddenly unsure of what to say, Franky's pair of beady eyes darted around uncomfortably, trying not to look at Robin's tear marks for too long, before they finally settled on the unpleasant view of the treacherous waves outside the train.

An awkward silence came over them. Each was desperately waiting for the other party to say something and break the awkward atmosphere but each was just as reluctant to say something themselves. The tension in the air slowly began to grow as the only sound that was heard was the soft crash of the waves against the train carriage and the gentle breathing of its two occupants. If one should walk in on them, he or she might just suffocate under all the dense pressure of the tension in the carriage.

Finally, as Franky could take the awkwardness no longer, he spoke, shattering the almost tangible tension veiling the air with the bluntest remark in history.

"Can I have some?" his face was stoic, nodding his head towards the sandwiches lying on the food tray beside Robin.

Robin, afraid that her voice would tremble if she spoke, merely stared at him remaining silent.

Interpreting Robin's look as a 'yes' he then continued, "Um, I'll just take one then," with his voice drifting off towards the end.

Immediately after Franky finished his statement, a minuscule hatch opened up on the right side of his chest. A thin, mechanical 'arm' which was neatly folded behind the hatch shot out towards the food tray, startling Robin in the process. During the twenty or so years Robin had been alone, she had seen more than enough of her share of oddities but this was by far one of the most bizarre events she has ever witnessed.

The tiny, three-fingered 'hand' at the end of the 'arm', expertly took hold of a sandwich then pulled back, bringing the sandwich in front of its master's mouth. Grinning, Franky began wolfing down the food like a starved man. If only CP9s could vanish that easily, Robin mused as she watched the sandwiches in the tray rapidly disappear one by one.

As he ate, Robin saw crumbs and shreds of lettuce leaves falling all over the coffee table and some even on his lap. Butter and mayonnaise slowly began to plaster onto his face as he gobbled up the sandwiches one after another at an unbelievable pace. Watching him, Robin was reminded of a little baby who has just eaten watermelon straight from its skin – juice all over his face and clothes with drool dribbling from his mouth.

But despite that, Robin actually thought he looked kind of…cute, not that she ever would let anybody know.

"Why did you try and rescue me?" Robin suddenly asked as she watched Franky devour his sandwiches, "I believe that you already know where the train is headed."

Unexpectedly, Franky's beady eyes started to leak tears, "It was so heartbreaking watching your crewmates risking their lives for a fellow nakama. They were even willing to die in order to rescue you and being the compassionate being that I am, I can't just sit by and watch them go to their deaths for you," Sniffling slightly, he continued, "They touched me…right here, in my heart."

What a foolish man, Robin secretly thought to herself, not that her narrow-minded nakama are any different from him.

With another heavy sigh, Robin's chocolate brown eyes darted back to the sea, eyeing the repetitive splash of the deep blue waves, all the while knowing that she would never have the chance to see them ever again.

Splash…splash…splash…

They sounded like the singing of an angel in her ears. It was so melodious and harmonic, so…earthly and natural.

How could she have never noticed how lucky she was to be able to live? Now that she knew she was going to die, the world suddenly seemed so much more precious than before. It was as though karma was coming back around and biting her in the ass. It let her live through the buster call which destroyed her entire island. It saved her from any 'kind and caring' barn owners and criminal organisations who wanted to sell her out to the world government. And just when she found the nakama she wanted to spend the rest of her life with, it comes back around kicking her ass and sending her off to her death.

For as long as she could remember, she had always been told that her existence was a sin, something which must be eradicated never to be seen again.

A loud yawn suddenly came from Franky's direction. With all his sandwiches finished, he grabbed a napkin using his mechanical arm and wiped all the sauce off his face. Now happy with the way he looked, he arranged his body on the sofa so that he was lying down as comfortably as he possibly could with his huge arms cuffed together.

His head was tilted up, resting comfortably against the arm rest of the sofa closest to the aisle along the centre of the train carriage. After fidgeting for a long time, he finally found a comfortable position in keeping his cuffed arms behind his back, his body angling slightly towards Robin.

Seconds later, Franky's eyes closed as his breathes calmed into a slow rhythm, signalling that he was asleep.

Robin shot him a sceptical look.

How could he possibly be so relaxed when every second they spent on the damn train, meant one second less to live? She for one, wanted to spend her last moments wide awake, thoroughly enjoying every last thing, down to the last speck of dust before it is all taken away from her. The air, the sea, the sofa, the slow rocking of the train and even the handcuffs all seemed like a gem, like a miracle to her.

Even though her nakama had already given her so much, from the warmth of family and friends she had wished for ever since she could remember, to the ice cream she had always envied other children of having, the world still had so much left to offer her, so much left that she wanted to see before her death. Everything, ranging from extremely mediocre dreams, such as playing around like a child in a park, to significant ones, such as fulfilling her life-long dream of unravelling the mystery of the void century, she wanted to experience them all before the end of her life.

She still has yet to experience even the most normal of things. Things like looking after and caring for pets, like walking down a street without constantly looking behind her back for danger. Hell, she has never even had her first kiss yet!

One may think that such a charismatic – not to mention sexy as hell – young lady such as Robin would have already slept with several men during her thirty years or so but she actually, had not. Sure she had many fine suitors in her lifetime, in fact she had too many for her liking, but all that it did to her was give her plenty of experience in warding off even the most persistent courtiers.

Robin had always thought of having boyfriends to be a waste of her time and energy, especially in her line of work where you could lose your life if you were the tiniest bit careless. Until she had met the Strawhats, Robin had always thought of relationships as an unnecessary weakness, particularly ones of such a close and intimate nature. Lovers are there for you to depend on and trust in to protect you but for a strong and independent woman like Robin they are unnecessary setbacks. Most of her suitors only wanted to see her in bed anyway.

Hence, till this day, Robin still has not kissed a single man yet…although she was not quite sure she wanted to either.

Growing bored of watching the waves crashing against the side of the train time and time again, her eyes drifted back towards the inside of the train. Completely involuntarily, her eyes landed upon the sleeping figure of Franky. Against her will, her eyes began tracing the contours of his bare chest, noting with a strange fascination, the two, almost invisible lines running down either side of his torso. Any normal person would have missed those lines but Robin being Robin spotted them straight away.

The two, thin lines extended the entire length of his body, running from either end of his waist, up to his shoulders then disappearing behind the collar of his shirt.

At a glance, the two lines running down the sides of his body looked like scars similar to the kind left behind from a deep cut. But then again, they were much too straight and evenly placed to be a scar of any kind. Perhaps a little more like incisions made by the knife of a surgeon, very even and precise and very strategically placed.

As her eyes roamed further, she spotted another set of lines similar to the ones she saw before but these were even fainter and were almost seamless. They took on the shape of a large square in the centre of his abdomen, marking out the place where he kept his 'fuel'.

Then it occurred to her. He was a cyborg. Those lines must have been when he opened his body to place his deadly weapons and contraptions inside.

How mysterious…

I wonder what other kinds of secrets are inside his body, Robin mused. Feeling her more curious side taking over, Robin itched to investigate the numerous deadly weapons and contraptions he would have no doubt imbedded within himself.

How fascinating, to be able to hide weapons inside your body to control and bend all of that lethal power to your will.

Robin's eyes then drifted towards his face coming to a stop on his nose.

Would he be able to feel it if someone touched his nose? Was he able to breathe through it? Is the rest of his face also made from metal? And how does he turn his body into a machine anyway let alone his head?

Considering the fact that his chin was also made from metal as it took on an odd shape, Robin assumed that the rest of his face was also made from metal. Does that mean his eyes were also artificial? How do you even make such a sophisticated organ artificially?

Her eyes then wandered further south, coming to a rest on his lips. Are they also made from metal? Would he be able to feel it if someone were to…

Robin came to a stop there, not willing to think any further. Her eyes flickered up towards the ceiling awkwardly as she tried to will her mind to think about something else. Unfortunately for her, her mind was not cooperating.

What if she were the one who…I mean it is not like she has ever done it before and everyone knows that it is good thing to try something new every day. Maybe she could…

Robin stopped her train of thought right there. She did not just think about kissing Franky. There was no way she just had those kinds of thoughts.

Her eyes flickered wildly about the carriage trying to find something else to keep her mind occupied. Regrettably, Franky was the only thing on the carriage which was not something as boring as a sofa, a food tray or a wall so after her eyes took a wild journey through every nook and cranny of the train, it came right back where it started, Franky.

Maybe just a little peck. She was going to die anyway, why not make the most of what little time she had left? Franky was asleep, meaning that he would not remember anything that had happened and there was no one else who would see them. There was nothing she could lose from a small kiss and the worst that could happen was to have Franky wake up while she was at it – or be walked in on by a CP9 – but her time was almost up. What does it matter what others thought of her now?

Just like that, Robin's resolve crumbled. Deciding that she would berate herself later for having such a weak resolve, she slowly rose from her chair, hearing her stiff joints protesting from having been in the same position for so long. Her curiosity in the situation was undeniable as she took slow steps around the coffee table in between her and Franky. But she could not help wondering. What was she supposed to do? What does it feel like?

Suddenly, a large, Aqua Laguna wave suddenly slammed into the train, throwing Robin onto the coffee table beside her. The food tray that was laying on the seat she had been sitting on a few moments ago, flew up into the air and hit the wall with a loud bang! Exhaling only a soft huff to signal her pain, Robin's brown eyes then flickered towards Franky to see whether the jolting or the sound had woke him up. His breathing was still deep and even implying that he was still sound asleep.

With a loud screech, the train lurched back onto the tracks helping Robin get back onto her feet. Ignoring the pain in her side, she slowly began walking towards Franky again.

Because of the sudden lurch, Franky's body turned slightly sideways and his head twisted so that his cheek was resting on the arm of the sofa.

Feeling her arms trembling slightly from a combination of uncertainty and nervousness, her legs and feet walked her to beside the sofa Franky was sleeping on. Tentatively, she knelt down so that her face was level with his.

From such a close distance, Robin could hear the soft and relaxed breathing coming from him as he slept away. She could make out the small contours on his face and all the minuscule details such as the thin scar running along his hairline. From here, she could count the tiny screws in his nose and make out each individual hair on his face.

With her heart beating faster than she would ever admit to, she closed her eyes then little by little, she brought her face closer and closer to Franky's until finally, her lips barely brushed against his.

Slowly, she opened her eyes then pulled her head back.

Well that was anti-climactic. Wasn't she supposed to feel something now? Wasn't her heart supposed to be beating quickly in her throat or like that saying – which she personally thinks is extremely over-used – have butterflies fluttering in her stomach.

Honestly, she felt no different from before. It was not like the kisses she had read about in books, not like the kisses her friends had recounted to her when she was a teenager.

Nothing big happened. Nothing felt different. Nothing seemed to change. Well, the one thing that had changed was that Robin now knows that Franky's lips were also metal plated seeing as they hardly yielded when their lips brushed together.

Another thing that changed was that Robin had tried something new today, the day that she was fated to die and because of that, she was proud of herself.

Standing up once again, she flicked her hair backed over her shoulders than left Franky's side to sit back on the couch on the opposite side of the coffee table, completely oblivious to the fact that Franky had been awake throughout the whole ordeal, having been jolted awake by the massive wave which had crashed onto the train. Robin settled back down onto the couch than stared back into the endless horizon of treacherous waves, leaving behind a very confused Franky.

As morning came round again, Robin knew that her time was almost up. Franky was asleep as a soft snoring was sounding throughout the carriage. The Aqua Laguna had died down, turning into small, gentle waves. There were seagulls calling in the sky, indicating that the train was now close to their destination and sure enough, Enies Lobby was now within view. Even though it was still only a tiny dot in the horizon, Robin felt her already sore muscles tensing and her breathing becoming slightly irregular.

Robin spent the last hour of the trip in silence, directing her thoughts to the memories of the times she spent with her nakama.

As the train pulled up against the platform, coming to a smooth stop, the carriage doors opened to clearly reveal Enies Lobby. This is it, Robin thought to herself, this is where I die.

Glad that she was able to experience something she has never done before, she made her way outside the carriage and met with the looming tower of Enies Lobby.

A/N: Woot! So how was it?

I tried to make it more interesting and more engaging than my original chapter 1 and I hope I was successful.

Anyway. From this, I realized what a big mistake I just made and I now know exactly how important planning out a story is. After this, I'm definitely planning out the rest of my story before I start writing anything else.

I do hope you enjoyed this chapter and please leave a quick review before you go! Thx!