Robin watched helplessly as the admiral looked down on Zoro. The crew had just defeated a pacifista, a robot that looks exactly like one of the shichibukai, Bartholomew Kuma. They had used all their strength to defeat one, they were exhausted. Tired. Injured. And now they were facing an Admiral.
Robin watched as Kizaru's leg started glowing.
For the first time in a long while, since the incident at ennies lobby, Robin felt an emotion she thought she would never feel again. Fear.
She immediately tried to fix the situation. She summoned every bit of courage left within her body and yelled, "Veinte Fleur!". 20 arms sprouted from the ground forming a straight line to the left. Her arms started pulling Zoro away from kizaru.
She was desperate. She knew this method wouldn't work. She knew she did not have the power to save the swordsman.
But she could not give up. She wouldn't. Not now. Not ever. Not for him.....
She knew the swordsman was special. She had heard his name mentioned a number of times when she was with baroque works. That there was this unbelievably strong swordsman residing somewhere in east blue.
This man is a demon, the people would say.
She had found it amusing that there was someone out there who shared the same nickname the marines had given her when she escaped ohara. It made her feel a bit less lonely. At least there's someone out there who's experiencing the same prejudice she went through, she had thought back then. She was surprised though, to find out later on that this demon had somehow bared his fangs against them. That he was a member of the Strawhaw crew. That they would be facing each other on different sides.
It came as an even bigger surprise when she found herself aboard their ship and asking permission from their captain to join their crew. She had no other place to go back then. What surprised her though, was that she was used to changing sides. In the past 20 years she had joined quite a number of organizations, and left them when she felt she no longer needed to stay. But for some reason, when she boarded the ship, she couldn't help but feel a little bit of hope. Hope that this would somehow work out.
It was easy to win them over. She did a bit of research beforehand, and knew what was needed to put her in their good shoes so to speak. But the swordsman was different.
The swordsman piqued her interest again when she entered the crew. He was the only one who did not trust her then. He was always watchful. He never loosened his guard around her. It was annoying and amusing at the same time. So in order to even up the battlefield, she watched him back.
It became a kind of game for her. Her reading a book and observing him. Him sleeping or training and observing her. Eventually she started to enjoy playing the game. She thought she had him once. She thought she knew him. But because of a few incidents that occured on their journey, she started having doubts.
He told her he did not trust her, he was the only person in the crew that acted indifferent towards her. She had thought that he did not care.
Yet she knew, or rather, felt his hands gently cradle her head before she went into unconsciousness right after the lightning bolt from enel scraped her head. He had been the first one to defend her when Aokiji's sword came swishing down to take her life. He had been there when she begged for her life at ennies lobby. She had never expected to see him again at that time, she was afraid that he would hate her for what she had done.
When they were in thriller bark, he had sacrificed himself for the whole crew. When she found out about the truth, she smiled. The smile was not because she was happy to see the swordsman in such a sorry state. She smiled because she was grateful. She was afraid that everything would end when Kuma showed up. That her days as a strawhat were over. When she woke up, she was relieved to see nothing had changed. That Kuma had somehow left them alone. She would forever be indebted to the swordsman. She admired him greatly, she could not, in her wildest dreams, picture out how the swordsman survived the ordeal. How he managed to strengthen his will and body to save everyone. She already knew he was strong. Stronger than any swordsman she ever met. But this time, he surpassed her expectations.
Concern was etched on her face as she watched him sleep. As she watched the countless scars that mutilated his young body. At that time the crew was celebrating Moria's defeat and Brooke's joining. She decided to enjoy the festivities beside the swordsman and play the observing game, though now it was just her doing the observing. As she sat beside him and watched, she felt at peace.
The sounds of the party became muted somewhat. The noise irrelevant.
It felt like they were the only ones in the whole room.
A warm bubbly feeling started to rise at the pit of her stomach.
"I'm not drunk", she argued to herself.
But she felt giddy and somewhat out of it. She was blissfully happy. Happy to be alive. Happy to see them alive. Happy to see HIM alive.
As she looked into his sleeping face she felt a new sensation. It was a feeling akin to that of the affection of a mother towards her child. Yet somehow it was different. It was something more. Something stronger. Something she never expected. Something she couldn't comprehend yet somehow she felt she did not need to....
As she moved Zoro 4 yards to the left, Kizaru, in a burst of light, suddenly appeared above Zoro and pinned him to the ground. She desperately held on, trying to move Zoro away from danger. By now she was scared beyond compare.
She could not bear to watch someone who she cared for die in front of her. She had already lost so much. Endured so much pain. She did not believe she could take it if something happened to him.
Somehow, in her heart of hearts she knew... that even if her body were to survive this battle. If the swordsman died, she would die too.
Time seemed to slow then. As Kizaru prepared to deliver the final blow a gust of wind suddenly appeared and with it came Silvers Rayleigh.
Relief swept over Robin when she saw Rayleigh parry the beam towards the mangrove. For a second there she thought she had lost it all. Now there was hope.
Luffy began shouting instructions immediately. They were to split up, escape, and meet on a later date. Robin ran with Luffy, but she couldn't help but worry about the swordsman. She knew what he had been through, and she was afraid that not all of them would make it out this time.
Robin knew Rayleigh would be able to keep Kizaru busy long enough for them to escape, but they weren't safe yet. They still had to deal with Sentomarou and another pacifista.
The pacifista ran after zoro after it was given orders from sentomarou to finish the pirate first. Sanji and Brooke fought the pacifista, but they weren't able to stop it. They were not strong enough.
Luffy on the other hand was being pummeled by Sentomarou. Sentomarous attacks were amazingly strong, and Luffy's rubber body received full damage.
As chopper watched his nakama being defeated one by one, something within him snapped. He ate 3 rumble balls without hesitation, and unleashed the special trait of zoans...
Robin was shocked to see chopper turn into a monster. She had read about released zoan users, zoan users who had lost their minds and gave in to their powers, but this was the first time she had ever seen one.
She lost track of her thoughts when she suddenly heard usopp yell. She immediately searched for the reason behind the yell.
She felt herself go weak and numb at the same time as she realized what it was she was seeing. Or for that matter, what she did not see. People were yelling all around her, but she didn't give notice. Her knees buckled and she almost fell to the ground.
Zoro had disappeared.
Where is he?
What happened?
IS HE STILL ALIVE?
After a moment which seemed like eternity. Kuma slowly took care of the other straw hat members. One by one they disappeared right in front of her. She couldn't think anymore by then, she could only stand by and watch as her world shattered into a million pieces. Thoughts were meaningless now, they would only bring her pain.
When Kuma got to her, she ran. She made one last feeble attempt to escape, but it was still useless. She was suddenly swept from her feet and launched through the skies. The sudden wave of vertigo and the multitude of colors caused her to faint. Before darkness claimed her an image of Zoro asleep on the deck of the thousand sunny, and all of her nakama with them was the last thing on her mind.
The next 3 days went by like a blur. She drifted constantly from the waking world to her dreams. On the third day she woke up feeling well rested on a paw shaped crater somewhere on a gigantic bridge. She was back to normal now, and her mind was in control of the situation. As she observed her surroundings, a small smile formed from her lips. She was alive.
"Everyone's alright." she said slowly to herself.
She knew then that she had to keep on going, she knew that they would meet again. Her nakama may have been defeated, but they were strong. This can not destroy them. Nothing short of death ever will.
As she walked towards a gathering of people near the bridge, she laughed.
"You better not get yourself lost..." she softly whispered, a smile forming on her face.
AN
uhhhh....yeah.... i dunno where i got this crap... hahaha... felt like i needed to practice my english writing skills so.... voila!... this thingy came out...hope its not too lame or ooc..anyways pls review... constructive criticism is very much welcome... in fact... i want you to bash me with your worst!!hehe