The revolutionary's temporary camp was loud and rowdy after their victory. Robin trailed their leader through the aggressive partygoers and into a quieter part of the camp, where hastily pitched tents listed alarmingly. Only the wounded and those caring for them remained here. Many of the makeshift nurses and doctors glanced up as Dragon passed, nodding in acknowledgement and eyeing Robin curiously.
He lead her to a larger tent, black in color and perfectly pitched, and pulled back the flap for her to enter first. Robin smiled as she ducked inside; Dragon was certainly more polite than his son.
She'd assumed the tent would be empty, but there was a young man sitting, hunched up and puffy eyed, in a shadowed corner. A newspaper was spread across his knees. Dragon stepped in beside her and frowned at the weary figure.
"Sabo," he said, "what are you doing in here?"
It seemed to take a huge effort for the man to so much as raise his head. When he managed it, Robin's heart sank. Something terrible had happened to him. His voice was nothing more than a hoarse whisper.
"He's dead, sir. Ace is dead."
A chill gripped Robin as she remember her captain holding a burning vivre card in his cupped palm. A vivre card belong to his brother, Ace. (Yet another D to add to her rapidly growing list. What Saulo had said of family lineage was proving quite true.) She'd never met the man herself, but Luffy had spoken of him with such affection…
Robin lived to hunt for and collect knowledge. Asking questions could be considered a specialty of hers. She would have to ask, yet for the first time she was afraid of the answer.
"Sabo-san?" she called unsteadily. "Are you speaking of Portgas D. Ace?"
Sabo looked at her with damp eyes and recognition flickered briefly across his strained face. "You… You're one of Luffy's nakama." He buried his face in his hands. His next words were muffled. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Minute tremors shook his shoulders.
Robin collapsed into the nearest chair. Her grief for the older D was fleeting; it was her captain whom she feared for. The things that had drawn her to Luffy were his open heart, his easy trust, his deep and abiding love for those most precious to him. Luffy would die for the people he loved. She couldn't fathom the affect it would have on him to lose someone he'd grown up with.
"May I ask what happened?" Sabo twitched a finger at the newspaper. Robin took it as an invitation to help herself. She approached the man on shaky legs and gently tugged it free of his elbows.
What she read forced her to reclaim her seat. A war had been raging underneath her nose, a war that her captain had crashed with the recklessness she'd come to expect from him. Fire Fist Ace had been condemned to the execution platform for bearing the Pirate King's blood though he was a member of Whitebeard's crew. To pick a fight with the strongest man in the world was sheer madness on the Government's part, yet they'd managed to come out on top in the end. It wasn't only Portgas who lost his life that day.
"You could have told me," Sabo said, suddenly, "that Luffy was your son. I've served you for a decade, but you couldn't be bothered to confide even that much, though you knew Luffy was my sworn brother!" He leapt to his feet, hands clenched and raised in a fighting stance. He was hurt and miserable and full of resentment, needing an outlet. Dragon was certainly the most dangerous choice, but the only other person here was Nico Robin, and he wasn't about to pick a fight with a woman who looked as ready to crack as he felt. (And he'd heard the rumors, about the demon child who destroyed a fleet of marine warships. She'd probably break his neck if he tried anything.)
"If it would have offered you some comfort to know Luffy was of my blood, then I apologize for the lapse," Dragon said. "But it was a secret for a reason. If it'd gotten out years ago, when Luffy was a mere child, don't you think he might have died?" He lifted a hand to halt the protests before they came. "You are trustworthy, but I have many enemies. Anyone could be listening."
The anger drained away, leaving an empty, aching depression in it's wake. Just like that day ten years ago, Sabo was taken by a bone-deep tiredness. He curled his arms around his knees and hugged them to his chest, feeling very much a boy again.
"Dragon-san, has there been no word of Luffy's whereabouts? I believe it prudent to return to his side as soon as possible." Sabo was glad that someone else recognized the urgency this called for. He felt a little better knowing Luffy had such understanding nakama. Dragon shook his head, but just then a man burst through the tent flaps.
"A message, sir! A message from Ivankov and Inazuma!"
Dragon snatched the letter from the man's grasp and gestured for him to leave, which he did without question. Dragon scanned the letter quickly.
"Luffy is in a coma." He frowned. "The Heart Pirates have taken him to Amazon Lily to recover."
"Isn't that the island where the women kill any man who sets foot there?" Sabo asked, confounded.
"Not when he's being escorted by the Pirate Empress herself."
"Wish I was surprised. That guy can make friends with anyone, I swear." He laughed, a sharp, choked sound.
"Amazon Lily is in the Calm Belt," Robin said. "There is no way to get to it."
"I have small ships coated in kairoseki. Take one." Dragon smiled grimly. "He's never met me, but Luffy is still my son."
Robin got to her feet and offered her hand, which Dragon took in a firm grip. "Thank you, Dragon-san. I will see to it that Luffy is well cared for."
"Hold up," said Sabo. He shook the shaggy blond hair out of his face and stared Dragon straight in the eye. "My little brother is suffering, and I intend to be there when he wakes up. Will you stop me?"
"As if I could," Dragon smirked. Sabo bowed his head in thanks and doffed a top hat, a goggled thing Robin had somehow missed.
"I'm still your guy," he said quietly. "Luffy will meet up with you eventually. I'll be back." Dragon clapped him on the shoulder and swept out, presumably to prepare the ship and crew. Robin and Sabo followed.
"Just let me get my manuscript, and we can get outta here," Sabo said.
"You're writing a book?"
"Yeah." He grinned for the first time, wide and full of teeth. Purposeful. Robin found it soothingly familiar. "It's my dream, after all. I'm sure you know all about that."