Somewhere in the West Blue

A nine year old boy laid in his boat as he sailed on the ocean. He was of moderate height and had a decent build from learning to protect himself. He had green eyes and cobalt blue hair. He wore a red shirt and black pants. The boy had been sailing for about a week and unfortunately he had run out of food the day before and would starve if he didn't come across an island anytime soon.

'I kind of figured that I would have come across an island by now,' the boy thought, as he continued to drift in the ocean.

Just as this thought crossed his mind, the boat came to an abrupt halt. The sudden stop jarring him from his daze. He slowly sat up and was surprised to hear someone gasp. He turned around and saw a girl that looked about his age standing next to the boat. She had raven black hair, sky blue eyes, slightly tanned skin and wore a red dress.

"Hello," he greeted her with a smile.

She looked rather surprised, but slowly smiled back and said, "Hello."

The boy jumped out of his boat and began pulling it onto the shore. "My name's Chris," he introduced. "What's yours?"

"Nico Robin," she said. She then pointed behind her, "And that's Jaguar D. Saul."

Chris followed where she was pointing and gaped at what he saw. Jaguar was a huge man with yellow skin and an orange beard that went around his face and up to his hair. He wore a black shirt, gray jeans, and a cowboy hat.

"He's humongous!" he shouted.

"Dereshishi!" Jaguar laughed, though he also had tears in his eyes. "That would be because I'm a giant. You can call me Saul, by the way." He gave the boy an appraising look before asking, "Where are you from and why did you leave your home?"

"I'm from Ilusia," Chris told him. "I left there when my parents passed away and decided to leave the island." He looked over to Robin and saw that she was frowning. He poked her head causing her to jump.

"W-What?" she questioned. Chris just arched a brow causing her to sigh slightly. "My parents aren't here either. My father passed away before I was born and my mother left when I was young for her job."

"Do you have any other family or at least some friends?" he asked.

Robin flinched and tears stung her eyes, "I've been living with my aunt and uncle, but she treats me horribly. My uncle tries to stop her, but there's only so much he can do. I don't have any friends either."

"I see, you've had it much rougher than me," he said, frowning. He then smiled, "Well, I'll gladly be your friend."

Her head snapped up and she looked at the boy with wide eyes. "Y-You would?" she asked, hesitance in her voice. Behind her, he saw Saul look slightly surprised, but quickly grinned widely.

Chris grinned as well, "Sure! I don't see why no one would want to be friends with a cute girl like you."

She blushed at his compliment, but quickly frowned as the tears resurfaced. He noticed that Saul was frowning slightly. "It's because I'm a monster," she said.

Chris snorted catching them by surprise, "Why would you or anyone think you are a monster?" She hesitated before waving an arm and four arms appeared on the ground around him. He glanced between Robin and the arms before saying, "If you're a monster, then I'm a demon."

The two looked at him in confusion. "What do you mean?" Saul asked.

Chris flicked his hand to the side and launched a gust of wind at the water, making it spray upwards. They stared at the boy, shocked looks on their faces.

"I ate a Devil Fruit as well. The Wind-Wind Fruit to be precise. I can control and turn into wind," he told them. He turned to Robin, "You aren't a monster Robin. From what little I've seen you are a very sweet girl." She blushed again at his words, but before they could say anything else, his stomach decided to make itself heard. It was his turn to blush as Robin giggled and Saul laughed his interesting laugh.

"I guess you are hungry, huh?" she asked, still giggling.

He rubbed the back of my head, "Yeah, I am. I haven't really eaten since yesterday."

This stopped their laughter immediately and they stared at him with wide eyes. "What!? Why didn't you say anything?" Robin exclaimed.

Chris shrugged, "I felt like cheering you up was more important." She rolled her eyes with a slight blush. 'That's the third time in maybe twenty minutes that she's blushed. Has she really never been treated nicely before?' he thought to himself with a deep frown. He was brought out of his thoughts when Robin poked his forehead. He blinked several times making her giggle.

"Now we're even," she said, grabbing the boy's hand and leading him out of the area. "We'll be back tomorrow Saul!"

"Take care of yourself Robin. Watch out for her Chris," Saul said, his normal voice loud enough for them to hear as they walked.

"Sure thing Saul," he called back.

Robin puffed her cheeks, mumbling she could take care of herself. Chris chuckled as he followed her. The whole time she held onto his hand and he was starting to blush slightly. Sure he complimented her, but to be holding her hand like this wasn't something he was expecting. Before they reached the town they were approached by three boys and a girl, all of whom had a sneer on their face. When Robin saw them she frowned and let go of Chris' hand, but continued walking. The four spread out taking up the entire path to block them from walking farther. As they neared the boy at the end spoke.

"And what are you doing monster?" he questioned.

"Yeah, monster," the second boy repeated.

Chris rolled my eyes, he honestly didn't know which he hated more, bullies or the parrots that followed them around.

"Hey who's that?" the third boy asked.

"Don't know," the first boy replied. "I've never seen him before."

"Hey, why don't you come hang out with us instead of that monster?" the girl suggested.

Chris leaned forward and whispered into Robin's ear, "Don't stop, keep walking."

She glanced at him, a worried look in her eyes, but she nodded. When they were a few feet from them Chris raised a hand and blew a breeze strong enough to knock them to the side. Their eyes widened and a look of horror spread across their faces before they ran back into town screaming.

"He's a monster too! It's contagious!" they shouted.

Chris rolled his eyes, "Morons."

"Are you sure you should have done that?" Robin asked worriedly. "They're going to tell everyone and they will treat you like they do me."

"I could care less how they treat me. I'm your friend and part of that is I won't let anyone hurt you. Physically or otherwise," he said.

She smiled sweetly, "Thank you."

He smiled back as we continued on their way to the village. When they finally reached it, the town looked relatively empty. Glancing around, he noticed shades were drawn and shutters were closed.

"I think everyone knows," he stated dryly.

"This is where I live," Robin said, leading him to one of the houses.

She opened the door and they walked inside. They went into the kitchen and Robin began making a sandwich for her new friend. Robin couldn't keep the smile off of her face as she thought of having a friend her age. However, she couldn't help but feel that something was different in how she felt for Chris. She shook herself, having never had a friend her own age she wasn't really sure what she was feeling. She picked up the plate and put it on the table.

"Here you go," Robin said.

"Thanks," he said, picking up the sandwich and started to eat. He soon finished and smiled at Robin. "That was delicious. Thank you."

"Your welcome," she said.

The door suddenly opened and someone entered the house. They turned around to see a portly woman with oddly thin limbs, lips like a suckerfish, small beady eyes, and fluffy red hair. She wore a simple short-sleeved orange shirt and black pants.

"Aunt Roji," Robin said, fear in her voice.

The woman glared at the young girl, "What are you doing standing around? You have chores that you are supposed to be doing." She glanced at the boy sitting at the table and scowled, "And who the hell are you and why are you in my house?"

Chris scowled back and got out of the chair. He stood between the two females. "Robin's friend," he said, deliberately not answering her completely.

"That freak doesn't have any friends," she sneered.

He glared at the woman before summoning a gust of wind to push her backwards. As she fell flat on her ass, she glared at him. She stood up and stomped over to him.

"So you're just like her, huh? I guess freaks stay together," Roji said, scowling. "You're leaving." She grabbed him by his collar and lifted him off the ground.

"No! Leave him alone!" Robin shouted, surprising the two from the sudden outburst. However, Roji's surprise quickly turned to anger and she slapped Robin.

"Don't you dare talk to me like that!" she yelled. "As for you, I'll-" she turned to the boy, but froze when she saw the look in his eyes. He was glaring at her with a great amount of anger.

He suddenly dispersed in a gust of wind. He reformed in front of the woman and kicked her in the stomach, knocking her back several feet. Roji fell to her knees and looked at the boy with a small amount of fear in her eyes.

"How dare you treat Robin in such a way. She's your family and she doesn't deserve it," Chris said, still glaring at the woman. "You will never treat her like that again while I'm here. And I don't plan on leaving anytime soon." He grabbed Robin's hand and led her out of the house and slammed the door. He turned to her and saw that she was staring at him wide eyed. He gently placed a hand against the cheek that had been struck, causing her to wince, but she didn't move away. "Sorry about that, but when she hit you it just made me so angry."

Robin blushed at the contact, but smiled, "Thank you for standing up for me."

"Of course!" Chris exclaimed, with a toothy smile. "Like I said, I will do what I can to keep you from getting hurt." Her smile widened and her blush deepened at his words. "Do you have anywhere else we can go?"

She nodded, "Yes, while what I said about not having friends is true, I get along with the archaeologists at the library." She pointed to her right and he turned that direction and his jaw dropped. In the center of the town was a colossal tree. Robin giggled at his expression.

"How in the world did I miss that?" he muttered to himself, causing Robin to laugh.

"Come on," she said, grabbing his hand again and leading him to the tree. They soon reached the tree and Robin opened the door and called out, "Professor Clover! Everyone! I came for a visit."

"Robin!" they all called out as they rushed over to the young girl.

"Robin, not that I'm not glad to see you, but what are you doing here? It's getting rather late," a man said, walking forward. He wore a red-and-white striped shirt with a large belt at his waist, pants and a blue-and-black jacket. His hair was green and it jutted out to the sides and were rounded like leaves as was his beard. The top of his head was shaved and stuck straight up.

*Snrk*

The sudden sound caused everyone to turn to the door, where they saw a blue-haired boy trying to hold in his laughter. After a moment he couldn't hold it back and started laughing. The archaeologists stared at the boy in confusion and Robin tilted her head to the side, wondering what was going on with her friend.

She walked up to him and asked, "Why are you laughing, Chris?"

"I don't m-mean to be rude, but his h-hair just looks so odd," he gasped out. At his admission, Robin giggled and several of the scholars chuckled. After a moment, he calmed down and met the man's gaze. "Sorry about that sir. I just wasn't expecting it," he apologized.

"It's fine, and my name's Clover. Who are you? I've never seen you before," he said.

"My name's Chris," he said. "I sailed here from Ilusia because I didn't really have a reason to stay there."

Concern crossed the adults faces. "What about your family?" a woman asked.

"My parents passed away a couple weeks ago," he answered a sad look in his eyes. "I didn't have any other family there, so it wasn't hard of a decision to make."

"You didn't have any friends either?" Robin asked, surprised that such a nice person didn't have at least one friend.

Chris shrugged, "I never really got along with any of them. It was nothing like with you and the kids here, though. We just never really clicked."

"And what are you to Robin?" Clover asked.

It was Robin however that answered. "He's my friend," she said, with a bright smile.

They were all slightly surprised at this, but slowly smiled and began to congratulate the girl. Clover pulled Chris to the side, saying that he wanted to talk to the boy.

"What is it Clover?" he asked the older man.

"You are really going to be friends with Robin?" he asked.

"That's right. She's a nice girl and I hate how she's being treated like a freak just because she has a Devil Fruit ability," Chris said. He then muttered, "Wouldn't have kicked her aunt if I didn't want to be friends with her."

"You kicked her aunt?" Clover asked, torn between shock that he attacked an adult and joy that the old bat being taught a lesson.

Anger entered Chris' eyes as he said, "Yes, because she slapped Robin." Clover scowled at that, he'd heard about how she treated the young girl. "When she did that, something in me snapped and I kicked her in the stomach." He looked at the man sheepishly, "I was kind of wondering if you would mind us staying here for a few days."

Clover nodded in agreement, "It would probably be for the best if Robin stayed away from her aunt for a while. But why do you want to stay here? I'm sure someone would be willing to let you stay with them."

"I'm afraid that they think me similarly to Robin," he said. At the man's questioning look, Chris let wind whip around him, jostling his clothes.

Clover's eyes widened, "You have powers as well. Alright, you can stay too."

The boy smiled, "Thanks."

The two children spent the rest of the day at the library just reading and spending time together. When night came, the archaeologists took the kids to bed for them to get some sleep.