Chapter 2: Watch
"This place looks ideal," Robin said. Zoro approached her, looked around, and nodded assent. Short ferns dotted the jungle floor in a small clearing, while a rock in the middle was covered in thick-grown moss, making for a perfect impromptu bed for the two lost travelers. They had eaten about an hour ago, and now night had fallen full and heavy on the cruising island. The two had agreed that it was unwise to sleep where they had eaten, as the fire they had used might have drawn the attention of enemies, if any were to be found on this islet. So they had proceeded through the jungle, looking for a place to sleep.
"You wanna sleep first?" Zoro asked.
"No, that's quite all right," Robin replied. "You go ahead."
Zoro shrugged and set his katana down. He spurned the mossy rock, instead propping himself up against a tree at the edge of the clearing, drawing his knees up close to his body. He closed his good eye and was, apparently, asleep in moments.
Robin sat down on the rock, facing him. She sprouted a number of Hana Hana ears out in the undergrowth, taking in the noises of the nocturnal animals and a jungle which, for the most part, was just coming awake. The range of sound she was now taking in extended several hundred yards in all directions, enabling a single woman to do the surveillance work of a whole crew.
Her wide sensory range allowed her to take in the totality of her surroundings without having to move. Instead she sat on the rock, listening and staring into space. Her thoughts wandered over their situation, stuck on this island floating through the sea, away from the Core of Rig Maratha where their friends waited for them. Getting back would be no small feat: she would have to determine whether this island was sailing under someone's command, or merely moving due to some weird dictate of nature. If it was the latter, there was little they could do. If it was the former, however, they needed to find out who was in control of this island, and seize control from them.
Their resources for achieving such a task were limited. It was just her and Zoro, with the clothes on their backs and Zoro's swords. She pondered Zoro now as he slept, with his head hunched forward towards his drawn-in knees. It looked like a terribly awkward position, but one that he apparently favored for napping.
Zoro napped a lot. Robin knew that about him, as basic a fact about her nakama as Luffy's fascination with beetles or Chopper's horrendous hiding skills. She had never given it much thought before, but it was an interesting thing that he was able to sleep so easily. Zoro could just as readily take a nap somewhere as throw himself into a life-or-death struggle, which presented an odd contrast. He was a bit more alert than some of the other Straw Hats, aware of the dangers which surrounded them, and despite that, he could easily put himself into such a weakened state.
Or was he really so weak? Robin knew he had mastered Observation Haki during the crew's two-year separation, and even before then had possessed strong powers of perception. Perhaps some instinct lay just beneath the surface of his slumbering mind. She was almost tempted to try to test him, but that would only make their situation more awkward.
In a way, she envied him. Though her ability to sleep peacefully had recovered greatly in the years since she had joined the Straw Hat pirates, she still slept nowhere near as much as the others. After twenty years on the run, the fear of weakness, of the helplessness that came with sleep, still lay deep in her psyche, so she still preferred to stay up at night, at least more than the others.
Perhaps that was where the difference lay. Zoro respected the dangers of the world, but he did not fear them, even subconsciously. This could almost be expected; since Zoro had not endured anywhere near Robin's hardships in life, but the thought of it still gave Robin pause as she watched him, the sleeping figure of a man who did not know fear.
~0~
"Zoro." The call of his name and a touch on his arm brought Zoro smoothly awake.
"Time for my shift?" he asked.
"Yes," Robin replied. "I haven't seen anything out of the ordinary so far."
"Right," Zoro said, standing up and stretching his limbs. He grabbed his swords, then paced about for a moment, peering into the jungle in several directions, the awkward silence between them punctured by the noises of the nocturnal life.
"Well, good night," Robin said.
Zoro thought that comment a little strange, but he said nothing. He continued looking out into the jungle, sparing only a glance at Robin as she lay herself down in the ferns, resting her head against the mossy rock. She rolled over onto her side, so that he could not see her face, and then was still.
He paced around for a while after that, getting a feel for the noises of the animals surrounding the clearing. Once he felt confident that he was aware of his surroundings, he returned to his position by the tree trunk, this time with his legs crossed, upright and alert, facing the rock.
Observation Haki kept him just as aware of his surroundings as Robin's many ears had for her. He, too, spent his time thinking about their situation. He was prepared to accept the fact that they could be stuck on this island, apart from the others, for some time. The island's movements could well be naturally regulated, in which case they would have to either find a ship or wait for the island to rejoin the Core. If someone was in control, then it was easy: find them, beat them, and pilot the ship back.
Figuring out the difference was Robin's job. The woman had a knack for piecing the details into the big picture better than any of the other Straw Hats, except maybe for Nami. All he had to do was make sure that she stayed safe long enough to figure a way out of this mess.
Not that she would need much help staying safe. As he had recalled just earlier that day, she was a consummate survivor. She had lived amongst foes who would kill her in a moment just for being who she was, and she had lived long as a fugitive, all for the sake of her goals. She would likely succeed even without his help, but all the same, he would make sure she was safe.
An hour or so after he began his watch, Robin finally fell asleep. She had not moved once since she had lain down, and did not move when she fell asleep. Zoro could simply tell, a subtle shift in his perception of her. She was truly and properly asleep now, and it was then that Zoro realized it was the first time he had ever witnessed such an event. Granted, he rarely saw either of the crew's women asleep due to the separate bedrooms, but Robin's anemic sleeping habits were well-known to all of the Straw Hats. Indeed, he wondered if he wasn't the first of the male crewmates to ever see her actually sleep.
His curiosity began to tug at him, but he was nothing if not disciplined, and repressed it. Instead he continued to sit, listening to the nightly jungle noises. It wasn't really his business to see what she looked like when she was sleeping. It was his job just to keep her safe while she slept, just as she had done for him, and that was enough.
Robin solved that problem for him, in time. She rolled over in her sleep, flipping so that she was now face-to-face with Zoro as she slumbered. It was indeed a strange sight for the swordsman, who had only ever seen her awake. He had seen Robin display many emotions in her time with the crew, from dark anger, deadpan morbidity, gentle, mocking laughter, or pure desperation. Her sleeping face was something wholly distinct; a far gentler side to the woman than any he had seen. Maybe she didn't like people seeing her like that. Maybe that was why she didn't sleep very much.
Hours later, Zoro stood, slowly walking over towards Robin's sleeping form. He did not do so to get a better look at the rare sight of her sleeping face, but for a good reason: dawn was coming. It was time to go.
"Robin, it's time to get up."
Author's Note: When you do nothing all night, your mind tends to wander, giving you a chance to think of things you normally don't have time for. And I bet you thought I couldn't make a chapter that was more low-key and sedate than the first one, did you? Though I do promise the next round will have some action and some answers about the broader context here. Might take a while to get there, though. Competing projects.
