Yosh! Everyone ready for the continuation! Ah… The poor maiden awoke in the scary and unfamiliar room…
Robin blinked while looking around. She saw the expensive room, she felt the overly comfortable bed, and she smelled breakfast being made somewhere else. She nodded pleased. Now fthis was more like it.
"A-Ano? Are you awake now Miss?"
Robin located the shy voice to something that was trying to hide behind the curtains. Unfortunately the owner of the voice seemed to have misunderstood the concept of hiding and was standing in a reversed way so that all of him was showing instead.
The poor girl gave up a scream when she saw the….. BEING! It was like nothing she had seen before! NO! It wasn't… human, but it wasn't animal either. No! It was a MONSTER! AAAAH!
Robin yawned.
"Say, what kind of coffee do you serve here?" she asked while trying to figure out the brand herself by the scent of it.
"Cappuccino. B-But, moreover, aren't you scared of me?"
The small creature let go of the curtains and was now blinking in surprise.
"No, you are cute." Robin said with a small smile.
"Eh? C-C-Cute? Me? Nooo! Shut up! I'm not listening!" the man-reindeer said while apparently appreciating the flattery.
"……. I'm Nico Robin" Robin said after watching the being for a while.
"I'm Tony Tony Chopper, the healer of this domain. Nice to meet you" the man-reindeer answered with a cute smile and then continued.
"Ano, you must have a lot of questions, but please don't feel scared over this new situa-"
"We can take it after breakfast, Isha-san" Robin said calmly and then stood up.
Young maiden Nico Robin sat down by the large table in the dining room. It was gigantic, yet she was the only one there. The echoing silence filled the room completely and made the poor girl feel nervous…
"This room is perfect for reading" Robin thought for herself.
With her logic thinking, Robin had already figured that she must be in a castle, probably 650 years old. And in castles like these, there was always a library or two…
Soon Chopper came carrying a tablet with breakfast and Robin now also noticed the cute sound that was heard when he moved his feet.
"Say, Isha-san, where might the owner of this castle be?" Robin asked while sipping on her coffee.
"The- the owner? He… He never comes out on daytime and is usually in a very bad mood whenever we see him…" Chopper said a bit unsure.
"I see. But I'd like to meet with him, you probably understand why" Robin said with a small smile.
"Well… I'll see what I can do" Chopper said with a nod.
The monster servant then hurried away. This might in fact be good! Since his masters dark curse only could be lifted by the true words of love from a maiden! A maiden like… Nico Robin.
But could anyone truly love his master?
"So Chopper thinks it's a good idea if you meet with her. Hey… Zoooooro, are you listening to me?" Luffy said, later during the evening, while "cleaning" (breaking) prince Zoro's room.
"Whatever, like I care" Zoro said grumpily.
"But Zoro, are you planning to live with the curse for the rest of your life?" Luffy said while scratching his head.
"… Hell no! Yeah, good idea! Get her down in the dining room now at once!" Zoro said after trying to imagine an eternal life with that horrible curse.
And so the rubber man servant rushed out of his master's room to obey his orders; to dress the girl up and bring her down in the dining room. The girl was of course not pleased by such an abrupt order…
"So the prince wants you to meet with him in the living… no wait, the dining room!" Luffy said and Robin finally looked up from her book.
"I see. Very well. But if I'll meet with the owner of this castle, I'd need to dress up, don't you think?" Robin said and closed the book.
"Dress up?" Luffy scratched his head as if he'd never heard of the expression before.
"Yes, are there any overly expensive dresses that I can choose between?" Robin said and put the book on the table beside her bed.
"Hmmmmmm, well" Luffy started and then got an idea.
It was truly a beautiful, yet tragic sight. The young Robin dressed in the most elegant violet dress walking down the stairs, the stairs to the unknown. What would be the outcome of this meeting with the cruel prince that had captured and tortured her dear beloved father?
"He'll find his way here soon! Don't worry!" Luffy said with a laugh as Robin glanced at the old clock in the dining room for the third time.
"Please excuse him. Ah, I told him to walk down the first stairs, turn left, walk through the corridor and then down the second stairs to get here" Chopper said and looked unhappy.
"Ah, Chopper, don't you get it? That description was at least three directions too long for that idiot to grasp" a young woman said while entering the dining room.
Nami, the humble servant who only wished for her masters best and constantly worried over him. But she was the one to see the hope of salvation for him in Nico Robin, this pure kindhearted maiden.
"…. That's a nice dress" Nami said after staring at Robin for a while.
"I'm not surprised that you think so, it's your dress after all" Robin said with a small shrug.
"I thought so! What the HELL!" Nami said and raised her fist.
"Ah, N-Nami calm down now! Fighting won't help and-" Chopper tried to hold back Nami but was simply dragged with her as she strode up closer to Robin.
"Hey you. Don't think you can just barge in here and steal MY things!" she said with a scary stare.
"But you know Naaaami, she looks better than you in that dress. Violet is not your colour" Luffy said with a shrug.
"What was that! And since when do you know about what is matching and not?" Nami said and punched Luffy.
"Ara, it was not my intention to steal these dresses-" Robin started.
"You mean there are more!" Nami said, face turning redder in rage.
"-so please accept this" Robin continued and held up a small bag with jewels in it.
"Ah! Beloved Oneesama! I love you!" Nami said with a completely different tone in her voice.
Then suddenly everything turned quiet. Through the silence, they could hear steps slowly coming closer. Heavy steps, taken by someone with an angry pace. The servants froze, and Robin did not know what to expect.
"Oh, finally found your way here?" Nami said and raised an eyebrow.
"Good work Zoro! I knew you'd come eventually" Luffy said with a laugh.
"Yeah! You're improving! It's not taking two days anymore to get here" Chopper said with a happy smile while clapping his hooves.
Robin sat quiet and watched the owner of the castle. Truly, she had never ever witnessed a person with hair green as grass before.
Zoro stared at the girl. So this was her huh? Zoro stared at the gorgeous girl in the beautiful dress and felt nothing. It was like staring at just anything. But oh well, he might as well get it over with.
"Oi YOU, love me"
A long silence followed. Chopper didn't know what to do in situations like this, Nami was shocked over Zoro's tactless demand and Luffy located meat on the table.
You can imagine the pure maiden's shock. After reading all those books dreaming of her true love, and then this terrible prince appears and shatters all of her dreams. Such a demand… Ah, but she worried about what he would do to her father if she dared to reject him, but still…
"Impossible" Robin said after staring analytically at Zoro for a while.
"WHAT!" Zoro said with a furious glare at Robin.
"Ano na, Zoro, that's understandable you know. You have green hair" Luffy said and took a bite of a large chunk of meat.
"Yes, and, and your habits aren't the healthiest" Chopper said and shook his head.
"Not to mention you're a worthless lazy bum who can't even keep a promise about money when you are rich enough to have a castle. And you keep falling asleep everywhere, is cursed, was cursed before getting the actual curse, is violent, lacks common sense plus any sense of direction plus that you-" Nami said while counting on her fingers.
"Okay! Okay! I get the point so SHUT IT!" Zoro said shouted at Nami showing lots of teeth, and two fangs.
The poor maiden was shocked when she realized that the prince was not human. Then, what was he? What kind of monster…
Robin drank some coffee and never noticed the two unnatural fangs.
OI! I said, the poor maiden was shocked when she realized that the prince was not human.
"Oh, I already knew. Humans don't have green hair" Robin said with a shrug.
"Uhm, who are you talking to?" Nami said and together with Luffy, Chopper and Zoro gave Robin an odd stare.
"Why, the story teller of course" Robin said while blinking.
Oi! Leave me out of this _ _ anyhow, on with the story ahahah…
"Yeah, it's true. I'm a monster. And if you don't obey me, I'll kill you" Zoro said and made an evil face expression.
"You'd use violence against a woman? You're even lower than I thought" Nami said with a degrading glance at Zoro.
"Shut your mouth, woman!" Zoro said angrily over that all these people would interrupt him at this important moment.
"Hmm, but Kenshi-san, if you are a vampire… How come I've never heard of any weird deaths caused by blood loss around the village?" Robin said and glanced at Zoro.
"Vampire?" Zoro raised an eyebrow.
"Blood?" Nami raised an eyebrow.
"Deaths?" Chopper blinked.
"Village?" Luffy threw away the empty bone which hit and shattered a mirror.
Servant Nami realized that the poor confused girl deserved be told the truth. Of course, she feared that the truth alone was enough to drive a person insane. But she realized that the girl needed to know to help them, so she started the telling of a long, tragic and dramatic past…
"That idiot over there refused to let in an okama with magical power, so the okama ended up cursing him. He can never ever open a bottle with alcohol again, the only thing he can consume is orange juice and he can never change the color of his hair" Nami said in a matter-of-fact tone, sounding as if she read the weather forecast or whatever.
"I see. Then what are the fangs for?" Robin asked while nodding.
A long silence followed. It was weird, no one ever thought about that before.
"Just for show I guess?" Nami said while looking thinking.
"But more importantly, Zoro's curse can only be broken if he gets a true confession of love from a maiden" Chopper said and glanced hopeful at Robin.
"So spit it out" Zoro said and looked impatient.
"I'm sorry, but as I told you, I can't do it since I don't love you" Robin said with a logical tone in her voice.
The prince then hit his hand into the wall in a fearsome burst of rage! The servants backed away and the young maiden also stepped back. Such a fearsome face expression, such a terrifying rage, such a monstrous strength!
"You know, this won't help the castle's budget" Nami said with a deep sigh as the entire wall broke down.
"ARGHH!" Zoro just shouted, momentarily unreachable in his rage.
"But did you try to summon the legendary mysterious dragon?" Robin said and looked thoughtful.
Everyone became silent again…
Ahhh! The tension! What is in the young maiden's pure heart? Stay around until next chapter!