Robin's locked herself in her room.
It's not uncommon for them to eat separately, so the first few times that Robin refuses to go eat with the comment that "I already ate," they shrug and believe her, and when Luffy or some other member of the crew go to ask her to join them, she smiles and holds up a book. "I would love to, captain," she says in a soft, endearing tone, "But this book is quite gripping."
He'll scratch the back of his neck and shrug, "Okay."
And it was.
The first five times.
Except this is the second dinner that she's missed, and Sanji's noticed that the food count hasn't had changed as predicted, which could only mean one thing.
"Robin-chan," He taps his knuckles against her door, and as soon as she opens it, he pulls the cigarette from his lips and turns his head to blow out some smoke.
"Sanji-san," She offers him a polite, glass smile.
He takes her in, the starkness of her cheekbones and the thinness of her waist. "You haven't been eating," It isn't a question. It rarely is, not when it comes to Sanji and food.
Robin's expression flickers for a moment, fast and thoughtful, running through the possible responses, no doubt, but in the end, she settles on a mild, almost amused, "Nothing gets past you, chef-san."
"You need to eat," Sanji says quietly, "Please come to dinner."
Robin must see something in his face, in his expression, because she just answers slowly, carefully, "I'll try."
But she doesn't show up.
He makes her favourite dish, steamed buns and honeyed fish, but she never comes. They sit around in silence, a unanimous decision hanging in the air between them to wait just a bit longer until impatience flashes in Luffy's face as he picks up her plate.
"She's not going to come," Luffy snaps, uncharacteristically, Sanji thinks to himself, "What's the point?"
Nami scowls, "You can't just say that there might be..."
"She's not going to come," Luffy shakes his head and storms towards the galley door, "If we keep waiting, she's just going to stay in there forever."
Sanji wants to ignore him, wants to keep sitting and waiting, but he knows that Luffy's right. There's something in Luffy's voice and he has faith in his captain, and besides that, there's been no evidence to say anything otherwise, so he picks up the large platters of food and sighs, "If it's alright with you, Nami-chan, we'll be eating in the girl's room."
"No problem," Nami sighs, and it's a testament to how worried she is that she doesn't even charge them. "We'll go with you."
Unanimously, the rest of the crew stands up, gathering their chopsticks and plates as they clatter towards the door.
Sanji glances at Luffy, who's beaming at the crew.
"I'm sure Robin will come down tomorrow," Luffy promises Sanji, "After she eats your tasty food, she'll definitely want more."
"Yeah, well," Sanji knows it's not that simple, and he thinks that Luffy does, too, but when has his captain ever lied to him? "I am the best chef on the sea, after all."
Luffy beams at him, and Sanji can't help but smile, small and slight even as he turns away and insults Zoro for insulting the food.
Robin seems hesitant to invite them in, but she gives in at Luffy's pleading expression.
Nami can't help but feel uneasy, watching them like Robin is a bomb about to implode in order not to harm them. Robin hasn't gotten out of bed for the past few days, alternating between sleeping or reading her book, something distracted and uncertain in her expression.
The first time that she tries to get Robin up and out of bed, it was fine. Robin was ever polite, informing Nami that she was just taking a day off.
Then she missed her meals. She didn't come out.
And Nami just watched Robin self-destruct, uncertain of what to do and feeling five years old and stupid all over again.
This is Luffy, though, she tells herself, watching as Luffy prompts Usopp into telling another one of his grandiose tales. Their captain is miraculous enough... amazing enough, magical enough... to fix anything. So she'll have faith in him.
Robin's fingers move for the notebook where she always writes down Usopp's ridiculous tales, something strained in her smile, but Luffy pins her hands down by her sides and laughs as he tells her not to write it down.
"Just enjoy the story," Luffy says, "Not everything has to be written down. We're pirates, we're supposed to live life to the fullest!"
"But Usopp-san's stories are so fascinating," Robin smiles, and it's so plastic, so forced, that Nami wants to vomit.
"That's why you've got to enjoy them right now!" Luffy declares, turning Robin's words back at her in that simple, inexplicable way of his.
Robin frowns ever so slightly and starts, "But..."
"No buts!" Luffy points at her, frowning, "I'm the captain, so you have to listen to me!"
Nami knows that typically Robin would find this type of behaviour endearing, but Robin merely frowns and stares at her fingers in her lap. It makes something in Nami's chest churn uncomfortably, but she doesn't say anything. What would she say? What can she say, that it doesn't sound like an accusation?
"I'll write it down," she hears herself saying, and offers Robin her burglar smile. Bright and sweet and trustworthy, and Robin seems hesitant but doesn't protest when Nami says, "Okay?" and reaches for the book.
Her writing's nowhere near Robin's neat, smooth scrawl, and she only has two hands, but Nami makes do.
"Do you want to add drawings here?" she occasionally asks Brook, leaning over to point at a wide space.
He hums and always says yes, to the point where Nami wonders if he ever plans it out with Robin or just makes do. Perhaps Robin just intuitively knows where Brook wants to draw, Nami can't figure it out.
But sitting here, scribbling down tall tales, watching as Robin finally cracks a smile, Nami thinks, yes, this is perfect.
Franky decides to take the floor, which may be why he's the only one who wakes up when Robin toes her way out of the room.
"Bathroom?" he asks, sleepy, voice still a bit faded and crackly.
Robin dips her head and smiles, and Franky yawns before quietly getting up.
"Mind if I come, too?"
Something akin to hesitance crosses her features, but Robin shakes her head, eventually allowing the door to crack open a bit more. "I suppose not," a warm breath brushed against his ear and then the lips on his neck vanish in a wave of petals, before those, too, vanish.
Franky can't help but grin. Robin's powers are convenient, even at times like these, when they try to hold a conversation in a room full of sleeping crew members.
They make their way to the bathrooms, slow and steady, and then Franky tips his head to the side and sighs, "You didn't need to go to the bathroom, right?"
Robin starts for a moment, and then she tilts her head to the side and smiles, "What do you mean?"
"It's okay, Robin," He grins at her, "Your secret's safe with me. Nothing wrong with a little fresh air, but sleep is important too, you know."
Robin is silent, humming a simple little song beneath her breath, so soft and faint that Franky doubts that she even realizes what she's doing. "There's just so much to do," she sighs, her composure rattled for a brief moment before regaining itself. "And not enough time."
"Oh, I don't know," Franky smiles at her, "Discover the world's history, make Luffy the King of the Pirates, and sail around the world? Seems pretty simple to me."
Robin smiles, laughing ever so slightly at the ridiculousness of the idea, and the grin stays with her fondness. "There's just so much. I'm worried that I don't have enough time."
"So much what?" Franky tilts his head to the side, "We've already done more than enough for a lifetime."
"Languages to learn, fighting skills to pick up, plans to make..." Robin runs her fingers against the walls. They bump and push against her fingers, the wood beneath her feet swaying with the waves. "You could never do it all in one lifetime."
Franky hums thoughtfully, "You don't need to."
"Don't I?" Robin crossed her arms over her chest, smile turning pale, "I always had excuses before. People to run from. Places to hide. Battles to win. But now, when it lulls, I've become stagnant. Complacent. I imagine that our captain would rather not have a stagnant crew mate."
"He doesn't care about that," Franky frowned, "He just wants you because you're you."
"I'm someone that gets better. I have to be someone to support the future pirate king. I can't be someone who can barely convince herself to get out of bed, I can't act like this all the time and worry him or..." Robin chews on her lower lip, which is what gives her away, because Robin doesn't have tells, she's long since trained herself out of them.
"And Luffy does like that," Franky agrees, "But what he likes, it isn't a Robin with amazing skills or a Robin that knows anything or something silly and pointless like that. What Luffy likes is that you're curious about things. That you like learning. That you make mistakes or look at mistakes and instead of being judgmental or giving up, you take it as a learning opportunity. He likes you because of the personality that causes you to learn new things, not the new things that you try forcing yourself to learn."
Robin looks away and traces a finger against the wood of the ship, the tip of it bumping against the framework, taking a moment to drown herself in thought, processing Franky's words, before she says quietly, "And what if I don't reach my own standards?"
Franky sits down and motions for Robin to do the same.
She mimics his motion gracefully, legs folding smoothly beneath her, ankles already crossed as she lands silently in a cross legged position, hands perfectly folded in her lap and unnecessary to steady herself.
"It's like this," he says, thinking of some advice that he had heard from back when he lived on Water 7, "If one of the crew members held me up to your standards for yourself, expecting me to learn new languages and constantly be working and they got mad at me when I got tired or took a few days off, how should I react?"
Robin laughs quietly, "I see. If it's unacceptable for you, then it should be unacceptable for me, is that your meaning?"
"Exactly," Franky beams, "It's okay to take a few days off. Heck, we'd probably be fine even if you just decided to sleep and eat instead of doing anything for the rest of your life. We just don't want to see you self destruct."
Robin smiles at Franky, fond and soft and grateful, "Thank you," she says, and he returns the smile.
"You ready to get some sleep?" Franky asks, holding out a hand to her.
She nods and takes it. They tiptoe back into the room and Franky folds himself between Brook and Zoro, Robin curling back up with Nami, and they fall asleep.
The next morning, Robin comes down for breakfast and the whole crew beams at her.
"Robin!" Luffy tackles her, "Sanji made red bean buns!"
"Oh my," Robin smiles at Sanji, "You're certainly spoiling us."
Sanji smiles, putting out his cigarette in the ash tray, "Good to see you," he murmurs.
Nami plops down next to Robin and Chopper takes the other side, the two excitedly regaling Robin with the story of how Zoro accidentally knocked himself out with a weight while she was in her room.
Robin laughs and the crew falls back into a peaceful sort of chaos, loud chatter and banter and jokes and laughter and food is flying but every member is at the table and that makes it all perfect.