Chapter One
A New Discovery
Robin couldn't do much for the boy's wounds. She wasn't a medic or anything to that stretch, but what she lacked in knowledge she made up for with determination. She wanted to help, to heal, and to save, so that's what she did. Robin read up on how to fix wounds, and tried her best to implement what she learned but a few hours of reading just wasn't enough to garner the care and precision the boy needed.
"Thanks," he told her. A part of her wondered if he really meant it. " You're a nice person," he told her, and she bloomed.
No one had ever called her, aside from Clover, a nice person, yet this boy said it as if it were the most natural thing in the world. He called her, Nico Robin, the devil child…something that wasn't bad?
"No problem," she answered back, trying to hide her reddening face.
She went back to her kit to find whatever she needed to help. So far all she had were bandages, and the next part was the stitches. She just knew that it was a giant cat. Scratch marks so damn deep. It frustrated her that the boy wouldn't tell her anything about what happened.
Even more frustrating was how he kept looking at her quizzically while she tried to heal him as if he were observing something new and fascinating. Like she astounded him or something. But then he could just be very, very stupid. She had suspected as much after the first time he almost bit off his hand trying to eat something.
And how in the world did he manage to open his jaw to such a size?
Could he be a devil fruit user? What was his power, the power to eat food? Weird power, but then her power wasn't exactly normal looking either so she had no right to judge others in that end.
She looked at the sky, then looked at the boy. "I need to get back home, I'll be back tomorrow."
"Don't you have friends or something?" he asked her. "You've been coming here for the past, I don't know. Ever."
Ever since she found him, she'd been coming here to check up on him. It wasn't like she could just tell him that all the kids her age hated her. Would he hate her too if he knew? Probably. Better make sure he never finds out.
"I'll be back." She said again, trying to hide her shame. She succeeded. The boy wasn't very bright and from what she had gathered from him, certainly not very quick thinking. Most of his time he just spent looking at the sea, then at her, then at the scene, then at her. What was he waiting for anyway? Not that she could honestly say he was waiting for something in crystal clear clarity but that was probably the best solution to her problem.
She troughed back to her home and found another kit. Her aunt would be angry. Her aunt was always angry, and if she ever found out that she was feeding some drifter. Well, she honestly didn't want to think about it. No doubt her aunt would beat her, she always did. Even when she didn't do anything wrong. The girl clenched her fist and shook her head.
"No time, he needs me." For the first time someone needed her help. "Come on, Robin, you have to find something."
She had asked Doctor Clover for advice on healing bone wounds, and the doctor looked at her suspiciously. The wounds, scratches, slashes, on bones were not only hard to cure, but it required complicated surgery. So far Robin had more than a few hands with her nifty devil fruit powers but without the knowledge of a licensed medical expert, she just couldn't do much for him.
"Still not enough." She sighed and looked at the box she had.
She was going to see her friend today, or at least she thought of him as a friend. Truth be told the boy didn't talk very much. She couldn't even get a name out of him. All he did was make some vague comments, shrug, smile, eat, shrug, and then look at the ocean.
The only thing she could think of that was at the oceans right now were the marines. Was he some kind of runaway? The marines had been here more lately, and maybe they were looking for him. Maybe he was some kind of prisoner from the world government. She didn't want to think that way, but the way he had wounds like that…war…fights. Something to that extent.
That's all she could think of. Why else was he injured like that. He had to be some kind of fighter. But for which side. Was he a pirate, or was he one of the good guys. Not that the marines were always good, just saying that he could be one of the better ones. He was certainly friendly enough and the devil fruit powers she used to help him certainly didn't scare him off.
Robin stepped out of her house, to the pathway, and out to the front. She looked back, made sure that the door was locked, and turned back to the road in front of her. She would have to be careful not to get caught by any of her bullies. Not when she was carrying supplies like this. Normally having her things stolen wouldn't be that big of a deal, but today was different. If her friend didn't get enough food, he might actually die.
Sighing she put a foot over the other and started walking. The villagers of course ignored her. At least the adults did. Some of the parents moved away a bit quicker, while others muttered something she could easily here. She felt a bit insecure and hid her face further into her black bangs.
"Just ignore them."That's what Clover had told her to do. "Breathing exercises, Robin, breathing exercises'."
So she was calm now, she could deal with them. Nothing new. She turned away as a tomato almost hit her. "Not today."
She had already been hit by one yesterday. Then a thought struck her. She stood still and let a tomato come to her. With her powers she caught it in mid air and placed the fruit in her basket. One of the boys who threw this whined, and a girl shrieked. She didn't care. She had one more food for her friend.
She turned back, glared, and waved at the children with her many arms. They sprouted from her body, on the ground, on the walls, and one or two on the children themselves. It was a rather scary power now that she got a better look at it. No wonder they hated her so. Still, it wasn't nearly as strange as some of the other ones she read about. The Zoan fruits for example which could turn the user into some kind of animal.
She smiled thinking about the boy. "Maybe he ate the pig fruit."
Though he didn't act like one. He wasn't selfish, greedy, or a bore to be around. In fact he was generally very friendly, and even if he didn't say much, he didn't try and push her away. Then again it wasn't like he could push her away if given a chance.
She looked about to see if any other children were going to attack and smiled when she realized they weren't. Still as she left the street some of the children started whispering and the sounds reached her.
"They always talk about me." Always. About her clothes, her style, and how she looked. She didn't look particularly different from the other children but she wore a very drab dress.
She looked down at herself and frowned. If she could she would buy something better. This was just awful. The color matched her true enough but there were so many fringes and patches on it that no wonder the other girls didn't want to play with her. What girl in their right mind would play tea party with her? Especially when she looked like this. A glimpse of a mirror caught her eye and she turned in time to see her reflection.
She turned away, not wanting to stare. "Nothing like aunt, nothing like uncle, and nothing like her either…"
Her mother She remembered her mother briefly. They said she didn't, that she was too young, but Robin remembered what she looked like. She had white hair. It was beautiful, rare, and exotic. She wished she had inherited her mother's hair. Instead she got her father's simple black ones.
Grumbling she took a step over a hill and into the forest. Storm clouds were gathering in the sky, and already she could feel the winds pick up. Stopping near a tree she adjusted the weight on her pack and looked about for something to use as an umbrella if need be. Finding none she shrugged and proceeded. The boy would die, or she would get wet.
There was no question of what was more important.
Say what you will about Robin but the little girl had her priorities right. Stopping just at the spot of the stairs she stopped and looked down. There, he was right there. In the same spot she had left him yesterday. Could he really not move? Was he really that hurt. She had to admit that the gash from those claws probably took a toll on him, but he should have been able to move something.
Anything. Something that was still pinned down on his body.
But for him to be in such a state, it could only mean that the fight he had been in almost killed him. Then again when fighting giant animals one often did not come out of it alive. "Hey, I've got lunch."
The boy completely ignored her and continued to look at the ocean, trying to find something perhaps? Who knew. She certainly didn't. Little by little she made her way down the steps and froze. This couldn't be real. She rubbed her eyes and looked again. No. This was real. She narrowed her eyes as his arms did something that utterly fascinated and terrified her.
His arm. The one that was battered beyond repair reached out to the ocean and slowly started to stretch. She calculated the distance, it was beyond unbelievable. One meter, two meter, three meter…it just kept going. It was like he was made of rubber or something. A spring with powerful elastic potential. The sheer speed he was sending his arms out into the sea made her take a step back. With one powerful grasp, punch or slash with arms like that…she didn't even want to think about it.
"So he really is a fighter." She thought gloomily. "Maybe I shouldn't go near him." He might even be dangerous. But he hadn't done anything to her.
"What should I do." She wondered. Then realized that this wasn't really the time to be thinking like this. "I should at least give him his food-,"
Then he saw why he had been looking at the ocean all along. The boy's hand skimmed the top of it and pushed into the water. She palmed her face thinking that was one of the stupidest things he could do. The sea was the natural weakness of the devil fruit. One touch and the user would be weakened and in some cases paralyzed. But then she took a closer look and realized he wasn't dunking his entire hand into the sea. No. He was just brushing it. Like how a painter would put strokes on canvas.
And every time he took a swipe, at least a dozen fish jumped out. With his other hand he swung out like a bullet and caught the rising fish. Robin's eyes widened as his finger turned longer, larger, and stronger as it made some kind of net and caught the fish. This was one unusual devil fruit power, and a rather flexible one at that. Her own powers were only a single use, and they didn't change or shift form like he did.
Also she looked downright scary when she used hers, and well, the boy didn't look all that harmful now that she looked at him. He simply grinned as he collected his fish and stood there upright leaning on the boulder. Why didn't he look sad, angry, or mad? He was paralyzed from the leg down. Sort of. And until he got help all he could do was stay there and be completely and totally helpless. If the villagers ever got word that he was here, he was a goner, yet he didn't seem to care.
Sighing she finally got to him and stepped to his front. "Fishing?"
"Yeah, it's great." He grinned at her. "You want some?"
Robin thought about that. Did she really want some? Actually she did. Though she didn't have anything to cook the fish with. "Are you going to eat it raw?" Her answer was him smiling, looking at the fish, and just dropping it into his large gaping mouth. Robin cringed, and then snorted. This person was just plain ridiculous.
Why should she be afraid of him? There was just nothing he could do that was utterly terrifying. Now that she thought about it, all she would need to do was summon a few arms and even she could probably win against this one.
"You're still here?" he asked her.
"Yes." She answered. She knew what was coming. He is going to ask her why she wasn't with her family and all that. It wasn't surprising, but she hated this part of their relationship. "I wanted to see you….I don't like other people."
The boy smiled widely. "Well. At least you wanna see me." His grin continued to stretch, showing more teeth than was natural. Robin smiled. "But I'm a pretty boring guy. You should probably bring a game or something next time."
Robin looked at him thoughtfully for a second. "You would actually play a game with me?"
The boy blinked. "Why wouldn't I?"
Robin thought about that. Why not? It wasn't like there were any others on this island that she could play with. Still she was a bit nervous. No one had ever played a game with her. Well, no one outside of Clover, so if she screwed up…then this might be the last time.
Shaking her head she looked at the boy with determination. "How about cards?"
The boy nodded. "I used to play cards with my crew." He clamped his mouth. "I shouldn't have said that…."
So he had a crew. Good. So she had more of a clue what he was. He was now either a pirate, someone who ran a ship, or possibly a fisherman. Or perhaps all three. There was also a chance he was one of the marines but she doubted it when she considered what he was wearing. In fact that's what struck her. The days before he came into the shore with no shirt.
Only his strange rolled up jeans. But at one point or other he managed to get a hold of a red vest. It was frayed, damaged, and had bullet holes in them.
The marines were the best suspects for wielding weapons that caused bullet marks and Robin easily guessed the ones he was likely fighting were them. So he had to be some kind of outlaw. But she didn't want to call him on it. Not when he was fair company. Again. He didn't talk much, but he always smiled at her. He had a nice smile. Not like hers. Hers was always cast with doubt, with care, and precision.
His was natural, free, and loving. He seemed like the kind of person that could love deeply.
"So do you have cards?" he asked her. "I got some spare time before I stretch out my legs."
Robin looked down. She gasped. His legs were nearly healed. What kind of power did his fruit give him? All the black scars she saw yesterday had relatively vanished and what was left was a cake of patches. Did he even need her help if this was the kind of healing ability he had? She looked down gloomily. Even when she was trying to help someone, it wasn't necessary.
"Hey, I was wondering something." The boy looked at her. She continued to look down. Slowly the boy's hand stretched out and touched the bottom of her chin. With a slow push her face looked at his. "I was wondering….this is awkward but what's your name?"
Robin gasped. Should she tell him her name? I mean there was probably no harm in it, but still. Maybe he had heard something from a stray villager? Maybe someone had talked about her while they were walking by here? Maybe he knew either her mother or father. To be honest neither of her parents were very well liked so she could only count him knowing her parents as a negative. So should she bother telling him?
"I'll tell you mine."
That got her attention. If she gave out her name, she would get his. Good. Great. More clues as to who he was and maybe they can make a better relationship? It was certainly better than the kind she had with kids her own age, which revolved around dodging rocks and tomatoes.
"My name…" She took a deep breath. Her hands trembled, her eyes looked unfocused, and heart quickened. "My name is Nico Robin." She closed her eyes waiting to see him do something. Glare, yell, shout, or back away.
But he did something that utterly shocked her. He did something no one had done in years. Something she had forgotten existed. Something she had wanted other parents to do to her. Something she was beyond jealous of, utterly craved, needed, and wanted beyond the books she had in her arsenal.
He gave her a hug…
...then broke down in sobbing, ear splitting, teeth stretching, howling, nasal dripping, tears.
Please Review: Keeping giving me feedback and I'll keep updating at this rapid pace! I just finished answering all the previous reviews. Hope it works. I'm so pumped with this story. First time I've considered writing a long term project. Well, let me know what you think. Hate it, love it, don't like Robin POV? Want Luffy back? Let me know.
