Chapter Two
Without The Straw Hats
Luffy's mind was going a thousand miles a minute, which to a normal person would be stressful but to the rubber man, it was downright scary. Robin. This girl was Nico Robin. His Nico Robin? The Robin he had just saved? That didn't make any sense. And why was she so small anyway? The last time she was taller, taller than him even. She wouldn't be caught wearing something like that, and well, she was a kid. So this couldn't be his Robin?
And yet that didn't stop him from hugging the little girl as she shook in his arms. Why? Why did he do that? Why couldn't he let go? He looked down. He sighed, this face, those eyes, that hair, those cheeks, the way she talked, that voice, and even that odd smell, like flowers. It was Robin. That was something he couldn't deny. But his Robin?
No. This wasn't his Robin.
This was another Robin. But it still felt safe being near her. Comforting, silent, and peaceful.
He never had a mother before and the closes thing he had to someone of that caliber was…Robin.
He let her go, and she backed away. She looked dizzy and Luffy wondered for a second if she was alright. He wasn't good at reading people, he never was. The only thing he could do was tell whether a person was in pain. Great tremendous pain that is. Ace. Zoro. Nami. Sanji. Chopper. Franky. They were all in so much pain. It was so easy to tell how they felt, and know how to help them.
But Robin was always different. She kept it hidden well, and always had that strange half smile on her face. Even the first day he met her, and the next time he met her. That smile never left her face. That day in the ship she asked to join his crew, wearing that strange cowgirl uniform and the hat. Looking down at him and his crew as if they were funny.
Robin. That was such a Robin thing to do. The girl took another step back, and still looked dizzy. Now Luffy was confused. A hug, a simple hug did that to her? Had she never been hugged by anyone before? Well, Luffy had experience with that. His grandfather wasn't the best person to ask for one. Partly because he would give you one after beating the crap out of you, and mostly because his hugs could break bones.
Whether old Garp knew his own strength Luffy wasn't sure, but he was damn sure his hugs couldn't do the damage his old man could.
"Are you okay?" he asked her. "Sorry." He didn't know why he should apologize, but he knew Nami once told him not to make girls cry. Well, he wasn't making her cry, but if she got any more off balance she might fall, get hurt, and cry. He didn't want that.
"I'm okay." She was still tipping from side to side. Her face was bright red. "I'm just." She cut herself off and shook her head. "Never mind."
Yes. This was Robin. Robin always knew answers to everything. Even when she was off balance she was always so calm and relaxed. She answered quickly and showed a high amount of intelligence under any situation. Nami was similar, only Nami would start yelling if things got too difficult. Like that time in Arlong Park.
His thoughts stopped.
Let it be said that Monkey D. Luffy was not a genius, but even he knew when to stop, and think about things. Especially when it came to his friends.
"Arlong is still alive." That also meant that the Park could still be created and all those in her old village were in danger. "How am I going to stop them?"
He had a bad sense of direction. Him and his fellow swordsman. Then another problem hit him. Zoro. Zoro was missing. No matter how he looked at it he wouldn't be able to contact Zoro because Zoro would only be one or two years old.
Great then another member of his crew was gone. Wait. He thought some more. He hated thinking. It hurt his head, but it was needed. If Zoro was a baby then…Sanji, Nami, and Usop weren't even born yet. Oh dear. This was not going well for Monkey D. Luffy.
In one fell swoop he had not only lost his entire crew but was denied their very existence.
"Mister are you okay?" Luffy looked down. Robin was tugging on his battered red vest. "Why are you looking like that?"
Luffy thought about that. Once again his head hurt. "I'm hungry." It was a Luffy thing to say. "More food!"
The girl looked unconvinced, frowned, then nodded her head. Good. She bought it. Say what you will about Monkey D. Luffy but he was good at convincing people with his sheer stupidity. Partly because he was stupid, but mostly because people were willing to believe he was borderline retarded. Which wasn't that far off, but there were points in his life that he could outsmart the best of them.
He did beat Crocodile after all, and you needed more than just raw power to defeat the Logia user.
Robin gave him another tomato and Luffy bit down it. "Robin, where do you live?" He just wanted to make conversation. The more he could distract the more he could think. He knew there was something important here. Something he was missing. But what? If Nami were here she would tell him. Zoro would probably be useless and Sanji would be going after women.
It was important. So important Ohara had to be destroyed. Something Cat. Bastard? Buster? Yes. It had a Buster in it. Something else. Caw? Cologne? Caw, caw, cawl, call! Yes. Call. It was the Bastard Call! Wait, that wasn't right! What was it? Buster call….Buster Call! His eyes immediately went to the ocean. Ohara was given the Buster Call.
The world government had destroyed this peaceful little village and whipped it off the face of the map.
At least that's what Robin said. Standing there on top of the Lobby with that freaky masked man with the whip. He clenched his fist at the memory. He had pushed Robin's face into the brick and broken her teeth till blood seeped out of her gums. For someone to do that to a girl, let alone his nakama…well he didn't want to think about it.
He would be dealt with later. Right now he had to think of a way to save Ohara.
Or at least Robin.
Something hit him. He turned to the side to see Robin frowning. "I said I live over there." She pointed to a house past the giant tree. The tree. The tree was important. Very important….Tree of Knowledge! "Are you listening to me?"
Luffy blinked. He wasn't. He grinned and rubbed the back of his head. Better to let the girl think he was retarded. It worked so far, why mess with a good thing? "Sorry. What was it?"
The girl sighed and picked up her book. "I have to get home." She sighed again and looked at the distance. The distance between herself, on the beach, and to a grove. Luffy could see it too. "The kids are coming here to play."
"Can't you play with them?" Luffy asked, still giving that large, toothy grin.
The girl looked worried. "I don't think that's a good idea." She rubbed her forehead. Then she started scratching it. Luffy got a better look at the bump and glared. It was the kind of bump one got when hit with a powerful blunt object. Luffy was no doctor but he knew what that looked like. Nami and Sanji had hit him with enough of those in his life.
"Who did that to you?" His hands reached out and touched her forehead. Robin backed away, then stood still. Slowly Luffy put his finger on top of her forehead and lifted up the single black blue hair strand. His glare intensified.
"It's just a scratch," she muttered.
"Who did that to you?" He repeated his question with a little more venom. This wasn't Robin, but that didn't he was going to leave her.
"Don't worry about it." She turned away, and hid behind him as a noise grew louder. Luffy looked up to see what it was.
At the top of the cliff the children started to gather. They were pretty ugly kids in Luffy's opinion and that was saying a lot considering the kind of people he grew up with. Some had buck tooth, others large noses, and a few with gross patches. The girls looked like monsters and he was pretty sure one of them was a troll. The problem was there was more than one, so he didn't get a good look at which was uglier. In the end it probably didn't matter.
They were a bunch of ugly kids and that was that.
One of them caught sight of Robin and Luffy started to feel her tremble. He guessed he freaked her out a bit with that hug so she was keeping a slight distance, but that still didn't stop her form using him as some kind of cover. The girl was afraid of the kids in front of her, and judging by the way a few of them were lugging around rocks, Luffy could guess why.
He frowned. "Let's go." He grabbed the girl's hand and pulled her upright. She was bending just to keep away from view, so she growled when he did this. Luffy didn't particulary care for that act. It was something Robin wouldn't do. The girl refused to show weakness. But then living the way she did probably cultivated those traits. Another thought struck him as he walked closer to the kids.
How was he going to save Robin? There had to be an easier way than just destroying the military. Like it or not Robin was researching something the world government did not want discovered.
He would have to think about that later. Right now he had some bullies to deal with. "Alright I need answers." The kids all looked at each other. Then one of them spotted Robin and flung a rock at her. It wasn't a big rock, but it could probably break someone's skull with the rate it was going. With his hand he instantly caught it in mid air. It didn't brush by Robin. But Robin backed away. Her face didn't change expression but he could see the hurt on it.
So this was what she was going thorough, thought the straw hat pirate. "Robin which one?" The girl looked at him oddly. "Which one threw a rock at you?"
The girl shook her head. Luffy looked ahead, and the children were coming closer. He knew why. He wasn't that stupid. Monkey D. Luffy was not a scary looking person. He was tall, yes, but slim. His body looked to be made of straws, and it showed. The boy sighed and extended his legs.
Slowly he grew, and grew, and grew. The children looked at each other, then backed away. The pirate smirked. He wasn't going to let them off that easy. "How about you wait?" He stretched his hands like spaghetti and captured a few. They screamed for thier parents, but Luffy didn't care. Let them come. If their parents came what would they do? Throw rocks at him? Call the Marines…wait that last part didn't sound good in Luffy's opinion.
He decided to put them down. "Robin, which one?" Robin understood the question it seemed because she took her finger and pointed to a really chubby boy in the corner.
Luffy took large steps towards the younger lad and leaned down. His body was stretched so tall that he looked like a giraffe. It made the kid's feet shake, and Robin looked a bit afraid to. Luffy grinned, showing him rows and rows of teeth. He remembered a good joke. Perhaps not a funny one, but a good one nonetheless.
"Do you know what I eat?" He opened his maw, once again, showing his jaw. "Can you guess?"
The boy shook his head. Luffy smiled even further, stretching out his face. He rubbed his belly while looking down at the boy, and he made gestures with his tongue. The same thing he did when Usopp's crew asked him where they took their supposed captain. It had a good effect back then, and there was no way it wouldn't have the same effect now.
"I didn't throw it!" He backed away. "It was the devil's fault?"
"Who are you calling devil?" Luffy continued to grow, smiling even wider. "I don't see any devil here?"
The other children had already run back to their homes, leaving only this boy, Robin, and himself. Robin was tugging on his pants, but he would settle this his way. Sometimes you had to be tough with kids to send a message. That was the only thing he knew about being a parent and whatever Garp and the Bandits that raised him and Ace taught.
"Robin!" He looked away. "She's the devil!"
Luffy again looked at Robin, who stared at the floor, then back at the boy. "I don't see any devil, do you?" He started laughing. It made a shishishi noise. Robin sort of giggled, but when he turned around he saw nothing. She hadn't changed her expression or anything, but there was a tinge of red on her cheeks. Interesting. Very much so.
"Look! I'm sorry! I won't throw a stone at her again! Please don't eat me!"
Luffy smiled. "Eat you?" He opened his grin to the max. "I got a better idea."
Before the boy could run Luffy had the boy's shorts and pulled up. It carried the struggling boy, giving the pirate a chance to hang him somewhere. "Hey, Robin, where do you want me to put him?"
Robin looked unsure, but then touching her forehead she got something in her eyes. Determination. Fire. This was a lot closer to the Robin he knew. "Put him on the school flagpole."
Luffy smirked and did so. As he stretched his hands deeper into the city, weaving, turning, and twisting through the street he found the flag she was talking about. Fortunately Robin had told her about landmarks on the island, and the school wasn't that far off from here. It only took a moment for even an idiot like Luffy to track it down, and once he placed the boy on the pole the real problem started.
"What the hell is that?" Someone came out of the house with a shotgun. "There is a devil here"!"
The town was alive with people. They stormed out of their houses with various tools. Luffy was amused to see not a single one of them held a proper weapon. As it should be in the West Blue. The East Blue wasn't much different. He prayed that no one would ever attack his home because the same results that would take place here might repeat itself. Especially with Shanks using his old home as a base.
"Shanks! I forgot about him." He had a chance to return to him his hat. He had failed to be Pirate King. It was only fair. Robin tugged at his pants. "Sorry, got distracted."
"Please don't do that." She tugged at his hand. Worry appeared in her eyes. "We should go." The seeing that he wasn't moving she tried harder. "Come on!"
Luffy shook his head. "No. We have to deal with this." His face turned resolute and he walked towards the town. Robin followed closely behind not wanting him to get into trouble. "They'll call the Marines!"
"I don't care."
"What?"
"I said I don't care." He turned to her. "They hurt you Robin."
The girl went silent for a second. Luffy couldn't read her. That face, so neutral, calm, and relaxed. Good. Old Robin was somewhere there. "What are you going to do?"
He smirked and flexed his muscles. "What I do best. Just watch."
So she did.
Please Review: Keep reviewing and I'll keep updating at this rapid fire pace. Gives me motivation, criticism, and an urge to improve. I'll reply when I have time.