Sorry it took longer than usual for this chapter, I had a bit of writer's block...

Anyway, since last chapter, you didn't get to see much of Robin, this chapter focus's a little more on her. Enjoy!

Kiri Takumi: Thanks a lot! You sounded really enthusiastic about the last chapter and I'm happy that you loved it! :D

A Poneglyph of Truth

Robin couldn't think straight. She wasn't able to concentrate on anything other than what happened yesterday when she and Franky were searching for Brook. Something had happened. Something so big, it could change Robin's life forever. She took a shaky breath as the memories of yesterday's events came flooding back to her.

Flashback

"Before we start looking, there's something important I have to do. So go ahead without me, I'll find you later." Robin told Franky as they headed outside the hotel.

Feeling eager to start looking for Brook, Franky didn't give it a second thought and said "Sure, but it'll be better if we split up, so just start looking for Brook when you're done whatever you're doing."

"Right." Robin answered, and with that, Franky quickly went off to find Brook.

Trying her best to not look suspicious, Robin headed to the tallest building she saw, which she assumed was the King's Palace.

She stopped at a good distance from the Palace entrance and took out a map of the city that she got from the hotel. Acting like a lost tourist while looking at her map, Robin secretly used her Devil Fruit powers to sprout eyes around and inside the Palace.

Only two guards outside and three inside? These people are too arrogant for their own good., Robin silently scolded. Now, how to get in...

Robin smiled as an idea came to her. She calmly walked out of sight from the Palace guards. Seconds later, an identical copy of Robin walked back to the Palace entrance and straight to the two guards.

"Excuse me," She smiled sweetly at them, "I'm a little lost, can you two possibly guide me to the nearest restaurant?" When the two guards didn't respond, she added "Oh, and I'm Robin from the Straw Hat Pirates."

Immediately, they apologized and started sucking up to the fake Robin while they both led her away from the Palace.

The real Robin smile as she put the map away from her face and walked up to the Palace doors.

'You see, in the City of Roger, status is everything.'

Those words came back to Robin as she thought, When in doubt, use your status. Now all she had to do was find a way inside... unless...

A ridiculous thought came to Robin before she quickly dismissed it. However, when she kept trying to think up plans to get inside, the thought kept popping back in her head. She decided it couldn't hurt to try it, so she cautiously walked right up to the giant double doors and lightly gave one of them a push.

She felt the door open a little from her touch.

...

They have got to be kidding. It's either the King wanted the citizens to feel as welcome as possible to his Palace or he was so full of himself, he didn't think that anyone would dare to sneak into his Palace. But from what Robin have seen so far, she assumed it was the latter of the two.

Robin let out a sigh as she once again, used her Devil Fruit powers to look inside the Palace. It seemed the three guards that were inside were now with the King himself, inside his room.

From what Robin could see, the King was a young man who looked fairly handsome. It looked like he was showing off his royal attire to the three guards. Robin sprouted an ear to hear what they were saying.

"What do you think?" The King smiled smugly at them, obviously expecting a positive reply.

"All the girls will be chasing you, your Highness." The first guard smiled approvingly.

"You look amazing, your Highness." The second guard complimented.

"Anything would look great on you." The third guard added.

The King narrowed his eyes at the third guard. "Anything would look great on me, what?!" He snapped.

Panic filled the third guard's eyes and he quickly stuttered "Anything would look great on you, your Highness!"

The third guard let out a sigh of relief when the King gave another smug smile and said "I know."

Having seen enough, Robin removed the ear and eye from the room and opened the Palace doors enough for her to sneak in. What a... fitting King for this city., Robin thought, disgusted at the people here. The ones who worshiped and the ones who loved to be worshiped. Robin never knew such a place existed.

Remembering her objective there, Robin forgot about everything else and headed straight for the throne room while using the mental map she had made when she peeked inside with all the eyes she had sprouted.

Robin quickly reached her destination and thought back to what the fake Luffy had said to her. A treasure room behind the throne...

From what Robin could see, behind the throne was just a plain wall with a single lamp hanging off of it.

She smiled as she walked up to the lamp and pulled it down. As expected, a secret door slid open to reveal the treasure room. Classic.

She walked in and was immediately blinded by all the piles of gold coins and jewels. This room really was something. It was the size of a football field and had enough coins and jewels to match it's size She would have to show Nami this room when everything was back to normal.

It wasn't hard to find the poneglyph because it was right in the center of the room. Robin walked up to it and traced the writing with her fingers.

It seems he wasn't lying. There really is a ponelgyph here., Robin thought as she continued to trace the writing that only she could read. From first glance, there wasn't much writing on it, only a few sentences.

Finally, Robin read the writing out loud "If your heart seeks the truth, follow your ancestor's path. The moon is blue, find the crystal, and announce your truest desires."

This confused Robin more than anything. Follow your ancestor's path? What did that even mean? And how was she supposed to follow it? The moon is blue? Did they mean it literally? And if so, was there even such a thing? The rest was pretty straight forward, but that didn't make this any less confusing.

"What is this?" Robin whispered.

"I believe, Nico Robin, that this is the key to finding the truth behind the void century." Aokiji announced, walking into the treasure room.

Present Time

"Robin?" Nami asked, waving her hand in front of Robin's face.

Robin blinked "I'm sorry, what was that?"

Nami frowned "I asked you if you were feeling okay. You've been really out of it today, Robin. Are you feeling sick?"

Robin shook her head "No, I'm feeling fine. I just need some time to myself right now. I'll be in our room."

She abruptly stood up and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.

She had been helping out Nami, Chopper and Usopp with their search for a cure this afternoon, but hadn't been able to concentrate enough to give any useful help. Sanij and Zoro had gone off to do their own thing this morning while Riku stayed in his room and Franky went out to look for Brook again.

When the door closed behind Robin, Chopper and Usopp finally looked up from their books, noticing Robin's absence.

"Where did Robin go?" Chopper asked innocently.

Nami bit her bottom lip she said "I think... Robin left to go settle a problem of her own."

Chopper and Usopp gave her a puzzled look before they went back to their medical books.

Robin lay on her bed, staring at the ceiling while she lost herself in her thoughts again.

Flashback

"Aokiji!" Robin gasped, stumbling backwards. She quickly composed herself again and glared at him.

Aokiji held his hands up as if he was surrendering "Relax, I'm not a marine anymore, remember? I'm not here to pick a fight."

"Then why are you here?" She had put on a blank expression, hiding her anger and fear, while trying to think clearly again, but that couldn't stop the shaking in her voice.

Aokiji noticed that too and smiled at her like they were sharing a secret joke. Robin felt her anger rise up, so she took a deep breath to calm herself.

Then, in a more controlled voice, she asked again "What are you doing here?"

Instead of answering, Aokiji picked up a gold coin and flipped it in the air, catching it in his palm. He dropped it and walked up to her. He stopped right beside her and stared at the , he looked at Robin and in a amused tone, answered "Checking up on you?" He had said it like he was asking Robin a question that was up to her to decide.

Robin gritted her teeth, but kept her cool and asked "What do you want?"

"Actually, I think the question is what do you want?" Aokiji corrected her.

Robin raised an eyebrow and he continued "The poneglyph." He murmured, "It's asking you what you want."

Robin knew she should have just left without saying another word. Aokiji was probably just going crazy from his defeat against Akainu. But Robin's curiosity got the better of her, so she stood her grounds. A saying crossed her mind, then. How did it go? Curiosity killed the cat? But she still had to know, she was an archeologist after all.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

Aokiji smiled at her. Robin balled her hands into fists. She knew exactly what he was thinking. She had caught the bait. Hook, line, and sinker.

"About two years ago, just before the war at Marineford, there was a rumor going around about a certain King planning to take over the world because he had somehow gained control of one of the three ancient weapons. The rumor soon reached HQ and I was sent to confirm if it was true or not. It turned out that only part of it was true. Yes, the King was planning on taking over the world. However, he was not in possession of an ancient weapon... yet."

"Yet?" Robin asked.

Aokiji continued "It seemed that he had another two and a half years to go." He paused before asking "Do you have any guesses to how he would obtain an ancient weapon?"

Robin thought it over for a few seconds before she got a dark expression on her face. "This poneglyph."

"Correct." He nodded, "When I confronted him about the rumor, he panicked and told me everything. Apparently, his family has been keeping this poneglyph safe from the World Government for generations now. Lucky for us, the current King is a real blabber mouth and a wimp. Right after he confessed, I struck a deal with him. I would keep this poneglyph a secret from the World Government and not throw him in jail if he, one, vowed to never follow the instructions on this poneglyph; two, allowed me access to it whenever I wished, and three, gave me all the information he had on his family history."

Robin could think of a million questions at that moment, but chose to just ask the one that bothered her the most.

"Why didn't you tell anyone about the poneglyph?"

"Because if I did, all hell would have been set loose." He answered, "I'm not stupid, I know better than anyone what would happen if the World Government found out about it. Who knows how corrupted they could become with that power?"

Robin was about to point out that the World Government were already corrupted, but he continued "Wars would happen. People would die. I made the right choice, but enough of that, it's time to tell you why I'm really here."

Present Time

"79,998... 79,999... 80,000!" Zoro grunted. He rolled onto his back, causing the two house sized boulders that he had been balancing on his back while doing push ups, to fall to the ground next to him.

Ever since yesterday, Zoro had been avoiding everyone, so as soon as he woke up this morning, he went outside the safe walls of the city to train.

Zoro lay on the grassy fields, breathing heavily while he watched the setting sun. His mind kept wandering back to yesterday's events and damn, was he angry. It was that bastard's fault, so why did it seem like everyone was mad at him?! Zoro could feel himself get angrier. It was burning up inside of him. His hands turned into fists as Sanji's accusing face kept popping into his mind.

In frustration, he punched the giant boulder that was next to him. A second later, it crumbled into tine pieces of rubble and dust, but his knuckle was left dripping in blood.

He took a deep breath and stood up to walk back to the hotel, not bothering to clean the blood off his fist.

Zoro felt his eye twith for the second time in two days.

He could feel the stares of everyone around him as they whispered and gossiped about his bloody hand while also trying to avoid him. He narrowed his eyes at them and they quickly looked away. He knew he should have wiped the blood off before he walked inside the city, but he was too angry to care, and he sure as hell wasn't going to give these people the satisfaction of wiping his hands off now.

He felt a headache coming as he rubbed his forehead with his clean hand. What he needed at the moment was some good booze. Yeah, that's exactly what he needed. He gave a sinister smile (which caused everyone to back away even farther from him) at the thought of getting his hands on some.

"Hey, you!" Zoro shouted at the nearest citizen.

"Y-Yes!" He stuttered as his back stiffened and a bead of sweat dripped down his face.

"Where's the closest bar?" He demanded.

The poor guy gave Zoro the directions and quickly ran off in the other direction.

What a bunch of wimps., Zoro thought, They suck up to you at first, but when they see the slightest hint of danger, they run away like cowards.

He headed to the bar and you could call it luck or maybe even Zoro's Sake Sensors, but he managed to get there without getting lost. However, what you would call unlucky was the fact that a certain someone was already inside, flirting with all the women he saw.

Sanji

"Ah, my lovely mademoiselle, it must be fate that brought us here together!" Sanji flirted. The bartender he was flirting with giggled in response.

When he heard an obnoxious voice demanding for a barrel of sake next to him, an irritated look appeared on his face.

"Who would be so rude to such a magnificent woman?!" He snarled, turning to face the person.

Zoro glared at him "What are you doing here?"

Robin's eyes snapped open as she jolted up on her bed. Her eyes wandered around until she found the analog clock hanging on the wall.

7:30 P.M.

She sighed as she remembered that she had fallen asleep on her bed a little while ago. She closed her eyes again and thought back to the dream she just had. It seems that she's been thinking about Aokiji and the poneglyph so much that she's begun to dream about them.

Flashback

"Hmm, where to start off?" Aokiji mused, "How about I explain the poneglyph's meaning?" He waited for a response, but shrugged and continued when Robin stayed silent.

"If your heart seeks the truth, follow your ancestor's path. 'If your heart seeks the truth'. Pretty straight forward if you ask me. 'The truth' would be the answer to anything you don't know, like the whereabouts of an ancient weapon for example. 'Follow your ancestor's path' would be referring to the current King's ancestors. It seems that they were quite the adventurers, travelling from land to land. They were even so nice as to leave pieces of a treasure map all around the Grand Line. Actually, it was a huge pain to gather all the pieces in secret." He scratched the back of his head.

"What's the treasure?" Robin asked.

"Ah! I'm glad you asked!" He ginned, "The treasure would be 'the crystal.' The moon is blue, find the crystal, and announce your truest desires. About every thousand years or so, the moon turns a bright shade of blue for just one night and no one has ever been able to figure out why. This is when 'the crystal' comes in. When the moon turns blue, the crystal shines a miniature rainbow in the air, and that's when you announce your 'truest desires'. You speak what you want to know, and the crystal shows you 'the truth'.

"Even what happened in the void century." Robin finished.

Was there really such a thing as this 'crystal'? Could it really have the answer to what she's been dreaming about her whole life? The truth behind the void century. She could feel her heart racing. It felt so close, but so far.

"When..." She took a shaky breath, "When will the moon turn blue?"

Aokiji grinned. Hook, line, and sinker.

"A week from now." He answered, "It takes about four days to travel from here to the crystal."

"Why are you telling me this?" She asked, already anticipating what his answer would be.

"You could say... that this is a proposition." He chose his words carefully. Robin raised an eyebrow and he continued, "I take you to the crystal and you give up the life of a pirate."

"Forget about it." Robin said without any hesitation.

He didn't seem surprised by her answer, instead, he said "Oh I see. You think that you could just find the crystal with your little pirate crew. Well let me tell you this; you won't make it in time. Don't think that I haven't been keeping tabs on you and your crew."

Robin had a sudden mental image of Aokiji watching them behind a bush with binoculars.

He continued "I know the conditions that your friends are in. Two of them are fighting. One of them has disappeared. And most importantly, your Captain is so sick that he could die."

Robin was surprised by the last one. This was the first time that she's heard of this; why didn't anyone tell her?

"They didn't tell you about Straw Hat Luffy's condition because you don't belong." He said. Robin shivered, it was like he read her mind.

He continued "No matter what they may have told you, that doesn't change the fact that you're still a demon."

Robin clenched her fist "That's not true."

"It is and your 'friends' know it too." His voice changed it into a more gentle tone, "That's why they'll never understand your desire to find the true. They're too busy with their own problems to bother with yours. This is the opportunity of a lifetime. An opportunity that you'll never get again if you stay here with your so called friends."

Robin didn't know what to say. The obvious thing would be to decline his offer again, but his words kept stabbing at her like a knife to the heart. Her throat dried up. She didn't know what to think anymore.

"Think about what I've told you today. Things are happening soon. Dangers things that you can't begin to understand. And you'll get sucked into it if you continue the life of a pirate as one of the Straw Hats. The day after tomorrow, I'll be here at the same time to hear your final answer. To stay or to go, you must make your decision by then." And with that happy thought, Aokiji crumbled into tiny pieces of ice, a random wind blowing the pieces away.

Present Time

Robin didn't know what to do. There was just no other way to put it. For her whole life, all she wanted to do was find the true history. And here it was, at the tip of her fingers, just out of reach. But she couldn't give up being a pirate. She couldn't just abandon her crew. Still... a part of her wanted to know the truth behind the void century so badly that she was willing to do anything for it.

The truth... was it so much to ask? Apparently it was and that only made Robin angrier. What made her even angrier though, was Aokiji She just didn't understand him. Was he a friend or foe? He wants Robin to leave the Straw Hats so much that he was willing to reveal to her the key to finding the void century. Then he goes on about dangerous things that's about to happen?! If anything, he was the real danger!

She blinked in surprise when she heard a knock on her door.

"Robin? Are you in there?" She heard Nami's voice. Robin didn't answer her; instead, she sprouted an eye in the hallway, making sure that Nami didn't see it.

Nami continued "If you're hungry, we ordered some room service, so feel free to come grab a bite to eat." When she still didn't get a response, she started to leave, but hesitated before she stopped and softly said "If you need help with anything, don't hesitate to tell me... actually, don't hesitate to tell any of us. We're all nakama after all. We have each other's backs." And with that, she finally left down the hallway.

"Nakama..." Robin whispered to herself.

Brook

"Yohoho! This is some fine tea you have here!" Brook exclaimed, taking a sip from the tea cup.

After Rayleigh revealed himself to Brook, he kindly offered him some tea, which Brook politely accepted. They were now sitting on a picnic blanket and drinking from a tea set, all of which Rayleigh have brought along.

"Why, thank you very much! You have very good tastes; this tea was imported all the way from... Ah, but you probably don't care about that right now. I'm guessing you're wondering why you're here right now." Rayleigh guessed.

"Hmm?" He removed the tea cup from his lips (Not like he had lips! Yohoho!), "Now that I think about it, I am curious to why I'm enjoying tea right now and not spending time with my crew..." He shrugged and took another cheerful sip.

Rayleigh almost facepalmed at this. Even if they were drinking some delicious tea, shouldn't Brook be the least bit worried to why he was there in the first place?

He sighed "Listen carefully, Brook. You must not leave this underground tunnel, at least, not until I say otherwise."

Brook tilted his head "And why's that?"

Rayleigh had a serious expression on his face "This is because as we speak, your crew members are experiencing a very crucial moment that could decide whether or not you make it all the way through the New World."

"I don't understand." He frowned, "Luffy just has a small fever. I don't think it's anything to be worried about."

Rayleigh gave him a sympathetic look and Brook knew that he would not like the news he received next.

"A lot of things can happen in just two days. Robin seems to be distancing herself from your crew, Zoro and Sanji are acting more recklessly than before, and worst of all, Luffy could die from this 'small fever' of his."

Brook's jaw dropped. It felt like someone just switched one of Usopp's fake five ton hammers for a real one and dropped it on him.

"What am I doing here than?! I must go back to my crew immediately!" Brook cried, feeling guilty that he had been sipping tea while his crew has been facing such a big crisis.

"Please calm down, Brook. Like I said, this is a very crucial moment that could decide the fate of your crew. Acting rashly right now will cost you greatly." He warned.

Brook knew Rayleigh was right. He took a deep breath to calm himself before asking "Rayleigh, please tell me; what do you know?"

Rayleigh closed his eyes and after what seemed like an eternity to Brook, he finally opened them again.

"Every once in a while, ever since your crew reunited and left Sabaody Archipelago, I would check up on the Straw Hats. When I found out you (You= Straw Hats) were getting close to a certain island, I've kept a close eye on you all."

Brook was surprised. A certain island? Which one was it? They've been to a lot of them since they entered the New World. He was about to ask which island he was talking about, but Rayleigh continued.

"I didn't even need to check up on you to know this one; Luffy was bitten by a strange creature, am I right? And you also found a young boy who goes by the name Riku?"

He blinked (Not like he had eyes to blink with! Yohoho!), even more surprised now. "How did you know?"

Rayleigh sighed, remembering a dark memory that he did not enjoy. "I was hoping that I would be wrong, but it seems that wasn't the case. To answer your question, I know this information because what's happening to your crew is what happened to my crew, 26 years ago."

Hopefully, this chapter wasn't as confusing as I thought it might be. If there's anything that confuses you, don't hesitate to ask! And also, I should probably explain something about Brook to clear things up. Last chapter, when I revealed that it was Rayleigh who kidnapped him, you could say that was a sort of a preview for this what I revealed about him last chapter, is what's happening now, today in the story, if that makes sense...

Anyways, review to let me know what you think of this chapter. Until next time, later!