A/N: This would have totally been posted earlier had my computer not been telling me "Error Type 1" since last night. Obviously this week just hasn't been a good updating week for me.

Oh, I finished that book last night after I finished this chapter! It was suuuuch a good book, and it was soooooo sad. I'm telling you guys, if you have time and want to read a great tear-jerker, "Sing Me to Sleep" by Angela Morrison is the way to go. I'm a sucker for a tragedy, what can I say?

But I hope you enjoy this chapter!


Chapter 7

"What are you talking about?" Zoro reached for me.

I took a breath and let it out slowly. My composure slipped a little as he wrapped his arms around me. His hand rested in my hair, his fingers working back and forth in a comforting way. He didn't say a word, just held me as images of my mother's death came flooding back to me. The day that my home was burned to the ground.

"Talk to me," He told me, taking my hand in his and holding it to his face.

"I don't know the entire story," I said, looking into his eyes. "All I know is that we're going to a Marine base and that those boys don't know their mother, and that their mother is going to be killed if they don't bring back pirates. Hideki doesn't care because he's never met his mother."

"And the younger one? Hikimo?" He asked.

"Hikime," I corrected. "He's six, or around there. A boy that age needs his mother."

"You're thinking of interfering, aren't you?" He took a step away.

"You don't want to help them?" I was a little surprised.

"It's not that I don't want to, but we need to get back to Luffy and the others," He said.

"That's why we need to do this," I frowned a little at him. "Luffy would. Nami would. I'm sure everyone else would."

"I never said I wouldn't help," He heard the edge in my voice.

"You implied that you didn't want to," I said.

"No I didn't," He gritted his teeth. He took a breath and looked away. He exhaled slowly before his gaze fell on me once more. "Look, let's just read the book. We'll do what we need to do when we get there. We're not even completely sure of the situation."

"Read the book yourself," I snapped, shoving it into his arms and walking past him.

"Robin," He grabbed my arm.

"Seis Fleur Twist," I crossed my arms in front of me, not stopping as my extra arms twisted his upper body around. There was a part of me that acknowledged that he was right. We didn't know whether the situation called for help. And for a fisherman, his boat was lacking fish. But that didn't mean that they didn't need our help.

I heard him cry out in frustration as I threw open the door to the aquarium. Despite my anger, I closed the door softly, and then walked around the fish tank to the door that led to the balcony. I leaned on the railing there and sighed loudly. I knew he wanted to help. I did. Zoro was kind hearted despite everyone thinking he was a demon. He just wanted to be the world's greatest swordsman. Being a pirate and getting a bad reputation was just the path he had chosen to get there –a choice made by the influence of Luffy. Although lazy at times, he was loyal to the actions of his captain.

I pulled away from the railing and rested my back against the wall, bringing out the eternal pose. The ship could use a little adjustment, but I didn't want to go out there quite yet. I wasn't ready to apologize, and I didn't want to hear him say sorry when he didn't do anything. I was the one at fault.

"N-Nico Robin-neechan?" A small voice asked. I looked over to see Hikime. I was surprised because I hadn't heard him coming.

No –I just hadn't been paying attention.

"Mm?" I asked, crouching down to his level. "What's wrong? Hungry?"

"Can you read this to me?" He asked, holding up a book with both hands and looking down at his feet like he was ashamed. "Aniki won't do it. Sofu's taking a bath, and Zoro-niichan scares me."

I took it gently out of his hands, flipping it over to look at the cover. "Mm. I'd be happy to. Where do you want to read it?"

"With the fishies!" He exclaimed, pointing to the door. He gasped slightly and clasped his hands over his mouth.

I smiled down at him, opening the door and letting him go through first. We went around to sit on the bench that lined the tank. I opened the book wide, holding it up so that he could see the pictures as I read.

Somewhere in the New World, there was an island that was constantly abundant with pirates. Amongst all these pirates, one stood more confident than the rest. He was strong, both mentally and physically. There was no one that could take him on and win. Marines let occurrences involving him just slip on by –and no one really seemed to know why. This made one ex-Marine, now a Bounty Hunter, more furious than all the rest. She approached this island one day, completely ready to catch this pirate and put him where he belonged –behind bars.

"I like this story," Hikime smiled, slipping his shoes off and bringing his feet up onto the bench. He started playing with his feet, and I made a mental note to make sure he washed his hands before eating.

"Oh?"

"Mm. Keep going."

I chuckled.

She reached the island, her swords and guns –as well as other various weapons –ready, not knowing what she needed to take down such a notorious man. Even though the island was known for its pirate-inhabitants, she was still surprised. Perhaps, she thought, she should have collected a few other Bounty Hunters with her for this particular trip.

The Bounty Huntress entered a bar and looked around the room. She spotted her target immediately. At the counter, sitting on a stool and laughing. Everyone around him laughed just as hard. Her hand immediately rested on the weapons she had attached to her waist. But he turned at that moment, and she froze.

"They're going to fall in love," He giggled the way that little boys do when they begin to somewhat understand what it meant. I smiled –this meant that Hikime's intelligence was rising faster than Luffy's. I mean, it took Luffy until he was nineteen to learn what it meant to love and be loved.

What she saw was not an evil man. And whatever she felt in her heart must have been felt within the pirate. He stopped laughing and approached her, taking her hand and leading her away from the bar. After spending a few weeks together, the pirate went on to other islands. The Bounty Huntress remained on the island. He would return once in a while to that island of pirates, to see the ex-Marine.

Months later, she gave birth to a beautiful baby boy. She knew it was time to return to her own island. She took the baby boy and without a word to her pirate-lover, she returned to Isazabar, her town on the Marine base island, returning to her other son and her father. She hadn't returned to that island in years –and it had been her initial plan to return with the pirate to cash a large bounty and live off that for as long as she could manage, so that she no longer had to leave for such long periods of time.

She arrived at night, and her first son was fast asleep. Her father welcomed her warmly, even taking in her newborn child with that same loving gaze.

The next morning when the Marines knew of her arrival, she was taken away and was thrown in jail for years. She accepted this punishment for her affair with the pirate with a brave heart. And it wasn't until the villagers started recognizing similarities between the pirate and her son –who the Huntress's father had claimed to find floating in the sea on one of his fishing runs. But when asked if the boy was her son, the Huntress didn't deny it. She didn't deny the love affair either. She was quickly sentenced to death.

But her father couldn't bear to have such a thing happen over such a trivial matter. He protested, promising to bring back pirates of the same bounty or higher before the autumn equinox. Worried about what would happen to his two grandsons, he took the two of them with him and set off.

I turned the page, but it was blank. I frowned, flipping the pages continuously until the paper stopped and I reached the back cover.

"There's no more, yet," Hikime said.

"Yet?" I asked, closing the book and gently placing it on my lap.

"Sofu wrote that story," He said, sniffling a little. "It doesn't have an ending yet. Sofu's a fisherman. He has a lot of time to spare."

"It's a wonderful story," I told him. "I hope your grandfather finishes it soon."

"Well, the ending will happen soon," Hikime said, looking down at his feet. He was still playing with his toes. "The woman will probably die soon."

"Will she?" I asked.

"You don't have to do that," He looked up at me. "You know. You even told Sofu you knew."

Kid's just had a six sense for things like this, didn't they? I had the feeling that whatever this boy chose to do in the future, he would be great.

"So the woman is your mother, right?" I stopped feigning my lack of knowledge.

"Mm," He leaned his head back and looked at the fish. The angle his neck was at looked uncomfortable. It was something Luffy would do –but Luffy was a rubberman, and the way he twisted and turned his body had no real affect on him. Hikime continued after a long moment, "Are you good pirates or bad pirates?"

"What do you think?" I lifted my gaze up and looked at the fish tank across from me.

"I think you're a good pirate," He told me.

"I've been on the run from Marines for twenty-two years," I reminded him. Incase he couldn't do the math I added, "I was eight when I first started running."

He got up on his knees and placed his hands on my shoulders. "But you were just running because you were scared, right?" He kissed my forehead. "Sofu said that no child is born evil."

"I believe your ojiisan is right," I couldn't help but smile. I couldn't remember the last time I had dealt with kids his age. "So don't you forget it, alright? People will say bad things because you're the son of a pirate, and they'll try to put you down. Those people are the ones that are evil. Don't ever forget that."

"Mm," He nodded. He jumped down onto the floor. He took the book from my lap and ran to the door. "Thank you for reading to me. And I still think you're good pirates. Now I'm going to go and find my Aniki."

I gave a small wave as he pulled the heavy door open and nearly ran into Zoro. He bowed in apology and ran by him, going off in search of Hideki. Zoro entered and closed the door. He stood there for a moment, his eyes on me, before he came over and sat down, pulling me into him.

"I'm sorry," I said before he could even say a word, resting my forehead on his shoulder.

"I'm sure that it's my line," He said gruffly.

I smirked into his shirt, "No. You were right. For all we knew, the three of them could be hauling us off to the Marine base just so they could get a bounty."

"But they're kids and an old man."

"Kids and an old man from a Marine island. The old man could've been an ex-Marine. Old as he may be, he could've been wielding some crazy skills."

"But they're not, right?"

"Mm, I don't believe they are," I told him.

"Then we'll believe in them until we're proven otherwise," He told me, pulling away and placing his hands on my shoulders. He kissed my forehead, and I chuckled, because Hikime had just done the exact same thing.

"Thank you," I said, lifting my head to kiss his lips. I got to my feet. "Let's go adjust our course. You haven't started reading the book by yourself, have you?"

"I prefer hearing you read it," He told me.

I chuckled, taking his hand in mine. "Come on, love. Let's go finish that book."


"Hey, what do you think Robin and Zoro are up to right now?" Usopp asked, wiping the sweat from his brow as we strolled through the forest.

"Sex. Lots and lots of sex," Franky said.

"You're so vulgar," Sanji frowned deeply as he shook his head.

"Robin's probably reading," Chopper said. "And Zoro training. I hope he isn't pulling his stitches out."

"Zoro's hopeless when it comes to stuff like that," Usopp agreed.

"Yohoho!" Brooke laughed. "Sometimes he makes me sweat with worry! Not that I have glands to sweat with! Skeleton joke! Yohoho!"

"Luffy?" Nami asked.

"Hmm?" He looked back at them, bringing a branch with him as he walked, he let Nami through before releasing it, and it swung back, over Chopper's head and hit Usopp in the face.

"Oi! LUFFY!" Usopp roared.

"Shishishi," Luffy laughed, turning to Nami.

"How do you think Zoro and Robin are doing?" She asked.

"They should be doing fine," Luffy shrugged. "Maybe they picked up some old guy with two kids and they had a pose that lead to their home island, so they're going there in hopes of finding a pose here."

Nami looked over her shoulder at the rest of the guys who were all glancing around at each other. They all stopped walking, deliberating the idea.

"Nah~" They all waved their hands dismissively.

"That has to be the most unlikely thing I have ever heard," Sanji muttered.

"That's like grasping for straws," Franky agreed.

"Shishishi."

"Well, we'll just have to wait until they come back and ask," Nami sighed.

"Assuming they come back," Usopp muttered.

"Don't say that!" Nami, Sanji and Chopper all scolded him.

"They'll be back," Luffy said, tucking his hands behind his head as they walked.

They all looked at their captain, who turned and grinned at the six of them.

"There's no doubt about it."