A.N: The last chapter.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Earning trust, part 9

Robin stared at Zoro. Did she just hear right? Did Zoro just say that he loves her? No, she must have heard it wrong.

"Excuse me, I didn´t hear you." she said. She just couldn´t believe that she would have heard right. Zoro mentally slapped himself again. He didn´t want to repeat it, but it started to look like he had to.

"I said that I love you", Zoro repeated. His face was already deep red.

Robin didn´t know what to say. She had been sure she had heard wrong, but now… well, she didn´t know what to do or say. She had always thought that Zoro hated her. Well, not that he actually hated her, but she had been pretty sure that he didn´t like about her in any way either.

But one thing was sure: she didn´t feel the same way as Zoro did. But how should she tell him that?

"Zoro, I… I´m sorry, but I don´t feel the same way as you do. To me you are just a friend. Nothing more, nothing less." she finally said. Zoro´s face didn´t chance. Either he was good at hiding his emotions, or then he had been expecting that kind of answer. Zoro closed his eyes and said: "I was pretty sure you would say something like that." He went to the door and said: "Let´s pretend this never happened." and then he left.

XXXXX

Nami and Franky watched as Zoro came down from crow´s nest. He had his eyes closed when he walked past them.

"Hey Zoro, did something happen?" Nami asked, but Zoro didn´t pay attention to her.

"Something definitely happened", Nami thought. She turned her head towards Franky to ask his opinion, only to find him gone.

"Where the hell did he went?"

XXXXX

Franky entered the crow´s nest and saw Robin sitting on the couch, her face in her hands.

"What the hell did that Zoro say to her!" Franky wondered. Robin was usually so calm.

"Robin?" Robin lifted her head up when she heard her name being said. She turned her face towards the door and saw Franky. She wiped her tears away and asked: "What is it, Franky?"

Franky looked at Robin. She didn´t usually show her emotions, so this made him think that something serious must have happened.

"Are you alright?" Franky asked and lifted his sunglasses on the top of his head.

"Yes, I am." Robin answered. Franky, however, saw trough her lie.

"The truth, Nico Robin." he said. He sat next to Robin and continued: "If something´s wrong you need to talk about it." Robin sighed. She might as well tell everything to Franky, since he wasn´t the type of guy who gave up easily.

"Zoro just confessed that he loves me", Robin told. Then there was a silence.

"What the-! But the girlie said that they are a couple, didn´t she? Did she fool me?" Franky thought. Now he knew that Zoro and Robin weren´t a couple BUT Zoro did have feelings for Robin.

"Well what did you say to him?" Franky managed to ask.

"I told him that I don´t feel the same way. Then he told me to pretend this never happened and left." Robin answered to her friend. Franky sighed. This really wasn´t what he thought had happened.

"Franky", Robin said suddenly, getting Franky´s attention "Do you think I did the right thing?"

Franky blinked in surprise.

"Of course. If you don´t love him then there is no reason to pretend that you do." Franky answered. Robin sighed.

"I know. I just…" Robin couldn´t finish. She was afraid that Franky would laugh at her.

"You were wondering will this affect your and his friendship?" Franky finished for her. She nodded. Franky sighed.

"Look, Robin, I´m sure you know Zoro better than I do. But I know that he´s not that kind of guy who would be angry to you just because you were honest. Sure it can be a little hard for him to be around you for a while, but that´s it. So there´s nothing to really worry about." as he finished his little speech, he glanced at Robin´s face. A small smile had appeared on her face.

"You´re right. Thank you, Franky."

Franky smiled. He put his sunglasses back on and said: "No problem."

XXXXX

Zoro cursed in his mind. Why did he tell the truth to her? He could have just made up some believable lie, but no. He had been an idiot and told the truth.

"Maybe it´s better this way, since now I don´t need to think about it anymore." he thought. He still loved Robin, and that fact wouldn´t chance for a while. He knew that she didn´t love him, but that didn´t matter to him. As long as Robin was happy, it was fine with him. He would give his all to keep Robin happy, even if it would mean to sacrifice his own happiness.

"And who knows, maybe someday she will feel the same way."

A.N: Aaaand done! I´m pretty sure that many people weren´t expecting that kind of ending. This ended up to be pretty short, thought. And Robin was most likely OOC, but she´s so damn hard to write. XD I already know what I´ll write next. Remember to read that too and review.