Chapter 8: The Shape of Things to Come

(Outside in the courtyard)

The class went by without any problems, and soon enough the four guys were left with the ever present problem of keeping themselves out of trouble.

Zoro then immediately started to walk off, but Chopper grabbed him, "You're not going anywhere" he exclaimed.

Chopper put Zoro down, and the swordsman looked up at the reindeer (who was in heavy point), "Fine, if you don't want to me going anywhere, take me to Robin, I need to ask her a question" he stated.

Sanji ran up to them, "Why the hell would you need to talk to my sweet Robin, you moss-headed dumbass?".

Zoro glared at Sanji, "What's it to you Ero-Chef?" he barked.

Chopper looked between at the two of them, sighed and then he grabbed Zoro and started walking off, "Why, Just why?" he muttered to himself as he walked off, dragging the very irate swordsman behind him.

As Zoro and Chopper walked off, Sanji turned to Luffy, "So captain, did you need to do anything?" he passively asked.

Luffy shrugged, "Ehh, did you wanna go and find somebody to give those devil fruits to?" he asked.

Sanji's eye twitched, "You dumbass, you can't just go around giving those away" he barked.

"Why can't we give away some of the devil fruits, I mean what are we gonna do with them" Luffy muttered.

"What's a devil fruit?" a voice asked.

Sanji and Luffy turned around to see a four familiar females looking at them with various levels of intrigue.

"Ahhhh, well, you see…" Luffy spluttered.

Sanji lit a cigarette, and with a quick bonk to Luffy's head, he spoke up, "Come with us" he ordered.

As the two guys stood up and started to walk away, they turned around to see all the girls had puzzled looks on their faces, "Do you want to know or not?" Sanji inquired.

Team Rwby looked at each other with nervous expressions, "Why can't you tell us here?" Blake asked.

"Because" Sanji started to explain, "It's not exactly something that we would want to become public knowledge" he stated.

Sanji then started to walk off (followed absentmindedly by Luffy), and although the girls each had their own questions in regards to the situation they were in, Ruby decided to take charge.

"Let's go" she happily exclaimed as she started to follow the two boys.

The other three members all turned to each other with looks of dread, "Why do I get the feeling we're going to regret this" Weiss mumbled.

They all gave in and ran to catch up their leader, "What's the worst that could happen" Yang jeered as they started to walk off towards the dorms.

(Meanwhile, in the foyer of the academy)

Chopper walked to the receptionist (While still being in heavy point and still having a hold on Zoro), "Hi" he said to the woman.

The receptionist looked up at him with slight alarm, "Hello sir" she sheepishly asked.

Although he knew that the form he was currently in would scare some people, Chopper had no choice to stay in it (otherwise he would have to deal with a wayward Zoro).

"Sorry about my appearance" he mumbled.

The receptions' eyes widened at the realisation of what her actions had caused, "Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to offend you" she apologetically stated.

Chopper shook his head, "It's no problem, it happens quite a lot" he muttered.

The receptionist looked at him sadly, "Was there something I could help you with?" she inquired.

Zoro (who had been in a huff about being dragged around like a child) stood up, "Yeah, can you tell us where Nico Robin is?" he semi-demanded.

The receptionist looked at Zoro with partial fear, "Umm, pardon sir, I didn't quite catch that" she spluttered.

'Smack'

Chopper smacked Zoro back onto the floor and then he turned back to face the woman, "I'm so sorry about him" he said apologetically.

"We were just wondering if you could tell us where Nico Robin is?" Chopper asked.

The receptionist looked at them both hesitantly, "Is there a reason why you want to see her?" she asked.

Chopper sighed (and bonked Zoro before he could say anything else), "We're students here and we are also friends of hers, we just wanted to find where she is" he stated.

"What are your names" the receptionist inquired.

"I'm Tony Tony Chopper" Chopper exclaimed.

"And I'm Roronoa Zoro" Zoro chided.

The receptionist looked at them both for a good minute, her eyes were continually shifting between the two of them, but eventually she sighed.

And after typing at her desk for another minute, she replied "Her room is located in the third year dorms, on the top floor, it is the third room on your right once you exit the elevator".

"Thanks Lady" Zoro shouted, before running off.

Chopper quickly turned to her, "Sorry" he said and then he shifted to walk point and started to run after the wayward swordsman.

The receptionist just looked as the two young men ran off, "They are certainly strange, I wonder why only that Zoro guy was put as a friend for Miss Nico" she said to herself.

"I guess I will have to ask her later" the receptionist muttered, and then she returned to whatever it was that she was doing before the two guys had arrived.

(In Robin's room)

Robin was sat by her window and she was reading a book, "Not many third years like history" she thought out loud.

She quickly thought back to what was her first class, and the only word that she could think of to describe it, would be 'boring', and maybe the slightest bit 'offensive'.

("How is it that no matter where I go in this world, besides Menagerie, Faunus are looked down upon") she thought to herself as she stretched her wings.

She'd had them for over a year, and although it was definitely a strange experience, it wasn't exactly like she wasn't used to being looked down upon by others.

She then started to brush her right wing, "Wonder what happened differently so I ended up with these" she idly muttered as her wing rested back behind her.

And then she started to brush the the left one, "And there is still the matter off the unknown" she muttered.

'Knock'

'Knock

She heard the knock and stood up and walked over to the door, "Hello?" she exclaimed.

"It's us" a gruff voice stated.

Robin chuckled, "Who's us?" she casually asked.

"Zoro and Chopper" the gruff voice yelled.

Robin opened the door and almost immediately Chopper jumped up and hugged her, "Robin, I'm still so happy that you are here" the young reindeer exclaimed.

Robin smiled at him and then looked to Zoro, "What was it that you wanted to talk about" she asked the swordsman.

Zoro walked into the room, shut the door behind him and leaned against the wall, "A couple of personal questions" he stated.

Robin nodded and sat down, her wings resting on the back of the chair and Chopper sitting on the lap, "Go ahead" she said.

Zoro looked to Robin with the slightest annoyance at her passiveness, and then he talked "What would you have done once you found me?" he asked.

Robin's face slightly faltered, "I honestly just wanted to make sure you were here, but I didn't know what I was going to do once I found you" she explained.

"So why are you teaching here?" Chopper asked her.

"I needed someway to justify my being here" she said.

"So what are you going to do now?" Zoro inquired.

Robin put Chopper onto the floor and looked up to Zoro, "Even though we are not a crew anymore, I will stand by all of you, and anyway, my contract lasts for two years".

Chopper smiled at hearing this and Zoro slightly grinned, "And what else do you know about this world?" he asked.

"I know about Monkey D. Dragon, and I know of some of his accomplishments, but he is still an enigma" she stated.

She looked to Zoro, "I'm guessing there was a bit of an upheave when Luffy's family name was mentioned" she calmly stated.

Zoro nodded, "Yeah, apparently a lot of people are assholes to any one that is a faunus or is related to one".

Robin looked to Chopper, "I'm guessing that you are pretending to be a faunus, Chopper?" she asked.

Chopper nodded, "It was simpler than just telling the truth, and I don't think anybody could really question it".

"And what kind of faunus are you?" Chopper then inquired.

"A Crane Wing Faunus" Robin immediately replied.

Zoro then walked over, sat on another chair, and turned to face Robin, "So what have you been doing for a year?" he asked her.

Chopper looked up to her from his spot on the floor, "Yeah, what have you been doing" he inquired.

"I'm guessing you two got a crash course on the basics of this world" she stated, which the two guys nodded in agreement to.

"Well, I also got what was probably the same crash course, but I didn't get told anything about being a faunus, or the specifics of their species, or anything like that" she said.

The two guys looked at her in concern (Chopper more so than Zoro), and before she continued, she changed the subject, "Can I ask a question quickly before I continue?" she asked.

Zoro gained a small look of annoyance, but he nodded, and Chopper also nodded, Robin continued, "So none of you guys actually have semblances, right?".

"Didn't think we could get one, I was told that I could only use aura" Chopper stated.

"Same here" Zoro said.

Robin nodded, "Interesting" she said.

She then continued her retelling of her journey, "So I travelled the world for a year, I planned to eventually come and find you" she said quickly eyeing Zoro.

"But there were some things I needed to understand, and although it took a while, I learnt a lot and eventually gained some understanding of my situation" she stated.

"So I'm guessing you don't really want to tell us what those faunus-specific things were" Zoro said.

Robin nodded, "What would be the point" she said.

Zoro nodded in acceptance of her answer, and then Chopper wearily looked up to Robin, "So how have you been?" he hesitantly asked her.

Robin looked down at him, "I have been fine Chopper, you don't need to worry about me" she stated trying to alleviate his concerned tone.

And although he wasn't exactly fine with her answer, Chopper accepted it and laid on the floor.

Robin then looked to Zoro, "I've got a question for you" she stated looking him directly in the eyes.

And Zoro looked at her, unable to tell what she was going to ask, so he nodded for her to ask her question.

(Team MCSZ's dorm)

The group of six eventually made it to the guy's dorm and Sanji opened the door, "Ladies first" he exclaimed, looking to the whole of team RWBY.

Yang looked at him with annoyance and then she shrugged and walked in, Ruby soon followed behind her, Weiss tried to walk in without hesitance and Blake just scurried in behind them.

Luffy then walked into the room and shut the door, "I'm surprised we made it back to the room so quickly" he passively stated.

This caused the girls to look at him with concern, "Does it usually take you a while to get here?" Weiss hesitantly asked.

Luffy ecstatically nodded, "Yeah, most of the time" he stated.

This made the all of the girls gain shocked expressions on their faces, and then Sanji spoke up, "Never mind the idiot, ladies" he said.

And then he walked gestured for them to properly turn around from looking at Luffy in the doorway, and what the girls all saw made them completely confused.

Ruby immediately ran up to the wall that had the two swords on it, "Look at these" she said.

"Even though these swords aren't changeable, their craftsmanship is great" she exclaimed.

Weiss looked at the coat in the corner of the room, "What does it say" she said glancing to Luffy and Sanji.

"Justice" Luffy muttered.

"Why would it say that?" Yang inquired, while she also looked at the coat (which appeared to also be quite big).

"It was my grandpa's, he was a marine, and that was one of their symbols" Luffy quietly explained.

"You mean the marine force?" Weiss questioned.

And before Luffy could say anything, Sanji spoke, "Yeah, the marine force, I think he was a vice-admiral or something" he stated.

Weiss looked at Luffy with an impressed and confused look, "So your grandfather was a major member of a military force, but your father is a major faunus rebel leader, what is with you family?" she inquired.

Luffy shrugged, "I don't know" he said, this just made Weiss look at him with an even more confused look.

"What's this" Blake asked, to which everybody turned around to see the portrait on the wall.

"Is it a family portrait or something" Ruby said eying the portrait.

Weiss looked to her in annoyance, "I don't think that it's a family portrait you dolt", she then gestured to it, "None of them even look slightly the same" and then she blinked a couple of times, "Is that a skeleton?!" she exclaimed.

And due to sudden silence that plagued the room, the four girls turned to see that both Luffy and Sanji had darkened expressions on their faces.

"I think it might be a personal issue" Blake stated.

Yang then looked to her, "But who are they, and why are we actually here?!" she exclaimed.

"They are our are family" Luffy quietly stated.

The four girls shifted their focus back to the guys, and Sanji spoke up, "And the reason I brought you here, besides the fact that you are all beautiful ladies" this earned him a glare from Yang, "Is that sooner or later this moron" he pointed to Luffy, "would have probably told you anyway" Sanji stated.

Luffy pouted his mouth, "No I wouldn't" he muttered.

'Smack'

Sanji hit him on the head and looked to the girls again, "So, any questions" he begrudgingly exclaimed.

But before any of the girls could ask anything, an unceremonious sound was heard.

'Flush'

The bathroom door opened and Fluffy walked out.

He looked at the girls in confusion, and then he gave the guys a questioning look.

Luffy shrugged, which Fluffy nodded his head in acceptance, and then he went back to his bed and went to sleep almost immediately.

"Umm, what was that?" Weiss asked the guys.

"That's Fluffy, and he could be a part of our answer to that what are devil fruits" Sanji stated.

Ruby snuck over to Fluffy and pocked him a couple of times (which the creature didn't even notice), "Is he a Grimm?" she asked.

Luffy looked at her, "He's a dog, and he's a grimm, and he can transform, and he's really cool" he blurted.

Sanji shook his head and took a puff of his cigarette, "This is going to get confusing" he said motioning to the ground.

"So please have a seat" he said as he and Luffy both sat on the ground.

And although they all had looks of concern and confusion, Team Rwby all sat down and readied themselves to listen.

"Hmph, I was expecting much more resistance" Sanji said.

Yang looked to him in annoyance, "Just get it over and done with" she barked.

This made Sanji partially embarrassed, and after he shook his head, he started to explain the whole story behind devil fruits.

(Meanwhile, somewhere close)

Chopper was walking back to the dorm, "I wonder why Robin asked me to head back?" he questioned out loud.

("I wonder what she had to ask Zoro?") he thought gazing up at the sky.

He then made his way to the door leading into the first year dorms, but before he could enter it, Pyrrha ran past him.

'Sniff'

Chopper looked to her figure as she ran up the stairs, "I wonder if she's okay?" he said.

He then started to climb up the stairs (literally climb, he forgot to change forms), and he thought to himself ("I wonder what Luffy and Sanji are up to").

(Back in the guy's dorm)

"..And that's what devil fruits are" Sanji finished explaining.

Yang, Blake, Weiss and Ruby all looked at the boys in pure confusion, "So they can give you powers?" Ruby ecstatically asked.

"Yeah" Sanji said, "If you wanna give up your ability to swim, that is".

Yang looked at them accusingly, "And where are they?" she asked.

Sanji glanced to the shelf behind the girls, which they all turned around to look at.

(A/N The fruit's tags each have the Japanese and English on them)

"Ice-Ice fruit?" Weiss questioned.

"That's Marimo's" Sanji muttered, "It's a Logia".

Weiss looked to him, "You mean this is Zoro's" she said confused, "Is he going to eat it?" she asked.

Sanji smirked, "Mosshead would never eat it, but it was given to him" he stated.

"Why do you guys trust us?" Yang interrupted staring wearily at the guys.

Luffy looked at her with a giant smile, "Because even though you guys have your problems, you're cool and we like you" he stated.

"Problems?" Weiss inquired.

Sanji looked at her, and even though he could never show any negative emotion to a woman, he elaborated "You didn't exactly respect Chopper".

Weiss looked at him guiltily, "I honestly did not mean to make your friend feel like that, it's just an effect of my upbringing" she stated.

Luffy looked at her confused, "Why don't you be yourself" he bluntly said.

Weiss flustered and looked to the ground, and then Ruby spoke, "So do you guys want to give us these devil fruits or something?" she asked.

Sanji shrugged, "It's up to you guys, you can come back if you want one, except for a couple" he muttered.

"Why a couple?" Blake asked.

"Not the Mera-Mera no mi, the Yomi Yomi no mi, and you'd have to ask Chopper and Zoro if you'd want their fruits" Luffy stated.

"You'd have to ask me what?" a young sounding voice said from the doorway.

Everybody turned to see Chopper, "Yo, Chopper" Luffy said.

And Sanji's eyes started to dart, "Where's Mosshead, he'd better not be with my sweet Robin" he remarked.

Chopper shrugged, "They wanted to talk about personal stuff, so they asked me to head back here" he said.

Yang looked at him with an inquisitive look, "Are you actually a Faunus?" she inquired.

Everybody turned to her, "What?" they all asked.

"You've explained what devil fruits are and I think that Chopper might have eaten one" she said.

Chopper looked at her and shuddered, he turned to Luffy and Sanji, who gave him somewhat supportive looks, and then he sighed.

He walked over and sat on a seat, he then looked to the girls, "Yeah, I did eat one, but I didn't plan to, and it's part of why I was ostracized by everybody I've ever met as well as being a faunus" he stated.

The girls, although still wanting to know what Chopper's devil fruit was, they could tell that it was somewhat a personal subject, so they decided to drop it and change the subject.

"So have you other guys eaten a devil fruit?" Ruby asked looking to Sanji and Luffy.

Sanji shook his head, Luffy nodded, and this made both Chopper and Sanji look at him cautiously, not knowing what their captain was about to say.

"I ate the rubber-rubber fruit" Luffy bluntly stated.

And this made Chopper and Sanji pale, and made the girls look to him in confusion, "But you said your semblance made you rubber?" Weiss confusingly stated.

Luffy shrugged, "My semblance is something else" he said.

"What is it?" Team RWBY and one half of team MCSZ asked.

"The Conqueror's spirit" Luffy said.

This made Chopper and Sanji sigh in relief at the somewhat miracle of their captain coming up with an idea, and made the girls look to him with more confusion, "What does it do?" Yang asked.

"You'd have to wait and see" Luffy remarked.

Ruby huffed at this, Blake was indifferent, Yang was annoyed and Weiss was confused, "Why?" they all stated.

Luffy laughed "Shishishi", and the girls knew they weren't going to get an answer.

Blake, who was intending to change the subject, looked to Chopper, "So which of the devil fruits are yours?" she asked.

"The Operation-Operation fruit and the Ox-Ox fruit: Model Bison" he said.

"That first one sounds like the prefect one for a doctor" Yang remarked.

Chopper nodded, "It used to belong to a spectacular doctor, and he left it to me, so that I could find somebody that could use it to its fullest potential".

The four girls all subconsciously marked the Op-Op fruit of the fruit that they were willing to eat, as none of them felt that they could use the fruit to its fullest potential.

Weiss stood and started to walk out, "I don't care what you guys care to do, but I think that I'm gonna have to wait till Zoro gets back before I ask anything" she said.

"Why?" Team RWBY and Sanji asked.

"He has said that he would train me" she said (which started to make Sanji irritated), "And I think that I should wait to ask him my question" she said.

And although Sanji was starting to gain irate expression, Blake, Ruby and Yang all nodded in acceptance of her answer.

Then the other members of team RWBY stood up and prepared to leave as well, but before they left the room, Yang turned around, "Can I get the Bison one?" she said.

Her team looked at her, "What?" they yelled.

"So I lose the ability to swim" she started to explain, "If a Zoan fruit makes you stronger, I would love that, so why not".

Chopper looked up at her, and Yang looked down at him, "Are you sure?" Chopper asked.

But before Yang could say anything, Ruby tugged at her arm, "Are you sure, and how are you going to explain it?" she asked.

Yang shrugged, "It's gonna be fun" she said.

Chopper hesitantly nodded and walked over to the shelf, and after shifting to Heavy Point, he grabbed the fruit and walked back over to Yang.

He then handed it over to her, and she took it off of him.

She then looked at it in her hand, "So it tastes horrible, right?" she stated.

Chopper, Sanji and Luffy all nodded, "Yeah, so don't spit it out" Luffy said.

Weiss looked to Luffy in disgust at his remark, and then she looked to her teammate, "Good Luck" she said to Yang.

Yang then nodded to her teammates, "Well, here go's" she said.

And she bit into the fruit, and although she gained a disgusted expression her face, she swallowed the chunk she had bitten of.

"Gah, that tastes disgusting" she remarked.

She then glanced at her body, "Is something supposed to happen" she said.

Chopper shrugged, "Eventually" he said eyeing her, "If anything happens, come and see me" he said.

And Yang nodded looking down at him.

Sanji then looked to the rest of the girls, "Would any of the rest of you lovely ladies, care for one of the fruits?" he ecstatically asked.

Team RWBY (the ones who hadn't just eaten a devil fruit) all looked to him with questionable concern (and maybe the slightest bit of disgust), "I don't know yet" they said.

"Come back if you want to ask anything" Luffy said.

And all the girls left and walked back to their dorm (after Yang had chucked the remains of her fruit in the bin), and Chopper turned to face his teammates.

"What was that about!" he yelled.

Sanji lit another cigarette and puffed out a little bit of smoke, "This idiot" he said pointing at Luffy, "mentioned the devil fruits and since I didn't want to deal with the hassle, and since Luffy was pretty okay with them, I brought them here".

Chopper looked at him exasperated, "Are you sure we can trust them?" he said turning to look to Luffy.

And Luffy shrugged, "Ehh, I don't know, there gonna make those guys stronger and that will be cool, right?" he stated.

"And how the hell did you come up with that alternative semblance thing" Sanji yelled.

Luffy shrugged again, "Kinda just was winging it" he said.

Both Sanji and Chopper looked to him concerned, "Why do I get the feeling that this is going to come back to bite us" they both said in unison.

(In Team RWBY's dorm)

The girls were all sitting on their beds, all looking to each other contemplatively, "So what do you guys think we should do" Ruby said, in an attempt to break the ice.

Weiss shrugged, "I don't know, I really like the concept of that Ice-Ice fruit, but I think I should wait" she said.

Yang looked to her, "What is with that guy" she said eyeing the girl, "And why is it that you were scratched and cut this morning, why didn't you use your aura?" she asked.

Weiss huffed, "He's training me" she started to say, "He thinks I have the capability to become stronger, and he made me try to train without my aura on".

The girls all looked to her in concern, "Are you okay with that?" Ruby asked her concerned.

Weiss looked down to her contemplatively, "I'm definitely going to keep this up" she stated.

"Well that's neat" Yang interrupted.

"But aren't you guys curious about what else those guys know" she said.

"It is up to them, they can tell us what they want" Weiss said, "They obviously see us as friends, especially Luffy, and we should be able to rely off of them".

The other three nodded in agreement with her, and then Yang thought out loud, "I wonder if I'll get in trouble if I turn into a bison during the night".

The other three giggled (to various levels of expressiveness), "Guess we'll have to wait and see" Ruby said.

And then the team started to get ready for their regular night-time doings.

Quick description for Robin's outfit:

Has blue tinted sunglasses, black high heel boots, and a white bell-brimmed hat. Hair in a high ponytail. Purple jacket over a blouse with aquamarine trim, and dark blue pants with six holsters for pistol/knives and going down sides of pants are pockets for dust and stuff.

Eighth or technically ninth chapter down, who knows how many more to go.

Will I ever get to what Zoro and Robin talked about, probably, but you'll have to wait and see.

I've always wondered which type of devil fruit would take the longest to gain a certain level of control of, and I still can't really tell, because if we go off of one piece, Sabo was somehow able to automatically use the mera-mera no mi, and Kalifa was quite adept at using hers, but when Kaku had his he was the only one that had problems with getting it to work, so maybe it's Zoan, but I don't know.

Anyway, I always planned for Yang to get a strengthening Zoan, because a Logia wouldn't suit her fighting style and none of the Paramecia's that the guys have would suit her either. And in regards to Team RWBY, they will all eventually get a devil fruit, but the manner in which they will get them will be more intrinsic in style, but Yang was always going to get her one in a more straight-forward manner.

Comments and constructive criticism are always welcomed,
And that's all, Peace Out!