Luffy wasn't sure how long he had managed to get some sleep. It wasn't really important to him anyways. All he knew was one second he was dead to the world and the next, he was wide awake and up out of his seat scanning the cabin for some sort of threat that he felt. When at first glance he couldn't find the threat, he moved over to Kay and pressed his fingertips to her throat.
Feeling the soft, slow thudding of her heart underneath his fingertips gave him a small measure of relief. But only just so. Whatever he was feeling was still there, lurking just beyond his ability to identify it. Shifting his hand from his captain's throat to the bed cover's he did a quick check of her person/injuries.
Looking for any possible blood or damage that she may have done herself somehow while he slept. He even went so far as to tug the shirt that she was wearing up over her shapely hips and check her stomach before carefully tugging the hem back down in place and then recovering her with the blanket.
If the threat he felt wasn't in the room and wasn't pertaining to Kay's health- then it was somewhere outside. Moving stealthily from the room, he opened the door and made quick work of locating what had set his senses off.
It was a Navy battleship. One of the biggest that he'd ever seen before, and from the looks of it- they were gearing up to attack the Merry.
Moving faster than anyone would have ever thought him capable of before, he ran from door to door waking his friends by banging on the door in a specific rhythm that he'd come up with to indicate 'dire straights' and then as they were all piling out of their cabins with sleepy, frazzled expressions to see what was going on as he started shouting as loud as he could while he grabbed the nearest rope and began to untie it to free the sails.
"Guys get a fucking move on! There's a Navy battleship heading right for us! Nami get to the helm! Robin go stay with Kay! The rest of you get your asses down here now and help me weigh anchor before that thing rams us! Sanji, Usopp, Chopper- if that thing starts firing on us- take care of it!"
That was all it took to get everyone moving.
Apparently the words, 'Navy' and 'ram us' were wonderful motivator's because before he even knew it the sails were down, and the anchor was up and their ship was more than halfway out of the way before they were even spotted.
There was a little bit of riffle and cannon fire, and the two ships definitely scuffled a bit, but both managed to escape without much damage and both crews managed to escape with a minimum amount of damage.
Though Luffy knew that one of the only reasons for the initial attack on them was that the marines had been expecting them to be so grievously injured from their prior battle with the Navy that they would be easy pickings.
They wouldn't be thinking that again, Luffy noted with some satisfaction as he used his hands to rip the motor out of the ship along with it's rudder once he felt it was at a safe distance from the Merry knowing that by doing so, he would delay their return to any nearby base.
They could still report their run in, but with a crippled ship with little to no ability to actually defend itself- none on the Merry would have to worry overly much about them deciding to follow them or attack them again.
After handing the pilfered metals and such to Franky whom had been clapping his hands and practically dancing around in place at the thought of being able to mess with Navy grade materials, Luffy then started to walk off when he heard Zorro say, "That was a nice save. Too bad that you're abandoning us to follow some skirt. I think we inevitably would have made a good captain out of you."
It hurt to hear his former first mate and friend say something like that to him, but Luffy let it slide. Mostly in part because it was the truth- or rather it was the truth from Zorro's perspective. And perhaps the other's perspective too.
However another voice chimed in this time, coming from Robin whom was standing just outside of the cabin and had heard Zorro's words and were somewhat angered by them. "Shut up Zorro. You just wish that you were brave enough to give up everything including your greatest dream just for a woman," When everyone's jaws dropped open the dark haired woman smirked before then tacking on, "Besides- I don't think Luffy-san will be leaving you anytime soon. Kay is a lot of things, but deliberately cruel enough to take your captain and friend from you isn't one of them."
Luffy could barely hold back the urge to utter something along the lines of, "Nani?" until he'd actually said it and then quickly blushed and slapped his hands over his mouth to keep himself from saying anything else.
Dammit, he must still be half asleep or something.
He usually had far better control over himself than what he was displaying right now.
"W-What do you mean Robin?" Sanji asked, not really daring to hope that the woman was right. As much as he didn't want to lose his friend and captain, he knew what Luffy was like once he made up his mind about something. And there was rarely any stopping him.
Robin merely proper her cheek up in her hand and smiled at them before saying, "Kay once told me when we first met, and I found myself in trouble with the Navy- when she came to save me- 'I am a keeper or people and objects of great value to this world. I do not steal or take- for I am incapable of doing so without a good reason. Instead I listen to the voices inside of their hearts and keep and protect them until they find their true place in the world.' She was so small, and so very, very young compared to me that at first I merely thought her a fool."
"But after that particular incident, she started staying closer and closer to me until one day I snapped and attacked her. I hurt her. Badly. It's always been something that I've regretted, but even so- she still got back up and started following me again."
"I must have lost patience with her at least a hundred times. I broke her bones, put her in at least five coma's, ruptured internal organs- I even tried turning her into the Navy one or two times for the reward money. She suffered greatly at my hands. And still she followed me and helped take care of and protect me."
"I didn't deserve it. She went without food, shelter, warmth and other things a lot of times and I still didn't understand... I was cursed to be a monster and outlaw since I was a child. I didn't deserve her pity or her kindness- But after a while I began to slowly understand."
"Kay has only stolen one thing in all her life. It wasn't something of actual value, not in the conventional sense anyways. But when she handed said item to me and I realized what it was- I demanded to know how she found it and got her hands on it. I was such pain to her sometimes. But she still managed to get one of my most treasured items from my home island for me...I started warming up to her after that despite not knowing what she had done to get it."
"I found out later that she had been walking passed a Navy sponsored auction house and she had heard one of those little voices say my name. She had gone in to see what was speaking to her and found an old, half burned book with mine and my late mother's names in it. And had stolen it before it could be sold off. Saying that it was best to return it to the person that it belonged too rather than let it suffer. She's always been both good and weird like that. So I doubt that she will take Luffy since he is the heart of our crew." Robin fell silent for a moment before Franky asked,
"How can you be so sure that she won't take Luffy-san from us?"
"Because, when she showed up at the marine base the other day to help us- she could hear our hearts practically screaming for help. Even when I said that I wanted to die- she could hear the truth within every beat of my heart. It said, 'I want to live and return to my friends.' And each of yours must have said something along the lines of, 'We will save you!' and 'We will protect you from this fate.' I think it's in part why she fought so hard to save me. It had little to nothing to do with Luffy's promise to step down and give up his dream so that he could follow her. She was merely helping us to fulfill our heart's greatest desires."
Everyone goggled at the woman before Chopper muttered, "It can't possibly be that easy." Causing Robin to smirk at them again as she repeated,
"It is. Like I said before, she's both good and weird that way."
"Then...that just means that she's really someone to respect and admire." Luffy said after a heartbeat or so. Robin merely grinned at him as the others reluctantly, silently agreed. That if the woman was everything that Robin said, she was indeed someone to respect and admire.