Humanity

Chapter 9

The giraffe wonders! A sheep in secretary's clothing!

Kaku suppressed a yawn as he looked through one of the books Kumadori gave him. Sanji was cooking lunch and occasionally glanced over at him. It had been a two weeks since they left the last island. Kaku had calmed down since then but spent of his time either reading or being very quiet. Sanji still felt bad for fighting with him back on the last island but it was something that had to be done. He had seen people act out like that before, looking for a fight living like a wild animal almost. What was he to expect? After all the other man had spent all his life on a training camp for killers.

Sanji put out his cigarette and looked over to Kaku. "I told you, you keep hanging around here I'm going to teach you how to cook."

Kaku laughed and set the book down. "Well if you're so damn determined." He walked over to the counter and looked at the curry Sanji was making. "I have no idea what I'm doing."

He started trying to explain the process of making the food when he was interrupted by Robin walking into the kitchen.

"Sanji, Nami was wondering if you had a snack ready. She's apparently hungry."

The cook grabbed up a slice of cake and drink and left the kitchen so fast Kaku was sure he saw smoke coming off his feet. The assassin laughed. "Man Sanji is hopeless." He stirred the food.

"Are you cooking?"

"Not really. Sanji keeps trying to teach me how to do it because I keep hanging around the kitchen." He said with a laugh.

She walked closer to him and looked down at the pot. "It looks like curry. I think you're doing fine." She sat on the table and rested her hand on her chin. "Truth is I just used Nami to get Sanji out of here."

"Oh?" he asked sitting at the table with her.

"From what I have seen Sanji will be gone for about ten minutes give or take. Showering her with his special brand of love. It's enough time for us to talk."

"About?"

She slide a box across the table. "I wanted to give these to you in private."

He raised an eyebrow and lifted the lid on the box. Inside was the pictures in nice frames. "The pictures."

"I had Usopp make frames for them. I figured you would appreciate it them that way they won't get damaged."

He smiled. "Thank you Robin. I was worried that you were upset with me or something."

"Not at all…" she looked down at the table. "There is something I wanted to tell you about," she started but was interrupted by Sanji reentering the kitchen.

"There you are Robin dear. I thought you were coming along too."

"Oh no. Not in the mood for cake." She got up from the table. She looked at Kaku and smiled trying to convey they would talk later. It could wait. Last thing she wanted to do was upset him. She headed to the door when she heard Sanji fuss at Kaku.

"The stove is too high you'll burn it."

"You left me with it."

She laughed to herself as she left the kitchen. She reached walked to the library to find a good book. She walked in and stared at the shelves. She sighed. She knew soon she would have to tell them about the book. She reached in her pocket and pulled out the necklace that Nami had found at Kirin Island. It was obviously something that belonged to his family. She pulled out a note as well. She found this in the book. She finished the book. Knowing more about his past then he did weighed her down. She frowned again and looked at the books around her. She reached up to one she hadn't read in a while she paused when she heard.

"Land!" Usopp called. He opened the door. "Robin-san we're near an island."

She turned and smiled. "Okay Usopp."

He paused. "Oh yeah, did you give Kaku the picture frames?"

"I did and he liked them." She was hoping to use the pictures to ease into a conversation with him over his past and what she had learned in that book.

"Good I'm glad." He left the room.

She followed suit. She saw the island approaching them and wondered what they would find on this island.

At the dock Nami was fighting with the dock manager.

"Look can we just dock her long enough to resupply!"

"No, no pirates allowed without a permit. The document is needed to incase you act like pirates." The dock worker frowned. He hated when pirates showed up to this island.

"So we can't dock without the permit? Where do we get it?"

"You have about an hour to go to the mayor's office and apply for one. If you are approved I will come and get you if not you ship off."

She sighed and looked at the others. If the mayor had any information on them it would be difficult to get this permit. "Do we really need to dock here that bad?"

"We're running low on food. Someone," said Sanji looking at Luffy. "Ate all the meat."

"Aw, but I was hungry."

"I need to buy medicine." Said Chopper

"Cola! I need cola!" said Franky doing his super pose.

She frowned. Looked like they had to get this permit to dock their ship. "Okay so what exactly do we have to do?"

He handed her a form. "Fill this out and I'll call the mayor's office and let them knows that you're coming. Give the sectary the paper and she'll make the decision."

"The sectary will? What puts her in charge?"

He sighed. "She knows a lot about pirates." He said with a shrug. "I know the mayor usually lets the sectary do this, if the mayor saw and signed everything she would never get anything done."

She rolled her eyes. So annoying, some sectary had to decide if they could dock or not. She was probably a bitch too. She looked at the form it asked simple questions like: name of crew, amount in party, name of ship. She filled it out and got Luffy to sign it.

The dock manager came back a few minutes later. "She'll see you. All you need to do now is take it to the office. Only one of you can go though."

"That's fine." She folded up the form and stuck it in her pocket. "I'll go. You guys behave."

"Are the captain?" he asked

She shook her head and pointed at Luffy. "He is."

The dock manager looked at Luffy who was currently trying to do secret handshake with Usopp. "Him?"

She nodded. "And that is why I'm going."

She headed off into town frowning the whole way. This was the stupidest thing ever.

At the mayor's office a few minutes earlier, Kalifa suppressed another yawn. This job wasn't as exciting as her job at Water 7. Mayor Yellow was a simple woman, she kept a strict schedule never deviated from her plans heck the woman had her lunch at the same place every day. So different from Iceberg who was very unpredictable. He may have been a character and sometimes annoying to keep up with his schedule that was controlled by his whims but he was entertaining. She almost felt bad for trying to kill him.

She shook her head. She hated when she got like this. Maybe she should have gotten a job doing something else; maybe there she wouldn't think of Iceberg so much. Her thoughts were broken up by the phone ringing.

She answered it. "Hello Kalifa speaking."

It was the dock manager. "Hey there, we got some pirates looking to dock her."

"Get them to fill out the form and send it up here."

"Okay they are on their way."

She hung up the phone and got out the papers for the docking forms. So much paper work for a small thing. She supposed the mayor had her reasons for doing such things but what did the former assassin know. As she laid out the papers there was a knock at the door.

"Come in."

The door opened and a woman walked in. "Apparently I need to put in a request just to dock at this island." Nami said sounding annoyed her eyes widened. "You!"

Kalifa's mouth fell open. "You!"

"Small world isn't it?" she asked with a laugh.

"You…" she growled. She jumped up from her desk. "How ironic! I should have known this would happen!"

She blinked. "Yeah can you just sign this so we can dock. I don't have all day."

She bit her lip. She considered attacking her. She growled again. "I should kill you for what you did to me."

"What I did to you? You almost killed me and Sanji, you dumb woman."

She gasped. Offended she then smirked. "Oh you know… I could just not sign your papers. I can careless about you pirates," she spit out the last words with venom. "You can all starve on your ship." She laughed evilly. "Serves you right for what you guys did to us."

"What we did to you! You guys arrested Robin, tried to kill us and you act like the victim here!" She considered turning away and forcing the others to go to another ship. She wondered if they could make it to the next island with the supplies they had. She then smirked maybe she could get her to cooperate and they could get their supplies. She almost hated doing it. She put on an innocent face it was manipulation time. "But you know we don't have enough supplies to get to the next island… we might starve out there on the ocean alone."

"Serves you right."

"Poor Kaku, after all he went though."

Kalifa paused, her eyes widened briefly. "Kaku? As in CP9 Kaku?"

How many Kakus were there out there? What a dumb question? "Yeah one in the same."

She looked around thinking. She wouldn't want to hurt her dear friend by accident. But what was he doing with the pirates. She tried to maintain a poker face but her mind was running wild. Here she could get revenge on the navigator but on the other hand she didn't want to hurt Kaku. Thinking of him starving to death brought a heavy feeling to her heart but how did she know she wasn't lying. "Prove it."

"Fine, I'll get him. Let the dock manager know that I need to bring him with me they only want one of us up here."

She called the dock manager and sent Nami back to the dock. She hopped that Kaku was with them she would love to see him again and know that he was well.

Kaku had no idea why Nami insisted he come along with her. All she said was that she needed him much to the disappointment of Sanji. At the rate his luck was going the cook would take it personal and then he would have a real problem on his hands.

They headed into the mayor's office. "So why are we here?"

She ignored him and flung open the doors to Kalifa's office. "I brought him."

He walked in behind her still confused then he saw Kalifa. "Kalifa!" He exclaimed. He smiled. "I see you're still playing sectary."

She ran over to him and hugged him a lot tighter than he expected. "That's sexual harassment."

He laughed. "You're the one hugging me."

She let him go and looked him over. She smiled she briefly looked like she was going to cry but she blocked it. A good assassin never showed her emotions. "I see you are unharmed."

"Chopper the doctor put me back together. How have you been?"

Nami cut him off. "Okay see, Kalifa he's with us alive and well so sign the damn paper so we can get done and leave."

She glared at her. She walked over to her desk and signed the papers. "Here," she shoved them in her hands. "While you're at it, replace my dress you tore up."

Nami rolled her eyes. "Yeah well I wouldn't have had to do that if you didn't hide your key there."

She blushed. "That's sexual harassment! That dress didn't have any pockets where else was I supposed to put it!"

"Carry a purse or something!"

Kaku jumped in before it got messy. Both women looked like they were getting ready to rip each other's throats out. "Ladies stop it."

The navigator shot a dirty look at him and headed to the door. "I'm getting this to the dock manager. Kaku if you want to visit that's fine we won't leave without you." With that she was gone.

Kaku looked at Kalifa. He knew he was going to ask her the same questions as he did the other three. He figured it wasn't likely she knew much though unlike with the others their age gap was small. The two of them trained together and were fairly close though the woman tried to hide it from time to time. "We should catch up." He said smiling.

She nodded. "It's time for my lunch break anyways." She held out her arm which he took.

"Let's go then."

The two of them headed out the office, Kaku was happy to know that she was okay. He liked her despite her moments. He looked over at the blonde woman. He realized that honestly he had missed her. He found himself wondering if she was drugged much like he was. He frowned he hoped not. He thought about what he should ask her maybe she really didn't know anything? He looked at her again she maintained her poker face. She was a hard book to read sometimes. Maybe he wouldn't ask her those questions after all.

A/N: Ah, a short chapter this time. In case it wasn't obvious… I ship Kaku and Kalifa (as well as Kaku and one of the Straw hat ladies…) anyways I don't plan on having any pairing in this story keeping in true spirit of One Piece not to mention I feel that a pairing would throw the course of the story off. So as for warning there will be subtle hints of him and Kalifa in the story but nothing more than that.

On that note, I plan on writing other stories about CP9. One is going to be a comedy about all of them and the other is going to be a Kaku and Kalifa story. I don't plan on writing them until I finish this since I tend to neglect stories when I start new ones.