To All of my Loyal Readers;
Thank you for your Patience.
As the Tides Change
It was a bright shining morning over Dawn Island. The windmills turned with the gentle breeze as the town awoke to another day. And in one certain cottage in the town, a familiar young girl was getting herself ready.
Nico Robin, now a blossoming fifteen year old girl, was finishing the final touches on her appearance before setting out for the day. She had done her hair up in a pony-tail style, with two black bangs framing her face. She was wearing a dress much like the one Makino gave her when she was eight, but now a little more refined for her growth in age.
Smiling to her reflection in the mirror, she left her room with a satchel of books slung over her shoulder. Before pulling the front door open, she looked over her shoulder to see her mother sitting at the dinner table with a cup of coffee in her hands.
"I'm off now…mother." She called with little effort, her eyes darting from the white haired scholar to anything else in her eyesight.
The ex-archeologist looked up from her coffee, hesitant on looking her daughter in the eye, brushing the cup gently with a nervous thumb as she answered her daughter back. "Alright…Robin…"
Robin gave a strained effort of a smile, then turned back and head out the door, taking the awkward silence with her.
Olivia sighed as she was left alone in the house, closing her eyes in the process. As she opened them, she then stared into the steaming mug of liquid before her, her senses glazing over as the heat wafted from the dark blend and onto her face.
Robin solemnly walked away from her home, but as the sun began to shine upon her, the dark haired girl's mood began to lift. She held up her head and showed a bright smile, picking up her pace as she broke out into a sprint, reminding herself that she was off to see her best friend.
As she ran through the awaking town, she passed Makino, who was sweeping up the front porch of her restaurant. "Morning, Robin!"
"Good morning Makino!" Robin politely returned. As she had grown, she had picked up some of her mother's attributes, such as acting in a more refined and elegant stature.
"On your way to see Luffy, I presume?" Makino asked with a knowing smile on her face.
Robin blushed and made an attempt to hide it. "Y-yes, I am…"
"Well, I hope you have fun together!" The green haired girl wished well. "And bring him by sometime, I'd me more than happy to fix you two up with a meal."
"Thank you, Makino." The dark haired girl bowed slightly before taking off again.
Makino chuckled at the girl's behavior, and with a sigh, went back to sweeping up. "It really should have happened by now…"
As Robin kept on her way, she passed Mayor Woopslap, who was once again sitting on his rocking chair on his forte porch. "Good morning, Mr. Mayor!"
"Good morning to you too, Robin, my dear!" The man called back. "Have you gotten that pirate nonsense out of your boyfriend's head yet?!"
"He's not my boyfriend!" Robin retorted, a slight pang in her chest as she did. "And I'm not going to make him give up on his dream!"
"You kids…!" Woopslap grumbled, sinking in his chair with folded arms and a huff. Robin merely gigged to herself and continued on her journey to Mt. Corvo.
The mayor kept his eye on the girl leaving as he mused to himself. "When are those two going to stop beating around the bush already?"
Robin had finally arrived at the old bandit shack of Dadan and her gang. Spotting her favorite stump to sit on whilst waiting for her brothers to arrive, she made her way over and plopped herself down, pulling out one of her many tomes and diving in for a session of reading.
"Not even going to say hello?" A gruff voice pulled her out of her book as Robin looked up to see Dadan herself standing at the front door to her run-down cabin, the large woman having her arms folded in a disgruntled form.
"You never really seem to be in the mood for a getting, Dadan." robin smiled, knowing that the older woman's spitefulness wasn't as harsh as the bandit leader made out to be.
Dadan scoffed. "And here I thought you picked up on your mother's well behaved attitude after all this time."
Robin physically tensed at the mention of her mother. Dadan noticed this and decided to drop the subject. She got quite the surprise when she found her men gathered behind her at the door and poking their heads out the windows, grinning like idiots as the greeted the young girl. "GOOD MORNING, ROBIN~!"
Robin forced a smile and waved to the gang of outlaws. Dadan gave a grunt of annoyance to put up her usual tough-woman act, and turned back to reenter her home, yelling at her men to knock it off as Robin went back to resume her reading.
She didn't have much time to get far, as a rustle in the distance made her head shoot up and look to the thick brush in the distance, a gleeful smile on her face instantly replacing her expression of discomfort.
A few more moments, and a fourteen year old Monkey D. Luffy came out of the cover of branches. The boy had replaced his anchor shirt long ago with a light red button up shirt, with the top few buttons left undone, along with a pair of rolled up jean shorts and a pair of sandals. The one thing that remained with the boy was his ever present straw hat.
"Hey, Robin!" Luffy called out ecstatically, waving to her as if she were a million miles away.
Robin closed up her book and set off toward him, smiling all the way as she did. "Good morning, Luffy!"
The straw hatted boy chuckled happily, glad to see his fiend once again. "Ready to go?"
"Absolutely!" The dark haired girl followed her best friend into the jungle he just appeared from, waving to the cabin of bandits as she disappeared along with Luffy. As the bandits watched the two go, they all gave sigh.
"Those two have been friends for so long now."
"Yeah; Robin's done a good job, sticking with Luffy after Ace and Sabo left."
"He was so sad to see them go, but Robin did everything she could to make him smile."
A slam of a beer bottle hitting the floor made all the gathered men flinch in fear, as their orange haired boss-lady simmered in a corner, a lit cigarette in her teeth. "Don't you boys start getting soft on me!"
The bandits then darted out of the woman's vicinity, bumping into each other and busying themselves with anything they could come up with. As they did so, Dadan gave a puff of smoke as she stared at the wall before her.
"Everyone else can see it, so why can't they?…Nit-wits…" She mumbled grumpily.
"Gum Gum…BELL!" Luffy declared as he sent his outstretched head charging into a tree trunk, implanting his face into its bark. Robin grimaced at the sight, watching as the boy pulled his face out of the tree, leaving behind an imprint of his face in the hull.
"What do think, Robin?!" Luffy beamed with pride at showing off his latest idea for a new move.
"Well…When you said you were going to use your head, I honestly didn't expect that." Robin confessed.
"Yeah!" Luffy chuckled. "The other guy will never see it coming!"
Robin didn't have the heart to say that that wasn't what she meant. The two would usually do this in their time together. Ever since Ace and Sabo had left to follow their dreams of freedom, Luffy was happy for them, but also felt quite alone for seeing his brothers , Robin had been there to cheer him up and take his mind off of them.
She would ask him if there were any games he wanted to play, any new moves he had come up with, or even read to him the current book she was flipping through at the moment. Since Olivia's class had dwindled in students, the tasks of teaching Luffy went from the white haired scholar to the dark haired daughter, and Robin was more than fine with that.
"Have you come up with any new attacks, Robin?" Luffy asked, giddy with seeing another one of Robin's new moves.
Robin made the decision to try fighting once again, while a little against her mother's will. There had been many a time Robin had come back home, black and blue with tears in her eyes, but the more she stuck to it, the more she began to hone her devil fruit abilities and soon enough, became a combatant within a league of her own.
"I…haven't really, no." Robin looked to one side, an exasperated expression on her face.
Luffy took notice of the girl's change in mood, and decided to ask about it. "Something wrong, Robin?"
"No, no…" Robin tried to wave off, but knew that she wasn't doing so good a job. As gullible as Luffy could be, he had a strong knowing of when Robin was having trouble with something. Finally giving in, Robin heaved a sigh before explaining. "Mama..Mother and I… have been fighting again?"
The straw hatted boy frowned at this. "About those pona-whatzits again?"
"Yes, the ponoglpyhs…" Robin leaned against a tree trunk, her eyes drooping as she remembered her and her mother's latest argument. "I asked her again if she could teach me what she knows about them, but she keeps blocking me out, telling me that…that…"
"That you could get hurt or worse going after them?" Luffy finished for her. It hasn't been the first time this subject had come up for him when talking to his old time friend.
"As usual…" Robin droned, showing how tired she was of having to repeat herself, on the same subject she had been going on about since she entered her teen years. "Sorry you have to hear about this, for the…I don't even know how many times now."
"No sweat, Robin!" Luffy waved off nonchalantly.
"It's just that…" Robin vented. "I've been wanting to go after the ponoglyphs ever since I was old enough to hold a book by myself. My mother was my hero, even if I never really knew her. But now that I have her again, and finally have the chance to learn what she knows, she says no!"
Robin slumped to the bottom of the root of the tree and pulled herself up into a ball. "I know she's trying to protect me…but this is what I've based my life on…"
Luffy looked at his glum friend, scratching his head as he tried to come up with a way to cheer her up. The poor boy was never as good with his words as Robin was. He then made his way over to her, sitting down in a crossed leg position next to the dark haired girl.
"Why don't you just go ahead and do it?" Luffy inquired innocently. "Study the pono-thingies anyway? It's what you want, right?"
Robin seemed to tense at his inquisition, looking up to him with a guilty expression. "Actually…I have been…"
"So, your mom is helping you?" Luffy showed his confusion on his face.
"No…" Robin shook her head. "I…I took one of her old journals and… have been reading through for the past couple of days."
Luffy's eyes widened at this. "You stole it?!"
"What difference does it make!" She was shaking with grief as she bared her guilt, the repressed feelings she had been trying to ignore coming to the surface all at once. "There's no way I'll ever find the true history of the world, anyway!"
The straw hatted boy was blown away by this. "What makes you say that?!"
"Because the whole world seems to be out to stop me from doing what I want to do!"
Luffy saw her distress and immediately got up from where he sat, made his way over to her and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. Robin looked back at him, then threw her arms around him in a desperate hug. Luffy was more than willing to return it.
"Maybe she's right…" Robin mused out loud. "Maybe I should just forget about the ponoglyphs…"
Luffy was shocked to hear this as he brought Robin out of their embrace to look at each other. "What?! Why would you want to do that?!"
"It's not that I want to, Luffy…" Robin shook her head gently. "It's just…she is right about what she says. The government tried to destroy all of Ohara to keep the true history of the world a secret, and who knows how many other people would want to keep it a secret, or even use that knowledge to put people in danger…"
Luffy kept silent and let the girl talk, letting her words sink in as he listened. A moment of silence passed by the two young friends, a breeze passing by as time seemed to stop for the both of them. After a while, Robin came out of her thoughts to ask Luffy a question.
"Luffy…Why do you want to become the Pirate King?" She asked.
"Because I want to." The boy answered in an instant, showing no shred of hesitation.
This didn't seem to be good enough of an answer for her. "But it just can't be the smiple, Luffy! It'll be dangerous! Pirates have been trying to go after One Piece for years, and none have succeeded! Not to mention the marines, the sea-kings, and all the other crazy phenomenon that happens in the Grand Line!"
"I don't care!" Luffy stood his ground. "I'm going to be the Pirate King, and that's final!"
Robin was quite surprised to see this reaction, but couldn't help but smile. "I see…I wish It were that simple for me, Luffy…I wish had as much courage as you do, too…"
"What are you talking about?!" The straw hatted boy called out. "Of course your brave!"
Robin looked up at him in confusion.
"You let people call you names and pick on you and not let it get to you, saved your home island from being blown up, came with me, Ace and Sabo on our hunting trips, helped save Sabo from getting shot, and every time your mom has said no to helping you find out more about those pono-whatsits, you're still reading about them!" The boy counted off each of the deeds with expressed atonishment. "Robin, your totally brave, and totally awesome!"
The girl was in a stupor from being praised so much, and a blush and a smile found its way onto her cheeks. "T-thank you, Luffy…"
"No problem…" Luffy found himself stricken with the beaming delight radiating off the dark haired girl at that moment.
The boy wondered, for the longest time, ever since he first met Robin, a weird, warm feeling had been building up inside him as the two spent more time together. His face would warm up, his heart rate would rise, and he found himself at a loss of thought more than he usually would.
Gulping down his nerves, he got up from the ground and decided to speak up about what had been bothering him for many years, to the person who made him feel this way. "R-Robin, can I ask you something?"
"Of course, Luffy." The dark haired girl looked up at the boy, wondering what could be bothering him.
Luffy found himself feeling quite fidgety, but maintained himself to keep going. "U-uh…You see…every time I see you…you make me feel this…feeling…"
Robin's eyes widened at this.
"I get all warm inside, and…its always when I'm around you…"
The girl took in a breath.
"I don't know what it is, or how to put it… but it's not a bad feeling! It's…I don't know what it is…but…it's a nice feeling…but it feels like…its…not enough."
Robin felt as if her heart stopped for a split moment.
"So, I was wondering if you knew what it was?" Luffy looked away, suddenly scared of what robin would say or do.
Robin found herself at a loss of words. This couldn't have been happening. This had to be a dream or something, right? There's no way that he could…could he?
Robin decided to take a chance.
"Actually, Luffy…I…Think I do." She confessed.
"Really?! That's great!" Luffy exclaimed joyously, until he saw Robin coming closer.
Robin stepped toward the straw hatted boy, ignoring her timidness as she held her hands in one another in front of her.
"I've had same feeling you have around me for as long as I can remember…every time I look at you." She stopped in front of him. "You were the first person, apart from Clover and the others to accept me for who I was, to even like me for who I was." She looked him in the eye. "You're really special to me, Luffy…more than anyone else in my life…possibly more than my mother."
"I think…I love you, Luffy."
Luffy's eyes widened at this. All time seemed to stop all around the two. A gentle breeze blew past them, ruffling the leaves on trees and the grass beneath them.
"You…love me?" The straw hatted boy repeated.
Robin nodded, her nerves catching up to her and taking her courage to talk.
At that moment, something inside Luffy seemed to click, as if suddenly everything made sense. His eyes lit up, and a smile broke out on his face.
"Robin…" He took each of her hands in his, causing her to blush and look him in the eye once more, seeing him give her his trademark toothy grin.
"I think I love you, too."
By the way he said it, and the way he looked her in the eye as he did, Robin knew he was telling the truth. Her own eyes widened at his words, then she felt them becoming wet, as she thought that this moment was never going too happen, that Luffy would have no clue as to what she was talking about.
She made a mental note, to never doubt Luffy again.
Robin dived for the boy, locking her arms around him, weeping tears of happiness as she clung to Luffy for what seemed like dear life. "I was so afraid…afraid you wouldn't know what I was talking about!"
"C'mon, Robin!" Luffy chuckled. "I may not be as smart as you, but I'm not that stupid!"
"You're not stupid at all, Luffy!" Robin shook her head with a teary giggle, looking him in the eye. "You're amazing!"
Luffy chcukled at the compliment, but then the mood shifted to another. The two locked eyes, neither one looking away. They began to lean in closer, and closer…
Monkey D. Luffy and Nico Robin, after seven years of being best friends since they first met, shared their first kiss with the one they cherished.
They stayed linked by their lips for a long while, until a thought came to Luffy's head and he pulled away reluctantly, disappointing Robin greatly. "Wait a minute! We can't do this!"
"What?!" Robin felt like her heart was about to break, having what she always wanted taken away from her in such a cruel fashion. "Why not?!"
"You were part of the A,S,L,R Pirates, Robin!" The boy franticly explained. "It would be like kissing my sister!" The boy then felt like he was about to throw up.
Once Robin absorbed his resoning, she chuckled warmly at this before speaking. "It's okay, Luffy. We're not brother and sister."
Luffy was in the middle of ringing out his rubber tongue like a wet towel, when the dark haired girl caught his attention. "Huh?!"
"Ace and Sabo shared sake with me when I was eight. That made me their sister, and them my brothers." She smiled at the fond memory before going back to her explanation. "They knew how I felt about you, and left you out of it because of that."
The boy blinked owlishly for a moment. "…Oh!" He then breathed a sigh of relief. "Boy, that's a relief! That would have been gross!"
Robin giggled at this. "I quite agree…" She then made her way back to the yo and wrapped her arms around his neck. Luffy immediately knew what she was doing, and smiled as they shared another warm kiss.
There was nothing to hold them back from what they wanted, and what they wanted was each other.
They were Luffy and Robin; together at last.
They spent some time looking up at the sky, watching the enormous, fluffy clouds go by in the wide open blue sky, smiling in bliss at having one and the other holding them close. Luffy leaned his head down and gave Robin a kiss atop her head, making the girl smile in delight.
"Robin…" He spoke up, lifting himself so he could look at Robin. The girl followed suit, still having a bright smile on her face. "When I go out to sea…I want you to come with me!"
"Huh?!" Robin was shocked at the proposal, feeling her mind had just hit a wall.
"If you come with me, I can help you find the pono-whatsits, and that 'true history', just like you wanted!" He explained as if it was the simplest idea in the world. "Also…I don't want you to be alone once I leave…"
Robin's blindsided by the obvious fact that she had neglected to see. Once Luffy left to become the Pirate King, she'd be alone, again.
She refused to ever go back to those miserable days of having no one, and agreed to join Luffy on his journey in a heartbeat. "Yes, Luffy! I'd love to go with you! I never want to be separated from you! Ever!"
The straw hatted boy smiled with glee, as he and his new love celebrated their union with another passionate kiss.
Dadna and her gang were just lounging about the outside of the cabin, enjoying the fresh air and drinking the odd bottle here and there to pass the time. A russtle of bushes caught their attention, and Luffy and Robin came out of the forest, and to their utter surprise, holding hands.
Jaws dropped and eyes popped at seeing this open display. There completely ignored as the two young ones laughed at whatever was so funny to them.
"I'll see you later?" Luffy asked with a hint of hope in his voice.
"Count on it." She nodded in kind, the two sharing one last sweet kiss before Robin made her way back home, waving to the boy as she kept on her way.
Luffy waved back with a warm smile, but once turned to make his own way back into the jungle, he saw the overly astonished faces of the bandit woman and her cronies. "What's up with you guys?"
"W-w-w-w-what was?!…W-w-w-w-why'd you?!…W-w-w-w-w-what are?!" The orange haired woman and her followers had trouble finding the right questions, but Luffy knew what they were trying to ask, chuckling at their reactions.
"Me and Robin are in love, that's all!" He stated simply. The straw hatted boy then made his way back into the brush of the forest, smiling happily all the way.
Once he dissapeared, the gang went into a wild frenzy "IT'S THE END OF THE WORLD! BATTEN DOWN THE HATCHES! LOCK THE WINDOWS! SAVE THE BOOZE!"
As the men panicked and ran about the cabin, Dadan was the only one who remained standing still, her cigarette hanging from her lips loosely. Soon she got ahold of herself, blew a puff of smoke, and gave a hidden smile.
"It's about time, you snot-nosed kids…"
It was coming to the end of the day, the sun beginning to set as Robin made her way back home. All the way to when she arrived at her fortune door, the dark haired girl had a bright smile on her face. She could always count on Luffy to lift her spirits, especially now that they were together at last. Not even the thought of being around her mother could happen her mood.
Robin made her way inside, taking a moment to lean against the door and think wistfully of the time she had spent with her best friend, and secret crush.
"Robin…" A voice broke her out of her thoughts. Looking up she saw her mother, standing there with a look of disappointment and growing anger. The dark haired girl's thoughts about the rubber boy were put on hold, as Olivia pulled out a tattered old book from her folded arms.
"Why was my diary doing under your pillow this morning?" The white haired mother questioned sternly.
Robin felt her body run cold.
It was closing time at Party's Bar, and Makino was doing her final rounds of cleaning up before heading to bed. As she swept the floor, she heard the doors creak open. "Sorry, but we're closed! You'll have to come back tomo-Olivia?"
There stood the white haired scholar, with disheveled hair and tear stains down her cheeks.
Makino put her broom to one side. "What's the matter?"
"Robin and I had a fight…" Was the mother's miserable answer.
Luffy was now back in the A,S,L Pirates tree house, his home for the past seven years since Ace and Sabo left. He was laying back on a flat mattress, smiling up at the stars as he remembered the day he had, the memories of he and Robin kissing making his grin bigger and bigger the more he thought of them.
Luffy hadn't felt this good in a long time, not since he, Ace and Sabo shared she cups and become brothers. The feeling of him and Robin being together felt like that but…a million times better! He couldn't get rid of his smile even if he wanted to.
"Luffy…!" A familier sweet voice called out to him through the silence, making him look up in surprise. He looked down the hole where the treehouse's basket dumbwaiter dangled, spotting his new girl at the bottom. He couldn't see her properly through the dark of the night, but he smiled down at where she stood, happy to see her again.
"Hey, Robin!" He waved down to her blissfuly.
"Could you bring me up?" There was a trembler in her voice, but unfortunately he didn't quite catch it.
"Sure!" He shot his hand down to her, feeling her take it and pulling it back up with her rising off the ground.
He pulled her through the hole and retracted his hand back "Guess yo wanted to kiss again, huh?"
The sound of sobbing caught him off guard, and once he got a closer look, he saw that robin was incredibly distraught, crying her eyes out as she bit her bottom lip. "Robin…?"
"Oh, Luffy…" she continued to cry as she lunged toward him and wrapped her arms around his neck, the stunned boy wrapping his own arms slowly around him in the process. "I just had the worst fight with my mother!"
Makino placed two hot cups of coffee down on the counter, and slid one over to Olivia, who was now sitting at the bar, still with a defeated look on her face. Makino folded her arms on the bar and leaned over, concerned for her friend and employee. "What happened?"
Olivia took a sip from her mug before going into her explanation. "I found one of my old journals under Robin's pillow…She'd been studying the ponoglyphs behind my back…against my wishes…I asked her what she was doing with it…"
"I said I wasn't doing anything with it, but she didn't believe me," The girl was now sitting on the floor of the treehouse, leaning her back against the sill of one of the rickety windows of the structure. Luffy was sitting next to her, rubbing her back gently to comfort her. "She told me not to lie, so I told her the truth…"
"After all these years, she still wants to go after those blasted ponoglyphs," The white haired mother slightly seethed. "After everything I went through, those cursed things still manage to find a way to haunt me, and through my own daughter no less!"
Making simply listened to the distraught woman, frowning sadly at the turn of events the mother and daughter had come to.
"I've told her time and time again that those ponoglyphs bring nothing but trouble!" The white haired scholar continued.
"I know that they're dangerous, but…but it's my dream!" She declared loudly, anger rolling off her words. Luffy didn't even flinch when she raised her voice, as if expecting her to.
"Ever since I was little, the ponoglyphs have been my obsession since I could first hold a book!" The daughter carried on.
"But it's an obsession that leads to destruction!" Olivia clarified, straining herself as she relived the argument a few moments ago. "And if there's anyone who knows that for a fact, its me! I lost so many of my friends on our expedition, when the marines attacked us from out of nowhere…I still have nightmares of watching them die!" Olivia clutched at her mug as if for her life.
Makino reached over to take her hands in hers, wanting to offer as much comfort as she could.
"I know who dangerous it is, Luffy, but it's my life!" Robin states with passion. "I told her I was going to uncover the lost century no matter what!…But then…"
"I banned her from studying the ponoglyphs, along with any other foreign nation's history ever again!" The mother spoke with as much authority as she did to her daughter. "As far as I'm concerned, the part of my life where I was an archeologist is over!"
"Well, it's not for me!" Robin shouted. "I don't care what she says, I'm going to find the ponoglyphs, with or without her help!"
"I told her that even if I was to let her go, there's no one else out there that would dare risk their life for a bunch of rocks with words on them!" The ex-archeologist started to speak a little louder, which gave Makino that the fight was coming to a not so good end.
"I told her that you would…" Robin looked to the boy next to her, her eyes still shedding tears as she kept up her story. "I told her that you were going to take me out to sea with you once you reach seventeen…And that's when she said…" Robin began to tear up once again. "she said…"
"…That she was never going out to sea, and that she was never to see Luffy again."
The bar was silent for a long while. Olivia looked down into her still steaming mug, while Making could only look at the distressed mother in pity.
"Oh, Olivia…" Makino reached out to place a hand on the white haired woman's hand. "I know you want to keep her safe…but it's not worth breaking her heart to do so…"
"But what else can I do?!" The white hared woman asked desperately. "I can't keep her here for the rest of her life, but I don't want her to get herself hurt out there either!"
Makino smiled sadly as she stepped around the bar counter and sat in the stool next to her. She placed a comforting hand on the ex-archeologist's back. "Do you not think I'm afraid for Luffy?" Olivia looked at the bartender in surprise. "He wants to become the Pirate King; that's too dangerous to even imagine. But as much as I don't want to let him go, I have too. It was the same with Ace and Sabo. I didn't want them to leave, but I couldn't keep them from what they wanted."
The distraught mother gazed at the green haired woman, wondering what point she was getting at.
"Because sooner or later, they have to make their own way. They're lives will eventually become their lives."
Olivia's eyes shot open at this, then for the second time that night, broke down crying as Makino held her close in the empty bar.
The mother knew what she had to do, but she didn't have to like it.
Robin had been pulled into an embrace curtesy of her first friend and crush, and was letting her tears fall freely.
Luffy let the girl cry into his shoulder, while looking off into the distance, as if musing with an invisible force that only he could see, and talking to it with his own mind. After some time passed, Luffy brought the girl to look her in the eye, her face contorted in emotional pain.
"Robin," He spoke softly, but earnestly. "What do you want to do?"
Robin sniffed her nose while recomposing herself. "What?"
"Your Mom wants you to stay, and I want you to come with me," The boy explained, acting in a mature that Robin never seen from him before. As she looked into his intense eyes, she had to be honest, Robin felt quite weak at the knees. Luffy carried on with asking Robin a final question.
"But I want to hear it from you, Robin…What do you want to do?"
Robin gave the question some actual thought, not wanting to dive right into a choice with reckless abandon. Luffy may be good at that, but she wanted to be a little more responsible. After mulling over her intensions, she showed a determined face.
"I want to do it, Luffy…I want to find the true history of the world!"
Luffy showed a proud smile.
The mother and the bartender made their way quickly up the mountain side, spotting Dadan sitting on the porch of her cabin.
"Dadan!" Making cried out. "Have you seen Luffy or Robin anywhere?!"
"I haven't seen those two come out of the forest since I saw them kiss this morning!" The orange haired woman spat.
This made both women freeze in place.
"L-luffy and R-robin…?!" Makino was suttering repeatedly, but Olivia interjected before she could continue. There were more important things to focus on at the moment.
"Do you know where they could be?!" The mother asked earnestly.
"For all I know, they're in that wreck of a treehouse the brat calls home." Dadan hiked a thumb in the direction of the dark jungle.
"Thank you!" Olivia nodded to the bandit leader quick before heading straight for the forest, Makino following close behind.
"Don't you think you should have gone with them, boss?" One of her men spoke up from behind her.
"If they've got a mess, then they've got to clean it up. It's got nothing to do with me!" Dadan bellowed back, as she went back to star gazing, smoke rising from her cigarette into the night sky.
"So they better fix whatever's wrong…"
Luffy heaved a large dingy off a bank into the water, which led out into the wide open ocean. "There! That should do it!"
The two newly formed lovers had made the decision to forgo waiting for Luffy to become seventeen, and head out for the sea as soon as they could. The straw hatted boy kept into the boat, wobbling a little as he found his balance on the uneven motion of the waves of the sea.
"Ready, Robin?!" The boy turned back to his girl. He was pretty eager to set off, but Robin was still a little unnerved by the sudden turn of events.
Choosing to ignore her anxiety, she shook her head of negative thoughts and put on a brave smile. "Yes, let's-"
A rustle of bushed behind them made her stop. Turning around, the two saw both Olivia and Makino step out of the brush and into view.
"I'll never get used to walking through this place…" The green haired woman groaned.
"Robin!" Olivia cried out as she spotted her daughter, looking as if she were about to step into a boat with the straw hatted boy. "What are you doing?!"
Robin was blindsided by seeing her mother again, but her anger began to boil up as she stood before the white haired woman. "What I want to do mother! I'm heading out to sea with Luffy, and there's nothing you can do to stop me!"
"This is insane, Robin!" The mother cried as she stepped toward her daughter, who stepped back as she approached. "You don't have any supplies, no map or compass; you're just hopping into a boat and hoping for the best! Do you have any idea how reckless that is?!"
"Luffy and I will get by!" She stubbornly stated. She knew that her mother was right, but she was in no mood for admitting it.
"Luffy!" Makino stepped up next to chastise the straw hatted boy. "I thought you were going to wait until you were seventeen, just like your brothers did! Was that a lie, or did you feel like breaking that promise all of a sudden?!"
A guilty expression made its way on the rubber boy's face. He hopped out of the boat and back on to dry land, making his way over to the three females. "It's not like that! Robin wanted to go after those pono-thingies, and said that her mom wasn't going to let her, so I said that I would and…and…" The boy's lower lip began to quiver as he suddenly fell to his knees and clutched his head in anguish. "I'm sorry, Ace! I'm sorry, Sabo! I just wanted to help Robin!"
Makino sighe at the boy's blubbering, while Olivia and Robin continued to have their discussion. "Robin, you are not going out on that boat!"
"Then what am I allowed to do mother?!" Robin raged. "I can't read, I can't study, I can't go out to sea! I can't see Luffy ever again! WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO?!"
"I want you…" Olivia sighed as she let go of her building frustration. "I want you…to be happy."
Robin's scowl softened at this, while Luffy and Makino looked on from afar.
"Robin…I'm sorry…" The mother confessed. "I'm sorry that I said those horrible things back at home…but you have to understand, I was scared. Scared of you leaving, and…" She couldn't bare to say it, but everyone knew what he was talking about. She gave another small sigh before continuing. "I know now that there is nothing I can do to stop you…no way to stop you from following in my footsteps…" She then gave a frown. "I don't ant to lose you, Robin…not like this…not in anyway…but if this is how you want to live your life…I won't stand in your way anymore."
"Mother…" Robin spoke wistfully.
Olivia raised her arms, moisture coming to her eyes. "I love you, Robin…please don't hate me."
Robin felt her eyes begin to well up. She made a desperate dash to her mother and wrapped her arms around her. "Mother…Mama…I could never hate you!"
The mother and daughter shared their embrace for a good long while. Makino wiped a stray tear from her face, while Luffy was bawling massive globs of moisture from his eyes.
The Nico family had faced a decisive disagreement, and thankfully came out the other end still in one piece.
"Well…now that that's all taken care of…" Makino spoke up, gaining the other's attention.
Once all eyes were on her, she let out massive squeal of delight, making Luffy and the Nico's throw their hands up to their ears to block out the pain. She squealed so loud in fact, she managed to scare off a number of wild animals that had been gathering around the four.
"YOU AND LUFFY ARE TOGETHER!" She pulled Robin and Luffy by both of their hands and grabbed them up in a huge group hug. "I knew you two were going to be an cute couple! I just knew it!"
Luffy and Robin bashfully laughed along with the bartender, as Olivia chuckled herself at the fact.
"What was that noise?!" A random bandit asked in a panicked state.
"Sounded like a giant bat!" Another chewed on his finger nails in fear.
"I hope Makino and Olivia are okay!" Another worried out loud.
Dadan simply kept looking up at the stars, blowing a puff of smoke from her massive lips.
"It's about time, you knuckle-heads…"
For the rest of the time Luffy and Robin spent of Dawn Island, they threw themselves into preparing for their future.
Luffy devoted most of his time to training in the Mt. Corvo forest, fighting with any and every wild animal that was bigger than him. He would train his devil fruit powers in the A,S,L,R Pirates old fighting ring, coming up with more and more crazy attacks that were so bizarre yet devastating, the animals of the jungle grew a sense of staying as far away from the rubber boy as much as they could. He was more of an animal than they were!
Robin finally got to study the ponoglyphs, along with the help of her dear mother. The two would spend many days and nights looking through Olivia's old journals and notes on what she had found about the ancient slabs of stone. The dark haired girl also made sure to put in time on practicing her devil fruit powers, finding the right combination of arms she could sprout for certain situations, and finding the right balance to turn the tide of a fight in her favor.
Finally, the last few moths had past. Luffy was now seventeen.
The young couple's journey was about to begin.
Nico Robin was waiting for Luffy on her usual stump, as she realized, for the very last time. She had a small satchel flung over her shoulder, showing that she was ready to leave as he was.
Dadan's gang of bandits watched from the inside of their shack, all crying silent tears of having to watch the dark haired girl and the straw hatted boy go. The bandit leader herself seemed to not care either way, looking off at a random corner of the cabin.
Soon enough, Luffy came out of the brush, a heavily packed backpack hanging from his shoulders. He spotted Robin in a heartbeat, and a huge smile broke out across his face.
"Robin!" He waved to her.
The girl's face lit up with her own smile as she waved back to him. "Hello, Luffy!"
The two met in front of the cabin, beaming with eagerness to start their journey. The two shared a quick kiss, which made the gang behind them weep all the more, before looking back at each other.
"Ready to go?" Luffy asked.
"Ready." Robin nodded.
The two smiled at each other before looking back toward the bandit shack.
"Bye, Guys!" Luffy called out, waving his arms over his head.
"We'll miss you!" Robin followed with much gentler wave.
All the bandit's waterworks were now on full blast. "WAAHHH~!" WE'LL MISS YOU TOO~!"
The only one who didn't say anything was Dadan, who looked back for a second before grunting and looking back at her corner.
"Hey, Dadan!" Luffy cried out as he ran over to the cabin's front doorway, managing to get the grumpy woman's attention.
"Huh?" She cohered back.
"I still hate mountain bandits!" Was his declaration.
"WHO THE HECK CARES?!" She roared back.
"But…your pretty cool!" Luffy finished with a snicker.
Dadan pulled out a handkerchief and began to bawl her eyes out, avoiding eye contact as she did so. "Just get out of here already, you rotten little turd~!"
"Ms. Dadan?" Robin was the one to speak up next, who came up from behind Luffy in a much more polite fashion.
Dadan came out of her crying fit as she put back on her tough-woman act. "What do you want, girlie?!"
The dark haired girl gave a deep bow. "Thank you for everything you've done for me, and for looking after Luffy and his brothers as you have."
Dadan blew her off. "Yeah, whatever…"
"And, if it's all right with you…" The girl shyly interjected. "…may I call you, my 'Aunt Dadan'?"
The tears were back as soon as Robin finished her question. "You can call me whatever you like, it makes no difference to me~! No get out of here, both of you~!"
Robin buckled warmly at the bandit woman's behaviour before turning around and leaving, following Luffy's pace as they made their way to Foosha Village's harbor.
The whole town had gathered together to see the two soon to be pirate lovebirds seal off. The young couple had been given a small dingy, courtesy of one of the townsfolk. The straw hatted boy and dark haired girl were sat in the center of the boat, saying their final farewells to everyone.
"Be safe out there, Luffy!" Makino called from up above the two. "You too, Robin!"
"If you two really do this, you'll never be allowed back on this island!" The mayor grumpily spoke up.
"Oh, hush you!" The green haired woman slapped Woopslap on the arm, earning a grumble of disapproval from the man.
"Take care of yourself, Robin." Olivia had knelt down to speak personally to her daughter.
"I will, Mama, don't worry." The dark haired girl answered back.
"I'm your mother, dear," Olivia place a hand on Robin's shoulder. "It's my job to worry about you."
Robin smiled, and the mother and daughter shared one last embrace. Olivia then looked up from her daughter and aimed her sight to the straw hatted boy. "Make sure my Robin is safe out there, Luffy, and take care."
"No problem, Ms. Olivia!" Luffy beamed a toothy smile, earning a small chuckled from the mother.
Once the Nico's broke off, Olivia stood back up, holding back as much of her tears as she could, with Robin wiping away a few of her own. The girl turned to her man, a smile taking place on her face. "All set, Luffy?"
"One last thing…" He stated as he stood up straight and put his fists in the air. "ACE! SABO! We're heading out now! We'll see you guys again soon! Wish me and Robin luck!"
Some of the townsfolk were confused to the boy's sudden words. "The heck was that, Luffy? Some sort of good luck chant?"
"Nah!" The boy shook his head. "Just a promise me and Robin made!" The dark haired girl chuckled warmly at his answer.
"You ever heard of an 'Ace' or 'Sabo', before?" One citizen asked another.
"Nope, can't say I have." The other shook his head.
"Alright, Robin…" Luffy announced ecstatically. "Let's shove off!"
Once the rope was untied from the harbor, the small vessel was off, and Luffy and Robin were heading out to the Fossha bay's opening. The townsfolk waved them off and sang out farewell's. Olivia was teary eyed, but managed to wave her daughter off, Making holding her with one arm and doing the same.
When the two's small boat was nearing the clearing out to sea, a massive explosion of water erupted before them, taking Robin by surprise, but Luffy was as calm as could be. Once the vapor of the blast evaporated, what was left before them was a humungous eel monster, with razor sharp teeth, and blood red eyes.
"Well, look who it is…" Luffy said to himself.
"It's the serpent of the bay!" A random citizen cried out.
"Robin!" Olivia panicked, nearly jumping into the water to save her daughter. She was held back by the town's bartender, and when Olivia looked back to force her way out of her grasp, she saw a worried expression on Makino's face, but also that the green haired wanted to see what would happen next. Perplexed by the woman holding her's behavior, Olivia looked back out to where Robin and Luffy were still facing the massive creature.
"Luffy…?" Robin was shaken by the sudden appearance by the giant serpent, but she was more worried about how Luffy was doing. If she remembered Luffy's story from when he first met Shanks clearly, then this had to be the beast that took off the pirate captain's arm when he saved Lufy's life.
"Stay back, Robin…" The straw hatted boy guided his hand back to the girl behind him, electing her to stay in place. "I got this…"
The serpent looked down on the small vessel, growling in anticipation for a morning snack.
"I was hoping to run into you again…" Luffy looked the monster in the eye, and took hold of his right wrist with his left. "This one's for Shanks…"
Luffy shot his fist back behind him, the rubber limb stretching all the way back to the Foosha harbor, where it came close to touching the still gathered crowd.
"GUM-GUM…"
The master dived for the little boat, roaring in glee, until Luffy pulled his fist back, and blasted the beast right in its jaw, shattering its teeth and sending its slithery form up out of the water and floating high in the air, knocked out on impact.
"PISTOL!"
The crowd at the harbor went balistic, cheering for the boy as they watched the beast fall back into the ocean. Making laughed in pride and thankfulness of Luffy's safety and strength, while Olivia was holding her hand up to her face in relief and amazement at her daughter's safety and the boy's power. If she needed any proof that Robin was in good hands, this was it.
Robin watched as the sephann fell down around her and Luffy, the crashing of the beast back into the water acting like a makeshift fireworks display for his first conquest and the start of their journey. Luffy was laughing his head off, glad to have finally payed the sea monster back for what he did years ago.
The two looked to each other and broke out into laughter. After a while, as their boat finally made its way out of the bay, Robin spoke up."I'm going to do it, Luffy…"
The straw hatted boy looked back at the dark haired woman in curiosity.
"I'm Going to find the true history!"
Luffy nicked in pride at his girl's declaration, and stood up from his spot as he cried out to the sky.
"And I'm going to be…THE PIRATE KING!"