A/N: Finally back on track! Feels good to get another update out and hopefully the quality of my writing has improved a little bit since the last one. Meant to have this out yesterday but this week has been surprisingly busy. Not to worry, the rest of the updates will be out at some point in the week, though the timing may vary. The next update will have a good amount of fighting in it, so be ready! Enjoy.


The interior of Journey's End somewhat startled the raven haired archeologist. Rather than being full of the usual gruff and ill-tempered deviants like most bars the archeologist had experienced, the Journey's End was populated by a large assortment of various types of people. Granted, there were ruffians to be found; however there were also plenty of families and couples, both young and old, which populated the establishment. Robin could have easily mistaken the tavern for a restaurant if it weren't for the gratuitous amounts of alcohol cycling through by the hands of servers with little food to compensate.

Robin did a quick survey of the interior of the tavern and its patrons to see if there was anything out of the ordinary. Unsurprisingly, the archeologist found nothing of notability and lightly sighed under her breath; it unfortunately wasn't going to be as simple as she'd have liked to find what she needed.

It wasn't a problem of experience since the raven haired archeologist had found herself in bars countless times throughout her life. Though she didn't particularly enjoy their atmosphere or usual inhabitants, bars provided an easy and effective environment for meetings and information gathering. A meeting could be made public or private inside a bar should the situation call for it and drinks could be provided to relieve tension and calm nerves. Not to mention that the clients she would normally meet up with seemed to be the most comfortable when they were in such a location.

The problem the archeologist was having wasn't that she couldn't find what she was looking for so much as that she had no idea what she was looking for to begin with; at least when she was sent for meetings by Sir Crocodile she knew that she was meeting a person, regardless of how much she knew about said person. When you know what you're looking for, everything becomes a process of elimination and meticulous calculation made that process easier, something the raven haired archeologist was quite good at. To that end, the archeologist knew that whatever had brought her into the Journey's End was still residing inside of it. The most important thing about locating her target was not letting it escape from under her eyes, and nobody who had left since the woman's entrance gave her any indication of interest.

Despite her lack of a target, Robin knew she had to make her move quickly lest she appear to be out of place. Someone like her at a bar wasn't unheard of, however if a person walks into a bar and just stands around, they're going to be noticed regardless of how they look. Quickly glancing around the establishment for a place to sit, Robin found that all of the tables were either occupied or had half-empty drinks sitting on top. All that was left open was the bar at the end of the tavern, a pathway right in front of the doorway conveniently leading directly to the stools.

Robin walked with a tempered pace to the bar while keeping her eyes open for anything that seemed out of the ordinary. The only thing that stuck out in particular to the strawhat was a lone male, mid twenties it looked like, who was sitting alone at a table with more drinks on the table than he could have acquired. There were four empty glasses scattered around the table, not including the half-filled one inside of his hands. From what the archeologist had gleamed of the service inside the Journey's End, there was no way the servers would let one person accrue five glasses on his own without clearing some of them off of the table. That, plus two disturbed chairs that differed from the rest, lead Robin to believe the brown haired man at the table had two companions, though they were likely to no longer be inside the tavern. What was more interesting was the fact that the brown haired individual looked like it was taking everything for him to not simply pass out at the table. Noticeable signs of fatigue and exhaustion overcame the rest of the features on the man and his face showed signs of drying sweat.

Reaching the bar, Robin took an empty seat in between two customers, allowing a chair of separation between her and each person. Although it was important to not draw unwanted attention to herself by sitting too close to people she didn't know, the archeologist also preferred to have her own personal space as well; the subtlety was just a benefit of the desire.

Almost immediately after sitting down the raven haired archeologist was assaulted by a jaded, scratchy voice.

"What d'ya want?" it asked impatiently.

Robin looked up from the bar to where she thought the voice came from to see nothing but a row of liquor bottles resting on a perch. Confused, the raven haired archeologist began looking around to find the source of the voice.

"Down here, lady," the voice established more irritably than before. Robin looked downwards to see a woman of short stature staring back up at her. The smaller bartender clenched her jaw and tapped her foot. "Are you getting anything or not? I ain't got all day," she growled, clearly losing what little patience she had.

Robin smiled at the woman. "Hello, yes; do you serve coffee?" she asked politely, tilting her head to the side to show more amiability.

The squat woman looked confusedly to the archeologist. "Coffee? This is a bar, what do you want coffee for?"

"It's my favorite," Robin simply answered, smiling again. Reaching into her pocket, the raven haired strawhat withdrew a sufficient amount of money and placed it onto the bar. "If it isn't any trouble for you, I'd like a cup with some sugar and cream if you have any. This should cover it," Robin indicated the money she'd put down, "and there's a tip in it as well for you."

The woman tipped herself up on her toes to see the money Robin had been talking about. Eyeing it quickly and decisively, the squat bartender snatched the money off of the table and stashed it into her pocket without even counting it. Robin considered that she was able to discern the amount in the short time she looked at it, but it wasn't a pressing enough matter for her to linger on.

Free from the lovable company of the short and fast-paced bartender, Robin returned her attention to the mid-sized male sitting alone inside the Journey's End. Closing her eyes and focusing on her devil fruit power, the raven haired archeologist grew an ear from the bottom of the man's table; if he said anything to himself, she was sure to hear it. The strawhat also wanted to have eyes watching the fatigued man; however eyes weren't exactly a discreet thing to have lying around. There were plenty of people inside of the tavern and if any one of them saw an eye coming out of the ceiling or wall they would be sure to make a scene of it.

It didn't take long for the brown haired man to deliberate with himself.

"Gah, I wish Callos wasn't so damned carefree all the time…" he muttered to himself.

Robin's ears perked at the mention of Callos. Was it the same one she had met just moments ago? It had to be, but why would a capable person like him leave his companion in such a condition? Judging from her brief interaction with the younger male, Robin saw him as a good-hearted person. She didn't see him as the type to leave one of his friends alone unless they could take care of themselves. Sticking with her first impression, Robin guessed that whoever was at the table must be pretty strong in Callos's eyes for him to leave the man in such a disparate state.

"I hope he doesn't come back empty handed," the man at the table continued, "I can't really account for Edel anymore…"

Edel? Likely a comrade, Robin decided, though of what sort she could not yet decipher. The raven haired archeologist also found herself curious as to what the two she bumped into earlier were supposed to get that was so important.

A loud, deep sigh was heard from the person Robin was spying on. "What am I getting so worked up about? Must be the exhaustion talking…" Robin heard the dull thump of a mug hitting the table followed by the rapping of fingers. "It's not like they'd come back without retrieving the—"

A clank on the bar in front of the strawhat distracted her attention from what the individual was about to divulge. Cursing the bartender's awful timing under her breath, the archeologist brought her gaze downwards to the squat woman, a cup of steaming coffee placed before her.

"One sugar or two?" the woman asked, tapping her foot in the meantime.

"Uh…" Robin's mind was racing. She desperately wanted to return her attention to the man at the table who was still deliberating with himself, however whenever she tried a sharp grunt came from the bartender by clearing her throat as if she knew that Robin was trying to ignore her.

"Simple question, lady."

"Two sugars, please." Robin absent mindedly poured some of the cream from a small saucer into her beverage, silently pleading with the barkeep to leave her alone.

Two sugar cubes plopped into the coffee and the woman walked away to tend to other customers. Grateful to be rid of the impatient woman, Robin began stirring her drink, dissolving the sugar and sweetening the flavor to her liking.

Finally able to return her focus to her target, Robin was sorely disappointed upon discovery that the individual had stopped talking. Learning of his goal would have been able to tell the raven haired archeologist whether or not his group was the cause of the disturbance. Even still, Robin felt confident that Callos and whoever he was with, his friend at the table included, were somehow involved in what was going on.

It wasn't until Robin was halfway finished with her cup of coffee that the person she was spying on did anything more. The archeologist shot a glance back to see him finish off the rest of his drink before putting it back on the table and tossing a couple of bills on it in tips to whoever was serving him. Standing up, the man surprised Robin by being much taller than she thought him to be and if she had to guess the strawhat would say he came to around 6' 4". Most of the difference in height from what she guessed to actuality must have been due to the longer legs the man had.

Without another word, Callos's friend made his way to the exit of the bar.

Robin followed suite.


"And that's when I singlehandedly defeated the lifeless, bloodthirsty war statues inside the tomb and rescued our crew, not to mention snagging the diamond as well!"

Boisterous laughter could be heard from the sniper of the Straw Hat crew as he wrapped up one of his most extravagant stories yet. His companion, the doctor of said crew, attentively listened to every word spoken with glossy eyes filled with excitement. Chopper began cheering and clapping his hands, fascinated by the sniper's latest story.

"Wow, Usopp, you did that all by yourself?!" the young doctor eagerly asked.

"Sure did." Usopp pointed at himself with his thumb, planting a foot on the railing of the ship while pretending to peer off into the distance. "It's a simple task for someone as great as I am!"

"You're so awesome, Usopp!" Chopper began clutching his face, hardly able to contain his enthusiasm. "Can I see it?"

Usopp brought his foot off of the railing and looked at the reindeer. "Huh? See what?"

The doctor began jumping up and down, his arms outstretched in the air expectantly. "The diamond, of course!"

Usopp stifled a nervous yelp. The last thing he needed was for Nami to punish him for touching her precious diamond, the last beating he'd gotten from her left him sore for a week.

"No way!"

"Aww, come on!" Chopper began wagging side to side. "It would be so cool to see, and I won't tell anyone you showed me." The reindeer noticed his companion start to soften and continued to press the matter. "We'll only take a quick peek then we'll put it back like nothing happened!"

Usopp rubbed his chin in thought. Chopper had a point, it's not like Nami would notice if he took it out for a couple of seconds. She might be sharp, but she wasn't that observant. Besides, he'd been wanting to look at it again for some time now.

"Hmm, you bring up a good case, Chopper. Okay, let's go."

The young doctor began jumping again and he followed the curly haired sniper into the women's quarters, peeking around in every direction to make sure the duo weren't being watched.

Once inside, Usopp walked over to Nami's bed and lay on the ground, pushing himself under her bed while rummaging around. Moments later, the sniper pulled himself out with a small chest in his grasp and an even smaller key between his teeth. Placing the key in the keyhole on the lockbox, Usopp opened and retrieved from the inside the enormous diamond that the crew had recently obtained.

"Whoa…" both of the strawhats murmured at the sight of the dazzling jewel.

Without warning Chopper grabbed a hold of the gem in Usopp's grasp. "Here, let me hold it for a little."

Usopp didn't loosen his grasp. "What?! Are you crazy? It's already enough that I'm showing you the diamond to begin with, there's no way I'm going to let you hold on to it!"

Chopper began to pull harder. "Come on, Usopp! You've already had your turn. Stop being selfish and hogging it all to yourself!"

"I'm not hogging anything, we're not even supposed to touch this thing, let alone take turns holding it. Seriously, let go so I can put it back before something happ—"

The diamond shot out of the grasp of the two arguing strawhats and flew up into the air. Both crewmembers tried frantically to catch it, Chopper even changing into his human form, and ended up fighting each other over who was going to catch it. Without a hand to fall into, the large diamond hit the floor of the room with a resounding thud and chipped a part of the floor, rolling around before coming to a halt at the entrance of the door.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" Usopp cried out in tandem with Chopper.

"What do we do now, Usopp?! We broke it!" Chopper screeched through choked tears.

"There's no way, idiot! That's a diamond, they don't chip that easily. Unless…" Usopp shuddered to think of what heinous acts the orange haired navigator would commit if the diamond ended up being a rhinestone.

The sniper hesitantly approached the diamond lying at the other side of the room before cautiously picking it up in his grasp and inspecting it. Much to the youth's relief, there was no noticeable damage on the gem and it looked as though nothing had ever happened to it; it even sparkled brightly as though it had just been recently polished. Considering the nature of the ship's navigator, Usopp thought it very likely.

"Phew, no damage that I can see."

"I thought you said there wouldn't be any damage? Wait, were you lying to me, Usopp?"

Usopp sighed. "Of course not, Chopper. Have I ever lied to you before?"

"That's true." Chopper began trying to fix the chip in the floor.

"Now then, I think we can both agree that the diamond needs to go back where it came." After the blue nosed reindeer nodded in approval, Usopp walked back over to the bed and placed the enormous diamond back into the lockbox, making sure to meticulously put everything exactly as he had found it.

Usopp then pointed to the door. "Let's go back outside, Chopper…" The sniper paused, inspecting the floor. "Was that rug there before when we came in?"

Chopper yelped in surprise, furiously nodding his head as he pushed the confused sniper out of the room as quickly as he could. The blue nosed reindeer didn't want his friend to know that the diamond had chipped the floor since he would probably make things worse trying to fix it, so instead Chopper had moved the rug that adorned the floor so that it covered the blemish. There was no way anybody would notice the difference.

"Well then, I'm going to go back to my workshop to try making some more… Usopp?" Chopper tugged at the sniper's brown pants, trying to get his attention. For some reason the curly haired youth was peering off into the distance. "What is it?"

"It looks like there're two people off in the distance coming towards the ship, maybe Sanji and Franky? I can't really tell because of the sun and all the rocks…"

Chopper beamed. "Oh really? Let's go say hi to them! They may need some help carrying their things, after all!"

"It doesn't look like they're carrying anything, Chopper." The sniper waited for a response, getting none. "Chopper?" He looked around, seeing no signs of his furry friend until he looked down at the beach. The small doctor had departed the ship and was already on his way to the two coming down the beach.

"Sheesh, doesn't he have any patience? Looks like I've got no choice."

Usopp jumped down and slowly began following the reindeer.


Twenty minutes. Twenty minutes the archeologist had trailed the black haired man from the bar and still her search proved fruitless. Not completely fruitless, Robin corrected herself, since she briefly saw her target stop and confer with a female that had dark green hair for a little. Robin would have considered the color unusual had she not been exposed to something similar on almost a daily basis.

The black haired associate of Callos had been all over the area, even at one point crossing the bridge into what Robin remembered from Circa was the Central District. Fortune had smiled on the raven haired woman considering that the old lady had graciously given her a bridge pass, saving the archeologist considerable effort in crossing the bridge in pursuit without one.

Eventually the black haired individual found his way to another bar that was adorned with a large clock as the sign, aptly named the "Clock's Hand". The somewhat lanky man stretched himself out before walking into the bar and Robin bided her time in the meanwhile. She didn't want to enter too quickly in the event that the man went to the wrong place. If he was to leave in a short time, he would likely see the raven haired archeologist, something she could not afford. It was a lot easier to notice somebody following you if you kept seeing them around. To avoid being noticed, the archeologist watched from a back alley near the bar where nobody had been travelling through.

A tap on the archeologist's shoulder distracted her from her scouting and she subconsciously turned around to find the source. Robin startled and took a few steps back, a grim face moments prior mere inches from her face adorned with strikingly deep, black hair. The intruder had buzzed hair with facial hair of the same length covering his face as if he missed his morning shave. A dour grin accompanied the face and Robin instantly felt herself tense up under the invading stare.

"So…" the man finally spoke, a dirty voice underlining the malicious aura permeating him, "what are you doing?"

"Excuse me?" Robin held her ground, trying to find out what the man wanted.

"You look like you don't belong here, miss."

Robin gritted her teeth. "What makes you say that?"

"Where are we, if you wouldn't mind indulging my question." The man curled his lips even wider, awaiting the archeologist's response.

Robin was peeved that the man completely ignored her question but wanted to avoid an unnecessary conflict should her target come out any time soon. The sooner she was done with the unsightly individual, the better. "Central," she plainly stated.

"Ahh, correct." The man clapped his hands together once, mockingly applauding Robin's answer. "Now, if you'd be so kind, and please, mind the rudeness of the question, would you tell me what you're doing here?" The tone the man was using appeared jovial and kind, however Robin could tell there was poison behind his words.

"That's none of your business."

The jet black haired man began laughing. "But of course, you couldn't be more right!" He placed his hands in his pockets, jingling the change inside. "I only ask because there's not too much to do in this area, quite honestly. There're bars, sure, but you don't look the type to be drinking alone."

Robin opened her mouth to talk but was cut off by her inquisitor.

"You could, perhaps, be here to trade an item or look for something in particular… but the highest quality products are sold here and you don't seem to have that much money on you. I also don't see anything of value in your possession…"

That eliminated the possibility of a mugging, Robin noted. If he knew she had nothing of worth, why would he bother approaching her?

"All that leaves is either seeing the mayor for some reason or travelling through on your way to somewhere else, but considering how nasty you were with me not moments ago, those both are unlikely…" The man looked condescendingly down at the archeologist. "So I ask again, what are you doing here?"

Robin crossed her arms, subtly preparing herself to use her devil fruit power if she had to. The raven haired archeologist had no idea what the man in front of her wanted, but judging from his presentation and line of questioning it couldn't be anything good.

"Silent, huh?" The man removed a hand from his pocket, flipping a larger coin in his hand and catching it before it fell. The coin made a pitched tone anytime he flipped it. "Well, that's fine with me, mind if I answer for you?"

Robin made no response.

"Course you don't," the light bearded man continued, leaning his head to the side, widening his toothy grin. "You were following somebody, weren't you?"

Robin pursed her lips. He was right, that was for certain, but how did he know? Had he been following her himself without the archeologist realizing it? It was certainly possible since she was more focused on her target than anything else, however that begged the question as to why this man would want to follow her. It was possible he was a bounty hunter looking to collect on her value, yet Robin didn't get that impression since there would be no reason to question her like he was doing.

"That sounds less like a question and more like an accusation," Robin finally responded.

"Oh, come now," the man chuckled, "you make it seem as though there's no basis for it!"

"Well there—"

"The basis for it, dear, is that the dashing fellow over there you've been tailing for a while, right in there…" The buzzed man pointed at the Clock's Hand. "He's my crewmate."

Robin cursed her bad luck. The questioning was all a façade, something of an entertainment for the scraggly individual in front of her. Regardless of how she reacted here, things were going to get messy. Better for her if she initiated it.

"Seis Fleur!" Robin cried out, arms protruding out of the man's body to restrict his neck, arms, and legs. Lucky for the archeologist was that the bustling activity around the area drowned out her call and most people save a couple of travelling eyes as they passed by the alley were unaware of the conflict.

"Well now, this isn't good…" The pitch black haired man tried moving around, unable to do so due to the archeologist's perfect placement of her limbs. Even if he was three times stronger, Robin locked his body up in a way that negated any and all of his physical strength. "Oh ho…" he continued, chuckling to himself, "looks like you've got quite the hold on me, what now?"

Robin knew exactly what came next.

"Clutch!"

Robin waited for her arms to constrict themselves, rendering the man unconscious from the insane positions they forced him into, joints popping viciously throughout the process. However, nothing happened even though she felt her arms apply the necessary pressure.

"Clutch!" she called out again, this time focusing more intensely on the command.

Her intensified concentration made no difference, however, and it felt as though she was trying to crush stone, the man's muscles not giving her any leeway in her endeavor.

No matter, Robin thought, she would only have to add more arms. The more she added the more force she could apply to the man. She only hoped to incapacitate the man, however if he was going to put up this much resistance she might have to break a bone or two to loosen him up.

"Trienta Fluer!" The archeologist was no longer fooling around. Scores more arms coiled around the man in the same fashion as those previous to them, applying even more pressure and tightening the grip further.

"You're wasting your time, Nico Robin…" the constricted man jeered. He apparently knew who she was beforehand.

"If you say so… CLUTCH!"

This time there was hardly any resistance from the man in her grasp. Robin felt her arms clench together swiftly and forcibly before shockwaves of pain travelled through her arms. It was only then that the raven haired archeologist noticed that there was no popping noise to be heard, only a sound similar to glass shattering.

Crying out in pain, Robin dispersed her extra arms in a shower of petals and inspected the original ones attached to her body, droplets of blood forming at multiple spots on each one.

Looking back to where her adversary was, Robin saw that where a crumpled body should lay, instead deep black stones resided in a pile. Did he have some sort of ability that she was unaware of?

"Your devil's fruit power is as dangerous as they say it is," a disturbingly familiar voice said from behind the woman, "let's see whose is more so."


"Think that's the ship Garand was talking about?"

A deep voice grunted.

"Yeah, that's true. It's not like there's any other ships within ten miles of this one, is there?" Callos jeered.

His companion, Andy, looked strangely at the bronze haired youth.

"What?" Callos returned the look. "You never talk, man. I'm just pretending you are so it's not too boring having a one sided conversation."

Andy began laughing, although it was a very timid, soft spoken laugh. Callos chuckled to himself as well at the response.

"Well, if your actual voice is anything like your laugh, I can see why you don't talk."

Callos mimicked the angry glare his larger friend suddenly gave him before heartily laughing at the man's annoyance. The bronze haired bounty hunter's laughter was cut short by a forcible smack to the back of his head from his companion.

"Ow! That was totally uncalled for, Andy, totally uncalled for," Callos pouted.

A lone smile replaced the angry look on the larger man's face and he pointed off into the distance.

"Oh! You're right, it's the Straw Hat crew! I'd recognize that straw hat Jolly Roger anywhere, it's all they ever talk about… or rather, 'don't' talk about in the papers nowadays, Strawhat Luffy and his gang."

Callos ignored Andy roll his eyes at the bronze haired youth placing words in his mouth again and peered off into the distance.

"Huh, looks like there's two people coming our way…"

A low growl from Andy confirmed his suspicion. Callos looked over peculiarly at the larger man.

"A growl? I don't hear that from you unless there's a fight near…" The bounty hunter sighed under his breath. "Man, and I was so hoping that this wouldn't end up in a fight, I'm in no mood to from our last bounty…"

The youth was brought back from his reminiscing by a nudge on his arm.

"Alright, alright. I'd prefer not to, so let's try it my way first. If they put up a fight, then we can take them out." Callos grabbed his arm, pressing on his muscles to loosen them up as a smile wore its way onto his face. "In any case, I wonder who we'll end up fighting; they've gotten quite the large bounty for such a small crew in no time at all. This won't be a walk in the park, you know?"

Andy nodded with a hum.

"Well then…" Callos chided with a grin, unable to hide his mirth, "Showtime."

Ending note: Sorry if things seem a little rushed, wanted to have this out before I left for the night (unexpected plans). I'll look over it again when I have the chance and if something looks off I'll fix it before the next update (feel free to point out anything if you notice it). Another update should be rolling out in the next few days and it will contain the entirety of Robin's fight (hopefully). I meant to go into it more but lollotsofdetail and next thing I knew the segment was at the right length. This may not be quite the answer to the cliffhanger I left you all off at, but other things need to be explained first before we get to that. Hopefully the new content will soothe your anger towards me for just a little longer! Hope you enjoyed and don't forget to drop a review!