Robin

When Robin dies she is ninety-nine years old. She doesn't much mind the age. She doesn't mind the way she has aged, that she no longer is young and beautiful as many other women would. In her youth she was too busy running to much care about the way she looked, back then the only thing her looks had served as were a way to distract lecherous men from her bounty or convincing people to help her, and that habit stuck even after she joined the Strawhats and finally was safe. Though Nami often convinced her to join her in dressing up, and she rather liked being able to feel attractive without a real purpose, it had never stuck. But still most would say that she has aged well, still being able to hold her graceful posture even though her face has gained a few wrinkles and her hair has turned pure white.

The only thing concerning her age that she might hold a grudge against is her worsening eye-sight. Having to constantly keep track of her glasses to be able to read is not something she likes in the least, but that's the way it is. And though her brittle body no longer can carry her on quests to discover and study ruins and civilizations she can still read, can still write, and that's what's most important to her.

She writes a book for each of her precious nakama. She got the idea after Luffy's death when Chopper in one of the few moments where he wasn't sniffling had told them all about how his father had told him that you don't die until no one remembers you anymore. Desperate to keep her beloved nakama alive forever she had done just that; remembered. She had made sure that someone would always remember by writing a whole book for each of them, with their adventures, with their pasts, with their quirks and abilities. She has written each a book, but she has only written a single page of paper to explain herself. She feels that she would be writing forever if she were to list all her sins and every reason she is grateful to her crew. So she writes one single page of paper, explaining the way her nakama saved her from herself, and how they gifted her with the wings to be free, and lets it be.

Her life has been… Complicated. She started out happy, with her mother there everything was well. But then Olvia left her behind with aunt Roji and everything went to hell, to say it crudely. For many years her only single joy was her books and going to meet the librarians and archeologists by the Tree of Knowledge. But then the Buster Call came and everything was ruined. Her newly returned mother died attempting to salvage the books in the library along with the other archeologists, and her new friend Saul died helping her escape the burning hell that her home had become.

The twenty years that followed were lonely, lonely and cold, and she has fought the rest of her life attempting to keep from remembering the numerous sins she commited, but sometimes she fails, and on those nights she can't help it if a few tears slip past, and then a few more because her friends are no longer there to wipe them away. Of course Franky and Brook are still alive, but all three of them try to keep as busy as possible in order to keep going without the rest of their friends there, and they rarely see each other.

All three of them are used to the loneliness, but all of them dread it, it is the thing that kept them all captive for so very long during their lives, yet they can't seem to do anything about it but wait for the time when they rejoin their nakama. Though Robin has often wondered if a demon like her won't find her way to hell, as oppoed ot the angels she calls her comrades.

Back when she still wasn't so very old she used to accompany Brook on his tours sometimes, as well as staying in Water 7 with the Franky Family, but now she is too old to do either, she doesn't have the energy to even try to stave up their mutual loneliness, so it really is time for her to go.

Thankfully the world has finally agreed with her, because the words Luffy managed to draw out of her so many years ago are no longer entirely true. She no longer wants to live, not like she did then, and she thinks that a study she once read many years ago, one that said that when you lose your zest for life you don't live as long as those who still have it, might be true.

This ultimately means that she dies of old age. She dies in her sleep, and she thinks it might be because she's finally finished with her last mission. The evening before she goes to sleep for the last time is spent finishing Brook's book, and when she has written the last word of the last sentence she blows out her candles and retires to bed.

Her sleep is peaceful and dreamless, but she notices the transition between the darkness of sleep and the darkness of death. As a woman who spent twenty years without peace, always having to be on guard even when she slept she notices every little change, and this one with it. But she doesn't fight it, it might have let her stay alive longer if she had, but she's happy with going now, happy that she might finally see the rest of the crew again.

The darkness of death is not entirely unfamiliar. She has been in many life or death situations before, ones where this darkness threatened to sweep over her but didn't. But now it does, and it steals away her every sense. It doesn't bother her, because her greatest asset has always been her mind, but she hopes that they will return, because she'll certainly miss reading if her sight never comes back.

It does, though, just like her every other sense along with her body. She opens her eyes and finds that they are not only returned, but restored as well. She can see everything perfectly clearly, from the birds flying in the distance to her spot free nails. She takes a brief moment to get reacquainted with herself and realises that the rest of her is younger as well. Her hands are smooth and wrinkle free, as is her face, and her hair, which is caught by the soft breeze, is back to the shiny black it used to be. She thinks that this body resembles the way it was when she was in her thirties; when she had learned to be truly comfortable around and trust her nakama.

She turns her newly restored eyes to the sea around her and realises that there are three ships not far away, both bobbing along in the water. One of them is a ship she has greatly missed, along with its crew. It's the Going Merry, and she couldn't be happier to see the sweet looking figurehead of a lamb nor the proud skull and crossbones grinning at her from both the main sail and the flag at the top of the mast. The second ship is unfamiliar, the size of a Marine warship - Robin should know - and she can make out something which resembles an adapted Marine symbol. The men on deck of this ship, however, are clothed in all kinds of colourful clothing, and she thinks that might mean that they are not marines, despite their symbol. The third is not recognised by the ship, but this too she recongises by the emblem on its sail. This one she knows for sure however; it is the emblem of the Revolutionary Army, one she has spent a great deal of time in the company of.

The urge to join her friends is strong, and she discovers that her own boat is what looks to be a canoe, a rather unfortunate choice of vessel out to sea. However she does not worry, she knows that her nakama wouldn't abandon her with a boat such as this, would never abandon her. She learned that lesson well when she tried to give herself up for them at Water 7 and later Enies Lobby. She finds a single paddle at the bottom of the slim vessel and picks it up to bring with her as she carefully makes her way to the back of the canoe, trying her very best to keep from swaying the boat as she goes.

She ultimately makes it to the back where she sits upon the seat meant for the one who controls the direction and puts her paddle in the water. She has never paddled a canoe before, but she knows the general theory of how it's done, and hopes that will be enough. She makes her way to the three ships - albeit slowly and shakily, but it was progress all the same.

Nobody seems to notice her nearing, and she thinks amusedly that the watchmen of the Revolutionary and Marine-like vessels must be distracted by the shouting match that seems to be going on across the ships. Why the no one on Merry - placed in between the two other ships and right in the line of verbal fire - has noticed her is easily explained by the tuft of green hair sticking out of the crow's nest; Zoro is on watch.

As she nears even more she considers how she will get aboard the Going Merry, and is pleased to note that the space between the Revolutionary ship and Merry is just right for fitting in a canoe and give her enough space to row. Someone else would most likely believe it a foolish plan - what if the ship crushes her? - but she knows that the scenario is highly unlikely, and that the three ships all are anchored down, it's easy to see by the way they lay so still. Judging by the way they are straining against their chains she thinks that the two ships won't be able to get any closer to each other, no matter what waves might come their way.

The rowing gets easier as she goes and soon enough she can maneuver her little vessel well enough to fit it between the ships without risk. She progresses slowly and carefully, but it's going well. Then someone notices her. She knows the moment they do thanks to two decades of being spotted equaling death for either her or the spotter on many occasions. She turns her gaze up to the Revolutionary ship and meets the gaze of Sabo, the Chief of Staff and later leader of the army. He is watching her calmly, a slight smile playing on his lips. She aims one of her unintelligible smiles back at him.

"Family reunion?" she asks her old friend teasingly, raising a delicate eyebrow. Luffy being the son of the Revolutionary Dragon and grandson of Garp the Hero had become common knowledge a short while after Portgas D. Ace's execution, but Robin had known the ties before then, including Sabo's tie to all three of them. She has already figured out that the Marine-like ship is holding Garp - whyever else would it be there next to the Pirate King's ship without attacking? - Sabo sighs heavily.

"Yes, once a year, every year, and they still don't get along!" he exclaims fondly, "Ace isn't here yet as you can see, and the shitty geezer insists on trying to arrest Dragon even though there'd be nowhere to put him because the Marines don't exist here," he answers exasperatedly. Robin just smiles at his fond exasperation, Sabo has always been very amusing when he's annoyed or exasperated. She gets the feeling that the poor man would be chatting with Luffy across the gap between the ships if the younger man wasn't busy laughing at the two older men and leaders glaring at each other across the ships.

"I wish you good luck in your coming attempts to solve it," she says with yet another amused smile, listening to Dragon's uncharacteristic cursing of his father. Sabo just sighs fondly again, pushing away from the railing he'd been leaning against to do what she said, having already known that he would try eventually.

"Oh, and Robin?" Sabo says, turning his head back to her, "welcome to the afterlife," he tells her with a warm smile. Her answering smile is enough thanks and he turns back to his quest to stop Dragon and Garp from killing each other with words.

Robin herself turns back to Merry and her musings of how to get aboard. The wooden hull is barely a few feet away, but she could never climb the smooth side without the help of a rope.

She would usually use her Devil Fruit powers for this, but there is an absence within her. She can feel something lacking, and, doing a quick deduction with the help of what little she has seen of her fellow Devil Fruit users running around on the decks of the three ships so far she comes to the conclusin that she never will sprout an extra limb somewhere again. Few of them moves the same way anymore, certainy not Luffy, if he was still made of rubber he would be hanging from the mast trying to get a better view or something else that only he could come up with. The lack of Devil Fruits here bothers her more than she'd like to admit. Her powers have been with her as long as she can remember, and she thinks it will take quite a while to get used to living without them.

Resigning herself to her fate she knocks softly on Merry's hull, calling up to the ones on board.

"Luffy?" she calls up and hears a sharp intake of breath, a noise of confusion and then the stampeding of feet as her younger Captain runs for the railing, accompanied by at least two additional pairs of feet.

A head of black crowned by a straw hat peeks over the railing, followed by the orange of Nami's hair and Sanji's blond. Nami gives a little shout of surprised happiness and smiles widely while Sanji's eyes widen and what is left of his cigarette falls from his mouth as it breaks out into a grin. Robin loves to see her friends happy, but in this moment Luffy's face is undoubtely the best. His eyes shine brighter than usual and he smiles a true smile that seems to light up even the smallest shadows cast by the ships.

"Robin!"

She tries to answer the call but her voice is drowned out by a particularily loud yell from Garp and an answering curse from Dragon. A shadow passes over Nami's face and she takes a step back from the railing, and anyone who knows her knows that now is the time to run if you value your brain-cells or testicles - because she rarely gets that mad at women.

"I'M TIRED OF YOUR SHOUTING. ROBIN IS HERE AND WE CAN'T EVEN HEAR HER-" she stalks off to yell more at the poor men and Robin tunes her out temporarily in order to listen to Luffy, who is trying to speak.

"Neh, neh, Robin," he starts excitedly, "do you wanna come aboard?" he's clutching at the railing, as if there even is the slightest question about it.

"I'd love to, Luffy," she answers, smiling at him. Sanji makes a noise that sounds suspiciously like one of his swoons from his early twenties and goes to fetch a rope ladder.

The ladder rolls itself out on its way down Merry's side and Robin stands up carefully in order to keep her canoe as still as possible. Her attempt seems to be futile however and the little boat sways dangerously. She hurries to grab on to the ladder and uses the seat she had been sitting on as a stepping stone, letting the troublesome canoe float away as she places both of her heel-clad feet on the bars of the ladder. She climbs her way up and swings her legs over the railing to land on deck as gracefully as she can manage.

When she has gained the proper footing she looks up to face her shorter Captain and grinning Cook. She doesn't get more time than that before Luffy's arms have enveloped her. She had been expecting this, but she is still surprised when it happens. It doesn't take her more than a few moments, however, before she returns the embrace.

She really has missed him, has missed them all, and though she's not one to instigate physical contact often she doesn't mind the seemingly simple touches her nakama bestows on her in the very least. It is proof that they are there, that they truly care.

"Neh, Robin?" Luffy says when they pull apart, "do you wanna join my crew?" he asks with big, innocent eyes but with a serious draw of his mouth. He knows that this situation is very important more than most people would. But she hopes that the answer is obvious.

"I'd like nothing better, Captain," she says with a warm smile, a similarily warm feeling settling in her stomach. Even when they've spent so long apart, parted by death for decades, he still wants her on his crew. Once upon a time she used the title 'Captain-san' as a way to distance herself, to not learn anyone's name too well and to not get too familiar, because if she did it would've hurt more when she left. Now, however, she calls him Captain because it is his title, because that's one of the little ways she can show that. He is not only her friend or her saviour, but he is also her Captain, and now he'll remain so, even in death.

Luffy's eyes relight with the same light he had when he spotted her earlier and he grins one of his brightest smiles. It is brighter than it was even before Ace's death, after which it was often dimmed, and she is infinitely glad that her Captain is back with everyone he will ever miss - bar maybe Franky and Brook.

The noise around them has quieted. Nami has stopped her yelling and so have Dragon and Garp. The poor men stood no chance against her. A light laugh drifts by, soon joined by a laugh Robin knows well. Zoro shouts something about another ship from the crow's nest, too late of course, because the newest arrival is already close enough for Robin to be able to make out the figures on deck. What she sees makes her eyes widen and her breath catch in her throat. She never thought she would see those two again, much less hear their voices.

"Derishishishishi! She got you good, Garp!" She never thought she would hear that laugh again lest she was the one to laugh it, nor did she ever think she would hear that voice again.

"Saul…" she murmurs.

"You're being too harsh, Saul, that was one thorough defeat, the young lady is obviously very good at this," the voice of a woman - the same one who laughed the first time - comments. Robin feels herself grow teary.

"Mom…"

"Eh?" Luffy cocks his head, "Robin, Olvia is your mom?" he asks. Robin just nods silently, staring intently at the two figures on the other ship.

"Yosh!" Luffy exclaims, throwing a fist into the air, "I've decided! Robin's mom is gonna come over and talk!" Robin turns to him. Is he really...? She shakes her head. What a silly question, of course he is.

"Sanji, go get the table!" Luffy orders and Sanji is off to fetch the small, round table that Usopp had once used when he interrogated Robin after she joined, one that later became Robin's table for when she sat on deck to read. Robin leans down to place a peck on Luffy's cheek in gratitude, being beyond words.

There is a crash from the upper deck where the kitchen and storage room are and Sanji emerges from the storage room, being followed by Chopper, who is berating the man loudly.

"You can't just come crashing in without a warning, Sanji! You could've broken something or hurt yourself!" The shouting seems to attract Usopp, because the man pokes his head out of the kitchen where he used to set up his workshop for tinkering back in the day. He notices the new addition on deck at the exact time that Chopper does and they both stop, stare and then shout.

The two boys - who are actually men by now, but to Robin they'll always be boys, as will Luffy in a way - come rushing down, Usopp jumping over the railing running along the upper deck to reach while Chopper runs around Sanji - who stumbles slightly but doesn't fall - and down the steps leading to the lower deck. They reach her at the same time and throw themselves at her. She stumbles but manages not to fall. She was expecting it, and so was able to withstand even Usopp.

"Roooobin!" they say in union. She chuckles slightly and places one hand on Chopper's back to hold him up where he is and wraps the other around Usopp's shoulders, returning their united embrace. There is a clunk, signalling that Sanji has put down the table, and suddenly he, too, is by her side, waiting for his own turn to greet her, albeit impatiently.

Usopp pulls back after a while and gives her a bright, welcoming smile, gently prying Chopper - who is still clutching at Robin - away. This allows for Sanji to take his turn, sweeping her up into a tight embrace and swinging her around. This is when Nami decides that she is finished with poor Garp, and comes walking back across a gangplank set up between the Merry and the Marine-like ship. She, too, gives a little shout and rushes over, prying Sanji away to get in a hug of her own.

"We've missed you so much, Robin!" she exclaims, pulling back slightly but not letting go.

"Welcome back, Robin-chan," Sanji says with a warm smile. Robin smiles back at him.

Now there is only one person left she has not greeted yet. She turns her gaze upwards, to the crow's nest. Zoro smirks down at her and she raises and eyebrow at him in a silent challenge. 'Are you going to come down or am I going to have to fetch you?' it asks, something Zoro knows. The swordsman had been near obsessed with figuring her out when she was new, to make that she wasn't a threat to the crew. Along the way they had gotten to know each other very well, well enough for Zoro to be able to read her expressions when she doesn't want him to, which means that he's an expert at reading the ones she actually lets him see. This also means that he knows that she will fetch him forcefully if necessary, and so he climbs down from the wooden watch place amicably.

Zoro's boots thud against the deck when he lands and he approaches in a leisurely pace, never letting anything hurry him. Robin doesn't mind it, of course, but she thinks many would describe it as 'cocky'. He stops before her and grins one of his usual 'cocky' grins. In return Robin gives him one of her more common smiles, the one that used to drive him crazy because he didn't know what it meant. It rarely meant much back then, it was just amusing to see him frustrated, but now it means whatever she wants it to mean, and Zoro can usually catch the meaning nowadays.

She reaches forward with her left hand and slaps it against his temple. This is her way of reprimanding him for his foolish way fo dying, but she knows that he doesn't mind, that the death he had was right for him. That hadn't stopped the rest of them from missing him however. Robin herself stayed at the island he had protected for three years afterwards to study the history saved and theorise about what history might arise from his actions. She had gone back there on one of her last travels and found that a very interesting myth had developed; the villagers claimed that the ghost of the brave swordsman haunted their seas, scaring away anyone and anything that might attempt hurting them.

Zoro catches the hand before she has lowered it completely, clasping it for a moment as she clasps back, before their two hands drop and the moment has passed. This gesture is enough of a welcome between them. No more words are needed.

Robin thinks that she has greeted every crewmember by now. She is wrong. The moment she turns to catch a look of the two people of her past on the newest ship a door opens on the Merry; the door to the Women's Room. A head of light blue hair peeks out curiously, looking around for something.

"Are Dragon-san and Garp-san finally done fighting?" she asks, then her gaze falls on Robin and the others surrounding her. Her eyes turn wary, but she isn't scared, isn't catious, or angry, and it's a big progress from the past times they have seen each other, when Vivi has been almost hostile. It has never come down to an actual fight, of course, Vivi respects Luffy and his judgement far too much to question him to that point, but the hostility remained for years. There seems to be something different in her gaze this time, though. Something that hasn't been there before; curiosity, acceptance.

"Miss- Robin-san," she manages to correct herself, but Robin knows as well as Vivi does that she had been about to be called by her old agent name. It doesn't bother her as much as it used to. She knows that she isn't the same woman that she was, and that Vivi doesn't mean ill by the mistake, at least not anymore.

Vivi steps out of the doorway fully and descends the stairs until they are stood face to face, though Vivi has to look up to face Robin. The others scatter around them, giving them the space they know is necessary, though a few of them throws a few wary looks over their shoulders, unsure of how the confrontation will end, but still confident that it will work out somehow. It's one of the many quirks the crew seems to have. This doesn't include Luffy, of course, he is always sure of every situation, but all the same, instead he runs off yelling at Sanji about chairs and meat, the cook following with little to no grumbling.

"Welcome," she says at last. Robin raises an eyebrow.

"I hope you don't mind my presence, Princess," she says in answer and lets her sincerity show. This is not the time for mind-games.

"I don't," Vivi says, shaking her head, "I might've, but the fact that you're here, that one of the places you could possibly belong is this crew and that you've come aboard… It means you truly do care about the others, and that was always my biggest issue, I wondered if the day would come when you betrayed them. But now I'm sure that it won't." she speaks the words softly, doesn't want to let the others here, and Robin understands. She thinks she might be supposed to be insulted at the mistrust the younger woman has admitted, but she's not. She's just thankful that they may be able to get along. They have the rest of their eternities left to spend on the same ship, after all.

"I'm glad, Princess, an existence spent with someone you distrust would be highly unenviable." Vivi chuckles slightly at her words.

"I suppose it would. I'm glad that we've come to an understanding, Robin-san," Vivi says in an earnest voice, and Robin believes her.

"So am I, Princess."

"Vivi," said girl says suddenly. At Robin's surprised look she elaborates.

"We're nakama from now on, it's no more than right that we call each other by name, right?" she looks slightly nervous as she says it, as if she is unsure of what Robin's reaction will be, but it's clear that she does not regret the request in the slightest.

Robin smiles reassuringly at her, "Very well, Vivi-chan." This marks the end of their confrontation and they step back from each other, but not without a respectful nod each. They'll be a bit stiff around each other for a while, but Robin has the feeling that they will come to get along well eventually.

Vivi throws her one last look over her shoulder before she turns fully to approach Nami, who is grooming her tangerine trees. She sits down in the chair kept by the trees and the two younger women start up an easy conversation. Robin herself turns back to the deck to find the table Sanji had brought placed in the middle of the deck, now with two chairs accompanied by the two men who brought them, both grinning brightly at her.

She takes a deep breath and approaches them. She doesn't really know what to say. How does one approach a mother they haven't seen in eight decades, and then only barely?

Luffy of course solves this problem easily when he sees that she is ready. He rushes over to the railing facing the ship holding her mother and old friend and waves, shouting;

"Hey, hey, Olvia, Giant-ossan! You need to come over and see Robin!"

The aforementioned look up from their priveous conversation, Olvia more sharply than Saul. Olvia gets to her feet and Saul shifts closer to the railing. As they get closer Robin, too, starts nearing the railing with careful steps. They're there, both of them, her mother and Saul, Robin can only just keep back the tears threatening to fall.

The gangplank is already there and ready for use - Robin thinks that this might be Sanji's merit, having heard him rushing about when she was talking to Vivi - and Olvia wastes no time in crossing it while Saul stays on the ship. Robin gets the feeling that he wants to give them space, and that it's tricky for him to move to such a small ship. Olvia stops just short of the point where she'll have to step onto deck if she wants to continue and takes her gaze away from Robin for a split moment to glance over at Luffy, who nods at her. With pirates of the same strength and status as the ones present here it is a common courtesy to ask permission of the Captain before boarding a ship unless you've a hostile intent, and most are not so foolish that they approach with violence in mind, nor skip this important ritual. At Luffy's nod however Olvia doesn't hesitate anymore and steps onto the deck, striding straight for Robin.

The white-haired woman stops once more in front of her, close but still not touching.

"Mom," Robin says softly, her voice very nearly catching on the word.

"Robin," Olvia says, and her voice does catch, and then suddenly the older woman has pulled Robin forth into a tight embrace. Robin can feel her shoulder growing wet with tears as they both cry for all they've lost, and for what they've regained.

They end up sitting by the garden table, speaking softly of anything between heaven and earth, a lot about the history of the various islands they've visited, about Robin's ability to read Poneglyphs, about the Rio Poneglyph and the Void Century, about Robin's life as a pirate, about the reason Olvia ever left.

At one point when their conversation lulls naturally and Olvia looks over to a corner of the ship and smiles slightly.

"They're very noisy, these friends of yours," she states just as a crash sounds through the air as Luffy is slammed into a wall. It seems that Sabo has gotten enough of playing peacemaker and has abandoned his quest in favour of sparring with Luffy in a corner of Merry's deck.

"Yes, they are," Robin agrees, smiling with all the fondness of a proud older sister, "It's the way they are," she explains, because that's it. It's the way they are, nothing else, and she sincerely hopes that they will stay that way for the forever they shall spend together.

AN: There we go! As you might notice I really like Robin, so she got this monster of a chapter! On another note; OHMIGOSH 150 REVIEWS? yOU GUYS ARE THE BEST!

For my guests~

Anime Fan: I'm glad you enjoyed it. I see your point, but I didn't find it very fitting for Dragon to meet up with Luffy and Garp the moment he arrived. The moment they arrive is not solely a moment of reunion, but also a moment where they decide what to do with themselves; are they going tp rejoin a crew? are they going to live on land? are they going to join another crew altogether? I don't know about you, but for me Dragon joining the Strawhats or the Sailors (marines) is completely implausible. I hope their (kind of) meeting in this chapter was enough to satisfy for now. There will be more (more non-hostile) interactions between the Monkey D.s in the future. As for the other point; I probably wasn't very clear, because several people has pointed out the same thing as you have. What I meant isn't that Brook is immortal, but that age won't kill him. Anything else that can harm a Devil Fruit user or a skeleton obviously can. But it's not like his cells can deterioate, because he doesn't have any cells anymore (Yohohoho, Skull Joke!), so what I'm saying isn't that he is immortal, but that he will live for a very long time unless he is killed by something that can harm a skeleton or Devil Fruit user (for example; drowning). I hope that clears it up for anyone who was wondering! I'm starting to really look forward to writing it as well, I hope it'll be good enough!

Thanks for reading!

Next up: Dadan