Chapter 28: Sometimes You Don't Need to Say Anything

Rating: K

Wow, after a long break, my return to writing Luffy x Robin fics. This one was sort of brewing for a while, and I finally got the motivation to put it to the keyboard. Anyway, as the crew goes their separate ways in town, Luffy decides to tag along with Robin. A positive result comes out of it. Reviews always appreciated. Enjoy.



Luffy watched in odd silence, listening to the others as they made plans on what to do in town. His hands folded behind his head, he averted his gaze to the right, listening as the heavy anchor splashed loudly into the calm sea below. A bit of mist sprayed against his face, a stray wave splashing against the side of the ship.

"Luffy?" A soft voice echoed in his head, bringing his attention back to the group. The navigator of the ship stared at him with a cool expression, lips curled in an annoyed frown.

"Huh? What?" he asked simply, suddenly confused as to why the rest of the crew were also staring at him curiously.

"I hope you're not planning some random adventure here. We don't want to cause any trouble for once." The feisty red head ordered the ship's captain, hands resting on her hips as she spoke. Luffy considered her for a moment, wondering what she was talking about.

"What do you mean?" Luffy was lost. A lot of the problems they had encountered had been out of his control, and his lips curled downward into a frown as he considered the fact that Nami was blaming him for their issues.

"Now, Captain-san is the reason things are so lively, neh?" the young pirate was surprised as a soft, flowery voice sprang up somewhat in his defense. He joined the rest of the crew in directing their attention towards the ship archaeologist, her usual warm smile catching his attention.

"Well, he does bring plenty of energy." Nami began, sighing at the prospect of an argument with Robin. "But that doesn't mean he should get us into so many jams." As she spoke to the older woman, Nami stared directly at her, hiking a thumb behind her in Luffy's direction. He felt his brows furrowing further at the blamed being cast upon him, but not wanting to get in between a potential argument of the two girls.

While it was not explicitly explained, it was commonly held on the ship that while Nami was the disciplinarian, and the one not to be crossed generally, one member of the crew still stood above her in their eyes. Regardless of what antics might be ensuing, Robin was the only one to always maintain her composure, and even Nami seldom crossed the older woman. Luffy wondered why it was that the former second in command of Baroque Works was so respected on their ship.

Maybe it was her simple demeanor, the fact that she said what she meant with enough force to be certain the point got across, but not hard enough to be commanding. It was a strange atmosphere that surrounded Nico Robin, one that even gave Nami a hard time issuing commands to her "onee-sama". Luffy found himself chuckling as he realized that the words fit quite well, as Robin gave off a very distinct sense of responsibility. He knew that, although she often lounged around on deck, and was seldom a part of their normal antics, that she could always be counted on when it counted.

"That just goes to show that he has great faith that we can overcome any obstacle, does it not?" Robin's simple explanation caught Nami off guard as usual, eliciting a somewhat frustrated groan from the younger girl. "And besides, the adventures we have are quite enjoyable as well." That was the sentence that Nami had feared, the one that essentially gave Luffy free reign to do whatever he wanted, consequences be damned.

"Aaaa~h! I just know we will regret this." Despite the navigator's moans of protest, everyone on board knew that they had better be ready for whatever might happen. Luffy found himself smiling brightly, catching Robin's deep blue orbs with his own, as though she were smiling directly at him.

"So, we'll all meet back here at sun down?" Robin spoke, gently breaking the gaze with the young pirate captain. A murmur of agreement echoed through the crew as they went their separate ways, each with a hint of fear as to the intentions of their unpredictable captain.

Nami asked Sanji to accompany her, everyone assuming that it was in order to use him as a pack mule. She also planned to use her unique brand of bargaining to get a good deal on food, which Sanji would be expected to lug around along with whatever other items caught her fancy in town.

Chopper and Usopp made their way into town, likely to get some new herbs and stuff for Chopper. But Luffy knew that Usopp would likely come back with some weird contraptions or gags, which would almost invariably be used to spring some kind of surprise on Nami. Luffy winced in some pain as he recalled some of the savage beatings that had been administered by the fiery red head, rubbing the back of his head as he hoped Usopp would live long enough to see the end of the Grand Line.

"Ah, make sure you don't get too lost, marimo." Sanji shouted behind him, prodding the young swordsman. "We only have until evening TONIGHT, so we can't be waiting for weeks until you find your way back." The blonde cook seemed quite amused with himself, chuckling as he heard the familiar heavy footsteps along the wooden dock.

"You wanna go, shitty cook?" Zoro shouted as he got right in Sanji's face. Everyone sighed, expecting another pointless fight between the two. But before it even had a chance to get started, the presence of Nami sent chills down the spines of both, a clear warning that they had better behave. "Tch, you got lucky dartboard." Zoro spat as he headed off in a random direction, disappearing into a nearby forest. Everyone sweat dropped simultaneously, wondering if indeed Zoro would be back by the appointed time.

Sanji laughed quite loudly, choking once or twice on the heavy cigarette smoke as he followed Nami into town. Franky mentioned something about wanting to check out the technology on the island, and so headed off in search on some equipment that might be used to improve the ship.

As the crew disappeared towards their destinations, Luffy found himself alone with Nico Robin, who simply stood for a moment, staring warmly towards the small town. Just then, Luffy could not put his finger on it, but something about her seemed… beautiful. He felt quite confused by the notion, having seldom had that kind of feeling. Furrowing his brows once again, he failed to notice as the archaeologist began to stare directly towards him.

"Luffy?" she asked simply, a hint of curiosity on her voice as she took up a seat next to the young boy. Shaking himself from his thoughts, Luffy looked directly at the older woman, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

"Ah, just thinking about something." he answered, not wanting to go into too much detail about his confusion. "Oh, what are you going to do, Robin?" he asked, wondering why Robin had remained aboard the ship instead of disappearing into town with the rest.

"Hmm. Well, I was planning to check the local library, to see if I could find any useful information." she responded simply, straightening her black skirt as she stood, the thin fabric hugging closely to her supple legs. As he observed the young woman, Luffy found himself wondering if he had ever accompanied Robin on one of her outings before.

At one point or another, he had gone into a town with each of the other members of the crew, to varying levels of satisfaction on his part. But never had he gone into town with Robin alone, a possibility found quite curious.

"Would you like some company?" he asked, drawing a mildly surprised gasp from the older woman. For an instant, it seemed that she was preparing to say no, before acquiescing to his request.

"I would love it, if you are alright with visiting a library." Robin had to give the caution to the young boy, as his personality made it seem as though he would not mix well with any kind of book repository.

"Actually, I've never been in one before." he answered simply as he stood, shaking a bit of dirt from his well worn jeans, rolled up to just about his knees. Placing the familiar Straw Hat upon his head, he followed carefully behind Robin, not wanting to repeat Zoro's rather comical navigational error from earlier.

Soon, he was walking beside the older woman, head turning from side to side as he took in the sights of the unique little town. Somehow he didn't feel that same strong urge to just jump from place to place in search of new foods, or other exciting things. Luffy actually found himself almost pulled towards the young woman, wondering what it was that kept her going from library to library wherever they visited.

Finally they reached their destination, and Luffy hollered in amazement at the magnificent structure. It was the largest building he had yet laid eyes on, its beautiful white stone seeming to shimmer in the morning Sun. Shielding his eyes, he attempted to get a full glimpse of the towering structure, unable to quite make out the top with the Sun behind it. But he could tell that it was unbelievably tall. "Wow. This place seems great." he mumbled in amusement, wondering what wonders awaited.

"I have heard that this is the largest library short of the World Government Library at Mariejois." As she said this, Robin had an almost uncharacteristic gaze in her eyes, and Luffy could tell that she hoped someday to see this World Government's library.

"Don't worry, Robin" he began simply, drawing her attention to him. "you'll get to see that library for sure." As he spoke, Luffy smiled broadly, eliciting an odd fluttering of Robin's heart. Placing a hand loosely above the beating organ, she smiled warmly, knowing full well that if Luffy said something was to happen, then it would somehow come to pass.

"Ah. I will be looking forward to it, Pirate King Luffy." Adding the future title to the young boy elicited a dreamy gaze from the young pirate, sparkles shining around his eyes as he let the effect of the words sink in. Robin could not help but giggle at his child like enthusiasm, a full belief that he would achieve the title one day.

"Shishishi. You better. And I bet they will have all sorts of cool stuff there, so I wouldn't mind seeing it as well." Speaking in such a confident manner, the pair laughed a bit, thoughts of the future playing on their minds.

"Well, shall we?" she asked courteously, motioning towards the library before them. Luffy nodded somewhat enthusiastically, as he walked alongside the raven haired beauty. As the sight of so many books filled their vision, Luffy found that Robin held a very different glow than usual. 'So, this is what makes her happy?' he mused to himself, smiling at the excitement of the older woman. She tried her best to hide it, but Luffy could sense it from her, though he made no mention of it.

As they entered the building, Luffy looked around, mystified by the number of books lining the various shelves. He remarked to himself that the building must be at least a hundred feet tall, and had about a billion books. While he was simply throwing out random numbers, his point was well taken by his more learned companion.

He followed closely behind the young woman, unfamiliar himself with what one would do in a library. The boy watched as she surveyed the shelves, a curious expression upon her face as she contemplated for a moment. As though struck with an idea, she headed over towards a certain shelf, running her finger carefully across the various spines of the books.

Robin picked out a couple of books, grinning in satisfaction as she took her new discoveries to a large wooden table, the sound of the heavy chair grating against the stone floors echoing throughout the large building. Wondering what the fuss was about, Luffy himself browsed a random shelf, wondering if there might be anything interesting in any of the books. Feeling curious, he climbed a nearby ladder, browsing some books near the top of the shelf. Grabbing a couple of totally random books, the boy tried to climb back down, finding it quite difficult with his arms so full.

After making his way down a few rungs, his grip gave way, and he crashed down about 30 feet, the impact resounding loudly in the library like a clap of thunder. Shooting upright, he let loose a loud scream of pain, before clapping his hand tightly to his mouth as he heard the echo bouncing off of the walls. Looking around, he noticed a few people staring intently at him, muttered whispers between them sounding in his ears.

Luffy gathered himself, trying his best to ignore the people gathered around as he grabbed the books that had spread out around him. Holding the books rather loosely, he made his way over to the table where Robin sat, completely immersed in her reading. As the young man sat across from her, he noticed a distinct smile on her face, likely the result of his comedic fall to the floor. With a bit of a pout, Luffy grabbed one of the books, randomly flipping through its pages in search of something interesting.

It continued like that for some time. Robin had finished reading a couple of books, a feat Luffy found quite amazing in such a short time span. She had only two books unread in front of her, the same passionate expression on her face now as when she began the first. For his part, Luffy had flipped through a couple of the books he had gathered, looking idly at the vivid images held on the pages. But nothing really terribly interesting.

Picking the last book he had grabbed, his eyes shot open, noticing the exquisite food adorning the cover. Eagerly opening the book, he flipped through its pages, noting all the delicious looking food. As he scanned the images of fancy looking food, his mouth began to water, his hunger beginning to creep up on him as thoughts of the delicacies danced around in his mind. Meat dishes, pastries, soups and all manner of other rich looking foods.

Unnoticed by the young pirate, Robin had finished her own readings, and watched with great amusement as he gazed longingly at the fancy foods. It occurred to her that on all their time aboard the ship, Sanji's fanciest dishes had only been served to her and Nami, the other boys getting whatever was left over. Then she noticed Luffy staring at a particular image, of some manner of steak or other. A grin formed on her sweet lips, and she quietly excused herself from the large wooden table, not bothering to set the chair back in its original position, likewise for the books.

After a few minutes, Luffy was brought out of his food induced stupor as the head librarian made his way over to the young pirate.

"I am sorry sir, but the library is closing now." he explained, drawing an exasperated sigh from the young boy. A thought occurred to him about maybe taking the book with him, but Luffy thought better of it, suddenly realizing that Robin was not present.

"Hey old man, did you see a girl with black hair, a black skirt and a tight fitting white blouse?" Luffy asked the older man as he stood from his chair, the screeching sound of steel against hard floors echoing in the nearly deserted hall.

"Ah, that lady. She left some time ago." the old gentleman answered simply, an oddly dream like look on his face. Luffy noticed that Nami and Robin both had that kind of effect on guys, one he found himself confused by. Thanking the man for the information, Luffy decided to make his way back to the ship. Noticing the darkness in the sky, his eyes shot open as he realized that it was past time for the crew to assemble back at Thousand Sunny.

Looking around him to get some sort of bearings, he chose a direction, figuring it would be close enough. Breaking into a sprint, he made his way back towards the sea, breathing a sigh of relief as the large ship came into view.

"Safe." he exclaimed triumphantly as he hopped aboard the ship, noticing most of the members of their crew lounging around on deck. He was quite surprised to see Sanji among the group, as usually he would be slaving away in the kitchen, whipping up some manner of treat for the ladies or dinner for the crew.

"Ah, Luffy, what happened today?" Nami asked, a confused tone to her voice. As the question escaped her lips, the assembled group made their way towards Luffy, similarly questioning looks upon their faces.

"What do you mean?" Luffy countered with his own question, the confusion showing on his face in his usual moronic appearance.

"Well, Robin seemed unusually happy when she got back a while ago, and insisted that she wanted to cook tonight's dinner." Sanji explained, a hint of hurt on his voice, likely assuming that the raven haired beauty had met a guy or something along those lines.

"Hmm. All we did was visit a library." This simple statement elicited shocked gasps from the assembled crew, jaws dropping with confused anxiety at this turn of events.

"You mean you went to a library?" asked Nami rather accusingly, a fact that Luffy somehow felt was meant to be an insult to him. He simply nodded, as though it were no big deal.

"YOU went to a LIBRARY?" Usopp and Chopper echoed simultaneously, the emphasis of their question pissing Luffy off to mild degree as he simply nodded once more, trying to shake off the tension raising in his body.

"Why is that so hard to believe?" Luffy asked the rest of them rather bluntly, eliciting more confused looks as they all glanced back and forth at one another, save for Sanji, who simply stared down at the deck of the ship, smoke billowing from his cigarette.

"Now I see what's going on…" As Sanji spoke, the confused gazes shifted his way, a grinding noise emanating from the young blonde man.

"See what?" Luffy asked, utterly lost at what was going on.

"It was you." the ship's cook almost spat, his gaze fixing intently on the young pirate captain, flames erupting from his body as his fuse exploded. "You're the one that seduced my poor Robin-chwan!" As Sanji began to shake the young pirate, the rest gazed dumbfounded at one another, wondering how Sanji could have made such a mistake.

"Come on, Sanji-kun. There's no way that could have happened." Nami attempted to console the older man, quite certain that Luffy would prove incapable of seducing any woman, especially one as classy and mature as Robin.

"Hahahahah. Now you're pissed because he beat you to it, eh love cook?" Zoro prodded, more to jab at the young cook than a belief that the accusation was true. The assembled crew had a sort of consensus among themselves that Luffy was incapable of romantic feelings, and so all dismissed the possibility of Sanji's accusations being true nearly instantaneously.

'Then what made her so happy?' They all thought in unison as they thought back to when Robin had come back from town, large bag of cooking ingredients in hand, with an unusually warm smile on her face. Save for Sanji, who continued to shake the rubber boy for all he was worth, causing Luffy to start to feel dizzy.

"Ah, dinner is ready." A soft, flowery voice broke the tension of the crew, yet did nothing to illuminate their collective confusion. Sanji for his part nearly immediately let go of the source of his anger, fluttering over to the young woman, his legs a veritable tornado of movement.

"Ah, Robin-chwan, you did not need to strain yourself with this task. I would have cooked any meal you desired, if only you had asked." Sanji's flowery words elicited a gag from the rest of the crew as they filed quickly into the dining hall to avoid hearing any more.

As he entered the room, Luffy smiled to himself before looking back at Robin, who gave him a subtle smile, thankfully not caught by Sanji. There, on the dining table, sat the very same spread that Luffy had seen in the cook book at the library. He instantly knew the reason for the sudden action, and as he ate, he began to think of a way to pay her back.

'That could work.' he thought devilishly as he savored he delicious food before him. Robin's cooking, as might be expected of a girl who had lived alone for so long, was quite good, and Luffy found himself looking forward to more meals prepared by the older woman.


How sweet of Robin, to do that for the boys. Next one will probably be a sort of sequel to this, Luffy doing something sweet for Robin in return. After that I am planning a special, long oneshot to be the special 30th chapter of this grouping of oneshots, so look forward to that. As always, reviews are appreciated.