A/N: So, I was sifting through the Alabasta arc and had a few thoughts about Robin... Anyways, after writing this I've decided she's earned the title of tragedy child, tho she honestly did before this, her childhood was awful
The first time it happened, she was eleven. She'd been staying with a Pirate crew for about a week, having received lodging via a promise to handle the chore-work, and a delusion she was much stronger than she was. Although she hated the Marines for accusing her of crimes she didn't commit, she'd been able to make good use of the claims thus far. Most of the criminal organization she'd approached had been more than glad to take her under their wings, earnestly believing she, a child, was capable of taking down several Marine battleships.
She never stayed long, however.
The World Government would find her, or her 'employers' would allow greed for her Bounty to sway them. That's why, although she'd heard of her employers doing terrible things, had distantly noted them, she'd never actually seen it before. Had never been close enough to reach out to stop them, had never had to look a sorry victim in the eyes and refuse to help.
To think, it all started with an accident. Not the kind that resulted in injuries or ravaged buildings, but the kind that happened every day. A kid chased after a ball, too concerned over losing it to watch where he was going.
He slammed into her current Captain's leg with enough force to nearly unbalance him, yet, Robin still didn't expect what followed. How could she? Most of the adults in Ohara had treated her like a social pariah but they'd always been kind to the normal children.
She didn't understand what was happening, just that her Captain began cursing and yelling, as he was prone to do whenever an underling was misbehaving.
He jerked his arm, an open palm smacking into the boy's head with enough force to knock him off his feet. After that, he began to stomp on him.
Robin stared, blood going cold, feet cementing in place, even as the boy's father rushed over, trying to intervene. A gunshot split the air. The father fell to the concrete, a red spot forming on his shoulder.
Several screams rang in her ears, along with more gunshots, all the while she remained stoic. A part of her cried she had to stop him, knew she could do it. She may not be an adult, but she had devil fruit powers. If she used them to snatch the gun...
With a heavy weight in her chest, she tore her gaze away. No. If she got trapped here, the Government would find her for sure. She had to endure this for her dream, for the dreams of her mother, as well as the archaeologists!
Laughing, her Captain finally relented, twirling the pistol until the hilt was facing her and lowering it into her reach. "'Ere Robin, hold this for me, will ya? I gotta lesson ta teach these scum."
On that note, he drew a sword with his other hand. Robin stared, the world beginning to spin, yet she reached out, fingers coiling around the handle.
"Thatt'a girl."
That afternoon became a bloodbath, not unlike Ohara.
The second time, she was fourteen, and her crew had kidnapped a young mink, planning to sell it once they arrived in Sabaody Archipelago. They kept it locked in the cellar below deck, assigning her to manage the food and cleaning. She wasn't supposed to speak with the prisoner, nor acknowledge it in any way besides discipline, however, that seemed over the top to her.
She spoke with the wolf-like mink, learning he was a male of twelve years, and reading him books whenever she was certain no one would overhear. Since she couldn't let him out, the least she could do was keep him entertained.
She was a bystander in this. If she believed that, she could ignore everything, the needless cruelties, the victims she should be harming as they escaped.
That's why after a particularly gruesome storm, she didn't see the mink slip out through a hole in the side of the ship. She didn't see a thing.
The third time, she was forced to do it herself. Her Captain at the time was the kind of person that preferred not to get his hands dirty, ordering his crew to carry out his twisted whims instead. She found this cowardly, though she'd never admit it aloud.
They'd just defeated another crew, stealing all their food and water, leaving them with nothing besides a damaged ship and the shirts on their backs. That hadn't been enough to satisfy her Captain.
"Robin, we should make an example out of him, don't you think?"
She tracked his gaze to the enemies Captain, who was being forced to kneel on the deck, beaten and bleeding. This was an unnecessary action, yet, she forced a smile to spread across her lips, tilting her chin up in an arrogant manner.
"Why, I would think so, Captain."
He smirked, copying her posture, "Well, why don't you go right on ahead then?"
"Huh?" The words escaped before she could stop them.
He didn't bat an eyelash. "Snap his neck with those powers of yours."
Her stomach churned, though her tone remained passive, "As you wish."
She strode closer with confidence, faked pleasure at the crew's furious wails, reminding herself she was merely a bystander, even while acting, she wasn't a part of this.
This time, she couldn't quite believe it.
Robin hadn't been with the Strawhats long when it happened. The long-nosed sniper had been attempting to snatch a loaf of bread from their Captain in retaliation to a stolen apple—an action she already found hard to believe—when he overreached, accidentally knocking the entire plate onto the floor.
For a moment, everything was silent, the normally loud Captain staring at the scattered food, the rest looking on in shock. She prepared herself for the violence that would ensue, for the good-natured sniper to be beat, or worse, tossed off the ship. She'd seen worse happen for less.
In a blur of movement, the Captain slid from his seat, stooping over his fallen plate, an action she rationalized as him intending to throw it at the sniper, picking it up in his hands, then... eating the food off the floor?
"F'his is so good, Sanji! Even when'f it's all dirty!"
Robin was equal parts stunned and fascinated.
"Luffy!" the navigator cried, while the cook cussed at the sniper, threatening to 'kick his ass from here to the Red Line if he ever did that again,' something the sniper seemed to believe if his paling skin was any indicator.
Despite this, despite the unbelievable scene she'd just witnessed, despite the navigator's annoyance, the cook's anger, the sniper's fear, she found a smile curving her lips, one she had neither forced nor noticed until the swordsman glanced at her, mouth also quirking into a lopsided grin.
A moment later, the reindeer was snickering, and she joined in, warranting a betrayed look from the navigator.
"Robin!" she whined, "You're supposed to be on my side! Tell him that eating off the floor is both vulgar and disgusting!"
Robin blinked, increased her smile, then continued eating, "I do not see anything wrong with it, Navigator-san."
"What!?"
At that, the swordsman burst out laughing, head thrown back in merriment, much to the navigator's ire. Palms were slammed onto the table, crewmates threatened, the cook attacked the swordsman, all the while the Captain proceeded to eat everything off the table rather than stopping them, including the spoon Robin had been seconds away from putting in her mouth.
Never in her life had she seen anything like that, and she worried the spoon would lodge itself in his throat, choking him to death. She voiced this, startling the reindeer into action as he raced to their Captain, fretting over asphyxiation and medicine for hopeless idiots.
Truly, this crew was a disaster.
Robin felt something unfamiliar bubbling in her chest at the thought, and before she knew it, she was muffling another laugh into her palm. She knew she'd have to leave one day, knew they'd come to hate her otherwise, but if she could stay with them just a while longer... She couldn't ask for anything more than that.
Closing her eyes, she allowed the yelling and laughter to sweep over her, making her feel a little less empty.
Just a while longer.
