"Robin, are you ready?"
A tall boy leaned on a door frame that was an entryway to a room filled with rows of beds and children of all ages. As he called her out, a girl with shoulder length hair and coffee coloured skin slowly rose up from the bed she sat. She wore an apathetic expression with a blank smile, much different from the rest of the giddy children that resided in the orphanage.
She flattened down her gray pleated skirt and walked towards the scar faced boy, one year older than she was. "Yes, let's go."
Robin smirked as she brushed past him to leave the building. "How awfully kind of you to wait for me."
Crocodile grumbled in response. "Shut up. My dad made me."
His father, who owned the orphanage they just left from, has a house that he and Crocodile reside in that was only a block away, so he often made his son accompany Robin. "It is to make you a gentleman," he would say. "I mean, with a girl beside you, surely people would look at you beyond that scar!" His father always interpreted him as some sort of loner because of his habit to tense his eyebrows and wrinkle his nose which made him look constantly disgusted.
'A kind hearted man,' Robin thought. Always wanting what is best for his son, but unfortunately does not know enough. She supposed his father's interpretation was correct in a way, but it wasn't just because of his facial expressions. From the stories he had told her after school, it was because he made them fear him, but only in front of the students he chooses to be his prey. Other than that, he had a front of a kind hearted boy as the student council president, so if the bullied were to try and report their situation, no one would believe them.
His nagging would often result in a petty fight of words which never failed to make Robin chuckle whenever she visits their home. It has been four years since the last orphanage she lived in and she was finally able to find at least a bit of peace and safety when she met Crocodile.
They were not dating obviously. Not close enough to have some sort of sibling relationship either. More like partners in crime. Just a simple look and they'd be able to understand each other.
The two rode in silence after they got on the subway.
…
Crocodile dropped her off at the teacher's office once they entered the school building.
"I'll be going to my floor now. See you." He waved off and headed to the stairs leading to the floor for the third year students.
Just before sliding the door open, Robin sighed in contemplation. Another school, another identity she had to uphold in front of many new faces. This routine was certainly giving a toll on her.
…
Zoro grumbled when he was rudely interrupted from his nap from the loud chattering his classmates were making.
"Hey, hey, have you heard?"
"We're getting a new classmate today!"
Sanji who sat in front of him immediately turned towards the gossiping students with a hopeful look. "Is it a girl?!"
"Sorry Sanji, we're not sure."
The blonde huffed with dissatisfaction as he slumped down on his chair. Though his mood instantly changed when his eyes became shaped as hearts when he started to fantasize the possibilities.
Zoro kicked his chair to force him to get out of his haze. "Oi ero-cook don't get your hopes up. I don't want you to create another mess with your nose bleed again."
Sanji quickly turned to argue back. "Shut up! Just go back to sleep marimo! Actually, die instead!"
"What was tha-"
Luckily before another daily fight between the two occurred, the teacher came into the classroom. Zoro and Sanji were only able to give each other their deadliest glare before having to sit back down.
The teacher clapped his hands to gain all the student's attention. "Good morning everyone. As you all may know, a new student will be joining us for the rest of the school year so please welcome her!"
As if on cue, the said girl walked into the classroom and stood in front of the students. Sanji and a few other students cheered with delight that their hopes for a female student came true, Zoro on the other hand grumbled in annoyance at how loud everyone was. What was the point of an introduction anyway? All that he hoped for was that she won't be one of those rowdy girls he hates to be around, afterall, he could barely even handle Nami. Judging from how the new student wore her school attire though, very properly dressed, enough to even seem like she was going to model for the student handbook, he doubted that was the loud type. Though he was a bit suspicious that she was transferring in the middle of the school year.
"Hello, my name is Nico Robin. Please take care of me." Her introduction followed a glowing smile so beautiful that even Zoro was caught off guard.
He immediately disregarded his thoughts and clicked his tongue. 'Whatever.'
A/N: Hello, please enjoy this story. Another love triangle between Crocodile, Robin, and Zoro but quite different from the other story, as you may read- is set in a highschool! Please enjoy. There needs to be more Crocodile x Robin content out there.