Despite the man's appearance, Dario can be very accommodating. The fact they were even in a building to sleep in made it evident enough, but the smooth hickory log house he was in only showed how important Akuno is to Dario. Doplone slid on the floor with his socks on, and he cracked a small smile. Simple times are the best times.

The floor easily reflected the small bits of morning light that entered through the window, showing off its pristine condition to the world. The small candles on the furniture would be the sources of light when the night came, leaving the house in a perpetual darkness that isn't dark enough to make people feel uncomfortable. It felt homy.

There were only four rooms, but that didn't take away from the quality of the small building. Each room had a bed that could let him spread himself eagle style, and not cover the span of the large bed.

It was probably one of the few times he could relax in a long time.

His palm rested his body against the wooden window railing, which made him think he was putting his palm on the window instead of the wooden railing, and simply stared at the ocean. Nobody knows why the ocean is so captivating, it was like looking a dog into its eyes. One of the few beauties in this dark world, he mused.

He frowned when he saw Robin, innocently reading a book under the shade of a large oak wood tree that created a shadow that covered half of the cottage in its large shade. He knows Akuno isn't one to lie, but he's starting to doubt some of Robin's ambition.

She's a scholar, not even half the warrior Akuno claimed she was. But in his absence, he's the one who has to look after Robin. Child Labor, how low could Akuno fall? He rolled his eyes at himself and started moving.

'A man should learn to cook for his woman, in times when the woman is sick.' His mother truly was innovative. Being able to properly cook raised his value in this world by a large amount, simply because of how unprepared and lazy people were.

Crack.

Even being able to make some eggs was something beyond people's scope. It was a bizarre experience teaching grown men aboard his own maintenanced ship how to cook and make food.

Crack.

He hasn't had eggs for awhile, but this island seemed to have an abundant amount of them. He could always spoil himself like this. Besides that, Robin will need a hearty breakfast if she wants a chance at impressing him.

He gave himself a bat on the back, with the known rotten smell of poorly made eggs not present as he put his food on his plate. But not before putting his food on Robin's plate, his father made sure to raise a gentleman.

He shoved his hands into his pockets and put little commitment into his steps towards the door.

"I made breakfast!" Robin slowly closed the book she was reading, and lifted herself up with the palm of her hands. Her purple tunic drifted along with the slight breeze, gently lifting itself above the charcoal black leggings she wore.

He closed the door and without delay made his way to his food. His vanilla colored plate was on a large brown oak table that easily took up half of the kitchen, with two candles in the middle of it. The corners had a flower design taking up the corners of the table, giving it a false fullness.

Little tendrils of steam whipped around his plate, and as soon as he felt the cold comfort of his fork, he dug into his food with gusto.

He spared a glance to Robin who seated herself, putting her aside for immediate satisfaction of eating his well-made food.

"Wow, this is so good, Doplone! Where did you learn to do this?" Doplone laid his spoon full back down to the plate and gave her a smile.

"My mother taught me this. It's nothing special." His mother could make much better dishes than himself. He's been humbled during the times he practiced with her. He ate his spoonful without much talk, but there was something he had to inform her.

"Akuno won't be back until the sun goes down." he nearly forgot to mention this to her. Akuno appeared by his bedside last night and gave him a real spook. There was nothing but air until Akuno just crawled out of some disgusting metal grey sludge that managed to crawl through the wood of the floor...

After remarking about his weird nightly activities Akuno told him he was going to do some 'business.'

Robin crossed her arms with a frown

"He told me it was a time to relax and to be together, and yet he's still going off on his little adventures…" Doplone uncommittably hummed as he chewed his food.

"Maybe he got bored of you and went to someone else." He glanced away from his food, and met Robin's gaze with his own.

Robin hummed.

"Akuno said there are a lot of people to save on this island, he must be really busy. I just wish he would be here for me more." She lowered her head, breaking their contact. If she didn't do that, Doplone would've been the one to break it.

"Do you really think that?" Robin completely missed the mark. He wasn't even insinuating that, at all. How did she even come to that conclusion?

"Yeah, I mean, didn't you get help from him too?" Robin tilted her head, and idly her finger reached up to her chin.

That first impression he made out on the forest trail, certainly would make anyone get that idea.

"Right." Akuno did not tell him the full story. She must be important, even if her appearance says otherwise. Why would he be painting himself the image of a saint?

He's sure he will find out why soon enough. Grabbing the ends of the dishes, he put them in the sink and let them lay in the steaming water.

Robin looked up to him, and he beckoned her to follow him.

"Akuno told me about your training. I'll simply be there in his stead." He wasn't much of a teacher, but teaching someone to point dangerous things at something and shooting shouldn't be a very difficult experience.

For some reason Akuno forbade physical exercise for Robin, saying her body isn't ready yet…

He fidgeted with the gun in his pocket, and tossed it to Robin who promptly caught it with one hand. Doplone smirked and whistled, while Robin gave him a thumbs up.

Maybe she has some talent. He has seen his own crew members fumble their weapons and choke on their own cigars…

It goes without saying he's had to lower his own standard.

The door never creaked for any of the times he has opened it. It's great that he won't wake up his non-existent neighbors every time he goes out of the cabin to get a breath of fresh air.

"I've set some targets along the beach, it's your job to try and hit as many as you can." There were 16 posts, each post stood along the shore, like a peacock, the posts were a dull red in the center with other colors making a ring of red, green, and black.

He set the distance in yards, all the way up to 250 yards. This was standard warm-up shooting, with the ones in the back being the real challenge to him. Their shooting line was set against the sand a couple strides away.

"But I don't want to get sand in between my toes, can I do it from back here?"

Robin toed the edge of the sandbar, leisurely raising her arm out in front of her. Her gaze was firmly ahead, but importantly her gaze bore through the sight and seemingly in line with the target.

"Are you really saying you could hit those from here, with all the extra distance?" His own father probably couldn't even hit some of the targets, and his father was better than every other man he has ever met.

Robin looked at him momentarily, and nodded with a wide smile.

He should just tell her to suck it up and get to the shooting line, but to be entirely honest, that would be boring as hell. He can probably mentally count the extra distance in his head anyways.

"Go for it."

He mentally groaned, wincing from how he felt his ears vibrate. His hands automatically covered his ears, the following bangs of the gun barely ring in his ear.

"I think I got most of them." Robin smiled, and without moving closer he glanced over where the targets were.

"Hot damn." He could tell the first one was a bullseye, but the rest were harder to tell, with his vision blurring from the distance.

"Cover your ears, I'm gonna empty this thing."

His eye stared at the still form of the first target, occasionally it tilted back against the wind, and he watched in amazement as every single shot nailed the first target, and he may have seen the targets in the back move a few inches from their positions.

Consistently hitting the first target was already much better than any of his crewmates on their best days, and even his own. It was hard to admit, but she was much better than him. He could only name one or two people who could hit those shots consistently.

"That was pretty damn good. A little bit better than me."

"Really? Can you show me your shots after we take my score?" She must've been looking for competition for awhile now, she said that almost instantly the words left his mouth. His hand scratched the back of his head.

"Nah, this is your training, and I'm a warm up type of guy anyways." He didn't expect his fib to backfire so hard. Two lessons learned, she's a scary woman with a gun, and she's also unintentionally good at catching your lies.

Robin only pouted at him adorably, and his lips twitched. His heart also twitched, violently.

"So, how'd ya learn to do that?" If half of what Akuno said was to be believed, she shouldn't have had anyone to teach her, unless he trained her to do this much in a few months…

"Akuno spent the last few months teaching me the basics, I'm not really that good yet." In comparison to who? Or is she being humble? Nah probably not, she's clearly proud of her skill.

"What you said was an insult to every sharpshooter out there, including me." He could almost see the moment of realization light up in her head through the widening of her eyes.

"I didn't mean it like that, I'm just saying I have a long way to go." Robin didn't rush out her words in panic, but as gently as a mother would as if to assuage his pride. Ha.

"Don't worry, I didn't really care. You were just surprisingly humble." Instead of bragging about how well she has done, she only mentioned how much she has to go. Her reaction was completely unexpected, she must've actually felt bad.

"I don't have much to comment on, but my tip would be to not miss your shots." Doplone smirked even as he felt an elbow tag him in the ribs.

"I already know that doofus."

"I couldn't help you much with your training here, but I have a way to make this up." In fact, this might be more than making it for her.

"How can you do that?"

"I'll give Akuno a good reason to stay with you for a little bit longer."

"How?" Someone as young as her should've already known this solution, but fortunately for her he shall teach her an extraordinary trick.

"It's a prank." A pie to the face or cold water to the face, both would be a good way to get that boy's attention back to her.

"I suggest the cold water dumping prank, it won't be as bad as getting pie in your hair." Or god forbid your eyes.

It's no longer a prank when it gets to that point. It's a war.

"Yeah, let's stick to that."

-POV Change-

Kano Country. They've certainly overstepped their bounds, with this action. Dario was definitely displeased, but held off of any further interactions with Kano Country.

It was the right decision of course, but it makes Akuno wonder why they would go as far as to cripple their messenger to send them the message 'back off'.

The only thing that held him back from simply slipping in and looking into things, was Don Chinjao. The 12th Leader of their Military had made Kano Country hit its highest point of power in its history, and for good reason.

This Don Chinjao could possibly beat him in combat. And the Government's value of him was appropriate, because while Akuno could not defeat a Vice-Admiral, Don Chinjao did.

Which is also why Don Chinjao held the front page on the Grand Line Newspaper. On said newspaper?

The Government wanted Don Chinjao's head for half a billion beli. He knew this because Boss asked if he could hunt Don Chinjao down, which was immediately declined.

But, there might be an opportunity present. Don Chinjao is literally across the world, and his latest position was sighted near Marineford. Combine the fact that he's highly wanted and the man's position, he will likely be taken in by the marines.

Which means his only threat is vacant, and a powerful position is open. He might even be able to fill it, but it truly depends on what he learns during his time there. Once Don Chinjao is taken in, he'll infiltrate Kano Country to at the very least steal and become someone in their society, or something more.

Akuno slouched in his chair when he started feeling pins and needles in his feet, and slouched back, laying his entire body against the frame of the chair.

He can't do that, he already made a promise with Robin, if he were to just up and go to infiltrate Kano Country, it could create a small crack in his foundation with Robin.

Even a small crack can easily spread, and completely ruin everything that has been built onto that foundation. There's enough time for him to put this off for later, this is not an immediate concern of his.

But, Gonaku, is. It really isn't that big of a mystery, when he looked deeper into Gonaku's past some things didn't align. Being a simple fisherman on some remote island is fairly common, but how did he manage to fight off two different pirate groups?

On record, he was able to defend his hometown from a pirate group that has appeared in a newspaper only once, and then when he gets the random urge to join the organization, he along with a small group of bounty hunters defeated another small-time pirate crew.

And recently, three men recently entered the organization following behind Gonaku. The timing between the informant and all of this leads to a very simple conclusion.

But, that is no longer his problem. Dario is hiding something big from him, his power actively reaches out to him anytime they meet with each other. His own curiosity yearns to see what he is holding out from him.

Which is why he will not be present when they have their little confrontation. He could simply ask Dario, but if Dario has to reveal whatever secret without ever mentioning something so important to him, he can use that as leverage.

It will be one more step to enforcing their power dynamic. Dario can never have an ounce of control over himself and his organization.

He will go and watch from afar, and if Dario does indeed die, he can simply move some other proxy to replace himself. Although that isn't very ideal. He'll have to make sure Dario doesn't die if what he suspects isn't true. Which then means Dario once again owes his life to him.

A win win for him.

Robin likely won't be happy that he's spent almost the entire day away, but she will latch onto every word he says.

She's already making her own conclusions whenever he says something ambiguous, positively. Her progress is constantly advancing with only a few hitches, and it won't be too long until she will be perfect.

Grey liquid consumed him. Immediately after the ocean roared, with the water launching itself forwards behind his back on the beach. It looks like Doplone did as he instructed, and Robin succeeded herself once more.

The target beside him had multiple holes, with almost each shot dead center on the target. He'll have to praise her for the good work.

And reprimand her for leaving the door open. It doesn't matter how well insulated the house was if she let all the cold air in.

As he stepped through the doorway, he immediately felt something amiss. The reason was obvious when water assaulted him from above, completely drenching him.

-POV Change-

Doplone would be a non-participant, even if he did put a little bit of effort into the prank. Unlitting the candles at the front, to try and give them a 'longer life-long', would go completely unnoticed by Robin. At least he thought so.

Robin never commented on it, but simply ignored it. And put off a few more candles on her own. She probably didn't care if he was going to help or not, in fact she might've been happier he didn't participate at all.

While he was a non-participant, that didn't mean he would be missing the climax of this prank. He turned the faucet on, the slow trickle of water dripping from it quickly turning into a small stream.

He didn't wash the dishes until now, and even if Akuno doesn't come during his time washing the dishes, he still has other chores he could use as a scape-goat to being at the scene of the crime.

But, maybe all of this planning was pointless. Akuno wouldn't kill him, he might not even raise a hand against him for pouring some water on him. But he felt he wasn't respecting him enough in his bones. Odd.

When he heard the oak floor boards creak under something's weight, his attention was torn away from the dishes, and he idly just let the plate he was holding bath under the faucet.

Along with the door opening letting a small gust of wind in, he turned his head just as the bucket flipped, with water flowing out of it in slow motion. With all of it drenching Akuno.

Akuno's face was overshadowed by darkness from his view, and he assumed Robin was at the top of the stairs, meeting Akuno's gaze.

Akuno held a hand over his mouth, and abruptly let loose a cacophonous laughter that wasn't held back by the hand covering.