I still haven't quit. It's a party.

Oh, and I've officially passed the point where if someone clicks " (greater than) 40k ", I apply. For some reason, I can't type in the greater than sign. Who knows why.

Chapter 12

"You really couldn't have brought the liquor?" Terry whined, splayed out on the deck while Robin sailed.

After crushing the marines, they hadn't picked the nicest ship- that wouldn't be practical. It was much too large and decadent, not really built for a pirate crew of three who may or may not be in the Grand Line soon. Instead, they'd gone with a smaller, more easily maneuverable trading ship. Still not perfect, but better than nothing.

Once they were suitably far from the hellhole known as Mango Island, Delta had quickly returned, found the old fishing boat, and grabbed the essential items. He had left any and all alcoholic beverages on board.

One could not be a good seafaring captain if one was also a blackout drunk. Call it grooming for success.

"As captain, I am hereby enacting prohibition onboard this ship," Delta said, seated on a rather low crow's nest.

"Devil," Terry said.

Delta shook his head. He pointed at Robin, relaxed on a beach chair beside the wheel that they'd found in the ship's hull. "No, that's her."

Terry's face dropped to the side. "Right. Her. Explain to me again, why do we have Nico Robin on this ship?"

"She is important to me," Delta said. "And that's that."

"The captain wishes to find the Sea Sea Fruit, and believes me to be a valuable asset to the search," Robin interjected, tone cool and calm.

Delta could've slammed his head in the ground. She thought he was using her. Ugh. How annoying.

Terry nodded, still lying on the deck. "That makes sense."

His head rocked back to the ground. "Wait, we're searching for the Sea Sea Fruit? Wait, I thought devil fruits were a myth. Wait, Nico Robin, please don't kill me. What was I thinking yesterday when I joined this?"

Delta jumped down frown the crow's nest. "Yes, we're gonna' find the Sea Sea Fruit, and yes, devil fruits are very real. Robin's eaten one, actually. And she's not gonna' kill you. Robin is our friend." He looked up. "Right, Robin?"

"Of course, Captain," she lied. Delta held back from calling her out on it.

"See?" he said instead. "She loves you."

"That sounded pretty fake, Delta…" Terry said, lips pinched.

"Well it wasn't," Delta snapped. Why was he being so difficult? "Robin is our friend, has always been our friend, and that's that."

Something must have changed on his face, cause now Terry seemed a bit scared. "R- right, Delta. Whatever you say."

And now Terry's face was Sabo, a child so afraid of his existence that he left Foosha. Why was he doing this, Delta wondered. He'd left to change, become better, but all he could do was act the same. Maybe he was going insane. Maybe he already was.

"I- I'm sorry," Delta said, looking away. "I shouldn't have been so rude to you. Robin is our friend, but I should've have pushed that on you like that." He took a couple steps back to put some distance between them.

Terry sat up. "No, that's alright. You know, Delta, has anyone told you that you're scary?"

"Yes, actually." Delta nodded. "But I'm trying to change. For myself, and for my brothers."

"That's pretty admirable," Terry said, smiling. "Good on you." His smile turned lost. "You have brothers?"

Delta couldn't help a grin forming on his face. "Yup, three of them. Luffy's the youngest, he's nine. And Ace and Sabo are both eleven, but Ace is almost twelve. They're great. All of 'em."

Terry smiled along with him. "You know, this is the happiest I think I've seen you. Cause this is real, not that creepy, uncontrollable excitement you were doing on the way to Mango. It seems normal, natural, like you're a proud dad or something."

Delta laughed. "Yeah, sorry about all that before. This is just the longest I've been away from those guys for a long time, and it'll be a while before I go back. I think it's getting to me."

From up at the helm, Robin piped up. "If you love them so much, why would you leave?"

"That's a good question," Terry agreed. "Why did you leave?"

Delta plopped down onto the deck, criss crossing his legs. "Had to, for their own good. I was becoming a bad influence. They needed to learn good morals to live by- I wasn't the one to teach them, simple as that. Which is why I'm here, trying to learn them myself."

Terry looked up to the calm, bright sky. "Hm… one last question. If that's what you want to do, then why look for this "Sea Sea Fruit"? What does that have to do with anything."

"Oh, that's just so I have a goal in mind as I travel. I like goals. They keep me focused."

"Fair enough."

For a few minutes, they sat in silence, allowing the beauty of the still water and cool skies to entrap each of their minds. Tranquility, that's what he needed. To find peace. Easier said than done.

Terry broke the silence. "So where are we going?"

"The New World."

"The New World, okay." He did a spit take. Since when was there water in his mouth? "The New World?"

"Yup."

Robin even seemed a little surprised, but she kept quiet.

"Why?"

"I figure that anything as mythical and powerful as the Sea Sea Fruit has got to be somewhere extreme. And the most intense place out there is the New World."

"But the Yonko are out there!"

Delta shrugged. "I can beat a Yonko. Plus, only a couple of them are even that bad, so no harm there."

"No harm? Are you insane?"

"Sounds fun, Captain," Robin called. "But that may take a while. To get to the New World, we first must enter the beginning of the Grand Line, traverse the whole way, and come out the other side. That alone may take months."

Delta shook his head, chuckling. "You're well informed, dear Robin, but sadly mistaken. There is another way to get to the New World, and it's much faster, safer, and all around better."

Her interest peaked. "And which way might that be?"

His smile grew. "Cross the East Blue and climb the Red Line, duh. You scale it, turn right and walk for a bit, and then jump off. Simple."

Terry's eyes were pure white, and he spun unsteadily on his heels. "Can you please get rid of this prohibition? I need a drink."

"Tsk, Terry. It hasn't even been a day."

"Do you hate me?"

"I'm toughening you up. It's builds character."

Terry turned to Robin, face set in fear. "Please Robin! Say something about this!"

Her smile was the most real it had been so far. Made Delta's heart leap out of its chest. "I think it sounds quite interesting."

"See, Robin gets it! A learning experience!"

"I knew Nico Robin was gonna' try and kill me," Terry moped. "But I didn't know she would find such a cruel and unusual way of doing it."

"Shishishishishi!" Delta ran to the bow of the ship, striking a pose as he pointed forward into the far distance. "Onward and forward, Robin, to the New World!"

"Aye aye."

Terry dropped back onto the ground, all the fight suddenly out of him. "Well, whatever. We might as well find the One Piece while we're at it."

Delta looked out at the vast sea. "No," he said. "That's not what I'm meant to do." In a quiet voice, too low for the others to hear, he muttered, "I already did, and look what it got me." (Oof, how angsty.)

-o0O0o-

That pirate ship had been trailing them for at least a day by now, Delt reckoned. The thing was big and slow, so it had no chance of catching up as they were, but still. Why? Delta didn't recognize the ship, so it couldn't belong to anyone important, and the only people he'd dealt with at all so far had been the marines and- oh.

The Krieg Pirates.

Those guys he'd let run away with their tail between their legs a couple days ago must've gone and tattled to their big bad armador captain, ten million beri ruler of East Blue.

Delta barely remembered Krieg. He was a vague imprint on one day of his life in East Blue, ten years ago now. Or was that nine years in the future? Didn't matter; to his mind, Krieg was a blip. But the one part of that blip he remembered was that Krieg wore a suit made of gold. And the only type of person who would ever even think of doing something so stupid as that would be a pompous, prideful, prick. A.K.A, the worst kind of person.

A pompous, prideful, prick would never let something like a part of his crew being beat up by one guy go, so unless he dealt with it now, Delta was confident that the ship was in no hurry to let up on the chase.

He did give props to Krieg that he found him so fast. That was impressive. Probably did it with that huge armada of his, having them search for clues. Someone had to have seen the Mango Island footage, asked around, and learned in what direction they were headed.

Even if weak, an enormous crew can get a lot done in a short bit of time.

"I finally figured out who that pirate ship belongs to," Delta stated. He was seated cross legged on the ground beside Robin, who remained on a chair at the helm.

Terry continued to lay splayed out on the deck. Delta figured such a weird position was helping him cope with going cold turkey on alcohol.

"Who?" Robin asked. She was so much more talkative as a twenty two year old. It was fun.

"The Krieg Pirates."

"Oooh, that makes sense," Terry said. He then threw his hands over his face. "Aw man! We've got a guy with a ten million beri bounty chasing us!"

"And we have a seventy nine million beri bounty next to me, and me," Delta responded. "Calm it down, we'll be fine. That ship is so big, it will never catch up to us, anyway."

Terry was quiet for a minute. "That's good then. All we have to do is keep this safe distance and-"

"I'm gonna' go beat him up and take his bounty," Delta said resolutely. "I've never cashed in on a bounty before, but now's as good a time as any to start." He stood up. "Robin, stop the boat."

"Delta, are you crazy?" Terry cried. "What are you saying?"

"Terry, shut up. You are being obnoxious." Delta started stretching. "I don't think you yet understand how strong I am. Let me give you a demonstration."

-o0O0o-

Delta waited a little while for the ship to grow larger behind them, if only to make it more noticeable for Terry as she.

Robin would only ever admit this in the sanctity of her own mind, but she was quite interested in what the mysterious man who'd picked her up was going to do. She'd seen him basically fly now (with a technique eerily similar to that of CP9, forever sketched in her mind), and he'd knocked several people unconscious without touching even touching them, not to mention that he'd moved so fast on Mango Island that he created a wind storm.

Needless to say, the man was obviously extremely powerful, and not afraid to show it. She wanted to see what he would do next, what his limits were.

He claimed to be stronger than a Marine Admiral, even a Yonko. It seemed so far fetched, she'd have completely ignored anyone else to say it, but Delta was different.

There was something off about him, like he exuded an aura of strength that anyone could sense to some degree, offset only by the fact that he really didn't look the part at all. He was an enigma. Robin hadn't dealt with many human enigmas in her life. Pirates never were.

Delta was something new.

Don Krieg's ship was closer now, close enough to squint and make out a skull and crossbones.

The enigma dropped into a fighting stance, knees bent, hands clenched at his torso. His face bent into a frown.

WHOOSH

She didn't even see him leave. One moment, he was right next to her, the next, he was across the ocean, a tiny dot beside a giant ship.

BOOM

The next moment, half the ship was gone, and a rain of screaming pulsed in her ears, faint and harsh. The back end of the ship, though intact, wasn't faring very well, already sinking at a surprisingly fast rate into the deep blue.

Delta had done this. In three seconds, with only his physical body and the clothes on his back, Delta had done this. Maybe he was the monster he said he was. And if that was true, maybe the rest of his admittedly silly speech was… no. She couldn't, wouldn't get her hopes up like that.

He needed her, that was all. That was what she was to him, a tool. And she refused to believe that she could be anything else.

Delta was undoubtedly the the strongest pirate she'd ever met, but he was still a pirate. A cruel, uncaring pirate. He had to be.

-o0O0o-

Delta stepped onto his ship carrying the broken form of Don Krieg above his back. Once he got settled in, he dropped the purple haired man to the ground with a thud. Krieg didn't even stir.

He may have gone overboard with that punch, Delta thought in hindsight. Surely something of that magnitude would be reported, and in the Easy Blue of all places, it meant trouble. Not to mention the recent video of him in Mango Island.

If nobody else, Garp was gonna' put two and two together very quickly. Delta just crossed his fingers that the old shit was way on the other side of the ocean and he wouldn't have to deal with him for a very long time.

He doubted fate was going to be so kind.

"Terry, would you go find some rope rope below deck," Delta asked. "Krieg won't be down forever, and I don't want him running around on my ship."

"You're a god, aren't you?" Terry asked rhetorically. "A god in physical form. That's the only possible way. Only way that you could- could- I'll go get the rope."

Terry scooped himself off the ground and shuffled down below deck.

"Those clothes he's wearing look valuable," Robin stated. "You may want to undress him before turning him over to the marines."

Delta nodded. "Not a bad idea. No gold suit, though. What a shame." He ignored Robin's quizzical look at the statement. She wouldn't understand.

He kneeled over and removed Krieg's coat and shirt to reveal a very hairy chest. Delta learned something new- Krieg did not die his hair purple. That was au naturale.

Upon closer inspection, It appeared Robin was right; all his clothes looked like they were sewn with silver or something of that kind. Again, what pomp.

Terry emerged from below holding a several yards of rope in his hands. "Found it!"

"Great job, now give it here."

Once he was handed the rope and he bent down to tie Krieg, Delta ran into a problem that he wasn't exactly sure how to solve. That was annoying.

He'd never tied up a person before. He didn't even know where to start.

"Uh, Robin? Can you help me with this?"

"Of course, Captain," she said, but didn't sound like she was getting up.

Suddenly, several of her devil fruit arms sprouted from the deck, moving with a strange to watch perfection of synchronicity. The arm closest to him digested him of the rope, while the one beside that grabbed an end of it.

He liked Robin. He liked her power. It was strong, helpful, and unique. He looked away from the arms surrounding Krieg's body. This was too weird for him.

"Gah!" Terry yelled, falling back onto his bum. "Delta, there're arms everywhere! Living arms, do you see them? Oh god, when did you give me shrooms? This is too cruel, even for you, Nico Robin!"

"Terry, shut up," Delta spoke, missing much of his conviction. "You're not high; this is Robin's devil fruit power. She can create limbs and other pieces of herself anywhere she wants. It's cool."

"It's creepy," Terry said instead. He watched the arms waving around, tying off Krieg for a few moments. "And cool. Yeah, creepy and cool. How does it work?"

"To me," Robin started, "it simply feels like an extension of myself in places one wouldn't naturally understand. Like many devil fruit powers, it took years of practice and effort to fully comprehend, though the results can be quite useful."

"So they all work like regular arms, and you've trained your brain and body long enough to be good at using it," Terry summed up, mostly to himself. "That's impressive."

"Thank you, Terry-san."

Later that day, Krieg woke up. It was immediately apparent to all on board that he'd risen, since it began with indiscriminate yelling, followed by bragging, followed by callous yelling. All in the span of five minutes.

It was at that point that Delta couldn't take it anymore.

He stomped down to Krieg, neatly tied and thrown below deck, and told the man to shut up.

"Let me go this instant!" Krieg yelled. "Do you know who I am! I am Don Krieg, captain of the-"

"No, stop now," Delta said. "I do know who you are, your speech is unnecessary. Actually, it's why I caught you in the first place. We're gonna' go cash in your bounty. It's gonna be great." He paused. "Not for you, obviously, but… eh."

"You can't do that!" He looked to be telling that more to himself than Delta. "I am Don Krieg, highest bounty in East Blue! You- you Mango Island upstart couldn't defeat me! It's impossible!"

"Let's not call me "Mango Island upstart" again, thank you. I really didn't like that place, much to snobby for me. Come to think of it, I feel like you'd've fit in perfectly. Well now you won't, cause you'll be in jail, but… again, eh."

Krieg starts back up with his indiscriminate yelling. Delta kicked him in the face. He'd be out for another couple hours with that. Hopefully, that was long enough to reach an island with some good marine presence.

Hopefully.

He stepped back out onto the deck. The sun had begun to set, which was pretty. At the same time, he really wanted to get to an island as soon as possible, which the nighttime sometimes hindered.

"Robin, how close to an island are we?"

She was looking down at a map of East Blue. Of course she was the type of person to just have something like that on hand. Very useful.

"On hour, maybe two, depending on the wind," she said.

"Okay, that's good. Will we be there before dark?"

"Possibly, though I have no control over that."

-o0O0o-

It was still technically light outside when they reached the island. And Delta didn't know much about the trade, but he had learned that marines stopped taking in bounty trades after nightfall for some semantic reason or another. To him, reasoning didn't matter so long as he arrived before that point.

"Alright, so Terry, I'll hold you in one arm and Krieg in the other, and then I'll run really fast to the marine base, okay? Then you grab Krieg and bring him inside, cause I'm on video and obviously can't, you get the bounty, and boom- done."

Terry nodded. "Okay, I like this plan, minus the you grab me and run thing. Can we skip that part?"

"'No time," Delta said. "Sun's almost set and you're not fast enough to arrive before that."

Terry still looked less than enthused.

"Look, fine. How about you get on my back and I'll take you like that? It's more dignified at least."

Probably realizing it was that best possible option he had on his horizon, Terry mutely nodded again.

Delta grinned. "Awesome." He gripped Krieg's naked chest and heaved him into the crevice of his arm, then leaned forward slightly for Terry to scoot on.

"Come on, Terry. I don't have all day."

"Look, I really don't want to~oh! No! No! I don't like that at all! No!"

Delta didn't see, but all of a sudden, Terry's weight had been dropped on his back. That was cue to go, so off he went.

Thirty seconds later, Delta had located and stopped right outside a marine base. And he'd only had to deal with Terry screaming for twenty of those seconds. He dropped Krieg. Terry fell off.

"You could never understand how much I didn't like that."

Delta grinned, thinking back to his past crew and their reluctance to travel in his grasp. "You'd be surprised. Tell me, what was it that got you on my back in the first place? I missed it."

Terry sat up. "Oh, that. That was Nico Robin, the devil. She used her power on me! She lifted me off the ground with her crazy arms and tossed me onto you! Cruel and unusual, I'll say it again!"

Delta laughed. Harder than was absolutely necessary, but picturing it was pretty damn funny.

"Stop laughing!" Terry shouted.

"Just grab Krieg and get him in there," Delta said. "I'll wait here."

With only minimum grumbling, Terry tugged Krieg by the ropes across the ground and into the doors, where he disappeared from sight.

And Delta was left alone, watching the barely there sun and its last vestiges of orange purple light splay out over the sea.

In a way, he wanted to be like the Sun. Metaphorically. Cause the Sun was so huge and powerful, not-even-metaphorically making the world go round, and that was sort of like him on a smaller scale. He was bright and noticeable and strong.

But the Sun didn't care. The Sun, massive and powerful as it was, kept its distance from the petty issues of the Blue Sea. It never got angry or sad, wild of uncontrollable. The Sun was consistent, calm in its power.

Yes, he wanted to be like the Sun. Life could be so much easier if he was the Sun. The powerful emotions that had always tethered him, defined him in life, were starting to get old. It was difficult to deal with them. And if he could destroy an entire island without thinking about it in a temper tantrum, that was definitely something to think about.

He refused to become Big Mom, or anything even remotely similar.

Terry stepped outside. Delta left the shadows.

"I got it," Terry said, pointing to a satchel on his shoulders. "Should keep us set for a little while."

"Good."

"So if there's nothing left to do here, let's get back to the ship. I'm tired."

"Sounds fine."

"I'm not getting on your back this time."

"Fair."

They walked side by side in silence. Delta was enjoying the silence more and more recently.

"Do you think Nico Robin left with the ship?" Terry asked. Even as he said it, Delta didn't believe the mustachio actually believed it happened.

"I trust Robin," Delta said. "You should too."

"I know you do, I know. Question is, does she trust you?"

Delta sighed. "That is the question, isn't it."

"Look, I can tell that for whatever reason, you really want Nico Robin to like you. Don't ask me why, but you do. And the way I see it, you're going about it in completely the wrong way."

Delta raised an eyebrow. "And how's that?"

"You're trying too hard. You talk about trust, and Robin and belief, all the time. Frankly, it's weird. If you really do want to help Robin, remember that actions speak louder than words. The way you act now sounds like you're trying to force this belief onto her."

Terry shook his head. "It won't work like that. She's just a kid, won't see the intricacies that you honestly believe what you're saying. You gotta' show her."

"Robin's just a kid? And just how old are you, exactly?"

"Not the point of my speech, and you know it."

Delta nodded. "You're right. Actions speak louder."

Terry patted his back kindly. "Don't worry, Delta. Give it enough time, if she's as good as you say, Nico Robin's gonna come around."

"I hope so."

Had he used manipulation again? Maybe, yes. But if Robin was gonna' eavesdrop on their private conversation with her powers, it was only fair to notice and use it against her.

A few steps back in the shadows of the grass, a singular ear silently fell into a burst of petals.

He wanted to be like the Sun. Maybe then, all this trust nonsense would matter less. The Sun was carefree. It had control.

-o0O0o-

Did you like the short Robin POV? Did it mess up the flow? I wasn't sure. Let me know so I can never do it again if it's bad. Also, review and favorite and follow and whatnot. Gives me the warm fuzzies.