Quick thanks to Orlaith for getting review number 100 for the story. I didn't even realise you still read me tbh, so good to see you again.

"Remember honey… if they ask you something difficult, just try to remain calm and think of the answer."

Robin forced a smile for her worried looking mother. That was at least the hundredth time she'd heard that exact same advice from teachers, other students or even her mother herself.

It was mid-December now and it had been around a month since the incident with Gecko Moriah. Things had settled down again since then and the past few weeks had been pretty trouble-free, which as it turned out was a good thing for Robin.

Over the next week, Robin had interviews at her first choice college. She'd spent most of the past couple of weeks preparing, getting practise interviews from teachers at school. From the easy going Mr Shanks to the hard-ass Mr Smoker, Robin had a range of experience in how to deal with different styles of interviewer and had been feeling pretty confident.

Until this morning at least. She would have three interviews (at least) at the college, and her first was tomorrow, early in the morning. She'd spend most of today travelling with Nami, who also had interviews at the same college, and then that was it. The 'games' would begin. Having spent weeks now practising, the real thing felt terrifying. At least at the end of the practise interviews, she'd always just taken the advice from the teachers and then moved onto the next interview. But after these interviews, there was no next interview.

"Hey Robin!" Nami shouted from the car. Her mother Bellemere was going to drive them to the train station and it looked like the orange haired girl was nervous that they'd miss their train if they didn't get a move on.

Robin turned back to Olivia. "I think we should probably get going…"

Olivia nodded. "Y…Yeah. Good luck honey. I'm sure you'll do great."

"Thanks. Bye mom."

With that Robin hugged her mother once before joining Nami in the back of the car, Bellemere setting off as soon as Robin was set.

"Man, can you believe this," Bellemere drawled from the driver's seat. "I feel like it was just yesterday you were a little girl running around in the back garden and now you're going for college interviews Nami! Kids really do grow up so fast…"

Nami rolled her eyes as her mother started tearing up slightly. "Mom…"

"Don't make that face! One day when you have kids you'll know how this feels like!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever… So Robin, your first interview's tomorrow, right?"

Robin nodded, reaching into her handbag for her interview timetable. "Yeah, it's at 11.30. With a… Professor Dragon?"

"What a weird name…" Nami muttered.

######

Luffy blinked. "Who're these guys?"

It was Sunday morning and Garp was holding a training session for the local Sunday League team. Thankfully for Luffy, he was no longer eligible to play for the Sunday League team, so he was merely Garp's assistant today. What he wasn't expecting though, was the overload of new faces in the squad.

Garp looked around the pitch, where he'd sent the squad for a run. "They're new players. Although honestly, I don't recognise all of them…"

"Well I recognise Barto and Cabbage, but I'm not sure about the others…"

Garp blew his whistle loudly, signalling for the players to stop running and gather around him. After they had done so, Garp glanced back at Luffy before addressing the whole group. "I notice there are quite a lot of new faces here, so I figure some introductions are in order before we begin training. I'm sure you all know me, but this is Luffy, my grandson. He's my assistant coach as of today."

Luffy's eyes lit up. He hadn't realised that he was actually going to get a permanent position as Garp's second in command. "Really Grandpa! Thanks!"

Garp ignored that and turned to Bartolomeo. "I think I recognise you. You're the keeper from that team we played in the summer."

Bartolomeo saluted Garp. "Yes sir, Luffy's Grandfather sir! It's a huge honour to play for you sir, Luffy's Grandfather sir!"

Garp blinked, surprised by Bartolomeo's enthusiasm, before smirking. "I like your attitude kid. And who're you Blondie?"

Cavendish glared at Garp, clearly not happy with his new nickname. "I'm Cavendish. In case you didn't know, I'm kind of a big deal. You see, I used to be captain and the best player in-"

"Whatever," Garp interrupted, turning to the next new face. It was a man in his mid-twenties with long dark haired tied in a ponytail and slightly abnormally long looking arms. "And you?"

The man grinned. "I'm Ideo. I just moved here a couple of weeks ago. You know, back home they used to call me "Destruction Cannon" Ideo, because my shots were that good-"

Ideo was interrupted by another new player scoffing. He glared at said man, a tanned man with shaggy brown hair and side-burns. "Something funny?"

"'Destruction Cannon'? Did you give yourself that lame nickname?"

"Eh?"

The tanned man smirked. "I'm Sai. And I-"

"Oi jerk," Ideo grunted. "I wasn't done introducing myself before you interrupted me."

"Is that so? What're you gonna do about it?"

Before the two could lunge at each other, a giant man with long brown hair stepped between the two. "Enough, you two. We're a team now, so we shouldn't fight amongst ourselves."

Ideo glared at the giant man. "Who the hell are you?"

"I am Hajrudin. If you don't calm down, I'll be forced to take action…"

Garp, watching the whole exchange, rolled his eyes. "Where do we get these guys…?"

Suddenly, another large blond man with carefully braided hair laughed. "Haha, it seems like everyone's all fired up!"

Cavendish looked over the blonde man, thinking he looked familiar. "I think I remember you… You're called Orlumbus, right? I think I played against you before."

Bartolomeo glanced over at him casually. "You lost, right?"

Cavendish glared at him. "Of course I didn't! I told you already, I'm the best player there is!"

"No you ain't, that's Luffy, moron!"

"Oi, don't call me a moron jackass!"

With that, Cavendish lunged at Bartolomeo, Hajrudin stepping between the two just in time to prevent a conflict. Garp groaned. "I can see this is going to go well… If you've got enough energy to screw around bickering, then you have enough energy to run. Ten more laps around the park, maybe then you'll be a little less hyper…"

Zoro and Sanji watched as the squad slowly departed, the tension between Sai, Ideo and Hajrudin and then Bartolomeo and Cavendish obvious. Sanji looked at Zoro, before the two set off slowly after the rest of the team. "Is that what we're always like?"

######

"Trafalgar?"

Law, who had been staring out of the window, turned towards the aisle of the train. Nami and Robin gave him a surprised look. He smirked slightly. "Hey. Fancy seeing you guys here…"

Nami nodded. "I'll say. I mean, I knew you had interviews too, but I didn't think you'd be on the same train as us!"

"Well, there can't be that many trains heading to Baltigo today," Law replied. "Besides, I'm not the only one from school on here."

Nami smiled, genuinely pleased to know that they're be more familiar faces. "Really? Who else?"

"That 'big brother' of Straw-hat-ya's. I saw him getting on further down the train."

Nami gasped. "Sabo? He's here?"

"Yeah. I wonder what business he has over there…"

With that, Nami immediately put her bags down on the pair of seats on the opposite side of the table to Law and began walking down the train. She glanced back at the confused Law and Robin once. "Save me a seat, I'm gonna go and see if I can find him quickly before the train starts!"

Robin blinked as Nami disappeared from sight, into the next carriage. "Well that's unlike her… Normally she can't stand Sabo."

#######

Luffy grinned, slinging his arms around the still exhausted Zoro and Sanji. Training had finished about fifteen minutes ago and the two had gotten dressed, but they were still totally out of breath from Garp's training session. "So hey, do you guys wanna go get something to eat? I'm so hungry!"

Zoro glared at Luffy, who had spent the whole previous hour laughing at him and Sanji as they were put through their paces by Garp. "How the hell are you hungry? We were the ones training!"

Sanji rolled his eyes. "This idiot's always hungry… But, I can't anyway. Hancock's got interviews at Baltigo, like Nami and Robin, so I'm driving her down today."

"Why doesn't she just take the train like everyone else?" Zoro asked.

"She doesn't like trains, or public transport in general. Says there are too many pervs checking her out."

"And because of that she's making you drive, what, 8 hours there and back to Baltigo. You really are a stupid love cook, aren't you?"

Sanji glared at him. "Please, any gentleman would do such a thing for their lady. In fact, this is nothing! I would drive 8000 hours for my sweet darling Hancock…"

"Hey, can I come?" Luffy asked suddenly, interrupting Sanji. Zoro looked confusedly at Luffy.

"Why?"

Luffy grinned. "Nami left really early this morning, so I didn't get a chance to see her and tell her good luck! Ooh, and we could see Robin and Traffie too if we go! You should totally come with us Zoro!"

Zoro groaned. "I dunno, it's like 8 hours there and back…."

Sanji rolled his eyes. "What does that matter, it's not like you've got anything better to do. You were probably planning on just going home and spending the whole afternoon napping, weren't you?"

"Was not!"

Luffy patted Zoro heartily on the back. "You can do that in the car Zoro! And hey, we should get Usopp, Chopper, Franky and Brook to come too! It'll be like a road trip!"

Sanji shook his head. "Stop getting carried away. How the hell am I gonna fit all you guys plus Hancock's stuff in my car?"

Luffy's eyes lit up. "We can take Sunny! Yeah, let's call Franky now!"

#######

"So how're things with Luffy?"

Sabo rolled his eyes. "Wow. I've just sat down and already you're on that…"

The man sat across the table from Sabo in the first class carriage narrowed his eyes at the blonde man. "I'm sorry. I wasn't aware that I needed to engage in a certain amount of compulsory small talk before asking about my own son."

Sabo sighed. "Alright alright, take it easy. Anyway, to answer your question, things haven't really progressed. Luffy's been busy with this whole Dressrosa situation. He's spending most of his weekends out of town and when he's at school, there's only so much time I can spend with him. We're still not close enough for me to… you know… bring this up."

"I'm beginning to lose patience Sabo. I travelled all the way down here just so I could discuss matter with you on the journey back to Baltigo, and all I hear is this… How long must I wait?"

Sabo glared at Monkey D Dragon. "Well if you're losing patience, why don't you go and actually meet Luffy yourself? Why am I the one you're relying on to bring Luffy to you. You said it yourself, he's your son after all."

Dragon looked out of the window, away from the seething Sabo. "You know why I can't. But fine… I'll leave this to you."

"Thanks. Listen, I understand how you feel, but this needs to be done properly. I promise-"

"Hey, Sabo!"

Sabo looked down the aisle at the sound of the familiar voice, his eyes widening when he saw Nami standing by the carriage entrance. "N.. Nami?"

Nami smiled as she made her way down the carriage towards where Sabo and Dragon were sitting. "First class huh? Wow, you sure travel in style."

When Nami reached the seats, she paused when she saw Dragon. "Oh sorry, I didn't realise you were with someone. I'm sorry if I interrupted…"

Sabo shook his head quickly. "No, it's fine. This is a friend of mine. He's… uh…"

"Dragon," Dragon said. Nami smiled at him.

"I'm Nami, I'm a student at Sabo's school."

Dragon nodded. He knew who Nami was. One of the first things Sabo had told him back in September was about Luffy's beautiful girlfriend. As he looked at Nami for the first time, Dragon couldn't help but feel a bit of weird pride, knowing his son was with a girl that looked like this. Not that he showed said pride outwardly though, his expression remaining neutral.

"So what is it?" Sabo asked, wanting to get Nami away from Dragon as soon as possible. If she found out who the man sitting opposite him really was, it was game over.

"Oh well, I thought if you were sitting alone you could come sit with us in the other carriage, but if you're with someone, I'll leave you two to it."

"Us?"

"Yeah, me, Robin and Law."

"But why… Oh that's right the interviews…"

The fact that it was interview week at Baltigo had completely slipped Sabo's mind. This was bad, what if Nami, Robin or Law had an interview with Dragon? They absolutely couldn't find out who Dragon was, under any circumstances.

Nami cleared her throat, bring Sabo back to Earth. "Well, I'm gonna head back to Robin and Law. See you in Baltigo Sabo! Oh, and you too Mr Dragon!"

As Nami turned around and left, Sabo immediately looked seriously at Dragon. "I need a list of all the students you'll be interviewing this week. Now."

######

"So hey, can we talk?"

Robin sighed. There was something about the tone of Law's voice which she didn't like. Why did Nami have to run off like that? "About what?"

"About our kiss," Law bluntly replied. Robin frowned at him.

"We didn't kiss."

"It pretty much was…"

"No, it wasn't" Robin firmly replied. "Besides, it happened nearly two months ago now. Why are you bringing this up now?"

"Because I've been thinking about it a lot recently."

Robin sighed, looking out of the window. "What does that mean…"

"I want to know if you still have feelings for me."

Robin squeezed her eyes shut. "Don't say things like that…"

"Just tell me. Yes or No."

Robin smirked bitterly. "Have you forgotten about Monet so quickly…"

"I don't think Monet's dead," Law replied, surprising Robin. "I think Vergo made that up to mess with me. If he caught her, Joker could use her to get to me, plus she worked with Caesar so she may know important information regarding Caesar's experiments which Joker could use. I doubt he'd kill her for no reason."

"Well if that's the case, then-"

"I love Monet," Law interrupted. "But I also love you. Do you not think it's possible to be in love with two people? Is it not the same for you, Robi-"

"It's not," Robin sharply replied. Law was about to say something when the carriage door opened, Nami finally re-entering. He sighed and looked out of the window, determined to continue this conversation later.

######

"Looks like we're SUPER set here!" Franky cheered as Usopp closed the back door of the Thousand Sunny. Luffy, sitting in the front seat alongside Franky, glanced back at Zoro(already sleeping), Usopp, Chopper and Brook in the back before throwing both his hands in the air.

"Yosh! Let's go!"

"Don't forget we need to go to Hancock's house to pick up her and Sanji," Usopp reminded. "It's gonna be a tight squeeze to fit her, him and all her bags in here though…"

Luffy was about to reply with something along the lines of 'don't worry(about the laws of physics), it will all work out' when his phone buzzed. He looked at it. "Ooh, a text from Sanji. 'Already set off with Hancock in my car. Didn't want to shove a beautiful lady like her in the back of that shitty car with you creeps. I'll meet you guys in Baltigo.'"

There was a moment's pause before Usopp spoke. "Well that was harsh…"

Suddenly Franky burst into tears, rubbing the dashboard affectionately. "Don't listen to him Sunny, you're the best SUPER car in the whole world!"

"I was more offended by the 'creeps' part," Usopp muttered, although Franky ignored him. Chopper looked over at the dozing Zoro.

"Good thing Zoro didn't hear what Sanji said…"

Luffy however laughed heartily. "It's fine, we'll meet him in Baltimo with Nami, Robin and Traffie anyway!"

"It's Baltigo…" Usopp muttered, although he was once again ignored, this time by Luffy.

"Let's go Franky!"