Gamble

"Alright Nico Robin... It's the moment of truth," Franky growled, a confident smile spreading across his face. "This is your last chance."

Robin eyes glistened with equal mischief from beneath the wraps of her head scarf.

"There is no need to cater to me, Franky," she taunted. "I have utmost confidence that I will be fine no matter what happens."

"Very well," the man chuckled before lifting a card from the top of the deck. He slapped it dramatically on the floor between them. "Here comes the river!"

A queen of spades.

The two gasped from where they sat cross-legged on the floor. It was not cold on the Sunny; however, both the pirates were tightly bundled in their cold weather gear, including the only pair of pants Franky owned. That is how they knew it was a special occasion. Each of them held two cards in hard, and in the center of the room were five playing cards lying face up in a row.

Franky could feel his back beginning to sweat beginning to pool on the back of his neck. It would be a relief to be able to remove even one item. On the other hand, Robin didn't seem uncomfortable at all, causing Franky to wonder if the woman even could sweat.

"Franky," she said, flipping her hand to face him. "I am afraid I only have two pairs."

It was true. He had lost, which, if they were playing normal strip poker, would mean he could at least cool himself off a little bit, but they were not playing normal strip poker. Being the sadist she was, robin had coerced him into playing reverse strip poker. The man groaned and dropped his hand.

"Pair of sixes," he admitted.

Robin chuckled. "It would seem you unfortunately must keep your clothes on... I wonder what I should take off..."

She took a moment to fiddle with each piece of clothing, as if to weigh her options as to what might cause Franky to most frustration to watch. Perhaps the craftiest part of this was that no matter what she picked, the act of this ritual in of itself was absolutely killing the cyborg. Finally, after a couple minutes of watching the man physically squirm, Robin settled on removing her scarf. With a graceful gesture she tossed it across the room.

The man shook it off, as he began to deal the next set of cards. He was determined to win this next round. The coat and scarf he could handle, but he was beginning to remember exactly why he had sworn off pants. After he put down the flop, Robin suddenly leaned in towards him. Her now uncovered cleavage was enough to be at least a minor distraction.

"I would like to raise the wager this round," she said. "If you win I will allow you to remove two pieces of clothing. And I will also put on one piece of clothing."

Franky's eyes lit up, now he definitely had to win. Analyzing the current board state and his hand, it seemed that was currently not going to be a possibility though. Absolutely nothing was matching up, and Robin looked far too confident not to have some sort of ace up her sleeve, so to speak.

"You're awful quiet Franky," she mused, resting a hand on her cheek. "I hope the heat is not affecting your body too much."

She smiled in the kind of way that might trick others into thinking that this was some sort of kindness, but he knew that she was simply lapping up his discomfort. As he reached for the next card, he could feel one of her disembodied hands playing with the bear ears on his coat hood.

He flipped it and glanced down at his hand. His Queen and an Ace didn't match the five, eight, and jack that were currently in play. Then he looked at the new card. Seven of clubs. Still nothing for him.

There was only one card left to potentially save him from the current agony the pants were creating for him, and those odds were not good. Franky lowered his sunglasses. There was only one option left with how confident Robin seemed; he would have to cheat.

"Well, Franky?" Robin said. "Are you going to flip the last card or would you like to up the wager?"

The man took a second of honest thought to formulate his gameplan, before laying his large red hand over his cards.

"Hmmm..." he loudly contemplated. "I think... hmm... I think I will up the wager."

Robin's curiosity was clearly piqued. "Oh?"

Beneath his left outer hand, the cyborg's inner hand slowly snaked down to pull his cards into his palm. Then, once the cards were safely tucked away inside his body, Franky leaned on and over the playing area to bring his face close to Robin's.

"If I win this round," he purred. "I take off all of my clothes and I wrap you up in that blanket over there."

The woman however was completely undaunted. She placed a finger on his lips, lightly pushing him away. "That is awful confident considering I've won the past three rounds. However, what are you betting if you lose?"

He leaned back. Lifting his right hand off of the deck to consider his response. Truthfully, the action was to disguise the eight cards that had come up in the clutch of the yellow inner hand. His inner hand spread the stack just enough to see the top corner of each card. He glanced down at them.

"Does letting you do whatever you want to me sound fair?" He asked.

He could hear Robin laugh. That could spell trouble, but two of the cards he picked secured him a straight. He placed his hand back on the ground, giving himself a chance to only leave the ones he want on the ground.

"That is perfectly fine with me, but will you be okay?" she challenged, shielding her smile behind her two cards.

Franky grinned, reaching for the deck once more. "Ha! Of course!"

He turned over the top card. It didn't matter too much to him; he already had a good play. But would it affect Robin?

The woman smiled, revealing a pair of sevens. "Three of a kind."

Sweet victory!

"Straight!" Franky declared, slamming his hand down on the ground, revealing his straight, absolutely beaming. He began to stand, leaving Robin to sulk on the floor. He reached at the legs to rip them off, but a disembodied set of hands stopped.

"Not so fast," Robin said. Franky blinked at her as the woman stood and slowly closed the distance between them. "I think you forgot the terms of our wager. You only got to strip if you won, but you didn't actually win... did you Franky?"

Her gaze was intense and oddly knowing in a way that made his heart race. He attempted to back away but was quickly overtaken by more disembodied limbs holding him in place. A hand removed his sunglasses and another sprouting an eye in the middle of the palm was shoved in his face. He began to laugh nervously, causing her to

"Think carefully about your response, as it will determine how much I want to punish you," she said darkly.

Franky gulped. He could feel every breath she took lightly tumbling on his face. He then put on his most apologetic smile.

"I'm sorry?" The arms around him pulled tight, and he could feel springing up around his crotch. He let out a yell of pain as Robin performed the same clutch she had on him when he first joined. "You won beautiful lucky temptress! I just wanted to take off the pants!"

"Ufufufu..."

Her grip on him relaxed and Robin patted him on the face. "You should have just asked."

With a snap a set of hands quickly unbuttoned and pulled down the denim monstrosities. Franky thought he was going to cry from the relief, but she wasn't done with him yet. The hands continued to take of his coat, then his scarf, then shirt.

He stopped one of the hands as it was mid button to look at Robin questioningly. She had made her way to sit on the bed while he was being stripped.

"Is this supposed to be the punishment?" he asked.

She propped her head on her hands, still suspiciously pleased with herself.

"Consider it the punishment for my own admission of guilt," she explained, throwing the man a coy look. A set of hands holding a completely separate full deck of cards revealed itself from behind where Robin had been sitting during their match. Suddenly things clicked for Franky.

Despite no longer being bundled up, his body felt like it might catch flame at any moment. He pulled his feet from the pantlegs and strode over to where she awaited him on the bed. He cupped the side of her face with one large hand.

"You devious woman," he growled, pulling his mouth close to hers. "You were cheating too?"

Robin grinned. "The whole time."

Then she wrapped her arm around his waist, returning his intensity. The sleeves of her coat were soft on his back. Her eyes trailed down his chest.

"I thought you said you wanted wrap me up in this blanket," she teased.

Franky smirked, peeling back the fur-lined shoulder of her jacket.

"I will," He assured her. "Just need to make sure we're on an even playing ground."

Despite their prolonged absence, locked behind the workshop's heavy door, the rest of the crew remained none the wiser about their relationship but did grow curious when the pair laughed every time Nami pulled out a deck of cards. Every time asked to play the two would simply decline. You see, Franky and Robin never played strip poker again after that night, or at least, not without agreeing on a safe-word first.

Notes:

Texas Hold-em helpful terms:

Texas Hold-em style poker is played by allowing each player only two cards in their personal hand. Throughout the betting process, five more cards are played face up in the middle of the table. The players may use any combination of the cards in the middle paired with their own two cards to form a five card poker hand.

The River- the last card played in the middle

The Flop- the first three cards that are played, which begins the betting process.

Straight- a poker hand that consists of five cards which together form a complete sequence. (ex. 2,3,4,5,6)

Flush- a poker hand that consists of five cards which all share the same suit. (ex. all hearts or all clubs)