A.N. I recall that Arlong once said in the manga that to those that have eaten the Devil fruit the sea robs them of their will to live. and consider this... Seastone acts just like the sea. Now before you go getting the posse rounded up to lynch me because I'm taking too many liberties with the story and the Devil fruits, just remember this. In the grand (line) scheme of things this really doesn't matter. You'll see what I mean by bringing up Arlong

Ch. 12

Denial

Damn Chopper, Damn him! Zoro was fuming. First Robin had gone missing, which wasn't like her at all, and now, when Zoro had taken a break to relieve himself, the reindeer had up and vanished. Chopper knew that Zoro wasn't quite as good with directions as the rest of the crew. Muttering to himself he decided to continue looking for Robin on his own. How hard could it be?

A short while later a piercing shriek broke his focus. He knew that shriek. That was Nami! Swearing softly to himself he pulled out Wadou and sprinted in the direction of the scream, or at least what he thought was the direction of the scream.

Holding a trembling Nami plastered to his side, Sanji let her cry her eyes out into his right shoulder and kissed her forehead lightly in a comforting manner. Had the situation been any different this would have been a dream come true, but now it was a nightmare.

Not ten feet away from the young pair lay what was unmistakably the body of their missing nakama. Robin's body looked as if a wild beast had savaged it. Fighting a rising sense of revulsion and sickness, Sanji pulled away from Nami and went to examine the body. He wasn't a doctor, but he knew she was dead.

"Mayor! Mayor!" The young boy's call came ringing through the doors to Hurley's office seconds before he did. "Down at the docks, there's a-!"

"Calm down Razz." Hurley said to the youth. Shuffling some papers around on his desk he went about his business for a few seconds before he turned his attention to the obviously important information that Razz was very anxious to give to him. If there was one thing about Razz that Hurley liked it was that he didn't get worked up over unimportant things. "Now then… what can I do for you Razz?"

"There's a ship in the harbor, a big one! And it's got marine markings on the sail and everything!" Razz reported. He took his job as one of the mayor's aids very seriously, and was proud of any contribution he could make. "Will you be out to meet them when we land?"

"I suppose so…" Hurley replied offhandedly. Setting his work aside, he stood and followed the young herald out the door. Pausing with one hand on the doorjamb he smiled, "With luck they're here to take that Saros bastard off of our hands."

"Mayor!" Cried a shocked Razz, his brown eyes wide with surprise. "You shouldn't say things like that!"

Twinkling eyes and a smile were his only reply.

The next few hours were a blur to Sanji, and it wasn't until he was back in his galley that he got a real chance to think. Everyone dealt with grief in their own manner, Nami had disappeared into the room she used to share with Robin, but Sanji… Sanji cooked.

Soon the others would return, and Sanji wasn't looking forward to how they would react when they saw Robin's body. He had brought it back to the ship and laid it under an impromptu shroud, but he was sure by now that it was beginning to smell. One thing was certain however, he didn't want to go near it again.

Pushing such thoughts out of his mind he put the finishing touches on the vanilla tea he was preparing and brought it down to Nami's quarters.

"Nami?" He asked as he pushed the door open with one foot. When he saw her facedown on the bed, he set the tray on the table, sat on the bed and stroked her ginger hair. "Nami-swan?"

Surging up unexpectedly, she wrapped her arms around him and cried once more into his shoulders. ""Oh Sanji… She's dead! I… I…" She couldn't force the rest out as the sobs wracked her delicate frame.

As she wept Sanji gathered her into his arms as he had wanted to do so many times before, and held her close to him, seeking to comfort her.

"Mayor Hurley!" The marine Commander saluted sharply, standing at attention with all his men. "It is a pleasure to finally meet you sir. Your reputation precedes you. My name is Captain Theron."

"My reputation?" Asked Hurley. What was this marine fool saying? "What reputation.?"

"The reputation of being a stodgy incompetent old fashioned son of a bitch." Grinning slightly the brown haired captain continued on before an outraged Hurley could say anything. "Of course if the Vice-admiral dislikes you that means you must be an upstanding and outstanding strong willed man who won't back down when faced with a little bit of pressure. I'd be willing to wager that's the reason that you're such a good mayor. I've seen a fair number of villages in my journeys, and yours is the best looking town I've seen in a very long while."

"…Well, it must have been a long trip. Would you all care for something to eat?" Hurley had the feeling that he would like this Theron

"Sanji! I'm hungry!" Luffy's voice rang out, audible even to the two mourning below deck.

When Sanji tried to pull away from Nami the young navigator only clutched him tighter. "Don't leave me!"

"Never." He agreed. "I love you Nami-swan… Nami. I'll always be here for you."

"Thank you Sanji."

Together they went to meet their captain.

"…Sanji, Nami… What is this?" Luffy asked in a dead sort of voice as he and Usopp stared blankly at Robin's corpse. "It's some sort of sick joke, right?"

"I'm sorry Luffy…" Sanji said with down-turned eyes. Nami gripped his right hand with both of hers to try to offer him a little of the strength he had give her in her hour of need. "She was like this when we found her."

"That's not Robin." Luffy said in his serious tone, his eyes growing hard.

"What are you talking about?" Asked Nami in confusion.

"That's not Robin!" Explained Luffy, which he felt made everything clear. "My nakama don't just die!"

"But Luffy, everybody dies. "Usopp said with teary eyes. "It's a fact of life."

"That. Is. Not. ROBIN!" Screamed Luffy. Taking the corpse by the face, he threw it as hard as he could inland. Even before it hit the ground far off and unseen in the distance he had turned and began to stride back towards the forest. Before he sprang from the ship he turned and said. "I'm going to find Robin. Be sure to have lunch ready for us when we get back." And with that, he was gone.

A few minutes after he left, Chopper came bursting forth out of the underbrush. "I heard screaming!" he said as he clambered onto the ship. Seeing everyone staring at the forest from which he had just emerged, stiff with shock, the curiosity overwhelmed him. "What'd I miss?"

"Where is that woman?" Zoro complained as he tore through the forest. He had been searching for hours it seemed, ad for all he knew he was no closer than when he had started. Seeing a clearing ahead he redoubled his speed, and fell headlong over an unseen root.

As he stood a plethora of curses about lost friends, unseen hazards, and life in general escaped his lips. In a bad mood he tromped back to where he had fallen, fully expecting to see… well, not a trap door in the island. Had Zoro been Robin, not only would he be almost a decade older than he already was, and of the opposite gender, he would also be fascinated by something of this nature.

Zoro was no genius, far from it, but he knew that he would find Robin somewhere around here. The hatch was locked, but one stroke of Wadou Ichimonji solved that problem. Dropping down into the dim underground he moved down the corridor, Wadou out and ready for action.

Stupid straw hat! Saros thought evilly as he picked himself up from where the youth had thrown him. How had his plan been seen through? Looking down at his assumed form he couldn't see what he had done wrong! Wasn't the gaping neck wound enough, or the deep lacerations on his side? That damn captain…

If the captain was the problem, then Saros would just have to remove the problem. Shedding his borrowed clothing and his borrowed form, thanks to the Mane Mane no Mi, and healed the wounds on his body with the Zari Zari no Mi. Naked and confident he strode out to check on his prisoners. "First a bit of information, then I grab the Gomu freak!"

Feeling better he started whistling to himself. No matter if 'Straw-hat' Luffy foiled one plan, there would always be another in its place.

"The two hardest things about mastering my newfound abilities were actually staying on the island, and raising my endurance." Kaicen explained softly. It seemed that he was starting to succumb to the fatal effects of the seastone.

Normally seastone had very temporary effects, however since Kaicen had had that shackle secured about his ankle for who knew how long, Robin was sure that he felt that he was slowly drowning. If he didn't get out of it soon, he was not long for this world.

"You mean you didn't crash?" She asked, partly out of curiosity, partly to rouse him out of the lethal stupor he was falling into.

"Well, yeah. But you get used to road rash…" Stretching, he yawned tiredly. "...Sorry Lady Nico, but I'm…" Another yawn "…Really tired right now." When he opened his eyes they were completely unfocused, and his skin was getting just the slightest tinge of gray to its normally healthy tone as Robin continued to watch.

She had seen this once before, when Crocodile had decided to punish, fatally, one of the billions. The poor soul had eaten a devil fruit, and after a particularly spectacular screw-up Crocodile had chained him to a wall with seastone.

At the time Robin had found the long term affects of seastone on the doomed man's body fascinating. It had taken a little under a week of constant exposure to the stone for the man to succumb. First he had suffered through the normal lack of energy or interest in anything. Not an hour before he had perished he began to exhibit the same symptoms as Kaicen was, the unfocused eyes, and ashen skin.

"Bard-san, you're dying." Robin said. She must be growing soft, because for some reason watching this man die certainly was not fascinating, not in the slightest.

"That's nice…" Kaicen replied in a daze, his head hanging down to rest on his chest. He would be gone soon if Robin didn't find a way to perk his interest in something, and soon. The only problem was that she didn't know what would interest him.

"How long have you been chained up like this?" Robin asked of him.

Holding up a hand he extended three fingers crookedly. Robin assumed that he meant three days, but he responded "Tree munthz…"

Well, that didn't work. "Sing me a song Bard-san."

"…'F you call me Kaicen."

"Sing me a song, Kaicen." The word felt strange coming forth from her mouth, for she only called people by their given name when they two were very close, but since this was an attempt to save his life she felt that she could bend the rule just this once.

"Ken I giv you a rain-check?"

Now it was time to get creative, unfortunately Robin didn't think of herself as a very creative person. So, what would she do if her nakama were in the same situation?

Firstly… Captain-san. Too easy! One mention of meat and he would have been up in arms, failing that, snatch the hat from off of his head.

Swordsman-san… Steal a katana or two, or mention Mihawk's name. Remind him of his oath to be the greatest swordsman in the world.

Navigator-san… Anything having to do with money.

Marksman-san… A practical joke always sent him into fits of giggles.

Doctor-san… More practical jokes, or Medical texts, or any one of a million stories.

Cook-san… Well, just her being there would have been enough for him. If she had flirted with him he could have stayed chained for years and still been brimming with energy.

With the facts firmly in mind, Robin decided upon her course of action. The key rested with Cook-san's reaction. She had seen wars fought over women before, but how could she use that to her advantage? She was decidedly out of practice when it came to using her feminine wiles, and she doubted that Bard-san would react with the same … enthusiasm of Cook-san. Still she had to do something.

Taking his near catatonic face in her hands, she wrinkled her nose from the stench. Three months of confinement had left Kaicen reeking to high heaven. But after a slight hesitation, kissed him fully on the lips. If that didn't wake him up nothing would.

It was at that moment that the door was flung open, and an angry form burst into the room.

A.N. A bit of an explanation: I figure since Oda-sama hasn't told us all the devil fruits and their powers that there are fruits that can cause ANY effect. And it's already been established that anything can happen (and usually does) in the Grandline.

Zari Zari no Mi: Zarigüeya is the spanish word for Opossum. This fruit allows the user to fake their own death in the most realistic way possible. Even a doctor will not be able to tell the difference. One of the more annoying Devil fruit powers to face because you never know when the enemy that you thought you defeated will show up and plant a knife in your back.

And no, this isn't an attempt to shout HERE! THEY'RE AN ITEM, HAPPY? Robin kissed him because since coming over to the strawhat pirates she's grown a bit, and might have considerably more compassion than she did when we first met her. Then again, she did spare Igaram way back when... Anyway... Hope you all enjoyed it!