Hello~

here is the next chapter. I will tell you a bit in the author notes at the end. now just enjoy ^^

~Chapter 26 – A crew's life~

The wind was calm and the sun shined brightly. It was a beautiful day to travel.

Robin smiled softly to herself while she was reading. It was relaxing to be able to sit under a parasol. Something she hadn't been able to do for a long time.

Well, she couldn't remember the last time she had been able to truly relax. Especially when there were other people close by.

But for some reason, it felt easy with them around. It was easy to trust them… Especially the young captain, who despite his childishness was a strong fighter who shouldn't be underestimated. But there was more to Luffy than that.

~Flashback~

"Robin~ what are you reading there? Is it exciting?"

Robin looked up from her notes regarding the poneglyph, they had found in the forest of Skypia. The young captain stood in front of her with his head slightly tilted to one side.

"These are notes regarding the translation of the poneglyph we found. With the message Gold Roger left there", she explained softly and watched Luffy sitting down.

The eyes of the captain seemed to sparkle after she had mentioned the pirate king.

"Uh~ he was there, too? What did he write? Did he leave a hint for a possible treasure hunt?" The questions came quickly from Luffy before he stopped himself and tilted his head from one side to the other. "But if it does connect directly to the One Piece, I don't want to know. That could make the journey boring."

This got Robin's attention. Especially the last part of.

It had already been very noticeable that Luffy wasn't really interested in planing things or learning much about the next island, before they reached it, and mostly charged head-first forwards. A characteristic which was quite noticeable in the strategy meeting Law and Ain liked to plan some times. Despite being the captain Luffy didn't seem to listen during these meeting and focused on other things like eating or playing with Chouchou.

"How could it make the journey boring if there was a hint to the One Piece? If there was, the journey would only get easier", Robin said. Her eyes focused on the young captain who seemed a bit more serious than normal.

"Because we could miss a cool island or the surprise regarding the adventure gets spoiled. That isn't fun. An adventure that is completely planned isn't fun. If it gets too easy, it is also boring. The adventure shouldn't be easy. It is much more fun when you need help to accomplish something. Because that means you have someone who travels with you and you have fun together. That's why I am happy to have you all as Nakama", Luffy said slightly grinning at the end.

This one sentence was surprising but also hit her hard. Because Luffy had said 'you all' meaning he included her as part of his crew. He saw her as Nakama. Also, he wasn't lying. Robin had seen how bad of a liar Luffy was.

So the boy was completely honest about this topic and he also seemed to really trust her.

It was a strange feeling to know that someone is trusting her. But it was also at this moment that Robin realized she could never want to betray Luffy's trust.

~Flashback ends~

It was kind of strange how this conversation had influenced her interaction with the rest of the crew. Because up until then she had only done the minimum work on the ship and mostly stayed alone had interacted with Bon Clay. But after that, she tried to take more effort into getting to know the others and in return also letting them know a few things about her. Even if she wouldn't say much about a certain incident.

But luckily most of the crew didn't even have a hint about this and were mostly talking about something else.

For example, Sanji was mostly flirting when she was talking to him. It was quite interesting to see how the blonde cook completely ignored the fact that she was an Alpha and was most likely not interested in him that way. But it was refreshing to meet someone who wouldn't judge by the second gender and only by the first gender. It seemed that this also influenced the time Sanji takes to trust someone.

The flirting from the cook was also quite amusing. As it was normally done by her to get a partner for her rut. Something she had to think about soon.

Even if Sanji had offered it to her, she wouldn't accept. The blonde cook most likely didn't know what would happen during the rut. Despite flirting with every female person, Robin was quite sure that the blonde was a virgin.

Especially when she thought about how Sanji basically knocked himself out because of a bleeding nose.

~Flashback~

It had been nice to stand under the hot shower after they had run through the forest to beat Enel and his priest.

Naturally a bad would possible more comfortable. But since Ain and she were both devil fruit users, they didn't want to chance to drown in the big bathtub.

"Would you give me the soap?"

Robin carefully tossed the soap to the younger one.

At the same moment, the door opened and they could hear Sanji complaining about Zoro. But in the next moment, there was a sound like something hit the ground.

She looked at the door slightly surprised. There was the cook. Laying on the ground. Blood leaking out of his nose. He seemed to already have lost his consciousness.

"Cook down. Take care of it, Robin and I are still showering", Ain shouted.

Robin couldn't hide a smirk. Despite the shouting, Ain at least made Sanji lay in a recovery position outside and closed the door.

~Flashback end~

This scene was a strong hint that Sanji was still a virgin.

But even if with all his shenanigans, Robin knew that the blonde cook would be serious when needed.

A strong contrast to the cook and some other members was Law. The surgeon was most of the time serious.

But that was needed most of the time to balanced out the chaotic energy from the captain and Vice-Captain. Both were also caring the strange D in their name.

It seemed to become a trend that her life would turn around as soon as she met someone who did have the D in their name.

Jaguar D Saul had given her a chance to live when he helped her to escape the Buster Call.

But it felt like her life had only started when she had met Luffy and the others.

Law stood next to Bepo and let the mink show him their position on a map.

"So the Logue Pose doesn't lead us directly to Water 7", the surgeon mumbled after the explanation of their navigator. The mink nodded. "So what do you think? Should we stop for food and other things or do we have enough to sail directly to Water 7?"

Bepo tilted his head slightly. A habit the mink mimicked from Luffy who did this very often while he was thinking. "It would be better to stop. Not only for food. But maybe then Logue Pose will show us the direct route to Water 7. Which would be much safer than the way we try to reach it at the moment."

Law nodded. It was their best bet to use the safest way to get to Water 7. Even if Luffy would probably be annoyed when it was boring. But getting to Water 7 was one of the main goals for the first half of the Grandline.

The swimming city had a reputation for its shipwrights. So the chances were very high that they would recruit someone there as no one on board had the needed knowledge regarding ship repairments. Also, there they would really get the confirmation if they could use Shippy to travel the whole Grandline or if the ship wouldn't survive it.

Luffy giggled as he happily played with Chouchou. But as much fun as it was. It also felt somehow restricted as they could only play in a certain area. It was time that they would dock at another island where they could move freely.

While Skypiea had been interesting, it was influenced by their fight against the tyrant. Ain had planned the fighting constellations so there weren't any detours.

Luffy giggled as he thought about the giant dog they had to face. He sat down and petted Chouchou's head. Even if he the big dog had been interesting, he loved the withe dog more.

"You are really one of the best friends, someone can get", Luffy said grinning. Chouchou barked as he agreed. This made the young captain laughed and he petted the dog a little longer.

"Luffy?"

The captain turned his head to see Ain.

"There is something which I had wanted to ask you. You don't have to answer if you aren't sure. I'm just curious. But is it possible that you really understand what animals are saying? I don't mean that you guess but that you are 100% certain about the meaning."

Luffy tilted his head. "I don't know. But you can think I can speak with animals? That's so cool", he said with sparkling eyes.

He generally liked animals. If he hadn't wanted to become a pirate, he would have bothered Law to possible teach some medical stuff and then become a vet or something like that. Just something with animals. Except for monkeys. He had grown a certain dislike for monkeys because of the type of training his grandfather had put him through.

"That's a shame…", he could hear Ain mumbling. It was like she had expected something different.

But a new thought entered his head. "Ne, Ain, train with me", he said and stood up. " I want to improve my kenbunshoku haki. I want to reach a higher level."

The bluenette studied him with her eyes. "It's because of Enel, right?" Luffy nodded. "He had a far superior version than any of us. If he hadn't been so arrogant because of his devil fruit, I don't think we would have won that easily", the black-haired captain said with a rare serious expression on his face.

"Then we should get started soon. I think it could help if we blindfold you again during the sessions. Law said we will stop on another island. There we can do a bit more."

"Then let's start."

Law wrinkled slightly his nose. Since Luffy had asked Ain for intensive training, he was stuck with teaching the other's the basics alone. While Ace might be able to teach as well, his mate wasn't helpful. More like the opposite.

Because the hothead was more amused about Sanji's and Zoro's fighting habits. These two were always bickering which escalated very quickly during training sessions. This behaviour often reminded him of two alphas fighting over an omega. And these were still in their damn presentation stage!

So there was a chance that could happen or worse if just one of them would present as alpha and the other not. That was something he didn't want to think about.

Law hoped this day would never come as it would end in a headache for him. But when he thought about how his fate sometimes played out…

That reminded him of something. Something he had wanted to ask Robin. The black-haired woman had a knack for historical things. Especially the things no one should know about.

"If you can't behave, then the training is over for today. I have better things to do", Law said annoyed and turned away from the fighting "children" and their spectator (Bartolomeo and Ace).

"Looks like the job as a teacher isn't easy", Robin remarked as he passed her.

"I don't feel like a teacher more like a mother who has to take care of all the chaotic children alone without any support by the stupid father", Law grumbled.

Even if he tried to fight his instincts most of the time, he couldn't help but somehow see the others as "his children".

Robin laughed softly. "I think many omegas feel left alone by their partners. Even if the reason is sometimes is out of their hands", the black-haired woman spoke with a soft voice.

It was clear that she was more mature than the others on board except maybe Ain. But it wasn't just her age but also her way to act and deal with her instinct.

"That does sound like you did leave someone behind", Law stated. At least the last sentence hinted at that.

"No. At least not in the way you most likely think. There never was a person who I would have called my mate. When you have to fear a betrayal every minute you are awake, you don't think about trusting someone enough to mate with them. There had been partners for ruts or omega's heats. But it was only the time when the instincts are uncontrollable. Nothing more than a One-Night-Stand. If a child is born out of these, the alpha rarely knows about the child", Robin explained.

Law nodded. The reason was plausible.

"But the topic gets depressing the more you talk about it. Because it somehow always ends in the discussion about their restricted rights under the World Government."

"But wasn't it always that way?"

"No, it wasn't always that way. There have been hints that everyone was treated equally in most parts of the world. It was even possible for an omega to become a ruler of a country without any trouble."

"Really? How long ago was that?"

"The time before the World Government. The time they try to erase from history but can't because of the poneglyph."

Law nodded.

"There is something, I wanted to ask. Since you seemed to like learning about the things the government prohibited. Does the Will of D ring a bell? My adoptive father once told me that the people with the D in their name are the natural enemy of the celestial dragons. But he never went into detail", he said carefully.

He didn't want someone to know at this moment that he also belonged to the people with the D in their name. But since Luffy and Ace carried the letter in their names, too, it wouldn't be suspicious if he asked.

"Worried about captain-san and vice-san? Well, I can't tell you anything at this moment. I do have met a D-carrier when I was younger. But he never told me anything about it", Robin said. Then she looked at him. "But I'm sure that I will find out about it during the journey."

That sounded optimistic. Especially since it sounded like the topic interested Robin as well. So there was a high chance that he would get an answer.

Even if the answer was written on some poneglyph.

It can possibly count as filler. But it felt needed if skip most of the part of Skypia. Otherwise, the transition to the next chapters would lack something from my point of view.
I am certainly working on some chapters regarding a special point during the journey with Water 7. But no more spoilers, you have to wait until I'm finished ;) Also, I am thinking that I write and translate every Water 7 Chapter first and then publish it in a shorter time frame so that you only have to wait for around a week before the next chapter will come up and then after these chapters will be a longer 'break' before again all chapters regarding an arc are coming.
Would you be okay with that or should I keep my schedule with one chapter a month?
Let me know^^

Also stay healthy everyone =)