A/N: So the voting's finished! And lookie here, the winner is Infested! It was my first idea, coincidentally, and although I can't say it's my favourite one(I was itching to write a yu-gi-oh esque story with In and Out of Focus, but hey, dems the ropes.), It was the one with the most interesting premise when only going off the information you guys had.

I'm excited to start writing, but due to the uncertainty that is my life, the story may not start production till a week after, and because of this addition, both SA's and IHMR's update schedules are gonna be thrown straight outta wack! Still, I hope you enjoy this chapter, and Ajax… out!

P.S. I've done some retrospecting on myself and my work, and I've decided that the only way to move forward is to have some communication. What do I mean by that: if you have a problem with my writing, I want you to sit down on your chair, take out your phone/laptop/PC and complain. Complain and leave a scathing review, insult me, swear at me, threaten me, I frankly do not care. I will sift through them all and find the ones that matter in order to improve myself. Because in this world where getting better cannot be achieved alone, I need the words of the people consuming my work to tell me to be better or you'll find another fic to read.

Put your time investment to my fic on the line, force me to be better, or else I'll just stagnate and fail to grow, and eventually, you'll hate me and everything I've ever done. Whether it was something you used to like, It'll stale and spoil, and I'll never know it because no one said a thing. So please, nitpick to your heart's content and type it out. I will read every review and I'll take them to heart. Then, I will change.

-Sip!-

"..." It's been thirty minutes now, Naruto estimated.

Thirty minutes since they had finished their reminiscing.

Thirty minutes since either of them last spoke.

Now, all that could be heard was the soft, gentle rhythm of the ocean waves as they ebbed and flowed against the Sunny's sturdy hull.

He didn't know why she would come here, telling him she'd wanted to chat, only to end up saying nothing for the better part of an hour. Still, he could hazard a guess:

"—Woohoooo~! I love you Surumeeeee!" From above deck, where everyone but them was located, Naruto could hear the rowdy yells of his captain and crew as they played with their newest 'member'.

"Looks like someone's having fun," Naruto whisper-groaned, not half as annoyed as he was exasperated; after all, Surume was the giant octopus he would sporadically see lazing about their ship as it sunk lower and lower into the abyss.

"Hm, you have to give them some slack. It has been an uneventful journey so far; you can only look into the deep blue sea and feel that same sense of awe for so long," He supposed she had a point. However, understanding is one thing, accepting it was a whole other ballgame.

"I guess..." He collapsed onto the table, "If only they were a bit more considerate of people who enjoyed silence," Naruto looked up at Robin, who was reading a little booklet titled 'The Lost History of Fishman Island', "That's why you're here, isn't it? To find some peace and quiet?"

"Hmm… I wonder,"

He rose from his slump to gawk at her, bewilderment clear in his eyes, "Heh? Whaddya mean?"

Closing her book and placing it onto the table with a soft tap, Robin returned Naruto's stare with one of her own, "Well, although I do agree the quiet is nice once in a while, don't you ever feel lonely?"

He opened his mouth to retort, but sealed it shut once he realized he had no good comeback to that.

"Honestly, I think you've put your goals on too high a pedestal. Don't you think it's time you find some way to relax?" Robin continued, her gaze still fixed upon his.

"B-But I have to go back! To my family..."

Something flashed in Robin's eyes then. And although Naruto didn't see it, any third party would've spotted the sorrow in her eyes.

Drawing out a tired sigh, she responded, "And the promise was that he'd allow you to go back and fix your mistakes. It wouldn't be too hard to assume a being powerful enough to bring you over to our world wouldn't be able to mess around with time a little, right?"

"..."

He didn't answer, but Robin felt she had already gotten her point across, and stood up to place a hand on his shoulder.

"We're here for you. All of us, especially that captain of yours," She smiled, "He's the biggest busybody I've ever had the pleasure of knowing,"

"I know. It's just… look, can we have this talk another time?"

Robin's smile strained, but there was no change to her voice when she responded, "Sure. A-Another time,"

On the way to the door, she couldn't help turning around to glance at him one last time, and the moment her eyes landed on his bent, pitiful frame, she muttered wistfully to herself, "If only..."

…

…

Robin didn't say anymore and walked towards the exit, yet despite the turmoil of feelings he had left her in, she closed the door with her usual gentle faculty.

-Click!-

-Click!-

Robin allowed herself to release a shaky sigh. No one would see her here; she was safe.

'...Why can't you let go?' Was the most recent thought that had traitorously entrenched itself into her skull, and however cruel it may sound, she just couldn't bring herself to feel guilty.

'No, I'm not the one at fault here! If only he wasn't so stubborn...' She sighed and stared up wearily at the ceiling, imagining the rest of the crew on the deck, specifically her captain.

'You know, you're a lot like Luffy, Naruto, no matter how much you want to deny it,' The same charm and charisma, the same drive and determination—

"And the same type of dogged stubbornness," She mumbled absentmindedly, her mind wandering down the annals of her history with both men and their accolades...

The world wouldn't allow her to muse on it for long, though, when from the corner of her eye, Robin noticed the minute shifting of the floorboard from across the hall. It didn't creak, but with her Kenbonshoku Haki, sound didn't play an important role at all.

'Hm?' Robin tilted her head to the side. Her brow had furrowed almost unconsciously as she observed the world through the lens of Haki.

The world seemed to slow to a screeching halt as she did, and as if to reflect that, every minute detail visible to her eyes began to freeze over as well. She always felt strange using this particular form of Haki; so addicting to the cardinal senses that one wrong move and the world would cease to exist, with nought but her and the eternal frozenness of time before she would eventually drop dead at the overexertion of her soul.

Robin shuddered to imagine such pathetic fate, so much so that she hadn't dared to even conceive training in such a risky technique until well over a year after her first encounter with Dragon, then another one after that to master it along with the much safer Busoshoku Haki.

'But enough of that, we still have our little stowaway to take care of,' Taking in a deep breath, She honed her gaze onto the wooden walls with ruthless attention. Then, with a tiny wisp of her will, the obstacles that had previously obfuscated the intruder was flicked out of existence, giving her a better look at his face.

It was surprising, to say the least, if not disquieting to know that the ship's lacklustre defence— and moreover her crewmates' obliviousness had allowed someone of his calibre to embark on the Sunny.

"..." Shifting herself to stand on the soles of her feet, Robin slowly crept up against the wall, taking great pains to be as quiet as possible as she discreetly began to sneak up on the intruder.

It was easy getting close to him…

Too easy.

Unfortunately, it was only after she was a mere hop, skip and a jump away did Robin notice that something was amiss.

She had been watching where she stepped, cautious of tripping herself over and prematurely alerting her mark.

'Hm?' It was in this endeavour that she came across an item truly bone-chilling: because, as a consequence of her single-minded drive to make nary a sound, she began noticing the cracks and chips and blemishes on the uneven wood. And in one of those open sinews— surely an oversight by Franky when he crafted the ship's floorboards, a flash of light caught her attention.

It was probably just a trick of the light, she figured, just a nail that reflected the shine of the ceiling lamp, she told herself, but… she bit her bottom lip, something about it didn't sit right with her.

She paused to deliberate her next move. She could continue walking, subdue her target and be done with it, or she could sate her curiosity, find out what rubbed her the wrong way, and then beat him up.

It didn't take her too long to decide.

Lifting up her dress to prevent it from sashaying, Robin knelt down on both knees and began her examination. At first, she could scavenge up nothing but dirt or dust. She didn't want to give up so soon, though, and resolved herself to keep looking.

However, nothing seemed to surface but empty space, but just as she was about to call it quits and get up, she felt it.

Wet and slimy, the thing felt disgusting to the touch, producing a thick and viscous squelch whenever she poked or prodded at it. To her frustration, she wasn't able to pick it out of the hole no matter how much she tried, and the activation of her devil fruit would've made too much noise.

With a quiet sigh, Robin gave up. She stopped nudging her fingers in and dragged it back out to clean, then as if by Fate's design, the very thing that she'd been groping was revealed to her...

'Oh my god is that... Oh no...'

"Hurk?!" She paled and moved as far back as her legs would allow. She wanted to scream at what she saw. That wasn't supposed to be there!

-Shuffle!-

"!"

Her breath caught in her throat when she heard the slight footfalls in the distance. His steps were barely audible, but in this deadened environment, they might as well have gongs being rung next to her ears instead.

Instinctually, Robin had her arms crossed, waiting for what seemed to be an inevitable battle between her and the intruder…

…

...

Which never came to pass.

1 second. 2 seconds. 3... 4... 5. Time seemed to drag on as she lay in wait for her assailant, but even after a full minute's passing, she found neither hide nor hair of the pirate.

'Could he… did he not notice?' The preposterous thought sprung onto her then, but she wasn't so naive to rely on her instincts alone and turned on her Haki just to make sure.

After a quick scan that told her he was gone, she released the breath that she didn't even know she was holding before her brain finally remembered what she had witnessed.

'N-No. Maybe it's just my nerves. Yes, that must be it! That must be… Must be...' Robin's eyes drifted to the opening in the floor, and as if responding to her, she felt an onset of cold sweat running down the arch of her back.

Taking a deep breath, she wormed her way back to the opening. She gulped and tentatively put an eye into the hole, all the while comforting herself that it wasn't real, that it was just an illusion.

It wasn't one.

Because there, staring back up at her with its cold unfeelingness, was a dismembered eyeball, nerve tissue and all. It laid in a pool of burgundy red blood— what she could only assume as its own, as the veins and arteries embedded in its dirty white sclera continued pulsing the red nectar into the lone organ. The sight itself almost had her puking, but what was worse… what was infinitely times worse, was that it had no place here in the Sunny.

"Who-Who would do such a thing?!" Robin desperately pushed herself off of the ground, wanting nothing more to do with it.

"Huehuehue… A beautiful sight isn't, my left eye?" Rough and calloused hands gripped the back of her neck before pushing her back to the ground.

"Ach?!" Robin struggled to breath as she struggled to activate her devil fruit, however, the added weight was too much, leaving her practically helpless.

"I had sooo much fun~! Watching you try not to puke was an absolute joy!" The man cackled cheerfully into her ear. Robin fought and tried pushing him off, but the iron grip he had over her neck served only to weaken her further. All she could do now was watch as the man she thought was nothing celebrated over her, and as Robin's eyes drooped and her brain start shutting off from the lack of oxygen, she heard him mete out one final ridicule.

"So please indulge me… and let me keep WATCHING!"