The ASL Pirates' First Day of School
It had been a few days since Luffy blabbed Ace's biggest secret for all to hear.
At first, Ace was livid with his little bother, the two of them immediately getting into a vicious fistfight after Luffy slipped his secret. After the two of them stopped from exhaustion, the freckled boy made a beeline for the jungle, refusing to be seen by everyone for who knows how long.
Sabo suggested Luffy stay with Dadan and the bandits for the night to let Ace cool off. The straw hatted boy reluctantly agreed and stayed behind to watch Sabo go back into the wild to find their runaway sibling.
"I didn't mean to…" Luffy whined, wishing he could take back what he said.
"I can't really understand how…" Olivia spoke up. "Gold Roger died over twenty years ago, so how could Ace be his son, when he's only ten years old?"
"Because his mother pulled off a miracle…" Everyone turned to the voice of the aged old bandit woman, making her way over to them.
"After Gold Roger died, the navy went on a wide spread man hunt for anyone that had any connection with the pirate king." Dadan explained. "Rumors had reached them that he was associated with a woman by the name of Portages D. Rouge."
"When the navy reached her home island, she was already pregnant with Ace, and if he was born around the time they were investigating…"
"They wouldn't…!" The bar tender brought her hand up to her mouth, horrified at how far the navy would go for the 'greater good'.
"Woudln't they?" The ex-archeologist beside her voiced bitterly, being a victim of the navy's cruel sense of 'justice' herself.
After some silence passed, Dadan continued Ace's sad story.
"Garp explained that Rouge used all of her willpower to hold Ace back when he started to be born. She held on to Ace, passing the predicted birth date and went on to hold onto him for over fifteen months."
The two women shot their heads up at this, only imagining how excruciating the pain would be to hold back a crowning child, especially for that long.
"As you could understand, once the navy left, Rouge finally gave into her labor. She gave birth to Ace, but…well…"
She didn't need to go any further The two women could imagine what happened next.
Rouge died from the amount of strain she put on her body as she at long last gave birth to Ace.
Understandably, Makino and Olivia were flabbergasted with the realization.
Robin looked back into the jungle, concerned for the freckled boy.
"All those people that Ace fought…do they know about…?" Makino feared out loud.
"No," Dadan put the bar tender at ease. "He never wanted anyone to know. He just asked them what if Roger had a son."
"And they laughed at such an idea, and he would understandably grow angry and start a fight…" Olivia guessed the rest.
As the bandit woman nodded her head, sorrow filled the open space the group occupied. Sorrow for a boy, who's only crime was being born…
"Please don't hate Ace for his Dad being Roger!" Luffy suddenly shouted, catching everyone by surprise.
The green haired woman's eyes widened, before softening and kneeling down to Luffy's height.
"I could never hate Ace, Luffy." The bar-tender gently said. "Who you are isn't because of who you were born of, but who you choose to be."
Luffy calmed down when hearing those words and gave a smile.
"Indeed," The ex-archeologist looked to her dark haired daughter. "No one should be blamed for who they're parents are."
Robin was glad that her mother wasn't holding anything against Ace. She too had no problem with who the freckled boy's father was. Yet she also looked puzzled at her mother's words, as if they meant more than the white haired woman let on.
It took a bit of coaxing over the next few days, but they were able to let Ace know that they still cared for him, regardless of his heritage. The freckled boy was still skeptical and acted a little more withdrawn than usual, but soon enough, he was back to his old, ruff-housing self. He was still slightly mad at Luffy for spilling his secret in the first place, but over time, he let the straw hatted boy off the hook.
At the end of the day, they were still brothers.
It was another bright and sunny morning on Mt. Colubo, with Robin sitting on a stump near by the bandit shack, reading a book while kicking her legs. Olivia was sitting by her daughter, looking at what Robin was reading. The bandits of the old cabin were yet again, watching the white haired beauty from afar.
Earlier that morning, they had received a message from professor Clover, telling them of the situation back on Ohara. Garp had decided, after the civilians kept on bothering the scholars and the Tree of Knowledge, to place the tree under his personal protection, stopping any other assault or disruption caused by the island's populace.
When Olivia came back to reality, she began to notice how many of the bandits were staring at her from they're barely standing home. She was also able to hear the thugs whispers to one another, since they weren't all that good at keeping their noise down.
"Olivia is so pretty!"
"And she's so smart too!"
"What I wouldn't give to get a kiss from her!"
Olivia paid as least of mind as she could from the bandit's leering, still feeling uncomfortable with living around criminals. Robin couldn't help but find the man's swooning funny.
Soon enough, Makino showed up, bringing with her a load of liquor for the bandits. The booze helped to distract the gang of crooks from staring at the two women, a feat Olivia silently thanked the bar-tender for, who only chuckled at knowing how the white haired scholar felt.
"How's the bar, Makino?" Olivia asked.
"It's going great! Especially since you came to work part time!" Makino gave a giggle at the white haired woman's small blush.
Olivia was happy to be earning her keep and supporting her daughter and their home, but she was hoping to do something where she could put her intellect to good use.
Makino then spotted Robin on the stump and knelt down in front of her. "Whatcha reading, Robin?" She smiled.
"I'm reading about the kingdom of Alabasta!" Robin brightly notified, holding the book up. "The kingdom has been going on for generations, surviving the harsh desert environment and has been able to hold onto a treasure trove of its history!"
"Wow! That's amazing!" The bar-tender announced, impressed with how smart and knowledgable this eight year old girl was. The mother herself also smiled of how proud of her little girl's intelligence she was.
After a while, the three brothers made their appearance out of the jungle, Luffy instantly spotting Robin and bee-lining over to her.
"Hey, Robin!" Luffy called, which elected a bright and joyful smile from the dark haired girl.
"Luffy!" Robin waved from where she sat.
When the straw hatted boy made his way over to the girl, Makino gave a playful giggle at the two.
"Luffy just seems to brighten up your day, doesn't he, Robin?" She coyly remarked, causing the two young ones to blush uncontrollably.
"It's so sweet of you to want to see my Robin as soon as you can, Luffy!" Olivia decided to have some fun herself, adoring the red on her little girl's cheeks.
"Yeah! Luffy always goes on and on about wanting to see Robin, every time we wake up in the morning!" Sabo walked up behind the gathering and proceeded to join in on the teasing.
"You shouldn't be so clingy, Luffy! It's a good way to scare a girl off!" Ace slyly chided in, always ready to poke fun at his little brother.
"SHUT UP, ALL OF YOU!" Luffy bellowed with a red face, making everyone break out into a small fit of laughter. Robin could only cover her bright red cheeks with her hands, too embarrassed to say a word.
Sabo came out of his laughter to notice the book Robin had left on the stump.
"Hey, Robin?" He pointed at the large paperback. "Were you reading that before we came here?"
"Yeah!" Robin came out of her embarrassment to walk over to the thick print and pick it up. "I like to read before you guys show up!"
Out of the trio of siblings, Sabo was the only one looking at the book with an uncomfortable feeling in his chest.
Ace walked over and let Robin hand the book over to him. "Don't think I've ever seen one before…" He said as he examined the new object.
"You've never seen a book?!" Robin gasped, taking the freckled boy by surprise.
"N-no…" Ace steadily answered. "Guess that explains why I can't read much either…"
"You don't know how to read?!" Robin seemed overly offended by this, which was starting ti give Ace a little of the creeps.
"I don't think I know how either!" Luffy spoke up, whilst picking his nose at the same time. "Maybe that's why I didn't like reading in that giant tree library on Ohara."
"Luffy, please don't pick your nose." Makino lectured.
"YOU TOO?!" Robin got up in Luffy's face, scaring him off his feet.
"Books hold the greatest gift that mankind could ever give itself; the gift of knowledge!" Robin spoke strongly. "Knowledge helps the world to evolve and expand into a higher form of living and culture! Knowledge unites all living beings to share and cooperate with one another! Knowledge is the greatest power we have in the world!"
After finishing her unpredicted speech, Robin looked back at all the perplexed faces that had listened to her words. Realizing what she just did, she hid her face behind her reading material to shield her returning blush.
"At least that's what I think…" she shyly muttered.
Robin felt a hand being placed on top of her head, looking up to see her mother giving her a warm smile. Olivia was truly proud of her daughter caring so much about knowledge in a whole.
"Well," Ace decided to break the silence. "If you like to read that much, then that's cool!"
"Yeah!" Luffy threw his fists in the air in happiness. "Robin's super smart! That's part of what makes her awesome!"
Robin blushed more at this, then decided to show the boys what she was reading, even though they couldn't understand most of the words.
"Do you know how to read, Sabo?" she looked up and asked.
"U-uh…" Sabo's words were jammed in his mouth, the anxiety coming back to him slightly. "Yeah…" He managed to answer.
Olivia made her way over to Makino putting a hand up to her mouth to hide what she was saying.
"Don't these boys go to school?" The white haired scholar whispered.
"I'm afraid not." The bar-tender gently shook her head. "No one in town even knows about Ace or Sabo."
"How come?" Olivia asked in a shocked state.
Makino gained a sad look on her face before answering. "We already know Ace's reason, but as for Sabo, I'm not sure…"
The ex-archeologist looked back at the children gathered around Robin's book.
Special circumstances or not, a good education is what every growing child needs. These boys may be strong enough to handle wild animals, but handling the world and society was a different thing altogether.
Olivia gave it some thought, then had an idea…
The next morning, Ace, Sabo and Luffy were once again making their way to Dadan's cabin, ready to meet up with Robin again. Upon pushing past the thick brush of branches in their way, they discovered a strange setting in front of the old shack.
An arrangement of four boxes were set up in a row, while a large board was propped up at the front of them all.
"What the?" Ace questioned aloud.
"What's all this?" Sabo pondered.
Luffy then spotted Robin sitting at one of the boxes, a huge smile on her face.
"Robin, what's going on?" Luffy asked.
Before he got an answer, the sound of a bell ringing from behind the board caught the attention of the boys. Olivia revealed herself from behind the board, shaking a small bell in her hand.
"Good morning, boys! You're just in time!" The ex-archeologist exclaimed.
"Just in time for what?" Ace had a bad feeling about this.
"School!" The white haired teacher declared.
An ill wind past by the three brothers as they absorbed what Olivia had said.
"School…?" Luffy sounded out the foreign word.
"Momma's going to be teaching us all kinds of lessons!" The dark haired girl beamed.
"Like what?" Ace hesitantly spoke. Olivia then listed down some random subjects.
Just a few necessary lessons that will help you later in life," Olivia explained. "I'll even teach you how to read."
Luffy started to scratch his head. "Sounds hard."
"Yeah," Ace folded his arms. "Besides, how much good is that stuff gonna do us in life anyway?"
"You boys may have great strength in your bodies," The waited haired woman explained. "But remember what Robin said the other day. Knowledge is power, power that can be as good as your own strength."
Ace and Luffy were stunned at this. Suddenly, the straw hatted boy sprinted over to the make-shift classroom.
"I get to sit next to Robin!" He declared, earning a blush from the dark haired girl.
"No way! I'm sitting next to her!" Ace yelled when he realized what just happened and ran over too.
As the two boys fought over where to sit next to Robin, Sabo was the only one that didn't move from his spot. The top hatted boy was starting to shake and his eyes were glazing over, as if he was reliving something in his mind. Something horrible…
"Sabo!" Olivia called, bringing the gap-toothed boy back to reality.
"There's one seat left! Would you like to join us?" The ex-archeologist waved him over.
"U-uh…sure…" He reluctantly nodded as he made his way slowly over to the unoccupied crate, the knot in his stomach still present.
As Olivia started to write on the board, Robin was waiting eagerly to start learning, close to bouncing in her seat in excitement. Luffy had already fallen asleep, Ace had his face on his palms with a bored expression and Sabo sat still in his place, a strong depressed look on his face.
Once the white haired teacher was done writing, she turned back to her class. "Alright class! Whenever we have school in the morning, you have to call me Ms. Olivia."
"YES, MS. OLIVIA!" A large crowd of bandits spoke in unison behind the children, holding their hands up like infants.
"WHAT ARE YOU GUYS DOING?!" Ace yelled at the thugs's stupidity.
"How could we not want to sit in class with such a beautiful teacher at the front?" A bandit spoke out, making the rest of his comrades nod their heads in union.
Olivia was stunned at how childish these supposed dangerous criminals could act, while the bar tender could only giggle at the spectacle. The ex-archeologist tried to push away the memory of asking them for help in bringing all of the teaching supplies up the mountain.
Taking Makino's 'advice,' the white haired scholar took a shot at flirting with the bandits to get what she needed. The bandits lugged the boxes and board from the town at night, all the way up the mountain in the minute she batted her eyelashes. Even though Olivia felt mortified by committing such an act, Makino just laughed and patted the ex-archeologist on the shoulder.
Shaking her head back to the matter at hand, she paid no mind to the swarm of bandits and proceeded with the lesson.
"Now then, class. For our first lesson, we will be reading a few pages from a book called 'The Rainbow Mist.'" Olivia showed the book to the children, making the boys groan out loud and Robin smile.
"Luffy," The white haired teacher called out. "Would you like to start us off?"
"Uh…" Luffy stood up automatically and took the book that was offered to him. "Okay?"
Luffy turned the book sideways and upside-down, as if trying to find his place to start.
"T-the…Rain…boat-BOW!" Luffy corrected, causing Ace and Sabo to chuckle under their breaths. The straw hatted boy pouted at this, until the dark haired girl next to him decided to stand up and walk next to him.
"Do you want some help, Luffy?" Robin asked kindly. Luffy nodded in his stupor, surprised by how nice Robin was being. Instead of laughing at him, she chose to help him instead.
As Luffy read the words that Robin sounded out for him, Ace and Sabo began fuming to themselves, jealousy radiating off of them in waves.
"That was very good, Luffy, and it was very nice of you to help him as well, Robin!" Olivia congratulated when the boy was done following Robin's lead.
The lesson went on with the children taking turns in holding the book and reading a few lines, then passing it on to the next one to their side.
"You've all been doing so well!" Olivia praised her class. "Now, for our final lesson, you will be writing out one of the lines from the book we've read."
With a piece of paper and a quill in front of the children, Olivia gave the book to Luffy, who stuck his tongue out when trying to look at the book and the paper in front of him at the same time.
Unnoticed by the teacher, students and the gang of outlaws behind them, Sabo was starting to shake at the sight of the quill and paper. His eyes darting from the writing utensils, to the other children that were starting to enjoy their class now.
Returning his gaze to his desk, images of dark, angry figures striking him filled his mind, causing his anxiety to escalate higher and higher.
"That's a good try, Ace! You're spelling needs work, but as long as you stick to it, you'll get there in the end!" The freckled boy gave a unsatisfied huff, as Olivia then came in front of Sabo, who looked up at the white haired teacher whilst trying to suppress his nervous state.
"Here you go, Sabo." Olivia chimed. "Just pick a line and try to write it down as best as you can."
After receiving her request, Sabo shakily picked up the quill from the ink pot and inched his hand close to the paper. Ace finally took notice of his friend's state, beginning to grow concerned.
"Wait a minute." Sabo stopped in his movements and looked back at Olivia, seeing the worried look in her eyes.
"Sabo, are you alright? Your hand is shaking." She noticed, causing the top hatted boy to go into a spell of violent hyperventilating. The mental images were now so thick and visible, it was like they were happening right before the gap-toothed boy.
"Sabo?" Olivia reached out to him, which finally caused the boy to freak out, with a petrified shriek.
"DON'T TOUCH ME!" The boy wailed as he fell to the ground, spilling ink all over the paper and book on his desk box. The two other brothers were up and out of their seats, Robin following their actions, while the bandits were frozen in place by Sabo's outburst.
"Sabo! What's the matter with you?!" Ace yelled concerned, unable to get a reaction out of the boy, who had curled up into the fetal position and kept breathing deeply at a rapid pace.
All the poor boy could see was the dark figures, showing themselves to be a man dressed in blue with a thick black mustache, a tall woman wearing a fancy dress, each with angry looks on their faces, as they raised their hands and-
Another strangled cry came from the boy, making everyone gathered around him back up from the sudden noise.
Robin had taken up hiding behind Luffy, sacred for whatever was wrong with the top hatted boy. Luffy kept his arm raised in a protective manner for the dark haired girl, but was still concerned for his older brother. "Sabo! Speak to us!"
As Sabo continued to relive his trauma, a voice began to sound out through the cruel memories.
"SABO! SABO! SABO, SPEAK TO ME!"
Ace was currently shaking Sabo by his shirt collar, trying to snap him out of it. Suddenly, the gap-toothed youth came back to reality, whipping his head around to spot any faces that he saw in his vision.
Upon seeing only the concerned faces of his brothers, Robin, Olivia and the bandits, Sabo began to relax, breathing slowly to regain his calm. As he got ahold of himself, questions from nearly everyone present started to be blasted at him from left and right.
"Sabo, what happened?!"
"Are you alright?!"
"Why'd you freak out like that?!"
"I…I can't do this!" Unable to face the bombarding questions, along with the shame of what just occurred, Sabo quickly picked himself up and ran into the forest.
"Sabo!" Luffy called out, but was too late in catching his attention. Everyone stood around without a clue on what to do next.
"Everyone wait here…" Was the only thing that Olivia said, as she made her way through the thick brush of the jungle to go find the boy.
After a while of trekking through the wild, the white haired teacher came across the sound of silent crying. Upon following the sound and pushing a few branches out of her way, she spotted the sight of the top hatted boy, burying his face in his arms as he curled himself up into a ball by a large tree.
"Sabo?" She gently inquired, alerting boy slightly of her presence.
"Go away…" Sabo weakly moaned as he buried his face deeper in his crossed arms.
"I'm afraid I can't do that, Sabo." She went on. "As your teacher, it's my responsibility to see that you are alright."
Sabo didn't say anything back, but only responded with a few sad sniffs. The ex-archeologist knelt down and took a seat next to the boy, waiting patiently for him to come out of his crying.
Once Sabo seemed to be calming down, he looked back at her with a large frown, while she only returned a warm and caring smile.
"Feeling better?" She asked kindly. He gave another sniff and a nod.
"Good." She softly beamed. "Now, can you tell me what's the matter?"
Sabo looked reluctant to say, but the kindness that this woman was showing was so overwhelming that he couldn't help but spill his feelings.
"I didn't want to write…or read…or go to class…" He began. "I know how to do most of that stuff already."
"How so?" Olivia inquired.
Sabo's face screwed up in discomfort before giving his answer.
"I'm…not an orphan like Luffy or Ace. I still have my parents." He confessed.
"Really?" Olivia sounded out her surprise. "Then why aren't you with them?"
"Beacuse…they don't treat me like a son." He painfully continued. Olivia had a bad feeling in her stomach when she heard this.
"My parents are nobles, making me a noble too." Sabo revealed, making the white haired scholar all the more surprised. "But all they care about is making more money, and their reputation." The top hatted boy clenched his fists in brewing anger.
"They'd make me study at home, but the teacher they hired…" Sabo paused, the memories coming back to him painfully.
"It's okay, Sabo." Olivia placed her hand on the boy's shoulder. "You don't have to keep talking about it anymore."
Olivia was more then aware of how cruel and uncaring the nobles of the world could be. Spending their time looking down on people less privileged than them, while at the same time kissing up to anyone with more wealth and power than they have as well.
The worst of them all were the celestials, the highest figures of nobility itself. They were known to be the founders of the world government, the sole reason of the seas having any sense of law and order in the first place.
However, since being given diplomatic immunity by who-knows-who for the creation of justice on the seas, they have done and taken whatever they wanted without any fear or concern, including horrendous acts as murder and slavery.
"Ace was the first friend I ever had," The gap-toothed boy continued. "He showed me how to live free, live my own life! I packed up what I could and ran away from home without looking back…"
He then brought his knees closer to his chest, the feelings of hurt and fear coming back to him. "When you sat us down for school…it all just came back…"
Sabo's eyes shot wide open when he felt the arms of the white haired scholar circle around him, pulling him into a warm embrace and putting her chin on top of his head.
"I am so sorry, Sabo…" The older woman soothed the boy. "If you don't want to come to my school time, then you don't have to. I won't force you."
Sabo looked up at Olivia after she spoke. He had never been allowed to be excused from classes before. He then thought about her offer, tempted to take it and be rid of the horrible memories of his previous education. But then thought about his friends, who were actually enjoying Olivia's school time.
"I'll…I'll come to class…" Sabo hesitantly agreed, making the ex-archeologist give a look of puzzlement. "If the other guys are gonna keep going, then I don't want to be stuck waiting for them…also…you're way better then my other teachers back home…"
Olivia gave a chuckle at Sabo's words and picked herself up back onto her feet.
"Shall we return to class then?" She asked as she reached her hand out to him.
Sabo looked at the offered palm and, rather uneasily, took it in his own, the woman's gentle grasp covering his own. As the teacher and student made their way back to the others, Sabo wondered if this was what it was like to have a mother that really cared for him…
Robin sure was lucky…
"Sabo!" Ace called as he, Luffy, Robin and the bandits rushed over to the returning two.
"Are you okay?" Robin asked with great concern.
"Why'd you freak out like that?" Luffy bluntly questioned.
"Guys! Guys!" The top hatted boy raised his hands, motioning for his friends to take it down a notch. "I'm okay! Mrs. Olivia talked to me and helped me to calm down."
"You sure?" Ace put his hand on Sabo's shoulder, showing his support for his bother.
Sabo saw this action and looked back at the freckled boy with affirmation and gratitude. "Yeah…I'm okay."
The sound of clapping brought the attention of everyone gathered back to Olivia. "Alright, that's enough, Sabo doesn't need to be crowded like this!"
Olivia turned back to the top hatted boy. "Now, Sabo, if you don't want to join us for school, you don't have to. I won't force you to do something you're not comfortable with."
Sabo looked back up at the white haired scholar, absorbing her words.
"Let's all get back to class!" Olivia led the children ( and the smitten outlaws) back to the front of the board, wanting to get back on track on what she had planned on doing.
"Now, since two of you have some difficulty with certain things, and two of you don't," The white haired teacher explained, wanting to avoid hurting anyones feelings. "You will be partnered up, with one helping the other."
Once the make-shift teacher explained this, two hands immediately shot into the air.
"I wanna be with Luffy!"
"I wanna be with Robin!"
Both children stared back at one another and quickly looked away to hide they're glowing red faces.
The gang of bandits behind the class couldn't help but 'Awwww!' at the two, Olivia gave a small laugh at the adorable sight and Ace and Sabo dropped their jaws at what they'd just seen and heard.
The freckled older sibling put his head on the desk slightly hard, while the top hatted boy placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, showing his care and understanding. Naturally, the two of them partnered up.
The rest of the class went on with the dark haired girl helping Luffy on how to read, while Ace was easily annoyed with how much he was getting words wrong and Sabo having to explain nearly everything to him.
"Alright, children!" The white haired teacher called their attention. "You've all done wonderful today! Since this is something new to you, you can have the day off tomorrow, but the day after, we start class again!"
"Yes, Ms. Olivia!" The children and the smitten bandits unified.
While Olivia once again persuaded the outlaws to stow away the board and box desks, the four young ones stepped away, the three brothers making they're way toward the jungle with Robin seeing them off.
"I don't know about this whole 'school' thing…" Ace pondered aloud.
"I had lots of fun today!" Robin beamed.
"Of course you would!" Sabo said as he looked back.
"Can you believe how bad Luffy is at reading?" the freckled boy brought up with a grin.
"Yeah!" The top hatted boy agreed while sniggering. "Robin had to help him the whole time he made a mistake, which was pretty much on every word!"
It was unfortunately true. The straw hatted boy had screwed up nearly the whole page he was asked to read, with Robin having to correct him every time he got something wrong.
As the two older siblings broke out laughing, Luffy snapped his head back at them. "Shut up, you two!"
"Why are you being so mean to Luffy?!" Robin was fuming with how they were treating their own little brother. "You did just as bad as he did, Ace!"
The freckled boy cringed at the mention of this, remembering all the times he got ticked off with every time he got a word wrong and Sabo had to correct him. Upon hearing the sound of the top hatted boy now laughing at his expense, Ace threw him a dirty scowl, making his brother stop in an instant.
"Come on, Robin!" Ace then turned back to the girl to defend his little brothers ignorance. "You gotta admit, Luffy's the most brain-dead, numb-skull in the entire world! How can you not see that too after today?"
That was something that Robin couldn't let slide, and said three words that no one had ever said or heard before.
"LUFFY ISN'T STUPID!"
A breeze past by as gathered children present as the two elder siblings processed what had just come out of the little girl's mouth. Out of the three of them, Luffy was by far the most surprised.
No one had ever said he wasn't stupid. Not even Makino…
"How…How can you think he's not stupid, Robin?" dared to ask, getting a glare from the girl at the mention of the 'S' word.
"Luffy maybe a bit…slow and…not think things through…," Robin regretfully admitted after she managed to calm herself. "But…He's not as stupid as you say he is! Besides! You're his brothers! You shouldn't say stuff like that about him!"
Guilt then replaced their surprise, the young girl's words sticking them to their core.
Ace and Sabo came out of their surprise to see Robin walking up to the straw hatted boy and take his hands in her own. "I'll never call you stupid, Luffy. You don't deserve to be called names like that."
"T-thanks…" Luffy stuttered. "Thanks, Robin…"
Robin beamed a smile at him, then proceeded to warp her arms around his neck in a hug. Ace and Sabo had dropped their jaws at what was happening before them, while Luffy slowly raised his arms to hug Robin back, still in his state of bewilderment. Soon enough, a small smile crept up on his own face.
"Robin!" Olivia called from across the field. "Time to go home!"
"Coming!" The girl called back, coming out of the embrace with Luffy. She ran across the clearing before turning back to wave at the boys. "See you tomorrow!"
As the boys stood in their places and watched Robin make her way over to her mother, Ace broke the silence with a clearing of his throat. "L-let's get going already! Dinner isn't gonna hunt itself!"
"Sure," Sabo returned as the freckled boy disappeared into the wild. Before stepping in himself, the top hatted boy looked back at Luffy, still stuck in place.
"Luffy, we need to go find dinner! Aren't you hungry?" Sabo attempted to get his attention.
"Huh? Oh! Yeah…FOOD!" The straw hatted boy snapped out of himself and immediately made a dash for the forest.
Sabo could only shake his head at his little over-exited brother. Looking back at Robin and Olivia as they made their way home, hand in hand. Sabo let out a small sigh, remembering the time he had with the kind hearted woman.
With a sad smile, he made his way into the jungle, to catch up with his brothers.
"So, Robin, how did you like my school?" Olivia asked as the two made their way home.
"It was the best!" robin chimed happily.
"I'm glad to hear that!" The white haired scholar smiled.
"Yeah!" Robin went on. "It was so nice of you to want to help Luffy and his brothers to read!"
"Everyone needs a good education." Olivia looked down at the dark haired girl. "I'm just sorry you had to learn things that you already know."
"I don't mind." Robin announced. "And I was kind of thinking…"
The mother looked down at her daughter, wondering what she was going to say next.
"Maybe after teaching Luffy and his brothers, you could teach me more about the ponoglyphs after!"
Olivia stopped dead in her tracks, causing Robin to stop along with her. The ex-archeologist was slightly shaking, making the dark haired girl rather nervous.
"Momma…?" Robin hesitantly asked. The next thing to happen, Olivia got down to her knees, took her daughter's shoulders in her hands and like deep into her eyes.
"Robin…" The white haired scholar sternly spoke. "I want to you to forget all about the ponoglyphs!"
Robin's eyes shot wide open at this. "But why?!"
"Going after those accursed things was the worst mistake I ever made!" Olivia nearly yelled, scaring her daughter a little. Seeing the terrified look on her face, the mother calmed herself before continuing.
"I risked far more than I than I realized when I went out searching for them, more than I can live with." She continued. "I don't want you to make the same mistake I did."
She then looked down at the ground, partly ashamed of what she was about to say next. "As far as I'm concerned, the lost history of the world can stay lost!"
Robin was beyond shocked to hear this. Her mother, the woman she looked up to all her life, the person she modeled herself to be, had said something that went against everything that a historian stood for.
It was as if she didn't take pride in her life's work anymore…
"Promise me that you'll forget about the ponoglyphs, Robin. Please!" Olivia seemed to beg.
"…I promise." Robin said in a small voice.
The mother put her forehead to her daughter's as relief filled her body. "It's for the best, Robin. Trust me."
Robin didn't say anything, but didn't completely agree with what her mother was saying. The mother and daughter took each other's hands again and began making there way back home again.
Ace, Sabo and Luffy were walking through the jungle back to their tree house home, with Luffy walking ahead of the elder two as they watched over him.
They had no reason to fear of any wild animals coming out of no where and attacking them, after all the hunting and much larger creatures they've taken down and eaten, the three brothers had quite the effect on the still living wildlife.
As Luffy was singing some made up song about people on south islands having hotheads and being idiots, Ace leaned over to Sabo and nudged him with his elbow.
"What?" The top hatted boy turned his attention to him.
"I've been thinking…about Luffy and Robin…" The freckled boy brought up.
"Yeah?" Sabo inquired.
"…We never had a chance with Robin, did we?" Ace admitted with a shake of his head.
Sabo wondered what he meant, only for realization to dawn on him and a smile cross his face. "No, I guess not. Although, you really blew any chance you had with her in the first place."
"Shut up…" Ace muttered, not wanting to be reminded of when he yelled at Robin.
"But your'e right," Sabo turned back to the straw hatted boy ,who was now on the second verse of his song. "Luffy makes Robin really happy, and Robin even thinks that Luffy isn't stupid!"
"Yeah! Can you believe that?" The freckled boy was still in awe of such a thing.
"What are you guys talking about?" Luffy called back.
"Uh, nothing, Luffy!" Ace answered, wanting to keep their discussion a secret.
"Come on, tell me!" Luffy demanded, not wanting to let it go.
"It's nothing, Luffy!" Sabo tried to reason. "Let's go find something to eat!"
The straw hatted boy pouted at being left out. "You guys never tell me anything!"
Days turned into months as the three brothers and the dark haired girl that had become acquainted with them enjoyed their lives of freedom and friendship.
Ace and Sabo began to grow less and less forward to Robin, easing back on trying to get her attention, knowing all too well who she had her eye on. Olivia continued to teach the children at her make-shift school time, proud of the progress that Luffy and Ace in particular were making, with Robin and Sabo helping them along the way. Over time, Robin even gained enough courage to start heading into the forest herself, joining the trio on their madcap hunting trips, blown away time and again with how they were able to take down such enormous and ravenous wildlife.
All the while, the bond between Robin and Luffy grew stronger as time went on, each having a significant effect on the other. Robin became more out going and less withdrawn, as long as Luffy was there to be around, and Luffy learned how to calm down more and even managed to sit still, while Robin was with him of course.
Life couldn't be any better for the four young ones as they relished in their happiness.
Unaware of the looming danger that was heading their way…
"Saint Jalmack!" A government officer saluted a middle aged man with a thin mustache, wearing a white suit and cloak, along with what appeared to be a strange head piece fashioned on his shoulders with a square-like see through dome going over his head.
"What is it?! Can't you see I'm busy?!" The man mentioned was indeed busy, scarfing down five star cuisine like it was slop from a pig troth. Around him, depressed looking maids and butlers stood along a far stretching table, bowed and waiting for any order the imperial slob wished.
"W-well,sir! The ship is ready and waiting for your arrival!" The officer declared, hoping that the man at the far end of the large dining hall would stop eating and come along already. He wouldn't dare say it out loud though, not if he wanted to keep his head…
"Oh, very well, then!" The reluctant man wiped his food lathered face and got up from his seat, the help standing by springing into action to clean up the table.
"Let's see if the kingdom of Goa is worthy of the Celestials blessing…"
