Title: Monsters and Demons
Timeframe: AU/alternate timeline
Rating: K+
Spoilers: Nope

After years of being bullied by family and villagers alike, Robin fell into the habit of using her Devil Fruit while reading. More than once hidden ears had given her enough warning to save her from some cruelty or other. This method wasn't foolproof—concentrating on her surroundings while reading was difficult—but she was getting better at picking up certain phrases that always meant trouble.

So when Robin heard the word "Monster" not too far from her position, she wasted no time. The clearing in the woods was no longer safe. It was time to go to the Tree of Knowledge.

Had she bothered to look, Robin would have realized that the derogatory slur was for once not meant for her. Instead, a group of village children circled around a terrified and confused newcomer who had made the mistake of asking for directions.

The archeologists were busy and left Robin to her own devices. She walked slowly on the second level of the library, futilely scanning the titles for something of interest. What Robin wanted was to be outside. Restless energy bubbled within her with nowhere to escape. It was a beautiful summer day, perfect for visiting the tide pools at the beach or climbing trees in the forest or anything at all except being cooped up with nothing to do.

Below her, Robin heard the door to the library open. The professor greeted whomever had entered, and Robin sighed. Visitors meant the professor would be busier than usual, which meant she probably would not get a lesson today. She pulled a book off the shelf at random and found a quiet place to read.

It was a depressing fact of life that good historians did not always make good writers. Robin had read many a book that should have been interesting but wasn't because the author approached the material in the most tedious way possible. This was unfortunately true of the book she had chosen.

She stared at the page, not absorbing any of the words. She could hear the sound of a ticking clock and kicked her feet in time with the seconds. Boredom was a dangerous emotion for a Devil Fruit user, one that usually resulted in Robin looking in the library basement. Biting her lip, she looked to make sure she was truly alone. The last time she had used her power to spy on people she had gotten in trouble with the professor.

There was no one around, but to make sure Robin closed her eyes and called up half a dozen copies to check on Professor Clover. He was pacing back and forth, making agitated hand motions as he talked to someone. The angle was awkward, so Robin dismissed her eyes and sprouted an ear. She wasn't eavesdropping, not really. If the conversation was meant to be private he would not have stayed in the main auditorium of the library.

"What in the world are you doing here?"

"Didn't know you needed an invitation to go to a library." Professor Clover's mysterious visitor coughed. "I need your help."

"That ship sailed forty years ago. You made your bed then. Now it's time you lie in it."

Robin released her power, feeling like she had intruded on a deeply personal moment. She stood and held her book close to her chest, unsure of what she was supposed to do. Would he be angry, knowing she had listened when he told her not too?

Never before had Robin heard Professor Clover sound so…harsh. It was the same tone Aunt Roji used when she spoke about Robin's mother, and to hear it in the professor was frightening.

Maybe going outside wasn't such a bad idea after all.

If she was quiet enough, she could sneak past the professor and his visitor with no one the wiser. She could come back another day and pretend nothing had happened. Yes, that was the best idea at the moment. Robin laid the book on a cart for reshelving, mentally noting its title so she wouldn't be tempted to pick it up again.

Robin went to the staircase that wound around the trunk of the tree. As she descended down to the first level her real ears picked up the professor's conversation, which was quickly turning into a full-blown argument.

"Damn it, Rowan! This isn't about the past!"

"Then what is it about, Linus?"

Robin stopped mid-step. Rowan was Professor Clover's given name, but no one she knew would ever address him in such a familiar manner. It simply wasn't done. This Linus—whoever he was—had to have some connection with the professor.

"That's what I've been trying to tell you! I need hel—" Again he broke out into a violent cough. Remembering that she was supposed to be escaping, Robin hurried down the stairs. Peeking around a bookcase, she got her first good look at the person who had riled the professor into such a state.

It was like looking the professor's twin from an alternate dimension. The man shared Professor Clover's wiry build and beak-like nose. Even his hair rivaled the professors; it was shaped into four columns, two stuck out sideways on each side of his head, and another out of the back, with the last standing straight up on the top of his head, giving it the appearance of a cross. He was probably younger than the professor, but looked rather unwell and was breathing heavily.

Worst of all, he was positioned in such a way Robin could not go past without being noticed.

None of the archeologists were around. They had probably found work elsewhere once the argument started. Robin retreated back up the stairs. At least there she wouldn't be intruding on the professor's privacy.

"You're not making any sense!" Professor Clover exclaimed, making Robin cringe. "If this is another one of your crazy ideas…"

Robin put her fingers in her ears so she wouldn't have to hear any more. She was used to people yelling around her, but somehow it seemed worse coming from the professor. Wandering around the countless shelves and books, Robin tried to lose herself in the comfort of the library.

Finally she found a small study tucked away in one corner of the tree. Robin slid into the chair and buried her head in her hands. Whoever this visitor was, he had no right to upset the professor. Professor Clover was the hardest working, smartest, kindest person she knew. He was everything she aspired to be, and hearing him yell like that almost made Robin sick.

Robin heard something make a small squeaking noise, and when she looked up again saw something quite unexpected. An unidentifiable creature leaned against one of the bookshelves so that its body stuck out in the aisle and one eye was hidden. Robin blinked as it stared at her.

The creature was small and furry, and appeared to have antlers of some sort. Yet it stood on two legs and wore pants and a fuzzy pink hat. The only thing Robin could think it could possibly be was a minkman, but as far as she knew there weren't any in the West Blue.

"Hello?" Robin said cautiously.

"Eeek!"

The creature turned around and ran. She could see now that it had hooves as well as antlers, so it couldn't be a minkman. Without thinking, Robin stood and called out, "Wait! Stop, please!"

It didn't slow down, so Robin gave chase. She couldn't even imagine what the small antlered creature was, but apparently it had the ability to speak. There was no way she was going to let it leave without it telling her what it was.

Luckily, Robin had the advantage of being familiar with the layout of the library. She was able to quickly cut it off as it ran headlong into the confusing maze of shelves. When it saw her, it tried to turn around, but tripped instead. Robin approached slowly as it tried to stagger back up, doing her best not to look threatening.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

The creature glared at her, but the effect was undercut by the fact it was trembling like a leaf and one of its eyes was swollen shut. Robin stopped and raised her hands to show she meant no harm.

"I didn't mean to scare you."

For a moment it appeared conflicted. Robin took another small step forward, and it bristled. Taking a deep breath, Robin forced herself to remain patient. It was clearly scared, and scared animals—if it was an animal—were dangerous.

"Did you come with the man downstairs?" Robin asked.

"L-leave me alone!" the creature shouted with a high-pitched, childlike voice. "Go away!"

"I was here first," Robin said. "Does your eye hurt? I could get an ice pack for it."

The creature growled, but Robin refused to move. Snarling in frustration it shuddered and began to change shape. Robin watched in awe as the small deer-creature transformed into a large gorilla-creature. She could hardly suppress her glee as it loomed over her.

"You're a Devil Fruit user!" she said, beaming up at him. "A zoan! I've never met one before; you're much more interesting than what the books say!"

"You…you're not scared of me?"

Robin lifted an arm and sprouted three copies out of her elbow. He jumped, nearly knocking over a shelf, and then stared at her with wide eyes.

"Y-you're a monster, too?"

"No more than you are, I'd guess," Robin said happily. She went over and grabbed his hand. "Come on, let's get some ice."

Robin had desperately wanted to meet a Devil Fruit user ever since she had eaten her own. The stigma brought on by the mysterious fruit was something not even the professor understood, and if there was someone else like her, Robin thought it would be easier to bear the burden.

She led the deer-gorilla to the archeologist's break room. He looked overwhelmed, but made no more attempt to run away. He was clumsier while shifted into his bigger body, and after a few steps transformed back into back into a small, upright deer.

There were so many questions, Robin hardly knew where to begin. Remembering her manners, she supposed it would be best to start with the basics.

"What's your name?" she asked, opening a door that lead to a small kitchen. Immediately the smell of stale coffee assaulted them, and the deer sneezed and put his hooves over his nose.

"Tony Tony Chopper. What is that smell?"

"Coffee. The archeologists drink it." Robin pulled a chair from the table and drug it over to the refrigerator so she could reach the ice. "I'm Robin, by the way."

"They drink that stuff?"

"It doesn't taste very good," Robin admitted. "I think it helps them stay awake." She took a tray of ice out of the freezer and slid off the chair. With a frown, Robin realized that she didn't have anything to put it in.

"Oh," Chopper said quietly. He looked around nervously. "You…you ate a Devil Fruit?"

"Yep. It's a paramecia, though, so I can't change shape." Rummaging under the sink, she found a trash bag. It was too big, but it would have to do. She dumped the ice in and tied it off, then wrapped a towel around whole thing. "Here. This will help keep the swelling down."

He accepted gratefully. "Are you a doctor?"

Robin looked at him quizzically. "No. What makes you think that?"

"I just thought…since you were nice…" Chopper squirmed in embarrassment. "Doctors help people."

"You don't have to be a doctor to help people," Robin said. "The archeologists help people, and they're not doctors. Well, except Professor Clover, but he doesn't practice medicine."

Chopper nodded, but he looked confused. "I guess."

There was a beat of silence, and Robin wasn't sure what to say next. She really wasn't very good at talking to anyone except the archeologists, and that was because they were her teachers. In fact, this was quickly becoming one of the longest conversations she ever had that wasn't about history.

"So what is your power?" Robin asked. "I mean, it's obviously a zoan, but I can't figure out which one."

"You said that before, but I don't know what you're talking about" Chopper said, his voice tiny. He dropped his gaze to the ground, embarrassed. "I don't know that other word, either. Para-mecca."

"Paramecia," Robin corrected reflexively. "You don't know the type of Devil Fruit you have?"

"Of course I do. It turned me into a human. I just don't know those other things…" Chopper's voice trailed and he clasped his hooves over his mouth, dropping his icepack.

Robin's eyes widened as she realized the implication of what he said. If Chopper didn't know what a zoan or a paramecia was, then he had probably received very little education on Devil Fruits. If that was the case, then there was a chance he believed all of the superstitions and myths surrounding his abilities. Dr. Clover always said there wasn't much information available to the public.

Well, that may be true of other places in the world, but this was the Tree of Knowledge. Robin grabbed Chopper's hoof and nearly drug him out of the kitchen.

"Come on, I've got something to show you."

Robin sat down next to Chopper on an open bit of floor and proudly presented an enormous, aging book. Luckily the Devil Fruit encyclopedia was on the upper level of the library, so they didn't have to go past Dr. Clover and the mysterious Linus that seemed to upset him so.

Chopper eyed the book, but didn't say anything. In fact, he hadn't said anything at all since admitting he didn't know what a zoan was. Flipping to the through the introductory pages, Robin pointed to a chart.

"See, this says the difference between zoans, paramecias, and logias. Zoan Devil Fruits give the power to transform into an animal, logias the ability to generate and become an element, and pramecias is a general category for everything else. I ate the Flower-Flower Fruit, which means I'm a paramecia. Does that make sense?"

Beside her, Chopper sniffed.

Robin looked at him worriedly. His eyes were filled with tears, and he didn't appear to be listening to anything she was saying. Alarmed, Robin asked, "Did I say something wrong? Did you need another ice pack? I can make another one…"

"Y-you don't care if I'm a reindeer?"

"You're a very nice reindeer," Robin said. "I'm sorry if I upset you."

Instead of making him feel better, the apology only seemed to upset Chopper worse. Calling on her Devil Fruit, Robin made a line of hands to the nearest box of tissues. She handed him one, and waited patiently as he blew his nose.

"People threw rocks at me today," Chopper said, looking up at her with a miserable expression. "Dr. Hiliruk said we should take the back way to the library, but we got separated and I was lost in the woods."

Robin stared at him, knowing exactly who he was talking about.

"They called me a…a…"

"Monster," Robin finished quietly, balling her hands into fists. "That's what they call me, too. I'm sorry they were mean to you. The people at the library are nicer, I promise."

"But when I got here there was a man yelling at Dr. Hiliruk. That's why I got scared and hid."

Robin shifted uncomfortably. "I don't know. I've never heard him talk like that before. But he's teaching me to be an archeologist, even though everyone else thinks I'm a demon."

"Demon?" Chopper asked.

"It's stupid," Robin said, looking down at the book. "Look here, it says Devil Fruits are perfectly scientific. The waves emitted by fruits are transferred into the body of whoever eats them, granting them control of the fruit's power for the duration of their natural life."

Chopper peered down at the page, squinting his good eye. "Is that really what it says?"

"Read for yourself," Robin said, turning the book so he could better see.

"I…I can't."

"You can't read?" Robin said, horrified.

"I'm a reindeer, of course I can't read!"

"But you ate a Devil Fruit that turned you into a human!" Robin exclaimed.

"That doesn't mean I can read!"

Robin was dumbstruck. She had known how to read almost before she could walk, and couldn't imagine anything more terrible.

"Wait here," Robin said. "I need to get a few things."

Professor Clover and Dr. Hiliruk found their students an hour later working diligently over a notebook, oblivious to the world. The two men looked at the children, then at each other, hardly able to believe the sight in front of them. Half a dozen books were spread over the floor and opened to different pictures. Chopper was in his full human form, clumsily holding a pencil in his hands as Robin showed him how to write his letters.

"This is an X," Robin said, making a few marks with a pencil of her own. "X is the sound at the beginning of xylophone, xiphoid, and xyster."

"What's a xyster?"

A disembodied hand flipped through the pages of one of the books and then held it up for Chopper to see.

"It's this thing here. It's an instrument used to scrape bones."

Professor Clover coughed politely, and they both jumped. When Robin saw him her eyes widened, and she quickly averted her gaze, curling her shoulders in defensively. When no one spoke a word, Robin lifted her head, eyes darting back and forth as she looked for an escape. Clover hadn't seen her so timid while at the library in years. How much of his argument had she heard? Clover offered his kindest smile, feeling very ashamed of himself.

"Robin," he said calmly, "I have someone I would like you to meet. This is Linus Hiliruk, and he…he" Clover faltered, unsure of how he wanted to say this.

"I need to borrow your library," Hiliruk said. He put his hands on his hips and grinned. "There's some research I'm doing, and I think your books can help me find what I'm looking for."

"It's not my library," Robin said shyly.

"That's not how my brother tells it," Hilruk said.

"Brother?" Robin said, looking at the professor in shock.

"Half-brother," Clover said sourly, turning his attention back to Hiliruk. "And the answer is still no. You can't stay here. It's out of the question."

"I don't have money to get a hotel, and you know why I can't go back to Drum until I finish my cure."

Clover glanced at the reindeer. Apparently the poor boy had been mistreated by the people of Drum after eating a Devil Fruit, and he had reacted as any threatened animal would.

Unfortunately, that animal instinct had led to several villagers being injured and a price put on the head of a boy who didn't know any better.

Clover was sympathetic, truly he was, but he didn't want his half-brother or his charge to find out the work he was doing on the poneglyphs. It was difficult enough to keep the secret from Robin, and she didn't stay overnight when most of the translation work was done.

"He's like me, Professor," Robin said quietly.

Professor Clover stiffened, the words cutting him to the core. The boy's black eye hadn't escaped him, and he could guess how he had gotten it. It was an unfair world for Devil Fruit users, and that would be especially true for the young reindeer who had had human intelligence suddenly thrust upon him.

And it seemed he had made fast friends with Robin. It seemed cruel to take away the only friend she had ever made.

"Fine. But there are conditions," Clover looked at Hiliruk seriously. "I cannot have you causing trouble. The Tree of Knowledge already has a strained relationship with the community. I absolutely forbid you from practicing what you claim is doctoring."

"But, Rowan…"

As Professor Clover and Dr. Hiliruk began to bicker back and forth about living arrangements, Robin and Chopper looked at one another with twin looks of pure joy. It was hard to suffer alone, but together it felt like they could take on the world.

AN: This is for Yuuzhan Vong Jedi in honor of pushing Life's Chapters past 200 reviews. The prompt: Kid!Robin and Kid!Chopper meet in a library. Having Hiliruk and Clover be related was an added bonus ;)

I got the name Rowan for Professor Clover from the wonderful fic 'Till You Feel it all Around You (seriously, check it out if you haven't. It's full of d'aww moments from beginning to end) and Linus from the Linus Pauling who, like Hiliruk, was an able chemist accused of quackery in later in his career because of his theories regarding the use of megadoses of vitamin C in cancer patients.