Luffy was planning to sleep on the deck while the others went to shore. She had partied pretty hard, practically devouring everything she could get her hands on before heading back to the ship. She knew what was going to happen and trusted her crew to handle themselves. At the very least the serious fighters would be able to handle it, like Takeshi and Zoro.
So when she saw a figure on her ship that looked vaguely familiar, it took her a few moments to register who it was.
Nico Robin. She was leaning on the side of the railing with a sad smirk on her face.
Luffy blinked, before asking something that would set the tone of the conversation.
"Aren't you the girl who had the bounty put on her simply because you could read a dead language?" she asked.
Robin stiffened at that. Very few were aware of the reason she had such a large bounty put on her at a young age.
"How interesting. I was unaware that a rookie from the East Blue would recognize me."
"My older brother is Roger's son. If anyone understands the sheer stupidity of the World Government and their hatred of secrets that they want to keep buried, it's us," said Luffy bluntly.
It took Robin a few seconds for her to get the cryptic remark. Once she did, her eyes widened with shock as she registered actual empathy in Luffy's eyes.
Luffy allowed her Sky to drift closer to Robin, but did not try to press. Right now Robin had no reason to trust her, and it would only do more damage than good if she tried to chain the woman down.
Especially since she could tell just by being this close that Robin was a Cloud. One who's territory was uncovering the mystery of the Poneglyphs, but still a Cloud.
Still, Robin had no reason to trust her yet. Ah, the difficulties of courting a Cloud.
Good thing she had far too much experience with a certain carnivore to understand the headaches...at least Robin wasn't nearly as violent as Kyouya had been!
"I see. Are you sure you can trust me with such a secret?" said Robin slyly.
Luffy smirked.
"I only said it was my brother, not which one or what his full name is," said Luffy. "Besides, the World Government can go fuck a goat before I ever side with them. What happened to the Gray Terminal wasn't as horrific as a Buster Call, but it was still pretty devastating."
Once again, sheer shock went through Robin's frame. How did this rookie know that she was a survivor of the Marine's most devastating 'weapons' against those that went up against the World Government.
Luffy's expression shifted to something a little closer to sheepish.
"Besides... I'm actually really curious what's on the Poneglyphs too. I mean I know for a fact there's more than one," said Luffy.
Robin blinked.
"What?"
"I said I know for a fact there's more than one of them. And that it's the reason the World Government is really after you."
Something dark crossed Robin's face. It was filled with pain, self-loathing and cold resignation.
"Oh really? So you would be willing to have every Marine against you just for knowing what was contained on the Poneglyphs?" she said coldly.
Luffy's resolve shocked her.
"I'm saying that maybe it's time you tried trusting others again, and putting faith in something other than yourself to get you out of bad situations," said Luffy bluntly.
The strange warmth that seeped from the smaller female made Robin hesitate. There was a sense of unconditional acceptance, love, and the unshakable resolve that would see heaven and hell topple if it meant protecting those it had claimed as it's own.
However years of pain and cold hard reality made her resist the idea of trusting Luffy. After all, what could a rookie do against the entire World Government?
Which was why Robin decided to be a little petty towards the 'brat' in front of her who seemed far too flippant about something that had caused her so much pain. If Luffy thought dealing with the Marines was a simple matter, then why not let the kid handle having them after his ass for knowing what was on the Poneglyph from Ohara?
Luffy had an odd expression on her face when she heard the cryptic message Robin had engraved in her memory. It was one of the few things that had never faded about Ohara.
She disappeared before the idiots got too close to the ship, but the damage was done.
Luffy punched out the fools who tried to sneak up on her, before going into the ship to get some paper and a pencil. There was no way that message was what she thought it was, right?
"So basically we now have a Warlord after our ass because we know he's behind the current problems in Alabasta," said Luffy.
Vivi looked ashamed at the fact she had inadvertently gotten them all in so much danger.
"Ahahaha... well at least we won't be bored!" said Takeshi.
"True!" said Luffy grinning. "So Princess, how about we make a deal?"
"What sort of deal?" asked Vivi suspiciously.
"We help you deal with Crocodile and the mess with the rebels... and in exchange you agree to fly our colors in your kingdom to let the Marines know you trust us more than you do them. Though we'll probably need to acquire an eternal log pose to Alabasta if we do that..." said Luffy.
Seeing the others didn't get it, Luffy rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly.
"Shanks told me it's something the Yonko's and several other major players do. They take islands under their protection since the Marines suck at it. And considering they allowed Crocodile basically claim Alabasta as his personal territory because the Royal family was behind him, there's no reason we can't start our own collection of islands before we hit the New World."
Vivi blinked.
"Wait, are you telling me that the Marines are ignoring what Crocodile and the Baroque Works are doing because he has the backing of the royal family?!"
"That plus he's technically one of their personal pirates," said Luffy. "Mostly it's the nobility thing though. See the nobles would throw one hell of a hissy fit if they thought the Marines were interfering with an internal problem involving the royal family. They would think it was a sign the Marines were planning to usurp their own personal pirates and make a huge mess that they don't want to deal with."
Vivi gaped...but the sad fact was she could actually see where Luffy was coming from with that.
"How do you know so much about nobles and their behavior though?" asked Nami curiously.
"Remember how I said I was meeting one of my brothers in Loguetown before he left all those neat little surprises for us all, like the log pose?" asked Luffy. Everyone save for Vivi nodded. "Well the one I was meeting is part of the Revolutionary Army...and Sabo used to be the first son of a noble family before he abandoned it out of disgust. Especially since those assholes were all too happy to cast him out when the Celestial Dragon nearly killed him."
Vivi stared at her.
"What?" she said with a choked voice.
"My older brother's full name is Sabo Outlook, from Goa Kingdom," said Luffy. "But he hates nobles with a passion because he finds their behavior disgusting. He was living in a trash heap before Ace and I found him and gave him a real family."
Vivi had a very amusing look on her face hearing that. However it did explain why Luffy knew so much about noble behavior. Learning that the odd captain had personal contact with a Yonko also helped to explain her knowledge that most rookies wouldn't have access to.
"So Princess, what do you say? Will you agree to fly our flag in your kingdom if we help kick Crocodile out of it?" asked Luffy with a grin.
Vivi stared at her...before she started chuckling. There was very little mirth behind it though.
"If you help defeat Crocodile, we'll fly the jolly roger of the Straw Hat pirates," promised Vivi. It was sure to piss off the Marines something fierce, but she honestly couldn't care less at this point.
"Hold on, if we're going to be the unofficial protectors of islands, then why..." started Nami.
"There's no point in doing it in any of the Blues. Any real major player is stationed in the Grand Line, particularly the New World. The Blues are just a starting point for new pirates and no one would take a claim like the one I'm talking about seriously if the pirate is going to be in the Grand Line for an extended time," said Luffy as if it was obvious.
"I wouldn't be too sure about that," said Nojiko. "I know for a fact our village had several kids trying their hand at painting our jolly roger since we got rid of Arlong when the Marines were conspiring with him."
"Like I said, the Marines wouldn't take that as a serious claim since we need to leave behind a flag to make it stick. A kid's drawing is nothing they would actually care about," said Luffy.
"So what exactly are the rules behind claiming an island, and what sort of headaches can we expect?" asked Nojiko seriously.
"Hang on..." said Luffy, before pulling out a familiar snail. With the ease that came from long practice, she dialed up Ace. Since she was so familiar with Shanks' schedule, odds were he would either be drunk or well on his way to becoming drunk. Not exactly the best situation to explaining something this serious.
"What is it?" demanded Ace irate.
"Hi Aniki," said Luffy cheerfully.
The snail's expression smoothed out a little.
"What do you want Luffy? We're kinda busy at the moment tracking someone down."
Luffy latched on to one particular word in that sentence.
"'We'?" said Luffy baffled. She recalled Ace was looking for Teach, but as far as she could recall it had been a solo mission.
"Shishishi...who is the peasant who dares call the boss?" sneered the snail.
Vivi groaned. She might not have heard that voice in a while, but she definitely remembered that awful snicker. It was nothing compared to the oddly warm laugh that Luffy did, even if it sounded slightly similar.
"Oh gods... your brother is traveling with him?"
Luffy had a different reaction.
"Hey Bel! Have you found Fran or Mammon yet?" asked Luffy.
The snail went wide eyed with absolute shock as Ace cackled in the background.
"I keep telling you no one is going to take your claims seriously, you fake Prince," said a third voice with a monotone drawl.
"Silence, Frog!" snarled Bel.
"Hey Fran," said Luffy. "Anyway Ace could you give Nami and Vivi a proper run-down on what claiming an island under the protection of a pirate crew involves? I only know the bare gist from Shanks," said Luffy.
The snail's eyes narrowed.
"What makes you think I would know?" he asked suspiciously.
"Do you owe me a million berri?" deadpanned Luffy.
Ace's swearing was music to her ears, and more than slightly hilarious.
"I will find out how you knew what would happen, Bunny-boss."
Luffy pouted. Why did everyone compare her to a bunny?
"Alright Bunny-boss, I'll give them a general idea of what it entails, but I want details from you after," said Ace seriously.
"I can give you a general gist, but I would rather give you a proper report once we're both in Alabasta," said Luffy.
"Fair enough," said Ace.
Vivi tracked down Luffy for an explanation of her own...like why the hell Luffy knew about Prince Belphegor well enough not to get yelled at for using a shortened version of the knife-wielding nut job. Or how the teen knew about Fran.
Luffy had a rather odd expression.
"Bel has always been one of Ace's nakama, even if they lost each other for a while. And Fran has been Bel's friend and partner for as long as I can remember," said Luffy honestly.
Because really, she couldn't imagine Belphegor without his teal-haired Mist next to him, goading him into fights and wearing that ridiculous frog hat. It was almost as natural as Bel being partnered with Mammon. The idea of Belphegor not being Xanxus' Storm was something so unnatural she simply couldn't comprehend it.
Which was why the fact the Prince had so quickly decided to follow Ace didn't surprise her in the least. Or that Fran had joined him.
It made her curious who else had followed them into this life. She had already found Takeshi, and Sabo had admitted to running into Romario who promptly abandoned the life he had to join the Revolutionaries.
She really, really hoped she found Reborn and others soon. Though somehow she had the feeling it was going to be a headache and a half if she did find that chaotic pain in the ass.
While the dinosaurs had been awesome, Luffy was very upset that her crew had gotten caught by that idiot Number 3 and his wax attack. So much so that she almost threw herself into trying to de-crypt the words Robin told her. There was no way it was that simple, right?
What were the odds Robin stumbled across that on a Poneglyph. Though if it was what Luffy suspected, then she was going to be very pissed off at having to clean up his mess again. And if she was annoyed, then Ace was going to be furious, even if this time he was actually bloodline.
It was to the point she almost forgot about the fact Nami caught a really nasty illness.
At least until the older girl collapsed.