A/N: Hey guys! Here's Chapter 3! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece


Chapter 3: The Poster

"Help!"

The incessant banging of fists against the wooden door brought a groggy Dogra out of his nap.

"Sigh… It's the boys again. What do they want?"

Dogra opened a crack in the doorway. He looked at anxious faces and his eyes widened at the head and arms dangling over Ace's shoulder.

"Boss!" Dogra called behind him. Loud stomping could be heard as Dadan made her way to the short bald man. The opening widened as the leader of the mountain bandits approached.

"What do you brats…" Dadan's words faded as she counted the number of children in front of her. 1,2,3….4?!

"EEEHHHH?! Where did this one come from?!" Dadan pointed to the little girl on Ace's back.

"Dadan! Please, she needs help!" Sabo begged.

"This isn't a nursery! I can't be taking in more rugrats!" Dadan yelled at the boys, but concern was written on her face as she looked at the unconscious little girl.

"Dadan! She saved Luffy's life."

Ace fixed a firm look at Dadan. The bandit eyed him back challengingly. Then, saying nothing, Dadan moved out of the way and the boys ran into the cabin.

"Put her in your old room upstairs," Dadan called after them.

Ace, Sabo, and Luffy ran up the stairs while Dogra grabbed Magra from the back. Ace set Robin down on a spare sleeping mat that Sabo grabbed from the closet. Dogra and Magra came in carrying bandages and other medical supplies.

"You three should wait outside," Magra suggested.

"Will she be okay?" Sabo asked

"Her wounds are deep, but treatable," Magra answered. "Now go outside."

The three boys nodded and left the room, sliding the door closed behind them. They made their way down the stairs and out the door. Sitting on the steps at the front, the three boys waited.

"I hope Robin will be okay," Luffy said.

"I wasn't expecting her to just show up out of nowhere and jump in front of a wolf! What was she thinking?" Ace had his arms crossed and was tapping his foot impatiently.

"She was thinking of saving our brother, Ace" Sabo sat on the ground flipping through a book.

"What are you doing" Ace looked irritatingly at Sabo.

"It's called a book. I'm just looking through it"

"Why do you even have that?"

"I found it on the way to Dadan's. I think it belongs to Robin."

"What's in it?" Luffy asked

"Just a bunch of stories about people going on adventures"

"Sugoi! Like pirates and stuff?!"

Sabo nodded to his little brother.

"Why waste your time reading about other people's adventures? We can have our own when we go out to the sea."

Ace turned away from them and looked out over the hill, his mind uneasy and his shoulders tense. He'd hate to admit it, but he was worried about Robin. Luffy, having lost interest in Sabo's book, sat there fumbling with his straw hat with his fingers. Sabo continued to flip through the pages trying to keep himself distracted. He came across a piece of paper stuck in between the flaps. Unfolding it, Sabo looked at what the paper had on there. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Why would Robin have this?

"Hey brats!" Dadan opened the door.

"How's Robin?"

"She's still unconscious. You play too rough! She looked about dead when you brought her here!"

"It's not our fault! We didn't know she was going to be there!" Ace argued.

"Well her clothes are all torn up. Make yourselves useful and go get her something to change into when she wakes up."

"Don't you have any clothes for her?" Ace did not want to be sent on an errand. Especially, if it's to get girl clothes…

"I'M A MOUNTAIN BANDIT! DOES IT LOOK LIKE I HAVE LITTLE GIRL CLOTHES LYING AROUND HERE?!"

Dadan grabbed the three boys by the back collar of their shirts and kicked them towards the road. Rubbing their behinds over Dadan's shoeprint, the three decided to go to Windmill to find Makino. They remember she had given them clothes the last time she visited, so they figured she might have something for Robin too.


(At Makino's Bar)

"Umm…"

Makino tried to wrap her mind around what Luffy had just her asked for. She had gotten plenty of little boys' clothing and was planning on making a trip up Mt. Corvo to give them to the boys later this week. But, now Luffy, Sabo, and Ace are sitting on the high stools in her bar and asking for… dresses? Tilting her head to the side, Makino stared at the 7 year old blankly.

"You want a dress?"

"Yep!" Luffy nodded wearing his naïve smile.

"Do you have any we can take with us, Makino? Preferably in a smaller size? Like for someone around our age," Sabo asked

Makino moved her confused eyes over to Sabo and scratched the back of her head. Are they going to w-

"It's not for us! " Ace could tell what was going on in Makino's mind and hastily sought to eradicate it. "They're for someone else."

"Ooooh! Of course! Umm…. For a girl?" Makino exhaled in relief.

"Yeah! It's for Robin!" Luffy said

"Aw, you boys made a new friend! Will I get to meet her?"

"She's at Dadan's right now" Sabo said

"So whose little girlfriend is she?"

Three blank faces stared at Makino. Then in unison…

"NOBODY's!" the boys yelled at the motherly bar owner.

"We're going to be pirates, Makino!" said Sabo

"Pirates don't get tied down by any girlfriend," Ace sneered

"Yeah!" Luffy nodded in agreement with his brothers.

"Fufufufu. I see." Makino giggled. "Well, your friend can have some of my old clothes. I saved them from when I was a little girl."

Makino left and went to the back of the bar. She returned after a few minutes and handed Luffy a large brown sack.

"I hope these will fit" Makino said

"Thanks Makino!" The boys waved goodbye as they headed out of the bar.

"Bye-bye boys!"

The boys were almost at the village border when they saw a messenger bird fly down. The villagers gathered to receive their mail and check up on the news. Ace ran to the group and squeezed through the tall adults. After finding what he was looking for, Ace crawled in between the legs of the adults and left the crowd holding a bundle of papers.

"Got it!"

Ace returned and walked with Sabo and Luffy looking at the papers in his hand.

"What did you get, Ace?" Luffy asked

"Those are bounty posters, Luffy. The government sends out new ones or updates them according to how dangerous a criminal or pirate becomes," Sabo explained.

"And since I'm planning to go out to the sea, I have to know who I'm up against. I'm going to become stronger than anybody in these posters. And I'll have the highest bounty!" Ace said as he flipped through each picture, name, and bounty amount. He stopped in his tracks when he laid eyes on the last poster in the pile and dropped the rest on the ground.

"What's wrong Ace?" Sabo asked

Ace was still staring at the paper in his hand. He closed his eyes and stuck out his arm to show Sabo and Luffy what was on the paper.

"NAAAAANI?!" the two boys exclaimed in shock

"But that's…"

Sabo grabbed the poster out of Ace's hand. There on the picture was Robin with her cut bangs and blue eyes, looking away to the side with an unreadable expression. She was even wearing the same purple dress she had when Luffy found her on the beach. Underneath the picture, the poster read, 'Dead or Alive – Nico Robin – B79,000,000'.

"79,000,000 BELI?!" Sabo exclaimed.

"Woah! Sugoi! That's a high bounty!" Luffy said.

"How the heck did that little girl get a bounty like that!?" Ace was pretty aggravated by this news.

"Do you guys think she's a pirate?" Luffy asked

"She doesn't look like one… She's not even 10 yet," Sabo said. "Either way, she must have done something pretty bad for them to put this kind of bounty on her."

"I say we interrogate her when we get back" Ace said

"Calm down, Ace. You don't have to get angry just because she has a bounty before you do" Sabo said

"Stop trying to protect her, Sabo. She might look like an innocent little girl, but it's obvious she's more than that. I just want to know what it is she did to get such a high bounty. " Ace retaliated

"Psssssst! I think Ace is jealous" Luffy whispered to Sabo

"I heard that!" Ace yelled and hit his little brother on the top of the head

"Ow!"

"Stop fighting! Let's just get back to Dadan's. We can figure out what to do later." Sabo suggested.

Sabo looked hard at the poster for a few more seconds before folding it up and putting it in his coat pocket. They walked back in silence, all wondering just who this girl really is.


"Boss! She's waking up!"

Robin's head throbbed. Her eyelids fluttered open to a blurred ceiling. A man with a bald head came into view and looked down at her. Turning her head to the right, she saw another taller man with a bulky stature and brown sideburns. A large woman with orange curly hair stood at the doorway. The blanket that was draped over Robin fell off as she sat up. Hissing in pain, she grabbed her head trying to remember what happened. She had been walking back from her little boat and saw Luffy fall from a tree in a distance and land on a wolf. Before she knew it, she was running to him and pushing him out of harms way. After feeling the searing pain of the wolf's claws, she blacked out. Robin looked down and saw the bandages around her body. Then she looked around at the three new faces. Where am I? Where's Luffy, Sabo, and Ace?

"The brats brought you here." Dadan said, noting the confusion on Robin's face.

Brats? Robin thought. "Do you mean Luffy, Sabo, and Ace? Is Luffy okay?"

The anxious tone in Robin's voice made Dadan quirk an eyebrow.

"Luffy's fine. The boys aren't here right now. I sent them on an errand." Dadan answered.

"Here, have some water." Magra, the broader man offered Robin a cup, which Robin accepted.

"Um… Where am I exactly?"

"You are in a cabin. This is the home of the mountain bandits in this area. And I'm the boss, Dadan." Dadan spoke with her arms crossed looking down at Robin. "Essentially, you're in a criminal's house. So don't think that this means you can stay here. I'm not taking in anymore little brats! Got it?"

Robin slowly got up and gave Dadan a low bow. Then she said, "I understand. Thank you for your hospitality."

Not expecting the small gesture of gratitude, Dadan nearly fell over backwards. Ehh? Did she just thank me? This brat is actually…. polite. Dadan thought to herself for a moment. How did this sweet girl get mixed up with those little monsters?

"So what's your name?" Dogra asked

"I'm Robin"


"We have to make up our mind about this girl. She's dangerous enough for the government to give her a bounty and she knows about our base. Who knows what she could do." Ace stood with his back to Dadan's door facing Sabo and Luffy.

"Let's just find out why the government is after her first. But, we can't just barge in and demand answers." Sabo reasoned. "And let's not forget she did save Luffy's life and she probably needs some recovery time."

"Fine," Ace relented to wait.

"Okay. So we all agree not to say anything about what we found out today until later when the time is right?"

Ace and Luffy nodded.

"Remember guys, act normal." Sabo said.

Ace proceeded to open the door to the cabin. They found Robin and Dadan seated together at a table with two cups of hot tea in front of them. Pochi lied happily on his back next to Robin wagging his tail, letting her rub and scratch his belly. Magra and Dogra stood up and greeted the boys as they came in.

"Robin, you're awake!" Sabo walked in happily. He was glad to see that she was okay.

"Thanks for saving my brother's life. And uh…. I'm glad you didn't die." Ace tried to stand tall and keep his cool. He wanted to pretend he hadn't been all that worried, but relief was written all over his face.

"Robin! I'm so glad you're awake! Now you can tell me if you're a pirate!" Luffy exclaimed.

"EEEHHH?!" Ace and Sabo both ran to Luffy and tried to cover his mouth with their hands. Luffy struggled to push their hands away and his next few sentences sounded muffled and almost incomprehensible through their fingers.

"Baka! Why would you ask that?!" Ace yelled

"Luffy! We agreed not to say anything yet!" Sabo said

"Bu-… I wannnu… kno-! Sto-.. it…. Guys!" Luffy tried to speak in between his brothers' attempts to silence him.

Robin tilted her head at their odd behavior. Dadan also raised an eyebrow at the wrestling boys.

"Oi! Did you brats bring back the clothes?"

"Oh yeah! I almost forgot!" Sabo grabbed the bag Luffy was holding and tossed it to Robin. Undoing the knot at the top, Robin looked inside and saw a bunch of dresses. They got these for me? For the first time since Robin had been on the island, she smiled.

"You can go upstairs and change," Dadan said.

Dadan watched as Robin ran up the stairs. Then turning her attention back to the three boys that were still wrestling on the ground, she got up. With her left arm, she grabbed Luffy by his hat. With her right arm, she picked up Ace and Sabo by their shirts. The boys kicked and waved their arms as she lifted them up to look at them at eye level.

"STOP IT!" Dadan yelled. "What are you brats going on about?"

"Robin's a pirate!" Luffy shouted excitedly

"SSSShhhhh! Luffy!" Sabo hushed him.

Dropping the boys on the ground, Dadan laughed. "Bahaha! She's eight! She can't be a pirate"

"But she has a bounty!" Luffy argued. "Sabo show her!"

Taking the poster out from his pocket, Sabo unfolded it and held it up for Dadan, Dogra, and Magra to see. They grabbed the paper and stared with their jaws open. Their eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

"EEEEEHHHHH!?"

Dropping the bounty poster, they fell over and stared at the ceiling. Luffy's face dangled over their vision as he gave them his I-told-you-so face. Sabo went and helped the three dumbfounded bandits sit up again. Ace, taking the opportunity while everyone was distracted, picked the paper up off the floor and headed towards the stairs.

"That polite little girl… is worth…. THAT much?" Dagra gasped

"Why do we always get the monsters?" Magra said as he placed a hand over his forehead

"With a bounty like that and this young… she must be the devil's child…. " Dadan said.

Sabo shook his head at the defeated looks on the bandits' faces. Luffy just sat there and laughed.

"Shishishi! You guys are funny!" Luffy wrapped his arms around his tummy and continued to giggle.

"Hey, where did Ace go?" Sabo said, having just noticed that Ace wasn't in the room.

Ace who was halfway up the stairs, had stopped in his tracks. Devil's child…. He recalled the last time he had heard something like that. It was recently after Luffy had moved in with them. Ace had overheard the bandits chatting after his bath one night. Dadan, in her drunken state, had started rambling about her misfortune of being stuck with babysitting duty thanks to Garp. Her words slurred together as she had called Ace a child of the devil and wished for him to go off and die somewhere, freeing her from the burdening responsibility. He remembered the rage he felt that day. The voices of all those men that mocked his father echoed in his head as the memories resurfaced. Ace's right hand gripped the railing of the staircase so tightly that his knuckles were beginning to turn white. He was finally brought out of his daze when he heard the wood crack and break off. He watched the blood drip from his splintered hand that was still holding a piece of the banister. Dropping the clump of wood onto the floor, he shook the thoughts from his mind and continued up the rest of the stairs.


Robin went through the whole bag of clothes. She held up a dress that was a soft lavender. It was the closest thing she could find that resembled her usual dark purple, so she tried it on. It was simple and had pockets at the sides. It fit well enough so Robin decided that this was the one she'd wear. She shoved all the other clothes into the bag. Opening the door, she was surprised to find Ace standing in front of her with his back leaning on the wall and his arms crossed. His hard eyes fixed onto her and Robin was beginning to feel uncomfortable. Although he had muttered a thank you earlier, Ace hadn't exactly made her feel welcome the previous night. Now, he was standing there staring her down and Sabo and Luffy were nowhere to be found.

"Um... Hi Ace."

Ace didn't speak. Looking straight at him, Robin could tell he was undergoing some internal battle. He looked tense and uncertain and she figure it had something to do with her. Why else would he be standing there?

"Is something wrong?"

Grabbing the collar of her dress with his fist, Ace yanked her up towards him. She cringed a little away from him but did nothing else. Ace narrowed his eyes and searched her face for some unknown answer. The big blue orbs that looked back at him spoke only confusion. He watched as they moved from his gaze down towards the hand at his side holding the now crumpled paper.

"Ace"

Ace and Robin both turned their heads and saw Sabo standing there. Next to him, Luffy's head popped out of the corner of the hallway. Ace let go of Robin's collar and stepped back a little away from her. Robin looked from Ace's unreadable expression to Sabo's hard one. Luffy was the one to speak up.

"Robin!"

She turned her attention to Luffy, who had jumped from behind the corner and ran to her.

"Luffy! I'm so happy you're okay."

Robin scanned the little boy for any scraps or wounds and was relieved she found none.

"Robin! Are you a pirate?!" Luffy asked her excitedly.

This time, the brothers didn't bother covering Luffy's mouth. They knew he was going to ask her no matter what. Plus, they were curious to know why she had a bounty as well.

"What makes you think I'm a pirate?" Robin asked.

Ace handed her the paper in his hand. Robin's eyes widened at her picture and the large amount at the bottom. She didn't even know they had issued a bounty for her. B79,000,000… That's how much it's worth for the government to get rid of me.

"I'm not a pirate…" Robin answered. Her head was down and her bangs shaded her eyes from view.

"Then what does the government have against you?" Sabo asked.

"Yeah! You don't seem like a bad person to me!" Luffy said.

He didn't think she was bad. Luffy's words touched her heart. It wasn't something Robin was used to hearing and she felt that he really meant it. Robin gestured for the three to follow her back into the room. Shutting the door closed, the four kids sat in a circle in the middle of the floor.

"I'm from a place called Ohara in West Blue."

"Ohara? I've read about it. Isn't that island famous for their scholarly research?"

Robin nodded.

"Wait. West Blue? That means you had to cross the Grand Line to get here," Ace said.

"Woah! You've been on the Grand Line?!" Luffy asked in amazement.

"Yes. But, not the way you're imagining it," Robin said.

"So, why aren't you in Ohara now?" Ace asked.

"Because the island doesn't exist anymore…" Robin closed her eyes, remembering the fire, the screaming, and the gunshots.

"What happened?" Sabo asked

"The government happened."

"I don't get it…" Luffy said.

"Maybe I should just tell you the whole story. On the island, there were a group of scholars that my mom used to work with doing research there. She was an archeologist out at sea. And what she and the other scholars were studying wasn't exactly legal. To stop them, the government came and massacred everyone and then burned down the entire island."

"Everyone?" Sabo asked, shocked that the government would enact such violence against innocent civilians.

"Yes… I'm the only one that escaped"

"But why put a bounty on you?" Ace asked.

"Before I escaped, I did something stupid. The scholars warned me not to do it, but… my mother wouldn't look at me… I just wanted her to look at me…" Robin remembered how her mother refused to acknowledge her as she walked away with the government official.

"What did you do?" Sabo asked

"Their goal was to kill all the researchers on the island… especially those who have been studying the void century and can read the poneglyphs"

"What's a poneglyph?" Luffy asked

"It's an ancient stone that the government doesn't want discovered or deciphered."

"And what was the stupid thing you did?"

"I yelled that I can read the poneglyphs and that I'm one of the archeologists. I just wanted my mom to see me and be proud of me. It got her attention… and unfortunately, the government official's too."

"So you get a big bounty just because you can read some old writing?" Ace asked disbelievingly.

"That old writing sparked enough fear in the government to destroy an entire island," Robin responded

"It still doesn't explain how you got here," Sabo said

"I was captured by a marine ship shortly after leaving the island. By the time I stole a boat from them and escaped, the ship was already sailing in East Blue waters. Then I just drifted on the ocean until I ended up here, and I guess that's when you guys found me."

"I see," Sabo said quietly.

Nobody spoke after that and the silence was deafening. Robin watched the boys' pensive expressions as they let her story sink in. She wasn't sure why she decided to tell them nor did she know how they might react. A small section of her brain told her that they would turn on her or sell her out. But she saw they had given her a chance to explain rather than just rejecting her. Robin had been completely honest about her side of things and she hoped it was enough to gain their trust. It felt like a great weight had been lifted off her chest since she was able to share and let out the pain of her recent sufferings. But with the discovery of her bounty she felt that fulfilling her late mother's dream of finding the rest of the poneglyphs may prove to be more of a challenge than before. Especially, since she had no idea where she would even start. So many thoughts filled the little girl's head as she waited for some response that wasn't coming. Sighing, Robin resolved to just ask them.

"So are you going to turn me over to the government now?"

The three faces stared incredulously at her for a moment before they burst out laughing.

"What?" Robin couldn't understand why they were laughing at her.

"Why would we turn you in, Robin?" Luffy asked.

"Because you know I'm a wanted criminal."

"A criminal… For being able to read some old stones? Doesn't sound like much of a crime to me," Ace sneered. "Besides, why would we turn in a criminal when we're going to be criminals, too?"

"What do you mean?" Robin couldn't believe how they were taking things.

"It's our dream, Robin. Ace, Luffy, and I want to became pirates," Sabo explained.

"Not just any pirates. We'll be the strongest and most free pirates out there. And I'll have the highest bounty of course," Ace smirked.

"Well it looks like Robin has a head start on you, Ace!" Sabo teased while Luffy snickered in the background.

"Whatever! Just wait till I start my journey. That B79,000,000 is going to look like nothing when the world gets a piece of me!" Ace bragged.

Sabo and Luffy jumped in with their own imaginary bounty numbers and the three boys argued spiritedly over who would be the strongest. Robin couldn't believe what she was hearing. As she watched them argue from the sidelines, a small smile crept onto her face. They're really interesting people. Maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to stay with them for a little while.


It was dark outside by the time the four children had emerged from the upstairs room. After eating supper with the other bandits, the boys seemed too tired to walk back to the base, so they decided to just stay the night at Dadan's.

There weren't any clouds in the sky that evening. Having been unconscious for most of the day, Robin felt pretty awake, so she decided to sit out and stare at the sky again. Sitting on the front steps of the cabin, Robin admired the twinkling stars that dangled above her. Everything was tranquil and quiet, like the entire world was at a standstill. The only noise she heard were the unseen crickets chirping somewhere nearby.

"You're not sleeping, kid?"

Robin turned and saw Dadan approach from the doorway. The big woman sat down next to the little girl, sipping a hot drink from a mug.

"I'm not tired."

She handed Robin a smaller mug. Nodding a small thank you, Robin sipped the hot tea, grateful for the warmth it brought.

"Thank you for everything Dadan."

"Don't get used to it."

"I know. I'm just really grateful."

Dadan sipped her cup again in an attempt to hide the smile on her face.

"I don't know how you got involved with those little monsters."

"Fufufu. You mean Sabo, Luffy, and Ace? I kind of like them."

"You're the first."

"I think they're funny."

"They're trouble." Dadan grunted.

Robin looked up at the large woman. Dadan's face spoke of annoyance but Robin could see the care and love for the boys in her eyes.

"Dadan, I have a question."

"Yes?"

"Are you their mother?"

"Do those monsters look like they came from me?!" the bandit made a face at the little girl.

"I meant like an adopted mother."

"They're more like a burden and a responsibility than actual children..."

"Hmm…"

Robin sipped her tea and went back to looking up at the sky. A few minutes passed as the two sat there enjoying the silence and the cool night air. Then Dadan stood up.

"My tea is finished. I'm going to bed."

"Good night, Dadan."

"Night, kid."

Dadan reached the doorway and paused. Turning back to Robin, she said, "I think you're good for them."

"Hm?" Robin looked back at the woman.

"You have a scary bounty… But you seem polite and pretty mature for your age. They need a little of that."

With that, Dadan disappeared into the dark cabin and all was quiet again. Turning back to look at the sky, Robin thought about what Dadan had said. Everything felt so new. So far, everyone seemed quite accepting of her and she felt at peace. Closing her eyes and inhaling, Robin breathed deeply holding onto this new feeling until the creaking of floorboards got her attention. Turning around, Robin found Sabo standing in the doorway, hugging a blanket around him. She thought he looked a bit funny without his top hat on.

"Sabo. You're awake."

"Yeah. I woke up and you weren't in the room. I thought I'd check up on you."

"Thanks."

Sabo took a seat on the steps next to Robin.

"How are your wounds?"

"They don't hurt much. Dogra and Magra are really good with their medical skills."

"They've bandaged up Luffy enough times to be experts by now."

"Fufufu. You guys play pretty rough."

"Well, we have to toughen up for our future profession."

"I see."

"I have something for you."

"What is it?" Robin asked with a curious expression.

From under his blanket, Sabo took out the book he found earlier. He handed it to her. Robin's eyes widened. She had been afraid that it was lost in the forest somewhere, and was shocked that Sabo had it the entire time.

"I think this is yours."

"Sabo… Thank you."

Robin hugged the blond boy tightly. Then she returned her attention to the book and clutched it to her chest for a few moments.

"No problem. But I noticed you didn't have this the night before and then I found it near you after the whole wolf incident. Is this the reason why you were gone this morning?"

"Yeah. I went back to my boat to get it."

"Why do you have this?"

"It's the only surviving book from Ohara. I was able to save it before I left the island."

"It's a fictional storybook."

"Mhmm"

"So out of all the history or research you could have taken, you decided to save this book. Why?"

Robin smiled down at the tattered cover. Yes, she was a scholar and loved history and ancient facts, but this fictional storybook held more sentiment than any other book out there. She remembered when the head scholar, Clover, had given the book to her. She was so young back then and it was awhile after her mother had left on a ship.

That day, he had found Robin crying in the library of the tree of knowledge. Clover carried the crying child back to his office and sat her in a chair at his desk.

"Robin, I have something for you,"

"Yes?" Robin said through her tears.

"Here," He placed a storybook on the table in front of her.

"What is it?"

"I've known your mother a long time Robin… When she was little, this was her favorite book. She'd come and visit me, and she would always have that book with her. She's probably read it a thousand times."

Robin picked up the worn out book.

"It's not a history book."

Clover chuckled at her observation.

"No it's not. It's just a fictional adventure story. But your mother loved it. I think it showed her that there was a world of truths out there just waiting for her to discover them. Other than your father, I think it's the reason why she wanted to take her research out to sea."

Since that day, Robin kept this book close to her. It was her mother's childhood treasure. Thinking about Clover brought a tear to Robin's eye. Sabo watched her expression and understood the book's value to Robin.

"Because… It was my mom's."

"A big book of adventures," Sabo commented.

"Yeah…"

"I want to write a book like that."

"Really?"

"Yeah. When I go out to sea, I'm going to record all my adventures and publish them. So my story will stay alive for generations." Sabo looked up to the sky, thinking about his future adventures.

"That's a nice dream," Robin said.

She began flipping through the pages of the book. Suddenly, her calm demeanor changed to a panicked one. She turned from page to page frantically. Finally, she flipped the book upside down and began shaking hoping for something to fall out.

"What's wrong?"

"It's missing! Where is it?"

Robin seemed to be talking to herself more than to him.

"Do you mean this?"

Sabo took out a paper and handed it to Robin. Taking it, Robin unfolded the paper and let out a breath of relief.

"I found it stuck between the pages. I'm sorry I didn't give it back earlier."

"It's okay. I'm just glad it's not lost."

"Who is that?"

"This… is my mother. And it's the only picture I have of her."

Robin held out the paper so they could both look at it. It was an old wanted poster. In the photo was a mature looking woman with long white hair. Underneath it was the name Nico Olvia.

"Wow. Now I get why it's so important to you. So, Nico is your family name?"

"Yep. Nico Robin is my full name."

"It's a nice name."

"Thank you."

Folding the paper back up, Robin placed it in the pages of the book again.

"It's getting late. Let go back inside," Robin suggested.

"Yeah. And we have a big day tomorrow."

"What's going on tomorrow?"

"We're planning on going into town to sell some crocodile skins. We've only done it a few times in the past, but it always gives us a good amount of money for our pirate fund."

"Oh," Robin didn't know there was a city nearby.

"Maybe you can come with us. We can show you the town and the Grey Terminal."

"Grey Terminal?"

"It's a sketchy area we have to pass by to get into the town. It sort of surrounds the gates. I used to live there. But don't worry, you'll be fine with us."

"Well, alright then."

"C'mon, it's getting cold out here." Sabo started for the door.

"Sabo?"

"Yes?"

"Thanks for finding my book… and for listening to me tonight."

"No problem. What are friends for."

Friends… Robin liked the sound of that. The two disappeared into the cabin, the rest of the night was quiet.


A/N: I tried to focus this chapter on them learning about each other and mostly about Robin. The next chapters will have more action and adventure I'm hoping. Thanks for reading! :)