A/N: Hey guys! Sorry I haven't updated in a while. But here is Chapter 6 and I'm already working on chapter 7. So let's hope I'm quicker with that. Also! Thank you to those of you that encouraged me to continue with my story. It's hard to motivate myself sometimes. So thanks a lot! Please review! Thanks awesome readers!

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece

Chapter 6: Ambush

The boy with the red shirt and Strawhat hanging from his neck, strolled along the beach thinking about what he had heard. 'Well… I think Ace likes her', Marco had said. Those words lingered on Luffy's mind as he ambled around not paying attention to where he was going. He wasn't sure what he was suppose to think of his older brother with his nakama, but the idea sent a unifying feeling into his chest. Luffy had known sadness and always empathized with those who've known it too. And though he can dimwitted about adult things such as 'feelings', he understood that nothing is better than two people who've suffered finding each other. So the young Captain wandered along thinking and knowing these things, when he found himself surrounded by trees. The beach he had been walking on was long gone and he saw no ocean or sand in any direction.

The trees looked all the same to Robin and she couldn't tell which direction they had been walking. But Ace walked with such confidence, that Robin just continued to follow him unquestioning. There was silence again and Ace had this uncertain feeling in pit of stomach. Although, he had admitted he liked Robin and they did share an intimate moment by the river, it seemed that their relationship was still undefined. Robin had never responded with how she felt, and he wasn't sure what she was thinking. All her reactions to his earlier acts of affection seemed as a consequence of her current vulnerable state, and Ace wasn't sure what to make of anything that transpired between them.

Robin watched Ace's back as she followed him. Then with the sound of a whoosh, Ace disappeared right in front of her eyes. She ran up to where he stood and glancing upward, she covered her mouth with her hand and began to giggle.

Above her, Ace dangled lightly under a tree branch. He was trapped in a net and covered in leaves. They decorated his messy hair and there were some twigs sticking out of his head, making him an amusing sight to behold for the archeologist. His arms were twisted over his head and he had a displeased look on his face.

"This isn't funny" Ace puffed, blowing his bangs out of his eyes.

"Uf uf uf uf… It's a little funny"

"Ugh… Who set up this net here anyways?"

"Maybe there's a village nearby and this was to catch someone's dinner"

"I'm not dinner"

"Oh who knows. Someone may find you quite delicious"

"Well, I hope that someone is you" Ace winked.

That made Robin stop laughing instantly. She turned away from him blushing, which caused Ace to grin. Then turning his index finger into a small flame, Ace burned the ropes of the net, and he fell to the ground, landing on his butt with a thump. As he sat there, brushing the leaves off of him, a deep chuckle emanated from a cluster of trees.

"Well, if it isn't Fire Fist Ace and Demon Child Nico Robin. Not very smart of you to walk into our trap"

"Bounty hunters…" Robin breathed.

Outlines of dark figures made themselves visible as they came out from their hiding spots, sitting on tree branches, standing up behind bushes, and walking from behind trees. Ace quickly stood up and looking around, he surveyed the that him and Robin were completely surrounded. How many of them there were, he wasn't sure. Straightening the cowboy hat on his head, he lowered it enough to shadow his eyes. Robin and Ace now stood back to back, both with an unreadable expression on their faces.

"You up for this, Robin?"

"Like I said commander-san… I'm a big girl." Robin's curved her lips upward into a malicious smile.

(Back on the Sunny ship)

A muscular figure with a purple whitebeard mark on his arm jumped onto the deck of the Thousand Sunny and strut towards the sleeping quarters. He opened the doors and looked through each room until he found the one with an entire wall made into a bookshelf and was lined with texts of all languages. He surveyed the books on the wall, and huffed when he found nothing of interest. Making his way towards the bed, he picked up the picture frame that sat on the dresser next to the bed. It was a photo of Robin and the Strawhat crew. Robin had her soft mature smile. The Captain, Straw Hat Luffy, had the biggest grin on, smiling with his eyes squinted, showing all of his teeth. At the side of the picture were two men who looked like they were trying to kill each other. One had a curly eyebrow and the other had green hair and was biting onto a sword. An orange haired girl looked pissed off and her face was red in the picture as she had her fists clenched, ready to hit the fitting men. Then there was a furry pet and a metal looking man posing for the picture behind them. The man snorted at the photo.

"Do you really think you fit in with a crew like this, Nico Robin? A hard woman like yourself and a bunch of children…"

He dropped the picture frame, the glass shattered on the hard wooden floor. Remembering his task, he took out a piece of folded white paper. He dropped it on top of the lavender blanket and made his way out of the room. The man opened the door to the deck and was met with a sword flying his way. The blade struck the door frame next to his ear imbedding itself into the wood.

"Oi oi, what do you think you're doing on our ship" Zoro stood on the ledge of the sunny staring the muscular man down with demon eyes.

"I'm more curious as to why this shitty guy has a whitebeard mark on his arm" Sanji stood holding a cigarette leaning against the mast at the center of the deck with one foot propped up, blowing a puff of smoke out.

The muscular man stood still and calm. He cracked his neck to the left and to the right. With a blink of an eye, he sent sharp knives flying towards Sanji and Zoro. The two strawhats jumped into the air and avoid the attack. In the air, Zoro took hold of his remaining two swords and slashed the air towards the figure. The slice missed as the figure dodged it with immense speed. Sanji came down with his foot lifted, ready to strike a deadly blow to the man's head. The man ducked and brought his own leg up to and met Sanji's kick. Both legs were locked in midair. It only lasted a second as both men jumped backwards to opposite sides of the deck. Then smoke emanated from the man and filled the air. The two strawhats couldn't see the man anymore.

As the air cleared, Sanji and Zoro realized the man had escaped. Sanji sighed in defeat and Zoro let out a grunt of frustration.

"We better tell the crew" Sanji took another puff from his cigarette.

The bounty hunters came rushing at them by the dozen. Ace pushed a fist of fire in one direction and sent a group flying off. Then, setting his entire body on fire, he took out a group of swordsmen that were swinging and jabbing at him with their long blades. He took a glance over at Robin to see how she was holding up, just in time to see 15 bodies twisted backwards by the arms that enveloped them. He listened to the crunching sounds of spines breaking while they all fell down unmoving. She's pretty good, Ace thought. Robin met his gaze and winked. Then her expression changed to a scowl and she turned her body to face him completely, like she was ready to attack him. At first he was confused by her sudden change, but then he heard loud agonizing roaring coming from behind him. Turning around, he watched as Robin's fathom arms tore apart the limbs belonging to some bounty hunters that were trying to sneak up on him. Ace gave her with a thankful nod.

Robin and Ace took down enemies left and right, but it seemed with every 10 people they defeat 20 more came out of nowhere and took their place. Something's off, The young woman thought. There's too many bounty hunters in this one area… It was like they were waiting to trap us. Why does this seem so familiar? Robin continued to break the necks of more enemies as she wonder about this peculiar situation. Then she realized the men were all focusing on attacking Ace.

That's odd. Why are they only trying to attack Ace-san? She thought. She watch them ignore her and move towards Ace. She thought maybe she should lend him a hand, but it didn't seem like he needed it. Ace was holding himself up pretty well. None of the hunters even got a blow in this entire time, and the 2nd division commander was spewing sparks like it was the 4th of July. Robin watch as she leaned against a nearby tree as Ace landed all his hits with precision and force. The smile he had on his face told Robin he was having fun taking these guys out with such ease. It's a wonder that the hunters don't just give up. It wasn't like they actually stood a chance against two notorious pirates with devil fruits.

Robin was getting bored. Watching Ace fight made her want to get in on the fun. Her wound still hurt, but she was use to it by now. These guys aren't that tough. Besides, reindeer-san can treat me later. She began to walk towards Ace's fight, ready to help. But then she felt something wrap around her ankles and she couldn't move. She looked down and found thick leafy vines keeping her locked to the ground. She tried to reach down to yank the vines apart, but then two vines came out of nowhere and pulled her wrists backwards towards the tree, causing her to gasp in surprise. Concentrating, Robin summoned her fathom arms. They grabbed onto the vines, trying to break them or at least free her limbs. ll In response, the vines sprouted short sharp spikes that pricked her fathom arm, wrists, and ankles. Robin let out a soft yelp from the sharp pain and her extra arms disappeared into petals. She realized she was trapped when an airy voice purred against her ear.

"You didn't heed my warning."

Taking a sharp breath, Robin spun her head around, but she saw no one.

"It's nice seeing you like this. It's not often one catches you off guard, is it Miss All-Sunday" The last part came out like a hiss.

"Who are you and how do you know that name?"

Though she kept her voice low and steady, Robin was freaking out on the inside. The voice sounded like someone was whispering next to her ear, but she couldn't feel or see anyone there. The wind around her picked up and tickled her ears, tracing through the ends of her dark hair. In front of her, a gust of wind swirled around condensing into a bulky figure with a pair of grey amused eyes. Robin kept her composure at the new sight.

"You never did pay much attention to your subordinates" He smirked. Robin kept quiet, trying to piece the information together. What does he mean by subordinates? I've never had underlings unless you counted… Baroque Works? That's impossible. They were disbanded when Luffy defeated Crocodile. But, I keep getting this déjà vu feeling... Can Crocodile be alive? He was arrested wasn't he? He should be at Impel Down or imprisoned somewhere… Right?

"Really? You have nothing to say?"

Still, Robin kept quiet. The man with grey eyes, continued.

"You could thank me for that cute little moment you had back there with cowboy hat"

Robin's eyes hardened.

"You're the wind that was blowing around our campfire. You were spying on us." She growled.

"I merely sent a light breeze to speed things along for you. The silence between you two was getting quite boring. I thought you'd appreciate some canoodling time."

Robin gritted her teeth in anger. Ace and her was just a game to this man. She hated being used and manipulated for other people's amusement. She remembered how Crocodile treated her when she was working for him. She had allowed herself to be made into a dog by that man all for protection from the government. She endured being played around with for years until the day Luffy defeated him.

Robin wanted to kill this guy for intruding in her private moment. But she kept calm, knowing that it was more important for her get out of her current predicament first. She looked down at her wrists. Blood was dripping from the scratches on her skin where the spikes had sprouted earlier. Looking at her secured arms, an odd thought occurred to her. This man's power allows him to manipulate the air, so then where did these vines come from?

"You should have listened to the note, Miss All-Sunday. Perhaps I should have been more forward. But what done is done. You're here and you brought a friend. I guess we have teach you a lesson about following directions."

"You said 'we'. I'm assuming you have a partner?"

"Well, you had a partner too, Miss All-Sunday. When you were still apart of the organization"

"You mean Baroque Works. They were disbanded long ago, when Crocodile was stripped of his Shichibukai title."

Robin tried to steer the conversation to find out if Crocodile was behind this. Who else would stage a trap like this, using bounty hunters to get to their prey. Nobody else would think to lure Robin out with a poneglyph besides Crocodile. Plus, her former boss has more than enough reason to want revenge on her. She did betray him back at Alabasta and tried to kill him.

"That's what you and everybody else thinks. But we've kept it alive and even reinvented it a little."

So it's not Crocodile…

"There's the 'we' again. Will I be meeting his partner of yours"

"Well, you've already met his ability"

Robin looked down at her arms.

"Another Devil Fruit user" Robin stated plainly

"You sound bored Miss All-Sunday. Shall I come out and keep you entertained" The deep voice came from behind the tree.

The figure walked up from behind and faced her. He had his the lower half of his face covered with part of his dark green cloak and had brown hair and auburn eyes. Robin looked at the two men in front of her and felt instantly small. They looked like a powerful duo and the fact that they both have devil fruit powers made her situation all the worse.

"If you two were a part of Baroque Works, then how come I have no recollection of you. Surely, with those devil fruit powers, you two would have easily climbed to the ranks of a Frontier agent or even Officer. So exactly what kind of position did you hold?" Robin was stalling for time, so she can figure something out. Ace was far off still fighting the big crowd. It almost seems like they were trying to lead Ace away. There's so many bounty hunters, he hadn't even noticed Robin's situation and he was getting farther and farther.

"We were part of the Billions" The green cloaked man answered.

That's the lowest rank… Robin looked puzzled.

"Sometimes assuming the appearance of weakness may be more advantageous when one wants to fall under the radar, Miss All-Sunday" the man with the green cloak and brown eyes explained noting her confused look.

"But, why would - "

"Enough. This talking has been going on forever. Let's get to the playing" The man with grey eyes looked bored. His patience was wearing and he wanted have some fun.

"What do you care if I have a chat. Are you forgetting, I won?" said the green cloaked man.

"Won what?" Robin asked

"We're partners but we never like fighting together. We much rather deal with our prey one on one. It's more fun that way." The green cloaked man explained

"So, we agreed that whoever got to you first, gets to send the message" The words slithered out of the grey eyed man's lips.

The words sent a shiver through Robin's body. She didn't want to know what this message was. But her fear didn't show. Instead, she looked more angry than anything. They made her into a game, and she was furious. She struggled against the vines, which only tightened around her limbs.

"Looks like she's ready to play" the green cloaked man smirked, "and since my vines took hold of her before you made contact, that means she's mine" He licked his lips as he spoke.

"Fine. I'll go check on how they're holding up with the Fire guy" The grey eyed man eyed her a little and then began to leave.

When the man disappeared into the trees, gusts of wind began to encircle Robin wildly picking up leaves and dirt. Her hair blew in her face obscuring her view. She felt her lungs constrict and she couldn't breathe. Her mouth opened grasping for air, but there was no oxygen to be taken. It was like she was trapped in a vacuum sealed bubble and everything was being sucked out, leaving Robin to suffocate.

"You're such a sore loser!" The green cloaked man yelled out.

It seems like the wind guy took it upon himself to punish Robin before his partner had a chance to do anything. Tears streamed down Robin's eyes she couldn't help but rasp and gasp for air, craving some kind of relief. She still couldn't move and the vines had grown tighter around her arms and now more came and wrapped around her torso crushing the part where her wound was. She cried out from the stinging pain of pressure and gritted her teeth. Eventually the air died down and she gasped loudly taking in the oxygen.

"Finally… It's just us now" Brown eyes watched her gasping and panting.

A/N: Dun dun dun! To be continued... :) hope you guys like this chapter. I tried to make it more action-y since not much happened in the last two chapters.