A BIG friend! BusterCall Activated!

AN: hope you guys like my story so far.

The next day, Nick got off the ship and made his way to the stump. When he got there, she wasn't there. He then sat on the stump that was in the middle of the clearing. He closed his eyes and listened to all the nature around him. Birds chirping. The trees moving because of the wind. The sound of footsteps? He opened his eyes and saw Robin in front of him; she looked worried and happy at the same time. "NICK, come quick I need your help!"

Without hesitating, he followed her to a beach not far from where the stump was. To Nick's surprise/amazement, there was a giant washed up on shore. "WHAO!" he screamed, stars shining in his eyes.

The giant was almost if not bigger than the ship that Nick arrived in. Without even being asked, Nick helped Robin move the big guy inland. She used her powers to make an army of hands around the giant and pull him inland while Nick pushed. To Robin's surprise, Nick was really strong for his size and age.

After a few minutes of pushing, Nick looked back to see that there was something in the sand. It looked like some kind of cloth buried in sand, Nick pulled it out, and to his surprise it was a giant hat. The hat was as big as him, it looked a little similar to his hat, only was brown and it didn't have a ribbon around it.

Nick through the hat on top of the giant and continued to push, as they reached a fresh water source, he still didn't move. Nick pulled the hat off him, with the help of Robin's arms, he filled up the hat with water and splashed it on the giant's face.

The giant opened his eyes to see what splashed water on him, he saw Nick and Robin standing there, holding his hat. They put down the hat and Nick pointed towards the river, "It's fresh water. If you're thirsty."

The giant didn't have the strength to refuse, so he crawled towards the river and almost drank it dry.

(AN: I copied Saul's vocabulary from the manga, if you want, I can revise it to real English. Just ask.)

After a few minutes of drinking water, Nick and Robin climbed up to a high rock as the giant sits up. "Ya two saved muh life." He says as he talks out of breath.

"Dis land… got a town?" He asks as he looks around.

"Yup." Robin answered.

The giant then looked disappointed, "I see… I don't care where dis is… but I wish I'd drifted to sum'place uninhabited."

He looked around, as if he was looking for something. Nick had a feeling what he was looking for, good thing he brought the hat with him as they climbed the rock, "Is this what you're looking for?" He holds out the hat, it was still soaked from using it to splash water on the giant. The giant looked happy to see that he didn't lose his hat.

The giant puts the hat back on and then looked at both of them with curiosity, "Is dis da first time ya see a giant?"

"Yup." Robin said, while Nick nodded in agreement.

"Lemme tell ya, don' think'a me like dose barbaric 'Elbaf'. It boders me dat since dey're very well-known people t'ink giants're all like 'em. We've got some gentel giant races, too." He says.

"Cool. There's more than one kind of giant out there?" Nick asks with excitement. The Giant huffed, smiled and then nodded to him. "I'll ask ya anyway, even if ya say nay, but… woul'ja please not tell anybody 'bout me?" the giant aked.

"Okay." Robin says with straight face, almost as if she didn't care.

"Sure." Nick said in agreement.

"Ya answered too quick. It's impossible." He said with a sweat drop on his head.

"I wont tell." Robin said.

"Impossible. No way a child can keep any secret—" He was about to finish when Robin had interrupted him.

"It's cause… I'm not interested in you."

The giant was caught off guard; he looked to Nick to see what he would say. "I can keep your secret! One time I took a whole roll of bread and ate it last week, still nobody knows it was me." Nick says with a smile.

Right then the giant started to laugh, "HOO! DERESHI! DERESHISHISHI!"

Robin didn't understand, "'Dershi'? What does that mean?"

"What? I'm jus' laffin'!" He says as he continues to laugh.

Then they all started to hear a loud growl, almost like an angry wolf. Nick immediately looked to his stomach and smiled, "I'm hungry."

"DERSHI! Ya some ding kid." The giant said as he continued to laugh.

Robin started to laugh herself, "That's a funny laugh!"

As soon as they stop laughing, he then shifts his body to face them, "I'm Saul! Jaguar D. Saul."

"I'm Shepard D. Nick!" Nick said with a big smile.

"D? What does 'D' mean?" Robin asked

"I don't really know. Everyone in my family line got it." Saul answered.

"I don't know, I never asked by grandpa." Nick says.

Saul then turned to Robin, "What's yer name?"

"Robin."

Another loud roar happened, "I'll go get some food. Robin, you stay here with Saul. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone." Nick says as he makes his way back to town, running as fast as he can.

Nick then left to find more food, for both him and the giant. Robin stayed behind to keep him company.

"Is he yer bru'der?" He asks Robin.

"No. He is just a strange boy you arrived on a boat yesterday." She says with a slight smile on her face as he runs off.

"He's a good kid." Saul says, looking to Robin, then to the view of the sea in front of him. "Robin, t'be honest, someone's afta' me now. An' if anyone finds me, it'd be trouble."

"I said I wouldn't tell."

"I jus' hope dat boy can keep a secret as good as he say."

After Nick returned with food, Saul started making a raft out of trees from the forest around them, Nick helped out. When it started getting dark, Nick and Robin said goodbye to Saul and made their way into town. They were walking on the beach, like the night before, and were talking.

"So, you have no idea where your mom is?" Nick asks.

"No. She left when I was very little. I live with foster parents, but they don't like me."

"What would you do if you saw her again?"

"I don't know. I would probably be mad at her for leaving me."

"You shouldn't. Maybe she was trying to keep you safe. Or something else, at least, that what I think my dad is doing. At least your mother is still out there somewhere, alive. If it were my mother, I would hugger all the time." He said with a slight smile. "What about your dad?" He says to change the subject.

"Never heard of anything about him. Not even a name."

"When my mom died, my dad left me to my grandpa. I haven't seen him since."

"I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For loosing your mother."

"Thank you."

Robin noticed something that she hadn't before; she saw that he was wearing a necklace with a cross on it. She knew of the religion, but didn't understand it, "Maybe he can tell me."

"What's that?" she pointed to the cross.

Nick looked down to see what she was pointing at and smiled. "Oh, this? This belonged to my mother. I don't know too much about it though. I like to wear it, to help me remember her. In a way, its like I have her with me all the time."

"So much for that." She thought; she then saw the children who use always picked on her. They were giving mean faces at her and then ran away that Nick was with her. "Who were those guys?"

"Jerks who like to pick on me because of my powers. They were the ones who first started calling 'monster', they even though rocks at me." she said, lowering her face, remembering all those times she was getting picked on by them. Before she could say another word, Nick hugged her. She couldn't help but smile, "Thank you."

Nick then lets go and puts his hands on her shoulders, looks her in the eyes, "As long as we're friends, I will always protect you. I promise." he finishes with his eyes closed and a giant smile.

Nick then turned around and saw that they were close to the dock. He gave her one last hug then walked away towards the dock, leaving Robin behind him with a somewhat sad look on her face. "Don't make promises you can't keep. No matter how much I wish you could."

(The next day.)

Unlike the day before, Nick slept in late today. He got up to see that his grandfather was not on the boat. He walked over to the right side of the ship and saw that two other boats were there; they had the same sign that his ship had. The only difference between them was that one of them was a battleship.

Nick jumped off the ship and started making his way towards town. When he got there he saw a whole crowd of people. Some were marines with rifles, the rest were the scalars and villagers.

He could see Robin in the center, along with Clover. A woman, with silver hair, was just thrown into the center of the crowd. Nick couldn't make much sense of what he was seeing; he started to make his way closer.

As he got closer, he saw his grandfather standing next to the guy who through the woman. Garp was just standing there, arms crossed, waiting for orders.

Nick finally broke though the crowd and was close enough to see everything. He looked to the woman on the ground, there were parts of her face that remarkably looked similar to Robin's: her eyes were a sky blue, her hair had the same kind of raven style look; right then it clicked. "That is Robin's mom!" he screamed in his head, knowing full well if he said that out loud, he'd be in trouble.

Nick's thought was broken when he heard the man standing next to Garp, Spandine, yell, "NOW THE SCHOLARS OF OHARA… YOUR DEATH PENALTY IS ASSURED!"

Garp looked mad, "What the hell is going on here? Why didn't they tell me there was a Poneglyph here? Clover knew if he had told me I would have helped cover for them." He looked to Clover with a face of confusion and anger. Clover answered Garp's look with his own look that meant, "I did what I had to do. Now you need to do the same."

Spandine continued to speak, with an arrogant smile, "I terribly regret… today, this day… the world's greatest archaeologists will all be executed together!"

After that Robin and Spandine started screaming at each other until Clover interrupted them, requesting to speak to the leaders of the World Government before he dies.

Spandine pulled out a snail and pressed a button on the top of its shell. As he was talking to it, Clover saw Nick not too far, he then looked to Robin, "Robin, Nick is right over there, go stand with him. I don't want you here for this." She knew better than to argue with him, so she walked over to Nick.

As she reached him, Nick whispered, "What is going on?"

"I don't know. I was talking to Saul a while ago, and then he told me that my mother was here. I ran her to see if he was telling the truth and then they showed up." She was on the brink of tears, given to what was going on.

Nick took her had and pulled her away from the crowd to help her get away; he looked one more time to his grandfather. Garp could see him take Robin, he didn't have to tell him; she was Nick's latest friend. Garp gave Nick a look that usually meant, "Everything will be ok, just go."

As they left, Garp turned his attention to what was going on in front of him; the Five Elders were talking to Clover though a Transponder snail. Like Nick, Garp spaced out when Clover started giving a lengthy history lesson; however what did catch his attention was 'a country that was wiped out by an alliance power' and that that 'forgotten country' made the Poneglyphs. "Could this be true? Maybe that was the change in the past that created the corrupted future!"

Garp was brought back to reality when he heard the words, "KILL HIM!" Spandine pulled out a pistol and shot Clover without hesitation.

"DOCTOR!" Robin screamed as she broke her grip with Nick and started to run back to the crowd. "ROBIN, WAIT!" Nick screamed as he ran after her.

"What the hell was that, Spandine!?" Garp's anger was cut short when the snail started talking to him, "Ohara has learned too much! Admiral Garp, you are to authorize a buster call immediately. That is an order."

"What, I can't do that. That is something that can only be used in times of war. You can't order me to do this!" Garp argued.

"We can not allow anyone to escape, or else we risk anyone of them jeopardizing the peace that you helped us claim when you helped bring an end to Roger. Now, follow your orders!" The Elder said through the snail.

Spandine looked to Garp with cold stair, Garp cursed himself, "I… authorize the use of a Buster Call, effective immediately. Let the record show that I do this under protest." Spandine made a smile, as if on cue he pulled out a golden Transponder snail and pressed the button.

"The Buster Call has been activated, Garp. Now would be a good time to go." Spandine said as he walked away, leaving Garp standing there. Garp didn't move, all he could do is just stand there and watch, as his old friend lied there, bleeding to death. "I'm sorry old friend. But the only way I can see to take them down is to take them down from the inside. Even if I have to do such horrible things to get there." Small tears started to fall from his face, his hands were in fists, his knuckles were white because of how hard he was squeezing.

Robin made it back to Clover just as the marines were leaving. Instead of going to Robin and Clover, Nick decided to run to Olivia on the ground. "Are you her? Are you Robin's mom?" he asked as he was helping her onto her feet. Well as much as he can, given how short he was.

The silver raven-haired woman looked to the boy with confusion. Once she saw the look in his eyes, the kind of look that means 'don't lie to me' she sighed, "Yes, boy. I am."

Robin was still with clover, but she heard the whole thing. As she slowly walked over to them, tears started to fall down her face. "Mommy?" she asked. The woman then looked to Robin, her face looked like a mix of shame and sorrow. "I wouldn't be surprised if she hated me," She thought, but was caught completely off guard when she felt a little body hug her.

She looked down to see that it was Robin hugging her. Tears of joy started to fall down her face. "I am so sorry I left," she says, while crying at the same time. "You're here now, that's what matters," Robin said while she was crying too.

Nick couldn't help but smile, seeing that she got her mother back made him happy. At the same time, Garp opened his eyes to see Robin and her mother in their reunion, all he could think about was a personal war, and he just signed their death warrants just to get closer to his goal.

Garp was at an angle to see that Nick was smiling at the sight of those two hugging. "Looks like he made a friend here… Even if I wanted to, I couldn't bring her and her mother with us; I'd be put under suspicion." He clinched his teeth and his fists and then he looked to Robin and her mother. "I am so sorry," he whispered under his breath, he didn't care if anyone heard; he just felt that it had to be said out loud.

Nick's happy feeling was cut short at the sound of cannon-fire. He quickly looked to the town to see that it was being fired at by big guns. Even the giant tree was being shot at.

Even Garp was snapped back to reality by the explosions. "We need to go now," he thought as he picked Nick up and put him over his shoulder. "Nick, we're leaving now!" He started running towards the dock; Nick was kicking and screaming while they were running. "Grandpa! Wait! We can't just leave them!" he said as Garp was running away.

"We have to, and I was given strict orders not to let any of them get on board our boat." Nick knew right away what he had meant; Robin couldn't go with them.

Right then it was hitting Nick all at once; the pain, the fear, the uncertainty if the person you care about is going to be ok or not. The last time he felt all these emotions at once was back when he watched his mother die. Even thought he was four at time, he still remembers that day as if it were yesterday; something like that happening before your eyes, no one could forget that feeling.

"ROBIN!" Nick cried out, at the same time hitting Garp as he was running. Robin and Olivia broke the hug to see what was happening.

Robin started to run after them. "NICK!" she screamed trying to chase after Garp. All she could do is run after them and scream at the sight of her fist friend be taken from her, at the one time she needs him the most. As she was running, a giant hand that picked her up, stopping her; she looked up to see that the hand belonged to Saul.

Nick stopped fighting when he saw Saul arrive. He gave off a sigh of relief when he saw him, "At least he can protect her." All Nick could think about was "How is she going to get off the island as the fleet around them was shooting at form all sides?"

After a few minutes of running, they were out of his sight, even the giant. They had arrived at the boat they came in. The boat immediately exited the dock as more ships were arriving and started to bombard the island with their cannon-fire.

As Garp finally let Nick go, Nick took a pair of binoculars form one of the marines and looked out to the forest, hoping to see if he could find Robin through all the chaos. After a few seconds of looking, he saw her. She was in Saul's arms as he was running though the forest, while it was on fire. He then saw them reach a beach. The battleship was at that area of the beach shot at Saul, in the face. He put down Robin, picked up the battleship and then through it towards another, causing them to crash into each other.

Nick couldn't help but smile at the sight of Saul fighting off the marines to protect Robin. Garp walked up behind Nick, he looked at the general direction Nick was facing with the binoculars. He could see what was happening; Saul fending off the marines to protect the little girl he saw before. "Vice-Admiral Saul… you would really go to such lengths to protect that girl?"

Nick's excitement was ended quickly when he saw a man in a black coat attack Saul. The man through what looked like white spears at Saul's back. Saul turned to the man and spoke to him, Nick couldn't make out what they were saying, but they both stopped when the ship carrying the villagers was destroyed.

Garp's face went from shock to anger quickly. "WHAT THE HELL? WHO DID THAT?" he screamed towards the first officer. "That was Vice-Admiral Sakazuki, sir. He said something about making sure that no scholars were to leave the island alive." The officer answered. "What the hell is the matter with him? The Buster Call is meant only to wipe out the island, not ALL it's inhabitants!"

Nick looked back to Saul and saw that the man in black put what looked like ice on Saul's leg. "SAUL!" he screamed at the sight of his friend in pain.

Saul collapsed and looked to Robin. "Run wif all yer might! If ya stay on dis island, ya ain't gonna survive…! Just… us my raft and sail out!" Saul was battling for breath to speak. "Dis is as far as I'm gonna get I'm caught! GO!"

"NO! Nick is already gone and the boat is gone!" Robin yelled back at him, tears were falling off her face like a waterfall. "I'm sure ye'r goanna find him again. He's the kind of guy who will never leave his friends behind. And he won't be the only one. Ya see soon enough… ONCE YE'R BORN INTO DIS WORLD, YER NEVA GONNA BE ALONE!"

Saul said that last part so loud even Nick could hear it. The man in black put his hand on the giant and the giant slowly became covered in ice. Tears began to fall off Nicks face; he just watched a man, who he considered a friend, be killed before his eyes. And he couldn't do anything about it.

Robin then ran away, Nick couldn't take it any longer; he had to do something and his grandpa can help. The only way he can get his grandpa to help is if he were to do something for him in return. What could be so big to do that he would risk court-martial, or something worse for helping. "There is one thing."

"I'LL DO IT!" Nick turned around and screamed at Garp, eyes still dripping with tears and filled with rage.

Garp looked at him with confusion. "Do what?" he asked. "What could he be talking about at a time like this?"

"I'll go through that '20-year training'. I'll do it without complaining, only if you save HER!" he screamed as he pointed towards the island.

Garp knew right away whom he was talking about, "He must really care about her. Or… no way, he's too young for that sort of thing. Unless…" He turned his attention to the island, then back to Nick, "Fine. But you better not bring this up, ever." Nick nodded in agreement. "Something tells me I'm going to regret this later."

The man in black, Kuzan, was standing there, almost crying after what he had done to his old friend. "I can't do this. Not to her. THIS ISN'T RIGHT!" His thought was cut off when he was called on a baby transponder snail in his pocket.

"Kuzan, are you there?" The snail said in Garp's voice.

"Admiral? What do you need?" He asked, he was able to hide the sadness in his voice.

"I need you to do me a favor. It's a big one. I take full responsibility for what you are about to do." Garp said. Kuzan had a confused look on his face, "What would he want me to do that would make him say that."

Robin was running to where the raft that she and Nick helped Saul to make when she stopped at the sight of Kuzan sitting there, waiting for her. A little boat was on the beach right next to him. His head was down, arms on his knees, he slowly looked over to her, "'Absolute Justice'… Sometimes drives a man insane… You have friends in high places, little one…"

Robin was caught off guard when he said statement. "Could he be talking about Nick?"

"A 'seed' that Saul protected… I wonder what it'll become… It's none of my business against whom you'll bear a grudge, but be glad that you have your life now. In the future… try to live a life as ordinary as possible." Kuzan said. He tried not to make eye contact with her; he didn't want her to see that he was in pain over what is happening too.

He pointed out to her a parallel path of ice that pointed out to sea, the rowboat was in between, ready to leave. "I've prepared a path of ice on the sea. If you travel straight with this boat, you'll reach land."

She started to make her way to the boat but stopped when he spoke again, "And remember this: I'm not your friend… if you do anything, I'm the 'enemy' who'll be the first to catch you"

"My mom is still on the island!" Robin cried to Kuzan. Tears were still running down her face, nose stuffed; she looked desperate for help.

"No one could have survived… if you wish to die of bitterness, well, that's up to you, as well." He said as he walked away. "Be careful out there, Robin. Make your mother and Saul proud." A fell off his face not long after that thought.

Robin slowly got onto the boat, started to row away form the island on fire. After a few minutes of rowing she stopped and hugged her legs. "Dershi! Dershi!" She laughed and cried for a few minutes, then continued rowing towards outward.

She looked out to see the ship that Nick was on. "Goodbye Nick. I hope you are able to fulfill your dream."

Nick couldn't see her anymore. More tears continued to run down his face at the sight of the once beautiful island of Ohara, now was on fire before him. Garp tried to place a hand on Nick's shoulder but Nick shrugged it off and walked down to the lower deck.

(One day later)

Garp called in that day to Navy HQ to meet up with Fleet Admiral Sengoku. Spandine and Kuzan were in the room with them. Spandine looked angry when a marine reported that one of the scholars of Ohara managed to escape. The marine was holding a picture of Robin and showed them. Spandine was the first to react to the picture. "THIS IS HER! THIS IS DEFINITELY HER!" he screamed.

"We found her on a passenger boat… that'd departed from an island far North East of Ohara. But we lost her again shortly after." A marine reported.

Kuzan was sitting in a chair behind Spandine as he was screaming, "Garp knew exactly who she was, and he ordered me to let her go anyway. I hope he knows what he's doing." If anyone were looking, they would have saw that he had a half smile on his face.

Sengoku stood up from his desk and walked over to Garp who was looking out to the window, watching Nick train. Nick was training with one of Garp's top Lieutenants, one of the ones that he trusted the most. He was practicing using his powers on a larger opponent; at the moment, Nick was getting his butt kicked. But then again, it's a start of a long process of training.

"You do realize what'll happen to you. There is only so much I can do." Sengoku said. Garp didn't respond, he didn't even move. All he did was watch his grandson train.

"Garp! ARE YOU LISTENING?" He pulled Garp to look at him. Right when Sengoku was able to look into his eyes he knew the truth. Garp did what he did because of his grandson.

Sengoku let go, stood up straight and cleared his throat, "I was able to minimize your punishment. You have been permanently demoted to Vice-Admiral. You will never be promoted higher ever again." Garp didn't even flinch at the sound of being demoted; after all of what had happened at Ohara, Sengoku couldn't blame him.

As Sengoku walked past him he stopped close enough to whisper, "I hope he was worth it." Sengoku was about to walk away until he was stopped by Garp's arm on his shoulder. "Family is always worth it." Garp whispered back.

TO BE CONTINUED

On the next "Marvels of One Piece", "A brother's love! The metal hero!" I'M GONNA BE KING OF THE PIRATES!

AN: Sorry, I had to rewrite that whole chapter. It just didn't sit right with me, plus a friend of mine pointed out a few errors I made.

Hope you guys like my story!

See you guys soon.

R&R