A/N: If you're not reading "Down Under" or "Of Dreams, Clouds and Mikans", then you wouldn't know that I will be putting this story on hold while I finish "Down Under". The reason I chose that story is mainly because it'll be a shorter story over all, so hopefully I'll be getting back to writing this one soon! Because I really like the ideas I have laid out in my head for it :P I meant to write a chapter more or less two weeks ago when I decided this, but it was the end of the school year and things just kept popping up, updates were pushed to the side as final projects became priority and the like. But now it's summer! Just have a math exam tomorrow and I'm free! Yayyyyy XD

I hope you enjoy this chapter -I think it was one of the easiest chapters I've written for this story :) It just flowed so naturally out of my mind, and the only reason it wasn't up earlier is because I had to go run errands with family. Oh, and we went mudding XD I had a blast. But here it is!

Ahha, I was just about to post this, and reread my summary, and realized that the first two sentences rhymed! Ahha, totally didn't mean to do that. I think I might reword it later so that the entire thing rhymes. Because I am just that cool XD

Oh! But if you like reading my work, I am posting my personal novels up now, and the URL address is on my profile. I have two stories up, but I'll be working on "Moonlight Sonata" more frequently, because I have it all written, I'm just editing it (like, super editing it -I'm practically rewriting it :P) before I post chapters. I would love to get your feedback!

Anyway, it's late, I'm rambling, and I'm off to bed!

Happy reading! And I sincerely hope you enjoy! :)

Chapter 6

This was driving me insane. It'd been fifteen minutes and no one had come to the door and said that everything was okay. I mean, I had faith in my nakama, but it was frustrating when I didn't know what was going on. And Harumi unconsciously took up the space by the porthole, not giving me a chance to take a peek.

"How is it?" I finally asked.

"Sanji really knows how to kick ass," she murmured.

"How's Zoro?" I asked.

"Awesome as usual," she said. "I wish I could fight like you guys."

"Aren't you training with Sanji?"

"A little, here and there," she said, turning to face me. "But he's always busy feeding Luffy and tending to you and Nami to give up much of his time for me."

"Have you tried asking?"

"I think sometimes he still beats himself up on mistaking me as a guy," she gave a half-hearted smile.

"You're not the master of disguise for nothing," I said, getting up and coming to the porthole finally. I clenched the metal frame as I watched someone approach Zoro from behind with a sword drawn. He turned at just the right moment, flinging the man back, over the edge of the ship and into the water.

"See, he can handle himself," Harumi said, glancing at me.

"I know," I murmured. A gunshot was fired, quickly I moved out of the way, pushing Harumi at the same time, who shrieked when the window shattered. I produced a wall of hands quickly to keep the glass from hitting me and the child I was carrying. Pain tore up my actual arms.

"Are you okay?" Harumi asked, crawling to my side below the window.

"I'm fine," I hissed, letting my extra arms disappear. Glass shards hit the ground, but the pain remained. But the baby was okay, and that's all that mattered. I continued to sit there, now able to hear everything that was going on outside.

"YOU BASTARD!"

That was Zoro for sure. I couldn't help but smile.

There was the loud bang of a door being slammed open, then –"Robin-chwan and Harumi-chan are in that room, you insufferable twit!"

That was Sanji. I wonder how breakfast was going.

"Who the hell did that?"

Franky.

All in all there was a ruckus on the ship beyond the wall that we sat against.

"You're loved," Harumi smiled as she sat there beside me.

"You're loved by all of us too, Harumi," I told her. "We're all nakama –we look out for each other.

"Mm," her smile grew. It faded as she turned from me, her hand going to her heart. "That scared the shit out of me though."

"Me too," I admitted.

More glass fell beside us, and we looked up to see Luffy's head through the porthole.

"Shishishi, you're okay! I'm glad!" he said.

"Luffy, that's not a very good way to fight," I told him.

"Luffy, get back out here!" Nami called to him.

"Alright!" he called, snapping his head back. "No worries, guys, Robin and Harumi are okay!"

"That bastard still deserved to die," I heard Zoro mutter. He sounded close, and I stood up and looked out the window to see him standing there with his back to me. I reached out cautiously and touched his back with my hand. He glanced back at me, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," I smiled tenderly at him.

"Good," he said, taking my hand and kissing it quickly. "Stay back from the window, alright?"

"I want to fight too," I told him.

"Robin."

"I know," I sighed, withdrawing my hand. "It's for my own good."

"Don't say it like you don't agree," Harumi said from beside me. "Don't bear ill feelings to those that are thinking about you well-being."

I inhaled deeply. "I'm sorry."

"I love you," Zoro told me before leaping back into battle.

"It's okay," Harumi also got up. I let her lead me out of sight from the window. I sat down on the floor by my closet. She knelt in front of me, taking my hands in hers, "This is all new to us. All of us. We just want to make sure it goes smoothly."

"I know," I said, closing my eyes and taking another deep breath. I opened my eyes. "I guess I'm going to have to get used to being helpless."

"I think," Harumi began slowly, "that every human being needs to know the feeling of being helpless at some point in their lives."

"It's usually called 'childhood'," I smiled halfheartedly. Like all those times where the only thing I could really do was run away.

"Beyond that," Harumi rolled her eyes, sitting beside me. "Being helpless when you're an adult is like… relearning everything you know about life from a different perspective –it's eye-opening."

I felt the corners of my mouth turn upwards into a genuine smile. "I suppose you're right."

Helplessness… like the time that Luffy, and the rest of my nakama, had rescued me from CP9 and Enies Lobby.

"So think of it as a learning experience," Harumi concluded.

"Mm," I said, yawning. The sounds of gunfire travelled inside the room through the porthole. They were slowly getting depleted –my nakama were winning the battle.

It saddened me, though, that they could fight as if I wasn't there. No, I supposed that was wrong. They were fighting because I was there. There with a child slowly growing inside of me.

I let my head rest on Harumi's shoulder, yawning again. My arms still throbbed with pain.

I guess I could rely on them once more –even if this once more spanned the next couple of months to the next couple of years.

"She fell asleep," Harumi's voice rumbled through my ear. I realized I was still resting on her shoulder –but I didn't feel like moving.

"I see that. The stress wears her out quickly." –Zoro's voice.

"Stress and frustration do a number on a lot of people," Harumi murmured.

"Here," I felt a hand slip between Harumi and me, another carefully sliding underneath me. Zoro's hands. I recognized the rough gentleness. He lifted me up, and I clutched the front of his shirt, becoming aware once more of the pain in my arms. I wondered how long it would take to go away. Maybe I should tell Chopper at some point? Zoro laid me down carefully on the bed, "It's okay to keep sleeping."

"Not tired," I mumbled.

"Liar," he chuckled softly.

"Hungry though," I said, opening one eye.

"Of course you are –Luffy ate everyone's breakfast. I'll bring you something to eat."

I nodded, closing my eye only slightly as I watched him walk to the door –Harumi appeared to be gone.

"I'll clean up the mess," Nami said as she entered the room as Zoro exited, carrying a broom and dustpan. "Oh, is Robin sleeping?"

"Yes," Zoro said.

"No," I said.

Nami laughed. "I'll clean up the glass from the porthole. Franky will fix it later when you're not trying to sleep."

"I'm not trying to sleep," I told her. "He can fix the window now, if he'd like to."

"But –"

"I don't mind," I said.

She was silent for a moment, "Well, alright then. I'll get Franky to do it soon. It's going to rain, so the sooner he does it the better –we don't need you catching a cold."

"Thank you," I closed my eyes and listened to the broom's bristles on the wooden floor as Nami carefully swept up the pieces of glass. She hummed softly as she did so. I guess Luffy had barely gotten hurt during battle, or else I'm sure that sweeping up the glass would be the last thing on her mind. How long had it been since the battle ended? Since I fell asleep?

Footsteps entered the room, and soon after a plate was placed by my head on the night table. Zoro was back. He sat on the edge of the bed beside me, gently caressing my hand. I opened my eyes, looking up only to meet his. He made me feel special. That hard gaze that seemed impenetrable disappeared when he looked at me.

I could feel my heart pounding in my chest underneath his stare. I loved him a lot –and I was happy that it was his child that was inside me. Our child. My heart constricted. I had only been thinking about the complications lately, but we were going to have a child. A production of our love –it was an incredible realization.

"What's wrong?" he asked, brushing his thumb underneath my eye. Apparently I was crying again.

"I'm just happy," I said, then felt like an idiot.

"I'll get Franky to change the window later, but before it rains," Nami murmured quietly as she finished up and left, closing the door softly behind her.

Zoro leaned down, brushing my hair out of my face and kissing me; first on the lips, then just below my eye –where I could feel the slickness of my tears underneath his lips –then my forehead. Then he brought me up to a sitting position and rested his chin on top of my head.

"Just happy?" he asked, his arms resting across my shoulder blades. I was consumed by his warmth.

"Think about it," I grasped his shirt at the waist, pulling myself closer to him. "It's our child, Zoro. We're going to have a child. We're going to be parents."

He was silent, and I started to pull back and look at him, but he wouldn't let me, just tightened his grip around me ever so slightly. He quivered, and eventually I was able to pull away to see his face –only he covered that with his hands.

"Zoro?" I asked. My first reaction was fear. What was wrong? Didn't he want to be a dad? Was he scared? Why didn't he want me to see his face? "Zoro?"

"I," he started, and then stopped for a long moment. Finally he continued, after a long shaky breath, "Even after talking about it when we had that old man and his two grandkids on the ship –the time when we'd gotten so drunk that we didn't even notice Bandits literately stealing the ship out from under us –I never actually imagined that the time would come…"

He pulled his hands away to reveal red eyes –he'd been crying. But the tears had stopped, which was probably the only reason that he had brought his hands back down. I don't recall ever seeing Zoro cry. I wondered if I ever would see him cry…

"I'm so glad it has," he framed my face with his large hands, and I leaned into his palm. "And I'm so glad that I'm sharing this time with you."

"I love you," I told him.

"I love you too," he said, kissing me, his lips soft as they pressed against mine. They were bittersweet, tasting like his tears, both his and mine. I didn't mind. I liked the symbolic feel behind bittersweet kisses. The message that no matter what happened and no matter what came our way, that as long as we loved each other we'd be able to get through anything.

"Oh –sorry," Franky said, opening the door. Zoro pulled away from me, keeping his face towards the back wall, assumingly to hide his red and slightly swollen eyes. I looked at Franky, wiping my eyes as I did so. "Nami said that the wind has picked up and the storm will be here in about ten minutes. I wanted to catch you guys before you started doing anything –"

"Proceed," I said, an extra arm popping up and waving him towards the window. Zoro looked at me, and we smiled when our gazes met, before both of us started laughing.

Franky looked surprised for a moment, but smiled as he walked over to the window.

It made me wonder if he had ever seen Zoro laugh like that. It wasn't loud and rambunctious, almost harsh sounding, like when he laughed with the rest of our crew. It was softer than normal. Almost sweet sounding, but still manly.

A lover's laugh.

A father's laugh.

Nothing like the demon the world knew him as.

And nothing but the man I loved so dearly.