A/N: I don't remember the last time I wrote ten MS word pages for a chapter. (Well, I do. And last time it was a LuNa fic [I think?]). But I did it. This is probably the legitimate longest chapter in the story. I mean, if you took away all the authors notes and such.
I don't have a lot to say. Tomorrow's the last day of voting for that contest. Thank you Goku's Daughter and Shadowonthewall6 for loving me so much :P
Thank you all, though, for consistently reading my work. It makes me happy. Truly. And all the reviews make my day when I'm sitting in the back room of my work and reading them. I just can't reply to them, because I hate navigating through websites on my phone. At least the reviews are in my email...
I think this story's wrapping up quite nicely. Do you?
Chapter 11
"You're not coming aboard," Nami told me as we neared the ships.
"I am," I told her, biting the inside of my cheeks. "You can't keep me from sorting through a mess I got us into."
"You didn't –"
"I did," I spoke firmly. "This all started with me. And I need to end it."
"Robin –" Franky began.
"You can't leave me out of this," I said. "And if you do, I'll find my own way."
"She's right," Nami said to Franky. "I'd rather her safe with us than doing something all on her own."
Franky only hesitated a moment longer before nodding his agreement.
There was a loud bang, and our heads swiveled to the Marine ships. Franky reacted quickly, his arm changing into a gun and shooting rapidly at the cannon ball before it was anywhere near us.
He turned back to us like nothing had happened. "If that's the case, then show her Usopp's invention."
"Is it done?" Nami asked.
"We just haven't been able to test it to see how much it can withhold. But I'd rather have something than nothing," Franky told her.
"Mm," Nami said, taking my hand and pulling me along. She led me to Usopp's workshop below the deck.
"What are you looking for?" I asked as she began digging through the mess.
"Something that will protect you and the fetus," Nami murmured, pushing a small pile aside. "Usopp, Franky and I have been working on it, though I've just been used for standard measurements."
"So what is it?"
"Ah! Here it is," Nami exclaimed, pulling something out of Usopp's mess. "It's a protective vest."
"It looks small," I murmured, taking it from her and holding it up in front of me.
"We made it adjustable," she said. "For your growing belly. Here, I'll help you put it on."
She took it from me, undoing the straps on the right shoulder and right waist. She held it open and I slipped into it. Nami did up the shoulder strap, but adjusted the lower part of the vest so that I was comfortable before doing up the waist once more.
"How is it?" she asked.
"Heavy," I murmured, touching the vest.
"Mm," Nami agreed. "I told them they need to work on making a lighter model. They're working on it. This is just the third version."
"What happened to the other ones?" I asked.
"They failed testing," Nami said simply.
Well, that made me feel safe.
"What were you testing them for?" I asked.
"How much they could withstand, like Franky said," Nami replied. "Luffy wore it while Usopp and Franky shot at him. There wasn't much left behind of the other vests."
"And how is this one different?"
"It's a completely new material. Franky has some confidence in it, since he said that it's the same base metal that he uses for himself," she looked at me. "I'd rather take the chance and have you wear something that has the possibility of working, rather than going without any kind of protection at all."
"Thank you," I told her, caressing the heavy attire over my stomach. I felt tears rising. I tried to hold them back, to wipe them away before Nami noticed, but I couldn't stop myself from crying.
"Robin, what's wrong?" Nami asked. "Is it too tight? Should I loosen it some more?"
"I just don't want to have to choose between having Zoro safe and sound or having the baby safe and sound," I tried wiping my tears. I hadn't even realized how much I feared losing the child that grew inside of me up until that moment.
"We won't let it come down to that," Nami said, gripping my hands tightly. "We will never let it come down to that. By the time night falls tonight, we'll have you, Zoro and your child safe and sound on the Thousand Sunny."
Nami straightened up. "Now let's go and save our men."
Mari
"Who's she?" the man that was no other than Straw-hat Luffy asked.
"It's Robin-chwan," the blond guy in the black suit said. It was clear in his voice that he thought his captain was an idiot. Did they even have a man like that in their crew?
"Hmmm," Straw-hat analyzed me. His eyes told me he wasn't an idiot. That he saw straight through my disguise. His eyes shifted over to the green-haired man beside me, the one that was anxious over me and my "pregnant" body.
"What's wrong, Luffy?" the skeleton asked. He was creepy. But I recognized him. The Soul King. Or "Humming Brooke".
Straw-hat frowned, crossing his arms over his chest and scratching his head. Once again he scrutinized me.
"Zoro, do me a favor," Long-nose said, gesturing to the cuffs.
"Mm," the green-haired man stood up, brandishing the sword. His had been taken away as soon as they were in custody. All of their weapons had been. What had been surprising was the number of weapons they'd harvested from the long-nose guy. Although it wasn't really weapons so much as weird types of ammunition. One of them had hit the ground and had turned into a huge plant rapidly as the men were carrying everything to the weaponry room.
It hadn't been pretty.
The green-haired man cut the cuffs of everyone except for the blond guy with the curly eyebrows.
"Oi!" the blond complained.
"Shut up, love cook."
"You don't even use your hands to fight."
"Yohoho, maybe it'll be a sight so see –Sanji sucking up to Zoro to get the cuffs removed. Too bad I don't have eyes to see with! Yohoho! Skull joke!"
"I swear, I'll strangle all of you idiots with these cuffs."
I swallowed hard. I went from being escorted in here to being surrounded by the Straw-hat pirates, no longer chained and helpless. Perhaps I'd bitten off more than I could chew.
"At least now we can escape," Long-nose said, getting to his feet.
"Do you know how many guards are out there?" I gripped the swordsman's arm.
"We can take them," Luffy said.
"You don't even have your weapons," I pointed out.
"I don't carry weapons," Luffy and Sanji said almost simultaneously. "We'll protect you."
"I –I don't want to put the baby in harms way," I forced tears to my eyes. "I got captured before –and they threatened me. What if the same thing happens?"
"I wouldn't let that happen," the swordsman spoke firmly.
"Please… Zoro," I gripped his arm tighter.
He was silent for a long moment.
"Zoro," I repeated, closing my eyes and placing his hand on my stomach. The only flaw in this plan was that my stomach didn't have a heart beat. Which I could give off the impression of a pregnant Robin, I couldn't reproduce the life that was inside of her.
"Go."
Everyone froze. The swordsman turned to his crew.
"Nami and Franky are close behind, I'm sure of it. So the rest of you go. Find your weapons, meet up with them. Take down as many of these damned Marines as possible. Then come back and get us."
"Are you sure?" Long-nose asked.
"I'll stay," The reindeer said.
"No, come on, Chopper," Luffy said, dusting himself off. "Let's go meet up with Nami."
"But, Luffy –"
"Chopper."
"Go, Chopper," I placed my hand on his head. "I'll be okay for a little while."
The swordsman finally cut the cuffs of the blond man, who didn't say a word of thanks.
The five of them stood at the door.
"We'll be back," Long-nose said.
"Robin-chwan, if you don't want me to leave, you need only ask," the blond said.
"Go," The swordsman and I said at the same time.
"A little while," Chopper said, patting my hand.
A little while was all I needed.
Robin
"It's the rest of the Straw-hats!"
"Don't attack us or we'll harm your precious pregnant crew member!" One man cried out.
"That's right! We have her in custody!"
"Who do you have in custody?" I asked, dropping down behind them. I crossed my arms in front of me, and my extra arms popped up and twisted their bodies in unnatural ways.
"It's Nico Robin!" someone exclaimed, just as a poisonous dart hit their neck.
"Nice, Harumi," Nami dropped down to my side. "Don't rush ahead, Robin. You'll hurt yourself."
"A pregnant woman is surpassing the thief and the cyborg," I replied. "Don't tell me you're just jealous."
"As if, I've taken down twice as many men as you," she told me, grinning over her shoulder as she twirled her clima-tact.
"What are you talking about? All the men lying here are due to my amazing reflexes and abilities."
"While you two are arguing, Harumi's knocking quite a few down," Franky said. "Come on, we don't even know which of these ships our nakama are on. Let's keep moving."
It may seem strange for them to be having a competition with a pregnant woman –a competition similar to the ones that Zoro and Sanji often had. But it was needed to keep us all on our toes. I needed to feel capable. They needed to feel like they were protecting me.
"Let's split into two groups," I suggested. "We'll cover more that way."
"It doesn't matter how long it takes us. I'd rather do this safely," Franky said.
"And I just want to find Zoro," I said firmly. "The longer we fight, the more tired we get."
"She's right," Nami said. "I'll go with Robin. You and Harumi be the bigger distraction. Cause all the havoc you can. We'll find Luffy and the others."
Nami took my hand, and the two of us ran for the nearest door. Quickly, I produced ears and a pair of lips on Franky's arm.
"You want a distraction?" I heard him murmur. His body started shifting –"I'll make the biggest distraction you've ever seen."
"Let's go," Nami said, tugging on my arm once more. "Let's go find the idiot father and our idiot captain."
"Whom we love very much," I smiled.
"I've been wondering how mentally sane I am," Nami whispered, pulling me into the shadows of a room as a bunch of men turned the next corner.
"Everyone in our crew is a bit bonkers," I told her.
"It's probably why we're so amazing," she responded.
"Well, look at it this way," I let her lead once again.
"Look at it what way?" she asked as we rounded a corner, coming face to face with the second wave of men headed for the deck. Nami prepared herself for battle immediately, while I hung back and made replicas of myself. The men attacked, but the army of Nami and all the 'me's defended move for move.
"Look at it what way?" Nami repeated, defending herself against a mighty swing, then returning the blow.
"Well," I began as one of my doubles took the sword from an unsuspecting man and used it to defend herself.
"We have a child for a captain," I side-stepped an attack, "And a nearly blind swordsman as a first mate."
One of my doubles landed herself in a corner, unable to get away. I let her disappear just as a deadly blow came her way.
"A conniving thief with a serious love for money as our navigator," I continued, letting another one of me vanish as a gunshot was fired, "A pervert for a cook."
Nami wiped out more men, the pile steadily growing.
"A liar as our shooter," I knocked a few men unconscious.
"A pregnant archaeologist that used to be our enemy," Nami added, swinging her clima-tact one final time.
"An animal for a doctor, and a cyborg for a shipwright," I panted, slightly out of breath as we looked over the mess we'd made. "A skeleton as our musician and an androphobic poison and disguise master for our bartender. And what joins us all together? An impossible dream. You want to know what that makes us?"
"The best crew on the Grand Line?" Nami wiped the sweat from her brow.
"A bunch of lunatics," I corrected. "But we're an unstoppable bunch of lunatics. It's why it's better when we're together… You all taught me that. And reminded me when I had forgotten."
"If you keep on going on like that, I'm going to tear up," Nami grinned, hugging me with one arm. "Let's go get the rest of the lunatics."
There was a loud explosion above us, and through my ear on Franky's arm I heard him shout happily.
"We still have a lot of ship to cover," Nami said.
I chuckled, "All the ships are made the same way. Straight to the bottom –let's go find which captives are aboard this ship."
"Maybe we'll find gold along the way," Nami suggested.
"But first, can we find a place were I can use the washroom?" I asked, the feeling coming over me suddenly.
"Pregnant women and their small bladders."
"I'll remember to tell you the same thing whenever you get pregnant," I muttered.
We checked every door until we did stumble across a bathroom. As I was in the bathroom, Nami spoke to me through the door. Then suddenly a large commotion erupted outside.
I wish I could say I rushed to get out there and help her, but as it is, a pregnant woman's bladder could very well be considered endless.
By the time I did finish, everything seemed to have settled down. Cautiously, I opened the door.
"Na–?"
"Robin!" A familiar voice exclaimed. "It really is you!"
"I told you," Nami and Luffy said, folding their arms the same way.
"Where's Zoro?" I asked, looking at all the faces of my nakama. Through my connection with Franky, I told him about how we were all united.
"We just left you with Zoro in the room they'd held us prisoner in. Well, we'd thought it was you but –" Usopp went on.
"I told you," Luffy repeated.
"Yohoho! Robin –nice to see you! If only I had eyes to see you with! Yohoho! Skull joke!"
"You used that one last time, bonehead," Usopp scolded him.
"I just work with what I've got. Or what I'm lacking. Which are ears to hear you with, Usopp. Skull joke! Yohoho!"
"You left Zoro with an imposter?" I asked, my heart squeezing slightly.
"It's fine. We'll get the idiot back," Sanji said.
"I'm coming with you," I told them.
"Leave it to us, Robin," Chopper said. "We can fight to our heart's content knowing that you're safe."
"I want to come. Nami."
"You're sweating, Robin. You've done well up to this point, but I can't let you put much more stress on your body."
"I'm not moving from this spot," I told them.
"Robin," Chopper changed his form, ready to pick me up and carry me off.
"Wait!" I said, reaching for the bathroom door. "I lied. I won't leave this spot after I go to the bathroom."
"A pregnant woman's bladder," Usopp muttered, crossing his arms. Nami smacked the side of his head. "Oi!"
"I'll be right back," I told them.
I entered the washroom, closing the door tightly. I actually did have to pee a little bit already. I couldn't help it. But more than that, the reason for re-entering the bathroom was to create a duplicate of myself that they could take back to the Thousand Sunny.
With a sigh, I crawled into the small closet that was in the corner of the room. Knowing Nami, she'd check the room, because she knew how I was.
The duplicate walked into the hallway to join the others.
"Now I won't leave this spot."
"Robin."
"I mean it."
"Please, Robin," Chopper begged.
"Chopper, take her and go –" Luffy told him. "All of you, go on –get your weapons. I'll go back and get Zoro, okay, Robin?"
"Luffy, please." Chopper lifted me up over his shoulder. I wrestled again him.
"Nami, you go too."
"But –"
"Go, Nami," Luffy told her. "I'll be back. Shishishi."
Everyone left, leaving Luffy standing outside the door alone. After a while the door opened, and I was slightly horrified that he may use the washroom while I was there in the closet.
"Come on, Robin," Luffy opened the closet. "Let's go get Zoro."
"How'd you know?" I asked, taking his hand as he helped me out of the closet.
"I'm your captain," he grinned. "Of course I know."