To the person who wanted to put the Nordics in- I can only promise you that Sweden and Finland will appear, in the next chapter and sometime later. I never got to the part of Hetalia where the other Nordics appear, so I can't promise you much beyond that.

Note- I'm just not cut out for angst, so there might be a few OOC scenes. I can't really dwell on despair, so it might be a little choppy.

Another note- I read in chapter 320, from one of the Admirals that every group that Robin joined has been destroyed, leaving her the sole survivor. To make it canon- when Iggy left, the pirates disbanded, and went on with their own lives. Since their ship was never seen sailing again, it was assumed that they had all been killed off somewhere.

Chapter 24 (Iggy POV)

"Good luck, Robin," I said. "You too, Kiku,"

"Thanks," said Robin.

"Arigato," Kiku nodded.

"Ze last fight of ze day vill commence!" Germany shouted. "Kiku-san vs. Robin! Ein, zwei-"

"Hold on," Zoro interrupted. "You don't know Robin's power, do you?"

I nodded. "Of course I do! It's- Oh, right. I see what you mean,"

"What'cha talking about?" asked America.

"Robin's ability gives her a way too unfair advantage. You'll see what I mean when she fights," Zoro explained.

"But only in this kind of match. Now, if it were something else…" I finished.

"Like what?" asked Sanji.

"First to be knocked down, maybe?" suggested France.

Everyone looked at him. "That was bloody brilliant!" I said. "But don't think that I owe you anything!"

"Of course not, Mon ami," he said. I didn't believe him.

"I'm not your bloody friend, either!" Something about this bloke just… irritates me!

"Ohonhonhon…" he laughed menacingly.

"Ze vight vill commence! Ein, zwei, drei, BEGIN!"

Kiku gave a respectful bow. "Let us begin," he mounted his sword to his hip, and slid his right hand to its hilt, preparing to draw.

"Eight-wheel-fleur…" Robin crossed her arms, and arms erupted from the ground at Kiku's feet. "Grab!" They grabbed his legs.

"CHIGI! What just happened?" Romano screeched.

"That's Robin's ability," I told him. "She ate the Hana-Hana devil fruit when she was young, so she has the power to copy her body parts on any surface she sees in exchange for being unable to swim,"

Germany gave her a disapproving look. "I hope zat she did not vant to fight vhen she ate zat… fruit. To be unable to svim vould be like giving up everyfing vhen falling into ze vater,"

"I honestly have no idea when or why she ate it," I said. "But she has improved, since I last saw her,"

SLASH! Kiku nicked the one of the arms that gripped his leg, and watched it bleed for a second. All of Robin's arms- copies and real- replicated the cut.

"…Except for that," I really wasn't that concerned about her out there. I mean, she's a strong lass, and Kiku probably wouldn't do anything that bad to her, right?

SLICE! SHING! Kiku kept hacking at Robin's arms, each of them streaming with blood. "Sat ability is not as cowardly as I had sought (A/N thought)," Kiku said between swings. "You are also hurt when I cut seese,"

Robin released her grip on Kiku, and the arms disappeared. Beads of sweat dripped down her forehead.

"Robin!" I tried to help her, but America grabbed my waist.

"Calm down!" he said.

"How can I calm down? Robin's-" I turned around.

America gave me a pained look. "Iggy… I know how you feel. But the reason why Robin's trying so hard… she's trying to show you how much she's grown these past twenty years! She wants to show you that she can survive on her own… [1]"

I can survive on my own… I don't need you… It's all your fault… I'm going independent! More memories flashed through my head, each of them of someone who looked a lot like Canada, except different… We were in a muddy field, rain pouring all around us. I was on the ground, America stood with a musket aimed at my head…

"IGGY!" My… nose… "Iggy! You're awake! I had to break your nose to get you to wake up!"

"Ugh… America?" Tears flooded my eyes, for a reason I still could not remember. "I-I'm sorry,"

"No, I should be sorry… even if it was your-"

"Come on, can't you two give it a rest? What's done is done, and we can't change it now!" Canada peeled America off of me. I'd never seen Canada so sad before. Whatever America was talking about, brewed bad memories for Canada. "Besides… it all happened years ago… haven't you gotten over it?"

I looked on, not entirely understanding what was going on. As much as I hated it, there was almost nothing that I could do.

"Zantetsuken! [2]" Kiku put his hand to the hilt of his blade as if to draw, and rushed toward Robin as soon as she released her arms. A moment later, he was behind her. I heard the click of the sword guard touching the scabbard. Robin's legs buckled beneath her, and she fell to the ground. "Se match is over,"

"Robin!" I ran towards her. She's already lost, there nothing I could do to change that.

"She should be all right," Kiku said, "Do not worry. I struck with se flat of se blade, and on se back of her knees [3],"

I sighed in relief. Kiku was good enough not to hurt Robin. That's why he's my friend… friend?

"申し訳ありません, I am sorry," Kiku said to Robin. "You are not an enemy, so I tried not to kill you,"

"It's okay," she said. "I've… felt worse,"

It was then when I realized how long I had been gone. Twenty years was a long time… what happened to Robin this whole time?

Later (Robin POV)

"Canada," Nami said just before we entered the restaurant.

He sighed. "It's about Arthur, isn't it?" Spot on, as usual. But then again, what else did we talk about?

"Not just that," Nami said. "Why do America and Russia hate each other? I mean, you did say that they took the same side once, right?"

"I did…" Canada said nervously.

"And what do they mean by 'Capitalist' and 'Communist'?" I asked.

Canada glanced around, waiting for Yao to go in. "Okay, I just hope that no one notices you two gone. No one ever notices me, even when I'm right next to them… Russia sat on me once,"

We went to the next-best place for dinner, which was thankfully crowded enough for no one to overhear. We ordered dinner, and waited for Canada to answer.

"I can't tell you much about Capitalism and Communism," he began over a cup of tea with maple syrup in it, "since it's a part of the secret, but let's just say that that's the reason why they hate each other," he said. "I can tell you this, too. America and Russia had a stand-off not too long ago. They never actually fought, but both of them were sure that the other would attack,"

"And it was over Capitalism and Communism?" I asked.

He shook his head. "The fight itself was over something else, but Capitalism and Communism is what sparked it all. So what do you want?"

"That's it for Capitalism and Communism," Nami said, "but I was wondering if you had any pictures with you. If you can show us, of course,"

"No, I was talking about what you wanted to order. I'd like some chicken, please," he said to the waitress. "I'm sorry, it's just that… I'm hungry…"

"I'd like steamed fish, please," I asked.

"Veal and some champagne," Nami ordered.

"Are you sure that you can pay for that?" Canada said nervously.

"Don't worry, it'll be fine," Nami reassured him. "Anyway, the pictures?"

"Oh, right! Sorry," Canada rummaged around his bag, and produced a leather photo album. It was worn, but otherwise well-kept and maintained. He plucked out a few pictures gingerly, and stacked them on top of each other so that only one showed. This one was a black-and-white picture of six people in old-fashioned military dress standing in a room [4]. I recognized Canada, Yao, Cap'n, Russia, and France. I peered closer. Someone who must have been Canada's twin was standing next to him, wearing a vastly different uniform.

"Is that America?" I asked. "He does look a lot like you,"

Canada nodded. "Unfortunately…" he caught himself before saying anything else, and said quite hurriedly, "This is our group, the Allies."

He showed us another one. This one was of Italy and several other people in military uniform. The tall, stern-looking man must have been Germany, the one standing at the fringe looked just like Kiku, and the scowling young man next to Italy was definitely Romano. A man with long hair was smiling next to a plain-looking man, while a young woman was glaring at an arrogant-looking man. "Everyone except for that guy," he pointed to the arrogant man, "was part of a group called the Axis. They disbanded a while later,"

"Then why is he in there?" I asked,

"He just wanted some attention," Canada said. "He's like that,"

"Oh?" Nami interrupted, noticing something. "Why is there a burn mark on Germany's arm?" I followed her gaze, and saw a spot on the picture that looked like it was jabbed with a lit cigar.

Canada looked guilty. "That's… there used to be a symbol there, but Germany himself scorched it out. He regrets ever following it, and right now, he's still blamed for what happened,"

"What happened?" Nami asked, but Canada shook his head.

"That's not something that I can tell you," he said mournfully. "You see this woman?" he said in an effort to change the subject, "This is Elizaveta, she divorced Roderich not long ago when this was taken,"

Elizaveta and Roderich… "Then they were the married couple who got in a fight with Ivan?"

"You were listening?" he said, surprised. Then he nodded. "Yes, they were. I have a picture of them somewhere, but first, take a look at this guy," he pointed to the arrogant man. Compared to the others, he looked lighter in color, but I couldn't tell why, since it was in black-and-white. "This is Gilbert, Germany's older brother. He's kinda crazy, really arrogant, calls himself awesome for some reason, and he picks a fight with everyone, but…" he sighed. "You'll have to make the call on if you like him or not,"

"I don't like him already…" Nami said. "I guess that's why he wanted to be seen with them,"

Canada ignored her, and took out another photo. This time, it was of France and an aristocratic man sitting together on a couch. The man was sparkling for some reason. "That's Roderich,"

"Why's he sparkling?" asked Sanji.

"Well…" Canada began. "France snuck in to Germany's house to make fun of Roderich, because he was freeloading off of Germany… Maple! How did you get here?"

Nami and I turned around, and Sanji was sitting in the chair opposite Canada. When did he…?

"I saw you two sneaking out last time. So how did you manage to go out with two girls at the same time?"

"Um… er…" Canada was blushing, and whispered something that sounded like "Oh non, il me rend son comme la France! [5]"

"What?" Sanji asked.

"He's not going out with either of us!" Nami vehemently denied his claims. "We were just… asking some questions…"

Canada nodded feverishly. He was as red as an autumn leaf… that fell from a maple tree. "I- I was just telling them about Arthur's past!"

He told him what he told us last time, and explained that he couldn't tell him one secret. "I'll tell you guys when Arthur remembers," he promised after his speech.

"Okay," Sanji said, half-relieved by the fact that Canada was not going out with either of us, and half-upset because Canada couldn't tell him the secret of dating two girls at the same time. "I'm telling Luffy and the others as soon as we get back,"

"Yeah…" Canada turned to us, "Why didn't you tell them, Nami, Robin?"

Nami went as red as an apple. "I thought that you didn't want me to tell them!" she shouted at Canada.

Canada flinched, and then shook his head. "No, it's not like this is a secret [6]!"

"It isn't?" I shouted. "Then why…" I faltered. Even if it he didn't have to hide it, Canada had no reason to tell them.

"They didn't ask," he replied. Before any of us could say anything else, he said quickly, "And they never seemed to want to know," (A/N I read too many books where a minor character know the secret that the main characters are looking for, and when it turns out that they know, they say, "(insert person's name here) never asked". Canada is not that type of person.)

"Oh." That seemed to appease Nami. "Okay then. Robin, we're leaving," she stood up, and headed for the door. Oh, I see what she's doing…

"Excuse me, sir?" the waitress said. "Your bill?"

Canada looked like a deer in the headlights of a car… wait a second, what was a car, anyway? "M-Maple!"

"Come on, he should be okay," Nami told me as she passed the door to someone. "It should only be about-" She cut off. I peered over her shoulder and saw what she was looking at.

A man that we had only seen in a picture was holding the door for us. Wow, I'd never seen anyone with that eye color before.

Meanwhile, in another dimension…

"Where is big brother? Where is he? You're hiding him from me! Tell me NOW!"

TO BE CONTINUED! Maybe…

[1] I can survive on my own; I don't need you, etc. - War of American Independence. America became independent from Britain on July 4th, 1776.

[2] Zantetsuken- used by Odin in the Final Fantasy series.

[3] Japan hitting Robin on the back of her knees, then she falls- It might be just me, but on the foreleg, if you hit it near the back of the knee, you fall backwards. I think…

[4] Old-fashioned military uniform- remember, there are only Marines in One Piece. Their uniform is different from the uniforms from WW2, but Robin recognized them as military. Let's say that there were uniforms like that at some point, except they fell out of use over time.

[5] Canada when Sanji interrogates him- Oh no, he's making me sound like France! Basically, like a two-timer, or a pervert.

Canada speaks French when he's surprised, and when he wants to say something in another language, he speaks French, because it's his birth language, and it's still in use today. The Italy brothers, however, speak Italian automatically rather than Latin, because it's still in use today. But when they have to say something to each other in a language other than Italian or English, Latin is next on the list.

[6] Canada saying that it's not a secret- Dude, this is history! It's all in Wikipedia and Google! And we study this! It's not a secret.

The thing with America and Russia is the Cold War. This is only what I can find, but both sides had nukes, and if one attacked, then the other would counterattack. America and Russia were not allies, since America was Capitalist and Russia was Communist, which is sort of the reason why they didn't trust one another.

The burned-out symbol on Germany's arm is the swastika. I looked up the uniforms of the time, to check where it was on the uniform.

Who is this mysterious man at the door? What will Sanji tell the Straw Hats? Will they get mad? And what about that incestuous woman at the end? Find out soon!