Robin's point of view

I led my mother to the Sunny, and helped her up on the deck. She looked around the ship and smiled. There was a ruckus in the kitchen. Once I opened the door, I realized they were having dinner. Everyone immediately turned their attention to me.

"Robin-chwan! Welcome ba-" Sanji began, then looked at my mother in bewilderment. "Who's that?"

Everyone, minus Chopper and Zoro, were staring at my mother, confused. Luffy was blinking innocently. I concluded that the crew members who were with me hadn't mentioned who I was with.

"My mother," I said, still not fully believing it myself. Nami dropped her spoon. Apparently she was the one who had heard the entire story in detail about my childhood back in Water 7, so she was the one most in shock. Luffy had gone back to eating, but was still looking towards me. There was an uncomfortable silence. Finally Sanji broke it.

"Robin-chan's mother!" he exclaimed, getting up from his seat and walking towards us. "I can see where Robin-chan's beauty comes from! Why don't you ladies come take a seat?"

Mother chuckled and followed Sanji to one of the seats. Everyone was still eyeing her carefully. Nami suddenly burst into tears, getting up and walking towards my mother. She gave her a hug. The crew, and my mother and I were all surprised. Mother returned the hug briefly, still a bit surprised by Nami's move. Luffy stopped eating long enough to greet her.

"Hi Robin's mom!" he mumbled, spitting food as he spoke. Usopp hit him on the head.

"THAT'S GROSS! BE MORE POLITE IN FRONT OF GUESTS!" Usopp yelled, then turned back to my mother. "Nice to meet you, Robin's mom!"

"Yo! You're SUPER pretty!" Franky said.

"Yohoho! Hello," Brook greeted. "May I see your panties, ma'am? For some strange reason, your daughter won't allow me to see hers!"

My mother had more of an amused expression than an offended one. Nami sent a plate across the table that went straight into Brook's face. "SHUT UP!"

"I'm Chopper! Nice to meet you, Robin's mom! I'm a reindeer," Chopper said, making sure she didn't mistake him for any other kind of animal, which many people often did.

Mother, as shown on her face, was a bit overwhelmed by the strange creatures that were in the crew. A skeleton, a cyborg, and a talking reindeer were indeed unusual. Zoro gave her a nod as a greeting. The silence that followed the greetings was broken by mother's laugh.

"Your nakama are perfect, Robin," she said, a tear escaping one of her eyes. Most of them, such as Chopper, Franky, Brook, and Usopp, blushed at the compliment. Everyone settled down after that and proceeded with their dinner. Sanji served mother more food than the rest of them, I noticed. I chuckled as he hovered over her, showering her with compliments. She took the spoon in her right hand but then dropped it. She was injured. But she was able to eat with her left hand. Luffy was snatching food from everyone's plates, and ended up stretching across the table and stealing some meat off my mother's plate. She was a bit stunned. Sanji raised his foot and kicked his captain.

"WE'VE TOLERATED YOU STEALING FROM US, BUT DON'T STEAL FROM ROBIN'S MOM, YOU JERK!" he scolded. Nami, who was sitting beside my mother, apologized and gave her the piece of meat that she had on her plate.

"He's a devil fruit user, so he stretches," Nami explained, rolling her eyes. "He can be a handful."

Mother laughed. As I watched my mother and my nakama getting to know each other for the first time, I felt a joy I had never felt before. I closed my eyes for a while, just listening.

"Nami-swan! You're so pretty when you're mad!"

"UGHH!"

"Oi, Luffy! Give me back my food!"

"NO!"

"NAMI'S SCAAARYYY!"

I can't believe this is actually happening. My mother's with me. She's eating dinner with my nakama. She's alive.

Once dinner was over, Nami and I led my mother to the room where we slept and kept our belongings. Nami closed the door behind us.

"This is wonderful!" Nami said to both me and my mother. Her eyes showed happiness, but I could see curiosity mixed in there as well. I smiled.

"It is, very wonderful," I repeated. Mother sat down on one of the beds and took her hat off. Her long hair fell, covering her shoulders and half her back. But some of it was cut off in odd places, making it uneven. I remained calm, but it bothered me, because I knew it hadn't been cut off, but removed in an "unfriendly" way.

Nami seemed to study mother's hair for a while, then she nodded, as if confirming an idea in her head. She walked over to my mother and sat beside her.

"I'm Nami, this ship's navigator. You are?" she said.

"Nico Olvia," mother answered, "an archeologist." Nami then got up, walked to a chest of drawers, and took out a pair of scissors.

"Robin, throw me that towel," she said, pointing to a towel that hung on the corner of her own bed. So I did. I sat down and watched as she settled behind my mother. She lifted her hair and placed a towel around her shoulders.

"I'm gonna give you a little haircut," she announced. Mother blinked a few times before she shrugged.

"Alright," she said. Nami combed and cut, and surprisingly she was quite good at it. I even considered asking her to give my hair a trim. Once she was finished, she bent back to admire her work. She'd cut mother's hair a little over her shoulders, and it looked much neater than before.

"I didn't know you possessed the ability to cut hair so nicely," I commented, flashing a grateful smile at her.

"I know a little thing or two," she replied, yawning. "I should get some sleep. Luffy was walking in his sleep last night and woke practically everyone up, except Zoro who was sleeping in the crow's nest, and you, who were already awake."

"Oh," Mother said. We looked over at her. She was looking in the mirror. She let out a slight giggle. "It's been forever since I last saw myself in short hair."

"And it looks great, if I do say so myself," Nami said, grinning. She turned toward the door. "I'll let you two sleep in here today. And just so you know, tomorrow morning we're leaving the island. G'night!"

I thanked her. Although I wasn't planning on sleeping that day, I did want to spend time talking to my mother more, and didn't know if it would be comfortable for her to talk about things that happened in front of anyone else.

"They're so protective of you," mother said, turning away from the mirror and sitting back on the bed.

"If you're referring to how Chopper reacted when you first came, then yes," I said.

"That, and the look Roronoa Zoro gave me," she said. "It was quite an intimidating glare."

I hadn't looked at Zoro when that happened, so I wouldn't have known. "I see."

"As you may imagine, I didn't get any news from the outside world when I was held captive. I tried my best to find you during the past two years, after I got out. I tried to conceal my identity as much as I possibly could, and avoided talking to older folks. There was a greater possibility of them knowing me than younger people."

"I tried getting information about your whereabouts and about the crew you'd joined from all over the grand line. The first year I was out of the prison, there was no clear information on who you'd joined. It was as if you weren't with anyone in particular. But near the end of last year, I heard about what happened in Enies Lobby. Not to mention the fact that the people who came for you were the Straw hats," she explained, raising one of her eyebrows at me. "You've joined quite the troublemakers."

I let out an amused laugh. "Indeed, I have. And I couldn't be more thankful for it."

I took a deep breath, removing the smile I had on my face. "How, after eighteen years of being in a prison, did you manage to escape? I doubt they just let you leave."

"Believe it or not, it was sheer luck," mother said, chuckling. "Only the government knew about this prison that I was in, which they'd built far away from the seas we're familiar with, and that held a very limited amount of prisoners. They had to keep it hidden and secretive, since everyone knew Nico Olvia as a "dead criminal". But the place I was in wasn't nearly as guarded and secured as Impel Down."

"Two years ago," she continued, "one of the prisoners fell ill, and it quickly spread. The guards caught it, including many other prisoners, and me. And it was deadly. Many prisoners died due to this illness, and most of the guards, who turned out to be very cowardly, had escaped the island to find a cure. Although it was still secured, it made the chance of escaping very high. I'd caught the disease and had turned very weak, and didn't have enough energy to even try. But the other prisoners did, and they made a very big commotion, together uniting to destroy the cells they were in. They didn't dare try before, since the guards were monstrously strong."

She laughed, slightly rolling her eyes. "As soon as they knew death was near, they put aside everything, including guarding the prisoners. It's pathetic. Many of the prisoners did manage to finally get out of their cells, and they kindly took the time to free the ones who didn't. Together, they fought the guards that surrounded the prison, but some of them died in the process."

"We were finally able to escape the island on rowboats, and were cured once we got to the next island. I am in those prisoners' debt."

I closed my eyes for a while to think things over. Suddenly I felt two hands on my cheeks. I opened my eyes to see my mother sitting in front of me.

"I'm sorry, Robin, I wasn't there for you all these years," she said, her voice breaking up. "I'm sorry you had to live your life running for so long."

"If I hadn't been running like I have, I probably would've never found my nakama," I said, smiling. "You needn't worry, you're not at fault."

"You've become such a mature adult," she commented, shaking her head. "I've missed so much."

I gave her a smile and got up.

"Sleep, you look tired," I said, walking to the door. "I'll show you around our ship's library tomorrow, I'm sure you'll like it. Good night, Mother."

"Yes, I have yet to find out what you've discovered throughout your life," she said, getting up and heading to the bed.

"Oh and, Mother is too formal. I'd rather hear you call me Mom," she said as she lay down and closed her eyes. She smiled. "Good night, Robin."