Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece

Family Bonds

It's been a couple of weeks since Ace has accepted Robin, and removed any doubts from his head about her.

Robin and her mother have finished hiking up mountain Coloub; reaching the bandits' hut. Robin went and sat on a tree stump and began to read a book she had before the boys. Olivia now was practicing yoga or her form of it by zoning out the bandits' excess flirting. Robin could only laugh at her mother's funny attitude.

Finally, after some while, Makino arrived holding a crate of drinks causing the bandits to forget their swooning and drink.

As Makino come closer to the mother of the group, she asked, "How are you doing, Olivia?"

"I'm fine." Olivia first said, then she added, "Thank you for the job, Makino. It helped me find a constant income for my house."

"Oh, no problem" Makino waved her hand, then said, "In fact, since you came, customers have doubled in number." Olivia just laughed a little with a blush on her.

Then Makino approached the little girl who was engrossed in reading the back she had. Makino smiled, "reading anything interesting Robin?"

Robin smiled back at her, and exclaimed, "Yes. I'm reading about the island of Dressrosa. It's a huge island with a very interesting history. Though sadly, in recent years as I read the book it fell into a civil war of sorts."

Makino smiled at her, and said, "You must the smartest little girl I ever encountered." Robin simply hid beyond the book; she was reading from sheer embarrassment.

They all then saw the bushes shake announcing the arrival of the brothers.

Luffy bursted first from the bushes; making a beeline to Robin greeting, "Hi, Robin. How are you today?"

Robin blushed as she made her way towards Luffy, and said, "I'm fine."

Makino smiled saying, "Luffy, I understand you like Robin, but she's not going anywhere."

This caused the children's faces to redden a little.

Ace added as he came from the bushes, "She's right. Being too clingy might scare her away."

Olivia then joined the fun, as she said, "It's very pleasant to know that my daughter's presence makes you happy."

At this point, both children were red as a tomato. Luffy then began shouting, "Stop it." This only made them laugh some more.

Ace then noticed the book Robin was holding, and asked her, "What's that?"

"This is a book, want to read it." The girl told him.

Ace then hummed and replied, "Let me see it."

As he was handed the book, he looked at it skeptically, and said, "Can't say I ever saw this?"

Robin was seriously shocked; he has never seen a book. That was unbelievable in her mind.

"As a matter of fact, I don't think I can read." Ace declared.

Robin was now seriously shocked. Reading to her was essential as breathing; for Ace to come and say he doesn't know how to read was blasphemy.

Then Luffy butted in saying, "Yeah me too" he said at first then continued, "Maybe that's why I didn't enjoy reading so much in the library tree."

Ace then laughed saying, "You and a library in the same sentence never thought I'd ever heard it."

Robin looked at them and shouted, "You really can't read."

Both boys fell to the ground from her sudden outburst as they nodded their heads.

"But how?" she said, "I mean knowledge is the power that helps us, humans. It causes to ascend to a higher level of understanding and building bridges of culture. It's the greatest tool that mankind has ever created."

Both boys looked at her with wide eyes from the sudden speech she had just given. Seeing this, Robin hid her face behind her book and muttered shyly, "At least that's what I think."

Ace then stood saying, "Ok, if you like reading that much, then I guess it's cool."

Luffy then added, "Robin being smart is what makes her awesome." Said girl blushed at this.

Olivia stood there smiling at her daughter's love of knowledge, then a very bright idea hit her as she thought about how she can put her brains into good use too. Sure she was working at the bar, but she also needed to use her intellect.

As the sun rose on Dawn Island to announce the beginning of a new day, both boys were currently making their way to the bandit's hut to meet Robin. Once they reached it, they were greeted by a very weird sight.

Beside the hut, there was a blackboard. In front of the said board were 3 boxes acting as seats as Robin who was wearing a huge smile looked back at them, was sitting on one of them. To say that the boys had a bad feeling about this was the understatement of the century.

Suddenly a bell rang from behind the board. That's when Olivia came from behind saying, "School in session boys."

Both boys quirked an eyebrow as a tumbleweed appeared out of nowhere rolling beside, so Luffy inquired, "What is school?" for him it was a foreign word he never heard before.

Robin said excitedly, "School is where you learn new things." Then she continued, "And since you two don't have any type of education, Momma decided to be our teacher to help you read and write."

Both boys then felt a cool chill travel down their spines as Robin said 'teacher' clearly remembering what someone once told about his horrible experience with them.

Olivia then asked with a smile, "So boys aren't you going to join us?"

What happened next wasn't what she expected. She thought the boys what be thrilled or at least interested in this new opportunity, but they both ran and climbed up a tree as they were afraid of her.

"Yeah, thanks but we don't want to get hit. Gramps' fists of love are good enough." Ace said from the tree, causing Olivia's curiosity to rise as she asked herself why he thought she was going to hit them.

"Yeah, I thought you were nice but you're a teacher. Teachers are bad." Luffy said.

Both girls now tilted their heads in sheer confusion as from where they got the idea that teachers are bad.

"Now boys, who told you that teachers are bad?" the women asked as nicely as possible as not to freak them out.

Both boys replied at the same time, "Sabo did."

Olivia quirked an eyebrow as she inquired, "But why did he tell you this?"

"Because he used to have teachers and they used to beat him all the time." Luffy answered before Ace shoved his foot on his mouth screaming, "Luffy, stop spreading our secrets."

"Wait" the woman called out for them, "Sabo, you're deceased brother used to have teachers, but I thought he used to live in the jungle like you did."

Ace sighed as he began to speak, "Unlike us, Sabo's parents are still alive, but he didn't like them that much, because they never treated him like a son."

Olivia then asked, "What do you mean 'never treated him like a son'"

Ace then explained further, "His parents never really cared about him; to them, he was only their property that'd use to rise higher in their status." He stopped for a while then carried, "And of course, they brought him teachers to make him smarter, however, they would always beat him whenever he did anything wrong."

Olivia could only think of one possible case that could explain what he was saying, "Was he a noble?" She asked earning a nod from Luffy before he was slugged by Ace for slipping the beans.

This would explain everything Olivia concluded. Nobles were known to be heartless people only caring about their status and reputation. The worst of them was the celestial dragons who after creating the world government were given immunity, by who knows who, from any type of judgment allowing them to get away with all types of crimes including abduction, slavery, and even murder.

Olivia shook her head and called out for the boys saying, "But not all teachers are bad." She said trying to persuade them. She looked at them and both boys weren't convinced.

Okay, plan B she said in her head. She then went to Robin and whispered something to her. Robin smiled at her as she nodded her head. Robin then got up and looked at Luffy saying, "Please Luffy, just try it this once for me"

Luffy tried to ignore her as he became to fidget in his place, but finally, he gave up and came down saying, "Alright I try it, this once."

Ace looked at his brother and slapped his forehead as he looked at Robin saying, "You truly are evil." Earning a giggle from the girl.

Olivia then looked at Ace who stubbornly refused to join the other two, then she found a way to bring him down, "You know Ace, that many of the things I'll teach you; you'll need if you ever became a pirate." She said.

"Like what?" Ace asked.

"Did you ever hear about scurvy?" she asked him.

"What's that?"

"You'll know about it if you come down."

Ace threw a glare as he said, "You're good." Finally, he jumped from the tree sitting beside Luffy and Robin.

Olivia giggled at the boy's remark as she made her towards the board. She then began listing a random bunch of subjects that she was going to teach the boys such as math, physics, chemistry, geography and etc. she then said, "But since 2 of you don't know how to read or write, we'll begin with that."

She then began writing the alphabet on the board, telling the boys which letter is what.

As a small trail, she gave Luffy a book and told him to read. Luffy gulped afraid of being beaten, but he began slowly reading the title, "Rai-nboat, Rainbow mis-t"

As he went further his face began turning red from reading, causing all the surroundings to look at him with concern; that's when Olivia stopped him saying, "Luffy, are you alright?"

"Yeah, but reading really hurts." He said causing the blink. Olivia brushed it off as nervousness because it was his first time doing such a thing.

She took the book and gave it to Ace who read it with as much difficulty as Luffy was reading it.

As the days went on, both boys were beginning to become better with their reading and writing, however, Ace was much faster than Luffy. The young boy would have serious difficulties when he's reading, writing, or even trying to concentrate.

Finally, Olivia asked Luffy the following question, "What do you always mean when you say your head hurts when you think."

The boy replied, "I don't know; when I try to think, it's very hard."

Olivia looked at the boy with concern as to what may cause him to have difficultly in reading or thinking in that regard, then it hit her. The boy was made out of rubber. His nerves must also be made out of rubber which causes electric signals to have a hard time moving from one nerve to another. From that day forward, Olivia decided that Robin would assist Luffy during class time to ease whatever pain he was having by helping through difficult words or concepts.

After 3 full months, both Ace and Luffy had fully learned, the latter with Robin's assistance, how to write and read. Then one day when they finished their class, both boys were excited for some reason.

Robin came up to them and asked, "Why are guys so excited?"

Luffy began saying, "Because we're going to…" he was shut down by Ace hitting him with a pipe on his head.

The boy looked at the girl and said, "Nothing important, Robin." He tried to lie.

Robin simply raised her eyebrow not convinced, as she began to probe then even further. Finally, Luffy told her, "We're going to fight today."

Ace shouted, "Dam it Luffy. Do you have to tell her everything? Didn't we agree not to tell her this so she doesn't get the wrong idea?"

Luffy looked at him, and then at Robin, as he spoke, "We're definitely not going to fight today." He lied horribly. Under normal circumstances, Robin would have laughed, but now she was afraid of what happened last time they fought happening again.

She asked fearfully, "But why? Did you forget what happened last time?"

Ace looked at her as he began explaining, "Not that type of fighting. What we mean is hitting each other. We're basically going to train to become stronger."

Robin was confused as to why they would hit each other to become stronger. Was it worth it?

Luffy then came up to her, "So Robin want to come to see me beat Ace?" he asked.

Ace laughed as he said, "Not happening. It's a known fact that older brothers are stronger than smaller ones. Especially ones with weak devil fruit powers."

Luffy then tackled Ace to the ground screaming, "My devil fruit power is awesome." They then began a mini-dust cloud.

Olivia and Makino then came up to them asking, "What is happening?"

Robin said in a weak voice, "They're going to fight to get stronger."

Makino merely shrugged getting overtime used to this. Olivia scratched her head a little then shrugged herself as boys are always gonna be boys.

Robin on the other hand felt sick in her stomach as she began to step backward. She then accidentally bumped into Dadan who said, "Hey, watch where you're going."

Robin nervously turned around and began apologizing; sensing something wrong from the girl, she crotched on one knee and asked her, "What's wrong?"

"They're going to fight. I hate fighting." The girl said with sadness in her eyes.

"Never been in one."

"No, but I was always being hit by everyone around me. It's not fun." Robin said.

Dadan looked at her and said, "Listen, kid, the world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It's a tough place out there. When you ever get in a fight, it's not about who hits the most, it's about who gives the last hit. Sometimes to win it, you have to wear out your opponent in order to get the last hit."

Robin looked at her with wide eyes, and she said, "But that sounds horrible."

Dadan wasn't shocked by the fancy word the girl used. She was sure that she used this word because she was going to use a fancier one that Dadan couldn't get. But under all that smarts, there was a little girl, so Dadan said; "The boys have lost enough, to them being strong is the only way not to lose anyone anymore" she stopped for a while then added, "It's a mean place out there either you got to be tough back to it or you get eaten and thrown to the side."

Robin was shocked for a split second, but then she nodded. Life wasn't fair to her in the least those last previous years.

She looked at the brothers who we're talking about who was going to beat the snot out of the other. She then looked at her mother.

She walked toward her and asked her, "Momma can I go with them?" Olivia was about to say no, as Robin added, "I promise I won't fight."

Olivia then looked at her daughter who was using her puppy eyes' look causing the woman's heart to melt as she agreed.

Robin went out to the boys and said, "I'm going to come with only to make sure you're ok after your fights." Makino who was watching from the side laughed at the girl knowing who she was planning to watch over.

Olivia then came beside the boys saying, "Boys now I expect to take good care of her."

Luffy declared, "Yeah. No one's going to hurt her."

Ace said, "You can count on us."

Olivia then leaned forward and said, "Good" but then pulled the boys toward her wanting the next part to be between them only, "because if anything happens to my baby girl whether it's your fault or not, being taken to impel down will be the least of your concerns."

Both boys shivered as one word went through their minds; scary.

Olivia then pulled away saying, "And don't go too hard on each other." She said with a sweet smile hiding a malicious aurora.

Robin then came beside them saying, "So let's go."

Both boys jumped from surprise; Luffy then gathered his bearings as he grabbed Robin's hand and said, "Yeah, let's go."

Luffy then ran into the forest taking a blushing Robin with him followed by Ace.

Makino then asked Olivia when she told them only from the woman to say, "Nothing important"

"Gum Gum Pistol" Luffy shouted at the top of his lungs as he launched his arm towards Ace.

Said boy stepped to the side dodging the hit, and grabbed the hand before yanking Luffy towards him like a ragdoll. He then pinned him down saying, "So that's my 100th for the day right."

"No that's 99th. There's still one round left." Luffy argued.

Robin looked at them and said, "Honestly both of you are bad at math. You haven't passed the 60th round yet." Both boys then began laughing.

Ace explained, "Usually it was Sabo who take care of keeping up with the rounds. But now that he's gone and we don't know how to count; we're having a problem with counting."

Luffy then began lamenting their time with Sabo by saying, "Man, I really miss him. I still remember when I first meet him when I followed to the grey terminal."

Ace then began laughing and said, "Yeah, it was one heck of an adventure. I still can't believe that you…" Suddenly Sabo's part of Ace's brain told him that letting Robin know what happened the first time they meet Luffy was a very bad idea.

"Why did you stop Ace?" Robin asked him wondering why he stopped abruptly.

"Well, it's really nothing." Ace said waving his hand hoping to make her forget.

Luffy looked at him and said, "Weren't talking about the time you allowed that Porchemy guy to kidnap me and torture me all day."

"What? Why?" Robin asked with a pale face. She looked at Ace taking her hana-hana. Forming a hand on his shoulder, she tapped gently on his head before whacking him hard causing a huge bump to form. "Why would allow such a thing to happen?" Robin asked frantically.

"Ah, well…" Ace tried to come up with an excuse only for Luffy to speak before him.

"That's because I found their treasure."

"Luffy that's supposed to be a secret." Ace yelled at him.

"No." the boy shouted. "Robin's our friend we can tell her." He then looked at said girl and said, "You see there was a place called the grey terminal where all junks used to be thrown there, but also nobles used to throw their jewelry there too." He said shocking the girl that nobles were actually throwing jewelry away. He then continued, "Thugs and crooks used to steal them so we couldn't compete, that's why Ace and Sabo used to resort to doing ambushes and stealing said items in a flash, or just taking small bills."

"Wait there's something I don't get. The nobles throw away jewelry." The girl asked more than said.

"Yeah, they do. It's because they probably got bored of it." Ace said shocking her further. It was like the nobles were practically showing off in front of the lower classes.

Robin shook her head, and said, "Still that doesn't excuse your behavior. You should've protected him." Ace looked at her then lowered his head in shame remembering the incident.

"I know, I'm sorry," the boy said as Robin helped him up.

She then said, "It's okay, it's not like you tried to kill him."

Ace chuckled nervously praying to every entity that she doesn't know about that. Only for said entities to laugh in his face as he saw Luffy one his big mouth. He then said, "Ah, damn."

Luffy then interrupted them by saying, "Wait, didn't you and Sabo try to kill me before I was kidnapped?"

Robin's head wiped around toward Luffy as Ace screamed, "Dam it Luffy, can't you keep a secret? Didn't we agree that this little thing never be mentioned again?"

Luffy just laughed at his friend brother. Robin on the other hand wasn't having much fun like Luffy. His brothers tried to kill him. His own brother tried to kill him. Why? Just because of some money. She looked at Ace with a clam almost expressionless face as she formed a hand on his shoulder and began slapping many times. Ace at this moment finally understood what the phrase 'Hell knows no fury than that of an angry woman' meant.

Robin couldn't think straight. She thought she had it hard. Luffy was abused by grandpa thrown into the forest, and almost got killed by his brothers. Even with all the harsh treatment, she had been through; no one ever tried that on her. Well until the world government came and the locals went bananas. She only came out of her rage when someone shouted at her.

"Robin stop" Luffy shouted causing her to halt. He then over to his brother who began rubbing his sore cheek and said, "Wow Luffy, your girlfriend sure packs quite a punch."

"She's not my girlfriend." The boy retorted back.

"Why?" Robin could only ask.

Luffy then looked at her and begin speaking, "Because he's all I have."

She then noticed the anger in him began rising to the surface slowly, though he kept a calm face, "Dadan is a bandit and I hate them. Gramps is always beating me. Makino isn't here all the time"

He then took a deep breath and shouted, "Being alone is worse than being dead."

Robin then ran away crying that her friend shouted at her. Luffy tried to reach out, "Robin wait." He said as she disappeared from his sight. He then began sobbing, "I wanted a fight but not like this."

Ace stood beside him and said, "It's alright. Let's go and apologize."

As they stood up to follow her, Ace noticed something wrong, and asked with sweat running on his like rain, "In which direction did Robin go?"

Luffy then pointed behind them, "That way…" he said as his brain finally processed what he said.

Both boys now ran after the girl to save her life.

Robin was now running in the depths of the forest with tears on her face. It hurt her so much that her best friend just shouted at her, but she already forgave him. But what she couldn't get was why was he sticking up to Ace after all the horrible stuff he put him through. She thought about that question till she realized that it was the same reason she stuck with him.

He had no one like her. He was lonely and needed someone to be friends with.

Just like her. Just like Ace.

She then took a decision to go back to the boys, but she stopped in her tracks when she came across something rather weird. It was like a huge scorched field.

Her curiosity got the better of her as she went exploring. She explored for 5 minutes before she found something that scared her down to the bones. A charred human hand was sticking out of the ground. This caused her to let out a scream.

She then heard what sounded like people coming her way. They were all dressed in hazard suits which gave her a very bad feeling. There were 5 of them all looking evil than the last.

One of them then spoke, "Another survivor"

"Come on; let's get this over with."

They all then wiped out flame throwers and aimed it at Robin, who saw her life flash in front of her eyes. She gulped not wanting to die this way.

As she closed her eyes, she prepared for the worse. Then a scream from one of the men broke her attention.

She then him on the ground groaning as he said, "I felt like someone punched me"

He then saw someone coming from the distance shouting, "Stay away from Robin." Luffy screamed causing her to smile.

Then another man toppled over as Ace sprang out of nowhere saying, "Get out of here Robin, we'll handle it."

The girl nodded and then ran away leaving the boys to fight.

As she reached deeper into the forest, she stopped. Was she seriously going to keep running away from her problems? She then remembered what Dadan told her about the world being mean and what to do.

Was she going to allow the world to be mean to her, and now her friends and she will stand idle? No, that wasn't going to happen. She then went back to help the boys hoping she isn't too late.

Currently, the boys were finally cornered. They both suffered from minor burns, but something told them they would need a miracle to escape this one. As the men drew closer, one of them said, "You've should've run with your little friend instead of playing hero."

Ace sneered at him causing the man to laugh and say, "You're like kittens who think they can play with the lions. Well, goodbye now."

As they were about to ignite the boys, multiple arms sprouted from their bodies and held them tight. Both boys looked around and saw Robin as she said, "Take them out. I can't hold them forever." Not wanting to be told twice, both boys went medieval on them.

They then grabbed Robin and made a run for it before more reinforcements came.

The children now made it to the depth of the forest far away from the men after them.

Ace looked at Robin and asked her, "How the heck did you end up there?"

"I guess I lost my way back home." Robin answered truthfully, but it was her time to ask that question, "What is that place, to begin with?"

Both boys stiffened upon hearing that question and averted their gaze giving Robin the message that they didn't like talking about that subject so she decided not to carry on in her investigation and told them, "Let's go home now. My momma must be worried. It's growing dark." Both boys shared a look of horror before nodding causing Robin to raise an eyebrow and say, "My momma threatened to bury so deep in the earth, and so far no archeologist will find in a million years right?"

Both looked at each other and screamed in horror, "That's what she was going to do to us."

Robin laughed at their silly behavior saying, "Don't worry, guys. My momma couldn't harm a fly even if she wanted to."

"Okay…" Luffy at first spoke then remembered something, "But didn't Saul tell us she tried to shoot Gramps the moment she saw him?"

"Well…" Robin trailed off a little leaving an astonished Ace comprehending what he just heard, "she did think he was trying to blow up Ohara."

This caused Ace's mind to snap back to reality, "Wait what? Gramps tried to blow up your island. Man, I knew he was sick trying to get us in the marines, but this just takes the cake." Ace grumbled thinking his gramps may threaten their island next.

Before Ace can get any crazier thoughts, Robin clarified the situation, "Mr. Garp wasn't trying to blow the island, and he sure ain't planning to blow Dawn Island. It was actually the mean world government guy that Luffy tricked and saved my island from that tried to blow up Ohara."

Ace blinked and looked at Luffy who was smiling like a loon. He ruffled his hair saying, "You expect me to believe someone as du…" he stopped remembering Robin's reaction when once called Luffy dumb and how Robin got super defensive so he corrected it, "…weak as Luffy saved your island."

Luffy and Robin looked at him and said, "Oh yeah, we never told how we met."

"What? Why?" Ace asked offended.

"Maybe, because you were being mean to Robin," Luffy muttered quietly, though Ace heard him.

"I wasn't being mean; I was being cautious. Didn't you learn anything from that time when grandpa sent us into a whirlpool to convince us to join the Marines?" Ace said causing Robin to fall on her knees while saying "Is he crazy or something?"

Ace looked at her and said, "The judge and the jury still aren't sure about that." Then he looked at them and said, "So tell me, how you met lovebirds?" this caused Luffy to scream at him, and Robin to blush heavily.

After getting over their embarrassment, both the children told him how they met, how they intercepted CP9, and how Garp punched and saved the island giving her mother a new chance.

"So wait a little, your mom is criminal for reading some dumb old language." Though angry he called her mother's life work dumb, she swallowed it and said, "Yeah, that's about it."

"And you were actually being bullied. Man, how I wish I was the one there; at least I could've thrown a decent punch, unlike Luffy." Ace finished. Robin and Luffy looked at him and Luffy said, "You still didn't believe she was bullied."

"Well, it's hard to believe someone as nice as you can get bullied." Ace said.

"Well, people with devil fruit powers especially children get bullied. I mean didn't Luffy tell you about the children in…" Robin said only for her to stop midsentence as Luffy waved his hands telling her to stop.

Ace got the message though and said, "What?" he looked at Luffy and said, "You were being bullied, and never told me."

Luffy looked at the ground, and said, "I told Makino."

"And what did she do?"

"She told me to ignore them and be the better person."

"Idiot"

Ace then thought of something and asked, "Did Sabo know?"

Luffy puckered his lips and lied horribly, "No"

Ace would have laughed if he wasn't so mad, "Why tell him and not me?"

"I didn't tell him. One day, he came to the village with me to talk to Makino, and the children began throwing rocks at me…" Luffy stopped a little while Robin frowned remembering her first night here. Then he carried on, "So he beat them up for me, and went back to the mountains and agreed to never talk about it."

"And never tell me because…" Ace said.

"Because we wanted you to be safe Ace. You're our older brother; we didn't want to get harmed just to beat up some people."

Ace calmed down and said, "It is fine. But never hide something like that again."

"Ok," Luffy said as he hugged Ace. The older brother groaned but hugged him nonetheless, though he smiled while doing that remembering his vow to never die on his brother. Robin looked at them and smiled, though she wished she had a sibling for herself.

They then continued walking back home.

It was now in the afternoon; Olivia was starting to grow nervous pacing back and forth. "Where are they? They should be back by now."

"Calm down, Olivia. The boys are strong enough to take care of her." Makino said.

"I know that, but I can't help it." The white-haired woman spoke.

As soon as she finished, the children came forth from the forest. Olivia ran and hugged Robin, "Thank god, you're back. I thought you got hurt or something."

"Don't worry momma. Luffy kept me safe." Robin said as Ace shouted, "What about me? I'm not chopped liver you know." He finished causing the girl to laugh.

Olivia then noticed both boys were ruffed up a bit and asked, "What happened to you guys?"

"Nothing," Luffy said unconvincingly.

"Okay," Olivia said at first, but she then looked at Luffy fully aware of his inability to lie, "So Luffy, what happened?"

The boy fidgeted uncomfortably before spilling the beans, "Robin and I had a fight, so she accidentally ran to the grey terminal where she was almost taken out by Goa kingdom soldiers who kills anyone who goes there, but we managed to rescue her on time. But then Ace and I got trapped, and if it wasn't for Robin's help we might have died." He finished taking a deep breath.

"Hmm" Olivia hummed, but Robin quickly said, "It's my fault momma. Please don't bury them in the earth." This caused the ex-scholar to laugh as she couldn't believe that the boys took her threats seriously given that they can beat animals over a hundred times her size.

"Don't worry, I not burying anyone, but what is the grey terminal?" the boys then told her what they told Robin earlier, but then Robin remembered something from the day she first came, "Luffy, does the grey terminal fire have to do anything with why it's scorched?" the boys then shut their mouths tight, before Ace let out a sigh and said, "We're going to have to tell you sooner or later. It seems it's sooner."

Ace began talking, "You see Luffy, Sabo, and me… I mean I," earning a nod of approval from Olivia on how he was using right sentences and proper pronouns, "used to raid Goa Kingdom for food, and usually sell stuff we found in the grey terminal before the fire. One day, we ran into a guy who recognized Sabo. It turns out he was his dad; that's when we knew he was a noble, and days moved on and forgot that ever happened, but his dad didn't and soon enough he made his reappearance." He stopped letting Luffy talk this time.

The boy started talking sadly, "One day, when we searching for stuff in the grey terminal, Sabo got caught by Bluejam and his ex-pirate crew on the orders of Sabo's dad. Then he also caught us. Sabo's dad then gave him two choices either watch us die or he would go with him…" causing the girls to gasp at how his father could such a thing while Dadan who nearby spat on the ground, the boy carried on "…so Sabo chose the latter."

The boy stopped as Ace talked again, "Bluejam then took us to his hideout and forced us to haul crates all over the grey terminal for over 2 days. During those 2 days, I tried my best to convince Luffy that Sabo was better off with his parents…" he said only to be cut off by Robin. "Why did you do that?"

"To cut my losses. I knew I lost one; I couldn't bear losing the other in a reckless rescue plan which could end with both of my brothers under the dirt. Furthermore, I'm didn't where Sabo's house was in the first place, going there would've killed us even if I found him. I know it sounds like I sacrificed him, but back then we were outclassed, outmanned, outplanned, and outgunned; there was no way we could've saved so one can get to judge me. " He shouted causing her to be quiet and nod.

"As I was saying, we were forced to haul them for 2 days, and when we were done; they told us what they were really for."

Luffy then talked, "They were explosive crates like the one we learned about the other day. They were given to them by the king to burn the terminal down so the kingdom could be blessed by the celestial dragons whatever they are. In return, they become nobles themselves"

He was stopped by Dadan saying, "Now that's sick, why didn't you tell us during back then?"

"We didn't know what to do. It was just so frustrating we got lost." Luffy defended himself and Ace as he continued, "So when he told us the truth; he tied us in his ship and left us to burn with the others. But we managed to escape only to find him waiting for us telling us that he was tricked, and if he was going down, he was taking us down with him."

Ace then continued the tale, "So we tried to fight but they got us and said if we gave him our treasure or 'pirate fund' as we called he let's go. Of course, he lied, when he tried to kill Luffy, something happened that's caused his men to fall on the ground knocked out and foaming."

"At that moment Dadan came and stopped him from killing Ace and me. She tried to run, but Ace refused to back down so she stayed while the others took me out of there." Luffy spoke.

"We fought with him, and eventually managed to kill him…" Ace told them shocking everyone that he killed someone; he stopped and said, "It was either him or he would go after us. Don't patronize me." So he continued, "Dadan then used herself as a shield to protect me from the fire. She was seriously injured though so we were forced to hide in the forest beside the burned terminal. That's when we saw Goa kingdom soldiers burning and killing the survivors. It took us a couple of days, but we finally made it to the hut, that's when we learned Sabo was dead, after our arrival by a couple of minutes."

"I guess you all hate us now because you know we're the reason so many people died," Luffy spoke quietly.

Makino smiled and hugged him, "of course not Luffy, you and Ace were tricked into doing something you didn't know. It wasn't your fault."

"Indeed, you're still children, Luffy. How could possibly fathom such a horrible thing was on your backs while you couldn't even read? Don't blame yourselves." Olivia chimed in.

Luffy and Ace felt the 2 women wrap both of them in a big hug that Robin squeezed herself in with the bandits clapping in the background.

When they came out of it Robin asked, "Was that how Sabo died? He was burnt in the grey terminal trying to get back."

Ace and Luffy looked down before Ace looked and said, "No, but we won't tell you now. Soon enough though, we're still not comfortable talking about it."

Robin wanted to argue but her mother stopped her and shook her head telling her to let them have their time. She understood and told Ace, "Okay, I'll wait."

"And it seems that it's time we go, so good night everyone," Olivia said as she carried Robin and began to walk away with Makino following. The boys then went to their treehouse to rest leaving Dadan stunned, "What the hell about dinner?"

As Robin was walking with her mom and Makino, she looked at her mom, before she talked, "Momma, it's really nice of you to teach Ace and Luffy," she stopped a little before she added, "And thanks for not burying them." This caused the 2 elder women to laugh.

"My pleasure dear, everyone needs an education…" she said before continuing, "And if you keep spreading that idea that I bury people alive, you'll make me a serial killer." Olivia joked making her daughter laugh before she took a more serious tone, "but I'm truly sorry; you're taking things you already know."

"That's not true," Robin argued, "I never knew you needed a log pose you travel through the grand line till you gave just that geography lesson." Robin went quiet before she spoke again, "Momma" she said grabbing both women's attention, "ever since you began giving us lessons I was thinking…" she began humming probably thinking of the best way to say what she's thinking.

Her mother then encouraged her, "say whatever you want to say, I promise I won't get mad." Robin said, "Really" only for her to nod. The little girl then smiled, and said, "Could help learn the ancient language?" this made her mother go pale white, but Robin continued since she didn't notice her change in the dark, "I already know the basics when I used to spy on the other scholars, but I still need help to master it, so can help me?" she asked with a huge smile.

Olivia began to tremble in fear; her daughter has the basics of the ancient language. This is a death sentence by itself. She quickly went down to her daughter's level and held her firmly, "Robin" she shouted at first greatly unnerving the girl who replied, "M-Momma d-did I s-say something w-wrong?"

Noticing the fear, she calmed herself down before she talked again, "Forget about the ancient language. Forget about the ponoglyphs. Forget about the void century. Act as if you never heard of them."

"Why" was all she can muster.

"Because those things only bring trouble. I was like one day naïve, and stupid. I left you alone with that horrible woman and went searching thinking I would find the void century on the first island I would go to fulfilling your dad's dream and mine as well. Back then I didn't know how much I gave up till I saw my dead friends surrounding me in the ship that we were in…" she stopped a little her heart and mind not proud of what she was going to say next, but it needed to happen. Now she understood what Garp was thinking when threatened the boys with prison, "… for all I care the void century can remain void. There's no need to throw your life away for something stupid like a bunch of words on some old rocks. Please tell me you understand?"

Robin said, "I understand," before saying, "Race you home." And taking off. Though while she was running, she was crying her eyes off. She couldn't believe what happened; her mom just rejected helping her. Yet she could handle that, what she couldn't handle was her mom ridiculing all that she believed in describing them as a 'bunch of words on some old rocks.' Her idol just made fun of her dreams. This struck her to the core; it was as if her mom wasn't proud of herself anymore. She then remembered what her mom told her what happens to people when they don't grieve. Yes, that's it. Her mother only needs to grieve her friends that died at sea before she can ask her again. Maybe in a couple of years just to be sure that she grieved enough.

Back with the women, Olivia was shocked that her daughter took this quite better than she thought and she said, "That worked out better than I thought."

She looked at Makino who raised her eyebrow and said, "Really?"

She then deflated and said, "I know that she went to cry, but this is for her own good. She'll thank me when grows up and have a family. Now, I know what Garp feels when he puts the boys through those ridiculous situations."

"But the way you used is wrong, this gonna make her stick to her dream harder. And she gonna ask again if not tomorrow then later."

Olivia could only hope Makino is wrong and hoped her daughter forget about the ponoglyphs as she continued walking and chatting with her.

As the days passed, the children's life continued as normal till a faithful day came.

It was after Olivia finished giving her classes to them that Luffy and Ace dragged Robin to somewhere in the forest.

"Where are you taking me guys?" the girl asked.

"A surprise," Luffy said.

"Believe us, you're going to like it." As they finally reached a tree. The boys went around it and held something up.

What she met with was a handmade pirate flag with a very Jolly Roger. The boys then shouted with Luffy beginning, "Robin for being our friend."

Followed by Ace, "For not minding that I was a jerk and accepting me"

And they said in unison, "and for proving you're stronger than you look" both of them remembering when she held those men while they knocked them out. They took a deep breath and declared loudly…

"You're a founding member of the 'A,S,L,R' pirates."

"Really," the girl said.

"Yeah look at the flag," Luffy said excitedly.

"Always leaving the heavy work for me, Luffy." Ace said with a laugh, before looking at Robin and he began explaining, "Look at flag, as you can see; we put a red 'A' resembling me, a blue 'S' for Sabo, a yellow 'L' for Luffy, and a purple 'R' for you as in Robin." He stopped before he took a very sly grin, and said, "Don't worry, I put yours besides your boyfriends'."

"I'm not her…" Luffy tried to argue but saw Robin crying.

Both he and Ace went over and asked if everything was alright.

She looked at them with a huge smile accompanied by 2 waterfalls from her eyes and said, "I just love it so much…" This made Luffy huge her and dance around with her as Ace smiled remembering what he was going to do tonight. Sabo would have liked her he thought.

He then finally shouted, "Come on; let's go hunt. Food ain't going to hunt itself."

He then ran into the first with both children in tow.

As night fell, the entire village was asleep. This included Olivia and her daughter; the latter being awaken from her slumber by a knocking noise. She opened her window only to see Ace holding a pebble as he said, "Rise and shine. It took a while, but now that you're up I need you to come with me."

Robin grumpily retorted back, "Well, hello to you too. I'm sure whatever it is it can wait for tomorrow. Goodbye now." She went to close the window only for Ace to call out to her.

"Please Robin, it's important. I promise you won't regret it." She looked at him and said, "Is it about Luffy?"

"No, not everything is about your boyfriend." Ace said choosing to ignore the glare he just received, "so will come please."

"Fine," she groaned, she went to change her clothes only to stop and say, "But if it's not worth it, you'll wish to be buried." She said making him laugh. She then quietly exited the house following him both unaware of a 3rd presence going after them.

Now both children were on the mountainside with Robin grumbling, "Couldn't it wait for tomorrow?"

"Come on; we're almost there." Ace said.

"You say that every minute," Robin complained back.

He then lifted a tree branch and said, "We made it."

Robin then saw quite a picture. It was a tree stump on it was 3 small circular discs with a weird-looking bottle in the middle between them. What grabbed her attention the most was a small top hat with goggles on it that was burned.

She asked Ace, "What's this?" as she wiped sleepiness from her eyes away.

"You see Luffy, Sabo, and I weren't always brother." He said looking at the hat then at her smiling, "but one night we did a sake ritual. It is said that if 2 or more people drink from a cup of sake at the same time they become brothers."

Robin didn't need too much explanation to add 2 and 2 together as she said, "You want me to be your sister." She then looked around and said, "Where's Luffy?"

Ace laughed so hard but luckily no one was around. He said, "Be real Robin, you can't like Luffy the way you are and be his sister." He said only for the girl's face to heat up and for her to say, "I don't understand what you mean?"

"Robin, you definitely know what I mean and it'll be gross if you became Luffy's sister." Ace said only for Robin to agree with him.

She then looked at the hat, and asked, "What that Sabo's hat?"

"Yeah, he would've liked you very much."

"Why did you bring it?"

"Because I want him to be your brother too, at least symbolically. That is if you want to be our sister." He said as he opened the bottle and filled the 3 cups. He tried to look away to hide nervousness but this made Robin read him easier. She smiled and said, "I'd be honored to."

She then grabbed the cup of sake as Ace grabbed one of the other 2 with each hand. They clung them together, and then Robin drank hers as Ace drank his and poured the 3rd on Sabo's hat as a symbol that he's also Robin's bother now.

"So you're my brother now."

"Right"

"Then teach me how to fight."

"Say what now."

"You heard me."

"Why?"

"Because I don't want to be weak all the time." Robin said and then continued, "And don't worry I'll talk with my momma first."

She then smiled with a cheeky grin, "Unless you want your little sister to be kidnapped and taken…"

"Stop, I'll train you." Ace shouted being sure that he won't have a good night sleep for the next couple of days due to certain images that formed in his head; he still remember the lesson about how celestial dragons take devil fruit users as slaves and torture them and he would be damned to eternal hell if he allowed something like that to happen his new sister or Luffy for that regard, but he said, "You're too good. I mean you accompanied me and Luffy for a couple of days, now you know how to blackmail me. and when I said your evil, they got mad." Making the girl giggle.

"Can I ask you another favor?"

"Yeah"

"Can you take to Sabo's grave to give him my respects?"

"I'm sorry Robin but Sabo doesn't have a grave."

"Why?"

"Because he was killed at sea. I guess it's time to tell how he died."

The girl sat listening intently to Ace as he began, "I'm not sure of the full details, but from what I heard he was sailing in a small makeshift boat when a celestial dragon was coming to visit Goa. That dumb piece of fat then used a bazooka to blow him up. This hat is all that remains of him."

Robin began crying for the brother that she didn't get now. But then an idea came into her head, as she wiped her tears away she suggested, "Why don't you give a burial at sea?"

"What does that mean?"

"It means to gather all of his stuff put it on a boat and burn them. It's also known as a sea warriors' barrier."

Ace went silent for a moment before looking at her and saying, "Robin, you're so smart. Let's do it tomorrow afternoon."

"Ok," the girl replied smiling. Unknown to them, Olivia smiled at the scene and said quietly, "A brother for Robin, I like the sound of that though I never expected to have another son." She then went back home.

The next day on a cliff close to the mountain and the boys' house, Olivia, Makino, and the children all stood in front of a small boat as Ace put the last of Sabo's belonging in it. His hat. He then brought a flame and set the boat on fire as he pushed into the sea. Everyone except Ace began crying.

For Luffy, it was his older brother.

For Makino, it was because she knew the boy from before, but didn't know his story was this heartbreaking. When she heard from Robin this morning what she was planning to do, she agreed to help her by providing a small boat that just layed around the docks with no one using it. No wonder the boy escaped to the grey terminal if his parents only saw him as property.

For Robin, it was the older brother she never got to know. From the way, Ace talked about she guessed she would've liked him very much.

For Olivia, it was a tragic story of a young boy who wanted to create his own fate with his own hands not have his life being detailed according to others' personal preferences. He just wanted to be free only for a selfish idiot to come and kill him. She still saw a silver lining though which was that he is free now.

For Ace, it was a new beginning. He looked towards his brother and new sister and swore to protect them with his might.

They all watched the boat float away in a bright fire till it finally sank into the darkness of the ocean.

Author's notes:

Hi guys and welcome back to a new chapter, in this chapter we explored new bonds forming and Robin getting to know more about the mysterious Sabo the boys refused to talk about at the beginning. Now regarding why I put such a small fighting scene in this chapter because I wanted to give Robin a reason to grow out of her pacifist nature. I couldn't make it as epic as in 'altered tides', again I recommend you read 'altered tides', cause I made my story post Sabo's supposed death. The next chapter will be the time skip, as Ace begins his pirate adventure and some other stuff. It will also mark the beginning of Luffy and Robin's adventure after initial complications. In regard to chapter 10, I will release it the following day another fanfiction. It's related to this one in a way. I want to leave the idea a surprise to see your reactions whether you are going to like it or not.

As always please do take care of yourselves, leave a comment telling us your opinion on the current chapter, and put a review telling me which arc you are most excited for.

Finally, I hope you all enjoy my work and see you next week with a brand new chapter.