"You have a surprise for us?" Robin asked from her side of the screen.

She was sitting in the crow's nest at night keeping watch, and on Earth it seemed that someone couldn't sleep.

She and Freesia were talking in the silence of the night, the rogue aided from Pod 042, that now that Robin was absent, Luna left with her sister more often.

Or rather, all the time.

The human recalled how much Freesia loved to complain about 042 before, but now that her other half was missing she didn't seem to mind his presence and help.

"Well… some of us do, yes." she didn't miss the subtle blush making its way on Freesia's cheeks, but for now she let it slide and pretended not to.

How cute.

But, she must be feeling sad too.

Just like her, no?

"It seems that we all have things to tell each other then." besides what happened in their trip, of which the people they left on Earth were already being informed daily.

"How are the others adapting? I assume well." Freesia's mouth curved in a sweet smile. "We saw how Cattleya was enjoying herself at the festival, it was so nice seeing her so happy."

Of course she'd be more interested in knowing about her old friend.

And the most solitary of the group.

She doubted she'd ever been by herself, judging how Freesia and the others left something precious she could carry with her, and how the Attacker left her place so Anemone could tag along, so her friend would feel at ease and less stressed.

And less lonely.

As if she foresaw the outcome.

But Robin knew well that despite the passing of years, she never forgot her friends and how they were, just by how fondly she used to speak about them.

What a miracle that they met again.

But if there was someone that deserved something good like this coming it was her.

"She's adapting well." Robin replied, keeping the whole thing she did when they fought the Marines a secret, like she wanted.

Because she wanted to be the one to tell, so her friends could be proud.

"She's become pretty expert at navigating too, I wouldn't be surprised if with her skills of Scanner she will turn into a good navigator." she was good at predicting and analyzing the sea and the weather, even though she had been entirely new, the intelligence of her type shined through on its own.

"She was the one who guided us wherever we needed to go, and what we had to do." Freesia wasn't surprised about this.

"Also her ability to gather information is surprising even to me." someone that had to know a lot to survive.

But she knew Cattleya felt proud that her skills were useful, because that was the type of person she was.

"And we had the opportunity to speak face to face too one time."

"About what?" the Attacker frowned.

"Nothing you should worry about, just a friendly chat." no need to worry Freesia for a matter Robin felt that was settled, or rather for something she was in no place to tell in place of the Scanner.

Besides she appeared more confident now, no need to bring her insecurities back up.

"Ever since we managed to rebuild your comrades, I haven't had many occasions to talk one on one with them to know each other better, we've always been busy with something." she stated, and that was true.

They spoke as a group but not much as individuals.

"That's true." and also Freesia herself was stealing away, rightfully, her friend's attention most of the time.

Not that Robin blamed her, actually she was very much fine with it.

She knew probably better than anyone, maybe excluding Anemone, who shared the same experience, how much she missed those girls.

The human left her girlfriend in Amaryllis' presence so often that the girl had been afraid she'd grow jealous, given their former relationship, but had she truly been jealous then the Attacker wouldn't have been near her at all.

But Amaryllis was too much of a kind soul to hurt her, and so was Freesia.

And something told Robin that the albino liked to play the best man, or rather, woman, in their couple now.

As long as there wasn't attrition all was fine, and they both understood it.

Because it could damage the whole group.

But the situation had settled down to this routine pretty easily, easier than anyone thought, actually.

Well, easier than Robin expected at least, but she was someone who had been used to always expecting the worst out of any situation, because this was what had always happened.

She had never met people kind and honest to heart like her friends though.

Oh how her views of the world had changed because of people that weren't even human…

"And the others?"

"Well Anemone and Jackass seem to not have any issues at all, Anemone is always guarding Cattleya, but I think she's enjoying spending time with her now that they've been separated for so long." the woman barely left the Scanner out of her sight unless necessary.

And even if she wouldn't say it, the way the redhead looked at Anemone when she gave her attention didn't lie, she loved every second of it.

Around her, Cattleya's seemingly emotionless facade just fell apart more easily than even she knew.

A testament that she felt entirely safe with her girlfriend.

Something Robin could now understand too, due to Freesia, she had no need to guard herself as hard, nor to be as cold and distant like she'd grown to be during the years.

"And Jackass seems to be having the time of her life, you should see her, she's excited for every little thing, but she's a great help in making sure the ship is always running smoothly and nothing is ever missing, she keeps note on every resource." a chuckle. "Almost more precise than a Scanner."

Well for certain things at least.

She would never offend Cattleya nor Clover's abilities, they were something out of the ordinary even for androids, but she did admit that Jackass knew her own too.

Anemone had said something about her being a source of information whenever something happened somewhere on Earth, at least where they were stationed, long ago when they met the very first times.

But she never had the occasion to actually meet Jackass in person until after her revival.

And Freesia had been rather jealous at all the interest the woman had shown for her, but Robin quickly learned it was just the way she was.

Blunt, bold, curious and quirky, all the damn time.

If Jackass was ever serious, then there was some kind of problem, and that said problem was also pretty damn serious too.

And the only time she ever saw her that way, was when she spoke of White.

After all, they knew each other.

Speaking of their Commander…

"Is White being a problem?" of course Freesia would ask about her too, but the distrust was still noticeable in her voice.

But she wouldn't blame her.

"No, not at all." Robin answered with total honesty. "Actually, I think this experience may be helping her."

Freesia sat in total silence, waiting for the human to continue, not because she was particularly willing to know anything about the Commander that betrayed them years ago, but because she just wanted to hear Robin's voice some more.

Lately it was rare that they'd get to speak without anyone around them, Robin was busy with reaching her goal for everyone, and she was barely being left on her own, especially from Amaryllis.

She loved the attention, but she missed Robin.

Missed her presence.

And she was not going to make a secret out of it.

"Jackass says that she used to be another person entirely, that she was very kind, they were deployed together." Robin sighed. "I like to think that being YoRHa's Commander has caused her a lot of pain, seeing so much death and suffering all the time changed her."

But she had no way to know unless White said so.

And she wasn't going to pry.

"After all, aren't we the same way?"

They had lost a lot, and had become bitter with life, and with people, angry with everything that had happened to them, but they too used to be kinder people.

Mostly Freesia though.

Robin was just as bitter as a kid and it had only grown stronger since then.

Freesia took a while to answer, knowing like her that she was correct, but her anger for White still won over, with good reason.

"I guess we are…" but she didn't like to be compared to the woman that ruined hers and her friend's life. "But I still won't forgive her."

"I am not asking you to, I'm just stating things." Robin simply replied, she'd never ask the rogue to ever forgive White, she herself hadn't quite forgiven her for using her, despite how sort of nicer she'd been in her manners.

"I think this experience is somehow making the person she was poke out of its shell, maybe one day she will get better. A villain is only irredeemable when they don't accept their wrongs, and don't attempt to make up for them." but White didn't fit either.

She had shown that she wanted to change.

She still was trying to prove it, even though there was no longer need to.

"I know… we have to be patient with her…" Freesia sighed. She tried, but it wasn't easy when it came to the person that sacrificed them, the wound ran deep.

At least Robin wasn't asking her to become best friends or anything, she could still avoid the woman.

Technically, since they were distant for the moment, she was doing just that.

As they sat in silence letting the time pass, as Pod 007 turned around to show stars to her with a motion of Robin's hand, Freesia had the feeling, from the way she saw the human furrow her brows that something was on her mind.

She knew the look too well.

"Something is troubling you." it wasn't a question, it was a statement.

A chuckle.

"Nothing gets past you anymore, doesn't it?" perhaps, like she said before, they knew each other so well, similar experiences and all, that Freesia knew how to recognize all signs like she was reading her mind.

"I know it's not just because you miss me." the rogue allowed herself a grin, but she knew well that when Robin was worried, it was serious.

But her words still got a smile from the human.

"I've been thinking a lot recently, since we landed on that first island." and having a ship made it easy because she had her own room by herself, while the other two were shared.

"If I have to be entirely honest, I'm confused. We killed and foiled the plans of those Marine people, and I'm sure by now they know I've returned, yet I haven't seen any poster for now, or heard words about me either."

For the time being.

The people had been nicer than she ever expected, probably because they didn't know who she was, didn't recognize her now that her face hadn't been around for years, except that tavern owner whose daughter and grandson they had saved.

But given how things evolved he had trusted a well known criminal instead of the people that threatened to destroy his family, and that was fine with her, allies were needed and with that stunt they found somewhat easy ones.

Yet the worry persisted.

"I fear for when we'll eventually meet more Marines, after the word gets around."

Hopefully, since there wasn't any news yet it meant that they were far from their headquarters.

In whichever part of the Grand Line they found themselves in.

But she truly did fear when that time would come, because it would.

She just knew.

"I'm sure you'll get through it. You managed for years on your own, but now you're not alone anymore." Freesia's words felt comforting, knowing she had friends was comforting.

"It's what I'm mostly worried about."

Though, with this statement Robin realized that she didn't even know if the Marines knew that she wasn't alone, nor if they knew that they weren't humans.

So far the people they met didn't seem to have had any suspicions, and who did was dead now.

The dead didn't talk.

But the Marine had different ways to figure out something that regular civilians didn't.

So she didn't know.

She couldn't know what they knew until they met those damn soldiers again.

And she despised not being aware of something potentially dangerous for her and the people at her side. Danger wasn't even a potential thing, it was certain when it came to Marines.

"Robin, you told us the dangers of your planet, and the dangers of being around you many multiple times, and we told you just as many times, that we accepted whatever is going to come to us, and the people with you right now are further proof of that. We know you are worried, but you'll get through it."

They had to get through this for everyone's sake.

And even if the group she had wasn't the strongest, Robin technically was the best and most advanced, and unique android between them, but the others were smart and determined.

They could do so much more than mere humans could imagine.

"With any luck you'll get to the place you're looking for before you meet any of those guys, and maybe by then we'll be there with you." Freesia knew there was safety in numbers too.

Also she was kind of getting restless, and wanted to see Robin, Cattleya and Anemone again so much.

Jackass was actually okay to deal with, White was with them because she was important.

But she missed her lover, and her friends the most of course.

Robin, she didn't need to say why she missed her, she'd just grown too important over this last year. Incredible how so much time already passed since they had that fateful duel.

Anemone had been the survivor of that dan mission like her, and they shared all the memories, before they found that the people they thought they lost for years were still somehow alive.

And Cattleya, the reason why they found them again, and Freesia's dear old Scanner comrade, who guided the group with her knowledge and helped them be on the right path. But their group of four wasn't the same without her.

It was like missing a limb.

Ironic because limbs were also four, so the metaphor held pretty well.

Though Cattleya fit more as a brain than an arm or a leg.

But this must have been how they felt when she'd been missing too, Freesia guessed, during the years she'd been alive and mourning.

In a way she too felt like she missed her own limbs and was barely dragging herself forward with what was left.

"All we can do is hope…" Robin sighed. "I guess…"

"No one is gonna die, Robin." Freesia stated firmly, because she knew what the human was thinking about. "You won't die, the others won't die, and if it comes to the worst you seem to forget that we can be rebuilt."

Sometimes Robin still had the tendency to think that they were like humans, with a single life, even if her own self was defying death itself by existing.

Freesia didn't know why she forgot.

Or maybe she did, and it might have been her fault.

Because she didn't have the luxury to be able to afford to be rebuilt from scratch when they were on the run. And now that she did she barely got any fixes, physical ones at least.

She'd rather bear the scars of that mission.

Again, Freesia realized that kind of thoughts were the same Robin was having.

So…

"Neither of us wants to see our friends die, or each other, I get that, but we've got to think that if something like that happens, we can all be brought back still. That is always a safety net, for as much as we want that to not happen."

After all, even losing someone you cared about temporarily still hurts, if the story, or rather, life, that Luna and Clover had taught them something.

It hurt them and the people around them too.

"Also this Pod can store any android's memories." Pod 007 chimed in. "Pod 042 and Pod 153 have also been upgraded to have this function, under orders of Commander White."

Huh, who knew that she had this covered?

It was good to know though.

"All right, you convinced me." and yet, Robin still sighed. "I still want to be careful though."

"As you should."

Another sigh, but this time it was Freesia. "If I was there I'd hug you."

"I know, me too." at least Robin smiled.

Looking at the horizon, she realized that they had been talking for so long that the sun was beginning to rise, with its red colors.

"The sun will be up soon." which meant that they were running out of alone time.

"I hope we can see each other soon…" and in person.

"Yes, me too."

Some days passed after that conversation before the group reached a new island. They had left the ship hidden in a cave, much like how they hid the flight units when they landed on the planet.

Not all caves seemed to be closed off, and the water they took from the sea formed small rivers in the village bathed in green grass and flowers, and even managed to form what looked like a forest on the other side.

How these plants didn't die from absorbing salt water was beyond them, but each island had its peculiarities.

Right about now the girls were visiting the local market, having been at sea for quite a while they needed to replenish supplies. The weather hadn't been too kind to them past that night.

But they pulled through.

As Robin suspected, Cattleya had the abilities of a navigator, as she predicted the change in the weather thanks to how good she was in calculating things, as she guided them out of the storm as well with that same ability.

Jackass eyed a stand selling fresh fish, but she didn't manage to get anywhere close to it, as Anemone pulled her back from an ear.

"Only what's necessary."

"But it is necessary…" she whined. "Not for us." Anemone whispered quietly.

White hanged a little bit in the back, watching their antics, as Cattleya put a hand over her mouth to hide her amused smile, and Robin instead went to ask someone else, deciding to be the more mature one as usual.

However…

As a cold sensation washed over her, she couldn't help but feel alarmed.

The sun was bright, and in the sky there wasn't a single cloud, it was pleasantly warm, so this was weird to say the least.

She stopped walking for the time being, discreetly looking around.

Until she noticed something weird hanging behind the wall of a house, in a small alley.

With a frown, she quietly detached herself from the group to check it out. It was her duty as Commander to protect the ones with her, and she had made a promise.

One she intended to keep at all costs.

The girls would be fine if she left for a little bit.

Remembering where she was and what they did by now almost a month ago, she suspected it may have been some ill intentioned Marine.

Possibly after Robin.

If it was then she had to keep the word she'd given.

As she stepped into that alley, the feeling of cold only intensified, for some reason.

Her green eyes noticed there was ice on the wall where she saw that person standing before…

Could have been…?

What if this was a Devil Fruit user? One those people Robin warned them about?

There were more ice crystals on the ground, leading into the forest, whoever and whatever it was she had to find out, but she summoned her rapier at her side, her right hand held tightly on the hilt ready to attack at the first sign of danger.

The forest was oddly silent as she stepped into it, and only walked forward following the cold.

Another sign that this was potentially a danger.

And whoever it was, it was leading her somewhere, and most likely some kind of trap, but it was too late to back out now.

She walked until she reached a clearing, where indeed there was a man sitting on a fallen log, around him there were more ice crystals.

Briefly she wondered if this man could summon ice as easily as Robin had shown her that she was capable of duplicating limbs, and recalling how terrifying of a display it had been in the machine server of Mt. Ka'ala she put up, White stood on guard.

As the man stood up and turned to face her, she realized he was so much taller than anyone she'd seen so far.

His presence was intimidating…

She only glared and tightened the grip on her weapon further.

"YoRHa Commander White, I presume?"

How did he know her name?

"It's a pleasure to meet you."