11945 - Near Hokaku island.
Grand Line.
Rose's green eyes stared at the island they were leaving behind, with the humans they rescued not once, but twice. It was no longer burning, but the smoke was still thick and visible to the eye even if a day passed already.
Other than being uncomfortable to even be near, even for an android.
She briefly spared a glance at the woman at her side, Robin.
She had been through something similar too, long ago. Certainly all kinds of thoughts must have been going through her head, even though she didn't show a thing.
Freesia had been at her side all along, now tired she napped with her head on the human's shoulder, as she sat quietly.
But Rose could see the lack of light in her eyes.
A similar look shared between the humans that had to leave the life they knew behind, they too had no choice, much like the woman the androids had known through these years.
They too, even though strangers to these events, lacked the usual energy.
But no one was to blame.
Well, no one but the Government and the Marine first, and then the pirate crew that took advantage of the poor state of the people of the island to do what they wanted.
Thank goodness they arrived just in time.
A heavy sigh left Rose's mouth.
There was still something pressing in her mind…
"I don't understand this." she felt like voicing her thoughts, and she knew that Robin was listening.
She always was.
A habit she picked up for survival, she told them.
"Us androids are born without a name, just as a mere number, like a meaningless thing we have been through all these years, we can live many lives and come back again and again, and yet, we are made to mourn every death a comrade, friend, and lover as if each and every one is always their first and last."
Rose felt Robin's mismatched eyes on her, looking, but not judging.
"We are told that humans mourn the deaths of their similars too, we are made in their image, and yet, for these humans, their similars are worth nothing more than mere numbers. Why? Why does life seem to mean more to someone whose concept of death means much less, like us androids?"
Or machines too.
After all they were the ring in between the two things.
"I believe you already answered your own question." Robin replied, she had listened to each and every word the Resistance Leader said, as she asked, the answer was already there.
Perhaps she knew it already, but refused to admit it to herself.
But being a 200 years old war veteran she should know it very well.
After all, wasn't it why she and her group deserted in the first place? Because their existence meant nothing to those who were supposed to be above them?
It was just the very same thing here.
But it looked like she wanted a confirmation, more than a plain answer.
"People are selfish, Captain Rose." it hadn't been Robin who had answered, but rather the old tavern owner.
Apparently he had been listening too.
"There's really nothing more than that, to explain this kind of cruelty."
Something that Robin too would have said, she talked this way often, and she more than them knew this first hand.
"You said it yourself, Rose. Androids are made as nameless numbers, puppets made to serve someone else that put themselves above them, well, this is nothing different, these people think they are above other people's lives, treat civilians as inferior, and when their goals do not meet, well, they're nothing more than numbers on a piece of paper."
Robin lowered her head, her bangs covering her eyes, her expression darkening.
"You can't see people from a map. That's how they reserve the right to do such cruelty." and Rose knew that these last words were referring to the Buster Call she had survived.
She had seen that from the nightmares that plagued the human's mind during the brief time she carried her consciousness within her body.
If she focused enough, she could feel the plain terror and despair that Robin felt, as if they were hers all along. Something she didn't want to remember, and she could imagine her friend even less.
Yes, Robin too was her friend, and part of her family.
She'd been skeptical at first, but just seeing and feeling what she had felt during the event that ruined her life, Rose had been sold on the fact that she was going to let this woman into the family she never had, and that she always dreamed of.
And the human had been stubborn, she supposed it came from not being able to trust anyone before she was taken from her home, and to the Bunker.
But eventually, she mellowed out.
She was still guarded sometimes, but they had time.
"So they see people like items, much like we were…" not a question, a statement.
She wasn't shocked to say this though.
In her heart, she was already thinking the very same thing, but she felt like she had to voice her thoughts.
Before they would eat her whole from the inside.
And Robin was the one that understood just what she meant, she always did.
200 years of war almost couldn't compare what this woman went through in a tenth of her lifetime, alone.
After the only friend and family she ever had were brutally taken from her, before she could even get to know them properly, or at all.
At the very least, the Resistance had each other, for as hard as it was.
"No matter how I look at it, you may not be human, but your words and actions speak of kindness. Seems like you were made with the better part of us humans." the man added.
Well, at least some of them.
Not that it took much to be better than a Government or Marine lackey, or the common average pirate person. Apparently.
"You may not have an actual heart, but you're still much better than who has buried theirs 30 feet deep underground, for their own gain." Robin stated, and her opinion was very much set.
It had been since the days of Ohara.
Since she saw the truth, and during the years learned more and more on how the world worked.
She recalled speaking about something similar that night when she and Cattleya were alone.
Robin would say this as many times as necessary.
Just as many times Rose repeated to her and the others that they were deserving of love, and part of a family.
"Right…" the Resistance Leader sighed once again, but this time her shoulders felt much lighter.
Like she had been carrying a weight she didn't know was there.
And then smiled.
"You know… I feel we're going to get along just nicely. All of us."