Descent Chapter 36: To Observe, an one piece fanfic

Descent

Chapter 36: To Observe

Rosan was beginning to realize that maybe he was going to have a hard time learning Observation Haki.

After all, Satori made good on him feeling like the forsaken one by focusing almost the full brunt of his aggression, onto him.

Case in point, the blindfolded redhead grunted for the umpteenth time, as he was launched away by the impact dial to his chest, landing on one of the many white balls that littered the forest that was their battleground.

This one erupted in spikes that pierced him through. Normally it wouldn't have, but he didn't have his Raid Suit on right now.

Rosan spat out some blood and unceremoniously ripped the spikes out of his body, grunting due to the fact that his shirt was practically destroyed and idly repairing it, much to the severe annoyance of Satori.

"Are you alright?" A bruised Robin asked worriedly, panting from the battle.

After Rosan, she, followed by Luffy, were the ones Satori targeted the most, likely because her Devil Fruit countered observation haki perfectly.

Like the redhead, she opted to not place her raid suit on.

The scientific outfit gave them too much durability and defeated the purpose of this training so they opted out of wearing it, despite Rosan insisting that she do it only.

She should have known he was going to attempt to coddle her. Overprotective redhead brat he was.

Robin hoped one of them unlocked their Haki soon because after the first gasp of pain, Rosan had let loose a terrible snarl that very much sounded like he wanted to commit murder and she had to remind him that this was training that he proposed.

"Stop coddling me!" She said firmly, finally putting her foot down at the adorably (not right now) overbearing redhead. "I can't get as strong as possible with you worrying so much about me. If you didn't want this to happen, you shouldn't have proposed such a reckless idea!"

Honestly, was he serious right now? He was the one that suggested they do this and made these blindfolds difficult to remove! Now that she was under a bit of fire, he wanted to go back on his plan.

She didn't want such special treatment! Why should she be left out of the plans just because she had the potential to be hurt?!

"I…" Rosan trailed off, lost for words.

"Isn't this exactly like the time he got hurt and you wouldn't even let him breathe alone? I remember you hovered him even when he was eating a simple snack just so he didn't choke on it and then when he began eating too fast, you just decided to feed him instead!" Mod laughed, choosing to play Devil's advocate.

Robin spluttered at Mod's interference.

What was she doing?! Rosan was just about to concede before she opened her mouth?!

"I'm not doing anything! Just trying to show you some perspective!"

She felt Rosan puff up before the redhead realized what he was doing and sighed.

"You're right. I can't believe I turned as bad as you… especially considering how weak this priest is."

She hated Rosan so much for some of the things that actually left his mouth. No truly... why was he born like this?

"...It's fine Rosan. This training is as genius as it is reckless. Haki blooms in the heat of battle like Sabo and Ace said and having someone legitimately try to kill us will definitely help as well as the fact there are dangerous balls everywhere."

Despite how extreme his plan was, it was also incredibly effective… Robin felt something that she was trying to reach into but she needed more time. The training they had been doing on the ship, was paying dividends because she could tell she was so close.

It just hurt.

Quite a bit.

The group of 5 had been relegated to just defense, due to the fact that they couldn't see an opponent wielding Mantra.

Sanji grunted as he felt the air shift close to him and leapt back, only to land against a tree that he couldn't see. He got impacted to the chest for his efforts and spat out some blood as he clutched his ribs.

"No good," he muttered to himself. "I'm still relying on what I already have to try and dodge… This is tough."

"T-Tell me about it," a near comatose Usopp groaned. The sheer fear he felt, at potentially getting hit, was doing even more damage then the surprise balls and Satori.

He ran into plenty of trees, fell into the water a bunch and still got attacked by the balls. The sniper was running on fumes right now and all his fear, was being enhanced by the fact that he couldn't see.

He hoped someone unlocked this damn Haki soon. Preferably Rosan so he didn't recommend something so reckless again.

None of them were unscathed but despite that, they were all still able to continue, trying to get a feel for their Haki in the process with little success.

Satori, despite having such an overwhelming advantage with blinded opponents, was beginning to get slightly nervous.

No matter what he hit the Forsaken One with, Kami's enemy just got back up with no injuries, content to take even more punishment as they continued to make a mockery of his trial.

Was… Was he actually equipped to deal with such a foe? It really was beginning to look like only Kami Enel could take care of him.

The Devil just shrugged off getting stabbed by spikes and Satori watched in horror as the holes of the blindfolded man, sealed right back up before his outfit followed suit.

Despite being the brunt of his assault, the heathen looked the healthiest of his allies.

At least the Demon's own priests, seemed to lack his regeneration. His consort especially, needed to be taken out quickly, due to the ability she wielded that countered Mantra.

An ability from the Devil that countered Kami's gift to them… how typical for this scum.

"Ho, ho hoooo! I warned you about this trial's success rate but you still treated it lightly," the rotund man sang. "Now take off the blindfold and stop messing aroun—"

"Gomu Gomu no Gatling!" Luffy interrupted loudly as he ignored everything the man said in the pursuit of hitting him.

Satori's eyes twitched as he effortlessly moved out of the way of the wild blows.

"Watch where you're throwing those, idiot!" a bleeding Sanji barked, as a stray punch nearly caught him in the face.

"Please…" A battered Usopp wheezed, blindfolded eyes rolling a bit at the fist currently resting against his nose.

The bloodied Luffy recalled his fists with an, "Oops, I thought I felt him for a second," and laughed at his mistake.

"Don't just swing and pray you connect a hit Luffy, you'll end up hitting either us or a ball more often then not," the bruised Robin instructed, warily glancing around despite being blindfolded.

It was a good thing Rosan was blindfolded, if he saw the state she was in, he'd completely flip.

She got caught by an explosion that tore her outfit in plenty of places, if the sudden gust of wind on her skin meant anything, and she was pretty sure she got pinched by a crab that she ruthlessly stomped to oblivion.

Perhaps Rosan did influence her a bit much…

Satori grit his teeth in annoyance.

He was winning in an overwhelming fashion right now. Besides the one hit he took at the beginning, he was unscathed…

So why was he the one who felt like he was being toyed with?

He impacted them, hit them with various surprise balls, dodged all their attacks… yet they still refused to remove their blindfolds.

This… This was absurd! Who did they think he was?! Some type of joke?! He was one of Kami's Vassals! A Priest!

AND THEY THOUGHT THEY COULD CONTINUE TO UNDERESTIMATE HIM?!

Satori's jovial expression fully melted away, replaced by a scowl and he glared at the ones who caused it.

"Still taking this lightly?!" He muttered, manipulating all the balls around him with his cane.

He would show the Devil what happened when you treated a Divine Priest too lightly.

All of his most dangerous surprise balls began lining up one after another as he carefully moved them.

Once he finished with that, he finished it off by placing a dragon mask atop the front most cloud.

Let's see if they continue to take him lightly after this.

"Ball Dragon."

Chopper distantly remembered the crew arguing about what they would do with the whistle given to them by the Sky Knight and how eventually, Nami placed it on the mast of the ship for one of the weaker members of the crew to use.

She banished the strong members from using it but… Chopper was considered one of the weak ones so he could totally use it!

He was also the only one guarding the ship… so the whistle was practically for him!

With that reassurance, Chopper grabbed the whistle and placed the string around his neck, making sure it wouldn't slip off in the process.

He nodded to himself confidently. As long as he had this, the Sky Knight would answer his call but he needed to make sure he didn't just up and use it for any little thin—

"You're the only sacrifice here that I can kill?" A voice asked in disappointment.

Anything Chopper was about to say, was stopped by that sudden voice and the reindeer's expression slowly but surely shifted into one of true horror.

As his expression began shifting, he steadily grabbed the whistle until the reindeer's face reached its apex of terror.

Coincidentally, that's the exact moment he blew into the whistle.

"TWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

"Conis… are you alright?"

"…"

The girl said nothing, continuing to string away at her harp with a downtrodden expression on her face.

Pagaya glanced at his daughter worriedly. "Conis…?"

"He knew everything you know?" she said abruptly, causing her father to freeze. "The Forsaken One… he knew that we were deceiving them the whole time…"

Both her father and Gan Fall froze at that. "Did he really?"

She nodded slowly. "At any point, he could have killed us both… but instead, he saved me. The one with the Devil's wings, saved me from our Kami… it just doesn't make any sense to me!"

Conis could see now in the questions he asked and the way he acted. There was never a moment where he wasn't suspicious of them and they proved him right so why?

He wasn't a benevolent Kami like Gan Fall… if anything, he was much closer to Enel in regards to how a Kami acts…

So why were they alive? Why didn't he kill them?!

"I'm just a humble scout."

Gan Fall gazed at the torn angel with a knowing expression.

"I met a group of Blue Sea dwellers known as pirates over 20 years ago and I learned many things about them," the former Kami of Skypiea informed them.

"Pirates?" Conis asked in confusion.

Gan Fall nodded. "They are criminals who sail the seas in order to find treasure. They fly a black flag with a skull atop their ship's mast… Those Straw Hats are probably such people."

Pagaya jolted in shock. "They were criminals from the start?!"

"Perhaps… or they could have just been outsiders like my friends from long ago. Despite being pirates, they were not bad people. There are just people who do not play by the rules… you are not so different are you?"

They flinched at that accurate observation.

"I will say this… Do not try and understand the mind of the one with black wings," Gan Fall advised. "People like him operate on their own whims and the black wings of the Devil signify chaos and death. You will never be able to make sense of his motives."

Death and chaos… that certainly did hold true with him…

"PIEEEE!"

Gan Fall went alert at the cry of Pierre and he immediately turned to regard his partner.

"Duty Calls! Please watch this place for me," the Knight of the Sky requested, leaping onto the back of his Pegasus and departing with haste.

The two watched him go before Conis took a sip of the pumpkin juice offered to her.

Try not to understand the mind of the Shinigami… That was good advice. To her, it really did seem like Rosan was doing whatever it was he wanted.

Terrorizing their citizens, catching their lies easily, inciting Kami, exposing her plans, making her breakdown, saving her… saying so boldly that he'd teach Enel a lesson…

He was treating this all like it was a game. Everything he did, was to entertain himself in some way and he did it with no remorse.

Black wings truly did signify mayhem…

Perhaps that's what Skypiea was in need of. A little bit of chaos to shake up the natural order.

"S-STOP! PLEASE STOP ATTACKING THE SHIP!" Chopper begged, bloodied and bruised from the punishment he had been dealt.

This was really bad. The ship was catching fire right now and if he didn't do something, it would burn down fully!

Chopper reluctantly ripped the flaming mast off and launched it in the water, lest it reach any other part of the ship and he watched in despair as it sunk to who knows where.

"What should we do about this, Fuza?" Shura asked with an annoyed look on his face.

"Kuka Kaw!" The bird chirped, blowing a puff of fire out of its mouth.

"You don't want me to attack your allies… you don't want me to destroy your ship… and you don't want to die… You're not leaving me with a lot of options," the priest sighed.

He glared at Chopper. "What a spoiled brat you are. People like you make me sick."

Grabbing his lance, the priest lunged at the reindeer and stabbed at him with his super heated spear.

Chopper squealed and barely dodged it but he realized the spear was heated up too late and he could only watch in horror as the Merry was set even further ablaze.

"I said STOP!" The zoan yelled, transforming into heavy point and taking a swing at Shura that the man effortlessly dodged.

"How is he doing that?! He's predicting my moves? But how—"

Chopper froze in horror. Did the priests have Haki?!

That was bad… he wasn't even close to unlocking his own!

Oh no… no no no. The ship was in genuine danger and there was nothing he could do about it!

No, that didn't matter! He promised he would protect the ship and that's what he'd do!

Without any warning, Shura's eyes widened and he quickly had Fuza fly up.

The reason was soon revealed, as a weapon slammed into his spot with concussive force and the priest looked at it warily.

If that hit him…

"Sorry I'm late. I was a little far when I noticed someone else was on the ship."

Chopper's eyes glittered in joy. Tears of relief began rolling down his face and he let out a happy sob.

"Sabo!" The reindeer cheered.

Sabo glanced at the damaged ship with a severe frown before turning towards Chopper. "Where are Nami and Zoro?" He asked curiously.

"T-They went off to explore… that's why he's here," the doctor explained.

The revolutionary nodded at that and turned to face the man on his bird.

"I'll deal with him then," Sabo muttered, glancing coolly up at the flying man.

"He has Observation Haki. Do all the priests have it?" He thought to himself, spinning his pipe and tensing his muscles.

"That would somewhat explain why I couldn't sense the presence of the one who used that lightning bolt… But isn't his range still insanely high? He was at the top of that beanstalk and hasn't moved yet… but he was able to pinpoint exactly where we were earlier?"

This one named Enel seemed to have incredible Observation… If Rosan was right, then he also had a lightning Logia too…

That didn't sound easy to deal with. Not only did his older brother have to get through his intangibility, he then needed to deal with the man's Observation Haki.

This would be a tough fight for him but Sabo wanted Rosan to do this more then ever now.

His brother might need to use everything to win and if that wasn't enough…

He'd just have to go further beyond, castle be damned.

Sabo nodded to himself. He would need to push Rosan further before he got into a battle with Enel. The closer he got to unlocking his Haki, the better. A good fight sounded exactly like what he needed and if it really came to it, the revolutionary would save him before he died.

"Just to be 100% sure, you're not Enel, right?" Sabo shouted to the man flying away from him.

He was fairly sure Enel was the one he felt on the very top of that stalk, but who knows? Never hurt to be sure.

Shura glared at the blonde for his impudence. "Of course I'm not the Almighty Enel-sama! I am Shura and I have jurisdiction over the Ordeal of String tria—"

The Ordeal Master's eyes widened in disbelief as Sabo appeared atop of Fuza with speeds he couldn't even comprehend, pipe already at the ready.

"Swing to the left side of the head with the pipe."

"Your Haki's pretty good but it could use some work," the revolutionary grinned, gripping his pipe.

Shura knew the attack was coming. His Mantra alerted him. He knew but he couldn't dodge it.

The pipe smashed into his face with no hesitation and sent him soaring off of Fuza. Blood gushed from his nose and his face caved in, as he went careening into the forest.

"I-In one hit?!" Chopper gaped in awe.

Sabo really only needed one attack to defeat that scary Priest?

T-That was amazing! All of the brothers were incredible!

"My word…"

Sabo eyed the approaching Gan Fall with a neutral expression, noting that the bird hadn't flown off yet even after he hopped off of it.

Rosan told him he liked to give Maro random gifts… Maybe she'd like this one? It could breathe fire after all...

It was pretty ugly though and Maro liked cute things... maybe not then. Angel especially would hate this thing...

He would check with the redhead but for now he'd let it fly to its unconscious master.

The bird finally realized that it's master was the one sent flying away and with a panicked squawk, Fuza flew off to go retrieve Shura.

"… I'll probably let another of the crew fight him so I didn't put too much force into that but maybe I should have done less…"

"Eh, he'll be fine."

"You possess incredible strength," the Knight of the Sky said in awe, glancing warily at the blonde revolutionary.

To so effortlessly take out one of Kami's Vassals… Gan Fall himself would struggle and likely even lose against Shura.

But this blonde one did so with no effort… It was not only the one named Rosan who was dangerous. Just from what little he saw, Gan Fall was sure this one could defeat all of them here.

Sabo smiled good naturedly and adjusted his top hat. "It was nothing serious. That guy might try to get revenge on me later though."

He would fail but people were really arrogant these days.

The revolutionary glanced back at the ship in contemplation. "Now… let's try and fix up this ship a little. We wouldn't want to bother Rosan too much would we? Since you're here old man, lend us a hand!"

"Yeah!" Chopper nodded, eyes glittering at how cool Sabo was.

Gan Fall sweatdropped at the blonde's rudeness but merely nodded his head. Since he didn't actually have to fight anyone, he may as well assist them in repairing up the badly damaged ship.

Besides, with how easily one of the Priests were taken out… and how nonchalant the blue sea dwellers were… Perhaps there would be big changes to Skypiea in the upcoming day.

He would not mind observing this.

"So the former Kami has shown himself," Enel mused, unbothered by what just transpired between Sabo and Shura.

That poor excuse of a Kami… being usurped so easily by someone greater then him.

Enel didn't truly care about the pathetic former Kami of Skypiea but he was an eyesore.

Not to mention, he was a wanted criminal as well. It would do no good if he allowed a criminal to roam his holy land for free, especially one that was banished.

"I suppose I can deal with him then," he decided to himself.

Once the games truly started, Enel would eliminate Gan Fall once and for all if he made it far enough.

My, wasn't he just the busy one all of a sudden? A Devil, a former Kami… based on how easily Shura was defeated, he'd probably have to eliminate the one who had done that as well.

"How disappointing, making Kami do all this work. What good are Priests who cannot do their jobs?" he sighed, biting into an apple and laying his head back.

Shura was defeated in one blow, Satori was being toyed with… half of his priests were already disappointing him but that was to be expected.

They were only mere Vassals after all. They couldn't hope to match up to him.

Besides, it would be a shame if the so called Shinigami was taken out by a mere priest.

No, the one named Rosan, the one who claimed to be the Devil, was Enel's problem to deal with.

And he'd deal with him thoroughly.

"Another Kami has stepped into Skypiea?" Wyper asked, unable to keep the disgust out of his voice.

"Yes… they say he has... large black wings," Raki mentioned, going stiff at the thought of saying that.

Everyone tensed at her words.

"Black wings?" Someone muttered, voice tinged with a bit of fear.

"The Devil has shown up…?" Another whispered.

Wyper scowled at that. Was it perhaps… "Does this Devil have blonde hair? I encountered a ship of Blue Sea dwellers and one nearly knocked me unconscious in one blow."

That blonde was unbelievably powerful. Wyper had no illusions what would happen to him if they battled once more which was why he refrained from attacking that group of Blue Sea dwellers again.

Besides, he had his hands full with figuring out how to deal with Enel.

Raki shook her head at his question. "The Deviant is said to have red hair. From what I've heard, he's rather chilly and likes to torment people. They are also apart of the group of Blue Sea dwellers that have shown up on this island."

Wyper felt a headache forming at that.

The blonde wasn't the deviant? There was a Blue Sea dweller apart of their little group with red hair?

The closest thing he could remember, was the girl with orange hair that he also happened to see skirting around Upper Yard.

Who was the one with red hair?

"U-Um…"

Everyone gazed at the little girl hiding behind Raki.

"What is it Aisa?" Wyper grunted in annoyance, not wanting to deal with her nonsense unless it was serious.

She flinched at his harsh tone and shrunk into herself, before Raki placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

That seemed to give her some confidence and she said, "I… I think the Devil is fighting one of the Priests right now."

They went still at that.

"How can you be so sure?" Wyper asked, eyes narrowing in contemplation.

Aisa fidgeted, sweating a bit. "They feel… wrong," she began, thinking of the person she could feel with her mantra.

"It's almost like they're covered in a blanket. I can barely feel anything from them but what I can feel…"

The little girl shuddered and curled into herself. There were some things peeking out from that blanket. The things Aisa could feel… She was sure of it.

They had to be the Devil everyone was speaking of because they were terrifying.

"Aisa…?" Raki said in concern.

"What can you feel?" Wyper asked.

"So much..." she answered after composing herself. "The little things I can feel... There's just so much chaos! Rage. Mischief. Hate. Love.They're a torrent of emotions but all of it is being covered by something cold…"

They listened to the girl's explanation with wide eyes.

Just what were they dealing with…?

"It's to be expected," Wyper grumbled, unfazed. "They are the one with black wings after all. I never believed in such a fairy tale but perhaps it has some merit."

Death, chaos and anarchy. That's what the one who was born with black wings represented.

The antithesis to order.

Deviant. Forsaken. They were one of many names but the most universally accepted one was of course, The Devil.

"Kami… Devil… Former Kami… All obstacles that we need to rid of in order to reclaim the former glory of Shandia," Wyper sneered. "You mentioned that they're in battle with the Priests currently?"

Aisa nodded. "There were two Priests who fought just now… One of them was defeated and the other is still in battle with the Devil—"

The little girl jolted. "Two of the Priests are defeated and both of them were by the outsiders."

Everyone froze at that.

"WHAT?!"

Wyper's eyes widened in shock. "Two priests defeated?! Neither by Gan Fall?"

She nodded hesitantly.

One of them weren't completely down for the count but the one fighting the Devil wouldn't be getting up anytime soon, considering his voice had v-vanished.

"This is perfect for us," Wyper said, standing up and preparing himself for battle. "It's finally time to take back what's ours."

"YEAH!" The Shandians roared.

Aisa watched them walk away with a look of trepidation that Raki didn't miss.

"What is it? Still afraid of Wyper?" She asked.

Surprisingly, the little girl shook her head.

"The outsiders who took out the priests… there are three monsters in that group," she said quietly.

One was near the sacrificial altar and two were fighting the other priest. But all three were monsters on the level of Enel.

Besides the Devil, there was the one with him full of an endless amount of joy and freedom. It was overwhelming how one creature could be filled with someone that seemed so boundless.

The final one was the biggest monster of them all, full of conviction and resolve that yielded to nothing.

That must have been the blonde Wyper mentioned...

"I think if we fight them, we'll all die," she admitted with a look of fear. The other two monsters didn't feel as scary as the Devil but that didn't matter when the Devil was their ally.

Raki looked at the genuine fear on Aisa's face and sighed to herself.

It was a good thing she didn't have mantra. To feel what this little girl felt, must be terrible.

"Come with me," she said.

"Ball Dragon."

Satori glared down at the blindfolded fools. "This is my special attack, Ball Dragon! It's made up of surprise clouds that are filled with blades, explosives and one has a special fireball that will set off a fiery explosion on every single surprise ball."

Angling the Ball Dragon at Rosan, the Priest said, "Let's see if that regeneration of yours can handle the full brunt of every single ball exploding on your body. Once I kill you, none of you will be able to reach that boat anymore."

Rosan couldn't even pretend to be surprised that this Priest was going to focus his special attack on him.

Unfortunately, his Observation showed no sign of activating so he had to rely on his base instincts to avoid this Ball Dragon.

He wasn't even sure how it looked…

"Rosan are you sure you'll be fine?" Robin asked in worry. An explosion that would set everything off… what if it completely annihilated his body?

Could he regenerate from that? What were the limits of his regeneration?

"I don't know he sounds very sure that I won't regenerate from this," he replied truthfully.

He did know. The force needed to kill him, was not something this man had. It would hurt and probably completely drain his regeneration, but he'd live.

"Then we shouldn't risk it!" Robin barked in concern.

"…" he said nothing to her.

"Well, come then. Don't leave me waiting," Rosan taunted, standing straight and unfazed.

"Rosan! What are you doing?!" Robin asked in shock.

What was he thinking? Didn't he hear her?! Why would he goad the man into using it on him?

Curses... she couldn't take the blindfold off either because Rosan made sure they were tight with his ability.

What the hell was he doing right now?!

Mod's eyes widened in realization.

Rosan missed the way Satori's expression darkened but he certainly heard it in his voice.

"Still not planning on taking that blindfold off? The Devil surely is arrogant but I suppose that's why you would dare to go against Kami in the first place," he muttered.

With that, the Ball Dragon took off.

Rosan's wings flexed at the noise and he rushed away, not flying too fast in case he crashed into a tree.

Unfortunately, Satori didn't use all his surprise balls to create the dragon.

The redhead crashed into one of the floating balls and grunted as it halted his flight for a moment, erupting into a plethora of ropes, slowing him momentarily.

That was all the dragon needed to catch up to him.

Satori grinned as the first ball of the dragon erupted into sharp knives that impaled Rosan right through his gut, rooting into every inch of his midsection with expert precision and drawing out blood.

The redhead huffed at the stabbing and felt his mouth fill up instantly.

Robin's eyes widened in horror as she heard Rosan begin throwing up a lot of blood.

"ROSAN!" They yelled in shock.

"Rosan… are you okay?" Robin asked quietly.

The wet squelching noise of Rosan ripping out the knives, made her regret agreeing to let him make the blindfolds so difficult to remove.

"I'm... fine," he grunted, removing the last knife with a sickening noise that made Robin vow to shatter every bone in this Priest's body until he couldn't even beg anymore.

She really was as a hypocrite... because the thought of Rosan being in pain, infuriated her on the same level as how angry he must feel everytime she was in pain.

"What a disappointment. That wasn't the special fiery ball," Satori sighed. "Perhaps the next one? Let's find out, Heathen."

Rosan let loose a heavy breath and prepared himself again, wounds closing as his body prepared to take even more punishment.

A catastrophic explosion crashing into Rosan and consuming—

Robin went cold at the sudden influx of information, heart slamming in her chest as a well of confused terror formed inside of her.

She saw it...

She saw it.

The next one... the next ball to explode... That one was the fiery explosion and it was going to catch Rosan.

How did she know that—

Haki.

She unlocked it. That had to have been this overwhelming sensation telling her that Rosan was in so much danger.

Robin gasped loudly at the influx of everything flowing into her and rushed without thinking, to the direction where she felt Rosan.

The rage, hatred, love… all being covered by such a cold and oppressive blanket. Her best friend was a tightly restrained tsunami, building higher and higher due to it was held back by such a firm wall. Once that wall broke, the water would flow and consume everything in its path, years of building up only increasing its power.

She could feel him completely…

And that's why she knew she was going to be a step too slow to stop this.

"ROSAN!" She screamed in panic.

Rosan went stiff at that, eyes going wide under his blindfold at just how close Robin was to him.

She… What the hell was she doing?! Was she trying to die?!

This wasn't going to kill him. It would certainly hurt, but he'd survive this.

He could not say the same to Robin.

How did she know where he was? She made it to him so quick—

Haki.

His plan worked. He actually managed to get one of them to unlock their Haki by putting his life in "danger".

The only problem was that she was doing something incredibly stupid. His dear best friend was being an idiot… He'd laugh at her reckless action if she wasn't at risk of dying.

Rosan's body surged with as much adrenaline as it did panic, as he whirled toward where he heard Robin scream his name and got ready to soar with her away from the Ball Dragon.

His worries were for naught though.

As he prepared to rocket off, a hand grabbed him and, judging by the gasp, Robin too and yanked them both out of the way of the incoming dragon.

Satori's eyes widened in confusion and he stopped the ball dragon before it crashed and exploded on the tree.

"You… but how?!" He balked in horror.

They were blindfolded! How could two of them react to that…?

Don't tell him…

Robin and Rosan both gazed in the direction of the hand holding them, though Robin was already aware of just who grabbed them.

"You too…? Did you also unlock Haki?" Rosan asked in surprise. After all, only one person would have been able to grab him that quickly.

"Yeah, I saw it! You two were about to get caught in the explosion so I moved to save you..."

Luffy grinned down at the two before it turned into a frown. "Are you stupid, Rosan?! You and Robin almost got seriously hurt!"

"I was going to heal from that," Rosan countered, pleased with the outcome. "I noticed that you guys were making more progress then me so I decided to give you a final push. I was hoping that by doing this, one of you, would actually unlock your Haki but I didn't account for… the next part."

He figured the one closest to getting it, was Luffy. He honestly didn't expect Robin to unlock her Haki as well and he didn't expect her to recklessly charge him in the process.

Robin felt a frown form on her face at that. "You can't just do that, Rosan! What are you—," She said, resisting the urge to scowl at him.

"I… You know what, we'll talk about this later," she decided.

Rosan's mouth closed at the finality of that statement and he frowned as Robin pushed herself away from him.

"Uh oh, someone's in trouble," Mod mused, shaking her head at his antics. She realized what he was planning but made no move to stop him, because if she did, he would never learn from his mistake.

It was more likely he'd ignore her too.

"You've gone and done it now, Father," Ram sighed. She didn't have a problem with his plan but she knew mother would.

Rosan had no comeback. He was just confused as to why he was in trouble.

"Luffy, can you feel the Priest?" Robin asked, composing herself since she remembered that her Haki would go out of control otherwise.

She needed to keep this sensation going for as long as possible to really get a feel for it.

"Yep, I'll deal with him!" The rubber boy grinned eagerly, looking directly at a nervous Satori.

Robin nodded and glanced over at Satori as well. "I'll continue to get used to this sensation then. Be wary of that ball dragon."

"Yep, the next one's gonna explode!"

So he knew that as well.

Good.

Luffy took off towards Satori with an excited laugh, looking sure of his movement despite the blindfold and avoiding everything that could hurt him with few mistakes.

Robin herself, went over to where the largest cluster of surprise balls were and decided to practice evading them so as to take her mind off the absolute lashing she was going to give Rosan soon.

"Are you alright, Rosan?" Sanji asked worriedly. "You were taking a brunt of the damage from that bastard."

Rosan removed his blindfold and repeated the process with Sanji and Usopp, frowning all the while as he moved to repair their tattered outfits.

"I'm fine. I'm used to some pain so it was nothing serious…" he said, slightly confused.

Why was Robin so upset with him? He knew she was afraid of seeing him get hurt, but they all knew just how weak this Priest was…

It's not like they were fighting Enel. This Priest had no chance of killing him and she knew how durable he was... so why?

Sanji slapped his head at the look of slight confusion on Rosan's face. "Just because you're used to pain, doesn't mean people who care about you want to see you in pain, shitty redhead," he stressed.

...But it was intentional on his part? He did it so that they could benefit from it and it worked so why be upset? He had gone through far worse already so something like this, wasn't worth getting angry about.

Sanji sighed at the oblivious idiot. He'd let Robin-chan explain it to him then because she had a way with words that seemed to always get through to the stubborn redhead.

Usopp collapsed on the floor, thankful that someone finally unlocked their Haki.

This was pain and misery and scary and pain… and misery.

He needed to never be around Rosan in case a fight broke out again. The redhead was a psycho.

Satori couldn't keep the panic off his face, as the rubber boy began to slowly but surely get more and more adept at moving with the blindfold on.

His somewhat unsteady steps as he dodged the ball dragon and the surprise balls (he could fly?!), became more confident and soon, it was like he were moving without the blindfold.

"Alright! I'm pretty used to it now," Luffy cheered, spinning his arm and glancing up at Satori. "Prepare yourself Balloon!"

"He has Mantra?! But how?!" Satori's eyes bugged in disbelief as the rubber boy charged him with ease.

How did he get the hang of it so quickly?! It took Satori years to get his Mantra to proficient levels and not only was this stretchy boy able to do it, the consort was as well?!

"Gomu Gomu no Pistol!"

The rotund man moved out of the way of the attack but his eyes widened as the fist followed him and landed a punch directly on his face.

"O-Ow!" Satori cried out. He wasn't good with pain a-and that really hurt!

"Shishishi this is so cool!" Luffy laughed, jumping up excitedly and activating Geppo to close the distance.

Satori panicked as he watched the human missile flying towards him and he began to steer the ball dragon towards Luffy.

In his panic however, he didn't realize what doing that entailed.

The Priest's eyes bugged even further out of his skull, at seeing the Ball Dragon get closer to him as a result of Luffy closing the distance.

"Ah! S-Stay away!" Satori shrieked, trying to use the ball he was currently sitting on to move away from the incoming Luffy.

The man went pale, as a plethora of arms appeared atop his body and he gazed in horror at the two Nico Robin's looking up at him.

"I owe you tenfold for all you've done to Rosan," the blindfolded one crossing her arms said coldly.

"Clutch."

Satori's eyes rolled to the back of his head behind his shades, as Robin did good on her promise to break every one of his bones but his misfortune didn't end there.

Luffy sensed that the dragon was about to crash into him and cheekily placed himself behind Satori, pushing the man forward and himself away in the process.

The Priest crashed into the ball.

BOOM!

The ensuing explosion was deafening.

"You've gotten used to it far too quickly," Robin commented with a shake of her head.

Luffy was a monster, she was still in the process of getting the hang of it but already she could feel the progress.

He was a battle genius alright. The fact that he was already adjusting to it so well...

"Shishishi. We can practice it together! It'll be fun!" The rubber boy laughed good naturedly, landing right next to her.

Robin smiled at his attitude as they began walking towards the rest of their crew. "It's quite the strange sensation, to feel so much… I can't help but feel slightly overwhelmed... But it's undeniably useful."

"Mhm!"

They stopped in front of the one that felt like Rosan and waited patiently for him to remove their blindfolds.

The redhead glanced at Robin's neutral expression and opened his mouth but the Devil Child immediately shut him down.

"We should go find the ship," she suggested quietly.

"…" Rosan said nothing for a moment before he sighed.

"Right. Follow me."

"Listen up everyone! Upper Yard is currently in turmoil and now's the best time to attack!"

The crowd roared as they skated towards Upper Yard with Wyper in the lead.

"Our target is Kami's Temple! Do not fear the false Kami, do not fear the Devil! The spirit of the Great Warrior Kalgara will watch over us!"

"RIGHT!" They chorused.

"Everyone, come back alive! NOW BREAK!" He roared.

Wyper grabbed his bazooka and aimed it at the massive forest, before firing and ensuing a massive explosion.

"WE WILL BRING BACK THE LIGHT OF SHANDORA!"

"Two defeats? How disappointing," Ohm sighed, adjusting his shades as he regarded his giant dog, Holy.

"Shura is unconscious but should be awake soon. Satori is dead as a result of his battle... But, this changes nothing."

"Many challengers always show up, yet the outcome is always the same," the bald Priest said.

"Blue Sea dwellers, guerrillas and the former Kami all trying to take advantage and see Kami."

It wouldn't happen. He'd cut them down long before they got to catch a glimpse of the Almighty Enel.

"The sun is about to set and for the enemies of Enel, there will be no dawn!"

Shura groaned as he abruptly woke up and the Priest grabbed his head.

"That… damn," he grunted, glaring furiously as the memories of what happened to him, surfaced to the forefront.

How shameful, he allowed himself to lose a battle. That would put a stain on his name that he needed to rectify immediately.

To be dismissed so casually…

"Your Haki's pretty good but it could use some work."

He could not let this stand.

No, Shura would kill that arrogant human who would dare spout Enel's name with such casualness.

He was just caught off guard. Of course a person who had association with the Devil, would have ways to counter him but it mattered not.

He would get his revenge.

"I wonder if they made it to Sky Island yet?" Maro mused, picking up a green grape and popping it in her mouth before giving one to the Angel resting on her lap.

Her wife idly bit into the fruit and hummed, prompting Maro to give her another.

She was all finished with her paperwork and most of her agents, Kaori, along with an army of clones, were off dealing with some pirate alliance thing that the Unluckies managed to find out about.

Idiots, who said they could go around making alliances with each other on her sea? The North Blue pirates were getting more and more desperate it looked like but never fear because Maro was here.

That reminded her of that one Pirate Crew she ran into one day while sailing... Was it the Heart Pirates? The one with... Trafalgar Law! That was it!

She ran into them sometime ago when they were upstarts and she saw their submarine. She had never seen one before and saw it just poking out so how could she resist?!

Though, pulling it out of the water and launching it on the beach was probably not the nicest gesture... She could understand why they had been rather wary around her.

They didn't have any bounties on their heads and didn't seem to want to fight her, so Maro didn't feel the need to absolutely obliterate them where they stood and instead chose to talk to them.

Also they had the cutest polar bear ever. He was so shy and so quiet and had the softest fur ever!

The Captain had been a pretty awkward guy (it was because an overwhelming Queen who shouldn't be talking to him, was talking to him), but he was also pretty chill and wasn't as bad as the other pirates she hunted.

He was also very smart. He and Maro had been having a mental battle with each other, before he deemed her not worth attacking and they actually spoke!

His fruit was really cool too! That Ope Ope no mi was kind of like Masters with its own strengths and limitations!

Master would have overhauled him without a second thought. Even at a glance, Maro could tell how valuable the dubbed "Surgeon of Death" was.

Maro had thought he was fairly cute despite his goofy hat and wanted him to meet Demon... but alas, he rejected the offer for a blind date.

That was a fun day. That dude was doing pretty good for himself too with a lower bounty then all of the Straw Hats with bounties but he was still making his name heard.

He wasn't as terrible as pirates tended to be (the rumors didn't sound very promising) so she let them sail off with a cheery wave and even managed to hug the Polar Bear again!

His other crewmates looked depressed at that fact... she wasn't sure why!

But he was still an outlier of pirates... most of them did suck and what she did know is that some group was getting ready to do something big... so she'd further get in the World Government's good graces and deal with them herself (she already notified them, much to their joy).

Since Maro was not allowed to go (being Queen suuuucked) the Dokkaebi managed to finish up all her paperwork for the week!

And now she was bored.

"Of course they made it," Angel said, head resting on the Queen's lap. The redhead was idly tinkering with one of her gadgets as the two discussed with each other.

Maro raked a hand through her wife's hair, chewing on a grape with a pleased hum as she gazed at her assorted fruit with a blank expression.

"I wanna see what a Sky Island is like," she said bluntly.

Angel didn't even bat an eye at that, just continuing to fiddle with her item. "Then let's call Master over. They might have different technology over there so I'd like to see it too."

"Kay, that's settled… Now where's Demon?" Maro muttered.

Marianne, being the only agent who didn't go, glanced up from her drawing. "He's working on something important. He told me to tell you guys not to interrupt him and if you don't listen, you can kiss your Rumble Ball goodbye."

Maro, who was definitely just about to go interrupt him, froze at that and slowly placed her back on the comfy throne again.

"So let's wait for Demon to finish up then," the Queen decided, thankful that she didn't stand up all the way and force Angel out of position.

"Smart," Angel said dryly, perking up as she reached the finishing touch of her trinket. "AHA! I'm done!"

Shooting up, the redhead presented her item to a surprised Marianne.

"Here you go! I stole one of your brushes and upgraded it," the redhead grinned cockily.

Marianne's eyes widened at that and she grasped the advanced mechanical brush out of the woman's hand. "Wow… for me?!"

The clone nodded. "It can even generate its own paint and change the color so that you can skip the process of dipping it! You just have to refill it when it runs out. Here, I'll give you the full run down."

Marianne's eyes glittered with awe as Angel sat next to her on the comfortable carpet and the former agent scooted up close to the redhead, idly leaning her head on the clone's body as she explained all the functions.

"This is amazing, Angel-sama!" The artist gasped.

Angel gagged. "Angel-sama is way too formal! Just keep it at Angel!"

"Oh… okay!"

Maro watched the two interact with a fond smile.

She always knew Angel wanted kids! Her headstrong wife didn't make it too obvious but it was one of those things Maro just picked up on. It was kinda why they both unknowingly adopted short little Marianne.

Maro herself wanted a biological child too but that would be pretty difficult considering… they were both girls and Angel was also a clone. Even with all the changes Master made to them over the year, they were still not human... so unless he swapped their consciousness somehow into an actual living body that looked like them... then yeah.

It'd be pretty impossible.

It was actually one of Angel's insecurities in their relationship. But Maro assured her that she had nothing to be afraid of. She would always love Angel no matter what and nothing would change that.

Angel had been touched by that but she really did want to somehow help Maro.

A lecherous grin made its way onto the Queen's face.

Ah, how unfortunate! Guess she had no choice but to ask Master in the future. If they wanted a child as genetically close to the two queens… he was really the only choice and since Angel was a clone (and his sister!)… Well that left Maro with the terrible terrible task of having the baby.

Her Dokkaebi enhanced body should make the process much easier though so that was a plus—

A large book planted itself right on her face and Maro squeaked as it slowly slid down into her lap.

"Get your mind out of the gutter, you pervert," Angel said, staring at her with a flat expression. "Please don't ever grow up to be like Maro, Marianne. She's completely hopeless."

The agent nodded at that. "Shameless too. Right in front of you? I didn't think it was possible to be so perverted."

"To my brother too. I understand Master is hot but please, have some decency. At least think about how hot he is when I'm not in the room. I know I do sometimes," she sighed.

"H-Hey, she's my soldier! You can't make her think these negative things about me," Maro spluttered. "I-I was thinking of our future!"

Angel looked utterly unimpressed. "And it involved Master?"

Maro, bless her stupid soul, nodded without any hesitation.

Her wife stared at her, expression not shifting one bit before she opened her mouth and said, "You're sleeping on the couch for the next 3 days."

The Dokkaebi's mouth opened in shock, eyes going wide.

"Our Queen is so hopeless," Marianne sighed.

"Yes she is," Angel nodded.

It was pretty impressive that even despite sitting on his lap, Robin was still ignoring him so effortlessly.

To be fair, he didn't say anything but that was because he wasn't sure what to say and she completely shut him down before they got on the boat.

Maybe she was waiting for him to speak up?

"Robin I—"

"How could you be so stupid?!" She interrupted immediately, rounding to glare at him.

Guess not.

He furrowed his brows, stamping down the slight annoyance at being ignored followed by being interrupted.

"I knew I was going to be fine, Robin that's why I did it… I wanted to help at least one of you unlock your Haki and it worked."

Robin's uncharacteristic glare got deeper. "Besides the fact that you toyed with our emotions, which is a whole other issue that we need to speak about, none of us asked you to put your body on the line!"

She shook her head furiously, thinking about all the disturbing noises she heard while blindfolded.

"Who cares if you'll regenerate, Rosan? I had to listen to you throw up blood. I listened to you rip multiple knives out your body but it's okay because you weren't going to die?"

Memories of a Rosan who was so much younger flashed into her mind. A little boy screaming for help... her help, as he was continuously tortured in whatever way his jailor saw fit. So many horrors inflicted onto his body and there was nothing anyone could do about it but him.

A memory of a child willingly throwing himself in the way of an attack meant to kill her, made her shut her eyes.

"Am I supposed to just be okay with the fact that you're so willing to sacrifice your own safety just to help us?" Robin asked quietly. "I can't do that, Rosan. I won't. If I have to get better at your expense, then I don't want to get better."

Robin didn't care that she unlocked her Haki if this was the way she got it. Being scared to death that Rosan was potentially going to die?

It wasn't worth it... It just wasn't.

"…!" Mod gasped silently and Ram was right there with her.

"…" Rosan's expression turned neutral, going into thought. Surprisingly, he chose not to divulge said thoughts with anyone else.

Was that really what they all thought? They didn't like seeing him take damage?

Considering the look on their faces and the fact that no one spoke up yet, then yes, they did agree with Robin.

Was him taking damage that big of a deal? He was used to pain. Pain barely bothered him. Besides, he healed up very quickly so it didn't matter. Even now he was fully healed up... he was just a little tired now.

When he was just 14, he got skewered by a Logia to save his student… Who also got mad that he would do something like that.

Looking at the genuine concern under the anger in Robin's eyes, made Rosan frown.

Robin saw him getting tortured by Doc. Of course she'd hate to see him in pain. His reasoning for being unbothered by it, was the reason she was bothered by it.

"I'm… sorry," Rosan said quietly, voice actually filled with remorse. "I never stopped to think that anyone would have a problem with the dangers I put myself in because I do it so often. I figured that since we all knew he was so weak, it was fine."

Rosan didn't consider that people would be concerned about something he considered trivial these days. After all, pain kept him alert in battles. He welcomed it.

Hell, he was pretty sure he was slightly masochistic because pain only made his battle lust grow when he had emotions.

But he wasn't normal. He knew he wasn't normal so of course his perspective of things wouldn't be normal.

Of course Robin wouldn't want to see him in pain. He didn't even want to see her in pain.

Rosan didn't take into account that people cared for him, as much as he cared for them.

He would have to start being more considerate… he was only ever consciously considerate to Meiko because he hated hurting her.

Robin's eyes softened at the guilt on his face, starkly reminded that Rosan didn't choose to be the way he was.

For the umpteenth time, she cursed Doc for separating the two and causing him to turn like this.

Not only that, she loved them… she really did, but everyone who cared for him, Mod especially, needed to stop treating the redhead like they were treading on eggshells!

Naturally there were some exceptions, that being Ace and Luffy. But... those two were the youngest and they were also the ones least equipped to deal with this. The brothers didn't know how to properly help Rosan with their words!

Rosan was truthful, confident and blunt. He was the type of person that you had to give the same energy he exhibited when trying to talk to him.

The stubborn man would never listen to someone that was unsure or meek, but he would respect you all the more if you spoke to him the way he spoke to you.

With complete conviction. No sugar coating.

In order to get things through to that thick skull of his, you needed to be clear, blunt and sure of yourself, regardless if it was ruthless or not because that's how he worked…

Mod should know this especially... so why was she allowing herself to become so meek around him? Was her guilt over the virus inhibiting her this much…?

If things kept going like this, the Devil Fruit wouldn't be able to stop Rosan from doing what she knew he was planning to in regards to the virus.

She would need to sit them down soon so that they could finally get this sorted.

That was for later though. Robin needed to focus on what was happening now.

Rosan he… he probably didn't mean to in that way but he emotionally manipulated them all and that was unacceptable. Even if it was for their benefit... callously taking advantage of their emotions was out of line.

They weren't his enemies… they were his friends. It didn't matter what his intentions were, he couldn't just manipulate them like that even if it were for their own gain.

To put his body on the line like that without a single thought… Rosan's self destructive thoughts were even worse then she thought, if he really didn't think they'd have a problem with him putting himself in pain on purpose.

Why exactly did he think like this? They were constantly telling him they loved and cared for him... so why did he keep seemingly regressing?

"Rosan… Please put more value in yourself," Robin said firmly. "I don't care how badly you view yourself right now, that's a hurdle we can jump over later but you need to understand that people do care about you."

"You have no idea how much everyone cares about you, Rosan. No matter how much we show you, you just choose to be selfish instead!"

Luffy and Ram watched on with big grins as the redhead got chewed out for once.

"Scary…" Usopp thought. Robin was normally so calm and collected but here she was making the infallible Rosan, uncomfortable!

Sanji nodded in approval at the tongue lashing Rosan was receiving right now.

As someone with siblings who lacked emotion, Sanji was more aware then anyone how terrible that person could turn out. Rosan had the benefit of having had emotions before, but his life as Reaper showed that he was more then willing to do terrible things.

If they wanted Rosan to stray away from that path, they'd need to actually help him understand what he was doing was wrong. If his emotions were gone as long as he mentioned, they'd need to do a lot of work.

Mod stood there in shock. The woman couldn't remember the last time someone reprimanded Rosan so thoroughly and he actually learned from it.

They just got used to him acting like this and no one could really dispute him because… because he was a genius that always brought up good points that they could rarely argue against...

Even Mod stopped reprimanding Rosan over the years because somewhere along the way, she realized she lost the privilege to do that.

More and more, she realized how big of a mistake she made not telling Rosan about the virus and the more she realized, the guiltier she got and the more meek she became when it came to her son.

She had no right to tell Rosan off because his issues were caused by her.

But even then… if she didn't, who would?

Mod was his designated guardian. She had the honor of being considered his mother. Before all of this... Rosan had trusted her the most on the entire planet! Whenever he needed help with something, he would look to her... he said he trusted her with his life...

They had their ups and downs… so why was she currently being such a coward, that Robin felt like she had to step up in her place and talk to the redhead?

That was unacceptable. She needed to fix this to the best of her ability a-and get over her own fears.

Rosan never expected Robin to start shouting and he couldn't help but avert his gaze at the intense look in her eyes. By now, she had fully turned her body around to regard him but the rather compromising position was ignored by everyone there.

When was the last time someone spoke to him like this? It must have been when Meiko was still alive because she never did care about upsetting him if he needed to hear something.

They would spend hours arguing with each other over something... and she never even felt close to backing down against the stubborn redhead. Even if he refused to concede, she would make sure he at least saw her point.

She was always like that. Rosan found it funny how someone so weak, could stand up to him so effortlessly, where so many others failed. Was that just her unique gift? To be fearless when it came to the one she loved?

No, she simply did it because she cared for him—

Ah, that's right… Meiko did everything she did because she cared for him. Just like Robin did. Just like how everyone in his family did…

"You're looking for something you already found, Rosan. You already have reasons to live and you'll realize that soon enough."

He had no idea how much everyone cared about him huh…

"Day by day… little by little, I'll try and get better until I can be someone you're all satisfied with, I promise," Rosan assured quietly, head bowed as he fully conceded.

Robin's fierce expression immediately melted, at hearing him promise of all things and she pulled the redhead into a hug.

"I'll always be satisfied with you because I love you Rosan... but I want you to be a better version of yourself regardless until you can become the best version," she murmured.

"For the longest… I didn't think I could get better because I lost my better half. But everyone thinks otherwise… everyone but me so maybe I'm the one in the wrong," he admitted.

Luffy laughed at that. "You can't always be right, Rosan! You're too stupid for that!"

"YOU'RE ONE TO TALK!" Sanji roared, butting the rubber boy's head with his foot.

Robin couldn't contain her laughter at Luffy of all people saying that. "I'm beginning to think that you actually believe you're incapable of being wrong. How does your confidence not clash with your self destructive thought process? Are you an anomaly?" She wondered.

Rosan snorted at that. "No one can understand the mind of Rosan. It's hopeless to even try."

"I do love to explore the unknown… maybe that's why I took such an interest in you," Robin sighed forlornly.

That made sense. Even when first meeting, Rosan had been an anomaly to her and she felt herself light up with joy every time she figured something about him out.

For instance, he was terrible at taking what he dished! He had no problem embarrassing people, but the moment you did the exact same thing to him, he would lose it!

Robin had once gotten tired of how often he dished out those kisses of his and decided to give him a taste of his own medicine!

Her embarrassment was only secondary to the bugged eyes of the embarrassed redhead himself. 7 year old Rosan's jaw had dropped and a brilliant red had marred his cheeks as he fled from her.

That had started a bit of a war. Whoever got the jump would just win and she won more often then not!

"You're still coming up with excuses for yourself after all this time? Just admit that you admire and are jealous of me and call it a day," Rosan scoffed.

"I'd sooner admit that Luffy is smarter than you."

"You're slowly becoming a compulsive liar. Have you been spending time with Usopp?"

"No, I've been spending all my time with a needy and possessive brat."

"...You have a kid?"

"You aren't being serious right now."

Usopp (who spluttered at being dragged into this) interrupted their impending argument that was sure to turn into a brawl. "I'm glad that we all made up but uh… where are we now?"

At his words, the group glanced around, taking in the scenery with alert gazes.

They were floating along a prairie that was dotted with poles adorned with skulls atop of them.

That got a startled shriek out of Usopp.

"Perhaps there is a trial here that will leave us like this," Rosan mused.

"Perhaps a monster who feasts on skin?" Robin asked.

"D-DON'T SAY SUCH SCARY THINGS!" Usopp shrieked.

Robin smiled before her gaze narrowed at the same time Luffy's did.

"Someone's coming," they said in unison, gazing in a direction.

A few seconds after saying that, one of the totems was blown to bits and a group of people surged from the trees.

Rosan's eyes narrowed and he stood up abruptly, hands already forming into the gloves he enjoyed using way too much.

At the same time, the man leading the group of warriors, flew over them and aimed his bazooka at the group once he made moderate distance.

Luffy was already on the move before the man even aimed his weapon, sucking in a breath of air.

"Gomu Gomu no Balloon!"

Wyper scowled in annoyance as the rubber man caught the artillery and rebounded it to them.

The Shandians grunted in surprise as they were forced to dodge the explosion that took place and they all landed on trees to regard the group.

Once the smoke settled, Wyper had only a moment to react as a massive red laser attempted to take off his entire midsection gazing at the spot with wide eyes.

"Fascinating looking skates... I think I'll take them after I kill you but that's for later."

The leader of the Shandians glanced at the one who said it and went still.

"Is that…" he heard one of his allies mutter in slight apprehension.

"The Devil…" Another gasped.

"He really is here! First Enel, now this?!"

Rosan floated above the ship, glove glowing red for another attack, as he gazed at the Shandians. His obsidian wings were on full display and the less hardened warriors, found themselves growing nervous.

Wyper's scowl was back in full force as he gazed right back into those demonic eyes.

"So you're the one with black wings. The Deviant," Wyper grunted, glaring harshly at the group.

Rosan tilted his head at that. "Oh? It seems word about me is spreading far. Everyone has such a pleasant nickname for me too."

Forsaken One, Devil and now Deviant? He was honored.

"Should we take them out Wyper?"

The man thought about it for a while before shaking his head.

"Not unless he attacks us first. We have to prioritize Enel first then we can deal with them if they stay," he grunted, glaring at the neutral redhead.

They would lose precious members trying to take him out and they did not yet know of his full capabilities. They were not prepared to fight him yet. They hadn't spent years planning for this random appearance, so they would ignore him to the best of their abilities.

"Heed my warning, Blue Sea dwellers, get off Sky Island. If you stay here then we'll get rid of you along with Enel," Wyper promised.

Rosan tilted his head and surprisingly furled up his wings, banishing the glow from his gloves.

"You talk big for someone so weak. If you value your lives, you'll get out of my sight. Send Enel my regards before he kills you," he said calmly, glancing away from the group.

"Why you!" Someone snarled, ready to engage in battle with the arrogant redhead.

"Enough," Wyper ordered. "When I'm done with Enel, you're next, Deviant. The Shandians are tired of these so called higher beings dictating our lives."

Rosan didn't even spare him a glance and had the ship they were on sail even faster. "You have too much belief in what little strength you have, good luck surviving the day. With how outmatched you are, you're gonna need it."

Wyper bit back the snarl of aggravation. "What did you just say?" He growled lowly.

The redhead didn't bother looking up at him. "You're still here? I'm surprised. Maybe you don't value your life," he commented.

"Feel free to attack me. Though, I'm sure you'll regret that sooner then later."

"Remember the objective, Wyper," someone said to the man ready to throw caution to the wind.

The Shandian glared deeply at the ship, before he simply turned away, dashing off with his group while vowing to eliminate the Deviant when all was said and done.

The Straw Hats watched Rosan do nothing to the group, in clear surprise.

"What?" He asked calmly.

"You didn't kill them," Sanji pointed out.

"Yeah I was expecting them to die. I even had my eyes closed," Usopp mused.

"You're rather bloodthirsty," Robin smiled.

The redhead sighed at them. "Do you all think I'm the type to just immediately kill?"

"Yes," everyone said without a hint of hesitation.

They were so annoying.

"I am the scout first and foremost," Rosan said, suppressing his annoyance expertly. "You guys never gather information so I'm the one who normally does it. Those warriors still have information I can get so I left them alive. Once their use has run dry, then I'll kill and pillage them for speaking to me so boldly."

They sweatdropped at his casualness.

"W-We gather some information…" Usopp muttered.

"Good lie. Robin is the only one who would gather info and she's permanently attached to me so she doesn't count."

There was no use killing them immediately. Let them cause their chaos before being snuffed out.

Rosan wanted to see what combat based dials looked like and there was a chance he could see Enel in action too.

His birds were currently flying around the island so that he could gather as much information as possible. He made sure one was attached to the supposed leader of these guerrilla warriors.

They weren't impressive in the slightest, but their technology on the other hand...

"Show me what your other Priests can do, Enel," Rosan said aloud, closing his eyes and getting situated. He idly began messing with Robin's hair and she glared at him as he turned it red like his own.

"Rosan s-stop!" Usopp hissed. "Piss him off when we're not all on this tiny little ship!"

Was he seriously just going to keep antagonizing Kami? What was wrong with him? He swore this was their punishment for not listening to him when they first landed here.

"Consider this punishment for not listening to me when we first arrived," Rosan hummed.

Usopp held his head at that.

Since when was he able to tell what his scout was thinking? That was a terrible terrible thing…

"W-What happened to the ship?!" Nami gasped in horror.

The Navigator and Zoro just came back to the ship after making the discovery that Upper Yard was actually the City of Gold!

They weren't able to actually find gold just yet but it had to be somewhere. Her and Rosan would find it at all costs before leaving!

Chopper flinched at her question and gazed away in guilt.

Sabo perked up from where he was crouched down and stood up. "It was attacked by one of those Priests but I dealt with him."

Zoro gazed at the wrecked ship and frowned slightly.

Rosan was right, the Merry wouldn't last much longer in these seas…

"I'm guessing you blew the whistle, Chopper?" Nami asked as she gazed at Gan Fall.

The Sky Knight nodded as he wiped the sweat off his brow from his physical activities. "I showed up just in time to see this young man take out one of the Priests, Shura, in a single blow."

Sabo grinned sheepishly at that. "Sorry for wandering off, I have a habit of doing that. Makes my allies really upset most of the time."

Nami just waved him off. "I expected nothing less from Rosan and Luffy's brother. You're all idiots and completely hopeless. I imagine Ace has a flaw that would make me call him stupid too."

The revolutionary sweatdropped at her words.

He couldn't have been as bad as Rosan and Luffy… right? Sure he was bad... but his two other brothers were almost psychotically chaotic.

Yeah, there was no way he was as bad as them... he was more so like Ace! His middle brother

Speaking of which…

"I SEE THE ALTAR!" A familiar voice screamed in the distance, making them all perk up.

The group glanced up at that, gaining smiles as they watched a ship appear in the distance holding the rest of their crewmates.

"NAMI-SAN! I'VE ARRIVED TO SAVE YOU!" Sanji swooned happily.

Gan Fall's eyes widened at seeing all of them alive and he gazed at the crew with a shocked gaze.

"You survived the ordeal with the Priest?!" The former Kami of Skypiea asked in disbelief.

"Did you think we were going to die? I'm not as weak as you," Rosan replied calmly, raising a single brow. "We would have won faster but we saw a good opportunity to turn it into training since the environment was ideal."

The group nodded at that, though Usopp looked far too tired.

"I can't believe we were in a life or death situation and you told us to use it as training," the sniper groaned.

"It was a good idea wasn't it?" He countered calmly.

"...I hate you," Usopp rasped.

"T-Training?!" Gan Fall repeated with bugged eyes, gazing at the monsters with wide eyes.

"What type?" Sabo asked curiously. If they noticed the same thing he did about the Priests, he could take a guess.

"Observation," Robin answered easily. "We put on blindfolds against him and spent the time trying to learn it."

Gan Fall spluttered at the sheer insanity that they were all spouting.

Didn't they know what they were up against?! Placing blindfolds on against the Priests with Mantra?! What were they thinking?

"How did it go?" Sabo asked excitedly. That was genius of them!

Zoro was just as interested now, gazing at the group with a raised brow.

Luffy grinned widely at that question, jumping up and down in excitement.

Robin merely smiled. "Luffy and I unlocked ours… but it was at Rosan's expense and we made sure to let him know that he can't do what he did again."

They all looked at the redhead, noting that he actually wasn't planning on defending himself and wondered what he did.

Rosan sighed. "I allowed myself to get put in a dangerous situation that helped them unlock their own Haki… It was thoughtless of me to not consider their feelings on the matter though…"

Being considerate wasn't his strong suit. It was rather difficult considering how selfish he was inherently but Robin made great points that he found he couldn't really go against.

"It's fine, we talked about it so he knows now," Robin assured them all, putting a hand on the redhead's shoulder.

Sabo nodded with a thoughtful expression. He learned many things about his oldest brother and though he had a slew of issues, he was not unreasonable. If Robin (who he clearly listened to the most) said it was fine, then he'd drop it.

Still though…

"You guys managed to unlock your Observation already? That's incredible," the blonde muttered.

This must have been how the revolutionaries felt when they were training him. Proud but shocked.

"It's very useful," Robin nodded. "I personally wanted to learn Armament first but this is still incredibly beneficial for me."

Luffy laughed. "We'll learn that one next and before Rosan too!"

Rosan and Zoro grunted in annoyance at the same time.

"Ace already said Observation would be the hardest for me to learn. Don't be so happy that you learned it first. You'll need as big of a head start as you can get," the redhead retorted.

"We've gotta step it up. I don't wanna get left behind," the swordsman agreed.

"The little prodigy is upset that he's actually being left behind? Careful Zoro, if you continue to hang around him, you might pick up his lack of talent," Robin mocked, smiling at the redhead with a superior expression.

She effortlessly moved out of the way of his outstretched hand and her smile widened at the annoyed expression on his face.

"…" Rosan glanced at the woman who moved out of the way of his grab before turning away. "You're lucky Maro is calling me. I'll get you later."

Robin simply smiled wider at him.

Nami perked up at that and grinned. "Maro's calling? Is she on the way?"

The redhead nodded. "Most likely. I honestly expected her to call me immediately but she must have actually chosen to be responsible for once."

Rosan hummed. "This is good actually. You guys have questions for me, right? My old traveling partners should be here as well to hear this and add their tidbits."

They all glanced at his black wings in blatant curiosity and nodded eagerly.

"Could you help fix the ship when you come back?" Usopp asked, gazing at the damage with a contemplative gaze.

"Sure I'll do it later tonight," he replied, grabbing onto Robin.

"We'll set up camp in the forest over there. Then we can all talk about it," Sanji said, pleased to hear that the leaders of Celadon were showing up again.

Gan Fall watched in confusion as the one Forsaken Pne nodded and waved… before promptly vanishing from their sight with Robin.

"W-What?!" He gasped. Where did he go?! What happened to him?!

"You get used to it," Nami said dismissively, eyes turning dreamy at the thought of all that gold.

"H-He just disappears as he pleases?" The former Kami asked.

"Yeah, at least once a day," Sanji shrugged, already going off to collect food for their camping excursion.

Gan Fall watched the entire crew prepare to set up camp in Upper Yard with a baffled expression.

These Blue Sea dwellers… What exactly was wrong with them?

"You're late!" Maro humphed, snuggling her teacher with a stern frown.

"I took 1 minute to get here," Rosan replied, holding the three leaders with an almost exasperated expression.

"You need to show up before we call you. You should know us by now," Angel said simply, rubbing her head on his chest with a neutral expression.

"I cannot read minds," the redhead retorted calmly, knowing logic failed 90% of the time with Angel.

"Ignore them, Master. You know how they get," Demon smiled as he hugged his older brother.

"That's why I appreciate you, Demon," Rosan sighed, running a hand through his brother's purple hair.

"I guess I can't be all that mad considering how much chest you're showing! Wow, Master!" Maro beamed, greedily eyeing Rosan's exposed torso with hungry eyes and rubbing her face on it with zero shame at all.

Look at him! He was ripped and the Queen would graciously soak it all in!

"Who dressed you like this?!" Angel barked, poking his exposed chest like it were an unknown creature.

"Robin," he said without hesitation.

Maro pulled out of the hug at the same time Angel leapt on an amused Robin.

"What are you doing Robin?!" Angel barked, glaring at the woman who would dress her brother up so lewdly.

The Devil Child placed a hand on her shoulders and said, "I'm just trying to have Rosan cooldown a little. He's been way too serious lately."

The redhead opened her mouth, before closing it at the answer. "W-Well... I suppose you have a point... but that doesn't mean you can dress up Master like this! It's way too lewd!" She protested.

"Lewd?" Rosan spoke up with a raised brow. "It's just an open cardigan, Angel. What's so lewd about it?"

"You!" She retorted. "It's not the outfit, it's you! Look at your body! I hate it!"

Rosan opened his mouth and then realized it was hopeless trying to argue with her so he just shut it.

Maro chuckled at that before her eyes lit up.

"So… we haven't heard from you guys since you mentioned going to the Sky Island! How is it? Well, we're going anyways but I'd like to know!" The Queen asked as she removed her tiara to place on a tired Marianne's head.

"You can sleep in our room until we come back. There's no point in leaving the castle since you're all alone," she muttered to the former agent.

Marianne stifled a yawn and nodded, lazily saluting with a, "Kay," before walking to the Queen's spacious room to get some rest with the adorable dinosaurs.

Robin, who accepted all their attention next, smiled at how comfortable Marianne was with the three.

"It's rather beautiful, though we weren't able to appreciate it all that much," she replied with just a hint of displeasure.

She really wanted Rosan to relax a bit but alas.

"Trouble already?" Angel asked with a raised brow. "Also, Master… why are you using Shinigami? I haven't seen those wings in forever!"

She loved his angelic wings. They weren't as cool as Ragnarok's but they were far more gorgeous.

Maro's eyes widened at that and she rushed over to Rosan once more.

"Wow! Did you reveal that you're Reaper?!" She asked, rubbing her cheek against his wings and purring in bliss.

As comfy as ever~

"There is a self proclaimed Kami on the Sky Island we are currently visiting," Rosan began. He idly curled his wings around Maro and snorted as her purring got louder, tucking her easily into his frame as he brushed her shoulder length hair (it was getting rather long... just like his own hair).

"I've yet to see him but he's powerful. He most likely has the Goro Goro no mi and I decided I want to fight him. Since he thinks he's a Kami, I decided to reveal Shinigami to them as well. Kami of Death and all that," he explained calmly.

The redhead and Robin both explained the situation to them so far and their eyes, especially Angel's were wide in interest.

"Master… you're stealing everything right?" Angel asked slowly, eyes practically shining in unrestrained greed as she shook him back and forth.

"Without a doubt," Rosan replied calmly, high-fiving his sister with a glint. "I was hoping to split everything I got between you, Hiroshi and I. I imagine it would be quite difficult to use some of the cloud based technology on our surface level but I'm sure you can figure something out because you're my genius little sister."

Angel nodded furiously, blushing bright at his praise. She was practically salivating at the thought of working on such foreign things. "Don't hold back, you have my blessing that you can take everything!"

Robin and Maro sweatdropped as Demon shook his head.

"I had no idea Angel was so greedy," she whispered to the Queen.

Maro simply nodded in defeat. "She's just as greedy as Master but not as universal with it. If it comes to anything that can improve her crafting or being possessive of me… she's the worst! You'd think I'm the bad one in the relationship but trust me, it's 100% her," she whispered back.

"She's awful," Demon nodded sagely. "Sometimes I feel bad for Maro but then I remember they're both insufferable and realize they deserve each other."

Robin nodded sympathetically. She could see it very well.

"W-What do you mean I'm insufferable?!" Maro gaped at her brother with wide eyes.

"Do you actually think you aren't?" Demon replied gently, looking at the Queen with amused eyes.

"..." Maro's brows furrowed. "Alright, you have a good point... but you're a whore."

Demon raised a brow high at that. "What did you just call me?" He asked incredulously.

"You heard me! I'm surprised you haven't fooled around in so long! Been getting real chummy with my soldiers huh? Which one do you have your eyes on? Mikita's been here longer and she's such a cutie but Zala's real sexy and mature don't you think?" She grinned, waggling her brows.

Demon's eyes narrowed. "You and Angel can be so annoying when it comes to my private affairs," he grunted uncharacteristically.

Maro grinned smugly. "Life of being married. I don't have to think about getting in a relationship... so I focus on you!"

He sighed and Robin pat his shoulder soothingly.

"If it makes you feel better, Rosan is preventing 3 people from dating and I'm one of them," she told him.

Demon sighed sympathetically. "The woes of being normal and surrounded by psychos. You start to wonder where things went wrong."

"I began thinking that since I was 8," Robin said forlornly.

The two normal ones shared a hug of understanding.

"It won't get better. People like Master and Angel only get worse," he assured her.

"...I hate how pessimistic everyone else is. Please let that be my thing," Robin sighed.

"Alright, let's go!" Angel beamed, jumping excitedly and getting a pleased sigh out of Maro, which made the redhead blush hot.

Dials sounded so interesting! She wanted to tinker with everything there and get them Blue Sea ready.

"You mentioned some Priests right?" Maro mused. "I want to fight one. It's been so long since I got in a decent fight!"

She didn't have her Tiara though... but she scarcely needed to go invisible these days. Just made fights super easy!

"Priests, guerrillas… have your pick," Rosan muttered, beckoning them all over. "I'm planning on answering my crews questions about me being Reaper by the way. I'll tell them your Grim too if you don't mind."

"Kay! Sounds good to me," she beamed. Look at Master getting all chummy with his crews.

"That reminds me, we totally have to throw a celebration again for you guys bounties! Also, Red Devil? Gross!"

"Don't remind me. I need to find a way to get that changed," Rosan sighed.

"I agree. Angel of Death sounds so much more amazing even though you answer to no one!" The Queen replied with a cheeky grin.

Goblin Princess was the coolest of course.

"Makino also wanted to speak to you. She misses you," Demon mentioned.

"You haven't spoken to her even once since you left! Don't be such a dick, Master! You could have at least placed a Save Point on her," Angel scowled.

"That would be a waste of a point. Though, I should have given her a Den Den. Everyone mentions how much she wants to talk to me... Maybe I'll fly over one of these days and say hi to Dadan too," Rosan muttered.

He had no interest in flying over to the East Blue to do that... But he supposed he could for his friend.

"I'll figure something out later. Let's hurry up and go," he said, eyes glowing as he activated the technique to transport them all over.

"Alright! We've got some questions for you," Nami decided, taking charge since she was the smartest of the curious bunch.

After happily greeting the ones from Celadon, the group were sat comfortably in front of one Rosan who they found out was the Angel of Death, Reaper.

The redhead in question, nodded his head. "Ask away. I'll answer to the best of my ability."

To avoid leaking anything to Enel or anyone untrustworthy, Rosan went through the horribly taxing task (he was going to enjoy his sleep after this) of linking with everyone there, excluding a Gan Fall who excused himself, claiming that he'd come back the next day,

He never linked with so many people and he could already tell that the only reason his head was not pounding so strongly, was because of his amazing Devil Fruit.

Mod blushed at his praise and smiled brightly with a roll of her eyes.

Nami felt her curiosity about their scout somehow rise.

He was full of so much mysteries! Everytime they thought they learned something about him, he revealed something else!

"So you're really Reaper?" She started off, just to test the waters.

The redhead nodded and stood up. They watched as his armband seamlessly transformed into a long black cloak, with white lines donned all over, that covered his entire frame.

He pulled out a black mask that had a white rose carved into the side of it and placed it on his face. The redhead pulled up his hoodie and they watched as his face instantly became shrouded in darkness.

The only thing they could see, was the faint red glow that was his left eye.

To finish off, he held out his ringed left hand and the crew watched as Ram transformed into a gigantic scythe. The Angel of Death effortlessly spun it, before balancing the shaft on his shoulder.

"This is how I look," he said calmly, spreading out his wings to give them the full picture.

"Wow," they awed, glancing up and down at the figure.

He certainly fit the bill of Angel of Death. He was stunning in his disguise and let off an ethereal air that Rosan did not typically have.

It was almost like looking at a completely different person. He even felt as chilly as Rosan had been when they first met him!

"Booo, take your shirt back off," Maro scowled, crossing her arms petulantly.

As they gazed at the cloaked figure, stamping down the trepidation at that ominous aura, a thought occurred to them.

"So the reason everyone says you were so short… was because you were a child?" Nami whispered in shock.

The world's most renowned bounty hunter, was a child! The person who was practically the boogeyman of the sea, who parents warned their children about… was just a kid!

Granted, Rosan was older than all of them except Robin so they were those kids but still! He was one of the highest starting bounties ever and he was just 14 when it happened…

"Yes, I was... short for my age and had a very sudden growth spurt," he explained, much to Maro's misery.

The Queen waved her hands everywhere in outrage. "He was so short goddamnit! We used to be the same height and he never was taller than me up until that stupid growth spurt!" She whined.

"You're still stuck on that?" Angel mused with bright, amused, eyes. "You should be glad that you grew yourself, shortstack."

Maro spluttered at that. "S-Shortstack?! I'm 5'10, you asshole! I am literally one inch shorter than you!"

Angel shrugged. "I could make Master adjust my height accurately and you can try again. Your 5'10 to my 6'2..." she mused.

The Dokkaebi wheezed. "No thanks. I'm good. I think our heights are perfectly fine!"

"Right..." she said dryly.

Everyone snorted at the wives.

"Are you actually… you know… otherworldly?" Usopp asked tentatively, gazing at those eerie yet captivating wings of his.

"I knew you would have believed all those rumors about me, Usopp," Rosan sighed softly. "I was born human, don't worry. Though, these wings are those of an Angel."

"B-Born human?!" Usopp cried to himself. What the hell was he now?!

"So these are Angel wings…" Zoro muttered. "What made you decide on them? Did you use these before becoming a dragon for more power?"

Rosan shook his head, pulling his hoodie back and taking the mask off to reveal his features again.

"I learned Ragnarok before Shinigami," he revealed much to their surprise.

W-Wasn't he starting a little big?!

"Going from a dragon to an angel is a little... crazy," Nami said slowly with a sweatdrop.

"It is a bit crazy... but I love fantasy," Rosan admitted.

"Really?!" Usopp asked in surprise. The pragmatic and logical redhead, was into the fantasy theme?! He really was an enigma!

That put into perspective just how different this Rosan was from the one with emotions.

He nodded in confirmation. "I used to always have Mom, Robin or Mod-chan read me a book on fantasy... I especially loved tales about dragons," he explained.

That... was so adorable.

"Ever since I first unlocked Modification, my greatest goal was to be able to modify myself into a dragon. It was a childish dream of mine but I attacked it for 5 years before finally figuring it out."

They listened with undivided attention. Learning more about Rosan was always interesting to them and they didn't miss the fond smile that made its way onto Robin's face.

Those two must have been on quite the journeys...

"I'm wary about anyone learning of my identity. I prioritize my anonymity above all else and transforming into a dragon, isn't something a lot of people can do," Rosan said dryly.

They nodded in amusement.

"At the same time, I wanted a steady supply of money so I wanted to begin bounty hunting without risking anyone learning who I was…"

"That's where Reaper came in," he hummed. "I wanted an identity that I could separate from Rosan and I wanted to continue flying because I love flying. So I sought out to unlock a new transformation that would allow me to achieve my goals."

Their eyes widened in interest, even Maro's because she wasn't privy to all the little details like this.

"I didn't want a full transformation like Ragnarok because that would take far too long too unlock and it was just for a throwaway disguise anyways. But at the same time… I'm very vain so it couldn't just be any type of wings," he told them.

"You're a trip," Nami sighed at the redhead. He was way more vain then she expected him to be but then again, everything about him was rather stylish.

"I know," he shrugged. "I wanted to continue the fantasy theme so normal animals were a no. I was going to do Pegasus but I didn't like how the wings looked on me."

"Ah, so that's why he insulted Gan Fall's bird so ruthlessly," Usopp thought to himself, sweatdropping at the redhead.

"I couldn't really think of an alternative though but while I was researching, Angel messaged me and that's when I thought to just use these wings."

Angel blinked at that, before flushing beet red. "W-Wait a second! I'm the reason you chose Angel wings?! Why did you never tell me this?!" She gawked in disbelief.

Demon and Maro also had looks of surprise on their faces and Rosan blinked.

"Must have never occurred to me," he shrugged helplessly. "I was pretty secretive at that age so I guess I just never thought to mention it. Also... your name is Angel. Thought it was self explanatory."

He grunted as his little sister leapt on him with a happy squeal. "Look at me! When people ask about how Reaper came to be, I guess I can take all the credit," she preened.

"Aiko wouldn't appreciate that, considering she's the one who named me," Rosan replied calmly.

"We'll split it 50/50," she cheered, mostly because she liked Aiko. The woman was one of the only others who was willing to keep Maro in check and that was always a plus.

"Wait, named?" Nami asked curiously. Don't tell her…

"Ah, yes. I didn't name myself Reaper. My friend Aiko did," Rosan informed them, telling about the events of when he first landed on Fregate.

They listened with slack jaws as Rosan casually told them of how he helped free an island from a tyrant, while gaining a biweekly stipend from them in the process.

He didn't even have an alias yet. He just used a disguise that he had as a 4 year old and added the wings on top of it…

"You got that famous by accident?" Sanji balked, cigarette falling out of his mouth.

Rosan hummed. "Yes. I just wanted to hunt bounties and cash them in but one thing led to another and I became famous in all 4 seas…"

They spluttered at that.

"Y-You… You made the Angel of Death… as a throwaway?!" Usopp balked in sheer disbelief.

Rosan nodded. "Everyone put far too much value in a disguise I didn't really care about. Reaper was never meant to be anything more then an alias that allowed me to mess up once and the moment I did mess up once, I immediately retired."

"Why the scythe?" Zoro asked curiously. It was a strange weapon to use and he never saw Rosan use it even once.

"When I was a prisoner, I discovered that I was abnormally good with the scythe... but I also hated the scythe. So I used it on Reaper so that no other weapon would incite suspicion... unfortunately I kind of like using the scythe now but I can't use it much even though it's my best weapon."

Zoro nodded thoughtfully at that. He wanted to fight against that weapon. He always wanted to test his blades against those of the Angel.

"Wait... did you just say you were a prisoner?" Chopper spoke up quietly, horror welling up inside of him.

Rosan nodded. "A story for another time... but yes. I was captured and temporarily enslaved by a person who I've already killed," he revealed.

None missed the way Robin's gaze darkened.

"That... I'm sorry to hear that," Sanji frowned deeply, looking at his savior with sad eyes.

"It's fine... I got my revenge on them all. They will never hurt me again," he said quietly, glancing at the hand on his shoulder.

He smiled gently at Robin and pulled her a little closer.

Sabo chose that moment to speak up. "Speaking of which… what exactly did you do to make your starting bounty 500 million?"

Everyone froze at that reminder and looked at their scout in horror, realizing that he did have a bounty that high.

500 m-million?! Holy shit… He was worth so much beri.

Rosan hummed and frowned. "If you want Sabo, you can tell your boss. I don't mind if he learns about me being Reaper."

The revolutionary blinked at that. "You don't care if I tell Dragon? Really?"

That was nice to hear but why?

"Sure, feel free. He's proven that I can trust him. Just make sure you two keep it to yourselves. I trust Dragon and Sabo, not the revolutionaries."

The blonde nodded at that. That sounded fair enough to him.

"Right, now that we've got that sorted out…" Rosan began. "Nami, Zoro. Do you remember when I mentioned that we needed a new ship because mine was permanently damaged when I was 14?"

The two perked up and nodded at that. It was right before they landed on Usopp's island.

Wait a second… 14 would have been the age he retired Reaper!

"You realized. Yes, the event that damaged my ship and my retiring of Reaper are the same," he hummed, eyes glowing faintly in the dark of the night.

"Believe it or not, I believe my bounty was supposed to be higher then 500 million," he admitted.

"H-HIGHER?!" Usopp asked with bugged eyes. What the hell? What could he possibly have done to deserve something higher then 500 million...?!

"Rosan… what did you do?!" Nami hissed. Someone didn't just get 500 million as their first bounty and admit that it was supposed to be higher!

It meant that his crime was so serious, they hid it and still slapped an abnormally high bounty on his head.

"Enel won't be the first Kami I've battled and defeated," Rosan said cryptically.

What did he mean by that? Rosan fought another Kami before?

Everyone there who didn't know already, simply blinked in confusion.

All but one at least.

Sabo's eyes bugged at hearing that message. "Rosan… what did you just say?!"

They jumped at the urgency in his tone and glanced at the wide eyed Sabo in concern.

"We reacted the same way," Maro said in a sagely manner, nodding in sympathy.

Demon and Angel nodded along with exasperated expressions.

"We left him for a few days... and he immediately gets a bounty. Master is a complete trip," Angel sighed.

"Wherever he goes, chaos follows. I do feel like my life has gotten significantly easier since retiring to Celadon," Demon smiled.

"I killed a World Noble for attacking my ship and trying to have me enslaved," Rosan confirmed calmly.

Sabo felt himself freeze at the admittance, jaw slowly dropping at the casual tone his brother was taking.

After all, The Celestial Dragons were the main enemies of the Revolutionaries. To hear that his brother killed one was… it was shocking!

"You reacted worse then when you were a child," Rosan pointed out, smiling slightly.

"Y-You told me this already?! I already knew you were Reaper?!" The revolutionary spluttered.

Wow… he really did tell them everything. Sabo was touched that someone as jaded as Rosan, trusted him despite his amnesia.

"What's a Celestial Dragon?" Chopper asked curiously.

He never expected Sabo of all people to react like that!

Robin, who was content to just observe and chat with Maro, decided to explain to them.

"They are the ones who rule this world," she began. "The World Nobles are allowed to do anything they please and face no troubles for it. If you strike one, an Admiral will come after you as soon as possible and you don't want that to happen."

Nami, Usopp and Chopper went pale at that.

"O-Oh," they stammered, gazing at the psychotic redhead with a look that meant "Don't even think about doing that while we're near you!"

"He tried to have you enslaved?" Zoro frowned. "Can they really just do that? No one should be allowed to have that much power."

Sanji begrudgingly agreed with the swordsman. So Reaper ended up killing one of the most important people in the world…

He deserved it. What a shitty noble.

"That reminds me!" Nami said suddenly. "How did Sanji already know you were Reaper?!" She asked in confusion.

Sanji blinked at that, face not betraying anything but mind running a mile a minute.

What would Rosan say?! Would he reveal Sanji's heritage as a prince? Or mention his abusive family?!

That would be terrible—

"Sanji met Maro and I when I was 13," Rosan replied, much to the chefs dread. "He was going through something difficult and we helped him out. He made a promise to me so I figured I could reveal my identity to him when we were at the Baratie."

"Ah, so that's why he avoided you so much!" Nami slammed a fist against her palm, while Zoro snorted in amusement.

Sanji blinked before a flash of embarrassment made its way on his face. "I was THINKING! THINKING!" He corrected.

Maro cooed at that. "Awww, you were embarrassed? It's a good thing I wasn't there! I'd have made you wanna die," she gushed, pinching Sanji's cheeks and shaking his head back and forth.

"Please… stop," the chef said in the most defeated tone. He was thankful Rosan didn't reveal his past but getting embarrassed because of Maro was just not pleasant at all.

He was still thankful though and he made sure to glance over at Rosan to let him know…

Which was why he saw Robin smile knowingly at him and his eyes went blank in despair.

SHE KNEW! ROBIN KNEW ABOUT HIS PAST! THAT DAMN REDHEAD AND TRYING TO GET ONE OVER HIM AT ANY POINT!

It was then that Nami noticed something. "Hold on, you and Maro both met him? What was Maro doing with you?"

The Queen beamed at that and said, "Oh, I'm Grim!" She revealed casually.

…

"WHAT?!" Nami shrieked, gazing at the gorgeous queen with wide eyes.

"She's my student after all," Rosan hummed calmly. "Maro became Grim when I was around 12."

Maro smiled softly at that, eyes turning fond as she recalled everything. "Master saw the potential in me and offered to train me… he saved my life," she admitted quietly.

Their eyes went soft at the tone the hyperactive queen took.

"He saved your life?" Chopper asked curiously, gazing at Rosan with awe.

That statement from the queen, made them all curious.

How did Maro and Rosan meet? If what he was saying was any implication, the redhead gained an interest in her long after he lost his emotions.

Maro gazed over at Rosan with nothing but love in her gaze and her smile was uncharacteristically small.

Rosan caught her gaze and he returned a smile, reaching a hand over to pull her in a hug while absentmindedly stroking her hair before releasing her.

"Master and I's first meeting was when he showed up to my island when I was 11," Maro revealed, remembering the memory perfectly.

She once asked Rosan to show it to her just to remember and to compare the growth.

It was surreal. Maro didn't even recognize the little girl in the memories... She had been so small and weak!

"Reaper was ordering some apples before I showed up and stole them from him," she admitted.

They balked at that. "Y-You stole apples from Reaper at 11?! Why?!" Usopp whispered in disbelief.

Maro smiled sadly and said, "I felt like I had no choice because I hadn't eaten actual food in days."

"!" They gasped in shock.

She hadn't eaten in days...?

"Maro was a homeless orphan," Rosan revealed softly.

"W-What?!" They said in shock, gazing at the somber smile of the Queen.

She nodded in confirmation. "Everyone on my island hated me. I don't know why and I still really don't get it, but Master said my parents might have been pirates…"

The Dokkaebi glanced at her fair hand with a neutral expression. "It was really hard to live. It was a struggle just eating and if it kept up, I probably would have died. If Master didn't find me... I'm not sure what would have happened to me."

They couldn't believe what they were hearing. Maro was homeless? They hated her?! But she was such a sweetheart!

Angel's eyes were narrowed in guilt because of how much problems she caused Maro back then.

Kami, she had been such a bitch... Maro had already had it bad enough and she made no move to alleviate the stress.

The redhead placed a comforting hand on her shoulder and planted a kiss on her cheek as apology, frowning deeply at the memories.

Maro smiled and kissed her back, no hint of animosity on her features.

Just the fact that she genuinely didn't have an ounce of bitterness in her eyes, spoke volumes of the queen.

"It sucked honestly. Sometimes I ate garbage just to make the pangs go away and I was getting more and more desperate… I found out that stealing from people who didn't stay on the island for long, was my best bet and I never saw Master before... so I thought I could just steal from him and hide," she revealed softly.

The Queen snorted. "He found me instantly. It's honestly embarrassing. I barely got to finish an apple!" she laughed.

"She was a dirty little thing," Rosan remarked, easily recalling how she used to look. "Rags for clothes, absolutely filthy… she didn't even have a name to herself," he told them.

Their eyes bugged at that. "Wait, she didn't have a name?!" Nami said in horror, gazing at the queen with wide eyes.

Was her name not always Maro...?

She shook her head. "No… I didn't have one until Master named me Maro. He… instead of killing me he offered me the chance to join him."

They glanced at Rosan in shock.

"You named her…?" Sanji said in wonder, gazing at the two that had far more history then he expected.

Everyone else was just as surprised. They had no idea that Rosan of all people had named the Queen of Celadon...

Wow... these two's relationship went even deeper then they initially thought.

"He saw something in me that no one did. Everyone ridiculed and hated me but Master he… he built me up from zero and he turned me into the something he promised to make me," Maro said, gazing at Rosan with an unconditional type of love.

"I will do anything for him because he did everything for me," the Queen finished, making her way over and engulfing the redhead in a tender hug.

The small smile Rosan let out, was genuine and he returned the hug, crushing the Dokkaebi into his frame.

"I simply chose to invest in a person who survived off of sheer spite. Someone who's eyes shown with determination despite the terrible hand they were dealt," Rosan said truthfully.

Maro's eyes turned foggy at the tender tone he used and she buried her head in the crook of his neck as he began to speak.

"You are the one who accomplished everything. Even after I treated you so harshly... you still flourished under my teaching. You are the one who made me care for you. I don't deserve any credit besides giving you the tools needed to wrestle fate into your own hands..." he continued, stroking her hair.

"You have done a complete 180, my prodigious student. You're beautiful, married and above all, the Queen of the most prestigious island in the North Blue. You being Grim, is only secondary to everything else you've accomplished now. You have exceeded my expectations and I placed the highest faith in you already."

"Mgmm," Maro sniffed once, twice, before breaking out in a bawl.

"W-Why are you making me cry right now, M-Master? Y-You know I'm emotional a-and this isn't about me!" She sobbed, soaking his shirt with her tears.

"Because I like tormenting you," he admitted, rubbing her back soothingly. "It's no fun if a teacher can't mess with his student."

"Y-You're just a dick," she mumbled through a watery breath, sinking further into his chest as she got tired.

"Hm, many people say that. Perhaps I should start taking their words serious," Rosan mused.

Everyone watched the two former bounty hunters with soft eyes. To hear of their relationship… those two were even closer then they first thought.

So these were Grim and Reaper, two kids who had messed up childhoods…

To think that Rosan had turned Maro from nothing into this... to learn that he named her of all things.

"That's adorable," Nami sighed fondly, smiling at the two.

"Isn't it?" Angel grinned fondly, watching as Maro slowly but surely fell asleep. Her wife always got tired when she became emotional and these days, she immediately fell asleep afterwards.

"Those two have an adorable bond," Demon chuckled. "Maro was right. At one point, the only person who had faith in her, was Master and it never once wavered. He saw something we didn't and he acted accordingly and now look at her! She's our precious Queen who the people of Celadon would do anything for!"

He wanted the people of her old island to see her now. To see the night and day change from Maro. To know that she was more important then every single one of the people who scorned her.

She deserved some bragging rights.

"Grim and Reaper… two kids just terrorizing the sea and striking fear in all bounties hearts," Nami couldn't help the laugh at the thought that people were panicking at two kids who were barely teenagers.

"Up until they usurped a king and Master made Maro and us stay on Celadon," Angel added dryly. The redhead gently removed Maro from Rosan's person and settled her down next to her, rubbing her hair soothingly.

"It's why Grim doesn't have a bounty… she wasn't there when Master killed the World Noble," Demon laughed softly.

Usurping a king… Rosan really was a psycho. No lack of emotions would be able to change that fact.

The scout shrugged. "It was a good opportunity and the former king was a tyrant. Celadon's evolution is as impressive as Maro's and it's thanks to her."

The redhead stretched slightly and hummed. "Alright, I think that's all the questions we should have… is there anything else we should discuss?"

Everyone looked at each other in contemplation before shaking their head in a no motion.

Nami suddenly raised her hand and said, "Zoro and I made a discovery actually!"

The group glanced at the Navigator in curiosity at that and she puffed up with a large grin.

"This Upper Yard, is actually the other half of Jaya! We're on the City of Gold!" She exclaimed.

There was a brief moment of silence before a wave of excitement pulsed through the pirates.

"Gold?!" Luffy's (Rosan had barred him from speaking, considering they were all speaking through his link) eyes widened in glee at that. "Perfect, just the kind of adventure I've been waiting for!"

Nami's grin widened. "That simplifies things a lot! Let's get all that gold!"

Rosan nodded at that. "My pocket dimension will be getting a lot more stuff in the upcoming days. We'll take everything that we can."

Angel and Nami both grinned at that and high fived the redhead.

"You have our blessing!" They cheered.

The rest of the group looked at the unholy trinity of greed with matching sweatdrops.

"At this rate, I fear your hoarding problem will never get solved… Especially with Angel and more recently, Nami enabling you like this," Mod sighed forlornly.

"H-Hoarding?!" Nami gaped. "You can't hoard treasure, Mod-chan!"

Rosan nodded in agreement. "See? I told her the exact same thing. It's like she wants us to spend it all in one go. My mother has terrible money management skills."

"What a shock," Nami muttered. Mod looked like she could do it all...

He couldn't blame her. Mod didn't have to deal with the money most of the time. First it was Robin, then it was Rosan.

But still, she should have learned something from him… how lazy of her. He expected her to be better then this.

"L-LAZY?!" She bellowed, making them all shrink in fear at that tone. "Do you even hear yourselves?! You and Nami have a serious problem and only I see it! How dare you call me lazy when I'm concerned!"

Poor money management skills? Was he serious right now? Rosan was just trying to infuriate her and it was working!

Rosan, being the only one who didn't shrink in fear, shrugged. "I just call it how I see it—"

The redhead suddenly grunted and hunched over, as the most pounding headache he ever felt, slammed into his head with crushing force.

Robin steadied him with an amused expression on her face that very loudly screamed, "Why would you antagonize Mod-chan?"

"That's what me being lazy looks like, you ungrateful brat. This headache stems from the fact that you linked with so many people but thankfully for you, I can keep it at bay… if I so please!" She humphed, crossing her arms across her bust with a glare.

Rosan, curse his stubborn soul, refused to submit. "This is nothing. I'm accustomed to being bombarded with headaches, courtesy of someone I know quite intimately."

"I-Intimately?!" Sanji stammered to himself.

Robin sighed at the two. "Rosan. Mod-chan. Please stop being so childish."

There was a brief silence, before the two begrudgingly said, "Fine/Fine."

Rosan straightened himself back up at the feeling of the headache vanishing and sighed.

"I'll forget about the revenge I planned on dishing out," Rosan muttered, pulling the exasperated Robin into a side hug.

"You should stop being so stubborn one of these days," she advised the redhead, leaning into him with an amused smile.

Watching him and Maro, filled her with all types of warmness. Those two were so precious!

"If I stop being stubborn, Mod-chan will run over me," Rosan muttered.

"LISTEN TO YOURSELF! DO YOU JUST SAY THE FIRST THING THAT WILL IRRITATE A PERSON?!"

"If the truth manages to irritate you, then yes."

"Come into the mindscape, I have some words for you."

"No, I'd rather not have to deal with such an insufferable person."

"I-Insufferable?! Just you wait until I get my hands on you!"

"Father you should come in! I wanna see you!"

"Just come out then. I'm not entering the mindscape."

"...Coward."

"...What did you just call me? One second, I must teach my unwise mother a lesson."

"BRING IT ON, STUPID SON!"

"WOOHOOO! FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT!" Ram cheered.

The Straw Hats sweatdropped.

"Is this what goes on in Rosan's head all the time?" Nami asked in disbelief. She never expected Mod to scream so readily at someone… or engage in a fight with them but it seemed like there was not a single soul immune to Rosan's effects.

Robin nodded with a suffering sigh as the redhead abruptly fell asleep. She placed his head on her lap with a shake of her head. "We argue all the time unfortunately. It's always Rosan's fault too. He's incredibly insufferable."

Usopp nodded sympathetically. "You know, I believe you wholeheartedly."

Everyone else nodded in unison and Robin let out another sigh.

She should have gone with him to make sure they didn't do anything stupid.

After settling their differences and sufficiently beating each other up (they somehow both felt Robin's warning glare and agreed to stop... for now), Rosan woke back up to talk plans.

The Straw Hats just finished preparing for a late night dinner, in the process of discussing their course of action tomorrow morning.

They would split up into groups in search of the treasure while also guarding the ship.

"Angel and Demon, you can stay with me," Sabo stated. "I don't plan on fighting unless I have to so I'll keep you both safe," he told them, smiling at the twins.

They nodded with smiles. They had been spending quite a lot of time with Sabo and it was always pleasant.

"I wanna fight someone," a groggy Maro slurred. "Gimme one of the priests to fight."

"You can fight the one I fought," Sabo told her. "He's probably going to come attack me for what I did to him, so he's all yours."

She shot him a lazy thumbs up, head lolling until she rested it on an embarrassed Angel's chest and purred.

"Nice," Maro said shamelessly.

Angel held her head but made no effort to remove her wife. "You are a pervert."

"I just appreciate things worth appreciating," she muttered.

Angel's blush deepened.

Robin glanced at the campfire and said, "It's getting late, we should put out any unnecessary fires before the enemy finds us."

…

Luffy and Usopp looked at each other before the rubber boy smirked in exasperation.

"Do you hear that Usopp? She wants to put out the fire!" Luffy said it in a manner that suggested that Robin truly didn't know something that he did.

"Cut her some slack, Luffy. She's too used to the darkness," Usopp sighed forlornly.

"I figured Master would have at least taught her," Angel sighed in disappointment.

"...Huh?" Robin said in confusion, looking down at the Rosan whose head was resting on her lap.

The redhead shook his head in her lap. "It was an oversight on my part. I thought this was common sense but I guess not."

"...What are you all talking about?" The Devil Child muttered, genuinely baffled by what was happening right now.

Usopp and Luffy both collapsed in front of the two and beat their fist against the ground, laughing at the hopeless woman.

"You're always supposed to have a campfire!" Luffy cackled like it were incredibly obvious.

"The desire to have a campfire when camping at night, even if you're on your last legs, is what makes you human!" Usopp roared his laughter.

"Watching that wood burn is so motivating!" Angel gushed.

"It's not camping without a campfire," Rosan nodded in agreement.

Robin sweatdropped deeply at the three.

...Seriously? Even Rosan and Angel?

"You guys are definitely the stupid ones," Nami grumbled in annoyance. Were they serious?! Why would they have a campfire in such a dangerous area?!

"Luffy! This good enough?" Zoro asked, referring to the massive amount of branches piled on top of each other. He and Sanji went out earlier to go collect it and came back with quite the impressive amount.

"YOU GUYS ARE IN ON THIS TOO?!" Nami roared in disbelief.

"It's hopeless trying to convince them otherwise," Mod sighed. Her little idiots went out camping all the time on random islands for the hell of it and they never once cut out the fire.

They mostly did it to get Maro used to the sensation of camping because she really didn't like it very much at all, claiming it reminded her of being homeless, so they tried to help her out.

It didn't completely work, but at the very least she could sleep in a tent without complaining.

Demon nodded. "This isn't something normal people are meant to understand," he said calmly.

"Finally, people who get me," Sabo sighed happily, shooting a thumbs up at the giant stack of wood and making Nami collapse further.

Why were they all so abnormal? Where did she go wrong choosing such a crew?

"Light this up for us, Rosan!" Luffy requested.

The redhead, whose head was still lying on Robin's lap, only held out a finger and shot a small beam of fire at the pile of wood, lighting it up instantaneously with the heat of his draconic flames.

At that moment, Maro shot up, all signs of grogginess gone and screamed, "PARTY!"

"YOU WERE JUST SLEEPING A MINUTE AGO!" Nami roared at the Queen.

SERIOUSLY! WHAT WAS WRONG WITH THEM?!

Maro and Luffy began dancing excitedly and that was the cue for the party to begin in earnest.

"PARTYYYY!" Ram cheered, transforming into her human form and leaping into the fun. "MARO!"

"RAM!" Maro cheered crashing into her best friend and spinning with her. "Looking as crazy as ever!"

Ram readily returned the hug and grinned wolfishly. "No comment on how hot I am?! Are you maturing or in trouble?"

"Trouble!" Angel replied without hesitation, leaping into the group hug and nuzzling them both, letting out a laugh of joy as Maro easily began spinning them both.

Robin's sweatdrop vanished and a small smile formed, as she watched the festivities taking place.

Even the arrival of a pack of wolves did nothing to dampen their demeanor and the animals joined the fun, dancing with the group and sharing their own provisions.

Rosan finally removed his head off her lap and instead opted to sit next to her, gazing at them all with a small smile on his features.

Robin couldn't prevent the swell of fondness for all of them from forming and found herself reassessing the Straw Hats once more.

She was already growing to love them and they just kept reaffirming her decisions.

"It's infectious, don't you two think?" Mod asked kindly, watching as Maro began dancing with the lead wolf there.

She wanted nothing more then the both of them to have unconditional trust in this crew because this crew was amazing and they deserved it.

Robin was already growing to love them all... but Rosan was still keeping his heart closed. Sure, he was revealing more and more information... but he was just too wounded to open up fully and she didn't want that to be the case any longer.

It said something, that Robin was closer to fully assimilating with the crew, then Rosan was... when he was the second member of the ship.

"Yes… I've never met a crew like them," Robin admitted, gazing at them all with a bit of wonder.

"Luffy did a good job finding them," Rosan muttered.

Robin smiled and said, "Of course he did. He managed to recruit you first after all so he must have good taste."

Mod's smile went wide as Rosan turned a somewhat startled gaze towards Robin.

"You aren't upset with me anymore?" He asked softly, taking a sip of the drink the polite wolf brought them. He rubbed its ear and the wolf took a seat next to the duo.

Robin took a sip of her own drink, smiling at the rather calm wolf that was resting next to them.

"You know I don't stay mad for long… we already spoke and I didn't reprimand you because I'm mad… I did it because I worry for you," she said softly, raking a hand through his lustrous red spikes and marveling at how soft they were.

The Devil Child stared at her best friend. The one who was actually here. Sometimes, she marvelled at the fact that he was actually alive and well.

"I'm scared," she confessed. "Scared that I'll have to go through the torture of not seeing you again for years. You are my everything, Rosan. You made me feel alive and I lost you."

Robin fixed weary eyes on him that rooted him to his spot and reminded him that he caused this.

"There were times where I really did consider just ending it all, just so I could see you again in the afterlife… even once," she confessed.

Rosan went cold at that statement, eyes going wide in shock.

"Oh Robin," Mod said, despair seeping into her tone at the reveal. The woman held a hand over her mouth as tears began forming.

"I strove to survive because I know that's what you wanted and… even after so long, I remember your words of us meeting each other again and you were right!"

Robin knew this would only make Rosan think of himself negatively but airing everything out was better then keeping it in and he could come to terms with it faster.

"Now that we're reunited… I can't lose you again Rosan. I don't want to see a timeline where you actually die because… because I don't think I can—"

The woman was cut off, as Rosan grabbed her and pulled her into an embrace. She didn't realize she was shaking until his warmth made her stop and she let out a shuddering breath.

"I hate myself," Rosan confessed and it was Robin's turn to widen her eyes.

The woman looked up at his expression but couldn't muster up anything to say due to the sheer self loathing he had in his gaze.

He… she knew he had plenty of self loathing but Rosan hated himself?

Mod's gaze went wide because she didn't know this either.

Was… was this one of the things Rosan hid from her?

W-Why...? Did… Did he really not trust her anymore?

"I can't do anything right. I'm supposedly a genius but I've never once felt like one," the redhead admitted.

"How could a genius make so many stupid decisions after all? The chain holding my guilt is gone, but it doesn't change what I've done. I abandoned Ace, I got Meiko killed… I let you think I was dead for 16 years…"

Rosan gazed at her with a sullen gaze. "Like it or not, you've ended up like this because of me. You didn't deserve that. I shouldn't have lashed out at you. I shouldn't have taken so long to look for you. I failed you, Robin. This whole time, I'm the one who broke my promise and that's unforgivable."

It was at that moment that Mod realized, Rosan was never going to coexist with the Virus even if she spoke to them. He would wait for the opportunity to destroy them and take it with malicious glee the moment it slipped up.

...The woman clenched her fist nervously. Could she… could she really stop Rosan if that was what he wanted to do? What if… What if he turned on her? What if he saw it as her betraying him…?

After all, Rosan loved Robin more then anything and the virus managed to turn that into hate… was it her right to stop him from dishing out justice?

After all, Rosan probably hated the virus as much as he hated himself…

"Because of me… there's a chance you could have killed yourself Robin. I wasn't just your everything… you were my everything and I disregarded that for some stupid virus whose motives I don't even know," Rosan snarled unexpectedly.

Mod couldn't help but jump at the noise that confirmed her thoughts.

Robin looked at the brief rage on Rosan's face and was left speechless. Was this what he seriously thought this whole time…? Was this the effect she had on him?

He should know she didn't blame him for what happened. How could she ever blame him after witnessing the atrocities done to him? Even then, he realized that he had wronged her and the only reason he didn't look for her sooner, was because he was sure that she had travelled to the Grand Line.

If Rosan had gone to the Grand Line, with Meiko, Angel and Demon... they would have had a difficult time just surviving.

Rosan knew all of this... so why did he allow it to affect him to this level?

The rage vanished from his face as quick as it came and Rosan stared her directly in her eyes.

"I hate myself because no matter what I do, the people who should hate me, love me and I don't feel like I deserve that," he finished, closing his eyes.

That… it felt good laying his mind bare for Robin and Mod-chan. What he really thought. No one knew but him. He never confided in this with anyone except giving Ace a few details when they were younger.

Robin gazed at her best friend with sorrow as the realization hit her like a freight train. It was so simple.

Rosan was depressed. It was no wonder that he was so stubborn in how he viewed himself. It was no wonder he kept seemingly regressing in mindset no matter what anyone else said.

It was no wonder he had no reason to live for the longest and hadn't found one yet.

She couldn't believe it took her so long to find out because it really was so obvious in hindsight.

The very first word Robin would use to describe Rosan, was emotional. The boy was practically saturated in his own emotions and it even showed in the way his eyes tied into them.

It was how he had grown to love and care for her so much after all.

Rosan was someone that loved with his whole heart… and love and hate were two sides of the same coin.

The more you loved, the more capacity you had to hate and for someone like Rosan, whose love seemed boundless at times, it was only natural that his hate would be just as strong.

To someone like Rosan, who never wanted to let his loved ones down, his failures would obviously impact him far more then his success would and his emotional disposition made it far worse!

It was a double edged sword… one that he couldn't deal with on his own because he grew up relying on so many people…

Well, after Mod, Robin was the one he relied on the most so she'd do her duty and help him however she knew.

"Rosan, do you want me to hate you?" Robin asked calmly. "I don't think you want that but just to be sure, do you?"

The redhead shook his head immediately. "No, I don't… It's complicated," he said wearily, looking confused.

"Do you want me to disappear from your life?" She asked instead.

"Absolutely not... I would never want that," he replied firmly, a hint of that infamous possessiveness seeping into his tone.

"So you just want me to reaffirm all the bad things about you, but you don't want me to do anything about it? What exactly will that solve, Rosan?" Robin prodded.

"…" The redhead said nothing. He knew how foolish he sounded right now and that was why he had no response.

"What do you want me to do?" She asked him gently.

"I... I don't know," he said with a hint of frustration in his tone. "I want to work hard to earn your forgiveness but I can't because you aren't even mad at me. I just... don't understand why you aren't mad at me."

"But why do you want me to be so angry with you, Rosan?" She pressed. "Should I be angry with you... because you were being tortured on both ends when you were only 9 years old? Would you be angry at me if I told you the exact same thing happened to me?"

Rosan was about to immediately say of course he wouldn't... but shut his mouth as the realization hit him.

Robin smiled at that. "Do you see? How pathetic would I be, if I blamed a child for being upset with me... because he got tortured physically and mentally for 6 entire months?"

"..." the redhead said nothing, realizing that she was completely right.

"Got him," she thought victoriously. Not even he could argue against this.

"I don't care what you feel like you deserve, Rosan. You're a self critical idiot who's so emotional, you can't possibly be trusted to make sound judgment alone…"

Robin took a deep breath. "Everything about you just screams... Rosan, I think you have depression," she revealed calmly, gauging his reaction.

Like he always did, Rosan almost immediately regarded what a person said about him in disbelief but what made Robin admire him so much was what he did afterwards.

He stopped disregarding it as soon as he started and began to seriously apply what he knew to himself, coming to a decision quickly.

"I'm… depressed," he muttered at the revelation.

"You're... depressed," Mod repeated, not believing she didn't catch this herself. Her eyes were wide as she digested that information.

The redhead deeply pondered that and nodded. "It makes plenty of sense… I've always been very emotional and with all that's happened to me… it would be easy for them to become dangerously negative… I even lost the will to live... That would explain why I just can't take stock of anyone's words," he mused.

He was depressed. What an amusing thought… Why did that revelation lift so much weight off his shoulders?

Robin nodded with a small smile on her face. This was what she meant. Rosan was such a good user of Modification because he was adaptable to the core and always open to anything.

No one held the redhead more accountable then himself, even if it was to a fault, and he would seek to make changes as soon as possible. That was far harder then he seemed to realize and not many people could claim to be able to do that.

"You understand now, Rosan? Please don't make decisions on your own," Robin requested gently. "As long as I'm with you, trust my judgment and my judgment says that you absolutely deserve to be loved, okay?"

"You're the only one here who hates Rosan. Everyone else loves you and you know it. You're outnumbered for good reason," she finished gazing at the redhead with a firm gaze.

"…" Rosan found himself gazing at Robin again with an unreadable gaze, thoughts hidden to everyone but himself once more.

Then, a burst of warmth flooded his body and he nodded, hugging Robin tightly.

She melted in his grasp and readily returned the hug.

"I know I have no right to ask this… but please, never leave me?" He asked quietly.

Robin couldn't help the shudder, at the vulnerability in his voice and tightened the hug, breathing in the scent of roses.

"I'd never leave you, Rosan… So please never leave me," she requested right back, just as vulnerable.

Rosan squeezed her reassuringly. "I won't. Not again. I'll never let you go. If anything gets in the way of that, I'll tear it to shreds," he promised.

"…" Mod smiled gently at the two. They were precious to her. She would do everything this time around to make sure nothing got in the way of them.

The Devil Fruit stared up at the castle that seemed to leak more and more with a steely gaze, clenching her delicate fist at the beautiful building that looked more akin to pure crystal.

"We can talk about this… you don't have to make things more difficult then they already are. I… I won't be able to protect you if you decide to do anything stupid against Rosan," she said to the castle.

It did not reply.

Mod took a deep breath. "Rosan… he will destroy you! It doesn't matter what tricks you have up your sleeve, he will find a way and he will succeed and if it comes down to it, I can't stop him. Please, once you two inevitably meet, don't antagonize him more then you've already done. I know you understand the stakes… Pestilence. Just please stay quiet and let me speak to him."

It did not matter what tricks they had... now that Rosan was aware of it... the virus wouldn't be able to stop him. When he set his mind to something, Rosan was unstoppable and if he set his mind on destroying the virus... he'd even go through Mod to do so.

She didn't want that to happen... she'd break if Rosan ever turned his blade on her so she just prayed that Pestilence understood the stakes.

The castle did nothing but gleam in the frozen weather and Mod turned away from it, heading back to their home before Rosan had a chance to catch wind of what she was doing.

It shuddered.

Robin and Rosan continued to embrace for who knows how long until they were broken up rather rudely.

"STOP BEING SO FUCKING LOVEY DOVEY OVER THERE AND COME JOIN US, YOU INTROVERTS!" Angel screeched at the duo, making them jolt.

"OR KEEP BEING LOVEY DOVEY! I DON'T MIND EVEN THOUGH I'M YOUR DAUGHTER!" Ram cheered, glaring at Angel and making the woman put her hands up in a placating gesture.

"I DON'T MIND EITHER! ACTUALLY, HOW ABOUT YOU GUYS JUST TAKE IT ONE STEP FURTHER AND— mfgh!" Whatever Maro was about to say, was interrupted by Angel and Ram both slamming their hands over the Queen's mouth and tackling her to the floor.

"I HATE YOU!" Sanji roared to the redhead.

"Idiots," Mod sighed. All of them were idiots. And hopeless. And idiots.

Robin removed herself from Rosan's hold and stood up with a smile on her face, holding out her hand for the redhead to grab.

"I hope your dancing really did get as good as you claimed it to be over the years. Though, I did enjoy laughing at you all the time," She prodded.

Rosan snorted and grabbed the offered appendage, pull himself up with enough force to tumble the woman into him with a surprised yelp that settled into a glare.

"I learned how to dance just so you don't laugh at me anymore," Rosan said truthfully, smirking at the woman steadying herself on his frame.

While Rosan was good at singing, Robin's dancing abilities eclipsed his own as kids (partly due to the fact that he couldn't dance…) and she lorded that over him with a smugness that she only radiated around him.

His massive ego never took as much hits as then… so he made sure to learn how to dance so that she wouldn't make fun of him anymore.

"Not a lot of people would admit that so freely," she said dryly, walking hand in hand with the redhead to join the festivities.

"You should know by now that I'm not a lot of people," Rosan replied just as dry, feeling like a strange weight was lifted off his shoulder.

He would accept Robin's offer to rely on her because she deserved to be listened to and… she was right. If Rosan really was depressed, which looked very likely, then it was best to not trust his own judgment.

He would trust her. He would place all of his faith into her and listen to what she thought. If she truly did think he deserved to be loved… then he would stop thinking otherwise.

Besides… it felt nice to acknowledge her words that he was loved.

Loved... the redhead took a long look at her with inscrutable eyes.

Robin glanced at the Rosan who idly squeezed her hand a bit tighter and smiled at the pondering look in his eyes.

He caught her gaze and formed a small, true, smile at her that made her heart soar.

"MASTER DANCE WITH ME AFTER YOU'RE DONE WITH ROBIN!" Angel demanded.

"OH THEN ROBIN CAN DANCE WITH ME! I SWEAR I'M GOOD!" Maro cheered.

Rosan sighed and that made Robin let out small laughter. "I haven't even been up for a full minute and they are this demanding," he groused.

"Well, you have me to split up half the work now," she supplied helpfully. "Does that make you feel better?"

Rosan stared at her for a moment before eventually nodding.

"Yes... Yes it does make me feel a lot better."

"You're telling me… Kamakiri got injured because you were trying to collect Vearth for that little girl?!" Wyper hissed.

To say that he was livid at hearing that Kamakiri took an attack from Ohm because of such a stupid reason, was an understatement.

Without any hesitation, he yanked the arm holding the bag of Vearth and sneered at the shame faced Raki.

"Do you realize what we're up against?!" Wyper snarled violently. "Not only are we up against Enel. We have his Priests to deal with too!"

Yanking the bag out of her hand, the Shandian glared harshly at her. "If I knew you were here to play games, I wouldn't have brought you. This is a matter of life and death."

Raki flinched but reached out for the bag with a look of panic. "I understand I messed up, Wyper but that bag is Aisa's treasure! Forgive me but please don't throw it away!"

Wyper was about to do just that until a hand stopped him.

A wounded Kamakiri, panted as he held the mans wrist. "I can still fight. This is nothing to get so worked up about, Wyper. What has you so on edge?"

He glared at the injured man, clenching his fists so hard he nearly drew blood.

"You talk big for someone so weak. If you value your lives, you'll get out of my sight. Send Enel my regards before he kills you."

"I encountered the Deviant and his allies," he snarled. "Enel and the priests are not our only enemy. The one with Black wings is a threat too."

Raki went still at that. "You encountered the one with black wings?" She asked tentatively, remembering Aisa's words clearly. "He didn't attack you?"

"He nearly blew off my entire midsection but besides that, neither of us were keen on escalating it any further," Wyper grunted, annoyance mounting. "The outsiders don't take us seriously and that's a decision they will come to regret."

The woman looked a bit unsure of that decision but nodded at his resolve.

Wyper glared darkly into the distance, thoughts filled with both Enel and the Deviant.

"You have too much belief in what little strength you have, good luck surviving the day. With how outmatched you are, you're gonna need it."

He survived the day and he would survive the next. This war would end in the Shandians victory and they would be the slayer of not one, but two Kamis.

"I'm surprised you actually showed your face, despite the humiliation you suffered," Ohm grunted with a smirk.

Shura glowered at him, eyes promising death if he continued to run his mouth.

Ohm effortlessly ignored it.

"You… mmmmmmm!" Gedatsu said sternly, glancing at Shura with a firm glare.

"No one understands what you're saying, idiot," the string priest snarled.

The swamp priest dropped his jaw in shock as he realized his error. "How careless of me…" he muttered in disbelief.

"Hmph, my fellow priests are utterly worthless," Ohm grunted, turning away from the two. "One dead, the other defeated instantly, and the final a complete idiot."

Shura and Gedatsu both went stiff at that and rounded on the iron priest.

"What was that?" Shura asked with thinly veiled contempt.

"I'm not going to repeat myself to a person who lost in the open zone. I suppose you're only useful in your trial area," Ohm said, facing the gate.

That seemed to do the trick and Shura immediately charged the bald priest, initiating a brawl between all three.

"...The vassals are here."

Yama sighed in annoyance and said, "Open the gate."

The commander of the warriors was about to open his mouth, but went still at the sudden presence next to him.

The priests froze. At once, they slowly turned towards the large commander.

"Aren't you guys too weak to be treating this whole thing so laxly?" Enel asked lazily, biting into an apple as he regarded them.

In a flash, all three agents were floored with equally pained grunts and their aggressor lay on his seat in a relaxed stance.

The Kami of Skypiea bit into his apple languidly, as he regarded them. The silence was filled in with the noise of him chewing before he finally swallowed.

The three bowed their heads in shame.

"You 3 aren't taking our Blue Sea threats very serious and you don't have the luxury of doing that," Enel said bluntly, polishing off his apple and letting out a lazy yawn.

The three nodded stiffly, not saying a word, and Enel smiled in amusement.

"Yahahahaha! Since you're clearly not convinced, allow me to enlighten you," the Kami of Skypiea said, smirking at the group.

"Besides the fact that Shura was defeated in a single blow by one of the Blue Sea dwellers, Satori was defeated and killed by them while they were all doing some form of training with blindfolds on," he revealed calmly.

There was a pregnant pause.

"W-What?!" They repeated in disbelief. Surely that wasn't possible!

Satori wasn't impressive, but he was still close to them in strength! He wouldn't simply lose so handily!

Enel reached out to grab another fruit. "I'm opening up all of Upper Yard to you starting tomorrow. The Shandians are of no concern to me so deal with them quickly and focus your efforts on the Blue Sea dwellers."

"And that reminds me, the Blue Sea dwellers are multiplying. There are at least 3 other people with them but I can only feel one of them. Two of them are completely undetectable to me," he revealed, looking utterly unfazed by that revelation.

The Priests eyes bugged. "How did they manage to bring more people with them? How can you not feel them?!" Ohm asked in surprise.

"My fellow Kami. He vanished from Skypiea before suddenly coming back," Enel stated with a hint of curiosity.

The Priests felt their eyes widen at the information they were receiving.

It seems they really were treating the Blue Sea dwellers too lightly.

Enel paused as if suddenly remembering something and the Kami yawned.

"Oh, leave my fellow Kami to me. A mere Priest cannot defeat them and he's already shown me that. I'll deal with them when the time is right but for now, avoid him or you'll suffer the same fate as Satori," he advised with a small shrug.

The Priests were shocked to be hearing this coming out of Enel's mouth.

"What is the meaning of this, Enel-sama?" Shura asked curiously. "Why all these rules?"

The Kami shrugged. "When our plan is this close to being completed, I will have no setbacks. Maxim is almost complete and once that happens, we have no use for this place."

He bit into another apple and chewed slowly, gauging their reactions with a lazy gaze.

"I will not tolerate anymore failures from you. Tomorrow, you will deal with the Blue Sea dwellers, or suffer the consequences. Understood?"

The three saluted. "Right, Kami Enel-sama!"

Enel smiled at that and dismissed them.

Those 3 would probably be dealt with once more by the Blue Sea dwellers. They had quite a bit of members that could defeat them but that didn't matter.

They couldn't defeat him after all.

"Yahahahaha! Things are getting interesting," Enel mused, beckoning one of his female angels over to begin feeding him grapes.

For once, Rosan wasn't being completely crowded by his insufferable family as they all slept. They were all at separate parts of their camp spot (Ram was sleeping with Mod-chan), too tired to bombard him with their beloved group sleep.

Tonight it was just Robin like how it normally was. The woman was tucked into his left side, breathing evenly in his neck with one arm resting on his chest in the comfy tent.

Robin had been surprised to see that his claims of being able to dance, weren't just baseless like when he was a kid and the woman had taken a great joy in running him through more and more difficult routines.

He had kept up with her through the whole thing, but she was still a better dancer than he was so he was content to let her lead it. Clearly she enjoyed being the lead dancer way too much and it made him consider letting her be a lead performer in their battles sometime in the future.

They got so lost in their little competition, that by the time Angel and Maro threw their tantrums (they were far too spoiled and he properly disciplined them both), the Devil Child was showing signs of tiredness.

It was thanks to his "hellish" training that she was only slightly tired but they had been dancing for quite a while.

Coupled with the fact that she soon began to dance with another stamina freak and a person who didn't actually get tired, it was safe to say she'd be getting a good sleep.

Guess he could go repair the ship while he was still up. He'd be done quick and then get some rest for the next day because he was admittedly tired from Maro and Angel's antics too, along with linking with so many people.

He tried to carefully disentangle himself from her so as to not alert her but he forgot he wasn't dealing with his dead at night family.

Robin let out a tiny noise and blearily opened an eye the moment his incredible warmth disappeared.

"Mmm… Rosan? What's wrong?" She asked, resisting the urge to yawn as she gazed at the redhead sitting up next to her.

He immediately ran a hand through her hair. "I didn't mean to wake you, sorry. I just wanted to go fix the ship before morning came. You can go back to sleep, I'll be back fast."

The woman looked like she was protesting that decision, if the way she was pushing herself up meant anything but Rosan immediately prevented her from doing that, by laying her back down gently but firmly.

"Sleep, you're tired," Rosan muttered, continuing to gently rub her scalp.

Robin sighed at the pleasant feeling and nodded slowly. "Okay… come back quick, you need to sleep too and you're a comfortable pillow," she murmured, closing her eyes and letting the tiredness take over once more.

He nearly rolled his eyes but simply stood up silently, making his way over to the ship.

It was just him right now. Mod and Ram were asleep, leaving the redhead truly alone for once.

Occasionally he would do this if he wanted to practice a technique alone. There had been one technique he had been theorizing a lot on (he never actually put it into practice) and he was hoping to try it out on Enel soon.

If it worked... he'd be quite pleased.

Right now, he was doing nothing so secretive. He just didn't want to wake anyone up for such a simple task.

Rosan floated over to the ship, with plans on how to swiftly repair it. He could make it workable with Modification but he couldn't fully fix the ship. The more damage it accumulated, the less effective his repair technique would be and the ship was made out of wood too.

If he was right, his repairs on the ship would be barely effective right now.

Luckily most of the problems with the ship were artificial. Something that would end the ships career permanently, could not be fixed by him.

They would need to get a new one soon. This ship was never meant to sail the Grand Line and it was showing. Even Rosan could tell that it was on its last legs and he wasn't a professional shipwright by any means.

It accumulated far too much damage… At best, he could make it sail worthy and prolong its end for a bit longer.

Rosan ignored the fog seeping into the area and continued to float over to the ship.

It was then that he noticed it.

The redhead went still as he gauged the sight before him. Then, he narrowed his eyes and adjusted his vision so that it could pierce through the fog, flames licking his lips as he prepared for combat.

It was a shadowy figure and they were… hammering away at the ship?

Why couldn't he make them out? Rosan could see in total darkness but they were somehow not fully visible through fog?

Strange.

Perhaps Enel had sent one of his minions to destroy their ship, considering the Kami probably couldn't feel Merry with none of them on it.

Not wasting anytime, the redhead flew over to their ship, ready to put down the intruder and gauge the damage they were inflicting.

"Oh, you're here! And you're alone too!"

Rosan froze.

Who said that? They sounded childish like his ring but Ram didn't sound that childish and her voice wasn't that high pitched either.

But… that voice was in his mind. No one spoke aloud but he heard that familiar ringing in his head that meant someone was speaking to him telepathically…

Was that some Devil Fruit...

The figure was looking directly at him now. Perhaps they always sensed his arrival…

A haki user? Was this one of the priests?

"Don't be silly, Rosan! Of course I could feel someone who's apart of the crew!"

None of his crew members could read minds and he was the one with the ability to speak telepathically to people, via linking.

He was only linked to Robin currently and he was very sure she was sleeping.

"Who are you?" Rosan asked quietly, not once letting his guard down.

"Always so untrustworthy... I can't say I'm surprised."

Now that he was closer, he could see that this was a child and they were dressed in a sailor's raincoat. Despite peering closer, Rosan couldn't make any features at all except for a wide smile that showed no teeth.

They didn't look human. Rosan was fairly sure this was a dream because he was looking at a ghost right now.

"You don't believe that… do you now Rosan?"

"I asked you a question," Rosan bit out calmly. It was a bit too realistic to be a dream but then again so had his encounter with Meiko.

Unless neither were dreams…

The redhead glanced at the ship and noticed that instead of destroying, it was in the middle of actually being repaired by this weird ghost thing.

Interesting…

Rosan moved to place his palm on a damaged part of the ship and began the process of repairing it, never taking his eyes off the thing for a second.

"I'm Merry."

He paused, raising a brow and turning towards the child.

Merry? As in the Going Merry…? As in their ship? She was alive? Ships were alive?

The ghost nodded happily. "Yes! I'm the Going Merry… I'm so glad to meet one of you finally! I wasn't expecting any of you to show up but you do like working at night."

...

Rosan furrowed his brows as he idly continued to repair the ship. "I have no reason to doubt your claims but why reveal yourself to me first? I'm probably the worst option."

"That's not true! You're one of the best," Merry protested, large grin vanishing. "You and Usopp take care of me the most! He's the only other one I would wanna meet first."

"Hm," he said in disinterest, making sure the mast was straight and gluing it back to its spot with Modification.

The ship's spirit sighed. "You really are too self critical… Fine, I wanted to tell you something since that's what you want to hear."

Even the ship was chastising his critical tendencies… he had some serious issues.

"You do but that's why everyone's trying to help you," she nodded victoriously.

This was very likely the Merry… she knew a lot.

Whatever.

"Tell me what you wanted to say, I'm just about done fixing the ship and if I take too long, Robin will seek me out," Rosan muttered quietly.

The spirit got serious. "Rosan, I'm on my last legs."

Rosan tilted his head.

"You've done an amazing job with Modification but… I won't last much longer. Very soon, I won't be able to set sail anymore and I don't want to take you all with me."

It was just as he predicted. "In that case, we should find a new ship before that happens. I imagine if you sink, your spirit will die too."

"And you said you were a bad choice too… I'd like to sail with you guys for as long as possible but if that's what you want to do, I won't say no!" The spirit beamed before going sober.

"But that's not what I want to ask… I…" She took a deep breath.

"When the time is right, I want you to tell them that I can't sail anymore."

There was a pause as Rosan registered her words and he tilted his head.

"Why me and why when the time is right?" He asked quietly. He didn't see the point of this at all.

The spirit smiled sadly. "You're the only one who won't care enough to try and mince their words. You'll make them understand that I can't sail."

Rosan stared evenly at her. "Fine. I'll bring it up at my own discretion and I'll keep this conversation a secret," he said quietly.

"Thank you. You understand me well," Merry said truthfully, gazing back at the repaired ship.

"Look the ship is repaired! Thank you, you did a much better job then I would have done!"

"It was nothing… you're our ship after all," Rosan waved off. "I'm heading to sleep now."

Merry nodded vigorously before waving at him and vanishing.

Rosan looked at the spot where the spirit of the Going Merry was and hummed.

Ships being alive…

"Rosan, come back to sleep," Robin grumbled.

The redhead shook his head at the spot and turned away from the ship.

"Right, I'm on the way. Why do you keep waking up? Did you miss me that much?"

"Portgas D. Rosan. I am tired. I refuse to argue with you right now."

Rosan rolled his eyes at how annoyed she was. "Right, I'll come be the little girls teddy bear since she can't sleep alone."

"I'm far too tired to continue this. Come back now and let me sleep in peace."

With that, she cut their connections and the redhead actually snorted.

She was utterly ridiculous.

Memory Viewing With Robin and Rosan - 6 (Covers Chapter 19)

Continued!

Italics = Memory talking mostly.

Robin let out a sigh of exasperation at those sharp eyes staring into her soul and calmly ate her portion of the food before finally rolling her eyes.

"Rosan, my injuries from Crocodile aren't even prevalent anymore. Do you really plan on watching me the entire time?" She asked incredulously, gazing at the redhead with an amused gaze.

"Yes," he said without hesitation. "I need to make sure you're completely fine. Is my food easy to consume? Any lingering pains? Have you been getting enough rest?"

"I'm fine, mother," Robin stressed in amusement, finishing her plate off and standing up. "Come on, let's clean up and then we can continue your memories."

They had postponed it in light of wanting to be prepared for Alabasta and then Robin got injured and Rosan went full mother mode and she was sick of it being delayed.

The moment she stood, Rosan materialized by her side and Robin felt her jaw slacken a bit in disbelief.

"So fast..." she thought.

"I'll clean everything, you don't have to stress your body out," he murmured, taking the plate out of her hand and dropping it in the sink. He moved swiftly and surely and washed every single dish before she could even protest his decision.

"You're being a bit too overprotective don't you think?" Mod asked. The woman sounded terribly amused and resisted the urge to laugh at the look on Robin's face.

"I agree with Mod-chan. This is insanity, Rosan! You've even been going easy on me in training! Surely you don't plan on coddling me the entire time?" She asked incredulously, staring at his back in shock.

He had become incredibly overprotective of her since they met up again but this was absurd!

"..." Rosan hummed pleasantly and glanced back at her. "Perhaps I've been a bit out of line..."

"A bit? Rosan you aren't even letting me wash my own dish!" Robin exclaimed. "I really don't mind the overprotective streak, but do you think I'm going to die from washing dishes?!"

"I think it's cute!" Ram beamed.

"Be quiet, Ram," the Devil Child said calmly.

"Yes, Mother!" she saluted.

Rosan sighed. "You're right. My bad... I just worry," he admitted, drying his hands off as he fully turned to face her. "I thought I had Crocodile figured out, but he still caught me by surprise twice and one of them ended up with you getting hurt."

"And I told you, neither of those instances were your fault," Robin chastised. "Crocodile showing up early was his own fault and me getting injured was my fault," she said firmly.

Rosan had played his part to near perfection but two simple mistakes, that weren't even his fault, negated all of that. Seriously, he was unreal! The redhead had them dancing in his palms up until then but none of that mattered to him all because she got hurt.

"All the planning in the world won't matter to me, if you get hurt," he said seriously.

"And I appreciate that, but I can't not get hurt Rosan. It'll happen as long as we're on this journey and you need to come to terms with that," she frowned.

He said nothing for a while, before nodding reluctantly. "I'll try," he said shortly.

Robin sighed. She knew it wasn't going to be that easy but small steps.

"Can we please continue your memories now? I feel perfectly fine and we stopped right after your battle with Garp," she requested.

She got quite antsy about it and Rosan had told her quite a bit of what happened even before she saw the memories.

Rosan nodded. "First we bathe. Then we can continue," he said quietly.

Robin sighed and resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "Actually, I am a bit sore so could you help me clean up?

He no doubt noticed the lie but he made no comment on it and instead nodded his head.

"Right, I can help you," he said, sounding pleased to be doing so.

The Devil Child did roll her eyes this time but she smiled.

She was so unbelievably whipped.

The memory began with Rosan waking up in a room all alone.

"So just like that, your emotions have vanished again..." Robin mused. Currently his expression was back to completely neutral.

He wasn't even fazed by the fact that he had lost to his most hated enemies. Garp had completely crushed him with no effort yet he only made not of it for a minute before moving on.

The redhead had been asleep for an entire day and he had no clue where either Ace or Luffy were, so his first order of business was finding their locations...

It was there he ran into his new caretakers.

The bandits.

It started off as well as Robin expected it, that being Rosan immediately threatening them in a non-threatening tone the moment the leader, Dadan, tried to lay ground rules.

"I know who you are. You have a bounty of 7.8 million, right?"

They were making it too easy for him, with how open they were with their emotions but the redhead didn't seem interested in further antagonizing them.

So he ignored everything she said and instead questioned the whereabouts of both Ace and Luffy.

"Are the bandits still alive? You haven't killed them?" Robin asked curiously, watching the redhead regard them like they weren't even human.

He hardly even reacted to their words when they said they had no clue where Ace or Luffy were.

"No, they are still alive," he said surprisingly. "Dadan and I had a rather terrible start... but I've grown fond of her."

Robin blinked in surprise at that. "That's rather surprising," she murmured.

She never expected Rosan to spare someone who annoyed him. He was rather trigger happy.

The young redhead walked out of the home of the building where he was met with the destroyed ground of his brawl with Garp.

Robin's eyes lit up in amusement, as Dadan's complaints were immediately silenced by the stony redhead effortlessly repairing everything there by just palming the floor.

Then, he vanished deeper into the forest without so much as a bye.

"People must find you so infuriating to deal with. Such versatility and you never talk about anything," she muttered in amusement.

He shrugged. "It's not like I want people to talk to me," he said neutrally. "Their curiosity is their own fault. I never try and have people be interested in me. They just end up liking me on their own volition."

Robin rolled her eyes. "Of course they do. You're an anomaly. Emotional you and emotionless you, are two different people and maybe some people can pick up on how abnormal your current version is."

Rosan sighed. "Anomaly, enigma, paradox... I suppose human curiosity really is a fatal flaw. Many people who wish to learn about me, regret that decision."

"But not all of them do," Mod intervened quietly. "I think everyone interested in you... just sees the same thing Robin and I saw. That compassionate boy with enough charisma to make you believe in anything he says," she added.

"Even buried deeply, I'm sure some people can just feel what you can become," Robin agreed. "Maybe it's for a different reason... maybe to sate their own curiosity, but everyone wants to see Rosan fully unleashed."

Ram nodded vigorously. "Only at your full potential, will I ever reach mine, Father!" She exclaimed with bright eyes, looking so much like Meiko.

The redhead tilted his head at that. "I've always been a showoff at heart... I suppose that part never quite vanished and now I'm unintentionally grabbing so many people's attention," he snorted quietly.

"You are. For someone who's so bad at dancing, you manage to mesmerize me with your movement. It's rather captivating," Robin complimented.

"I know how to dance now," he replied calmly, not even flinching at her backhanded compliment. "I'm no longer moving with no rhythm... I've learned a thing or two."

Her eyes glittered in interest at that statement. "You'll have to show me one of these days. I'd like to see if you can at least keep up and make it look good," she said, amused smile on her features.

"She's so annoying," he thought to himself, rolling his eyes as her amusement only grew.

Of course she could tell he was thinking that.

"Alright... I have a lot of stamina though. You might not be able to keep up," he replied.

"Challenge accepted," Robin nodded with a glint. She knew how competitive Rosan was, so this was sure to be good.

Young Rosan was currently in the process of looking for Luffy, which brought them all to a deep and massive valley.

After coming to the conclusion that he fell down, the redhead floated down and quickly found his target.

Little Luffy, was a torn mess with bite and claw marks everywhere. Currently, he was being chased by a group of wolves that very clearly wanted to eat the small boy.

"Has he been down here for the whole day?" Robin asked in concern, watching how nonchalant Young Rosan was treating the entire situation. "And Ace did this to him? Was he truly this angry as a child? I knew that's what you said but..."

It was hard to believe he would send such a small child like Luffy down here...

Mod sighed sadly. "Ace... had a difficult life. He really didn't have a choice but to end up like this," she muttered, knowing she didn't try and make it any easier.

Rosan nodded with a frown. "Being told the son of Roger is better off dead for most of your life... no child deserves that. He was far too young."

Robin's gaze softened at that. "It seems we were all far too young when we experienced what this world has to offer," she said softly.

No one said anything to refute her statement but the universal agreement rang through the air.

As Young Rosan escorted Little Luffy back to their new home, he decided (as his new caretaker) to bathe the dirty and injured boy.

"That is so cute," Robin couldn't help but gush a little, watching the way Luffy latched onto Rosan. "You're like his father!"

"..." Rosan sighed. "Sometimes I feel like everyone is my child in some way... Luffy is just the most dependent," he grunted.

She giggled as the redhead chose to summon a ship directly in front of Dadan's home, with no intention of explaining a single thing to them. He went deeper into his ship with the dozing Luffy and swiftly bathed the sleeping child and himself, before repairing the rubber boys outfit and putting his standard clothing onto himself.

"Bathing and clothing... have I actually become his caretaker?" Young Rosan said to himself, staring at the sleeping and clean child with an expressionless face.

"Is that such a bad thing?" The past Mod said in amusement. "I can tell you from experience, it's really not all bad."

"...I came here to search for my brother and instead found a group of New World pirates, a legendary Marine, news of my little brother's upbringing... and now I'm following a captain who I'm currently in the process of raising because he'll die otherwise," he said blandly, hoisting up the unconscious child and walking off his ship with him.

"That... is a fair point," Mod said sheepishly.

Robin laughed in joy at that. "So that's why Luffy listens to you so much!"

Rosan simply grunted. "I'm his oldest brother after all. Over the years, he has both earned the positives and negatives of being the youngest."

She shook her head in amusement. "I wouldn't doubt it. You are quite rude despite going to such extents to please those you love."

He snorted and said nothing, making her smile widen.

Robin was unable to keep the blatant interest off her face, as Young Rosan stared out the window into the night sky, as Luffy slept, until hearing the door to his new room open, revealing Ace in all his glory.

The freckled child stared off with his alleged brother, a range of emotions on his face that were impossible to hide from espionage specialists like Rosan or Robin.

"Would you like to talk? Outside?" Young Rosan asked quietly, finally breaking the silence.

Robin watched the conflicted boy nod his head tightly and the two made their way out.

This was a long awaited meeting... and based on Ace's expression, Robin was sure it wasn't going to all work out immediately but it had worked out.

It started simple enough, with Ace questioning Rosan on general things and the redhead answering to the best of his abilities.

Robin felt a pang at how desperate Ace was to see a picture of Rouge. The anger on his face had completely melted in favor of wonder, as he drank in the sight of the woman who had birthed him.

He probably hadn't known how she looked this entire time...

Her heart shuddered even more, at just how surprised Ace looked to hear that she loved him... like the idea of someone loving him was an impossible concept.

She wasn't even surprised to see the anger come roaring back as the reality of the situation reared its head to Ace.

"Why didn't you come with me?" Ace asked, trying and failing to reign his anger in.

Robin expected the anger. She would never fault Ace for feeling whatever emotion he felt he should feel. It was his right to be angry for just discovering the existence of his brother and just the fact that they were so close now, spoke volumes on both him and Rosan's character.

But it wasn't going to be easy because they were both infamously stubborn...

But at the very least, none of that infamous stubbornness was there on Rosan's half. He had long accepted that he was completely in the wrong and understood there was not a thing he should be stubborn about.

So he told Ace whatever he could without any hesitation.

"He's really trying in his own way," Robin thought with a small smile. The redhead had grasped onto Ace and brought him to a more secluded area, revealing Ragnarok's wings in the process and a portion of Modification.

Even if Ace ended up fully hating him and wanted nothing to do with him... Rosan was resolving to tell him everything he asked about. The secretive redhead would never do that normally, especially if there was a chance that person wouldn't keep such a secret.

Taking it one step further, he even brought his little brother to the Mindscape!

"That's what I like about you," she said offhandedly, missing the startled gazes of Mod and Ram. "You always feel the need to go above and beyond to express yourself. Even your loss of emotions hasn't changed that."

Rosan watched his younger self explain everything to his little brother about Modification and glanced at Robin. "Why don't you let me go above and beyond for you then?"

The Devil Child shook her head. "You're already doing more than enough for me, Rosan. Please believe me when I say, this is perfect. I've always been fine with letting you be the extra one," she murmured, gently rubbing his bun.

"..." Rosan sighed and nodded reluctantly.

Robin rolled her eyes in return. "Why do you love to make your own life so difficult? I mean just look at you! If not for Mod-chan, both Ace and I could have potentially wanted nothing to do with you!" She reprimanded him gently.

Mod smiled a little nervously at that.

"Her methods are a bit different for Ace however..." Robin frowned, gazing at the nervous Devil Fruit. "Yes, she's adding context to your statements... but she's also trying to direct Ace's anger to her instead of you..."

The Devil Child gazed at Mod with slightly furrowed brows. "...Mod-chan, I hope you aren't trying to minimalize Ace's justified anger."

Before the nervous Devil Fruit could speak up, the memory version of her did.

"Rosan, I'd like to talk to Ace. Alone please."

Robin's eyes narrowed further, as Rosan acquiesced with the request and left the Devil Fruit alone with his little brother.

"What do you think they're talking about, Father?" Ram asked curiously.

"She's threatening him most likely," he said flatly and bluntly.

"Oh..." Ram simply shrugged.

"So you knew even then," Mod muttered quietly, watching the younger Ram poke and prod Rosan while sitting on his lap.

"You did a terrible job hiding your intentions there," Rosan replied neutrally.

Robin turned towards the woman with a deep frown, seeing how guilty Mod looked but not letting her get away from this scott free.

She would never let Rosan get away with anything... there's no way she'd let Mod get away with something.

Mod caught her gaze and nervously bit her lip, pretty features narrowing in guilt.

"I just wanted to protect Rosan!" Mod finally blurted out, expression cracking. "I apologized to him! Of course I realized how out of term I acted when I threatened a boy who had every right to be angry but it was for Rosan's sake," she whispered.

The woman clenched her fist. "Didn't you see? You and Ace make up just about all of Rosan's guilt because of the things he's done to you and he lost a chain because of it. I knew how important that meeting was for Rosan and I didn't want anything to slow down his recovery... At this point of my life, I wouldn't have even let you jeopardize him, Robin," she admitted.

Robin's gaze softened. With how seemingly nonchalant he was regarding everything... Mod must have felt like she was under a lot of pressure to save the redhead who didn't even seem like he wanted to save himself.

Of course when one of the keys to Rosan was right there, she would do everything in her power to take charge and make sure it didn't negatively affect him.

"Mod-chan, has anyone ever checked up on you and how you're doing after all of this?" Robin asked quietly. "Have you ever had a chance to just wind down? I can't imagine how stressed you must be nonstop while dwelling on Rosan's condition."

The woman flinched back. "R-Rosan knows when I'm getting burnt out and he makes me stop..."

"But Rosan is the indirect reason you're so stressed, Mod-chan. Even if he's trying to help you, you can't fully wind down because you're worrying about him," Robin pointed out gently.

The redhead said nothing, content to not involve himself in this conversation.

Mod nervously began chewing her lip at that, red eyes wide in confusion. "But... But it's just so difficult. I always get so scared at the idea of leaving Rosan alone because... because I've always been the one constant in his life. The one time I wasn't... he was being tortured and that haunts me," she admitted in a near whisper.

"I'm not a fragile piece of glass, Mod-chan."

Both the Mod in the memory and the one watching froze at that statement.

"But he's not alone anymore," Robin said assuringly. "Can't you trust me? You need to relax more. I understand that you aren't human, but no one should be as stressed as you have for so long."

Mod opened her mouth but realized that Robin was right and promptly shut it.

"I trust you as much as I trust Rosan. Of course I do," she whispered.

Mod missed the way Rosan scoffed under his breath.

Robin did not but she made no move to call him out on it yet.

"So when we tell you to relax, please actually relax," she requested, shooting Rosan a glance that let him know they'd be talking about that scoff later on.

He caught her gaze and simply nodded.

"I will," Mod nodded vigorously, looking determined. The woman was a workaholic, always keeping an eye on Rosan's wellbeing or the inner machinations of his body.

Considering she quite literally could not get tired, Mod had no reason to really ever stop so it was up to them to make sure she got to enjoy the benefits of humanity.

Robin smiled and gazed back at the screen, noticing that Young Rosan and Mod had figured out their problem in the memory too.

He was currently on Celadon spending the week, so as to give Ace space away from him to come to a sound conclusion.

The redhead had mostly just spent a rare occasion, doing nothing at all. He hung out with the three rulers and just followed along with whatever they wanted.

Robin could tell that Rosan or Mod weren't used to such... lackadaisical behavior but they didn't complain.

But the week ended quickly and Rosan had immediately gone back to Dawn Island... right next to a family of Crocodiles that were trying to eat Luffy.

"I forgot Ace was trying to kill him," Robin sweatdropped a bit, watching the poor child flounder about with the most helpless expression on his face. "Thankfully you aren't so short anymore... you might have drowned otherwise."

"You speak about my height like it's the only thing I dwell on," Rosan grunted.

"This is unexpected. I suppose it's a good thing that I'm taller now or else this would be rather troublesome."

"..." The redhead's face was expressionless.

Robin made no attempts to hide her laughter at him.

It seems like Luffy wanted no help in his pursuit of finding and befriending Ace and compliant Rosan would never argue otherwise, so he let the woefully underqualified 7 year old do it.

While letting Luffy do that, he went off to the capital of the kingdom, to garner more information from it.

"Ah such a gorgeous face you have!" An obese and wealthy woman stated, gauging the tall redhead with hungry eyes.

Young Rosan flashed a small and disarming smile. "Thank you. This kingdom is so beautiful," he said kindly.

"You aren't from this kingdom? I knew I would recognize such clear nobility! If you don't mind, please allow me to treat you to some of Goa's cuisine while I tell you all about our wonderful kingdom," she gushed.

The redhead simply inclined his head, following after the woman while acknowledging the gazes of the many people there.

"I'm glad you don't specialize in infiltration. I fear that's another thing you'd be dangerously good at," Robin muttered, watching him effortlessly manipulate information out of the woman, all while pretending he had his emotions.

"Long-term infiltration, has never been something I've enjoyed but I can trick a few civilians. If I utilized Modification, I could probably trick higher ranking people too," he replied, watching his younger self "reluctantly" leave the company of the disgusting noble.

It had drifted into night and the redhead had learned quite a few things about the wealthy part of Goa, all while receiving free gifts in the process.

"It pays to be beautiful," Robin rolled her eyes.

"I suppose that's why I give you so many free gifts," he replied.

Robin blinked at that and regarded the redhead with a raised brow. "How many people have fallen for that one?" She asked in amusement.

"None. I've never told anyone else that besides you," he retorted smoothly.

She opened her mouth and closed it. "Smooth," she admitted in defeat.

Ram nearly squealed at that smooth as hell reply. Father always had a comeback!

Robin watched the Young Rosan slowly float back over to Dadan's home...

Only for him to pause at the sound of conversation going on.

"He's a demon child! We can't control him and if the government finds us, we're all as good as dead! Ace is uncontrollable! If he dies, he dies."

Robin frowned deeply at that, more then a little displeased that they were saying these things about a 10 year old.

Clearly, Young Rosan was in the same boat. Honestly, she was surprised he hadn't killed them all yet.

She watched all of the bandits go pale, as Rosan appeared in their line of sight with that vacant expression.

"Seems they've understood they messed up." Robin resisted the urge to snort.

"The mind of a child is impressionable. "Should I be alive? Am I a demon? A monster? Would I be better off dead?" If told something many times, they will have no choice but to begin believing those doubts."

Robin shuddered at that. Those words resonated with her more then she would have liked to admit... and she was sure they resonated in some way with Rosan too.

After all, even at 24, the redhead still thought he was nothing but a monster.

"You mean to tell me that you and Dadan actually get along now after hearing her say such things?" She couldn't help but ask, watching the redhead give them one final warning before departing, subsequently running into Ace in the process.

"It's hard to believe... but yes. Dadan is terrible at expressing her actual thoughts... She truly does consider herself Ace, Luffy and I's mother and over the years, I've picked up on how much she really cares," Rosan said softly.

Rosan would only ever acknowledge Mod and Rouge as his mothers, but he did like Dadan. She was a good person.

Robin smiled at that.

A real monster found it impossible to forgive.

Young Rosan and Ace flew towards the tree where they had their first conversation and the redhead remained silent, content to let Ace get out everything he wanted to say.

The teen redhead had long resolved to answer any of Ace's questions and answer them he did. He told Ace about his lack of emotions, about how long he had been travelling the seas for... and even about why he lost his emotions.

The redhead held nothing back, not even his secret identity as Reaper.

Robin was proud of him.

Evidently, Ace was not as proud because he punched his older brother in the nose without any hesitation and though Rosan saw it, he made no move to dodge it, allowing it to connect without a noise of complaint.

"I don't hate you. I resent you. No matter what your reasoning is, you still abandoned me for 10 years. We're supposed to be brothers, but I didn't even know you existed until recently. The only reason I don't hate you, is because you look like you've had your own problems over the years. I wouldn't even want to look at you if you weren't like this and I'd hate you as much as I hate Roger."

Robin flinched at that admittance but could understand where he was coming from. She might have been the same way, if she realized Rosan was living happily while she thought he was dead. She'd never be able to forgive him.

Even after offering to leave permanently, Ace refused it and just told the redhead not to interfere with his life if he didn't want him to.

Ace may not think it, but he was also a good person. Many people would have done everything in their power to hurt Rosan if they learned the things he did... and the redhead would have allowed all of it to happen too.

"I expected it to go a lot worse," Robin said truthfully.

"You and me both," Rosan nodded.

With that conversation settled, they watched Luffy doggedly try to earn Ace's favor for the better part of 3 months.

"It's no wonder you didn't try arguing with him when he asked you to join his crew... Luffy is relentless," Robin couldn't help but awe.

Nothing phased the rubber boy long enough to make him stop in his pursuit of Ace... and Young Rosan just watched it all while finding things to do on this strange island.

"When he sets his mind to something, nothing can stop that boy," Mod sighed fondly. "He and Rosan really are too similar. Trying to get them to sail the same ship under normal circumstances, might have been impossible."

Rosan snorted. "Impossible is one way to put it. I'd have never agreed."

Robin pondered at that. "Do you think you'll regret following him if you ever gain your emotions? To the point where you may stop sailing under his flag?" She asked curiously.

"..." Rosan said nothing, prompting everyone to look at him.

"Rosan...?" Mod said unsuredly, never once thinking about that possibility.

Would he... leave the crew behind like he did with the leaders of Celadon?

"It really all depends on how I view the idea after gaining my emotions," he said truthfully. "I don't... truly consider myself a Straw Hat at the moment but just like many things, that can just be attributed to my lack of emotions. I probably won't leave because Luffy is already unique enough as a captain... but who knows what my motives will change to if I ever unlock all my emotions?"

Robin frowned slightly at that but nodded her head.

Whatever decision Rosan chose, she'd follow him. Despite how fond she was growing of the crew, she wouldn't be able to sleep comfortably without Rosan next to her.

"But, if you want to stay with them, I'll stay too," he said easily. "I don't know what will change with my emotions, but I know I'd hate to not have you next to me and if you choose to stay with them, I will too."

Robin blinked at that statement and regarded him with wide eyes, before a small smile made its way to her face and she burrowed into him.

"And what if we both want to do different things?" She asked.

"We'll come to a compromise," he replied easily.

"Of course we will," she thought fondly, burrowing deeper into him as she continued to watch the memories.

Currently, Rosan was with that one bartender, Makino, and he was helping her out like usual.

Robin found it very funny whenever Rosan worked in the bar. The influx of woman inside of the bar, was thanks to him working there and they never left him alone for even a second. Like how he treated every civilian on this island, the redhead was civil and polite, accepting their compliments but never returning one.

It was funny to see her abnormal best friend try to interact with normal civilians. Rosan was far from a civilian and the word must have been foreign to him.

Alas, she couldn't bask in the amusing sight for long because he had wrapped up his business and with a few parting words from Makino, the redhead left with a plate of food for Luffy and began floating through the forest.

Robin did not miss the way Mod's eyes darkened into something dangerous and realized something bad was about to happen.

She opted to not speak up and instead focused on the screen.

Mid flight, Young Rosan noticed Ace and what had to have been a younger version of Sabo.

The two were panicking about something and Robin had a sinking feeling she knew what it was.

She hated that she was right.

"N-no! That Luffy, he still hasn't talked!"

Little Sabo had said that and Robin looked at the far younger revolutionary with a worried expression as he explained the whole situation to the Rosan who had just asked.

"Pirates kidnapped him?" Robin muttered in concern.

That... that wasn't good. Pirates didn't care if you were a woman or a child... they had no morals at all.

Luffy was in danger.

Robin gnawed her lip as she watched Rosan opt out of using his Save Point, simply because he didn't want to kill people who had been unfortunate enough to witness it.

She knew he didn't care about Luffy at this point in the memory... but she really wished he did.

As they headed to Gray Terminal, the sound of flesh being struck immediately stuck out to all of the ones watching the memory and Robin felt a glare already forming.

"Don't tell me they..." she whispered in a slight amount of horror.

Her question didn't take long at all to be answered because Young Rosan suddenly surged forward in a burst of speed, bursting into the room housing such a disturbing noise.

What Robin saw, made her sick.

Dangling off the ceiling, with just a rope tying them up, was a bloodied and beaten Luffy. The little boy was bleeding heavily, audible splatting noises were heard as it dripped off of him and landed on the floor.

"Won't tell. Won't tell!" He was chanting to himself, tears and blood falling from his figure.

Robin's gaze darkened dramatically at the sight and the strong urge to hurt someone overcame her.

"How dare they?" She whispered dangerously, glaring at the Pirates who had done this with barely restrained fury. "How dare they do this to a little child? Don't they have any moral bones in their body?"

"No," Rosan said quietly. "That's why I taught him a lesson."

Taught him a lesson...?

Constant unending interrogation.

A steadfast silence.

Disapproval. Anger.

Needles.

Shock. Shock. Shock. Shock. Shock. Shock. Shock. So much shocks. Why did it hurt so much? Why was he getting used to it?

Pain. So much pain. Too much pain to handle.

Blood. So much blood. Too much blood to handle.

What is your name? What is your name? What is your name? What is your nameeeee —

Robin jolted at that. Eyes going wide as the memories flashed through Rosan's head almost too fast to register.

Looking at the teen's face, you wouldn't even think he was thinking of anything like that in the first place!

"This reminded him of Daybreak," Robin thought with a deep frown.

She watched the redhead walk past the group of pirates so he could cut down the injured Luffy... but the Pirate's patience had clearly reached his end and he was tired of being treated as if he weren't a threat.

"Treating you like you aren't a threat?" The younger redhead asked as he reached out his gloved hands and crushed the man's saber between his palm.

"I don't think you understand. You aren't a threat," he finished.

What followed next, was a beatdown that Robin, Mod and Ram all felt very satisfied watching.

Rosan brutalized him. He chose to fight the man with his own weapons, transforming Ram into spiked gloves to deliver his beating.

To make matters worse, he made the man sensitive too.

Then he tortured him.

The Pirate, Porchemy was his name, stood no chance at all after the first punch landed on his sensitive skin.

"Good," Robin said darkly, watching Rosan blur his fists against the man's skin until Porchemy looked properly tenderized.

"Satisfied?" Rosan asked, watching the man's body hit the floor with a wet thud.

"Very," she replied with a pleased smile.

Disgusting man. Hurting a child with no remorse. The things money made people do...

She was glad Rosan chose to seek out Luffy this time around instead of waiting for him to show up.

It seems this was the event that got all 4 of them close with each other too because Ace had finally warmed up to the brave rubber boy.

Something in the conversation, interested Robin very much.

"Rosan's my friend b-but he acts more like an adult and he's not really all there too..." Little Luffy exclaimed.

Robin's brow raised high at that final part.

"How does Luffy know you aren't all there? What does he mean by that?" Robin muttered with an interested gaze, looking at the small and injured boy with a curious eye.

Was there more to Luffy then she had given him credit for?

"You're not all there! A big piece of you is missing, stupid," Luffy informed them.

"I wonder how he knew that," Rosan muttered with his own narrowed gaze. "Luffy is perceptive... but saying "a big piece of you is missing" makes me question just how perceptive he really is. I wonder if he can also sense my sleeping ambition..." Rosan muttered.

Robin smiled at him. "I think he can... When we were walking to Kureha-san's castle, he mentioned that a piece of you is missing as well... I wonder what exactly he means by that."

Mod sighed. "Trying to have Luffy explain it is an impossible task. It's best if we just assume he means your emotions for now."

They nodded at that.

"I can try and ask him later regardless," Rosan said quietly, watching the memory of the day begin wrapping up.

Sabo had officially moved in with them and they had all 4 began hanging out way more frequently.

Robin smiled a terrific smile at seeing them drag the redhead into their escapades. If it didn't involve fighting, they abused Rosan's skills religiously. It was so adorable!

He even trusted Sabo enough to reveal his fruit!

"Th...This is where I apologized to Ace," Mod said quietly.

"And I'm proud of you for that, Mod-chan," Robin assured, holding the woman with a smile.

"You didn't even need me to tell you to do it. This is why you're the most mature of us," Rosan replied calmly, ending the memory for now.

She smiled tentatively at them. "I was going through a lot... truthfully speaking, when you were 12 and 14 my stress was most heightened," she admitted.

The redhead rolled. "Ram and Mod, you can undress, I'll give you both massages... Robin I'll get you in the real world," he said suddenly.

Mod's eyes lit up at that and Ram began cheering.

"Alright! I'll go clean up first," Mod said excitedly, turning away and practically skipping in glee.

"AUNTIEEE LEMME BATHE WITH YOU!" Ram shouted, rushing after her as she ripped article after article of clothing off.

"WAIT UNTIL YOU'RE IN THE BATHROOM TO UNDRESS!" Mod shouted back.

Rosan shook his head. "They take years to bathe. It's why I don't bathe with them as much. I'll get your massage out of the way first."

Robin smiled in return. "It's a good thing we've bathed already. Come, I want that massage. They just feel so great," she sighed at just the memory of his massages.

Honestly, if he kept giving her massages like this, she might just fall in love.

Bonus!

"Thank you so much for agreeing to meet with us again, Queen Maro!"

Maro flashed a polite and charming grin at the man and held his hand. "Of course King John! I'm sure both our kingdom's will benefit greatly from allying with each other."

She didn't miss the way his eyes flickered to her large breasts and resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

Even with her most conservative kimono? Some people sure were shameless.

"Now that the professional talks are done, would you like to go out for a drink?" The King asked shamelessly, smile turning just a little as it revealed all his intentions to her.

"We're both married and it's happily on my end. We should not let such rumors spread around about us," Maro refused politely. "I just drank tea with your wife the other day, while we talked about our spouses! She's a sweet woman and loves you very much!"

"She did say you should lay off the sweets though!" Maro made a show of laughing and idly beat her hand against the desk once, cracking it cleanly through the middle.

"Woops," she said sheepishly, resisting the urge to sneer. "Sometimes I don't know my own strength!"

The King began sweating nervously at the casual show of strength from the Queen and coughed.

"Y-You're right! How forgetful of me! I wouldn't want such rumors to spread!" He laughed nervously.

"Don't worry about it! Now, I'd like to explore your island just a little bit more until it's time for me to head back to Celadon. A pleasure talking to you and the wife!" She beamed, waving at the king and walking through the door of his office.

"Fucking prick," she muttered under her breath. "Who the fuck does he think I am? Why would I ever cheat on Angel? He's not even attractive enough to be that cocky against my wife."

"Another person flirting with you, my queen?" One of her soldiers asked in amusement.

"Don't even get me started," she complained. "It's every island I go to! I miss when people didn't look at me in blatant lust..." Maro sighed.

Puberty had struck her a little too hard sadly. Around 16, her body had suddenly just exploded in growth, to the point where Angel's jaw had dropped when she took a single look at her girlfriend's chest.

That was the day her kimonos became a lot more conservative.

Ever since then, the eyes remained on her just as much as Angel... As a former Bounty Hunter/Assassin, she did not like that very much but what could she do...

Everyone she met was always a prick. There was never a day where someone wasn't trying to flirt with her and like cool, she was glad she was hot... but her wife was amazing and also extremely hot so why would she ever even consider someone else?

This was why she wanted Angel to come on these trips with her. She missed Angel...

Master and Luffy had started their journey too... she hoped they were doing okay. She hadn't heard from them in a while.

Maybe all the eyes on her, was karma for all the times she shamelessly stared at Master.

Would she ever stop? Not a chance in hell!

Master had actually once asked why she flirted with him so shamelessly and not Demon... or anyone else for that matter besides the inhabitants of his body.

"Demon's my brother! That'd be gross!" Maro said easily.

"...But aren't I technically your Father?" Rosan asked slowly.

"In the raising me aspect! My Father wouldn't steal my first kiss like that!" She beamed.

"...But you asked me to do that," he blinked.

"Because you're not my actual Father! Duh! Stop trying to make this weird, hottie!" The Queen demanded.

The redhead simply tilted his head and sighed, dropping the conversation and confusing her greatly.

The Queen planted a kind smile on her face and accepted the caramel apple offered to her, letting out a genuine hum of delight as she prepared to bite into it...

Only for her lone guard (as if she needed more) to snatch it out of her hands.

"H-Hey, that's mine!" She protested with an open mouth gazing at the exasperated female soldier with a look of outrage.

"My Queen, we went over this. Stop randomly eating gifts given to you without us at least checking it for anything," she chided with a firm glare, making Maro splutter.

"But I want it nowwww," she whined, stamping her feet on the ground like a brat.

The soldier rolled her eyes. "No. But, I'll let the chefs know that you want a caramel apple. Queen Angel already told me not to let you eat anything offered to you. She has far more survival instincts then you," she sighed.

Maro sulked at that. "Fine, you go let them know and I'll explore a bit more before we sail. I'm kinda sick of this island and I miss Angel and Demon."

The soldier saluted sharply. "Of course, my Queen. Remember what I said," she warned before turning and making her way over to the ship.

The queen rolled her eyes. Look at her cute little underlings looking out for her! Bah, they were all too stiff for their own good. Maro was a Dokkaebi! Some little poison would never affect her strong physiology!

Overprotective jerks... let her have some fun dammit!

But... they were so adorable when they were being overprotective of her. It was seriously so cute!

Fine, she'd let it continue... for now. One day she'd get tired of it! One day for sure!

As Maro gushed about her cute citizens (unintentionally blowing off dozens of suitors) the woman reached a shore and paused as she noticed something.

The woman squinted her eyes and stepped closer to peek at whatever that was poking outta the water.

"Is... THAT A SUB?!" She squealed excitedly. "WOW! THAT'S SO COOL!"

Maro wanted to get a closer look... but how would she do that?

Her eyes lit up and she nodded to herself.

One of the very last things Trafalgar Law ever expected to see... was a beached Polar Tang.

He had landed on this island to stock up on provisions and had just finished up... when he saw the bizarre sight before him.

A beautiful woman, was currently hounding a very confused and scared Bepo, gushing over his cuteness and asking if he was actually a talking animal.

"So your names Bepo right?!" She beamed, not giving him any personal space whatsoever. "Are you like one of those cosplayer people I've heard so much about?"

"N-No," Bepo answered meekly, gazing at anything but the overwhelming woman.

The woman gasped. "Does that mean you're actually a talking bear?!"

He flinched at that and held his head. "Sorry..."

Maro squealed and effortlessly hoisted him up, shaking him back and forth like he didn't weigh a thing. "What are you apologizing for?! You remind me of me when I was younger. I used to say sorry for everything! You did nothing wrong unless being so goddamn adorable is a crime! Seriously, a Polar Bear wearing a jumpsuit is like the cutest shit ever!"

The Polar Bear had a dust of red as the strange woman continued to fuss over him but that soon turned into a strangled yelp as she began squeezing him with a godly amount of force.

The rest of the Heart Pirates watched the entire thing with dumbfounded expressions.

Who the hell was this woman?

"C-Captain, you're back!" Penguin shouted in relief, glancing a little jealously at Bepo for hogging all the woman's attention.

"...What the hell is going on?" Law asked as calmly as possible, dropping his bags on the floor and holding out his hand.

"Room: Shambles."

Maro blinked as a blue circle surrounded her and then gaped as Bepo was replaced with a bag.

"Thank you captain..." Bepo rasped, clutching his chest at suddenly feeling air again.

Law gazed at the shell-shocked woman and racked his brain for who this could possibly be.

Blue hair with white streaks, fair skin, orange eyes... quite beautiful too.

Why did all of these ring a bell?

"WOAH! A DEVIL FRUIT?!"

The man resisted the urge to flinch, as she materialized directly in front of him with an excited gleam.

"Did I hear them call you captain? Are you the captain of little Bepo right here?! That's a sick Devil Fruit you have there! Oh does that make this submarine yours?!" She asked in quick succession.

"She's dangerous," Law thought instinctively, noting the predatory gleam in the woman's eyes. "She probably closed the distance to make sure she can still reach me if I attack her."

Then she gasped and sheepishly rubbed her chin length hair. "Oh where are my manners! It's nice to meetcha, I'm Queen Maro!"

"He's a pirate... but I don't recognize him on any posters," she thought to herself, humming curiously as she assessed their threat levels.

None of them were stronger then her. She was certain of it... but this guy's Devil Fruit was pretty tricky.

It was why she was this close to him after all. Maro only needed to hit him once and she was sure he'd be down for the count... She also had an illusion up. She was actually standing directly to the left of the copy of herself.

"Queen Maro? Of Celadon?" Law thought in a bit of disbelief. What was the Queen of the most prestigious island in the North Blue doing here?

Had she just been the one to beach the Polar Tang? How the hell had she done that?

"Oh! The Sub?" Maro grinned a little at that. "I wanted to get a closer look at it, so I dragged it outta the water!"

"S-She grabbed it and just lifted it out!" Shachi gaped at the memory, sweating nervously at the queen.

There was a reason the idea of attacking her never once crossed their minds, considering she had lifted their sub with all of them inside of it with little to no effort at all.

You were telling him this was a Queen?!

"So you just wanted to get a look at the sub, Queen-ya?" Law said slowly, unable to comprehend this woman for the life of him.

What were her motives?

"Yep! You guys are pirates... but I don't think any of you have bounties and this isn't my island anyways," she shrugged. "Here, I got my curiosity sated. I'll put it back for ya!"

They watched the beautiful woman walk over to the sub with dumbfounded expressions.

True to his crews words, Law watched with a slightly surprised expression, as the deceptively monstrous woman lifted the sub over her head with barely a grunt, began floating over the water, before gently placing the Polar Tang into its home once more.

Then, she vanished from her spot and appeared directly on land again.

In front of him.

"I thought she was an idiot but she knows exactly what she's doing," Law thought with a bit of respect.

If he did choose the route of attack, that little display showed him that she already figured stepping out of his Room would likely negate his abilities and the distance she travelled was larger then his biggest current room.

"I'm Trafalgar Law," he introduced the woman. "We've recently become a pirate crew. The Heart Pirates. That's why we don't have bounties yet."

She nodded eagerly at that, flashing him a grin as the predatory gleam in her eyes vanished. "You have an awesome Devil Fruit! What is it if you don't mind me asking?"

Law pondered her request. "The Ope Ope no Mi. It turns me into a free modification human and let's me do a lot of things inside the room I summon."

"Free modification human?!" Maro thought in disbelief. Was his fruit like Master's by chance? Could he modify people in the room as he wished?

Wait... he had replaced one of his grocery bags with the bear in his hand! Could he do things along that scope?!

That... was kind of ridiculously awesome.

"What else can you do with it?!" She asked with starry eyes.

Law smirked at the fascinated look in her eyes and held out his hands. "Room."

Maro went slightly on guard as the blue sphere surrounded both her, Law and his crew and she watched wearily as he took that gigantic sword of his out.

To her surprise though (she had been about to set him ablade), he turned to one of his crewmates and did a lazy slash.

Maro watched with a slack jaw, as his head severed from his body, before lazy floating over to the smirking Law.

"C-Captain! You know I hate when you do this!" Penguin complained, even as the man tossed his head up and down.

The Queen's eyes glittered at seeing him perfectly speaking. "THAT'S SO AWESOME! HOLY SHIT!" She cheered.

"I'm a surgeon so it makes my life easier, Queen-ya," he nodded.

What guy didn't like being praised by a gorgeous woman?

Maro's eyes sparkled. "You're a surgeon? You should totally go on a date with my brother, Demon! You're pretty cute and he's hot as hell!" She beamed, fishing in her kimono for something.

Law blinked at that, not expecting the sudden topic switch.

"AHA!" She yelled triumphantly, showing him the picture of her older brother. "Look at him! Isn't he gorgeous?! I bet you're his type too! You guys can nerd talk about medicine and stuff!"

This woman was ridiculous.

Law nearly snorted at her actions, but instead opted to keep the smirk on his face as he gazed at the picture.

At the very least, she hadn't been lying. Even though Law had no intention of hooking up with someone just because she said so, he could admit that her older brother was in fact "gorgeous".

He was very easy on the eyes, with soft features that enhanced how naturally pretty he seemed to be.

"Thanks for the offer, but I'll pass," Law said dryly, sheathing his blade once more and giving Penguin his head back.

"Awww. You two would have been so cute!" She sighed. "Oh! Look at the time! If my soldiers start looking for me, they might start a fight with you guys!"

"And stop calling me Queen-ya! Call me Maro!" Maro demanded, waving at them enthusiastically and grabbing Bepo into another hug. "See ya Law-chan! If we ever meet again, lemme introduce you to my cute as hell brother!"

With that, the Queen shot them a peace sign and vanished.

Law stared at the spot she was at with an almost perplexed expression.

"She's so scary," Bepo wheezed.

"She's so hot..." Penguin sighed, glaring jealously at the bear.

"She's smarter then she looks. She controlled that entire conversation and I didn't even get to ask her what her Devil Fruit was," Law mused, shaking his head.

What an interesting person. It was a shame they'd probably never meet again and she was a Queen. She would have been a good addition to his crew.

Maro happily ate her caramel apple with a pleased hum as she sailed back to Celadon.

The only thing she thought about the Heart Pirates was this.

"I hope for that guys sake, he never becomes enemies with Master. Trafalgar Law? Yeah he's definitely gonna want that fruit."

Surprise! Decided to do a extra chap so enjoy!

Just some setting up for the next one mostly! It's gonna be a big one so this one was a little shorter.

Not much to say, hope you enjoy the chapter and the next one is when it all goes down. We're wrapping up Skypiea with it so here's the title!

Chapter 37: Insanity