Descent

by JustAProblem

Scars are a sign of pride and strength. A sign of survival. Naturally, this only applies to the physical scars and not the mental scars. No, mental scars are almost universally agreed to be negative and for good reason. Physical scars merely change how your body looks. Mental scars change how a person thinks. Rosan just wants to enjoy life. He didn't ask for all this. OC! Not-Si!

38. Chapter 38: Davy Back Fight

Descent

Chapter 38: Davy Back Fight

Doflamingo rested his cheek against a fist, as his other hands twitched occasionally.

"Please give me another chance!" a bloodied Bellamy begged, clutching his ribs as his body refused to obey him.

The Warlord ignored him.

"Tell me about the Straw Hats," Doflamingo demanded from the crowd suddenly, forcing Bellamy to do a dance for them despite his broken bones.

The crowd was petrified, staring at the Warlord with horror on their face as they watched him make a spectacle out of the hyena.

Right now, Donquixote Doflamingo was making it aware that if he so wished it, he'd become their worst nightmares. The cold feeling seeping over them at his casual torture of Bellamy... they didn't want to become like this.

T-They didn't want to suffer from the hands of the sadistic pirate.

It didn't take long for someone to step forward for fear of avoiding Bellamy's current fate.

"We didn't take them serious at first because two of them let themselves get beat up in a bar before we realized what they were made of…" Someone began with a nervous expression.

Doffy raised a brow. Let themselves get beat up? Oh? Seems like they never took anyone in this town serious if they allowed that to happen.

"Which members?"

Another answered. "Straw Hat Luffy and Pirate Hunter Roronoa Zoro…"

Someone else shuddered. "I didn't realize they were so strong… We didn't know about their bounties at first so we just laughed at them... and that Red Devil of theirs was about to kill us all."

That piqued his interest.

"Oh?" He asked.

Someone shuddered, holding themselves as they remembered those unsettling eyes that gazed at them like they were lesser than insects. "We thought all of them were full of shit… but after seeing what he did to Sarquiss, I realize now… t-that demon could have killed us at any time!"

Another one nodded frantically. "The Red Devil wasn't happy about them getting beat up at all and it looked like he was about to do something about it… W-We didn't even know his identity when he walked into the bar!"

"I guess we should be thanking his captain for still being alive… He told him not to fight us because we weren't worth it... and he was right. They're all monsters!" someone exclaimed in terror.

The Red Devil… Yes, that would do.

"Tell me about the Red Devil," Doflamingo demanded, finally releasing his hold on Bellamy and allowing the man to drop to the floor.

Everyone shook at the request.

"W-What's there to even say besides he really is a Devil?!" Someone exclaimed.

"He… he killed Sarquiss with a look! One second he was fine and the next… he started throwing up fire and blood. We couldn't even tell you what was happening before h-he just died."

Those who had personally saw it were still shuddering in terror at how casual it had been. At how effortless Rosan made killing the man look.

The redhead hadn't expended any energy at all. Hadn't used any movements. No, he just stood right next to Nico Robin with that same expression as he cooked someone from the inside out.

D-Demon...

"S-Sarquiss made a comment about how he'd go after the Devil of Ohara because she's so beautiful... a-and that must have really irritated him because while dying, the Red Devil mentioned turning him into the same piece of meat he saw her as!" a pirate squeaked.

"How could he act like this was just another day for him?! I-I don't believe in rumors but I think he really might be a Devil brought to earth!"

"Oh?" Doflamingo grinned widely at that. "Looks like you aggravated the wrong crew, Bellamy. Two people worth 100 million... What exactly were you hoping to accomplish by tarnishing my name against people who made you look like a fool?"

The bloodied and battered hyena slowly crawled up to his hands and knees to bow. "Give me one more chance. I made a mistake but it won't happen again!" he begged.

Doflamingo threw his head back and laughed at the pathetic display. "You already disgraced my flag to the point of no return! You lost in one hit. Your first mate died without anyone even knowing how… You had a chance to show off your power and you failed and you expect me to give you another chance?"

The Heavenly Demon shook his head in disappointment. "Useless people like you have no business being under my command."

With that, he stomped Bellamy's head into the pavement with no hesitation, ignoring the crack of the floor beneath him.

"I have no need for you. Don't wave my flag again."

Doflamingo barely spared the man a glance and began to walk away as he thought about what he learned.

The Straw Hats… if Mihawk was personally interested in them, that spoke volumes of their potential and he would be lying if he wasn't interested either.

Not to mention, that Red Devil of theirs just kept getting more and more interesting.

A man who had the full support and love of Nico Robin?

He was partially intrigued before, but hearing of what he did to Sarquiss?

Well, consider Doflamingo interested.

---

"Are you alright, Robin? You've been staring at Rosan for quite a while now."

Robin jumped in surprise at that.

Considering Rosan didn't glance over at the observation, it was just her and Mod-chan.

"Have I?" she asked absentmindedly, noticing a stinging in her eyes and finally blinking.

Could you blame her? Currently, her best friend was in the middle of a spar with Luffy. The two were both using their respective Haki (Observation for Luffy, Armament for Rosan) as they heatedly tried to damage the other with a rapid flurry of fists.

Rosan was failing to hit his brother, while Luffy's hits were proving ineffective against the armor like sheen Armament granted him.

They (along with Zoro and Robin) had been training for the better part of the entire morning in the mindscape, refining their blooming Haki by running through various exercises with each other.

Zoro was off by his lonesome now, trying to cut through difficult materials modified by Rosan... and Robin decided to take a small break after exhausting her Observation dodging a constant barrage of energy blasts from a relentless redhead.

Honestly, Rosan was so ruthless. Her limbs were still screaming from the workout.

Luffy and Rosan, still full of energy, decided to spar and while that was fine… the redhead had been training without a shirt on.

No, he was currently sweating up a shirtless storm.

Needless to say, Robin, who just discovered that she had regained feelings for the redhead, was greedily soaking in the sight and that's what brought them to their current predicament of Mod questioning her for being a shameless pervert.

"You haven't blinked so I'm glad you finally did. I was concerned which is why I spoke up… is something the matter with Rosan?" Mod asked in amusement.

Yes, there was. Her best friend had blessed genes and it was really irritating when that fact was slammed into her every day without fail.

"Just a lot on my mind," she replied, taking a sip of water.

"Stand still!" Rosan barked as his flexible brother dodged yet another hit.

"Take damage!" Luffy retorted as Rosan bulldozed through every single hit thrown his way.

"Would you like to talk about it? You've been deep in thought since a bit before Sabo left."

Robin pursed her lips.

Yes, that was right… Sabo did leave about a week ago...

They were all sad that he left but he had his own duties to attend to and they would never prevent him from doing so... no matter how much they missed him.

---

Flashback

"You're leaving?" Luffy asked in slight disappointment.

"But why?" Maro joined, immediately using teary puppy dog eyes.

Rosan grabbed them both by the cheek and floored them with the pinch.

"Because he has a life, dumbasses. Don't try to guilt trip him into staying," the redhead replied, rolling his eyes at the whining duo.

Luffy squawked at the pain from his cheek. "R-Rosan! Why're you using armament! This hurts?!"

"T-This is abuse! Someone help us!" Maro whined.

Why was he so abusive all of a sudden?! S-She didn't deserve this!

Sabo rubbed his hair sheepishly and let out a short laugh. "I've been gone a bit too long from the Revolutionaries. If I say here any longer, who knows when I'll go back? I've been getting real comfy," he chuckled, opening his arms up.

The blonde effortlessly caught Angel, far too used to all of them now and returned the tight hug with a fond smile.

"Please try and visit us when you can?" She requested pleadingly, big puppy dog eyes shattering his nonexistent resistance.

"Of course! You guys are awesome and I'd love to stay longer, but duty calls," he said apologetically, running a hand through her smooth spikes.

"I understand," Angel grumbled in a tone that suggested she definitely did not understand.

Demon smiled sadly. "I wish we could do more for your amnesia but unfortunately, it looks like exposure is the best way to help. It's a slow going process."

The revolutionary dragged him into the group hug. "You did plenty. I appreciate all the help from you and Chopper."

The reindeer lit up at the praise and began dancing.

"D-Don't just praise me you damn bastard!" He cheered, leaping into the group hug.

Before Sabo could release the twins and reindeer, he was brought to the floor by two extra presences tackling him.

"Don't leave us with those two monster brothers!" Nami sobbed.

"They're gonna kill us for sure! They aren't as considerate as you are!" Usopp wailed.

Sabo provided a balance between Rosan and Luffy that was going to be very much missed. Luffy was stupidly insane, Rosan was intelligently insane, Sabo was rationally insane and that wasn't perfect but it was better than the psychotic oldest and youngest brother!

He was easily the most rational of the 4 brothers they had run into and didn't have the fake rationality that their scout had too!

If he left, Rosan and Luffy would be left to run amuck again, all while laughing at their misery!

The Chief of Staff sweatdropped. "You guys will be fine. Rosan and Luffy are super reliable despite all their issues."

"D-Don't undersell their issues! They aren't small issues!" They cried.

Rosan snorted. "You should join training. Then you wouldn't be whining so much. Little babies can't take care of themselves so of course they'd want someone who's willing to spoon feed them to stay," he mocked.

"Go back to being emotionless, you dick!" Nami snarled, glaring at him with fury.

The redhead tilted his head. "Go back? But then I wouldn't feel so good about doing this."

Nami blinked in confusion. "Good about doing what—"

The navigator let loose a girly shriek, as something scaly snaked around her exposed skin and lifted her off the revolutionary.

Then, it dragged her over to the amused gaze of Rosan and the redhead began to muss her hair.

"GET YOUR HANDS OFF MY HAIR! GET YOUR TAIL OFF MY SKIN!" Nami squealed in horror.

"Maybe I should stop upgrading Clima for you. Such a shame, I was just about to give him lightning too to compliment the wind Usopp gave you," he shrugged.

"S-Stop messing around!" Nami struggled, resisting the urge to shriek once more as that gross tail continued to send chills down her spine.

Rosan snorted and dropped her on her butt ("Fuck you!") before turning towards Sabo and approaching the blonde.

Sabo jumped a little as the redhead engulfed him in a hug before he easily returned it.

"Warm. He's a good hugger," the revolutionary thought absentmindedly, taking in his oldest brother with a contemplative expression.

Having an older brother was nice. He wished he spent more time with Ace too.

"Take care of yourself, Sabo… and remember my offer is always on the table," Rosan muttered.

Sabo recalled the power of the Goro Goro no mi and nodded. "I might take you up on that offer sooner then later. I just remembered my fight with Ace..."

He had actually been thinking about it rather hard over the past few days. He had weighed the pros and cons and realized the only real con, was getting overconfident (something that wouldn't happen with the revolutionary who had seen so much of the world) and being unable to swim.

Sabo found that the idea of a Devil Fruit more and more tempting but he wouldn't jump for the bits just yet.

He was most likely going to eat it in the future... A Devil Fruit sounded way too fun to explore and his brothers all enjoyed their own, making them look as fun as he was thinking they were.

For now though, he'd consult Dragon, Koala and Hack about it and see what they thought.

The redhead's eyes glittered in excitement at that. "Perfect, that gives me an excuse to give you this. I've been working on it earnestly and I think I got a good prototype going."

Rosan reached into his shirt and pulled out a little cube. He tapped it once and it expanded, before he tapped it again and it reduced once more.

"What's this?" Sabo asked, taking the offered cube with a fascinated gaze. He saw a button and tapped it, watching as the blue and yellow cube expanded and flattened in his palm.

It flashed brightly and the revolutionaries eyes lit up in confusion, as his name appeared on the screen.

"I been working on this for a while now… I was hoping I could give one to Ace but I wasn't able to finish it before. My electricity was the missing piece," Rosan explained, pulling out another cube, this one pure red.

Tapping his own cube, Rosan hummed as he pressed something.

Sabo jumped in surprise, as his cube began vibrating repeatedly with a chibi image of his redheaded brother on it.

"I got inspiration from Den Den's… but unless you have a black one, which are extremely rare, the Marines can listen in to your conversations and they're really inconvenient to walk around with too. I decided to make my own communication device because of that, decked out with a tracker that is automatically linked to Modification."

It had been a little personal project he had been working on over the 10 years with his family, but he didn't have the means to consistently connect them all together over a long range, so he shelved it.

But now that he unlocked his own electricity, he finally figured it all out! It was perfect and gave him a way to avoid conversations getting leaked over Den Den by some overly curious Marines.

Everyone listened to the redhead in disbelief.

...What the fuck did he just say?

The blonde couldn't stop his mouth from opening, at the info reaching him right now.

"Are you some type of freak genius?" Sabo couldn't help but ask.

"I'm better," Rosan replied without missing a beat. "If you ever wanna chat with any of us, you can use that. I wanna add a messaging feature in the future when being quiet is required but I'm still working on it and it might take some time."

The redhead pulled out even more cubes. "I made more and I plan on making even more too but for now…"

He handed a blue and white one over to Maro, a purple and black one to Demon, a red and white one to Angel and a pure purple one Robin.

"Now you guys can call me whenever you want," Rosan finished, explaining how they could use it.

Angel was practically salivating at the advanced display of technology. The tech savvy redhead immediately began tapping away at her own cube with excited hums.

"Oh! It even has our names saved!" She gasped, scrolling through the feed. Maro, Demon, Sabo, Ace, Rosan, Robin… wow it even had names of people who hadn't received one yet (they were faded out for now)!

What incredible foresight! Each of their cubes even had a cute little design when flattened out!

Angel's cube had a chibi Maro holding a blue daisy design on the back, similar to the one in Angel's hair and the redhead squealed with a rosy blush.

That was so fucking adorable.

"I have no name for it yet…" He admitted, eyes furrowed. "But I'll try and make one for all my allies… actually, give these to Aiko and Akemi."

He tossed two cubes, one silver, the other dark gray, to Maro who caught it.

"On it!" Maro chimed, inspecting her blue and white cube with a chibi Angel on the back, triumphantly holding up Daisy with a cocky grin. "Angel, how do you work this thing?!"

"You've been queen for how long and you still can't work technology?" Angel muttered in amusement, sidling over to explain it to her and squealing again at seeing the image of chibi her, holding Maro's club.

"That's why I have my super hot, tech savvy wife!" Maro beamed.

Demon hummed as he navigated his own cube with a curious eyes. His had a chibi Demon on the back, decked out in a doctor's outfit with a stethoscope.

"This is incredible, Master. Do you know how many people would kill to have this?" He couldn't help but ask.

Sabo was the one to answer.

"Everyone," he said in awe, eyes wide in fascination. "Rosan, this is… do you understand what you just did?"

"Create an entirely new communication network that completely undermines the primary source of speaking across the world? All for the sake of speaking to my family? Yeah, I want to speak to you all without only using link and the range of link isn't unlimited," Rosan replied with a small smile, eyes glowing in mirth.

All for the sake of speaking to his family.

Rosan had just created something that would secure his entire lineage for as long as they lived potentially… and he didn't even care to exploit that.

No, he just wanted to make it for his family.

Sabo threw his head back and laughed, pocketing his blue and yellow phone with design of a chibi version of him and Ace fighting with pipes on it. "You really are an interesting guy! I'll call you guys when I can. It'll be fun to talk to someone while I'm out on a mission."

"We can even have group calls," Rosan informed them.

They cheered at that.

"I'm gonna call you guys everyday!" Maro beamed, orange eyes glinting mischievously. "Now when I'm bored I can have someone entertain me over this call!"

"Can I tinker with it, Master? Pleaseeee? I promise I won't break it," Angel pleaded, eyes glittering as she gazed at her super awesome and just as hot as her brother.

"Feel free, it's pretty durable. Just don't submerge it. Made with Modification and all that jazz," Rosan replied, easily catching her as she happily leapt on him.

"All these gifts you've given me... You're the best~," the redhead sighed with a grin.

"I know... but it makes it way more believable when someone else is complimenting me instead of myself," he grinned smugly.

"How does it work? What causes it to be able to call from anywhere?" Robin asked as she inspected her own purple cube with a design of Chibi Rosan on it, with his palm face up hovering the Hana Hana no Mi over it with a smug smirk (it was so adorable and she loved it).

It sounded much like his link technique... she wondered if he got inspiration from it.

Rosan hummed at the question, smile widening at her and making the woman feel pleased. "Good eye. It sounds like my link technique doesn't it?"

The redhead's eyes glowed and they watched as a hologram of Rosan formed. There were lines running through it and they looked at it in fascination, as it coursed through his body in different colors.

Red, violet, fiery orange, blue, gray... colors of all variations were there and they awed at it in a bit of confusion at the faded out gold one.

"When I link to a person, a bond is formed between them and I. It makes future links easier and more seamless. These lines and colors signify a person. The violet one is Robin for example, which is why it's the largest and the blue one, is Maro, the third biggest because we used to be partners," he began.

They gazed at him in fascination. Modification was such a complicated fruit when Rosan went into little details about how he explained it and they found themselves impressed that he was able to make it look so easy.

Robin was quite pleased that her line was the most prominent. It practically coursed through his entire body.

"What about the gold one? It's practically the same size as Robin's," Chopper asked curiously. He wondered if Rosan could make holograms of everyone... it would be so useful for the reindeer!

Rosan's smile vanished as his eyes dimmed. "The gold one is Meiko's... we hardly ever unlinked. It was practically a permanent connection," he answered softly.

They winced at that.

"S-Sorry," Chopper whispered in guilt.

The redhead waved him off with an unsure expression, glow returning as Robin hugged him reassuringly. "It's fine. It's not a crime to be curious... I was expecting it somewhat," he told the reindeer.

"Nevermind that... Let's continue," Rosan nodded to himself.

"The bond that forms between a person and I never goes away, unless I forcefully remove it, which I rarely do. It's stored and saved by Modification sooo, I extracted that bond to make a more distant form of communication."

The redhead grabbed his own red cube with a design of Chibi Robin, relaxing on a sunchair with a book, while the Mod Mod no Mi hovered over her like the sun, in the back (Robin thought it was equally as adorable as her own cube and idly grabbed it out of his hand to inspect it). "Using my own body as a nexus point, your cubes, which are made with a piece of the bond I extracted, utilize the bonds still inside me and allows it to connect to another person's bond. These cubes are linked to you all and exclusive to you…"

Everyone listened to his explanation with wide eyes, trying to process it.

"But they aren't very easy to make. The bonds are difficult to identify and even harder to tamper with despite how they look on the hologram," Rosan muttered, brows furrowed. "The longer I've been bonded to you, the easier it is. Angel and Demon's cubes were the easiest to make."

The two perked up at that in interest. "Really?"

He nodded. "With you two, I didn't even have to think. You guys are made from me after all… Without you, it would have taken me a lot longer to figure out the details. To be honest, I don't even need this cube to communicate with you both from a distance."

The twins blinked at his admittance, before both blushing red at his praise and staring a hole into the floors.

"We're glad we could help..." they mumbled.

"So you use yourself as a transmission that allows us to communicate," Robin muttered in fascination.

He nodded. "With the way my electricity works, I can properly power it now. So as long as I'm well, the cubes should work… I really need to think of a name for them…"

He turned towards his crew. "Don't be too disappointed, I'll make you guys some too… it's just we haven't been bonded very long so its difficult to get a proper grasp. Nami's is the closest to being finished, then Zoro..."

Nami and Zoro perked up at that.

"Me?" Nami asked in confusion.

"Yeah, when we linked back in East Blue," Rosan replied.

The navigator o'd in realization, before nodding vigorously.

"Just another way for me to get my bodyguard to protect me!" She beamed.

"We never linked before Skypiea... how am I next?" Zoro raised a brow.

"...I prioritized yours," Rosan said bluntly.

The swordsman did not like the way that sounded.

"Why... did you prioritize mine?" He asked slowly.

"...The built in tracker on it so we never lose you in case you get irrevocably lost," he admitted with a shrug.

"SHUT THE HELL UP!" Zoro roared, as everyone snickered quietly.

"Why doesn't Luffy have one?" Sanji asked curiously.

Rosan didn't even blink as he pulled out a red and black cube with a chibi Luffy spinning his Straw Hat on it, while eating a piece of meat. "Luffy does have one... but it's Luffy. I don't think I have to explain any further."

They sweatdropped.

"WOAHHH GIMME!" Luffy demanded, snatching the cube out of Rosan's hand and inspecting it with wide eyes.

"Break it and you won't be eating meat until I fix it," Rosan promised, satisfied to see his youngest brother nod fearfully.

The redhead smirked, before turning towards his blonde brother. "Anything else you want before you head out?"

Sabo hummed in contemplation. "Actually, there's one thing I want… You think you can transform the appearance of one of your wavers into a raft? I kinda want my own personal one after seeing Ace's."

Rosan thought about it before nodding. "Yeah I should be able to do that."

Maro jumped up. "Oh, let us give you some supplies! If I ever get information from the World Government, I'd be willing to help out the Revolutionaries in secret and give them information," she beamed.

Sabo's grin widened at that. "Really? That's incredible! Information from the Queen of Celadon would be vital for us so call me whenever."

He learned long ago that Maro was very favored by the World Government due to her accolades and presence in the North Blue. The queen had helped quite a bit with keeping the peace of the most dangerous of the four directional seas and her resources were incredibly valuable.

If only they were aware the Dokkaebi absolutely despised them.

The Queen shot him a thumbs up at that, more than willing to help the Revolutionaries since Sabo was apart of them.

It didn't take them long at all to get everything sorted for the Chief of Staff and soon, his new waver was packed with what he needed and modified to completion.

"It should be easier to control in that form since it's just a raft," Rosan hummed, glancing at the modified waver with searching eyes.

It was a sleek design, looking as advanced as the White Rose but far smaller. It was blue in design with streaks of yellow and was made rather comfortable to boot.

Sabo quite liked it! He was gonna make this his own personal raft and take it everywhere.

"Happy birthday," Rosan commented with a short wave.

The revolutionary blinked as he boarded his new ship. "When is my birthday?"

"March 20th… 8 days after mine," he supplied helpfully. "Keep in touch or else we'll randomly call you."

Sabo grinned at his family (it was getting far easier to say that) and began waving. "Of course! I'll let you guys know if I make any progress with my memories."

Everyone followed suit.

"SEE YA SABO!" Luffy shouted, waving both hands as his brother began sailing away.

"VISIT WHEN YOU CAN!" Maro yelled.

"KEEP IT WRAPPED UP!" Angel screamed, only to yelp as Demon chopped her head.

Sabo grinned at them all. "See ya! Oh, and if you're ever in the area, the Revolutionaries would love to accommodate you, Robin!" He added mischievously.

He was not surprised to see Rosan possessively grab Robin with both hands (to which she yelped at) and say, "Fuck off! She's mine and you can't have her. No exceptions."

The Revolutionary laughed. "I knew you'd say that but the offer still stands!"

Robin glanced at Rosan's arms for a moment before snapping out of her daze and smiling at Sabo.

"I'll have to think about it… and if I do decide to, I somehow have to explain to my guard dog that I'm going," she offered.

"BETTER YOU THAN ME!" Sabo shouted in the distance. With another wave, the blonde disappeared from their sight.

They all watched him go with smiles.

"I miss him," Angel said bluntly.

"Let's call him?" Maro beamed.

"Yeah!" Luffy cheered and they all clambered around Angel's cube to do just that.

Demon sweatdropped at the idiots and shook his head.

"That guys thinks he's so funny. He's lucky he's my brother or I woulda chased him down," Rosan grumbled, keeping his possessive grip on Robin the whole time as if someone was actually going to take her away.

The Devil Child couldn't take her eyes off his arms and she struggled to think of something.

"Rosan… why are our cubes the only one with a single color?" She asked eventually.

The redhead glanced down at her. "I couldn't be greedy and steal both red and purple, so I gave you purple and kept red for myself."

She nodded. "And the miniature version of me on your cube?"

Rosan grinned and presented it. "Cute eh? I was gonna put my Devil Fruit on mine and your Devil Fruit on yours… but looking at a version of you instead, makes me happier so I compromised by doing both. Do you want me to take off the miniature version of me off yours?"

Robin's mouth opened at his shameless admittance.

This was really bad. Everything that Rosan normally said, was being seen oh so differently now and it was flooring her because Robin had never felt this way before.

"Robin?" Rosan called out. "You alright? You've been pretty dazed lately."

"He can't know yet," she thought to herself. "I'm… fine. Just thinking of how arrogant you are to put a picture of yourself on my cube without consulting me… but I like it. It's cute."

The redhead nodded, before pausing as he realized something. "Wait a second… don't you call the ugliest things on the planet cute? Your sense of taste is questionable as hell."

Robin narrowed her eyes at that and felt the need to defend herself, after such an absurd comment. "You should be glad I consider at least something cute about you! Don't you dare judge my taste!"

He really shouldn't judge her tastes, considering she currently had a crush on him.

Rosan's brow raised high at that. "Wait... you calling me ugly? Your hot as hell best friend? Ugly?" He asked incredulously.

Not even a little... but Robin had chose this hill so she would die on it. "And if I am?" she retorted.

Maro's eyes glittered in manic glee, as she saw a perfect opportunity to cause a little mischief.

Glancing at Angel to make sure it was fine, the Queen was pleased to see her wife shooting her a thumbs up with an equally unhinged smile.

Go time!

"REALLY?!" Maro's eyes bugged as she shot up like a rocket and leapt onto Rosan's back. "Y-You think Master's UGLY?! This hunk right here?! I've been shamelessly gawking him since the first time we met!"

The redhead in question, raised a brow and snorted, as Maro began shamelessly groping him in front of them all.

"Why is she so shameless?" Usopp muttered in disbelief.

"Why is it to him?" Sanji asked despondently.

The Dokkaebi let out a delighted noise and Rosan had to wonder when his student became so depraved.

"You've gotta be joking right, Robin?! I mean look at him! This man was blessed with something!" Maro beamed.

"My sister, aka your wife, is right there watching you grope me by the way," Rosan said, amusement dancing in his eyes.

To his slight shock, his little sister in question walked up to the duo and joined in with groping his muscles with a contemplative expression.

"She has a point though," Angel joined, nodding in approval as she pulled one of his sleeves back and presented his arm like a prize. "I mean, I'm not this hot because you're ugly, Master. I got these looks from someone and they're standing right here."

Rosan paused in disbelief, not really sure how to react to this.

Normally, when Maro did this, he quickly got Angel to jump in and reprimand the queen to a 100% success rate.

What was he supposed to do now that they were both harassing him?

The answer was nothing. He didn't know what to do...

Well shit. What was the percentage now? Maro had done this countless times so it had to have been a relatively tiny drop... Maybe 99.8%?

The two wives froze, as an ominous aura washed over them and they hesitantly glanced back to see Robin smiling serenely at them.

The Devil Child looked much the same (when she wasn't in the process of getting riled up by Rosan) but there was something exceptionally dangerous this time around.

She didn't say anything but they heard her loud and clear.

"Release him."

The two hastily did so and backed away from the redhead.

"S-Sorry!" They apologized hastily, sweating a bit in worry.

Rosan smiled at Robin and approached her. "My hero," he crooned mockingly. "Don't like seeing your best friend getting groped by the most unhinged members of his family? According to Mod-chan, you're free to grope your ugly best friend whenever you want and you already did it without hesitation to my female form so feel free."

"That's true. You're free to do whatever to Rosan and I won't feel the need to assault you," Mod replied amusingly.

Robin nearly opened her mouth and agreed to it, before catching herself and opting for a glare instead.

Rosan let loose a low laugh that sent a shiver through her spine and he grabbed her into a hug. "Kidding kidding. Thanks for saving me from those perverted monsters… They can be ridiculous... I don't get it, Angel is my sister and Maro is my student but they still feel the need to assault and harass me... have you been using my shampoo?" He asked suddenly, leaning in close and taking a slight whiff out of her hair.

"Don't just sniff my hair! That's weird," Robin reprimanded in slight mortification.

Did she accidentally use Rosan's shampoo? His was flowery themed much like her own and both smelled good enough that she was never picky.

"The one time we don't bathe together and you're using my stuff," Rosan snorted. "It's fine though… I like when you use my stuff. It makes people feel less likely to approach you so I can avoid murdering people."

Robin froze at that statement and opened her mouth, only to close it once more.

There wasn't even anything inherently wrong with the statement…

Did… Did she have it bad? Surely she didn't have it bad for this insufferable redhead who smiled at her in a way that no one else did… or looked at her like she was the only person in the world… or held her like he did when they slept or just lounged around or just—

Robin let out a miserable sigh as she buried herself in Rosan to try and hide her embarrassment.

Rosan's eyes furrowed in concern at the actions. "Seriously, are you good, Robin?"

Of course he was concerned about her… she was his number 1 priority—

Robin resisted the urge to let out a strangled gasp and eventually said, "I'm fine, Rosan. Just a lot on my mind."

The redhead hummed, not releasing her from his grip. "You know we can always talk about it when you want. I'll listen to all your concerns," he assured.

She chanced a glance up and saw that he was glancing down at her with a small, rather charming, smile on his face.

"Right…" she muttered, flashing a reassuring smile back at him.

Oh no… she really did have it bad.

Sanji's face slowly shifted into horror as he watched the interaction.

---

Flashback End

"Robin, you zoned out again."

The woman blinked at that and frowned. "I'll talk to you about it later… but Rosan... or Ram can't be there."

Mod smiled at that and said, "That can be arranged. I'm all ears and will help in anyway I know how."

Robin smiled at her mother and said, "Thank you, Mod-chan. I know I can rely on you."

"Of course, Robin!"

With that, they shut off the connection and Robin watched the two brothers mutually reach the end of their spar.

Seeing as they were only using their respective Hakis, neither had taken a lasting hit against the other to count them out. Luffy dodged everything and Rosan withstood every blow so they both just handshook that it was never going to end and stopped it themselves.

"Still no signs of Armament?" Rosan asked, stretching to work out the kinks in his body.

"I feel something... but not much. How about you?" Luffy replied, falling on his back and rubbing his stomach.

"Nothing at all," Rosan grunted in displeasure. "Well, whatever, we just have to hone the ones we do have for now."

His captain nodded cheerfully and said, "Yeah! Now let's eat!"

The scout hummed. "I want to bathe so I'll send you and Zoro back. You better make sure you bathe too."

His little brother saluted and looked in a random direction, before launching out a rubbery hand.

The strangled yell in the distance, told Rosan all he needed to know.

"C'mon Zoro!" Luffy shouted, yanking the swordsman to his position with ease.

Zoro, who had a rubbery arm wrapped around his neck, glared at Luffy in disbelief. "Let me go you dumbass! Can't you just call me like a normal person?!"

Luffy simply laughed and ignored his plight. "I'm hungry! Let's go!"

"I hate you," the swordsman announced tiredly.

Rosan snorted and put a hand on his straw hat-less brother, making the both of them vanish back to the ship.

"Robin, let's go bathe," he called to the slightly distracted woman. He reached her quickly and hoisted her up.

The Devil Child froze as those words washed over her and she snapped her gaze up at the shirtless redhead who she was far too close to.

"Bathe…?" She trailed off.

"Yep," Rosan popped the P.

Without any hesitation, he lifted her up and began walking to the bathhouse located in the castle.

"I'm sweaty and so are you so now we bathe," he explained easily.

"Put me down then! I don't need you rubbing your sweat on me!" Robin struggled.

That was the wrong thing to say. Of course it was the wrong thing to say when dealing with a bully like Rosan.

The redhead's eyes glinted maliciously and he immediately hugged her close to his bare chest, making sure all his sweat reached her with no remorse.

He had done something like this so much to her, that this hardly bothered her. She often got sweat on him as well so really, it was barely worth noticing.

But now it was completely unbearable because his exposed torso was hugging her.

Was she really too far gone…? Because this was unbearable in the way that she was trying her hardest to not soak in the sensation of the redhead's build.

The sheer mortification that ran through her, at the realization that she was enjoying this, made Robin realize that this was almost certainly someones form of torture…

The Devil Child actually let out a groan of misery and buried her head in Rosan's chest to hide her horror.

Curse her for even enjoying this action.

Rosan raised a brow at the out of character antics.

Robin wasn't acting anything like Robin... it was rather surreal but she was probably just exhausted.

What if she noticed him acting out of character himself...? He thought he had been doing a good job but maybe he was a bad actor...

No. If she noticed she would have said something.

It had to have been during training. He was rather unrelenting when he was forcing her Observation to evolve.

"Don't worry, I'll clean you up since you're tired," he said with a roll of his eyes.

Robin's groan of misery got louder.

---

"I'm sure you know I had a crush on Rosan when I was younger… Well, I think that crush is back and I'm not so sure it's a crush anymore."

Mod's mouth opened in disbelief, at how blunt Robin was with her. She just stared at the taller woman with wide eyes as they conversed over a cup of tea.

She was expecting to poke and prod the woman, trying to get her to reveal it on her own with subtle tips… The Devil Fruit was not expecting her daughter to be so up front about it.

Well, at least it was good to know Robin wasn't denying her feelings?

"You're saying you're in love with Rosan?" Mod asked quietly.

Rosan was currently meditating outside in the pounding rain of their mindscape, so as to better get control of his wild mind and he forced Ram to join him because it looked as if her mood had been swinging rather wildly ever since Rosan had gained his own emotions back.

This was of course, on Mod's orders as she wanted to speak to Robin alone so here they were.

"I'm not sure," Robin admitted. "I certainly love him. I've loved him for 20 years and I'm sure he loves me as well... I just don't know if the love we have for each other is anything more than platonic."

Mod nodded at her words. She was sure Robin loved him more than just friends but that could wait.

"Well, we can sort that out later… why haven't you told Rosan yet?"

"That's not an option right now," Robin said calmly. Before Mod could open her mouth, the Devil Child held up a hand.

"Neither of us are suited to be in a relationship currently, Mod-chan. At the very least, I won't feel right confessing my feelings to Rosan while the castle still exists."

Knowing him, he'd say yes to anything she said. If she confessed, he'd almost certainly agree to date, but she didn't want to take advantage of him. Only if he had all his emotions to make a true decision, would she feel comfortable doing so.

Mod closed her mouth and eventually nodded at her words.

They were incredibly mature and typical of Robin so she couldn't say she was surprised truthfully.

Mod… also quite appreciated that answer.

"What... What if Rosan loves you just the same? What if he has romantic feelings for you?" She asked curiously.

Robin tilted her head, pondering the question. "I would still rather wait for the castle to vanish... and then I'd gladly pursue these feelings. But I don't think he quite is... I believe I could tell if my best friend was in love with me."

"Y-You don't even realize you're practically dating," Mod thought with a sweatdrop, deigning not to point it out.

"Besides, we both talked about it privately and agreed that now isn't quite the best time for dating," Robin whispered. "We were just happy to be with each other and didn't want to complicate things further."

The mother of the two smiled softly. She just wanted the best for them.

A mischievous smile made its way to her face instead. "You must really enjoy bathing with Rosan then, don't you?"

A plethora of arms spawning on her body, dangerously close to her vulnerable belly, stopped the woman dead in her tracks and the Devil Fruits eyes widened in horror.

"We will not be joking of such things, Mod-chan," Robin said firmly, blues eyes piercing the woman as she smiled slightly.

Mod went slightly pale and nodded rapidly. The purple haired woman let out a sigh of relief, as those arms vanished and spared her from the deathly tickles.

"You're scary sometimes," the Devil Fruit muttered, as she took another sip of her honey dipped white tea.

"Only when someone deserves it," the Devil Child replied peacefully.

The purple haired woman shook her head. "I don't think I deserved it at all! I was just asking because you couldn't take your eyes off of his body!"

Robin's eyes shot open at that and she glared at the women who didn't notice.

"I mean, I don't blame you at all… There's a reason I'm so protective of him, Rosan is blessed as a man and a woman so he gets too much unwanted attention… Oh! But that doesn't apply to you at all! You have my blessing whenever you choose to pursue this. At least this way, only one person can touch my son's body… honestly, why is he so genetically gifted— A-AH!"

Mod let out a startled shriek as Robin herself tackled the woman to the floor and began mercilessly tickling her.

"W-Wait! Please! I didn't mean anything by it!" Mod pleaded as Robin's fingers dug into her with no remorse.

"I already warned you," Robin said lowly, continuing her onslaught.

Mod squealed as her bully of a daughter continued unimpeded and tried to struggle.

"Hm?" A deep, amused voice, called out and Robin temporarily paused to glance up at Rosan and Ram both smiling at the duo with equally raised brows.

"Robin? Tickling Mod-chan? What did she do?" The redhead asked.

"I-I did nothing! Now save me, please!" Mod begged, face flushed a deep red. The woman let out another squeal as Robin continued her assault with a determined glare.

Rosan snorted and reluctantly lifted Robin off of Mod. "As much as I love watching someone else torment Mod-chan, we've got to pay a visit, Robin," he said, slinging the woman over his shoulder.

"Put me down! I'm not finished with her!" Robin struggled in his grip.

The redhead rolled his eyes and absentmindedly pat her butt to calm her down. "Relax. She kinda can't go anywhere. Trapped inside my body, y'know?"

Robin froze in shock as the redhead pat her bottom and her struggles renewed.

"Put me down, Rosan! Who said you could slap my butt? This is the second time you've touched it!"

"I barely made contact... You don't have anything to be ashamed of. You have a nice ass, Robin. Maro would rate it highly."

"That's not the problem and you know it! Stop being so purposely ignorant!"

Rosan cackled before his expression turned thoughtful.

"Oh that reminds me, after this visit we need to practice Extract Files."

"...You mean the one where you place your palm on my breast?" Robin asked slowly.

"It's actually over your heart… but yes. What other one would I be talking about?" He asked in confusion.

"The one that doesn't involve you placing a palm on my breast," she replied evenly.

Rosan paused incredulously. "...Now you have a problem with me grabbing your boobs? Maybe not when I was trying to tell you that I didn't wanna experiment on you?"

"I thought as a genius of your craft, you'd have it figured out in one go," she mumbled.

"Well that's too damn bad because I didn't. You're the one who made me do this, so now you have to put up with it," he said without any hesitation.

Robin opened and closed her mouth at his words.

"You're so demanding…" she muttered, pleased for some horror filling reason.

"Shouldn't have spoiled me so much growing up," he replied easily.

Mod huffed as she watched them vanish, trying to catch her breath as Ram steadied her.

"I got Robin to admit... she had feelings for Rosan," she huffed out.

Ram blinked before grinning widely.

"Is that why you got me soaked in that cold rain?!" The ring asked excitedly.

"Yes... now go bathe," Mod retorted, finally gaining a semblance of air.

The woman squealed as the soaked Ram lifted her up without any hesitation.

"Kay! Off we go!" She beamed.

"I... Didn't say with me!"

"Well... too bad! I like bathing with you so we bathe!"

"...Are you a pervert? Is that what this is?"

"Nope, I don't swing that way. But, you do have a nice ass, Auntie."

"Kami, I don't know where I went wrong with half my children."

---

Robin and Rosan both raised a brow, as they sidestepped the wave of sand trying to crush them.

The redhead then paused as a figure dashed at him and slammed their limbs into him as if they were trying to cut him.

He hummed as he channeled Armament through his body and tanked the attack, smiling in satisfaction at being completely unscathed.

Daz Bones only had a moment to widen his eyes in disbelief, before a fist smashed into his steel face with concussive force and embedded him in the ground.

Rosan playfully blew onto his fist and gazed at the scowling Crocodile.

"That 110 million bounty has gotten you cocky. You think just because you outstrip me by 10 million, you're suddenly capable of revolting?" Rosan remarked, eyes glinting in amusement as he gazed at the former Warlord. "What should your punishment be for attacking me, since you can make so many bold decisions on your own?"

"You won't be alive to decide that," Crocodile sneered.

The redhead was different, that much was obvious but right now he didn't care even a little about that.

Maybe he should have been a bit more wary.

The Warlord sent a tidal wave of sand towards the duo, ignoring that they were on a ship and tried to consume them both in an instant win.

If they survived but couldn't move, all the better.

Rosan rolled his eyes and grabbed Robin, before sprouting his draconic wings and flying up into the air.

Crocodile finally realized that they were on a ship, in the middle of the ocean, as Rosan mockingly extended a single hand that began suspiciously glowing.

"You'd die here and now if I let this go, y'know?" he asked, tilting his head to the side.

"I know you're considering it, but let's not. It'd be a waste," Robin muttered aloud.

The Logia bit his cigar harshly, sand seeping off of him as he fired off a Desert Spada directly through the air that Rosan deftly dodged.

The redhead sighed in annoyance.

"I don't have time to play with you right now," he grunted, eyes glowing.

"Boost x2."

The sandman didn't even have time to blink, before a sneaker smashed into his gut with enough force to completely bend his body, while a cracking noise rang out.

Crocodile felt his body turn inside out as he was rocketed back until he smashed into a wall. The man coughed up blood and he lost the ability to breathe, as he clutched his chest in disbelief.

"Haki?!" He thought to himself in shock. "But how? He didn't have it before? It hasn't even been that long since we last encountered each other?!"

Crocodile had begun training in earnest after his defeat in Alabasta... but he hadn't yet reawoken his own Haki. To know that the redhead now had it... that only motivated him more.

Footsteps approached the man, until a red sneaker smashed his head to the deck with bruising force.

"Attacking me as soon as I show up is rude, Croc," Rosan muttered lowly, eyes glowing menacingly as he glanced around.

The redhead tilted his head. "No other allies yet? You should look into at least finding a doctor. I broke a rib," he mocked.

Crocodile snarled in hatred at the shoe forcing him to eat his deck and opted to stay silent.

Rosan chuckled darkly and removed his foot from Crocodile's head.

"Get up. I gave you enough time to catch your breath," he commanded, raising a brow as Crocodile gazed at him in pure hatred. "What? You're the one who attacked me when I just came to check up on you. Expect me to be cordial about it? Get up or I'm breaking another bone."

"I'm going to strangle you to death slowly with my sand and I'm going to enjoy every second of it," Crocodile promised, pushing himself up after throwing up a bit more blood.

"I'm so scared," Rosan replied with a smug smirk.

Robin sighed in exasperation.

She took one look at the near comatose Daz Bones and said, "Did you think he was sufficient backup? Surely you should have known better."

Crocodile scoffed. "I was expecting him to stall you but you've both clearly changed."

Mr. 1 was a perfect choice into Nico Robin and that's one of the reasons Crocodile had gotten both him and Miss Doublefinger. It was no coincidence that both their fruits countered the woman's. It was to prepare and if they failed, he'd handle her of course.

Rosan sneered. "Even if we didn't, he wouldn't be able to hurt me or her. Make sure you save your curiosity too, I don't explain myself to minions."

The former Warlord snarled, sand seeping from his body once more as his gaze turned murderous.

The redhead's eyes narrowed dangerously, as he noted the challenging look and he bared his sharp teeth challengingly.

Now that most of his emotions were back, the memory of Robin being impaled, made him all the angrier and he always had a hard time getting his anger under control.

"Attack me again and I'm taking your other hand," Rosan warned lowly, pressure beginning to saturate the air.

A litter of veins formed on Crocodile's head at that statement. The former warlord's expression turned thunderous, staring at the redhead in a moment of genuine rage.

"Oh? Did I hit a sore spot?" The redhead asked, a mocking smile making its way to his face. "Did the poor little Croccy lose his hand in a fight that he doesn't wanna talk about?"

The redhead's expression quickly turned into something much darker. "Is that why you lost to a rookie crew? Did that fight turn you this pathetic?"

"He's fucking dead," Crocodile snarled hellishly, preparing to summon a sandstorm in the middle of the ocean, bad idea be damned.

Robin sighed as Rosan egged Crocodile on and on, just to give himself the satisfaction of crushing the former warlord at his peak anger and stepped in before the whole ship got destroyed.

It would be a waste if the redhead's effort to subjugate the Logia, went down the drain.

"That's enough, Rosan. This isn't why we came here," Robin eventually said right as Crocodile was about to make the decision to throw caution to the wind.

"Crocodile, we have some questions for you."

"Bite me," he snarled.

Rosan's eyes turned into slits and his maw turned serrated. "That can be arranged. Just know you'll lose an entire limb if you talk to her like that again. Maybe I'll give you a missing leg too."

A pleased tingle went through her body but she dutifully ignored it. "Remember the terms of our agreement, Crocodile. It would do you no good to throw your life away after just reminding the world of who you are. 110 million is only the beginning, isn't it?"

Crocodile almost looked like he wanted to refute the claim of throwing his life away but his body protesting, made him aware that he was still not strong enough.

The redhead had moved at speeds similar to that damn Straw Hat… Not to mention he was almost certain he had Haki…

Just what happened in the short amount of time he had disappeared?

Rosan nearly looked like he was about to end the Logia regardless, but Robin put a hand on him that slowly but surely, calmed him down.

"Control yourself. He is still useful to us," Robin whispered soothingly through their connection.

"Tch… there goes my anger issues again," he grunted, taking a deep breath and cooling himself down.

"Tell me what you've been up to and what you have planned," Rosan grunted.

Robin withheld a sigh. "Will hugging me later make you feel better?"

"...Yes."

She smiled at that and rolled her eyes.

Crocodile wiped the blood from his mouth and scoffed. "I'm simply amassing my funds, power and supplies at the moment. I plan on establishing an information network in the future… After I find half useful followers, I'm going to the New World."

Rosan hummed at that. His gaze idly shifted over to the former agent regaining his consciousness.

"That guy won't be enough... be on the lookout for anyone useful and bring them to your side... or kill them. The less enemies for us, the better," he said bluntly.

The Logia grunted in affirmation.

"I'll give you some funds to speed up the process. Don't waste it."

Crocodile raised a brow at that and grunted in shock as Rosan waved his hand and a briefcase materialized.

"What is his Devil Fruit?" He thought to himself. Some draconic fruit? It had to have been a Mythical Zoan…

That curiosity vanished as the redhead opened the case and presented it to him.

He couldn't stop the shock, at seeing just how much beri was in the case and regarded the Red Devil with a surprised gaze.

"You're just giving me this?" Crocodile asked incredulously, watching the redhead close the case once more and place it on the floor.

"Naturally. You're my subordinate after all. It's not like you can take the money and run. There is no escaping me," Rosan shrugged. "Use it wisely. If you feel like subjugating an entire island once more, fine by me... but make sure it offers something useful."

"Just who is this person?" He couldn't help but think. The redhead wasn't nearly as benevolent as Straw Hat and clearly operated on his own agenda…

Crocodile grunted and accepted the case. He wouldn't turn down such a large supply of money, not even if he hated (and respected) this redhead with every fiber of his being.

"Anything else before you get the fuck out of my sight?" The Warlord sneered.

"Perhaps I should have you remember what it feels like to drown," Rosan retorted.

Robin was quick to shut it down this time.

"What can you tell us about Donquixote Doflamingo?" Robin asked curiously.

Crocodile paused at that question, before his sneer deepened.

"That annoying bastard… What do you want to know about him?" He grunted in compliance.

Rosan spoke up this time and said, "I've seen a random crew walking around with his symbol. I wanted to know how influential he is, considering its typically Emperors who do such things."

"He knows his stuff…" Crocodile admitted reluctantly.

"Even I don't know too much about Doflamingo," he grunted. "He resides in the New World mostly and is the ruler of the kingdom of Dressrosa. I hate to admit it, but we're more similar then I'd like to give that demented bastard credit for."

"A pirate ruling over an official kingdom?" Robin thought in confusion.

"How are you two similar?" Rosan asked.

The former Warlord scowled. "I'm not talking personality. He's nothing like me in that regards."

"I doubt it."

Robin almost snorted.

"Doflamingo is cunning. He has a blanket pulled over the World Governments eyes. He's the Warlord that somehow manages to get away with the most things," Crocodile explained.

"You don't think the World Government doesn't notice out of incompetence, do you?" Rosan observed accurately.

The former Warlord nodded, finding himself begrudgingly impressed with the redhead.

"He has dirt on them. I don't know what it is and I don't really care but it allows him to get away with plenty of things. One of the few things I know about him, is that he's an underground broker," Crocodile said, polishing his hook idly on his cloak.

Rosan paused at that, mind grinding to a halt. "Underground broker you say? Do you know his identity?"

"No."

Not a lie. But honestly, it didn't matter if Crocodile knew or not because Rosan knew.

He was willing to bet his red hair that Doflamingo and Joker had a connection. He was sure of it.

"You think Donquixote Doflamingo is the Joker you stole that Devil Fruit from?" Robin asked.

"I think so… let's see."

"I've heard some other things about him. Is he rather carefree? Tends to not take situations serious?"

Crocodile raised a brow. Was this redhead trying to go after Doflamingo? How did he know so much information on the man?

...If that happened, he'd die to the Warlord.

In that case, Crocodile wouldn't warn him about the Heavenly Demon and let him go on his suicide mission.

"That sounds right. Annoying bastard is always laughing, exaggerates, sits in the dumbest ways and walks even dumber."

Yes, that man was Joker. Rosan was sure of it.

Perfect.

"I see," Rosan nodded, mind running once more with ideas upon ideas.

"Looks like we got far more then we expected… to think Doflamingo is the Joker who you infuriated all those years ago."

So Maro's Devil Fruit was for the Warlord… It was a good thing Rosan never revealed it.

"I have a baseline now. I always intended on terrorizing Joker when the time came but I never knew just how strong he was. If I can get a gauge on this Doflamingo's strength… Eventually I will beat him," Rosan said confidently.

"Alright, I'm done here," Rosan grunted. "You gave me useful information. I'll forgive you for trying to kill me this time. Think wisely about doing it next time though."

"I won't be satisfied in life until I personally kill you, Red Devil," Crocodile informed him, turning away from the redhead and heading back to his quarters.

He needed to tend to his wounds. That kick broke a bone.

"Join the line and don't fucking call me that. I hate that goddamn title," Rosan scoffed. He grabbed Robin and the two subsequently vanished.

"I want that hug."

"Yes, yes. Anything for you, your highness."

"Stop mentioning my royal blood."

"No. It's funny."

Daz Bones groaned as he nursed his head.

"He managed to punch me through my steel body?!"

---

"Mod-chan, can we talk?"

Mod popped a tired eye open and regarded the redhead she was sleeping on, with a bleary gaze.

The redhead was wide awake, and she saw his glowing gaze looking at her with a conflicted expression.

That shot her wide awake and the Devil Fruit pushed herself up with a look of worry.

"Of course we can, Rosan... what's the matter? Did... Did I do something?" She asked in concern.

Robin and Ram were both sleeping. Ram was sleeping on the redhead's right and Robin was directly atop him, leaving him completely trapped, not that he minded.

"No it's not you... can we just go somewhere, the two of us? I need to discuss something with you," he said quietly, sounding a bit unsure of himself.

The Devil Fruit nodded and diligently removed herself from bed.

Rosan glanced at the two still sleeping and sighed to himself, before gently removing himself from Robin and Ram's hold.

He went as slow as possible, making sure to never remove contact the entire time and right when he was about to fully extract himself, he had the two make contact instead.

They blissfully slept away, not even moving from his actions, except for Ram hugging Robin's unconscious frame.

"I wonder how often he practiced that... he did it so masterfully," Mod thought idly, tugging her bunched up nightgown and following after the redhead after he beckoned with his head.

She followed after her son, until they both stepped outside into the freezing rain and Rosan sighed.

"Rosan? What's the matter?" She asked worriedly, stepping up to her son and summoning an umbrella for them both.

"..." The redhead pursed his lips and gazed at her, glowing eyes shifting in intensity sporadically as the moonlight shone down on them.

Mod had teared up more than once just staring into his eyes and seeing that familiar glow. She would never be able to truly put it into words, how grateful she was to have her son back.

She actually did almost tear up, as she realized Rosan was once more confiding in things with her one on one. It had been so long... she missed being his partner.

She'd be a good one from now on.

"Rosan, speak to me. What's wrong?" Mod asked quietly. "You can talk to me —"

"I think I'm in love with Robin."

...

Mod went silent, mind blanking.

Rosan was nervously raking a hand through his hair, looking incredibly uncertain with a flushed expression that spoke testaments to how much emotion he had currently.

"It's... really bad," he mentioned. "It's almost exactly like what happened with Meiko."

"What do you mean?" She said slowly, trying to piece things together.

So they were both in love with each other... Robin had been easy to spot, but Mod only had an inkling that Rosan was the same.

"I think my lack of emotions were suppressing it... now it's impossible and it's kind of overwhelming," he admitted with a hint of frustration. "I've been trying to act as normal as possible because I don't want to mess anything up, but my body is burning up and I can't control any of my emotions the way I want to."

Ah, so he had been trying to act normal... That made sense.

Mod pursed her lips. "Overwhelming how? Are you alright?"

"Not really. I couldn't even look at her while we were bathing!" Rosan scowled. "My body is heating up at the simplest of things and it's ridiculous. Even just now, while she was sleeping on top of me... I'm a mess. I don't wanna make her uncomfortable," he sighed, anger vanishing quickly in favor of sadness.

Mod bit her lip, noticing how swiftly his emotional state was changing.

Rosan... couldn't control his emotions right now, could he?

That was disastrous. Her son being so in control of himself these past years, was the reason they didn't have such a massive target on their back.

But they could focus on that later... right now, he needed help with his feelings.

"Don't feel too bad, Rosan," she muttered, engulfing her son. "If I were to guess, it might be your suppressed hormones finally coming into play. Considering you almost completely skipped that phase of your life and had no time at all to adjust to it," she rationalized.

He sunk into her hug and nodded. "That's what I think too... it's been really bad," Rosan sighed.

"It's okay, we're here for you," she murmured. "One step at a time. You haven't had emotions for 12 years. It was never going to be easy."

He nodded reluctantly, marveling at the warm sensation of his mother.

"So what will you do about your feelings for Robin? Will you confess?" Mod asked suddenly, making him choke on air.

The purple haired woman was trying to hide the glow in her eyes, as she looked up at Rosan with a mirthful expression.

She was immensely pleased, to see the red cheeks of the redhead and he let out a sigh.

"Not yet... I want to get these problems situated. My emotions are all haywire and I can't tell what's genuine or not because of how much they overflow. I know I love Robin, but I need to know if it's my hormones making me feel this way or not... I wouldn't feel right pursuing at least until I lost this last chain and figured myself out," he muttered.

Mod noticed something and blinked slowly.

"What if Robin loves you back?" She asked in amusement.

Rosan's answer nearly made her laugh aloud.

"We both talked about it in private and agreed that we weren't ready for dating... I know if I asked her, she'd definitely agree to date but I don't wanna take advantage of her. Also I think I'd be able to tell if Robin loved me like that. She's my best friend," he replied with a fond smile.

His answer was the exact same as Robin's own. Those two were so in sync that it was seeping into them even when the other wasn't around.

The duo of Devils were so blissfully unaware, that it was genuinely amazing.

This was ridiculously adorable but Mod wouldn't push the issue any further than she needed to.

Mod did giggle. "You sure have a lovesick smile on your face," she pointed out.

The redhead blinked, before his expression went flush again and he glared at her.

He hauled her up and began walking towards their room again. "The only reason I'm not tormenting you, is because I woke you up to talk to you. Be grateful," Rosan grunted.

She beamed and snuggled into him. "You should spoil me more often. It's a nice feeling."

"Every waking moment I'm not tormenting you, I'm spoiling you. What exactly do you mean more often?"

"I mean stop bullying me. I raised you, have more respect."

"...No."

"I hate you."

---

With the sudden influx of gold that the Straw Hats received, the group had wanted many things but they universally decided on one thing.

They needed to repair the Going Merry.

Rosan frowned at that. He didn't know how extensive her damage was but perhaps a professional shipwright would be able to repair her to enough levels where she could survive long enough for him to find her a solution.

"The Merry is quite beat up," he offered his two cents. "Perhaps we should consider another ship as an option in case. I quite like this ship so I wouldn't want it to sink randomly before we were ready."

He forgot how naive his crew was.

"We'll get the best Shipwright and have them fix her up good as new!" Usopp grinned, shooting them a thumbs up.

"Yeah!" Luffy beamed, nodding rapidly. "Merry won't sink!"

Hm. That was as far as he was willing to prod at the moment.

"What's wrong? You wouldn't normally suggest something like that," Robin pointed out.

Ah right, he never mentioned it to anyone.

"That night I went to go repair the ship, I spoke to Merry," Rosan told them.

Robin and Mod's eyes both widened in shock.

He… what?

"It's hard to believe but yes… I spoke to the spirit of the Going Merry and she told me that she doesn't have long until she sinks."

"That's…" Mod trailed off.

"Why don't you tell them now?" Robin asked curiously.

"Merry told me to tell them when the time is right. Now is not the right time. All me telling them will do at the moment, is build tensions."

He was still very pessimistic and with his optimistic crew, naturally they'd throw doubt on him. It would do no good if he used only his "intuition" to tell them the ship was done for.

Perhaps the Shipwright would be able to advise them to get a new one.

"We can focus on ship repairs when the time comes! We've got other things to worry about," Nami interjected.

They all nodded in unison and the ship continued to sail peacefully through the sea.

"Hm?" Rosan perked up, eyes narrowed slightly as they began to glow.

"What's wrong?" Usopp asked, glancing at the curious redhead.

Their scout was looking in ahead of them with a tilted head. "We're approaching a peculiar ship… It has no flag, no sail and there are a few members that look lost."

Everyone paused in confusion at that.

What was a ship like that doing around here?

True to the redhead's words, they soon approached a rather odd ship that had no business being out on the sea. It was only a matter of time before they sunk to the bottom of the ocean.

The inhabitants looked purposeless and lifeless, just lounging around as they waited for something to happen.

That something, seemed like it was the Straw Hats today and someone jumped up in excitement.

"Hey look! A ship!" One of the men on the ship called out.

All of them perked up at that and began clambering to their feet.

"LET'S RAID THEM!"

"WHAT?! DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!"

"YEAH THE CAPTAIN HAS TO DECIDE!"

"IDIOT, WE DON'T HAVE A CAPTAIN ANYMORE!"

Rosan raised a brow at that. "I'll deal with them. You can continue sailing."

They nodded at his command and watched as Rosan and Robin floated over to the crew with clear interest.

"AGH! HE'S FLYING?! WHAT DO WE DO?!" One of the pirates shouted in horror, going pale at those draconic wings.

"I DUNNO! I'M NOT THE CAPTAIN RIGHT?!"

"NOW'S NOT THE TIME TO BE SARCASTIC!"

Rosan and Robin landed on the odd ship and appraised the people on it.

They raised their brow at the shoddy weapons being aimed at them and Rosan audibly scoffed.

"I've got some questions for you guys. Then, you're free to do what you want afterwards, whether that be killing yourself trying to raid our ship, or killing yourself trying to sail with no sails," Rosan greeted, inclining his head.

They looked back and forth at each other before coming to a similar conclusion.

Greedy grins made its way to their faces and they glanced at the two invaders.

"We want some resources in exchange for those question—"

The pirate that was speaking couldn't finish his sentence, as his head completely vanished, courtesy of the redhead staring at his corpse neutrally with his gloved hand outstretched.

The headless body thumped to the floor, no sign of blood.

"I've got some questions for you guys," Rosan repeated calmly, hand smoking from the attack. "You'll be courteous and answer them. Right?"

The rest of the pirates looked shakily down at the corpse, before glancing at the demon with wide eyes.

They nodded rapidly.

Rosan smiled. "Good. Now what happened to your crew? You mentioned not having a captain anymore."

They flinched at that.

"We… lost our crew in a Davy Back Fight," one explained.

"A Davy Back fight is a duel between pirates… the winner gets to pick out a crewmate and take them. We got destroyed and most of our crew was stolen from the Foxy Pirates."

"The Foxy Pirates?" Rosan muttered, storing the information away.

"They're a bunch of cheaters!" Another one snarled. "If it even looks like we have a chance to win, they use all sort of scummy tactics to pull one over us."

Interesting… a Davy Back Fight… He'd heard of that before. It was a pirate game where they could steal each others crew.

"Right. Thanks for the info," Rosan nodded.

Without any hesitation, the redhead placed a palm flat on the deck and blew a hole all the way through the bottom.

Then, he grabbed Robin and began floating away.

"W-WAIT! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" One of them screeched in horror, looking at the massive hole with a look of terror.

Rosan shrugged.

"Your use has run out and you did plan on attacking our ship. I'm just speeding up your deaths."

The redhead ignored their howling and glided back over to his crew, who were looking at him with shock in their eyes.

"You are a scary person, Rosan," Nami said in awe as she backed away a little.

"S-Super scary," Chopper stammered, hiding behind Luffy.

"Honestly, the scariest person I met," Usopp shuddered.

The crew watched as the ship began sinking with slack jaws.

"They wouldn't stop looking at Robin," he told them with a shrug. "How is it that I'm the one asking the questions and they keep looking at her? I have no intention of letting such people live."

Robin felt yet another pleasant tingle course through her body at that sentence and said, "Thank you for protecting me from… eyes, Rosan."

"Anytime," he said easily, either not detecting her sarcasm or ignoring it on purpose.

She had an inkling it was the second one.

"Davy Back Fights… Sounds fun," Zoro grunted.

"W-What?!" Nami balked. "Why would we ever agree to do something like that?!" The navigator asked.

"It's considered shameful to deny one," Sanji shrugged.

"B-But they're cheaters!" Usopp stammered.

Robin smiled at that. "You guys have never seen Rosan cheat, have you?"

Everyone shook their head no but as they did so, they realized just what fruit their scout had.

The redhead tilted his head with a glint. "I don't typically cheat y'know? Modification makes it almost too easy but I have no problem cheating against cheaters."

The crew grinned at that.

---

It didn't take the crew very long to find an island and unfortunately for them, it didn't seem like there would be a shipwright on this one...

Or anyone for that matter. It was rather barren of human life.

"The trees are long," Zoro observed.

"Everything's long," Sanji said.

It was true… the island they landed on was rather strange. It was an expansive plain with not much on it, barring some incredibly long trees with what looked to be equally as long fruits.

Luffy, Usopp and Chopper had already run off and according to Rosan's bird, they had met an old man who was just as strange as the island and its inhabitants.

Everything on this island was long. From the trees, to the animals, to the fruits…

What a stupid island. Rosan was unimpressed.

"Not a fan?" Robin asked curiously.

"There's nothing impressive here," he said blandly. "Wanna scout out the island with me? I'm feeling restless."

The Devil Child nodded after a moment and her best friend promptly scooped her up Bridal style.

"Surely there's a better way for you to hold me," Robin said as the redhead held her close.

"You've been complaining about me holding you so much lately. Actually, you've been acting really strange," Rosan observed accurately, staring at her suspiciously.

The Devil Child went still at that. She should have known that Rosan would have called her out on her behavior soon but she hadn't quite thought of what she could say to him, without being called out for lying.

"Are you mad at me?" Rosan asked quietly, taking flight so they could speak in private. "Is it because of the Enel thing, where I took an attack for you? Is it because I slapped your ass when I carried you? Have I... been acting weird?"

"No, no… and no?" Robin eventually said, tilting her head in confusion at the final one.

Rosan had been acting far from weird... she was the one acting strange.

"I'm not mad at you, Rosan… I'm just very conflicted at the moment."

The redhead stopped moving instantly and gazed at her. "What's wrong?" He asked genuinely. "You know you can talk to me about anything."

"How can I possibly talk about this with you…" She thought to herself.

Clearly, she had been around Rosan for far too long because the redhead angled himself downward and they landed gently on the floor.

Rosan gazed at her with an intensity in his gaze as he engulfed her in a hug.

"You're not mad at me, right?" He asked her as she melted in his grasp.

"Never," she muttered. She loved his flowery scent. It reminded her that no matter what, she'd be safe with him. "If I were mad at you, I'd tell you in a heartbeat."

"I know... that's why I don't mind if you keep some things to yourself," Rosan assured, squeezing her reassuringly.

Robin sighed at the pleasant feeling and buried herself in his chest. "Even if it involves both of us?" She asked quietly, unsure of what his response would be.

A hand gripped her cheeks and forced her to look up at that intense heterochromatic gaze.

She found that she quite liked how the colors clashed… she even preferred it over both eyes being purple.

That glowing gaze pierced into her soul and demanded all her attention.

"Even if it involves the both of us, I know you'd never endanger me on purpose. I trust you with my life, Robin. Take all the time you need and tell me whenever you feel like it," Rosan murmured.

"I'm in love with my best friend."

The thought came to Robin almost as soon as Rosan finished speaking. In hindsight, it was rather obvious but she had been in a bit of denial.

But here he was, gazing at her with nothing but love and respect, holding her cheek in his soft hands tenderly and speaking to her with a caring voice that sent chills through her.

Nobody on the planet treated her like her best friend did...

She didn't just have feelings for Rosan... this wasn't just a silly crush like when she were 10... she was in love and that terrified her.

She couldn't afford to be in love with Rosan right now. They were both messed up in so many ways. A relationship was the last thing either of them needed while they were both such messes.

"What do I do? I've never felt this way but… but shouldn't I face my fears head on?" She thought to herself.

Robin would be a hypocrite if she encouraged Rosan to do this but refused to do it herself.

Yes, the best thing to do was just lay it all out and they could decide what to do later.

She steeled herself and gazed back at those glowing eyes—

Only for twin gunshots to ring through the air.

Robin cursed her luck, as Rosan's gaze snapped towards the noise.

"Remember, you can tell me whenever you want," he assured, placing her on his back this time and securing her.

"He still thinks I have a problem with the way he's carrying me… so now he's adjusting… why is he so adorable?" she lamented, burying her face in the crook of his neck.

Well, there was always time to tell him about her discoveries. For now, since she was no longer in denial, she could enjoy being held by him and deal with the gunshot.

She felt like a pervert…

Poor oblivious Rosan just glanced back at her and smiled slightly, continuing his course until they landed a ways away from the commotion.

Banishing his wings, the redhead was about to place her down but seemed to sense her displeasure and kept her there.

She hummed in approval as they walked towards the commotion.

The duo looked curiously at the new arrival with neutral expressions.

"Who the hell is this ugly weirdo?" Rosan asked rudely, gazing at the pirate holding the gun with a raised brow.

Said pirate, immediately fell to his knees at the insult. "He called me an ugly weirdo…"

"Don't worry Boss Foxy! You're not an ugly weirdo!" A woman assured him.

Rosan perked a brow at that. "No he's definitely ugly and according to my judgement, he's a weirdo too. Look at his stupid ass hair. It looks like he has a split-head."

"I said the same thing!" a near comatose Luffy agreed, picking his head off the floor.

The man, who had regained his confidence, subsequently collapsed once more. "You really are a Devil…" Foxy muttered sadly.

The redhead snorted as he heard Robin's quiet giggles. "So judging by the fact that Luffy is comatose on the floor because of Nami, I'm guessing he accepted that Davy Back Fight challenge?"

Nami growled in irritation. "He didn't even give us a chance to react! He got goaded so easily!"

Rosan pat her head. "Don't stress it, you look like Usopp when you're so panicked."

He caught the fist aimed at his face and gazed at his navigator with a small smirk.

"I really hate you," Nami grit out.

"Get in line. At least think of something more fun to say," he snorted.

A sudden figure appeared in front of him, that caused him to gaze down to an eyeful of cleavage.

Robin's smile vanished.

"The bounty posters don't do you justice. Nice to meet you, Red Devil. I'm Porche," the girl announced, batting her eyes as she smiled up at him and held out her hand.

"Not interested," Rosan dismissed immediately. "Save your hospitality for someone who cares."

With that, the redhead turned away from the slightly stupefied woman, Robin still on his back.

"How rude…" Porche said as her confidence took a heavy blow.

"You deserve a reward," Robin muttered in his ear. She was smiling at the redhead.

He tilted his head in confusion. "Why? Did I do something special?"

"I just feel like it. You're incredibly charming when you're being you," she replied.

The redhead chuckled slightly, and gazed back at her. "You're finally being honest with yourself eh? Finally realizing the greatness of yours truly?"

Robin simply laughed slightly and rested her head on his shoulder. "You know… I think I have."

---

"They sure know how to make it a spectacle."

The Foxy Pirates were setting up the Davy Back fights like it were as easy as breathing. Stands, seats, the actual event… it was all done seamlessly by what may as well have been experts.

It was the most impressive thing Rosan had seen so far from this lackluster crew. He wasn't even sure he wanted to subjugate any of them.

"Impressive isn't it?" Porche crooned to the duo of Robin and Rosan. She sidled up to the redhead's right, considering Robin was on the left and smiled up at him.

Rosan side eyed her with a neutral expression. "I never did get why so many strangers speak to me like we're friends. They call me Red Devil for a reason and everyone has found out in time. You think you'll be any different?"

"Maybe~" She beamed easily.

"I warned you," the redhead said boredly.

"Are you alright? You're aggravated," Rosan reached out to Robin.

Robin couldn't even say she was surprised Rosan sensed her irritation. "Her presence annoys me."

"Is it her personality? I don't really like the bubbly attitude either. She gives me attention whore vibes."

Robin almost snorted. Rosan calling someone an attention whore, while being the star of the show was very Rosan like of him.

He really was a hypocrite in the funniest of ways.

"Something like that," she eventually replied.

"Why are you talking to me so much?" Rosan asked calmly, glowing gaze piercing into her without a hint of amusement.

Porche simply smiled. "Because you're cute of course!"

"I'm going to kill her."

"Not yet. You sound like me right now."

Rosan stared at the Foxy Pirate in disinterest. "Thanks for the compliments. Since you're saying what you think, I'll say what I think. That mask on your face looks really stupid. Don't even entertain flirting with me, as long as your fashion sense is that terrible."

Porche reeled back at that and touched her mask in shock, gazing at the redhead with wide eyes.

"Now, the event is about to start and I imagine your rather important for that," Rosan pointed out accurately.

"Oh! Right!" Porche gasped, darting off to the stage. "We'll talk more later, Rosan~!"

The duo watched her go with varying expressions.

"What made her think I wanted to keep talking?" He muttered in confusion.

"I don't know but if she keeps trying, I won't be able to resist breaking her bones," Robin replied with a narrowed gaze.

An abrupt snort from Rosan, made her gaze finally leave the departing woman and she gazed at the redhead.

Amusement was shining clear in his eyes, as he said, "I knew you were as possessive as me."

She opened her mouth to protest… and abruptly shut it as horror washed over her.

"Kahaha! You realized!" Rosan cackled, pulling her in a side hug. "Don't worry about it. Since I know your just as possessive as me, I'll take necessary steps to not illicit homicidal tendencies from you."

"I'm… not…" Robin tried to say but her words died in her throat.

Was she… Oh no… Didn't she tell everyone else she was already?!

"I'm not as bad as you," she decided eventually.

"For now," he chimed.

She let out a tired sigh and just allowed the redhead to hold her, as they watched the Davy Back Fight begin.

After a declaration from both Luffy and Foxy, the games began immediately.

"Who do you think the Foxy Pirates want the most? Who do we want the most?" Mod asked gently.

"They want Chopper the most," Rosan grunted. "Me, Chopper, Robin. That's who they want based on their eyes. As for us… we don't really want any of them. Perhaps I can pull some strings to subjugate them."

A crew this large, while useless, could be good fodder… Maybe. He wasn't impressed by any of them.

"You, Chopper and I… That doesn't bode well," Robin mused.

"That's why we'll win. Clean sweep."

She smiled and prepared for the games to begin.

The Straw Hats were given a sheet of paper to decide who was going to participate in which event. Due to their lack of numbers, they were given some leeway and were allowed to submit multiple members for a round, but it seemed like he was free to interfere unless given the instruction otherwise.

Sounded simple enough.

It was time to show these idiots just how outclassed they were.

The teams were set up like such for the Straw Hats.

Round 1: Donut Race

Participants: Nami, Usopp, Chopper

Round 2: Run Roller Round

Participants: Sanji, Luffy, Rosan

Round 3: Groggy Ring

Participants: Rosan, Robin, Zoro

With that settled, the contest was quickly brought underway with Round 1.

"So we have to use three barrels to make one boat?" Rosan mused, tilting his head to the side. "Seems simple enough. Bring me the barrels."

"SIMPLE?! YOU'RE UP AGAINST THE FOXY PIRATES SHIPWRIGHTS WITH NONE OF YOUR OWN!" Foxy bragged confidently.

The redhead rolled his eyes. "A little raft is easy. I know a thing or two."

The Donut Race was simple. Using the given equipment, the participants had to make a boat using just what they had and lap around the island once.

It was almost dreadful how easy they were making this for Rosan.

For a crew without a shipwright, this should be completely painful for them.

Luckily for the Straw Hats, their scout had been maintaining a ship for years.

"Hey, make sure you're watching so you don't accuse us of breaking the rules," Rosan called out to them, once they brought the required barrels.

The Straw Hats grinned eagerly at their scout.

"But of course! We're keeping a close eye on you all!" The announcer, Itomimizu informed them.

"Good."

Rosan hummed as his eyes began glowing brighter and he extended a hand.

All the Foxy Pirates watched with slack jaws, as the redhead broke and began rearranging every barrel, rotating the mass of splintered wood in a fascinating display, until it began combining like a puzzle.

Once he finished, he dropped his creation gently on the ground and smirked.

Everyone stared at the finished product with bugged eyes.

"U-Uh..."

The advanced, sleek raft gleamed in the sun and Rosan grabbed the two paddles, gently placing them on the ship (not like they needed it) with a smug aura.

"Done," he said calmly. "We're ready."

The Straw Hats felt a well of satisfaction, at seeing the open mouthed disbelief of the Foxy Pirates and glanced at their scout in appreciation.

Sure he may have tormented them... but Rosan would always make himself, and by extension them, look good in the eyes of other people.

What a showoff.

"Just wait until the round starts. We're deleting all their morale from the jump," Rosan said, smirking confidently.

"W-Well! It appears that both teams are ready! Let's not waste anymore time!" The announcer called.

It took them a few more minutes to get the boats situated and once they did, the event began.

The announcer grabbed his mic, all signs of nervousness gone as he introduced the two groups.

"WELCOME TO THE FOXYYYY GAMES! LET'S NOT WASTE ANY TIME AND GET RIGHT INTO OUR EVENT, THE DONUT RACE!" Itomimizu announced atop his flying bird.

The crowd roared loudly at that.

"FOXY! FOXY! FOXY! FOXY!"

"What a convenient crowd," Sanji scoffed at the pirates.

"Representing the Foxy Pirates and led by our idol, we have Team Porche riding on the Cutie Wagon! She is accompanied by the Fishman Capote and our Tiger Shark, Monda!"

Porche waved at the screaming crowd and winked at Rosan, sending out kisses in every direction (but mostly his) and grinning as they roared louder.

Rosan's eyes sparked maliciously, as he made a realization.

"And representing the Straw Hat Pirates, we have Team Nami, riding the Mini Black Rose! She is accompanied by Usopp and the adorable Chopper!"

"Their shark is controlling the ship," Nami muttered in annoyance.

"Isn't that cheating?" Chopper whispered.

"Can't complain about cheating," Usopp lamented. "I'm sure Rosan helped our ship out so let's win this!"

"Don't worry. I'll carry us to victory!" Nami assured, eyes glinting madly as she pieced together Clima.

"Win? We've never once lost the Donut Race and you think you can win?!" Porche laughed. "Say goodbye to one of your crew members!"

"We'll see about that," Nami snorted, glaring heatedly at the arrogant girl.

"Ready, set, GO!"

The two ships rocketed off but that wasn't all...

Almost as soon as the race started, a plethora of pirates apart of Foxy's crew began firing at the Straw Hat's ship.

"Right off the gates, the Foxy Pirates begin their bombardment!"

Rosan snorted. "Expected," he said, turning towards the members holding the cannons, pistols and other various firearms.

His crafted raft, was neck and neck with the swimming shark but there wouldn't be much they could do to dodge the incoming fire.

"H-HEY!" Usopp squealed as a cannon came dangerously close to hitting them.

"So this is how they cheat," Nami growled, grabbing Clima. "Two can play at that game!"

Activating the Iron Dial (she really did love Rosan) Nami began blocking all the projectiles coming her way with the solid cloud and grinned as they battered her impressive defenses.

Without any hesitation, the navigator grinned maliciously and removed a piece of Clima, before placing it in her other hand.

The lone piece began sparking red and she aimed at the waters near their opponents and let loose a moderate amount of electricity.

"Careful, the waters ahead are sharp," Nami said cheekily.

"Lightning Bolt!"

Porche watched in shock, as Monda was immediately fried to the point of unconsciousness and their ship abruptly stopped.

"M-Monda!" She called in surprise, glaring at the grinning navigator.

"If you don't mind, we'll be taking our lead now," Nami waved as she pointed the same piece of Clima behind her.

"Thank you, Rosan~! You're the best!" She grinned, generating a strong force of wind that propelled their ship even further ahead.

"Nothing for me?" Clima sounded offended.

"Nope!"

"How cruel..."

"When did Nami become so scary?" Usopp whispered in awe, watching her manhandle everything with ease.

He had been about to begin firing his pellets in retaliation, but for now, he'd uh... keep his cards close and let Nami handle it.

"She's always been scary," Chopper shivered.

"SHUT THE HELL UP!" Nami barked at the two, successfully cowing them.

"I-Incredible! That witch with a foul personality is handling everything on her own!" The announcer balked nervously.

"I CAN REACH YOU UP THERE!" Nami roared to the man on top of the bird.

"She talks rough too!"

She snarled but shook her head, glancing over at the pirates who had stopped shooting at her.

The reason was made clear, as Sanji continuously kicked one of the unconscious bodies with shark teeth, saying "How dare you shoot at Nami-san like that!" all the while.

Rosan, who looked as if he was about to interfere, simply sat back down and shot a proud smile at Nami.

She did not flush in happiness. She hated Rosan. No way was she happy that he was proud of her showing!

"ALRIGHT! LET'S WIN!" She shouted, pumping her fist.

"Why are you suddenly so excited?" Usopp sweatdropped.

The sound of another ship approaching made them look back and they saw that the fishman, Capote, was pushing Porche's raft while she desperately tried to wake up Monda, to some success.

The Shark let out a whine as it awoke, snapping fully awake as Porche plopped a fish in its mouth.

"I should have put more power into it but I didn't wanna kill the fish," Nami grumbled.

Porche growled at them. "You… how dare you attack us as soon as the race starts!"

"Ironic coming from you!" Nami snarled.

"BOSS! DO SOMETHING!" She shouted.

Foxy was already on it. The Pirate Captain shouted, "Smoke bomb!" and threw it at them.

"Fefefefe! Go Porche! Overtake them—"

Foxy, who was on top of Hamburg, blinked as he was tipped over by a foot and launched into the ocean.

"Take a swim, split-head," Rosan said calmly.

Foxy curled into himself in depression. "H-He called me a split-head."

The captain splashed into the water.

"O-OH NO! BOSS!" Porche screeched. "SOMEONE SAVE HIM!"

Hamburg launched himself into the water in a panic, vanishing beneath the waves as Rosan snorted to himself.

"Idiots," he said, amusement in his gaze as he put his sneaker back down.

Nami growled in irritation as the smoke blurred her vision and she coughed as she inhaled it.

"Clima, give me some wind to clear out the smoke."

"Right."

The staff began generating strong gusts of winds and soon, the giant smoke dissipated just in time for them to see their next obstacle.

A giant coral reef stared back at them and Nami glanced at the waves in slight confusion.

There was something wrong with these waves…

"Chopper, Usopp. Wait," the navigator held out a hand, gazing at them in contemplation.

"W-Wait? But why?! They're gonna catch up to us!" Usopp shouted in confusion with Chopper nodding right next to him.

True to the sniper's words, Porche and her team finally caught up with victorious grins on their faces but the navigator paid them no mind.

"We'll be taking the lead now!" She shouted, running headfirst into the coral reef.

"Look! Nami what are you doing?!" Usopp asked in panic.

What was the point of staying here like this?! Did Nami inherit Rosan's arrogance and want to win even after they took a lead?

Those Foxy guys were gonna win the race now! They needed to go quick!

Nami ignored them as her mind began running and a light bulb finally went off, as Porche's ship appeared right where it started.

"Chopper, Usopp. Row to the left!" She ordered.

The two were just as confused as Porche's team but they listened to Nami's orders and began paddling to the left, as their ship sailed forward.

Their jaw dropped at not being pushed out like the previous ship and they looked at their navigator in awe.

"Why are we sailing through?" Chopper asked in shock.

"This is a current maze. There's a whirlpool on the other side creating smaller whirlpools inside of it. If we take the right path, it'll take us right out but if we don't we'll get pushed back like those idiots," she explained.

"That's our navigator!" Usopp praised, laughing at her genius mind.

Chopper began laughing too until he made a realization. "Wait… did you just say there's a whirlpool on the other side?"

Usopp stopped laughing immediately and went pale. "AHHHH WE'RE GONNA DIE! ROSAN HELP!" He screamed.

A fist to the skull shut him up. "Idiot! We don't need Rosan for this… I've got this," Nami said confidently.

"We got this right, Clima?"

"Yes. We do. Just do what you plan on doing. I'll make it smoother."

Perfect. They didn't need to have their scout reveal even more of his cards. He had done plenty already.

"Woah! Navigator Nami and her team have made it through the reef maze! But their joy will be short lived because a Long Ring Whirlpool has shown up!"

Nami took a deep breath as they burst out of the reef and immediately set her plan into motion.

Billowing iron clouds began pouring out of one end of Clima, forming a ramp as a gust of wind burst out the other end, speeding up their ship more and more.

The ship began ascending the ramp that was hanging over the deadly whirlpool, boosted by the great bursts of wind she was currently using and sending them flying through the air.

"W-WOAH!" Chopper squealed excitedly as the ship began soaring through the air from the momentum.

This was amazing!

"YOU'RE AWESOME, NAMI!" Usopp praised in excitement as they soared further and further.

Nami puffed up at that and grinned wildly.

The new additions to Clima were proving to be more useful then she could ever imagine and she couldn't wait until she practiced more with it.

The Iron Cloud served as an incredible wall for her lacking defense, and the addition of Rosan's lightning and the wind of the Jet Dial, had bolstered up her offense too!

She wasn't anywhere near the levels of the true monsters of her crew, but in terms of offensive ability she was getting damn close!

They landed on the water, just in time to see Hamburg and a soaked Foxy.

The split-head was panting in exhaustion, but still had the energy to smirk victoriously at them.

"Captain Foxy is back in action after that dreadful dive!"

"Behold! My next trick!" Foxy announced, pointing a hand at them. "Now you lose for sure—"

A foot rested itself slowly on his back and the captain froze in horror.

Mechanically, the pirate slowly turned his head back to find that demonic redhead smirking at him once more, having somehow made it to his location at ridiculous speeds.

"I don't think you got enough. Take another swim," Rosan suggested, smiling charmingly at the man.

With that, he kicked the pirate once more.

"OH NO! BOSS FOXY!"

"YOU DAMNED HANDSOME REDHEAD!" Foxy shouted as he plunged once more in the water.

Rosan's eyes simply glinted maliciously, as Hamburg dove once more in the ocean to save the Captain.

"Alright, finish up the race. I've decided who we're taking," the redhead informed the beaming three.

"Right!" They shouted in curiosity.

Who exactly did he want?

Well, they were about to figure out in a bit, because even with Capote and Monda combining in some weird duo move, they weren't able to surpass the enhanced ship that Rosan molded and without anyone else interfering, it was a free win!

"I can't believe it! The Foxy Pirates… Have lost?!" Itomimizu gasped.

"Alright! No sweat!" Nami beamed, giving a high-five to Chopper, Usopp and Rosan.

The redhead nodded in approval. "Good job you three. I barely had to do a thing. And they call you the weakling trio."

The three fell a bit at that.

Weakling... trio? People were calling them that?

"W-Who calls us that?" Usopp asked.

"...Me," the redhead admitted.

They fell again.

"You're such an ass," Nami muttered.

"Where's everyone else?" Chopper asked in curiosity.

They watched Rosan close his eyes in annoyance and he pointed in a direction.

They soon understood why.

Luffy was having a gourmet meal, eating everything he could get his hands on as the Foxy Pirates, who had been previously cheering him in hopes of distracting him, looked on in horror at the results of the match.

Zoro was enjoying booze with a group of the enemy pirates, who had been drinking too... up until they lost the round.

Sanji was surrounded by a group of cute girls, who all had looks of disbelief at the loss.

Robin was reading a book. She was the only one looking at them and when she saw their incredulous look, she said, "What? Rosan had it handled so I thought I'd just read a book in the meantime… I've been trying to finish this one for ages."

The cowardly trio fell even further.

"A group of girls must have thought I was similar to Sanji and they tried to distract me... but I just ignored them," Rosan added in annoyance, much to their sympathy.

What weird timeline were they in… where they sympathized with Rosan of all people?!

---

"We… lost?" Foxy balked.

This… this was not according to plan at all. They didn't expect that damn navigator to be so skilled!

Oh no…

"Woohoo! We won!" A bruised and battered Luffy cheered.

"Excellent job, Nami-san!" A bruised and battered Sanji praised.

"…" A bruised and battered Zoro said nothing.

"You're lucky I love you, Robin… and that Rosan is your bodyguard," Nami said, shaking her fist.

Robin, who was resting on Rosan's back (not as a safety measure… certainly not), simply smiled at their navigator.

"I'll get her later," Rosan assured, getting a grin from Nami.

Robin's smile vanished and she glared at the back of Rosan's head.

The Foxy Pirates had an aura of dread around them, that contrasted the Straw Hats good mood drastically.

"So who do we want?" Luffy asked curiously, scratching his head.

None of these dudes looked really interesting at all...

Nami perked up at that. "Rosan, you said you want someone, right?"

The redhead nodded. "I'm picking. Any problems?"

No one had any so he stepped up to regard the massive crew.

Despite gauging all their reactions, Rosan had already decided on which one he wanted from the moment the first game started.

The redhead walked up to his target and gazed down at them with a neutral expression.

His target looked up in disbelief, glancing back and forth wildly before realizing his gaze had never left their person.

"Why are you so confused? I've chosen you, so come on now Porche," he said with a cocky grin.

The distraught blue haired girl blinked in confusion, jaw dropping at his decision.

"M-Me?!" She balked, not believing that she was actually chosen.

"GREAT DECISION ROSAN!" Sanji swooned, shooting the redhead a thumbs up.

Robin was not even remotely as pleased as the chef was. She blinked in confusion and asked, "Rosan… what do you think you're doing?"

Was he actually entertaining this woman's blatant flirting despite what he said earlier? Was he serious right now? What the hell was he thinkin—

"Look at their crew," Rosan responded.

She stamped down her anger and reluctantly listened to his demand.

"NOOO PORCHE! YOU BASTARD!" Someone sobbed.

"NOT OUR IDOL!"

"PORCHE COME BACK!"

"MEN! ENOUGH!"

That was Foxy and all the despairing pirates, glanced over at the Fox like man whose eyes were shadowed.

"You know the rules of the Davy Back Fight. Porche is no longer apart of the crew so quit crying for her," he said gravely.

The split-head looked serious for a moment as he gazed at the cool expression of the Red Devil.

"So that's your game, eh? Two can play at that," Foxy thought, concurring up a plan.

He would soon come to realize how foolish he was to do that.

Robin understood immediately and she cursed herself for getting… jealous of all things. "You did this to destroy their morale."

"When I want to win, I make sure its absolute. Please bare with it for a moment."

The Devil Child couldn't keep the smile off her face and she nodded. "I understand. Sorry for overreacting."

"Don't sweat it. You already made it clear you didn't like this girl so it was perfectly normal."

The scout glanced down at their new crewmate with a bored expression.

"Take that stupid mask off your face. You aren't a Foxy Pirate anymore," Rosan said loudly, making sure the dejected losers could hear him.

Porche hesitated but rules were rules and so, she removed the fox mask from her face.

"Good, now let's start the next game," Rosan muttered, turning away from them and walking off.

Porche glanced back at her crew before quickly following after the redhead.

"You're crafty, Rosan," Nami praised, gauging his intentions immediately.

She just hoped Robin didn't get too annoyed, considering Porche had been blatantly interested in the redhead.

"Hm. I wish they offered things besides crew members. All of them are useless," Rosan grunted.

"T-They aren't bad!" Porche spoke up, defending her crew.

The redhead didn't even spare her a glance. "Whatever you say. I doubt they're gonna win you back so get comfortable."

She bit her lip at his unwavering confidence. On one hand, she thought it was super hot how sure of himself he was but on the other… this was her former crew!

"Tell us about the next event," Rosan demanded, finally deigning to look at her.

She flinched at his order but this was her crew now so she'd tell him what it entailed.

Porche sighed…

At least this was a pretty cool crew. 400 million as a collective bounty was no joke...

Maybe they made a mistake dueling them.

---

The second event was the Run Roller Round.

Both teams were assigned a Point Getter and the Point Getter's goal was to skate around the field as much times as possible, within the 5 minutes they were designated as the Point Getter.

After the first 20 seconds of skating, the other Point Getter's could skate as well to either help out the designated Point Getter, or sabotage the enemy team.

Whoever got the most points, won and after the 5 minutes, another person would become the designated Point Getter.

It was a best of 3 basically. Whoever got two wins would win the entire event.

Rosan hummed as Robin adjusted his yellow jersey. It was short, looking akin to a crop top and it had the number 4 on his.

"What an ugly jersey," he grunted. It was ruining his entire outfit.

"It's fine. Only 15 minutes and you can take it off," Robin assured. "You picked Porche for more then just destroying their morale, right?"

Rosan smirked at her. "Yeah. If we somehow lose… then they'll want their idol back so this is a bit of a freebie round for us."

This would give him a good idea of what they could do. It wouldn't be the end of the world if they lost, but he'd rather they didn't.

She nodded at his thinking, impressed by the foresight.

"WILL BOTH TEAMS PLEASE MAKE THEIR WAY TO THE FIELDS!"

Rosan, Luffy and Sanji stepped onto the field at the same time as the Foxy Pirates and he gazed at them.

A cheetah, Foxy himself and some slow looking mini giant.

"ALRIGHT! THE COACH AND THE MANAGER CAN NOW BEGIN PLANNING!"

Nami, their coach, and Robin, the manager, gazed at the three runners with a contemplative expression on their face.

Porche watched curiously as the Straw Hats discussed. She chanced a glance over at the Foxy Pirates and wondered what they had planned.

It was rare for her to not be in this event but luck was on their side because they actually didn't include her.

No, her contribution would have been to help them cheat on the sidelines...

"What's the plan?" Usopp muttered a little nervously.

Rosan smiled slightly. "Porche, who will they select in each round?" He asked quietly.

She blanched at the question as everyone looked at her with unsavory gleams in their eyes.

"T-They're so underhanded!" She thought in disbelief.

"N-Normally they select me to run first round but since that's out of the question… I think to boost morale they'll start with Chiqicheetah," she answered truthfully.

Porche already swore loyalty to them. It would be shameful if she lied...

And something told her bad things would happen if she did.

"Hm…" Robin cupped her chin. "Rosan, do you think you can beat him? He's a cheetah so he is likely quick but if we beat him, this event could be over from the start."

Nami nodded at her words. "It would be a real blow if their heaviest hitter lost."

"Then I'll win," Rosan said matter of factly. "Put me at round 1."

They grinned at his confidence and looked back over at the former Foxy Pirate.

"Who next. What's up with that big guy? He doesn't look very fast," Rosan said, crossing his arms as he stared her down.

"He's really going to make me expose everything!" Porche thought in disbelief. "Well… he's not very fast at all," she admitted.

"We like to use Mashikaku as our wall and when its his time to race, I use my hypnotic abilities to put everyone in a trance for the 5 minutes… once the time is up, they run no laps and he runs enough to win the round."

Rosan's malicious smirk appeared. "I suppose it's a good thing we took you. You're quite pivotal to their cheating."

She said nothing, glancing away from the handsome man who was looking down on her.

"He'll probably run last… so Boss— I mean Foxy, will run second," she informed them.

"Luffy third should be fine," Robin instructed after some thinking. "Sanji should race second then."

Nami nodded at that and quickly jotted them down before handing them off to the Super Sparrow, Chuchun. "What will you do about the cheetah?"

Rosan let loose a low laughter that made them shudder.

"If it was normally a foot race, I'd just beat him but we're on skates so I'll have a bit of fun."

With that, the redhead made his way to the starting line at the same time as the cheetah.

"You know them well, Porche-chan!" Sanji praised Porche as they saw her first prediction come to fruition.

"Of course I do! I'm one of the beginning members of the Foxy Pirate," she replied.

"BOTH RACERS ARE SET! REPRESENTING THE STRAW HATS, WE HAVE THE 100 MILLION STARTING BOUNTY HIMSELF, THE RED DEVIL, ROSAN!"

"I fucking hate that title," Rosan said to himself, testing his skates with a calm expression.

"I doubt the Marines are going to accommodate your request to change it," Mod said, amusement seeping into her tone.

"Maybe if I reveal I'm Reaper, they'll change it back to Angel of Death…" He muttered.

He glanced over at the cheetah next to him and raised a brow as he saw the half animal… licking his fur.

Weirdo. This was why he thought Zoans were weirdos... what the hell was this? Why was he so deep in his own immersion, that he was licking his own fur?

"Round 1 of the Run Roller Round! BEGIN!"

Rosan rocketed off on his skates at a leisure pace and his eyes narrowed, as he saw the cheetah blur forward.

"Hoh?" He thought, tensing his legs as red sparks began dancing around his skin.

Everyone's eyes bugged, as the redhead dented the floor with a new surge of speed and quickly caught up with the cheetah.

"You're pretty fast," Rosan complimented, as he raced neck and neck with the hybrid cheetah. "But you just rely on your Devil Fruit. If you actually trained, you could be way faster."

If not for the skates, Rosan would have left this cheetah in the dust. He was already faster then a cheetah.

The lightning was rather overkill, but well... he had been a little power drunk ever since unlocking it and he wanted to train more with an ability that was natural to Modification.

Well, that applied to wind as well. He was seriously having a lot of fun with his new elements.

The cheetah growled, as the confident redhead suddenly took the lead and pushed himself to go faster.

That growl turned into a snarl, as Rosan began skating backwards to smirk at him in a demeaning manner.

"He's such a prick," Nami sighed, shaking her head at the showboating redhead who was keeping a comfortable lead.

"I didn't even know he could skate so well," Robin mentioned. "He was very clumsy as a child and we tried skating together once. He cried because he fell on his butt too many times while I didn't fall once."

"...That is the cutest thing I've heard today," Nami said calmly.

"It was so cute! After I saw him crying, I let him hold onto me for the rest of the time and he refused to let me go... so I skated for the both of us," she smiled fondly.

"Kami, what an endearing little child he must have been and you sounded so adorable too," the navigator sighed.

Seriously, they needed to watch the memories of little Rosan, he sounded way too cute.

"U-Um guys?" Usopp said shakily, white in disbelief. "I think we have a bit of a problem."

The Straw Hats took their gaze off of their scout, to look at where Usopp was pointing at and they went pale in horror.

"By the way Rosan... Does Luffy know how to skate?" Mod asked curiously.

Rosan's mind grounded to a halt at that question.

Did he… Wait, did Rosan actually skip over such a minute detail?

Wait… Did Luffy know how to skate?

The redhead turned the correct way again, considering he was about to finish his lap and what he saw, made him curse aloud.

"You've gotta be goddamn kidding me," he groaned.

Sanji, who looked on in disbelief, was trying to steady his little brother… who was struggling to just stand.

"I'm guessing he doesn't…" Mod said sheepishly.

"He said he wanted to do this one! How was I supposed to know he couldn't skate?!" Rosan growled in shock.

"Because you've been raising him like a son for 10 years. If you haven't taught him, it's likely he doesn't know," Mod said, struggling to not laugh.

As he finished a lap, the redhead stopped in front of the two and said, "Luffy you dumbass, why did you say you wanted to skate if you don't know how to skate?!"

He ignored the cheetah racing past him in favor of glaring at his youngest brother.

"I thought it would be easy!" Luffy complained. The rubber boy tried to push himself up and fell flat on his ass again.

Rosan's eyes narrowed. "Sanji, focus on winning your race while I teach this moron how to skate. Can you handle that?"

The tired chef nodded his head. "You need to focus on winning your race to. The Cheetah made good distance."

Rosan sneered as he watched the distance put between him and the cheetah who had transformed into his full zoan. "I've already won."

"THE 20 SECONDS HAVE PASSED! SUPPORT IS ABLE TO HELP NOW!"

Foxy grinned to himself. As soon as the redhead started moving, he'd use his ability to slow him down!

Sanji raised a brow. "You did?"

Rosan's body began sparking dangerously.

"Yeah I did. Don't move ahead of me."

Rosan held out a single hand, aiming at the cheetah's back with a sinister gleam.

"EMP: Thunder."

Foxy blinked dumbly. "Huh?"

Chiqicheetah ran on all fours as he snickered to himself.

Stupid cocky redhead. Stopping against him? The Speedster? He'd make him regret that—

BOOM.

The Foxy Pirate had absolutely no time to react, as a giant beam of sparking red electricity, ran him over with speeds none could react to.

He seized up and shuddered, before his eyes rolled to the back of his head.

"Gust."

A strong gale lifted the unconscious cheetah up, before tossing him over the rink without any remorse, immediately ringing him out.

...

"W-WHAT?! CHIQICHEETAH HAS BEEN BLOWN OFF COURSE DUE TO A FREAK WIND! AS A RESULT, THE WINNER OF THE FIRST ROUND IS THE RED DEVIL, ROSAN!"

"You are terrifying," Sanji muttered, as the sparks died down from Rosan's glowing body.

Everyone was gazing at the redhead, who had let out that massive beam of electricity, in blatant terror.

All they saw, was the Red Devil hold a single hand up before being blinded and deafened by the clap of thunder.

"D-Demon..." they thought.

Foxy blinked rapidly in shock as the race ended almost as soon as it started, glancing back and forth rapidly at where Chiqicheetah and Rosan were.

What... just happened?

"Let's end this next round. I'll make sure the other dudes don't interfere so just skate," Rosan muttered, hoisting Luffy up with a glare.

"Only this dumbass would make me have an oversight on something... C'mere. By the time I'm done with you, you'll be half decent at skating or you'll be a vegetarian," he promised.

Luffy turned pale in horror and began nodding rapidly at the threat of no meat.

Sanji stepped up next to Foxy with a sigh as he focused on winning his round.

If he won, there would be no need for a third race so he'd just win.

"ROUND 2 BEGINS WITH OUR GLORIOUS CAPTAIN FOXY AND THE PERVERTED CHEF SANJI!"

"TRY TO SOUND AT LEAST A LITTLE UNBIASED!" Sanji roared at the announcer.

"ALL THE STRAW HATS HAVE SUCH ROUGH PERSONALITIES!"

Sanji shook his head in annoyance and focused ahead.

"ROUND 2. BEGIN!"

The two shot off at the sound of the buzzer.

"Fefefefe! Behold, the dashing racer, Foxy!" The captain preened, despite Sanji taking an early lead.

"Shut up. No one cares what you have to say!" Sanji barked, focusing on maintaining his lead.

"N-No one cares?" Foxy asked himself, faltering as a depressive streak hit him once more.

The chef just shook his head and increased the lead, using his strong legs to make amazing progress.

"WE ALL CARE BOSS FOXY!" The crowd shouted in hopes of making him feel better.

Foxy perked up at that. "RIGHT! NOW IT'S TIME FOR ME TO WIN THIS!"

The pirate held out a hand at Sanji and grinned. "Noro Noro—,"

"The 20 seconds are up! Other racers may now interfere in the battle!"

Foxy never got to finish his sentence because right as he was about to fire off his attack, a stone wall arose in front of him and he crashed right into it.

"BOSS FOXY!" Everyone shouted in disbelief as the man fell back.

Sanji glanced back at the commotion and saw the stone wall, causing him to look over at where Rosan and Luffy were.

The redhead hadn't even glanced up, as he continuously instructed Luffy about everything he needed to know about skating. It was clear he had summoned the wall to knock Foxy unconscious, but their scout didn't look none the wiser.

"Seriously, he has such a cheating fruit," Sanji snorted, skating past the entire ring.

As he skated past Rosan and Luffy, he heard the redhead say, "You're made of rubber, how the hell can't you bend properly?" and couldn't hold back another snort.

Well, with Foxy unconscious, this race was as good as over. He just needed to finish a couple more laps to cement it—

"HELP! A GIRL IS DROWNING IN THE WATER OVER THERE AND A SHARKS ABOUT TO GET HER!" Someone shouted in a panic.

"HELP ME! PLEASE, I CAN'T SWIM!" A woman screamed in fear.

"That's oddly convenient," Nami muttered with a roll of her eyes, utterly unfazed by the ruse.

Who was that supposed to work on? Rosan didn't even think to look up at that scream, still instructing Luffy on what to do to quite a bit of success. The rubber boy was at least able to stand it looked like.

Seriously, these dudes and their cheap trick—

Wait a second.

"SANJI! WAIT!" Nami shouted but it was too late.

Rosan's eyes snapped up as he heard Nami's yell of desperation and he turned wild eyes towards Sanji.

Before he could summon a wall to knock the idiot unconscious too, it was already over.

The chef froze at the scream for help and without even thinking about it, he made a beeline for the ocean, leaping clean over the railing.

He dove in the water the moment he saw the girl flailing helplessly with a fin circling her and fished her out of the water.

"My hero!" She crooned, wrapping her arms around his neck and nuzzling him.

The chef's eyes turned to hearts and he said, "Of course! How could I ever let a poor lady like yourself drow—"

A weak bolt of red lightning hit the soaked chef and the woman he was holding, making them both seize up with shrieks that knocked the girl he just saved, unconscious.

Despite being incredibly weak, they were still wet and the chef glared up at Rosan, expression fading at the thunderous expression on both his and Nami's face.

"You absolute dumbass," they snarled, red sparks flying off the redhead and Clima once more.

"How could you fall for such a low effort trick?!" Nami barked.

"Do you only think with your dick, you stupid chef?" Rosan growled.

"Anyone coulda told you that. Wiggle any half decent looking chick and the dumbass cook is duped," Zoro snorted, shaking his head.

"W-What are you guys talking about?!" Sanji asked in confusion, recovering from being shocked by… Was it Nami or Rosan?

Maybe it was Nami... she was at least nice enough to limit the power behind the attack... Sanji was sure Rosan would have fried him and the weak woman with no remorse.

"Look at the "shark" that had you so worried," Nami growled.

Sanji turned around and saw that the shark in question… was the same shark that the crew had raced against in the first round.

...Huh?

"AS A RESULT OF GOING OUT OF BOUNDS, SANJI HAS BEEN DISQUALIFIED! THE WINNER OF THE MATCH, IS BOSS FOXY!"

"YEAHHHH GET EM FOXY!" The crowd roared.

Sanji glanced down at the girl who had been shocked unconscious and saw that she was wearing the Foxy Pirate getup.

"...Shit," the chef cursed sheepishly.

"I'm actually racing with two dumbasses," Rosan said, holding his head.

This was unreal. Luffy he expected this from. Usopp too. Hell, Chopper was innocent and naive so he expected this out of him too… but Sanji?

Actually, why was he shocked that the perverted chef who would bend over backwards to get a smile from a girl... was getting tricked by a girl?

Goddamnit.

"I shoulda picked Robin. Why didn't I pick Robin?" He asked himself, turning away from the sheepish chef. "Why didn't I pick my genius best friend who wouldn't fall for such a stupid fucking trick? We already make a fantastic duo. She skates better than me. What what I thinking?"

Oh he wasn't thinking... because his goddamn adorable little brother wanted to skate and Luffy was spoiled rotten and Sanji was one of the fastest in the crew.

"Your competitiveness is showing right now."

"Bite me, mother."

Rosan took a deep breath and turned towards his younger brother. "Okay, Luffy. I just need you to skate for 20 seconds. Can you do that for me?" He asked calmly.

"Yeah!" Luffy beamed.

"Good. After 20 seconds, I'll win you the race," Rosan assured.

"ROUND 3! THE CAPTAIN OF THE STRAW HATS HIMSELF, THE MAN WORTH 140 MILLION! STRAW HAT LUFFY! HE'LL BE GOING AGAINST OUR VERY OWN MASHIKAKU!"

Robin put a hand on the redhead's shoulder. "It's fine. You at least taught him enough to last 20 seconds. The moment you can help, just push that giant man off stage."

"That's the plan," Rosan grunted, analyzing the field.

The cheetah was fully incapacitated. Foxy was unconscious. This was perfectly fine.

"Wait. I didn't teach him how to turn," the redhead cursed.

"20 seconds, Rosan," Robin assured, pushing the scout towards the field.

The redhead nodded and watched as the final two competitors got ready to go.

"ROUND 3! BEGIN!"

Luffy, after a bit of struggle, shot off in a straight line, managing to keep himself upright the entire time.

Mashikaku… began trudging very slowly, not even moving at walking speeds.

"Just keep him on track and make him finish 2 laps. Then we win," Rosan muttered, eyes already glowing in preparation as the 20 seconds nearly reached the end.

"NORO NORO BEAM!"

"Noro Noro what?" he thought in confusion, glancing back just in time to see the supposedly unconscious Foxy, aiming a pinkish beam at him.

The redhead was so focused on making sure his brother didn't crash, that he didn't even register the Foxy Pirates captain and so, the attack struck true.

"FINALLY! BEHOLD MY NORO NORO ABILITIES! EVERYTHING THIS BEAM TOUCHES, SLOWS DOWN FOR 30 SECONDS!" Foxy, who was sporting a bloody nose, laughed. "I'VE BEEN TRYING TO USE IT THIS WHOLE TIME BUT FINALLY YOU'RE NOT HERE TO STOP ME!"

Rosan couldn't even react, considering he was caught by the ability.

"Oh no," Nami said in horror, watching as their scout remained completely stationary.

"We've been out cheated," Robin muttered. That was not good at all. Looks like they lost this round...

"FEFEFEFE! NOW…" Foxy looked over at Luffy and grinned at seeing the rubber boy crash through a wall due to not being able to turn.

"W-Woah!" Luffy yelped, shooting out his hand to grab the gate to try and save himself.

It was not to be however because Foxy himself, cheekily loosened the captain's grip and made him fall out of bounds.

"GENIUS THINKING FROM BOSS FOXY HIMSELF! DUE TO STRAW HAT NO LONGER BEING ON THE COURSE, HE HAS LOST! THE WINNER OF THE RUN ROLLER ROUND, IS THE FOXY PIRATES!"

"YEAHHHHHHHHH!" The roar of the pirate crew was deafening.

Rosan let out a sigh as the effects of Foxy's Devil Fruit wore off and he closed his eyes.

"He got me," the redhead conceded. It was sloppy of him to not account the man's Devil Fruit but he was confident that no matter what it was, he'd be able to win regardless.

Seems like his arrogant nature came to bite him.

Wouldn't be the first time.

"Damn it," Nami cursed with a frown. "Guess no clean sweep huh?"

"Guess not," Rosan shrugged. "It's unfortunate but these things happen."

Robin placed a hand on his shoulder. "You did good… and honestly, I expected you to be even angrier. You hate losing after all."

"...Don't remind me," Rosan grunted. "But it's fine. This round doesn't hold that much value… they'll just take Porche back and we don't lose anything important."

"I'm right here," Porche deadpanned at his rather cruel statement. She was over the moon that the Foxy Pirates won. They were her true pirate crew after all and even if she swore loyalty to the Straw Hats, her loyalty still lie with them—

"FOR WINNING THE SECOND ROUND, I FOXY PICK THIS PERSON TO JOIN OUR CREW. COME, NICO ROBIN!" Foxy shouted in victory.

Porche blanched.

"Huh?"

---

…

Robin stopped in disbelief, stunned by what she just heard.

Did she… Did she hear that correctly?

She was picked?

"W-What?!" Nami balked in horror.

"AHHHHHHHH! NOT ROBIN!" Chopper squealed in horror.

"AHHHHHH DON'T GO ROBIN!" Usopp sobbed.

"…" Zoro said nothing, frown on his face.

"I… really messed up," Sanji said in disbelief.

"This didn't go according to plan now did it?" she mused through the connection.

…

Robin looked up in confusion.

"Rosan?"

The Devil Child suddenly gained a nervous expression.

"FEFEFEFE! TWO CAN PLAY AT THAT GAME, RED DEVIL! YOU TOOK PORCHE BECAUSE SHE WAS IMPORTANT TO US SO WE RETURNED THE FAVOR TO YOU!" Foxy laughed hysterically.

He then turned towards his former crewmate with a confident grin.

"Don't worry Porche, not only did me choosing Nico Robin reduce their morale, they are now missing one member for the next game! We'll get you back for sure!"

Porche didn't respond. Her face was white in terror and she slowly began to back away from whatever she was looking at.

"Porche?" Foxy called in confusion.

Everyone froze as an intense pressure washed over them and some even fell to their knees as they began to hyperventilate.

"You think you're funny?" A quiet voice asked.

"E-Eh?" Foxy stammered, backing away a bit.

"I said, do you think you're funny?"

Portgas D. Rosan radiated an absolutely murderous aura, as his expression iced over and his eyes went cold. The glow was completely gone from his eyes, as the depths of the abyss stared back at them.

"Because I don't think you're very funny," he said gravely, visage utterly unsettling.

His entire crew looked at him with worry on their features but didn't dare say anything.

"R-Rosan, please calm down!" Mod stammered. Despite how cool and collected he currently look, on the inside was an entirely different story.

Rosan was boiling with rage at the moment. It was almost overwhelming, how much his anger was flowing through and Mod bit her lip nervously.

Let it be known, that when Rosan said he was bad at getting a taste of his own medicine, he meant it.

"R-Rules are rules! Nico Robin is now our ally and now you have to complete the next game with just Roronoa Zoro!" Foxy said, pointing a finger at the redhead.

"Now, come join the Foxy Pirates, Nico Robin!"

"I-IN A STUNNING TURN OF EVENTS, BOSS FOXY HAS PICKED NICO ROBIN OVER PORCHE! WITH THAT, THE GROGGY RING WILL ONLY HAVE TWO COMPETITORS ON THE STRAW HATS SIDE!"

Robin chanced a concerned glance at Rosan but slowly made her way over.

"Robin."

She paused and turned around to face her best friend.

"Don't get too comfortable. You're coming back to me."

The woman shuddered at his tone and held his icy gaze. "I'll be waiting."

"Not for long," he replied stonily, looking so much like he did without his emotions.

With that, the two turned away from each other and the pressure finally abated.

"Welcome to the crew, Nico Robin!" Foxy said, recovering a bit from what just transpired.

Robin smiled thinly, stamping down the frustration, as the connection between her and Rosan abruptly cut. "For your sake, I hope this crew still exists at the end of the day."

---

The third event was the Groggy Ring. It was a 3v3 game, where one person on each team was the "ball" and the goal was to knock the enemy ball into the goal.

Weapons were not allowed but other then that, it was fair game.

"Are we allowed to kill?"

The Foxy Pirates shuddered at that question.

Normally, they would answer that yes, casualties were to be expected… but something told them that if they allowed it, it would get bloody very quickly.

"N-No, killing is not allowed!" The referee stammered.

Rosan glanced coolly at him, detecting the lie in a heartbeat. "Pity. I guess I'll do the next best thing."

"Rosan, are you alright?" Nami asked in concern.

"Y-Yeah… with one person down and Zoro unable to use swords, you've gotta be careful!" Usopp stammered.

"You're not going to ask for tips? I-I can tell you who you're gonna go against!" Porche stuttered, keeping her distance from the suddenly very scary redhead.

The redhead completely ignored them. There was a disturbing amount of focus in his eyes as he stared at the field with a blank gaze.

"I will be the ball. Come, Zoro," he said calmly, taking the stupid crown. Taking his hair out of its bun, Rosan nestled the hat on top of his head and promptly stepped on the field.

"No weapons is a shame… I can't use my swords," Zoro grunted to the redhead.

"It doesn't matter. You don't actually have to do a thing," Rosan retorted, visage still unnaturally calm. "I'm going to deal with them. Actually, just let me do this."

Zoro shrugged a the request. "Sure thing. But you owe me a good spar later. I think I've finally figured out that technique we were talking about."

"Understood. I'll help you with it to the best of my ability."

"THE FINAL ROUND OF THE DAVY BACK FIGHT BEGINS!"

The crowd roared their excitement.

"REPRESENTING THE STRAWHATS, WORTH A TOTAL OF 170 MILLION BERI! WE HAVE PIRATE HUNTER RORONOA ZORO AND THE RED DEVIL ROSAN!"

Rosan's gaze turned razor sharp.

"AND REPRESENTING THE FOXY PIRATES! WE HAVE THE INDOMITABLE, UNDEFEATED, INVINCIBLE, GROGGY MONSTERS, HAMBURG, PICKLES AND BIG PAN!"

The crowd turned deafening.

Zoro whistled, as three people, each getting larger then the last, appeared.

The smallest was Hamburg but he still towered over the duo.

Pickles was in the middle, towering over even Hamburg.

Big Pan was the largest by a margin. It looked like he was half fishman, half giant.

"You sure you don't need help?" The swordsman asked curiously.

Rosan didn't even blink… actually they were pretty sure he hadn't blinked this entire time.

"This is hardly a warm-up... In fact, this will serve as a good dose of stress relief."

After flipping a coin to see which side they would start on (the coin flip was rigged so Rosan lost), the redhead was forced to stand on their side of the field, as Zoro stood all the way on the opposite side.

He gazed at the three huge figures with a deadly expression on his face.

"Blame your captain for what I'm about to do to you 3," he whispered quietly.

"BEGIN!"

"GROGGY MONSTERS! ONE MONSTER BURGER PLEASE!" Foxy demanded immediately.

The crowd froze at that.

"AT THE START OF THE MATCH?!"

"FOXY ISN'T PLAYING AROUND!"

"FOR PORCHE!"

"FOR PORCHE!"

"FOR PORCHE!"

Rosan ignored it all.

He ignored the cheering crowd.

He ignored the 3 Groggy Monsters pulling out weapons.

He ignored his crew complaining about the blatant breaking of rules.

He ignored the referee looking away from the cheating.

The redhead locked eyes with Robin. The Robin who was being surrounded by people that he didn't care about. The people trying to get attention from his Robin.

Blue locked onto Red and Purple and Robin shuddered as she saw his cold visage, shift into a furious snarl so quickly, it left her stunned.

His raw rage slammed into her and she watched him utter one word.

"Mine," he snarled, eyes glowing like the sun.

With that, the redhead was off.

Pickles didn't even have time to blink as Rosan appeared in front of him.

Everyone watched in stunned silence, as the redhead tackled their tackle machine with no effort at all.

All Pickles saw, was the snarling visage of a demon, as Rosan began pummeling his face with brutal force, swinging with such force, the crowd was immediately silenced.

"W-WHAT MONSTROUS STRENGTH DISPLAYED BY THE RED DEVIL!"

Rosan began punching the man's head further and further into the field with relentless speed. His punches were so fast and brutal, that the floor underneath Pickles head began caving in from the backlash.

Everyone winced at the sound of flesh meeting flesh and covered their ears as Pickles began screaming from the assault.

"S-SOMEONE HELP! GET HIM OFF ME!"

Still Rosan did not stop. It was like a demon had been unleashed and everyone was beginning to see exactly why he was called the Red Devil.

W-Was he even aware about the rules of the game...?

If it were up to the scout, he would have kept going until the man's head was fully pulverized.

Unfortunately, he couldn't kill them. Even if they lied about it, they made the rules and Rosan wouldn't even remotely jeopardize the chance of losing Robin.

So he supposed breaking his bones would have to do.

The redhead stopped punching and raised a hand, catching the massive iron club trying to bludgeon him.

Hamburg froze in shock as the redhead's demonic gaze landed on him, glowing eyes promising something not quite fatal, but very close.

With just a squeeze, one of his clubs completely broke and the Foxy pirate hastily dropped the broken piece to grip the other one with both hands.

At the same time, Big Pan reared back a fist and tried connecting to the redhead.

Rosan sneered and performed a perfect vault, landing atop Big Pan's fist and immediately noting the texture.

It was slippery… probably because he was some type of Fishman.

It didn't matter. None of it would matter soon enough.

Rosan turned away from the Giant Fishman and glared at Hamburg. Tensing his legs, the scout rocketed off towards the leader of the Groggy Monsters and landed a devastating kick to the man's face.

The momentum was so strong, it lifted Hamburg straight off his feet and he soared through the air, heading straight towards a slightly surprised Zoro.

Rosan glared at the man he sent flying and red sparks began dancing across his skin, as he tensed his legs.

The redhead vanished from his spot and the ground denting was the only sign that he moved... before he suddenly appeared in their line of sight... chasing Hamburg's flying body and keeping pace.

Everyone's eyes bugged at that.

Red sparks followed after him as he began closing the distance and his next action, made the crowd go completely and utterly silent, realizing the round was over before it even started.

The running demon jumped into the air, ending up ahead of Hamburg, and his downward trajectory intercepted the man mid flight, right before Rosan slammed both his sneakers onto the pirate's head.

Hamburg's head caved into the dirt as the man's eyes rolled to the back of his skull, a puddle of blood forming underneath him.

Rosan ignored the crack of bones and slowly stepped off the body, expression utterly uncaring as he wiped the dirt off his shoes with the man's broken body.

None had anything to say at the brutal and violent act, just staring in horror as the realization that this was the Red Devil, seeped into them.

"H-How t-terrifying! In no time at all, Rosan has taken out two of the Groggy— Eep!"

The announcer yelped in fear, as those terrifying eyes looked up at him.

"I really hate biased announcers so save the talking for after I'm done or you're next," Rosan snarled violently.

It reminded him of that stupid dumbass back at Daybreak.

The silence of the man satisfied him and he gazed at his final opponent on the opposite side of the field.

The giant was clearly all muscle and no brain and he was gazing confusedly at both Pickle and Hamburg.

Rosan fully stepped off the unconscious Hamburg and began approaching the Fishman that dwarfed him.

Everyone watched as the redhead broke off into a slow jog, that quickly picked up in speed until he began sprinting at visible speeds that contrasted how quickly he caught up to Hamburg earlier.

They were confused as to why they could still see him, but all thoughts of him being a showoff were wiped away, as two demonic wings sprouted out of Rosan's back mid run and that sprint turned into flight.

Rosan soared across the fields with Ragnarok, eyes never leaving the Fishman as he steadily increased the speed of his flight.

Big Pan saw the approach and cocked his fist back, before punching downwards to where Rosan's location was.

He did not connect with his target.

Rosan flew above the man's fist, never once stopping in his flight and suddenly changed his course, flying parallel to the man's body as he ascended.

Higher and higher he went, until he was right above the man's, crown guarded, head and the redhead glared down at him.

"You're slippery, it makes you hard to grab…"

His eyes transformed into slits.

"Let me fix that."

Rosan's teeth turned serrated.

No one was able to stop their eyes from bugging, or their jaws from dropping, as Rosan one upped his previous actions by transforming into a massive dragon before their very eyes.

"I think we picked the wrong crew to mess with," every single Foxy pirate thought in horror as a shadow loomed over them and the dragon roared violently.

"RAOGHHHHHHHHHH!" Rosan howled, open jaw lighting up red.

The terrifying creature peered down at Big Pan like he were a mere insect, before unleashing a hellish waterfall of fire, directly over the suddenly smaller Big Pan.

"RAGHHHHHHHHHHHH" Big Pan roared, as the flames from above bathed his entire body.

"Be glad I can't kill you," Rosan sneered, making sure his flames weren't lethal as he showered the man in his draconic fire.

Finally he cut off the attack and snarled loudly, sending a deep rumble through everyone's bones.

A charred Big Pan wasn't even allowed to teeter, as a clawed reptilian hand, gripped the front of his face.

Without any hesitation at all, the dragon slammed the Wotan's head into the goal with a thunderous crash.

…

There was a stunned silence, as they watched the one man army slaughter their best Groggy Ring performers without breaking a sweat.

"My… I haven't seen you so angry in so long," Mod said in shock, looking at the brutal beat down with wide eyes.

"H-He didn't even use me and he's still this scary," Ram muttered in disbelief.

Rosan ignored them both and peered down at the referee, back in human form. "Call the match."

The cheating ref, to his credit, tried very hard to ignore the very obvious outcome, in hopes that one of them would wake up to maybe bring back the round or appeal to him cheating.

Rosan was not having any of it.

The redhead let loose a terrifyingly loud snarl and kicked Big Pan up to a sitting position.

Then, they watched with horror as he hoisted the unconscious Wotan up over his head and began to fly up like he wasn't holding someone astronomically larger then him.

Rosan glared at the goal post and began repeatedly slamming the Wotan's head into it over and over again until he got his point across.

Everyone gasped at the merciless redhead's actions, wincing every time Big Pan's head crashed into it.

"H-He's really pissed," Usopp stammered in terror. Somehow, the redhead was even scarier then back at Syrup Village.

"W-W-What type of m-monster is he?!" Porche couldn't help but say, watching the entire affair with tears pricking her eyes.

"A possessive Devil," Nami answered eventually, wincing as the redhead continued to slam Big Pan's crown into the goal post.

"You never take the Devil's Possessions," Sanji muttered. He really needed to apologize to Rosan for messing up in the previous round.

Porche shook at their claims. Suddenly, Rosan didn't look so cute anymore.

Her precious former crewmates were getting treated like rag dolls…

The half conscious Wotan could do nothing but take the abuse, as he was used as a toy by the demonic redhead.

"Call. The. Match," Rosan said, punctuating each word with a heavier slam then the last before it looked like he was going to snap the man's neck from the force.

"E-ENOUGH!" Foxy shouted, fear on his face as he watched the redhead toss Big Pan around like he weighed nothing.

What type of freakish strength was that? D-Did he keep his draconic power?

"He can't fight anymore and you've scored the goal! C-Call the match!"

The ref couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief at seeing his boss make the demand and blew the whistle.

He couldn't watch that anymore.

"T-The winner of Groggy Ring are t-the Red D-Devil and Pirate Hunter of the Straw Hats, Rosan and Zoro!" Itomimizu stammered.

There was complete silence.

Well, all except for one.

"WOOHOO! GET EM ROSAN!" Luffy cheered his older brother, clapping at the display.

Rosan tossed the giant body to the side like it was yesterday's trash and grunted.

"A-As per the rules of the Davy Back Fight, the Straw Hats now get to choose a member of the Foxy Pirates to pick."

Robin gazed with wide eyes, as the redhead appeared directly in front of her without any hesitation.

Almost as if he were the plague, the people trying to get to know her, parted away with speeds that she found rather admirable, shrieking at the sight of the unhinged redhead.

That match… was quite the spectacle. To know that Rosan got so furious on her behalf… it was enthralling.

Wow, she really was too far gone.

"Mine." Rosan growled, removing the stupid foxy mask from her face with a look of annoyance and lighting it on fire.

Robin flushed slightly at his possessive tone and stood up. "I take it you're picking me to join the crew?" She teased.

"Don't joke like that," Rosan grunted, pulling her into a deep hug as they vanished back over to the Straw Hats side. "I can't stand the thought of anyone trying to take you from me."

The Devil Child couldn't keep the brilliant smile off her face as just the action of hugging her calmed Rosan down.

Everyone let out a breath they didn't know they were holding, as Rosan's violent aura, slowly but surely vanished.

"You realize he only did this because you took someone important from them, right?" she murmured.

"I'm terrible at getting a taste of my own medicine. You should know this by now..." He replied quietly.

Robin leaned in close. "You know… this is the reason why people think we're lovers, right? Because of the way you react whenever I'm involved," she whispered in his ear.

Rosan couldn't help the shiver at that but said nothing, just soaking in her presence.

Robin rolled her eyes.

"What will you do if I actually find someone I'm interested in?" She couldn't help but ask in amusement, despite her interest being the one she was asking.

She was more pleased then she would like to admit, as Rosan's grip on her tightened.

"...Be happy for you. After checking to see if they are the right person," he said gravely, looking as if he were puking the words out.

"The way you're holding me suggests otherwise," she laughed.

"Because I'm not ready to let you go yet and I don't know if I'll ever be," Rosan admitted through their connection.

"!" Mod's eyes bugged.

"!" Ram's jaw dropped.

Robin's heart soared at his declaration. Feeling particularly bold, she asked, "Well what if I don't ever want you to let me go either?"

Mod's jaw dropped.

Ram's eyes bugged.

"Then I'll do everything to make sure it stays that way… as long as you're fine with it," Rosan replied truthfully.

Robin smiled softly and hugged the redhead back, taking in his presence as he took in hers.

She didn't think she could wait until he had all his emotions back.

"Uh, Rosan…" Sanji muttered awkwardly. "Sorry about that. If it wasn't for me, we wouldn't have lost Robin-chan in the first place."

"It's fine. I got her back so that's all that matters," Rosan muttered. "Though, you really need to work on that… Foxy has hundreds of pirates, they could have easily saved her if it was actually real."

The chef blushed in embarrassment. "Can't help it… when a woman is in need, I must be there."

The redhead snorted but left it there.

"Robin!" Luffy cheered, jumping on the duo with a pleased smile.

"I'd say welcome back… but I blinked and you were back in the crew… Rosan doesn't mess around when it comes to you," Nami laughed, hugging the taller woman.

"His possessive streak has become even worse with age," Robin sighed, despite her happiness at Nami's observation.

"I-I thought it was a joke… but he really does think all of you are his," Usopp gaped in disbelief.

Luffy nodded sagely. "Yup! If Rosan says it's his, it's his!" the rubber boy beamed.

"Wow… we really messed up challenging a 400 million bounty crew," Porche muttered nervously.

Just how scary was Straw Hat Luffy for being able to keep such a demon under control?

Robin glanced over at her.

She honestly couldn't believe she was jealous of this girl… Rosan wasn't planning on giving her the time of day and now she was rightfully terrified of the redhead.

Robin felt a well of satisfaction at that. No one could handle all of Rosan. Most people would be rightfully terrified of the redhead if they knew everything about him, regardless of how handsome he was.

Good thing she felt none of that fear.

"One more round."

All the Straw Hats paused at the voice and glanced over at Foxy.

"One more round?" Rosan raised a brow.

"One more Davy Back Fight. Just one more," Foxy asked, trying to hide his desperation.

If he had known exactly how dangerous the Red Devil was… he would have never picked Nico Robin… he thought getting Porche was guaranteed but now they had lost her… permanently…

Rosan saw right through his facade. The redhead smirked cruelly and said, "Why would we ever accept another round? There's no one else we want in your useless crew."

Foxy flinched at that. "T-This isn't a decision you get to make! This is for Captains!"

"Hoh?" Rosan raised a brow. "Luffy says no."

The man spluttered at that, getting more desperate. "S-Straw Hat! You're the captain right?! Your answer is the final one! Don't you want to have another battle?!"

Luffy tilted his head. "But I don't want anyone in your crew. No thanks," he waved him off.

"That's that. I don't feel like dealing with anymore of your cheating," Rosan shrugged. "Well done on the second round, but you should have nabbed your old crewmate back. It's not like we really wanted her."

Porche flinched at his cold tone and shot a desperate look to Foxy.

The captain steeled himself at that.

There was no way he was losing his first mate.

"One round. Combat. Captain vs Captain in a winner takes all…"

Luffy and Rosan both paused at that.

"Combat?" Luffy perked up.

"Winner takes all?" Rosan raised a brow, eyes gleaming in malicious delight. "Just to make sure you aren't trying to pull a fast one. You vs Luffy in a fight and the winner takes everything?"

"That's right… it's just a fight between Straw Hat and I. If you win, you get my whole crew, my ship… my flag," Foxy answered nervously, hoping they'd accept the deal.

Hm… that didn't change the fact that his crew was still largely useless… but Rosan wouldn't mind keeping tabs on Foxy's Devil Fruit.

It was actually quite interesting.

Besides, his little brother was looking at him with those pleading eyes and there was no way he could resist.

He inclined his head and Luffy beamed.

"We accept!" The rubber boy laughed.

"Please… my heart can't handle another one," Usopp groaned.

"You and me both," Nami sighed miserably.

"You think I'd accept if I thought them cheating would cost us the match?" Rosan asked with a raised brow.

The two froze at that. "That's true… so why did you accept?

"I accepted because even with all the dirty tricks in their books, that man will never beat Luffy in a fight."

---

"OH?! WHAT A SURPRISE! DESPITE THEIR VICTORY, THE STRAW HATS HAVE DECIDED TO PUT EVERYTHING ON THE LINE FOR ONE MORE ROUND!"

After hearing that they were having a Combat round as the final round, the Foxy Pirates gained a new surge of energy and began crafting a stadium of all things for the occasion.

Luffy and Usopp (who was his coach) had gone off to make preparations, while the rest of the Straw Hats were sat at the stands to spectate the entire thing.

"Rosan, you have not once let me go since getting me back," Robin said, unable to keep the amusement out of her voice as the redhead sat her on his lap.

There was a lot of space around the Straw Hats, courtesy of Rosan's "come near me and die" aura that gave them quite a bit of room to make comfort…

And despite that she was still sitting on him.

"If you have a problem, I'll release you," he offered.

The Devil Child rolled her eyes. "I'd rather not see the heartbreak on your face if I actually agreed to those terms. You'd guilt trip me with no remorse."

"You know me so well," he smiled.

Nami cupped her chin in contemplation. "Rosan, I think I know you well enough to say that there's another reason you let this happen. I know for a fact you aren't interested in anyone in their crew at all so why even go for such a thing? They will guaranteed cheat in this event so what's the reason?"

The crew, and Porche, watched the redhead in curiosity.

"My adorable little sister is making observations? Aren't you just the cutest," Rosan smirked. "You're right. I don't want a single person in their crew. None of them are good enough."

His gaze darkened. "But they tried to take Robin from me."

Robin shuddered at that.

Porche paled.

"To be completely honest. I assume that there's no rule saying we can't just pillage a ship completely after the Davy Back Fight… so once everything was settled, I was going to raze the entire Foxy Pirates to the ground," Rosan admitted.

"W-W-What?!" Porche balked at the insane words of the redhead.

Rosan's eyes roamed over to her and he tilted his head. "Yeah. There's no rule that says that, right? I'm free to do whatever I want with you guys afterwards, right?"

The former idol of the Foxy Pirates began shaking at his cruel gaze.

"N-No there's no rule a-against that but…" she trailed off.

"What? Wanted to die with them?" Rosan asked with a raised brow, making her go white.

"He's so evil sometimes," the crew thought with a sigh, used to his antics by now.

"Don't worry, I won't kill your crew. I managed to bait him into staking everything, all in hopes of getting you back," Rosan smiled.

Porche stilled at that. "You… baited him?"

The redhead shrugged. "Of course I did. Now, after Luffy wins, I get to subjugate your entire crew for free. That Foxy guys Devil Fruit is interesting, I want to study it and he has no choice but to comply once he is working under me, since Luffy won't want anything to do with them."

They balked at his words, looking at the redhead like he were demon spawn and he flashed a cocky smirk back.

"How far back did you plan this?" Sanji asked in awe.

Rosan shrugged. "Not very far… I just adapted along the way the moment I figured out what his Devil Fruit was. I would have left him alone otherwise… Up until he took Robin of course. At that point, the only thing on my mind was murder."

"He's so scary!" Chopper squealed in his mind.

They had been playing the Devil's game all along.

Porche came to this startling realization as she listened to the redhead and realized that no matter what, as long as he was on the Straw Hats team, he was going to ensure they won.

He was far more calculating then they thought. She was very sure that if Luffy was even close to losing this round, he'd interfere somehow...

But even despite that, he seemed so confident in his captain. Did he... really have a backup plan for Luffy losing?

"What are Foxy's chances of winning this match?" She whispered in despair, knowing the answer already.

A Devil would not follow a weakling after all.

Rosan didn't even blink. "3% if Luffy plays around too much."

The former Foxy Pirate closed her eyes at that.

Porche already knew that would have been his answer… but she had really hoped it wasn't.

---

"THE FINAL ROUND OF THE DAVY BACK FIGHT IS NOW BEGINNING! A CAPTAIN VS CAPTAIN BATTLE AS OUR BONUS MAIN EVENT!"

The crowd shouted their excitement.

"Introducing the competitors in today's match…. First, the man who never turns down a fight. Undefeated in 920 consecutive matches. The man who wins every game. GIVE IT UP FOR OUR BOSS, THE SILVER FOX, FOXY!"

Foxy held up both gloves as he basked in the cheers.

"GET EM FOXY!"

"WIN THIS FOR PORCHE!"

"SHOW THEM WHAT YOU'RE MADE OF!"

"Fefefefe! Don't worry Porche, we'll get you back!" Foxy declared, grinning at his former crewmate.

Porche shot him a strained smile and a shaky thumbs up.

"Introducing next, hailing from the East Blue… The leader of the fastest rising crew in the Grand Line! With a bounty of 140 million, MONKEY D. LUFFY!"

"No… fucking… way," Nami and Rosan muttered at the same time.

"What the hell?" Zoro grimaced.

"YOU LOOK SO COOL, LUFFY!" Chopper praised, waving his hooves at his captain.

Sanji gasped in awe. "Look at how sharp he is! His inner soul is on fire!"

Robin didn't bother hiding her laughter. "He looks so cute!"

Luffy had foregone his shirt in order to show a fiery skull and crossbones tattoo on his torso. He aimed both his boxing gloves to the sky and he let out a battle roar as Usopp coolly stood behind him.

But that's not what the Straw Hats focused on.

No, they were focused on the absolutely ridiculous afro on his head.

"He is so adorable!" Mod squealed, clapping at seeing Luffy in the afro.

"Look at the energy he's exuding!" Ram gaped. He looked awesome!

Robin laughed louder as Rosan's brows shot up.

"You two like this?" He asked in confusion.

What…?

"I-I can't explain it! I just do!" Mod replied with wide eyes.

"I can explain! It's fucking awesome!" Ram beamed.

"Language!"

"WHAT?! FATHER WAS CURSING UP A STORM TODAY AND YOU DIDN'T EVEN BLINK! HOW COME WHEN I SAY IT, IT'S A PROBLEM?!"

"We've talked about this already! You are hardly an adult in mind, so you should not be cursing! In another… 10 years, I'll consider it."

"BULLSHIT!"

"What did I just say young lady?!"

"I think you'd look nice with an afro, Rosan!" Robin said, unable to hold back her laughter.

Rosan zoned Mod and Ram out and glared at the Robin shuddering in amusement on his lap.

"Remove those dangerous thoughts from your head," he hissed into her ear.

She held her hands up in surrender and said, "Fine, fine."

"AWW YEAH!" Luffy shouted to the heavens.

"Why's he talking like that. What the hell did Usopp do to my little brother?" Rosan grunted in disbelief. "I should have known he had no style, he wears suspenders. Why did I think this was a good idea?"

They sweatdropped at the incensed redhead and idly scooted away from him.

It seems his stylish looks weren't for show.

"THE COMBATANTS ARE LOCKED IN FOR OUR BONUS MAIN EVENT! FOXY VS LUFFY! ONE ON ONE COMBAT ON OUR CONVENIENTLY PICKED SHIP, THE SEXY FOXY!"

"Even now they cheat," Rosan scoffed. "Let's see how much that helps him. Maybe it'll make the fight interesting."

"You know how playful Luffy gets… it makes all his fights interesting," Robin supplied helpfully. She idly nestled herself deeper into the redhead and let out a pleased hum as he idly wrapped an arm around her waist.

"STRAW HAT LUFFY VERSUS SILVER FOXY…"

"Let's have some fun, Straw Hat! The whole ship is our battlefield!" Foxy said cockily.

They messed up agreeing to this.

Luffy threw out some warm-up jabs as he got into a boxing stance. "Alright! Let's get this show on the road, fool!"

"...BEGIN!"

---

Luffy was already on the move.

"Gomu Gomu no Pistol!" he shouted, throwing out an extended right towards the Pirates face.

Foxy's eyes widened at the speed and he immediately leapt out of the way, pointing his finger in the process.

"Noro Noro Beam!"

"Wha?" Luffy said in confusion, as his fist refused to come back to him.

What the hell was going on with his punch?!

He ducked a wild punch from Foxy and glared at his fellow captain in confusion, before using his free left to throw another punch that the Fox man leapt out of the way of.

"I should avoid stretching too much," Luffy thought to himself as his fist returned to normal.

Right, Rosan had told him about split-heads fruit… he needed to dodge the pink beam…

Okay! He could do that!

Foxy couldn't stop his jaw from dropping at seeing Luffy sprint towards where he was at amazing speeds and immediately fled from his location, activating any trap he could think of at the same time.

Luffy effortlessly weaved through the dozens of darts coming his way and made a beeline straight for Foxy.

"SUCH SPEED FROM STRAW HAT! WHERE WAS THIS DEXTERITY IN THE PREVIOUS ROUND?!"

"SHUT UP!" Luffy roared at the annoying voice.

The Silver Fox began sweating a little and immediately bombarded the ship with a smokescreen, vanishing into it.

Luffy glanced around in confusion as multiple silhouettes that looked suspiciously like Foxy.

"THE BOSS HAS SUMMONED HIS SMOKESCREEN?! WHICH ONE IS THE REAL ONE?! HOW WILL STRAW HAT FIGURE IT OUT!?"

"Which one is me? How will you ever find out which is the real me—"

"Gomu Hook!"

Foxy's eyes bugged as a right hook connected to his sternum and he subsequently collapsed on his knees as the wind was knocked out of him.

The man began coughing as his gloved hands failed to grip his chest.

"That strength… so his bounty is the real deal?!" The man thought in disbelief.

It was as he took that punch… did Foxy begin to realize that maybe the Straw Hat's collective bounty wasn't all hot air.

After seeing Rosan's performance against the Groggy Monsters, he thought just the redhead was the reason their crew was regarded so dangerously.

Now you were telling him Straw Hat was a big threat too?!

"AMAZING! IN ONE HIT, FOXY WAS BROUGHT TO HIS KNEES?! STRAW HAT LUFFY IS THE REAL DEAL!"

The crowd couldn't hide their awe despite how nervous they were, at the strength Luffy displayed.

Foxy felt his nervousness spike, as footsteps approached.

"W-Wait! Timeout!" He shouted out loud, knowing that wouldn't deter the Straw Hat.

...

Foxy glanced up in confusion and saw that Straw Hat had stopped moving.

"What… What are you doing?" The Silver Fox asked.

Luffy tilted his head in confusion. "You said timeout."

"IS HE AN IDIOT?!" Everyone thought with bugged eyes.

Rosan closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

Robin's eyes widened, at the string of curses coming out of the redhead through their connection. A dust of red covered her cheek at how… vulgar he was!

"L-Language?" Mod said, face bright red at some of the words he said.

Rosan's response, was to let loose even more foul words and Mod's face turned progressively worse.

"R-Right… t-this is why I don't tell him to mind his language," she muttered.

Ram's eyes were starry at how creative he was.

Foxy let out a sigh of relief, as Straw Hat actually stopped and the Silver Fox slowly stood back up.

The two stared at each other for a moment and Luffy tilted his head even further.

"Can we keep fighting—"

"NORO NORO BEAM!"

Luffy idly sidestepped the point blank attack with little to no effort.

"—now?" He finished with a puzzled frown.

…

Foxy slowly put his hand down at the failed attack and began sweating.

…

The realization finally hit Luffy.

"WAIT A SECOND YOU CHEATER!" Luffy roared with razor sharp teeth.

Foxy turned tail and fled deeper into the ship, Luffy hot on his tail.

"AND THEY'RE OFF! NOT EVEN WE CAN TELL WHAT'S TAKING PLACE DEEPER IN THE SHIP!"

"We?" Rosan scoffed, eyes glowing brightly.

The Straw Hats got a little closer as the redhead's customary stream began showcasing all the action.

"W-Woah!" Porche thought in shock, watching as the footage captured their whole ship completely.

What was this?! What was Rosan doing?!

"Has anyone ever told you how useful you are?" Usopp asked curiously.

"Many times. I'm very desired," Rosan said with a slight frown.

"Understatement," Mod growled.

"You literally always have these birds out at all times…" Sanji muttered, gazing at the sky.

Where were they?!

The Foxy Pirates saw the Straw Hats crowding around footage that looked suspiciously like the fight and some tried to sneak closer.

A foreboding aura washed over them once they stepped past a threshold and they had a sneaking suspicion that if they got close to that demonic redhead, they'd suffer quite the price.

They slowly but surely scooted back to their seats with nervous expressions.

"Are you really still that upset that they tried to take me?" Robin asked with a slight sweatdrop, watching as the redhead didn't even register what was happening.

"No one can take you away from me without paying a price... Besides, did you not see how close they were to you?" Rosan asked in return, gazing at her with an annoyed expression.

"...No, I didn't. You kind of demanded all my attention due to being such a good lead performer," She admitted with an amused smile. "I couldn't take my eyes off of you if I tried. You were like a raging jealous beast."

"I'm not jealous… I'm possessive," he corrected.

Everyone sweatdropped at him.

"Neither of those are good," Nami said slowly.

"I think being possessive is objectively worse," Sanji explained with a shake of his head.

He had realized that Robin-chan had a crush on Rosan long ago and after crying himself to sleep a few days in a row, he came to terms with it.

Kind of... sort off... not at all.

Rosan shrugged. "Who's paying attention to details like that? I know my family isn't. Robin, do you have a problem with how possessive I am of you?"

"No," Robin said automatically, before blinking.

Oh… that came out a bit too fast. Normally, she threw up a bit of resistance.

Judging by the way Rosan raised a brow and smirked, he realized too.

"Look at that. Was that so hard?" He snorted, hugging her in a pleased manner. " You finally stopped resisting your true feelings!"

"You don't even know the half of it," Robin sighed, enjoying the hug from the oblivious idiot.

"Why is he so scary and mean?!" The Foxy Pirates thought with comical tears.

---

"GET BACK HERE!" Luffy shouted, chasing the coward with determination.

Foxy ignored the quickly gaining Straw Hat and dashed into a room, Luffy hot on his heels.

What greeted the Straw Hat instead of Foxy, was some woman in a nurses outfit.

"Welcome to the infirmary! How can I help you?"

Luffy blinked in confusion. "What?! Hey, lady can you move out of the way? The person I'm looking for is hiding under you!"

The nurse tilted her head in confusion. "Okay!" She said, getting up so that the Straw Hat could inspect where she was just sitting.

The moment he got too close, a spiked glove connected to his face and launched him backwards.

"GOTCHA!" Foxy, the nurse, yelled in victory as he stunned Luffy. "I WAS THE NURSE ALL ALONG, STRAW HAT! NORO NORO BEAM!"

"W-What?!" Luffy balked as the beam hit his body.

"Nine Tails Rush!" Foxy exclaimed, ducking into Luffy's frozen guard and landing dozens of punches on his body with his spiked gloves.

At the 20 second mark, Foxy stopped and began sprinting away before his fruit wore off.

"Fefefefe!"

Luffy grunted as his slow down time ended and he took all that damage at once. Blood spurted from various parts of his body as he huffed in annoyance and took off in the direction Foxy ran in.

As he burst through another room, the rubber boy paused as a giant silhouette revealed itself.

"ALLOW ME TO INTRODUCE, GORILLA PUNCHER #13!" Foxy bellowed, grinning down at Luffy.

"...You have 13 of these stupid things?" Luffy asked, tilting his head to the side.

Foxy deflated at that. "S-Stupid…?" He muttered depressingly.

"They aren't stupid! A-And I don't have 13! This is just the most recent model! Perfectly streamlined with no unnecessary components!" The Silver Fox explained.

"Is the gorilla head necessary?!" Luffy asked.

Foxy's jaw dropped and he began sweating at the observation.

"You… You have a point… BUT THAT DOESN'T MATTER! NOBODY ASKED FOR YOUR INPUT!"

The Gorilla Puncher began moving forward, all while the multiple fists on it began swinging at the air.

"I bet you think you can just dodge these punches… BUT THINK AGAIN! NORO NORO BEAM!"

Luffy leapt to the side but yelped as he narrowly avoided the beam coming back.

"That's right! The mirror reflects my slowpoke photons!"

His observation blared once more and he contorted his body to avoid one of the punches but there were too much to account for and another chipped his leg.

Luffy hissed at the burn. "Hot!" he exclaimed.

"Did I forget to mention that each punch also burns?!"

That slight delay cost him.

He was currently struggling to regain his footing and as a result, he got hit with multiple of the punches.

To make matters worse, he was repeatedly getting tagged by those slow beams bouncing off the mirrors since he couldn't predict where they would reflect to.

This resulted in Luffy's injuries mounting further and further, causing the rubber boy to begin panting in exertion.

Oh… wait!

The burned Luffy turned around and completely shattered the mirror behind him with a swift punch, sending glass shards in every direction with a loud clang as he fixed the issue of Foxy's Devil Fruit.

Foxy's eyes bugged in disbelief. "I didn't think of such a smart move!" he exclaimed, sweating at his slipup.

The rubber boy huffed as his injuries accumulated and he glared at the machine still punching and closing the distance.

"What an annoying machine…" He grunted, before cocking his gloves back and taking a deep breath.

"Gomu Gomu no Gatling!"

Luffy began throwing rapid punch after rapid punch at the giant machine and they started trading blow for blow.

To Foxy's disbelief, Straw Hat began winning the exchange and cracks began to appear on his Gorilla Puncher #13 that progressively got more and more numerous.

"W-What is this guy?!" The Silver Fox muttered as the psycho matched his machine punch for punch and came out on top.

"ORAAAAAAAA!" Luffy roared in victory as he shattered the machine.

Foxy let out a yell of surprise as he was toppled from his height and the captain fell flat on his ass.

The rubber boy panted, not coming out unscathed from that exchange at all, and nearly faltered but stood straight and glared at the crafty pirate with fury.

Without any hesitation, he began charging after the Silver Fox who began hastily crawling away in fear.

Once Luffy got too close, Foxy allowed a smirk of victory to appear on his face.

"NORO NORO BEAM!" He shouted aiming his hand at Luffy and laughing as he landed a point blank hit…

Only for his eyes to bug as Straw Hat reflected his beam back to him.

"W-WHAT BUT HOW...wwww?!" Foxy's voice slowed down tremendously, as his own fruit was used against him in an ingenious display.

Luffy discarded the broken mirror in his gloves and huffed heavily.

"I won't lose a single member of my crew… EVEN IF IT KILLS ME!" He roared, getting into a boxing stance.

The rubber boy began weaving his body in a motion similar to a figure eight, approaching the frozen Foxy all the while…

And then he began delivering a flurry of vicious hooks, throwing his full body weight into each one.

The rubber boy ignored his extensive injuries and his foggy vision, intent on delivering blow after blow on the Silver Fox's slowed down body.

Finally, he stopped with the hooks, and delivered a rising uppercut to pirate, just as the 30 seconds were off.

The effects were instantaneous.

"G-Gugh…" Foxy let out a garbled gasp, as he was launched through the ceiling of his ship onto the main deck once more, while taking all the accumulated damage delivered his way at once.

It was devastating. He felt bones shattering from the monstrous strength displayed by Straw Hat Luffy and fell unconscious from the unbelievable pain he was in.

He wouldn't be recovering from that for a while.

Luffy panted tiredly, as he jumped through the hole he created and landed on the main deck, before taking in a deep breath…

"RAAAAAAAA!" He roared victoriously, pumping both hands into the sky.

"U-UNBELIEVABLE! IN THE THIRD ROUND… OF THE DAVY BACK FIGHT. OUR BOSS… WHO HAS AN UNDEFEATED RECORD OF 920 CONSECUTIVE WINS, HAS BEEN KNOCKED UNCONSCIOUS!"

"Idiot took too much damage," Rosan scoffed with a tiny smile.

"Ever the one for the dramatics… He must have got that from you," Robin laughed slightly.

"WAY TO GO LUFFY!" Chopper screamed loudly, grinning ear to ear.

"Idiot coulda ended that way sooner," Zoro snorted with a small grin.

"I wasn't worried at all!" Usopp exclaimed, wiping the sweat off his features.

"GOOD JOB LUFFY!" Nami exclaimed happily.

"That afro power is no joke," Sanji laughed.

"…!" Porche's eyes were bugged in shock. Just… Just who were they?!

The Foxy Pirates were thinking the same thing as they realized that Foxy had lost. They were gazing at the scene with bugged eyes and slack jaws.

"T-THE WINNER OF THIS GAME… IS STRAW HAT LUFFY!"

---

"Dumbass," Rosan muttered, idly kicking Luffy's unconscious and bandaged body.

Chopper eyes bugged. "D-DON'T KICK HIM! HE'S REALLY INJURED, YOU JERK!" The doctor shouted at the demon of a scout.

The redhead shrugged. "He didn't have to be this injured. Luffy could literally have beaten that guy in one punch."

Zoro barked out a short laughter. "He's right. Our captain was enjoying that afro way too much."

"You can't apply percentages to someone as silly as Luffy," Nami sighed fondly.

"He's waking up," Robin observed with a slight smile. She was moved by Luffy's commitment to making sure he didn't lose a single member.

Even if it killed him…

Chatter stopped as Luffy began waking with a confused expression, before shooting up in alarm.

"DID I WIN?!" He shouted, realizing he wasn't on the Sexy Foxy anymore.

"Yep," they all chirped.

Luffy grinned at that and lied back down. "I'm glad!"

Rosan sighed in annoyance. "You realize the only reason I'm a pirate is because of you, right? What do I look like following someone else?"

"Exactly," Zoro grunted with an annoyed frown. "You forced me to become a pirate."

"Same here," the redhead nodded.

"Ditto," Nami sighed despondently.

"Yep," Sanji muttered.

"Me too!" Chopper exclaimed.

"...Was I the only one that didn't get forced?" Usopp asked quietly.

"I technically didn't," Robin smiled. "Then again, Rosan practically forced me to be his friend… it was either that or get thrown overboard."

"W-WHAT?!" Sanji and Nami roared in horror, glancing at the psychotic redhead.

Rosan raised a brow high into the sky at that. "You're talking about when we first met as kids? What the fuck, Robin? You thought I was gonna throw you overboard if you refused?" He asked incredulously.

Robin blinked. "You… weren't?" she trailed off.

Huh, she never did think about the outcome of what would happen if she had refused his offer.

The Devil Child yelped as he flicked her on the head and she glared at the scout.

"Of course not. Mom told me not to hit girls unless they hit me," he chided her.

"I would have just gotten "lost" and our forced exposure to each other, would have made us friends anyways. I'm very charming," Rosan grinned innocently.

Robin sweatdropped deeply at the redhead. "You are such a twisted person. You wouldn't have actually done that, right?"

"Robin, trust me. He would have spent every single moment with you too. We already chose you the moment we laid eyes on you. You were stuck with us."

Rosan smiled slightly at that.

"...We?" The Devil Child repeated, sweatdropping deeper.

They really would have kidnapped her if she refused and forced her to be friends with them…

That was very ridiculous to think about, getting kidnapped by an adorable 4 year old child.

Porche glanced at the crew with wide eyes and realized she was really out of her depths trying to deal with all these monsters.

They stopped conversing, as the crew heard footsteps and the Straw Hats glanced up to a rather amusing sight.

Foxy, who was wrapped in a full body cast, was being carried over to them in a stretcher. The defeated captain was awake and glaring at them with indignation.

"Don't forget the rules, Straw Hat!" The Silver Fox grunted through his cast. "You beat me fair and square so per the rules of the Davy Back Fight special round, you get everything!"

Luffy and Rosan glanced at each other for a moment.

"Since you're our subordinate now, you promise to do whatever I want, right? You won't go back on your word?" The redhead asked eventually.

Foxy felt a vein forming at that patronizing tone. "I DON'T HAVE A CHOICE! OF COURSE I WILL! Foxy may be sneaky, but he's also a man of integrity!"

Rosan smiled in a satisfied manner.

At the same time, Luffy said, "Listen closely guys!"

All the Foxy (Straw Hat?) Pirates leaned in close to their new captain.

"As your new captain of the reborn Straw Hats… You're all off the crew!"

…

…

…

"Huh?" Foxy said dumbly.

"We're off the crew?" Someone asked in confusion.

Everyone looked at the redhead who had let out an amused snort.

"Not only are you guys useless… Wait, no, that's it. You guys are useless," Rosan said with an amused smirk.

Luffy laughed at Rosan's words. "Yeah! We don't want you guys! You can do whatever you want!"

"Why are they both so mean?!" All the Foxy Pirates cried comically.

"Oh… and don't forget your promise, Foxy. It would be utterly shameful if you couldn't keep your word," Rosan reminded, smiling cunningly at the stupefied pirate. "I appreciate you being such a good sport. See you in the future."

Demons… they were dealing with actual demons.

Foxy's jaw dropped to the floor as he realized he got completely tricked into promising to do whatever Rosan wanted.

"Y-You…" he spluttered.

"Oh and you can go back with them too, Porche. We don't want you either," Rosan hummed.

Her jaw dropped in confusion and she glanced at the smug looking Rosan in disbelief.

"...You are so not cute," she said finally.

"You're right… I'm hot," Rosan corrected with an amused snort, turning away from the pirates due to losing all interest.

"You two are ridiculous," Nami laughed disbelievingly. "What was even the point of all of this?"

"Asserting my superiority while gaining future subordinates I don't have to care about," Rosan shrugged.

"It seemed fun!" Luffy laughed.

"I can't believe I expected any other answers out of you idiotic brothers of fate," Nami groaned.

"We lost to these demons…"

Straw Hat and the Red Devil… those two were so twisted.

---

With a promise of revenge (and happy tears at getting Porche back), the Foxy pirates finally departed from the island, leaving just the Straw Hats and a strange old man with a horse.

"So this is why you accepted without discussing with us," Nami sighed with a small smile.

The old man's name was Tonjit and he had been stuck on a ridiculously long piece of bamboo for 10 years because he had always been fascinated with creating the world's longest stilts and they never stopped growing…

Idiot.

"I wish we could find a way to get you back to your family," Usopp muttered.

His eyes lit up and he turned to face their scout. "Rosan what if you—"

…

The sniper slowly closed his mouth, as he gazed at the stone faced expression of the redhead and slowly turned back towards the old man, request dead on his lips.

"Demon…" Usopp thought to himself with sweat.

"You guys don't have to worry about me. I'm very patient! Come inside, I can prepare some lunch for you all," Tonjit smiled thankfully at the crew, as he made his way to the front of his house…

Only to crash into a body.

"Oh! What is this…? A person?!"

"Hm?" The Straw Hats blinked as they gauged the figure.

Tall and slim, the figure before them was an imposing presence… who appeared to be sleeping up until Tonjit crashed into him.

"Huh?" The standing man said blearily, removing his face mask to gauge the new appearances. "Who are you guys?" He asked.

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!" Most of the Straw Hats yelled back.

Rosan froze in shock, a look of concern and rage crossing over his features as he immediately recognized the person.

"This is bad. This is very very bad. We need to get out of here now," Mod said, white in horror.

Thud.

Everyone froze in surprise and glanced back to see Robin of all people, with a look of true terror on her face.

The Devil Child's eyes were wide, and her pupils turned into pinpricks, as she began hyperventilating.

"Robin?!" Luffy shouted in concern, before noticing the look on his brother's face.

"Robin?! Rosan?! What's the matter?!" Nami asked, eyes narrowed in worry.

"You know this guy?" Zoro asked, clutching one of his swords due to the fact that Rosan currently looked like a wild animal.

Their scout looked utterly feral, sharp teeth bared with a murderous glint in his gaze.

The strange man held his hands out in a placating. "You shouldn't look at me with such scary eyes, Red Devil… It's not like I'm here on orders, despite having every reason needed to detain and capture you specifically."

Rosan didn't loosen his stance. No, it only got worse as the man gazed at the fallen Nico Robin and the redhead immediately stepped in front of her.

Robin felt her terror reach levels she didn't think possible, as she gazed at the redhead standing protectively in front of her.

"No… Please not Rosan! Please!"

Admiral Aokiji glanced at the duo and a smirk made its way to his face.

"Oh my… you've turned into quite a pretty woman, Nico Robin."

---

"Like I said, I'm not here on orders," Aokiji informed them. "The weather was nice today so I decided to go out on a stroll."

"Rosan… who is this guy?" Usopp asked warily.

"..." The redhead never once took his eyes off the man, barely registering Usopp's question.

"...Admiral Aokiji. He's one of the strongest forces in the World Government," Rosan explained, making sure the shaking Robin was completely behind him.

There was a pause, as a wave of trepidation washed over them.

"HE'S AN ADMIRAL?!"

"Yeah, that's… right," Aokiji said tiredly, sitting down. "Sorry I got tired of standing."

"ARE YOU SURE THIS IS HIM?!" They roared.

Rosan just let loose a violent snarl, not in the mood for games.

Aokiji sighed. "You're way too worked up, Red Devil. You need to calm down. Are you so worked up because of all the terrible deeds you've done? Right now, I'm not here for that."

Rosan's pupils turned into slits.

"Yeah I know… still worth a shot," Aokiji shrugged. "Fine fine, since you seem like the type of guy who needs a reason for everything… I came here to verify some information I heard involving your group."

"But before I go into more detail… you."

Kuzan pointed at the old man who wasn't apart of their crew. "You wanted to find your tribe, right? They're three islands from here so I'll help you reach them."

The Admiral looked at the pirate crew. "Since you've helped him so much already, why not do him one last favor and carry his belongings to shore. Where we're heading is where your ship should be."

The other Straw Hats calmed down slightly at his friendly demeanor, but Rosan didn't loosen his stance for even a second, even as the man began walking towards the shore.

"We should go," Nami said to them all. "I think it'll be bad if we don't follow him."

"I can teleport us out. It won't be difficult for me," Rosan grunted.

...His crew looked unsure of his request and the redhead pursed his lips.

"...You guys don't want to leave the Merry behind."

It was not a question.

The silence was all he needed to know.

This was idiotic of them... but he doubted he could change their mind.

"Fine. I'll catch up to you guys… just give me a moment," he requested, glancing back at the stricken Robin.

The Straw Hats hesitantly followed after the man after some thought and glanced back at Robin and Rosan in concern.

"Robin… please speak to us. Are you alright?" Mod asked in concern.

Robin felt all her fears come out at once, as Rosan pulled her into a hug and she clutched him with all her might as if he'd disappear at any second.

"You… You have to go, Rosan," she begged, gazing up at the redhead with genuine terror. "I can't… I won't lose you. I can't let Aokiji take someone else from me!"

Rosan's gaze darkened. "Just me?" He whispered questioningly. "What about you? You will stay here? Without me?"

She shuddered in his hold and said nothing.

"You think I'll leave you with that man? After everything you told me. After everything he did?" Rosan snarled in fury.

Robin's grip on him tightened and she glanced up wildly at the redhead. "Rosan don't. Please don't fight him!" she said, raising her voice.

"I'm serious! I'll never forgive you if you throw your life away! Please, Rosan!" Robin begged, so much fear lacing her tone, that it made his heart break.

He stared into her wide blue eyes, at her large pupils shrinking into pinpricks, and Rosan let out a sigh.

Robin didn't even realize how hysterical she was, until Rosan engulfed her into another hug and she let out a shuddering breath against him.

"C'mon, let's go. If any of us leaves, he might get the wrong idea and kill the rest of us," Rosan muttered.

The Devil Child nodded shakily and made no complaints as the redhead carried them over to the rest of the crew.

---

By the time Rosan arrived (he was still carrying Robin), his crew had managed to fully help Tonjit and his horse get their provisions ready to cross the ocean.

In the process, it seems like they had let their guards down around Aokiji, due to the man's strange mannerisms.

"You're a curvy hottie too... you available tonight?" Aokiji asked Nami looking down at the much shorter navigator.

"WHAT TYPE OF MARINE ARE YOU?!" Sanji roared.

Aokiji glanced lazily at the chef, before roving his eyes over to Robin and Rosan.

"Ah, you actually showed up. What a surprise," he said aloud. "I thought you would have ran away by now."

Rosan's eyes narrowed as he felt Robin flinch harshly in his grasp.

Before the redhead could open his mouth, Aokiji made his way to the shore.

"Just how do you plan on helping him anyways? Are you gonna carry him on your back and swim?" Luffy asked curiously.

"Nothing so tiring," Aokiji retorted with a tired sigh.

"Is it even possible to solve his issues without sailing?" Sanji muttered.

Rosan could do it because he had Modification… could this guy do it?

"He… He can do it," Robin muttered shakily. "He has the means to do it… because of his..."

They gazed at their archaeologist in both confusion and concern, still taken aback by how shaken up she was.

Aokiji slowly walked up to the shore and gazed out into the sea with a relaxed expression.

Mere moments later, a gargantuan Sea King burst out of the waters with a thunderous splash and roared its presence to the world.

"O-Oh no! It's the lord of these seas! QUICKLY, YOU MUST RUN AWAY!" Tonjit backed away in horror.

The Admiral didn't even flinch. To him, it may as well have been a tiny little fish that popped out because his expression never once change.

He just took a short breath and said,

"Ice Age."

And the world froze over.

The Straw Hats stood stunned, as they all witnessed the effects of Aokiji's power and they suddenly realized why he looked so confident he could do this.

"An ice Logia," they thought grimly.

Robin began shaking once more and it was not because of the freezing temperatures.

She began to have flashbacks of a time she wished didn't exist. Of a time where she had to witness everyone she loved die.

A time where she witnessed her first true friend get frozen to death, due to the terrible powers of the Hie Hie no Mi.

It felt like she were 8 again and she desperately held onto her only wall of safety.

"Oh Robin," Mod said in sorrow, wanting nothing more then to hold her daughter.

"We'll protect you, Mother," Ram promised with a look of concern. She hated seeing her mother so afraid. She despised it and wanted it to go away by any means.

"This will last 1 week so walk at whatever speed you want. Bundle up too, it's going to be cold," a partially frozen Aokiji advised.

Tonjit became teary eyed at the actions of the Admiral and bowed deeply. "Thank you so much! Goodbye, all of you!"

"See ya, Old Man!" Luffy waved as they began leaving.

Most of the Straw Hats watched the old man trek off until he vanished, with small smiles.

"Monkey D. Luffy and Iris D. Rosan…"

Rosan's expression turned murderous.

"You're just like your Grandpa, Straw Hat… You're wild, reckless and have no self control," Aokiji grunted, gazing at the Captain of the Straw Hats.

Luffy's face turned into one of fear. "G-Gramps?!"

The Straw Hats blinked in confusion at that.

Luffy's Grandpa? Who was that? Why did the mere mention of him, have Luffy of all people, sweating in fear?

"And you, Red Devil… you're remarkably like your mother," Aokiji complimented. "You both love to give off the image that nothing bothers you, but underneath that cool facade, is a wild and uncontrollable spirit that does whatever they want… You both love the illusion of control."

Rosan's mother… Did he mean Raisa? Iris D… Was that his real name?

"Don't compare me to anyone. I am no one but myself. No one is like me. And don't you dare call me Iris again," Rosan warned him.

"That's something she would say. About comparing her to anyone, I mean. She's a very individualistic person," Aokiji snorted before sobering up.

"Regardless. I have a lot of respect for both your grandpa and your mother…"

The area seemed to get a bit colder.

"...But I can't say the same about your fathers."

Rosan went stiff and Luffy tilted his head in confusion.

"I have a dad?" Luffy asked in confusion. "Rosan, you have a dad?"

"...No," Rosan replied eventually. "I know nothing about my father."

He was only doing this, in hopes of distracting Aokiji from Robin. He wouldn't divulge information so freely but perhaps mentioning he knew nothing about his, supposedly, notorious father would be enough to deter him.

"That's for the best," Aokiji shrugged. "I came here to verify the information running around in the World Government. Nico Robin traveling with the Straw Hats. Getting her first updated bounty in 20 years. And having a lover…"

"All because of the Red Devil, Rosan. You two have known each other for quite a long time, right?" He asked calmly. "You met a little bit after we did, Nico Robin. Am I correct?"

Robin felt her heart stop, as Aokiji showed a level of interest in Rosan that seemed to single him out.

"..." Rosan said nothing, eyes narrowing at the Admiral.

"The Red Devil, a man who shows no remorse and has an intense hatred for the Marines... enough to kill any of them just because they bear the title," Aokiji began, picking his ear slightly.

"Your crew isn't bad at all... but you're a different story, Iris D. Rosan," the Admiral said gravely. "Someone like you, shouldn't really be allowed to be free... but at the same time, I don't quite think you were always like this, right?"

Robin lost her breath, as Aokiji stared at her with a searching eye.

"After all, running into Nico Robin right after losing your adoptive mother at such a young age, makes you quite easy to manipulate, don't you think?" Kuzan asked curiously.

Rosan's eyes flickered, as a murderous expression crossed his features.

"Is this what makes you feel good?"

Aokiji paused at that low whisper. "Oh?" He asked with a raised brow.

Rosan had a look of intense hatred on his face as he glared at Aokiji and took a step forward.

Robin went white.

She desperately grabbed at Rosan's arm and tried to stop him. "Please. Wait, Rosan!"

Miraculously, she actually managed to stop him from moving forward but Rosan was nowhere near finished talking.

"It wasn't enough that you emotionally scarred an 8 year old. You want to pin my mental state on her instead of your stupid fucking organization?!" Rosan snarled, eyes glowing brightly in disdain.

"What, not satisfied with the damage you did to the both of us? You want to keep hunting Robin down until she makes one mistake so you can kill her? You think I'll let you do that?!"

"Rosan, please! I'm serious," Robin begged, pushing him back to no avail as his infamous anger mounted and mounted. "Please, one of you help me stop him!"

The Straw Hats weren't used to seeing Rosan so angry. They didn't know about his anger problems so they could only gaze in shock as Rosan swiftly reached the state of explosion.

"Calm down, Rosan," Sanji muttered, holding on to the furious redhead with concerned eyes.

Rosan ignored them, teeth bared as black flickered across his eyes. "Is this your definition of justice, Admiral Aokiji? You kill her only friend in front of her, you burn her island to the ground for no good reason and then you threaten to hunt her down the moment she slips up. Not only that, you have the audacity to blame my actions on her?! WHAT DO YOU UNDERSTAND?! NONE OF THIS HAS EVER BEEN ROBIN'S FAULT!"

Aokiji's vision was hidden as Rosan verbally tore into him but the redhead was merciless.

"Do you think any 8 year old deserves what you're doing right now?! Do you think any child deserves what you think your stupid fucking definition of justice is? Don't even try to delude yourself into thinking what you're doing is justice right now. ROBIN WAS COMPLETELY INNOCENT AND YOU FUCKING MARINES RUINED HER LIFE! YOU THINK I'LL LET YOU TOUCH HER?!" Rosan howled.

Mod shuddered in horror, stunned silent as the sheer rage of Rosan washed over her.

Zoro assisted Sanji in tackling Rosan to the ground as the redhead's aura began choking the air.

Robin had stopped completely, gazing at her best friend with a frozen expression on her face. She was being utterly overwhelmed by the events transpiring and the words of Rosan made it no better...

But all she could do was remain frozen like a statue, forced to witness things spiral out of control.

Rosan was snarling like a wild animal as he glared at Aokiji with nothing but hatred in his eyes, intent on ripping the man in half the first chance he got.

Aokiji looked down at the furious redhead with an unknown expression on his face.

Finally, he opened his mouth.

"I did say I would hunt her down if she slipped up… and honestly, having the sole survivor of Ohara in you and Straw Hat's hand is more then enough reason. You've done enough damage for me to reconsider sparing her."

Rosan's sclera turned fully black at that statement.

"Over my dead body!" he hissed venomously.

And all hell broke loose.

---

Rosan exploded out of Sanji and Zoro's grasp and rocketed right past the panicking Robin.

"ROSAN!" Robin screamed in shock, holding out a hand as the redhead passed her.

No. No. No. No!

"My oh my, there goes that infamous possessiveness and anger. You really are Raisa's and that man's son aren't you?" Aokiji muttered as Rosan careened towards him.

Raisa's anger, Cutter's possessiveness... what a terrible combination for their prodigy of a son to be born with.

The redhead was fully incensed. He immediately activated Boost and made it to Aokiji's spot instantly.

Kuzan's eyes widened slightly in interest.

"He has armament? Already?" He thought, absorbing the heavy blow with appraising eyes.

That Rosan's words were quite sharp. He really knew how to hit home with them.

Even he couldn't help but be affected by the truth behind his words. But that truth was the reason he was here in the first place.

He needed to make sure Saul didn't die in vain… and so far, it looked like he didn't. Nico Robin truly did seem innocent...

Until you realized her partner was the Red Devil. Iris D. Rosan, was a monster of a human being and she followed all his orders with what looked to be no hesitation.

Perhaps her threat would truly diminish into nothing, if he killed the First Mate of the Straw Hats.

After all, Rosan was shaping up to be dangerous like his father and they had already snuffed out Cutter before he could truly exert his presence.

Kuzan completely tanked the rubbery fist and noted that unlike Rosan, Straw Hat did not have armament.

"So you're all attacking me now?" He asked in slight amusement, raising a brow as Rosan coated his fists in unnaturally red flames. "Well, I guess this is fine. A bunch of people like you are bound to become troublemakers in the future, especially considering you let the Red Devil do whatever he wants."

Luffy glared at him. "You aren't touching Robin or Rosan! Back off!"

Kuzan let out a tired sigh and caught the next punch from Luffy.

With barely a thought, the Admiral activated his Devil Fruit.

The effects were instantaneous.

Rosan roared out his draconic flames at the same time Luffy let out a scream of pain as his arm was completely frozen through.

"L-LUFFY!" Chopper yelled in horror.

Kuzan sent out a wave of ice that immediately canceled out Rosan's own fire with a neutral expression.

Luffy huffed in pain as he gingerly pulled himself up, gazing at his frozen arm with an incredulous expression.

"You're putting yourselves through a lot of trouble for these two, Straw Hat. I don't think you're entire crew is bad... I only have issue with Nico Robin and more importantly, Iris D. Rosan," Aokiji stated lazily.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Rosan roared, body erupting into flames and sparks as he began his assault anew.

"Smoker is my friend you know? And you nearly killed him, Hina and both their entire platoon. In fact, you killed quite a bit of them," he reminded the redhead.

The redhead hissed violently. "If you all just did your job instead of having such power trips, I wouldn't be such a problem!"

"? Right... his adoptive mother died giving birth due to the events of Baterilla," Aokiji thought, smoothly dodging the redhead's relentless assault. "I see. If I recall correctly, he also destroyed that base in the East Blue and assumed Smoker was corrupt."

What was it he said? Ah that's right...

"When the top of your chain is corrupt, all of you are, no matter what beliefs you think you're fighting for."

Kuzan sighed as he continued dodging the redhead's unrelenting onslaught. He casually sidestepped a punch from his left, and temporarily froze a fist from the right that was thawed out almost instantly by the heat from the flames, before effortlessly repelling a fiery heel kick that tried to cave his skull in.

So the Red Devil only took problems with Marines he perceived as corrupt. Wasn't Garp's new student someone who encountered both Rosan and Luffy? From what he heard, they assisted him in becoming a Marine and he had nothing but good things to say about him...

Interesting, he was learning quite a bit about Raisa's son that somewhat changed the perspective he had gained of him.

Rosan took a deep breath and let loose a stream of blistering hot flames that set the entire area ablaze.

Luffy held out his frozen hand close to the fire and sighed in relief as it began to immediately melt.

"Hey now," Aokiji reprimanded. "You're destroying the green. Don't be so callous."

The Admiral didn't look remotely bothered at being surrounded in the flames.

The nervous Straw Hats soon found out why.

Ice began to cover Kuzan's body, as he froze over every single flame in a beautiful display. They did not diminish or perish… he literally froze them over.

It would have made quite the fetch at an art display.

Rosan was not deterred by every single one of his attacks failing. No, in fact, it seemed to make him more determined.

Kuzan let out a sigh. What a troublesome redhead. He was the type to never quit until incapacitated.

It would be bad if he activated his full Zoan like he had earlier.

This island was rather peaceful. A dragon was the last thing it needed.

Though… that completely black sclera threw him for a loop. Was that apart of his bloodline?

It was far too much to think about.

Rosan had no time at all, to react to the Admiral materializing in front of him. Kuzan was so fast, that it looked as if he were in one spot and then another in an instant.

"You're a dragon, right?" Aokiji asked rhetorically. "Most reptilian Zoans, have a rather bad time against me. Do you know why?"

The redhead attempted to dash back but he was far too slow.

"It's because they're cold blooded of course. Naturally, a Mythical Zoan is probably no exception either."

Before Rosan could retaliate, Aokiji struck.

Placing a palm on the redhead's chest, the Admiral said, "Ice Time."

Robin felt her knees go weak, as Rosan's flames instantly vanished and the redhead's stance went completely stiff.

Then, the screaming started.

Rosan knew that he turned into an actual dragon when he used the technique, but Ragnarok was not cold-blooded. How could a creature who was so intimate with fire, be weak to the cold?

So why? Why was he having such a negative reaction to the ice?!

Everyone watched stunned, as Rosan howled in agony. The redhead convulsed as his body slowly iced over.

"Oh? Isn't this reaction a bit too extreme?" Kuzan muttered in interest, before shrugging.

It must have been his first time being struck by the ice.

"I can't believe you ended up being a dragon too… you really are Raisa's kid alright," was the last thing Rosan heard Aokiji say.

There was nothing he could do to stop Aokiji from freezing him over and soon, the Straw Hats were left gazing at a frozen statue of their scout.

"R-ROSAN!" They screamed in shock.

---

Robin couldn't breathe.

Robin couldn't breathe.

How would she ever be able to breathe, when her best friend was currently in a situation so disturbingly similar to the one her very first friend had been in.

First Saul… Now Rosan. Both doomed to be frozen by Admiral Aokiji. Both doomed to be targeted because of her.

She couldn't… No. Not again. Please not again. She couldn't… she couldn't—

Robin stumbled to her feet (and nearly collapsed due to how weak she currently felt) and desperately made her way over to the frozen statue that was Portgas D. Rosan.

"Rosan… Rosan… ROSAN!" Her voice got progressively louder as the situation became more and more clear to her.

The Devil Child looked completely hysterical as she latched onto the bitingly cold body of her best friend and she gazed at him, tears falling freely from her eyes.

He was screaming. Rosan had been screaming from the pain of being frozen solid.

"Please… it's gonna be alright, Rosan... Please be alright. Just stay with me, Rosan… Just don't leave me. Please. You won't die here. Please don't die here!" she begged as her tears landed on his body and instantly froze.

He did not respond.

The rest of the Straw Hats threw caution to the wind and charged both Aokiji and Rosan.

Aokiji sidestepped the wild blow from the steaming Luffy, expression clouded as he gazed at the Devil Child.

"YOU! I'M GONNA KICK YOUR ASS!" A furious Luffy roared.

The Admiral sighed tiredly. "There's no need for that. He's still alive for the time being."

Everyone froze at that and gazed at Aokiji in shock.

The man rubbed the back of his head with a neutral expression. "Like I said, I'm not here on orders. Despite thinking the Red Devil is better off dead, I just wanted to see something and I saw it. If you don't hurry up and thaw him out, he's going to probably die. Cold-blooded creatures are especially weak to my ice and he had a reaction that I've never seen before."

"He's not dead…?" Robin whispered.

"He will be soon, if you don't hurry up."

That seemed to snap them out of their daze and they moved in a flurry of action.

"B-Bring him to the shower! Turn it on hot! Nami, if you can, please use Clima's flames near him!" Chopper demanded.

Zoro and Sanji carefully lifted Rosan out of the limp Robin's grasp and carried him over to the ship.

Nami and Usopp helped Robin up and didn't even flinch as the Devil Child sagged in their grasp.

"Please… take me to the shower as well," she requested quietly.

"Of course. I'm headed there too," Nami whispered soothingly, marching right past the still Aokiji with only some hesitation.

Robin did not even look at him. Her terror for Rosan's safety, completely overruled her fear of Kuzan and as such, she stopped registering his presence.

Kuzan watched them board the ship with a blank expression on his face and gazed back at the lone Straw Hat there. "Not gonna board?" He asked Luffy.

"Not until I'm sure you won't do anything," Luffy replied with a serious expression. "I don't know what your deal with Robin and Rosan are, but I won't let you hurt them anymore."

Kuzan gauged Luffy's words with that same expression of his before nodding. "Consider this my thanks for you all saving Alabasta. Despite what Smoker said about the Red Devil... he was rather positive about the rest of you and I do respect your Grandfather. Next time, I may not be so merciful to you."

With that, the Admiral walked right past Luffy and made his way to the opposite side of the island to retrieve his bike.

Luffy didn't move from his spot, until his Observation sensed Kuzan fully step off the island.

Only then, did the Captain of the Straw Hats allow his serious expression to melt in favor of worry for his oldest brother.

---

Aokiji thought back to the encounter with Iris D. Rosan and found himself contemplating it.

He was fairly sure he got a good picture on the redhead.

Abandoned by Raisa, the Red Devil was taken in by a lone woman on the island of Baterilla by the name of Portgas D. Rouge and she raised him as if she were his own mother...

But the woman had also been pregnant, around the time when the World Government had been stationed on the island, forcefully aborting mother's unborn children.

The Admiral sighed. Rouge died of childbirth and soon after, Rosan disappeared from the island before meeting up with Nico Robin.

It didn't take a genius to find out what happened.

Iris D. Rosan was a monster who had been created by the World Government's hand, no matter how unintentional. A young child, learning of his mother's death and only having one group of people to blame?

For such hate to fester over the years as well... it was no wonder the Red Devil was so cruel to the World Government... after all, there was not a single report on him hurting civilians.

"Is this your definition of justice, Admiral Aokiji? You kill her only friend in front of her, you burn her island to the ground for no reason and then you threaten to hunt her down the moment she slips up. Not only that, you have the audacity to blame my actions on her?! WHAT DO YOU UNDERSTAND?! NONE OF THIS HAS EVER BEEN ROBIN'S FAULT!"

"If you all just did your job instead of having such power trips, I wouldn't be such a problem!"

His definition of justice… just what was justice these days?

Perhaps he didn't know the answer to that, which was why despite running into a pirate crew with a collective bounty of 400 million, he didn't capture any of them.

After all, he was only here to test them and he guessed they passed for now.

Aokiji had been seriously contemplating killing Iris D. Rosan and sparing the rest of them. After all, he was ruthless and showed no remorse for his actions, killing both the Marine's he had encountered on East Blue and in Alabasta...

But he had done so because they were corrupt... How strange. Even if he was wrong, he had been so ruthless to Smoker because the smoke man had abandoned his post in the East Blue just to pursue the Straw Hats, when he could have been cleaning up his sea.

Rosan's head was certainly not in the wrong place... but his actions were all wrong. Corrupt Marines were certainly an issue that needed to be dealt with but the Red Devil was doing things in a way that was eerily reminiscent to Sakazuki.

He thought with someone so extreme, it was only a matter of time before he and Nico Robin did something dangerous... but the Straw Hats didn't seem to care about that at all.

That Rosan was fully intent on throwing his life away for Robin and while that was interesting, the fact that the sole survivor of Ohara seemed to reciprocate that love in equal fervor was what told him what he needed to know.

Someone so willing to throw their lives away for her... even after knowing her for 20 years, the redhead made no indication that he was aware of any of the ancient weapons locations.

Perhaps they really did just love each other.

It seems she really did manage to find her family. Just like Saul said she would...

"Do you think any 8 year old deserves what you're doing right now?! Do you think any child deserves what you think your stupid fucking definition of justice is? Don't even try to delude yourself into thinking what you're doing is justice right now. ROBIN WAS COMPLETELY INNOCENT AND YOU FUCKING MARINES RUINED HER LIFE! YOU THINK I'LL LET YOU TOUCH HER?!"

Aokiji let out another sigh as he continued riding his bike to headquarters.

That Rosan really knew how to hit people where it hurt.

He was fully intending on keeping Nico Robin safe if he had a say in it and not even an Admiral was willing to make him back down.

What a troublesome redhead.

Perhaps he made the incorrect decision sparing Iris D. Rosan... but maybe his words had left the Admiral more drained then he thought. The last time Aokiji thought so deeply about the corruption in the World Government, was when Ohara was ruthlessly destroyed.

Coincidentally, that was the same year Rosan's adoptive mother had died. Perhaps a small part of Aokiji sympathized with the redhead filled with such an overwhelming amount of love and hate.

Raisa's lineage was heavily emotional weren't they? Rosan was no exception it looked like.

Perhaps he didn't want to snuff out someone who made a valid point yet. Was it a mistake? Perhaps... but Kuzan was invested in the Red Devil now.

If Saul was allowed to be selfish, Kuzan would also be selfish, just this once.

If Rosan did something to the point of no return, Aokiji would hunt him down personally to make up for his own errors... but the enforcer of Lazy Justice hadn't been so interested in something in a long while.

Still, the next location the Straw Hats were headed to was Water 7… Cipher Pol was currently stationed there and if they encountered the Straw Hats...

Aokiji thought back to the collective power of the crew and grunted.

There was no way that was going to be silent. The Straw Hats were going to make a lot of noise if anything happened...

Should he stop Cipher Pol from doing something stupid?

...

Nah. That was too troublesome. He'd make good on his promise after the events of that place.

---

With the help of the hot shower and Nami utilizing Clima's flames to form a small little torch, they managed to quickly get Rosan out of his frozen state.

No one mentioned the sob of relief Robin let out, at seeing the redhead breathing.

They immediately removed him out of his soaked clothing and got the worryingly cold redhead onto a bed.

"He went into shock and is suffering from hypothermia… we just need to keep him warm until it settles down," Chopper observed worriedly, gazing at the pale redhead with sorrow.

"Let's stay docked until he recovers," Nami decided.

No one had any complaints about that.

Robin hadn't said a word, just staring at the unconscious redhead with a blank expression on her face.

"Robin."

She flinched slightly and gazed at the worried Chopper with a startled expression.

"Can you keep Rosan warm for me?" He requested, more for her sake then the redhead's.

She offered him a strained smile and nodded, watching as the doctor departed from the room to join the others (when did everyone else leave?).

Almost as soon as the door shut, she sagged into Rosan's unconscious frame and let out a shuddering sigh, feeling all the strength leave her body.

"Y-You were going to die for me," she whispered in despair. "You were fully set on dying just to keep me safe."

Why… what was so special about her that everyone was so willing to throw their lives away just so she could live?

Why?! Didn't they realize she didn't want them to die?! Why did they insist on doing this to her?

"I don't want you to die, Rosan…" she whispered, clutching his cold body like he could disappear at any moment.

Deep down, Robin knew Rosan was willing to go to any extent to keep her safe and this just confirmed her worst fears.

How could she live with herself, if Rosan threw his life away for her?

Tears began spilling from her eyes once more and she just clutched the redhead as she silently grieved.

---

Rosan had no idea, he suffered such a weakness to ice but the moment Aokiji's Hie Hie no Mi made contact with him, his body had almost completely shut down.

Why was his body so weak to ice? Was it truly because of Ragnarok?

...

He knew there were stronger forces than him in the world. Garp made that very clear but to see such a threat to Robin's safety in the flesh and to be able to do nothing about it…

Not only that, Aokiji knew too much about him. He knew Rouge was his mother. He knew she had died of childbirth... Yet he had the audacity to pin Rosan's actions onto Robin.

...He had been goading him. The ice man had purposely been egging Rosan on hadn't he? Why was he still alive if otherwise?

That thought filled him with such hot rage, that he shot up from his slumber. It was clear he wasn't supposed to be awake right now, because both Mod and Ram were unconscious and he felt terrible.

A set of hands steadied him almost instantly and he turned to gaze at one of the subject of his thoughts.

Robin was staring at him with a calm expression, as she carefully tended to his body.

It was the dead of night and they were located in the nursery. Rosan wasn't sure if it was naturally cold or if his body was still recovering from the after effects of being frozen solid, but he was chilly.

"You're awake," Robin said quietly. "You should be asleep for another day."

Rosan glanced at his hand with a dark expression. "My anger woke me up."

"It's always your anger with you, isn't it?"

The redhead paused at that and he gazed at Robin, anger melting off in favor of concern. "Robin…?"

"I begged you not to fight him, Rosan," Robin said eventually, calm expression making way for a genuinely angry expression. "Why didn't you listen to me?! Why don't you ever listen?!" She shouted.

Rosan flinched back, taken aback, before a frown formed on his face.

"He told me to my face that he reconsidered sparing you, Robin. Do you think I should just stand there and let him carry out his words?" he retorted incredulously.

"You let him rile you up, Rosan!" Robin said angrily, glaring at him. "You know we aren't strong enough to fight an Admiral so why would you immediately attack him?!"

The redhead had a bewildered look on his face but Robin wasn't finished.

"You never think of anything else but fighting. You only consider yourself, Rosan! We could have escaped! We could have gotten away! Merry is important... but she is a sinking ship!" Robin said, raising her voice slightly.

The simmered down anger in Rosan, nearly roared back to life and he tried his best to stifle it because he would never forgive himself if he got mad at Robin for no reason.

"Don't you even care what will happen to me if I have to see you die?" She asked quietly, losing her anger as quick as it came.

Rosan saw the defeated expression on her face and that hurt him more then anyone's anger ever did.

"Robin… He threatened to kill you," Rosan replied softly, placing his hands on her shoulders and ignoring the pain at doing that small action.

"Not only did that man contribute to your PTSD, he had the gall to stalk you for who knows how long, then say he has enough reason to hunt you down? After forcing you into this situation in the first place?"

Robin shuddered at the genuine raw anger in his tone.

Rosan pulled her into a hug. "I'm... sorry for not grabbing you all and escaping regardless but... but I made a promise to always keep you safe, Robin. How could I ever live with myself if I let him do whatever he wanted to you, simply because he was stronger than me?" he asked quietly.

Robin hated how easily the tears sprung to her eyes but she couldn't help it.

"I was so scared for you," she admitted in a near whisper, desperately clutching him. "I thought you died, Rosan. He froze you just like Saul… I thought you died just like Saul!"

Rosan's eyes narrowed in guilt and he held her tightly. "It's okay, Robin. I'm still here."

"Please don't die, Rosan," she whispered.

Rosan nodded tightly. "It's okay to cry, Robin. I'm here for you. I won't let this happen again."

She shuddered and the tears spilled as she silently cried in his chest. The events of what happened today, prove to be too much for the Devil Child and she finally broke down.

The redhead let her cry and he felt his gaze darken as he tightened his grip around Robin.

He wasn't strong enough… He needed to get stronger. Rosan needed to get as strong as possible so that he never had to reassure Robin that he wasn't going to die again.

So that she would never have to let despair drive her to tears again.

But until then, he would spend all the time in the world assuring her that he was fine.

So Rosan did just that. He whispered sweet nothings in Robin's ears as she shuddered and sobbed in a rare moment of weakness until eventually she fell asleep and he dragged her into bed so that they could rest.

When Robin was weak, Rosan would be strong for the both of them. When Rosan was weak, Robin would be strong for the both of them.

When Robin and Rosan were in harmony, they were unstoppable.

That was the dynamic of Robin and Rosan and he'd be damned if anyone tried to take that from him.

---

Memory Viewing With Robin and Rosan - 8 (Covers Chapter 21)

Continued!

Directly continued from last chapters memory.

---

"She really does look remarkably similar to you," Robin mused, glancing back at the female Rosan and the Raisa from what little memories they had of her.

There wasn't much to see, but Raisa and Rosan had very similar features. They had the same sharp eyes, same button nose... they likely even had the same bronze skin but the memory was not in color.

Robin watched the rather young looking Queen, stare her crying son down...

How old had Raisa been, when she gave birth to Rosan?

"She seems conflicted," she mentioned calmly.

Rosan nodded in agreement. "I agree. Perhaps she has a heart."

Mod snarled. "I hope she does so I can rip it out."

Robin and Ram sweat at the scary expression on Mod's face.

The Devil Child continued to watch the memory of Rosan as a baby and she frowned sadly at the sight of the poor baby sobbing his heart out.

She hated seeing Rosan cry. Robin had also seen the memory of Rouge's... death and the effect it had on Rosan, tore her heart apart.

It was terrible. Robin wanted nothing more than to console the redhead. She was very overprotective of Rosan after all.

At the very least, Raisa abandoning Rosan, introduced the boy to not only a mother who raised him properly, but his best friend and Devil Fruit.

Robin knew for a fact that Rosan preferred this outcome over being raised by the Queen. His free spirit would never be able to handle being the heir to a throne.

She could see why her best friend didn't particularly care about Raisa. Dwelling on it, would cause nothing but annoyance.

"Alright, I'm satisfied... we can continue your other memories," Robin said with a contemplative expression.

It's not like she ever expected to meet Raisa. The woman was in the South Blue and they were deep in the Grand Line.

If by some chance, Robin did ever meet her... then she'd naturally give the woman a piece of her mind for doing such a thing to her little Rosan... but Robin was, rather selfishly, kind of happy that Raisa had done so.

Mod nodded, happily acquiescing with her request, ending the memory and bringing them back to the 4 brothers who had also just learned about Raisa themselves.

None of them seemed to truly care... they were just shocked to know that Rosan was technically a prince.

"Do you think you'd be a king by now?" Robin asked curiously. "...Or I suppose queen," she added playfully.

Her smile disappeared as those soft fingers rested warningly on her cheeks.

"Let's stop right there with the jokes," Rosan said calmly, piercing gaze narrowed slightly. "One more and I'll have to show you that I can fight proficiently in this form too."

Robin nodded slowly. "Are you sure you can fight like this? Surely your breasts would get in the way with all the movement," she murmured mischievously.

Rosan's eyes narrowed and she lunged at Robin.

The Devil Child laughed, too interested in seeing the woman do something different to think much of her threats.

"Wow," Ram whistled, as Rosan tackled her to the floor and they began brawling, bright smile on her face. "Look at all that movement!"

"I had no idea Robin was such a pervert," Mod sighed fondly, watching the Devil Child gaze up at Rosan with an amused smile as they struggled.

"Only to Father!" the ring beamed happily.

"Robin, where are you putting your hands?" Rosan asked in disbelief.

"Whatever do you mean?" Robin smiled.

Mod's smile disappeared and a sweatdrop formed.

---

The 4 brothers continued their life as always. They would train, hunt, steal, argue and just did whatever it was that they felt like doing.

It was a routine that they quickly grew used to and Robin enjoyed the lull of it all...

But naturally, not all good things lasted.

The announcement of a Celestial Dragon, made Rosan decide to stay low for a while, in case he encountered the World Noble and was provoked into killing him again.

Over the past few days, the redhead had also taken liberty in brutally dealing with the Bluejam Pirates stalking them, while milking information out of them with horrifying efficiency.

It's how the redhead knew that the Bluejam Pirates were going to attack his brothers soon.

"At this point, I should have just silently dealt with the Bluejam Pirates," Rosan sighed at his error.

He made so many errors and even without emotions, this one seemed to be emotionally charged.

Robin shook her head as she watched the Bluejam Pirates ambush the brothers, sans Rosan.

"You say that now but the fact of the matter, is that you are not the same person now, as you were before," Robin murmured. "You've always hated doing thankless work... that's just who you are. Expecting yourself to change something so ingrained into you, is too much."

"I already told them how to access me. If they wanted my help, they would have asked. I'm not going to help people that don't want help. Brothers or not," Teen Rosan replied coldly.

The redhead pursed her lips in displeasure. "But they were my brothers... and I should make exceptions for them. I'm the oldest... it's up to me to be the mature one there."

"But you've never been a brother before," Robin retorted softly. "You're 14 in these memories, Rosan and you've barely had normal human interactions. Your most normal human interactions stem from Aiko and Akemi who you saw once every 2 weeks."

He rarely helped Angel and Demon because they didn't like to bother him very much. Maro was also well aware of what she lacked and never let Rosan offer assistance, just asking him instead.

This was completely new territory for Rosan. He wasn't perfect... it was natural he'd mess up.

Rosan said nothing but nodded slowly.

Robin eyed the redhead for a moment, before focusing on the screen again.

The redhead chose to visit Sabo to figure out what he was thinking and he was greeted by the site of Sabo's abusive family.

Robin frowned at the way they acted to Sabo and shook her head in disappointment.

"Rosan, you even offered Sabo assistance despite not normally doing something like that and he denied it," Robin pointed out to the redhead. "Forcing something is just as bad as not helping... it builds resentment," she informed him.

Rosan thought about it. "Mod-chan said something similar..." she muttered with a soft expression.

Mod perked up at that and smiled sadly. "I know how self critical you are... so I wanted you to understand that you did your best with a situation you weren't used to," she explained quietly.

"...Yes, I suppose I did," the redhead whispered.

Robin smiled victoriously. Anytime Rosan viewed himself in a positive light, was a win in her book.

Young Rosan respected Sabo's wish to not involve himself with the blonde's problems and Robin sighed at how idiotic every single one of them were being.

She thought it was cute that Sabo didn't want to be a burden, but there was nothing wrong with accepting help.

Robin had no idea why they were all, barring Luffy, so against the idea of Rosan helping... Was it pride?

It would have been as easy as breathing for Rosan to solve most of this... but because they refused his help, the redhead didn't feel a need to play a stronger hand in the events.

Rosan wasn't faultless, but all the blame did not lie on him. This was just his current character after losing his emotions and it was unfair to expect something to change after 2 years of nothing changing.

Robin sighed... it was just a testament that they were all still children at the end of the day, no matter how mature Rosan acted at the time.

After all, the moment Sabo and Rosan heard that there was going to be a fire in Gray Terminal, they should have realized it wasn't something little anymore...

But Rosan would never care about something like that. No, if Gray Terminal truly was going to burn, then Rosan would let the fire start and only attempt to save Luffy and Ace.

The only one truly faultless, was little Luffy. He had immediately wanted to call for Rosan to fix this and if Ace had allowed it, it would have been done...

But it was not to be.

"It's such a terrible situation that snowballed out of control," Robin sighed. Ace's resentment hadn't gone away... it had just been buried.

He had willingly gone back to Bluejam... the stubborn fool.

Rosan knew this but because Ace absolutely refused his help, he wouldn't do anything about it.

Even with emotions, that's how Rosan was. If Robin was being particularly stubborn one day and refused his help, he would just laugh mockingly at her and watch her struggle with an amused smile.

She would never blame him for having this trait because it wasn't a bad trait to have, but it was truly unfortunate that the stubborn redhead was faced off with his equally stubborn little brother. It was never going to end well for either.

So Teen Rosan let the two go and got up to do his own things.

He sprouted his wings and lazily floated over to where the brothers had kept their treasure stored and wasted no time opening it.

"If the fire is going to happen, it's best if I just take it now," the redhead thought to himself, conjuring a bag and beginning the tedious process of storing all the treasure they had amassed in it.

"What will you do after?" Mod asked quietly.

"Check up on Sabo. Ace and Luffy are currently fine," Rosan replied shortly.

"...Will you really let the fire start?" she asked hesitantly.

"What will stopping it achieve? They have already made the preparations. I do not have the means to stop a fire of such a large scale and I do not see why I should," he said blandly, looking at the filled bag with a blank look before vanishing into the Pocket Dimension with it to store the treasure away.

"Right. You have a fair point, but just make sure Ace and Luffy are fine."

"Naturally."

Robin nodded at the teen's words, expecting it from him and just continued to watch the memory with a small frown.

She wasn't sure how to really feel about all this. What could she truly say?

It's not like this was out of character for Rosan. Every decision he made, was one she had seen him make in a previous memory that she never had a problem with.

But now things were different because his brothers were involved... but Rosan hadn't yet adjusted to that detail yet.

To Rosan, this was just business as usual. Unless told otherwise, he would never realize there was something wrong with what he was doing.

That's why Robin couldn't fault him... she had seen all his memories. This was just Rosan being Rosan.

So she just continued to watch with a conflicted expression as Rosan continued his course of action.

The redhead was currently headed to Sabo's location to check up on him but when he arrived, he found no one there.

Then he overhead Sabo's parents talking about the boy escaping from home and realized he no longer needed to be here.

The teen, after some guidance from Mod, headed straight to the front of the gate and what Robin saw, made her scowl.

Sabo was currently being beaten down by a pair of guards as he attempted to open up the gates. They ruthlessly beat him with the butt of their guns and Robin's eyes narrowed at the same time Rosan dashed forward.

He hoisted up his little brother and delivered a brutal kick all in one action.

"Ensure your target is absolutely safe first," Teen Rosan reminded himself, dashing away from the guards view.

Robin shot a brow at that, before a way too proud smile formed on her face.

"You... you're still capable of learning, Rosan!" She praised with a pleased smile. "Look! You learned from Meiko and ensured you got your target out first."

"..." Rosan looked taken aback by that, before nodding hesitantly. "Yes... I try not to satisfy my own selfish desires, if I stand to lose something from it," the swapped redhead muttered.

"Do you still think like that?" Robin asked with a knowing smile.

"...Currently, yes I do," Rosan replied. "But who knows how that will change if I ever regain all my emotions."

The Devil Child shook her head. "But you'll understand at that point, what the right thing to do is. It's just a matter of taking those steps."

Mod smiled brilliantly at that and nodded enthusiastically. "You always learn from your mistakes, Rosan! It's all a slow going process!" she assured.

Ram snored, having fallen asleep midwatch. She lay unconscious on Rosan's frame with a lazy smile.

The redhead nodded to themself. "As long as I can still improve... I will take those steps. It's the least I can do for my family," she replied softly.

"That's all we ask for," Robin and Mod said simultaneously.

The Devil Child, satisfied, gazed back at the screen, only for her eyes to widen, at the sight of a very familiar figure appearing in the alley with Rosan and Sabo.

"Monkey D. Dragon... to think he is Luffy's father," Robin muttered, watching the tall man place both hands up to placate the wary Rosan.

It seemed to work and the teen instead focused on Sabo, all while keeping an eye on Dragon.

"...Rosan. I think he recognizes something about you," she mentioned. Dragon's eyes had widened minutely once he laid eyes on Rosan... particularly the redhead's eyes.

It couldn't be...

"You think he knows Raisa?" Rosan pondered, tilting her head to the side.

"It may be far-fetched... but I believe he does," Robin muttered. "You have contact with him correct? It might be worth asking in the future."

"...I don't particularly care, but I'll do it because you're interested," the scout replied.

Perhaps she was too spoiled... Robin was rather interested in learning more about Rosan and that extended to birth parents too.

She wanted to know about the two people managed to give birth to the prodigy before her. The genius buzzing with so much emotion, he had to seal it away to protect himself.

The redhead with such ambitions, he wouldn't accept anything but being at the top of the world.

So yes, Robin did want more information on the redhead's biological blood. Kami knows he didn't care about it enough to pursue it... but maybe finding out about Raisa in particular would give her hints on how to help him with his emotions.

Iris was his birth name wasn't it? Robin should look into books about that name... they were royalty after all.

Yes, she'd ask Aiko to look into the South Blue for them.

Rosan's eyes were truly fascinating to her. After all, only a slight slipup from Dragon, allowed the redhead to figure out that this was very likely Luffy's father.

But not only that... Dragon knew about Rosan and Maro's usurp of the throne in the North Blue. The revolutionaries had eyes and ears in many places and that rang true even 10 years in the past.

Luckily, despite recognizing Rosan, the leader of the Revolutionaries saw the redhead as an ally instead of an enemy.

As a show of trust, Rosan left Sabo with Dragon and went to pursue Ace and Luffy...

"Dragon must have garnered an interest in Sabo here," Rosan muttered. "Thankfully I wasn't hostile... he might not have saved him otherwise."

"Whatever the case, I'm thankful it eventually worked itself out," Mod sighed.

Robin nodded as the memory shifted from night, to flames instantly.

She was rather taken aback but the Devil Child had seen how high the flames reached.

...To think Ace and Luffy had been in such a mess.

And despite that, Ace still never intended on calling Rosan.

Robin sighed.

The situation was doomed from the start. Loathe as she was to admit it, both Ace and Rosan needed this wake up call that their petty sibling beef was not worth it.

Even now, in the middle of the fire, the brothers weren't even close to resolving their issues and Rosan finally seemed tired of Ace's stubbornness.

Robin watched Ace display Conquerors Haki with an interested gaze, trying to apply it to Rosan's Pressure and not seeing much similarities.

Perhaps she'd need to feel both. Rosan had mentioned that his Conqueror's Haki was so weak, that he didn't find it worth using anymore...

If it was truly based on ambition, she wondered how strong his would be, when he was fully unleashed.

Quite strong, she'd imagine.

Robin couldn't wait to see it.

For now though, she'd be satisfied with the sight of Rosan bullying Bluejam himself.

Robin couldn't help but nod along with Rosan's decision to put Ace to sleep. The fire was making him delirious and he very quickly needed to get out of there along with Luffy.

"Stubborn until the end... you two might not be blood related, but you're certainly brothers," Robin said, shaking her head slightly.

"That we are," Rosan sighed. He had similarities to all his brothers. He and Ace were infamously stubborn in regards to everything, though when Luffy chose to be stubborn he eclipsed them both.

He and Sabo both desired freedom, unwilling to be chained down by something they disagreed with and were willing to do anything to maintain it. Not to mention they were both nobility.

Rosan and Luffy actually had the most similarities... his lack of emotions just made it difficult to spot. They were both chaotic, followed the beat of their own drums, were utterly unyielding and had similar personalities with plenty of differences.

Rosan liked it. He enjoyed having things to share with his brothers.

Robin smiled at that, utterly unfazed by the sight of Rosan torturing Bluejam, and gazed at the redhead.

Despite always wanting to isolate himself, Rosan hated being lonely. It was one of the worst things in the world to him. The boy loved having other people to spend time with or just talk to.

Perhaps that's why he continuously tried to push people away, because the ache of loneliness would be a fitting punishment for him.

"I TOLD YOU NOT TO GET IN MY WAY!"

Robin jumped at the loud volume and focused on the screen.

In her musings, she had managed to miss Rosan torturing Bluejam...

A shame. She'd have to ask him to replay it later.

Ace was currently in the process of trying to assault his older brother and they were in the middle of an argument.

Robin sighed. It was only a matter of time before it all boiled over.

"You need to know when to step down from a battle. Some things are more important then winning a fight," Teen Rosan suggested quietly.

Robin flinched at that. That was a lesson Rosan had learned the hard way... because he had been much like Ace before. Never backing down from a fight. As long as he was breathing, Rosan always thought there was a chance to win.

He never thought about anything else besides winning the battle, once he was in a battle. His battle lust clouded him and it had backfired too harshly.

"Shut up, I never run away from a fight and you got in my way when I told you to stay out of it!" Little Ace snarled.

Teen Rosan hummed. "I did stay out of it, Ace and look what that got us. I let you run things and now Sabo is with the parents he hate, Luffy is seriously injured and you both were about to die in a fire. If I continued to stay out of it, who knows what would have happened."

Ace let out a savage growl. "I had it under control until you butt in when I didn't want you to. I told you stop trying to act like I need an older brother but you don't listen!"

It was that sentence that actually managed to elicit something out of Rosan and Robin watched curiously as a rare look of annoyance crossed his features.

"You think this is me trying to act like an older brother? You put Luffy's life at risk, Ace. He is my captain and he could have died because of how stubborn you chose to be. All of this is happening because of your stupid pride. It's fine to not want my help, but dragging our younger brothers into it, is where I draw the line."

Robin couldn't help but agree with Rosan's assessment. Despite his tendency to observe rather than intervene, he had given them the option to call him and Ace never took it, until he was forced to show up by himself.

If it were anyone else but his brothers, the clones or Maro at the time... Rosan would have let them die. Plain and simple.

But perhaps she was not the best judge of character. Despite everything, Robin would always have a natural bias for Rosan.

"One pull. With just one pull, I would have resolved all of this. Gray Terminal would not have burned, Luffy would be fine and Sabo would be here. But you chose to make it difficult on purpose. Do you want to know why? Because you still resent me."

Robin frowned as Rosan spelled it out to Ace.

The freckled boy was just too angry to have ever let his resentment go away that easily. Rosan was well aware of that and had been trying to have Ace see it himself...

"Maybe I wouldn't have had to think like that if you taught me earlier in my life."

Robin winced at the callous statement and felt her heart squeeze, as the tiniest bit of sadness seeped into Rosan. The redhead closed his eyes to hide the slight pain and she let out a sad sigh.

"Throwing one of my biggest regrets back into my face is low, Ace. Nobody knows how much I messed up more than I do but I didn't think you'd stoop to that to win an argument. Some things are more important than finishing a fight. Keeping the ones you love safe, should always be a higher priority."

...It hurt Robin so much that he was saying that from experience.

Mod must have been just as affected because she immediately turned and hugged Rosan.

"It's okay... it kind of hurt to be reminded... but I'm over it now..." the redhead assured, before hesitantly turning towards the frowning Robin.

"Do you resent me, Robin?" Rosan asked quietly.

She jolted at the question, taking her eyes off of Angel reprimanding Rosan to regard the swapped redhead.

"I've already told you, Rosan... I don't resent you, I have no lingering resentment or anything like that. I'm just happy we can see each other every day," she assured after a moment. "If you keep asking me that, I'll get upset with you."

Whatever Rosan was about to say, died on her lips and the redhead shut her mouth, nodding in defeat.

"He's still such a kid," Robin sighed fondly. Rosan always did hate making her upset with him.

After getting chewed out by Angel, she forced Rosan and Ace to apologize to each other, something that Rosan surprisingly conceded first.

Robin would know how difficult it was to get an apology out of Rosan. It was like pulling teeth.

It was good that the two managed to make up...

But it was just too late.

The horror in the room, as every inhabitant found out the truth of Sabo, made Robin close her eyes. Even with the knowledge that the revolutionary was alive and well, these people didn't know that.

No, they thought he was dead...

And Rosan felt nothing at all.

It was a tragedy. Knowing you were supposed to feel something, but not feeling anything... it was its own type of torture and Rosan tried to make up for his lack of emotions towards Sabo's fate, in the only way he knew how.

But he couldn't even take revenge... no, the redhead was stuck.

Rosan truly was in his own personal hell at times and Robin hated it.

Yet, he still found it in him to help the other people that were affected.

"And you wonder why everyone loves you," Robin said quietly.

She watched Rosan console Angel, Luffy, Maro, Demon... the redhead helped all of them, even Ace.

But there was no one that could truly help Rosan. None but the body of Meiko he spoke to everyday.

Mod was apart of Rosan. Those two were so intertwined that she'd never be able to truly help her son. They felt what the other felt, they understood each others thoughts... being so close wasn't always a good thing.

"If you ever need a shoulder to cry on, Rosan... I'll be that shoulder," Robin said abruptly.

Rosan blinked at the sudden statement and gazed at Robin.

"...Thank you, Robin. I know I can rely on you so if that day ever comes, you'll be the first person I run to," she said softly, smiling at the Devil Child.

Robin saw the smile and smiled herself. "This might be the first time I've seen you smile in this form. You're quite beautiful you know?"

Rosan rolled her eyes and immediately transformed into his default form.

Ram grumbled in discontent, head moving abruptly with the loss of the redhead's breast before she went back to snoring.

"N-Now this doesn't have to be awkward," Mod sighed in relief, clutching Rosan's side and preparing to fall asleep.

"How boring," Robin sighed in disappointment. "I miss Rosanna already. So much more pleasant to be around."

"...Rosanna?" Rosan asked incredulously. "When did I say you could name that form?"

The Devil Child shrugged. "Since I'll be seeing her so often, it's only right I name her."

"..."

"..."

Mod sighed tiredly and removed her hand from Rosan's person, right as he lunged at Robin.

Ram let out a noise more akin to a startled cat, as she was launched off her Father's body.

Robin yelped as he tackled her off the bed and the two began immediately brawling.

"I'm going to sleep," Mod announced, getting comfortable and ignoring the two fighting.

They ignored her completely.

The Devil Fruit let out another sigh, that turned into a yelp as a much taller figure draped themselves over her.

"R-Ram, get off of me! You are not sleeping on me! You're tall, messy and you drool!" Mod struggled.

Ram yawned sleepily and clutched Mod like a teddy bear. "You drool too, Auntie and you're really comfy," was all she said.

Mod let out a strangled yell before slumping in defeat.

She hated them all. She did not drool!

---

Bonus!

"It's ready? Really?!" Maro asked in excitement, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

Demon nodded excitedly. "It's been a lot of trial and error but I think I finally got a working version for you," the doctor said.

Maro's eyes glittered and she crushed Demon into a hug. "Yes! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" She gushed.

He smiled, infected by her energy and easily returned her soul crushing hug. "Should we call up Master and head to training to test it out?"

She nodded so quickly, he feared her head would fly off.

"Let's go right now!" Maro shouted, practically rocketing off to go kidnap Angel so that they could all go.

Demon sighed fondly and gazed at the blue ball with a proud expression.

---

"Tada!" Maro beamed in front of her training partners. "Look! Look!"

Chopper's eyes lit up. "The Rumble Ball! You managed to create one?!" He asked excitedly, glancing at Demon in awe.

"It's all thanks to you," Demon grinned, pulling the reindeer into a hug. "Thank you Chopper... you've taught me so much!"

The reindeer was incredible. It was surreal to see how expansive his knowledge was. Demon had learned so many things from him and it had helped him in spades.

Chopper lit up at that and began dancing happily. "D-Don't think you can just compliment me, bastard!" he gushed.

Rosan looked at the blue ball in interest. "I wonder what other forms you'll be able to utilize," he mused, eyes glowing at the possibilities.

Maro grinned excitedly. "Let's find out!"

Without any hesitation, she plopped the Rumble Ball in her mouth and bit down.

Robin, Rosan, Angel, Demon, Luffy, Zoro and Chopper all watched with clear interest as the Queen gained a contemplative expression.

Then, her eyes lit up.

Maro's skin turned green, as she began bulking up ridiculously. The Dokkaebi grew to her tremendous height of 8ft...

But she didn't stop there.

They watched with wide eyes as Maro's form continue growing another foot while her muscles bulged out and her white hair grew all the way to her feet, draping over her form like a protective layer. Then, she summoned her massive club that transformed into a shield of all things!

"A shield?" Rosan asked in confusion, tilting his head to the side as Maro inspected her form with glittering eyes.

The Queen glanced up, as her tiara suddenly appeared atop her head (Woah! she left it at home!) transformed into a protective helmet and she grinned at the much smaller people.

"Look at me! It's a defensive form!" She rumbled excitedly, inspecting her new form.

"Master! Master! I think I figured it all out! It's like those adventure books you used to read me!"

The redhead's eyes widened as Maro proceeded to slim down into her hybrid form tremendously.

The Queen's helmet transformed yet again, this time turning into a headband of all things revealing Maro's hair. What was normally a mix of white and blue hair in hybrid, transformed into blue and they watched in interest as the suddenly lithe queen preened at them.

They had never actually seen Maro in her transformed state with blue hair.

"This is a speed form!" Maro beamed, waving Daisy, who had transformed into a much slimmer club now (it's size was similar to a tanto), in the air. The Queen tensed her legs and vanished, denting the floor beneath her with the speed she was achieving.

"Ahahaha! This is fun! Is this how Master and Luffy feel being so fast?!" She cackled, blurring across the field with a drunken grin.

The Queen ran a lap around the giant field before finally stopping directly in front of the fascinated group.

Chopper's eyes were starry as he saw the effects of the Rumble Ball on someone else.

This was incredible! Maro was actually using multiple forms like him!

Maro took a step back and concentrated, still in hybrid form.

They watched her form bulk up to levels above her normal hybrid, but less than her full transformation, hair transforming fully white once more and she grinned.

"This is balanced! More power than hybrid, more speed than full!" She explained to them, headband transforming into a crown as her club lengthened to the size of a claymore. "And finally..."

Maro's form slimmed down once more, as she transformed back into her human form and her crown transformed into an adorable blue witch hat.

The most peculiar thing about this form, was the fact that her hair remained the white of her Dokkaebi and fell down to her butt.

"What form is this?" Angel asked in awe, blushing hot. Maro's long white hair on her human form, looked way too sexy! And the big hat! So cute!

Maro held up her club, that looked like a thin and tiny stick instead and summoned a ball of fire above it.

"This is my magic form!" She grinned wildly, practically brimming with the energy that belonged to a Dokkaebi.

Her reserved felt endless right now! This was incredible!

They watched her wave the tiny wand and the small blue flame formed into neat letters of her name.

She began dancing with the fire, having it move with her with a wild grin.

"This is so fun. I feel like I have unlimited magic!" Maro cackled, summoning an apple from Rosan's fridge and biting into it, while wisely stroking her white hair.

Then, she began rapidly teleporting in burst of blue flames, appearing in a new location with unhinged laughter.

"I think I can actually teleport back home like this... well outside the Pocket Dimension at least!"

Rosan raised a brow high at that. "Seriously? From this distance?"

Maro nodded enthusiastically. "It's like... a warm little spot! I don't think I can do it anywhere but for my home? Absolutely!" She gushed excitedly.

This was incredible! She had no idea there were so many things to a Dokkaebi that she was lacking!

Oh this was just the beginning! Soon, Maro wouldn't need the Rumble Ball! She'd be unstoppable if she could willingly access these forms without the drug.

"She just got way stronger," Rosan mused, eyes glinting in delight at the prospect of fighting the way more versatile Maro. "But 3 minutes is too little against me. You'll have to work hard to master this without the ball."

The Queen grinned ferally as her white hair turned back to normal. "Hell yeah! I thought I was hitting a bit of a plateau... but learning about Haki and now this? I'm gonna be unstoppable!" She cackled.

Her expression turned curious as she inspected the batch of Rumble Balls.

"Hey Master... cage me," she suddenly requested.

"Hm? Why?" Rosan asked, holding out a hand to do just that.

"I'm gonna eat 3," she grinned cheekily. "Best to see what it does now, right?"

Chopper's eyes widened in horror. "Wait, what?!" He asked in disbelief.

"Yeah! You don't know what happens and you're afraid right? If it's really that bad, Master will stop me," Maro beamed confidently.

Chopper balked at her total lack of fear, stunned speechless.

"Sure. I'm interested too," Rosan nodded.

The floor rose into a wall that cut Maro off and Rosan walked up to modify it further.

With a tap, he made it see through, reinforced it into a much stronger material and made sure to let air in.

Maro shot them a peace sign, two Rumble Balls in between the raised fingers.

Then she plopped the balls in her mouth and chewed.

Everyone watched in anticipation as the caged Queen chewed the two balls and hummed.

Chopper watched with a terrified expression, hiding behind Robin as he began shaking.

"How's it?" Rosan asked curiously.

Maro shrugged. "Not sure... my stomach is really really hot though—"

The Dokkaebi suddenly went silent.

Then, Maro hunched over and began screaming.

"A-AGHHHH!" She screeched loudly, clutching her head in disbelief. "W-What? What's happenin—"

"Maro?!" Everyone barked in concern. "Are you alright?"

"N-NO! S-SOMETHINGS HAPPENING TO MY HEAD! IT'S POUNDIN — ARGGHHHH!"

Before their very eyes, they watched Maro's eyes turned glassy, before her sclera turned completely orange, pupils disappearing completely.

She began growing, hair turning white and overflowing to the point that it began draping on the floor... until her new height removed that issue.

Muscles bulged, teeth grew, her tiara transformed into the large bucket hat that she hadn't seen since first eating her Zoan...

And the Dokkaebi just kept growing, not stopping at 8ft...

No, the hulking beast had to have been a staggering 25ft.

"What the hell form is this?" Rosan asked in shock, looking at the monster before them with a raised brow.

"RAHHHHHHHHHHHH!" The Dokkaebi roared furiously.

It glanced around in fury, banging on the suddenly small cage with furious blows.

"I don't know but I don't think Maro's in control of that thing!" Angel shouted in worry.

The redhead froze as those soulless orange sclera, glowing bright, suddenly locked onto her and Maro bared her teeth.

Each serrated tooth looked like they could gnaw on metal for fun and the Dokkaebi let out an earth shattering roar.

It held out a hand and summoned Daisy, but the club was as big as the gigantic Dokkaebi and she carried it like it weighed nothing.

Rosan's eyes narrowed as Maro banged against her cage once and multiple cracks began forming. "This isn't good. All of you, in the castle now!" He barked.

"What about you?" Robin asked in concern.

"I'm gonna try and snap Maro out of this," he replied, putting his Raid Suit on immediately. "Luffy and Zoro keep guard. If it looks like I'm losing, come help but try to never leave the weaker ones sides," he ordered tersely.

"Sure... but why?" Zoro asked in trepidation, already drawing all three blades as a terrified Chopper escorted Angel and Demon to another room.

"Because Maro can teleport," Rosan stressed exactly at the same time she did.

The Dokkaebi vanished in a loud burst of blue flame and appeared directly in front of Angel, holding out a massive paw to grab at the redhead before a boot landed on her face and knocked the out of control queen away.

Rosan glared, sparks dancing across his skin as an excited grin formed on his face. "I'll keep her distracted!"

"Right!"

"Be careful!" Robin stressed. She knew that there was nothing she could do against the Dokkaebi at the moment and Rosan would be hard pressed to defend someone while she was teleporting around.

Rosan's response was to summon a claymore to parry Maro's wild swing.

Maro in her full Zoan transformation, had the highest natural physical strength in the family. Rosan was only capable of overpowering her, when he used Boost.

The strength of this transformation, eclipsed Maro's full Zoan and he was positive it would even overpower him in Boost.

Rosan let out a grunt of surprise, as their brief clash ended up with him immediately getting embedded into the ground.

"Oh dear," Mod gasped as Maro roared before getting ready to swing again.

Before his head could get turned into mush, Rosan immediately modified the floor beneath him and sunk far into the ground, before summoning a powerful gale to shove back Maro.

His eyes glinted in excitement as she barely moved from the attack and he surged with electricity.

"You're almost out of electricity, Rosan. You practiced too much today," Mod informed him worriedly.

"That's why I absorbed the Thunder Dial. Ram has become my personal charger," Rosan grinned wildly, eyes blazing as he dashed forward.

"Kahahaha! Father is a genius! He has a solution for everything and now we get to put Goblin in her place!" Ram cackled.

Maro roared violently and swung at the charging figure, only to snarl as the redhead flew above her attack.

Rosan launched himself over Maro's head and ended up behind her, delivering a vicious heel drop kick to the back of Maro's skull...

Only to blink at the gigantic maw clutching his leg. The Dokkaebi snarled violently at him, not having taken any damage from that kick at all.

"Ah fuck," Rosan said bluntly, before Maro reared her arm holding his leg back.

The redhead rasped as Maro brutally slammed him against the ground like he weighed nothing 5 times, each slam strong enough to turn any normal person into paste.

Finally, she grew tired of treating him like a ragdoll and hoisted Rosan up into the air, released him in the process, before halting his momentum upwards with a brutal swing of the massive Daisy directly into his gut, that accelerated his momentum downwards.

The ground shook wildly as Maro's monstrous strength crashed into Rosan's gut with no remorse.

"ROSAN!" They shouted in disbelief, watching the attack make direct contact with the scout.

Robin bit her lip in concern, tempted to jump to his aid immediately and only stopping because she'd just make the situation worse.

But she really wanted to go check on Rosan right now.

"Just one hit managed to shake the ground like that...?" Angel asked in a small amount of horror.

"Master got hit with all of it too," Demon said quietly, eyes narrowed in worry.

This unknown form of Maro... they had no idea the Queen could somehow become more terrifying.

Maro roared before locking onto the castle once more, grasping the giant Daisy as those large orange sclera stared directly at them.

Before the Dokkaebi could even take a step, a pillar of red lightning slammed into her position, engulfing the enraged Queen completely and hiding her silhouette.

Rosan huffed in annoyance, audible noises of his back snapping into place, as he stood up from the attack.

"What type of bullshit strength is that?" He asked in annoyance, sparking wildly.

An eager grin made its way to his face, at seeing Maro completely unscathed from his attack. No, all it did was once more attract the Dokkaebi's attention once more.

The Queen roared her fury to the world and summoned enough of her blue flames to cover the field, forcing Rosan to fly up.

"Boost," he thought to himself.

Complain she may about the Mod Mod no mi, Maro's fruit was insanely streamlined for combat in the most infuriating ways possible.

Seriously, a physical freak of nature that could utilize these strange blue flames, conjure illusions, go invisible...

And this was what it came with naturally. Add Maro's own ingenuity to it?

It was annoying. If Maro had to fight any other user of the Mod Mod no Mi, she'd slaughter them. Rosan was just exceptional.

After all, there was a big chance she was currently stronger than him in this form.

"...Rosan, you need to end this quickly! I'm not sure but... I think eating 3 Rumble Balls has given Maro access to a form she should not be using right now," Mod urged.

Rosan's challenging grin vanished, replaced by a far more serious look.

"What do you mean?" He asked as he leapt back from Maro's unique flames.

"I... think this is an incomplete form of Devil Fruit Awakening and because of that, Maro could be in serious trouble. When Zoan's awaken, there is a high chance they lose their personality to the beast inside and she's a Mythical as well," Mod said slowly, looking unsure.

His eyes widened subtly at that, expression turning grave.

Devil Fruit Awakening wasn't something he or Mod knew much about but his Mother had said as long as the castle existed, he shouldn't even think about the form.

To know that Maro was in an incomplete form... that didn't bode well. It was no wonder she had gotten so damn strong.

"There's one problem with what you said," Rosan grunted, weaving around Maro's body like a gnat, firing attacks imbued with Armament on any part he could.

The Dokkaebi kept trying to swat at him and howled in frustration at failing to land a hit on the speeding redhead.

She exploded in flames that forced Rosan back and he retaliated with a strong gale of wind that did nothing but annoy her.

"And what's that?" Mod asked.

"How the hell am I supposed to end this quickly? Maro was already a tank before. I can beat her but it won't be fast enough," he grunted.

Right now, Maro was just a mindless beast and Rosan would never lose to a complete moron.

At the very least, she was too stupid to use her illusions. That would make this battle way too annoying.

As if to prove his point, Rosan was subjected to the sight of the mini giant vanishing from his sight.

Right, invisibility... with all these flames too, he wouldn't be able to see her heat signature...

The redhead whirled around at the sound of snarling and prepared to divert the wild swing from the Dokkaebi...

Only to blink owlishly as his attack went right through Daisy.

"I wish for just one day, you would not tempt fate and pay the price immediately afterwards," Mod sighed tiredly, preparing for the worst.

"Ouch," Ram said preemptively.

Rosan pursed his lips, as the Maro he was looking at, vanished and the real snarling appeared from the direction he was just facing.

"Well fuck me," he said with a proud glint in his eyes, right as the club smashed into his side (Daisy was the size of him and more) with enough force to nearly cave him in.

The redhead was sent rocketing at breakneck speeds through the air, a trail of blood following him as Maro roared in victory.

The momentum was so strong, that once he landed on the floor, his flight began tearing the stone beneath him.

Finally, a gale of wind halted his momentum and the redhead let out a frustrated grunt, as his bones began snapping back into place.

It was a good thing he had been practicing with Armament. That hit would have broken every bone in his body and then some if he didn't apply it.

"I think I know what to do," he commented, idly wiping the blood on his forehead from the deep cut that had already healed up.

"What will you do?"

Rosan grunted and stood up slowly, rolling his shoulder to get the knots out of it and cracking his back because of the punishment it had taken.

It was a shame that this form was dangerous and Maro couldn't control it. He would have loved to fight the Dokkaebi more... but his student's safety was far more important.

Sparks began dancing across his skin and Rosan tensed up before sprinting towards the rampaging Dokkaebi at full speed.

He made it to Maro's location swiftly and immediately latched onto her with a glint, placing a palm directly on her hat.

"Be right back guys!" He shouted to the concerned group.

With that, he and the massive Dokkaebi vanished.

---

"I never knew Maro would have such a strong form," Angel thought in blatant concern, remembering the rampaging form of her wife with worried eyes.

"Considering Master wasn't trying to actively hurt her too... I hope whatever he thought of is enough to take her out. I'm concerned for them both," Demon sighed raggedly.

Robin was hugging Chopper, to soothe both the doctor and herself due to the events happening.

"Is that what happens to me?" The reindeer asked in fear, unable to remove the memory of Maro's rampage out of his head.

He had destroyed an entire village... that's what Doctorine had told him.

Maro was so much stronger than him... how much could she destroy?

"Wow! Maro sure did get way stronger," Luffy exclaimed with an excited gleam, unbothered by the events happening. "I wanna fight her!"

"Maybe not that form," Zoro grunted. "To me, it looked like just being in that form was sapping her energy. It's dangerous for her."

Robin nodded slowly. "That's what it looked like to me too. We probably won't be seeing that form for a while... we'll have to be far more prepared next time."

Everyone nodded. They had treated the situation a bit too lightly but not next time...

Because they knew for a fact Maro would try to attempt mastering that form once more.

---

Nami, who was wearing Luffy's straw hat, let out a terribly loud shriek, as her scout appeared out of nowhere with the most demonic monster she had ever seen.

"R-ROSAN?! W-WHAT IS THAT?!" She shrieked in horror, as the Merry sailed peacefully through the sea.

The redhead was currently being accompanied by a roaring green monster, who was more than triple Rosan's size, with ridiculously long white hair and a gigantic club that had a quite a bit of blood on it.

Wait hold on... that description sounded terribly familiar.

"IS THAT MARO?!" Sanji shouted in disbelief, rushing out at hearing Nami's scream.

"W-W-WHAT HAPPENED TO HER?!" Usopp squealed, nearly fainting from those terrifying roars.

"Oh Sanji! Perfect!" Rosan shouted back, distracting the floating Maro to the best of his abilities and making sure she did not take notice of the ship immediately. "I need you to do something for Maro and I!"

The breeze began picking up before it became visible and they looked at it in awe.

The blonde looked up at that. "What is it?!"

Rosan smiled. "Save us!"

Sanji blinked in confusion. "Huh?"

He soon found out why.

The winds blowing became incredibly violent around Maro and Rosan, who were still in a wild dance, before Rosan's grin turned violent.

"Cyclone."

The wind howled, overpowering even Maro, who had managed to grasp Rosan in her gigantic palms.

An incredible gale of battering winds, surged around the duo with such speeds, it was impossible to react to.

Maro roared as she was pulled into the cyclone created from Rosan. It barely damaged her but the winds prevented her from moving.

"Gale."

A pillar of wind converged above them, before slamming into the duo and pushing them into the ocean below.

Sanji now knew why Rosan said save them. Without any hesitation, the chef removed his shoes and launched himself into the ocean, heading directly for the drowning Rosan and Maro's location.

"What the hell just happened?" Usopp muttered in disbelief. Didn't Rosan just gain control of wind? What was going on with Maro? She looked like she had been trying to kill the redhead!

Did he just send them both into the ocean?

"Cyclone and Gale..." Nami muttered to herself. "Yeah, I can steal those."

"FOCUS ON MORE IMPORTANT THINGS!" Usopp roared at the thief as Sanji emerged from the water with both Rosan and Maro.

They helped the chef bring up teacher and student and Rosan gasped as he coughed out a glob of water.

The redhead looked miserable, head matted to his body as he let out a tired sigh.

"Drowning sucks," he groaned, rolling over to regard his unconscious student.

Sanji's eyes bugged out of his head, as Rosan placed his lips over her mouth without any hesitation, while placing two finger over her nose.

It only took the chef a moment to realize that Rosan was performing mouth to mouth and the redhead stepped back just in time for the Queen to spit out a torrent of water.

His jaw dropped, as Rosan placed a hand underneath the kimono with a look of concentration.

"Scan," he muttered, idly checking for any physical injuries as well by having his hand roam across her body.

He pursed his lips. Maro had used an almost dreadful amount of energy. She wouldn't be moving anytime soon and though she had no injuries on the outside, the queen would feel like hell once she did wake up.

He should get her to Demon to do an actual checkup.

"Don't tell Angel I'm doing this by the way," he muttered, face scrunched up at the taste of seawater. "She's extremely ignorant. She only hears what she wants to when it comes to Maro. Everything else goes out of the other ear so she'll just think I'm molesting her wife or something. Sometimes I think she actually fears the idea that I'd try to steal Maro from her... ridiculous idiot."

Rosan conjured a small amount of flames and held it close to the three who had just gone diving, a small breeze brushing against them as well.

"What happened?" Sanji asked, pulling out a cigarette and nodding thankfully as Rosan lit it.

Nami and Usopp crowded the three with interest, curious to figure out what just happened with Maro as well.

"That, was a new transformation that Maro can't control," Rosan explained, banishing his flames and lifting the unconscious Dokkaebi up before adjusting her against his frame.

He told them what happened in his Pocket Dimension and they looked at Maro in awe.

They knew she was as strong as Rosan and Luffy but hearing about this new form, was making them aware that they were still growing way stronger.

Seriously, what monsters... would they ever stop?

"Training is wrapped up so I'll be back soon... but I gotta get the others," Rosan told them, waving shortly as his eyes began glowing.

"You sound like you took quite a beating. You alright?" Sanji asked in concern, looking at the dried blood on Rosan's body.

"Eh, I healed everything back up so now I'm just sore," he shrugged, treating the fact that he had gotten nearly all his bones shattered, casually.

They sweatdropped at the unhinged redhead and watched him vanish.

---

Long arms wrapped delicately around his waist and Rosan resisted the urge to flush as worried eyes looked up at him.

Goddamnit, he had it bad.

"Are you alright, Rosan? You took quite the beating... I think you should rest," Robin told him, inspecting him for any injuries despite knowing he had healed them all up.

But just because he healed them up, didn't mean that he was fully okay.

Rosan nodded. "I'm a bit tired so yeah, I'll take it easy," he muttered.

Demon and Chopper were checking up on the sleeping Maro, while Angel hovered them with blatant worry.

"But man, Maro got so strong!" Luffy awed.

"Tell me about it," Rosan groused, thanking Mod-chan for keeping the headache he had at bay. "I shoulda had you help me out. She hits like a monster."

Zoro nodded, "I heard your bones break twice the two times she hit you. If she masters that form..."

The three grinned challengingly.

"No. No more fighting," Robin said firmly, not releasing her grip on Rosan. "Like Zoro said, we heard your bones breaking twice."

Rosan heard her commanding tone and nodded, pleased for some horror filling reason. "Fine fine, I'm a little sore so I'll take a hot bath and let my muscles relax," he assured.

"I'll clean you," she said immediately.

The horror came back and but the redhead stifled it to the best of his abilities. "It's cool Robin, I was just gonna... soak," he said lamely.

"No, it's fine. I want to bathe as well anyways and I'm irrationally worried at the idea of you somehow drowning," Robin replied, not looking like she was going to take no for an answer.

He was trying very hard not to make it obvious how bad of an idea bathing with Robin currently was... but he was also the one that was always willing to bathe with her.

It would be out of character otherwise...

Goddamnit Rosan. He needed to ensure no one noticed him acting out of turn. It would do no good if Robin found out he was turning into a pervert when it came to her. He didn't need things to be awkward between them.

Damn emotions.

"Alright... but you really don't have to wash me. I'm not that tired," he tried one last time.

"Rosan."

Fuck.

"...Fine."

With that, the redhead sent Zoro and Luffy back, before trudging towards the bath like it was a death sentence, Robin in tow.

"Did Rosan seem like he was against the idea of bathing with Robin to you?" Mod asked Ram curiously.

"...Did he?" Ram asked in return, before her eyes lit up. "W-What if he's finally taking notice of Mother's naked body!"

Mod nodded, despite the crude manner Ram spoke of. "I'm fairly sure they both have feelings for each other and are trying to hide it from everyone... including each other."

Ram's strange eyes turned into stars. "R-REALLY?! WHY DON'T WE CALL THEM OUT ON IT?"

"That's a bad idea Ram... let's just wait for them to approach us," she said patiently.

Robin might be more receptive to their prodding but Rosan? He would close up faster than they could blink and then repress his feelings even further.

They were both hiding these things for a reason... so it was just best to go at it slowly.

Mod sighed. She was fairly sure she was the only one capable of that, so she'd be taking the reigns of this operation for now.

Mother knows best and all that jazz.

---

As Maro awoke, she let out a sharp gasp and groaned in agony.

"O-Ow... everything hurts. I can't mooove," she whined.

What happened? She had no idea where she was and she couldn't even move her head to find out.

The queen strained to open her eyes and let out a strangled shriek at how bright it was.

"What the fuck happened to me?" She gasped.

"You ate 3 Rumble Balls."

Maro blinked at the voice.

"Chopper?" She called out, before the memories came rushing back to her.

That was right! She ate the Rumble Ball and discovered some awesome new forms before deciding to eat two more...

Then she woke up here.

Weird.

"Guess you weren't kidding huh?" Maro rasped, feeling so parched and tired.

The hand of her wife cupped her chin (she'd never not know how Angel's hand felt) and Maro let out a groan of relief as cool water met her lips. She greedily drank it all and began coughing at her haste.

"You turned into a new form," Rosan explained. "Nothing like the forms you showed with one Rumble Ball. It was an entirely new, gigantic, form and you went berserk."

Maro stilled at that.

A form that sent her berserk? That didn't...

"Not only that, it was quickly draining you of energy. Any longer and you might have suffered more severely," Robin added.

Maro bit her lip at that. "Did I hurt anyone? Are you all okay?" She asked in concern.

"We fought. You broke my bones twice but other then that, everyone is fine," Rosan explained, much to her relief.

Sure she was more then a bit disappointed that she hurt Master... but Master was made of tough stuff.

The others not as much.

They explained the situation to her and Maro ducked her head.

"Sorry guys... I wasn't thinking things through fully... I'll have to be careful to not lose control next time," she told them with a deep frown.

Chopper jolted at that. "N-Next time?" He asked fearfully.

The Dokkaebi nodded without hesitation. "I'll master all my other new forms first before tackling it... but in the future I'll dedicate some time to it. That form sounds amazing but it's just a mindless beast right now. I won't ever be able to protect my people with it... but if I master it, I'll be able to protect everyone!" She said, not a hint of fear on her features.

The reindeer looked at her in awe. Even after all of that, Maro showed no fear?

She... she was so cool!

"Master, you'll have to show me the memory later! I wanna see how I looked and the ass kicking I gave you!" Maro beamed eagerly.

Rosan rolled his eyes. "You were trying to kill me and I was trying to restrain you. Of course I'd get hit by you... though that form might actually be stronger than me."

Her eyes glittered. "Even more reason to master it? Me? Stronger than Master! HAHAHA! I CAN'T WAIT!"

"By the time you master it, I'll have gotten way stronger myself idiot."

She ignored him.

"Oh! Oh! I thought of a few names so let me run them by you all!"

They nodded and the incapacitated queen beamed.

"So because Chopper's is the original he can keep Rumble Ball. I want him to know he's the creator so I'm gonna call mine, Rumble Ball: Class System."

Rosan nodded. "From the books I used to read you," he pointed out.

She nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah! Yeah! As for the forms. I have Tank for my defense form, Ninja for the speed form, Warrior for the balanced and Witch for the magic! Genius, right?!" Maro preened.

"That's so cute," Angel said bluntly, internally squealing at Maro's childish naming scheme.

"What about 3 Rumble Ball form?" Demon asked curiously. "Might as well name it now."

Maro hummed, thinking of what class it would fit before her eyes glinted in realization.

"I've got it! I'll name it Berserker!"

She was already a berserker in fighting style anyways. It was a perfect fit for her future ultimate form!

Rosan nodded in approval. "I like all of them, though some might need refining, like tank... how about you change it to Guardian?"

Maro's eyes glittered. This was why she loved her Master! He was such a genius!

"For Ninja, you're planning on abusing your invisibility and speed, right?" Rosan mused, eyes glowing in clear interest.

"You know me so well! I'm thinking illusions too! And for Witch, I'm gonna abuse teleporting and fire! Maybe I can have Angel make me elemental weapons that I can summon too!" Maro gushed.

"Genius," Rosan praised. "I can't wait until you master all your forms. I noticed that your tiara and Daisy transform with each form... have you always been able to do that?"

"I dunno! I remember my tiara used to be that stupid hat but I never realized I could keep transforming it!" She replied.

The group listened to the battle freaks converse with sweatdrops.

There was something deeply wrong with the battle idiots in their family.

---

We're here with Chapter 38! I always like to do more lighthearted chapters after the big chapters and I decided to make this one extra fluffy... because the end of this chapter was only the beginning. Next chapter will be intense!

A bit of slice of life here, a Davy Back fight there... and a trashing courtesy of an Admiral. Hopefully you guys enjoyed the meeting of Aokiji and Rosan. I imagine it would go way differently then in canon and changed it accordingly. Instead of being invested in Robin, Aokiji has actually taken problem with Rosan now and is that really surprising?

Rosan's actions are downright horrific and he's viewed as a massive threat by the World Government at the moment. Only Aokiji knowing why he ended up like this (and the speech Rosan gave), saved his life here so he should be glad that the Marines are so good at gathering information.

Next chap is Water 7. Lots of fun going to happen... and it gets intense like mentioned before. It'll be fun! I wonder what things will change...

Well that's all, see ya next chapter.