There were flames as far as the eye could see, in the middle a lone woman with white hair and mismatched eyes kneeled, tears fell from her face.
"Live, Robin!" she cried as loud as she could before disappearing from sight.
… Mother…
Have I disappointed you?
Robin's eyes opened, trying to regain her bearings for a moment in this entirely gray room, before the events of the previous day caught up to her, her internal clock telling her it passed the amount of hours of an entire night. So, it hadn't been a dream after all…
She was still here where that blonde woman, no, her Operator left her when she'd asked to be alone, in her room in this orbital station, in a bed she could call her own, and still wearing the black dress uniform she'd been given.
Minus the boots and the visor at the current moment.
There was a full length mirror she hadn't noticed yesterday, and she got up to actually take a look at herself, at first appearance she looked exactly the very same as before, all of it, she was still the tall woman as she used to, and, taking a moment to turn around and observe, even her curves all seemed in the rightful place like they've always been.
Whoever had been in charge of making her this body did a damn fine job at it, if she were to be totally honest.
She took a moment to also assess the uniform she'd been given, black with white details, like the standard for everyone minus the Commander and Operators it seemed, whose uniform was either white or black and gold depending on who you'd be talking about.
It was long, very long, the sleeves were, but the most impressive was the skirt, it was open in the middle, she supposed it was to facilitate movement in combat. The opening started directly from under the belt around her waist, long to her knees in the front and even longer at the back, she spared a few seconds to admire the white flowery designs that decorated the edge of it.
Under it they gave her a pair of shorts and a pair of tights, see through, because she could see the skin of her legs poke through the black of them. She decided to put on the boots, they only reached below the knee, and they had a high heel, as if she wasn't tall enough already.
Last she observed the gloves, from what it looked, they were the most intricate in design, always black with frills at their end and the wrist, while the part covering the hand was white instead, but also they had quite the number of laces, still white, crossed together forming lines of Xs.
And all of it felt incredibly soft against her skin, perhaps it was supposed to be, or perhaps she was way too used to wearing worn out clothing she rummaged in the worst places.
Lost in her observation she failed to notice the soft hiss of the door of her room opening.
"Is your uniform not of your liking?" 21O's voice startled her, and Robin was thankful for all those years spent training herself to not give away any emotion for having kept a straight face.
She shook her head, going to retrieve the visor before she got scolded for not wearing it, the Commander's words rang through her head as she did.
"Not at all, I was admiring it. It is the most elegant thing I have ever had to wear." she replied, and she was being honest.
How long had it been since she allowed herself to be?
She didn't even know why she wasn't bothering coming up with lies, maybe these androids messed her head up, or maybe they just brought out of her a side she had long forgotten to have… and more easily than she would admit or like.
She wanted to be suspicious of these people, and had to be, but so far she couldn't manage to.
Robin would never say it in fear of something bad happening, but the only android she felt was hiding something was the Commander herself. But she only really met two so far, however 21O, though serious, seemed honest enough.
"You can always request a change if it will no longer be of your liking." but again, Robin shook her head. "I am very fine with it."
Then finally she noticed the purple floating box next to the Operator, it was literally floating in the air, this sort of cube with two small claw-like arms attached to it.
"What is that?" she asked, and when said thing started floating right in front of her, she had to resist the urge to back up.
"Greetings YoRHa Unit Number 26 Type E, I am Pod 007, I have been assigned as your personal Tactical Support Unit." it spoke in its robotic voice, it sounded like a somewhat young child, a male one.
It still did not quite answer her question though, but 21O was quick to clarify.
"Each field unit has a support Pod assigned to them, they are useful assistants to keep in contact between said unit and the Bunker, but also they're used for long range combat, and have a variety of programs useful for protection and for dealing further damage."
The Pod floated closer, settling itself above Robin's left shoulder.
"You will learn its usefulness in time, now, the Commander is waiting for you so we may begin your tests and get you acquainted with the full potential of your new body."
21O led her through the corridors to an elevator that took them all to a lower floor where a large space was located, and in a corner, observing from behind a glass window White was waiting.
"We will begin testing the basics of movement first, speed and agility then strength afterwards, then, when you believe you've got the grasp of both, we will test combat capabilities. Is that clear, 26E?"
Robin nodded, and was instructed to descend the stairs down to the testing ground, Pod tailing behind her. Was this thing supposed to follow her all the time?
Suddenly a screen popped up from it with White's face on it, so that is what 21O meant by communication then.
"Start moving, don't be afraid to test your limits, we will collect all data from here." White ordered, and Robin shivered at the tone. She was used to receiving all kinds of orders, but her voice had something intimidating in it.
Not wanting to anger the Commander, she started with what she always thought was something she did well, running.
She was not prepared for the actual speed this body of hers now had, quickly finding herself crossing the room from one side to the other in less than a second, and she barely managed to catch herself from crashing into the wall, stumbling a bit but at least she didn't run face first in it.
"Is everything alright?" 21O's voice reached her ears, always coming from that Pod thing she'd been given. Did it seriously manage to keep up with her?
"I'm just fine, this was just… overwhelming." she replied, getting back up from the crouched position she ended up into.
"Try again when you're ready."
And she did try, over and over, careful to not repeat the same mistake, and attempting to regulate her speed to a decent level before trying again to run at the full extent her legs could manage.
Soon enough she managed to get the hang of it, or at least of her legs, and also, didn't matter how much she moved, she didn't seem to get tired one bit, with the amount of trial and error she did she would have collapsed ten times over with her old body, at the very least.
She learned about jumping, how high she could reach and even finding out about airborne systems that allowed her to further maneuver herself in mid air. She had asked to be able to experiment with this a bit longer than necessary, as this was totally new, there was no way a human could perform one jump after another.
Robin spent quite some time experimenting with how many types of movements she could do, testing various moves and spins as if she'd been an acrobat in her previous life, and noticing she didn't even get the least amount of dizziness from all this jumping and rotating.
Perhaps that was another perk that came with the whole being an android. It was rather pleasant to not have her head feel like she'd been dumped into seawater for too long, or at all even.
Which made another question arise, what were of her Devil Fruit powers? It hadn't been something that had crossed her mind with all the mess the previous day had been, too much overwhelming information all at once.
But now what has happened to them?
It was something she'd have to test in private once she was done with this whole thing, even though she was positive, since this was not her old body, that she did not possess her old powers anymore.
She did not know whether to feel sad or relieved by it.
They'd been part of her for most of her life, and a lot useful if not essential for her survival, but it was also true that they brought her a lot of problems too. Being alone in a world where the sea hated you, and no one to help was not exactly the best way to live.
Regardless, she shoved the thought back deep into her mind and continued focusing at the task at hand, moving on, Commander's decision, to test her strength now.
Some pieces and panels of what she assumed was steel were brought in, and she was asked to hit them, and again, the result was just as unexpected as it was when she started testing her speed.
She expected maybe to leave a dent in them, certainly not for her very first punch to go right through, making a hole, and quite the sizable one too.
She held her hand expecting some kind of damage, but nothing at all happened. She could move and flex her wrist and fingers as easily as before, without feeling any kind of pain or discomfort from her new mechanical joints. If these were her old hands they'd be more than broken, every single digit and bone.
Robin continues to punch and kick everything that was presented before her, destroying every single item almost effortlessly. Though she did start feeling a bit of soreness and pain now at the repeated actions, however she was told from her Pod that nothing had been severely damaged, and that her own repairing systems would take care of the minor things.
This little thing proved to be quite useful indeed, answering her questions whenever she asked anything. She could see why other units also had one.
Probably noticing the liking she already had in this little companion of hers, the Commander had her rest up a little bit, by having her test out and explore the combat capabilities of her Pod, finding out that not only it would follow and answer to her, but also she could give orders to it, and that its systems were tied to her mind, so it always knew what she wanted it to do.
Or would it prefer to be referred to as a he instead? Given the voice. Did Pods even have genders?
Regardless she let the thing explain its potential weapons and useful abilities, other than communication that she had seen already. She had it shoot at whatever was being brought in, observing how precise its aim was.
And then ordered it to use what she'd been told to be a laser fire program, and was even more amazed at how much firepower this thing possessed for how tiny it was.
How she wished she could have had this tech back at home. And just now, she realized how backwards her home planet was in terms of technology, this was rather futuristic for the world she lived in. It was absurd that these kinds of things existed close within the orbit of her home planet, and yet so far from it.
Pod 007 explained to her about its capacity to generate shields for protection, and also to be able to carry her around, and be able to slow descents when she jumped down from somewhere too high, to avoid potential unnecessary damage to her body, or even death.
And out of curiosity she made the mistake of asking how heavy she had gotten, because she knew she was, metal was so much more heavy than flesh and bone, that much she knew.
"Normally E types would be around 140 kilograms or a bit less, however due to your original height we had to go over it, you weigh exactly 158.3 kilos, about the weight of a heavy armored Battler or Defender unit." White answered, and she did expect to be heavy, just not that much.
"We believed it would have been the best solution to give you a body as similar as your previous one in every aspect, to make it easier to look and accept it, however standard combat units are usually not as tall, so to keep the original look we had to use more components than normal, hence the added weight."
It made a lot of sense, she was just a bit startled by it.
Anyways, for however heavy she was, she could move so far better than before, so it could hardly be considered a hindrance.
"If we've satisfied your curiosity I would resume where we left off." and she watched as the Pod went over to retrieve then carry her a sword.
A standard YoRHa Blade the visor told her.
She hesitated a moment before taking the item, she'd never used a weapon before, barely ever held a dagger, she wondered how it would go. She was decently sure the Commander would not be pleased to know she had never held such a thing before.
However as soon as her hand touched the hilt she grabbed the sword, and confidently held it in her hand as if she always did. Frowning from behind the blindfold at her own action.
She'd been ordered to destroy the target dummies that were being brought in one after the other. She sprinted at the first thing, and with one quick movement she slashed the head clean off, just like that, in one quick motion.
And then she did it again, and again, and again.
She didn't stop even when the Commander decided to have the platforms the dummies were held on to move. She ran after them, jumped, sprinted, danced around them, and all the while moving her sword efficiently destroying every single one of the targets with a single move for each of them.
Robin felt like she's held this sword in her hands ever since she'd been born, it was like an extension of her own being. Was this what swordsmans felt like with their weapons?
But this was not right, how was she this proficient and precise if she never had even felt the weight of one of these weapons in her hands before? She always fought with her bare hands, albeit with her Devil Fruit, but they were her hands regardless.
This was yet another question to be saved for later.
It didn't sit right with her as much as it didn't knowing the name of certain things she never has seen before, nor what they they did, and not even the simplicity of which she wore this blindfold like she always had one over her eyes, and how important it felt to always have it on, and not because she'd been ordered to, at least not entirely.
She let the Commander finish up her testing, having her experiment with one last thing, because not only apparently she was now proficient in using close range weapons, but also she had some sort of telekinesis power as well?
Something that allowed her to throw away the sword she'd been given and control the direction of it, other than the strength, and even willing it to come back to her, either beck into her hands or staying idly on her back, always floating, but she could feel it there, just not attached to her skin.
And also she found out she could make it disappear from sight too, in some kind of foreign inventory system, but being able to make it flicker back into view and summon it in her hands just by simply willing it to.
Just what else had this body in store for her? How superior were these androids built compared to humans?
She'd seen some actual monsters of humans before, in terms of brutal strength mostly, but this could not even compare to them one bit. This was so much more she could have imagined.
Fatigue finally setting in, White decided it was time to call off testing for the day, internal clock telling Robin they passed the entirety of a day almost, as it was supposed to be night again. She did not expect to have been here so long and to not feel any sort of tiredness either, until now.
Still she had that one question she wanted answered, and didn't hesitate in asking when White called her over.
"Commander, I've been meaning to ask if there was something extra that was put in my brain, because I know for sure I have never held a weapon before, yet it feels like I have since I was born."
She did not expect for White to look at her with what seemed a pleased look on her face.
"I admire your capacity to observe and your intellect, 26E. Yes, we went ahead to add knowledge about weapons and combat ways, and extra things you'd have to know to facilitate getting acquainted with your new role and new places you'd be traveling to." she explained.
"So you added data to my brain?" Robin frowned from behind the visor, though it didn't sound all that unlikely, or weird, all things considered.
"We could have had you learning everything manually, but you must admit this would complicate things, would it not? We could always reverse the changes if you'd like."
Robin shook her head, 21O's warning from last night was loud and clear, she did not want them to mess around with her head again. "I'll be just fine."
Besides, extra knowledge didn't sound bad at all, didn't matter in which way she might have gotten it, always the ever curious person she was, and the more the better. And if she got to be able to use whatever weapon she desired then so be it.
Perhaps it wouldn't be like using her Devil Fruit, but really good regardless. Honestly she couldn't decide which thing would have been the better scenario, probably both at the same time, but one of the two was enough too.
"If you're done with your questions you're dismissed."
With a hand to her chest she bowed, watching 21O do the same before they both left, leaving the Commander alone.
"You should be heading to your room to rest, Commander would want you to be in shape for tomorrow, we're not done with tests yet, there is still much to do." her Operator informed her. "For anything else you can contact me."
Robin just nodded, and watched her go a separate way, she stood there long enough to see 21O being approached from another YoRHa, a young boy from the looks of it. Perhaps it was another unit she was in charge of assisting?
Regardless, she'll have time to ask, since 21O would probably be part of her new daily routine, at least for the time being she assumed.
Without much of a word she headed back to the room she was given, finding out with much surprise she could already navigate the Bunker without getting lost, wondering whatever else this place and these people had in store for her.