The next day, under A2's suggestion, Robin had Pod 007 call the other two so 2B and 9S could come over to the hideout so that finally they could have that talk, since they would be alone all four of them without prying eyes or listening ears.

And better, before Robin started exploring and seeing everyone else again, there were many things she should know first, as witnessing some of them without knowing could be quite the shock.

The situation of Pascal and the village in particular was the most concerning, so before Robin could meet him again, she had to know about what had happened after she died.

She didn't know about the children yet.

So the two waited for their fellow android to come over from the camp, from the other side of the bridge dividing the forest and the city.

The duo reached them quickly enough, and much like her and A2 the day before, they were walking hand in hand. Robin smiled at the sight of finally seeing 2B and 9S be free, without any killing involved anymore.

She guided them in the back of the facility, to the hidden entrance like long before she had done with A2, and instantly she could see 9S marveling at the sight of the ruined building that none of them had been able to access before.

And even more when descending to the lower floor and to the hideout, he saw Robin's collection of books and artifacts. Things that 2B had already seen through A2's eyes.

"Wow, look at all these things." he opened his arms, smiling like a child, but as he moved to touch the first book he saw, Robin was quick to slap his hand away, albeit gently.

"No touching." she almost chuckled at the pout he made, like a kid caught stealing candies from a store.

"These things are delicate, and I'd prefer them not to be touched too much. I went through a lot of effort to find all of them, and to restore them as well." she'll show them to him in the future, eventually.

"Fine…" he plopped down on the couch instead, as 2B sat on it more elegantly, while A2 sat cross legged in their cot.

She already knew the story anyway.

"So… where do we start?" A2 asked, knowing there was a lot to tell, and if she was being honest, she was kind of glad 2B and 9S were here too, so she didn't have to say everything herself.

She was still trying to come to terms with some of it herself.

"Well, I am sure you have a lot to say, but I would assume that it would only be fair if 2B and 9S came to know about me and my story first. I'm sure they are curious." Robin then eyed the others. She already guessed that whatever they needed to say, judging by their hesitation, it would be nothing pleasant.

So best to tell the somewhat easier thing, that wasn't easy in the slightest.

"All right, so then, who exactly are you?" 9S asked, he had seen things from her memory, but he still struggled to understand them, because they were of a world not their own.

"Starting with the basics, my full name is Nico Robin, and I was a human of the blue planet you could see from the Bunker, beyond the moon." and that was the most obvious thing.

"My planet is mostly an enormous ocean, there's a lot of different islands, and a tall mountain dividing the planet in two, and four different seas, north, south, east and west blue, along with a more dangerous one crossing the planet in two, that many pirates wish to conquer, the Grand Line. I'm from the west blue, and my island's name was Ohara." she motioned to the items in the room. "The land of archeology."

"So that's why you have all of these then, you're an archeologist then?" Robin nodded at 9S' correct assumption, not that it wasn't easy to tell. "I got my grades when I was 8 years old."

"A young genius then." he beamed. So that was why she was so smart then.

"Why did you say "was"? What happened to your home?" was it no longer there? How could an island disappear?

Robin gave a sigh, here it began the hard part.

"In my world, there is also an organization, the World Government, and its military force, the Marine, whose objective should be to protect people. But truly, they only hide the fact they commit the worst atrocities hiding behind the word justice. They're worse than pirates, at least they are criminals."

Herself included of course, but because they made her into one.

"They discovered that the archeologists of my island were studying, according to the Government, forbidden stones. No one knows why it's forbidden though." something to hide had always been her best guess.

And seeing how the Commander acted, and the role of Executioners in keeping secrets hidden, and the fact androids imitated humans, only reinforced her hypothesis.

Though she never had anything concrete in her hands to prove it. People would believe the Government, and not the Devil's Child of Ohara on it.

"Once they found evidence, they launched what's called a Buster Call."

"It doesn't sound like a good thing." 2B said. She had made the same association about things being kept hidden too, as soon as Robin's words left her mouth, and the fact that people were able to go any length to ensure others couldn't talk of secrets.

They both knew it too well, but her teacher had been a victim of it much sooner than her, and other YoRHas too.

"It's not." A2 replied, already knowing what it consisted of, and she closely eyed Robin, and listened, in case she wouldn't be able to continue the tale.

She'd say what she knew in her place, should it come to it.

But the woman appeared calmer than what she did when she shared her tale the first time, A2 recalled well how hard she was shaking. Something you could not lie about.

Perhaps it was because Robin knew that 2B and 9S wouldn't judge, and would believe her too, when the first time, she had no such security with her.

"It's an all out attack of ten Marine warships, launching cannon balls at the island, destroying anything and everything there is… until there's nothing left…" she started pacing around the room fidgeting with her hands, agitated.

"An entire island, deleted from existence and from every map, and every person that lived on it, men, women, children… all of it gone for their so-called justice." she spat the last word with venom in her voice, hating it with all her might.

9S clenched his fists, visibly trembling, his mind recalling that young child among the flames of a literal hell.

"So then… that child I saw in that fire…"

It was A2 that answered. "It was her, she was the only survivor of that tragedy."

Her eyes watched as Robin took something out from under the couch, and A2 knew exactly what it was. It was the bag with the two posters she'd found months ago.

She saw Robin's hands shake as she opened the thing, and she decided she had enough to sit and watch. Walking over to her, she placed a hand on Robin's.

"Only one or both of them?" she asked, wanting to do what her now lover couldn't do alone, because remembering was too painful. But she was here to support her.

"Only my own, please." A2 nodded, opening the bag, and then with utmost delicacy, she took out one of the two posters in it, the one with the younger version of her partner in it.

"I saw this poster, and this child, it was you then…" 9S moved closer, as did 2B, watching from over his shoulder.

"79 millions?" 2B's voice raised an octave from the shock. "That's so much money…"

"All because I dared to defy death that day." thanks to her mother, and thanks to a dear friend…

"This is madness…" 2B shook her head at it, as 9S only glared down at the poster.

"I told you the other day, human cruelty knows no bounds, and this is only more proof of it." A2 said, crossing her arms. She did warn them.

"No one ever wanted to protect me, I was just a child fending off against the world, that just wanted the money on my head, or entirely dead. Or both." A2 placed a hand on Robin's shoulder.

"In the way I had to live, there was no place for weakness, and soon, I learned that to protect myself, I would have had to listen to orders, but also to take other people's lives. I killed for many reasons, for an accident, for revenge, for gaining the trust of other pirates and having something to protect myself with…"

Here it was the main reason why she and A2 were able to bond so easily too, their stories were so tragic and yet so similar. They killed others to protect themselves because they had to, because they became that way for other people's actions out of their control, and they killed for revenge angry with what took their future from them.

"And sometimes you've had to offer other things too… right?" 9S' voice was small as he asked, in his head the images of those men, pigs he corrected himself, doing unspeakable things to a poor woman…

She bowed her head. "I'm sorry you had to see that…" that pure humiliation…

"But being a woman among so many men… sometimes there wasn't another way…"

And only now A2 understood why Robin had always been so shy of touch, more than herself even. She'd been abused so much that even the smallest thing would probably have either scared her, or remind her of those horrible times.

She'd be even more careful in the future then, and never do anything that Robin wouldn't agree with, ever.

"I don't understand!" 2B yelled all of a sudden, clenching her fists.

"I do not doubt Robin's words but… we were made to respect humans, but how could we do such a thing for such cruel beings?"

Upon hearing those words, A2 repeated what she told 9S at the Tower.

"It's because we were made this way." androids were bound to love humans, which was why she doubted her feelings for Robin before.

"But just as we can love them, we can also hate them too, no one is forbidding you to, they are not here to stop you if you wish to do so." A2 had lost all respect in humans long ago, when they abandoned everyone, or at least, when she thought they did.

They had just left their legacy to do their will, which changed little in the end.

Robin was different, and she didn't love her for being a human, but for the kind person she was behind that seemingly cold exterior, and that had protected her, despite everything being against her.

"But aren't the humans of the moon supposed to return now?" if so, then what would happen?

Maybe she should have stayed quiet, or maybe this was fine, because they deserved to know what their creators were capable of, especially if negative, in order to defend themselves from it.

The silence that fell in the room, told Robin that there was something serious coming.

"Robin… there are no humans on the moon…" A2 shared a look with 9S as she said so. "The humans were dead long before the aliens invaded Earth." he finished the sentence, pulling up a screen with the data he had, so she could see too.

"The Commander herself told me, and gave me the documents you're looking at."

Robin frowned, silent for a while, as her eyes shone with the yellow light of the screen before her, as she read the words, and then, she just sighed.

"I had my suspicions, if I have to be honest." crossing her arms she frowned even harder. "Thinking about it, we heard so much about this council, yet we never saw a face, nor ever heard a different voice before."

"Also, if there were humans, then why would they need me? For… well I do not know yet…"

She had yet to find out her true purpose for being here, and also, if White knew, then why did she allow all of this to be inflicted upon her soldiers? Didn't she care? Not even one bit?

Too bad the woman was no longer here to ask.

"A2 and I also found something." 2B told her as she had Pod 042 show her even more documents, and this time, they were about her…

And from the glare she had on her face, told them she was all but happy about what she was reading. Who would?

"So they needed me… to kill A2!? That's it!?" she shook her head. "There has to be more than that reason."

But it was also true that killing the ones that became her similar had been her purpose all along. "Who could hate A2 so much that had to take me from my life, even set up my death, that I always thought was just a coincidence as to why I couldn't remember it, to make me who I am now, only to get rid of her?"

Which she still hadn't, and now she was even more glad that she had spared her life that day.

"No idea." A2 shook her head. "We're just as clueless, but I know that for whoever they are, for them I was just a problem."

Because much like Robin, she was a survivor of a tragedy she wasn't supposed to live through, and as such she was an inconvenience, because she knew too much about things that could ruin way too many people, that very well loved to feed lies to others.

"And for that reason, she had to be eliminated, just like me, whenever I'd find the truth among all the lies." and before 2B could say something and feel guilty about it, he took her hand, and gently gave it a squeeze, reminding her, that no matter what she did, she was just a victim as he and the others were.

"Not only us, all YoRHas were expendable, look." he showed her more, this time about the mass attack with the logic virus that killed everyone, but also about the machine cores.

"Your… our creators truly did not have respect for anyone." using easy to find materials because machines were crawling everywhere, and then even planning their obsolescence after just a few years…

Whoever they were, Robin wished nothing else than driving her blade through their skull, and that would still be merciful. If she would have had her Devil Fruit powers, she'd spawn so many hands to break their bodies little by little, dragging it for as long as possible.

If there was anyone she should have killed, or do so if she'll ever have occasion to, it was them. Whoever and whatever these beings may be she didn't care.

"A lot like humans. The behavior seems the same, or at least similar, it wouldn't surprise me if it was other androids, or machines even."

In the end androids were made in human image, and machines imitated human behavior, despite the fact they were made to kill them.

"Machines… that's right, you still don't know about that…" A2 held an arm, suddenly looking like she wanted to shrink in a corner and hide.

How could she face Robin, when the children she was supposed to save were all dead?

"It wasn't your fault, A2. You couldn't have known they were going to kill themselves out of fear."

A2 wanted to glare at her younger sister, if it wasn't for the fact that she made her job easier by saying what she was supposed to.

Both women could feel Robin's questioning gaze on them.

"Who?" she asked, almost afraid to, given the reactions.

"The children…"

If possible, A2 shrunk on herself even more, holding on to the mantle Anemone gave her for support, wrapping it around herself.

"You told me to save them and I couldn't…" she bit her lip. "Maybe Adam was right… I will never be able to save anyone."

"You couldn't control that." 2B replied, with a stern look. She was not going to see A2 break down like this, when that whole situation had been just a grim twist of fate she could do nothing about.

"And Adam is an ass anyways." 9S shrugged, remembering well how he tormented him when he was held captive.

About his feelings for 2B especially, but he long changed his mind on how to treat her, all the anger was gone when he reminded himself she was just a victim as he was, and that she didn't want any of it.

And also, he didn't want to impose himself the same way he saw those damn pirates do to a younger Robin. That never.

"Besides, that isn't true. You saved me, and from Adam himself too." Robin could recall well how she thought she'd die right there, and then woke up right here in this room with A2 at her side.

"And me too, at the Tower, from the virus." which she had used to save everyone after.

To hell what she said, A2 was capable of doing good things, unlike what she believed and what others made her believe. The world had just been cruel with her and with them all. SHe just did the best she could.

Looking at Robin, 2B spoke to her once again.

"Pascal and the children found refuge at the factory, however a horde of machines attacked them. He and A2 both fought them off, but when they returned, the children were all dead, they had stabbed their cores out of fear." because they didn't know fear of death, something androids did instead.

"And Pascal?" what did he do? How did he react?

"He wanted A2 to either delete his memory, or to kill him. He was heartbroken…" 2B looked again at her older sister. "But A2 convinced him not to do so."

"Because we must bear the burden to remember the people we loved." even when they were no longer with them anymore. A2 knew, and upon meeting Robin and hearing her story, she made it a purpose to remember her companions even more than before.

Once again, silence fell in the room, as 2B and 9S remained seated on the couch, and Robin and A2 stood next to each other, with the white haired android still wanting to disappear.

"Sure this is… a lot to take in…" and Robin meant all of it.

She was still trying to wrap her head around it.

"But what I am also sure, is that you all did what you could, given the situations you faced, and the things you discovered."

And there was one more thing.

"And, despite how weird and cruel fate has been, to all of us, I… I'm glad that it brought me here, to you all."

No matter how much she thought about it, she couldn't find something she regretted upon meeting all of these people. She did regret not being able to be kinder to them, but, before meeting A2, she hardly knew what the word kindness meant.

"My only friend left me with these words: "No one in born to be alone, one day you'll find your friends too." I spent twenty four years of my life on my home planet searching for anyone that would ever care for me, not even my own family did." she sighed. "My mother left me with her relatives when I was just two, they just saw me as a burden, the last time I saw her was that day, where she died alongside everyone else. My father? I don't even know him."

"And the rest you know it."

She looked at them all again, a fond smile on her face.

"Even if this wasn't what I had ever expected, androids have shown me what I have longed for my entire life. Respect, and affection. And even though our lives may have not been perfect, or wanted, we are still here, and we matter to each other."

Robin put a hand to her chest. "I am not ashamed to call myself an android, a YoRHa, and no longer a human. Because all of you have been more human to me than humans themselves."

Perhaps out of naivety, however they were better than them, in all aspects.

They had given her everything her heart ever longed for, and even more than that, things she hadn't even known she wanted until they had shown them to her, and she was proud to be one of them.

"So in the end, does it matter what we are? And how were we brought together? What should matter is that we are here, and we care for one another, as friends, as family…" she turned to A2 with a smile. "And as lovers."

"We control our lives now, we make our own future." she walked to A2, taking her hands into hers. "And I want my future to be with you."

As A2 buried her head against her chest, Robin watched 2B and 9S hold hands and nod to each other.

She felt the white haired android shift, looking at the duo with a fond smile, as she still leaned against Robin.

"Would you two just kiss each other already?" she gave a little chuckle.

"Why don't you two lovebirds do so instead?" 9S replied with a little taunt, but it was an affectionate one.

2B shook her head as she took 9S' face in her hands, as Robin instead bent down to meet A2, who stood on her toes.

And so, they kissed.