11946 - Nameless Island

Grand Line

Daytime

"I meant to ask something." Amaryllis approached the rest of the squad, her sword against her shoulder as the simulation around them fell apart, to reveal the big white training room.

"What is it?" Robin turned around, watching as the Attacker stared at her gloves.

Recently she had them changed, reducing the amount of laces on them to match the number of her squadmates, with four crosses on each glove, to represent each of them.

"I was wondering, we are meant to be a squadron, no? I mean, once more androids will be re-created and new ones brought to life, there will be more of us, right?" or so White had said, in a long discourse that the albino didn't even remember fully.

The rest looked back at her, waiting for her to continue.

"I had an idea, what if our squad has its own symbol? Some kind of thing somewhere on our uniforms to show that we're a team?"

"There's a need for it? Isn't it enough for us to know already?" Lycoris crossed her arms, frowning.

"Well no, but wouldn't it be nice? Like a symbol of friendship."

If she put it that way…

"I don't see anything wrong with it, pirates, marines and people in general often wear symbols of their beliefs, showing that they're proud of what they are part of." Robin explained.

Be them tattoos or just something sewn on clothing, beyond just uniforms, in case of government affiliates.

"Would White agree though?" Freesia asked the tough question, but Amaryllis' smile stayed on. "Actually, I already asked her."

Besides, she too wore the YoRHa icon on the left shoulder of her white vest.

This would be no different.

"And what does she say?" the fact the Attacker already asked, saved Robin the trouble of doing so herself.

"She too agrees, also because given the fact we will have more squads, we will be easier to recognize between each other. She says she would like to make this a thing." so it'd be easier to keep track of which unit belonged to which squadron, and with what role.

Since eventually there will be many more of them.

The YoRHa symbol just wouldn't do, also considering some of them would blatantly be contrary to wearing it openly. It was enough that they still wore the uniforms.

Freesia in particular, even if now she had her own iconic one with a new dress Robin made for her, and the mantle Anemone had gifted her months ago. It still showed the broken parts of her arms and legs though, and she wasn't willing to hide them.

But it was better this way.

If she was happy this way it was all okay.

"White said to let her know our decision, and the icon we want to use." Amaryllis continued. "We can put it wherever we want on the uniforms, we have no limit, as long as it's something small of course."

It was the whole point of an icon, after all.

"Do you have an idea? Or anyone?" Cattleya, as diligent as ever, already had a screen before her, ready to take suggestions.

But there was no need for it.

Sunny, who had been silent the whole time, but with a knowing smile on her face, finally spoke up, putting an arm around Amaryllis as she did.

"I do." she grinned. "Amaryllis and I have been talking about it for a while, and she agrees with my idea."

The blonde Healer signaled for them to get closer, so she could whisper said idea to them.

"This is such a great idea."

And Robin, as much as everyone else knew, that she would love to see this.

After all, she had done so much for them.

This was just a small thing they could do to repay her.

"What can we do for you ladies?" the old tailor turned towards Clover. "And gentleman." she said, addressing him too.

Her daughter immediately took notice of one thing.

"You aren't wearing your uniforms." she put her hand under her chin. "I must say you look good in civilian clothes."

For this thing they had to take off the iconic black clothing, and for once wear normal ones.

Which wasn't a bad thing, not at all.

Sometimes even androids liked to just wear clothes as if they were human, and try something new, and how it felt to look different for a change.

It just didn't happen often due to them having to maintain an image.

"Indeed we are not." Robin nodded, this was for a definite reason though. "But we are here because of them though."

She motioned to Lycoris to walk forward, their uniforms a neat pile in her arms, it was so tall one could barely see her face.

But she had insisted on carrying them all by herself.

The part of her that wanted to show to be strong and capable won over her better judgment.

Gently she placed them on an empty space of a nearby table.

"Do you need some adjustments?" being expert tailors they already guessed what they wanted. "We would like something added to them." Olivia told them as she then asked if they had some paper and a pen.

"We are planning to add a symbol so people can recognize us as a team." both Clover and Cattleya had been researching some ideas on what to do, and alongside the others they suggested they actually tried to draw what they wanted.

Eventually coming to an agreement thanks to the boy.

He was surprisingly good at the craft too.

As he showed them the icon, Olivia had written down where they wanted it. Or rather, where they thought they would look best for each uniform, and each person.

But in the end the decision was still personal.

However, the fact they all managed to come together to work on such a small, but important thing, was a good step to working like an actual team when it came to the matter of taking decisions approved from everyone.

It was teamwork too, in its own way.

"Would they be doable?" the blonde gave the paper to the old tailor woman so she could have a look, while Clover still held up a screen with the symbol they drew.

They watched the woman take a look at the icon and quickly sketch an even better version than what they had done, before grinning at them showing them her missing teeth.

"Absolutely." that would be easy even.

"Thank you." the words came from pretty much all of them at the same time. "Now, we gotta distract them." Amaryllis pointed out, because they couldn't find out, even the others.

But one person in particular.

"But who…"

"I'll talk to Rose." Robin stated. "I have been meaning to speak to her for a while." as she said so, she could already feel Freesia's worried eyes on her.

"Don't worry, it's nothing you don't know already." she had been telling her during one night she couldn't sleep, because too many thoughts plagued her mind, but as faithful as ever, even if tired, Freesia listened, holding her in her arms.

"I see."

But even so, Robin knew Freesia would worry anyway, as always.

She didn't like when she got too thoughtful, especially when those thoughts were either serious or worse, negative.

"I'm going to see what Daisy, Lily and the others are up to." Amaryllis put a hand on Freesia's shoulder, a thankful distraction, and a mute question to tag along with her. "Okay."

If they were doing something, or needed help, she could occupy her mind with something else.

"I'm going to see Anemone."

"Of course you would." Lycoris playfully elbowed the red haired Scanner. "Because it is such a mystery that you'll go see Dahlia, isn't it?"

But the Gunner only smiled harder. "Look, our Scanner is learning sarcasm."

"She's right though." Amaryllis put her arms around both of them, smiling. "It's never been a secret you two would go see your beloveds."

"Actually predictable." Freesia joined in making fun of them.

But there was nothing wrong, since Cattleya and Lycoris were often separated from their partners, since they were Resistance androids, and they were YoRHa.

Their duties were different.

So whenever possible they tried to encourage them to see Anemone and Dahlia as often as they could, so they wouldn't feel too lonely.

"I think I want to stay here, I want to see how sewing is." Sunny put her arms around Olivia as she said so, a mute question in her eyes. "I'll stay with you." not like the Battler could ever say no to those pleading green eyes.

"I guess Luna and I can just take a nice stroll around or something." Clover took her hand, knowing that just walking hand in hand was one of the things she loved most.

Maybe they could visit Pascal and see how he was doing, and his friends.

"I say that we should not waste more time then." Robin nodded, seeming that everyone had their own little plan.

"We'll let you know when they're finished."

The girls were working at the main pier when they found them, as it was predictable, Cattleya sought out Anemone, while Lycoris did the same with Dahlia, Freesia and Amaryllis went to aid the others instead.

And Robin went to find Rose, convincing her to leave her job for a moment so they could talk.

She took her to a remote corner overlooking the sea, and sat down with her, their feet dangling above the water.

"What's on your mind?"

"Straight to the point as always." Robin commented, allowing herself a small chuckle. "Maybe I just learned to know you."

Rose remembered well the time she spent sharing a mind with the human, she quickly understood the type of person she was, and how easily things could torment her. She rarely ever spoke of things of little importance with her for this reason.

Because she'd seen a part of her that others only understood by word.

Like her memories, or rather, the part of them that involuntarily leaked out into her own consciousness while the woman slept, plagued by nightmares of her past.

So whenever she sought her out was to speak about something of it, or about her squadron.

Rose was impressed by her will of wanting to be a better person though, not many would have the strength to still do so after what she'd been through.

She wouldn't blame her if she ended up differently.

Silently, she watched as the woman looked around, at the people she learned to know and love, that loved her too, and then back at her.

"I am still baffled at how I can have a place to call home again…" Rose knew this had been a long lost wish of hers. "But mostly, I've been surprised to see how the people we brought here, the humans I mean, just… accepted me."

"I don't understand."

If the Resistance woman knew any better, she'd say that she didn't understand the reason why Robin would think and ask such a thing, but sadly, she did know where the problem lay.

"Because of your reputation?" a useless question, really.

It was obvious that it was the issue.

"It's just… my past doings won't disappear you know?" a sigh. "I still remain a pirate, and someone that has killed many people."

"For self defense."

"Not always. People won't care for the reason anyways." what matters to them is what the Government says, and all they did was lie.

"I just don't get why these people just trusted me, this wasn't such a small change for them either, and they just accepted it." they accepted them, they accepted her.

"Because actions speak louder than words." and Robin out of everyone should know this best. "And what you did was save them, twice, and offered them a way out of the hell that those Marines and Government put them into, which you know well, they are those supposed to protect people, and not pirates."

"But you did, when you could have just walked past them. We all could have." but they didn't.

And now they all lived here in peace.

All because of her, the idea had started from Robin first, even if she didn't wish to take credit for it.

Offered them a way out, something to hope when they had nothing left on Earth.

They all knew who was at fault, but even so…

"I heard a saying before, a human saying, that villains aren't born, they are made, and you out of all the people I met would apply this the most to."

She'd been just a child with a dream stripped of her home, family, friends, and any remote hope of having a safe place was taken away from the bounty placed on her afterwards.

She was so young…

Rose watched as Robin stood up from her place, her eyes hidden from her bangs, but she had a soft smile on her face.

"Rose, you're a kind person."

With that line, she left the Resistance Leader to her thoughts, she didn't truly know what she meant with those words.

Yet.

The next day the uniforms were already done, and the group wasted little time wearing them, very much happy and pleased with the result.

"Let's go see Rose then."

They had told her later during dinner, that they would be coming to the pier again the next day, as soon as Olivia gave the word that the clothing would be done the day after, disguising the whole thing as being free from duties so they could help them with theirs.

Not a total lie, but neither the truth.

When they arrived, all dressed and covering the parts that were modified to keep the surprise, but it didn't go unnoticed.

"What are you guys hiding?"

It was Amaryllis that answered with her usual grin. "A surprise."

She was the one that would tell, given that she proposed the idea in the first place.

"So, since there are going to be many more androids and squadrons, we proposed to have a symbol to recognize them, so we got ours done yesterday."

"That explains why you were dressed like humans." Gerbera recalled. "Might also be why you're holding your vests in odd places right now?"

Of course that was an easy thing to notice, and to figure out now that there was an explanation.

"Might as well just show them, shall we?" With an equally bright smile, of someone that could barely wait to reveal what was underneath, Sunny received a bunch of nods from all sides.

So they showed them.

On Sunny's right shoulder.

On Olivia's left arm.

On Clover's collar on the right.

On Luna's side, just above the bow of her skirt.

On Cattleya's scarf, in the middle just above her heart.

On Lycoris' right hand.

On Amaryllis' left shoulder.

Then Freesia held the clasp of her mantle, letting it shine in the sunlight.

There was…

A stylized rose.

The Resistance Leader stared at them, her green eyes big and wide, and all she could say was…

"Why?" she asked, with barely any voice, it just wouldn't come out.

"Because you're our friend. And because you gave us our names." Freesia answered as if it was the most obvious response ever.

"I don't… I don't know what to say."

"Then don't say anything." Anemone answered. "Because we know just as much how important you are to all of us."

"We all owe you a lot." and for once Dahlia said something everyone could agree with.

Suddenly, Robin's cryptic words of the day before made sense.

Well, they already did, but now Rose found out that she'd been hinting at this.

How clever.

What a smart woman.

But she had yet to show her own icon, where she decided to place it, but before she could ask, the woman answered her, noticing her questioning eyes on her.

She turned around, showing the rose sitting on her back, just below her neck and placed where it wouldn't be covered from her hair.

A mute way to say…

I have your back no matter what.

But little did she know that they all felt the same towards her.