The new morning rose in Grand Jipang as Merry was coming to Robin's flat with Pikachu. Upon request, Ash allowed Pikachu to stay with Kaya. The two started to walk pass the flat when Robin stepped out. "Oh, Pikachu!" she greeted. Seeing Robin, Pikachu leaped from Merry and dashed to her. She welcomed the summoned creature with opened arms.

"Is Ash with you?" asked Merry.

"He is," Robin confirmed. "I wanted to do something with him today." Pikachu awed the thought of Robin's plan.

("Can I join?") he asked. Robin giggled to Pikachu's response.

"You want to come with?" she wondered. Merry believed that Robin and Pikachu would be fine.

"Well, I must return to Lady Kaya," he excused. He left as Robin and Pikachu headed in.

Date of Maturity! Ash goes with Robin

Ash would soon awaken and join Robin and Pikachu through Grand Jipang. "Have there been girls who liked you back at the orphanage?" she wondered.

"No, they're just friendly and showed me a few games to play," Ash replied. As the three walked down the streets, someone else was watching. The large-head was from a green-haired woman wearing a green snake-skin robe wearing straw sandals.

"That rodent…" she awed. "Master Hancock told us about the Summoner. It must be him with that mouse. I have to report back." She ducked away as Ash and Robin found a garden of flowers of all sorts. Six-pedal flowers, cherry blossoms, lavenders, the garden was full of calm and greenery.

"Do you come here often?" asked Ash.

"Once in a while," Robin replied as Pikachu smelled the flowers. "Unlike you, I'm not one for confrontation, even though I do protect Vivi when I'm needed."

"That's fair…" They enjoyed seeing all the flowers. Ash found a few carnations that he awed. "I remember these… They were at the orphanage." Pikachu awed the flowers blooming in the garden.

"Really? Those would those be your favorites, right?"

"No, it's these: Nemophila." He pointed to blue five-pedal flowers. "I find those pretty."

"I see… and they are… If you do find a girl that you like, would you give her these?" The question made Ash laugh.

"Funny enough, when I was coming to Grand Jipang, Pikachu and I walked along the river when Pikachu believed he saw a woman bathing in it." The briefing made Pikachu blush in embarrassment. "He thought we may be intruding on a woman's privacy. I wasn't really trying to look at what it was wearing a yukata into the river. Pikachu was warning me relentlessly. When we found the 'woman,' we soon saw it was a straw dummy that somehow broke off from its post wearing the yukata. Pikachu felt so bad that he profusely apologized, even after I said it's nothing to worry about." Pikachu felt bad when the story was explained. Robin snorted before she let out a burst of laughter. Ash and Pikachu sighed to the reaction.

"Sorry!" she cried laughing. She held her hand up. "Sorry! Oh, that was so funny!" Still giggling, Ash and Pikachu saw that she was happy. Soon enough, she calmed down. "I needed that. You have quite the history before coming to this city." They spent about an hour in the garden, seeing all sorts of flowers. They left the garden before Robin had a request. "Ash, that dragon you have…" Ash looked to Robin about her curiosity.

"Dragonite's not my only dragon I can summon. I have Gible, Dracovish and Goodra."

"But do any of them fly like Dragonite?" The retort made Ash giggle.

"Good point. Why do you want to see Dragonite?" A blush formed on Robin's cheeks.

"Well, I wanted to get a better look… and maybe fly with it." The admittance made Ash and Pikachu smile.

"I totally understand." A minute later, Ash summoned Dragonite. Seeing the Summoner, Dragonite hugged him. "Okay, Dragonite… It seems that someone wanted to see you." Dragonite looked confused before turning to Robin.

"Hey, cutie." The cooing made Dragonite blush. She hugged Robin, much to her delight. "Okay… Anyway, I wonder if you could fulfill me a wish to fly." Dragonite seemed surprised to hear of the request. She wailed in approval before scooping her up. Once seated, Robin held Ash to lift onto Dragonite's back with Pikachu on his lap.

"Okay, Dragonite… let's fly!" With a proud howl, Dragonite flew up to the air over Grand Jipang. Robin, Ash and Pikachu felt the breeze as they flew around them. At the Pinwheel, Onami and Luffy saw the flying dragon, awing the sight of her.

"Dragonite's out again!" cheered Luffy. His laugh made Onami understand Luffy's excitement.

"It's probably his favorite aside from Pikachu," she believed. Dragonite flew high and gave her riders a breathtaking thrill. After the ride, Dragonite returned to the city. They stopped by a new restaurant where Robin brought Ash and Pikachu some colored rice cakes and miniature dumpling kabobs.

("Mochi!") cheered Pikachu about the rice cakes. The dumplings had pink on top, white in the middle and green at the bottom-most.

"I've always enjoyed a Dango once in a while," Ash admitted.

"It's a good thing I could help you for when you want more of them," Robin smiled.

"I'm not saying you don't," Ash eased. "It's making me feel more comfortable about Grand Jipang."

("And where to go to eat,") Pikachu added. Robin smiled at seeing the pair happy.

"I had heard that if you get too comfortable," she started. "You might wind up leaving."

"It's been a habit since I wanted to go and see it all, not just Grand Jipang," Ash shrugged as he bit the stick to slide the dumpling into his mouth. That's when he heard laughter. There in tangerine robes were a family of three, a little girl shopping with her parents.

"Mommy, is it true?" she asked. "They have tasty mochis over here?"

"They're here alright," the mother confirmed. "I'm sure they can even flavor it for you." The little girl cheered.

"Now, Sakura…" the father eased. "Let's see what they have in here before you can get one."

"Okay!" the girl cheered. Seeing this, Ash froze and stared. The sight of seeing the little girl with her parents started to eat at him. After telling the Pinwheel about how he became an orphan, seeing the family go in for some mochis had him shed a tear. In his mind, there was a lullaby playing from what sounded like a woman. Pikachu saw the tears and wondered about his cry.

("What is it, Ash?") he asked. Robin saw the silent cry and observed the family.

'Seeing that family, I can't blame him for feeling like this,' she thought. 'He's been without his parents for about all of his life. I'd rather not bring it up so suddenly.' Thinking quickly, Robin had an idea. "After we get done eating, I got somewhere else to go for today." Ash snapped out before turning to Robin. He quickly looked down, ashamed of his look.

"Sorry," he apologized.

"No, it's okay… We have you as family." A sigh from Ash later, they finished the mochi and dangoes before Robin took Ash and Pikachu to a hill from the outskirts. There, they watched as the sun began to set.

"So, this is why you wanted me to join you?"

"Well, overall… but I thought you could enjoy what a sunset looks like." They watched the sunset together.

("So pretty…") awed Pikachu. While the sun fell softly, Ash's eyelids started to join as he started to fall asleep. He fell onto Robin who held him. Pikachu looked on, a little concerned. ("Is he…") Robin giggled as she petted Ash's arm. A little while later, Ash snapped awake.

"Sorry!" he gulped. Robin giggled some more.

"It's alright," she eased. "Besides, you looked cute while you napped." Ash's face became beet red. He recovered with a laugh. After seeing the sunset, they returned to the inn. "Well, at least I'll see you later."

"Yeah, I'll see you later," Ash promised. He and Pikachu left for Shakky's inn as Robin returned to her flat. She reached and fell asleep, tired after spending the day with the orphan.

Robin, Onami, Omao and Vivi journeyed the streets. They wore new yukatas for the day. "Seriously, that yukata matches more to me than you," Onami teased Vivi.

"I can loan it to you if you want," Vivi offered.

"It would be a marvel to see that with you," Omao pictured. "Hopefully, you can have it the next time we come down here." Robin giggled when she heard something.

"Ladies, wait," she voiced as she rose a hand. The other three seemed to be wondering before they heard something themselves. Cries of a child.

"It sounds like a baby," Omao whispered.

"Yeah, and it's coming from over there," Onami studied. They slowly walked to find the sound. The located a basket in the stream. There was a lid on top of it.

"It's coming from that basket!" pointed Vivi. Robin felt like she needed to act.

"Allow me," she offered. She crossed her arms before arms protruded from the ground and reached for the basket. The arms grabbed the basket before pulling it toward shore before Vivi and Omao pulled it out of the water.

"They got it, Robin," Onami informed. Robin relaxed and the arms disappeared. The crying was louder. Vivi opened the lid where they saw a raven-haired baby boy.

"It's a baby!" she yelped as Omao scooped the baby out of the basket.

"What's a baby doing in a basket floating downstream?" questioned Onami as Vivi felt the body. Her face drooped, sensing a problem.

"This baby isn't well," she determined. "It's running a high fever!" The other women became horrified.

"We need to consult Blue-Nose Sensei," Onami suggested. "Let's go to the Pinwheel to treat it as best as we can before we take him there." The other ladies agreed before they hustled to the Pinwheel. There, they found Blue-Nose Sensei there with Sanji, Luffy and Usopp.

"Hey, Onami," Luffy greeted. "Could you put the latest meal on my tab-" Onami sucker-punched Luffy out when Vivi and Robin found Blue-Nose Sensei.

"Just our luck!" gasped Vivi. "Blue-Nose Sensei's here!" Blue-Nose Sensei turned to the women as did Sanji.

"Oh, the beautiful harem has come to my aid~!" he swooned. "Let me fix all of you a meal that can-"

"Sock it, Sanji!" snapped Onami. Sanji gasped and retreated. Blue-Nose Sensei came to the women before Vivi laid the baby on the table.

"A baby?" he realized. "Yeah, this doesn't look right." Using his Scope, Blue-Nose Sensei studied the baby's condition. He gasped to the discovery. "The baby is malnourished like he hasn't had any food for days. If we can't get food into him, he won't make it!" Time wasn't on anyone's side. Onami turned to Sanji with an idea.

"Sanji, warm up some milk for the baby!" she ordered.

"On it!" he agreed before retreating to the kitchen. To Robin, it was time the baby didn't have.

"He can't wait!" she believed before sitting down and undoing her yukata to where one of her large breasts came out as Brook, hiding in the back, came to see the ordeal. Robin struggled with her yukata before finally offering her breast to the baby. Soon, the baby was chugging. The baby stopped crying and ate as the others watched, though Sanji and Brook wanted to get a better look. It looked like minutes passed when the baby soon stopped feeding. Cries became coos as the baby was calmed. "That looks a lot better." The baby soon looked to the other girls who breathed a sigh of relief about the baby.

"It looks like everything is back to normal," Vivi sighed. She took the baby to allow Robin to fix her yukata. Brook and Sanji groaned, unable to see Robin's exposed body.

"Robin, you're a lifesaver," Blue-Nose Sensei noticed.

"She sure is," Omao agreed.

"Thanks…" shrugged Robin. "But now, what do we do?" The other women pondered while Luffy wondered about their discovery.

"So, what happened?" he asked. "And who's the baby?"

"That's what we're trying to find out," Onami mulled. "We found him in a basket floating downstream when we rescued him." Luffy pondered about what caused the baby to be stored in a basket and send downstream.

"Do you think the baby's parents are dead?" wondered Usopp. Brook shook his head.

"I find that highly unlikely," he thought.

"What makes you so sure?" assumed Luffy.

"I don't think they're dead naturally to where the baby in the basket simply flows downstream," Brook started. "What I believe happened is that someone killed his parents before stuffing the baby into the basket and having it die a slow death." Luffy gulped to the detail before he approached the infant.

"Blue-Nose Sensei did say that it hadn't had anything for days," he recalled. "What we can do is find the home. The only way is to go the opposite of down." Everyone blinked to Luffy's suggestion.

"Don't you mean up, as in upstream?" corrected Usopp.

"It's the best lead that we have in understanding where the baby's from," Sanji trusted. After Omao told Luffy about where they found the baby, Luffy and Usopp headed out as Robin felt a tug on her finger. She looked down to the baby she saved and they stared into each other's eyes. The little boy smiled up which started to melt Robin's heart. With how much Robin was fixated with the baby boy, she made a choice.

"Vivi, is it alright if I adopt him?" she requested. Vivi looked to Robin with a surprised look.

"You want to take care of the baby?" she made sure. Robin nodded.

"What about the orphanage by your home?" asked Omao. Robin shook her head.

"While Grand Jipang's orphanage can help find a family," she started. "What this boy needs the most is a mother's love. This is why I feel I should be the one to raise him." The girls understood Robin's belief, nodding while Brook came in to view the girls gathering.

"I wonder what's going on?" he thought.

"I want to support you, Robin," Vivi spoke up. "What I can offer is a few papers to officially adopt the child." Robin blinked to the offer.

"You can do that?" she awed.

"I can discuss it with my father about the plan." The plan made Robin smile.

"Thank you, princess." She and the baby looked to each one's eyes. "If I do take you in, Ash… I promise not to hurt you." The baby looked on, possible hope blooming on him.

"Oh, so this is the attention," Brook awed as he approached. "Perhaps I can take a look with my own eyes... Well, that is to say that I had eyes." He had a small laugh when Robin turned Ash around.

"I think your appearance may scare him," she warned. Brook whimpered to the denial when Ash saw Brook himself. He let out a giggle, making Robin and Brook look. Ash was smiling at the boney figure.

"How about that," he awed. "He's actually okay."

"I guess so..." smiled Robin. Brook opened the top of his skull before seeing the baby laugh. The girls watched in awe at how Ash and Brook were able to be friends. They took turns holding the infant and Ash seemed to be enjoying it. Night fell and Ash and Robin enjoyed bathing. They soon snuggled into a futon before falling asleep, Robin now a mother.

The dream had Robin waking up and wondering. The moon had nearly reached the apex. "That dream…" she muttered. "Maybe… Princess Vivi could help. I want to take care of Ash." Looking outside, she saw the moon. She had a plan in mind.

TO BE CONTINUED...