"Trust… It is but a concept meant to hide your utmost powerlessness. Are you truly powerless, Princess Nefertari Vivi? How disappointing, to see you break before the fun has even started."

Vivi immediately rounded on the intruder who'd abruptly appeared on the Going Merry, sitting comfortably on the railing as if she owned the place. Everyone else startled a bit, even Brynlee – despite knowing she would show up soon enough, she hadn't heard her at all.

"Miss All Sunday," breathed out Vivi, her voice breaking a bit.

"I thought you would prove more interesting in your struggle to achieve peace, Princess," taunted Miss All Sunday. "Who knew the death of a single man would be enough to break you? Had I known it would ruin the fun like this, I might have spared a second thought about letting him go."

"You- you killed Igaram!"

"RAAAAAH! IT'S YOU! I liked that funny guy!"

Luffy tried to rush her in order to punch her, but hands and arms sprouted from the deck in a flurry of petals and, in a matter of seconds, their Captain was tightly tied in knots. Everyone immediately grew a little tenser, now understanding the woman to be a greater threat than she appeared.

"A small price to pay for the information I allowed you to gather, I daresay. You ought to thank me, truly – you never would have found Sir Crocodile's identity without me."

"You're the one who sold us out in the first place!" protested the Princess.

"The game is only fun if the players are interesting. With that being said, I'm not here to fight – merely to discuss. You see, while your luck is indeed rotten, Your Highness, I fear you may not know the worst of it."

"Say what you mean to say already," snapped Zoro, obviously torn between letting her talk and hacking her to pieces as an apparent foe.

"Your next destination is Little Garden, and that fact alone renders killing you here absolutely pointless – for the island is rift with danger, and you will no longer present a threat to Baroque Works the moment you set foot upon it. Unless, of course, you come into possession of a particular item."

Another limb sprouted out from the mast, dropping a shiny new Log Pose in Nami's unsuspecting hands. She yelped in surprise but managed to catch it in time.

"What- what is this!?"

"An Eternal Pose!" gasped Vivi.

"To Nanimonai Island, yes. It is an island but one stop away from Alabasta – it should allow you to avoid the dangers awaiting you on Little Garden, and that route is relatively hidden, so you should be able to avoid our agents as well."

"Wait, so you're helping us?" blinked Nami, confused.

"It's clearly a trap," scoffed Zoro.

"What if it isn't?" challenged Sanji.

"IT DOESN'T MATTER!" Luffy suddenly managed to until himself, at last, and suddenly grabbed the Eternal Pose from Nami's hands. "WHO ASKED YOU, ANYWAY!?"

He promptly crushed it, and Brynlee bit back a smile while Nami and Usopp freaked out, and Sanji and Zoro settled down, obviously appeased by his decision.

"ARE YOU INSANE!?" snapped Nami. "She just gave us the easy way out! We could have gone and fought that Crocodile guy even earlier if you hadn't done that!"

"Doesn't matter! I'll fight him no matter what – but we decide what our course is for us!"

Nami grumbled under her breath, immediately giving in as she realized that he was right – it was their journey, and they shouldn't let a random woman dictate how they completed it, after all.

"How amusing," simply stated Miss All Sunday. "I suppose it can't be helped, then."

"You can be, though."

"Beg your pardon?"

"We can help you," repeated Brynlee, her words immediately drawing the others' attention.

"Help me?" repeated their enemy, sounding even more amused. "And who might you be, to make such a preposterous offer?"

"Lucky D. Brynlee. It's… truly a joy to meet you at last, Nico Robin."

Miss All Sunday's eyes went wide, her skin paling dramatically as all sense of smugness and amusement immediately vanished, leaving place to utmost terror. Limbs sprouted from Brynlee's shoulders, delicate hands immediately closing around her throat and sharp nails digging into her skin like claws – intent on silencing her. Her friends shouted, immediately moving to defend her, but Brynlee merely smiled.

"Look- look at me, Nico Robin – truly look," she challenged, barely managing to speak.

She placed her hands over the ones attempting to strangle her and briefly summoned her fire, effectively burning them. They immediately disappeared in a burst of petals, her attacker letting out a hiss of pain – thankfully, it seemed to be enough to snap her out of whatever traumatic daze she'd just been plunged into.

Brynlee stepped forward and gently grabbed her burnt hand, looking Robin right in the eyes when the older woman looked up, startled by the unexpected touch.

"I know who you are, and you know what I am. So you should know that I mean you no harm, at the very least. As fellow survivors."

Finally, a spark of recognition. "Your… your kind is meant to be extinct…"

"Yet here I stand." With a small sigh, Brynlee took a last-minute decision. "I'm sorry about your burns. They'll have been treated by the time you've woken up."

"What—"

Brynlee decked her in the face. Not hard enough to break anything, but definitely enough to stun, at the very least. And while she was distracted, Brynlee shot her hand forward and pinched a specific pressure point in her neck, instantly knocking her out.

I'll have to thank Koala again for teaching me this neat trick!

The woman collapsed, Brynlee swiftly catching her, and silence followed.

"… what the hell, Bryn?" finally let out Nami, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"I don't really get what's going on anymore… Who is she, Bryn?" asked Luffy, rubbing the back of his head in confusion.

"She's Miss All Sunday, Sir Crocodile's partner and Baroque Works' Chief-of-Staff. But her real name is Nico Robin, and she's going to be our friend. Is that okay?"

Surprised, Luffy then laughed. "Shishishi! Sure! If you say so."

Sooooo... Surprise! Brynlee's developing a taste for kidnapping people and Nico Robin is joining the crew early - kind of xD

Also, in case it wasn't made exceedingly obvious that this story isn't going to exactly follow along with the original storyline, here's the belated disclaimer: this fic is an absolute crack-fest that somehow still makes sense, with a focus on deep and genuine connections built between people who work together to achieve their dreams. So if I wanna turn Arlong in a Revolutionary, or if I wanna kill the Unluckies, or if I wanna get rid of that blackhearted psycho early-ahem, no spoilers-well I will, because I CAN.

This fic is Brynlee and I's show, so to those who don't agree with my narrative choices, just... stop reading? I'm not holding a gun to your heads y'all, you're free to just not read it. "Oh but doing this will have this effect" or "This choice will actually change this and this and that-" like, I know? Just trust I have a plan and stop harping me already. I'm tired of defending my creative freedom to people who aren't even paying me.

Anyways! Apologies to those unconcerned, the grand majority of you are very kind and incredibly supportive and I love and appreciate you guys very much!