CHAPTER 2:

ROBIN

He was real. Unless this was some dying fever dream caused when she fled into the portal to avoid one of her many pursuers, or some hallucination caused by some exotic poison or Devil Fruit, of course, and she couldn't be certain of that. The last time something like that happened, she kept hearing some inane and banal rap song(1).

Then again, the Log Pose on her wrist was inert. She should be nowhere near the Grand Line if that was the case. The chamber she was in could have been somewhere in Alabaster, and the fact that there was a pseudo-Poneglyph muddied the waters a little.

And yet, he was here. His pinch was painful, and while what she sometimes saw in her dreams was painful, the actual sensation of physical pain was absent. It was more emotional pain that was present, not physical pain.

If this was a dream, she didn't want to wake up.

As Harry restrained the mercenaries, Robin went over to the pseudo-Poneglyph. It wasn't an actual Poneglyph: it was clearly not made of the same eerie blue metal, instead being made of stone. The cubical shape seemed to be an emulation of the Poneglyph, though. And the writing…some of it had worn away, rendering some parts untranslatable. Yet she translated the rest with practised ease.

"…Last words of…I dream of that world, of what was, what is, and what is to come…Three Weapons…rising seas…one day, the Joyous One will be reborn, and fight against the Nothingness King That Sits on the Empty Throne, and the Five Stars?"

She stared at the block in shock at such a revelation. Then again, maybe she shouldn't be surprised. The World Government went to great lengths to destroy any research into the Void Century, why not conceal a secret king?

Harry came over, having finished his task. That messy mop of black hair, those emerald eyes, the now-faded scar…so familiar to her. "Five Stars? Aren't the rulers of your world sometimes called the Five Elder Stars?"

Robin nodded. "The Three Weapons must be the Ancient Weapons, Pluton, Poseidon, and Ouranos. And the Empty Throne…there is, supposedly, a throne in Mariejois, a symbol that no one king would sit on it and rule the world, my world, ever again. Except…if what this claims is true…the Empty Throne is not empty. This makes too much sense."

"Given what happened to Ohara, I'm not surprised." Harry noticed her flinch, before putting a hand on her shoulder. "…Sorry."

Robin shook her head. If this was Harry, then he knew most details of her life. It was thanks in part to his reassurances that she had stayed somewhat sane while on the run. "You're perhaps the only person I can talk with on such matters. Harry…I want to know…am I on your world? Am I on Earth?"

"Yes. Specifically, in Egypt. I'm not sure where, given how that bitch ambushed me," Harry sneered.

"She seemed to know you."

"That, believe it or not, was Cho Chang."

Robin grimaced at the remembered name, feeling a pang of jealousy, despite her usually reserved nature. "…The girl you had a crush on."

Harry held up his hands in a placating gesture. "Hey, I didn't know you were real, Robin, and besides, that crush died a slow painful death after my fifth year, and you know it. I just wish she didn't turn into an evil bitch like that."

"Well, if it's any consolation, she's trapped on my world, and in a somewhat inhospitable part of it," Robin said. "Some rather dangerous ruins on an island on the Grand Line, not that far from Alabaster. And with bounty hunters in the area too, from some new organisation, a very secretive one called Baroque Works."

"…Normally, I wouldn't be so glad, but she wanted to kill me, and those dear to me," Harry said.

"Oh, believe me, if she hadn't fled, I was going to do what I did to these idiots," she indicated the mercenaries, "just more slowly."

Harry giggled uneasily. "…Not that I'm arguing with that, but broken spines tend to be considered a little excessive for self-defence by the authorities, Robin. So it's harder to explain away, even if you're not a wanted criminal here."

Robin, despite herself, actually chuckled softly. "Fair enough. Should we leave?"

"Yeah, let's…"

The chamber Cho had dragged him to was a fair way away from his dig site. Once he was away from the anti-Apparition wards Cho had set up, he took Robin (Cho's goons Transfigured into pebbles he kept in his pocket) and Apparated back to the campsite. Explaining away Robin was going to be a task and a half, but there were protocols in place.

As it happened, the Goblin in charge of the expedition, Lodgok, had already learned the truth. Cho had bribed one of his fellows to slip Harry a Portkey to her hiding place. Said Goblin was currently caged up after an extensive interrogation. Apparently, his punishment, once brought back to Britain, would be protracted and drawn-out.

Harry had to admit, most Goblins, he liked or at least respected. He'd soured to Griphook, but he was apparently a fanatic who admired Ragnok, a Goblin who tried to lead an uprising in Victorian times. But others earned his respect back. In fact, Harry willingly shared the notes of Salazar Slytherin with them, and this earned him considerable respect in return, especially as the ritual could remove Horcruxes without damaging the items they were bound to, much, anyway.

Harry told Lodgok some of the truth. Not all of it: Lodgok would not have believed that Robin had appeared in his dreams from an early age, and he felt it best to avoid mentioning her fugitive status. But he did relay that she came from another world, had qualifications as an archaeologist, and had supernatural powers apart from standard wizarding magic.

Lodgok gave Harry the rest of the day off. They'd returned to a wizarding tent, Cooling Charms helping keep the temperature comfortable, before they finally got to talking properly again, Harry erecting Privacy Charms for good measure. "How are you feeling, Robin?"

"Ambivalent. On the one hand, I am no longer on my homeworld. I am far away from all that I am familiar with, on a world very different to my own, where the supernatural is hidden from the rest of the world." Then, a small smile, not her usual sardonic one, but a gentle, if uneasy, smile touched her lips. "On the other hand, I am no longer on my homeworld. The Marines cannot catch me here, nor can Cipher Pol or the World Government. I am not a figure of infamy here. I am…free."

Harry didn't comment. Instead, he gently touched her shoulder, and when she looked up, he gave her a smile of his own. For all that Harry spent ten years of his life as a servant for the Dursleys, and much of his school years being targeted by Voldemort and his lackies, that had nothing on Robin being on the run for two-thirds of her life, sixteen years. All because she had the ability to read Poneglyphs, a taboo on her world, due to the paranoia of the World Government.

Eventually, he asked, "Had much trouble prior to ending up here?" They only saw each other in their dreams infrequently. Sometimes, it happened a few times a week. Other times, months could go by without it happening.

"I was being tracked by bounty hunters," Robin said. "Not the usual idiots either. They're part of a new organisation I heard rumours about, Baroque Works, the one I told you about earlier. The men are all called by numbers as codenames, while the women are given days, holidays, and so on. I think they are based in Alabaster, or near it, and considering the Warlord Crocodile recently set up shop there…he might have a hand in it."

"Warlords? Oh, right, they're basically privateers for the World Government, right?"

"More or less, though there are weaker privateers, and usually working for individual governments. Aside from Crocodile, there's Dracule Mihawk, Jinbei of Fishman Island, Gecko Moria, Donquixote Doflamingo, Bartholomew Kuma, and Boa Hancock, ruler of Amazon Lily. A few are relatively benign: I have heard both Dracule Mihawk and Jinbei are known for their honour, even if it leads them into conflict with the World Government. But that's neither here nor there. I was considering heading to Alabaster and seeing if I could find out whether they have a Poneglyph or not. I heard a rumour they had one, guarded by the Nefertari line for centuries. If it has even a smidgen of the true history during the Void Century…"

"You'd be on it just like that, eh?" Harry said with a chuckle.

"Harry, if there's a chance I could ever expose even a small part of the Void Century…I know Professor Clover and the other scholars had uncovered some parts of it. I didn't get to read about whatever they found on Poneglyphs, but…they knew enough for those monsters to call down a Buster Call on Ohara." Robin gritted her teeth in a snarl of fury and fear.

"At least they don't have nukes on your world, or if they did, they've been lost with the Three Ancient Weapons," Harry said. "You wouldn't have been able to escape, otherwise. Robin…you're safe. And I'm sure my friends would welcome you. In fact, Hermione would probably talk your ear off. Though she was uneasy to learn you moonlighted as an assassin."

Robin scoffed. "I only assassinated people who deserved it. Besides, when you have a bounty of 79 million Berries, it's hard to find decent paying work legally. You know what I had to do to survive when so many people I associated with either tried to turn me in for my bounty, or were murdered by overzealous Marines, pirates, or bounty hunters. And since I was eight. I already had a lonely childhood, but what Spandine and the World Government did to me…it destroyed my childhood."

"Then let's make sure you have a happier life from now on, Robin," Harry said. "If what you did to that archway was any indication, you can go back home whenever you want. I think Lodgok's going to be bringing it to the Department of Mysteries. But if you want a break from being on the run, then Merlin knows you deserve it. I wouldn't know what it's like to be on the run like you did, and I don't know how you could have put up with it for sixteen years. You're stronger than I ever could be, Robin."

"…Don't say that," she said, looking away. "I'm not stronger than you. At least you fought back against Voldemort. But…what have I done, aside from fleeing from island to island, hoping to find a Poneglyph that shed some light on the Void Century? Killing or crippling those who wished to kill me or capture me?"

"Uhh, excuse me? What about how you use the Bloom-Bloom Fruit(2)?" Harry asked. "Yes, it's pretty violent and gruesome, but you saved my life, Robin. You saved my life, despite not knowing whether I was real or not. And you're strong, just in different ways. You're a genius compared to me, you're creative with how you use your Devil Fruit, and your willpower, your determination…they may not have liked the life you were forced to lead, but Clover, Saul, your mother…they'd be proud of you for staying alive, and staying defiant."

Silence fell for a time, before Robin began chuckling softly. Then, she began laughing outright. In a strange and strained manner, but it was genuine laughter all the same.

The two formerly imaginary friends simply sat like that, together, and talked for the rest of the day. They took comfort in each other's presence. And a bond that was once thought to be simply imaginary strengthened and grew…

In a darkened room, a snail began making noise, reminiscent of a telephone. A massive hand reached for a microphone attached to it, and activated it. "Mr 0 here," rasped a deep voice. "Have you found Nico Robin?"

"No, sir. However, we did find someone else in that area. She kept trying to go through an archway in the ruins we were tracking the Demon Child through. Her arm was broken. And what she said…well, she sounds insane, but she seems to have fallen afoul of Robin, and if what she claims is true, Robin is out of our reach."

"…Damnation. And this interloper?"

"…Sir, she was able to partly read the Void Century writing within these ruins. She also has powers. We don't know if it's a Devil Fruit, but we were able to knock her out before she could flee after the initial questioning."

The man calling himself 'Mr 0' stilled for a moment, before he nodded. "Bring her to Rain Dinners. I'll see if she's amenable to working for me."

After gaining acknowledgement, the massive hand placed the microphone down. A scarred face smirked in the darkness, teeth clenched around a smouldering cigar. "Well…maybe I have found a Miss All-Sunday after all…"

CHAPTER 2 ANNOTATIONS:

Robin and Harry catch up…while a certain Warlord has his eyes on Cho Chang.

1. Specifically, the 4Kids rap theme song for One Piece. "Yo-ho-ho, he took a bite of Gum-Gum…"

2. Choosing what to name Robin's Devil Fruit took some thought. I don't like the official translation of 'Flower-Flower Fruit', and I'm not going to be a weeb and insist on the Japanese name. 'Bloom-Bloom' has a poetry to it, and seems to describe Robin's abilities better.