Descent

by JustAProblem

Scars are a sign of pride and strength. A sign of survival. Naturally, this only applies to the physical scars and not the mental scars. No, mental scars are almost universally agreed to be negative and for good reason. Physical scars merely change how your body looks. Mental scars change how a person thinks. Rosan just wants to enjoy life. He didn't ask for all this.

39. Chapter 39: Threads of a Puppet

Descent

Chapter 39: Threads of a Puppet

Robin was currently giving him the cold (ironic) shoulder and it was driving him into madness. Being ignored was one of his biggest peeves and though he worked hard not to let it visibly affect him (Meiko did this to him alot when he deserved it), it still royally annoyed him.

Yes, the woman was still tending to him because deep down, she was still worried… but she kept statements terribly short and distant and sometimes she outright just didn't respond to him.

The worst part was, she was talking to Mod and Ram just fine.

No, the only one she had a problem with currently, was him.

The redhead let out a pained sigh as he stamped down his annoyance and glanced at the neutral faced Robin.

The ship was currently on course to the next island because Rosan had demanded they continue despite his condition.

Despite some protests, they eventually agreed and now they were on the way to the next island with a not fully healed scout that would heal up in time.

That damn ice of Aokiji's… he was still left reeling from the aftereffects of being frozen solid (even with the stone) and now he was being given the cold shoulder from his best friend.

What a terrible situation to be in.

At least his body would remember this sensation and build up sufficient resistance…

No, this still felt terrible.

"Robin," Rosan began patiently.

His best friend raised a brow, turning towards him, and he sighed miserably.

They were currently located in his castle so that he could rest up some and the redhead was laying down on the bed, Robin next to him as she silently read a book.

Ram thought they very much looked like a married couple but she couldn't really enjoy that, considering the tension between Mother and Father.

"Can we talk?" He asked quietly, hoping that she didn't just blow him off again.

The scout pushed himself up from his sleeping position and grunted as his body disagreed with the motion.

Robin's nonchalance, vanished immediately and she quickly turned to steady the redhead with a concerned glance.

"Don't move… You need to rest," she said quietly, pushing him back down with a sigh and shutting her book. "What do you want to talk about?"

Rosan stared at her with intense eyes. "You know what I want to talk about."

The two stared at each other for a long while, before Robin pushed herself up and off the bed.

"I'm going to get something to drink. I'll bring you some tea," she declared, turning away from him to walk off.

A hand gripped her arm and stopped her from moving almost as soon as she finished speaking.

"Robin… please? Can you at least berate me?" Rosan not quite begged... but it was close and that was what let Robin know he was truly suffering, because her best friend didn't ever resort to begging.

Her gaze wavered at the desperate look in his eyes and she felt her resistance melt into nothing.

Robin went slack at that and allowed the redhead to pull her closer.

"...It's complicated, Rosan," she replied tiredly. "I know… trust me I know why you attacked him but it's just… you know how easily he could have killed us all. Instead of trying to take us all and run, you fought him. Why did you fight him?"

The Devil Child shut her eyes tight in pain as memories of a frozen solid Rosan roared to the front of her mind.

"Why do you want me to see you die? In such a manner too... you know Aokiji and I's history... Do you want me to go through what you did?" she whispered.

Rosan's eyes widened at her question and his eyes shifted into a slightly hurt expression.

That's not... that's not what he wanted her to go through at all.

She shifted her gaze, unable to look into those eyes that only turned vulnerable when she was involved.

Maybe he should just tell her... he had been reluctant to do so because this shouldn't be her problem too but she wasn't giving him much choice...

"I'm sorry, Robin. I can't control my emotions much at all," he admitted quietly. "I've been trying while you all sleep but it's really hard. Anger especially, comes to me far too easily and leaves far too hard."

Robin's eyes widened slightly, before narrowing in guilt.

That was right… Rosan did just recently get his emotions back. She even anticipated that he would have trouble getting them under control but she never accounted for how little control he had.

Of course he would so easily lose control, especially after mentioning that she was his reason to live... Of course he'd take offense to what Aokiji said...

But she was still treating him so harshly… She was the worst.

"I… I never want anyone I love to go through what I did, especially not you for the second time," Rosan whispered, loosening his grip and releasing her fully. "But at the same time, I can't bear to lose anyone else… so I'll take anything, even threats, serious."

Robin's eyes shut at that. "Rosan I didn't…" she tried to say.

Rosan didn't hear her. The redhead just glanced at his lap with a tired expression.

"You're right... I do know you and Aokiji's history. I know everything because you told me... Knowing what I do, how could I ever let him bully you like that? Aokiji is one of the main catalyst to your trauma... just a meeting between us would never have gone well."

He was right. Robin knew he was right... that meeting would only ever end in disaster... and here she was punishing him, when she should be helping.

Rosan was relying on her to reign him in... punishing him like this didn't solve anything. It was just her abusing the faith he had in her...

Robin didn't want to abuse Rosan in anyway. It wasn't right for her to still be angry with him for this.

"The things he were saying, the people he represents… Aokiji set off every single red flag in my mind and I snapped… I know you told me not to fight him but… but he was threatening you Robin and I couldn't let him… I just…" Rosan sighed as words failed him.

Arms wrapped around his waist and silenced him. He looked up in confusion to see Robin's disappointed visage and for a second, he thought it was for himself.

"I'm sorry too, Rosan," Robin frowned sadly, dashing his concerns. "It was a lapse of judgement for me to forget that you would probably have difficulties controlling your emotions… I haven't been thinking straight these past few days."

With her feelings for Rosan and the sudden appearance of Aokiji, Robin was honestly a bit out of sorts. She hadn't felt such love in years... she hadn't felt such fear either. These emotions weren't quite foreign... but they had been dormant for so long, that they may as well have been.

She supposed she was as much of a mess as Rosan was, if these emotions made her act so irrationally.

"Thank you so much for being so ready to defend me. No one else in the world but you would be so quick to jump to my aid and I appreciate that more than you know," Robin whispered.

"You'd do anything to keep me safe… and I'd do anything to keep you safe... so I'm sorry for getting upset that you would act out on a desire I'd act out on too," she murmured, squeezing him reassuringly.

If Robin met someone strong trying to kill Rosan... well, she'd do everything in her power to stop them. Even if they were stronger... just the threat they served would incite her protective fury.

She would be a hypocrite for thinking otherwise.

Rosan said nothing for a moment, before his arms hesitantly raised and wrapped around her tightly.

"I love you, you know that?" Rosan replied quietly.

For a moment, Robin's heart stopped and she could have sworn she saw something in Rosan's gaze...

This would have been the perfect time for Robin to tell Rosan how she truly felt. They had shared a vulnerable moment with each other, the setting was perfectly right and the two truly did love each other.

But despite that, Robin didn't.

Robin didn't because the lingering threat of Aokiji… the power of the World Government remained prevalent in her mind.

Of what they would do to Rosan if they knew how deep their love ran.

Of what Rosan would do for her if she truly became a target.

So with a strained smile that Rosan didn't see, Robin said, "I love you too, Rosan."

---

"GUYS THERE'S A FROG DOING A FREESTYLE CRAWL IN THE SEA!"

Usopp glanced up at that, unimpressed by his captain. "Don't be ridiculous, Frogs can't do the crawl…"

His eyes bugged as he looked out at the ocean. "IT REALLY IS DOING THE CRAWL!"

Rosan glanced over at all the noise and swallowed the food offered to him.

"You don't have to feed me you know, I'm pretty much healed," he muttered to Robin.

She smiled and took a bit of the dessert they were sharing. "Yes, but I enjoy it. You're like my pet tiger."

The redhead raised a brow at that. "Since when am I a tiger?" he asked curiously.

"Well, you used to be my pet kitten, but your voice is a little to deep when you purr and you're a bit more intimidating than a cat, so tiger is just fine," she retorted.

"Hey, wait… stop calling me your pet," Rosan said flatly. "First bodyguard, then servant, now pet? You sure have a lot of cute nicknames for me—"

Robin watched as Rosan shot up suddenly, sharp gaze morphing over his features as he swiftly darted off.

"Rosan?" She called in confusion, watching him dash off.

Her worries were soon answered, as the redhead leapt behind the ship, sprouted his draconic wings, and heaved.

The Straw Hats yelped at the feeling of Rosan launching the Merry forward with ridiculous strength and gazed at their scout in disbelief.

"W-WOAH!" Every Straw Hat shouted in shock. "WHAT WAS THAT FOR, ROSAN?!"

Why did the redhead just suddenly push their ship?! Did he also want to eat the frog—

Every single Straw Hat, went pale, as a massive moving something smashed into the spot their ship was just at… that was conveniently moved out of the way by Rosan.

"O-Oh… thanks, Rosan," they all said weakly, sweating at watching the… train(?) run over the frog they were just conversing about.

Rosan huffed and landed on the ship. "Be more careful, idiots. I told you guys stop damaging the ship."

They glanced at the moving train in awe.

"Was that a train? On the sea?" Nami asked herself in stunned confusion.

But how… that didn't make any sense!

"There's a lighthouse up ahead," Rosan grunted. "Maybe they can explain what's going on."

A train that traveled by sea? How did that work…

How interesting.

---

Manning the lighthouse, were two people and their pet cat (it was actually a rabbit) named Kokoro, Chimney and Gonbe.

They were strange but they were kind enough to explain some things to the group.

The machine they were looking at was a train. It was a sea train referred to as the Puffing Tom and it rode on sea tracks of all thing.

What an ingenious design. Rosan was genuinely impressed by whoever thought of it.

They also learned that the frog was named Yokozuna and he frequently positioned himself in front of the sea train to test his strength.

He failed every single time but at least he didn't die.

"Wow, he's a pretty gutsy frog!" Luffy awed. "I don't wanna eat him anymore! He's got so much determination!"

Nami sweatdropped. "That's why you don't want to eat him?"

"Let's ride the Sea Train!" Luffy exclaimed excitedly.

The old lady laughed at his excitement. "If you take the train from here, you could reach St. Poplar, the town of the Spring Queen. Or you could go to Pucci, the Gourmet City—"

"GOURMET CITY?! LET'S GO THERE!" Luffy shouted with starry eyes.

"We have a ship, idiot," everyone said flatly.

"Just stick to the log," Nami barked in annoyance.

"Where's it pointed?" Chimney asked curiously.

The navigator glanced at it once more just to verify. "North."

"You guys are headed north? That's where Water 7 is," Kokoro slurred, chugging her sake without a care in the world.

Water 7 was considered the city of water and it was well known for its shipbuilding industry and its cutting edge technology.

That caught Rosan's attention.

The ships built there were so good, even the World Government commissioned them… the island had the best carpenters in the world.

Perfect.

Rosan was sufficiently interested in this place.

Based on his crew's energy, they were too.

"Let's go to Water 7 and find a shipwright!" Luffy said with a determined grin.

---

After receiving a terrible map of the city and a letter of introduction, the Straw Hats quickly departed from their new friends and began setting sail for Water 7 with renewed vigor.

They were discussing what type of shipwright they wanted and of course, Rosan watched the idiots and resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

"Not going to join the discussion?" Robin muttered curiously.

Rosan shook his head. "I'm picky. Luffy and I normally want different things in a person but I suppose his method is effective, considering how impressive this crew is."

Robin rolled her eyes. "You don't want to recruit anyone that's why. I think if given a choice, you'd prefer to be like Mihawk."

The redhead tilted his head. "Sailing the seas and surviving sounds fun... But I hate being truly alone," he murmured.

Robin idly pulled him into a hug. "Look at you admitting that you hate being alone... I don't think I'd have been able to get that out of you before," she praised.

She knew Rosan hated being alone. It was one of his greatest fears and the driving force for why he didn't want to lose anyone he loved... because it was one step closer to fulfilling his nightmare.

"It was really fun when it was the two of us though," Rosan remarked fondly, thinking back to those times.

He wondered how a ship with Robin, Meiko, Maro, Angel and Demon would have been like. Probably very headache inducing for him... and them.

The brunette smiled at that. "But it was also very stressful. Two people manning a ship, even one like the White Rose is a lot of work, especially out in the sea."

Even with Rosan handling the majority of that with his Devil Fruit, it had still been quite a bit of maintenance.

The redhead nodded thoughtfully. "Make sure you can recruit someone talented and crazy enough to join us."

Zoro snorted. "That's a hard ask. Why would someone talented be crazy enough to join our pirate crew?"

Rosan snorted in turn. "The same reason every one of us did. It's called the my younger brother gets whatever he wants effect."

Every Straw Hat opened their mouth… and then closed it, as a thoughtful expression crossed their faces.

"Are you… calling us talented?" Usopp asked tentatively.

The redhead nodded. "None of you would be worth my attention otherwise. We've been through quite the abnormal journey and you guys continue to impress. In your craft, you will all reach the apex of it if you keep going with the determination you have," he complimented.

They balked at the redhead's words before a pleasant feeling welled up in their chests at that.

"W-Who said you could compliment us?!" They said, in a very Chopperesque manner.

The scout almost never complimented them! They were a little overwhelmed to hear it so readily come out of his mouth…

It felt way too nice. They couldn't let Rosan know they appreciated this!

Rosan stared at them for a bit, sweatdropping slightly and tilting his head.

Was he really that rude to them? Huh… who woulda thought?

Robin stared at him with a slight sweatdrop. He was so unaware sometimes.

"We can also look to convert all those pieces of gold into treasure!" Nami exclaimed, thinking to that tall pile of gold.

After seeing just how big the pillar Rosan got was, Nami squealed in happiness and tackled the redhead to the floor for managing to secure something so incredible.

That giant pillar could repair Merry and then some! They were absolutely loaded and the redhead said he had no use for it and they earned it.

That pillar was solely for them! THEM! THE GOLD WAS ALL THEIRS!

"Nami stop. You look like a wild animal," Rosan chastised, gently slapping both her cheeks with his palms. "You had your, "I'm rich and everything belongs to me" face on. I even saw drool forming."

Nami snapped out of her daze and flushed at the look of amusement in his eyes. "S-Since when can you tell what I'm thinking by my facial expressions?!"

"Since the second time I gave you your allowance," he replied easily. "You had such a depraved look as you shamelessly took my money. I honestly felt really dirty."

The navigator spluttered at that. "D-Depraved?! S-Seriously?!"

Her cheeks went red in mortification. "Why didn't you tell me about this sooner?!"

The redhead shrugged. "I thought it was funny. I never knew someone as greedy as me could exist."

Nami opened her mouth and closed it, hanging her head in defeat. "I've never met someone who can embarrass me so effortlessly."

Rosan cracked a small little smile at that and pulled the embarrassed navigator into a hug. "Don't worry. It comes with being the oldest sibling in a family. You never stood a chance when I've been doing this for years."

"I hate you," she mumbled, squirming as he crushed her face into his chest. "If I had to be your little sister from the start, I'd have killed you in your sleep."

"Get in line. Ace and Angel already tried it multiple times," Rosan smiled smugly.

They sweatdropped.

"Hey Usopp, what are you doing?" Luffy asked curiously.

The sniper was currently hugging the Merry's mast that Rosan and him had spent many times fixing already.

"The thought that Merry is going to get fixed up all nice and new just fills me with warm feelings," the sniper replied.

Sanji nodded at his words. "I know how you feel. Even with Rosan making it look as good as new every time, I'm sure his technique isn't completely repairing her."

Rosan glanced over at that. "No, it doesn't. It can repair damages but there is a limit. If I repair it too much, it will start to have less of an effect. Especially weak materials like wood. Metals can handle my modifications for much longer."

He tested it when he was younger. Standard ship wood was too weak to be modified and repaired repeatedly. It was why the White Rose was practically done for because he modified it so much.

It was a foolish mistake but it was one he realized too late. Wood was just not very compatible with the whims of a computer. Metals could be constantly repaired for a much longer period then wood could.

The more he modified wood, the more it deteriorated. If Rosan had known this, then his ideal form of transportation would have been a submarine. Those could handle his modifications just fine.

They glanced at the redhead with interested eyes, always interested to learn more about him and his fruit.

The redhead gazed at them all with a neutral expression that he had far less. "If we find a shipwright and they say they can't repair our ship… what will we do?"

They blinked at that abrupt question.

What… would they do?

Usopp waved off his question with a cheerful laugh. "We'll just find another shipwright! Don't be such a pessimist all the time, Rosan!"

The redhead tilted his head at that. "I'm not being a pessimist. I'm bringing up the other side of the coin. You have to think of all scenarios. So what will you do if that happens, Luffy? It's your job as captain to make the hard decisions and you have to keep our safety in mind."

Luffy opened his mouth at that... only to close it in a rare moment. To the rubber boy, who always had faith in all his friends to the very end, the idea had never once sprung up to his mind.

The air turned a bit heavy at his accurate observation.

What… would they do? What would happen if Merry couldn't be fixed?

No one had an answer.

Rosan closed his eyes with a sigh.

"This might be a bit harder then I thought, Merry."

---

Water 7 was stunningly gorgeous.

The City of Water was an apt name. The whole island incorporated water into their livelihood.

Everywhere they looked, there was water. There were waterways and canals, that looked as if they were roads.

There was a water gate elevator and of course, there was a gigantic fountain that seemed to announce to the world, that this was Water 7.

"What a beautiful island," Rosan couldn't help but think as his birds relayed the feedback to him.

"I agree, it's stunning," Robin smiled as they set anchor down on the part of the island they were directed to.

"Luffy, Usopp! Let's go find the person named Iceberg that Kokoro mentioned, then we need to get this gold exchanged," Nami called the two getting ready to vanish into the city.

"Alright!" They cheered excitedly, hauling the gold onto a cart crafted from Rosan.

"Remember what I told you Nami," Rosan called out.

"Of course I won't forget that!" She replied as the three vanished.

The redhead watched them go before someone grabbed his sleeve.

"Come with me? I wanted to buy some books and go sightseeing," Robin muttered, getting a nod out of the redhead.

"Can I come too?" Chopper asked the duo curiously.

They glanced over at the reindeer and nodded before quickly departing from the ship.

"If Sanji asks, we went out, Zoro," Rosan informed the swordsman. "Keep guard of the ship."

The swordsman nodded his head and closed his eyes as he leaned against the railing. "Sure," he said lazily.

"Is there anything you want?" Robin asked curiously, glancing at her best friend with a curious gaze as they went further into Water 7.

With a city like this, her best friend might want many things from an island as prestigious as Water 7, so she was understandably surprised to see him shake his head.

"There is nothing that I want currently… The only thing I want, is to get stronger," he said with a small frown.

Robin felt a small stab at that and a frown made its way to her face.

He was still thinking of the one sided slaughter against Aokiji. Over the past few days, she saw the redhead throw himself into training, despite his soreness, with a ferocity reminiscent of when he was a child again.

She herself had to put her foot down and tell him to stop because he hadn't even fully recovered yet…

Not only that, whenever Rosan thought she was sleeping, he would stare at her with a dark frown on his face.

"I won't let you down again," he had murmured one time, voice almost inaudible, before he hugged her close and fell asleep.

Right now, Rosan was doing his all to protect her… he would kill himself with training if he had to…

"I can't control my emotions."

Robin bit her lip.

"Are you two okay?" Chopper (who was in walk point) asked worriedly, glancing up at the two adults.

They snapped out of their own musings with glints of surprise, before smiling down at Chopper.

"I'm fine, Chopper," Robin smiled, running a hand through his fur.

"Just a lot on my mind," Rosan admitted.

"Are you two truly okay?" Mod asked in concern, biting her lip at the contemplation on both Robin and Rosan's faces.

"Yeah, these past few days have been… tense," Ram added lamely.

Tense had been one way to put it. Despite talking it out, there was still some friction between Robin and Rosan that the two just didn't want to discuss.

Well, Rosan wanted to talk. He was always willing to talk things out... but Robin hadn't been very receptive to the idea.

The encounter with Aokiji left them both damaged. Rosan was filled with a fury that did nothing but enhance Robin's fear for his safety and that fear in turn, made Rosan want to train even harder to quell it.

It was a terrible cycle…

Now, Rosan was trying not to be too overbearing and Robin was caught up in her own emotions and the two had unknowingly built this thin wall between each other that had never been there, not even as children.

Mod would need to drag them both into the mindscape tonight so they could thoroughly speak about this. It was only right as their legal guardian that she help them figure this out.

As if reading Mod's mind (they really were in sync too much) Rosan glanced over at his best friend with a serious look.

"Robin… let's talk tonight and figure this all out?" Rosan muttered.

Robin nodded without hesitation, wanting to clear this up just as badly as he did. "I'll… tell you everything. It's my fault for withholding information anyways… you'll understand why I was so worried for you."

Mod's eyes widened in excitement.

Everything? Surely that meant…

The scout's eyes took on a curious glint and he nodded. "Alright… If it helps us solve our problems, I'll have to hold you to it. There's something important I want to tell you too."

She flashed a small smile and they continued to walk, tension bleeding off them and making Chopper relax.

The trio entered a place that rented out interesting creatures called Yagura Bulls who were essential in traversing the watery nature of Water 7.

There were also Rakuba Bulls and King Bulls but they only really needed the smallest one, considering there was only 3 of them.

The one they chose, grinned happily at the group and even rubbed its snout against Rosan's chest.

"Interesting. Smart and strong… a great creature to own," Robin mused as they all sat down on the seat to begin their trip.

"You're very friendly, aren't you?" Rosan mused, patting it and getting a satisfied neigh out of it.

Chopper, who was back in brain point, smiled at the friendly creature. "She says you're very pretty Rosan!" he translated.

The redhead raised a brow at that. "You're charming too, eh?" He snorted, taking his seat next to Robin with an amused smirk. "Thank you for the compliments, girl. You're probably the prettiest in your family too."

He preferred handsome but this was an animal so he supposed he couldn't be too picky.

Robin couldn't help but roll her eyes. "Even animals are attracted to you… I wonder what makes you so attractive in other people's eyes?" she mused jokingly.

She was satisfied to see him shoot a brow into the sky.

"This again? Are you trying to destroy my confidence? Hey Chopper, you think I'm ugly?" Rosan asked suddenly.

Chopper blinked at the question and tilted his head. "You're too scary for me to judge because you have a carnivorous nature... but I don't think so based on what the animals I hear say about you. I'm not attracted to humans so I dunno."

Robin and Rosan both blinked as the Yagura continued to move to its destination. They idly took in the beautiful sighs, the way the path twisted and the livelihood of the people there.

"This isn't the first time an animals been attracted to me…? Too carnivorous? I don't only eat meat..." He stated in slight concern.

The doctor nodded enthusiastically. "I think it's because of your dragon form because they can also be pretty afraid of you, like me whenever you use it! I always think you're about to eat me!"

"Huh… good to know... also I wouldn't eat you... maybe," he muttered in contemplation.

"D-Don't say things like that!" Chopper squealed in horror. The reindeer scooted away from Rosan and hid behind the amused Robin.

She shot Rosan an admonishing glance and he shrugged helplessly, expression turning thoughtful.

Did his frequent transformations into Ragnarok, affect his normal physiology? Was the repeated exposure making him appear more animalistic? Why didn't he see any visible differences besides his teeth growing sharper than they already were?

Maybe his repeated use of Shinigami counteracted it… but he didn't see any visible signs that Shinigami was affecting his physiology either? Was it because Ragnarok was so dominating? Because it was the first?

Because he didn't fully explore Shinigami like he had his draconic technique?

Interesting... did that mean he really was becoming less human?

"I think you're a bigger nerd then I am," Robin couldn't help but say, smile on her face as she heard his inner musing.

The redhead glanced at her as they began to get off the Yagura and asked, "What are we going shopping for right now?"

The Devil Child's face turned neutral. "I don't see how that's relevant."

"Right," Rosan said dryly, petting the Yagura on the head. "Thanks for the ride, girl."

The bull neighed happily and affectionately rubbed its head against him, before sailing off.

Chopper grinned excitedly as he walked ahead, glancing at all the sights with glittering eyes.

"Wow, look at all these people! They have such weird faces," the reindeer mused.

"That's because they're wearing masks and costumes," Robin explained with a small smile.

"They look stupid," Rosan muttered. He glanced at a fruit stand for a moment, before approaching it.

"OH A BOOKSTORE! CAN I ENTER?!" Chopper squealed excitedly.

Robin couldn't resist the small laughter at his visible happiness. "Sure, you go on first and I'll wait in between you and Rosan."

The reindeer didn't even wait for a response and dashed right in.

"Hurry before we leave you behind," Robin called, watching the redhead contemplate what apples he wanted with a serious expression. The Devil Child could have sworn she heard him mutter scan under his breath to inspect them.

She felt a flash of annoyance at the blatant interest on the middle aged woman's face as she gazed at her customer with a flushed expression.

"You can if you want, I can catch up," Rosan replied calmly, picking up an apple and testing it, before experimentally biting into it and nodding in satisfaction, picking out even more apples.

The vendor didn't even look bothered by him biting into something he hadn't paid for, just fluttering her eyes all the while in hopes that he noticed.

Robin was going to give her a scare if she kept it up.

She was going to stay here just in case… he got lost. Yeah that's right. Rosan was so hopeless, that he'd surely get lost.

"I'll—"

"I'm with CP9."

Robin felt the entire world freeze, at that low whisper.

Everything turned upside down all at once and she stopped so abruptly, the woman nearly collapsed.

She broke into a cold sweat and glanced at the tall figure of the person who had whispered such a damning sentence to her.

"Robin? You'll what?" Rosan asked curiously, dropping a few coins in the ladies hand, while idly burning the paper she handed him out of the ladies vision.

The Devil Child's cold sweat, broke into a blizzard at the voice of her best friend.

R-Rosan was…He was on an island w-with Cipher Pol and they knew they were h-here a-and they were after her…

Memories of a frozen Rosan roared to her mind like an undying plague, tormenting her every single step of the way. Memories of her losing him for 16 years because she was being looked at.

All because of her. Rosan was kidnapped because of her. Rosan was frozen because of her...

Rosan would be killed because of her.

"Don't be afraid of them. I'm here," the memory of Rosan said all the way back at Little Garden.

That's what he had said after she showed slight fear for Cipher Pol being mentioned. That's what…

Every single time something targeted her… he threw himself in the way and now Cipher Pol was here. The driving force of her trauma... the people who haunted her nightmares.

As long as she was around Rosan, the valuable scout would be under heavy scrutiny...

Saul. Ohara. Burning. Burning. Her island going up in flames because of… because of the Buster Call—

"I'll be right back," Robin said shortly.

Rosan glanced over in confusion at that. "I can come with. It's no big deal. I'm finished ordering the apples anyways."

Her fear magnified tenfold at that claim because it was a big deal.

"I want to go alone," she said firmly, thankful that she didn't have to say this out loud or look him directly in the face.

Robin watched her best friend (her most important person in the world) glance over at her with a confused expression on his face (the same one that just recently began making faces like that).

She couldn't lose him. Losing him was the last thing Robin ever wanted.

"What's wrong? Why do you want to go alone?" He asked in concern, taking a step towards her.

Robin didn't think she'd be able to hold out if he finished walking.

There was genuine concern in his voice. He was just worried for her... Robin was normally so flattered that someone could be so concerned for her...

Which was why she hated herself all the more for what she was about to do.

"I don't have to tell you everything, Rosan!" she suddenly exclaimed.

The redhead immediately stopped moving and Robin felt her heart breaking into pieces.

"Robin…?" Mod said in visible concern. "What's the matter? Are you alright? You can speak to us!"

"Mother?" Ram whispered.

"Would you guys just please. I'm with you nonstop already and the moment I want some alone time, I automatically have a problem?" Robin asked with a fake frown.

"N-No, that's not what we're saying!" Mod said hastily, eyes wide at Robin finally reaching her melting point.

"So what is it then? All I said is I want to go somewhere alone and now you three think I have a problem! I'm not a kid anymore. Could you all stop being so overbearing!"

"O-Oh... I'm sorry. I didn't mean anything by it. I wasn't trying to offend..." Mod said in a subdued voice that almost shattered Robin's facade because her mother had no reason to apologize for anything.

Yet Robin was making her feel as if she were in the wrong here.

She was just trying to push them away! A meeting between Rosan and Cipher Pol, would be utterly—

Robin took too long to close her eyes and she saw Rosan's expression shift into one of hurt and it nearly made her break out into a heartbroken sob.

She didn't want to do this. Why did she have to do this?

I made a promise to always keep you safe, Robin.

Oh right… that's why.

Because Rosan would die for her and she wouldn't let that happen.

"For once Rosan, please just stop being like this. Even I have my limits with you and with everything that has happened these past few days, I'm tired of it and I'm tired of you. Please just leave me be for the moment."

One last time. Let her look at him one last time—

Robin had to do everything in her power to keep it together, as tears began dropping from Rosan's wide purple eye only. Even from this distance, she could see the watery stream and it tore her to pieces.

Tears began forming in her own eyes at the sight of Rosan shedding tears for the first time in years... at her hands.

The look on his face was one she hadn't seen in so long. It was a look that always brought her full protective streak to the forefront, that always made her whisper that things were going to be alright to him.

It was a look of soul crushing sadness.

"Oh, Rosan w-wait! You don't have to cry," Mod soothed, tone full of motherly worry as she enveloped her son in her aura. "It's okay, please don't cry. I'm here for you. You know I'm here for you!"

"It's okay, Father! S-She didn't mean it like that…?" Ram didn't sound sure of that.

"Crying…?" He said in confusion, touching his face.

His eyes went wide in alarm at the sensation of feeling something wet streaming down his right eye and that's when the panic truly began to seep in.

He was… crying? W-Was it of sadness?

But that's not... Rosan didn't cry. Rosan refused to cry of sadness... because that meant... that meant he was weak.

Rosan wasn't... he wasn't...

Was he weak...?

"I'm... I'm not crying. I'm not crying," he denied shakily, even despite the fact that the tears wouldn't stop. "I'M NOT CRYING. STOP LOOKING AT ME! I'M NOT —"

Robin felt like the scum of the world, as Rosan took a shaky step away from her, eye teary with a tinge of uncertainty before he turned on a heel and ran off.

Why did she do that? Just w-what was wrong with her? The look on his face… Robin never wanted to be the reason Rosan feared something and she had callously abused their bond.

Robin knew that she was the only one that could elicit such a reaction from him... and she had done so with no remorse.

She couldn't stop the angry sob from escaping her this time, as their connection abruptly cut.

"I'm sorry Rosan… I really am."

I know I have no right to ask this… but please, never leave me?

Her tears spilled to the floor as she walked off to follow the masked person.

I'd never leave you, Rosan… So please never leave me.

"I'm so sorry!"

---

"Hey, Rosan are you alrigh—"

Sanji paused, as the redheaded blur completely ignored him and rushed past him at ridiculous speeds, making the people around him scream in shock at something they could hardly see.

By the time he turned around, the redhead was already gone and the chef blinked in concern.

"He looked sad," the chef muttered in concern. Before he could pursue, the scout had long vanished and Sanji frowned, before opting to leave him be.

If Rosan was crying, he probably wanted to be left alone for the time being. His scout may not act it all the time, but he was proud.

The only thing that could ever make their scout look so sad, was Robin… who happened to not be with him.

What happened? Were those two alright?

---

"Robin doesn't love me anymore."

Rosan didn't know how long he had been running for but he ignored all the shouts and all the people angry that he nearly ran them over, until he was by himself in a deserted area.

He wasn't sure how to explain this feeling but it felt like his heart was being squeezed by all angles and the redhead collapsed, as his breathing got harder to maintain.

He thought they were going to figure it out tonight? What happened? D-Did he do something wrong? He thought he was doing so good? So why was he here crying?

"We're not kids anymore, Rosan. Stop being so overbearing!"

Oh that's right… because they weren't kids anymore. Robin had grown up and he was stuck like this as an emotionally stunted failure. They weren't two kids traveling the seas anymore.

Robin was a 28 year old with her own wants and problems and she realized that his problems were just not worth it.

Of course she'd get fed up with him. She would tell him one thing and then he'd do the other. Why couldn't he just listen to her?!

Because he was useless! Stupid! Why was he such a fucking idiot? For once in his life, why couldn't Rosan just be anything but a FAILURE?!

"That's enough, Rosan!" Mod shouted in concern, tears welling up in her eyes at seeing her son freak out. "You know that's not true!"

"Mother is just stressed! She'll be totally fine when this is all over! Please calm down Father," Ram assured, just as concerned as Mod considering she had never seen him like this.

Rosan forced himself to listen to their words and tried to calm his racing heart...

"Excuse me, mister… are you alright?" A concerned voice asked.

...Only for it to go back to unbearable levels.

That voice… he knew that voice. How could he ever forget it?

Rosan turned around slowly and was met by a shock of blonde hair.

How could he ever forget the voice of his deceased lover?

"?!" Mod's eyes widened in disbelief. "M-Meiko?!"

"M-M-Mother?!" Ram gasped with tears in her eyes.

Fair skin, blonde hair, electric blue eyes, no pupils… Rosan felt like he was in a worse condition then he thought, if he could see his deceased lover right now. After all, the last two times he saw her, he was unconscious.

Then he paused.

"You guys can see her too?" He asked Mod and Ram quietly.

"Y-Yes we can…?" Mod stammered in confusion.

That confirmation snapped Rosan out of his reverie and allowed him to notice things.

The hair was a shade too light, cut too short… her eyes were more teal than electric blue. The features were not exactly like her.

He knew everything about Meiko down to the wire. Even a minute detail would be spotted by him.

"Who are you?" Rosan grunted, morphing his face into a neutral expression that threatened to break at the mere thought of Robin.

This was not Meiko. This was just a child who looked way too much like her.

Just his luck. He really needed this right now.

The little child flinched at his harsh tone. "O-Oh, I'm sorry! I'm Ame… I just noticed you panicking out here and I got concerned…"

Rosan scoffed and turned away from her. "You saw a random man panicking and decided to follow him? You have no self preservation, child. Get out of my sight."

How embarrassing… he needed to go get himself under control. He didn't even feel her creep up on him. No civilian could ever creep up on him, no matter his condition and yet...

"I-I know but I was just worried about you! You looked really panicked and I just wanted to see if you were alright…" Ame said worriedly.

This had to be some sick joke. What the fuck was this? Why did this girl look and act like Meiko?

"Does it have to do with a girl? You have the heartbroken look a lot of adults have."

The girl yelped as Rosan turned towards her with a painfully neutral expression, dead eyes staring at her with no soul in them.

"Stop fucking prying into my life," he snarled furiously, trying and failing to get his errant emotions under control. "Leave me the fuck alone."

Despite looking a little fearful, there was more curiosity on the lookalikes face.

"But… you look really lonely," she said quietly. "I feel like I know you from somewhere and I don't want you to be sad! Please, let's just talk!"

Rosan resisted the urge to snarl at her words and turned away from the girl, deciding to just find a new location to calm down in. "You probably saw my bounty poster, kid. I don't need your sympathy."

The redhead prepared to walk away from the person throwing his already fragile mind, into complete disarray.

"Do you not love me, Rosan?"

He froze completely, as a chill crawled down his spine. Goosebumps began forming on his skin and for the first time in over a decade, Rosan felt a twinge of fear mix in with his confusion.

"I… what?" Mod said in concern. What was going on? What was happening?

Rosan turned hesitantly and looked at the hurt gaze of the girl who could pass off as Meiko's sister.

Except now, she didn't look like Meiko's sister.

No, now she looked exactly like Meiko.

"Have you moved on from me? Is Nico Robin your new love… is that why you're here, thinking about her when I'm the one talking to you…?" Meiko asked curiously.

But… But what.

Was he dreaming?

"I'm not… but… but you're not…" Rosan took a step back in confusion.

"W-Who is this?!" Ram stammered in confusion.

"Rosan I'm… sure there's an explanation for this b-but calm down. You too Ram!" Mod exclaimed realizing that both Ram and Rosan were freaking out.

"Do you hate me, Rosan? Why are you running away from me?" Meiko asked sadly.

"No, I don't," he said hastily, freezing in spot. "I… Are you…?"

"Meiko?" She said, making him go chilly. "What do you think?"

Ame/Meiko looked at him with deep sadness and Rosan began feeling dizzy.

What… was happening…?

"Do you love me, Rosan?" Meiko/Ame asked. "Do you hate me, Rosan?"

Did he hate Meiko?

"No of course not, Mei… I could never hate you. I hold you to the… to the… highest…"

Rosan felt a haze and stepped further back in confusion, eyes becoming half lidded as a sudden wave hit him.

"Sleep, Rose," Ame/Meiko said softly, gazing at him in sorrow. "Maybe when you wake up, you'll realize how much you've betrayed me."

Betrayed… her?

"Rosan… it's… not… r—," Mod tried to say, resisting the lull of sleep but eventually succumbing to it.

Rosan's eyes fluttered as he collapsed and fell asleep.

---

"Blueno, leave."

The tall man glanced over in annoyance at that.

"And why would I do that? I'm the one who brought Nico Robin here and you just came to this island—"

"Leave. Now. Don't make me get unpleasant."

Robin watched as the stone faced woman, who couldn't be taller then 5'6, bullied the giant of a man out of the room with a few short words.

"I don't know why they brought you here. Don't get a cocky head because you're stronger then the rest of your class, rookie," Blueno grunted.

She said nothing, dismissing him with a single piercing glance.

Once the door closed, the curly haired woman turned towards her and that frosty expression immediately vanished.

"Hey there, man stealer."

The Devil Child blinked in confusion, pausing for a second at that title.

Man… stealer?

Was she talking about… Rosan?

Robin properly looked at the woman now.

"Confused on how I could possibly be talking about Rosan-chan?" She mused, grinning maniacally. It was a far cry from the frosty expression she had donned earlier.

The busty woman had olive skin that was covered nearly fully in a black suit with a set of shades that blocked her eyes. Robin noted that she had quite a long set of nails that were colored pitch black.

Her appearance didn't ring a bell and so, Robin warily said, "Who are you?"

The woman's face split into an unsettling smile. "Who am I! The million dollar question, yes? How am I bullying someone as weak as Blueno? How do I know darling…"

The unknown woman leaned in close, allowing Robin to see what looked to be bandages wrapped around her breasts and midsection.

"How do I know our cheating boyfriend is the Angel of Death?" she whispered seductively, nipping Robin's ear with her teeth and placing a sharp nail on her cheek.

Robin felt like hell itself froze over at that statement.

"You're…"

The woman leaned back and removed her shades. "I can see why he would cheat on me with you! You're sexy, smart and willing to do anything for him, right?"

Lifeless teal eyes, contrasting everything about the unhinged woman, stared at her with delight.

"Gotta love a girl like that. Just like sweet Meiko," Izumi purred as Robin broke into a sweat. "Let's talk, Nico Robin."

This was Izumi? The girl that had killed both Meiko and her brother in one day, driven to a broken state by Rosan himself?

What… was she doing here? She was apart of Cipher Pol?

"Relax," Izumi mused, sitting right atop the uncomfortable woman. "I don't care at all about Cipher Pol or the World Government. I don't care about the threat you pose to the world."

"You... don't?" Robin asked in confusion.

Izumi threw her head back and cackled hysterically. "Why would I?! You, the Devil?! How could I ever believe that?!" She raved with a manic gleam.

"In my eyes, you're not even close to a Devil, Nico Robin. I stared into the eyes of an Angel and that Angel made me kill my brother! Don't you see? I've seen things in this world that are worse than anything you could ever do, Nico Robin," Izumi ranted, staring tenderly at her. "How could you ever be a Devil, when an Angel was the one who did the most devilish thing I've ever seen?!"

Robin was forced to stare at Izumi's face, as the woman remained atop her and she saw the unhinged gleam. The gleam of a broken woman.

"I don't care that they call you Devil because I know better. You, a Devil? No, you're just a poor girl who's been captivated by the glamor of the supernatural," she purred sympathetically.

"She's insane," Robin thought in worry.

"So to answer... no, I don't care about the threat you pose. No, the only thing I care about… the only thing that makes me feel alive is our dear boyfriend, Rosan-chan and most recently, you."

"Why do you keep saying our boyfriend?" Robin said warily.

This was bad. Rosan sparing this girl, backfired in one of the worst possible ways she could ever imagine. To join Cipher Pol of all organizations...

Izumi didn't answer her. Instead, the room around her began shifting and Robin let out a surprised gasp at a very very familiar scene.

A scene of Reaper staring down a lifeless Izumi, with a look of nothing on his features.

The adult version of Izumi looked at Robin with an unhinged grin. "Ah, that look! You recognize the scene!"

How was she doing this…? What was happening?

"Hate me, resent me, despise me. Do whatever you want, but never forget that you are only alive because I willed it. What's left of you belongs to me and don't you ever forget that. We are bonded together by our brokenness, by how empty we are."

"We are bonded because we took everything from each other."

The young Rosan looked down at the broken girl with an expressionless face as he spoke to her and all the young Izumi did was stare at him, registering his words but not having the will to muster up any type of response.

"Look at him," Izumi sighed. "He's gotten very handsome over the years but he's never visited me once after saying I belong to him… so greedy~."

"He needs to be punished. We're connected by a thread of love and yet he thinks he can try to find happiness, when I'm here SUFFERING BECAUSE I ONLY THINK OF HIM?!"

Her eyes turned utterly insane as she finished her sentence and the scenery abruptly vanished, as the agent gazed at the Robin who had jumped at the sudden volume.

"For years, I've slaved away my body to even come close to matching him. I joined this garbage organization with these garbage people in hopes that they could accelerate my training and they did."

She clenched a fist, as that deranged smile grew wider on her pretty face.

"But it's not enough. It'll never be enough. Even with all the training I did, he's a monster that I will never be able to catch up to…"

Then she gazed at the woman.

"So I decided to do something else… if I can't beat him, I'm sure the Vice Admirals and Admirals would love to hunt down Reaper. That crew of yours would be destroyed in an instant, if Admiral Kuzan, Kizaru or Sakazuki decided to pay them a visit. Especially Sakazuki," Izumi said softly.

Robin felt all her fears magnify tenfold, as she realized that she had no choice but to do this. There had been thoughts of escaping, of just tugging on the pendant to call Rosan, but with the looming knowledge that someone in the World Government knew that he was Reaper…

A frozen Rosan, so still, so lifeless… Would… the rest of the Straw Hats join him?

"Please, leave them alone," Robin begged quietly, shutting her eyes. "You guys really want me right? If you leave them be, I'll go with you no resistance."

Izumi tilted her head at that, eyes lighting up in delight. "I dunno… personally, I think the most infamous bounty hunter is more important but this is still my job and you're a higher priority… so if you really do plan on not resisting, we have a deal."

Robin shut her eyes at that and nodded tightly, missing the utterly psychotic grin of Izumi.

This was for the best. If she just disappeared, they'd all be spared. They didn't need to be hunted like dogs.

They didn't all need to be frozen solid.

Robin didn't just love Rosan anymore. She loved all of the Straw Hats and she didn't want them to fall at the hands of a Buster Call, Cipher Pol or an Admiral.

Izumi nodded admirably but on the inside, the girl had a psychotic beam.

Did this poor girl think she was interested in what the fuck Cipher Pol wanted? Izumi felt a flash of sympathy for the Devil Child who had been so utterly roped in by darling's charm.

Tell her anything and she'd listen. Love made a girl do crazy things.

Izumi would know~

There was only one thing on the planet that Izumi was interested in and it was the person who took everything from her.

She was trying to save Rosan but Izumi knew what Rosan was willing to do for someone that belonged to him.

Yes, he'd never lie down and accept this… and if he never figured out…

Well, she accounted for that too~

They'd all come to save Nico Robin if she had anything to say about it.

Then she'd make Rosan watch them all die again and she'd win. She'd take everything from him once more, including Nico Robin.

Then she'd have him all to herself!

We are bonded because we took everything from each other.

Izumi touched the spot, where that tattoo had been so brutally engraved into her skin and promised she'd give Rosan something similar to, before focusing on Nico Robin.

Nico Robin... the world may have thought she was pulling the strings but Izumi knew better. They thought Nico Robin corrupted little innocent Rosan but Izumi knew better.

The poor girl... she was just roped into the schemes of something she didn't truly understand. Rosan would never love anyone like he had loved Meiko and Izumi.

He was just using Nico Robin for his own goals... and she was totally entranced.

She didn't deserve to die because of the whims of the real perpetrator... in fact, Izumi thought she was rather pretty.

Now wasn't that an idea... The woman nearly felt her grin widen further.

How broken would Rosan be, if she even stole Nico Robin from him~ Her dying would be such a waste!

"Now, Rosan-chan was able to transport to Meiko very quickly and I'm sure he can do the same with you. Whatever he's doing, get rid of it," Izumi demanded.

Robin stilled at that and realized that yes, at any point in time, Rosan could activate her Save Point…

If that happened…

She hesitantly removed the pendant from her body and stared at it with a broken expression.

"Do whatever you want with it. I have to at least inform that stupid blockhead that I've succeeded," Izumi said, turning on a heel and marching out of the room.

Robin watched her go and her neutral mask vanished.

"I know you're going to be mad… but I hope you can see that I just wanted to save you all," Robin whispered.

Rosan was the sun. He was the type of person that always had someone gravitating around him with no effort, wielding a charisma that few people had.

In comparison, Robin was one of his many moons. A reserved piece that was fine being one of the pieces that revolved around that sun.

Because she was not a sun.

In her eyes, Rosan's survival was more essential then her own.

So she wouldn't let everyone else lose the gleam of the sun.

---

Chopper blinked in confusion.

Where were Robin and Rosan?

The reindeer frowned in confusion at that, before shrugging.

They probably vanished like they always did… maybe they went to get Demon!

His fellow doctor might enjoy the books he bought!

---

The first thing the group of Nami, Usopp and Luffy set out to do, was exchange their gold for beri. So the group went to a Currency Exchange shop to do so.

The appraiser there, offered the group 300 million for their pile of gold and while Usopp and Luffy were overjoyed, Nami was not so convinced.

"I have three things to say," Nami smiled calmly to the appraiser. "One. This guy is worth 140 million and my big brother is a real Devil worth 100."

She pointed at Luffy when she said that and the pirate smiled obliviously at that.

Nami put up a second finger. "Two. I don't agree with your appraisal. I know how much we should be offered, courtesy of that same Devil by the way, and 300 million is not it."

Nami put up a third finger. "Three. Lie to me one more time and I'll scalp you."

The appraiser went pale at that.

A few minutes later, the group was cheering at making a whopping 600 million beri!

She was rich! Rich!

Nami's face briefly shifted into horror as she realized she really did make that face when thinking of money.

After securing their money in 3 separate brief cases of 200 million (and having Usopp hold two because Luffy was incredibly irresponsible), the trio made their way over to see the shipwrights.

It was there that they met… the eccentric carpenters that were the Galley-La Headquarters employees.

What was there to even say about them?

There was square nosed Usopp (his name was Kaku), who had showed some impressive parkour skills, as he dashed off to go assess the damage to their ship.

Then the mayor of Water 7 himself and his secretary, Iceburg and Kalifa… who were even stranger then square Usopp.

For a mayor, Iceburg was rather childish and irresponsible. He had recently acquired a pet mouse and named it Tyrannosaurus, canceled all his meetings because he didn't feel like going, and got beat up by his secretary accidentally due to Luffy and Usopp insulting him.

Then, after tearing up the letter Kokoro gave him (claiming the kiss mark was creepy), he offered to show them around the place…

Which led to yet another strange encounter.

Seriously, why couldn't they just ever land on a normal island?

A group known as the Franky Family, had clearly gained an interest in the money they had acquired and attempted to steal two briefcases but they were quickly dealt with by Luffy and another of the carpenters named Paulie… who tried to take off with their money so he could pay off his debt collectors.

Seriously…?

Luffy was about to pursue the man named Paulie… when yet another carpenter made their presence known and captured the man for them.

He was a handsome and tall man with a pigeon on his shoulder that spoke in his stead.

Rob Lucci was his name and the polite and stoic man easily returned their money to them, before Hattori, the pigeon, waved off their concerns.

The Franky Family… these strange carpenters, the lazy mayor… Water 7 was really strange.

Even despite being lazy, as Iceburg showed them around, it was clear that the man was very beloved in Water 7.

As he showed the pirates around, Kaku appeared once more with a neutral expression on his face, back from his trip to gauging the damages of the Going Merry.

"Hey, where's Usopp?" Luffy asked curiously, noticing the sniper wasn't with them anymore.

Nami glanced back at that and shrugged. "He's probably checking out all the little trinkets here. He left the briefcases behind so it's fine."

The navigator returned her attention to the one who went to evaluate their ship.

"So how much will it cost? Don't worry, we can pay it! Oh, we also want her to be more durable and add some cannons too and make it faster! Oh and some decorations on the hull too!" Luffy beamed excitedly, gazing at the carpenters with clear excitement.

Neither noticed the grave look in Kaku's eyes.

"I'm going to have to stop you right there… To be honest, it's unnatural how well your ship looks… despite how much damage its actually accumulated. It's a well kept ship but that's mostly artificial…"

Nami looked concerned. "What are you saying?"

Kaku looked sullen. "I'm not sure how you did it, but that ship shouldn't have even made it here. It won't be setting sail again."

A wave of silence washed over the two, as shock coursed through them.

"Was it the keel?" Paulie asked.

Kaku nodded. "It's been badly damaged. Even though someone tried to fix it already, there's not much you can do when the keel is destroyed."

He must have been talking about Rosan's modification. Did the redhead know the keel was damaged?

"But you guys are supposed to be the greatest carpenters in the world! How come you can't fix the Merry?!" Luffy shouted, a frown on his face.

Nami put a hand on his shoulder to calm him down. "Why can't she be fixed? What's wrong with her?" She asked in concern.

"The keel. You know what the keel is, right lewd woman?" Paulie asked her.

"It's on the bottom of the ship," she replied.

"Exactly. It's the support that extends from stem to stern. That wooden beam is the most crucial part of a ship," Paulie explained gruffly.

Every piece of lumber was positioned around the keel at the ship's core. It was the very essence of the ship and trying to rebuild a keel, was the same as making an entirely new ship.

Even if they were to make a second Going Merry, it wouldn't be the same as the first because no two ships were the same.

It was impossible to have the Going Merry that they knew and loved.

She was as good as dead.

"If we find a shipwright and they say they can't repair our ship… what will we do?"

"Well, this is a good opportunity to just buy a new ship. Caravels are rather outdated so it was a risk to sail with it in the first place," Iceburg shrugged.

"No. I don't intend to change ships!" Luffy frowned.

Nami gazed at her captain with sad eyes. "Luffy…"

He was shaking his head in denial. "Our only ship is the Going Merry! Just this morning she was sailing without a single issue and your telling me we can't repair her?! Like I'd ever believe you! You just don't understand how stubborn our ship is!"

Iceburg looked at Monkey D. Luffy with an unreadable expression on his face.

"So you plan on sailing with her until she sinks? I'm amazed… And you call yourself the ship's captain."

Luffy froze at that, silenced immediately by that simple statement.

It's your job as captain to make the hard decisions, and you have to keep our safety in mind.

"The conversation is over I think. When you decide to buy a new ship, come back with that 600 million. With that much money, we can make you a brand new state of the art ship… Kalifa," Iceburg said.

The pretty secretary nodded and handed a catalog to Nami. "It's a catalog of new and secondhand ships. With your budget, I'm sure none will be a problem but study the prices and pick one out."

Luffy said nothing. He just stared at the catalog all the while.

Eventually, he and Nami decided to head back and discuss this with the crew.

"Hey… this briefcase is really light," Luffy said with a confused look.

Nami laughed lightheartedly. "There's no way they should be light. There's 200 million in each briefcase!"

…

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Nami shrieked in horror.

---

"Chopper!"

The reindeer looked up at that. "Oh! Sanji! Are you alright? You don't look well."

He was looking around and pursed his lips in concern.

"Where's Robin? What happened between her and Rosan?"

Chopper frowned in confusion. "Something happened with them…? I was in the bookstore and when I came out, they were both gone… I thought they went somewhere like they always do."

Sanji shook his head. "I saw Rosan run by me earlier. He looked panicked and… sad. I figured Robin and him got in an argument."

The doctor looked concerned now. "They were a little tense earlier… let's look for Robin and ask her. I haven't seen her at all. Maybe she went back to the ship?"

The chef nodded in agreement. "Something weird is going on…"

After all, Robin would never make Rosan cry, no matter the circumstances.

Where was Rosan… and where was Robin?

---

"You have potential."

These are the words Usopp would chant to himself, whenever he was in a bind or doubted his capabilities.

Those were the words Rosan, their scout who never lied, told him one day to make Usopp see the value in himself.

Well, their scout really was as big of a liar as Usopp himself because he was wrong. He had no potential at all because he was worthless.

400 million down the drain. Because he couldn't do anything.

Because he was weak.

He was foolish to even think he was ever going to catch up to the monsters of his crew. It didn't matter who got caught off guard, every single one of his crew members would have been able to deal with them.

All except him.

"USOPP!" Nami shouted in horror as she approached his bruised and battered body.

He was a mess, riddled in extensive injuries everywhere from the, no doubt, savage beat down that was just inflicted on him.

"Did the Franky Family do this to you?" Nami asked, hoisting up the bruised sniper with concern in her eyes.

"Yeah… because I'm weak," Usopp sobbed brokenly, rasping as even speaking brought him pain.

"They stole all of… the money Nami! I can't... face the others."

Usopp's statement was full of defeat and resignation, as tears streamed down his face and Nami had a look of shock on her face.

"We were finally gonna be able… to fix Merry..."

"Don't worry, Usopp! We'll get that money back and even if we don't, we can get more," Nami assured but the sniper wasn't listening to her.

"I can't face the guys!" Usopp sobbed as he fell unconscious.

Nami bit her lip in concern. "Clima can you summon a cloud please. These injuries are really bad..."

"That would be unwise, Master Nami. His injuries are too extensive so we shouldn't aggravate them. It's best if we leave him here and bring the doctor to him instead, so we can get confirmation that he's alright."

She bit her lip but nodded.

"MOVE OUT OF MY WAY!" Nami barked at the curious idiots, making her weapon spark to get her point across.

It didn't take long for them all to go pale and swiftly scatter, allowing her to make it to the Yagura Bull in peace.

The navigator scowled at the actions of the Franky Family.

She was going to sick every single Straw Hat, including Rosan, on them to teach the idiots why you never attacked one of their own.

---

"The Merry can't be fixed?" Sanji repeated with a frown.

"Is that really true?!" Chopper shouted in concern.

"That's what the shipwright said," Zoro said with a neutral expression.

The reindeer crossed his hooves nervously. "What are we gonna do then? The Merry looks fine!"

Sanji shook his head. "That's because of Rosan. Don't you remember what he said? Wood isn't a material that he can modify a lot and he's been modifying this ship since we entered the Grand Line…"

That was true… Since the very moment they entered the Grand Line, Rosan had been using Modification to repair their ship after just about every journey.

If his statement was true, the ship really might be done for…

"There's no changing reality. Those three will decide what we're going to do now," Zoro shrugged.

Chopper and Sanji frowned and nodded.

"That reminds me… Zoro, have you seen Robin or Rosan?" Chopper asked.

The swordsman raised a brow. "If they aren't on the island, they probably went to the castle."

Sanji shook his head in denial. "I don't think so. I saw Rosan running away today… and he looked like he was crying. He didn't have Robin with him either so I think something happened."

That made Zoro tense up.

"What?" He repeated, standing up. "Rosan was crying? Because of Robin?" The swordsman asked incredulously.

He did notice that during training, Rosan was throwing himself into training with a ferocity he hadn't seen before and Robin herself was telling him to slow down… but he had been around those two to know that the Devil Child would never go out of her way to make him cry.

Rosan absolutely despised crying after all.

"Something's wrong," Zoro said grimly. "With both Robin and Rosan."

The doctor and chef tensed up at that. "What do you mean?"

Zoro explained his reasoning to them and they nodded at his words, noticing the oddities as well.

What was going on? Ever since the encounter with Aokiji… the way Rosan got so upset over Robin… the way she feared for his life…

Do you think any 8 year old deserves what you're doing right now?! Do you think any child deserves what you think your stupid fucking definition of justice is? Don't even try to delude yourself into thinking what you're doing is justice right now. ROBIN WAS COMPLETELY INNOCENT AND YOU FUCKING MARINES RUINED HER LIFE! YOU THINK I'LL LET YOU TOUCH HER?!

The absolute hatred in Rosan's voice, as he threw caution to the wind to fight an unbeatable force.

Now Rosan was crying somewhere, while Robin was completely missing…

Who was Nico Robin? What was in her past, that caused Rosan to become so defensive over her well-being…

Was it the reason she had gotten a bounty at just 8 years old?

They were snapped out of their musings, as they noticed Nami approaching with a look of urgency on her face.

Any greetings they had, died on their lips as they saw a look of urgency and panic in her eyes.

"Nami-san are you okay?!" Sanji shouted in concern.

"N-NO IT'S USOPP, HE'S BEEN SERIOUSLY HURT!" Nami shouted.

"What happened to Usopp? Where's Luffy?" Zoro asked in succession, eyes narrowed.

Just what was going on today?

---

"YOW! YOW! YOW! 400 MILLION?!"

"YEP! 400 MILLION! WE DID IT BIG BRO!"

A large hand raked through the stacks of money with clear excitement.

"With this much money, I can get that thing I've always wanted and more!"

Just 200 million would have been perfect but with double that…

The Franky Family grinned excitedly at that.

"Every time we got money, we'd bet on Yagura Bull races…" Someone shouted.

"AND WE'D LOSE IT ALL!" The crowd finished.

"Every time we captured someone with a bounty on their head, we'd throw a party…"

"AND WE'D LOSE IT ALL!" The crowd cheered.

"But now we have it all and it's thanks to you guys," the masked man said, taking a few bills out of the stack. "Here, 10 million beris, its not much but throw yourselves a party!"

He tossed the bills in the air and grinned at the cheers ringing through the air.

"YOU'RE THE BEST BRO!"

"PARTY!"

"WOOOO!"

With that settled, now he could go and buy the—

A deafening explosion rang throughout the base, as the world turned red.

"AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" The Franky Family screamed as they were caught in it and burned.

"What the?!" The leader shouted as he weathered the explosion, covering the two woman standing next to him.

The aftereffects of the explosion cleared and when it all settled, Franky looked on with a stormy expression to see most of his men knocked unconscious with burns.

"Give me back… the money. I need to get my ship… repaired," Usopp rasped, glaring into the room with raw anger and loading up another Explosive Mine Star for good measure.

The gleaming red pellets attack had been mostly mitigated by the steel door but it was a testament to its power, that it was still able to cause so much damage.

"You're the one we took the money from!" One of the unscathed ones, Zambai said, thankful that he was in the far back of the room to avoid the brunt of the damage.

"We thought he was weak but if he's able to do that…" Another said nervously, glancing at the unconscious bodies of his allies.

Franky stood up. ""You must really love that ship… It's a shame that with a crew that has Straw Hat Luffy or The Red Devil Rosan… They chose you to guard the money."

The giant of a man didn't give Usopp the chance to fire that dangerous pellet.

"Strong Right!" he shouted, extending his fist forward and connecting directly with his face.

Usopp's nose instantly broke, as the hellishly strong attack sent him flying outside of the base, knocked unconscious from the blow.

Franky watched him go with a neutral expression. "I'm heading out. Tend to the wounds of the injured ones."

And then he left, walking right past the unconscious Usopp without a care in the world.

---

Nami gnawed on her lip in worry as she guarded the ship.

"Are you alright, Master Nami?"

She immediately shook her head. "No, I'm not. Too many things are going wrong right now. Merry can't be fixed. We just lost 400 million. Usopp got beat up badly. Robin is missing. Rosan is crying and missing… I'm freaking out Clima."

Everything had been going south since the moment they landed on this beautiful island.

Robin loved Rosan. Nami saw the way she looked at him, saw the way he looked at her. Saw the way she let her guard down fully around the navigator's older brother figure.

Saw the way she cried for him, when she thought he was dead.

The woman would never make her best friend cry. There were outside factors in play and Rosan was so emotionally charged (with emotions he couldn't control) that he didn't see it.

This was bad. They needed to find Robin so that she could explain herself.

Was it to distance herself from Rosan because the redhead was so willing to throw caution to the wind for her? She hadn't been the same ever since the fight with Aokiji…

Something was going on. Something really bad.

"I understand Master Nami. Even I find all these series of events a little foreboding. I myself cannot even sense where Master Rosan is and I always can. All we can truly do is wait though."

Waiting.. Nami really hated waiting.

---

Luffy, Zoro, Sanji and Chopper looked at Usopp's prone and battered body with stony expressions.

After being informed of what had happened by Nami. The chef, doctor and swordsman had quickly set out to find their sniper.

There, they ran into Luffy… but they didn't find Usopp's body anywhere.

That's when they noticed a trail of blood and realized, that the idiot had gotten up and moved.

It didn't take them long to figure out where he was but by the time they found him, it had been too late.

The sniper lie unconscious and bleeding, with even more injuries then before because of this Franky Family…

At once, all their gazes darkened.

"Let's go demolish that ridiculous house," Luffy said calmly.

With that, they made their way over to the Franky House.

"Hey pass the bandages over here!"

"Ow ow ow! That hurts you dick!"

"I thought you said he was a weakling!"

"He didn't put up a fight when we mugged him!"

"Can someone please go buy some more food!"

"Fine fine!"

The giant Franky Family member opened the door—

And was greeted by 4 figures giving him deadly stares.

Seconds later, the wounded Franky Family watched as one of the Kairiki Destroyers who just stepped out, was sent flying back in with enough force to crater the wall he crashed into.

The Franky Family balked at that and glanced over at the entrance.

What they saw made them sweat.

Straw Hat Luffy, the man worth 140 million, was staring at them all.

And he looked pissed.

"D-Don't be nervous guys! This is the captain of that long nosed guy! He can't be that strong!"

They forgot about how it was Usopp himself that left so many of them with these burns, in their efforts to psyche themselves up and it miraculously worked.

That confidence very quickly vanished by the series of events that happened next.

One of their Kairiki Destroyers, stepped up with an iron armor that could easily withstand punches from a cannonball.

Straw Hat simply cocked a fist back and rammed it into the armor… and it shattered on impact, knocking the gigantic human out in the process.

That's when they realized exactly why the Straw Hats were worth 400 million.

"We're going to break every single bone in every single one of your bodies," Luffy promised.

The Franky Family tried shooting out a salvo of cannonballs to deter the Straw Hats with confident grins.

Those confident grins vanished as Zoro leisurely stepped up and cut them all into pieces.

"T-Those were made out of iron…" they stammered in disbelief, backing away as the swordsman proceeded to cleanly cut their actual cannons next.

They were in trouble, they needed to leave this place now.

"Where are you going?"

The group froze, as the smoking blonde materialized in between them at speeds they couldn't comprehend.

"You're the one who picked a fight so stay and finish it," Sanji declared.

The blonde pushed himself into a handstand and said, "Party Table Kick Course!" shattering bones with every single spinning kick he landed on the Franky Family.

"TRY THE WINDOWS!" Someone shouted.

Chopper crunched a Rumble Ball and immediately transformed into his Horn Boost.

"Colonnade Rose!" The reindeer bellowed, mowing through them with no effort at all.

Zamba began panicking at their dwindling numbers.

"W-Wait! If it's the money you want, it's already gone! Big bro Franky went and spent it… he probably won't be back until—"

His words were cut off, as a fist impacted with his cheek and instantly broke a tooth.

"Don't talk. It's not about the money anymore," Sanji said gravely.

"Yeah, it's too late for that."

"…" Chopper's glare was even.

Luffy cracked his knuckles idly.

"Alright. Let's break all their bones."

What happened next, could only be described as a slaughter.

The Franky Family tried everything in their power to put even a dent in the Straw Hats defenses but nothing worked.

They were just forced to accept the beating thrown their way until the Straw Hats delivered on their wish and broke every single bone in their body…

But they weren't done their. So great was the beating delivered, the group ended up destroying the Franky Family's base in the process.

"Looks like they really don't know where the money is," Sanji frowned, cleaning his shoes with the body of one of the members.

"Even if we catch up to that Franky guy, if he spent it all…" Zoro pondered.

"It's no big deal… we can get even more later…," the chef muttered. "We just have to decide what's going on with the Merry, Robin and Rosan…"

"Guys," Luffy suddenly said, catching their attention.

Zoro, Sanji and Chopper glanced up at their captain, looming over the wreckage.

"I've decided we're saying goodbye to the Going Merry."

---

Iceburg sighed in annoyance, as the government official left the room.

It was the same old, same old. Them asking for the blueprint and him telling them he had no clue what they were talking about.

A knock on the door snapped him out of his musing.

"It's me, Kalifa."

"Yeah. Come in," Iceburg said calmly.

Kalifa entered with haste to regard the mayor. "Is your meeting over, Mr. Iceburg?"

He nodded and said, "Yes, I'd like some black tea—"

"I already brewed some."

Iceburg's eyes widened. "Always on point, Kalifa! I have to commend you!"

The woman simply smiled lightly. "Thank you… Why do they come here all the time?"

The man sighed, as he glanced at the posters of Nico Robin and the Red Devil, Rosan.

"They want something I have is all."

The Last Demon of Ohara and her alleged lover, the one who she took orders from…

The last person on the planet that could find Pluton… and she was allied with a Devil.

That didn't bode well.

---

"Rosan and Robin are missing?" Luffy frowned in concern.

Rosan was crying? That didn't sound like his eldest brother. Rosan was like Ace, they hated when people cried.

He thought it made a person weak, especially when they were sad tears.

"We haven't seen them since this morning," Sanji confirmed.

"I just find it hard to believe that Robin made Rosan cry without an ulterior motive," Nami explained. "She loves him. No one is as patient with Rosan as she is and she knows exactly how to talk to him…"

Knows exactly how to talk to him…

"What if she ran him away?" Zoro said gravely. "You're right, no one knows Rosan better then Robin does so she should know exactly what to say to separate the two of them."

"Not only that… that old lady mentioned that this isn't just a place for pirates… but World Government officials come here too," Sanji muttered in agreement.

"We even saw some today!" Nami exclaimed with horror. "What if Robin saw someone dangerous and didn't want Rosan to throw himself at them again?! What if she went after them herself?!"

The crew went alert at that.

"We need to go find them," Luffy decided, with a frown.

All of them stopped at the sound of something crashing right outside their ship with a wispy noise.

The group paused in shock, as an obsidian black horse unceremoniously dropped their missing scout on the stone floor. It was a terrifying mockery of a horse, with a plague doctors mask on its face and black wisp floating off its ghastly body.

It let out a deep and unnatural rumble, before vanishing back into Rosan's body.

"R-Rosan!" Nami said happily. "You're back—"

The redhead collapsed on his knees and threw up blood, causing them all to stop in concern that turned into terror, as he began screaming in agony.

Rosa began spewing blood along with a strange inky black substance that began eating away at the stone, until it vanished as quick as it came.

"Ugh!" Rosan kept puking the red and black liquid.

"ROSAN?!" They shouted in horror, watching as the redhead strained to push himself up, before falling flat.

They wasted no time leaping off the ship and approaching the puking redhead, shellshocked by the state he was in.

Nami flinched at seeing his broken wrist, twisted horribly. In its limp palms, Ram lie there in the form of a key.

Upon further inspection, they saw that the redhead's outfit was soaking in red, his clothes were torn, his lips were bleeding with… a kiss mark on it, there were bleeding scratch marks on his cheeks and his eyes were filled to the brim with a shuddering amount of fury, sclera completely black.

"Rosan, what happened?!" Luffy shouted, closing the distance and grabbing his older brother, eyes going wide as his own body was instantly marred with blood.

His brother was bleeding badly.

Rosan huffed and threw up even more blood, a puddle beginning to form under him due to the wounds inflicting his body.

They flipped him over and rested the redhead on his back.

What they saw left them horrified.

Holes. So many holes.

Rosan's entire midsection was filled with holes that looked like he had been shot repeatedly. The most concerning were the three much larger holes, that looked as if there was still something embedded into his skin.

Each one leaked a steady amount of blood and it was a miracle their scout was even conscious because none of them were healing up.

When they took a step back in horror, they noticed something.

The holes formed a word.

IZUMI.

"What the hell," Sanji shuddered in horror at the condition of Rosan.

"C-CHOPPER! IT'S ROSAN! HE NEEDS HELP BADLY!" Nami shouted in panic, watching just how much blood was making its way onto Luffy's person.

Rosan coughed wetly as those black sclera looked over at them. "We… We need to…" He tried to say, voice distorting a bit before shifting back to normal.

The redhead used his good arm to try and push up his body, only to fall back and send the blood under him flying in every direction.

"R-Ro—"

He never finished his sentence because the redhead's eyes shut and he went limp.

Only his pained breathing, let them know he was still alive.

"Who did this?" Zoro grunted in disbelief, eyes dark as he gazed at the scout. "Was it that damn Franky Family again?"

"You saw how weak they were… there's no way they could have done this to Rosan," Sanji denied.

"O-OH KAMI?! R-ROSAN!" Chopper shouted in terror as he saw the condition of their scout. "I-IT'S GONNA BE OKAY! WHAT HAPPENED?! O-OH NO! QUICK SOMEONE PLEASE CARRY HIM GENTLY!"

That was the question of the hour.

The crew didn't realize just how much info Rosan and Robin supplied them with but without the two of them… it was clear that they were akin to headless chickens...

Just what happened? What was that black liquid? Were his eyes… black?

Who would do such a thing to Rosan?

---

Rosan awoke sluggishly.

His confusion only lasted a moment, as raw panic settled in at the realization that he was being neutralized with Seastone. His arms were held above his head, with Seastone cuffs wrapped around a tiny pole.

Memories of his time with Doc settled in but he felt no fear… he had conquered his fear of that man on Skypiea.

No, there was gears turning as he tried to gauge the situation he had been put in.

He cooled his temper and began assessing the area he was in.

It was an old and decrepit warehouse. There was no noise outside and there was quite a bit of dust accumulated so he assumed it was largely abandoned.

A perfect place to bring and isolate a person.

Based on the fact that they had access to seastone… this wasn't good for him. Seems like someone had been targeting him... how sloppy of him for letting his guard down.

"Quite the predicament you've gotten yourself into, my little Rose."

Rosan went still at that.

"You're all alone. Poor sweet Mod is sleeping and so is that ring who won't stop slobbering over you. But don't worry, I'm here with you," Pestilence assured soothingly.

That brought him no peace.

"Virus. What do you want?" Rosan snarled, keeping his outward expression cool as he gazed at the empty warehouse.

He really didn't like how this virus sounded exactly like his mother. It filled him with a hot rage, at hearing the mockery of his mother who had saved him from death.

"I was expecting our meeting to be a bit more dramatic… but you just keep forcing my hand by showing how pathetic you are… Seriously, Rose. Illusions?" Pestilence asked mockingly.

...Illusions?

"You mean that image of Meiko. It was an illusion?" He repeated.

"Yup," they popped the p. "By a Devil Fruit user. If you were in a better mental space you might be able to resist it… but you can't. You're weak to mental attacks after all and mental attacks of your soul mate… Ouch."

"You probably think you're so funny," Rosan snarled, making the virus go silent in surprise. "Let's see how funny you are when I rip you in half. Let's see you crack a joke when I rip out your spine through your stomach and crush it."

For a split moment, much to his satisfaction, he felt a slight tinge of fear that vanished almost instantly.

"Ah ah ah! But Mod doesn't want that does she? You wouldn't want to disappoint her would you?" Pestilence asked cheekily. "Besides, I'm only trying to help you right now. Wouldn't she be disappointed if you killed me for helping? She wants us to get along after all."

"After everything you've done, you're trying to help me?" He asked in disbelief.

"Don't misunderstand… I just don't want to be fully chained in that shitty castle again. It's as much as my prison as it is yours… even if it's protecting me from you."

Rosan said nothing. Was anyone ever going to show up?

"I have no interest in letting anyone but me destroy your mental health," Pestilence admitted shamelessly, sneering at the redhead. "So I told you about the illusions. Now, I'm going to tell you that Nico Robin absolutely lied to you."

The redhead froze at their statement.

Robin… lied to him? About what?

"Don't be such a dumbass. That "explosion" she had earlier? That was a lie. She was pushing you away. While you three idiots were allowing her to string you on, I was admiring her efforts at doing said stringing along..."

"But like I said. I'm the only one allowed to affect your mental health. You're mine," the virus finished darkly.

The virus was acting on their own selfish whims. They were still not allies… they just wanted to be free of the castles chains… while doing whatever it was they did.

Worst, he found himself listening to it because of how honest they were being currently. There was no reason to doubt any claims made so far because they made it clear they were acting in their own best interest…

And he could see exactly what they were talking about.

Robin had been stringing him along. She had been perfectly fine before, then she took a sudden pause, her mood shifted and she exploded on him.

"Why?" He asked, already having an idea.

Pestilence smiled at his compliance, pleased at their shoddy alliance. "If I were to guess, the same person who put you under the illusion, is the person that had her so worried."

"But why didn't she just approach me? I was right there," Rosan snarled in anger.

"Because you're a fucking idiot."

…Rosan let loose a warning growl.

"Oh, didn't like that one? Fine then, suicidal wielder. I'll spell it out for you. You keep trying to die for her. She doesn't see things the way you do. You don't see it as throwing your life away but she does. She doesn't understand that the moment you decide to fight, you decide to fight until you win... even if it's an unbeatable force. To her, it looks like you're committing suicide and she clearly doesn't want that."

"Hell, even I don't want you dead. You're way too useful for that."

Rosan was silent. "The fight with Aokiji. It triggered her trauma and now she doesn't trust in my or anyone in the crews capabilities."

"Bingo~. That's my boy."

Pestilence jumped at the sudden roar of anger.

"That. IDIOT! WHAT DOES SHE THINK SHE'S FUCKING DOING?!" Rosan roared in a moment of genuine rage that had the virus shuddering in excitement.

Robin was doing something stupid right now. She was doing something incredibly goddamn stupid and it was pissing him off because he was tied up and couldn't do a damn thing about it.

He could tell. He could tell that his best friend was being a fucking dumbass.

"Aww, it's not so funny when someone else is doing it, huh?" Pestilence pointed out accurately.

Rosan bit back his annoyance. Despite everything, the virus was being useful right now.

"How are you even talking to me? You did this back on Daybreak Island as well," Rosan demanded.

"I bet you'd love to know…" Pestilence hummed and Rosan hated how his mother's voice was filled with such clear insanity.

"I'm just a wee little virus, Rose. Didn't Mod tell you? I am not the Devil Fruit. Seastone affects me, but not nearly as much as my dear Mod. At best, it restrains me from using some abilities."

"Do not say Mod-chan's name like that," Rosan warned lowly.

The way they said it… it was as if the virus only saw Mod as an accessory that belonged to them.

He would not stand for it.

There was silence for a moment, before a wave of hatred slammed into him that vanished as quickly as it came.

"You fucking cunt," Pestilence snarled. "You don't fucking get to tell me what the fuck I call my goddamn woman."

Rosan raised a brow. "Your woman? Last I checked, Mod-chan was my mother and I do get to decide that. She loves me far more then she loves you, virus."

"WATCH YOUR FUCKING MOUTH!" Pestilence roared.

"Did I strike a nerve?" Rosan whispered cruelly, hatred in his gaze. "Are you upset that Mod-chan doesn't belong to you anymore? Mad that she chose to base her appearance on me? Mad that the only reason she has a gender is because I decided it? Mad that I get to joke, sleep and bathe with someone you thought was yours? Is the little virus upset that they never even got to see Mod-chan's naked body?"

"I hate you," Pestilence hissed, so much venom in their tone, that Rosan knew they were never going to get along.

"I fucking despise you, you woman stealing whore. You have all these people prostrating and begging you to fuck them and yet you're never satisfied. Greedy selfish slut taking what was only mine."

Mod belonged to Pestilence but the only thing on Mod's mind, was Rosan. How dare this little bastard steal what was theirs?!

"You give her emotions, a gender, a body and I couldn't enjoy any of it. You stole Mod from me and I will never forgive you," Pestilence snarled, revealing their true colors.

"We're on the same page for once," Rosan snarled back. "Don't you ever forget that this is my Devil Fruit you little parasite."

Pestilence snarled even louder, but they were not truly as mad as they made it out to be.

"Whatever, you bastard. I've already got everything I want now. Fuck Mod, you can have her," the virus thought to themself, grinning smugly as they gazed in a seemingly random direction.

Before Pestilence could properly retort, the two went silent at the sound of footsteps.

Rosan watched as a woman skipped into view of him, grinning widely as he made eye contact with her shaded face.

She did a little spin.

"Hey there, cheater!" The woman greeted.

Rosan's face had easily morphed into something neutral, but the moment he heard this person speak he immediately thought—

"Great, another psycho who's obsessed with me."

"Oh look. Another person who wants to fuck you," Pestilence sneered at the same time as him.

"And just who are you to consider calling me a cheater? I don't date," Rosan replied calmly, ignoring the seething virus.

He glanced at the person with an appraising eye.

Curly hair, curvy figure, olive skin, a black suit, long and sharp nails…

"How cruel, darling! You don't remember me," The woman sighed in faux sadness. "I even brought up an illusion of someone only the two of us should know."

Illusion… of Meiko?

Wait. Hold on a minute.

"You're Izumi?" Rosan recalled the girls name easily, eyes going slightly wide in disbelief.

Her grin widened. "You really do remember, darling! I'm so happy I could cry!" The woman crooned, removing her shades and revealing those dead teal eyes to him.

Rosan's mind was running a mile a minute at that very terrible revelation and he cursed himself for showing mercy back then.

This was why he killed his enemies. Loose ends were just too troublesome.

Izumi… truthfully, he hardly spared the girl a thought these past few years. He of course would never forget the person who took away Meiko… but she wasn't someone he should have worried about.

"Look how that turned out. At her complete mercy. With the way she's looking at you... poor little Rosan might get raped," Pestilence barked a laugh.

Rosan said nothing.

"It's been so long and you've grown so sexy! How could you never pay me a visit… I've been a lonely woman without you, darling," Izumi sighed, taking a seat directly on his lap.

The woman leaned in close and whispered, "You made such a bold claim saying what's left of me belongs to you… and you never expected to see me again? I'm still a virgin you know? I've been saving myself for you."

"Oh look! I was right!"

"Shut. Up."

"No~,"

Izumi laughed in an unhinged manner. "Do you remember those words you said to me that day? Well I do! I will never forget those words, darling. You and I are connected until one of us dies."

Rosan said nothing but it seemed like she wasn't done regardless.

"You think after what you did to me, I'd be able to move on?" she hissed, gripping his cheek with her sharp nails and digging into him.

"Poison," he thought to himself, side eyeing the nails.

Her nails were embedded with a potent poison.

"But we finally meet! And could you believe it when I saw that you dared to move on?!" Izumi ranted, cupping both his cheeks so that he could look at her.

Rosan's eyes narrowed slightly and she let out a delighted noise.

"Can you believe it. The 100 million beri Devil, dating the 90 million Devil of Ohara. Must be the dream huh?" Izumi said, digging her nails into his skin tighter and tighter.

"What did you do to Robin?" Rosan asked in a dangerous whisper, ignoring the venom injecting into his veins even despite the fact he didn't have Modification.

Even if it was completely burning his insides alive.

Izumi dug her hips into him even harder and glared at him with a mentally unwell look.

"Look at that. Even with me right in front of you, planting my ass on top of you and looking you right in your eyes, the only person you can think about is her," she whispered jealously.

"Answer my question," Rosan snarled, baring his sharp fangs.

Izumi shuddered in bliss at the rumble of his voice. "Even tied up and helpless, you still have such a presence to you! That's the man I love!" She sighed.

"I'm apart of Cipher Pol. CP9 specifically, an organization of assassin specialists that work for the World Government," Izumi revealed calmly, grabbing a strand of his lustrous red hair and twisting it between her fingers.

Rosan froze at that and a look that sent a small tremor (this time, of repressed fear) made its way to his face.

"What do you want with her?! WHAT DO YOU WANT WITH ROBIN?!" Rosan howled, thrashing in his cuffs.

"Ah! Finally! That look of composure is gone!" Izumi's dead eyes gleamed at that.

He was going to rip her in half, promise to Meiko be damned. He was going to slaughter this stupid fucking girl—

Rosan went still, as Izumi suddenly took on the appearance of Meiko and dove for his lips.

M-Meiko…?

"Utterly hopeless. Even with the knowledge that it's an illusion, you still stand no chance against it," Pestilence rumbled, watching in amusement, as Rosan's defenses weakened drastically.

Izumi mauled his lips with no remorse, grinning happily at the lack of resistance, even though she had to take the appearance of his dead lover to do so.

The woman licked her lips at the taste, humming in delight.

"Delicious. Now you've cheated on Robin too," Izumi said gleefully, pulling back with a manic smile, still appearing as Meiko to his eyes.

"You…" Rosan said quietly. "You'd dare take her form after killing her?" He whispered hatefully, eyes roaring with brightness as glared at her with unrestrained fury.

"I would… and you know what?" Izumi smiled psychotically, form melting away until she took one of Robin. "I'll take this form after Nico Robin is handed over to the World Government."

Rosan froze at that. "What…?" He whispered in shock.

Izumi giggled at his look. "I shouldn't be telling you this… but to be honest, my goal here has nothing to do with Nico Robin and everything to do with you, darling."

The agent's nails gleamed as she ripped Rosan's shirt and crooned at his body.

"You see, darling. Nico Robin loves you. Like really loves you," she muttered, sinking a finger into his chest with a "Shigan."

Rosan grunted at the finger piercing his skin but largely looked unbothered.

Izumi smiled at his lack of reaction and removed her bloody finger.

"She loves you so much, that she's willing to sacrifice herself just so you can stay safe. I'm not even supposed to be here hurting you, but she doesn't need to know that," the girl hummed, sinking another finger right below the first one, this time with her middle finger.

Rosan felt the fiery venom coursing through his veins even quicker but ignored it in favor of digesting Izumi's words.

So she really was being a fucking idiot. Goddammit, Robin.

"Your tolerance to pain is admirable. Makes up for your severely lacking mental resistances," Pestilence mocked, enjoying the view with an amused smile.

"For all intents and purposes… CP9's mission is a success. We have Nico Robin in our grasp and we can just slink away and let her disappear…"

Izumi's smile vanished for the first time.

"...But that's not my mission."

She sunk another finger into his body, making yet another hole in his body.

"You see darling, ever since that day you made me kill my older brother. I haven't been able to feel anything really," Izumi declared.

Another stab. Rosan convulsed a bit at the powerful venom being repeatedly injected into his system.

"Well, that's not really true. I did feel something... I felt my body convulsing after you brutally branded me," she grinned. "You're so sweet for that~ Making sure I never forget you. You sure are possessive!"

Another stab.

"On that day, a little after you left, I was found by the Marines. I was surrounded by a body of corpses and left staring at my brothers mutilated body with a feeling of emptiness and pain inside me," she said quietly.

Another stab.

She forced Rosan to hold her gaze.

"Do you want to know the first thing the Marines asked a lone suspect in the middle of corpses?" Izumi asked bitterly.

"Who did this to you?"

The woman threw her head back and laughed at that. It was a long hysterical laughter as her voice threatened to crack.

"Can you believe it?! I was so weak, they didn't even throw a hint of caution onto me! They just thought I was lucky to be spared! This girl is too pathetic to have been able to do this! This girl, surrounded by the dead bodies of wanted criminals is lucky to be alive! T-They even gave me their bounty money because of the fact no one could claim it!" The woman cackled.

Another stab, this one more vicious then the others and Izumi gazed into his eyes with bursting emotion.

"I have no presence, no potential, no strength. The few things I had, were taken away by you," she hissed. "The only thing I have left, is this twisted feeling inside of me whenever I think of the Red Devil. This feeling of love that has been festering for years. It's waiting to burst out and just seeing you, makes me so happy!"

Another stab.

"This is not love," Rosan finally responded, blood pouring from his mouth as his body whined in pain. "What you feel for me is hate and nothing else. "

"YOU SHUT YOUR MOUTH!" She howled suddenly, stabbing one spot repeatedly, making the redhead shut his eyes in agony.

"YOU DON'T GET TO TELL ME WHAT MY FEELINGS ARE! YOU DON'T GET TO TAKE ANYTHING ELSE AWAY FROM ME!"

Izumi panted as she continuously stabbed at the redhead who defined her entire life.

"You fuel me! You drive me! I've only gotten this strong because of you! The only time I feel anything, is when I'm thinking of you! You're the only one who makes my heart beat with anything! My whole life, revolves around you! WHAT IS THAT IF IT IS NOT LOVE?!"

She stepped back and ripped open her suit, showing the bandages underneath before she ripped those away too.

The wrap fell away, exposing the woman's nude upper half without hesitation.

"LOOK AT ME! LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE! YOU EXPECT ME TO ABLE TO MOVE ON AFTER YOU MARKED ME AS YOURS SO BRUTALLY?!" Izumi howled, pointing at the obsidian black rose tattoo that Rosan had personally given her.

"You will never get rid of me and once I'm done with you, I'll give you your own mark that makes you mine. That way, we'll never be separated from each other. We will be connected down to our skin," she hissed, sitting on Rosan once more, utterly unmindful of her extreme showing of skin.

Rosan looked at the monster he created with a shocked gaze, unable to believe that she had turned into this.

"You made this. You have a very dangerous charismatic aura and now it's biting you in the ass. It's all your fault. It always is."

The redhead coughed up blood and huffed at the staggering amount he was losing.

"But can you believe that even after joining the Marines that found me… even after slaving away every single day until I couldn't move… Even after eating this Devil Fruit... I'm hardly a thought to you," Izumi said quietly.

"Nothing I did matters because your still this much stronger then me. I've spent a majority of my life thinking about you and I'm barely a blip on your radar. So I'm going to break you in the only way I know how… by taking someone away from you and then you'll never take your thoughts off me again," she promised, stabbing him again.

"Do you like my technique by the way? After that day, I can't even properly wield a firearm anymore! The thought that everything went wrong because I missed a shot… it keeps me up at night and the sounds of a gun firing, reminds me of it all," The agent revealed with a gleam.

She took her pointed finger and sunk it into him for the umpteenth time.

"But I can't miss with this gun. If I can't use normal guns, I'll make this gun stronger then any I could wield. Venom that shuts down the body, nails as sharp as steel…"

Izumi accentuated her point by stabbing him over and over again, unmindful that every one of her fingers were riddled with red.

"Oh how could I forget!" She beamed, standing up and grasping something from her pocket.

"I guess you can count this gun too!" The illusionist exclaimed, pointing the strange mockery of a pistol at him. "I went through a lot of pain trying to wield this... but I'll do anything for you, darling~ Aren't I just the perfect girlfriend?!"

Without hesitation, Izumi clicked the trigger 3 times, shooting nails that embedded in three different parts of his body.

Rosan howled as they embedded inside of him, eyes fluttering as the agony threatened to knock him unconscious.

"Do you like it? You probably can't tell... but those are seastone nails. That's the only reason I can shoot them," Izumi explained with a demented smile, reveling in how Rosan howled.

"I don't close my eyes anymore either. I've stared at everyone I killed to make sure the person I killed, is the person I wanted dead," she whispered manically, sitting on him once more.

"Puppet. That's what they call me and they're right. I'm just a puppet being controlled by the threads that you latched onto me for 12 years…"

Izumi stood up, satisfied with her work.

"...But no more. The puppet is going to turn on its creator and set themselves free."

Rosan's chest was marred with carefully placed holes and when looked at all together, it spelled out Izumi in a horrific display of red and black.

"How long I've waited for this. This, this is justice," the agent said, repeating the same words he had said to her, moments before she tortured her own brother.

"We're going to Enies Lobby… I bet you're wondering why I'm telling you this. Why am I revealing such crucial information? Why aren't I just capturing you? I have you right where I want you so why why why?" The woman smiled as she began buttoning up her suit.

Rosan said nothing, huffing as he forced himself to stay awake. His body was burning, venom coursing through his veins as his lungs struggled to intake air.

He was losing a lot of blood right now and since he was neutralized by seastone, with seastone embedded into his body, the Philosopher's Stone was working at a terribly slow pace.

"I want you to try and save Nico Robin like you tried to save sweet little Meiko," Izumi declared. "I want you to give it your all. I want to see how far your willing to go to save someone you love…"

"...And I want you to realize it was all for naught. Only then, will I fully break you."

Izumi's dark look was gone, replaced by that same love filled smile. Right before she fully closed her outfit, the woman bent over and wiggled her breasts in his face, before capturing his lips one last time in a forced kiss, making sure to force her tongue down his throat.

Finally, she pulled back and bit his lip for good measure, licking his blood fully off her own lips and teeth as she fully hid her modesty once more.

"Toodles, darling! I hope you find a way to break out of that in time to save your woman. Next time we meet, let's get started on having kids~ I want at least 4!" she chimed.

And just like that, Izumi was gone.

"My oh my, she sure did a number on you, little Rose. Even I feel bad."

Rosan wasn't listening to the virus. No, the redhead was gritting his bloody teeth in hot boiling rage.

He was going to slap the shit out of Robin.

How could she be so fucking stupid?!

He didn't give a fuck about Izumi. He didn't care about the monster he created. He didn't care that his body was screaming in agony. He didn't care that she violated him. He didn't care about this virus antagonizing him.

The only thing he cared about, was getting Robin back.

"Mmm! Even I can't resist such charisma! It's no wonder you managed to steal Mod from me. Hell, if she didn't lock me away, I might have even cooperated with you," Pestilence grinned.

"So then, what will you do, Rose? How do you plan on getting out of this situation? Do you want some advice from me—,"

Crack.

Pestilence paused, actually stunned silent, as Rosan dislocated his cuffed wrist without any hesitation, even despite the fact that he had just been violently tortured.

"He's a psycho," they thought to themselves, filled with just as much fear as they did admiration.

He really was the perfect wielder~

The redhead simply huffed and focused hard on Ram, tapping into their weak connection and forcing the unconscious ring to transform into a key.

Gripping her in his good hand, the redhead tentatively aimed for where the keyhole should be on the cuff, using his hand and angling the broken appendage in a way that should make it easier (ignoring the extreme pain this caused his already tired body).

He stamped down his snarl of annoyance and composed himself to the best of his ability because if he dropped the key, it was all over.

It was just really hard, when the only thing on his mind was his absolute rage at Robin's stupidity and the overwhelming desire to scream at her.

He was really going to slap the hell out of her. Words couldn't even begin to describe how pissed he was with —

Rosan huffed and spit out the backed up blood in his throat to compose himself.

Once more, the redhead aimed Ram and was satisfied to finally make headway. He inserted his weapon into the keyhole and painstakingly turned it.

Click.

It was a good thing Ram was not a Devil Fruit.

"You're free. Much faster then 3 months I'd say. Impressive… I especially liked the part where you broke your own wrist."

Rosan ignored them and fell to his knees as he threw up blood.

Because of Izumi's nails, there was poison in his bloodstream. There was seastone deeply embedded in his body...

That was not good for his recovery or using his abilities.

He tried to reach out to his connection with Mod-chan and nearly screamed in frustration at not feeling her. Even despite being free, the seastone nails still fully neutralized him.

"It's just me. If you want, you can call me daddy and I'll be your replacement until she comes back. I'm not quite a fan of being your mother or especially your whore."

"The safety of that castle won't last forever," Rosan assured, clutching his midsection and getting blood all over his tattered outfit as a result.

"It may not, but for now it is," they said confidently.

Rosan shut his eyes. He had more things to worry about. The virus wasn't going anywhere.

Robin was going to Enies Lobby.

Enies Lobby was one of the World Government's three strongholds and a place Rosan would have liked to avoid at all costs until he was strong enough to burn it all to the ground.

This also applied to Impel Down and Marineford.

If Robin was really going to Enies Lobby, then that meant that she'd be almost impossible to retrieve unless he directly attacked them.

The idiot thought she was protecting him, but Robin didn't realize Rosan would even storm Marine Headquarters to get her back.

If he was too late to stop her from being sent to Impel Down… then he'd just storm Impel Down.

But it wouldn't get to that. No, he'd save her before that even happened.

He just… needed to recover… his strength.

Cipher Pol… he'd kill them all if he had to. He'd show Robin, that her fears were unwarranted.

Then… he'd slap the shit outta her.

"You're hell bent on slapping the shit outta her. Should I call this abuse?"

He barely had any power right now but perhaps if he focused really hard, he could use the remaining vestiges of Modification to activate someones Save Point.

It was obvious what choice he came to. Luffy should be made aware of this at the very least and Chopper could check up on him.

The redhead panted slightly and shut his eyes, as the pain threatened to overwhelm him and he dug in deep to rip out the remaining Modification…

Only to fail.

"You really thought you could overpower Seastone?" Pestilence asked in amusement. "That "remaining" Modification is your innate abilities. It's the part that will never disappear even if your power is sapped. It's how your body was able to continue operating with Modification even while you were restrained. A good alternative would be to call it your Devil Fruit's soul."

"Shut the fuck up," he snarled.

"I doubt someone like you would bleed out, but I'd prefer not to risk it…" Pestilence hummed in contemplation as they completely ignored the redhead.

"Fine… I suppose I can help you out. I don't want you dead. You dying is actually the worst case scenario for me."

Rosan didn't understand how his death would be so bad for the virus who was a prisoner. Why the hell would she want him alive?

"If you want my help, you have to be accepting of what I'm about to do… otherwise I can't do it," Pestilence offered.

"And why the hell should I trust you?"

"Do you want to save Robin or not? I told you, I don't want to be locked up so tightly in this fucking castle again. I enjoy experiencing sensations of the outside world and if Robin dies, I can kiss this castle ever opening again goodbye."

Rosan huffed. "...Fine. I can feel you telling the truth."

"I have no reason to lie to you. I've been very honest since the moment we've been speaking. You know I have no love for you," Pestilence grinned sardonically.

"What exactly is your ability?" he asked warily.

"Mine?"Pestilence laughed sardonically. "I am destruction, Rose. I am the plague that sweeps the land. The virus who's very touch degrades. Destruction given form at the hands of Modification. Pestilence, the Apocalypse."

"...And will you turn that on me?" Rosan asked seriously, willing to walk the distance if he had to.

"Believe it or not, no. I have no plans to turn my power onto you. You and I aren't so different you know," Pestilence snorted.

Not like turning it on him would work. Rosan was perfect for them.

A truth... but why was that the truth? Rosan couldn't understand what Pestilence wanted...

Pestilence sounded as if they were already content... but why did they sound like that?

"Now let me in," they whispered seductively. "The first time always hurts like a bitch so brace yourself… or don't. I don't care."

Rosan let loose a deep breath and said, "Go."

Pestilence grinned widely.

"White Horse."

"!" Rosan howled as a black aura began surrounding his body. The destructive aura began degrading the very concrete of the warehouse as it began ripping itself off of his body.

He stared in pain, as the black aura coalesced into an obsidian black horse with pulsing red eyes.

It looked unnatural to the eyes, with wisps of black smoke rising off of it and a plague doctors mask on it's ghastly muzzle.

"Not bad at all. You're a prize catch indeed little Rose. Any normal wielder would have suffered permanent damage from utilizing my energy but for you… even with these injuries… yes, you're just perfect."

He had the perfect constitution to wield their power. Pestilence would never let him go, no matter what he thought.

He belonged to them.

"Oh and before you ask, yes technique named White Horse summons black horse. I named myself Pestilence because it was fitting and your whole Reaper motif was already Death… figured I could continue the Four Horseman theme… I have style too."

Rosan blearily listened to them, head lolling as the horse neighed regally and dumped him on its body.

"What? Too shocked for words?" Pestilence mocked. "I thought I was doing something. Reaper is Death, Rosan is War, so of course I, the Virus would be Pestilence. Perhaps we could call that ring Famine, considering they eat to gain power."

"Shut… up… I'm in no mood for your jokes." He growled weakly.

Pestilence laughed mockingly but went silent.

Rosan, even in his total state of weakness, could only think one thing to himself.

"If Pestilence named themselves due to Reaper being Death… How did Mod-chan know their name?"

---

Chopper was shocked to see that Rosan wasn't instantly healing from his injuries, but a quick inspection showed him why.

"Even after removing those seastone nails, his body is still completely shut down," the reindeer frowned worriedly.

The strange thing about Rosan, was that when his body shut down, Modification did too. Much like when the redhead had been knocked unconscious during the Knock-Up Stream, his body would need to "reboot".

Considering his extensive injuries, Modification might even see it fit to prioritize putting him in a functioning state before he could emit it.

He managed to somewhat stabilize the redhead's body and had diligently wrapped up his entire chest with bandages, while taping up his broken wrist as well.

At the very least, he managed to rid Rosan of most of that poison coursing through his veins. It wasn't lethal, it acted more so like a Komodo Dragon's poison, but amped up.

Coupled with the fact that he had also been tending to Usopp, Chopper was exhausted.

"What happened to you, Rosan?" Chopper said sadly as he gazed at the red stained bandages of the slowly healing Rosan.

Back to back, he had to repair his scout from terrible conditions and for Chopper, who thought Rosan was one of the strongest guys around, this was a humbling experience.

Three times in quick succession, the redhead needed to be repaired up. Once from Enel, once from Aokiji and now this…

Just how many strong people were out there?

The doctor sighed and jumped down to go check on Usopp, hooves clanking against the floor as he made his way over to the sniper.

What he saw filled him with as much happiness as this terrible situation could give him.

"USOPP! YOU'RE AWAKE!" Chopper squealed happily, before going quiet at realizing Rosan was very much still asleep.

It was rare to get the redhead to stay in one place… they didn't need to wake him up yet.

Usopp looked a little confused, before he registered the pain he was in and clutched his chest.

And then he remembered why he was like this.

The sniper shot up with wild eyes and pushed himself off the bed with urgency, stumbling as pain shot through his body once more and he hastily departed from the room.

"U-Usopp! Wait, you shouldn't be moving yet!" Chopper exclaimed in worry, following after the liar with concerned eyes.

Usopp wasn't listening. Despite his body screaming at him to stop, the liar burst out of the room and panted once he saw the time of day.

Was he too late…?

"USOPP!" Luffy shouted in excitement, rushing over to the sniper. "You're awake!"

The rest of the Straw Hats, sans Rosan and Robin, crowded their injured sniper and Usopp felt his guilt well up.

"You guys…" He said quietly, hanging his head. "I'm sorry, I lost the 400 million… and I'm guessing we weren't able to get it back?"

Sanji shook his head. "That Franky guy is long gone."

They didn't know what direction he went in so going after him was a bust and the only one who could do so without getting tired, was currently severely injured.

"Don't worry about it!" Luffy waved him off cheerfully.

Usopp felt a little better at that. "Yeah… you're right! We still have 200 million left and if we really do need more to repair the Merry, we can just have Rosan cut up even more of that gold pillar!"

He did not notice everyone tense up.

"I'll just have to get stronger so this doesn't happen again but Merry can still be fixed! 200 million should be more then enough, right?"

"…" the crew said nothing for a moment.

Usopp still wasn't paying attention to the crew, just letting out a small sigh of relief.

"You hear that Merry? You can still be fixed—"

"About that Usopp… we're getting a new ship. We owe a lot to the Going Merry, but this island is as far as she'll sail," Luffy finally said.

Usopp froze in confusion, a puzzled expression taking over.

"What?" He asked.

---

It was noisy. Too noisy. Why was it so noisy?

"Awake already? I've noticed you always wake up first out of your little trio."

Tch. They were still here.

"After what I did for you?" Pestilence sounded offended. "Not even a "thank you for letting me use your horse, daddy" out of you? Mod sure raised a belligerent little brat. Maybe daddy needs to discipline you."

"Your voice grates on my ears."

"Good."

Rosan bit back a noise of pain, as his body screamed at him to lie back down and the redhead slowly pushed himself up.

He glanced down at his figure and noted that he was wrapped up in red stained bandages… but at least the poison coursing through his veins had been dealt with somewhat.

The seastone nails had been removed as well... but his powers were still not here?

Why?

"Your body is too damaged so it has entered sleep mode to prioritize your insides. You've taken even more damage than your battle with the delusional Kami. Once your body is in a sufficient state, Modification should wake up from its dormant state."

"And when is that?" Rosan asked in frustration.

"Not anytime soon. Not only does it need to flush out the remaining poison. You were impaled with seastone and your body completely shut down."

Rosan snarled in annoyance and stamped down his bad mood.

He would sleep it off and pray for the best. He didn't know what was in Izumi's poison, but once he recovered, it wouldn't work again.

Now, why was his crew arguing?

"IS THIS ALL THIS SHIP MEANS TO YOU?! AFTER EVERYTHING, YOU'RE JUST GONNA LET HER SINK?!"

"You're not an expert! You aren't the shipwright which is why we came here in the first place!"

"Mmm drama."

Rosan sighed and shut his eyes tightly.

Usopp and Luffy were arguing about the ship. He figured her time was up but he didn't think someone would be in denial about it.

Why were they just now arguing about it though? Rosan would have thought they'd been told this at the actual place.

Well, whatever. He needed to stop this.

He owed this much to Merry. She probably wanted to avoid this.

The redhead idly transformed Ram back into a ring and placed her on his left ring finger again, before slowly trudging to where the argument was steadily getting louder.

"THE LUFFY I KNOW WOULD HAVE SEEN THROUGH THAT HALF-ASSED SALES PITCH AND HAVE FAITH IN THE GOING MERRY! BUT NOW YOU'RE MAKING SUCH A STUPID DECISION?! HOW CAN YOU CALL YOURSELF THE SHIP'S CAPTAIN!"

Rosan's eyes narrowed at that statement and he entered the room.

"That's enough Usopp," he said quietly.

Everyone's eyes snapped to him and he felt a wave of relief course through the air.

Usopp's eyes narrowed even further, too caught up in his own anger.

"R-Rosan!" Chopper shouted. "You shouldn't be moving right now! Please get some rest! How are you even moving?!"

Were they too loud? The redhead had been dead to the world before...

"He's right, Rosan. You were really beat up!" Nami exclaimed, tearing her eyes momentarily off the mounting argument to gaze worriedly at the injured redhead.

Rosan grunted as Nami steadied him but shook his head. "There are more pressing matters right now then my state—"

"I get it now."

Everyone went silent at that tone of realization from Usopp.

"It's because of you Rosan," Usopp realized with an angry expression. "You and your stupid pessimism!"

The redhead tilted his head to the side, glow in his eyes vanishing as they narrowed warningly.

"!" Everyone jumped at Usopp lashing out at the redhead and glanced cautiously at the redhead tilting his head.

"You keep bringing up things like how Merry won't last much longer or how we should consider getting a new ship but that's because you just don't trust her! You don't ever want to trust anyone!" Usopp barked in real anger.

"Now you've managed to even give everyone here doubts about Merry and they actually believe those con artists carpenters!"

"…" Rosan took a deep breath. "The Merry will not survive another trip and you should accept that. Do not allow your insecurities to cloud your better judgement. We have more pressing matters to worry about," he said, rather coldly (he was attempting to stifle his emotions to the best of his ability).

It was late and he didn't have access to Modification at the moment (When would it come back?). He'd need to think of something in the meantime and considering CP9 were assassins, he couldn't send his crew out in the looming dark for their pickings.

Only Luffy with his Observation and Zoro with his Armament would be completely fine. The others would be easy pickings, barring Sanji.

Sure he could send Luffy... but his brother wasn't subtle. He'd need someone with him but Rosan wasn't sure how many CP9 members there were and he couldn't check either... not to mention Izumi's illusions would capture the vulnerable Luffy (Maro's illusions were why she could so comfortably beat him).

So they'd need to begin searching for her tomorrow… he'd need Luffy to keep his Observation active at all time and maybe he'd have Modification bac—

"You don't actually care about any of us, do you?"

Rosan paused at that and turned a frigid gaze towards Usopp, a warning look in his eyes that the sniper should really stop talking.

"More pressing matters? This is our ship!" Usopp hissed with a wild anger in his eyes. "But to you Merry is just that. A ship! You don't have time to pay attention to useless things because the world revolves around you! If she sinks then oh well, you'll just discard her and get another one! That's how you think of us isn't it?!"

"Usopp, that's enough!" Sanji said firmly. "You're taking this too far. You need to sit back and cool down."

"Of course I'm the one taking it too far! Rosan can't do anything wrong can he?" Usopp snarled, making the chef flinch in surprise. "No. He's Mr. Perfect Scout who solves all our issues! So of course you'd all side with him and want to get rid of the Merry—"

A hand grasped him by the neck and slammed him into a wall, making the sniper gasp in pain.

"Gagh!" Usopp groaned, clawing at the hand gripping his throat.

Glowing eyes glared at him with barely repressed fury in them.

"Who the fuck do you think you are?" Rosan hissed venomously, eyes murderous.

"Who do you think you are to claim that I'm this perfect person who is incapable of making mistakes? What do you think you know about me to make such claims as if they were fact? You don't know a damn thing about me, you stupid fucking liar," the redhead snarled.

"ROSAN! STOP!" Chopper and Nami urged, grabbing the redhead and pulling him off of Usopp.

They were both way too injured to be so active right now!

The redhead didn't hear them. He never could hear properly when he was lost in his rage.

"You feel connected to this ship, because you feel useless compared to everyone else. In your eyes, the only thing your good for, is caring for the ship your girlfriend gifted us but that's not our problem. That's yours," Rosan snarled, ignoring his pain due to his boiling anger.

"Rosan, seriously!" Nami pleaded.

Their scout didn't know what just happened to Usopp. He didn't know the sniper was at his lowest already. This wasn't making things better!

Rosan ignored her. His eyes were glowing in fury and his teeth were bared as he spewed venom.

The crew themselves didn't realize that Rosan was already extremely stressed and in an incredibly volatile state right now. Usopp had just been the first one to fully set him off.

"If you had such an inferiority complex, you would have done something about it instead of letting it fester. Now, you're trying to risk all our lives to save a ship that's already finished because it's the only time you do feel useful," Rosan sneered.

His words were purely toxic, hitting every point like a bullseye because no one could hide anything from those eyes of his.

"Well take it from someone who you think is so perfect," the redhead growled. "I've already gambled with someone's life because I couldn't control my emotions and I lost everything. I'll be damned if I let you try and do the same thing."

Everyone shuddered at that statement.

It didn't take a genius to realize who Rosan was talking about.

The redhead covered his mouth with a hand, as he went into a coughing fit and they gazed worriedly at the flecks of red.

"Rosan you need to rest," Nami pleaded, holding him with clear concern. "You shouldn't be expending so much effort right now, either of you!"

Rosan huffed and sagged in her grasp, bigger frame draping weakly over Nami.

"This ship has been finished since our trip to Sky Island. She... couldn't handle the pressure of the Knock-up Stream and her keel cracked. I was hoping… the shipwrights would have helped you see that without me having to say something, but I wasn't expecting you to be so… irrational," he panted, shutting his eyes.

"You knew this whole time?" Everyone asked in shock.

Was that why he was nudging them towards the possibility of getting a new ship?

"Of course but you'd be reluctant to believe me… Which is why I left it in the hands of the carpenters. If… you… still refused to believe them then I'd reinforce their words…"

Rosan's eyes turned heavy as he felt the lull of sleep calling to him and Nami steadied the swaying redhead with the help of Sanji.

He expended too much energy. Damn it…

"I won't discuss this topic… again… when I wake up, I have faith that you guys will… have moved on. I need to discuss something with you all of utmost urgency," Rosan said tiredly.

With that, he allowed the wave to fully wash over him and the redhead slumped unconscious.

Rosan's words did nothing to quell Usopp. In fact, they only made his temper flare even more.

The redhead was not the only one stressed from the events of the day.

"So he knew this whole time… he really doesn't trust anyone of us and you all are totally okay with that!" Usopp growled.

They jolted at his words and gazed in shock at the sniper, not believing this only made him more upset.

"He doesn't tell us anything and marches around and gives orders that we're expected to follow! If we question him he just dismisses us and none of you even care! Especially you, Luffy! I thought you were the captain of the ship but it doesn't feel like it!" Usopp growled, rounding on the rubber boy.

Luffy's eyes darkened.

"Usopp," Zoro said warningly.

"Rosan didn't affect my decision. I already made up my mind, Usopp. We're parting ways with the Merry here and if you have a problem with that then—"

Luffy was cut off, as a kick from Sanji sent him crashing into a wall.

Nami shrieked at the loud noise.

What was going on? Everything was just snowballing out of control right now!

"Hey, hey. Just what were you about to say?!" Sanji barked at the rubber boy. "None of you are thinking straight right now! Cool down and we can discuss this another time!"

Luffy snapped out of his anger and nodded. "You're right. Sorry, I didn't mean that."

"No it's alright. That's probably how you all feel."

"?!"

Usopp huffed and got up, ignoring the pain of his body. "Merry is just the beginning. You just want to get rid of useless members one after the other."

Your reasoning for lying means very little to me. If you find comfort in deluding yourself to reality, be my guest. Just don't apply the same thing to me. I'm not such a coward that I'd run away from the truth of my life.

"Usopp, stop talking like that," Sanji demanded.

The sniper shook his head violently. "No I'm serious. Quite frankly, I can't keep up with the monsters of this crew. I'm just a liability."

Luffy, Rosan, Zoro, Sanji, Robin… even Nami and Chopper were becoming monsters in their own right.

And he was just here.

You lie nonstop about even the simplest of things, you're a complete coward and it makes you a liability.

A wave of confusion coursed through the crew.

"Huh?" Chopper said quietly.

Nami's eyes widened.

Zoro said nothing.

"Our only connection is the fact that you guys invited me on this ship… but beyond that, I don't share any of your ambitions. I can't travel with someone who doesn't share the same views as me," Usopp decided, pushing himself up and making his way out of the ship.

"W-Wait! Usopp where are you going?!" Chopper shouted in concern.

"Don't worry about it. None of it is your business because… I'm quitting the crew."

"But you can't… Wait!" Nami shouted in concern.

"Hey! Come back!" Sanji exclaimed, eyes wide in disbelief.

"HUH? D-DON'T GO USOPP!" Chopper cried.

"…" Zoro looked on.

"…" Rosan slept.

"Sorry for burdening you but I can't follow you anymore," Usopp said gravely, before turning towards the silent captain of the Straw Hats.

"You're the captain and this ship belongs to you… but I won't leave Merry in your hands."

"IF I WIN, I'M TAKING THE GOING MERRY SO MONKEY D. LUFFY, FIGHT ME!" Usopp roared.

---

Pestilence hummed in delight, inspecting their nails as they sat on a throne made purely of ice.

"Quite the problem we've run into," the virus muttered curiously, listening to all with an amused expression.

Seems like not only little Rosan was stressed by the events of today. How fascinating. All the Straw Hats were stressed...

But despite that, Pestilence wasn't happy about these turn of events at all.

"That woman... Nico Robin. I didn't realize she was capable of making such idiotic decisions," the white haired mimic of Rouge pondered.

Normally, Pestilence would delight in a situation like this and go full throttle on breaking Rosan... but things had changed over the years.

Things had changed since this castle formed.

Pestilence discovered many things about themself and now, there was a far more important task than breaking Rosan.

No, keeping Rosan as whole as possible was imperative. If this castle gained more chains, Pestilence doubted it would open again and that was the nightmare scenario.

That was why they chose to approach Rosan out in the open this time. As far as Mod's boy toy was concerned, Pestilence wanted Nico Robin saved just as much as they did.

So they would assist until the traitorous bitch stopped sleeping.

They glanced at their hand with a contemplative expression, before conjuring a black gas that solidified and transformed into solid black mirror.

In it, Nico Robin, the whore who had tortured Rosan and some tall man were gazing down at the prone body of some man.

Pestilence's eyes narrowed slightly at seeing them use the large man to quickly vanish from the room.

"That technique..." they muttered. "The Doa Doa no Mi? Come to think of it... that technique is quite similar to Rosan's own..."

Hm. That just wouldn't do. Right now, it wasn't Cipher Pol's power that was an issue. No one's power was an issue to the virus.

No one was as destructive as them.

It was their resourcefulness that was an issue...

And this man's power was resourceful to a worrying degree. How far could he transport them with those doors? Was his range as large as Rosan's?

Pestilence would need to slow them down if worse came to worst and he could send them right to Enies Lobby.

The black fleck that she was watching through, that was latched onto the tall man, waited for an opportune moment before lunging in his mouth.

He made no sign of noticing it and Pestilence hummed, making the fleck go dormant. If he stepped out of their range, it would activate but for now...

"There. I doubt it, but if push comes to shove, I suppose I'll play a stronger hand," the virus muttered, black dress emitting the strange black gas that they could control.

Pestilence would accept nothing less than Rosan saving Nico Robin... but if they truly were going to Enies Lobby...

Hm, that was a great opportunity to thin their numbers greatly. Rosan was rather murderous at the moment, so many people could die and if they were of the World Government variant...

It was risky, but Pestilence believed in Rosan's capabilities. As long as he had Modification, he'd eventually save his favorite wench and Pestilence would be a step closer from achieving their goals.

"The effects of Meiko dying were catastrophic to you, I cannot have this woman dying either," Pestilence decided, standing up with a flourish of that long, wispy dress.

Such a bother. Why was it always up to them to save Rosan?

Well, Pestilence supposed it wasn't all bad. After all, Rosan was just perfect wasn't he?

Some things were worth it. They would save him.

Their red eyes gleamed in delight and the virus calmly slid into bed with a delighted purr, wispy dress stripping off their body in a single thought.

In the end, it'd all be worth it.

---

"Wake up my little Rose."

Rosan suppressed the urge to yawn. "In… a second, Mom."

Then, his eyes snapped open and a violent snarl made its way across his face.

"Who do you think you are to impersonate my mother?" Rosan hissed.

"Hmhmhmhm," Pestilence laughed darkly, sounding so much like Rouge but also nothing like her at all. "What? Am I not allowed to be inspired by how someone looks? Mod picked you after all, so why can't I pick someone? I love Rouge too!"

"You chose my mother. Someone like you should have taken the form of that depraved woman Sachie or Doc."

Pestilence scoffed. "I chose my appearance when you were 4, Rose. I hate those two as much as you do for daring to imprison me."

He snarled. "Which explains why you assisted them in breaking me, right?"

"Broken but never one to submit. I knew you could do it. Someone needed to show you the cruelty of the world and that Mod was intent on coddling you until you suffocated against something not even I could help you with."

Rosan clenched his fist. "So you turned me on my best friend. Don't think I forgot that, Pestilence. You will slip up one day and I will have your head."

Pestilence shuddered at that simple statement. "Whatever, I woke you up because you might want to witness what's about to happen."

"…"

"That pathetic liar and your stupid captain are about to fight soon for ownership of this useless ship. Apparently the sniper left the crew because you have no trust in your heart."

…

What? Usopp left?

Rosan sighed in annoyance and got up with a bit of effort, noting that his wounds were slowly but surely healing and Modification was stirring a bit.

It seemed the closer he got to recovering his health, the closer he got to gaining Modification.

Everything hurt though and he was still extremely pissed off.

"How do you know this?"

"You and Mod are practically one and the same but as for me? I do my own things. I enjoy the sensations of the real world due to not being able to feel them for so long so I've been awake since you first met your main wench again… and I've been greedily enjoying the sensations of the senses since your battle with the inferior Logia. Well done on that by the way."

"You talk too much."

Pestilence actually balked at his audacity. He was the one that asked them the question!

"You sure are a fucking cunt."

Rosan scoffed. This virus had more vulgar language then both he and Ram.

So Usopp left the crew? If Pestilence was serious, Rosan himself would prevent the liar from joining if he tried to slink his way back in.

The redhead felt an incredibly rare headache forming and bared his teeth in barely suppressed rage.

Too much was going on right now and all of it could be solved if he wasn't. So. Fucking. Injured.

Pestilence watched the redhead get slowly overwhelmed with a deranged smirk.

"Don't worry. I'm still here. If you wish to borrow my power again, feel free. I have some similarities but I'm also very different from Modification."

Rosan hated how deeply he was thinking of accepting that. He needed immediate strength to deal with those CP9 agents and if Pestilence was as dangerous as Mod made them out to be… he'd probably have to use it.

His body didn't show any adverse side effects from using that power anyways.

"Honestly, that was rather shocking for me too. Most people who use my abilities for the first time, end up bedridden even without my desire to kill them. But you… even if I wanted to kill you, it seems as if you've already adjusted to the corrosive aspect of my powers... to an extent. How admirable."

Rosan didn't comment on that and slowly made his way out of the room.

Adjusting to that corrosive energy… it could have been a lie but he couldn't detect any at all and besides the pain from using it the first time, it seemed only his injuries were truly affecting him.

This was all too complicated. Rosan didn't like when things were complicated for him. He liked to be in control and right now he was not in control.

The cool night breeze brushed against his face and Rosan shuddered a bit at the temperature, frowning as Zoro immediately turned to face him.

"You're awake again," the swordsman said calmly, grabbing everyone's attention.

"Why do you keep waking up?" a depressed Chopper asked.

Rosan grunted and gazed out at the clearing, where a steadfast Luffy was waiting for something.

"What happened?" He asked calmly.

Chopper immediately teared up and glanced down.

"Usopp left the crew," Sanji sighed.

"Rosan… why did you say those things?" Nami asked with a frown. "Usopp was already going through a lot. He got beat up and some goons took 400 million from him."

Rosan glared darkly at her and she flinched. "And how was I supposed to know that?" He asked incredulously, anger flaring irrationally once more.

"I don't know if you realized, but I was dealing with my own troubles and dozens of holes in my body," the redhead frowned, pointing at his bandaged bodies. "I was just brutally tortured and the moment I woke up, I was being blamed for something that wasn't even my fault. I already have too much on my fucking plate. Why is it my fault that I was trying to convince someone that a sinking ship is actually going to sink."

Nami flinched back, scalded by his lashing out and withdrew a bit into herself.

"Right… you haven't been here the whole day and the state you were in… Sorry," she whispered.

Zoro placed a hand on his shoulder and the redhead took a deep breath.

This is what he meant when he said he couldn't control his emotions and the stress wasn't making it any better.

"My bad Nami… I didn't mean to lash out at you like that," Rosan apologized, letting out a pained rasp. "...Robin is missing and the person who did this to me, is the one who has her."

Everyone froze at that and gazed at the redhead with a stunned expression.

"The one who did this to me is named Izumi… we have a past," Rosan frowned. "She is the one who killed Meiko."

…

"What?" Sanji whispered in horror, gazing at the visibly stressed redhead.

"She… killed Meiko?" Nami asked in a daze.

Rosan clenched his fist. "Yes. After killing her, I tortured her to insanity but because of Meiko's final wishes, I left her alive. Clearly that has come to bite me in the ass."

"You tortured her?" Chopper asked in fear.

"For your sake, I won't go into detail. But she's come to enact revenge and she, along with her World Government allies, made Robin give herself up so she can try and protect us," Rosan explained calmly.

Zoro frowned deeply at that. "Is Robin an idiot? Why would she do that? We could just fight them," the swordsman scowled.

"And that's what we're going to do," Rosan said darkly, eyes smoldering. "I'm going to tear them all to pieces. That's why I was hoping this was settled before I woke up again… but I guess not."

Sanji looked worried. "We have to find her. Do you have any birds out right now? What about her Save Point?"

The redhead scowled. "No. I don't have access to Modification at the moment."

They balked at that. No Modification?

"So what was that scary horse?" Nami asked tentatively. It didn't look like any of Rosan's normal techniques... and it was terrifying in a different way from Ragnarok.

Ragnarok emitted a primal terror. One that a dragon would always emit.

But that horse was different. It was terrifying in an unnatural way. The black wisps, the ghostly characteristics... the mask.

Nami could believe a dragon was real... but Nami would never believe that horse existed somewhere. It was just so uncanny.

"...I'll tell you about it after this blows over. Right now just thinking about it pisses me off and I already have a headache," Rosan admitted.

"You need to sleep and regain your energy!" Chopper admonished in concern.

He was already sad that Usopp refused his help. The doctor at least wanted Rosan to listen to him.

Rosan raked a hand through his free hair (it was getting too long, it went way past his shoulder right now) and nodded. "After this, I'll sleep until tomorrow. I promise. I need to regain as much energy as possible."

He was heavily injured and lacking Modification for awhile as his body worked to repair his insides and flush out the poison. If he were to fight CP9 as he was now, he'd just be a liability.

The redhead suddenly found Pestilence's offer a lot more tempting… No he suddenly found that it was inevitable because he was going to look for Robin tomorrow and he didn't think he'd be fully repaired yet.

"You don't have to be wary of me just yet, little Rose. Our goals align. I want your number one wench back as much as you do."

"Refrain from calling her that or else."

"How does favorite whore sound then? I don't understand why you're so worked up though. You have Mod, that sexy goblin girl, her sexy wife, that sexy purple doctor, the two cute sisters that may as well be twins and can't forget that ring all slobbering over you. I'm sure if you ask any of them, they'll give it up. Are you sure you need one little girl when you could easily distract yourself with—"

A wave of rage washed over the virus so quickly, Pestilence wisely went silent and they shuddered. Even they knew not to test Rosan's very short temper right now.

"…" Rosan slowly but surely receded the wave of anger. The only reason he was putting up with this nonsense, was because his options were very limited right now and the virus offered him a distraction from the fact that his connection with Mod-chan was so weak.

It would do him no good to be stressed, weak and panic stricken. Whether the virus knew or not, their presence angering him, was better then no one's presence driving him into madness.

How ironic. Robin was gone. Mod was gone. All he had was Pestilence.

It was just like on Daybreak. Nothing but the words of a demon who wanted to see its fellow demon break.

Fitting that his mental state was currently as bad as when he was on that hellhole of an island.

Rosan hated Water 7 and he hadn't actually met a single person or explored the island in full yet.

"There's Usopp…" Nami called his attention.

Rosan gazed at the injured Usopp and wondered just what the Sniper's goal here was.

Unless Luffy threw the match, which was something he'd never do, Usopp was just trying to get even further injured.

He resisted the urge to grit his teeth in rage and failed, baring his sharp fangs in fury.

The Sniper could have been valuable in getting Robin back but instead he was causing a fuss.

Now, if Usopp was actually hellbent on leaving the crew, Rosan would have to make sure his secrets didn't get out. It was a waste, but if he had to, he'd need to eliminate Usopp once all this was settled.

This was why he didn't like telling people things.

"Look at you. Without any hesitation, you've decided to eliminate him. Aren't you just proving him right? You really don't care about any of them."

"I do care about them... but I have guarded my secrets for 20 years. I have known Usopp for a few months and he has proven me correct in being untrustworthy. Is it not natural that I would prioritize one thing over the other? Every human has their biases."

"That's true but monsters like us don't get to act human so why do you think you suddenly have that right?" Pestilence whispered cruelly.

The redhead froze at that statement.

"I... that's right... but aren't monsters fully biased?" Rosan asked in return, clenching his fist at their words.

"No. Monsters don't think about those things. Those are demons Rose. Monsters destroy for their own pleasure and that's it. But demons? They lure in humans and pretend to be like them... but we all know what they really are once you take a deeper look. Isn't that right, Devil?"

The stressed scout shut his mouth and abruptly ended the conversation.

Pestilence smirked at that and said nothing.

Rosan glanced at his uneasy crew and shook his head to get the thoughts out.

"It may not occur to you guys often, but Luffy is first and foremost our captain," he began, catching their attention. "His words are the one we follow so if he says we part ways with the Merry, we part ways with the Merry."

Zoro nodded along with his words. "What Usopp's doing right now, is disrespectful to Luffy. He's going against the words of the captain of the ship."

"That's mutiny," Rosan said darkly, making the other three flinch at the grave word. "Don't take advantage of Luffy just because of his nature. If this were any other ship, Usopp would be dead for going against the laws of the captain."

That was why Rosan was here. To make sure no one took advantage of his cheerful brother.

"T-That's true but…" Nami trailed off.

"The captain's orders are law. If you don't want to follow them, you shouldn't be sailing with him," Zoro said stonily.

Sanji bit his cigarette at their words and nodded tightly, still displeased with this whole situation.

They were right but the entire situation was just shitty.

"So you didn't get cold feet… I hope you don't regret this no matter what. This is the duel you chose!" Luffy declared.

"Of course. You'd better try and kill me or I'll beat you at your own game. I already know how to beat you," Usopp stated calmly.

---

Usopp's eyes narrowed as he immediately withdrew his slingshot and fired 3 pellets that Luffy effortlessly sidestepped.

Then, the rubber boy dashed forward with a fist cocked back—

Only to hesitate as Usopp keeled over and spat up blood.

"See?! He's way too injured to fight!" Chopper said in worry.

Usopp continued coughing… only to reveal that the blood was actually ketchup.

"Why are you hesitating?" He rasped, taking his slingshot out and firing 2 rotten eggs at his former captain.

Luffy scowled and tipped his head to the side, dodging the projectiles before he planted a sandal against Usopp's sternum.

"!" Usopp spat out actual blood, as the kick sent him tumbling across the ground.

"Gomu Gomu no Pistol!" Luffy shouted, launching a fist towards the sniper with intents to finish this quickly.

Usopp desperately leapt aside from the punch and aimed once more at the hard to hit rubber boy.

"Shuriken Star!" Usopp shouted, firing shuriken after shuriken at Luffy.

The rubber boy began dodging every single one with a focused glare, but let out a yelp of surprise as one of the "shuriken" turned out to be a net that captured him.

"W-Wha?!" Luffy shouted as he tried to untangle himself from it.

"You taught him that," Pestilence laughed.

Seeing that Luffy was somewhat restrained (but not for long) Usopp began pressing his advantage.

"Blinding him is useless as long as he has observation… so I'll hit hard."

"Special Attack: Flame Star!"

Luffy grunted as he caught fire, mostly unbothered by the attack, before a hammer slammed into his gut.

"Usopp Hammer!"

The rubber boys eyes widened in confusion, as the physical attack actually hurt him and sent him soaring away.

"Ugh!" Usopp gasped, as the heavy hammer Rosan gifted him weighed him down.

The sniper wasn't finished yet.

Luffy yelped as he landed on a bunch of caltrops, the spiked traps digging into his skin, until even more shurikens crashed into him.

"Usopp's totally controlling the fight," Zoro observed accurately.

"Using my gifts to do it too..." Rosan said neutrally.

The redhead suddenly felt compelled to look down at the figurehead of Merry, as a wave hit her.

Like this, he could see that it appeared as if the ship was crying.

Rosan frowned. "Sorry, Merry. I thought this was the best course of action… but it appears that I just don't fully understand other humans yet."

"Do you truly think you'll ever be able to understand them? You are too different. A dragon, an angel and a plague... You were human at one point but that was a long time ago."

Rosan said nothing.

This was why he shouldn't have been tasked with this.

"You tried your best… maybe some things were meant to be."

He went still at that voice and felt a strange sadness well inside of him.

Usopp huffed as he prepared to finish this and he glanced down at the pulsing red pellet.

"You have potential."

The only way he could keep up with the monsters in the crew… relying on someone's stuff.

He steadied his resolve and loaded up the pellet.

Taking aim at Luffy, the sniper said with a tone of finality, "Special Attack: Mine Star."

The pellet fired.

The explosion was deafening.

The Straw Hats watched with wide eyes, as an explosion covered the battlefield.

"…" Rosan gazed at the explosion using his flames, with a neutral expression.

"This is too much…" Chopper sobbed.

"The fight is over," the redhead whispered softly.

Sanji and Nami looked over in surprise.

"Over? I know your flames are strong but there's no way they'd take Luffy out that quick," the chef said a bit unsure.

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"…" Rosan closed his eyes.

"I wasn't talking about Luffy."

Usopp huffed as the explosion eventually settled and he felt a puff of pride at having actually beaten his monster of a captain.

"How do you like that?!" He shouted.

Now the Merry was rightfully his—

The sniper's eyes went wide, as a smoking Luffy stepped directly in front of him with a look of finality in his eyes.

"He managed to mostly avoid that?" Usopp thought, stunned as he was left totally open.

Despite wanting to, Luffy did not close his eyes. Even as he relived every moment he had with Usopp, the rubber boy didn't avert his gaze.

Even as he shot his arm back, he stared at his former sniper the entire time.

"Gomu Gomu no…"

Hurry up and get on board!

We're friends now aren't we?

I… I'M THE CAPTAIN RIGHT?

DON'T BE DUMB, I'M CAPTAIN!

"...Bullet."

The fist crashed into Usopp's gut like its namesake and the liar's eyes rolled to the back of his head, as he collapsed.

There was a tense silence as the sniper fell on the floor.

"USOPP!" Chopper screamed in horror as his tears fell freely.

Nami covered her mouth as her own tears fell.

Sanji glanced down with a resigned expression.

Rosan and Zoro stared on neutrally.

"This fight is over," the swordsman eventually said.

"It was foolish of him to think that Luffy would be defeated by the flames I've been using for years on him. He may know Luffy's tricks… but Luffy also knows mine," the scout said softly.

Luffy stared at his defeated ex crewmate and clenched his fist.

"You idiot! There's no way you could defeat me!" The captain shouted in anguish.

"This is too much," Nami cried. "Everything's happening too fast, it feels like everything's falling apart."

Luffy picked up his Straw Hat and placed it back on. "Do what you want, with the Going Merry. We're gonna find a new ship and we're gonna keep sailing forward," he decided firmly.

"Is that necessary Luffy? I can just shrink her when I get my powers back. We don't have to part ways here. She may not be sail worthy anymore, but the Going Merry doesn't have to leave," Rosan actually spoke up.

Even after all these years, he still had the White Rose. After learning that ship's really did have a spirit… it wasn't much, but Rosan had left his longtime ship in a large pool in his Pocket Dimension and he was even planning on finding a way to make her aerial.

"I've already parted ways with it. It's not our decision anymore," Luffy decided, gazing at his brother with a look of finality.

Rosan glanced at the figurehead of Merry and sighed, before nodding his head.

"Whatever you say, Captain."

"So long, Usopp… It's been fun," Luffy said eventually.

"U-USOPP!" Chopper shouted, grabbing his supplies as quickly as possible.

Sanji placed a hand on the doctor and said, "Wait, Chopper!"

Evidently it was the wrong thing to say because the hysterical reindeer immediately transformed into his heavy point and slapped away Sanji's hand.

"WHY?! HE'S IN BAD SHAPE! I CAN'T JUST LEAVE HIM AFTER THAT BEATING!" The reindeer shouted.

"This wasn't just a regular fight, Chopper," Sanji explained patiently.

"SO WHAT?! I'M STILL A DOCTOR!" He exclaimed, taking a swing at the chef that got dodged.

The chef grit his teeth and tackled the reindeer to the floor. "He already lost and now you're trying to pity him? Think about how that would make him feel! He made the challenge knowing what the outcome would be, so don't hurt him anymore with your excessive kindness!"

"!" Chopper went silent as his tears fell freely.

"This is really tough," Luffy whispered.

"It hurts doesn't it, Luffy?" Rosan asked knowingly. "Hard times will always accompany the easy times and no one feels that more than the leader. Being able to deal with them is what makes a good captain."

"That's the burden all captains must face," Zoro said. "Don't doubt yourself. If you start to waver, who can we have faith in?"

Luffy simply tucked his face deeper into his Straw Hat as his tears began to fall.

Rosan glanced back and shook his head, as Chopper jumped off the ship and dashed off to leave some supplies for Usopp.

Then, the redhead leapt off and followed after him.

"Rosan…" Sanji said.

"Don't worry, I won't stop him," Rosan assured.

Zoro shook his head. "...Let's leave the ship to him. This is it for us… we can never return to this ship."

Chopper, Nami, Usopp and Luffy allowed their tears to fall freely.

---

Rosan watched Chopper flinch as they walked past each other but the redhead just waved him off.

"I just have some things I want to say… Then I'll go back to sleep," the redhead promised.

"O-Ok," the teary eyed reindeer said and he ran off.

Rosan looked down at the former sniper with a neutral expression.

"You've already made your decision and I'm not here to reprimand you for it… but I hope you understand the gravity of your decisions. Good luck with the Merry... try not to make the wrong decision"

The redhead turned away from the silent sniper. "Keep the remainder of my gifts. They are rightfully yours… For what it's worth, I did think you had potential and I hope you can realize it on your own journey…"

"...But if you ever tell anyone my secrets, I will kill you. I will know if it was you and you will regret your decision. This is not a threat, this is a promise I made to myself years ago when I made my alter egos. I hope you are considerate enough to not do that."

With that, Rosan turned and slowly trudged away from his ex crewmate.

If he noticed the sniper begin crying in earnest at his words, he did not mention it.

"Goodbye, Usopp."

---

"Hey did you hear? Iceburg's been attacked!"

"WHAT?!"

"Yeah he was shot!"

"It must have been that Franky!"

"Who would attack him?!"

---

"We got rooms… but Rosan's the only one actually sleeping in them," Sanji sighed. "Guess everyone else is too restless."

"Did he actually sleep through the whole night?" Chopper asked quietly.

The chef nodded. "As soon as his head hit the pillow he fell asleep and he's been dead to the world ever since. I have no idea when he's gonna wake back up."

The doctor sighed. "I hope he gets Modification back soon… his injuries are really bad but once it comes back, he'll truly heal up."

"Not to mention he'd be incredibly useful in finding out where Robin is," Sanji frowned. "Luffy, do you feel her?"

The rubber boy shook his head slowly, frowning. "There's too many people and my range isn't big enough yet. I need to get better at using it."

Zoro grunted as he pushed himself up. "You guys go look for her. I'll stay here and make sure that person who went after Rosan, doesn't come back to finish him off."

Sanji and Chopper nodded and the duo prepared to set off to do just that…

"LUFFY!" Nami shouted, causing all of them to jolt. "Bad news! Last night, Iceburg-san was shot!"

The rubber boy's eyes widened at that. "Ice guy was shot?!"

The navigator nodded. "There's a huge uproar going on right now! The town is going crazy!"

"Who's Iceburg?" Sanji asked curiously.

"The mayor of this city and the president of the shipbuilding company," she explained.

Sanji raised a brow. "Quite the big shot…"

Luffy frowned at that. "I'm gonna go check things out."

The rubber boy leapt off his perch and Nami said, "Wait, I'm coming with you!"

"Don't forget to be on the lookout for Robin!" Sanji barked. "C'mon Chopper, let's go."

The reindeer nodded and the two walked off.

Zoro frowned and closed his eyes.

Everything was going way out of control. He'd need to be prepared.

---

Franky froze in disbelief, as he gauged the state of the Franky House.

"Kiwi… Mozu… am I dreaming this?" He asked, as his rage began surging.

"No, bro. This is definitely where the Franky House used to be," Mozu stated in surprise.

"But this is… brutal," Kiwi said in shock.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!" Franky roared, pupils dilating as he began heaving in anger.

Then an epiphany hit him.

"Straw Hat," he snarled.

---

"Chimney! Gonbe," Kokoro called. "Pack up your bags! We're heading back to Water 7!"

A southern wind with rough waves…

Staying out here wouldn't be very good.

"Okay!" Chimney beamed.

"Looks like Aqua Laguna is on its way."

---

Luffy and Nami had made their way over to Iceburg's mansion in hopes of seeing him, but unfortunately it was far too packed.

It would be impossible to even get a glimpse…

What were they going to do now—

Suddenly, a rhythm began playing through the air and the crowd of people got even more restless.

"It can't be!" Someone in the crowd panicked.

"Not him!" Another moaned in defeat.

"?" Luffy and Nami tilted their head to the side.

What was going on?

Their curiosity was soon revealed in the worst way.

Way up on a tall building, was a weirdo doing some type of bizarre performance along with two woman.

This was one of the most peculiar people they had seen yet…

He was tall, with enormous forearms, bright blue hair, an angular chin, a weird metal nose… and he was dressed in a speedo along with an open Hawaiian shirt.

"Who's this weirdo?" Luffy asked with a puzzled expression.

"He called himself Franky… you don't think he's the same Franky that's apart of the Franky Family, right?" Nami asked with wide eyes.

As if answering their answers. Franky pushed his shades up.

"STRAW HAT! COME ON OUT!" The boss of the Franky Family shouted.

Luffy's gaze darkened. This was Franky?

"HEY SPEEDO GUY!" Luffy shouted, despite Nami's urging.

"Huh?!" Franky raised an incredulous brow and glanced down at the one who said that.

The rubber boy glared up at him. "I'm Luffy."

Franky's brow raised even higher.

"Perfect. I was looking for you," the man sneered.

---

Iceburg awoke to many people surrounding him and gratefully accepted the glass of water hoisted his way.

"Thank goodness you're alive," Paulie sighed happily.

"We were so worried for you!" Kalifa admitted, tearing up at the thought of it.

The Mayor of Water 7 glanced at all his employees to the best of his ability.

"Sorry to make you all worry," Iceburg said slowly, still struggling a bit.

As his memories returned to him, the mayor suddenly said, "Last night… the one who entered my room…"

"That's still under investigation," Kalifa informed him but the Mayor just shook his head.

"No... I remember."

…

"What?! You do?!"

He nodded. "There were 3 people in the room. One was a large guy in a mask…"

His expression turned grave. "And the last two were Nico Robin and the Red Devil."

---

"Why did you trick Iceburg into thinking Rosan was with us?"

Izumi glanced over at the slightly angry woman and raised a brow.

"Because he's in no condition to defend himself. I doubt he's even been found yet," she thought cheekily.

"Everyone knows that where you go, he follows. You take orders from him after all so it would be suspicious if you showed up alone…" she answered in amusement.

"Besides, it's fine this way. With the town distracting the Straw Hats, you'll be able to quietly disappear like you wanted."

"I don't want this," Robin thought before swiftly banishing the thought. "As long as you leave them out of this."

"We had a deal after all," Izumi rolled her eyes. "Can I ask you though? Do you really think darling will take this lying down? I mean, you recognized the memory of him torturing me, so surely you know about his connection with Meiko. He's rather possessive, isn't he?"

The woman got up and leaned in to whisper in her ears.

"Or maybe you're doing this because you realize you'll never be able to matchup to the actual love of his life. Saving yourself from impending heartbreak?"

Robin said nothing but Izumi knew she got under the woman's skin.

"This is for the greater good, Robin-chan," Izumi chimed, sitting back down and sharpening her nails. "It's better to only lose one person, isn't it? You or you and your entire crew… Well the choice is obvious."

Yes… yes the choice was obvious…

But it was still so hard.

Robin shut her eyes and stayed silent.

---

"Gomu Gomu no Pistol!"

Franky sneered as he tanked the attack and retaliated with one of his own.

"Strong Right!"

Much to his annoyance, Straw Hat once again dodged the attack well before it reached him.

This was infuriating, the rubber boy couldn't be touched no matter what Franky shot his way.

Luffy frowned at how little effect his attacks had.

This cyborg dude was really weird. He could breathe fire, detach his arms, shoot out cannons and above all, had a hard body that took very little damage... without having a Devil Fruit.

It was about time to up the output—

The rubber boy stopped his plan of action and immediately jumped out of the way of a punch aimed for his cheek.

Franky was not so lucky and got sent a ways away from a similar blow.

"You've got a lot of nerve showing up here, Straw Hat."

Luffy blinked in confusion before sidestepping another attack thrown his way. "What did I do?" He asked.

"A lot of nerve?" Nami muttered in confusion.

"Hey hey! Don't get in my way!" Franky scowled, pushing himself out of the rubble.

Paulie's scowl deepened. "You know what you did! Last night, our Mayor was attacked by Nico Robin and the Red Devil, two people in YOUR CREW!"

A wave of shock ran through the crowd.

"The Red Devil?" Someone whispered fearfully.

"The pirate whose first bounty was 100 million?! He did this?"

Luffy's and Nami gaped in shock.

"W-WHAT?!" The captain shouted in confusion. "Rosan? Robin?! DON'T GO ACCUSING MY CREW OF DOING THIS!"

"Yeah! Rosan's injured! He was sleeping the entire time!" Nami shouted in agreement, a look of bewilderment on her features. "He's in no condition to go breaking into people's houses and trying to assassinate them!"

"SAVE IT! I DON'T WANNA HEAR YOUR EXCUSES!" Paulie roared.

The shipwright summoned his ropes and launched them at Luffy, only for the rubber boy to once again dodge the attack.

"We didn't attack anyone!" Luffy exclaimed, allowing himself to get hit by the bullets before rebounding them backwards. "Let us talk to the Mayor! We need to clear this up!"

"Not a chance!" Paulie shouted. "We're killing every single one of the Straw Hats today!"

"Hey she's apart of the Straw Hats too!" someone shouted making a grab for Nami…

Only to run headfirst into a steel wall that instantly knocked him unconscious.

"It seems we have been framed. Master Rosan has been fully incapacitated for the entire day and should still be sleeping," Clima murmured, as a wary Nami pieced him together.

"Luffy! I think we've been framed!" Nami shouted, using the iron cloud to completely shield herself from the people trying to grab at her.

"BY WHO?!" Luffy screamed as he bobbed and weaved through every single attack of the visibly frustrated shipwrights.

"Is this…?" Lucci thought to himself in slight disbelief as his entire onslaught failed to land on Straw Hat.

Nami huffed and threw out a massive gust of wind, that sent all but Luffy flying.

"W-WOAH!" Everyone shouted as they tumbled away.

"The same person who injured Rosan and kidnapped Robin," she whispered, grabbing onto the rubber boy. "C'mon we need to get out of here and find everyone else."

Luffy nodded and wrapped in arm around her waist, before he jumped, kicked his foot and jumped again until he was out of sight.

"What the hell?!" Franky thought. Damn they were impressive… that rubber boy was no joke being able to dodge every single one of those foremen like that.

Lucci and Kaku looked absolutely stunned, as they saw Luffy's manner of escape.

Robin tightly shut her newspaper.

"Rosan's hurt? No… that shouldn't be possible. Only something excessively strong can give him lasting injuries… so that must mean he's still incapacitated by what I said to him?!" she thought to herself.

She frowned sadly at that. She hadn't mean to hurt Rosan so badly, where he was even isolating himself from the crew...

Izumi's eyes were narrowed in confusion.

How did they know darling was so injured? Did they already find and tend to him…?

She was planning on freeing him right as they departed, then she'd catch up but it sounded like he already escaped.

How did they have a key to free him…?

"They're gonna start looking for you in earnest," Izumi grunted, grabbing Robin's arm and hoisting her up. "Let's go. We still have one last thing to do before we leave."

Robin was too caught up in her worries for Rosan to resist and Izumi wrapped the two of them in an illusion.

Izumi's frown deepened as a small tremor shot through her body.

A lifeless set of eyes piercing into her core, as heavy tremors shook her.

Losing control of her body.

A small knife used to torture the person she loved most.

I wish you were never born.

"I hope the consequences of this victory are worth it though, because if you thought things were bad now, I'm going to show you that it can get much worse."

She wasn't ready to face Rosan yet. Not here, not while so unprepared.

If that happened…

Izumi was unable to hide an even larger tremor.

---

"I want to talk to the Mayor," Luffy decided, as he and Nami perched out on a roof parallel to the mansion.

Nami sighed and nodded. "Okay, I'll come with you. How do you plan on sneaking in—"

The navigator let out a shriek as Luffy wrapped an arm around her waist, and rocketed right through the window.

"W-WHAT WAS THAT?!"

"STRAW HAT BROKE THROUGH THE WINDOW!"

"IN BROAD DAYLIGHT?!"

"WHERE ARE THE FOREMEN?!"

"THEY'RE DEPLOYING PEOPLE ON THE ISLAND SO THEY'RE BUSY!"

"Luffy you're a goddamn idiot," Nami hissed in rage as they began sprinting away from all the people chasing them.

The rubber boy scratched his head and laughed sheepishly, before they turned a corner.

The mass followed, only to yelp in shock as a gust of wind blew them away.

The two continued heading straight for Iceburg, before surprisingly, Kalifa ushered them in with a whisper.

"?!" They tilted their head, listening as the woman informed them that they were nowhere to be seen.

The duo gazed at the bedridden Iceburg with twin frowns.

"Letting us in after accusing us of trying to assassinate you is a bit bizarre," Nami stated.

"I don't think you'd barge in my room in broad daylight to try and kill me," Iceburg observed accurately.

"I'm here to know the real story!" Luffy demanded.

The mayor stared at them. "I saw Nico Robin along with The Red Devil, Rosan and a large man with my own eyes, before they attacked me."

Nami shook her head immediately at that. "That's not possible! Rosan's severely injured and can barely move! He couldn't have been in your room last night because we made sure he was sleeping to recover quicker."

"If Rosan wanted you dead, you'd be dead," Luffy frowned, not buying it for a second.

"?! Injured?" Iceburg thought in confusion. The redhead who had watched the entire event unfold with that lifeless expression, didn't look injured whatsoever.

Were they lying to cover their crewmate?

"You mentioned a large man?" Nami asked curiously.

The mayor nodded slowly.

"Rosan's the tallest member in the crew," she denied instantly. "Isn't it a little suspicious that you could clearly see Robin and Rosan, but not this stranger who we don't even know?" She argued with a deep frown.

Iceburg paused as he pondered the observation.

"We were framed," Nami informed him with a pleading expression. "There's someone out there, who's targeting both Rosan and Robin and they're using you to do it."

"…" Iceburg's expression furrowed.

Their expressions were earnest… but Nico Robin was also one of the last people who could read the Poneglyph and what was being said about the Red Devil.

Cruel, demonic, with a Mythical Zoan of sorts… He had earned his bounty after wiping out the majority of a Marine squad.

But if he took out a Marine Squad… why did he fail to kill Iceburg?

He needed answers.

"I want to talk to Nico Robin and Rosan," Iceburg demanded, pointing a gun at them.

Nami's eyes widened at the violent action, as Luffy stepped in front of her.

"Rosan's sleeping and hurt. We don't know where Robin is," he answered bluntly.

That was the wrong thing to say because clearly, Iceburg was tired of them.

The Mayor shot at them and Luffy pulled Nami out of the way, before leaping out of the window and flying away.

Iceburg watched them leave with a conflicted expression, filled with some doubts.

Why did one of the assassins have a mask on… while Nico Robin and Rosan were showing their faces freely?

"We were framed."

Iceburg pursed his lips in confusion.

Something was going on here… did he accuse the wrong crew?

But he knew what he saw…

Did he?

---

Chopper and Sanji had just learned of the Aqua Laguna and were a little worried for Usopp's safety.

It was an annual storm.. where a high tide would crash and completely cover the lower part of the city.

So they ran off to where the Going Merry was located to try and alert Usopp about it.

(He did not hear much, only about a high tide)

Now, they were learning that the crew was being targeted… On the newspaper an assassination attempt on Iceburg had been attempted and the main culprits were the Straw Hat Pirates, particularly, Robin and Rosan.

"But Rosan's injured! He couldn't have possibly done this," Sanji muttered in confusion.

"Someone's lying!" Chopper agreed.

What was going on?

---

Zoro read the newspaper in his hiding spot with a frown.

"Attempted assassination? But Rosan's been injured this whole time," he muttered.

The redhead was the only one willing to assassinate someone and if he did try to do so, no one would know it was him. He was a master at his craft and wouldn't make such a severe mistake like leaving him alive or having his face shown.

Even after all these years, no one had a clue he was Reaper except for people he deigned to tell.

Wait a second.

Zoro's jaw dropped.

"I left him in the hotel!"

---

Rosan's eyes snapped open and he immediately pushed himself into a handstand to avoid the person attempting to grab him.

Then, he slammed a foot down on the opposing person's head and embedded it firmly into the ground.

"Even without your abilities, you're still hellishly strong."

Rosan ignored them, eyes roving over all the people crowding his room with a calculating gaze.

"What is the meaning of this? Didn't anyone ever tell you it's rude to enter without knocking?" The redhead intoned.

None of these people were a threat to him. They were all just civilians with weapons.

Was this a ploy by Izumi? Why would she send civilians after him?

"Iceburg was in a coma and you think you can just sleep away?!" Someone shouted.

"You damn assassin! We'll have your head!"

"?" Rosan tilted his head to the side.

Who the hell was Iceburg?

Assassin? Rosan was a professional assassin to the point where hardly a soul knew he was an assassin.

If he attempted to kill someone, they died and no one would ever know it was him.

"Illusion whore set you up I'd imagine."

That was the most likely outcome.

Rosan scowled. "I'm not in the mood, civilians. Get out of my way."

He didn't want to fight them… he still needed to regain his abilities... he was probably going to gain it sometime tonight or the next day but that was just too long.

The redhead wasn't going to waste his time with these idiots. He focused and had his Raid Suit cover his entire body, ignoring the panicked yells, before leaping on the railing of the window and rocketing off.

"GET BACK HERE!"

"AFTER HIM!"

"HE'S TOO FAST!"

"First things first, locate Robin's Save Point."

The redhead utilized his boots to land on a roof and focused hard.

It took longer then he'd have liked, but he eventually managed to pinpoint it and he rocketed off to the direction of it.

The night sky had long arrived and he felt annoyed at not having Modification to help him see better. At least him sleeping through the whole day put him in workable (he was still very injured) conditions.

"Where is the rest of the crew? Have they been compromised?" He thought with pursed lips.

So much to do… Could he deal with Cipher Pol by himself in this condition?

Unlikely.

Rosan grunted as he landed where the Save Point felt strongest and his frown turned into a deep scowl of rage when he saw that it wasn't around Robin's neck.

The pendant lie there, hidden perfectly from view, with a note on it.

"Please do not look for me. It's time we part ways here, Rosan. Thank you for everything... but I've decided that this is for the best."

"Oof, getting dumped over note must suck."

…

"I mean can you imagine, best friend of 20 years just deciding to cut you off and she doesn't even have the balls to do it face to face?"

…

"Maybe she really is the Devil of Ohara… I don't even think I'd do something that cold—"

"She thinks she can make these decisions on her own now?"

Pestilence went silent at that eerily calm voice.

"Nico Robin thinks she can decide to cut off our relationship on her own?"

The virus' eyes went a little wide in excitement as venomous anger slowly but surely seeped into Rosan's voice.

"She thinks I'd ALLOW THAT?!" He roared, making Pestilence jump at the volume.

"WHO THE FUCK DOES SHE THINK SHE IS?! SHE THINKS SHE CAN DECIDE THESE THINGS ON HER OWN?! NO! NO SHE CAN'T! SHE THINKS I'LL SIT HERE AND LET HER THROW HER LIFE AWAY FOR NO GOOD FUCKING REASON?!"

UNACCEPTABLE. ABSOLUTELY UNACCEPTABLE. ROSAN WOULD DRAG HER BACK KICKING AND SCREAMING IF HE HAD TO, BECAUSE ROBIN DIDN'T GET TO DECIDE THINGS LIKE THAT ON HER OWN.

SHE WAS HIS. NICO ROBIN. BELONGED. TO. HIM. NOT ANYONE ELSES! HIS! SHE COULD ONLY MAKE THIS DECISION WHEN THEY TALKED ABOUT IT. NOT WHILE SHE WAS IN THE HAND OF THE FUCKING. WORLD. GOVERNMENT!

"Pestilence," Rosan snarled hatefully, hunching over as a deep black miasma began roiling off of him.

"I'm on it, Rose," Pestilence saluted, grinning in psychotic excitement. "You won't be able to use it long, so you need to go after their most resourceful asset before you become powerless again."

"Most resourceful... who is that?" He hissed, black sclera pulsing wildly as the miasma began thickening over his raid suit.

"Why… it's the one who's closest to accessing your Pocket Dimension of course."

Rosan's anger deepened even further and a snarl of hatred escaped his mouth. The miasma completely covered the redhead from head to toe, until not even his eyes were visible.

No, the only thing visible under that amorphous figure, was a glowing red orb in the left socket of the hole and a glowing purple in the right socket.

"That's right. Let me in, Rose. Show them why no one should mess with you. Let me in."

The area where the creatures mouth should be… actually opened to reveal a gaping white maw and Rosan let out a distorted roar as the very ground underneath him began to dissolve.

"RAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

The black figure rocketed off with murder on its mind, beelining directly for the intruder who thought they could take what was his.

---

Earlier

"You forgot Rosan?" Nami hissed, battering the swordsman with a furious glare.

"They suddenly swarmed me outta nowhere so it slipped my mind," Zoro frowned, crossing his arms.

"We should go get him!" Chopper decided, before Sanji stopped him with a shake of his head.

"Don't you remember what he said? Finding Robin takes priority, even if he's still sleeping. Rosan will be fine," the chef said calmly.

Luffy nodded. "He'll be fine. Rosan's a light sleeper. We need to get to Robin."

Nami frowned in worry. "But how? Do we know where she is? Or where she'll be?"

The woman was in the grasp of a group of assassins and they surely knew how to hide her presence, especially because Rosan mentioned one of them could control illusions.

"Master Nami… I have an idea of where they will be headed."

Nami listened to Clima before her gaze went wide. "Of course!"

Everyone glanced over at her in shock. "What's the matter Nami?"

"The guys who framed us, left that Mayor alive for a reason," Nami explained. "It's so that we could take the blame! Now that the blame is firmly on us, they're—"

"Going to finish the mission they started and kill the mayor," Sanji finished grimly.

"What?! No way!" Luffy scowled. "We won't let that happen!"

"They're probably gonna do it tonight so that's our best bet of getting Robin," Zoro guessed.

The Straw Hats nodded.

They would strike tonight then.

---

That Night

"Do you remember the plan?"

Robin nodded with a neutral expression on her face. "It's not a difficult mission. I just wait for your signal and kill him."

The tall man wearing a bear mask nodded. "Then Izumi will start us off."

She knew the Straw Hats showing up were inevitable. The woman had her observation out and she could feel them, waiting.

But Rosan was not with them.

Good, if Rosan was here, she wouldn't be able to hold out. She couldn't stand to see his heartbroken face again. Not after knowing that she was the one who broke it.

"Job correct. Crew lives," Izumi intoned shortly, voice flat and emotionless, much like how it always was when she wasn't alone with the psychotic woman.

Robin simply nodded and adjusted her shades, which allowed her to see the ring resting on her finger.

A surge of agony coursed through her body, as she saw the ring that matched with Rosan's before she masked it once more.

"Izumi, you know what to do," Blueno muttered.

"Illusion up," she muttered, hiding the two from view up until they made it to a wall and Blueno activated his Devil Fruit.

For the umpteenth time, Robin couldn't help but notice the similarities between this man's Devil Fruit… and Rosan's Pocket Dimension but perhaps she just couldn't stop thinking of her best friend.

The two swiftly made their way over to Iceburg's location and entered seamlessly with the resourceful Devil Fruit.

The Mayor in question, was lying on his bed and staring at them in surprise.

"So that's how you managed to sneak in the first time," Iceburg praised.

"That's right," Blueno muttered, before pulling out a gun and shooting the man.

Robin tilted her head. "What are you doing? We're not supposed to kill him yet." She stated calmly.

"He has the energy to talk. We must properly immobilize him," Blueno said matter of factly, before turning on a heel and walking out of the door. "Remember the signal."

Robin watched him leave with a neutral expression.

"Ah so we finally meet, Nico Robin… and it's without your guardian too."

The Devil Child froze at that, turning towards the prone Iceburg pointing a gun at her.

"Finally the day has come, where I can silence the Devil of Ohara," Iceburg stated confidently, despite his injuries.

"You have a problem with me as well then?" Robin asked neutrally.

Of course he did. Everyone had a problem with her. Everyone only judged her based on her bounty and what they've heard of what she was capable of.

All except for him.

"Of course. After all, you're the only person alive who can pinpoint where the Ancient Weapons are and you're even taking orders from a rather dangerous person too."

Robin's eyes narrowed at that and she immediately summoned a flurry of arms that quickly disabled the man. "Do not speak of Rosan in front of me. You wouldn't even begin to understand him so don't pretend like you do."

Iceburg struggled a bit but went limp. "It's not hard to understand. The Devil of Ohara who can read the Poneglyphs, allying themselves with the Red Devil, famous for their cruel and cold demeanor. What else would he want but to activate the ancient weapons?"

Her expression turned frosty. "You don't know anything. Refrain from opening your mouth again or else I'm going to forcefully silence you."

The Mayor simply laughed, unbothered by her threat. "You're going to kill me regardless. I have no idea why you, who has been running from the World Government for 20 years, would suddenly team up with them… but I imagine this didn't sit well with the Red Devil did it?"

"So the Straw Hats were right on one point. The Red Devil didn't do this... it was only you. Are you proud of this? Framing your lover and throwing him to the dogs? You truly are the Devil —"

The arms restraining him began to brutally choke him, until he went slightly limp and Robin released her grip.

"…" The woman turned away from him and simply awaited her signal. She refused to show how much that final sentence affected her.

"Rosan would never use me… which is why this hurts all the more because I'm betraying the one person who loves me for me."

---

"I feel Robin," Luffy said, gazing at a random space of the crowded mansion, that was seemingly empty.

"Where is she?!" Sanji asked as he prepared to dive into the building.

"In the house. She's by the mayor," Luffy frowned.

Their eyes widened at that. "Alright let's get in there then."

Nami smiled determinedly. "Luffy shoot us high all high with that rocket, I can get us in there!"

"There's people up there too," Luffy pointed out.

"It'll be faster then dealing with all the people down there. It should take them a while to reach the rooftop," Nami urged.

The rubber boy nodded and wrapped one arm around the wary crew, before launching them high into the sky.

The navigator summoned an iron cloud under them and had the entire group land on it, before slowly but surely making it descend to the rooftop.

"You didn't think you could enter through the roof for free could you?!" Someone shouted.

"No but it should be much easier," the Straw Hats declared.

Izumi watched the pirate group with a tilted head and decided against slowing them down.

She wanted Robin to see them.

That was odd though… where exactly was Rosan? When she went to check the warehouse, no one was there except for the discarded handcuffs and dried blood so he should be with the Straw Hats.

Was he perhaps still too injured?

He should still be heavily incapacitated. She had not struck anything lethal, but enough where recovering would be a tall task. He should have access to his Devil Fruit... but with those injuries, he would be useless.

Perfect. The Straw Hats were formidable but Izumi knew that Rosan was the true demon of that group—

Izumi's instincts began screaming at her and she completely froze, pupils going white as a primal terror coursed through her body.

This feeling... it was oh so similar to the day that everything in her life changed for the worst.

She had always had good instinct. It's how she had found this Devil Fruit. It's how she survived.

It's how she knew Reaper was going to arrive moments before he did and slaughtered everyone.

It's how she knew that something dangerous was very quickly on the way. On the level of… no… even more dangerous then Reaper.

"We need to go. Now," Izumi thought, unknowingly wrapping her arms around herself as that deep seated fear of Rosan came roaring out.

---

Iceburg couldn't believe the series of events that were currently transpiring.

Straw Hat really had been framed completely. Nico Robin allied herself with the World Government. The Red Devil was nowhere to be seen... no the Pirates hadn't set him up.

The culprits had been… had been people he had thought he knew for 5 years.

Kalifa, Kaku, Blueno… and Lucci.

Even after leading them on and showing them the fake blueprint, Iceburg never accounted for the people pursuing it, to be so close to him in relationship… so they even correctly deduced that the person who had the blueprints was Franky.

Now, he was about to die and Straw Hat was about to take the blame for something that wasn't their fault—

"ROBIN!"

Robin's eyes closed in acceptance, as the entirety of the Straw Hat crew, burst through the door with looks of determination.

She knew they were coming. She felt them the entire time.

That's why it was much easier for her to don this mask.

An injured Paulie (Luffy had saved him) looked at the ones hovering over Iceburg with a look of shock.

Was that… what?

Lucci? Kaku? Blueno… Kalifa?!

"Luffy, did Rosan not read the note to you? I'm leaving and I'm not coming back," Robin said calmly.

Luffy tilted his head to the side, eyes never leaving Lucci. "What note? Rosan's badly injured! He's been sleeping all day!"

Robin froze at that. "He's… what? Injured? But how is that…" she tried to ask, trailing off as an intense look of concern crossed her features.

Every Straw Hat noted the look of concern and realized that Rosan was right, Robin really was trying to sacrifice herself for them.

"Robin, no one told you to do this," Zoro said calmly, gauging the appearances with an appraising eye and clutching one of his swords.

"Yeah, Rosan's been really stressed and if you go through with this, who knows what he's gonna do. Please just come back and let's talk about this," Nami placated, hoping that using the redhead would snap her out of this insane idea.

Stressed? Robin felt her worry magnify at that, her brows furrowing as she thought about her best friend.

How did he get injured? How bad was it that he was still hurt? They had mentioned him being hurt earlier today... and that was more then enough time for him to heal.

Did his emotional state perhaps slow down healing?

Maybe she should go check up on him—

I'm sure the Vice Admirals and Admirals would love to hunt down Reaper.

"Do you think we'll let that happen?" Lucci said seriously, eyes not once leaving Luffy.

Right… no matter what she wanted to do, she couldn't. Robin didn't even want to do this in the first place.

"You're the ones pushing Robin to do this," Luffy growled, cracking his knuckles. "I'm gonna kick your ass good, traitor guy."

Lucci's eyes narrowed at that claim. "Straw Hat… tell me something, how is it that you have two techniques of Rokushiki?"

The rubber boy tilted his head. "Huh? Rokuwhat?"

The agent felt a tick forming at that. "Rokushiki. An ancient martial arts taught to CP9 to turn us into living weapons. You have two of them. Geppo and Kami-e."

If they all had some of the techniques, there would be no way they could kill them before the building blew up.

The agents who didn't know, felt their eyes widen. "What?!" They gasped in shock, gazing at the rubber boy with disbelief.

"I dunno what those are," Luffy shrugged before a scowl made its way to his face. "STOP TRICKING ME!"

Lucci resisted the urge to snarl, hellbent on figuring out how he knew the techniques.

"Fine, I'll just beat the answers out of you," he decided.

"Lucci…" Kalifa warned. "The Mansion is about to blow up in 3 minutes. We cannot defeat them in that time frame. Especially if he knows the six powers."

"She's right. You saw how effortlessly Straw Hat dodged our attacks earlier today with Kami-e. If you add the other six powers into the mix, it will be far too long," Kaku stated.

"They think Luffy's Observation Haki is Kami-e," Nami thought to herself with a calculating frown.

They said he had two techniques… but all Luffy did that wasn't use his Devil Fruit was...

Ah! She got it! That flying technique of his! So these agents had reflexes to dodge attacks and the ability to kick off the air…

She would need to store that away for later.

Lucci finally calmed down at their words and sneered. "We need to ensure Iceburg dies but it appears that there's been a hitch… No matter, we already have the information we wanted so we can leave—"

A figure blurred into the room and Lucci's eyes turned to the panic stricken Izumi with a raised brow.

Robin went tense at the sight of the woman, wondering why she looked so fearful.

What had she seen?

"Go. Now. Leave this place," Izumi urged to her fellow agents. "We need to hurry and head back. Remember the deal with Nico Robin."

Robin's eyes fell at that a bit.

Lucci looked down at the woman with a look of disgust. "And what's got you so worked up? You coming here was already unnecessary but you have your uses. Now, at the moment of your victory, you reveal your true colors as a coward."

Izumi's eyes flashed in irritation, that Lucci's words normally didn't evoke, behind her shades.

Lucci felt a wave of tiredness hit him that vanished as quick as it came. He stumbled a bit and gazed at the puppet with a furious expression.

"Me being here is the only reason things went so smoothly," she hissed. "But everything we've done, will be for nothing if we stay here any longer. Abandon the ideal scenario. It's too late for that. Blueno get us out of here quickly."

Blueno raised a brow at the woman speaking far more then she ever had. "And why is it that it's too late?" he asked before acquiescing with her wish and summoning a door for them.

That's when Robin felt it and she felt her heart stop in a moment of true utter terror.

Evidently, Luffy felt it too because at once, they both looked in the same direction.

Hate. Disgust. Jealousy. Frustration. Loneliness. Fear…

But above all else… an all too familiar —

Rage.

Izumi shuddered and hastily shoved Robin through the agent's door, before following directly after her. "Because the actual Devil has finally arrived."

"RAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" A distorted roar sounded out in the distance that sent a primal and foreboding surge through every single person's bone.

Unlike a certain dragon, whose roar was dominating and powerful, this roar was more akin to a shriek that sounded as if they were grinding their claws against metal.

No one was able to resist covering their ears as that shriek got louder and louder and Blueno urged the other agents to enter his door so that they didn't have to see what that was.

It was for naught.

Everyone shuddered in horror, as two bright glowing orbs appeared directly outside of the window for a split second before it crashed through.

They watched as a serrated white maw, nothing inside, opened and the monster let its presence be known.

"RAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" The creature shrieked in fury, sharing its hatred with everyone there.

No one could keep the unease and fear off their faces, as the alien monster released a heavy pressure, filling the air with malice and disgust.

Hatred and rage washed over them all. Everyone in the room, barring the monster and Luffy, took a single step back as the negative emotions seeped into their bodies.

"W-W-What is that?" Nami and Kalifa asked in terror, gazing at... this thing as goosebumps began forming on their skin.

Iceburg nearly went into shock at the overwhelming pressure, clutching his chest in agony as the creatures disgusting presence threatened to consume his sanity.

"I've never seen anything like this before. What is this?!" The mayor thought in fear, crawling away from the amorphous beast.

For only a moment, there was a temporary lull, as the creature's red and purple sockets gazed at them all, floor degrading underneath them as it remained completely still.

Wait… red and purple sockets?

It couldn't be… was that…

The demonic looking creature was covered in a black aura that they couldn't properly identify as a gas, solid, or liquid, sticking onto them as if it was their skin from head to toe.

The only other things they could identify, was the long black spiky… tendrils that was their "hair" and as it snarled, they saw that the creature could almost form a mouth but it was as unnerving as the eyes, being just a gaping white serrated maw with no signs of actual teeth.

The eyes...

Where the creatures eyes should have been, was instead two perfectly drawn circles. There were no pupils, no sclera, just two circles… one was colored a blood red… and the other a royal purple.

Was this… was this eldritch horror… their scout?

Was this Rosan?

As if proving their observations, the demonic entity gazed at the Straw Hats for a moment, before shifting his gaze to the CP9 agents with pure hatred in its soulless eyes.

That disturbing pressure doubled at the shift of attention.

"T-That's Rosan?!" Izumi thought in horror, feeling signs of a panic attack forming at the strange and terrifying demon that wanted her dead.

The creature's strange skin, erupted from their body, transforming into what seemed to be a solid and liquid tendril that immediately latched onto Blueno's leg right before he could step through the door.

The agent let out a surprised yell, as he was forced to the floor, clawing at the ground beneath him as he was dragged towards the hellish creature.

All the while, he began screeching in genuine agony that had everyone wincing. The area where the tendril wrapped around, was akin to being dipped in acid and they watched in disgust as it began searing through his skin like it were made of butter.

Izumi watched on in horror, even as the door of Blueno's creation got smaller and smaller. "W-What? But… But I thought…?"

What was he?! What was this Devil Fruit?!

"You would use this power so brazenly to take what's MINE? A power that brings you to MY dimension with MY WOMAN?!" The creature hissed venomously in that distorted and ear bleeding voice of it.

Robin flinched back at that. Was... Was Rosan calling her his woman? So this truly was her best friend (she had no right to call him that)?

Did... Did Robin guide Rosan right into Pestilence's hand...?

"You must learn what it means to intrude upon a demon's belongings. Even one time is one too many, so you will be made a lesson of," the creature promised, words leaving its mouth despite said mouth not moving.

The tendril began dissolving the area around Blueno's leg to the bone, as the man tried to activate Tekkai, eyes widening in fear as the defensive move failed to protect him.

Not done yet, even more tendrils formed from the horrific creature and wrapped around every part of Blueno's limbs, sinking into him like his skin was made of paper and causing the man to howl in agony. Only for that scream to be cut off as the strange tendril slammed down his throat in a liquid state.

His eyes rolled back in agony as he gargled.

"My Kami what is this? Was Rosan really pushed to this point? W-What's he doing?!"

The Straw Hats were frozen tight, as they watched the black creature begin slowly murdering the agent.

His dimension? The creature could only be talking about how similar the Doa Doa no Mi felt to the Pocket Dimension.

But this... this was hard to watch. Rosan was paying no regards to anything or anyone, torturing the man before him with something they haven't ever seen.

"Rosan! Are you okay?! What's happening?" Luffy asked in concern, taking a step towards his brother with a worried gaze.

"Don't come closer!" The monster hissed in that spine chilling voice. "If you touch me, nothing good will come out of it! Back away from me!"

The captain of the Straw Hats paused at that, glancing at his corrupted older brother with a deep frown.

"Are you going to stay like this, Rosan?" He asked seriously.

The creature turned his attention off of Blueno, never once removing the tendrils from the horrified man, to regard his captain for but a split second. "...Everything will be dealt with in time. Once that happens, I will rest," was all it said.

Robin felt her fears get confirmed at that. She knew what this creature was… but she didn't realize this was the effect she would have had on him…

She was... what was she doing? This... This was everything Mod-chan wanted to avoid and Robin herself had pushed Rosan to this state.

"Rosan…" she couldn't help but whisper in sorrow, only to immediately freeze as those circles turned towards her and pinned her in place.

Rage. Love. Rage. Love. Rage. Love. Rage. Love. Love. Love. Love. RAGE.

Robin felt herself freeze as the overwhelming emotions crashed into her and the woman gained an uneasy expression as the monster stared at her with disturbing focus.

She understood why so many people feared Rosan... but Robin never quite got why they were just so afraid of him.

Don't get her wrong, she could see why they feared him... but she could never truly understand just what about the redhead made them truly terrified.

He didn't have one single trait in her eyes that made him truly worthy of all the fear he garnered. All his traits, were overshadowed by the fact that he was always such a lovable person.

Robin herself had almost never once felt afraid of the redhead and the one time she did, she immediately banished that fear.

"You never have to be afraid of me… unless I'm upset with you."

She now saw why people feared him. Robin now knew what single trait made Rosan so scary.

It was his anger.

Robin was terrified.

"ROBINNNNNNNNN!" The creature shrieked in raw fury and she flinched back, as a shudder crawled down her spine.

Unwittingly, she took a step back as the eldritch horror removed every single tendril from Blueno and turned to fully face the Robin rapidly disappearing from its view.

Then, the black… entity began to dissolve off its skin, revealing the scout in all his glory.

His hair was out of its bun, running wild all the way past his shoulder (she desperately needed to cut it) and to the middle of his back. He was wrapped up in bandages that only meant he had been severely injured and he was breathing harshly, still not anywhere close to 100% but still moving forward because of the boiling rage in those heterochromatic eyes… with a completely black sclera.

But the worst part... were the snow white strands running through his long hair, blending in with his blood red locks.

"I really did push him to using the virus," Robin thought in horror.

First the virus used Robin to break Rosan... now Robin once more pushed Rosan into the virus' waiting arms...

She was just...

Portgas D. Rosan gazed at her with such palpable fury, that Robin distantly realized this was the first time he was truly furious with her.

The redhead watched the door begin closing and slowly walked towards it.

"Nico Robin," Rosan snarled, glaring at her with all the rage in his body. His gaze was filled with such heat, she wouldn't be surprised if he started spewing lasers from them.

Robin froze up at the fact that he used her full name and like a deer caught in headlights, she only gazed at him with a fear similar to the one a child would give their parent after being caught.

"No excuse in the world will get you out of this shitstorm that you caused but I beg you to think of one anyways because when I get you back, we're going to have a very long talk about how fucking stupid you are," Rosan hissed, eyes flashing murderously as he gazed at every single CP9 agent.

It was only then that Robin realized how stupid her plan had been.

Disappear quietly? Vanish from his sight? Leave him a note saying not to seek her out?

Rosan was a demon of jealousy and possession. He was never going to rest until he knew exactly what happened to her. He was never going to let her go until she told him to his face that she wanted to go.

Their family never had a problem with Rosan's possessiveness, because they knew they would never push him to show just how wildly territorial he was.

But Robin had done so and she was seeing in full effects that when Rosan claimed something was his, nothing would get in his way of getting it back.

"Rosan I didn't..." Robin tried but the redhead was having none of it.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" He roared and she flinched back harshly at the genuine rage and hurt in his voice, going silent immediately with a burned expression. "JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP! YOU THINK YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO EXPLAIN YOURSELF?! YOU THINK YOU DESERVE TO TALK ME DOWN RIGHT NOW?! SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!"

Robin took a step back and wisely remained silent, glancing at the floor like a properly scolded child.

"Count your days CP9. I'm going to make you regret every single decision you've ever made, especially you Izumi," Rosan snarled, glaring at the frightened woman with a look that promised death.

The woman stepped back in terror, gazing at the redhead with a long repressed fear.

That fear only heightened, as Rosan showed off a serrated and sadistic grin, a goopy black substance dripping from his jagged sharp teeth.

"Ahhh you're finally showing how afraid of me you really are but it's too late. When I get my hands on you, I'll drag all that fear out into the open. I'll remind you of our first meeting."

"He's going to torture me again!" Izumi froze, resisting the urge to tear up at that terrifying prospect.

With that, the door to Blueno's fruit shut.

"R-Rosan! He's getting away!" Nami shouted, bringing the redhead's attention to the agent who he had brutally assaulted.

The man, despite the excruciating pain he had been in, miraculously managed to create another door underneath him and promptly vanished into it.

"Not to worry. I've dealt with him. He is no longer a threat," Pestilence reassured, grinning with hungry eyes.

"...How was he even able to move? I seared his body through," the redhead asked with a livid expression.

"Just a little something to slow them down a bit further. It would be a waste to die immediately. He may as well go out with a bang."

"Make sure Robin does not get affected by this or death will be something you'll never experience, but always crave."

"Didn't I tell you I want her saved? What good would I do killing her?"

Rosan gazed uncaringly at the spot Blueno was at, eyes still black and smoldering. "It doesn't matter if he's escaped. This building is about to blow up so we need to leave."

"It doesn't?" Zoro asked in confusion, gazing at the redhead with wide eyes.

The crew never knew Rosan could do something like that… and judging by his wide eyes, even Luffy didn't know.

Just what was that?

"No. It doesn't," he said, taking a deep breath and summoning a strange black ball.

This time, it was once again a mixture of solid and liquid, showing off a gelatinous ball that Rosan proceeded to crush.

"White Rage," was all he said.

They didn't know what it did but Rosan clearly did.

"Come, grab that mayor and let's evacuate the building."

Iceburg looked at the living demon and found himself wondering if this Rosan really needed the ancient weapons.

---

"I thought reports said he was a Mythical Zoan that could transform into some type of dragon. That was not a dragon."

"Your guess is as good as mine. We already were reluctant to deal with him before but we still carried out the mission, now he has yet another weapon? What the hell was that?"

"Should we risk going for Cutty Flam?"

"Without Blueno? The mission's already been compromised, all of Water 7 will soon know we're the ones behind the attack and there's some type of demon hunting us down. We will return for Franky another time."

Izumi said nothing as her allies discussed their next course of action with each other. No, she had a much bigger elephant in the room to dwell on (that her allies happened to mention).

What the fuck was Reaper's Devil Fruit?

She had agonized over it for many years and deduced that he had a Zoan that transformed him into a crow or raven and just never used the full transformation aspect.

A bit far-fetched, considering he had a technique that allowed him to instantly teleport to a person but she didn't have much to work with.

After seeing his bounty poster as Rosan, Izumi had searched up what they knew about him… and was understandably shocked to see that his fruit was labeled as a Mythical Zoan which allowed him to transform into a Dragon.

It almost made her think Rosan had a twin. He did have those two others that looked just like him so maybe he had a big family…

But the look in his eyes. The look in that bounty poster… that was him. It couldn't be anyone else.

So Izumi assumed he had a shape shifting Devil Fruit that allowed him to utilize the creature who he transformed into.

That train of thought made her realize dealing with him was going to be impossible, which was why she ambushed him with the illusion of Meiko and brought seastone with her.

But like the freak of nature he was… it seemed he had completely ignored his injuries and revealed yet another transformation, all but confirming her previous theory.

Worst, this was the scariest transformation yet and she didn't know what creature it was.

She glanced over at the subdued and defeated Nico Robin and realized this woman might have a clue.

"Count your days CP9. I'm going to make you regret every single decision you've ever made, especially you Izumi."

Izumi shuddered strongly at that. She couldn't fight Reaper here. She needed more preparation.

"We need to go. That high tide is also going to crash into us and without Blueno, finding out Franky's location and capturing him may take even longer. We know he has the blueprint, we know they will be recuperating. We turn Nico Robin over and return with reinforcements."

Lucci glanced over at her. "Very well. We must at least complete one mission and report Blueno's death to—"

Conversation halted, as Blueno himself appeared through a created door and landed in front of them with a pained groan.

Despite the hellish treatment earlier, the agent still seemed somewhat coherent and they glanced over at him in clear surprise.

Was the Red Devil's technique not as strong as he made it out to be? If that were the case, they could receive Cutty Flam.

"You're alive. Perfect," Lucci nodded. His Devil Fruit was useful. It made him the most valuable person here to the leopard.

"Can you move?" Kaku asked the heaving man. "If so, we can resume capture of Franky and quickly escape the island."

Blueno ignored the agony he was in and dry heaved a bit from the fact that the liquid tendril had entered his mouth.

"I can summon one more door before I require medical attention. Let's do this quickly, that monster's touch ignores Tekkai and I feel—"

("White Rage")

Whatever Blueno was about to say, was cut off, as he began to suddenly throw up an inky black, tar-like, liquid.

"Blueno?!" Kalifa shouted in shock as the man began screaming.

"R-AAGHH" Blueno roared in agony as that black goo began spilling from every crevice of his body.

"Is this… the virus?!" Robin watched with wide eyes as the strange material that Rosan had been using earlier, poured out of the man like it were his own blood.

Everyone stepped back as that black goo, surged around Blueno's screaming body, covering him from head to toe and causing the man to howl in agony...

Only for the howling to stop.

They tensed, as their fellow agent stood up slowly before letting out a bestial roar and drunkenly charging Kalifa.

As he looked up, they saw uncontrolled and the fury filled eyes of Blueno... his eyes were bloodshot, before the entirety of his sclera turned pitch black and a plague doctors mask formed on his face.

"RAGGHHHH!" Blueno howled, as the black tendrils began pulsing across his body with a mind of their own.

The agents lunged back in disbelief, not wanting to be touched by that strange material at all costs.

"W-What do we do?!" Kalifa shouted in terror, resisting the urge to screech as the tendril nearly wrapped around her leg.

"Kill him," Lucci said coldly.

The leopard cocked his leg back and said, "Rankakyu."

The slicing wind soared towards the mindless and controlled Blueno, before the tendrils transformed into a solid and formed a makeshift shield, blocking the attack completely.

"W-What?" They thought in horror, watching that makeshift shield form into a large black fist that lunged for Lucci.

What was this? What had the Red Devil done?! Had he transformed Blueno into... an inky zombie?!

The body of Blueno opened its mouth, shooting out a black liquid that Kalifa flew above. She watched in horror as the area she stood in began melting, before that black liquid dissipated before lunging away in horror, as Blueno dipped into his pocket dimension and appeared above her.

"He can still use his Devil Fruit?!" They thought in disbelief, barraging him with their respective Rankakyu's and failing as the ink protected him.

Robin froze as the creature locked onto her, noticing that she was still on the floor, and it took a single step towards the Devil Child... but her shock turned into confusion, as it suddenly seized up and began violently convulsing.

"Does it... recognize me?" she thought in confusion, watching as the tendrils began assaulting their captive.

The tendrils began tightening around Blueno's body violently, making a form of clarity register in the man's gaze.

"H-HELP!" Blueno shouted in genuine fear, even as that black goo began solidifying more and more around his body. "S-SOMEONE GET THIS THING OFF ME! I-I CAN'T CONTROL MYSELF. I CAN'T THINK STRAIGHT! H-HELP!"

The CP9 agents just watched in stunned silence, not expecting such an outburst from Blueno.

How would they even get this thing off of him? They saw the damage it did. They knew what it was capable of...

What could they do —

"A-ARGHHH!" Blueno howled in fear, as the pain hit. His loss of control had helped him ignore it... but currently his body had been seeped in the black goo... so it had been dissolving this entire time in the substance that felt like acid.

Even if they did remove the mysterious substance, they would be in for the shock of their life at what was underneath.

Well, they'd find out soon anyways.

The tendrils stopped wrapping around Blueno's trapped and incapacitated body, satisfied with the progress they made. Then, they began looming right next to his head, forming more and more tendrils that began coalescing together, until it formed something vaguely familiar.

It took them too late to realize why it looked so familiar.

Because it was a mouth.

"Help me... please!" Blueno begged in a moment of true terror.

In that moment, Blueno wasn't apart of the strongest generation of Cipher Pol. Wasn't a super soldier. Wasn't a cold blooded assassin who had been ruthlessly infiltrating a place and forging fake bonds all for the sake of securing an ancient super weapon.

No, in that moment Blueno was a normal and terrified man who was afraid of death.

Just like every other human.

Before they could look away, the inky black maw lunged and clamped around Blueno's head.

Crunch.

...

Drip... drip...

Then, it vanished as if it never existed. The black goo, the black smoke... the black liquid... all gone without a trace.

All that was left, was Blueno's horrifically mutilated body.

None could look at Blueno's body for long. Even battle hardened assassins like CP9, cringed at the sight before them.

"I believe we should board the sea train," Kaku said quietly.

No one had any complaints.

"I-I... so this is Reaper... this is the man who can even invoke fear out of the fearless," Izumi thought in terror.

Would she... w-would she have to fight that? Would she have to suffer like Blueno did...?

No... it was too late to back down. She'd need to fight that creature. Rosan would hunt her down with his dying breath now... so she needed to finish this.

Robin watched the entire thing with wide terrified eyes.

Was this what the virus was capable of? Was that why their name was Pestilence? This ability... to infect Blueno like this...

This was bad. This was very bad... That same Pestilence, seemed to have a firm latch on Rosan, who was hellbent on coming to her.

Now that she knew the Straw Hats were coming for her no matter what…

What could she even do? If she resisted, they'd kill her. If they came, they would die.

She shut her eyes tightly.

Robin had made everything worse. Now, she had to watch them throw their lives away attacking the World Government.

---

"I targeted that man for a reason. I won't have my full abilities for a bit longer, so I got rid of their most resourceful member," Rosan grunted, normal heterochromatic eyes, smoldering.

"He's dead. He was going to attack your wench so I silenced him. Such a shame," Pestilence faux sighed.

"Is that why you didn't go straight for Robin-chan?" Sanji asked curiously, stamping down his fear at the unnerving creature the redhead had just been.

The redhead nodded. "Yes. She was already in the door and being guarded by the agents and I didn't have much longer until that form ran out. I need my powers back to increase my chances of saving her to positive levels… and taking out that man in the process, has increased it considerably."

If he could use Pestilence for a little longer, he could have potentially ended it right then and there but since he couldn't, he settled for going after the man who had the potential to access his Pocket Dimension.

The Doa Doa no Mi… He'd need to ensure no enemy got that Devil Fruit... Blueno couldn't directly enter his dimension and Rosan couldn't directly enter those little pockets... but with enough practice, the man would have discovered it.

Which was why he had wanted to spare the man and leave him captured until he could extract it… but the virus had something else to say.

"It's been a while since I killed someone. I couldn't resist and since we didn't have enough power, we couldn't fully control him back to us for you to do whatever it was you wanted with him. He was destined to die."

He grunted. It wasn't a big deal because if they did access his Pocket Dimension, he'd know.

Be that it may, Pestilence's power was useful.

"You won't be able to use it again for a while. This castle prevents me from doing too much so now it's time to wait for Mod to wake up."

"Is that all you can do? Control and destroy?"

Pestilence smiled cruelly.

"I am a hammer, not a scalpel. Modification is the surgeon. I'm just a butcher who needs one cut, Rose. If you care about versatility, go suck on sleeping Mommy's massive tits."

"Do not think I will allow you to say anything because of your assistance. Watch your fucking tongue, Pestilence."

"Aww, is the Little Rose upset that his Mom's getting attention? She's very hot you know? I don't know how you have practical free reigns to her and don't do a thing... Keep it up with the protective streak and people really will think you're doing illegal things to her!"

Rosan snarled warningly and Pestilence simply laughed mockingly.

The group had exited the mansion after getting as much people out as possible and were now seated a ways away to discuss their next course of action.

"How long until you get your abilities back?" Zoro grunted.

"Hours I imagine. I'm almost restored," Rosan replied. "We can't wait here for them, we need to pursue them and hope it comes back in time."

"Yeah, we need to get Robin back," Luffy exclaimed.

Footsteps halted their conversation and they gazed at Iceburg and Paulie with confused expressions.

"First and foremost… I'd like to deeply apologize for accusing you all of attempting to assassinate me," Iceburg bowed lowly at the group, even despite his numerous injuries. "I've already explained to everyone out here that you guys are completely innocent but I'd still like to make it up to you in anyway."

Rosan glanced up at the supposed mayor. "I need a form of transportation to catch up to those agents. Something very fast. That is the only way I'll forgive you for tarnishing my name."

Iceburg looked over at the Red Devil, vividly remembering that horrific creature he had transformed into and resisting the urge to shudder.

"Rosan was it? My apologies but someone perfectly imitated you," he said simply.

"Your wish isn't easy to accomplish… but I can attempt it. I just have one question for you."

Rosan inclined his head, long red hair draping over his front half.

"What is your purpose for wanting Nico Robin?"

The redhead's expression darkening, was all Iceburg needed to know to understand, that his motives were less then anything good.

Such a shame, he wouldn't acquiesce with their wish then—

"I'm so sick of people like you."

Iceburg blinked in confusion.

What?

Rosan pushed himself up and glowered. "People like you who are hellbent on not giving Robin a normal fucking life," he snarled, glaring murderously at the slightly taller man.

"Let me guess what you're thinking. You don't have to confirm if I'm right, I already know I am. Devil of Ohara, bring about the destruction of the world and other bullshit rumors, right?"

Iceburg went utterly silent, baffled at this response.

The Straw Hats looked curious at Rosan's frustrated expression.

Robin and Rosan's past was shrouded in mystery and it made them wonder just why Rosan was so protective of her.

"Can you imagine being an 8 year old girl and the entire world hates you?" Rosan asked, resisting the urge to yank his hair (the white strands had vanished, leaving it all crimson once more).

"I've known Robin for 20 years. I know everything about her and I know that she doesn't deserve any of this bullshit that's been thrown her way. All my best friend wants to do, is learn about history and people like you tack these stigmas onto her for no fucking reason at all."

The Robin that Rosan had met was no Devil. She was such an innocent little thing who had wanted nothing but a friend, but instead was villainized to no ends.

Robin was more human than half the people on the planet. She was so kind and gentle, refusing to even punch people, but no one was willing to see that side of her.

The side of her that just wanted to live normally.

"You want to know what my purpose is with Nico Robin?" Rosan asked furiously, standing up and glowering at his fellow injured person.

Iceburg was stunned. Something about the words of the Red Devil... they were deeply affecting him and he began to shamefully think of how he had truly been ostracizing a poor little girl.

"My purpose is for Nico Robin, my best and first friend, to be free to do as she pleases without assholes like you, who'd paint an entire image of a person based off rumors and propaganda, hounding her every time she even blinks. All I want for Robin, is for her to understand that as long as I'm alive, she's allowed to live with the knowledge that someone will always acknowledge her as the human she is. Is that good enough for you, Mayor Iceburg-sama?"

Whatever Robin's goals were, he would support them because he was the only one willing to without questioning her at all. She had done so much for him, so it was only right that he let her live her life in peace and she couldn't do that under the World Government.

"So that's how it is?" Nami sighed, smiling at the utterly sweet redhead.

"When you put it like that… How can I not want to save her even more?" Sanji muttered, a fire in his eyes.

"Let's get back Robin at all costs!" Chopper decided.

"YEAH!" Luffy roared. "We're gonna get her back!"

"Of course we are. I still have to slap the shit out of her," Rosan promised.

"…" Iceburg gazed at the redhead with wide eyes, as Rosan tore into him with words alone.

Then, he closed his eyes. "Alright, I'll help you to the best of my abilities but I just have one favor."

Rosan glanced at him. "Asking for a favor while doing something to earn our forgiveness? Aren't you rather shameless?"

"Franky. I need you to check on him and bring him to me," Iceburg requested.

"Franky?!" Luffy said in disgust. "Why?!"

"Who is Franky?" Rosan asked with a frown.

"He doesn't know him?" Iceburg thought. Based on the fact that he really was bandaged up and claimed to need time to regain his abilities… This Rosan probably had nothing to do with any of the events that transpired.

How shameful... the Straw Hats had even pointed out how they were framed but he was dead set in his ways.

They informed Rosan of who Franky was and the redhead closed his eyes.

"CP9 were attempting to go after him. He has blueprints to something."

"How do you know that?"

"The door man. I learned through his ears right before you activated White Rage."

Pestilence... could hear far better than Rosan or even Mod could.

"What do you want with him?" He asked eventually.

"CP9 might be after him… I want to know if he's okay and I think he'd be a valuable asset to your goals," Iceburg said.

"The agents have probably already boarded the Sea Train and there won't be another one because Aqua Laguna is coming tonight… Knowing them it's probably scheduled to leave at their command so they're gone now."

There was no way they'd be able to get off this island either which is why he needed to do something reckless.

"I know he attacked one of your crew but please, with Franky we'll be able to have your mode of transportation ready as quickly as possible."

Rosan's interest was immediately captured at that. Despite how uncomfortable his crew looked, he didn't care about any of that.

An asset was an asset.

"I'll go retrieve him," Rosan said calmly, tapping his shoes against the ground.

"Are you sure?" Nami said in concern. "This is the guy that beat up Usopp… I dunno if we should trust him."

"I will do anything to save the people I care about… even make deals with the Devil. Even if this man spit on me, if it's to save Robin, I will throw away my pride until I get her back," Rosan said softly.

They all gazed at the redhead's conviction and felt their own resolve strengthen.

If Rosan was willing to say even that, then who were they to be uncomfortable?

The redhead gazed at Iceburg before he jumped up and floated in midair.

"Tell me his location, please. I'll be back in 10 minutes."

---

Usopp had no idea how him and Franky somehow got on friendly terms but it was kinda there?

The cyborg was very strange and they had both mutually agreed to put the past behind them…

Well up until Franky decided to dismantle the Going Merry.

"That ship won't last another minute! How do you think it'll feel knowing you separated with your friends because of it?"

"IT DOESN'T MATTER! THE GOING MERRY IS MY SHIP AND I WON'T LET YOU BREAK HER!"

The two began tussling, which ended up with Franky as the victor who proceeded to make good on his promise.

"You must be Franky."

The shipwright froze at that soft voice and glanced back in surprise.

"Who the hell are you?" Franky asked.

Usopp glanced up and went pale as a sheet.

"R-R-ROSAN?!"

---

Rosan glanced at the one known as Franky with an utterly unimpressed gaze.

This shameless pervert was the one who was going to help them out?

He sighed. Well, beggars couldn't be choosers.

"Who let you into my super secret base?!" Franky asked in surprise.

Rosan pointed at the square haired sisters, who were blushing right next to him. "They did. I just asked if I could come in and they said yes."

The cyborgs eyes bugged. "H-HEY! DON'T LET ANY HANDSOME MAN ROPE YOU IN!"

"Sorry, bro…" Mozu said eyes not even looking back at him.

"It was just so hard to say no," Kiwi sighed dreamily.

"Thank you, you two," Rosan nodded.

"Anytime!" They chirped.

"NO NOT ANYTIME!" Franky roared. "YOU, HOW DID YOU FIND THIS PLACE?!"

"A bunch of your goons were screaming out how they had one of our crew mates in this place," Rosan replied. "Oh and Iceburg told me."

"Iceburg?! Weren't you trying to assassinate him last night?" Franky asked in surprise.

"We were framed by the World Government. They attempted to kill him tonight as well but my crew saved him," the redhead answered, satisfied to see a dark look take over Franky's eyes.

"The World Government tried to have him killed?" Franky growled, removing his shades with a serious look.

Rosan nodded. "That's why I'm here… Iceburg mentioned that they'd want you next for some reason and… I wanted to ask for your help."

Usopp's eyes bugged. Rosan was asking someone for help? What the hell?!

Franky didn't need much more explanation about why Iceburg wanted to see him so he focused on the second part. "What do you need my help with?"

"My best friend was coerced by the World Government into giving herself up. I want you to help Iceburg create something fast enough for us to catch up to the Sea Train that already left."

Usopp went cold at that.

Best friend…? Coerced? Robin was with the World Government?

"We have more pressing matters to worry about."

Usopp felt his guilt well strongly at that. Rosan was talking about Robin wasn't he?

Hold on... did Usopp, blow up on a Rosan who just found out that Robin was kidnapped? Looking at those injuries... the redhead had probably been tortured too.

Oh no...

"Iceburg wants me to help with something like that…?" Franky pondered off, an expression of shock taking over his features. "...Well how can I say no! Seeing you put aside your pride, almost super moves me to tears!"

The cyborg pulled a guitar out and began strumming it.

"I can almost play a song for it—"

"We have no time to waste," Rosan interrupted, turning on his heel. "They are headed to Enies Lobby. If we don't make it in time… I might lose her and I can't have that happen."

Franky's eyes darkened at those words.

Enies Lobby eh? She was coerced into getting sent to Enies Lobby?

Almost just like Tom...

"Hey Red Devil," the cyborg called out. "I suddenly have a condition."

Rosan turned and raised a brow, trying to hide the visible frustration.

"I'll help you guys build whatever you need, but I want to tag along."

The annoyance vanished and Rosan nodded.

"The more the merrier. I'll need all the hands I can get while I'm recovering."

"Super!" Franky shouted, slamming his forearms together. "Seems like we've all got a common enemy then! Let's head out!"

Usopp watched the duo prepare to leave and felt a strange sadness, at not seeing Rosan spare him a single glance.

"He already wasted too much time on you. Robin's the one who needs help now."

The sniper steadied himself, before pulling out his mask that he had been decorating and putting it on.

"Wait just a minute!"

Rosan paused and glanced back at Usopp for half a second, raising a brow at seeing the sniper don the mask he gifted him.

It was different from the all white of before and personally, Rosan hated it but whatever suited Usopp.

The mask was a simple yellow and blue, with the kanji for liar embedded into it… that also did nothing to hide how long Usopp's nose was.

"I, Sogeking, couldn't help but here of your plight and offer my assistance!" Usopp, now dubbed Sogeking, stated.

Rosan looked terribly unamused. "Stop wasting my time, Uso—"

Franky put an arm in front of him and leaned in close to whisper something in the redhead's ear.

"This is his way of apologizing?" Rosan scowled.

"He's guilty! Regrets leaving the way he did and is trying to make it up while saving face!" Franky whispered back.

"Then he should just fucking apologize," the redhead growled.

"We don't really have time for that, do we?! Didn't you just say you need all the help?"

"…"

"Your assistance would be very much appreciated, Sogeking," Rosan said eventually, marching out of the door.

Franky shot him a thumbs up and followed suit, "Mozu, Kiwi! Let the gang know what we're about to do!"

The sisters saluted.

Usopp let out a sigh of relief and quickly followed after the two.

---

"So you're safe?" Iceburg sighed in relief as Rosan appeared from the sky with Franky and… some masked man that looked a lot like their crew member.

"They never even came for me," Franky shrugged, gazing at the condition of the Mayor with a look of concern.

"They must have wanted to get away from me as soon as possible," Rosan grunted.

Pestilence hummed in delight.

Luffy and Franky stared at each other, before the blue haired man held out his hand.

"Let's let bygones be bygones. I can't let those Government dudes get away with thinking they can attack Water 7 for free whenever they want."

Luffy stared at the hand and shook it. "Right! We're gonna get back at them no matter what!"

"Rosan… who is this?" Chopper asked, pointing at the masked Usopp.

Rosan glanced down at Chopper and followed his hoof, before slowly glancing back at the reindeer again.

"You don't know who that is?" Rosan asked slowly.

Luffy perked up at that question and glanced over.

"Nope!" Both he and Chopper replied.

Every single person sweatdropped.

Sogeking looked at them all. "Greetings! I, Sogeking, am a sniper hailing from the legendary Sniper Island! I am here to assist you all in the retrieval of Nico Robin!"

"L-L-LEGENDARY SNIPER ISLAND?!" Chopper and Luffy's eyes bugged in excitement.

Rosan zoned out the morons as he gazed at Iceburg. "We need to be able to sail as soon as possible but you mentioned this Aqua Laguna… how are we supposed to sail in the sea in that condition?"

As if proving his point, everyone watched as a gargantuan wave smashed into the lower city of Water 7, completely engulfing and damaging everything it touched due to its rough waves.

"No ship can sail these seas," Iceburg stated calmly. "...But I know of one thing that can potentially do so… follow me, all of you."

Franky's eyes popped open at that. "You mean that feisty thing?!"

"That's right. If they want to catch up, it might be their only hope. Come help me get it ready."

Everyone gained a puzzled expression at that.

What were they talking about?

---

"This works," Rosan muttered with an impressed gaze.

"SO COOL!" Luffy exclaimed, eyes turning into stars.

It's smokebox was distinctively cone-shaped, and jokingly painted to resemble a shark's head; to this was linked the standard driver's cab coal-tender, and a single passenger car.

Iceburg smiled. "It's called the Rocketman. Please use it but be warned… this ship is uncontrollable. It's never been used for a reason… Franky, come help me start it up."

The cyborg nodded and they quickly got to work.

"And how do you expect them to control this?" A drunken voice called out.

Franky and Iceburg had twin looks of disgust, as Kokoro smiled at the two apprentices of Tom.

"That's why I sent you the note," Iceburg grunted. "You're the only one who can safely get them there so please do."

Kokoro nodded without hesitation. "I like this little ragtag group so of course I'll help them."

"My boys are coming too!" Franky shouted. "Rosan mentioned needing as much help as possible, right?"

Rosan nodded. "Their sacrifices will not be forgotten."

Franky sweatdropped. "Hey… don't write them off as dead already."

"I'll sit next to you, Kokoro-san," Rosan muttered. "I'll let you know if you're straying off course."

"Oh? A handsome man sitting next to old me? I'm flattered but how will you tell me if I'm doing that?"

They glanced at the redhead who was scowling with a superior look in his eyes.

"Robin thinks the pendant is the only thing I can use to track her."

Their confusion only lasted for a second as the Straw Hats remembered.

"OH!"

---

Robin sat alone in her train, as it headed straight to Enies Lobby. The woman stared out the window and half expected to see Rosan's Dragon attempting to burn the entire train to cinders.

But all she saw was rain.

The woman frowned deeply to herself.

She had made a mistake but… but she just couldn't bare to let anyone suffer the fate of the World Government. Robin never wanted anyone she loved to witness the Buster Call because it was completely unstoppable.

If she saw them get attacked by it… if Admirals converged on them they'd die instantly.

Robin was just trying to protect them by doing this… but she made everything worse.

Her irrational fear had blinded her to what she knew about Rosan. The moment she heard Aokiji had given them access to the Buster Call, Robin had given up completely.

Two of the words that gave her nightmares in the same sentence. Aokiji and Buster Call. They had overruled logic and made her adopt this stance.

But now she realized things were never going to go the way she thought.

Even after hurting Rosan, the genius had Mod-chan. If he couldn't figure it out, she would and correct him accordingly.

He would have found out about her ruse immediately and sought her out.

But he was attacked… presumably by Izumi and it looked like he resorted to the virus as a result.

This was the worst case scenario. She didn't see him use Modification even once so Mod was incapacitated… which meant it was only Rosan, the Virus and possibly Ram.

She messed up. They were all so wary about the virus and Robin herself shoved Rosan into its hands…

Damn it. She messed up terribly.

She just wanted to protect them but wasn't she making everything worse? Now they were going to come after her.

Perhaps she really was the Devil Child. Perhaps she should have just continued to let Rosan direct things… she feared for his safety but he would have never done something like this…

Robin froze, as she felt a tiny vibration and she finally remembered a very important thing that she forgot.

Fishing into her pockets, the Devil Child's mouth opened as she saw her designated cube flashing with a picture from her best friend himself.

Hesitantly, she picked up the cube, expecting Rosan to tear into her immediately.

"So you really did forget I gave this to you."

She winced at that calm tone of his.

"Rosan... please I..."

"If you're trying to explain yourself, you can shut up now. I don't wanna hear it," Rosan interrupted coldly. "Considering you picked up the cube, I'm assuming you're alone. Then again, you're clearly not as smart as I thought you were."

Robin flinched at the restrained fury in his voice.

"I'm sorry Rosan, I never expected it to turn out like this..." she explained quietly.

The redhead snorted disbelievingly. "The story of my life is people not expecting their actions to be so dire when it comes to me. First my birth mother, then Mom, then Mod-chan, then Doc, then Izumi and finally, you. I never expected you to be on that list, but you've been surprising me a lot lately," he said snidely.

The Devil Child withered at that, trying to disappear in place and think of anything to say that wouldn't get her shut down immediately.

"Let me guess, you're just now finding out that Izumi tortured me right? Even after she said she'd leave us alone if you turned yourself in?"

So Izumi really had tricked her... Robin was so stupid.

"Based on that silence, I'm right. Thanks Robin, you left me completely vulnerable to an attack and since I don't have Modification, I've been relying on this virus to help me out," Rosan sneered.

The virus...

"Rosan I didn't mean to force you to resort to the virus... please, please stop using it," Robin pleaded, gnawing her lips in worry. She hadn't fully understood why Mod-chan was afraid of the virus, but one look at that hellish transformation was all she needed to know.

They were bad news. Rosan needed to stop using it immediately.

"You have a lot of nerve trying to tell me to stop using something, when you're the reason I'm using it," the redhead retorted, raising a brow incredulously at her audacity.

How could one person manage to make Robin feel so terrible? Everything Rosan said, practically stabbed her through the ribs. Every sentence was spat with so much venom...

He had never spoken to her like this. Not once. She had seen this venom in his memories, but he had never truly directed ire towards her.

It made her feel like true scum... maybe that's what she was for causing all of this.

"I'm sorry... I would never intentionally push you towards the virus. Believe me," she mumbled.

"I don't know what to believe anymore, Robin. The only thing I know, is that I will use even the Devil itself to bring you back."

Robin froze in terror at that.

No. He couldn't. He couldn't go against the world. Not even Rosan could do that. Aokiji had been enough... but the entirety of the World Government?

No. No. No. NO.

"Rosan... please don't come! I've already made a mistake but you guys don't need to pay for it! Please, take this chance to esca —"

"Escape? ESCAPE?!" Rosan snarled at her and Robin went silent immediately. "You fucking hypocrite! You sit here and tell me to put more value into my life, then you try and KILL YOURSELF?! The only thing you should be afraid of, is just how pissed I am with you right now. You have no fucking right to try and tell me what to do right now. You've lost that privilege until further notice."

Robin felt a vicious stab in her chest at that, holding her head in despair at Rosan's words as a hopeless feeling seeped into her.

It hurt so much, listening to the words that came out of his mouth. Rosan was mad and hurting and he was lashing out at the right person.

But still... with those injuries... Robin didn't want them to suffer for her mistakes. Rosan wasn't even fully healed yet.

She didn't want him to die for her. She never wanted that.

"Please I'm begging you Rosan... don't come," Robin said in defeat. "Please, I just want you all to live."

There was a long silence that made Robin hesitantly glance at the cube again.

"Fuck off, Robin. Just listening to you is pissing me off."

With that, he hung up.

Robin looked at the cube in shock, glancing at the small version of Rosan staring at her with that smug smile, levitating her Devil Fruit up.

The Devil Child held her head in defeat, pocketing the cube once more as tears sprung to her eyes.

Rosan was... Robin never expected Rosan's genuine anger to hurt so much...

But it really hurt.

---

Rosan gazed out into the turbulent ocean with a wild look in his eyes. Even despite their insistence, the reckless crew had chosen to sail well before the Aqua Laguna was over.

"That's incredibly reckless," Iceberg chastised.

"We can't let them get any further. You said this train can survive it so that's what it will do," Rosan grunted.

He'd get Robin back and he'd do everything in his power to do so. If it meant braving these wild waters, then so be it. If it meant fighting with these injuries, then oh well. If it meant killing thousands of World Government officials, fine.

If it meant allying with an entity that hated him as much as he hated it, he'd accept the contract.

It was nothing compared to what she suffered.

Nico Robin was his best friend and the World Government had taken too much from him already.

He'd be damned if they got their hands on her too. If they did, Rosan wouldn't allow himself to break until he brought down the entire system of the world.

If Rosan lost Nico Robin, then he'd use the knowledge she gave him and find the two Ancient Weapons that he knew the location of… Neptune and Pluton.

It was selfish. It was possessive. It was even toxic. But he did not care. Nico Robin was his best friend and no one could take her from him.

He'd do whatever it took to get her back…

His eyes pulsed lowly, as Modification slowly but surely began to come back to him.

...By any means necessary.

---

Character Sheet: Izumi

Name: Izumi

Gender: Female

Born Sea: North Blue

Age: 25

Birthday: October 31

Personality: A lifeless disposition. Person of very few words unless Rosan is somehow involved, in which she suffers a complete shift, turning deranged and unhinged. Only Rosan and Robin have seen this side of her.

Affiliation: World Government, Cipher Pol 9

Summary: Izumi is a young woman who had a chance encounter with Reaper that changed her life for the worst. Forcefully controlled into killing her brother, the woman lost her sanity and now has only one goal in life, break Rosan the way he broke her and keep him all to herself where he can spend the rest of his days as her pet.

Now apart of the assassin specialists, CP9, she seeks out revenge by targeting the most important thing to Rosan.

Devil Fruit: Moso Moso no Mi (Illusion)

Type: Paramecia

Description: Allows the user to control illusions. Does this by altering the perceptions of a person's mind. They are more akin to hallucinations, in contrast to Maro's environmental changes.

Appearance: Curly black hair, olive skin, teal eyes. Mostly seen wearing a black suit with bandages wrapped around her midsection to hide the mark engraved onto her skin of a sinister black rose.

Height: 5'6

Favorite Food: Marshmallows (reminds her of the times she and her brother used to eat while gazing at the stars)

Disliked Food: Anything with bird meat

Loves: Rosan, Reaper

Hates: Rob Lucci

---

Surprise! Quite a bit of reveals this chapter huh? Did anyone expect this turn of events? Is this how you thought Water 7 was going to turn out? I hope not... I thought I was pretty creative when plotting this out.

First thing to address. Yep, Izumi. There's no way I was gonna leave their final meeting for Chapter 12. All actions have consequences and one of Rosan's have caught up to him! Izumi has dedicated the last 12 years of her life on Rosan and she's here to reap the benefits.

Second thing... Pestilence! They've finally made a prolonged appearance and Rosan's all alone to deal with them. I took inspiration from the symbiote and the classic inner demon trope when making them. What's their goals? What are they trying to achieve! Isn't their relationship with Rosan a tad confusing?

This was a fun chapter to write. A lot of changes to normal Water 7 and there'll be changes to Enies Lobby as well!

That's all, I hope you guys enjoyed and as always, I'll happily respond to any questions!

Chapter 40: Love