Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The dream is sweet, comforting, in bright watercolors – the woman in it perhaps a little out of his league, decidedly more beautiful than the girls he goes to school with, but goddammit hasn’t he been horny lately, a stranger in his own body, and her skin feels so soft beneath his fingertips…   

“Wake up, dumbass”.

The sheets are stuck unpleasantly to his chest and the pillow under his head is damp, he can feel the small trickles of sweat as they glide on the sides of his face and down the back of his ears. However, what forces Zoro to pry his eyes open is his sister's voice, a high-pitched, nagging sound through which even an expert sleeper as himself can’t enjoy his slumber.

“You’re going to be late on your first day”.

He looks up, taking in the ruffled pink pigtails and oversized pajama she’s sporting. Witch is lucky she won’t be getting started with university for another month. “Get out of my way, Perona”.

“Just get ready and let Kumashi drop you at school”, she sighs, wiggling her eyebrows at the clock hanging on the wall behind his head. “You don’t have time to get lost today”.

Then she is out in a contemptuous giggle, and Zoro immediately dashes out of his bed. He checks the clock. Seven a.m. He spends in the shower no more than twenty minutes, shampooing his green hair with energy, as if to stop the goddess' image from disturbing him during the day, then prepares his backpack and walks out of the house at an acceptable ten to eight.

He greets Kumashi with a curt nod, stepping inside the black, anonymous car. If the traffic isn’t too overwhelming in the city today, it shouldn’t take them longer than fifteen minutes to get to the school, but Perona’s driver is an authentic snail, and he regrets not taking his motorcycle more and more with every stop at which he lets anybody and their grandmothers surpass him. Luckily for him, New Marineford puts many facilities at the students’ disposal, including a small café right by the entrance, where they can stop by and eat breakfast before class.

Eventually the two reach the school, where he plans to buy himself some coffee and wait for the others.

At the beginning of each year, he and his friends meet at Makino’s, it’s been a tradition for four years straight at this point. Zoro is utterly surprised when he realizes he’s been the first to arrive, occupying the spot at the end of the waiting line and checking his telephone for messages as he waits.

He then goes on to check his e-mails and see if the official date for the kendo championship tryouts is out. He has one chance and one chance only to snatch his father’s record as the youngest swordsman to win the title, but sadly the committee is still taking its sweet time deciding on a time and place. Tsk.

A hand taps gently on his right shoulder. “Excuse me?”

Zoro turns around, and his eyes converge on a thin, slightly uplifted nose, above which round, blue eyes look at him in concern shadowed by thick, raven lashes. She wears the same blazer he does, with the same crest. “Yes?”, he deadpans.

“It’s your turn”, the girl replies, gesturing for the check out. As he turns around once more, he notices the lady behind it does not look pleased. “Sorry, Makino”, he smiles, sheepishly.

“Black with no sugar, right?”, the woman grins back, reverting to her usual cheerful demeanor.

“Thank you”. He looks back at the stranger. “So, you’re a senior, too, uh?”

So smooth, Zoro, so smooth. He is lucky his friends aren’t here (yet), or he would never hear the end of it. Such a pathetic display, and the inability to have a proper conversation with a girl, is Sanji’s prerogative.

“That I am”, she replies, a hint of humor in her voice he can’t quite understand, eyes lingering on the symbol on his chest. “I’ve heard great things about New Marineford, I hope it will live up to its reputation”.

Not knowing what to say, Zoro grabs the fuming take-away cup Makino has placed on the counter for him and gives the woman his card. His bill is paid one quick swipe later, and he says goodbye to the woman before he returns his attention to his schoolmate. Only the children of the wealthiest families in the country can afford the prime education the school offers, hence the small number of people who make up the student body. Everybody knows each other and it is one of the main reasons he and his group try to steer away from gossip, but he is pretty sure he’s never seen the raven-haired girl in magazines before, not that he pays them much attention, anyway. Who is she? His curiosity is going to be satisfied, though. Sooner or later, one of Nami’s birds will whisper anything there is to know about the new girl in her ear, and she, like the good friend she (sometimes) is, will share the interesting bits with the rest of the crew.

“I'm sure it will". Zoro gives her a small smile and aims straight for the door. "I’ll see you around, then”.

He can see Luffy’s jet-black hair peeking out from behind the café’s window.

“Goodbye”.

“God, Zoro, finally”, she exhales as a familiar patch of green hair comes out of the shop’s door. Nami glances down at her smartphone once more, feigning impatience. “We’re going to be late”.

The rest of the group is there already, eager to be done with the five-minutes-walk that connects their current location to the building where their classes take place.

She knows the first day commends they get caught up on each other’s lives and share tales and anecdotes from their summer vacations, but she'll be damned if she lets Kaya’s boyfriend launch into one of his over-complicated and over-exaggerated stories before they are well on their way to class. Not that she doesn’t like Usopp, she just hates being late, and knows she’ll need perfect records if she wants to be picked as valedictorian. To say the competition is vicious would be an understatement. That shit looks great on college applications.  

“We were lounging on the beach, y’a know? Then out of the blue this surf champion approaches me, saying they need one more competitor to reassign the title and demands someone with such a great body as myself fills in for the spot…” Nami looks at her blonde friend, whose amused giggle counterfeits her boyfriend’s narration, and shakes her head. “…Needless to say, you’re talking to the new champ-”

Everyone has stopped listening by this point, and it is Luffy’s turn to share. “Grandpa was away for most of the holidays, so it was just me, my brothers and Dadan”, he says. “Except from when she banned us from playing soccer in the sitting room, it was a great summer”. He crosses his arm behind his head, erupting in his distinctive, slightly childish laughter. “Shishishishi!”

“Besides from the cruise with Usopp two weeks ago, my parents took me on an extended vacation to Raftel at the beginning of the summer. What people say is true. It really is paradise on earth”, Kaya interjects.

“You should come to Alabasta next time”, chimes in the blue-haired girl walking on Nami’s right side, Vivi. Although her offer sounds more like a frustrated attempt to establish the superiority of the country her father rules, it is still met positively by her friend. “If you can stand the heat, that is. You can stay at the castle”.

“Is there any space left for me, Vivi-chwan?”

Sanji’s call for attention is not unexpected, but still quite a little bit annoying for the people who’ve been exposed to his doormat tendencies for any extended period of time.

Franky grabs him by the neck of his shirt and jerks him back, knowing the princess wouldn’t appreciate his distorted ideas of chivalry so early in the morning, and stops any potential retort with one stern look. The fact he is quite tall, over seven feet, decidedly helps when he needs to calm down his otherwise boisterous friend, or his green-haired, orientationally challenged counterpart for that matter.

Zoro tags at the back of the group with Chopper, the only sixteen years old in the crew. As a prodigy scholar, he’s been allowed to skip some years and graduate from high school earlier. Despite the age gap, he is still one of the top students in their class.   

Eventually, they all reach the top of the small hill. Their classroom is located inside of a building of rectangular shape, a mixture of dark bricks and ethereal marble. A long row of stairs leads to the entrance, and immediately they are either greeted or frowned upon by many different people, all of them wearing the same uniform they sport. The bell, however, is not a merciful entity, and its first ring forces people to rush inside. Students and professors alike climb hastily up the stairs and disappear inside the entrance hall, where the group splits in two: Usopp and Franky greet the others before they blend into the crowd and disappear, while the others slowly but steadily start making their way towards their own classroom.

This year, they’re on the third floor. Nami patiently navigates them through the busy hallways, stopping from time to time to exchange pleasantries with her many acquaintances, but still managing to get the whole group to destination before the ring of the final bell. She sits down in her usual spot, with Vivi and Kaya on her side and the rest of the crew scattered in the neat lines of tables around them.

Chopper leans in from his seat in front her to whisper in her ear. “There’s a spare seat”, he observes.

“I wonder what that is about”, she replies, absent-mindedly, but she has no time for further inquiries as the professor finally arrives and slams the door behind his back.

Sakazuki is stricter than most of his colleagues, self-important and prone to anger; he’s known to verbally abuse his students when in a bad mood, so, practically, the whole fucking time, and over the last two years, having been appointed vice-principal, the dreaded physics professor has only gotten worse. At least, before the promotion, he had to pretend in front of his equals, but now he treats even them as if they’re an insignificant speckle of dirt stuck under his expensive, handmade shoes.

The first two hours of school drag on, slow and tedious, as Sakazuki – or Akainu, red dog, as his students call him – immediately starts teaching his class, going over the topics they’ll cover in the course of the year. He doesn’t ask them how they spent the summer, as any sensible teacher would do, nor does he mention what he has been up to in the past few months.

Probably coming up with new ideas to torture us, Nami muses.

Luckily for her, even bad things ought to come to an end, and eventually the man leaves the classroom, briefcase in tow, to be soon substituted by someone who is, on the contrary, one of the students’ favorite professors: it’s Brook, the music teacher, an old man with a bizarre hairstyle and the weirdest outfits.

For the beginning of the new school year he’s opted for a purple suit whose jacket has shiny, beaded lapels, with a black shirt underneath, but what really catches his pupils’ attention, for a change, is not his odd appearance, but rather the tall, raven-haired girl who’s standing right next to him. “This here is Nico Robin. She’ll be part of this class for the rest of the year”, he announces.

There’s a dry thud on Nami’s right. Vivi’s face is strangely flushed. “Oh. My. God”.

The music lecture goes much better than the physics' one, but Sanji is still incredibly tired by the time they enter the cafeteria for lunch, a little after noon. His body will need some time adjusting to the winter schedule, especially after an entire summer of cooking and serving dishes until two a.m. and going to bed much, much later.

What New Marineford offers which the Baratie lacks, however, is the lovely presence of his girl-friends, in particular Nami-swan, and it appears there’s a new addition this year to the school’s collection of beauties, too. He better hurry and show the poor, neglected lady her way around the campus, since everyone seems too busy making up theories on her identity to welcome her properly.

“It’s not common for transfer students to be accepted here”, Kaya notes when they sit down, their trays filled with food. Chopper has been an important exception to a very long tradition just one year ago. “But I’m sure the board wouldn’t accept her request if they thought she doesn’t fit in”. There is no malice in her voice, she is always ready to make new friends, but the cool demeanor of the new girl is chilling, just a little, and like every rich person worthy of that name, heiress to the biggest pharmaceutical empire of the East Blue, she is wary of people whose net-worth she ignores.

Just who is this Nico Robin, really?

Vinsmoke Sanji is wondering the same, albeit for different reasons. Germa is somehow a secluded country, so it’s possible her name is unknown there, but to afford the school’s yearly tuition she ought to be extremely rich. It’s kind of weird that no one here at New Marineford seems to have never heard about her. Except Vivi, it appears, but she’s been strangely tight-lipped about it, and he knows better than to press a lady for information. Luffy, however, ignores the rules of common chivalry - if anything, he stomps on them at any chance he gets.

“Where did you meet?” The dark-haired boy is too perceptive for his own good sometimes, in a way that embarrasses other people. The worst part is, he doesn’t even realize it. “You and the new girl, I mean”.

Sanji feels sorry for him, expecting Nami to blow up on him any second now and looking drop dead gorgeous whilst doing so, but the girl remains quiet, and eyes the Alabastan princess strangely, instead. Information is power and Nami-swan certainly is greedy – but he loves that about her.

“Uh?”, the moss-head comments, stupidly. The chef wonders why he even bothers trying to talk. It’s clear by now that he’s all muscle and no brains, although one could argue he has excellent grades, even higher than him in some subjects. It’s just that their rivalry is something he takes very seriously, because it pushes him to do and be better, plus antagonizing Zoro just feels too natural, and he has too much fun riling the stupid marimo up.

“She- She’s from Ohara, in the West Blue”, Vivi says after a while. “She used to be friends with… Crocodile”.

The whole table freezes upon hearing the guy’s name. Unfortunately, they all know how hard it is for their friend to speak of anything even remotely related to him. He’s a genuine monster.

“She doesn’t look evil”, Luffy objects, eyes roaming in the distance, across the other side of the cafeteria. “There she is. She seems… lonely”.

So that’s what this is about, Sanji thinks. His pathological belief that anyone needs friends. Not that he’s entirely wrong. His friends have been fundamental for Sanji to develop into a semi-functional human being despite Judge’s terrible parenting. He’s sure the new girl could do with some support as well. She does look lonely, standing by herself as she tries to balance her tray and searching for somewhere to seat. People pretend they don’t see her, and she doesn’t seem keen on sitting next to complete strangers.

“I think Eustass has his eyes on her already”, Nami practically growls, glaring daggers at her first (and probably last) boyfriend. They’ve been broken up for over a year, but he still makes her blood boil. In a bad way, of course. “I don’t like it”.

“Your ex’s a pig, everyone knows that”, chimes in Usopp, joining them at the table and pecking Kaya on the lips. Franky arrives moments later. “He was talking about her this morning, but it seems not even he has access to the information Franky and I, on the contrary, have gotten our hands on”.

“Her mother was a famous archaeologist, and our new schoolmate Nico Robin is the sole heiress of one of the largest estates in the West Blue. It’s like someone made a conscious effort to hide her from public records, but it seems she spent the last two years in Alabasta, where she attended the Institute”. 

“Your information is correct”, Vivi nods, sharply. “She’s the only reason I managed to escape last year”.

She is referring to the night Crocodile, whom over the years developed a weird obsession for her, tried to kidnap her, possibly to ask King Cobra for a ransom, and drag the kingdom into bankruptcy. He’s the son of a noble who's in turn the leader of a small political opposition, and later that fateful night the princess called Nami in the middle of the night, sobbing and detailing her escape from the slippery man. His family has too many connections to go to jail, but last they’ve heard they moved out of the country, publicly disgraced.

“Should we ask her to join us?”, asks Chopper.

He’s been the transfer student last year, the one who didn't know where to sit for lunch, so he feels for her, but at the same time he doesn’t want to upset his friend.

“I think it’s a great idea, Chopper”, the princess replies. “I suspect she’d rather have a quiet year”.

“Then maybe we should let her be, instead”, Nami retorts. “It’s never quiet around here”. But Sanji, Vivi and Chopper do not hear her, because they are already out of their seats, making their way towards the raven-haired girl. Luffy would have gone, too, but the meat in his plate requires his full attention.

“…Would you like to sit with us?”

Robin blinks one, two times, startled by the stranger’s request. There’s three people standing in front of her now. Vivi, whom she knows, a short boy with a sweet smile who looks much younger than the other seniors and seated next to her in class, and a guy with blond hair she remembers from some magazine. Like every other member of the student body, it’s safe to assume he’s rich and famous in some capacity. Her blue eyes focus on the only face she perceives as familiar, and she nibs at her lower lip.

While she’d rather share a table with the Alabastan princess than unfamiliar strangers, her group of friends seems like a handful, quite lively, and she’s not sure someone as... quiet as her would fit in.

She glances nervously at their table, where a dark-haired boy grins widely at her before gesturing for her to join in. Monkey D. Luffy, the President’s son. What an interesting character.

“I’d love to”, she accepts, grudgingly. Robin is not prepared for the hand that swiftly snatches her own, on top of which soft lips place a suave kiss.

“Allow me introduce myself, milady”, Sanji bows down, deeply. She cringes. “I am Sanji, Vinsmoke Sanji”.

Vinsmoke, uh? Germa 66, then. She shivers. Not much is known of it to the outside world, but all of it is kind of... bad. As in repeated violations of human rights bad.

“I’m Chopper”, the other boy offers her his hand. She shakes it. “It’s very nice to meet you”.

“Come with us”, Vivi adds. She turns around and strolls towards the table, followed by her friends, so Robin finds herself closing the line. She can feel the eyes of the entire cafeteria on her back.

“Guys, this is Robin”, the blue-haired princess announces when they get there. Her cheeks are suddenly hot. “Robin, this is Nami,” she gestures for the girl with orange hair, “Kaya”, the blonde one, “Usopp”, a long-nosed boy that smiles somewhat warmly at her, “Franky”, a very tall, large dude with a blue creast on top of his head, “Luffy”, the famous politician’s son, “And this is Zoro”, the green-haired boy from the café.

He doesn’t mention they’ve met each other earlier today, so neither does she, shaking his hand in the same way she shakes anybody else’s, listening carefully and registering their names as they repeat them. Robin settles on the right side of the table, sandwiched between Vivi and the chatty blonde girl, thinking this is as good as a first day of school probably gets. She knows it’s only a matter of time before rumors start spreading about her, following her from the desert, but she’s determined to enjoy such peace for as long as it lasts.

Her past cannot be changed, or erased – her future, however, is not written in stone. Funny how she has needed to hit her absolute lowest to realize it.

“You’re lucky you’ve missed first period”, Nami says, eager to bring her into the loop. She’s always happy when there’s a new girl around, the more the merrier, although Sanji can be quite a handful if she is pretty, which, unfortunately, happens to be the case this time. “Sakazuki doesn’t know the difference between education and torture”.

“Brook-san seems quite nice, on the other hand”, she replies. “It’s been years since I’ve played anything, though”.

“Don’t worry, Robin”, Luffy grins. “Brook has never forced us to play”.

“Yeah. Every performance is on a voluntary basis”, Franky confirms. “The course’s here only because some wealthy patron donated enough money to run a music department. As long as you study the theorical part and pass the exams, you should be all settled with him”.

“That’s a relief”, she smiles, although it doesn’t quite reach her eyes. “What about the other professors? Are they nice? Prepared? Strict?”

“If you study hard, you won’t have problems with Kizaru, although he’s a bit old-fashioned. He teaches literature, but he’s also the referent for the school’s paper, in case you would like to join”, Usopp chimes in. “Same goes for Kureha, the biology professor, but Caesar, he teaches chemistry, is very moody. Aokiji’s a bastard, and his class has the highest failing rates in the whole school, but that man’s a genius, so you will probably end up looking forward to his classes, unless you're desperately bad at math or something... Other than that, I wouldn’t angry Smoker over at HR-”

“Aokiji? The famous mathematician?”, Robin inquires, feigning surprise. She’s curious to see what his students think of the man her mother used to date. “He teaches here?”

“That’s correct”, Franky confirms. “They would have made him vice-principal instead of Akainu, if it weren’t for all the commitments he already has outside of the school”.

“That’s a shame”, Sanji interjects. “But surely we don’t want to bore an innocent lady out of her mind by talking-”

“Shut up, dart-brow”, Zoro tilts his head up in challenge, cocking one brow at him. “She asked”.

Robin can feel the tension rising, and would like to diffuse it, but she doesn’t know them well enough to know which buttons to push, so she opts for staring at the two as if they are disputing a tennis match, instead. “Come again, moss-head?”

“Knock it off. Both of you”, Nami glares at the pair. Zoro scoffs, while Sanji turns around and brings a hand to his heart, dramatically. “I apologize, Nami-swan!”

Peace is restored, and Robin shifts her attention to something else. It seems there’s some fun to be had at New Marineford.

When the first day of school finally ends and his friends bolt out of the classroom, eager to get home and out of their uniforms, Luffy doesn’t mind it, because he knows they’ll meet up later.

He secures his laptop inside his backpack, then makes sure he’s not forgetting his wallet at school again, or else he’ll have to ask Nami to lend him some money, and he knows how that would end up: with a big, fat bump on his head the moment he dares uttering a word against her criminal interest rates.  

The dark-haired boy strolls down the hallways at a leisurely pace, he’s not in a rush to get somewhere and, per his own philosophy, great adventures only happen to those brave enough to wait for them. He's very popular among his peers, however, so around the school a multitude of people wave at him, stop him for a quick chat or to invite him to upcoming parties, and it takes him a whole twenty minutes to be out of the building, and on his way down the hill. Luffy doesn’t mind walking alone; as a matter of fact, he appreciates it.

A cool breeze in the air, beautiful and vibrant colors all around him – there’s no way he would notice any of this if distracted by Nami’s pleasant chattering, or too busy fooling around with Usopp. His friend Zoro is not very talkative, but put him in the same room as Sanji, or Sanji in the same room as any girl, and silence is no longer an option. He never thought he would be the type of guy who gets sentimental about his senior year, and the idea of not coming back next year, but here he is, nearly tearing up when at the end of his descent he turns around and glances up at the building.

It towers over the hill and the rest of the campus with its lavish façade of dark bricks, stretching high towards the sky with its five stories. It’s been the stage of so many of his memories, some good and other bad, but all precious, nonetheless. Luffy shakes his head of jet-black hair and continues down the path, hands in his pockets, humming a happy tune. Sadness rarely lingers with him.

There’s too much, he feels, that he should be happy about.

People keep staring and waving at him, delaying his return home even longer, but almost nobody is still hanging about by the time he reaches the parking lot, where the chauffeur already awaits him. As the son of President Dragon and Monkey D. Garp’s grandson, he is not allowed to go to school like most of his schoolmates do, that is, with their own motorcycles and sports car. What a bummer.

However, it seems Zoro has been subjected to the same fate this year by his father, Dracule Mihawk, the famous investor, although in his case it’s not a matter of security, but rather a quick fix to his friend’s inability not to get lost every morning on his way to school. Knowing he’s not alone cheers him up a little.

Hachi is waiting for him outside the limo, whose door is already open, but Luffy stops in his tracks when he spots a familiar head of raven hair on the other side of the parking lot.

The new girl (Robin?) is seemingly waiting for someone to pick her up, and they’re clearly being late.

“Oi, new girl!”, he shouts, waving wildly at her with a big grin. “Do you need a ride?”

Her giggle is muted, but he still relishes in the sound. Luffy loves making people laugh.

“I’m fine, but thank you very much”, she says. “My ride home got stuck in the traffic, but he should be here soon”.

As a matter of fact, a dark, convertible car pulls up in the parking lot no longer than ten minutes later, but he still decides, much to Hachi’s dismay, who has other errands to run, to keep her company. Even though he’s said nothing, he’s heard what Nami said at lunch. He won’t give the likes of Eustass Kid such an easy opportunity to bother her.

“This was very nice of you”, she thanks him again before joining the man behind the steering wheel. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Luffy”.

The engine rumbles, but his voice is louder. “Actually”, he shouts, “Why don’t you join me and the others tonight? We’re going out for dinner-”

Robin’s ride seems about to say something, but one look from the girl stops any objection.

“Dinner you said?”, she asks. “I’d love to”.  

“Here, type down your number”, Luffy smiles back, handing her his smartphone. “I’ll text you the details”.

The convertible car disappears around the corner a minute later, so he finally returns his attention to the frustrated driver, who has opened the limo’s door once more.

Hachi looks up expectantly at him. “Can we go now, Mr?”

Kaya is very surprised when her screensaver flashes to life, signaling the arrival of a new message when she is expecting none, and lounging in her bathtub with a nice book.

What’s not surprising, however, is the name in bold, telling her which of her friends requires her attention. There’s only a finite number of people who could be texting her right now, either Usopp or the girls, and her e-mails have a different ringtone. Since she knows for a fact that her boyfriend is currently preoccupied with an online tournament of his favorite game, that leaves only Nami and Vivi. Most of her male friends rarely bother with texts, anyway, unless they need help preparing for their exams.

17:34 - @catburglar 
Look at the group chat. 

Kaya is intrigued, and almost regrets silencing her chat with the whole crew. Things there can escalate very quickly, though, and make one’s phone buzz for hours with this or that meme, so eventually she’s made the right choice, although there’s the downside of people sometimes having to tell her when something juicy happens.

There are ninety-nine unread messages in the Straw-Hats chat-room, and patiently she catches up with the latest news, although the first twenty are enough for her to get the gist of things. It seems Luffy has invited the new girl, Nico Robin, to their gathering later today. The announcement has been accepted positively on the average, especially by the boys – even Zoro has bothered replying, and Sanji is already off the tracks. Kaya notices one of her friends is way less enthusiast than she’s trying to appear, and quickly she opens the only other group-chat she’s part of after writing that she doesn’t have a problem with the girl joining them. There she checks up on the princess, and she confirms her suspicion.

While not having something against the girl herself, Vivi’s not sure how she’ll handle the instant connection to Crocodile that she triggers. At the same time, she’s adamant she will overcome the obstacle, and that she doesn’t want the others to exclude her just because she may or may not remind her of bad memories.

Kaya is very impressed by her friend's maturity, and Nami is very quick in changing topics and ask them if they want to get ready at her place. Her sister’s on vacation, again, so they would have the villa entirely to themselves. The last time she has agreed to something like this they were drunk on bubbles way before an acceptable hour, but with all the travelling she’s done in the summer the blonde has really missed her friends, so she begrudgingly accepts the other girl’s invitation. She sets aside her book, making an internal promise she’ll come back to it soon.

It’s time she gets out of the bathtub and ready to go to Nami’s.

Vivi appreciates her friends’ subtle attempts at comfort, but the more the time she’ll meet with the other approaches, the less stressed she feels about spending time with Robin outside of school.

She feels so silly, really, for even thinking the sight of the girl could mess with her hard-to-regain confidence, but truth is her time with Crocodile has been the most traumatizing experience of her life, the first occasion in which she has felt truly and utterly helpless. She just needs to think of her escape and the freedom she’s felt while running out of the dungeon and associate that with Robin, rather than the things that happened before.

“What do you guys think?” Nami’s voice forces her to turn around and forget her troubles. The orange-haired girl holds up two dresses, hoping for advice. One is green, and beautiful, the other something so skimpy Vivi, with her title, would never be allowed to wear. A certain modicum of decorum is expected of a princess.

“The green one”, she suggests. Kaya hums in agreement, and Nami throws the tiny piece of satin fabric back into her closet.

When the three of them are all dressed, hair and makeup done, the hostess of their small, impromptu gathering produces a bottle of champagne out of nowhere, so that celebrations for the beginning of their senior year can properly be started. A quick toast and they’re rushing outside, bottle in tow, where Luffy is picking them up with his chauffeur so that anyone can drink and be safely brought home later in the night. The car is less extravagant than the limousine which each morning accompanies him to school, so hopefully they won’t draw too much attention.

“Good evening, Hachi”, they chorus, greeting the man holding the door open for them.

“Good evening, Ms. Nami, Ms. Kaya, Princess Vivi”.

Vivi cringes a little at the deference in his tone. What she loves the most about New Marineford is that this is the closest she’ll ever get to a normal life, with normal friends and normal problems.

Here, she can forget the responsibilities she has left in Alubarna.

Once inside, they settle on the comfortable, spacious seats and offer Luffy a glass of the champagne they’ve brought along. The car glides smoothly on the road, the traffic seems low. It’s only thirty past six, but it’ll take them at least half an hour before they pick everyone up and get to the restaurant. Zoro lives nearby, so they stop at his house first. Ten minutes later and they’re in front of the apartment Usopp, Franky and Sanji share together. The blond is the last to enter the car, smelling as if he’s taken a bath in his eau de toilette. They continue south, heading for Chopper’s house, and when their usual group of nine is complete, and ready to party, they finally set out for the remaining address.

Like the majority of the students who aren’t originally from the island, whose surface is almost entirely occupied by the capital, Grand Line City, the new girl is renting an apartment not far from the city-center. Being the closest to bars, restaurants and nightclubs, she’s consequentially the last person they pick up for the night.

Robin lives on a side street nested on a popular shopping road, on the second story of what looks like an old, but recently renovated building. There’s a quaint bookshop on the first floor, but on the right side of the shop's door an elegant row of iron stairs leads to the entrance of a loft. From the outside it seems like a nice place, in its quirky, laid back taste.

Vivi feels surprisingly relaxed when her curtain of raven hair peeks inside the limousine.

Everything will be fine.

Chapter Text

The group arrives at the restaurant twenty minutes past their reservation, but the host, Jinbei, still manages to squeeze them into a nice little corner of the dining area, with a view on the beautiful pond in the back garden, where they were originally supposed to eat, accommodating them as soon as they step into the building.

He has curly, black hair and thick, dark eyebrows, he’s a large man with broad shoulders and a deep, boisterous laughter; over the years, they have grown to be some of his favorite customers. As it’s still summer, he doesn’t bother showing them to the wardrobe.

They have a new friend, he notes, absent-mindedly, as he escorts them to their table.

“Someone will drop by soon to give you the menus and take your order for the drinks”, he announces. “Until then, allow me to offer you a taste of a very special wine from our canteens”.

He produces an old looking bottle from a nearby cabinet, and the bottle opener from the front pocket of his apron. The cap pops open, and he pours two fingers of the drink in the bigger of two glasses sitting in front of each of them. He then grabs a glass for himself from a table with no customers, repeating the process.

“Enjoy your dinner. Cheers”.

Returning back to the kitchen so that he can send one of the waiters out, Jinbei smiles to himself.

Luffy’s group reminds him of his own youth, of his own time in New Marineford. 

They were never such an elastic group, however, in constant expansion. Funny how traditions change.

“So, tell us a little more about you”, Nami requests softly of the new girl, one arm propped on the table, on top of which she’s resting her head, and a small smile playing on her lips. “How are you liking New Marineford so far?” She’s the embodiment of chilling as of right now, but her eyes are very careful in processing the raven-haired girl’s reaction, looking for a genuine emotion, and from there a way to exploit it. She can read most people quite easily, so it’s always a surprise when someone turns out to be properly mysterious.

Her hopes for a new friend grow immensely when no change perturbs her face.

“It’s quite lively”, Robin returns the smile, but Nami can tell her appearance is the product of meticulous calculation. She wonders what that is about. “The quality of the education seems excellent, and the campus is quite stunning. I’m sure it’ll be a pleasant year”.

“What about your old school?”, she urges her. “Was that nice?”

There she goes – Nami thinks with satisfaction. It’s just a small twitch in the corner of her eye, a brief contraction of her long, dark lashes, but the reaction is there nonetheless, and it looks promising.

“The Institute is a great academy”, the other supplies, and she can practically see her as she weighs the words on her tongue. “Unfortunately, my physician recommended a change in scenario as fundamental for my health”.

“I’m sorry to hear that”, Kaya intrudes, and Nami lets the proverbial bone go. If she shares her medical history with them, it will be an act of pure, unadulterated free will. “Are you feeling any better?”

“I’ve moved to Grand Line City two months ago. Summer has been treating me very well. Thank you, Kaya”.

“I can ask my mum to give you a full check-up”, Chopper offers, grinning at her. “She’s not just our biology teacher, but the best doctor in town, too”.

Other people at the table shiver at the reminder that someone as sinister as Professor Kureha is also the single parent of someone as sweet as Chopper. It’s unexplainable.

“At least you didn’t spend three whole hours listening to Professor Kuro blabbing about his holidays”, Usopp scoffs, stuffing his mouth with the leftovers of his girlfriend’s tokoyakis. “Like hell we care. Uh, by the way, Robin”, he looks up, smiling apologetically. “They talked quite a bit about you in my class today”.

“I’m afraid that is to be expected”, she replies. Nami vaguely notices her mask as it shifts back into place. “From what I’ve heard, it’s not common for transfer students to be accepted in their senior year”.

“You must be very important, Robin-chwan!”, Sanji swoons. Typical.

“Quite the opposite, to be fair with you”, she giggles, “My mom was the famous one, but she had enough... clout to secure me a spot in here, I guess. I guess it helped that she was engaged to our current math professor-”

“Eh?!”, Franky winces. “Your mom dated Aokiji?”

“They were together for almost ten years”, Robin sighs, wistfully. “She died six months before the wedding”.

“I’m so sorry to hear that. How old were you?” Franky stretches a hand across the table and squeezes her arm gently. “Aokiji, still”, he adds. “That’s super wild”.

Usopp nods in agreement, while the others look up at her in concern. They’re half-expecting her to tear up and cry or be so enraged at Franky’s antics to walk away, but all they get it’s a grief-ridden smile instead. Robin seems quite used at telling the sad story of her life. Nami feels kind of bad for starting the chain of questions now.

“It was two years ago, so… I was sixteen when it happened”. 

She is familiar with standing on the receiving end of other people’s compassion, but that doesn’t mean she despises it any less than the first day. She hated the funeral.

Robin braces herself for the expected wave of shallow I’m sorry-s and “I am here if you want to talk about it”, but her new schoolmates do nothing of the sort.

Luffy pours a glass of the wine they’ve been drinking all dinner long for everyone, then raises his own. “I’m sure she was a great woman”, he says. “To Ms. Nico”.

The sound of the glasses clattering threatens to break her already fragile countenance, but she takes a deep breath and joins them in the toast. Theirs is quite different from any reaction she’s ever gotten before, but she thinks she likes it. Her new friends- err, schoolmates, are truly a captivating bunch. Robin is sure her mother would like them as well.

“That must have been hard”, Nami notes, and she can see the orange-haired girl is holding back, as if she’s feeling the need to hug her but knowing she probably needs it more than the dead woman’s child does. “Very”, is her tight-lipped reply. As much as she appreciates the concern, she’s eager to move to another topic of conversation. She doesn’t like being the center of attention, especially of this kind. “Do you come here often? The host seemed to know you very well”.

“Jinbei’s the best”, Usopp sighs, not oblivious to her attempt, but willing to comply.

“Jinbei’s great”, corrects Sanji. “Zeff, my mentor, is the real best”.

“I’m confused”, she deadpans. “Who’s Zeff? What do you mean your mentor?” Not that she cares that much, but everything is better than a melancholic walk in memory lane.

“Zeff is the owner and head chef of the Baratie. It’s a fine dining facility, a couple of blocks west”, the boy recites. “As for my involvement, I’m training under his master-ship in my spare time. I’m the sous-chef there during the summer”.

Now, this is something new. A prince (third in line, but a prince, nonetheless) working in a restaurant. Perhaps there’s more substance to the aspiring casanova than she’s thought upon first meeting him. “That sounds very promising, Cook-san,” swoon, “I’ll make sure to try his kitchen soon”.

“I promise you won’t regret it, Robin-chwan!”

“Tsk”. The scoff comes from the green-haired boy sitting next to him, and it distracts Sanji from his pursuit of the raven-haired beauty, who returns her attention to the others.

Luffy orders his third plate of assorted rustic meat, while the orders browse the dessert cart with little interest.

“I’m getting sake”, Zoro grunts at the end of his inspection of the menu. “Anyone else?”

“I’ll join you”, Franky nods, followed by Usopp and Kaya. Unsurprisingly, Vivi refuses, while Nami takes some time to think about it. With an early alarm the following morning, it’s probably not a wise choice. “You know I technically can’t purchase that stuff yet”, Chopper shrugs. “I’ll pass”.

Luffy’s still eating, and not a big fan of sake, so that only leaves Robin. She licks her lips, nervously, before declining the offer as well.

There’s a tap on her shoulder. It’s Nami. “You don’t drink much, do you?”, she asks.

“No, ma’am”, she giggles. “I do not”. Because I used to.

Nami smirks, then she turns to Zoro and decides she’ll have that cup of sake after all. Her hazelnut eyes bore back into her blue ones. She winks. “I guess we’ll have to change that”.

Robin’s adamant she won’t succeed, but she would love to see her try. She wasn’t expecting her first day in the new school to turn out so delightful.

The crew leaves Jinbei’s place a little before ten, with their bellies full and their bank accounts a little less so, thoroughly happy and quite satisfied with their purchase.

Per Franky’s suggestion, they decide to hit one of their favorite bars, owned by Luffy’s brother dear friend Marco, the Phoenix’s Nest. There’s a long line outside of people who are waiting for their turn to enter the club, but the bodyguard recognizes them, and allows them to cut through said line. A couple of weak protests raise from the crowd, but they are mostly ignored.

Inside, everything is as one would expect from such an expensive place. There aren’t that many tables around, contributing to its halo of exclusivity, but there is a dancefloor, and the bartender, Marco himself, makes the best drinks in the city. All and all, it’s a win from every perspective. They’re escorted to one of the biggest tables, where an ice bucket holding a bottle of champagne awaits them. Since the place is very famous among the students of New Marineford, and many tonight have reason to celebrate, it isn’t long before they start bumping into their schoolmates.

Luffy has been given the task to deliver their orders to the bar counter, but he hasn’t walked further than four feet before he is stopped in his tracks by a familiar, feminine voice.

“Watch your step, Monkey D. Luffy”. The voice belongs to a girl from the only other senior class, Jewerly Bonney. She has long, pink hair, and she’s donning her usual pout, the one that always makes her look as if she’s displeased with the people around her. As far as he know, Bonney doesn’t have many friends, but she’s perfectly fine with it.

She’s pissed at the inherent hypocrisy of the student body, which, he quotes, is oblivious to its own privilege, and the two of them are on speaking terms solely because she was his biology tutor last semester. “Sorry, Bonney”, he offers her an apologetic smile, scratching the back of his head. “I wasn’t looking”.

His encounter with his pink-haired schoolmate ends doesn't last much longer, and it’s only the warm-up for a much stranger one.

This time, however, someone else is distracted and ends up bumping into his back.

“Watch out”, a known, yet unfamiliar voice growls. Black eyeliner, short, dark hair peeking from under a white hat with black dots, too many piercings to count...

Trafalgar D. Water Law. The one and only.

“Excuse me?” Luffy feels like he has been just slapped hard in the face. “You’re the one who almost knocked me off”.

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever”, the other holds his hands up in surrender, the hint of a smirk curling up the corners of his lips. “Look, I don’t have time to waste here with you now, Mugiwara-ya”.

How brutish of him, he hasn’t even apologized yet. He is just as rude as he is pretty.

“I’m not holding you back”, Luffy scoffs. “I’ll see you around”.

He doesn’t even know why he has bothered saying goodbye, especially after the crude treatment he’s received, but there are bridges one truly doesn’t want to burn, and Trafalgar Law smells like adventure. By the time he gets to the bar counter, he has forgotten what he was supposed to order.

Her seat is comfortable, the ambiance is great. She even likes the music. Her little black dress is the perfect compromise between fashion and practicality, and it allows her to sit properly without fearing her underwear might show up from beneath her skirt. Robin’s having a great time, seriously. She’s had only two drinks, the wine the host offered them before dinner and the one poured in Olvia's honor, so she’s still perfectly sober and enjoying herself immensely as she bears witness to her classmates’ shenanigans.

They don’t seem to have a problem with getting shit-faced, she envies their innocence a little.

Even Chopper has succumbed to temptation once outside of the public eye. The youngest member of the group has left some time ago for the dancefloor, followed by the other girls and Sanji, so that means only her, Zoro and Franky are currently sitting at the table as Usopp and Kaya went straight home after dinner. Luffy has disappeared an hour ago, when he was sent to the bar, and is yet to return. It wouldn’t be the first time he meets this or that old friend and spends half the night catching up, so it was decided they’ll wait another thirty minutes or so before they grow concerned.

Soon enough, Franky leaves to introduce himself to the guy who’s been staring at him since they arrived, and Robin’s left with the taciturn green-haired boy. The silence feels kind of heavy.

Zoro looks as if he’s half-asleep, arms crossed on his chest and eyes shut, lips pierced in a tight line. She’s not sure it would be okay for her to bother him, but she never feels like dancing when she’s sober, so she might as well try. “So, what are your interests, besides from sake?” She knows it sounds cheeky, but the blush that instantly spreads on his cheeks is worth it.

“What do you do with your free time?”

He pries one eye open. “I’m a swordsman”, he says, and he’s very... serious about it, it seems. “In my free time I train. When I’m not training, I hang out with this carousel of misfits”. He moves a couple seats, and he’s now so close she can feel his warm breath on her face. “They’re a weird bunch, but they’re my friends”.

She doesn’t question him about the subtle threat hidden in his words, hurt them and you’ll have me to answer to, but she’s come to New Marineford detoxed of ill intentions, so she hopes over time he will learn to trust her. Robin can’t be sure she’ll never fuck up, if the ten of them are to be friends, she can only promise she’ll do her absolute best, and pray it’ll be enough.

“I’ve met stranger people”, she remarks, politely. “So far, you have all been extremely nice to me...” She doesn’t know where the last part has come from exactly, but she’s glad it has stopped weighing on her chest. Robin wasn’t expecting to blend so easily into the new school. Saul will be happy to know.

Zoro flashes her a boyish grin. “We could say the same. Welcome to New Marineford”.  

His voice is a low sound, a bit huskier than usual. Whether the change in his tone is caused by the alcohol or something else, she can’t tell.

Robin tilts her head slightly on one side, noticing how their mouths are now at only one breath of distance.

“My, thank you, Swordsman-san”.

He’s close enough to count, one by one, her lashes, or the small, light freckles dusted on her nose and cheeks. Her breath is cool as it crushes against his closed lips, and there’s something in her blue eyes that is slowly, but steadily, as he stares into their depths, driving him mad. Zoro remains aware, however, even in his inebriated state, that it is not polite to stare at a girl for too long, or else she’ll think you’re a creep, which is not the impression he wants to leave upon this one.

He glances down at his shoes, then back at her, but with less intensity, and straightens his back a little, moving a bit further away from her.

“So, what do you like to do?” Much better already. She blinks at him in surprise, but she’s quick to recover. He suspects she’s one of those girls who always find their way around words somehow.

”My passion is ancient history”, she says. “And my dream is to become an archaeologist, someday. Most of the time, you can find me in the company of a book”.

“Uh-uh”, is his stupid reply. He can’t remember the last time he’s read something unrelated to schoolwork, just for the pleasure of it. He takes another sip from his glass, but there’s only melted ice in it at this point. “What kind of book?”

“History, of course”, she replies. Her giggle is a soft, pleasing sound. “I love adventure novels…”, she adds when her laughter subsides. “…But I’m open to any genre, really, as long as the story is really good”.

Zoro smirks. “I’d rather have my own adventures”. He’s supposed to sound cool, but she looks unimpressed, and he ends up feeling like an idiot instead. “Err, I mean...”, he tries to correct.

“I know what you mean”, she interrupts. “We just like to go about it in different ways”.

“I guess so”, he shrugs. It makes sense when she puts it like that. “I’ll give yours a chance, if you try mine”.

Robin looks up, blue eyes scrutinizing him silently. Her black dress exposes her collarbone, on which a lovely blush is spreading out and… Focus, Zoro. Focus. Don’t be such a snake.

“You’ve gotten yourself a deal, Swordsman-san”.

Again with the nickname, he groans, inwardly. He’s not sure what’s pushing her to address him in such a way, but the way her tongue rolls over the letters... it sparks something fierce in the pit of his stomach. Like this morning in the café, being alone with Nico Robin feels both glorious and oddly life-threatening.

“We should go look for Luffy and the others”, he says after a while, making it a point to look at his wristwatch. While it’s his discomfort that makes him want to end the outing on an early note, he doesn’t want her to know that’s what’s happening. She has no responsibility over his lack of judgement in the presence of a pretty girl. 

“There’s school tomorrow, after all”, he adds, lamely, when she looks skeptically at him.

He can’t believe he’s the one who just said that, but the reminder seems to work, because Robin grabs her handbag and sits up very quickly. She turns around with a soft smile. “Are you coming?”

Since the Phoenix’s Nest makes the customers pay as soon as they receive their orders, there’s not a bill they need to cover, and they give up the table with no second thoughts. They decide to head for the dancefloor first and the bar later, spotting the familiar patch of blue hair sitting on top of Franky’s head as they’re making their way out of the VIP area. Only there’s fingers knitted through the strands, and his admirer from earlier is pinned against the wall, kissing him passionately. The pair only needs to exchange one look to convene Franky won’t be leaving with them anytime soon.

They continue on their way to the dancefloor, keeping their eyes open for their friends as they surpass couple after couple, all locked up in tight embraces. Somehow, the two fingers Robin circles around his left wrist, right above his watch, feels a lot more intimate to him than some of the make-out sessions he’s being forced to witness.

“I’ve been told you tend to get lost a lot”, she teases.

Why are his ears so warm all of a sudden?

Vinsmoke Sanji can’t say he’s in the mood for dancing, but he rocks his hips and sways his arms anyway, following the rhythm dictated by the song.

He’s keeping close watch on his friends, discreet but attentive.

Nami and Vivi are all dolled up for the night out, and they look positively gorgeous, but unfortunately he is not the only man with eyes here, and the two are receiving lewd looks from many of the club's customers. Careful not to be the one who ends up invading their personal space, he moves in slow circles around them, glaring at the cluster of admirers that is rapidly gathering nearby.

From the corner of his eye he notices a hand lounging for the orange-haired girl, but he grabs the arm connected to it before its fingers can close around her bicep and pull her away. Bright, red hair, three piercings: a septum, a bridge and an eyebrow ring. Eustass Kid has eyes the color of blood, burning metaphorical holes in his face, and his customary snarl seems more feral than usual.

“Fuck off, Germa-scum”, he spats.

Eustass is an entitled, rude little shit, and it’s safe to say the two have never liked each other. Sanji was very relieved when his friend announced they were broken up (and never ever getting back together this time). “I only want to talk to Nami”. There’s a bit of a slur in his voice, with a hint of pathetic he can only label as regret. He has probably figured out his mistakes, realized what it is exactly that he has lost for-ever. Sanji supposes his schoolmate has finally matured, but he doesn’t budge. He won’t let him hurt Nami again, not if he can prevent it.

“As you well know, Nami doesn’t want to talk to you”, he says, ignoring the insult as only a gentleman would. Seriously, though, sometimes being the better man is tough as fuck. “Go home, Eustass. You’re drunk”. Sanji glares once more as he walks past him, his threat heavily etched on his face.

Kid seems about to go after him, but then he shakes his head, chugs some more of the rum he’s been holding in his other hand for the entire exchange, which Sanji notices only now, and leaves.

It’s easy from there to spot his friends once more, and he’s happy to see Chopper has taken his place in fending off the sharks; he’s a bit less effective, however, and the space around Nami and Vivi is getting slimmer as each second ticks by. The two girls seem oblivious to it, though, content to just have fun with Chopper and sway their hips wildly to the music. He makes his way back to them.

“Sanji-kun!”, Nami throws both arms around his neck in a clumsy hug. He should be used to her displays of affection by now, but truth is, he still gets as stiff and dumbstruck as he did the first time around. His daydreaming is soon cut off, however. “What was that about?”

How stupid of him to assume she wouldn’t notice. Nami has an attention for details that’s quite rare.

“Nothing you should worry about, Nami-swan”, he says, patting awkwardly the back of her hair. It’s as much comfort as he can provide whilst keeping himself from having a heart-attack, or worse... a nosebleed. Her perfume is that intoxicating. Mh, tangerines– but he snaps out of it, using whatever willpower he has left. “Just a friendly chat between Eustass and I. Someone needed to remind him of something called personal boundaries”.

The girl pulls back from the hug, he can breathe again, and her hazelnut eyes bore into his. Nami grins. “Thank you, Sanji-kun”.   

He smiles back at her. Yeah, anytime.    

Vivi is quite relieved when Zoro and Robin walk by and declare it would be wiser for them to call it an early night.

She’s been thinking the same for half an hour at least, so she gingerly agrees to the plan. They need to sober up Chopper a little before they drive him back home, and Luffy, as is turns out, never returned to the table. By the time they’re tucked safely inside of their beds, it’ll be way past midnight – as it is, they’re already indulging in inappropriate behavior for a school-night.

Her heels are starting to take their toll on her feet, and the previous high she’s received from the alcohol is rapidly turning into a heavy desire for slumber. Vivi stifles down a yawn.

“Luffy’s phone doesn’t ring”, Nami mutters. “He probably forgot to charge it up as usual”.

Her friend is still standing awkwardly close to Sanji, but now she does not have the energy to unpack all of that. The hug has been bizarre enough, plus she knows Nami would talk to her about it on her own terms, if there ever was something to talk about in the first place. Maybe she’s been hallucinating all along, and the two haven’t made doe-eyes at each other for the past twenty minutes.

How would she know, anyway? She’s never been on a date.

“I’ll check the men’s toilette”, Zoro sighs. “The rest of you should head for the bar. Ask Marco if he saw him. I’ll meet you by the car in ten minutes or so”.

“What about Franky?”, asks Chopper. “Isn’t he coming with us?”

The green-haired boy smirks. “Franky is kinda... busy right now. He’ll be fine”.

Zoro turns around and disappears back into the crowd of missing people. It only now occurs to Vivi that he’ll probably get lost on his way to the bathroom, and then again on his way back to the car.

Nami is on the same page. “We shouldn’t have left him go on his own”.

“What’s done is done”, Sanji chimes in, “The moss-head can take care of himself”.

“Shouldn’t we be going to the bar?”, Robin asks, politely. “Let’s have a little faith. This club isn’t that large”.

Vivi smiles at her naivety. Clearly, she hasn’t been subjected to Zoro's atrocious orientation skills yet.

It doesn’t take long for the group of five to reach the bar, but, sadly, there’s no sign of jet-black hair and a goofy grin there. Marco is not there either.

“Let’s wait for them outside”, Vivi suggests. “I’m craving some fresh air”.

They make a beeline for the exit, saying goodbye to the same bodyguard who let them in on their way out. Outside, Hachi is waiting for them, pacing in a tight perimeter around the car. He seems to light up when he spots them, but his smile is quickly replaced by a frown when he notices Luffy’s absence. “Garp-san won’t be pleased”.

Zoro pushes open the bathroom's door, which has been trashed beyond repair by the customers. A funky smell makes his nose curl up in disgust.

Regardless their social status, some men truly are beasts.

No one’s in the communal space, where the sinks are placed, but some of the stalls are occupied, and he waits patiently for the people inside to finish their business and come out. He can’t help but feel a bit like a pervert, keeping tabs on who is inside which toilette, but this seems the fastest way to find Luffy. God knows he’s lost enough time already while trying to get to the bathroom.

Eventually the light on only one of the stalls shines red, but the person inside seems determined to overstay their welcome.

Since there’s no one inside that can see and, more importantly, judge, he gets a little closer to the door, from behind which some faint, gagging noses can be heard. There’s a louder thud, then the inhabitant of the cubicle slumps to the ground, a familiar ankle with a straw-hat tattoo peeking from behind the metallic barrier.

“Luffy?”, he calls out. Slowly, the door opens. “Do I really want to know?”

“You probably don’t, Zoro”, his best friend laughs, albeit weakly. “But I’ll tell you anyway…”

Somehow, they find their way to the car, even though it takes longer than he’ll ever willingly admit. It turns out Luffy met an old acquaintance on his way to the bar, was challenged to a drinking contest and went way beyond his stomach’s possibilities out of sheer spite, resulting in him spending most of the night puking his soul out in the bathroom.

The green-haired boy is still laughing at his dumbass-ery when they spot Hachi in the parking lot, surrounded by the rest of the group.

All’s well what ends well.

Nami rolls her eyes, visibly irritated by the professor’s long enquiry about the seriousness of their future role of New Marineford ambassadors. While she understands where he comes from, as former students are a form of marketing the school takes very seriously, hence its exclusivity, it is only the second day of school, for God’s sake, it’s not like they won’t be able to catch up with whatever they’ll be taught today. She has gotten less sleep than needed, and her hair is a mess, the last thing she needs is listening to Akainu complaining about their lack of respect for their elders. Yikes.

Robin turns around in the seat in front of her, frowning. “Is he always this pompous?”

Nami nods, energetically. “Wait for the day people don’t show up for tests”.

The professor drags a bit longer in his monologue, demanding they’ll be more focused from now on, but eventually his shoulders slump and he relaxes on his chair, asking the students to open their copies of the textbook. He’s barely read the title of the chapter, and explained what the lesson is about, when someone knocks loudly on the closed door, shouting, “Professor! It’s me! Open the door!”

Nami shakes her head with an amused smile, whilst Sakazuki pretends not to hear him. There’s no way he’s touching his register again.

As far as the physics' professor is concerned, Monkey D. Luffy never showed up for class today.

“I can’t believe you’ve wrestled with a shark!”

Later that day, Chopper and Usopp are the first to get to the cafeteria, and sit at their usual table. Stories from Usopp’s tropical cruise earlier in the summer are still fresh, and he puts a lot of effort in their embellishment before he delivers them to his younger friend. Chopper’s the only one who still believes them.

“I know, I know, it sounds impossible…”, the dark-haired boy shakes his head, feigning modesty. “…But the circumstances called for an impossible solution”.

“You’re so cool, Usopp!”, Chopper squeaks in delight.

A blonde girl then sits next to Usopp, planting a kiss on his cheek. “Hey, babe”. Kaya is followed by the other girls, who occupy a seat as well, and five minutes later by Luffy and Zoro, who have taken a de-route at the end of class to get something from Sanji’s locker. There’s no trace of the blond prince next to them, however, whilst Franky joins them a little after that.

“Good morning, everyone”, he greets them with a huge grin. He was late to school this morning, so this is the first time they see him since last night at the club. “So, what did I miss? I'm sorry I’ve bailed on you guys”.

“It’s nothing”, Nami shakes her head. “Rather, do you know where Sanji is? These two”, she points at Luffy and Zoro, who shrug dismissively, “Don’t want to tell me how they got separated”.

“I’m afraid I don’t”, Franky mutters. “What’s up with that?”

“Someone trashed Sanji’s locker”, Luffy blurts out. “They wrote some bad stuff on it”.

“They’re sorting things out in the principal’s office as we speak”, adds Zoro, helpfully. “Sengoku said they’ll open an investigation, but it’s pretty obvious who did it”.

Chopper doesn’t know what to think, other than Sanji doesn’t deserve such an ominous treatment and that he hopes the person responsible gets caught and punished accordingly.

He hates bullies. Unluckily for them, they’re trying to mess iwith the wrong guy. His friend Sanji is strong enough to defend himself… and then some. “Who?”, he asks.

Zoro smirks and takes out his smartphone. “Here, I’ve got a picture”.

Yes, it is obvious. The skull design with a crown of spikes is unmistakable. That design belongs to Killer, Eustass Kid’s right-hand man. Something else is scribbled on the side with a black marker, but it has been purposefully kept out of the picture.

Chopper gulps, nervously, passing the device to Nami. “Does it have anything to do with last night?”

“Last night?”, Zoro blinks. “What happened last night?”

“He didn’t share the details, but Eustass got a little too close and Sanji had to tell him to back off”, supplies Nami, to whom Chopper’s question was addressed. “Killer was never mentioned, though”.

“That can’t be a real person’s name”, Robin deadpans. “Can it?”

“His father’s a rockstar, he was very popular fifteen or twenty years ago”, says Usopp, “His music was not bad in the beginning, but clearly his parenting skills are an entirely different matter”.

“You have one of his LPs in your room, don’t you?”, his girlfriend chimes in.

He blushes. “Like I said, his music was not bad in the beginning...”

Chopper smiles tenderly at the scene. He has the coolest friends one could ever wish for.

From another table, Eustass Kid glares daggers at the group of friends.

They sit there, all high and mighty, acting as if they’re so much better than anybody else when the truth is, they are just as vile and corrupted as anybody else.

He hates their hypocrisy. He’s never understood what Nami sees in her friends, why she’s close to them in a way she has never been with him. She was his fucking girlfriend for almost a year, but she has never smiled at him like she's beaming now, surrounded by the pathetic losers. The annoying blond prince is not there with them, though, and Eustass can’t help but smirk.

Surely the idiot has appreciated his small... gift, and if he hasn’t, they can still solve their small quibble outside.

Vinsmoke Sanji has disrespected him, it’s only natural (and fair), for Eustass to disrespect him back. They can leave things as they are, but deep down he craves for some more action.

His life has been impossibly dull since Nami broke up with him.

Chapter Text

TWO DAYS LATER.

On Friday, Law kicks the vending machine located on the third floor, which is refusing to serve him the coffee he has already paid for three fucking times. “Stupid, stupid thing”, he groans, punching the keypad.

A voice raises from behind his back, feminine and mocking. “Someone here didn’t sleep well last night”, Bonney giggles. “What’s up with you, Trafalgar?”

He has missed three days of school already, and the principal wants to see him before class, so, seriously, his classmate is well and thoroughly mistaken if she thinks he’ll waste his time bickering with her. “Not now, Bonney”, he warns. Turning around, the purple, swollen skin underneath his right eye elicits a very calculated gasp on her part, pink ponytail swaying wildly from the surprise.

It’s pretty clear someone has beaten him up, but she’s smart enough not to make any inquiries about that. She approaches the vending machine and throws a single, precise punch on one side of it. With the amount of snacks she consumes each day, Jewelry Bonney probably knows these things better than anyone else in the school.

The engine finally resets, and a paper cup slides down the apposite tube.

“I’ll see you in class”.

Black coffee at hand (and another spilling freely on the floor, but that’s not his problem), Law proceeds up the labyrinth of stairs and hallways, and eventually finds himself in front of principal Sengoku’s office. His secretary gestures for him to go inside, so taking a deep breath he pushes down the handle and opens the door. He’s been here a handful of times before.

“Sit down, please”.

He follows Sengoku’s invitation and lets himself fall on the plush armchair on the side of his desk opposite from where the principal glares at him, mentally rehearsing the lie he plans on selling him.

“Professor Sakazuki brought to my attention that you have already missed three days of class since the beginning of the year. As you can probably guess, that doesn’t look well on the curriculum of a senior student”.

“I’m aware”, Law mutters through gritted teeth, raising a hand to point at his right eye. “I was in too much pain to attend class, I’m afraid. The doctor wouldn’t let me”.

He stifles down an arrogant smirk. Everything’s going according to plan… only Sengoku’s eyes narrow, and he looks even more suspiciously at him. “What happened?”, he inquires.

Law releases a breath he didn’t know he was holding. “Some bandit approached me on my way home on Monday. I didn’t want to give up my wallet, but he wasn’t very fond of that”. Every word he pronounces is calculated, low and filled with the contempt one would expect from someone of his social stature. He knows how to appease old-fashioned men like him.

“I see”, the principal mutters. “The school will be happy to provide a copy of your documents while you wait for new ones. I assume you’ve already gone to the police?”

“Help arrived before he could take off with my backpack, sir. The worst injury I have is my bruised ego”.

The tension eases from now on, and ten minutes later Law is allowed to go to class with the old man’s wish of a "quick and painless recovery". He smiles to himself as the door closes behind him, the secretary barely raising her eyes from her papers to acknowledge him.

Sengoku doesn’t suspect a thing.

When one dabbles in the kind of business he does, there’s no such thing as too careful. He truly doesn’t need the entire school on his case if he can avoid it.

Law doesn’t plan on ever telling his father, who’s out of town for work, that the other night his only son was beaten up in a small, dark alley, and because he has failed to sell some narcotics to his schoolmates. Donquixote Rosinante, the famous judge and herald of justice, surely wouldn’t appreciate that.

In the two hours before lunch, Robin has her second and last music lesson of the week. Brook's name wasn't in the timetable for today, but he's subentering for another teacher, Rayleigh, who, according to the principal's note, will show up only on next Monday, when he's free from an unprecised previous engagement. 

The music professor is entertaining the class by playing a wide selection of instruments, sometimes even performing songs they request, but the dark-haired girl can’t really enjoy any of it. The book she holds in her lap is burning through the black fabric of her uniform, but the boy the tome is destined too, who sits two desks behind hers, is currently fast asleep. Robin sighs, glancing down at Chopper’s empty seat. He has moved his chair to the front of the class to better enjoy the show, like many other students have done.

She turns around once more, like she has done many, many times in the past twenty minutes, only now Zoro’s dark eyes are open, staring straight into hers.

“Hey. Do you need something?”

The green-haired swordsman has been less friendly after their chat at the club on Monday, but she hasn’t forgotten her promise, even though she’s not sure about bringing it up once more.

Robin picks up the book from her lap and hands it to him. There’s a samurai on the cover, so its contents should be very straightforward, but he glances up somewhat questioningly at her anyway, making her instantly regret that she has followed up on a conversation she had with a drunk version of him. Jeez, she’s so stupid sometimes.

He doesn’t look like the kind of guy who appreciates books, not as much as she does, anyway, not with the same degree of devotion. A man like that simply does not exist, or so she thinks.

“It’s one of my favorite adventures”, she explains, albeit with some hesitance. “I’ve picked this one because there are some swordfights in there. I really like how they’re written, but I thought maybe you could give me an expert opinion on it. I’d like to know if they’re realistic and, if that’s the case, how much so”.

It’s probably the longest she has talked to him in the entire week, besides from their time at the Phoenix’s Nest, and she feels uneasy. She looks earnestly at Zoro, but she half-expects him to laugh in her face and tell her she has misunderstood everything. Robin’s not great at making friends, especially with boys who appear just as aloof as she is, but she feels in this context, in this moment in time, here, in a senior class of New Marineford, it is worth the risk.

“Thank you, Robin”, he grins, her heart nearly missing a beat.

Did I hear him correctly?

“I’ll definitely let you know what I think about it, although it might take some time before I get around to reading it”.

“Take all the time you need”, she replies, weakly, still taken aback by the enthusiasm in his voice.

Zoro nods, handing her his phone just like his best friend did four days ago. “I’ll let you know when the next adventure is planned for”.

Later that day, Zoro and the others decide to hang out at Luffy’s place, order some pizza and play videogames, maybe drink a beer, or several, and generally have a quiet night in. His brothers are out with their friends, members of the staff have already retreated to their quarters, and the group of six would have the entire mansion at their disposal, if only this wasn’t Garp’s house, and Garp an extremely paranoid old man. Luffy’s grandfather is out of town for work, but they’re still confined to the basement, where the maxi-screen and consoles are kept in a sort of modern boys-cave.

“...Let me tell you, guys. This has to be the best car game I’ve ever tried”, Usopp boasts, staring at the metallic disk as it gets swallowed by Luffy’s play-station. “The manual change is a bit tricky at first, but once you get a proper hold of it… It’s poetry”.

“What makes it so special?”, asks Sanji, who stands by the open window, a cigarette hanging from his lips.

Franky’s on a date with the guy from the nightclub, whilst Chopper has been tricked by his mother into accompanying her out of town for the weekend, so their group is a bit smaller than usual. Luffy nibs absent-mindedly at the pizza leftovers, half listening to Usopp’s passionate explanation of the game’s features, Sanji smokes his cigarette, now regretful he’s asked his question, and Zoro is sprawled on the sofa, glaring at the telephone in his hands as he tries to think of something witty to type.

Robin’s phone number glares back at him from the display. Fuck this.

This has never been a problem before. He may not be what you would call a socialite, but he’s not socially hopeless. Talking to girls was never an issue, so why can’t he find something to write to this one? Oh yeah, it’s because he got her number only under a certain premise, and he doesn’t want to creep her out with random texts. Suddenly, he’s reminded of the book sitting on his bedside table.

Maybe, if he starts reading that tomorrow, hopefully he can break the ice with something related to that. He's not sure why he wants to do it, why he feels such an over-whelming desire to talk to her alone (again), but he’s always been a man of action rather than thought, and he doubts that will ever change. All that he can do, really, is finding a way not to look like a complete idiot while he acts.

“You’ll do better next time”, Usopp tries to comfort Luffy, patting a gentle hand on his shoulder. He’s doing his best not to look too smug over his recent victory, but with bad, bad results. The grin on his face is unmistakable. Luffy rarely loses at anything, especially against him. “Your turn, guys”.

He hands the controller he was using to Zoro, whilst Luffy does the same with Sanji after the blond boy puts off his cigarette and makes his way back to the sofa.

“Ready to lose, dart-board brow?”

“I hope you enjoy the taste of dust, moss-head”. 

The second virtual race ends up in a draw, much to the participants’ dismay, and so does the third, which they play only because they technically need a winner to compete against Usopp.

Zoro and Sanji are about to start a fourth, unwilling to accept the fact that their skills are evenly matched in this game, but the other two, who have been watching and not playing for a good twenty-five minutes now, decide to put a stop to it. “That’s enough”, Usopp declares. “We can play something else”.

Zoro is about to open his mouth in retaliation, but Sanji beats him to it. “That’s probably for the best”, the blond pipes up. “We don’t want stray-moss’ ego here to be shattered”.

“Come again, ero-cook?”

“I’m hungryyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!”

Usopp shakes his head, unimpressed by his friends’ antics. Seriously, these three will never change.

Sanji and Zoro probably won’t stop competing over any ludicrous thing that comes their way, while Luffy has the attention-span of a six years old, and they all share the same penchant for getting themselves into trouble. Sometimes, Usopp truly can’t tell how they all became friends in the first place. He turns off the console, not before he has put the disk back into its case and said case inside of his backpack. It seems their first Friday-night gathering of the year, with two absentees, won’t last much longer.

“Anyone up for another beer?”, the green-haired teen asks.

Sanji, who’s going back to the window to smoke another cigarette, shakes his head.

Luffy shrugs. “Well, if there is no other food…”  

“Beer is not food, you idiot!”, the blond scolds him, a vein popping on his forehead. For someone whose dream is to be a famous chef, he surely hates Luffy’s gluttony.

Usopp feels it necessary to restore the peace before things escalate too much. “Everyone still up for Sunday, right?”

“What’s on Sunday?”, Luffy asks.

“Of course, you would forget”, the other mutters through gritted teeth. When he looks around, however, fully expecting the others’ support, they stare blankly at him. “You guys too?”

Zoro scoffs, taking another sip of his beer. “Pfft, of course not”, he declares, soon joined by Sanji. “As if!”

“Oh, really? So, what is it that we’re doing on Sunday?”, Usopp presses, determined not to let them go away with their lack of attention this time. It’s frustrating to always be the one who organizes (and, more importantly, remembers) stuff. “C’mon, I’m waiting, guys”.

“Well, on Sunday there’s the…”, Zoro trails off, uncertainly. “…The thing”. 

Sanji frowns. “Really, marimo? That’s the best you can do?”

“Shut up, shitty-cook!”, is the retort. “At least I tried, which is more than can be said…”

Luffy clears his throat, interrupting him, and looks up at his friends, a seriousness etched on his face that is quite peculiar.

For a moment, Usopp dares hoping at least one of them has remembered the commitment they have all agreed upon well over three weeks ago. It's just that, though, a moment.

“I don’t care what we’re doing”, Luffy says. “But there’s going to be food there, right, Usopp?”

Oh boy, what a bunch of idiots.

Around the same time, in a different neighborhood, the girls are spending some quality time together as well, only they’re a bit more chill, comfortably seated on the two sofas of Robin’s living-room.

The original plan was to watch a movie, but they’ve never gotten around to do that. Nami, Vivi and Kaya seem way more interested in grilling the new girl for information in a way that’s not available to them at school, and Robin’s having a hard time fending off their more prodding questions.

“Oh, c’mon!”, the orange-haired girl insists, swaying wildly the glass of champagne she keeps in her right hand. “There must be someone who caught your eye!” Nami seems under the impression she has noticed someone romantically. No, she’s even walked one step further, actually. She’s adamant she likes someone. Robin doesn’t quite know how to react to that.

“Well, there’s plenty of good-looking boys and girls in our school”, adds Kaya, winking at her. “You know how the saying goes… The sea is full of fishes”.

“I’m sure New Marineford has a lot to offer”, Robin replies, with little commitment. “However, with everything that’s going on in my life right now, I’m afraid the timing couldn’t be any worse. This year is about myself, you know? Sorting things out before the beginning of the rest of my life…”

She hopes they won’t take it badly or get offended by her lack of enthusiasm. Boys are pretty (so pretty), sometimes interesting, but there’s too much on her plate right now. She can’t afford any distractions, not when she has just barely put herself back together after hitting rock bottom.

“Well said, Robin”, Vivi nods energetically. She truly is sympathetic. Kaya has found the love of her life in the first boyfriend she has ever had, whilst Nami has practically the whole school crawling at her feet, begging for a chance to date her. Sometimes, they don’t seem to understand that not all girls have the same priorities they do. She turns away from the dark-haired girl to glare at the other two. “Knock it off, you two. Senior year is about getting one’s head straight and figure out what comes next”.

“Who says I can’t do both?”, Nami interjects, eyes narrowing.

“No one. Certainly not me”, Vivi replies, calmly, knowing it takes very little to set her off. “I was merely implying I agree with Robin, and that it’s perfectly fine for her to want to focus on herself rather than some random dude who’ll probably treat her like shit anyway”.

Robin wants to believe it’s the champagne talking for them – and that maybe trying to spoil her new friends hasn’t been that great of an idea, because clearly there’s some unresolved tension between the girls, which alcohol can deepen, but not resolve. It’s a certain animosity with which the Alabastan princess seems to talk of men and relationships, and she can’t help but wonder why that is.

“Well, that surely doesn’t sound like Usopp”, Kaya argues. If she’s not careful, she can totally see this conversation escalating a little too much and a little too quickly. Both Vivi and Nami are stubborn to a fault, it would take weeks to restore the peace if those two have a serious falling out. “Koza is not every man on earth, you know?”

“That’s enough, Kaya”, warns Vivi, eyeing nervously the new addition to their small group. It would take the entire night and then some to get Robin fully caught up with the single, disastrous experience she has had with the un-gentle sex, and she’s definitely not in the mood for that now. “You have a great relationship and I’m very, very happy for you, but that doesn’t mean you can discredit my experience on the sole basis of yours”. 

Robin glances up from her glass, which she hasn’t touched, to see Kaya’s expression softening. She’s sure these three would be better off resolving whatever issue they have on their own, but it is her apartment they’re sitting into, so she can’t very well go out and leave them alone without it being awkward. What to do, what to do… a vibration in the pocket of her jeans alerts her of the new message she has received. She’s about to pick up her phone, grateful for the distraction, but it seems her orange-haired classmate has different ideas. Things never go the way one plans them, do they?

“Funny of you to say that… Kaya can’t say shit and discredit your experience based on hers, but you can discredit anyone else’s, eh, Princess?”, Nami mutters, sarcastically. “What do you think, Robin?”

Oh boy, why would she ask for her input? Does Nami hate her? She’s trying to turn a new leaf and make some friends, that’s true, but not once has she expressed the desire to get dragged into pre-existing drama which she has no ties to. Who’s this Koza guy, anyway? He doesn’t sound like one of the boys they go to school with, but New Marineford is a pretty big place, so how would she even know?

“Well, umh–”, Robin deadpans, taking a deep breath as she tries to put together what little information she has gathered, and some ideas on what the most diplomatic response would sound like. “From where I stand, there’s both great and awful people whether you’re a man, a woman, or anyone in between. I don’t think you should disqualify half of the world’s population based on what they have in their pants”, she pauses, looking up at Vivi, who blushes. Perhaps she’s not pretending to be deaf, perhaps she just wants her girlfriends to be a little more sympathetic over something that has been clearly very traumatic for her. She moves her eyes to the other two. “On the other hand, if Vivi is not interested in the pursuit of romance, I really can’t see what’s the problem with that. To each their own, don’t you think?”

There she goes again. Burning bridges because she’s utterly incapable to read the room. From what little experience she has had with friendship (not much, and all terrible), she’s half-expecting her guests to storm out of her apartment and never utter a word in her direction again. Not that she doesn’t stand by what she has said, which, seriously, is the bane of her existence, but the rich girls at the Institute didn’t particularly enjoy opinions that differed from their own, so she figures the rich girls of New Marineford will be the same.

Luckily for her, and the one she releases is a genuine breath of relief, it doesn’t seem to be the case.

Nami looks thoughtfully at her for a moment, taking her time to process the concept she has just tried to express, then she grins and asks for more champagne. Whatever was troubling her just a minute ago, it’s gone now. Vivi still looks a bit stiff, but less belligerent, and Kaya just shrugs it all off with a knowing smile.

Robin suddenly feels stupid for thinking they would start a war in her living room. These girls are weird, but it’s a cool weird, after all.

“You are so nice”.

Nami giggles, barely standing straight as she tries to shimmy out of her white denim shorts. She may have had a little too much to drink tonight, but Robin has generously offered her to stay the night, not happy with the thought of letting her drive home, and the two are currently in the latter’s bedroom, getting ready for bed. Only she’s still drunk, while the other hasn’t touched a sip, so she laughs to cover her embarrassment. She must think I’m such a fool…

“Seriously, though. Nojiko’s still out of town and there’s been a couple robberies in my neighborhood lately, all of them women returning home late at night. Even if I hypothetically could drive my ass here, I’d still be terrorized to get out of the car… So, thank you, Robin. I know you barely know me, so you really didn’t have to–”.

Robin waves her off, hiding her smile behind the fresh pair of sheets she’s now arranging on her bed. “Don’t worry about it”, she states, folding neatly the top corners before she starts arranging the pillows. When she’s satisfied with her work, she pats a hand on the mattress. “Left or right?”

Nami looks up, white shorts now pooled at her ankles. “I don’t really care”, she truthfully replies. She’s so tired even a rug would feel like a five stars spa treatment right now.

“I’ll take the left side, if that’s fine with you”.

She misses the relief that washes over Robin’s face when she realizes she won’t have to sleep next to the window out of courtesy, too busy getting inside of her borrowed change of clothes. Composed of a simple white shirt and purple sweatpants, this pajama is made of very soft fabric, and she brushes it against her cheek. “Oh my God, what is this?”

“Alabastan cotton”, Robin smirks. “It’s the best”.

That’s right. She always seems to forget her new friend used to live in the country Vivi will one day rule. “How’s Alabasta, anyway?”, she inquires, incapable to put a brake on her curiosity. “I’ve asked countless times before, but Vivi is very tight-lipped about it. She just goes on and on about that pet duck of hers… I swear, it’s like she’s never been to the place, but she’s the princess there!”

“It’s a very beautiful country, with a lot of ancient history”, the other explains, half-heartedly. She can see where this conversation is going, but she’s not sure it would be a wise move for her to babble out the information (well, speculations) she has gathered over the years. “The people there are somewhat welcoming, albeit a little wary of outsiders. I was there for less than two years, though, so I didn’t get the chance to see everything”.

Nami is not stupid. She knows Robin knows it is not the opinion of a tourist that she’s asking for. It appears the new girl is a bit more sly than she has anticipated. Even though that’s a quality she actually appreciates, it doesn’t stop her from pressing the matter further. “How powerful that guy’s… Crocodile’s father really is?”

She has always thought it was peculiar a princess from such a faraway country would go to the same school as her, but usually she would brush away her suspects by taking into account New Marineford’s worldwide and enormous prestige, as well as the fact other members of royal families from all over the world, like Sanji, or Shiraoshi, Luffy’s good friend from the other class, study there too. Seeing Robin so cautious in her answers, however, has now stirred up some very old concerns of hers.

“Powerful enough to start a civil war, I’m afraid”. 

They have moved to the mattress, but they’re still very far from falling asleep. Nami is utterly distraught by what she has just discovered, by how difficult things must be at home for one of her closest friends. Her eyes are fixed on the white ceiling, her mouth pierced in a straight line as she tries to process what Robin just shared with her.

It appears Vivi’s father has many enemies, some of whom are not above getting their hands dirty.

For over fifteen years rebel groups have tried numerous times to force him to abdicate and establish an oligarchy, to the point the king, Nefertari Cobra, has become a prisoner in his own castle because of the many death-threats and attempted murders he has been a victim of. When visiting Alabasta, unfortunately, the princess is subjected to the same fate, which explains why she so often doesn’t go home for the Christmas holidays and has her father fly to Grand Line City instead. The Vivi she knows is a free spirit, the quintessence of a social butterfly, not someone who would be content by just sitting idly inside of a gilded cage. Nami can’t even begin to imagine how she must feel about it.

“I realize it’s a lot to take in…”, Robin trails off, turning her head on the side to face her. Up until now, she, too, has been preoccupied with her own thoughts. “…But like I said, most of the things that are written about the Nefertari family is speculation rather than fact, so I’d appreciate it if you told Vivi I said that, in case you tell her we’ve talked about it. I don’t want her to think I’m trying to bad-mouth her family or anything”.

“I don’t think she would, to be honest”, Nami replies, finishing her sentence just before a yawn she’s not quick enough to stop echoes through the room. “Don’t worry, though. I won’t mention our little chat. If Vivi never said anything about any of this, then I think it’s safe to assume she doesn’t want us to know”.

“Maybe. Or maybe this is just the easiest way for her to cope with the whole situation. It’s a lot easier to forget who you are when nobody is there to remind you”.

Nami reflects long and hard over her last statement. Apparently innocuous, she can’t shake the feeling it sounds a bit too bitter and cynical coming from someone her age. Who is Nico Robin, then?

“Are you talking from experience?”

“Goodnight, Nami”.

The following morning, Robin is startled awake by the sparrows chirping outside the open window-door that leads to her balcony, along with the slap of her friend’s leg falling on top of hers. During the night the orange-haired girl has sprawled her limbs further and further away, like a starfish, to the point she has occupied most of the king-size mattress, and Robin giggles quietly upon noticing she has been almost kicked out of the bed, squeezed into a small corner, before she gently starts detangling her body from under Nami’s.

The floor is cold under her feet, and a chilly breeze blows into her bedroom from outside.

Picking up her phone from the nightstand, she stands up and closes the window, then saunters out of the room, through the hallways and then into the kitchen, where she settles at the island counter. Her fridge and cabinets are empty, and she’s out of coffee, too, which calls for the desperate measure of unlocking her telephone's screen, tapping her finger over the food-delivery app's icon and picking out somewhere that’s within the range of her apartment. The apartment she's renting is located in a part of the city where most business are either restaurants, clubs or high-end shopping venues, but there are some cafés, too, and whilst her favorite it’s currently closed, what would be her second choice is not.

She orders black coffee for herself, a frappuccino for Nami (she’s seen the orange-haired girl drinking those at school multiple times), and a selection of cookies and other pastries for both, hoping there’ll be at least one piece which her new friend would enjoy eating for breakfast.

Robin has never had many friends – or, one can argue, any friends at all.

She has never been to a sleepover, nor has she ever housed one, so she’s not sure what’s the proper etiquette, if there’s one; she just hopes she hasn’t fucked up too badly, that her hospitality has risen up to the challenge, albeit maybe a bit coldly, but most of all that Nami won’t walk out of her apartment today and simultaneously out of her life, giving her the cold shoulder at school when Monday comes and slowly forgetting she even exists no matter the fact they’re in the same class and will be seeing each other five days a week for the rest of the school year.

She has never been good at connecting with girls her age, but Robin would lie if she said she hasn’t grown fond of her classmates in the little time she spent with them, or that she wouldn’t be wrecked if they somehow decided she wasn’t worth their attention (which, by the way, her low self-esteem brings her to think as a perfectly legitimate option). She loves spending time with Nami, Vivi, Kaya and the others.

With breakfast sorted out, Robin sets on scrolling through her notifications, which aren’t many seeing that she’s not very active on social media, not to say almost invisible, just the way she likes it. There's a message from Saul, who wants to know if he can stop by later today because he needs to show her some papers, and another she has completely forgotten about, which drains all color away from her face.  

01:17 - @santoryu 
What about paintball, for an adventure? 

It's an unknown number, but she has a pretty good guess as to whom has sent her the text. A rapid search on google confirms “santoryu” is the name of a fighting technique that requires the use of three swords, and soon her mind is filled with images of someone she has become strangely familiar with, and in very little time. Thoughts of short, green hair and a confident smirk disappear, however, when she notices the time at which the message has been sent. It’s been sitting in her phone since last night, and she vividly hopes Roronoa Zoro is not the kind of guy who gets offended when one doesn’t reply straight-away: she would hate to associate such an ominous attitude with someone whom, so far, has given off such great vibes.

The butterflies in her stomach may disagree, but the answer she types is the one her very logical, slightly paranoid mind dubs as the most sensible.

10:05 - @thedemonchild
Sounds great, but it depends.
Have you started the book? 

It takes ten minutes, two spelling and punctuation revisions and a long interior monologue in which she tries to convince herself there’s nothing wrong with her words, that he’s being nice and she’s just being nice back, but eventually she musters enough courage to press the send button.

Robin’s once again left alone with the silence of her kitchen, which she tries to break by tapping her long, pale fingers on the granite counter. She would turn on the tv and entertain herself with the news (or better, a documentary), but she’s afraid the noise would wake Nami up, so she refrains. Five minutes later, much to her joy, her bell rings.

Gingerly, the girl sprints for the front door, outside of which her rider awaits with her order. Since she has already paid with her credit card, she only greets the boy, who has made food deliveries to her house once or twice already, and wishes him a good day before walking back inside, accompanied by the sweet smell of coffee and freshly baked goods.  

Her phone, which is no longer muted, beeps.

10:11 - @santoryu
As a matter of fact, I’m doing it just now. My stupid sister wouldn’t let me sleep in peace, anyway… 
We’re meeting tomorrow at 9 a.m. in front of school. Let me know if you’re up for it. 

Nami groans, kicking the sheets away. Her hazelnut eyes open slowly, one after the other, slowly adjusting to the bright daylight the room is now basking into as she listens to the sounds of the buzzling city downstairs. Her head pounds so hard, she sways a little as she stands up, clutching at her temples.

She always seems to remember too late what an absolute fucking bitch champagne is to her.

Looking for her phone, she turns back to the bed, where she finds it peeking from beneath her pillow and the girl has the startling realization that she did not sleep alone last night. While Nami has nothing against casual sex, she personally draws the line at not remembering it ever happened, but, fortunately, she notices the unmistakable girly setting of the room, the huge vanity and female clothes neatly folded on one chair, so she manages to put a stop to her anguish before it turns into full, blown-out panic.

Memories from the night before slowly start to unfold, neatly and chronologically, in her mind, and she breathes a genuine sigh of relief upon remembering Robin’s offer to stay the night.

From her current state, dizzy and unbalanced, it’s safe to assume she would have probably crashed into a wall, or worse, if she drove her car last night. She’s grateful that hasn’t been the case.

Following the smell of fresh coffee, she threads barefoot into the hallway, and from there to the kitchen, where her gracious host is sitting at the island-counter, too busy smiling at the small device in her hands to notice rhat she has entered the room. Nami leans on the archway door, seizing the opportunity to examine her carefully. The two may have met less than a week ago, but she’s willing to bet the spontaneous quality of Robin’s current expression (excitement?), is something that is very rare to witness, not to mention generate.

She wonders what could change so drastically the girl’s usually cool and collected demeanor, coming to the conclusion it may or may not have something to do with her theory. She likes someone. 

Like a predator ready to pounce on its prey, but with good intentions, Nami clears her throat.

“Good morning, sunshine”. 

The high thrill of her voice, unluckily, sends a sharp surge of pain to her head, but oh well, it’ll be worth it. Maybe she should get her hands on some ibuprofen before she starts meddling, though.

10:13 - @thedemonchild 
Count me in. I’ve always wanted to try it. 
Do I need some type of gear? 

10:14 - @santoryu
Just wear something that’s comfortable and you don’t mind getting ruined. 
We’ll rent everything else directly from the place. 

10:15 - @thedemonchild
Roger that. Thank you for inviting me, I’m sure it’ll be fun. 

10:18 - @santoryu
A deal’s a deal. 

10:19 - @thedemonchild
Enjoy your book, Swordsman-san. 

12:20 - @santoryu
Just got to the end of chapter six. 
What kind of shitty swordsman does something like that?  

12:31 - @thedemonchild
I know, right? 
I was devastated when Daisuke left the village. 
He’ll be an excellent villain later in the story, though.    

12:33 - @santoryu
Yeah, maybe you’re right. 
But he’s still a dipshit. 

18:12 - @santoryu
Tell me this thing has a sequel. 

18:27 - @thedemonchild
It has four, actually, and a fifth is on the way. 
I’ll bring you the second book tomorrow. 

18:29 - @santoryu
Thank you, Robin. 

18:31 - @thedemonchild
A deal’s a deal. 

Chapter Text

THE FOLLOWING DAY.

The road runs smoothly under Franky’s father’s top-of-the-range van. One of his favorite songs from one of his favorite bands is currently on the radio, and he hums softly to the tune as he drives his way through the busy streets of Grand Line City. It’s early in the morning, but traffic today is no joke. The end of summer is approaching, so many citizens are taking advantage of the merciful weather to go out of town for the weekend. Some are directed to the beach, others to the woods, some to the mountains, but the only access to the highway is on the east side of town, not far, incidentally, from where New Marineford is located, so they’re all converging on the same street.

The drive would normally take fifteen minutes or so, that is, by going at a snail’s pace, but today Franky and his roommates have been inside the car for almost thirty, the school still nowhere to be seen. “Ne, Franky”, Usopp calls out. “Can you go a little faster? Kaya’s waiting by herself”.

“My, what a foul thing to hear in the morning. Such a fair lady and neglected so brutally”, Sanji sighs, emphatically. “Unforgivable. Unforgivable, I say!”

“My girlfriend is perfectly fine and certainly not neglected, thank you very much”.

Franky snorts. If he could make this torture any quicker, then trust him, he absolutely would.

A grey sports car abruptly overtakes them, almost crashing on a truck that’s driving down the opposite lane and forcing the truck's driver to hit the brakes energetically as its actions cause the rest of the cars in front of him to fall into a slight panic. He may not see the idiots inside the vehicle, but that doesn’t stop him from opening the window on his side and hurling every insult he can think of.

Crazy people like that shouldn’t be given a license. That’s super not cool.  

“Fucking idiot”, Sanji mutters. The unexpected braking has made him accidentally brush the lit end of his cigarette on the expensive linen of his white shirt, and now there’s a small hole on the fabric, glaring daggers at him from his chest. “Someone should kick some manners into their thick skulls, and I’d be happy to oblige”.

“Let’s see if they’ve pulled up somewhere…”

“C’mon, guys. They’re not worth it”, Usopp interjects in a desperate attempt to change topic. Every single time his friends get into a fight, he then somehow finds himself involved too, only his body isn't as strong or sculpted as theirs are, so it takes much longer for it to recover from injuries. “We’re almost there”.

The majority of cars start turning left and proceed for the highway, while the van makes a right, finally able to pick up some speed. Soon enough, the gates of New Marineford are within sight.

“There’s Kayla-chwan!”
 
Franky pulls up in front of the main entrance, and the other two immediately sprint out of the car. He turns off the radio, and picks up his phone from the beverage holder, checking it for messages before he heads out as well, grinning widely at his friends and pretending he’s not disappointed. Weird. Iceburg hasn't texted him once in two days.

The engine rumbles lazily beneath him, strained by the constant braking. Zoro overtakes as many vehicles as he can, but, despite his best efforts, the traffic lights always turn red as he’s about to surpass them, and taking a secondary street is not an option. He can’t afford to get sidetracked (err, lost) and be late today. He’s not sure why so many people seem so eager to run out of the city, but he hopes that, by the time the whole group shows up and they are on their way, the traffic will be a little less hectic, and their drive to the paintball field smoother than the one he’s experiencing now.

He’s oddly excited for the day in front of him, so much so that getting up this morning has been less of a chore than usual, but he doesn’t want to dwell on that.

It’s certainly not the first time he and his friends play paintball, and he knows perfectly well what’s new and oh-so-thrilling about today: Robin is joining them as well. It’s very unlike him to be so nervous at the prospect of spending time with girls, but this one makes him sweat just by looking at him, and blush so wildly he’s constantly reminded of that time Perona showed his baby pictures to her friends. Stopping at yet another red light, Zoro shakes his head, reminding himself that his discomfort will only be as big as he lets it be, but he’s soon distracted by the motorcycle that pulls up on his right side, front wheel slightly ahead of his. He can only assume the other biker wants to race him, and he smirks beneath his full helmet before he whips his head around to check his challenger.

The face, hair and neck are covered by an helmet as well, but one downwards glance reveals that the hands on the throttle are slimmer than his, with long, slender fingers, and the body attached to them… It’s a woman, he concludes as his eyes land on her… well, boobs, and he quickly looks away, tightening his hold on the grip as his attention is captured by the bike she is driving.

Now, that’s what he calls authentic beauty. Zoro is so mesmerized, he notices the green light only as her tires disappear from his field of view.

He’s not even mad he got distracted. He just wants to know how she got her hands on something that's not supposed to be on the market yet.

“Typical”, Nami seethes, quietly sipping on the hot chocolate she has gotten on her way to the meeting point. “If he doesn’t show up in five minutes, we’re leaving without him this time”.

How come she’s the one that lives the furthest from New Marineford, the last who has gotten out of her house this morning, and she has still arrived before Luffy. Like, seriously, this time it has nothing to do with her superior navigation skills, or the fact she knows most of the city like she does with the back of her hand. That dumbass just doesn’t care if he’s late.

“Anything you wish, Nami-swan!”

“What else did you expect?”, Usopp says, but glares at the blond chef. He’s pissed enough at the many compliments he already threw Kaya’s way. “Luffy’s never on time. That’s why our real reservation is one hour after the time I’ve given you all”.

Nami tries calling him again, but his telephone rings dead. He may be one of her oldest, closest friends, but sometimes, she swears, she wants to punch him just as hard as she used to do in kindergarten, before puberty hit them and he gained a good one and a half inches over her. “He’s not picking up”.  

“He’ll be here soon”, Zoro says, but he sounds as if he doesn’t believe his own words.

He’s the only person who has known Luffy for longer than she does, so he’s fairly acquainted with his allergy for deadlines.

“You keep telling yourself that, moss-head”, Sanji mocks him.

“What was that, whirlpool-brow?”

“Ugh. Just shut up”, Nami smacks them both on the back of their heads, eager to settle the little dispute before it escalates and de-routes them even more than Luffy is already doing. They’ll have time on the paintball field to jump at each other’s throats.

“Isn’t that his car?”, asks Robin, who’s been sitting quietly, an amused smile plastered on her face, for the entirety of the exchange. “It seems like we’re good to go, after all”.

“Just you wait until he starts asking to stop for food”.

The black limo that usually accompanies him to school finally pulls up, and Luffy launches himself out of the car before the driver can get off and open the door for him, like his job would require him to do. “I’ll see you later, Hachi!”, the boy shouts over his shoulder as he runs towards his friends. “Oi, guys!”

The first greeting comes in the shape of Nami’s fist.

Upon arrival, the group is given all the necessary gear and protections, forced to listen to a fifteen minutes monologue detailing all the rules and only then handed the keys to the field and two maps of it, one for each team. They haven’t decided who’s going to play against who yet, but they convene it’ll be a random draw, so that more expert players can’t gang up on first timers, like Robin or Kaya.

It’s the first time the latter has accepted to come, and the others don’t even want to begin to imagine what kind of deals Usopp had to stipulate with his girlfriend to convince her to join them today.

Probably massages until his hands fall off, Nami muses as she scribbles their names on different pieces of paper, which she then folds neatly in two, mixing all the different pieces up for a little while before she lets Chopper pick one up. When he's about to open it, however, she puts a hand on his arm to stop him. “The first person Chopper calls will be in team A, the second one will be in team B and so and so forth. No swaps and no alliances between members of different teams”. She eyes Kaya and Usopp in particular, knowing they would both be awful teammates if they’re pitted against each other. “I want a fair game”.

“Ok, so… Zoro”, the young boy announces, and the swordsman goes to stand on one side. He picks up another piece of paper. “Sanji, you’re on team B instead”.

“Marvelous”, the blonde sings out, glaring at his rival. “Wouldn’t want to lose because of broccoli-man over there”.

“You just made yourself my target, barbie”, Zoro boasts, unfazed by the assumption, and his smirk only deepens when Robin’s name is the next Chopper calls out and the Vinsmoke prince gives her sad puppy eyes as she takes the spot right next to him. “Welcome to the winning team, Robin”.

Unfortunately, Sanji’s depression only lasts but a moment. Nami is called next, meaning his sweet-sweet-mellorine will play on his side of the field.

“I’m with Zoro and Robin”, Chopper declares, moving swiftly to the fifth draw. “Luffy, you’re with Sanji and Nami”. Two more pieces, and Usopp and Franky join their respective teams.

“Finally”, he exhales. Only two names are left, and he eyes the folded papers seriously before he picks up the one on the right. “Kaya, you’re with us”, he grins. “Vivi, you go with the others”.

“Now that that’s all decided...”, Nami trails off, looking down at her wristwatch. No telephones are allowed inside the pitch, but she would never lose track of time. Time is money.  “If it’s ok with you, I’d say we take ten to fifteen minutes to discuss strategies and then we can start”.

The pitch is carved into a clearing in the woods, with hiding spots derived from both the natural landscape, such as rocks, trees or dips in the ground, and objects of human craft, like stacked up tires, or small, dilapidated wooden buildings and other recycled materials. Zoro is crouched behind a blue metal barrel, having just escaped a rain of colorful paint-bullets, faintly aware of his teammates’ positions. The other team has opted for the aggressive approach and started shooting the moment their match begun, so his team, by reflection, is playing defensively.

They are scattered over the entire length of the field, towards the front, where a red line on the ground divides the pitch in two halves. Their current goal, as agreed while they prepared, is to bait their opponents. If their plan is successful and they manage to lure them out of their hiding places one by one, then it shouldn’t be too difficult for the five of them to exploit the element of surprise and strike accordingly.

Luffy is an impulsive player, with a tendency to waste his ammo, so he shouldn’t be too hard to deal with, whilst Sanji refuses to shoot at women, therefore Kaya and Robin, whomever is unlucky enough to stumble upon curly-brow first, have been given the task of leading him away from the rest of the group. Nami can be troublesome, because she’s just too good at calculating risks, and she’ll probably stick with one of her teammates the whole time, knowing she has a better chance at winning if she doesn’t face her opponents all by herself. Franky’s got both speed and aim, not to mention he’s a tech-enthusiast that knows exactly how to manipulate his gun in order to obtain a top performance. Finally, Vivi’s a bit of a wildcard, and an excellent team-player: if she’s given an order, she won’t give up on fulfilling it until she’s drowning in paint.

In the same way, Zoro’s team has its own strengths and weaknesses. He’s not sure his expertise and steady nerves, along with Usopp’s unparalleled marksmanship, will be enough. Out of five players, two are first timers, while Chopper, as an aspiring doctor, is not too fond of pointing weapons at his friends even if they’re not real, and he’s usually the first one who gets eliminated. The sound of a twig cracking under someone’s shoes alerts him of someone’s presence behind him, but when he turns around, sweet adrenaline pumping in his veins and ready to pull the trigger, he blinks as his eyes land on Robin, who’s advancing with her hands raised, paintball rifle secured on one shoulder by its strap.

“Is everything fine?”

She smiles, ducking behind the barrel with him. “Cook-san has been taken care of”.

“Good”, he smirks back. It’s always a blast when the idiot’s stupid chivalry turns against him. He’s about to add more, but the barrel is showered in paint-balls, with a sound so dry it seems as if they could pierce through the metal and hit them anyway. “Fuck. They know we’re here”.

The girl waits for the ambush to cease, then she stretches her neck outside of their cover just enough to see what’s happening on the other side, returning to her former position when yet another paintball narrowly escapes her left arm. “It seems Franky and Luffy found their way back to each other”, she notes.

That’s not good, since their whole strategy is based on the old and trusted idea of divide and conquer, and that means Vivi and Nami are on their own, together at worse. If they manage to get those two out of the equation, he concludes, then the odds flip tremendously in their favor. Five against two would be a true piece of cake.

Unfortunately, two more shots are fired, followed by two different cries of pain. In the span of a second, they’ve lost both Chopper and Kaya, heartlessly taken out of the equation by Franky.

They can hear Usopp shouting promises of retaliation, but he’s nowhere within sight.

Zoro glances nervously on one side, knowing that nothing good will come their way if they keep playing sitting ducks. Robin seems to pick up on that, because she takes her weapon and signals for him to go ahead. “I’ll cover for you”, she offers, confidently. “Let me deal with these two”.

His first reaction is one of absolute stillness, as the green-haired boy weighs the pros and cons of her proposal. She seems oddly at ease handling the paintball gun, so she should be able to fend them off long enough for him to dispose of their other two teammates, but he can’t help wondering why that is. Did she lie when she said she never played before?

Eventually, the swordsman snaps out of his daze, nodding his head once at her before sprinting, retreating further into their half of the pitch so that he can change his position on the map without revealing it to the enemy. Whatever thoughts were boggling him, they are now gone. His sole focus is victory.

One hour and a half later the group of ten exits the paintball field, their clothes now unrecognizable. At the back of the line, Robin giggles quietly upon seeing the green-haired boy rubbing his victory in Sanji’s face. She ought to admit she has had a great time, and that she hopes she’ll be invited the next one.

These people may be the quintessence of bat-shit crazy, but they sure know how to have fun, and she can’t find a single thing she doesn’t like about the group. Sure, some of their dynamics are weird, others downright concerning (are Zoro and Sanji even friends, she muses, they certainly don’t act like it), but they have been nothing but sweet and welcoming with her, and she’s finding it increasingly hard to keep her hopes down. Was this what Saul meant when he told her she won’t be alone forever, that someday she’ll find people who’ll care for her and give her the comfort of frienship regardless of what advantages it could bring them?

“…Oi, Robin”, Chopper slows down a little, falling easily into her pace. “Who taught you how to shoot?”

The precision with which she hit Franky square in the chest was not missed by the people who witnessed it, namely those who were out of the game already, so more than one person stops and stretches their ears upon hearing Chopper’s question. Their curiosity makes her more self-conscious than she would like, as they all turn and look at her.

“Kuzan used to bring me to the shooting range”, she shrugs, focusing her eyes on Chopper and pretending she hasn’t noticed their commitment to what’s supposedly a private conversation. “It was his idea of quality time”.  

“No way!”, Usopp chimes in. “Is this the same Kuzan Aokiji that gives a three-hours lecture against violence and fire-weapons in front of the school every year?”

“There’s a huge difference between an inanimate target and a person, I think”.

“Say, Robin”, Nami interrupts. “How awkward is it, on a scale from one to please-make-it-stop? Aokiji being your teacher, I mean”.

The raven-haired girl smiles darkly. “He used to help me with my homework when I was little, so I’m partially used to his methods. But I can’t deny it is awkward, to put it in your terms”.

“Yeah, I know how you feel”, sympathizes Luffy. “Dad visits the school on Founders’ Day”.

Nico Robin would like to ask when that is, assuming it celebrates New Marineford’s history, which she’s dying to discover more about, but a sudden thud and a rude laugh break the atmosphere, and the group turns around, spotting the six people coming out of another paintball field. “Well, well, well. Look what we have here”, their leader bows his head mockingly. “The Straw-Hat losers”.

One would think a prestigious school as New Marineford would leave no room for petty class rivalries and arrogant thugs to roam freely, but truth is that competition between different classes is actively encouraged by the teachers, and the selection process doesn’t help either. The fact most students are disgustingly rich doesn’t mean that they are necessarily level-headed. If anything, there’s been more fights and vandalism in the last three years than for the past twenty, to the point the senior class, or at least its more troublesome members, has warranted the title of worst generation. 

Nami shakes her head, recognizing his voice way before her hazelnut eyes land on her ex. “What do you want, Eustass?”

Luffy advances of a couple steps, acting as a physical shield between his friends and the newcomers. Kid’s usual crew is there – Killer, Apoo and Basil Hawkins – but there’s a new addition as well, two more people who are technically in the same class as they (and Usopp and Franky) are, but who usually hang out by themselves, or with their other friends: Bepo and Trafalgar Law.

“C’mon, no need to be so tense now”, Eustass smirks. “We all go to the same school, don’t we?”

“That didn’t stop you from trashing Sanji’s locker, though, did it?” Nami winces as he glares up at her, but holds his gaze until he’s forced to look away.

“That was an accident”, Killer joins his best friend’s side, cracking his knuckles. “My bad”.

She can feel Sanji tensing on her right side, so she grabs him by the sleeve and silently prays it’ll be enough to hold him back. No one has time for a fight. She just wishes Eustass would leave them all alone, but, sadly, she has dated the guy, so she knows how stubborn he is in his pursuit of conflict. The fucking idiot.

“We were leaving, anyway”, she articulates, slowly, hoping the others will get her message. He’s not fucking worth it, guys. “Bye-bye”.

“Not so fast, sweetie”, Killer snickers. “We’re just here to talk”.

Nami rolls her eyes. Apoo and Basil stand idly by the side, looking uncomfortable, but ultimately they are too cowardly to take a stance against their leader, whilst Law just looks plain bored and Bepo as if he’s about to faint any minute now. The latter is quite famous for his inherent goodness, so in the end it’s not too surprising he wouldn’t deny a chance at friendship even to someone as problematic as Eustass.

“That’s too bad”, says Zoro, now mirroring Killer’s stance next to Luffy. He’s been in enough fights to know that things can escalate very quickly from now on. He doesn't like violence outside of the dojo, but he'll never refuse to help if his friends are being threatened. “I’m afraid there’s nothing we’ve got to say to you”.

The over-tattooed henchman makes to lounge for him, but Kid grabs him by the collar, pulling him back into his place. He whispers something in his ear Nami can’t quite understand, and after staring long and hard into Luffy’s unwavering eyes the two of them finally start retreating back to their car, followed by Apoo and Hawkins, who smile apologetically before subtly waving their hands at them.

“Are you okay, Bepo?”

The white-haired boy is very pale, but with cheeks as red as the sun, and Chopper instantly sprints to his side, worried about his friend. The two have grown close over their shared interest in medicine and many afternoons spent together in the library, along with Trafalgar Law. While his relationship with the latter is way less solid, he’s still a bit disappointed in seeing him associating with someone like Eustass Kid. He has never talked about him in positive terms, so the move seems a bit... hypocritical on his part.

Then again, only a blind person wouldn’t notice the major changes Law has undergone since last year. It’s like he’s an entirely different person, burdened and disconnected.

“I’m… I’m fine”, Bepo sighs. He looks up to where his classmates are disappearing inside of their car, then turns to his best friend. “I really don’t like those guys”.

Law can’t really argue with that. He’s gone along with this because Eustass is usually good business, but demand for his product is simply too high for him to deal with the headaches he causes.

“Do you need a ride home?”, Chopper urges him.

“It’ll be fine, Chopper-ya. We came here with separate cars”.

Kid’s car pulls off in that moment, speeding right next to them and raising an exaggerated amount of dust and dirt. He flips them off with his left hand before he disappears.

Franky’s eyes narrow at his plate. “He’s the bastard who did that crazy overtake earlier!”

“…Don’t hesitate to- yum”, Luffy huffs, stuffing his face with fries and onion rings. He has finished his second burger not too long ago, but eats as if he hasn’t seen food in a decade still. “Tell me- yum-yum, if Jaggy bothers you again”.  

Upon returning to New Marineford, he, Sanji and Nami have separated from the others, and now his friends are waiting for him to finish his lunch, their trays already empty.

The blond would normally lecture him on the thousands of cancerous ingredients his meal probably contains, but not today. Whilst he usually refuses to eat anywhere he doesn’t personally know the chef, not that he would expect to find one in such a wretched place, his mind is focused on something else entirely right now. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out it’ll probably happen again.

Hell, even moss-head probably has enough brain-cells to reach this same conclusion, and that says a lot. Growing up with the Vinsmokes of all people, Sanji knows how bullies typically reason, and that Eustass and his crew won’t be giving up anytime soon, not until they clash with a bigger bully than they are. Only the thought makes him nauseous. The fact he can hurt someone doesn’t mean he wants to do so, but if they try to back his friends into a corner, something that doesn’t exactly seem to be beyond them, Sanji can’t guarantee he’ll be able to stop himself.

Not punching Kid the other night has already taken up an amount of restraint he wasn’t aware he possessed.  

“We all know that he will”, Nami sighs. She feels guilty about the whole ordeal. She’s the one who has brought Eustass into their lives, after all. Even if it’s not her responsibility that he’s still so obsessed with her over one year after their breakup, she can’t help it but repeat inwardly that none of this would be happening, if only her past self wasn’t so stupid. “I’m so sorry, everyone”.

Sanji whips his head around to look at her. “None of this is your fault, Nami-swan”.

“Sanji’s right”, grins Luffy, gulping down the last of his lunch. “You two were together, now you’re not. If he can’t accept it, that’s entirely on him”.

He treated you like shit, anyway – Sanji thinks, but he knows better than to say it out loud. He was there, the proverbial shoulder to cry on, when Nami’s heart broke into a thousand pieces.

“I just wish he would leave us alone”, she insists. “It’s our senior year, for fuck’s sake. We should worry about planning the rest of our lives, not some jerk who thinks it’s cool to trash other people’s property”.

“Well, technically the locker belongs to the school”, he points out. She seems more upset about it than he is, which is odd, considering it’s his dead mother that they verbally assaulted. “I’m sure Principal Sengoku won’t let it slide”.

“Akainu looked pretty pissed, too”, contributes Luffy.

“He’s an asshole, but at least he’s a fair one”, Nami mutters. “He won’t let this slide. Unfortunately, it was Killer who technically vandalized school’s property…”

“What kind of grudge could he possibly hold against Sanji?”

The orange-haired girl rolls her eyes. Sometimes Luffy can be so naïve. Or rather, he knows so little about romance that sometimes he fails to understand people’s motives unless they’re laid out plainly for him to see. Back when she was dating Eustass, Nami got quite close with his inner circle, so, aided by her excellent spirit of observation, she gathered sensible information about pretty much every single one of them. Even though the breakup was terrible, up until today she has always kept their secrets and withdrew from her own friends stories than would have had them rolling on the floor out of laughter. She did it out of basic respect, but the time she spent with them has taught her one thing above anything else, and that is that they are mean and careless, probably damaged beyond repair.

When it comes to her friends’ and her own safety, only one option is truly feasible. “In case being Eustass’ best friend and an infamous sociopath isn’t enough…”, she trails off, “…There is also the small matter of Sanji stealing his date to prom last spring”.  

Sanji sputters. “Viola?!”

“…This was more fun than I expected”. Only the two of them are left in the parking lot, and Zoro stands by idly as the raven-haired girl fidgets with the under-seat of her bike. She has her hair tied up in a ponytail, the tip of her right ear smeared in blue paint. There’s a small, understated smile on her lips, so pretty he finds himself mirroring it.

“I’m glad to hear that”, he rebukes. It’s not very much like him to go out of his way to make the new student feel accepted. Although one could argue he welcomed Chopper as part of the group pretty much the moment he met him, negating the fundamental difference between the two experiences would be a blatant lie.

He has never wondered how kissing Chopper (with tongue) would feel like, after all.

Robin eventually produces a book and hands it to him. “Here’s your sequel. I’m not sure you’ll like it, but you’ll probably have strong feelings about it. I definitely do”.

The boy accepts the proffered volume and looks down at the cover. An older looking version of the protagonist holds the katana he found at the end of the first book, on whose handle are carved small sakura petals in the same pattern that now covers his left shoulder. Awakening of the Lord Commander. “Thank you, Robin”.

“Anytime. I'd like to know what you think about it, when you're done”.

Their motorcycles are parked right next to one another, so they go through the process of retrieving their helmets. Since there’s only one reason to linger (he wants to), Zoro gets ready to leave. She probably has better things to do with her time than listening to his rambles about a book he is getting unexpectedly obsessed with. Or maybe it’s talking to her that he’s becoming addicted to.  

Either way, he should go before he slips and says something he will regret.

“Err, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow at school”, he mumbles before securing the helmet on his head.

“Enjoy the rest of your evening, Zoro”.

When he gets home, he barely makes it through the door before he picks up the book, stumbling into a confused Perona on his way upstairs.

She swears she can’t remember the last time she’s seen Zoro reading. And for his own leisure, no less.

“Viola?!”

Sanji is looking at her as if she has grown another head, while Luffy is still none the wiser. Her theory is based entirely on speculation, of course, but she has enough reasons to believe Killer was deeply – maybe still is – in love with Dressrosa's princess, and that Sanji’s recent opposition to Eustass is only fueling the much more personal grudge he might be holding against him.

Mind you, he never made a step in that direction in the three years he has been in the same class as the dark-haired girl, and that she and Sanji have gone to prom together and nothing more, because they are apparently incompatible – yes, she believes this is the word he used.

“Yup”, she nods. “I can’t tell for sure, but he looked at her an awful lot, and he was generally less of a dick whenever she was involved, which at the time I thought was weird. But Killer’s motive is not what I’m concerned about. Eustass won’t be punished until he dirties his own hands, and, even then, he has plenty of people who would lie for him. I don’t want him getting caught if it means that one of us gets hurt”.      

“No one will be hurt, Nami”, Luffy promises, sensing her genuine concern. “I won’t let it happen”.

“We won’t let it happen”, Sanji corrects him. “Let’s not turn them into a bigger threat than they really are”. Her friends don’t seem too bothered by the eventuality of a skirmish with Eustass’ crew, so for today she lets the thought slip to the back of her mind for later re-examination. There’s no need to fret over what’s only a possibility.

As long as they don’t engage with them, they should be fine. Or so she hopes.

“I’m sorry, Nami”, Luffy shakes his head. “Grandpa’s back, so he asked us all to be home for dinner”.

“What about you, Sanji-kun?”

“I’m covering for one of the chefs at the Baratie tonight”, he mumbles. “Sorry”.

“It’s ok”, Nami sighs. Nojiko’s still out of town, but it seems she’ll have to deal with it. “I guess I’ll catch up with TV shows or something”.

Texting any of the others and coming up with a valid excuse to hang out would require too much effort, anyway.

Among the people she’s the closest with and that could be free tonight, detached from previous engagements, there’s only Zoro left. He may not be the most exciting company out there, but they’ve been friends since they were kids and it’s been a long time since they did something just the two of them.

Luffy waves wildly as he walks the distance between the fast-food and Ace’s car, while the other two slowly walk their way towards Sanji’s.

The drive back to New Marineford is quiet. They would normally argue over who should pick out the music until he eventually caves and lets her have her way, but the radio remains silent for the whole drive, and they barely exchange a couple of words. The silence may be unusual, but it’s not awkward. They both have a lot on her minds, more concerned about what happened at the paintball field than they’re willing to admit. They seat completely still longer than five minutes even after they park in front of Nami’s house.

Her phone starts ringing just then, and eventually she starts to make her way out of the vehicle. Absent-mindedly, or rather pulled by an unknown force, she leans in and plants a feather-light kiss on his cheek. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Sanji-kun”.

She has disappeared inside the house before he can even react, but she can still see him through the window as he holds a hand to that same cheek and smiles like an idiot before he finally starts the engine and leaves. Nami has never told him, but she’s kind of glad things between him and Viola didn’t work out.

17:08 - @catburglar
Pizza and movies? 

17:13 - @santoryu
What happened? 

17:13 - @catburglar
Eh?  

17:15 - @santoryu
Fine. 7 p.m.? 

17:16 - @catburglar
Perfect. See you later.  

17:17 - @santoryu
Make sure there’s sake, witch.  

17:19 - @catburglar
I hate you. 

Chapter Text

“…You worry too much”, Zoro repeats for the umpteenth time. “They know that if they come after dart-brow, they’re coming after all of us”.

It’s not like Nami to get so anxious over the empty threats of cocky schoolmates, but they’ve been going at it for over an hour now, and he still hasn’t managed to convince her that everything will be fine, and no one will dare lay a hand on the idiot, less than anyone Eustass Kid. He may be rich and important, but so is pretty much everyone else at school.

He’s bound to know that there will be consequences if he truly attempts at another student’s well-being.

“Then why did you guys didn’t want to tell us what they wrote on his locker?”

She has a fair point here, but truth is they didn’t tell the others out of respect for Sanji. If he doesn’t want them to know, Zoro doesn’t want to be the one that brings it up.

“You should ask Sanji about that”. He rarely ever calls the ero-cook by name, it’s a serious conscious effort that he makes in the hope Nami will understand his discomfort, and finally drop it. She can be quite persistent when she feels like it.

“Maybe I will”, she scowls at him, but she does let it go. “Are you going to Basil’s party next week?”

He forgot about that. With everything else he has been thinking about lately, social events are at the bottom of the list. He told Hawkins he would go when he invited him the other day, but is that really a sensible choice after what has happened today? Kid and his crew will surely be there.

“I haven’t decided yet”, he shares. “Guess I’ll see what the others do”.

“Mh”. Nami picks up another slice of pizza. “Robin said she’ll go”.

Zoro almost chokes on the mozzarella cheese. “Robin?”, he feigns indifference. “Didn’t think she knew him”.

“She doesn’t, actually. He just approached us the other day after chemistry, introduced himself and invited her to his birthday party”, she shrugs. “But she’s new here, it’ll be a great occasion for her to meet new people and make some friends”.

Her words are carefully measured, and Nami observes his reaction discreetly, out of the corner of her right eye. Her green-haired friend has been acting peculiarly since the beginning of school and she has a pretty solid guess as to what’s been making him so flustered as of recently. Or better, who.

Nico Robin isn’t just a raven-haired beauty and easily one of the best-looking people in New Marineford (that girl has cheek dimples, for fuck’s sake), with long, jet-black hair and a tall, soft figure; she’s also very serious, passionate about the things she likes and believes. It’s not every day you see Zoro so interested in someone outside of his small inner circle – he barely speaks to Vivi and they’ve been classmates for years now – but she has caught him red-handed on multiple occasions, staring in awe at her every movement when he thinks nobody is watching.  

“You’re probably right”, he notes, stiffly. “Not sure Basil Hawkins is the best this school has to offer, though”.

“He and Apoo did not participate in whatever Eustass was trying to pull off today”, Nami counters. As much as she doesn’t appreciate their lack of action, it’s equally wrong to pin on them things other people have done. Besides, she won’t fall for such a simplistic technique. How can Zoro think she won’t notice the desperate attempt at diverting her attention is beyond her. “I don’t think he’ll let him boss people around in his own home, or Killer for that matter”, she adds. “Especially if he’s trying to impress our new friend Robin”.

His left eye has an odd twitch. “Right”, he grunts. “I hope he doesn’t annoy her too much. He doesn’t seem like he’s her type, anyway”.

“Oh”, Nami squeals. Bingo – she has a winner. “Whatever would you know about her type?”

Zoro is barely able to hide his discomfort, as testified by the redness of his face, but he keeps as much of an impassive face as possible as he glares at her. “Just saying she’s out of his league”. Or mine.

“I can’t really argue with that”, she chuckles. Reaching behind the sofa, Nami produces a glass bottle and two small sake cups. She pours out two drinks, hands him one and smirks knowingly at him before gulping down her own in one seat. “I suppose you’d be a much better fit, mh?” 

The look on Zoro’s face is absolutely priceless, she laughs so hard she almost falls from the sofa.

He cannot believe his ears. Someone please tell him it’s a joke. What is Nami accusing him of, exactly?

I suppose you’d be a much better fit, mh?

Part of him lowkey wants to scream that yes, yes he would, or at least he would be better than Basil fucking Hawkins, but a much bigger part feels ashamed at the thought, and completely inappropriate, so Zoro drowns a bitter laugh in his sake-cup. “Even an inanimate object would”, he snorts. “I don’t know much about her, but I would have to hate her to wish someone like Hawkins on her”.

His voice doesn’t falter on her name as he has feared, and he mentally pats himself on the back.

“Yeah, yeah. I know what you mean”, his friend seems to relent, pouring two more cups. “She’s so beautiful, though, it’s a surprise no one has asked her out yet”.

Here it goes again, the familiar heat burning at the top of his cheeks, but this time he decides to embrace it, drinks his second cup of sake and decides he’ll just pin the current state of his face on the alcohol if need be. “Mh-mh”. He looks up, down, at everything but Nami. “A big surprise, indeed”.  

Only it’s not, because he has some solid guesses as to why people at school might feel intimidated by her. You don’t ask out girls like Robin unless you’re at least one-hundred percent sure. Beyond the ravishing appearance and kindness, she seems like the kind of person that would make you regret wasting their time, and hard. The getting-her-hold-on-your-whole-brain-and-becoming-your-only-thought-until-you-inevitable-implode strain of hard.    

“Well, someone’s bound to step up to the challenge, eventually”, Nami continues, unaware of the surge of sheer anger and frustration that washes over him upon hearing her words. “Who succeeds, however, is an entirely different matter, I suppose. She’s anything but conventional”.

It's unusual of his orange-haired friend to be so vocal in her praise of a new acquaintance – when she first met Kaya, she went on and on for weeks about how that girl didn’t convince her – and Zoro can’t help but wonder if it’s because she truly has connected with Robin faster than she normally would, and it’s genuine admiration that’s prompting her words, or because she’s noticed something is not quite right and she’s trying to mess with him and trap him into a confession of some kind. Maybe it’s a little bit of both. Nami never does, says or thinks nothing for nothing.

“…Anyway, I’m glad she ended up in our class”, she continues, when it’s clear he has no intention of acknowledging her previous statement. “She’s a great addition to our group, too”.

He taps his finger on the edge of his glass. He is glad they have met Nico Robin as well.

But surely that goes without saying? What does Nami expects from me? If she wants to indulge in sappy talk, then she has known for quite some time now that Sanji is her best option. Unless…

“Ne, Nami”, he smirks, snatching the bottle of sake and taking a long sip directly from it. “Let me guess. Curly-brow was busy tonight, wasn’t he?”

00:05 - @catburglar
in “Straw Hats”:
@catburglar added @thedemonchild 

00:06 - @tonytonychopper
in “Straw Hats”:
Welcome to the family, Robin! 💖 

00:06 - @kayaintheskywithdiamonds
in “Straw Hats”:
Hello! 🌺

00:07 - @thepirateking
in “Straw Hats”:
hi! 

00:09 - @godusopp
in “Straw Hats”:
…so I bravely stepped up and fought the wild dog myself. 
oh, hey, robin! Sorry, I didn’t see you there. 😅

00:09 - @supercalafragilisticexpialidocious
in “Straw Hats”:
Suuuuuper! 

00:09 - @nefertarivivi
in “Straw Hats”:
Welcome! 🥰

00:11 - @thedemonchild
in “Straw Hats”:
Thank you, everyone.
May I ask why the straw hat? 

01:30 - @chef's-kiss
in “Straw Hats”:
Forgive me, I’m unforgivably late. My sincerest welcome, Robin-chwan! 🥳
Straw Hats is the name of our team. I’ll be happy to tell you more about it first thing tomorrow morning. 

06:37 - @santoryu
in “Straw Hats”:
For Sakazuki it was exercises 15-21, pag. 18, right? 

07:59 - @thepirateking
in “Straw Hats”:
There was… homework? 

08:01 - @catburglar
in “Straw Hats”:
Two hours of it, you moron. 
Now hurry up and get your ass to class, Akainu looks very unhappy and we all know how that ends. 
You can copy mine for a friendly 3000 belies. 

08:02 - @godusopp
in “Straw Hats”:
How is that friendly? 😒

08:03 - @thepirateking
in “Straw Hats”:
@catburglar deal  🤗🤗🤗 

Professor Sakazuki glares at his wristwatch as the seconds tick by one by one.

Painstakingly aware of the empty seat next to Roronoa Zoro, the bane of his existence has only half a minute to barge through the door, so that if by some miracle he is late, with the current pace he’ll be able to ask for a suspension before the Christmas break. The school has very strict policies on tardiness in place, and man, doesn’t he love making sure they are respected, but even then, nothing for him, academically speaking, surpasses the pleasure of turning Monkey D. Luffy’s high school experience into a complete nightmare.

He's taught both the other Monkey D. brothers before, hated them with the same passion, but he was not vice-principal when the other two brats still attended New Marineford, while he is now that the youngest one still does. Whilst mostly indifferent towards the majority of students he’s ever had, there’s something about their arrogance and holier-than-thou attitude which really makes his blood boil.

Sakazuki picks up his pen, ready to sign him off as absent, but the door suddenly opens before he even gets the chance to open his register. The bell rings just as the dark-haired student sits down next to the other green-haired punk. It would seem everyone has showed up today in the end, something which any sensible teacher would be happy about, but not him.

His mood brightens up a little when he a wicked idea pops in his mind: he can’t punish them for things they haven’t technically done, that’s true, but there ought to be casualties if he interrogates the class on last year’s curricula without any previous warning.

The professor smirks. He produces from his pocket the dice with sixteen faces all his students know and fear, relishing in the wave of collective despair that overwhelms the class. He can see his better students brace themselves, mentally trying to recollect the hardest, more difficult topics they have treated towards the end of last year, while others resort to a religious faith they generally don’t possess.

“Mr. Lucci, if you’ll please come to the blackboard”. 

The door closes behind the teacher’s back at the end of two painstakingly long hours.

“That was a massacre”, Sanji pipes up as soon as he’s out.

He has been lucky enough to be saved by the dice, his surname locating him at the very end of the list, but many of his classmates not so much so, especially since the general poor performances have allowed Akainu to stop many interrogations quite fast and test an impressive amount of people. Many have perished under his questions and now have a negative mark they need to fix.

“I can’t believe I just lost three-thousand belies because of that little stunt”, mutters Nami, who has somehow managed to return to her seat with the usual A. “People like him shouldn’t be professors. He absolutely hates our guts”.

“Was he always like this? Or does he hold a particular grudge against this class?”, asks Robin, genuine confused by the nasty treatment she has just received.

She is among the people whose name was called, and while she has held her head high and answered most of the teacher’s questions, he still voiced many assumptions she does not agree with, the most recurring being that the education she has previously received couldn’t possibly match the one offered in New Marineford, and therefore she’ll be “handicapped” (his words, not hers) for the remainder of her senior year.

“I don’t think there’s a student he likes”, says Zoro. “Well, except for CP9, but he’s their sponsor, so I'm not sure it counts”.

“What’s CP9? He’s their sponsor for what?”

“Ah, right. I promised I’d unveil the mystery behind the straw hat for you, didn’t I?”, Sanji slides smoothly, or so he thinks, into the conversation. “Every year, we compete as a team in a series of challenges against other students. The final stage of the tournament coincides with Founders’ Day, and the prizes are usually awarded by some big shots who graduated from here”.

“Some of the teams go back to the foundation of New Marineford”, Nami supplies. “There’s nothing particular relevant about them, only that over the years people continuously joined, and therefore they were never disbanded. We are the Straw-Hats and Luffy’s our captain, even though most of the time he doesn’t act like it. This year, it's our last chance to win”.

“I see”, she blinks, processing the information as fast as she could. She can’t recall the Institute in Alabasta having similar traditions, but then again, even if it did, Robin wouldn’t have paid much attention to it. “What kind of games do you play? Is it like a chess tournament or…?”

“Well, it depends”, Chopper chimes in. “The challenges are different every year, and they try to keep them balanced, so that we use both our bodies and our brains. It’s a bit like yesterday, only you have to solve some kind of riddle to get a paintball”.

The girl smiles at that. She likes riddles. Whether her skillset would be useful she doesn’t know, but she’s willing to do her best to help them, if they’ll have her, like adding her to their chat-group might be hinting at. “That’s actually a very good example, Chopper”, she thanks him. “I think my ideas are a bit clearer now”.

“I bet you’d smash the history contest, if they give us another one”, mutters Zoro, who has lost many points in said contest two years ago and is clearly still bitter about it.

The vote of confidence makes her blush. “I’d be happy to help you win, if I can”.

“You should be happy to help us win, Robin”, Luffy corrects her, with a grin from ear to ear. “If you join us, then it’s as much your victory as it’s ours. As the captain, please, join us”.   

Further conversation on the topic is cut short as Caesar Clown enters the classroom, but Nico Robin maintains her good mood all the way throughout the slowest, most boring chemistry lesson she’s ever had. There’s something special about this group and its straw-hat enthusiast captain, she firmly believes. No one among her peers has ever bothered showing her acceptance before.

Over lunch that day news start spreading of the Straw-Hats try-outs, so when the moment finally arrives later in the afternoon, and all nine official members plus their sponsor meet in the gym to examine the potential candidates, there’s more people waiting for them than they have been expecting.

They sit on the stands, leaving Luffy and Nami, who may not be the captain but is definitely the team’s manager, the ominous task of greeting the participants and detail how the selection will be made.

Unlike CP9, or really any team besides this one, the physical part is relatively easy to pass for any teenager who’s not affected by a chronical health condition, and even then, Luffy’s first and foremost criteria is one’s eagerness, to the point he’d let even a blind cat join the team if only it expressed the wish to participate.  

Nami is halfway through her long, introductory speech of the rules they’ve set for the tryouts, meaning that anyone who plays dirty is automatically out, but she’s interrupted by a blond boy with very long hair, who gingerly offers his hand to Luffy and flashes him a 24K smile, ignoring her completely. She doesn’t like this guy already.

“..:Allow me to introduce myself”, he announces with a small pirouette. “Name’s Cavendish, and I’m here to shed the glorious light of victory upon the Straw-Hats”.

The captain scratches the back of his head, startled by his antics, but eventually he takes the proffered hand and smiles at the newcomer. “I like your enthusiasm, Caroline. I’m Luffy, nice to meet you”.

Nami has to bite her tongue very hard not to laugh at his outraged expression, but just as Cavendish is about to retaliate, red as a tomato, someone else finds it fitting to join in the madness, and eventually she can’t no longer contain herself.

“Luffy-senpai!” The cringeworthy, desperate cry comes from a boy with green hair and a weird rooster haircut who throws himself at a confused Luffy’s feet, reaching up to hug his legs. “Luffy-senpai!”, he repeats. “Thank you for blessing me with the opportunity to be your faithful servant”, he announces, proudly. “I’ll do my best or kill myself if I disappoint you”.

Cough-cough.

Cavendish awkwardly pats his shoulder as if it could give him some dangerous disease, looking down at him with incredible contempt. “Excuse me, sir”, he mocks him. “I wasn’t quite finished”.

However, the green-haired boy ignores him. He gets back on his feet instead, eyes still locked on Luffy’s childish grin. He points a finger at his face. “Bartolomeo”, he says. “At your service”.

“Good luck with the tryout, Bartolomeo”, the other replies. “I hope you’ll make it to the team”.

Then the captain addresses the rest of the participants, in a strange display of organizational and time-management skills. “There’s two steps to the selection process. At first, you’ll be required to run a couple laps and play some games to test your physical abilities, then you’ll have a little chat with some of us. The results will be pinned on the students’ board somewhere between Thursday and Friday. For any doubts or any further inquiries, you can ask Nami”.

The orange-haired girl immediately stops laughing, and glares at his retreating back instead.

Her murderous thoughts are probably mirrored by her facial expression, because no one dares raising their hand, or asks any question. She almost feels sorry for them. Almost.

“…based on speed, endurance and undeniably good looks, I believe I’d be the best addition your team can hope for. Not only I will increase your fanbase and social media resonance overall, but my unprecedented physical prowess will compensate for the evident lack some of the less virtuous members are sporting…”

Zoro blinks at the likes of… Cavendish, that the name on the list, startled by his choices of language, and the strange way he regards himself as automatically better than people he has never met.

He may be boosting about his popularity, but they have gone to the same school for four years and this is the first time he ever hears of him.

He doesn’t like him, especially the way he looks at Chopper, who’s doing the interview with him, as he pronounces the last part, but truth is that based on purely technical reasons he’s one of the best candidates they have, or at least one of the less tragical. He's afraid they’ll be forced to give this idiot a chance.

“…I haven’t really made many friends yet, so I was hoping getting involved in extra-curricular activities would help me feel a little more at home. It’s my f-first experience out of Dressrosa..:”

Usopp smiles up at the pink-haired girl they’re interviewing.

He too has signed up for the Straw-Hats on his first year, after discovering the boarding school is attended by more locals than one would imagine. His first few months in New Marineford he struggled to find people he could connect to, and he wishes someone would have offered him a friendly hand the same way they are now doing with Robin.

He decides he’ll be that person for the young girl, and hopefully it’ll be enough to convince her to buy his God Usopp Mixtape when it’s finally released.

God knows the rap industry needs more female inputs.

“…We are not taking him”, declares Vivi. “I wouldn’t feel safe around that guy”.

Franky wiggles his eyebrows suggestively. “I wonder what he feels the need to compensate for…?”.  

Kaya would love nothing more than restoring some much needed order, but she can’t stop the giggle that escapes her mouth, and she joins the other two in their amusement.

“We’re not taking him”, she repeats when her laughter subsides, crossing his name from her list.

“…Let me start by saying I’m honored to meet Luffy-senpai’s friends, and in the same day I meet Luffy-senpai! This is the best day of my life! If you’ll let me, I have a small poem written for the occasion…”

Sanji doesn’t know what to think of this guy, other than his devotion feels weird and it’s rubbing him off the wrong way. Or maybe it’s just the hundred compliments he has already paid to Nami.

She does look lovely today, but it’s up to him, her self-appointed knight-in-shining-armour to do so.

“He’s a bit crazy, isn’t he?”, Nami whispers, covering her mouth with a hand so that green-haired boy won’t hear him.

Not that she needs to, since Bartolomeo is now busy reciting his poem. For something titled “Ode to the Straw-Hats”, the word “fuck” is a strangely recurring element.

Sanji deadpans. “Crazier than moss-head’s sense of orientation”. 

“…So, Rebecca, Bartolomeo and Cavendish are in”, Usopp summarizes two days later, when the Straw-Hats are gathering at the boys’ apartment before Basil Hawkins’ birthday party. “Everyone else’s out”.

In the end they have decided they will all attend the event and pretend nothing happened with the rival crew, hoping it’ll be enough to spare them any forward harassment. He’s personally not looking forward to a direct confrontation with Eustass and his friends, it’s bad enough he’s forced to see their ugly faces every morning. Luckily for Usopp they have not redirected their sudden hate for Sanji to him, who’s in their same class and a much easier target, but he’d still rather have the two different groups at peace, with his choice of college and making the most out of his senior year as his only serious preoccupations.

“Three more is not bad”, says Luffy, who has voted against very few candidates. Well, one, actually, the one Vivi, Kaya and Franky have been adamant wasn’t worth their attention. “We can still get more people along the way”.

The first match of the tournament is scheduled for Halloween, where they’ll face another team for access to the semi-finals. He’ll do his best to ensure they’re one of the crews still standing at the end of it.

“We should know who we’re up against in the first half of October”, notes Zoro, who sincerely hopes the tournament won’t interfere with his kendo engagements. He has a couple of competitions scheduled for the near future, and while technically the dates are the same every year, he can’t be sure until they are made official through the press release. “We can move forward from that”.

“I hope it’s not CP9”, notes Usopp with a sigh. “It’s bad enough they are the defending champions and half the school is rooting for them”.

“Don’t worry, babe”, Kaya gently pats the back of his hand. “I’m sure we’ll do great. Get us some intel on Kid and his group, will you? The Revolutionary Army is not to be taken lightly either”.

“I can’t believe Eustass is in the same group as your brother”, Nami says, eyeing her captain. “Poor Sabo, knowing such scumbags have replaced him and his friends”.   

“Oh, I don’t think Sabo would mind”, Luffy replies, thoughtfully. “Ace was absolutely wrecked when the Whitebeards were disbanded after he graduated, and if you don’t believe me, try and ask Marco how he feels about it the next time you’re at the Nest”.

“It makes sense when you put it like that”, the ginger admits, albeit grudgingly. “I agree with Kaya, though. They surely won’t have a rule that forbids them from playing dirty”.

“Not to mention they have Professor Kuma as their mentor”, Chopper chimes in. “The RA won the tournament four years in a row when he was a student”.

Robin looks up from her phone. “You shouldn’t underestimate Brook. It says in here that he was the captain of his own team forty years ago, and the sole reason they were able to win”.

Many google searches are started all at once.

“Yeah? Look here”, Usopp points at his screen. “Look what it says of Akainu. Three MVP medals. Three!”

An alarm on Nami’s smartphone tells them it’s time to wrap it up and head to Basil’s house. She waits for Hachi to return from the bathroom, and kindly asks him if he can start up the car for them.

Their numbers have for once made the limo the most sensible choice, not to mention the birthday boy’s house is up on the hills, in one of the fanciest neighborhoods of Grand Line City, so she doubts they would be even allowed access to his property if they showed up in anything less than a ridiculously expensive car.

Vivi marches up to her side as she’s putting on her coat, and empathetically squeezes her arm.

“Let the show begin, hm? We won’t let him bother you”.

“Like hell we will”, Sanji is immediately by her other side, offering his arm to escort her outside.

After the experience at the nightclub she is dreading being in the same room as Eustass in the context of a party, but she feels a bit safer knowing they’re watching her back. Nami doesn’t know what she has done to deserve such great friends, but it’s probably not enough. 

Anything that’s under his control has been taken care of, or delegated to one of his friends, so all that is left for Basil Hawkins to do, as he waits for the bulk of his guests to arrive, is to open his presents and sincerely thank his inner circle for the thoughtfulness of their gifts while taking a mental note to exchange them for a gift-card later. They should know by now that the only material he finds acceptable for shirts is silk.

His best friend Apoo, or “Dj Scratchman”, as the internet knows him, is already behind the console, setting up a mood and a playlist on his laptop, whilst the others are quietly scattered on the Rochester-sofas his mother is so obsessed with, the darkness of their boots and attire creating a stark contrast with the pearly white, weaved cotton of the furniture’s fabric.

His parents probably won’t mind if the house gets trashed, as long as he calls for the cleaning service tomorrow, but the birthday boy still wants everyone to be on their best behavior. It’s his party, they are celebrating his birth. He doesn’t want all the attention to be sucked up by some drama.

“People will start showing up in one hour or so…”, he trails off, pausing to take a sip from his glass of wine. When he’s sure he’s being listened to, his blue eyes immediately set on Kid. “…I trust that if you had a problem with my guest-list you would have told me so by now”.

Eustass seems to pick up on the subtle warning, because he grins widely and raises his hands in the universal gesture of surrender. “Your house and your party, bro”, he exclaims. “We won’t cause you any trouble”.

Sitting on his right, Killer grunts. “Where’s Law, anyway?”

He looks impatient, and he’s been checking his telephone every other minute, so Basil doesn’t really need to fetch his tarots to know what he’s so eagerly waiting for.

“Don’t worry, he’ll be here soon”.

While technically no one except his best friend Bepo is granted the privilege of knowing beforehand whether Trafalgar Law will show up to a party or not, fucking him behind the scenes gives Basil special hindsight on his schedule and commitments. He may have dropped the hint that many of his rich friends would be very interested in his product and, hopefully, that’ll be more than enough to make sure he attends. It would appear he has already agreed with Killer on something, after all.

“Music’s set up, mate”, Apoo returns to his friends, and sits down next to him. His curly, medium length hair are tied up in a small ponytail behind his head, exposing the golden hoop he sports on his left ear.

“Hn. Thank you, Apoo”.

Although there is nothing romantic between them, as it’s been repeated multiple times, especially by Trafalgar, his breath still itches in his chest when the doorbell rings and the butler escorts him to the living room. As he often does, the dark-haired boy is sporting an all-black outfit, which comprises jeans, a striped sweater and a blazer, while his head is for once deprived of the usual white, spotted hat. The slight smudge of eyeliner underneath his eyes contributes to the rockstar appeal he emanates, Basil can feel his mouth water as he stares at his confident smirk and overly expressive eyebrows.

The thing with Trafalgar Law is, he always gives off the impression he’s mocking you. It’s nothing mean or blatant, it’s more like a subtle inside joke only he has access to, and that half-crooked smile the only tangible proof that he possesses such knowledge and will use it if need be. 

“Found a bit of traffic on my way here”, Law notes, apologetically. He didn’t show up with Bepo this time, which is odd, but no one here cares enough about the white-haired boy to question him about it. “Happy birthday, Basil-ya”.

Even though his friends are being very chatty, Basil Hawkins can’t hear them as the boy leans in and briefly wraps his arms around his shoulders in his personal interpretation of a manly hug – what’s manly or not manly about hugs, however, Basil is afraid he will never know. It’s stiff, and uncomfortable. This is not how his touch usually feels like. It only now occurs to him that it’s been months since they’ve last spent any time just the two of them, let alone naked, or that he has never texted or called during the summer despite both staying in town.

There’s also the small matter of the drastic change his classmate seems to have undergone in the past three months, but he doubts he has had any type of influence over that. 

Maybe the appropriate form would be that they were fucking. As of now, he doubts he’ll be getting any cake from him today.

Killer’s outburst of joy snaps him out of his thoughts. “Oi, Law. Did you bring it?”

The party is scheduled to start at seven p.m., so obviously the Straw Hats don’t show up until nine, after a couple of drinks downtown, when things are already in full swing and they don’t risk to stumble into a half-empty room and consequent awkward conversations.

Chopper is not sure how he has ended up in his current position, sitting on one edge of the pool outside with Bepo, high as trucks, questioning the hidden meaning of life as they stuff their face with birthday cake, but here he is, laughing harder than ever before, so much so that he clutches at his sides, and almost falls into the pool fully clothed along with his most prized possession, his camera.

It’s an old model, lacking many features when compared to current technologies, but he’s quite fond of it, and he’s using it to compile the photo-diary of his journey through New Marineford.

Whilst he would be absolutely heartbroken if anything ever happened to it, he’s too elated right now to take a bigger precaution than setting it aside, distant enough from the water that it doesn't risk getting splashed.

“Ne, Chopper…”, Bepo trails off, looking down at the water with a thoughtful expression.

There’s no trace left on his face of the joy they have just shared. He’s looking inside the house through the wall-height windows, where most of the guests are located, some drinking, others dancing, but everyone is mingling. “…You don’t think something’s wrong with Traffy, do you?”

Bepo’s question is a harsh clash with reality, like nails on a blackboard. He would lie if he said he hasn’t noticed any changes, because he did, but at the same he’s an outsider, a bystander at best in Trafalgar Law’s life, so he wouldn’t know any better, he supposes, and he doesn’t want to spook him unnecessarily.

“He does look a bit more withdrawn, but I’m sure he would tell you if something happened to him”, Chopper replies, settling for his genuine opinion. “Since you’re clearly the one that knows him better, maybe we should focus on finding out what’s prompting you to ask such questions”.

One can say Bepo is the only recurring character in the crowd that usually surrounds one of the most popular students of New Marineford, the poster-boy for a best friend, so if someone can decipher Law, or even a fraction of him, then that’s him, his white-haired, unbelievably shy right-hand man.

“Jeez. I don’t know, I really don’t know… But he has people calling him at all times of day and night, and, you know, a lot of times we would agree to meet up with Penguin and Shachi only for Traffy to disappear into thin air as soon as that damn phone rings. I’m worried about him…”

This does sound a bit odd – Chopper convenes. It’s rude and unapologetic, he feels sorry for him. One ought to treat their friends better than this.

“Have you tried talking directly to him?”

Bepo sighs. “I was hoping you’d tell me there’s nothing to talk about”, he admits with a bitter smile. Then he leans a bit closer, and dramatically lowers his voice. “But then again, I suppose everyone at school knows that…”

“EH?!”, Chopper squeaks. “He does what?”

“Err, well…”, Bepo scratches the back of his head, cheeks ablaze. “Seriously, though. Everyone knows”.

On the dancefloor, Vinsmoke Sanji is having the time of his life as he drowns in a sea of beautiful ladies. Pretty much the entire school has been invited to Basil Hawkins’ eighteenth birthday, along a multitude of people he has never seen before, so his house, albeit massive, is still insanely packed.

The music is fast-paced, but still somewhat tasteful, and words are all poor and useless when it comes to describe the magnificence of his Nami-swan in her pretty blue dress. As if that isn’t enough, the blond sous-chef is literally surrounded by dozens of beauty queens: there’s Pudding and Shirahoshi from the other senior class on his sides, and is that a wink from pretty sophomore Conis? To top all of this, he has had no contact with Eustass or his crew, with the exception of Basil, who has merely invited them inside and accepted their birthday wishes with his usual cold politeness before disappearing.

A delicate hand taps his shoulder as he follows the music, showing the results of years of mandatory dance lessons, unaware of the many eyes who are now following his every move, out of either admiration or spite, or a mixture of the two. The blond turns around only to be blinded by Viola’s smile.

“…May I have this dance?”, she asks, mockingly, with a curtsy and everything.

She’s rocking a white jumpsuit and a giant pair of golden hoops, her black curls styled so that they fall over her right shoulder.

Sanji’s a little dumbstruck at first, but he recovers fast. As lovely as the Dressrosa princess looks, pure nosebleed material, there’s a reason this… this flirting between them didn’t lead to anything more, if he didn’t get a goodnight kiss on prom night last year, if they didn’t work the first time around. Such reason has hazelnut eyes, and skin as pale and soft as milk, unusual orange hair and a contagious laugh, some of the best grades in the whole school and, most importantly, a name… But Nami does not know how he feels, she’s not interested in him (nor will she ever be), so there’s nothing wrong in humoring his friend a little, and accept her childish invitation. There isn’t a potential relationship he could damage, is it?

“Milady, I’ll be happy to serve you as your humble dance partner…”

He has his back on her, so he doesn’t see Nami’s disappointed look, nor does he realize that she has heard his every word, or that she’s now making her way to the bar.

If only Sanji would follow his gut and turn around. How unfortunate.

Chapter Text

By one a.m. the party is still in full swing, with thus far not a mention of a shortage of alcohol and people still appearing at the front door from time to time. Everyone knows Basil has clout, but things are getting a little ridiculous. Trafalgar has managed to sell every ounce before midnight and for the past hour he has been idly parading through the mansion, avoiding social interactions as much as possible and desperately looking for Bepo, so that he can get high with someone he actually likes.

He’s not sure he would start selling again if told beforehand of what it really entails. It’s not as if he needs the money, anyway. What has started as a simple way to pay for his own weed without using Corazon’s money is rapidly becoming a nuisance.

The purple bruise beneath his right eye is a painful, constant reminder of that.

“…Trafalgar! Trafalgar!”, shouts someone, whom he immediately recognizes as Bepo. “Traffy!”

His best friend is out of breath as he turns the corner, red-faced and sporting a worried expression.

“Come with me”, he pleads.

His tone is unusually assertive for Bepo’s standards and he instantly picks up on the gravity of the situation. Law follows without a word as he guides him back through the labyrinth of hallways, but eventually he still pushes him for a little bit of context. He is panicking at seeing his best friend in such a state.

“We need your help. Chopper, he’s… They… We were talking by the pool when someone pushed us and… Chopper doesn’t know how to swim, either. I- I couldn’t do anything. Please”.

Holy fucking hell. Trafalgar Law sprints faster for the outside patio. He doesn’t like where this is going, not one bit.

Zoro is at the bar, trying to pick up the pieces of a drunk Nami and an even more wasted Usopp, when he receives the same news, only in the form of an acquaintance from school, who casually mentions “his friend Chopper” is drowning in the pool and then proceeds to try and hit on a semi-unconscious Nami.

“Guys, wake up”, he grunts, pinching the tender skin of their wrists. There are probably gentler ways to bring them back to reality, or at least to a somewhat lucid daze, but considering the circumstances he will go for whatever is fastest and gets him to the pool, and therefore Chopper to safety, sooner.

“We’ve got to get to the pool. They said something about Chopper drowning”.

This seems to sober them up a fair bit, because he can hear their steps following closely behind even as he rushes in the direction of the pool.

Now chances are this is a tasteless joke and their younger friend is perfectly fine, but people have tried to mess with him in the past, especially right after he moved to New Marineford, so he feels it’s best if he gets his ass there straight away and, in the case nothing happened, he’ll just drink and laugh and be over it.  

“This way”, Nami tugs at the hem of his shirt.

Only now does he realize he’s been heading further inside the house for the entire time. Maybe Perona has a point, after all, when she questions his sense of direction.

What follows are the longest three minutes of his life: one to reach their destination, another to assess the situation, and the last one to release their breaths, because (thankfully) someone is getting Chopper out of the water already.

“…So, yeah, I know I’ve probably over-reacted, but I don’t think he should have said what he did…”

Robin sips quietly on her soda, wondering what Kaya is expecting her to say for the umpteenth time. She knows nearly nothing about her or her relationship, she’s not the type of person who would spew advice based on a single episode, a single account of the problem, a single instance in what’s a two years romance. Not that she’s the one you should seek for romantic counsel in the first place, but that’s an entirely different matter, and not something she can pin on Kaya without it leaving a bitter taste in her mouth.

Nico Robin has had admirers, one or two crushes back in the day, a couple of fleeting, disastrous sexual experiences, but never a relationship, or someone genuinely interested in her, someone who cared – as it’s clearly the case with these two. She hasn’t paid much attention to the details, but it appears they have a mere problem of miscommunication, which she’s pretty sure Kaya won’t be solving any time soon if she keeps talking to her instead of Usopp.

“…What do you think?”

So, here goes nothing – she muses.

“Hm? Oh, yeah”, she feigns confidence, albeit startled by the question. “Honestly, I think you should talk about it with Usopp. I don’t believe he has been ignoring your feelings deliberately, he’s probably not even aware something's wrong to begin with…”

Her final statement is followed by awkward silence, as Kaya goes over her words and Robin stands next to her, not sure what to do as she waits for an answer. Her blue eyes glide over the edge of the pool as they have been doing for the entire conversation, only the comforting image of Chopper talking to his friend has now disappeared to be replaced by the frightening sight of Bepo crying and screaming for help.

“You’re probably right, I should-”

“Help! Someone help us!”

One would assume someone with her grades would be clever enough to think before they act, but this time it's truly a matter of a split-second decision. The indifference of the people who are watching the white-haired boy whimper and admit he can’t swim is something that it’s too familiar, it strikes the chord in Robin’s heart which hurts the most.

Just as Bepo runs away and Kaya turns around and gasps at the sight of Chopper floundering in the pool, Robin sprints in the direction of the water, closes her eyes and jumps.

It doesn’t take more than ten, maybe twelve strokes of her arms to swim to the other side of the pool, but this is still the biggest physical effort she has ever made. Her mind shuts down almost completely when her body initially penetrates the surface. It’s cold, and wet, and uncomfortable, her mascara burns as it melts away.

It feels just like that day, like two years ago.

It’s only because of adrenaline – and because she can hear Chopper’s screams even with her head underwater – that she pushes forward and ignores the ominous impulse at the pit of the stomach, the one telling her to stop, that’s it’s too late for Chopper now just as it was too late for Nico Olvia… No, she thinks, putting a little more energy in every stroke.

The guests outside are all staring at her, and a good number of people is joining them from inside the house, but Robin doesn’t care, she doesn’t have the time nor the patience to even notice. As soon as her arms close around Chopper, who has ingested some water but seems otherwise fine, her only concern lays in getting the boy out of the pool.

She doesn’t know why she feels so fiercely protective of Chopper, she has just met him little over a week ago, but she is. Maybe it’s because he’s younger and genuinely the nicest person she has ever had the pleasure to meet.

“It’s OK, Chopper. It’s OK…”, Robin hugs him out of instinct once they’ve both climbed out of the pool, startling Chopper, who is still convinced he’s about to drown, herself, who’s not overly comfortable with public displays of affection (or affection at all), and the crowd, who now that the danger has passed, no thanks to them, is too busy speculating over a possible relationship between them. Ugh, she hates people sometimes.

“I was so scared”, Chopper whispers in her ear, returning the hug when the initial surprise has subsided. “I never got a chance to learn how to swim back in Drum”, he admits. “I shouldn’t have stood by the pool”.

He sounds very ashamed of himself, and it pisses Robin off. “How did you end up in there?”, she asks. “Unless you jumped into it, which I doubt, how does standing by the pool leads to near death? Are you suggesting Bepo pushed you in there?”

“Eh? Bepo?! No, no, no”, he shakes his head, frantically, pulling out of the hug, but any further explanation is cut off by the deep, booming voice that pipes up behind them. “We were talking when suddenly I felt-”

“Guys, what… What happened? Are you okay, Chopper?”

Nami can’t tell if she’s hallucinating or not, but she desperately hopes she is. 

“…Are you okay, Chopper?”

She barely hears Zoro’s words, eyes bouncing between her friends. This is all so confusing… and exhausting. Yes, exhausting. She doesn’t believe for a second that this is some weird, random accident.

“Who did this to you, Chopper?”, she asks, perhaps a little more severely than she probably should. She can’t shake the bad feeling that someone deliberately tried to hurt Chopper, or at the very least scare him out of his wits – she has a pretty good guess as to whom could be heartless enough to pull that off.

“I, I don’t-”, he utters, then pauses and scrunches his nose up. “I’m not sure what happened, Nami”.

“What do you think it happened, though?”, presses Robin, all the while trying to squeeze the water out of her long, black hair. “You were standing by the pool and…?”

“I don’t know”, Chopper sighs, defeatedly. “Something hit my back and the next thing I knew was that I could not breathe. Bepo tried to take me out of the pool, but he’s even a worse swimmer than I am. He left to get help, and thirty seconds later Robin was by my side”.

Nami tries to make some sense out of her friend’s account, but right now she’s too upset to digest the information. The timing, for example, is very suspicious.

How come such an accident occurs in the very occasion Chopper’s with someone who can’t swim as well? But why would Eustass and his lackeys, her prime suspects, go after their own classmate? They wouldn’t dare cross Trafalgar Law so blatantly, would they? Last she has heard, they’re still buddies and everything.

“Thank you, Robin”, she exhales once she has calmed down a little, walking towards the pair and hugging them both, not caring if her expensive dress gets wet in the process. “For saving our friend”.

“Yes, thank you, Robin”, Chopper pipes up, half-strangled by the tight hold she has on them.

The raven-haired girl feels a bit stiff in Nami’s arms, but she can’t really blame her once she notices that she’s covered in goosebumps. She whips her head around, ordering, “Zoro, give me your jacket”.

He mutters something inaudible, but ultimately hands her the garment. He glares at those still staring at their small group, pretending not to notice when she wraps his leather jacket around Robin. Zoro starts looking for the others, but his it’s not an uninterested move. He doesn’t want the über-witch to see him blushing.

“Where’s Luffy?”, he asks. Unsurprisingly, their leader has been swept up by an hoard of admirers the moment he set foot in Basil Hawkins’ home and his location is still unknown. “Ero-cook? Franky? Vivi?”

“Straw-Hat is on his way”, chimes in a familiar voice. Trafalgar Law joins them on the right side of the pool with Bepo in tow. He’s slightly out of breath, but he seems to lighten up as his grey eyes land on the still alive Chopper. “Bepo told me someone pushed you in the pool, Chopper-ya”.

“Just as I thought”, Robin points out, grimly.

As a swordsman, Roronoa Zoro has been taught from the very beginning that there are instances in life where one has to keep a hold of their emotions and focus on their higher goal, but it seems it’s not as easy to apply the same logic to everyday life, because he’s not sure he can stop his blood from boiling and burning through his veins as he digests the implications of Law’s words.

“…Bepo told me someone pushed you in the pool, Chopper-ya”.

“Well, we don’t know exactly…”

Bepo cuts him off. “I do. Someone pushed me, at least. You lost your balance and fell in the pool because I tripped on you”.

“What? You didn’t mention that before”, Law frowns, clutching at his temples. “Did you see who?”

All eyes are now on the white-haired senior, who gulps before tearfully shaking his head. “N-no, I don’t think I did”, he mutters. “I only caught a glimpse of a silver ring, but that’s not much to go by”.

Even though most of the student body would potentially fit the description – it’s not uncommon for rich people to wear jewelry, after all – it’s curious how more than one person instinctively thinks of the same person as the potential culprit. But why would Eustass Kid go after Bepo? It doesn’t make any sense.

Chopper hiccups, snapping the swordsman out of his thoughts. The poor boy looks extremely uncomfortable, he is very pale, void of his usual boyish grin, while Robin, beside him, is in no better shape. His jacket may help protecting her from the cool air, but it’s utterly useless against the damp fabric that’s making her shiver.

“Oi, guys! I found Sanji!”, Usopp shows up, followed by the blond sous-chef and the Dressrosa princess.

Zoro pretends not to notice Nami’s scowl as the brunette stands very close to Sanji, so close, in fact, that from a certain angle it would look as if they’re holding hands.

He turns to his ginger-haired friend. “Nami, you wait for Luffy and the others. They’ll want to know what happened, but we should get these two...”, he points to Chopper and Robin, “...out of here”.

“Hey! Why are you the one getting Robin-chwan to safety?”, Sanji pipes up.

“Seriously, dart-brow?”, he snickers. “My house is the closest from here”. 

The last part is uttered with arrogance, after he has already made his way to the pair and turned his back on the Vinsmoke prince, but just as the three are about to disappear inside, and from there leave the party, Luffy runs up to them, panting.

“Oi, guys! Wait for me!” He catches up in less than a minute, his white shirt wrinkled and stained. “Let’s go to my place”, he announces. “The others will take a cab or get someone to pick them up, I don’t care. We need to get to the bottom of this”.

The captain rarely sounds this serious, but he understands where his concern is coming from. He, too, ever since their weird, unexpected beef with Kid’s crew started last week, has been worried the bastards would try and haunt their youngest, supposedly weakest link, first.

Zoro nods and they resume their previous route, marching to the front door. They leave the house and Basil’s birthday party behind them without looking back once, and hurriedly instruct a visibly confused Hatchan to drive them back to Luffy’s house.

It really falls on him, as he lets himself sink in the comfortable seat, how much of a crazy night they've just had, how much they have risked, how much they might have lost.

The Monkey D. mansion is insanely massive, heavily guarded at every entrance, and it has every bit the look of a gilded cage, a lavish, custom-tailored and impressive cage, but a cage nonetheless.

Robin has been given a change of clothing, an old pair of grey sweatpants and a t-shirt so big she could use it as a dress, along with a pair of over-sized slippers, and she has been escorted to the bathroom by a member of the staff, a tall, stout woman whose steps are so heavy, their echo has bounced between the walls on the entire walk here.

Gratefully, at least the bathroom is free from the security cameras scattered all over the rest of property, and the girl can change comfortably. She tries to scrub the smudged makeup from her face, but there’s only so much she can do with only water and a towel. The mascara still clinging to her under-eye area makes her look a little like a weird half-breed between a grunge enthusiast and a panda, but honestly, who cares.    

There are more important things she needs to think about, like who would have something to gain by pushing Bepo in the pool, and consequentially almost killing Chopper, or the absolute ice she has been feeling in her bones ever since her body touched the water earlier.

It’s a little better now that she has dried off, but the coldness persists, and Nico Robin frankly has no idea how to deal with it.

She has purposefully avoided anything larger or deeper than a bathtub for almost two years, but it’s only now that she has finally broken her record, seen the impact it’s having on her, that she can truly understand how right her previous choice has been: in any other moment, for anything less than someone’s life, such a vivid and traumatic re-enaction of her past would have absolutely wrecked her soul. Even though there’s nothing she’d like more than sit down and cry, a knock-knock-knock abruptly snaps her back to reality.

Dadan’s voice reaches her from the other side of the white wooden door. “Is everything okay in there, young lady?”

Robin’s eyes dart up to the clock and she only now realizes how much time she has spent in here, allegedly fixing her appearance, or so she announced.

Looking back at her reflection in the mirror, she sighs. Well, she’d lie if she said she doesn’t have some experience in covering up a meltdown or two. Or five.

Monkey D. Garp wears his finest night-robe as he climbs down the stairs which lead to the boys’ playroom.

He generally avoids the room as if some toxic spore resides in it, which, for the record, it’s probably the case, but he’s been wrongfully deprived of his sleep the moment the front door opened and there was a suspicious rush of steps, followed by Dadan’s ushered voice, and he feels he’s entitled to some kind of explanation.

The spoiled brat knows his insomnia has only gotten worse post-retirement, so he better provide a damn good justification for his nightly incursion, or else Garp will be forced to remind him of who’s boss in this household with his infamous fist of love. It’s been years since any of the boys have needed it and he’s a little out of shape, but well, he probably will manage it just fine.

“Monkey D. Luffy!”, he booms, walking down the final steps. When his white hair and menacing face are revealed, there’s a collective gasp of fear, which he relishes in. It appears he hasn’t lost his touch yet. “You better start telling me now why you thought I’d appreciate guests at this hour of the night”.

The two boys sitting next to his grandson on the sofa he recognizes as two of his usual friends, although the younger one looks pretty roughed up, and Garp still can’t figure out why Luffy would be friends with the likes of Roronoa Zoro after all this time. The girl sitting by herself on the armchair, a thick blanket wrapped around her shoulders, however, is someone the Hero of the Navy has never met before. If Luffy is trying to give him a stroke again, then this may be his best attempt yet.

What are they doing, hiding in his home like such at this ungodly hour of the night, and why does not only old Kureha’s child look distressed, but the girl, too? What happened?

The fact his grandson seems so serious and contemplative, it’s an odd look on his face, only increases Garp’s concerns. Back in his day – Ace always rolls his eyes at him when he says that, the stupid brat – youngsters were more disciplined, they didn’t bring girls home at two a.m. and expect their elders not to question them. He doesn’t want to imagine what his father would have done if presented with such a sight.

He’s quite sure he made Luffy sit through a documentary about human reproduction and the dangers of unprotected sex, mostly unwanted pregnancies and STDs, a couple years ago or so, but his youngest grandson never started bringing girls home as Ace and Sabo did multiple times, he never looked at a beautiful woman twice, and over time it became clear he just wasn’t interested. Garp has considered the hypothesis he’s gay, but no boyfriends have ever walked through his door either.

“I’m sorry for imposing on you, Garp-san”, Chopper lowers his head, apologetically. His voice is a bit more high-pitched than he remembers and he’s struggling a little to get the words out of his mouth. “We were at a schoolmate’s party, b-but I fell into the pool…”

“He didn’t fall into the pool”, Luffy corrects, looking up at his grandfather. “Chopper was talking to his friend Bepo by the pool, when someone pushed Bepo, so Bepo fell on Chopper, and then Chopper fell into pool. Our new friend Nico Robin”, he points a finger at the raven-haired girl, who smiles faintly at him. Her name sounds kind of familiar. “She’s the one that got Chopper out of the water. We came here so they could warm up and get a change of clothes. I thought we were quiet enough not to wake you up”.  

“You assumed poorly”, Garp rebukes, albeit he now feels a lot softer about the whole ordeal. He still can’t understand what the big deal with two boys falling into a pool is, but at least he can relish in the knowledge that his grandson is not partaking in orgies under his roof, and that’s enough to squash his temper. “See that your friends are properly taken care of, then. I don’t wish Kureha to be mad at me when I see her for my next checkup. I’m sure Robin’s parents will feel similarly”.

He can’t recall many occasions in which he has managed to be quite so smooth in the presence of Luffy’s friends rather than scaring the living shit out of them, but such pride is just temporary, because the room freezes, and the girl now looks at him as if he has just killed her cat, or something equally as disturbing.

He has got no experience with teenage girls, and even after raising not one, not two, but three boys, he’s still a bit stiff when he needs to relate to younger people’s feelings.

Even so, however, what could he possibly have said now that seems to be so inherently wrong?

“You don’t think your mom will pull you out of school if she learns about it, do you?”, Luffy ignores him, turning to Chopper instead. He doesn’t want to make Robin more uncomfortable than she already looks: his mother died of childbirth, so he knows how it feels when people ask questions about your family and you can’t produce an answer that’s not depressing. “You weren’t even the original target!”

“We don’t know that for sure”, Zoro interjects. “Maybe they pushed Bepo just so that he’d fall on Chopper. We can’t rule out any possibility until we find out exactly who it was. However, there’s a matter I think it’s even more pressing…”

“She wanted me to come to New Marineford even more than I did”, Chopper shrugs, not sure why Luffy would think of such extreme measures. Why everyone seems so convinced that this was an attempted murder? He’d rather think it was an accident, a random, once-in-a-lifetime accident. He can’t deal with the ramifications of thinking otherwise, not before a good night of sleep. “What is that, Zoro?”

The green-haired boy sighs, looking way more mature than his young age warrants. “Did this all happen by chance, or someone knew either you or Bepo can’t swim and wanted to take advantage of that?”

It finally hits Garp why he has always felt so strongly against his friendship with Luffy. He can’t believe, much less accept, that such an idiot is the clever one out of the two.

At least he now knows what the commotion was all about.

Whatever is going on in teenagers’ lives nowadays?

“What the hell is wrong with you?”, Kid snarls, punching the steering wheel of his father’s favorite Bugatti.

He is driving Killer, who is too high to even realize they left Basil’s party, home, and to say he is pissed would be a major understatement.

What was he even thinking?

Killer makes to open his mouth and retort, but Eustass stops him before he can utter a word.

“Don’t fucking tell me to calm down”, he continues. “I saw you by the pool, Killer. I saw you pushing Bepo and the little guy… They could have died, for fuck’s sake”.

“Relax, bro. It was an accident”, says the other, ignoring his warning.

A dangerous vein pops up on Kid’s forehead. He struggles to believe that their schoolmate fell into the pool by chance, but this is his best friend he’s talking about, so he owes him at least the benefit of the doubt until proven otherwise.

“I didn’t mean to push them. I just lost my balance for a moment…”

“Then maybe you shouldn’t get more shit-faced than you can handle, bro”, he rebukes, pulling up in front of Killer’s house. His friend’s father is touring the Grand Line with his band and his fifth wife is unsurprisingly not home, probably tired already of putting up with such a dysfunctional environment. “Here you go, take a shower and sleep on it. It goes without saying that Bepo’s off-limits. We need Law on our side if we want to win this year and... Well, it is not that hard to turn into a murderer…”

Eustass would know. With his father’s trial coming up, he might actually get to keep the Bugatti all to himself.

The tea lies cold in the cups and Monkey D. Garp has long since returned to his bedroom, but the quartet still sits on the sofas in Luffy’s playroom, fully awake despite the desperate need of sleep warranted by this hour of the night.

They have gone over tonight's earlier events many times, mainly a back and forth between Zoro and the host sometimes corroborated by a faint nod of the parties involved, but they’re yet to compromise.

Luffy appears of the idea that they should beat up Eustass and his crew first thing tomorrow morning, as if it’s the only reasonable option, whilst the green-haired swordsman thinks it’s best to be cautious and that they should gather a little more information before they eventually kick some ass. 

“I’d like to believe it was all some big accident”, reiterates Chopper, but nobody really pays any attention to him.

How can they possibly believe that when Sanji’s locker has been trashed just earlier this week? Someone’s out to get the Straw Hats, for whatever reason, but Luffy and Zoro agree at least over one point: it's up to them to protect the rest of the group.

Robin doesn’t seem to have much of an opinion, she’s playing with the teaspoon in her cup, absorbed in her own thoughts, still as pale as the moment she exited the pool.

Zoro knows this because his eyes haven’t left her for a second ever since Chopper’s rescue, and the more she withdraws somewhere they don’t belong, shivering in the middle of a perfectly warm room, the more he wonders what could possibly be going on in her head.

Despite what he notices, he decides not to call her out on her strange behavior. She is too upset to deal with complete strangers prodding their noses into her personal business.

It’s a pity that Luffy’s not as tactful and does not show her the same kindness. “What’s wrong with you?”, he asks, tilting his head on one side. “Are you cold? Dadaaaaan!”

“It’s okay, Luffy”, she shakes her head, a faint smile on her lips that does not quite reach her eyes. “I’m not cold. It’s just… I didn’t swim in quite a while, it brings back old memories I’d rather just forget”.

“What memories?”, Luffy presses, unaware of the hurt his words are causing.

He has been taught to get things out of his chest no matter the consequences. Secrecy is uncharted territory for him. However, he offers a gentle smile as he demands an answer, which strangely compels her to indulge him. He's the poster boy of innocence, Nico Robin hates to be the one that breaks his heart.
 
“I was in the car with my mother when…”, she halts, taking a deep breath. “We were on our way back from the city when another car hit us, on the bridge just before our house. Our car fell into the water, but when the help arrived it was already too late for her. I avoided anything larger than a bathtub ever since”.

It’s never easy to open up and relive the worst day of her life through narration, but news that famous archaeologist Nico Olvia had an accident and drowned in the river, leaving her daughter and fiancée behind, were all over the papers two years ago; she knows it’ll only take her new friends a rapid internet search to find out about it. Might as well clear the air herself and hopefully be done with this discussion soon.

It helps that only three other people are present, and not the entire Straw-Hat crew; such a huge audience would make the task even more overwhelming and she’s not sure she’s ready for that yet.

Back at the Institute she never mentioned a word about her past, so when eventually it caught up to her, people were surprisingly fast in dubbing her the weirdo and move on to the next, juicy piece of gossip.

“I’m so sorry, Robin…”, Chopper starts, but she waves him off.

It’s not his fault that he has been pushed into the pool, or that he doesn’t know how to swim.

He shouldn’t feel responsible for other people’s cruelty, it’s not as if there’s something wrong with him – amazing how one would fail, nine times out of ten, to apply the advice they dispatch to their own problems.

There wasn’t something wrong with her either, after all, when she first moved to Alabasta, but, for the longest time, she has still believed it was her fault if nobody wanted to be her friend there.

“It’s not your fault, Chopper”, she reassures him. “You couldn’t know, and no one should have pushed you into the pool to begin with. Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine”.

Or at least she hopes so.

“Jeez, that’s awful”, is Luffy’s blunt reply, although he has the decency to look uncomfortable now that he has finally gotten an answer to his questions. Robin’s reaction and closed-off attitude make a lot more sense now. “But hey, look at the bright side. You managed to put all that behind you, if only temporarily. Thank you for taking care of Chopper when I couldn’t”.     

“Don’t even mention it”.

Zoro doesn’t utter a word, but she can feel his eyes on her face like fire, or melted lava, sliding up and down her cheekbones as they follow the familiar path paved by her tears. His mind spins so hard it’s impossible not to notice, as if he’s asking himself some questions (and coming up with the answers, too).

Robin feels incredibly small under his stare, but she looks up and meets it with one of her own.

What’s done is done – she has already convened that she can’t change her past, but she’ll be damned if she lets the future take the same shape with no interference on her part.

She feels strangely intrigued by her green-haired schoolmate, by his pretty smile and subtle personality. Whether he has her interest or her doubt she can’t tell, but he has surely caught her attention.   

Further queries are prevented by Dadan’s return, who quickly sends the three guests upstairs, to the bedrooms she has prepared for them.

Poor Hachi has earned some sleep, and the kids themselves are looking pretty roughed up.

Anyone will feel better after a couple hours of sleep, Dadan included.

It’s roughly six a.m. when Chopper turns around in his sleep once more, slapping the back of his right hand on the left side of Zoro’s face, waking him up for the umpteenth time.

Since the sun’s already up in the sky, as it transpires from the dim daylight filtering through the windows, the swordsman concludes it’s time he gets up and heads down for some breakfast.

Hastily, he puts back on his black jeans from the night before, but gives up on the shirt, tainted and wrinkled beyond repair, with a vague stench of alcohol, and keeps the clean sweatshirt he has borrowed from Luffy instead. A quick check in the mirror reveals his hair is particularly spiky this morning, reaching for the heavens from a wide variety of angles. With little success, Zoro brings up a hand to flatten them, only for the green strands getting messed up even further.

He exits the room with small, delicate steps, as not to wake Chopper up, and then glances doubtfully at the labyrinth of hallways he now needs to remember his way out of.

Having spent most of his childhood inside the house, one would expect him to find his way around it a bit more easily, but it takes the swordsman almost fifteen minutes to reach the dining room, where a prissy Dadan is having breakfast with Garp.

Zoro stifles down a yawn as he sits down. “Good morning, Vice Admiral”.

Monkey D. Garp doesn’t like him, the old man always made sure he would know it, and the feeling is one-hundred-percent mutual.

One can’t be Luffy’s best friend and like him either. 

“Hey, Zoro. ‘Sup?”, Ace pipes up, with a huge grin. His excitement would be much nicer if only he would stop stuffing his mouth with food. “I didn’t peg you for such an early riser”.

“Good morning, brat”, Garp mumbles from behind his cup of black coffee.

“I couldn’t sleep”, he replies. It’s not a lie, more like a half-truth. “Chopper snores”.

“Aw. That’s cute”, remarks Robin, who’s sporting the same white porcelain cup Luffy’s grandfather does.

She’s sitting between Dadan and Ace, with Garp sitting alone at the head of the table. There’s no trace of Luffy’s other brother, Sabo, or the family’s trusted driver and bodyguard, Hachi. Unsurprisingly, his best friend still hasn’t showed up either, and probably won’t for many more hours.

Zoro ignores Garp completely, focusing on his grandchild instead. “What are you doing up so early?”

“I promised the old man I’d go with him to some navy event”, Ace rolls his eyes. “Sabo, the lucky bastard, is studying for an exam, so he’s excused, while Luffy, I guess, is just too much of an embarrassment for grandpa’s standards”.

“Language”, Garp says, menacingly. “But you’re right, your brother doesn’t know when to stop”.

He thinks of the one time he made a fool of himself right in front of Dressrosa’s Prime Minister, and his interview for New Marineford, which Sengoku had promised was merely a formality, during which he had babbled endlessly of all the things that did not make him a good candidate, like his absolute rejection of authority.

Luffy stopped being an option for these types of events a long time ago.

Zoro can’t really argue with that, nor does he care to. Ace can be just as feisty as his little brother, though, and dislikes the navy just as much, if not even more, so he can’t really see why Garp doesn’t just go on his own.

He’d avoid certain embarrassment and spare his grandchildren much unnecessary hell. Perhaps that’s why he does it, perhaps he likes to watch them suffer.

“We’ll be leaving in twenty minutes. I suggest you hurry up, Ace”, Garp stands up, glancing down at his grandson before waving a hand at his guests. “Everyone else, it’s been my pleasure. Tell your friend Chopper to show up here on Thursday evening, six p.m. I’ll teach the little guy how to swim”.  

“Poor Chopper”, Ace notes when he’s no longer in the room, prompting a snicker from Dadan. He gulps down the last of his orange juice and stands up to leave as well. “I’ll see you around”.

His dark eyes glide over Robin a little more than the swordsman would appreciate. Zoro breathes a sigh of relief when he’s gone.

“You really shouldn’t have bothered, I could have just called a cab or walked home”, Robin remarks, taking off the black helmet. She’s not used to riding a motorbike as the passenger, or the amount of implicit trust it requires, but Zoro’s an excellent driver, and he has respected every rule and signal they’ve met on the road here from his garage. “But thank you nonetheless, Swordsman-san”.

“Uh, you’re welcome”.

He hasn’t stopped the engine, and his face is still covered by his helmet, but his voice is still a clear, albeit awkward sound, and despite her words she’s glad that he has gone out of his way to escort her home.

This is the moment she has been dreading for hours now, being alone and facing the aftermath of her dip in the pool last night. Surely there is nothing wrong in trying to reciprocate the courtesy, the fact it postpones such a moment for a little bit longer is just a coincidence.

“You’ve barely touched your breakfast”, she observes, glancing suggestively at the iron stairs that lead to her apartment. “I’ll make some coffee, if you’d like to join me”.

The key has never snapped so fast in its hole, shutting down the bike. He leaves the helmet hanging from the throttle, followed suit by the one he gave to Robin, and the two climb their way up silently to the main door, which is soon shut open.

It’s the first time he visits her apartment, only the girls have been invited here thus far.

He’s not sure what his expectations have been up until this point, but they are somewhat met by the ambiance that shows up before him. The best way to describe it would be girly, but he doesn’t mean it in a derogatory way: it reminds him of Perona’s bedroom, only much lighter and less goth.

White and brown are the predominant colors, declined in a variety of shades, with the single open space operating as both the kitchen and dining room, and a decent-sized portion of the room dedicated to the living area, with sofas and a television, an old record player and a bookcase filled up to its maximum capacity.

“Your house is very nice”, he compliments, although he’s not sure where the idea has come from.

Dracule Mihawk likes his furniture to be minimalistic, plus he’s hardly the type that pays attention to other people’s houses. He has spent the first five years of his life in a foster home, he was one of those kids they were sure would never get adopted, so there’s no maternal figure either who could have dragged him to relatives and force him to compliment their choices of interior design.

“How did you find this place?”

“Saul found it for me. He’s my legal tutor of sorts… He administers my mother’s estate as I focus on my studies”, she replies, ducking behind the island counter and starting to work on the professional machine that’s sitting there. “It took almost the entire summer to fix it, but I think it was worth it”.

Two minutes later she’s placing a fuming cup of coffee right in front of him and starts sipping from her own.

Her face betrays her lack of sleep, but she’s trying to smile through it, and, surprisingly, the small curve on the corners of her lips is enough to distract the viewer (or at least this one) from her paleness.

“It looked very old from the outside”, Zoro notes. This part of town is famous for its historical buildings and multiple construction bans that are meant to preserve the authenticity of the place, so it’s a bit odd that they’ve just let her do as she pleases. “On the bright side, you’re at walking distance from everything this city has to offer”.  

“My previous school was very isolated, one hour from the nearest city, which was actually a small village. It’s nice to be so close to everything, the middle of a desert can feel quite lonely”. She taps her fingers on the counter, deep in thought. “Since we share a wall with the café downstairs, I had to promise not to touch the exterior before I bought this apartment. Apparently, the business was started over a century ago”.

He doesn’t say anything in reply. He only knows of Alabasta what Vivi, its princess, has shared over the years, but the two’s experiences are bound to be dramatically different, as one spends her time there inside the royal palace, while the other has attended the country’s prestigious boarding school. From what little he knows, however, the desert is not the easiest place to live in.

“I hope Chopper was right”, Robin continues. “That it was all a big accident”.

“Wouldn’t we all?”, he asks, smirk half-hidden behind the cup. “I really don’t know what to think”.

“You had trouble with those guys before, didn’t you?”

“I wouldn’t call it trouble, not really, but Nami and Kid dated for a little while some time ago, and when they broke up Eustass had a hard time letting go. I’m not sure what their problem with Sanji is, but Chopper wasn’t even a student here when all of that went down, and you know the guy, he wouldn’t hurt a fly, so there’s really no excuse for going after him. It’s bad enough that they never caught those responsible for the pranks he received when he first moved here…”, Zoro stops, aware that it’s a lot of information that he’s loading off on her, way more than conversational etiquette would allow.

She looks exhausted, and probably feels so, from what she has said last night there’s a lot of personal stuff that she needs to unpack, so the last thing he wants is to overstay his welcome, or upset her any further by bringing it all up once again. 

“Pranks? What kind of pranks?”, Robin sounds quite shocked. “Was he hurt before?”

She can’t even begin to imagine why people would have anything against someone as sweet as Chopper.

“He wasn’t physically injured, if that’s what your asking”, he rebukes. “At first, it was his books mysteriously disappearing from his locker. One time they took his clothes and towel when he was showering after P.E. class, others he has been challenged to impossible tasks and then mocked when he couldn’t accomplish them. You can see for yourself that the guy who still believes most of Usopp’s bullshit would be a little… impressionable”.

The girl sets her now empty cup down, leaning a bit forward on the counter as she looks up at him.

“We should keep an eye out for him”, she says. “What terrified me the most was not Chopper ending up in that pool, because yes, that perhaps was only an accident. It was the fact everyone else stood by and watched”.

Chapter Text

A COUPLE DAYS LATER.

“…I promise you, Law, we have no idea what happened the other night”.

It’s Kid that’s talking, gesturing wildly to give some emphasis to his otherwise lacking words, but all that Trafalgar Law can see is the jewelry dangling on his fingers, the same RA silver ring even he and Bepo wear on a regular basis. There’s something he doesn’t like in the way Killer looks sideways at him, hastily smoking his second cigarette during their fifteen minutes break of mid-morning as they stand in a far, isolated corner of the gardens outside and try, at least on his part, to clear the air between them, but he can’t accuse someone without proof and bites back a nasty remark.

“Are we good?”

Law is snapped back to reality and nods slowly, only once, eyes still focused on Killer’s left hand. Bepo has been staring at it for the first two periods, but refuses to outright admit his suspicion.

“We’re fine”.

Pressed between a rock and a hard place, he can only sneer at his blond classmate when he approaches him to buy some and shushes him away.

“Not now, dude. Maybe next week”.

The disappointment that fills the air is deeply satisfying.

He and Bepo separate from the rest of the group, heading back inside and stopping by the vending machines on the second floor as agreed, where the whole Straw-Hat crew is waiting for the pair.

“Torao! Bepo!”, Luffy grins at the newcomers. “What took you so long?”

“I wanted some privacy”, he shrugs, crossing his arms in front of his chest. “As I suspected, they said they had nothing to do with what happened the other night. Eustass, of course, spoke for all of them”.

“Of course”, Nami repeats, grimacing. “Well, it was worth a shot. Back to square one, then. Chopper, are you really sure you don’t remember anything else? Bepo? You mentioned seeing a hand? How was it?”

“I’m sorry, Nami. It all happened too fast”, Chopper shakes his head, apologetically. He hates that this is still what the whole group talks about the most. “Don’t worry for me, I am fine now”.

Bepo clears his throat. “It was just a hand, male I think, and with a silver ring”.   

“That’s like more than half of the people in our class already”, Law notes. His gut keeps telling him that his classmates know more than they are letting on about the accident, so he’ll keep an eye on them. “I’ll let you know if there’s any development whatsoever, Straw-Hat-ya”.

The main reason he thinks Killer (and therefore Kid) may be involved, is that over the years he has witnessed the extent to which they’re willing to go out of boredom.

Prank turned into attempted murder would be a way to go down very fitting of their characters.

“We should do something tonight”, suggests Nami as they sit in class.

Professor Hina hasn’t showed up yet, late as usual, and she takes advantage of the temporary absence to turn around and address Luffy and Zoro, who are sitting behind her.

“To take our minds, and Chopper’s, away from all of this”.

“Yeah, we should go eat something. Or better, a lot of things”, Luffy pipes up, but his smile soon disappears. “Only I’m busy today, I promised my brothers I’d go out with them tonight”.

“Usopp’s coming over to my parents’ house for dinner”, adds Kaya, apologetically. “Maybe we’ll catch up with you later if we’re not too tired”.

Her words says one thing, but the records tells another story: there’s no way those two are leaving the comfort of her home to have drinks at some bar.

“What about you, guys? Zoro? Sanji-kun?”, Nami inquires. “I’ve already texted Franky”.

“As long as it doesn’t get too late”, the green-haired boy shrugs.

Training will take up most of his afternoon, and there’s some homework for tomorrow that needs to be completed, but other than that his father will be out of town for the entire week and Perona hardly cares if he doesn't show up for dinner.

His blond rival swoons.

“Of course, Nami-swan! Anything for you!”, he exclaims, but there’s not the usual smile waiting for him as he looks up and at his orange-haired friend. She hasn’t been answering to his texts since the night of Basil’s birthday party and the weird silence is starting to grate on his nerves. “Can I talk to you after class?”

Nami rolls her eyes. “Fine. I’ll wait for you outside”.

“My fridge is empty, so you can count me in”, says Robin, and after a little while Chopper and Vivi agree to go out with them as well.

They barely have any time to make plans, however, as Professor Hina finally enters the classroom, muttering a half-assed excuse for being late, and soon enough they’re all sucked into today’s lesson.

“What do you want, Sanji-kun?”

She taps loudly her right foot on the floor, standing right outside the classroom just as she has promised she would. Nami’s not exactly in the right mood to deal with him, but pretending everything is fine and indulging him now spares her from having more than one awkward conversation about her recent behavior and she’d rather fake a happiness she doesn’t feel than seriously confront any of that.

“You’re ignoring me, Nami-swan”, the blond sighs, dramatically, glancing up at her with his puppy blue eyes.

“Did I offend you in any way?”

Not really, she’d like to say, but that’s another awkward conversation she desperately wishes to avoid.

She’s not sure exactly why she’s so mad at him, it’s not like she’s the one who saved Chopper and can accuse him of doing nothing whilst keeping a clean conscience, but she is.

She will never admit that the reason she has avoided any contact with him in the past couple of days lies in her inability to cope with the time he dedicated to another girl the night of the party, that would be an absolutely crazy thing to acknowledge.

“I’m fine”, she lies, hoping to push him back at least long enough to sort out her feelings on the matter. “I’ve been very busy. Nojiko was home and we had a lot to catch up on”.

“Are you sure?”, Sanji insists with a pleading voice.

He seems genuinely wrecked at the idea of having caused her any trouble and for a moment she feels a spontaneous smile taking over her face, only to be replaced by a flat expression once her eyes land on the girl currently walking in their direction, ebony curls fluttering around a pretty, heart-shaped face.

Speaking of the devil.

“Your girlfriend’s here, Sanji-kun”, Nami exhales, offering Viola a fake smile as she steps aside and waves her hand at him. “I’ll see you in the cafeteria”.

She sprints down the hallway, eager to put some distance between herself and her blond nightmare, so she doesn’t hear Sanji’s faint protest (“She’s not my girlfriend”) or see the frown on his face.

All Nami can think about is that there’s no way he’ll put up any resistance if – when – Viola makes a move.

The cafeteria is just as crowded and lively as ever during lunchtime, but her friends have already got her meal for her, so she can avoid standing in the long, ominous line for half of her break and digs right into her salad.

Unsurprisingly, a huge portion of her steak has been eaten already, so she picks it up with the fork and relocates it on Luffy’s empty plate.

He looks at her as if she has just handed him the moon.

“So, about tonight…”, she trails off, taking advantage of a moment of temporary stop in conversation. “Who’s in? I need to know before the end of class. I’ll book a table at the Hibiscus”.

“I’m up for dinner”, says Franky. “But I might be taking an early leave, depending on the circumstances”.

His sentence his followed by a suggestive wiggle of his eyebrows, but Chopper doesn’t quite pick up on it. “What do you mean?”, he asks, visibly confused. “Ne, Franky, what circumstances?”

Nami smiles at his naivety. “It means he’s bailing on us if he gets a booty call”.

“Who’s getting a booty call?”, Sanji finally shows up, thankfully on his own, and takes up the seat next to hers. They’ve gotten a tray for him, too, but there’s no trace of a steak in his, just a faint outline of it between the vegetables and the sauce. “Hey, what happened to my- Uh, whatever”.

“I’m joining you for dinner, but I might not join you for drinks afterwards. I’m not sure yet”, Franky explains.

“So, a table for seven. I’ll text you the time once I’ve made the reservation”, Nami interrupts their exchange, writing down the new piece of information on a note in her phone. “From there on, we’ll go with the flow”.

“I’m not sure we’ll be able to join you”, Usopp butts in. “Sakazuki is giving us a test tomorrow and I am little behind with his subject. My plan was to pull an all-nighter and study”.

“And I’ll probably spend the rest of the evening with my parents. It’s the first time since the beginning of the summer that they’re both home at the same time”, Kaya adds. Her family is very united, but both her parents have very complicated, highly time-consuming jobs, so now that she’s almost an adult and can take of herself, trips abroad have intensified a lot. “I’m sorry, guys”.

“Don’t worry. You both go and enjoy your night”, Nami waves them off.

She just wants to have some fun and spend some time with her friends outside of school, before that time of the year comes when they are drowning in homework and can barely put their noses out of their houses once a week, it’s not like this is some big event that’s mandatory to participate in.

Seven people is fine, enough to take her mind off some things she really doesn’t want to think about.

Like the blond young man sitting next to her, who’s downright staring at her and doing nothing to at least try to conceal it. Her temperature rises for some reason and she suddenly feels as if there is not enough oxygen in the room. She needs fresh air.  

“So, it’s twenty minutes before the last two hours of class”, she exclaims, standing up and pretending to look at the wristwatch she’s not even wearing today. “I have some papers I need to pick up in HR, so I’ll be going there now. I’ll see you either back in class or tonight. Kaya, Usopp, I’ll see you tomorrow”.

Nami’s out of the cafeteria and up the first staircase in less than a minute, strolling with haste through the labyrinth of hallways. She doesn’t really need to go to HR, but since she’s class representative the lie is believable enough, and the first thing she has managed to come up with. This is bad. She’s a much better liar than this.  

“Nami! Nami-swan!”

Someone up there must really, really hate her.

The car stops just outside of the gate. There’s a shuffle of curtains behind one of the windows on the ground floor, timed perfectly to coincide with the moment Saul pulls away in the vehicle.

Nami’s house looks very modern, black and white, surrounded by a well-trimmed garden of colorful flowers.

Robin doesn’t even need to knock for the door to open in front of her.

She’s not sure why she has been invited to get ready at Nami’s house, but ever since she met the orange-haired she has felt the strange need to be liked by her, so what’s getting ready one hour earlier in the great scheme of things, if her friend so evidently wants to spend some time with her?   

“You’re finally here”, the younger girl grabs her by the wrist, pulls her inside and shuts the door close.

The silence is eerie inside the house. “Come with me, I’ll show you my room”.

They climb up one row of stairs, then another, until they reach the upper floor, which for the most part is dedicated to Nami’s sleeping quarters: most of the décor in her room is in some shade of tangerine, the furniture a light wooden tone that blends perfectly with the off white of the walls. Two doors are on the wall opposite to her bed, one leads to the private bathroom and another to her closet, which, in Robin’s opinion, is anything but necessary.

No one could possibly wear that amount of clothes, but she has been quick to learn that shopping is the way Nami copes with stress most efficiently, so she refrains from pointing it out.

Robin’s absent-mindedly checking her appearance in the mirror when a cry rises behind her back.

“Uh, Robin! I thought we were supposed to get ready together”, Nami chastises. “I love your dress, though. Purple really is your color, mh? I think I have something with a similar cut in here”.

She opens some drawers, fidgets a little around the shoes section, but eventually chooses her outfit.

She starts removing her clothes halfway on her way to the bathroom, leaving Robin to stare, a little confused, at the back of her lingerie-clad body.

She has never had a girl-friend, or a friend at all, so it’s a bit baffling to witness the ease with which Nami acts around her, as if they’ve known each other forever.

Maybe she’s just very confident about her body, she thinks, and it’s not like underwear unveils much more than a bathing suit. People will always be peculiar about exposing their bodies, one way or another, but it’s a deliberate choice, there’s not something inherently wrong with the way those bodies are shaped.

“Thank you for coming, anyway”, Nami continues, raising her voice so that she can be heard from inside the bathroom. There’s the sound of a zip closing, then she returns to the bedroom and places herself in front of the mirror, where she starts playing with her hair. “I really needed someone with a fresh perspective to vent to. I know pretty much what everyone else in the crew would say, and it’s not the kind of matter that I’d like to discuss with Luffy or Zoro”.

The brunette does her best to contain her reaction to the last name, which is limited to a mere contraction of her pupils and a little warmth spreading lazily on her cheeks, but the latter should be covered by make-up.

Her thoughts always get a bit fuzzy whenever a certain classmate is brought up. He’s a nice guy to be around, that’s what this is, and even though she spends more time looking at him out of the corner of her eye than she’d ever admit, Robin doesn’t plan on doing nothing about it.

Of course, she didn’t put on her favorite dress today for anyone but herself.

“What’s bothering you?”

Nami finds herself questioning the brilliancy of her plan, now that the chance of asking for an outside opinion has come up and Robin seems willing to indulge her.

“How do you break up with someone you’re not even dating? How do you move on? I have… Uh, I have this friend, she has liked this guy for a little while now, but she doesn’t want to go out with him. She is sure they would never work, no matter how they go about it”, Nami explains with a shaky voice. “She is sure of that, but apparently she can’t stop thinking about this guy. She came to me for advice, but I wasn’t of much help. I thought maybe you would have some suggestions for her”.

Robin would be offended by her assumption, if only she couldn’t see straight through her lies, realizing there is no friend involved here, but only Nami asking her to play along and pretend they’re not talking about her. “I’m not sure I can be of much help either, but I’ll try”, the brunette reassures her. “Your friend… Why is she so sure that she and this boy she likes wouldn’t work out? It sounds like he’s not aware of her feelings”.

“And he’ll never be”, the other is suspiciously quick to assert. “From what she said, he’s not someone you’d call relationship material. He falls in love with pretty much any woman who breathes”. 

“I don’t it’s fair to judge how this guy would act in a relationship if he has never been in one, though. Unless he’s known to be a player, I mean. With this I’m not saying she should consider dating him just because he’d like her to do so, but you’ve said she likes him a lot, so maybe the problem here is that she thinks he doesn’t like her back? Well, not more than he likes another woman who breathes”.

“I wouldn’t know that…”, Nami pauses to consider this last idea. She has grown fond of Sanji years after making sure he would know she was off-limits. He probably never even entertained the idea, and the kindness he always shows her probably has more to do with his chivalrous persona, rather than some alleged special affection for her.

“Anyway, any tips for my friend?”

“Do you know him?”

“How’s that relevant? Yes, yes, I do”.

“Do you think he likes her, Nami?”

Checkmate.

“Maybe? But he also might be dating someone else and my friend would never get in the way of that”, she shakes her head. Close enough.

“Like I said, she’s adamant they wouldn’t work”.

“Well, I hope your friend doesn’t like him too much, then. She wouldn’t want to confess her feelings for him once he has already moved on”, Robin concludes. “I’m afraid only time will help her”.

It’s probably not what Nami was hoping to hear.

Franky and Sanji are the first two people who pull up in the Hibiscus’ parking lot, thanks to the latter’s constant devotion for punctuality.

Time management is an essential skill inside the kitchen and, why not, outside of it, too; he hates it when people show up late for their reservations and he has to deal with the tantrums they throw once they realize their table has been given to someone else. 

Sometimes, however, the Vinsmoke prince takes things a bit too far, it’s all or nothing when it comes to him, so the duo has quite some time to kill while standing at the restaurant’s bar, sipping on their drinks of choice as they wait for the rest of the group to join them.

Chopper arrives fifteen minutes or so after them, ten minutes earlier than their scheduled appointment for eight p.m., followed by Zoro; the latter has spent more time at the dojo today than he anticipated, his green hair is still damp from the quick shower he took afterwards.

He has made some decent progress on a new move he’s been working on – believe it or not, holding one sword in his mouth doesn’t make it very easy to come up with new and flashy ways to use it – one for which he still needs to find a name, and not even the sight of the ero-cook’s curly eyebrows as his blue eyes narrow at him is enough to provoke him.

He can’t remember another period in his life where he has felt as constantly chill as he does now, as if nothing and no one can get in his way. Besides from the whole Chopper-incident, Zoro feels quite invincible lately. He’s not sure how long it’ll last, but he’s certainly enjoying the sensation.

“Where’s Nami and the others?”, it’s the first thing he asks once both greetings and the mandatory nasty exchange with the blond idiot are out of the way. Unlike him, Sanji seems less confident than he usually is, he responds with less fire to his taunts and the strange behavior is starting to bother him. “Have you been waiting for long?”

“Robin just sent a message in the group-chat. They should be here soon”, Chopper tells him, looking up from the screen of his phone. “Vivi, on the other hand, has been offline for hours”.

“I’m sure the girls will join us very soon”, Sanji pirouettes with heart-shaped eyes. “As beautiful as ever!”

“…such a lost cause”.

“What was that, marimo?”  

The two are jostling each other when Nami and Robin approach the bar thirty seconds later, too focused on their mutual dislike to even notice the two have arrived, one minute ahead of the clock.

“Why are you two always fighting?”, Nami shakes her head, sighing defeatedly. At this point she has usually already smacked both their heads, but tonight she doesn’t look like she cares. Normally being the one that separates them when they argue, her strange behavior rings a bell in both boys’ heads. “It got old a long time ago. Do me a favor and don’t cause a scene. I like this restaurant”.

Ouch. Such coldness can only mean one thing, or so Zoro, who has known her since they were children, believes: someone here has done something to really piss her off and, rapidly thinking back of their interactions over the last week, he is pretty sure he’s not the one who should be hold accountable for her wrath.

That – and the daggers her hazelnut eyes are glaring at dart-brow. It’s weird, because Nami’s unusually forgiving when it comes to the blond sap, she gets mad at him or Luffy for much, much less.

Sanji gulps under her ominous stare, aware, too, that something he has done his sweet mellorine has not appreciated, but he’s been wrecking his brain for days looking for a reason, and he’s still none the wiser.

After today’s interactions, he’s now pretty convinced this argument they’re having is the biggest one they’ll probably ever had. He hates that he doesn’t know what they’re supposedly arguing about.

“You’re so beautiful tonight, Nami-swan”, he tries to get a hold of her hand, but she’s quicker and takes a step back. Sanji is equally fast in hiding his disappointment. There’s another lady he has the duty to compliment, he can start mending his broken heart later. “Robin-chwan, what a lovely sight you are!”, he places a gentle kiss on her hand, in the same way he has been taught to do in his lessons of palace etiquette, with his lips far away from her actual skin. “Where’s the Princess?”

“I’m here”, a breathless Vivi shows up, hugging her friends and apologizing profusely for being late.

Technically, she’s at fault for just a minute. Since she’s usually one of the most punctual people in the entire group, beaten only by Nami, Sanji and, sometimes, Chopper, no one thinks an apology is even needed here.

“Now that we’re all here…”, Nami calls the group back to order. “…Let’s go before they give away our table”.

The host who escorts them to their table, located in a remote, semi-secluded corner of the dining area, right next to the giant aquarium, is a tall, gaunt man with very long limbs and a strange mannerism.

His makeup primarily consists of two red dots at the top of his cheekbones, and forest green glitter around both his eyes that’s arranged in the shape of hibiscus flowers. This Mr. 2, that the name written on the plaque on his chest, has a huge grin on his lips, and despite all his quirks, he blends in well with the ambience of the restaurant.

Everything, from the furniture to the actual dishes they serve, is very colorful. Purple is the predominant color, declined in various shades, it can be found in the tablecloths and curtains, in the furniture, and in the uniforms worn by the entire staff. Men and women wear the same tuxedo, consisting of mulberry pants and fitted jacket, and a white shirt, with black, slightly heeled black boots. 

“One of the waiters will be with you shortly to pick up your orders”, the host instructs the group of seven, his huge, over-whelming grin still in place. “Enjoy your stay at the Hibiscus, ladies and gentlemen”.

Mr. 2 leaves quietly after that, walking his way back to the entrance at a fast, yet elegant pace. There’s something eerie in his stroll, as if he’s almost fluctuating, dancing on the ground rather than stepping on it.

“They’ve changed the menu”, Sanji notes, glancing down at the Entrees section.

He tries not to give too much thought to the fact Nami has deliberately sat as far away from him as possible and he’s now sandwiched between Zoro, at one head of the table, and Franky.

Further on the right, at the other hand of the table, sits Vivi, then the orange-haired girl, followed suit by Robin and Chopper.

Why is she so mad at him, though?

The more he thinks about it, the more he feels the answer is slipping through his fingers, simple and yet impossible for him to unveil.

Nami doesn’t ask for his culinary advice before placing her order as she normally would, but he remains quiet, he doesn’t utter a single word even as she lists dish after dish that he’s pretty sure she won’t like, requesting a bit more food than he’ll probably eat when it’s finally his turn, so that if the dinner she has chosen it’s not one she enjoys, which he suspects to be the case, Sanji will have something to feed her even without a kitchen at his disposal. She may loathe the very ground he walks on right now, but it doesn’t mean he wishes her to be hungry for the rest of the night.

If anything, feeding the hungry is a calling even stronger than chivalry.

Chopper claps his hands together, setting down his menu. “I can’t wait to try the Okama soup”.

While he might not look like it, especially when Luffy’s around, the youngest member of the group is a proper foodie, although he plays for the sweet-tooth faction.

Maybe it’s because the best moments of his life are all connected to food, one way or the other, and there’s nothing he likes more than going out with his friends for a nice meal. Time flies by when you’re having fun and he stands by the statement.

The Okama soup, which many chefs in town have tried to replicate, with little to zero success, turns out to be an authentic masterpiece: it’s not just the beautiful presentation, the dish looks so nice he almost feels guilty about touching it at first, it’s the velvety texture and supreme blend of flavors that really make it special and worthy of its fame. Seeing as he practically drools over it, Chopper’s friends take a mental note to try it for the themselves the next time they end up eating in this restaurant.

“We’re lucky the Baratie offers a very different cuisine”, is Sanji’s verdict once the black angus rests in his belly. “This place would be some serious competition”.

His love for cooking goes beyond the simplistic boundary of appreciating a single place, even though Zeff is the chef who’s training him and his establishment what he considers the best restaurant of Grand Line City. He’s confident enough in the Baratie’s irreplaceable qualities to admit someone else’s well-doing in the field.

“The food surely is interesting”, says Nami, poking the strange-looking fish parts in her plate. She should have known better than to order the dish with the weirdest name. “Unlike any other place”.

The girl seemingly gives up on it, glancing wistfully at the untouched lamb chops sitting next to his now empty plate. She doesn’t ask for it even when it’s clear he has no intention to touch it, so Sanji just pushes the plate in her direction, as their conversation from lunchbreak replays in his mind.

“Nami! Nami-swan!”

Her eyes are as cold as ice as she turns around, lips flattened in a crooked grimace. Everything, in her body language, suggests she does not want to talk to him right now.

“Leave me alone, Sanji-kun”.

There’s no tone of endearment in the suffix, the sound comes out almost serpentine as it’s forcefully pushed out of gritted teeth. Her stance his hard, with tight shoulders, and she fidgets nervously with the smartphone in her right hand.

She refuses to look at him.

“You said you were fine, but that doesn’t seem to be the case anymore”, he utters, not sure if this is the best way to go about it.

If Nami has one flaw, it’s the way she reacts when someone points out her mistakes or incoherence.

“So, what’s up with that, Nami-swan?”

Their eyes finally meet, but her stare is much tougher than he would expect. “Maybe I lied”, she hisses, walking past Sanji.

The faint scent of her shampoo hits his nostrils for a moment, but it’s gone as quickly as it has appeared.

“Leave me alone”, she repeats, disappearing around the corner, heading in the opposite direction of HR.

Leaving her alone – Sanji’s not sure he would ever be able to do that.

She’s not just the most amazing girl – hell, person – he has ever met, not to mention the prettiest, and the one with whom he’s really comfortable enough to be truly himself.

Nami isn’t just someone he loves, she’s his best friend. He has never cared for someone’s happiness as much as he cares for hers.

It’s your typical case of love at first sight, he looked at her once five years ago and boom, he was completely and utterly doomed, but deep down he has always known that she would never look at him twice, not in that sense, and that she deserves someone much, much better than him.   

The thought of actually asking her out has never crossed Sanji’s conscious mind (when he’s asleep anything is fair game) but he has tried dating someone else last year, and it was a complete disaster on every single front.

That’s why calling Viola his girlfriend was mean and unnecessary.

If he could, he would have moved on from his unreciprocated feelings a long time ago.

He’s still thinking of the unfairness of it all, being so tied to someone who couldn’t possibly love you back, not now nor ever, someone you hold in such high regard you would never wish someone as bland as yourself on them, as the group now skips the line and walks into the Phoenix’s Nest, where they are supposed to meet up with Luffy and his brothers and have a couple drinks with them.

Franky has left right after dinner, having received the call he wished for, but it’s still very early in the night, just about ten p.m., so the others make themselves comfortable at the captain’s table and order the first round of shots.

It’s not exactly rare for Ace and Sabo to hang out with their little brother’s friend from time to time, but Robin has never met the latter before, so introductions are in order.

From the moment they shake hands, the two just click, ending up sitting next to each other and launching into a long, complicated discussion over one of their favorite books which nobody else is able to follow.

Zoro watches the exchange out of the corner of his eye, and while he’d prefer to be the one interacting with her, he’s still glad she seems to be having a nice time.

She has been acting a little weird since Basil’s party last week, and while she shared with some of them the reason why the experience was so traumatic, after the things she has said to him the morning after in front of coffee, the green-haired boy is pretty sure it all runs a little deeper than she wants them to believe.

“Ne, guys. How are you planning to win the race this year?”, Ace pipes up at some point. “It seems you’ve got pretty strong opponents to watch out for. I can’t believe CP9 is still there and the Whitebeards are not”. 

Sabo laughs, rolling his eyes at him. While he did sympathize with him in the beginning, his brother has been complaining about it for over two years. Now that he’s about to start his third year of university, it’s time he lets go. His crew won the race three times when they were students, after all.

“Maybe they’ll disappear if the Straw-Hats eliminate them this year”.

“Maybe they will”, Nami concedes. “I’m afraid it’s your old crew that will be causing us most of the trouble, though. They’re certainly not above playing dirty”.

Her eyes surreptitiously shift to Chopper and both of Luffy’s brothers are soon to pick up. Ace was there for breakfast a couple of days ago, when Garp detailed the information he’d gotten out of his grandson the night before, and he has shared it with his other brother the other day as the two were apartment hunting.

“That’s unfortunate”, Sabo shakes his head. “This is not what the race is about”.

“You don’t need to tell us”, Nami insists. She has been friends with Luffy since kindergarten, so she’s the one, besides from Zoro, who’s the most comfortable interacting with her older brothers. Usopp still loses, to this day, his ability to speak properly when FireFist Ace addresses him directly. “But we’ll handle them no matter what they come onto us with”.

“Oh, I like this girl”, Ace grins, clapping his hands. “That’s the spirit, Nami-chan”.

It's a nickname she hated when she was a child and people used it to patronize her.

She has blackmailed almost everyone in her life to make it disappear, but there’s still some people who remember just how much it grates on her nerves and are bashful enough to have fun at her expense. Unfortunately, Ace is one of them.

“I don’t like you, though”, she mumbles, although his smile is very contagious and soon she finds herself returning it. “So, got any tips on…” – how to mend a broken heart? Damn, she has asked the question to Robin so many times today, that she has almost let it slip out of her lips – “…How to deal with unfair opponents?”

“Make sure someone in your team reads the entire regulation. It hasn’t been updated over the decades, so things do get a little dangerous and bloody sometimes, but certain actions are most definitely forbidden. If I’m not mistaken, there’s some records of teams getting kicked out of the tournament before”, Sabo pipes up. “In short, know at all times whether the rules are playing with you or against you”.

“Shishishi, I think you’re worrying too much”, Luffy suddenly retorts. “If they try to play dirty… Then I’ll just kick their asses”.

One brother seems supportive of the statement, raising his glass at him, whilst the other just facepalms and addresses the orange-haired girl once more.

“That’s exactly what I was talking about”, Sabo chuckles, “While you can still challenge another player in combat, only certain forms of it are accepted and they can be performed only by opponents who are considered equal. If there happens to be another swordsman in the opposing team, then I think Zoro, for example, could technically ask them for a duel, but I really can’t think of a single instance in the race that would warrant such a drastic response. Not to mention that drawing blood from a schoolmate is obviously very much forbidden, so if by any chance someone gets hurt, both participants would be immediately banned from the competition”. 

The Straw-Hats present here tonight listen closely to the former student’s advice, but Luffy is unfazed.

“Problem solved”, he announces, proudly. “I’ll kick their asses while holding a sword”.

The others laugh, but he has never been very good at defining the thin line between laughing of someone or with them. Luffy just feels something very warm inside when other people are happy around him.

“Let’s leave the swords to those who can handle them, aye, captain?”, Zoro intervenes.

He can’t even begin to imagine how much his precious blades would suffer in the hands of this… savage, or how much he would if presented with such an ominous sight.

“We all know you would get lost before you even find this hypothetical swordsman, moss-head”.

“Beware, dart-brow. Nothing stops me from cutting you now”, the green-haired boy bites back, although it’s all bark and no bite, because he would never use his swords outside of an official setting, that’s the first rule of swordsmanship, unless something really crazy happens and his safety or someone else’s is in danger.

But the idiot doesn’t need to know that, does he?

“Bet I could do it with my bare hands”.  

Chopper avoids conflict like the plague, so he gets smaller and smaller on his seat and sips quietly from his drink while carrying out his conversation with Robin, but he’s only half-heartedly into it now.

He hates it when his friends argue with each other.

The girl, too, seems displeased with their behavior, only it turns out she’s much better at hiding it.

Vivi rolls her eyes at the pair, wondering for the umpteenth time why the two are constantly at each other’s throats. At this point, it seems like they do it just out of habit.

Nami was not picturing this when she asked her friends if they wanted to go out tonight, so knowing things have escalated abysmally quickly in past occasions, she wisely decides to put an end to their fight asap.

Smacking the bottom of her now empty glass on the table, she lets her eyes do the talking for her, glaring daggers at the pair until they are seemingly chastised enough and lower the tones of their discussion.

“Back to business, where did that waiter go?” 

Chapter Text

For all intents and purposes, many things are typical about tonight, like Luffy deserting them soon after their arrival, loyally committed to the engagement he has with his brothers, but what’s not so typical is that the remaining Straw-Hats have all ended up scattered in different corners of the club, alone or in pairs.

They’re usually a pretty tight-knit group, so this is quite strange.

Nami has stationed herself at the bar, followed by Sanji, but she’s doing her best to ignore him, while Vivi was lastly spotted near the dancefloor.

Zoro has left for the bathroom twenty minutes later or so, but he has taken too long to find his way back to the table and by the point he got there everyone else was gone.

Chopper is catching up with a friend from the robot-club, of which both he and Franky are members, with Robin standing idly at his right side, having not spoken a word besides from introducing herself to a guy named Shachi. She keeps herself occupied by pretending to look at her phone, but there are no new messages which she needs to reply to, besides she knows she’s probably starting to seem rude.

Not that Chopper’s friend is making even the smallest effort to invite her into their conversation.

Robin doesn’t recognize the names they use to describe the assembling parts they claim to love so dearly and to be honest she has never understood the passion some people seem to have for mecha-aesthetics. But everyone has their taste and preferences and her friend looks very engrossed in his chat; since the main purpose of tonight was to take Chopper’s mind out of last week’s incident, when a glimpse of Zoro’s shirt appears in the corner of her eye, she doesn’t have to think about it twice before politely excusing herself.

She invites the two to enjoy themselves, tells Chopper to simply call or text her when he feels like regrouping and quickly puts some distance between herself and the pair, following the same route a certain green head has taken not long ago.

He’s lucky his hair is so uncommon, she muses. People couldn’t find him otherwise.

Especially since he has this weird penchant for getting lost even in the smallest of locations and even though Robin was only one minute, one minute and a half behind him, he has already blended into the crowd, and now she can’t find him.

With a wistful sigh, she takes a left when she stumbles upon a crossroad and continues her search.

The Phoenix’s Nest is spacious, not limitless. She’ll find him eventually.

Nami taps her manicured hand on the bar’s counter, shifting her weight from one leg to the other as she sits on the barstool and ordering another round of Marco’s latest creation, a fruity, pink-colored mixture with a taste so sweet it doesn’t even feels as if there’s any alcohol in it, which, in retrospective, won’t probably be for the best since she has class tomorrow and this stuff goes down like orange juice.

She’s also drinking to relax and unwind, so to speak, but that’s obviously not quite possible as a set of familiar blue eyes has been staring at her for what feels like ages.

The girl is aware she has kind of fucked things up with him this afternoon, because she promised she’d bury things under the sand and blew up in his face instead. So now he knows she’s somewhat mad at him, but she can’t tell him why.

Nami’s grateful he’s granting her the space she has asked for and that he has not tried to talk to her since joining her at the bar, but at the same time she’s a little upset about it, because the thought Sanji could give up on her has never crossed her mind before.

Now that it does, however, she’s not sure she likes it.

She’s about to turn around and demand he stops looking at her right this instant, but her jaw drops and the words die in her mouth as she notices that he has returned his attention to the bottle of scotch he has in front of him.

It seems Sanji isn’t too comfortable with the silence between them either.

He's virtually guiltless, she knows that, but, even then, she can’t bring herself to extend the proverbial olive branch. Apologies are not something she excels at, it’s the opposite, as a matter of fact: realizing she’s in the wrong is one thing but admitting it out loud is an entirely different story.

“I’m sorry”, she sighs, eventually, when the bartender’s poor attempts at keeping her company become too much to bear. She thought it would be clear that she is not interested the third time he asked her out and she said no, but apparently it’s not the case. “I shouldn’t have lashed out at you like I did”.

Q.E.D., Sanji is still paying some degree of attention to her, because his response is immediate. The blond frowns, one curly brow almost touching the other. “What for?”

If he has been confused about her scene earlier today, now he’s downright flabbergasted.

He’s obviously the one who has fucked up, albeit he’s not exactly sure why, she has shown animosity towards him for days, so how come she’s suddenly apologizing and blaming herself for what transpired between them?

“Everything, I guess”, Nami replies. “You did nothing and I still took out my frustrations on you. That was very wrong of me, Sanji-kun. I apologize”.

“That’s… That’s fine, I think. I- I should have realized you would talk to me about your problems in your own time, if you ever wanted to do so. I shouldn’t have insisted so much…”

“Let’s move on, shall we?”, she cuts him off, offering up her glass for a toast. “Thank you for that lamb”.

Sanji smirks. He was sure she would end up needing the back-up dish he ordered for her.

“You are very welcome, Nami-swan”.

“…Unfortunately, I found myself in a tight spot. Of course, I couldn’t foresee that little bitch helping the princess escape. If she didn’t put her nose where it didn’t belong, who’s to say my father wouldn’t be the new king of Alabasta already? She could have minded her own fucking business, but no, she had to go and force me and my family to flee the country in the middle of the night like criminals”.

Now, there aren’t many things which she’s actually afraid of, but Vivi would recognize this voice anywhere, it’s the stuff her nightmares are made of, after all, and she has hoped she’d never have to hear it again.

But here is she is, in a club in Grand Line City, where she’s supposed to be safe and it turns out she isn’t.

What is Crocodile doing here?

Her paralysis lasts but a second and quickly she’s jolting for the toilette, from where she plans to use her phone to alert her father. She has never felt more glad for the bodyguards who follow her around, although King Cobra has never mentioned a word about them, which hurts, because it’s like he doesn’t trust her, and technically she’s supposed not to know about them.

Vivi has already spotted two in her time inside of the Phoenix’s Nest, and she’s sure there are more scattered on the perimeter outside.

Whilst confident Crocodile won’t try anything tonight, she can’t stop the blood from pumping furiously in her heart. He probably doesn’t know she’s here and she doesn’t plan on advertising her presence, but she still dreads the hypothetical moment their eyes would meet. If she doesn’t handle this carefully, all the work she has done with her therapist over the last year would be vanified.

Once inside the bathroom, Vivi occupies one of the stalls and dials Cobra’s personal number.

It’s already four in the morning down in Alubarna, so she’s not surprised when nobody answers the phone and a mechanic voice invites her to leave a message.

“Dad, it’s me… You know how Crocodile and his father disappeared into thin air before their trial? I’m not sure about the rest of his family, but the son’s here, in Grand Line City. I’ve just seen him with my very eyes. I’m leaving this place now, and I’m sure the guys you’re paying to follow me will escort me safely back home, but I thought you’d want to know. I… I’d like to talk to you tomorrow… Goodbye”.

“Do I even want to know what you’re doing in here?”

She arches politely one of her feathery, dark eyebrows, blue eyes landing on the objective of her previous quest, who’s sitting at the bottom of the staircase.

Zoro is numbly scrolling on his phone, with his back against the railing, green strands dripping sweat from hairline to forehead.

The boy seems in terrible shape, pale and haggard. His brain takes a little longer than usual to register the external input and he very, very slow raises his head and looks up at her.

“Hey. I’ve been looking for you guys…”

“What’s up with you?” Robin is by his side in less than ten seconds. From up close, her classmate’s exhaustion is even more explicit. “Are you feeling sick?”

“It’s… I’m fine, everything’s fine”, he shakes his head, lightly. His breath is a bit more elaborated than it should. “I was just feeling a little dizzy, so I thought I would sit here for a bit. I think it’s my blood pressure or something like that, I don’t know. I guess I’ve just pushed myself a little too much today”.

The girl sits next to him with a small smile, albeit she’s still concerned about him. Zoro did say he would spend most of the afternoon at the dojo, but it’s still weird to think swords-training could be so brutal. From the little she has read about the discipline its students are encouraged to treat their bodies better than this.

“Was it worth it?”, is what she asks, even though the urge to nag him to death for his irresponsibility it’still strong. “Why did you push yourself so hard, mh?”

Robin tilts her head on one side, resting her right cheek on the palm of her hand. She does her best not to sound disparaging, but she’s yet to come up with a reason that would warrant the sight before her. She doesn’t like the discomfort on his face, or the paleness, especially since it could have all been avoided.

His commitment to the sport is commendable, but she’s pretty sure that its purpose would be to make you stronger, not beating you up until you pass out.

Whatever he is trying to achieve, surely there’s a healthier way to do it. She’s worried about it – him.

But something tells her she’ll achieve nothing if she expresses her concern now and metaphorically kicks him just as hard, so she keeps her expression neutral, waiting patiently for his answer.

“I’ve been working on something new lately, but I’ve been side-tracked a lot. Anyway, today I finally perfected it”, he shares, almost excitedly, but his smirk quickly morphs into a grimace of pain. “Only last night I didn’t sleep much and tonight I’ve had a little too much to drink, so when I started running in circles trying to find my way back to the table, err…”

Zoro scratches the back of his head, a little color finally returning to his cheeks.

“Maybe you can show it to me some day”, she offers, but the end of her statement doesn’t sound quite as confident as the beginning. What the hell are you thinking, Nico Robin? – she scolds herself, internally. Her attempts at covering her tracks are probably even stupider. “Uh, I mean… I’ve read of many duels, but I’ve never seen one with my own eyes and you’re, well, the only swordsman I know. So, yeah…”

She could pretend to be drunk, but she has barely brushed her lips against the single glass of wine she ordered tonight, whilst Nami, of course, didn’t miss the opportunity to comment on it. 

Zoro doesn't seem to notice her nervousness, or at least he doesn’t point it out. If not feeling better, he has been very much distracted since she has sat next to him on the steps.

Besides, he kind of likes the idea of showing off in the only field he can truly say he one day will master.

“What about this weekend?”, he asks.

Robin may have not touched her drink, but he has had several, so his tongue is unusually loose and he’s not too concerned with the meaning of his words. He’s just going with what feels natural, which is something he generally does anything in his power to avoid. But again, he has been pushing himself the whole day, hasn’t he? Then why should he stop now?

“I usually train at the dojo on Thursdays and Saturdays, but I have all the necessary equipment at my house, too, since my father is a swordsman as well”, he elaborates. “Both options would work for me”.

“I’ll think about it”, Robin replies.

Her answer is not too bad, he supposes, but it’s still not the one he was hoping for. Well, he can’t really blame her if she’s not that interested in swords. It’s a very niche hobby.

What she says next, however, sounds much, much better.

“If I agree to come by on Saturday, would you be willing not to train and rest until then?”

Little after midnight, only Robin and Chopper are still capable of driving.

Zoro has sobered up, but he’s still not feeling too well, whilst Nami and Sanji would have their licenses retired the moment they put themselves behind a steering wheel, and rightfully so.

Vivi says her driver’s on the way and that she’s willing to drop home anyone who wants a ride, so Chopper decides to leave with her, and the orange-haired girl asks Robin if she is willing to drive her car on their way back to her home.

Since the other really doesn’t want to wait for a taxi, she agrees.

His apartment is not very far from here, so Sanji plans on walking his way home and pick up his car in the morning, while the green-haired boy is offered the backseat of Nami’s car, which he accepts.

Once they’re all set, they bid their goodbyes outside the Phoenix’s Nest and make for their cars, but not before Vivi tells Robin that she needs to speak with her in the morning, with a tone that sends a chill down her spine. She agrees, of course, but she can’t shake away the feeling that it’ll be something she won’t like.

Nami has fallen asleep after they dropped Zoro at his home and once she is safely tucked under her bedsheets, the brunette walks her way out of the villa and makes sure the door is properly closed behind her. Her sister’s out of town again, so Nami’s home alone tonight.

It's a little after one in the morning when Robin reaches her apartment and finally climbs up the stairs, kicking away her shoes the moment she steps inside of her home, thankful that she hasn’t left the windows open, so everything feels nice and warm. She goes very hastily through her bedtime routine before putting on her favorite pajama and settling herself on the bed, where she tries her hardest to sleep, but slumber, as she can’t stop thinking about everything she has lived through tonight, is hard to catch. 

Most Straw-Hats are late for school in the morning, or at least those that were at the club last night.

Truth is, some of them, like Zoro and Nami, aren’t too likely to show up for class today.

Fujitora crosses out their names with a frown on his face, displeased with their absence, glaring at Robin and Vivi as they bow their heads and apologize for being late.

He still allows them to take their seats, however.

The blue-haired girl has never strayed once before in the five years she has been his student, while the new student’s academical records speak for themselves.

They don’t seem to be the type of kids who would disrespect their professor, and therefore their education, without a proper reason to do so. He, of course, won’t indulge them shall the incident ever be repeated, but everyone should be granted the benefit of doubt when committing their first strike, which is precisely the reason he doesn’t implode when Tony Tony Chopper walks into the classroom five minutes after the final bell has ringed.

His glass-eye is itching a little this morning, a clear signal that it’ll rain later this week, and he’s too concerned about the discomfort that causes him to be really bothered by the boy’s apologies. It’s not as if he could scold him for being summoned in the principal’s office early in the morning, after all, and he’s not the type of teacher who gets sadistically excited at their students’ suffering.

Little Mr. Chopper already appears contrite enough as is, he probably knows Kureha would never let him hear the end of it and punish him exemplarily for upsetting one of her colleagues; having met the lady, a very brilliant, but equally scary woman of over sixty years, he finds himself instantly sympathizing with the boy.

He’ll ask Sengoku what this was all about later today at their weekly poker game.     

He scratches his closed, right eyelid and puts on his reading glasses, eager to share his knowledge of Dressrosa’s natural resources with his students and hopefully manage to bestow on them their first Geography mark of the year before the end of the month.

They need to know this year they’ll be required to step up their game.

New Marineford is an old and proud institution, it’s not as if it allows just everyone to graduate. The school’s not only hyper-exclusive in how it recruits its students, its reputation requires for it to be super picky about those who come out of it with a degree, too.

Some of the mechanisms in place here are the main reason behind Fujitora’s headaches, but he has tried to change the system in the past and to no use, so over the years he has learnt to keep to himself and trust very little people, and this strategy is working wonders for him.

He launches himself into his lesson, asking a couple of times if there are any questions, but unsurprisingly barely anyone is interested in his subject and when they do ask questions it’s usually to dissipate the awkward silence.

Two hours are filled by the echo of his own voice and his mind wanders as he repeats words that he has memorized decades before and reflects on the dozens of times he has taught this same class.

Now and then, his pupils never seem to particularly enjoy the topic, but, as usual, he refuses to read the room.

Is there anything more exciting than the prolific extraction of gold in the region of Balsa? He doesn’t think so.

He puts his books and laptop inside his old bag, hanging it over one shoulder, puts the register back in its rightful place and bids his goodbye to the class, whose response, much to Fujitora’s dismay, is warmer than the one he has received for his earlier “Good morning”.

Ungrateful brats.

“…Ugh, I hate Caesar”, someone complains in the background.

He hopes they don’t talk about him with the same revulsion, although he shares the sentiment. He has always wondered why Sengoku thought hiring Caesar Clown was a good idea.

Later tonight at the poker game, he’ll make sure to ask him about that, too. 

“…Ugh, I hate Caesar”, laments Yosaku.

“He’s the worst”, adds Johnny, giving him a high-five. “What do you think, Drake?”

The first two follow the latter around as if he’s their queen or something, hanging from his every word.

They practically worship the ground Drake walks on, but the general consensus is that he probably wouldn’t bother speaking to either of them if they weren’t part of the football team as well, and it surely can’t be just a fortuitous coincidence that they seem unable to say no to him, whether it’s about doing his homework for him or dumping girls in his place. No one disagrees with them now, however.

The whole class hates the chemistry professor with a passion, even more so than they hate Sakazuki. The latter, at least, is never inappropriate. Unsufferable and the bane of their existence, of course, but not inappropriate.

Drake plays for the Revolutionary Army in the tournament, so there’s been some friction between himself and the Straw-Hats in the past, but they are still on speaking terms and mutually civil overall.

One could say he sits at the very top of the social pyramid and surrounds himself only with people who match his status. Johnny and Yosaku are the odd exceptions, but it’s not as if he ever lets people outside of their class seeing him in their company.

“Meh. I’m not sure Professor Kuro would be any better. Maybe there’s just something inherently wrong with chemistry professors as a whole”.

It’s not even funny, but he’s too popular for people not to laugh.

Even CP9 joins most of the class in their snickers, eager to stay in “X” Drake’s good graces. The nickname refers to his habit of ruining the social standing of those who dare defy him.

“Wouldn’t you agree, Kalifa?”

The blonde is somewhat flattered by the direct mention, but over the years she has learnt to ignore his flirting.

The last thing she needs today is another argument with her boyfriend.

Rob Lucci speaks few words and he’s quite gentlemanly most of the time, but he’s a little too overprotective of her, not to mention unhealthily jealous, and after a weekend spent screaming at each other over the bartender who allegedly stared at her a little too much on Friday – as if other people’s actions are her responsibility, anyway – Kalifa really doesn’t want to restart the cycle all over again, not so soon.

Her books never mentioned love can make you quite so anxious, but ever since she has started dating him two years before, he has constantly kept her on her toes and not in a romantic way. If he was anyone else, then she would probably realize that relationships take efforts on both parts, but she has fallen for him a long time ago, so she can be a little blindsided when it comes to the way he behaves around her.

“Maybe there is”, she concedes in a flat tone, shrugging. On her right side, Lucci doesn’t raise his head from the textbook he’s reading, so that bullet seems dodged for now.

“Either way, I don’t care”.

“It’s not like the others are much better, but at least they’re not crazy…”, trails off Urouge, who sits next to Drake, his best friend, and is also, coincidentally, the keeper and vice-captain of the football team. “Did you guys hear Scratchman’s last upload, anyway? That’s some dope shit”.

Mad Monk Urouge is a bulky, cumbersome young man, with dark hair and eyes and a long hipster beard. He has an easy laugh and a tendency to prank other people, but, overall, he’s in good terms with the majority of the student body, and the soul of every party he shows up to (of course, he is always invited).

Before all seventeen members of the class can launch into a lengthy discussion about the school’s most famous DJ’s latest released track, Roar of the Sea, the chemistry professor enters the room.

Caesar Clown is clearly in a foul mood this Wednesday morning, shoes clicking unpleasantly on the floor as he drags his feet to the teacher’s desk.

For the first two hours of the school-day he has taught the first year’s class, a literal hellhole where some of the worst students he has ever had seems to have been dumped into.

That little rascal Helmeppo has another thing coming if he thinks his disrespect will be tolerated much longer just because his father is a member of the board.

Caesar may be a social climber, but he’s not pride-less. 

“Please stay in your seats and open the book at page thirty-five. Today we’ll be resuming what’s been already said in the previous years about chemical bonding. By the end of this hour I’d like to be over the basics of electronegativity. If there aren’t any questions about our last lesson, then I would jump right…”

“Excuse me, Professor?”, a hand shots up and Caesar hopefully looks up, surprised that one of his students is actually making a conscious effort to better understand his subject.

This would be commendable, if only…

“May I go to the bathroom, sir?”

The professor’s jaw clenches.

“Stay put, Kaku. You can go during the break”. 

Sanji is always aware when a lady is in distress and usually he would go out of his way to revert the situation immediately, but he can sense that whatever Vivi and Robin seem so upset about isn’t something he can question them about in public, so he patiently waits through the mid-morning break, and even at lunch he refrains, because the cafeteria is as packed as usual and one never knows when their conversations are being eavesdropped on, not in a school so full of gossips. 

The princess leaves the table half-way through her lasagna, mumbling something about a call she has been waiting, whilst in the moment she disappears Robin, who hasn’t spoken a word since they have sat here, altogether stops touching the food she has been just plucking at.

This is never a good signal, in his modest opinion. When people refuse to eat, it’s always because they have some huge problem which they are worrying too much about.

Like he said – it’s never good.

“How was the rest of your night, Franky?” He decides to further postpone his intervention and wait for the end of class. “That marimo got absolutely shit-faced”.

“Oh, so that’s why Zoro’s not here. But what about Nami? She’s missing as well”.

“She texted me earlier. She said she has a bit of a cold, so she decided to stay at home today”, says Kaya.

“The moss-head looked way worse than a cold”, Sanji chuckles. Every chance to take a dig at the gorilla is appreciated, especially if he’s not around to bite back and Nami can’t be disappointed in him for doing so. Not that he appreciates the fact she has a cold, of course. “Maybe it’s finally the time we get rid of him”.

“Enough of that, Sanji”, Luffy admonishes, although it is only half-hearted. He knows the two are friends despite the façade they are so adamant to keep up. They’re always at each other’s side when it really matters and that is enough for the captain to trust them even when they bicker. “Are you eating the rest of that lasagna, Robin-chan?”

She hands him her plate before turning around and smiling at the blond cook, but it’s a cold one. “Both Zoro and Nami just needed some extra sleep. I’m sure they’ll show up for class as soon as tomorrow”.

“Of course”, Sanji bites back his retort. “I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about”.

Franky sighs loudly before opening his second can of cola. “I went home straight from the restaurant in the end, but not before wasting five hundred belies on gas only to be told to go back when I was halfway there”.

“Man, that sucks”, Usopp chimes in, sympathetically. He knows what it feels like to be stood up. “I’m sorry”.

“I’m sorry, Franky”, repeats Chopper. “People should know that it’s hurtful. Did they have a good reason, at least?”

“Not really, but I don’t care”, the blue-haired boy shrugs, doing his best not to show how much it really affects him. “Maybe I’ll see him some other time, maybe I won’t. I don’t know yet”.

Truth is, Iceburg did give him a reason, but it’s one he doesn’t want to share with the rest of the group.

He still hasn’t decided if he’s willing to have an open relationship, and even though he really, really likes the older guy, Franky is not sure he can forgive him for cancelling their plans last minute because something else (something better?) came up.

He’s not sure he wants to be someone’s side option.

“Seems like we’re all in for a rough week”, Usopp notes. “Sakazuki’s test was a real nightmare”.

Franky nods sharply. “Right? It wasn’t too difficult for me personally, but it’s clear that he wanted as many people as possible to fail and that’s not a good goal for a teacher. The question about the horse-toy was crazy”.

“You got that one too? I agree, it needed a knowledge of the subject that is far beyond the tools he has given us so far”, Robin supplies. “We’re getting our results tomorrow and I suspect it’ll be a massacre”.

“It’s the same thing every year”, adds Vivi, now back from her call. “I’m not sure how many correct answers were required to pass, but I’m lucky if I got more than three answers right”.

Physics is that one subject she can’t bring herself to care about, unlike some of her friends, but she was prepared for Akainu’s little welcome back surprise and has already made a formal request for a tutor.

She won’t let her struggles with the discipline affect her senior year more than it is strictly necessary.  

She has way bigger fishes to catch.

As the others finish their meals and prepare to return to class, her thoughts drift to her earlier conversation with her father, and her confidence swings. 

“Hello? Vivi? It’s dad… Ugh, you never know if these things are working correctly. They just keep getting smaller and smaller every year… Darling? Are you there?”

“Hello, dad. Yes, I am here. Do you hear me well?”

“I... I think I do now. How are you, Vi? How are things at school?”

“Everything’s fine. I have math for the next two hours, then I’ll have Pell drive me back to the hotel”.

“Sweetie, about that…”

“About what? The men you are paying to follow me around? How long?”

“That’s hardly important. Those men are there only to ensure you are protected at all times. They’re instructed not to meddle in your personal affairs and to be as invisible as they can, but I’m afraid last night's circumstances fall under what they’ve been told to be an emergency…”

“Or you could have just told me. How long, dad? One month, six? A year?”

“…They’ve been there since the first time you left for the New World, Vivi. You’re the only daughter of a much contested king and you’re studying in a far abroad country with no extradition. I wanted you to have as much of a normal experience as you could and I hoped you would enjoy New Marineford as much as I loved the Institute, but Crocodile showing up in Grand Line City is not something I’m willing to ignore”.

“They’ve been here all along? Why didn’t you tell me? … I really don’t understand”.

“Just focus on your studies, dear. As long as you let those men do their jobs, there’s no reason for you to worry about any of this. Just maybe go somewhere else next time, okay? I’ll deal with the rest. I have to meet with the High Council in one hour, so I’ll be leaving now…”

“Wait, dad!”

“…Take care, Vi”.  

A little before four p.m., right after two devastating hours of “Introduction to Calculus”, just outside the main entrance the Straw-Hats find their two missing components, who in their casual clothes are both looking much better than the last time their friends have seen them, especially Zoro.

“We wanted to know how you guys were all holding up”, Nami shrugs. “Did the teachers say something?”

“You should be in the clear”, Chopper supplies, thoughtfully. “Kizaru made a comment about committing to our studies, but he does that in every class, and it’s not like he referenced either of you directly”.

Zoro snickers. “I think I’m allowed to be sick sometimes, even Borsalino knows that”.

“Well, marimo, you’ve been making me sick every day for years”.

“Guys, I beg you”, Nami draws a sharp breath. “I don’t want to deal with another headache”.

“Take it out on curly-brow”, the green-haired swordsman remarks. “It’s not my fault he’s so loud”.

“Do you think you’re any better, moss-head?”  

“Sanji-kun, my headache”.

The Vinsmoke prince lets the proverbial bone go at that, now turning his attention to the orange-haired girl, thinking of how much he has missed his sweet Nami-swan today at school.

She’s always a sight for sore eyes.

“Thank you. Now, what about going somewhere more private so that Vivi here can finally tell us what the hell happened to her last night?”

They settle for a café not too far from New Marineford, from which they can later reach their vehicles fast.

There aren’t many costumers inside, so they’re able to find a table that grants them some degree of privacy. It’s still better if they don’t shout, but at least they won’t have to watch their backs obsessively.

“We’ll have three smoothies, two cups of coffee, a cola, three batches of pancakes, one slice of cinnamon cake… No, let’s make it two. Oh, and one iced-tea as well, please… Thank you very much”.

Nami smiles faintly at the retreating waitress, a tall, red-headed girl who looks vaguely familiar. She can’t quite tell where or when they have met before, but she’s sure they did, so she patiently waits for her to be out of earshot before speaking again.

Better safe than sorry. 

“So, what happened last night, Vivi?”

It doesn’t exactly take a genius to put two and two together and figure out that something occurred at the Phoenix’s Nest which scared the living shit out of the blue-haired princess, something that has somehow to do with Robin.

All the clues point in the same direction: that fucking Crocodile dude.  

“Nothing happened, per se. But on my way to the bathroom I heard a familiar voice coming from one of the VIP tables and that, summed up with what that person was saying, confirmed that it was indeed Crocodile the one sitting there, bitching about the poor conclusion of his plan to kidnap me”.

One thing is to have a suspect, another is for that suspicion to be asserted as the truth.

Nami doesn’t like where this is going. She knows how much trauma he has caused to her friend.

“Aren’t people looking for him, though?”, asks Zoro. “Since he tried to kidnap a princess and everything”.

“Technically, yes. But Alabasta has no authority in the New World, so justice here won’t bother him unless a crime is committed. I really want to hope that’s the reason he’s here…”

“Did he see you, Vivi-chwan? Does he know you live in Grand Line City?”

“I’m not sure, to be honest with you. The press only knows that I study in another country, but Crocodile’s family is famous for their network of spies, so I wouldn’t be too surprised if they managed to sneak one or two inside the palace”, the princess replies. “What I know for a fact is that he was talking about Robin and not in the nicest of terms. Since she’s technically the reason his plan failed and the whole clan was disgraced, I thought I would give her a heads up, that’s why I wanted to talk to her this morning. I think we’ve already gathered enough proof of his craziness. It’s the same man who tried to kidnap me last year, after all”.

“I thank you for the warning, Vivi, but I don’t think he knows that I moved here. We should keep our ears open, though. If he has moved to Grand Line City, then sooner or later people will start talking about him”.

“I’m sure Ace won’t mind asking Marco if he has more information about this Croco-guy”, Luffy interjects. “Until then, maybe we should hang out somewhere that’s not the Nest”.

“Aye, captain”, concludes Sanji. “He won’t get another chance to hurt our friends”. 

22:03 - @thedemonchild
Hey… about Saturday. 

22:05 - @santoryu
Yeah? What about it? 

22:05 - @thedemonchild
3 p.m. at your house? 

22:09 - @santoryu
Works for me.
I suppose I won’t be training tomorrow, then. 

22:11 - @thedemonchild
Don’t you dare. 

Chapter Text

LATER THAT WEEK.

It’s been raining for hours – the sky is a grey, uniform cloak, a crying child whose screams have the sound of thunder and the wind it breathes ruffles Nami’s hair, seeping in cold waves beneath her jacket from the waist and sleeves. The weather is, overall, making her miserable today.

Her umbrella lies forgotten in one of the outer pockets of her backpack, with its shaft bent in two and the canopy folded on itself where it’s not supposed to.

The trench-coat she’s wearing doesn’t have a hood, so she’s forced to walk under the rain, and the orange, water-dripping strands stick unpleasantly to her forehead, falling in front of her eyes and making it difficult, from time to time, to see where she’s going.

Her car’s been acting weird lately, so it’s with the mechanic for a check-up, but Nami knows it’s her fault if she’s having to deal with such unnecessary discomfort.

She should have accepted Zoro’s offer to drive her home after school, but she didn’t. Seeing Viola getting inside of Sanji’s car and the two laughing at something he said, it brought to life a certain green monster in her chest, so she has refused.

Sure, it wasn’t raining then, and Zoro would have probably questioned her strange behavior, making the whole experience even worse than the current storm, but she has avoided catching a cold just this week and missed a day of class already, how is this not supposed to take a toll on her health?

By foot, it’s a thirty minutes walk between New Marineford and her house.

She has been hiking for almost twenty already, half of which under the pouring water, but on one thing she was right: it’s cooling her down and making her see things from a different perspective, humbling her even.

She can’t keep her feelings to herself and then expect Sanji not to stomp all over them, can she?

While Nami is still pretty sure that the two of them would never work, and the blond has reiterated many times how Viola is supposedly only a friend of his whom he’s helping with some stuff, it still hurts to watch them interact, to notice the way the other girl smiles at him, finding every little excuse to touch him.

Sanji may be adamant he’s not interested in her in that sense, but she remembers how he acted when they dated last year.

His attempts at courting the Dressrosa princess were very much real, at first.

He has never told her why they didn’t work out and, to be honest, she never asked, but it’s clear that Viola wouldn’t mind trying again. After all, the two of them are perfect on paper.

They are the offspring of kings and queens, they have been raised with similar mindsets and mannerisms.

She’s very beautiful, with curly, ebony hair that cascade down her back and equally dark eyes, framed by long, thick lashes.

She has been the female lead in pretty much every show the drama club has staged since their first years, and from what Usopp and Franky, who are in the same class as her, have said in the past, it seems she’s also very intelligent, and has some of the best overall marks in the entire school.

If this was a competition – which it isn’t, because she’s not playing – Nami is not sure she would win.

She’s confident about who she is, the things she can do and the way she looks, but that doesn’t mean she hasn’t been scarred by her previous, disastrous relationship with Eustass.

With that as the only romantic experience she has ever had, it’s not that surprising that she’s not eager to try again anytime soon.

The road is empty, so she starts humming one of her favorite songs to keep herself company. Of course, the day she walks for half a hour on her own it’s also the day she forgets to bring her earphones to school.

Nami pretends not to notice the car that slows down next to her, accelerating her step and refusing to look back at it.

She has seen this scenario in one too many crime tv-shows, after all.

This is how the girl ends up dead at the beginning of the episode.

Just like those shows, the window lazily comes down as the driver pulls up a little ahead of her.

She hums her song a little louder.

“Do you need a ride, Nami-swan?”

Sanji quietly switches gear, lowers the volume of the radio and slightly tilts his head around to glance at her.

It’s only a brief second, because his eyes are needed on the road, but it’s more than enough to send a chill down his spine.

Nami looks… well, awful, and by this he doesn’t mean that she’s not pretty, because she is always magnificent, only that she’s coming out of the rainstorm like it was a boxing match.

It’s precisely the reason why, after it started raining, he has dropped Viola home as fast as he could and pushed the limits of his engine to get to the opposite side of town and rescue his friend, but only after insulting the moss-head via text for not getting her home, of course.

He can’t believe that caveman would let a lady fend off for herself under the rain…

“How did you know where to find me?”

Nami's voice feels a little distant, but he pins it on the obvious discomfort she must be feeling.

Water drips from the girl onto the leather seat, leaving a halo, but he doesn’t care. He can wash it.

“I was still in the parking lot when the others got into their cars and disappeared. When I didn’t see you there, I figured you were going home by yourself”, he explains, detailing his reasoning. “Viola asked me if we could give her niece a ride, too, so we were waiting there for Rebecca to come out”.

Focused on his driving, Sanji doesn’t see her frown, and continues.

“When it started raining, I got them home and drove my way back to New Marineford. Since this is the quickest street, I figured you’d be around here. Forgive me if I overstepped, I just didn’t want you to get sick”.

“Uh-uh”. Nami connects her phone to his radio, selecting a song from her personal library. “Thank you, Sanji-kun. I would have accepted Zoro’s ride if I knew it was about to rain, or asked one of the others”. 

Ok, so maybe he should delete the five texts and three vocal messages he has sent to the idiot.

“Glad to be of service”. He stops at the red light, one street away from her house. He can finally turn his head around and return her stare. “How are you feeling?”

Nami’s nose is red and watery, her hazelnut eyes injected with blood. She’s very pale, with the green-ish undertone that’s distinctive of people who are unwell, her voice one note lower than usual, a bit rustier.

If he doesn’t act soon, it’s very likely she’ll spend the whole weekend fighting her cold.

“I’ve felt better”, she chuckles, but her laugh his cut off by a fit of cough. “Don’t worry for me. I’ll heat up some of the soup you brought me the other day and go straight to bed. Tomorrow I’ll be as good as-”.

Sanji would love nothing more than to believe her statement, but the orange-haired girl doesn’t even get to finish it before she starts coughing again.

The light becomes green, so they move again.

“I can buy some groceries while you dry yourself up”, he offers. “I can make you more soup and something else to eat over the weekend, just in case you’ve caught something”.

He knows she would otherwise just order take-away for three days straight. When Nojiko is out of town, which happens a lot, her sister tends to behave a little unhealthily when it comes to her eating schedule.

“You’re worrying”, Nami smirks. “But fine. I feel like a train ran over me. It’s like my… bones are heavier”.

Now that he thinks about it, her eyes have a strange sheen to them.

“Yup. I think you’ve got the flu”.

“Ugh. Just what I needed”, she rolls her eyes. “…Sanji-kun, my house was that one”.

“Eh?”, the blond hits the brakes. “Oh, you’re right”.

In reverse gear, Sanji brings the car back in front of the villa.

They have finally arrived.

16:07 - @thepirateking
in “Bad Bois”:
ace, can I drop by later?
there’s something I need to talk to you about. 

16:23 - @firefist
in “Bad Bois”:
…you don’t need money, do you? 

16:24 - @chief-of-staff
in “Bad Bois”:
^.
It wouldn’t be the first time. 

16:26 - @thepirateking
in “Bad Bois”:
I don’t need money 
but thank you for the trust, guys

16:29 - @chief-of-staff
in “Bad Bois”:
JS. Grandpa told me he cut off your allowance again. 
What have you done this time? 

16:31 - @thepirateking
in “Bad Bois”:
I think it was because I accidentally took his credit card with me to the meat expo instead of mine…
it’s not like I even spent that much money, anyway.
the old guy is just overreacting as usual.  

16:34 - @firefist
in “Bad Bois”:
LOL 
ok, I will help you 
come by at anytime 

16:36 - @thepirateking
in “Bad Bois”:
thx, ace. you are the best 

16:37 - @chief-of-staff
in “Bad Bois”:
Hey!!! 

Koala smiles appreciatively at the fuming cup of tea sitting in her hands, grateful for the warmth after her little jog under the rain.

He has crossed every possible line this time.

While she understands he has just recently broken up with his girlfriend and wants to keep things between them under wraps, she shouldn’t get kicked out of his apartment the moment his brother decides to return home, not when there’s a goddamn thunderstorm raging outside and she was just about to quietly fall asleep in post-orgasm bliss.

This was cruel, cruel and unnecessary.

It’s starting to look as if his privacy has nothing to do with it and his issue lies more in being ashamed of her or something along that line.

If that is the case, and yes, she will confront him about it, she’d rather discover it now and put a stop to things before they get too deep – or it hurts too much.

“Can I ask what you were doing out there?”

Koala looks up at her dark-haired acquaintance, the girl she has met so many times in the small library nearby during the summer.

Robin is younger than her and much quieter, but she has a great taste for books and the two have completely different social circles, the former is in high school whilst she in university, so while the world is a small place, it’s unlikely the decision will come back to haunt her, that is if she decides to open up and lift some of this ugly weight off her chest. 

“I was having a date, then suddenly I wasn’t”, she shares, cozying up to the blue sweater she’s borrowing. Her clothes were completely soaked when they got to the apartment, but, luckily, she and Robin have roughly the same size, so whilst the pants are a little too long for her, the other garments wear perfectly fine.

“Let’s just say I’m seeing someone, okay? That someone asked me to keep it quiet for a little, because he has just been through a tough breakup and his ex is part of our group of friends, but today it just got plain ridiculous”, Koala pauses, catching her breath.

The more she revisits what happened earlier, the angrier she gets.

“We were hanging out at his place when his brother texted that he was coming back home, so he gave me my clothes and some half-assed apology about a family meeting, but I know, I know he just doesn’t want his brother to know about us. Can’t he just ask him to keep the secret, too, if he cares so much about it?”

The brunette taps a finger on her chin. “I assume this brother of his is part of that same group. With the ex”.

“Yes, he is, but… Did I mention she’s already dating someone else?”

“Oh, boy”.

Robin doesn’t know why lately everyone seems to be mistaking her for a romance expert, but this situation seems a little more straightforward than that of Nami’s “friend”, and who knows, maybe she’s slowly starting to get it.  She can tell Koala is upset, and rightfully so, for the poor treatment she has received.

All the clues in her story, after all, point to the same ugly conclusion.

It’s not the ex who didn’t move on.

“I really don’t know what to say…”, she trails off. “How is he when it’s just the two of you?”

Koala is quick to reply, as if she has been waiting for this moment since the beginning of their conversation.

“An entirely different person”, she declares, confidently. “It’s like he’s one person when we are alone, and another when other people are involved. The latter, I really don’t like. C’mon, I’m almost twenty-two! I don’t have time for kindergarten bullshit, it doesn’t matter how pretty he is… Ah, thank you, Robin-chan…”

The younger girl blinks at her, unsure of what prompted the sudden change.

She has barely spoken a few words, just a simple question, but she’s glad to see that Koala’s shoulders are losing some of their slump.

“Now I know what I need to do…”, she resumes. “I don’t want to be the skeleton in someone’s closet”. 

Robin encourages her with a tight smile. “Of course”.

She doubts she’ll get any more details on the topic, but this sounds to her like an appropriate course of action: she can’t imagine how the blonde must have felt, drifting alone under the rain, so easily set aside by someone that should supposedly care about her. She'd feel mortified as well.

“I’ll give him the possibility to explain himself, but I’m sick and tired of his excuses. Either he tells me the truth and it makes sense, or else I’ll act accordingly. Like I said, I really don’t have the time…”

It’s a bit more clear now that what Koala has been seeking on all along was not her advice, but rather somebody she could vent to, someone that’s possibly outside of her usual circle, someone that’s external to the facts.

Robin considers the idea of trying for herself. She likes to think of what they have created here, in the privacy of her living area, as a safe space, so she should be able to pour out her feelings as well, right?

She feels quite nervous about going to Zoro’s house tomorrow.

Technically he’ll just show her what his whole swordsman thing is about, something which she’s very intrigued about, and his sister will be there as well, but she can’t stop her heart from racing whenever she thinks about it, and now that it’s less than twenty-four hours before their scheduled meeting, the prospect of a stroke becomes more and more realistic.

Whilst excited – she enjoys what little time they spend together one on one; she could talk to him for literal hours without getting bored – she’s also very frightened: too many things could turn awful all at once.

Robin is very smart, perhaps a little too much for her own good.

She’s aware of this… brewing attraction she’s harboring for her classmate, and it’s the embarrassing.

Sure, she has managed to keep it private thus far, but Nami has been getting a lot more insistent with her questions as of lately, and she knows it won’t be too long before Vivi and Kaya catch on.

She doesn’t want to think of what would happen if the whole group finds out about it.

“…God, I love this sweater…”

“…Where did you buy it?”

“Robin?”, Koala calls a little louder. “Are you listening to me?”       

“…Oh, the sweater? I bought it in Alabasta, I think”.

“What’s bothering you?”

She’s great at reading other people’s faces, she sees right through the stages of shame and chagrin, into the eyes of doubt and misdirection.

Robin wasn’t listening to her, and that is a fact. She has stared at the same spot on the ground for a full minute, barely blinking, fixated on who knows what kind of thoughts.

While she’s never the walking embodiment of happiness, Koala has never seen her quite so down before.

“Am I really that obvious?”, she takes a long sip from her cup, behind which she hides a mysterious smile.

“Yup”, Koala snorts. “Just spill it. I promise I won’t tell another soul”.

She sits quietly through her brief resume, and by the end of it she understands why the other would feel quite so torn about tomorrow.

Robin admits she may like one of her new friends more than the rest and that, while excited for the opportunity to know him a little better, she doesn’t want to encourage the feeling.

It’s her senior year and she’s studying at a new school whose workload is demanding, not to mention she still hasn’t recovered completely from last year, she’s still paying the consequences of her recklessness, the emotional rollercoaster just the idea of pining for someone would warrant would surely mess up her already precarious mental health.

She’s the new girl here and she doesn’t want to find herself caught up in any drama, although one can argue that the Straw-Hats are a horrible choice of associates in that sense.

She has enough on her plate as it is, she’s still adjusting to her life in Grand Line City; while she knows how to deal with the lack of friends thanks to her time at the Institute, she’d rather not go through it again.

Robin’s ultimate fear is to be alone once more if things get awkward between herself and this boy, something which, sadly, Koala has seen happening a multitude of times back in her day. She understands her concerns.

There’s then the final matter of not knowing if he likes her back.

It seems, verbatim, that he’s less repulsed by her than he is by most people – not exactly the greatest of signs, but Koala finds it very hard to believe that she could be turned down. She always seems so… perfect. Fancy to know that even poised people have anxiety, or emotional baggage. 

“Just enjoy your afternoon”, she ends up telling her. “Like you said, you’re just getting to know each other. He seems to like your company, but it doesn’t have to go any further than that, if it’s not what you want”.

“You’re right, I will keep that in mind”.

19:00 - @firefist
in “Bad Bois”:
You did right by coming to me, Luffy. I’ll call Marco.

19:02 - @chief-of-staff
in “Bad Bois”:
Be careful. 
That guy may be an idiot, but he acts like a terrorist. 
Trying to kidnap your friend? That’s fucked up. 

19:05 - @thepirateking
in “Bad Bois”:
you know I’ll always protect my friends 
let me know what Marco says 

19:12 - @thepirateking
in “Bad Bois”:
I also need a couple hundred belies to go to the movies with Usopp… 

19:13 - @firefist
in “Bad Bois”:
...aaaaand? 
I’m not giving you any. 

19:17 - @chief-of-staff
in “Bad Bois”:
Luffy. 
What happened to the money in my wallet? 

Sanji deals professionally with the four pans he’s currently supervising, four separate dishes that are supposed to give Nami a somewhat balanced diet over the rest of the weekend.

He still needs to start working on tonight’s menu, but that’s something he’ll figure out later.

When he came back she was already out of the shower, with dry hair and sporting thick pajama pants, sprawled comfortably on the white sofa as she watches some tv.

Nami is still there now, laughing along the faint voices coming from the device, and he smiles instinctively. That  is the best sound in the world. 

“Are you done, Sanji-kun?”, she shouts from the other room sometime later, when he’s placing the different dishes inside of their respective containers.

In a strange twist of irony, he’s lucky that she always forgets to return his whenever he cooks for her, because those are the only ones he could find.

“Almost there”, he shouts back. “I’ll get started on dinner in a minute”. 

She struts her way to the kitchen, a giant, winking panda sitting on the front of her hoodie, and leans on the door, from where she looks pensively at her friend, and then gestures for him to join her.

“Come watch the movie with me. We can cook dinner later”.

Sanji would like to argue that perfection is also a matter of time, but she seems as if she really wants him to join her on the sofa, so his feet move before he can even register her request.

He doesn’t think there’s a scenario in which he could deny it.

Sanji makes sure her future meals are properly stored in the refrigerator, puts the dirty tools in the sink and finally follows her to the living room, where he finds her wrapped in a huge blanket.

There’s a little more color in her skin now, which he’s grateful for, but her eyes are still very watery and she has been sneezing nonstop ever since she got out of his car.

Sitting next to her on the sofa, when Nami offers to share the blanket with him and hands him one of the edges, he can tell that the warmth she’s emitting is not normal. If she doesn’t have a fever, Vinsmoke Sanji is a fucking duck.

“What are we watching?”

“I have no idea”, she shakes her head. “Something made by SMILE Entertainment, so it’s probably garbage”.

Something is snuggling on his right side, he can tell by the weight.

Someone, more accurately, as his numb senses suggest – he’s enveloped in a strange warmth, something too pleasant to be the product of human technology.

Heating systems don’t smell of tangerine shampoo.

He snaps out of his slumber all at once, carefully prying one eye open.

He doesn’t dare moving a muscle. 

Nami is resting her head on his right shoulder, her long, orange hair sprawled on his chest.

Her hand keeps a tight hold of his left hip as she hugs the blond with one arm, profoundly asleep.

Now, Sanji has hugged her before, multiple times – each a glorious experience which he treasures.

This, however, feels completely new: she has always been very vocal about her personal boundaries, and he always respected them; while their friendship can be described as “affectionate”, he can’t recall a single instance in which she has fallen asleep so close to him, or touched him as she is doing now.

Were she someone his heart doesn’t beat for, then maybe he wouldn’t be making such a big deal out of his current predicament. His body may be still, but his mind is raging.

He's not stupid, he knows it’s all in his mind… but whilst sleeping it looks a little bit as if she feels about him the same way he does about her, as if it isn’t just him that’s crazy about her, so how in hell is he supposed to keep his wits about him and play it cool?

The blond doesn’t really care that this is all an illusion and the magic will end as soon as she wakes up.

Sadly, Sanji realizes that she’ll stir up and be gone the moment he returns the hug, but he doesn’t mind too much. He still got more than he could have ever hoped for.

With a sigh, he brings his right arm around her shoulders and squeezes very lightly one, two times, immediately causing Nami to open her eyes and become aware of their current position.

Her cheeks are red, but he can’t tell if she’s embarrassed. She looks just as feverish as she did before they both fell asleep.

Holy shit, he thinks, what time is it? He promised he would make dinner.

“My sister complained about it a lot when I was little”, Nami apologizes, immediately releasing her grip on him and putting one sofa cushion of distance between them. “She says I tend to use people as my plushies when I’m sick. I’m sorry, Sanji-kun”.

In his modest opinion, Nojiko has no taste. How can one refuse this angel’s fondness is beyond him.

It all feels evry cold now.

“You have nothing to apologize for”.

Robin feels better after her little chat with Koala.

She has left hours ago, but her words are still resonating positively with her, so that after days of struggle, she’s finally getting a hold on her emotions again, and able to focus on the other things that need her attention.

In little over an hour she manages to complete the essay on magnetic fields which Sakazuki has requested for Monday and when that is done, once she has triple-checked her bibliography, the dark-haired girl opens up a new tab on her browser, eager to find some new information about the school’s tournament.

As the new girl, she has missed on four years of New Marineford’s lore.

Since she knows that she won’t be as resourceful as Luffy seems to think, the least Robin can do is to be as well informed about the competition as she can.

For over a week now, she has been surfing the web to learn about the school and the tournament’s history.

Luckily, for the last twenty years the event has been taped and uploaded online, but while she’s enjoying herself tremendously by watching the past contests, the experience is only increasing her belief that she won’t be of much use to the team who has welcomed her so warmly.

Most of the tasks look pretty physical and Robin, well, she’s not an athlete.

While she can deal with Sentomaru’s classes, it’s been years she has done something even remotely sport-related outside of school.

The only discipline she has practiced agonistically, back in Ohara, is swimming.

That skill, unfortunately, is now out of the table. How she loves the irony.

She’s still paying the consequences that dragging Chopper out of the pool have triggered, although she doesn’t regret it. Truth is, there’s no way she would have shared so many personal information with a near stranger – after today, however, maybe she should start thinking of Koala as a friend – if she wasn’t already so worked up about everything else going on in her life right now.

Meeting Zoro tomorrow for swords is just the tip of the iceberg. She’s anxious for so many things all at once, it’s a natural reflex to focus so much on the one that’s the most pleasant to think about.

Currently, she can’t stand more than ten minutes in the shower or she’ll feel as if she’s drowning, which is not only having a terrible impact on her mood, but also disparaging her haircare routine. As time progresses, New Marineford is proving to be more challenging than the Institute in terms of workload – some of her teachers are also giving her special assignments meant to ensure she is on pair with the rest of class in their subjects, so while Robin is somewhat of a prodigy student, she could do with a little more free time.

In the two hours she has before going out for dinner – Saul always brings her to the fanciest restaurants when he needs to deliver bad news, so the fact she’s finally trying the Baratie tonight, after weeks of hearing about it from Sanji, has her a little on edge – Robin sits through a match from four years ago, precisely the final.

She’s surprised when a younger Ace appears on the screen, even though the tournament it’s pretty much the only thing Luffy’s brothers have talked about when she met them, but from the very beginning she finds herself rooting for the Whitebeards, especially when their competition is introduced.

The only other person she recognizes is Marco, but she hates the then captain of CP9 on first sight.

There’s something about the way he laughs that really, really gets under her skin.

Halfway through the treasure hunt, as both teams are being decimated by the obstacles laid out in the field, Robin is taking notes on a small notebook, writing down some of the things that happen, like the feats performed by the players, or how lenient the jury is towards certain infractions.

Speaking of the jury, one team surely seems to be favored, and it’s not the Whitebeards.

When one of the contestants picks up a sword and cuts a way for himself and his teammates through some obstacles, her thoughts are instantly driven back to Zoro. Inwardly, she toys with the idea of similar feats taking place this year, when suddenly she’s reminded of Sabo’s words.

It seems the New World produces quite more swordsmen than one would expect, making the tournament a little more dangerous for commoners like her, but Sabo also said that injures are strictly off the table, warranting the expulsion of the offender, so maybe she shouldn’t worry about it too much, just ask the others exactly how often tasks turn into physical fights between opposing factions.

From what she’s experiencing from previous installments of the school's race, that happens an awful lot.

Saul picks her up around eight p.m., a little earlier than they have agreed upon. The car ride to the restaurant is quiet, and the man doesn’t give her any clue as to what’s the occasion behind tonight’s dinner.

The last time he brought her to a place like this, however, it was to tell her that she would need to uproot her life and move to the New World, enroll in a new school for her senior year and give up on whatever resemblance of normality she struggled so much to build in Alabasta.

While she doesn’t miss the desert, or the Institute, Robin is literally shaking as the two enter the Baratie.

Undoubtedly, coming to Grand Line City has improved her quality of life, she’d be a fool not to recognize it.

Her therapist says she has made some great progress over the past couple of months, sure, but the road is still long and impervious, and any abrupt change now would be a recipe for disaster. It doesn’t take a psychology degree to figure out that.

What could be so urgent and prompt such formality, though, she wonders. She hasn’t gotten into any trouble later and her grades are somewhat promising. She hasn’t even told him about the pool accident, because she knows Saul would make a bigger deal out of it than necessary – she is coping, albeit tentatively.

Honestly, she can’t think of a single reason that rationally justifies tonight’s meeting.

As Nico Olvia’s best friend, Saul is the only adult who has taken care of her when she died, so she shouldn’t be too shocked if he wants to spend some time together and check on her.

But normally he would just stop by her apartment and have tea with her, or take her to the theatre – when he’s so proper, usually, it’s because he is acting primarily on his role as her legal tutor… the fancier the dish, the worse the news.

The Baratie, unfortunately, seems like the kind of place where even critics struggle to point out a flaw.

“If you would please leave your coats with Caimie…”, the host smiles, pointing a finger at the green-haired girl waiting by the wardrobe. “…I’ll show you to your table straight away. Your friend’s already here, sir”.

Uh-oh. This sounds very, very bad. There’s only one person who has participated to one of these dinners in the past, just once, and she really doesn’t want to see him tonight.

It's bad enough she has to sit through his lectures four hours every week and pretend she’s not affected by the proximity of her father-figure-turned-to-stranger-turned-to-math-professor, but Kuzan Aokiji, the man whom she has once thought would replace the one who birthed her and disappeared, is indeed the other customer sitting at their table when the host eventually leads them to it.

He and Saul shakes hands, although a bit stiffly. When he turns around to greet her, too, the girl just stares blankly at him and immediately steps away the moment he tries to extend a finger in her direction.

She hopes he wasn’t expecting a hug, because that would be insane.

“What is he doing here?”

“…According to the police, the robbers took no valuables. They didn’t touch the jewelry or the antiques. The only damage was a broken window, but I’ve given dispositions to fix that already. That said, I’ll be on the first plane for Ohara tomorrow. However, these robbers… They broke into the safe in Olvia’s studio”.

Robin’s mind is instantly flooded with images of her old home, each room and hallway a painful reminder of some of the most precious memories she has – she has refused to return there after her mother’s funeral, leaving all decisions pertaining the estate to Saul.

She always thought one day she would be older and wiser and finally decide what to do with the mansion, the winery, the royalties from her mother's history books… but no, once again things won’t evolve as she has planned and she’ll be forced to face her fears before she’s ready.

It feels like jumping into Basil's pool a second time.

“Her safe?”, she repeats, numbly. “I don’t understand”.

She really doesn’t.

The only thing Nico Olvia kept there was her research.

Who robs an archaeologist? For their paperwork? It doesn’t make even a shred of sense.

“She never told me what she kept in there”, Saul smiles sadly at her. “I was only supposed to give you the key on your twentieth birthday, but I guess there’s no point in waiting now… She, I mean Olvia…”

Robin sympathizes when his voice breaks. She’s not even sure how she’s holding it together herself, but Kuzan’s eyes on her are an excellent deterrent. She has promised a long time ago that she wouldn’t show weakness in his presence again – she may have broken that promise once, but there won’t be a repeat.

“She also wrote you a card”, he hands her a small, white envelope which she accepts with quivering fingers. “I thought you might want to have it now. The safe was empty when the police arrived, so unless they find those responsible, I’m afraid we won’t be able to recover what they stole”.

The brunette eyes the paper in her hands, her name written in gracious characters on the front.

Olvia’s handwriting stares back at her, breaking down her defenses one by one.

Robin secures the letter inside her purse, knowing she’ll spend the rest of the night crying over it, and whips her head around to glare at the man sitting on her left.

She lifts up her glass, taking a generous sip of wine, daring them with her blue eyes to utter a word about it – obviously, they’re afraid she’ll relapse, and the lack of trust hurts her more than she cares to admit, although she supposes she deserves it.

She knows she should stay away from… substances, but no one would want to be sober in her place.

“I'm still waiting for you to tell me why exactly we are having dinner with one of my teachers, Saul”.

He has been expecting hurtful words, plenty of them, but what he really wasn’t prepared for is the hate in the young woman’s eyes. Robin looks at him as if he’s the lowest scum who ever walked the earth and, truth is, as she pierces him down with her stare, he feels every bit like it.

Kuzan has many regrets and the biggest one is sitting right next to him; whilst he knows he has lost his chance to be part of her life a long time ago, that doesn’t mean he didn’t always act with her best interest at heart, or that he still won’t protect her if the situation requires it, whether she likes it or not.

“Olvia gave me a copy of the key, back then”, he interjects. “I needed someplace safe to store some… valuables. My point is, I know what she kept in there”.

There’s a sudden peak in Saul’s interest, but the same cannot be said for the girl. He thought she would be surprised, perhaps even a little happy about him solving the mystery, but she just looks blankly at him, an emotionless statue of salt. She doesn’t remind him of the little girl who liked to ride on his shoulders.

“Isn’t that great, Robin-chan?”

“There was only her research in there”, she declares. “I’m not sure why someone would steal that of all things, but if anyone will figure it out, that’ll be the police”.

She doesn’t even try to sound like she believes it, but no one can really blame her for that. The way authorities handled Olvia’s death is still a sore spot for all three of them.

They never caught the man who pushed her off the road and drove away, after all.  

Saul smiles grimly. “I’m sure they’ll do the best they can”.

“It was mostly her notes…”, Kuzan continues. “Things she didn’t include in her books. A great loss, of course, but not something, technically speaking, which Robin would have an emotional connection to”.

“…And what would you know of emotional connections?”

Chapter Text

12 HOURS LATER.

A lavish breakfast and a good night of sleep do not make things any easier to bear. Dinner, of course, has been a disaster.

They left before their food even arrived, or rather, she stormed out of the restaurant and forced Saul to run after her, leaving the math professor behind.

What were those two thinking, anyway, that Kuzan could just show up and she would pretend he never left?

One should have never thought inviting him was a good idea, the other should have just said no.

It was his choice to go back to the New World and leave her alone when her mother died.

While she knows he is not her father, he always acted quite like it back when Robin was a child.

No matter how hard she tries, it’s very hard to treat him like a stranger now that she’s forced to interact with him every week at school. He is not.

This is the same man who taught her stupid things like riding a bike and then disappeared into thin air the moment Olvia’s casket was dropped in its hole in the cemetery.

How dare he jump back into her life now, after years of silence.

Something’s off.

There’s more to the documents that were stolen than he has let on.

First and foremost, the robbery itself doesn’t make sense. Saul just e-mailed her a copy of the estate’s inventory, and the safe really is the only thing that has been touched – weird. What kind of thief leaves behind the gold, the jewelry, the antiques?

Then there’s the way Kuzan talked about the safe. The more she’s told she shouldn’t think too much about it, the more she forces herself to go through some of her oldest memories. She used to spend a lot of time in Olvia’s studio, she was always curious to crack the halo of secrecy around the papers she kept in there.

More than once, as a child, she pretended to be asleep just so that she could spy on the moment the safe was open and the white sheets carefully placed inside of it.

Her memories are blurry, however, watered down by her recent reading of her mother’s letter.

This is it – it seems – their final interaction. She has spent the whole night feeling miserable about it.

Her eyes are dry now, have been for hours, but her insides are cold.

It’s like the past few months never happened, as if all the progress she has made was erased in a single night.

She shudders at the idea of dressing up and leaving the house today, but she must – there’s this strange quality about Zoro, he always makes her feel good about herself, so not only cancelling their plans last minute would be rude, but also counterproductive. Robin would give up anything to take her mind off this.

Abandoning her late-breakfast-slash-early-lunch, a glass of milk and half a bowl of cereals, she puts the dirty dishes in the sink and swiftly returns to her bedroom.

The white wooden wardrobe stares menacingly at her, but Robin proceeds to open it anyway: she couldn’t care less what she ends up wearing, but social etiquette dictates she is at least presentable when visiting someone else’s house, so she starts browsing through the different rows of colorful fabrics, hoping to find something suitable to her needs, and quickly.

Her outfit ends up matching her mood, all black, crop top to high-waisted jeans, boots to leather jacket.

She’s not elegant by any means, but it’s still better than sweatpants and a hoodie. Not knowing what kind of household Zoro lives in, still scarred by her venture in the Monkey D. mansion, the last thing she wants is to leave an awful first impression on his family.

Appearances do matter in their world.

She replies to Saul’s e-mail in the ten minutes she spares after getting ready.

Robin walks out the door at fifteen to three p.m. that Saturday, grabbing her purse and helmet, which are black as well. Her ride to Zoro’s home is quiet, with few red lights and little traffic, and she replays her conversation with Koala in her head.

With everything she has on her plate right now, she’s quite terrified she might just slip.

Ding-dong.

Perona snorts. It’s like the Universe itself is actively working against her today.

She has been working on this stupid assignment for less than an hour and she has already lost count of the times she was interrupted.

Since it’s due on Wednesday and she’s not expecting either a visit nor a delivery, she concludes it must be one of those poor guys who are paid a misery to hand over advertising for things she will never buy, and therefore she decides not to open the door.

Big mistake.

Ding-dong. 

She rolls her eyes, getting up with a huff. With half a mind to tell the unfortunate soul to shove his flyers where the sun doesn’t shine, a quick check on the intercom camera spares her from a lifetime of embarrassment.

She has never seen the dark-haired girl on the screen, but she seems too well dressed to be here to scam her and Perona wonders what she could possibly want.

Ding-dong.   

Oh, right. If she’s not here to sell her stuff, she probably won’t stop ringing the bell unless someone answers the door – or she gets tired and leaves.

She forces a smile before opening it.

“Hi. How can I help you?”

“Hello. I’m… I’m looking for Zoro?”

Perona takes a moment to seize up her appearance. Long, ebony hair creates a sharp contrast with the paleness of her skin and cornflower eyes. She’s tall, taller than her by a foot or so. Whilst she looks more mature than most of her brother’s friends, the baby-fat still on her cheeks betrays her age.

Did girls got prettier in the five years since she graduated from New Marineford?

And why is she looking for her little brother? She doesn’t know much of Zoro’s private life, nor does she usually care, but she’s still sure that the only women he talks to, herself and his teachers aside, are the girls who hang out with the rest of his crew – Nami and… those other two, she can never remember their names – hell, as far as she knows the poor idiot never even had a girlfriend.    

“Oh, I see. I’m Perona”, she chuckles, but her smile is spontaneous now. “It’s very nice to meet you. Come inside, I’ll go fetch my stupid brother for you… Ugh, he probably fell asleep somewhere”. 

They shake hands, but, as the other is about to reply a strong whiff of sandalwood and crisp amber hits her nostrils, and she’s compelled to turn around… The green-haired boy looks the same he usually does in his training clothes, but it's the first time in his life that he showered before his exercises.

He’s leaning on one side of the archway that connects the entrance to their living room, in a causal pose, but it is Mihawk’s cologne the one that is so forcibly assaulting her sense of smell, which betrays him.

“I wasn’t sleeping…”, he mutters.

Is that a blush on his cheeks?

Aww, Perona can’t wait for her dad to be back from his business trip. This is something they’ll laugh about for years to come.

“Hi, Robin”.

Zoro’s sister takes it as her cue to leave. She has the feeling this isn’t the last she sees of this Robin chick.

“How long have you been doing this?”

They’ve been in the gym for little over half an hour. Zoro has showed her a couple of his signatures moves, bragged a little about his unique style of combat, Santoryu, the three swords technique.

It looks quite complicated, not to mention uncomfortable – but he seems to know what he does and rather good at it. How he can control a blade with his mouth is beyond her, but she’s having a great time, overall.

Robin loves that she now has a real image to associate to some of the fights she has read about in her books, the steel really does screech as it cleaves through the air.

He doesn’t have an opponent, so he’s somehow limited in the things he can show her, but she’s impressed, nonetheless. 

“Pretty much since I was four and the swords were made of rubber…”

The delicate balance between strength, patience and precision this craft requires is quite fascinating.

He has his arms crossed in front of his chest before he starts spinning, heading for his imaginary target.

Zoro leaps high in the air and all three of his blades move in a downward diagonal slash. 

“Professionally, ten years or so”.

She waits for the two-minutes break he gives himself after each exercise to speak. “You mentioned your father’s a swordsman, too”, she recalls. “Is that why you started?”

He lets out a dry chuckle. “Uh, I wish… That’s actually how I met him”.

“What do you mean?”

Robin’s not sure what to think.

His voice is calm, a low, strangely soothing tone. Nothing outwardly changes in his demeanor, but his shoulders stiffen a little, and while a not-so-perceptive spectator would miss the detail, she does not.

He asserts his thoughts through body language way more than he does with speech. 

“He adopted me–”.

Oh. She’s still fairly new to New Marineford, it makes sense that she wouldn’t know about something like this. It's not like Roronoa Zoro is the poster boy for “sharing is caring”, anyway.

“…I had a friend in one of the foster homes, Kuina… She was the best student in her father’s dojo before he died, so she carried on and later introduced me to the discipline. She was older than me and she got quite up in the junior rankings, so much so that the strongest swordsman in the world heard about her accident and showed up at her funeral. My life changed forever that day”.

He's a big, fat, gigantic idiot.

What’s the point of sharing all that?

Why would she care?

Zoro’s not the type of guy who opens up with the first person who walks by, or opens up at all, but every time she gets involved it always ends up the same way, with him forgetting the line between polite concern and overbearing-dump-of-information and regretting as soon as his lips are sealed.

There’s no way Robin’s interested in the pathetic story of his life. He can see her pity and he hates it.

“I’m sorry for your loss”, she fumbles with her words. “But it seems everything worked out for the best for you in the end. I’m glad your paths crossed that day”.

He is quite glad, too. There would be no brilliant future ahead of him, no (pretty, pretty) Robin in his house now – he’ll never get adopted, his foster mother used to say, he’s got too much of an attitude – without Dracule MiHawk and the privileged life being his son somehow entitles him to.  

“Thank you”. His eyes search for hers and, when those are found, there’s a clear invite written in their depths. He finds himself taking a deep breath, and resumes, “Anyway, Kuina and I… We promised each other that we would train our hardest and that one of us would win that title. Obviously, she can no longer uphold her end of the bargain, so I’ve been doing the heavy lifting for both of us”.

It all sounds a bit childish when saying it out loud, but that doesn’t change how he feels. It’s been ten years since he last talked to her, the very first friend he ever had, but his determination to achieve their mutual goal has not swayed once.

He will be the youngest strongest-swordsman-in-the-world.

He will prove to his father that he’s worth the interest he has taken on him back then.

“That’s very sweet of you, really”, Robin notes, smiling softly. “But how does one become the strongest? Who gets to be the judge of that?”

There are moments, much like the present, where he can’t help but think that she’s perfect – Zoro is grateful for the change of topic in ways that words cannot possibly describe.

One thing is to share his origin story with her, another would be to dwell over feelings he has never found a way to properly assimilate.

“Every five years, the swordsmen and swordswomen who have won more competitions are invited to a tournament where they challenge other candidates and fight for said title. My father has been holding to it for the past twenty years, but, hopefully, it’ll be mine by the end of the school year…”

They stay in the gym for another hour or so.

Robin’s quite sure he hasn’t shown to her the entirety of his usual workout and cut through the boring parts, but she doesn’t mind – she is having a nice time, which is much needed, and the boy’s company is the perfect distraction from everything else going on with her life.

She’s not convinced that new move he has been perfecting was worth the near physical collapse he had last week, but at least she now knows the behind-the-scenes of it, and she has to admit that it does look quite nice, almost as if he’s dancing with his swords rather than using them to fend off an invisible opponent.

A single foot that touches the ground in the wrong moment or a movement executed even seconds too early would cause him to lose his balance and trip, and she’s quite amazed by the amount of careful, yet obstinate dedication that goes into every gesture.

Asura – this the name of the complicated sequence.

He moves so fast it’s almost as if he has three heads.

Eventually they return upstairs, with Zoro asking if she wants to join him for his afternoon snack.

It's the first time since she woke up this morning that she feels her hunger calling, so she accepts without thinking about twice, but when they end up sitting next to each other at his table, close enough for their arms to collide if they move it, she finds it extremely hard to focus on the sandwich he so kindly fixed for her.

Now that he’s not occupied with something else, it is not as easy to pretend she’s not affected by his presence, or that her insides aren’t squirming.

Whatever it may be that draws her to him, the more layers she uncovers, the more she feels as if they’ve met a lifetime ago.

It's not much of a consolation prize, but Zoro, too, looks quite on edge.

The things he has shared with her earlier are quite intimate, after all, the foundation of this gruff persona she is becoming so good at reading, so the idea that maybe, just maybe, he might feel that same, odd impulse to reach out with her hand and touch him – even if it makes no sense, especially when it makes no sense – doesn’t even cross her mind.

“You should finally know what Seto cutting off the dragon’s neck is supposed to look like…”, he breaks the awkward silence at some point.

“…That other thing, however, the one he does in the following chapter, that I’m quite sure is not possible in the real world”.

“It figures”, Robin chuckles. “But that’s what I love the most about literature. Anything can happen if someone writes it”.

“How long did you say it was before the final book comes out?”

“Wouldn’t we all like to know”, she pauses, remembering how fiercely he has protested when he finished the fifth one and discovered it was published over three years ago.

The author’s on a hiatus and the fan community has been weeping their absence for a while now.

“There’s been some rumors about the publishing house releasing some sort of raw manuscript around Christmas, but, like I said, it’s just rumors”.

“Maybe they’ll give people the chance to pre-order…”

It only feels natural to show her the family’s library – even when that means admitting that most of his very small section is made up of comics, but well, Zoro has never been much of a reader.

Sure, he is quite fired up about the saga she has introduced him to, but large part of his interest is due to swordsmanship being one of the main themes, and the rest to the fact he could listen to Nico Robin talking about this particular series of books or any other for the rest of his life.

She seems to enjoy it quite a lot, although she always makes it a point to be vague on her reasons for it.

This attitude of hers takes more and more the shape of a challenge.

He feels a spontaneous urge to crack the code – he is planning to re-read it, but that has nothing to do with the fact he resonates deeply with the protagonist and sees much of his personal experience in his journey to become stronger. Nope.

Unlike Perona and against his expectations, she doesn’t make fun of his corner of the library, nor she seems to look down on the titles displayed in it – if anything, it would appear she knows many of them, has even read some and, to top it all of, she also somehow wishes to discuss them with him.

Their afternoon together keeps improving… if he didn’t know any better, Zoro would think they are on a date, because that’s exactly what he has pictured the few times he has thought about asking a girl out.

Now that he thinks about it, he has never done that: even in those rare occasions he did found someone attractive, there was always something else which required his attention first, something more important; with the only girlfriend he has had, well, it’s Tashigi who asked him out in the first place, but he doesn’t want to think back on that disaster right now. He wasn’t willing to really try and eventually Tashigi caught up on reality.

It’s no surprise that she hates him now. He supposes he deserves it.

“Oh my, I was so mad when they stopped shipping this stuff to Ohara”.

Robin’s eyes are shining with excitement as she picks up a small, red volume which he instantly recognizes. It’s one of his favorites.

“Sure, I tried to keep up with online scans, but it’s hardly the same… I never looked for it in Alabasta, although they probably had it. I guess I just forgot about it”.

Her smile’s a little dimmer now, as if her thoughts are now clouded by a bad memory.

Zoro wishes he could help, but the only thing that comes into mind is, “Suit yourself. My library is your library”.

She lights up again and laughs, cheekily. “Are you proposing, Roronoa Zoro?”

Robin almost chokes on her chuckles over the last part, but he supposes that, from her perspective, it might be worth it. He doesn’t need a mirror to determine his cheeks are currently aflame, he can tell by the heat.

Unfortunately, chemicals do not care about decorum, especially endorphins – after a week of no training, he clearly has been starving for some.

He’s only mildly aware of his embarrassment, because the urge to play with her is stronger than the endless list of reasons he should not allow himself to.

“Is that a yes?”

She’s silent now, but nowhere in her face there’s a trace of the revulsion he would expect. It feels almost like a movie, only the slow-motion feels even slower as they are strangely pulled closer to one another…

“Umh, Zoro”, Perona smirks, standing next to the door. When the fuck did she arrive? “Dad’s home”.

It's not the first time he wishes to be an only child, but the only one he means it.

It’s rare for Eustass to be so plan-less and bored on a Saturday evening, but his friends – they are not that many – are all otherwise occupied: Apoo is playing at someone’s birthday party, Basil’s out of town and Killer… well, he doesn’t feel like hanging out with Killer today; Trafalgar Law isn’t really an option, he only puts up with his creepy attitude because he sells cheap weed, plus he doubts he would even agree after the whole Bepo-debacle.

Although he has guaranteed for his best friend’s innocence, Kid is not quite so sure. 

So that leaves him to his own devices, sitting in front of the tv on a fucking Saturday night.

When did he become such a loser?

The old war-movie unfolding before his eyes is not that captivating, blood and gore aside, and he has never been into videogames as much as he’s into alcohol and girls, so for the most part he just scrolls through his socials, vicariously having fun through the videos and pictures of his peers.

Why some people would think others are interested in what they eat or, worse, what they are reading, is truly beyond him. Eustass rarely posts, but when he does grant outsiders a peek into his life, then he always makes sure people damn know it is better than their own.

Luxury cars, designer clothing, top-notch sports equipment… you name it, it’s already on his page. He would never deprive commoners of the joy of imagining they are him, if only for a moment. That would be cruel.

No, what he really doesn’t get it’s this obsession for the ordinary that people seem to have now.

Dutifully, however, he proceeds to publish the picture of his class they’ve taken at the end of last year and, he compliments himself for the genius, oh-so-original idea, he adds a side by side comparison with the one they took as freshmen. Obviously, only the version of each picture in which he looks his best hits the internet.

Tagging people one by one is a tedious process, so he only takes the time to type the names of those he is on speaking terms with and leaves out everyone else – he doesn’t associate with people like Usopp or Lola for a reason, after all.

This is how he stumbles on Bonney’s profile. Her bright pink hair is the predominant feature in every photo she appears in, which aren’t many.

They look somehow professional, like they were not taken with a phone, respectful of certain aesthetic principles… There are many walls of text, but knowing the girl they are probably rants and he hears enough of those at school already. 

He likes her hair.

Sure, he used to make fun of it all the time in his first years – c’mon, it is pink – but it’s actually pretty cool. It suits her, kind of. He can’t think of another color that would sit as well around her face.

They may be classmates, but they don’t interact very often; when they do, it usually ends up with Bonney rolling her eyes and flipping him off.

For someone called Jewerly, she’s not very sophisticated.  

He can’t even tell if they’ve ever had a real conversation, but that’s not hard to change…

20:35 - @GOATstass
how ya doin’ 😏

20:39 - @pizzapromises
wtf
uh, what do you want?   

20:40 - @GOATstass
just chat...

20:40 - @pizzapromises
not interested.

Whatever.

People always say he’s a dick, and perhaps they are right, but they never mention how easy others make the job for him.

It’s like he has the plague – or is the plague himself – by the way people avoid him. It doesn’t even cross his mind that years of taunts are probably the reason Bonney doesn’t want to talk to him.

No, all Eustass can think of is how much of a bitch she is.

He was just looking for someone to talk to… well, who cares, the movie’s pace is finally picking up.

Who is he trying to fool?

He doesn’t care about the movie, either – he is bored, bored, bored.

The thought of texting Nami instead crosses his mind, but he decides against it. If Bonney can’t stand him, his former girlfriend downright hates him. It's more than hate, she abhors him.

He has burnt that bridge and sowed the ground with salt a long time ago.

Ace gets out of the car, snags his jacket and wallet from the passenger’s seat and slithers his way out of the parking lot, dodging inebriated groups of friends and litigious couples on his way to the Phoenix’s Nest.

As promised to his brother, he did call Marco the other night, but it’s only today that they can meet up in person. Given the sensitive nature of what they need to discuss, it’s best if they do it face to face.

His best friend stands behind the counter, mixing cocktails and entertaining his customers, but he leaves the job to another employee as soon as his eyes land on him, escorting him to his private office upstairs.

“It's good to see you, man”, Marco greets. “I thought you got sucked up with university again”.   

“Trust me, I did”, he shakes his head, “I wouldn’t be here tonight if my brother didn’t ask me to talk to you”.

“Sabo? What’s up?”

“Luffy”, Ace corrects him. “Remember last week? We had a couple drinks here with his friends”.

“Sure. I gave you guys my best table. Did something happen I’m not aware of?”, the other asks with a worried expression. “Did another customer bothered them or picked up a fight? I don’t even know why I pay those guys for security…”

“No, no- It’s nothing like that. No one bothered them… directly”.

“What do you mean?”

“One of his friends, Vivi… She’s Alabasta’s future queen. She overheard one of your customers talking, his name’s Crocodile. He’s the guy who tried to kidnap her last year to force her father to abdicate. He’s been completely off the radar since then, but my brother was wondering if he has left any information about his current whereabouts. Like, if he paid with a credit card, maybe you’d have an address…”

There isn’t really a better way to phrase it. He knows he’s asking a lot of him, best friend or not, like disrespecting his paying customers’ privacy and breaching a couple of laws, but he has googled his name, and now he’s worried about Luffy – he always jumps in head first when his friends are in trouble or in need of help, and it seems the blue-haired princess will need a lot.

This Crocodile sounds… alarming.

“Dark, flicked back hair and the cigar?”, Marco taps a finger on his chin. “I remember him. Drunk a bottle of scotch with his friends, didn’t stay much. I’m afraid he paid with cash”.

The blond dashes for his desk, from where he takes out a green binder.

He flips through some pages, then looks up and smiles triumphantly.

“Normally, I wouldn’t help you with this”, he disclaims. “I run a nightclub, so I make it a habit not to judge my customers for who they are outside these walls”.

“I wouldn’t ask you if I didn’t think this was the only way…”, Ace retorts, apologetically. “Since he’s technically not considered a criminal here because he committed his crime somewhere else, there’s no authority I can go to. I considered calling Pops at the police station, but you know he won’t intervene unless he breaks the law here. I’d rather not see that happening…”

“Better safe than sorry”, Marco echoes him. “I understand. I’ll keep my eyes open and demand I see a document if he shows up again, although I’d rather not have someone like him associated with the Nest”.

“Thank you. I knew you I could always count on you”.

Detention sucks, especially when it’s assigned by Akainu. He has better, more important things to do than sit in his office and glare at the wall.

It’s only been five minutes, but Law is bored out of his mind already.

He thought he would read a book or something in the next two hours, but the teacher has left as soon as his back touched the chair – since then, his partner in misery has been drumming his fingers over the desk, whistling a strange tune, loud and unapologetic, so studying for the admission test to medical school is clearly not an option.

It’s weird, but he can’t bring himself to resent Luffy for it.

He looks completely unaware of his surroundings, as if absorbed in a world that’s completely his own – he almost feels guilty for interrupting him. Almost.

“What’s your sin, Mugiwara-ya?”

“Uh?”, he turns around. “Are you talking to me?”

“Do you see anyone else?”

Luffy briefly looks around, then shows a toothy grin. “I failed Akainu’s stupid test, then asked him why Kaku got a better grade than I did by turning in a blank assignment. At least I tried to write something down”.

While his logic is messed up, if what he says it’s true then it would just be another example of CP9 getting preferential treatment from their sponsor, which is not something that is unheard of.

“I can see why that didn’t end well for you”, he muses. “After five years, though… You should know better than-”.

“How did you end up here, Torao-kun?”

He can feel the heat glazing the surface of his cheeks, but he’s good at dissimulating. “Here”, he picks up the note the teacher gave him this morning, handing it to him. “Inappropriate language during class”.

“Fuck”.

“Yeah, it was something like that”.

Silence reigns for a couple of minutes, before Law breaks it again. As much as he has wished for it, anything is more comfortable than the dark-haired boy staring at him with a smile on his face.

“My classmates have been a little too nice to Bepo lately. I don’t like it”.

Luffy thinks about it for a long moment. “You don’t want them to be friends?”

“He’s not the kind of guy they become friends with, more like the one they exploit. I’m not stupid”, he pauses, wondering why he bothers sharing this with him. Retaliation demands undeniable proof. “It’s almost like Kid feels guilty about something. I’d like to know what that is”.

“I see. You look after your friends”, the other replies, dangling his head on one hand. “I respect that”.

Law looks away. The conversation feels a little too personal, it’s getting awkward. As the definition of antisocial, he barely goes beyond small-talk and, even then, he’s a master at avoiding it.

He sees no point in expressing his feelings through language: they are just something he must control.

“How’s Chopper-ya doing?”

“He hasn’t talked much about it, but he seems fine… We are making it a much bigger deal than he is, apparently. The other day Zoro and Sanji had to physically restrain Nami. She wanted to go over to his table at lunch and slap Eustass in front of everyone”, Luffy recalls. “She says he’s always staring at Chopper”.

Law smirks, but there’s no humor in it. “Can’t say I really blame her. If someone knows how low he can really go, that’s Nami”.

“Was it that bad? We didn’t hang out as much when she was dating him…”

“It wasn’t good, from what little I’ve experienced firsthand. You should ask your friend”, he concludes.

He has never paid much attention to other people’s relationships and he hates gossip, so, really, he wouldn’t be of help anyway. He merely meant that it makes sense for Nami not to trust her ex. He’s a literal ape.   

“Maybe I will”.

Professor Sakazuki shows up at the end of detention, nearly two hours later, with an arrogant smirk.

He must be delighted he has managed to ruin their day, but Luffy knows that showing his discomfort will only make him happier. He won’t give him the satisfaction, so he smiles back.  

“…You are expected in the principal’s office tomorrow morning to discuss the reasons you were given detention. Your parents will be notified through e-mail. I will see you boys in class”.

His dark coat flutters around him as he leaves.

His hint is clear – this is far from settled. 

“Dammit”.

Luffy looks away from the door, back at Law. He’s putting his belongings away with haste.

“What’s wrong?”

“My dad’s not gonna like this…”

“Gramps won’t either. He knows Akainu always hated both me and my brothers, but he doesn’t care. I guess every excuse is good to dish out some of his tough love…”, he muses. “…As if that would work on us like it didn’t with my father”.

“What kind of man is he? President Dragon?”

Luffy gives him a bitter smile. “I’m not sure. I only talk to him maybe twice a year. He lives for the job”.

Trafalgar Law’s face morphs into an expression he recognizes all too well.

His father, Donquixote Rosinante, is quite famous in the New World for being one of the fairest men of law out there, but he works for Mary Geoise’s tribunal, the highest authority in the whole country – it doesn’t seem too much of a stretch of imagination to assume that Judge Rosinante wouldn’t have much time to spend with his only son.

Rumors travel in their school faster than they are conceived and none escapes Nami’s ears.

While people are too scared of Law to speculate much about it, just like his best friend Zoro he was adopted at a very young age – and that’s pretty much everything that’s known to the general public about him. Just like Zoro, he uses his popularity to actively suppress any outsider attempt at getting to know him better.

Predictably, their conversation is getting a little too personal for Law’s taste, so he hangs his backpack on one shoulder and starts to make his way to the door.

“Some jobs are more important than others, I guess”, he smirks. “I’ll see you around, Straw-Hat-ya”.

Bye, Torao-kun.

Luffy stares dumbly at the door after he disappears. Maybe it’s the adrenaline speaking – but does this mean they are one step closer to being friends? He can’t recall another time in which they’ve talked so much.

He’s strangely… galvanized by their exchange, despite its contents.

His voice is much lower than Luffy’s, deeper – he talks in a slow cadence, feigning boredom, but he is not as great at hiding his feelings as he thinks he is, because they are all there, written at the bottom of his eyes. He can relate to so many of them.

Law looks like someone out of a magazine, so really not his usual cup of tea, but he could look at him for hours: maybe it’s the yellow eyes, or spiky, messy black hair, maybe it’s his smile or maybe it’s his attitude, he really doesn’t know, but he’s just too…

Something’s wrong with him.

He has never felt the urge before to hug someone before because they are pretty.

The odd feeling lingers for the remainder of the day, it’s still there when he sits down for dinner.

It’s only him and Dadan tonight, but the woman is watching her favorite soap opera on the tv, so he knows better than to try and start a conversation with her.

The juicy steak in his plate ogles at him, but there’s no enthusiasm in his jaw as he starts chewing on the meat.

Weird.

All Luffy can think of is black hair and yellow eyes, like something out of a comic book, and the word “death” staring at him from the back of Trafalgar’s hands, inked permanently on his knuckles.

He has always wondered what all of that is about.

“…I can’t believe you’re not breaking up with him. She cheated on you, girl! Dump his sorry ass”.

She’s an entirely different person when Garp is out of town, but who isn’t? The old man would freeze even hell with his attitude – now that he has retired, he’s possibly even more uptight than he used to be.

His grandfather has never been very present in his life, although, unlike someone else, he always tried – dinners like this, with Dadan and the television, his brothers, too, but sadly they don’t live here anymore, this is the stuff most of his family memories are made of.

Luffy prefers this version of the woman, she’s the easiest to anger.

Countless times as a child he would rile her up and then run through the mansion, followed by her, when he asked her to play hide-and-seek and she said no.

She always unconsciously ended up playing with him, although the punishments she dished out whenever she got her hands on him weren’t something he looked forward to.

“Ne, Dadan?”

She sniffs. “What do you want, Luffy? … No, no, no! You can’t marry him, Genevieve!”

“I forgot”, he says, wiggling his eyebrows.

“Brat”. 

Chapter Text

ON THURSDAY.

He drifts in and out of sleep during biology, not too bothered by what Professor Kureha is teaching the class about the human body.

He has spent over four hours at the dojo yesterday, then practiced some more back at home and hanged out with his friends after dinner – to say he’s tired would be an understatement.

With the first official competition coming up this weekend Zoro had half a mind to skip school and get some much needed rest this morning, but he did that already last week, and too much negligence right at the beginning of the school year surely won’t help his grades.

Besides, he wouldn’t want to miss the chance to sneak subtle glances at her. Robin cut her hair yesterday, she has bangs now. He’s obsessed.

Her doe eyes look bigger, rounder even, and they make his heart flinch when she catches him red-handed and stares back at him.

Things are a little weird between them as it is.

Honestly, he is avoiding her.

He has been so close to kiss her on Saturday; so close, as a matter of fact, that he doesn’t know how to function in her presence anymore. One look at that dimpled face and he is done for, but what’s worse is that he knows it.

The idea of what might have occurred if Perona didn’t show up when she did hides in the back of his mind, ready to present itself when it’s less convenient – eating with his father, during a test, in his dreams.

It’s a cold, dainty finger which pokes his cheek at the end of the first period, when Chopper’s mother has already left the classroom.

He pries his eyes open and looks around, sleepily… only to jump in his seat when he notices the person attached to the hand, and Robin’s giggle echoes through the room.

“Wake up, marimo”, comes from a different, unpleasant voice.

“Kizaru is coming”.

“So, what?”, he drawls in reply.

Luffy, who sits between him and the bane of his existence, just laughs.

He learnt a long time ago not to interfere when he and Sanji are having a go at each other. “Shishishi, you guys are the worst”.

They both ignore him.

“So, we don’t want the whole class to be punished for your slacking”, the blond replies. “Pull your head out of your ass and pretend you’re listening like we all do for once”.

Zoro is not given the time to reply, which, in retrospect, as Borsalino blabbers about this or that dusty old writer, is probably for the best.

Although he’s not as spiteful as the physics’ professor, he still doesn’t take it lightly when students disrespect him or, worse, the curriculum.

He sits on his anger for the entirety of the lecture, paying attention to anything but what’s being said about poetry – he has so many comebacks to shove down the ero-cook’s throat as soon as the bell rings and the mid-morning break starts.

Only he doesn’t, because Sanji is dragged outside by Luffy, who’s on a quest for food, the moment their teacher leaves the room.

Zoro decides not to join them.

Hungry Luffy is a whiny Luffy.

“…Are you coming with us?”, asks Nami, putting on her jacket.

“We’re taking a walk in the gardens. The weather’s too good today not to take advantage”.

It sounds like the lesser of the two evils, although that’s largely because of Robin being part of the second scenario.

She doesn’t seem too happy about going outside either – she’s extremely clever, after all, even by New Marineford standards; she has probably figured out, by now, that these walks usually end up with Nami leisurely gossiping with strangers all over the school, and the rest of them patiently waiting on the side for it to be over.

Damn, maybe he should have gone with the two idiots…

“Can you believe we got Akainu and then two hours with Kuma?”, Vivi complains as the group finally exits the building. “Do we have to study for Aokiji’s test or not, by the way? Do you think he’ll miss class tomorrow like he did yesterday?”

The sun feels pleasant on their cheeks, despite the cool, end of September breeze, but all thoughts of this kind are promptly washed away by the princess’ questions.

Robin can feel anyone’s eyes on her.

Technically, she doesn’t know where the math professor is, but she has a suspect. Ohara.

There was a second man in the room yesterday when Saul called her.

He hasn’t returned yet, he said the local authorities need him there a little longer, but she has recognized the voice of his “old friend” – or so he called him.

Robin’s not sure why Kuzan would be there, but he had no place at dinner last week and he showed up anyway, so it would somehow be consistent with his character.

She’s trying not to think about the robbery, or her mother’s safe – if there was something she could do to help she would do it, gladly, but she’s in Grand Lines City, thousands of miles away, so her hands are quite tied.

“I don’t know”, she deadpans in the end. “It’s his birthday next week, but I don’t think he would skip work because of that…”

“I say we study anyway”, suggests Kaya, promptly.

As much as she’d enjoy the opportunity to slack it off, it’s better to be safe than sorry, especially when Aokiji, as a professor, is already so hard to please.

“We can’t tell for sure. What are we going to do if he shows up and gives us the test tomorrow?”

Nami smiles innocently, “We ask him to postpone?”

They may not be close now, but Robin can see how that would end in tragedy for the class – unless Kuzan’s whole personality underwent dramatic, life-altering changes over the past couple of years, there’s no way he’ll agree to reschedule the math exam.

She knows how he thinks, he expects them to be ready at all times.

“That’ll never work, I’m afraid”, she exhales. It’s better if they don’t entertain the idea not to study, it would end in a massacre, “At least we have the rest of the day to study, it won’t be that bad…”

Well, she doesn’t mean it, but someone has to try and raise the morale. Similar grunts raise from the rest of the group, only Chopper seems unfazed by their present dilemma – but he’s a prodigy student who has skipped multiple classes, he aces math with the same ease he breathes.

“I, for one, hope he doesn’t show up”, says Zoro after a while. “I have other priorities at the moment”.

Nami speaks up before Robin can ask him what those are. “…Nervous?”

They’ve been friends for over a decade, so it shouldn’t really surprise her when other people know more about what’s going on in Zoro’s life than she does, but it still hurts a little, because she has no idea what the two are referring to.

Kaya, Vivi and Chopper – not one of them seems confused by their words.

“A little bit”, he admits. “I’ve been practicing like crazy, but everyone else has”.

Oh, she sees what this is about.

He must have finally gotten the e-mail he was waiting for, although he does look as if he’s been under a lot of pressure lately. She probably knows less details than anybody else, but it doesn’t take a genius to figure out how much the title he’s seeking means to him… Robin remains silent.

“I’m sure you’ll do great”, Nami smiles, encouragingly. “Haven’t you been training your whole life?”

“Like I mentioned, everyone has”, he reminds her, but returns the smile.

“Anyway, I’ll probably go over some basics after dinner, but if Aokiji gives us the test tomorrow I am fucked”.

Now, Robin would love to help – share her suspects on the professor’s whereabouts. She would offer to call him and resolve the matter once and for all, but the words tangle themselves on the tip of her tongue, and the moment passes before she can try again. No, that would be stupid – she would never call him.

It feels weird enough that he’s her teacher now, that she’s forced to pretend she didn’t feel as lost and abandoned back then… no, it’s an authentic agony every single time they cross paths, she would never willingly contact him outside of school. Even in class, she always does her best to avoid him despite sitting in the front row.

“Oi, guys!”, Luffy calls, excitedly, from somewhere behind them.

He’s carrying different bags of chips, followed by a gruff-looking Sanji.

“Listen up! I have some good news and then some great news”.

“What’s up, captain?”, Nami questions. “Spill it out, already”. 

“We bumped into Caribou on our way here… He was supposed to tell our class that Aokiji called in sick for tomorrow. That means no test!”

“What’s the great news?”

“They asked Brook to replace him”.

Not long after that the group starts heading back towards the building, ready for their brains to be seriously hammered by Sakazuki’s lecture.

Whilst she’s happy the mystery has been eventually resolved, which means more free time this evening, Robin can’t help but feel a little…

...useless.

You could take her out of the picture, nobody would notice the difference – or so she thinks.

Maybe she’s overreacting, but it feels like she’ll always be the new girl.

“...Robin, can I talk to you for a moment?”

He has debated for almost a week whether or not he should approach her on the subject, but the more days have passed since he has seen her storming out of the Baratie, the more he thinks there’s more to it then she’s letting on. The others may think she’s fine, she’s quite at good at pretending she is, but a real man like Sanji just knows when a lady is hurting, and he can tell this one is desperate.

She hesitates for a moment.

“Sure. Is something wrong?”

“No, no. Nothing like that”, he shakes his head. “As you already know I’m training to be a chef at the Baratie during the summer. Sometimes I like to go there in my free time during the school year, too”.

Robin doesn’t say anything.

She blinks at him, waiting for an explanation.

“My point is, I was working last Friday when you were there with…”

“Oh”, she opens her mouth, then she closes it. “I… The restaurant was really beautiful”.

“The food tastes even better”, he quips, “You should try it next time”.

She gives him an apologetic smile, and he’s almost persuaded not to press the matter any further, but his gut thinks otherwise.

“It’s complicated”, she admits. “I’m sorry I left like that”.

It sounds more like Robin’s sorry that she got caught, but he doesn’t want to embarrass her any further.

“I don’t care about that”, he hastens to reply. “I just wanted to tell you that I know my fair share about family issues, so please don’t hesitate to call me if you need a shoulder to cry on, or advice. You have my number”.

They are tailing the rest of the group as they make their way to the cafeteria for lunch, so this should be a somewhat private conversation, but Sanji is not surprised when he hears a familiar growl.

He knows Zoro has been eavesdropping the whole time – it’s the why that leaves him perplexed. 

“Thank you, Sanji, but I’ll have to stop you right there. That man is not family”.

“As you wish”, he shrugs, “Just know that I have loads of experience which I don’t mind sharing with you”.

Another growl, but this time’s a little closer. They’ve finally reached the cafeteria and it is packed.

As they wait for their turn for the food, he decides to bid his farewell to Robin, smiling at the girl with all the charisma he possesses – which, in his humblest opinion, is a force to be reckoned with.

“Think about it, Robin-chwan!”

He might not be the one she’ll open up to, but perhaps she will consider the idea and talk to someone.

Sanji has a history of piling up his feelings until he exploded, and it is never a good strategy.

He saunters to the head of the line, already preoccupied with different thoughts.

Nami looks so pretty in a ponytail.

Law is quite grateful when the bell finally rings and he can leave the pathetic mixture of entitlement and misery that he calls his class for at least an hour.

Sure, there’s still two more hours to bear, but at least the week is finally over – one more day and it’s the weekend.

It’s a pity Rosinante is very precise in his virtual correspondence and checks his e-mail every morning before work, he’s definitely not pleased about his time in detention and mandatory slap on the wrist in the principal’s office, where he has had to sit through a fifteen minutes sermon over the importance of decorum.

Like a true judge, his father has (barely) listened to his reasons and dished out his punishment: he can’t leave the house for the whole weekend or invite Bepo over like he probably would, but it’s not too bad.

He had nothing planned and, honestly, anything’s better than being shipped off to his uncle Doflamingo’s house… That man is the walking embodiment of creepy, if he gets to say so himself.

“Are you okay, Law?” His best friend looks worriedly at him. “You look… Well, how to put this nicely. You’re brooding more than usual”.

Penguin and Shachi nod emphatically. “What’s up, man?”

Law just shakes his head.

He’s not sure how the hell he ended up with friends like them.

“Let’s get out of here now”.

The quartet makes their way out of the classroom and downstairs, headed for the cafeteria.

Bepo and the others are sharing their guesses on today’s menu, the former hopes for lasagna, but Law doesn’t pay much attention to them as they walk around, too distracted by the phone that from time to time vibrates in his pocket. He doesn’t need to look at the screen to know who’s texting him.

He’s avoiding Basil… not that there’s anything serious or even remotely proper between, just a cold, underdeveloped friendship which sometimes leads to some… benefits, but he knows it’ll still be a pretty awkward conversation when he finally gathers up enough courage to break things off, so he’s not looking forward to that.

Most definitely – he doesn’t want to do it in school.

Hawkins is quite the drama queen.

He’d ask him to meet up tomorrow afternoon, so that he has the whole weekend to get over it, yeah, that should be more than enough time, but then he remembers he’s grounded, and that his father is on his flight back home right now – he won’t be able to elude surveillance this time.

This is going to be shit for his business. Most of his client-base prefers to get high in the weekend.

It’s only a flash of golden hair, followed by the coarse sound of a low, decadent laugh, but he would recognize that sound anywhere, so his first instinct is to flee.

It would only take for Basil to turn around to notice him… He pats a hand on Bepo’s shoulder, smiling tightly.

“I forgot there’s something I need to check in my locker…”, Law trails off, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

If his best friend thinks this is about his little part-time job, then he’ll know better than to question him in front of Penguin and Shachi, or so he hopes.

“I’ll see you later in P.E.?”

Bepo looks torn, and a bit miffed, but he lets it go for now. “I’ll get you something to eat”, he says. “Don’t be late, though. I know you hate Sentomaru, but she hates us too, so…”    

“I won’t be late”.

Trafalgar would like nothing more than to stick to his promise, but he couldn’t foresee the ambush which takes place as he finally gets in front of his locker. He doesn’t really need to pick up anything from it, but it’s not like he has somewhere else to go.

He just wanted to avoid Basil, whom, unfortunately, has slipped away from his own group of friends in a similar fashion… but now he’s being pressed between the metal surface and a slim, familiar body, cold lips brushing playfully against his own.

His goosebumps, this time, are not caused by arousal. He freezes in place, eyes widened in shock; they always partook in their activities outside of school, so while there are technically no witnesses around, it is still a bit weird to be kissed in the hallway, where everyone might stroll by and see them.

Especially now that he’s been looking for a way to suppress their arrangement…

“…Basil. No”.

His voice comes out a little nervous, he even skipped lunch to avoid this conversation, but he guesses it can’t be helped now. It should be easy, after all: We had a good time, I’m no longer interested – the usual. 

Conjuring up the words, however, it’s still a struggle.

It’s not a strong suit of his, deciphering people’s feelings, but there’s no other word that better describes the disappointment now etched on the blond’s face.

Ew, feelings.

Basil takes a step back, “I- I see”. 

There’s a small blush on his cheeks, but other than that he looks just as impassible and collected as he usually does.

Law knows he should have called it off the moment he realized the other was getting attached, but if the roles were reversed, he’s pretty sure Hawkins would have done exactly the same – it takes one selfish bastard to recognize another. He feels no guilt, just mild embarrassment.

“I would have talked to you over the weekend, but I can’t…”, he trails off, stiffly. He’s not a big fan of admitting his almost eighteen years old ass has been grounded.  “So-”

“There’s no need”, Basil holds up a hand in front of him, “I understand. Can I just ask why?”

Isn’t that a long list – Law muses.

First and foremost, he would like to say, you’re close to someone who may or may not tried to drown my best friend. Unlike you, I simply have standards. You’re frivolous, he would add, you only do things when they benefit you, even to the detriment of someone else, and I just really, really don’t want to have sex with you anymore… there doesn’t need to be a reason at all. I just don’t.

Unluckily, saying any of that would make their pseudo-breakup even weirder, so he resorts to the first vague but seemingly contextual response he can think of.

“It’s not what I’m looking for”.

He turns his back on him, opening the locker and grabbing the first two books he sets his eyes on.

He really hopes Basil takes the offered opportunity and sneaks away silently, but he doesn’t.

When Law turns around again, his icy blue eyes are still fixated on him. The smile on his lips is overwhelmingly fake.

“We had a good time…”, he notes, wistfully, before taking his leave.

Law smirks at that.

Impeccable choice of words.

Nothing makes him happier – if there is something that compares to the way he’s feeling now, then Zoro has never experienced it, because not a single idea comes to mind.

It’s done, he won. 

He has sliced his way through the opponent’s guard and secured the first match, he is one step closer to the title of strongest swordsman in the world that he is ever been.

He has worked hard for this, gave up on a giant portion of his time and sleep over the years, not to mention his private life… finally, it is all starting to pay off.

It’s with bittersweet energy that he shakes hands with the other swordsman – he looks absolutely wrecked, and who can really blame him, considering a single defeat means you’re out of the tournament and need to wait five more years for another chance.

That’s why he has been so tense lately, after all.  

Five years ago, he was very determined to snatch his father’s title, and at such a younger age, but determination alone didn’t get him very far into the competition.

Now he still shares the same goal, surpassing him, but his heart is in a different place: he is doing it for himself… and Kuina.

Tashigi doesn’t seem very pleased to see him when he crosses her path on his way to the locker-room, but he congratulates her on her match, nonetheless. She has improved immensely, and although it’s been a long time since he has last seen her wielding a sword, it’s clear she must have trained just as hard as he did.

“You did a great job”, he notes, “That poor girl was doomed”.

“Why, thank you”, she snickers. “I just imagined I was cutting you”. 

Zoro shrugs, stepping away from her. He smirks, “…It worked, though”.

The locker-room is empty when he enters it, but he still opts for a quick shower so that he can be out before it gets too late.

His father waits for him in the stands, in the same privileged spot from where, as the current champion, he has watched the competition, but there’s no trace of Perona.

“Your sister went to talk to a friend, she said she’ll meet us by the car”.

Dracule Mihawk smiles at his son, pleased with the teen's most recent accomplishment.

He knew Zoro could do it if only he kept his focus and a hand of steel on his thoughts – he is very proud of his son. However, he finds himself at a bit of an impasse when he tries to be outspoken about it, he is not the type of man who is overtly open in his approval.

That’s not the way he was raised.

“You did well, Zoro”, he notes. “It seems I’ll have to start polishing Yoru for when you come after me”.

“Thank you, dad”, the green-haired swordsman grins up at him.

His father just insinuated he’ll get to the end of the tournament, where he’ll be finally able to challenge him, and it’s the best compliment he could wish for.  

“I reserved a table for us at Baratie to celebrate, but the office called while you were changing, something came up and I really, really need to go check on this myself… I’m afraid it’ll be just you and your sister”.

“Uh, actually”, Perona interrupts him, appearing out of nowhere.

She looks pleadingly at the two.

“My friend is throwing a party at her place tonight, and, well, I’d really like to go, if you don’t mind”.

Zoro doesn’t even pretend to be upset. Honestly, he’s surprised his father assumed he would win and planned the evening accordingly.

Since something else has come up that requires his attention, nothing out of the ordinary – the idea of having dinner with his sister is just plain weird, that’s the kind of restaurant couples go to, so he understands when she tries to bail out.

He doesn’t hold it against her that she’d rather spend her Saturday night with people of her age, because he can’t stop thinking about the same thing. Technically the table is already booked, plus he knows for a fact that Sanji won’t be working tonight…

...perhaps he’s still a bit high on adrenaline, but asking Robin to join him for that dinner doesn’t seem as crazy as it normally would.

Actually, it sounds… perfect.

“Have fun at your party”, he shrugs, dismissing her with a smile.

Their father seems on the verge of intervening, possibly to tell Perona she shouldn’t leave him alone just like he will be doing very soon, but Zoro shakes his head, and he refrains.

“Don’t be too late…”, he chastises his older child. She may be going to university now, but she still lives under his roof. He has a similar smile, however, as he watches her retreat.

Despite the cold demeanor, she has a kind heart. He really does hope she enjoys herself, although he knows he would probably disprove of pretty much everything she partakes in when she’s around her friends.

“…And she’s gone”.

“Do you mind changing the reservation to my name? I might as well go out with a friend, too, since I’m all alone on my big night…”, Zoro adds the last bit mainly to rile him up, but he doesn’t regret his choice in the slightest when Mihawk succumbs to his guilt, handing him enough money not only to pair for the dinner, but to also finance his sake-addiction for the rest of the month.

“Have fun, son”, he says. “Same rule applies to you, don’t be too late. We’ll celebrate properly tomorrow”.

Luckily for both, they came here today independently, so it’s easy for them to leave the same way. Father and son hug near the entrance before parting ways. When Zoro finally reaches his motorcycle, the sun is beginning to set into the horizon.

Somehow, he still can’t believe he won.

He reaches for the phone in the back pocket of his jeans, scrolling quickly through his list of contacts in search of the person he wants to call.

There she is – Nico Robin.

“…Hello? Zoro?”

There’s a hint of surprise in her voice, but she recovers quickly.

“Is there something you need?”

“Actually, yes…”, he trails off, “…Do you already have plans for later? I need company”.

She draws a sharp breath, a buzzing sound coming out of the speaker. “What do you have in mind?”

So, this is it – the second moment of truth he has in one day.

If he asks his question now, then he’ll have to accept the consequences no matter what she answers.

If she says yes then he’ll probably have the best day in a very long time, but if she says no… well, things are probably going to be a little awkward around her for a while.

He finds that he doesn’t care, though.

Maybe he’s crazy, maybe he has completely misunderstood her body language last week, but for one glorious moment she looked like she was expecting a kiss from him, eager to get one, even, and the image has been torturing him ever since.

“I was wondering if you’d like to have dinner with me”.

Robin hesitates.

His happiness starts to drain, until, “…How long do I have to get ready? Do I have to meet you somewhere, or?”, she lets her question hang, her voice a little less affirmative than usual.

“I’ll pick you up in an hour, if that’s okay with you”.

“I’ll see you in an hour, then”.

Boop. Just like that, she ends the call.

Zoro smiles stupidly at his phone, then secures it in his pocket once more, starting the engine and wearing his black helmet.

It’s always a little tricky to move his swords via bike, but he makes the trip back home safely, more easily than he normally does.

It’s only when he locks the door behind him that, oh boy, does he start to panic.

What if he makes a fool of himself?

He has thought long and hard about his conversation with Law.

Basil always knew things would end between them at some point, but he always thought it would happen when they graduate, because he decides it’s for the best – his rejection stings, it awakens a demon in his chest that's been sleeping for quite some time now…

Of course, in front of Law he pretended it’s not a big deal, but truth is he is not ready to let go of him, or that fantastic body of his.

On the contrary, he will make him sorry. He will regret his decision and crawl back to him – only then he’ll be ready to move on, and, hopefully, crush his ego once and for good.

Who does he think he is, anyway?

He can’t toy with him like this!

Basil is not sure which buttons to push in order to undo him because Law is always so mysterious, but he’ll find something appropriate for his goals… eventually.

It’s the first time someone breaks up with him, he’s usually the one who dumps the other – what happened today doesn’t sit well with him at all.

How dare he?

It’s not what I’m looking for – he said. What the fuck is that even supposed to mean?

He picks up his phone, wrapping some golden locks around his index finger.

He sends a text to Apoo, then another to Killer, asking them to meet up later tonight for a couple of drinks.

Luckily for him Eustass is out of town, so he can finally question his best friend without Kid jumping in to cover his tracks, much like he has done since his birthday party.

The two have been acting way too suspiciously, he’s going to be surprised if it turns out they are not hiding something.

Since both friends accept his offer, Basil concludes it’s time he starts to get ready, and starts setting up a nice bath for himself in the master bathroom.

He lets himself sink into the tub, and the warm water soon starts relaxing his whole body – and that’s where his plot for revenge comes to life.

Robin’s not sure she’ll be dressed up and ready to go in time – if ever.

This is all very new to her, a literal first experience: the swordsman made no mention of the rest of the group when he asked her out, which, unless she missed something in their exchange (she didn’t), it means that it’ll be just the two of them at dinner.

She can’t quite tell how she feels about it. On one hand she’s excited, because she has come to the conclusion that she really likes this boy, or spending time with him, but on the other she’s not sure accepting his invitation was the right choice: after their small get together last week, she thinks it has been proven once and for all that restraint is a craft she hasn’t mastered yet.

Had his sister not interrupted, she has no doubt she would have, indeed, kissed him back if Zoro attempted to cover the distance between them.

It’s maddening, to say the least – the more she tries to convince herself that she’s walking down a very dangerous path, the more her brain becomes unresponsive to such stimuli, capable only to focus on details she should really, for the sake of her goal, not pay any attention to, like the contrast between the gold of his earrings and his tan, or the low, rumbling sound his chest produces when he laughs.

Robin taps, impatiently, her right foot on the floor. She stands in front of her open wardrobe, browsing absent-mindedly through her favorite clothes; she doesn’t have strong opinions on fashion, she has never cared much: she buys what she thinks looks nice and dresses accordingly, but she wouldn’t know horseshit about the latest trends, or the best way to style a certain piece.

Combining that with the fact she has never been asked on a date before, if that’s what she and Zoro are doing later is called, the girl finds that she has no idea what she should wear.

She wants to be casual, but… pretty? Uh, the way girls like Nami must feel all the time, she supposes – she doesn’t know, she is very new to this kind of thoughts as well.

She has considered asking the orange-haired girl for advice, then decided strongly against it.

Now, that would be embarrassing.

She would pester Robin with questions, demand she tell her where she’s going and whom she is going out with – there’s still the small chance their friends will meet with them at the restaurant, of course, but she can’t risk it: again, if this was about the group, chances are it wouldn’t have been Zoro the one to call her…

Internet doesn’t offer her much help, either. Sure, a lot of those "outfit ideas" look nice and everything, but they are a bit overly complicated for her taste, not to mention too colorful.

She’s surprised by how tragic the absence of baby-blue in her arsenal seems now that she has finally seen with her own eyes what other people wear. She settles for one of her favorite dresses, she bought it little after moving to Alabasta, over two years ago, but despite how much she loves it, she never had a chance to wear it.

It was too heavy for sunlight, too thin for the desert’s nights – it’s appropriate enough for her current location.

She doesn’t have too much time to dwell on it, anyway.

The doorbell will ring in less than forty-five minutes and she still has not stepped into her shower. She’s a little ashamed of her desperate need for approval, but she hangs the dress on the back of her bathroom’s door and sends a picture to Koala.

The reply comes a while later, when she’s putting on her eyeliner; flustered by the ringtone she elongates the tail on the second eye a bit too much, so then she is forced to fix the first one accordingly.

Her friend seems very enthusiast about the dress, she asks where she is going and invites her to wear something equally nice tomorrow at her birthday party.

Then she sends another message, with the time and an address.

She’s not sure she’ll be up for going out again tomorrow, but she feels it would be a little rude not to go, and that she’d regret it if she doesn’t cultivate her friendship with Koala.

It’s nice to have someone in her life to talk to, someone that’s not necessarily entangled in it, someone with an objective point of view.

She suspects her attendance to her party will largely depend on the outcome of tonight’s dinner, not that there will necessarily be one.

This is what’s driving her crazy: Robin has no idea what to expect.

She’d lie if she said she doesn’t want to spend time with him, but why does he? She has been around him, especially at school, enough time now to know that he has a pretty cold relationship with most of the girls in the crew with the exception of Nami, whom, however, he still doesn’t take out on dates, not as far as she knows.

She’s not sure how much time he spends with the rest of the crew in his free time, but he’s incredibly close to Luffy. The elements cynically point at a special interest he must have for her, but that’s not the hill she’s willing to die on. If there’s one thing she knows, it’s that making assumptions about other people’s feelings and thoughts always ends in tragedy.  

Robin’s dark hair is still a bit humid when the doorbell eventually rings, but she puts on her jacket and hurries to the door. She had no idea what to do with it, anyway, so she just lets it hang around her shoulders.

She puts her eye in front of the peephole, cautiously, to check the identity of her guest – she may be trying not to give too much thought about it, but knowing that Crocodile is in Grand Line City is giving her a lot of anxiety, because she is the one who single-handedly stopped his coup d’état.

Upon spotting the familiar green on Zoro’s head, the girl relaxes visibly and slowly opens the door.

There’s no way of telling what will happen next, she only has the faint wish that it’ll be something good.   

He is a little taken aback when his eyes finally land on her, regretting instantly that he didn’t stop to buy her flowers as he notices the daffodils printed on her dress.

She looks so beautiful in it, with her precarious smile… if he was afraid he would be too obvious about his intentions, then surely his lack of coherent speech and expression of pure bewilderment are not helping his case. Without a shred of doubt, he looks every bit as nervous as he currently feels.

“Good evening, Robin”, he greets her when he finally gets a hold of himself, albeit it comes out less smoothly than it sounded in his mind.

Zoro steadies himself to pay her the mandatory (and well-deserved) compliment, but it takes him too long to formulate his thoughts in a way that doesn’t make him sound like a horny fourteen year old, so, by the time he makes it to open his mouth, his date has already grabbed her purse, heels clicking lightly on the parquet, and joined him outside after making sure she has locked the door properly.

“Shall we go then?”

Out of instinct, he offers her his arm.

People do that, right?

Zoro’s not sure what kind of behavior is expected of him now that he has asked her out for dinner. It’s not like he’s an expert at this stuff, for him the definition of “date” is simply hanging out with someone you find attractive, the fact they’ll be eating in one of the fanciest restaurants in town is just a convenient opportunity.

He probably would have asked her to spend the evening together anyway, as that was the only thought in his mind once the referee proclaimed him the winner, but now he’s afraid he has made it all too formal.

It will be hard to recreate the same atmosphere of last week inside of the Baratie.

The pair climbs down the iron stairs, where he has parked his motorcycle right next to Robin’s.

He hands her the extra helmet he has brought along, then picks up the leather jacket he keeps there and gives it to her as well.

“We still have little over half an hour before the reservation…”, he trails off, nervously. “I thought we could take the longer route to the Baratie, there's a couple of places I’d like to show you”.

She lightens up visibly, gifting him with a smile that leaves him quite dumbfounded, then proceeds to wear the helmet, securing the chin strap, before moving on to his jacket.

The one she’s wearing doesn’t look like it will provide much warmth as they speed down the highway, and he can’t even begin to imagine what it must feel like to wear a skirt on a bike – so maybe he won’t speed that much at all, he doesn’t want her to get colder than absolutely necessary.

Perhaps he should have just taken the car, although he has been itching for a ride the whole week.

“What kind of places?”

“Just some of the best roads in Grand Line City”, Zoro explains, simultaneously starting up the engine. “Don’t get me wrong, your house is practically at a walking distance from everywhere that matters, but that means lower speed limits, and loads of people around that you don’t want to run over with your motorcycle…”

For obvious reasons, namely that he is driving and they couldn’t possibly hear each other over the engine’s constant rumble, they don’t talk as they take off from her apartment, delving into a part of the city which she has never explored, but the moment is perfect as it is.

Robin doesn’t feel the need for words as she takes in all that Grand Line City has to offer to the nightly wanderer, but she’s grateful for the leisure pace with which the vehicle moves – although she suspects he’s afraid to succumb to his notorious bad sense of direction, she appreciates the opportunity to slowly store away in her mind all the different squares and the buildings, all the little shops she now wants to visit…

At first she grips the tail fairing to balance herself, like any respectable biker would do, but eventually the pot holes on the ground become wider and more far-spread, so she resolves to put her hands on his waist, careful not to squeeze him too tightly, and the ride becomes quite more comfortable from there on.

It was never a problem before, touching him – this is not the first time he drives her somewhere with his motorcycle. It’s the current circumstances which are messing with her, she’s aware of it but at the same time she doesn’t seem able to do much about it. His choice of restaurant has her a little on edge.

Of course, Zoro cannot possibly know about her troubled relationship with fancy restaurants, or even the awful first experience she had at the place last week, but she still dreads the moment she’ll step back into the Baratie.

What if the staff recognizes her and mentions the last and only time she’s been there? What if Sanji is there?

She never voices her doubts to the boy, but he dissipates them anyway as they make a brief stop for one of the best sights in the entire Grand Line City, or so the billboard pinned to the ground claims.

They are pretty up on the hills, just about to enter the highway, and from there they can see the town stretching out in all directions, mountain to coast.

“If it were up to me, I’d go somewhere less snobbish. But I was gifted this table to celebrate, and…”, he clears his throat, “Err, I guess you're the person I’d like to do that with”.

Not sure what to say, Robin removes her helmet even though that means exposing her blush. It’s dark outside, but it doesn’t help that they are standing directly under a streetlight.

She stares at him for a long moment, repeating his words in her mind.

They prompt a flattered smile which she doesn’t bother trying to hide.

“What are we celebrating?”

Then she suddenly remembers a conversation she overheard earlier this week, so she doesn’t really need an answer to continue.

“There was your match today!”, she gasps. “Oh my God, Zoro, you won?”     

He removes his helmet as well, flashing a smirk.

“Yup. Moved right to the next round”.

Robin is very happy for him.

He told her how important this is, she treasures the moment in which he shared with her the reason he pushes himself so hard to become the strongest.

She doesn’t think her brain is the one which sends down the impulse when she swings her arms up and pulls him into a hug.

“That is amazing”, she congratulates him. “Well, I hope you feel really great right now. You deserve it”.

Zoro locks both arms behind the small of her back, drawing her closer as he starts to return the hug.

She gets a hard sniff of the cologne he must have put on his neck; it smells different than the one he sported last week, but it’s equally intoxicating.

Her arguments against loosening up a little and seize opportunities when they present themselves are falling one by one: not a single one of her predictions anticipated even remotely the way she feels now. Robin likes him and – somehow – he seems to like her. 

Maybe it’s a little naïve of her, but she refuses to believe there’s something inherently wrong with that.

There’s no place she’d rather be.

Chapter Text

The pair is much more relaxed when the two eventually reach their Baratie after their small stop.

The night ahead of them seems promising, riddled with opportunities to have a fun time together.

All Zoro can think of, however, is just how small, sweet and, overall, right she has felt earlier in his arms.

He has had to fight hard against the urge to kiss her there and then, but it’s not like the job is any easier now, as she sits quietly just a couple of inches from him, her cornflower eyes looking up at him from behind dark, long eyelashes.

He’s not as nervous as he anticipated. If anything, this feels natural.

He has been inexplicably drawn to her from the very first time they met, but he has stopped questioning himself about it. What is there not to like, he wonders. She’s smart, she’s funny, she’s beautiful – they may have different interests, but they never run out of something to talk about.

Time flies when he’s by her side.

It flies so much that he doesn’t notice the waiter who has approached them to take their orders, not immediately, and he’s only snapped out of his thoughts when Robin asks him politely for a bottle of champagne. He has noticed she tries to avoid drinking when it’s possible, so the sudden change doesn’t go unnoticed. He doesn’t have many female friends, so his comparisons are a bit limited, but she has the same tolerance of people who drink a lot more than she does, like Nami or Kaya, which is odd.

He doesn’t ask her about it, though.

Their waiter returns very quickly – when did he leave? – with a fancy glass bottle, which he opens and then pours in the appropriate glasses for them. He wishes them a nice stay, promising their food will be ready in a short while. To be honest, Zoro doesn’t care about the food.

“I feel like congratulations are in order or something”, she smiles, raising her glass. “I’m very happy for you”.

“Thank you, Robin”, he replies, joining her in the toast. “I’m very happy you decided to join me tonight. You look-Uh, I mean… You’re- I like your dress”.

He changes his mind multiple times, not sure how to convey that he finds her breath-taking without resorting to the ero-cook’s vocabulary, but the results leave him a bit disappointed.

She seems satisfied with his reply, though, because she smiles very sweetly at him before taking a sip from her flute of champagne.

“I like your earrings”, she says, teasingly. “I do have one question, though”.

“Go ahead”.

“Why are we here?”

She just can’t help herself.

“Why are we here?”

Robin doesn’t believe in fairytales, not outside of books, so she wants to make sure they’re on the same page, because it’s not like her to just incautiously follow the wind.

It’s true that she has never been on a date before, but she has read and watched enough romantic comedies to recognize what a successful one looks like.

She knows she won’t be able to let go unless he confirms this thing between them doesn’t exist only in her head.

So… why did he pick her of all people to celebrate his big achievement?

In her mind, it just doesn’t make sense that someone (like him) would be attracted by her.

“Fine, you caught me. It’s not about the dress”, he jokes, “It’s you, I like you…”

It’s like a bucket of iced water is unloaded on her, because she freezes, with parted lips and her glass suspended mid-air. She eyes him curiously, surprised by the response.

She may be the one who asked the question, but it’s Zoro who has ultimately opted for such a direct reply.

It’s the first time, she thinks, kindergarten aside, that someone is so transparent with her: boys have tried to ask her out in the past, although based on their wish to hook up with her, but no one went about it so manly before. It’s new, reassuring even – no expectations are being placed on her shoulders.

If she wasn’t completely sure before, she is now: she likes him, too, perhaps a little more than she’s willing to admit just yet.

She has dealt with perverts, with people who couldn’t take a no for an answer, with unrequited crushes, but this is different, unknown; what exactly is the protocol in the case of mutual interest?

“I- I really don’t know what to say…”

“…But I’m glad I am here with you tonight”.

It’s his turn to stare up, mesmerized, filing away her admission as a victory.

He’s grateful when their waiter returns, this time with their food, breaking the awkward silence that settles between them.

Robin gasps lightly upon having her first mouthful. “Mh! This place really lives up to its name”.

He thinks about it, digging into his entrée as well.

The Baratie is a beautiful place, with an amicable yet not overwhelming staff, a rich, ever-changing menu, one of the best selections of alcohol in the whole city and a loyal collection of wealthy customers who are more than willing to part with their belies to promote the work of one of the most acclaimed chefs in the New World, Zeff – only one thing is truly keeping the restaurant from perfection: they employ curly-brow.

Jokes aside, everyone in the crew knows that Sanji wants to buy the place when his mentor eventually retires. He never runs out of reasons to badmouth him, but this is the one thing he actually respects about the Vinsmoke prince.

He wants to break free of the life his family is planning for him.

“They know how to keep their customers satisfied. It used to be full of places like this, before most of the nightlife started to move near where you live…”, he recalls. “The majority of them closed or relocated, but the Baratie didn’t. It’s actually a pretty interesting story, the first two or three times the ero-cook narrates it”.

“Wait, am I supposed to listen after the first one?”, she jokes, leaning a little closer to him, chess pressed against the edge of the table. Zoro does his best to keep his eyes up, focused on her face. “Seriously, though, what’s up with you and Sanji? He seems a perfectly nice guy…”

He lets out a sigh. It’s not the first time someone insinuates their rivalry is childish, which partly it is, but he feels more ashamed now that it’s Robin who’s questioning his unfounded animosity for the chef.

Not that he doesn’t reciprocate the sentiment tenfold, but Sanji is not the one whose credibility is on the line now, not the one who might, if he plays his cards the right way, get a goodnight kiss later tonight.

“He is a nice guy”, he admits, with some difficulty, after a while.

“I won’t argue with that. I guess we’ve always been like this… It’s not that I hate him, I just have an inexplicable urge to shut his mouth pretty much every damn time he opens it. That being said, I will still have his back if he needs it”.

Now Zoro may not always, or ever, see eye to eye with the blond prince, and there are definitely times he feels the sudden impulse to beat him into a bleeding pulp.

Dart-brow is a menace, a lovestruck fool who’s willing to trade his dignity for each and every skirt that passes him by, but he’s also loyal to a fault – it’s looking after Nami that has dragged him into a feud with Eustass and his crew, after all, there’s no way the swordsman could ever blame him for that.

He would have done the same if he found himself in his place.

Sure, starting a fight with half of the Revolutionary Army so little before the beginning of the school tournament is not optimal, but it’s their co-captain who couldn’t take a no from their friend. Jeez, he thought all the drama was finally over when the couple broke up. Why can’t men like Kid learn to fucking to let go?

“With such premises, I’m sure nothing bad will ever happen to Cook-san”, she notes, staring straight into his eyes. “You do have this sort of… I don’t know, aura of safety about you”.

Zoro’s not sure what it is that he did, but she looks much friendlier now, less stark and unattainable.

She’s smiling more openly, drawing his attention to her dimples, and her posture, albeit still gracious, is that of someone who feels completely at ease with their surroundings.

Considering how tense she was when they first entered the restaurant, it’s nice to see her so relaxed now.

He almost – almost – forgets confessing that he likes her, although that wasn’t nearly as dramatic as he expected. Robin didn’t leave, nor she is laughing at him. If anything, she’s putting a bit more nuance into her usual teasing now.

It’s almost – almost – like she’s flirting with him or something.

Her lips play with the edge of her glass, tongue slowly darting out to pick up a leftover drop of champagne on the corner of her mouth. She doesn’t break their eye contact, so neither does he.

He couldn’t even if he wanted to, anyway. 

Zoro scratches the side of his neck, returning her smile.

It only now occurs to him that he has barely touched his dinner so far, so he tries to focus on that instead. “Err, thank you, I suppose”, he says in between bites, the delicious food practically serenading in his mouth. “Some people weren’t, uh, very welcoming last year when Chopper transferred to New Marineford. I don’t think people are supposed to be hurt at school”.

Robin agrees with him, but sadly people get hurt at school all the time.

No one has ever tried to drown her, although that arguably happened outside of New Marineford, but she has been on the receiving end of enough sideway glances and tittle-tattle during her time at the Institute to know how bad it sucks.

For all the prestige they like to flaunter, it seems they do a very poor job in ensuring the safety of their pupils.

“Why did they go after him? He doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who causes trouble…”, she trails off, hoping he’ll fill in the blanks for her.

When people taunted her in Alabasta, at least, she had given them a reason or two not to like her, like associating with the same guy who later ended up trying to kidnap the princess; she can’t imagine Chopper doing anything even remotely similar to that.

“For one, he’s smart. He wasn’t just allowed to transfer to our school, he was also allowed to skip two years. Since everyone else has to study real hard just so they are not kicked out... I guess some people were a bit jealous he got to fast-track on so many lanes. Personally, I never doubted his merits, but his mother also started teaching at New Marineford around the same time, so others felt the liberty to question his admission. The fact Professor Kureha is not very… Umh, popular clearly didn’t help… They left him alone when he joined the crew, but even now, you can tell sometimes that he’s very self-conscious when he’s outside of our close circle”.

She can’t say she didn’t notice.

Aside from Bepo and a few others, she’s not sure she has ever seen Chopper willingly approach someone that isn’t a Straw-Hat.

“Well, what can I say. These people are idiots”, she spats.

Those seem like such frivolous reasons to be overtly mean to someone.

People shouldn’t be hated for things that are out of their control – sure, she’s not a big fan of the biology professor either, but how does that have anything to do with her son? She’s afraid of what will happen to her the day someone stumbles on her past.

“Should I expect my locker to be the one they sully next? I transferred here, too. On senior year, no less”.

“No one’s coming after you. Even if they tried, we wouldn’t let them…”, Zoro smirks. “…I wouldn’t let them”.

She returns his smile, tipping her glass at him. “And why is that?”

“Isn’t that obvious? You’re part of the group, now… We care about you”.

Robin giggles. “I was asking why you think no one would come after me. Am I special or something?”

“Oh, that– Well, you’re a girl… A pretty one”, he pauses, not sure how to continue. Hot would be a better descriptor here, but that sounds a bit too forward to say over oysters. “Trust me, people are going to be too busy inviting you to parties to go anywhere near your poor locker”.

The rest of their dinner goes by rather pleasantly, accompanied by lighter topics.

The girl enjoys herself immensely as she listens to Zoro detailing many of the adventures he has had with the rest of the group, getting a much neater picture of the strange bond they all seem to share, the same she hopes to be a part of someday.

It’s quite hilarious to hear just how many things the Straw-Hats have been through together.

Halfway through their second bottle of champagne, when the cranberry cake finally shows up, the swordsman is telling her about how he and Luffy became friends with Nami over ten years ago, and the realization that she is completely done for suddenly dawns on her.

She can’t stop thinking of how cute he must have been as a child.

The green-haired boy is almost done with his dessert when she finally picks up a small portion of her cake with the fork and her taste buds are finally introduced to the recipe – Zoro was right, it does taste like heaven might.

Her second bite is much larger, but she does her best to savor it.

They have a bit of an argument when she offers to split the bill and he insists she lets him pay, but eventually she relents when he reminds her that he was technically gifted the dinner.

“You can buy me lunch whenever you want, you know”, he jokes after handing the waiter the money. “I won’t tell you no”.

He helps her standing up and offers her his arm once more, walking slowly at her side until they’re back at the entrance, where he excuses himself to retrieve both their coats.

The girl responsible for the wardrobe, Camie, smiles brightly upon recognizing him.

“Oi, Zoro! How are you?”

She waves her hand energetically before reaching out for his ticket. She turns around to search for the appropriate bundle, handing him his suit’s jacket, but she pauses at the other garment, some sort of silky bolero that’s extremely soft to the touch.

Camie has worked at the Baratie for years by now, she knows Zoro practically since he was a kid.

It makes her feel old to think he’s here without the rest of his family tonight, but on his own… no, not on his own, with a date.

It seems like yesterday that she was a teenager herself and he a small little thing that hid behind Dracule Mihawk’s long, velvet-clad legs.

“…Your date seems expensive”, she jokes, mocking him in the same way she would one of her little brothers. What will she do when they start dating? “Have fun”.  

“Hey, Camie. It’s been some time”, he greets. “I am doing quite well, actually. I hope it's the same for you”.

“Nothing changed around here”, she shrugs, her smile a bit tighter now. “Still trying to work enough money to get a bigger apartment and my brothers into decent schools, the usual”.

“I wish you good luck”, Zoro deadpans, adding a generous tip to his wardrobe bill.

She tries to refuse it, but he just shrugs her protests away and puts the banknotes directly in her hand.

“I was going to drink that money, anyway. Tips are based on service, aren't they? And you returned me my things in less than a minute. Seen that I’m kind of in a rush, I really appreciate it”.

“I thought you might like to hurry, especially if your date is the girl with the red dress. She looks, very… Wow”, Camie cuts herself off, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.

“Unless Ichika-san is the one waiting for you?”

She points at the old lady standing by the toilette, who glares back at them with a no-funky-business attitude which sends shivers down both their spines. They laugh it out, until Camie eventually puts the money in her pocket and thanks him.

“Anyway, I hope you and your girl have a good time”.

Zoro is about to smile and wave his hand at her, surprised by the fact she’s keeping her teasing at a minimum. It’s strangely out of character of her, then…

“…Give her my number if you two don’t work out, though. Won’t you, sweetheart?”

After leaving the Baratie the two end up in the same spot Zoro showed her earlier, where they sit down on a bench to look down at the city beneath them. It’s incredible how different the sky looks there, stained by thousands of artificial lights, when compared to the uniform, dark expanse above their heads.

She’s wearing his leather jacket again, and it’s not too cold outside, but she’s still snuggled up on his side, with her head leaning on his left shoulder as they stare up at the starry night.

He moves slightly, so that he can sneak his arm around her waist, pulling her closer.

Her instincts tell her it won’t be long before he makes his move, but he was quite friendly with the girl waiting on the wardrobe earlier, and she would lie if she said that she isn’t falling back into her old insecurities. 

Whilst it does seem a bit ridiculous for Zoro to be hitting on other girls whilst on a date with her, it’s not like she knows everything about him: maybe he’s one of those people who aren’t satisfied with just one partner, although if that was the case she would rather know and make an informed decision, maybe he’s just a fuckboy, and what for her translates into a racing heart and butterflies it’s for him just an exotic plus one.

“She told me to give you her number, you know?”, he asks her after a while, as he keeps on holding tight to her. His fingertips are playing over the palm of her hand, tracing every little line. “The girl at the closet, Camie… This dress of yours keeps turning heads, it seems”.

“Is she a friend of yours?”

Presented with such a perfect opportunity, Robin can’t stop herself from asking. It’s only an innocent question, after all – she would feel much better if he could just confirm there’s not a girl whose shoes she might be stepping on… She can’t get enough of his scent, she notes, absent-mindedly, as her nose sinks deeper into the soft cotton of crisp white shirt. He just smells too good.

“Who, Camie? I guess you could say that”, Zoro shrugs. “She’s been working at the Baratie since she was our age, and that’s pretty much the only restaurant my father approves of, so she was around for a lot of birthdays and such… She’s much closer to Perona, though, since they’re closer in age”.

“Uh-uh, I see”, she hums, feeling much better now. “So, about that number…”

Leaving the protective warmth of his embrace is completely worth it when she pulls away and sees the look on his face. Zoro seems genuinely upset, like he doesn’t believe his ears.

“You… You want it?”

His lips are curled down in an adorable pout, black eyes staring longingly at her as she laughs and cups his cheeks in her hand.

Robin doesn’t know where the impulse has come from, but her gesture freezes him in place, giving her opportunity to better study his face.

It's elongated, with chiseled features, a thin nose.

There’s a hint of red on his cheeks and the tip of his ears, but he continues to look at her with puppy eyes, head tilted lightly on the side, earrings shining under the moonlight.

They release tiny puffs of white smoke as they breathe, but she doesn’t feel cold anymore. No, all she can sense is the strange need that’s bubbling in the pit of her stomach…

“I think I will pass”, she mouths, careful to articulate every word very slowly. Maybe it’s the champagne that’s talking for her, and she’ll probably regret this in the morning, but she can’t remember the last time she felt this… adventurous.

The fact Zoro still has his arm wrapped around her waist, where his hand sometimes squeezes her hip sending blissful jolts of pleasure and excitement down her spine, doesn’t help her case.

It's been quite some time since she has last felt so little control over actions, but she knows, deep down, that it has nothing to do with the alcohol. She arguably drank most of it, since Zoro is the one driving, but she knows what strong inebriation is like and this doesn’t meet her expectations. Sure, she’s a little more light-headed, giddy even, than usual, but that’s about it: she’s still the sole master of her thoughts.

Robin is aware of her body moving, inching closer to the swordsman's, she just can’t find in herself enough willpower to stop it.

She doesn’t want to – whiffs of his heady, musky cologne hit her sense of scent in regular lapses, luring her in, and the light stubble that’s about to sprout on his face tickles her fingertips. He sits completely still, eyes trained on her lips, and it doesn’t take major deductive skills, albeit hers are egregious, to figure out what his intentions are now…

The hand that was previously cupping his cheeks is now stroking gently one side of his face, forcing him to look up once again. The smile is slightly crooked on Zoro’s mouth, like an unspoken question, his neck comfortably stretched back as she keeps rubbing her fingertips over his skin in small circles.

His left hand starts mirroring the gesture on the small of her back, although his movements are slower, wider, and goosebumps are spreading all over her body. Robin’s not sure why she’s still fighting it at this point.

In just a couple of hours the worse day in a horrible week has been turned upside down, putting her in the greatest mood since, well, a very long time. She knows she’ll feel great if she does it, so why isn’t she? 

What is she still afraid of?

Probably just that she’ll like it too much, considering she can’t stop smiling stupidly at him. The boy she likes has asked her out for dinner, they had a nice time together and now they are sitting alone, in a very romantic setting… Robin knows how this is supposed to end, how she wants it to end, but she’s genetically engineered to avoid taking risks and a small part of her still thinks something bad will happen, eventually, ruining the entire night and her entire relationship with Zoro.

Koala’s words glare at her from the back of her mind. It doesn’t have to go any further than that, if it’s not what you want. The only problem is, she does want to run a thousand miles per hour with him.

Think, Robin, think – she urges mentally. She lets her hand drop to the side, gathering up her courage, but he's swift in bringing up his free arm. She almost chokes on her surprise when he starts tracing the contours of her face with one calloused finger, but nothing compares to the hundreds of nerves which all hum in unison as his thumb brushes against her lower lip.

Well, fuck this…

There’s only so much self-inflicted torture someone can endure.

He looks and smells too inviting, but her attraction runs deeper than simple hormones. If it was merely a matter of lust, she doesn’t think it would take her nearly as long to make her move – no, it’s something else: it's the absolute elation she experiences when he’s around, the wry curve of his smile, that ripped, sculpted chest of his… a combination of all that, plus the fact he makes her feel like happiness is within her reach.

She has never had something quite like this, so perhaps that’s why she’s scared to lose it before she even tastes it. If there is one thing the Straw-Hats are teaching her, however, is that it’s okay for one to dream and desire things for themselves. 

Robin keeps her eyes open as she covers the distance between their faces, wrapping both arms around his neck. Something tells her he could very easily get away from her if he wishes to do so, but that doesn’t seem to be the case, because he takes her gesture a sign to close his own eyes and wait.

The first thing she notices, upon pressing her mouth on his in a butterfly kiss, it’s that Zoro’s lips are very soft to the touch, and warm – so warm, in fact, that they might as well be burning as they start moving slowly against hers.

The hand on her back urges her forward, closer to him, while the other settles on the back of her neck, grabbing a gentle fistful of her long hair. With a sigh, she lets her eyelids droop as well.

It’s a bit as if magical rainbows are currently exploding in her mind – he kisses her somewhat gently, albeit with a hunger that matches her own; he nibs on her lower lip, tongue hastily darting out to soothe the injured spot, drawing her closer and closer… her brain completely disconnects by this point, as she parts her mouth and slowly brushes her tongue against his, but she somehow ends up sitting on his lap, with her legs on his sides. Both her hands pull at his green hair until one descends, trailing down his chest. It feels just as… sturdy as she expected, but she still marvels at the contact.

She’s very unwilling to let him go, but eventually they both succumb to their need for oxygen, so they break off the kiss. He’s still embracing her very tightly, however, and he doesn’t let go of her hair.

Zoro simply stares at her with a stupidly handsome grin on his face, so it’s only a matter of seconds before she dives right back in and resumes their previous activity. He’s just as sweet as the cranberry cake he loves so much, sweeter even, so making out is pretty much all they do for the rest of their date.

It’s not like they don’t try to talk more in those two hours, because they do, but it’s hard to focus on his words if he’s simultaneously leaving a trail of wet kisses down her neck, holding her so tightly she can feel his heart beating on her chest. Something… hard pokes her inner-thigh, but it doesn’t bother her; while she doesn’t plan to get acquainted with his, uh, fourth sword on a public bench, it’s still nice to know she’s not the only one whose body is being affected by their present occupation.

Besides, it’s not like Robin can really blame him for getting aroused when she is the one who started to grind on him.

They ride back to her apartment a little before midnight. The temperature has dropped several degrees, but her face – and, well, anything else – still feels quite hot.

Zoro parks his motorcycle next to hers once more, staring appreciatively at her vehicle of choice until she disembarks the bike and he can do the same.

Robin returns him the helmet with a bright smile and he puts it back in the under-seat before removing his own as well, hanging it on the throttle.

She fidgets hesitantly with the jacket, knowing she’ll start freezing the moment she takes it off, but eventually she concludes that Zoro needs it more, as he’s the one with still half the city to drive through.

“I had a great time”, she admits, shyly, handing him the leather garment. “Thank you for the dinner and, umh, your company. It was a lot of fun”.

The girl tries to plant a kiss on his cheek, a bit tethered now by the icy breeze that’s slowly seeping into her bones, but he won’t have it: using his jacket as a rope, he circles her back with it and pulls her forward.

She finds herself entangled in a pair of strong arms again as Zoro kisses her one more time, leisurely, restoring the fire he set out earlier in her chest. She stares numbly at him when he steps back, confused by all the sudden, different urges and stimuli which she’s feeling all at once; her strange daze only increases when one of his hands reaches out to fix her bangs and then, only when he’s satisfied with his work, he leans forward and kisses her on the cheek.

“Yeah, that was fun. But really, it’s me who should be thanking you…”, he whispers sinfully on her ear, but then he hesitates, pausing as a blush spreads on his cheeks.

If that’s possible, she’s even more attracted to him now.

“Would you, uh– Maybe we can do this again sometime next week”.  

Robin giggles, finding his embarrassment very endearing. “I’d love to, Swordsman-san”.  

“So, I’ll be on my way then”, he grins, returning to his motorcycle and wearing the helmet back on.

“Goodnight, Robin”.

Sweet dreams.

13:05 - @koalaflower
Ace
Ace
Ace
Ace
Ace

13:06 - @koalaflower
Ace
Ace
Ace
Ace
Ace
Ace
Ace
Ace
Ace

13:06 - @firefist
‘sup, koala? 😅

13:06 - @koalaflower
I need your help
Consider it my birthday gift

13:07 - @firefist
go on, I’m intrigued now…

13:07 - @koalaflower
Could you ask your little brother to come to my party later and bring some of his friends?

13:07 - @firefist
wow
that’s not what I was expecting
AT ALL

13:08 - @firefist
…why?

13:09 - @koalaflower
One of my guests just moved into town.
She’s about their age, whilst none of my other guests is. 
It’s not a problem if they’re not available, just thought I would ask.

13:10 - @firefist
I’ll see what I can do
no promises, though 
…and I’m not buying you a gift if they say no 

13:11 - @koalaflower
I’ll buy you one if they say yes. 

13:12 - @firefist
deal 💖

The room is quiet, silence broken only by the sound made by the cutlery in their hands, but this is to be expected when one sits these three individuals at the same table: Donquixote Rosinante is not a man of many words, not in front of a delicious meal, while his brother Doflamingo simply doesn’t like to engage in small talk and prefers to spend the family dinner on his phone, leaving the table many times to reply to calls; his nephew, Law, doesn’t really appreciate the blatant disrespect shown to his father in their own home, but he is forced to stay in his place and remain silent, and for a wide variety of reasons.

First and foremost, Corazon looks up to his older brother tremendously.

For someone who has built their entire reputation on their better sense of judgement, he’s simultaneously deaf, mute and blind when it comes to him: it’s like there is literally no line that can be crossed when it comes to Doflamingo, because one was never traced, it’s like he can do no wrong.

If he dared speaking up, his father would probably scold him and ask him to show more respect to his uncle.

What a load of bullshit.  

In all honesty, the man doesn’t have a single redeeming quality.

He’s always belittling his younger sibling, or really, anyone that isn’t himself, looking down on everyone but a selected few – his family, of course, is not included.

Law never liked him, but, luckily, he spends very little time with the man.  

It’s not like the infamous music producer would show up unless he needs something, usually the signature of someone respectable, like Rosinante, on shady documents which then disappear every single fucking time.

But hey, no, absolutely nothing strange going on with the self-important and self-deluded asshole sitting in the chair opposite from his, apart from the fact he’s here tonight not to spend some time with his little brother, but rather to pressure his nephew.

It turns out he’s the person his supplier works for, the one they call Joker.

“Do tell me again, Trafalgar-kun”, he trails off, lingering on the honorific because he knows that it will piss him off. “How come such a young and handsome man like yourself spends his Sunday night at home with his father…”

Rosinante replies before he has the chance to. “Can you believe I had to ground him?”, he asks, jovially, although his smile turns into a glare the moment his eyes set on his son.

“Kids these days! We wouldn’t have dared using such uncouth language, either at school or outside…”

His rant is cut off by the phone ringing in his studio, Law recognizes the tune of his private line, so the man excuses himself to answer, muttering something about a crucial report he has been waiting for, and leaves the other two alone in the kitchen.

The atmosphere changes dramatically.

“Law, Law, Law”, Doflamingo snickers. “Really? You got yourself caught for bad words?”

There’s a hint of amusement in his eyes, but it’s just a tiny smidge; more than everything, he seems disappointed, looking at his nephew as if he’s just a tiny, insignificant worm.

When no answer is uttered, steely, grey orbs narrow at him.  

“I assumed Diamante made himself clear the last time you didn’t meet your quota”, the blond insinuates, sending a shiver down Law’s spine.

He’s referring to the little surprise he staged for him during the first week of school, the one he luckily didn’t have to justify to his father because his black eye disappeared before he returned from Mary Geoise.

“Do I need to ask him to refresh your memory?”

The dark-haired boy is taken a little aback. He was expecting him to at least try to hide the fact he has paid someone to beat up his teenaged nephew and he admits it openly instead. Sick bastard.

There’s only so much a single person can do against a trained assassin.

Even though he has managed to deal a couple of blows himself and he’s stronger than most people his age, he was still the one who lied on the floor in the end, covered in his own blood, dialing Bepo’s number with quivering fingers and hoping he remembered what he taught him about first aid.

“No, sir”, Law says, a low hiss that’s filled with venom. “Dad leaves tomorrow. You’ll have your money before the end of next week”.

“All the money”, Doflamingo presses. “This week’s money and last week’s money, or else…”

He doesn’t need to complete his threat, because a shuffling of feet echoes into the dining room, followed by the sound of Rosinante crashing helplessly against the furniture.

“All the money”, Law repeats, and luckily it’s enough to shut him up.

“Ah, I’m sorry, gentlemen, I really had to answer that call”, the judge returns to the room, holding an expensive bottle of sake in his hands.

“I was saving this for a special occasion, but what’s more special than all three of us spending some quality time together?”, he muses, stumbling on the rug as he looks for the bottle opener and almost dropping the sake to the ground. “How long has it been?”

Law really can’t join his father in his enthusiasm. Years – he would like to say – but it’ll never be enough.

His uncle seems to intercept his thoughts. “Heard your father, Traffy-kun?” Law fantasizes about stabbing him with the dessert knife. “If you didn’t get yourself in trouble, we could have missed all of this…”

Rosinante, of course, is helplessly oblivious to the sarcasm in his voice.

Law now fantasizes about stabbing himself with the same dessert knife.

The man’s lies are making him nauseous and so is the thought that he’ll be tied to him for many months to come unless he comes up with some sort of plan soon.

“So, I’d like to make a toast…”

His father’s voice is somewhat comforting despite the battle that’s raging within him.

He has been home for only five days, most of which he spent locked up in his private studio to work, but it’s still regrettable that their last meal together has been ruined by Doflamingo’s presence, especially since his flight is scheduled very early in the morning, so these are literally the last moments he can spend with him before Kami knows when.

His uncle seems to notice that, because he does his best to overstay his welcome, walking out of the door long after midnight, when Rosinante is already exhausted. He hugs his son and rushes straight to bed as soon as the door is closed behind him.

Law, who’s tidying up the dining room, smacks his fist on the table as his uncle’s laugh reverberates in from outside.

He curses loudly as his hand connects to the surface and he’s reminded that it’s made of stone.

The bright side is… It seems there’s another injury his father won’t be around to ask him questions about.

Fuck his life. 

Chapter Text

“… Hey, you, mademoiselle~!
Happy birthday!”

Koala has never been much of a socialite, so she’s a bit surprised at how many people have showed up to her party.

She knows that more than half of them don’t really care about celebrating her special day and that the only reason they’re here is that rumor spread around campus that there would be a lot of alcohol, although she still has no idea who started it.

Not that it matters. She’s too drunk right now to play detective.

“Thank you, blondie-chan!”, she shouts in reply, waving enthusiastically at the grinning stranger.

Her own smile withers down as he stares a bit too intently at her chest, however, so she’s very grateful when a girl with orange hair drags him away by the neck of his shirt.

“I’m so sick of you, Sanji-kun!”, she chastises him with an angry voice, although she doesn’t deny him her support when he drunkenly wobbles on his feet. She propels him in the direction of the kitchen. “…I can’t believe you… ––––– PIG! … for fuck’s sake, Sanji-kun, calm down…”

Any other day of the year and the birthday girl would take the time to fetch this girl and tell her that it’s not worth it, that caring for foolish boys will only lead her to despair, but today it’s her day, and she’d rather use it to engage in more productive activities… like beer-pong. 

Koala tries to make it back to the living room, hustling her way through the dancing guests, when a familiar voice booms somewhere on her back and she finds herself unable to move.

It’s Ace. When did Ace arrive?

If Ace is here, then so is Sabo…

The only reason the latter has been invited is that the former, if she didn’t, would have likely asked her why, but she still has the right to avoid him for the whole night and that’s exactly what she plans on doing.

“There she is”, Ace whispers in her ear, lifting her off the floor by putting two large hands on her waist.

He spins her around in circles, wishing her a happy birthday, then puts her back on solid ground. The edges of objects around her have just gotten blurrier.

“I’m sorry we’re late, but we picked up people pretty much all over town…”

He gestures behind him with a smile, indicating the two boys who are currently standing next to her blond-haired nightmare.

Sabo smiles sheepishly at her, but she ignores him.

“You’ve met Luffy already”, Ace points at the one with raven hair, who smiles brightly at her. “This is one of his best friends, Zoro, while the other two have gone missing in the transition from the dancefloor to the patio outside, I’m afraid. Where have you been? We were looking for you…”

I was hiding, avoiding you, in particular – but she doesn’t say it.

“It’s very nice to meet you. I’m Koala”, it’s what she says instead, offering her hand to the tall guy with green hair, the only one she has never seen before.

“Zoro”, he mumbles, shaking her hand. “Happy birthday”, he adds, but she can’t tell whether it’s out of obligation or not. He doesn’t seem nearly as comfortable as his mate about attending a stranger’s party.

She thanks him politely before returning her attention back to Ace.

“Oh, I was here and there, you know”, she improvises, quite sure the vodka she had earlier is adding a slur to her words. “It’s my birthday, after all! What do your other friends look like?”

“The guy has blond hair and a white shirt…”, Luffy chimes in, stroking his chin thoughtfully. “…Oh, he also bleeds from the nose sometimes! Nami’s hair is orange instead. She’s tiny, but she can really pack up a punch”.

“Agreed”, Ace, Sabo and Zoro echo.

The blond only now makes his move, advancing towards her with his arms raised. Ace is looking at the exchange with mild interest, but he would instantly notice that something is wrong if she ducks away and refuses to accept his birthday wishes.

Only an asshole would do that.

With a quiet whimper, Koala stiffly returns Sabo’s hug, patting awkwardly on his shoulder until he finally gets a clue and takes a step away from her. He doesn’t seem to understand what the words I’m-breaking-up-with-you really mean, considering he has tried to discreetly sneak a hand down to squeeze her ass.  

“I think I know where your friends are”, she says to the small group. “There was a very pretty girl with orange hair that was woman-handling a guy that fits your description pretty badly… Not that he didn’t deserve it”.

“Yeah, that’s Nami”, Luffy nods. “…And the pervert-cook”, adds Zoro.

They high-five.

She blinks, “Come with me”.

Koala escorts the four to her kitchen, where they find the strange pair from before sitting at the counter, the girl urging the boy to drink the glass of water she has poured for him.

“Is it them?”

“Oi, Nami! Sanji! Is everything okay?”

“Luffy!”, she turns around abruptly, whilst her companion keeps uttering sloshed, incoherent syllables. “We are fine, but Sanji-kun decided to challenge some university guys in a drinking contest after we lost sight of you and, well, you know how he gets when he drinks… He tried to hit on a poor girl on our way here, but I dragged him away before he could cause too much damage”.

“No damage, I promise”, Koala chimes in. “I’m the poor girl. I won’t deny it was a bit uncomfortable, but at least I know why he looked so… weird. You should take him to the patio outside, he seems like he could really use a breath of fresh air”.

“Thank you. I’m really, really sorry”, Nami apologizes. “Name's Nami, by the way”.

“Koala”.

“Where’s the patio?”

Two things happen simultaneously, killing the words on the tip of her tongue.

“Robin?”

“Koala, can I talk to you? Please?”

Zoro turns around instinctively upon hearing her name.

Whilst she did write in the group-chat that she couldn’t go out tonight because of a friend’s birthday, Grand Line City is a big place, so he refused to entertain the thought that they could end up attending the same party.

That kind of luck doesn’t exist… or does it? It is Robin the one who’s standing by the door when he follows Nami’s eyes. She seems very surprised to see them, but happy, nonetheless.

“Guys? What are you doing here?”

She hugs all of them, including Luffy’s brothers, lingering a bit longer when it’s the swordsman’s turn, planting a small kiss on the side of his neck before she pulls away and returns to Koala’s side.

“Ace said there would be loads of food”, the captain pipes up, with a bit of a wistful expression. “So far, however, I have to admit that I didn’t see much…”

Robin laughs, a dainty, tantalizing sound that brings the clock twenty-four hours back. By this time of night, he notes, they were already seated on the bench yesterday.

He has sent her a text in the morning, but only to wish her a good day; the last thing he wants is to be that guy and get clingy after one date, but it seems nothing short of fate that they’re in the same house tonight, apparently celebrating the birth of the same person.

He only said yes to Luffy’s strange request for lack of better things to do, but now he’s glad that he did.

The last addition to their class wears a black little thing that snuggles tightly to her body, so tight, in fact, that he wonders under which laws of physics the satiny fabric doesn’t rip as it holds up all of her… female curves.

The dress is supported only by the thin straps which crisscross around her shoulders and back, and, overall, combined with the messy bun sitting on top of her head and the crimson, dark shade on her lips, she might just be one of the prettiest things he has ever laid eyes on.

“We moved the food outside when people started dancing”, she tells Luffy, returning the joyful smile he shows when he discovers that he can, after all, eat. “I can show you, if you want. Sanji looks…”

She doesn’t finish her sentence, either because she’s too nice or too polite, but Zoro has no such qualms, so he concludes, “…Pathetic, as per usual”.

“Oi, m-wha-ri-mo!”

“It’s okay, Sanji-kun…”, Nami returns to his side and pats a hand on his back. “Let’s go”.

She helps her blond friend stand up, a bit unstable on her high heels, but Luffy quickly joins in, placing Sanji’s other arm around his neck and supporting most of his weight.

Zoro follows them, and so starts to do Robin, when Koala speaks up again, “Let me help you, guys. The perimeter around the pool is quite slippery”.

“No need”, the dark-haired girl smiles at her friend. “I got this. You go on and enjoy your birthday”.

That seems to convince the older woman, because she relents, turning back to Luffy’s brothers, who are quietly, and awkwardly, watching the scene from near the fridge, where they have helped themselves to some beer.

Robin shuffles her feet in his direction, with her usual grace. He can now look at her for longer, more closely, and he notices two things in this order: there’s a small, red spot on the left side of her neck, just a couple inches beneath the ear, which brings a sudden smirk to his face, and, judging from the misty shine in her eyes and the unusual lightheaded-ness she displays, she has had at least a couple of drinks.

“…Did he show up in the end?”

“Who?”

“…The asshole”.

Yup, whatever she had, she’s not sober. He has met her only recently, true, but he has been around her enough to know that she usually circles around things, she’s always very careful not to let her personal judgement of people slip unless she’s really upset. She doesn’t seem upset now, so what’s up?

Zoro looks up, curiously. The birthday girl is showing a very fake smile.

“Unfortunately, yes”, she seems to be adding something else, but Robin cuts her off.

“Well, feel free to call me if he tries anything. I’ll be happy to show him the door for you”, she says. “You shouldn’t spend your birthday arguing with someone who leaves you out in the rain–”

“Enough”, Koala chides her, red-faced, albeit she’s not much sober and therefore not too concerned with their audience. “Everything will be fine. Make sure you stick around for cake”.

“Who’s the dick?”, chimes in Ace, with an expression of disbelief. “…I’m killing that bastard”.

Zoro misses the conversation that follows, but he doesn’t complain.

Robin grabs him by the wrist, urging him to where the others are waiting for them by the door.

She leaves his side to accomplish the goal, taking the head of their small group, but finally all five of them move outside, where they lay Sanji down on a poolside chair, their captain immediately walking off on his own in his search for food.

Nami sits down next to Sanji, glaring at the catatonic prince, whilst the remaining two Straw-Hats just idly stand by, alternating glances between each other and their orange-haired friend to make sure they are not caught in the act.

Then, Robin says, “Want to look for some sake, Swordsman-san? I left my jacket inside”.

To enhance her words, she rubs her hands on her shoulders, but, honestly, she doesn’t need to.

He would follow her anywhere if she asks him like that… well, if she asks him, period. 

“Ne, Robin”, Nami calls out. “Get sake for me, too, please”.

Zoro releases a breath he didn’t know he was holding; for a moment, there, it seemed like the girl somehow knows their small secret.

He can’t begin to imagine how much blackmail that type of knowledge would warrant in her hands, but he shudders at the thought.

“Sure”, unlike him, Robin seems unfazed, tugging at his shirt to point him in the right direction.

“We’ll be back soon with all the sake you want…”, she pauses when Sanji asks her to get him some as well, but he’s promptly knocked out again by Nami’s fist connecting with his skull. “…Wait here”.

Zoro follows her silently, glaring back once at the duo sitting on the lounge chair. He can’t tell for sure, but the light reflects for a moment on Nami’s face in a way that make it seem like she’s… smirking.

She’s looking at her phone now, however, and she doesn’t say anything, no taunt or crude remark, so eventually he relaxes, focusing on the girl walking next to him.

People’s presence lessens and lessens the more they stride, reaching the front garden. He’s a little surprised by the path they have taken, going through the dancefloor was probably faster since it’s unlikely that she left her jacket outside, but he doesn’t mind the small detour.

It gives him the opportunity to sneak one arm around her shoulders and pull her to his chest, after all. This hug is nicer than the one she gave him earlier, when the others’ presence mandated their contact was brief.

Her hair smells very good, a mixture of cinnamon and something else he can’t pinpoint, but her arms and collarbone area, which are left exposed by the dress, feel very cold against his skin, even with his shirt acting as a barrier between them.

Robin doesn’t seem bothered, though, and returns the hug.

Barely a minute passes before he draws their faces together, and they start kissing next to the gardener’s hut. Zoro is pinning her to the wall, albeit gently, one arm between the girl’s back and the concrete, so she doesn’t scratch herself.

Both her hands are busy exploring the tight muscles on his shoulders and chest, while his free hand is firmly placed on her hip.

He’s about to give in to temptation and lower one hand to get a squeeze of her very delectable backside, see if she minds it, when her fingers dig into his right cheek and Robin claims for herself a handful of his ass.

She seems pleased with her discovery, because her kiss becomes a little more voracious, but just as he’s about to mirror her and cop a feel for himself…

“…I can’t keep up with this anymore”, laments a female voice as two sets of feet approach the dark corner in which they’re hiding.

They pull apart with a grimace, hoping the newcomers won’t get any closer than that.

The green-haired swordsman thinks he knows the person who just talked, however, and this belief is confirmed when she speaks up again, “We’ve already talked about this, what’s changed now? You ask me what I want, I tell you and then you don’t give it to me… Which is fine, really, but please, please, stop wasting my time like this. There’s other things I’d rather do on my fucking birthday”.

The man with her lets out a loud sigh. “Koala, I’m sorry…”

Zoro cannot believe his ears. This is a voice he can definitely recognize.

This is…

“…I should have handled things better, but I panicked and…”

…Sabo.

“I don’t want to hear it, Sabo”, she holds her hand up, practically spatting his name.

It hurts that Koala is looking at him with such hate in her eyes, but he has been trying to get her alone for two weeks, so he won’t leave until he has had the chance to say his piece.

“This”, she gestures between them, her voice cracking up a little, but she shows him her fake smile once again, seemingly unperturbed.

“This is not working”.

“But we can make it work”, he tries, weakly. “I can tell my brother we’re studying together for an exam or something, that way he won’t get suspicious if he sees you around the house…”

He cuts himself off, knowing by her glare that he has just made things between them a thousand times worse, because it feels like a slap.

Sabo can’t remember a single instance in which she has looked so indignant, offended, as ready to rip someone’s head off as she does now.

Holy fucking hell.

“Oh. My. God. I can’t believe you’re so dense”, Koala yelps, fidgeting with the top hem of her strapless dress.

It doesn’t seem to provide the support her, emh, chest clearly needs, but he knows that he’ll get slapped for real if he lets his eyes linger there during an argument. “Go find someone else to use to get over Betty with, understood? I’m starting to see why she turned her attention to Karasu…”

Now, that may just be his problem, the reason he wasn’t capable to patch things up with her over the past two weeks. Sabo never, not once believed her when she said they were over.

Until now, he labelled an argument what the woman obviously considers a breakup.

The realization is sudden and painful.

He knows her last remark is only dictated by anger, and the booze, but it still hits a sore spot.

If she’s so dismissive of his feelings, of the insecurity that blossomed within him when he got cheated on, then maybe she isn’t as different from his ex as he thought she was.

“Fuck you”, he hisses. “Fuck you and fuck Betty”.  

“No, Sabo”, she corrects him.

Her lower lip trembles a little, but he doesn’t put his arms around her like usual to comfort her.

He realizes, numbly, that this time he has gone too far.

“Fuck you”.

Nami is still sitting on the lounge chair when Robin and Zoro return, but Sanji is feeling a lot better now, so the two are chatting with their heads unusually close, or rather the blond is apologizing profusely for his earlier behavior and forcing the girl to take care of him, whilst Nami is listing the hundred and more ways he can make it up to her starting tomorrow.

“…Finally, my sake”, she claps her hands together as she spots a familiar flash of green hair.

Luffy is still by the buffet, stuffing his mouth with cake, but she was expecting the other two to be back a long time ago, so she can’t help herself, and smiles wryly at them, asking, “What took you so long?”

She does her best to pretend she doesn’t notice it, but she relishes in the expression of utter dread that appears on Zoro’s face. This is going to make her quite a few thousand belies if she plays it right.

Robin seems much more composed, despite her inebriated state. “The house is packed, so it was a little difficult to locate the alcohol at first”, she explains, dangling a bottle in front of her nose. Nami now notices the small cups the swordsman holds in one of his hands. “There should be more than enough”.

The other pretends to be satisfied with her reply, patting the empty spot next to her on the chair.

Now that Sanji and his long legs are not lying down, it easily fits three people or more.

Zoro empties the poolside table next to it of its contents and sits on that.

“Thank you, Robin-chan”, Nami hums, eyeing the sake appreciatively. “Where’s your jacket?”

Robin’s poker-face doesn’t slip, but the blush on her cheeks is quite… interesting.

“I thought I left it by the fireplace, but by the time we got there it was gone. Someone must have moved it”, she suggests, attempting a smile. “I’ll ask Koala about it before I leave”.

“Ro-b’n-chwan”, Sanji pipes up. “I want you to know that I sincerely apologize for the way I embarrassed myself earlier. I hope you’ll find it in your sweet heart to forgive me…”

“…Only some are more embarrassing than others, dart-brow”.

She cocks an eyebrow at him. “Bold of you to assume I have a sweet heart”, she smiles, morbidly. “Don’t worry, everyone has a skeleton or two in the closet for things they have done when they were drunk”.

“Speaking of which”, Nami chimes in. “I couldn’t help but notice you’re a little… higher than usual”.

As the person who usually pesters her to drink when they hang out, she’s a bit curious to know what’s different about tonight. She never goes beyond half a glass, two in special occasions – trust her, she counted them.

It’s the first time she sees Robin stumbling over her words, losing that halo of perfect, algid grace that usually surrounds her. She’s not clumsy by any means, but it’s clear she’s a little… unbalanced.

“Oh, that?”, Robin giggles, light-heartedly, as if a huge weight has been lifted off her chest. “Uh, Koala dared me to try the new bong some guys from the chemistry department made for her, so… I’m afraid half these people will need a liver transplant before they even finish university, but it’s practically impossible to say no if they want you to drink. Or smoke”.

Looking around at the people half-conscient everywhere, Nami can see where the thought has generated from, but it’s still a bit too crude for her taste. Her new friend has a strange sense of humor.

“What matters is that you’re drinking with us now”, she changes the subject, urging Zoro to handle her the cups.

“I’ve already broken all my rules this weekend, so why not”, Robin retorts, slyly.

The orange-haired girl is about to poke her for more detail, but Luffy returning and sitting next to the swordsman distracts her from it.

“Hey, everyone”, he grins. Unsurprisingly, the only thing he has bothered to consume is the buffet. Luffy rarely drinks. “My brother just texted me. He’s leaving early, so I need to go with him if I want the ride home…”, he scratches the back of his head, uncertainly.

Since they all came here with the same car, Sabo’s, it’s clear he wants to know if they want to leave now as well.

“Drive safely”, Nami smiles at the captain, “We never meant to get into a car with your drunk brothers, anyway. I’ll just call a cab later”.

He nods.

“Well, then, I’ll see you all tomorrow at school”, he declares, clapping a hand on Zoro’s shoulder. “They are not drunk, by the way… Well, Ace’s shirt was on fire and he jumped into the pool earlier, but I don’t think he was drunk”.

“Wait, Ace jumped into the pool? How could we miss it?”, Nami turns around, browsing the pool, but there’s no one inside of it now.

“I waved at you, but you were talking to Sanji and you didn’t see me”, Luffy shrugs before finally standing up, hugging each of his friends before he starts to make his way back, picking up his phone and answering a call as he disappears inside the house.

“Bye!”

“…And he’s gone. Again”, Zoro laughs. “Anyway, back to that sake”.

“Jeez, moss-head, you’re such a brute”. Sanji stands up, swaying a little on his feet.

He tries to fix his wrinkled shirt, but it doesn’t help much, especially because that is not what stands out the most about the white fabric, but rather the giant blue stain over his ribs.

“You should leave early, too”.

Much to Nami’s surprise, Zoro doesn’t accept the provocation. It’s probably due to the fact Robin has an eye on him as well, but she’s grateful, nonetheless. The last thing she needs is for those two to start fighting at a stranger’s birthday party… although anything is better than Chopper almost drowning at Basil’s.

“Get lost, ero-cook”, he scoffs. “You’re the last person who can lecture people about decency tonight”.  

Nami agrees with him, but she snatches the bottle from Robin’s hands and pops it open to diffuse the tension. “Here, let’s get this done”, she declares. “Zoro, the cups”.

“Why do you think they are leaving so early?”, asks Sanji as she fills them one by one, handing them to his friends. She hesitates when it’s time to give one to the blond, but eventually she does.

His body, his choice.

“Sabo seemed fine earlier and Ace wouldn’t let a burnt shirt get in his way… It’s strange since they are the ones who brought us here in the first place”. 

“Well, speak for yourself”, Robin interjects. “I met Koala in the summer, but recently I helped her with something and we grew a bit closer. Enough for her to invite me today, I suppose”.

“She seems very nice”, Nami notes. “I hope she’s having fun…”

She’s a bit startled from the response she gets, but she recovers fast enough to toast with her friends.

“I’m afraid it’s a little late for that now…”    

It’s quiet inside the car, with only the slow buzz coming from the radio interrupting the otherwise flat atmosphere.

Sabo keeps his eyes straight on the road and drives silently, whilst on the passenger side Ace sometimes speaks up to ask him to drive faster.

Luffy sits in the back, eyeing the newest tattoo on his brother’s shirtless back, trying to figure out why everyone seems so pissed off tonight.

“It’s not fair”, Ace complains, fidgeting with the radio until it’s synched with a station he likes. “I was having a great time at Koala’s party. Why did we leave early, again?”

Sabo drums absently on the steering wheel, pretending not to hear him, but eventually he has to relent when both his brothers look expectantly at him, with twin pairs of puppy eyes.

“Should I remind you all three of us have class in the morning?”, he grunts. “Besides, like I already said, I’m not feeling too well tonight”.

Ace narrows his eyes at him. “'kay, but… What’s up with you and Koala?”

Luffy remains silent in the back, observing the two.

He never understands at least half of the conversations they have in his presence, but he still loves moments like this, when it’s just the three of them – even though both his brothers are not in the best of moods, he still cherishes it with a big smile.

“…You’ve been weird around each other lately”, Ace presses, tired of the lack of replies.

Sabo shrugs, seemingly bored, before shutting the radio off completely.

“If you say so”.

“Look, just don’t be an ass when she’s around, ok?”, the other thunders, raising his voice. “I’m not sure what Luffy’s friend was alluding to earlier, but there’s already someone who’s hurting her…”

“She’s a big girl, you know?”

Luffy can’t help but notice how stiffly Sabo holds the wheel as he takes a sharp turn to the left, speeding up so they don’t crash into a car that’s coming the opposite way.

There’s a loud honk, someone shouting their way, but they get away too fast to know how exactly they have been insulted.

He waves his hand at them from the back window.

“…Koala doesn’t need you poking your ugly nose into her business. If she needed your help, she would have asked for it. But she didn’t, did she?”

Sabo’s last statement calms one of his brothers, but upsets the other: why he is telling Ace not to help a friend that’s being hurt?

That’s not like him, this is not how they do things in this household.

Even the old man would scold him for his words, and Garp is infamous for his heart of steel.

“I suppose…”, Ace agrees halfheartedly. “Well, maybe I’ll just ask her tomorrow on campus”.

“If she shows up”, Sabo retorts, “She was pretty drunk”.

“…Oi, what did you say about my nose?”

Luffy laughs, finally receiving his opening. “He said your nose is ugly”.

Five minutes later the car is parked in front of their apartment-building.

The bright neon lights easily guide the three inside, where Ace sighs contentedly as the cold air stops brushing mercilessly upon his body.

“Do I want to know how you lost your shirt, by the way?”, asks Sabo as they step inside the elevator.

“Yeah, what happened to your shirt?”

“I’ll tell you when you get older, Luffy”.

Ace’s words still echo in his mind as he later settles in the guest bedroom, changing into a pair of red pajama pants and a white t-shirt.

He’s not sure which brother it belongs to, because they’re both sensibly taller than him. It’s only eleven p.m., so he’s not tired enough to sleep, but Sabo has disappeared the moment they entered the house, and Ace is currently under the shower.

After years of waiting for the dark-haired boy to free the bathroom, he knows he’s perfectly capable of spending an eternity in there.

Luffy arranges the pillows behind his back more comfortably, unlocking the screen of his phone and going through the long list of messages he has never replied to.

This activity keeps him occupied for five minutes at best, and soon boredom captures him again.

Next up are socials, and he dutifully taps two times on the screen when he comes across the picture Nami just posted. He doesn’t last long over this either, but then, just as he’s about to close the app, his thumb inadvertently touches the top of the touchscreen, and his feed refreshes.

He stares at the phone, confusion plastered on his face, but his surprise quickly morphs into something else entirely as his eyes land on a picture that has been just uploaded.

Staring right back at him, albeit as a bunch of pixels, is Trafalgar Law.

He lays prone on his bed, shoulders and back exposed by the lack of a shirt, half of his face concealed by the dark pillow he is resting it on top of…

He doesn’t smile, looking directly into the camera, his yellow eyes conveying something that’s a hybrid of tragedy and defiance.

He is hot – the ridiculous thought startles him, although he has heard people describing Law with these exact words for years now.

A guy like him, with “DEATH” tattooed on his hands, surely doesn’t go unnoticed, especially if he’s the son of a celebrity. The two of them are very similar in that regard, he can’t do anything either without people watching closely, and judging.

Regardless, he has never produced this combination of signs on his own before, not for this specific boy, nor anybody else.

On the edge of eighteen, Luffy is pretty sure he doesn’t like girls in that sense.

Even though people act like he doesn’t know the basics of human anatomy just because his life doesn’t revolve around sex, he has realized that he is not attracted to them a long time ago.

As for boys, he’s not sure he’s attracted by them as a whole – the point is, he has never felt attraction before, regardless of the recipient.

Sure, one, maybe a couple times every month he will let his mind black out as his hand reaches beyond the waistband of his boxer briefs… but it’s never been something he does consciously, while thinking of other people.

He just does it because it feels nice to touch himself there; besides, everyone seems to do it, so he never thought much about it.

Not once did he think about touching another person that way or being touched by another, so it’s a bit surreal now, as his black eyes glance down at Law’s selfie once more, to feel the urge to trace the muscles on his back… with his tongue, no less.

Luffy shakes his head, ignoring the small tingle in his crotch area.   

The caption is very dramatic, something like “pit of unhappiness”, but it matches the look in his eyes, which the Straw-Hat captain, for unspecified reasons, finds very disturbing.

He likes it better when Law smiles.

There’s a sudden knock, then Ace opens the door and pops his head inside.

“Oi, Luffy, wanna play The Witcher 3 for a little bit? Sabo has gone to bed already”.

“Sure!”, Luffy grins, showing him a thumbs up. “I’m on my way”.

After a final look at the screen, he presses the appropriate button and locks it, following him downstairs.

Seriously, though.

Trafalgar Law is hot.  

The following morning, upon entering the classroom, three things, Chopper notices, are out of order: first and foremost, Luffy is already in his seat, talking cheerfully to some of their classmates; secondly Sanji, who sits next to him, is slumped on his desk and does not look as if he’s feeling very well, which the aspiring doctor finds very concerning; lastly, Robin is late for the first time since the beginning of school, but there’s such a dark look in her eyes, as she settles down next to him in the front row, that he decides not to bring it up.

Turning around, he looks up at Nami, “What’s wrong with Sanji?”

Out of the people in the picture she posted yesterday, which he saw this morning as he ate his breakfast, she seems the most likely to satisfy his curiosity.

She groans before summing up the previous night for him, “It turns out the party Luffy invited us all to was the birthday party of one of his brothers’ friends, and Sanji got drunk in little over twenty minutes. We met Robin there, though. Luffy abandoned us around eleven, so we had a couple of drinks and then called it an early night”.

She tucks an orange strand behind her ear, “You didn’t miss much”.

“I see”, he murmurs, glaring disapprovingly at the blond sitting in the row of desks behind her. “Drink some water, Sanji, for God’s sake”.

“Sake?”, Zoro pipes up, temporarily dazing out of his nap. “Where?”

“It’s half past eight in the morning, marimo”, a voice shoots up.

“It’s a joke, idiot”, the swordsman chastises, although his face becomes a bit red, enough for Chopper to notice anyway.

It is Monday, so that means beginning the day with two hours of Sakazuki.

When the professor arrives, of course, everyone stops messing around and quietly wishes him good morning.

Despite the torture they are forced to endure, something good still comes out of the physics’ lecture when in the last fifteen minutes of class Akainu tells the students to close their textbooks, and that he has an announcement to make.

“As we all know, Halloween is approaching”, he teases, knowing that even the slightest mention of the tournament will get him the attention of the entire class in ways his subject will never do, and predictably even sloppy students like Roronoa Zoro and Monkey D. Luffy are all ears.

“During lunch a member of the staff will pin the pairings that were sorted for the first round to the noticeboard, while sometime around next week the sponsor will deliver the directives for this year to their teams”, he continues, pausing only when a hand shoots up from the back of the class.

“Yes, Kaku?”

“Did you get your hands on the list yet, sir?”

“Actually, yes, I know what the matchups are”, he replies, before glaring sternly at him.

The sorting happened on Friday afternoon, so pretty much all the sponsors have received the information by now, but the students are not supposed to get it until it’s officially published, so he adds, least someone else advances similar requests, “However, I am not telling you. We’ll go over them later during CP9’s meeting”.

Whispers and theories start spreading through the whole classroom, and Chopper himself fails victim to the collective fever. He wonders who the Straw-Hats will be up against coming Halloween, hoping he’ll be able to contribute more this year.

“…It doesn’t matter who we get, we are destroying them anyway”,

He flinches, recognizing Lucci’s drawl.

From what the others told him he and Luffy never got along, to the point they would often fight during recess in their first year.

After they both got suspended things seemed to cool down and they stopped being so open with their mutual dislike, but the animosity is very much alive still, based on the things he has both seen and heard in the year he has been their classmate.

Knowing they’re up against such fierce adversaries, who manage to make something dirty of what should be an occasion to spend time with one’s friends… it dampens Chopper’s enthusiasm a little.

That being said, he’s still very eager to know who they’re up against, so when the bell finally rings around one p.m., and Brook waves his hand at them with an encouraging smile, he runs to the noticeboard on the first floor just as fast as his crewmates.

Usopp and Franky, whose classroom is located a bit further away, join the rest of the group moments later, while Bartolomeo, Cavendish and Rebecca, who have most of their lessons in another building, take a bit longer to show up.

Luffy goes to stand in line, behind the other captains who are waiting for the list to be finally revealed. He’s the fourth in the succession, after Jewerly Bonney from the other senior class, whom nobody expected to see here, Lucci, of course, and a young, red-haired boy from Galley-La whom Chopper has never met prior to this.

Then Eustass arrives, accompanied by his usual gang. At last, a guy with platinum blond hair shows up, looking down on everybody as he takes the spot at the end of the line.   

“Here we go”, Caribou appears from around the corner, wearing his usual uniform, carrying the sheet of paper they are all waiting for.

He hangs the list on the board, before slithering his way back to where he has just come from.

Bonney takes a deep breath, going for the list. Chopper analyzes her reaction, noting the unease that she tries to mask with the confident smile on her face.

Rob Lucci goes up next, and when he smirks triumphantly and starts teasing the pink-haired captain, it is pretty clear that Punk Hazard will be facing the defending champion, CP9, first.

The third in line about faints upon setting his eyes on the matchups, but Luffy gives the crew a big thumbs when his turn finally arrives, and now it’s not really the time to be compassionate, so Chopper doesn’t dwell on the poor thing’s distraught.

Kid’s laugh is loud and maniacal, an annoying, screeching sound that reverberates through the hallway, and after he browses the list there’s only the platinum blond boy left, who then tilts his head on the side to sneer at the Straw-Hats.

“Sending you home will be God’s Army’s pleasure”, he notes, addressing Luffy directly.

“Hi, I am God”.

Bartolomeo lunges for his schoolmate with his fist raised, but Zoro catches him in time.

It’s Nami who steps up and scoffs at him. “Get lost, Enel”, she warns. “We’ll kick your ass on Halloween. Be a sweetheart and avoid us until then, ‘mkay?”

She seems the only one acquainted with him, so when he leaves, after trading murderous glares with their captain and the rest of the crew, she then shares with her friends what little she knows about him.

“He’s Enel, he’s from Skypiea. It’s his fourth year in New Marineford, but he remained pretty much out of anybody’s radar until last year he asked both Lola and Shiraoshi out on St. Valentine’s Day”.

“That is no way to treat one precious lady, not to mention two!”, protests Sanji, holding a hand to his heart. “We got this, right, Captain? We won’t lose to someone like him”.

“Shishishi”, Luffy chuckles, not caring one bit about his motives.

“We are not losing to Anal”.

“Luffy!”, Nami chastises, although she then joins the rest of the group and laughs with them.

There are tears pricking at the corners of Chopper’s eyes when they finally stop, although some low, quieter giggles can still be heard.

It’s in moments like this that he’s grateful he joined the Straw-Hats.

It feels as if he cannot not win when they are around.   

Chapter Text

A COUPLE OF DAYS LATER. 

The cashier shuffles loudly with the coins, handing her the receipt and then her change.

Vivi smiles amicably at her, although she’s a little upset by the wrong name that’s scribbled across her cup.

It’s only four letters, dammit, and she’s already spending over a hundred belies on an average, downsized milkshake.

She usually comes to the mall with her friends, especially Nami, but a book she has been wanting to read is still available only at the bookstore there, some sort of exclusive deal they stipulated to boost traffic to the shopping center, or so told her the man on the phone when she called to reserve her copy, whilst all of her friends are otherwise occupied, although some of their excuses sounded lame.

The precious volume now sits comfortably in the shopping bag hanging on her right arm, which she dangles on her side as she strolls leisurely through the mall, looking curiously at the colorful windows and stepping inside a shop or two when she sees something that strikes her fancy, all the while sipping on her underwhelming milkshake, which, she has noticed, tastes a bit too sweet.

Kaya said she needs to study, which is somewhat understandable, but Nami has muttered a weak excuse about a previous engagement whose details contradicted each other, while Robin… well, Robin hasn’t even tried to come up with a lie.

She just ruffled her hair and apologized with that mysterious smile of hers. 

Her friend is obviously entitled to her secrets; however, she can’t expect Vivi not to make some assumptions if she goes around with a hickey on her neck. Either a frenzied raccoon attacked her during the night, or someone sucked on her skin until it appeared.

It is gone now, and she has started wearing her hair up during school again, but it was there for the larger part of last week.

That paired with her random disappearances, it’s clear there’s something she isn’t telling her gal-pals, but it’s okay. B

rought up in a gilded cage, it took her a long time at first to open up to her friends; even now, there are still things she feels too ashamed to share. Preoccupied with such thoughts, Vivi doesn’t notice the body moving in her direction, so when the impact arrives, as her brain screams that Crocodile is trying something now, she just goes limp on the stranger, and she’d fall to the ground if he didn’t hold her up.

“Jeez, I am so sorry”.

…Wait a minute. She knows this voice.

It takes her some time to connect the dots and associate the proper name to the sound in her panicked state, but eventually – Ace – she comes back her senses.

It surely helps that her milkshake spilled out everywhere, from her dress to the tip of her left boot, completely drenching her hand.

It’s sticky, sticky and unpleasant.

Alarmed, she glances down at her shopping bag, but fortunately it wasn’t affected, so she lets out a breath of relief. It is, however, short-lived.

She raises her brown eyes once more, setting them on Ace.

When recognition dawns on his face, she’s a bit startled by the charming smile he shows her way.

“…Vivi, right? Aren’t you Luffy’s friend?”

“That’s me”, she replies, faintly, not sure how to address him. The Captain has often showed up to gatherings with his older brothers, so he’s not exactly a stranger, but he’s not a friend either… Between his signature grin, freckles and broad, muscled shoulders, she always does her best to avoid him. There’s a very specific category of boys she finds… troubling, and he’s the poster child for it.

“I’m sorry I crashed into you, I should have looked where I was going”.

“Likewise”, Ace lowers his head, looking very apologetic.

Finally, he releases the hold he has on her hips, eyeing the stain on her dress, and adds, “I’m sorry about your dress, princess”.

“Just call me Vivi”, she corrects, hastily. Normally she has no qualms when people use her title, if anything, it helps her feel sheltered, but she doesn’t like the way it rolls out of his tongue. He makes it sound like a nasty word. “Don’t worry about the dress. What are milkshakes even made of, mh, besides from milk, sugar and ice-cream? I’m sure it’s not permanently stained”.

Well, at least she hopes; as the daughter of a king she doesn’t get much say over her wardrobe, especially with the palace’s stylist always looming over her.

It would be nice if she got to keep one of the dresses she picked herself, or at least one of the few who passed the stylist’s inspection.

“Shit”, he utters. “It was a milkshake? I’ll buy you another one”.

Vivi shudders at the idea of re-entering the crowded, customer-service-less café.

“There’s no need”, she reassures him, shaking her head with a small smile. “It wasn’t that good, anyway”.

“I insist”, Ace shakes his head, hands in the front pocket of his jeans as he looks down pleadingly at her. “I feel bad enough already. Let me fix this, at least”.

He picks up the now empty cup from her hand, ice-cream dripping on the linoleum, throwing it away in a nearby can. He leads the way as they silently make their way to the toilette area, where Vivi dips inside the female bathroom to wash her arm. When she appears again her arm, hand and boot are clean.

Although most of the liquid has been successfully removed from the fabric, she still looks like she just had a close encounter with a sprinkler – Vivi really doesn’t care about getting another milkshake at this point, she just wants to go home and get started on her new book, but Ace doesn’t seem able to take no for an answer and eventually she follows him to the third floor.

She has never been to the bar there, because honestly it doesn’t look that good from the outside.

Her mind changes, partially, when the pair steps inside and the smell of freshly baked good hits her in powerful waves. It’s not as crowded as the café, probably because it’s located near less popular stores, so they get to the front of the line very quickly.

The woman behind the counter smiles cheerfully at them, “What can I get you today, lovebirds?”

Vivi almost chokes. Almost, because the barista is acting like she knows the dark-haired boy standing next to her, and it doesn’t take long for her to do the math. Why would she assume anything of that kind, unless he brought his dates here? Ace was pretty popular in high school, she heard the stories. 

While she knows that is not the case with her, she still hates the idea that someone, even a complete stranger, would think of her as just his latest trophy.

He may be funny, he may be kind, he may be pretty… unfortunately, everyone knows he’s also a bit of a fuckboy.

He doesn’t seem fazed by the woman’s statement and returns her smile. “I’ll get the usual”, he instructs, before whipping his head around and nudging Vivi on the arm, “What about you?”

She looks intently at the panel towering over the woman’s head, where the menu is written, eager to get this business done asap.
“A watermelon shake, please”, she tells the barista, who then proceeds to bark orders to a younger girl nearby as she starts printing their receipt.

“That’ll be two hundred and sixty-six belies”.

Vivi doesn’t protest as he picks up his wallet and pays, accepting the drink into her hands when it is ready, but she’s very grateful when they are finally out of the woman’s sight, since she doesn’t stop staring at them as if Ace is about to drop on one knee and propose to her.

They sit down at one of the few tables outside, where Ace, upon noticing her discomfort, smiles bashfully at her.

“Sorry about Kokoro”, he apologizes. “She has been trying to figure out if I have a girlfriend for years”. She’s a little confused as to why a barista at the mall would be so interested in a random boy’s life, but it seems they’re at least on a first name basis. Helpfully, he continues, “She’s Dadan’s older sister. If you’ve been to our house before, you met Dadan. Over the years, we ended up here on a fair number of occasions when an emergency came up and no one could watch me and my brothers”.

Vivi nods. Anyone who knows Luffy has heard about the woman who raised him. In her opinion she isn’t even as strict as the captain describes her as, but her spirit is much tamer than his, after all.

“Yes, I am familiar with Dadan-san”.

Ace doesn’t know why he feels the urge to explain the situation to her, but she looks pretty uncomfortable with the woman’s jokes.

He wouldn’t want for Kokoro’s words to ruin her afternoon more than his inattention already did, although he can see why someone who doesn’t know her would be bothered by it.

“I’m not sure why she’s so invested in my romantic life”, he confesses. “But most of my female friends started refusing to come here at some point…”

Vivi smiles stiffly at him. “I see…”, she trails off, sipping on her milkshake.

Her face softens in an expression of delight when she tastes the drink, but she’s quickly to recover and hide her enjoyment, much to Ace’s dismay.

This feels wrong.

Luffy’s friends usually love him.

“Can’t you just ask one of your friends to pretend they’re your girlfriend and get this over with, then?” 

“Are you volunteering?”, he smirks, cheekily. “I considered that, but it would be too cruel. Poor lady just wants the baby he helped raising to be happy. Besides, she would expect to meet her”.

“What? No!”, Vivi shrieks, alerting the other customers, who turn around sharply in their direction. She blushes, muttering an apology, before concluding, sharply, “Then I guess you and your friends are stuck with her. I like this place, though. It’s a pity Luffy never mentioned it…”

“Ah”, he chuckles, “That makes sense. My little brother was banned from this place during working hours…”

“Banned?”, the blue-haired girl stammers. “How?”

“He ate all the pastry and left none for the customers when he was twelve”, Ace narrates, eyes shining with mirth as he recalls the event.

The Alabasta princess looks slightly amused, as well. “Yeah, I can see Luffy doing that”. He’s such a glutton. “The whole crew was banned from a couple of places as well over the years…”

She starts listing them, but he listens half-heartedly. His attention is focused on her expression, gentle but guarded. That, paired with her reaction when he accidentally stumbled into her, can’t help but remind him of the favor his little brother has recently asked of him, or the background behind it.

“… So, the manager ended up calling his manager, and eventually we were told that they needed us to leave. We aren’t technically banned from that place, but there’s no way any of us is going back there after what happened…”

Ace waits for her to finish the story. Not sure how to approach the subject, he tries a weak, “Anyways, about Luffy. He told me what happened at Marco’s club the last time you were there…”

He takes a sip from his hot chocolate as he watches her shoulders slump, smile vanishing instantly as she picks up on the undertones of his words.

The look she sends his way, eyes widened in panic, makes him regretful he brought it up, but simultaneously even more compelled to discuss it with her.

“What about it?”, she snaps, brown eyes now reduced to slits.

“Nothing. It’s just…”, he hesitates, “…I’m sorry you’re having to go through all that”.

Vivi lets out a bitter laugh. “Honestly, I’ve been going through it my whole life”, she corrects him, “I thought it was finally over, but apparently that’s not the case”.

He shudders at the thought of a seventeen years old being so disenchanted about life.

“Hopefully, Crocodile and his family will face some sort of consequence for their actions at some point. Until then…”

She doesn’t complete the sentence, but he doesn’t like any of the endings he imagines.

Until then she won’t be free to walk down the road without watching her back.

Until then she’ll have to constantly fear for her safety.

Until then the possibility her father’s political rivals get their hands on her is real.

“Marco is keeping his eyes open. If he shows up at the Nest again, he’ll give me whatever information he manages to get on his current whereabouts”, he tries to reassure her, although two weeks have gone, and the man is yet to visit the nightclub again. “We looked him up online. Well, Sabo did… Anyways, he doesn’t seem like the type of character who can keep his hands clean for very long, so maybe he’ll give the police here a reason to arrest him sooner than we expect…”

“That family is good at covering their tracks, especially the son, Crocodile”, Vivi retorts. “They usually pay other people to do the actual criminal work in their stead. The crown’s attorneys faced them countless times in court, but they always managed to slip away and pin their wrongdoings on someone else…”

She pauses, sighing softly.

“Thank you, by the way. Luffy told me you’re trying to help”.

The smile Vivi shows him now is a little brighter than the ones from earlier, more genuine.

He initially forgets to reply as he stares at her face, at her small chin and round lips, her dainty nose and dark, beautiful eyes, thin eyebrows and long expanse of blue, wavy hair. She wears some sort of shiny clip on one side of her head, but other than that it just flows behind her shoulders, almost reaching the small of her back.

He’s not discovering today that Luffy’s friend is pretty, they all are, but it’s the first time that the thought comes up and lingers instead of immediately passing away. It feels… weird.

He feels the same way he does when he’s asking a girl out, but it makes no sense. He’s positive he’s not trying to hit on her, especially whilst discussing her stalker.

“Don’t mention it”, he utters when he recovers from his trance. “My brother will want to be by your side every step of the way, I’d get involved one way or the other”.

It seems he forgot to mute his phone, because just as Vivi is about to reply a familiar tune starts ringing inside his pocket. He tries to ignore it, but she nudges his foot behind the table, lightly.

“You should answer that”.