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Robin is an archeologist, a scholar in every sense of the word. Knowledge survives longer than anything else can. Items can be destroyed, places can crumble, and people can die, but the memory of them, knowing that they existed—that can survive. Robin is a memory herself; she supposes. The only surviving part of an island long gone.
She, with her existence, won't allow the world to forget her land, her people, and their purpose. Just as she won't allow the world to forget the history the past tried to erase.
Her past isn’t a known fact to most, there’s a reason she had been marked by the government as a young child—given a bounty far too high and that name, Devil Child—the government didn’t want the world to know just who she was; where she came from.
Her crew, however, isn’t most. They don’t pry, the past doesn’t matter on their ship; but they know of her island’s destruction. They know she’s been running from the world since she was eight years old, they know of the hardships she will share in the dead of night—when the past doesn’t seem so far away, when she feels watched by eyes she can’t see.
They don’t pry, and neither does Robin; that doesn’t mean she isn’t curious. She’s an observer, notices the little things others do not. She can’t help the way she speculates—fitting together pieces of the lives her crew has led. None of them are here because they’ve had it easy. They’re a family of shattered pieces, fitted together by strong rubbery hands to make a beautiful mosaic of shards.
She has eyes everywhere, literally at times (her devil fruit is one of many uses) and she sees; sees that Zoro will shift in a room to have his good eye face the entrance, sees how Sanji will obsessively check the pantry to be sure there is enough food for each voyage, sees that Chopper always double checks he grabbed the right jar when handling a medicine that contains fungi.
She observes and has her suspicions on the lives each of her family has lived, it pains her at times, to know her crew have faced so much hurt. It saddens her every time a gruesome part of their pasts is revealed; but it is still, most of the time, something Robin has already suspected. She tries her best to give the support each of her crew needs, heart still breaking each time something is revealed that she too understands and relates to.
Still-
She never thought she and her captain would have such a horrible thing in common.
---
It was after a battle. The crew are all seated in the vague shape of a circle in a grassy field near the coast by The Sunny. They’re all a bit bruised and worse for wear; but none seriously injured- the worse injury being the palms of Luffy’s hands. The skin is blistered and peeling—a second degree burn only thanks to Luffy’s haki.
The leader of the band of pirates they faced wasn’t especially strong, but the devil fruit he wielded was a tricky one to counter. He could control the heat of objects, and himself. The heat energy could be used to not only make things hot to the touch but heat them to the point of igniting.
He used his power to torment the townsfolk of the island, scorching their crops, livestock, and nearly burning the whole town to the ground.
Despite the crew’s best efforts, a portion of the town couldn’t be saved from the blaze, the use of heated projectiles making quick work of the buildings they encountered.
It was one of such projectiles that had burned Luffy’s palms. He had caught one heading for a civilian, moving before he could think to fully coat his hands in armament.
The burns hurt, but not badly. He sits wiggling impatiently, Chopper chastising him as he wraps his hands. Robin sits, observing the interaction with a small, amused smile. She’s always a bit shaky after a fire on an island; her crew is aware of this, and they always comfort her in small, meaningful ways.
Nami sits beside her, her hand brushing against her own as she talks animatedly with Ussop about the performance of the latest improvements to her climatact. She notices how all of them glance at her occasionally, as they always do, making sure she’s okay.
And she is okay, with her family near her. She knows she’s safe.
Robin glances around the circle, taking in the tired slope of each of the crew’s posture and the satisfied grins fueled by another victory on their faces. Franky is humming along with Brook as he fiddles with the wires of his arm. Zoro and Sanji are in what seems to be the beginnings of a heated argument. Jimbie is sitting cross-legged, an amused smile on his face as he listens to the crew’s bickering.
Robin looks back at Chopper and Luffy, listening to Chopper’s irritated exclamations. He’s holding Luffy’s wrist firmly in his little hooves as he speaks.
“I told you! The first wrapping was just to apply the salve! I need to put the second layer to make sure they stay on.” His little face is scrunched in a way that tells Robin this is not the first time he has told Luffy this exact sentence.
Luffy only pouts childishly at him. “But they’re not even bad burns! I had worse when I was little” Luffy replies.
“It doesn’t matter!” Chopper looks far beyond exasperated. “Burns are serious Luffy, they can get infected easily if not covered. There’s also the chance of scaring, even with your crazy healing.”
Luffy wiggles his already wrapped finger. “But I can’t move my hand as well! When Grey terminal burned, I didn’t wrap my hands and neither did Ace! The burns after that were worse than these. And my hands were fine.” He draws out the last syllable of his sentence as he shifts where he’s seated.
Robin notices the way the crew’s conversations quiet down at the mention of Ace’s name; they always do. It’s not that Ace is never mentioned, he is. It still doesn’t stop each of them from feeling a spike of regret in their chests every time.
Though Robin does wince slightly at the mention of Luffy’s brother, it’s not the name that causes her to pause in thought. Her hands tighten in their graceful placement at the front of her skirt.
She knows Grey Terminal.
Sabo had mentioned it in passing, an odd mixture of fondness and grief etched on his face as he recounted a trash heap turned playground by a group of wild boys. He had quickly moved away from the topic and Robin hadn’t pushed him. Still, she was intrigued.
It didn’t take much digging before she found what she was looking for. Grey Terminal—part of the Goa kingdom of Dawn Island. She learned of the highly divided classes, the sparkling streets of high town, the poverty and pain of low town. And those of the lowest status, viewed as nothing more than the trash the nobles threw away, lived in the heaps of garbage outside the city walls. The area is full of crime and suffering. All of which is out of view from the nobles.
She also found a small number of accounts of a fire occurring at Grey Terminal, though those accounts were not confirmed. Grey Terminal still existed; the vast amounts of trash still present, so she didn’t think too hard, satisfied knowing what Sabo was referring to.
Luffy had never mentioned Grey Terminal until now. The theory forming in her mind had her eyes widening. She thinks of scorching fire consuming her home and the voices of her people in hysterics. Robin turns so her body fully faces her captain.
“Luffy, what do you mean by fire?” The slight shake in her voice has the rest of the crew quieting fully and looking at their captain along with Robin. Chopper stills his hooves where he is halfway through wrapping Luffy’s second hand.
Luffy looks up, eyes falling on Robin’s troubled expression and frowns, looking confused.
“You mean at Grey Terminal?’
Robin nods slightly. She can feel Nami’s confusion next to her as she tightens her grip on Robin’s arm.
Ussop speaks up next, looking lost, “Wait- What are you all talking about?” He turns to Robin and furrows his brow. “What’s Grey Terminal? Am I missing something?”
His confusion matches the rest of the crew, some looking concerned, others (Jimbie, Zoro, Brook) mildly confused.
Luffy only tilts his head. “Grey Terminal is part of where I grew up.” He doesn’t look upset as he speaks, more concerned with Robin’s distress.
Robin continues, “You said it burned down. I had heard rumors of a fire in Goa, but there are reports of Grey Terminal still standing.”
Luffy is facing her, hands behind him, unbothered by the dirt finding its way into the bandages of his hands. Chopper is too preoccupied looking between Luffy and Robin with wide eyes to notice.
“It did burn down. All of it. Me and Ace were in it but got out.” He says it easily, like it’s not a big deal—the same way someone recounts what they had for dinner.
Nami is next to speak up, looking distressed, “And you lived there, in Grey Terminal?”
Luffy nods.
“And-” Nami takes an uncertain breath, giving a vague wave of her hand towards Luffy, “It burned down. Your home.”
“Well yeah, part of it.” Luffy agrees, like something so severe isn’t being discussed. “I lived in the jungle too, it was kinda connected, I guess.” He smiles a bit, “Grey Terminal was cool! And scary- well mostly scary—but had a lot of cool stuff! And some of the people were cool too.” His face shifts, mouthing twisting downward a bit, “The fire was kinda our fault anyway.”
Nami’s brow pinches, Usopp looks on in concern, hand twitching towards Luffy, Jimbie’s large mouth is pulled in a tight frown, Franky and Brook glance at one another as Zoro and Sanji share a knowing look.
Robin feels ice pool in her gut. She should have looked further. She scoured every scrap of knowledge on the war she could find, took note of every memory Sabo shared, even pulled what little she could from Dragon himself. She wasn’t there, standing beside her captain at Marine ford, so she did all the research she could to understand what occurred; she needed to support him when she returned, like she and her friends had failed to do then.
But she didn’t look much further into Grey Terminal. Maybe it was a subconscious action, the event too familiar and painful for her.
Now looking at her captain, she curses her past actions. There’s a fury in her slowly building.
“No” It comes out of her much harsher than she means it to.
Nami flinches beside her, startled. All the crew's heads are turned towards her now; it’s not often that Robin loses her composure. Luffy is looking at her in the way he always does when a crewmate is hurting—trying to pin down what the problem is and how he can stop it.
“No” Robin repeats, calmer now; a determined firmness to her voice. “Luffy, I am aware of Grey Terminal to an extent. I heard rumors it had burnt down” she pauses, “But there was little information confirming thisstatement. Grey Terminal is still a section in the Goa Kingdom, even if it’s less known.”
Robin makes her gaze match Luffy’s, his mild expression meeting Her's firmly. She may not have the full story, but she needs to make it clear what she says is taken seriously.
“I may not know the full history of the fire, or what proceeded such an occurrence, but I know that it wasn’t your fault.”
Luffy’s face pinches a bit, one of his hands comes to lay in his lap as he curls inward slightly.
“It was. Me and Ace both. After Sabo” he purses his lips, “After Sabo left, Ace said we shouldn’t go after him; that he was strong, and we should wait for him to come back.” Luffy looks around a bit, his eyes still meet his crew’s and their concerned expressions, despite his obvious discomfort. He always looks at them directly.
Luffy breaths, then continues, “And even though I didn’t want to, I listened. And then Blue Jam and his guys showed up.”
Robin looks to Nami and Usopp, their clueless faces match her own; not knowing the group Luffy is talking about. Luffy always spoke the least about his past, only bringing up bits he felt like without context. Usopp shrugs, and glances around—everyone knowing this is nothing new.
“They said they wanted to set up boxes around Grey Terminal and have us help. I said we shouldn’t, they were mean and hurt us before, but Ace agreed.”
Jimbie speaks up then, looking at the boy. “Why did Ace agree if they had wronged you previously? Ace isn’t one to forget a grudge. I’d assume his protectiveness would prevent him from working with what seem like were... the more unsavory type of individuals. ”It’s ‘cuz he wanted to get back at the nobles, and Sabo’s parents. They said if we set up the boxes, we could get back at them. Ace was angry. I was too, but I just wanted to find Sabo mostly.”
Luffy shrugs. Robin narrows her eyes, fitting together more pieces of the event in her mind. She is beginning to come up with an idea for why Luffy believes he is at fault; she doesn’t like what she thinks. The boxes she infers, with some certainty, were explosives—though explosives alone would most likely not be enough to burn down the entirety of the terminal. A trigger then, to ignite a flammable substance. What she doesn’t understand is where a band of supposed thugs would acquire the necessary materials to carry out the plan.
It seems Franky has come to a similar conclusion as her. “Luffy bro” he raises a large metal hand, still holding a screwdriver. “The boxes—you find out was in them? I assume those jam dudes or whatever, didn’t tell ya’ what you were planting, right?”
“Yea” Luffy nods. “Bombs and stuff. They got em’ from the Hightown nobles.”
“Nobles? They were working with them?” asks Sanji gritting the near stub of a cigarette between his teeth just mentioning them.
Another nod from Luffy.
Brook tilts his head, his spine sloping sideways in a sway with it. “What reason would nobles have to work with thugs?”
“Especially with all their high and mighty, godly bullshit.” Zoro grinds under his breath closing his good eye.
Luffy looks as put off as the rest do when talking about the ruling powers as he shakes his head. “They weren’t. Well—Blue Jam didn’t know that either then but, the nobles were trying to get ready for the visit and stuff. A ‘cleassing’ or something.”
“Cleansing?” Ussop corrects automatically.
Luffy plants a fist into an open palm, humming in agreement. “Yea, that.”
Robin bites her lip. Her stomach twists, but she proceeds; she avoided the topic then, she won’t now. It doesn’t matter if she’s uncomfortable. It’s obvious that Luffy has been affected by this event; and knowing him has done nothing to discuss or resolve his own feelings about it. She ignores the subtle distress of her friends. Chopper inches closer to Luffy, bumping his knee.
“What do you mean by cleansing, Captain?”
Luffy looks up from where he was glancing at their doctor’s movements. “They needed to get rid of all the trash; the people too.” His dark eyes shift to glare at the dirt. One of his hands rests gently on Chopper’s head, the other is fisted in the dirt. “The Celestial Dragons were coming for something, some sorta inspection, I think. And they needed to get rid of all the trash quick.”
“And we” Luffy’s next words drip with distain, “were considered part of the trash.”
Robin feels a familiar sort of fury burn inside of her; a burning ire fueled by injustices faced and pointless destruction witnessed. Her people burned, her home is ash, and though she escaped the flames on her skin, they made their way into her very soul. She knows now her captain must carry similar embers inside.
Luffy looks up then, and Robin’s eyes soften as they meet his. Her grip on her dress, nails fraying edges of fabric at this point, does not lessen. The Celestial Dragon’s visit—this she is aware of. Sabo gave a brief account of the event; the event that enacted the major shift in his life—the start of a new one after all memories of his past had been lost to him. He did not bring the event up often, quickly changing the subject when possible. Most of the details she had acquired from Koala (The girl respected Sabo’s privacy but confided in Robin frequently.) The two got quite close in Robin’s stay with the revolutionaries.
She fits together an essential piece of the event in her mind, the edge pieces are assembled, she has a view of what the final picture will be. She is only missing details. She steels herself to ask her next question.
“This visit of the Celestial Dragons, it’s the same one as the day Sabo left, yes?” She speaks with caution—not hesitation. Her voice is unflinching, but her cadence is measured. Luffy is far from fragile, she knows this. It doesn’t mean she isn’t going to approach the next topic without care.
Luffy hums mouth pressed into a tight line. The crew all shift subtly closer to the boy, like flowers tilting towards the sun. “He left right after. Ace and I were stuck in the middle of the fire. Blue Jam and his guys tried to stop us. They realized that they were stuck too. Went sorta crazy.” Chopper makes a small noise of distress and leans closer to Luffy.
Luffy speaks with a near blank face; brows only furrowed slightly. “I got knocked down. Then Dadan came to help, but Ace wouldn’t leave. He never did run away from fights.”
Jimbie bows his head.
“I don’t remember much after that until I got back to Dadan’s. I thought that both of em’--Ace and Sabo—that they were y’know” he glances away and begins to pick at his now ruined bandages, “gone. And I just- I didn’t really know what to do. Then Ace came back but Sabo didn’t, and Dagra told us he was gone--saw his ship get shot down by the Dragons-” He’s speaking quicker now, somewhere just on the better side of frenzied.
Nami meets Sanji’s worried frown with her own, just as the others glance between themselves and their captain as Luffy continues.
“And I didn’t know what to do. Neither did Ace. He was so angry; had to be tied down just to not let him run off, and we didn’t go back until after the other soldiers left or they would’ve killed us too. And when we did go back-” He inhales. “There was nothing left. Just ash. And cinders, and smoke. Ace wasn’t talking to me still, so I just walked off, and-” Chopper is the one patting Luffy now, petting his arm with watery eyes. “And I looked at all the homes people had made from the junk; we had too, in our treehouse. But that was destroyed too. So many people died, and I couldn’t stop thinking about how I should’ve kept telling Ace no. I should’ve stopped it.”
“You couldn’t have predicted what would happen Luffy” Nami says watching Luffy sadly.
“Nami’s right” Sanji adds. The others nod.
Luffy doesn’t look convinced. He’s unraveled the bandages on two of the fingers of his left hand. Chopper grasps the hand gently and begins to re-secure the wrappings without a word. Luffy tilts his wrist for easier access without thinking.
“I could have done something” Luffy says firmly.
Robin refuses to let this train of thought continue. She summons a hand to place Luffy’s hat onto his head from where it had fallen to lay against his back. Luffy pulls up the brim from over his eyes, looking at her confusedly. She has the arm she bloomed lightly poke her captain on the cheek before she vanishes it into petals. The action earns her a surprised giggle that has her and the others smiling softly at Luffy despite the previous tension. His laugh always seems to have that effect on people.
Robin’s face is firmer but no less fond when she speaks. “Captain” his wide eyes immediately meet her own, “may I ask something?” She knows her question is unnecessary—Luffy will always listen to them.
“Always” says Luffy.
She smiles wider, a bit of the tightness in her chest easing. “As you know, my island burned down. Do you blame me for its destruction?” She speaks like it causes her no pain.
Luffy shoots forward at that, indignantly, “Of course not!” He gestures firmly with his hands. “None of it was your fault, Robin!”Robin chuckles softly at his eagerness to defend her (from herself no less). Some of the others seem to have caught onto her plan, Zoro looking at her approvingly. She tilts her head gracefully to the side. “Then why would you be at fault for the fire on your island?”
“That’s different” Luffy’s hands drop “The government was the one who destroyed your island.”
Robin nods, “Correct. Just as the government was the cause of Grey Terminal’s destruction as well.”
Luffy makes a face close to a pout, near comedic despite the discussion. “But it was me and Ace who listened to Blue Jam. We moved the crates where they said to.”
Nami speaks up next, “But they didn’t tell you what in the crates.”
Luffy narrows his eyes at the navigator. “No but-”
Robin doesn’t allow him to object further. “And you were a child when this took place. To my knowledge, quite young.”
“I guess” Luffy says.
“You were lied to, by adults who hurt and threatened you. You were unwilling even in the beginning, and you had already been dealing with the loss of Sabo.” Robin stands and makes her way towards Luffy. He still looks unconvinces as she kneels in front of him. Chopper slides out of his place in Luffy’s lap, shifting to perch in between Zoro and Jimbe.
Robin takes a hold of both of Luffy’s bandaged hands, holding them gently in the space between them. Luffy tilts his head up slightly to meet her eyes. She needs to make him believe what she is saying.
“What happened was no more your fault than mine. Yes, you were involved, but you were not the catalyst nor the orchestrator of what happened. You were seven (Too young. Sabo had said he was 10 when his boat was hit), you were manipulated and lied to, and you were scared. You’re not to blame for the corruptness of the government.” Luffy looks at their intertwined hands with tears in his eyes he doesn’t allow to fall. “It wasn’t your fault what happened at Grey Terminal. Or with Sabo.” She pauses a moment, “Or with Ace.” A tear slips down Luffy’s cheek at that. He gives a small nod.
She pulls him forward into an embrace and it’s less than a second before Luffy is tightly wrapping his arms around her. She nudges back his hat and brings a hand up to his mess of dark hair and runs her fingers through it softly.
Robin hears her crew shift about behind her, Chopper being the first to join the hug. The rest follow suit, some sniffling, others smiling fondly. Franky is crying the hardest out of everyone exclaiming about how ‘Super! Their archeologist and captain are’. Zoro is still standing, leaning against Jimbie who is sat with his hand on Robin’s shoulder. Sanji is by Ussop, both leaning on each other. Nami joins in next, laughing while chastising Franky for bumping into her. Brook splays his lanky frame across them all, causing Luffy to laugh and Robin to smile.
They’re a mess of limbs, piled and near toppling over in the grass. They stay that way for a while, shifting among one another, always maintaining some form of contact. They’re laughing and nudging each other like children; all still dirty from battle and now covered with grass stains that whoever is stuck with laundry will rant about later.
Later, when most have taken to conversing with each other in groups, Luffy sits next to Robin. They both look at the sky, moving to lean on one another's shoulders.
The sun is setting at this point, the sky melting into warm shades of orange, pink, and purple. There’s still smoke drifting in the air from the town; what was preciously a large haze of grey is now only small wisps of smoke mingling with clouds that move gently in the wind.
The fire in Robin’s chest feels more like the warm embers of a late campfire now; comforting, protective, and full of love. She loves her friends more than anything. She lives for them, these people who declared war on the entire world for her, gave her life and dream back to her. Luffy showed her she could live in a world that told her she didn’t have a right to exist. He is her captain. And she is his archeologist. He uses his hands to fight and protect them. She uses her knowledge to aid and guide them.
Her job is to explain what he does not understand. She will piece together any puzzle he requires.
Luffy loves harder than anyone, and she is so, so grateful she is someone trusted to hold a piece of his heart. She will protect it with everything she has, anything else is unthinkable.
Luffy moves his hand to take hold of Robin’s. His movement shifts their touching shoulders, jostling her from her thoughts. The bandages on his hands have been replaced with new, clean wrappings. The fabric is soft against her own palm.
He doesn’t speak but Robin knows he is thanking her.
She doesn’t speak, only squeezes his hand in her own-- ‘Of course,’ it says, ‘Anything’.
They share the silence comfortably, still watching the streaks of grey vanish in the wind. They both lost their home to an extent, Robin knows. The memory of them will never disappear, living with them both. They carry the embers with them.
Yes, their homes were taken—Robin smiles—but she knows that they each have found a new one to share.