Chapter Text
Her smile is a weapon, sharp and sweet and poisonous, subtler and more effective than her thousand hands clawing at the throats of her enemies, snapping their spines, their necks. She’s practiced for twenty years, honed her smile to cutting edge. There are secrets to be read in the corners of her mouth, red and inviting. There is intent, and men die trying to decipher hers. She only has to hood her eyes—tilt her head, her lips—and they destroy themselves eagerly. She thinks this is not what Saul had wanted for her, when he showed her how to steel her jaw and laugh, but Saul is dead and she is on her way.
She is on her way, the seastone heavy around her wrists, when she meets him.
They are both in chains, but when Franky smiles, he smiles with teeth, and try as she might, she can only read triumph in the corners of his mouth. He is as much war machine as he is man, but his smile is natural and warm, like his arm against her arm, like the way he says her name, as if they knew each other in a lifetime before this one. Nico Robin, never apologize. Nico Robin, they’re coming for you.
The way he smiles, so wide, it must be regret, she thinks. Because regret cuts you open, teaches you what love means, holds you in place. Sanji on the Baratie, Chopper in that cold, abandoned castle, and this strange cyborg on the fringes of a city he once called home. Regret ties you down but it teaches you longing, too, sharpens your dreams so that they scrape the inside of your skull and keep you awake staring at stars. Regret starves you. She’s seen it in Sanji and Chopper, the way they smile so fervently and so openly, like it’s new to them and they can’t get enough.
And when Franky smiles, he smiles with teeth, like he’s hungry for it. Like Saul did.
Dereshishi, she remembers, her chest too tight to breathe. Yes, that’s how it goes. She hasn’t forgotten. She feels small again, and stupid and hopeful, because Saul had said, hadn’t he, that there will be people in this world who would love her too.
And Franky had smiled, all triumph and confidence, like Saul had tried to teach her once, and he had said, he had said, Nico Robin, they’re coming for you.