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It was a quiet day, their ship docked in a small town with the afternoon sun looming at their backs as they worked on restocking their supplies. The straw hat group split into three smaller groups in the town, while a blue haired cyborg worked in his workshop and a green haired swordsman quietly napped on their pirate ship.
Or so they thought.
The archaeologist was just leaving a book shop with a fresh batch of books in her hands while a small reindeer was hanging from her right shoulder.
“I can carry those for you, Robin,” he said pleadingly, only for Robin to turn her head to sides in a disapproval.
“I can easily carry them on my own, Chopper,” she smiled, "but thank you."
“But you always do,” pouted the small reindeer.
The words brightened her smile even more. Oh how she adored all sides of him. “Yes, I am used to it, don’t worry about such a simple thing. Moreover,” she added, “how will you carry a cotton candy if your hands are full with books?”
The reindeer beamed at the suggestion and hopped off to the ground excitedly. “Really, Robin?! Do you have any spare money that can buy one?”
She smiled once more, all pleased with herself and taking out a rolled banknote out of her deep cleavage. “I always do.”
He jumped happily, clapping his little hoofs in excitement. Robin's smile only widened and her heart fluttered at the sight of him. The sun now lowered a bit more as they made one more stop before slowly heading back to their ship.
Slowly nearing the end of the street that led directly to where they docked, now Chopper with one hoof holding Robin’s hand and a pink fluff of a candy in the other one, a ruckus on the docks caught their attention. They couldn’t see anything yet, but could clearly hear some subtle yells.
“Did you hear that?” said the small reindeer worriedly and increased his walking pace, a cotton candy now forgotten in his hold.
Robin nodded quietly, trailing just behind him. As they were nearing the end of the street, a flash of yellow from their right caught their eyes.
“Sanji!” beamed the reindeer happily, partly because of seeing his friend all right and partly relieved to not to have to be the strong one to protect them.
“Chopper! And my dear Robin-chaan!” His left eye turned to a heart upon noticing her. As always, it received a small happy chuckle from her. It never ceased to brighten up her day.
“Sanji, something is happening right over there!” said the small reindeer again, now more urgently, pointing a stick of cotton candy to the direction right in front of them.
“Don’t worry my little friend, I already know. My lady-in-need alarm is never wrong!” assured the young pirate before quickly running to the specified direction with them trailing shortly behind.
As they turned the corner, other members of their crew hurriedly arrived as well. Her eyes automatically found the green haired swordsman among them, though only for a brief moment. For many different reasons, she tried to hide her one sided attraction to the much younger man. Yet she couldn’t stop herself from flirting with him occasionally, in her own subtle way. Far from being her ideal older type, the reasons for such attraction for him were still unknown to her.
She never thought to be the one believing in love at first sight until she met him. It was long before meeting him on the crew ship, although she never bothered to share this detail. At first, he was only a rumor, a one she didn’t pay any attention to, she never did to any of them. But as the tales of a fearsome bounty hunter increased, so did the interest of Baroque works in him.
So she collected information, and thus her interest in him unknowingly started. Disguised as work at first, a subtle amusement with him later. But in the end her line of work never allowed her to meet him directly and she slowly forgot. But then Alabasta happened with Enies Lobby right after and her heart jumped once again.
So she owed a share of her reason to live to the man before her as well. She decided to treasure this small secret, a forbidden affection that shouldn’t be there, within her.
Their eyes locked for a second, his piercing grey one scanning her from head to toes and upon moving to Chopper, softening. Then his eyes quickly went over the rest of the crew, passing Sanji a bit too fast. Upon knowing all of them are unharmed, his shoulders visibly relaxed. Being right in front of their docked ship now, he turned to the sound as did the rest of them.
A young girl was running in their direction, leaving a trail of tears after her with a half dozen bandits. Upon noticing their small group, half already ready to fight, a relief softened her beautiful features. Her eyes found his swords first before strands of her light pink hair brushed the side of his green kimono as she clung to his left arm, quickly ducking her slender figure behind him. A glint of worry not leaving her yet.
Robin’s heart clenched just a little.
“M-m-mosshead, what the hell do you think you are doing?!” Sanji exclaimed now with tears of his own in his eyes, teeth clenched tight and an angry look on his face as his eyes hypnotized the touch they shared.
Not wanting to acknowledge it, Robin shared similar feelings.
“Don’t worry, my dearest, I will save you from those barbarians, him included.” Sanji tried really hard not to burst out again, having a duty to protect a lady in a first place.
The girl’s hands clenched the hem of the cloth upon hearing his words, a little bit too close to the naked skin of his chest to her taste. The girl looked at Sanji worryingly, but stayed quiet.
Robin averted her look to the bandits that now stood just a few meters from them, grins grazing their rugged faces. She tried not to look back as she noticed Zoro moving further to stand now fully before the girl in order to protect her.
“Give the pretty to us and we promise we will leave your small pitiful group unharmed,” said the biggest one in the front with a grin that promised no such thing witch a machete pointing at their group.
“Like hell you will,” grunted Zoro while unshielding one of his swords.
“Last warning, leave the lady alone or you will beg for me to spare you.” Sanji turned his full attention to them, all goofiness gone.
“Did she do something to you guys?” asked Luffy while picking his nose with his pinky, not bothered at all.
“Of course she did, she dared to steal one of our most precious treasure!” one remarked while others laughed, the sound rough from their mouths.
“I did no such thing!” shouted the girl behind Zoro at them, now clenching at his back, unintentionally prohibiting him to move. Then she worriedly turned to the rest of the crew, worry on full display in her round eyes. “I promise I did no such thing! They stole from me first.”
“So you did steal from them,” concluded Luffy, now flicking the newfound treasure away. After he did so, he smiled proudly and continued with a raised voice. “Luckily for you, we don't care. We steal ourselves! We are pirates, after all!”
“Like hell we do,” muttered Nami, clenching her clima-tact while ducking away herself.
“Yohohoho, what an interesting situation we have here!” Brook came closer to the girl, holding down his hat and bowing down while introducing himself. “Brook here, and I will gladly help you. But before that – may I please see your panties?”
Nami’s fist crashed his skull to the ground, an angry look on her face. “That’s not how you introduce yourself!”
“A living skeleton!” shrieked the unknown girl away, probably not even noticing his words.
“Don’t worry,” said Zoro with an irritated look and even more irritated hint in his voice. “The creep is in our group. Both of them, actually.”
The girl’s face softened for a bit. “What an interesting party you are then.”
“Sure we are! Interesting, funny and strong!” cheered Luffy. “Right, Zoro?”
The swordsman only nodded and turned his head back to the bandits with weapons now in their hands, visibly annoyed and ready for battle.
“Let me escort you to safety, my unknown friend.” A long-nosed pirate swept the poor girl in his hold, urging her to their ship, all pleased with himself for avoiding the oncoming battle.
She gave them one last look before boarding the ship with Usopp. This provoked the bandits, now moving with a hunger to kill.
“So you chose death then,” exclaimed Zoro with a cocky grin as he swung his blade at the oncoming bandit, leaving only a trail of blood after him.
“How dare you try to hurt a lady!” yelled Sanji as he kicked another one back into their group, knocking down at least five of them like bowling pins. Then he turned to Nami, a heart already in his eye. “Don’t worry, my dear Nami-chwaan, I will protect you as well.”
“Of course you will,” she patted his head while rolling her eyes, leaving him in a trail of blood of his own.
“Moron,” grunted Zoro under his nose, instantly reviving Sanji to attack him instead of the bandits. Zoro was quick to block his feet with his second sword, now drawn only for Sanji.
Luffy only laughed at their antics, while Robin grinned with her arms crossed, snapping necks of another few of them. Upon noticing the start of the battle, soon all three of the monster trio took over it, leaving the enemy to dust even before the rest of their crew could join for real.
An appreciated smile formed on her lips before she could stop it when his eye found hers again. Not saying anything, he then beckoned to the ship, leaving her to automatically follow him as always.
“I am so thankful to you all for saving me!”exclaimed the girl excitedly before she swung her arms open at the trio. Not being able to hug them all at once, she at least tried, snuggling her head to their chests as she did, leaving all three of them flabbergasted and Sanji once again at the verge of collapsing.
“Get a hold of yourself already!” Nami shouted at Sanji, dragging his unmoving body away before shaking him back and forth angrily.
“Not a problem,” grumbled Zoro almost too quietly, his one eye scanning anything but the girl while rustling the strands of his hair nervously with one of his hands. The other one was still resting on his now sheathed swords.
“Shishishi,” laughed Luffy as he returned the hug, relieving the other of her hold completely.
Robin only produced a tight smile at the new girl. Surprisingly, Chopper offered her a piece of his cotton candy while offering to check for any injuries.
“Oh wow, first a talking skeleton and now a cute little talking tanuki!” beamed the girl while picking up the small animal, hugging him to her chest. “You are so cute!”
“Why the hell did I meet another version of Perona?” sighed the swordsman, visibly annoyed. His remark, however, only piqued the girl’s interest.
This also intrigued Robin. Who was Perona again?
“Wait, you know Perona?” The happy glow in the girl’s face was unmistakable now, while the scowl on Zoro’s face only deepened as she turned to him with an excited look.
“I lived with her for a bit,” said Zoro while averting his gaze again.
This earned a soft scoff from Robin, too quick to be stopped. Excuse me, he did what with whom? Of course, nothing of this should be any concern to her, but leaving her surprised was put softly. Hearing him, of all people, to claim to live with a girl, left her absolutely flabbergasted. More so when she realized he may not be as disinterested in women as she first thought.
“Yes, Perona is my older sister! I am so happy I met one of her friends!” she jumped excitedly, putting down Chopper only to lunge for Zoro in a warm hug again.
“Oh fuck,” he murmured at the same time as Robin spoke under her breath a soft “oh hell no“.