Chapter 23: Angel of Mercy

Hey people! I have finals coming up, so don't expect an update for at least another two weeks! This is the long anticipated Nico Robin confrontation everyone's been looking for. Now, I observed Dragon as much as I could, and I apologize if any of you think I'm off base with how he's acting. Dragon is a radical revolutionary, and I concluded that he would most likely try to take the oppurtunity that you'll read. Lastly, I went back and forth in my head about Nico Robin going with Conan, but in the end I decided not to, for plot development purposes and I just like the dynamics in my head better. Don't forget to review, and enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece or Case Closed

After getting a five-hour long lecture from Ace, Whitebeard, Vista, as well as all of the Whitebeard commanders, he was sitting comfortably in a spare room, most likely used for guests on the massive ship. He laid down on the bed with his head over his arms, he had been given fresh clothes, and finally allowed a shower (he forgot how long it had been since he had one), and was told to wait in his room, and that dinner would be brought to him. When he asked about Franky, Ussop, and Sentomaru, he was told that the two pirates were currently enjoying their reunion with their fellow crewmates that had also been picked up, and that Sentomaru was currently in a holding cell undergoing interrogation. But when the detective fiercely defended the engineer, they recanted and said that he'd be given better living conditions. Sentomaru had already agreed to cooperate anyways, so it wasn't like it was too big of a stretch.

Thinking about it, this was the first night he had of peaceful sleep in a while, he had lost track of how long he had been here in this world, but it felt like forever. But he was among allies and friends; he was safe here. He had been brought up to date about what everyone had learned, while he gave them his own findings; it was a rare occurrence, but for once, everyone was on the same page. Suddenly, the door clicked open and he sat up abruptly. In front of him, he couldn't help but blush; in front of him was the most beautiful black-haired woman he had ever seen. She was tall, slimly built, and was wearing a tight, short, purple dress with black stockings. She had crystal blue eyes, and a serene face that was even more radiated by her calm smile. Conan wondered if she was a model or something in this world.

"Uh…hi." The boy said stupidly.

"Hello. You must be Conan-kun, I requested that we could have dinner together in private." She smiled.

"R-Really?" He asked excited.

"Yes. You must be tiered, and I had just heard everything from Franky and Ussop; you must be quite overwhelmed from all the things you've gone through recently." She smiled.

"I get by." Conan scratched the back of his head, embarrassed. He then noticed the tray in her hands. "So…what's for dinner?"

"Ah…salted ham and green beans." She set the tray on a table in the room, and unveiled the food. She served Conan his plate, and she sat on the bed while they ate. "So then…Conan-kun…mind telling me about what you think of all this? What do you plan to do from here?"

"Well…" The detective frowned, he had been on Cloud 9 since he and his companions were found, that he hadn't been thinking about it. "I need to head back to Mariejois, that's where the blueprints had indicated where the vortex converter was built. The darkness down there allows them to isolate the light particles easier, and they can activate the machine. Before that though, I need to go to Amazon Lilly; I'm not sure what Lucci-san wants me to find there, but I can't simply ignore Lucci-san's request either." The woman observed the boy carefully as he thought. "I guess my next move is to go to Amazon Lilly…by the way, I didn't catch your name. I'm Edogawa Conan, but you obviously already know that."

"Ah. As well as your true identity Kudo-kun." He laughed nervously at the name. "Fore the sake of simplicity, I'll call you Edogawa-kun. Is that all right?"

"Of course! So what's your name?" Conan asked with a smiled.

At this, woman's smiled widened slightly, but it didn't appear from happiness or joy. "Robin…Nico Robin- archeologist of the Strawhat crew." Conan choked on the ham in his throat, had he just heard right?

"N-Nico…Robin…san?" He asked hesitantly, slowly facing the woman.

"Eh. I believe you did some research on my mother and I; Pappug-tan had some interesting information on what happened between you and Donflamingo-san." Her smiled never wavered, but the tone in her voice suddenly became very threatening. "Now then…just what did you think you were doing, looking up information about my mother, and even had the nerve to research me?"

The detective looked down at his sheets; he had been given private investigating assignments before, and they were never pretty. If it was research into someone he either go slapped or shot at; seeing as how this woman didn't have a gun, he assumed the first would happen. He sighed, and spoke. "When I was held up at Marineford…I made a random connection between your mother and Roger-san, through an island called Raftel. It was the last destination your mother had before she was brought in by the World Government, and it is also the island where One Piece is rumored to be hidden. They wanted me to figure out if Roger-san actually hid One Piece on Raftel, but when I saw your mother's name on the records of people who had somehow made it to Raftel, I had to look into it; I thought she got One Piece, essentially. But when I looked into the Ohara incident, I discovered our name, and looked into that. You must be a genius…passing a doctorate extreme at the age of eight. In my universe, you'd not only be prized as a genius, but a philosopher paid over a thousand dollars just to talk." He chuckled trying to make light humor.

"Thank you for the compliment…but that doesn't explain why you were looking up my mother's name in regards to the slave records or the Tenryuubito." Robin now frowned, slowly turning into a glare. "Well?"

Conan inwardly cursed, he thought Pappug-san had been unconscious when he and Donflamingo made the deal! "I'm sorry…but I can't tell you." Conan suddenly felt himself get thrown back onto the bed, with hands holding him down, and two almost crushing his trachea. "S-top it!" He managed to get out.

"You will tell me, what you were looking up regarding my mother. And if I have to get violent with you, I won't hesitate to do so. My mother is none of your business, and certainly none of Donflamingo's business and whoever else you shared the information with. Now…tell me!" She increased the pressure on his throat for a minute, before letting go. Conan gasped for breath, relieved his scared neck now had a more protective pad under the bandages.

"I'm sorry…" He mumbled again, looking away from the woman. "I can't tell you."

"Then suffer until you do." Robin was about to go in for another choking session, but a firm hand was placed on her shoulder. She turned to attack the intruder, but backed down when she saw who it was.

"Enough Nico-kun…I understand how you feel, but killing the boy won't do any good. A war is coming, and he knows everything about our enemies; we need him right now, okay?" The hooded man told her. Robin pursed her lips and shot Conan one final glare before retreating her hands. She walked briskly out the door, slamming it shut behind her. The man sighed and turned to the boy on the bed. "Did she reopen any of your wounds?"

"I'm fine." Conan looked away from the hooded man.

"You don't need to be nervous, your among friends here." The man reassured him. The detective observed the adult in front of him, he was tall, had long, bushy, brown hair and had a red, speckled-shape tattoo on the right side of his face. "I am Monkey D. Dragon, leader of the Revolutionary Army." If Conan had been sitting on a chair, he would've fallen off of it. That was the last thing he was expecting. "I apologize for Nico-kun's actions, her mother is just a sensitive subject for her, and she doesn't like to talk about the Ohara incident in general. If it's truly that much of a secret, then I won't press it, detective, but she won't cooperate with you until she learns your reason either."

"Understood. Thank you Monkey D.-san." Conan replied awkwardly.

"Please call me Dragon, we are allies against the World Government, such barriers are not needed between us. I wanted to talk to you about several things, one of them being my son's crew." The man explained.

"Your son's…crew?" Conan raised a brow confused.

"Yes. Monkey D. Luffy is my son, and I wanted ask about you keep running into his crewmates, other than Nico-kun, you've met almost all of his crew in an organized sequence. Did you plan this?" He asked.

"Er…your Monkey D. Luffy-san's father?" The detective blinked. "I just thought the last name was a coincidence." The detective had never seen the mysterious captain, but he assumed that if the father looked this scary, the captain had to be as well. "Um…believe it or not, I've been meeting your son's crew by complete coincidence…I don't expect you to believe me, but…it's the truth." Conan said sheepishly.

"I see, then. Explain no further." Dragon nodded.

'That was easy.' Conan thought.

"Now for the other subject of importance, I wanted to talk to you about the war the World Government and the Black Organization attempted to start. What do you plan to do from here?" The man looked the boy in the eye.

"I plan to get home of course." Conan answered automatically.

"Obviously, but how do you plan to retaliate?" Dragon pressed.

"Retaliate?" The detective raised a brow.

"Yes. Surely, you don't expect that by going home, that this ends the situation. Do you plan on abandoning the comrades you've made here just to get back to your old life? Do you really think the Black Organization will stop, if this plot is foiled? Even if you destroy both machines, what makes you think that the Black Organization will stop? They can merely build another machine and latch onto this universe, or a different universe. In other news, even once this is all over, what makes you think anything will be truly resolved?" Dragon interrogated.

"…What are you getting at, Dragon-san?" Conan was starting to get nervous at this point.

"A war was almost instigated, but you managed to pause it temporarily, and this pause will be good enough to change who has the advantage. In other words, we take the initiative in the attack and assault the World Government and the Black Organization with no mercy." The revolutionary explained.

"What? You want to start what they tried to start?" Conan exclaimed. "Are you crazy? That'll put everyone at risk! Yourself, your comrades, this universe, and my universe! If you use this to further the Revolutionary army, then you're just putting yourselves at risk! It's true that the World Government started this, but under no circumstances do you need to finish it!"

"Silence!" Dragon exclaimed. "You have the nerve to say we have to stop, after coming so far? Do you have any idea just what pain and suffering the World Government put us through? Or was all your research into the World Government just for the sake of your flawless reasoning…Kudo-kun?" Dragon took a breath to calm down. "The war that changes the world is inevitable, this event in your universe just added new variables, and has jump-started the process. It's obvious that there's much more behind the scenes then what Sentomaru-san knows of, and what we've been told of. Neither of our worlds are safe, Kudo-kun…we need to do whatever we can to protect them. Do you plan on just abandoning this universe? I thought you had a strong sense of justice; at least that's what my idiot father said."

"Father?" The detective repeated.

"Monkey D. Garp." Conan's eyes widened, the marine who scolded Ace. "Hero of the Navy, the greatest Supernova, and the leader of the Revolutionary army all in one family, quite a conundrum isn't it?"

"I didn't mean-"

"It doesn't matter Kudo-kun; a revolution by this point is inevitable, and I need to know I have your full cooperation against the World Government and Black Organization. You said that you had two friends that are thieves in your world, but if the world turned against them, you'd be at their side in a heartbeat. Why is that, detective?" The revolutionary questioned.

"Because they've already done the same for me. They put themselves and their comrades at risk to save my life numerous times. Though it's true I have to try to catch them every time I see them, it doesn't change the fact that they're good men. I'll stand by them until the end if that's what it takes to prove that." Conan stared hard at Dragon. "I understand your fear, animosity, and uncertainty of the situation, and you don't have to tell me that the Black Organization will merely try to do this again. I'm sure the World Government will try something else, should this crazy collaboration fail, but that doesn't mean I won't stop trying. I have to keep trying for peace, a solution, and I'll stop the Black Organization from ever doing this again, but I won't be able to succeed if a revolution does take place like you want. The technology in our universe is greater, though the raw power here is stronger; it'll be a huge blood bath, with the World Government and the lack Organization pulling the strings behind the scenes, nothing more. Don't you dare play into their hands in front of me, Dragon-san."

"How can you be so confident?" Dragon asked.

"Because I have too much to lose; my friends and loved ones are at risk, and I'm the only one preventing their deaths." The detective sighed. "I'll think of something, I always do. Being tricky on my feet got me this far, there's no reason for it to carry me further."

"You remind me of my son." Dragon sighed. "So there's no way to get your cooperation, despite all that's happened to you?"

"As I said, the only thing that'll occur from a revolution is a blood bath, and I refuse to further that idea. You people have been honest with me the whole time, and this is the first time I've been able to be completely honest in awhile, so I'll keep telling the truth until I'm back in my own world again." Conan clutched his bed sheets, no longer meeting Dragon's eyes. "I'm sorry, but I can't support the revolution."

"…Then we'll have to keep you in protective custody until you either change your mind, or the revolution is over." Dragon looked down guilty.

The detective turned sharply at him. "You're keeping me under house-arrest?" Conan asked angrily but then gave a sarcastic laugh. "Seems as though theoretical justice hypocrisy runs in the family. I thought I was out of the Navy's headquarters." Dragon punched Conan across the face, sending the boy into the pillow. The detective and revolutionary glared at each other, before the hooded man left in a huff, and locked the door behind him.

Outside, Conan could clearly hear them. "Make sure he only leaves to bathe, socialize, eat, and got to the bathroom. Otherwise, he's under protective custody; we can't afford to let the Navy or the World Government catch him." Was what Dragon's voice said.

"Understood Dragon-san." Nico Robin agreed to seal his fate.

The Next Day

Conan's head was reeling with a plan of escape, these people were smart enough to keep his belt hidden from him, and they were currently anchored in the middle of the ocean, surrounded by various pirate vessels, Whitebeard's fleet, and the Revolutionary's fleet. Nico Robin had volunteered to be his attendant, but for obvious interrogation reason, which despite the sore neck, still wasn't talking. He had a promise to keep to Admiral Aokiji, and he wasn't breaking it under any circumstances. When he thought about it, Nico Robin may have been an exact replica of her mother, other than her hair color and nose-shape, she also inherited a few traits from her father. She had Aokiji's black hair, slight darker skin, and the awkward nose shape; the detective wondered what went through the admirals head every time he saw his daughter, but he couldn't do anything but let her go. Conan's attention snapped, when he heard the door to his room open; Nico Robin came in with a first aid kit- time to change the bandages again.

"Remove your shirt." She said curtly. The detective did so automatically. "How are you today? You didn't request breakfast."

"I wasn't hungry." Conan replied.

"I see. Everyone would be celebrating if you would only cooperate with us." The woman said nonchalantly.

"If I cooperated, then all of you would die. The Black Organization isn't some random splinter sect of a military, they're a huge, wealthy, and organized crime syndicate, who apparently have access to other-worldly technologies." Conan sighed as his old bandages were removed.

"If you know this, then why do you reject our help?" Robin asked.

"Because…I need to do this without getting anyone else involved, I've decided that. Look at what happened to Franky-san and Sentomaru-san." The detective sighed.

"That was a consequence of this world, not yours, so I recommend you stop making excuses around me." She harshly pressed some disinfection on his chest, causing the detective to hiss.

"They may be excuses, but they're the truth." He hissed. "Do you think your mother would've wanted you to die for an empty war?" The detective froze as he said that, he knew he crossed the line from the look on the dark-haired woman's face.

"My mother is none of yours, Donflamingo's, and especially Admiral Kuzan's business!" She stood up abruptly, desperately trying to control her hands from strangling the boy. "Do you have any idea just what the World Government has done to this world? They actually tried to erase the true history of this world form the records? To deny the existence of the past! MY mother and the great scholars of Ohara were massacred for the research they did! I was marked as a criminal at the age eight for learning the Poneglyphs language, and pursuing the true history! I watched Admiral Kuzan take Jaguar D. Saul's life, a friend to my mother, and I watched him walk away to finish the job on my mother! I don't know what you were looking up, but until you're ready to tell me, don't ever talk about my mother! If you truly cared about what the Black Organization was doing, you'd join the Pirates and the Revolutionaries to stop it."

"It's not that I don't care about this world." The woman turned to the regretful detective. "I have no hard feelings for this place, in fact, I'd be exploring my heart out of this universe. I'm not an archeologist, Nico-san, but as a detective I also pursue the truth, the mysteries behind the truth, and uncover the ultimate truths. I'd love to explore the mysteries of this universe Nico-san, but that's currently impossible. But my prime concern is to get home to my friends and family, who are worried sick about me. I don't wish death or destruction on this world, I just don't wish for my world to be sacrificed to save yours."

"That's not what the Revolutionary army intends." Robin sighed.

"No, but that's what will happen. Without the superior technology the Black Organization gained, my world will be left completely defenseless to a bunch of power they have no experience fighting against. The only reason why I've survived up until now is due to sheer luck." Conan admitted. "The Revolutionaries, pirates, and the marines who aren't informed of what's going on will be forced to attack people in my would indiscriminately, due to the fact that everyone will be fighting back. I don't want to see that happen Nico-san- to my world or yours." He sighed as her hands finished re-bandaging him.

"…I'll tell Dragon-san that you'll be cooperating as an advisor." She replied suddenly heading to the door.

"Oi-"

"Good day." She shut the door behind herself.

"I didn't agree to anything…what's she up to?" Conan asked.

Tomorrow Night

Conan sat on his bed, reading a random history book that Nico Robin had graciously given him after a two-hour negotiation session with Dragon. The boy had always been a fast reader, but the book was over a thousand pages, so he'd be entertained for at least a few hours. He glanced at the clock, luckily the hours worked the same here- 22:23, he sighed almost another night would pass while he was safely in his prison. The detective knew that even though the pirates and revolutionaries knew he was alive, he was certain that other than Rob Lucci, that everyone in the Navy and World Government thought he was dead. Thus, the element of surprise was with the company that was holding him, and they didn't want to risk losing their lead. But if they fell into the idea of a revolution, then that would simply play into the Black Organization's hand.

"YEEAH!" Conan's head shot up from his book from the loud sound he had heard outside his room; he frowned, that had been going on since eight- what were they partying about? It didn't matter…the Nico woman probably set something up to where he couldn't refuse, but whatever it was, it would most likely help him in the long run. Suddenly, Conan's door creaked open, but no one appeared to take him anywhere. Blinking curiously, he got off his bed and headed outside, the sight baffled him; it seemed like every pirate and revolutionary was celebrating and had drunk themselves into comas. The detective frowned, with the size and body proportion of these people, as well as rum being a part of their culture, he knew they wouldn't have gotten drunk this easily.

"Edogawa-kun." Conan jumped and turned to see Nico Robin…with his belt Asaga had made for him. She tossed it him nonchalantly, and waited for him to put it back on. The boy did so, but it was little more awkward with sweats. The Revolutionaries had been kind enough to give him their old clothes. Once he adjusted it properly, he smiled; all of his gadgets were working perfectly. "Sentomaru fine-tuned some of your gadgets, to they're little more powerful than they were before- your darts can now put people asleep for over a day, and you've been given a month's supply of them, you soccer ball can do as much destruction as cannon with much less force, your extension cord can do longer reaches, and your taser can now take down a dinosaur, and is nuclear powered. Senomtaru-san didn't touch the other gadgets in your belt because he deemed them 'an unnecessary hassle', he states that he is indebted to you for convincing Rob Lucci to let him go with you alive."

"So…I got a total upgrade." Conan concluded, shocked.

"Yes…you'll also find that you've been given a log-pose in one of the compartments of the belt; they're rare, so use it wisely, and don't…lose it." She replied.

"…You're the one who got these guys drunk, aren't you Nico-san?" The detective asked carefully.

"I don't know what you're talking about." She sighed and walked up to the railing of the revolutionary ship. "I was in the library doing research; I don't know how this came to be."

"…" Conan was silent for a moment, observing the woman in front of him. He already knew what she was doing, the question, was…could he risk it? Making a quick bow to the woman, he muttered, "Thank you"! He ran towards the railing opposite of Nico Robin and looked for a ship that was anchored near them, or at least tied to the revolutionary ship. Then, a large ship with caught his eye. The ship had two giant angel wings on both side of the ship, it was large, and had a grassy lawn with fireflies roaming it strangely. The ship itself was plain brown, but any type of metal on the ship was definitely gold, if not some other precious metal, nodding at the decision, he looked around himself in order to find something to get down there. To the boy's relief, there actually was some type of twine attaching the angel ship to the revolutionary ship. Utilizing his belt as a handle, he positioned himself and shoved off the Revolutionary ship railing, and after some effort, managed to crash land on the angel ship. "That could've been smoother." Conan muttered.

Quickly, he hid behind a barrel on the ship, just in case there was someone on. After five minutes of silence, the detective cautiously went up to the twine he came down on, and cut it with a pocket knife from his belt. Nodding to himself, he head for the control room of the ship, which luckily was just by the captain's quarters on the deck. He ran forward to the control panel, which was surprisingly modern compared to a lot the things he had seen here. Then again…VegaPunk had managed to find a way into subspace and discover how to travel between universes, so who was he to judge? But then something dawned on the detective…he had no idea how this ship even worked.

With Robin

"Nico-kun!" The raven beauty hadn't left her spot since she sent Conan off, but she turned her attention to her comrade.

"Yes, Inazuna-san?" She asked.

"It's terrible! While we were all celebrating Edogawa-kun's cooperation, he gave us the slip, and now we can't find him!" The okama (now female) exclaimed.

"Calm down." Robin reasoned. "We're in the middle of the ocean, he can only hide on this ship instead fe escape. He knows that trying to sail out ot see on a dingy life-boat would be fruitless, so it is merely matter of finding him. It's strange, how Edogawa-kun had so readily agreed to help us, but when faced with commitment, he turns and runs. Reminds me of many women who have tried and failed with certain types of men."

"We can complain about men later! If he gets off the ship somehow, we're screwed!" Inazuna exclaimed.

"Let's start looking then." Robin could barely hide the smirk.

With Conan

After racking his brain over this for several minutes, he decided to do the typical cartoon-thing you'd see on tv…he pushed the red button; unfortunately, he didn't notice the wings on the red button. Conan suddenly felt a rumbling similar to an earthquake, and was knocked to his butt due to the surprise of it. He hurriedly glanced out a window and gulped, it had to be his imagination right? "I'm in a ship, that's hovering in midair." It only took him a moment later to realize, that the ship was getting higher, so he decided to do something with the navigation. "Okay…how do you fly a ship?" But then Conan smiled, this had to be similar to flying a blimp, which he had done before! So, all he had to do was steer this thing to the nearest island, and he'd successfully escaped! That plan was immediately shot into hell- before he knew it, the boy was speeding off faster than a bullet train into the sky.

With Robin

There were very few times Nico Robin was surprised by people; let alone astonished. She and her Revolutionary comrade could only stare stupidly at the flying ship that had just disappeared from sight. "He's escaped! He's escaped!" Inazuna ran to wake up his leader, leaving Nico Robin to her dark thoughts.

"Of all the ships, he hijacked…" Robin knew she was taking a risk like this, but she didn't think the detective would think to hijack the only ship that could fly!

With Conan

After gaining his footing, Conan pushed a button that looked like said brake, and the ship did indeed come to an abrupt halt- only to have it fall back towards the ocean. Panicking, the detective pushed the red button again, and once again, ascended rapidly into the sky. Now desperate for any navigation control, he turned to the control panel again, and saw the kanji for home on a yellow button. Thinking that it would have to do, he slammed on the button, which surprisingly seemed to have worked. The ship went to a steady pace, but then gradually speeded up again, and headed a random direction to the sky. Taking the steering wheel, he screamed when he almost crashed into a giant bird, which he managed to get passed somehow. "This is just like driver's end, only there's more than insurance you have to worry about!" He managed to make another sharp turn again, but it all ended when a huge flock of seagulls came toward the ship, blocking his vision. The ship tumbled and swayed until finally, Conan could feel the ship propelling downward.

The ship came to crashing fault, having hit something solid, throwing Conan back into another room of the control panel, and down a different floor of a ship. "Stupid make-shift elevators." He rubbed his head in slight pain and annoyance, but then noticed he landed on some type of metal. Looking down, his eyes widened to find doubloons- golden, genuine doubloons. "Real pirate treasure. So is it what looks like in this universe."

"AAAAAUGGH!" A woman's voice made Conan come back into reality and he rushed to find his way of the ship. After finally finding a latter to the deck, he quickly glanced down to see a beautiful orange-haired woman with red eyes, looking utterly stupid and horrified. 'What's wrong?' Conan was about to ask, but her scream answered for him. "MY HOUSE!"

"Eh?" The detective blinked and looked to see what the ship landed on, below him was a small, blue house that seemed to have met its demise by a pirate ship crashing into it.

With Dragon

No one said a word to the winged Supernova, who wore an expression of shock, dismay, and rage. "WHY MY SHIP?" His fellow pirates could offer nothing but condolences for poor Urogue.

Let me know what you think!