New Arrivals

"This is paradise~!!!" Sanji twirled around giving garchuus to any of the lady minks who would accept it, which was pretty much all of them since they didn't have their minds in the gutter like he did after all.

Robin watched him with a frown. She expected this behavior from Sanji of course, that wasn't why she was perturbed. Rather it was her whose current location was unknown to her in this land of cute animal girls who will rub against you as a greeting. She trusted Cherry not to go too far, but she also knew Cherry wouldn't turn down a little innocent skinship.

Then she saw a rabbit girl walking over to them wearing Cherry's clothes…

Robin smiled sweetly at the girl, Carrot was her name, and asked, "Where can I find the owner of those clothes?"

"Cherry?" Carrot looked down at the robes she was wearing and flapped her arms for good measure. "She went with the boys to make weapons after we traded clothes!"

Robin calmed down at that. She might have jumped to conclusions too quickly. "Traded clothes?"

"Yes! It's a traditional show of friendship!" Carrot clapped her hands together and grinned widely, clearly pleased. "Oh~! I just realized that we both have food names! Like sisters!"

Any frustration with Cherry that had been growing in Robin's heart melted at the sight of the giggling rabbit girl. She was so adorably charming, she could see how Cherry got swept away in her rhythm.

Nami appeared in the distance, and crossed said distance with remarkable speed.

"Where are the samurai?!" Nami whispered hurriedly to Robin, leaving Carrot confused over the sudden secrecy.

"They wandered off somewhere with Zoro. Chopper seemed to be in a hurry to find them as well, so what's going on?" Robin asked curiously.

"The minks were almost completely wiped out by Kaido's men in search of a samurai they thought was here! If they find out we've got three of them, they're bound to react poorly!" Nami briefly explained.

Robin was able to piece together from the myriad of bandages the minks wore that their resident doctors had fixed them up, which explained the glowing reception they had when they finally arrived in the city.

"Surely as grateful as they are, they would at least listen to what we had to say?" Robin asked.

"... That's pretty much what Jinbe said…" Nami pouted.

"You should listen to him more, then. He's a wise man, Jinbe." Robin chuckled at her frown.

Nami was warming up to Jinbe, but not nearly as fast as the rest of them had. It made sense, given both of their complicated histories with Arlong. Still, she was getting there. She wasn't nearly as closed minded as one's first impression of her might suggest.

Something clicked in Robin's mind and she gave Nami once over with her eyes. "You traded clothes with one of the minks?"

"Yes? With Wanda, she's around here somewhere." Nami answered, somewhat caught off guard by the sudden change in topic. She looked at Carrot wearing Cherry's robes and smiled deviously. "The dress that Cherry is wearing shows more skin than mine does, though~"

Robin blushed at the apparent mind reading Nami just pulled off. She excused herself, "I'm interested in the kind of weapons they make here, so I'm going to check out the smithy real quick."

"I'm sure your interest is purely academic~" Nami purred.

Robin hastened her walk to get away from her. She wondered if maybe Nami had some cat mink in her blood to make her so mischievous. It was difficult to maintain her cool and collected older sister reputation when the younger woman managed to get under her skin with her teasing like that. She was supposed to be the one doing the teasing, damn it…

When she arrived at the smithy, she saw a large number of similarly uniformed minks waiting outside, many of whom were drooling for some reason. The exception was a large cat man who was dozing on a big cushion.

The maniacal laughter of both Cherry and Franky echoed out from the smithy, giving the scene a strangely eerie vibe. Robin wasn't phased by this, though, so she marched herself right inside.

"PAINT?! You want to PAINT over my beautiful inlays?! To cover up my art?!" Cherry had one of Franky's arms in a vice grip as it held a paint brush.

"Of course it needs paint! Who wants a plain old metal arm?! And what about corrosion?! A good layer of paint will keep it from rusting!" Franky shouted back.

"Hoooh? You have the nerve to claim my work will corrode by just being exposed to the elements." Cherry gained a dark look in her eyes.

"Ack?! I didn't mean it! I'm sorry!" Franky immediately knew he'd fucked up. Saying that Cherry's metalwork would rust to her face was no different than telling Franky his ships would spring a leak.

Cherry eyed him with an unreadable expression. "I'll agree with SOME paint, but only on the transforming parts; and ONLY if you use cool colors, not the childish crap you choose to wear."

"Geh?! Childish?!" Franky wanted to start up again, but he could see that she was done compromising. He threw up his hands and said, "Fine!"

Franky put away the baby blue paint and begrudgingly got some black and yellow out to match Cat Viper's fur.

"Ahem," Robin coughed.

Cherry looked over at her, down at herself, then back up and blushed furiously.

"That doesn't look like a blacksmith's apron to me~?" Robin cooed.

Cherry literally sunk into a hole in the ground in shame, and Robin knew she hadn't lost her touch.

…

The following morning.

"So this is Zou, homeland of the Mink tribe? Just how long are that things' legs to be walking around in the grand line instead of swimming?" Gang Bege asked.

"Nevermind that, the Straw Hats are already here so we need to hurry! My Mink tribe aren't the most receptive people in the world, they might kill Vinsmoke Sanji before we can bring him back with us!" Pekoms hurried. "You need to stick with me as well, or you might suffer the same fate! Gao!"

It was a bit of a shameful matter for him to bring outsiders, especially those he cannot trust, to his homeland. He wanted to get this over with as quickly as possible.

"As if…" Bege didn't believe he could be so easily beaten. If it was a battle of manpower, then few in the world could match his own forces.

"Don't be so full of yourself, rookie! Every last mink who can still stand on their own two feet is a warrior! You might be a walking fortress, but the Mink tribe is no stranger to war! Gao!" Pekoms dismissed his unearned confidence.

They both let the matter go, as Bege wouldn't be leaving Pekoms' side under ordinary circumstances anyways.

Pekoms got to climbing the back of the elephant with ease while Bege had a hatch open at the top of his head. Grappling hooks fired from tiny cannons enlarged as they flew out of him and latched to the elephant high above him, then they began to reel in and pull Bege upwards.

They both made weird expressions when they saw a rather poor rendition of a dragon about halfway up, but pushed past it without paying it too much mind.