252 Chapter 252

252

With all things done, Luffy looked at the newest member of his crew. Nico Robin.

He looked at Robin who was mildly minding her own business reading a book. Which in all things considered was quite productive on her part.

Most of the Straw Hats might have accepted her, but there were some that didn't. And also, Robin was making no effort to earn their trust as well. So other than reading a book, she had nothing else productive to do.

And that needed to be fixed. He didn't need Robin to trust everyone in the crew, but she would have to at least trust him, or Sanji. Because other than him, or the cook, she rarely interacted with others in the crew.

Luffy rubbed his chin, looking at Robin. How should he go about this?

The original Luffy did nothing and with his luck, everything played out well. But he needed to fasten up the process. Building trust was crucial for the crew. Vivi was close to accepting Robin, so the only problem was Miss Archaeologist herself.

The woman in question sighed, putting her book down, and looked at Luffy. "Do you want to say something, captain?"

"Hmm… why do you ask?"

Robin gave him a flat look, "You have been staring at me for quite a while now. If I didn't know any better I would have thought you had a crush on me."

Luffy grinned, wiggling his eyebrows, amusement in his eyes, "Maybe I do?"

Robin gave him another flat look, "I highly doubt it. You don't look at me the same way you do with Miss Navigator or Miss Wednesday." She said, waving her book at him. "So, either, you are trying to annoy me just to get a reaction… Or you have something you want to say."

"Aww… you got me all figured out," Luffy said, a bit disappointed as he didn't get the reaction he hoped for. He then flexed his biceps and the other muscles in his upper body. He was wearing an unbuttoned loose shirt, so he was showing off a bit. "But I'm good looking, aren't I?"

Robin mused, humming, "Maybe, but you are… a bit too childish for me."

For some reason it hurt Luffy more than he should. So the boy made a face and stuck out his tongue maturely.

Nico Robin's mouth curled up. "Like I said, childish." She chuckled when Luffy had slouched over in depression. She found her new Captain oddly immature most of the time. It was like putting up with the antics of a younger sibling.

She wondered how the rest of the crew dealt with it. But then again, in the short time she spent with them, she found out almost everyone had their own antics. In some instances, the six-armed monkey known as Sparky acted more mature than the rest of the crew. Wait, Monkey? Monkey D. Luffy. Who has a first name for Monkey anyways…

Robin blinked, and a small, amused chuckle escaped her lips despite her efforts to contain it, which caused Luffy's grin to widen.

"See? That's much better," Luffy said cryptically. Robin blinked, having caught herself, and her mask fell back in place.

"What's better?" Robin asked in slight confusion.

"Your real laugh. I like it. It's much better than that fake smile you put on."

Robin was silent for a moment. "Someone once told me that a fake laugh is better than no laugh at all," she finally said. Thinking over the old friend that sacrificed himself for her.

"Well, I'm sure he was wise." Luffy said, "Maybe he was a fellow D.," Luffy joked.

But Robin stiffened. Those were the words told by Jaguar D. Saul once. And he was a D.

"What does D in the middle name stand for anyways?" Robin muttered uncharacteristically.

"It's simple," Luffy said, puffing his chest out, as if he knew the answer.

Making the Archaeologist lean in, wanting to hear the answer.

"D stands for D Wise. D Awesome. D Amazing and lastly D Humble. Don't forget I'm extraordinarily humble." Luffy said, pointing to himself, as she flexed like male peacock.

Robin was thrown back by the answer and she couldn't help but chuckle. "But I am curious, D. is a very odd thing to be in a name." She said, humming, "Many famous people had it."

"Then it begs the question. Do the people with D. make the D. awesome? Or does the D. make the people with D. awesome?" Luffy said thoughtfully, amusement in his eyes. "It's a very complicated paradox." He paused for a second, before snapping his finger and looking at her, "Houston, we have a problem!"

Robin lightly chuckled again. "A very comedic one, aren't you?"

"So I have been told." Luffy said, "And it's better since I can make you laugh for real," he replied. "Don't worry, I'll be able to tell the difference."

If it was just a few days ago, she would have been on guard at Luffy being able to read her. But now, she was more or less getting used to his antics.

Like how the crew's sniper once said, 'You are getting immune to the captain's Luffyness.' Or whatever that was.

The crew almost made her feel as if it was a big family. Everyone having their own stories, and yet willing to give it their all for each other.

But Robin shook her head. It was ridiculous. And it would never work. Eventually, the darkness of her existence would come to shadow him and his little crew, and she would have to either betray him or be betrayed.

But would that be so bad? Even Alabasta's Poneglyph was a hopeless dream now. Her life… it no longer had any purpose other than meaningless survival. She had seen with her own eyes the carefree nature of the Straw Hat Pirates.

Maybe she could pretend she could live that life, just for a little while. Until things went downhill. Then… would she finally accept her fate? Only time would tell. At least she could enjoy her remaining time.

For her, there was no happy ending at the end of the tunnel. Just sadness and ghosts of the past. No bonds, no family, she was alone in the world. Like always.

In her ears a voice called out to her, that one day she would find people that accepted her. But the voice of her long-dead giant friend died out at the end.

She sighed, before asking, "Do you need anything?"

"And I do have something I want to say… I'm just not sure how to go about it."

"I doubt it's anything you should overthink… For some reason overthinking just doesn't match your character." Robin stated, a bit amused by her own statement.

Luffy put his right fist over his left palm, "Exactly. Gramps said the same thing… something about intelligence skipping a generation in the Monkey family line. I don't believe him one bit, I mean just look at me. I'm brilliant!"

"And humble," Robin added, amused.

Luffy smiled, "You catch on little Robin…"

Nico Robin chuckled, most of her depressing thoughts going away as she continued the conversation with her captain. "You do know, I'm older than you, by quite a few years."

Luffy shook his head, and wisely pulled out one index finger. "I have been told, "age is just a number, and jail is just a room.""

Robin blinked, dark humor? "In what context?" She asked, even though she knew what he meant.

Luffy wiggled his eyebrows, "Wouldn't you like to know?"

"I didn't know dark humor was your thing?" Robin asked, holding herself from laughing.

"I dabble in the arts of jokes. Few can match my jester!" Luffy said it in a grand way, as he opened up his arms.

"You are like a walking comic book."

"Now, that… would be a killing joke!" Luffy pointed a finger gun at Robin playfully.

Robin laughed, genuinely enjoying herself. "You really are something… anyway, before I go back to my reading. What do you want to know?"

"You," Luffy said, pointing at her. "I want to know about your past…"

Now, Robin was caught off guard, almost making her tense up. She expected some questions regarding Baroque Works, and steps to help him take over the organization.

Baroque Works had been unofficially disbanded, leaving a lot of bounty hunters out of stable income in Alabasta. That's why Luffy officially took over the organization without any hiding. Even changing its name.

The bounty hunters stationed on Whiskey Peak were easy to bring into the organization, as they mostly had been working outside Alabasta, so just because the name and boss changed, it didn't mean anything to them.

Of course, it was ironic, considering a pirate —who was also a Warlord— running a big-time bounty hunting organization. But Luffy's recent reputation boost made him look like quite the nice guy to work under.

Let's just say Morgan was doing his best to sell Luffy as the next Garp.

So that was why Robin was surprised by his odd request. And also a bit cautious about it.

Seeing no response Luffy continued, "You don't have to tell me everything… I don't usually pry into my crew-mates' past. Most of them are more than willing to share it with me, when they trust me… so I believe you will as well. But… Robin, I do want to know why you were helping Crocodile. And don't just tell me, you were working under him to survive. Things wouldn't add up then."

"And why not?" she asked curiously. "I could have done everything for purely selfish reasons for my own survival."

Luffy gave her a flat look, "You could have gone to East Blue if you wanted to survive, faking your death at sea wouldn't be too hard. Heck, even going over to one of Shanks or Whitebeard's territories would have made you untraceable. For all the World Government is worth, they aren't very competent at their jobs."

Robin blinked, a bit amused. "Can't argue with that one."

Luffy grinned, "So what's the reason? I doubt it's anything to do with Crocodile's ugly mug. I mean I'm not judging if you are into him… I heard girls often date bad boys at your age."

Robin gave him a flat look. Again she wanted to point out that she was older than him, but that would be giving into what he wanted. So she had to hold herself back from saying anything.

So Robin just stared at him quietly for a whole minute, making sure to make Luffy as uncomfortable as possible —for some reason, she enjoyed it— before she spoke. A part of her wanted to tell him about her past, of how things ended up this way, but her paranoia held her back. She couldn't trust him… not yet. Maybe not ever.

"I was mostly working under Crocodile to survive… he was a Warlord, and hated the World Government just as much. Amongst other things… Alabasta also had something that piqued my interest." She said, hesitating a bit.

Luffy didn't say anything, just listened silently.

Robin bit the inside of her mouth. 'Should I tell him?' she asked herself, 'But what if… no, I have nothing to lose anyway… but it's a gamble…' Could this really be happening? Could she still have a chance? several thoughts were running in her head.

Before she spoke, "I'm looking for the Poneglyph that's located in Alabasta… I'm an Archaeologist… and in a way, I was trying to get to it to read the history."