I kicked open the door to the commander's quarters, seeing that he was on his balcony. He turned in a swift motion to look at me, but I already gathered the gold and jumped off of the balcony and onto the mountain side that the room was built into. He was staring at me in surprise with and slightly agape mouth. Didn't see that one coming, now did you, you schemey man. I saw those chess pieces, we all know what that means in animes!
I activated my devil fruit power and stuck the bag onto my back, climbing up the side of the mountain hastily with picks for hands. I ran along the side of the island valley, witnessing Luffy explode the gate by ricocheting the cannon balls that were thrown at them. Wow! I forgot he was situationally smart. I finally got as close to the boat as I could before it was covered in smoke from the blast, and I jumped.
"ROBIN OR SOMEONE PLEASE CATCH ME IF I DON'T MAKE IT!" I pleaded to the Straw Hats on the ship. They couldn't see me so I needed to yell. A hand grabbed me suddenly, and almost dropped me since I was so much heavier with the weight on my back. I looked at who the hand belonged to, and it turned out that it was just a linkage of a bunch of robin's hands. I was slowly but surely pulled up. Sanji greeted me immediately, while the rest of them welcomed me back seconds after.
Once I was situated, I heard screaming from the orange head, "WE HAVE TO TURN BACK! OUR GOLD! IT'S GONE!" she screeched in agony. I tapped her shoulder with a proud grin. She turned to me so fast I thought she'd have whiplash and then her eyes caught sight of the giant bag I was carrying. A grin slowly grew across her face as I untied the bag, revealing all of the missing gold. She cried tears of joy, hugging the gold to her body and then hugging me. "You're the best, (y/n)! You and Robin are the only ones I can count on!" she sobbed out as we left the fortress. Her sobs of gratitude quickly ended, though, and she started ordering everyone to start moving the ship in order to catch the best current away from this damned fortress.
Once we were far enough away, I let a sigh of relief and fell onto the deck. Chopper copied my actions, and his actions were soon followed by Usopp. "I thought we'd have to go back and risk our lives a second time. You really did save us that time, (y/n)," Usopp huffed, sounding relieved. Chopper agreed immediately and called me cool, to which I smiled to him for.
"Part of that was me not wanting to be part of the gold retrieving crew," I said honestly which earned me a chuckled out of the sniper.
I smiled to myself and closed my eyes. I could hear Nami saying that 80% of the gold would be going to the Going Merry, since the poor ship has been through so much and has gotten little correct care. Luffy stated that the ship needed a shipwright, and also a musician, the latter being shut down by Sanji right away. A musician would be nice if I was going to stay on the ship with them.
"Man, I was hoping we could use the sky octopus," the captain whined, and then PULLED THE OCTOPUS OUT OF HIS PANTS?! I gawked at him while Zoro asked him how he's had it in there for so long.
Everyone gathered to one side of the ship as we said our goodbyes to the poor octopus who was stuck in Luffy's shorts this whole time. It waved goodbye and it was off. I'll miss weird situations like this. Oh right, I should probably tell them.
I took a step back from everyone so I could see them all, drawing their attention as I did so. "So, as I promised, I'll be out of your guys' hair as soon as we stop at the next island!" I stood up and bowed deeply to everyone, "Thank you so much for taking me to Sky Island with you, I will never forget that, even if I don't want to remember being electrocuted more that once." I bit my lip to not say anything else unnecessary. I don't need them to pity me and take me in, plus if every day is almost dying, do I really want to-
"Eh? What do you mean? You're already part of my crew," Luffy stated plainly.
I blinked and stood up straight, looking at him, "Wait, when did I agree to that-"
"I decided it," Luffy stated. I opened my mouth to protest but Sanji already twirled over to me with hearts in his eyes, talking about how glad he was that another "beautiful lady" would be staying on the ship. I looked around to try to find some help in my situation. Zoro stared blankly at me and shook his head, and I knew that meant that there was practically no way out. I looked at Robin next to find some more help, but she just smiled at me.
I tried to stutter out a denial of his decision, but Nami threw an arm around my shoulders and smiled brightly at me. "What's wrong with staying? We'll miss you when you're gone! We've been through so much already. And how could I let someone who saved us so much trouble just leave?" she chirped. I didn't know how to answer that. Something grabbed my leg and I looked down, seeing a starry eyed Chopper, "So you're going to stay with us, (y/n)!?" he gushed. Oh no. My weakness. The cutest Straw Hat.
My eyes scanned over everyone, all of them smiling at me brightly, besides maybe Zoro since he's too cool to smile for me. I then gazed back at Chopper and sighed, placing a hand on his head while I confirmed with a, "Yea, I'll be staying."
A few cheers and Nami giggled beside me, "You didn't really have a choice if Luffy already made up his mind, but I'm glad you'll be with us from now on. Now I can have another sane person around." I chuckled at that, and was pulled away from her by Luffy who was running into the kitchen declaring that there should be a party with a lot of food. I was basically just his excuse, but I would gladly take Sanji's cooking any day, even if I wasn't hungry.
~~~
I leaned against the railing of the ship with Robin sitting cross legged at the table beside me. I was just flat out sitting on the floor since I could just lay my legs out. Sanji came by to give us some desserts, and I giggled when he went spinning over to a door to Nami who was drawing a map in her office. He's just so funny to watch, especially when I'm not the one he's after. The cheerful trio of Chopper, Luffy, and Usopp tried to call me over to them, but I denied them since it was late and I just wanted to drink. Two empty bottle sat next to me and another one that was half full sat between my legs.
"They truly seem to have taken a liking to you, Miss Blacksmith," the mysterious older woman hummed to me with a soft smile.
I grinned at Luffy when his eyes met mine, seeing him smile a little wider when I did so. I looked at Robin with a tilt of my head, "I'm glad. I'd miss everyone if I left. I was determined to leave anyway even if I did, though, so I could find my own way and write about it all. But maybe being a part of Luffy's crew is the way I'm supposed to go. My dad was part of Gold D. Roger's crew, so maybe I should be a part of the future King of Pirate's crew."
"While we're talking, I thought you should know that I saw the Pirate King's message on the golden bell in Skypiea. He really was there like your father said," she informed. I grinned widely and thanked her for telling me. She nodded her head while I tapped the tips of my boots together in boredom.
Another pair of boots eventually walked in front of mine, but they weren't Robin's like I expected. I looked up to see the swordsman of the group. I grinned and offered him the rest of my bottle. He looked at it strangely before taking it into his hand with a shrug. "After all the trouble you went through in Skypiea with us, you thought Luffy would let you get away?" he asked, taking a seat beside me. I shrugged. Robin chuckled and leaned her chin on her hand, seeming to be looking lower on the deck in amusement. I wonder what she's looking at. I soon found out when Sanji came running up the steps as Zoro was about to drink from the bottle I just gave him, kicking it out of the green haired man's hands so it landed in his own. I was going to say nice moves, but he was glaring down at the swordsman.
"What're you doing, curly brows? I was gonna have that," he grunted in response to Sanji's glare.
I absentmindedly watched them, not really knowing what was going on.
"You dare play off that you wanted this indirect kiss?! I'll have it in place of you, you ungrateful heathen!" the blond shouted, placing the bottle to his lips and chugging down the rest of it. I stifled a laugh, shaking my head. I looked over to Zoro who's eyebrow was twitching in annoyance. He probably had no idea what the hell Sanji was so irked about.
"Heathen?! Say that again ero-cook!" They started a fight soon after that and I just got up and moved to Robin's side of the table so I wouldn't get caught up in the chaos.
"I think you'll certainlly make things interesting around her, (y/n)," the woman mused beside me. I raised a brow at that but she didn't specify what she meant.
~~~
I rolled off my hammock and onto the floor when someone called out that there was land sighted the next morning. Well, it was actually lunch time already. I ran a hand through my hair and almost walked out of the girls quarters with no pants on. It's just how I sleep, it's super comfy with a big shirt. I quickly threw on some shorts and a new shirt, stumbling out of the room clumsily until I was standing next to the figurehead of the boat where Luffy was sitting.
"Oh hey, (y/n)! Nami said you wouldn't wake up, so we just left you," he chirped. "Well actually, I wanted to wake you up but Nami said I wasn't allowed to go in there!"
I turned to Nami and gave her a silent thank you, to which she gave me a thumbs up. The last thing I want is for Luffy to drag me out of my bed or jump on me. I just know it'd be horrible. And with no pants, to boot. We dropped the anchor at the island and had a little barbeque before we set out to explore the rest of it. It was pretty much just all nature, but it was nice to see after being surrounded by clouds when we were in the sky and rocks when we landed back in the ocean. After a bit of walking, we came across a clearing where Chopper ran ahead of us all to what seemed like a huge black mushroom on top of a tall rock sticking out of the ground. We all ran over when Chopper was knocked back by something.
I ran over with Robin since we trailed behind everyone, and I heard a thud when we could see who the reindeer ran into. Turning my head to the side I could see that the blue eyed woman was now sitting on the ground, staring at the man with a shocked and horrified expression. I've never seen her this scared. Everyone else looked back at the super tall man with curly hair and a white suit. He said he wasn't on orders trying to dim down the aggression in the air, but it only raised the question of what he was taking orders from or for.
"He's a marine. And he's one of the people known as the government's greatest powerhouses... An admiral at Navy Headquarters... Aokiji," Robin rasped out, still not believing her eyes.
"Ah, you've turned into a fine woman, Nico Robin," he spoke calmly. Usopp immediately questioned why someone like him was here, but the guy ignored him and looked right at Nami who stood near him. "My, my...Here's another sexy lady with super big bazongas! Are you free tonight?"
"What's the big idea you tall lanky jerk?!" Sanji screamed in anguish.
"Pay attention, you jerk!" Usopp followed up after the blond.
I had to slap a hand over my mouth to keep myself from laughing. It just came out of nowhere, I wasn't expecting it. The tall guy started talking about how he didn't mean any harm, nor did he mean to cause any problems. He couldn't even remember what our group was even called. He soon just laid down, saying he was too tired to stand. Right after, he started listing the bounties that the group had in total, not being able to do the math on it himself. A bunch of people came out after Luffy tried to fight the guy, and it turned out that it was actually a bunch of people who survived a ship wreck. A ship wreck caused by a frog named Yokozuna: the frog that swam doing a front craawl through the boat.
A lot of stuff happened after that, but to sum it up, Aokiji froze the ocean so that the ship wreck survivors could cross to the next island. It was an insane show of strength that I'm sure took a long time to hone. Can we beat him if he tries to take Robin? Why is Robin someone who's wanted by an admiral anyway? Once the people left with the supplies that we provided them, we turned to walk back into the island and saw that Aokiji was still sitting there.
"You remind me of your grandpa, Monkey D. Luffy," the ice man muttered. The captain looked a little shocked at the mention of his gramps. "You're free spirited, or should I say you're hard to read?" the man continued while Luffy brushed off Usopp's concern for his sweat-drenched captain. "Your gramps really helped me out a while back. The reason I came here was to have a look at Nico Robin and you. The sexy woman next to you is a surprise I wasn't expecting, so I won't bother to mention that to them yet.." His eyes were trained on me when he said that last bit. Why would I be a surprise? He had a serious look on his face, so he wasn't really flirting with me like he was with Nami, he seemed to just not know my name. If he doesn't know my name, then why was I worth mentioning? There must be something I don't know.. His eyes returned to Luffy. "On second thought, maybe you should just die now, huh? The government is taking youo guys lightly, but if I delve into your history, I can tell your group has backbone. Your potential is tall, even if the group isn't very big. I've been dealing with outlaws for a long time, but I worry how you guys will turn out."
He went on to describe how Robin survived until now since she was given a 79 million bounty at the age of eight. After the group tried to defend the woman from his verbal attack on her character with words, she attacked Aokiji with her devil fruit power and tried to use her "clutch" on him. It didn't work since he shattered into ice and retook his shape. I wonder if I could do something like that...
The admiral made and ice sword and tried to attack her, only to be blocked by Zoro and have Sanji kick the weapon from his hands. While Luffy went in to punch him, he grabbed onto the two Straw Hats beside him, freezing Zoro's arm and Sanji's leg, then Luffy's fist when it collided with him. All three of them groaned in pain and fell to the floor clutching their frozen body parts. I quickly ran over to the ice man and kicked him away with all the power I could muster as my devil fruit activated so he slid across the ground. Good, he was father from Robin now. He wasn't phased at all, sadly. I let out a huff of irritation and shifted my arm into a sword, attacking him again. The sword crushed his torso, but it turned to ice and I realized I was so fucked. He reached out once his lower and upper half melded back together, trying to freeze me. Wait. That's not cold. I stared at him. He stared back.
"I guess you'll be a little more troublesome than the rest," he muttered. "Should I just take you in today as well?"
I shook the ice off of my metallic hand and tried to punch him in the face, but he moved his head to the side and grabbed my arm, bringing me up so I was face to face with him. "What do you mean take me in?" I asked. Maybe I can buy some time for everyone to run or something. It's not like he can freeze me or anything.
"You don't know? Well-"
"YOU BASTARD! YOU'RE TRYING TO TAKE BOTH OF THEM?!" Luffy shouted from behind me. Rubber is weak to ice. He should know that by now. You can't stretch if you're frozen, you just break. But here he is, challenging him some more. What an idiot of a captain I have. I don't think I'd switch him out for another, though, after what I've seen him do for people.
The ice man looked to my captain and I tried to kick him while he was distracted, but threw me into the ocean. "W-wait!" I stuttered. I could hear him say something about getting me in a minute before I was crashing through the ocean's surface. My back hit the rocky side of the island and I got stuck on it. At least I'm not too deep. My devil fruit deactivated. A burst of air pushed its way out of my throat and into the sea around me. My chest hurt so bad, I could feel the water entering my lungs as time went by. My death was cut short, though, when I spotted Usopp through my almost closed eyes. Thank god Chopper didn't try to jump in. I hope Robin's okay up there.
---
Almost died there bruh. That's wild.