1 Piece AU Luffy Charlotte
By: FunahoMisaki
(AN: I own nothing and read last chapter)
"Did you mean it? That you are happy I was born?" Robin asked after she had calmed down and wiped away her tears.
"Of course! Why wouldn't I?" Luffy asked and he smiled at her so brightly and so innocently.
"I'm the Devil's Child." Robin said softly as she looked away and Luffy looked confused for a minute.
"Oh is that what other people call you? I got called that all the time when I was little!" Luffy said with a small laugh and her head whipped up to stare at him again.
"Most of the people on the Island I lived on before I turned six would call me a Devil's child cause I was stronger or different than them. Some of my mama's and papas used it as a nickname when I was little and got into trouble. Papa Peros loved to call me a little Devil Child whenever my aunts talked me into pulling pranks on my uncles…or when I would scare them all by jumping out a window." Luffy said laughing a bit at the end there and recalling how even his grandma had damn near had a heart attack at seeing him jump from one of the higher windows, even though he had been ten at the time and his rubber powers and immunity to blunt damage well known.
"Devil Child Nico Robin. That's the name on my bounty poster. I've had it since I was eight years old. Are you sure you want someone with an 80,000,000 bounty to be alive?" Robin asked and Luffy busted out laughing at that until he was crying.
"Ah good one there Robin! Like I care about that small amount!" Luffy said still giggling at the look on Robin and the others faces.
"S-Small?" Robin asked in disbelief, she had a higher bounty than anyone else in this sea and some in the other blues and yet he called it small?
"Yeah? I mean I have a five year old aunt who has a 150,000,000 bounty with her name on it and she hasn't even done anything yet but pop some of her brothers balloons. One of my papas has a bounty of 700,000,000 and his isn't even the highest. Mama Brulee has a 550,000,000 bounty on her head and she's not even a front line fighter. She does ambush and tactics. Uncles Daifuku and Oven have 300,000,000 bounties on their heads and they almost never leave their islands. I'm almost guaranteed to have at least a 300,000,000 to 700,000,000 bounty, maybe higher if I'm lucky!, depending on what I do to start with just because I was raised by my mamas and papas." Luffy said shrugging his shoulders and Nami's jaw dropped at how high Luffy's starting bounty was likely to be.
Robin's eyes widened alongside everyone elses as she stared at Luffy in disbelief and shock. There were people younger than her who had higher bounties? And they hadn't done anything to deserve them either!?
"If I join your crew the world would be your enemy." Robin said softly and Luffy laughed at her again.
"Robin I'm a pirate! The world already wants me to die! Most of them wish I was never born just because of who my parents are! As soon as the world knows of me they'll want me dead too, probably more than they want you dead even! I'm not afraid to take on the world! Not with my Nakama! Both my crew and my family back home!" Luffy said brightly and Robin felt her barriers melt again.
"You said you had only one reason to live right? What is it?" Luffy asked tilting his head at her curiously.
"Professor Clover, a man I would have been thrilled to call my father…a man who died trying to protect something the Nobles wanted to destroy. His dream was to find the Poneglyph that contained the True History of the Void Century. Not to find whatever weapons the government feared. He was a scholar he…we all were historians. All we wanted was to read that poneglyph and learn about history." Robin said and she smiled softly as she thought of the other historians, the archeologists.
"Poneglyphs? Oh you mean those huge rock things with the weird symbols on them?" Luffy asked curiously, having recalled seeing them before. He could have sworn he had heard them talking to him at one point but he thought he was imagining it. Just cause he could tell what animals were saying most of the time or at least what they were feeling didn't mean he could do the same with a giant rock.
"You know of them!?" Robin asked gaping at him in disbelief.
"Yeah? Baa-chan has three of them. One red and two brown looking ones." Luffy said looking confused over what the big deal was.
"A red one?! But those are incredibly rare! There are only ever rumors known of them even to the Oharans before the island was destroyed! There's only supposed to be four in existence?!" Robin said staring at Luffy in disbelief and amazement.
"Four? Huh I only know about three of them that are red." Luffy said tilting his head curiously at that and making Robin's jaw drop open.
"You've seen three of the red poneglyphs?!" Robin near squealed as she stared at him.
"I mean…yeah? Baa-chan has one. Uncle Kaido has one. And the nice Mink people on Zhou have one. That's three right?" Luffy asked counting them on his fingers and then double checking he counted right just in case.
"Please! I'll do anything you want but please just let me read those poneglyphs! If I can read them…If I can fulfill Professor Clover's dream-!" Robin was begging now as she stared at Luffy who tilted his head at her again.
"You keep saying Professor Clover's dream. What's your dream Robin?" Luffy asked and Robin reeled back as if she was struck physically.
"Wh-what?" Robin asked blinking at Luffy slowly.
"It's nice you want to fulfill his dream since he can't. I'm doing the same thing for one of my older brothers. But I have my own dream too…so if reading the poneglyphs is Professor Clovers dream…then what's your dream?" Luffy asked looking at her curiously.
"I…My dream is to complete Professor Clovers dream?" Robin asked more than said as she looked at the boy baffled. She didn't even think she had the right to be born. The right to live. Did she really have the right to have a dream of her own too?
"Nope. That's against the rules! You have to have a dream of your own! If his was to read the poneglyphs and discover the lost history or whatever then what's your dream?" Luffy denied that one with a shake of the head and making Robin look so lost at the question.
"To read the ponegl-"
"Bzzt. Nope! Still the same as the Professor guy's!" Luffy cut her off shaking his head again.
"I…" Robin looked lost for a long moment and Luffy tilted his head at her again, it honestly seemed as if the two of them had forgotten about everyone else nearby. As if everyone and everything in the world melted away but the two of them and their dreams.
"Isn't there anything else you want in this world? Anything besides reading those pony things?" Luffy asked staring at her and his eyes had seemed deeper now, sharper almost.
Something seemed to strike Robin and she bit her lip as it wobbled.
"I…" Luffy smiled softly at her as her eyes watered again.
"Go ahead. Say it. It's not selfish I promise. You have that right." Luffy encouraged and reassured her and she felt her tears cascade down her cheeks again.
"My dream is…" Robin trailed off with a wavery voice and Luffy nodded his head.
"My dream…" Robin began again and choked on a sob while Luffy grinned at her.
"Say it Robin! Shout it for the whole world to hear!" Luffy said spreading his arms wide and Robin took in a shuddering breath.
"I WANT TO LIVE! MY DREAM IS TO LIVE AND FIND NAKAMA WHO WON'T LEAVE ME! MY DREAM IS TO NEVER BE ALONE AGAIN! MY DREAM IS TO LIVE!" Robin screamed it out to the ocean like Luffy had done before her and he grinned widely at her as she panted and heaved to catch her breath with her tears falling as she collapsed to her knees for a long moment.
"That's a great dream Robin. And one that's easy to fulfill and enjoy every day of!" Luffy said beaming at her and holding a hand out for her to take, causing her to stare up at him crying and choking up from where she was kneeling.
"Want to join my crew? Do you want to be my Nakama?" Luffy asked with a grin wider than the sun and somehow warmer than it was as well. It seemed to lit up the darkness of the night around them and it chased away the darkness that had been plaguing Robin for the last twenty years.
"Y…yes…" Robin agreed with a nod of her head as she reached forward and took Luffy's hand, him gently helping her to her feet.
"Then welcome to the crew, the Nakama. You're one of mine now Robin, and I'll never betray you or let you go without a hell of a fight." Luffy promised her sincerely as he pulled her into a hug.
No one was expecting the huge emotion driven kiss Robin gave him right on the lips for that.
Or the fact that Luffy would freak out saying that his mamas told him to never kiss someone on the lips, especially someone that they hadn't met before.
Neither Robin nor Luffy would ever live that moment down but for now the crew had grown by two members in one day, and Nami was too distracted by the drama to steal the Merry and sail back to her home town.
All the better probably considering what would happen the next day when Kreig and Gin returned.