Chapter Text
Crocodile was a cruel man. He learned to be cruel since he was young, he learned to do whatever it took to obtain what he wanted and not feel bad about it.
Destroy a whole country in order to obtain a weapon? He wasn’t above that. Right now he was examining the site where he was going to build a huge casinò to hide Baroque Work’s base. Everything was ready to start his plan, it would probably take around ten years, but he was a patient man.
Using a lonely, traumatized girl for his goals? Fine with him. Nineteen years old Nico Robin was right next to him during her first day of work. So young and scared and desperate, yet, if she couldn't prove herself up to the task, he was ready to kill her. Both of them knew it.
Even at that age the girl had already seen most of the ugliness of the world. She reminded him of how he used to be at her age, already disenchanted, yet ready to help another older man to achieve his vain, utopic dream. The two of them could work well together for a long time. Of course only if she was competent and cold blooded enough to keep up with him.
The young woman smiled, relaxed.
-Sir Crocodile, it looks like we’re being followed
-We've been followed since we entered this city, i was curious to know how long it would have taken you to notice it.
-It looked rude to point it out, since you’re the boss.
That cocky brat. Crocodile let out a heavy cloak of smoke.
-I don’t like being tested, Miss. All Sunday.
-Neither do i, sir.
The little spy was still near them, now hidden behind some construction material. The warlord didn’t have time for some amateur stalker right now.
-Take care of him
Without even blinking, Robin crossed her arms, that calm was what you should expect from a good assassin.
-Six fleur: clutch.
What no one expected was for the little spy to quickly jump in the air, before Robin’s hand could properly grab him and land in front of them, more than alive. What they expected even less was for the stalker to be a little kid, so small that Crocodile could probably let him comfortably sit in his hand.
As said, Crocodile was still a very cruel man, he was able to kill a kid if needed and sleep fondly after it. He even abandoned his own child, why should he care about someone else's? The only reason he didn’t do it, was because he was in a public space, where everyone could see him. He had a reputation to maintain.
With a hand he stopped Robin from doing anything else and looked at the kid.
-You shouldn’t be here, where's your mother? Are you lost?
He already didn’t like that brat, he was too small with a smile too bright and a light in his eye that promised chaos. Even now he didn’t show an ounce of fear, while answering with way too many words.
-I never had a mom, i have a dad though, but he’s in the second part of the grand line i think. But i’m not lost, i’ve been searching for you, Crocodile. I’ve thought about going to my dad, but Baroque sounds better…
So he knew who he was talking to.
-You shouldn’t go around following pirates, we eat kids like you.
It was supposed to scare him away, but the kids laughed.
-Yeah i've almost got eaten up by one of your bananas… Or were they gators… dunno. Anyway, i’m here to talk to you.
Was he crazy!? If he was an orphan Crocodile could simply make him disappear, but he looked a little too well-feeded to be alone… Wait, did he say Baroque? What does he know about Baroque’s Work? The kid needed to disappear, now.
-Alright, if you want to talk, why don’t you come with me? I’m gonna buy you something yummy.
The kid’s eyes started gleaming, a kid was still a kid after all.
-Like meat!? I want a lot of meat, please!
-Yes, meat. Follow me and i’ll give you all the meat you want… Miss. All Sunday, please, make sure that things here are wrapped up nicely.
It was easy to lure the kid in the desert, maybe he wasn’t trained as the warlord initially thought, maybe he was simply dumb.
-I don’t see any meat there, Croco, you’re not lost, are you?
They were far enough, no one could see them and that was a Crocodile natural element. The man created a sharp blade of sand, ready to cut that damn brat to pieces, yet the other dodged, easily. Before he could even be annoyed by that or impressed, the kid was in front of him, way too close, way too fast. Crocodile was barely able to turn himself into sand before being hit, he knew instinctively that the pouch would have hurt him. Just a few more seconds were enough to fill the man’s mind with confused questions.
What kind of demon spawn was that!?
Why did a little child have a better battle IQ than him?
Why could he use haki!?
It wouldn’t be the easy kill he thought.
Then the kid stretched out, and Crocodile decided that he wasn’t ready to fight a serious enemy right now and risked getting injured or worse. He raised his hands up in surrender.
-You said you wanted to talk, kid? Alright: what’s your name and who sent you?
The kid stopped mid-attack, stumbling clumsily in the sand in order to not land the hit, then stranded up again, glaring at him.
-Don’t think i forgot about the meat.
Was that the important part for him!?
-Yeah, i’m gonna buy it for you, now answer my question.
With a smooth movement, the boy climbed on his hook, standing there, more close to eye level with him.
-I’m Monkey D. Luffy, King of the Pirates.
So he really was just a little child, somehow still so innocent and naive.
-Pretty sure you’re no king. Who sent you there? Is it the navy? The king of Alabasta? Some other Warlord? The revolutionaries?
-I don’t care if you don’t believe me: i am the King of Pirates even if you don’t think it’s true. And no one is sending me, i sailed on my own.
-You look like you’re six.
He pouted, way too comfortable on his arms.
-I’m eight and i can sail on my own… Well i’m not good alone, so it took me three months to find the entrance to the grand line… But here i am, so it’s fine.
-Are you telling me to believe that a fucking kid sailed all the way trough the grand line alone? Don’t be ridiculous.
-Don’t care if you don’t believe me: it’s the truth. Still the important part is that i’m joining Baroque Works because i need a secret organization.
It was way too surrealistic. Could it all be a nightmare?
-You want me to take you under me without knowing anything about you?
The kid giggled.
-Of course not: i’m never gonna be under you. We’re gonna be allies. Alliances are a lot of fun, but you have to change a lot of things: first of all you’re gonna leave Alabasta alone, the ancient weapon isn’t here anyway and i like Vivi.
-You mean the princess? No, more important: what do you know about the ancient weapon?
-Pluton is in the hands of the world government, so it’s useless to search for it. I’m gonna bring it down anyway, but i need to get stronger before and i need a secret organization, so i’m gonna borrow yours… There is a big adventure in front of us.
-How did you know? From what strange kind of hell did you come?
-I just know. And i’m from the East Blue… I don’t really like you, but since you would save Ace you’re good enough to work together.
-What do you mean?
-It’s boring to answer your question. I want to play with Robin and you promised me meat. I won’t say anything else until you feed me.
Feed… It could be for the better. Crocodile himself didn’t know if he was able to continue that conversation right now. His head was already hurting. What kind of mess did he just get himself into?
-You know what? Alright. I’m gonna bring you home and give you all the meat you want, but i want you to stay inside my house for a bit in exchange, alright?
-All i want!? Deal!!
It felt kind of like a defeat when he returned to his temporary mansion with the kid climbing on his arms. Robin’s gaze made it only worse, before she could even open her mouth, he growled.
-Not a word. Things have changed. Mobilize all my agents, i wan’t everyone to dig everything there is to know about this brat’s past.
Luffy stayed comfortably nestled on his shoulder, but didn’t forget to whisper in his ear.
-The meat.
-Yeah, someone feed him as much as he wants.
As Luffy disappeared in the kitchen, Robin dared to ask.
-What’s with him?
-I would like to know. He’s my prisoner for now… Ask someone to pour me tea… no, whisky instead: i’m gonna need it.
-What should i do about the Alabasta project? If i send your agent to investigate the child, we wouldn’t have enough manpower.
-Put that project on hold. Only the casinò’s construction is gonna proceed, it’s more urgent to deal with that demon spawn and discover where he learned everything he knew. I also want you to keep an eye on him here: make sure to keep him under surveillance until we learn who he is.
Sabo got used quite quickly to not being on Down island anymore, what he could never get used to was not having his brother around. It felt lonely to be there, even if he was finally free.
For that night, he decided to stay under a pretty stone bridge, it was kind of impractical, but cleaner than the Gray Terminal at least.
The island he was in, was quite small, a little boring. He didn’t want to stay there for too long, but his boat broke, so he had no other choice but wait until he could gain enough money to buy a new one.
He was so worried about his brother: Ace was good, but he was too hot headed and afraid of being alone, while Luffy was… Luffy was simply too little to be left alone other than a crybaby.
He lit a fire, to cook the fish he just caught. He hoped Luffy was able to find himself a good dinner too. Even if it was his baby brother himself to have practically forced them to set sail, it was ridiculous that they had really left him alone.
They shouldn’t have done it.
It all started when, in the middle of their training, Luffy had fallen to the ground, screaming in pain.
Even the doctor didn’t know what happened to him, but for a whole week he was bedridden, with a fever so high he risked his life. Luffy had never once gotten sick in his life, before that, so of course they were all worried.
When he finally recovered, both him and Ace were too relieved and happy to say no to anything he asked. (Ace still beat him up so bad that he almost killed him again, luckily Luffy was a rubber man).
Luffy himself must have been so scared by the experience, because, for the whole week after his sickness, he spent his time crying and clinging to them even more than usual. They couldn’t even go to the bathroom without a stretched out hand making sure they were still there.
Then, one morning, they found him looking at the sea and out of nowhere he said the phrase that changed everything:
“I can’t stay here when the world is so full of adventures. We should all go on our way and reunite on the higher sea”.
It looked impossible, they were just kids yet they did it. Luffy himself, somehow found most of the money (to add to their treasure) and three ships.
They sailed on the same day, taking three different directions and now he was there, on a new island, eating a fish he had never tried and living an adventure.
It was fun at the beginning, he saw so many different things and learned a lot too, the sea really was incredible, but now he started feeling quite lonely.
It was summer, so he didn’t need the fire to sleep warmly and, once full, he extinguished the flame with the water of the river next to him.
The stars on that island were the same he could see from their tree house back in Down island, but they used to look brighter when Ace and Luffy were with him.
A sudden splash distracted him from his thoughts and, when he saw a little body in the water, his muscle moved before he could realize it. He was so used to saving Luffy, every time he was on the point of drawing, that in a matter of seconds he was already in the river, one arm wrapped tight around another body, his legs moving fast to swim against the current.
He ended up bringing ashore a young girl, she had ingested a lot of water, but her heart was still beating. She was kind of cute, with silk dark hair, pale skin and a muscular body.
Even if it was warm, all soaked as they were, Sabo didn’t have any choice but rekindle the fire he just put off.
He undressed quickly, putting all his clothes near the flame to dry out, and covered himself with a rag. He would have done the same to the unconscious body, to help her get warm faster, but he preferred not, since she was a girl, she wasn’t in danger anyway.
Even after she opened her eyes, the girl didn’t come closer to the fire, she actually didn’t even move. After some minutes of silence, Sabo decided he had to be the one talking first.
-How did you end up in the river at this hour?
The girl’s voice was strange, flat somehow.
-I jumped from my bedroom window. It was the third floor, i didn’t expect to survive.
Sabo remained in silence for some second, but not for too long, before asking.
- What are you trying to escape from so desperately?
He knew it was like that: when you feel like you have to go away so bad you could die, yet grown up didn’t believe you and you became so disparate you end up taking disparate measures. He ran away from home at six years old, it wasn’t that different in the end.
The girl took her time, before answering.
-My body… Does it make sense?
-Not for me, but if you want to explain i can listen, i have already saved you anyway.
It was kind of nice to have someone to talk with in front of the fire, even if it was only a stranger. The girl, finally, came closer to the flame.
-It’s like… My body is wrong. I'm hitting puberty and all the changes are simply wrong, it’s not how i should be, i can’t even look at myself in the mirror. I live in a dojo and my father has a lot of male disciples and i can’t stop thinking that i should be like them, yet as i grew my body will keep fail me more and more and while everyone else will grow stronger than me i’ll just gonna grow breast and i know i can’t let this happen. I don’t want to grow up like that.
-I grew up on an island away from there. There was a bandit’s leader that helped me out once or twice and took me in when I needed a home, she was a woman and was very strong. I don’t think that being a girl is the problem. You still can be strong.
He didn’t expect for the other to react badly, yet she screamed.
-I know it! Damn it, i know! My friend said it too, and my father and everyone else! I’ve heard it so many times! But i am strong! I known i am: i’m learning the way of the sword and i know i could become a great swordswoman! That’s not the problem. I don’t want to become a swordswoman, not even the best in the world. I know I can’t live as a swordswoman. I want to become a swordsman.
Sabo didn’t answered, there were so many things he could say, it was quite an important matter, yet in the end he ended up saying what his brother would have probably said.
-Do you want to set sail with me? I could use a swordsman… And a first mate: i’m actually alone.
The gir... boy looked at him.
-Sorry, what?
-I’m a pirate: join me. The ocean is freedom and there are all kinds of things over it: my little brother is made of rubber so if he exists, i’m sure that a way to fix your body will exist too. It will be fun.
“it will be fun”. That was what Luffy would probably have said, no need to make things complicated. He wanted to help the other boy, but he had to choose it himself before.
-Why should you want a stranger with you!?
-Just because. So is it a yes or a no?
That was freedom, wasn’t it? Deciding just because and not looking back. He was getting good at this.
The boy removed his shirt, putting it near the other clothes.
-Alright, you got yourself a pirate. I owe you my life and i will repay my debt, but i have to warn you: I have promised my friend that one of us will become the world's best swordsmaster. We promised to fight against each other for that title, so even as a pirate I'll strive for that goal.
The blond nodded, holding out his hand.
-Fine by me. I'm Sabo by the way.
-My name is Kuina, captain.