A/N: Hey guys! I just did some research on the 'Thousand Sunny' and I found out that it had a library.

O.O

I never knew that…

And I also apologize for this really slow update. I had been occupied with school homework and projects and assignments and tests so I hardly had any time to work on this.

After this chapter I should probably change the summary as well…

Anyway. After a long wait…the story is finally updated. Yay! Please enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own one piece – Gol D. Roger does :). Just kidding… One Piece belongs to Eiichiro Oda.

"Oi Luffy!" shouted Ussop as he ran after the said person. Shoving a new invention into his pockets, he hurried towards Luffy. Despite the scowl on his face, he seemed to be thoroughly enjoying himself and being part of the crew once again. "Give my hammer back!" he yelled out.

"No!" came Luffy's adamant reply, laughing gleefully as he swung around on the riggings of the ship like a monkey. Boy did he miss teasing and playing around with Usopp. "You have to catch me first."

That is quite an impossible feat to accomplish considered the speed he was moving at, Robin observed from the balcony outside their new kitchen.

"Go Usopp!" encouraged Chopper sitting on the swings, waving his hooves around in the air.

Franky, spotting his chance rushed up onto the stairs beside the front mast to get a higher reach. Now within throwing distance of Luffy he put his hands up calling, "Over here! Over here!" then jumped high into the air to catch the flying hammer. The second his feet touched the floor, he broke out into a sprint, climbing up the stairs towards the girl's quarters with Usopp hot on his heels.

"Franky!" Usopp called out exasperated. Slowly he came to a stop at the bottom of the stairs trying to catch his breath, "wait!"

"You have to catch me first!" was Franky's teasing reply as he turned around and made a face at Usopp. So absorbed was he in his game of 'Don't Let Usopp Get His Hammer', that he did not notice Nami coming out of the door and almost crashing straight into him. Fortunately, with the practiced agility of someone who has done this several times before, she moved out of the way just before Franky toppled onto her bedroom door.

"Hey! Watch where you're going!" scolded Nami as she clubbed him over his head. Ignoring his painful cry she delightfully yelled "Robin!" as she ran across the lawn to the balcony on the other side of the ship.

"Ohayo, Nami," Robin greeted coolly just as Nami came to a stop beside her, leaning against the railings with her arms resting on top.

"Ohayo," Nami responded. She turned her head to face her playful crewmates "Gee just look at them go. If I did not know any better, I would think the Franky had been with us since the beginning."

"Hmm," Robin mused quietly.

Nami shot her a sceptical look, "What is with the attitude?"

"What attitude?" Robin replied with the same irony tone she used before.

"That attitude," Nami playfully poked her arm as she spoke. Catching her friend's confused expression she specified, "Come on Robin. We've just gone through all that trouble just to get you back and you don't even seem happy."

"I don't?" questioned Robin.

"Not one bit," Nami confirmed, "remember the party. You were supposed to be the main girl and everything but you weren't even there for half the time,"

"If you are looking for someone to blame I suggest you start looking in front of you." Robin glared at Franky who was currently running about in circles around their lawn with Usopp chasing after him.

"Aaah. Looks like our crew has gained yet another idiot," Nami pondered, "You know, that was the first time I have ever seen you so angry. What did he do anyway?"

"He bathed my book in sake. You know the new book on Hana that I purchased while I was shopping with Chopper at Water 7."

Nami's eyes widened in shock as the reality of her words sunk in. Her face paled to a ghostly white as her body went stiff as a pole. It was an unspoken rule amongst the crew that nobody touches Robin's treasured history books, let alone tip a glass full of sake over it. She would have no objections with lending out her other books but letting someone else lay even a finger on her history books almost meant certain death.

Even their dense captain Luffy has learnt not to come near her books – all courtesy going towards her fists which have beaten anyone, who has come close to them, half-dead. The only exception was Chopper who somehow managed to charm Robin into letting him study her books if the need ever arose. Denying the young reindeer even the smallest thing was a mission that Robin found impossible to accomplish. The other was Nami, who was just about the only person in the crew, apart from Robin and Chopper, who knew how to respect a book.

"He…spilt sake on your book?" Nami gasped horrified.

"Every last drop," said Robin, emphasising each and every word. But before their conversation could progress any further, Sanji interrupted them, prancing his way over with a plate of ice cream sandwiches in each hand.

"Nami-swaan! Robin-chwaan!" he called out, "somewhere under the bright sun and sky, are two beautiful ladies waiting for me to serve. I shall not disappoint them…ah Nami-san, you look especially beautiful today. You too Robin-chan."

"Arigatou," Robin thanked as Sanji handed them their ice cream sandwiches whereas Nami just remained silent.

"Do you love me now, Nami-san?" Sanji asked like a small child vying for attention.

"Yes, yes," she responded sarcastically before digging into her food.

Crying out with joy, Sanji capered away before appearing moments later with a small table on one arm and two cushioned chairs on the other, holding them both as though they were weightless. Then with the speed of someone who has done this more often than he smokes, he set up the table and chairs under a tree, arranging them carefully so that both the chairs and their users would be situated comfortably under the shadow of the tree on the lawn.

"Please sit down," he said gesturing to the two seats. Robin had always thought that if Sanji had the right 'motivation', he may just become the best butler in the world.

Gracefully, they both descended the stairs towards their nicely set up coffee table and comfortable chairs, balancing their plates of ice cream sandwiches in their hands. Thanking Sanji, Robin took her seat first before Nami eased herself into the cushions on the seat beside her.

"Tch, Shitty Marimo just has to ruin today's exquisite scenery," muttered Sanji indignantly when he caught sight of Zoro dozing off with his back resting against the railings of the ship. Tensing his legs, he prepared himself to give Zoro a taste of what had given him his infamous nickname 'Black Leg' but before he could even touch him, he was stopped by Nami's scolding voice.

"Sanji," she said, feeling the waves of tangible hate rolling off him, "I know what you are thinking. Just leave him alone."

If it were anybody else, Sanji would have either completely ignored him or glower at him but this was not just anyone. Grumbling slightly, Sanji uttered a soft agreement before he reluctantly walked away, back towards the haven of his kitchen.

"Now where were we? Ah yes, Franky was spilling sake onto your book," Nami recalled barely supressing a shiver, "and if I remember correctly he was passed out when you were beating him up and even after you did, he barely moved. At All. Whoever would have known that the notorious Nico Robin is so weak?"

"Ooh, would you like to try?" Robin challenged, when she heard her friend's teasing laughs. Leisurely, she took bite from her ice cream sandwich while listening with half an ear to Nami's mostly one sided conversation, inserting the appropriate words now and then.

Nami, Robin found, was actually very amiable and quite a charming and good-natured woman. Truthfully, when she had met Nami for the first time, Robin thought of her as a manipulative, deceitful creature who – except for her money – only cared for her own wellbeing. But as the saying goes, first impressions can be misleading.

Being the only other female aboard the ship, Nami was the first to have approached her and made the effort to know her better. It was nice to have a fellow woman to talk to instead of dense idiots, flirtatious cooks and cotton candy lovers after all, even if this woman was once the vice-president of their enemy's criminal organisation.

"- and then I found huge barrels of Cola in our cool room," Nami continued, demonstrating with her hands exactly how big those barrels were. She was quite perplexed as to why they had soft drinks stored away in their kitchen. "Did Zoro swap to soft drinks or something? Not that it is any healthier than alcohol."

"Actually, that would be Franky," corrected Robin, just as a strong gust of wind blew across the ship. Pushing her billowing hair behind her ears she continued, "He uses Col-"

Promptly she was cut off when the hammer Usopp had been so desperately chasing after, whizzed past her head as fast as a bullet, brushing against her stray strands of hair. Her body froze and her muscles tensed uncomfortably tight as she felt the slight breeze of the zooming hammer touching her cheeks. If the gust of wind had not blown it off course, she would be on the ground on top of a growing pool of blood. Dead.

An unpleasant rush of adrenaline coursed throughout her body as her breath caught in the base of her throat. Her senses heightened and her heart sped up, pumping energy into her muscles, ready her body's natural instinct of flight.

With the deafening beat of her heart pounding in her ears, she spun her head around towards the direction the hammer had come from, intending to catch the culprit. Her eyes narrowed. Franky. And what was that on his face? Robin observed the obvious guilt and fear flashing across his eyes but another emotion also crossed his eyes for a fraction of second before it was carefully concealed again. Perhaps to others it would pass unnoticed but to Robin's trained eye it was as clear as daylight. Disappointment.

Piecing the puzzle together, Robin realized that the fact that the hammer had almost killed her was no accident. In fact Franky had fully aware of what his actions may have resulted in. He had intended to hit her. If that gust of wind had come even a fraction of a second later, Robin would most certainly be dead as a mummy.

The metallic sound of Zoro's arm shooting up to catching the zooming hammer, broke the tension in her body. Wasn't Zoro asleep? Robin pondered to herself but only for a fleeting moment as she had more pressing matters to attend to right now.

"Franky! You almost hit Robin!" exclaimed Chopper after he took hold of the hammer Zoro threw towards him. Almost instantly afterwards, Zoro's head fell limp once more signalling that he was asleep.

"Oh! Sorry! I'm really, really sorry," Franky apologized. His hand came up to scratch the back of his head as his face took on a sheepish smile. "I guess I lost my footing for a moment there. Sorry."

Robin's face contorted into a faint sneer. Should one have the ability to inspect her mind, he or she would not be able to find even the slightest sliver of doubt that she thought the bastard attempting to apologize to her was lying. In fact, they would find anger and hatred simmering nicely in a blood red cauldron, readying itself to poison the man who had almost killed her.

Closing her eyes and relaxing her face, Robin reigned in her emotions. The unnoticeable sneer on her face disappeared and was replaced by a facsimile of a smile.

"I fine Franky. I'm sure it was just an accident," Robin reassured and to reinforce her statement, she gave Franky a bright smile to show that she was really ok. Later, Robin thought to herself, I would confront him about this later. Her nakama were frolicking so joyfully about the ship and it was such a rare bright and sunny day. Robin just did not have the heart to ruin this hard earned moment with something that could be left for later.

Pretending as though nothing had happened, Robin turned back to resume her conversation with Nami.

Dammit, Franky swore to himself, if that gust of wind had not gotten in the way, his goal would have been accomplished. His aiming had been perfect. He had made sure that everyone's eyes were on him. He had also prepared himself for the aftermath of his actions. He had calculated for everything and had replayed this scene again and again in his mind to assure that this procedure would be carried out flawlessly. Everything except that damn draft of wind which had blown the hammer off course.

Perhaps the idea of using a hammer to obtain his objective, may be a little immature and under planned – ok, very immature and under planned but it was the best he could think of.

Suddenly his eye twitched slightly at a new, soft stinging pressure inside his left forearm.

A new message.

Turning away from Robin, he left the deck of the Thousand Sunny and headed back towards his private workshop to read it away from prying eyes.

"Franky, you're not gonna play anymore?" Luffy suddenly called out, still swinging around on the riggings of the ship. Thank goodness he had these doorknobs made with a high quality brass instead of wood, thought Franky as he was opening the door to his workshop, otherwise he may have crushed it to pieces in surprise.

Franky turned towards Luffy, rapidly wiping off his stony, rigid expression replacing it with a smile. "Nah, I need to work on my new project."

"Oooh! Can I see?" Luffy requested, stopping his swinging and dropping onto the deck, clearly excited.

"No! You have to wait until its grand opening," replied Franky with a sly smile on his face.

"Aw…Hey Usopp! Let's go see if Sanji made anything yummy!" Luffy exclaimed before running off towards the kitchen.

A rather quick change of subject, mused Franky. He entered the energy room, taking extra caution that the door was closed safely behind him. Feeling the stinging pressure in his forearm throbbing slightly, he quickly descended the stairs to his workshop. The moment his feet touched the metal floor, he took a quick glance around the room to see if there was any possibility that he would be overheard, scanning the room for any open windows and assuring that there was no one else in his workshop.

Finally deeming it safe and secure, he tended to the slight pain in his left arm. Lifting it up in front of him as though he were checking the time on a watch, he opened a small hatch embedded into his mid-forearm by pushing down on it using his other hand. What had seemed like a regular, seamless fold of skin, abruptly flipped open with a gentle click. Slowly the pressure in his forearm began to ebb.

Behind the hatch, in clear, bold letters was indeed a message waiting for him.

Franky, it read, you have five days left until the due date. I trust that you have at least devised a plan to accomplish this mission.

Five days!? Franky almost screeched out loud. He only had another five days left!?

Had it really been more than a week ago that he was asked – threatened – to take this mission? Five days was hardly any time for Franky to plan and carry out this mission. This is Nico Robin we are talking about! The one who virtually manipulated and single-handedly destroyed several criminal organisations which posed a threat to the world government, always coming out without a scratch on her body. And that was when she was only a small child of eight!

Anxiety began to build up inside him as his mind whirred, automatically conjuring different methods and possibilities he could use to achieve his goal. Slumping down on a chair, his hand came up, brushing through his cyan-coloured hair so harshly that he was almost tearing large clumps off by the handful.

In a frail attempt to take his mind off this pressing subject, he found himself some scrap planks of wood and box of nails and began hammering them together with no set objective in mind but distraction.

Franky's favourite pastime had been creating masterpieces out of scrap. After long, exhausting days and nights of endless hammering, chiselling and whatnot, he would feel too tired to lift even a finger. He used to just lie beside his end creation and fall into a deep sleep right there on the mud, dirt or whatever was there at the time. After that, baka-burg, Tom or Kokoro would come and wake him up then give him a nice, long lecture which he would listen to with only half an ear.

Sure it was a very strenuous hobby but the pride and the euphoria he felt welling up inside him every time he finished building a ship, a cottage, a tree house or a new Battle Franky, would make it all worth the blood and sweat.

It also came into handy whenever Franky needed a distraction, especially after the execution of his beloved mentor, Tom. After building each creation, Franky would have been so spent that his mind would not be able to even form coherent thoughts. It had provided the perfect distraction for Franky whenever his mind drifted off in the direction of his master – which was quite often.

Suddenly Franky was broken out of his thoughts when he heard a loud crunch under his hammer. Glancing down, Franky noticed the two planks of wood, crack in the centre, splintering under the pressure of his persistent hammering. A heavy sigh left his mouth. I really need to get myself a life, Franky thought to himself.

"Oi guys! We are out of sea king meat! Who wants to go out and catch some?" Sanji abruptly called out from the deck above him.

That's it! Franky thought, what better way to distract yourself than to go sea king fishing.

Mentally praising himself for coming up with such a fantastic idea, Franky ditched his unsuccessful handiwork and rushed upstairs ready to offer himself for the job. Coming to a screeching stop on the deck, he delightfully called out "I'll go-!" but stopped when he realized that Luffy had already beaten him to it.

Luckily though, Sanji had other plans for Luffy. "Luffy!" Sanji scolded hitting him across the head, "You still have to finish cleaning the dishes!"

"Aw…but I wanna go sea king hunting as well," whined Luffy.

"You can go after you finish," Sanji verified.

As soon as Sanji ended his statement, Luffy zoomed away to finish his chore.

"Franky, you can go," Sanji continued, "but you have to take someone with you." One of the few rules among the Strawhats is that if you leave the ship at any time on the sea, you must always bring someone with you in case an unexpected tsunami or a volcanic eruption or a whirlpool randomly appears and either kills or isolates him or her. With two people, they could rely on each other, look out for each other and significantly raise their chances of survival, not that any of Strawhat crew members are weak. In fact even the weakest of them possess an insane, monster strength but having been through many of the dangers of the Grand Line, one could never become too cautious. Two monsters are always better than one after all.

"I'll go with him," Robin abruptly stated, setting her book down and standing up from her chair.

Great, just the person I wanted to see, Franky thought sarcastically. He almost wanted to drop to the ground and start throwing a tantrum right then and there like a little boy who was refused the latest version of a Hot Wheels toy car. But he was much to mature for that so all that showed on his face was a somewhat downwards curve of his eyebrow – and a soft smirk when he mentally praised himself for keeping his emotions in check.

How did this day turn out so bad? It was such a fine and sunny, sea monster-free day. Today was supposed to a happy day full of merriness and feasts but nooooo. Fate just had to turn his back on him and force him to fail his attempt on completing his mission and after several exhausting, back breaking seconds of careful planning too! On top of that, He just had to throw in the very person he wanted to avoid, and spend an entire sea king hunting trip together.

However, regardless of who or what accompanied him, Franky has never ever passed up an offer to go sea king fishing. This particular activity was just too exhilarating and exciting to pass up, even though most of the sea creatures they catch turn out to be just regular sea monsters. Sea Kings were quite a rare catch after all.

"Fine…" Franky muttered before readying the Mini-merry II for sailing.

Franky heart twinged with guilt as he recalled the delight his new 'nakama' had shown when he first presented this little boat to them. He wanted to be a part of this idiotic and trouble-causing yet loving and affectionate crew so badly that the thought of having to betray them killed him and his mechanical heart. However, he knew that it was something which must be done. If not for him then for those dear to him waiting in his hometown, completely oblivious to the heavy burden which their aniki had taken upon himself – for them.

The Adam-wood floor boards rumbled ever so slightly as the docks beneath rotated until the Mini-merry compartment was facing the sea. Slowly, the dock opened and the small boat crawled out from underneath. Jumping off the helm, Franky made his way onto the Mini-merry II, taking a bucket of old and rotten sea monster meat which he and Robin would use as bait for their 'fishing' trip.

After having gone sea king fishing multiple times in the past few weeks he had been with the Strawhats, Franky had fully grasped the concept of 'cannibalism'. Every time he went on a hunting trip, the sea monsters have never failed to surprise him with their cannibalistic ways. Whenever an unsuspecting sea monster jumps up out of the apparently still waters, there is almost always another larger sea monster that gobbles them up until only the largest and the strongest are left standing.

That is why yummy, old and rotten sea monster meat was such a delicacy for the monsters of the sea. With the scent of the blood from the meat on their sensitive noses, sea monsters would come swarming into a large, writhing mob with the meat as an epicentre.

Glancing back up towards the deck of the 'Thousand Sunny', Franky saw Robin making her way down onto the boat with the help of her numerous, slender though malicious hands – Franky could never forget the pain he felt when he was 'forced' into joining the crew by those very same, innocent looking hands. Elegantly, she lowered herself off the last pair of arms and onto the Mini-merry II, absorbing the shock with her long, slender legs.

What had caught Franky's eye at that moment though was not her breath-takingly beautiful way her hair blew in the wind and certainly not the set of legs which could earn her a successful career in supermodeling, but it was the expression on her face whenever her eyes met his. Was it hate? Anger? Accusation perhaps? And why did she seem to be casting bloody death upon him?

Geez, Franky thought to himself, why must this woman be so hard to decipher.

After he had finished ogling her legs – l mean after he had given up on trying to work out what her perplexing expression meant, he took a hold of the oars then began rowing out to sea, away from the Thousand Sunny.

The short trip was spent in silence.

Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that the two of them just wanted to enjoy the day's fine weather. Perhaps it had something to do with Robin staring out at the horizon with her back facing him.

Or perhaps it could just be that Robin was radiating don't-touch-me-or-die vibes in Aqua Laguna-sized waves.

As Robin's backed was turned to him, Franky had no idea what sort of expression was painted across her face though he can tell that she was either very annoyed or very angry at him. Ever since from before she had boarded the Mini-merry II, Franky noticed, she had that same negative aura around her which seemed to be directed specifically towards him.

But why?

Racking his dim brain for anything which may have troubled her during the morning Franky could find no solution…except maybe-

The gears in his head came to a stop when he reached a possible conclusion, a surprised gasp leaving his mouth.

Could it be the hammer that he threw at her this morning? Was that why she was in such a dark mood?

No it can't be, Franky almost said out loud trying to reassure himself, she thought it was an accident. Franky forcefully relaxed his body and concentrated on rowing the Mini-merry II, back and forth, back and forth, attempting to keep his mind off a small niggling suspicion which was eating away at him.

But what if she knew I was meant to throw the hammer at her?

What if she knew about my mission? About my agreement with the World Government?

No! That is impossible. The only ones who know of his mission are Franky himself and the ones who briefed him on his mission, the World Government. Unless the World Government had told someone, which is highly unlikely, no one else knows of this mission. Franky had not told anyone either so if Robin is not acting like this because of the hammer, then why is she so pissed?

Feeling his brain overheating from too much thinking and also being more than willing to cooperate in fear of having his balls clipped off again, Franky decided to drop the subject and instead focus on rowing the Mini-merry II.

Troublesome women, he thought to himself.

It was not until the Thousand Sunny was reduced to a small dot, the size of a thumbnail, in the horizon that Franky stopped rowing.

Robin turned her head around and gave him an unnerving smile, "Shall we start?"

Quite startled by her contrasting moods, Franky remained silent as he was at a loss of words to say. Taking a strong hold of the bucket of rotten meat and closing his sense of smell against the stench of rotten meat masked with ladies' perfume, he threw the meat overboard, spreading them over a wide area. After making sure that every last drop of blood entered the water, he sat back down waiting for the sea creatures beneath to take the bait.

Within a matter of seconds, the sea began to gurgle as the first sea monsters came swimming up, fighting over the meat and surrounding the small boat with a barricade of writhing bodies.

Pulling her eyes away from the lively, though murderous, mass of jumping sea monsters in the distance, the last of her ice cream sandwich disappeared into her stomach. That ice cream sandwich had been so delicious, she was extremely tempted to lick the creamy remnants of it right off her plate. But she was much too mature and lady-like to do something like that and instead, settled for licking off the rest of the sauce on her fork.

Standing up from her chair, she gathered her dirty dishes and cutlery, including Robin's unfinished ice cream sandwich. What a waste, Nami thought privately to herself. Giving subtle stares at the unfinished ice cream sandwich, she headed towards the kitchen, her mouth still watering all the way there. Perhaps in privacy she can 'clean' her plate to her heart's content.

Closing the festooned wooden door behind her after she entered the kitchen, she raised the plate to her lips readying herself to taste more of that delicious…delectable…scrumptious cream…almost there…

Spotting Sanji in the corner of her eye, sharping his chef knives, she suddenly stopped herself. Damn you Sanji.

"Ohayo Nami-san! Did you enjoy your snack?" asked Sanji looking up from his knives.

"They were fine," Nami replied grumbling slightly. Maybe she can get Sanji to make more of that tasty ice cream.

Walking over to the sink, she reluctantly brushed Robin's ice cream sandwich into the bin then dropped the dishes and cutlery into the sink with a soft clunk. There goes my snack, Nami thought to herself.

Reaching out for a spare cloth on the bench top to clean her dirty dishes, her fingers accidentally brushed against Sanji's when he also reached for the cloth to polish his knives. Her fingers began to burn slightly as she felt her cheeks warming despite her objections.

Damn it, Nami berated herself, stop blushing!

"Gomen Nami-san, you can have it," offered Sanji holding the cloth out to her.

Thanking him, Nami took a hold of the cloth, rinsed it then turned to scrub the dishes.

"Nami-san!" Sanji suddenly cried out, "Don't dirty your soft and elegant hands by washing these unruly dishes! I will help you wash them. Go outside and enjoy this sunny day which is almost as lovely as you."

Feeling her cheeks reacting to Sanji's compliments, Nami immediately dropped the cloth into the sink muttering a soft, "OK, go ahead."

"Are you still hungry? I can whip up a sundae if you want," said Sanji as he began to clean the dishes.

"No thank you…Actually, make me another ice cream sandwich please. I'll be waiting outside." Nami made her way back out onto the deck of the ship, leaving a terribly happy Sanji behind who was squealing with joy.

Stopping by the railings outside the kitchen she rested her body against it and looked down upon the grassy deck of the ship beneath her. Watching over her nakama playing around, she instinctively made a quick check of the weather to make sure that nothing was out of place.

Satisfied with her report, she left for the back of the ship intending to hone her combat skills and try out some new clima-tact techniques and theories.

Ever since they had left Enies Lobby, she has been training from day till night, almost every single day. In fact, Luffy had made a habit of teasing her about becoming a Zoro #2.

That fateful day her and her nakama had broken into the largest government courthouse, Enies Lobby, her lacking strength had been thrown into sharp perception through the worst possible way. That day she had barely escaped with her life! After her gruelling battle with the CP9, Kalifa, she had just managed to crawl her way onto the Going Merry, bloody and battle-worn, and that was after Sanji had weakened Kalifa as well! Perhaps not greatly but still weakened nonetheless.

Pulling out her Perfect Clima-tact from the straps on her thigh, she began to create capsules of heat and cold, testing out a new theory she had been trying to perfect for quite a while. Above her, a small wisp of cloud began to form but today she was not trying to create thunderclouds and zapping Luffy with her creations. Today she was trying to use her Clima-tact's powers to hide her body.

Setting up the surrounding 'weather' to where her previous training sessions had left off, she glanced at one of the kitchen windows in front of her. Her reflection showed her body as short and fat with hazy edges and bent features – in fact she looked a little like a frog.

"Tch," She was still far from completing this technique.

As the minutes ticked by slowly melding into hours, she felt her mind beginning to tire from an overdose of calculations, ratio balancing and whatnot. The second ice cream sandwich had certainly powered her up a little though, and now her reflection looked more like that of a Cheshire cat, disappearing and reappearing again.

But it was not until she spotted the crazy fighting of the sea monsters in the distance dying down, that she noticed the sudden drop in the air pressure.

Shit.

With her mind automatically setting itself into panic mode, she quickly strapped the segments of her Perfect Clima-tact on to the holder against her thigh and ran towards the lawn of their ship barking out orders along the way. "Luffy, hoist up the sails! Usopp, Sanji! Lock the doors! Secure everything that would move using the ropes in Usopp's workshop! Chopper! Ring the emergency bell as hard as you can! You must let Franky and Robin hear it! AND FOR GODS SAKE ZORO WAKE UP AND HELP!"

Everyone immediately sprang into action, knowing that something was about to hit them.

"What's wrong Nami?" asked Chopper. His voice was laced with panic.

"There is a huge storm coming and it's the largest we have ever come across! Quickly ring the bell, now!" Nami's forecasting skills always had been one hundred percent accurate and has never failed them before. If she said a storm is coming, then a storm is definitely going to come.

Leaping off the balcony and onto the grass beneath, she rushed off to help Usopp and Sanji secure the stray objects on the ship.

The sea was already beginning to churn with its waves rising higher and higher, becoming more and more ferocious by the second, sweeping the 'Thousand Sunny' along with it. The floor boards beneath her were emitting soft creaks under the pressure of the treacherous waves.

Grabbing hold of the edge of the ship to catch her balance, she quickly ran towards the girl's quarters on the other side of the deck, snatching a bundle of ropes from Usopp when he offered them to her. Crying out in surprise, she stopped when the ship suddenly toppled towards the side, swaying dangerously close to capsizing.

Crap! At the rate the storm was progressing, Franky and Robin are not going to make it back to the ship in time. Cursing to herself, she yelled out at the top of her lungs, "Luffy! Can you reach Franky and Robin from here?"

Stopping in the middle of tying knots on the main sail, Luffy glanced up towards the tiny spot of sea monsters in the distance. Shouting over the loud splash of the waves he replied, "No, they're too far away!"

An ear-piercing thunder slap suddenly sounded above her. Tilting her head towards the sky, she saw the black, storm clouds swarming together, swelling up as though it were a balloon being inflated by a leaf blower.

The loud ring of their ship's danger bell began to sound as well, with a volume which rivalled the deafening cracks above.

Looking back out towards the Mini-merry II which seemed to be trying its hardest to row back towards its home, sea monsters and all, long forgotten, one thought rang throughout her mind as the floor beneath her swayed again.

Please let Franky and Robin make it back safely.

"Franky, use your Coup de Vent to rocket us back!" Robin yelled at the man while trying to steady the boat and row them back at the same time. Any 'confrontation' she had wanted to have with Franky was long forgotten. So were the sea monsters they had spent hours trying to catch. Everything they had was focused on getting them back to the ship.

"I can't! I'm out of fuel! And it would break the boat as well!" Franky yelled back, rowing the boat using his large hands as oars.

Heaving with all her might on one of the oars, she narrowly dodged one of the waves which would have crushed them and their boat if she had been a millisecond too late. A look of panic suddenly crossed her face as the boat suddenly tilted towards the side, almost tossing them off. Fortunately, Robin's shot out towards the side of the boat and gave it a knuckle-whitening grip, managing to keep on the boat.

Not long after, though, another large wave came crashing down missing the boat by a hair's width. Water splashed onto the boat, filling it with sea water, drenching Franky and Robin along the way as well.

Robin began to shiver violently under the chilling temperature and the cold winds, causing her to lose a little control over the oars but right now she had more worrying matters on hand.

Because of the large splash filling the boat with sea water, Robin felt herself weakening quickly, losing even more control on the oars. The Mini-merry II was also beginning to sink slowly, giving into the weight of the sea water upon its back.

"Franky!" she yelled out again, "Scoop out the water! I have to keep rowing!"

Franky obliged, using his large hands to scoop the sea water off the Mini-merry II and slowly the boat, began to rise again.

Thrusting the oars into Franky's hands, an idea suddenly popped into her head.

"Am I supposed to row the boat!?" Franky asked confused.

Quickly answering his question with a yes, Robin crossed her arms in front of her, summoning her devil fruit abilities. Two arms suddenly sprouted at the back of the boat, causing Robin to wince in pain at the opposing sea water. Her arms felt as though they were being compressed and squeezed with needles being thrust into her arms.

Furrowing her brows together in concentration, she angled her extra pair of hands then began to spin her extra arms around at its base, creating a make-shift propeller. As expected, the boat began to move a lot faster and the Thousand Sunny was approaching much quicker than before. Thanks to her pair of propelling arms, they were now sailing smoothly, dodging the waves as each of them crashed down against the water behind them.

Things were beginning to turn for the better.

The loud ringing of the danger bell aboard the Thousand Sunny was increasing in volume with every second that passed and the thunder above them was also sounding less frequently. Though still ferocious, the waves beneath them also seemed to have reached a peaked and would soon die down.

Carelessly believing that she was now safe, Robin let her guard down, completely unaware of the colossal wave that was about to hit them.

With a deafening crash, the wave descended upon them, capsizing the boat throwing both Robin and Franky into the fierce sea below.

The last thing Robin remembered seeing was the blue of another massive wave about to crash onto a capsized Mini-merry II as she sank into the depths of the sea.

The last thing Robin remembered doing was weakly thrashing her arms around in the water, trying to swim back up to safety until she could do no more.

The last thing Robin remembered feeling was the feel of an abnormally large arm, wrapping itself around her waist, trying to pull her up to safety.

The last thing Robin remembered thinking was how safe she felt in those arms, how she could trust in them to keep unharmed despite the stinging sea water all around her body.

The rest was lost as she was engulfed by a black void, falling into unconsciousness.

A/N: Whoot! Finished finally. That took longer than I expected.

All my end of the year exams are finishing up as well so I could update faster on my other chapters than I did with this one. This one was really…slow. -_-

So…just a little preview of the next chapter, Franky and Robin are going to end up separated from the crew...oooh, I wonder what they are going to do? Any suggestions out there? And we also find out more about Franky's little mission.

Which brings me to this. Perhaps you are little confused as to what Franky's so called 'mission' is – my friend was when she read this – but it would all be revealed as the story progresses. So sit tight and wait for the next update.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter and do leave a review before you go!