Title: Water Seven, I'm In Love
Theme: #29 – Happiness
Pairing: Frobin but Zorobin
Setting: Twenty years before Timeskip, at Water Seven.

While reading, listen to: Junk Of The Heart (Happy) – The Kooks

Sometimes, she wondered why the twelve year-old boy in black Speedo taught their oversized pet frog Yokozuna, how to crawl stroke in a bathtub.

Sometimes, she also wondered why the twelve year-old boy in black Speedo laughed to himself in a bizarre way out of a sudden. She thought she should tell Tom-san about the new laugh, but seeing the boy himself is already different and a little strange in comparison to the focused and hardworking Iceburg, she might as well sit back and enjoy Franky's eccentricity instead. Iceburg said he's already a Crazy Bakanky, anyway. However, there is always a particular moment every morning where Franky would eat only half of whatever is own his plate, and waited until everyone else is done with breakfast. He would then sneak behind Tom and herself, and carried his plate outside, and then disappeared after a few turns in the messy and open shipbuilding garage.

She though he had a secret port for his Battle Frankys, but what kind of ship eats breakfast? She thought she had to take a day off housecleaning one day, and spy on him, instead.

"Shut up, Bakaburg! Battle Franky are awesome, wait until you see them in action!"

"Dismantle them at once, stupid!"

Tom's laughter echoed in the room. Their usual breakfast routine is always this noisy. But fun, though. Never once did Tom regret on taking in the two talented shipwrights as his apprentices.

Iceburg cleaned his plate himself, and Tom left his plate in the sink to be cleaned by Kokoro later. Franky ate half of his mixed fried rice, which is still, a lot. He toyed his food with the end of his spoon, occasionally sipped his orange juice little by little.

"Aren't you done yet, Franky?"

He shook his head.

"Well then, wash your plates when you're done. I have some sewing to do."

She left the kitchen and pretended to go to her bedroom, but as expected by the lime-green haired adult mermaid, little Franky carried his half-filled plate outside, and she decided to secretly follow him.

Five six turns in the messy graveyard, she was surprised of what she saw, but she smiled, anyway. How adorable, Franky.

"Olvia! Are you hungry? I brought breakfast again."

"You don't have to, but thank you."

"You're really thin anyway. Eat up."

"You're very sweet."

His secret friend was a little raven haired girl with straight bangs and a skinny body, in a grey-purple dress and a worn out pair of sneakers, it seems. She has a rather sharp nose, and brown eyes. A very adorable little girl indeed, but sadly, she's a little messy.

Kokoro though she had seen the little girl somewhere before, but she couldn't recall where from.

"What are you making today, Franky?"

"Paddle for my new battleship! And have you checked out my new suuuuper cannon?"

"Wow! Cannon? You build a cannon?"

"I can build anything out of anything at all! Watch this."

And the what seemed like a messily painted cannon shot cannonball made of whatever metal scraps he managed to mould together, with a speed which made the little girl stood in awe.

"That's so cool!"

"Dereshishishi!" Franky laughed.

"Ah, you laughed like me now!" She said excitedly. "But I only laugh like that when I'm sad."

"Don't be sad, Olvia." He threw an arm around her, trying to comfort her. "You don't look pretty when you're sad."

"Derenshishishi. You're nice." She wiped her little tears. "Franky?"

"Yep, Olvia?"

"Aren't you curious where I'm from?"

He shook his head. "No."

"Why not?"

And he adjusted the goggles on his head. "Because it doesn't matter."

"Does it?"

"I don't come from here. My parents are dead and I got stranded here. But Tom's Workers is my family and my life now. It doesn't matter where I'm from. Who I am now is who I am."

She smiled.

Kokoro smiled too, and thought what a familiar – but wonderful – little kids they were. She left back to their house, and thought of getting everything ready for their lunch. Maybe, she should cook extra, just in case.

The next morning Franky left his breakfast plate half full again. Iceburg washed his plate, as usual, and Tom left his in the kitchen sink. Kokoro waited until the two had left, and wiped her wet hands on a clean kitchen rag.

"Why didn't you finish your food, Franky?"

"I'm full," he lied.

"You're normally the first to finish your food. Eat up, you'll get hungry."

"No thanks."

She prepared another plate of breakfast, complete, and placed it on the table, in front of Franky. "Finish your food. This one's for your friend."

He gasped. "Kokoro-san! H-h-how?"

"You don't expect to hide things from me, Franky. Hohoho! She seems nice." Purposely, she removed the newspaper Tom was reading earlier from the dining table. Sure. She knew who the little girl is.

"She's really nice. She likes my Battle Franky warships! Unlike that Bakaburg. She's a better friend than Bakaburg! Her name is Olvia. She got stranded on this island so I'm building a ship for her to sail in."

"How sweet of you. But Franky, she's not Olvia."

Franky ignored the comment, and said thank you for the food before he left. Kokoro shook her head, seeing that she might be harmless. But after a few minutes, the little boy returned with a plate still full of a serving of breakfast.

"Olvia's not there. She must've left without saying goodbye."

With motherly instincts, she hugged the sad little boy.

"Hey."

Robin secured Zoro's bandages with a pin, slowly and carefully without waking him up, and looked up to find their shipwright settling down to a chair, with a bottle of Cola on his hand. "Oh, it's you."

"What are you doing still up?"

"Changing Zoro's bandages, as instructed by Chopper. I thought I should help him." She accidentally ran her fingers in his green hair, and withdrawn her fingers as soon as she realized.

"You like Zoro, didn't you?"

"Ah, as a brother. Yes. He's young."

"I can see affection, Nico Robin. Nothing ever escaped my eyes!"

She shrugged. "Have you ever felt that little thing called…"

"Love?" Franky continued. "Yeah. Weird, isn't it? When I was young, I fell in love with a girl. Called herself Olvia. But she disappeared one day, and long story short, I never saw her again."

"Olvia?" She paused. "Dereshishishi." She laughed on purpose, and left a peck on Zoro's forehead before wishing Franky goodnight, and eventually left the boys' cabin.

I'm very sorry for the long hiatus! I've been busy working my ass off, and I didn't even have time to review my own thesis proposal. I had a near death experience yesterday and I crawled out of an overturned car from the backseat window, so hence I'm taking two days off (but still working through email) and I managed to write a few.

Readers: Seis-chan why you no make new Zoro/Robin fanfics and why you make Franky/Robin fanfics ehhh.
Me: Because one day I had a brain scan and the doctor found Franky and Robin as kids stuck inside my brain. So the doctor said, "kenak la ada Franky and Robin as kids?" and I answered, "must be that cute fanart on Deviantart I saw. What is it ah? Tapi dah lamak mok tulis bah this fic. Kau mesti didn't read my FanFiction profile page nak?"

*Please ignore the Singlish/Manglish/BahasaMelayuSarawak.