A/N: I don't own One Piece

Nico Robin is a calm individual. She rarely raises her voice, maintains her sense of calm and reason most of the time and usually watches Luffy marching fearless in any kind of situation with fond look, filled with love and adoration.

On the ship she enjoys seeing the 'children' of their crew play around, she immerses herself fully in her books and leaves her open back to the quiet protection of her nakama, and feels incredibly warm every second she spends with them, the people she considers more than family.

And maybe that is precisely why she feels like this. She got attached and felt truly alive for the first time in twenty years.

The World stole Luffy's smile.

She felt rage, deep and raw and hurt and cold, burn in her veines. She didn't care the whole World hated and condemned her existence. She didn't care she had her whole island burnt to the ground. She didn't care they chased her for twenty years. But this… This was not acceptable.

The World stole Luffy's smile.

The weeks old newspaper was clenched tightly in her trembling hands and there was the taste of iron in her mouth, pushed back by memories of fire and the stench of burnt flesh. She felt her heart break at her failure. She wasn't there. She wasn't. Not when Luffy needed them the most.

And it terrified her.

(The information on the newspaper was weeks old. This meant she and the others could have lost Luffy and hadn't known about it before it was far too late.)

(The twenty eight year-old her hoped Luffy would still consider them his precious nakama)

(The twenty eight year-old her hoped he would give them another chance so they help him)

(The broken eight year-old her trembled and prayed she and her nakama could piece Luffy back together when they get to him.)

(Twenty eight year-old her wished for the destruction of those who hurt Luffy)

(She, too, knows her absence hurt him)

She remembered Luffy. His blinding smile, his healing laugh, his shining eyes and the pure happiness on his face and in his voice when he talked to her about Ace-san. She remembered and she will remember even after her death because both of them deserve so. But this does nothing to quench the pure rage singing inside her veines. She will remember this unforgivable sin and the World will pay for it.

(Part of her rage was focused solely on herself)

(She wasn't there)

To steal her untainted captain's smile, to dare taint him with a burn when his dear Sun was fire himself. To dare steal Luffy's Sun. The World started a war it couldn't win. They dared break her Luffy and she, with the rest of the crew, wouldn't let them go away with it. He was their beloved captain – the person who gave them home and someone to lean on, who saved them when the World rejected them.

She and the rest of the crew know he is selfish – but then again, so they are. He was theirs and nobody beside Ace-san was allowed to have him. They, she, wanted him next to her with his usual smile. But she knew this was impossible. Because he cared. Because Luffy cared and loved Ace-san more than anything.

The unfamiliar ice spread though her with her resolve. She would do anything to protect her captain and nakama. Even if it means to use anything as a tool to achieve her goal.

They will see that nobody harms her captain and nakama and gets out alive.

She was just waiting to take the World down.

(Two years later, she stands proud beside her captain's side, hands crossed and cold ocean-blue eyes staring with amusement at the cracking bones of their enemies, twisted smirk on her youthful face and melodious laugh on her lips)

(The rage never stopped burning)