Author Preface: This is the first (and extremely long-winded) chapter of what is vaguely conceived of as a romantic drama about a love-triangle between Luffy, Robin, and Nami. Because I find both of these pairings adorable but also dislike stories where a lover is scorned, I decided to imagine the scenario behind which a hypothetical harem scenario might take place involving both female Straw Hats.

However, I also didn't want it to be quite as implausible as typical harem fics, wherein I feel like authors tend to have OoC versions of characters leaping into bed with each other without earning any of the emotional investment that I think would be a necessary part of making the story seem credible. This is my attempt to address that problem, while perhaps erring a little too strongly on the opposite, over-written side of the spectrum. A lot of focus on the characters' internal dialogue and thoughts.

Starts very recently post time-skip. The first chapter is from Robin's perspective, as she ruminates about her feelings for Luffy and then eventually confronts him about them. This chapter is very G-rated, but will be followed by naughtier (M-rated) passages later on. Later chapters will be from Luffy and Nami's PoV. I also hope to eventually trim some of the fat here (of which there is a lot, redundancy of phrasing, repeated information, etc) but for now, this is what sort of poured out of me, minimally edited, while running on sleepless holiday free-time and excess caffeine.

Nico Robin felt her breath escape her as a strong, wiry arm encircled her waist and lifted her off the ground. In one swift motion, it heaved her whole frame effortlessly over its owner's shoulder.

"Yosh. Lets get out of here."

She could hardly believe this boy. Direly wounded, with walls of stone collapsing imminently around him, would he still waste his breath saving her? She could understand why he had lassoed the falsely accused Alabastan King beneath his other arm, but her? His defeated enemy?

"Wait!" Her throat ached as she protested.

"I have no reason to live any longer! Please… just leave me here!"

The desperation in her voice sounded strange to her own ears. She had felt this despair only once before, as a little girl, while watching the life frozen from the eyes of her first and only friend, his sacrifice sparing her from the raining fire she had watched consume the only place she had ever called home and the only family she had ever known.

In the twenty years since, the woman that had remained, robbed of innocence, fugitive of the entire world, had had only her great dream – first aspired to as a child, then forged by these flames of disillusionment into a solemn vow – with which to weather a world of darkness. Two decades spent crawling through the underbelly of society, dodging the inexorable grope of the law. Two decades of friendlessness, fear, guile, and betrayal, with nothing to light her path but a single, unwavering ambition.

Looking back on a life plagued with decisions so morally dubious that she often wondered whether she deserved her infamous moniker, the Demon Child of Ohara realized that there had long been nothing left to redeem her but the promise that she might one day realize this dream. And now, even this had been stolen from her.

The cryptic etchings of the Pluton Poneglyph had revealed no clues as to the True History, only a path to further destruction. Her associates were ruined, her resources depleted, her last lead exhausted. She could go no further and could not turn back. And she was tired. Tired enough to welcome the crushing embrace of her collapsing tomb.

She felt her captor move, waited for him to put her down, bracing instinctively for the impact with the stone floor. Instead, he merely shifted her weight on his shoulder and grumbled dismissively.

"Why the hell should I listen to you?" He asked and without another word bolted off down the crumbling hallway, leaving his unwilling passenger speechless.

Robin woke with a start, heart racing from the freshness of the nightmare memory.

Again? She took a deep breath and held it a moment, waiting for her pulse to settle and the lingering dream-emotions to recede.

Glancing at the empty bed to her left, she saw that her roommate was still on her night watch shift. She exhaled slowly. The cabin was silent but for her own hushed breathing and the wooden creak of the Sunny's gentle undulation upon the waves.

She'd been reliving that memory almost every night for a week now, ever since the long awaited reunion of her family. It had been two years, but the Straw Hat Crew was finally reassembled. She had looked forward to being reunited with her nakama every day they'd been apart. She was sure they all had.

But, with the joy and exhilaration of her homecoming had also come dreams of the past events that had brought her to this point. And of the young man who had been at the center of it all. It seemed as if her subconscious was still wrestling with some personal doubt – a quiet, itch of a question that she couldn't ask aloud.

She lay in a tangle of twisted sheets, staring up at the wood-paneled ceiling of her room aboard the Thousand Sunny, as a silky moonlight filtered through the small cabin windows to her right, stretching strange shadows across the bed. Soon another memory drifted out of the silence and into her awareness, one that always followed the first:

"Monkey D. Luffy. You didn't think I'd just forget what you did to me..." Said Robin, leveling a cryptic smile at the young pirate while she casually helped herself to one of their ship's folding seats. Her nonchalance was at odds with his crew, who had been caught completely off guard by their recent enemy's unannounced appearance aboard the Merry Go after departing the harbors of Alubarna. She watched them turn their alarmed expressions from her to their captain.

"Oi! Luffy, you bastard! What the hell did you do to this poor mellorine?!" demanded the sharp-dressed, curly-browed Straw Hat, seizing his bewildered leader angrily by the lapels.

"Hey! Don't lie! I didn't do anything to you." Luffy protested, ignoring his cook's insubordination.

"Yes you did. You did something terrible to me." She accused again. "Now you have to take responsibility."

She carried on as if oblivious to the rest of the crew's various states of confused panic; the long-nosed, megaphone-wielding boy rolling around on the deck, an orange-headed teenage girl crouched defensively behind a railing, the green-haired swordsman with his hand hovering over his hilt, and a small raccoon-like creature clinging to the mast.

"I don't know what you're talking about. What do you want, anyway?" He asked, annoyed.

She gave him a cool stare for a moment before bluntly replying, "Let me join your crew."

"EH!?" The Straw Hats collective response to her audacious request seemed only to amuse the beautiful and mysterious interloper.

"Back then…" She explained, proceeding to recount the story of their last encounter within the within crumbling walls of Alubarna's royal tomb.

"You saved me when all I wanted was to die." Explained the raven-haired archaeologist. "That is your crime. I have nowhere else to go now, unless you take me in. So… will you let me join you or not?"

The logic seemed to fall into place in Luffy's head, and he nodded with understanding.

"Oh. So that's it. Guess there's no helping it. Okay. You can stay." Answered her new captain, without so much as blinking.

"LUFFY!" chorused the crew.

But as all but one (Sanji) of his friends voiced their outrage at their leader's haphazard decision making, he only grinned.

"Shihihihi! Don't worry!" He assured them with a laugh. "She's not a bad person!"

Robin smiled to herself as she recalled her unceremonious induction into the Straw Hat crew. She hadn't known then, what a fateful decision she had made when she had asked to join such a gang of misfits. She was sure Luffy hadn't been aware either, while deciding on a whim to take her aboard, how much he would be changing her life forever. And how much he would come to mean to her over the next few years.

But that was how it always was with Luffy. He was like a whirlwind, a demigod of fortune, his every erratic turn of course or impetuous action upturning the lives of those he encountered, the repercussions of his most whimsical impulses ushering storms of devastating change and dangerous hope into the fates of the individuals, towns, cities, and even whole nations that crossed his path. It defied sense that such a scrawny, grinning, goofball of a teenage miscreant could also be a tornadic force of nature, pulling those he met into his orbit, carving destructive paths through the dead ends of their destinies, and breathing new life into the dying embers of their broken dreams; and just like a force of nature, accomplishing all of this as a mere side effect of his indomitable personality, he himself scarcely aware of the glorious scars he was leaving behind in the souls of those he touched.

She's not a bad person.

He was the first person, since her childhood branding as an outlaw, to have said this about her. But despite what he thought, she knew that in truth, it was those words themselves, and his confidence in them, that had redeemed her. The unhesitating faith he had placed in her character, his insistently proffered hand of friendship, had pulled her out of the pits of her amorality, recasting her in his image.

Because he and his crew had believed she deserved to exist, she had been able to as well. Because they had come to trust her, even when she been unable to trust herself, accepted her and reached out to her even as she had betrayed and disowned them, she had been empowered with the choice to love and be loved, rather than resign herself to self-prescribed loneliness.

Luffy had given her the chance to be the nakama he had already seen in her, and in doing so he had taught her how to be this person. Not a tragic heroine, or a dark burden dragging down those dearest to her, but a cherished companion, well loved and irreplaceable, whose friendship was worth the enmity of the entire world.

She found herself struggling with a sudden wave of raw emotion. The memory flared in her mind, of how her captain and his crew had chased her right up to the gates of the world's end to confront her during the height of her despair:

Robin gazed with wide-eyed disbelief from the balconies high upon the Tower of Justice, across the deep, waterfall-ringed span separating the mainland of Enies Lobby. The narrow figure of her former captain stood far below, at the other edge of the chasm, staring fiercely up at her like some fearless hero out of a dream she had not dared to imagine.

"ROBIN!" He bellowed up at her, in a voice that echoed across the aisle and rattled in her bones. "DON'T DIE!"

She felt herself tremble, as she tried desperately to cling to the last of her resolve.

Why had he come? She asked herself yet again. Why wouldn't he listen to her? Why couldn't he understand that she wasn't worth risking his life for?

"I don't know what you're going on about! But listen, Robin!" He continued. "We already came all the way here."

Behind him, the rooftop upon which he stood suddenly erupted in a spiraling skyward explosion, whisking with it a screaming Nami and Chopper high into the air. But Luffy carried on without so much as a backward glance.

"So we're just going to save you anyway. If you want to die after that, then you can. But not till after we save you."

The handcuffed Robin was speechless. Below her, the two newly appeared Straw Hats landed with varying displays of grace, and were joined moments later by a green-haired swordsman who climbed out of the gaping hole he had just created. Barely a few seconds elapsed before Sanji burst through the roof just behind them, and then finally, a masked Usopp, sailing high into the air from nowhere to plant headfirst atop the building a few feet off.

"So that's my only request Robin." Luffy resumed with barely a pause. "Dying or not dying. I don't really care what you have to say. Just say it after you're back at sea with us, okay?"

The rest of the freshly assembled Straw Hats did not hesitate to call out their agreement, and despite all she had done to remain steadfast and stoic through the past several days, she could not stop the tears that welled up.

Wordlessly, the crew gathered themselves and assumed their places atop crenellations to either side of their captain, awaiting his orders, as Luffy reassured her.

"Just leave the rest to us."

She struggled to find words as a tempest raged within her. Why? Why had they come?! Why couldn't they understand the danger they were in?! She could feel her turmoil and desperation transmute into more frustrated tears. She was trying to protect them from her! Why couldn't they see!?

"You don't understand!" She finally shouted back. She tried then, to convey to them her dark past. The inescapable hardship that would come from merely associating with her. The terrifying devastation of the impending Buster Call.

"That terrible weapon has already stolen everything else from me! I will not let it take aim at my nakama! No matter how far I travel, I will never escape my past! And as much as I might wish to be at your sides, as long as I stay with you, I won't be able to protect you from my enemy! Because…my enemy is the whole world!" She sobbed. "No matter how kind you all are you'll eventually be forced to cast me aside to save yourselves! That's why I TOLD YOU NOT TO COME AFTER ME! I'D RATHER DIE THEN FORCE THAT UPON YOU!" She shrieked hopelessly.

Her secret was revealed, and she could feel a heavy hush amongst her would-be rescuers. She prayed it would be enough to make them turn back. The silence lasted a heartbeat before the cruel cackling of her captor, the chief of the vicious CP9, trespassed upon the moment. His agents stood poised to strike at those dearest to her upon his command, but he clearly could not resist the chance to taunt his enemies.

"She's right, you know! No one could be stupid enough to be this woman's ally! You see that flag?" He crowed, pointing up at the World Government's banner flailing high above them in the wind. "It represents the combined strength of over 170 different nations around the entire world! That is the scope of her enemy! Do you even understand how overwhelming their power is compared to yours?! Do you have any idea what it means to make her your ally?" He mocked maliciously.

For a few agonizing moments, a torn Robin almost believed that might've been enough to change their minds. Until she heard Luffy's command, just barely audible, issued calmly to his masked marksman.

"I see now. All right then. Sogeking."

"Hmm?" Replied the poorly disguised Usopp.

"That flag…" Luffy stabbed his finger to the sky, "Make it burn."

"Roger."

Robin barely had time to gasp in astonishment before Usopp raised his giant slingshot to the sky and launched a streaking fireball, instantly setting the pompous standard ablaze. Across the island, hundreds of pirates and marines alike were witness to the act of treason, watching with shock as the triangular flag burst into flame.

"ARE YOU INSANE!?" Spandam screeched. "You realize you just declared war on the entire WORLD GOVERNMENT!? There's nowhere on this earth you can survive now!"

"YOU WANNA BET!?" Luffy's defiant roar resounded deafeningly across the ravine, striking terror into his foe's heart. Robin shivered as he directed his ferocious stare right into her eyes.

"ROBIIIIIN!" He hollered "I STILL HAVEN'T HEARD YOU SAY IT YET! SO TELL US YOURSELF, RIGHT NOW! SAY YOU WANT TO LIVE!"

Something collapsed inside her at that point, and she felt ripened tears stream freely across her face as her deepest desire, suppressed for so long she had convinced herself that it wasn't there, finally exploded to the surface.

To live? Her lips quivered with the thought. She had always believed that she had no right. So many had told her over the years that her existence was a crime, she had come to believe that even simply wishing to continue in this world was a sin. Only one person had ever told her otherwise.

"The sea is vast, Robin. One day, without a doubt, you'll find friends to call your own. Friends who will protect you no matter what."

After so much betrayal, she had been unable to believe Saul's words would ever come true. But now, somehow, standing impossibly before her eyes and defying everything she had told herself for years, stood the very nakama he had foretold, the ones she had long ago consigned to the realm of naive fantasy.

In her heart, she had realized some time ago that the Straw Hats might finally have been the family she had denied herself for so long. But this truth, barely acknowledged, had only frightened her more deeply than she had ever felt on her own. For the first time in her harsh and lonely twenty-year experience, she had found something that she was terrified of losing. And she was entirely unequipped to cope with this vulnerability. Convinced that only way to protect what she had found was to cast it away, she had kept them at arm's length, steeled herself to the inevitable pain of letting go, and resigned herself to a martyr's death.

But now the Straw Hats had made it clear to her that being rid of them would not be so easy, that indeed, her life was no longer just her own to discard. She saw clearly now that she belonged in part to all of them, just as they did to her, and that their fates would not be disentangled. And she knew now that if she stripped away all the lies to herself, there was only one way to answer to Luffy's demand. She felt the last of her hesitation dissolve within her, and the words she had vainly held at bay spill loudly from her lips.

"I WANT TO LIIIIIIIIVE!" She howled back at him through her tears. "LET ME RETURN TO SEA WITH YOU!"

She could just make out, through her clouded eyes, her captain's grin and the grim determination on her nakama's faces.

"Yosh" Said Luffy. "Let's go."

Robin came back to the present, sitting up in her bed to wipe her quiet tears from her face. She could never recall that day without the same overwhelming snarl of emotions, the despair and grief, hope and joy, returning to her. Such silliness, she chided with some amusement.

There was no need to cry anymore. That despair was behind her now, she reminded herself. Her nakama had saved her. Luffy had saved her. Like he always did.

Unbidden, her captain's face loomed out of the darkness of the room and into her mind, his handsome, boyish features contorted with frantic fear. It was his face as it had been the very last time she'd seen him before their two-year parting. He was running to her, his hand outstretched desperately, his mouth agape as he silently wailed her name, and it was the only time she had ever seen such helpless panic in his eyes.

She felt the palpable memory of her own dread seize her heart, as though the threat of Kuma Bartholomew's unstoppable paws were still there in the room with her. It was a moment before she realized her hand was extended into the darkness before her, reaching out to her captain's vanished fingers.

After a few seconds, her senses returned to her, and she lowered her hand to her lap, still damp there from her earlier tears.

Luffy…

Her captain's name whispered in her heart, as though by saying it, she could somehow send reassurances back in time to him, and soothe the agony she had seen in his eyes two years ago.

She would never forget that face. It had haunted her during her time at Tequila Wolf, and during her stay with the Revolutionary Army. The pain in Luffy's eyes as his nakama were stolen from him one by one remained one of the most powerful evocations she had of how important the Straw Hat crew must be to their captain.

How important she must be to him.

The thought was enough make her heart race again, with an entirely different emotion this time; a warm, aching sensation somewhere between a sweet solace and a shameful yearning, between a confused trepidation and a secret, cherished joy. It was the hallmark of the dense mesh of unspoken feelings she had wrapped around the young man who was equal parts her captain and her hero and her close friend.

And perhaps...?

She sighed to herself, unable to finish the thought. Even after all this time, the notion that she might add yet another word to that list was almost too taboo to fathom. That Luffy was precious to her, she would never deny. That the courage and strength and concern he had mustered countless times on her behalf filled her with immeasurable gratitude – this she took for granted.

But those were feelings she nurtured for the rest of her crewmates too, and what she could no longer avoid confronting were the obvious differences augmenting her love for her captain beyond that. In the months since Luffy had first pulled her into his grand adventure, and for the two years she'd been apart from him, she had become increasingly alarmed by how much deeper the rabbit hole of her feelings for him had grown, and plagued by the growing recognition that she would eventually have to discuss a deeper understanding of their relationship with him. She felt obligated to express something more to him than just her friendship and appreciation for everything he had done for her. If only she could truly face or even understand what that might be.

Whatever it was, the feeling had been amplified when she had learned of the death of Luffy's brother. She had shuddered as she imagined how much grief he was experiencing. What she wouldn't have given, at the time, to be able to be at his side, for the chance to allay his suffering.

There was so much she had been unable to say to him back then, but she had vowed that she would tell him all of it when they finally met again. It had been a week since being reunited, however, and she had still failed to summon the words she had intended. Instead, her cowardice continued to undermine her.

At least I've developed a decent poker face around him, she thought to herself, though truthfully it hardly took much of her practiced composure to keep her hidden feelings from her rather emotionally naive captain. Of course, it was that same unassuming gullibility about him that made it so difficult to imagine ever explaining to him these complicated sentiments that she would hardly admit to herself she even had. How could she ever make him, of all people, understand when she herself was so confused by it all?

A part of her was still trying to reconcile the shame she felt at harboring these thoughts for someone so much younger, and more innocent, than her. She could not help feeling as though the mere mention of her sordid desires to him might somehow sully the wholesomeness about him that she loved so, and perhaps – even more frighteningly – jeopardize the very relationship she already treasured so much.

Amidst her racing thoughts, her eerily lit quarters seemed abruptly suffocating and she was overwhelmed by the urge to escape outside to the ship's deck and quiet her mind.

Throwing aside her sheets and hopping decisively out of bed, she quickly gathered some layers to cover herself from the cold, and slipped quietly out the cabin door into the crisp midnight air.

Outside on the second-floor landing she pulled her coat tight against a brisk sea breeze, took a deep breath, and leaned up against the railing, trying to collect herself.

Though night out, the cloudless sky made it much brighter outside than within her quarters, and her eyes scanned quickly over the vacant moonlit deck of the ship. She glanced almost straight up to the top of the forward mast and saw an expected light glowing high above in the crow's nest, where Nami should be spending her night watch.

She briefly considered seeking out the navigator's company. It might settle her nerves to chat with her awhile. But then again….

If she was honest with herself, her roommate was perhaps one of the last people she wanted to see when these thoughts were on her mind, despite her being like a sister to Robin. The thought of confiding to Nami about what she was experiencing had occurred to her before. She certainly trusted the younger female Straw Hat enough, and had exchanged personal secrets with her before. But she also had many reasons to believe that the red-haired navigator already knew the feelings she was wrestling with all too personally...

And that was a whole other complication of its own, she thought with a sigh.

She decided to make her way down the steps leading to the lower deck, crossing the grassy lawn to seat herself down on the ship's dangling one-man swing. She had enjoyed several comfortable reveries in this spot before, in moments not unlike this one; usually late in the evening when the rest of the crew had retired to their quarters and she could be alone with her thoughts.

If one thing had been clear since the Straw Hat's collective return to the grand line and their departure for the fabled New World, it was that none of them had spent the last two years idle. Every one of them seemed changed, stronger and surer of both themselves and each other; as if they all had sworn the same unspoken oath never to allow the utter defeat they had suffered at Sabaody Archipelago repeat itself.

Robin recalled being hard pressed to hide her surprise at Usopp's transformation from his former, skinny self to his new, sinewy physique, or to keep her eyes from lingering too openly on Luffy's newly pronounced muscularity and the novel scars acquired from his battles at Marine Headquarters. Zoro and Sanj had changed as well, but this was something most evident in their eyes. Franky had returned a half-foot taller and with an even more imposing cybernetic stature than before. Only Brook and Chopper seemed outwardly the same, though she was sure they had new tricks up their sleeves too.

As for her fellow female Straw Hat… Nami's conspicuous physical development had been another reminder of how much younger her close friend – and perhaps latent rival – was than she. At the height of her femininity, Nami was more beautiful… and more age-appropriate… than ever before, a fact that sat uncomfortably in the smallest corner of Robin's thoughts, amidst a shameful puddle of strictly censored feelings she knew were somewhere between intimidation and envy.

How much it pained her to even think such pettiness about her best friend or to be seeking solace from the fact that – as enthralling as she knew Nami would be to any conventionally inclined warm-blooded male – Luffy was no ordinary man for his age, especially when it came to these matters. The fact was, she told herself, neither of us probably has any advantage with him, at least in this regard. Somehow the thought wasn't very comforting.

And yet, she also knew from more intimate late-night girl talks, how close Nami was to their captain, and how far back their relationship went. Other than Zoro, no other member of the crew had known Luffy as long, or could claim to have had their lives more dramatically rescued by his intervention.

Yes, there was little doubt in Robin's mind that Nami knew precisely the emotions she was dealing with, and that there was little to be gained for either of them from discussing it; and indeed, perhaps much that might be lost. Even tacitly, this thorny issue had the potential to come between them in a way of which she was sure they were both aware. It could only be worse if voiced openly, possibly even alienating the two of them such that their former closeness could be unrecoverable. Hence the standstill she'd been experiencing.

Her hands tightened with a momentary frustration around the ropes suspending her swaying seat. The motion of the swing, while thought provoking, did not seem to be providing her quite the same peace of mind that it had in the past.

She was pulled out of her spell when she heard the soft rustle of someone climbing nimbly down the ship's rigging.

Was Nami's shift over already? She wondered. Sure enough, it was the slender navigator leaving the crow's nest, who leapt down from the last fifteen feet of hemp scaffolding to land softly on the opposite side of the ship's lawn.

She watched Nami brush her hands off on her lap, apparently unaware of Robin's presence in the shadows under the tree swing's bough. But just as she was about to call out to her friend, the navigator started up the nearest staircase to the second-floor landing. At first Robin thought she was returning to their quarters, but then saw her bypass the door to their room and instead climb lithely up the adjacent ladder to the upper deck, disappearing out of view towards the helm.

For a while Robin wondered where she might be going so late, until a thought occurred to her. Rising from her seat, she headed up the nearest staircase to her left, until she stood atop the rear landing. Telling herself that this wasn't spying, merely curiosity, she gazed up toward the forward deck and saw more or less what she had expected.

She could see Nami standing just past the wheel of the ship's helm, at the base of the steps leading up to the Sunny's massive bowsprit, her attention directed up to the top of the staircase. There Robin observed a hat-sporting character perched on the atop the ship's lion-shaped figurehead, sitting with his legs drawn up to his chest, his arms crossed and elbows draped over his knees as he gazed pensively out across the black, rippling iridescence of the waves ahead.

Luffy… She recognized.

Just as she had suspected, from her vantage point, she hadn't noticed that her captain had evidently been out for some late night meditation of his own, in his usual favorite spot. Nami must've seen him from her place atop the mast and come down to visit, Robin realized. She could tell the navigator had called up to him, because she saw her captain turn his head to her and then twist around in his seat to look down at her.

They exchanged unheard words for a few moments, before Nami proceeded up the steps and climbed up onto the figurehead to take a seat next to her captain. They both turned to face the sea again, evidently sharing an inaudible conversation.

For reasons Robin tried not to think about, instead of deciding then to return to her spot on the swing or even back to her quarters, she watched passively for some time as the two sat nearly shoulder to shoulder, all the while telling herself in the back of her mind that her ears weren't straining to catch the intermittent murmur of her captain's recognizable chuckle, and Nami's accompanying feminine laughter, which carried occasionally back to her over the wind.

She saw Luffy suddenly raise his arm, gesturing in what appeared to be a bicep flex, and caught a few words of his that sounded something like "…nakama…" and "…Usopp…" and maybe"…strong…!", which Nami seemed to find funny, because she laughed noticeably. Robin was inwardly mortified by the sudden impulse, perhaps conditioned by her many years as a covert operative and assassin, to use her Hana Hana no Mi powers to eavesdrop on their conversation.

As their tête-à-tête carried on, Luffy became more and more animated, his gestures increasingly expressive, until at one point he leapt upright on the prow, waving his arms up and out in a big arc, and then miming impressively in what she surmised must be an impersonation of their robotic shipwright. Nami gazed up amusedly at him, shaking with visible laughter while also trying to admonish her captain to keep his voice down.

They continued like that for awhile, Luffy on his feet, acting out various outwardly inscrutable scenarios for his navigator's entertainment, occasionally glancing down to see her reaction, while she stayed seated next to him, leaning slightly to her side, her eyes glued on her captain's silly antics. She laughed often, hardly looking away from him for even a moment, even as he appeared to settle down and then lapse into silence, turning back to the sea to assume an intrepid pose; his fists planted on his waist, elbows flared, like some character out of a comic book. For a long moment, both Robin and her friend stared at him, equally mesmerized by their captain's quiet charisma, until Nami interrupted his reverie with an unknown question. Luffy glanced back down to her, replying inaudibly to whatever she had asked, to which Nami patted the space beside her, inviting her captain to sit down again.

Robin, abruptly aware of just how long she had been nosily monitoring the scene, resolved guiltily to head back to her quarters and at least try to return to sleep. But just as she was turning to leave, she froze as she witnessed Luffy lower himself down next to his navigator, and then Nami sidling up close enough to him that they were fully flush. A moment later, she leaned warmly into his side and tilted her head against his shoulder.

If Luffy seemed surprised by this unusual display of intimacy, she could not tell, and it was a long time before either of them moved.

Including Robin. She stood rooted to the spot, suddenly unable to tear her eyes away from what was increasingly clear was something she should definitely not be witnessing in the first place. There was no denying now that every additional moment she spent watching was tantamount to a selfish infringement. Unbeknownst to her, though, her heart was racing again as the thoughts that had preoccupied her the entire night swirled through her head once more like white noise.

Several questions sped through her mind in rapid succession.

What did this mean? Was there more between Luffy and Nami than she had been aware? Had she been oblivious this whole time, to think she wasn't falling behind her best friend? Had she been a hopeless fool from the start, to think she'd ever stood a chance? How should she act when she faced them next? Should she tell Nami what she had seen? Play it off with gentle teasing? Apologize for spying? Or just keep the secret, and pretend she had witnessed nothing? Should she… make a last stand, confront Luffy, and confess her own feelings?

She swallowed, at the last thought, pushing down the tide of feelings escalating within her, and was just about to bolt back to her room and hide from it all, when she heard Nami's raised voice. She looked up to see that Nami had pulled away from Luffy, and was staring back at him, half on her knees with an air of frightened-deer-like paralysis; as though both momentarily confused but also poised to dash away at a moment's notice. She seemed like she was in distress, for her voice sounded louder than before, like she was asking something important.

Luffy, for his part, stared mutely back at his navigator with what was either calmness or bewilderment, and then finally said something quietly back to her. But this only seemed to upset Nami more, and she jumped suddenly to her feet, hands clutched defensively against her heart, while demanding of him again in a hurt voice raised just shy of being heard across the ship. Robin wasn't sure if Luffy answered her or not, but Nami didn't wait more than a few seconds before leaping off the bow and hurrying away from him down the steps to the helm. The harried swiftness with which she left made it clear something had offended her, and both Luffy and their unnoticed spectator followed her with their eyes as she escaped back to the lower landing and disappeared into her cabin, shutting the door behind her with an emphasis that wasn't quite a slam.

The stillness that remained in the aftermath hung heavily in the night wind, seeming to blanket the ship's entire deck, and Robin noticed that it was a long time that Luffy's inscrutable gaze lingered at the edge of the upper landing, where his navigator had disappeared from view, as if he were as uncertain about what had just happened as Robin. Eventually, he seemed to return to himself, removing his trademark straw hat with one hand, and running the other through his thick black hair. He shook his head slightly with what looked like a resigned and perplexed sigh before donning his hat again and resuming the position in which she'd first seen him.

Robin wasn't sure how much longer she stood against the rear railing, staring intently at the unreadable stillness of her captain's back, as though by concentrating hard enough she could reveal his thoughts to her.

Judging by how she hadn't noticed any light being lit, even briefly, from the windows of the girl's quarters, she reasoned that her roommate had likely gone straight to bed. Robin wondered if Nami had been aware enough to notice her absence, hoped that if she had, she would just assume that her roommate was on another late night research binge in the ship's library. She knew if Nami later surmised that she'd been out on the deck during the previous drama, she might have some justifiably uncomfortable questions for Robin.

She especially didn't want Nami to suspect anything about what she was about to do. As conflicted and confusing as the events of this evening had been thus far, there was a part of her – a ruthless and calculating part that had served her well during her twenty years before joining the Straw Hats, but that she'd been happy to have neglected since, although it remained a small but consistent facet of her world view – that saw this moment opportunistically. This was the Machiavellian voice in her head that conspiratorially whispered to her the dangerous truth: that if she was careful and clear-headed about it all, this moment could be a crucial for her.

She might never have a better chance than now to…to what? She asked herself. She wasn't quite sure, but as she made her way carefully down the nearby steps, and quietly crossed the moonlit lawn to ascend the opposite staircase, she felt sure she had to act. The part of her mind that lent itself to political calculus – that could see personal relationships as something of a game, and see another person's sudden disadvantage, even her best friend's, as potentially equaling her own advantage – this part had taken over. It was this part of her that had guided her up the forward landing.

She hesitated just before reaching the top of the stairs, struggling with the last of her moral capital as her conscience pondered the ethical ramifications of attempting to exploit what she had just witnessed to her own romantic ends.

But after only a brief moment, even the part of her that felt guilty about her half-formed intentions seemed to stumble upon some kind of happy loophole. The logic was something along the lines of every trite expression she'd ever heard about how "all was fair in love in war" and how "love was a battlefield". From the moment she had watched Nami lay her head upon Luffy's shoulder, she had realized how desperately she really loved her captain and the real, practical implications of what she was now understanding was really a kind of madness that had been growing inside her. How ludicrous it suddenly seemed, the once-entertained idea that she might be able to "wait out" these feelings – or simply place them aside and hope that they resolved themselves! How feeble such a notion appeared in retrospect.

It was laughable, she realized now, the belief that she could've ever held off from pursuing this love – however much her moral reservations or self-restraint might tell her she should – or even that she might be able to pursue it with anything less than every last shred of feminine wile, cunning strategy, and ruthless determination that she had her disposal; personal decorum and code of honor between friends be damned! She reminded herself that she'd already sworn some time ago she was done denying herself happiness, that she would no longer forget she owed herself the right to pursue her dreams. And Luffy had certainly become one of her dreams.

She knew suddenly that the love she cherished for Luffy was such that she would never abide handcuffing her chance at its fulfillment simply to avoid interfering with that of her sister. However much she loved Nami, she viewed her feelings for her captain as something separate and just as important, and she would not let herself lose out to her romantic rival; not without putting up a fight.

Sorry Nami, she rationalized, it'd be one thing if it was clear that Luffy loved you back, and that this particular door to his heart was already closed to me. But if she'd read the earlier situation correctly, things were anything but that straightforward. And where there was emotional confusion, she told herself, there was also an opening.

In the background of her musings, an amusing fantasy was playing out, the archetypical miniature devil-Robin on one shoulder (dressed, of course, in a revealing red leather number replete with brandished pitchfork, to which she wondered idly how Luffy might react in real life) egging her on with gleeful abandon, while her more chastely attired angelic counterpart lectured her demonic avatar from the other side of real-Robin's neck; until, that is, Devil-Robin appeared next to Angel-Robin to whisper collusively in her ear something that turned her modest version's face a deep, embarrassed red, so that eventually Angel-Robin leered with a sneaky look of imaginative lechery and threw her arm around her underdressed adversary's shoulders, the both of them producing hefty flagons of mead from thin air and toasting one other with a new, devious consensus, before resuming together their silent cheering for real-life Robin.

She let out a deep breath, acutely aware of just how nervous she was, then. But the die had been cast, things were already in motion, she thought with perhaps just a hint of melodrama. She had managed to recruit both devil-Robin and angel-Robin to her cause. If love was chess, this was her moment for making a daring sacrifice that might change the course of the game. The notion made her smile, gave her a strange courage. After all, she reminded herself, she did play a pretty mean game of chess. Without waiting any longer, she climbed the last couple of steps and walked deliberately onto the upper deck.

Her gaze was drawn immediately to Luffy's brooding backside, silhouetted starkly against the glassy moonlight, so that her breath caught in her throat for a moment. He didn't appear to have moved at all, and seemed so unusually contemplative that she hesitated to penetrate the silence.

Finally, she advanced slowly around the helm, trying consciously to make her steps loud enough to telegraph her approach, until she stood where Nami first had, at the bottom of the steps leading up to the ship's figurehead. Luffy appeared then to finally hear her presence, for his head perked up and he spun swiftly in his seat to face her.

"Oh! Its you, Robin!" The surprise in his voice seemed genuine, as did the warm smile his face quickly melted into.

Robin felt a wave of heat rush through her, as though the warmth of his handsome grin had somehow been directly transferred to her body; at the same time, she felt her whole body relax, all of her earlier nervousness vanishing as quickly as Luffy's taciturn demeanor had. It seemed impossible to be anxious with her captain smiling that way. The irrational urge to blurt out her furious, maddening desire for him right then and there ("I LOVE YOU, LUFFY! MAKE ME YOURS FOREVER! *POUNCE*) flared briefly at the periphery of her consciousness, but she maintained her composure without much effort.

"Luffy…" She said coolly, while smiling at him with an affection she knew was anything but. "Good evening. You're up late tonight. I trust you're doing well?"

She hadn't really thought for even a moment, about what she was going to say to him first, and a detached and overly self-analytical part of her was aware that her opening was somewhat…stiff. But she reminded herself there was never much point in over-thinking these matters, especially with someone as unpretentious as Luffy, with whom it was so clear such considerations played no role in conversation at all.

Luffy chuckled in that way that she liked so much and nodded.

"Shishishishishi! Yeah I'm all right. Just out for some fresh air, you know?" If his encounter with Nami was on his mind, he gave no sign of it.

"I see." His archeologist replied. "Trouble sleeping, perhaps?"

He grinned.

"Yeah, a little." He paused a moment before explaining, "I guess, I've just been so excited to be back at sea with everyone again, and on a new adventure! It's been hard to stay in bed at night."

"I can understand that." She offered.

There was a pleasant moment's comfortable silence, where her captain's gaze was locked openly with hers. Then he spoke.

"Ne, what about you, Robin? Why aren't you in bed yet?" Luffy asked curiously.

"Hmm…." She blinked at him. "I guess had a strange dream that woke me up and I couldn't get back to sleep. So I just decided to get some fresh air as well, I suppose."

"Oh, I get it. That makes sense, I guess." He grinned at her once more. "So then," he continued, "do you wanna come sit with me for awhile? Its nice up here."

Robin smiled broadly at the invitation for which she'd been hoping.

"I would love that." She accepted graciously, before she mounted the staircase, and climbed smoothly up onto the bow to sit beside him. After she took her seat, they turned to meet each other's eyes for a long moment, each offering the other a pleasant smile.

God, he really is handsome, though. She thought as she took in the pleasing outlines of his face in the moonlight, careful to keep her admiration from projecting on her face.

Eventually they both returned their gaze to the landscape of gentle waves stretching out into the night horizon, still relishing the comfortable silence between them, and the quiet pleasure of each other's company.

Now that she was finally alone with him, Robin found very little coming to mind in the way of actual things to say. But this didn't bother her much. His company, talkative or not, was usually more than enough in itself. Certainly Luffy didn't appear to be at all uncomfortable with the sparseness of their conversation (not that she could ever recall noticing any kind of social anxiety from her captain's before). Still, she was pleasantly startled when Luffy interjected after awhile, to ask a question of her;

"Ne, Robin?"

"Mmm?"

"Your dream...the one that woke you up…what was it about?" He turned to face her, as if it had just occurred to him that her dream must've been distressful to disturb her sleep. "Was it something…sad?"

The look of earnest, inquiring concern on his face was disconcerting, for it was rare to find him wearing such a conscientious expression. She had the sudden impression of a child trying on clothes that were too big for him, which made her lips curl with amusement. It was adorable though, and his concern for her fueled the fuzzy feeling of gladness she felt while sitting at his side.

"No, not really sad, I suppose." She paused, trying to find the right words. "At least…it was a little more complicated than that. More like…a mix of different feelings, happy and sad and frightening…and even hopeful, I guess." She wondered how much she should tell him, but could see her explanation had only confused him more. She smiled inwardly, realizing she should've known better than to overtax Luffy's emotional vocabulary all at once.

"Actually," She went on, resolving suddenly to be as forthright as she dared, as this always seemed to produce the best results with Luffy, "To be honest, it was mostly about you, Luffy…."

She turned her head slightly toward him with an enigmatic smile as she said this, trying to gauge his reaction to her revelation.

"Ehh?! Me?" The surprise on his face did not disappoint her, and she giggled slightly as she reiterated.

"Yes. And the rest of crew too…. But… mostly you." She repeated.

She waited as he seemed to digest this information with whatever unique, and unknowable process of Luffy-ism that ground away behind his piercing eyes.

Finally he asked, with a serious look on his face.

"Ne, Robin. Since it was about me…was there meat involved?"

Robin blinked with surprise for a couple of seconds, before she was seized by a fit of pronounced giggles. It was such that she had to cover her lips with her fingers and turn away slightly to avoid his goofy expression, a look of genuine enthusiasm about the prospect of meat potentially being discussed, combined with an annoyed confusion at her laughter.

"Hey…what's so funny, Robin?!" He pouted.

"Gomen, gomen, Luffy," she waved apologetically, "I didn't mean to…. Its just that, I didn't expect that at all."

She struggled to get her laughter under control.

"So…no meat then?" Said Luffy, sounding sincerely disappointed, and Robin felt her giggles bubble up again.

"No, I'm afraid not. It was my dream about you, remember, not really a dream about the things that you like, Luffy." She replied with a smile, trying to benignly point out on her captain's minor Theory of Mind deficits.

"No meat… that is a sad dream." reasoned her captain, and as she giggled again, Luffy looked up at her with a smile, apparently glad he was a least making her laugh.

His next question, though, was astute enough that it quelled her laugh something quick:

"Ne, Robin…I don't get it though…if it was a dream about me…about your nakama…then why were you frightened? Did something bad happen?"

She sighed, and fell into an extended silence, searching for the right answer to his insight.

"I guess…" She tried, "I guess it was because I was dreaming about when you and everyone came to save me at Enies Lobby. I think I was remembering how frightened and alone I was before you came."

She went on quickly though,

"But I was also remembering how happy I was when everyone came to my rescue. I was dreaming about that moment, the one where you told me I should keep living. When you made me say the words. Do you remember, Luffy?"

He smirked.

"I do. But, ne, Robin don't say I made you say it. I just asked you to be honest with us. You're the one that chose to say that, remember? And that's…because you're really strong, Robin."

She was stunned. How could he be so sharp, all of sudden?

"Luffy…" She whispered. She had to look away at the moment, lest he risk seeing her eyes watering up.

"Robin? Did I say something bad?"

She choked on a weak laugh.

"Bad? No, definitely not. I'm just really happy you think so." She turned back to him, "That means a lot to me, that my captain thinks I'm strong."

"Shishishishishi!" Luffy laughed sheepishly. "Of course I do! You've always been strong, Robin; you're a member of my crew, after all! And I'm sure you've gotten even stronger since the last two years, right?"

He predicted confidently.

"I suppose I have." She agreed. "It seems like everyone has, don't you think?"

"Yeah. Definitely! I can't wait to see everyone show off in our next big battle!" He said clenching his fists with an excited grin, and throwing anticipatory punches into the air with his familiar boyish enthusiasm.

She smiled at his behavior, and decided now was as good a time as any to make a move. Copying Nami's earlier actions, she took advantage of his distraction to slide noticeably closer to her captain, until their shoulders were only inches apart.

From here she could catch some of his scent, a pleasant, vaguely cinnamon-like aroma that she found utterly intoxicating. She resisted the urge to bury her face in the side of his neck.

"But do you know, Luffy?" She said to get his attention, grinning mischievously when she saw him notice with a small surprise, how much closer she was sitting. "The reason everyone has been able to become so strong? Especially me?"

He shook his head wonderingly, as he gazed into her eyes.

"Its because of you, of course. None of us would've been able to come this far, without you, captain. The reason everyone tries so hard, its definitely because they want to live up to your dream, Luffy. We all want to repay what you've done for us. At least, I certainly do." As she said this she leaned her inspecting stare towards him.

"Me? What did I do?" He asked, eyes still glued on hers.

She laughed then. He could be so cluelessly modest sometimes.

"Why, everything, of course. You brought us all together. You gave us a chance to chase our dreams. You saved all of us. Me, more than once. Baka, did you really not realize that?"

He didn't say anything for a moment, just looked at her speechlessly with his large, innocent eyes. God, if she could just put her hand on his face!

"I guess…" He said carefully, "I guess I understand that. Because that's the way I feel too, I think." He beamed at her as he went on, "I mean, I wouldn't have gotten this far, either, without everyone else standing beside me. And being with you guys is helping me to realize my dream. So that's why I'm grateful to all my nakama."

He hesitated for a moment, and looked up to the night sky, before finishing.

"Thinking of everyone, and how I want to be strong enough to protect you all in the future… that's what I thought about while I was training with Rayleigh. Its what I finally remembered after Ace died… I think it gave me strength."

Robin stared at him.

"Luffy…" she whispered again. Feeling a moment of daring, she reached out and grasped his hand in hers. Luffy looked surprised, but he didn't pull away, and didn't say anything. She squeezed his hand softly then, and felt a small thrill when a moment later, he squeezed it back with a warm smile. It gave her the courage to find her words

"You know, Luffy. I'm really sorry." She said weakly.

He frowned at her.

"Sorry? What for?"

She looked away.

"I wanted to tell you that…I'm sorry that I wasn't there for you. After you lost your brother. When I heard the news I was heart broken. I can only imagine how it must've felt for you. How it still feels…. Anyway, Luffy, I wanted so much to be there for you, and I'm truly sorry that you had deal with it all on your own. I promised myself I'd never let that happen again. I promised I'd be at your side when you needed me again, no matter what…." She trailed off.

Luffy was quiet a long time after that, his expression grimly unreadable. Finally, he squeezed her hand again and said.

"Don't apologize, Robin. Don't you see?" He turned a pained smile at her that felt not unlike a harpoon through the chest. "It was because you were there for me that I was able to survive all of that. I mean, its true everyone may have been far away, but I knew you guys were thinking of me. And thinking about how I wanted to see everyone's smiles again… I'm sure that's what gave me the strength to find my way back to you all."

He pushed his hat off his head, and let it dangle down onto his back by its drawstring, running his free hand through his hair again.

"Of course, I still think about Ace a lot…. Sometimes…I dream about what happened… and it wakes me up." He paused, and Robin didn't dare to speak until he finished.

He glanced over at her and said, "So I think I understand when you talk about dreams that wake you up, and stuff. I had a lot of them at first, and I didn't like it at all. But then, I would always think of how all my friends were far away, training to get stronger, and it would make me feel better. I would think of everyone every day, and wonder how you all were doing…" He drifted off at the end, and then seemed to add, half to himself, "…especially you…. "

The last part made Robin's heart stop. He had said it so softly she thought she might've imagined it. But when he didn't say anything else, she felt that same unexplainable daring seize her, and she placed her other palm over his clasped hand.

"Luffy…" She started meekly, and then the rest of her words began to spill out of her, one on top of the other. "Luffy…I thought of you too. Every day. Every night! I'd fall asleep thinking about you…I woke up…thinking about you. You were always on my mind…. I was always wondering if you were okay, if you were… thinking of me, too. I missed everyone else too, of course... but Luffy…there was so much I wanted to say to you, you especially. So many things I wanted to tell you..."

Her words faded away as she was confronted by her captain's unanswering silence. He seemed to realize she was waiting for him to acknowledge her in some way, because he glanced briefly at her eyes before looking away awkwardly.

"Ne, Robin...what do you mean? What kind of things?" he sounded confused, and she hesitated. Perhaps... perhaps she had read things incorrectly again? She panicked to herself. She had thought, with what she had heard, that they might finally understand each other... but... maybe she had been just as misguided as Nami?

No, she thought to herself, it didn't matter. She had already said this much. She wasn't going to stop now.

"I guess... they're things I've wanted to say to you for a long time, now." She said slowly. "Ever since Enies Lobby, I think... I had always told myself I was just waiting for the right time to tell you, but really I was just making excuses... I was afraid..."

She noticed from the corner of her gaze, that Luffy was watching her keenly now. But it took all of her resolve just to keep talking, let alone make eye contact with him. Instead she looked down at the hand of his that she had enfolded between her palms.

"And then, after we were separated, I suddenly realized for the first time, that if I kept on making excuses, kept on denying it...I might actually never get the chance I was waiting for.

"Before what happened at Sabaody, no matter how bad things got, a part of me was always sure that you would pull through and save us all. Save me. The way you always do. I took it for granted that as long as we were with you, there would always be another chance to tell you how I felt.

"I wasn't even thinking about how unfair it was for me to rely on you so much. It wasn't until you were gone that I realized that I should've had the courage to be honest with you from the beginning. I promised myself that the next time we were alone together, I wouldn't let the opportunity to tell you just pass by again. Even if I was afraid."

She looked up at him then, terrified to see that he was still gazing back at her with that same inscrutable expression. In the back of her mind, a part of her kept whispering how closely this scene might appear from a distance, to resemble the one she had just witnessed between her captain and Nami. She tried to push the thought aside and carry on, when Luffy cut in.

"Ne, Robin, I don't really get what you're saying. You're not making any sense to me. What is it you wanted to tell me? Why don't you just tell me already? You're acting just like Nami was. Its confusing..."

Robin froze, again. It as if he had read her unspoken thought, and the first time he had mentioned his recent rendezvous with the ship's navigator.

"What do you mean, 'just like Nami?' " She asked, feigning ignorance.

His brow knitted and he looked at her, perplexed.

"You saw it, didn't you? How she ran off earlier? I don't know what I said, but I think I made her mad." He squinted away from her as he recalled the exchange, and pushed his lips out in an expression she might've found funny in a different context. "I was going to ask you about it, actually. I thought you could maybe explain it to me, because I don't get it at all. She was saying some stuff kinda like you. Like about how she wanted to tell me something but wasn't able to. It was all really confusing." He scratched his head, and she could practically feel his frustration.

"I mean, when I want to tell someone something, I just tell them. I don't understand, why you wouldn't just say what's on your mind." He looked to her, as if trying to judge whether he was in the right, here. A part of her was beginning to piece together a vague idea of what had transpired between her captain and navigator, a misunderstanding that actually wasn't too unexpected if one thought about Luffy's personality. But her mind was still reeling from something he'd mentioned earlier.

"What did you mean, 'I saw it', Luffy? Saw what?"

Luffy frowned again.

"Earlier, when Nami I were sitting here. Weren't you watching?" He seemed genuinely confused right now, as if what he were saying were totally obvious and he couldn't understand why she was denying it.

"Watching...? I...uh..." Robin felt herself getting uncharacteristically flustered. Her earlier clandestine behavior seemed quite silly, all of a sudden. Finally she gave up,

"You...knew I was there?" she asked faintly.

"Shishishishi!" He chuckled, clearly amused at having caught her off guard. "It was pretty obvious, Robin. You know, I trained a lot too while I was gone. I'm pretty good at sensing people now. " She knew his laughter wasn't meant to humiliate, but she was still immensely glad she had the cover of night to hide her mortified blush.

"I see. That explains it." She shook her head self-chastisingly. She never ceased to be reminded how foolish it was to underestimate her captain.

"And...you're not angry, with me?" She asked tentatively.

"Why would I be angry?" He said, with his same earlier perplexed expression.

"For spying on you? You're not mad?" She pushed.

He shrugged. "Like I told you, I was gonna ask you about it anyway."

She smiled after hearing this, and then laughed in her head for the umpteenth time at her captain's strangeness. Perhaps she should've been unsurprised, given Luffy's indifference to conduct that bothered most people. Her eyes still rested on the hand she had between hers when she spoke again,

"So what were you going to ask me about then? What did Nami say to you?"

"Hmm... Well, she said a lot of things. Like I said, some of it was like what you were saying earlier, about wanting to tell me something. I didn't really get any of that. She also mentioned about when I fought Arlong, said she wanted to thank me again. That was weird too. I've already told her before that she didn't have to thank me for that. She is my nakama, after all. We talked about being separated from everyone, and how we were excited to be back together. And we talked about how different everyone seemed. And..." He glanced upward again as he attempted to recall the conversation. "...I dunno, there was some other stuff that I think I'm forgetting. But I don't think any of that was what made her mad." He paused.

"Well..." Robin said, wanting genuinely to help, and realizing that understanding what had went wrong between them might help her avoid the same mistake, whatever that might've been, "from what I remember, you two seemed to be getting along well until right before she left." She pointed out with a knowing smile. "Do you remember what you were talking about right before then?"

"Hmm...yeah, kinda." He searched through his already hazy transcript of the events, "That was when she started acting kinda weird. Like... nervous... about something, maybe? She kept saying she had missed me a lot when I was gone, that she had really wanted to see me again."

"I see." Said Robin. "And what did you say to her?"

"Hmm?" He shrugged nonchalantly, "I dunno. I think I just said I had missed her too, that I'd really wanted to see her again too. Then she kept asking me if she had changed. Like, if she seemed different than before, to me."

"And what did you tell her?" Robin pressed.

"Well, I told her no, she still seemed like the same old Nami, to me." He said, doubtfully, as if part of him now sensed he screwed up somehow, but wasn't quite sure how. "Anyway, I don't think she liked that. She said I had noticed how Usopp and Franky were different, how come I didn't I think she had changed at all?" he began tallying off the rest of the dialogue line by line with the fingers of his free hand, without seeming to be aware of it.

"And I said, I guess she had changed too. And she said, 'changed how, be specific?' And I said, I guess she seemed stronger, but I wasn't sure how yet, cause I hadn't seen her fight yet. And then she called me a baka, I think." He frowned, as if even in retrospect, this seemed unfair. "And then she said, that wasn't what she had been talking about. So I asked her, well what was she talking about? And she said, like, didn't I think she looked any different than before?" He had run out of fingers on the one hand some time ago, and begun recycling through them over and over again. It wasn't clear if he was actually counting exchanges, or just doing it compulsively.

"And so I said, I guess maybe her hair seemed longer than before. And she said 'that's it?' Was that was all I could think of? And I said, what else did she want me to say? And then she said 'never mind, I was just a baka,' anyway, I wouldn't understand. I said, 'understand what?' She said, 'was I really that stupid? How could I not know what she meant by now?' And I said, why don't you just tell me, then?"

He took a deep breath, unaware of the growing amusement on his listener's face. Silly Luffy, she giggled to herself as she grasped that the story was more or less what she had predicted. You really are hopeless. Though, in all fairness, from what it sounded like, she supposed Nami wasn't much better in that respect. Funny how a girl so beautiful, smart and skilled at navigating at sea could flounder so uselessly in the pits of inexperience when it came to navigating romance.

"Then she said loved me, and then called me a big dumb idiot again, and a bunch of other things like that. Which I thought was totally mean." Said Luffy, pausing to sulk for a moment, oblivious to the significance of the first part of his statement relative to his childish concern about the insults. Robin's eyes had widened at the casual revelation of Nami's confession.

"Wait, Luffy. Go back for a moment." She interrupted, sure she had to clarify. "Nami told you she loved you?"

"Yeah, but then she said a bunch mean things –" She cut him off.

"Never mind that, Luffy. What did you say to her, when she told you that?" She pushed.

"Huh?" He hesitated, seeming genuinely confused. "Well I told her I loved her too, of course, she was my nakama. But she said that wasn't what she meant either, and called me a baka again. And I said, ' well, what did she mean?', again, and she said was that really the only way I loved her? And I said 'what else was there?'...And then, she didn't really say anything, but she seemed really mad, and I think she left right after that." He lapsed into another long silence.

Even now she could see him struggling to understand what he had done wrong, with an innocent and earnest confusion that only made her love him even more. Even given his emotional thick-headedness, it was clear he felt guilty about hurting his navigator's feelings, and genuinely wanted to make sense of his mistake, so much so that she was hard-pressed to sympathize with Nami's impatience. She really needed to learn what Robin had more or less comprehended from the start: that loving someone as dense as Luffy entailed its own specific challenges – requiring a high level of tolerance, and a willingness to give him the benefit of the doubt in these situations – which, unless met properly, would stymie any kind of attempt to get closer to him. The fact of the matter was, his biggest flaw, and perhaps the part she loved about him most, was that he was pure-hearted in mind and heart alike, pretty much to the point of romantic obliviousness. The normal rules of courtship simply could not be expected to apply to him. Unfortunately, she had figured out early on, any woman who hoped to find a way to Luffy's heart would need to be prepared for an uphill battle. She would need to be ready to get her hands dirty, too, if she hoped to have any chance of winning him. There were no fairy tale narratives here. Unless that woman was willing to suffer the embarrassment and awkwardness of literally instilling Luffy's understanding of romance and sexual attraction from the ground up – and in effect, corrupting some of the very virtues about him that made him so easy for a woman to trust and love – she'd never stand a chance. But then again, knowing her navigator's short temper, and surprising adolescence when it came to matters of love, she supposed that it wasn't unexpected how things had turned out.

She squeezed his hand firmly and he seemed to recall that she was there, turning to look at her.

"Ne, Robin? So do you understand it? What did I do? Was it really my fault?" He asked her.

She did her best to smile understandingly at him.

"I'm afraid so, Luffy. From what you described, I think I understand pretty well what happened. And, it was definitely your mistake."

He frowned, but seemed to accept this assessment without any protest. His deep and abiding respect for her opinion was another thing she treasured about him.

"Really? Well, then what did I do? And how do I fix it?" He asked, deeply troubled now that he had confirmed that he had indeed messed up.

"Unfortunately, I can't tell you that, Luffy." She answered.

He grew more confused.

"Eh? Why not? I thought you said you understood?" He protested.

"I do. But I still can't tell you. It's not my place. I'm sorry, Luffy, but this is something that Nami has to explain to you herself. Do you understand?"

He grimaced for a moment before affirming his agreement.

"That said," she continued, "I may have said that it was your fault, but I don't think you need to worry too much about it. The fact is, these kinds of misunderstandings tend to happen all the time between men and women. Trust me when I say that Nami isn't nearly as angry with you as you think." She said with a reassuring smile.

"How do you know that?" He asked curiously.

She explained, "From what you told me, I get the feeling that she's actually probably more upset with herself than with you. I'm sure it won't be too long before she speaks to you again about this, so just wait until then, okay?"

Luffy seemed only partially comforted by her words.

"Herself? Why would she be mad at herself? Ugh. I don't get it at all." He huffed.

"I'm sorry. It's hard to explain. Honestly, the things women do or say won't always make sense to men. That's sort of just the way it's always been. But you'll just have to trust me, okay? Eventually Nami will realize that even though it's your fault, it's still her job to make you understand. So don't worry about it, okay? Just be the same Luffy that you always are. That's what she really needs from you, captain."

Luffy considered her words carefully, and then eventually nodded.

"Yosh! I can do that, I guess." He grinned broadly at her and then added, "Thanks, Robin! You're always explaining things so that I can understand...even when I don't really understand it."

"Glad I can help." She replied warmly, giving his hand another soft squeeze. She paused, and knew in that moment, exactly what she should say next. Its my turn now, she thought, and she told herself that unlike her fellow female straw hat, she wouldn't give up until Luffy had no misunderstandings at all about her intentions. If, after that, she was still rejected, she could accept that. But she wouldn't quit halfway through, with the meaning of things still hanging in the air.

"Ne, Luffy? About what I wanted to tell you earlier..." She paused, until she saw his attention was on her.

"Oh yeah! Gomen, Robin, I almost forgot. Did you want to tell me now?"

She smiled, as a fearless, almost predatory, courage took over her. Tonight. She told herself. For tonight, at least, he would be hers. Even if it was just for this one moment. She was suddenly high on a kind of feverish hope that made her feel, in that moment, emotionally invincible.

"Actually..." She paused to let go of his hand, and then edged even closer to him, until she sat as Nami had, shoulder to shoulder with him, and leaning into his side. It occurred to her that the height gap between them had closed some in the last two years. She was still taller than him, but only by two or three inches at the most. As it was, he was almost eye-to-eye with her. "It just occurred to me," She went on, "that it'd be much easier for me to show than tell you. Is that okay with you, Luffy?"

He eyed her silently for a moment and then nodded ever so slightly. "Sure." He said.

She smiled wordlessly at his assent, and then, without taking her eyes of his, lifted her right hand up to the side his face, gently placing her palm against his cheek. It was warm, and smooth, except for the curved abrasive edge of the scar under his right eye, which she traced wonderingly, with edge of her thumb. She could tell Luffy was surprised by her sudden caress, but he remained graciously passive, his smile unwavering, his eyes still focused on hers, conveying his deep and implicit trust in his nakama and her intentions.

This was all the sign of consent she needed before she leaned her face into his, boldly crossing the last few inches of his personal space, her eyes closing just before she pressed her lips softly, deliberately against his.

For the next several moments, a white, numbing bliss pervaded her entire head, making it impossible to be truly conscious of what she was doing. She felt a small eternity go by during which her whole sphere of awareness, her entire existence, consisted only of the velvety movement of her mouth against his; the tip of her nose against his cheek; the feel of her fingers on the side of his face, pushing up into his hair; the smell of him filling her lungs; her other hand still held his, resting in his lap and was now clutching it tightly, as if seeking leverage.

Some immeasurable time later she managed to pull herself away slightly, her eyes still closed, and leaned forward until her temple rested softly against his forehead, the tip of her nose brushing his. She took another deep breath, soaking up his aroma once more, and ever so slightly nuzzling her forehead against his. With all her willpower, she resisted opening her eyes, as if by keeping them closed she could postpone forever the end of that moment, and the inevitability of having to confront his reaction to her decisive – and completely presumptuous – display of affection.

The illusion of timelessness was finally shattered when she heard Luffy clear his throat slightly.

"Ah...um...Robin?" He said in a voice that she was glad to hear seemed raspy and breathless enough to match the dryness she felt in her own throat.

"Mmmm...?" She squeezed her eyes even tighter, grimacing as she answered wordlessly. Inside she was bracing, as though against a physical impact, for the uncertain repercussions of what she had just done.

This was it, she thought to herself. This was where he started to apologize. Told her he didn't mean for her to misunderstand. Explained he didn't think this was a good idea. Reminded her that they were captain and crewmate, that he loved her as a nakama, as a big sister, as a dear friend, but not like this. She wondered how long it might be before the memory of this awkward incident was behind them.

"Ne...Robin...what...what was that?"

Her brow furrowed at his question. That had certainly not been what she expected him to say. Forcing herself to face the unavoidable, her eyes fluttered open and she looked up from the sight of the massive, cross-shaped scar carved fiercely across his sculpted torso, peering at his face through her eyelashes.

"What do you mean, Luffy? It's...it's exactly what you think. I love you... that's what I wanted to say. Not just as a nakama, and not just as your friend. Not like a brother. I really and truly...desperately...love you. I'm..." she choked a bit, but pushed through determinedly, "...I'm sorry if that made you uncomfortable... but I really didn't know any other way to say it more clearly to you. That's why I just decided to show you... Are you...upset?"

"I'm not upset." Replied Luffy. "I just don't understand...what...what was that you just did...?"

Robin finally pulled her head away from his and stared in serious consternation at him. Was he letting her on? She thought incredulously.

"What do you mean...what don't you understand, Luffy?" She asked calmly, steeling herself emotionally in case this was some convoluted attempt to let her down gently.

"That thing you just did with...with your mouth..." He went on sounding more confused by the second, "Why did you do that?"

It finally dawned on her, something so dubious as to defy to belief. He couldn't...could he? She placed her other hand gently around his face, so that she was cradling it deftly between both palms, as though she could hardly believe he was real.

"Luffy...do you mean to tell me...you've never... kissed anyone before?" She asked very carefully, trying to keep the doubt out of her voice, keep her tone as neutral as possible.

Luffy eyes never left hers as he slowly shook his head.

"Is that what it's called?" He asked.

Try as she did to keep her expression blank and non-judgmental, she could not stop her eyes from widening in astonishment. She let go of her captain's face and swallowed stiffly with the sudden understanding that she actually taken her captain's very first kiss, blinking back the shocked tears that swelled briefly in her eyes.

"Ne, Robin!" Luffy said quickly, his voice twisted with concern at her reaction, "What's wrong? Did I say something bad, again? I'm sorry! Please don't cry!"

"No, not at all...Its just..." She laughed softly as she wiped away the moisture from her cheeks. "I'm just really surprised, is all... And, I'm just...really happy that I got to have your first time. You definitely didn't do anything wrong this time." She reassured him.

He watched her warily, as if not entirely convinced he wasn't still somehow upsetting her. She decided to tease him a little, hoping to distract him with some levity.

"Still, Luffy, I really can't believe you've never kissed anyone before. I really thought you'd be more experienced." She said with smirk.

"Eh?" He said with his usual perplexed pout. "I can't help it. I never did that with anyone before. I think I maybe saw Ace had a magazine once with pictures in it..." he recalled cryptically and she chose not to press him for more details. "But...Robin, does this mean we have to get married now?"

She experienced yet another pang of surprise – for what felt like the fiftieth time that evening at least – at her captain's unceasingly entertaining capacity for...misguided... ideas about the world. This time she didn't even try to suppress her chuckle.

"No, captain, we don't have to get married. Not unless you want to." She explained patiently. "In fact, nothing has to change at all between us, if you don't want it to. But just answer me this, Luffy, how did you feel about it?" She asked.

"Hmm?" He seemed to be trying to get a lot straight in his head, and was only barely keeping up with her

"The kiss." She clarified, "Did you like it?"

"Oh..." He considered this for a moment, "Yeah, I guess so. It was kind of weird. But not in a bad way... You smell nice, Robin..." He said the last with a timidity, that she could not help but giggle about.

"I see. I'm glad you didn't dislike it...and that you enjoy my smell...I like the way you smell too, Luffy..." This seemed to please him. She wondered if anyone had ever told him that before. "But do you understand why I did it? Why I kissed you?" she knew she was making him uncomfortable by forcing so many questions on him in succession, but she had promised herself that she would see this through.

He thought about it awhile and then answered, "Because you love me? You said that, right?" He asked as if he was unsure if he remembered things correctly, like a school child trying hard to answer his teacher's question accurately.

She smiled encouragingly. God, but he was actually even more endearing than she had ever imagined.

"Yes, that's right. But do you also remember that I said this love was different than how someone loves their nakama? Or their family?"

He nodded again.

"Well...what do you think about that? Have you ever felt that way about someone before? Do you...have you possibly...ever felt that way about me?" The last question came out as a nervous whisper, for she was unsure her captain even grasped how much she was hanging onto his answer.

Another long pause, and then Luffy shrugged, with his trademark honesty,

"I dunno, Robin. I mean, I definitely love you as a nakama... but I don't really think I get this other kind of love. I mean, I'm guessing it's like the kind of love between a mom and dad, or the kind that makes people get married?" He looked at her. The last part of his hypothesis had sounded reluctant, and she tried to answer him as diplomatically as possible. Guess I shouldn't be surprised someone as adventurous and free-spirited as Luffy seems to have reservations about marriage...

"It can. It's true that people who get married often do it because they love each other. Just like people who decide to become mothers and fathers, are often married. But that doesn't have to be the case. If it does happen, it's usually much later on, after two people have been in love a really long time. But there are lots of people who fall in love at some point, but don't necessarily end up getting married or having children." She tried her best to explain, finding it ironic how difficult it could be to describe a concept that one usually considered universal knowledge beyond a certain age.

She could see Luffy really struggling to make sense of her explanation, with a serious effort that made her fall in love with him all over again.

"But then, Robin?" he asked. "What is it that's special about this love? How is it different than the other kinds of love...I just don't get that part."

She sighed, and did her best to put it in terms that Luffy would understand.

"I guess...the simplest way to explain it is that this kind of love is the kind that makes you want to kiss people. " She tried.

She saw a light seem to go off in his head.

"So, you kissed me because you love me? And also, that love is different than just nakama love because you want to kiss me?" The recursive logic seemed to work in his head, much to her bemusement. Ironically, she considered it one of the best illustrations of just how irrational the emotion she was talking about really was.

"And... do other things" She continued. "Kissing is part of it. But it's also a desire to be around that person as often as possible. And not just around that person, usually, but alone with that person. Usually, this kind of love makes you want to do things like, hold that person's hand." She noticed him glance down at her lap, where she had commandeered his hand in hers. "Basically, this kind of love, makes you want to touch the other person a lot. It comes, at least partly, from being attracted to someone else's body. Which means that you usually enjoy looking at them, and again, want get as close to them as possible, and generally be able to touch them a lot.

"But it can also come from other, non-physical things about that person, like the sound of their voice, or the way they smell, or laugh, or how funny you think they are, or the fact that they make you feel better when you're sad or lonely. Usually, being around that person makes you happy or excited, but it can also make you feel anxious or afraid, especially if the other person doesn't know that you feel this way and you're afraid that they don't feel the same kind of love for you." She had realized the best way to express it was just to tell Luffy exactly all the things he made her feel. He would either recognize it in the end, or he wouldn't.

She let him really absorb her description, slowly work through the implications of all the things romantic love could entail, hoping in the end, he'd be able to make the most informed decision he could about it all.

"Does that help you understand a little, Luffy?"

"I think so. Its basically a mystery feeling, is what you're saying?"

Robin laughed as he fell back on his go-to explanation for hard-to-understand concepts ranging from academic subjects to toe-socks.

"Actually yes, Luffy. That's actually probably the best way there is to describe it."

He considered that a second and then asked.

"And that's the love that you feel for me?"

She nodded noiselessly.

"And...you want to know if I feel that way about you?" He reiterated.

She nodded again. "I do. But I understand if you're not really sure..." She said, offering him a way out of the question if he needed.

His next words seemed to be chosen very carefully.

"Ne, Robin...you said that sometimes this feeling makes you afraid, right? About if the other person doesn't feel the same way...? If I didn't...feel that way...would you be sad?" He turned a probing look on her face, as if mustering all his capacity for reading facial expressions.

Robin felt her hopefulness sink sharply. Here the conversation had gotten very dicey. She knew that if she wasn't careful, Luffy might end up saying things he didn't mean just to spare the feelings of a nakama she knew he dearly loved...though not in the way she hoped. But she also knew that Luffy might just be asking this to clarify the meaning of his answer.

"Luffy..." She said seriously, "I don't really want you to think about that when you answer my question...Its true...I'd be sad if you didn't feel the same way...but...that's a part of the risk someone takes when they confess these feelings to someone. I am prepared for that, if that's you how you feel. The fact is, I would be more upset if you said you loved me that way too just because you wanted to protect me from getting hurt...do you understand?"

Luffy seemed to accept this. "I think so..."

"So just answer me as honestly you can, okay? That's what would make me happiest. I'll even make it simpler for you. For instance," she reached her hand up to his face again.

"If I were to ask to kiss you again...how would you feel about that?"

Luffy smiled at her... "I'd be okay with that."

Her heart raced with his answer, and she pressed on.

"And... If I asked you if you wanted to do some of the things I said...would that be okay too? Like, if I wanted to be able to kiss you... a lot more... as much as possible? And spend time with you a lot... just the two of us... holding hands like this... and talking...and...and touching you... How would you feel about that?"

"You mean...other than just on the face?"

She smiled, "Well...we could start slow. We wouldn't have to do anything you were uncomfortable with...but...eventually, yes...I'd want to be able to touch you everywhere...at least when we're alone together."

Luffy seemed to ponder this prospect as if it were something amazing that he had never even thought of.

"I'd like that... As long as it was with Robin... I think It'd be okay." He said simply.

She felt another little wave of joy flood her heart.

"And me? Luffy?" She gently lifted the hand of his that she was still holding and pressed it over her heart, hoping that Luffy wasas aware of the feel of her breasts cushioning his palm as she was. "If I asked you to touch me, too? How would that make you feel?"

Luffy swallowed, clearly nervous, but did not seem to pull away from her boldness.

"You...you want me to touch you too, Robin? Like this?" He asked skeptically, as if unable to believe she wasn't tricking him.

"Yes." She answered without hesitation. "Like this, and... more, too. If its you Luffy, I'd let you touch me anywhere... Anywhere you want. "

She watched the gears of his mind turn slowly with the prospect of the permission she was granting him, felt a pleasant shiver run through her, as she caught his eyes slip quickly, guiltily over the curves of her body. If he thought she had missed his once-over, he was mistaken. I knew it was buried under there somewhere, Luffy, she thought with some satisfaction. He hesitated as he asked again,

"And...that would make you... happy? If I touched you?"

She giggled again at his nervous skepticism. She couldn't be sure in the moonlight, but she could've sworn he was blushing.

"Eh, it would make me very happy, Luffy. Because you're the one I love."

Luffy seemed to speak, slowly and warily, as if afraid he might be walking into a self-incriminating trap.

"Well...if it would make Robin happy...then that would make me happy, too. So I could do that. But Robin... can we make sure Sanji doesn't know? "

Robin burst into giggles. "Yes, perhaps that's for the best..." She agreed, unable to stop the tide of glorious happiness that was swelling up inside her. Luffy noticed that what he'd said had made her glad, and he joined her laughter.

As if of the same mind, at that moment, they both leaned towards each other, and pressed their foreheads together once more, each looking up to stare into the other's eyes in a long, contented silence.

"Luffy?" She finally asked.

"Mmm?"

"I'm going to kiss you again, okay?" She forewarned him with a loving smile.

"Yosh. That's okay with me." He grinned back at her.

"Oh and Luffy... you should try kissing back this time, if you like?" She added encouragingly.

"Okay...but I don't really know how. How should I do that?"

She giggled. "How about you start by just doing whatever feels natural to you?" She suggested. And then she wasted no time slipping her hand behind his neck and into his hair, pulling his mouth towards hers, closing her eyes.

This time around the kiss was definitely different; longer, wetter, more urgent. At first, Luffy struggled with his earlier passivity, but after few tentative movements of his lips against hers, he caught on quickly. Soon his hand found its way into her hair as well, copying her actions, and he was even beginning to pull her face gently into his. Meanwhile he pressed his lips even more firmly against hers until soft, satisfied moans begin to slip from Robin's mouth.

Inside her head, a hurricane had spun up, and her capacity to think straight had long flown out her ears. Jesus, but he was a fast learner, was the last coherent thought she had before she realized she had pushed him flat against the floor and wrapped her other hand around his red lapel, and was literally attacking his lips roughly, eagerly.

She finally regained some of her senses and moved back just slightly, her breathing heavy; her eyes slipped open to see that he was staring up at her, apparently marveling at her forcefulness. She stared sheepishly down at him, and was about to apologize for getting a little carried away. Instead she had a small thrill as she felt him hesitantly close the space between their lips with short, inviting, after-kisses, as though disappointed that their lip lock had ended so soon.

It seemed that in the last few minutes her captain had become considerably less ambivalent about the idea of kissing her, she thought with an ecstatic self-satisfaction. More than willing to oblige his newfound interest, she smiled into his eyes as she pushed her lips against his once more, this time more tenderly, before pulling away to whisper to him in a hushed breathlessness.

"That was...very good, Luffy. You seem to be improving at kissing very quickly," She praised. She had pushed herself up onto her hands, which lay planted to either side of him now, pinning him between her arms. Her body had climbed over his and partially straddled him during her earlier inhibition-shattering spell of desire, their legs intimately tangled. For awhile she hovered over his body, looking down at his face as it appeared in the moonlight, framed by a dark curtain of her dangling hair.

Luffy gave her an impish grin.

"Yeah, I think I kinda get how it's supposed to work now..." Taking her wrists in his hands, he pushed himself slowly upright, his face closing in as he sat up to meet her. At first she thought he would kiss her again, felt a rush of anticipation as she preemptively closed her eyes. Instead, once more, he pushed his forehead against hers. Opening her eyes to see him staring at her face, she trembled with self-conscious surprise when he reached up with one hand to push aside the ebony bangs draped partly over her face.

"Ne, Robin. Its weird, cause I never thought about doing it before...but...this kissing stuff... it actually feels pretty amazing, huh? I think...I think maybe the reason it feels so nice is because its with you."

"Luffy..." Robin was completely unable to express how happy his words had made her feel.

"And the things you talked about...spending time together...and touching?" He went on, "When I think about it, it sounds kind of exciting... it makes me feel... kind of like being on a new adventure! I'm not sure if it's the same feeling you're talking about...but I do think I want to know more. So I guess what I'm saying is... will you please show me all about this kind of love, Robin? I want to learn everything there is to know about this mystery feeling!"

She laughed with delight, marveling at how articulate her captain could be when he really wanted to.

"Alright then..." Robin replied with a smile. "I'll see what I can do. If you want, we can start with some more lessons right now?" She offered.

"Yosh. Okay then. Just tell me what to do." He said grinningly.

She smiled playfully at him, stole a quick, final kiss, and then got to her feet, pulling him with her.

"Follow me," She said simply, hardly able to keep the excitement out of her voice as she led him by the hand back down into the ship. Without another word, she hurried across the helm deck, towing a bemused Luffy behind her, as she set off for the privacy of the ship's library, with the full intention of making this night one of the most memorable of her captain's life.

Footnotes: So, I edited it a little, corrected some typos and grammar things, but didn't have the time to really cut it down. Still, that's beginning of it. I ran out of steam before I could get to more the foreshadowed...intimate...scene with Luffy and Robin, figured its already long enough as it is, really have to break it up at some point. But that is forthcoming. And will probably cross over into lime-y whime-y, if not lemony, territory. Bewarned. You're about to be subjected to poorly written smut.