Nami didn't really mind at all that Rosan was sleeping in the girl's room. Of all the male Straw Hat members, he's probably the only one she would let sleep there.

Besides, Robin had taken up the role as the sick redhead's caretaker and there was no way she'd make the beautiful woman sleep in the boy's room with Rosan because the two really hated being far from each other and as a result, they opted to sleep in the same bed.

It would have been really adorable… if Rosan wasn't so damn sick! Seriously what was wrong with their scout?! The four year old couldn't stay still for even a second and if not for the fact that he had reduced his age by so much (it's almost like he knew how annoying he'd be), they'd have a lot more trouble dragging around the tall redhead whose body temperature was far too high to be human.

Almost as soon as they could, the group checked his temperature and watching the thermometer reach nearly 150 degrees, banished all thoughts about sailing straight to Alabasta.

They needed to find the redhead a doctor immediately and even the tragic news Vivi had learned had not changed the kind hearted Princess' mind.

There had been a massive increase of people joining the rebellion, raising them to worryingly high numbers that would speak of untold slaughter if all out war broke out.

Still, Vivi did not falter in her decision. Even despite the problems she had with Robin and Rosan, the girl truly was too kind.

...Which brought them back to the star of the show.

How Robin was able to consistently stay by the scalding Rosan? Nami would never know but bless her soul because the navigator was absolutely sure she herself would have gotten fed up by now and actually tied down the burning menace.

"He was like this when we were kids and I was almost exclusively the target of his affection for four years. I've gotten used to it," Robin explained with a fond sigh, holding the sick boy who could barely move. His head was resting in between the crook of her neck and the woman didn't seem bothered whatsoever by his insane body heat.

(Rosan had placed a bit of modification on her, much to her displeasure, to make his body heat not bothersome to Robin).

All the straw hats listened (Sanji was glaring deeply at Rosan) in interest, not believing that their scout of all people used to be that clingy.

"Really?" Nami asked, eyes glinting eagerly. It wasn't often that there was an opportunity to hear or see something embarrassing about Rosan. He was an impenetrable fortress but apparently that was very much not the case as a kid.

Robin nodded with a teasing smile on her face. "He hated letting me out of his sight! We used to go on infiltration missions together and I would be the one infiltrating, while he'd wait for me. The first time we did it, he couldn't even wait a full day before he came knocking and tore everything down!"

"I told you I missed you," Rosan's raspy voice rang out, not seeing the problem with what he did.

"You were the one who made the plan! Why would you make a plan that you wouldn't be able to follow through with?" She retorted. The woman grabbed a glass of water and had the redhead drink it, to which he easily did so, sighing at the slight relief in his throat.

"Hindsight is 20/20. I didn't realize how much I'd miss you," Rosan shrugged, tugging his head back into the woman's neck. His sickness was getting pretty bad but he wouldn't let that affect him.

Sure Robin kept dragging him back to bed but he couldn't be expected to stay there all the time right? He was a restless soul, almost always on the move and you were telling him to stay still?

"That's normally what a person does when they're sick, Rosan," Mod deadpanned, staring tiredly at her charge. Bless Robin's patient soul for being able to put up with his nonstop movement. The moment she stopped watching him, he was off doing something he wasn't supposed to.

"L-Listen to Auntie, Father. I… I don't want you to dieeee!" Ram sobbed hysterically. The ring was the only one fully panicking due to seeing her Father in such a vulnerable position and she had been permanently attached to a soothing Mod the entire time.

"I can't die yet and I won't die yet. Stop crying," Rosan grunted.

There was still so much he needed to do. He just found Robin after all and dying to some cold would be embarrassing.

Besides, Modification allowed it inside of his body because it had to have been sure it wouldn't kill him. It was like getting a flu shot but on a much more extreme level...

In theory.

Ram put her hands over her mouth and nodded fervently, sniffing repeatedly but believing her creator's words.

Robin rolled her eyes. "You didn't realize something that simple? We barely knew each other for a few days and you were already insane levels of clingy! Don't you remember when you— Did you just bite me?!"

The woman looked at the little fangs of the chibi and glared at him.

"Stop revealing our past. I said I missed you," he snarked. That bite took a lot of energy out of him and it barely affected her.

"If you weren't sick, we'd have gotten into a fight," Robin said flatly.

"All those spats we got into and you still haven't learned your lesson?" Rosan replied tiredly.

"FIGHTS?!" Sanji roared in disbelief. These two used to get into fights?! Why would Rosan ever hit her?! Was he mad?!

"Yeah, we argued and got in a lot of fights as kids," the redhead responded.

Robin nodded. "Rosan is insufferable. It was at least twice a week when a fight would break out between us."

"You two used to infiltrate places as children?!" Usopp gaped, not believing his ears. He looked at the ridiculously tiny version of Rosan and couldn't believe someone this small could be so violent.

The straw hats were nodding in agreement with the long nose for once. Was Rosan insane?! Suggesting they do something so reckless at the ages of eight and four?

Look at how he looked currently! The four year old was positively adorable right now and looked as if he wouldn't hurt a fly! To hear that he was a complete menace even as a tiny boy, left them understandably surprised.

"It worked out in the end. We never failed a mission," Rosan murmured, feeling himself grow sleepy from exhaustion. "I'm going to sleep, I can't keep my eyes open anymore."

"Wait, we need to bathe," Robin reminded him and the redhead blearily gazed at her.

"I won't die if you bathe me in my sleep. Besides, I'll wake up when I get wet," he grunted simply, tucking his head back in the crook of her neck.

With that, the redhead instantly fell asleep in Robin's grasp and the Devil Child sighed fondly at the sight.

"If only he fell asleep this easily as a child," she muttered, pushing herself up to go bathe with him. "I'd like to thank you again for allowing us to use your room, Nami," Robin said, getting a small smile out of the navigator.

"Of course! I'd never let you sleep in the boy's room and Rosan is clearly not keen on letting you go so the women's room was really the only option. Besides, he's done a lot for me and I trust him with my life," she answered truthfully, staring fondly at the chibi Rosan.

…It was a good thing he was sleeping, he'd never let her live this down.

"Wait, you should let one of us bathe him instead, Robin-chan," Sanji interjected, pointing at one of the males. "He's still an adult despite everything a-and maybe you two shouldn't bathe together."

Robin shook her head no, much to his surprise. "I think the only one Rosan would allow to bathe him, is Luffy and well… I don't think Luffy is very good at caring for sick people," she observed accurately.

The Straw Hats sweatdropped at her accurate observation. Knowing Luffy, he'd mistakenly drown his brother or get him even more sick.

"I'd like to bathe myself as well... I appreciate the concern but it's fine. Rosan and I used to bathe together anyways so it's nothing new," Robin assured them.

...If anything, that made the chef's concerns even worse.

Sanji's jaw dropped to the floor at her admittance and the other straw hats regarded her with their own levels of surprise.

"You two bathed together?!" Nami gaped.

Was Rosan seriously that level of clingy?! Kami he was already a handful right now but she couldn't begin to imagine how much worse he had been.

"Almost everyday… Rosan was incredibly spoiled and he abused his cuteness to get what he wanted. Even though I told him I need some alone time, we still ended up bathing together more often then not and I got used to it much faster than I expected," she sighed fondly, idly stroking the chibi's hair with tender eyes.

"Now let's see how long I can let him sleep before he vanishes again… hopefully he actually does stay asleep through the bath," Robin muttered to herself. She was seriously thinking of tying him down but her love for Rosan, and his hate for being chained, prevented her from doing so.

Wait, that was it! She'd let Rosan rest with her clone so he wouldn't feel the urge to move around so much!

"It won't work but I love your optimism," Mod giggled.

"A woman can dream," Robin replied, shaking her head with a smile. Despite not being able to enter the mindscape, she was still connected via link so it wasn't all bad.

The straw hats and Vivi watched the two disappear with varying expressions.

"T-They…" Sanji stammered, jaw still on the floor in despair. "THEY BATHED TOGETHER?! JUST WHO DOES HE THINK HE IS?!"

"Me and Rosan bathed together too," Luffy beamed. "He stopped me from drowning a lot!"

"WHO CARES ABOUT IF HE BATHED WITH YOU?!" Sanji roared in fury, collapsing on his knees with tears in his eyes. "I just don't get it… how is my love rival so ahead of me right now?! What am I doing wrong?! WHAT CAN I DO BETTER?!"

Nami sweatdropped. Love rival? Was that what he considered Rosan? Was Rosan even aware of this? Somehow, she doubted it and if he was aware… she seriously doubted that he cared.

"What the hell are you talking about, dumbass cook?" Zoro raised a brow.

Rosan had not displayed any outward interest in a single soul since they had met but he was suddenly a love rival?

"What did you just call me, shitty marimo?" Sanji replied, raising a brow in surprise and anger.

Dumbass cook? Who the hell did this guy think he was?!

"Shitty marimo? Who the hell do you think you are?!" Zoro raised a brow in return, immediately closing the distance between the two.

The two began butting heads with each other, prepared to come to blows until Nami punched them both in the skull, successfully de-escalating the situation.

"Stop being so stupid," she barked.

"Don't you guys have any problem at all with this?!" Vivi couldn't help but ask, watching how normally they all interacted with the woman. Of all the things to focus on, them bathing was the most concerning?!

Was she the only one who was rightfully wary?! Miss All — Nico Robin (THE NICO ROBIN!) was their enemy and now she was being allowed to just sail with them?! Vivi could barely sleep at night knowing that one of her most hated enemies was currently in the same as room.

Even after everything she said… Vivi just couldn't forget the feeling of helplessness that Nico Robin helped reinforce. That mocking smile… the frozen eyes, the taunting words.

The feeling of seeing someone she cared for get blown up in cold blood… It didn't matter if she claimed to have spared him, she still blew him up!

Why couldn't they see what she saw?! This couldn't… This had to be a setup!

"Nope," Luffy replied easily, looking as carefree as usual. "Robin is Rosan's friend so she's our friend!" he finished simply.

The rest of the straw hats nodded at that. If Rosan, the most ruthless of them, trusted someone that much, then they had no reason to doubt them.

Zoro trusted Luffy and Rosan completely and those two had absolute trust in Robin so he had no reason to doubt her. Rosan especially, had already proven to the swordsman that they were both similarly paranoid.

Sanji similarly, despite his burning jealousy, trusted Rosan completely. After all, the two both knew each other's deepest secret and he had seen how ruthless Reaper could be.

If the Angel of Death of all people, trusted Nico Robin, then there wasn't much reason to not trust her.

She was also incredibly beautiful so that helped. Damn that Rosan for hogging all her attention and being so grabby…

Usopp was a little wary of her but one use of her Devil Fruit, had sent the long nose into a cackling fit that broke down all his fears.

Seeing how the cool and collected woman acted around Rosan did wonders for him as well.

Besides… he thought Kaya and Rosan had something going on (Usopp had seen her blushing around the redhead one time, unaware that he was talking about Usopp being her boyfriend) but this mostly dashed his worries.

"Vivi…" Nami sighed, deciding to nip this in the bud before Rosan eventually did. "I don't know about Luffy, but none of us have ever seen Rosan act like that and I'm sure you could say the same about Robin."

She sent a pointed look towards the princess, who could only look away and say nothing at the truth of her words.

"Those two are happy around each other and it's clear Robin has been operating in a way that would give her favorable positions to survive. It's very possible that Crocodile didn't give her much choice in joining him or not and he strikes me as a guy to kill in cold blood. Am I wrong?" Nami prodded.

Vivi said nothing, only nodding her head tightly.

The navigator sighed at the look on her face.

"You don't have to trust Robin… but we do because Rosan does. He's our scout and he's done a lot for all of us without even a hint of a smile on his face. We trust him with our lives and he trusts Robin with his. Of course we don't have a problem with her," Nami finished.

Vivi watched every straw hat nod in unison and couldn't help but gaze back at where Rosan and Nico Robin vanished off to.

It was true that she had never seen Miss All Sunday show even a quarter of the things Nico Robin showed and that was all because of the redhead who she was currently caring for.

They… they really did look happy to be around each other in a way that didn't scream fake or scheming to her.

If Igaram truly was alive… then Vivi could maybe find it in herself to forgive the woman.

"I'd stop being so hostile if I were you," Zoro advised. "Rosan doesn't strike me as the type to tolerate hostility for long and you've been hostile for a pretty long time."

"If he wasn't sick, I'd have to stop him from attacking you!" Luffy nodded, beaming all the while.

Rosan was possessive after all and he wouldn't allow any threats close to those he deemed his and well… Nico Robin was the first person to ever have that honor.

Vivi nodded shakily at that, not doubting them for even a second. Despite how different he was from them, this crew still had high regards for the familiar redhead and she had to wonder…

Just who was Rosan? Because Vivi was absolutely sure she had seen him somewhere before and it was driving her insane not being able to figure out.

----------------------------------------

It was on Zoro's 130th pushup, did he realize that something was amiss.

Honestly, what should have tipped him off was the snoring on his back but he ignored it, thinking it would have gone away...

Then, he realized that it was way hotter then it had any right to be so he finally checked out what the new presence on his body was.

Stopping in his workout, the swordsman carefully reached behind him and hoisted his target up with one hand.

Chibi Rosan's eyes blearily opened as he glanced at Zoro with a half lidded expression.

"Rosan... what are you doing here?" Zoro asked slowly, effortlessly holding the tiny redhead up.

The redhead coughed and said, "I... wanted to train so I came here... Since you were in... the middle of pushups—"

He coughed once more and Zoro sighed as he began to lead the redhead to the kitchen to drink water.

"—I figured I'd help you by sitting on your back. They looked too easy so I added some weight," he finished.

The swordsman sweatdropped. "You barely weigh a thing."

"...Oh, right," he muttered. "Where are you taking me?"

"The kitchen... you need some water."

Rosan hummed as he threatened to fall asleep again. "You're going the wrong way. Right now, you're taking me to—"

"Ahem."

The two froze as a dangerous aura washed over them and Zoro turned around to regard the Nico Robin who had a serene smile on her face.

"—The women's room," Rosan finished, opening his arms.

Robin's eyes narrowed at the dangerously cute move, but she grabbed the redhead out of Zoro's very inappropriate grasp and nestled him properly.

"I'll deal with you later," she promised the redhead before turning towards Zoro. "Zoro-san... I'd implore you to learn how to properly hold a small child."

Despite how casual and polite the tone was, Zoro still felt a chill crawl down his spine and nodded slowly, backing away from the dangerous woman who was currently fussing over the sick redhead.

"You left bed again," she chastised.

"I wanted to train," he replied raspily. "I'm thirsty."

The woman glared at him slightly, still turning on her heel to walk towards the kitchen so he could get his glass.

"You're sick. You should not be doing anything strenuous. Are you serious?"

"But I can't be cooped up all day in bed..."

"That's why I let you run off!"

"...You let me?"

Robin's expression turned flat. "Did you honestly think that in your state, you could easily get away from me of all people that much times. I'm just hoping you tired yourself out but you do stupid things instead!"

"Only you can so effortlessly destroy my ego..." Rosan sighed.

"Someone has to knock you down some... you'd actually think you were invincible otherwise."

Zoro watched them go with a sweatdrop, scratching his head all the while.

Did he just get chewed out for his scout's actions? All he was doing was training...

The swordsman sighed.

How did he get to the women's room anyways?

----------------------------------------

Nami was working on drawing a map, when she felt a presence near her.

No seriously, he was radiating so much heat it was impossible to miss it.

"You should be in bed, Rosan," Nami said idly, not looking up from her map and continuing to work on it.

"Robin said if I have the energy I can run off," his squeaky voice came out.

The navigator glanced up and tried her absolute hardest to not squeal at the adorable sight.

Rosan was very clearly wearing one of Robin's coats and the article of clothing looked way too big on his diminutive frame. It was so large that there was a small pile being dragged on the floor every time he took a step.

His large dual eyes were staring up at the taller girl and he asked, "What are you doing? I'm bored."

"Oh! I'm just drawing a map currently... It's always good to polish up your skills and since the weather is tame I figured I'd do that," she explained.

The chibi hummed. "I don't need to polish my skills... once I master something, it stays that way because of Modification."

Her eye twitched at that. "Your Devil Fruit is nonsense."

He nodded. "All people who know about it tell me..."

The redhead began coughing and her eyes turned worried.

"Should you really be out of bed? I know your restless but still..."

Before Rosan could reply, he stumbled and nearly fell flat on his face, only for a flurry of arms to capture him.

They lifted the tiny redhead up and deposited him in calm Robin's arm.

"Don't worry, I'm watching him," Robin assured.

"My hero," he rasped dryly, burying himself into her as a wave of tiredness hit him.

Nami smiled up at the archaeologist. "You sure are diligent, Robin. I'm guessing you had to care for Rosan a lot?"

The sigh she let out made the navigator giggle.

"Don't get me started. The best way for me to put it so that you can understand is that Rosan was like a Luffy who thought out his chaos," she said.

Nami's eyes widened. "THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT I THOUGHT!" She exclaimed.

The Devil Child smiled at that. "There was one time where I actually got sick and can you guess what he did?"

Rosan let out a noise but was ignored.

Nami smiled eagerly. "What did he do?"

Robin adjusted Rosan as she took a seat next to the navigator. "After panicking for who knows how long, my best friend here went out and broke into a doctor's home, made friends with his wife, ate some cookies and forced the man to give me a checkup... then he revealed my identity."

"No way," the navigators eyes bugged, as she gazed at the deadpan expression of the flushed redhead. "Seriously?!"

"...You're so dead when I'm healed, Robin," Rosan assured.

"It's true?!"

Nami couldn't hold back her laughter at that and she smiled teasingly at the small redhead. "You sounded so precious, Rosan! Why are you so unappealing now?!"

"You're dead too."

It was so very difficult to take such an adorable child like Rosan's kid form serious. His voice was so squeaky and his cheeks were so pudgy and his eyes were so wide! No wonder he was so confident, the boy had been utterly cute before he turned dreadfully handsome.

Evidently, Robin didn't take him serious no matter what because with a smile she said, "He really was so precious! Let me tell you about the time he raided an entire library for all of their books to put on the ship."

"I thought you liked when I did that," Rosan protested.

Nami let out a hearty laugh.

She was going to like Robin just fine.

----------------------------------------

"Sanji, I'm hungry."

The chef nearly told Luffy to wait for dinner, before realizing that wasn't his voice and he glanced at the sick redhead sitting at the seat of the table.

Somehow, the redhead had managed to get his hands on a plate and utensils and was staring at the chef with a flushed face.

He felt a tick forming but rolled his eyes and said, "What do you want?"

The redhead thought about it. "I don't know... I'm not hungry anymore."

"IT'S BEEN 10 SECONDS!" Sanji roared at the sick redhead.

Rosan shrugged and placed his head on the table. "I'm going to sleep."

The chef resisted the urge to yank out his hair at the antics of the redhead and said, "I've got a soup cooking up just for you. It should be smooth and easy to consume."

"But I want pasta," his muffled voice said, head still flat on the table.

"WELL YOU CAN'T HAVE PASTA! YOU'RE SICK!" The chef barked with razor sharp teeth.

Seriously, was their scout always this spoiled?!

"..." Rosan glanced up at him and the chefs resolve wavered as he saw those big dual eyes begin to waver.

"But... I want pasta," he repeated sadly.

Oh, goddamnit. This was why he was so spoiled.

"Fine, fine," Sanji sighed. "I'll prepare your pasta."

"That won't be necessary."

Robin glanced at Rosan's expression, utterly unfazed by his attempt to abuse his looks and said, "Please give me the soup. I'll make sure he eats it."

The chef swooned at that. "Anything for you Robin-chan!"

Rosan's face shifted once more and he glanced at Robin with a frown. "I'll bite you."

Robin didn't even flinch at his threat. "You're attempts to use your good looks are cute, but you will not make my life more difficult. We already tried feeding you Pasta and it took far too long for you to eat it because it was hard for you to swallow."

"..." Rosan definitely wasn't pouting in displeasure.

Robin resisted the urge to smile at feeling his emotions pouring through.

"Here you go Robin-chan!" Sanji twirled, placing the plate in her hand. "Make sure he eats it all!"

She smiled at the chef, which made him swoon, and summoned a clone to hold the plate. Then, she grasped Rosan and secured him to her body, marching off with a simple, "Thank you, Sanji. Don't worry, I'll make sure he eats it all."

That was more so to herself then the chef honestly... Sick Rosan was... a trip.

----------------------------------------

"You have to eat, Rosan."

"I'm not hungry."

"You can barely move and you haven't eaten anything yet!"

"Because I'm not hungry."

"But you just said you wanted pasta."

"This isn't pasta is it?"

Robin was beginning to think Rosan had actually turned four again because this was absolutely ridiculous. His condition was steadily getting worse and he could barely move now, struggling to even escape for more than a minute (when she didn't allow him to).

She sighed and summoned a flurry of hands that held down Rosan, while opening his mouth in the process. It was almost comical how familiar the sight was and the Devil Child did it as if she practiced 100 times.

She did. Because of this psychotic redhead right here. Back when they were kids she did this too because the boy really disliked his vegetables.

"I'm doing this for your own good," Robin explained, watching him fail to even struggle though he certainly did try. Grabbing the meal (Sanji was an amazing cook), the woman began the arduous process of feeding the sick and stubborn redhead.

"I'm sorry for this, I can't even take over his body at the moment to make the process easier," Mod apologized. She was working overtime right now to catch any slight worsening of his condition in case it did in fact prove to be fatal and it left her rather exhausted herself.

Thankfully, Ram was making her life easier by giving her back rubs as she worked and she was thankful for that.

Luckily, Rosan's Philosopher Stone enhanced body, was doing an incredible job at keeping the virus at bay but it was also putting more stress on his body and draining him very quickly of his energy due to the fact that it believed it was healing something.

"It's okay," Robin replied calmly, making sure Rosan swallowed the food with a laser focused gaze. He caught her blue eyes and forced the meal down his throat, opening his mouth to show her that it was gone.

"Satisfied?" He coughed after finishing the entire soup.

Robin was normally so passive but due to him, she had become a lot less reactionary and a lot more assertive… especially when it came to Rosan.

He was pleased. He may not have acted like it, but he truly was.

"Quite." Robin smiled, placing the empty plate down and grabbing a book she had been in the middle of reading.

He rested his burning head back on the pillow and shut his eyes for a brief moment before snapping them back open.

"What is that noise?" They repeated at the same time.

There was quite the commotion going on outside and it was preventing the two from doing what they wanted to do which was sleep and read respectively.

Robin placed the book back down (was she ever going to finish reading this one?!) and summoned an eye outside to see what was happening.

"I'll relay the information back to you," she offered, making sure he didn't even think about moving.

"Okay," he rasped, closing his eyes again.

The commotion outside was actually due to a plethora of pirates from a massive ship invading them… and a weird looking man eating their ship.

"He's eating the ship?" Rosan repeated. Stupid man, this was the ship he used his energy to repair. If the redhead weren't so sick, he'd have gone and killed him.

Wapol (the eating man's name) had eaten quite a bit of the ship before Luffy got fed up and, though the strange man, who wanted a log pose to Drum Kingdom, tried to eat the rubber boy, he was blasted away by the captain and into the unforgiving water, much to the panic of his crew.

It didn't take long for the invaders to disappear and Rosan snorted in disinterest, coughing after making the noise and making Robin quickly attend to him.

"What an idiot. He's so lucky I'm sick," Rosan muttered, shuddering a bit at the rapid change in temperature. "Modification is failing at regulating my body temperature… it's getting cold and I hate the cold."

"I'm sorry, but Modification has deemed it necessary to focus on more important things and regulation of your resistance to temperature is not one of them," Mod sighed in amusement.

Ever since he was four, the only time Rosan's body had ever not been resistant to the weather, was when he had been captured on Daybreak Island and cuffed with seastone. The redhead absolutely despised the cold and as a result, Modification was almost constantly regulating his body.

"It is getting quite cold," Robin murmured, already moving to change her own clothes. "Most of our clothes are in the mindscape as well… but I should have some in here. Do you have anything for the cold?"

"Nearly all my clothes are long sleeved," Rosan deadpanned, squeaky voice unamused. "But the material isn't really thick enough to suit me in the winter. I tend to wear light clothing that doesn't trap heat."

Robin grabbed one of the many coats she had ended up buying on Celadon, this one violet and suited for the cold winter, and placed it on. After securing the snug coat (Maro's island really did have amazing fabric!), she grabbed another one, this time black and purple, and made her way over to Rosan.

"Making me wear your clothing now? At least I'm still male this time around," Rosan grunted, allowing her to dress him with no complaint.

"That reminds me... one of these days I need to see how you look in your female form," Robin stated, smiling at the prospect of seeing the mature woman.

Rosan had grown very handsome over the years and if Angel was any indication he would be just as attractive as a woman.

"Everyone always wants to see how I'd look as a woman…" Rosan sighed. "Very well, I'll show you after I'm healed."

"She's a natural beauty… it's surreal how someone so wild can look so beautiful," Mod said, displeasure deep in her tone. "I'm glad Rosan was not born a girl. The amount of attention he'd have been receiving… he already receives too much now, it'd be unfathomable."

She'd have to commit murder for her alternate dimension daughter.

"She's super hot and a bombshell. Never seen a chest or ass that huge," Ram nodded sagely. She'd be in the same boat as Auntie if her Father was Mother.

"Please don't be so crude, Ram," Mod sighed.

"I'd rather you not talk about me in such a way. It feels like harassment," Rosan chided, coughing again and prompting Robin to give him a glass of water.

"I can't wait," Robin actually grinned at the prospect. There was always something so fun about harassing Rosan and it hadn't changed at all with time.

"Whatever, I'm going to sleep," he mumbled, closing his eyes and dozing off.

The Devil Child giggled at his brief look of annoyance and picked up her book to continue reading it.

Perhaps she'd finally be able to get it done now that he was asleep.

----------------------------------------

"We're at the island, Robin," Nami said, opening the door and taking in the sight.

Chibi Rosan was sleeping, wrapped up in a large coat that belonged to Robin and cuddling the woman herself, who was raking a hand through his hair.

The absolutely adorable sight was only broken up by the fact that there was another Robin reading a book, as she sat on a chair next to the redhead. She idly flipped through the pages with a look of concentration, eyes glancing over at the redhead every time she did flip it.

Nami was never going to get used to seeing two Robins.

"We're close? Right, thank you for telling me, Nami," Robin smiled, shutting the book and placing it on the stand. The woman stood up and stretched a bit, making sure her coat was on snugly in the process and dispersing her clone.

The moment she did that, Rosan snapped awake and stared at the two of them, flushed face tilted to the side. The redhead was breathing heavily and his eyes were barely open, face a permanent shade of red now.

"We're here...?" Rosan grunted, attempting to push himself up and failing miserably.

Robin hastily moved over to the redhead and hoisted him up, securing him tightly with a soothing whisper.

"Your temperature feels like it rose even more…" The Devil Child murmured, worry set on her features. His body steaming had lessened with time but his condition had only gotten worse and his temperature continued to increase.

Nami tentatively touched the redhead's body and let out a hiss of pain at the sheer heat he was emanating.

"H-He's boiling!" The navigator gasped. Even with Modification, she just couldn't imagine how Robin was able to hold the chibi so calmly. He was burning. "Kami, Rosan, we need to get you to a doctor immediately!"

He couldn't even bite back a snide response. "Robin… I'm getting sweat all over you. You should… give me to Luffy and have him hold me instead," he tried.

Robin had been watching him almost 24/7 and he was eating up basically all of her time right now.

He didn't want to eat up all her time...

"It's fine, I don't mind," Robin assured, preparing to leave the room. "Your safety is my #1 priority right now and some sweat won't bother me. Really Rosan, stop looking at me like that."

Rosan simply hummed and didn't try to debate further, knowing she wouldn't change her mind.

"I hate being cold," he muttered, burying himself further into Robin to try and absorb her body heat.

"I know," Robin replied, allowing him to do so with no complaint. She idly furled up the giant coat on him and it was a testament to his sickness, that he still hadn't modified it to fit his miniature frame.

Nami nearly squealed at the cute as hell sight but held herself. When Rosan healed, she was never going to let him live this down and she thanked Robin for giving her so much fuel to work with.

As far as the archaeologist was concerned, Nami already considered her apart of the crew just because of the information she had on Rosan!

While getting ready to prepare, the sudden sound of a gunshot, made all the occupants in the room pause.

Nami and Robin shared a glance and hastily made their way out of the room.

The three bore witness to the sight of Vivi and Luffy both bowing on the floor. The blue haired princess had a bullet wound on her arm and there was a group of people glaring down at the group from the island they hadn't even docked yet.

Stolen story; please report.

"Please, bring us a doctor at least!" Vivi pleaded, not minding the injury one bit. "We don't have to enter your island but we really do need one. One of our members is terribly sick and really needs assistance."

"Please!" Luffy joined, bowing his head.

Rosan's eyes narrowed.

What the hell was this?

"Why are you bowing for my sake?" the redhead rasped, grabbing all their attention. "Do you think I'm in need of that much pity, where you'd bow to someone who shot you?"

"You need help, Rosan," Vivi stressed, getting up and facing the chibi. "No matter what, we have to get you to a doctor. You're getting worse!"

"I'll live. I'm not so pathetic that I'd resort to begging hostile people for help," Rosan retorted coldly, frown set on his face.

He would never bow to anyone when it came to needing something.

The redhead was far too self reliant to ever want help from anyone, much less help to the point where he'd prostrate himself and beg. As long as he could move and breathe, he could handle the situation himself.

Rosan didn't even want to see a doctor in the first place. The only doctor he trusted, was his little brother and Demon was the only person allowed to touch his body with medical tools.

He only agreed to this because of Robin. To be so strongly rejected from something he didn't even want in the first place… they were lucky he was sick.

Vivi frowned, biting her lip in contemplation at seeing how set Rosan was.

If this kept up, even if they were allowed entry, she was almost sure the sick redhead wouldn't accept the help.

"That boy… is he smoking?!" One of the onlookers asked in concern. None missed how flushed the adorable child's face was and the literal steam rising from him.

Was that the sick one…? They… they didn't expect his conditions to be so bad. What on earth had happened to him?!

"…" What looked to be the leader of the inhabitants, stepped up a little closer to the ship and gazed at the unwavering gaze of the sick one in question.

Dalton couldn't help but respect his unyielding nature despite how terrible of a condition he was in and he respected the crew even more for contrasting and caring for his well-being more then he seemed to.

"...Follow me, I'll escort you all into into the village. But just be warned, there's only one doctor in this village and she's a witch," he told the crew.

Rosan nearly snorted, but closed his eyes and allowed himself some rest.

"Thank you!" Vivi said, bowing again.

"You nearly made things more difficult, Rosan. Thank Vivi for being so caring," Robin scolded gently.

"Funny, I was so sure she didn't like either of us but here she is, defending us despite getting shot. What a kind, naive princess," Rosan replied.

He supposed he owed her an apology for standing up for him despite everything. She had no reason to be so concerned for his safety yet here she was going above and beyond...

No one should ever be that kind.

"Come with me," the apparent leader said.

----------------------------------------

"1-156°?! A-Are you even human? How are you still alive?!" Dalton sweat in disbelief, sweat pouring from his face at the redhead before him.

Just who was this small child? 156 was far past the fatal temperature and yet, he was still talking and functional!

"No, I'm a demon," he replied in a quiet rasp.

"Do demon's get sick?" Ram asked curiously.

"Not unless their body wants them to," Rosan said, idly shivering at the freezing temperatures of the winter island.

You'd think because his body was so hot, he wouldn't be very affected by the chilling weather but alas...

"Don't just make things up. She'll actually believe you," Robin admonished slightly, making sure he was comfortable.

Rosan said nothing, focusing on Dalton who kept looking at him. "Don't tell me… my sickness has shocked you… that much. Why… are you staring at me for so long?"

The man flinched in surprise at being called out before composing himself. "It's nothing I just… I feel like we've met before. I get that feeling with you and the blue haired girl right there."

Vivi jumped in surprise at being addressed, staring at both Rosan and Dalton. "I… I don't think we've ever met?"

Though, she did get that feeling with Rosan as well. It was honestly driving her insane why she couldn't pinpoint just where she saw him.

"We've never met," Rosan said decisively, closing his eyes to get more rest. "I have incredible memory. Even a face as average as yours would be memorized by me."

"So rude," everyone thought at once, sweatdropping at the words that came out of Rosan's mouth.

Dalton also sweatdropped but just chalked it up to him being sick and informed them of the only doctor on the island.

"So this Dr. Kureha is the only doctor on the island… and she lives up that mountain?" Nami questioned in disbelief.

They only got treatment when the 140 year old (was that really her age?!) deigned to come down? Then she took whatever she wanted as payment and just vanished without a trace? Not only that, but she had a strange beast following her around as well?

Now they had to just sit here and wait while Rosan's condition got only worse…? That didn't sound reasonable... not only did they need to heal Rosan, they had to get to Alabasta!

"Rosan, we're gonna climb that mountain to get you help," Luffy decided bluntly, lightly slapping the chibi awake.

"DON'T SLAP A SICK PERSON!" They roared at the idiot.

Was he serious?!

The straw hats and Dalton had protests right on their lips at his insane idea and how much things could go wrong but Rosan simply opened his eyes and nodded slowly.

"...Okay. The faster we get this over with, the better. I've never been sick before and I never want to get sick again," he decided, pushing himself up slowly and promptly collapsing back on the bed.

This sucked. Rosan enjoyed having absolute control over his own body and to not be able to even sit up… how embarrassing.

"It's not your fault, Rosan. You have nothing to be embarrassed about," Mod soothed.

After taking one look at the sickly redhead, it was easy for Robin to come to a decision.

"I'm going too," she said without hesitation, already steadying the sickly redhead.

"You too?!" Nami gasped. Robin had already proven to be the most sensible person on the ship and she was going along with this plan?!

The Devil Child nodded. "I told you I wouldn't let them do anything to you and I meant it, Rosan. I hope you don't mind, Luffy."

"Nope!" Luffy beamed. "Sanji, get us some food!"

Robin picked up the tiny Rosan (it was a good thing he had the foresight to change his size…) and secured him tightly to Luffy's back, making sure he wouldn't fall off easily.

"I never thought... I'd see the day... where I'm the helpless one and Luffy has to help me. It feels like only yesterday, where I had to stop you from drowning and getting eaten by a family of crocodiles," Rosan coughed, wrapping his tiny arms around his brother's neck.

"All those times you saved me and now I can pay you back!" Luffy grinned. His brother sure was warm and light but it felt nice in the cold weather!

"Y-You almost got eaten by crocodiles?" Usopp gaped, looking between the two brothers incredulously.

Just what crazy escapades did the two have?!

"Yup!" Luffy said, preparing to leave with Robin in tow.

"Should I come with you guys?" Sanji said, worry on his features for Robin's safety.

He didn't know what he'd do if the woman got hurt when he could have potentially helped her.

"That's okay. I'm strong, he made sure of it," Robin smiled reassuringly, pointing a finger at the tiny redhead who was snoring away quietly on his brother.

To be honest, if Luffy intended to climb the mountain with his bare hands, Robin wasn't even sure if she should go with him but she made a promise to Rosan and she wouldn't dare break it.

With haste, the two quickly left for the castle at the top of the mountain and the remaining straw hats watched them go with worried expressions.

"I'm sorry that we only have one doctor that can help." Dalton sounded genuinely apologetic as he spoke to them, bowing his head slightly. "Believe it or not, we had much more doctors but we were defeated by pirates."

The straw hats, sans Zoro and Karoo (they were guarding the ship), gasped at the reveal and Dalton explained how they had gotten attacked by a group of five pirates, led by a man named Blackbeard.

He then went to tell them that they actually had no soldiers and that civilians had taken up arms instead due to their former king, Wapol, fleeing with his army, leaving the Drum Kingdom to the mercy of the pirates.

A flash of realization crossed Vivi's features. "I remember him now! I met Wapol when I was a child and my father took me to a meeting of kings..."

That was the Levely and Wapol had tried to stir up trouble using her…

The Levely… where Kings and Queens from all over the Blue Seas met to discuss world changing topics—

"AHHHHHHH NO WAY!" Vivi let out a loud shriek as another realization hit her like a freight train.

The princess' jaw dropped to the floor and her eyes turned white in horror.

Everyone gazed at the panicking girl in worry, wondering what made her suddenly react so violently.

"Vivi-chan? Are you alright?" Sanji asked, concern clear on his features.

"Q-QUEEN RAISA!" She screeched, eyes widening further and further as she made connections.

Red hair, bronze skin, beautiful with eyes that glowed… It was no wonder Vivi had nearly pulled her hair out trying to figure out where she had seen Rosan before. She had been thinking of a man when in reality, she had really been thinking of a woman.

"Who?" Nami asked in confusion, Usopp and Sanji nodding along.

Dalton raised an eye at that familiar name. "Queen Raisa? Isn't that the Queen of Wisteria Island, in the South Blue?"

Wait a minute... he knew this girl!

This was Nefertari Vivi of the Alabasta Kingdom… The same Vivi who had been mature enough to avoid all out war with King Wapol all those years ago, which earned his immense respect...

What was she doing traveling with a group of pirates? How odd.

"Who is Queen Raisa?" Nami asked curiously.

Their guide spoke up once more to answer. "She's the sole ruler of a prosperous island in the South Blue, Wisteria Island. She is considered one of the most beautiful woman on the planet and her strength is said to be incredible... Some say she's eaten a Devil Fruit but she doesn't deign to show it to her fellow royals," Dalton explained.

It was hard to forget a woman like that. Even when he had been steadfast in his duties as a soldier, he had taken notice of her and if he didn't, Wapol (and about a dozen other kingdoms) had made it clear they were interested in the stone cold woman that didn't deign to give them any time.

She received many proposals for marriage but the woman didn't acknowledge a single one. She seemed to have no interest in uniting her private (and hidden) island with any others, content to be the single ruling force of Wisteria.

"Gorgeous woman?" That was Sanji and his eyes sparked with even more interest now.

Vivi was shaking, face white and the straw hats stared at her in concern, wondering what was going through the princess' head.

"That's right," Dalton said, as he easily recalled the woman. "She has a natural hue of bronze skin, lustrous red hair and glowing purple eyes. All are said to be signature traits of her lineage… It's also mentioned that anyone with their blood will have a coming of age ceremony where they are permitted to eat a very rare Devil Fruit chosen specifically for them."

Sanji's gaze turned dreamy at that, imagining the woman in his mind with all those traits.

Usopp and Nami were not the same.

"Hey… doesn't that... sound kind of familiar?" Usopp suddenly asked, sweat dripping from his features.

Nami's jaw had already dropped the moment she heard the description and she had to slowly close it to muster up a proper response. "Yes it does, Usopp… In fact, it sounds very familiar. Like, in our crew familiar."

As the chef began to make an imaginary image, he quickly came to a very startling realization.

"No… No way. It can't be." Sanji's features turned into horror so quickly, they were surprised he didn't faint (or die) on the spot.

"What are you all talking about — oh," Dalton said, eyes bugging as he remembered the redhead who he could have sworn he'd seen before.

"They… they look the exact same," Vivi whispered. Hell, they even somewhat acted similar! Vivi had seen her long ago as a child and the queen had been cold and forward to any adult that spoke to her.

When speaking to children however, she was much warmer, if not awkward, seeming to stare through them instead of at them.

Was Rosan… Was Rosan her son…? Raisa had already been an adult, despite not looking very old at all, and the same could apply to Rosan so maybe they were siblings?

"How old is Rosan?" Vivi couldn't help but ask. He was clearly an adult but he didn't look much older than 20.

"24," Sanji replied immediately.

Raisa had given birth 24 years ago?! That was insane! The woman never indicated she was in a relationship, much less with a child in the process… What had happened?

"Wait… did you just say that little squirt is 24?" Dalton gaped in confusion.

They all sweatdropped. There was far too much going on right now.

----------------------------------------

Robin actually hadn't spent much one on one time (technically, since Rosan was asleep) with any of the other Straw Hats considering she was practically permanently around Rosan.

Nami was the closest in that regards because the woman frequently updated her but the Devil Child was normally focused on making sure her childhood friend didn't do something stupid.

How fitting that the first other person she actually spent one on one time with, was the captain and younger brother of Rosan, Monkey D. Luffy. Her partner at the moment was walking as he hummed an absolutely terrible tune with his older brother sleeping on his back.

The rubber boy was a carefree enigma, reminding her strongly of Rosan as a child without any ounce of his high intelligence.

Much to her annoyance (they got into one of their many brawls because of it) at a young age, Robin had quickly discovered that Rosan's intelligence matched her own and that he wasn't a complete idiot.

He just planned in a way that maximized the amount of fun he had.

Robin didn't think Luffy planned. He just did whatever sounded fun with no thought put into it. The child was incredibly easy going and it was dangerously adorable.

She dreaded the day a fully emotional Rosan and Luffy met, if the redhead was anything even remotely similar to his child counterpart, the Straw Hats were in for a number of headaches.

Robin had grown used to his antics, being with the redhead for four years but his crew members knew nothing yet.

But she digressed, the Devil Child quite liked Luffy already because it was like looking at a dumber, more goofy, version of Rosan (they still had plenty of differences!) and that was probably why the two brothers got along so well.

"Luffy, what do you think of Rosan?" Robin asked curiously. They had stopped at the memories of Meiko and hadn't been able to continue due to Rosan being sick but they'd start it again after he was healed.

She wanted Luffy's perspective on how things went with them before seeing it from Rosan's.

"I love Rosan," Luffy replied without hesitation, beaming brightly at the thought of the small redhead on his back. "He's one of my brothers and he's my first friend and he always protected me when I was weak until I managed to get strong!"

His brows furrowed a bit. "But… he doesn't really consider himself apart of the crew right now and it's because a piece of him is missing. I want to get that piece back so that I can make him the strongest like he wanted to be!" Luffy told the woman, who could only blink at how insightful he seemed to be.

Robin couldn't help but smile at how much Luffy looked up to his brother and she imagined that they had to have gone through a lot to get this close. To see this version of Rosan forming bonds with people around him… it made her happy that he was capable of doing so.

She idly grabbed the violent little rabbit that kept lunging for them with her Devil Fruit and launched it away.

It was getting rather annoying.

"I want to get that piece of him back too," Robin said to the rubber boy. "It's not right seeing him like this… I want to see his grin and his carefree nature and just everything that I grew to love about him."

Luffy nodded rapidly along with her, grinning determinedly. "Don't worry, Robin! You're apart of the crew now so we can do it together," he said bluntly, marching towards the castle with a purpose.

Monkey D. Luffy… what a strange boy. He was filled with a charisma that seemed childish at first, but was filled with unyielding conviction.

He… He really was a lot like Rosan. It was no wonder the two had ended up becoming crewmates. They were good for each other.

"I thought so too," Mod said softly. "I'm glad I convinced him to hang around Luffy… that was one of the best decisions I could have made."

"He's an idiot… but I still love the little rubber squirt," Ram admitted.

Robin couldn't help but agree with what they said.

She… she wouldn't mind observing Monkey D. Luffy some more. If Rosan could trust him, maybe she could too.

The two continued on their way, chatting about little things, but paused as a mass of footsteps began thrumming the ground beneath them.

"Oh?" Robin hummed, pausing as she took in the sight. Luffy followed suit and he stared at the giant white creatures blocking their way.

Each growled ferociously, murder very clearly on their mind as they took a threatening step forward.

"Woah, polar bears," he gaped, looking at the massive amount glaring them down.

"These must be the Lapins we were warned about," Robin said warily, glancing back at the injured Rosan out of the corner of her eyes. He was still sleeping and his breathing was no longer inaudible, picking up in intensity and noise as they traversed through the dreadfully cold Drum Island.

"Luffy, I don't think we should fight them. Rosan could be put in danger otherwise," the Devil Child said.

"Right, so we should run?" Luffy replied.

The two leapt back in unison, as one of the lapins crashed into their spot and the rest followed suit.

"Yes, that's a good idea. Dodge and run. I'll do what I can to keep them at bay while we look for another path to the castle," Robin said, turning and dashing away from the violent animals.

Were they being attacked because she launched away the aggressive little cub? Who knew the pack of Lapins would take such offense to that and began chasing them down with intention to kill!

Two pair of arms sprouted on a dozen of the Lapins and Robin brutally snapped their necks, not killing but rendering them incapable of moving. It did nothing to thin out the giant horde but it was a start.

"The snow isn't making things better for us… They are well adapted to it but we aren't but there must be something we can do," Mod said, worry on her features. The Lapins were quickly gaining on them and there was just too much for Robin to deal with alone, while trying to make sure Luffy, and by proxy Rosan, didn't get hit.

She could probably take them out eventually but it would take far too long and time was something they didn't have much of.

Robin wanted Rosan healed now.

"Up there!" Luffy called, jumping up a cliff and throwing out a stretched hand for Robin to grab. She held onto the appendage and soared away from the charging Lapin's, landing next to Luffy.

"Smart, let's keep going," Robin said and the two took off. She left a clone behind to watch out for them and distract if need be, giving them more room to run.

It was only this detail, that allowed Robin to immediately spot and figure out what the Lapin's were doing, making her go slightly pale in disbelief.

"Luffy, run faster!" The Devil Child ordered, picking up even more speed and frantically trying to make distance.

Bless Luffy's soul because he didn't even question her, just picking up speed and soon, the two were full on sprinting towards the mountain.

"What's the matter, Robin?" Mod asked in concern.

"Incoming avalanche because of the Lapins," Robin replied tersely, thankful that she didn't have to say it aloud.

The massive group of bunnies, were jumping up and down so that they could create their own avalanche to catch the duo running away. It was absolutely brilliant and not something she expected the violent animals to know.

Rosan would probably have stolen some if he were awake.

"W-What?! Oh no, if there's an avalanche then…" Mod trailed off, at the rumbling noise and the woman went white.

"W-WOAH!" Luffy screamed, looking back and seeing the massive amounts of snow descending onto them. "W-What are we gonna do, Robin?!"

Robin gnawed her lip in concentration. Due to her being able to tell what the Lapins were doing at a glance, it had bought them a good amount of time and distance from the mass of snow careening towards them but they couldn't outrun it.

"We need to get somewhere high enough but the avalanche is massive," Robin informed him.

Luffy's eyes sparked, he could just —

"Mmm?"

Robin and Luffy immediately glanced at the source and saw that it was the formerly sleeping red chibi.

Rosan let out a confused groan and blearily opened his eyes. "What's… What's wrong?" He asked them, before immediately picking up the sound of the avalanche.

"We're in a bit of a bind," Robin admitted, not stopping in her stride. "We angered a couple of carnivorous bunnies and they caused an avalanche."

Rosan coughed harshly, nodding his head at her explanation. "Not enough high places either and I don't have the energy to summon my wings to fly us out," he grunted. This was a bit of a problem...

"Even if you did, I wouldn't let you," she countered. Not while he was struggling to stay awake at least.

"Yeah! You need to be careful," Luffy chided.

"Mmm, but still…" Rosan mused, finding it difficult to concentrate. He wanted to close his eyes again but they needed him…

"Ah, I got it…" the redhead mumbled, struggling to stretch out his left hand but eventually doing so.

Despite the avalanche gaining on them, Robin's protective instincts still flared and she was about to reprimand the stubborn redhead.

"I know, I know," he coughed. "G-Grab my armband, Robin. When you do that, hold Luffy and jump, okay?" Rosan instructed, head lolling a bit and falling back on his brother's shoulder.

"Ah! That's genius and it doesn't waste energy! Why didn't we think of that sooner?!" Mod gasped.

Robin, hearing that Mod-chan green lighted it, hastily reached out for the redhead's arm and pulled the long sleeve of her coat back, revealing the black armband.

The moment she touched it, the accessory glowed and wrapped around the woman's body instead of Rosan's own. She gasped at the sensation of gaining new attire over her previous one (it's Rosan's default raid suit appearance), but didn't dwell on it too long.

Grabbing onto the still Luffy (it was incredible how much faith he had in the both of them) Robin hugged both him and Rosan close to her and jumped exactly like he ordered.

Imagine her surprise, when the red sneakers she was currently wearing, sent her flying, high above the avalanche and directly into the safety of the sky. Instead of falling, they kept her and the other two in charge floating and she marveled at that.

She wasn't aware Rosan had this.

"We survived!" Luffy sighed in relief, watching the avalanche with a curious gaze.

"Good," Rosan muttered. "That was my Raid Suit. It grants me... a numerous amount of benefits, including footwear that allow me to accelerate and float. Its main ability, is its adaptability which is why you were able to… wear it. Normally only I could..." he explained to Robin.

How incredibly useful.

"He, along with Maro, stole the Blueprint from Germa, the underground army that rules the North Blue," Mod explained, making Robin's eyes snap open in surprise.

When her and Rosan had entered the North Blue, Robin had quickly begun doing research on the strongest of the four seas so it was natural she knew who Germa was.

"You sure have a lot of fun, Rosan," Robin said idly, inspecting Rosan's outfit on her frame. It was a stylish, open black coat with red streaks, that stopped at her knees, and underneath the coat, was a form fitting red shirt that hugged her curvy frame well.

She wasn't used to wearing baggy black pants and sneakers but Rosan enjoyed them and it reflected in the bottom half of her attire.

"Rosan, if you had this the entire time, why not transform it into winter apparel instead of wearing my clothing?"

"I can barely concentrate right now... and I rarely use my raid suit outside of combat. It was not on my mind when I told you but I guess that's fine because now you're wearing it…"

She seemed to be wearing his clothing a lot. He never expected to see Robin dressed like this but it looked good on her.

"That's fair… I guess it worked out for the best. Besides, I can't be the only one benefiting from stealing clothes," Robin shrugged.

"You look hot in Father's clothing, Mother," Ram whistled. She was hot in general but watching her rock Father's clothes put a wild smile on her face.

"You do seem to wear his clothes a lot and they do look quite nice on you," Mod mused.

A small dust of red covered the woman's cheeks and she rolled her eyes at their teasing.

Damn them... She was back to square one with genuine compliments and they were already doing their best to get on her nerves.

"The avalanche is done!" Luffy exclaimed, prompting Robin to glance down and confirm that yes, the avalanche was in fact gone.

The woman, with some guidance from Rosan, floated down onto the snow again and made sure Rosan was secured tightly onto Luffy.

"Keep the raid suit on, you never know what may happen and I feel myself falling asleep again," Rosan said tiredly.

He could go days without sleeping but now he could barely stay awake…

The redhead began snoring again, unconscious in the middle of his thought process.

"With this Raid Suit, we should be able to easily climb the mountain," Robin mused, idly patting Rosan's soft red spikes. He was too sick to maintain it in a bun so it was free currently and she much preferred it like this. Suppressing his hair into a bun reminded her of how suppressed his personality currently was.

It also did a good job at hiding his ruby earrings when his hair was free… Looking at those earrings reminded her of Meiko and that wound was still fresh for Robin despite it happening so long ago.

"Great! We gotta get up there as quick as possible," Luffy nodded.

With that, the two began their trek back up the mountain. They warily glanced around and verified that they were no longer being chased by those Lapins.

Along the way, they heard the desperate growling of a Lapin cub and the duo saw the sad sight of the bunny trying to dig its mother out of the snow.

Only her paw was free and the little thing clawed away, heedless of the blood matting its fur.

The baby Lapin heard their footsteps and quickly turned to face them, snarling protectively despite its blatant fear.

Robin watched Luffy walk up to the cornered creature and, though it cowered in fear, the rubber boy ignored it and pulled the buried mother out of the snow.

Both Lapins could only watch in shock at the act of kindness and even Robin was a little surprised.

After all, these things had just been trying to kill them. Rosan's vengeful streak was a mile wide and knowing him, he'd probably wait until the Lapin suffocated to death.

He'd probably make a smart comment about how they couldn't handle something they started either... even before his personality shift.

Luffy… Luffy was a good person.

"Isn't he?" Mod smiled softly. Right now, Robin only really trusted Rosan but she wanted her daughter to trust all of the Straw Hats eventually.

Honestly, the amount of trust issues her and Rosan both had, could fill multiple novels.

"We're almost there," Luffy said, gazing at the mountain that was getting closer and closer.

It really was a good thing Rosan had given them his Raid Suit to use… Robin was sure there was a way up this mountain besides climbing it and she was gonna suggest looking for it but this cut down their time by a lot.

"HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!" A voice roared at the two. "YOU THINK YOU COULD CAUSE AN AVALANCHE TO TRY AND KILL KING WAPOL?! HOW DARE YOU ATTEMPT TO DO THIS TO ME?!"

Robin was already crossing her arms, intent on snapping their necks and getting this over with so that Luffy didn't have to get involved but imagine her surprise, when an army of Lapins burst out and began attacking Wapol and his men, shooting nods of respect towards Luffy and Robin in the process.

The Devil Child blinked at the action before nodding back and continuing on their path.

"THE LAPINS ARE HELPING THEM? BUT WHY? THEY HATE HUMANS?!" Wapol gaped in confusion, hastily running away from the ferocious beasts that persisted on attacking them. He fearfully jumped back as one of them smashed into his position and said, "C-CHESS! KUROMARIMO!"

Chess and Kuromarimo both prepared themselves to protect the king and Robin let them to it, too focused on making sure Rosan healed.

Her and Luffy continued their quick pace to the mountain and finally, they arrived.

"It's huge! I can't even see the top!" Luffy awed.

"Well, with this Raid Suit, we can make the trip much easier. We'll use it and a combination of our Devil Fruits to climb up in record time."

Luffy grinned and flashed her a thumbs up. "You're super smart, Robin! Alright, let's do that," he beamed.

Ah, he was honestly adorable.

Robin grabbed the rubber boy around his midsection and stared determinedly up the mountain. She was sure there was another way up but she wanted Rosan safe now and didn't want to waste unknown time looking for it.

The woman tensed, activating the Raid Suit she still had donned on and jumped, clearing an amazing distance with Luffy and Rosan in tow.

----------------------------------------

"Thank you for saving me from the avalanche… but shouldn't you have saved Usopp too, Sanji?" Nami asked in concern, looking at the comatose sniper with a sweatdrop on her face.

Sanji, who had immediately jumped to the rescue of Nami and Vivi upon seeing the massive amounts of snow, glanced at the long nosed male and shrugged.

"He'll live. I had to save you two at all costs!" He swooned. The cook himself had actually gotten caught by the avalanche but he was none the worse for wear besides being more chilly.

"WAKE UP USOPP!" Vivi sobbed hysterically, shaking the unconscious liar back and forth in her panic.

"Ah, don't wake me up… I was dreaming of beautiful flowers and streams," Usopp muttered in his sleep, grinning dumbly.

"NO USOPP, DON'T GO BACK TO SLEEP!" Vivi cried, slapping him repeatedly so that he could wake up.

"Should we stop her?" Nami asked, watching as Usopp's face got progressively more swollen from the beating.

Sanji watched Usopp shoot up from the slaps and shook his head. "Nah, he's fine… Wait... is that Zoro?"

Zoro in question, burst out of the heaping amounts of snow with very little clothing on and began shivering uncontrollably.

"S-Someone give me their jacket. I was out training and I got lost," Zoro stammered, rubbing his arms against his body.

Seriously, it was so fucking cold.

"What is going on right now?" Nami sweatdropped. Why was everything so chaotic even without the two most chaotic members of their crew?!

Was this the effect of those two... Did they infect them?!

"Oh thank goodness, you saved me Vivi!" Usopp exclaimed, smiling thankfully. "But… doesn't my face feel a little swollen?"

Vivi laughed nervously and averted her gaze, marching in some direction with a purpose. "It's just frostbite! Y-Yeah, it's frostbite!"

Nami sweatdropped further, following after the wandering princess and prompting Sanji to do the same.

"Seriously… I need a jacket right now..." Zoro sneezed, following after the group and grumbling to himself.

Usopp scratched his face in confusion and winced in pain before following his crew in fear.

D-Did Frostbite really do this to a person?

----------------------------------------

Robin and Luffy had a rather ingenious plan to successfully climb the mountain and it was working wonders for them.

First, after utilizing the Raid Boots to jump a sizable distance, Robin would hover in place and summon two arms at the highest point that she could see. Then, Luffy would use his Devil Fruit to grasp the summoned arm, rocket themselves up with the momentum, Robin would utilize the hover mechanic of the boots again and they'd repeat.

The only downside was how bitingly cold it was and how tall the mountain was. Robin especially, due to her Devil Fruit had to deal with the freezing temperature of grasping the stone and the strain of pulling another (Rosan was incredibly light) person up constantly.

At least the Raid Suit had given her quite a crazy amount of strength...

Believe it or not, Rosan's unreal body heat was doing wonders for both her and Luffy right now and allowed them to brave the weather much better than they normally would.

"Are you alright?" Luffy asked in concern, looking back at the panting Robin. They had been doing this for around an hour now and the top was quickly becoming visible due to their combined efforts.

"I'm fine… it's just… I'm getting a little exhausted from the amount of energy I'm expending," Robin admitted quietly, not wanting to waste more energy talking. They were floating right now and the woman crossed her arms to continue.

"A little is an understatement. You've been doing this for an hour straight, Robin and you're holding someone else…" Mod said in concern.

"Y-Yeah, maybe just hover for a bit and gather your energy, Mother? I don't want you to get hurt too," Ram whispered in worry. She was barely holding it out right now and if both her mother and father got injured...

Luffy glanced at her with furrowed brows before quickly coming to a decision. She was planning on being stupid so he wouldn't let her.

The rubber boy suddenly clasped an arm around Robin's waist, much to her surprise, and began kicking his feet.

Robin watched with wide eyes, as Luffy began to ascend the mountain with a technique that she very quickly recognized.

"You know how to use Geppo?" She asked in genuine shock.

Luffy nodded. "Yeah! Rosan and I learned it from Gramps a while back!"

Gramps? How did their gramps know a Rokushiki technique?

"Wait... if you had this technique, why are you just now using it?" Robin couldn't help but ask. He could have used it to save them from the avalanche and climb up the mountain in a much less complicated manner...

Luffy simply laughed as they rocketed up the mountain. "You're super smart so I went along with your plan!"

Robin sweatdropped. It seems Luffy knew what areas he lacked in almost to a fault.

It was endearing though so she had no problems with it.

It took them around 20 more minutes to finally reach the top and Robin realized she was more tired then she thought...

At least they had the Raid Suit to help out earlier. It was exceedingly useful.

"I'll tell him how much you like it… I'm sure he'll attempt to get one created for you asap afterwards. Maro has one but Luffy and Ace refused his offer," Mod said, smiling gratefully at the visibly exhausted woman.

Eyes heavy, Robin allowed Luffy to pull them over and let out a sigh of relief at not needing to do that anymore. Her hands were freezing, she was tired and she couldn't go to sleep yet because she made a promise to Rosan.

She understood how traumatized he was due to the hands of another doctor and Robin would be damned if she allowed that to happen again after telling him to trust her.

"Rosan?" Robin prodded, shaking him gently as the trio moved over to the massive castle at the top.

"Mmm?" He groaned, cracking an eye open. "D-Did… we make it? Do you… need my help with any...thing?"

"No, no," She assured. "I'll let you go right back to sleep but I think you should transform back into an adult now before we meet the doctor."

"Kay," he said, closing his eyes and concentrating deeply.

"Modify Age: Default."

It took much longer than he expected but eventually, he had reverted back to his 24 year old form and he instantly fell back asleep, the energy drain from the technique being too much for him.

Luffy didn't even flinch at the added weight of his much taller brother and just shifted him slightly, marching towards the castle with a purpose, Robin lagging slightly behind him.

As they approached, they noticed something out of the corner of their eyes and the duo paused, at the sight of some giant… monster thing staring at them.

There was an odd silence that transpired, as the three stared at each other.

…

…

…

"WOAHHHHHH WHAT IS THAT?!" Luffy screamed at the same time as the monster.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!" The giant monster shrieked, hiding in the most peculiar manner. They tried hiding but managed to fail miserably, keeping their entire body exposed for them.

Robin simply raised a tired brow at the altercation. "You're hiding the wrong way," she told them, watching as the creature jumped and adjusted itself accordingly.

"W-What are you doing here, humans?! D-Did you guys climb up the mountain?!" The animal (?) asked in surprise.

Luffy's eyes transformed into stars.

"YOU CAN TALK?!" He gaped in awe.

The thing shrieked once more at that question.

Before the scared creature could bolt from Luffy's nature, Robin decided to take the reigns of the conversation and keep them on track.

"Please, can you lead us to the doctor here? My friend is very sick and we'd like treatment as soon as possible," she pleaded.

As interesting as the creature was, Robin could dwell on them when Rosan was being checked on. The redhead had managed to sleep through the entire trip up the mountain and had probably used up the last well of energy he had, transforming back into his adult form.

Mod and Ram being completely silent helped with that theory.

The creature looked shocked for some reason before finally directing its gaze towards the unconscious Rosan and gasping at the sight of steam rising from his body.

"Chopper! What's all that noise out there?!" A females voice called out.

"Doctor! It's a group of people who climbed up the mountain with a sick patient!" The one dubbed Chopper shouted back.

Dr. Kureha stepped through the door in curiosity, wondering who was stupid enough to climb the mountain. The woman gazed at the three newcomers, before instantly zeroing in on the man who was literally steaming.

She could question them later, this man needed to be attended to.

"Come on, we don't have all day!" Kureha ushered the group into the castle and racked her brain on all the things she'd need to tend to this person.

Chopper had already ran ahead to collect everything and she couldn't keep the proud smile off her face at how quick he was to react. She guided the three strangers to a room and quickly got things ready.

Robin watched Luffy place Rosan on the bed and Kureha summarily kicked him out, somehow sensing his chaotic nature.

The rubber boy didn't complain, deciding to fall asleep while they helped Rosan. He had put just as much effort into climbing the mountain and the biting cold did him no favors.

"You too, girl," Kureha ordered, turning towards Robin. "There's another room right next to this one. Go rest up some."

The woman looked exhausted right now. Many would have missed it, but Kureha had been alive for too long and had been a doctor for practically her whole life to miss something like that.

Robin shook her head in denial. "I can't leave this room until I'm sure he's alright," she informed the doctor bluntly.

When the doctor looked like she was going to protest, Robin simply interrupted her and said, "He… Rosan doesn't have a great experience with doctors. If he wakes up and doesn't see me, it won't bode well for anyone here."

The giant beast, Chopper, squeaked at that ominous warning and transformed into a small… raccoon?

So he was some type of zoan… She figured. He was actually quite adorable like this.

"That's Chopper, a blue-nosed reindeer who ate the Hito Hito No Mi. He can do anything a human can and I've taught him all my medical skills so you can trust him," Kureha explained calmly, getting a nod of understanding out of the neutral faced Robin.

Chopper jumped a bit at that and warily regarded the stoic woman, torn between running and tending to his patient.

Dr. Kureha stared at the woman for a moment, expression unreadable due to her shades and simply pulled a chair for Robin to sit on that would put her in Rosan's line of view if he woke up.

"Sit here and don't get in the way," Kureha instructed. Not a great experience with doctors eh? That didn't sound promising for her when he woke up.

"Thank you," Robin said, sitting up and directing her gaze towards Rosan.

"Chopper, hand me the antibiotics," she said.

"Yes, Doctor!"

Well, whatever. She'd still work on him; Kureha never saw anyone with his conditions so she was interested in how it would go.

With that, the doctor began running a diagnosis on the sickly redhead, Robin watching all the while.

----------------------------------------

"Do you think they managed to make it to the top?" Vivi asked in worry.

They had just been in an altercation with Wapol's goons in which Zoro and Sanji had defeated the king's soldiers and they were currently rescuing Dalton from the mountain of snow… but that didn't stop the fact that there had been an avalanche in the first place and it came from the direction Robin and Luffy went off at…

Not to mention, apparently Wapol was headed there too and it was likely they had possibly met each other.

"I don't know too much about Robin, but Luffy won't let them die. You can trust our captain to keep all of them safe," Nami assured the worried princess.

Vivi watched in awe at how absolute the Straw Hats faith in Luffy was and thought back to how Rosan had accepted the insane idea to climb the mountain without even a little bit of doubt.

That robotic man… he had just accepted it without fuss and fell asleep instantly on his brother's back, fully trusting in his plan along with Nico Robin herself.

Vivi had to wonder who Monkey D. Luffy was, to not only have someone like Rosan to call his brother… but to make the cold and distant Nico Robin trust him immediately to the point where she'd also go along with such a plan…

Maybe… Maybe he could help save her country?

----------------------------------------

"Incredible… I don't even know how he's alive right now but all we did was stabilize him and his body immediately handled the rest… Are you even human?"

"No, I'm a demon."

Kureha couldn't stop her brow from raising in surprise, as Rosan's eyes snapped open, glowing brightly with Modification and he effortlessly pushed himself up. His gaze bored into her own, piercing through her body and gauging the Doctor.

He idly activated his Devil Fruit and instantly regulated his own temperature.

"EEEEEK? A DEMON?!" A childish voice screeched.

Movement out of the corner of his eye, alerted Rosan to two other presences and his glowing eyes landed on a tiny blue nosed… raccoon? He was sure it was the source of noise because Robin was sleeping, head on the edge of his bed.

"I can't believe you're already awake," Kureha grunted with an impressed expression despite her complete befuddlement on this person's makeup.

His body temperature had been so high, any normal person would have long died...

But the moment she identified and applied the correct medicine, his body had begun immediately dealing with the disease until practically all traces of it were gone.

It made her wonder how he had even managed to catch the disease in the first place. This Rosan had the most impressive immune system she had ever seen… it was almost like it were alive and active, building itself into a stronger state off the virus that had wracked his body.

If that girl hadn't mentioned how he had a bad experience with doctors, she'd have wanted take a blood sample to inspect it...

The way the woman was looking at her had quickly dissuaded her of that idea though.

Another fascinating thing about the redhead was his actual body. It took her far too long to find a needle that could pierce his skin and right after she finished, the small wound inflicted closed up with dizzying speeds.

His body was one that doctors across the planet would envy and want to study which made her wonder if it was the reason he had such a bad experience with them.

"I'm inclined to actually believe that demon claim," Kureha snorted eventually, watching as the redhead hoisted up the sleeping woman and lay her next to him, stroking her hair in the process.

"She's a good one, you know? Didn't go to sleep until we finished working on you."

Rosan stared at Robin for a moment, eyes soft at that and he idly hugged her sleeping body a little closer. "She's the reason I accepted being worked on by a doctor in the first place… Told me to trust her so I did and I guess it worked out."

Kureha decided to get down business seeing as he was seemingly fine. "You somehow managed to contract an ancient disease that shouldn't actually exist right now. In recorded history, not a single person has ever survived it but there are ways to slow it down which was what I attempted to do for you... I didn't even cure you. Your body did after I injected you with some things."

She looked at the anomaly with an appraising eye.

"The fact that you managed to survive for so long and that it didn't even seem like you were going to die… It wouldn't have healed quickly but by the way your body was attacking it... it would have eventually healed in around… a month I predict? Possibly faster by how advanced your system is."

A deadly virus was nothing but a strong cold for this man… what an odd person.

"A month of that? No thanks," Rosan scoffed much to his amusement. It would have robbed him completely of his energy. He would have actually been bedridden that entire time and he couldn't go long without using Modification or else he'd get antsy.

She gestured towards his left arm. "That's where you got affected. Right on that pretty little rose tattoo of yours. I knew you were healing from it quickly, but you shouldn't have been awake for another day or two."

"So I got sick because I was being a gentleman," Rosan thought, mildly amused. The only reason his arms had been exposed, was when he had given Robin his cardigan so that she wasn't exposed back on Little Garden.

He had done it because he knew how hard it was for him to catch anything but his own Devil Fruit had decided to disprove that, willingly allowing such a dangerous virus to enter his body.

Seems it was the second time that happened.

"I'm so glad that you're healed up!" Mod beamed, not privy to his thoughts currently.

"F-Fatherrrrr I missed youuuu!" Ram sobbed happily, wanting to see him as soon as possible but holding her patience in. She furiously wiped at her eyes so that he didn't call her weak for crying.

"Mod-chan. Ram. I'll visit you two soon," Rosan promised, glancing down at his body. He didn't notice anything too obvious now that he was healed, but he added that up to not being fully recovered yet.

He'd probably be fully healed in a day or so. Better than a month at least.

"Thank you both for healing me. Despite my opinions on doctor's touching me, I still appreciate it," Rosan said softly, inclining his head towards Kureha and Raccoon.

Kureha simply waved him off but Raccoon had a much different reaction.

He blinked, before blushing and the little thing broke out into a dance.

"W-Who said you could thank me, you bastard?!" He gushed, not looking remotely upset despite his words.

"That is so adorable," Mod gushed, wanting to squeeze the little guy with all her might.

"Y-You're such a girl," Ram sniffed, even finding time to make fun of her Auntie through the tears.

"What exactly does that mean, young lady?"

"E-Exactly what I meant!"

Rosan ignored the two and was about to ask who the raccoon was, before Luffy burst into the room. He saw his, healthy, brother and immediately started whooping.

"ROSAN!" His captain screamed, immediately pouncing on his scout and hugging the redhead.

Robin's eyes snapped opened at that and she let out a surprised noise at being collateral from Luffy's excitement. He grabbed the two of them and squeezed, laughing cheerfully all the while.

Despite her tired confusion, she instinctively wrapped her arms around the rubber boy. far too used to this from days spent around Rosan.

"You're not burning anymore!" He beamed.

"D-Don't be so rough with the patient! He's still healing!" The little animal suddenly said, catching Luffy's attention.

"FOOD!"

"EH?!"

Chopper only had a moment to shriek and run, before Luffy began chasing him down the castle. The little guy began screaming in panic at the sight of the running human who had called him food and they vanished.

Robin watched them go with a slightly confused expression, before focusing on the redhead who was no longer boiling hot. She realized that he was holding her close and returned the hug with a relieved smile on her face.

"Rosan! You're better now," she sighed in relief, burying herself in his warm frame.

Yes. Warm. Not unnaturally hot like he had been for the last three days.

"It's thanks to you… I'm sorry for how much of a hassle I was," Rosan whispered, laying down with the woman and linking to her instinctively.

"It was more annoying then I'd like to admit," Robin teased, suppressing a yawn that the redhead didn't miss.

"You're still tired and you climbed a mountain for me. Get some more rest," he said. To go along with Luffy's utterly reckless plan without hesitation along with caring for him this whole time… She was something else.

He really did miss her.

"Speaking of which… that Raid Suit of yours is incredibly useful," she replied, eyes already closing at the familiar comfort of his warmth.

Rosan glanced at the woman wearing his combat outfit and hummed. "I'll have one created for you after we leave this island then. They all come with different abilities based on the user. Mine can transform its appearance and material instantaneously while keeping its original perks so I wonder what yours will do…"

Leave it to Rosan to just decide to get one created for her. At least she actually was interested in it.

"I look forward to it," she responded, growing more and more tired at his gentle touch. In combination with Rosan stroking her hair soothingly and the fact that she had woken up early due to Luffy, the Devil Child quickly fell asleep again in his grasp.

Rosan let her rest and regarded the doctor with a tilted head. "So Doctor…"

"Kureha," she introduced herself. This one was as polite as the woman and that made them both less annoying then the rubber boy.

"Kureha… you look like you have some questions for me," Rosan hummed. "As thanks, I'll answer some for you. Within reason of course."

"Cheeky brat," Kureha thought to herself. Nevermind, he was not as polite as he seemed.

But he was right. She did have questions for him.

"How are you alive? That disease has been affecting you for about three days and there's no record of anyone surviving it past day 1. It's almost certain death once you contract it."

"I shouldn't have contracted it in the first place," Rosan replied, unknowingly confirming some of her suspicions. "I'm sure you could already tell… but my body seems like it has a mind of its own, right?"

Kureha nodded because that's exactly what she had been thinking.

"Well, it is. I normally shouldn't be capable of catching any sort of sickness but due to how powerful this disease is, my immune system saw it as a potential way to make my body even stronger. It was confident that I would survive the ordeal which is why I got sick."

He talked about his own body like it were a completely different entity… Just who was this strange redhead?

"Barring the disease… you still managed to reach near unprecedented body temperature. 150°… no one should be able to survive that period," the doctor stressed, unable to keep the look of disbelief off her face.

Rosan glanced neutrally at her and tilted his head to the side. "Before I tell you… My captain is probably going to try and recruit that Raccoon. Do you have a problem if we successfully do so?"

"His name is Chopper and he's a Blue Nosed Reindeer who ate the Hito Hito no Mi," Kureha told him with a slight glare. "As for recruiting him… Take him, I don't care but do you think you can save Chopper?"

"?" Rosan tilted his head.

"That boy has a wound deep in his heart that not even a doctor can heal," Kureha said, explaining the reindeer's situation to him.

The redhead hummed. Rejected by your parents for having a blue nose, then eating a Devil Fruit and being exiled from the herd…

Not being discouraged yet, Chopper had transformed into a more human like form to try and mingle with other people but they had rejected him too, attempting to kill the young reindeer in the process after thinking he was a monster.

Someone who only wanted friendship, living two worlds and being rejected by both so harshly. He had been alone his whole life until he had met a quack doctor who would become his Father but met a tragic death.

Poisoned by his son, he drank a medicine that would blow him up so that Chopper wouldn't be the cause of his death all in front of that king, Wapol.

"How awful," Mod frowned sadly. Before meeting her, Rosan hadn't had any friends either and it tore the little boy apart. Despite that, he still had Rouge as companionship and that was enough for him until they met.

To live a life like that… She wanted nothing more than to tell the child it was going to be alright.

"I see. Then, there's nothing to worry about," Rosan replied softly, not deigning to comment on it.

A monster eh? He'd fit in just fine next to monsters like him and Luffy. His captain would successfully recruit him, he was sure of it.

Kureha raised a brow at his confidence but Rosan didn't give her a chance to speak.

"Tell me, what do you know about the Philosopher's Stone?" He asked suddenly.

The Doctor paused at that random question. "It's capable of turning metals into gold and granting rejuvenation or immortality. Heh, if a stone like that existed, a lot more people would be as youthful as I am," she snorted.

She wasn't understanding why he was mentioning that stone. As amazing as it was, it was a fairytale. It didn't exist and was not worth dwelling on —

"I created and ate one," Rosan interrupted her musing.

Her thought process grounded to a halt at that abrupt statement and her disbelief was palpable.

"I won't go into details about it and I won't try to convince you that I'm telling the truth but that is why. It was also the one responsible for doing an admirable job at keeping my sickness at bay…"

"Did you think I was exaggerating when I called myself a demon? I may not actually be one, but I certainly am not human anymore," Rosan finished softly.

Kureha found it hard to believe… but why would he lie about something like that? It was far too random and much too specific. The Philosopher's Stone was not a topic that the average person knew about.

"Are you immortal?" She couldn't help but ask. It would explain why that virus couldn't kill him.

"No. I didn't make mine with the intention of being immortal. I made it for the rejuvenation and transformation aspect. I primarily focus on rejuvenation… and my ring focuses on transformation," he explained, transforming Ram into a golden pistol to show.

That explained why he was in such incredible condition despite being sick just two hours ago.

Kureha had to wonder… who was this man? One does not just create a stone that didn't exist and be successful in it… then keep such information to themselves.

If he went public with that information, that he could create such a powerful stone, this boy could become one of the most important people on the planet. He wouldn't have needed to bother trying to explain to her that he consumed one because she'd be trying to get her hands on one.

But instead, he was a pirate with no bounty…

"Just who are these people, Chopper?" Kureha couldn't help but ask.

Rosan hummed and glanced back down at the resting Robin, pleased with how easily she could rest despite there being another person who she didn't know well. It spoke volumes of her trust in him and he would never let her down again.

"Well, if that's all. I appreciate you for helping me, Doctor," Rosan nodded. Once Robin got enough rest, he'd leave this place. He was only being so chatty because it helped him somewhat ignore all the medical supplies in the room.

Kureha raised a brow.

"What are you talking about? You aren't cleared to go yet," Kureha told him. "Bad experiences with doctors or not, I never let my patients leave until they are perfectly healed and you should be good to go in about a day or two. Until then, you're staying right there."

Rosan's gaze narrowed minutely. "Bad experiences is a nice way of putting it, Doctor. It's a miracle that we're even having a conversation right now. Don't push your luck, you aren't touching me again," he warned.

The two stared each other down and it was only broken by the shrieking of Luffy and Chopper.

"JOIN MY CREW, MONSTER!"

"WAHHHHH!"

Robin grumbled a bit in her sleep but was quickly assuaged by Rosan's warm hands rubbing the perfect spot in her hair.

Kureha snorted, realization making its way on her face. "Fine, if you don't want me to work on you, let Chopper do it. He's not human but I've taught him everything I know and he's the sweetest boy around. I'm sure he doesn't qualify as one of those Doctor's not allowed to touch you, right?"

"She may have a point… After all, he's not human and is palpably innocent," Mod jumped in, supporting the old woman's claims.

If he were to join the crew, Rosan would have to throw away his disdain for all Doctors barring his brother and work with Chopper. The little reindeer being not human and young would net him many favors with the redhead.

"Then he can check up on me after he joins the crew," Rosan decided. "I'll give you your money for helping me but if you think I can stand to stay here for longer than I have to…"

He didn't say anything else, letting the statement hang in the air.

He had to respect Kureha for not backing down for even a second.

"Just try it, brat!" She grunted, turning on her heel and marching out of the room.

Rosan watched her leave with a tilted head.

What an odd old woman.

"I like her… y-you should listen to her, Father! Haven't you moved around enough while sick?! W-What if you get sick again?" Ram tried to hide her worry but it was palpable.

If he got sick again, her heart wouldn't be able to handle it…

"You're worrying about nothing, Ram but I should get a bit more rest," Rosan hummed, lying down next to the still sleeping Robin.

He grasped her idly and brought the both of them to the mindscape with a simple thought.