"Are you satisfied?" Rosan asked curiously, carrying the tired Robin on his back.

"Quite a bit... Not only did I learn of your Mother and Father. I learned that your uncle was the captain of a crew that had the current Yonko, barring Shanks, in it," Robin said in awe.

There was so much that she learned! Perhaps she could have Ace arrange a meeting between her and Whitebeard to gain more information about it all.

Rosan grunted at that. His uncle on his father's side was named Xebec but that's all Garp felt like talking about.

The Rocks Pirates... he never heard of such a crew. He didn't even know three out of four of the current Yonko had sailed on the same ship.

No wonder they were regarded as such a terrifying crew... and allegedly both his father and uncle had been apart of it... but his father had just been a kid.

Interesting. His father sounded more interesting than his mother... and if he was apart of such a formidable crew, why did he choose Raisa?

Regretfully, it seemed like Rosan was getting curious about his history too.

"Thank you again for accommodating me," Robin said softly, pleased at the information.

"Of course. You just have to ask."

Garp didn't know much about his Father, besides saying he was, "An ambitious, tenacious and vengeful bastard who doesn't know when to quit."

That sounded suspiciously like Rosan.

His name didn't ring a bell to Robin, Rosan or Mod and Garp had already said he was off, so the duo went back to their crew...

"This is Koby?"

...Which is where Rosan was introduced to that cowardly boy way back in the East Blue.

"You're the weak, spineless, crybaby kid?" Rosan asked incredulously, gazing at the pink haired boy with a raised brow.

Koby's smile at seeing his friend, was quickly replaced by comical tears at the words he chose to use.

"Still as rude as ever, Rosan-san!" he weeped.

The redhead snorted. "You've changed a lot, almost as much as Alvida did," he mentioned.

Luffy laughed. "I didn't recognize him either! He used to be just a fat little kid!"

Koby blushed and rubbed the back of his head. "Please don't mention her name… and I think you changed even more then I have! You don't remind me of a machine anymore!"

The pink haired boy suddenly shrieked as two slits appeared directly in front of him, both pulsing a different color as they stared a hole through him.

"Yeah, I'm a Devil now," Rosan smirked, before chuckling in amusement. "You're still a coward, Koby. Some things don't change."

"A-And you're still really mean and scary," Koby rasped, grabbing his beating heart.

"What about me? Do you remember me?!" A random blonde asked eagerly.

Rosan blinked slowly and tilted his head at the fact that another Marine had the audacity to speak to him. "Ugly, blonde hair and a cleft chin…"

"I don't understand why he's so rude!" the sensible Straw Hats cried.

What was with that description?! Why did he always have to go out of his way to say the rudest things?!

The redhead eventually nodded after a few seconds. "Oh I remember you now, you freak. You're that super weak and corrupt Captain's son. The one who kept calling him Daddy. How's his back? I leapt pretty high out when I crushed it into paste."

As Rosan spoke, Helmeppo slowly but surely became more and more depressed.

"I hate you all," he muttered with tears in his eyes, crumpling into a ball.

"You are such an ass, Rosan," Nami sighed.

The redhead tilted his head once more. "What? That's probably the nicest thing I could have said about him. You don't wanna know what I'm actually thinking."

"...Honestly, yeah that's pretty tame of you," Sanji nodded in amusement.

"Y-You have worse things to say?!" Helmeppo gaped.

Rosan glanced at him unimpressed. "Of course I do. Have you ever looked in a mirror?" He retorted with a raised brow.

Everyone collapsed.

"Rosan…" Koby suddenly said, bowing to the curious redhead. "I wanted to thank you for everything you've done for me! I already thanked Luffy so that just left you."

"Hm? I didn't do anything deserving of thanks," he shrugged. He didn't want any Marine thanking him.

"No you did!" Koby exclaimed passionately. "You helped me see that the world isn't all black and white and if not for you, I would have given up long ago! You and Luffy helped give me the resolve to pursue my dreams!"

"Pft," Rosan snorted, shaking his head. "If you ever try to capture me, you'll probably stop thanking me."

Koby balked at that. Rosan was still as scary as ever.

"But you're welcome I guess. Like I said, I just wanted you to understand that not all Marines are good and not all Pirates are evil."

"And you helped me come to terms with that way faster!" Koby smiled.

The redhead rolled his eyes and waved him off.

"You would have come to terms with it without me. You're not completely stupid."

Koby's jaw dropped at that. "Y-YOU THINK I'M SMART?! YOU'RE TOO KIND!" He cried happily.

"When the hell did I say that?" Rosan sweatdropped along with everyone else.

He snorted in amusement and just shook his head.

"Whatever makes you happy. Now, all these Marines are making me grow sick and my wavering mental health can't handle it… Come on Robin," Rosan grunted, walking off. "Sanji did you cook? I'm starving."

"You and me both," Robin sighed, following after him. "How long have we been asleep for?"

"Luffy ate most of it but I'll make you two a feast," Sanji nodded.

"2 days," Nami chimed afterwards.

"That might be the longest I've ever fallen asleep," Rosan muttered.

"I think it's the same for me…" Robin sighed, clambering on Rosan's back once more and wrapping her arms around his neck. "You haven't wrapped your hair up in a bun yet," she mentioned idly, resisting the urge to laugh as the spikes tickled her.

Rosan shrugged, repairing the hole in the wall with barely a thought as he walked through it. "You prefer it when it's down, so I'll leave it like this. I don't feel the need to tie it up anymore anyways."

Robin sighed. "Has anyone ever told you just how adorable you are?"

"Stop calling me adorable. I prefer handsome or hot," he retorted.

"If you're adorable that's what you are. Don't be so embarrassed about the truth. You're still as cute as the days of our childhood," she replied, knowing how annoyed he'd get from that.

Her smile vanished as Rosan's grip on her tightened and the redhead smiled at her in a charming manner.

She hated how demonic it looked.

Without any warning, his draconic tail burst out and fully wrapped around her, leaving her trapped against his back, then the tip of it began mercilessly tickling her.

"!" Robin's eyes widened and she gasped. "R-Rosan stop!"

She tried to choke him but was met with a brick wall instead, as the redhead applied armament to his neck.

"Nope," he said smoothly, continuing to walk like he wasn't currently torturing her.

"I'm serious! I haven't eaten in two days and you're tickling me!" Robin tried in vain to struggle but the redhead just ignored her completely.

"Laugh for me and I'll consider it," he replied with a smug smirk.

"…I'd rather die," Ohara's Devil replied resolutely.

"Let's see how long that bravado lasts," his smirk turned into a grin.

Robin's horror grew.

"R-Rosan wait! I'll get upset —"

"Modify: Sensitivity."

To Robin's point, she lasted all of 5 seconds before she broke.

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

Rosan and Robin were resting on a wall, as a party began in full swing with way too many people.

The Devil Child leaned on Rosan with a satisfied smile as he summoned a chair for them to sit on.

"...Rosan, thank you," she said softly.

"For the chair? I can do that as easy as breathing," he replied, amusement lacing his tone.

She shook her head. "No… Thank you for everything… I'm so glad I got to meet and learn about you, Portgas D. Rosan," she admitted.

Rosan and Mod's eyes widened at that, stunned silent.

"Thank you for being the only person to ever get angry at me out of worry. No one's ever done that… no one's ever been mad at me because they care for my well-being, except for you. You hold me accountable for all my stupid decisions when someone should hold me accountable and that makes me so happy," she began.

"Thank you for seeing me as me and nothing else. I've never once been anything but Nico Robin to you… I've never been the Devil Child, a threat to the world, a dangerous person who should be cut down… no to you, I was just a lonely girl who needed a friend more than anything…"

By now, Robin had turned to fully face him, with glistening eyes and a small smile.

"...Finally, thank you for having the courage to give up Meiko just to save me… you have no idea how that makes me feel because I know just how difficult that must have been for you. Thank you for having so much faith in me, that you would even do that," she whispered, tucking her head into his neck and allowing her tears to fall.

"I promise until the day we settle down, I won't let you down," she swore.

Rosan said nothing for a moment, just digesting her words. He could hear Ram and Mod sniffing at the heartfelt words and resisted the urge to smile.

"...Can I be honest with you, Robin?" he asked softly.

"…" Robin didn't trust her words so she just nodded.

The redhead took a deep breath. "Once I finally realized what was at stake… it wasn't hard," he revealed.

…

"What/What/What?" Robin, Mod and Ram asked at the same time.

Rosan smiled a small smile. "Didn't I tell you, Robin? You were my new reason to live and when I said that, I vowed I'd do anything to keep you safe. It was hard coming to terms that I had to let Meiko go... but once I realized I wouldn't be able to save you if I couldn't... it was easy to come to the decision that I had to not let her shackle me anymore."

Robin felt a lump form in her throat at that and she shut her eyes tight.

"You're thanking me for all these things… but you are one of the sweetest, most beautiful and kindest person alive, Robin. In any other circumstance, you wouldn't need to be thanking me because you'd already have dozens of people who love and appreciate you… To me, I'm giving you what you've always deserved."

He gently rubbed her hair as her tears began spilling in earnest.

"It was easy for me to come to terms that I needed to let Meiko go because I'd be a dumbass to prioritize a ghost I love, over someone who's alive that I love and Meiko herself would call me a dumbass if I did…"

Rosan sighed fondly as he felt all three begin crying in earnest.

They were adorable weren't they? He thought it was common sense but maybe not.

"...Meiko and I had an unnatural compatibility and I understand how that would have made us look… but we have an unnatural compatibility too," he said truthfully, grinning down at her.

"You were the first to completely understand me. You're the only one who fully gets me and I'm the only one who fully gets you."

He was right... no one understood Rosan like she did. Rosan told and showed her everything and there were even things he would be afraid to show Meiko.

"Don't go comparing yourself to anyone, Robin. I'll get super pissed if you get insecure about stuff like that. You should know more than anyone, that when I love, it's with all my heart, Robin," he said softly, tucking her into him with a content smile.

Robin didn't even bother hiding how much that speech affected her and silently sobbed in his frame, relief flooding her body as she hugged him tightly.

Words couldn't even begin to describe how much she appreciated hearing those words and any doubt Robin had, were dashed away for good.

"Has anyone ever told you, that you have a way with words that really hit deep?" Robin said, shuddering as she tried and failed to calm down.

"You," he replied easily, peacefully tending to her.

"She's right, you do have quite a way with words. I'm still dwelling on what you said to me back when we first met..."

Robin did a sharp intake and went pale, panic seeping in at seeing Rosan's grip on her tighten.

"...So let's have a quick talk, Nico Robin and Iris D. Rosan," Aokiji said calmly, relaxing behind the wall, parallel to the couple.

Robin shot Rosan a desperate look, clutching him in terror as she saw his eyes narrow.

The redhead caught her gaze and sighed.

"If you wanted, you could've captured us twice now but you haven't… are you really here just to talk? You don't plan on killing us all?" Rosan replied back calmly.

There was a short silence before Aokiji replied.

"I just want to pick your minds is all… After all, storming Enies Lobby just to save Nico Robin is far past what I expected… not to mention Nico Robin refusing to run and turn herself in instead is equally surprising. You have my word, I won't attack you unless you attack me."

Robin blinked in shock as Rosan stood with her.

"You're telling the truth… Alright," he replied calmly.

"...You can tell if people are lying too? You sure are your mother's son," Aokiji sighed.

"Don't be afraid. I won't attack him so we will accommodate him for now and I'll escape as fast as I can," Rosan assured, walking to meet the Admiral with assured steps.

Robin shuddered and clutched him a bit tighter but nodded. "I… I trust you Rosan."

The redhead flashed her a reassuring smile and she shot a shaky smile in return.

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

Rosan was positioned slightly in front of Robin, shielding her from the towering Admiral with a neutral expression.

She hated that Aokiji reduced her to this but… but she just couldn't rid herself of the fear she had for him, so she clutched the back of Rosan's red shirt slightly and allowed him to shield her.

Aokiji gauged them with a severe expression. "I would ask why you didn't run away, but I know the reason already. It's because of Rosan here, right?"

"…" Robin said nothing for a long while. "I love Rosan… I would never run away and abandon him to dying… but it's not just him. If I only cared about him, we would have long escaped… I care about them all," she said quietly.

The man nodded. "So he really was the one you traveled with 20 years ago…" he mused.

"Jaguar D. Saul was a close friend of mine. Since he sacrificed himself to save you, I let you escape from that island with the intent of making sure you didn't waste your life," he revealed eventually.

Robin's eyes widened at that and her breath hitched.

"To be honest, when I heard you had a mysterious partner, I thought you finally managed to find someone to rely on… after all, you had been traveling with him for 4 years and not once did we glean his identity. It was clear you were trying to protect him…" Aokiji began.

"But then he suddenly disappeared and you were on the run again. Alone," he revealed calmly.

Rosan's eyes narrowed as Robin flinched horribly and he reassuringly squeezed her arm.

"He's talking about when I got kidnapped by Doc."

"I've done research on you, Rosan," Aokiji suddenly said to the redhead. "I understand what happened to you as a child. Running away from your island at 4 after your adoptive mother died giving birth… To be honest, I felt bad for you. After all, I thought Nico Robin betrayed a small vulnerable child and got you killed. That's why despite everything, I haven't killed you yet."

Rosan frowned at the amount of information they had on him. To even know he ran away at 4... he underestimated their capabilities.

"I would never betray Rosan like that!" Robin shouted suddenly, stepping out from behind him with a look of rare fury on her face.

"I didn't know that. It's not like anyone was there to correct me," he shrugged. "Regardless, when I saw that you two made contact again, I began thinking that you had truly manipulated him… and the way he was so set on protecting you confirmed it to me…"

"But then I saw how scared you got… for him," Aokiji grunted. "Love is a powerful thing and the two of you have a love for each other that's dangerous… dangerous enough for Rosan here to completely storm Enies Lobby for."

"It's not one-sided. You haven't manipulated anyone, Nico Robin… you didn't condemn an innocent child to death so you could get away… and you've found people to trust and rely on so Saul's sacrifice was not in vain," Aokiji stated, grave expression vanishing.

Robin looked stunned, as Aokiji began walking away from the duo.

"I don't know if sparing you was the right or wrong move… but show them that Ohara is still alive, Nico Robin…"

The Admiral suddenly paused, before glancing back and gazing at Rosan this time.

"And as for you, Red Devil, you may have been an innocent boy before, but things have changed now and you've become an entirely separate threat. If I didn't come here just to talk, I'd have already captured you because quite frankly, you're too big of a threat... but despite everything, I don't think you're a terrible person. I understand your gripes, I even agree with them... but your methods are all wrong. Your absolute hatred reminds me of a terrible person... who is also the reason I agree with your mindset."

"...I admit, my hatred for the Marines can be unfair at times... but you and all of them sit back and allow corruption to run rampant. Why? Are you, as an Admiral, unable to make changes? You are not corrupt, Aokiji so why? Do you even want to make change?" Rosan replied thinking about what he had done to Emma.

That was the one Marine, who hadn't deserved death at his hands. She was simply doing her job but Rosan... had an extreme way of thinking that he was beginning to realize wasn't healthy.

"Change is not easy for everyone, like it is for you," Aokiji said softly, glancing wearily at the redhead.

Rosan scowled at that and shook his head. "It will not end with me. Many others have gotten their lives ruined by this so called Justice. Change is not easy, but sometimes change is necessary," he said firmly, staring fearlessly at the Admiral.

"Deep down, you know that everything that's going on is wrong. That's why you spared Robin... because you understood in that moment, that she was just an 8 year old girl who had just gotten everything taken away from her. That's why you sympathize with my story, because you know that your organization took my mother from me when she was completely innocent."

Robin shuddered at Rosan's tone, glancing at the tall redhead with wide eyes.

"You are not a bad Marine, Aokiji... but that doesn't change the fact that you're a Marine. You are one of the few with the power to make change, but yet you sit here and tell me change is not easy. How can you expect to ever see change when you're too much of a coward to make change?"

"...You really do have a way with your words," was all Aokiji said.

With that, the Admiral departed.

Rosan watched him go with narrowed eyes only to hold up the Robin who immediately collapsed into his arms, sweat falling from her features.

"See? I can be calm as long as someone's not blatantly threatening you," he whispered soothingly.

"Does… does this mean he'll finally leave me alone?" She asked with a small shudder.

Rosan gazed at her with an unreadable look. "Robin, I'll become the strongest in the world. When I become the strongest, you'll never have to worry about anyone coming after you again because they'll be more worried about me."

Robin froze at that.

When was the last time, becoming the strongest was Rosan's dream...? And of course, his primary reason was because of her.

"I know you can become the strongest, Rosan. I will never doubt your claims… if anyone can become the strongest, it's you," Robin said strongly, squeezing him with all her might.

"We'll do it together. We have all the tools needed to become the strongest so I swear we will. We won't let harm befall you Robin," Mod growled possessively.

"Over my dead body! I wanna become stronger too and that means using everything in my arsenal! I'll protect you forever, Mother!" Ram said fiercely, remembering the feeling of actual protecting her father with a defensive weapon.

Robin couldn't keep the fond smile off her face as she listened to the three.

She loved them all so much.

"ROSAN! ROBIN! WHAT ARE YOU DOING OVER THERE?!" Nami shouted out to them.

Rosan, still holding Robin, turned to face her. "My bad Nami, I was just getting ready to force my tongue down Robin's throat and didn't want to cause anyone stress."

Mod turned scarlet and Ram began whistling, as Robin let out a sigh of exasperation.

"Thank you for the lie, Rosan. I'm glad that's what you thought of," Robin said dryly.

"I don't lie."

"I approve… but now that I actually got you two together… it's kinda really gross to hear about you say that," Ram said thoughtfully.

"Please don't be so crude! I'd rather not imagine such things!" Mod gasped in horror.

"Get used to it. I'm very affectionate and older now too. It's gonna happen more often than not," Rosan shrugged.

Robin nodded. "Sorry you two… I also quite enjoy it so I won't stop him."

His mother spluttered. "DON'T SAY SUCH THINGS TO YOUR MOTHER! THINK ABOUT MY FEELINGS! DO YOU THINK I WANT TO SEE THAT?!"

"Gross," Nami said flatly, utterly unamused. "I didn't need to hear that. Imagining you kissing is making me feel icky inside."

"That just means the sibling blood pact is almost complete," Rosan smirked infuriatingly.

Nami opened her mouth… before closing it as a flash of horror crossed her features. "CAN YOU ACTUALLY DO THAT?! IS THAT WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED WHEN CLIMA BONDED WITH ME?!"

Robin let loose genuine laughter at that.

She wouldn't trade this crew for anything in the world.

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

"Franky is building us a ship?" Rosan asked curiously, idly eating an apple as he rested his head on Robin's lap.

"What a cool guy!" Luffy beamed excitedly.

"Oh but he said you can't see the results until he's finished with his work! He said it would take about five days to be done," Nami explained.

The redhead nodded thoughtfully, offering the apple up for Robin.

"No," she denied in a deadpan.

"...That unhealthy lifestyle will do you no favors."

She felt her annoyance nearly spike. "That has nothing to do with this and you know that. I'm not biting into an apple you already bit. Just give me another one."

"…"

Robin closed her eyes at the look on Rosan's face and sighed, before accepting the offer and biting into the apple.

He smirked victoriously and she rolled her eyes, idly pinching the brat's cheek.

"Oh, that reminds me… Luffy, I want Franky to join our crew," Rosan said bluntly, ignoring her pinching. "Do any of you have a problem with that? I know he got on your nerves earlier and I don't really know the full scope but his skills are the real deal."

Luffy shook his head. "I think he's cool! I want him to be our shipwright too!" He exclaimed eagerly.

Zoro shrugged. "If you guys want him, I don't see the issue. He managed to beat an Agent by himself and he is good at building ships."

Robin nodded along with the swordsman. "He sounds like a useful asset… and he moved me with his actions at Enies Lobby when he destroyed the blueprints to Pluton. He had no obligation to do that… but he chose to trust you all. I have no complaints."

Hearing Robin's words, managed to fully sway the conflicted Nami, Sanji and Chopper.

"I'll be keeping an eye on that pervert," Sanji grunted.

"...He made Usopp leave but he also helped us out plenty so I guess we can," Nami muttered, not fully trusting him just yet.

"I trust you guys and if you want him, I won't complain," Chopper nodded eventually.

"If you have any lingering problems, don't be afraid to bring it up," Rosan grunted. "I won't undermine how you all feel. I just think he's useful."

Nami sighed. "He did help us out a lot and he used our money for something we planned on doing anyways… I guess I really don't have a problem with him if the ship turns out amazing."

"Well, we have 5 days to fully decide. No need to rush," Rosan grunted, standing up and stretching. "Since we lost all our money, I'll give you the same cut of gold as last time, make sure not to lose it this time. Use it to stock up on anything we may need and some extra stuff. You guys deserve to spoil yourselves."

The crew forgot that their scout managed to secure them such a massive piece of gold and Nami's eyes turned into stars.

"I can buy so much expensive furniture now!" She gushed happily. "Oh, but where are you going?"

"I'm off to visit Maro… if I'm correct, Angel and Demon should be recovering from a fever," he muttered, a flash of worry on his face at the thought of his little twins.

Due to everything happening, he had forgotten… but being made from him made the twins quite connected to his abilities so if Modification suddenly went dark, they'd be affected somewhat by it as well.

Robin's features turned worried as well and she stood up. "Let's go?"

He nodded and with a short wave, the two vanished.

"A fever?!" Chopper frowned in worry. Those two couldn't get sick… but Rosan had lost his abilities… so maybe they did?!

He hoped they were fine.

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

Maro had been a complete mess these past few days.

Well, that was honestly a nice way to put it. The emotional Queen had been crying uncontrollably and had been completely unable to do her duties.

Why?

Well, Angel and Demon were sick that was why.

She wasn't sure what happened but while cuddling with Angel, the woman suddenly seized up and abruptly fell unconscious.

When she tried to call Demon, who was still at work, the staff had told her that the exact same thing had happened to him too and there was a big fuss.

That was the moment Maro burst into tears.

Naturally, if something simultaneously happened to the twins, there was only one solution and that was her Master…

Except when she tried to call him with her tiara, there had been no response at all.

That's when she started crying uncontrollably because Master never once, missed one of her calls so that meant the reason something was wrong with the twins, was because something was wrong with him.

Thankfully, the two had woken up not long after, but had gained a fever.

It was the first time since knowing them, that Maro ever saw them sick…

The two had been more worried about what could possibly have happened to Master but Maro had been having none of it, fussing over them with teary eyes the entire time and using her just as affected soldiers (and citizens) as emotional support.

She loved all of them so much for making sure she herself was doing okay because honestly, Maro was stressed. She had been almost completely neglecting her duties as Queen and vowed to send Kanna on a vacation at the earliest convenience.

That was two days ago, and the twins were already back at full capacity…

But that begged the question… what happened to Master?

As if the answer to her nonstop musing finally came to her, Maro's teacher himself showed up in her office and she felt a teary grin immediately form.

"MASTER!" She screamed, leaping clean over the table and into his waiting arms. "I-I missed you so much a-and I realized something happened to you b-because I tried to call you through pulling my tiara but you didn't answer and then Angel and Demon both got so sick a-and my citizens did so much to make sure I managed to stay well but I still cried so muuuuch!" Maro wailed, squeezing Rosan with all her might and instantly soaking his shirt.

Robin's eyes once more narrowed in guilt at how many people had gotten affected by this.

"I'm alright now," Rosan soothed, rubbing her back to calm her down. "Why didn't you call me with the Cube? I wasn't able to sense your Save Point because I was neutralized but my Cube was working fairly fine."

Maro sniffed, orange eyes gazing up at him. "The stress made me forget I had it. I haven't gotten used to using it!" she sobbed.

Rosan sweatdropped and just continued to hug her, steadily calming his student down.

"I'll tell you everything but can you call Angel and Demon? I wanna see if they're alright," Rosan muttered, eyes narrowed in concern.

Maro nodded shakily, a little taken aback by his visible concern, before she used her observation to peer into Rosan.

What she saw left her stunned.

The Queen's eyes widened, at the sheer waterfall of emotions crashing into her and she took a step back in shock.

"W-What happened to you?!" She stammered.

"I'll explain it all soon," Rosan assured, hoisting her up and tossing her over his shoulder. "You're taking too long, let's just go find them… they're in the same place anyways."

Maro squealed at the action and shot Robin a confused and helpless look over atop him, as the redhead began walking off.

Robin shot her a shaky smile in return.

Oh they were going to be so mad at her…

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

Angel and Demon, who were both being forced to remain in bed by their incredibly unreasonable Queen, let out noises of surprise as their older brother burst into the room with said Queen on his shoulder and a subdued best friend in tow.

He summarily dropped the Queen on her butt and scooped his brother and sister into a relieved hug.

"Sorry about that you two… I let my guard down and got neutralized with seastone… I don't know what effect it had on you guys…" he muttered in worry, soaking in the sensation of his younger siblings.

He doubted Angel and Demon would die if he were to die, but they were connected to him more closely than most of his modifications.

Rosan had used the same technique he used to create Ram on them after all. The Seed of Life technique used his very essence to fuel them, unlike his other contraptions.

His Modifications were permanent, so even if he died they would remain on a person... but at the same time, they might lose complete access to his abilities if he were to die, so they may enter a coma for a while to accommodate those changes...

Rosan had worked very hard to make them more "human" over the years after all. Dying to causes outside of their control would be a sin Rosan would never forgive himself for. So he worked hard to separate them from himself, all while making them less machine and more biological.

It was a work in progress and he knew that they didn't mind not being human... but Rosan wanted to give them the choice.

"It's fine, Master," Demon replied with a short laugh, returning the hug easily and marvelling at the sight of his older brother being worried about them.

"We weren't even that sick, Maro was just overreacting!" Angel beamed, soaking in his embrace with a pleased smile and readily returning it. She was so ecstatic that their brother was showing emotions so freely!

The doctor nodded in agreement. "We're more concerned about you getting neutralized with seastone! What happened?"

Rosan raked a hand through his hair and sighed. "It's… a long story so just sit back and listen."

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

Maro quickly intercepted the tan hand flying straight for Robin's face and locked an even orange gaze onto Angel's own furious purples.

Robin had been expecting anger but to see Angel try and slap her without any hesitation, stung quite a bit. But... but she deserved it.

"Let me go, Maro. Right now," she hissed furiously, glaring so heatedly at Robin, the brunette was reminded that Angel and Rosan were very much similar in personality.

The female clone shared more than just looks... the two always expressed themselves with anger first.

Rosan had just finished informing them of what had transpired at Water 7 and Enies Lobby and the reactions he got were fairly mixed.

Angel was burning with fury, not believing what she heard for a second but getting steadily more and more upset as she realized Robin's actions caused this. The woman was barely restraining herself from flying off the handle, for respect of her brother but now that the story was over, she was unleashed.

Demon, while not as furious as his sister, was still upset and shot a rather disappointed look that Robin never thought he'd shoot her. She could subtly see him shaking, especially at the part where Rosan mentioned getting tortured.

Maro was the only one not visibly upset with her, opting to hold her wife back with a firm look. She seemed to be the only one who sympathized with Robin's case and the Devil Child was grateful that she was so kind.

But honestly, all three were well within their rights to be furious with her... Robin almost cost them their family and friends.

"No, Angel," the Dokkaebi denied firmly. "Master and Robin already talked it out and clearly she's been through her fair share of things. Think about how she must have felt making these decisions."

"I don't care!" Angel snarled, purple sparks surging from her body as her purple eyes began glowing in fury. "I don't care what she must have went through! That doesn't mean my feelings can just be thrown to the side like dirt! I don't care if they talked things out! Let me go! Let me go right now, Maro or so help me I'll turn on you!"

Demon said nothing, understanding why his sister was so upset. Truthfully, he was just as upset but he expressed himself differently from her.

"Angel. That's enough… I understand how you feel but be more considerate. Robin knows more than any of us, how badly she messed up. Just look at her," Maro said seriously, staring a hole into her and making the redhead reel back.

Finally, Angel's expression cracked and she swung her other arm, only for Maro to grab that one too.

"Angel. Stop," Maro said in a tone of finality, looking every bit like the queen she was.

"WHY?! WHY CAN'T I BE ANGRY WITH HER?! WHY DO I HAVE TO FORGIVE HER?!" She shrieked, struggling fruitlessly in Maro's grasp. "WHY CAN'T I BE UPSET THAT I NOT ONLY ALMOST LOST HER FOR GOOD, BUT I ALMOST LOST MASTER TOO?! I ALMOST LOST MASTER! I ALMOST LOST LUFFY! WE ALMOST LOST EVERYONE MARO, SO WHY?! WHY?!"

Robin shut her eyes tightly at the depressing words of the female redhead.

The woman's anger seemed to drain out of her instantly and she sagged into the sympathetic Maro who just scooped her wife into a deep hug.

"Am I supposed to just forgive her after what I was just told? What type of rational person do you think I am?" She whispered, breaking out into weak sobs.

"I know, honey. I know," Maro whispered soothingly, planting a gentle kiss on her forehead as Angel shuddered and sobbed.

For the umpteenth time, Robin felt her heart constrict, as she saw the tears of defeat forming in Demon's eyes as well.

"I would love to... but I can't help you here," Rosan said quietly, gripping her hand supportively. "This is between you and them. My words won't stop this pain but yours will."

"You managed to reason with Rosan, I know you can talk to them too," Mod reassured.

"You got this Mother. You know what to do," Ram smiled sadly.

Robin said nothing but she knew they were right.

She caused this mess, so she needed to own up and fix it.

"Before landing on Water 7, we ran into Admiral Aokiji of the World Government," Robin began softly, standing up and drawing all eyes to her. "He… He is the one who killed my first and only friend in front of me, Jaguar D. Saul when I was only 8 years old," she revealed.

Maro and Demon's eyes widened sympathetically as they saw the pain in her eyes.

"Ever since that moment… I've been truly terrified of just hearing his name… When we ran into him, he provoked Rosan by using me again and they fought," the brunette continued, shutting her eyes at the memories of Rosan screaming while being frozen.

"Just like that day on Ohara, Aokiji froze Rosan solid, right in front of me with such ease and… it triggered my trauma. I thought I lost him someone else I loved right in front of me and there wasn't a thing I could do about it again."

Angel's anger began slowly vanishing as she saw a tear fall from Robin's eyes.

"I just didn't want to lose him again and the events of it all left me completely irrational. To make matters worse, right as we landed on Water 7, I was immediately bombarded with news of CP9 and... they are the group that played a hand in destroying my island. They approached and threatened to have the entire crew destroyed with the same method they used to destroy Ohara…"

Robin shook her head and began trembling.

"Please understand it from my point of view… The one who killed my best friend and the group who destroyed my island, all on the same night… and I ran into them back to back. I thought there was no way I'd ever be able to escape that fate and I didn't want to drag the crew down with me! I thought if I sacrificed myself, they'd be at the very least safe but I was wrong."

Robin bowed to the three leaders of Celadon.

"I'm sorry for almost undoing all the work made on Rosan. No one knows more then I do, how badly I messed up and like I said to him, I'll work hard to earn your forgiveness… so please allow me to and don't cast me away because... I really do love you all."

They gazed at her in shock, before Maro tentatively released Angel and walked up to Robin.

The Devil Child froze as the Queen scooped her in a tender and crushing hug, rubbing the woman's back and gazing at her with caring orange eyes.

"It must have been so hard for you… I know that you would never leave Master voluntarily so in your eyes, you really thought you were doing the best and it must have destroyed you to make a decision that forced you to be away from him," Maro whispered soothingly.

"As Queen, I have to make difficult decisions too… and I don't know if I'd ever be able to come to such a difficult one like you did. I won't give you any flack because you already punished yourself enough the moment you made such a painful decision."

Robin shuddered at the compassionate words, only to freeze as another set of arms wrapped around her.

"How could I ever blame a person suffering from a trauma attack…" Demon muttered in sorrow. "I had no idea you were exposed to two of your most traumatic moments back to back. It must have been so difficult for you to be forced to make a decision, while in the face of something that filled you with such fear…"

"...It was so hard," she admitted. "Izumi mentioned the Buster Call and Aokiji in one sentence and I gave up resisting."

"I understand," Demon said soothingly.

Robin shuddered in their comforting grasps before they eventually broke it off and she gazed at the teary eyed Angel.

"…" Angel bit her lip and glanced at the floor. Then, she stood up and rushed the Devil Child.

Robin made no move to dodge the woman and with a small "oof" they were both brought to the floor but to her surprise, the woman was hugging her.

"Y-You dummy! We love you too!" Angel sobbed, clutching the woman. "You think any of us wanna be told that you died?! Master wouldn't be the only heartbroken one, all of us would be destroyed! How would we ever be able to continue?!"

"You're apart of our family, Robin! We love you so much so don't ever think you can ever do something like this again… because I really will never forgive you! I can only be so reasonable to someone once and you just wasted it!" The older twin whimpered.

Robin smiled tearfully and returned the hug. "Never again. I know now that I have a loving and caring family who want the best for me and from now on, I'll fight with everything I've got to live."

"You better!" Angel mumbled against her.

Rosan smiled softly. "I'll make sure of it. The girlfriend of the strongest person alive, should be quite impressive herself don't you think?"

…

"Huh?" Maro, Demon and Angel said dumbly.

Girlfriend? What did he just say?

"Did we forget to mention we're dating now?" Robin smiled, planting a kiss on Rosan's cheek to emphasize her point.

That smile turned into a yelp as Rosan immediately turned her and planted one on her lips instead.

…

"Rosan, maybe I need to start expressing some boundaries… such public displays of affection aren't my thing and you know that," Robin reprimanded as soon as he pulled back.

"Stop being such an introvert. If I get the urge to kiss you and then I drag you away, people will think I'm doing terrible things to you and begin expressing concerns," he countered with an amused smirk.

"...I don't know how you always come up with such nonsense arguments… also I hate that you're such an extrovert now. Please go back to being an introvert," she sighed.

Angel, Maro and Demon's jaw dropped to the floor.

"W-When did this happen?" Maro stammered, mind stuck on the short but chaste kiss and having her perverted mind let out a pleased sigh.

T-They were both hot okay!

"We kissed in the middle of a burning Enies Lobby," Robin revealed.

"I was trying to give her a piece of my mind. I was really pissed, before she caught me off guard," Rosan laughed.

"I couldn't help it! Hearing that you lost your last chain made me happy!"

…

"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?!" They all shouted.

Rosan sweatdropped. "I forgot to mention that. My bad."

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

"S-So you really lost the last chain?" Angel whimpered, eyes glistening as the redhead nodded at her question.

"Yeah," Rosan nodded, tucking his children into his frame and rolling his eyes at their teary giddiness. "It's gone and I'll do everything to make sure they don't come back…"

The redhead sighed and tilted his head back a bit.

"But getting control over my emotions is so hard right now… I can barely manage them at all," he grunted.

Robin rubbed a hand through his long spikes, deciding to finally cut it, and smiled reassuringly. "I'll help you. You know that, Rosan," she murmured.

"We'll help too!" Maro chirped, beaming up at the redhead whose face was no longer a stone wall.

He looked so alive… Maro somehow began to love her Master even more because the one who she had known her entire life, had been a cold and silent teacher, who was detached from the world in a way that truly did make him seem like Reaper even out of his disguise.

Now... now he looked just like how Maro expected Portgas D. Rosan to look and it was breathtaking. She was so glad that her teacher found the answers he was looking for because Maro saw the side of him that everyone wanted back and she was thankful for that.

Angel and Demon were the exact same. The two didn't even bother to hide their tears at listening to their older brother's casual laughter, or his excited rambling... or the way he looked at every single one of them with such unconditional love.

"You have my word that no harm will befall you guys when I get my emotions back if I can help it."

That's... what Master had said when they showed how visibly afraid of him they still were and they felt so stupid for feeling that fear because not an ounce of resentment clouded Rosan's body.

No, every time his bright eyes flickered over to their forms, his expression would light up and he'd just inspect every little thing that he noticed before, but never cared to glean into.

It was just so... it was so surreal.

"Ah, you're all so adorable," Rosan sighed fondly as he sat up and transformed Ram into a pair of scissors, handing it over to Robin so she could do what she wanted to do.

Robin grabbed the scissors and stood behind the redhead, grabbing the long, near back length, hair (why did it grow so quickly?!) and got to work.

The trio watched Robin diligently cut his hair and decided to question the redhead while they still had him.

"So… you ran into the girl who killed Meiko again?" Demon asked hesitantly.

Rosan hummed, resisting the urge to nod due to the scissors currently in his head. "Yeah I did. She's been training this whole time with the sole intention of defeating me and she was really close, but ultimately she failed because her opponent was yours truly."

Robin spoke up this time. "Did you… kill her?" She asked, feeling a little conflicted towards the short agent.

On one hand, Izumi was the reason she had fully given up... but on the other, the girl truly believed that Robin was completely innocent and even vowed to save her once she was done with Rosan.

To Izumi, Robin was just a victim to the redhead. She was wrong but... that twisted point of view didn't hide the fact that she cared for Robin's wellbeing, evidenced by the fact that she protected her from Spandam.

Robin supposed she didn't truly have anymore problems with Izumi anymore... especially considering she failed in her mission.

"No, I didn't. This whole mess started because I twisted Meiko's final wishes and tortured her, so I decided to actually let her live her life without the threat of me," Rosan replied, much to everyone's surprise. "...Izumi and I aren't very different but she just got the short end of the stick… so I spared her and told her to go find a new reason to live. Call it pity or indifference, but Meiko didn't want me to kill her anyways so I didn't…"

They looked at the redhead in shock, not expecting that after hearing what she had done to him.

"That's... oddly mature and not vindictive of you," Robin pointed out, surprised that Rosan was still so capable of showing such growth.

"Tell me about it," Rosan groaned. "I blame it on how empathetic I used to be as a child. I can't believe I actually made a comparison between the two of us," he sighed tiredly.

Maro laughed. "And here I was thinking we were complete opposites! Master, you and I are totally similar!" she beamed giddily.

The redhead rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I guess we are. But I'm not a giant pervert like you are. Now that I have my emotions back, all the memories of you sexually harassing, me have come crashing into me and I feel used. We seriously need to talk about your lack of boundaries when it comes to me."

The queen spluttered. "W-What?! NO! I REFUSE! YOU CAN'T STOP ME FROM BEING WHO I AM! YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE MY #1 SUPPORTER MASTER! HOW COULD YOU BETRAY ME LIKE THIS-"

"Kidding kidding. Christ, Maro," Rosan interrupted her with an exasperated sigh. "You'd think that after marrying and banging my just as hot as me sister, you'd have naturally stopped anyways but you're just too greedy. Damn Dokkaebi," he muttered.

Angel turned beet red. B-Banging?!

"M-MASTER!" She shrieked in disbelief. "YOU CAN'T JUST SAY THINGS LIKE THAT! W-WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?! I'M YOUR SISTER!"

Demon erupted in laughter. "So it's fine for you two to sexually harass him, but he can't make jokes? You two are ridiculous!"

His older brother grinned with no shame. "Demon gets it! This is payback! I'm going to terrorize you two for everything you've subjected me to!"

The wives gaped at his words and moaned miserably.

They just got him back and they might have already hated him.

Robin giggled at the interactions, pleased that they were all having so much fun but she couldn't help but dwell on the previous topic.

"You looked like you had more to say about Izumi, Rosan... what happened?" She asked curiously.

"...She's weird as hell," Rosan replied with a frown.

He still didn't quite get her motives but she was right in one thing. It would be best if he kept everyone who knew his secrets, on his side. They were lucky to be spared from Aokiji, but if the World Government sent another Admiral after learning his identity as Reaper, they were screwed.

That's why he accepted the offer after she mentioned handing over the CP9 agents.

"I told her I'd leave her alone. I told her I'd never bother her again and I told her to live the life she wants… and then she offered me her services and handed me the Golden Den Den on a silver platter so that I could destroy Enies Lobby."

There was a pause at that and they digested the information.

"What?" Angel snarled. "Master don't tell me you actually—"

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Rosan shrugged. "Yeah, I accepted her offer. I stopped caring about her and she was extremely desperate to keep contact with me, to the point where I found it funny. Besides, she offered me the other CP9 agents… and I never got my revenge on them either plus they know my secret."

They shuddered at his ominous tone.

"Izumi has suffered enough. Training most of your life only for it to not matter, is life ending and if she wants to be my pawn, so be it. I won't turn away a useful subject," he shrugged, before his eyes darkened, cut strands of his red hair falling past.

"But the other agents only had to fight my merciful crew," he said darkly, eyes narrowed into something dangerous. "So I will either subjugate, or kill them."

"Scary," they all thought simultaneously. Hearing Rosan say the things he normally said, with an actual expression on his face was different... Everything was different.

"Will you be sending them to me?" Maro asked curiously.

Trained assassins would be useful but Master would have to ensure they were loyal... and that was hard to do unless he overhauled them all.

Surprisingly, he shook his head.

"No, it's too risky with too little to gain," he denied, much to her agreement. "Not only would the World Government eventually recognize them, there's too many of them for you to account for and they might cause trouble for your soldiers."

Maro nodded thoughtfully. "That's fine with me."

"Good, I wouldn't be able to stand the thought of having to see the girl who killed Meiko," Angel muttered venomously.

"Don't remind me," Rosan sighed, frowning deeply.

Maybe he could renege on the agreement and just kill them all and be done with it...

His greed was getting concerning. Maybe he should start those therapy sessions with Robin.

Robin smiled in satisfaction, inspecting his shoulder length hair and making sure it looked perfect. "I'll support any decision you make… and if you have to, please don't hesitate to use overhaul. I know what I said before but I changed my mind."

The redhead accepted the mirror from Angel and inspected his haircut, nodding at the job well done. "Good, because I was planning on using it at least once but I'm glad you approve now," he smiled, raking a hand through his shoulder length hair.

"Thanks, I've been meaning to get it cut for a while now," he murmured softly.

"It doesn't look bad long, but I'm just too fond of the shoulder length. We can experiment with long in the future," Robin replied, using her fruit to sweep up the hair off the floor.

"Sure. As long as it looks good, I won't complain," he replied. With a quick flash of his eyes, Rosan modified the floor and brought the pile of hair over to the trash, before raising the ground and dumping it in.

"We should be getting new bounties soon, so be on the lookout for that," Rosan informed them, preparing to head back to his crew. "We're also getting a new and improved ship. Once we go, we'll show you guys it."

The three nodded, smiling happily at the duo. "We'll see you guys soon! Please be careful and don't let something like this happen again!"

"I won't," Rosan said, waving at them.

"I've learned my lesson, it won't happen again if I can help it," Robin promised.

"See ya Goblin! Let's hang out soon!" Ram cheered, transforming into human form to quickly hug them all.

"Hell yeah!" Maro beamed, hugging her best friend in return. "I thought you died! You've been way too quiet!"

The silver haired ring rubbed her hair. "I've been brooding and thinking a bit is all."

Maro's eyes narrowed slightly and she inspected her best friend. The two exchanged a quick convo through glance, before the queen nodded.

"We'll talk more later! It's about time we schedule that girl time," the Dokkaebi beamed.

Angel's gaze lit up at that. "Girl time?! Really?!"

"That does sound fun..." Robin admitted. Some downtime after all the stress would be very much appreciated.

"Leave it to me!" Maro beamed. "All of you should come. Ram, Robin, Nami and Mod-chan!"

"Sounds good to me," Rosan nodded with an amused smile. "I'll let Mod-chan take over then and make sure the connection is shut."

"M-Me?" Mod blinked in surprise, taken aback by that.

"You're a girl aren't you?" He asked in amusement. "Have a little fun. We've been saying you need to relax and this is the perfect way to do it."

"That's true... Okay, I'd like to spend time with you all as well," Mod smiled.

"Cool, now that that's settled, we'll be going now," Rosan waved.

The trio grinned and waved back.

With that, the two vanished.

Maro squealed as soon as they vanished. "I CAN'T BELIEVE THEY FINALLY GOT TOGETHER!" She jumped, hoisting both Angel and Demon up and spinning with them.

Angel squealed in turn, just as happy. "They are so cute! I can't believe they took so long to get together. Do you think we should start finding dresses for the wedding? What about buying clothes for their kids?! OH! I CAN START LEARNING HOW TO CRAFT THINGS TO MAKE PARENTHOOD EASIER! I want to be their favorite Auntie! They'll love me!"

Demon sweatdropped despite his small smile. "You're thinking quite far into the future aren't you? I think they're great together too but kids already?"

"Far?! It's never too far!" She beamed. "This calls for celebration!"

"PARTY!" Maro cheered giddily, rushing off to go inform her staff that they were free to take a break for the occasion. "QUEEN MARO'S GONNA BE AN AUNTIE!" She shouted, disappearing.

"YOU WON'T BE A BETTER AUNTIE THAN ME!" Angel retorted, quickly following after her.

"I SO WILL!" Maro screamed.

Demon watched the two go with fond exasperation, before calling in their main force of soldiers to inform them of the upcoming party.

Talking to Mikita or Zala sounded good about now, his sisters were in their unhinged mode and when they got like that, too much ignorance seeping.

"Ridiculous," he sighed fondly. "They really think they'll be better than Uncle Demon."

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

It didn't take long for news of their exploits to reach the world and the World Government made sure to express how good the .

"STRAW HAT, COME LOOK! YOU GUYS ARE IN THE NEWS AND ALL OF YOU HAVE BOUNTIES TOO!" The Franky Family shouted on the day their ship had finished being constructed.

Zambai presented the news first and they all read it with mixed reactions.

Rosan almost smiled at seeing the World Government pin the destruction of Enies Lobby on the Straw Hat crew and no one else.

"R-Rosan was the one who destroyed it and he called that Buster Call too! Don't pin the blame on all of us!" Nami whimpered at how demonic they were being portrayed.

Merciless slaughter, property destruction, ruthless murderers... A-All of this was Rosan's fault! He was the demon!

"Pinning the destruction of an island on one person, looks bad for them," Rosan replied easily. "Imagine if the headline was, the Red Devil singlehandedly destroyed an island while his crew basked in awe at his glory. They'd have to increase my bounty to levels that would begin to concern the world," he explained calmly.

"You also have to take into account that Luffy is the captain of the crew," Robin joined. "The more dangerous Rosan is revealed to be, the more dangerous they perceive Luffy and by proxy, the rest of us. After all, why would someone as dangerous as Rosan, choose to follow someone instead of making his own crew? Why would his allies be weak? They are overthinking it as well."

Zambai quivered and nodded. "S-She's right… just look!"

That brought them to the second bit of news.

Their bounties.

"W-W-Wha," Nami stammered, going white as a sheet.

B-B-But… huh?

What the fuck was this?

Wanted: "Straw Hat" Monkey D. Luffy – 350,000,000 Beris

Wanted: "Red Devil" Rosan – 310,000,000 Beris

Wanted: "Ohara's Devil" Nico Robin – 190,000,000 Beris

Wanted: "Pirate Hunter" Roronoa Zoro – 150,000,000 Beris

Wanted: "Black-Leg" (Photo Not Available) Sanji – 80,000,000 Beris

Wanted: "Sorceress" Nami – 60,000,000 Beris

Wanted: "The King of Snipers" Sogeking: 40,000,000 Beris

Wanted: "Cotton Candy Lover" (Pet) Chopper: 50 Beris

Rosan held his hand out and effortlessly met Luffy's own.

"Look Rosan! We're worth so much!" Luffy laughed, leaping on his brother's back giddily.

"300 million a piece… Damn they really are afraid of us," Rosan hummed, eyes glinting madly. "Looks like they are hell bent on keeping me 40 million lower then you at all times."

"Shishishi!" Luffy cackled.

The redhead gazed at Robin and Zoro with challenging eyes. "Look at the jump for the four of us... Seems like the ones with bounties already, are being bumped by quite a bit," he nodded, holding his hands out.

Robin rolled her eyes and high fived him with no hesitation as Zoro slapped the other with a competitive smirk.

"I did nothing but they increased mine by so much? It appears just the threat of us being lovers is enough for them," she sighed, looking at her enormous bounty with a bit of pride.

"It's only a matter of time before I overtake you, Robin," Zoro said with a wide smirk, gazing at his fellow tortured (courtesy of Rosan) partner in training.

Robin returned the smile, a little competitive spirit rising in her at that claim. "You're up against quite the competition, Zoro and I won't make it any easier for you. I quite enjoy my placement so I'll keep it for now."

"Challenge accepted," he grinned viciously.

...Oh no, she really was becoming as competitive as her family… But it felt kind of good.

"60… 60 million?! I DIDN'T EVEN DO ANYTHING!" Nami was chalk white.

"You summoned a hurricane," Rosan chimed proudly. "That's genius by the way. Mind running through how you did that?"

"NO! LET ME HAVE MY TECHNIQUES AND LET ME FREAK OUT!" Nami shrieked. "LOOK! 60 MILLION?! WHY?! I THOUGHT YOU SAID YOU HID WHAT WE DID!"

"Probably because you showcased some of your abilities on Water 7. You summoned my wall to protect yourself and also blew everyone away with my powerful winds."

"I DON'T NEED LOGIC RIGHT NOW!" The Navigator roared.

Rosan immediately mussed up her hair with a proud smile and she stewed but he managed to quell her with his next statement.

"Forget the 60 million… look at your title. Sorceress? That's easily the coolest one here. Sorceress Nami, controlling weather to the point where she looks like she practices witchcraft," Rosan praised, looking a little jealous.

Nami blinked at that, before a red flush marred her cheeks and she grinned bashfully. "Sorceress is pretty damn cool! Makes me feel like a real witch! I kinda like that motif... I wanna lean into it," she decided.

"It's way better than Red Devil, that's for sure. Also, if you wanna dip into your motif, I'm down to help out. Sounds cool," Rosan snorted with a pleased smile.

Nami beamed. Her! A Sorceress! You know what? That was pretty damn cool!

Others were not as happy as Nami suddenly was at their bounty posters.

"W-What is this?!" Chopper and Sanji both whispered in despair.

"I'M A PIRATE TOO! WHY AM I ONLY WORTH 50 BERIS!" Chopper roared in fury, pointing indignantly at the price on his head.

Robin pat his head in sympathy.

"Try again next time!" Luffy cheered.

"For what it's worth, I think you should be worth 100 Beris," Rosan said seriously.

"DON'T BE SUCH A BULLY, BASTARD!" Chopper roared, leaping onto the redhead and getting caught out of midair.

The redhead began tickling him and Chopper squealed, anger forgotten as he began laughing.

"See, no wonder they think you're a pet, look how adorable you are," Rosan cackled, torturing the reindeer with no remorse.

"D-Don't call me adorable, y-you damn b-bastard!" Chopper squealed, squirming helplessly in the man's grasp and completely forgetting he could transform into Heavy Point.

"WHO THE HELL IS THIS?!" Sanji roared, looking at his drawn bounty poster in disbelief.

"What's wrong? That's a great bounty!" Luffy said, patting the blonde on the back as the crew began packing their bags.

"WHO THE HELL CARES ABOUT THAT?! LOOK AT THIS! WHERE'S MY PHOTO! WHY DID THEY DRAW ME?!" Sanji roared, pointing furiously at his bounty poster.

Rosan and Zoro both glanced over simultaneously.

"It looks just like you. What are you so upset about?" Zoro grunted.

"Spitting image. Nothing to be mad about," Rosan nodded in agreement. "If anything, I'd be more upset about the name. Black-Leg Sanji? Is it because you wear a black suit?" He asked with a raised brow.

Sanji began shaking as he gazed hauntingly at the two.

"You know Zeff's nickname was Red-Leg Zeff because his leg was painted red with the enemies blood?" The redhead continued.

Zoro snorted loudly. "And yours is Black-Leg… because you wear a suit. Ridiculous. Almost as ridiculous as the fact that you're 80 million and I'm 150."

"RAGGHHHH!" Sanji roared, leaping at the two with murder in his eyes.

Without any hesitation, Rosan smoothly moved behind Robin and hoisted her up by the waist, stopping Sanji dead in his tracks.

The chef's jaw dropped as the redhead shamelessly used her as a human shield to protect himself and the redhead grinned innocently behind her.

T-This was so unfair.

"...Rosan," Robin said with a hint of exasperation, looking at the despair on Sanji's face. "At least let him engage you in combat, he looks so defeated… I'm beginning to feel bad."

"He's free to engage me… but as my girlfriend it's your job to protect me as I protect you. We're in this together so you can't just let anyone attack me," he replied, refusing to let her go and walking away with her.

"You are such an ass," Robin sighed, knowing that arguing was helpless and letting herself be carried. "Could you at least put me in a more comfortable position?"

Robin should have known that as an insufferable ass, Rosan would do this but she had been hoping that entering a relationship would help him mature and grow as a person.

Of course not.

He effortlessly slung her over his shoulder like he had done so a million times (he did, ever since they met back up) and began walking off, ignoring the way she fruitlessly struggled in his grip.

"Alright, let's go see that ship," he stated, kicking open the door and waltzing through.

"Words can't explain how much I hate you sometimes," Robin said with a flat expression, quickly giving up.

"I kinda like it when you lie, boosts my ego when I sense it," he replied with a cocky smirk.

That smirk was quickly wiped away as a hand yanked his hair harshly and he grunted in annoyance.

Without any hesitation, he dropped Robin and tackled her to the floor.

"Stop messing with the hair. You know how much work I put into it," he hissed, trying to force her limbs into submission.

"You were begging for it," Robin retorted with a glare, struggling to get out of his unreasonable grip and watching as that demonic redhead attempted to grip both her arms with one limb so he could have free reigns with his other hand.

She could not let that happen.

Remembering a key detail about the redhead, Robin suddenly leaned in and kissed him right on the bridge of his nose.

Rosan blinked in shock, dark red covering his cheeks at her actions and she took the chance to flip the two over.

"Underhanded move," he hissed, as Robin instantly summoned her clones to help in holding him down.

"What? You've been kissing me in public nonstop! I guess you really can't handle a taste of your own medicine," Robin taunted, throttling him to the best of her abilities.

"S-Sorry, sweetheart," Crow said apologetically, holding his legs to the best of her ability along with extra arms from her fruit.

"No hard feelings cutie," Canary beamed, holding his left arm with as much strength as she could.

"No hard feelings? I'm enjoying every second of this babe," Raven smirked smugly, squeezing his right arm with a pleased aura.

Robin paused for a moment to regard her clones. "Why do you three already have cute nicknames for him?" She asked slowly, feeling mortification run through her at the smug grin Rosan was shooting her, despite being completely restrained.

"Because these are all the things you want to call him but won't because you're a prude. We are not prudes like you," Raven replied easily.

"W-We shouldn't be saying that out loud! It took me everything to say that and I want to die! You're not making it better!" Crow gaped, blushing red.

"For a Robin… you sure are stupid. I can't believe you came from us," Canary shook her head at Raven.

Raven sneered, unintentionally loosening her grip to regard the happy go lucky clone.

"Wanna say that again, you giggling moron?" She growled.

Canary raised a brow high, loosening her own grip unintentionally, to regard the angry dummy.

"You. Are. Stupid."

Before the two could devolve into argument, the most sensible clone spoke up.

"...Please keep your grips on him firm… he only needs a slight opening," Crow stammered worriedly.

"Too late!" Rosan grinned, breaking free from their weakened grips and grabbing all four Robin's with his draconic tail, getting yelps out of them all.

Robin resisted the urge to scowl as the long tail ensnared all of them. "You two are both incredibly stupid and we need to have a firm talk about understanding the mission. Crow is the only smart one. I don't understand why you two are like this," she said with a sigh.

"T-Thank you but I think we have more things to worry about," Crow smiled nervously.

"You shouldn't be calling clones of yourself stupid, babe. Looks bad for you," Rosan taunted, as he prepared to tickle the hell outta all of them. "Now brace yourselves, each of you are going to pay the price for daring to gang up on me."

Robin had no idea how clones of herself acted so differently to the point it reduced their intelligence, but clearly it was time to talk to them about uniting against one cause.

Namely, beating Rosan. It was imperative that they understood the importance of defeating the insufferable redhead.

"Let's just go without them," Nami sighed, not even bothering to break up the brawl.

"They'll catch up!" Luffy laughed, waving off the worried Franky Family.

"F-Four Robins? All for him?" Sanji muttered in despair, clutching his heart as it threatened to collapse.

As the Franky Family watched everything unfold, they thought to themselves.

"Franky would fit right in."

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

As the Straw Hats approached the dock where their ship was being built, they couldn't help but let out awed noises at seeing the size of it wrapped under that blanket.

"You guys are finally here," Iceburg smiled, yawning as he gazed at the crew.

They greeted all the shipwrights before realizing one was missing.

"Where's Franky?" Luffy asked in confusion.

The Mayor smiled knowingly. "You want to recruit him right? I bet he wants to join you guys too and is trying to hide as a result. He has a stubborn obligation to guard this country so if you want to get him, you'll have to force him."

None of the Straw Hats missed how Rosan's eyes gleamed and they sent out a short prayer for the cyborg.

"Since he's not here, I'll be showing you guys the ship," Iceburg informed them. "I have to admit, when I saw the blueprints, I thought that crazy bastard was trying to make the impossible but he actually did it!"

With this ship, they might actually be able to sail the whole world… it was insane.

"He said "If you want to be King of the Pirates, you need to have the King of Beasts!" and with this, you'll be able to do just that!"

With that, he pulled the drape off and they gazed at it with wide eyes.

"WOAH! IT'S HUGE! AND AWESOME!" Luffy shouted in awe, eyes turning into stars.

"IS THIS FOR US?!" Chopper squealed.

"Nice," Zoro praised. "It's massive… what an impressive looking ship."

"The sail is so big! Is it a sloop?" Nami asked with an excited grin.

"Let me see the kitchen!" Sanji shook giddily.

"We always get the strangest figureheads," Rosan remarked with a small grin, looking pleased.

"It's a lion," Iceburg explained, watching as the more excitable members went to explore.

"That's quite an impressive ship. I think we can do some gardening here," Robin thought, smiling at their new home.

"Mind if I help you with that? I learned some things from Maro and Angel," Rosan commented idly.

"…" The Devil Child gazed at Rosan. "You are so adorable."

The redhead rolled his eyes. "I just wanna grow some roses and other stuff, then modify em. Flowers with unique colors would look good."

"...Like a White Rose," she said fondly, thinking of their ship. "Alright, grow me a black rose and put it in my hair?"

"Deal," he replied easily.

The Thousand Sunny was a sight to behold.

It was a massive brigantine-type ship which mean that it would rely solely on Nami's skills as a navigator, a lawn on her deck, complete with a swing and a slide, as well as an observation tower for a crow's nest.

"He told me about extra additions he thought of that caused him to revamp the ship as well," Iceburg told them. "He expanded the gym and transformed it into a legitimate training area , reinforced it as well so you guys didn't destroy it. Made the ship a little bigger, reinforced the entire thing incase you ever need to transform he said... Oh and for you two," he called, pointing at the couple.

Robin and Rosan both glanced up at that.

Iceburg resisted the urge to smile. "I thought it was the captain's quarters, but Franky told me to mention that this room was for you two. He said that "a bro needs some alone time with his women and they shouldn't be sharing a room with anyone else. Don't worry, it's soundproof so go wild!" then flashed me a thumbs up."

The two blinked, opening their mouths before shutting it. The faintest dust of red covered both their cheeks as they digested the sentence.

S...Soundproof? That shameless little pervert!

"Where is he? I think I should thank him before forcing him to join the crew," Rosan muttered with a menacing gleam.

Robin nodded with a thin smile, doing her best to banish the embarrassment at the knowing smile on Iceburg's face. "Think of something for me too?"

"You'll love it," Rosan returned with a cruel smile.

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

"Why are you hiding out here for?"

Franky jumped at that voice and turned to face the floating Rosan with a surprised expression.

"Red, what the hell are you doing here?!" The cyborg shouted in disbelief.

"You didn't think we'd just let you hide here without at least thanking you, right?" Rosan said in amusement.

Franky was about to dismiss him, but Rosan wasn't done yet.

"I promised to tell you what my Devil Fruit was, didn't I? You kept up your part of the bargain so I'll keep up mine. Just keep it a secret, alright? You're already keeping one of mine, so I trust you to keep this one too."

The cyborg could tell that the redhead was extremely secretive, so he was touched (moved to tears) that Rosan kept his word and confided in it.

Hell, the redhead was practically like a brother to him already! Revealing all his secrets to the cyborg despite barely knowing him...

Red was Reaper! That was nuts! Rosan was the Angel of Death and he was just waltzing around without a care in the world!

Rosan smiled and said, "My ability is called Modification."

Franky's eyes widened in blatant interest and awe as he heard about what Rosan could do with his ability.

It was no wonder he said they could create inventions that surpassed Vegapunk! Franky could take advantage of his abilities and begin crafting some of the most absurd things on the planet!

Just thinking about it made the cyborg giddy! This fruit was an inventors dream! No wonder Vegapunk showed so much interest in it... the amount of time it could save, the speed that they could finish things at... the ability to potentially circumvent the need of certain materials.

With Modification, he could even make continuous upgrades to the Sunny —

But… they were leaving… and he wasn't planning on going with them.

Damn… he was missing out on a super golden opportunity here, not traveling with this gold mine of a redhead. It was a hard pill to swallow but he had his duties.

Rosan grinned violently at seeing Franky stick to his guns.

"Hey Franky," he called.

"What's up Red?" The cyborg replied curiously.

"Wanna see something else I can do?"

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

Everyone watched Rosan float back into view with a serene expression on his face.

"Where's Franky?" Iceburg couldn't help but ask, finding that expression on the redhead's face to be rather unsettling.

Serene didn't fit Rosan at all. It was... disturbing.

Rosan tilted his head. "Franky'll be here in a few don't worry," he assured.

They shuddered at that tone.

"What did you do to Big Bro?" Zambai couldn't help but ask nervously, being the only Franky Family member here due to... reasons.

The redhead showed off his abnormally sharp fangs, making them shudder at how dangerous they looked.

"I just showed him more of my abilities… and he's not your big bro anymore," he said cryptically, eyes gleaming manically.

…

"Huh?" The Franky Family and Shipwrights stated dumbfounded.

Realization hit the aware Straw Hats immediately.

"You didn't," Nami and Sanji stated in horror.

Then they heard a shrill scream in the distance.

Rosan smiled demonically. "I did."

"REDDDDDDD!" A feminine voice roared as they burst into the scene.

Everyone's jaw dropped, as a fit and uniquely beautiful woman burst into their vision.

She was tall, standing at an impressive height of 7'0, with well toned abs and a very large chest that was barely being hidden by their open Hawaiian shirt.

Long blue hair could no longer be kept up in a pompadour and flowed to her middle back, stopping right above the woman's swim brief clad lower half.

She had angular, three pointed clefs, a prosthetic nose and large forearms that were many times smaller compared to when she was a man.

Everyone, barring the Straw Hats, balked in confusion as they gazed at the woman who seemed to be furious with their scout.

Did Rosan hook up with someone and ghost them? Why did she look so familiar? Wait, wasn't Rosan dating Robin?! WHY WAS HE CHEATING ALREADY?!

The amazonian woman gazed at Rosan, with all the fury a half naked woman could muster.

"RED, CHANGE ME BACK NOW! THIS IS SO NOT SUPER!" She shrieked in rage.

…

It finally hit them all and their eyes bugged out of their heads.

"FRANKY?!" Everyone roared in disbelief, looking at the female cyborg with dropped jaws.

"YES FRANKY!" Franky roared, eyes filled with horror as she glanced down at her body. "I DON'T LOOK THAT DIFFERENT DO I? HOW COULDN'T YOU RECOGNIZE ME?!"

The cyborg whirled towards Rosan with a furious scowl. "RED I'M SERIOUS! CHANGE ME BACK BEFORE YOU LEAVE!"

The redhead had the audacity, to look apologetic. "I only sometimes listen to my allies and I never listen to anyone who isn't my ally. Considering we won't be seeing each other again after this… you're staying a woman forever. But if you join, I can be persuaded to change you back," Rosan shrugged helplessly.

They gazed at the demonic redhead with wide eyes, not believing he would stoop to something so underhanded.

"H-How did you change Franky into a woman?!" Iceburg asked, jaw dropped to the floor.

"It was honestly easier than doing it to a normal person. Being a half cyborg gives me a lot of advantages," Rosan grinned proudly.

"THAT DOESN'T ANSWER THE QUESTION!" Everyone, barring the Straw Hats, roared, gazing at the evil redhead with shark teeth.

"Y-YOU THINK THIS'LL MAKE ME JOIN YOU?! NICE TRY! I'M MADE OF TOUGHER STUFF THAN THAT!" Franky roared, despite the horror at losing his pride and joy as a man.

He (she) c-could live with this. Yeah. Totally!

Definitely!

"Robin, take her shirt."

Everyone's jaw dropped even further (and the Franky Family and Shipwrights flew back from nosebleeds) as a hand sprouted atop of Franky and removed her shirt without any hesitation.

The cyborg mechanically looked down, blinking at not seeing a rock hard midsection and instead, being witness to a soft middle... along with a huge chest.

"Make your decision quick, the briefs are next," Rosan said ruthlessly, not even batting an eye as he smirked like a true Devil at the swapped cyborg.

Robin deftly caught the shirt and placed it on the deck with a coy smile, looking every bit as demonic as her best friend.

"Maybe resist just a bit longer, Big Sis. Put up a fight! Don't let that demon win so easy," Zambai muttered, shooting a thumbs up while a hand covered his gushing nose.

"Yeah it's just a pair of briefs! Put up a fight, Big Sis! Don't let that scare you!" The other perverts agreed, similarly covering their noses.

"I want to die," Sanji said bluntly, curling into himself in horror at how much mental damage Rosan had caused him in one day.

Oh hell no. Franky was not going to be called Big Sis for the rest of her life.

"RED I'M SERIOUS! C-CHANGE ME BACK! YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO ME! I THOUGHT WE WERE LIKE BROTHERS!" She howled, making no attempt to cover her chest from the bugged eyes.

"Your tits are too huge for me to consider you my brother but if you insist on that, I don't judge," Rosan said infuriatingly. "Also, I've done this to my family before! You should see Luffy as a girl! He's adorable as hell!" He beamed.

The captain laughed, almost completely unbothered by reminder and they gazed at the two brothers like they were twin demons from the deepest pits of Tartarus.

"Shishishi! Rosan, I'm banning you from changing him back until he joins us!" Luffy laughed cheerfully, waving the shirt around like a flag.

The scout saluted mockingly, flashing a smug grin at the cyborg. "Aye, Cap'n... Sorry Franky, but it's captain's orders so my hands are completely tied. I wanted to help you, but I'm but a humble scout."

"He's a fucking psychopath!" Everyone cried comically, looking at the way Franky's jaw hung uselessly.

Franky eventually shook her head furiously. "I can't join you guys! This was my last job as a shipwright anyways! I want to go with you but I just can't! I need to stay here on this island because there's something I have to do!"

"But that's not your dream, Franky," Iceburg stated, wiping his bloody nose with a neutral expression.

The Mayor looked at his close friend with a serious expression. "Your dream was to sail the ship that you built to the end of the ocean as its shipwright and this is that ship, Franky."

The woman scowled, rounding on Iceburg (and causing eyes to bug at the sudden movement). "That's not my dream anymore! It changed a long time ago," she tried to say.

"Changed? No… you just suppressed it. Your dream never changed. You stay on this island because of your guilt," Iceburg chastised.

"You blame yourself for killing Tom and because of that, you try and protect this island in anyway you know how. You united all the street punks, you called yourself a bounty hunter just to collect from pirates and keep the island safe… you did all this to protect Water 7…"

"Haven't you punished yourself enough? It doesn't matter if I forgive you or if Tom forgives you… you have to forgive yourself," Iceburg stated seriously.

Rosan's head tilted, expression suddenly thoughtful.

Suppress yourself... giving up your dream... taking the blame for someone's death... Forgiving… yourself.

Maybe he and Franky weren't so different.

Franky leaned back as if struck and tears began forming in her eyes.

Then a massive bag was dropped in front of her and she gazed up at the remaining Franky Family who also had tears in their eyes.

"BIG SIS WE WANT YOU TO GO WITH THEM!"

"WE NEVER SAW YOU AS HAPPY, AS WHEN YOU WERE WORKING ON THE SHIP!"

"WE KNOW YOU WANT TO TRAVEL WITH THE STRAW HATS SO JUST GO!"

Franky shook her head incessantly. "SINCE WHEN CAN YOU GUYS DECIDE THESE THINGS FOR ME?! YOU CAN'T EVEN DO ANYTHING WITHOUT ME! YOU'RE ALL TOO STUPID!"

"WE MIGHT BE STUPID… BUT WHAT'S SO STUPID ABOUT WANTING YOU TO BE HAPPY?!" Zambai roared.

"!" Franky's eyes bugged at that and she took a step back, collapsing on the floor dramatically.

Then the tears began falling like a waterfall.

"Y-You guys!" Franky sobbed.

"Who's the real idiot here?" Everyone barring the Franky Family thought.

"RED WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?! WHY DID YOU MAKE ME MORE EMOTIONAL!" Franky sobbed hysterically, covering her eyes to hide the tears.

Rosan rolled his eyes. He hadn't done a damn thing. Franky was just an emotional idiot.

"Come aboard the ship and I'll fix you right up you emotional machine. Must have been a mistake with my technique," he taunted.

"Yeah! Come join my ship!" Luffy beamed confidently.

Franky sniffed and stood back up, gazing back at Water 7 and then at the ship of her dreams, before nodding.

"Fine! I can't trust you greenhorns with this ship anyways! You need an expert that can take care of it anyways!" Franky declared, standing up and puffing out her chest confidently.

Every Straw Hat grinned easily at that, nodding in approval and welcoming the cyborg aboard.

The moment the cyborg got on the ship, she zeroed in on the one true demon.

"Change me back, Red," Franky demanded, glowering at the redhead as she closed the distance.

The redhead gazed at her, and tilted his head.

Finally, he smiled in that increasingly infuriating smirk of his and said, "Nah, I'll do it when we've made enough distance."

"Oh and get your tits outta my face, I have a girlfriend you know? She's right here."

"I'M NOT A GIRL! CHANGE ME BACK INTO A MAN!" The cyborg roared.

Rosan let out a mocking laugh and waved her off. "...Can't you listen idiot? I said wait. Enjoy being the opposite gender for a bit. Let this be an early warning. Don't mess with me and try not to abuse my abilities too much for your curiosities."

Franky balked at the demon.

"Oh and put on a shirt, you've got your huge goods hanging out. It's embarrassing you pervert," Rosan reprimanded, as if he hadn't been the one to make Robin remove it.

Robin giggled at that.

Franky's jaw dropped even further at the sheer audacity. "W-What type of demon are you?! The news was being too kind when they described you!"

The redhead's eyes gleamed. "You'll find out like the rest of our crew eventually did. Welcome aboard, Franky. I hope you have high tolerance."

She didn't miss the sympathetic glance of all the other Straw Hats.

Just what did she get herself into…

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

"Usopp wants to join the crew again?!" Luffy asked excitedly. The rubber boy was practically bouncing in place at that, eyes wide in happiness.

Sanji nodded. "Yeah, I saw him practicing how to come back."

Luffy, Nami and Chopper began celebrating at that.

"Let's go get him then!" The captain beamed, jumping happily.

Robin didn't miss the way Zoro and Rosan's gaze immediately darkened.

"Absolutely not," the redhead denied instantly, making them go still. "Don't even think about going to get him. If you do, consider me out of the crew because I refuse to follow someone with no self respect."

Everyone froze at that abrupt statement.

"What…?" they whispered in disbelief.

Zoro nodded without hesitation.

"Rosan's right. Luffy and Usopp had a duel with specific conditions and Luffy won. Not only that, he left the ship on his own. Nobody forced him out. He made the choice to leave," the swordsman said gruffly.

Rosan sneered. "I told you guys. What he did to Luffy, our captain, was mutiny. You understand what happens on other ships when mutiny is committed right?" He asked in annoyance.

"They die. Going against the word of the captain, means death."

Nami and Chopper flinched at that, wilting at the word.

Rosan shook his head. "The complete lack of respect Usopp showed, to the one leading us all is only a detriment and I won't allow him to slink his way back into the crew without severe consequences. I don't care at all that he blamed me for his problems. I've never cared about what others had to say, but the fact that he also blamed Luffy, is completely unacceptable."

Zoro nodded, butting the pummel of his sword against Luffy's head. "All of us respect Luffy. Is that in doubt?"

Everyone shook their head in denial, knowing their respect For Luffy was unshakable.

"Then you need to understand that anyone who doubts our captain, doesn't deserve to sail with us," the swordsman said with a tone of finality.

"Look me in the eyes and tell me, Usopp deserves to just waltz back in after spitting in Luffy's face. If you tell me he doesn't deserve an ounce of accountability, and you genuinely believe it, I'll want you gone too," Rosan said firmly.

No one said anything.

"Isn't this a bit much though…?" Nami said, frowning at the two most rigid members of their crew.

Robin sighed, deciding to put this into words that had the tact Rosan and Zoro weren't willing to give.

"Usopp wasn't the only one who willingly left the crew… I did too," she said quietly. "If I didn't take accountability… If I didn't beg you all to come save me at the top of Enies Lobby... if you all managed to save me and I didn't learn my lesson, do you think Rosan or Zoro would ever forgive me? Would you be able to fully forgive me if I resented you for saving my life?"

Their eyes widened and they glanced at the silent Rosan and Zoro.

"No, I wouldn't," Zoro said truthfully.

The redhead shut his eyes, not wanting to think of that future but he'd be a hypocrite if he didn't speak his mind like he had done so freely with Usopp.

"To be honest, if Robin didn't realize what she did and stayed stubborn to the end, then no I wouldn't ever be able to forgive her. I would have lost too much trust to do that. I don't think I'd be able to look at her because it would hurt too much," he admitted softly.

Robin nodded, so glad it didn't come to that. If... if they had saved her stubborn self and she had to deal with being ignored by Rosan for the rest of her life, that may have actually been a worse punishment then being turned over.

"They aren't saying he can't join… they're saying he needs to take accountability and apologize otherwise, he's just undermining Luffy's authority as captain. Once you get away with undermining his authority, it's only a matter of time before the crew collapses," she explained gently.

Seeing the more rational and mature Robin explain it, made them hesitantly agree.

"So if he apologizes, he can join?" Chopper asked hesitantly.

"I can't say for Rosan, but that's enough for me," Zoro said calmly, glancing at the scout.

Everyone turned towards the silent scout, knowing that he probably had the most problems with Usopp rejoining the crew.

The redhead had severe trust issues after all... and Usopp chose to leave when he was at his most vulnerable.

"…" Rosan sighed.

He thought back to the sniper helping with Robin despite having no obligation to and idly squeezed the woman, getting a look of concern out of her.

Usopp did his part… and he did use his favor to ask him to get some rest…

Perhaps he was becoming too sappy.

Mod smiled brilliantly at seeing her son act so human.

"If he apologizes, I'll have no complaints but we're leaving him here otherwise. Agreed?"

They all nodded.

"Agreed."

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

As the Straw Hats were preparing to leave, they heard absolutely terrible news.

"That old dumbass is coming after us?" Rosan snarled at the info that Garp was trying to capture them. "Start sailing now, we stand a much better chance if we're out at sea. We can focus on escaping while I stall them all."

The crew nodded hastily. They didn't have a gauge on just how strong the Hero of Marines were, but if Rosan was willing to forgo the sake of destroying Marines in favor of running, it was in their best interest to listen to him.

As they began setting sail, Garp himself showed up at the helm of the ship and made his presence known…

By lobbing a cannonball at their ship with his bare hands.

The Straw Hats eyes bugged as the cannonball flew with even more force then if it were fired out of a cannon.

A red blast crashed into immediately, detonating the ball early and Rosan scowled, lowering his smoking hand.

Robin shuddered strongly. "Aokiji is on that ship," she informed them all, solidifying the idea that they needed to get outta here and fast.

Rosan's eyes narrowed into slits. "Focus on escaping. Do whatever you have to do and don't hesitate to leave me, I'll catch up."

"LUFFY! ROSAN! SORRY ABOUT THIS BUT SENGOKU DIDN'T LIKE THAT I DIDN'T WANT TO CAPTURE MY GRANDKIDS… SO NOW I HAVE TO SINK YOU HERE! BLAME ROSAN! HE CAUSES A LOT OF PROBLEMS!" Garp shouted to the group of pirates, as a rack of cannonballs were rolled up to him.

His draconic wings burst out of his back and he took to the skies, Ram seeping into his gloves.

"For the last time. I am not your grandson!" Rosan barked, watching as Garp began hoisting up cannonballs.

That freak of a Marine was able to throw cannonballs harder then an actual cannon so if any hit their ship, it would spell big trouble.

Well, Rosan did say he'd show Koby what he'd do once they were enemies so what better time then now?

Everyone watched with wide eyes as Garp lobbed a cannonball towards their ship with hellish force, slamming into a shimmering red flat barrier that protected the Sunny to the best of its abilities, before shattering.

"Practice that more," Rosan and Ram muttered to themselves.

Alright, Garp was dumb but he wasn't that dumb... no, he was that dumb nevermind. But the old man still had priorities and Rosan needed him to stop lobbing all those cannonballs.

So it was time to shift his priority.

Rosan held a hand above his head and began charging.

Koby felt his jaw slacken, as a ball of energy began forming above Rosan that was growing larger and larger.

"U-Uh… I didn't know he was able to do that," Koby squeaked in terror, realizing that Rosan had hid a lot of things from him.

So uh... this was what he meant by seeing how scary he was when they were enemies.

Koby hoped he was never sent to personally chase after the redhead.

As the redhead began gathering more and more energy, a miniature red sun began hovering above his palm that steadily began growing. The redhead locked onto the ship with a murderous and calculating gleam.

Garp had stopped lobbing his cannonballs by now and even Aokiji was looking up at the attack with an impressed gaze.

Rosan sneered as he held the giant ball over his head. This wouldn't even come close to killing Garp but the same couldn't be said for that ship of theirs.

If it was destroyed, they'd have far more things to worry about.

"Persecution."

Rosan lobbed the ball at the ship…

Only for that psychotic old man to rocket off the ship and meet it head on.

"Damn bastard is a complete freak of nature," Rosan snarled as it exploded preemptively, sending a massive shockwave of energy out that only sent both the ships swaying.

He was really hoping that his crew had a way to escape right now. Rosan didn't fancy his chances against Garp just yet...

But that still wouldn't stop him from crushing the stupid old man.

"Alright, time for me to get my first win," Rosan grunted, flexing his wings as the unscathed Garp stared at him with a wide grin.

"How has old age barely slowed him down? I shudder to think how strong he was in his prime."

"I shudder too, but for another reason. It's a shame I'll never be able to kick his ass at his prime but this'll do."

"Psychopath."

"Alright, I haven't trained you in a while. Time to catch up on lost time!" Garp exclaimed with a boisterous laugh.

Rosan sneered and immediately charged, firing ball after ball of energy at the man and abusing the fact that he had wings and Garp had to use his legs to outmaneuver the old man.

"YOU GUYS BETTER BE FINDING A WAY TO ESCAPE RIGHT NOW!" Rosan barked at the crew, transforming Ram into gauntlets in order to block the heavy fists that still sent him flying.

He hastily flew behind Garp and attempted to slam his powered up gauntlets onto the man's exposed back, only for him to whirl around and meet him head on with his own fist... and he won.

"I really hate this old man," Rosan grunted with a scowl as he was launched back from the force of the blow.

"I've got something cooking up! Just gimme time to get it ready!" Franky shouted back, still not transformed to normal.

"As long as it works!" the redhead shouted, unperturbed by the fact that none of his attacks were working.

As they scrambled about to get everything in order, Usopp, who had just shown up, balked in confusion as he watched the mayhem happening.

But what was most concerning, was the fact that they were leaving without him on board.

"HEY WHAT ARE YOU GUYS DOING?! YOU FORGOT ME!" Usopp shouted, sprinting towards them with wide eyes.

"REJOICE! IT'S ME! I KNOW WE ARGUED A BIT BUT I'M WILLING TO LET SOME THINGS SLIDE!"

He panted and realized none of them were acknowledging him.

"HEY! I KNOW WE MAY HAVE HAD A DISAGREEMENT, BUT AS LONG AS YOU MAKE ME CAPTAIN, I CAN LET IT GO!" He tried, only to be completely ignored once more.

"ALRIGHT, YOU CAN KEEP CAPTAIN! I'LL CONCEDE! BUT SECOND IN COMMAND IS ALL I CAN BARGAIN!"

Nothing, not even a side eye.

"Quit joking around… Are you guys actually leaving?" He asked in disbelief.

Rosan and Garp were still going at it and the redhead was focusing his all on not getting clobbered by the behemoth of a Marine, not even sparing him a single glance despite noticing him.

He could see Nami and Luffy repelling waves of bullets getting shot at them with wind and rubber respectively... The others were furling up the sails, using the opening Rosan was giving them to plan their escape…

Without him.

No way... were they actually going to leave him on the island…?

I can't follow you anymore. Sorry to have been such a burden.

It's my business where I go. I'm quitting this crew!

…

"It's ready!" Franky shouted.

"Go!" Rosan barked immediately, opening his mouth and shooting a gust of fire that, once again had 0 effect on Garp. "We don't have time, I'll catch up!" He ordered.

"Right!" They all shouted in unison.

No. No. No. No. No!

"I'M SORRY!" Usopp shouted with tears running down his face as he finally broke. "I'M SORRY FOR BEING SO STUBBORN! I KNOW I'M BEING PATHETIC! I KNOW I SAID I ALREADY QUIT! C-CAN I TAKE THAT BACK?! PLEASE LET ME TAKE THAT BACK!"

He fell to his knees as the tears began overflowing, seeing the ship get ready to leave and realized hey may never see them again after this moment.

No, he definitely wouldn't see them again. Usopp couldn't continue sailing the seas alone... he didn't want to sail these seas alone.

The only way he would ever want to sail these seas, was if he were with his crew but they were leaving him because he was too dumb to let go of his ego.

He didn't... he didn't want that!

"PLEASE FORGIVE ME! PLEASE LET ME JOIN JUST ONE MORE TIME!"

"THE COUP DE BURST IS READY! BRACE YOURSELVES AND HOLD ONTO SOMETHING!" Franky roared.

Luffy's eyes widened at the apology but right before he could stretch his hand to grab the sniper, the ship surged with energy and rocketed off.

The back of the Thousand Sunny lit up brilliantly, as it began bringing in the air around it before exploding into the sky and beginning to fly of all things!

Usopp watched with despair, as the ship flew through the air and swiftly vanished from their sights.

They were… gone. Just like that.

"No come back!" Usopp sobbed in defeat.

This was… no, he apologized too late. He was such a damn coward and now he lost his one true crew.

If only he could take it all back. He'd do so in a heartbeat! He said such terrible things to Luffy... to Chopper... to Rosan—

Usopp let out a strangled yell as a red blur crashed into him, lifting him by his suspenders and hoisting him up.

"Took you long enough," Rosan scoffed, holding him up with one hand as he fired a laser shaped beam at Garp with no hesitation.

Naturally, it failed.

Usopp let out a sob of relief as he realized there was still one person here for him.

And of all the people, it was the one who had every reason to be the angriest at him!

"I'm so sorry Rosan, for everything! You were just trying to tell us that Robin was in trouble and then I didn't let you get it out and you got tortured b-but I got so angry and started blaming everything on you when you were just looking out for us —"

"I don't need your apologies. You already apologized to Luffy," he replied gruffly, glaring at Garp as his bruises began healing up. "I haven't fully forgiven you... but you helped me save Robin and that's not a debt I know how to properly repay... so I won't hold a grudge. Be grateful for that, I'm normally very vengeful."

Usopp nodded rapidly and the redhead rolled his eyes. "I belong with the Straw Hats! I'll never betray you guys again!"

A truth.

Rosan smiled wryly at that and shook his head, wiping the smirk off his face. "Whatever you say, liar."

"You gotta fly through me to reach your crew!" Garp shouted with a wide grin. "How do you plan on doing that?! You might be able to outmaneuver me, but you aren't that much faster!"

Rosan raised a brow. "The hell are you talking about senile old man? I'm already gone. Don't forget to take your meds."

Garp raised a brow and then his jaw dropped, as Rosan smirked smugly and vanished.

"Since when could he do that?!" Garp muttered.

Bah, his grandson hid way too many things from him.

Aokiji looked at the technique with interested eyes.

"So they really could have escaped at anytime," he mused.

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

"USOPP!" Luffy sobbed as the two crashed into each other.

"USOPP!" Chopper wailed, joining the group hug.

Rosan smoothly moved out of the way and allowed them to greet the sniper.

"I'M BACK AND I'M STAYING!" Usopp cried happily.

The rest of the Straw Hats smiled at that, just as relieved to have him back.

"We didn't think you'd get him Rosan!" Nami teased, wiping her own tears. "I was worried for a split second!"

He rolled his eyes and flicked her on the nose, getting an angry yelp out of the navigator. "I said if he apologized, I'd accept him back. I'm not a liar you know."

The redhead turned towards Franky and placed a palm on the perverted cyborg, eyes flashing as he transformed him back into a man.

Franky began crying comical tears as he felt everything return to normal. "D-Don't ever do that again!"

"No promises. Try not to irritate me, you manly man," Rosan smirked, letting him run of to join the festivities.

Instead of settling down, the group seemed to get even rowdier until a full party was in the swing, celebrating the return of Robin and Usopp, as well as Franky joining the crew.

"I know you've already forgiven me and I know I apologized so many times already… but I really can't put into words how sorry I am for everything," Robin said as she and Rosan sat in a corner, nestled against each other as they ate. "I really don't know what I was thinking... if I just put even a little thought, all of this could have been avoided..."

"I'll say it a million times until you get sick of me… I will never doubt you again, Rosan. Never, not even a little…" Robin swore, tucking herself into his side with a ferverous hold.

The redhead sighed, wrapping an arm around her with a fond smile. "We're both dumbasses who made mistakes Robin… Don't forget the things I've done. We'll just say they evened out and we can start fresh. Say it as much as you want though because I'll never get tired of your voice."

"You have quite the silver tongue," Robin said, flushing a tad at his sincere words.

The redhead raised a brow. "An honest person can't have a silver tongue. Everything I say, I tend to mean," he replied dryly.

Robin rolled her eyes. "Very smooth. I'm lucky to have you," she said sincerely.

"I think I'm luckier… but I'm me so I don't blame you for saying that," he retorted easily.

Rosan suddenly glanced down at her and noticed something.

Robin caught his intense stare and glanced down as well. "...Are you staring at my cleavage? Am I showing too much?" she asked slowly.

Her purple shirt showed a fair amount but Rosan was never such a blatant pervert… he actually wasn't even a pervert…

Should she puff her chest out? She wasn't sure how this relationship stuff worked.

"Not staring on purpose… but I just realized something," he muttered, digging around.

After a short while, Robin's confusion was sated, as Rosan pulled out a very familiar black pendant.

"I never want you remove it again or else I'll be pissed," he demanded, gently wrapping it around her neck despite the harshness of his words.

Robin rolled her eyes and accepted it, smiling happily at having the warm pendant once more. "I never want to remove it again. It lets me know that no matter, what, at just a drop of a hat, you'll be there for me."

He nodded with a superior glint and stood up with her.

"We have our own room… Let's go decorate it and decide what's going where," he muttered, walking off.

Robin smiled at that and quickly followed after. "I don't think the closet will be big enough for both of our clothes and I do still quite like sleeping in the castle, so we have choices now."

Rosan bowed mockingly. "The option of choices… fitting for a queen like you."

The Devil Child rolled her eyes. "I'm not a Queen just yet. We'll have to get married for that, King Rosan."

The smile was immediately wiped off his face and a scowl replaced it. "Didn't I tell you stop mentioning my goddamn royalty?"

She shrugged. "You were asking for it by starting it… Can we figure out what we're going to do with the room first before we fight?"

He paused, before nodding. "Alright, you can decide on what furniture you wanna put in there then. I have some extra stuff in the rooms of the castle we never use, if you want those. Or we can buy new stuff to replace it eventually."

"Are the things in the castle also black and purple?"

"Of course."

"...Let's go get them now then. I'd like to recline in one of those comfortable chairs while I read a book… also let's put a bookcase in there as well… Should we put a coffee machine too? In case I'm feeling lazy in the morning? Let's also make the walls black, like the castle," Robin fired off, brainstorming with ideas of how to make their room great.

Rosan snorted loudly. "Seems like you got mostly everything handled."

She smiled in return and opened the door. "It's not often that I get to decorate… I find myself excited. You don't mind if I take the lead for this?"

He shook his with an amused smile. "Nah, I already took the backseat on the interior for a castle. Feel free to take reign of this room."

Robin nodded, pleased by that. Rosan was a stylish freak, so for him to trust her judgement on how something would look, was practically an honor in itself.

"Use me however you see fit. I'm pretty helpful when it comes to things like this," he informed her.

"That was never in doubt," she responded.

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

To say the past few days had been hectic, was a very generous way of putting things.

This was what every single CP9 agent would tell whoever asked, barring Rob Lucci because he was still unconscious from his extensive injuries at the hands of Straw Hat Luffy.

To start things off, they had all lost their respective battles. Not a single one of them won.

To hear that even Lucci of all people, lost in one on one combat to the captain of the Straw Hats, put it in to perspective that they had grossly underestimated their opponents.

This was added on top of the fact that they had catastrophically failed their mission to secure the blueprints to Pluton. Due to their actions, the Straw Hat pirates had actually stormed Enies Lobby to get the Devil of Ohara back and in the process, they not only succeeded, they had completely decimated Enies Lobby and had murdered their boss, Spandam.

CP9 was aware of the warnings made against the Straw Hats... after all, two people with bounties of 100 million or more, led the crew and one of them had an undocumented Mythical Zoan... a class of fruits you rarely wanted to mess with unless you had intel.

But they had been arrogant. The idea that they could get Nico Robin and the blueprints of Pluton, had clouded their better judgement.

That was a severe mistake. The reports on the Red Devil undersold how monstrous he truly was because he hadn't even shown them everything.

To think that this entire time, they had been dealing with the Angel of Death. If they knew who Rosan truly was, they'd never even conceive the idea of going after him... because he had shown exactly why he got that bounty of 500 million.

Blueno dead. Spandam dead. Enies Lobby completely destroyed and every single agent defeated with heavy wounds to show for it by him and that monstrous crew.

Going back to the World Government and revealing they were alive, would end up in them getting sent to level 5 of Impel Down with no hesitation, where they'd likely be endlessly tortured for screwing up something so greatly.

They supposed it was a good thing they had allegedly been killed in the destruction of Enies Lobby…

Which brought them to the next situation.

The reason they were even alive, after losing their battles. They shouldn't be alive right now, considering Enies Lobby had gotten destroyed while they were still there.

All of them had been knocked unconscious when the attack struck… all except for Izumi, the Puppet. The person who they didn't know a single thing about.

Yes, not a single agent in CP9 knew a thing about Izumi. They didn't know her past, they didn't know her likes, her dislikes... in fact, the most they had ever seen from Izumi, was during this very mission.

They had no idea the puppet had even an ounce of care in her heart, to go out of her way to save them before Enies Lobby was destroyed, especially considering her own extensive injuries that she got from battling the Red Devil.

But they wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. Thanks to Izumi, they got another lease on living.

Well, all except Kumadori. According to the few short words of the rattled Izumi, she never found his body and prioritized getting off the island, so he was almost certainly dead.

They were all currently recuperating on a ship. They did not have the funds to get professional help for their wounds so that left healing the old fashioned way.

"Izumi, why exactly did you save us?" Kaku asked warily, gauging the woman facing away from them. She had scarcely spoken a word to them, just licking her own wounds and vanishing at times. Whenever they discussed, she played no part in it... her motives were completely unknown to them.

"We… or at least I, certainly appreciate the action, but for what reason did you do this?" The long nosed man asked.

Izumi, who had not spoken a word past the first day to any of them, stopped gazing out into the sea to regard the curious agents.

Kaku, Jabra, Kalifa, Fukurou and Nero gazed at her with varying reactions. Rob Lucci was currently unconscious in another room.

"How did you even escape from the Red Devil?" Jabra asked with a raised brow, nursing his battered body.

"We saw what he was capable of… not even Blueno was able to escape," Kalifa whispered. "Not to mention with his revealed identity... how did you manage to get away from him? You two... seem to have history with each other as well."

Kaku nodded, expression puzzled. "Not only did he target you specifically... you seemed to have done the same. Not only that, you didn't react in surprise when he revealed his identity as the Angel of Death... you reacted in fear and recognition."

Izumi inclined her head at that. It was expected for them to notice that. They were all highly trained assassins after all and her reaction had been on pure instinct.

She opened her mouth —

"Izumi wasn't a priority."

And promptly shut it as a cold voice washed over them all.

At once, every agent froze as two figures materialized on their deck like a terrible omen had finally arrived.

It didn't even take them a moment to identify them and because they recognized them, the CP9 agents realized just how terrible the situation had suddenly become for them.

The Angel of Death and Ohara's Devil stared at them both with chilly expressions. In particular, the retired bounty hunter looked as if he had been waiting for this moment for a while.

"CP9… you didn't think I was finished with you right?" Rosan muttered, watching them tense up with a look of trepidation. "You didn't think that after putting my Robin in such a situation, I'd let you guys get away scott free… right?"

Robin shuddered at that, gazing at her boyfriend with wide eyes.

"After all, you all know one of my most sacred secrets. Escape was never an option," the redhead whispered darkly.

Izumi shuddered too, hoping he didn't have the urge to renege on their agreement.

"To answer your question. I was going to retrieve you all before Enies Lobby was destroyed and then torture you to a brink of your life, every single day until I grew satisfied…"

The agents went cold at that, preparing themselves for a battle they probably weren't going to win.

The redhead tossed a head over to Izumi. "But she begged and begged and insisted that you all could be useful to me. So I thought, why the hell not against my better judgement…" he shrugged.

"You should be thanking Izumi. After all, if not for her, I'd be having far too much fun with you, that would only reaffirm my title as the Red Devil. You should have seen what I did to Spandam, that was fun," Rosan replied truthfully.

"He's lying to make me look good?" Izumi thought in shock, sweating in terror at the maniacal gleam in Rosan's eyes.

They had long since enacted their plan but she didn't actually think he would help her out…

Nero, showing his inexperience as a trained assassin, foolishly spoke up first.

"And how are we supposed to know you're being truthful —"

Squelch.

Every single agent bit their tongue, as Nero was suddenly hoisted up into the air, courtesy of Rosan spearing him through completely with a dreadfully intimidating scythe, that was nearly the size of his entire midsection.

Rosan's eyes were smoldering. Without any hesitation, they watched as he lit up the scythe with his terrifyingly familiar flames… all while it was still impaling the newest CP9 agent.

The results were instantaneous.

"ARGGHHHHH! P-PLEASE, I'M SORRY! I-I CHANGE MY MIND! I-I'LL JOIN! PLEASE SPARE ME!" Nero screeched in agony as the flames continued boiling his insides with no remorse.

His insides began boiling as Rosan slowly roasted him alive, taking his time in doing so and the assassin felt true terror, welling in the form of tears, at the sight of those dreadful dual eyes, glowing in the dark of the night.

In that moment, Rosan truly did look like a demon.

"I have no desire to compromise with any of you so I won't. This goes against what I desired doing in the first place so if you give me any reason to do what I planned on doing in the first place, I will gladly take you up on that offer and it won't be as merciful as this one right here. Just say the word. Please. I'm begging you to protest my mercy," Rosan said quietly, not loosening his grip on that scythe for even a second.

No one said anything for a long while, just allowing Nero's screams to ring through the air until they slowly but surely (it still took too long) wore out into a tiny whimper... and then the man's body went limp.

H-He considered this merciful?

"If we join you… you won't torture us?" Kalifa asked hesitantly, shaking in place as Rosan mercilessly let Nero slide off of his scythe with a sickening noise, into the ocean.

"Unfortunately," he replied truthfully, flicking the blood off the weapon and onto them with no remorse. "That was your only question by the way. The next thing that's going to come out of your mouth is either agreeing to work for me, or screaming."

The female agent shuddered in terror as the blood of Nero splattered on her features, nodding tightly and moving over to the neutral faced Izumi.

"I'll join you. T-Thank you for the chance," she said hastily, thankful that Izumi had plead their case. Who knows what would have happened if she didn't do so?

If she had been tortured for the rest of her life by this redhead… she shuddered just thinking about it.

The other agents gazed at Kalifa in cleer shock, stunned by how easily she had agreed to his, frankly psychotic, terms.

Just like that? Did the Angel of Death leave that much of an impact on her…?

Right… after everything she had seen, it was no wonder she didn't want to be tortured by him. She had seen him brutalize Blueno, transform into a dragon, incinerate a massive part of Enies Lobby… and impale Nero just now.

Rosan sneered at her. "What a pity, I was really hoping you said no, secretary. You were one of the ones on Water 7 after all. Spoiling my fun is not cool."

She seized up at that and ducked behind the stone faced Izumi who had yet to say a word.

Izumi was too afraid to speak up in risk of upsetting him or messing up the plan. She already did her part after all… best to just listen to him.

Robin suddenly perked up, catching their attention, and she tugged Rosan's sleeve, pointing in a direction.

Footsteps alerted them all to the presence not yet accounted for and the CP9 agents felt slightly hopeful and fearful, at seeing Rob Lucci himself appear.

The injured agent had bandages all over, not even close to being fully healed, yet he gazed at them all with a neutral expression on his face, before landing on both Robin and Rosan.

Fukurou recovered quickly. Unable to resist due to his nature, he opened his mouth. "Chapapa! Lucci's awake now —"

Before he could even finish his sentence, a finger lodged itself into his stomach faster then he could react. Blood spurted from the bullet sized hole and Fukurou gasped in disbelief.

Every other agents eyes were wide in disbelief at the sight before them.

Why?

Because it was Rob Lucci himself who had plunged the finger into Fukurou's chest.

The injured leopard man wiped his bloodied finger. "I have no interest in fighting with you weaklings against Izumi, Nico Robin and The Red Devil. I have even less interest in losing that battle and being tortured for the rest of my life."

Kaku and Jabra couldn't keep the shock off their faces, as Rob Lucci of all people sided with the Red Devil over them.

It's not as if he was loyal to them… but he followed his own set of justice that should conflict with the Red Devil's… right? He believed that anything that went against the World Government was evil… and the Red Devil was the epitome of that?

So why? What was the purpose of this?

Rosan's expression didn't even shift, as Rob Lucci moved over to Izumi's side. It's almost like he expected this to happen.

Fukurou didn't have any time to react, as a scaly and gigantic tail swiftly wrapped around his entire frame multiple times.

Then, like a Boa constrictor he began to squeeze the man's body with soul crushing force.

"I don't know who you are either so torturing you for a prolonged period of time wouldn't be that satisfying," Rosan remarked, listening to the sounds of bones creaking.

Everyone winced back as Fukurou let out a shriek of agony, as the spikes on Rosan's tails dug into him, causing blood to begin leaking from every direction.

"I don't know you either, mutt," he said quietly, gazing at Jabra. "You haven't answered yet. Stop wasting my time. I'm giving you 30 more seconds to make a decision."

Jabra should have snarled at being called a mutt… but as someone who had eaten a Zoan, he already understood that what he was gazing at was someone higher on the food chain than him.

If his fellow carnivorous Zoan, Lucci, submitted, going against this apex predator was not in his best interests.

"I'll join," he said shortly, doing his best to hide how nervous he was.

"Who's a good boy?" Rosan mocked, scoffing at the man with a condescending look.

"P-Please… I'll join you! I c-can't help but speak out," Fukurou rasped in terror, clutching the serrated tail and wailing as it dug deeper into him as response.

"If you can't help but speak, then I'd have killed you anyways. I have quite a bit of important secrets, you know?" Rosan informed him blandly. As if making his point, he tightened his tail once more with a blank look.

The agents watched in horror, as blood began pouring from their ally's crevices and they realized that this monster held their fates in his hand.

Fukurou tried to scream but found that he couldn't because Rosan was completely crushing every part of his body. He opened his mouth and let out a sickly amount of blood, before the redhead finally decided to end his suffering.

None said anything, but they felt true fear as Rosan completely incinerated the body by lighting his tail on fire.

Not even bones remained... not even the blood that was on his tail was there, evaporated by the superheated temperatures.

"Honestly, after getting my hands on Spandam, I feel pretty damn good… but I'd really have liked if one of the infiltrators on Water 7 said no, after all, you played a hand in manipulating Robin. You dared to order her around, you made her betray me…"

Robin shuddered as a wave of pure hatred crashed into everyone there, Rosan's eyes turning livid as he bared his fangs at them all.

Fire began pouring from his mouth as the anger overwhelmed him immediately.

Those blazing eyes locked onto each and every one of them and Rosan opened his mouth.

Only for a set of hands to shut them right up.

"Relax, Rosan. Please. It's okay," Robin requested gently, frowning at the great surge of rage from the redhead.

None could hide the relief at seeing their lives get saved by the Devil Child. If not for her, they'd probably get sunk by the clearly unstable redhead.

"..." Rosan grit his teeth and let out a deep breath, cancelling Ragnarok so that he could make an attempt to stifle his anger.

Trying to stifle it while the draconic genes were dominating him, was practically impossible.

He finally locked his cruel gaze onto Kaku and sneered. "Could you say no? Accommodate me so I can work this off?" He asked bluntly.

"H-He's terrifying," Izumi thought with a shudder. She had completely set up the agents and now Kalifa was clutching her like she saved them.

W-Well, technically she did?

Perhaps, this wasn't the best of ideas... The redhead looked even more unstable then before and it was clear he couldn't control his rage, considering he had just been about to kill them all.

Kaku couldn't withhold the shudder.

"I should have just stayed on Water 7 as a foreman…" he thought to himself.

"I'll join," he said eventually.

Rosan sighed in actual disappointment.

"Some loyalty you have. Guess the Government didn't keep their dogs satisfied enough. Don't even have enough pride to die following them," he shrugged.

"Well whatever. From now on you take orders from me. Since you know so much about the World Government, you'll keep tabs on them for me. You should know how they operate... in fact, getting back into their good graces isn't a bad idea," he ordered.

G-Good graces?! Was he insane?! How would that even work?

Of course, the idea of protesting out loud didn't once cross anyone's mind. The screams of Nero and Fukurou were still firmly embedded in their minds and it was not lost to them that the one in charge of them was a tyrant.

"And I probably don't have to say this, but don't try and reveal my secrets," Rosan said suddenly. "You can try. I'd welcome one of you to, but you won't even get a peep out before things get bad for you. And they will get bad for you. Feel free to test it out at any time, you can even write a note but it won't matter because I've already infected all of you."

They shuddered at that word.

Infected.

Did... did the thing that happened to Blueno... did he somehow already get them?

"Good. I'm glad you understand. Don't piss me off more than I already am, I only really need one reason. If you find those conditions unfair, I don't care," Rosan grunted, staring a hole into Kalifa.

The blonde wilted in terror as those eyes peered through her.

Finally, Rosan snorted. "Izumi," he said blandly, inclining his head.

Izumi nodded shortly, following after the redhead and Robin until they entered an isolated room that he further fortified.

"I can't believe that plan worked so thoroughly," the woman sighed, neutral expression melting away as she ducked her head to avoid looking at Rosan.

"My plans never fail," he retorted calmly. "You are in charge of Rob Lucci. His job is to protect you with his presence. No one will try to attack him but he is insurance for you. Oh and I wasn't kidding. If any of you try to speak about me, you will suffer until you die and they will never know my secrets," he said warningly.

"It was quite an ingenious plan… they don't realize they've been thoroughly played," Robin muttered.

The plan in question, had taken place long before Rosan had "officially" appeared on board.

No, Rosan had been on board for a very long time already. He had just been cloaked by Izumi's illusions.

With her guidance, she had sent him off to where she kept Rob Lucci unconscious on purpose and the redhead had Overhauled him, making the vulnerable assassin loyal to Rosan.

It was actually exceedingly difficult to do and unlike others who he had Overhauled, it had partially failed with the man. Rob Lucci was firmly set in his ways and that made rewiring his mind hard.

So Rosan used his beliefs against him. Izumi had been vital here by informing him about all she knew of Rob Lucci, who she seemed to despise quite a bit.

Rob Lucci had a belief that weakness was a sin and was extremely violent to boot. With the knowledge that he was no doubt going to be labeled an outlaw for failing his mission, he would no longer be allowed to legally kill.

No, instead he'd be imprisoned in a cell without anyway to sate his bloodthirsty urges.

Rosan took full advantage of the desire to avoid that. As far as Lucci was concerned, Rosan was his ticket to continue being able to exercise his violent nature or else Rosan would exercise his violent nature onto him by torturing him every day until he was bored.

It was a different kind of overhaul, one that didn't fully take over a person's mind but it would serve him fine enough because at the end of the day, Lucci was prideful and arrogant.

Izumi didn't know how he had done it, but she would never forget how Rosan so ruthlessly took control of her body. If he claimed to be able to take over the mind, she wouldn't doubt it and Lucci's showing had solidified that.

"There. In exchange for being my loyal little servant, you have the living agents loyalty," Rosan grunted.

"I doubt we'll be supervising you much, so please take this chance to find your own reasons to live," Robin offered politely, gazing at the woman with scrutinizing eyes. "Though, I do have to ask... did you truly plan on preventing my death?"

Izumi flinched and gazed fearfully at Rosan, who merely inclined his head.

Seeing the state of the woman now… made her feel a tad sympathetic.

Rosan clearly noticed it and raised a brow at her, but said nothing.

"I-I did... I just wanted to... use you as a way to get to Rosan. Um, I really don't think you are as evil as the world makes you out to be.. so I was going to save you and summon the Buster Call before escaping," she revealed.

"A truth," Rosan informed her.

Robin gazed at the woman with a scrutinizing gaze, before simply nodding.

"We've supplied you with some money to do what you need to do. What you choose to do is up to you, but ensure you keep track of the Government's movements."

Izumi bowed. "R-Right… Is there anything else?"

Rosan tilted his head. "Yeah actually. I want you to search for Blueno's Devil Fruit. If you find it, inform me. Other then that, I'll call you if I want you to do something."

She shuddered and nodded. Before turning to leave she bowed to both of them.

"U-Uh, I'm sorry for everything I did… to the both of you… I promise I won't be a threat to either of you again."

"Apology not accepted. You must be out of your mind," Rosan scoffed. "Fuck off. I really don't need or want it."

She flinched back harshly and Robin shot him a look.

"Why the hell should I accept her fucking apology?" He barked in their connection.

"You don't have to accept it… but at least acknowledge her efforts."

He turned his sneer towards Robin for a second and she rolled her eyes.

"I won't hold a grudge against you. You've been torturing yourself for 12 years now so just focus on anything but my boyfriend please," Robin said politely, gripping Rosan's arm.

Izumi nodded hastily. "I-I won't even think about it! I'll take your advice and look for something, maybe… I don't really know…" The woman sounded lost as she spoke.

"…" Rosan offered her no sympathy. "We're leaving, Robin. It's late and I'm tired."

Robin sighed and held onto his arm. "You should spend the time finding a purpose, Izumi. It's a good first step."

The woman didn't look any less troubled. "I'll… try. I'm sorry again for what I did," she murmured.

Rosan truly did always find the best woman… they were all so kind…

The redhead offered her no parting words and the two quickly vanished.

"Wanna make out before we sleep?"

"I'm not even sure what response to muster for that. I just feel exasperated."

"…"

"…"

"Yes, I do. Stop laughing at me."

"I'm turning the connection off. You guys just come inside the mindscape when you're finished."

"You two are gross."

It was now fully occurring to Robin that she was in a relationship with a redhead that had two other conscious in his head… and they happened to be the twos mother and daughter respectively.

She sighed.

Only Rosan. Why did she fall in love with the most complicated person out there?

Wait a minute...

"Mod-chan, if you knew Rosan was in love with me, why didn't you tell me when I confided with you?"Robin asked suddenly. "That would have solved so many issues!"

Mod blinked. "Because you confided in with me first. At that point, I wasn't sure Rosan was in love with you and you also told me not to tell him," she explained rationally.

Rosan blinked, a flash of confusion crossing his features as they entered their room in the ship.

"Wait, Robin told you she was in love with me? And you didn't think to tell me when I was telling you I was in love with her?" He asked incredulously.

The Devil Fruit balked. Were they seriously doing this right now?

"You both told me the exact same things! You said neither of you are ready for a relationship and wanted to wait for the castle! Also I even tried to give you hints and both you told me that you would be able to tell if the other had feelings for you!" She raged.

The duo blinked at that.

"Damn, we're more in sync then I thought," Rosan mused. "We said the exact same things?"

"Practically word for word!"

Robin hummed at that. "We're also rather oblivious," she noted.

Mod grinned victoriously.

"Yeah we are... that's why Mod-chan should have told us. Weren't you trying to get us together? Seriously, we practically handed it to you on a silver platter and we still handled it alone," Rosan sighed. "Unbelievable. I'm beginning to think Mod-chan is woefully inexperienced to anything besides torturing me with her teaching."

Mod let out a strangled yell.

"I HATE YOU! I REALLY HATE YOU! GOOD NIGHT AND IF YOU KNOW WHAT'S GOOD FOR YOU, YOU WON'T COME IN HERE!" Mod scowled, cutting the connection.

"She's upset. You might be in danger," Robin pointed out with an amused smile.

"Nah, she's fine... right, Mod-chan?" Rosan chimed.

...

"Mod-chan?"

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

Cold, boring and nothing to do... sounded like a typical day for him.

But did it really have to be this boring? How long had he even been here? Probably a lot of years now.

He had always been pretty reckless, looks like it finally bit him in the ass. Attacking Garp after that war against Raisa, was probably not the smartest thing he had done.

Yeah... it was really stupid. Honestly, he hadn't expected Raisa to have become such a monster in just two years but she did used to always brag about how no one was like her.

He missed talking to Raisa. The cocky and brash redhead had offered him a brief respite from that boiling rage inside of him and she had been a good friend.

"Why...? Why would you do this... didn't our bond mean anything to you? How could you hurt me like this? I... I trusted you."

He wondered how she was faring these days. His old friend was very emotional and despite the airs she put up, she didn't have as good of a grasp on them as she claimed to.

But those emotions were a wonder... and it made him wonder If Raisa did get pregnant, how was his kid doing...

Were they a boy or a girl? He didn't really care about the gender so he wasn't partial to anything.

Did Raisa kill em? Probably. It went against her nature but the way she had been looking at him... The sheer hate in her eyes as reality of the situation struck, was not one he had seen before.

Guess she was right about him, that deep seated rage in his heart would cause him nothing but trouble.

In the end, this rage didn't really get him a damn thing but time in prison and probably a kid.

He knew Raisa, she didn't have it in her to kill her own family. If she did get pregnant, she probably went through and gave birth to the child.

What she did after? He had no clue but He was sure his kid was... probably out there.

He wondered how they were faring.

Probably fairly well. Raisa was a real beauty and she once admitted that Cutter was handsome in a rough kind of way.

Not to mention, the whole part where Raisa was a queen. Their kid should be living a good life and if they got even half the things from either of their parents, they'd be a force.

He wanted to meet them. Of course he wanted to see his child... though, they probably weren't a child anymore were they?

How long had he been in here again? Impel Down wasn't really good at telling you about time.

Rocks D. Cutter sighed and looked at his chains in indifference.

He hated being restrained but the years had numbed him to it so there was that.

If only he had exercised a bit of caution after his brawl with Raisa. He could have easily gone back into hiding to continue training with his new Devil Fruit but instead, he heard signs that the son of a bitch Garp was coming after him and met it head on.

Not smart. The injuries had been slowing him down tremendously and he couldn't even really get going.

Cue, being captured and slammed into Impel Down for who knows how long.

Lame, he didn't even get to train his new ability all that much.

Now he was here in this dungeon, chained to a wall in a prison.

Cutter sighed again.

If he ever broke out, he was going to destroy Impel Down and everyone in it, then he'd go searching for his kid.

He wanted to meet the product of him and Raisa, that person was bound to be interesting.