Chapter 69: I’m sure there is a dirty joke to make somewhere

“Did I do something wrong?”

Rayleigh asked as everybody watched Rick leave the place. It was Nami that answered him, her eyes not leaving the way Rick left.

“You just rubbed in his face his broken dream, so kinda.”
“Oh! I didn’t…”
“It’s fine, Robin and I will cheer him up.” she declared before following Robin out the door, on their lover’s tail.

Both ladies find their person of interest not far from the bar actually. Their vice-captain was near the shore sitting on the ground looking at the horizon. They wanted to sit by his side but decided against it and just stood a few feet behind him when he spoke without averting his gaze towards them.

“I’m…” Rick began but stopped. It was okay for him to lie to them about everything related to his mission but when it was about him it wasn’t. That’s why he stopped himself; he couldn’t say he was fine when he clearly wasn’t.

“I’m… not … okay.” the ex-marine finally let out.
“We know.” said Robin.
“That… wasn’t what I meant. I mean sure, seeing my very first marine cap again after almost twenty years… Well that hurt right in the childhood. With the impossibility of being Fleet Admiral and all. But that wasn’t… what… makes me not… okay. You see… whether I had stayed in the marines or not I wouldn’t have had the job because I’m…”
“Dying; we know.” said Nami.

Rick spinned his head around so fast that it’s a miracle he didn’t have a whiplash. He looked at them in surprise.

“How?” was all he asked.
“Among the pirates crew on Thriller Bark, two of them weren’t knocked out by Kuma’s attack. They saw what happened.” explained Robin.
“Great… so everyone knows I take it?”
“No. Only us two and Zoro and Sanji.” said Robin
“The two pirates tried to tell everyone what you did, but our two idiots, for once, did something smart, and shut them up before taking them to a secluded place and made them spill the beans.” added Nami.
“I found this suspicious so I bloomed an ear on one of them and heard everything.”
“For my part, when I saw Robin cry and leave in a hurry outside, I knew something was wrong so I followed her and she told me.”

Rick looked down in shame and before he could apologize, Robin was already sitting by his side, gently taking his face in her face and kissing him lovingly.

“That’s okay, we understand why you didn’t say anything. Honestly I’m just glad you just didn’t drop me to spare my feelings.” she declared.
“Nor mine, for that matter.” said Nami, now sitting on his other side and kissing him too.
“You would have been hurt either way… I… I just thought it would be better to spend the remaining time happy than sad or angry.”

“Are you really sure? About the time you have. I mean Chopper didn’t find anything wrong with you except your healing factor which is almost normal now.” asked Robin.
“Yes, I… can feel it. And if I had to guess, I’d say it’s because of me eating a second devil fruit and surviving. That shouldn’t have happened, that’s against nature, so maybe nature is correcting itself?”
“It doesn’t matter to me how or why. I intend to spend all our remaining time together happy. And sexualy satisfied.” announced Nami in a joking way.

That made both her friends smile, before Rick’s turn into a mischievous grin. Now, Robin knows that grin well, it is the one her lover has when he’s about to tease or prank someone. When she saw him reach inside his overcoat and pull out a shopping bag, she knew what she was about to do and grinned as well. She quickly got up and sat back behind Nami, taking her in a very tight embrace before Rick spoke again.

“I’m glad you think that way, because I …” he started but was cut off by a meaningful fake cough from Robin who looked at him intently.
“I mean, because we bought you something.”

Without waiting for an answer from the redhead, he brought out a small box from the bag and handed it to her. Nami looked at him suspiciously but took and opened it. When she saw the collar, her jaw dropped low. Robin didn’t waste any time and, while raising her hands to firmly grasp Nami’s breasts, whispered into her ear.

“Since you belong to us it’s natural that you wear something showing to everyone that you’re spoken for.”

She then went on kissing her behind the ear down her neck towards her shoulder, when Nami snapped out of it and tried, with no success, to get away from Robin’s grasp.

“A collar? Really, a freaking collar?” she asked, a bit outraged among other emotions.
“Well, you are the cat burglar Nami. So I thought it was fitting perfectly with your moniker. It was a good joke too…” Rick answered with a smile.
“I… I don’t know what to think about it. I’m both mad, happy, scared and a bunch of other emotional states at the same time.”

Robin didn’t stop her ministrations and bloomed hands that took the collar out of Nami’s hands before putting and locking it on her Neck.

“Just don’t think about it my little kitty and let us take care of you. After all, you purr the most when I treat you like my little pet.” declared Robin
“That you do.” added Rick, driving the point further home.

The navigator’s face was now very, very red. She was unable to say anything. She just put her hand on her collar, tracing the letters softly with her fingers and finally smiled shyly.
“That’s not all we got you though.” announced Rick.
“It..it’s not?” asked Nami in a shaking voice. She was both dreading and waiting with excitement what they were about to give her after this first gift.
“Nope.”
“You see on Thriller Bark when Rick was separated from you after your bath episode; he stumbled upon the treasure room and cleaned it out.”
“Wait, the gold and jewels on the Sunny was your doing?” asked Nami.
“Of course it was. Anyway, among everything I found two devil fruits.”
“Wait two? You said one!” interjected Robin.
“No, I didn’t. I said I found a devil fruit for Nami, not one fruit. Back to the topic, one of them is the Tenki Tenki no mi, the weather fruit. It makes the person who eats it into a weather man or woman, giving them the power to control the weather. The sea? The sky? The winds? At that person mercy and whims.” announced Rick to a dumbfounded Nami.
“And you’re giving such a powerful devil fruit… to me?” asked Nami in total bewilderment.

“Of course. You’re our navigator after all. Besides, it will help you a lot with your clima-tact if you have to fight. Heck you may wipe the floor with the likes of Ener easily.” said Rick while he brought the fruit from his overcoat and put it in Nami’s hands.
“I.. don’t know what to think. Again.”
“It’s okay, it’s a big decision, so take your time. There is no need to rush.”

Nami just grabbed him and kissed him deeply before pulling back as Robin just pinched her nipples to get her attention. She turned her head to the side and kissed her other lover deeply too.

Before it could escalate quickly the three of them separated and went back inside the bar, where Rayleigh was talking about his time with Gol D Roger. How they met, how they started their journey, their battles against the marines and other renown pirates.

“Why did Roger let go of Shiki?” ask Rick.
“Shiki?” wondered Luffy out loud.
“Shiki the golden lion, one of the most infamous pirates during the pirake King era. It was said he had the greatest pirate fleet ever seen.” explained Robin to her captain to his awe.
“You seem well informed.” said Rayleigh before adding a few more words.
“As for why Roger didn’t get rid of Shiki… Well he wasn’t really worth it.”
“So I spent weeks in the hospital because Roger was too lazy to put the bastard down? Great.” the ex-marine muttered sarcastically.
“Oh right, you fought him not long after Roger’s death.” said Rayleigh.
“Nah. Sengoku Garp, and Tsuru did. I was just bringing support with my gravity. I almost died.”
“That story sounds familiar.” said Usopp.
“I hope so, I told it when we were on our way to kick Crocodile’s ass in Alabasta.”
“Wait, that was true?!” exclaimed Sanji.
“Yeah. None of you believed it though. Actually, none of you really believe any of my stories, now that I think about it.”
“Well to our defense, you said you were seven at the time! That’s not really believable.” Usopp chimed in.
“I never lied a single time about any tales I told you, you know.” declared Rick with a pout.

It was then that Robin asked the Dark King a very important question. What was the will of D.
“Was it what allowed Roger to leave his message on Skypiea?”
“What message?” asked Luffy.
“On skypiea Robin and I found Poneglyphs on the altar of the golden bell. Next to it was another message with Roger’s name on it.” explained Rick.
“Oh you travelled to skypiea? Impressive, very few reach Sky islands and even less get back to the blue sea. As for the message… No, Roger couldn’t read or write in that language but he could hear the voices of all things in the world.”
“... How did he leave that message then?” asked Rick.
“Well, we had with us someone who could carve the indestructible material that made the poneglyphs and someone who could read and write the language.” Rayleigh explained looking warmly at Robin.
“You look just like her. Except the hair.”

That sentence left everyone confused. But Rick and especially Robin knew what Rayleigh was talking about.
‘Holy shit!’ realizing the implications behind the words.
“My..  My mother sailed with you?” asked Robin with a shaking voice.
“That she did. For a few years before the crew disbanded. She was one tough lady for sure, but also really sweet. She was the only one who could beat any kind of sense into Roger.”
“Like mother, like daughter.” whispered Rick before behind love-slapped on the head by a bloomed hand, prompting Rayleigh to laugh out of nostalgia.
“Yes that’s about how it went between the two of them.” he said, making Robin blush out of embarrassment.
“I’m deeply sorry about what happened to her and Ohara. They deserved better. Did she reach you before…”
“She did. Briefly, but she did.” answered Robin in a sad voice.
“Then she fulfilled her dream, I’m glad.”
“Her dream?”
“Getting back to you.” said Rayliegh with a smile.
“I thought her dream was to find the missing… She found it ?!”
“That we did. Do you want to hear it?”
“No thanks.” Rick interjected, making Robin’s brow rose.
“Why not?” asked Usopp.
“For the same reasons Luffy is not asking him where the One Piece is or if it even exists.” replied the ex-marine to a confused Usopp.
“I don’t want to go on an adventure that isn’t fun.” declared Luffy.
“There you have it.” added Rick to Usopp while winking discreetly to Robin, before adding a few more words.
“It’s not so much about the destination but more about the journey.”

Rayleigh smiled at that statement then turned to Luffy.

“Do you think you can do it? The new world far surpasses even your wildest imagination. The enemies there will be strong and numerous. Do you think you could conquer such powerful oceans?”
“I’m not going to conquer anything. I just want to be the freest man in the world, and that’s the pirate king!!!” the straw hat declared with a big smile.

Rayleigh didn’t say anything but seemed really pleased with that answer. So much that he accepted to coat the sunny. The problem was that it would take at least three days and with an admiral on the way to the archipelago they would have to lay low and separate. Thankfully Shaki made them a vivre card, so they could reunite at the right time. Before leaving Robin had asked him about her mother as she never really knew her and was too young to remember much before she left  her on Ohara. She was pleased about what she learned and thanked the Dark King. Before leaving she told him that Olvia was buried on Ohara thanks to Rick and that if he wanted to visit her he would have to find a way to the island as the only eternal pose leading to it was in her possession and log poses didn’t seem to direct there.

The good mood the crew was in didn’t last long though as they were attacked along the way by a copy of Kuma. Giving everything they had they defeated him but their victory left them exhausted. Too bad for them  Kizaru decided to show up flanked by his nephew Sentomaru and another Kuma replica. The appearance of Rayleigh taking care of fighting Kizaru was a godsend but was not enough. The crew had no choice but to split.

Sadly it was useless as the lone Kuma replica was more than enough to deal with them which was soon joined by the real one. One by one Kuma made them disappear until he reached Rick.

“I am surprised you’re still alive. I was sure that your captain’s pain would have killed you.”
“You need to try a little harder than that to kill me. I’m way too stubborn to let go of the little bit of time I have left.”
“... Perhaps there is some hope for you left then.”

Without another word, Kuma swung his arm and Rick disappeared.