Chapter 98: I, Wal D Rick, have a dream

Rick didn’t miss any time and flew towards the explosion’s provenance. From high in the sky he saw a small fleet of ships; way too far for his gravity or his sprouts to reach he let himself fall. The ships belonged to the beasts pirates, the crew of the emperor Kaidou himself. They were firing everything they could at one of Zunesha’s hind legs and were doing serious damage. At this rate the gigantic elephant would fall and be at their mercy.

Arriving in range he didn’t waste a moment to act, sprouting arms on all the ships’ deck, allowing him to finally use his gravity. Focusing on the masts and the floor around, the gravity broke the wood, making a huge hole through the deck and all the other levels of the ships below, reaching the sea. Quickly the pirates' ships all sank, and as Rick looked at his work he didn’t saw Zunesha’s trunk coming his way from the side.

~~~~~


“Oh no!” exclaimed Momonuske.
“What is it?” asked Kin’emon
“Z-Zunesha fought back as ordered by swinging his trunk but… Rick was faster and sank the fleet; he didn't see it coming from the side!” explained the panicked child.
““““.....””””

The crew was quiet for a moment but each went back to do what they were doing before the attack as if nothing happened to the confusion of everyone present.

“You… you’re not worried about Sir Rick?” asked Kin’emon.
“Not really.” replied Zoro, raising a pint of alcohol to his mouth.
“I mean, if it was anyone else…” began Usopp.
“They’d probably be dead! Yohohoho!!”
“But Rick wouldn’t!” Chopper said.

Hearing her friends talking about her husband made Robin laugh sweetly. She had faith too, that he was safe and sound. She was right to as he landed next to her. One notable difference was that his pants were now shorts and he had his legs right out in the open.

“One of these days, I’m going to kick that elephant's ass.” he grumbled as he embraced Robin from behind.”
“See? Not a scratch.” Luffy pointed out.
“Not a scratch, not a scratch. I barely dodged! The hit took my legs, and sent me down towards the sea! Had I been slower I would have drowned!”
“But you didn’t.” replied Zoro.
“... Your worry is touching guys.” said Rick with a deadpan face and a sarcastic tone.
“We’re friends, that's normal!” exclaimed Chopper, missing the sarcasm.

Rick was speechless. He couldn’t give a retort back to Chopper’s genuine enthusiasm so he searched for his wife confort.

“I-I can’t. Not Chopper.”
“It’s alright, let it go.” she replied.
“... You were not worried either.” he stated.
“...”
“Even my wife is not worried about me…” he whined while pouting, amusing Robin.
“Well if it’s like that I'm going to take a nap.” he declared and started walking towards the housing the minks had prepared for the crew.
“You can’t, you need to bring me to the poneglyph.”

Rick stopped in his tracks then looked up at the clear blue sky. He took a deep breath and let out a long sigh.

“Why couldn’t I fall in love with a normal girl?” Rick lamented as he dropped his head to look at the ground. Robin got closer and embraced him.
“They’re not as smart, not as pretty and most of all they certainly can’t handle you.” she whispered in his ear.
“...”
“And they don’t have the best ass in the world.”
“The ass, that was definitely the ass, that evil culprit.” he mumbled making her smirk
“Carry me?” she asked.

Rick didn’t reply, he just turned around and took her in his arms.

“I knew you liked it back on Skypiea.”
“Perhaps” was the cryptic answer Robin gave him with a knowing smile.

~~~~~

When the married couple came back they stumbled on a conversation about the plan to take down Kaidou. As Oden also sailed with Whitebeard it was possible they could get the help of the Whitebeard pirates. However what made it difficult was that no one knew where they were and even if someone did their forces had diminished a lot since Ace took the lead. Not only some left the crew to do their own things but the rest of the fleet was continuously destroyed bit by bit by the alleged real son of Whitebeard who was currently working for the government as a shichibukai. The talk changed, when Luffy announced that he needed to get Sanji back first to the displeasure of the minks and samurai part of the alliance.

“Do you expect to show up on Wano and immediately take Kaidou down? Because if that’s the case you can all commit seppuku right now for your stupidity. At least that way you won’t be confronted with the failure of your plan.” Rick said.
“What do you mean sir Rick?” asked Kin’emon.
“From what I understand. Kaidou has been ruling your country for the past twenty years. He must have agents everywhere so if you want your rebellion to succeed you’ll have to prepare a lot. Weapons, soldiers, underground network for information, supply and communication. You’ll need all that to take Kaidou down and that… takes time.”
“That would take months!” replied Kanjuro.
“Exactly, so there is no problem with us going for our crewmate.”
“You would let my people suffer?!” asked Momonosuke.
“The people of Wano have been enduring for twenty years already. What’s a few months more if it gives them a better opportunity for their freedom?” he said before adding.
“And two decades is a lot of time for a country to change. You may not recognize it anymore.”

That made the samurai’s side pale.

“How…” began Kin’emon.
“Do I know you’re from twenty years into the past?”
“What? Rick, what are you talking about?” Usopp asked.
“They are not from our time.” insisted Rick.
“That’s not possi…” began Nami before being proven wrong by Kin’emon.
“It’s true. I don’t understand how you found out though.”
“““““What?!”””””
“Lord Momonosuke, Kanjuro, Raizo, a friend of ours and myself made a twenty years jump into the future, arriving in this time.”
“But how?” asked Nami.
“My guess is a devil fruit. And as for how I got to this conclusion Kin’emon, I just listened. You said Oden sailed a few years with Whitebeard and Roger, that was a bit more than twenty years ago. I also know that Wano has been Kaidou’s base of operation from around the same period of time. The first thing Kaidou would have done is to get rid of the people in power, which he did. Now… If Oden has been dead for twenty years, how come Momonosuke, who is eight years old, can be his son?”
“There is no way it’s possible.” answered Usopp.
“Correct. Momonosuke is clearly his son though, otherwise no one here would serve him. The only explanation left for this time problem is time travel.”
“That would explain why none of you seemed to have aged much.” said Nekomamushi.
“You’re correct sir Rick…Lady Toki, lord Momonosuke’s mother had the Toki Toki ability. She could send herself or other people forward into the future. When lord Oden died, the usurper, Koizumi Orochi, sent his men to kill the rest of the Kozuki clan. While the Kozuki castle was burning, to save lord Momonosuke’s life and give Wano a chance to freedom she used her ability to send us in this time. Your advice is sound. For us it may have been only a few months, but for Wano it has been decades. We didn’t take that into consideration while making the plan. We will revise it, thank you.”
“Meh it’s alright. We’re friends, that’s what friends do.”
“Can we go get Sanji now?” asked Luffy impatiently.
“Yes. But we can’t all come.”
“Why?”
“Because we’re infiltrating Big Mom’s territory. The smaller the group the greater chances of success.”
“I want to go!” Chopper said.
““Me too!”” replied Nami and Brook.
“I somewhat feel responsible for Sanji's departure.” explained the red head as Chopper and Brook nodded in agreement.
“A group of five is perfect for an operation like that.”
“Five?” asked the reindeer.
“I’m going too. Besides Nami, I’m the only one with experience in sneaking. And both my gravity and sprouts would help a lot to escape the place.”
“Escape? You’re talking as if the group would get caught.” noted Usopp.
“Caught? Usopp I’m 100% sure Luffy will somehow start a war with Big Mom.”
“Hey! I can be sneaky when I want to!” protested the strawhat captain.
““““...”””””

The talk went on a bit longer and the group composed of Luffy, Nami, Chopper, Rick and Brook began their preparations for the journey as time was of the essence. The ex-marine didn’t have much to pack so instead he spent his time with his wife. They had taken a short stroll in the forest and were currently resting against a tree with Robin sitting in his lap.

“Be careful.”
“Oh, now you’re worried?” he joked.
“I’m serious! This is Big Mom we’re talking about, one of the emperors, in her territory with her entire crew.”
“I will be fine.”
“Just… Just come back to me with the others.”
“I… don’t think I will be able to do that.”
“Why?” asked Robin, raising her head for his chest to look at him with eyes full of worry.
“The reverie will happen soon. It may be my only chance to meet Grandpa and ask him the location of my daughter. I will have to separate from the crew for a bit again.”
“...”
“...”
“Will you marry her?” Robin said out of the blue.
“What?!” was the only answer Rick could give as he was confused.
“Your ex. Back on Water Seven you said you would keep your promise to marry her if you ever saw her again.”
“...”
“Do you still love her?”
“I do, she’s the only one who has never let me down back then. I can’t, in turn, let her down.
“I see.” Robin replied, looking down.
“But I will.” the effect was instantaneous, she raised her head back up, trying to have a glimpse of a lie in his eyes.
“Kaza is overly affectionate, overly possessive and overly obsessed. She will probably ask me to leave you and that, I can’t do it. I might cheat death, take on the whole world alone but leave you? No. No matter what.” He confessed before kissing her on her forehead.
“Even if it means not being a part of your daughter's life?”
“Yes.” Rick answered without an ounce of hesitation.

Robin has been worried. Rick was not one to break his promises. In fact she never saw him do it even once. She knew that for him, his word was important. So she worried that Kaza would use her daughter to take Rick away from her. While she had admitted that she wasn’t afraid of losing him to another woman, it wasn’t entirely true. Kaza's existence still made her afraid, and with a daughter in the mix she was more than uneasy. She still had faith in him, but with the doubt it was very hard to do so. To hear him confess that he would break his promise and renounce to know her his own child for her, made her worries disappear. She knew now, without a shadow of a doubt that no matter what happens, they will be together and will live on O’hara. What she felt now though, was guilt. Because of her, he may not have any contact with his eldest.

“Are you sure?”
“Yes, because… I have a dream now and I intend to make it a reality.”

That was new. Rick’s dream had been to one day become Fleet Admiral of the navy but it was just a pipe dream now. For the last twelve years he has been dreamless, that was even why he joined the crew, to find a new dream. And now he had one?

“What is it?” she asked, curious.
“You.”
“Me?”
“You are my dream. You’re the only one who can give me everything I need. Despite the others, despite how much I may love them, you’re the only one I’m in love with. I could endure their loss but I could never endure yours because the only one who can truly make me happy and at peace; the only one I could trust blindly with everything that I am is you.” he declared with a smile.

Robin didn’t know how to respond to his declaration. She couldn’t find the words to express what he just made her feel in that moment, so she just kissed him. When she broke the kiss she had a request.

“Please, give me another seed of you.”
“Already planning to replace me? By myself at that?” he joked, but Robin was deadly serious.
“For two years I carried on because I had the others, because I had my dream but if I lose you for good this time… They won’t be enough to keep me alive.”

That shocked Rick a great deal. Finding the missing history was what kept Robin going for more than two decades. That it would not keep her going anymore if he died meant only one thing. Her dream was not the most important thing in her life anymore. He was.

That made him both happy and unhappy.

“I won’t give you a seed, Robin.”
“Why?!” she asked, distressed at his answer.
“Me being… Reborn again, it’s not right. And it might lead to overconfidence. I can’t allow myself to take death lightly, it will only bring disaster. Besides, you would need clouds to speed up the process and clouds from any sky island but Skypiea may not do. How long before you could go back there again, if at all?”
“But...”
“I’ll be careful Robin. I promise. Now more than ever, because I finally have something that I don’t want to lose no matter what. ”
“I… understand. I don’t like it one bit but I understand.” her agreement made Rick laugh.
“You find it funny?! We’re talking about…”
“No no! That’s not what I find funny. What is funny is that… I can’t believe that for the first time I denied you something. Didn’t think the day would ever come.”
“... Don’t make it a habit of doing it or you’ll be sorry.”
“Oh? And what punishment would my dear loving wife bestow upon me?” he said in a mocking tone while grabbing her ass.
“Let’s say you’d prefer what I did to you on Fishman island everyday for the rest of your life.” she replied with an evil smirk making him pale.
“Y-you’re not that cruel.”
“Try me.”


~~~~~

It was time for the rescue group to leave. Everything was ready and everyone was giving their goodbye. The last thing he did before reminding Robin that he loved her, was to tell her that Wanda is lonely and is looking for a mate.Rick picked up everyone and their luggage with his gravity and floated down Zunesha where the sun was anchored.

Robin looked at them leave, especially him, cursing herself to have failed when she had asked one more time for a seed.

Unbeknown to her and him, he already did more than a month ago.