It wasn’t long after that I saw the rest of the crew crowding in while talking about how starved they were. And following behind them, were platters of food. I smiled from the hunger pains that were plaguing me, and  how they were about to be gone. The food came, and the crew all began to chow down just like before. I ate a good amount myself, but I don’t think I could ever eat as much as the rubber man himself.

I finished quicker than most others, and excused myself to my room to continue my training. I felt so much better after resting my mind from training and getting some food into me, so I could feel the presence of others much better at the moment. Walking back into my room, I noticed that Robin and Vivi also left the dining room as well. I looked back down the hallway to see them arguing with each other, I could feel that Vivi was more angry than Robin who seemed to just be teasing, and egging her on.

I sighed and shook my head from Robin's habit. I decided to break it up, Vivi was hot tempered sometimes, but I didn’t want them to hate each other. Robin would hopefully want to join the strawhats, and they would be crew members, even if Vivi was never actually on board. I made my way over to the two girls, and they noticed me and stopped talking before I could hear what they were arguing about.

Just as I was about to try and set things straight, I suddenly noticed the Aura’s of the rest of the crew running towards us. I looked back to see that all of the guys were rushing in our direction, and Nami was leading the pack. I was confused about what they were so excited about, and why Nami was the most excited. As soon as Nami reached us, she stopped to talk, while the rest of the boys continued on as fast as they could while pushing and shoving.

Nami let out a few breaths from exhaustion, but talked in between her gasps for air. “Hot… Spring… Ready…” She spoke with as few words needed as possible while dragging both Robin and Vivi towards her goal. I was left alone, and sighed from relief. I really wasn’t sure how much I would appreciate bathing with the rest of the guys. I was most comfortable just bathing by myself, and with no fear of accidentally seeing more than I would ever want to. I knew how much the boys could rough house. 

I nodded and was ready to just wait for them to be done, and to sneak in later myself, but an arm popping out of the ground begged to differ. The arm grabbed my paw, and moved me to as far as it could reach towards the directions the girls were being dragged. Once one arm tugged me as far as it could go, another arm would grow to take me a bit further. It seemed that Robin knew my idea somehow, and I could feel her emotions of why. 

Robin didn’t really want to bathe with the girls, but was being dragged to accompany them, so it seemed only fair to her that I should share the same fate. I sighed and shook my head, before shouting so Robin could hear me. “Fine! I’ll go too! Just stop pulling!” I could feel Robin’s happiness as her arms disappeared into flower petals. I began to jog to make it to the baths, and hopefully find a place away from the rest of the guys.

I made it to the hot spring, and the changing room was empty. I could feel all of the guys inside already, so I quickly took off my hooded robe to join. After going inside the hot spring, I made my way over to a washing station, and picked one that didn’t look like it had been used recently. I sat down and began to work myself into a lather. 

Now one thing that I had to learn about being covered in fur was how hard it was to really wash yourself. You needed so much soap, shampoo, and conditioner to cover your whole body, instead of just your head. Another thing is how long it takes, you have to really make sure that you get everywhere, and that takes time, doing it by yourself. I didn’t really want help from any of the guys though, so I worked on it by myself. I had some trouble starting out, but I was getting better as time went on.

Then suddenly I could feel a hand helping scrub my back. I was surprised since I couldn’t feel anyone behind me, and I was about to turn around to see who it was, but I was stopped from getting up by someone grabbing my ankles. I looked down to see Robin’s hands as the culprit. I gulped and looked up at the mirror in front of me to see an eye in the reflection from behind. I looked behind my back to see Robin’s eye looking back at me. I just stared at her eye, as her hands were still helping to wash me.

I looked back towards the mirror after hearing a noise from its direction. I saw an ear placed on the wall by the mirror, and an arm that wrote something from the fog on the glass. ‘Helping’ is what it said. I was about to protest, but as I was trying to yell at her she started to lather my head. In doing this she was scratching my head and behind my ears. I tried to fight my instincts, but the way that she was doing it so tenderly, yet firm just made me melt like putty in her arms. I couldn’t help but smile and enjoy everything that she was doing.

Robin was scrubbing over most of my body and I couldn’t help but fall victim to her pampering. All of Robin's hands were gently washing my whole body, and I could feel myself leaning more into her arms, and almost asking her for more. I kept rubbing my head into all of her different hands, and began to make a lighthearted growl that almost sounded like purring. Robin could hear this, and I could feel her emotions erupt from the other side of the wall, full of happiness and affection.

Robin seemed to take my light growling as a sign to keep going, so she sprouted a few more hands to wash me even more. My tail that had already been wagging, was now into full gear, and would actually hurt anyone that would get hit by it at this point. After a bit longer I could feel myself having a hard time even sitting on the stool, and Robin somehow knew this enough to spout more arms to hold me up. I had completely relaxed at this point, and could hardly move a muscle. I was just enveloped by comfort, and melted without any thought. All that I could think was how good this felt.

All of this was happening, until I came to a rude awakening. It turns out that Robin was just soaking in the other bath while this was happening, and her focus was solely at me. Just as I couldn’t think of anything at the moment, neither could Robin from how much she liked to see me in this state. However while we were in our own worlds, the boys had decided to look over the bath wall to take a look at the girls. When they did, Nami got the great idea to flash all of them, causing them to yell and fall back down to the ground. 

This sudden scream scared both Robin and I. Robin immediately destroyed her arms, and I fell down off of my stool in shock of the sudden noise, as well as Robin no longer holding me up. I could feel Robin’s anxiety and embarrassment, which was matching my own. I felt so ashamed to have done that, I couldn’t fight my own instincts. Or at least, that’s what I told myself. I quickly washed the soap off and jumped into the corner of the hot spring, away from the rest of the guys. 

After soaking, and trying to get rid of my own thoughts about what just happened, I got out of the bath after everyone else had left. I made it to my room, with the memories of Robin, still replaying themselves in my mind. I couldn’t focus on anything else, and the embarrassment of what happened was killing me. I made it inside my room and just faceplanted on my bed. I wanted to sleep and hopefully calm down. As I was about to drift off, I heard a knocking at my door.