I quickly threw the monkey looking captain back on his ship as they sped off. As they were leaving the rest of the crew was also freaking out and leaving. “Calvin!! What are you doing!? Those monster giants are gonna kill us!!” Usopp was screaming at me while working the paddle. “Guys!!! STOP!” I yelled with some Aura to increase my volume. They froze for just a second to look at my lack of fear. “I can’t feel any Aura from those shadows!” Everyone stopped and thought about what I just said for a second before looking back at the monsters.

The shadows were moving, but there was nothing happening from them. Everyone was confused at what was happening until Robin figured it out. “Of course! That is brilliant!!” Robin yelled while moving closer to the bow of the ship to see the shadows closer. “Can someone explain what is happening!?” Usopp yelled while hiding behind the mast with Chopper. Robin smiled as I could feel her happiness growing while her gears were turning. “If there is an island in the sky… Then they can make shadows that appear in the clouds or fog to people below… This is just an illusion.” 

Zoro and Sanji came closer as well. “So they just scared us with shadow puppets?” Sanji asked with a little embarrassment and anger at that fact while Robin chuckled. “I believe so…” She said in her sultry voice. The whole crew let out a big sigh as they thought of what to do. We all looked at the giant shadows, and as we did, the less scary they became. “So… What do we do?” Zoro said while still inspecting the shadows. “We go to the sky island!!” Luffy yelled, full of vigor.

“Well, we can’t go there… I did manage to steal this from that monkey's ship…” Nami looked over at Robin displaying her stolen prize. It was an Eternal Log Pose with the name ‘Jaya’ on it. Robin looked back to see all the junk the boys brought up, and came to tears with a large smile. “You are the only one that understands me.” She said to Robin while rubbing the only worthwhile treasure against her cheek. I chuckled a bit from the scene, and decided to just rest in the crows nest while watching the large shadows dance in the sky.

I heard Luffy and Nami yell back and forth about getting up to sky island, but I was too engrossed in my book of the dead to really listen in. I knew that we would be going into Jaya, and that only meant one thing in my mind. ‘Can I kill Blackbeard?’ It was something I was wrestling with. I knew about the horrible things he would do, and it would be much easier to end him now. There would be so much less pain and suffering. However there was something in my mind holding me back. ‘Am I strong enough?’

I truly didn’t know. I knew about his devil fruit, and had an idea of what god that was his patron. ‘I really hope I’m wrong about that.’ I sighed as I kept reading inside the book of the dead, hoping to find answers to counter that devil fruit. I kept reading through the book, but most of it had to do with death, and ghost type spells as the best I could call them. I kept thinking about trying to practice shadow manipulation, but since Blackbeard was already proficient in that aspect, I knew I couldn’t keep up with his power.

We set sail again towards Jaya, but as we kept getting closer, all I could think was my own anxiety from not being able to change things. ‘I’m not strong enough!! He can’t cancel my Aura, but I can’t stop him! All I can think is us coming to an impasse, and just going on his radar!’ I sighed and hung my head from my only plan being to let him pass, and to kill him later after I had trained. ‘I hate this! I hate being too weak to solve this problem right in front of my eyes!!’

I seethed as my Aura burned around me with anger. There was nothing that I could do, and I knew that. I had kept this part stowed away from my thoughts, but after I gained the book of the dead, and had idea’s of strengthening myself, it crept up in my mind to solve this just as quickly as I had solved Vivi’s problems. However, now that I was really focusing on it, I only saw failure in my future. I had Aura, but I couldn’t even harden it to make armament Haki as most called it.

I just couldn’t do it. That part of me that still wanted to change history, and fix problems before they started, couldn’t change my mind about going to attack him. I knew that I would just be signing my death warrant… But that didn’t mean I would stop. I just reaffirmed my purpose for being here. To become a strong crewmember that could fight by Luffy’s side, and become an important crew member that had a home here.

With those thoughts in mind, I redoubled my efforts into studying my book for all that Thoth could tell me about Anubis, and death. I kept at it while feeling the breeze on my face while we sailed to Jaya. I kept reading without pause until a shrill cry came from above. I looked up to feel the pain of death gripping a bird falling onto the ship. I looked down sadly at his poor fate, but knew that death was needed for life. I was still shouldering my feelings of death, this new sense of it that I had in me was helping, but I still needed time as I saw death coldly embrace the bird before carrying it off somewhere beyond my sight.

I sighed as I shook my head to focus, before noticing a presence right behind me. One that I knew instinctively. “Hey Robin.” I said without looking back at her. She scratched behind my ears a bit as a greeting. I leaned into her hand instinctively, but stopped as I felt myself warming up from embarrassment. “It seems that you are not always aware of your surroundings. I was up here for a while.” Robin said with a slight chuckle.

I buried my head back into the book to avoid her gaze, only to have her come closer while reading beside me. “I thought we were supposed to read this together?” She spoke in an overtly sad tone, but I could feel her prankish ways. I scoffed as I held the book further away from my face for her to read easier. “Feel free.” She chuckled some more as she quickly placed me on her lap. I started sputtering from her aggression, but stopped flailing from her knowing my weak spots.

Robin had remembered the spots that garnered the most reactions from me, and was now using them all against me. She quickly rubbed, scratched, and tugged around my ears to keep me as putty in her embrace. “Just relax…” She said to me in a sultry tone. I could feel her emotions of happiness, and calmness. I found it impossible to be the one to take those feelings away, and I loved everything that she was doing. I couldn’t stop myself from rubbing my head into her hands, and leaned far into her while still sitting on her lap.

I felt her happiness rise to a startling degree as she slowed her pace, and began looking at the book herself. She kept massaging my ears and head, but now she was also focusing on reading my book. It felt so nice and comfortable to be like this, and I was feeling my stress for the future melt away. I found myself being happy just in the moment. 

“Thank you.” I said to her as I flipped the page. I could feel Robin’s confusion at me as she paused scratching me for a split second. “Thanks for helping me through my own problems.” I could feel Robin’s surprise and bewilderment of what I was talking about, and I chuckled a bit while patting her head above me with my paw. “You are so caring and nice.” With that, Robin’s emotions flooded like a dam. Her happiness, but also some distant sadness. Robin was silent, but I could feel all of her emotions, her joy and happiness, but also her sadness for some reason. Robin just held me tight in her embrace. I couldn't see her face, and she was silent. However I just kept petting her head warmly to help ease her own sadness for the moment.