The Demon King

Chapter 9 - A Not-So Little Garden

AN: Quick warning, this is gonna be LONG. For now I'm trying to do entire arcs in one chapter but that's gonna end when I hit Alabasta, and a couple of the more lengthy arcs (e.g Skypeia, Water 7, Enies Lobby)

Anyways, I hope you enjoy!
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It had been a pretty awkward few days for Luffy.

First of all, it was strange enough to explain why the woman who just tried to kill them was on board and why he knocked everybody out. At first, there was a whole lot of arguing, but when Luffy stood his ground, it all just came to a stop. Obviously there were still a few people who were against it. He could deal with that though.

Never before had he imprisoned a crewmate.

Sure, he'd held Vivi captive twice now, but she'd been with him for a lot longer than Vivi had. After Zoro and Sanji, she was his closest subordinate, the mature and objective figure in the crew.

He was so close to her, he'd even waged war with the world for her and her alone. He'd tore down the false symbol of justice that was Enies Lobby, and pierced the flag of the World Government with a burning arrow.

But now she was his prisoner.

Of course, she wasn't Nico Robin - the beautiful, sweet, occasionally macabre but mature archaeologist - because she was still with Baroque Works at this point in time. No, she was Miss All Sunday, the cold killer and Crocodile's right hand woman.

So in theory, it should be easy to lock her away as a hostage towards Crocodile, right? That's what pirates do. This was the reasoning of Luffy's brain.

But Luffy's heart felt tremendous guilt at confining her to the ship. He couldn't help but feel as if he'd betrayed her in some way.

His mind went back to the Final War against the Marines, the battle that killed everyone involved, besides Luffy of course. The last person he'd seen before he was transported back in time had been Robin, so elegant in death that it seemed like she'd been in a calm sleep.

He couldn't let that happen again. But it sort of felt he was doing it now.

He couldn't bring himself to look at her, so he'd always sent somebody else - besides a certain blonde cook of course - to check on her, give her the best food Sanji could make, make her bed and even give her her favourite books (the ones Luffy could remember anyway). She'd even the freedom to move around her room, only confined by hand ties.

So while he was technically her jailer, she was having a comfortable time.

Thankfully, according to Zoro and Usopp anyway, she hadn't been trying to escape or make things difficult, often being found reading or seemingly just thinking. She hadn't said much, but Luffy could live with that.

As long as she was even moderately happy, he was overjoyed.
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Miss All Sunday stared up at the oak ceiling of her "cell", deep in curious thought.

She'd a million questions with almost no answers, and for the usually knowledgeable young woman she was, it ticked her off immensely.

For instance, she didn't understand why she was still alive, considering she was the enemy.

For knowledge? Unlikely.

For a sense of power? Nah.

As a bargaining chip? Maybe. But that didn't explain why she was being treated so well.