It's 'great' to be young

Day two: Evening - Night

The crew had supper together, eating soup and crispbread. Surprisingly, it was rather relaxing and fun, even though Luffy continuously tried to steal food from the others.
Nami proudly announced that they would reach the island in the middle of the night. It meant that the adults would have to take turns the last couple of hours.
It wasn't like it had been easy to explain the kids that they couldn't stay up late with them because all of them really wanted to stay awake and help. They disagreed (especially Luffy) until Robin had explained to them that they would need to be well rested for the adventure tomorrow, exploring the island, finding the treasure and maybe defeating evil people. Finally the kids went to bed in the men's quarter.

Still, Nami made Robin promise to take care of the log pose and Brook had to agree to tell the kids a bedtime story about pirates.

While the children were cleaning the kitchen, the adults used the time to decide who would take which shift. Robin looked at the two men, Franky still trying his best to avoid her eyes, while Brook seemed in a good mood... on the other side, he always seemed in a good mood. Enviable.
„I'd suggest Franky takes the first, short shift. After all he had been awake for almost 48 hours. Then I'll take guard and wake up Brook to help me anchor, when we arrive. Then we can all rest."
Obviously both men did not like the suggestion.
„No need to take it easy on me. I'm not tired at all!"
"Franky, hear me out...," Robin tried again.
"No, there is no need to smother me..."
She felt the urge to strangle him. He had become even more unbearable over the last couple of hours, avoiding her and then being cocky and bashful whenever he talked to her.

"She is right," Brooks voice sounded stern, which made the other adults snap shut. "You have been awake for a very long time and did a lot for all of us."
Robin continued: "Also we will need you well and rested tomorrow, Franky. We don't know what will happen at that island. The same goes for you Brook. You're the only one with a weapon."
"That sounds very smart but I would suggest that we stay awake the whole night, even after we anchored. We don't know what awaits us at the island and danger is immediate for pirates."

Brook felt the other two adults watch him attentively: "So I suggest that Franky still starts and if he can do it, stay awake until midnight. Robin can join you a bit earlier, so it's the two of you when it's time to anchor and in case you're too exhausted, Franky, you can wake me up. Either way two of us should be awake for anchoring. If everything works out Robin takes over after we anchored and Franky goes to bed and later Robin wakes me up in the early morning and I'll stay awake the rest of the time, while she gets some sleep."

---

Before his shift Franky had laid down a bit in the woman's quarter to relax for an hour. It made sense for the adults to sleep in that room so they wouldn't disturb the kids. Brook was with them right now telling them stories and Robin was keeping the ship on course. Franky felt the tiredness in his whole body. The last 48 hours had been crazy. And he still tried to figure out what was going on. Even though they had all agreed to tell the kids that they were all indeed part of the same crew, just younger, he still wasn't sure if he believed it.
Also Franky had tried his best to avoid Robin. Because whenever he looked at her the damn photos appeared in his mind and he didn't want to put her or himself into any more awkward situations. Well... he tried. There had been a couple of close calls. At least one brush of hands that had made her freeze and him turn into a stumbling fool.

He really wanted to act normal around her so they would work together and fix this mess... and he had built the crib for her as a peace offer and... he had forgotten to tell her about it!
With haste he stood up and went outside, the sun already sat and only a slim line of sunshine could be seen on the horizon, the sky turning into violet. Wow. At least for that sight he could imagine leaving Water Seven and going to sea.
The light rapidly vanished and it got dark really fast. Franky started to move again, looking around but Brook was nowhere to be seen. So he turned and walked up to the ships wheel to look for Robin.