Chapter 66: Never two without three
Rick opened his eyes after a really good night of sleep. Somehow, snuggling with Robin always relaxed him. However this morning, instead of seeing the raven mane of his girlfriend he saw red hair. That woke him up instantly and he tried to raise himself, despite his fractured ribs still healing. He was prevented from doing so by arms which bloom over his torso and kept him in place. He turned his head towards Robin with a questioning look. She bore a gentle smile on her lips and was stroking the intruder's hair.
“When did that happen?” asked Rick in a very low voice.
“During the night. She came in and made some space for herself.” answered Robin.
‘Some space for herself’ were the right words. The bed was not small but made for one person. It could welcome two people if they got close together but three? There wasn’t really the space for that. Yet Nami layed down between Rick and Robin. Her head on his chest and a good third of her body covered him, while she was spooned by Robin.
“I guess she made her choice.” she whispered.
“That was an easy choice, you’re irresistible.” replied Rick.
Robin moved a bit trying to not wake her friend up and kiss her boyfriend. She failed though, as when she ended the kiss her head was brought down, her lips stolen and the interior of her mouth violated by the intrusion of an eager tongue. She answered in kind and a battle of dominance began. Battle that she won thanks to her experience.
“I’m in!” said an enthusiastic Nami.
“Yeah I think we got that.” said Rick laughing softly.
“To be honest I didn’t think you’d make up your mind that fast.” confessed Robin.
“What can I say? You both love me and I love you, it’s simple.” answered Nami.
“So you’re into women too?” asked Rick.
“Hmmm. I don’t think so. I mean sure, I do find some women sexy and some other beautiful but I don’t have any romantic attraction to them.”
“Except me.” declared Robin.
“Hmm, no? I mean, I don’t think I ever met anyone more attractive than you Robin but I’m just curious I guess? Rick did say that you were even more amazing with your tongue than with your hands...”
“Oh really?” said Robin looking at her lover with a knowing look.
“What? Don’t look at me like that, it brought her here! I’d say it’s a win for us.”
“He’s right… I mean, you were very talented with your hands…”
“Wait for when she uses…” began Rick before being shut down immediately by a bloomed hand.
“Spoiling is bad, so don’t spoil the surprise.” said the brunette.
“I’m even more eager now… That’s not the only reason though.” confessed Nami.
“”Oh? /Hmphf?”
“I felt really alone last night in my bed. I mean, sure we’re all close friends. But the closeness I have with everyone else is nothing compared to the one I have with the both of you. I don’t see myself hugging to death Zoro, or talk about sex with Chopper. Speaking of which…”
Nami raised the sheet and looked under it.
“Okay, wow. It’s even more impressive than your description of it, Robin.” said Nami looking at Rick’s crotch.
Rick pushed down the sheet to cover his nakedness while blushing.
“Can we not talk about my anatomy please?”
“”No / Nope””
That united front prompted Rick to let out a sigh of exasperation.
“One of these days, Nami, you'll get a good spanking.”
“I don’t know about that. Robin? Is he any good at it?” joked the redhead.
“That’s something you need to experience yourself.” replied Robin, implying that she did experience it.
“Wait, what?” asked Nami, bewildered.
“I may have… omitted some things during our talks.” answered the brunette not looking at her friend.
“Oh, you…!”
She didn’t get to finish her sentence as she was kissed with passion by Rick. Robin didn’t miss the opportunity and let her hands roam the redhead’s body. Soon enough Nami was putty in their hands. When they felt she was ready they both stopped their actions, frustrating her a lot.
“Why did you stop?!”
“Because Chopper will be here soon.” answered Robin.
Nami let out a growl.
“You did it on purpose didn’t you?!”
“Yes!” answered Robin with a big grin.
“I stopped because my ribs began to hurt too much.” confessed Rick
“Oh! I’m so…”
“It’s fine, it was worth it.” Rick said with a smile before adding:
“I do advise the two of you to go back to your room.”
Nami nodded and got out of the bed then the room.
“You’re staying with her tonight.” Said Rick.
“Was that a question?” Robin asked, not happy with what she heard.
“No, a fact. I’m pretty much useless right now, I mean the spirit is willing like always, but the flesh? The flesh needs more rest. Besides, you can have her all to yourself. I will miss you by my side though.”
Robin leaned down and gave him a short but passionate and meaningful kiss.
“See you later.” she whispered before following Nami out of the room.
~~~~~~
Another week had passed since that morning. Chopper had long given the green light for moderately exercising to Rick. Whether training himself or being intimate with Robin he was glad to be allowed to move. Nami finally got him one night when Robin kicked her out of their bedroom and locked the door. Resigned, the redhead went to her newly acquired lover who was very gentle and considerate for her first time. She found out that Robin was right. Waking up cuddling to Rick in the morning was blissful after a night of sexual activity, which she loved too. They haven’t been all together yet but none of them seems to rush things, happy of the current pace they had.
Both Robin and Nami told him about the fight against Moria. To be more accurate the part which Rick didn’t remember. Nami speculations about why his ‘second state’, as she called it, happened made a bit of sense when she linked it to the incident with Vivi in the kidnappers’ hideout ten years ago. What worried Rick was that this time he attacked his friends unlike back then, where Vivi and all the bandits’ prisoners were spared a cruel fate. They still had no idea why Rick could do that, except Rick who knew more.
‘Is it because I ate two devil fruits? Does the sea devil really exist? From what they told me, I acted like one and with the horns looked like one too. Was I being controlled or was it me?’
He didn’t have answers but plenty of questions. Vegapunk’s expertise would be really great right about now.
Any further talk was prevented by Usopp calling out to everyone.
“Guys! Look!”
Everyone looked at what Usopp was pointing at and saw a gigantic cliff in front of them, spanning as far as the Horizon.
“We finally made it!” exclaimed Luffy.
“To see it again, it’s been so long.” added Nami.
“This time we can properly see it. The storm back then made it difficult.” said Sanji.
“We’ve gotten a lot stronger since.” stated Zoro.
“Finally, after 50 years…” said a very emotional Brook.
“I’m glad we came across half the world without losing anyone” said Luffy with enthusiasm.
That ruined the mood a bit for his crew members that were in the know of Rick’s situation but they didn’t let anything show on their face.
The ex-marine had looked up the system, to see how long he had left. To his dismay the time had shortened more than it should have. He speculated that his fast healing factor was the reason for that. Chopper had been right, his quick recovery had consequences.
He didn’t really bother to look at his Karma Points, there was no need for that. Moria was not that big of a deal and didn’t threaten millions of people like Crocodile did. Rick found it funny that between the sand-man, Moria and Ener, the strongest gave the least points and the weakest the most. It was the world of One piece after all, logic was nearly nonexistent, so that little fact didn’t surprise him that much.
“The next time we see it, we’ll have been around the world, and I’d be the pirate king!!” declared Luffy.
They almost reached the wall of Red Line when they stopped. They didn’t know where to go or to be more accurate they didn’t know how to go to Mermaid Island. Nami’s Log Pose was pointing down, meaning they would need to go underwater to go onto the second half of Grand Line.
Luffy, Brook and Robin were currently in the shark submarine that was usually store in the channel #3 of the Sunny. They were trying to find a tunnel inside Red Line that reached the other side. They encountered a hostile rabbit sea monster and barely dodged his fangs when it tried to eat them. That little misadventure prompted them to go back to the sunny.
The beast must have been quite hungry though as it followed them up to the surface and tried once again to gobble them up. That was its mistake as luffy just punched him in the stomach. So hard that he spat something out.
‘Oh It’s Caimie and… and… that starfish guy!’ thought Rick.
When Sanji saw it was a mermaid he lost it and tried to catch her and failed miserably. Caimie, the young mermaid landed right on the top of him. She panicked when she realized that she had flatten a human.
“Don’t worry, he's used to it.” said Rick with a grin.
Turning around to see who spoke, she saw the rest of the crew and panicked even more when most of them were humans. That a reindeer walking on two legs with a hat and a buoy around his waist and skeleton with an afro were there didn’t faze her one bit though.
To thank the crew, Caimie invited them to eat takoyaki making Luffy salivate as it was his favourite food. The problem was that they needed to go to her friend who owned the stall selling them. Since the stall was sailing on the sea his location was never set. To know where it was Caimie used a den den mushi to call her friend but it wasn’t him that answered. The takoyaki chief had been captured by a group of bandits; they threatened his life if Caimie didn’t hand herself to them.
“I’m so sorry! The takoyaki will have to wait, I need to go save my friend!” said an apologetic Caimie.
“You do know, this is a trap?” asked Rick.
“Probably, but I can’t not go.” she replied.
Luffy didn’t care, what he cared about was the takoyaki he was promised but when Caimie told him that her friend was the cook he ordered everyone to set sail.
Rick wasn’t interested one bit about Duval and his men, he did wonder how Sanji’s kick could work as facial reconstruction though. Somehow that fascinated him. In the end Rick didn’t do anything more than just pull towards him Hachi and the cage he was locked up in and let Luffy and the others take care of their opponents.
The promised Takoyaki were delivered. Hachi cooked non-stop for the crew, or to be more accurate Luffy and his bottomless stomach, and ended up exhausted at the taks. He tried to make amends with Nami but she was rather cold. Not surprising after what he did while he was in Arlong’s crew. She was unforgiving.
“Lying is bad, you know that?” said Rick to her.
“I don't know what you’re talking about.” Replied Nami with a neutral face.”
“You may fool everyone else Nami, but you can’t fool the two of us.” declared Robin.
Nami kept her stoic face up, barely, as her lovers’ smirks tempted her to smile. Their playful moment was over when Hachi announced that he knew someone on Sabaody Archipelago that could help them reach Mermaid island.
Rick didn’t like it but knew he had no choice. Sabaody Archipelago was where the celestial dragons roamed freely acting how they pleased. Den of citizens, pirates and marines too. He really hated that place. Everything will happen there, notably his chance for a cure.
‘Should I warn them about the celestial dragons? No… that would backfire greatly if Luffy didn't punch the shit out of one of them. Better’ question is…. Can I hold myself back to slaughter them all?’
Rick let out a sigh.
‘Better stick to Robin, she’ll stop me doing some stupid shit. Why not go on a date? We didn’t really get a chance to go on one since leaving Water Seven…. Yeah, a date seems nice.’
He looked at her and signaled he wanted a private talk with his eyes before leaving for the garden. Once there, instead of waiting for his lover he took a look at his experiments. All the seeds had bloomed and he was happy to see many different flowers being healthy. The only batch that wasn’t was the one used with the soil from Thriller Bark. It wasn’t much of a surprise though as everything there was dead for a long time.
He heard someone open the door to the garden. He knew it was Robin, that could only be her, as she was the only one coming in here. If Chopper wanted some herbs or Sanji some vegetables they would just ask Rick. The others never stepped in there after their tour of the sunny; it wasn’t surprising there wasn’t anything to do here. At least not yet. It wasn’t a proper garden yet. Sure there were the mandarin trees but not much else. Once other kinds of trees and plants had grown enough, the place would be perfect for relaxing and recreational time. Rick had set the place so his experiments would be in a small corner so it wouldn’t take any beauty away from the future garden.
A pair of arms embraced him from behind and a head rested on one of his shoulders.
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“What do you want to talk about?” Robin asked.
Rick picked one of the flowers and brought it to her nose, letting her smell the sweet aroma that she seemed to like. He then put her behind one of her ears, along a strand of hair.
“I wanted to know if you would be interested in going on a date once we reach Sabaody Archipelago.”
“Just you and me?”
“Just you and me.”
“What brought that up?”
“Well… We’ve been together for a couple months now and we haven't really gone on one yet.”
“What about Water Seven?”
“If you’re talking about the time I made you submit with kisses and we got together… I don’t really consider it a date. I mean, we just got to know each other better, we didn’t really get to have fun together. Don’t get me wrong I enjoyed my time very much but it was just getting acquainted.”
“What about the evening and the night after that?”
“We just got acquainted more… Very intimately I might add, but that’s it.”
That made Robin frown and tighten her embrace on him.
“I loved every second of it Ro, exploring every inch of your body is perhaps the best experience in my life. That mole that I found on your…” he started before Robin tightened her grip even more.
“*ahem* I will always remember that and the few days after, but we never really spend time together doing things. You know, walking hand in hand, visiting places, shopping together, or going to a cafe. When you think about it we did more together when we were not dating than now that we are. I mean our little walk in Jaya’s port, or when we went to Angel’s island’s town hall… That’s the kind of memories I want too. Not just you in all your naked glory cuddling with me.”
The more he talked the more Robin thought. He was right, they were intimate with each other but they didn’t really do much else. When he talked about the kind of memories he wanted that made her tick.
‘It’s not for him he wants those memories, it’s for me.’ she realized.
She was correct. Rick wanted her to have good memories of him, and not just the ones in bed, despite how wonderful they were. That prompted Robin to kiss his neck.
“I’d love to go on a date with you Mister. It better not be disappointing.” she warned in a joking tone before blooming a hand near the door, closing it then locking it.