“But I already know how that works!” “But Usopp's haki is different from yours. Come on, Luffy,” Jinbei tapped the grass next to him. “Indulge me.”

Poor Jinbei, Robin thought as she held back her laughter. She could see that the former lord of the sea was doing his utmost to hold on to his patience and not shake Luffy by the shoulders. “As I've said before, Captain,” he went on to explain again, for the tenth time in the past hour. “You can't shoot Usopp's slingshot without mastering his Observation Haki.”

She evened out her breathing, doing her best to keep her back straight, which was a little bit more difficult than she expected, but considering that she was controlling a body made of rubber, she could say that she was doing pretty well. “This is boooring,” Luffy whined from her left, layed down on his back, arms and legs opened like a starfish. “I want to shoot something. Or catch a fish!”

“Just not used to having this much energy, I'm afraid,” she would say with a smile and go back to trying to decipher the cube, squinting her eyes at the dancing ideograms. She pushed her hand down her leg, forcing it to be still as she let go of such memories to focus on Jinbei’s guided meditation.

Many times in these past three days, she had to make a conscious effort to stop to read her books. More than once, Usopp looked at her as if she had grown another head, just for her to notice that she was shaking her leg hard enough to make the table tremble.  "Are you okay?" He would ask when she finished her breathing exercises, calming herself down.

The entire crew and a few others have experienced the amazing feel of being embraced by Luffy’s warm hugs or melting under his shiny smiles. Another altogether was to be Luffy. The moment she had woken up on Luffy’s body, she had felt herself filled with an unmeasurable energy that drummed under her skin, making her unable to stay still.

And even after they got caught within Thriller Bark's darkness, got separated at Sabody, and tested during their two years apart, the feeling of living a summer day persisted. Finding her friends again was what gave her hope in Tequila Wolf and then Baltigo, and what made her search for any sunshine she could get, just to remind herself that they would get back together.  What she didn't realize until three days ago was how apt it was to compare Luffy to the sun.

Being cornered by the CP9 had been like falling into a frozen lake: first came the shock, then the icy realization that she had to leave her new family behind for their own good. Oh, how hurt she had been to hurt them. She did her best to tear herself from them, to save them from her eternal winter. But like an unrelenting spring, they persisted, scorching Heavens and Earth for her, setting fire to the government flag, and to her heart once more.

The problem had really begun when she started to become part of the group. Still to this day, it made her chuckle how their warmth had crept up to her bones so slowly and so discreetly that she hadn't noticed until she had stopped waking up in a cold sweat.  No, that would be a lie. She realized that she had become a StrawHat when they ported Water Seven.