One Piece – Halfway Broken

Lemon Warning! This chapter contains smut! It is clearly marked with -Lemon Starts Here- and -Lemon Ends Here- if you wish to skip it.

Chapter 135: Refuge

While the crew was a little tense after the departure of the Germa Rescue Team, the truth was that everyone knew it would take several days just for their crewmates to reach the Red Line and cross it. It would likely take them even longer to locate and reach the Germa kingdom, meaning at least a week long wait was expected before anything could happen. As such, the crew had dispersed somewhat across the island. In part, in their own attempts to turn the tension into something useful.

With Vivi away, even if she was technically still available for taxi service via Den Den Mushi if they required it, Luffy had chosen to keep the crew close and encourage them to find local training opportunities. With it having been nearly a year and a half since Whitebeard’s War, there was only so much time remaining for the crew before the deadline of protection from being hunted by the God’s Knights for an Elder’s death expired. Frankly, Luffy felt fairly good about their chances, particularly with Yamato having Awakened the Nika Fruit, but that didn’t mean the entire crew wasn’t determined to be ready for both the New World in general, and delayed reprisals from the World Government in particular.

Thankfully, Starfall provided a unique environment for several remaining members of the crew to train in. Zoro and Kuina had both taken to meditation and testing of new moves that took advantage of spiritual energy, Kaya and Chopper were both deeply interested in the medicinal opportunities of the island’s flora and fauna. Usopp, meanwhile, was doing his usual thing in trying to find any local improvements he could make to his weapons. Even Brook had, apparently, made a breakthrough of some sort, though he’d refused to elaborate on it to the rest of the crew so far, seeming legitimately embarrassed for some reason.

Likewise, Pagaya had found something interesting in Shinedown that he wanted to experiment with. Admittedly, Starstone seemed potentially quite interesting, and Luffy had some ideas for it himself. Yet he needed access to his full workshop on Sixis for what he had in mind, and he wasn’t keen to split the crew up farther with Vivi not immediately at hand to pull everyone back. He wasn’t about to disobey his own orders to stick to Starfall for now, and thus he’d decided to put off experimenting with the stuff until after the crew was able to reunite.

That left Luffy, Nami, and Robin as the ones needing to find something to do on Starfall itself. Preferably without being too noisy about things, as they didn’t really want to put the Night Oni in the World Government’s sights by doing something that would get reported back to them. Doubly so since the WG might take particular exception to Yamato having awakened the Nika Fruit with the local’s help. Thankfully, as it happened, Robin had been her usual nosy self while visiting Starlight the night before. It was due to her usual habit of spreading her network of eyes and ears around her, to listen for trouble or information of interest, that she had learned of other settlements on Starfall.

In and of itself, that wouldn’t have been unusual. Starlight was the capital and trade hub, as well as the only proper port, but Starfall was a large enough island to support numerous smaller settlements. Villages and hamlets that supplied much of the material used by Starlight, be that foodstuff or an unusual ebony wood taken from the Night Forest and used to build much of the town. That wood alone interested Luffy, as he could tell it was infused with spiritual energy, but it wasn’t at all hard to acquire and could be experimented with later. With the Rescue Team off, they were all three in a mood to do something to burn off a bit of energy, rather than experiment with new materials or train their subtler abilities that wouldn’t draw attention.

It was thus that Robin brought up hearing about a very peculiar settlement called Sinner’s Refuge.

Since they were still staying in the hidden private dock of the Night Elder’s Manor, they had managed to ask their host about it. Elder Northstar had only hesitated to explain for a moment due to who they were. Nothing to do with Yamato and her odd status with the locals this time, but instead due entirely to the fact that they were pirates known to be actively on the bad side of the World Government. That was the important point, it turned out, because Sinner’s Refuge was a place that didn’t officially exist.

Specifically, it was a place that housed those who’d made it to Starfall after doing something that pissed off the World Government.

As a Freeport, Starfall didn’t turn away even those who were wanted by the Marines or WG, so long as they didn’t cause trouble. At the same time, as a member state of the World Government, they also couldn’t let such people permanently reside within their borders…officially. As the Night Oni weren’t actually all that fond of the World Government or Marines, unofficially was another matter entirely. While Starfall would not help someone flee to their island, if you made it to them, regardless of the amount of displeasure you were under from the World Government, they would help you hide.

Which is how Sinner’s Refuge had come to exist.

Some of its residents were ex-pirates of the more adventurer-flavored variety. Ones that had stumbled their way into a bit too much information for the WG to be happy with them. Others, the largest portion in fact, were more in the line of political refugees. Inconvenient survivors of World Government ‘police actions’ that had wiped out towns or islands, archeologists that had poked something they shouldn’t have if they wanted to continue breathing, journalists that had published articles that had made them targets for retaliation. The Elder refused, understandably, to elaborate on any of the residents’ stories, giving them only a brief overview of the sorts of people that resided within the town-that-didn’t-officially-exist. It had still been enough for the trio to decide they wanted to visit the place.

It sounded like it was full of potentially interesting people, after all.

They’d needed to travel inland to reach the location of Sinner’s Refuge, and it was with a mix of interest and incredulity that they discovered the town was literally an underground settlement. The only way to reach it was to take a ‘Leap of Faith’ into a yawning, pitch-black hole. One which was only marked out by a ring of purple lanterns and subtle signs of the ground in the area seeing some traffic. Luffy had to admit that it would likely be a good deterrent to anyone from the South Blue, at least, casually deciding to visit. Of course, for them it wasn’t exactly the same sort of issue, as Luffy and Nami could fly, and all three of them could use Geppo.

“Well, I’d say ladies first. But in this case I don’t think that would be very gallant of me.”

Robin’s lips twitched and Nami snorted. Shrugging, Luffy hopped into the dark hole with a grin, the grin growing a bit wider as he enjoyed the brief thrill of the drop, letting the plunge take him down…and down. It was at least a 400-foot drop before he sensed the ground coming and kicked off the air to slow his descent. As he neared the bottom, he saw that a large net was positioned to catch those who couldn’t, as Luffy had, catch themselves. There was room to one side, however, and Luffy angled for it and touched down smoothly, Nami and Robin landing only a few brief seconds after him.

The space they’d landed in was lit softly by glowing mushrooms…but there was also a door barring the way to the only exit from what appeared to be a natural cavern. It was a thick, stone door and, moments after approaching it, a sharp spike of Haki flashed out from behind it. Not threatening, exactly, but certainly letting them know someone not to be trifled with was on the other side. Curiously, it didn’t feel like Conqueror’s, so much as it did that someone had figured out how to project intent through Observation, for those that could sense it. A voice came a moment after the Haki spike, through a grate that slid open in the door, revealing a pair of eyes and little more in the dim light.

“Well now. Three arrivals using Marine techniques isn’t a great look, you know. Thankfully for the three of you, I suspect I recognize you. You’ll need to bare your arms all the same, if you please. There are certain things it pays to be certain about.”

Luffy’s eyebrows rose, but he connected the dots after a moment and rolled up his sleeves.

“I’m surprised someone in the South Blue knows to look for…what did Rayleigh call them? ‘Covenant’ tattoos, I think?”

Robin and Nami caught on, though in Nami’s case her outfit bared her arms to the shoulders anyway. There was a feel of surprise from the other side of the door. Not, Luffy thought, from the mention of the tattoos, but from the mention of Rayleigh’s name.

“You’ve met the First Mate? How recently? Oh, and you look all clear to me, give me a second.”

Luffy, deciding to wait for the stone door to open, which it started to do with a groan, held his tongue until he saw the man on the other side. Rotund, with grey hair, a pipe between his teeth, and a captain’s hat, Luffy tried to place him…but it was Robin that got there first.

“Donquino. Helmsman of the Roger Pirates. I suppose that makes five of that particular crew you’ve met now, Captain. You seem to encounter them in the oddest places.”

The man blinked, then grinned hugely.

“Oh ho! You’ve met more than just the First Mate, have you? Well, then I quite want to hear about it! There’s a few of us old crew living down here in the Refuge, and we haven’t had much news of our former crew in years! The ones who didn’t decide to lie low tend to stay away from anywhere and everywhere they know the ones that did are hiding out. Who all have you met?”

Luffy’s mind had connected the man to an old bounty poster the moment Robin said the name. The WG didn’t exactly circulate them any longer, but they still existed in places. Such as, as it happened, a complete collection at a certain bar in Loguetown that Luffy had visited more than once. The man had obviously aged a fair bit, just as Silvers had, but he was still recognizable from that poster image. More, it explained a few things. Like why Elder Northstar hadn’t been too concerned sending them here. If there were multiple old members of the Roger Pirates here, even Luffy would be wise to step lightly.

“Shanks was the first. He stopped at my hometown in the East Blue for a while when I was a kid.”

None of them missed the man’s eye widening for a moment as they darted up to Luffy’s hat, though he schooled his features quickly.

“Technically, Buggy was the second, though I’m afraid to say it wasn’t as friendly a meeting. He was murdering and pillaging all over the East Blue and I took exception. Don’t honestly know what happened to him after the Marines picked him up.”

That got a frown from the man, though Luffy wasn’t going to pretend it was anything but what it had been. Buggy was a scumbag bandit, not a dreamer pirate, and he refused to regret eliminating him. Hopefully, the other encounters would wash away any dislike the man might have developed over the admittance that he’d left Buggy to the Marines.

“Crocus was the third. He’s watching over the Twin Peaks Lighthouse, so anyone who bothers to stop there can meet him. Though I doubt many realize who he is. We helped him out with an issue with an Island Whale he was trying to keep from killing itself. Thankfully, that resolved decently enough.”

Donquino’s expression leveled out, which was hopefully a good sign.

“Then Rayleigh we met living with Shakky in the Sabaody Archipelago. He’s by far the one the whole crew spent the most time with, as he agreed to teach us more about Haki than the little I knew. The crew got a pretty brutal crash course in it from him on an island in the Calm Belt.”

The expression on Donquino’s face was a mix of annoyance and happiness now.

“That rat bastard! Getting Shakky all to himself! How dare he! Still, I’m glad to hear the old bastard is still kicking, and taunting the Dragons by living in their back yard too! You’ll have to tell me and the others how they are both doing! Especially Shakky. Oh, that rotten bastard, beating us to her…”

Luffy was confused for only a moment, before remembering the story of how Shakky had apparently defeated the entire Roger Pirates…partially because they were all lovesick for her. Caught between a sigh and a laugh, he focused on the matter at hand.

“So, are we good to come in then? I’ve love to meet more of Roger’s old crew, but it seems a bit silly to stand out here blocking the way in or out.”

Donquino blinked, then laughed.

“Right you are! Come along, I’ll get someone else to cover the door and introduce you to the Refuge myself! I want to hear all about Shakky…and Ralyeigh too, I guess. Also, how you ended up with the Captain’s old hat. Given how useful it is, I’m surprised Shanks let it go.”

Blinking at that, Luffy almost wanted to launch an immediate interrogation, as he never had been able to figure out why there were ??? symbols on the hat’s observation panel. Better wait until they were somewhere more private for that particular interrogation, though…

… … …

Sinner’s Refuge was, in its own way, even more fascinating than Starlight had been. The entire town, and it was a town, with a population of at least several hundred from what Luffy could see, was situated in a massive underground cavern. Though, given that Luffy was fairly certain it had been Oni-carved, he wasn’t entirely sure the word ‘cavern’ properly applied. However it had come to be, it cut deeply enough to be below the water line of the island in places, with stone archways and pillars having been left to hold the rest of the town over the water. Bioluminescent globes, filled with living plants that gave off the light, were mounted on posts and hung on strings, providing enough light to navigate the town with, though it was still darker than even the artificial night that covered the surface of Starfall.

Donquino, after having retrieved a replacement for his position as a door guard, was happy to show them through the town, pointing out places of interest. A desalination plant which provided water for the city, an exit for an underwater route from Shinedown, which apparently provided the main way to move goods in and out of the town, a bustling market that had some of the purple lamps from the surface, though what that meant Luffy had no idea. It was after the market that Robin finally grew curious enough to start asking her questions, likely having been sitting on a number of them until they threatened to explode.

“Ah, Mr. Donquino? How is it that this town has so many people? We were giving to understand only those that had…troubles…with the World Government, came here.”

Grinning broadly, Donquino chuckled at the question.

“That’s how this town started, Ms. Robin! Yet, tell me, for how many years do you think people have had such troubles? Many of those now living in the Refuge did not flee here, but were born here. They can leave, of course, they aren’t known to the World Government. But they have no love of it, given what they’ve been told all their lives about our supposed rulers. Besides, the World Government are quite happy to blame someone for the ‘sins of the father,’ as it were. If they were ever connected to their family, they might well be targeted just for their names and history.”

Well, that was informative, certainly. Unfortunately, knowing Ace’s story meant that Luffy wasn’t about to dismiss that last bit, which made the paranoia of those choosing not to leave seem like wisdom to him. Still, he couldn’t imagine that no one chose to leave. When he asked about that, Donquino chuckled again.

“Of course some leave. Indeed, it is from such people that many who hear about the Refuge learn about it at all. Some will always dream of open skies! The call of the sea! In fact, to let you in on a tiny little secret, one of them was me! I was born right here in the Refuge, went out to seek adventure and, when the time came, I offered a place to go for some of my old crew who were ready to settle down out of the World Government’s sight!”

Oh. Well that certainly put a different spin on things. It also might explain why Starfall rejected allowing the Revolutionary Army to use the island, come to think of it. It sounded like Sinner’s Refuge had been around for a long time, possibly since the Void Century or shortly after, even. If it had served as a haven all this time, then Starfall wouldn’t want to risk attracting attention to all the refugees that had survived the WG’s displeasure…and their descendants.

“Here we are! The only-slightly-infamous Dusklight Tavern! Most of those who frequent our little hole in the wall are ex-pirates, so most of the more regular people leave the place alone. The latest owner is one of my own old shipmates! Come on in, so I can introduce you around! We don’t get a lot of news from the Grand Line these days, not that we can trust to be even half accurate anyway, so you three are bound to be a hit!”

Donquino swept them up in his wake, bursting into the tavern and responding boisterously to various calls and greetings, even as he led them to the main bar at the back. Behind that bar was a tall, muscular man whose build was starting to fade to a bit of a belly, with a tattoo that started at his neck and stretched all the way down his left arm.

“Max! I’ve got visitors with news of Shakky! Also Silvers, but that bastard is less important!”

That declaration got more heads turning than just the bartender’s. The bar was sparsely populated in what was mid-afternoon on the surface, yet those who were there turned their attention to Luffy and the girls almost to the last man and woman. Though it was still the bartender who responded first.

“Oh? Donquino? Whose this the- no, I recognize that face from the bounty posters. Ha! A free pint of my best draft for you! Managing to off a bunch of those Celestial motherfuckers is more than enough to get your whole crew a free round from me! Three cheers for someone that actually killed a Celestial Cunt!”

The barman, already pulling drafts for three pints, called that last out to the crowd, and it instantly got a ragged response. Not quite ‘three cheers,’ but there was certainly quite a lot of approval in those voices. The Celestial Dragons clearly had no friends here. In fact, one wag in the back was quick to shout back.

“Make it two pints, I’ll gladly buy them a round myself for that!”

There were enough similar cries that followed that Luffy had a strong suspicion that they weren’t going to have to pay for any of their drinks, even if they stayed well past nightfall…

… … …

“So, that’s the story, eh? Well, with a dream like that, I can see why the kid passed on the Hat! Being the Freest Man in the World was always what the Captain said he wanted to be. Suppose, given Shanks managed to grow up into a Yonko, he didn’t need the thing anymore either.”

Luffy had been waiting for his chance to ask and pounced on that comment as casually as he could. Rolling the hat in question off his head, he spun it on his index finger as he spoke.

“I meant to ask about that, actually. What makes the hat so special? I mean, I’ve noticed it’s a lot harder to damage than straw ought to be. But you talk like it was something a lot more than that.”

The Roger Pirates gathered at the table, all five of them who had settled here in the Refuge, looked outright surprised. Like it should have been obvious. It was Rowing, a scholar who had traveled with the Roger Pirates, who pushed up a pair of glasses and spoke for them.

“I suppose Shanks must not have thought it important to tell you when you were young, then hasn’t met you since? Well, either way, the Captain did something to that hat that none of us quite understood. Whatever he did, it allows the hat to store Conqueror’s Haki for later use. Given how much of it Roger could pump out, it ended up being a kinda pointless trick. So when the kid unlocked his super young, he gave it the Shanks as a tool for both training it, and so he didn’t exhaust himself trying to use it in a fight when it first manifested.”

Luffy had stopped the hat spinning and stared. Unable to resist, he fed a tiny trickle of Conqueror’s to the Hat…and nearly cursed as it just soaked it up. He quickly pulled up its status.

**********

The Straw Hat of Gol D. Roger

Grade: Relic

Abilities: Self-Repair, Conqueror’s Haki Storage [10/5000], ???

**********

Damnit! That would have been seriously useful a year or two ago! Admittedly, it wasn’t exactly useless, now. Conqueror’s Haki was always exhausting to use, so having a source of it that didn’t draw on his current energy reserves was still valuable. It would have been a lot more useful in the past, though. Worse, he still didn’t know what the last mystery ability was! Sighing, he directed his attention back to the Roger Pirates present.

“I don’t suppose you know any other tricks it does, do you? I had no idea it could do that.”

The other pirates all shook their heads, some looking rueful and others amused. Sighing again, he shook his head.

“Well, mysteries for another day, given it feels like there’s still something I’m missing. Now, did you guys ever visit a sky island other than Skypiea? No? Well, then let me tell you about Wind’s Home and the Crystal City! I bet you’ll wish you were still sailing the seas by the time I’m done!”

… … …

They’d spent hours in the Dusklight Tavern. At first, it had been primarily with the Roger Pirates. Donquino had been the Oro Jackson’s helmsman, with quite a few bits of advice to share with Nami. Meanwhile, Rowing had been happy to discuss Poneglyphs with Robin, though admitted he couldn’t read them himself, and the Fishman Sunbell had been eager to hear from Luffy about the deal struck between Fishman Island, Amazon Lily, and the Alabastian Alliance.

Yet, it hadn’t ended with just the Roger Pirates. True to Donquino’s word, most of the regulars of Dusklight were ex-pirates of some flavor. Some of them had never made it out of the South Blue, but quite a few more were veterans of at least Paradise, many having their own stories to tell…and drinks to buy Luffy and the girls. Nearly all of them had dark mutterings about the Celestial Dragons, with Luffy having noting a couple that bore marks of the ‘The Hoof of the Soaring Dragon’ brand. Usually covered up in some fashion with a different brand or tattoo. Ex-slaves who had escaped somehow, almost certainly.

Frankly, he was glad most had focused on positive stories to share of their adventures, rather than that particular part of their past. He got the impression that Refuge was a place where people scarred by such events could find peace, of a sort, if they were willing to look for it. Even so, and despite his interest in all the stories, not to mention in learning whatever the Roger Pirates present could help him with, Luffy had eventually steered himself and the girls out of the tavern.

Not because he didn’t have more to talk to them about, but because Robin had actually relaxed enough to become slightly tipsy off the rather potent ‘mushroom ale’ that the tavern served…

-Lemon Starts Here-

In and of itself, that wouldn’t have been a reason to leave an enjoyable semi-party. Unfortunately, tipsy Robin was also mischievous and thirsty Robin. The first warning of trouble had been when Nami let out a tiny eep and flushed a bit. Were Nami anyone else, the flush would have been a given from the amount of alcohol she’d downed, which had kept anyone but Luffy from noticing. To him, however, it alerted him that something was up…just in time to barely suppress his reaction as a tongue appeared inside his boxers and began lavishing attention on his balls.

Somehow, he’d managed to keep his cool with only a very slight widening of his eyes.

He’d also, however, immediately started trying to extract them from the crowd. Something which hadn’t been easy, and only possible at all with copious promises of bringing the rest of his crew by another day. Even then, it was only because one of the Roger Pirates, Bluemarine, seemed to realize what was going on and took pity on him. Admittedly, the twinkle in the older shipwright’s eyes had been a bit mortifying, but Luffy was grateful to the man nonetheless.

By the time he’d managed to get a giggling Robin, a visibly aroused Nami, and himself out of the Tavern without complete loss of dignity, Luffy had practically needed to use his hat to hide his erection. Picking Robin up, throwing her over his shoulder, and swatting her on the ass had, sadly, done nothing but make her moan and double down with a second tongue. Something which caused him to grab Nami and abuse Soru to find the inn he’d seen in the town earlier.

Somehow, Luffy managed to keep it together long enough to get a room, throw Robin onto the King-size bed, and slap an ofuda for silence on the door. Though when he turned around again, he got some idea how he’d managed to hold out…as Robin had apparently been teasing Nami far more than him. In just the bare seconds it had taken him to retrieve, apply, and activate the privacy ofuda, a dozen hands had stripped Nami of her clothes entirely. Doing so revealed that Nami must have a much stronger ability to act than Luffy did, as there were a pair of hands with mouths on them groping the redhead’s tits, even as a third and fourth were fingers and lips deep in her pussy. From the amount of saliva slicking Nami’s bare breasts, covering far more than just her nipples, it must have been going on for some time, too.

Taking in the sight, he only realized the pair of tongues that had been teasing his cock and balls had vanished when naked breasts squished into him from behind. Flinching for just a moment before he recognized the feel of Robin through his Haki, he did a double take as he realized that there was a second Robin behind him, even though the original was still on the bed, now using multiple arms to shed her own clothes even as she continued to toy with Nami.

Fuck. He’d known she’d been close to pulling off a full clone, but he hadn’t known she’d actually managed it, let alone well enough to do it while tipsy!

The ‘Robin’ behind him was working on his clothes, even as the one on the bed lost the last of hers and shifted to pin Nami’s half-delirious and moaning body to the bed under her. Tanned thighs closed around Nami’s head, original-Robin’s pussy grinding into her face even as she faced Nami’s feet, which she’d tugged into a position to dangle off the bed. Nami began to automatically react, having long since been well conditioned to obey when Robin straddled her face like that. Robin leaned fairly far to the dom side of ‘switch’ with the other girls, really only acting submissive at all with Luffy. Even then, as evidenced by this entire sequence of events, she could and would push a bit on that boundary.

Knowing that, and also having some idea where Robin was going with this setup, Luffy took control of her clone once his last bit of clothing was gone. He pulled her into a kiss, grabbing her ass and kneading just a bit roughly. The clone moaned…and so to did the original, losing a bit of focus, since they shared sensations to an extent. Grinning, Luffy scooped the clone up and carried her the three steps to the bed, manhandling her until she came down pussy to pussy with Nami, even as her back arched a bit to press her breasts to those of her original. If not for Robin pulling Nami to the edge of the bed, so that her hips sunk down at an angle, it would have looked painful. But then, that had been what had clued Luffy into the plan. Robin had set it up in such a way that her own straddling of Nami’s slightly sinking hips angled her and Nami’s intimate bits at very close to identical angles.

The perfect angle, as it happened, for him to be able to switch between them easily.

Chuckling that Robin had managed all of this while still far from completely sober, Luffy was more than happy to oblige the open invitation, though he got a bit of teasing revenge by sinking his throbbing erection in Nami’s pussy first. Not that he left Robin unattended, filling her with two fingers and causing them to start vibrating with sound waves. The moans of both girls were music to Luffy’s ears as he began to thrust, not bothering to start slow, given how wet Nami already was. His redhead was very obviously on edge from everything Robin had been doing to her since clear back in the tavern, so much so that it barely took a dozen thrusts for her pussy to clamp down on Luffy’s cock as she half-screamed into Robin’s sex. Luffy didn’t let that stop him from thrusting, barely slowly as he forcefully extended Nami’s climax…only to pull out a dozen thrusts later and switch.

A single rough-but-precise thrust hilted him completely in Robin’s clone, and he was vaguely aware that a few of the arms working Nami over vanished, Robin nearing her limit as she tried to maintain both bodies despite what both Luffy and Nami were doing to her. Grinning at that realization, Luffy made it worse for her a few seconds later by gathering lube from Nami’s gushing pussy and using it to work first a thumb, then two fingers, into the clone’s ass.

That was finally too much for Robin, as both the clone and her original howled, spasming and gushing their own sticky wetness all over Luffy’s cock and Nami’s tongue. That finally cost their older lover too much focus and the clone vanished into her signature rose petals as the original went slightly glassy-eyed. Smirking at having gotten both the girls to cum before losing it himself, Luffy promply changed angle again, enjoying Nami’s renewed cries of pleasure as he plunged back into her pussy. He was going to reach his own limit soon…for the first round.

After that? Well, he had plenty of stamina these days, and so did every one of his lovers. Since they didn’t have anywhere to be, Luffy made the decision then and there that they weren’t going to be done until he’d planted a thick load in at least four holes, and preferably six. Plus perhaps one or two more over the two gorgeous pairs of heaving tits now filling a significant portion of his view…

-Lemon Ends Here-

... ... ... ... ... ... ...

A/N 1: I hope you enjoyed Sinners Refuge :-p! I thought Starfall would be a interesting place to run into a few of the old Roger Pirates who haven't been seen in canon. We don't know a LOT about them, but I used what little we do know to try fleshing them out.

A/N 2: To be honest, the ???s on Luffy's Hat were always something of failsafe in case Oda pulled a Nika again and made the Hat more important than just a symbol for Luffy. Things have gone far enough in the main canon story since then that such seems less likely, so I decided to give at least one of the 'Mystery' features of the Hat an actual purpose. As its been shown a couple of times in canon that it's possible to 'tie' bursts of Haki up for later use (into a literal knot in one case), I figured it was a logical tool for Roger to have come up with, then passed onto Shanks when he was nearing his end and decided he no longer needed it.

A/N 3: Robin's Devil Fruit is seriously tempting to write tons of lemons with. Seriously, that might be one of the most smut-capable powers of all time. Yet, since I try to only include around 2k in lemons for every 20k or so of story (likely actually averaging less, since they didn't start until late in the East Blue arc), I haven't done that much with it. I figured having a little fun with her powers, which doubled as a good way to show how far along she is in training her Devil Fruit, was a good bit of additional filler for Sinner's Refuge.