Last Words, Awkwardness and Worry

__________ POV Narration __________ 

Robin looked at the skies above with a slightly concerned gaze.

She still remembered the last conversation she held with her captain and the Enel together.

Just as they were about to take off towards the Holy Land, to deliver that preemptive strike to shake their defences...

"I'm feeling quite good about this war, honestly~" Luffy stretched slightly, his straw hat still firmly on his head, as he had vowed to give it back to Shanks only after the war. 

"Keep a positive mind, we still don't know the extent of our opponent's abilities, some things are just impossible to plan around." Enel was also seemingly in a good mood, not dressed formally like usual.

He knew that he'd ruin a good suit if he wore it to war, so he just went topless, in his baggy training pants. 

He also didn't bother to wear any shoes, as he had grown to the point where he'd break them by delivering a good kick, he didn't feel like worrying enough about them to coat them in haki. 

He wanted to minimize any and all factors that could drain his stamina in any way. 

He had also gathered an overwhelming amount of metals to carry around, preparing to use it quite a bit in case his lightning proved ineffective. 

Although his accessories now looked golden, they were, in fact, a mish-mash of dozens of metals, combined into the most durable and resistant metal that Enel could come up with whilst still keeping an acceptable malleability without expending too much energy.

Luffy had also, in his own way, prepared for a long fight. His preparation mostly consisted of stuffing himself with enough food to feed a medium-sized army. He had really raided Shiki's cellar, stealing any and all meats and eating them overnight.

The Sun God also ate most rare meats that the Golden Lion had prepared for himself, much to his dismay. 

While the two of them got ready, Robin was among the people that walked up to them.

Her interactions with Enel were few and far between even after she had been returned to her proper age by Bonney. 

The Lightning Emperor was beyond busy, planning out the actual events of the war whilst scouting the Holy Land ahead of time using his wide-ranging radar.

"Are you two... ready?" Was the only thing she managed to say as she looked at their wide backs.

"As ready as we'll ever be." Enel looked back at her with a reassuring smile. 

"I think we'll whoop IM-whatever's ass~ Shishishi~" Luffy was a lot bolder, his now more advanced age did little to change his playful personality. 

But he did change quite a bit in other matters. He gave the two of them a look and smiled. Giving Robin a wink. 

"I'll go ahead! Meet you there, long ears!" Luffy then vanished, turning into a blur as he skipped from cloud to cloud, each of them becoming a trampoline for him to enjoy in his heart's contest. 

After spending so long training, the Strawhat could use his reality-bending abilities whilst in his regular state, although with quite a few limitations. But that was to be expected, after all his rubbery body was also an effect of the Sun God's power. 

Enel sighed as he looked at him leave. He turned to Robin, giving her an awkward smile.

"Now then... I guess it's time to address the elephant in the room..." The Emperor had already somewhat established that the two of them were in a relationship, but his coldness towards her as of late was not something he was proud of.

It had a lot to do with the fact that she refused to allow him to look at her during their reunion on Raftel. He felt as if she didn't trust him enough to let him look at her, to see her face after such a long time.

It felt somehow even worse when he realised that it had actually been decades for the Straw Hats. 

"Elephant? You mean that you've been too busy to give your girlfriend any 'private time' the past few weeks?" The Strawhat Archeologist gave Enel a cheeky smile as she spoke out. 

"I did have my hands full. But that's no excuse, not a good one anyway." The Sky King shook his head as he turned back around to look at the horizon.

Robin also walked forward, standing by his side as she took in the view. The calm before the storm. 

"No, I understand... I was there for a few meetings, quite a lot of... stuff to deal with there." Robin's voice sounded quite amused as she spoke, remembering the state of affairs in that meeting room. It really was like a cartoon at times. 

She did try to meet him in private a few times since then, but Enel was always busy, the war room was filled to the brim with strong... 'characters'... 

Really, sometimes Enel felt like he was wrangling troubled children. If he was not present then a fight was bound to break out.

Either between some of the pirates(Shiki mostly, Shanks playfully, Big Mom unironically) and some of the marines(Garp, Akainu, Zephyr), between the pirates and the... pirates... 

They were an unruly bunch, no point in putting it any other way. It couldn't be helped, they were all powerful people from opposite walks of life, who would not even have been in the same room together if not for Enel, let alone fight on the same side in a giant war. 

Thankfully the revolutionaries were quite chill. But even then, Dragon could never handle Garp's temper, it was like putting a coughing child up against a nuke. 

Even if Dragon could be argued to be stronger, he'd sooner kill himself than seriously raise his hand at his father... No matter how many fists of love he received over the head. 

So, the task of peacekeeping always fell on Enel's lap. Francisco did try to help sometimes, but only really made things worse due to his past. 

And now, they were here. At the last possible moment, they could speak before the war. Finally getting some alone time thanks to Luffy gaining some perspective in human relations over the years. 

"Enough about that... Before I go, I'll just say one thing... Be safe. We will meet after the war." Enel smiled at her, his gaze turning warm for a moment.

"Safe? We are bound to dominate the battlefield, especially with the forces you worked so hard to gather... But the deciding factor will be the two of you. Whatever happens, just make sure that the two of you survive." Robin looked at Enel with a similar gaze, though hers held quite a bit of admiration and concern.

Sensing her emotions, Enel couldn't help but chastise himself internally for a moment. He was a leader, he needed to exude more confidence. 

Internally he was already certain of his win, he just was not quite as used to expressing that outwardly as Luffy did. 

"We can't afford to just survive. We will win!" 

Those were his parting words, after saying that he bent down, planted a quick kiss on her lips and finished in a flash of lightning, following Luffy's tracks. 

The exchange did give her quite a bit of confidence, but seeing the battle in the sky still made her shudder.

It was hard for her to comprehend how the battle was actually going, it was too far out of their reach.

But the ripped pieces of clothes she saw falling from the sky all seemed to be long to either Luffy or Enel... 

Then she saw something else fall... Something heavier, it fell with such momentum that it outright damaged the head of one of the Elders, falling like a meteor into the ground. 

It was a long and pale, muscled arm... Adorned with a golden gauntlet. 

She, much like everyone else, didn't know how to react at first... But one thing was for sure...

Things were not going quite well up in the skies. 

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Hope you liked the chapter!

Again, sorry for any mistakes, not at home, am in the middle of the countryside attending a wedding. Most of the latest chapter was written on the phone in the 8 hour bus ride over here (fokin 3 hours of purely sitting still in traffic)

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