"Welcome! Welcome! Come in!" A rusty voice called out.
Robin smiled at the young man sitting behind the counter of the little shop she had found. "Hello." She said, as she looked around the store.
Her and the crew had come to a new island in the New World, and she was pleasantly surprised to find that it was a rather peaceful one with a relaxed little town on it. After having to fight their way here all throughout the previous islands of the New World, this idyllic village was a welcome change of pace. So it only made sense that the crew would split up and go exploring on their own and, despite Sanji's protests, Robin had gone off on her own and ended up here, a lone little shop of trinkets.
"How much for this one?" Robin asked, holding up a rather plain, but chic, looking dark bracelet. She thought it looked nice with her little black dress and white hat, the same ones she had worn to Dressrosa some time ago.
"Oh, that one?" The shopkeeper looked at the item, having to quickly look away from Robin as he did. He blushed as he answered, "Uh, h-hold on..." He then went into the back of the store to look it up, it seemed.
Robin brushed it off, she was used to being stared at. It was a pain sometimes, but only really ever when she'd been recognized as a member of the Straw Hat crew. Robin hoped now wasn't one of those times. Thankfully, however, she hadn't seen a single wanted poster of herself on the island. Though it was odd for to recall that now, as now that she thought about it, there were posters for the rest of the crew, just not her.
Before Robin could ponder about that any further, the shopkeeper returned, and put a mirror up on the counter.
"Would you like to see it on yourself first, ma, ma'am?" He stuttered.
"Why, yes. Thank you." Robin said with a warm smile. She put the bracelet on and held up her arm in the mirror. It was pretty, she thought, but now the price. "How much?"
"Actually, just, um, forget about that one. Something like this might be more your, er, style?" The shopkeeper held up another accessory for Robin to look at, a little necklace. "Or, eh, just forget about forgetting about it, and take them both for, hmm, one hundred berries? H-How's that sound?" The man seemed to want to make a sale, but his nervousness was obvious.
Robin chuckled at the young man's display, but then smiled as she took a good look at the necklace he was holding. It was a small, green jeweled necklace with five jewels at the bottom, with the middle one a little larger than the rest.
Seeing her interest in it, the shopkeeper handed Robin the necklace, his hands shaking a little bit as he did. Robin paid it no mind and simply put it on, and posed some in the mirror, looking at it from various angle. She had to admit, it did look rather nice.
"It's lovely. I think I'll take them both." Robin said, handing the clerk the money. Buying into such a cheap ploy wasn't something that she usually did, but buying something sporadically felt good at times, as she'd come to realize in this second half of the grand line, with Nami's help and insistence for her to treat herself, of course.
"Please, ma'am, can't I interest you in anything else?" The man asked. He pulled some more trinkets out for her to look at. "This here is-"
"No, thank you. I really must be going now." Robin cut him off. He just stared back at her, fumbling with another piece of jewelry, as if he was trying to think of something to say to get her to stay. But Robin simply smiled at him and turned to leave.
"Um, er..." Robin could hear the man behind the counter stammer. But she paid him no real mind and kept walking.
"Thank you again." Robin said as she reached out to open the door and leave. But as she did, she noticed something odd. Her hand missed the doorknob she was about to grab. The raven-haired archeologist felt foolish for a moment, then tried again, this time grabbing a hold of the thing. She wanted to just leave then and there, but now she thought that her eyes seemed to be playing tricks on her, as it looked like the door was larger then before.
Robin blinked her eyes to try and adjust to whatever was causing this. But when she opened them again, the door seemed to be even bigger, and not only that, it seemed to be creeping upwards at an increasingly fast pace. Robin gasped as everything around her grew exponentially larger, inadvertently letting go of the door to cover her mouth as she did.
What's going on here? Could this be an enemy's trap, or... Robin wondered, already about piecing together the morbid answer.
Robin turned around and saw that the whole store was getting bigger all around her. But, Robin wasn't even sure that such a thing was possible, except for a possible devil fruit power. But then again, what use would it be for a power user to grow this store? Unless, Robin reasoned as the answer clicked in her head and she understood what had happened, she had shrunk, and by the looks of things, she was still shrinking!
Oh dear, who would've thought that I'd meet my end by being shrunken by an enemy I never saw coming... Robin thought as she continued to shrink.
Already the incredible shrinking Robin was only about a foot tall. She realized her situation was a bad one, as she was now far to small to escape the store, but she remained as calm and collected as ever, never even stepping into a fighting pose even as her height dropped further. Instead, she simply turned back around to confirm her suspicions. The door was indeed too big for her to ever even think about opening now, yet she was still too large herself to crawl under the gap below.
I could wait a while to see if I shrink enough to get out from under the door. Hmm, but I might end up shrinking into nothingness before I can get any help... Robin contemplated her options in her head.
"Not so fast!" A loud voice shouted. Robin turned around quickly to look for the source of it, but before she could, she felt something huge pick her up, then cover her in darkness. For a brief moment she felt herself get whisked up into the air, then the hand holding her opened up and she could that it was the nervous shopkeeper who had picked her up. His seemingly defining trait held true as he held Robin, with his hand shaking nervously.
The man chuckled to himself as he stared down at her miniature form with a look that was a mix between disbelief, and glee. It was a look that confused even Robin, and she wasn't quite sure what to make of it, not that she really had time to make anything of anything yet. But right now this young man was the only person there, and she wanted to know if he would help her or not...
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
More by this author
