One Piece Commission - Solitary Exploration (Patreon)

Long before Nico Robin joined the straw hat crew as a result of their exploits in Alabasta, even before she joined Crocodile the warlord's Baroque Works, the raven haired archaeologist would every now and then spend some time working on a freelance basis. Her many years of underground dealings and piracy had honed her instincts and battle skills, allowing her to easily take on and complete the most harrowing of bounty hunting requests.

Therefore, the young, tall, dark and gorgeous woman sometimes spent several months on her own, collecting large cash rewards hunting down people that didn't want to be found for others that didn't want to be known, or tracking down whereabouts of prized possessions that had been lost to time, only existing in stories.

When the world government would pick up her trail again, she’d search for another organization to blend into, biding her time to once again start exploring the grand line on her own terms.

This was such a period of her life. A few months back the young historian with the bronze skin had escaped a large major mafia group just before it was incarcerated. The money she’d taken along had allowed her to spend her time in relative comfort whilst preparing for her next exploration.

Because the historian had long since been meaning to go on an outing purely for her own benefit. No request from an underground broker, no contracts with pirates, just plain old curiosity about something that had driven the researches of Ohara to extinction (or rather, execution). Almost half a year ago Robin had come across a solid clue to the location of an item more important to her than anything on the grand line: A poneglyph, one of the illustrious cubes containing the world's history.

The young archaeologist had come across this clue by chance, but due to a group of marines being hot on her trail she had been forced to postpone following it up, and had to lay low for a while by joining the mafia.

With the recent arrest of her temporary allies, Robin had managed to throw the men of justice off her scent and now finally gotten the chance to set sail for the small, unknown island her clue had led her to.

Armed with just an eternal pose, her trusty backpack and the clothes she was wearing, the tall young woman set foot on the jungle island.

Those clothes incidentally consisted out of black high-heeled knee boots and some dark purple jeans.  From her waist up she was wearing a black top that had the outlook of a corset and which only reached half way down her stomach, leaving her midriff exposed. The corset had orange strings criss-crossed along the front, meaning quite a lot of her considerable cleavage was bare. But the historian didn't mind, since she was on her own right now anyways. And even if she did meet others, the revealing attire helped keep any eyes glued to her impeccable body and away from her infamous face.

Over that skimpy little number, she wore a light purple coat with black tortoise-shell motif to cover herself up somewhat, and protect her from harsher weather conditions. Luckily for her, the island in question offered extremely pleasant weather. The sun was burning so hot in fact Robin was forced to take off her overcoat, folding it neatly and keeping it in her backpack in case she’d need to spend the night on the island.

“Hmmm. A few days in this weather and my tan might turn even darker.” She chuckled.

The moment she set foot on land, Robin made way for the thick jungle canopy, following her lead which told her she'd find an abandoned temple dating back to the lost century.  The temple itself was shrouded in mystery, much like the poneglyph it supposedly contained, with intricate architecture far beyond its time and a vast network of tunnels running deep underneath it. Supposedly, that would be where she'd find the ancient historical relic she was searching for…

The historian meticulously explored the island, looking for any possible clues and historical artefacts that would aid her research. She made her way through the jungle without much difficulty, given that she had navigated quite a lot of dense canopy before in her many searches for historical sites. Her smooth navigation was made all the easier thanks to her great control over the hana hana fruit, making it possible to summon eyes and arms ahead of her so she could keep the way clear and safe.

Eventually though, Robin made her way towards the centre of the island, where according to her tip the entrance to the vast ruin laid. She’d also gathered intelligence about a certain riddle needing to be solved before gaining entrance, but even touring most of the island hadn’t landed her any further info about that.

“Guess I’ll just have to play it by ear.” She said confidently. “Then again I do love a good mystery, so I don’t mind very much.”

The very first thing she noticed walking up to the stairway leading to the massive gate was a writing on the wall above it. It clearly was an ancient language; one she hadn’t yet come across but did seem familiar.

“Those symbols look similar…” She said to herself, pulling out a notebook and scanning through the pages until she found it. “Ahah! There we are…”

Using a couple of different dialects from native tribes on islands close by, Robin managed to translate what was written above the entrance:

“Contained within these walls is an ancient relic. Both powerful and dangerous, yet in dire need of protection. Those unworthy of its secrets: turn back now, or face its judgment.”

“It must be talking about the poneglyph.” The raven haired woman surmised. “These ruins were built to store and defend whatever knowledge it contains, perhaps even details about the void century… So the warning from my informant about the traps probably wasn’t scaremongering.”

The raven haired woman climbed the stairs to examine the door and find a way to open it. Looking closely, she could spot five tiles spread out over the door were somehow out of place. The markings didn’t seem to add up with their surroundings…

“Hmmm.” Robin mused, reaching out and taking hold of one of them to try and turn it around. When she did, she noticed those tiles had been mounted to some sort of mechanism, each tile able to take up 8 positions.

“So it’s a combination lock? But no numbers, just a visual match-up needed…”

After playing around with one or two of the dials however, she noticed not a single position made the tile’s symbols and markings fit with their surrounding depictions. However, after fiddling around some more, she noticed the tiles could actually be removed!

“My! This is quite the intricate puzzle. I first have to place the tiles in the right order, before turning them to their right position. To think they could set up a visual puzzle with several layers… I absolutely must gain entrance, think of the knowledge that’s holed up in there!” The historian said enthusiastically. This was going to be one of her most rewarding archaeological adventures ever!

It took her some doing, but after carefully analysing and redrawing the markings on the tiles on paper to match them to their surroundings, the clever historian figured out the combination and gained entrance to the temple.

Once inside the exploring archaeologist immediately entered a large hallway. It was dark, dusty and eerily quiet, all of it testament to how long this place had been abandoned for. After a quick scan of the walls Robin found and lit a torch, treading carefully whilst the hollow echo of her footsteps reverberated across the large, seemingly endless hallway. The flickering light of the torch cast wild and seemingly alive shadows on the cobweb and moss covered walls

But the brave woman was undaunted as she continued down the alley, soon entering a large area so high and wide the limited light of the torch couldn’t light up the whole room at once.

As she stepped towards the middle lifted her torch higher to peer around the vast chamber. The walls were structurally intact, and covered in paintings she didn't recognise despite her vast archaeological knowledge.

 "This could be an entirely unknown civilization.” She surmised. “No doubt the poneglyph here will be able to tell me more about them: Their culture, their science, what made them die out…"

More curious and intrigued with every step she took, Robin bravely traversed the rest of the room, so intent on discovering the secrets of these ruins and analysing every single scrap of paint on the walls she never even noticed treading on a small protruding rock which she dismissed as a piece of debris, but was actually a small lever.

 Before the historian made it to the other side, a clinking racket began to sound from behind the walls, as if something vast had been set into motion.

The dark haired woman turned around on the spot, holding her torch high to examine the room and see what was happening. 

To her shock, the walls were starting to shift around! Whipping up whirls of sand lying along the ground and obscuring her vision. But despite that, she still spotted it: both entrances to the room were closing!

Time to get out. Her survival reflexes immediately sprang into action, speeding towards the exit that would take her further into the temple. Because despite the obvious peril, she still wanted to satiate her curiosity.

To buy time for herself to get out, Robin summoned arms to slow down the wall’s progress, but the force was too great and her limbs soon buckled under the tremendous weight. Thinking quickly, she changed her approach and used a stream of arms along the floor to quickly move a large, thick brick beam that had seemingly dropped from the ceiling a long time ago. The arms rolled it along the floor and wedged it into the doorway, keeping it open.

But it was only a temporary hold up, mere seconds after shoving it into place, the brick beam began showing cracks, and the sound echoing around the room told Robin the mechanism propelling the wall hadn't stopped either.

I need to hurry! She realized as the beam already began making splintering sounds, dropping the torch so she could speed up. The second it brushed along the ground, the whipping sands extinguished the flame, leaving Robin running blind. But the experienced historian had mapped out her route already, sprinting straight to where she knew the hole in the wall was.

The cracking of the beam began to swell louder, telling her she only had seconds left…

Almost there… The dark haired woman said with gritted teeth, speeding up yet again and making a jump with all her might into the darkness before her at the exact same moment she heard the beam give way under the unrelenting pressure of the room.

For a full 7,5 seconds she soared through the air, though to her it felt like time passed in slow motion.

By closely listening to the sounds passing her by, Robin knew she had made it! She'd gone and leapt through the remaining opening, landing and skidding a few more feet across the corridor before finally coming to a stop under the loud, crushing sounds of the walls stopping their grinding advance.

The historian crawled to her feet, dusted herself off, and gingerly walked back through the pitch black darkness towards the door opening. But as she'd suspected, upon feeling her way around she discovered the walls had entirely moved in front of it, sealing of the room and her way back.

She took a deep breath. "Well, nowhere to go but forward…"

So she did. The raven haired woman treaded carefully as she moved deeper down the dark hallway, making her way further inside the ruins. Eventually she came to find herself at a crossroads: left or right, which one to choose?

The choice wasn't all that difficult however, since she could spot a source of light coming from the right path.

"Well, it would be nice to see some more of this infrastructure. So right it is." She reasoned, moving along.

Soon enough she made it to another room, a smaller one this time. And just like the faint light had told her from the crossroads, this one was indeed lit up. But not by candles, there were a strange type crystals embedded into the walls and ceiling giving off a faint bluish light.

"Light without oil or even flame? This technology is similar to if not beyond our current level! How could this civilization have managed this so long ago?" She said astonished, walking deeper inside and studying the walls. Those were inscribed and painted with various strange patterns and symbols, but only rudimentary depictions and phrases.

“This must have dated back to the very beginning of this civilization, perhaps this room remained for certain ceremonies and festivals. I should try and locate some sort of repository. The poneglyph will help me no doubt, but these people must have some stored more of their culture and knowledge in other places… Maybe if I continue further into the ruins.”

But as she traversed the room, suddenly sounds of things starting to move began coming from various directions. Judging from the sound itself, whatever was making it was small but numerous. Listening closely Robin thought it resembled a slithering of some sorts, so her mind immediately sprung to snakes headed her way from all the different small openings placed around the room where the ceiling met the walls.

But when the perpetrators finally showed up, the historian immediately saw they weren’t snakes at all. The light filling the room wasn’t all that strong, so it took the archaeologist a while to recognise what she was seeing.  They were… ribbons? No, they were bandages!

“What in the world?!” Robin exclaimed surprised as the bandages slowly crawled out of their holes, slithering down a foot or two across the walls. How is that possible?

Robin backed away a step, erring on the side of caution at seeing these apparently sentient pieces of fabric. Her instincts were telling her to turn around and find a way back. But upon summoning a pair of eyes to plan her escape route, she discovered there were more beige, raffled bandages snaking their way to her from the pitch black hallway.

“Hmm, so going back isn’t really an option then… I suppose my best shot really is to find out more about this place.” The raven haired woman realized, turning her attention to the exit leading further into the ruins instead, whilst trying to keep track of the numerous bandages creeping closer and closer. 

However, when most of the small ribbons had reached the ground, all of them suddenly froze into place for a few seconds.

But before Robin could take advantage of this and make a break for it, they came to life again, jumping from their respective spots and flying through the air, each one headed straight for her like a pack of vicious cobras!

"An attack?!" Robin yelled as she tried to dodge all of the incoming projectiles, removing her backpack and swinging it around to stave them off. Can I light another torch to burn off those things? The archaeologist strategized, trying to think of an effective weapon to defend herself against so many assailants at once. My backpack isn’t going to keep me safe forever…

And she had been right, as one ribbon soon caught the bag and yanked it out of her hands, while others began creeping along her beautiful body from whichever point they first came into contact with and started heading for her arms.

Naturally she tried resisting the ribbons, pulling against them as they forced her arms to move beyond her will. But no matter how much she tried to force them, the ribbons stubbornly forced her arms to move behind her back. On top of that, the fabric of these ribbons was incredibly resilient, and despite her using every ounce of strength at her disposal to rip any of them, she couldn’t create a single tear to exploit.

When force didn’t seem to have any effect, Robin tried switching to quickly unwinding the bandages again so she could free up her arms and move on, but these silk-like layers pulled themselves so tight along her body she couldn't get them to budge at all!

Try as she might to prevent it, slowly but surely her arms were brought closer and closer together, pinned behind her back.

“It seems those who built this temple truly did not take kindly to trespassers.” Robin grunted, still retaining her usual calm and trying to think of a way out. I can't remove these on my own… Good thing I always have back-up.

Robin swiftly summoned half a dozen arms from her own body to help free herself, pulling at the ribbons and creating enough slack for her to slip her arms out.

But before she could make enough progress even more bandages like the ones entangling her emerged to wrap up her new limbs so they were helpless to move as well. And no matter how many of her arms she summoned, the bandages just became equally numerous to compensate.

Eventually she reached her limit, unable to call forth any more helping hands and with all the ones present unable to budge.

After a heavy sigh, the raven haired explorer dissipated her summoned limbs so she could recover her stamina. Sadly for her this gave off-white and beige pieces of sentient material the opportunity to completely and definitively wrap up her arms, holding them pinned behind her back with the palms of her hands pressed flat against one another and also wrapped up in bandaging.

In the end Robin found her arms completely immobile, stuck in a strict arm binder covering her all the way from her shoulders to the tips of her fingers and with no slack whatsoever.

However strangely enough, as soon as Robin’s arms were fully covered, the remaining bandaging remained quietly lying around, leaving the historian alone to test her confines. Though she barely needed any testing to discover its rigidity, nor how escape proof the thing was. Not even her devil fruit powers were any help for her, because any time she summoned another hand the bandages would come back and wrap it up into uselessness.

Having calmed down a bit after being left relatively free, the tall dark historian began doing what she does best: Thinking.

“So these ribbons or whatever they are have been designed to incapacitate any form of intruder… I wonder how they work; could they respond to body heat? Or maybe movement?... In any case, my first move should be to get this thing off.”

The raven haired woman once more tried wriggling her arms out of the strict silk-like bandaging, but no such luck. No matter how much she trashed around inside, the armbinder kept her arms firmly pinned down and utterly immobile.

“Haah. Haah. Haaaah” She sighed, panting a little. “This is a bit of a setback. I suppose I should switch goals, look for clues to this strange security feature before I move on with my exploration…”

So Robin turned her attention to the walls again, treading carefully whilst keeping an eye on the bandages still lying scattered across the floor whilst she examined all of the writing and depictions under the room’s eerie blue light.

Whilst making her way around the room, she noticed something: Each she moved toward the exit, the ribbons lying around on the floor would begin shaking and rattling on the spot again. Continue to move for the exit, and they would actually start creeping towards her. The archaeologist was certain that if she tried making a run for it, the bandages would once again spring to life and assault her.

Wanting to test her hypotheses further, she tried moving towards the door she came from. This time the bandages didn’t respond at all.

Her conclusion: This room was meant to stall any intruders. As long as she didn’t try moving forward, this safety mechanism wouldn’t react…

That didn’t help her current situation though, since the previous room was closed off! 

So moving back is impossible, but moving forward only gets me into more trouble? Whoever these people were, they sure had a sick way of trapping any assailants.

The raven haired woman looked around the room.

Very well the, I’ll keep scanning this room whilst keeping my distance from the exit. Up to now the walls have been filled with art and markings, as is this room. If I could just find something referring to this security system, I might find a way to deactivate it…

As she scanned the walls, taking care to only move around when needed, she came upon a passage of text describing these tombs’ guardians: lifeless yet sentient creatures which trap every intruder by enveloping them.

“Well that’s for sure. I’m feeling pretty ‘enveloped’ alright. Let’s hope there’s also something about how to shut it off.”

The passage continued describing the workings of the trap, explaining it was only meant to stall robbers until the guardians could collect them and put them on trial.

“It’s safe to say that won’t be happening, whoever lived here has long since passed away.”

Much more useful to Robin were the next few lines on the wall, which mentioned these bonds she was trapped in were impossible to escape, except by using the release command, which apparently only ‘the faithful ones’ could know.

“So it’s a password that can get me out of here… And its deeply connected to the culture that once lived here...” The raven haired woman analysed. “I suppose my best bet would be to study the walls and artefacts some more, look for clues. There’s a high probability the password is a name or object revered by these people.”

So the historian searched for symbols which frequently returned, depictions that stood out, everything that might give her a hint into the minds of these people time had long since forgotten.

She even tried summoning eyes all over the place, hoping to speed up the process. But to her disappointment, the bandages spotted those as well, and soon covered them up.

“Hrmm. Fine then, the old fashioned way it is.” She mumbled rather annoyed.

Though even at this slower rate, eventually she ran out of wall to study.

The raven haired woman sighed. “I fear the answer might lie in the next room. Which leads me to a new problem to solve: Getting out of this one…”

For now, Robin remained seated in the middle of the room, hoping to completely recover her strength without stirring any of her remaining assailants to life and planning to make a break for the exit hoping the trap would be limited to this room alone. Whilst she was sitting there, the tanned young woman also began thinking back of how she’d been overpowered and tried to recall any details of use.

For instance, she now had a pretty good idea of the speed those bandages could reach. In addition to that she realized that any 'extra' limbs would be targeted with priority over her true body.

So the archaeologist hatched a plan: When she would eventually make her break, she’d summon as many distractions as possible, both to help free herself from her arm binder and along the floor some distance away from her, hoping the assaulting bandages would be too busy wrapping up those to focus on her main body.

But before I try out my strategy, lets first try and make some headway regarding my actual escape. I have two or three good guesses as to what the password could be. I’ll try one out to see what the effect is, right or wrong… 

“WHADITA!” She shouted, hoping she’d gotten the correct pronunciation of the word meaning ‘truth‘. After all you could only learn so much from written words. The local dialect wasn’t something she’d had a chance to hear in person.

But as she had feared, the bandages didn’t shrink back. There however was a brief moment they all rattled like vicious snakes, almost as if to warn Robin not to make another mistake.

“Don’t tell me I only have a finite number of tries? This place is becoming almost too modern.” She said, even chuckling despite her perilous predicament. “But that settles it: I must make it to the next room and collect more information about these ruins and its builders. If I’m only getting a limited number of tries, I have to make each one count.”

So, the raven haired woman very gingerly moved towards the exit, paying close attention to the remaining stalker ribbons and ready to summon her distractions at a moment’s notice.

When she was just a few more feet away from the hallway, half a dozen bandages finally made their move and shot out from the bottom and both sides of the exit.

NOW! Robin realized as she made dozens of hands sprout all over the floor, forcing most of the assaulting ribbons to divert their attention to the waving hands instead.

Her diversion did the trick… for a while.

But her surplus limbs were getting wrapped up far more quickly than she’d anticipated -mainly due to there being even more bandages than during the first assault that trapped her in the armbinder- and before she knew it, Robin was once again the centre of attention.

The bandages began snaking their way along the ground, closing in on the brave historian with each passing second.

The historian began making sidesteps to avoid getting snared by the three bands of silk closest to her, jumping to avoid a fourth.

But almost as though the chamber had read her mind, two more strings of bandaging dove from either side of the gate leading out of the room, and entangled both her ankles to trip her up.

“Aaah!” Robin yelped as she crashed onto her knees and skidded along for about a foot, finally landing on the ground chest first. But she didn’t remain there, not at all.

I’m not falling here! Not when I’m so close!  She thought determined, trying to crawl to her feet as quickly as she could… but with pinned down arms and ensnared legs all she succeeded in was kicking up dust as the bandages wrapping her ankles began to climb up her legs, trapping them together.

The password! I have to guess it now! I wish I had more time but this’ll have to do.

“Harandi!” Robin yelled loudly, falling back on an ancient language she knew was spoken on the surrounding islands. Loosely translated, it meant ‘release’. A bit of a long shot, but she didn’t have time to weigh her options.

But to her surprise, her assailants seemed to hesitate for just a few second before starting to move again.

I’m getting close.

The archaeologist remained with the language, but tried various other command like words such as ‘deactivate’ or ‘desist ‘. But none had as much effect as her first attempt. And her time was running out…

Because in addition to her legs becoming bound up, one more small ribbon of silk was slowly creeping up to her head, no doubt planning to wrap up her mouth and bar her from trying out any more possible passwords.

Robin’s eyes widened. I can’t let that happen!

But none of her further attempts made the ribbons respond, let alone retreat. And with her supply of free arms dwindling with each second, the almost predatory bandages were cutting off her escape routes one at a time.

My last shot… Which word do I choose?!

“AR-mmpffff!!!” The raven haired woman tried to cry out one last time, but the bandages moved too fast for her, slithering around her lips and tightening down to clamp her jaws shut. And despite her shaking her head and flailing about as best she could in an attempt to dislodge it again, the silk remained firmly pressed over her lips.

"Mppfff!!" She yelled at the top of her lungs, but she barely got an echo bouncing off the walls as the wrap gag began covering her entire lower face, stuck on so tight she could barely move her mouth let alone actually get a word out.

Robin began kicking at her silken assailants, rolling along the floor in an effort to get away or scrape and cut some of the material. But despite her valiant struggle, Robin soon found her entire body becoming wrapped in the sleek bindings.

One of the seemingly infinite strings had coiled itself around both her legs, starting at her hips and reaching all the way down until even her boots were covered in the smooth but strong material. 

Another layer of bandaging had begun ensnaring her upper body, starting at her waist and moving up to her cover even her shoulders. Her already trapped arms were simply wrapped up along with her shapely body, pinning them flat against her back in addition to keeping them immobile inside the arm binder. The material was wrapping her up so tightly it actually served to squish her large breasts a little, making her groan in discomfort as she found breathing just a tad harder.

This stuff is becoming a bit too strict for my tastes… She thought, doing her best to keep her cool and think of a way out. I suppose I might as well try brute force for once. It’s not my style, but right now any plan will do.

So the hana hana fruit withdrew every single hand she still had working away and switched to an all-out offensive. She summoned 100 arms -her maximum- all at once to begin clawing and tearing at her bindings, some of them picking up sharp stones to cry and cut through them, all in the hopes of releasing herself, at least enough to make a break for it and leave this room. 

But just like she surrounded herself in a torrent of arms, the ruins seemed to have an equally huge wave of bandaging materials ready, coming out of every nook and cranny spread around the room.

In less than 60 seconds, each and every hand she called forth had been balled into a fist and bandaged up to remain that way, leaving the raven haired woman seemingly surrounded in a field of beige and white flowers waving in the breeze rather than flailing limbs.

She had to face the despairing truth: her devil fruit powers were completely useless against this attack, and now the historian herself was helpless to prevent herself from getting completely wrapped up!

Not that that was enough to make her quit. For as long as she could move even an inch, she kept flailing and thrashing, even lifting herself off the ground once in a bid to kick at yet another annoying bandaging ribbon slithering her way. 

But in the end, nothing she did even slowed down her capture. And just 2 minutes after hitting the floor, the infamous Nico Robin was lying down in the middle of the room, completely immobile and trapped in a smooth silky cocoon perfectly outlining every curve of her gorgeous body.

Having exhausted every single means of delaying her capture or procuring an escape, Robin limply lied down on the ground, trying to catch her breath.

This is quite the predicament… She thought to herself, having a little trouble remaining calm but forcing herself to keep her mind at work. No doubt this is where the guardians used to walk in and take away the trespasser without having to lift a finger… But that’s not going to happen this time around. Though whether that’s a good or a bad thing, I can’t say.

With her restraints now in place and no more coming her way, the dark haired captive decided to try wriggling her way out as a first plan of attack. She reasoned that the bandages, now fully withdrawn, wouldn’t come out anymore unless she were to decide on once again moving further into the ruins. She was however planning the exact opposite: retreat and come up with a solid defence against this intricate trap before trying her luck again.

First though, she’d have to get out of her mummification. And that proved to be a lot harder than she’d hoped. Because no matter how hard she struggled, not a single slip of silk would dislodge, and she remained firmly pinned down on the ground.

She kept kicking her legs, straining her muscles to the point of her groaning loudly from the stress, but the ribbons wouldn’t budge. The same happened when she tried rubbing her arms inside the armbinder, hoping to create some leeway to pull at least one arm free. But with both the armbinder and the extra layer of bandages pinning her arms to her back, some meek wriggles were all she could muster.

After almost 20 minutes of tirelessly grunting, rolling and cursing, the dark skinned beauty lay on the floor equally bound as when she got started, panting heavily.

Okay then, new plan. Let’s look for some tools…

Using the dim light provided by the blue crystals, she scanned the floor until she noticed a few broken clay bots and a bit of metalwork glimmering at the far end of the room. If that metal was sharp, it might be her way out of here!

Robin clambered to her feet and began hopping towards the makeshift tools, thanking the stars they were lying in the direction of where she came from and not where she had wanted to go, because the bandages remained stored away despite her now very active movements.

However, the room itself provided her with more than enough barriers. Hopping around with your limbs pinned tight to your body isn’t all that easy to begin with, but when you add inadequate lighting and an uneven surface to the mix, it should come as no surprise the buxom historian fell to her knees (and even chest) more than once on her short journey.

After her third drop, followed by a pained and angry “HMMMMPPPFFF!!”, she finally settled for continuing the remaining 5 feet along the floor. That last stumble had really hit its mark, and her hip and chest were throbbing quite painfully.

But when she tried to crawl forward, she suddenly felt a snag:

The ribbon wrapped around her feet had apparently come back to life as a response to her hopping about. And Robin wasn’t sure if this was some sort of defensive program, or just plain taunting behaviour, but that sneaky little bandage had wrapped itself around then nearest pillar supporting the ceiling, effectively leashing her in place and preventing her from reaching the edge of the room.

You have got to be joking. She thought annoyed. Mummifying and gagging me wasn’t enough was it?!

The historian kicked angrily to try and dislodge the silk material or even tear it, but to no avail.

“Hmmrrr.” She grunted frustrated, but immediately switching tactics again, not planning to give up.

If I’m not allowed to crawl towards my plan, I’ll bring the plan to me.

So she summoned another chain of arms, bringing the ragged metal – which turned out to be a broken silver plate- to her.

However, she’d barely picked up the sharp, cold piece of metal before once again torrents of new bandages began snaking down from the ceiling and wrapped up her makeshift conveyor belt.

“Mmn MM MMMM (Oh COME ON)!!!” Robin screamed into her gag, starting to lose her composure for the first time in years. This is getting ridiculous! She thought as she made her arms disappear again and the ribbons fell to the ground completely motionless again.

I suppose summoning them again won’t do me any good. This stuff almost seems like its learning, and if it is I don’t want it figuring out the source of these hands…

But that left the beautiful explorer with literally zero options to try and gain her freedom. Despite her years of experience with terrifying and risky situation, Robin was now finally starting to feel fear creeping up on her.

I can’t move, I can’t get out, there’s nobody around to find me, … Am I…. going to…

But she didn’t finish that thought, forcing herself to keep looking for a way out.

You’ve been in mortal peril countless times already Robin! You’ve come out on top no matter what people threw at you! Some ancient, extinct civilization won’t get the better of you, so long as you keep fighting!

So she did. Despite knowing it was futile, despite every creak of her muscles only confirming the bandages weren’t giving way and were too strong for her to destroy, Robin kept thrashing around, grunting and moaning as she tirelessly struggled to gain some slack.

The raven haired damsel kept going for almost an hour, but in the end she got absolutely nowhere. Forced to once again lie still and try to recover, she kicked the pillar she’d ended up next to in order to vent some of her frustrations, but all that accomplished was give her a throbbing pain on her shin.

“UUMMPPFFF!!” She wailed, having kicked a bit harder than she’d planned.

But to her surprise, that seemingly useless gesture had made the ruins around her stir again. The blue lights changed colour to a vivid red, as though some sort of alarm had just been set into motion. On top of that, Robin could hear a faint noise in the distance, sounding like rocks were being moved. Soon after a faint vibrating could be felt, indicating that the rocks in question were quite massive.

Did I just activate another trap? Was the first thought that crossed her mind. But that couldn’t be right, why would it come into action so far away from here? No, this was different… That strange, bright red glow was obviously meant to give everyone who saw it a sense of urgency, almost as if the ruins were alarming anyone inside to get out, like an evacuation sign.

I thought this place was built to protect the poneglyph. Did the inscription on the entrance mean something else? Maybe this place doesn’t defend something, maybe it seals it… But what could need this much protection?

Her answer came soon enough, because the very moment the heavy noise of shifting rocks died down it was replaced by a far stranger, less familiar noise.

“Hmmn?” The historian mouthed into her gag, turning around as best she could to look down the hallway where the noise came from.

At first the gaping hole remained perfectly dark, nothing seeming to come through. But then something began to glimmer in the bright red light, something without form, something… unreal.

Because if she wasn’t seeing it for herself, Robin would never have believed what was slowly making its way towards her: a formless, goopy, thick, black… substance.

He eyes widened and the hairs on her neck stood upright. What in the name of the grand line is that?!

Like the bandages confining her that stuff – whatever it was- appeared to be a near-sentient material, and it was quite clearly coming straight for the raven haired damsel. The stream of black glimmering goo measured about two feet long and a foot thick, but its actual size was hard to judge since kept moving about and changing shape as it slithered towards her.

Is it going to restrain me even more? Perhaps cover my entire face? Choke me as punishment?! The raven haired damsel thought nervously, trying to wriggle further towards the other end of the room in an attempt to evade the unsettling dark matter as countless scenarios began playing out in her mind.

But she was still tightly bound and leashed to the pillar, leaving her with pitiably little room to move around.

Less than five minutes after appearing into the room, the black substance had made contact with her feet and began crawling along her body to reach higher. The feel of it resembled latex, but to Robin’s surprise the bandages tying her up were having some sort of chemical reaction to it. They felt slightly warm, and a sizzling sound betrayed the silk was dissolving under the contact!

Is it going to free me? Or perhaps just replace the bandages?

It was doing neither. Because although the latex was eating away at the ribbons, it didn’t remain in place for long enough to completely dissolve any of them. At least not until it reached her groin.

Once it had clambered its way onto her most intimate area, it settled down and began completely burning through the bandages, quickly exposing Robin’s trousers. But to the archaeologist’s horror the chemical reaction didn’t stop, continuing to eat away at her own clothes!

“MMPNNNN (NOOO)!!” Robin exclaimed, trying to buck the goop off of her. But between her heavily restrained body, and the viscosity of that sentient invader, she couldn’t get it to budge from its spot, where it continued eating through her clothes. First her trousers gave way, then even her panties, until her hips and snatch were fully exposed.

It can’t be… Robin thought horrified. This stuff couldn’t possibly want to…

But it did.

The second her pussy was exposed, a small tentacle morphed out from the black material and slipped inside to start fondling her most sensitive flesh.

“Mmmmmnnn!” The historian moaned in shock, as surprisingly warm substance began filling her snatch, making her entire body tingle. NO! I can’t let this happen!

Robin immediately rolled onto her front, hoping to squish the latex and prevent it from moving further. But her -slightly flustered- response had backfired wildly, actually driving the small tentacle deeper inside her womanhood, where it began to swell in girth to touch her walls.

“UUUMPPPFFFF!!” She groaned under the ripples of pleasure this called forth, instantly rolling back both regretting her action and angry with herself for making such a mistake.

What is up with this stuff?! It’s even more sophisticated than the bandages were. Even more dangerous too! How did a civilization this old manage to create this?! And why use it to protect the poneglyph? Something like this is much too dangerous to let roaming free!

But then the historian’s eyes shot wide open, as the inscription on the archway above the entrance came back to her:

“Contained within these walls is an ancient relic. Both powerful and dangerous, yet in dire need of protection. Those unworthy of its secrets: turn back now, or face its judgment.”

Don’t tell me… The powerful and dangerous object in these ruins… It isn’t a poneglyph… IT’S THIS THING!!

Robin felt like her heart would stop. She’d risked so much to get hold of intel on the poneglyph, all the clues had pointed to this island! Even when she explored this place the remnants of the civilization had suggested a link with the void century… But now it turned out this was just some kind of secure facility to keep this- this thing at bay?!

And now she had awoken it! And by the feel of things, whatever this stuff was seemed eager to make up for lost time. It began squirming even faster now, the tentacle growing and making its way down her snatch, making sure to caress her labia along the way. With every new inch it travelled, it sent another wave of erotic pleasure shivering through the historian’s body.

I need to fight this! My body is my own! The brave historian told herself.

But clearly the latex creature didn’t agree with that. Soon after slipping inside of her pussy, several more tentacles erupted from the main body which began ripping away the bandaging around Robin’s large chest, soon destroying her bra as well to let her rack flop free.

“MMMMNNN!!” The raven haired woman wailed, tears of frustration starting to roll down her cheeks due to her utter helplessness at preventing this strange substance from violating her.

Because no matter how hard she tried, her body slowly began responding to the various rubbery feelers having their way with her. Over half dozen small tentacles had begun fondling her breasts, rubbing along the warm supple flesh as well as squeezing down on them to give the impression of a massage. And what a massage! Within seconds she felt her nipples harden, and mere seconds after they did two of the smaller feelers had coiled themselves around her buds, squeezing them as well to further increase the intensity of their assault on Robin’s senses.

“Hmmmn! MMNRNNNN!!!” The historian moaned as her breasts began feeling warm despite the cold air filling the abandoned ruins blowing over them. This feels good! I don’t want it to, but this sensation, this pressure… How can- “UUUUMMMNNNNN!!!”

Her train of thought was shattered instantly when the latex being had kicked things up yet another notch. The very first -and largest- of its tentacles, which had taken to exploring her pussy had just begun slowly rocking back and forth. But that wasn’t all, it had also started expanding and contracting slightly to press against her inner walls all the more. Almost immediately, she felt herself becoming wet, only facilitating this invader’s work as it delved deeper into her womanhood.

It’s going further?! I have to get it off me, but how?! I could barely move to begin with, and with my body in such a state I can’t even focus to get my devil fruit working! Aaaahhnn, its almost there!

‘There’ was no other place than the archaeologist’s clit. Robin didn’t know if this thing had been gunning for it all along, or was just reaching for everything it could get it frisky little feelers onto. But what she did realize was that the longer this went on, the less she was starting to care as to this alien substance’s motives…

Robin let out a near-primal growl as she felt the latex brush against the hyper sensitive bud, giving her body a shock unlike any she’d ever experienced.

This can’t be happening! I’m- I’m going to…

“MMMMMRRRRRRRNNNNN!!”

She barely kept it in, though holding herself back brought her more frustration than she had expected. Her entire body burned red hot, and her womanhood felt like it was on fire. So great was her desire to have this latex finish its work.

But her mind kept screaming at her not to allow it, to hang on.

…But what for? For a special someone? Not like she was ever going to bump into a person like that. Her pride? She’d thrown that away long ago in order to stay alive. So why was she still resisting this?

Having spent most of her life on the run, never trusting anyone, the bodacious historian had known nothing but loneliness. With the life she was cursed to lead, there was barely ever any time to think about pleasures like this, let alone actually serving herself.

But now that she was lying in this tomb, bound and gagged and helpless to resist this… whatever it was invading her, she couldn’t help but feel the whole experience was somehow liberating.

No matter how much she struggled to fight it, in the end even Robin’s incredible resolve began to crumble, overtaken by years of lust she denied herself in order to stay alive. Deep down, she was hungering for this release.

And almost as though the latex being sensed this, when Robin’s mind was on the brink of giving way it sped up its workings even more. The latex filling up her pussy now began bubbling, altering its shape into that of a ridged dildo. With every new rush of this fake phallus on the archaeologist’s labia and cunt, her womanhood came under more pressure to give in to the floodgates bursting within her.

I- I can’t hold it in anymore! It’s too much! I need to…

“HHHHMMMMMMMMMNAAAAAAAA!!!” The hana hana fruit eater wailed into her tight as ever gag as resolve finally gave way, and her orgasm surged with such force it actually served to drive the latex inside of her back a few inches. However it wasn’t daunted by this in the slightest, immediately diving back in to reach even deeper inside its victim.

“Huuh, huuh, hmmmnn.” The dark haired woman gasped, struggling to suck in enough air since she only had her nostrils to use. Meanwhile the latex kept fondling her tits and pounding her snatch, apparently determined to deliver her a second climax.

But Robin didn’t mind anymore. She’d given herself up to this alien substance, in fact now that she’d finally let go of her inhibitions, a second cumming was something she craved more than anything else.

And it soon erupted, accompanied by a thunderous roar dwarfing her previous shriek. Her second orgasm utterly overwhelmed her senses, as the beautiful explorer’s eyes rolled up into her skull and her head lolled back against the dusty floor. She had to struggle just to remain conscious.

A few minutes passed, during which the latex resting on her upper body slowly retracted all of its feelers, as if to gently wane down its victim from the exhilarating rush it delivered.

Robin struggled to get her thoughts in order, barely able to cope with the fact her ‘pampering’ was over and her rather rude visitor seemed to be planning to take off.

Because that’s exactly what it did. Now that its sinister purpose had been fulfilled, the shimmering gooey substance seemed to no longer hold any interest in the historian’s luscious body, and it began shrinking away into the darkness from whence it came, leaving its victim lying on the ground with her breasts bare and vagina exposed. But along every other inch of her body, there was still plenty of firm and unforgiving bandaging wrapped in place, keeping her just as perfectly trapped as before.

“Hmrn?” Robin groaned confused. She was still stuck? “CMMM MN (COME ON)!!”

She began thrashing around again, only to discover the limited disappearance of silk ribbons hadn’t compromised the integrity of her prison whatsoever. It also didn’t help that her limbs felt like they were made out of lead. She was simply too exhausted from the whole ordeal.

So despite the shocking turn of events which had delivered her such a confusing, but blissful satisfaction, escaping her predicament remained hopeless. The red lights had switched back to blue the moment the latex had vanished, and the ribbons were back on high alert.

After all she'd been through, all the peril, all the torment, all the ecstasy, the ruins still wrapped up every hand she summoned to bar her from escaping. Even when she actually managed to work something loose: her gag, the bandages simply came and replaced the covering, keeping the status-quo and preventing her from trying more passwords.

And after what had just happened, Robin didn’t even dare make her way towards an exit anymore, since last time it had invited the degrading yet mind blowing latex invader...

So the poor historian remained lying there in the middle of the room, trapped in an abandoned ruin, truly at a loss for what to do next...

Just as the tall dark archaeologist was contemplating another attempt at removing her gag and then spewing possible code words, she heard a noise that made her turn her head.

“Thump. Thump. Thump! Thump!!”

The sound was rhythmic and swelling in volume with each new ‘thump’, unless she was very much mistaken, they were footsteps! 

Robin scrambled to sit herself upright, folding her legs as best she could in an effort to cover her bare hips and chest. She peered into the dark corridor which should have led to the closed off chamber she came from.

“You thought this place abandoned did you not?” An elderly voice said as a man emerged from the shadows.

He was tall, thin (underfed even) and had dirty white hair and a beard, both falling down to his waist. His eyes were grey, buried deep within their sockets as a result of his old age and loss of weight. Everything about him betrayed he lived on his own, but didn’t really like doing so.

“Hmmmrn?” The raven haired woman grunted in utter shock at finding someone. Or rather, someone finding her.

“Well you’re not entirely wrong.” The man continued. “My clan died out over 3 decades ago, slaughtered by pirates within one hellish night. By chance I was out on the seas fishing and got caught in a storm, which forced me to spend the night on my ship. Now I am all that is left. But still I could not abandon our home, and have kept watch over it ever since.”

Robin wanted to plead with the man to release her, but daren’t interrupt him. He seemed… lonely, an expression she had seen countless times when looking in the mirror.

“Of course, being old and weak, I stood no chance of actually defending this place anymore, even from a single woman. So I remained out of the way, and waited for the ruins’ defences to do their job. Never in a hundred years had I expected the Mawhagi to make an appearance.”

“Mmm-mmg-ee? (Mawhagi)?” Robin mumbled confused.

“The black substance that… invaded your privacy.” The man said softly. “It has been sealed her by our clan for hundreds of years. We know not what brought it in existence, nor what its purpose is. All we know is it does… what you experienced. Hence the need to keep it locked up and tightly secured.”

No kidding. If something like this made its way into the open, not a single woman in the world would feel safe anymore!

“As you’ve seen for yourself, there are quite a few elaborate safety devices in place to prevent anyone from reaching that dangerous being. Even if a thief would somehow make it past the guardians, he’d just end up trapped in one of the many rooms this tomb held, forced to wait for his judgment by our clan.”

The elderly man walked up closer to Robin. “Of course, since there is nobody of my clan left but me. That judging now falls to me…”

The archaeologist kept looking the elderly man in the eye, wanting to show she did not fear her fate. She’d spent her whole life on the run, avoiding capture and death. If she had to die, she’d much rather it happened chasing a lead on the poneglyph than in the service of some organized crime boss.

The hermit remained quiet for a good while, to Robin it felt like hours but in reality it only lasted 3 minutes.

Eventually, he closed his eyes and let out a heavy sigh. “I will let you go.”

“Mrrh?!”

“Surprised?” The man replied calmly. “What else should I do? Having all of my family and friends in a single night, should it come as a surprise that I abhor bloodshed, that I am tired fighting?” The elderly gentleman now kneeled beside the historian. “Besides, my heart could not bear ending the life of someone so young, so beautiful, and most of all one so pained as you.”

Robin’s eyes widened. Pained?!

“Yes, you heard me. I can see in your eyes something I myself know all too well: Loneliness. It isn’t a coincidence you came here alone, is it? You are here by yourself because you have no one else to bring. A life like that, is punishment enough.”

The historian averted her eyes. I hadn’t quite thought of it like that…

“I’ll disarm the bandages from the control room, and revert all other traps so you can leave safely.” The bearded man said as he shrunk into the darkness again. “But mark my words: You would do well to search for an ally or two if you plan on making any more explorations like this one. Some adventures are impossible to go at alone”

Allies. Saying it like it’s such an easy thing to find… Robin thought to herself, frustrated and confused at this sudden turn of event, and moreover the eye-opener she received from this ancient building and its almost as ancient keeper.

After 10 more minutes of lying on the ground, basking in the dim blue lights and forced to do nothing other than mull over the words from that older man she met, the bandages suddenly sprung to life again. Only this time they were rapidly unravelling and shrinking back into the walls.

The raven haired woman crawled back to her feet, retrieved her backpack and put on her coat again to cover up her exposed breasts. She then tied a large towel around her waist to hide the large tear in her trousers.

Once again decent, Robin sped towards the exit without a second’s hesitation. Now that it turned out there was never a poneglyph here, just masses of sentient materials far too direct to her liking, she didn’t have an ounce of curiosity left in her to see the rest of these ruins.

But as she set sail again, headed for the closest inhabited island to procure herself a bed and a shower, she couldn’t help but feel it might be time to once again seek out an organization. She’d been going it alone for a few months already, they were bound to pick up her trail again sooner or later.

“What’ll it be this time? Organized crime, an infamous pirate band? Whatever it is, this time I suppose I’d do best to find a large group, with an influential person at the top rather than just your run of the mill bandits…”

The words from that feeble old man had hit their mark: Some adventures are impossible to go at alone.