~Croquant~
He was invited by the captain, Luffy of course, to inspect their new ship with them, which he wouldn't turn down, as he was curious how it looked from the inside.
He, of course, sweeped the vessel already with Kenbonshoku.
He always did when he entered a new area, but that was just a cursory 'glance' for hostiles.
Seeing things in person was much more satisfying.
The ship's interior was split into three floors and the upper deck.
That much, he knew.
The deck was, where they started the tour and the first thing, that greeted their eyes was a lawn.
With trees.
Some of them even carried tangerines.
'Watching an anime and seeing it in person are truly two different things.
This deck has to be the most cheerful one you'd ever find on a pirate ship.
There's even a swing!'
At that thought, he turned to his daughter, who was still taking everything in, and asked.
"Wanna go for a round?" while pointing at the swing.
She looked at it curiously and asked.
"What's that?"
This got Croquant to grin slightly.
Right, she didn't have any way to know what a swing is.
He simply picked her up, ignoring her cute little eep, and practically bounced over to the swing, where he placed her on the seat and positioned himself behind her.
~Robin~
While the others decided to explore the interior, she opted to stay and watch her ridiculous man teach their little daughter how to use a swing in the most ludicrous ways possible.
At first, he just helped her get used to it.
Then he started bragging, that soon, she'd be swinging like him, only to have her pleading eyes on him while she begged him to show her some tricks.
It escalated from there, with him pulling impressive, idiotic and frankly, quite strange stunts, all the while their daughter watched him with stars in her eyes, made sounds of awe and sometimes even clapped enthusiastically, which egged him on even more.
'And that's the guy I fell for?'
She chuckled at the thought.
'I guess I don't hate it.'
She concluded with amusement and fondness coursing through her.
'With what he's doing on that swing, it should have broken down tens of times already.'
She looked a bit closer and had an incredulous idea at why it was still standing.
'Did that idiotic cyborg build a swing made from Adam Wood?!'
The more absurd the stunts got, the more certain she was that that's the case.
'What did he use for the ropes? They are as durable as the wood!'
When he started to use haki for his next stunt, she decided enough was enough and stepped closer.
Merry noticed her closing in and turned around.
Vibrating with excitement, fists clenched in front of her chest, she asked Robin with glittering eyes.
"Did you see?! Did you see how awesome Papa is?! At first, he was showing me how to swing and then he was showing me how he swings and then..."
She nattered on and on about the 'awesome' and 'fantastic' things, that her Papa could do on a swing while a fond and indulgent smile appeared on Robin's face.
'As long as she's happy, the world can burn.'
She blinked, a bit startled at the sudden thought, but nodded a moment later.
'She's the most important thing in the world.'
"... And then he was like whoosh and everything started burning and there were bright lights everywhere!"
The adorable former ship had fallen to the ground because of dizziness during her attempt to copy the movements, but didn't stop talking even for a moment.
Afterwards she took a deep breath and giggled while lying on the lawn.
Robin, in the spur of the moment, lied down right next to her and pulled her into a sidehug, that Merry appreciated and reciprocated while snuggling closer.
What they both didn't expect was the thump on Merry's other side as well as being pulled closer to the man, who let himself fall onto the deck besides them.
He pulled Robin closer, which wedged Merry safely in between them.
Instead of being indignant, the little girl decided to make the best out of it and snuggled herself into the safe feelings, that came from both of her adopted parents.
Robin couldn't keep the content sigh from escaping her lips as she basked in the feeling of family, that she was blessed enough to experience the last few days, which only intensified while enjoying a quiet moment in the embrace of her man with their daughter in between them.
That brought her thoughts to the fact, that they'd soon be seperated for quite some time.
They had no idea, how long it'd take for them to get together again, but he promised, that it wouldn't be too long.
He would miss them both severely too, after all, was what he said.
Shaking off the depressive thoughts, she turned slightly to look at the two most treasured people in her life.
Merry looked as content as she could be, nestled between the two of them, basking in the warmth of their embrace.
Croquant was lying on his back, with Merry pressed into his side.
He had one eye closed with the other one half open to reveal, that he was observing her from the corner of his eye with the teasing curve of a smile on his lips.
She didn't fully understand, why the pout on her lips had formed, but it did, and it made Croquant laugh.
Merry, who was startled from the sudden shake, caused by the laugh, managed to catch a glimpse of her pout and asked.
"Did Papa bully you? Should I beat him up?"
Without even waiting for an answer, she instantly dived in with a determined expression on her face.
Robin lost the battle against the laughter that bubbled up in her chest as Merry's fists rained down on the chest of Croquant with force equivalent to a falling feather.
"Fufufufu, it's ok, little one, I can defend myself quite well against the evil pirate."
With a mischievous smile, she answered the curious gaze of her daughter with the activation of her devil fruit.
Croquant, who had eyed her warily at her declaration, let out a sudden yelp and started laughing as the additional fingers started to dance over his side and armpits.
Once Merry caught on what's happening, she laughed joyfully as she joined in.
Some minutes of tickle war later, they negotiated a truce.
There was no clear winner.
All they knew now was, that war is hell.