Back to Brat.

Chapter-1

"Well, this is certainly interesting."

"Interesting! interesting! you mean it's a disaster!... what..how..where... God i give up!" the young woman raised her arms up in defeat. " only they could end up in those situations, seriously those guys..." sighing the orange-haired woman glanced at her thoughtful looking companion.

"Ne, Robin, How old do you think they are?" Nami asked her tone resigned.

"Hmmm, no older that eight i would say." laughing softly the dark-haired woman glanced at her three sleeping nakama. yes very interesting indeed.

for you see, instead of there being the monster trio that we all love, there was three little kids who's oversized clothes engulfed them, making them look even more cute. they were currently asleep huddled in a small pile their faces devoid of any concern lines.

Nami sighed again, she felt like she was doing that a lot today, running a hand through her short hair. she glanced at the small pile and couldn't help the small smile that bloomed on her face after all they were just so uncharacteristically cute...Cute...Cute...

as if a lamp was just lighten up, an evil smirk graced her lips oh the blackmail material that this situation provided. shaking her head to try and rid herself of the thought so that she could focus on the important matter on hands.

"Well, how can we take them to Sunny?" she asked.

raising an elegant eyebrow, robin smiled "We carry them of course!" she said merrily blooming a trail of hands all the way to the ship.

"...yeah, right..." seriously it was a bit easy to forget she can do this sometimes.

"Navigator-san, how long till the log pose sets?" Robin asked curiosity burning in her eyes.

"Uh... the woman at the stall said about 2 weeks," glancing at the children being transported beside them, Nami thanked god that they were currently surrounded by forests so no villager would freak out ." how long do you think they would stay like this?"

"I have no idea, however I plan to go into town and...investigate." she said it with this mysterious smile that sent shivers down Nami's spine and discouraged her from asking further.

Robin would know she would dig the information out somehow.

After a rather un eventful journey, with Nami muttering under her breath about raising some people's interest and others owing her serious sum of money for all their trouble, the two young women made it to the Sunny without any major trouble. the ship was docked in an alcove, insuring that no one would be able to see it, There on deck, Nami could already see Usopp scouting the perimeter in order to locate their wayward members Franky and Brook where nowhere in sight they still were searching for their missing crew members obviously. She couldn't see Chopper but she imagined he would be on deck armed with his medical supplies ready to tackle any injury that their careless nakama could have acquired.

Nami sighed she didn't want to be the one stuck breaking the news to everyone. Glancing at Robin she knew that the woman wouldn't be of any help she seemed immensely amused by their current predicament, Though she fervently hoped that the de-aging was only physical and not mental as well since she knew almost nothing about raising children.

she shuddered at the thought, those three as children it was a recipe for disaster.

"Well, navigator-san? aren't you going to board?" Robin asked, amusement lacing her voice.

While she was engrossed in her thoughts, they had already reached their destination and she was staring at the ship rather vacantly.

"Nami! Robin! you're back! have you found them?" Usopp's voice from above completely snapped her out of her trance with one encouraging nod from Robin, Nami took a deep breath and ascended towards the grassy deck.

"E...E...E...EEEEEEEEEEEEH?" was the rather eloquent response that their crewmates appearance triggered.

"SHUT UP IDIOT YOU'RE GOING TO WAKE THEM UP!" nami screamed, punching the poor guy on the head.

"B-But nami! they are kids!...Kids! as in children! young humans, kids!"

" I know what a child is Usopp, will you stop freaking out or should i punch you again?" Her voice was oddly menacing her hair flying around her with an evil aura emitting out of almost every pore of her body.

Gulping, the long nosed man took a deep breath, that really wasn't the weirdest thing that happened to them in the grand line but honestly it was still as shocking.

Chopper, while still freaking out, couldn't quell his doctor instinct, this was a very peculiar but promising chance. inching towards the three kids who were now laying side by side on the dining table while Nami and Usopp conversed on the other side approaching the first sleeping child, who just so happened to be Zoro, he started by checking his pulse and breathing. Content that those two seemed normal enough he proceeded into a full on medical check, chopper was entranced, this was truly fascinating it seemed like the body reverted to its state at the point of time they turned back into. The menacing scar that Zoro got from his fight with Mihawk was absent as well as most of the others. other than some scratched and bruises Zoro was completely fine, and according to the body structure he would say that Zoro was probably about seven years.

Repeating the same process for Luffy, the rubber boy was healthy too except for some bruises and the scar under his eyes seemed fresh, he also seemed to lack some of the important nutrients and minerals provided by fruits and vegetables. Chopper sweat dropped it seemed that even as a child Luffy's diet mainly consisted of meat, those however could easily be remedied.

Shifting his attention towards the last de-aged member, he was puzzled. Sanji was on the undernourished side of the spectrum, It wasn't something he ever imagined sanji to be. it was peculiar but not that extreme to warrant any kind of extreme measurements. he was not injured, that if you didn't count the nicks on his fingers, he probably started learning how to cook recently. Engrossed as he was in his work he didn't notice the other two stop their pointless argument to watch his progress.

Meanwhile, As Nami and Usopp were busy freaking out robin had already ventured towards town to weasel out any possible information concerning her nakama's predicament, because honestly as amusing as it was it wasn't practical. Plus she had to find Brook and Franky to alert them to the situation abroad.

Humming contently to herself she made her way first to a stall where an elderly lady sold books and maps. If there was anyone who might know what happened to her nakama it was an old person, they tend to have seen a lot of strange things throughout their lives especially elderly people on the Grand Line.

"Ah, what can I do for you, young one?" The old wrinkly lady questioned, her voice raspy and weak.

Robin smiled kindly at the woman. " Oh, nothing in particular I was just wondering if there was anything of interest on this island. Would you know of any?"

An interested gleam entered the old woman's eyes "Interesting you ask? Well..." she trailed off a spidery finger tapping her chin "...there are some old ruins further off the island at the other side, no one ventures there" she looked around superstitiously, lowering her voice"... they say it's cursed! people who go there never come back!"

"oh? cursed you say? what kind of curse?" Robin asked failing to remove the curiosity out of her tone.

" That, my dear youngster, I do not know. but as an advice from an old lady: do not go there. Many as young and curious as yourself had ventured there, only to never be heard about again."

Robin smiled reassuringly at the old lady " do not worry, Ma'am I don't plan on going to explore any time soon" which was both the truth and a lie. she was not going to explore before she found out what happened to her nakama so yes she wasn't planning on exploring any time soon but she didn't say she didn't plan on exploring eventually, preferably with the company of her fully recovered Nakama. It was just not like her to let a chance like this slip away from her hands.

The old woman smiled.

"Well, ma'am is there anything that could warrant any more interest?"

"hmm, i don't believe there is but maybe... " that was said in a low voice probably Robin wasn't meant to hear it.

"...You, blue sea dwellers would probably think this interesting though it's an everyday occurrence here in this island."

"Is that so? "

the old woman nodded.

" yes, the trees on the forest border, they are called the Toshi plants."

"Toshi? age?" her curiosity now piqued as this seemed to be a lead towards her nakama's problem.

chuckling, a rough sound like sand papers rubbing together, the woman nodded "yes young one 'age', it gives our people a chance to return to their younger years, though it is mostly used if the person wants to remember something from their childhood. It is not usually used but when they are the person usually doesn't remember anything from their elder years."

Raising an eyebrow, Robin pressed further " That sounds interesting, how long does it take them to revert back to their original age?"

"Aaah, not that long about a month or two maximum, though why the sudden interest?"

"Well, it is as you said before ma'am, this tree is almost non-existent outside this island at least I have never heard about one before. but tell me, Ma'am does what else do you know about it?"

The woman now excited that Robin seemed to forget about the cursed ruins started prattling on and on about the history of the 'age' tree. Robin listened intently cataloguing all the important facts that she would have to retell her nakama.

It seemed like the tree grew up there for as long as any of the citizens could remember, probably a result of a devil fruit or some genetic malfunctioning, the effect of the tree's fruits were simple. the person who eats it seems to revert to the most eventful year of their lives, however with practice they could choose the time their physical bodies would return to. their memories however of any event proceeding their physical age would be forgotten until the effect of the fruit subsides.

Robin, noting the rapidly setting sun, thanked the old woman and departed making her way towards the Sunny.

It seemed like recovering a sample for their doctor would have to wait until the next day. hopefully her crewmates would have returned and their de-aged members would have awoken.

yes, this adventure was proving to be interesting indeed.

A/N:

That is the end of the first chapter. Constructive criticism would gladly be welcomed i hope you liked this chapter and depending on the response i would get i would update. however, as this is the summer vacation. the updates would be rather irregular.

-diva-