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He's smarter than he lets on

Nico Robin was no fool. One of her chief assets was her intelligence. It was how she had survived all these years from pirate crew to pirate crew before she came to the Straw Hats.

She trained herself to be observant and in the know about everything, a task made slightly simpler by the fact that she had a super genius IQ (what more would you expect from the youngest ever archaeologist of Ohara?).

That is why, when she met Luffy, she knew something was off. This rubber man was not as dumb as he led others to believe. She saw an intelligence hiding in his eyes.

When he fought Crocodile on the roof of the Royal Palace in Alabasta and revealed that he had figured out Crocodile's weakness, she knew he was definitely smarter than he let on. It had taken her a whole year by his side to pick up on his weakness yet he did it after a mere few days. Sure, his method of using water against Crocodile was hilarious but it would have been devastatingly effective had he not forgotten about Crocodile's dehydration ability.

She got a further glimpse of his brilliance during his final fight with Crocodile. He had chose to pound Crocodile against the roof and not the wall knowing that if pounded against the wall the roof would fall on all of them and bury them but by pounding on the roof, he not only prevented that, he showed Crocodile's defeat to the world.

When she finally joined his crew and they had fled from the Marines, she continued to observe him and found more glimpses of him hiding his intelligence and playing dumb.

She always giggled in silence as she observed him acting like a buffoon in front of the crew and stealing food at every meal yet he seemed to know not to steal certain foods from those in the crew who were injured because they would need them.

She saw that he figured out that you could use the uprising water spouts to get to SkyPeia even when the others disbelieved him. He also figured out how to get from one end of the island back to the bar without getting lost and Bellamy's weakness.

He did not know that rubber was an insulator but was quick to use that against Enel. He learnt quickly that metal was a conductor and he knew exactly how to use the golden ball Enel had attached to his arm against Enel.

Sure, there were times when he jumped into water on purpose but he was smart enough to do so only when he knew Zoro or Sanji were on hand to save him.

While at Water 7, he had made the intellectually correct decision to replace Going Merry because she could no longer be repaired. He had read Kaku's expression like she had and knew that he wasn't lying.

At Enies Lobby, somehow he had figured out how to use his Gomu Gomu abilities to replicate certain tricks that Blueno was using, creating gear 2 and later gear 3.

She saw that he very clearly knew the limits of each of his crew when they were pushed, even if they didn't and knew who they could not face.

When Chopper pointed out that he thought Luffy seemed to know who was the biggest threat and thus the guy he had to take on, Nami brushed it off as instinct but Robin knew better.

Finally, after they had left Water 7 on their brand new ship, the Thousand Sunny, Robin felt secure enough to approach the topic and confront Luffy.

She chose a night when Luffy was on watch duty (not too difficult since SHE made the schedule), and silently sneaked out of the Women's quarters. She climbed up to the crow's nest and confronted him.

Luffy, for the most part, wasn't surprised by this. It was almost as if he knew she would be coming to confront him.

"Luffy, we need to talk."

"About what?"

"You playing dumb, that's what. It doesn't work with me. You should know that. Why do you continue to play dumb? Why not let the crew know that you are smarter than you let on? Surely you can't enjoy being called a buffoon all the time?"

Luffy, for his part, had seen Robin giving him glances when he played dumb. He knew that she knew and that she wasn't fooled, amused yes, but not the least bit fooled.

"So you've finally called my bluff, shi shi shi." He let out his trademark grin and laugh.

"It's a long story Robin."

"It's a long night Luffy."

"Fine. Keep an eye out would you?"

"Sure" Robin sprouted a hand with one eye in the middle atop the crow's nest in order to keep watch for Luffy.

"I knew that when I brought you into this crew, you'd probably be the one to call my bluff. Nami seems to catch on sometimes but she doesn't want to believe it.

Anyway, I chose to play dumb because of what happened when I was a kid. As you may have heard from the others, when I was a kid, I grew up in windmill village and was mentored by Shanks, who used the village as a base for awhile.

I wanted to be a pirate like him but he kept telling me no. He saw my potential and knew he couldn't keep me back but he didn't want me rushing rashly into it. The day he lost his arm protecting me was the day I realized being a pirate wasn't all fun and games. Shanks took that opportunity to tell me what awaited in the Grand Line and even the New World. It was scary and he told me that I should only go when I was prepared and had a proper crew or it would be suicide.

After the talk, Lucky Roux saw that we were kinda down and so played the fool to cheer everyone up. It worked. I decided then that when I had a crew, I would play the fool to cheer them up and keep their spirits up.

When Zoro first joined me, I actually did discuss with him the dangers awaiting us. He was well aware of them, being a former pirate hunter, and was not too concerned. He did however warn me that the future crew members might not be as ready as he was to take the news.

This was proven true when I saw Usopp, Nami and Chopper and their timid nature. I decided not to tell them so as not to have them fearful of the future. They would do no one any good if they were that way. I needed them cheerful and confident and so played the fool as required to cheer them up."

"I see. But how is it you know instinctively who is the biggest threat everytime? Did Shanks tell you about these men we would face?"

"Shanks told me about the Yonkai and Shichibukai but not about CP9. The reason I know who is the biggest threat is because of Haki. Do you know what it is Robin?"

"I have heard of it. There are pirates who possess it and it is said to be able to counter Devil Fruit powers but I don't know how it works."

"Neither do I, Shanks didn't quite know either. He said I would have to learn on my own what kind of Haki I have and how to use it. He did say that one perk of Haki is that somehow instinctively Haki uses can sense the strength of their opponents and pick out who is the strongest. That is why I can sense the potential of the crew and know when to push them. It is also why I know who is the person that I must fight each time."

"Interesting. One last thing, I understand how every other member of the crew is important to your quest for One Piece but why did you bring me along? I am archaeologist. Surely you don't require my skills to find One piece? It's not buried is it?"

"Robin, every member of the crew is important. And I'm not just talking about because they're Nakama, they also are the best at a skill I need. I need an archaeologist who can read the ancient text or One Piece is useless."

"What?"

"Shanks told me that Roger was an archaeologist himself and I figured that he would have left some clues in ancient text so I needed someone who could read it. I planned to search for such a one in the New World but when I found you, I jumped at the chance to have you aboard."

"So you knew you would need me as well. It wasn't just out of pity?"

"Yes. And from what you've told us about your discovery on Sky Piea, I now believe that One Piece is useless without you."

"How is that possible?"

"Remember what you told us you discovered? You figured out from the message that Roger had taken all the Rio Polyglyphs together and stringed them into a book in order to reveal the blank history."

"Yes I recall that. But what has that got to do with One Piece?"

"Think about it. All the Rio Polyglyphs, strung together in One long Piece?"

"Oh my word. You can't mean..."

"Yes, I believe One Piece is the blank history or rather the true history as you call it. It fits with what Shanks told me about Roger. Being an archaeologist like yourself, no doubt that would be his greatest treasure. Sure that would be gold and such, but this to him would be far more valuable. And it would be the most powerful weapon for any pirate to use against the World Government."

Robin was stunned. She had known Luffy was smart, but this?

"Don't worry Robin. Even if it wasn't so, I would still risk my life to save you. You are my nakama after all."

Robin softened at that comment.

"You're good at reading people. Why don't you woo Nami? I know you like her."

"Can't afford romance for now. Like Shanks said, a distracted crew is a dead crew."

"Ok, then Luffy. It was an enlightening talk we had. I have to go now. It's late."

"Sure, and Robin?"

"Yeah?"

"Now that you know my secret, can we please have more of these talks? It's nice to have some intellectual conversation every once in awhile."

Hearing that, Robin nodded and gave a rare laugh. Who would have taught that this would come out of the mouth of her captain?

From that time on, everytime Robin or Luffy had watch duty, the other would sneak out and spend some time in the crow's nest as well and they would have plenty of conversations and discussions. Robin would also bring a book or two along for Luffy to read on some of his watch duties. Apparently he had lied about not knowing how to read as well.

This was why when Robin saw how hard Luffy pushed himself at Thriller Bark, she wasn't concerned. She knew that he knew his limits.

When she read about his exploits at Marineford and Impel down, she smiled knowingly, understanding the mind behind the chaos.

When she saw his message in the paper, she wasn't surprised. It was an ingenious way to send a message to the crew and she knew that he knew the crew wasn't ready to continue, not after what he had witnessed.

That was why when they reunited after two years, she knew she could still trust him to know what he was doing when he ran the crew.

Luffy might not be a super genious like her, but he was definitely smarter than he let on.