Thursday 12 November 2009

Nico Robin




Appearance

Nico Robin is a tall, attractive woman with shoulder length black hair. She frequently wears somewhat revealing clothing that is either dark in color or consisting of leather, sometimes both. Robin sometimes wears a gold arm band with white strings attached to it and the letter N on it, which stands for her family name; she has also worn a cowgirl hat on numerous occasions. Robin also resembles her mother greatly, with the exception of her hair color and style. In the anime, her skin tone is also slightly darker than her mother's.

The author has also replied to a fan's question to saying that right now Robin's measurements are as follows:

* Height: 188cm (6'2"), making her the third tallest member of the Straw Hat Pirates.
* Her 3 measurements are (according to Sanji and series creator Oda in supplemental material) B99 W59 H89 (38"-23"-35"). [2]

According to Oda, Robin most resembles a crane, is represented by the color purple, and she smells of flowers

Personality


Through her heritage on the island of scholars, Nico Robin is an archaeologist and historian, who joins the Straw Hat pirates. She seeks the comfort and freedom to study the mysteries of the world. She is the quiet, reserved crew member, rarely showing emotions or having outburst of emotions (occasional exceptions being sweat drops, and when she cried out to Luffy and the Straw Hats from the Tower of Justice during the Enies Lobby arc). Robin even appears calm at times towards her crew mates, often speaking ominously around them. In addition, she has a somewhat macabre side to her. She often points out facts that are gross or morbid, which usually creeps out Nami or Usopp.

Examples include:

* When Nami asks if Zoro was eaten by the shark, she says that that clouds would be turning red if he was.
* Zoro and Nami return to the Going Merry in Skypiea but they cannot find Chopper, who was guarding the ship. Robin remarks that he may have been "shredded to pieces".
* When Chopper is taken by the Foxy Pirates during a Davy Back Fight, Nami asks if Foxy is a collector of rare pets. Robin says, "Hopefully not a collector of rare pelts."
* When the crew decide on the name "Thousand Sunny" for their new ship, Robin says that she was going to suggest the "Being of Darkness".
* On Thriller Bark, she voluntarily investigates the Ghost Island with Luffy and Franky. She told that Nami that she "likes thrills",
* When they are attacked by the Cerberus, she finds it "cute".

She speaks only if something noteworthy happens. When she does, she has been shown to possess an outstanding knowledge, especially in history. Her calmness is likely a result of the childhood that led to her life of hardship. The calamity that befell Ohara had a profound and traumatizing effect on the child Robin that she has only just begun to recover from. This is why she barely smiles and is rarely demonstrative towards her crew mates at this point.

She will not understand why people regard history as meaningless. To her, there is nothing worse than destroying objects of historical significance. She approaches life and the world at large in an calm manner. She studies the world for its history. She shows little interest in the Ancient Weapons that others such as Crocodile and Spandam seek. However, she might be the only one who is able to awaken them.

Perhaps as a result of her violent past, she is very unmerciful during combat. She will break the necks or spines of her enemies without hesitation, even when they cry for forgiveness. At one point, she even attempted to break the spine of one of her fellow crew members (Usopp as Sogeking on the sea train). Despite her tendency to remain calm and collected, she can be quite intimidating and forceful when she wishes. This is exhibited when she essentially forces Brook to stop fooling around and continue his explanation.


“ Robin: The ruins you destroyed are priceless, and even though history is always being created... Men cannot return to the past. Do you understand!?

Yama:I... I understand, I won't... Do that again... Forgive me...

Robin: No.

- Robin punishes Yama for destroying Skypiea's ruins



She also has a strong sense of personal pride. She refused to participate in Franky's "Tactics 15" docking procedure during the battle against Oars. The reason was that she found it too embarrassing. She flatly added that they should never try it again.

Crew

Until after the Enies Lobby arc, Robin often tried to distance herself from other people, even her allies, as she knew that she was bound to leave them sooner or later. Upon first joining the Straw Hat crew she stated simply she had no where else to go, declaring that Luffy was responsible for her being alive and so he had to take responsibility for his own actions when she had decided to die. She rarely called her comrades by name, and instead referred to them using their ship-hand titles, such as Miss Navigator (Kōkaishi-san, i.e. Nami), Mr. Swordsman (Kenshi-san, i.e. Zoro), Mr. Long Nose (Nagahana-kun, i.e. Usopp), etc. She at first only called Luffy and Crocodile by their names, although in a professional manner as an agent. She does, on occasion, call Luffy "Sencho-san" (meaning Captain). She has a sort of older sister or maternal relationship within the crew.

Over time, however, Robin becomes closer with her crewmates, and begins to get a sense of belonging to them, and has stated that she cares more about their well-being than that of the rest of the world. After seeing how far they will go in order to save her, she begins calling them by name in recent arcs, doing so with Luffy, Nami, Usopp, Chopper and Franky, so far. She is grateful to Luffy for taking her in, and is significantly more patient with his impulsive personality than many of her fellow crewmates, even laughing when he impulsively allows members to join, while the others are shocked. (after all, it is through this she became a Straw Hat member). She is also far more tolerant of Luffy's behavior, and at times even makes her laugh, this going back as far as they were enemies in the Arabasta arc when he fought Crocodile as "Water Luffy", drinking an entire barrel of water and spraying it at Crocodile from his mouth to make him more solid. Luffy was the one person to be able to convince her, that she should live even if the world doesn't wa nt her to, and if so, they are his and his crewmates' enemies as well. In many ways, Luffy reminds Robin of the other D. carrier she befriended.

Robin is quite close to Nami, affectionately referring to her as "Nami-chan," and often spends time with her, particularly shopping when they have free time, and talking with each other. Robin sympathizes with Nami's frustrations at the male crewmember's silly antics, but doesn't get upset by them. Sanji constantly flirts with Robin, as he does with Nami, however due to the fact she often doesn't respond to him he tends to flirt with Nami more over her. Sanji was the first member (excluding Luffy) to accept her as one of the crew. Sanji describes her as 'a distant, more mature beauty than Nami,' yet calls her "Robin-chan" (vs. "Nami-san"), which has a "cuter" and more childish aspect. He also tries to make her suffix cuter by changing it to "Robin-chwan" at times, but Robin, unlike Nami, typically ignores his advances. Zoro initially distrusts Robin, but ultimately is willing to fight for her if she is in danger, catching her when she was nearly killed by Eneru. He was also the first one to jump to her aid when she was threatened by Aokiji. Robin gets along well with Franky, and she appreciates him risking his life to save her, thou gh this doesn't mean she won't exploit him for self-preservation. Her relationship with Chopper exists on two levels. First on a somewhat maternal level, as she finds him "cute," and second on an intellectual level, where she treats Chopper somewhat like an equal due to their mutual intellectual pursuits and love of books (despite the difference in disciplines). It is unknown why Usopp is the only one she addressed with -kun attached to a nickname, Nagahana-kun, instead of calling him Marksman-san simillar to how she addressed others by their profession, i.e. Cook-san.

Friends

Professor Clover allowed her to become an archaeologist, [5] it was his research on Poneglyphs that sparked her interest in True History. Clover allowed her to read books in his library which sparked her interest in them. She was supported by the other archaeologists in the Tree of Knowledge. They were her only friends and they cared for her more then anything. Even when they threatened to ban her from the Tree of Knowledge if she continued to spy on the efforts to uncover the True History, they did so in order to prevent her from being branded a criminal. [6]

Aside from this, Jaguar D. Saul also held a special place in her heart for befriending her during her periods of loneliness, recognizing her pain and encouraging her to laugh in hard times, in addition to sacrificing himself to save her life.

Enemies

During her time in Baroque Works, Robin was the enemy of those trying to save the kingdom from Crocodile's conspiracy, especially Nefertari Vivi, who believes that she killed Igaram, and the Straw Hats. As a result, most of the Straw Hats were suspicious about her joining, until she won them over. Vivi currently understands that Luffy has some reason for having her in his crew.

Robin's greatest threat is always from the World Government, since, from the age of eight, they have ruthlessly hunted her. Aside from the World Government, Robin has made many enemies in the past through her constant betrayal, the most dangerous of which is Crocodile.[7] Where ever she went she was unable to find happiness and was constantly thrown out. And when the people she stayed with found out they were now the targets of the World Government, the group would turn on her, with the exception of Crocodile who agreed to protect her. To this end, Robin's claim is that her greatest enemy is the world itself. [8]

Several other civilians hate her, fearing her ability to awaken Pluton. Iceburg is one such example, as he states that while he would prefer to burn Pluton's blueprints, he must guard them in case the World Government uses her to revive the weapon. However, his opinion of her changes after he realizes that she is willing to turn herself in to save her friends, finally admitting that she is a good person. Franky feels similarly about her at first, but after learning of her being forced to turn herself in to save her friends, he immediatel y sympathizes with her due to his sentimental nature.

While Robin fears the three Admirals for their reputation of being the most powerful fighters of the Marines, she fears Aokiji the most, for they had a personal encounter 20 years ago. Aokiji stated that he was not her friend, and he would hunt her down if she became a problem. However, he had let her live due to the wish of his good friend, Jaguar D. Saul, who also happened to be Robin's friend. After the war within Enies Lobby, Aokiji had seemed to form a somewhat benign relationship with Robin, stating "Ohara still lives."

Two of Robin's greatest enemies are former CP9 director, Spandine, and his son, Spandam, both of whom considered her a "devil." They activated the Buster Call in attempts to kill those dear to Robin (the citizens of Ohara and the Straw Hat Pirates, respectively). Robin herself, was the victim of their abuse of authority, suffering physical, verbal and emotional abuse from Spandam, until Franky freed her. Consequently, Robin took her revenge by brutally injuring Spandam when the opportunity arose.

Nico Olvia

Nico Olvia was Robin's mother [9] and although the two went for many years without seeing each other, her mother still loved her deeply. She was proud of her daughter and considered her amazing for being able to read Poneglyphs at an extremely young age. Her only regret was she was unable to spend time with her daughter and all Robin ever wanted was to see her again and be with her.

Roji

Roji was Robin's aunt, she married Olvia's brother. She disliked Robin and mistreated her from the very moment she walked in to her house and treated her like a slave. [10][11] As the boat she boarded was hit and sunk, she is believed to be dead.

Other

Although they were related to her, Robin is never shown interacting with her uncle and cousin. Robin's uncle was seen defending her against his wife, but otherwise did little to help her or acknowledge her as a member of the family. Robin also had a father, however Robin never knew her father and his name remains unknown. All family members (except Robin's father who died many years beforehand) are believed to have died at Ohara.

Abilities and Powers

Robin is also a skilled archaeologist with a vast knowledge of history and cultures. She is one of the few alive (if not the only one) who can read the language scripted on Poneglyph tablets, which contain records of ancient history. She taught most of these skills herself through the research in the library of Ohara during her childhood. Outside of historic knowledge, she has a considerable knowledge of most of the major figures in the world and has at least heard of figures such as Red-Haired Shanks, Dragon and Gecko Moria.

Robin has no superhuman abilities beyond her Devil Fruit powers and is only an above average athlete in terms of bodily ability. Nevertheless, she is agile enough to ev ade gracefully (while maintaining her arms "X" formation) to maneuver her way from a group of captain and commander-level marines before using her powers in retaliation, and her abilities make her particularly well suited to taking on large numbers of foes. Her strongest aspect is her will power; she managed to recover in mere minutes after her shadow was stolen by Moria (when it usually takes a few days for most humans). She is not afraid to use violence as a solution to a problem or for defense and often incapacitates her enemies by breaking their necks or backs (even when they cry out for mercy).


Devil Fruit

Robin ate the Hana Hana no Mi at a very young age as she is seen using its powers at the age of eight. She can spread her body parts on any surface including her own body, other bodies, and other objects. Usually, when she uses her powers she crosses her arms and makes an "X" shape across her chest. Her attacks hinder the enemy, stopping all movement with the ever multiplying hands. Although she is very powerful, her sprouted body parts can be hit and stretched, causing damage to her real body; this is her weak point. Her powers are also very useful in dangerous situations. She can carry her friends by using feet and hands. So far, hands, feet, ears and eyes are the only body parts she has used in either attacks or other applications. She tends to use her ability to place her foes in painful submission holds.

Her most common attacks are Seis Fleur Twist (Robin twists the foe's upper body around) and Ocho Fleur Flip (Robin uses a pair of arms that knock over the foe backwards, forms a pair of arms on the ground below them, and when the foe lands on it, two more pairs appear at their legs and head and pull them to the ground) and Clutch (her hands grow out of her opponents back , these hands clasp the targets chin simultaneously pulling the head back and breaking the targets neck, for stronger opponents, she uses more hands and has been seen breaking a person in half)

Her attacks are a combination of the Spanish, French, and English languages. Ex. "Cinco Fleur." Cinco (five in Spanish) refers to the number of arms she blossoms, and fleur is the French word for flower. Some attacks are followed by an English word that further describes the attack's purpose. [13] In the 4Kids English dub, the attacks are mostly English, using the word "Floret" instead of Fleur, such as "Eight Floret" or "One Hundred Floret".

No limit has been given for Robin's powers, but the author, Oda, has jokingly stated that she can only sprout limbs a distance of "200 Hana Hanas" away. Fans often misinterpret this as meaning she can only sprout 200 limbs, but this is false.

Weapons

She carried a dagger at her belt, but did not use it in combat, as she fights unarmed using only her powers. She has only ever used it once in an attempt to kill Crocodile in self defense.

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