Nico Robin

"For the past twenty years, I've been able to run away and survive no matter what the circumstance. That's only because I had nothing to protect. Because I was willing to betray others and use them as a shield. But not now. For the first time in all these years I can't do that. They picked up the life I gave up on, returned the heart I lost, and continued the dreams that I no longer believed in. Even after all I've done, I've found friends who will still believe in me."

- Robin tells Iceburg how important the Straw Hats are to her.

"I can live? I never dared to wish for something like that, the world had denied me that hope. But now if I'm allowed to say my wish just this once then I... I WANT TO LIVE! Take me with you take me away from here!"

- Robin states her desire to live to her friends. Nico Robin is the archaeologist of the Straw Hat Pirates. She was originally introduced as the vice president of Baroque Works, known as Miss All Sunday, before joining the Straw Hats. She is the seventh member of the crew, the sixth to join, and, like Nami, Usopp and Sanji, is the second to rejoin, doing so near the end of the Enies Lobby Arc. Robin is also the first member to have once been an antagonist.

Her first bounty was 79,000,000 berries after she sank 6 of the buster call ships, her second bounty was 80,000,000 berries after the event of Enies Lobby, Her current bounty is 130,000,000 Berries after she involved in the war at Dressrosa against the Donquixote Pirates.

She is voiced by Yuriko Yamaguchi in the Japanese version of the anime, and Stephanie Young in the English version of the anime.

Nightmare of the Buster Call
Nico Robin was born on the island of Ohara, from a Unnamed Man and Nico Olvia, her mother Olvia, went out to sea to find the True History when Robin was 2 years old, leaving her in the care of Olvia's older brother, Oran, and his wife, Roji. While Robin's father was never revealed, Olvia stated that she will honor her husband's dream, she then left to study the poneglyphs.Robin later wandered into the Tree of Knowledge and was allowed to read the books held within on Clover's invitation.

Roji both verbally and physically abused her niece Robin over menial actions. Roji made it obvious time and time again that Robin was not wanted; she was expected to keep out of sight and she was not allowed to participate in family celebrations.The powers of her Devil Fruit often freaked out or scared the other children, on top of that often she would overhear the conversations of the parents telling their children to avoid her at all cost as well as other children calling her a demon. Her only friends were the scholars at "The Tree of Knowledge", with Professor Clover of the archaeology lab, a friend of her mother, trying to take care of her.

At only 8 years old, she aced an archaeology exam and was officially inducted as a scholar.However, when she announced that she, like her mother, wanted to find out the true, unrecorded history of the world, she was reproved by Clover who told her she will get banned from the library if she continued to spy on the other scholars.

Robin ran off crying and headed to the northwest beach of Ohara, where she met the giant, Jaguar D. Saul, who was washed up on shore. The two became friends and Robin continued to visit him for the following four days, while he built his raft.After Saul found out he was on Ohara and figured out that Robin was Olvia's daughter, he informed Robin about the battleships that were on their way to Ohara to destroy due to the scholars studying the Poneglyph.

Nico Olvia had recently escaped off a Marine ship and returned to Ohara (due to Saul's efforts). She informed the archaeologists that her colleagues had been killed by the marines. She told them that the Marines were able to infer that Ohara was their homeland based on the items they possessed on the ship, and they were headed towards Ohara, likely to kill them. The archaeologists, however, refused to leave; they wished to continue to protect the tree and the knowledge they had worked so hard to research and procure. When Olvia was warned that CP9 was on shore, she rushed out of the Tree of Knowledge, running past her daughter without notice.

Robin arrived at the Tree of Knowledge, and asked Clover about her mother's whereabouts. As a wanted woman, Olvia wished to cut all ties with her daughter, so that Robin might not be associated with a criminal mother. Doing as Olvia wanted, Clover denied that Robin's mother was on the island, but Robin seemed skeptical. Clover quickly changed the topic and urged Robin to leave, and not to mention that she is an archaeologist, or she might be arrested too. Robin refused and CP9 bust into the Tree of Knowledge and began searching for the Poneglyphs.

Outside, agents warned the island's residents to move to the evacuation boat, or be destroyed. Olvia confronted Spandine, the director of CP9 at the time, but was quickly subdued by the brute force of his agents.

Back at the Tree of Knowledge, all of the archaeologists were arrested and taken outside the tree, and once again Clover urged Robin to escape, but she refused once again. Spandine and the rest of CP9 arrived with a gravely wounded Olvia, who instantly recognized her daughter once her name is spoken. CP9 found the Poneglyph in the basement of the tree, and Spandine sentenced the archaeologists to death by Buster Call. However, Clover began to speak out, talking to the Gorosei via Spandine's Den Den Mushi, stating his theory on why the government really wanted to keep the Void Century a secret. However, before Clover could reveal the name of the civilization he spoke of, he was shot point blank and mortally wounded.

Seeing that the battleships had already arrived, Saul rushed off to find Robin. As the attack on Ohara began, it was discovered that Robin also had the capacity to read Poneglyphs. As the bombardment began, Spandine and CP9 made their exit, Robin and Olvia reunited, and shortly afterwards, Saul arrived.

It was then revealed that Saul was a former vice admiral, and aided Nico Olvia with her escape. Olvia asked Saul to make sure that her daughter was taken safely off the island, and told Robin that she must continue to live. Robin begged to stay with her mother, but Olvia insisted on staying, as there was something more that she had to do.

Saul followed Olvia's wish and managed to reach the island's shore. But the Marine ships spotted him and opened fire. Seeing as he was carrying Robin, Saul put her down and retaliated in anger for almost hurting Robin, and destroyed several ships. Robin tried to make for the evacuation ship but trying to use her Hana Hana abilities to get aboard frightened the people on board, plus Spandine told them to not let her on since she claims she is an archaeologist, though this would be fortunate for Robin. Saul noticed Spandine and charged towards his ship for his foolishness,but Vice Admiral Kuzan (later known as Admiral Aokiji) prevented him from getting that far, challenging him.

The evacuation ship was destroyed by another vice admiral, Sakazuki, who did it as a precaution if any archaeologist had snuck aboard.This act disgusted both Saul and even Kuzan. Saul tried to get away with Robin but he was frozen by Kuzan's ice power. Before being completely encased, Saul encouraged Robin to escape and that her friends were out in the ocean waiting for her. His last act was to laugh as he is frozen, sticking to his philosophy to laugh from his heart even in bad times, as most of the bearers of D. did when they met their demise.

Back at the Tree of Knowledge, Olvia, Clover and the other scholars had tossed out as many books into the ocean as they could so future generations could find them. They then realized there was nothing more they could do and stood in the tree as it burned around them. Olvia apologized to Robin for not leaving any parting words as a mother.

Robin ran to the raft that Saul built, only to be met by Kuzan. He told her that he was letting Robin go, since he was curious as to why Saul risked his life for her. However, Kuzan warned her that he will be the first to come after Robin if she tried anything.

Robin then left on a boat guided by an ice path Kuzan set for her. Remembering Saul's words, she tried to laugh but wept as Ohara was burned to the ground, which left her as the only survivor.

Appearance
Nico Robin is an extremely tall, slender, yet athletic woman with shoulder-length black hair and brown eyes with dark, wide pupils (blue eyes in the anime, excluding the tenth and the twelfth movie). She also has a long, thin and defined nose. In the anime, Robin's skin tone is slightly darker unlike in manga colored artworks where it is lighter. Robin also resembles her mother greatly, with the exception of her hair color and style as well as having slightly darker skin tone than her. Robin's limbs are very long, especially her legs, contributing greatly to both her fighting capabilities (given the nature of her powers) and overall height, and like most female characters in the series, she has a narrow waist. She is also well-endowed. Many people consider her to be very attractive or beautiful, and she along with Nami serve as eyecandy for fellow crewmember Sanji.

Personality
Through her heritage on the island of scholars, Robin is an archaeologist and historian, who 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), and as such, is the only crew member to have no face faults. She even appears calm at times towards her crew mates, often speaking ominously around them. She has an "adult charm" about her, as stated by Sanji. As suited as being describe as the "mother" by Oda she has shown maternal care for others like Chopper and Momonosuke.

Robin also has a somewhat macabre side to her, and often points gross or morbid facts, usually to the disgust of Nami or Usopp. Robin will usually be the first to speculate that a crewmate has met or will meet with a horrible fate, often going into grisly detail. In other instances she will express enthusiasm for anything with a horror theme.