Realizing how strongly the Will Of D seems to be pulled to Robin - and vice versa. BIG Spoilers for Egghead!
When she was little the father figure who raised her was Clou D. Clover and her closest friend who literally washed up on the beach in front of her and had previously defected from the Navy because of her mother was Jaguar D Saul.
Then, she is on the run for years and years after her island is destroyed, and has to learn to hate and betray and team up with crime organizations in order to survive and accomplish her dreams. And where does that land her? In the kingdom of Alabasta - the apparent birth place of the name “D” and ruled by the direct descendants of Nefertari D Lili, the woman who betrayed the world government and refused to become a celestial dragon.
The woman whose actions seem to have been a huge factor in starting the Void Century and who ordered the scattering of the Poneglyphs - the very thing Robin has dedicated her whole life to.
While she’s there she decides to track down a member turned traitor - Nefertari Vivi, the princess of Alabasta - and give her a potential way to survive.
When she finds her she’s on a boat captained by a young upstart with the highest bounty in the East Blue. Monkey D Luffy. Later, she will directly kidnap the leader of Alabasta, Nefertari Cobra, and nearly die alongside him under his country next to the poneglyph she’s been searching for. But unfortunately for her, the kid in the straw hat will save her despite her protests, and she will join his crew because of it.
Next, she will find another poneglyph all the way up in Skypeia, signed in the dead language by the king of the pirates, Gol D. Roger. This very Poneglyph gives her the hope she needs to continue believing in her dream despite it all, and makes her remember just how much there still is to discover. How much she wants to be around to discover it.
Then, shortly after she’s freed from Enies Lobby and finally able to join the straw hats for real, they will be separated across the globe. She will end up working with the revolutionary army, lead by none other than Luffy’s estranged father - Monkey D Dragon.
She will also bond with Luffy’s presumed-dead brother Sabo due to a shared grief for the death of Portgas D Ace, whose death they both know likely nearly killed Luffy, and who Sabo is personally mourning as well.
(And, in my mind Sabo counts as an honorary “D” as well, seeing as he was raised by tons of them (Ace, Luffy, Garp, AND Dragon), can keep up with their eating habits, is just as reckless and always in the middle of the action, and Luffy and Ace asked him if he wanted one when he was younger. Sa-D-Bo. So cute. If they’re brothers then in my mind it counts, regardless of blood)
Not to mention the narrative parallels between Enies Lobby and Marineford, and the direct parallel of Ace and Robin both being sentenced to a death they’ve always known to be inevitable but realizing and saying while on their execution platform that they want to live. (They both say that exact quote and I never hear people talk about it and it drives me crazy. Anyway,)
Two years later, once the Straw Hats are reunited and fucking around on Punk Hazard, she will meet yet another pirate captain whom their crew will ally with - Trafalgar D Water Law. Eventually, the two will bond over their similar pasts and personalities, and he will even be there with Robin on Wano to learn about the poneglyphs - declaring that he shares her dream as his new one.
So genuinely Robin has a personal connection to 7 of the *16 confirmed “D”’s in One Piece, and a direct narrative connection to 3 more.
And it only takes like one close connection for her to know basically all of them.
(Luffy and Dragon -> Garp. Luffy -> Teach. Law -> Lami. Luffy, Sabo, Ace, and Roger -> Rouge.)
(You could even argue The Davy Back Fight -> Davy Jones if you’re insane)
The only “D” I can’t find a close connection to her for is Rocks D. Xebec. (And Davy Jones if you’re not insane, but I am)
Even without the stretching, she is directly connected in the story - either through personal interaction or large narrative forces which impact her story/character - to 10 out of the *16 “D” characters in the story.
Do you know how many characters there are in One Piece??? Do you know how unlikely it is for a person to be that directly connected with that many of the SIXTEEN characters in the story who share that name????
Now, I don’t think this necessarily means there’s some big thing to be revealed about her here. This isn’t supposed to be some secret code I’ve cracked.
What it is, though, is an interesting observation, and an important reminder of how solidly Nico Robin’s role as one of the most central gears within the story of One Piece is.
*(this count excludes the three unnamed “D” characters, those being Clover’s brother and Law’s parents, and Sabo too cuz he really only counts in my mind but not in text lol)
