Frobin

"What an attractive woman before me, you're our super archeologist - Robin aren't you?!"

- Franky to Robin, after they reunite after two years.

Frobin is the het ship between Franky and Nico Robin from the One Piece fandom.

Canon
Franky and Nico Robin are crew mates in the Straw Hat Pirates. They are good friends and get on very well with each other. They are cordial, friendly and wholesome. They first met when the Straw Hats arrived on Water 7, Franky’s home island, and Robin became involved in a conspiracy, through the World Government’s agency, Cipher Pol, to kill Franky’s life-long friend, Iceburg. The pair first met when they found themselves as prisoners under CP9 and were sent to Enies Lobby to be killed. Franky played an important role in freeing Robin as Luffy was caught up fighting against Rob Lucci. After brutalising Spandam, who had grossly ridiculed Robin, both Franky and Robin successfully escaped Enies Lobby, alongside the rest of the Straw Hats. With Luffy wishing to have Franky join them, Robin played a key role by crushing his genitals (via her Devil Fruit), as the pain created a cover for Franky to finally cry over his role in his mentor’s death and to forgive himself.



Both of them share similar experiences regarding the World Government. Franky has spent most of his life living with the serious guilt for his actions that caused his mentor, Tom, to be taken away and killed by the World Government’s secret agency, Cipher Pol. Nico Robin has been hunted her entire life by the World Government, since she was a child, as she was born on the island of Ohara that could read the poneglyphs, something the World Government made highly illegal. Robin being put under the impression that she does not have a right to live made her willing to be taken away by CP9 to be killed at Enies Lobby if it meant saving her crew, the Straw Hats. Their shared experience allowed them both to fully understand each other’s feelings, especially on Franky’s side, who was able to counter Robin’s mindset on the value of her life, firmly telling her that her existence is not a crime.

Franky and Robin do not interact very often relative to a lot of the other strawhats, but they have often fought alongside each other in almost all of the arcs and have developed a deep sense of trust and friendship. They both do their best to help one another and can be seen having fun with the rest of the Straw Hats from time to time. Their bond is particularly unique as they were both brought up under the difficult circumstances of being hunted by the World Government, one for existing and the other for possessing blueprints to the ancient weapon, Pluton. He proved to be a comforting force for her when she was dealing with her own personal right to exist and helped her understand that she has people out there who are willing to risk their lives for her sake. On a personal level, the very fact that Luffy and the others fought so valiantly to reach Enies Lobby to save her inspired him to not give Robin over to the World Government, refusing to help them. Instead, he decided to put his full faith in Luffy and his crew to save Robin, and actively helped them.

Despite their good bond, Franky can be put off by Robin’s blunt and unabashed remarks when talking about the possibility of their friends being killed in brutal fashion. On the other hand, Robin can be disturbed by Franky’s ideas, despite her stoic nature. One example was the “docking” formation he had created with Usopp and Chopper that required her involvement. The idea of being part of such a silly idea embarrassed her greatly and she outright refused to be involved. Furthermore, when Trafalgar Law had swapped Franky and Chopper’s bodies, she felt very irritated by Franky’s mannerisms and dialect in Chopper’s body, as she is also very close to Chopper, and bluntly told him to stop. When he was swapped back to normal she was very happy for him, but added to never do such a thing to Chopper again despite it not being his fault.

Following the two year time-skip they were very happy to see each other, being the first two to reach the Thousand Sunny. When Franky gave himself an overdramatic introduction to her, she simply chuckled and commented that he had not changed one bit, despite the fact that his appearance is now radically different. Robin also appears to be very comfortable with Franky, as she allowed him to sleep on her lap at one point after they had been captured by Casear Clown. Franky has also referred to Robin as the crew’s “beautiful historian”, implying he finds her attractive. When he also arrived in the Kurosai FR-U IV during the raid on Onigashima, he offered Robin the chance to ride alongside him, which she gladly accepts with a smile but Brook jumps in before her. In terms of romance, there has been no actual indication that they are interested in each other. Whilst Franky has described himself openly as a pervert, it is more to do with his shameless exposure of his own body, rather than something inappropriate towards Robin.

Fanon
Frobin has proven to be a very popular pairing within the One Piece community despite its lack of relative screen time. Its popularity started to stem from how the pair met and the similar experiences they both have with the World Government, with Franky being able to sympathise with Robin’s situation on Water 7. Beyond how they met, the pair gained popularity because of their opposite personalities, making them an entertaining pair, with Robin’s quiet, reserved, nature, and Franky’s loud, boisterous and fun personality.

Other points that include the rise of the pair is the usage of several tropes that can be interpreted as romantic, like sleeping on each others lap (Punk Hazard), wearing "couple shirts" (Dressrosa) and finishing each others sentence (Zou). A more recent rise of Frobin fans came with the colorspread of Chapter 987 in which Robin is holding her hand onto Franky's face.

The ship has numerous rivals, the most prominent being ZoRo, the ship between Zoro and Robin. Another popular rival is LawBin, the ship between Trafalgar D. Water Law and Robin. There is also LuRo, the ship between Luffy and Robin, and SaRo, the ship between Sanji and Robin. JinBin, the ship between Jinbe and Robin. Franky is, generally, not notably shipped with any other character but Iceburg, the other apprentice of Toms workers. Many of Franky's fans also multiship him with all kind of Characters (Brook, DoFlamingo, Zoro, Nami to name a few) but those are often rare.

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Trivia

 * On the cover of chapter 957, Franky and be seen carefully holding Robin so she won't fall off.
 * On the cover of chapter 987, Robin can be seen caressing Franky's cheek.
 * When Oda was asked to describe the Strawhats as a family he depicted Franky and Robin as the father and the mother.