Hey friends and fans! Kairomaru is bringing you another chapter of The Logia Brothers! The Straw Hats have already made quite the breakthrough into Enies Lobby. Luffy put down hundreds, if not thousands, of Marines and Cipher Pol agents with just two blasts of his Conqueror’s Haki. Then the rest of the crew arrived and started beating down anyone that tried to stop them. Blueno went to intercept Luffy, only to get kicked through three buildings faster than he could blink! Now, the Straw Hats are at the Tower of Law and Luffy already knows where Robin is…much to Spandam’s fear and panic! But the idiot leader of CP9 has activated a Buster Call on Enies Lobby itself. Can the Straw Hats get Robin back before the Buster Call arrives, or will they face the military might that the Marines use to wipe entire islands off the map?
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So, without further delay, please enjoy.
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Chapter 73 – Raid of Enies Lobby: Part 2
On the island of Marineford where Marine Headquarters was based a massive commotion suddenly began.
Bwoooo
Bwoooo
Bwoooo
A loud siren went off and red lights flashed sending thousands of soldiers scrambling.
“The Silver Transponder Snail has intercepted a signal! The Buster Call has been sounded! Admiral Aokiji has requested a Buster Call!” Rang out over the loud speakers across the island.
As the Marines scrambled to get armed and to their ships, orders continued to be given out from various officers.
“What’s the target?!”
“Enies Lobby!”
“Alert the Vice Admirals in the target area!”
“Considering the distance, I think it’s faster if we head out from headquarters! What’s the time?!”
“We can get there in thirty minutes, sir!”
“Prepare the ten warships immediately! Convene the five Vice Admirals that will lead the Buster Call! At once!”
“Yes, sir!”
-Enies Lobby ~ Courthouse-
Within the courthouse on Enies Lobby a pitched battle was taking place.
“GUUUAAAHHH!!!”
Or that’s what would be happening, if the Straw Hats didn’t so VASTLY outclass the Marines and Cipher Pol agents that were acting as guards.
Zoro spun in two full revolutions as soon as he passed through the large stone doors that Mikita had knocked down with her ten-ton charge and the body of one of the weird, half-naked guards that swung around massive iron balls and thick iron chains as flails. Every movement of the swordsman’s body had been accompanied by a devastating swing of one of his two blades, unleashing swift and powerful flying cuts that whipped up the air as they passed until a spinning dome of air and slashes cleared out the entire front half of the massive courthouse, raining blood and bodies down onto the floor.
“Chief Justice Baskerville! The pirates have broken in and invaded the courthouse!” One of the injured Cipher Pol agents reported loudly as he hobbled toward the massive three-headed man.
“I CAN SEE THAT, YOU FOOL!!!” All three heads yelled back.
Zoro, Sanji, and Mikita walked forward, looking around the courthouse, noticing the nearly absurd size of the place for what they’d heard was merely an empty façade for ‘trials’ that had been decided long before any prisoners arrived.
“I’m surprised how few guards there are.” Zoro mentioned, both his swords held at his sides as he walked forward, Wado still in its sheath on his hip. “This should go smoothly.”
Mikita pointed at the judge’s stand in surprise. “What’s that?”
Sanji blinked once in surprise. “A three-headed man? I’d heard old tales about a three-headed dog that guarded the gates of the underworld…but who is he?”
“ORDER!!!” Baskerville’s center head roared out as the gavel was banged repeatedly. “THIS IS A SACRED CHAMBER OF THE LAW!!! I WILL NOW SENTENCE YOU TO YOUR FATE AND WILL ALLOW NO APPEALS!!!”
“So, court is in session?” Mikita deadpanned at the weird three-headed man trying to proceed with a sham of a trial in the current situation.
Zoro didn’t care in the slightest what the huge three-headed man was saying. “Ignore it. What a pain! How do we get through?!”
Sanji pointed out the obvious in a mocking tone to Zoro. “Maybe those stairs on either side, Marimo? They lead upwards, don’t they?”
“Shut it, Dartbrow!” Zoro snapped back.
“The crime is as follows: First, the accused set foot on Enies Lobby, a possession of the World Government…” Baskerville was actually beginning to list off the Straw Hats’ crimes.
Mikita felt her brow twitch at Zoro and Sanji bickering and Baskerville’s loud voice. She changed her weight to a single kilogram and leapt up into the air with her powerful legs. When she got to the ceiling, she flipped around and her feet touched the stone, putting all of her considerable leg strength to use, Mikita kicked off the ceiling, aimed straight at Baskerville. “SHUT UP ALREADY!!!” She shifted her weight to her max as she rocketed straight at the three-headed judge. “10,000 Kilo Impact!”
“GAH!!!” All three of Baskerville’s heads cried out in terror as the huge man threw himself to the side.
BAM
The huge judge’s stand practically exploded into splinters and pebbles from the force of the impact. Dust rose into the air as Baskerville got himself to his feet and drew both of his massive swords.
“How dare you!” The head on the left yelled out.
“Attacking the Chief Justice is a capital offense!” The right head bellowed angrily.
“The sentence is…” The center head roared as both swords were swung through the cloud of dust. “…the death penalty!”
The huge swords cut nothing but air as the dust cloud was partially blown away.
Mikita had used her Observation to see the attack coming and had ducked low. Demonstrating her vastly improved control of her Devil Fruit, she reduced her weight to one kilo to launch herself forward in a blur, only to shift her right fist to five-thousand kilos in the fraction of a second it took her to close the distance between her and Baskerville. “5,000 Kilo Fist!” Her punch slammed dead center into the three-headed man’s chest, the Armament Haki behind it increasing both force and intensity as the blow smashed muscle, shattered bone, and made organs compress and jostle within.
“GAKH!!!” The center head spit out blood before the body was launched backwards so fast that the clothing tore apart, revealing that Baskerville was actually three men.
“AND!!!” The two men that had been the left and right heads cried out for the center head as he lay partially embedded into the brocks and masonry of the staircase to the left of the judge’s stand.
Without the massive tabard covering them, all three men that made up ‘Baskerville’ were revealed to have rather misshapen bodies.
The ‘right head’ with the stubbled, square-jawed was revealed to have extremely short, stubby legs and a disproportionately large left arm and hand.
‘Left head’ was practically the inverse of the right, possessing the same extremely short, stubby legs but with a disproportionately large right arm and hand.
The ‘center head’, apparently named ‘And’, had an incredibly lanky upper body with disproportionately large legs and feet.
Mikita, Zoro, and Sanji all cocked their heads slightly at the sudden and strange reveal.
“Were you two…just sitting on his legs this whole time?” Sanji asked the two still conscious ‘heads’ of Baskerville.
Zoro shook his head once, putting the strangeness out of his mind. “Doesn’t matter. They’re just in the way.”
“Come on, Kerville!” The right head still had his huge sword in hand and aimed it at Mikita, even though his misshapen body wasn’t properly balanced to wield a sword.
“Right, Bas!” The left head readied his sword, but wasn’t any more stable than his friend.
Mikita didn’t bother humoring the two men as she blurred forward by dropping her weight again. “5,000 Kilo Kick!” Her right leg came up in a near-perfect high kick, demonstrating incredible flexibility, and slammed into the bottom of Bas’s jaw, shattering it instantly as teeth went flying.
Bas went flying into the air, his huge sword dropped onto the floor as his body went airborne and nearly reached the ceiling. Gravity asserted itself and the oddly-shaped man fell back to the floor with a crash not too far from And.
“BAS!!!” Kerville cried out in panic for his friend. “Damn you!” He tired to swing his huge sword, but he just wasn’t built for it without being practically carried around by And. The slow and sloppy swing was easy for Mikita to dodge.
“5,000 Kilo Stomp!” Mikita’s foot crushed Kerville’s foot nearly into paste inside his boot.
“AAAUUUGGGHHH!!!” Kerville bellowed in agony, dropping his sword.
Mikita easily pushed the off-balance Kerville onto his back despite his size compared to her. “5,000 Kilo Press!” She hopped onto his chest and increased her body weight, crushing Kerville into the floor, the stone and tile cracking under weight that it was never made to bear.
Kerville hacked out some blood as his ribs gave out under the force and weight and then his eyes rolled back entirely as he lost consciousness.
“Can we go now?” Mikita demanded of Sanji and Zoro with an annoyed scowl on her face.
“Yes, Miki-chwan!” Sanji agreed instantly with hearts in his eyes.
Zoro glanced back towards the large knocked down doors as what had to be a couple hundred Marines and Cipher Pol agents filled the plaza in front of the courthouse and prepared to charge in. “Looks like we have something else to deal with first.” He readied his two swords.
-Outside ~ Courthouse Plaza-
“What’re you doing?! Hurry in!”
“The pirates are already in the courthouse!”
“Charge in!”
Wooooo
A breeze moved through the plaza unnaturally, getting a few of the agents and Marines’ attention.
“Eisen Vortex!” A whip-like white cloud spiraled down from above and slashed everyone it touched, sending blood flying through the air and clearing out the center of the plaza all the way up to the broken down doors. The spiraling cloud was like a tornado as it moved around, kicking up a strong wind, and only a few of the Marines or agents managed to see Chopper—in his reindeer form—land on the ground with Nami on his back. “Thanks, Chopper!” Nami beamed at him as she hopped off his back and they both rushed for the courthouse. The spiraling clouds rapidly spun in the opposite direction, sending up a powerful breeze, before they disappeared back into Nami’s Climatact.
“Let’s go!” Chopper called out, projecting as much bravery as he could as he charged into the courthouse with Nami.
One of the Cipher Pol agents that had managed to avoid the strange cloud attack asked the question that everyone else still conscious wanted to know. “What the hell was that?!”
No one was given a chance to answer though.
Sssssshhhhh
The sound of sand moving made a lot of the agents and Marines look down at the ground…only to see sand rapidly covering the stone plaza.
“Asifa Ramlia: Khamsin!” Vivi called out as all of the Marines and agents quickly looked over at her, seeing her standing with Usopp at the edge of the plaza. It was the last thing most of them were able to see at all as the sand suddenly rose up powerfully, taking many of them off their feet entirely before whipping around into a powerful sandstorm that reduced visibility to zero.
“AAAUUUGGGHHH!!!” The cries and yells of the Marines and agents were barely heard over the howling wind filled with sand as it continued to spin around in powerful gales focused entirely on the plaza.
Usopp and Vivi quickly ran into the courthouse as well while the enemy was thrown around and blinded by the sudden sandstorm.
-Courthouse-
“Looks like we’re all back together again.” Zoro said with a nod.
“Nami-swan! Vivi-chan!” Sanji noodled over to the two women. “Are either of you hurt?”
Nami waved Sanji off. “I’m fine.”
“We didn’t get hurt.” Vivi assured Sanji, even though she was sure that Sanji wouldn’t focus even a tenth as much on Usopp’s potential injuries as he would hers.
Usopp posed proudly with a big smile on his face. “We managed to secure our escape route while dealing with the giant gate guards!” he thumped his chest with his fist.
Nami, Sanji, Mikita, and Zoro all looked at him with flat expressions. “Liar.” They said in unison.
“Hey!” Usopp shouted at them indignantly.
“You did?!” Chopper looked at Usopp in amazement.
“No, we really did.” Vivi backed Usopp up. “Mr. Oimo and Mr. Kashii were tricked to guard the gate here for the last fifty years by the Marines telling them that both Dorry and Broggy were imprisoned. When we told them the truth and proved that we knew Broggy and Dorry, they agreed to secure our exit while taking out their anger on the surrounding buildings and enemies.”
Usopp once more had the proud smile back on his face. “Yep! Just another amazing feat from Usopp, Friend of the Giant Warriors of Elbaf!”
“Well, it’s good we have a way off the island now.” Mikita said with a grin. “I guess it’s a good thing we went to Little Garden after all! Kyahahaha!” Coming from the one that had nearly died from the Kestia infection, that meant a lot.
Nami perked up as a ton of ‘voices’ entered her passive Observation range. “A lot of people are coming.”
“Yeah…” Sanji nodded as he looked towards the large staircases on either side of the wrecked judge’s stand. “Guess we shouldn’t have expected a place this big and important to only have a few dozen people guarding it.”
“Right, we still need to save Robin!” Chopper exclaimed after having gotten caught up in his amazement at Usopp’s ‘feat’.
Zoro started walking towards the staircases, Yubashiri and Sandai Kitetsu at the ready, the sounds of charging footsteps and loud voices now able to be heard. “We just need to get through them.”
Sanji glanced at the broken down doors of the courthouse. “Won’t a couple thousand more Marines and agents pour into this place with the doors on the floor?”
“That sandstorm won’t stop for quite a while. In Old Alabastan a weaker but long-lasting sandstorm is called Khamsin. That’s what I made in the plaza.” Vivi explained with a small smile. “But if they managed to get through it, that would be bad.” Her arms turned to sand and with a wave a tidal wave of sand surged forth to bury the entrance with a sand dune.
Usopp looked at the massive sand dune that blocked the entire door. “Shouldn’t you make that into a wall of sandstone, Vivi?”
Vivi shook her head. “A wall can be broken or blown up. But a sand dune has to be moved bit by bit, because no matter how many times you hit it, it just shifts and absorbs the hit.”
“Kind of like snow.” Chopper thought about the similarities when trying to move a snowbank compared to a block of ice. You could break the ice and step over the pieces…but the snowbank had to be shoveled and moved, or somehow melted before you could pass.
“Looks like we’re good then.” Mikita grinned as the first of the Marines and Cipher Pol agents arrived at the top of the staircase. “Let’s get to the top!”
“Yeah!” Usopp and Chopper cheered.
The Straw Hats rushed the newly arrived enemies and smashed through them like a battering ram.
“Out of the way!” Chopper—in his Heavy Point—had both arms spread wide as he clotheslined six Marines and knocked them to the ground.
Sanji kicked one Cipher Pol agent with a rifle down the corridor, slamming the single man into eight more to clear the path. “There’s a lot of them, huh?”
“Fire!” One of the Marines yelled out and at least twenty of the enemies all aimed their guns at the charging Straw Hats and opened fire.
“Eisen Shelf!” Nami jabbed her Climatact forward and the iron clouds formed a thick wall that covered all but the smallest space between the floor, ceiling, and walls of the corridor. The bullets hit the wall and stopped dead against the strong cloud. “Push!” Nami yelled out with a wide grin.
Sanji was already pushing a split-second after Nami had said to.
Usopp, Chopper, Mikita, and Zoro quickly understood the plan and pushed as well while Nami ran forward, propelling the iron cloud forward at speed with the strength of her nakama making sure that nothing stopped the charge.
“What the?!”
“Get out of the way!”
“Run!”
“Gauh!”
“Ack!”
The cries of the Cipher Pol agents and Marines—along with the multiple ‘thumps’ as the wall hit them—were loud as the Straw Hats barreled through the long corridor in a rush.
“Leave them!” Zoro yelled out as they smashed the iron cloud into the wall at the only turn in the corridor.
Nami sucked the clouds back into her Climatact as she ran along with the others up the next staircase. All that was left was a corner filled with beaten, bloody, and mostly unconscious enemies piled atop each other.
“I’ll block the stairs!” Vivi said as she stopped at the top of the staircase while everyone ran past her. Turning both of her arms to sand again, Vivi buried the entire staircase under several tons of sand in only a handful of seconds. In a dash boosted by expelling sand from her feet and legs, she caught up with the others again.
The Marines and agents that had been chasing after the Straw Hats from the other side of the courthouse caught up a minute later, only to see all of their defeated comrades and the stairs leading up to the higher levels completely buried under enough sand that it filled the last part of the corridor entirely.
“Go back around! We have to get to the rooftop!” One of the Marines yelled out as just over three-quarters of the group rushed back down the corridor, leaving a detachment to start offering first-aid to their defeated colleagues.
-Courthouse Rooftop-
“You’re here.” Luffy turned to look at his newly arrived nakama over his shoulder. “I was about to jump over to that tower by myself.”
“Kyahahaha!” Mikita couldn’t help but laugh at that. “Of course you were.”
Chopper looked over the edge of the courthouse roof and saw the nearly straight drop down into what looked like a bottomless hole in the ocean which Enies Lobby hung over. “That’s scary!” He backed up quickly.
“Are we having Vivi take us over on her sand?” Usopp asked as he pulled down one of the lens of his goggles and twisted it to focus it so that he could see the other side clearly. “It’s pretty far.”
“Doesn’t matter how we get over there, just that we do it as fast as possible! Robin-chwan is waiting for me to save her!” Sanji declared as he looked like he was considering the gap and if he could jump it.
Luffy, easily able to tell where Robin and Franky were within the Tower of Law with his Observation, picked his target for infiltration. Especially as he’d been taking pot shots at the weakest ‘voice’ near Robin and Franky to force them closer to the place he was preparing to enter. If one were to look, they’d notice a series of perfect holes piercing straight through the Tower of Law, each no bigger than two finger widths on an average-sized man’s hand. “I’ll make a door.” He told his nakama as he raised his right hand and it sparked with lightning.
“Luffy!” Nami called out…but it was too late.
Krakboom
The large windows that faced toward the center of Enies Lobby, allowing one to look out over the entire island, were blasted apart in a bright flash. Debris scattered everywhere, much of it falling down into the void in the ocean below.
“Hm?” Luffy blinked as the voices of Robin, Franky, Lucci, and the weakling stopped just a bit further than the room he’d just blasted the windows out of.
Multiple blurs emerged from a large window about halfway down the Tower of Law, each of them kicking off the air to land on the balcony right in front of the windows that Luffy had just blasted out. Their presence seemed to embolden the ‘weakling’ as Luffy had dubbed the person with Robin and Franky, as the small voice practically charged into the damaged top room of the tower.
“I guess those guys are the CP9 that we were told about?” Mikita said as she sized up the people that were standing on the balcony and looking down at them.
“They sure are noisy.” Kaku said as he looked down at the Straw Hats, his voice flat.
Jabra, not able to hold himself back, laughed at Kaku. “Hahaha! Hey, Kaku! Are you that upset?! You know? Since you ate that weird fruit!”
Kaku glanced over at Jabra with annoyance. “Just shut up. I like it.”
“WAHAHA!!!” Spandam laughed loudly, clearly much ‘braver’ when he had all of CP9 between him and the Straw Hats. He strutted out onto the balcony with an ugly smile. “All right. All of CP9 is now gathered here. What will you do know, pirates?!” He mocked the Straw Hats down on the roof of the courthouse across the expanse that only the drawbridge could span.
“Oh? The enemy made it this far already?” Kalifa run her left hand through her long blonde hair.
“Hey, hey! It’s impressive that they managed to get this far! Yoyoi!” Kumadori said while doing a kabuki pose.
Jabra laughed as he noticed Blueno was nowhere to be seen. “Looks like Blueno got thrashed! The fool!”
Lucci didn’t look bothered by being back up in Spandam’s office and getting a chance to potentially face off against the Straw Hats. The pathetic display of watching Spandam yelp and scream as he was easily corralled back towards his office by the multitude of precise shots of lightning would’ve killed any respect he had for the sniveling fool…if he’d EVER had any, which he hadn’t. “I guess running a bar for five years will dull anyone’s skills.”
“Still, how could he lose?” Kaku questioned. “Do we know for sure that he lost?”
“He’d be here if he had won.” Fukuro declared as he crossed his arms. “Since he’s not here, then he did lose! Chapapa.”
Jabra looked over at Spandam. “Say, Director, if we just go ahead and wipe them out now, won’t it all be over?!” He pointed down at the Straw Hats like they were just random pirates.
“Luffy!” Robin stepped forward, her arms shackled with Seastone cuffs behind her back. She could barely hold back a smile as she saw all of her nakama smile brightly as soon as they saw her—even Zoro, though his smile was smaller than the others.
“You made it, Straw Hat!” Franky stepped up beside Robin with a big grin on his face, even though he was still wrapped in the thick, heavy iron chains.
Spandam snapped at both of them. “SHUT UP!!! Both of you!” He turned to CP9 with a serious expression while pointing at the Straw Hats. “CP9! Listen up, I’m giving you the order to kill them! But do it in the Tower of Law! Since there’s no guarantee they can get over here!” A few beads of sweat rolled down his masked face. ‘The most important thing is my life! And increasing my status! If I let my men go wherever they want… Then if something happened…who would protect me?!’ Outwardly he went back to boasting loudly. “Wahahahaha! You stupid pirates! Well, you’ll learn that nothing you can do will change things! Cower before the power of the assassin group CP9! Bow under the weight of the Gates of Justice which mere human powers cannot open! And know that I’ve already activated the Buster Call!” He held up the Golden Transponder Snail proudly, as if he hadn’t done it on accident.
“Eh?!” Jabra, Fukurou, Kalifa, Kaku, and Kumadori all said simultaneously.
Lucci’s expression was flat, not giving away his own annoyance with Spandam’s bumbling incompetence.
“Buster Call?” Luffy tilted his head once, trying to recall where he’d heard that before, until it clicked a moment later. “Oh…that.” His expression darkened as he recalled Robin telling them about what had befallen her homeland of Ohara twenty years ago.
“Bastard.” Sanji growled at Spandam. “I suddenly want to kick him over this waterfall.”
“Robin…” Chopper said softly, seeing the look on Robin’s face at the reminder of her past coming back to haunt her.
Spandam ignored everyone’s shock or anger with a bluster that only the truly stupid could manage. “Look at that symbol, pirates!” He pointed straight up towards the flagpole on top of the Tower of Law, blowing in the breeze was the white and navy blue flag of the World Government. “It represents the unity of more than one-hundred-seventy nations allied across the four Blues and the Grand Line! It represents the world! Do you realize how frivolous your resistance is?! Do you understand the sheer power of the organization that is after this one woman?!”
“I understand who Robin’s enemy is…” Luffy nodded, staring up at the flag atop the tower. “…Usopp, shoot down that flag.”
“Roger.” Usopp’s face was deadly serious as he loaded a special pellet into his Kabuto slingshot staff and pulled it back. “Special Attack: Firebird Star!” He fired and the pellet burst into flames halfway between the Tower of Law and the courthouse, taking the shape of a bird made of fire that streaked across the open air before piercing straight through the World Government’s flag, leaving a large hole in it and setting it ablaze right in front of everyone.
“GAH!!!” Spandam screamed in disbelief and panic, never having met anyone that didn’t back down when threatened with the World Government’s power.
He wasn’t the only one though, as every Marine and Cipher Pol agent that was outside the courthouse saw the large burst of flames atop the tower and saw the flag burning.
“THE PIRATES HAVE MADE A DECLARATION OF WAR AGAINST THE WORLD GOVERNMENT!!!” Was the loud roar from down below as all of the agents and Marines looked up at the burning flag in disbelief.
Spandam slammed his hands on the railing around the balcony. “ARE YOU CRAZY?! DO YOU REALLY THINK YOU CAN SURVIVE NOW THAT THE ENTIRE WORLD’S YOUR ENEMY?!”
“BRING IT ON!!!” Luffy bellowed back like roaring thunder, a burst of his Conqueror’s Haki making the air shake.
Spandam shrieked as he staggered backwards until he was nearly inside again, his entire body shaking in terror.
Even the CP9 members had minute tremors pass through them at the sudden feeling. None of them knew what it was, but for just a brief instant, even Jabra and Lucci’s carnivorous Zoan instincts went completely silent, like beasts that had been cowed by a much greater predator.
Robin felt small tears well up in the corners of her eyes and a tiny smile spread across her lips.
“I like you guys, damn it!” Franky declared with manly tears, moved by the heartfelt connection between the Straw Hats.
Sand began to swirl around Vivi and spread outwards to make a platform.
“They’re coming.” Kalifa said plainly as the sand platform passed under the feet of the Straw Hats.
Zoro had his hand on Wado Ichimonji’s hilt, the first inch of the blade pulled free of the sheath and a nearly blood thirsty grin on his face. “Hurry up and get us over there.”
“Your face is so scary!” Nami leaned away from Zoro as she saw his expression.
Lucci’s own blood thirst had returned as a dark smile crossed his face.
“AHHH!!! Don’t come up here!” Spandam yelled out in panic, sweat running down his face. “Huff…huff… I have to get to the Gates of Justice before they cross!” He turned and grabbed Robin’s arm harshly. “You’re coning with me, Nico Robin! Someone, bring Cutty Flam!”
“Robin!” Chopper yelled at seeing his nakama manhandled.
Sanji’s foot cracked the stone as he prepared to leap straight at Spandam and kill the masked bastard. “You son of a…!”
“Shut up, pirates!” Spandam shouted at the Straw Hats. “We have the CP9 assassination team on our side! Nico Robin, the sole survivor of the island of scholars who conspired to revive the ancient weapon, and Cutty Flam, the one who inherited the blueprint for said weapon! THERE’S NO WAY THAT I’D LET SUCH AN OPPORTUNITY FOR IMMENSE POWER JUST SLIP AWAY!!!”
Clink
The metallic snapping sound of a chain link being pulled beyond its limits was heard followed by thick iron chains hitting the stone floor.
Franky stood a few meters from Spandam, his chains on the floor around him. His blue hair was noticeably even more droopy than before, but his face was absolutely serious as he put his hand on his abs and then opened them up, reaching inside and pulling out a bound stack of very weathered paper.
Jabra, Fukurou, Kumadori, and Kalifa all looked at the weathered paper with confusion, having no idea what it was.
Spandam only realized what it was when he saw the writing on the front paper. “That…you… That can’t be?! That’s the blueprint of the ancient weapon Pluton?!”
“It’s the real thing.” Franky said with a wide smile on his face. “Do you believe me?” He lifted the first couple of pages of the ancient blueprint book and began to flip them in front of everyone. “Lucci, Kaku…you guys should know.”
Lucci’s eyes widened as he saw the first few pages detailing a ship hull that was unlike anything he’d ever seen before.
“Can it really be…?” Kaku was almost gaping at what he’d been able to see for even a couple seconds. “So you… You had that hidden in your body?”
“I-Is it real?! Is it real? Hand it over!” Spandam demanded, sweating more than ever, but this time in desperation. “Give it to me! It’s the blueprint of my dreams!”
“Nico Robin…” Franky looked at Robin, ignoring Spandam’s demands. “I know now that you are not a demon with plans to make evil use of the weapon, as rumor had it. As it is…this thing that was passed down through the generations of the Water Seven shipwrights isn’t just the blueprint to make a weapon!” He glared at Spandam, the masked man breathing heavily as he reached for the Pluton blueprints. “Do you hear me, Spandam?”
Spandam clearly wasn’t paying any attention, his eyes fixed solely on the ancient blueprints. “Give it to me, now!”
Franky almost looked disgusted by Spandam. “The reason Mr. Tom and Iceberg would give their lives to protect this was simple! If the ancient weapon ever got into the hands of an idiot like you…someone who would go berserk with power…another weapon would be needed to stop you! It’s what the weapon’s architect planned!” Spandam glared at Franky for the insult. “With Nico Robin around, that weapon can certainly be resurrected! She is a dangerous woman. However, she has friends that will protect her.” He flipped the Pluton blueprints upwards in his hand. “That’s why I’m going to make a wager. If I’m to fulfill the architect’s wish in this situation there is just one thing to do.”
“Quit your rambling and give it to me!” Spandam demanded loudly. “That belongs to me!”
Franky raised the Pluton blueprints higher and inhaled, then expelled a blast of fire from his mouth that ignited the old paper instantly, quickly reducing all of it to black ashes which Franky let fall from his hand, his blue hair almost completely flat now.
“AAAHHH!!! NOOOO!!!” Spandam screamed as he dropped to all fours and scrambled towards the ashes, picking up the brittle fragments, only for them to fall apart into finer dust. “YOU IDIOT!!! WHAT DID YOU DO?! NOOO!!! I’LL KILL YOU!!!”
All of the CP9 members that had spent the last five years on Water Seven watched on in varying degrees of shock.
“Our five year mission…” Kalifa said quietly, seeing the goal of those five years turned to ashes right in front of them.
“The blueprint was left in order to construct a counter force…but you government people were able to find it! This was supposed to remain a secret. The moment the blueprint becomes public, it must be destroyed!” Franky declared loudly, a wide smile on his face. “Well, now the power to counter the weapon is gone! If Nico Robin falls it your hands, we’re doomed! And if the Straw Hats win, you will have nothing left! I’m gonna bet on them winning!”
Spandam growled angrily as he got back to his feet. “What a stupid thing to do. It seems you want to die here too.”
“Robin!” The Straw Hats called out, all of them flying over the gap on a platform of Vivi’s sand.
“They’re coming!” Spandam’s anger quickly gave way to his cowardice. “You’re coming with me!” He yanked Robin into his office. “CP9! You’re free to act! Eliminate all of them within the Tower of Law before the Buster Call arrives! Lucci! You come with me! No matter what happens, you are to protect me! Understand?!” He reached out towards his pet elephant with his right hand. “Funkfreed!”
“Bwoo!” The elephant let out a trumpet before its large body morphed, becoming a long sword with tusks sticking forward from the guard and the four legs fusing into a hand guard, the tail becoming a tassel at the pommel of the sword.
Spandam grabbed his sword—which had eaten the Zou Zou no Mi (Elephant-Elephant Fruit)—with a nasty smile. “Good boy! Now, onward to the gates of Justice!”
What Spandam didn’t notice was that his Transponder Snail had the receiver laying on his desk…and it was still connected to several of the other Transponder Snails across the island.
“D-Did he say Buster Call?!”
“There’s a Buster Call for Enies Lobby?!”
“R-Run!”
“Get off the island!”
The commotion on the island as Marines and Cipher Pol agents alike abandoned their posts to try and flee for their lives. The mass exodus saw many of the Marines and agents dragging at least one of their unconscious or injured comrades with them. Luffy alone had left a few thousand of Enies Lobby’s forces defeated, beaten, or just unconscious from his Conqueror’s Haki. Not to mention the hundreds of other that the rest of the Straw Hats had beaten and left strewn across the island.
But the entire island going int a panicked frenzy was completely ignored by the Straw Hats.
“Robin!” Luffy appeared behind Lucci and Spandam in a spark of lightning before they could even make it to the door of Spandam’s office.
“GAAAHHH!!!” Spandam screamed in terror.
Lucci’s hand blurred forward faster than most could see. “Shigan!” The lethal strike stabbed straight into Luffy’s chest, right where his heart was located. A textbook perfect assassination technique.
BZZZZTTTT
Lucci’s body lit up with a bright electric blue glow as lightning coursed through his body.
“L-Logia?!” Spandam’s nose was running and he’d broken out into a savage flop sweat. As Lucci staggered backwards, steam and smoke rising from his body, Spandam panicked and swung Funkfreed at Luffy.
Snap
Luffy’s sparking hand was lightning given form as it not only snapped the sword’s blade, but melted it as the pieces fell to the ground with bright orange ends that let off wispy smoke.
The sand platform crashed into the Tower of Law as the rest of the Straw Hats arrived.
“Bring it on!” Jabra roared out as he launched himself forward, his body morphing, growing larger, his head turning into a wolf’s, his hands becoming clawed, his body sprouting grey and black fur, and a large fluffy tail emerged behind him.
“Shut it, dog boy!” Sanji’s foot came down on Jabra in a powerful axe kick.
“Tekkai!” Jabra moved his arms to block and used the defensive technique of the Rokushiki.
BAM
He didn’t expect the force behind the kick to be so great as e grit his teeth and felt a sharp pain in his left arm. But Jabra also didn’t know about Armament Haki, which Sanji had used with his kick.
Crack
The floor of the office had a spiderweb of cracks spread across the stone.
“Rankyaku!” Kaku kicked upward, his leg nothing but a blur, and unleashed a visible air slash from his foot that arced forward at high-speed.
Ching
Only for Zoro to deflect it to the side with Sandai Kitetsu.
The wall of the office split cleanly from the kick, only to crack a second later as the damage to the room was piling up.
“Shigan: Solid Beast!” Fukurou launched himself at Usopp with a punch that blurred from the speed.
Usopp saw the attack coming with his Observation and fired one of his four pistols from the hip, forcing Fukurou to dodge.
“Geppou!” Fukurou kicked off the air and dodged the shot…barely.
“Yoyoi!” Kumadori yelled as he wielded his shakujō. “Soru!” He vanished in a blur and came at Chopper from behind. “Shigan: Cue!” He stabbed the bottom of his staff towards Chopper’s back.
Chopper, having sensed the incoming attack before Kumadori had even launched it, shrink down to his half-beast form, letting the staff pass overhead. “Yah!” He turned back to his heavy point and threw a strong punch straight at Kumadori’s face.
“Soru!” Kumadori blurred away quickly, reappearing to Chopper’s left and raising his shakujō in an aggressive stance.
Kalifa blurred forward, her index finger extended as she rushed Nami. “Shigan!”
Nami swept her Climatact into the path of Kalifa’s arm, but the assassin pivoted to the side. Nami swung her staff towards Kalifa’s head, but was forced to backstep as she saw the next attack coming.
“Shigan: Whip!” Kalifa’s arm bent almost unnaturally to move around Nami’s staff and tried to impale her through the throat with her extended finger…but Nami was just out of reach.
“5,000 Kilo Kick!” Mikita dropped an axe kick onto Kalifa.
“Soru!” Kalifa dodged and the floor nearly exploded as Mikita’s foot made contact, the speed, weight, and Haki behind the attack too much for the damaged floor.
BOOM
The entire floor collapsed.
“Geppou!” Every CP9 member began to kick off the air to prevent themselves from falling.
Luffy grabbed Robin from Spandam while Lucci grabbed the masked man before he could fall down along with the floor. The two glared at each other, before Luffy vanished in a spark.
“I’ve got you!” Vivi called out as her sand rushed through the air and safely caught her nakama in soft clouds. Her Observation screamed in her head and her sand reacted without a movement from Vivi.
Pash
“Huh?!” Jabra blinked as his clawed Shigan hit a wall of sand and his hand all the way up to his forearm was buried in the ever-moving sand grains. The sand suddenly tightened around his arm painfully and then whipped Jabra through the air and threw him into the far wall.
BAM
“Grrrnnn!” Jabra growled out as his back cracked the stone wall.
“You bastard!” Sanji came down on Jabra like a meteor, kick extended as he slammed his foot straight into the wolf man. “How dare you attack Vivi-chwan!” The stone wall exploded as Sanji kicked Jabra through it, both assassin and chef disappearing into a lower floor.
Spandam couldn’t believe his eyes as he watched his office not only be completely destroyed, but also become a free-for-all battle between CP9 and the Straw Hats. Not that his eyes could even keep up with everything that had happened since the floor collapsed. “WHAT’S HAPPENING?!”
“Soru!” Fukurou kicked off the air and blurred towards Mikita. “Tekkai: Iron Ball!” His round body spun at high-speed as he rocketed at his target.
“Eisen Shelf!” Nami unleashed the iron clouds and formed them into a thick wall.
THUD
Tekkai met iron cloud with a dull thud, Fukurou kicking off the wall. “Geppou!” He moved through the air with swift kicks.
“Soru!” Kumadori blurred behind Nami as she stood on the sand cloud that Vivi had provided. “Shigan: Cue!” He stabbed the butt of his shakujō forward to impale Nami.
Nami moved her body to the side, the staff passing by her waist. “Eisen Whip!” The iron cloud wall came apart into a thin cloud that Nami whipped around to slice Kumadori from every direction.
“Life Return!” Kumadori’s long hair seemingly came alive as it waved through the air and formed hands that caught the iron cloud whip in every direction. Until his hair passed through the cloud entirely. “Yoyoi?!”
“An iron cloud is still a cloud!” Nami grinned as the sharp clouds slammed into Kumadori.
“Tekkai!” Kumadori tanked the cuts with a grimace, his body not injured much thanks to his technique.
Nami narrowed her eyes at the lack of injury. “That weird technique is annoying!”
“Yoyoi! It comes from dedicated training! Now I shall…!” Kumadori declared as he kicked off the air again with Geppou and readied his staff…only to be cut off as a loud howling wind drowned out his words.
Vivi’s normally warm and kind eyes were filled with anger as she looked down at Kumadori. A massive and rapidly spinning sandstorm was blitzing straight towards the assassin. “Asifa Ramlia: Sumoom!” The tornado of sand slammed into Kumadori.
“Tekkai: Strength!” Kumadori used an even stronger variation of the normal Tekkai technique a split-second before the powerful sandstorm hit him.
BOOM
BOOM
BOOM
BOOM
Boom
Boom
The sound of floor after floor directly beneath Spandam’s office collapsing as the destructive sandstorm tore through them was incredibly loud, and grew fainter as the mass of high-speed sand and wind blasted its way further and further down the tower. Small, bright sparks of electricity could even be seen among the rapidly moving sand as static charge built up and was released over and over again.
Outside the tower—if anyone had been left to see it after the accidental announcement of the Buster Call—every window on the front of the tower from top to bottom exploded outwards in clouds of sand as the entire structure shook.
“Holy shit, Vivi!” Mikita called out in amazement.
“WHOA!!!” Chopper and Usopp stared down into the multi-story straight drop that had been left behind.
Zoro was focused on his own fight and had no time to be impressed. “Enbima Yonezu…” He had all three of his swords out, and to Kaku’s eyes they all appeared to waver like a heat haze. The assassin would swear he briefly saw the figure of an ethereal ghost-like demon behind Zoro as well. “…Oni Giri!”
A wall about two stories down the shaft that now existed within the Tower of Law was reduced to cleanly sliced pieces as Kaku crashed through it, blood flying from multiple cuts that had managed to get through his Tekkai thanks to Zoro’s Armament Haki.
“Hah…hah…” Kaku breathed out heavily as he flipped back onto his feet just as Zoro landed on the edge of the hole in the wall. “How did you cut me?”
“I don’t have to answer that.” Zoro said through Wado’s hilt between his teeth. He started walking closer to, all three of his swords at the ready.
Kaku glanced around and recognized this room, it was close to his own within the Tower of Law and knowing that his swords were in his room, he made the sensible choice. “Soru!” He blurred and kicked down the large wooden door of the room, dashing down the corridor to his own room.
Zoro chased after him immediately with a glare. “Are you really running away?!”
Back in the open shaft, Usopp called out to Vivi. “Hey! We’re at a disadvantage in the air! These guys can all do that weird kicking the air thing!”
Vivi understood and quickly started moving her nakama towards whichever door or hole in the wall was closest to them. “Get to solid ground!”
“You think we’d just let you?” Kalifa kicked off the air. “Geppou!” She rocketed after Mikita and Nami who were now on the third floor.
“I need cola!” Franky told Vivi, unable to use any of his cyborg armaments with his power supply drained. “Drop me to the ground floor! I bet that’s where the pantry and kitchen are!”
Vivi took Franky, Usopp, Chopper, and herself down to the ground floor in a wave of sand that made it impossible to see them as they descended.
“Chapapa! It doesn’t matter where we fight!” Fukurou went after the sand cloud as fast as his Geppou could take him.
“Luffy.” Robin smiled at her lover as he held her in his arms. He’d pulled her back out onto the balcony as when the floor had collapsed.
Luffy’s expression was serious, his hat shadowing his eyes, as he stared down Rob Lucci across the empty space that used to be an office. Lucci stared right back, his eyes cold and sharp, a powerful killing intent filling the air around the assassin.
“Get Nico Robin back, Lucci!” Spandam ordered loudly as he saw everything falling apart around him. “That’s an order! Kill Straw Hat! You must keep me safe!” The rapid fire ‘orders’ made Lucci actually growl, a sound that no human could make as Lucci started to transform, growing larger as spotted fur covered his body, his hands became claws, and a long tail emerged from behind him.
“Neko Neko no Mi – Model: Leopard.” Lucci growled at Luffy, his now cat-like eyes locked onto his prey.
Luffy took his straw hat off his head and placed it atop Robin’s head. “Look after this for me, Robin.” His eyes strayed to her cheek and his entire body went still as he saw a light bruise on Robin’s skin. “What’s this?” He gently touched it with his fingers.
“Spandam punched me earlier.” Robin said honestly, enjoying the gentle warmth of Luffy’s touch.
“HE WHAT?!” Luffy’s head whipped around and he glared death at Spandam.
“GAH!!!” Spandam bolted out of the room, having been standing in the doorway where Lucci had brought him when the floor collapsed. His cowardice made him quick to flee in any situation that could cause him harm.
“Soru!” Lucci vanished as he made the first move.
Luffy’s fist smashed into Lucci’s stomach, stalling the Leopard Man’s momentum instantly as he was folded over Luffy’s arm. In the next instant, Lucci was crashing through the far wall, across the corridor, through the next stone wall, and then slamming back first into the back wall of the inner room.
With gentleness that defied the thunderous expression on his face, Luffy scooped Robin into his arms and vanished, only to reappear at the edge of the hole on the third floor where Nami and Mikita had gone a minute or so ago.
“Find Nami, she should be able to pick the lock.” Luffy said, referring to the Seastone shackles holding Robin’s arms behind her back.
Robin nodded, but before she took off, she kissed Luffy’s lips, humming lowly when Luffy kissed her back. “Thank you, for coming to save me.” She smiled beautifully at Luffy, her heart filled with the joy of knowing that she’d truly found the ones that her friend Saul had spoke of back when she was just a little girl…the friends that would never abandon her. She wasn’t alone anymore.
“Always!” Luffy’s normal bright, wide smile appeared for Robin, as if it was just a regular day.
The two separated, Robin using her Observation to track down Mikita and Nami’s ‘voices’, while Luffy vanished in a spark and reappeared in the room where Lucci was getting back on his feet.
“Straw Hat…” Lucci spat out a little blood.
Luffy cracked his knuckles as lightning crackled around his body. “Pigeon bastard.”
“Life Return.” Lucci said, his bulky half-beast form suddenly shrank down until he was only slightly bigger than his normal human size. “I’ll use everything I have to kill you…then I’ll hunt down Nico Robin again.”
That proved to be the wrong thing to say.
-Outside the Tower-
Even the fleeing Marines and Cipher Pol agents, along with the staff that kept Enies Lobby running, all stopped their panicked fleeing as the top of the Tower of Law exploded in a massive blast of lightning that was so bright it nearly burned the eyes to look at.
KRAKBOOM
The soundwave hit a second later and made everyone scream and clap their hands over their ears.
Unknown to the fleeing people, it marked the beginning of the end for the Judicial Island.
-End Chapter-
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Lucci…seriously…fucking dumbass.
Straw Hats versus CP9 has begun!
The Tower of Law is already being rapidly destroyed!
Spandam is running like the cowardly bastard that he is.
Robin has been rescued already, now she just needs to find Nami to pick the lock of her shackles…then she can personally hunt down Spandam for some revenge.
Neither Kaku nor Kalifa got much of any time to practice with their new Devil Fruits…that might hurt their chances in their fights.
Sanji is about to make a wolf pelt rug for their new ship and maybe some wolf meat stew while he’s at it!
Usopp, Chopper, Franky, and Vivi all descend to the ground floor. Fukurou chases after them, while Kumadori…if he’s still alive after getting hit by Vivi’s super destructive sandstorm…awaits them.
There’s less than half an hour before the Buster Call reaches Enies Lobby! Will the battles be over by then or will the Straw Hats be trapped as the island is bombarded and erased?
Keep reading to find out!
Until I get your reviews, later!