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"How long are we going to stand here with the door wide open?" I asked, breaking the silence. We had been standing there for a while, just staring at the government agents. At least they'd been kind enough to let me wash my hair first. I wasn't sure why, though. Did they really think we were so insignificant that we wouldn't try to fight back?
Suddenly, the roof above us caved in, and Franky, along with another man, dropped down. "So these are the guys who took Robin," Sanji said, pointing at the government agents.
"Be careful," Franky warned us. "They have some powerful moves."
Just then, one of the agents attacked his own man, kicking him clear off the train. "That wasn't nice," I said, frowning.
The agent with a mask-like hairstyle, spoke up. "If you're here for Nico Robin, give up now. Her problem is beyond your understanding. Some people are better off dead."
"What's your point?" Sanji asked, his voice low.
"The fact that her very existence is a sin," the man replied. "Her death will bring peace to the world. She has no choice but to accept it."
"Bull!" Sanji yelled, kicking out at the man.
"It'll take a while, but we'll harvest all of her knowledge and experience, in the most horrible manner possible," the agent continued, completely ignoring Sanji.
"In your dreams, asshole!" I shouted, throwing a knife at him. He swatted it away like it was nothing, not even bothering to look at me.
Just then, the door at the other end of the car opened, and Robin walked in. "Robin!" Sanji cooed, his voice immediately softening.
Suddenly, Usopp was grabbed and thrown across the room. "What was that for?" he yelled, rubbing his side.
The man who had thrown him stared at us. "Do you fools not understand words?"
"Franky, cut the third car off!" Usopp shouted. He then threw a smoke bomb, grabbed Robin, and made a run for it.
"Genius!" I cheered. Franky quickly broke the lock connecting our car, and we began to drift away from theirs.
"That was too easy," Sanji said, a hint of suspicion in his voice.
"Yeah, they're strong," Franky agreed. "Even if we separated the cars, they should've been able to stop us."
Just as he spoke, the car lurched violently. A series of thorny whips had latched onto the outside.
"What the hell!" Sanji shouted.
"I can cut them!" I said, moving closer to the side of the car.
But it was too late. The agent with the strange hair grabbed the whips and pulled our car back, holding the two together. "That smokescreen was a dumb idea," he said, stepping into our car.
"Don't kill the Straw Hats, that's the deal," he told the others.
"We need to separate these," Sanji said, kicking him.
The man didn't move an inch. "Iron Body," he said, a new person stepping behind him.
"What the hell," Sanji mumbled, shaking his foot.
"It's how they fight!" Franky yelled. "All sorts of weird moves!"
"Fine! Concasse!" Sanji's shoe connected with the man's face, and this time, he flinched. The other agents looked surprised, realizing that the kick had actually hurt him.
"Robin, wait!" I yelled as I saw her approach Usopp.
"Ocho Fleur: Clutch!" Robin grabbed Usopp, twisting his back and throwing him down in pain.
"What are you doing?!" I screamed, shocked by her actions.
"Stay out of my business," Robin said, her voice cold.
"Pay attention!" A man, whom I recognized as the one who had inspected our ship, ran up and kicked Sanji across the room and into me.
"Ouch," I grumbled as I hit the ground.
"What are you idiots doing?!" Franky yelled, ramming the side of the train into the other car. "Escape now!"
"Franky!" Sanji and I shouted, scrambling to our feet.
"Take Nico Robin and meet up with your friends! Find a way back to town, I'll be fine!" Franky yelled back.
"Stop it! I don't want to escape!" Robin cried out.
"What are you talking about?" Sanji yelled. "We know what's going on. Even if there was a Buster Call, we can handle it! Why won't you just come with us?"
"The Buster Call is the problem," a voice said from behind me. I turned to see Blueno hovering in the air.
"How did you...?" I tried to slit his throat with my knife, but it just slid around his skin as if it were nothing.
"Tempest Kick!" another one of them shouted.
"AHH!" I screamed, a sharp pain running through my leg.
"Rose! flank steak!" I looked up and saw Sanji and Usopp fall to the floor. The man's index finger was covered in blood. He had done that with just one finger!
"Enough!" Robin said, walking up to the man. "I'm not trying to run. Let's just go."
"Robin!" Usopp yelled. "You're still hiding something, aren't you? That's fine, but when it comes to leaving a pirate crew, you can't go without the captain's permission! So have faith in Steve and Luffy!"
The agent simply kicked Usopp away like he was an empty tin can. Robin turned her back to us and walked through the hole in space that Blueno had come in through.
"Robin, wait!" I yelled, trying to run after her.
"It's no use," the man said. "Nico Robin won't break her promise."
"How can you say things like that?" I shot back.
"In the past, a Buster Call was invoked on a small island," Blueno explained. "The events there left no one alive, except for one person: a young Nico Robin. Those seeds of terror still exist in her heart. That is what caused her to turn on you."
"Is that true?" I whispered, my eyes wide with shock.
"You scumbag!" Sanji yelled, kicking the air where Blueno had just been. "Damn it!"
"What do we do now?" I asked.
"We do what Franky said," Sanji explained, taking a seat on the floor. "We regroup with the others."
"It's the frog!" Luffy yelled.
"What?" I said, running over to the window.
"The frog is on the track!"
"Yokozuna!"
"Move it, frog! We're going to hit you!" Luffy screamed.
I looked out the window just in time to see that damn frog smash the front of the train, knocking us off the track.
"What the hell!" I shouted.
"Damn frog!" Zoro yelled from inside.
"We'd almost caught up to Sanji and Rose," Nami added, frustrated.
"I'm going to beat that frog into submission," I grumbled, climbing out to the roof where Luffy was. "Why didn't you just push it out of the way, dumbass?"
"He's strong, and I thought he'd move," Luffy explained, scratching his head.
"That's just itâyou thought!" I said, taking out one of my whips. "Get over here, frog!"
"Yokozuna, come here for a sec," Kokoro said, leaning out the window.
"Gero!"
"Listen, you've been challenging the Sea Train so you can train and get stronger, right?" the old lady asked the frog. He seemed to nod. "You don't want anyone else to be taken away like Tom was, do you? Well, Franky's been taken, and we're going after him. Do you want to come with us?"
"Gero!"
"Alright, add one more to the list of comrades!" Kokoro yelled.
"I picked up the current!" Nami shouted from inside the train.
"Then let's pick up the rest of the Franky Family and get moving!" I yelled, a renewed sense of urgency filling me.
"We're almost there!" Luffy cheered.
"I'm coming, Robin," I whispered to myself.
We managed to meet back up with the Franky Family, and they had a special guest with them.
"Hey, Luffy! Steve!"
"Sanji, Rose, who's that guy?" Luffy asked, pointing.
We reconnected to the Franky Family's King Bulls, and Sanji, Rose, and their sidekick climbed into the train.
"Who's that?" I asked Rose, pointing to their long-nosed friend.
"Isn't it obvious?" she said with a grin. "That would be Usopp's new alter ego, Usopp."
"Oh wow, he's a hero!" Luffy yelled, his eyes sparkling. "You can tell because he's got a cape! All heroes have capes!"
"Can I have your autograph?" Chopper begged, his eyes wide.
I just shook my head. Idiots. Have your fun now before we have to get serious.
"Hey," Sanji said, walking up to me. "We have to talk. Listen up!"
Sanji filled us in on the latest developments: that CP9 was using Robin's fear of the Buster Call to scare her into submission.
"I'm not trying to make excuses, but even after all this, Robin might still not want to leave with us," Sanji said, looking down.
"I don't care!" Luffy, Chopper, and I yelled in unison.
"Robin's stupid!" Luffy yelled on his own.
"Shut up!" Nami said, slapping him on the back of the head. "She's just worried about us!"
"I don't care about any of that," I told them, my voice firm. "Robin is all that matters. Robin doesn't want to die, and I don't want her to die, so we're going to save her. That's that."
"Come here!" Paulie yelled, holding out a map. "This is a map I drew from memory. This is what Enies Lobby looks like."
He showed us the map, with a few big towers, a ton of gates, and the entire island in a straight line.
"What's that black stuff?" Luffy asked.
"It's the waterfall. You'll see it when we get closer," Paulie explained. "It's a straight shot to the Gates of Justice. We can charge the island all we want, but you Straw Hats are the only ones who stand a chance against CP9. I've seen how strong you are. So, you guys let us go in first. Wait five minutes and then charge in with Rocket Man."
"The rest of us will charge in and open the main gate," Zambai added. "No matter how many of us fall, you just keep going. We have about sixty people. They have a few thousand. Avoid unnecessary fights and focus on CP9."
"Do you understand, Luffy?" I asked. "They want us to wait..."
"Yeah, I got it," he said, lowering his hat.
"Take a look at the sky behind the island," Kokoro announced. "Those are the Gates of Justice."
"They're huge!" Chopper and Luffy gasped.
"They never completely open. Only the Marines know how to open and close them," Kokoro said. "It's like the redhead said, if you want to rescue your friends, you have to do it before they step through that gate."
"Psst, Luffy," I whispered, nudging him. "You ready to go?"
"Yep," he whispered back.
Luffy and I climbed onto the roof of the train, and he got ready to launch us to the main island.
"Ready?" he asked.
"Let's go."
"Gum-Gum Rocket!"
Luffy shot us off the train and to the top of the Iron Gate, and then to the spire of the first stone gate.
"Wow! The island's floating!" Luffy said in wonder.
"It certainly is visually pleasing, but this isn't the view I came to see," I remarked as a bullet whizzed past my arm. "Let's get closer."
We jumped off the gate and landed on the ground nearby, starting our run toward the Gates of Justice.
"Stop! Do you two know where you are?" a guard yelled.
Luffy didn't even slow down, jumping up and kicking the men out of the way. "MOVE!"
I pulled out my whips, swinging them around and taking out more men. "WHERE IS ROBIN?!"