Steel Heart

Ch 13 - the Courthouse

Nana and Luffy had successfully made their way past the first two sections of the island, past the Main Gate and Main Island Gate. They had left a pile of unconscious marines behind. Nana guessed they had taken out maybe two hundred men, maybe three. Once they had cleared that group, Luffy had thrown him and Nana over the second gate.

They were in the courtyard of Enies Lobby, which looked more like a small city. Tan concrete buildings lined up cobblestoned streets. It slowed down her waterboard due to it's bumpy surface but not by much. She and Luffy had decided to separate and meet at the front of the Courthouse, which was at the other end of the courtyard. The marines seemed to be mostly focused on Luffy. However, she still had a few hundred marines at her tail. It was more efficient for Luffy and her to divide and conquer instead of taking all of them at once. Nana had went in a roundabout way but she found herself just a few blocks from the Courthouse.

The sounds of explosions were coming off in all directions. The ones that were ahead of her, she assumed was directed at Luffy and she knew for sure the noise behind her were from the rest of their group. Based on the increasing number of blasts and volume, it sounded like they had picked up speed and were catching up to her and Luffy.

"Hammerang!" Nana called again as she flung her hammer backwards. It zipped through her pursuers, cold clocking them and sending them tumbling to the ground. Nana left her arm out and didn't even look behind when her trusty hammer came rushing back to her.

More agents and marines came running towards her from the side streets and she gritted her teeth. The number of government officials here seemed to be endless. Her eyes caught a particularly tall building and she had a thought. Maybe going on higher ground would be better?

She pressed down hard on a pedal and accelerated her waterboard. She smashed the front door of the building without even stopping. She braked hard on her waterboard when she reached the staircase. Her waterboard could go up the incline if she went full speed but she wanted to preserve the amount of steam in her canisters. She leapt off, scooped up her waterboard, and made a dash up the stairs. The marines were nipping at her heels but Nana kept running.

She ran up twelve flights before seeing the doorway to the roof. She stopped at the top of the stairs and tossed her waterboard towards the door to the roof. She raised her hammer over her head and grinned at the officials running at her. The hammer started to vibrate against her glove. "Nana Special..."

"Stop her! She's an intruder!" the marines shouted, "She's-"

"Thunder Shock!" Nana brought her hammer down right in the middle of the top step. A shock wave was sent forward and a deep crack spliced through the stairs. It wound all the way down to first floor. The stairs crumbled beneath their feet and sent her chasers hurtling to the bottom. Nana let out a breath of relief and placed her hammer on her back. That should stop them for a little while.

She casually picked up her waterboard and kicked down the door. When she stepped onto the rooftop, she froze. There were a five burly marines that stood along the edge of the roof. Beside them were large trench mortars, barrels of gunpowder, and a pile of mortar bombs. The marines stared at Nana in surprise.

"Oh shit," she mumbled and grabbed for her hammer right as they pulled out their guns. She kicked her waterboard forward and dove onto it, belly first, just as their gunshots rang out. She skidded forward with her hammer in hand. She swung it out from right to left. "Nana Special," she cried as the hammer flew in an arc and knocked the marines down by their knees, "Hammer Scythe!"

The men lost their balance and their heads collided against the trench mortars. They all slumped down to the floor and dropped the guns in their hands. Nana took a deep breath and got back up on her feet. She gingerly took each of the marines' gun by the tips of her fingers and dropped them one by one over the roof.