Steel Heart

Ch 13 - the Courthouse

She put her hands on her hips and looked down at the streets below. Where is Luffy?

There was a thunderous crashing sound from the middle of the courtyard and she bolted to the nearest corner of the roof. She gasped when she saw one of Franky's King Bulls pulling forward through the streets with people on its back. However, it wasn't going completely straight and rammed into all the adjacent buildings.

"Why is it swerving?! Can it not see?!" Nana yelled out loud and then her eyes fell on a building that was a few blocks ahead. It stood in the middle of the street and if the King Bull was blind, it would knock straight into it. "Ah crap."

She ran to the nearest trench mortar and was happy to see that it was already armed and ready. She aimed the trench mortar right at the center of the building and took a deep breath before firing.

BOOM!

Sanji and Zoro froze in place as they stood on the neck of Gomorrah. The building they were just about to destroy had collapsed as if on its own. Debris and dust from the building billowed out from the side, engulfing the government officials near it.

"What...what just happened?" Zoro asked.

"The building collapsed by itself!" Chopper shrieked from behind.

"That's impossible," Nami snapped.

Gomorrah bulldozed through the debris without any hesitation and finally collapsed at the steps of the Courthouse. His passenger cheered and slid down to the street. "It's the Courthouse, Gomorrah!" Zambai shouted.

"We're here, Gomorrah!" Chopper cried to the blinded but smiling King Bull.

"Can you see Luffy?" Nami shouted as she over to Zoro and Sanji, who were silently looking at the Courthouse.

"No," Sanji said, "If the rooftop is that high, we can't just climb up from here."

"No..." Zoro agreed, "It's not like we're made of rubber."

"How many people of CP9 did you see up there?" Nami asked.

"It was only the big horn guy we saw," Zoro stated.

Distant footsteps and shouting started to come towards them from different sides of the street. "Hurry to the courthouse plaza!" they heard several men shout, "The drawbridge isn't down yet! Let's corner them!"

Out of nowhere, a giant iron ball with a chain attached to it came flying from one of the alleys and towards Nami. Zoro grabbed his swords while Sanji got ready to jump into the air and kick it down. Yokozuna started to charge forward from Gomorrah's side.

Boom!

The iron ball splintered into a million pieces and Nami was knocked onto her feet from the blast. This time, the explosion was close enough for Sanji and Zoro to see it's trajectory. They followed the smoke clouds up to the rooftop of a nearby building, where Nana stood. She had her goggles on and her hands were on the sides of a trench mortar. She didn't seem to be paying attention to them though.

"It's that Nana girl..." Zoro growled.

A strong gust of wind blew past her, causing the thick smoke coming out from the barrel of the trench mortar to float around her. In that moment, to Sanji, it looked like she was an angel among the clouds and his heart skipped a beat.

His eyes were fixed on her as he watched her dash to another trench mortar and aim it at something. He didn't even bother to turn around and see what her target was. All he needed to know was that she was up there, watching out for them, and protecting them...Protecting him.