Of all the things that Rose could have expected, none were her being able to have a conversation with one of the most powerful men in this world. There are so many things that she wants to say to Sengoku, but she doesn't say a word.
Instead, she narrows her eyes at him in disdain, and turns her head away from him like he's disgusting.
Sengoku grows irritated by the sight, and clearly shows it. "YOU KNOW WHO I AM DON'T YOU OUTSIDER?! NOW'S NOT THE TIME TO BE DIFFICULT!"
Instead of answering the fleet admiral, Rose keeps her face turned towards Rufus. "Hey Kimblee copy, any idea who this guy is talking to? The only outsider here is me, but my name is Catone Rose."
That comment earned her a hook punch to her left cheek from said copy.
Andreos stops his comrade from giving her another punch, by touching his shoulder, before he scowls down at the prisoner. "Stop denying your real name. We already connected you to the Alun family during your last capture, remember?"
Rose grits her teeth at the reminder of the interrogation, before she speaks to him. "My real name IS Catone Rose! You may know my mom's family now, but I was given my father's surname when I was born! My name won't change just because you bastards know my-!"
Rufus cuts her off with a punch to her stomach hard enough for the air to be knocked out of her lungs. She tries to catch her breath, but barely has a chance, because he starts beating her relentlessly without a single shred of mercy.
Andreos is tempted to stop him, but his anger at what she did to his comrades allows him to give his leader some leeway.
Rufus feels the same way, and gets as much revenge as he can by barely getting her to take a breath in with him going punch for punch at her face and torso. All the while, he keeps his feet on top of hers to keep her from kicking at him.
"That's enough." Sengoku calls out, after a minute of the beatings, which gets the explosion man to stop his attack.
Rufus gives just one look at the prisoner, who's working on regaining her breath, with an idea of what they can do with her. He steps back while grabbing a handkerchief from his chest pocket, to wipe the blood off his knuckles, before he looks to Andreos. "Make sure she doesn't bad mouth Sengoku too much."
Andreos only nods before he watches his leader leave the room.
Rose could care less about the departure, and only keeps her eyes on Sengoku. Even bloody and bruised, all she can think about was glaring at Sengoku to show her resolve, because she refuses for her father's existence to be ignored.
Sengoku can see the stubbornness of the Will of D clearly on her, so he knows that for her to cooperate, he will need to bend a little. "I understand your sentiment, and will acknowledge your name Catone Rose. I honestly don't want to argue. I just want a conversation with you."
While the agent is surprised that he's willing to acknowledge the name, Rose is still skeptical of what his motives are for all this.
Even so, in gratitude of him willing to accept her name, she'll hear him out. "Alright, what do you want to talk about?"
"I want to know what your angle is. Why did you join a pirate crew?"
She grows confused about how that's his first question, but doesn't hesitate to answer. "There wasn't any aim, I just joined. I did try to play the civilian role, but with my research being illegal, that turned out to be impossible."
He doesn't see any deceit on her face, and is grateful that she at least tried not to cause trouble. Even so, his hardened face won't show any emotions, so he can keep up the interrogation. "I see, but you know all about the Spiriting night that caused it to be illegal, correct?"
"As much as those books, the Navarone base had stashed in their library, could tell me. I wasn't sure if my mom was part of it until Aokiji revealed her maiden name though."
"And where is she?"
"Dead for seven years in my world's time." She bluntly answers which shocks the fleet admiral.
Rose can sense the change in emotion on his face, but he's quick to go to the next question. "And your grandparents, what about them?"
She knows for sure something is up now with his question, and intends to get to the bottom of it. "Sorry to disappoint, but my mom came to that world alone. I don't know what their fates were. Why are you asking about this?"
His face begins to soften by the question before he shows a picture of him, Garp, and a female marine who are all in their prime. From what she read in the manga, she doesn't recognize anyone with the same slightly buff figure, wavy dark blond hair reaching her shoulders, and a light tan that matches Garp, as the lady in this photo. While Rose doesn't know the woman, she can't deny that she doesn't know those purple eyes because they match her own.
"The woman in the photo is your grandmother's sister, Alun D Ruth. She was a vice admiral with Garp and I, and worked with Tsuru to search for the victims of that night. She never stopped trying to find a way to bring her sister, brother-in-law and niece back, but died before learning how to do so."
Rose is surprised to hear that her great aunt was a marine, but is a bit suspicious of him. "What was she to you?"
"A friend. I'd like to treat you like one as well."
"You got a funny way of showing it." She half-jokes when she gestures her position by lifting her cuffed fists up.
"Would you have come with us if we asked?"
"Maybe if your other unit wasn't kidnapping my friend!"
He scowls at the answer when he remembers what Rufus' unit told him about none of the crew knowing who she is. "I'm sorry, but it's hard to see them as your friends. You would've told them the truth about who you are if you knew it was safe."
"I never felt safer than with them!"
"Then how did they all take the truth? Did they open their arms to you?"
She hesitates to answer because of all the mixed responses that she got. Of course, she's happy that Zoro accepted her, but she can't say that Robin, Sanji, and Usopp's reactions didn't take a toll on her. With Sanji and Sniper King knowing now, there's no doubt that everyone knows now, and will have mixed reviews of her. If her existence truly does cause conflict in the crew after they all escape, then she'd just feel all the more unworthy to be with them.
Numerous types of negative scenarios of the crew either rejecting her, or fighting each other because of her, begin to swarm her mind from simple rejections, to some of the crew threatening to leave if she were to stay. Even with her knowing that some of them would never happen, her anxiety keeps playing all types of horrible outcomes, to the point where she can't hide the guilt of her messing with them.
When Sengoku sees her face showing her true emotions, all he can feel is pity for her. Even so, if he's going to convince his superiors to keep her alive, he needs to make sure that she can provide useful information for them. "Listen, I don't want to argue. Aokiji vouched that you have useful information, and I have questions about it. If I don't ask about the Straw Hats, would you be willing to answer them?"
While the prisoner is still wary of him, she doesn't see the harm in answering if they don't affect the crew, so she nods. "What do you want to know?"
"Rufus told me about some accusations that you made about Spandam. Can you elaborate?"
Rose couldn't help but smirk at the chance to get Spandam out of power, and takes it with full force. "Gladly, Spandam used this mission as a way to get the blueprints to Pluton for himself. He plans to create it to take over the World Government."
Both Sengoku and Andreos were surprised by this, but they both can imagine something like this from him. Still, Sengoku can't just take such a heavy accusation lightly, so he keeps going. "Do you have any proof of this?"
"Sadly, I just have my word. The proof of his backstabbing though, is in the buster call dial that he showed off to both units. Of all the higher ups, would Aokiji really allow Spandam the power to destroy an island, let alone touch the damn thing?"
"What?! Andreos, is this true?!"
"Yes, he gloated to the prisoners, with all of us present, that Aokiji bestowed him with the power of the buster call for this mission. Nico Robin tried to ask him why Aokiji would give it to him, and instead of answering, he tried to beat her."
While the fleet admiral was beyond livid about this, his face didn't show it at all. Instead, he shows the calm demeanor of the god that his fruit takes after. "We can't just attack him up front, because of what the Buster Call can do. Do you know if he has a chance of completing his plans, if he continues his mission with Nico Robin?"
"No, he doesn't have the blue prints, so if he stays in command right now, then it can't hurt. I would recommend waiting until he's done with the mission, and have Aokiji contact him about the buster call afterwards." Rose calmly suggests, with no intention of mentioning the world of pain he gets from not being arrested right now.
To make sure he does get arrested though, she looks to Andreos, while making another suggestion. "After you guys have him, you can use this guy to get your full proof. He can detect when Spandam is lying by checking his pulse. If he checks it while you guys accuse him of his plans for Pluton, you can get the proof you need to put him away."
Sengoku is impressed by the clever plan, and nods in agreement while writing down notes on it. "I believe that's the best course. I'll get in touch with Aokiji about this. Before I do, are there any other traitors that you know of?"
She knits her eyebrows in thought of who else is two faced and thinks of a way to weaken her future enemies. "Well, you already have Shiryu sent to level 6 of Impel Down, right?"
"Yes, he was sentenced there last month."
"During a future riot, he gets temporarily released to help stop the prisoners. Instead of helping though, he helps free a good number of Level 6 prisoners. They even managed to escape Impel Down."
Sengoku is completely shocked by this, and starts taking notes to make sure Shiryu is taken care of. "Anything else that you can tell me?"
"Just that Aokiji needs all the backing he can get to take your job in the future. I can't give you anything else until you give me your word to let me out of here." Rose answers because she doesn't have anything else that can fix the World Government without involving the crew's story.
His face hardens at her demand, but he does have a deal that he can make for her. "I can't release you right now, but I have a deal that can help us both. If you join us, and provide us with everything you know about the comet, we'll accept you as a member of this world, and pardon you of your crimes. Together, we can rescue everyone who was affected by the Spiriting Night."
Rose grows surprised by the generous offer, but is also annoyed that he's basically telling her to switch sides by leaving the crew. While many things bug her about this deal, she only discloses one of them. "Before I give you my answer, let me ask you something. What happened to the astronomers that told you about the comet?"
Sengoku narrows his eyes at the question, but gives her his answer. "After they told us what caused the disappearance, we offered them a chance to study it to bring our people back. They refused the deal, because they wanted to reveal this method to the world. We did what we had to, to stop them."
"And that basically means throwing them in Impel Down?"
"Of course, their ideology was out of line! If everyone knew of this comet travel, there'd be all sorts of chaos from towns upon towns vanishing, to unbelievable monsters coming to this one! Once we get our researchers back, we plan to destroy the research so that no one, not even us, can use it. As long as you stop this research after helping us, you will be able to live a free and happy life as a citizen here. Now, what's your answer?"
She returns the hard look he's giving her, and is more than ready to give him her answer by lifting her cuffed hands up, and uses the hand not holding her stolen key, to show him her middle finger. "My answer is screw that! My research isn't just to find my mom's family, but to travel the universes! When I get the resources to do so, I'll find the missing researchers and only give those who WANT to come back here a way to do so!"
She starts snickering when she thinks of all the time he wasted on hiding all this, before she give her captor one of the most evil glares that she can create, with a sinister smirk on her face. "And besides, the way you've been doing this is shit. Because of the comet, the spiriting nights will just keep happening."
Sengoku won't admit it, but a shiver is starting to run down his spine from that look. Even so, he knows he can't back down here. "That's why we tell people to hide indoors during the comet's arrival you selfish brat! And our people don't belong out there! They'll be treated like the outsiders that come here!"
"Not every world has a fucked-up view of outsiders like this one does! If you don't want your people to be mistreated, then you should show that same courtesy to people that come here! I bet you didn't give the outsiders a chance to show they're harmless before capturing and torturing them, didn't you?!"
He grits his teeth at the question, which Rose takes as confirmation. "Fucking thought so! When I get out of here, I'll use my time left in this world to finish my research, so any outsiders I find can have a chance to escape your sorry ass of a-!"
Andreos had enough of her disrespect, and is quick to pull his sword towards her throat to the point where the blade is touching the skin.
Rose keeps her teeth clenched, and doesn't dare to make a sound, because she's starting to feel blood starting to seep from the shallow cut the sword is making from being so close. "That's enough, he gave you a way out of your predicament, and this is how you thank him?!"
"Stop Andreos, we still need her!" Sengoku barks out, which gets the swordsman to move his weapon away for her to breathe again.
She's not out of the woods yet for the Fleet Admiral is fuming about the refusal as well. "As for you, consider yourself a traitor then! You'll get the same treatment as Nico Robin at marine headquarters! Andreos, when Rufus gets back, tell him you both are to take her on a ship to headquarters, then keep track of Spandam's position until his mission is complete!"
"Yes sir." Andreos salutes his superior before Sengoku's face disappeared from the call ending, and the wall returned to its original appearance.
Once the call ended, Andreos scowls down at the prisoner for making such a stupid move. "Of all the things you could have done, you chose the worst option. You could've been treated like one of us and-!"
"Then nothing would change. After they get what they want out of me, any outsider that comes into this world would continue to be hunted down with no way of going home. With me outside their control, I can at least work on giving them a chance."
He is taken back by her reasoning, because she's acting like she's not a prisoner. "Do you even understand your position?"
She just gives him a shrug. "From looking through so many worlds, I've learned at least one thing. Nothing is ever set in stone. Until I'm dead, anything can happen, especially in this world."
He grows all the more frustrated by her carefree attitude and goes to say something, but stops when the door opens to his leader.
While Andreos is relieved to see Rufus finally back, Rose grows wary of the arrival when she sees him holding a pile of paper.
Rufus is quick to approach her, and drops the papers on her hands.
Rose gives the forms an odd look, to see that they're marine profiles, with everything crossed out except for their photos, names, and names of their commanders, before she looks up at him. "What am I supposed to do with these?"
"I thought about what you said about my doppelganger, and it got me interested to see what other copies we potentially have. Those files hold our newest recruits who are undergoing training in the surrounding areas. Your job is to find any who match the people you know in other worlds."
Rose gives him a tired look as though he just asked her something ridiculous. "You know that not all doppelgangers are the same, right?"
Rufus is slightly surprised by this question. "What do you mean?"
"You and Kimblee are an example of doppelgangers that are similar, but that's not always the case. If I find someone here, they could be the exact opposite of the people I researched, and my knowledge would be useless then."
He regains his composure from the explanation, and gives her a slight smirk. "I'll keep that in mind, but nothing has changed. I want you to tell me about anyone you recognize in that pile."
Andreos is shocked by this request, and pulls his boss to the side to talk about this. "We can't waste time like this. We need to take the outsider out, then keep tabs of Spandam for Sengoku."
Instead of Rufus' mind changing, he just gains a giant smirk from the new order. "So Spandam really is a traitor. Finally, I can destroy that pain in the ass."
"Didn't you hear what I said? We can't kill him."
"True, but if he were to die during his mission, then it's no skin off our nose."
Andreos groans at his leader's antics when Rufus pats him on the shoulder. "Relax, he's not going anywhere. He's watching Straw Hat fight Blueno on top of the court house. Besides, even with the weasel as our newest recruit, we're still short a member. We can see if any of these guys has potential."
The swordsman is still unsure, but knows that there's no talking him out of this so he relents.
As for Rose, she used their conversation as a chance to hide the key under her thigh without them looking, then starts looking through the profiles. If it can buy her time for the crew to come here, and get to her and Robin, then she can look through whatever they want. Besides, looking through potential enemies can't hurt.
The two men see her already looking through the profiles, but she's just flipping the pages with a bored look on her face.
Rufus was tempted to believe that he was wrong, but that dies down when he sees her pause on a page with her eyes starting to widen. "Find something?"
She slowly nods as she scans over the profile of the serious looking man, who looks to be in his twenties, even with his silver hair, and sharp black eyes that look like they can pierce her soul. "This guy here looks like Tohdoh Kyoshiro. In his world, he's on the side of a war that's outmatched in both soldiers and machines, but his tactical skills got them to win multiple battles. Man, the things he could've done with the right devil fruit are limitless."
The agent's interest is piqued from the explanation, and snatches the paper, which earns a glare from the prisoner.
She's tempted to curse him out, but doesn't find him worth it, so she keeps her head down and searches through the profiles. When she sees a young woman, she pauses the search to look at her further.
This recruit's blank looking face might not have impressed someone who didn't look into Attack on Titan, but it was all she needed to be excited to see her. She instantly recognized who she is, especially when her black hair reaches the end of her neck, with long bangs covering parts of her face as well. The only thing she can see that differentiates her and her doppelganger, is that this world's version has a scar over her right eye, that's similar to the one on Shanks' eye.
"What'd you find?" Rufus asks when he looks over her shoulder and sees the photo.
Rose looks up at the copy before she points out the lookalike. "This woman's counterpart is named Ackerman Mikasa. Her world was even more torn than Kyoshiro's with giants invading their land and trying to eat innocent people. She may not be as tactical as him, but her strength is nothing to sneeze at. She's one of the most badass fighters I've ever seen."
Rufus takes the file, and looks it over with interest while Rose keeps looking around.
She was able to find the next one quick, and hums in intrigue as she looks over the profile.
Rufus raises an eyebrow at her sound, and looks over the profile's photo to see that it's of a pale woman who looks like she's in her low thirties, her dark blue hair reaches her shoulders, and a mole below her left brown eye. He remembers looking into this profile, and believes that she'll be the weakest of the bunch. "What's so special about this one?"
"Her counterpart is a soldier from the same world Kimblee came from. She may not have any special powers, but her loyalty and bravery is something to behold. Honestly, if this woman matches that counterpart, she'd be a gem for any group under someone like Smoker or Aokiji."
Rufus only nods at this, and grabs that profile to add to his pile. When he gives all three profiles a full look through, he learns that all three of these recruits are all being trained under the same captain. Hard for it to be a coincidence when there's at least ten leaders for the fifty recruits in that pile.
He grows more than satisfied with the possibilities in what he found here, and looks to his prisoner to find that she's on the last few profiles.
Once on the last page, she gives the photo one last look before she shakes her head, and looks to Rufus. "That's all I could find here. Just remember what I said. Those three could be the exact opposite of their other world versions."
"Right." Rufus briefly answers before he takes the pile, and in his free hand, and uses his devil fruit to have explosive clay seep out of his hand, encase the pile of the rejected forms, and blows them up.
Rose quickly turns her body to the right, to avoid getting the debris, and drops her arms by her thigh to get the key back in her right hand without them looking.
Once the forms are nothing but ash, he folds the three profiles that Rose pointed out, and puts them in his inner coat pocket.
Rose starts glaring at the agent, and getting ready to fight them when they start taking her from the room, but it never came. Instead, Rufus starts heading to the door while talking to Andreos. "Spandam should still be watching the fight with Blueno and Straw Hat. I'm going to get the weasel, and have him watch over that pain the ass. I'll catch up with you two when I'm done."
Andreos nods to the plan and opens the door to leave.
As soon as the door is open, all three of them can hear the sounds of explosions, screams, and all other forms of warfare that's happening at the courthouse.
Rose almost jumps at the onslaught of sound, because of the room being soundproof, but is quick to recover when she sees Rufus leave. Once he closes the door behind him, she starts becoming wary when Andreos starts to approach her.
She clenches her fists, with the key hidden from sight, while Andreos starts loosening the chains on the chair.
As soon as she's free of the chair's chains, she's quick to get up and run, but Andreos' shows off his speed by punching her on the side of her head before she can make five steps in.
She stumbles to her right, but he grabs her by her hair to keep her standing, and knees her in the stomach.
She starts dry hacking, but Andreos could care less as he pulls her up, so that they're making eye contact. "If you make any trouble for me, this pain will multiply. After what you did to Lareos, you deserve nothing but the worst, so don't test me."
Rose remains quiet to the threat, when he lets go of her hair, only to grab her left arm, and drag her with him.
The guilt of what she did to Lareos seeps a little, because of the effect that it had on his friend, so she starts to speak up. "For what it's worth, I didn't intend to kill him, and I'm sorry for it."
Andreos' grip on her arm just tightens at the apology, hard enough to know that there will be bruises on her arm.
The swordsman doesn't look back on her when he leaves the room with her and starts hearing Luffy yell out. "ROBIN, THERE YOU ARE! YOU KNOW WHERE ROSE WENT?! I'M HERE TO GET YOU BOTH OUT!"
Rose begins to perk up at the sound of her captain's voice, but it's short lived when Andreos turns into another room with her.
Andreos' curiosity gets the better of him, because out of all the outsiders he and the rest of the unit have captured, none of them had friends who ever so much as made a sound of protest for them. So, when he looks out the open window to see this girl's leader outside on the edge of the courthouse's roof, with Blueno painfully defeated on the side, he's more than surprised. "What the-?! Straw Hat actually made it this far?!"
Rose can clearly see him as well, and starts to smile at the hope of getting out of this mess.
"LUFFY, PLEASE FORGET ABOUT ME! WIND-CHAN IS THE ONE THAT NEEDS TO BE SAVED! I JUST WANT TO DIE!"
Rose's happiness just as quickly turned into anger at Robin's words, so she looks up, and to her left, where the sound came from to see both her and Franky at the balcony above them. "Dammit Robin!"
Spandam laughs at the desperate plea, as he and the rest of CP 9 approach Robin and Franky from behind. "YOU SEE THAT STRAW HAT?! BASK IN THE DESPAIR OF KNOWING THAT..."
He trails off when he sees Luffy casually picking his nose like nothing is wrong. "EW, WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?!"
Luffy ignores him when he flicks the booger off his finger, and calls out to her. "I DON'T CARE! I'M GOING TO GET BOTH YOU AND ROSE OUT OF HERE! YOU CAN DECIDE ON WHAT YOU WANT AFTER WE LEAVE!"
Right as he says those words a burst of wind rises from behind him, courtesy of Zoro's sword attacks blowing a giant hole in the roof, with Nami, Chopper, and a bunch of knocked out marines up.
Nami and Chopper land in a daze on the roof by Luffy, while Zoro climbs out of the hole.
"Fucking warn us when you do that!" Nami shouts when he's out of the hole before she smacks him on the head.
"Shut up, we made it didn't we?!" Zoro shouts back with them glaring at each other.
Sanji is the first to break the match by kicking another hole through the roof to make it onto there in an over-the-top way. He lands on the roof in a pose, and smirks in satisfaction. "Made it first. Don't worry girls, I'll-!"
He cuts himself off when he sees Zoro, in all his moss headed glory, already there. "How the fuck did you get here before me?!"
Zoro looks at him in confusion, because he just noticed Sanji there. "Oh, there you are. Were you lost?"
"I DON'T WANT TO HEAR THAT FROM YOU!" Sanji yells out before Sniper King was suddenly rocketing above them, with Shriek in his arms.
The superhero duo screams out in fright before they start falling towards the crew.
Chopper goes into heavy point, and was quick to catch the two before they could hit the roof. "Are you guys ok?!"
"We're good." Shriek answers when she flies out of Sniper King's arms with him jumping out of Chopper's arms.
When they all see where Luffy is, and see Robin, they march up to Luffy's side on the edge of the roof to show that they're not backing down until their friends are safe and sound.
"The Franky family should have the drawbridge to their building lowered soon." Nami tells Luffy which gets him more amped to get over there as soon as possible.
Spandam grits his teeth at how things are going, and tries to scare them off by pulling the golden den den mushi out of his pocket. "YOU FOOLISH PIRATES THINK THAT YOU CAN SCARE ME?! I HAVE THE POWER OF THE BUSTER CALL! I CAN USE THIS TO DESTROY EVERY LAST BIT OF YOUR WORTHLESS LIVES!"
"YOU CAN'T DO THAT! YOU'LL BE DESTROYING EVERYONE HERE!" Robin screams out, but Spandam doesn't believe her.
"You're being ridiculous! It won't hurt my men!"
"You're the ridiculous one if you think that! The power of a buster call is an evil one that can destroy everything in its path! This world's power has haunted me for over twenty years!" Robin shouts with guilt, of dragging her friends into this, forming with each word.
She looks over to her captain, and keeps going. "Even if you save me, the world will keep coming after me, and dragging you all into my problems! Focus on getting Wind-chan out of here!"
While the pirates felt nothing but anger at the World Government and compassion for their friend, Spandam can only laugh at her demand. "Hahaha, seriously?! Even if they did abandon you to save that monster, they'd still die by the same power that you're so afraid of. She's probably dead right now."
"I'M NOT DEAD, YOU FUCKING BASTARD!" Rose yells out which gets both pirates, and agents to see both her and Andreos at the window of one of the lower levels of the tower.
While the others may be glad to see her alive, Rose keeps her eyes to the balcony and yells up to Robin. "ROBIN, YOU CAN'T TELL THEM TO JUST COME FOR ME! I'M IN THE SAME BOAT AS YOU ARE!"
"THAT'S RIGHT!" Spandam yells out before he looks to the pirates, and points up to the roof where the flag to the World Government is flying proudly. "LISTEN UP PIRATES! THIS FLAG IS THE SYMBOL OF THE WORLD GOVERNMENT! THIS GOVERNMENT RULES OVER THE FOUR BLUES AS WELL AS THE ENTIRE GRAND LINE! WE ARE THE WORLD! WITH PEOPLE LIKE US AFTER THESE GIRLS, DO YOU REALLY THINK SMALL FRY LIKE YOU CAN STAND A CHANCE OF RESCUING THEM?!"
He starts to laugh at his own words, but the pirates on the other side of the chasm don't find it funny. In fact, Luffy finds it all the more frustrating, but he knows what he needs to do.
With his eyes focused on the menacing symbol, he gives the superhero the order. "Sniper King, burn down the flag."
"Roger." Sniper King answers before he uses his giant slingshot, takes aim to the flag, and releases a fire pellet towards it.
The pellet bursts into flames halfway through the launch, but instead of fading, the fire grew into a massive fireball that reaches the flag, and lights it ablaze!
Every member of the World Government was either mortified, shocked, or annoyed by the pirates' crazy stunt, but for Franky, Rose, and Robin, they were in awe of this courageous act.
Spandam is the first one to snap out of his stupor, and angrily shouts out to them. "HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MINDS?! YOU JUST WAGED WAR AGAINST THE WORLD GOVERNMENT!"
"BRING IT ON!" Luffy roars out, which moves Robin to tears, but he won't stop there. "ROBIN, YOU NEED TO SAY IT NOW! TELL US THAT YOU WANT TO LIVE!"
Robin lightly gasps at the request, because this is the first time she's actually felt like she's allowed to live. She looks at all the Straw Hats at the courthouse, to see the rest of them feeling the same as their captain. The tears won't stop streaming down her face from the welling emotions, and takes a deep breath to say what she wants to say. "I WANT TO LIVE! TAKE ME WITH YOU!"
Rose grins at seeing Robin finally accepting herself, but it starts to die down when she sees Luffy now looking at her.
She starts to grow anxious because of how intense his stare gets until he starts calling out to her. "ROSE, DON'T THINK THAT WE'RE JUST COMING FOR ROBIN! I WON'T LEAVE MY QUEEN BEHIND!"
Rose's skin went from pale to crimson in a matter of seconds, because this is the first time he called her his queen to her face. Even so, joy wells up in her heart from knowing that he won't leave her here.
She takes a breath to yell out to him, but she's stopped when Andreos starts pulling her back inside by the arm.
"HEY, GIVE HER BACK!" Luffy calls out when he sees his queen being taken, but while he sees Rose struggling, the agent has the upper hand with her in the cuffs.
Lucky for him, he doesn't have to wait long because the drawbridge is starting to lower. Just as it goes halfway though, the rigs for the drawbridge are blown up with the bridge being halfway down.
"What the hell?!" Zoro complains, when the sound of Nami's baby den den mushi starts ringing.
She answers the call for the snail to start gaining curly green hair, and pink cheeks like Kokoro's. "Listen up, I'll be there in a minute!"
"What are you talking about? The bridge is halfway down."
"That's more than enough for us! Don't hesitate, I'll fly us through the waterfall!"
"What are you saying?" Luffy asks when he starts hearing the train in the distance, and growing louder.
Spandam wasn't able to hear the conversation, so he growls relieved that they were stopped. He's quick to take the chance to get a head start by grabbing Nico Robin's arm. "Let's go! Someone grab..."
He stops his order when he sees Franky, who managed to free himself of his chains, smirk when he opens his stomach and pulls out a pile of paper.
While the agents were confused, Spandam knew exactly what they were. "Wait, are you serious? Are those Pluton's blueprints?!"
"The real deal. Tom and Iceberg risked their lives to protect this, but that would be for nothing if they fell into the hands of a moron like you! There's only one way I can truly make sure this weapon never sees the light of day!" Without a moment's hesitation, Franky takes a breath, and breathes out his flames to destroy the blueprints to the ancient weapon.
"YOU BASTARD! GIVE ME BACK MY BLUEPRINTS!" Spandam loses his temper from his chance of taking over the World Government going up in smoke, so he lets go of Robin and pushes Franky off the balcony.
"FRANKY!" Sniper King calls out, but before he or anyone can do anything, they find Luffy's rubber arms stretched around the crew's torsos.
Without a moment's hesitation, Luffy jumps over the edge, with his friends in tow. "LET'S GO!"
"WHAT THE HELL'S WRONG WITH YOU?!" Shriek yells out after them, but her worries fade when Kokoro drives Rocket Man through the court house, and uses the half-opened draw bridge as a ramp!
Once the train started flying, it was not only able to catch Luffy's group, but it was able to save Franky from his fall before is crashes through the doors of the tower of justice!
"Oh shit!" Spandam curses out in horror, because this mission is getting more complicated by the second.
He grabs Nico Robin, to make sure he turns to his agents and starts yelling out orders to them. "Everyone, but Lucci, go after those pirates! Buy as much time as you possibly can while Lucci and I get Robin to the docks!"
The CP 9 agents don't hesitate on their leader's orders by instant shaving out of the room.
Once they're gone, Spandam and Lucci storm off to their own destination, with Robin in tow.
Just as they leave the room, Rocket Man manages to crash inside the lobby of the tower with Franky and the pirates in tow.
Once the train hits the wall, Franky jumps off, and rushes to the mangled conductor car where Kokoro, her grandkid, and the cat are. "Why the hell did you guys use Rocket Man?! Are you guys, ok?! Please don't die on me!"
Kokoro just laughs off his concern as she climbs out of the car, with only a nose bleed as her injury. "Don't worry, it's just a nosebleed."
"Yea, just a nosebleed." Chimney comments as she follows her grandma with her cat, and both have matching nosebleeds.
"YOU SHOULD'VE GOTTEN WORSE THAN A NOSEBLEED!" Franky yells at them, but the pirates don't give him much mind as they make their ways off the train.
"FINALLY, WE MADE IT!" Luffy yells out, as he jumps out of the rubble, before he looks back at his crew mates to see that the others are coming out slowly. "Hey, hurry up! We can't be slow now!"
"WE'RE NOT MADE OF RUBBER LIKE YOU!" The others yell as they rise out of the rubble with little to no injuries.
"What the hell is with you people?" Franky mutters to himself but doesn't get an answer.
Luffy starts running ahead, towards the stairs, with his instincts as his only guide. "Let's go, Robin and Rose are waiting for us!"
"Not so fast, chapapapa!" A new voice calls out for them to stop, and look up to see a round, pale, agent, with zippers as lips, propping himself onto the top corner of the ceiling.
The pirates get ready to fight, but he doesn't bother to get down from his spot. Instead, he starts talking to the intruders. "You can go upstairs if you want, but the prisoners are already being transported to the gates of justice. Even if you make it though, you can't save them without one of these."
He takes a key out of his pocket, and shows it to them before he explains. "This is one of the keys to the sea stone cuffs that the prisoners are bound in. Without this, they'll be stuck in those shackles for eternity."
"GIVE IT HERE!" Luffy yells when he stretches a punch towards him, but he instant shaves just in time to avoid the attack, and sky walks across the room.
"Damn, he can use those tricks too." Sanji mutters, and watches his every move.
Regardless, the agent puts the key back in his pocket and keeps talking to the group. "Take it easy, this could be a fake key for all you know. Each member of CP 9 will have a key, and only two of those keys can free them. If you don't face us, we'll throw them into the ocean, so the choice is yours. Bye, bye!"
He instant shaves again at top speed to leave them alone while Luffy starts running after him. "GET BACK HERE BASTARD!"
"Hold it Luffy!" Zoro yells when he grabs Luffy's cheek to keep him from running.
He barely stops though when his cheek starts stretching, while he makes progress, but Zoro efforts make it really hard for him to move. "Let go!"
"Just slow down, we need to figure out what we're doing!" Zoro yells, but Luffy barely listens to the point where Sniper King has to help by grabbing his torso to keep himself from ripping his cheek off.
Sanji manages to get him to stop when he pulls out a piece of paper from his pocket. "Rose-chan gave me this, and told me not to open it until we got here. It might help us out."
Luffy stops in his tracks from that, and narrows his eyes at the paper. "Open it."
Sanji is quick to comply, with the others looking over his shoulder to view the letter that he's reading aloud.
Hey guys,
If you're reading this, then I was caught on the train. Sorry about that. I'm sure you all heard about where I came from one way or another, and that I know things that I shouldn't. Because of this, I know things that can help make this battle a bit better.
Nami, stay with Sanji. He's heading to a battle with a woman, and since he won't hit girls, he needs the support.
Chopper, stay with Franky. Both of you are heading to face tough enemies and need each other's strength.
Sniper King, you are stronger than you know. You need to use the talents that make you special to prove it. And stay away from the damn sea stone!
Zoro, all I can say to you is give them hell.
As for you Luffy, I won't be telling you anything about the battle, because I know you hate getting surprises spoiled. All I can say to you is please keep your focus on Robin. She needs you more than ever.
Again, I'm sorry for this. If you can't forgive me, I understand. Good luck.
Rose
As soon as Sanji finishes reading, he, and the rest of the group only feel revved up to take on their foes to get their friends out as soon as possible.
Luffy feels the most of it, with his eyes shadowing his hat, and gives out his orders. "I'm going to get Rose and Robin. You guys get the keys for the cuffs, and give these bastards all you got!"
"Yea!" They cheer in unison as everyone runs off into their own directions, with the crew following the directions in Rose's letter.
As for Luffy, he runs on his own, with only his instincts to go on, to search for his missing crew mate, and queen. As he runs around the tower, he can only feel anger at how things have turned out. Even though he got through to Robin, Rose telling him to just focus on Robin shows that he has his work cut out for him to show her that she matters too.
The thought of her thinking that she's alone in all this, only makes his blood boil to the point where he's running almost as fast as when he's in second gear. "ROSE, ROBIN! I'M COMING FOR YOU!"
Meanwhile, Rose is stumbling behind her captor, who's dragging her through down the stairs to the lower levels, they can hear Luffy's yell.
She doesn't know how far they could be from him, but they can't be that far if they can hear him. With him willing to save both Robin and her, she feels all the more determined to not be dead weight.
Just as they reach the bottom stairs, Andreos lets go of her arm to open the door, Rose goes to use the key that she stole. As soon as it reaches the lock though, her hopes die out when it doesn't fit. *ARE YOU MOTHERFUCKING KIDDING ME?!*
TO BE CONTINUED