-Chapter Two Hundred and Twenty-Four-
"These damn pirates have done a terrible thing here!" one of the men suddenly growled. "Let's make them tell us where the rest of their crew is—we'll hunt them down and turn them over to the Navy!" my growling only seemed to get worse as I continued to hold Nami close. Slowly did my lips drawback into a snarl as my eyes seemed to just become hazy and my body started shaking before I finally opened my mouth once again, vocal cords protesting and making my voice scratchy as I desperately began to snap at the men—desperately attempted to get them to stay away, to not come any closer unless their intentions were to help and not hurt.
-Later-
"No good, the winds too strong!" silently did I watch with tired eyes as the men tried to put out the raging fire—my body now propped up with Nami's head resting on my lap. Small growls leaving the back of my throat every now and then whenever a stranger would wander too close to us. When things had calmed down enough, I had made attempts to properly explain the situation to the men that didn't seem to want to listen as they practically ignored me, even now I could see the way they eyed me and Nami as they seemed to patiently wait for the ginger to wake first before making any attempts to approach either one of us again.
"It's getting worse!" one of the men cried out.
"If Iceburg's in there, we got to get him out now!" it was at that moment when one of the windows suddenly shattered as Chopper came leaping out of the burning building. In his mouth, he clutched one of Zoro's swords as he carried Iceburg and Paulie on his back.
"Iceburg!" one of the men gasped upon the sight of the badly injured mayor.
"Paulie!" another one shouted as Chopper took slow and shaky steps towards Nami and me before falling to the ground.
"Chopper!" I weakly croaked out in worry for the reindeer.
"Hurry, they need first aid! They're burned all over!"
"Hey, what are we going to do with this reindeer?"
"Help him! He saved their lives!"
"You're right—hey, someone, give me a hand!"
"Get back, run away!" one of the men suddenly shouted as the burning building finally started to cave in on itself.
"Come on!" but still did the men attempt to put the fire out or at least try and control it enough so that it wouldn't spread to any of the other buildings nearby.
"You idiot, run!"
"Dammit! Isn't there anything we can do?!"
"Look! Mr. Iceburg's awake—alright, he's safe!"
"I knew he'd make it!" the men happily cheered in relief upon seeing that their mayor was finally waking up.
"Hey, look, these women are from the Straw Hats too!" someone pointed out as Nami finally started to stir.
"Nami, are you alright?" I worriedly asked as I watched her slowly sit up and look around, gently did she rub her head as she slowly nodded.
"Yeah, I think so..." she muttered. "Are you?" she worriedly asked as if she finally remembered all that had taken place in the burning building hours ago.
"I'm...I'm not really sure" was all I could say, mind starting to think back to the events that had recently taken place as I couldn't quite place how I felt at the moment. Physically I was pretty banged up, but mentally...that was a mess all on its own that I didn't feel like thinking about just yet.
"Whoa! You shouldn't be moving yet, Mr. Iceburg!" one of the men cried out when the mayor suddenly started to make his way over towards us.
"Sorry, men, but I need a little space right now" Iceburg said as he motioned for his men to stand back and give him some breathing room when he noticed just how close they all were crowding around him. "That is to say, I want to speak to these two in private" he said as he sent the men off to finish putting out what was left of the fire before taking a seat right in front of Nami and me. At first, the three of us sat in silence as my head rested on Nami's shoulder while she rested her own on top of mine—the both of us quietly listening to the sound of the crackling fire as we held each other's hands in an attempt to bring comfort to one another. "Well, first off, I must apologize—I falsely accused your entire crew. I'll try to clear that up soon, but for now, I want to talk about Nico Robin" the mayor said as he finally broke the silence between us all.
"What do you know about her?" Nami asked.
"When you first came to Water Seven, did she start acting strangely?" Iceburg asked.
"Yeah, she did" I nodded.
"She went into town that day and never came back" Nami said.
"By the next morning, she was the prime suspect in your attempted murder" I said as my eyes become downcast.
"When Sanji and Chopper saw her again, she said this was goodbye and she wouldn't be a part of the crew again" Nami continued. "Of course, none of that made any sense to us, so we decided to break into your mansion in hopes to see her one more time and find out the truth—what kind of wish would force her to give up all of her friends?" she quietly asked.
"I think I know the answer, actually" Iceburg said which caught Nami and mine's attention. "This started probably after you lost sight of her for the first time, the government had begun its operation the moment she arrived" he told us. "In other words, there's a good reason why your friend did what she did. But, before I go into the details, I want you to understand that both Nico Robin and I have the means to revive an ancient weapon that is capable of destroying the entire world."
"A weapon?" Nami and I owlishly blinked.
"That's right" Iceburg nodded before delving right into his story as he recounted to us what had taken place inside his room before we had arrived. "In the end...I couldn't pull the trigger" he sighed as he finished telling us what had happened and what the raven-haired woman had told him. Already could I feel a lump in my throat, my lips slowly pulling up into a small smile as a heavy sigh of relief now left my lips. "She was willing to sacrifice the lives of everyone in this world, even her own, as long as she would save the seven of you—as much as I hate to admit it, I have no right to criticize her...if they find the blueprints now, it's all my fault" he sadly admitted.
"Nami!" I worriedly bent down towards the ginger haired woman the second she fell to her knees.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Iceburg asked.
"I'm happy that's all" Nami sighed out in relief as the smile on my face only widened when I saw the smile she now wore. "I was so worried, I didn't want to believe she betrayed us—we have to find everyone else and let them know" she said as I helped her to stand back up. "Thank you, Iceburg!" quickly did she grab my wrist and pulled me along as we ran off.
"Yeah, thanks for everything!" I smiled as I waved back at the man.
"Hold on! What are you going to do now?!" Iceburg asked. "The Straw Hats have already lost to CP9!" he called out to us.
"What do you mean lost?" Nami grinned. "We haven't even started fighting yet—we wouldn't be here if we gave up that easily, right, Skylar?" she asked.
"That's right, she does make a good point" I chuckled.
"Luffy will get Robin back, you'll see, we just needed motivation that's all" Nami winked. "Now that we know that Robin needs saving, there's no limit to what we can accomplish! Chopper, great news!" she brightened as we ran over to the unconscious reindeer. "Come on, Chopper, wake up! We have to find everyone!" she huffed as she began to harshly try and hit the reindeer awake.
"Hey, Nami, be gentle with him! He's just as badly injured as the rest of us!" I scolded "And she's ignoring me" I sweat dropped when I saw that she was still trying to hit the unconscious animal awake.
"So you mean Robin doesn't hate us after all?" Chopper asked, happily sparkling upon hearing what the navigator and I had told him the moment he woke up. "I'm so happy!" he cried as he returned to his normal self.
"Huh? He's a raccoon dog!" one of the men gaped.
"I thought he was a reindeer!"
"Did he transform or what?!"
"Anyways, Chopper, we have to find the rest of the crew right away so we can go rescue Robin" Nami said.
"That's right, we can't do this without them" I smiled.
"Okay, let's go!" Chopper cheered before looking all around us. "But...uh...where are they?" he asked when he realized that none of us really knew where they were exactly.
"We don't know, that's why we have to find them" Nami and I answered.
"Yeah, let's do that!" Chopper eagerly nodded as he grew big which caused the shipwrights around us to start freaking out upon the sudden sight of the small reindeer growing in size.
"Wait, you three" Iceburg said as he came walking towards us before we had a chance to leave. "I don't care if you go after Nico Robin, but before you run off, you should know that the Sea Train for the government personal is departing at eleven o'clock tonight" he informed us. "This is just my guess, but there's a good chance you'll find CP9 there and that means that Nico Robin will be there as well—thanks to Aqua Laguna, they'll stop all servers after this final departure. In other words, you won't be able to chase them on another train."
"Wait, you mean we have to..." Nami trailed off as the man nodded.
"Since you obviously can't sail in this weather, you won't be able to leave the island unless you go after that train right now" Iceburg said.
"Huh? No way—what time is it?!" Nami quickly asked.
"Almost ten-thirty" Iceburg answered.
"What?!" I exclaimed. "That's cutting it a bit close, don't you think?!"
"That means we only have half an hour left" Nami frowned. "Hey, you're the mayor, right? Can't you do something to stop the train?" she desperately asked.
"Well, unfortunately, it's bound for Enies Lobby which is only accessible to government personal—even the engine driver works for the government, so I have no say in this manner" Iceburg admitted.
"Oh no! I guess our only choice is to head to the station and try to talk some sense into Robin, Chopper, Skylar" Nami said as she turned her attention towards Chopper and I. "I'll tell you guys which direction Luffy and Zoro flew off in, so you both go search there, okay? If you find them, tell them to come to the station as quickly as they can" she instructed.
"Okay, got it!" Chopper nodded.
"Will do!" I nodded.
"Hey, listen up!" Paulie shouted.
"Hey, look you guys, Paulie's okay" one of the men pointed out.
"See that girl over there?" Paulie asked as he pointed towards the three of us. "I want you to help her find her buddies!" he instructed.
"You sure that smoke didn't get in your brain, Paulie?" one of the men frowned. "These are the guys that tried to kill Mr. Iceburg, we should wring their no good sorry necks!" he sneered.
"Besides, why should we waste our time helping some criminals when Lucci and Kaku are still missing?" another one asked.
"The Straw Hats aren't the ones who did it, okay?!" Paulie snapped. "The real criminals set them up! If we hadn't been so damn blind, we wouldn't be in this situation right now! I don't know the real identities of those guys in the mask, but I do know that the Straw Hats tried to protect us from them" the blond huffed as his lie caught my attention. "As a matter of fact, Iceburg and I wouldn't even be alive right now if it wasn't for their help.
"Don't bother looking for Lucci and Kaku, there's no point—in fact, I don't know if we'll ever be seeing them again" he grumbled, not able to really bring himself to look the men in the eyes.
"What?! If you know what happened to the foremen, then you got to tell us, Paulie!" one of the men pleaded.
"They went back home" was the only response Paulie gave them.
"Huh? Why would they do that at a time like this?" one of the men asked in confusion.
"Just shut up and go find Straw Hat!" Paulie snapped. "Hey, immoral girl!" he suddenly called over to us.