That night, Chouchou made contact with Robin's clone and conveyed Ray's request.
Though she didn't fully understand the reason, Robin followed Chouchou back toward the Straw Hat Pirates' location, leaving behind a flower clone at the CP9 secret base to cover her tracks.
It wasn't until the real Robin was three kilometers away from the base that the clone suddenly disappeared.
Seeing Robin vanish before his eyes, Blueno, who was responsible for surveillance, stood up immediately.
As an intelligence agent, he instantly realized something was wrong.
He returned to his bar and used a secret communication method to inform Rob Lucci and the other colleagues currently undercover at the shipbuilding company about Robin's escape.
...
Some time later, inside a hidden room in a Water 7 bar, three people sat solemnly on a sofa.
There was a young man named Lucci with a pigeon on his shoulder.
Beside him sat a man with a rectangular nose as long as Usopp's named Kaku, who liked to call himself "old man" despite being around twenty years old.
The last person was a sexy woman in a secretary outfit with blonde hair and gold-rimmed glasses named Kalifa.
They had been undercover at the Galley-La Company for five years to find the blueprints for Pluton.
Recently, their work had finally paid off.
Evidence indicated that the blueprints were either with Mayor Iceburg or Franky.
Conveniently, Nico Robin—the woman who knew how to awaken the weapon—had arrived in Water 7 with the Straw Hats.
According to the plan, they had threatened Robin with a Buster Call yesterday and secured her cooperation.
They were supposed to make their move against Iceburg tomorrow night, ensuring both Robin and the blueprints fell into CP9's hands.
But unexpectedly, at this critical moment, Robin had escaped.
Both Lucci and Kaku were frustrated.
Given Robin's abilities, capturing her again would be difficult.
"Why did she suddenly stop fearing the government targeting the Straw Hat Pirates? This old man can't figure it out," Kaku said, looking bewildered.
Kalifa offered her own speculation. "She probably doesn't value the Straw Hat Pirates that much. She likely chose to abandon these so-called comrades when her own life was threatened."
Lucci agreed. "Our investigation into Nico Robin was probably mistaken. She is likely a very selfish person."
Blueno locked the hidden room's door and turned to the group.
"So what do we do now? The Straw Hat Pirates did defeated Crocodile after all, a direct confrontation won't be easy."
After some thought, Lucci gave the answer.
"Take direct action."
Just as Lucci was about to order everyone to move against Iceburg, the Den Den Mushi rang.
Kalifa answered, and the four of them listened to the voice on the other end.
"Hello, is this Lucci? This is Spandam."
"Listen carefully. Today, the Straw Hat Pirates took slaves from the Gourmet City auction that were supposed to be delivered to the Celestial Dragons. Several of them are furious and have demanded that we capture the pirates immediately to be sent to the Red Line as slaves."
"Moreover," Spandam continued, "I managed to get the Buster Call activator—the Golden Den Den Mushi—from Aokiji. Early the day after tomorrow, we will activate the Buster Call, and the Marines will attack."
"The plan is moved up. Seize the Pluton blueprints tonight. Tomorrow, I will bring the rest of CP9 to Water 7 to meet with you."
Lucci reported the news of Robin's escape.
In the end, they decided to temporarily ignore her, as she would surely be captured once the Marine fleet attacked.
The priority was the blueprints. To be safe, they would arrest both Iceburg and Franky, as Franky was also a suspect.
The order was issued.
Lucci, Kaku, Kalifa, and Blueno headed toward the mayor's office. This time, there was no need to hide their identities or frame the pirates.
After all, Water 7 would soon be destroyed by cannon fire.
...
The next day, the Straw Hat Pirates didn't wander around town.
Instead, they gathered at the dock by the Going Merry to discuss the situation. Franky was missing, having gone to the warehouse last night to work on ship blueprints.
Everyone was curious why Ray had called Robin back so early.
Was he worried about her? Robin and Nami wondered if the clueless guy had finally developed feelings for her.
But when Ray explained through Chouchou, they realized they had overthought it—he was as rigid as ever.
Jokes aside, the situation was dire.
Sanji lit a cigarette and analyzed their position.
"According to Ray, a fight is unavoidable. We 'stole' the Celestial Dragons' slaves—Ms. Paula and Ms. Alvida. The World Nobles will definitely come after us."
"But we need at least two weeks to fix Merry and build the new ship here," Sanji continued. "We can't abandon Merry, so we have no choice but to face this Marine siege."
Robin spoke up next. "Because of me, CP9 has the authority to use a Buster Call. I intended to go to Enies Lobby to move the location of the fight, but with the Celestial Dragons involved, the Buster Call might arrive sooner and here directly to Water 7."
Usopp trembled as he asked, "Can't we just run away and come back later?"
Zoro shattered that illusion immediately. "Someone is watching us. The war will catch up no matter where we go. Do you think Merry can withstand a chase?"
Chopper looked conflicted. "If we stay, we can protect Merry in the base, but what about the townspeople?"
Nami frowned. "We have two options. One: Set sail now, fight the Marine at sea, and likely lose the Going Merry. Two: Stay here and fight. We can protect the ship better on land, but the local residents might suffer casualties."
Nami looked at Robin. "Is the Buster Call really that brutal? Does it really ignore civilians?"
Robin recalled the tragedy of Ohara as a cold sweat dripping from her forehead.
"The Buster Call is an indiscriminate, nation-destroying attack. Its purpose is to burn the entire island to the ground. It won't stop until the objective is achieved."
Everyone frowned. "Can that really be called justice?"
Just as they were complaining, an aged but vigorous voice interrupted them.
"Then why don't you just surrender? If you don't resist, you'll naturally avoid the Buster Call, won't you?"