Enies Lobby - The Island of Justice
The Island of Justice never sleeps. It is a place of eternal daylight, where the sun never sets and judgment is swift. Thousands of Marines patrol the bridges, the courtyards, and the massive Gates of Justice that loom over the void of the ocean.
It was a fortress. An impenetrable symbol of the World Government's absolute power.
Or at least, it was supposed to be.
But today, the air over Enies Lobby was vibrating. Not with the sound of cannons or the marching of boots, but with a deep, rhythmic bass line that seemed to descend from the heavens themselves.
"As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I take a look at my life and realize there's not much left..."
A Marine guard on the main bridge paused, looking around confused. "Do you hear that? Is that... a choir?"
"'Cause I've been blastin' and laughin' so long,
That even my mama thinks that my mind is gone!"
"It's coming from the sky!" another Marine shouted, pointing up.
Thousands of heads tilted upward. Jaws dropped. Rifles fell from slack hands.
High above the Tower of Law, hovering against the eternal sun like a dark omen, was a ship.
It wasn't a blimp. It wasn't a bird. It was a wooden Caravel, fitted with blue-flaming thrusters, suspended in the air by invisible magnetic waves and sheer audacity.
"IS THAT A SHIP?!"
"IT'S FLYING!"
On the deck of the Going Merry, Ben adjusted his glasses.
"Merry," Ben said calmly into his headset. "Hold position. Altitude 300 meters. Stabilize thrusters."
"You got it, Papa," Mini Merry chirped, her voice amplified by the ship's speakers, mixing with the beat. "Parking brake engaged. We chillin'."
The ship hovered perfectly still, the thrusters humming a low, menacing note that harmonized with the song.
"Locate her," Ben ordered.
Mini Merry's eyes flashed red behind her aviator sunglasses. She accessed the Kimoyo Bead network, triangular scanning grids projecting from her pupils.
"Scanning..." Merry muttered. "Target: Nico Robin. Signal located. She is in the Tower of Justice. Top floor. Balcony sector."
"Take us there," Ben commanded. "Slow and steady. Let them see us coming."
The Tower of Justice - The Commander's Room
Inside the highest office of Enies Lobby, Spandam was having a great day. He had the blueprints (or so he thought). He had Nico Robin. He was about to become the greatest hero in the World Government.
He paced in front of Robin and Franky, who were shackled in heavy seastone chains.
"Wahahaha! Do you see, Nico Robin?" Spandam gloated, his leather mask creaking as he grinned. "You are finally where you belong! In the hands of Justice! The Gates are opening! In a few hours, you will be in Impel Down, and I will be promoted!"
Robin stared at the floor, her eyes dull and lifeless. She had accepted her fate.
Purupuru Purupuru Purupuru
Spandam frowned. He picked up the baby Den Den Mushi on his desk. "What?! I'm in the middle of something!"
"Chief Spandam!" A panicked voice screamed from the receiver. "We have a situation! Pirates! They've breached the airspace!"
"Airspace?!" Spandam spat. "What are you talking about? Are they flying fish?"
"It's the Straw Hat Pirates! They are... they are flying a ship over the island! They are approaching the Tower!"
Spandam froze. He dropped the snail.
"Straw Hats?" Spandam whispered.
Robin's head snapped up. Her eyes widened. They came?
"Impossible!" Spandam yelled, kicking his desk. "They should have been crushed by the Aqua Laguna! Or stopped at the gate! How did they get here?!"
He grabbed the receiver again. "Shoot them down! Don't let them land!"
"We can't, sir! They are too high! And... the music... it's very intimidating!"
"MUSIC?!"
Spandam rushed to the balcony doors. He threw them open, stepping out into the wind.
The sound hit him instantly.
"Tell me why are we so blind to see,
That the ones we hurt are you and me?"
The heavy beat reverberated through the stone of the tower. Spandam looked up.
His jaw unhinged.
Hovering directly in front of the balcony, suspended over the bottomless waterfall of Enies Lobby, was the Going Merry.
And standing on the figurehead, lined up in a perfect V-formation, were the pirates he thought he had outsmarted.
Luffy stood in the center, his black suit sharp, his red shirt vibrant, his face shadowed by the brim of his hat and his dark sunglasses. To his left and right stood Zoro, Sanji, Ben, Usopp, Chopper, Nami, Vivi, Dory, Brogy, Caroo, and Mini Merry.
They looked immaculate. They looked deadly. They looked like a firing squad.
"What... is... that?" Spandam squeaked.
Behind him, the door to the balcony opened. The agents of CP9—Lucci, Kaku, Kalifa, Blueno, Jabra, Kumadori, and Fukurou—stepped out to see what the commotion was.
Even Lucci's eyes narrowed slightly. "A flying ship?"
"Chapapa!" Fukurou, the round agent with a zipper for a mouth, bobbed his head. "They have style, chapapa!"
Mini Merry, spotting the agents from the figurehead, leaned toward her microphone.
"Yo Papa," Merry's voice boomed over the speakers, drowning out the wind. "Check the round guy. He got a zipper on his grill. Does he keep snacks in there? Or is that where he keeps his bad opinions?"
Fukurou blinked. He unzipped his mouth. "Chapapa! Rude little girl! This is a tactical zipper!"
"Zip it, round-boy," Merry cut him off smoothly. "The adults are talking."
"Pffft," Jabra snickered.
"Quiet!" Spandam shrieked.
Franky, who had dragged himself to the door in his chains, gasped. Tears streamed down his face instantly. "Those crazy bastards... they actually came to rescue their crewmate. And they're wearing suits! SUPER stylish!"
Robin stepped onto the balcony. She gripped the stone railing, her knuckles white. She looked at the ship. She saw them. All of them.
"Luffy..." she whispered.
Luffy took a step forward on the figurehead. He reached up and took off his sunglasses, handing them to Mini Merry. His eyes were burning.
"ROBIN!" Luffy shouted. "I'M HERE TO TAKE YOU HOME!"
The shout echoed across the entire island.
Robin trembled. She shook her head violently. "No... Go back! I don't want your help!"
"I don't care what you want!" Luffy yelled back.
"Why won't you understand?!" Robin screamed, tears spilling from her eyes. "I want to die! If I go back with you, the world will never stop hunting us! I am a burden! I am a curse! The enemy is too big!"
Spandam regained his composure. He laughed nervously. "That's right! Wahahaha! Look at that flag, Straw Hat!"
Spandam pointed up to the very top of the Tower of Justice, where the massive flag of the World Government waved—a symbol of four intersected circles representing the four seas and the Grand Line.
"Do you know what that flag represents?" Spandam shouted, feeling empowered by the symbol. "It represents the unity of over 170 nations! It represents the world itself! That is the organization hunting this woman! Do you understand how insignificant you are?! Fighting us means fighting the entire world!"
Luffy looked at the flag. He looked at Spandam. He looked at Robin, who was sobbing, terrified of the sheer scale of her enemy.
Luffy didn't blink. He turned his head slightly.
"Usopp."
"Yeah," Usopp stepped forward. He didn't look like the cowardly liar from Syrup Village. In his black suit and shades, holding the high-tech weapon Ben had crafted, he looked like a soldier.
"Shoot that flag."
Spandam froze. The CP9 agents stiffened.
"Roger," Usopp said calmly.
He raised the Transforming Bow-Rifle. It was currently in gun-mode—a sleek, futuristic rifle.
He aimed.
BANG.
A single beam of concentrated fire shot from the barrel. It screamed through the air, burning a line of heat across the sky.
It pierced the very center of the World Government symbol.
FWOOSH.
The flag caught fire. The symbol of 170 nations burned, crumpling into ash and fluttering down into the abyss.
Silence. absolute, terrified silence descended on Enies Lobby. The Marines watched with their mouths open. Spandam looked like his eyes were about to pop out of his skull.
"They... they declared war," Kaku whispered. "On the World Government."
Luffy looked back at Robin.
"I know who the enemy is now," Luffy said, his voice steady. "So... Robin."
He took a deep breath.
"SAY YOU WANT TO LIVE!"
Robin looked at the burning flag. She looked at the crew standing there, defying the world for her. The chains on her heart, forged in the fires of Ohara twenty years ago, shattered.
She remembered Saul. 'The sea is vast. Someday, you will find true friends.'
They were here.
Tears and snot ran down her face. She threw her head back and screamed with everything she had.
"I WANT TO LIVE!" Robin wailed. "TAKE ME TO THE SEA WITH YOU!"
Luffy grinned. It was the smile of the Pirate King.
"YOSHA!" Luffy shouted. "LET'S GO!"
Spandam was trembling. "Kill them! CP9! Kill those pirates!"
"Too slow," Ben muttered.
CRACK!
One second, Ben was standing on the deck of the Going Merry.
The next second, there was a loud whip-crack of displaced air on the balcony of the Tower of Justice.
Ben appeared directly between Robin and Spandam.
"Hello," Ben smiled.
"WH-?!" Spandam didn't even finish his sentence.
Ben's fist connected with the mask on Spandam's face.
CRUNCH.
"OOF!" Spandam folded like a lawn chair, flying backward into the wall.
But Ben didn't stay to fight. He grabbed Robin by the shoulder.
CRACK!
He vanished again.
"Where did he—?!" Jabra looked around wildly.
CRACK!
Ben reappeared on the deck of the Going Merry, Robin stumbling into his arms.
"Welcome back, Robin," Ben said gently.
"Ben..." Robin gasped, looking around. She was on the ship. In a split second.
"Hold still," Ben pointed his wand at her seastone handcuffs. "Alohomora."
Click.
The heavy cuffs popped open and fell to the deck.
Robin rubbed her wrists, staring at Ben. "Thank You..."
"You're welcome," Ben winked. "But we forgot someone."
He looked back at the balcony. Franky was standing there, his jaw on the floor, tears streaming from his eyes like waterfalls.
"THEY TOOK THE GIRL BUT LEFT THE CYBORG?! THAT'S NOT SUPER!" Franky wailed.
"Ah, right. The pervert," Ben sighed.
CRACK!
Ben vanished from the ship again.
CRACK!
He appeared next to Franky on the balcony. The CP9 agents were just turning around, confused by the teleportation.
"Yo," Ben grabbed Franky's chain.
"YOU BASTARD!" Lucci roared, launching a Rankyaku (Tempest Kick) slash.
CRACK!
The slash cut through empty air.
CRACK!
Ben and Franky appeared on the deck of the Merry.
"Alohomora."
Franky's chains fell off.
"SUUUUUUPER ESCAPE!" Franky struck his signature pose instantly.
The entire rescue operation had taken less than ten seconds.
On the balcony, the CP9 agents stood in stunned silence. Their hostages were gone. The enemy hadn't even engaged them. They had simply... plucked them away.
Spandam pulled himself out of the wall, his mask shattered, his nose bleeding.
"THEY... THEY TOOK THEM BACK!" Spandam shrieked, frothing at the mouth. "KILL THEM! CP9! JUMP ON THAT SHIP AND KILL THEM ALL!"
Lucci's eyes glowed red. He was furious. To be ignored like that... to be bypassed... it was an insult to his Justice.
"Target confirmed," Lucci growled. "Exterminate."
The CP9 agents—Lucci, Kaku, Jabra, Blueno, Kumadori, Fukurou, Nero, and Kalifa—tensed their legs.
"Geppo!"
They launched themselves into the air, soaring across the gap between the tower and the floating ship, intent on slaughtering everyone on board.
"They're coming!" Nami yelled, gripping her Clima-Tact.
"Good," Luffy cracked his knuckles. "I wanted to punch them anyway."
"Everyone!" Ben commanded. "Intercept! Don't let them land on the ship! Take the fight to the ground!"
"Roger!"
The Straw Hat Pirates—Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, Chopper, Dory, Brogy, Usopp, Nami, and Vivi—leaped off the railing of the Going Merry.
It was a clash of titans in mid-air.
Luffy collided with Lucci.
Zoro clashed swords with Kaku.
Sanji's leg met Jabra's Tekkai.
Dory and Brogy smashed their shields into Kumadori and Fukurou.
The impact of the collision stopped the CP9's forward momentum. Gravity took over.
Both groups fell toward the stone bridge and courtyard below.
Nami, Usopp, and Vivi activated their Animal transformations.
SWISH.
Nami's albatross wings, Usopp's falcon wings, and Vivi's eagle wings snapped open. They caught the air, arresting their fall instantly. They hovered gracefully, weapons aimed downward.
The others—Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, Chopper, and the Giants—didn't need wings. They used Geppo (or just sheer durability) to land.
BOOM! BOOM! CRASH!
They landed on the bridge of hesitation (or the plaza in front of the tower), creating craters in the stone. They stood up, dusting off their black suits.
Opposite them, the CP9 agents landed with practiced grace, sliding on their feet.
The two groups faced each other.
On one side, the elite assassins of the World Government, the masters of the Six Powers.
On the other, the Straw Hat Pirates, dressed in black, armed with Uru metal, Vibranium, and the will to burn the world down.
Luffy adjusted his tie. He pointed at Lucci.
"You guys made Robin want to die."
Luffy's fist turned black with Haki.
"I'm going to blow you all away."