Wow, it's actually on time! Ah, and I bought a new Mp3 because the previous broke (a button popped off and I had to use any pointy objects to change the volume, but then the spot where it was supposed to push bent in and the volume went to zero...). I'm a bit sad, cos dad gave it to me a year ago and I really liked it.


While running away from the angry mob, they encountered Luffy and Nami. Now, Luffy was stretched under a bridge and working as a seat for Nami and Zoro. Gen was submerged in the canal, resisting the current below the three. For convenience, Greg had returned to the vessel.

Something happened and they would've fallen on her if she hadn't slipped away, quick like a fish. That something was Chopper, who had peeked under the bridge after the people were gone.

"How'd you find us?"

"Followed my nose."

"Ah."

They sat on a roof, out of sight. Gen was wringing her hair dry until she realized that she could've done it just by a flick of a wrist.

"Ahh~ all freshened up!"

"I think it's clear now," Zoro said.

"Clear!? This is all your fault, you guys were being chased by so many of them! And then we got spotted too!"

"Hey, tell it to her! She walked right out to the street after some goddamn butterfly!" he said accusingly and pointed to Gloria.

"For your information, that wasn't just any butterfly, but a black swallowtail!" she crossed her arms on her chest in defence. "They are the messengers of death, and if I followed one enough maybe I'd get to meet the reaper!" *

Nami and Zoro both sweatdropped, not even trying to understand what she just said.

"Hey Chopper, where's Sanji?" Luffy remembered.

"Oh..." he went grim and started telling them their side of the day. Robin had bid her farewell to the crew through them and admitted being the one to shoot Iceburg.

"It's time to wake up." Zoro hit the concrete with the end of Wado's sheath. "Robin started out as our enemy and we let her on our ship. She wouldn't have left us out of fear after all this time. Before the sun goes down, we need to figure out: is that woman a friend... or foe?"

Nami looked worried, Luffy frowned. He hadn't been smiling or really been like himself ever since his and Usopp's fight. Gen couldn't blame him, though.

"Robin... really said that, right, Chopper?" Zoro continued.

"Uh huh."

"She said we wouldn't ever meet after 'today'. It sounds like she's announcing that she's going to do something to make things worse for us."

Gloria kept her mouth shut and let them talk. This had to roll on it's own pace, though she had to this day come to the conclusion that whatever she did the plot would still head for the certain goals.

Besides, Luffy had told her to keep her knowledge.

Their issue was, according to Zoro, that if someone really wanted to make an uproar, they would really assassinate the mayor. "That's the natural thing for us to think. But now that we know she's framing us for the crime this could be viewed as a trap to lead us to the crime scene... if we're found at the scene of crime, then we'll automatically be framed."

"Wait! You sound like you're already thinking of Robin as an enemy!" Nami scowled.

"I'm just thinking about the possibilities. I'm not really on either side," he shrugged and fingered his katana. "Whether to believe it or not, if we pick one side and the truth is the opposite, the instant in which I male my move, I'll be slowed down. If something's gonna happen, it's gonna be tonight. Do we go to the crime scene?"

"We go," Luffy nodded and looked at the white haired girl. "You're going to burst like that. If you have something to say, say it."

"THINKOFMEANDNAMI oh all dear and unholy...!" Gen's face was red and she was panting.

"Uhh... could you repeat that?"

"Think of me and Nami. That's my advice for you," she looked straight into the captain's eyes.

"Think of you and Nami?"

"Yup. Me and Nami."

"I'm not against going, but we do have a problem," the navigator said. "Sanji-kun said he saw Robin walking with someone. Iceberg said the same thing. 'A masked person'. That's not any of..." she trailed off and looked at Gen.

"I'M NOT THE ONE!"

"Anyway, maybe this masked person is the reason for Robin's sudden change."

"Did he do something to Robin!? To control her!?" Chopper exclaimed.

"That's the optimistic guess," Zoro nodded. "The pessimistic guess would be that Robin and that guy are actually partners."

"But just knowing about 'a masked person' doesn't help much. What's our goal on this trip?" Nami asked.

"To catch Robin!" Luffy declared.

"Hea' hea'!"

He got up on his feet. "Otherwise, we'll never know the truth. Just thinking about it like this is a waste of time."

"But then, she's someone who the world government has tried and failed to capture for 20 years..." Zoro pointed out, scratching the back of his head.

"This is the only way to find out the truth," Nami said.

"Ok! I'll do my best too!" Chopper said.

"Let's catch a robin!" Gen grinned.

"Yeah. Let's move," Luffy lead them away. They stalked towards the mayor's place, staying in hiding. It wasn't hard to avoid to be seen, the city was too busy preparing for the high tide. It brought her a certain... feeling. She could only associate it with power, power that grew, swell and waited.

The girl was more than once redirected so she wouldn't walk to stuff like trees, walls, crates, barrels, loaded guns...

"Wake up!" Nami shook her shoulders. "What's up with you!?"

"Hey, you okay?" Luffy asked.

"It's not her fault..." Greg said. "It's the Aqua Laguna. It... uuuhh..." there was a long pause. "I... hmmm... uh... what did... what was it again...?"

Zoro rolled his eyes. "Great, it's summer for Snowbrain."

Despite it they finally got a proper place to see the mayor's manor.

"It's so far!" Luffy complained.

"So many people," Chopper was nervous.

Nami was sitting on a branch behind the two of them. "You can just stretch your arms and fly over if an uproar occurs."

"Yeah, but if we're the ones to cause the uproar. We would've played right into her hands," Zoro was casually leaning against the trunk. His coolness was only broken by the girl he was holding on to like a dog in a harness (he had drawn the shortest stick). The demigoddess had somewhat an absent expression on her face. Only a short time before she was speaking in Latin, though they were pretty sure that she hadn't known the language before. Chopper was the only one who caught a word or two, but he gave up as well after a minute.

"Everyone has weapons... They look so strong!" the reindeer had the binoculars.

"Yeah, those mechanics could pin any pirate to the ground."

"It'll be very bad if someone just barges in there recklessly," Luffy said in a completely serious face.

"I wonder who tried to get through earlier..." Nami sweatdropped.

"Tell me as soon as you see them make a move," Zoro told Chopper.

"Okay!"

"I hate puppies."

"You... hate puppies?" Nami looked at Gen.

"Yeah. Puppies... I hate them. Evil... they... waggy... taste awful..."

"Okay. I suggest we ignore from now on everything she says."

"Ay."


"Hahaha! KABLOOOEYH!" Gen giggled. There had been an abrupt explosion that knocked out the majority of the guards/angry mob gathered around the estate. During the chaos, Luffy left, rather stealthily, because no one even noticed it before he was gone.

"AAAAH!" All three still-sane members' eyes bulged out and their jaws dropped.

"That pure IDIOT!" Nami facepalmed. "Come on! We can't let him get too far!"

"'Liiiife is so shooooort, ooooh son of the noooorth...'" Gen started singing from the top of her lungs.

"SHUT UP!"

"..."

"Wow. It actually worked?" Zoro blinked. "AH! No time for nonsense! Let's just go!"

By their logic, now that Luffy had caused havoc the people guarding the front of the house had went after Luffy.

Of course, that was just logic.

Which failed them.

'THEY'RE STILL HERE!?' flew through the three's heads.

A moment's confusion faded quickly away and the people started chasing them around with their saws and whatnot shipwright tools.

The young, white-haired woman found herself blinking, alone, from the middle of the empty yard. A few minutes later the mob ran back around the corner with the three pirates in the front. They passed her, and she blinked again before she grinned and sat down on a random bench.

"...aaaaaAAAAAAaaaa...!"

She raised three fingers.

"...aaaAAAAAAAaaaa...!"

And a fourth.

Then they didn't come back. Oh well, maybe they got caught or something. She shrugged and looked at the doors, the now UNGUARDED doors, and waltzed right in. Literally waltzed, and pretended to even have a long dress that got stuck between the doors when she closed it behind her.

Silence wrapped around her, one like in a library that made people try to walk as silently as they could and only whisper if they had something to say. Or during night when one believed that everyone else was sleeping and...

Anyway...

She had a light buzzing sound in her head that made thinking very hard and she felt like she could take out a sea monster with her bare hands. Just for the heck of it, she tried to rip a random door from its frame.

CRASH

"..."

Leaving as quickly as she could, she giggled and whispered a little 'sorry!'. The door itself had been unlocked and she had just pulled very hard on it, simple as that. It's the residents' fault for not doing proper hinges! (Ignoring the fact that this was a house of a hardcore shipwright...)

Corridors and minutes later she opened another random door, stopped and tilted her head.

"...Because I hold the blueprint of the ancient weapon, 'Pluton!'"

Iceburg and Robin were pointing guns at each other. The latter had four; two in additional hands, and one of them was now pointed at her. The archaeologist didn't betray a thing when she regarded her. Iceburg, though, looked confused.

She could practically hear the crickets.

"Did I just interrupt something?" she asked. "And what about that stupid ship?"

The Pluton... Herka's slip-up had initiated that the godly weapons were in fact one character in the blank century that the goddess absolutely refused to speak of. Gen had asked Greg about it, but he hadn't known any more than she did.

Robin sounded surprised and a little shocked. "A blueprint of a weapon!?"

Iceburg seemed to hesitate on telling things in front of some random chick that somehow happened to stumble upon them but then went into telling Robin what exactly the government was using her for: to get the blueprints. Gen sat down comfortably on a chair. Well, as comfortably as one can with a barrel of a pistol pointed at your persona. Iceburg also told her of late Tom's wariness for the sole survivor of the Ohara incident.

He tried to get up from the floor where he had fallen before Gen entered the room. "As long as you are alive, there is a chance that the weapons will be awakened from their slumber!"

Hands sprouted out and made the man fall flat on his back. Robin was quickly straddling him, the gun pointed at his face and the other three laying now on the floor.

"Is that all you have to say before you die? Although... even if you did kill me, won't your blueprint still be taken?" she asked. Gen got up, and the gun was pointed at her. She met eyes with Robin and gave a small thoughtful smile.

"It's not even here."

"Huh?" she blinked.

"She's right," Iceburg frowned. "It was a fake."

"A fake~ a fake~!" Gen sang. "Ah... hmmm..." she was left standing, looking stupid. "Hm, I forgot what... uhh... I think my brain broke."

"I won't hand the blueprint over, even if it means my life!! On the other hand, I have to stop you if you plan to continue your search for the Poneglyph and lending your assistance to the government!" Iceburg said.

"I'm not looking for the Poneglyph in order to resurrect the weapon! I just want to know the history," she confessed.

"THERE'S NO USE IN SAYING THAT! A thing that can hurt people might not have evil intentions! If your interest in history might destroy the world then you should die right now, Nico Robin!" Ouch, that's a little too harsh. "You still wish to chase the history after witnessing what happened to the 'Ohara devil's!!?"

"WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT OHARA!!?? You have no idea... how much our lives have changed because of the government!" Robin snapped.

"Then why are you helping them if you hate them so much!?" Iceburg yelled.

"That's a good question," Gen crossed her arms.

Robin's shoulders slumped and she got up. The arms that pinned him in place were now gone. "...because I want my wish to be granted, even if I have to throw everything away for it." She told them that in her job description had been to frame the Strawhats and then go with the government and say 'bark'.

Hm, those weren't exactly the choice of her words.

"Then you might as well be dead! Why would a woman who's been running away for 20 years agree to that?"

"The CP9 have permission to place the buster call in motion against the Strawhats, but only this once."

"Buster Call?"

"...whut?"

Oh, she had definitely forgotten this part. Her face went pale and Robin told them what the Buster Call was. No one wants 5 admiral generals and 10 warships on their asses.

"It used to be that only the 3 generals and the top admirals could use it, but the CP9 has the permission to do it, only once, through general Aokiji. If I hadn't agreed, we would get the buster call."

Gen shuddered at the memory. When the sea froze over the pain had been plain excruciating. "...stupid popsicle... damn bully..."

"When I heard Aokiji's name... I gave up," Robin's voice was silent. "The reason I was able to run away from any situation this last 20 years... was because I had nothing to protect. I was able to use people as shields. But now... I can't do that!" she turned to look at Gen with such a heartbreaking expression that she wanted nothing more than to kick Spandam to... the Umpa Lumpa land? Is there a place worse than that?

"Robin-nee," Gen gave her most tender smile the other had ever seen on the demigoddess' face. "If it's a secret, I won't tell them."

"O-Odd-chan..." she said brokenly. "Promise me! Promise me that you take the others and sail away the second the log sets!" she pleaded.

"I-"

"Promise!"

"I can only promise to try," she said awkwardly. "You know Luffy. Remember, that he will never give up even if you have given up on yourself."

"Then, that wish of yours..." Iceburg realized with widened eyes. Robin seemed to finally get a hold of her flood.

"My wish, is to get the 7 Strawhats, excluding me, off this island safely."

"You wouldn't care if you had to resurrect a weapon and the world was to be destroyed!?" Iceburg asked. He was pointing a gun at Robin.

"I don't care."

"Do you know what you're saying!?"

Robin chose to bypass him for the time being and frowned a little. "Hey, how did you get here?"

"Through a door."

"There's only one door leading here and there's someone standing on guard behind it," she told her.

"Oh?" Gen blinked and looked behind. The door... wasn't there. "I could've swore..."

There was a 'buruburuburu' sound coming from somewhere Robin's festival robes and she picked up her call.

"It's me. There's a hitch in our plan. Everyone head to the bedroom. Don't shoot Iceburg yet," came through it, before it clicked shut.

'Well that was a quick message...' "We all seem to have pasts that come sooner or later to bite a chunk off of you," she stretched her arms and sat next to Iceburg on the rug. She could tell he was regarding her from the corner of his eye. He was a tall man with a strong color of lavender in his hair and his jaw was covered in scruff.

The door opened and in walked four strangers with masks and garbs fit for a creepy festival. No one said anything and the staring was starting to feel uncomfortable.

"Go home!" Iceburg had had enough. "I have nothing to give you!"

"...that's the problem," one said. Gen heard the sound of wings flapping and a soft coo of a pigeon. It flew in from the open door and sat down on the shoulder of the man with a bull mask.

"What shall we discuss first..." he pulled the mask off. "...with you?"

"WHA-!?" Iceburg's eyes widened in recognition and shock.

"I'm disappointed in you."

"LUCCI!"

Gen tried to look like an insignificant part of the furniture in the room by pressing a bit closer to Iceburg. Robin played her part. The conversation had 'never happened.'

"It's all your fault," the skeleton took off his head and he was revealed to be Kaku. "This is what you get for not handing it over, while the government was still requesting it of you nicely."

"We really wished to make this town a memory..." the one with the most humanlike mask was next, "...without having to harm you." She was a beautiful, blonde woman and the demigoddess briefly lamented her whitened hair. She was... uh...

"Kalifa!?"

Yeah, that was it. And she placed a pair of elegant glasses on her nose.

"You have your master's resolve."

"Blueno! You were all... with the government!"

"That's right... concealing ourselves was easy... but I'm so amazed by the depth of your forethought, I'm totally speechless. The blueprints for the ancient wepon, Pluton, please tell us... its whereabouts, before there are any more victims. We've been concealing ourselves for 5 years. Don't worry, we did our jobs properly."

"Like that covers it..." Gen muttered and rolled her eyes.

Either Lucci didn't hear her or ignored her. "I understand your discouragement, but the time allowed for us on this case has approached its limit. From now on, we will do our best to accomplish our goals. Be prepared. It would be better for you to not plan any thoughtless resistance."

Lucci continued by telling him about the Cipher Pols, in eight different spots around the world. Iceburg had never heard about CP9. They were those who shouldn't exist, and they had the government's license to kill... anyone who doesn't cooperate with them.

"That's selfish! There shouldn't be any killing in the name of justice!" Iceburg growled in disgust.
"The government has... changed their opinions. Rather than the fear the resurrection of the weapons... Why not awaken it and put an end to this period of the pirates. Let it become the power of justice!"

This started irritating Gen. "You stupid children."

"Miss...!" Iceburg snapped his head towards the girl next to him. Her outburst had attracted the CP9's attention.

"The Pluton is not a toy for you or your so called 'justice' to play with like a toy. 'Oh, pirates are evil because they love freedom! We can't allow that, we can't let our puppets dance outside the stage'!" she mocked. "Well, at least one in this room knows what I think of people who trifle with the gods."

Lucci was unimpressed. "As I was going to say, before you interrupted..." his glare actually made her want to shrink. "If you refuse to cooperate with us, Iceburg-san, you're saying 'no' to all those people in the world who are suffering from the pirate attacks. You, loudmouthed wench, are a pirate, so stay out when real people discuss. You moral less dirt don't know a thing about justice."

The flame of anger licked her insides and filled her with hatred. Before she could say more Iceburg had grabbed her arm and shot a look at her that told her to 'shut up before they do something very bad'. She could only glare at them with all her might and rein in her anger. Ah, how her revenge would be sweet...

Lucci's posture shifted, just the slightest, and his cold eyes flickered momentarily towards her.

Oh?

"That's not the point!" Iceburg yelled. "If the wepon is reawakened, the whole world will fight over it, the suffering will only increase!!"

"You don't trust the government, do you, Iceburg-san."

"I only know about the nature of humans, brat..."

Lucci kicked him so fast she didn't even pick the motion before Iceburg was down. She yelped and moved back, not liking the fact that there was now one extra meter between her and the mayor.

"Kaku, take his pulse. Iceburg-san, we have actually come up with a theory now... you need to listen. Your blood will tell us the truth," Lucci said and the Usopp look-alike stepped forward and placed his hand on Iceburg's wrist.

The man with the bird started talking about the blueprints and told them their theory that Iceburg may have given the real ones to someone. They were especially interested in the name Cutty Flam, and that sent Iceburg's pulse to heights when Lucci said he knew the connection between Cutty Flam and Franky. Lucci spoke a lot and her attention slipped. The Aqua Laguna's alluring call rang in her head, tingled in her fingertips.

Small sigh escaped her lips and the picture of a bird in a cage came to her mind. "I want to fly..." she muttered dejectedly.

There was a huge cracking noise from the wall and there were braking lines appearing like a spider's web on it, starting from the middle, and a soft swiiing from the door. There was a huge X on it. CP9 turned to watch and in a huge burst of rubble and yelling Luffy, Paulie and Zoro came in. Nami and Chopper were following the swordsman.

"ROBIN!!! I finally found you!!" Luffy stood on the pieces of the wall.

"Hey! Luffy! Where have you been all this time!?" Zoro asked.

"Robiiin! I'm so glad to see you again!" the reindeer called out.

"Wha... what's going on here?" Nami asked.

"'Ello, funny little people!" Gen greeted with a dopey smile.

"And where the hell did YOU disappear off to!?" Marimo demanded her with a tickmark, but she had already resumed to staring out of the window with a vacant look in her eyes. Zoro managed a facepalm with a sword in his hand. "Great..."

"Strawhat... Paulie..." Iceburg groaned from the floor.

Paulie was thus introduced to the CP9 as well, with Luffy on the way. Zoro recognized Kaku from earlier. It was too much for Paulie and he stupidly tried to attack Lucci. The agent shiganed him to the chest.

"Don't bother resisting... we've mastered skills that soar far above those of humans. We've spent countless hours training in a martial art that makes the body equal to a weapon. Rokushiki," Lucci said, clenching his hand, "The strength of one who has mastered it is equal to 100 men."

Paulie's face confronted in both physical and emotional pain as fond memories were defiled. "Why would you...!"

"No matter," Lucci grabbed his shoulder and drew his other hand back, forming a claw. "Your life will expire, either way... though we were friends..."

"Lucci, you bastard!!" Iceburg yelled.

"STOP IT!" Luffy's leg came out before Paulie was floored. His gatling gun didn't work on Lucci because of tekkai. "What!? It's not working!!"

"This is annoying..." Lucci mumbled. His stance shifted just a little and-

Arms wrapped around his waist.

"What are you doing?"

"She has an ability to render any devil's fruit user useless," Robin spilled in monotone voice. "And she knows many things."

"Mouu, Robin-nee! It's not nice to tell your secrets! I didn't tell yours," Gen pouted.

The Strawhats' eyes widened, as well as Iceburg's and Paulie's, and in few seconds Gen found her knees feeling weak as she fell on the ground with a hole in her sternum. Oh, and it hurt like netherworld combined with hell. The shock of pure pain that exploded in her snuffed out the knowledge that her breathing was coming out completely wrong. The shigan had penetrated her windpipe and blood trickled in her lungs. She wanted to cough, but she couldn't.

A hand grabbed the back of her vest and yanked her back along with Paulie, not helping her any. She whimpered and brought a hand to the spot where blood was pouring out as a steady stream. Chopper was over her in an instant with his tiny hooves pressed against the finger sized hole and she screamed soundlessly.

She woke, lying on her side on cold floor with loose little chips of stone in her line of vision. Her ears picked up Luffy's voice... he was yelling for Robin. Something about 'not accepting it'. She must've blacked out for a moment.

Robin...

"Robin...nee..." she croaked and spat blood from her mouth. It trickled down her cheek. "See y'later..."
Something hustled around her. A hoof poked her, shook her shoulder, and then a blue nose and brown fur came to view.

Oh, someone was fighting? Luffy. He, and one of the CP9. It was a display of their skills, and when one suddenly jumped to the ceiling two more went for Luffy.

"GET DOWN!" Zoro's urgent voice said and Nami and Chopper hit the floor. She heard a crash, and suddenly her limbs found strength to move. As she did, the pain stabbed her and she coughed.

"Gen? Gen! You okay!?" Chopper asked. "Can you hear me!? And don't try to sit, you have a hole in your chest! It goes through bone!"

Zoro drew his swords and went after Kaku. There was a draft in the room when Robin opened the window and the wind brought in the stormy air that revitalized her. Like someone who had just been drowning, she concentrated on breathing. In... out...

"Robin! I'm not done talking to you!" Luffy yelled.

"No, I'm done," Robin replied smoothly. "We will never meet again."

"Robin!!!" Nami cried out.

Zoro got more fervour to fight and told Luffy to catch the woman before she escaped them. Kaku made short of him with a shigan.

Robin leapt from the window, Lucci boasted about their Rokushiki and he turned into a leopard.

"Gen new he had eaten a devil's fruit," Nami remembered from beside her.

"Yeah... I *cough* new. Why is it always me...?" the girl asked out loud with a whiny tone.

The leopard made a kick to the air and suddenly all the walls started falling on them.

"Get away from the wall!" Zoro yelled at their direction. Nami grabbed her, since Chopper obviously couldn't without problems, and dragged her away as best as she could. It wasn't enough, and the reindeer pushed the girls from harm's way with his antlers.

"Chopper!" Nami called out when the wall fell on him.

Nothing went right. Luffy and his first mate were thrown out the window, Nami was knocked unconscious before she along with Gen were just dropped off. Paulie and Iceburg were tied up to each other and left in the building, which was quickly being engulfed in flames.


She woke up on grass with the taste of ash in her mouth. Oh, soft, glorious grass...

No, maybe not glorious, but it was better than just plain floor.

'Cool, and I feel like myself again, too', she noted in her head. 'Uhhh... I'm basically talking to myself...'

There were people all around them, and she noticed Nami up and... well, beating Chopper up to... apparently, to wake him.

She sweatdropped and got to her feet. The redhead noticed her and turned to look at her with the widest smile she had seen in some time.

Nami had been the first of the three present Strawhats to wake up and Iceburg had pulled her to the side to talk with the navigator. He had told her what had happened between the three of them and that Robin was doing it for them: potentially sacrificing the whole world for seven pirates. The redhead had a wide grin on her face as she told Chopper, who in turn was dancing and almost jumping out of his cute little pants.

Nami's animated talking halted and she blinked. "...of me and you... THINK OF ME AND YOU!? YOU KNEW ALL ALONG!!"

"Uaaah! Nami! Please stop shaking her back and forth like that!!" Chopper rushed to save Gen from the witch.

Gen only now noticed that she had bandage around her shoulders and boobs. Her bag was laying motionless on the ground right next to her and when she stared at it long enough the bear winked.

'Oh...'

"So let's look for everyone and go save Robin!" Nami said to Chopper.

"Gotcha! Let's look for them! Where are they!?"

"I don't know. That's why we have to look for them!"

"Okay~~! I'll do my best~~!" Chopper turned into his most humanlike form, startling most of the people standing around them.

"Wah! It turned into a gorilla!!!"

"Wait, you guys..." Iceburg said. He had a mouse in his breast pocket that he was petting with one finger. "Though it's your decision to go after Nico Robin, at 11 o'clock this evening, the sea train will depart, taking all government personnel with it. Nma, it's only a possibility, but... the likelihood that they're on there is fairly high. Which means that Nico Robin will also be with them. Lastly, the train will cease operation in an hour. Since the Aqua Laguna will be coming very soon. "

"You tell me," Gen muttered. "Thing's making me feel funny."

"So, what are you saying?"

"If you let this opportunity to pass, naturally, a ship can't be sent out, and any means of leaving this island will disappear," Iceburg ended.

"No way..." Nami's eyes widened and she held her head with her both hands. "This is bad!! What time is it now!?"

"10:30," the mayor checked his pocket watch.

"30 MINUTES LEFT!!? Hey, is there any way to stop it!? We need to delay the sea train for a short time!!"

"Nma, because the destination is Enies Lobby, there's no entry for those not working with the government. The driver is also a government worker. Even if I speak to him, he won't listen."
Nami stressed some more before Paulie spoke up. How long had he been awake she didn't know.

"Hey... you guys!! These women and their friends... lend them a hand."

"Eh!?"

"Lend them a hand? These are the criminals that went after Iceburg-san's life, Paulie!"

"Yeah! First of all, we should restrain these three! Lucci and Kaku are also missing!"

"The assassins aren't the Strawhats!" Paulie yelled over the rising voices of the men. "These guys are innocent!!! They're being framed by the real assassins! We've been deceived! We don't know where their loyalties lie, but they went up against those masked guys. The Strawhats fought for us! At present, the fact that Iceburg-san and I are still alive is all thanks to them!"

'Oh, that's an impressive speech!' Gen cooed in her head. That would make sense, she realized, he was like the leader to these men. And he wasn't that bad looking, either. Like, that scruffy, tough-boy next-door that wrestles with bears in the middle of a pine forest and-

...

'Even I agree that's weird.'

He told the people a lie that Kaku and Lucci had went to visit home and then offered to show them were the train station was. They almost emptied the yagara pen to get rides and go out to look for Luffy, Zoro and Sanji. Gen knew where the first two were (stuck -_-') but had forgotten where Sanji had gone off to. Nami and Paulie raced to the station.

"Gen! Let me see that wound!" Chopper had a pause at yelling after the boys. The girl had been taken to the same yagara carriage with a random Galley La member and the doctor.
She grabbed the hem of her shirt and lifted the whole appendage off with a red face. The vest laid on her knees and the rain pelted down on her now bare upper body. She still had her bra under the bandages and Gen could possibly only thank Nami for that as the reindeer started unravelling the soppy linen.

"EEEEEHHHH!!???" his eyes bulged out and jaw dropped.

"What!? What!?" Gen looked down and... didn't see a thing. "What's wrong!?"

"The-The-The-! The wound! It's gone!"

"Isn't that supposed to be a good thing?" she sweatdropped.

"But-! There was-! I'm SURE there was a hole right here!" he tapped the spot. "But I'm glad... Are you in any pain right now?"

"No. Just itching," she scratched the area. "...it's gone. Huh."

"I JUST SAID THAT!"

"Yeah, but why? Greg?"

"Aqua Laguna," he replied. They all ignored how the man was suddenly laying very comfortably on the edge of the wagon... "It's basically over energy that the sea has to use up sometimes. Small parts of it is going straight into your life energy, thus making you stronger and increasing your natural healing capacity. I wonder..." he muttered.

"Dude, you're too cool. Get down from there." Gen pulled on his cape.

"But there's no room for me."

"Get down!"

"H-Hai, Gloria-sama!"


* A referance to Bleach :3

The small part where Gen was singing was from Ensiferum