A/N: Thank you all for still reading :) I only have two more chapters left and this will finally be done.
Humanity
Chapter 13
Check out at the library
Kaku stood on the deck watching the sunset. He knew eventually they would reach the island and he soon realized it was stupid of him to think he could do this alone. But he didn't want them to be involved. He balled his fists in frustration; he knew that they were already too far involved. He was worried about getting his new family, hurt or killed. He knew some of them like their beloved captain would jump head in despite the risks. He couldn't live with himself if he got them hurt or even worse yet killed. He was still recovering from the shock of Chopper getting kidnapped by Kalifa. If he hadn't acted fast enough the poor reindeer might have been killed.
He stretched his arms over his head as the setting sun warmed his jacket. He knew he had a decision to make. He had the key in his hand recalling that he told Kalifa that he would get those documents for her. It would be a simple mission for someone like him. He felt a twinge of pain in his legs. He was still recovering from all that running. He sighed and ran his hands over his face. His training had taken a backseat now. He was still, for the most part recovering, from everything. His body ached and was stiff from it. He didn't have enough time to recover it all back, though. He could feel it in his bones a fight was coming. He had been training with Zoro and yes that did help him regain his sword skills but everything else was still on the mend. He rested his arms on the side of the ship. He was going to need help getting into the World Government library. It would be full of guards and traps and he wasn't in his best form.
He needed help from the Straw Hats… but who to ask for help? Luffy was out of the question. He wasn't the most discreet, and neither was Cutty Flan. That left out two of them defiantly. Zoro's directional skills were nonexistent, and Chopper's skills didn't exactly lead to stealth. So that left; Nami, Robin, Sanji, and Usopp, it was a good enough selection. Sanji could help if there was a fit, Nami could distract a guard or two and Usopp and Robin would be great at stealth. He nodded to himself. Now he just had to approach the Straw Hats about it.
Kaku decided to wait for dinner time to talk to all of them, as it would be easier to have them in one place when food was involved. Now was the perfect time to open up to them. He couldn't do this alone. He stood up and cleared his throat. "Excuse me, everyone."
Much to his surprise everyone stopped eating and looked up at him; save for Luffy who was still stuffing food in his face. He suppressed a smile as he started talking. "I have something I have to… ask of you all. As you know Kalifa asked me to get into the secret library to retrieve documents to prove CP9 innocent of the Buster Call at Enies Lobby. But, I can't do it alone I need help." He chewed his lip. He couldn't think of a time in his life when he had actually asked for help. Being raised as an assassin he was taught how to handle things on his own. He, of course, had sought out help from time to time but not often. This was new ground for him.
"Of course we'll help." Luffy said with his mouth full of food. He swallowed and kept talking. "You're our friend."
He chuckled. "I'm uh, not going to need everyone I just need a few people to help out."
"Who do you have in mind?" Robin asked as she sipped her tea.
"You, Nami, Sanji, and Usopp." Kaku said. He was pretty sure he heard Usoop grumble something but he let it go.
"Hey! What about me?" Luffy demanded
"No offense Captain, but you're not the most discreet out of us." He sighed
Luffy pouted. Nami reassured him. "He's right, Luffy." She said. She looked at Kaku. "So what's the plan?"
"Well, even though I have a key they aren't going to let me just walk into the library. Plus, the key is for something in the library, not the library itself. I need someone to distract the guards; which is where you come in Nami. If there is a fight I need Sanji to back me up. Usopp is going to be our lookout and Robin is going to help break-in."
"Seems easy enough." Said Robin
Sanji took a long drag from his cigarette. "So, you need me to fight?"
"Maybe, fighting is the last resort. Mostly I want you to keep an eye on Nami."
Nami glared at him but remained silent. Kaku knew she would feel better having Sanji around she just didn't want to admit it.
"But Kaku, what are you going to do once you help them clear their name?" Chopper asked. "Doesn't that mean you won't be wanted anymore?"
"Yeah, my name will be cleared along with theirs." He said
The crew fell silent. Sad expressions were on their faces. "So, you're going to leave us?" Chopper asked with tears in his eyes.
"No, that's not my plan." He reassured them. "You guys are… you guys are my friends. I'm not going to leave you all."
They all cheered. "Yay!"
"I'm glad you are all supporting me in this."
Zoro looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "If you're not interested in clearing your own name and starting over then why help them at all?"
"Simple. I know if I don't they will keep coming after me and thus coming after you."
"Bring them on!" Luffy threw his arms up in the air and shouted
Kaku shook his head. "I know you guys can deal with them but…" Lucci was who he was worried about. Lucci was relentless, he couldn't imagine him rolling over and giving up so easily. He clenched his fists. He couldn't take him on in a fight. He knew that from the bottom of his heart. A fight with the number one agent of CP9 would be his death. Especially now.
"So where is this library at?" Nami asked.
Her question drug Kaku out of his thoughts. "It is at Top Hat Island. There is a navy base there but it is small. Most of the people there are really just paper pushers." He shrugged. "Human resources and such. They handle payments, file documents, and keep charters the usual stuff. They keep a minimum amount of guards there." He chuckled. "People usually aren't interested in what they are doing… unless, of course, their last paycheck didn't come in."
"An island of paper pushers?" Usopp asked. "That doesn't sound so scary. I can deal with this all on my own!"
"They may lack in manpower, however, if they might have caught wind of what we are up too; they could have very well placed more guards. I would rather not take any chances."
"Have you been there before?" Robin asked
"I have once. But it was many years ago. As I said it's not a hot place of Navy activity." He shook his head. "I went with Jabra once for a mission. The Island isn't very exciting. Not a lot goes on there. They see even fewer pirates so we have to be careful about how we approach the island." He pulled out blueprints he did of the island and laid it on the table. "Here," He pointed at a shoreline. "Will be the best place to dock the Sunny, we can get on land here." He pointed at a part of the beach. "It's far enough away from the town that we won't be noticed. We will walk along the back of the town where we can get to the back of the library. Here," He pointed at the library. "Nami will go upfront and distract any guards nearby. Usopp," He pointed at a building. "You will be stationed here as this building has the best vantage point. If anyone comes near us warn us. I'll give you an extra snail transponder. Sanji, you will remain the alley hidden. If we have to fight our way out then that is where you come in. Robin, you will come with me. We are going to climb up the back of the library and enter from this window here. We will use your powers to see if the coast is clear. I'll get in and get the documents and get back out. Then from there, we should be clear to return to the ship."
Sanji put out his cigarette. "Seems to be a lot of ifs and shoulds in this plan." He grumbled.
Kaku sighed. "It's not the best plan. There are a lot of unknowns involved. I don't know if they have increased the guards nor do I know if they haven't placed anyone near this shore. Pretty much we are playing it by ear if I'm being honest."
"We should just storm in!" Luffy shouted
"No, with all due respect that is a terrible idea. We need to get in and get the documents without them noticing. If they know what we took specifically it can spell trouble down the road. Spandman doesn't know we know about this stuff. Word gets out about it he can deny it, or start going after people who can confirm it wasn't us who sent the Buster Call but him." He sighed. "I've caused enough bloodshed in my life. I don't want a mishap to cause more innocent deaths." Kaku had enough of unnecessary killing. He didn't want to be a trained assassin. That may be the only life he knows but he wasn't going to let it rule him. He was his own man. He was free to make his own choices and he was making a choice not to do it anymore. Unless it was to protect his friends. World order be damned he wasn't going to do that anymore. "Do you guys still want to help me?"
Robin nodded. "Of course."
Nami looked over his map clearly admiring the job he did. "Yeah."
Sanji nodded. "Fine by me, if the ladies are going then I'm going too."
Usopp licked his lips. He looked nervous. "I… yeah I will help."
"What about me?" Luffy asked
"Yeah, do you need us to do anything?" Chopper asked
Kaku shook his head. "The fewer people that go the easier this mission will be." He had learned that while he was being trained on working in CP9. Take as few people as possible. Bigger crowds drew more attention and he knew damn good and well Luffy would draw attention.
"Makes sense." Franky said. "So we go with as few as possible the rest of us stay on the ship."
"Yes, but be prepared for a speedy getaway in case we happen to get caught." He hoped that wouldn't happen but he was always prepared for anything. "Study the map. Learn your routes. The quicker we get this done the sooner we get out of there the less of a chance we have at getting caught." He got up from the table and left the galley. He walked over to the side of the boat and leaned on the railing with a sigh. He hated getting them involved. They were young kids. He really needed professionals for this but he was a little short on those at the moment.
"I hope you know what you're doing." Zoro said from behind him.
He looked at him and shrugged. "I hope I do too."
He scoffed. "Don't tell curly eyebrows but I agree with him; there's a lot of ifs and shoulds in this plan." He crossed his arms. "You get them hurt I'm going to kick your ass, again."
"I don't plan on getting them hurt. Plus, with you guys on the ship if we do get caught you can come to rescue us." He turned to face him. "I need to do some sparing and work off some of this energy. You up for it?"
Zoro grabbed his swords. "Hell ya!"
Kaku watched as they approached Top Hat Island. He was beginning to feel nervous. Training yesterday had managed to burn off some of that nervous energy but he still had some leftover. This was a big mission. Even with the Straw Hats help, there was still a chance for failure. He had thought of every possible scenario that could happen. Best results would be if he got caught. Not that he was exactly looking forward to spending time in front of a firing squad, but it would buy plenty of time for the pirates to escape.
"Land ho!" Franky yelled as they got the ship as close to the shore as possible.
"Does it look the same as before?" Nico Robin asked him. This snapped him out of his thoughts.
"I believe so." He turned towards the crow's nest. "Usopp, you see anything?" He shouted at him.
"Just some buildings, I see a huge one to the south."
"That's probably the library." He knew it would be hard to see anything from this vantage point. There was a hill from this shore that blocked the shoreline. Made it easier for them to get in but seeing what was ahead was a different subject. He sighed to himself. "Alright, we will stick with the plan." He said to them.
Usopp climbed down for the crow's nest. "I didn't see any navy ships at the other docks."
"Good, at least they don't have reinforcements waiting around." He gathered them around. "You all remember what to do?" They all nodded. "Okay, we go in and make it quick."
They waited until nightfall to use the cover of darkness to their advantage. Once the sun had set they made their way onto the island.
It was a small trek from the shore to the village that the library was in. It wasn't a big village per-say. They rarely had visitors. Just an occasional person would stop for a rest or to restock.
"Okay." Kaku said as he stopped once they got to the library. "Ready?"
They all nodded. Usopp scrambled up a ladder to a roof of a nearby building. The building was for storage so no one would be up there. Sanji hid in the shadows in an alleyway. Nami walked up to the front of the library to distract the guards who might be upfront.
Kaku waited for a signal from Usopp. Thankfully there was enough light on the building for him to make out what Usopp did. He spotted the signal; he took Robin's hand and used Moon Walk to get them both into the upper window.
Robin took her position by the door. With her Devil Fruit powers, she summoned extra eyes and ears to spy outside.
Kaku walked up to the file cabinets. One was locked with an ornate lock. He assumed this was the one he needed. He took out the key and unlocked the cabinet. He let out a small sigh of relief. He was glad it worked. He was worried he might have to keep searching. He hoped his luck didn't run out though. He dug through the files until he turned up a file labeled Enies Lobby. He pulled it out and flipped through it. Sure enough, it was all the incident reports. He was preparing to pull out what he needed and put it back when Robin said.
"Someone's coming down the hall and they are heading this way."
He shut the cabinet then an alarm sounded. "Oh crap!"
Usopp sat there looking out of his binoculars. He hummed quietly to himself to calm his nerves. There were so many factors at play. One wrong move they could land themselves in jail or worse executed. He watched Nami who was chatting up a guard. He scanned the area when he spotted someone with a top hat. He kept on looking. The island was Top Hat Island so… wait… Lucci wore a top hat. He scanned back and sure enough. There was the top CP9 agent Rob Lucci standing there with some admiral Usopp had never seen before.
"Oh no, oh no." He muttered to himself. He reached for the snail transponder in his pocket. His hands were shaking. The transponder slipped out of his shaking hands. "No!" He shouted a lot louder than he should have.
"Did you hear that?" He heard a guard ask
He groaned as the transponder flew down to the alleyway were Sanji was. Crap he had no way to tell Sanji what he saw so he could report it to Kaku. He slipped deep into the shadows hoping that no one would come looking.
He could make out Nami's voice as she talked to the guards. "I didn't hear anything."
"I thought I heard something."
Then a loud alarm sounded. "Oh, crap." Usopp mumbled when he realized it was coming from the library.
"We've been breached!" A guard shouted.
He heard a bunch of them run into the library. He got out of his hiding spot and looked for Nami and Sanji.
"Usopp!" Nami shouted with a hushed tone. "We got to go!"
Usopp didn't waste any time. He climbed down from the building. He met Sanji and Nami outside of the alley. Sanji had the transponder snail in his hand.
"This thing freaking fell on me." He grumbled at Usopp
He took it. "I was trying to call Kaku. I saw," He gasped. "I saw Lucci!" He shouted
"Keep your voice down, Usopp." Nami hissed. "We got to go."
Sanji looked to the library. "What about,"
Before he finished that Robin leaped out of the window. "Run!" She shouted at them. She was clutching a file in her hands. She hit the ground running and they followed her back to the ship.
Kaku watched as Robin made her escape. He could see everyone running with her. He was buying them time. When the guards would come to investigate they will find him and not look for the others. He was sacrificing himself for his friends' safety but it was better than all of them getting caught. He stood there with his arms crossed and waited.
Guards poured in each pointing their guns at him. "Who the hell are you?" one shouted at him
"That is Kaku. He's a member of CP9." Said a familiar voice from the crowd.
His eyes widened and his mouth fell open. No way. There was no way it could be.
The man walked through the crowd looking at him with a smug expression.
"Lucci!" Kaku exclaimed. But how? Wasn't Lucci trying to clear their names too? If he was here why not take the file himself.
"Hello, Kaku. It's been a while." He narrowed his eyes at him. "I hear your running with pirates now."
He remained silent. Another man emerged from the crowd it was Admiral Kazuka.
"So this is Kaku?" The admiral asked. He lit a cigar and took a long drag. "He doesn't look all that impressive to me." He knocked the ashes of his cigar on the floor.
"The last I had seen of him he would have been able to take out all these guards single-handedly." Lucci said
Some of the guards shivered, some stared at Kaku as if he was a monster.
Kaku looked over his shoulder to the window. Maybe he could escape and get back to the ship? It would be risker but he was a fast runner he could at least avoid the guards. Lucci was a different subject. Though if he wanted him dead he would have been killed by now. Surely. He slowly stepped back to the window.
"Make no mistake, Kazuka, he is or was the second strongest of our members."
Kaku made it to the window. He was getting ready to leap out of it when suddenly he was hit by a huge weight from behind which knocked him flat on his stomach. He would have cried out if the wind hadn't been knocked out of him. He looked over his shoulder to see what had hit him.
Lucci had him pinned in his man-leopard form. "You can't escape that easy." He sneered
Kaku shouted. He kicked Lucci in the chest to escape. The other man stumbled briefly and Kaku slid out from under him. Kaku heard the guns pointed at him cock.
"Shoot him!" Someone screamed
"Iron body!" Kaku shouted as the guns were fired. The bullets bounced off of him. He felt his guard weaken some. He would not fall here. He panted as the shooting stopped. He tried to go for the window again. He would have to go through Lucci though. He transformed into his giraffe-man form and charged at him head-on. He swung his neck and tried to hit Lucci.
Lucci dodged the attack and grabbed Kaku by the neck. "Leopards are predators. Or did you forget that." He lifted up Kaku and flung him into the sea of guards.
The guards screamed and tried to run before they got crushed. Kaku hit the floor hard enough to crack the floor beneath him. The floor gave away and he crashed into the area below.
"Impressive." Admiral Kazuka clapped. "I have always wanted to see members of CP9 fight each other. However, Lucci, you should wrap this up soon. I don't think this old library can handle this type of fighting."
Kaku rolled over. He hurt all over. He let out a groan of pain. He tried to stand up his legs shaky underneath him. He turned into his full giraffe form and started running. "Out of the way!" he shouted at guards who just stood there like lumps on a log. Any of them unfortunate enough not to move he bowled over. He high tailed it through the library with his head down the ceiling was too short for him to have it up. He plowed through doors using iron body and his nose as a battering ram. He would escape this yet.
He heard a roar from above. Something crashed into his side which caused him to fly through the wall. He slid along the floor. He felt like he got hit by a train. "Ugh." He cried out. He went to stand again and his body gave out. He fell to the floor. No, he had to get up. Something grabbed his leg and felt a cuff being put on. His power drained and he turned back into a human and the other cuff was put on. "Sea stone." He cursed
"Get up." Lucci ordered though he pulled Kaku up on his feet.
Admiral Kazuka walked into the area. "Damn. You certainly caused a huge mess, young man." The admiral lit another cigar. He leaned down to him and blew the smoke in his face. "Very impressive, young man, though I could have done without all the destruction." He looked to Lucci. "Take him in. Let him spend some time in jail."
Lucci nodded. "Come on." He pulled Kaku along behind him.
Kaku hung his head. He felt ashamed. He was so close to escaping. He wondered what was going to happen to him. If he was going to be tossed into jail or where they going to make him an offer? He glared at Lucci from under his cap. He would get to the bottom of this. At least the straw hats escaped.
Off up on a hill, Usopp watched as Kaku was being taken in. "Kaku got caught." He informed the others.
The rest of the crew had come with them back to the library to save Kaku but it looked like they were too late now.
Luffy nodded. "Let's go save him!"
Nami hit him on the head.
"Ow! Nami, what was that for?" Luffy shouted
"We can't just go running in there, Luffy. We need a plan." She placed her hand on her chin in thought. "We don't know how many of them there are and we don't know Lucci's game plan."
"I can take on Lucci I beat him before!" Luffy yelled
"Yeah, but fighting them wasn't easy."
"I thought that Lucci wanted the files too? What's he doing arresting Kaku then?" Sanji asked
"Maybe it was a trap." Robin suggested. She was looking through the files in her hand. "After all if this was already in the militaries possession then why have Kaku go through the trouble of retrieving it."
"It really doesn't make sense." Chopper said
"But we can't leave him to the mercy of the World Government. He's our friend!" Usopp protested.
"I'm not saying we should leave him. We should go about this carefully." Nami said.
"I'm going after him!" Luffy shouted. He slid off the hill. "Kaku! I'm coming to save you!"
"Luffy!" She shouted
The whole crew followed their captain. Nami really hoped this was the best course of action. If Robin was right and it was a trap for Kaku what if it was a trap for all of them? She chewed her lip. There was no turning back now. If this was a trap then they were all going to be captured together as a crew. At least they will have each other.
