The next day, everyone was out looking for Robin. Sanji and Usopp were stationed at the sea train, while Zoro and Luffy were searching one part of the city and Chopper and Nami the other. They all had mini den den mushis that connected with the others, in case they found something.
Luffy had made herself a gas mask, one that only covers the nose and mouth, as a precaution in case any of the Franky family were following them, since they now knew that the chemical could easily incapacitate Luffy for long periods of time. It was fine since she couldn't speak anyways, even though Zoro was unable to kiss her at all, not that it was the time for that exactly. They had to find Robin, though each group was losing hope. They had to find her, though. She was family and the damn captain.
-x-
Luffy sat in a train on the ocean, in Zoro's lap, still wearing the gas mask. She still didn't trust the people who were with her, Zoro, Nami and Chopper, even though they had apologized. Zoro had been adamant about not letting them come with them, but Nami won the argument and let them on. They would be good decoys once they were at Enies Lobby. Franky had been taken along with Robin.
Luffy wouldn't ever forget the hurt she felt when Robin told them they were in the way of her fulfilling her dream, whatever that was. She still wasn't convinced it had all been a lie, no matter who said what. Until Robin said so herself, Luffy would still feel betrayed and meaning very little. But, she had only known Robin for a couple months. Zoro and Nami had been with her over a year. So Luffy felt she wasn't allowed to be hurt about anything Robin said.
The storm outside was really intense, shaking the crappy sea train side to side. Luffy was afraid. It was too loud and she was in too small a space with former enemies, who had drugged her so bad she was incoherent and extremely vulnerable. Though, seeing their wounds was satisfying.
"The storm won't hurt us in here," Zoro whispered against Luffy's neck. She was visibly tense. "We'll be fine. We're strong." Luffy nodded slowly. "I'm sure they haven't hurt or taken Robin away yet. The government wants to flaunt their so-far success probably. Make a big deal out of it."
"He's right, Luffy. We gotta get her back, so we can't be stressed or scared," Chopper said as his whole body shook. Luffy gave him a sad smile.
"Do you think she was telling the truth at all? I know I'm new here so I shouldn't care so much, but she sounded sincere," Luffy said sadly.
"I don't think she was telling the truth. She's always been a good liar, and it's come in handy a lot," Chopper replied. "It doesn't matter if you haven't been here long. You're still part of the family. You can be as upset as we are."
"That's right, Luffy. But we can't focus on the negative," Nami said, trying to reassure Luffy. She felt bad for the nymph. The human world is probably leaving a bad impression. Kidnapped, poisoned, friends deserting her.
Nami said this as she changed her outfit. She didn't even ask Luffy to make a changing screen. Luffy was in awe of how casually she was changing in front of all these strangers. Luffy could never do something like that. And Zoro was being discreet and not looking until it was clear she was dressed.
While many of the others in the compartment were staring at Nami, the rest were continuing to stare at Zoro kissing Luffy's neck. The two had already made it clear Luffy wasn't a child, and it was pissing the teen off. So she just turned around in Zoro's lap, staring up at his face.
"It'll all be fine," Zoro told her. She nodded.
-x-
Luffy stood on a roof, across from Robin, the man who kidnapped her, Franky (who she hadn't seen clearly yet) and a group of bad guys of all shapes and sizes. And in front of her was a large man with a hairdo in the shape of horns. They all watched her. The little girl in a gas mask that stood at three feet tall, looking at her opponent with unimpressed eyes.
She was completely silent, and didn't respond to anything the door-door fruit man said. Just looked at him in a bored manner.
"Oi, who the hell are you?!" the man holding Robin shouted. Spandam was his name. Luffy didn't look at him. He was annoying and Luffy wanted to bash his face in to get him away from Robin, who looked terrified for Luffy.
"Hey, that's the brat we took," Franky said, loud enough for Luffy to hear. But she stayed focused on the man in front of her. She'd make this quick. Robin couldn't be comfortable right now. They would save her. Luffy would do her part, and was in kill mode. If she banished them, they'd just come back after her and the crew.
Blueno launched himself at her, but she gracefully stepped out of the way, letting the man's fist break the stone roof they were both standing on. She padded a few feet away, watching Blueno with calculating eyes.
She sharpened her fingers more, and when he came back again, she slashed at him, but he dodged. It would be hard to catch him. And she didn't want to drag this out. Normally, if her family weren't cuffed and terrified, she'd have fun fighting this strong guy.
But not now. He launched at her again, and she didn't dodge. Robin shouted her name fearfully as she uncovered one of her hands from the steel coating and held it out in front of her as Blueno launched himself at her. She met his fist with her palm, and grabbed the hand tightly, watching on as it dissolved into nothing. His arm continued to disintegrate as she moved closer.
Everyone went silent, staring at the scene in horror. Blueno screamed and pulled away. One of his arms was gone, up to the shoulder. But it didn't hurt. He looked at his shoulder in shock. There was no blood, and he couldn't see any flesh. It was like the end was charred off. The man backed away as Luffy got closer.
Spandam completely lost it. Luffy knew she looked scary, which was what she was aiming for. Suddenly, like a snake, she shot forward and wrapped her body around Blueno's, locking her hands around his head. He was too shocked to get out of the way and fling her off as she dissolved his head and face until there was nothing there anymore. The body dropped to the ground. Silence was back again. She turned a cold stare to the people across from her on the balcony of the other building.
She picked up the body and threw it over the edge of the roof. The gas mask made her seem even creepier. Spandam was petrified, and didn't move. The other members of CP9 looked just as horrified. Their partner had been dissolved and tossed into the waterfall.
"Spandam, get inside," Lucci commanded. But he stopped when they all heard screaming from below and the roof blew open, Zoro landing on the roof while Chopper and Nami fell painfully.
"Hey, you got here first?" Zoro asked curiously, cracking his neck. Luffy nodded. "Lookin' real scary, there," he said with a smirk. Zoro couldn't see Luffy's smirk through the mask.
"'They're scared of me now. I killed their friend right in front of them'," Chopper translated in a shaking voice.
"I had to, Chopper. We're getting Robin back no matter what." Chopper gulped, and nodded. Luffy would never hurt them. Then Usopp came tumbling onto the stone, finally followed by Sanji.
Everyone got their bearings before they fixed a cold stare on their enemies. Luffy really did a number on them. They looked completely freaked out. No doubt Luffy showed one of her abilities, other than being coated in steel with clawed fingers.
We're saving you whether you like it or not, Robin. Even if we have to kill every single person in our way, Luffy created a banner. Robin gulped, some tears on her face. But there were no words.
"Yow! Sorry I kidnapped you!" Franky suddenly shouted, ruining the heavy silence. Luffy had freaked him out as well, but she didn't even look at him. Zoro scoffed, and gave a glare at the man.
"Kill them!" Spandam finally shouted, dragging Robin away and inside. "Ahh!" he screamed as he saw Luffy form a launcher. CP9 knew this girl was a danger. She had to be taken care of. She launched a steel cable from the gun and embedded it deeply into the stone building they needed to get to. Then she did another, before balancing on the cable and dragging her hand to create a bridge as she ran.
The others followed, Zoro slicing through the tower, all of them heading inside to get to Robin.
"Don't just stand there and laugh!" Zoro shouted at Luffy as she stood in the massive doorway and watched the ridiculous fight Zoro was in. Usopp was cuffed to Zoro's hand, and the young man had decided to use Usopp as a sword extension. And their enemy had to be the stupidest looking creature Luffy had ever seen.
She'd never seen a real giraffe, but surely they didn't look like that. Luffy laughed and pointed at him, which the giraffe-man didn't like.
"It's you!" Kaku shouted. The pirates ignored him.
"Luffy, get rid of this cuff already!" Usopp shouted. Luffy ran forward, flipping out of the way as one of Kaku's long legs kicked at her. Zoro admired her gracefulness as she landed on the enemy's leg, jumping high towards Zoro and Usopp. She landed right behind them and touched the cuff restricting Zoro's fighting ability, dissolving it quickly.
"Hey!" Kaku shouted, suddenly worried about this. This girl was a problem that needed to be taken care of. But she ran off, leaving the swordsman completely able to fight. He slashed at the giraffe man, making him unable to follow the gasmask girl.
What the hell? Luffy stood across from something that looked similar to the Merry's chef. But he looked like some sort of balloon. Wet and slimy when Luffy touched him. She rubbed her fingers together, smelling it. Soap?
Luffy stood in front of the leader of CP9. He dwarfed her, but wasn't looking at her in the way you would look at a little girl. No, he knew she wasn't a weak child. And he didn't have many ways to attack her if he had to stay out of her touch. He wouldn't end up like Blueno.
Luffy would have thought he was cool looking if he weren't her enemy. He ate a devil fruit clearly. He looked much cooler than that stupid giraffe man. But he also looked more dangerous. Luffy took her slippers off, tossing them in the corner and elongating her toes to be claws. Her claws weren't as big as Lucci's but just as sharp.
"I can't let you pass. Nico Robin will be taken to Impel Down, where she belongs. That is just-" he could finish as Luffy shot a newly formed gun at him. She wasn't feeling like listening to a monologue. This pissed him off, while she just continued to stare at him blankly. She was so close to Robin.
She knew Zoro had finished his fight, and Nami had beaten her opponent, but they hadn't caught up to her, or were caught up in some other place. There were many things going on in the building. She kept hearing a roaring from some sort of monster from somewhere.
"You brat. Why don't you say some-" she shot at him again. He avoided this bullet as well. "Fine. You don't want to talk. That's fine by me!" and Lucci kicked, sending a sharp slash through the air at her. She ducked under it, and looked at the sliced up wall behind her for a second.
"Tempest kick!" he shouted again. Luffy ducked, and frowned. Why was he just calling out his attacks? That just gave her the upper hand of knowing what was coming next. She dodged quickly, but was soon met by Lucci, who was right in front of her, a finger shooting out at her.
She didn't have time to grab him, and just flipped out of the way. Her gas mask fell off, clattering onto the ground. She didn't look twice at it. This guy didn't seem to use poison. The finger dented in her steel chest, making her feel a sharp pain. But there was no blood, it had just dented the mark into her skin. But she easily put her hand over it and healed it.
Lucci narrowed his eyes. "You don't have a devil fruit. What are you?" he questioned. Luffy gave an infuriating shrug, and turned her arms into blades. The same blades she'd used against Zoro so long ago.
"I'm gonna take care of you before you do any more damage. I'm not Blueno. I won't be beaten-" BAM! He was kicked across the room. Why did he continue to talk? This was a battle! Luffy didn't understand it, but he clearly didn't like being interrupted. He was losing his cool quickly. Luffy never knew she could be so irritating to someone as she was to this leopard-man.
She shot forward, not giving him time to talk again, aiming for his tail, slicing the fur on the tip off. She created a whip and wrapped it around the tail, pulling it to her and latching onto it with a hand.
Lucci growled before he instantly threw her off, only having the tip of the appendage dissolved. He clearly didn't know what to do to counter her attacks. He took one of the crates and threw it at her as a distraction of some sort, but it didn't dissolve. It was just suddenly gone, her hand up in a "stop" motion.
The enemy sneered. "You'll be trouble later on, no doubt." Luffy smirked at him. She already was trouble. He looked extremely serious when a rock of shiny, greenish-black material was formed in her small hand. It radiated a terrible feeling to the devil fruit user. Had she made sea stone?!
Lucci wasn't going to win against her if he kept fighting the same way. He couldn't touch her, but he had to kill her. Luffy smirked at him and tossed the rock at him. It missed. She formed an entire wall of it, shoving it against the floor and to corner him to the open wall that he'd slashed through. Devil fruit users can't swim. Well, she couldn't either, but she wasn't the one being pushed off.
The leopard-man couldn't break through it, so he dropped down to the lower level, which hadn't flooded yet. Luffy wasn't interested in him. She had to get to Robin. She had to get there as soon as possible. She created another seastone wall and laid it against the exit, making the zoan fruit user unable to proceed further and follow her.
It also trapped the others down there, but she went to the other side of the building and kicked the wall in to make another exit for her friends.
She ran after Robin, who was being dragged away on the ground by her hair. It made Luffy see red. She ran faster, her steel covered feet making clacking noises on the stone bridge. Robin opened her eyes to see the little nymph running after her, but watching in horror as the leopard zoan leapt up and crashed into Luffy, pinning her to the stone ground. She wasn't hurt, but was trapped, on her stomach so she couldn't use her hands to dissolve or banish. Instead, she grew metal spikes on her back, but they were ignored by Lucci, even if they were piercing him.
Her uncovered head was bashed into the stone, hard, making her head bleed and her feel sick.
"So, your head is your weak spot?" Lucci said angrily. He did it again, and Robin was screaming her name. Even Franky was shouting about it. Luffy grew the spikes more until Lucci wasn't able to be on top of her anymore.
Luffy's head was swimming, but she held her hands to her forehead and tried to heal her head as best as she could. But it had done the damage. Luffy didn't think she could heal brain injuries, since she was unable to get rid of headaches.
She swallowed down vomit with the vertigo running at him caused. She launched at him, making rope so she caught his leg. She'd go to immobilize him. She yanked him down forcefully by pulling the rope back, and landed on him, clutching his leg until there was nothing left. He screamed in horror and anger.
With his lone leg, he let loose a tempest kick, slicing her steel chest, spraying blood everywhere. It ripped her dress, but she quickly healed the injury over, glad it didn't cut her in half like it did the wall.
She reformed her gasmask quickly, as she was surrounded by marine ships, and who knew what kind of tactics they'd use to get rid of her. Lucci was up on one leg, and lunged at her. He knocked her into the wall of a spire, slamming the side of her head into it, making the wall crack. Luffy pushed herself away, staggering to the side with her vision spotty and blurry, before another tempest kick landed on her or her head injured again.
Robin was dragged even further, getting closer to where she can't get away from. Luffy didn't really want to resort to it, but she had no choice. Everyone on the ships watched as the little girl ran at the zoan and made him disappear. He was somewhere in the world, but one legged and injured.
Luffy stumbled forward, running straight again, ignoring the head pain and bleeding wounds. She'd need Chopper to check her over. Spandam screamed as she got closer and closer. He pulled out a sword and pointed it at her.
The sword was gone. Nowhere to be seen as she banished that as well, briefly hoping it had gone where Lucci was and stabbed him. In front of all of the ships, Robin, and Franky, Luffy shoved her blade-arm into Spandam's stomach, spraying blood everywhere. It stained her gasmask and speckled her face.
She finally reached what everyone was fighting to get the key for, and dissolved the seastone cuffs. Robin got all her energy back and she rushed forward to hold Luffy, who had thrown up to the side from the vertigo. She'd done what she was supposed to, so now she could finally rest.
Robin picked the teen up easily and ran to where Luffy had come from. They had to get away from the marine ships that could easily shoot both women down. Luffy sighed out a silent groan, making a "shh" noise through the gasmask. Robin didn't know why she was wearing it. The nightmare was almost over. Now she had to wait for the others and keep Luffy safe while doing so.
To be honest, this chapter is where the fic had an identity crisis. It took me 2 years to finish this story. I couldn't decide whether I wanted it to follow canon or not, and it does follow it loosely. Very loosely. And I skipped over so much stuff of the enies lobby arc because I just didn't want to follow it so closely and write episode to episode. So, after this chapter it gets more original.