"Usopp! Step on it!"
"Of course I"ll step on it! I was famous in Syrup Village, as the—Uh… AMAZING Express… Demon Driver!"
He pressed the pedal harder as he spun the wheel for a hard turn. Nami held onto Chopper, who was being held securely in her arms as she sat to the right of the now aggressive driver.
That's when her transponder snail began making noise in her backpack. She carefully let go of chopper with her right arm and reached for the bag, giving it to the small reindeer.
"Hello?!" Chopper said, as he picked up the snail.
It was Robin.
"Chopper! Franky! There's a whole slew of bug monsters headed through town. You need to be on guard."
Franky un-docked the Sunny as swiftly as he could.
Nami, Chopper and Usopp pushed the cellar doors closed, Nami figured out how to lock it securely as Usopp held an oil lamp up for her.
"So…"
The gigantic naval Commodore was smoking a fat cigar. At least… Brook assumed he was a lieutenant, based on the look of his outfit. His similarly wide index finger was decorated with a gold ring which gleamed as he tapped it against the ashtray in front of him.
"A little birdie tells me we've got ourselves some pirate interference."
The static eyes of his dark-bearded face were somewhat haunting. Brook was impressed that he himself, a ghost- should be the one to feel this. He also pondered briefly whether the man's aura was due to a worldly wisdom, or an emotional detachment from the world.
A different voice spoke:
"Yes, most inconvenient."
Brook's spirit poked its eyes very slowly and subtly out from inside an ornate cabinet near the two men, then hid back inside of it.
The other man was light haired, muscular in a more slender way. He seemed slightly lower in rank.
"The Admiral's orders were clear. We were to wipe the bugs out and do a sweep of the island for resources. We have it on good authority that the mineral deposits in the dry zones of the island Epoh are worth millions… Now that our insects have cleared out the copious… Fallout of the recent war, it should all be ours for the taking." The light haired man said.
Brook recognized the familiar noise of a nearby transponder snail ringing.
The slimmer man walked over to pick up.
"Captain Meiji here, this had better be important. I'm in the middle of a m—"
"CAPTAIN, SIR! WE HAVE MASSES OF BUGS COMING IN AT 12 O'CLOCK, I NEED ORDERS." The snail hollered.
"Hold on one second, lieutenant." Meiji said, managing to maintain a calm demeanor despite the bead of sweat forming on his temple. He looked at his superior as he planted the snail against his chest briefly.
The Commodore took a deep puff of his cigar.
"It's time you took the reins, Meiji-san. Show me what you can do. I leave this entirely in your hands."
Zoro's pupils were the size of a pinprick as he looked upon the legion of bug monsters which were approaching. His swords were in his hands and mouth, and yet he felt Robin's heavy torso in excruciating detail, wilting in his arms again. His chest pounded deafeningly as he in a state of disorientation sheathed his blades and yanked the flamethrower off the limp framework of his recently slewn metal-suited foe.
The swordsman sprinted toward the church tower, followed by Sanji. Zoro took a deep breath in, halted as he looked up through a gap in the second floor, up to the belltower above it. Then he screamed at the top of his lungs.
"ROBIIN!"
She saw the object of her affection as she glanced down between the scaffolding. She'd already stolen her own flamethrower off a marine and passed it up the church walls to herself.
"THERE'S WAY TOO MUCH WOOD UP THERE! GET DOWN HERE." The swordsman demanded.
"WHAT ABOUT BROOK?" She shouted back.
"HE'S A SKELETON, BUGS AREN'T A THREAT TO HIM!" Sanji chipped in.
The archeologist thought about it for a brief second. Ran down the stairs to meet the men below.
She looked sternly at them as she said: "I promised I'd look after his remains until he's back. We can't let any marines get their hands on him."
The men nodded in unison.
Zoro placed his flamethrower on the ground temporarily.
"Help me shut this!" He ran for the large, open church entrance, and his two crewmates followed him across the marble floor.
One man pushed each respective door of the giant entrance as Robin grew a massive pair of arms to help them both push. The three pirates caught a glimpse of the bug beasts as the doors closed. Zoro immediately slashed one column on each side of the entrance down, the momentum of his cut had the pieces of infrastructure fall directly so that they held the doors shut.
He picked his flamethrower back up. Looked up at the bugs coming in from above.
"I have an idea." Robin said.