Author's notes:
This chapter would have probably never ended, if my sis hadn't thrown me some death glares...
I hope now, I got all names right! =D
Loads of fun and now read on!!

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"STOP!!"

'Why in God's name would I want to stop and wait for them to get me?' Nami thought as she listened to the newest outburts of their pursuer.

"Hey Nami! Why can't I see the Going Merry?"
"Because, Luffy..." breathe "... we're still in the middle of that damn town!"
"Oh... and when will we see it?"

She really had the need to hurt him... badly.
"Never, if you keep on getting on my nerves!"

Nami couldn't believe that they were still in this mess.
After the six pirates had been able to escape out of the backyard over the roofs, they had decided to move their little flight down onto the streets. But to everybody's dismay (well, maybe not to Luffy's) didn't the marine soldiers lose their track and kept on hunting them down.

She realized that they couldn't run around here forever and needed to find a safe way back to their ship as soon as possible!

"We should divide up!" Robin told her crew mates, while they rounded another corner. "That way, we won't draw that much attention and stand a better chance of escaping unseen."
"Yeah, but what about that strange girl?"

"She's after me! She won't try and kill anybody of you."
Nami thought about it for a moment and considered it to be worth a try, which meant...
"Chopper, Sanji and I go right! Luffy and Zorro, you two protect Robin from that maniac and stay on this street!"

"Yes, Miss Nami!! My heart will follow you everywhere!!"
"See ya later, guys!"

Increasing her pace, Nami took the next turn and sped down the small street, Sanji and Chopper on her heels.

But logically, the marine had done the same and by now, about a dozen soldiers were after the three friends, trying in vain to catch up with them.
Looking back, Nami could see the soldiers following them, again swords drawn and anger
clearly visible on their faces.

Right behind her, Sanji covered their sixes... or better hers, seeing how he stared at her back...

"Ahhhh!!"
Alarmed by Choppers scream, Nami turned back and had barely time to duck as a long spear-like object pierced the house wall to her right and slammed into the opposite wall with such force, that stones flew through the air, missing Sanji's head merely by inches.

For a second, nothing happened and even the marines stopped their pursuit.
Suddenly, the wall, out of which the spear had come, exploded. Dust surrounded
the three pirates and Sanji tried to cover Nami and Chopper, hoping to prevent most of the debris from injuring them.

After some moments, the dust settled down and a low, malicious chuckle could be heard.
"You are the famous strawhat pirates? Two girls and a hamster?"

Getting up, Sanji dusted off most of the dirt on his black suit and lighted a new cigarette. Putting
his tie back in place, he glared at the bulky man standing in front of him.
"Don't you ever dare and call my Nami a girl again! She's a Goddess among women!!"
Chopper noted that Sanji's eyes were those of a man with a mission.

/()/()/()/

"What are we doing here?" Luffy asked, eyes roaming over the large street that obviously lead straight towards the market place of the town.
Zorro gritted his teeth. "Still trying to find a way back to the ship!"

"Oh... And? Have we found it, yet?"
"I swear, if ya ever..."
A hand, having magically grown out of his shoulder, covered his mouth, silencing him effectively.
Angry, he turned towards Robin, who merely put an index finger in front of her lips, asking the two men to keep quiet.

Decreasing their pace, they gradually came to an halt.
They were alone. Their latest attempt to shake the marine off had apparently worked, leaving the three friends standing pursuer-free in the middle of a street.

Robin knew that somebody was watching her from a side street, but couldn't see anybody standing there. Otherwise she would have already tackled the person down with some well grown hands.

"Doesn't work, huh?" A female voice echoed out of one of the many lanes leading to the main street the pirates where currently standing in.

"No, unfortunately I can't use my Devil Powers to get hold of you... " Robin was more than unpleased about the way this whole situation developed to her disadvantage. She'd rather be in control...

Hearing steps coming from his right, Zorro saw a figure walking out of the semi-darkness and intothe light. It was the young woman from earlier and her dark eyes told Robin that she hadn't changed her mind about killing her in the meantime.

"Hey! Why are you following us?!" Luffy was so not in the mood to fight with that girl. He was already pissed off and didn't need any more stress with a pugnacious brat!

"I'm not following ya, lil boy, and if I remember correctly, I already told you why I was after that
woman. Now you have two possibilities: Either you leave the two of us alone and go and rescue your friends, or you stay and try to help 'her'... but this time I won't hold back."

Bemused, the girl watched Zorro put on his black bandana and draw his three swords. A lopsided grin appeared on his lips as he stepped in front of Nico Robin, eyes gleaming contently... finally he was getting his fight! Unfortunately he hadn't counted on his captain, who had taken up position beside him, hands clenched into fists.

"Good, 'cause we won't either."
The words had merely left his mouth when the girl drew her swords and sped forward. Her face showed no emotions, but her eyes were clear and alert, catching every movement of her opponents.

And again Zorro blocked her attack with his swords.
But this time he struck back, trying to get her with the sword between his teeth and missing her barely as she warded him off with the back of one of her swords. At the same time, she jumped and used her right shin to hit Zorro's side squarely.

The blow sent him flying threw the street, the air leaving his lungs at once.
Grumpling he got up and was just about to attack as Luffy took in his former postion. His arm was already extended, getting ready to deliver some hard punches.

"Gum-Gum..."
His fist flew towards the girl, who was standing some meter away from Luffy. But just as his hand was about to hit her, she stepped aside, dodging his attack. She then grabbed his arm and squeezed.

Perplexed, the three friends watched her for a moment, but suddenly Luffy felt the energy leave his arm. The feeling spread throughout his entire body and black and white dots started to play in front of his vision. He didn't even feel the girl's grip loose on his lower arm as his lids threatened to close.

Baffled, Zorro and Robin watched Luffy get down onto his knees, both arms hanging weakly to either side of his hip.

"W-what did you do... with my arm?"
"If you don't use your powers wisely, they have no effects on me... by the way, your arm is alright. It's just that you won't be able to use your Devil Powers for the next few minutes."

Robin's eyes went wide.
"That's why I couldn't get hold of you when we first met in the backyard. You have Devil Powers, too. You are able to neutralize the powers of others, right?"

The girl smiled slightly.

Zorro's eyes fell on Luffy's unmoving body. He didn't appear to be hurt, only tired... which was under normal circumstances not a word, he would describe Luffy with!

But it seemed the girl could use her ability only on people with Devil Powers, so he was in no danger of losing his strength to an energy-sucker!

"Then it's just the two of us... "
"No, dammit! Why don't you understand? I'm not here to fight with you! I've to kill Nico Robin,

Miss All Sunday and not the pirates she has decided to use for her aims this time!"
It was then, that Luffy moved again. Slowly he got up from his kneeling position, legs still wobbly
and vision blurred.

"That's why you havn't killed me, when you had the chance to, right?... But unfortunately, we can't just let you kill her. She's no longer Miss All Sunday, a member of Crocodile's mafia. She's Nico Robin, a strawhat pirate!"

Robin watched the young woman's hands clench together to fists, knuckles turning white. She had averted her eyes from the three friends and stared at the ground, chest rising rapidly as her breathing quickened.

"She may no longer be an agent, but a murderer is still a murderer even if he sells flowers!!" The girl's voice wavered dangerously, tears imminent as she tried to swallow the lump that formed in her dry throat. Why wouldn't they understand, that she had to do this! There was no other possibility, but to get rid of the last person responsible for her sorrow in order to finally find some piece!

She wanted to scream! She wanted to tell them what their great Robin had done!
But before she had a chance to do so, the giant eagle appeared above them, turning once before
flying threw the row of houses lining the street and landing without a noise beside the girl.

Excitedly, it rubbed its large head against her side, its wings moving up and down as if it wanted to fly away any second.

Concentrating fully on the bird that demanded her attention, she petted its bill lovingly.
"What's the matter, Kyra?"

Luffy's eyes opened wide. He so hoped the bird would answer her...
No such luck, it merely nodded towards the three friends and looked then up into the sky.

"Dammit... I didn't want that to happen."
"What's up? What did the bird tell ya?" Zorro hoped that the bad feeling in the pit of his stomache wouldn't turn out to be right.

"The marine has your friends... " He had just known it. "I'm gonna rescue them, 'cause this mess is partly my fault. Kyra will bring you back to your ship and will return with your friends. Then I'll give ya twenty minutes to get away from here or I'll fulfill my mission this time."

With that the girl turned and was just about to run away, when Luffy raised his voice.
"Hey! Do you really think that we're gonna let you rescue our friends on your own, huh?"

She had hoped they would accept the easy way out of this...

/()/()/()/

"Sanji!!"

Running to the wall where her friend had landed ungracefully and surely not without getting injured, Nami hoped he was still conscious.

After some seconds, she finally reached his unmoving body, fingers immediately searching for a pulse. To her relief, his eyes opened in an instant as soon as her fingers touched his sweaty skin.

"Don't worry, my dear Nami... "cough "... as long as I can move a toe I will protect you from
that moron."

Blood was dripping out of his mouth and his arm was twisted at a strange angle. Nami cringed inwardly when he started coughing violently.

"You better stay where you are, Sanji... Chopper and I are gonna finish this."
"No, no, Nami... just a few scratches... you two better get out of this town."

In this moment, a large, bulky man stepped into the light, his body casting a huge shadow across
Nami and Sanji. His uniform was that of a marine captain and his name read Spear... fitting, considering his ability to grow stones in all kind of shapes out of his body.

"Yeah, little lady! Let two men have their fight... but don't hope to be able to escape me. Hahaha!"
She decided to dislike his malicious laughter.
"Oh, please! Do you really think that you're gonna defeat him?! Never!" Nami told him confidently, arms slung protectively around Sanji's bloody neck. The marine officer smirked and stepped into their direction, a stone spear already growing out of his arm to finish this once and for all...

"She's right. Not gonna happen, Spear."
Surprised, the captain turned towards the owner of the voice and was even more baffled to find a young woman standing right in front of him, hands resting on her hips. He noted with interest
that that sassy brat had two swords and seemed to risk a fight with him, consciously!

"Are you ill, girl? You wanne die? You're still a kid, so go and play with your dolls, this is a battlefield and not some kindergarten."

Not really impressed, the young woman drew her swords and slowly made her way towards the captain.
He merely raised his eyesbrows. He was anxious to see what the girl had in store.

"Before you have time to defeat him, I'm going to kill ya!"
Within a fraction of a second, the girl was in front of him, swords banging against two large stone spears that had grown out of the captain's hands. With one motion of his hand, he pushed her back, making her nearly lose hold of her weapons.

"You really mean it, kid, huh?!"
"You always that slow?"

Eye twitching angrily, he ran towards her, spears pointing at her chest. She had barely time to block his attack with her two swords, before they had a chance to graze her skin. Unfortunately, now she had nothing left to protect her and therefore couldn't prevent another stone spear that had grown out of his side to pierce her right shoulder.

She tried hard to stifle the scream of pain and anger that burned in her throat as he pulled the
spear out of her body and stepped back. He watched her for a moment, obviously waiting for her to break down.

"Kyra!!"
Frowning, the captain didn't know how to react to the sudden exclamation.
"What, now... calling for your mommy, or what?!"
"Kyra, bring the pirates to their ship... this won't take much longer."

With this she sped forward, sword cutting easily through the stone spears. The shock of her sudden success was clearly written all over Spear's face and he barely dodged one of her swords that was aimed for his head. This fight turned out to be not as easy as he had thought...

In the corner of her eyes, the girl saw Nami and Chopper line up in front of Sanji, who was by now unconscious, in order to protect him from the huge eagle standing in front of them. They didn't realize that the bird was there to rescue them...

"Get onto her back... she'll bring you to your ship and the rest of your crew!" She yelled over the noise of the fight.

It was then that Kyra sat down and spread her wings, practically inviting the three suspicious friends to get onto her back. For some moments, Nami's eyes roamed over the large body, but then she noted that there was no other way of escaping than this!

Relieved, the other woman watched them climb onto her eagle's back. The eagle immediately jumped into the air, wings moving rapidly in order to gain height. And after mere seconds, it was out of sight, having disappeared behind some roof tops.

Straightening, she inhaled deeply, ignoring the searing pain in her shoulder and the drumming in her ears.

"Last chance to leave, Spear... next time my friend returns you're dead."

/()/()/()/()/()/

FINIS!!!

So we still don't know that girl's name... hmmm, maybe next chapter knows it?? Wanne read more, tell me!!