"I FOUND 'EM!" Luffy hollered behind him from his seat on Yokozuna, the giant frog. Now that Granny Kokoro has talked him into joining them, he had been content to let the frog hold onto the train for him so he could keep an eye out for those that had been separated when bashed the sea train off course. "THOSE GIANT YAGARA ARE RIGHT OVER THERE!" He pointed, letting the others know where to look.

"HEEEEEYYY!" Luffy shouted, as they gained on their missing companions, trying to get their attention.

"IT'S STRAW HAT!" He could hear the cheering coming from the Franky Family as they got closer, and he could see the King Bulls moving to position themselves to reattach to the train.

Luffy looked closer as he heard his name shouted, and was relieved to see Sanji, though he looked hurt. "SANJI!" he shouted, before his eyes widened in surprise and excitement at seeing a masked person next to him. "AND WHO ITS THAAAAT?"

Nami glanced out after hearing the shout of Sanji's name, wondering if he was able to save the others. She knew it was likely too much to hope for, that they would all be back and safe especially since the Franky Family wasn't trying to get them to stop. Her heart lifted a little at seeing Usopp climbing aboard their car after Sanji, though she did wonder what the weird mask was all about.

She let Usopp have his moment, talking up his alternate persona with Luffy and Chopper, and even going so far as to sign an autograph for Chopper. She sighed, knowing she needed to help him get over this need to hide himself when Sanji called her name, getting the attention of the others as well.

He explained all that had happened, including his further understanding as to why Robin wasn't willing to escape her captors.

"So, Kia's there too?" Nami asked, giving a sigh of relief. "I've been worried."

"I told you she was, Nami," Luffy grumbled at her.

"Yeah, but you didn't know for sure and now we do!" Nami retorted.

"Not important," Zoro cut in, getting back to the conversation. "Now we save two instead of one, that's all."

"THREE!" several of the Franky Family added, offended.

"Damn Robin!" Luffy yelled suddenly. "Why is she being a jerk?!"

"Hey!" Nami yelled back. "It's not her fault! She's scared of what'll happen after we've saved her!"

"It's easy!" Luffy huffed, getting annoyed. "She'd get killed if we didn't save her! It's not like she wants to die, so we're gonna go save her!"

"And Kia too!" Chopper added.

"Well obviously," Zoro said with a laugh. "Though she'll come along no problem, once we get Robin."

"I've got a new move I wanna try," Luffy declared as he paced around the others that were sitting. "I'm gonna send everyone and everything flying!"

"Hey, straw hats, come look at this," Paulie called from the other side of the train car. He showed them the map he had drawn, and answered their questions as best he could, before laying down the plan that had he formed. He had even gone over it with Zambai before, and knew it was their best shot at winning.

It wasn't fool proof, but they had a decent shot at staying alive.

"Okay," Luffy finally replied after the strategy was laid out. "I got it."

Paulie puffed out a breath. The plan was a go, so now he just needed to prepare himself.

"Cutty Flam…" Spandam spoke, punctuating each of his words with a kick to Franky's head. "Your temper hasn't changed much since we last met."

He gave another laugh, talking to Franky about Tom and Iceberg, hoping to crush any last resistance. "And then, I received wonderful news from Admiral Aokiji," he continued, and Robin gave a gasp. Spandam turned to her with a wicked smile.

"Oh yes," he said. "He told me that our friend Nico Robin was on a pirate ship, heading straight for Water Seven. And then with the approval to use the buster call…" he stopped, his head tilting as he took in the girl standing next to Nico Robin. "What..." he stopped, frowning and glaring at her. "Who is this?" he demanded.

"That's sexual harassment," Kalifa replied, and Spandam seemed to deflate.

"I just asked a question!" he said defensively. "Kaku?" he asked.

"She is one of the straw hat pirates," he answered, still sitting with his arms crossed over his chest. "Lucci explained before."

"Oh yes," Spandam said, nodding as he walked closer to her. "The one that recognized you all when you were undercover."

Kia's eyes went wide, and Robin gaped, looking at her.

"Do tell, little criminal," Spandam cooed menacingly. "How did you know their true identities? Who do you work for? Are you some sort of spy yourself?"

Kia wanted to answer that yes, she was part of some other Cipher Pol group, but she felt the idea was a bad one. They most likely were able to at least contact someone to see if she told the truth.

"Answer me when I talk to you!" he screamed suddenly, backhanding her across the face. Kia shook her head, and stood back straight, her face on fire from the hit.

"Why did Aokiji allow you to invoke the buster call?" Robin asked suddenly- wanting to know- and wanting to get his attention away from Kiana.

Spandam went quiet and stared at her. Then he moved quickly, punching Robin in the face, causing her to fall to the ground.

"You have no right to question me! You shut your mouth!" Spandam screamed as he moved over her, his leg raised to stomp on her. He started laughing again, and Robin looked up to Kia in fear, the look from Kia the same to her.

Kia had the same thought- to distract him, so he would leave Robin alone. "I didn't recognize them! I had no idea who they were! I just want to keep Robin safe! I don't work for anybody, I'm just a pirate!"

She ignored the derisive look from Lucci, seeing that most of the others seemed to think that had to be the truth. There was no way some young pirate would have known who they were.

Spandam laughed again, "I want to keep Robin safe!" he said,mocking her in a high voice.

"Our crew are coming for us!" she cried out, not knowing what else she could do.

"Oh yes," Spandam replied, his voice becoming quiet again, which was almost worse. "I did receive word that a group of fools came to rescue you worthless criminals… and by now they've all been captured. That little pirate crew is nothing more than pieces of trash before the ten thousand- strong force of Enies Lobby!"

He laughed again, enjoying the look of horror on Nico Robin's face. He looked at the younger girl, enraged that she didn't seem cowed in the least. I can fix that…

"Guards! Tie these three with chains! Ensure the Sea Prism stone lock stays on Nico Robin. She'll go to Navy Headquarters. The other two go to Impel Down."

He smiled at the look on his prisoner's faces, enjoying the heady sense of power of being able to crush others under his heel. He laughed again, this time happily.

"This calls for a toast!" he cried. "To CP9's success!

"I'm not interested in some ridiculous toast," Lucci spoke up, and Spandam turned, feeling disappointed.

"Well, uh, what is it you want then?" he asked.

Lucci stood, and moved towards the doors, passing by the prisoners, and giving the younger female an odd look. "Perhaps all I want is blood, or perhaps… I want answers," he, replied enjoying the girl's flinch much more than Spandam's fear.

Franky grit his teeth as Spandam came out to the hallway where they were made to wait, grinning like an idiot. He taunted them about listening to the report of their friends' capture, which didn't make sense. There was no way all our people only took out five guards… Franky thought, knowing the dude was a fool, but wondering how he'd prove it this time.

I wonder how my guys are doing? he thought, trying not to worry. He had always looked out for them, because even though they were tough, their real strength came from their bond with each other, not from their power individually. And while most Navy guys didn't worry him- the sheer number of them on this island was a real concern.

That girl looks ready to murder Spanda, he thought, giving a smirk at the idea. He wouldn't necessarily think of himself as chivalrous, but he didn't want to watch her get smacked around again, so he said the first thing that came to mind as soon as Spandam paused.

"You're such a scumbag!" he sneered.

"Shut up you thug!" Spandam replied instantly, striking out with a kick to his face. He grabbed the receiver, and grinned at them as he spoke into it. "Now, just start from where you left off, and give me the details. I'm sure this is about the Straw Hats, yes? Did you accidentally kill them?"

"The intruders…" the snail mimicked the soldier's voice. "...consist of about 60 pirates, and they have infiltrated all the way to the courthouse plaza! We can't stop them, sir!"

Franky gave a belly laugh, his relief palpable. He was glad the kid was smiling with him, but he was getting annoyed that Nico Robin seemed agitated at hearing the news. Spandam gave him another kick, but he just shrugged it off.

"Also! The giants, Oimo and Kashii have joined with the pirates, and are now destroying the central part of the main island!"

"Whaaaat?!" Spandam screeched.

"Shouldn't have lied to them," Kia muttered, and Spandam's crazed gaze shot to her. She looked away, staying quiet. The guy was a nut job, and she didn't want him to go off on her.

"Casualties are estimated at two thousand men!" the speaker yelled into the snail. "And the Straw Hat is probably responsible for half of those, just by himself!"

"This… can't be…." Spandam muttered. He dropped the snail and ran for his office. Kia and Franky listened intently to the snail as the man on the other end of the line continued to give his report.

"They're almost here," Kia said quietly, with a happy smile on her face.

"I can't believe it!" Franky cried, tears shooting down his face.

"Ah, you should save the crying for after the rescue," Kia teased him.

"I'm not crying, you're crying!" he retorted automatically, turning so she couldn't see his face. "Well Nico Robin?" he asked, once he got ahold of himself. "It's not everyone that gets their own rescue party," he grinned at her. "Just us! WOAW!" He was smiling, but of course started crying again. "Those guys!"

"Hey! Get it together!" Kia hissed at him, wondering when Spandam would come back. "We can't just leave it all up to them, you know. We need to help get ourselves out of here. They're still going to try to take us to the Gates of Justice, and probably faster now. We need to let our people know where we are."

Robin still said nothing, and Franky and Kia exchanged a look.

"I can cause a distraction," he told her. "But you saw that drawbridge," he reminded her. "We don't really have anywhere to run, and no one will get to us until that gets lowered, you know."

"Yeah, I know," she muttered, trying to come up with a solid plan. She didn't want to see Robin anywhere near the Gates of Justice. "If all we can do is just let them know where we are and try to stall Spandam from taking us away… at least it's something. Every little bit helps, right?"

Franky gave her a considering look, and then nodded. "Anything is better than nothing, little sis," he said.

She smiled, shaking her head. "Nope," she told him. "But I'll count you as a friend. And my friends call me Kia."

Robin tried not to listen but failed. She felt the hope rise again within her, and mercilessly cut it off with reminders of the golden snail that the director had in his possession. She had no doubt that he would rather kill everyone on this island than let them escape. The blow to his pride would be too much.

I can hardly stand hearing how worthless I am from him, she thought. So how could I possibly live with being a burden to Kiana or the others? I'm just so tired. Why not just let it be done? Why drag it out?

She couldn't make herself look up as she heard them discuss the options of escape. It's better this way, can't they understand?

Robin could hold herself back no longer and looked up under her lashes at her friend. She wished she could explain to Kiana, yet she just didn't have the words. Even if she could express her fears, it would only speed up the inevitable, and her darkness would become too much for the crew to handle.

She thought she had become numb to it all, but the image of Kiana escaping and leaving her behind hit a little harder than she thought it could.

Even now, she could hardly fathom how Kiana was feeling, hearing that she would be sent to Impel Down. Knowing that she would never see her sisters again- because she came to help her friend, Robin.

Robin wanted to weep but kept herself as stoic as possible so as not to give Kiana any more to worry about. It was the very least she could do, since she had failed at every attempt to get them to let her go.

Spandam came back into the hallway with more guards, demanding that they collect the members of CP9 and prepare to move the prisoners to the Gates of Justice immediately. Franky wasn't ready for his distraction quite yet and looked to the other two to signal as such.

Kia saw the pointed look, and wondered how she could possibly stall, and realized she could use the only weapon she had left in her arsenal. The truth.

"Not a good idea," she said quietly, as the men ran off to follow Spandam's orders. He whipped around to sneer at her, and she merely shrugged. "Your call of course, but it'll end up badly."

"Threaten me all you want, little girl," he answered menacingly, and her face dropped to a scowl as she wondered why all the men here called her that. "But once the members of CP9 are here, everything will be exactly as I command it."

"Maybe," she said again with another shrug. "But all the members of CP9 won't be here. Blueno's about to lose."

"CP9 are superhuman," he replied in a bored voice, starting to walk away. "There's no way some nobody pirate can even HOPE to defeat one of them."

"Every member of the Straw Hat crew will join the captain on that roof," she said declared. "They'll fight the members of CP9 in order to find the right key, and they'll win. You want to know how I know?" she taunted, leaning forward, seeing that he didn't believe her, but couldn't help but stop to listen.

"You want to know, how I knew they were part of CP9, even though they were undercover?" she asked, her voice softer in order to pull him in. She knew Robin and Franky were listening just as intently but didn't care at the moment. All that mattered, was doing everything she could to keep the three of them there for when the crew arrived.

"Or how I know about the devil fruits you brought back?" she added for extra measure, seeing the uncertain yet angry look he was giving her. "Because I know the future," she said factually, without any hint of guile.

He had a moment of panic at her words, then Spandam burst into raucous laughter.

"ROOOBBBIIIIINNNN! KIIIIIIAAAAAAA!" a yell punctuated the air, and everyone turned towards Spandam's office. "I'M HERE TO SAVE YOU!"

"He made it!" Franky said with a grin.

"Spandam sir!" a soldier ran into the hall. "A man is standing on the roof of the courthouse, yelling things at the prisoners! What are your orders, sir?"

"That can't be, I just saw Blueno out there," Spandam replied under his breath, as he strode into his office. The guards looked around at each other, and Franky took the moment to talk to Kia quietly.

"The future?" he asked, skeptically.

"Hey, I needed to stall him for a bit, and it worked, didn't it?" she asked with a smirk.

"I guess it did at that," he replied, shaking his head. "Creative, but could backfire on you."

"I don't know what you mean," she replied easily with a shrug. "I never said anything."

He gave her a look and then started laughing, shaking his head again. "You Straw Hats are crazy," he told her. "But I have to admire the faith you have in your captain."

She grinned back this time. "Your turn to stall," she muttered, turning away so as not to gain the soldier's attention. "He's a coward, so he'll want to run away as soon as he can."

"Couldn't agree more," he added, and gave a nod in the direction of Robin. "Most people would be happy to have their friends come to help them out," he said more loudly, in order to ensure Nico Robin could hear him. "And your deal is shot, but now you can just wait here to get rescued and leave this place behind. So, the real question is- why do you look so miserable?"

Robin didn't respond, but they knew she heard by the way she grimaced.

"I think she's still running from something that even you don't know about," he said, and Robin looked up sharply.

"That's okay," Kia answered evenly, looking straight out at the guards that were running through the hall at Spandam's sudden screeching. "Everyone has their secrets. She'll tell us when she's ready." She gave a smile. "Or Luffy will get it out of her."

Franky chuckled. "Well then," he said with a smirk. "Let's get her to face him then."

Robin's wide eyes had both of them grinning in anticipation.

One by one, each of the Straw Hats joined Luffy on the roof. And each time another member appeared, Spandam's face grew a little paler and more frightened.

Franky had kept quiet- though he had wanted to say plenty- but each time, the kid had put her hand on his arm to shut him up, letting the Straw Hat captain talk to his crew member. In fact, she had only waved, and let him know she wasn't hurt. Then she sat down, obscuring herself from view.

It had been going pretty well, even when CP9 had appeared as ordered, but Spandam held them back since Robin continued to refuse to be rescued. It was tragic, yet Spandam loved to see their plans of rescue foiled- as it only helped his own agenda.

However, once the Straw Hat crew was reunited, Kaku muttered "well, well, the gang's all here," and Franky saw the disbelieving look that Spandam gave the girl- obviously remembering her prediction of the future that had come true.

He couldn't help but be impressed, not just by her faith in her friends, but that they had come through to make that faith justified.

"Yo-yoi! Quite the show indeed! To have come this far, is truly impressive!" Kumadori added.

"STRAW HATS ARE THE BEST!" Kia suddenly shouted, waving with both arms at her friends, letting them each know she was okay.

Franky moved quickly, grabbing her and pulling her down to safety before Spandam could attack her.

"These fools have no idea what they're up against," Kalifa said, adjusting her glasses.

"They're lucky to have even gotten this far," Jabra added.

"And unlike before, we have permission to kill them," Lucci said, giving an excited smirk.

"But if we kill them, then the fun will be over," Kaku replied.

"What's her deal?" Franky muttered.

"We'll find out soon," Kia replied, squirming to get him to let her go. "Luffy won't stop until he finds out."

Robin was drained, physically and emotionally. She hadn't allowed herself cry this much in more years than she could count. But Luffy just continues to tear down every wall I had ever built! They really aren't going to give up on me. I won't be a burden to my friends!

She glanced over at the girl who had done just the same as the captain and felt awkward that she started tearing up yet again.

Spandam grabbed her arm, and Robin's fear rose once more. I had only thought of succumbing to the inevitable, I need to think of how to get Kiana out of this!

"This will buy the time I need to get to the Gates of Justice," Spandam said, pushing Robin away from the ledge of the balcony. "Someone grab Cutty Flam and bring him!" He looked over and gave himself a nod. "The girl too, just in case."

He gazed back at the Straw Hats, telling himself that he was fine. "I've got CP9, so I'm practically invincible," he assured himself. "And the one who can revive the ancient weapon, not to mention the one who was passed down the blueprints," he continued. "If all else fails, I can use the girl to know the future, so there is no way I can fail!"

He missed the stares from his people but chuckled at hearing Nico Robin gasp. He grinned, pushing her to walk again, then suddenly stopped, Franky standing in his way and glaring, as he pushed Kiana behind him.

"What?!" Spandam barked. "What is that look?!" His jaw went slack as Franky lifted a bound stack of papers; the word Pluton written on the front. "Is that…? No… it can't be…"

"Oh, but they are," Franky replied, grinning. "Don't believe me?" he asked. He looked over his shoulder to Kia, and she nodded.

"They're the real ones," she confirmed, wondering how far to take this. Obviously Spandam was a believer, but she wondered how the others would take the idea.

"Suppose we should have known, after seeing him hide cola and weapons in his body," Kaku said.

"Hand them over!"

"Nico Robin," Franky said, and Robin looked over in surprise. "Everything I heard about you was so wrong."

Robin's eyes registered her surprise, but her years of keeping her face stoic had her staying straight-faced.

"Not that Robin's not a dangerous woman, or that her knowledge could be used against the world by some power-hungry scumbag like Spanda," Franky said, ignoring the man as he screamed, "SpandaM! With an M!"

"But now she's got friends that are willing to risk their lives to keep that from happening."

Franky took a breath, and holding up the blueprints, set them on fire in front of everyone. He turned back to Spandam with a grin. "And I'm placing my bet on the Straw Hats!" he declared. "They'll get to her before you can take her through the Gates of Justice!"

"Yes!" Kia added, giving Franky a slap on the back.

"Hey!" he grumbled, giving her an annoyed look, and she returned it with an apologetic one.

He rolled his eyes and looked out across the waterfall. "Straw Hat! Thanks for taking care of my guys! Now that the gang's all here, the one and only Franky will show you how super his gratitude can be!"

"I don't need your help!" Luffy retorted angrily. "I'm still mad about what you did to Usopp! And Kia!"

"Uh…" Franky muttered, looking from one to the other, and wondering what the young pirate captain was thinking. "But they're right here too…"

"Cutty Flam!" Spandam muttered, rushing forward.

"Look out!" Kia yelled, trying to get in between the two men. Before she could do anything, she was tackled to the ground, and rolled over in pain.

All around her, she heard several screams, and the sharp sound of a train whistle. She gave a groan as she opened her eyes, shocked to see Robin laying over her, weeping.

"Robin?!"