Chapter 21
Invasion
"Alright! Let's let's stick to the plan! We'll go first!" Zambai pumped his fist. The Square Sisters and Galley-La all cheered. They were ready to face some marines!
Even Nami and Sogeking joined them.
"Hey, aren't you two in our group?" Zoro pointed out. They were probably trying to weasel out of facing the CP9. That was their group's role after all.
Chopper then noticed something however, "Um… Where's Luffy?"
"Huh?" Nami looked around, "He was here a second ago…"
"…Don't tell me—" Maxwell walked out the back of the train car and looked towards the front of Enies Lobby. Luffy was out on top of the fence, "…Maker damn it, Luffy!" Maxwell walked back inside, "He's already gone on ahead."
Paulie and Zambai were both surprised and outraged— "What's his problem!? He just left on his own!?" "Did he even listen to the battle plan!?" —Justifiably so.
The Straw-Hats were used to this kind of behaviour though.
"It's useless." "I thought he said, 'I got it!'" "For him to wait 5 minutes…" "Yeah, not possible." "That's true."
Still, not to be outdone, The Franky Family and Galley La climbed into the caboose and detached from the Rocket Man, "Don't fall behind, Sodom! Gomorrah! Climb over the fences! Open the Main Gate!" Sodom and Gomorrah neighed and charged, pulling the Franky Family car behind them. The king bulls were going to climb over the fence onto the beachfront.
Maxwell watched them head off. He could already see the marines shooting at Luffy up ahead. Luffy had sling-shot up above the gate and was scouring from a flag pole. At least their allies would catch the marines off guard.
"[Is everyone ready?]" Kokomo's voice sounded over the intercom. Maxwell headed back inside to join the others, "[In 4 minutes, the sea train, Rocket Man, will charge in!]"
"How are your wounds?" Zoro asked 'Sogeking.' Everyone knew it was still Usopp—except for Chopper. Those bandages weren't just for show. They were evidence from his fights the day before.
"It's no problem, because I am Sogeking—EEEIII-YEIYEIYEIYEI!" Usopp had tried to act all tough but Maxwell wasn't having it. He pulled on Usopp's ear and sat him down on the couch.
"Max! What are you doing!?" Chopper had snapped out of any adoration he had when the mage manhandled the 'hero.'
"If he's injured, he should be treated. Right~?" Maxwell glared at both Zoro and 'Sogeking,' challenging him to say he's wrong. Zoro only scoffed while Usopp felt a bead of sweat run down his spine. Neither was going to challenge him on this. Besides, it wasn't like this was Usopp after all.
Maxwell's hands stared to glow green and placed them on Sogeking's chest and shoulder. He ran the mana through the sniper's body, healing him as the magic did it's work. Sogeking let out a sigh, feeling the pain ebb and flow out of his body. He'd forgotten how soothing this stuff was.
Everyone else did their own preparations. Nami adjusted her clima-tact making sure everything was in order. Sanji relaxed, meditating, while having a smoke. Chopper had this determined look on his face as he bounced around like a boxer, hooves in front of his face. Zoro meanwhile went up to the engine.
"Hey Sogeking," Nami looked at the masked sniper, "I wanted to ask about how to use this cold air rod."
"I don't know. Don't ask—Eek!" Sogeking winced as he felt Maxwell twinge something in his arm. The mage was giving him the stink-eye, "…I mean, if you twist the—"
Kokoro's voice came over the intercom again, "[Okay, it's been 5 minutes. The gates should be open now! We'll go one at a time… Samurai-man, we'll leave the iron railing to you!]" He was the man that could cut through iron after all.
Maxwell looked up and ceased healing Sogeking. It looked like they were about to head in, "Alright. That should hold you up for a little while. Everyone! Get ready." He gripped his new staff, ready for whatever dangers lied ahead.
"[EVERYONE, THERE'S A CHANGE OF PLAN! HANG ON TO SOMETHING TIGHTLY!]"
"Eh?" Sanji stuck his head out the window, "HEY! STUPID-SWORDSMAN! WHAT'S THE PROBLEM!?"
"They closed the main gate!"
"WHAT!?" Maxwell stuck his own head out the window. He could see the fallen marines at the front gate, strung across the beach. There had been a battle, but somehow the gates had closed on their own!
"OH NO! WE'RE GONNA CRASH!" "AH~! WHAT SHOULD WE DO~!?" "TURN AROUND GRANNY KOKORO! TURN~!"
"Don't worry… There's a way!" Maxwell jerked his head, looking at the swordsman as he said those words.
"PUSH DOWN THE FENCE, FROG!"
Maxwell's eyes went wide, "Oh crap…!" He quickly ducked in as he heard the wrenching of bending metal. Of all the people, he didn't expect Zoro to have the crazy idea!
Maxwell slammed the butt of his staff on the floor, summing a Storm glyph, "EVERYONE INTO THE CIRCLE! NOW!" It happened before they could even move. The sudden rich of gravity, the jostling of their train car. If the Rocket Man had ran over the fence, then it likely climbed it like a ramp. And based on their speed…
Maxwell looked out the window.
Yep. They were flying.
"WE'RE ALL GONNA DIES~!" "WHAT!? WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!?" "NAMI~! RUSH INTO MY PROTECTIVE~ EMBRACE!"
Maxwell ran to the engine room.
"IDIOT!" Nami held her head in horror, "ISN'T THERE A HUGE PIT BEHIND THAT GATE!?" Undetured, likely by the possibility of imminent death, she stuck her upper body out the window to yell at the swordsman out on the face, "ZORO, DID YOU EVEN CONSIDER HOW WE'RE GOING TO LAND!?"
Zoro didn't even blink, "…Leave it to luck!"
"LEAVE IT TO LUCK—!?" Maxwell hauled Nami back into the train car.
"I SAID, INTO THE CIRCLE!" Maxwell was panicking as much as everyone else on this train, but he still had to consider everyone's safety. Maxwell had already gone and fetched Kokoro and Chimney with their pet rabbit-cat-whatever. Now they just had to wait for impact. Everyone huddled into the circle. If they were gonna crash, at least they won't be bouncing around everywhere.
*BOOM!*
With the sudden impact, everyone was thrown forward. The only reason they stayed in place was Maxwell's Static Cage trap. If now wasn't the time to use it, Maxwell swore he would eat his boot!
The weird part though, was that it didn't feel like they crashed into the ground... It was like they had hit something and went ass-over-tea kettle. They spun around as the sea train skidded to a stop. Only then did Maxwell release the magic.
Maxwell felt himself tumble was the magnetic force let go of him. Their train car was crooked, leaning to one side. He felt onto his back, and he felt Nami, Chopper, and Sogeking fall on top of him, along with Chimney and Kokoro.
He saw no sign of Sanji though… Bastard probably already shot out of the car the moment the tether let go. Maxwell wasn't too concerned for Zoro though. This was his crazy idea to begin with… Crazy bastards probably weren't even affected. Maxwell had faced off with them enough times to know their resilience.
"…Alright… Everyone out…!" Maxwell moved the crawl out of the improvised doggy pile on top of him. His closest exit was a broken window. He slid out of the opening like a drunken snake, rolling onto the street they had landed on. Maxwell shook his head trying to recover from that little crash… At least he still had his staff.
"Everything… is going… exactly… as I planned," Maxwell heard Sogeking drunkenly blurt out. He wasn't any better than Maxwell at the moment.
"Really!?" Chopper asked/yelled in amazement. He didn't seem too affected from the crash.
Maxwel refocused his attention on their surroundings. They had landed in the middle of a wide street, surrounded by marines and government agents. Mostly everyone of them had a rifle or some sort of sword on their back. They seemed to have crashed into a giant first. One was laying flat on the ground, and seemed to have an indentation in his back. Maxwell could see Sanji and Zoro had gone to work. They were standing off not to far away. Fallen troops surrounding them.
Someone from the official's side yelled in the crowd, "Hey! I've heard of that swordsman! He's Straw-Hat's underling, 'Pirate Hunter,' Zoro!"
Sanji snickered, "Hehehe… They called you an underling."
"Still better than being nameless… Pirate A." "WHAT DID YOU SAY!?" "Fine. Pirate B then." "DAMN YOU! IF I GET A BOUNTY, I'LL BE WORTH TWICE AS MUCH AS YOU!"
"Wait! Look there's another pirate! Magister Trevelyan!" One of the agents in black suits pointed at him.
"Ah crap…!" "There must be more! Blow'em to to bits along with the train!"
"Like hell you will!" Maxwell spun in his spot on the ground, transferring onto his feet and whipping out his staff. With that swipe he conjured a wall of ice, Glacial Strength, in front of the Rocket Man. The marines and agents tried to fire at the sea train, but their bullets and cannonballs only crashed into the mystical ice.
"Wait! Cease Fire!" One of the marines ordered.
"Why!?"
"Look over there!" Kokoro, Chimeny, and Gonbe were standing on top of the train.
"STOP! I'M JUST AN OLD LADY!"
"AND I'M JUST A KID WITH SMALL ANIMAL!"
*NYA NYA!*
"WE'RE DEFENSELESS! THE STRAW-HATS FORCED US TO PILOR THE TRAIN FOR THEM! His… NAGAGAGA!" You know, that lie would have been a lot more convincing if Kokoro wasn't drunker than a flounder.
Of course though, most people in this world were idiots.
"That was close. We almost killed the hostages!" "They took an old lady, a kid, and a small animal as hostages! These pirates are shameless!"
Some of the marines then looked up, noticing an unusual shadow, "Huh? Smoke is hovering these like a cloud…"
"When heat bubbles mix with cool bubbles… The water vapour in the air turns into a cloud…!" Maxwell looked up, ack at the train to see Nami kneeling on the rooftop. Red an blue bubbles were coming out of two sections of her clima-tact, one in each hand.
"AH! NAMI~ YOU'RE SAFE!" Sanji swooned at the sight of her.
Nami smirked, "This perfect clima-tact is amazing! Both it's speed and power are totally different from before! Let's try this out on you guys… with the power of thunder!"
Nami shot a yellow bubble at the man made cloud above the battalion, "THUNDER BOLT TEMPO!" and lightning rained down from the crowd, frying everyone beneath! And I mean everyone. Nami had to jump out of the way not to be electrocuted herself. "GYAH~!"
Maxwell let out a discharge of his own to repel the lightning. It was wild, out of control, "Mm… Not bad for a first time…" He remembered get electrocuted plenty of times by his own spells back in the Circle. The key was to separate the energies around the caster, to act like a rock beneath a water fall. Maxwell strokes his beard briefly, "Perhaps I should give Nami some lessons…?"
"—IT HURTS BOTH FRIEND AND FOE!" Nami bopped one of the batons on Sogeking's head, "I ALMOST DIED!"
"OW!"
"SOGEKING!" Chopper cried out in shock, "NAMI, WHY'D YOU HIT SOGEKING!?"
Nami let out a huff, "Just call it a hunch."
Sogeking mused the back of his head, "You're the one to blame for using it so recklessly! Plus, Usopp said he never designed it to be used like that! …However," Sogeking looked out at all the carnage it had caused. Marines and agents were on the ground charred from all the lightning, "That's a really powerful weapon… It beat quite a few of them!"
"DAMN IT, NAMI! YOU HIT US TOO!" Zoro yelled jumping up. He was covered in soot.
"NAMI~ YOU REMINDED ME OF HOW IT FELT WHEN WE FIRST MET~!" Sanji, of course, could never blame a woman for hurting him.
Nami at the sniper beside her, "Hurry up and apologize Sogeking!"
"YOU'RE THE ONE WHO SHOULD APOLOGIZE, IDIOT!"
"Regardless," Maxwell moved in between the navigator and fake hero, "We should find a way to the Tower of Justice. Without the Rocket Man, it's going to be a harder trek to the courthouse!"
Zoro crossed his arms, "True… But I wonder where that idiot rushed off first is…"
Nami shrugged, "Don't know… This island isn't small, so if we have to search…"
*BOOM!*
An explosion went off at the top of a tower, further off.
"We should start there!" the Straw-Hats said as one.
Maxwell trailed the line of destruction Luffy may have been causing, "…He's heading to the courthouse. Let's go!"
Zoro, Sanji, Nami, Chopper, Maxwell, and Sogeking started to moved but then suddenly stopped. They had forgotten about the enemy forces. "WE WERE ORDERED TO DEFEND THIS GATE! THE HOU no BANKEN BUTAI KNOWS NO FAILURE! NO ONE SHALL PASS THIS LINE OF DEFENCE! IT'S OVER, YOU VILLAINS!"
Reinforcements were coming in. Hound riders wore domed helmets with flower a single flower design on the front. There weapons were long spikes connected to a vambrace, one on each arm. Their uniform was a pair of pants, and some sort of rolled up robe, collected around their waist line. They were flanked by more marines and black suit agents.
The mage just looked at them all unimpressed, "…You should have worn a jacket." Maxwell swiped his hand and an Ice Storm whirled into existence. Ice and snow blew from beneath a blue cloud hanging over head, and the forces of Enies Lobby were right beneath it. Marines, agents, and riders all looked up in shock as they felt the bone-chilling cold. They were starting to freeze up, even the dogs…
"HEY!" Paulie called out, "GET ON!" He came riding in on Sodom, one of the King Bulls. The sea monster neighed as it came charging through. "Don't forget why we're here! This isn't where you should be!"
Maxwell, Zoro, and Sanji all looked at the King Bull, and then the battle field. Sanji let out a breath of smoke, "He's right. Even with Maxwell's magic, there are enough here to keep us fighting until the sun goes down."
Maxwell clicked his tongue in annoyance, "If the sun even does go down..."
"GRAB THE ROPES! WE'RE GONNA CHARGE FORWARD!" Sodom was still charging. Paulie had thrown a couple of ropes for them to grab onto, and of course the Straw-Hats grabbed on. The civil servants couldn't do much to stop them. They couldn't even get out of the way as the king bull galloped down the street.
Lulu and Tilestone helped them into the saddle. Paulie meanwhile had jumped over to the other king bull, throwing down more rope, "FRANKY FAMILY, GRAB ONTO GOMMORAH! CHARGE FORWARD WITH SODOM!" The Franky Family climbed up, and now two giant king bulls were charging through the streets of Enies Lobby.
"NAGAGAGA! They're so full of spirit!" Kokoro watched them gallop off, raise a bottle in salute. "DON'T DIE NOW~!"
"CHARGE! CHARGE!" *NYA! NYA! NYA~!*
"F-F-FOOLS!" The Straw-Hats looked behind them. It seemed Maxwell's Ice Storm didn't get everyone. The Butai riders were charging behind them. The wizard blizzard didn't seem to work on the hounds like Maxwell hoped. Although, their riders were shivering and sniffling uncontrollably, "OUT G-G-GUARD DOGS… ARE… M-MUCH FASTER THAN THOSE… O—OVERSIZED… FISH!"
Their apparent lead raise a needle, "J—JUMP ON—YEAHTATATATA!" The rider's commands were overwritten by being hit with lightning. Maxwell had cast an Arcing Surge lightning spell. Any hounds or riders that had tried to jump were immediately struck.
"Haha! Nice one Maxwell!" Nami cheered for their resident mage.
"That won't stop them though…" Paulie had just jumped back onto Sodom. He was right. Maxwell was casting spell after spell trying to zap these hound dogs. Paulie looked around, "You. Hold onto the reins!"
He was holding them towards Sanji, "Huh? You—"
"When you see them… Tell them I got a message from Iceberg: 'You're fired!'" Paulie cranks his neck and walked to the back of the saddle. Lulu and Tilestone followed behind.
Zoro smiled at the carpenter, "…Of course!"
Maxwell looked back at Paulie, "…Stay safe." He stopped casting and then the three employees of Galley-La jumped off.
"THEY'RE AL YOURS GALLEY-LA!" Zambai yelled to them. They were easy targets.
"HALF-KNOT AIR DRIVE!" Paulie had lassoed two of the riders and swung them around midair, hitting all of the airborne guard dogs.
So, the Straw-Hat Pirates and Franky Family left Galley-La to deal with the rear forces of Enies Lobby. For they would face many more marines and agents up ahead.
O O O
"Whew. Alright!" Luffy had climbed onto the parapet of the Enies Lobby courthouse.
He had given them the slip. The rubber-man had been running across rooftops, beating up marines, agents, and whatever else got in his way. They had come at him with swords, guns, and mortars, but they either missed or Luffy beat them to it. He needed to find Robin, so he wasn't going to get anything for playing around with these guys.
Luffy held down his hat as a breeze blew through, "So that's the last building, huh?" He looked at the tower across the chasm. It was at least 12 stories tall with a base fortress at the bottom. The World Government logo was etched into the front above, with three stain glass windows climbing the tower. Near the top, was a balcony with the flag flying overhead. Robin had to be in there somewhere.
"But there's no way to get there!" The gap was at least 80 feet across, and you couldn't exactly see the bottom. It was a giant waterfall, like a sinkhole in the ocean. He didn't know how far it went.
Luffy then noticed something shimmer in the air, "Hm? What the—?"
A voice came from the shimmer outline, "Air Door." And then Blueno came out of the apparition, opening the space like a door.
"Ah! You're that cow guy who was with the pigeon guy!"
Blueno looked at him bored, "Looks like our intelligence really messed up the information."
"Hey, what'd you just do!? That's so cool~! Are you a magician like Max—! Oh~! Now I get it." Maxwell want to fight this guys because he was a magician too!
"I figured the damage had to be more than five people, but… This is unheard of in the World Government. A man that broke in all the way to the front steps of the Government itself…! How long do you plan to keep struggling?"
Luffy didn't hesitate to answer, "Until I die! Robin is in that building behind you, isn't she!? Get outta my way! Cow!"
Blueno looked at him unimpressed, "It seems that all of you still haven't noticed." Luffy looked at him confused, "This sort of thing is a global-scale offence."
"What are you talking about…?"
Blueno decided to enlighten him, "…In the oceans of the world, we boast influence in more than 170 affiliated counties. The gigantic organization known as the 'World Government' owns this island. When you invaded this island… It meant that you decided to revolt against all of those affiliated countries! The 'Government' bears that dignity. You'll be marked as criminals until all of you are caught. Then each of you will probably be given merciless deaths. At most, there are ten of you… What a small amount of power…!"
Luffy didn't like that insinuation, "I just told you, to get out of my way!"
Blueno waved his hand, like it didn't matter, "Whether or not I move, when you all entered the gates of Enies Lobby, all you did was seal your fate. Fighting is also useless against our Rokushiki techniques. I thought you could tell the difference in our power, back in the Galley-La mansion."
Luffy had been doing warm-up till this point, "That might be true, but… somehow, I don't think I'm gonna lose!"
Luffy ran forward, twisting his arm into a corkscrew, "Gomu-Gomu no—"
Blueno didn't even bother to dodge, "…Tekkai."
"RIFFLE!" Luffy punched him right in the stomach.
…Yet, somehow, Blueno felt it!
The door-man coughed up blood as he skidded back from Luffy's punch. Blueno had doubled over, still standing, but he was no longer unaffected. He looked up, both shocked and angered. How!?
"GATLING!" Luffy flew a flurry of punched at the cipher pol agent.
"SORU!" Blueno disappeared, yet somehow Luffy tracked his movement! Luffy punched him on the bottom of his jaw, sending him crashing into one of the stone vats on top of the rooftops. They were used to hold up flags actually.
"You know, I'm going to have to apologize to my crewmate later. He really wanted to fight you."
Blueno picked himself out of the rubble, looking at Luffy with a murderous expression. But that didn't keep Luffy from talking talking, "But as for the ways of the World Government, do whatever you want with them. We only came to take Robin back!"