-Third Fleet Naval Convoy-
Luffy, Nami, and Chopper were finding escape hard going. It had been only a couple days since their incarceration, but with Chopper's aid Luffy had finally healed enough to be up and useful. Unfortunately, neither of those two would be of much use in a breakout attempt; any Devil-Fruit user was kept docile and weak by using Seastone restraints. Nami had been the only person that hadn't shared that weakness.
Unfortunately for the Marines, Nami had a long history of escaping prisons. A couple whispered words, a picked pocket or three, a flash of cleavage, some minor concussions, and they had gotten free and retrieved their gear no problem. Her Log Pose had been shattered during the capture, but it hardly mattered; it would still be configured to get them back to the island they had just left. Still, Luffy and Chopper were unshackled successfully, and it was only afterwards that they started running into trouble.
"Welcome, Pirate Scum!" shouted the PA system, as bulkheads slammed shut around them, "Welcome to your demise. Allow me to introduce myself. I'm the captain of this ship, Sebastian Weber, former Mastermind of Flounders' Fishermen. Just Sebastian! That's it! No fish-themed moniker or anything like that, I assure you!"
"What in the world have we wandered into?" muttered Nami.
"I'm sure you're wondering right now just what kind of trap you've wandered into, yes? Of course you are. I've accounted for every last one of the details of your group, and made a plan for each of you in your turn."
Growing impatient, Luffy struck the nearby bulkhead with a fist, crumpling the wall outward, but only to a certain point.
"For example, the reinforced walls. If you think you can outwit my layers upon layers of traps, then you're welcome to try. I assure you, I have prepared for every contingency."
"Nami…" asked Chopper. "What do we do?"
Instead of Nami, it was Luffy that spoke. "We're getting out of here, and then we're going to find everyone else! That's what! No stupid Marine is gonna stop me!"
-Fifteen Minutes Later-
Luffy, Nami, and Chopper spent the next fifteen minutes testing that boast to its limits. Dodging pit traps, sea-water chambers, spiked walls, springboards, and exploding mechanical target dummies was dangerous and tricky business, until all of a sudden everything stopped. The traps stopped, the PA announcements stopped... It all just stopped. There didn't actually seem to be all that many Marines on board this ship, or at least not down in the trap-filled bowels, so the three of them made their way to the deck fairly unscathed. As they did so, they passed by the bridge, which had been turned into some sort of elaborate control room filled with mechanisms and gizmos.
It also contained a shouting man standing before a control panel that showed videos of room after trap-filled room.
"I bet you're wondering how we trained those sharks, aren't you? How and why? Oh, but once the ceiling descends upon your heads, I think you'll find jumping into the shark-filled pit a bit more... enticing."
The dark-skinned man wasn't speaking to anyone in particular, and the PA system was clearly non-functional. Instead of the microphone, the man was shouting into a cup of coffee. The three Straw-Hats looked around in confusion for some enlightenment, and found Sasuke lounging in the corner. His crimson eyes had deep bags underneath them, but the young ninja wore a genuine smile.
"Yo," he said, waving a lazy hand. "I've had a long day, so I'm just gonna keep sitting down if you don't mind."
"...Oh, but who would be so cruel as to grease the chute?" asked the Marine Captain to his coffee mug, "Why, since you've fallen down that way, you may find the room you're in now to be rather familiar. That's right. Back to square one!"
The man began laughing with genuine pleasure. Luffy, Nami, and Chopper just stared in confusion.
"What's up with him?" asked Luffy. "Does he have the sea madness?"
"Sea madness?!" cried Chopper.
"No, no, he's fine," reassured Sasuke, "I've been feeding him an illusion for a while. Nothing too complex- it just shows him what he wants to see. I think he's used to things going according to plan, so it's pretty easy to keep going."
Nami shook her head and muttered a quiet, "Bullshit…" causing Sasuke to grin widely at the woman's praise.
"Surely you won't have to deal with the rushing seawater a second time, right?" asked the Captain, "Oh, but let me tell you of the ingenious series of pumps we set up for just this occasion!"
"Is he going to shut up?" asked Nami, pointing to the enthralled Captain. "Do the rest of the crew know he's not all there?"
"Well, they don't really know yet- I let him give a real order every now and again- but I bet they'll figure it out soon... And, yeah, I guess we can shut him up now that you three are here."
As Sasuke stood up and prepared to gag the man, the window from the outside shattered, and Naruto blasted through the opening.
"DYNAMIC ENTRY!" he shouted, drop-kicking Captain Weber in the face. The man flew into the opposite wall and collapsed to the floor, unconscious.
Still wearing the same tired expression, Sasuke tossed the gag over his shoulder. It fluttered uselessly to the ground.
"Hello, Naruto," he said, dripping with sarcasm, "We had the situation well in hand, as you can see."
Naruto got up from the ground and shook the glass off of his jacket. "Yeah, but I always wanted to do that. How many times am I gonna get that chance, you know?"
"You said it, man!" shouted Usopp, stepping in from the open window. "That was AWESOME!"
Chopper and Luffy screamed in agreement.
"See? Someone appreciates me around here!" laughed Naruto.
Sasuke chuckled. Walking over, he wrapped his arms around Naruto in a hug.
"Good to see you're alive, dork" he said, as Naruto returned the gesture.
"Right back at you."
Eventually, a sodden Sanji and Zoro joined them on the ship, and they could begin the process of properly capturing this ship. With the help of Naruto's clones, the relatively few Marines were driven off the automated ship and into the ocean, forcing the other cruiser to abandon its limping pursuit to retrieve the castaways. The Straw-Hats kept the captain tied up below-deck, however, in case they needed a hostage.
Reunited, the crew began getting themselves in order, retrieving gear and replenishing ammunition as necessary. Nami quickly had them on course to follow the lead battleship at full speed. The cruiser was both fairly automated and more nimble, and they soon began to catch up.
"We're getting close alright," said Sasuke, twenty minutes later. "Maybe close enough for Luffy to get over there."
"Everyone ready?" asked Nami. "I'll help keep the ship on course, but once we get up there you'll need to grab Robin and get out quick."
Everybody nodded, voicing their assent. Luffy stepped up to the prow without any more prompting.
"I'm going in right now," he said, pulling one arm back in preparation to reach out to the Navy battleship.
"Hey, wait! We're not-" shouted Naruto.
Luffy's arm shot out, only to be stopped when a wall of grasping, feminine hands rose up from the deck. Startled, he pulled back his stretch, falling to the floor in the effort of avoiding a harmful collision with the wall of arms.
Each hand linked with another, each wrist sprouting a duplicate. A fence of arms several feet tall was created before their eyes, each sprout marked with a musical tone.
"What the hell?" said Usopp, eyes wide at the unexpected spectacle.
"Oh, thank goodness. She's okay." Nami sighed with relief.
"Robin!" called Chopper. "It's Robin! She's alright!"
"Yeah. Yeah, she is," agreed Sasuke. Unlike the others, he was frowning, staring off into the darkness with his enhanced vision. "She's on the deck. She's alone, and she's not handcuffed. I see binoculars."
Suddenly there was laughter from behind them. Turning around, they saw a single mouth on the forward mast, quirked in an unfamiliar sneer. Bit by bit, more mouths began to sprout from every available surface.
"That's cute," they said as one, "It's really quite adorable that you would pull back out of concern for my safety, Mr. Captain. But, as you can see, I'm quite safe already." More quiet laughter, each mouth now slightly out of sync.
"I'm sorry, since I've become well aware of how dense you all are, I think I should make things more clear."
"This is the part where I betray you."
-The Part Where I Betray You-
The ship around them was a nightmarish hellscape. Mouths and arms sprouted from every surface, smiling, laughing, or waving. The limbs moved and twisted in every direction like some strange sea-creature. There were hundreds of arms across the deck, but worse by far to the Straw-Hats were the words that each mouth said, each one sliding in and out of synchronization with the others.
"You knew how this had to go, didn't you? I joined you as an enemy. I never participated in your laughter. I always stayed apart. I gathered information, all the while smirking behind your backs. I was never really a member of your crew."
With a pathetic noise, Chopper cried out in confusion, unable to voice his dismay.
"You were all fools to trust me. Not since I was a child did I find a group of people so utterly gullible. To think I'd even be kept well-fed and comfortable as I worked. It was like a vacation. I almost had you all bundled up and given straight to the Marines, too. Your actions in Alabasta earned you quite the bounty, and the Marines were willing to pay more for even fragmented information on the ninja clans and their powers."
Sasuke cursed, thumping the railing at the prow. Beside him, a sprouting hand touched his own, then reached out to his face. He struck out, knocking it away, and it disappeared in a puff of flowers. There was more laughter.
"Oh, Curious One? Did it really not occur to you? The truth? Even when an Admiral said it straight to your faces? Mr. Uzumaki, did you still not realize it when I wasn't even kept imprisoned with the rest of you?"
Swallowing a lump, Sasuke looked over to Naruto. His friend was staring off into the distance with a concerned expression.
"Goodbye, everyone. You at least made it easy for me to betray you. Don't embarrass yourselves by coming after me."
One by one, each phantom limb disappeared, exploding into a shower of petals that grew and grew into a cloud that drifted away on the night wind.
Robin turned around and walked away from the stern of the ship. As she stepped below-deck on her trip back to CP9's quarters, she felt a presence behind her. Rob Lucci watched her from just a few feet away. She was an instant from a violent death.
It didn't matter.
"Well?" she asked, "Was that sufficient? Do you need me to tell you what was said?"
"No," he said, "I heard it all, Nico Robin. I'm glad that you can at least see the wisdom in working with us. Though, I must say, I am also somewhat disappointed in you."
"Oh?" she asked, not really caring one way or another.
"To think that after all these years you'd finally be tripped up by getting attached to people weaker than yourself." With that, Lucci turned and walked the other way, adding only, "Disgraceful."
She didn't know what to think about that.
-Fifteen Minutes Later-
Nami soon had the ship turned around. Their cruiser would get them back to the Merry before too long. Of course, there were some objections from the crew.
"No! They were making her say that!" yelled Chopper, tears in his eyes. "She wouldn't have done that! She just wouldn't!"
"Sorry, little guy," said Sasuke, "There wasn't anyone else around her. She was free. If she had wanted to, then she could have just let Luffy here grab her. She would have been back with us in seconds."
Luffy was silent. He had sat down on the deck and was facing off into the distance back toward the departing Marine Battleship.
"All those things she said were right," said Zoro, leaning against a nearby wall, "She betrayed us."
"Shit," added Sanji, grinding out a cigarette, "Not the first time I've been betrayed by a lady, but I really didn't see this one coming."
"No offense, Sanji, but if you didn't see this coming then you're kind of dumb," suggested Usopp. "Nami and I have had our eye on her from the beginning. Isn't that right, Nami?"
"I… guess so, yeah…" muttered Nami, her voice uncertain, "I mean, I told myself to expect this, but still, somehow… It just seems weird. I mean, what does she really gain from this?"
"The bounty?" said Zoro, "Whatever deals the Navy offered her? She's a wanted criminal, after all."
"Yeah, I know," she said, "That's just it. Are they really gonna pay her, of all people? Didn't that Admiral say she was wanted dead? That they didn't trust her? So, what, they just sort of played along with her scheme?" Nami shook her head. "I just don't understand why."
Sasuke sighed, slumping down against the railing until he reached the polished floor of the deck. "Sometimes people have their own reasons for cutting ties. She's in a tough spot, too."
Sasuke suddenly became aware that Naruto was staring at him. He looked back, then broke eye-contact. What with being captured, he still hadn't had time for that talk about leaving the village.
"Who can really say what her reasons were," said Usopp, "But the fact is that she tried to hang us out to dry. We're certainly not gonna go after that Marine battleship with who knows what on it."
"Ears," said Luffy, his voice uncharacteristically somber. This was the first time he had spoken since the message had ended, and despite their heated feelings everyone stopped to listen.
"Ears and eyes," he continued.
"Yeah, well, we're watching and we're listening," said Usopp, "What do you want?"
"She didn't make any," he stated with finality.
Several of the crew looked around in surprise, as if trying to remember the positions of everything they had seen.
"What about it?" asked Zoro.
"You think her not wanting to hear or see us is related to this?" said Nami. "I don't know. There are a lot of reasons she might not have listened in."
"She had binoculars," added Usopp, bringing his hands up to his eyes and pretending to focus them.
Luffy said nothing.
Around the circle, a few of them shook their heads. It was Naruto who broke the silence.
"Sasuke, do you remember the day we became Team Seven?"
"Yeah. Of course I do. Where are you going with this?"
"Well…" Naruto rubbed the back of his neck uncertainly. "I keep thinking it's kind of important here, you know? What, you don't think so?"
Sasuke looked back, confusion in his eyes. The others looked even more puzzled.
"What do you mean?" asked Chopper, looking at Naruto.
"Well... so… it's like this. Sasuke and I are actually part of a three-person team. Our other friend's name is Sakura. She's apparently coming after us, so you might get to see her sometime, but I guess we only got her message a few days ago... Anyway, she's the same age as us, you know, and when we started getting trained to go out on missions we got given over as a group to a real hard-ass named Kakashi. He had his own final test that we had to pass before he'd take anyone on as part of his team."
Naruto paused, glancing over at Sasuke.
"Is this about what he told us?" Sasuke asked, "People who leave their teammates behind being worse than trash?"
Luffy stared back, unblinking. Several of the others looked uncomfortable, but Naruto shook his head. "No... Well, kinda." He looked back to the others. "See, the thing is, he wanted to make sure everyone would stick up for each other and not give up on their teammates. So he gave us a test where he kicked our asses and told us to impress him, but the real test was something else. When it was all over, he failed Sakura in front of us and said she would hold us back or get us killed because she couldn't hack it. If we argued, he'd fail us both along with her."
Naruto chuckled bitterly. "I mean, Sasuke and I didn't even need to think about it. I guess that was just us, you know? We were always fighting with people who thought they knew better. So we told him to screw off."
Naruto paused, gathering his words, but this time no one said anything. After a moment, he continued.
"So he said we all failed, just like he said we would. But Sakura stood up and said that if it really was true that she'd just hold us back or get us killed, then she'd make sure we couldn't come back for her if it were a real mission. Then she forfeited."
Suddenly, Sasuke looked ill. Naruto continued.
"I didn't really get it at the time, you know, but now that I think about it I think she kinda meant she'd kill herself. I mean, that is what ninja do sometimes if a serious mission goes bad. Like, we were just kids, so maybe she didn't really mean it in her head or whatever, but that's what she was thinking?"
Sanji turned away slightly and took another drag on his ubiquitous cigarette. Nami brought a hand to her mouth. Chopper looked very worried indeed. Luffy continued to stare, focusing completely on Naruto.
Surprising everyone, it was Zoro that spoke next. "You think she's planning on killing herself?"
"I think… I mean, I was on that ship with Robin, you know? I wasn't near her, but I met some of the people the Marines brought to escort her to wherever they're going. I can't be sure, but this guy seemed bad. Real bad. He nearly killed me in a couple of seconds, and apparently he had friends. I wouldn't be surprised if she tried to get us away from them so we wouldn't get killed."
"Shit," murmured Sanji.
"Nami," said Luffy, standing up and walking to the prow, "Get us back on course."
"That's enough for you?" asked Sasuke, sitting back up and facing Luffy, "That conjecture? It's just a story! You don't want to know more?"
Luffy continued walking. "No."
Nami looked off-balance for a moment, then nodded and stormed off toward the helm.
Sasuke spoke again, calling to Nami as she left. "Is this normal for him? He doesn't even want to know?"
Nami froze mid-step, then clenched her fists. She was looking away from him, silhouetted against the moonlight. "Yeah. That's Luffy. He's-" voice breaking, she swallowed a lump in her throat. "That's just him." She paused again, and when she spoke her voice was filled with anger. "But it's not enough for me. Sanji!"
"Yes, Nami?"
"Go get the captain of this ship. I think we have some questions for him."
Captain Weber was quite willing to tell them what they were looking for.
Nico Robin was the scion of a clan of researchers on an island known as Ohara. Unknown to the world at large, those scholars possessed knowledge forbidden by the World Government. Having lived without parents since she was two years old, Robin taught herself all that she could to follow in the footsteps of her mother, an internationally wanted criminal known to possess the knowledge required to decipher forbidden artifacts.
When she was eight years old, the island she lived on was visited by Cipher Pol 9, a secret police organization that Rob Lucci would later became a part of. Having found the rogue scholars and proved their crimes, CP9 ordered that the island be cleansed by a concentrated Naval bombardment designed to sterilize it of any and all life. The attack was known as a Buster Call. Due to traitorous actions undertaken by a rogue Vice-Admiral, the young Robin survived, but she was the only one to leave that island alive.
From the age of eight, she was given a bounty of B79,000,000, due solely to the danger that she posed to world stability, and she spent the next twenty years hiding, cheating, betraying, and being betrayed by the various people and organizations that took her in.
"Hold on," growled Nami, clenching her teeth. "Eight years old?! She had a bounty since she was eight years old and you expect me to believe this story of her being some sort of treacherous devil-child?"
"Oh, no, don't misunderstand me," said Captain Weber, trying and failing to adjust his shattered glasses while tied up, "The official story is a load of codswallop."
"Excuse me?" asked Nami.
"With a bounty that high and such an… absolute term of justice, it's miraculous she survived at all. There was never any other option for her besides death. Trust me, as a former criminal I can certainly see that much."
"If you're former criminals too," started Sasuke, "then how did you get recruited while she gets the short end of the stick?"
"We kept our identities completely unknown for years until Vice Admiral Garp caught us. He's far more forgiving than most, and he decided to give us another chance. We'll never forget what he did for us."
Off by the bow, Luffy twitched, but no one else noticed it.
"So you just stand there and follow these orders?" asked Sanji, "Just because people know about who she is, you're gonna participate in pushing Robin into this?"
"I don't see what else I'm supposed to do," he said, "Nothing I've said changes the fact that she's dangerous to the world. By the way, would you happen to have a cup of coffee, or some tea…?"
Nami slapped him, his ruined glasses skittering across the floor. "Dangerous?! Because she knows something she shouldn't? That sounds like your problem, not hers."
Sebastian cradled his cheek against his shoulder for a moment. "How painful. Listen. No one knows for sure what's on those Poneglyphs- Or rather, only those highest in the chain of command could. But some information has slipped. One thousand years ago began a period of one century that was lost to history entirely. Some of the Poneglyphs detail information on that time period that could presumably destabilize the current world order completely. Some have information on weapons that would engulf the entire world in war."
"You're saying," said Sasuke, "that her knowing your government's dirty laundry means she needs to be assassinated? Huh. I guess I should feel naive for thinking things might be different out here."
"'Your government'? What an odd phrase. It's your government as well."
"What? Our government?" asked Sasuke.
"Yes. Of course. It is the World Government. It's the government that holds the entire world and its order together. Even for islands in rebellion, or those that have fallen out of contact for a time. Even your island is just a part of something much greater, and it will eventually be reclaimed for the greater good of the world."
Sasuke burst out into laughter. Surprising even himself, he didn't stop laughing. As the others stared at him, he walked off, still cackling, until he was out of sight.
"Sasuke…" said Chopper, sounding very worried. "Should we go after him?"
"No," said Naruto. "No, he'll be fine."
Nami interrupted, still focusing on Sebastian. "Don't think I've forgotten you. There's still something you have to answer. If Robin turned us in to save herself, would they take the deal? Would they let her live if it let them capture us?"
Sebastian looked stunned. "I don't know what you heard out here, but that's the most preposterous thing I've ever heard of. There's no way a woman like Nico Robin would believe something like that after all those years of evading the Navy. Maybe a pirate might think in terms of 'bargains' and 'looking the other way,' but the Navy wouldn't compromise on such an issue in her situation."
"So, she's…"
"She'll be headed for Enies Lobby."
When understanding didn't dawn on any of their faces, Sebastian sighed and continued.
"Enies Lobby is the penultimate destination for criminals on the Grand Line. It is an unbreachable fortress filled with thousands of marine soldiers, and criminals will be brought before the judges there for their trials. When they are found guilty-"
"You mean 'if they are found guilty,' right?" interrupted Sanji.
Sebastian's eyes were evasive for a moment. "Yes, of course. If and when they are found guilty, they will pass through the Grand Courthouse to the Tower of Justice, which is owned by the Cipher Pol organization, and then sent across the Bridge of Hesitation. From there, the great sea gates will open and let the prisoner through to the unconquered vortex that connects Enies Lobby to the bastion of Marine power, Marineford. But she will be going directly to that vortex's third destination: the inescapable prison, Impel Down. Located under the sea, being sent there is a death sentence."
As the crew absorbed this terrible statement, he added one more on top of it. "After you turned this ship around, they have an insurmountable lead. They'll arrive at Enies Lobby before you possibly could. Guarded by Cipher Pol 9 and nearly ten-thousand Marines, I'm afraid that she's already as good as dead."
Captain Weber was summarily stuffed back below-deck, since no one wished to talk to him any more.
In the aftermath of his declaration, there was a great deal of confusion among the crew. Could they rescue Robin? Could they convince her to return? How could they break into a Marine Fortress?
"Guys!" called Nami, waiting until she had the attention of everyone still present, "Don't you see it? She did this for us. Robin sacrificed herself to save us!"
When it was time to decide, the Straw-Hats' show of hands was just that- only for show. They would be taking Enies Lobby by storm. There was no point to holding back. The Marines knew all of their faces now, so they would all be getting bounties either way.
The crew spent the last few hours before reaching the island preparing.
Nami's staff was recharged as she got the ship back on-course. Chopper gave everyone a check-up after the recent ordeals. Sanji prepared the first decent meal they had had in days. Usopp began tinkering on a new slingshot using the mechanical parts in the store-rooms. Sasuke took a well-earned nap. Naruto helped out here and there with his clones, ensuring they had enough hands to pilot the ship. Zoro, sensing they were heading into a storm, meditated on the trials ahead.
Luffy sat at the ship's prow and stared forward while unwrapping his bandaged limbs, his gaze never wavering. When one of Naruto's clones passed by, he could swear that he saw the young captain steaming, the air above his skin shimmering slightly as if from an intense heat. Naruto shook his head, and then it was gone.
They arrived at Enies Lobby three hours later.
END OF PART 2