A few weeks had gone by since the last time Astrid had mention anything about her scar. April 22nd came around, the day before Kalifa's birthday. Astrid was sitting with Jabra in the library coming up with some sort of way to give her a surprise. They concluded that whatever would happen, would be the best birthday she would have had since she arrived here.

"We could put out all of her favorite foods out on a table," Jabra said waving his arms to imitate a spread of food.

"Do you know what her favorite songs are? Maybe Kaku and I could learn how play them."

"I didn't know you two knew how to play anything," he said leaning back in the chair.

"We didn't but after last month, let's just say we became quick learners."

"You had to do it for your top secret paired mission?"

"Weird huh?"

The two continued to come up with a plan to throw the party. Right as they were wrapping up the last of their incredible plan, Kalifa walked in. Out of a quick instinct Jabra transformed into a wolf. He charged after Kalifa bringing her out of the room. Astrid had no idea why he had done it and felt that it was some sort of instinctive idiotic move. She grabbed the few pieces of papers from the table and calmly walked out of the room. In the hallway was Jabra back to normal on top of Kalifa. She continued to scream out "Sexual Harassment" as Astrid walked by.

Later that evening Kalifa approached Astrid. She had recently come back from town and was expressing her fondness of the new haircut and glasses. The two of them were in the dining hall watching the rain hit the window. Astrid could see that something was troubling Kalifa, but she could not make out what it could be.

"Kalifa, you should be excited, tomorrow is birthday after all," Astrid said as she brought a cup of tea to her face.

"I know, but my feelings about the World Government have been changing for the worse lately,"

"This again? What is it this time?"

"Spandam left his door open again. I was coming from the library and I heard, something that I probably should have never heard."

She sat there staring at her cup. What she had heard was really troubling her and Astrid began to be more concerned with the matter.

"Have you ever heard about pluton or anything that might be a giant weapon?" she asked Astrid.

Kalifa went on to explain what she had heard. According to Spandam and a World Government official, there were several ancient weapons that are capable of mass destruction. The kind of destruction that was more terrible than what a buster call could be. However, the whereabouts of these weapons remain unknown due to the only evidence they have being written in an ancient language. A language that only men and women of Ohara were capable of translating. This meant that there was no hope in identifying the weapons. The intentions of the World Government and the weapons were to maintain peace and harmony by all means necessary. However, Ohara fell victim to the buster call by the government's orders.

"What if they mean to kill people, innocent people Astrid? What if these weapons are the real demise of our society?"

"Wait, you said that people from Ohara are the only people who are able to translate it right?" Astrid asked while placing her cup on the table.

"At least that's what I overheard."

"That explains why…" Astrid trailed off finding the connection between Nico Robin and the government.

"Why what?"

"Nothing important. On a happier note, we are going into town tomorrow night for a celebration right?"

The next morning, Astrid had met up with Blueno and Kumadori. She clarified the plans for them to prepare all of Kalifa's favorite foods. Once they headed into town, she met up with Fukuro. It was Fukuro's job to decorate the dining room. Jabra met up with Astrid to inform her that Lucci was set with keeping Spandam away from the party or every knowing that the party was taking place as well as taking Kalifa out away from the base. With that in mind, she confronted Kaku soon afterward to prepare a few musical jingles that were Kalifa's favorite. While working in Kaku's room, she couldn't help but to mention something about what Kalifa had overheard.

"Nico Robin is from Ohara right?" she asked him.

"If I remember correctly, I believe she is. Why?"

She informed Kaku what Kalifa had told her. As she continued to distribute the information, the look on his face started to grow in fear. The fear turned into concern when she mentioned that a group of Ohara villagers were capable of reading the ancient language.

"You don't think she can read it can you?" Kaku asked.

"It's the only explanation as to why we would be observing her to begin with. If she is partnered with Crocodile, then there is a possibility that they are wanting to find one of these weapons."

"That explains everything. So, what happens?"

"I'm not sure, but I have a sneaky suspicion that whatever we have to do from here on out will be related to this woman"

A loud chime could be heard. It was time for Astrid to take over Lucci's duties and take Kalifa out for a birthday celebration while the others continue with the set up. She told Kaku that they would be back a specific time. She ran into her room and changed into a beautiful orange dress and prepared herself to have a night on the town with a close friend.

On the way out she ran into Kaku and Jabra. Although the encounter wasn't the usual. She had turned the corner to leave the base. The door had swung open to hit her in the face knocking her down. On the other side was a flustered Kaku with Jabra beside him. Jabra began to laugh as a red faced Kaku knelt down to make sure she was ok. Unfortunately the unusual outfit she was wearing threw Kaku off his guard.

"Wow! Would you look at that outfit!" Jabra called out with a wolf howl.

"Ya…it's…a…a…a lovely dress," Kaku said helping Astrid up from the ground.

"HA, HA, HA, HA, the boy can't handle a woman's luscious body!" Jabra said throwing his back to the wall in laugher.

"Jabra, that is sexual harassment," said Kalifa standing right beside him wearing a slick black dress.

"WOOO," he called out.

A slap across the face was enough to keep Jabra quiet. Astrid had thanked Kaku for helping her up. He continued to stammer saying it was nothing and began to spew out nothing but nonsense. Astrid giggled. Never before had she seen this type of behaviour come from Kaku. The sudden change might be an indication of something the two men were discussing on the way to the base. Kalifa and Astrid walked into town down to the local bar. The two of them were enjoying their time together drinking up the night. Nothing was about to ruin their fun. Music was playing and the girls were dancing. Eventually they became intoxicated, unable to properly focus leaving them semi-defenceless. A group of rowdy gentlemen had entered the bar. They too were enjoying the night. The men began to take notice on the two CP9 girls enjoying their night out. They approached them wanting to join in on their fun. The two girls did not accept their invitation and left them to return to the bar. The gentlemen proceeded to confront the women urging them to join the fun. Continuously the women refused and began to grow irritated by their constant invitations. Little did the two know, they were notorious men involved in slave trade of women.

Eventually the time came when Astrid needed to bring Kalifa back to the base to join the others in the celebration of her birthday. The walked out of the building not realizing that the men had followed them. As they were laughing care free, the men had snuck up behind both of them and grabbed them. They had pulled the two into a back alley.

"These girls will go for a very pretty price," a large gentlemen said pulling out shackles from a bag.

"Indeed they will, so beautiful," replied a skinny toothy man.

"Men, I believe that these women need to be shown what their new life will consist of, don't you think?" said a large muscular man cracking his neck.

He approached the two as they were trapped up against a wall. His grimy hands had grabbed a hold of Kalifa as she stammered helpless. In a quick instant, Astrid had swung her leg below the belt. The man cringe in pain letting her go. Quickly, Astrid had grabbed Kalifa away from him and ran past the other men. They continued to run in the opposite direction of their base.

"Astrid, where are we going, home is the other way!" she cried out

"We need to direct them away from home. That way when we lose them we can go straight home."

They pulled away from the main road as they heard the men get closer. As they continued to run down a residential road, Astrid pulled off to the side with Kalifa right behind her. They hid in between two homes waiting for the men to run by.

"Are you ok, are you hurt?" Astrid asked trying to examine Kalifa.

"I'm fine, just a little shaken," she replied pushing Astrid away. "I don't get it, why didn't I fight back."

"It's ok, your judgement is clouded right now from the alcohol."

"THEY'RE IN HERE!" yelled the skinny man as he rounded the corner where they were.

He swung a chain that had wrapped around Astrid preventing her from moving. The shaken Kalifa went to go help her but was also caught in a chain thrown by another man. The large muscular man approached them both once he had arrived.

"Do you think its funny pulling a stunt like that?" he asked grabbing a hold of Astrid's face.

He threw her down to the ground next to Kalifa who was now shackled by the one of the other men. She tried to kick and scream but made no change to her current condition. The large muscular man had picked Kalifa up by her hair as she screamed out in pain. He pinned her up against the wall as Astrid tried to get up to help.

"You are going to make me a wealthy man. You and your little friend here," he said getting really close to Kalifa.

The men around them began to chuckle.

"I FOUND THEM!" yelled out a voice.

A man in black had jumped down from what appeared to be the sky. He pulled the large muscular man away from Kalifa and threw him against the wall. A large wolf like creature came barreling into the alleyway knocking down a couple of the men. It was Kaku and Jabra out looking for the two girls. The two of them were able to take down all of the men with great ease. Kaku had untied Astrid from the chains while Jabra unshackled Kalifa.

"Some birthday," Jabra said throwing the shackles to the ground.

"Are you both ok?" Kaku asked.

The two girls nodded. Astrid had looked over at Kalifa whose face was blank.

"He said that I would make a pretty penny for him. Men like him are out there. I don't want this to ever happen again," she said giving the large muscular man a final kick to the gut. "I will stand for whatever the World Government believes in, in order to prevent men like him from doing this to anyone. Everyone deserves justice."

Once back home the others were unaware of the events. When they had walked into the dining hall, the others began cheering happy birthdays to Kalifa. She stared them down with a menacing glare affecting all of them but Lucci. With Kaku, Jabra, and Astrid behind her, the two walked further into the room not saying a word.

"What happened?" Lucci asked.

Kalifa kicked the table knocking it onto its side. She yelled out in frustration as Jabra, Kaku, and Astrid watched her. The others backed away with great concern. Jabra had informed them of the events that had taken place once Kalifa had left the room. This was a birthday that she would never forget.

Back in Astrid's room, Kaku and Astrid were talking.

"So these men just followed you?" Kaku asked sitting down on her bed.

"Yes, they did. I never would have thought that men like that would be around here. I'm just ashamed that we weren't able to defend ourselves."

"I wouldn't beat myself up too much about it if I were you. After all, you ladies had been drinking prior to all of this."

"I know, but I couldn't help but to think, if I were only stronger, then I could do something about it."

"You can train all you want to become stronger, but your strength relies on your courage, your wisdom, and your belief on what you think is right," he said as she sat down in the chair.

The back of her dress was ripped where the zipper was exposing little bits of her scar.

"Your dress…it's ruined," he said gesturing to her back.

She tried to see what he was talking about and had realized what he meant. She tried to unzip it just to see if she could get out of it easily. Unfortunately due to the rip, the zipper was stuck halfway.

"Here let me help you," Kaku said without any hesitation.

He pulled out a small pocketknife from his jacket as Astrid stood up from the chair. By using the knife he was able to cut the teeth of the zipper to pry it apart. The dress fell past her shoulders as she was able to catch it before it could fall any further. Kaku had placed a hand on her exposed shoulder without thinking. She quickly turned around causing his hand to glide around her back to the other side.

"Everything will be alright. I'll be here for you no matter what," he said removing his hand from her shoulder and placing his pocketknife back within his jacket.

Kaku had left the room in silence. Something strange had manifested within him. It was if the men had affected his way of thinking just as they had done with Kalifa. Whatever it was that had infiltrated his mind had turned the babbling buffoon from earlier that day to a concerned man who was willing to protect anything that was dear to him. Astrid had gone to bed feeling a warm comforting feeling. Through all of the nonsense that had happened that day, she was able to rely on his words of wisdom to make sense of it all.

He was different from the others, very mature for his age, but not prepared for the world he was about to enter. Astrid relied on him as a friend to help her through the rough times. He and Kalifa were there for every troublesome moment that she had experience. Every birthday, every tear she had shed, every moment, except those she was forbidden to share by the World Government. Even after the past that they had shared together, something in the back of her head told her that this wouldn't last. She couldn't make out what it was, but something didn't feel right about the decisions of Spandam and those he contacted. A lot went through her mind as she fell asleep.