A year had finally passed as Astrid had begun to be more comfortable with her role of the mission. However, nobody was satisfied. Everyone had begun to believe that failure is near at hand. On a warm summer afternoon, Astrid was out in the main yard with a journal in hand. She approached Paulie, Kaku, and Lucci who had just started eating their lunch.

"Afternoon Astrid, good to see you wearing some decent clothes for once," Paulie said waving his sandwich in the air.

"Thanks Paulie, it's laundry day," Astrid snapped back.

"What's going on Astrid?"

"I'd like to know more about the incident that happened yesterday,"

"Co, coo, you don't mean that pirate?" replied Hattori.

The day before a pirate with devil fruit powers had destroyed a part of the courtyard demanding a ship. He easily took down some of the men, but with great agility Kaku, Lucci, and Paulie were able to take him down without breaking a sweat.

"Devil Fruit users are ones who fascinate me, and besides I need to document the incident for the log book," said Astrid as she sat down on a crate next to Lucci. "In my travels, I have come into contact with five Devil Fruit users. Each of them with a power just as unique as the next."

"What kind of powers are you talking about?" asked Paulie.

With a quick glare from Lucci Astrid replied, "Oh enough about that, I'll tell you another day. What's more important is that I need to know about this pirate."

"Alright he, had some sort of animal Devil Fruit that allowed him to turn into some reptile," Paulie replied, "Let me ask you guys this, would you ever eat one of those? Just think of the power you can have with that."

"Co, coo I'd be careful." Hattori replied.

"Yeah, I don't think I'd ever want to eat one. They say that you never know what type of power you may get." Kaku stated taking a bite of his apple.

"He's right. I've also heard that a user cannot swim either. You may have been the best swimmer around before you ate it but afterwards…They say that the sea gods hate the devil and anyone wielding his power gets dragged down to the bottom of the sea, I don't think I could eat one either," Astrid said looking up at the sky.

"Astrid!" Iceberg yelled from across the courtyard. He ran over to the group waving his hand hysterically.

"What's he up to now?" Kaku asked.

"Astrid, I'm glad I found you. I wanted to thank you for all of your hard work. All of the books are well kept. I couldn't have asked anyone to do a better job." He said with a smile on his face.

"Well sir, you could have let Kalifa do it for you," Kaku stated.

"No, she insisted that she had too much to deal with that she needed someone else to do it for her. I'd like to show my gratitude by welcoming you to my home for dinner."

Astrid's heart dropped, for without even realizing it, she was closer to completing the mission than ever. Here was he chance to get inside Iceberg's head in a matter no one else could and find the blueprints.

She looked over at Kaku and Lucci. Lucci's face had a smug smile to it while Kaku was trying to hold back his. Paulie, however, had the look of utter disbelief at what he was hearing. With a deep breath Astrid accepted his offer. That evening, Kaku and Lucci had prepared for what Astrid was about to do. This was essential to their mission, so they were able to do the best that they could to help Astrid succeed.

"There, done!" Kaku said in excitement.

As he stepped back to allow Lucci to see. He showed off Astrid in a tight black dress with her long blonde hair pulled back into a classy up do. The make-up was Lucci's idea which had glamorously shown Astrid's best features of her face.

"This is going to be very important Astrid. If you fail us, you fail the mission," Lucci proclaimed.

"Just relax, and be yourself. I can see that there is something you can go off of. It shouldn't be that bad," Kaku said trying to reassure the very nervous Astrid.

"You guys do realize that I have never, in all of my field work, have done something like this. It's always crash down the door and knock the guy out," she cried.

"Well, we know one thing that's for sure. Don't do that, and the rest should just roll from there," Kaku said with a chuckle.

Astrid had made her way to Iceberg's home. She knocked on the door as she tried to calm herself. She kept repeating to herself that none of this was real and it was all for the mission. She tried to tell herself to not get worked up into the moment. With a deep breath she tried knocking again. A minute had passed and there was still no sign of anyone. She reached for the handle and the door was unlocked. As she stepped into the house she could smell a delicious meal being prepared.

"Iceberg? Iceberg are you here?" Astrid called out.

There was nothing but silence. Cautiously she made her way through the house in search of him. There still was no sign of him. She quietly made her way up the stairs to continue her search. Steam was making its way down the hallway where Astrid stood. Before her was Iceberg, however not in the way that she had imagined to find him.

"Astrid!" He yelled flailing the towel around trying to make sure he was properly covered. "I didn't expect you to be her so soon!"

"Sir, I'm actually late," she replied trying look away as she could feel her cheeks getting redder and redder the longer they stood there. "I'm just going to wait for you downstairs," she said as she quickly ran down the stair as fast as she could.

Once Iceberg was dressed he met up with Astrid in the dining room. The two were still completely embarrassed by the situation and were finding it hard to make eye contact with one another. A half an hour into dinner they were able to talk to each other normally. Two hours had passed and the two were laughing and talking to each other in a slightly drunken matter from wine, finishing their meals. Another hour had gone before Astrid was prepared to leave.

"Well, we certainly had a good time," Iceberg said leaning in the doorway of the front door.

"Yes, it really was, even after what happened," she replied.

"That's ok, it will make for a funny story for the others," he said with a large smile.

"Yes sir, I'm sure they would all get a kick out of this one."

"Who knows maybe next time we'll have something even better to tell them... there will be a next time right Astrid?"

Shocked Astrid replied, "Well if you really would like…" she paused to quickly reflect on what she was about to do. The more often she has moments like these the closer she will get. "Yes, of course!"

A year had passed as Astrid's relationship with Iceberg continued to grow. However, she continued to not let her heart come before her mind. She kept her mind on the one thing that was important to her. Every time she would go to Iceberg's house she would search for the blueprints. Every time she looked, she came up empty. That was until one day she arrived at his house unexpectedly. She climbed the stairs and could hear him talking to himself from in his office. She quietly listened in as she heard him say the name Cutty Flam. She barged in to find Iceberg sitting at his desk with blueprints in front of him.

"Astrid!" He yelled, "What are you doing here," he continued angrily as he rolled the blue prints up and shoved them in his desk.

"Sorry, I was just coming by to say hi before I went to work. Were those blueprints, because I don't remember filing that?"

"It's nothing now go!"

She immediately left and ran down the stairs. She ran straight to Dock 1 with a petrifying feeling in her chest. Her heart was beating as fast as it could. Seeing those blueprints scared her. She didn't see much, but from she could see she knew that these were the ones CP9 has been looking for, for years. She made it to Dock 1 and without any hesitation and jumped the wall.

"WOAH, Astrid what's the big idea jumping the wall like that. You don't normally do that," A worker yelled.

She quickly ran passed the workers. Remember what she could see from the blueprints. Although Iceberg had quickly rolled it up, from what she could tell was that whatever was on it was big, terrifyingly big.

"Kaku!" She yelled as soon as she caught sight of him.

Running past all of the confused workers, she grabbed his arm and continued to run. With a stumbling Kaku she managed to pull him away from all other employees.

Out of breath, "He has them…..in…..his house…..the blue prints…I saw them…"

"Wait What!" Kaku said trying to lower his voice while frantically making sure that no one was around to hear them.

"He had them on his desk….I saw them briefly….but it was enough. He did say something about Cutty Flam. This Cutty Flam must have some relation as to why Iceberg has these blue prints."

"Nothing rings a bell to me but this is good information," Kaku replied putting his hand on her shoulder.

Later that evening CP9 had met up to discuss Astrid's findings. Within the meeting it was decided that in case there was failure in obtaining the blue prints, only one person should go after them. Considering Astrid had found them, it was decided that she would be the one to retrieve them. The entire mission was not set upon her shoulders.

Astrid has set out later that night to Iceberg's home. She made sure to dress all in black and covered half of her face. Hiding within the shadows, she jumped the fence and made her way to the study window. Quickly and quietly she ran up the wall and to the window. The window was locked. With a small tool she was able to shove it into a crack of the window sill and force the lock to open. Before she stepped into the window, she remembered words Lucci had told her before she left. "Kill him at all costs, make it seem like it was an accident. Afterwards we will play it off like it was and one by one leave Water 7". She made her way into the study and began to search through the entire bookshelf.

"There is no way it could be in here, I've already searched through this room from bottom to top already," she paused, "It never stays in one room."

Quietly she opened the door and walked down the hallway. Tiptoeing, making sure a sound was not made. She made her way down the hall to Iceberg's room. Inside was him sleeping in his bed. As she approached she couldn't help to be hurt. Memories of their times spent together flooded her mind. She actually enjoyed those times and had let her heart get the best of her. Her mission was compromised, she could not kill this man and yet there she was standing just inches away from him with a knife in hand. She placed her hand on his chest. As her hand was resting there, she couldn't help but notice an abnormality within the wrinkles of his pajama shirt. Slowly, she slid her hand to the buttons and slowly began to unbutton the shirt. Inside was a pocket, and within the pocket was a blue sheet of paper. Just as she suspected the blue prints have been on him the entire time. She slowly removed the prints from the pocket and buttoned the shirt up again. She picked up the knife and hesitated. She went to slice his throat, but couldn't. She tried to go for his stomach, but stopped. She thought maybe if she closed her eyes and struck a blow it would help, but it felt like there was a force preventing her from harming him each time. The longer she stood there trying to kill him, the more emotional she became. She continued to reminisce on the laughs, the smiles, the embarrassments. She could not kill a man she had cared so deeply for. She dropped the knife and in that moment it made a loud sound on the ground, waking him up.

"Wha…..what's going on, who are you," he cried. He looked at her hands and saw the prints, he reached for his pocket and immediately glared at her. "Whoever you are, you don't understand what you are holding. You need to give those back!"

Panicking and overcome with emotion Astrid made a run for it. She ran for the door and continued down the hall. She made her way back into the study and went to jump out of the window. She thought that she had managed to get away in time, but it was too late. A loud bang was heard and all she could feel was intense pain from her shoulder. In that moment of pain she dropped the blue prints and fell out of the window. She hit the ground hard breaking a rib in the process. She took quick glances to see if the blue prints were nearby. When she saw that they were nowhere to be seen, she ran and jumped the fence. She ran straight to the bar and made her way through the back. Dizzy from the loss of blood and from running she collapsed at the feet of Kalifa and Blueno. With Kaku's help, Blueno had placed her on top of a table. They had managed to remove the bullet from her shoulder and stitch the wound. The gun Iceberg had used was no ordinary gun. It was a gun that enabled it to sustain larger and faster bullets. The bullet had managed to lodge itself deep within her shoulder muscles, she was lucky to be able to move her arm at all. The rib was placed back to its spot as Kalifa bandaged her up.

"What happened, did you get the blue prints?" Lucci asked.

"No…." she hesitated, she didn't want to tell them the entire story. She felt that if she told them that her emotions had gotten the best of her then they would report her for treason and eliminate her. "He found me before I could find them. I did find out that he keeps them on him."

"You failed us Astrid," He replied. "Since the beginning I have believe you to be worthless. I'm surprised that you have managed to stay alive this long after the type of missions you've been on."

The next morning while trying to keep the pain of her shoulder to herself, she calmly walked through the main yard. She couldn't help but to feel the workers stares as she walked by them. She found Kaku on some pieces of lumber with his head down.

"Kaku, what's going on?" Astrid asked.

"It's game over for you Astrid, he knows," he replied, "Everyone knows, he told us all that it was you last night. That you had tried to sneak into Iceberg home to kill him and steal his fortune."

"What!" She yelled, quickly realizing others were watching she began to whisper. "How"

"I don't know but he is pretty sure that it was you."

The gates opened as Iceberg and Kalifa began to walk in.

"Iceberg! What is the meaning of all of this! Someone was trying to kill you, are…."

"Save it Astrid, I know it was you," he said putting his hand up. "A man never forgets the smell of the perfume of the woman he loves."

"Perfume?" Astrid thought to herself, she had made sure she wasn't wearing anything, she showered, but a small amount must have been lingering.

"And the eyes, they still shone in the moonlight behind the black cloak."

Marines began to flood Galley-Law. A few marines had grabbed her arms and forced them behind her back. In that moment she realized that the other members weren't watching. Kalifa kept her nose to her papers. Kaku was still sitting on lumber sharpening a tool. Lucci was hammering away at a ship. None of her friends were going to help her in any form. This was it, this was where she knew that she was on her own. In that moment, she realized that the attempts of killing a well-known figure, let alone a mayor, would surely result in a death sentence.

"Yes it was me….and I almost did it. There was one thing stopping me from killing you…..me….I couldn't do it, not after all we had done."

"Why," he asked as a Marine had grabbed shackles.

With her head down, "For what I thought would be a better world, but it turns out that the ones who felt that way turned against me. In my time of need I was worthless to them, but I will prove them wrong. I will show them that I can be better in my own world.

"Good luck trying to do that behind bars," a marine replied as he went to put the shackles on her.

"You're right," she replied elbowing him in the face.

Astrid proceeded to punch the other marines that were trying to restrain her. Quickly she punched or kicked a marine, forcing them down to the ground. She pierced them through the chest using the finger pistol technique. As blood started to get onto her clothes, she quickly removed her jacket and whipped it at marines who were running after her. She proceeded to dodge attacks and respond with strikes of her own. Eventually she made her way to Iceberg.

"I'm sorry I lied, but the feelings were real."

"Sorry doesn't make…" before he could finish Astrid had forced her fist into his stomach.

The force managed to cause him to collapse on the ground. The reaction enabled her to gain enough time to make a run for it. Marines began to chase after her. She ran around corners, down streets, and even up walls to the roof tops. Nightfall hit and she was able to lose sight of them. Completely exhausted she found a spot out of sight which would enable her to rest for a bit. She rested for a few minutes before she heard footsteps. In a blink of an eye she saw a fist. Dodging the attack she responded with her own charge, slamming her opponent into the wall. As she was about to punch their face she realized who it was.

"It's ok, it's just me," Kaku said raising his hands to protect his face.

Relieved, she collapsed in his arms.

"What really happened?" He asked.

Astrid began to tell him the truth. She explained to him how she and Iceberg had become close and how her emotions prevented her from continuing on with the mission.

"Kaku, I was about to kill an innocent man, my friend. I don't think I can do this anymore. I can't sleep at night knowing what the government is doing. I just can't take any of this anymore."

"Leave, the marines are after you and if matters were to get worse, then they'll know that CP9 is exposed. Spandam already knows what's going on and he has ordered a bounty on you head to be placed to protect the rest of us."

"So he isn't mad?" She asked as tear began to roll down her face.

"He isn't just mad, he is completely furious at you. He really wants you dead this time. Lucci isn't too thrilled either. Kalifa doesn't seem to care what happens to you, and Blueno just wants you gone so the situation can die down."

"What about you?"

"I want you to be safe. Leave this place, get out of here, but just make sure you stay safe. Take this," he said handing her a sword in its sheath.

"I can't take this Kaku, it's her prized sword."

"Just take it and protect yourself with it alright. Go!"

Kaku forced the sword into her hands as he made a run for it. Voices could be heard. Around the opposite side of the alley Marines has started to arrive and run for Astrid. She quickly made a run for it. She thought that the only way to get out of the mess that she had brought herself into would be to leave Water 7. She ran up a wall and onto the rooftops with the Marines not far behind. She swiftly made her way to the Water 7 docks. As she landed on the ground, she quickly found her footing and found the closest and smallest boat that she could man on the sea. She quickly threw whatever barrels she could find nearby that contained supplies and set sail. She was a little ways away as Marines began to arrive at the dock. Not long after a large Navy vessel appeared from the side of the shore. Canons began to fly from the belly of the ship towards the tiny ship Astrid was on. On land, Astrid was capable of fighting off anyone, but on sea she was defenseless. Canons hit the little ship piece by piece. Eventually a canon had finally demolished the ship. At this point she was too far from shore to be able to catch the tide back. She fell into the icy cold water and began to sink down below. There wasn't much that she could do. She had stayed under the water for as long as she could hoping that the vessel would leave.

When she no longer was able to hold her breath, she surfaced the water and grabbed the nearest piece of scrap that would support her body. She was cold, tired, and in pain from her wounds. She was too far away from the shore and could not go back even if she wanted to. All she could do was drift away on this little piece of what ship she had left.