Blueno's bar was empty and locked up tight. A damp rag and a half-washed glass sat on the bar, and the Straw Hats' table hadn't been cleared away. Izuku rummaged through the cabinets and shelves, hoping to find a clue to explain why they were locked up, but the bar had nothing unusual stocked. No scraps of secret letters buried in the ashes of the fireplace, no bounty posters stashed behind the bar, nothing to explain how or why they all woke up in metal boxes.

"Those boxes had to have been built into the place," Izuku mused. "And there's no way to open them, inside or out. A Qui- Devil Fruit must have done it. We know Robin's, so it had to be someone else's. Probably Blueno, since he owned the bar."

Zoro grunted next to him as he took a swig of Blueno's liquor. "Robin lured us here, and Blueno trapped us in those boxes, but it doesn't explain why they left us there."

"Or why they left the money." Nami had every suitcase open and stacks of Beri surrounding her. "If they were after our bounties, they would've taken the cash. That means they wanted us for some other reason."

"Or it wasn't us they were after," Izuku countered. "But it's not like we have anything else since the Merry sank."

Izuku thought of the monster truck and the DeLorean. They had stashed both vehicles with the Franky Family, and no one else would have known about them. He told Robin, but she had already brought them there, so it wouldn't make sense that they were after the vehicles, right?

Then Izuku remembered Iceburg's note. The shipwright hadn't specified why he had people watching him, or why he kept his connection with Franky a secret, but Franky and Iceburg were the only people they had interacted with since they arrived in Water Seven.

"We need to check on Iceburg and Franky," Izuku said. "I think they're involved in this somehow."

Sanji narrowed his eyes. "You think they abducted our sweet Robin-swan?"

Izuku took a deep breath. Sanji had refused to believe that Robin betrayed him, despite the evidence to the contrary and his own admission that Robin had disappeared while they were shopping. He wanted to think that Robin was blackmailed, like Sanji suggested, but Izuku didn't know her nearly well enough to trust her so blindly.

"More likely, they were targeted." Izuku glanced at Luffy, who stared resolutely towards the door with a puzzled frown on his face. "Mei and I should head to Franky's and check on the machines. Nami, why don't you visit Iceburg, and say you've decided what ship to get."

Nami nodded. "I'll take Sanji and Luffy."

"Take Chopper too, just in case." Izuku checked his pockets. Gauze and stitches were old friends of his, and enough to stabilize someone until Chopper arrived.

Usopp and Zoro ended up following Izuku down to the beach. They picked up the pace when they saw the massive hole blown through one of their walls.

One of the thugs, in the middle of bandaging his brother, perked up when he saw them coming. "Straw Hats, thank goodness! They took Big Bro!"

Izuku's stomach sank. "And the truck?"

"They took that too! Busted a big hole over there and carried it out to the tracks!"

Izuku felt something howl with rage within him. Electricity flared up his arms, and Mei shot him an alarmed look. Strangling his fury, Izuku clamped down on his Devil Fruit and said, voice hollow, "Who did this?"

"That's the weird part. We have no idea, but one of the guys had a long nose, like his!" He pointed at Usopp and added, "But square."

Izuku remembered a nose like that, on a Galley-La shipwright. One of Iceburg's watchers. They must have tailed them to Franky's place, but how would they have suspected? They went there to rescue Usopp and hadn't said anything about the truck on the way.

"Any idea where they went?" Mei asked.

"No clue. We all got knocked out. I only saw them dragging it aboard before they got me too."

"Nagagagaga." The laughter came from the ocean and had a remorseful ring to it. "Might be too late already. Puffing Tom was headed to Enies Lobby, with all stops along the way canceled. No ship could hope to match her speed, let alone catch up with her."

Kokoro leapt out of the water and wobbled as she settled onto land. She took a swig of alcohol and hiccupped. "Worse yet, Iceburg got shot, and word is that you guys did it. Someone's spreading rumors that you lot were less than pleased with what he offered. The whole shipyard's up in arms after you, and a lot of townsfolk are getting in on it too."

"So, what, we give up?" Izuku asked, indignantly. "They took our only way home."

"And Franky!" the Franky family chimed in. "We can't let them take our big bro!"

Kokoro shrugged. "Don't look at me. I only came to give the bad news." She chugged her bottle and chucked it into the ocean. "Doing something about it is on you guys."

The Franky brother said, "We were working on Rocketman, but those guys busted it all up trying to take Franky. We don't know how to put it back together."

Mei cracked her knuckles. "Let me have a look."

While Mei rummaged around inside the train's engine, Luffy came bounding across the beach with Nami, Chopper, and Sanji wrapped up in his arms.

"Lettuce guy got shot," Luffy said.

"And they didn't even take out the bullet!" Chopper shouted, holding up a bloodstained bullet. "Those lazy idiots said it was too close to his heart, that one wrong move and they'd kill him. Doctor Kureha would have chucked them off a cliff."

"The Marines got Franky and the truck," Izuku said. "If we don't get them back, Mei and I don't get to go home."

Izuku grinned and smacked his hands together. "So we go beat up some Marines? Sounds easy enough."

"Easy?" Usopp choked. "We're headed for Enies Lobby! Nobody's ever attacked it before."

"Then they won't be expecting us, now would they?" Sanji asked.

A distant murmuring of an angry crowd rose up around the beach. Luffy cocked his head and said, "Huh. Those guys must have gotten really angry about something. Did any of you steal their meat?"

"They think we shot Iceburg," Izuku deadpanned.

Luffy made a retching noise. "They're getting mad over lettuce? Salads aren't food. They're the stuff fancy places put in front of people so they know the meat's coming."

The crowd stopped short seeing the crowd of thugs and pirates on the beach. One man strode forward. He swung a rope in one hand and set a cigar in his mouth in the other.

"Alright, you bastards. Iceburg offered you a ship fair and square, and you shot him in the back."

"Actually," Chopper said, "The entry point for the bullet was on the front of his chest, so he was shot-"

The rope darted like a whip. Chopper yelped and leapt up as the rope cracked under his feet.

"Enough games! If you want off this island bad enough to shoot Iceburg for a ship, you're in luck. You get to leave right now." He chuckled mirthlessly and added, "If you apologize and hand over some of that money, we'll even let you build a raft first."

The crowd moved into position behind him, leveling pitchforks and brandishing rolling pins. Luffy cracked his knuckles, and Zoro drew his swords. Izuku looked between them and the frightened crowd, and he ran forward.

"Wait! We're not the ones that shot him, there's no need for this!"

"Don't lie! Kalifa saw her do it! She saw Nico Robin and someone in a mask running away, and Robin held a smoking pistol."

"Where would we get a pistol?"

"From your ship-" Paulie hesitated. "Well, you obviously brought one with you! What kind of pirates don't use guns?"

Izuku pulled back his shirt, showing his empty belt. "None of us do. And you can check in town and see if any of us bought guns." Izuku leaned over to Sanji and asked, "You didn't buy any guns yesterday, did you?"

"I didn't, and I'm sure Robin-swan wouldn't buy something so barbaric while she went off for some private shopping."

Izuku fought the urge to slap his face while Paulie triumphantly said, "There! Obviously she bought a gun."

"Did you check with the shop owners?"

Paulie cracked a rope at him. "Quit wasting time, pirate scum. What does it matter where the gun came from? Maybe she bought it, or maybe she got it from the Franky Family. Kalifa saw her do it! We're not going to let you talk your way out of this one!"

Izuku panicked as the crowd edged closer and the Straw Hats readied themselves. He scrambled for anything he could use to prove his innocence. The metal boxes? How would he get them to agree to go there? And what would it prove? No, he needed something on him, something that showed someone else was after him.

The thought struck him like lightning. He dug into his shirt, and to his relief, found Iceburg's letter on him.

"Someone else was after Iceburg. I don't know who, but he gave us this message when we met with him."

Izuku held it out. Paulie's rope snagged around his wrist, and Izuku flinched, thinking he was about to fight. The rope slid to his fingers and tugged the letter away.

Paulie smoothed out the crinkled paper and held it up to the sunlight. The townsfolk around him leaned in for a look.

"Well?" Izuku asked.

"It looks like his handwriting. But even if he did write it, it doesn't prove anything." Paulie ripped it to shreds and tossed it into the wind.

Izuku let out a deep breath. "Fine. You want us gone? We were leaving anyways. We just need to fix up the train first, then-"

"Oh no, you're not getting away that easy. You need to pay for what you did to Iceburg!" He turned back to the townsfolk and said, "Get that train! Don't let them escape!"

The townsfolk didn't do anything wrong. They were trying to protect their home and fight off the people they thought were villains. But Izuku needed that truck, needed to get home. If they broke the train, he might never see his mother again.

Before Izuku could decide what to do, a rubber fist shot past him. Paulie's goggles cracked as the fist slammed into his face. The townsfolk froze, weapons dangling in loose grips. Luffy strode up and said, "I don't care about salad guy. Somebody took my friends and took my friends' stuff. We're going to beat them up and get them back. And if we find the people that shot lettuce guy, we'll beat them up too."

The crowd looked nervously among themselves, waiting for one of them to make the first move. With a groan, Paulie heaved himself back onto his feet. He spat a glob of blood onto the sand and flung out more rope at Luffy. Zoro swung his blades, and chunks of rope tumbled across the sand.

"Damn pirates," Paulie grumbled. "Scum like you aren't welcome here!"

Izuku grimaced, seeing the crowd rally around Paulie's fury. Reluctantly, Izuku formed lightning in his hand and flung a bolt at Paulie. He jerked, lighting up as electricity danced across his skin, then fell to his knees. Smoke wafted from his charred hair.

Someone dropped their pitchfork and ran. They started a stampede as townsfolk ran for shelter, many of them abandoning their weapons as they went. Only Paulie remained among them, struggling with shaking arms to rise from the sand.

Chopper ran over to him. Paulie tried batting him away, but Chopper simply wrapped the hand in bandages. While Chopper treated Paulie's burns and the other Straw Hats checked for any stragglers waiting to attack them, Izuku checked on Mei.

"How long will it take?"

"Oh, I'll have the flamethrower done in a few hours. Do you think it should go up front, or on the sides?"

"Mei."

Mei rolled her eyes. "It was just a joke."

"I know you too well to believe that."

"Relax, I already got the flamethrower done. Just let me patch the holes in the boiler and we'll be good to go."

Izuku looked, and sure enough, a Flame Dial with a long nozzle sat atop the engine. Izuku sighed and said, "As long as we get to leave on time."

"Oh, so does that mean I get to add a cannon too?"

"All aboard!" Izuku shouted. "We're ready to go."

Mei grumbled under her breath and kept patching. Once the Straw Hats and Franky Family squeezed into the single compartment, Izuku said, "Alright Mei, start her up."

"Can't."

"What? Didn't you just fix it?"

"Yeah, but I have no idea how any of this stuff works. The boiler could explode if I tried. Do you want me to blow up the train, Izuku?"

Izuku groaned. "Oh, that's just great. Where the heck are we supposed to get a train conductor?"

"Right over here!" Kokoro leapt out of the ocean and wrung out her conductor's uniform. She fed coal into the boiler and started up the engine. "You better be paying me overtime for this, brats. Next stop, Enies Lobby!"

Rocketman lurched forward. Izuku nearly fell out of the train, holding onto a grip with one hand. When he pulled himself back inside, he heard Kokoro ask, "What's the plan for when we crash?"

"What!" Izuku shouted.

"Didn't Franky tell you? Rocketman here's a prototype. Tom never put any brakes on him."

"Wait, so that wasn't a thing that got broken off?" Mei asked. "Guess that's why I had to cut a hole for the lever."

A little girl poked her head into the window. "We're going to crash?"

Izuku yelped and pulled her inside. Kokoro frowned down at her and sternly said, "Chimney! I told you to wait at home!"

"Got bored," Chimney said. "So Gonbe and I went to find you."

The rabbit in her arms twitched its nose and said, "Meow."

Izuku pinched his nose and wondered if the terrible pain brewing in his head was what a migraine felt like. "Do you want me to bring her back? I think I could make it."

"Bah, you think this is all Rocketman's got?" Kokoro pulled the whistle, and the train barreled forwards. The tracks shuddered beneath them, making a ricketly clacking noise that set Izuku's teeth on edge. "Chimney'll be fine. She's smart enough to keep herself out of trouble."

Izuku looked down at the grinning girl, who had wandered onto a runaway train full of pirates, and decided not to voice his doubts.

The weather turned sour as the train chugged along. The beginnings of a squall passed them by, and Kokoro said, "Good thing we left when we did. Looks like we just missed Aqua Laguna."

Izuku heard a yelp and a crash from the car behind them. He hopped across the air and ducked through an open window to find the thugs and Straw Hats all crowding around Chopper and Paulie. Paulie had his back against a wall and a length of charred rope in his hands.

"Just calm down!" Chopper ducked under a fist and bound the arm in more bandages. "You'll tear your skin if you keep moving like that!"

"Where are you bastards taking me?" Paulie snapped.

"We're going to Enies Lobby," Izuku answered from the window.

Paulie yelped and swatted a rope at him. Izuku let it pass through his body.

"Sorry about this, didn't realize Chopper dragged you along."

Chopper snapped at him. "I couldn't just leave him on the beach. Sand might've gotten in his bandages."

"Wait. Enies Lobby? Why are you going there?"

"Marines stole stuff from us, so we're getting it back. And we'd also like to know why Robin ran off on us. They're probably the ones that had Iceburg shot, by the way."

Leaving Paulie to process that nugget of information, Izuku hopped back to the front. On the horizon, a tiny box bobbed along the waves, and it steadily drew closer.

"Well, would you look at that," Kokoro said. "We'll catch them long before they make it."

As they drew closer, a Marine checked out the back door, squinted at the train barreling towards him, and immediately ran back inside. Three Marines came back out, one bearing a giant sword visible even across the distance that still separated them. The Vice Admiral raised his sword high, and it darkened with a coat of Haki.

In a flash of cold clarity, Izuku knew he was about to cut the tracks. Lightning crackled in his hands, forming a javelin. He hurled it, parting the ocean waves with the force of his shot. As it flew, Izuku knew it would miss and hit one of the Marines watching. He readied another one, hoping he'd have time for another throw, but the Vice Admiral swung his sword right before the first thunderbolt arrived. His sword cleaved the lightning in two. One half sputtered against the seawater, while the other half bolted into the sky.

Izuku threw his second spear. As the lightning sailed towards the Puffing Tom, Izuku followed it. T-Bone's sword cleaved the second bolt, and the Vice Admiral's eyes widened when he saw Izuku behind it. Izuku's punch caught him under the chin, a kick embedded a Marine into the caboose's metal wall, while his other arm sent a taser shot through the third.

T-Bone swiped at Izuku, and he had to hop off the train to avoid the massive sword. The Vice Admiral used the moment to pull his two unconscious men back inside the train and shut the door.

Izuku tried the handle. The door was locked. He thought about kicking it down, but remembering the metal box, he instead swung to the side and phased through a wall. The firing line of Marines waiting in the caboose quickly trained their guns on him, but Izuku was faster. He darted forward and took out four Marines before T-Bone's Haki-coated sword made him retreat.

"Men," T-Bone said, tears streaming down his face, "It touches my heart you are all willing to fight for justice, but this is an opponent you cannot defeat. Evacuate this carriage and leave me to fight this evildoer alone."

Izuku let the Marines leave. T-Bone held his sword loosely, waiting patiently, while Izuku mulled over his options. As tempted as he was to zip ahead and stop the train, he couldn't risk T-Bone derailing Rocketman in the meantime. He'd almost certainly have to fight, but something about T-Bone's chivalrous attitude reminded him of Yoroi Musha.

There were any number of questions Izuku could ask. Why they took the truck, how was Robin involved in all this, what did they want with Franky. To Izuku's eye, one question sat at the heart of the web, connecting all the strands together.

"Why did you guys shoot Iceburg?"

Shock flashed across the Vice-Admiral's face. "You mean to say that wasn't your doing?"

"We don't have guns."

T-Bone mulled over his words. "None of the reports mention it. But that hardly matters. I can only assume you are trying to confuse me."

"So the Marines have no reason to want Iceburg dead?"

T-Bone paused. Then he shook himself. "If it is so, then it is for the good of all. Quit stalling and prepare to face justice."

Seeing that talking would do no good, Izuku leapt. He aimed at T-Bone's chest, at an angle where the Vice-Admiral would have to awkwardly raise his sword to block. Instead, T-Bone leaned aside and drew the edge up. Izuku leapt, twirling over T-Bone's head, and planted a kick in his back. T-Bone's sword flashed around, and the blade cleaved cleanly through the roof.

When Izuku landed, the train car lurched underneath him. The harsh squeal of brakes screeched through the torn gap in the train, and the blurred background slowly settled back into focus.

Izuku tried darting for the door, but T-Bone barred the way. Instead, Izuku leapt up, phased through the metal roof, and ran to the other end. T-Bone's sword sliced through the roof, hounding his footsteps. Izuku nimbly leapt about to avoid having his feet sliced to ribbons.

He made it to the end just in time to watch the Rocketman plow into the loose carriage. The train chugged onward, pushing the carriage forward, but with the brakes still engaged, the carriage was a lead weight slowing Rocketman down. Worse, the tracks buckled and heaved as the engine and brakes clashed against each other, threatening to buck Rocketman into the sea.

Izuku aimed at the brakes, thinking to blast them off, but T-Bone severed a diagonal slice of roof. Izuku's shot went wide, and he barely grabbed onto the shorn section of the carriage.

With T-Bone hounding him, Izuku could only dodge and pray that the others figured something out. Figuring something out involved Zoro and Luffy perched atop the train carriage, combining two attacks while the flamethrower Mei had added roared to life. While T-Bone gaped at the approaching inferno, Izuku punched him into the sea, then leapt for safety.

The carriage exploded in a fiery shower of timbers and torn steel. The wheels popped into the air, twisted into gnarled Dali-esque shapes by their battle against the Rocketman.

With the tracks cleared, Rocketman plowed through the smoldering wreckage. However, the Puffing Tom had pulled into the station at Enies Lobby. Marines swarmed the train station, and cannonballs rained down on the sea between them. Luffy swatted cannonballs out of the sky, while Izuku zapped any aimed at the tracks.

As Rocketman approached the station, the Marines formed a firing line. Just before they fired, Mei's flamethrower swept across the docks, scattering their ranks, while Usopp's slingshot peppered them with smoke bombs, rotten eggs, and chili sauce.

The Rocketman's brakes screeched like banshees as the massive engine rattled to a stop. As they pulled into the scorched, pockmarked station, Izuku hopped off, scowled up at the massive gates, and said, "Time to get our truck back."

Spandam gleefully rubbed his hands together as he watched his faithful agents drag his newest acquisitions before him. Nico Robin's capture would prove a pretty feather in his cap, and the wayward Cutty Flam was a delightful surprise, but best of all, he didn't only have the blueprints to Pluton. No, he had Pluton itself.

It's smaller than he thought it would be, and as garishly decorated as anything else Cutty Flam had ever made, but one looks at the wrinkled, aged parchment, and its esoteric, nay, alien designs, and he knew that the machine before him could be nothing else. What design could possibly compare to the elegant, sophisticated harmony of mechanical marvels inscribed upon that frayed, tattered blueprint? What civilization but one long past, from a world before the lost century and all the horrors wrought upon it, would design a weapon explicitly meant for use on land?

Spandam ran a reverent hand over the polished metal surface of Pluton and daydreamed of his ascension to greatness.

"The Straw Hats are here," Rob Lucci said, interrupting his moment of glory. "Most of them won't be a problem, but Midoriya's Devil Fruit may prove… problematic. I advise we call in an Admiral."

Spandam scowled. If the Admirals caught wind he had Pluton, they would surely wrest it away from him! No, it couldn't be allowed.

"Are you saying that you are no match for a few measly pirates from the East Blue?"

"Two of them sailed with Roger."

"And there are eight of you."

"Seven," Jabra corrected with a snicker.

Spandam waved it off. "Besides," Spandam held up a golden transponder snail, to Nico Robin's silent horror, "If all else fails, we can use a Buster Call to blast them to bits."

While Spandam hummed to himself and hopped inside Pluton to inspect its convoluted control scheme, one his sheer intellect will surely master in no time, some Marines dragged Cutty Flam and Nico Robin towards the Gates of Justice. Rob Lucci exchanged nods with his fellow CP-9 members and went off to greet Enies Lobby's newest arrivals.

A/N: Summer used to be my favorite season. Not because I ever did anything outside, but because school was out. Now? I much prefer spring and fall. Fewer bugs getting inside, my car sitting outside isn't as toasty, and I don't have to worry about heating up my apartment to make a batch of cookies. I've been experimenting with non-bake recipes like oreo balls and oreo pie, but the few recipes that work feel like cheating. Doesn't feel like home baking when the main ingredient is oreos.