A.n I own Nothing
In the words of Monty Python...I'M NOT DEAD YET!...
This was supposed and the next Chapter was supposed to be a single Chapter but...altogether it was over 30 pages. So I split it up.
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Up on the Tower of Justice, Zoro had just finished fighting Kaku when Connor and Sanji ran in. Sogeking who had been hiding and desperately trying to avoid being cut up in the battle between two sword Masters also joined them. Zoro produced Kaku's key and Connor was in the process of telling Zoro and Sanji about the secret tunnel that he had found with Ezio and Chimmeny and how Ezio and Franky had already gone ahead to catch up with Robin and Luffy.
While they were talking Sogeking walked over to the massive hole in the wall and looked out over the ocean in the direction of the gates of justice. However, behind his mask, his face paled at what he saw.
"Oh, that's not good, not good at all," Sogeking panicked.
"What's not good?" Zoro asked.
"Your ally is being dragged across that bridge towards a Marine ship," Sogeking claimed and he pointed out towards the bridge.
"What?!" Sanji screamed.
Zoro, Sanji and Connor ran to the edge and looked out. They could see the bridge but it was far in the distance and the massive gates of Justice but that was it.
"Where's Robin-chan?" Sanji asked.
"There," Sogeking pointed at two moving figures on the bridge that he could see clearly "you can't see that?"
Sanji leaned forward and squinted his eyes. "I see two tiny dots moving," he said.
"I can't make out their colours," Connor claimed as he activated his second sight to see if it would help. It didn't "Your eyes are really impressive," Connor complimented.
"Hmph of course I do," Sogeking replied "When one lives on the Island of snipers your eyes adapt to spot even the tiniest things away. Why I could even hit a mouses eye from over 300 miles,"
"Still not fooling us Usopp," Zoro, Sanji andConnor thought but did not say anything out loud.
"Oh carp, that's not good," Sogeking continued. All of a sudden, he ran over to the side of the room and using the debris he began to climb up and out onto the top of the tower of Justice. Sanji, Connor and Zoro watched him, wondering what he was doing.
"What are you doing up there?" Zoro asked.
Sogeking didn't respond, he just continued to climb until he was at the top and standing next to the Flagpole which had the remains of the burnt Marine Flag from earlier.
"Oi, Sogeking. Tell us what's going on," Sanji demanded.
"Your ally ran from the Marines and now they're about to shoot her," Sogeking claimed and he pulled out a long slingshot, loaded it up "Not on my watch," and fired.
Sogeking watched as his Fire-star soared through the air, despite the distance, the wind Sogeking hit his mark. His shot slammed into Spandams face. Once the Commander of CP9 had fallen, Sogeking continued to rapidly fire more and more shots, each one hitting every Marine. The Marines were in panic and scrambling to find the sniper. Sogeking knew that he'd be safe, the rifles that the Marines carried would never reach him back on top of the tower of justice. The only reason his shots were reaching was due to various dials in his weapon to enhance its firepower and strength. This gave his Kabuto a far greater range and a significant boost in power output than anything the marines' standard rifles could do.
As he fired over and over creating a protective area around Robin an explosion happened down on the bridge, this was large enough for the pirates to see.
"What was that?" Zoro cried out in concern.
"Sogeking, is Robin-chan okay?" Sanji demanded.
"She's fine, she was not caught in the explosion but…" Sogeking answered, he trailed off and stopped firing.
. "Quick give me the keys," Sogeking demanded to Sanji after a few seconds "Franky has arrived with aid, I will send them the keys,"
Sanji whipped his head around to see if that was true, but he could still not make out any details from this distance and he knew that Usopp's eyes were sharp. Knowing to trust the sniper he and Zoro found a small bag, placed the three keys inside and threw it up to Sogeking. The sniper king caught the bag, loaded it up and was about to fire when he paused.
Sogeking could see that Ezio was down there with Franky, however, the white-hooded man was holding his hand outstretched. Sogeking could not help but wonder if Ezio was giving him a target or if knew that Sogeking was about to send the keys, after all, they had no way of communicating with each other.
Sogeking decided it was impossible for Ezio to know what he was doing and fired the small bag of keys; he didn't have time to question the odd behaviour at the moment. Sogeking watched Robin freed and was about to climb down when he stopped. A sad mournful cry called out from the distance; Sogeking looked in the direction.
"What's that?" Sogeking asked.
"Oi, Sogeking. Is Robin, okay?" Zoro called out from below.
"Huh?" Sogeking responded, being pulled out of his thoughts "yeah she is,"
"Good, get back down here and let's go," Zoro ordered.
Before Sogeking could respond an explosion was heard in the distance. The Straw-Hats whipped their heads around only to find a large column of smoke coming from the fence surrounding the Island.
Zoro and Sanji watched as the gate surrounding the Island was bombarded with cannon fire, the damage and the destruction could be seen from the Tower of justice and it was an impressive sight. The sight of cannon fire made Connor freeze up and he stared out at the damage.
"That is some heavy cannon fire," Sanji commented "the fence surrounding the Island is gone,"
"Yeah, how long do you think until we're in range?" Zoro asked.
"Who knows, but those ships are still pretty far out," Sanji shrugged "So we should be okay for a little bit,"
"We should start making our way down to that bridge," Zoro stated, he then glanced over at Connor. He knew how the boy reacted when it came to nearby Cannon fire "and fast,"
Sanji nodded in agreement, he turned and looked up at Sogeking.
"Oi, Sogeking get down from there, we've got to go," he ordered.
"Okay, let me just climb down,"
"Too long. Just jump," Zoro advised.
"What?! But I'm not superhuman like you…I mean I have superhuman sniping powers but if I jump, I'll break my legs or…" Sogeking argued. However, he was cut off when a cannonball slammed into the top of the tower. The force of impact blew the top of the tower off the rest of it, it fell from its location down the opposite side; slamming into the partly unfolded bridge from the courthouse, destroying it and taking it down into the abyss below.
"USOPP!" Zoro and Sanji yelled together.
Connor immediately crouched on his knees, gripped his head with his hands, closed his eyes and started to shake. Sanji whirled around staring at the ships on the horizon. They still weren't fully past where the gate had been a few seconds ago.
"They must have long-range cannons," he exclaimed.
Sogeking crashed into the floor, having jumped off the tower just in time. He landed on his head but got up a moment later.
"That was close," Sogeking commented.
Suddenly loud explosions were heard from behind them. Zoro, Sanji, and Sogeking turned around to see several cannonballs raining down from high in the sky and crash into the Courthouse on the other side of the bridge.
"They've got mortars," Sogeking screamed urgently.
We need to go, now," Zoro demanded. He dashed towards the door scooping Connor up and carrying him under his arm as he ran.
Connor immediately started to struggle to try and escape, but Zoro held him tight. Connor cried out in a language that neither Zoro, Sanji or Sogeking understood. The boys' destress was very clear but they didn't have time to wait until Connor calmed down.
"Sorry kid, but we don't have time for this," Zoro apologised, but given Connor's reaction the swordsman knew his apology fell on deaf ears.
They ran out of the room and down the stairs, catching up with Nami who had already started running the moment she heard the cannon fire start. Catching up to Nami was easy for the three men, they weren't at all surprised to see that Kokoro and Chimmeny running as well. The female sea train engineer had a very wounded Chopper tied to her hat so he would not get left behind.
"Nami-Swawnnn," Sanji called out "you can hold my hand and we can run together,"
"Now is not the time!" Nami screamed.
As they ran and the tower began to collapse Connor got worse.
"What's going on with him?" Kokoro asked. Noticing how the boy's reaction.
"He's triggered by Cannon fire," Zoro answered.
"Will he be, okay?" Chimmeny asked.
"Yeah, he'll calm down on his own once settle," Zoro assured the girl.
They continued to run to the secret passage and once there the crew leapt down the stairs, now that they had made it to the passage, they were practically home free, if they could get to the other side before it collapsed then they would be able to escape. Unfortunately, when they were halfway through the passage walls broke, whether this was from the Buster Call Bombardment or something else the crew didn't know.
Water gushed in and quickly flooded the small enclosed tunnel, when the crew heard the sounds of the ocean flooding in, they turned around, however they didn't get more than a few meters before the water caught up to them and they were submerged.
There was no way any of them would make it back to the entrance. A dark shadow loomed over them as all of a sudden, they were swept away.
The escape ship, the far side of the bridge of hesitation
Franky fought off three marines who were fighting him, they slammed their swords down on him but Franky blocked it and then punched them all out. Once they fell Franky looked over the ship, bodies of marines littered the deck, some dead, others injured but almost knocked out.
After he and Ezio had freed Robin and the Buster Call had started, they'd headed to the ship that Spandam had prepared to use to take Robin to Impel Down. However, it was filled with Marines so the three of them had to clear it out before the rest of the Straw-Hats arrived.
"Whew, I thought they would never stop coming," Franky said and wiped his brow.
Robin nodded in agreement and she lowered her arms, all other body parts that were holding the bodies of the now unconcise and defeated marines disappeared. She glanced over at Ezio; he was at the stern looking out to the incoming Marine battleships that were bombarding the Island.
Robin couldn't help but feel small in comparison, she knew how to kill, to take down her opponents with efficacy. But her skills and powers were nothing compared to Ezio's. The man hadn't drawn his blade at all during the fight. An entire battleship filled with Marines and not once did Ezio use his weapon. Instead, he had used his hands, preferring to disarm and steal the weapons of the marines and use their weapons against them. None of that fought Ezio was able to touch him, Ezio moved through the battle so easily. Robin began to wonder who was stronger, Ezio or the Admiral. Either way, her life was now once again in her enemies' hands.
Ezio must have felt Robin's eyes on him because he turned to face her.
"Belladonna, is there something wrong?" he asked.
"No," Robin answered "but…why are you helping me,"
"The Straw-Hats comprised my exit plan, they promised me a ride off the Island if I helped save you," Ezio explained. He then turned his attention back to the fleet of battleships. "I find it odd that despite the fact we are not moving and that they can see this ship has been captured the Marines are not shooting us,"
Robin didn't respond. The marines on the bridge had been hesitant to shoot her then too. They were likely under orders from Admiral Aokiji, he'd always taken an interest in her and kept the marines off her back as much as she could.
When she looked up again, she saw Ezio giving her a critical eye under his hood. Robin couldn't tell if he knew what she was thinking or if he was waiting for her option on the matter.
"I don't know, perhaps they are set on taking me alive," she responded.
"Hmm…Could be. Well, whatever the reason we'll need to keep this ship safe," Ezio said. He then turned and walked into the hatch that led to below deck.
"Where are you going?" Franky asked.
"I need to fetch something," Ezio said with a wave and disappeared into the bowels of the ship.
Once he was gone Franky got to work on making sure the ship was ready to go at a moment's notice. Robin however couldn't help but watch the Buster Call fleet, this was the second time she had seen and been involved with it and the destruction of an Island.
She just hoped that the Straw-Hats had escaped the destruction. The fact that they had defeated the CP9 and got the keys to her on time gave Robin hope that the crew would have been headed in their direction when the attack started.
"Robin-sis are you all, right?" Franky asked. He noticed the way she was watching the buster call ships.
"Yes, just worried about Luffy and the others,"
"I'm sure they're fine, if they can beat the government's best assassins then a little cannon fire isn't going to stop them," Franky assured "They'll be here before you know it,"
Robin nodded "Thank you, Franky," she said gratefully.
No sooner after Franky had said that, a splash was heard, Robin and Franky turned in time to see the entire straw-hat crew plus Chimmeny fly out of the water and onto the deck of the ship. They were soaking wet, coughing up water and gasping for air. Robin stared at them, her eyes trailing over each one. They were all here and all alive…except for Luffy.
As the crew got the took in the air, they slowly got their bearings. The moment Connor had enough air he skittered off to hide behind some barrels. Robin watched him go, making note of where the boy was hiding. She was a little hurt that Connor didn't seem to notice that she was there, but with all the cannon fire going on she understood.
"Ah, I thought we were going to die," Nami cried out finally, she was the first one to stop panting and she noticed Robin. The two stared at each other for a moment and Nami leapt to her feet and flung her arms around her.
"ROBINNNN!" she cried out with tears in her eyes "YOU'RE OKAY, DON'T EVER LEAVE ME ALONE WITH THESE IDIOTS AGAINNNNN!"
"Ah…I won't," Robin said. Suddenly something small and furry latched onto Robin's leg. She looked down to see that it was Chopper, he was still badly hurt but it seems he'd forgotten about his injuries at the moment.
"ROBIN, WHY DID YOU NOT TELL US YOU NEEDED HELP? DID YOU NOT LIKE US ANYMORE OR IS IT BECAUSE I WANTED TO GO TO A BOOK STORE? I WON'T GO TO BOOK SHOPS ANYMORE!" Chopper cried "JUST DON'T LEAVE AGAIN!"
Robin was stunned, she didn't think the crew would react like this, she thought they would be mad, at her or annoyed that she had caused them so much trouble. She couldn't help but smile.
Zoro, Sanji and Sogeking were the next ones to stand up, the three smiled. Watching the reunion, however, Sanji jumped in the air with hearts in his eyes "Robin-Chann, let us embrace like long-separated lovers," he cried out. Only to meet with a kick in the face from Nami
"You idiot, it's perverted things like that made her leave in the first place," Nami scolded without letting go of Robin.
"No, Robin-chan is understanding of my love for her and you Nami-Swann," Sanji argued.
Nami stomped on his back causing Sanji to writhe in pain.
"Nami don't kick Sanji, he's injured," Chopper panicked, but the navigator ignored him and continued to stomp on Sanji's back "No stop it you'll make it worse,"
Robin watched the exchange with happiness in her eyes. Sure, seeing Sanji get beaten by Nami in his injured state was a little concerning. But it was normal behaviour for the crew and she was glad that she could see it again "Thank you all…for saving me," she said softly.
"Anytime," Zoro responded. Robin looked at him, it appeared he was the only one who heard her. "But, how did we get to the ship so fast?" Zoro asked.
"Ah that would be me," Kokoro spoke up.
The crew turned and their jaws dropped. On the deck sat a half-naked Kokoro with saggy skin, breasts covered by pink shells, she had a long pink scaled fishtail. Her obese form did nothing to impress the Straw-Hats as it turned their expressions from shock to horror.
"Yo, I'm a mermaid by the way," Kokoro said with a raised hand.
"WHAAAATTTTTTTTTT?! The whole crew but Franky and Robin shouted.
"Grandma, did you save us?" Chimmeny asked.
"Yep, I may be old and out of shape but I'm still an excellent swimmer," Kokoro laughed.
"Wait, she can't be a mermaid. Mermaids are young, skinny, sexy and beautiful," Sanji begged "Plus we've seen her walk on legs and she lives in Water 7,"
"When mermaids reach a certain age, their tails split into legs allowing us to walk on land as humans," Kokoro informed "this is what all mermaids look like,"
"NOOOOO! MY DREAMS MY BEAUTIFUL DREAMS!" Sanji cried as his dreams and visions of young sexy female mermaids fawning over him were destroyed.
"Get over yourself cook," Zoro commented.
"Franky, did you know that Kokoro was a mermaid?" Robin asked.
"Of course, Tom was a Fishman and Kokoro came with him when he set up in Water 7, so yeah, I knew," Franky stated "Iceberg and I kept quiet about it because of the discrimination that Fishman get,"
"So, if you're a mermaid, is Chimmeny really your granddaughter?" Nami asked.
"Yep, Grandma got married to a human and my dad was her half Fishman son," Chimmeny said proudly "I'm one-quarter Fishman,"
"Oh, I didn't realise Fishmen were genetically compatible with humans," Nami said.
"They are but it's not common knowledge. Since Chimmeny is ¾ human has no Fishman traits, she's an exceptionally strong swimmer by human standards, can hold her breath for twice as long as a human and has excellent eyes but that's about it," Kokoro explained "If she marries a human the Fishman blood and traits will be diluted further,"
Before anyone could ask anything else, Ezio walked emerged from below deck. "Ah there you are," Ezio said as he walked back on deck holding a sack that had something in it slung over his shoulder "Salute everyone, glad to see you made it here safe,"
"Yeah, what's in the bag?" Sanji asked.
"I thought I would take the rare opportunity to do a bit of Pirating and took some things from the Marines," Ezio responded with a smile. He then noticed Kokoro "Ah A Mermaid, greetings, I do hope the waters treat you well this day,"
"Oh, I'm surprised to see a human knows that greeting," Kokoro said impressed.
"I am well-travelled," Ezio shrugged.
"While you were down there did you see any booze?" Kokoro asked.
"I did, however, if you are looking for the good stuff, I would suggest checking the captain's cabin, there is always a bottle of expensive scotch in the captain's cabin somewhere," Ezio responded politely.
"Great. I'll take a look once my legs get back," Kokoro said.
"Oi, put some clothes on first," Franky demanded.
"Aw, but that will spoil my fun," Kokoro laughed.
While Franky was arguing with Kokoro to put her clothes back on, Nami and Robin were taking care of Chopper who was still feeling the effects of his Monster Transformation and could no longer move, now and then Robin would glance over to the barrels on the corner of the deck to make sure Connor was still there. Connor was hiding in the barrels with his back to the crew squatted down with his hands covering his head and shaking in fear; still muttering in that odd language. Robin knew that as long as the cannon fire kept coming the boy would not snap out of his panicked state and the longer the crew stayed the longer it would take for Connor to come back to reality.
Zoro left the ship and walked up the stairs to the bridge of hesitation to get a look at the situation in Enis Lobby. The whole Island was burning, cannon fire rained endlessly down from the sky and buildings collapsed. The sky was lit in flames as far as the eye could see and Zoro now understood why Robin was so afraid of the buster call. He clenched his fists, Robin had witnessed this event in the past, a whole Island destroyed and now it was happening again. Zoro also knew that Connor had witnessed his own Island being destroyed in a similar manner. Robin was an adult and she was terrified of this happing again but at least she was still able to fight; unlike Connor who was now defenceless due to the cannon fire.
"Sir Zoro," Sogeking called out and came running up the stairs. The swordsman glanced over his shoulder at him, it was unusual for Usopp to run towards danger.
"Whoa…it's like the sky and the land is burning…" Sogeking claimed as he slowly stepped forward and took in the scene before him.
"Yeah, and we've got two crew members who have witnessed something like this before and both were deeply scarred by it," Zoro agreed.
"Hmm…looks like they do want to take Nico Robin alive," Ezio observed as he walked up the stairs with Franky and stood nearby. He put the sack down next to him and observed the burning island. He then turned and looked up at one of the Marine ships, the Vice-Admiral in command stared down at him, Zoro, Franky and Sogeking with a hate-filled look. But gave no order to have the Marines attack them.
Ezio gave the commander a two-fingered salute.
"I thought it was odd how the Marines are ignoring us and the ship," Sogeking said.
"If they want her alive then they'll come back for her," Zoro claimed.
"Without a doubt," Ezio agreed and turned his attention back to the Straw-Hats "and our captain is still nowhere to be seen,"
"They're focused on Enis Lobby for now, if they haven't attacked us yet it's safe to say they won't until Enis Lobby is completely destroyed," Franky pointed out.
"That's bad, we're already beat up and exhausted," Sogeking claimed "Sirs Chopper and Connor are out of commission, Captain Luffy is not here and we have Kokoro and Chimmeny to look after. If the Marines attack, we will be at a severe disadvantage,"
"Do not forget that each battleship is commanded by a Marine Vice Admiral," Ezio added "they are not pushovers and all of them will either have a devil fruit power or be strong enough to reach that rank without one,"
"Also, Luffy-bro hasn't returned from fighting Lucci yet. There is a chance we could end up fighting him too," Franky added seriously "we should probably go help him now that we've got the escape ship,"
"Don't. That pidgin bastard is not normal who knows what will happen if we interfere. Luffy will take care of the Rob Lucci without our help," Zoro assured "Our main priority is those battleships. We don't know when that fleet will turn their attention to us, we can't lose our escape ship. We just need to hold the Marines off until Luffy gets here and then we can leave,"
"Not an easy task," Ezio commented "most of the Marines will be coming at us from the bridge. We should be able to bottleneck them…but at the same time it will become difficult to not be overwhelmed,"
"We're not in a good position," Zoro agreed "but we'll hold here for as long as we need,"
"Franky," Sanji said as he walked up the stairs to join the others on the bridge. He stared at the burning Island "are Zambai and the others going to be, okay?"
Zoro, Sogeking and Ezio looked at Franky. None of them brought up the Franky Family and the Gally-la compony members who had joined them in their rescue mission. They didn't have time to worry about it.
"Yeah, don't worry about them, they'll be fine. They're always fine and their pretty fast when they need to run," Franky assured with a smile "they've got Sodum and Gommorh with them, they can get off the island no problem. You're an idiot if you think they're in trouble,"
No one said anything in response. It was clear that Franky was very worried about his crew but at the same time, he could not go back to help them. It was likely that Franky had only said that to assure himself more than the Straw-Hats.
Cannon fire continued to rain down and the Straw-Hats prepared for the battle that would inevitably come. From the ship, Nami informed them that it was ready to go, as soon as Luffy arrived they could leave the second everyone was on board. That was good news, however, Sanji eyed off all the ships and they matched the number of people that the crew were trying to escape. Even if Luffy did arrive, escaping from Enis Lobby would be next to impossible.
Their one transport vessel could not stand up to 10 fully armed and battle-ready Marine ships. What was worse was that the Marines knew that as well.
After a few more minutes, the cannons ceased firing and a voice came over a loudspeaker from the buster call fleet.
"Attention all ships, a report from the Main Gate. All Enis Lobby personnel, marines and CP agents have been collected and evacuated. We have also located a group of Pirates. around 50 total in the middle of attempting to escape at the Main Gate," the voice announced.
"Ah, see. I told you they would be okay," Franky boasted happily "Zambai and the others are safe will be safe and sound out at sea by now,"
"After our Attack, nothing remains: they have all died," the voice announced and Franky felt his heart stop in shock "In its current state, survival is impossible. Current survivors confirmed on Enis Lobby…. ZERO"
"This a report from ship two," another voice came over the speakers "From the South-Eastern Courthouse and the tower of justice. As well as the connecting underground tunnel everything has been destroyed. The only target remaining is the Bridge of Hesitation,"
Franky couldn't move, up until now, he could believe his friends and family would be safe, after all, they weren't in the Tower of Justice so CP9 would not threaten them as they were focused on the Straw-Hats. Robins' outburst had been ample warning, with the oncoming bombardment they should have been able to flee. Enis Lobby was not that far from Water 7 so the two king bulls would have easily made the trip back home. Especially now since Aqua Laguna had passed and the seas in the area were always calm for a good three days afterwards.
That is what should have happened and what Franky and the others believed. Of course, there was always the chance that there would be casualties in this rescue mission. But hearing that the only place left standing on Enis Lobby, the only part of the Island that had not been destroyed was the bridge of Hesitation made it all real. Zambai, Paulie, the entire Franky Family, Yolouzuna and Omio and Kaashiee; the two Giants Sogeking had befriended and turned to the Pirates cause…all dead, all gone.
The only people left alive on the Island were the Straw-Hats, Lucci and the Marines on the battleships. The Straw-Hats and Ezio looked at Franky out of concern. However, he stood his ground and looked directly at Zoro.
"If your captain dies…I won't accept it," he said seriously.
"Neither would any of us," Zoro grinned in response.
Ezio turned his head and looked out at the ships, it was true that they had stopped firing but it that was so they could move closer and move into formation. The still constant damage and destruction from the northern tower confirmed that Luffy was still fighting Lucci and the Marines likely knew that as well. Given Lucci's reputation, the marines would not dare to interfere with him…which meant the Marines next target was them.
Ezio picked up the sack and slung it over his shoulder and drew his sword. "Here they come, the odds of the battle are not good ones," he said seriously.
Zoro drew all three blades and tied his Bandana around his head, Sogeking lifted his giant Slingshot and loaded it with ammo. Sanji stepped up and tapped his foot on the ground while lighting a cigarette. This battle would be a tough one, ten battleships filled to the brim of marines and some of the strongest people in the Navy vs 7 pissed off pirates, 2 civilians and the Mentor of the Assassin Brotherhood.
"Yeah, they don't stand a chance," Franky agreed.