When Itachi awoke, he was bound and blindfolded. The rhythmic bumps and sounds of a steam engine informed him that he was still on the train. And if they had the time to tie him up, then CP9 must have defeated the others.
He could have easily broken his restraints if he wanted, but an idea sprung up in his head. Even if Sanji and Usopp were beaten, Robin's agreement should still prevent CP9 from killing them, and they seemed to have another reason to keep Franky alive. Luffy and the others would grab them along their path and make it to Enies Lobby, and the inevitable chaos of their arrival would make for an ideal opportunity to slip away unnoticed and grab Robin.
In any case, he realized those strange limbs that sprouted from his body must have been Robin's doing. His Sharingan didn't detect any abnormal movements from CP9, and she was the only person who wasn't in his field of view at the time. He'd never seen her use her Devil Fruit, so it caught him completely by surprise and allowed CP9 to get a clean hit on him. He'd have to be more careful around her until this was all over. That Devil Fruit power was among the stranger ones he'd seen in his time, but now that he was aware of it, a simple application of Armament Haki should be sufficient to break out of it if the need arose.
Soon enough the train slowed to a stop, and an unknown person was guiding him off the train.
"You know," he said. "I could walk on my own if you removed this blindfold."
"Not a chance," said the unknown person. He recognized the voice as Kaku's. "We've heard rumors that your eyes contain strange powers that no one has ever seen before. We're not risking you getting the chance to use those powers on us, now keep walking."
Oh well, worth a shot. Nothing to do now except wait for the opportune moment.
He didn't have to wait long. At one point, Kaku handed him off to a group of Marines stationed at the island to escort him to a holding cell. As he was being escorted, someone's Transponder Snail started relaying panicked details about a large group storming the front gate of Enies Lobby.
Time to make his move. Flexing a small amount of Armament Haki, Itachi easily shattered his shackles, removed his blindfold, pulled a kunai, and quickly killed all the Marines who had been surrounding him. He had been taken separately from Robin and Franky. Apparently his status as a former Whitebeard Pirate warranted special treatment. A minor inconvenience, but nothing he couldn't solve. He grabbed the Transponder Snail of the Marine Captain that had been overseeing his escort and slipped away before anyone else arrived.
As the raid on Enies Lobby continued, Itachi made his way toward the Tower of Law, figuring that was likely to be where Robin was being held. And even if it wasn't, he would probably run across her along the way. Any Marines who happened to cross his path were slain before they could communicate to anyone. At one point he encountered someone who appeared to be of higher rank, so he used Sharingan to question him, learning that the name of the person in charge of Enies Lobby was someone named Spandam. He would check inside buildings, occasionally finding weapons or communications equipment and burning it with a quick Fireball Jutsu. In the background, the sounds of battle drew closer. His allies were gaining ground.
Before long, Itachi reached the front gate of the Courthouse. It seemed that in order to get to the Tower, he first needed to get past this building. Rather than go through it and contend with whoever might be inside, he decided it would be faster to go up and over the top. Concentrating chakra in his feet, he placed a foot on the wall and began the walk up.
When he got to the roof, a door opened up in the air, and someone stepped through.
Itachi smirked. "You're one of the CP9 agents from the train. Shouldn't you be with the others escorting Robin?"
"We got a report that Straw Hat Luffy was invading Enies Lobby," replied Blueno. "But so far he's only taken out five Marines. I thought that was suspicious, so I came here to get a closer look at the situation. And as luck would have it, here you are. I'll have the personal pleasure of taking down the great Itachi."
Just a few sentences, and already Itachi was tired of the posturing. Time to get right to the point. "How strong are you, in relation to your comrades?"
Blueno was taken aback at the bluntness of the question. "What? How strong am I?"
"Yes," replied Itachi impatiently. "It's unlikely you're all equally powerful. So in the hierarchy from strongest to weakest, where do you sit?"
"Why does it matter?"
"I plan on using your strength to gauge the ability of your teammates, but I'll get a better idea if I know where you sit in relation to them. So, I'll ask once more. How strong are you compared to the others in CP9? If you're so confident you can beat me, then answering such a simple question is surely of no consequence."
"Fine, if you really wanna know, I'd say I'm probably number four. As in, there's only three people in CP9 stronger than me."
"Thank you. Now, let's get down to business. Feel free to attack whenever you see fit."
Blueno smirked. "You'll regret giving me the first move. Shave!"
Blueno's speed increased greatly, but it was still nothing the Sharingan couldn't easily track. Blueno closed the distance, aiming a punch at Itachi's face, which he easily slipped and retaliated with a kick to the gut, sending Blueno crashing into the crenelations lining the roof.
Blueno stood from the rubble with a stream of blood running down his head. Not only was Itachi fast enough to keep up with Shave, that kick packed even greater force than the blonde haired guy from the train.
Itachi was, in a way, disappointed. He had only been so cautious on the Sea Train because he wasn't sure how strong CP9 was. If he had known this was the extent of their ability, he would have simply bulldozed his way through the train cars and killed them all.
Blueno decided that if Shave was insufficient to outspeed Itachi, he would keep his distance and use Tempest Kicks to apply pressure, then wait for an opportunity to use his Devil Fruit power to grab him and restrain him with Iron Body.
Itachi dodged the Tempest Kicks with relative ease while closing the distance. No need to waste chakra on this guy. Taijutsu alone would be enough.
"Trying to zone me out since you're not fast enough in close quarters? Not a bad plan."
Blueno was doing his best to keep Itachi away from him, but to no avail. Itachi was in his face before he knew it.
"Unfortunately, you're too weak to make either strategy work against me," said Itachi before throwing a combination of punches at Blueno's face and body. He tried to defend himself, but the blows were so heavy that they quickly overcame Iron Body. Before Blueno knew it, he was on one knee, struggling for breath as Itachi loomed over him like a specter of death.
"By the way," said Itachi. "I noticed that there's no bridge connecting this island to that tower. Care to tell me how to get over there?"
"Don't mock me, you son of a bitch! I already knocked you out once before!" Blueno tried to sweep Itachi's legs, but he simply jumped over the sweep and made Blueno eat a roundhouse kick to the face for his troubles, sending him skidding across the floor. Before he could even shake his head, Itachi was pressing a foot into his chest.
"Mocking you? I was simply asking a question. But if you won't tell me willingly, I'll just force it out of you. Besides, if that was you who attacked me on the train, I owe you some payback."
He was about to use his Sharingan to force Blueno to talk when he heard a sound like the snapping of a rubber band behind him. He didn't have to look to know who it was.
"Itachi? So this is where you've been!" said Luffy.
Itachi smiled. "Glad you were able to catch up, Luffy. This man here was just about to tell me how to get over to the tower."
Meanwhile, in the Tower of Law, Spandam was grandstanding to Robin and Franky. He bent over to be eye level with Robin, to make the gloating all the more personal.
"Why don't we listen to the report about those idiots who defied the World Government, and learn their fate together?"
"You damn scumbag!" shouted Franky.
"Shut up, you lowlife!" barked Spandam, pulling out his Transponder Snail.
"This is Spandam," he said into the receiver. "I understand you have a report?"
"Chief Spandam, finally!" said the government official on the other end. "I tried your direct line, but couldn't get through. I don't know where to begin."
"It's the Straw Hats, right? Calm down, just pick up from where your last report left off. Tell me, are they suffering? Did you accidentally kill them?"
"The intruders consist of about sixty pirates. They've pushed all the way through the island and have reached the courthouse plaza! We can't stop them!"
All of Spandam's bravado instantly evaporated.
"Also," continued the official, "the gatekeepers Oimo and Kashi have joined forces with the pirates! They're currently wreaking havoc on the central area! After hearing all the field reports, our casualties are estimated at over two thousand men! And Straw Hat Luffy, who took out over a thousand of them on his own, has given us the slip! We can't find him!"
Spandam dropped the Snail and rushed over to the front window, but the man kept speaking.
"In the entire history of this island, this is without a doubt the worst thing to ever happen!"
Spandam looked out, seeing the rampant destruction being caused by the giants down in the central area, but on the courthouse rooftop there appeared to be three figures.
"Oh, no," he breathed. That's Straw Hat and Red Eyes, and they've taken down Blueno! What the hell is going on?!"
Back on the roof, Itachi bent down to grab Blueno by the collar. Blueno tried to stop him with a Finger Pistol, but he simply caught the attack between his index finger and thumb.
"Good try, but no," said Itachi, and bent back Blueno's finger until it snapped. As Blueno was recoiling from the pain, Itachi lifted him off the ground by his collar with one hand.
"Now, once more. How do we get over to the tower?"
"You'll never reach the Tower of Law as long as I'm still breathing, I promise you that."
"A poor choice of words," said Itachi, with enough malice in his tone to send shudders down Blueno's spine. Itachi stared into his eyes, using the Sharingan to hypnotize him. It didn't take long for Blueno to fall into the Genjutsu.
"Now, answer my question." ordered Itachi.
"On either side of the courthouse building are two towers," droned Blueno dreamily. "At the top of each is a lever, and once both are pulled, a drawbridge to the Tower of Law will be lowered.
"Good. Now, that last attack you tried to hit me with; what's it called?"
"Finger pistol."
"Neat trick. Let me try it." Itachi drove his own Finger Pistol into Blueno's chest, having gained an immediate understanding of how it worked thanks to his Sharingan. He then dropped Blueno onto the floor. The wound wasn't immediately fatal, but he was losing a lot of blood and wouldn't be getting up anytime soon.
"Hey, Luffy," he said.
"Yeah, what's up?"
"Is it weird that I'm disappointed the enemy isn't stronger?"
"I dunno, maybe," shrugged Luffy, walking over to the rear of the rooftop and stepping onto one of the crenelations. He took a deep breath.
"Robin! I'm here to save you!"
Inside the tower, Spandam was barking out orders and making preparations to transport Robin and Franky to the Gates of Justice when Luffy's voice came echoing through the office.
"Luffy?!" gasped Robin.
"Alright! He made it!" cheered Franky. He looked over to Robin, who was still sulking despite everything.
"Hey, get that chin up. Most people wouldn't come here to save their friends. Hell, most people couldn't even get this far. Now, I know the only reason you agreed to this deal was to protect them, but you saw what happened. They don't give a damn about keeping their word to you or anyone else. The deal's off, even if you keep up your end. Only thing left is to wait around for them to save you. And yet, you're still sitting there looking miserable as ever. I'd bet you're running from something even your friends don't know about. I wouldn't worry about any of them dying in this place, but if you can't look them in the eye when they come, they won't be able to save you."
Luffy's voice carried through the room once again. "Hey! Is anyone there?"
Robin remained silent, prompting Franky to continue. "Well, like it or not, I'm gonna make you face them. And by the way, what's the story with that Itachi guy? From what I gather, he's not even part of the crew, and yet he's out there fighting just as hard as them to rescue you."
Robin remained silent, but if Franky didn't know better, he could have sworn her face went a little red when he mentioned Itachi.
On the courthouse roof, Luffy was staring at the tower while Itachi was moving towards the western tower.
"Luffy, can you go to that tower and pull the other lever?" he asked. "I know you can launch yourself there with your rubber powers, but we need to open the drawbridge so that everyone else can make it across as well."
"Yeah, good point," grinned Luffy. Then, the window shattered on the top floor of the Tower of Law, and Franky and Robin came flying out. They slammed into the fence, busting it loose from the mortar. Thankfully, Franky was able to jump back onto the balcony with Robin in hand before the fence plummeted down into the sea below.
"Oh hey, check it out!" said Luffy, motioning for Itachi to look. "It's Robin! And Franky's there, too!"
"Good, they're both in one place," said Itachi. "That will make things easier. Come on, let's get that drawbridge down."
"Right!" said Luffy, turning towards the eastern tower.
"Stop it!" cried Robin, stopping them both in their tracks. "How many times do I have to tell you? I'm not coming back, I'm not on your crew anymore, and I don't want you here! Why did you come to save me in the first place?! Why can't you just let me go?!"
Itachi shook his head. She still wasn't being honest with herself, even after the deal she made was obviously no longer valid.
"I never asked for this! You've gone too far, so for the last time, I don't want you here! You hear me? I just want to die!"
Franky turned around, apparently starting to yell at her, but was interrupted by a kick to the face from Kaku, and some other unknown person was behind him, presumably also from CP9.. The other members were using Shave and Moonwalk to quickly ascend the outside of the tower, landing on the balcony.
"Robin! I don't know what to say!" replied Luffy, picking his nose for some reason. "That sounds dumb. We already came all this way, so we're taking you back. Once we're all back together, if you still wanna die, then that's your choice."
As he was speaking, a whirlwind burst up from under the floor, carrying Nami and Chopper up with it. Nami managed to land gracefully on her feet. Chopper, not so much. Zoro, who was probably the one who caused this scene, climbed up from the newly made hole in the roof. Seconds later, Sanji busted another hole as he kicked his way up to the rooftop. Naturally, he immediately started bickering with Zoro. While they were going at it, Sniper King suddenly came into view, flying towards them as if he'd been thrown, landing headfirst on the roof.
"Come on, Robin!" continued Luffy. Work with me here! If you say you wanna die or whatever then that's fine, but when you say it, you say it as a part of our crew!"
Once Sanji and Chopper freed his head, they all began walking towards the crenelated wall, Itachi included, and took spots next to Luffy. From left to right, it was Chopper, Sanji, Sniper King, Luffy, Zoro, Nami, and Itachi standing atop the crenelations.
"From now on," declared Luffy. "Leave everything to us!"
"Zoro, what's the situation down below in the courthouse?" asked Itachi. "Are you aware of the drawbridge?"
"Yeah, the Franky Family is down there now working their way to the levers. It won't be long before they make it there, and then we can get to that tower."
"Stupid pirates!" laughed Spandam. "You may act tough, but you don't know what you're getting yourselves into! You don't really think you can defeat all of CP9, do you? And what about the Gates of Justice? You don't think you can open them, do you? And even then, if all else fails, I have this!" he held his right hand up in the air, with something glimmering and golden resting in his palm. "The Golden Transponder Snail! With this, I have the power to issue a Buster Call!"
Robin's eyes went wide with terror, her head filling with flashbacks of what happened on Ohara. "A Buster Call?! Anything but that! I'm begging you!"
Her desperation bolstered Spandam's bravado. "Begging? I like the sound of that. What, you don't want me to push this button and annihilate all your little friends?"
"You insane bastard," seethed Robin. "If you push that button, do you have any idea what will happen?"
"Of course I do. If I push the button, I eliminate any hope your friends have of escaping."
"If that's what you think will happen, you don't understand a damn thing!"
"Are all those old memories haunting you?" laughed Spandam after all. "Maybe I should just go ahead and press it. It could be fun." Spandam motioned towards the button with his finger.
"This isn't a joke! Stop it!" yelled Robin desperately, sinking to her knees.
"I give the orders around here, you bitch." seethed Spandam.
"You say Ohara was wiped off the map, but that doesn't begin to measure the lost lives of the people who lived there. There's only so much you can sacrifice in the name of justice, and a Buster Call is going too far! You want to know what really happened on Ohara? I'll tell you, and then maybe you'll understand why that's the dumbest move you could possibly make."
Robin recounted the tale of her time on Ohara, how the Buster Call was indiscriminate in who it eliminated, even going so far as to sink a ship full of innocent evacuees.
"If you trigger a Buster Call, everything will be eliminated, all of Enies Lobby and everyone on it. Including you."
"Nonsense!" replied Spandam. "They wouldn't kill a V.I.P. like me! Nice little bluff, but I'm not falling for it, wench!"
Robin stood and faced down the Straw Hats (and Itachi), no longer caring to entertain Spandam's idiocy.
"Twenty years ago, everything was taken from me and so many innocent people were killed, all at the push of a button. Now, that same destruction is threatening to take away the friends I've searched so long to find. The more I wish for us to be together, the more my ugly fate bares its fangs at you! Even now, no matter where we go, there's an enemy that haunts my every step. My enemy is the world and all of its darkness. First it was Aokiji, and now CP9. I've dragged you all into my problems twice now; if it goes on like this, no matter how much you may care for me, someday you'll come to see me as a burden, and be forced to throw me away like everyone else! That's what I'm most afraid of, don't you get it?! That's why I didn't want you to rescue me! This is the only future I have, and so I'd rather die to spare myself the pain, and all of you that fate!"
Itachi's face twisted in anger and he grit his teeth. Robin's story had hit a little too close to home for him. To be shunned by all and to have the whole world treat you like an enemy; that was a feeling he was all too familiar with. Even though he chose to bear that burden for the greater good in his previous life, it was still deeply painful. For someone like Robin, who never even had a choice in the matter, it must be even worse. When they first met, he got the sense that they were similar in some ways, but he hadn't realized how deep those similarities went. Hers was a deep and cold sort of pain; one he understood intimately.
Spandam cackled maniacally. "That's exactly right! Do you pirates understand now? No matter what you do, you can never stand against us!" Look at that flag!" he pointed up to the World Government flag waving atop the Tower. "This flag symbolizes the unity of over a hundred and seventy nations, spanning all four seas as well as the Grand Line! This is the world itself! No matter how loud you bluster, you can't possibly stand up to us!"
Luffy stared at the flag in question. "If that's Robin's enemy, then I know what to do. Sniper King, shoot down that flag."
"Roger," replied Sniper King, loading his new weapon, Kabuto. He launched a Firebird Star, shooting right through the World Government flag and setting it ablaze. Every one of the Straw Hats grinned. Normally, Itachi would be appalled by such a brazen move. His every instinct as a ninja told him this was an absolutely stupid decision. But for some reason, he couldn't help but grin along with them. They were a far cry from the strongest crew on the seas, but they had a bond unlike anything else he had seen in this world. Perhaps it was beginning to affect him, too.
"No way," breathed Robin, tears welling up in her eyes.
"Gahhh! You idiots!" screamed Spandam. "You're all going to die! You can't expect to challenge the entire world and win!"
"You just watch us!" screamed Luffy right back. "Bring it on! Robin, I still need you to tell me something! Tell me you wanna live!"
The words of everyone she had loved and lost came to her mind. From Saul telling her she'd find friends who loved her, to Itachi telling her to have faith in Luffy, to Luffy bluntly calling her out on her bluff. It was all just too much.
"I want to live!" she screamed, no longer holding back her tears. "Take me to the sea with you!"
Next to her, Franky was on the ground bawling. "I love you guys, dammit!"
Luffy cracked his knuckles, that signature goofy grin plastered across his face. "Let's roll!"
At that moment, the drawbridge to the Tower of Law began to lower, but the Marines shot it with a cannon to prevent it from fully extending.
"Damn, now what?" asked Sanji.
Spandam was giving orders to CP9 to get Franky and Robin to the Gates of Justice when he turned around and saw the former staring him down, holding out a stack of papers in his hand.
"Those aren't… those aren't the real blueprints for Pluton, are they?!"
"Oh, yeah," said Franky. "They're real." He started flipping through the pages to show them. "You can tell, can't you? Lucci and Kaku?"
Kaku studied the pages closely as Franky flipped through them. "Guess we should have seen this coming, considering you can hide weapons and soda in that cyborg body."
"I know the shipwrights of Water 7 passed these down through the generations, but it wasn't to revive the weapon. Robin, I gotta admit, the rumors I heard about you were pretty much all bullshit. Spandam, the reason Tom and Iceberg risked their lives to protect these is because if some power-hungry moron like you got them, the whole world could be destroyed. Now, I agree Nico Robin is dangerous. As long as people like you exist, her knowledge could be used for evil. But now, she has friends who will risk anything and everything for her sake, and I think they're up to the task. So, I'm making a bet. Now that everything's gone down like this, I gotta do things a little differently than those who came before me."
"Just shut up and hand them over already! They're mine!"
Franky held up the all-important blueprints for the Pluton battleship, and blew a jet of fire from his mouth, incinerating them right before Spandam's eyes.
"No!" screamed Spandam, desperately clawing at the ashes as they fell through the air.
"The reason we kept those around this whole time," explained Franky, "was to have a countermeasure in case you guys built some superweapon of your own. But now that it's come to this, destroying them is my only remaining option. I'd rather sacrifice my own plan than help with yours. I guess it's possible you could still build a weapon if you take Nico Robin through the Gates of Justice, but to do that, you gotta fight the Straw Hats, and I'm betting on them taking you down and getting her out of here. Once that happens, you'll have nothing left."
Spandam had had enough, and pushed Franky over the edge of the balcony towards the sea below.
Nami received a call on her Transponder Snail. "Hey guys, I heard everything," said Kokoro on the other end. "So why are you all just standing around?"
"We're not," replied Nami. "They busted the bridge, we can't get across!"
"It's halfway down, and that's more than enough!" replied Kokoro. "Just jump into the waterfall, trust me! I'll be there in a few seconds!"
"Was that Monster Granny? What'd she say?" asked Luffy.
"She said to jump down into the waterfall."
The sound of a train whistle emanated from behind.
"The Sea Train!" exclaimed Luffy. He stretched out his arms behind everyone, wrapping them around Chopper on one end, and Itachi on the other.
Oh, this won't be good, he thought to himself.
Luffy jumped, clotheslining everyone between Chopper and Itachi and sending them all plummeting towards the sea. As they were falling, the Sea Train Rocketman surged forward, intercepting their fall and using the partially opened drawbridge as a ramp to fly across the gap towards the tower. It had even managed to catch Franky and drag him along.
Spandam rushed to get Robin to the Gates of Justice, sending all of CP9 to take on the Straw Hats, with the exception of Lucci, who he assigned as his personal guard while he escorted Robin.
On the ground floor of the Tower, the situation was utter chaos. The Sea Train Rocketman crashed through the doors to the Tower, kicking up tons of rubble and dust. Once everyone had recovered and dusted themselves off, they made a run for the staircase, but were stopped by an oddly round-shaped CP9 agent with a zipper mouth named Fukurou clinging to the walls. He apparently wasn't very smart, as he flat out told the group that Robin was on her way to the Gates of Justice, and how to unlock her Sea Prism handcuffs by getting the key from CP9, but only one agent had the key to fit her cuffs, so they have to get them all, just in case. He even broke into song about it at one point, with Franky dancing to the beat.
"This guy is just stupid," said Itachi. "Letting him talk freely might be more effective than my Sharingan. In any case, we can worry about the keys later. The priority is Robin. Wasting our time getting the keys will be meaningless if we don't get her back first."
"If you try to ignore us and go straight for Nico Robin," said Fukurou, "then I'll just throw my key into the ocean. We were nice enough to give you a sporting chance, so you're gonna fight us first whether you like it or not."
"Fine," said Itachi bitterly. "If you insist." He leaped into the air above Fukurou in an instant, touching his feet to the ceiling. Brandishing a Haki-coated kunai, he kicked off as hard as he could, lunging down at his foe at full force, burying the blade in the back of his head and sending them both crashing to the floor. Fukurou was dead before he even landed, or even realized what happened. Itachi pried the key from his cold, dead hand.
"I'm tired of all this talk," he said bitterly as he walked towards the group. "Time for business. Normally, I dislike violence, but to rescue a comrade, I will kill whoever gets in the way."
The others were stunned at Itachi's brutal efficiency. All except Luffy, who was grinning from ear to ear. "Sounds like a plan! I'm gonna go ahead and go after Robin!"
Sanji was the first to recover. "Hang on Luffy, we need to come up with a plan. I'm guessing Rob Lucci is the guy with the parrot? From what that guy said, he's the only one they have guarding Robin."
"Yes, and Lucci is likely the strongest of the CP9 agents." replied Itachi.
"Well, there's only four other guys with keys, and seven of us," said Sanji. "Luffy's raring to go, so we can go ahead and send him to find Robin."
Luffy was halfway down the hallway before Sanji could even finish that sentence.
"The rest of us should split up and find the other agents," continued Sanji, unbothered. "We'll take them down and get their keys, then catch up with Luffy."
The pirates all went their separate ways to hunt down CP9, with Itachi tagging along with Nami.
It was slightly awkward at first, with the two remaining silent as they searched around for CP9. Eventually, Nami broke the silence.
"Hey, Itachi, mind if I ask you something?"
"Sure, what is it?"
"Why are you going through all this trouble for us? I mean, so far you've fought off Aokiji for us, stayed around to search for Robin on Water 7, infiltrated the Sea Train with Sanji, and now you're helping us fight the World Government. I know you said the other day that you do intend on accepting Luffy's offer and joining the crew, but why did you protect us from Aokiji in the first place? You chose to put your life on the line against an Admiral for a bunch of total strangers. Why?"
Itachi thought about it for a moment before answering. "You're right, I do intend on becoming a Straw Hat pirate alongside you all. And since that's the case, I suppose it's only right that you all know the truth about me. But, it's a long story, so I'd rather wait until we're all back together and out of this situation before telling it. Is that acceptable?"
Nami frowned. She was hoping for a straight answer, but she agreed that this wasn't the time for long-winded explanations.
"Fine, I can live with that for now. But when we get out of here, you better not leave anything out!"
Itachi smiled. Her demanding attitude brought back memories of Sasuke. "Of course. I promise to tell you everything."
Nami raised an eyebrow. "What's with that smile?"
"Nothing. You just remind me of someone, that's all."
Eventually they came to an intersection in the hallway. One path to the right, one to the left. They decided to split up, with Nami taking the right path and Itachi going left.
Itachi found no opponent down his path, but did manage to find a stash of weapons. A quick Fireball Jutsu set them all ablaze. Satisfied with this minor act of sabotage, he was about to leave when he noticed something. One of the katanas mounted on the wall was seemingly unaffected by the flames. The wooded mounts burned away, but even when the sword hit the floor blade first, it didn't even chip or dent. In fact, it cut into the concrete easily. The blade was a bit darker than normal, perhaps an aftereffect of it having been repeatedly coated in Armament Haki by a previous user.
For some reason, Itachi felt drawn to this sword. He'd heard of the different categories of Grade Swords, and had encountered some in the past throughout his travels, but this was the first time he'd felt the need to possess one. Once the flames dissipated and the sword remained unharmed, Itachi took it, as well as the scabbard that had been mounted above it, and placed them in his sash. He knew neither the sword's name nor its Grade, but he'd worry about that later.
"Well, that was interesting, but I don't think I'm gonna find any enemies this way. Suppose I should turn back and find Nami." He was about to head down Nami's hallway when a loud, low roar echoed throughout the building. He decided that sounded bad enough to warrant his attention more, and ran in the direction of the sound.
Meanwhile, Nami had run into Kumadori and swiped his key before escaping, Zoro and Sniper King encountered Kaku and Jabra and accidentally got handcuffed together, sending Chopper to find the number two key to undo their cuffs. Franky made his way to the kitchen to snag some cola to recharge, and ran into Chopper, who had been found by Kumadori. The ensuing fight proved difficult for both of them, with the CP9 agent's weird hair getting tangled up and jamming Franky's gears, preventing the use of most of his weapons. Chopper quickly ran through the majority of his Rumble Ball transformations and was still unable to gain any ground, with the situation becoming desperate enough to finally resort to Monster Point. The fight ended quickly after that, but unfortunately with Franky stuck in Kumadori's hair, he was caught in the crossfire and got hurt pretty badly.
Itachi arrived at the scene shortly after. Chopper had already left, but he spotted Franky lying on the floor looking pretty beat up. He rushed over, kneeling down to assess the damage.
"Franky! What happened to you?"
"That reindeer guy, he ate something and turned into this huge monster! He beat that CP9 guy easy, but he's mindless, and he can't tell friend from foe! I think he's climbing up the Tower right now."
"In that case, I'll go handle him." Itachi stood to leave, but Franky grabbed him by the ankle.
"Wait! That's not the most important thing right now. Listen, Sniper King and that sword guy accidentally got handcuffed together, and we gotta get 'em free. Remember that key you swiped from that big round guy? It has a number on it, what is it?"
Itachi pulled the key from his pocket to check. "Number four," he replied.
"Damn. We need the number two key to unlock their cuffs. Nami already managed to steal the key from the guy we were fighting; he had number three. Two of the other guys are busy fighting Sniper King and sword guy, and neither of their keys were it, so-"
"That just leaves the woman," completed Itachi.
"Yeah. You gotta find her and get her key."
"Understood. Thank you, Franky. Are you going to be okay?"
"Yeah, I'll be fine. If you find some cola lying around, though, keep me in mind."
Meanwhile, Luffy had caught up to Spandam, Robin, and Lucci, with help from Chimney and Gonbe to find the secret passageway to the Gates of Justice. He was confronting Lucci in a storage room along the passage after the latter told Spandam to go on ahead.
Spandam was climbing the stairs towards the Gates with Robin in tow, and pulled out his Transponder Snail, requesting status reports and backup.
Then, Robin noticed what he was holding, and the color drained from her face. "You… you didn't push that button, did you?!"
Spandam looked and realized he had been trying to use the Golden Transponder Snail, inadvertently issuing the Buster Call. He then received a report from his actual Snail, and while he and Robin argued back and forth about the morality of the Buster call, he forgot to turn off his actual Snail, broadcasting the conversation to the entirety of Enies Lobby.
Robin urged the masses to leave the island immediately, before the Buster Call came and wiped them all out, but Spandam cut the line and punched her.
Meanwhile, Nami was fighting Kalifa and was about to wrap up the battle with her Thunderlance Tempo.
Itachi arrived just in time to witness the finishing blow. "Looks like I missed all the fun," he joked.
"Yeah, seems like it," said Nami. "Could've used your help earlier."
"You seem to have this under control. By the way, Franky filled me in on the key situation. Hers is the last one, so it has to be the one to free Zoro and Sniper King."
"Sounds good." Nami began tearing at Kalifa's outfit, nearly stripping her completely before finding the key.
"By the way, have you seen Chopper come through here?" asked Itachi, completely unbothered by the scene playing out before him.
"Yeah, he was in this weird giant monster form and he seemed completely mindless! He kept heading up to the higher levels."
"Oh? That's convenient. Isn't that where Zoro and Sniper King are?"
"Oh yeah, that's right!"
Itachi turned towards the stairs. "Come on. Now that we have the key we should hurry. Once we get there, get Zoro and Sniper King free. I'll deal with Chopper. Also, I'm sure you heard about the Buster Call?"
"Yeah, and the drawbridge is still partly shut, so we can't get back that way to escape."
"True. Trying to go back that way is certain death."
"Certain death behind and a mysterious path ahead. Guess we gotta take the unknown."
"My thoughts exactly. We have to push ahead anyway to get to Robin, so we'll just have to figure something out once we get to the Gates of Justice."
Zoro and Sniper King were struggling. With the two of them cuffed together and the former using the latter as a surrogate sword, it was basically a two-on-one fight, with Zoro staring down both Kaku and Jabra.
Then, a giant monster appeared and chaos ensued. Chopper thrashed about, not discriminating friend from foe.
Itachi and Nami arrived and got right to work, with Nami unlocking the cuffs and Itachi rushing at Chopper, leaping up to eye level and forcibly calming him down with his Sharingan. The already exhausted Chopper easily fell under the Genjutsu, falling unconscious and crashing to the floor, reverting back to his normal state as he fell.
Nami ran over with the other two keys in her hand. "Itachi, you're the fastest one here, so take these and find Robin."
"Understood," said Itachi with a nod, turning to Kaku and Jabra. "Nami, take Chopper and keep him safe. Zoro, Sniper King, I leave these two in your hands."
"You got it," said Zoro. "We'll take these jokers out in no time now."
Itachi jumped off, plummeting to the ground. "The way I see it," he said after landing. "With those massive whirlpools, there's no way Spandam can get to the Gates of Justice by boat. They're so violent, I probably couldn't even use my waterwalking without getting swept up. There must be some secret passage that goes under the water to get there, but where?"
As if on cue, Chimney and Gonbe popped out of a box behind him. "We'll show ya!"
"Oh, it's you. Kokoro's grandkid, right?"
"That's right! We found a tunnel that leads to the Gates of Justice, and we'll take you right through if you want! We already showed Granny, she's down there now!"
"I suppose I couldn't have asked for much better. Lead the way."