Chapter Text
Conis whines, picking up her jacket from the debris. “It’s got a hole in it….”
“There were already holes in it,” Chopper says.
“For my wings,” Conis sniffles, picking up the jacket. There’s a third hole right through the train print on it. She shrugs it on anyway, and Chopper picks up Kumadori’s staff before they get on the makeshift sled composed of a slab of wood and rope.
Carue winds up, ready to move onward. A Den Den Mushi sits on his head, and a few more large Mushi are tucked in his bag. Conis picks them out of the sack, and now that they have a sled, she sets them down on it.
“We’re already behind schedule. We’ll need to hurry,” Chopper says. Looking upward— “on the bright side, I think there’s only one more we need to get to.”
He’s looking toward the Den Den Mushi transmission towers, blaring out the latest instructions to combat the progress of the King Bulls’ advance
“Nami-san’s such a slave driver,” Conis sighs. “How could we steal all of the Mushi towers and still make it over there in time to meet them? Even if we have Carue with us, it’s arduous work!”
Chopper chuckles. “Nami always works us to the bone!”
They set out quickly, leaving behind an unconscious Kumadori that’s been Gulliver’d to the ground.
“Do we need that staff?”
“Well, Nami always said to pillage our enemies when they’re down. I also got his wallet, this sewing kit, this kitchen knife, this comb—”
“Chopper-san, you’re weighing Carue down.”
“But if we miss anything Nami will be mad! You’ve not seen how happy Nami gets when we find shells in junk!”
“What the hell happened to you?!”
Wyper has spent the last minute taking a smoke break sitting on Fukurou’s back, still mildly charred and very injured, but basking in the post-victory afterglow for a moment of peace before continuing the war— when Chopper and Conis crosses his path.
A few blinks later,
“Oh, good timing,” Wyper raises his hand, bloody and twisted with a Reject Dial somewhere in the middle, “my wrist feels funny.”
Conis is staring at Wyper’s wing, which is vaguely in three pieces. That’s not to mention the bleeding holes in his chest, the ruptured arm with purpling blood vessels, and the lacerations across his face dangerously searing through an eye.
Conis drops everything she’s holding. Chopper throws it all into the air. Carue’s wings come up on either sides of his head to cover his ears just in time for Conis to wail and Chopper to shriek,
“Wyper WHY!”
“What the— Blueno! Where have you been?”
Spandam notices Blueno on the way in from an Air Door by his desk, and a sigh in the Den Den Mushi’s direction has Blueno setting the unlatched receiver back on the snail.
“Huh— Oh, how long has that been— nevermind, what were you doing? The top of the courthouse is a mess!”
“One of the pirates got that far,” Blueno enlightened him, and Robin and Anne perk up in the distance. “The one with the Straw Hat. Dealt with him, but it won’t be long before the rest of the group makes it up. There’s still no sign of Burglar Cat since the initial breach—”
“What the hell are the rest of CP9 DOING? Twiddling their thumbs?? Fucks’s sake—!!”
Purupurupurupuru— kachack!
“WHAT?!” Spandam snaps, picking up the Denden immediately.
“[Sir! Reporting in the casualty count— We’ve lost Agent Wanze, Agent Fukurou and Agent Kumodori! Of the soldiers—]” there’s a sharp shriek of signals being lost before the Denden abruptly cuts.
“Wha—” Spandam’s flabbergasted, “we lost Fukurou and Kumadori?! Explain that! HOW?”
Didn’t they go ahead and take the Strawhats out early? How are they done in already? Wanze is one thing, but they got done in before the common marine soldiers and assigned escorts? And who in that ragtag bunk of delinquents would have—
“Darn it, I thought the Burgar Cat and the Man-Demon were the only ones we had to watch out for… get me a call to Lucci, now! They ought to be back soon, what’s the holdup?”
Spandam curses, looking toward the Golden Den Den Mushi on the table, hands curling nervously.
Blueno sighs, leaving the room to where Robin and Anne sat. “Seems like your entourage is almost here.”
Anne hums at that. Robin sighs, disgruntled.
“How unfortunate,” Blueno says. “I went ahead and dealt with the captain, but as the situation comes, you’ll get a front row seat to their execution. Condolences.”
Robin clicks her tongue, frustrated.
Anne glances at her as Blueno leaves.
“That’s why I told them to leave me alone.”
“You knew this was coming,” Anne says. “Aren’t you used to it by now? Watching the people you swear loyalty die, so you can live?”
Robin’s silent for a moment before she admits, “this time is different.”
She didn’t love the others the way she loves the Strawhats.
Anne leans back against the wall, nursing the wound on her leg that’s stopped bleeding, but now is raw and festering.
“Hey, Robin,” Anne turns to her. “What kind of emotion is ‘Hope’?”
Robin doesn’t lift her head.
“I wouldn’t know,” Robin says, “I’ve learned to discard that emotion long ago.”
Robin is one that discards emotions as she tries to survive. Anne is one that’s never had emotions, because it was never necessary for survival.
“Aren’t you tired?” Anne asks. “Of always needing to save yourself? Of always trying to do that, knowing in the end, no one wants you to live?”
Robin squeezes her eyes shut at that. She’s been saved by others rarely in her life– always needing to run, to act, to do all she can to live a little longer.
But no one wants her alive. That’s a fact.
“Aren’t you spoiled?” Robin says, and she couldn’t help the bitterness in her tone. “Always sitting there— simply waiting to be saved?”
There is always someone that wants Anne alive.
Anne blinks at that. “Do you want to live, Robin?”
Robin doesn’t answer that. “You won’t understand.”
They’re not the same.
Anne heaves a sigh. She knows that they’ll come— whether they want it or not, whether they have a chance to win or not— they’ll come save them both. Even if there’s no way in her head that all of them can make it back home safe, back out into the seas— they’ll come.
Because they’re stupid like that.
“Everyone will probably die,” Anne says.
Robin doesn’t deign her with a response.
Robin dreads the time. Anne, however— will likely see it as just another part of the process in her life. It wouldn’t be the first time, after all.
“When I went to save Baroque Works, after Alabasta… it felt really weird,” Anne admits. “I didn’t really get it. But it was the first time I saved people. It was the first time I was able to make sure that people didn’t die because they were no longer useful to me.”
She had power, as a Strawhat. With Egin by her side, just as Chaser’s always promised her— she enjoyed freedom.
“It was nice,” Anne says, “it was something I could only do as a pirate.”
“Don’t make me laugh, Egin!” Jabra roars, though he can’t even get up anymore, the lightning strikes leaving chronic shivers in his very bones, his very nerves overdriven and his heart rate shuddering.
Nami doesn’t approach the wolf. Gin stands behind her, back to hers, refusing to look over at the other Berserker as Nami destroys him in the fight.
The thing with fights against Nami— she takes a while to set up the lightning terrain, but once you’re in her field of Weather Balls— you’ll no longer have a chance to fight back. One may call it a cowardly way of fighting, because once one of her comrades buy enough time, she’s a safe distance away while you’re at the mercy of her attack, and you’ll find it much too difficult to get close enough to retaliate.
As long as you’re not resistant to electricity, she’ll always win.
Jabra, however, barks more than he bites.
“You really are hiding behind a woman right now!” feral cackling, “aren’t you ashamed of yourself? The strongest, sturdiest Berserker of Cipher Pol, cowering and trembling while someone else fights his battles! What do you think you were made for?”
Nami’s honestly a little peeved. She would step forward if she didn’t think Gin really needed the physical contact right now, and somehow, Jabra just wasn’t losing consciousness.
Tenacious, she’ll give him that. Maybe being in the ‘Chaser’ category had something to do with it— he wouldn’t give up, until he got to his target. Even if this means forcing himself to stay awake past his limits.
“You’re useless if you’re not using your strength!” Jabra howls. “Unactivated, you’re just someone with a little stronger arms, and so what? You’re nothing compared to a giant, and even your bones are fragile compared to Marianne! You’re nothing if we don’t make you a little crazy for your own sake! Admit it, you have to be protected everywhere you go, do you really think you can survive out there in the Grand Line like this?”
Gin’s fists clench.
“Do you really think you have the right to live out there? Do you really think a Berserker like you can pretend to be out there, as a human?”
Gin’s teeth grind, his shoulders shaking.
With a sigh, Nami leans back, resting her weight on him.
“Oh, save us the spiel,” Nami scoffs at Jabra, “humanity’s overrated.”
Gin perks up at that.
That’s right— Nami’s family, the ones at Cocoyashi— they live in harmony with the Fishmen. Not even caring that they’re dangerous, they’re ten times stronger than humans— she’s got a brotherhood with them that’s unbreakable. And they adore her.
“Haven’t you heard?” Nami says. “Our captain’s pretty fond of crazy. It doesn’t matter if you’re a transforming tanuki, or a giant duck, or a flaming catbus— bring it on! He’ll happily accept a fishman, a cyborg or a skeleton! And he’ll be the one chasing them down to extend an invitation. You think Gin even scrapes the surface of our absurdity?”
Jabra’s jaw drops. “You can’t be serious—”
“I’ve got half limbs of metal,” she says. “We have a blind man that neve misses. We have the Demon of the East. We have a pair of angels. And we have superheroes. You name it, we have it— who knows? We’re pirates. No one can tell us what’s too far!”
She turns around, and hooks her flesh arm around Gin’s, dragging him forward.
“You fit in perfectly, Gin!” she says. “We’ll die out at sea without you!”
Gin bites down on his bottom lip.
“Yeah,” he chokes out. “But honestly, I think I’d die out at sea with you guys instead. You guys are way too damn reckless for me.”
Nami laughs, “you’ve got that right!”
Jabra’s tongue-tied. “What utter bollocks— do you have any idea what a Berserker out of control can do to anyone, indiscriminately? And you’re willing to keep that beast on your ship?”
Nami hums. “Not sure. Do you have any idea what I can do to anyone, indiscriminately? Especially after they make one of my crew sad?”
Jabra gulps.
Nami nods, “yeah.”
In just one section of the island, lightning rained.
“That reminds me of…”
Vice Admiral T-Bone watches it in muted awe, from the pillars of the courthouse. Vivi inspected the levers of the drawbridge, but glances out the window with him as he points it out.
“Wow,” Vivi breathes.
“She’s definitely a New World Veteran,” T-Bone says. “As the CP9 are mainly active here in the first half, they stand little chance against her if she pulls out all the stops. Especially since Rob Lucci’s group has been undercover in Paradise for the past five years… they’re quite behind, in terms of experience, knowledge, many things. Not to say this battle will be easy, but the difference it makes…”
Vivi takes that in.
“Knowledge…” it’s a vital power. So vital, Robin is doomed to death for it, and they took Anne to keep more of it. They sealed off a century of history— a decision the Nefertari abandoned their godhood to protest against.
Right now, they are severely outnumbered. According to Nami, the Buster Call is still held over their heads. Even if they can win, one on one— they’ll be cornered eventually.
So, in truth— knowledge is their greatest weapon against them all now.
“Vice Admiral,” Vivi addresses.
“Yes, Miss Wednesday?” comes the response.
Vivi can’t help but smile at that. He’s such an indulgent older man. “I know you used your 98th good deed of the day to spare me— but would you mind using the 99th to help me, too?”
The Vice Admiral huffs. “Well… pitch the offer, I may consider.”
Vivi nods.
“I don’t know if we’ll be able to use this… but I need you to organize a getaway ship for us,” she says. “In the case where we need to escape into the Tarai Current, I want to use your ship and certification to get us past the Gates of Justice.”
T-Bone frowns.
“But once you enter the current, you won’t be able to leave it. It will only lead to Impel Down and Marineford from there.”
Vivi clenches her fist. “I know, but—” she glances at the raining lightning once more, and her tension eases, “we’ll find a way.”
T-Bone sighs.
“I struggle to call this a good deed— but my ship is prone to stowaways,” T-Bone says. “Recruits often sneak on, on trips past the Calm Belt. I’ve tried many times to stop such incidents, but one always slips past my detection,” he glances at her. “So, if another were to sneak on… I suppose it would once again be my oversight.”
Vivi grins.
“You’re a good guy, T-Bone!” she pats him on the back, “thanks! I’ve got to go now! I need to meet my captain up top.”
T-Bone falters at her callous behavior— but falters again.
“Your captain?”
She’s gone before he gets to finish his sentence.
“But there’s no one on the roof at the moment…”
“Do I get to cut something yet?”
Coby spins around to Zoro so abruptly, Zoro actually jerks back slightly in alarm before Coby resists the urge to yell for the tenth time that day.
With a deep, agonized sigh and a blind claw at the air, Coby emphasizes, “Zoro-san, please . You could’ve cut something a long time ago if you’d just, you know,” he tries his best to phrase this not too rudely before giving up, “ not gotten lost.”
To which Zoro defends, “I wasn’t lost! Luffy just disappeared somewhere along the way!”
“Yeah, and you were supposed to be with Wyper.”
Zoro clamps shut at that. Then, poutily, “he disappeared too.”
“Zoro, the two of you were supposed to be in front of the King Bulls. You know, the rampaging, gigantic steamrolling sea kings bulldozing a straight line through the center of this island?”
Zoro can’t even look Coby in the eye as he murmurs, “they disappeared too.”
Coby glances to the side, to the gunfire, collapsing buildings, explosions, and war cries of the Yagaras, Franky Family, Oimo and Kashii— all rampaging their way to the courthouse with mad destruction in their wake. It’s literally the biggest and most prominent source of noise on all of the island, considering it’s literally the biggest intruding force where most of the military force is focused on at the moment.
Coby stares back at Zoro.
“You know what,” Coby affirms, hands up in defeat, “that’s okay. I still love you no matter what.”
And he walks away.
“Wha—” Zoro’s flabbergasted, “Cob— don’t walk away! COBY! Explain— don’t deliberately look away, this conversation isn’t over!”
When a deaf man walks away from you, the conversation is, in fact, over.
Miraculously, when Zoro does make it up to the roof with Coby, Sanji is up there with Vivi, the former taking a smoke. The King Bulls are still a fair distance away— but they’ll be here any moment. They’re the main reason the courthouse is basically easy pickings to sneak around in.
Suu and Tyrannosaurus are sleeping off a very satiated food coma or something, but Zoro crouches down to inspect them for a moment before deeming them okay to be left alone.
“Did you get it?” Coby asks.
“The key to the armoury and treasury to offer to Nami-san? Yes,” Vivi says.
“Dinner prepared? Also yes,” Sanji says.
Coby takes a flabbergasted moment to reconsider his life before he says, “I was referring to the Seastone Shackles, their keys, and the blueprint of the Tower of Justice.”
Sanji and Vivi stares at him, silent and blank, like this is the first they’ve heard of it.
“...May I suggest a new thing on the Strawhat agenda?” Coby swings to Zoro, bargaining desperately, “something called priorities . You may have never heard of it, I know—”
“We’re joking! We’re joking!” Sanji clarifies, raising the keys and boxes, “I got it!”
“I got it, I really do!” Vivi adds, taking out a handful of things into her arms, “I also got listed codes, signal flares, and various alarms that can be used to access restricted areas!”
Coby winds back to them, threateningly, “please don’t bully me ever again, I will cry!”
With a deep sigh, Zoro ignores them.
“But more importantly…” he glances around, the roof is partially destroyed, clearly a battle has happened here recently— but it’s empty. “Where’s Luffy?”
Paulie watches Usopp work– and he has no idea what’s happening.
Usopp aims, firmly forward. He’s not perturbed by the shaking of the ground, by the stutter of the rickety crossbow parts.
Usopp focuses, and focuses— and his eyes gleam with a force Paulie almost thinks is suffocating— Usopp stares forward with his eyes that don’t see enough, and yet, seem to at that moment see right through everything.
“Presence. Strength. Emotion, and Intent: the four pillars of Observation,” he murmurs, “not good enough yet, but it’ll do.”
Huh?
“Right now on the roof… other than Luffy, there’s Sanji, Zoro, Vivi,” Usopp says. “Nami’s almost there. Climbing up the wall. Gin’s right behind her. Conis and Chopper coming up with Carue and Wyper on the stairs. Good. Everyone’s here… almost.”
Paulie whirls around. They’re in sight of the courtroom now— and he can see that Usopp is right. But Luffy’s not there, so why does he insist he’s there?
How is he right?
“Blueno’s powers. Can’t sense it, can’t feel it, can’t hear it. I know exactly where Luffy is with this haki, but I need to get him out.”
He closes his eyes and thinks. And rambles, gears turning slowly in his head.
“Something rumbled,” he notices, “did he hit something? He can hit things inside. The sound? The sound… it doesn’t translate to the real world, but the impact is registered on his side. For a second, there’s a distortion. A mild ripple in the door world. Can I use that?”
Usopp seems to have completely forgotten Paulie is there, and Paulie can’t help but stay quiet. He glances aside and notices Iceburg, too, is watching in silence.
“Luffy’s sound is agitated. He must be annoyed that they can’t see him. They’re fighting over where he is? That’s good,” Usopp says. “Just about now, Sanji and Zoro should be picking a fight. Chopper is treating Gin’s wounds… fifteen seconds until Nami scolds them. Conis is between them, trying to stop the argument. That’s my shot.”
Usopp finally moves, hopping down the crossbow to adjust the aim and tighten the notch, lifting the girdle just a little higher.
“Gin’s in the conversation. Chopper is coming to stop them— Nami’s gotten stirred by the fight and started yelling, too. Now, Vivi’s joining in to get them back on track,” Usopp whispers. “Luffy will lose his patience and throw a punch at them in three,”
He pulls back the bow with a foot. He’s not even looking in the direction of the courthouse, just focused on dragging the oversized crossbow’s bow as far back as his strength can give.
“Two, and—”
He lets the arrow loose by leaping off, flipping his legs upward and retrieving his Kabuto right then.
“One!”
He fires something out of his slingshot, just two paces behind the arrow.
Paulie’s eyes follow, enthused to know what’ll happen next.
“What do you mean, Luffy’s not here?”
Luffy’s about ready to disown his own damn crew.
“I AM! I’M RIGHT HERE!” he shrieks, right into Zoro’s ear, “ZORO! HEY, ZORO!”
Nami frowns, coming up the roof with Gin— who also frowns. “I thought Luffy was supposed to head straight here? Do you think he jumped ahead to the Tower of Justice?”
“I wouldn’t doubt it, but it wouldn’t be so peaceful over there if he did.”
“That’s strange… I can’t feel him with Haki either,” Coby says, and that alarms everyone. “Ah, don’t worry, he’s alive— I can tell that much… but his presence is scattered around this roof. It’s almost like…”
“I can’t feel him at all…” Nami murmurs, “is he in trouble?”
“Kind of… but,” Coby says, “it’s a bit tricky. It’s a Devil Fruit situation… it’s not as simple as just needing Armament, too, since it’s a Paramecia…”
“Wait, are you saying—”
“I’M RIGHT HERE!” Luffy yells, frustrated at this point. “SANJI! VIVI!” he’s desperate, but as he turns too sharply into Sanji he’s blown back by a violent rebound that knocks him to his bottom and leaves his ears ringing. “Wha… come on, Chopper! You can hear me, right?”
Instead, Chopper turns right past Luffy and toward Gin, “another one of you! Wyper was just as bad— reckless buffoons! Sit down!”
Chastised, Gin does as told, “yeah…”
“And tell me what hurts!”
“Uhh… my hand bones are broken.”
“WHAT?”
“I punched a wolf. And when I missed I think I punched a wall. Also ran into a few? I don’t remember.”
“How do you not reme– do you have a concussion?!”
“Uh…”
Chopper makes a high-pitched noise of despair. “YOU’RE JUST AS BAD AS WYPER! Why are all of you like this!”
Meanwhile, the Observation Haki proddlers are trying to figure out where the monkey is through the veil. They could figure out Blueno’s Devil Fruit power had something to do with it, but the annoying nature of that power was how you could only sense his location the second he reached for the Air Door to exit. Blueno’s domain is tricky to bypass like that, even for Coby.
Sanji frowns, “he’s definitely around here… I don’t know why but…”
“Why’s Sanji getting a more accurate pinpoint than you?” Nami sighs.
Coby’s offended, “Nami-san, you know my thing is I hear far and wide. I’m not good at making things out, okay? Plus, it’s really noisy for some reason… I can’t get any closer.”
“If Usopp were here… his thing is precision.”
“He’s still on the King Bull. We can handle this ourselves.”
“Darn, this is why our whole at-his-own-pace Captain can be such a pain,” Nami groans, “we always have to pick up after him!”
Something annoys Luffy about that line. Getting backhandedly criticized like this is normal— all in good fun, he’s a pain in the ass and they’re strung along for it, and that’s how it’s always been. It’s their thing.
But something about the way Nami said it just— doesn’t sit well, right now.
“Isn’t that what we all signed up for,” Sanji sighs. “Strange we can’t hear a thing, though. This door thing blocks out sounds and everything?”
“Yeah… only reason we even know he’s here is Haki,” Coby says. “If we had Conquerors, maybe we could shatter it… Armament’s not enough. This isn’t something you can brute force. Not that my Armament’s good enough.”
“Maybe if I just blindly swing around with Armament—” Nami makes her staff fully coated, “I’ll get him eventually?”
“Mutiny,” Zoro says, curtly.
Vivi lifts her head up from where she was helping Chopper, “Nami-san, rank up.”
“Rude.”
“Marimo, you’re not exactly being helpful here so could you be quiet,” Sanji groans.
“Like you’re being anymore helpful?”
“At least I’m trying —”
“Just let Nami and Coby do their thing, your only purpose here is to look pretty and jump in when it’s your cue anyways.”
“So uncalled for, is it a fight you want?!”
“Isn’t that the whole reason you dressed up? To be some kinda Prince Charming?”
“I mean, YES, but it’s shitty when you say it!”
Luffy watches as Zoro and Sanji dissolve into their childish fights again. He wants to laugh at their antics in this serious time— especially when he sees Nami starting to get irritated.
“Hey, Zoro!” he calls.
But he isn’t heard, no matter how loudly he shouts for them.
No one sees him, even though he’s right beside them.
And when he reaches for them, all he hits is a wall of impact— they don’t feel a thing. They can’t feel his touch at all. And neither can he.
Conis steps in first, “come on, Zoro-san, Sanji-san!” she pushes them aside after inserting herself in the middle, “this isn’t the time to fight… please?”
Sanji looks ready to back down, but Gin speaks up.
“This really isn’t the damn time,” Gin groans. “We need to get Luffy out here right now— it’s a Devil Fruit user, right? Then we just need to find him, beat him up, and—”
“Gin!” Chopper scolds, “you’re in no condition! I know you heal a little better than average humans, but at least give yourself thirty minutes!”
Gin flinches. “I don’t–”
“Yes you do! I’m the doctor here, I know your body’s weird!”
Gin clamps shut, “alright, but that’s besides the point, we need to find the Devil Fruit user and beat the shit out of him—”
“Break it up, all of you,” Nami snaps. “Zoro, Sanji, that’s enough! Gin’s right— we just need to find Blueno, but the problem is, the power doesn’t deactivate when we knock him out! We need to make him release Luffy from it— it’s a delicate issue I can’t really leave up to most of you barbarians.”
“As if you’re any better!” Gin and Zoro snap.
Logically, Luffy knows this is fine— it’s fine that he just has to wait now, patiently, for his crew to come and save him. That’s their job— to clear his path, to come for him and catch him on his road to be king.
Actually, no.
That doesn’t sound right.
Luffy wants to lead the charge. He wants to bust things down first. He doesn’t need them to save him— he’s here to save them. He’s the one that’s supposed to come to their help. Robin and Anne— how can he think of saving them both when he needs his nakama to coddle him through a small problem like this that’s caused by his own carelessness?
What kind of captain is he?
(That captain Nami and Usopp see in their hearts— would he have made this mistake? No. No, he wouldn’t.)
(He wouldn’t let something as dumb as not being heard, seen, or felt come in the way of connecting to his nakama.)
“Now, now,” Vivi finally gets up, “let’s not fight. Blueno’s at the Tower of Justice, right? We’re planning on heading there the second we get the bridge down, anyways. Let’s just go ahead of schedule.”
“Yeah…” the tensions ease at this point. They don’t really have a choice now.
Yeah, actually.
That’s really annoying. He hates that he can’t help but think of that man when he’s here, right now, trying to keep his own crew together.
The Pirate King of the Future wouldn’t make a mistake like this. The Pirate King of the Future wouldn’t stumble like this.
That’s— honestly such a pain in the ass.
He’s here to journey. He’s here to be a pirate. He’s here to be free.
Why is he letting himself be dragged down by the expectations of a man he hasn’t even met? This journey is supposed ot be for Shanks. For Ace. For himself.
Why is he letting his ‘future’ dictate him? When has he ever cared about destiny, fate, and all that nonsense?
Fists balls up whiteknuckled, he yells.
“This is all because YOU GUYS are just ignoring me!” he yells, swinging into the middle of Sanji and Zoro as their swords and feet clash. “I’ve had enough! STOP LEAVING ME OUT!”
Aflicker in the distance, something launches their way, a low whizz in the winds.
Luffy’s fist collides with the hilt of Wado Ichimonji and Sanji’s boot— and the reverberance in the air door world is a fissure that shakes him to his very core.
He sees the moment Sanji and Zoro perk up with alarm— feeling it, just so slightly, in their souls— and they rebound, painfully— as if they’d struck something neither of them could see,
“Wha—”
“Did you—”
Sanji is the first to break out of their stunned state.
“ZORO, DOWN!”
Zoro’s eyes widen, confused— but Sanji’s foot swings down to the hilt of the Wado Ichimonji once more, and this time, Zoro doesn’t resist, letting the swing drag him down— right out of the way of a harpoon that soars where his head once was.
Luffy notices the arrow the moment before it tears through the remnant ripples of their impact— and he could only barely move his face out of the way before it snags his vest— and he’s launched with its momentum, ripped out of the door world with a startled scream.
If Luffy’s ever wondered how normal humans felt when he rubber-whips them through the skyline, now he understands.
Nami and Coby react to the arrow, but they both falter.
Usopp—???
Instinctively, they tried to help— but they didn’t know, in that flustered moment, what to do. Their heads knew Luffy was being targeted— but their bodies froze, because this was Usopp , and Usopp was to be trusted . Usopp knew what he was doing. What is a family, if they didn’t trust the sniper to not aim at the back of their heads?
The harpoon split the fabric of the world into two, wrenching a red vest into faltering view— the ripples of the world shudders through with Luffy’s voice , a startled yelp.
But it’s not enough. Luffy stumbles, but as soon as he spills out of the world, he seems to stagger back into it, the harpoon’s momentum yanking him out of it mildly before slipping out of it and losing hold of the rest of Luffy’s body.
And then came the pachinko bullet.
It plunges into the other side of Luffy’s vest— reaching the end of the roof, it embeds into the wall, and the thrum of a drum’s beat shatters the door world like glass, knocking Luffy into the cement with a gasp.
The harpoon gouges into the wall, shattering it before lodging fully inside. The pachinko bullet has drilled a hole through his vest and into the pillar.
Luffy sits there, abruptly back in the real world, shellshocked, and absolutely mortified, he struggles to grasp what the fuck just happened to him.
There’s a moment of mortified silence.
Then, Conis, Vivi and Chopper yell for him.
“LUFFY!”
They jump for him to bury him in hugs.
Luffy lets out a confused scream, “I’m— BACK??? HuGyyEH?!?”
Nami’s eyes lift from Luffy to the distance— to the King Bulls— and she notices along the way that Coby’s covering his mouth, starstruck— and Zoro and Sanji stare out, equally speechless and in awe. Gin’s eyes are wide with horror.
Nami finally manages,
“Holy shit, Usopp…”
Usopp laughs, “hah! It was totally a low blow to aim for Zoro’s back, but it was the only blind spot Luffy had that he wouldn’t dodge from. And Sanji wouldn’t know it was me, so I knew he’d get Zoro out of the way. That’s not betrayal, right?” he asks. Then, lowly, “oh, but Zoro is so going to punch me for this. I’m a little scared.”
Paulie’s slack-jawed.
“Tha— holy— you actually managed to—”
Iceburg hasn’t stopped staring at Luffy in the distance, absolutely unable to say a thing. Kinoko huffs, proudly, returning to her spot on Usopp’s shoulder. Merry squeals, jumping in her spot, Chimney and Gonbe joining her in the frantic squeak cheer routine.
The entire Franky Family— the giants, too— they stand, unable to believe what they’d just seen. They saw that thing get made. It’s a rickety, on-the-spot creation, fired from an unstable platform, by a man with his eyes closed—
If Franky understands anything about the Strawhats at this point, it’s that they’re completely batshit crazy.
The journey to Enies Lobby has been a straight arrow to their goal— to save their friends. Didn’t matter that they’d left willingly, didn’t matter that this arrow was going into the den of the gods, they plunged headfirst into it, without even hesitating.
Franky was always fated to come here— whether in chains, or with guns blazing— he knows he was always fated to end up here. He’s been chasing the train to this place ever since Tom was taken. He’s traversing on the same road as all those years ago, and doing what he wanted to do, too many years too late.
They couldn’t save Tom.
But maybe they could save Robin, even if everyone cursed her as a devil, even if fate wills that their life and achievements were null and a crime.
This is a crew that will go anywhere, and do anything— bring hell or high water, they will charge through it.
All they needed was a way to get there. A ship, a legion, an army. A host of dreams, all heading toward the same place— together. They’ll bring the war with them, and they’ll come out victorious.
Free, flamboyant, living life with a Don .
Just like how Tom always described Oro Jackson.
In the Tower of Justice, Blueno jerks back, and spins around, violently.
This catches the attention of Robin and Anne, but Blueno’s eyes are wide with disbelief.
“That’s impossible…!”
For Blueno, his only means of survival within the capability-intensive Cipher Pol was his Devil Fruit, which was much too useful to be discarded.
Even the greatest of Haki users found the dimensions difficult to navigate and determine— they couldn’t sense him well, even if he were right beside them. it was a Paramecia, too, which meant it didn’t have a straightforward counter. This made him indispensable in the Grand Line.
But now—
—now, someone had just broken through it.
(How? He needed to know. He needed to fix it. Erase it, quick, before anyone notices.)
Blueno wasn’t part of the three-man cell. He had no enhancements, his Doriki was nothing special, and his Rokushiki only the bare minimum. If his one thing that helped him stand on this stage for so long is taken away, too…
…he would have nowhere else to go.
(He can’t have that. He can’t)
Who did it? It can’t have been the inexperienced rubber boy. The rest of the crew has gathered on the roof, and what an ensemble it was.
“That freaked me out! What the hell was that!” Luffy wails, tears in his eyes, “don’t do that!”
“Oh lord,” says the man donned in a suit and a mask, “now this reminds me of a story Usopp told me in the Baratie.”
Usopp. There’s that name again. Luffy has mentioned him— but Blueno doesn’t see anyone that could be him yet. He knew Soru and Geppo— and now, Haki as well? It’s not even in the level of Haki, what did he do to break the air door world?
Did he break the sound barrier?
“Another thing in the Colourimotone Cinematic Universe?”
The woman donned in a dress and a mask exclaims, “the what universe? How could all of you leave me out of it?”
“Let me guess,” says Burglar Cat, “about the man that hails from Sniper Island, who could aim at anything— from the eye of a mouth to your heart— right?”
She giggles as she says this.
“Why does he always come up with the cheesiest shit?” asks the Man-Demon.
The pet tanuki perks up, “really?!”
“Yeah,” says the young boy with pink hair, that was neither in wanted posters nor the scouting reports in Water Seven. “I remember it. The greatest sharpshooter in the world— the King of Snipers himself. He was later unmasked.”
There’s a gasp. “Who was it?” Conis asks.
Miss Wednesday chuckles. “Well, who else could it be?”
They glance out into the distance— to where the King Bulls were grinding to a stop before the courthouse. Atop the giants, standing upon a crossbow contraption, majestic and hailed with the winds and the sun—
—a single man stood, overseeing the group at the courthouse’s roof.
Luffy leaps up.
“USOPP!” Luffy roars, absolutely furious. “Don’t do that! You gave me a fright!”
And Zoro adds, “you piece of crap, you fucking aimed for my back, you asshat!”
And Usopp, the King of Snipers, chuckles sheepishly, “oh come on, it worked, didn’t it? Cut me some slack.”
“YEAH,” Luffy grumbles, still irate, “I expected no less from my sniper!”
The smile that perks up on their faces— it annoys Blueno, to no end. As flanderized as this King of the Snipers could be— how could they have missed someone as dangerous as that in their initial reports?
But no matter.
Right now— Blueno couldn’t let this stand. Lucci is on the horizon, but they can’t come to learn that the remainder of the forces here didn’t manage to take down a single one of these Strawhats in their siege.
Not only would it be the world’s worst embarrassment— Blueno would have to die here to make up for their mistakes.
He can’t. He didn’t survive so far to die here.
He has to achieve something .
(That’s right.)
(Pluton’s blueprints. That’s still on the agenda. He’ll have to get that.)
(But before then…)
The air door is secured. No one can tell exactly where he is— except, perhaps, that sharpshooter. So, Blueno has to strike before he gets closer. The one with pink hair seems uneasy, but the other Haki users are too distracted.
He has to take someone down with him.
Getting out of the air door realm will give him away.
So— the next best option is a gun. He thumbs off the safety, and chooses wisely. He’ll open just enough of a gap for the bullet— he’ll effectively have a soundless, senseless bullet, undetectable until the very last second.
“Who should I aim at?”
The decision is easy. Egin won’t die from a gunshot, and they need him. The captain’s made of rubber, and using Haki on a bullet has never been easy for him. He shouldn’t take risks.
Franky leaps forward onto the rooftop, ahead of his family as they break off— seemingly to fight the remaining marine forces finally congregating, and to get the drawbridge down.
“You’re ridiculous, Strawhat! Your crew’s insane!”
“Right?” he looks proud. “My crew’s the best!”
“Sheesh,” Iceberg gets onto the roof, too, “for a moment I thought I’d seen the craziest the world had to offer… but you keep proving me wrong.”
The white-haired child in a raincoat leaps for the Pirate Hunter, who quickly settles the fox and mouse in her hands before sending her off to the tanuki with a pat on the head.
He has to aim at someone that will inevitably be a big, whopping loss, someone who he can’t defeat fairly. And then, right after— he’ll go for Iceburg, who is just an average human, yet most likely has the blueprints.
The decision is simple.
“Goodbye,”
He aims the gun at Burglar Cat Nami’s temple.
“You’ve been a thorn in the side of the World Government for long enough.”
“Hey.”
The way Blueno froze, he couldn’t describe it. It was like every cell in his body froze in its place with sheer, prey instincts— he couldn’t move, he couldn't breathe—
—the single word out of the cacophony seemed to come right through the barrier of the air door realm, and when he turned around, fearfully— Monkey D. Luffy stares right at him, a hand clenching his hat, his eyes firm with unadulterated anger .
“Did you really think I’d let you do that?”
Blueno couldn’t move.
Right now, he feels small. Smaller than this pirate with barely a name to his notoriety, a man who he’d thought was only sitting upon a pedestal held up by the Burglar Cat and the Man-Demon, whom no one understood. A man that didn’t deserve his title of captain.
He felt so, so small. It made no sense that Luffy could see him, know where he was— and it made even less sense as Luffy winded back and clearly spun his arms back for a devastating blow, it couldn’t and shouldn’t hit Blueno .
Yet, Blueno knew, for a fact, that it would. It made no sense. But as his knees crumbles and his finger trembled away from the trigger, he understood.
He understood that this was the will of a Conqueror , whose Haki was telling his Devil Fruit abilities just what he thought of his realm— and he stepped back, not fast enough.
“JET BULLET!”
As Blueno felt himself shatter the glass between dimensions, through buildings, windows, and sound itself. He knew nothing else, not even when his momentum finally ceased and he curled in a twisted heap against the wreckage of his trajectory.
To the Strawhats, Luffy’s actions had shot off alarm bells in their heads, but Luffy had whipped out that Jet Bullet so abruptly, it was all they could do to reach for each other and hold on. Zoro and Sanji held down Merry, Suu, and Tyrannosaurus— Gin pulled down Vivi and Chopper to his side— and Conis lunges for Wyper, who was taking a nap oN Carue’s back, holding on firm. Franky puts himself before Iceburg, and Nami stood shock still, bracing herself for the aftershocks as it engulfs her.
No one missed the devastating way Blueno was send soaring off into the distance, shattering every building in his way.
Luffy adjusts the position of his hat, and straightens with a sigh.
“Pissed me off,” he mutters.
“Luffy-san…” Coby’s windswept and befuddled, “how did you… break through Blueno’s air door realm… just like that? ”
“Huh?” Luffy scowls, “Usopp did it twice! Of course I’d figure it out! And that stupid cow-horned asshole tried to shoot Nami right in front of me AGAIN? Like is he stupid or something? Did he think I would leave him alone?? And can you believe what that asshole called me? I’M the captain and he just— geez, thinking about it pisses me off! Forget it, I’m eating my emergency meat!”
He marches off, huffing and puffing, toward the Tower of Justice while he pulls out a hunk of meat on the bone from his pockets— completely missing the way every single Strawhat looked back at him in utter disbelief.
“Huh?”
Usopp drops down on the roof with his walking stick and Paulie at his side. He thanks Oimo for the ride, and turns back around.
“What’s with you guys, you’re catching flies,” Paulie says.
“I know, I know,” Usopp says, smugly grinning, “I was awesome, right?”
“Uh,” Nami’s heart is still racing. “Yeah. Uh. Yeah, you were.”
Sanji dryly raises a thumbs up, “really awesome… yeah…”
Usopp isn’t very pleased with the lack of enthusiasm, “c’mon! Praise me a little! You’re not doing much for my fragile ego here, guys! I did something cool for once!”
Gin has his face buried in his hands, “I’m absolutely not the most monstrous one in the crew… I don’t even come close. Why did I ever doubt…”
“USOPP! Did you see what Luffy just did?!” Chopper shrieks, running at him frantically, “holy he— he just— just a second and it was like BOOM and—”
Usopp confused. “No? I did the cool thing today!”
“Yes! You did! But then Luffy!! You and— he just— that—?!?” Chopper frantically goes back and forth, “I’ll be really honest I don’t know what happened either.”
“Let’s be real,” Vivi says, “who in this crew ever knows what’s going on?”
“Actually,” Zoro draws his sword, “Usopp, get the hell over here. How fucking dare you shoot at me, do you have any idea how close that was?”
Franky looks at Iceburg, who has the look of utter horror on his face.
Yeah, fair.
“These guys are super bizarre,” Franky says, “and I’m the one saying this.”
Iceburg scoffs as Paulie runs over to join them, “are you okay, Iceburg-san?! What was that blast just now—”
“I’m okay,” Iceberg says.
Paulie senses that those words aren’t for him.
And a moment later, Franky laughs.
“Yeah,” he says, resting a hand on his stomach. “If it’s these guys… I kinda figure, you know. There’s no one else you could ever trust more than this.”
Paulie’s eyes widen as Franky retrieves something from his stomach fridge. A stack of papers, bound firmly and secured. Slightly frosty, but crisp and perfectly readable.
“Is that…”
Iceberg chuckles as Franky laughs.
“Hey, Galley-la,” Franky jabs it at him, “you got a light?”
“ROBIIINNNNNN!!!! AAAAAAAAAANNE!!!!”
It’s cathartic, the way Franky raises the burnt scraps of Pluton before them all, stuffed between a wedge of a signal flare as it burns bright red in the morning light.
Miss Wednesday chuckles, “I’m glad I got the flare. I was worried for a second it wouldn’t light at all!”
“That’s because some idiot thought it would be smart to cryogenically freeze the world’s most dangerous blueprints beside his cola,” Iceburg mutters sourly.
“What the hell did I miss while I was sleeping?” Wyper groans. “You guys are acting weird.”
“Nothing,” comes about six different voices.
“Please don’t destroy your wings again,” Conis says, climbing up the platform and pulling him up. Suu and Tyranno clambers up around their feet, and Carue supports Wyper from behind before climbing up along with them.
“A little cramped, don’t you think?” Nami chuckles. She remembers her spot well. But this time, Coby tucks in in front of her, sitting down by her feet.
“We’ve grown,” Coby says, “it’s a good thing.”
“Not so sure about that…” Usopp feels around until Gin takes his hand and sets it down where he can clamber the rest of the way on his own. Kinoko settles back to her spot on his shoulder right afterward, and Usopp staggers on the slanted platform, looking upward. “Though, I have to admit, it’s nostalgic.”
“Don’t go reminiscing now,” Zoro says. He heaves himself up on the other side of Luffy, where there’s more space beside Nami— and Merry snakes around his shoulder, purring, “isn’t it a bad sign that it’s the same as you remember?”
Sanji chuckles at that, “you know how we are, mosshead,” Sanji shoves Gin up beside Usopp before hopping up himself. “Hopeless. Not Nami-swan of course.”
“Oh, shut it,” Gin groans, shuffling closer to Usopp as Sanji swirls back around to help Vivi up with a courtly prince’s hand extended forward.
“Oh, thank you,” Vivi swoons.
Chopper hops up to Vivi’s side quickly, “hey, hold up! I haven’t gathered all my medical supplies yet!”
Iceberg chuckles as Paulie gives Chopper a lift up on an arm, before settling up as well. He settles on a mirror position to Coby on the other side, and cringes at the view down below, extending his ropes just in case they needed a lifeline.
When Iceburg glances up— Franky extends his arm down, and Iceburg takes it with a chortle.
Franky’s arm is still lifted up, the burning blueprints scattering into ash.
At the center, Monkey D. Luffy shouts.
“I CAME TO PICK YOU GUYS UUUUUUPPPPPPPP!!!”
In the Tower of Justice, there is only Spandam.
Blueno was taken out— so devastatingly, in a single punch , he still can’t believe his eyes.
“I knew that bastard was worthless,” Spandam curses. “Now what? I—” he glances at the Golden Transponder Snail. He’s on his last ropes.
The courthouse itself is madness. The Franky Family is raiding it, marines, executioners, and all its troops blowing things up and firing without abandon— but even against such small numbers, they’re losing.
T-Bone’s been radio silent. The Baskervilles have just been taken down.
And now, Strawhat Luffy is screaming for Robin and Anne to show themselves. Spandam’s alone up here! He should just rush them to the Gates ahead of schedule, but without escorts… it’ll be fine. It’s risky, but… no, he can’t. Nico Robin is one thing within the shackles— Marianne is dangerous, even with them.
“You piece of…” Spandam whirls on Anne, “you bitch! You better fix this before I— before I—!” he couldn’t even. He knew the government’s intentions on her, but what could he ask her to do now? She’s a Director— she commands troops. But right now, Spandam has no team to give her. Right now, she’s worthless.
But he can’t kill her. She’s to be saved as Rob Lucci’s insurance plan. They went to great lengths to get her back, they can’t—
Purupurupuru…
He spins to the Den Den Mushi.
“Who the hell is calling NOW?!” he picks it up quickly, “this better be good news!”
Luffy flinches viscerally, and the rest of the Strawhats quickly understand why.
“Stop resisting, bitch! Get up there!”
At the balcony, Spandam drags Anne and Robin in by the hair, and as they hiss, he shoves them against the banister.
Anne immediately loses her balance and catches herself on the ledge. Her hair’s a disheveled mess out of her pigtails, and she looks around for a moment before giving up. Her hands are chained before her in thick Seastone cuffs, and she glances down, meeting eyes first with Luffy, before drifting over to Gin’s furiously red ones.
Robin stumbles, but stays on her feet, taking the last few apprehensive steps forward into view— to meet Luffy in the eyes, and look away, ashamed.
“You maggots sure have gotten reaal close…” Spandam scowls. “You’re so desperate for them, huh? I suppose you know how valuable they are, too! I don’t blame you!”
He cackles, and Luffy’s fist clenches.
“Wait— is that—”
Spandam’s attention whirls onto Franky.
“You disgusting piece of crap Spanda!” Franky roars, chucking the charred blueprints into the sky and watching as it descends into the canyon of Enies Lobby. Iceberg watches it fondly, and Franky roars out louder, “you better give Nico Robin back, because you ain’t getting that Pluton one way or another!”
Spandam gawks . “You madman! Do you have any idea what you just did?”
“We did what we should’ve done decades ago!” Iceberg shouts back. “You got a problem with that? Then come down here and say it to our faces!”
Spandam recoils. “Dammit, both those Tom’s Workers brats… pain in the neck no matter the era…”
“Robin! Anne!”
Luffy calls for them, and Robin flinches. Anne sighs, resting her hand on the ledge.
“Ahh… they came,” she sighs.
Robin’s teeth grinds. “How many times have I said it… do you all want to die? Why are you so desperate to come in and commit suicide like this?!”
Luffy looks up, eyes firm.
“Do you really think you can win?” Robin raises her voice. “Do you even have any idea who you’re fighting against? This isn’t an enemy pirate crew, it’s not the marines, it’s not even an entire island, country, or army! We’re fighting—”
“The world, right?” Luffy interrupts her, and she falters.
Robin looks him in the eye, and Luffy doesn’t look away.
“I get it,” he says. And there’s a hint of powerlessness in his voice when he adds, “more than I’d like to, how big the world is.”
Robin bites down on her bottom lip. “No you don’t. None of you do.”
Her voice breaks.
“If you knew, you wouldn’t be here,” she says. “You wouldn’t make me watch it all again. You wouldn’t have accepted me into your crew. You wouldn’t have made me watch it all happen again, when we all know that this is how I was always fated to die!”
Luffy doesn’t miss the way Nami, Coby, and Usopp tense at that, but he doesn’t turn to look.
“It didn’t change a thing, did it? You’re just giving me happiness that won’t last,” Robin says, weakly. “You already know that this happiness won’t last. That’s why none of them are looking at me right now.”
Nami can’t do it. Usopp can’t, either, and Coby can’t bear it.
They look down, ashamed.
“Tell me, Seer,” Robin says. “Will I die beside these so-called friends of mine, or will I die alone, in the fires of war, in the hands of the ones I loved?”
No one answers her.
And that’s answer enough.
“And you still dare tell me,” Robin says, “that you are trying to save me?”
Anne sighs, climbing up to rest on the ledge, nursing her sore leg and getting a better view. She looks down at everyone below— to the new faces, to the old faces. To the determined looks on their faces that doesn’t falter.
How curious.
Even though Nami, Usopp, and Coby are crumbling, the others look on, unhesitant. It’s clear that their doubtlessness is influenced by their lack of knowledge, and yet, they don’t let that awareness stop them from pushing their unrelenting trust forward.
Even then…
“You can’t win,” Anne says.
All eyes turn to her.
“The call came, just a moment ago,” she reveals, and Spandam, knowing what she’s referring to, cackles.
He takes over, “listen to this and tremble, you hapless lots!” he exclaims, “Rob Lucci is already at the entrance of Enies Lobby! You’re cornered like rats!”
This earns a soft curse from a few of them below, but they don’t break formation at all.
“And now… this,”
Spandam takes out something from his pocket—
—a Golden Transponder Snail.
Robin gasps, but she doesn’t manage to get a word in edgewise.
“...is insurance,” he declares, as he presses down on it unflinchingly. “I can always blame it on you guys once you’re dead, anyways!”
“You—!!” Robin’s hands clench down, “do you have any idea what a Buster Call is— that wasn’t necessary! Why—?! Why can’t you be satisfied with just winning the war?!”
“Shut up, you wench!” the backhand throws Robin to the ground, and the boot that comes down on her shoulder earns a whimper. “It’s your fault things got to this point, to begin with! How dare you try to have an opinion on what I do!”
Anne doesn’t react to that.
She glances down at the group, all of which are looking at them with a dry, stern expression on their faces. Even Conis, even Vivi, the animals— silent, solemn.
Waiting for the cue.
“Nami, Usopp, Coby.”
The three perk up, when Luffy calls them. He stretches out his hands for the satisfying crack, and heaves a deep breath.
“What are you so worried about?” Luffy asks them. And there’s a hint of hurt in his voice. “What are you so ashamed for? Who cares about the future? We’re talking about right here, and right now. And right now…”
He points upward.
“Our enemy is right there… and all you need to know is that we’re going to win.”
Who cares if there’s a Buster Call coming front he Fates before them? Who cares if Rob Lucci is behind them? They’re surrounded on all sides after finally coming this far. So what?
“Usopp,” Luffy calls, “shoot down that flag.”
There’s a crack in his voice as Nami smiles, and Coby holds back tears.
“Yes, captain,” Usopp says. And as his Haki spreads, so naturally, like a blanket of warmth over all of them— he opens his eyes and Kinoko leans in with only a single direction— forward. He pulls his slingshot back—
And he lets it go.
The flag of the world government bursts into flames, the light of revolution resonating across the morning sun, burning bright and mighty over the land.
And every single Strawhat watches it sear into ash, determination in their eyes.
“Ah— Are you CRAZY?!” Spandam screams. “Do you have any idea—”
“What are you doing?!” Robin demands, the fear in her eyes unmatched by any other emotion they’ve ever seen from her. “Why don’t you get it— I don’t— I don’t want any of you to die! Why can’t any of you understand?!”
Anne’s eyes are wide with horror as she looks upon the burning flag over her head.
“We can’t win,” she says. And looking down, mortified— she catches Gin’s soft and assuring gaze— and she falters.
How long has it been, since she’s seen that look on his face? The Man-Demon, the mindless Berserker, who was made only to destroy and murder— he looks upon her with love and welcome, and she can almost hear it.
(It’s okay. Just leave it to me.)
“But we can’t win!” Anne says, desperate. “We really can’t! I can’t think of any way to win this! We can’t—”
“SHUT THE FUCK UP ALREADY!”
Silence across the rooftop.
Yes, the Strawhats tears their gaze away from the Tower of Justice to Luffy, the undeniable man that just screamed that at the top of his lungs.
“I DON’T GIVE A SHIT! Bring a warship, bring ten, COME AT ME AND I’LL FIGHT THEM ALL MYSELF! DO YOUR WORST!”
A deep breath.
“I’M MONKEY D. LUFFY, AND I’M THE MAN WHO’LL BECOME THE PIRATE KING!”
There’s so much in his voice– raw anger that scrapes at his throat, desperation— fury, and resolve. He’s hurt, that they would ever doubt. That they would ever put his name beneath his own heart and soul.
He snaps his head back up to yell, once more.
“YOU TWO ARE GETTING SAVED AND WE’RE ALL GOING HOME WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT! GOT IT?!”
In the reverberating silence that succeeds that declaration, something unprecedented happens. Against Robin’s wide eyes welling up with tears and Anne’s entire worldview getting torn from its hinges and put back together the opposite way—
Anne laughs .
Bursting incessantly, her entire body curling into itself as she clutches her stomach, the frantic laughter spills from her form somewhere deep in her belly, and it’s loud, and it’s taking her breath away. She’s forced between wheezes to take patterned breaths, and then she’s squeaking out in pitched laughter all over again.
It’s all anyone could do to stare.
Robin looks at her— starstruck. But as Robin’s eyes wandered to Luffy again— to the way his eyes are firm, resolved, and fueled with rage— and all of the other members of the crew, staring at them just the same way.
The look of a dozen idiots, all so prepared to leap into hell with her.
And Robin laughs, too. It comes out first in a breathy wheeze, “pfft—” then, she doubles back, unable to instinctively cover her face because her hands are bound.
But that’s where the control ends. Her laughter comes out in wispy giggles, tears spilling from her eyes, her nose running, and when she opens her eyes again to look at them all— she laughs, though the tears trail down her cheeks.
She catches sight of Anne, who’s also caught sight of her— and they both explode into a whole renewed round of guffaws at the sight of each other.
“Sorry— just,” Robin can’t help, “it’s—”
“I mean—” Anne can’t stop chuckling, wiping away the tears in her eyes from laughing too much. “Robin-san, you’re so ugly when you cry.”
And Robin snickers at that.
“Do I?”
How long has it been, since her last full-bellied laughter? Full of exasperation, full of joy, full of genuine amusement. Not a pitiable showmanship to cheer herself up— truly a voice of true happiness, reverberating through her very veins like a resonance of colour, blowing her world into focus once more.
Robin looks at Anne— and she can’t help but smile. The girl who joined Baroque Works, not knowing emotions beyond constrained, colour-based concepts— now, she laughs so hard she squeaks and honks, she can’t suppress the inelegant way she clutches her stomach, struggling to breath, unable to recompose herself from the stoic calmness she once boasted.
(How wonderful it is, to laugh.)
Anne reaches up and wipes Robin’s face of tears.
Spandam’s irate grinding of teeth beside them, they glance back down to the group once more, a firm smile on their faces.
Robin is first to yell. “THEN,” a deep breath, “COME AND SAVE US! If you’re going to come to hell with me, if you’re going to die with me even after all of this— then come, and die for all I care!”
Anne leans against the banisters, still grinning, “I guess if we’re going to die anyways, we might as well die together, right?”
“But,” Robin straightens, and smiles wide, “we’re all going to live… and you’ll take us out to the sea again… that’s your promise.”
Anne grins, “so, hurry up and get here,” together, “Mister Pirate King!”
In response, Luffy’s hand rests on his hat for a moment, before he turns his finger toward the sky.
“Yeah,” he says. “WAIT FOR ME!”