章 77: Aqua Laguna
Cherry followed after Luffy who had been sent flying further into the city. She found him wedged between two buildings, which was very much like him.
"Hey, Luffy. What are you fooling around squishing yourself between these buildings for? You know we've got places to be don't you?" Cherry teased.
"Cherry?! Help me get out, I'm stuck!" Luffy managed to say, despite his squished face.
"Why do you need my help? You're more than capable of doing it yourself. Don't worry about destroying the buildings, they're going to get smashed up by Aqua Laguna anyway by the looks of things." Cherry said.
Luffy pushed against the buildings pinning him from both sides. They creaked and moaned from the stress, then finally broke apart at some weak points in the structures and freeing him.
"There you go, I told you that you could do it. Now we need to catch up with that sea train, so let's meet up with the others." Cherry said.
Cherry led him to where the others had rendezvoused with Iceburg and the other shipwrights after their unsuccessful searches.
After Luffy told his story about the sea train and Nami's capture, he demanded that he be given the strongest ship in order to give chase. A back and forth ensued with the shipwrights who felt that would only be suicide in this weather.
Then Granny Kokoro offered a different solution, a second prototype sea train that couldn't stop accelerating. Naturally this wasn't much of an issue considering they had two Zoan devil fruit users that could transform into ships to evacuate before it crashed. So the plan was made and they set off immediately.
Some of the shipwrights and the Franky family also insisted on coming along, though Cherry couldn't see why they'd volunteer to be cannon fodder in a fight where the strongest contenders wouldn't be fazed by them at all.
"So how come you guys are volunteering to be cannon fodder?" Cherry asked out loud.
"""We're not cannon fodder!""" They all shouted in unified outrage.
"We can't just abandon our big bro because the going gets tough!" One of the Franky Family goons said.
"And we can't just let them get away with trying to kill Iceburg!" Paulie said.
"So does that mean you're all going to fight CP9 instead of the regular marines?" Cherry asked.
They turned their heads away to avoid eye contact.
"The Aqua Laguna tsunami is coming our way! It's too tall for the tracks, so we'll crash into it if nothing is done!" Kokoro explained.
Luffy and Zoro naturally went to deal with the wave, but Cherry stopped them and insisted on doing it herself so they can conserve energy.
In reality she just wanted to get an easy win after a tough fight. Even though it was pretty productive at increasing her strength, it was also pretty frustrating not landing a single hit.
Chopper and Sanji made a fuss about moving around with her wounds, but she shrugged them off.
Cherry took a stance not dissimilar to the stance that Brogy and Dorry took before their ultimate technique. She timed it for the opportune moment.
She wrenched her sword arm in a circular movement with all her might and skill, infused the sword's lightning, and added the principals of Hasshoken and Rankyaku into the strike.
The resulting sword light was a thin and narrow spiral that flew quickly into the center of the wave. To the observers, it didn't seem to be enough to do anything to a wave of this size when judging by looks alone.
The moment the sword light made contact with the Aqua Laguna removed all doubts anyone had, however.
It was as if the water of the wave and even some of the ocean beneath it suddenly vanished within a fifty meter radius. Then a shockwave heavy with water vapor slammed into them. The water hadn't vanished, but had instantly evaporated.
Anyone who had been outside had the hang on for dear life and came out soaking wet.
Zoro was somewhat grateful for this, as it masked his nervous sweat. He could definitely see that Cherry was Hawkeye's daughter, through and through. Though he wouldn't say that out loud, as Cherry always got grumpy anytime she was compared to him.
A clear path was left in Aqua Laguna for their sea train, the Rocketman, to pass through, before it closed back up.
"Hmm, not bad. I can see where improvements can be made though." Cherry ponder aloud.
"You can improve upon THAT?!" The Franky Family goon who seemed to be their chosen spokesman exclaimed.
"Of course I can, it's just water you know. Try evaporating a mountain instead, now that's a really tricky feat." Cherry said nonchalantly.
...
Meanwhile on the sea train, Puffing Tom.
"I'll disconnect this carriage from the ones in front, then we'll fight our way through the marines. Hopefully they won't notice anything is wrong before it too late." Robin said, blooming arms and an eye in between their car and the one in front of it.
She easily disconnected them and they quickly start to pull apart from the rest of the train. Then they moved towards the back to incapacitate the marines.
"The only real threat on the cars behind us is Captain T Bone. He's known as the "Ship Cutter" and that name isn't an exaggeration. You'll recognize him from his unique face, so eliminate him first." Robin explained.
Moving into the next sea train car, they instantly spotted Captain T Bone. As Robin said, his face was quite 'unique'.
"What are you doing?! I shan't allow you to escape justice!" Contrary to his frightening visage, his words held both sincerity and resolve.
Robin instantly bloomed arms upon his body to hold him down, while Franky charged forward to pummel him with his steel fists. Nami got to work dealing with the other marines, forming thunderclouds in the car with her Clima-Tact, which was recently improved by Usopp using Dials.
As the disconnected cars and the sea train separated further and further away, the old man, Wilson Alexander, looked up from his romance novel.
"Are you not going to deal with that?" He asked lazily.
Rob Lucci was only confused for a moment before taking action. "Kaka, go tell the driver to reverse course! Blueno, create a passage way for us!"
Rob Lucci was furious. At Robin for reneging on their deal, even though he had no intentions of keeping it himself. But also at himself for not being more alert, it was a rookie mistake. Curiously none of his ire was directed at his elderly master.
More accurately he wasn't capable of being upset at his master, as that had always been met with a swift and brutal reprisal during his training throughout childhood. The other CP9 agents were the same.
Back on the stopped sea train cars, Robin, Franky, and Nami had finished off the marines. Captain T Bone gave them a bit of trouble, but was outnumbered. They moved onto the next care and dealt with the forces there more easily.
"Now we need to prepared for CP9 to come for us. It won't take them long to reach us, we need to stall for as much time as we can." Robin said.
"I'm afraid your time is up and our deal is off." Growled the voice of Rob Lucci, who stepped into the last car with the other CP9 agents.
Robin winced at the words, but remain steadfast. She knew they wanted her and Franky alive, so she just needed to keep the focus on herself and away from Nami. Nami, for her part, pretended to be paralyzed with fear, which wasn't too difficult seeing as she was actually afraid. She was expendable to CP9, but also a useful hostage against Robin.
Now they would execute the second phase of their plan; fight and resist for as long as possible, then surrender when Nami is taken hostage. It was a deadly gamble, but they had little choice.
Rob Lucci had already guessed this plan, especially since he just heard her say they were trying to buy time. But his master's words repeated in his mind. 'I forbid you to kill any of the three of them. You've always been too blood thirsty, learn to act with some elegance.'
His master had always been eccentric like this. He hoped he wouldn't have to deal with him on any of his future missions.
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