Chapter 74: The Buster Call

First of all, a big ol' THANK YOU to all my readers who Reviewed the last chapter. Y'all broke the "most Reviews for a single chapter" record, totaling 26 Reviews in all!

Second, and this might be disappointing, but Kaku will NOT be joining the crew...

...yet.

He will return and, yes, I have plans for him, but he will not become a Straw Hat for a good while. He is not the member to join this Arc. There will be two, one being Franky, but Kaku is not the other. To elaborate, Kaku was asking them to take him from the Government, not join their crew. I'm quite sorry for the misunderstanding.

Finally, Coby's Choice might have to go on a brief Hiatus at the end of this Arc. Thriller Bark is almost 65% complete, but it's not flowing as well as I'd hoped it would and it gets harder to write the more changes that I make. I hope you all will be patient with me seeing as I am a busy college student who just got a girlfriend (not that I'm complaining about that last one).

Also, I still have some Omakes and a Bonus Chapter typed up. What do y'all this I should do with them: post them before the Hiatus or hold on to them?

Now enough of my rambling. On to the chapter!

Chapter 80:

The Buster Call

"You're surrendering?" Coby asked, his twin swords lowering.

"I'm outgunned, outmanned, outnumbered, outplanned, and running out of time," Kaku responded. "I just have one request. Fulfill that, and I'll lead you all to the Gates of Justice and Nico Robin."

"And what is it you want?" Gin prodded. Kaku locked eyes with him.

"Help me like you are going to help Nico Robin. Take me away from here."

"What?" Zoro blinked. "I'm sorry, I could have sworn I heard you say that you wanted us to take you with us."

"That's exactly what I'm asking for," Kaku nodded. "After being with Galley-La for five years, this whole CP9 stuff just doesn't groove with me, you know? I liked the people there more. They were friendly and easy to work with. Here? Not so much." He gestured toward the hole that Jabra had been launched out of. "Jabra may have been the worst, but the others can be pretty damn annoying."

"If people see you leaving," Coby put in, "you'll be deemed a traitor of the Marines. You'll have a bounty on your head."

"Then it's a good thing I'm being kidnapped by a bunch of bloodthirsty pirates and not running, isn't it?" He held out his hands for Usopp to cuff him.

"I like the way you think," Zoro nodded once the cuffs were secure. The man was obviously tired, but he stood strong. "Now, you mentioned leading the way?"

"There's a secret passageway that goes under the ocean to reach the Gates of Justice. It also has a combination lock for an iron door."

"I doubt we'll have to deal with that," Coby waved off. "Captain Luffy went ahead to find and save Robin. He's probably found the passageway through force and left a trail of destruction."

"Sounds like Luffy, all right," Nami nodded.

"We're here!" Sanji and Amy yelled, the former flipping into the room and the latter zooming in with the use of her parasol.

"Never fear!" Sanji declared. "I have arrived to save the day for my beautiful melorines!"

"You're late, Curly Brow," Zoro laughed.

"What'd you say, Moss Head?!"

"Not now!" Coby shouted, pointing out of the hole in the wall where the Gates of Justice could just be seen through the mist. "We don't have time for this! The doors are opening!"

"Lets go, then!" Kaku urged. With a nod from everyone but Sanji and Amy, the crew followed the now-former government agent. The chef and chocolatier shrugged and followed.

"The entrance is hidden as a box in the back of the building," Kaku explained as the group ran. "It'll lead to a ladder that goes down 50 feet before becoming a straight shot. Then- Iron Body!"

Kaku cut himself off, raising his arms over his chest as Jabra appeared, his claws trying the stab into the other six-powers master. The wolf-man's clothes were torn, the paint Grace had put there smudged and useless.

"You turning traitor on us?" Jabra demanded, backflipping away to stand in front of the group. "I knew you could never trust a giraffe."

"For the last time, giraffes are awesome!"

"Yeah!" Coby added. "Go hump a fire hydrant until you huff and puff and blow your-!"

"Calm down, Shrimp," Zoro ordered.

"Sorry."

"I appreciate the gesture, Little Man," Kaku smiled. "That was clever."

"I don't know who this clown is," Sanji announced, walking to the front of the group with a lit cigarette and ignoring the angered growling of the wolf-man. "I don't really care, either. He's an enemy and I haven't gotten to have a real fight yet. Leave him to me."

"Do you want back-up?" Amy questioned.

"Nah," Sanji waved off. "Get going and go save Robin." Despite Kaku looking skeptical, the group jumped the railing, each finding their own safe landing somehow. Sanji stayed with Jabra, never breaking eye contact.

"Alright, Kibbles," Sanji grunted, puffing out a cloud of smoke. "Let's dance."

"Are you sure about that?" Kaku asked, the group following the hallway toward the kitchen. "As much as I don't like him, beating Jabra isn't going to be a walk in the park."

"Sanji-kun is one of our Monster Trio," Nami answered. "There's no way he'll lose to an animal."

"Thanks," Coby groaned in his Dino Mode with Grace on his back, the girl leaving a trail of paint for Sanji to follow. "Just put down all us Zoans, why don't you?"

"Shut up!" Nami whacked the dinosaur over the head with her weapon.

"Ow!" Coby whined as Grace giggled at him. Amy's hooked umbrella base choked Zoro and he tried to take a right.

"I'm starting to see why your'all's ship loved you so much."

"I think you mean we loved our ship," Amy corrected.

"No," Kaku denied as he took a turn. Nami grabbed Zoro's collar as he turned around. "I mean your ship loved you. She was alive."

"What do you mean, she was alive?" Gin demanded, stopping Zoro from talking a left.

"Y'all didn't know?" Kaku blinked. "That clever little fairy."

"Spit it out already!" Zoro yelled, now being literally dragged along via his pants leg by his student.

"Alright, alright," Kaku muttered, holding his hands up. "I'll start with the myth. So on Water 7, there's a popular story about klabautermanns, or Wood Fairies. The story says that a klabautermann is the spirit of a well-loved ship, born from the bonds of its crew. It's been said that if a klabautermann really loves their crew, then they'll show themselves with a human form to warn the crew of danger."

"What does this have to do with us?" Grace asked.

"Your ship had a klabautermann," Kaku responded. Usopp stopped, forcing the others to as well.

"What do you mean, had?" he demanded.

Kaku sighed and began moving again. "I didn't have a say in the matter. Franky had taken your ship as bait to lure out Straw Hat the night we attacked Iceberg. We ended up having to track him down to his base where he had stored your ship. After we captured Franky, Lucci decided to release your ship into Aqua Laguna. I think that's when I started questioning everything. I mean, there's being mean for a reason and then there's just cruel. I'm afraid there's no way your little caravel survived."

"No," Usopp stated, fury and determination burning in his eyes. "She's the one I saw that night in Skypia. I know that our Merry can tough it out through even the worst storms. But if she's free on the ocean..."

"Kaku?" Coby asked around the fabric of Zoro's pants, the swordsman scowling as he was pulled along. "Are there any stories about Wood Fairies fixing themselves or sailing themselves?"

"Not that I know of," Kaku replied. "The only reason I knew your ship had one was because Franky wouldn't stop crying about at after we took him prisoner."

"Merry is coming for us," Usopp said with absolute certainty. "I may be a liar, but I never lie about the Merry. If she's out there, she'll come for us."

"As great as it is that our ship is or was alive," Zoro grunted. "We have to save Robin before we leave."

"Right," Kaku nodded. "This way."

"We still have to save Robin," Amy muttered as they took off. "What happened to Luffy?"

"Lucci, I'd reckon," Kaku answered. "That cool cat was the one guarding Spandam and Nico Robin. If your captain caught up to them, then he's going toe-to-toe with the big guy right now. He may be kaput already; Lucci's the strongest member of CP9, after all."

"And Don Luffy is the strongest out of us," Gin replied. "The Don's gonna be the King of the Pirates. He can't lose."

"Good," Kaku nodded. "I'm not usually a betting man; that was Paulie's quirk, but if your captain loses and you all fail, I'll get court-marshaled and executed." The group ran out into the outdoors, an unobstructed view of the Gates of Justice showing them that they were almost open.

"Ow! What's up, guys?" Turning to their left, the pirates and defector found Franky and an unconscious and sopping-wet Chopper next to him. "Why is Kaku with you?!"

"He's our prisoner," Coby answered. The white lie would do for now. "Show us the secret passage, Long-Neck."

"It's over here," Kaku sighed, faking injury and lack of energy. He limped over to a box and knocked on the wood. Usopp walked over and opened the lid, revealing a ladder, just as Kaku had told them.

"You're going first," Amy smirked, pushing the former agent down the hole with a laugh at his surprised scream. "Kyahahaha!" The pirates and Franky followed, Zoro carrying Chopper. Reaching the bottom, they found a long hallway covered in grey metal. At the end was a large door that was ripped off its hinges and left dented on the floor.

"Yep," Coby chuckled at Kaku's and Franky's shocked faces. "Captain Luffy has definitely been here."

"Hurry up!" Nami ordered. Fearing her womanly strength, all of the men, including Kaku, took off. Nami and Amy followed behind while Grace was still using Coby as transportation. Finally, they reached a door at the end of the hallway.

Franky barged in first, coming to a complete stop within what seemed to be a storage room when something slammed into the wall to his left. The others slid next to the cyborg as Luffy pulled himself out of the crater in the wall.

"Captain Luffy!/Don Luffy!/Luffy!/Straw Hat!" The teen's various names mixed in a loud chorus of shouts.

"Go on ahead," Luffy grunted, not even stopping to greet his crew. "We're running out of time."

"Do you want some help?" Franky asked, readying a Weapons Left.

"No. This pigeon bastard is my opponent. Just get to Robin."

"My my," a human Lucci chuckled. "What have we here? Kaku, I'm disappointed. Captured by some snot-nosed brats?" Kaku lowered his eyes, feigning shame. "Well, I guess you'll be collateral. Tempest Kick!"

Zoro and Coby moved instantly, their five blades managing to destroy the flying slash.

"Oi, bastard!" Luffy shouted, pumping blood through his legs. His skin took on a pink hue and his body got hot enough to steam. In a flash, his hat was sitting on Nami's head, but the captain was in the same place. "Second Gear: Jet Pistol!"

"Gah!" Lucci went flying with a spray on blood from his mouth, crushing a couple of boxes. Luffy lowered his stance defensively.

"Don't you dare touch my Nakama or I will kill you. Go, guys!"

"I won't let you through," Lucci rumbled, his form twisting into that of a humanoid jaguar.

"Another guy with Devil Fruit powers?!" Franky gasped.

"Your fight is with me!" Luffy shouted, disappearing in a blur. Avoiding Lucci's attacks and Luffy's subsequent counterattacks, the group ran through the door on the far wall and into a stairwell.

"It's a straight shot up the stairs from here," Kaku informed the group. "Spandam doesn't like to play nice, though. I bet he's set a trap, just in case. He's always been a paranoid panda like that."

"Amy, use your powers to fly ahead," Nami ordered, trying to ignore the sounds of battle behind them. Without thinking, the navigator reached up and held her lover's hat. The blonde nodded and opened her parasol before activating the breath dials within. She rapidly floated up the stairs.

Reaching the top, Amy lowered herself to the floor of the bridge and viewed what was happening. Her eyes landed on Robin, her arms tied with a rope and her being literally dragged toward the fully-opened Gates of Justice by Spandam. Feeling rage fill her being, Amy took to the air again, charging the leader of CP9.

"Heavy Impact!" With little to no warning, Amy rammed herself into Spandam's back. The man coughed blood as his hold on Robin was forcefully released. Amy increased her mass, digging trenches into the concrete while skidding to a stop and watching Spandam crash. "Kyahahaha!"

"Ms. Valentine!" Robin gasped.

"Hello, Robin," Amy grinned, ignoring the shocked marines at the end of the bridge. "The others are on their way with all of the keys."

"Thank you," Robin cried, tears streaming down her face. "Thank you all."

"Shoot them!" Spandam yelled, pulling himself up. "Shoot them both to death without killing them!" The marines shot confused looks to each other, but raised their weapons all the same. Behind the pirates, the top of bridge entrance blew up, Franky flying out of it and falling into the ocean below. "Fire!"

"Dense Shield!" Amy retaliated, opening her umbrella and increasing its mass to the point where it was harder than a brick wall. The bullets bounced off of it with no effect.

"Gah!" A marine was caught by an explosion, the force blasting him backwards. Another marine was caught, and another and another.

"What's going on?!" Spandam demanded before he, too, was thrown backwards by an explosion.

"The cavalry has arrived," Amy smirked. "Kyahahaha! Kyahahaha!"

"Robin!" All of the rescue party, Luffy and Sanji being the exceptions, ran onto the bridge with Franky coming up from the side sopping wet. Usopp pulled ahead of the others and loaded his weapon.

"Special Attack: Sunflower Star!" Five exploding pellets impacted Spandam's face just as he was getting up. The pirates (and Franky) surrounded Robin, pushing Kaku in with her as Nami set to work finding the right key. She threw out the number 2 key since those handcuffs were put on Jabra before Chopper broke them, but Usopp had swiped the rest of the cuffs. The number 5 key, the one they got from Kaku, unlocked Robin's bindings.

"I'm free," Robin cried happily, hugging Nami. She went around the circle, hugging each person, even Kaku. Her hug lasted longer than the others when she hugged Zoro, but everyone else attributed that to the fact that the swordsman was carrying Chopper.

Sanji was going to flip when he learned that he missed a hug from Robin...

"We're glad to see you safe," Zoro grunted, a slight tilt of the ends of his mouth showing just how happy he was.

"I've been waiting a long time to do this," Robin smiled evily. "Seis Fleur: Slap!" Six arms grew out of Spandam's chest which began to smack him over and over again.

"Kyahahaha! That bastard deserves worse than that!"

"Call reinforcements!" Spandam yelled through his swollen jaw. "Get everyone you can on this bridge!" An explosion rocked the bridge, a section of the fence around Enies Lobby blown up. The Buster Call had arrived.

"This is a full-scale, indiscriminatory attack on the judicial island of Enies Lobby," someone announced over the loud speaker. "Our main targets are Straw Hat Luffy and his crew of approxemently 70 men. However, Nico Robin, who is on the Bridge of Hesitation, is not to be targeted by order of Admiral Aokiji. Begin by targeting the Tower of Law!"

Cannonballs rained down on the island, destroying everything in their path. It appeared that the marines running the Buster Call didn't know that the pirates had already freed Robin.

"No," Robin gasped, flashbacks of the Buster Call on Ohara filling her mind. She stepped back, away from the battleships, losing her footing and falling in fear. Zoro caught her, lowering her to sit on the bridge. Seeing her fear, he set Chopper in the woman's lap in the hopes that the unconscious doctor's fluffyness would provide some form of assistance.

"So... they've got a ship at the end of the bridge here," Franky commented. "That seems like our best chance of escape."

"We'll go for it," Nami agreed as Usopp picked up Robin's cuffs and stuffed them in his bag. "Still, we should wait for Sanji and Luffy. Plus Robin isn't in any state to run at the moment.

"Don't worry," Zoro grunted. "Gin, Shrimp, Franky, and I can hold off these marines just fine."

"I want to get in on this, too," Amy smirked.

Behind them, the bridge entrance was destroyed by a giant fist. The upper part of the building broke apart from the force like the top of a volcano, among the debris the form of the transformed Rob Lucci. The agent crashed onto a ship, something rocketing out of the building behind him. Far above the ship where Lucci had landed, Luffy pumped the air in his body from his Third Gear technique to his foot, the giant attack breaking the Marine battleship in half.

Lucci jumped away, using Moonwalk to get to another ship. Luffy followed him, breaking the second ship's mast with a punch in the hopes of shoving his foe into the sea. Lucci was smarter than to fall for that, however, and jumped above the the pirate with Moonwalk.

"Tempest Kick!" he called, his attack nearly cutting the pirate captain in two. The ship was not so fortunate as the slash cut through several layers. The ships around them, the other eight of the original ten still in commission, turned their guns and fired on the vessel. Parts of the Marine battleship exploded, the noise drowning out the cries of its dying crew.

"Those bastards!" Coby yelled as he watched the government men fire on their own just for a chance of killing a single pirate. "I'll make the man who gave that order burn in Hell!"

"Not so fast, Shrimp," Zoro ordered, placing a hand on his protege's shoulder. "Our first priority is protecting Robin."

"I-!" Coby stopped. "Right. Sorry, Zoro-sensei."

"What are you morons waiting for?!" Spandam yelled, his finger pointing at the group of pirates and company. "Kill them all!"

End of Chapter 80

High Seas Hijinks:

Devil Fruit Dilemmas

(Takes place after Skypia)

"Hey, Gin?" Usopp asked, putting away his half-deconstructed chemistry set and glancing at the Devil Fruit user. "I've been meaning to ask you, but how do you make lightning out of nothing?"

"What do you mean?" Gin responded, replacing his rubber-lined headband after a training session

"Well, technically, you shouldn't be able to create something from nothing. That doesn't make any sense."

"Usopp," the Logia deadpanned. "We sail under a man made of rubber in a sea that defies the laws of nature on a daily basis. Who cares about sense?"

"Still," Usopp argued. "The first law of alchemy says that matter cannot be created or destroyed. Similarly, neither can energy."

"No offence, Usopp, but you're a sniper from a small island in the East Blue. Where did you learn anything about the laws of alchemy? ...What's alchemy?"

"Alchemy is basically the total of all theories about how to turn one thing into another."

"What's this about theories?" Chopper questioned, jumping into the conversation.

"Usopp's trying to make sense out of something that doesn't make sense."

"Gin's Devil Fruit's logic," the sniper supplied.

"Oh!" Chopper blinked. "I actually have plenty of theories of my own, mostly for Logias and Zoans since Paramicias are all different."

"Fine," Gin sighed. "Go ahead."

"So Logias are said to be able to make their elements out of essentially nothing, right?" Usopp and Gin nodded. "But that doesn't make sense since you shouldn't be able to make something out of nothing-"

"That's what I said!"

"-so I think that they are transmuting things into their element."

"Transmuting?" the resident Logia asked.

"Transmutation," Usopp offered. "It's the theory of turning one element into another. Most commonly iron into gold."

"Yeah," Chopper nodded. "My theory says that the nutrients in the food that Logias eat are only used for the bare minimum to keep them healthy and that any excess is transmuted and stored as the element in question. In your case, Gin, the calories in your food, which is usually turned into only a little electrical energy to control the nervous system, are all turned into electricity and stored in your body, which is why you started eating more food since you got your Fruit."

"But what about when I'm wearing my headband? The rubber there is supposed to force me into a fully-human body whenever I'm in contact with it."

"Rubber can only do so much to counteract your powers," Chopper responded. "At your base, you are now made of lightning, so all that energy would be stored in your brain or nervous system, serving its normal purpose until you release it."

"Really?" Gin blinked. "That's it?"

"Well, you could be picking up ambient static electricity from the air, but your rubber headband probably counteracts any source of electricity from entering you through your skin. In the end, if my theory is correct, then no Logia would have an unlimited amount of their element and they would need to eat to replenish their supply."

"...I guess that makes sense," Gin conceded, "but what about Zoans? Or Amy, for that matter? (pun not intended) You and Coby get heavier when you change forms, so aren't you changing your masses?"

"Again, transmutation," Chopper answered. "Our powers not only affect our bodies, but the clothes we are wearing as well. This means that there must be at least a small area of effect for Zoan powers. And, when we transform, the air around us doesn't become pressurized. My theory for Zoans is that we transmute the air around us into the mass our transformations add and vise versa.

"If I'm right, Amy's powers would be the same way. On average, the air pressure at the surface is one Atmosphere or 1.01325X10^5 Pascals, meaning that there are literally billions of kilograms of air weighing down on us at any one time, so even 10,000 kilograms of air being converted into human mass wouldn't make any difference in the local atmospheric pressure. The converse is also true. Since the created air from Amy lowering her mass is ejected from her entire body rather than in one direction, the only way we could measure it would be if she was locked in an airtight room for testing purposes!"

The doctor turned to his two crewmates, expecting them to be nodding along, but if anything, they seemed to be nodding off. Both Gin and Usopp had gained a far-off look in their eyes at they stared off into space. Chopper's scientific rant had gone straight over their heads.

"Well," Gin blinked, coming out of his daze. "I'm hungry. What do you say we just call Devil Fruit powers a mystery and leave it at that?"

"Fine with me," Usopp responded with a shrug.

"Hey!" Chopper cried, scandalized.

"It doesn't matter anyway," Gin shrugged. "It's not like anyone really cares. I mean, who'd care about the specifics of our world? It's not like anyone would need to make their own theories about our powers because they're writing a story about us or anything. ...Right?"

Fin

Note: all Devil Fruit bullshit is my own headcanon from my thoughts as a science/math major in college, however, this was my reasoning for how Gin beat Eneru (Eneru having used up his ready supply of electricity by the time they fought.).

Again, thank you all so much for the support I've gotten. I hope you all will be patient with me. Be sure to check you the A/N announcements at the top and, as always,

Read and Review!

-SwordOfTheGods