397 Chapter 397
397
The Going Merry,
The ship sailed the ocean at unimaginable speed. Two jet engines attached to its rear end boosted the ship's speed, making it cut through the waves of the ocean.
The group of Straw Hat pirates left for Water Seven on their own. Iceburg and the Franky family wanted to join them, but Usopp refused. They were enough to save Franky and Groot.
They, of course, complained, but when Gin snapped at them angrily, they shut up.
Usopp felt a bit bad for them. As for them, Franky was their friend, and boss. So they obviously wanted to help him, even if it meant risking their lives. Usopp personally knew what it felt like to be weak enough to not help your friend in need.
An image of Kaya and Captain Kuro came to his mind. That day, Usopp felt helpless, and if it weren't for Luffy's encouragement and help, he wouldn't have been able to do anything back then.
The members of the Franky family weren't weak. But against the might of CP9, they wouldn't be able to stand. And with one of the Cipher Pol agents having the ability to put large groups of people to sleep, their involvement would only make things difficult. That's why they went in alone towards Enies Lobby.
Still, Iceburg's group and the Franky family did help with whatever they could, giving the crew a somewhat decent map of the Enies Lobby along with whatever information they had. Enies Lobby was a world government island, and information related to it was always kept secret.
Iceburg, the mayor of Enies Lobby, also explained what happened and how the CP9 set up an assassination attempt against him. They also made a scene and blamed the Kid Pirates to create a distraction so they wouldn't be found out.
Iceburg was also interrogated by Lucci and two other agents.
One of them had the ability of the zip-zip fruit, which forced Iceburg to tell the truth about Pluton. He was helpless and almost left to die out in the burning building, but Law managed to save him in time.
Law mainly wasn't much interested in Iceburg, he was following Kid pirates throughout the whole time in Water seven. The Kid pirates were ruthless and if they got violent he wanted to take care of them without getting the rest of the crew involved.
But nothing like that happened. Sure both Kid and Killers were embodiments of true cruel pirates, but they still had honor. Even paid full price to Iceburg to modify their ship. So it came as a surprise when suddenly there was news that they tried to assassinate Iceburg.
Law knew a set up when he saw one. And luckily with his powers, he was able to save Iceburg from the burning building before he died. For that reason he was very grateful to Law and even promised to build his full ship (Polar Tang V.2) for free if he helped him. So Law just brought him to the crew, not knowing they were also attacked.
The mayor also had explained the brief history between him and Franky, along with the importance of destroying Pluton. A weapon like that could destroy the world.
And that made things even more complicated. All of the crew members of the Straw Hat knew that Luffy, in time, would challenge the world government, and giving such a weapon to them would be a grave mistake. So they had to do something.
Iceburg also suggested they use the sea train to get to Enies Lobby. Well, it wasn't technically the sea train, no, it was a prototype that he had access to. But Usopp declined.
Their Going Merry had new upgrades, upgrades that were done by Franky himself to boost her speed, and that would be enough. The ship of the Straw Hat crew could be seen almost speed-boating through the waters of the ocean towards Enies Lobby.
Waves, fish, anything that got between the ship and the sea got cut through, due to the extreme speed. Even against the roaring wind and toppling waves the ship sailed strong.
Its structure now sported two jet engines connected to its bottom, along with six water wheels (made of hardened maple) that Gin, Hatchan, Anchor, Cricket, and Yosaku were biking to power. If the math didn't add up, then know that Gin was biking for two at once, going into his hybrid form.
The loyal pirate blamed himself for not being able to stop the Cipher Pol agents. So Gin was taking responsibility this way.
Usopp stood at the front of the ship as he looked towards the horizon. One of their crew members, a kid, was kidnapped right under his nose. (A/N: NO. Nose pun intended!)
This wouldn't have happened if Luffy or any other was in his place. And the sniper blamed himself for that… he was careless. And now Franky and Groot were kidnapped.
But it won't matter, Usopp promised himself that he would get them back. Luffy had trusted him with a duty. And it was a man's job to follow through. He won't betray the trust of his captain!
Dark clouds rumbled; the sea roared. The weather was wild today; according to Iceburg, there was a chance of Aqua Laguna hitting the island of Water Seven. It was usually impossible to sail a ship in this kind of weather. But then again, nothing was impossible when it came to their crew.
The Going Merry sped ahead, cutting through the waves with its speed. With such speed and bad weather, navigating the ship would have been a lot difficult, but Nami was doing it just fine. Cleverly using her maple powers to help guide the Going Merry.
Her navigation powers were always admirable, and her fruit really helped her control the ship better. Still, she was the navigator of the ship, not the helmsman. They would need a proper helmsman in the future for that.
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