59 Chapter 23

Markus listened to Robin's shouting with his arms crossed. Luffy walked back over to the crenelations on the wall and looked up at Robin. If he was being honest with himself, he really hated that Robin needed to go through this. This single moment was a pivotal one in her life and changed it forever. Her life was not a good one and was filled with hardships, betrayal, destruction, and death. Everyone she loved was killed by the World Government. Everyone she met after that betrayed and used her, until she joined them. Now, she had new fears. The fear of losing them and the fear that they might someday betray her like so many others had.

He knew that this incident, this series of events where they all came and stood against the World Government united and fearless, was the moment she changed. This was the moment that the Strawhats went from friends to family for her. He wasn't going to rob her of that!

As Markus and Luffy stood and looked up at Robin across the chasm, she took a deep breath and shouted once more, "Why did you come to rescue me?! When did I ever ask you to do that?! I just... WANT TO DIE!"

Luffy stood still and stared at Robin while Markus clenched his teeth. This... sucked. This was not fun and he swore to make the World Government tremble in fear for what they put Robin through. He even hated himself a little bit for letting her suffer when he had the power to completely prevent it. If he did that though, she would never really get over her fears to become a true nakama, a true member of the family. After her outburst, Markus could hear Spandam laughing and Franky yelling at her. Franky was cut off as Kaku appeared and kicked him in the head. Soon, he was joined by the rest of the CP9 members. They all exited from the broken window and lined up on the balcony. Markus now officially had all of them to pummel inside of his Image Training.

From left to right they were...

Kalifa, a slender busty blonde who wore glasses and fishnet stockings with a short skimpy black dress. Aside from the Rokushiki, she had recently acquired the Awa Awa no Mi, a Paramecia fruit that let her create and control bubbles. Honestly, Markus thought she was beautiful but her personality was shit.

Kumadori, an eleven-foot tall man with long pink hair who acted like he was always in a kabuki theatre. Aside from the Rokushiki, Kumadori could also use Seimei Kikan. He used it with his hair to attack and restrain people. He also constantly spouted bullshit that was extremely annoying.

Jabra, a dark-skinned man with a scar over his left eye. He dressed like a Chinese martial artist with a tie hanging around his neck. He wasn't really special and had the Inu Inu no Mi, Model: Wolf.

Rob Lucci, tall, slim, muscular, and the strongest member of CP9. His attitude was also the worst. He truly believed that everything he did was right and was justice simply because he did it. He was also the holder of the Neko Neko no Mi, Model: Leopard. Markus looked forward to seeing him get his ass kicked.

Kaku, the Usopp of their group thanks to his long square nose. He was the second strongest member of CP9. He held the power of the Ushi Ushi no Mi, Model: Giraffe. Markus thought that if Usopp was half as cool as Kaku then he would be pretty damned awesome. At least... until Kaku used his Devil Fruit. A half-man/half-giraffe with a square nose was just too goddamn ridiculous.

And lastly, there was Fukurou, probably the ugliest and weirdest member of CP9. He was nearly as tall as Kumadori at just under eleven feet but with a rediculous round body and head that made him look like a ball with arms and legs. Even weirder, his mouth was a giant zipper. All of that weirdness and he didn't have a Devil Fruit to explain it away! He was also a blabbermouth and had an annoying child-like high pitched voice.

Markus and Luffy looked over all of them. Luffy felt a desire to fight strong opponents and become stronger himself. Markus... was apathetic. No one over there could even hurt him. None of them knew how to use Armament Haki at this point in their lives. While the silence dragged, Markus checked the progress of the others. They would join him and Luffy soon. The resistance was a lot lighter thanks to him and without Baskerville to command, the marines were in disarray. Spandam's reaction when learning Baskerville was dead brought a smile to Markus's face.

Finally, Luffy shouted at Robin, "You want to die?!"

"That's right!"

Jabra thought they could just go down and end Luffy and Markus but Spandam stopped him because he wanted to see the 'show'. He was excited to see the despair on Luffy's face. Instead, he saw Luffy picking his nose while shouting back, "What the hell are you talking about?"

Spandam's reaction of shock brought a smile to Markus's face. Luffy continued to pick his nose as he shouted, "Listen, Robin! We've come all the way here!"

The roof behind them exploded as Nami and Chopper came flying out. Nami landed gracefully while Chopper landed on his head. Luffy continued, "So, we're gonna rescue you anyway! And if you still wanna die, then DIE AFTERWARDS!"

Zoro climbed out of the hole blown in the roof and immediately got scolded by Nami. Another section of the roof exploded as Sanji kicked his way through it and landed on the roof. Bickering instantly broke out between him and Zoro. As they argued, Chopper pointed at the sky, "Ah! Sogeking!"

Usopp or 'Sogeking' as the more naive members of the crew believed him to be, was currently flying through the air. Naturally, he landed face-first on the roof in a rather painful-looking manner. Chopper ran over and began tugging on his legs to pull him out. Zoro glanced over and his eyes widened, "Markus! Where did you get that sword?!"

Zoro was pointing directly at Shodai Kitetsu sitting on his waist. Markus just waved his hand in the direction of the town built on the island, "I found it laying around. It seemed nice, so I took it."

Zoro's eyes almost bulged out of his skull at the lame excuse Markus had given. He moved closer to Markus and eyed the sword up and down, "Can I see it?"

Markus slowly shook his head. He knew Zoro wasn't greedy and didn't desire to try to take the sword from him, instead, he was more worried about the curse, "This sword has an extremely powerful curse on it. I do not mean to disparage you when I say this, but you are not strong enough to touch this sword. It would corrupt your mind and take over your body."

Zoro eyed the sword for a moment longer before letting out a sigh. He would never admit it out loud, but Markus was right. He could sense the strength of the curse on Shodai Kitetsu. Instead of that fact discouraging him, it just flamed his desire to grow stronger even higher.

Markus returned his eyes to Spandam, CP9, and Robin while ignoring the noise behind himself. Luffy did the same and shouted once again, "I beg of you, Robin!! I don't care what you want, whether you choose to live or die, say it while you're with us!"

The noise settled down as everyone climbed up onto a crenelation on the roof and lined up. Luffy stood in the center with Sogeking on his left and Markus on his right. To Markus's right stood Zoro and then Nami. To Sogeking's left stood Sanji and then Chopper in his human form. All seven of them stood and faced Robin with looks of determination. This seemed to trigger Spandam as he suddenly started shouting, "CP9. Listen, I give you permission to wipe 'em out, but take them down at the 'Tower of justice'!! It's not like they could get up here, to begin with!" After shouting at CP9 he turned to face the Strawhats and yelled, "You weak pirates!! Do you realize that no matter how brave you are, nothing would ever change?! We have the full strength of an assassin group, CP9!! We have the heavy 'Gates of Justice' that human power cannot open!! Moreover, I now have the authority to use this golden Den Den Mushi to trigger the 'Buster Call'!!!"

Seeing the shock and fear on Robin's face, Spandam turned around to yell at her, "That's right. Exactly 20 years ago. It's the power that obliterated your hometown, Nico Robin! The word 'Ohara' disappeared from the following year's map, didn't it?"

Robin screamed at Spandam, telling him not to use the Buster Call, he just laughed in her face, "I like that response. It's very thrilling. What?! Does that mean I should press this Buster Call's trigger? Eh?!"

Markus clenched his fists in righteous fury. He wanted nothing more than to kill Spandam right then and there. Watching as he continued to taunt and ridicule Robin had pushed far past his bottom line. He forced himself to hold back though. He needed just two more events to happen. First, Robin needed to say she wanted to live. She needed to overcome her history. Second, he needed Spandam to push that button and summon the Buster Call. He couldn't do it himself, he needed Robin to see Spandam do it, warn everyone about the danger, and then he could rescue her and punish that bastard.

Robin gathered herself and looked at Spandam, "If you ask for the buster call now, you'll be blown up too. Along with Enies Lobby! Twenty years ago, just one attack took everything from me and ruined the lives of many people! That is the Buster Call! That attack is now aimed at the dear nakama that I've finally found." She faced the Strawhats and shouted louder, "The more I wish to be with you, the more my fate will bare its fangs at you!! No matter what sea I go to, I have this great foe that I can't shake off! Because my enemy is the 'world' and its 'darkness'!!"

She took a deep breath and shouted even more, "First, the incident with Aokiji! And now, this! I've gotten you involved twice already! If this goes on forever, even good-natured people like you will eventually consider me a burden! In time, you'll betray and abandon me! That's what I'm most afraid of! That's why I didn't want you to come and save me! If it's a life I'll eventually lose, I want to just die right here, right now!"

While the Strawhats grit their teeth and muttered her name or some comments, Spandam started laughing, "I see... That's so true! Of course! No one could think you're not a burden with all your problems!" He laughed more and pointed up at a flag fluttering above the building he was in, "Look at that symbol, pirates! That flag represents the unity of over 170 nations in the four seas and the grand line! This is the world! Do you understand how insignificant you are to stand against us?! Do you understand how big of an organization is after her?!"

Luffy, with a calm that signaled the coming storm spoke, "I understand Robin's enemy very well! Sogeking, shoot that flag."

"Roger."

Sogeking lifted his new slingshot, Kabuto, and aimed at the flag, "Carefully observe the power of my new pachinko, Kabuto! Special Attack, Firebird Star!"

Sogeking fired his slingshot. The shot transformed into flames that took on the vague shape of a bird before it blasted through the flag and set it on fire. Shock filled everyone who was still conscious. Once he recovered, Spandam started yelling hysterically, "Are you bastards insane?! Don't you dare to even dream that you'll survive having the world as your enemy!!"

Luffy clenched his fists and shouted at the top of his voice, "I'D BE HAPPY TO LIVE WITH THAT! ROBIN! I HAVEN'T HEARD IT FROM YOU YET! SAY YOU WANNA LIVE!"

Tears streamed down Robin's face. She was silent for a bit as everything she'd been through came to her. Finally, she opened her mouth and shouted, "I WANNA LIVE! TAKE ME WITH YOU TO THE SEA!!"

Every member of the Strawhats shouted, "ROBIN!"

A few breaths later, the drawbridge began to lower across the chasm. Without Baskerville or the majority of the marines being able to give orders, nothing stopped it from lowering completely. The group looked down at the drawbridge and watched it lowering with anticipation. Markus watched as Franky burned the blueprints for Pluton to ash. He had no desire for that ship, he'd make his own legendary ship in the future. Though he was honestly curious about the Pluton. He had no memories of it ever really being shown and he was super curious about what made it so dangerous and deadly. Sadly, he didn't think he would ever know. The only one of the three deadly weapons he knew of for sure was Poseidon. He'd see that one in person, later.

Spandam, in a fit of rage, shoved Franky off of the tower and into the air. He tried to push him to his death but... the drawbridge lowered completely. His landing wouldn't be pleasant but he was tough and would live. Especially if he landed face first, the front half of his body being metal and all. Wanting to get going, Luffy stretched his arms and wrapped them around everyone, even Markus. Luffy was the only one who could actually touch him without his permission.

Luffy and Markus laughed while most of the crew screamed on the way down. To make the landing safer, Markus started using Geppo to slow their fall. The landing was still a little rough but no one was hurt. Except for Franky. Franky landed face-first on the drawbridge with a resounding crash. Everyone picked themselves up and ran through the main doors of the last building of Enies Lobby.

Markus stayed where he was and watched them go. He didn't want to fight anyone and planned to act more as a guide and helper. Especially for Luffy. He'd need all the help he could get to find his way to Lucci. As everyone ran into the building, Markus instantly moved from the drawbridge to the roof they were just on, where Blueno was still lying facedown on the ground unconscious.

He placed his hand on Shodai Kitestsu and slowly drew it, "Time for your first taste."

The blade happily vibrated in his hand in response. Before the main event, Markus retrieved the two crates from his inventory containing all of the fruits and vegetables he'd managed to collect so far. There was no guarantee that he had one matching the Doa Doa no Mi, but it was worth a try. Once they were set, he slowly drew out Shodai and added his own Armament Haki to it. With a single swift slash, he decapitated the unconscious Blueno.

He felt one of the fruits in his crate transforming and grinned broadly. He now had the Doa Doa no Mi at his disposal! He grabbed the crates and stored them away in his inventory once more. He didn't care what the Doa Doa no Mi looked like, he was just happy to have it. With it secured, he jumped to the roof of the tower and sat down to relax. He would keep an eye on everything happening and could move if something unexpected came up.

Markus kept his Haki trained on everyone in his group as well as their enemies. Luffy being Luffy, took off after Fukurou spilled the beans about each member of CP9 having a different key and only one of those keys could open the seastone handcuffs on Robin. Markus wondered if he could take them off of her by storing them in his inventory. He'd never tried to store anything worn or held by someone else so he had no idea if he could or not. Even if he couldn't, they would get all the keys.

Markus paid especially close attention to the route that Spandam, Lucci, and Robin were taking. He'd need to follow it just after Spandam pushed the button for the Buster Call. He was paying extremely close attention for that moment.

The groups ended up splitting apart and heading in different directions. Franky ran into Fukurou, Usopp came across Jabra, Nami encountered Kumadori, Sanji barged into Kalifa's room, and Zoro came across Kaku. Luffy... he just ran around blindly. As the fighting started, Luffy finally made his way to the spot where Robin had previously been. Markus peeked down from the roof, "Took you long enough!"

"Markus! Where's Robin?!"

Markus pointed back into the building, "They're heading down for the gates. You need to find the stairs they took!"

Luffy nodded and took off once again. Markus chuckled to himself and peeked in on the current fights. Everyone was in danger, but no one was in life-threatening danger. He was ready to move and take out anyone who got too close to killing one of his friends. Things were a bit different though. Everyone had trained with Markus and become stronger. Zoro was basically playing with Kaku. Nami was avoiding Kumadori's living hair while hitting it with Thunder Balls to frizz it and make it harder to control. She'd managed to even steal his key and was now looking for a way to retreat.

Jabra had left his key laying on the ground while he napped near it. Usopp was sneaking closer to him and turning it into a comedy skit that ended up with him punched into a wall. Markus watched and let out a sigh when Kaku, as a full giraffe, fell through the roof into Jabra's room along with Zoro. Markus just shook his head at the antics happening throughout the tower. Kaku, in his half-human form, started spinning around like he was break dancing before releasing a 360-degree Rankyaku that sliced the entire building clean in half. The whole building shifted a little causing Markus to grumble about his seat shifting beneath him.

His focus shifted a little as Luffy came barging out of the building at a small dock with rowboats. He jumped down from the roof and landed next to Luffy just as the dumbass was about to get into one of the boats, "Hey! Baka-Captain! You can't get through there!"

Markus pointed at the two whirlpools going strong on the water that would easily drag any small boat into them, "You'd just drown and die!"

Luffy glared at Markus, "I have to get to Robin!"

Markus sighed and grabbed Luffy by his ear with haki coated fingers, "This way."

With Luffy firmly being dragged behind him, Markus pulled him over to a pile of crates and flipped one open revealing a secret passageway. He threw Luffy in the hole before following him down into it, "Come on Baka-Captain. They're this way."

Luffy looked at Markus in shock, "How did you know?!"

Markus smacked him on the back of his head, "I know everything happening on this island everywhere all the time. You think a little hidden passage could escape my sight?"

Luffy practically had stars in his eyes, "So cool!"

Markus grinned and followed Luffy down the stairs. It was time to see his second new technique in person!