WebNovels

Chapter 109 - Chapter109

For a long heartbeat, the tunnel drowned in awkward silence. It almost looked like both of the groups were deers caught in a headlight. Dust swirled lazily through the crimson light, with alarms bleating in the distance, and the two groups stood locked in tableau, with the Strawhats on one side while the Franky Family on the other.

Nami pinched the bridge of her nose with a groan, already too tired for this. Usopp's shoulders sagged with a loud sigh, his mask slipping slightly as he muttered curses under his breath. Zoro's lips even twisted in something dangerously close to a snarl, with his hands resting on his katana's hilt, remembering all too well how some of those fools had thought to ambush him.

Sanji, on the other hand, recoiled at the sight of the Franky Family's mismatched sunglasses, bright hair, and disastrous fashion sense. He muttered something sharp beneath his breath, taking a long drag from his cigarette as though to shield his eyes from the collective ugliness before him.

Only Luffy's expression broke from the rest. He tilted his head, his eyes gleaming with childlike curiosity and a small smile tugging at his lips as he studied the towering figure with blue hair and star-shaped Speedos standing in front of the group. Even though the absurdity of the scene, there was something in Franky that lit a spark of interest in him. Maybe this was finally the chance to persuade his crew to let Franky see Merry.

On the opposite side to the Strawhats, the Franky Family's bravado wavered. Those who had once been flattened by Zoro on the Merry and dumped into the seas of the Water 7, quickly scrambled behind their comrades, whispering frantically and pointing at the swordsman as if he were some monster risen from the depths of the Grand Line itself. Others, the ones who had been caught red-handed trying to steal their money earlier, shuffled nervously at the sight of Luffy. Their ridiculous hairstyles were even quivering as they remembered the straw-hatted boy's iron grip on them.

The silence seemed to be stretching but it was Franky who broke it to pieces. He struck a dramatic pose, with his arms crossed and chest puffed, and bellowed in a booming voice that filled the chamber and left no chance for espionage.

"YOOOOOOSSSHHAA! SUPER! You're looking at the Franky Family, the mightiest dismantling squad in all of Water 7!" Franky flung his arms outward, introducing his family, while his sunglasses flashed. "We live free. We live to party. We live SUPER! And we take what we need to survive. And right now, that means your money, Strawhats!"

The smaller mob behind Franky tried to echo his energy with mismatched poses and hoots, though the sound faltered when Luffy's tilted gaze swept across them. His eyes lingering, unblinking, shifting from one man to the next as if measuring the weight of their souls.

He then pulled out his drawing he made earlier and unrumpled the paper, seems it still matches up surprisingly well. Usopp, who was next to Luffy, couldn't help but nod his head in dumbstruck manner, the doodle that once looked like a hallucinating man drew suddenly looked more accurate then he had expected.

The bravado drained in an instant. A shiver coursed through the unscared half of the family, as if the air itself had thickened considerably. For a fraction of a second, the masked boy's eyes burned golden in the shadows. And then, faster than a blink, the hue shifted to a red like fresh blood, gleaming like lightning.

Several of the family stumbled back, as if someone–namely the strawhatted teen–had forcefully snatched their breath from them, before leaving them as they were earlier prior to the golden eyes looking through them. But had they truly seen it? Or was it just a trick of the alarm light? They could not be sure, but the memory still seared nonetheless, an impression of something inhuman about the strawhatted boy staring back at them.

Then all of a sudden, came a laugh from the same masked red-eyed figure. It was soft at first, like a ripple on calm waters, but then spiraling out into a hauntingly childish giggle that echoed louder than the sirens in the red-lit corridor. The alarms were still blaring, making the walls pulse crimson with each strobing flash, with which Luffy's laughter seemed to fill the space until it became something eerie, not cruel but unsettling. To most of the Family, it felt mocking at their situation, as if their boss's very presence and words were being ridiculed.

But Franky knew better. Somehow, he could tell that beneath the giggle, behind the mask painted with sunrays, the boy was not mocking. He wasn't even laughing at them. It was strange, but it was lighter, almost a sound that seemed to carry its own rhythm in the universe, as if he were laughing with the corridor, embraced by nature itself.

And that laugh, paired with the way the Strawhats gave him the stage without a word, stripped away Franky's last doubt. He didn't know how he knew, but he knew, that that kid was the captain of the infamous Strawhat pirate.

One of the braver–or perhaps the dumbest–of his Family puffed out his chest and shouted across the corridor at the captain. "Oi, what's so funny, huh? Laughin' at us, kid?!" His strut cracked mid-sentence, though he tried to hide it.

Luffy ignored the man as though he hadn't spoken at all. He tilted his head slightly, the mask shifting in the red glow, and then his smile widened. When his gaze locked with Franky's, it was not at all of ridicule, but invitation.

"Let's team up," he said brightly, his words almost sing-song in its jollity, though they bounced oddly against the siren's wails. "We'll get our money, and I promise to destroy the contract in turn."

The words dropped like boulders into water, sending waves of confusion and fury across the Family. Murmurs rose sharp and jagged with anger overtaking the unease that still prickled at their spines.

"What contract?!"

"We ain' here for some dumb contract you clueless kid!"

"We need that money more than anyone!"

"The hell's he talkin' about?!"

Some cursed and bared teeth, while others waved their arms, spitting that they didn't care about anything else than the sweet cash. Even the Strawhats were looking at Luffy wondering what contract he was talking about.

Franky, however, did not move. His arms stayed folded, hiding the slight trembles in them, his shades catching the light, hiding the way his eyes widened behind them. Even his shock broke through his practiced bravado, laying bare for the other captain to see it.

Because the boy shouldn't have known. Not about the contract when even his Family still remained clueless about it. And yet here he was, face to face with the masked captain with the laugh that wasn't mocking, the eyes that flashed gold and burned red, speaking of a truth Franky had never shared with anyone.

Confusion twisted in Franky's guys. For one reckless heartbeat, he wanted to believe it. To hope that maybe–just maybe–the contract could really be destroyed, that this masked kid captain's strange certainty was more than empty words and bravado. But the thought soured as quickly as it rose. It was impossible. He knew it was impossible. The contract was ironclad, sealed by hands far stronger than his. To believe otherwise was to be a fool. He needed the money fast.

His jaw clenched, anger scorching through him. He hated liars more than anything. And this strawhatted brat was lying through his teeth to gain allies.

"Stay out of the way!" Franky roared, his voice ricocheting off the walls, startling even some of his own men. "We, the Franky Family, outnumber your crew! We need the money and the contract can't be destroyed anyways, liar!"

He didn't give them a chance to argue. Throwing one of his arms forward, he rallied his Family with a sharp gesture. "Move it! Don't waste another second on 'em! Take the right, take the middle! They stand in the way of the left so ignore that side! We will get the money first!"

"Aye aye boss!" The roars were heard, before the mob lurched into motion, shaking off their hesitation and charging past the Strawhats in a rush of stomping boots. Their sunglasses gleamed in the flashing red light, their ridiculous hairstyles bobbing as they barreled forward, more concerned with the prize than the enemies opposite them.

The Strawhats tensed in unison, their masks catching the glow, shifting subtly into defensive positions. Zoro's hand ghosted over his swords' hilts, Sanji's foot scrapped against stone, Usopp raised his sling with trembling determination, Nami's knuckles whitened around her ClimaTact, Robin's fingers unfolded like blooming petals ready to snap, Chopper's hooves dug in as he bristled.

None struck first. But every muscle was pointed to snap if even one Franky Family thug tried his luck.

And through it all, Luffy's laugh rang out again. Gleeful, bright, as though none of the tension mattered. He clapped his hands, bouncing on his heels like a child watching fireworks.

"It's a race then!" He squealed, his voice carrying above the alarms. "Shishishishi!"

Before any of the Strawhats can even react or stop him, Luffy darted toward the leftmost pathway, his sandals slapping the stone, his mask somehow showcasing his wild delight.

"Captain! Oi!" Sanji barked, but he was already moving in step with Zoro, who just shook his head once at Luffy's antics while following him. The crew surged after him, their instinct to follow stronger than hesitation, each of them falling into step behind their reckless and wayward captain as the corridor split them from the Franky Family

.

A few moments prior to the thunder of alarms and the chaotic fighting of the masked pirates with the P.P.P agents, somewhere far below the bustle of the 3P's base, the air was thick and damp but at the same time fresh. The humming of the pipes rattled against the stone with condensation dropping in steady beats like a warped metronome. In that dim chamber, lit only by the weak glow of fungus-infested lamps, a small den den mushi twitched awake.

Its shell was mottled black, its face slack until it blinked and reshaped itself into the hard, feline features of a man. The snail's mouth curled in a predator's faint smile, and its voice rasped with perfect calm.

"They'll be coming for you, madam," Rob Lucci said. "The Strawhats have already crossed too many lines. They will want revenge for the loss of their money. When that happens, you won't be safe. But we can still guarantee your safety in Enies Lobby. We will protect you."

The figure listening wore a hood that shifted in tone from ash to smoke, grey to sliver, blinding into the lightless corners of the room. Even croucher, she radiated a stillness that suggested steel coiled beneath cloth. Her gloves hands drummed idly against the table, nails clicking softly on it, as she scoffed at the claims of the government's assassin.

Lucci's voice continued, each of his syllables weighed and sharpened. "Board the Sea Train as fast as you can, ma'am. Make for Enies Lobby at once. Our timetable aligns with the yearly flood and hence, the train will be mostly empty. No one will follow you into that storm. Not even the Strawhats."

For a moment, the chamber was silent save the endless wail of alarms echoing faintly through the pipes. Then, the hooded figure let out a laugh. Not too loud, not too long, but sharp and derisive, like a knife dragged across a brittle glass.

"You want me to ride a coffin into the storm?" She scoffed at the absurdity of the words, tilting her head so that the lamplight glimmered faintly off the edge of her mask. "You've lost your mind if you think I'll gamble my life on a train timed with the flood for some lowly pirates. I'm not so antsy to die, pigeon."

The den den mushi's expression did not change. Not even a flicker of frown or annoyance. But something in the way its eyes blinked betrayed the twitch of irritation. Lucci's voice dropped, smooth as oil. "You'll have no choice if you want to survive. Do not mistake this for a negotiation."

Her lips curled into a smile beneath the hood, unseen by the snail. She reached out, one of her pale fingers pressing against its shell. "Ice already survived worse than you can imagine," she whispered. "And unlike your masters, I don't hide behind castles and iron gates. The Strawhats are merely children playing pirates. They don't frighten me. They won't even make it past the front door."

Her confidence rested on truth. The gate was forged from Devilfruit-made metal, sealed by a craftsman whose ability had been buried in blood. Unless someone with pretty decent haki sought to break it, the entrance would remain untouched. And Haki was just a whisper or a mystery in these seas, a fairy tale more than a weapon to be wielded. So there was no way anyone from this side of the Grand Line could pass through it without proper permission. That was what built her safety in this base.

She tapped the den den mushi's shell again, and with a soft click, the line went dead. The snail slumped back into its blank, dumb form, its antennae dropping.

She leaned back in her chair, exhaling through her nose, her arms crossed beneath the folds of her cloak, as a smirk tugged at her lips.

Let the CP9 dogs bark their orders. Let the Strawhats prance about the streets in masks.

None of it mattered. She had her cash hidden, her routes memorized, and her enemies comfortably underestimating her-

Waaaaaahhhhhhh! Waaaaaahhhhhhh! Waaaaaahhhhhhh!

A loud, wailing, piercing sound rose and fell in pitch, startling her, rattling against the walls and her table. The lamps suddenly flickered too. With the dust sifting from the ceiling.

She straightened suddenly with a jerk, every instinct honed by years of running scraping raw against her nerves.

A second later, the echoing announcement reached her chamber, distorted by the pipes but still clear enough to be heard.

"Intruders detected! Multiple signatures! Armed and masked!"

Her smirk vanished, as she heard the announcement of the men. She crossed the room in a single stride, her cloak whipping around her ankles, as the announcement repeated over and over.

Intruders. Too many to be dismissed as petty thieves getting lucky. But that was when the things clicked in her mind. They had gotten intel that the Strawhats were wearing masks when they were last seen. And now there were masked intruders, with the head count of seven. And there were seven members in the Strawhat Pirates too.

For a heartbeat, her chest froze in fear. She had scoffed at Lucci not even five minutes ago. She had dismissed the very thought of those rookie pirates pressing into their base. And yet the words rang true, painting across her chamber in crimson alarm.

"Fuck." She swore. Her voice was low, guttural, and torn from her throat as she slammed a hand against the wall. Her heartbeat and pulse roared in her ears, drowning even the sirens. She wasn't afraid. She refused to call the feeling welling up inside her chest that. But the urgency gnawned through her calm like acid determined to melt and burn anything in its path.

"Intruders detected! Multiple signatures! Identified as the Franky Family, Led by Franky!"

She shoved aside a stack of crates, revealing the latch to a hidden crawl. Her hands moved fast, muscle memory guiding her as she drew out bundles of sealed contracts, wrapped vials, and a pouch that jingled with coins of unmarked origin. All she scraped and took everything worth carrying, fitting it neatly into a single bag.

Her breath hitched once as she pulled the straps tight. She allowed herself no hesitation, no lingering touch on what she was about to abandon. Not like she had any attachment to the cramped basement room. Survival was necessary right now.

The sirens howled once again, closer now, the pipes rattling with the weight of frantic boots. She could picture the pirates–masked pirates moving like shadows through the corridors, his laughter rolling strange, deadly yet childish. The thought struck her like a cold wave, not knowing from where the clear picture evaded her mind and settled a deep rooted fear in her chest. It was as if she could hear the laugher closing in.

Maybe Lucci was right. Maybe these children weren't to be underestimated after all. They were something else, especially the small captain.

No. She can't think about it right now. She didn't have the time to think about the monster of the captain. She forced the thought away with a snarl, survival demanding her attention every moment. She needed to leave after packing every bit of gold and money and documents. She could not give the Strawhats an up over her. She couldn't leave anything important behind. Why was there so much stuff anyway!?

The base felt alive with alarms and footsteps, but deeper she swore she could hear something else. A warning in the air. A rhythm, a thrum like the drums pounding faintly around her, warning her to leave.

She shook her head hard, dismissing it. It was nothing but an imagination born out of fear. But still as she continued to packed everything, why was there so much stuff anyway? Glad she had this special bag, yet Lucci's warning played on repeat in her mind.

'They will be coming for you.'

.

The corridors shook with the sound of pursuit. Footsteps felt like thunder, voices were shouting above each other, and steel was clashing against others. But the Strawhats didn't bother with stealth anymore. Being sneaky was for people without a ticking clock and without enemies or opponents already on their heels, rushing to grab their hard stolen money. For the Strawhats, it was about speed, about momentum, about racing against the Franky Family to get their own money.

Red sirens were bathing the walls in harsh pulses, making every mask gleam and every shadow leap like a phantom across the stone. All the while the crew was sprinting side by side, their sandals and boots slapping against damp stone, their breaths sharp but steady, and their eyes holding a determined gleam. Nami's eyes even looked slightly murderous at the thought of her money going to others' hands.

"Enemies ahead!" Usopp yelped, pointing with his sling as armoured figures rounded a corner. Knights and dames in polished gear, with their weapons glinting beneath the crimson glow stood across them, blocking their paths.

Although the knights and the dames didn't last.

With Luffy dodging each of their attacks and running past them–not even acknowledging their presence. Zoro's blade flashing once, cutting through blades before they even landed. Sanji's whirlwind of kicks, his heel slamming into a knight, hitting the others in action. Robin's blossoming hands along the ceiling, snapping the helmets backwards with precise, merciless twists. Nami's staff cracking across a visor, with sparks dancing around them. Usopp's shot striking a knight's knee, sending him sprawling into the path of Chopper, who barreled forward with surprising force.

"Oi, marimo!" Sanji's voice rang out between blows, when the second wave of knights and dames came in to stop them. "Bet I can take down more of these tin cans than you before we reach the knight with our cash!"

Zoro snorted, sheathing one blade and drawing another. "You can try, cook. But you'll only embarrass yourself."

And that was all it took, for the Strawhats to fall into a competition in the middle of the raid. It was as natural as breathing. They didn't need words; they just understood. Counting head by head, striking faster, laughing as they overtook each other, their battle turned into a game.

Sanji's foot slammed into a knight's chest, sending him tumbling. "Ten!"

Zoro's blade clanged against steel, dropping three in a single sweep. "Fifteen!"

"Oi, no fair!" Usopp fired another shot, felling one and pumping his fist. "Three for me!"

Robin's petals snapped necks with clinical precision. "Six."

Nami's staff jabbed a dame into the wall. "Four!"

Chopper growled as he body slammed a knight. "Three!"

Through it all, Luffy's laugh filled the tunnel. "I wanna play too!"

Before anyone could retort, he darted sideways, fist shooting out with childlike enthusiasm. It collided with a dame's chest and the poor woman launched into the nearest wall with a thunderous crack, plaster raining down as he slid to the floor like a pancake slapped flat.

Silence fell for a beat, as every Strawhat turned, masks angled toward their captain, whose fist still hovered mid-air, his grin wide enough to be seen even through the painted rays of his mask.

"..He doesn't count," Nami declared flatly.

"Absolutely not," Sanji agreed, lighting another cigarette with exaggerated disdain.

"It's not fair!" Usopp mumbled.

Robin's lips quirked beneath her mask. "Disqualified."

Even Chopper nodded seriously. "Yeah, you're not included."

Luffy's shoulders slumped as he looked at Zoro, who pointedly ignored his puppy eyes. Luffy pouted behind his mask, the rays tilting downward like a sulking sun. But the soft sound of his chuckle betrayed him; he didn't mind. Not really.

"Fineeee," he drawled, bouncing back on his heels. "I'll cheer instead!"

And so he did, running just behind them, clapping and hollering encouragement as the rest shouted numbers with each fallen knight. The corridor rang with sirens and laughter, with steel and footsteps, with their childish game painted against the backdrop of danger.

At last, the stairs sloped downward, the alarms deeper here, rumbling like a heart beneath stone. The air grew damp, cool, humming with the promise of treasure and secrets.

They spilled into a cavernous room where lanterns flickered weakly against high walls. Safes lined the chamber in orderly rows, metal doors gleaming under red light, their sheer number enough to steal the breath from anyone who looked.

But it wasn't the safes that caught their eyes.

At the center of the room, crouched over an open coffer, was a lone figure. Cloaked in grey, hood drawn low, they worked with frantic precision, stuffing gold coins and sealed papers into a bag slung at their side.

The sound of their movements was drowned by the sirens, but when the Strawhats entered, their presence filled the chamber like a stormfront.

The figure froze. Her hood shadowed her face as she was kneeling before the safe, with her hands buried in glittering coin and crinkling parchment, shoving them into a bulging bag. So consumed was she by her desperate task that she hadn't heard the pounding boots descending the stairwell, or the collective breath of the Strawhats pressing into the room, until the door groaned as it was pushed open.

She had jolted violently, the bag slipping from her fingers, with gold spilling in a scatter of ringing and notes floating across the stone floor. Her head snapped upwards, the lamplight catching the gleam of wide eyes beneath her hood, and for the split second she unknowingly allowed the Strawhats to see it all–the gold, documents, her shaking limbs–before she lurched back with a hiss.

Zoro was the first to react. His blades were out before the coins even stopped rolling, his blades whispering through the air in a vicious slash. He saw only the silhouette of another knight in a strange grab, another obstacle in their way of their cash.

But the hooded figure was no regular knight or dame. She wasn't even slow. She twisted sharply, her cloak snapping around her, leading the edge of Zoro's strike to kiss nothing but the air. In the same motion, her hand–the one not occupied with her bag–flashed, and from beneath her cloak she drew a weapon. It was a sleek weapon folding out like the unfurling wing of a deadly predator. It was a fan, a metal fan, but sharpened, ridged, and gleaming. She snapped it open with a crack that rang across the chamber, the polished steel catching the red light.

The Strawhats shifted instantly into ready stances, weapons raised.

"Fast," Zoro smirked with narrowed eyes at his opponent.

Sanji clicked his tongue. "Tch. What's the matter, marimo? Couldn't even cut down a single opponent?"

"Shut it, cook," Zoro growled back, feet sliding into attack.

Sanji didn't wait to jab with words. So, with a blur of motion he launched himself forward, his heel striking out in a blazing arc. The hooded figure whipped the metal fan up just in time, to defend herself, not letting the kick to even touch her or the cloak. She didn't stagger.

Sanji skidded back a step, eyes widening faintly behind his mask.

Zoro surged in again, blades slashing in concert with Sanji's next kick. Steel and bone collided, the fan weaving like a silver storm, deflecting strike after strike with uncanny rhythm. Each clash echoed through the vault chamber, reverberating off the walls until it felt like the safes themselves were quivering.

"T-They blocked that?!" Usopp yelped, fumbling with his sling.

"They are using Haki," Robin observed coolly, her eyes glinting behind her mask. "That's no ordinary opponent."

The words landed heavily on the Strawhats, making their eyes wide in realization. The hooded figure was using Haki, whose very concept in the Grand Line was stuff of legends. But the way the figure was moving and with her weapon gaining a black sheen, there was no room for denial.

"They have to be from the other part," Zoro muttered, remembering Luffy telling them about how Haki was very important in the other part of the Grand Line.

This led the Strawhats to press forward. With Robin's hands blooming from the floor, seizing at ankles, while Nami's Clima-Tact lashing out with a burst of static. With Chopper darting around the edges, aiming to trip her balance while Usopp settling to aim his weapon at notice or any opening.

Even if none of their attacks even grazed the figure, they could see their breath coming faster now, with the way their cloak was whipping as they pivoted, their fan flashing to scatter every attempt. The figure was skilled–frighteningly so–but the press of six opponents at once was unrelenting.

But Luffy still didn't move, even when he saw his crew slightly struggling. He was leaning casually against the doorframe, watching with that strange, unblinking curiosity of his, as if he were waiting for something to happen.

"Not gonna help?" Usopp asked him, panting slightly from all the running and aiming he was doing.

Luffy only tilted his head, grinning beneath his mask. "I'm watchin'!" and waiting for the rest to arrive.

The fight might have remained balanced, but the chamber door slammed wide again, and a chorus of voices tumbled in.

"YOOOOSSHA! The Franky Family made it too!"

The Strawhats groaned in near unison, already knowing what came next.

The dismantlers poured into the chamber, panting heavily, clothes scuffed and torn, faces streaked with sweat. They were clearly battered from battling the gauntlet of knights above. Their limps, bruises, and blood seeping from shallow cuts tell their own stories. But their bravado remained, burning annoyingly bright as ever.

They took one look at the scene–of the hooded figure still holding ground against the entire crew sans the captain–and burst into mocking laughter.

"Bwahahaha! What's this? Strawhats can't even handle one person?"

"You guys are truly pathetic!" another cackled, clutching his ribs as he jeered.

Move aside weaklings! We'll show you how it's done!"

Their taunts bit deep, with the Strawhats slightly bristling on instinct. Nami's eyes narrowed, Sanji's cigarette snapped between his teeth, while Zoro growled low. Even Robin's lips thinned with quiet disdain.

"Handle it? You idiots couldn't even handle us in the alleys," Zoro sat.

But the Franky Family didn't listen. They surged forward in a reckless rush, weapons flailing, eager to prove themselves. They hurled themselves into the clash blindly, swelling the tide of opponents pressing against the hooded figure.

It was chaos with blades, kicks, steel fan snapping and twisting, bodies crashing into one another. The chamber roared with noise of shouts, groans, the clang of metal, and the hiss of nothing being sliced apart.

The hooded figure fought like a cornered wolf, her fan sweeping arcs of silver, her cloak swirling as she deflected, ducked, spun. All the while she was looking for possible exits to flee. But the numbers pressed her hard. The Strawhats struck with precision, the Family with reckless weight, and together they drove her back step by step.

Her breaths were coming ragged now, with her chest rising and falling beneath the cloak. She needed to run. She couldn't face them all at once and run, even if she was much faster and stronger than anyone present here. Sparks lit the air where steel kissed steel, her wrists trembling under the pressure due to it.

She knew she was strong. In sheer strength, she might have stood her ground for hours against these pests but numbers wore even the best down, and the sheer, unending tide was cracking her defenses. She really didn't want to be swarmed by the ragtag group of the Franky Family eating up all the oxygen available in the small space anymore.

Hence, panting, she lashed out again, finding possible paths and cursing her luck. For the first time, she was feeling a fear hole in her chest and settled down as she was slowly coming to realise that she might lose.

Meanwhile, Luffy's grin had slipped off from his face. His body had shifted forward, the easy watcher's stance bleeding into intent as he prepared to throw himself into the fray. His sandal scraped against the stone at the vision which lurched in his head.

For the briefest instant, he wasn't running towards the hooded woman. But his mind was pulled sideways, and before his eyes a ripple shimmered in the air, as a door appeared out of nothingness, as if it was carved out of empty space.

Fruit powers!

And through it reached an arm–large and gloved.

Luffy's eyes widened under his mask as the vision destroyed itself, melting into reality as the air split open before him. And a real door yanked in the middle of the room, just behind the woman. The hooded figure gasped as he arm seized her cloak, yanking her and her bag of stolen gold through the impossible aperture.

"Oi!" Luffy launched forward, his hand snapping out to grab the woman. But his foresight betrayed him as by the time he moved, the scene he had foreseen was already real and happening. With the hooded figure vanishing into the rift and the bag vanishing with her. The door clapped shut with a final clang, leaving only empty air and shocked silence of the absurdity behind.

For a moment, the Strawhats still held their attacking position, with blades and staff raised and the Franky Family gasped with jaws slacked at the mysterious door snatching the hooded figure away.

"What the hell was that?!" Usopp screeched, voicing out the question of several present there.

"A d-door!" Someone from the Franky Family spoke in disbelief.

"S-she just vanished?!" Chopper's voice cracked, his hooves trembling.

Curses were soon to explode from the rest, their voices echoing like cannon fire in the small basement room.

"Damn it! She got away with everything!"

"What?!" Franky's voice screeched, as he turned to the one who uttered the prior statement. His head shook in denial as he faced the Strawhats and with a booming voice demanded, "Hand all the money over!"

"What money?!" Nami snapped, snarling as she slammed her ClimaTact gajansg the floor, stopping all the curses and absurd statements from everyone. "That bastard stole it! All of it!" She howled.

The others turned to the place where she was looking and sure enough, every safe gaped hollow. Where once there had been gleaming gold and stacks of notes and documents, now there was nothing but dust and scattered fragments. Even the coins which the figure had dropped earlier were nowhere to be seen.

Robin bent gracefully even in the urgency, gathering a handful of documents that had fallen when the hooded figure had nearly dropped her bag. "Not quite everything," she remarked, examining the scattered contracts. "It seems like she wanted these too. She managed to take some though, but most she left behind when we started her at the beginning."

Feanky stopped forward, his massive shoulders heaving as he shoved aside Strawhats and his Family alike. He knelt, scooping away the papers with his trembling hands beneath his mechanical strength.

"If the gold's gone, then at least.. at least the contracts!" He bellowed. "These are ours to take!" He glared at the papers' in the woman's hand. "Hand 'em over!" He said before snatching them away from the woman's hands without giving her a chance to resist.

With that, Franky quickly rifled through them, tossing the sheets aside in a flurry of desperation. His shades caught the siren light, hiding the flicker of panic in his eyes. Page after page, name after name.. and yet none of them was his.

When at last his hands stilled, the silence that fell on Franky's shoulders felt crushing more than anything he had ever experienced. "..Not here."

His family shifted uncomfortably behind him, muttering about what he was doing. Franky didn't pay them attention as he clenched his jaw, the veins straining against his temples. "All that.. all that for nothing!" He growled, crushing the useless contracts in his palms.

Meanwhile, Luffy who wasn't noticing the shift in the air with Franky between it, felt the familiar ruffle of the winds in his hair. They tugged at the edges of his mask playfully, stirring the scattered parchements on the floor, whispering across his ears.

Luffy's grin widened behind his mask as his head snapped in the pointed direction of the winds, and shouted with the kind of joy that split through every doubt and confusion in the hair. "YOOOSHHAA! I know where she is!"

"Oi?! What?! She?!" Sanji questioned, his eyes widening at the realisation that the hooded figure he was fighting was indeed a woman.

"Yep!" Luffy laughed, already breaking into a sprint towards the exit. "She's running to the Blue station! To the Sea Train!"

"Wait! Luffy!" Nami called, but she was already moving, her mask shadowed and eyes blazing with something darker than her usual glint. It was the glint of someone who was willing to crush someone who stole their life. For Nami, it was the money. She would not stop until she squeezed every bit of money from the hooded figure.

The crew thundered after Luffy, their footfalls pounding in the hallways already.

"FOR MERRYYYY!" Usopp bellowed, his voice cracking with passion as tears and fire tangled together in his eyes as he pumped his arms. "WE'LL GET THEM FOR YOU, MERRY! JUST YOU WAIT!"

The echoes of 'hell yeah's echoed through the chamber, leaving the Franky Family stunned in the basement room. Most of them wanted to follow the Strawhatted captain, obviously to get their hands on the money first, but waited for the orders from their Boss.

Franky himself was frozen, his shades hiding his eyes, but his mouth quivered slightly at the raw conviction in the sharpshooter's voice.

"..idiots," he muttered, though his chest stirred uneasily at the obvious fondness of the group towards their ship.

"Boss? What do we do? The captain obviously knows something!" One of the wiser men from the Family asked.

"After them!" Franky shouted, making the Franky Family scramble after them, some in pride, some in desperation, and the rest in the excitement of the race. They wanted the money, wanted to show the Strawhats up, wanted to prove their worth to their boss. So even if their lungs burned and their wounds throbbed, they'd already survived, they dove for the next danger without hesitation.

Franky followed too, leading his group, but the words of the strawhatted captain echoed in his mind, gnawing him. He knew the tunnels of Water 7. He knew the Blue Station. He knew the timing of the Aqua Laguna. And he knew too well the paths they were following.. it would lead them straight into the jaws of the dangerous shit storm of the waves about to strike Water 7. But Franky hoped against everything that they would catch up to the woman before they reached the Blue Station.

But when they burst into the open air, his fears hardened into truth. The winds were already screaming through the canals, salty and bitter, tugging at his scarce clothes and hair with a warning of the storm.

And there, across the Blue Station near the Sea Train, he saw the grey hooded figure, along with the silhouettes of the P.P.P.

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