After a fierce battle, Sanji and the others ultimately failed to rescue Robin. All they could do was remain inside the detached carriage and watch as she was taken away.
Fortunately, they were saved by the Franky Family.
"So that's how it is… you're here to rescue someone too," Franky said.
Sanji nodded. Lighting a cigarette, he fell silent, his expression unusually heavy.
"So you got separated from Luffy and the others," Usopp said. "Can we still find them?"
Rescuing Robin with just their current strength wasn't enough.
"Our goals are the same," someone replied. "As long as we head toward Enies Lobby, we'll run into them eventually."
"You can already see the shadow of the City That Never Sleeps."
"The City That Never Sleeps?"
"There's only daytime there, so people call it that."
"What a strange place…"
Staring at the glowing land in the distance, a trace of emotion surfaced in Usopp's eyes.
"We've found Straw Hat and the others!" someone shouted excitedly as they rushed in.
"That's great!" Sanji's eyes lit up. "Quick—let's regroup with them!"
He had extremely important information to share with his companions. Without addressing this issue, rescuing Robin would be far more difficult.
"So… we're finally meeting them again," Usopp muttered, pressing his lips together before letting out a quiet sigh.
No matter what, what had to come would come eventually.
After regrouping, Usopp and Sanji returned together to the Rocket Man's carriage.
The moment Jin saw Usopp, a question mark practically popped up over his head.
"You…"
That was Usopp, right? With that signature nose, there was no way he could be mistaken.
"Hahaha! Nice to meet you!" Usopp laughed with his hands on his hips. "I'm Sogeking!"
"Usopp's friend!"
"What's Sogeking?" Chopper asked curiously.
"A hero!"
"Ohhh!"
"Sogeking!"
Luffy and Chopper looked at him with shining, admiring eyes—instantly satisfying Usopp's vanity.
Jin: ???
What was this guy playing at?
Jin shot a puzzled look toward Sanji, silently asking for an explanation.
"This must be Jin," Sanji said instead.
"Yeah, that's me."
Seeing that Sanji had no intention of explaining, Jin guessed something must've happened. He decided not to press the issue for now—better to talk about it after Robin was rescued.
Usopp suddenly stopped, staring at Jin with sparkling eyes.
"You're that ninja?!"
"Can you show me some ninjutsu?!"
"Nin!"
"Nin!"
Jin: ...
It really had to be said—anyone who could stay on the same ship as Luffy shared certain similarities.
"We'll talk about showing ninjutsu later," Sanji cut in. "Right now, I have extremely important intelligence to tell you."
"Luffy, come here too."
Luffy blinked and obediently walked over.
Zoro looked at Sanji curiously. He'd been about to mock the perverted cook as usual, but seeing the seriousness on Sanji's face, he shut his mouth.
"What Nami said before was correct," Sanji said gravely. "Robin really did sacrifice herself because she was threatened."
"But there's something we didn't know."
"What is it?"
"The Buster Call."
"The Buster Call?"
"Yes—the Buster Call!" Sanji said. "I heard it directly from CP9. It's a military force made up of five Marine Vice Admirals and ten Marine battleships."
"With that as its foundation, an entire island can be erased!"
"And that's what Robin fears."
At this point, a shadow crossed Sanji's eyes.
"Her hometown was destroyed by that very power. She was the only survivor."
"So that's why an eight-year-old child was given a bounty of seventy-nine million Beli," Jin said.
"Most likely."
No matter how exceptional she was, an eight-year-old shouldn't have had a bounty that high.
The most reasonable explanation was the Buster Call.
"Five Vice Admirals… ten warships…" Chopper gasped. "And everyone at Enies Lobby too…"
Were those the enemies they had to face this time?
"So we need to be mentally prepared," Sanji said.
"So what?" Luffy replied. "All I know is that if we don't save Robin, she'll be killed."
"No matter who the enemy is, I'll punch them flying!"
To Luffy, none of that mattered.
All he knew was that Robin had to be saved.
Watching Luffy storm off angrily, Zoro spoke calmly.
"What we're doing was decided from the beginning. That won't change because of this."
Buster Call or not—it couldn't shake their resolve to save a companion.
"I know that," Sanji said. "I'm just telling you to be prepared."
"It might not even come to a Buster Call," Nami analyzed. "We're going to Enies Lobby."
"They wouldn't activate one there, right?"
"Our priority is rescuing Robin. We can worry about the Buster Call later."
"We still need to assume they will use it," Jin said.
Placing hope in the enemy's restraint was irrational.
Since Sanji had brought this information, they had to proceed under the assumption that a Buster Call could be activated at any moment.
"If they really do call it, I'll find a way to stop them."
He didn't know how strong Marine Vice Admirals truly were, but with his current strength, clashing with them shouldn't be impossible.
The only concern was whether all five would act together.
Sanji looked at Jin in surprise.
He hadn't expected such confidence.
He'd never seen a Buster Call himself—but he could roughly imagine the strength of five Vice Admirals.
After all, someone like Smoker was only a Captain.
"Then let's start planning," Barry said, pulling out a blueprint. "I've done maintenance work at Enies Lobby before, so I drew a rough map."
"Everyone, take a look."
Once everyone gathered around, Barry pointed at the diagram.
"Starting from the front gate, there are two massive doors."
"My idea is for us to go in first and open the gates. Then you can ride the Rocket Man straight inside."
He glanced at the Straw Hat Pirates beside him.
"CP9 are extremely strong. Only you can handle them."
"So don't waste your stamina on opening the gates—leave that to us."
Along the way, Barry had seen the Straw Hat Pirates' strength with his own eyes. He knew exactly who the real combat force was.
Jin studied the blueprint.
"How do we open the gates?"
"As long as someone goes to the side entrances and activates them, the main gates will open," Barry explained.
"Then there's no need to go through all that trouble," Jin waved his hand.
"Why not?"
"Because I'll make them open the gates themselves."
As he spoke, the Sharingan flashed briefly in Jin's eyes.
A battle?
There was no need at all.
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