Back at Enies Lobby, Tower of Justice.
Franky was on his knees, bound and bruised, forced to grovel before Spandam. His arms were shackled behind his back with thick sea stone cuffs, rendering him powerless. Blueno stood nearby, keeping watch like an immovable wall, ready to intervene if Franky so much as twitched.
"Damn you, Cutty Flam!" Spandam hissed, pacing in front of him like an agitated hyena. "You think you can hide the Pluton blueprint forever?!"
Franky looked up, eyes blazing with defiance despite his restraints. "I'll take it to the grave. No one—not you, not the World Government—will get their filthy hands on it."
Spandam's face turned red with fury. "Tch! Stubborn fool!"
His breath came in short bursts, his face twisted in frustration. "Fine then! Take him away. If we throw him into Impel Down for a few years, he'll be begging to talk. For now, lock him up!"
"Understood," Blueno said flatly.
With that, he opened a silent door with his Devil Fruit power and dragged Franky into it, vanishing with him in an instant.
Spandam slumped into his chair, massaging his temple. "I swear, this guy… always pushing my buttons…"
But his moment of calm didn't last. A Den Den Mushi on his desk began to ring, its eyes bulging with urgency. He quickly picked it up.
"Yes, this is Director Spandam."
"Director! It's bad! It's really bad!" came the panicked voice on the other end.
Spandam frowned. "Bad? What do you mean by bad?"
"The Orca Pirates! They're—They're too strong! We can't stop them!"
"What?! There are thousands of you! How are you being wiped out?!"
"They've got Devil Fruit users! And not just one! Several of them! They're monsters! We're—Aaaaah!!"
Click.
The call was cut.
Spandam stood frozen, sweat forming on his brow. He quickly tried to redial the number, but there was no response.
"No, no, no—what's happening out there?!" he muttered, pacing frantically.
Then, another call came in. He snatched the receiver.
"Director! Help us! We need reinforcements!" a soldier shouted.
"Calm down! Tell me what's going on!"
"We can't hold much longer! These people... they are monsters!"
Spandam's voice shook. "What do you mean by demons?!"
But before he got an answer—
Click.
Another disconnected call.
Spandam stood in stunned silence, gripping the Den Den Mushi so hard it nearly cracked. His composure was crumbling.
At the side, Kaku crossed his arms. "It seems we underestimated them."
"I think it's time we step in," Kalifa added coldly.
Jabra stood up with a growl. "About time. Your squad brought this mess, Kaku. Even Lucci hasn't come back yet. Maybe he already got taken down."
Kaku didn't respond. He simply walked toward the door with Kalifa, calm and focused.
"Oi, don't ignore me!" Jabra snapped, but they kept moving.
Before they could exit, Spandam suddenly called out, "Wait!"
The two CP9 agents paused.
Spandam went to a locked drawer, pulled out two small boxes, and handed them—one each—to Kaku and Kalifa.
"I have something for you," he said with a sinister grin.
They opened the boxes slowly, their eyes widening as they saw what was inside—two Devil Fruits.
...
Inside the Courthouse, Enies Lobby.
The courtroom was in complete chaos—though it was all one-sided.
Baskerville, the so-called judge, was now lying flat on the floor, completely immobilized inside a hardened lump of wax. Galdino stood over him, casually pressing one boot down on his chest like a hunter pinning his prize.
Zoro leaned on one of his swords, already finished with Captain T-Bone, who now lay unconscious at the far end of the hall. He glanced across the room toward Sanji, who had just landed a final spinning kick to the last remaining Blue Gorilla, sending it flying into a shattered pillar.
Nearby, Gin stood over the collapsed form of CP6's Jerry, adjusting the grip on his tonfa.
Kruz stood amid a field of crumpled dog-riding marines. Neither soldier nor canine had been spared from the storm of strikes he unleashed. The courtroom, once a place of justice, now looked more like a battlefield littered with the defeated.
All eyes turned to the final fight still ongoing—Alvida versus Nero.
"Why's she taking so long?" Gin asked, frowning. "She could've flattened him by now."
"Looks like she's trying to copy his Rokushiki moves," Zoro replied, watching with a mix of curiosity and amusement. "That rat guy might be trash, but his techniques are still part of CP9's elite style."
"Is that even effective?" Galdino asked, crossing his arms.
Before anyone could answer, Alvida suddenly disappeared from view in a blur.
"Huh?" Nero blinked rapidly, unable to follow her movement.
"You… you used Soru?!" Nero stammered in disbelief.
"It's not that hard," Alvida replied smugly, reappearing a few feet away. "In fact… I can do even more."
She vanished again—this time moving faster than before. Nero's eyes widened as she appeared behind him, her hand jabbing forward.
"Velvet Shigan!"
Boom!
"Shigan?! Guhh—!" Nero gasped as the powerful finger strike hit him square in the chest.
But Alvida wasn't done. She launched herself into the air with a bounce.
"Geppo!"
She soared above him and twisted midair.
"Rankyaku!" she called.
A slicing arc of compressed wind flew toward Nero. In panic, Nero jumped aside—but Alvida had already anticipated it. She was waiting at his landing point, her mace raised.
"Velvet Crash!"
Boom!
Her mace struck Nero full-force in the side. His body bent like a shrimp before being launched across the room, crashing hard into a concrete wall. The impact was brutal—he hit the wall with enough force to embed into it. Dust and debris rained down.
Everyone stared.
Nero didn't move.
"…You took your sweet time," Gin commented dryly.
"I was hoping to learn something from Rokushiki," Alvida said, dusting off her sleeves. "But their version feels sloppy. Zino's techniques are cleaner."
"Well," Galdino shrugged, "should we go finish off the next group?"
"Hold on," Sanji said, glancing toward the staircase. "What about the others? Nami, Nojiko, Mikita... they were holding off the bulk of the marines."
"They'll manage," Gin replied confidently. "Those girls are tougher than they look. Also, captain is there at the back. Let's just go and beat the next group."
"Actually…" Kruz spoke up. "I forgot to tell you something earlier. Hibari and Binko slipped away during the chaos."
"What?" Zoro raised an eyebrow. "Why didn't you say that earlier?"
"Sorry. I think they're trying to reach the upper floors ahead of us. Maybe they want to deal with the heavy hitters before we get there."
Zoro clicked his tongue. "Tch. They better not hog all the real fights."
"Then let's move." Sanji straightened his jacket.
The six of them regrouped, and began sprinting toward the stairway that led further up.
...
On the Upper Floor of the Courthouse.
The sound of rapid footsteps echoed through the hallway, accompanied by bursts of compressed air—Soru being used repeatedly. Hibari and Binko were engaged in a fast-paced clash with none other than Blueno, one of the CP9 agents. The three flickered in and out of sight, colliding with intense speed, each blow a test of reflex and precision.
What surprised Blueno most wasn't just that they were fast—it was how proficient they were at using Soru, a technique normally reserved for trained CP agents. This wasn't some sloppy imitation. They knew it. Well.
"You two…" Blueno narrowed his eyes as he barely blocked another dagger strike. "Who are you?"
"You should already know," Hibari answered coolly, gun aimed low, eyes locked on him.
"Are you ex-CP agents?" Blueno's tone grew sharper, more serious. "Is that how you learned the Rokushiki?"
"CP agents?" Binko scoffed, spinning one of his daggers in his fingers. "Not even close. We're with the *Orcas*."
Blueno's frown deepened. The Orcas? The Orcas knew how to use Rokushiki? How is that possible? Rokushiki is only available to those elite marines to learn.
"Enough talk," Binko said, already shifting his stance. "We don't have time to waste. Zoro and the others will catch up if we delay too long."
Hibari silently agreed—and fired.
Bang!
The bullet whizzed through the air with a sharp crack. Blueno's instincts kicked in just in time as he shifted his head to the side. The bullet grazed past, ripping a strand of hair.
But before he could counter, a blade came slicing downward from above—Binko's dagger, aimed cleanly for his skull. Blueno had no room to dodge.
"Tekkai!!"
His body hardened instantly, steel-like muscles absorbing the incoming strike.
Screee—slash!
Despite the defensive move, the dagger managed to bite into his skin.
"Urgh!" Blueno grunted, jumping back as blood trickled from a shallow cut on his forehead. His eyes narrowed—he hadn't expected the dagger to be so sharp, nor the attack to come that quickly.
"Tch. Not deep enough," Binko muttered, flipping the dagger in his hand. "But the next one… will hurt."
His stance shifted—one dagger raised in front of his face, the other held low behind him. With a powerful kick, he disappeared.
Soru.
Bang!
Another gunshot from Hibari rang out in perfect sync.
Blueno's eyes flared. He had no choice.
"Door-Door: Air Door!"
With a sweep of his hand, a black rectangular door appeared midair. Blueno vanished into it just before Binko's blade reached him.
Clang!
The dagger missed and scraped across the tile floor.
"Huh? Where'd he go?" Binko muttered, spinning on his heel. Suddenly—danger.
"Duck!" he shouted.
Hibari obeyed instantly, crouching low just as hands burst out of thin air, swiping at the space he had been standing in.
The hands missed, then vanished into a floating door that sealed up and disappeared.
Hibari blinked. "What… what kind of ability is this?"
"Dimensional travel," Binko said grimly. "He's moving between spaces."
They both stayed close now, backs nearly touching. Binko's daggers were raised, and Hibari's gun was loaded and steady. They watched the air carefully.
"He might be able to come from anywhere," Hibari muttered. "Walls, ground… even the ceiling."
From inside the Air Door space, Blueno watched them through the invisible air. He wiped the blood from his forehead and scowled.
"They're fast… but also cautious," he thought. "They adapt quickly."
Still hidden in the other dimension, Blueno observed his opponents silently. Sweat beaded on his brow, but his expression remained unreadable. He was facing foes more capable than expected. But he wasn't about to lose.
"This won't be easy," he muttered to himself, eyes narrowing. "But let's see if you can anticipate this."
With that, he stepped silently across the invisible floor of his Air Door dimension. His form glided soundlessly, unhindered by the walls of reality. He approached Binko's position from behind, now standing just meters away from the unaware dagger-wielder.
"Door Door: Rankyaku!"
From the hidden dimension, he unleashed a powerful, compressed air blade that tore through the air with a high-pitched shriek.
"Huh?!"
Binko's instincts kicked in. He whirled around and brought up both his daggers in a cross-block.
Clang!
The shockwave of the attack sent him sliding back several meters, boots scraping against the tiles. His arms shook from the force.
As he steadied himself, another Rankyaku shot out—this time aimed at Hibari.
But Hibari vanished just in time with a burst of Soru, reappearing several feet away, eyes scanning the air.
"Tch… he's hiding in that other dimension again," Binko growled. "How are we supposed to fight someone we can't even see?"
Before Hibari could respond, a sudden gust of pressure hit them again.
"Door Door: Shigan!"
"Urgh!"
Binko staggered. A stabbing pain flared in his torso. Blueno's finger had pierced him through the air like a spear. Blood trickled from the wound.
Reacting instantly, Binko slashed back with both blades—but again, he hit only empty air.
The enemy was already gone.