Chapter 166: The Unreachable Hand! CP9's Rear Guard Action
Rumble! Rumble! Rumble! Rumble! Rumble!,!!!
Carriage No. 1, the door leading to truth and despair, was right before their eyes.
"Open UP!!!!"
Luffy stood before the door, his eyes bloodshot.
He didn't hesitate for a second, much less have the politeness to knock.
In that instant, his entire right arm was wrapped in pitch-black Armament Haki, his muscles tensed to the absolute limit.
"Gomu Gomu no Siege Cannon!!!!"
Boom!!!
A deafening roar drowned out the thunder.
That door of Carriage No. 1, forged from heavy steel and sturdy enough to withstand cannon fire...
...under Luffy's rage-filled strike, it caved in and flew inward instantly like fragile cardboard.
Then, it transformed into countless twisted metal shards, shooting into the interior of the carriage.
"Robin!!! We've come to get you!!!!"
Before the dust could settle, Luffy's heart-wrenching roar had already echoed throughout the entire carriage.
...
Inside Carriage No. 1.
This was the very front of the Puffing Tom and CP9's final bastion.
In this cramped space, Luffy, Tatsuya, Zoro, Sanji, along with Franky and Sniper King who had caught up from behind, finally saw the target they had been desperately chasing.
In the deepest part of the carriage, that familiar figure Nico Robin was tied up and thrown into a corner.
Standing before her were three figures exuding a cold aura.
Rob Lucci, Kaku, and Kalifa.
However, at this moment, they no longer possessed the composure and elegance they had back at Dock 1.
Lucci's once-proud black suit was now in tatters, and his exposed chest and shoulders were wrapped in thick bandages.
Faintly visible charred skin and seeping blood indicated just how terrible the condition of 'CP9's strongest' was.
The twin blades in Kaku's hands were broken, forcing him to pick up two standard Marine longswords; dried blood still clung to the corner of his mouth.
Kalifa was in even worse shape; her once-exquisite hair was disheveled, her fishnet stockings were torn in several places, and she was glaring at the charging Tatsuya with a venomous gaze.
"You guys..."
Robin looked up at her drenched companions, her pupils trembling violently.
They were light.
They were the only light that had ever shone into her twenty-year life of flight, filled with betrayal and darkness.
"Robin!!"
Seeing Robin, a smile of pleasant surprise broke across Luffy's face.
"Great! We finally caught up to you! Come here! Let's go home!"
"Don't come over here!!!!"
A sharp, desperate scream abruptly halted Luffy's forward steps.
Robin curled up in the corner, tears welling in her eyes, but she bit her lip hard to keep them from falling.
In her mind, the shadow of the 'Buster Call' a force capable of destroying everything loomed large.
The nightmare of Ohara burning was expanding infinitely.
If they get any closer... if they fight for me again...
Those ten warships, those five Vice Admirals that destructive power will wipe out all these fools!
"I don't want to see you!!"
Robin closed her eyes and shook her head frantically, using the most vicious and resolute words to try and sever the bond she craved yet feared:
"Why did you come to save me?! I never asked you to!"
"I am the Devil Child! As long as you're with me, you'll only face misfortune! I've had enough of being hunted!"
"I want to die!! Let me die here!! That is my wish!!"
"Get out of here!!!!"
Each scream, every word was like a knife stabbing into the hearts of the Straw Hat crew, and into Robin's own already riddled heart.
A deathly silence fell over the carriage.
Luffy was stunned, Zoro frowned, and Nami covered her mouth.
Only Tatsuya remained unmoved.
Standing beside Luffy, he slowly raised his head.
"Are those your true feelings? Robin."
He ignored Robin's breakdown and instead looked past her, locking his gaze onto Rob Lucci standing in the center.
Hum
Tatsuya's eyes snapped open. His black pupils were instantly dyed a strange, eerie crimson.
Three black tomoe spun wildly within them, emitting a terrifying ocular power.
"Lucci."
Tatsuya stared at the leopard-man, a cruel curve tugging at the corner of his mouth.
"Blueno is dead."
"Do you really think you can still escape?"
Tatsuya's hands began to form seals so fast they became mere afterimages; the Chakra within him began to boil, and the surrounding air crackled with the gathering energy.
"Right now, you are heavily injured and far from recovered."
"While we... are all here."
"I'll bury you right here!"
Faced with Tatsuya's aggressive killing intent, Lucci didn't transform and charge forward as he usually would.
His sinister eyes scanned the Straw Hat main force, who were in peak condition.
He then looked at his heavily injured companions and his own right arm, which was still throbbing with pain.
Just as Tatsuya said, CP9 was currently in terrible shape.
If they fought to the death in this narrow carriage, even if they managed to kill a few, they themselves would definitely be wiped out.
Moreover...
Lucci turned his head and looked through the shattered window at the massive silhouette looming in the dark rain ahead.
It was a giant gate that seemed to connect heaven and earth, standing at the end of the storm-tossed sea, exuding a suffocating majesty and terror.
The Gates of Justice.
They had already reached the waters just before Enies Lobby.
"Hmph..."
Lucci let out a cold snort, a sneer appearing on his lips.
"Indeed, as you say, we aren't in the best condition to fight a pack of mad dogs like you head-on."
"However... Pirates."
Lucci pointed to the massive shadow outside the window.
"We have also arrived."
Before his voice could fade.
"Tempest Kick: Victory Bird!!"
Lucci's right leg snapped out, kicking a massive bird-shaped vacuum blade.
But the target of this slash wasn't Luffy or Tatsuya it was the floor beneath his feet!
Clang!!
A loud crack of metal breaking.
With absolute precision, the slash severed the coupling between Carriage No. 1 and Carriage No. 2, even cutting through the complex hydraulic power lines.
"Kaku!!" Lucci roared.
"Understood!!"
Enduring his pain, Kaku pulled a flare gun from his coat and pulled the trigger toward the sky outside the window.
Bang!
A red flare pierced the rainy night, exploding in the sky.
It was the signal to the Enies Lobby guard forces ahead [Emergency! Cut off the path behind!]
Rumble rumble rumble...
The moment the flare lit up, the giant waterproof gates on the sea ahead began to descend slowly, creating massive whirlpools beneath them.
Without the coupling and the thrust from the rocketman behind...
...Carriage No. 1, where Lucci was, accelerated instantly with its own power at full throttle, shooting toward the closing gates like an arrow from a bow.
Meanwhile, the rear carriages where Luffy and the others were, having lost their traction, began to jolt violently and decelerate under the force of inertia.
"What?!!"
"The carriages are separating?!"
Luffy's face paled as the floor beneath him rapidly receded.
The distance between the two cars widened rapidly in just a few seconds.
Ten meters... twenty meters... fifty meters...
"Don't you dare run!!!!"
Luffy watched the receding carriage and his kidnapped companion, letting out a roar of unwilling fury.
"Gomu Gomu no,"
Luffy's arm suddenly stretched out, reaching its limit in the rainy night.
He lunged recklessly for the back door of the receding carriage, wanting to grab Robin, or at least the edge of the car.
Even just a little bit... if only he could grab on...
"Naive."
Lucci stood at the door of the receding carriage, watching the stretching rubber arm with eyes as cold as iron.
He raised a bandage-wrapped finger and aimed it at Luffy's palm.
"Finger Pistol:dial!"
Pfft!
A compressed air bullet shot from his fingertip, accurately striking the center of Luffy's palm.
"Agh!!"
Luffy cried out in pain as a bloody hole was blasted through his palm, the massive impact forcing him to retract his arm.
In that brief instant, the distance had widened beyond reach.
"Robin!!!!"
Luffy clutched his bleeding hand, leaning over the edge of the severed carriage, shouting in despair.
Inside the receding carriage.
Lucci grabbed Robin by her hair, forcing her to look back at her increasingly distant companions.
"Look closely, Nico Robin."
Lucci's voice was like a demon's whisper, mixing with the sound of the rain:
"This is reality. This is the price of defying the World Government."
"Your companions... have been abandoned."
"The Gates of Justice have opened. The place we are going..."
"...is a hell you pirates can never reach."
Robin was forced to watch those figures gradually vanish into the curtain of rain; her tears finally burst forth, sliding down her cheeks and dripping onto the floor.
"Luffy... everyone..."
"Goodbye."
...
"DAMN IT ALL!!!!"
Watching Robin being taken away, Luffy completely lost his reason.
"I'm jumping over!! I'll swim over!!"
Luffy climbed onto the railing, about to jump into the turbulent, whirlpool-filled sea.
"Don't be reckless! You idiot!!"
A powerful hand firmly grabbed Luffy's back collar, dragging him back by force.
It was Tatsuya.
By now, the rear carriages had completely lost power; with a screech of metal, the wheels locked, and they skidded into the station's perimeter fence ahead.
"Let go of me!! Tatsuya!! Robin is..." Luffy struggled desperately.
"Look down!!"
Tatsuya roared, pointing at the sea below.
Under the influence of the 'Gates of Justice,' the currents here had already formed several bottomless super-whirlpools.
Those were death traps that could swallow even warships.
"You're a Fruit user! Jumping down is suicide! You'll die before you can save Robin!"
Tatsuya deactivated his Sharingan.
"Since they've gone in..."
Tatsuya looked at the massive, brightly lit island ahead Enies Lobby.
"...then we'll charge in from the front."
"We'll break through the main gate, kill everyone in our way, until we get Robin back!!"
"That is what we must do!!"
Luffy panted heavily, staring at the island; the madness in his eyes gradually cooled, transforming into an even harder resolve.
He pressed down on his Straw Hat, his voice low:
"Exactly what I was thinking."
"We're going to... raise some hell!!!!"
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