❛ 𝗠𝗢𝗢𝗡𝗚𝗟𝗔𝗗𝗘 ❜ ᵒⁿᵉ ᵖⁱᵉᶜᵉ

044 ▍a friend's sacrifice

— the oceanic metropolis

STANDING UP after looking through the map of waterseven that rests in the middle of the table. this alarmed your crew members, making them turn your way. 

"i'm heading out," you announced, looking directly at kurosei's eye, before him nodding his head at you, with that your left the warehouse.

"you're not going to follow her?" theo asked, raising a brow at the vice captain. 

kurosei shock his head no, "you know her, she can handle herself."

you stood in front of the warehouse, sensing the number of people inside it. four were cp9 agents, two unconscious girls, franky, usopp.

franky and usopp were already tied up and wrapped in some kind of thick cloth. the cp9 agents turned around, ready to leave but stopped when they saw you at the entrance.

lucci's eyes twitch, observing your figure. head tilted, hands crossed just below the chest, slightly smirking at the long-haired male. 

hattori, lucci's pigeon, flew away from it's companion's shoulders towards your, making you smile at it.

"if it isn't the lady of the night," lucci spoke in a teasing voice.

you chuckled lightly, and faceplamed. "i honestly don't know what goes inside the mind of the person who came up with the epithet, i don't even do prostitution. i'm gonna have that change next time-"

"stop the talk, we know you're not here to joke around," he cut you off and glared. lucci then signaled the other to go, "go ahead, you three." to which the three followed and hurriedly went out.

"do you think, i'll let them go?" you asked him, amused.

"you will or else." he then attacked you with shigan that you dodged it casually. hattori now flying away to avoid being hit in any way.

grabbing his hand, pulling him close to you, "the audacity to think that you can land a hit on me, lucci."

the said male was stunned, his body felt like it was frozen still seeing your smirk. your faces were only inches apart, he knew you were mocking him but his mind is all over the place trying to comprehend what is happening.

you stopped smirking when you noticed he was no longer moving. raising your free hand to lightly tap his face. "lucci~? you alright?"

'alright?! after what you've done, i think not!'

in a blinked of an eye, your back was now on the floor while lucci was above you. his eyes darken, "how dare you-!" attacking you once again but you tilted your head to the side. "how do you keep dodging?!"

"i have my ways."

grasping his head with both hands, "did you miss me? Mr. massacre weapon?" his eyes widened for a second before his strength left him intentionally. his body resting on your own, this man thinks he's light as a feather, guess what he's not.

his head rests on the crevice of your head, "why didn't you take me away from here, years ago?" he asked in a whisper, his voice muffled.

"lucci, there are things in this world that can't be changed. i tried, but nothing changed, even though i did everything i could do."

the male stayed quiet for a few seconds before finally standing up, and tidying his black suit. he didn't even help you up, what a gentleman.

hattori came back and gave you a peck on the nose, most likely saying goodbye.

"if that's the case then, i'll be on my way to completing this mission. you now have no right to intervene." 

you sadly smiled at him, still not standing up from the cold floors. "there are a lot of people who are stronger than you, lucci."

"you're one of them."

"in time, you'll meet another one who can defeat you."

"i'd like to see them try." with that he left. you eyed the entrance with a neutral look, before sighing.

oh how much he has learned.

cipher pol 9 now has franky in their hold, but not after a fight, unfortunately, the advantage was neither in usopp nor franky's hands.

back at the headquarters, iceberg, paulie, and nami were saved by chopper from the burning mansion. nami and iceberg got to talk about robin's real intent in participating in cp9's assassination plan. robin went with cp9's plan for the strawhats to be safe when they got off the shores of waterseven. 

nico robin chooses the six members of the strawhats over the lives of thousands of billions of people, the sacrifice she's willing to risk.

even the darkness finds its light, it seems that the darkness surrounding nico robin's heart has seen the light of the world that is more worthy than her own life.

a few minutes after lucci left, and after savoring the soothing quiet of the now abandoned warehouse. too soothing to the point you forgot you were still on the floor. 

walking out of the warehouse, you pulled out a baby den den mushi from your pockets and contacted theo, who is still on the lookout at the train station.

"any updates?"

"lucci and the others are now here at the station,  along with some marines. they have franky and usopp  — the long nose one from the strawhats. the sea train will be heading off in a few seconds due to aqua laguna."

nodding at every piece of information that he's giving, looking down at the water canals when you hear voices from the distance. 

"luffy~~~!"

"zoro~~~!"

paying no mind to it, you went back to your crewmate. "that's all?"

"looks like it, robin's already in the car."

"can you call aleck? tell him to help, if push comes to shove."

"right away~! and please go back to the warehouse, the wind is much more rough than earlier, it feels like its gonna rain."

you chuckled at him, "alright."