Struggle

Luffy charges through the smoke and chaos with Robin on his back, yelling "Kaeru!!!" A note explains that kaeru means both frog and return, and that he wanted to return Robin. The others stare in disbelief. Someone cries, "What!? We've come so far!!" while another protests, "Why do we have to turn back now!? Straw Hat!!!" The answer appears ahead on the rails: Yokozuna, the giant frog, has leapt onto the tracks again. Rocketman's shark-faced engine rushes straight toward him, and the crew yells, "That frog appeared out of nowhere!!!" The rescue has succeeded for one breath, but the train has no room to stop.

Rocketman bears down on Yokozuna. Someone shouts, "What a huge frog!!" and another recognizes him: "Yokozuna!!!" Luffy is stunned, "That guy!?" while the train crew screams, "Get out of the way, froggy~~~~!!!" Kokoro can only watch as the engine keeps roaring forward. Yokozuna answers with "Gero gero~~~!!!" and refuses to move. The people aboard cry, "Look out--!!" and "We're gonna hit you--!!" Meanwhile, the Puffing Tom is still ahead, racing toward Enies Lobby. The collision with Yokozuna interrupts the escape at the exact moment Robin's rescuers seemed to have pulled her free.

The impact and smoke swallow the train, and the brief victory curdles into uncertainty. Someone shouts, "We did it!! We got Robin back--!!!" but another voice doubts it immediately: "It just wouldn't be the same if we didn't use stuff like this smoke screen..." Sanji and Franky are still inside the car with Robin, but even they feel that something is off. One says, "They're not like those small fries," while another admits, "Yeah, even with the car completely separated, this feels wrong." The goal was accomplished too easily, and the rescuers understand that CP9 is not the kind of enemy that lets a prisoner simply vanish.

The separated car suddenly reveals the trap. Strange doors and openings appear around the car, and someone cries, "What the!?" The whips that had pulled the escape apart are still moving. Franky reacts, "Thorn whips!!?" and Sanji realizes CP9 has already reached them. Kalifa stands with the thorned whips and says, "I've got them." Franky yells, "Cut the whips!!!" while another warns, "You think I'll let ya come over here!?" Kalifa answers by calling, "Blueno!" and Blueno replies, "Right." The escape route has become a battlefield again, with CP9 using both whips and Blueno's strange door ability to close the distance.

The cars crash back together with a violent jolt. Everyone screams, "Waaaaaaa!!" while the broken gap between cars slams shut and the rescuers are dragged back toward CP9. Franky realizes what happened: "We've been pulled back to them!!!" Sanji sees Blueno step from the impossible opening and mutters, "Such power..." Someone notes bitterly, "That smoke screen was a pretty lame idea." The trick that bought them an instant has been erased. Blueno's door power and Kalifa's whips have returned Robin, Sanji, Franky, and Sogeking to the very car they tried to escape from.

Robin sees the danger and quietly accepts the return. She says, "So, it was useless after all." Sanji protests, "Sogeking!!! Guard Robin with your life!!!" Sogeking answers nervously, "O... okay!!!" But Lucci's side of the car is already calm. The agents remind everyone of their order: "Don't kill the Straw Hat pirates. We made a promise." Blueno uses "Tekkai" and says, "Sorry you went through all the trouble of pulling these together, but... it's time to push them apart again!!" CP9 is not simply trying to stop the rescue; they are controlling exactly how far the Straw Hats are allowed to interfere.

Sanji attacks Blueno head-on, landing a hard kick and asking, "What's with this toughness?" Blueno braces himself, and someone says, "That's their weird fighting style I told you about!!" Sanji keeps moving anyway and strikes with "Concasse!!!" A note explains that concasse is the process of peeling, seeding, and chopping tomatoes. The kick crashes into Blueno with enough force to make him acknowledge the blow, but Blueno's Tekkai still lets him stand. The fight shows Sanji's power clearly: even CP9's iron body can be shaken, but not easily broken.

Sanji's kick nearly breaks through Blueno's defense. A CP9 agent reacts, "That was an incredibly powerful kick...!! It nearly broke through his Tekkai." Kalifa warns, "Blueno!! Don't let him make a fool out of you, or they'll cut your pay!" Another agent says, "He's only one man!!" Sogeking tries to protect Robin, but Robin turns her power on him: "Occho Fleur Clutch!!!" A note explains that Occho Fleur means eight flower. Sogeking screams, "Gyaa!! Usopp!!!" and Sanji cries, "Robin-chan!?" Robin tells them, "How many times must I tell you!? Stay out of my business!!!" Her own hands become the barrier between herself and rescue.

Sanji tries to watch everything at once, but Blueno punishes the distraction. A voice warns, "Hey, pay attention to where you're looking..." and Sanji is struck hard enough to crash across the car. He shouts, "Eyebrows!!!" as the blow lands, while Sogeking and the others reel from Robin's attack. CP9's strategy is cruelly effective: Robin pushes away the people trying to save her, while the agents use every opening she creates. The rescuers are not only fighting CP9; they are fighting Robin's determination to make the rescue fail.

Franky sees the separated cars and the gap growing again. He yells that they are "going through all this trouble to escape," while Sanji and Sogeking are still tangled in the fight. The car tears away with a "Crash!!" and Franky shouts, "Here's your chance!!!" Then he calls out, "Franky!!!" as the water and smoke surge around the cars. The situation becomes a desperate physical contest: the Straw Hats have only moments before the cars separate for good, while CP9 tries to keep Robin moving forward toward Enies Lobby.

Franky refuses to use the opening only for himself. Robin asks, "Franky!!" and tells him, "What a thing to do... wait!! I'm not trying to escape!!" Franky answers, "Ow!! You guys!! Don't worry about me!! I've got a plan!!" and tells them, "When you meet up with the Straw Hats, get back to town somehow!!!" Sanji demands, "Who, exactly, are you talking about?" Franky says, "I can't take it!! Standing by while she keeps doing this... and her comrades won't leave without her...!!!" Then he shouts to Robin, "Hold on, Robin-chan!! We've come this far, what are you saying?! Even if we're attacked somehow by the government's Buster Call... we can handle it! Why won't you just come with us, Robin-chan?!!"

Franky throws himself into the gap and holds the cars with his body, declaring, "That Buster Call is the problem..." Sanji asks, "Eh...?" and Blueno attacks with "Rankyaku." The slash cuts through the chaos, and Sanji yells, "Sanji!!!" while someone asks, "Wha... what was that!? He appeared out of nowhere!!!" Blueno is using the air itself as a door to strike from impossible angles. The car shakes, Franky strains, and Robin's fear of the Buster Call hangs over every action. The rescue cannot continue until someone understands why that single phrase controls her.

Blueno disappears from sight, and someone asks, "Blueno... disappeared!!" Kaku explains the ability: "He didn't disappear... It's his Devil Fruit ability. He's able to make gateways through the walls of the atmosphere." He adds, "The Doa Doa Fruit's true worth lies in more than just the 'air door.' Right now, he's retrieving Nico Robin." A note explains that doa means door. Franky cannot accept it: "How can that be?! What did you say?!" The outside view shows the cars tearing through the sea while someone shouts, "Let go of Robin!!!" But Blueno's ability has already shifted the battlefield into places the others cannot reach.

Blueno reappears and strikes Sogeking with "Shigan." Sogeking cries, "Usopp!!!" as he falls. Robin shouts, "Wait!!!" and insists, "Stop it, I'm not trying to run away!!! He was advancing on me, I had no choice." CP9 says, "That's more than enough!!!" and decides, "We should get away from here, quickly." Robin tries to protect the others even while rejecting the rescue: "It's okay...!! Robin, you'll be okay." She says, "You're hiding, isn't there...!? We don't care... There's still something... But when it comes to pirates you can't leave a crew without the captain's permission...!!!" Her words imply that the Straw Hats' captain has the final say, whether she wants to accept that or not.

Robin answers with a quiet statement that cuts through the car: "Should have faith in Luffy." Her face is tense, but the words acknowledge the captain even as she keeps walking away. Below the panel, the fight erupts again as the others are struck and thrown, with Sanji and Franky still refusing to let her disappear. The page holds on Robin's eye beside Sogeking's mask, showing how much of this struggle is not physical. Everyone is fighting over whether Robin can trust the people chasing her, and whether Luffy's will can reach her through the terror she has carried for twenty years.

Sanji cannot accept Robin's resignation and cries, "How can you say that?!" But Blueno says, "It's no use. Nico Robin won't break her promise." As Robin turns away, he explains why: "In the past, there was a Buster Call invoked by the Navy. The horrific event occurred on an island, the whole thing was burnt to a crisp, leaving no traces behind. The only person to survive that incident... was a young Nico Robin." He continues, "In other words, due to the Buster Call... as far as that woman is concerned, she is an irredeemable devil. Those memories of terror planted in her days of youth... are what cause her to turn on her comrades."

Blueno looks at the fallen rescuers and says, "It seems as though you've lost your will to fight..." Sanji glares back, realizing exactly how rotten the government's logic is, and screams, "How rotten can you get?!!!" Blueno answers, "Of course. It's all for the sake of justice. That girl has our deepest condolences." Sanji explodes, "Damn it all to hell~~~~!!!" and tries to fight on, but Blueno simply opens another door with a soft "Pop..." and says, "Don't screw with me!!!!" The train keeps roaring toward Enies Lobby while Robin is pulled farther away from the friends who finally understand the wound controlling her.

The Puffing Tom resumes its official course. A report states, "We're transporting two criminals." The reply comes, "Yes, without delay." Inside the car, Lucci says, "We can already see it in front of us... so we'll be arriving soon." Kaku adds, "How nostalgic, it's been five years..." Outside, the sea opens toward the government's island. A voice identifies it: "The 'Nightless Island'..." and orders, "Please open the gates." The final panel names the destination in full: "Enies Lobby." Robin and Franky are being carried into the government's front door while the rescuers are left behind on the train.

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