Response

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Luffy's shout tears across the space between the courthouse and the Tower of Justice: "Robiiiiii..." and "Nnnnnn!!!" The sound reaches the room where Robin and Franky are being held. A Government man reports, "Chief, sir!! A guy with a straw hat... is shouting on the roof of the court-house...!!" Franky immediately understands: "... No doubt, it's 'Strawhat Luffy'!!!" and calls him "The leader of the crew!!!" Spandam is stunned into silence. The guards are confused because Blueno had been guarding the roof: "Wasn't he guarding the roof!? What the hell is he doing at such a crucial time!!?" The shout proves what Spandam does not want to admit yet: Luffy is not outside the operation anymore; he has broken through to the visible line between Robin and the rescue.

On the courthouse roof, Luffy's heroic arrival is undercut by his body. His stomach growls, "Gurgle grr...!!" and he pants, "...!! Ah... I was fighting so much...!!" then, "Haa... Now I'm starving..." He reaches into his pockets and announces the solution: "That's why I have a..." The syllables break apart as he pulls out food, "Ben~~~" and "To~~~!!!" with the note that bento means boxed lunch. Stuffing his cheeks, he mumbles, "...Grrudy shlipffern nn mawpowked!! Glad I stuffed 'em in my pockets!!" Spandam, watching the absurd scene from below, realizes, "So that's him...!!! 'Strawhat Luffy'." A guard can only shout, "What the hell...!!?" The page keeps Luffy human and ridiculous even at the center of a world-shaking rescue.

Below the Enies Lobby sign, Blueno lies defeated, collapsed face-first while Luffy eats above him. The sight shocks the Government agents: "Blueno!!?" "No way...!! This can't be happening...!!!" "All right!! My strength is back!!" Luffy shouts, restored by his food. The agents understand why the defeat is terrifying: "He's a member of CP9...!! A Rokushiki user... and a Devil Fruit user...!!" and "Blueno's a superhuman with more than 800 douriki...!!!" Yet the fact remains: "... Yet, he lost to that brat!!?" Luffy answers the whole island with a huge cry, "Woo oooo oh~~!!!" Blueno's defeat has turned from a private rooftop battle into public proof that CP9 can be beaten.

Spandam's panic flips into command. As guards scream "Gyaaa aaah~~!!!" and "Oooo oh~~!!!" from the chaos outside, one asks, "Ch-chief!! What should we do!!?" Spandam answers with an order that makes the fight absolute: "Call Lucci and the others!!! Gather everyone here!!!" Then he declares, "My order for CP9: 'Strawhat Luffy' and his entire crew are to be completely annihilated!!!" The building itself seems to swallow the command in its vast stone walls. With Blueno down and Luffy visible, Spandam no longer treats the Straw Hats as a delay or nuisance; he mobilizes the full CP9 force to erase them.

Spandam adds more instructions as the transfer continues: "Inform Baskerville, too!!! If the pirates lower the drawbridge..." and "I'll decapitate all three of his heads!!!" A guard replies, "Y-yes, sir!!! Right away!!!" while Spandam says, "Hey, let's hurry." Then he turns his pressure onto Robin. "Lift up your head, Nico Robin." He asks whether she understands how extreme this rescue has become: "... They've come this far. Do you know how completely outrageous this is...?" Robin answers quietly, "I understand that you've accepted the Government's terms for the sake of your nakama." Spandam twists the point: "But the idiot chief... broke the agreement you had with the Government, just like that. It's not like anybody will be saved because you've surrendered yourself." The only escape he offers is emotional cruelty: "There's only one way to get outta here: respond to their rescue!!! ... So, why do you look so depressed...?"

Spandam keeps pushing Robin toward despair. "It's like you're running away from something on your own..." he says, and then asks the cruel question directly: "Are you afraid that your nakama will die here?" His conclusion is meant to trap her: "If you look away, they won't be able to rescue you!!!" Robin's face tightens, but she still gives no answer. Spandam demands witnesses: "Isn't anyone around here!? Come out!!!" and then says, "I'll force you to see Straw-hat now." He orders, "Let's head to the Gates of Justice immediately!!! Bring the two of them over!!" The agents move Robin and Franky, while Spandam's purpose becomes clear: he wants Robin to look at Luffy and reject the rescue with her own mouth.

As Spandam moves the prisoners, Franky suddenly becomes the problem. Guards cry, "Ch...!! Chief, sir!! Franky's...!!" and "Franky's ass is expanding!!!" Spandam turns and shouts, "Whoa, what the hell!!? Is he constipated!!?" Franky calls out, "Hey... Spanda..." and announces his decision: "I've sensed the end of my life nearing and have decided to choose self-destruction instead..." He adds, "But at least I'll take a bunch of you guys with me, too...!!!" The threat escalates with "Whaaat!!?" and "With a 3 km diameter explosion..." The guards panic, yelling, "Idiot...!! No, you idiot, wait, stop!!!" "Help! Don't drag me into this!!!" and "Bastard, I don't wanna die~~!!!" while Spandam screams "Stoooop!!!" Franky has turned even his captured body into leverage.

The absurd countdown gives way to a real blast. Franky keeps counting, "1... 2... 3..." as Spandam drags Robin onward and says, "Let's go, Nico Robin." Franky calls the move "Coup de..." and then the explosion hits with "Boo"!!! The blast tears through the corridor, hurling bodies and debris while guards scream "Gyaaaa-aaah!!" and "!!?" Spandam is thrown aside with "Guh!!!" and a huge crashing burst. The tower wall shakes and smoke pours out. What looked like a crude joke becomes a successful escape maneuver: Franky uses the explosion to break the formation around himself and Robin.

The blast throws Franky and Robin outward. Someone screams, "Ah...!! Shit!! We're falling!!!" as they drop past the face of Enies Lobby. For a moment the fall looks fatal, but the impact hits the outer fence and the chains snap with a hard "thud" and a long metallic scrape. A guard realizes, "The chains are... broken. Good!!" Franky lands hard, still bound but free enough to act, and roars "Super~~~!!!" Robin can only murmur, "Mnnnn..." as she is carried through the violent escape. Franky's ridiculous technique has done exactly what he needed: it breaks the prisoners out of the room and brings them into view of the battlefield.

Franky and Robin end up on the balcony, high above the gap. Franky pants, "Haa... Haa... Th-that was close. I'm glad there was a fence..." Then he turns to Robin: "Hey, you... you ain't hurt, are you?" Below, Spandam realizes what happened and panics: "Ack!!! H-he deceived us!!! Chief!!! Franky and Nico Robin broke the chains and fled to the balcony!!!" He screams at his men, "Idiots, what are you doing!!? Capture them!" and threatens, "If you let them get away, I'll hang you all!!!" Franky sees the chance plainly: "But, well... Strawhat is there." Then he tells Robin, "Now, respond to him accordingly!!!" Even exhausted, he understands that the battle has reached its emotional center.

The distance between Luffy and Robin is finally open. Franky still has weapons pointed at him and complains, "Weapons left!!!" but Luffy sees him and says, "Franky is there, too, isn't he?" Then he judges the jump: "It's kinda far, but I'll try to jump over there!!!" An agent below says, "Recapture them! Don't let 'em get away!!!" but Luffy brushes him off with "Small fry," and "Get lost!" before calling up to Robin: "Heeeey!!! Robiiiiin!!! I'm glad you're still here!!!" Robin stands on the balcony, stunned, and whispers, "Luffy." The page is full of empty air between buildings, but the dialogue closes that distance before Luffy ever crosses it.

Luffy crouches on the courthouse roof and begins another attack name: "Gomu Gomu"... Robin sees what he is about to do and calls, "Wait!!!" Luffy freezes at the interruption, and Robin forces out the words that have been driving her surrender: "I've told you several times! I... I'll never come back to you!!!" The statement lands hard enough that Luffy stares back in confusion. Robin's face tightens into pain and resolve as she continues, "I never want to see your faces again!!!" Then she shouts the command that tries to sever the rescue completely: "Go away!!!" The page makes the contradiction painful: Robin is standing where Luffy can reach her, but she speaks as if she must push him back across the entire island.

Robin's rejection does not satisfy Luffy. Franky reacts, "Huh!?" while Luffy stands below and asks the question that cuts through every excuse: "When did I ever ask you to do that!!?" Robin explodes back at him: "Why did you come to rescue me!!?" Luffy says nothing at first, and the battle below continues in flashes around them as Sanji and Zoro keep fighting through enemies. Then Robin finally says what she has hidden beneath surrender and rejection: "I just... want to die!!!" Luffy's eyes widen, and the silence around his face is heavier than the surrounding noise. Her response is not gratitude, not acceptance, and not a tactical answer; it is the despair that Spandam has been trying to expose.

Spandam hears Robin's answer and laughs at the rescue attempt. He calls toward the battlefield, "Nico Robin...!!!" and then howls, "Oowa... Oowa ha ha ha ha ha ha!!! Interesting!!! What're they gonna do now!? Wahahaha!" Franky, bruised but upright, asks Robin, "What're you smoking!? They risked their lives to come this far, and now this...!!!" She answers without wavering, "... They did that on their own." When Spandam begins to say, "Don't be a foo--" Franky cuts him off with a sudden strike, driving him into the wall with "Oof!!!" Franky tells him, "Move." Kaku comments, "Kaku!! Did you do that out of spite!?" and someone jokes, "Huh!? Because you ate that weird fruit?" Kaku answers, "Oh, shut up. Besides, I like it!!" The tension is grim, but CP9's bizarre composure begins to gather around the balcony.

The courthouse and Tower of Justice answer each other with movement and impacts: figures leap into position with repeated "Foom" sounds while Luffy watches from below. Spandam rises in pain, laughing, "Wahaha!!" and says, "Glad you're all here, CP9." He looks over the damage and decides, "But, let's wait for a while... The Strawhat crew... has begun to fall apart." Robin stands silent beside Luffy's stunned face in the visual rhythm of the page. Spandam's amusement is not only that Robin refused rescue; it is that her refusal has struck the Straw Hats at the exact moment they needed unity.

CP9 assembles in full view. Fukuro declares, "He lost!! Chapapa!" and another member notes, "I guess he's lost his touch after being a bar owner for 5 years." Someone asks, "Even if he's lost his touch, would he lose that easily...?" Kumadori theatrically praises the enemy: "Yoyoi!! Even~~ if he's alone, he~~ came this far~~ and that's~~ praise-worthy!" Jabra cuts in, "Right, Blueno got owned. Gyahaha, what an idiot." Kaku asks, "Oh, our enemy is just Strawhat himself?" The lineup forms with Rob Lucci and Hattori, Kaku, Jabra, Kumadori, Kalifa, Fukuro, and the absence of defeated Blueno hanging over them. The chapter closes by turning Luffy's success into the next wall: Robin has rejected rescue, and CP9 has arrived together.

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