Steel Heart

Ch 15 - Entering the Tower of Justice

"What are those idiots doing down there?!" Nana snapped impatiently as she leaned far over the edge to get a better look at the drawbridge below.

The Straw Hats were waiting for the drawbridge to straighten out. It had started to unfold when a sudden trench mortar was fired into it. The explosion had caused the drawbridge to stop in its tracks.

"How dare they get in our way?! Those bastards!" Luffy shouted angrily and stomped his feet, "Who's doing this?!"

"Chief Spandam! Please evacuate from the Tower of Law!" someone cried out from the lower level of the Courthouse.

"Alright. Good job!" the leather faced man gasped in relief, "I'm going to head to the Gates of Justice before they come to this side."

Nana balked. "You're the Chief of CP9?! I thought you were Lucci's servant or something."

"WHAT?!" Spandam screamed back in horror, "I am a very powerful man with a lot of influence!"

Nana crossed her arms and frowned disappointingly at Lucci. "You'd rather take orders from him than from Iceberg? Really?"

"DON'T IGNORE ME!" Spandan cried indignantly.

"As long as he is recognized by the government as the chief, than I will take orders from him," Lucci replied, "Whatever allows me to kill."

His bloodlust tone sent shivers down Nana's spine and she gripped her hammer tighter. This was not the man she knew. The group in front of her were strangers. Whatever ties she thought she had with them were no longer there.

Spandam jumped off the ledge of the balcony and grabbed Nico Robin. "Come, Nico Robin! We're going to the Gates of Justice. Someone grab Cutty Flam!"

"Robin!" Chopper shouted.

"Franky!" Nana gasped but it wasn't out of concern for him being taken away. Franky had pulled out a thick stack of old, browned papers. There was no doubt in Nana's mind what he had in his hands.

The cyborg smirked at Spandam as he dangled the Pluton blueprints in front of his captors' eyes. "When I say that this is the real deal, would you believe me?"

"Don't tell me...that's..." Spandam rasped as his eyes fell over the title page.

Franky lifted the edges of the pages and flipped through them quickly. "Lucci, Kaku...You guys can confirm the authenticity of this, right? Being shipwrights yourself?"

"I thought it was unlikely...but you hid it inside your body, huh?" Kaku breathed.

"Th-Th-Th-Those are the real ones?" Spandam demanded. He shakily reached out a hand towards it, "Hand them over to me! Hand them over to me now!"

"Nico Robin..." Franky said and waited for the black haired beauty to turn toward him. "While we were being brought to this place, I realized that you aren't the evil that is trying to misuse this weapon."

He then locked eyes with the Chief of CP9. "Oy, Spandam. What Tom-san and Iceberg risked their lives to protect is the wish of this weapon's architect...That is, if the ancient weapon fell into the hands of an idiot like you...If you started to use the ancient weapon to cause trouble, he would want another weapon to be built to stop it. It's true that if you use Nico Robin, you can revive the ancient weapon. Even if she doesn't want to help you, as long as there's a chance that she could be used, she's still to be considered dangerous."

He turned his attention to the Straw Hats. "But she's got friends who would be willing to risk their lives to protect her...and..." his eyes moved to Nana, "I've got someone who I believe can build something that could be equally effective as Pluton if it ever comes down to it."