Hiding the Truth (One Piece)

Chapter 47 - One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

"What's this I'm hearing about Luffy joining a Colosseum fight? And what's with the name Lucy?" I asked incredulously at the news that was going around with the citizens, and of course, I was the last to find out about it. It didn't take a genius to put together that the 'Lucy' they were talking about, was our esteemed captain. Who last I checked, should have been awaiting Law's signal to blow up the Devil's Fruit factory. 

"There was nothing I could do about it, Lana. Not after Luffy found out what the prize was" Franky muttered into the Den Den Mushi as he rubbed his forehead in frustration, clearly understanding their strategist's frustration. 

They had not anticipated Doflamingo's underhanded move of distracting their captain from the matter at hand. I could only sigh in defeat as well, as Franky explained the situation. 

Had we known that the prize would be Ace's devil fruit, we would have taken the appropriate measures, whether that be to win it back, or to inevitably leave it be. At the end of the day, I couldn't really hold it against Luffy for reacting in the moment. After all, that fruit was our brother's legacy, and something both Luffy and I weren't willing to leave in the Warlord's hands.

Interestingly enough, Franky mentioned a toy solider that he had run into, who had agreed to help him in his mission of destroying the factor in return for aid in liberating the people under Doflamingo's reign. It seemed we aren't the first people aiming for Doflamingo's downfall, and whilst our plan included the destruction of the SMILE factory, Franky ensured me the solider and his allies were willing to help. Another problem Franky had mentioned that we would have to deal with was the fact that some of the toy soldier's friends were being forced to work in these factories, and wanted our help in freeing them. Franky expressed his want to help them, saying the toy soldier's efforts would aid them greatly in achieving both Law and Luffy's goal of taking down Doflamingo.

"Have you spoken to Luffy about this?" I wondered, seeing as we wouldn't be able to decide such things on our own, especially if it could cause problems for the crew. Call it cold, but we had enough money on our heads without meddling into even more troublesome matters. At this point, our plans had already become so diluted that we were losing track of our original objective, with new problems popping up left and right. Though, with our predicament, none of our issues would be resolved if we did this half-assed.

"Yeah, he said it was fine. Though I don't think he was even listening" Franky sheepishly chuckled, knowing that any future repercussions would fall on their idiot captain's head.

"Just... do what you want" I sighed, my attention caught to Law gesturing to the time, indicating that we would have to hurry up. "Franky, I have to go. Just make sure you don't cause too many problems"

"When do I ever?" With that, the call ended and I jogged over to re-join our group, who had been patiently waiting for me to end my call by the Green Bit Bridge, which we would have to cross if we wanted to get to the meeting point.

"Oi Lana, can you do something about those ghastly fish?" Law muttered, looking down into the waters beneath the bridge to see the giant piranha-like fish lurking about, awaiting any one brave, or stupid enough, to cross their bridge. 

They kind of remind me of that old nursery rhyme Makino used to tell us, something about trolls under a bridge.

"Just walk across like nothing's wrong" I mumbled, hoping none of the people passing by would notice what we were about to do. It was clear this bridge was off limits, and I wasn't excited to meet any of the authorities that enforced the laws of this place. Robin lopped her arm with mine as we moved forward, the gesture being more for practical reasons, seeing as I was too focused on increasing the density of the water surface so the fish wouldn't jump up to try and bite our heads off, to pay attention to where I was going.