Out for Karma: One Piece

Chapter 52: Hard it is to suffer through stupid people

A group of seven people entered the office of the CP9’s director Spandam.

“I’m glad to see you all back with your targets, and apparently a bonus too.” was the greeting Spandam gave.

He took a good look. Four were returning agents who until now have been on a mission undercover in Water Seven. They were  Rob Lucci, Kaku, Blueno and Kalifa. The other three were Nico Robin the demon child, Cutty Flam known as Franky the cyborg and last but not least Rick Wald the world’s worst traitor. 

It always made Rick wonder about his title. There were way more powerful people who left the marines in… not so good terms. The best tracker of the marine, THAT would have been fitting. Sure there were plenty of people in the marine and in the first half of Grand Line with the haki of Observation who probably could find people faster but in a limited range. The haki of observation was useless if the pirate you’re looking for is already sailing to another island or the land to search is too vast. What earned Rick his title is the speed at which he gathered, analyzed, and acted upon the information he got. All in all he would have been a perfect agent for any Cypher Pol unit, especially the nine as he could tear apart someone from afar without being seen. Why was Rick never recruited? He didn’t know.

In any case while Rick was musing about his past glory, Spandam was focused on Robin. The key to his plan to awaken Pluto and take over the World Government.

“Why isn’t she cuffed?!”

He walked towards her and tried to grab her. Tried. Tried and failed, because before he could even finish his mouvement he was pushed a few feet back and fell on his butt. Rick walked forward and placed himself between the CP9’s director and her.

“I would appreciate it if you don’t try to touch my target. And she’s not cuffed because I said so.” said the ex(?)-marine.

“What the.. Lucci! Why isn’t he cuffed too?!” asked Spandam.

The one addressed was feeling the start of a headache.

“He’s possibly an agent of CP0.”

“Possibly?” Interjected Rick with an eyebrow raised.

“What?” exclaimed Spandam.

“We don’t have concrete proof that you’re indeed a member of CP0, or that you’re working for the marines for that matter.” said Kaku supporting his leader.

“I let it go because you showed no interest in getting Nico Robin back or interfering with our mission and prevented two members of your former crew from abducting her.” announced the ventriloquist.

“Or the bunch of you were simply too scared to ‘possibly’ anger a celestial dragon though, I don’t really blame you for that. I would have done the same if I were in your position.” replied Rick.

Spandam lifted himself from the ground and stood up.

“And what does that have anything to do with Nico Robin?” he asked.

“Apparently she’s his mission. He was tasked to stick to her and let her infiltrate and destroy any group she could as she was running away from the marine like she did for the past 20 years. The goal was to direct her to any specific target his superior would have designated.” explained Lucci

“And now that CP9 got involved my mission is more or less a failure. Thank you very much.” said Rick frowning at Spandam.

“I didn’t know any of that.”

“And no one was supposed to, especially not HER. Now how are you going to clean this mess?”

“Clean this mess? Why should we?” asked Spandam.

Rick facepalmed.

“Can someone explain it to him before I do something that I will NOT regret please?” he almost begged.

“Sir, we unknowingly interfered with the business of a world noble. And since it was your order to capture Nico Robin, you’re the one in trouble.” explained Kalifa.

“What?! No, no,no no no, it wasn’t my fault! I didn’t know.”

“And you think it would matter to a world noble because?” said Rick.

“What should I do?”

“How someone like you ever got to where he is, is a miracle.” muttered Rick.

To the four CP9’s members he traveled to Enies Lobby and the three that were already here when they came in, and that nobody cared about, his muttering was lost. It drew a smile to some. It was Lucci who solved the problem.

“We could keep Nico Robin locked up for a while, extracting from her any information she has and then release her into his care.”

“That… could work. Everything must be done covertly.. Should the public learn that she was captured and then somehow see her roaming the seas… It won’t do any favor for the World Government’s image, especially if she’s travelling with me. And we would have a very displeased world noble on our back.”

“Let’s do that then!” said Spandam, too happy to get out of this mess.

“First thing first, you should call Fleet Admiral Sengoku and ask him about my situation. Not explicitly of course.” interjected Rick

“Why?” asked Spandam.

“Oh my goodness….”

“It’s still uncertain if he’s really a member of CP0, sir. Despite every action he made proving it’s indeed the case, we need confirmation.” explained Kalifa.

By asking himself to check his own credentials Rick was showing his good faith. Aokiji didn’t lie to him, considering Rick’s leaving’s circumstances and his abilities there was no way Sengoku would not try to bring him back. Not forcefully though. He knew Rick’s temper well, if he coerced him then he would never join back. Rick knew that and that played in his favor.

‘Now all I need to do is direct that idiot to ask the question the right way otherwise I’m toast and fleeing with both Robin and Franky will be complicated.’

As Spandam picked up one of the den den mushis on his desk, which among them was a small golden one, Rick made his move.

“Remember, no one is supposed to know I’m an agent. Just say your men saw me in Water Seven or something, and that since Aokiji made contact with me they didn’t know what to do.”

“Won’t he ask why I call him instead of Admiral Aokiji ?” asked Spandam which earned him a sneer from Rick.

“You don’t know Aokiji very well do you? Don’t worry it will be fine, just say you tried to contact him and got no answer.”

Spandam dialed the number for the marines HQ, Marineford, identified himself and asked to speak to Sengoku.

“Sir, this is director Spandam of CP9.”

“CP9? Why are you calling me?” replied the fleet Admiral.

“Sir, one of my men undercover spotted Rick Wald in Water Seven. I.. have been made aware that admiral Aokiji made contact with him. For what purpose I do not know…”

“So? I fail to see the point of this call.”

“Rick Wald is wanted, Fleet Admiral, my men wanted confirmation if they should apprehend him or not as this could interfere with any business Admiral Aokiji is having with him. I tried to call the admiral but…”

“Aokiji is being Aokiji…” said Sengoku before sighing.

“Should my men proceed?”

“No, under no circumstances should your men approach him.”

“Thank you for confirming, sir.”

After ending the conversation with Sengoku, Spandam hung up the phone.

“Satisfied?” asked Rick

“Yes.” said Spandam.

“No. He didn’t confirm that you were an agent of CP0, he just said to not approach you.” noted Lucci.

Rick put his wrists together and moved them forward.

“Go ahead then, cuff me. Oh! Use seastone ones by the way.”

That was either audacious or really stupid for a normal person. Well it didn’t matter for Rick, he already had sprouted skin all over his wrists. Should he be restrained with seastone cuffs he would still be able to use his powers. Since the body parts he created never disappeared unless he wanted to, seastone would just weaken the parts and not depop them, unlike Robin’s. That was the advantage of his Me Me no mi over Robin’s Hana Hana no mi. The disadvantage was the appearance’s speed was slower. His powers worked like so: first a seed appeared and from that seed grew a body part. Relatively it was fast, but nothing almost instantaneous like Robin.

Lucci looked at Rick before speaking up.

“No, there is no need.”

Rick lowered his arm, as Spandam moved around his desk and laid back against it while holding a medium size wood box. He addressed his subordinates.

“Well, since that problem is resolved... Lucci, Kaku, Blueno and Kalida, I want to congratulate you and welcome you back after five years of absence. I have secured two unknown devil fruits, Kaku, Kalifa, they’re yours.”

He opened the box, and showed the devil fruits inside. He tossed them one after the other to the people they were destined with and put the box behind him.Then, as in the manga he proceeded to make his little speech about his frustrations, his plan, his dream of ruling the word,  beating Franky and when she dared to ask why Aokiji would entrust him with the power of the buster call, Robin. Or once again, tried to beat Robin. This time Rick didn’t just send him back a few feet. No this time he sent him crashing in his seat a dozen feet away. Without any surprise, none of the members of CP9 reacted.

“It is your second warning, there won’t be a third.” said Rick.

“Right, right, my apologies. I was caught up in the moment.”

Spandam walked back again to her and as the sadist tried to break her.

“I hope you enjoyed your freedom, because from now on you will suffer so much pain you’ll wish for death countless times over. A bitch to the world nobles, that’s all you are now! Hahahaha. Oh yeah, by the way… The moron from earlier that tried to take your filthy and lowly self back is here.”

“That’s not possible…” replied Robin.

‘So Luffy is here, right on time.’ thought Rick.

“Well, he’s probably been caught by the guards right now. How retarded is he? Thinking he could defeat the might of the ten thousand soldiers of Enies Lobby? Ha! At any rate, shipping him off to impel down should be a fair souvenir for you!”

“That’s not what you promised me! I only agreed to cooperate with you as long as they could escape freely!” screamed Robin.

“Haaaa! I love it when I crush the hopes of criminals…. Lucci, would you mind reminding her of the exact condition of our deal?”

“The seven, well now six, members of the strawhat crew, excluding Nico Robin, will depart from Water Seven in peace.”

“Wait, you included me too? Aww I knew you cared!” interjected Rick, sadly he was ignored by everyone.

“And as promised, they sailed from Water Seen safely. Too bad for them they came here.”

“Y- You!” 

Robin could find any words. Spandam and CP9 had found and used a loophole in their agreement. The CP9’s director’s attitude was irritating Rick for two reasons. One he tricked Robin. Two, crushing the criminals' hopes, finding loopholes in the deal… That was what he did best. But more importantly it was something he enjoyed and that didn’t sit well with him.

‘To have the same quirks as him… Ugh. I think I’ll vomit.’

Spandam ordered the CP9 to retreat to their room, but before they did chained Franky to a pillar against the wall. Spandam asked the same for Robin but Rick rebuffed him.

“She’ll behave.” then turn to a broken spirited Robin “Right?” to which she gave a barely discernible nod.

 “Good.”

Spandam invited Rick to take a seat, which he did, and brought coffee.

“If you don’t mind me asking… How did you get recruited by Cypher Pol 0?”

“A bit more than ten years ago, at the time of the Reverie, I was escorting, with Aokiji, Alabasta’s Royal family to Marie Geoise. There we met some members of CP0. They had a short talk with Aokiji. It was only some time later that he told me they were interested in my skills.”

“If I may, what kind of skills?”

“Gathering and analyzing intel, alone and undercover.”

“Why not recruit a member from another Cypher Pol unit then?”

“You know, I asked myself the same question. Apparently, they needed someone young, from the marines preferably, with a particular set of skills for a certain mission. They couldn’t spare one of the few members they had, it seems.”

“What mission?”

“That I can’t tell you. However, I can tell you that the mission was successful, cherry on the cake? I survived. They were somehow impressed as it was not expected of me. And they kept giving me work. The problem was, I still had my marines’ duties to uphold and with the latest mission they needed me to go deep undercover for a long time. I needed some kind of bad reputation, so they came up with the idea, with the participation of Fleet Admiral Sengoku, to stage my treason.”

“So you trying to kill Sakazuki, Sengoku and a celestial dragon was really made up?”

“Of course, however, to make it look real, we did fight in the fleet Admiral’s office. The marines needed to believe the story too, so you could say that part of it is true. Sakazuki was not aware of the plan though, and trust me he doesn't play around. I almost lost my life”

“So for the past ten years you’ve been on that mission? Was it finding Nico Robin?”

“No, the mission went quite faster than expected, thanks to dumb luck actually, the next two however… Well In the end around two years ago I was set on a new target. You guessed it…”

“Nico Robin?”

“Yes. She was not easy to find. She’s quite smart and cunning, more than anyone that I ever tracked down, and she had decades of experience too. In the end, I found her trail which led me back to Alabasta and the rest is history.”

At that moment a Cypher Pol agent entered the office in a panic.

“Director Spandam!”

“What the… Gosh you scared me! Did no one teach you to knock?”

“I’m terribly sorry sir, but there is an emergency!”

He presented a den den mushi to Spandam.

“It’s from the main Island, sir, it’s…”

“Why the hell did they send you instead of calling the den den mushi in this room. It’s a direct line!”

“Probably because the line is open, look.” said Rick pointing to the den den mushi which was not hung up on the desk.

“What? Who’s the idiot who did that?!” exclaimed Spandam

“Sir the emergency…”

“Ah yes! I know what it is, you can go.”

Despite being doubtful the agent gave the den den mushi he came with to Spandam and left.

‘How can the director be so calm when the main island is in utter chaos?’ he thought.

Spandam approached Robin to gloat and abused her mentaly. When the den den mushi rang and Spandam picked it up. It didn’t take long for him to lose his marbles when he heard the report. Quickly he ran towards a window to see what was going on in the main island. What he saw shocked him so much he fell down on his ass. Blueno, one of the members of CP9, lost to Luffy. He quickly ordered the other member of the unit to his office.

Meanwhile Franky was talking to Robin.

“They have come this far… Do you know how outrageous this is? And they did it for you. That idiot Spandam broke the deal you had, so there is no need for you to sacrifice yourself anymore.” said Franky

“...”

“Why are you running away? Scared that one of them will die? If you look away, they won’t be able to rescue you because they need you to want to be rescued for them to succeed.”

“...”

“Fine, I’ll force you then.”

Rick turned his head towards the prisoners and spoke to Franky.

“Franky, I don’t care what stupid thing you’re going to do but if you hurt her…”

Spandam, who went out of his office to gather some men, made his entrance. Unfortunately for them Franky was already ready to ‘explode.’ The marines and agents ran away, scared for their life. He grabbed Robin with his legs and did a ‘coup de boo”. Sending him through the thick wall behind him reaching the Tower of Justice’s balcony.

Rob Lucci and his colleagues arrived and, with Spandam, went after them.

‘Now is my chance.’

Rick went to Spandam’s desk and pocketed the golden den den mushi.

‘This is so going to be fun. I’m gonna get max affection points with Robin if everything goes according to the plan.’

He picked up the den den mushi which was connected to the marines HQ and let it Ring.

“Marineford.” he heard.

“Hello, I would like to speak with Fleet Admiral Sengoku please.”

“Identification?”

“Just tell him that Rick Wald wants to speak to him.”

There was a brief silence before the voice answered him.

“... One moment please”

He didn’t have to wait long.

“Rick?!”

“Uncle.”

“...”

“...”

“It’s been a while.” said Sengoku.

“Ten. Very. Long. Years. Thanks to the bounty you put on my head.”

Rick knew it was Sakazuki’s doing. After all Sengoku would just have let him go, he was no criminal at the time. But he needed to play the game so he acted ignorant.

“That was Skazuki’s doing.”

“Right. You’re telling me he bypassed your authority? Just like that?”

“Not just like that. That night when you told me you quitted… Well, I didn’t take it well.”

“Sure.”

“I’m ashamed to admit it but… I collapsed. By the time I came to, Sakazuki had already issued your bounty.”

“Fine. Let’s say I believe you, was the proposal Aokiji told me true? About me being reinstated.”

“Yes it is. Everything is ready.”

“And I should come back, just like that?”

“There won’t be any problem. Your time among the strawhats will be overlooked.”

“That’s not what I meant! Do you really expect me to come back as if nothing ever happened? That I didn’t have to live the life of a fugitive and a beggar, always having to look behind my back?”

“I…”

“Oh my goodness you did… You know what? You want me back, then you must do two things for me.”

“...I’m listening.”

“First, you let go of Nico Robin. I want her status as a criminal void. She’s no threat to the world as she’s not interested in the revival of the ancient weapons. What matters to her is history, you know which part, and there is no way she could ever succeed in her endeavor. From what she told me, in the last twenty years, the few poneglyphs she found only contained history that has not been made forgotten by the World Government.”

“That’s not possible but I may push things a certain way so she’s not actively sought. Is that acceptable?”

“Not ideal, but better than nothing.”

“What’s the second condition?”

“I want, for the next ten years, Sakazuki to be disgraced and live the life he forced upon me.”

“...”

“...”

“No.” Sengoku said firmly.

“No?”

“No. Sakazuki is one of the three admirals in the navy. He is one of the faces of the marines. I can’t and I won't disgrace him.”

“Then we have nothing more to say uncle. Say hello to big sis and Kaza for me and stay healthy. Goodbye.”

“Rick! Wait…”

The ex-marine hung up. Sengoku made the choice for him. What choice? To go back to the marines or stay with the crew. He hadn’t expected Aokiji’s proposal, and it would have been a lie to say he wasn’t tempted. After all, the time spent in the marine was long, way longer than the time spent with the crew. A part of him longed to go back, just as much as he had wanted to one day sail with Luffy. Of course no matter his decision he still planned to get Robin back where she belonged and saved every single one of his friends’ asses.

So now, his plan had to go till the end. As he walked towards the hole in the wall, he saw Franky holding a bunch of papers.

"OH SHIT!"