Chapter Two:

" The Attack On Iceburg "

(NO POV)

The president of the shipbuilding company as well as the mayor of Water 7, Iceburg, had been shot the night before and was currently unconscious. Luffy stood up from his spot, "I'm going to check on Ice Pops." He declared before stretching his arms out and rocketing himself away, much to Nami's dismay. "Wait, I'm coming too!" She called out before running back inside to go after him. "Well on that note, let's go looking for Robin," Sanji said before he, Chopper, and Isaac began to walk off. Isaac paused for a moment, looking at Zoro, "Are you coming Zoro?" He asked. "Well, I think I'll just wait awhile and see how things turn out." Zoro replied, folding his arms behind his head. Isaac nodded, "Alright. Well, we'll be back soon." 

As if the city wasn't going nuts enough over the tragic news of their beloved mayor, a loud siren went off: "Attention! This is the Water 7's Weather Forecasting Center! An Aqua Laguna warning has been issued for the entire island! Its arrival time at Water 7 is estimated to be sometime after midnight." A voice announced from a transponder snail. 

"I guess it is that time of year." Said one man.

"I was pre-occupied with Iceburg's incident." Said a woman.

Another man began running around warning others of Aqua Laguna. "What's Aqua Laguna?" Chopper pondered aloud. Sanji tapped the shoulder of a local nearby, "Excuse me, but what was that broadcast about?" He asked. "Oh, you must be a visitor. Sorry to say this but you've come at a bad time. Aqua Laguna is a huge storm that's about to pass through here." The local explained. Isaac grimaced, "A storm, huh?" 

"Make sure you all evacuate to high ground. The entire city will be underwater soon. We locals are used to it. Be careful now!" The local said before walking off. "So the whole city will sink!?" Chopper exclaimed. "We'll need to find Robin quickly," Sanji said. "But where do we even look?" Isaac asked. "Well, where would she be likely to go around here?" Chopper thought for a moment, "Let's see..."

"Ancient ruins?"

"There's nothing like that here. Where else?" Sanji began sprinting with Chopper and Isaac hurrying to catch up. "Uh..." Chopper was struggling to think.

"What does she like!?"

"Ancient ruins!"

"STOP SAYING THAT THERE AREN'T ANY HERE!"

"Well do you know what else she likes!?"

"I'm asking you because I don't know!"

Sanji and Chopper continued arguing until the three of them ran out of breath and sat down to recuperate. Sanji began smoking a cigarette, "Could it be we don't know anything about Robin?" He asked. Isaac scratched the back of his neck, "Well, I know she has a morbid sense of humor. And she likes listening to my progress on my witchcraft studies, but other than that I dunno." He admitted. 'I guess I've neglected to ask Robin about herself besides her interest in archaeology...I should work on that.' Isaac thought before standing up. 

"Well, there's no time to waste! We've gotta find Robin before this Aqua Laguna starts tonight! Let's rent one of those Yagara thingies so we can cover more ground." He said. Sanji and Chopper nodded in agreement and the three set off once again. 

(ISAAC'S POV)

We rode the Yagara in silence until Chopper spoke up. "So, this Aqua Laguna thing's gonna be crazy, huh?" Sanji and I nodded, "Do you think there are any tourists who don't know the storm is coming?" "Yeah." "Let's just say for example: A guy with a ship he wants to take care of. The storm would be pretty bad for him, right?" I could tell Sanji and I both knew who he was referring to. "That reminds me, didn't you say you forgot something on the Merry? A medical bag?" Sanji asked Chopper. Chopper nodded. "Guess we gotta go back then," Sanji said. Chopper smiled, "Yay! I forgot something! Let's go to the Merry!" He cheered. 

I faked a smile, pumping my fist in the air, "Yay!" I said with false enthusiasm. I was actually scared about seeing Usopp after everything that had happened. He was probably still mad and I was still unsure of what to do or say to him;

"Usopp, that's ridiculous! You're not useless, none of us are! We all have a part to play in this crew! Even you and me! So quit saying stupid crap like that!" 

"You say that like you can relate to me, but you have no idea what it's like! I wasn't born a powerful witch like you! How can we possibly relate to each other!?" 

I sighed, 'Is there anything I could've said or done to prevent him from leaving the crew?' I thought to myself. I was scared to see him. "Sanji, stop the Yagara." I said. Sanji did and then I hopped out back onto the street. "You're not coming, Izzie?" He asked. I shook my head, "I'm gonna keep looking for Robin. Maybe ask around." I explained. Sanji nodded, "Alright. We'll see you later." 

Once they were out of sight, I dashed off. 'This is the same area where that bar was, so I'll ask if Robin's been around there!' 

When I got to the bar, it was filled with more people than before. Behind the counter was a tall man with a black beard and black hair resembling the horns of a bull wearing a polka dot shirt and an apron. "I guess that's Blueno," I mumbled. Standing next to him was that weirdo from before, Dell. I still had a weird, bad feeling about them but that wasn't the priority. I sat at the right end of the table, keeping my head down and waiting for a good opportunity. I then heard the doors to the bar swing open again and I noticed a tall man with light blue hair, a Hawaiian shirt, and...no pants. Just a black speedo. 'What is he a pervert?' Alongside him were two girls, presumably sisters, both with square-shaped black hair.

Blueno chuckled, "Hello, welcome. How are you?" He greeted. "How's it going Blueno? You feelin' suuuuuper!?" The man replied. "I suppose you could say that, right Dell?" Blueno looked to Dell who nodded slowly, "Yes, Sir." They mumbled. The man laughed, "Still the anti-social type, ain't 'cha Dell?" He then shockingly opened up his stomach, taking out three empty glass bottles. 'What the actual fuck!? Is this guy even human!?'

"Give me the usual! Fill 'em up!" 

"You got any money?"

"Just fill 'em up, will 'ya!? Cola!" The man barked. "To think you two are running an establishment that prides on taking money from your customers!" He complained. Dell narrowed their eyes, "No money, no cola, Franky Sir." They said. My eyes widened, 'He's Franky!?' 

"Actually, we still have a little over a million left from our shopping spree." One of the girls spoke up. Franky gasped, "Huh!? We've got that much left!? How disgraceful! How uncool! To think I didn't spend it all in one night!" He snatched the money and stood up on one of the tables, "Yow! Listen up, today's your lucky day! All your drinks are on me!" He announced causing the bar patrons to cheer.

"Looks like you've come back." 

I flinched, raising my head to see Dell's intense gaze staring me down. "Listen, I'm here because I'm looking for someone. A woman in her late 20s, tall with dark hair and blue eyes. She's a friend of mine." I explained. Dell was silent for a bit before looking me directly in the eyes:

"If it's Nico Robin you're looking for, I think it's best you forget about her." They stated in a serious almost deadly tone. I clenched my fists, "What do you mean by that!? Do you have something to do with her disappearance!?" I hissed. Dell twitched slightly again, just like before, then turned around. "Have a good day, Sir." 

I grit my teeth, standing up and making my way out, begrudgingly. 'I can't interrogate them any further. I'm lucky enough that Franky didn't notice me and recognize me as a member of the crew back there." I muttered. 

"HEY, LOOK! IT'S ONE OF THOSE PIRATES THAT TRIED TO ASSASSINATE ICEBURG! GET HIM!" I turned around to see a group of guys with weapons giving chase. I screamed and began sprinting, "WHAT DID I EVEN DO!?" I cried. As I kept running I managed to speed up enough to hide in an alley and lose them so I could catch my breath. "Holy crap...What's going on with this crazy town? They think we tried killing their mayor? Why!? More importantly, how am I supposed to find any of the others with all those guys after me?" My mind was racing until an idea popped into my head.

"Oh! Maybe there's a spell I can use! Like invisibility or something!" I pulled my spellbook out of my bag, flipping through the pages. "Come on dammit! Give me something to work with here!" I then grinned finding a certain page. "Here we go! Invisibility spell. Now let's just hope I can pull it off..." I put the book back and pointed my finger up, moving it in a circular motion until a glowing pink circle appeared above my fingertip as I closed my eyes and whispered, "Invisibilis."

When I opened them again I looked around, "I don't feel any less visible..." I mumbled. I took a breath, "Only one way to find out." I left the safety of my hiding spot and began walking around, noticing a group of locals up ahead. I swallowed nervously, 'Here goes nothing...' I thought. I walked into their view and they didn't seem to notice me, as I mentally sighed in relief. I continued quietly walking away, looking around for any of my crewmates.

"Isaac? Is that you? Where are you?" I then saw Chopper who was looking around for me. "How did you know I was here?" I asked. "I caught your scent, but I can't see you anywhere." He replied. "Oh, that. I tried out a new spell, I'm invisible." I explained. "Really!? Cool!" He exclaimed. "I know right?" I looked around for any sign of locals before raising my finger again and undoing the spell. "Wow, I'm surprised it worked both ways," I admitted. "Now, do you think you can pick up any of the others' scents, Chopper?" I asked. 

Chopper did some sniffing, "I can smell Zoro, Nami, and Luffy nearby. Follow me." As Chopper led the way we walked around the area searching for the three before stopping on a bridge. Chopper then turned into his human form and looked underneath the bridge, two screams were heard, and then a splash into the water. "Good job Chopper!" We pulled them all out and found a spot on one of the rooftops to hide out.

"How'd you find us?" Luffy asked. "I followed your smell," Chopper replied. "Oh, okay. But wasn't Sanji with you?" "He was." He then began explaining how he and Sanji had found Robin only for her to tell them she was responsible for Iceburg's attempted assassination and that she was leaving the crew, then after that Sanji disappeared after she left saying he had a plan. "Did Robin really say that!?" Luffy exclaimed. Chopper nodded and we sat for a moment in silence before Zoro broke it.

"We were all prepared for this, weren't we? After all, she was our enemy before she joined our crew. It's our only chance to find out the truth so we shouldn't run away. There's still a lot we don't know about Robin, so now's the time to decide if she's a friend or a foe." He explained. Zoro then asked Chopper to recall Robin's words exactly. "You're sure that's all she said?" Chopper nodded.

Zoro crossed his arms, "If she says that we'll never see her again and that things will only get worse, then maybe that means the attack on Iceburg was only a warm-up and that she has something bigger planned for tonight." He hypothesized. "I don't know why Robin's doing this so it's hard to guess what she's planning, but if attacking the mayor caused a lot of chaos then there's only one way to make it worse." Nami nodded, "This time she'll murder him."

"According to Chopper, Robin also said she'd be pinning the crime on us, this could possibly be a trap to lure us to the crime scene." Zoro continued. "Sounds to me like you've already decided she's our enemy!" Nami retorted. "I'm just thinking of possibilities. You should always be prepared for the worst-case scenario, understand? If I get locked into one single line of thinking, it'll slow me down. If she's my friend, I'll need to be ready to forgive. If she's our enemy, I'll need to be ready to fight. Our best chance to settle this is tonight. Are we going?"

"Of course we are," Luffy replied. It's not that I object to the plan, but we're still forgetting something. Sanji said he saw Robin walking with someone wearing a mask, remember? Then Iceburg described his attackers as Robin and a large man wearing a mask, that man being none of us. I'll bet he's the reason Robin's changed." Nami explained. "That means it's not Robin's fault and we just need to beat the real bad guy, right!?" Chopper exclaimed. "That'd be the ideal situation. But it's also possible this is Robin's real friend." Zoro said.

"The biggest issue is that we don't have much to go off on other than 'Big man in a mask'. Where do we even start? What's our goal?" Nami asked. "We'll find and capture Robin," Luffy said. "It's the only way we'll know the truth. We're wasting time just sitting here." We all nodded, "The only problem is that Robin's gonna be hard to catch. She's been on the run for 20 years after all." Zoro interjected. We all began standing up, "It's the only way to learn the truth..."

 "Now, let's get to Galley-La!"

(NO POV)

As day turned to night, the citizens of Water 7 were inside the shelters waiting for Aqua Laguna to pass. But outside of Iceburg's home was a large group of shipwrights with saws, all ready to protect their beloved mayor and boss. Sitting outside of the door to Iceburg's room were the five foreman, Paulie, Kaku, Peepley Lulu, Rob Lucci, and Tilestone. Meanwhile, the Straw Hats were hidden in the trees nearby, watching. "There's a lot of people outside." Chopper said. "It's a little far." Luffy added. "It'll be fine if you rocket inside, after the commotion starts. Right?" Nami asked. "Let's be patient. If we're the ones who cause a commotion then Robin and her accomplice will take advantage and sneak in." Zoro cautioned. 

Completely unbeknownst to the pirates, their former comrade Nico Robin as well as two cloaked figures, one in a bear mask and the other in a red devil mask, stood atop a tall building close to Iceburg's home. A pocket transponder snail began ringing and the figure in the bear mask picked up, a female's voice spoke over the line: "Are you ready?" She asked. "Yes, we're ready and awaiting your signal." Replied the figure in the bear mask. "It'll be very soon. At that time, the five of you are to carry out your missions with ruthless efficiency." The female voice explained. "We will do as we're told, Ma'am." The figure in the red devil mask replied monotonously before turning to Robin, "Are you ready, Nico Robin?" "Yes, I am."

Suddenly on the right side of the building, a big, loud explosion went off, starting a large fire. The shipwright began to panic as they hurried to save their friends who were caught in the fire as well as putting out the fire. "They're all in a frenzy!" Chopper exclaimed. "Yeah, there's definitely something going on down there..." Zoro said. "Alright, when do we make our move?" Chopper turned his head, "Hey, where're Luffy and Isaac?" Zoro and Nami finally noticed that neither their captain or Isaac were anywhere to be seen and they collectively screamed. 

"THOSE IDIOTS! WHAT ABOUT THE PLAN!? I THOUGHT WE WEREN'T GONNA RUSH INTO ANYTHING!"

Meanwhile, Robin and the two masked figures had made their way inside Iceburg's home, the process of finding Iceburg being easy since Robin had memorized the floor plan. The three stopped at a wall, "He's behind here." Robin said. The figure in the bear mask nodded, "Right, now you two give me a push." The other masked figure and Robin pushed him and the other side of the wall opened up like a door, and they closed it after entering Iceburg's room. "Incredible...I knew you'd come back for me sooner or later." Said the mayor from his bed. "But to enter like that, is that how you got in last night?" He asked. "It's the power of the Door-Door Fruit. No matter how thick the wall is, I simply touch it and it becomes a door." Replied the figure in the bear mask before he pulled out a handgun, shooting Iceburg and causing him to fall over. 

"Hold on, we haven't gotten the signal yet," Robin interjected. "Relax, he'll live. I'm just giving him a taste of what is to come. And after this, he likely won't be able to run off before we get the signal to finish the job. Besides, he should be thankful Hale hasn't done anything to him...For now."

Iceburg winced in pain, "I see...So that's how CP9 handles things...?" He groaned as he tried to move, "That poor Straw Hat boy...He had nothing to do with this, did he?" He asked. "There's no need to beat yourself up about it. You just told the truth about what you saw, and I was indeed here last night." Robin replied. "You planned it all from the start..."

"You're right, Iceburg. You're alive for two reasons: To pin the crime on the Straw Hats and to also learn the location of a certain document...The blueprints of a certain ship. One that has been passed down from shipwright to chosen apprentice for generations." The figure in the bear mask explained. "We knew that with your life in danger, you, Mr. Iceburg, would pass it onto someone who you trusted in order to keep it safe. The one you'd chosen being Paulie of Dock 1. Our associates are with him right at this moment." The figure in the devil mask added. "Everything's going according to plan...You must be damn proud of yourself." Iceburg grits his teeth.

"I want you and Hale to see this to the end." The figure in the bear mask ordered. "I'm going to go deal with the riffraff guarding the door. Once you are contacted, you are cleared to finish Iceburg. And Hale, make sure Nico Robin is the one to finish the job." The figure in the devil mask nodded slowly, "Yes, Sir." 

"After that, the only thing left is to kill Paulie, who's by now learned the truth of what's happened here. Said truth will die with him and all the blame will be put on the Straw Hats."

The figure in the bear mask left without another word, shutting the door behind him.

TO BE CONTINUED...