Chapter 53: Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down

“OH SHIT!”

 

Franky was about to burn the blueprints of Pluto and Rick couldn’t have that. He didn’t know what awaited him beyond Dressrosa. Having an ancient weapon would help dealing with the marines and the World Government. So by reflex Rick attracted the blueprints to him, just before Franky burned them to ashes.

“I’ll be taking that, thank you.”

 

He ignored Spandam, holding Robin, who was thanking him and asking him for the blueprints. Seeing a bruise on Robin’s face. He put Franky in a gravity choke hold  and made him float right in front of himself.

“I told you not to hurt her.”

“Was..n’t...me.” tried to say the Cyborg.

“Rick! Let him go!” yelled Luffy.

 

The ex-marine looked intently in Franky’s eyes. And pushed him towards the crew, on the roof of the court house.

“You can keep him, we don’t need him anymore.” he said to his captain.

“Rick! What the hell?!”

“I told you he’s with them, Luffy.” said Sanji.

 

Spandam was still asking for the plan when Rick Just pushed him away towards the CP9 members.

“I told you not to touch her. Are you deaf or retarded? Now if I heard correctly what was happening…. You guys want Robin back and declared war on the World Government. Is that right?”

“You bet your ass we did!” said Luffy.

 

Turning to Robin he added a few words.

“And you want to live? Well that made my job easier. Now what to do… Oh I know, Let’s play a game!”

“What the hell is he talking about?” said Kaku.

 

Rick attracted Robin to him and held her tight. From his pocket he retrieved a golden den den mushi.

“Do you know what this is Robin? This is a special den den mushi which can start a buster call.”

 

Robin's eyes showed fear. Spandam was outraged because it belonged to him and the CP9 tensed.

‘Where is he going with this?’ was the question on everyone's mind.

“My little game is simple. You have between 30 minutes to one hour to get out of this island alive.”

 

And in front of everyone present he pushed the button on top of the small golden snail he was holding.

“NO!” screamed Robin.

“Too late ~~~~”

 

He made every single member of the strawhats and Franky float and pushed them far away inside the main island with his gravity.

‘Now they need to choose.’

 

Rick’s plan was simple. More than half the crew didn’t trust him, and that was no good. He needed something radical, to make them take a decision.  Was he a friend or a foe? The ball was on their side. Right now, they got Robin back so nothing was holding them on this island. They could take the Puffing Tom and get out of here and leave him behind. Or come back for him. He hoped that the last few actions he did regarding Robin and Franky and everything else before leaving Water Seven would be enough.

 

Really that was a stupid, moronic plan. Nothing more, nothing less. The buster call? An incentive pushing them to choose. That and a big jackpot in Karma. It will destroy this island of ‘justice’, razing it to the ground. One of the three symbols of the World Government. That will undoubtedly weaken it. Or so Rick thought. Nothing was certain after all, not all marines and Cipher Pol agents were bad people. Rick’s actions could well earn him bad Karma. That was his miscalculation.

Anyway, if his crewmates left, he was wanted alive and Sengoku still wished for him to be back in the marines. Starting the buster call didn’t hold any consequences for him. He could always blame Spandam and since the CP9 will certainly go after Robin and Franky, and lose against his crewmates, he was more or less free of any repercussions.

He dodged by a hair’s breadth Lucci’s foot.

“What? Don’t wanna play? Or did you finally realise I've been playing you from the start? Goodness, are you sure you’re all super agents ? ‘cause coning you was easy.” He punctuated his words with a laugh.

“Give me the blueprints.” ordered Lucci.

“Come and get them.” challenged Rick.

~~~~~

 

The strawhats and Franky were back at the entrance of the island. Luffy had grabbed everyone before landing and no one was hurt. There were no marines or Cipher Pol agents around as all of them were still inside the main island near the courthouse; the crew was the last seen at that place. They were rejoicing to have Robin back.

“Ha! Joke’s on him! We can leave using the sea train!” said Sanji

“Yeah! We should leave before the buster call arrives.” added Usopp under his identity of Sogeking.

“You two can go if you want, but I’m going back for Rick.” said Nami.

 

She started walking with determination toward the gate leading back to the center of the island.

“Why?” asked Zoro.

“He’s a traitor Nami!” added Usopp.

“If that’s what you think then you’re all fools.” replied Nami.

“Nami, what do you mean?” asked Chopper.

“Rick is giving us a choice.” stated the navigator.

“What choice?” That time it was Luffy who asked.

“To once and for all, decide if we can trust him or not. To decide if he’s one of us or not.” she declared.

“After everything he did, he’s certainly no friend.” answered Sanji.

“You mean, saving us and helping Vivi in Alabasta? Or were you talking about the Davy Back Fight when he took the worst beating I have ever seen someone take, just so he could take Chopper and me back since you all failed to do it? Perhaps were you thinking about the time he saved your lives twice when you wanted to fight an Admiral of the marines? No, I'm sure you’re talking about the time when he was on the brink of death after being hit by a giant thunderbolt and gave everything he had left to make a giant bean fall. Going so far as to take a stimulant in his state which, let’s not forget, ended up killing for three minutes! After all that, I can honestly say, yes Rick is a friend of mine and I won’t leave him behind. And all of you should be ashamed for thinking the way you do about him.” she said with anger.

“Nami, he said that taking Robin away was his job.” replied Usopp.

“His job is to take care of us! When Robin was gone, he took action and found her. He risked his life for her, lying through his teeth to those guys. At any moment he could have been discovered but he did it anyway. Robin, how did he act with you when the two of you were alone?” Nami asked.

 

The archaeologist took her time to answer. Recalling Rick’s attitude with a new perspective… she could see the possibility that Nami was right.

“He was… protective. He didn’t handcuffed me, or restrained me. When Long-n… When Sogeking infiltrated the car I was in, he knew he was there and gave me a few minutes to talk with him. When spandam got too close or tried to hit me he didn’t let him.”

“See? He was taking care of Robin while we were lagging behind. Heck! He gave her back to us!” said Nami.

“Then why all the acting?” asked Sanji.

“I don’t know. I think he might have guessed about the buster call and formulated a plan to counter it. But I also think he had another personal agenda in coming here. All I know for sure is that he helped every single one of us every way he could whenever he could and never asked for anything back.”

“In the sea train he did guess about the buster call, maybe he had guessed earlier…” said Robin.

“Why did he activate it then?” asked Zoro.

“As I said, to force us to make a choice. We can all quit this island right now, before the buster call destroys it and leave Rick behind. Or go back for him. He’s pressing us with time and knowing him to also raze this island which is a symbol of the World Government off the map.”

“That’s crazy!” said Chopper.

“We didn’t leave him any other way. Sanji every time you spoke to him your tone was dripping with suspicion. Robin, you avoided him like the plague! Usopp accused him right to his face, in front of everyone, of everything going wrong and being a traitor. Zoro you kept constantly an eye on him. We isolated him. Had I been in his shoes I would have left, but Rick? Rick stayed, for us.He took everything without complaining even once! Even when half of the crew was against him. And now? Now he took Robin’s place. Because between the two of them only he is wanted Alive only. He sacrificed his freedom, for god knows what they will do to him, just so we could get away with Robin. I won’t stand for it!” said Nami

 

Franky, who was listening on the sideline intervened.

“She’s right.”

“How would you know? You don’t even know him.” replied Usopp.

Franky pulled out something from his shirt.

“I know he had in his hands the blueprints for one of the most powerful weapons in the world. Blueprints the World Government wants desperately and he gave them back.”

He was waving the blueprints of Pluto in his hands.

“I may not know him, but I know he’s not part of the World Government, that’s for sure.” said the cyborg.

“Now I don’t know about you, but that guy risked his life for Nico Robin and to prevent the World Government from getting its hands on my mentor's legacy. In my book he’s a good guy and I’m going back for him, I owe him my freedom. Besides, my family is still there.” he announced and left the way Nami was going before being stopped by Sanji.

 

Luffy who was silent until now looked at his crew. He thought about everything Nami said, everything Rick did since he joined him. One moment came into his mind. The time just before his duel with Usopp. Rick came to advise him. That was good advice, one that Zoro gave too after the duel. But Luffy was not thinking about that. He was thinking about Rick’s story. The one where he took people’s lives and confessed that decades later this act still haunted him but that in the end, he didn’t regret it because of the people he saved.

‘He’s still playing the bad guy for the sake of others.’

“I’ve made my decision but I would like to know what you think. Raise your hand if you want to leave the island right now.”

 

No one did.

 

That made him smile.

“Then let’s get him back!”

 

They rushed through the entrance door. Luffy, Zoro and Sanji were leading the way, defeating any marines they met, followed and supported by Chopper and Usopp. Nami and Robin brought up the rear. Nami pulled something for her jacket and gave it to her friend.

“Rick asked me to give you this when I thought the time was right.”

 

Robin took a look at what she received. It was a small wooden box. She opened it and saw an Eternal Pose for O’hara.

“How did he…”

“When he left the marines he knew he needed somewhere to hide. Where no one would look for him. Apparently there is a room in the marines HQ containing a lot of Eternal Pose. He took one of them.” explained Nami

“Then…”

“Yes, for the last ten years he was living on your home island. Cleaned up the place, buried your people, built a house and a library for the books he could save, he even grew crops. If he didn’t catch wind of Vivi having disappeared and met us he probably would have spent the rest of his life there.”

“How do you know all that?”

“When we camped in Skypiea, I… kinda blackmailed him to talk about that among other things...”

“Other things? Like what?” 

“Like if you don’t want him Robin, I’m taking him.”

“What?!”

“Oh please! Don’t tell me you don’t know.”

“I…”

“You know what he said? He said that he likes your curves, that you are as tall as him and smart and knowledgeable. He loves your sense of humor and finds your laugh and I’m quoting here ’melodious’. But what he likes the most about you is that you know and understand. His words.” 

 

Nami didn’t add anything more. She had said all she had to say. Robin just kept quiet digesting all the new information she heard. Rick living on her homeland was a shock, true, but what shocked her more was that he wasn’t just flirting and playing with her. It was way more than that. She didn’t quite know what to do about this.

 

Along the way they saw Kokoro fixing the Rockectman they had taken to come to the island. She told them that, to get to the Tower of Justice from the courthouse they’ll need to lower the bridge.

Soon enough the crew was almost to the courthouse when things got a bit more complicated. All the able soldiers were there, still thinking the pirate crew that invaded the island was still inside the building since the franky family was there fighting. Franky was trying to breach through the horde of marines to join his family.

“Let’s help Franky!”

“Luffy we don’t have time! The buster call may begin any moment now.” said Nami.

 

The time they took to discuss Rick’s rescue took around 15 minutes. The journey from the entrance to the courthouse? Ten more. From what Rick said, they had between 30 minutes to one hour before ten heavy battleships would arrive and start cannoning  everything higher than the ground on this island. At best they still had 35 minutes, at worst, five. They couldn’t afford to waste time.

“Those guys came with us, we’re helping them!”

“Fine. Everyone move out of the way!” warned Nami.

 

Luffy grabbed Franky and brought him back as Nami used her clima-tact to create for the second time a giant thunder cloud and make lightning rain. That didn’t take care of every soldier, but that cleared the way to the inside of the courthouse.  Franky was reunited with his men but didn’t linger. He had a good guy to save and time was ticking. Thankfully the frankies were spread out  and they had no problem lowering the bridge. Luffy couldn’t wait and went back to the rooftop, hoping to propel himself to the other side. What he saw there stunned him.

 

The building was badly damaged. The balcony where Robin declared she wanted to live and the wall behind it were gone. Luffy could see inside and saw the members of the CP9. All of them were somehow wounded. Two were on the ground not moving. Lucci was catching his breath when he saw Luffy across the chasm. He smirked and picked up something red on the floor.

 

It was Rick.

 

~~~~~

 

“Give me the blueprints.” ordered Lucci.

“Come and get them.” challenged Rick.

 

Rick used his gravity and pushed his opponent away.

‘Now I’ve done it. I’ve reached a new level of stupidity never seen before. Even Luffy never went that far in the path of the stupid. Was it because I spent so much time with Garp? I mean come on, I’m a smart guy! What was I thinking when I chose to stand behind and fight ALL of the CP9.’

 

His thoughts were interrupted when this time Kaku and Jabra rushed at him.

 

That was how the fight started. Rick fought hard, and well and didn’t hold back on the use of his gravity. He dodged, blocked and took hits, but gave back just as much if not more. During the battle the wall of Spandam’s office, which Franky made a big hole in, completely collapsed with a part of the roof. This was not an easy fight. Yet at six versus one, he held his ground. The tekkai that the CP9 used proved itself problematic for him as they were not affected by the increase in gravity as much as they should have. That was not the only reason, they were the elite and their bodies were trained beyond the limit. Rick had to increase the gravity more and more. He did succeed in knocking out Kumadori and Fukurou, after all in terms of physical power Rick was no slouch and could give a run for his money to Lucci. But sadly no matter how strong he was, his defense was not as strong as his offence. Since he always subdued his opponents with his gravity he never really got hit. Sure, he tanked everything Foxy threw at him in the Davy Back Fight but who was that guy? A joke of a pirate, whose bounty was 24 Millions berry. In the end ?

 

Rick lost.