CP-0 Ao Oni found Usopp aboard the Going Merry.
Usopp sensed danger approaching and braced to strike. "Sure-Kill Technique: Three-Shot Firework Star!" he shouted, firing his attack. Then he launched another: "Sure-Kill Technique: Shirogai's Special Grenade!"
Ao Oni sneered and grabbed the round grenade filled with strange red liquid just as it hit him. "Hmph! You still dare resist?" he said, easily overpowering Usopp as Usopp struggled, desperation in his voice.
"Don't come any closer!" Usopp's nose trembled, his voice raw. "I have more than five thousand men lying in ambush all around here! One order from me, and you're dead!"
"Fool," Ao Oni spat, contempt clear in his tone. "Do you think I can't sense the auras around me?" With that, he knocked Usopp unconscious and bolted down the street he came from.
Suddenly, he halted. Figures were leaping through the air toward him — CP-9 agents: Lucci, Kaku, and the others. They looked battered, stained with blood, as though they'd just emerged from a brutal fight. Among them stood Robin, staring at Usopp in Ao Oni's grasp.
"Your mission is complete?" Ao Oni asked, surprise flickering in his voice.
Kaku lowered himself and nodded, one hand still dripping blood. "Yes, CP-0 Ao Oni," he said. "We have acted here in Water 7 for some time — but what exactly did you do?"
Lucci's cold glare hardened as he looked at Usopp. "Did you come just to capture a weak, insignificant man?"
"Shut your mouth, CP-9 fools!" Ao Oni snapped. "If we hadn't helped you distract that monster, you'd all be dead by now!"
Lucci's eyes narrowed. "And yet, we completed the mission. Taking one hostage is enough to finish this."
Ao Oni exhaled and shrugged. "Fine." He handed the unconscious Usopp to Kaku. "I'll go tell Hidden Snake to pull out of this place."
Kaku glanced down at Usopp. His voice turned serious. "That man is a member of Shirogai's crew — the Fifth Emperor." He held Usopp carefully. "Were you planning to use him as leverage against Shirogai Yamikuro?"
Ao Oni snorted. "We don't have time to explain. Take him. Leave." He turned and dashed off, heading back toward Inbi Hebi's position.
Lucci glared at him. "The CP-0 men made no real contribution here, yet they're acting like heroes."
Kaku frowned at his comrade. "Maybe they had a different mission than ours." He lifted Usopp off the ground with his uninjured arm. "Let's go. We still need to catch the last sea train out of here."
Meanwhile, Ao Oni rushed through the rising waters in Water 7's backstreets. The tide was creeping in, swallowing alleyways.
"Inbi Hebi!!!" he yelled, spotting someone impaled onto the wall of the tallest clock-tower building.
Hidden Snake hung frozen there, his body encased in translucent ice crystals. Coughing violently, he slowly lifted his snake-scale mask. "Damn it," he rasped, blood flecking the ice around him.
Ao Oni's jaw clenched. "Still alive?"
Hidden Snake nodded, voice strained. "Probably… barely. My organs… numb. I might already be half-dead."
Ao Oni swallowed hard, dread curling through him. "Where's the hostage?" he spat, urgency in every word.
Hidden Snake's red eyes flicked with pain. "You gave him to CP-9, didn't you? So that monster… that monster wouldn't go berserk when he saw him."
Ao Oni hesitated, then shook his head. "Yes. I was worried. But now… now I have to go." He pulled Hidden Snake free of the ice, breaking the spear-like crystal and hoisting him onto his back. "Come on. We have to move before they find us."
Hidden Snake whispered weakly: "Don't… give up. Maybe… someone on Enies Lobby can heal me."
Ao Oni carried him through the water, following the fading aura of CP-9.
---
Elsewhere, in a part of the City yard, Nami crouched beside Zoro, who lay on the ground, two new bullet wounds visible. Her voice trembled with guilt. "If I hadn't insisted… Zoro, I'm sorry."
Chopper worked furiously, bandaging Zoro's injuries. "Don't worry. You'll recover."
Zoro gripped his swords, still alert. Smoke and flames curled from a nearby building as shipwrights from Carrera Company fought to douse the fire.
One worker spat in anger: "Those god-damn World Government assassins set this place on fire! They tried to burn Mayor Iceberg alive!"
Another shook his head in disbelief: "And Foreman Barry fought them off! But Straw Hats helped too — who'd have thought Foreman Lucci and Foreman Kaku were spies for the Government?"
A third man spat bitterly: "We built their ships day after day and this is how they repay us! This is our home, and they treat us like pawns!"
As they argued, others ran with buckets of water, trying desperately to control the blaze.
---
Not far away, in a shadowed shipyard corner, a burly man lay on the ground, bleeding black-red ichor from his mouth. He twitched in pain.
A scrawny figure stood over him, sliding on a pair of human-skin gloves inelegantly. "I told you, you should never speak ill of the Celestial Dragons," he said quietly. "But you persisted."
Suddenly, his body seemed to shift. The scrawny man's shape lengthened, becoming that of a lean, ordinary man. He let out a soft, hollow laugh, then reached into his pocket.
His miniature Den Den Mushi buzzed. He put it to his ear. On the other end, he heard a quiet but urgent voice, tight with urgency:
"Nameless, our mission is complete. CP-9 has secured the Pluton blueprints. Inbi Hebi is gravely injured. We need a doctor now."