384
At the same time, Water 7,
Kaku sighed as he walked out of the Galley-La Company office. Inside, Iceburg was having a heated argument with a pirate about the practicality of a design.
'Huh, new star pirates… always thinking they are some hotshot. I mean why does he even want to put a head of a dinosaur in front of the ship… that's just plain ugly' Kaku thought, as he walked through the hall of Galley-La.
People passed him, while some greeted him with smiles, others gave him high-fives, and fist-bumps.
In all honesty, he will miss this place. He had been living in this city for five years. Five years of going undercover to find some fictional blueprint for an idiot who got into the high ranks because of dear old daddy.
But while Kaku didn't particularly like his boss, things were going to change now. Spandam had called all of the undercover agents back to Enies Lobby. And from what Lucci had hinted, he wasn't doing it willingly.
Someone from the upper ranks —more influential than Spandam— had called the CP9 team back. Someone that almost all the Cipher Pol agents knew of, and had fear and respect for.
While others were a bit hesitant, he was a bit excited about it. Even though he liked the place, it lacked any kind of excitement. And well, he wouldn't be jumping off rooftops if he wasn't an adrenaline junkie.
Walking through the corridor, Kaku found Paulie arguing with Lulu about his gambling debt, and asking —more like begging— him to give him some money.
"Boss, I'm calling it a night," Kaku said, bringing Paulie's attention to him, "The new pirate customers are a bunch of pricks. Anyway, I'm not feeling so well, so…"
Paulie quickly came over, and placed his hand over shoulder, "Of course, of course… but can you give me some money?"
Kaku deadpanned, before Lucci smacked the back side of Paulie's head.
Hattori, the pigeon who was on his shoulder spoke up, "You are the new Vice President of Galley-la, at least try to act like you have some respect."
"Why you, Lucci?!"
With that, Paulie tried to fight off Lucchi, but the undercover agent was holding him down with one hand.
Kaku chuckled as he walked past Lucci, not reacting as the other agent slipped a small piece of paper in his hands.
Kaku yawned, playing fatigued as he stretched his arms going through the door. He came out walking, before quickly taking pace, and jumped out of the rooftop free falling towards the ground.
Yamakaze, they called him. Kaku smiled, a genuine one, he felt free when he was like this. Free…
The Cipher Pol agent shook his head before he twisted mid-air, and flung his clothes back. Revealing his black suit jacket underneath, he took out his cap.
With his agent suit on, he used geppo to fly through the sky going towards the hinted location. He moved in a way that was very hard for anyone to see. The wind blew past him as he moved, and before long he was already there.
Kalifa was already there, so only Rob Lucci needed to come. Blueno should have also been with them in Water 7, but a few months ago, someone from the World Nobles needed his powers. To run some errands of sorts. But from what he was hearing Blueno failed one of the tasks and he was doing some kind of punishment.
Kaku felt bad for his friend. But that's just how it was. That's how it's always been.
You fail at something, you face the consequence of it. Kaku just wished Bluneo was at least alive. He was like his family after all. Other than each other, no other had their back in their home island.
Time passed and Kaku, Kalifa and Lucci made their way to Enies Lobby. Using Geppo to cross the hundreds of kilometers of distance and before long they were inside the tower of Justice.
Five years… it had been that long. Kaku missed this place in some ways. The never-night island of Enies Lobby, where it was always daytime. It was ironic in some ways, for spies like them who always tried to hide in the shadows their main base was here, where there was no shadow.
Kaku and the others entered the building. And all of the CP9 members were here. It wasn't just the three, Jabra, Kumadori, and Fukuro were there as well.
Spandam, their chief, was pacing back and forth behind his desk, clearly nervous. But who could blame him? Even Kaku and the other members who were Cipher Pol were on edge, but unlike the man-child in front of them, they knew how to keep his emotions in check.
Suddenly the air shifted in front of them, and all of the men inside the room prepared for the worst, but when the air suddenly became a door, all of them sighed in relief. It was just Blueno.
But they were wrong. It wasn't just Blueno.
Suddenly, as the door opened, all of the members present felt a sudden chill run down their spine. The air was hard to breathe, it was suffocating and fear was up their throat. It wasn't haki or anything else, no it was pure bloodlust. The intent to kill.
The Cipher Pol agents such as Lucci and Jabra wanted to go into their hybrid forms immediately. But they were frozen in place, as if their body wasn't listening to their commands. An aura of intimidation was pressing down on them.
As Blueno opened the door, a man walked out. Dressed in his all-white suit, with the white marine coat draping over his shoulder, walked out a man who was one of the key members of Cipher Pol Zero.
The man had a kind smile, sporting an eye patch on his left eye that almost glowed red. He was wearing a black vest with a white dress-shirt, dress pants, and formal shoes. The man was old, and yet with his black combed-back hair, no one would even think of him as a man beyond his forties.
Another unique feature of the man was his right arm, which was replaced by a robotic one. A tragedy for a swordsman like him.
Still, the man had four swords on his waist, two on each side. Spadroon swords, thin swords that looked grand on it's design, and yet powerful. Even from the sheath one could tell all of them were of good quality.
As the man walked forward the Cipher Pol agents struggled to breath, Spandam on the other hand was down right knocked out, foaming from his mouth. As Bluno closed the door, the man broke into a light chuckle, breaking off the pressure.
"Now isn't this interesting… you guys are certainly more promising then the other batches of CP9 units." The man said, handing off his marine jacket to Bluno, who held it taking a step back.
The man looked at each of them. Eyeing them one by one, all the while the kind smile remained on his face. Like everyone, he held his eyes on Kaku for a moment before nodding.
"Now, where's your chief? Spandam was it? Where is he?" He asked kindly.