Chapter 81: Buster Call
"Damn it! Hurry up and lower the drawbridge! The Buster Call is here, we need to catch Nico Robin and escape before they start bombarding the island!" Spandam's voice was heard across the whole of Enies Lobby over the intercom system.
"B-but sir?! Shouldn't we warn the marines on the island to evacuate?!" Another voice asked.
"Forget them! They will have died a glorious death on the day of my promotion!" Spandam shouted.
"S-sir, I think that Den Den Mushi is broadcasting to the whole island..." The other voice said.
"Huh? AH, WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME, YOU FOOL?!" The intercom audibly shut off afterwards.
A panic ensued amongst the marines, most of whom forgot all about the pirates rampaging on the island and made for their ships. This opened a clear path for the Straw Hats' side to escape as well, though they still needed to deal with the remaining CP9 agents.
Luffy's fight with Rob Lucci was the hardest of them. He took quite a beating from the leopard man, but ultimately did come out on top.
A notable addition to Luffy's techniques was Gear Third, in which he apparently inflated his bones to create giant limbs. Cherry thought it was rather absurd, but she couldn't say anything about it since it worked.
At least until it wore off and left him as a miniature version of himself. Cherry made a mental note to tease him about it later.
Cherry let them have their battles, it would be good for their growth. She observed a new technique being used by Rob Lucci and the weirdo with white makeup and long purple hair. It seemed to allow them near complete control over their bodies, which would certainly be useful in Cherry's arsenal.
By the time their battles were coming to an end, Cherry had pretty much got the hang of it. Not too surprising since both this technique and Rokushiki had more to do with body control than skill. That was right up a body cultivator's alley.
The Gates of Justice had completely opened by now and the bombardment began. The explosions slowly made their way forward, razing the island to the ground.
Cherry joined up with the others. "Should I do anything about that Spandam guy? He'll probably make his way onto a marine ship and escape if we do nothing."
Robin looked incredibly uncomfortable, likely due to the Buster Call drudging up bad memories. "Let's just leave. There's no reason to take any risks over that thing."
They could see the shore now, but there was a problem. Several marine warships had circled around to intercept them. Fortunately, they weren't targeting them directly, though it was quite strange that they weren't.
They seemed to have picked up the marines from the island. Cherry raised her opinion of the marines by just a little bit for that small act of decency.
A voice commanded loudly from one of the ships. "This is Vice Admiral Onigumo. All marines ranked Commander and above will engage the Straw Hats. Nico Robin is to be apprehended alive, per Admiral Aokiji's orders."
That explained why they weren't being bombarded.
There were a surprising number of officers of that high of rank that came out to meet them.
For example, a masked marine who clashed swords with Zoro attempted to grab one of his swords. Zoro remembered Cherry's advice from weeks ago and kick him to create distance. No doubt he would have lost a blade just then had he allowed it.
Cherry thought that it was quite fascinating how many devil fruit users were gathered in one place, despite their supposed rarity. The Grand Line lived up to its name, that was for sure.
She was kind of annoyed that the Vice Admirals had yet to move a muscle from their ships, though. So she didn't leave them the option of hiding themselves away while their subordinates did all the hard work.
She rampaged across the ships, using hit and run tactics to attack the Vice Admirals before running away to the next before they could counter attack. They were a tough lot, but they wouldn't be leaving Enies Lobby unharmed, at least.
Cherry's "innocent" laughter would haunt the dreams of many of the marines who were present here for years to come.
Eventually, thanks to Cherry's distraction, the other Straw Hats, shipwrights, the Franky Family, and the two giants who were originally on the marines' side managed to board the Franky Family's ship and the Puffing Tom, and rushed out to sea. The marines didn't even notice due to the chaos until they got a big head start.
Cabernet came to Cherry's side to pick her up. Cherry had been so enthralled with the battle she didn't even notice her until she picked her up by the scruff of her shirt.
"Ah! Wait Cabernet, just one more!" Cherry said, stopping her from flying off with her.
Cherry swung her sword sending a sword light twisting and dodging between the marines and the warships.
"AHHH! MY LEGS!!!" A distant shout rang out from Spandam on another ship.
"Now we can go. Hehehehehe!" Cherry's actions and words sent shivers down the spines of the nearby marines.
They took off faster than anyone could react to and soon enough found themselves on the roof of the Puffing Tom.
The marine warships prepared to pursue them, but Admiral Aokiji's appeared and told them they had lost and to give up. This was frustrating for the Vice Admirals, but they couldn't openly question his judgement and simply let it go for now.
Back on the Puffing Tom, everyone was celebrating their victorious escape.
"Baaah!" Merry bleated.
"Merry says she had fun and hopes we'll have more exciting adventures!" Chopper translated, whilst he was trying to make Cherry sit still and put casts on her broken legs.
Cherry eventually relented and let him do whatever would set his mind at ease. It really wasn't necessary to have healing aids at this point of her cultivation though.
The fifth realm of body cultivation was called the Blood Rebirth Realm. It's primary purpose was to increase the healing capability of the body by an enormous degree. Its name comes from the idea that a top rated body cultivation method could enable one to restore their body from a single drop of blood if the fifth realm was perfected.
That wasn't such an easy thing to achieve, however. Cherry even thought that a single devil fruit may not be enough to push this particular realm to perfection. She would need something more potent, and her mind often came back to the fact that when a devil fruit user ate a second devil fruit, they would "explode". It was a very dangerous idea.
Eventually they made it back to Water 7 where Iceburg was waiting to receive them.
"I'm glad you made it back safely." Iceburg said to everyone.
"Of course we did, who do you take us for?" Franky huffed.
Iceburg leaned in to whisper to Franky. "I asking just in case, but they didn't get the blueprints did they?"
"Ah! That's right! Cherry, how could you snatch the blueprints from me?! That was supposed to be my SUPER moment!" Franky complained loudly.
"What do you mean? If I didn't take them, the old man would have just a split second later. Besides you promised to let me have a look and I burned them afterwards, so it's all good, right?" Cherry made excuses.
Franky wanted to argue, but her logic was sound and she did save his life, so he couldn't muster anything to say.
"Well, it's okay if she just had a quick look at them, Franky. We're the best shipwrights in the world, and even we couldn't memorize them." Iceburg consoled.
"No, I did memorize them though?" Cherry tilted her head.
Iceburg and Franky's jaws dropped. Images flashed in their minds of Cherry at the helm of Pluton laughing like a demon. They shook the thought out of their heads, choosing to place their hopes in Cherry's good nature.
"Well, anyways. I want to thank you guys for everything. I bought a sizable amount of the best wood in the world in order to make my dream ship. I'd like to give that ship to you guys, once I've finished with it." Franky offered generously. Conveniently forgetting that it was their money that paid for the wood in the first place.
The Straw Hats didn't sweat the small stuff, however, and graciously accepted the offer.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone