The overall terrain of Enies Lobby was quite peculiar.
It resembled a massive ladle, with a circular bowl attached, suspended over a vast and bottomless abyss.
The abyss was circular, with its edges forming a waterfall where endless seawater cascaded down.
To enter the core structure of Enies Lobby—the Judiciary Tower—from the ladle-shaped front island, one had to either fly or wait for the tower to lower the drawbridge.
A few kilometers behind the Judiciary Tower, standing tall in the ocean, were the massive Gates of Justice.
Rorschach and his crew had arrived through that passage earlier.
Since they couldn't enter the Judiciary Tower directly from there, they had to take a long detour to reach Enies Lobby's main entrance.
Unexpectedly, their warship became entangled in the submerged railway tracks.
As Rorschach followed T-Bone toward the Judiciary Tower—
At the very top of the tower, inside a vast and empty hall, several men with bizarre appearances sat idly on a couch, yawning in boredom.
One was round and bloated like a ball, with thin limbs and a zipper for a mouth.
Another had long pink hair dragging on the floor, a massive body, and his face painted with purple makeup.
The third had a long braid and two tufts of mustache on his lips.
These three were the CP9 agents stationed at Enies Lobby—"Silent Owl" Kumadori, "Lion" Fukurou, and Jabra.
"I don't know why the boss called us here. There aren't any assassination missions in broad daylight. Can't I just take a nice nap?"
Jabra grumbled, propping his legs up on the table, shaking them impatiently.
"Chapa-papa! You just want to sneak off to the mess hall to peep on that new waitress, Catherine, while she bathes, don't you? Jabra, you pervert! Chapa-papa!"
Fukurou unzipped his mouth and spoke rapidly.
Hearing this, Jabra jumped up from the couch like a wolf whose tail had been stepped on. His face turned guilty as he barked,
"Fukurou! Don't slander me out of nowhere! I, Jabra, am an honorable man! How could I possibly do something so disgraceful?"
"Chapa-papa! But I saw it! Not only that, I even took pictures of you taking pictures of Catherine!"
As he spoke, Fukurou pulled out a few photos from his pocket and tossed them in front of Jabra.
In the photos, Jabra could be seen with a lecherous grin, drooling while holding a camera, secretly taking pictures through a window.
"You damn peeping freak! I'll kill you!"
Jabra's dark face instantly turned beet red. He snatched the photos in a panic and stuffed them into his pocket before lunging at Fukurou, grabbing for his mouth.
At the same time, he turned to Kumadori, who was sitting blankly on the couch, and shouted,
"Kumadori! Didn't Spandam order you to keep an eye on him and stop him from poking his nose into gossip?"
Kumadori's face twisted in shame. "Yo-yo-i… I have failed in my duty! I shall commit seppuku at once!"
With that, he unsheathed a gleaming dagger from his waist and, without hesitation, stabbed it toward his stomach.
Jabra's eyes widened in horror as he rushed forward. "Stop! It's just a small matter! You don't need to commit seppuku over this!"
"But it is my failure. I must take responsibility. I shall now commit seppuku!"
Ignoring Jabra's protests, Kumadori gripped the dagger tightly and plunged it into his stomach.
With a metallic clang, sparks flew as the blade shattered upon impact.
"Yo-yo-i… my instincts made me use Tekkai (Iron Body), so my seppuku attempt failed. My apologies—I shall try again."
As he spoke, he somehow pulled out another dagger and prepared for another attempt.
At that moment, the sound of crisp footsteps echoed from the entrance of the hall.
The three men paused and turned their heads to see Rob Lucci walking in with his hands in his pockets, followed by Kaku, who was casually munching on a banana.
"Huh? What are you two doing back here? Is it a holiday at Galley-La, or did another assassination job come up that only you two could handle?"
Jabra let go of Fukurou and looked at Lucci in surprise.
Lucci raised his right hand and gave a thumbs-up behind him, his expression indifferent.
"We were summoned back by a certain useless superior on a whim."
As soon as he finished speaking, a displeased voice sounded from outside the hall.
"Hey! I'm still your superior, you know. Could you show some respect, Lucci?"
A moment later, a thin man with long purple hair and heavy dark circles under his eyes wobbled into the hall, his face filled with frustration.
Seeing him, Jabra instinctively formed a rectangular frame with his fingers, mimicking a camera lens, and pointed it at Spandam.
"Oh my, Chief Spandam's Doriki (power level) is only 9 points. Even a newly enlisted third-class Marine recruit has a Doriki of 10. So, in other words… our boss really is just trash."
Hearing Jabra's taunt, Spandam's face twitched in anger. He immediately drew the longsword from his waist.
Then, something strange happened.
As he swung the sword, the blade elongated and expanded like an inflating balloon. In the blink of an eye, it transformed into a massive white elephant with long, menacing tusks, trumpeting aggressively at Jabra.
Spandam sneered, "I'm your superior! As a leader, all I need to do is control you guys—I don't have to fight myself. Besides, with Elephant Sword Funkfreed in my hands, no one can harm me!"
"So it's just another case of a weakling relying on power they don't deserve, huh? It's just a weapon—how dare it roar at me?"
Jabra scoffed, looking at the white elephant with disdain.
Lucci frowned slightly, glanced at the trumpeting elephant, and coldly ordered, "Shut up."
The once-arrogant elephant immediately showed a look of fear, its body going limp. It quickly deflated and shrank back into an ordinary longsword, resting obediently in Spandam's grip.
Seeing this, Kaku grinned at Jabra and mocked,
"Looks like it's not the elephant sword that's overstepping its bounds—it's just that you're too weak, Jabra. Even a junk weapon doesn't respect you."
"I'm too weak?" Jabra's eyes widened as he took a few steps forward, grabbed Kaku by the collar, and growled, "I'm the strongest man in CP9 after Lucci! Kaku, if you don't agree, we can settle this one-on-one."
"Come on, then! Just because you ate some trash-tier Zoan fruit and turned into a dog, don't think that scares me." Kaku retorted without backing down.
"That's not a dog! It's a wolf! A meat-eating wolf!"
"Looks more like a sh*t-eating dog to me."
"You bastard! You're looking for death!"
Spandam felt like his head was about to explode from their argument.
He shouted angrily, "Enough! Both of you, shut up! I have something important to say!"
Seeing their superior lose his temper, Jabra and Kaku exchanged a fierce glare before reluctantly separating.
Spandam, feeling a headache coming on from dealing with these arrogant CP9 members, took a deep breath to calm himself before speaking.
"I gathered you all here for a mission."
"As expected, a mission?" Kaku wasn't surprised.
Jabra glanced at the silent Lucci and asked in shock, "What kind of mission requires even Lucci to be summoned back? Don't tell me we're going after a Revolutionary Army officer again?"
He still remembered the last time he, Owl, and Kumadori were sent to assassinate a Revolutionary Army division leader.
Originally, they only needed to kill three targets, but Owl, being a loudmouth, accidentally blurted out classified information on the spot.
That mistake forced them to silence all witnesses, turning a three-man kill mission into a twenty-three-man slaughter that nearly exhausted Jabra to death.
"No, it's not an assassination mission." Spandam waved his hand dismissively. "I just need you all to show up and suppress someone's arrogance—put a certain Marine in his place."
At this point, Spandam's expression turned a little twisted.
"Suppress a Marine? Are you talking about that stubborn skull-faced lieutenant colonel?" Jabra asked, puzzled.
Hearing this, Kaku's expression shifted slightly as he glanced at Lucci.
Lucci, however, remained standing with a blank face.
"That brain-dead fool has no arrogance to suppress!" Spandam sneered. "The person I need you to deal with is—"
Before he could finish, Owl unzipped his mouth and blurted out rapidly:
"Chatter chatter! The person Spandam-sama wants to target is Marine Headquarters Brigadier General Rorschach, who will soon be arriving at Enies Lobby!
The reason for targeting him dates back to half a year ago, when Spandam-sama's father, Spandine, was implicated in a major incident and lost his CP0 commander position—all thanks to that Marine Brigadier General.
Now that Rorschach is coming to collect a massive bounty, Spandam-sama wants us to use this as an excuse to teach him a lesson and avenge his father, chatter chatter!"
"What?! How the hell do you know all that?!"
Spandam's eyes widened in disbelief as he glared at Owl.
Owl chuckled mischievously, pulling out a small Den Den Mushi from his pocket.
"I installed a wiretap in your office, chatter chatter! Not only did I hear about your family business, but I also heard you flirting with Kalifa over the Den Den Mushi—only to get called a pervert, chatter chatter!"
"OWL! YOU BASTARD! I'M KICKING YOU OUT OF CP9!"
Spandam nearly fainted from rage.
"Hurry up and kick him out! I fully support it!"
Jabra jeered.
"Chatter chatter! I also have your secret photos of Catherine~" Owl teased.
"I'M GONNA KILL YOU!" Jabra immediately lost his temper.
Meanwhile, Kaku ignored the commotion and turned back to Spandam. "How exactly do you want us to 'teach' Brigadier General Rorschach a lesson? Should we kill him?"
"Of course not! You absolutely cannot kill him!"
Spandam's face turned pale, and he frantically waved his hands. "I just want you to give him a good beating and help me vent some frustration.
That guy has high-ranking Marines backing him up—he's a spoiled noble brat.
His promotions have been skyrocketing like a rocket—less than a year ago, he was a fresh recruit, and now he's already a Brigadier General!"
"He was just a Colonel a few days ago when he went out to sea, and now he's a Brigadier General?! What the hell is the Navy thinking, handing promotions to some teenage brat? Aren't they afraid of pissing off other officers?"
Kaku's eyes suddenly flickered. "Wait… a teenage brat? The Marine Brigadier General you're talking about… is he the same Rorschach who arrested four pirates with bounties exceeding 100 million in Sabaody?"
Spandam scoffed, "Just because the newspapers say he caught them doesn't mean he actually did. Do you know how old he is?
Fourteen!
Half a year ago, he wasn't even fourteen yet!
Do you really believe a kid like that could capture the vicious 'Avenger' Aristo? Don't be ridiculous. This is just the Navy polishing his reputation.
I've seen this kind of thing countless times.
Hell, my dad did the same thing for me."
"You're actually proud of that?" Jabra shot Spandam a sideways glance, full of disdain.
Kaku frowned slightly. "Defeating a Supernova pirate with a bounty exceeding 300 million at just fourteen years old… that does sound ridiculous. Even Lucci doesn't have that kind of record."
"At thirteen, Lucci wiped out five hundred fully armed soldiers on his own, but compared to a pirate worth 300 million, that's not quite the same level."
Kaku nodded thoughtfully. "What does he look like?"
"Like this. Some weird-looking brat."
Spandam pulled a photo from his pocket and handed it over.
The moment Kaku laid eyes on the picture, his expression turned priceless.
A silver-haired, blue-eyed Marine youth stood proudly at the bow of a warship, draped in a snow-white "Justice" cloak, exuding an air of unrivaled confidence.
"It's… it's him… The guy who lifted the sea train dozens of meters into the air!"
Kaku swallowed hard and instinctively glanced toward Lucci, only to find that Lucci had already walked to the balcony of the Judicial Tower, staring at the Courthouse rooftop across the abyss.
"He's here."
Lucci's pupils reflected the silver-haired youth standing on the opposite rooftop.
A calm but powerful voice echoed across Enies Lobby:
"Who is in charge here? I am Marine Headquarters Brigadier General Rorschach, here to claim the bounty for Aristo and his men."
(End of Chapter)
────────────────────────────────────
"If you're interested, please support me in my other novel [Naruto: Starting with Tsunade-san]."
"If you're interested, please support me in my other novel [Battle Through the Heavens: Heavenly comprehension]."
"If you want an early access join my patreon:- patreon.com/BaDwYGaMeR"