One Piece Chapter 373: Necessary Evil

On the roof of the Puffing Tom, Franky's backwards centaur form wobbles above the storming sea. Nero has been bragging about his power, but Franky is not impressed. As the train shakes, Nero cries, "Gwaaaaaaaaaa!!!" and Franky taunts him: "Heh, you bragged and bragged. But I don't see you getting any stronger with four legs, Centaur!" Franky's strange pose looks absurd, yet his confidence has shifted the fight. Nero expected the form to be a weakness or joke, but Franky has turned his body into a trap, waiting for the CP9 trainee to come close enough to grab.

Franky slips and nearly falls from the roof, shouting, "I'm gonna fall~~~!!" Nero laughs, "Hahaha... how pitiful! Need a hand?" Franky answers, "Well... actually..." and Nero steps closer as if the fight has already become pathetic. Franky refuses the offered hand with a sudden "No thanks!!" and springs the real move. Nero realizes too late and yells, "Idiot!!!" as Franky grabs him with all four centaur limbs. The ridiculous form was never meant to look graceful; it was built to seize Nero and lock him in place before he could vanish with Soru again.

Nero thrashes in Franky's grip and cries, "Ah... my arms and legs... they're locked down!!" Franky admits the tactic was rough: "I was too careless!" but then says, "I've got you!!! Now you'll experience my four-legged power!!" Nero snaps back, "Careless...!? Hahaha... say whatever you want..." Franky warns him, "If you have any last words, say 'em now. Don't waste my time..." Nero asks, "Do you really think that this'll be just a normal punch?" Franky answers that it should be obvious, because Nero dodged every punch earlier. Nero finally understands and mutters, "How scary this punch is..." while Franky's body crackles into position.

Franky ends the rooftop fight with a single brutal blow: "Ultimate Hammer!!!!" The punch drives Nero down with explosive force, smashing him through the train roof and into the car below. The impact shakes the carriage, sending smoke and debris through the second car as Nero crashes at CP9's feet. Franky's strange form has done exactly what he promised: it caught the fast trainee, removed his mobility, and turned the finishing punch into something Nero could not dodge. The battle on the roof is over, and the noise now reaches the agents guarding Robin.

Sanji arrives from the fourth car, and Franky appears through the wreckage after finishing Nero. Sanji asks, "Where... did you suddenly appear from?" then notices Wanze is already down and says, "Oh! Did you take care of the ramen guy already?" Sanji answers, "Yeah, just now." In the second car, Lucci, Kaku, Kalifa, and Blueno stand around Nero's battered body. Kalifa observes, "It's become so noisy all of a sudden..." and Kaku wonders, "Are all of the escorting Marines down...?" Lucci answers coldly, "But we didn't expect much of them to begin with." The ordinary guards have fallen away, leaving only CP9 between the rescuers and Robin.

Sanji and Franky look at the CP9 agents and understand who must have taken Robin. Sanji says, "So... these people are the ones who kidnapped Robin?" Franky warns him, "Careful. They use some really weird moves." Kaku identifies the fallen Nero: "Corgi said he's a new member of CP9. He knows how to use four of the forms." Lucci asks, "Who's he?" Nero, beaten and furious, gasps, "Guh... you're dead...!! I'm a combat genius!! I... I'm gonna kill you!!" Franky, still standing over him, calls down, "Hey, new guy." The gap between Nero's pride and CP9's standards is about to become painfully clear.

Nero finally realizes who he is facing and says, "Ah... you must be... Rob Lucci... I forgot to say hi...!!" Lucci does not indulge him. He says, "Forget it." Then he tells Nero, "You have three seconds to run for your life." Nero thinks Lucci is joking and protests, "Hey! Are you kidding me!?" Lucci counts down: "3... 2... 1." Nero stammers, "D... don't do it!!!" and asks, "Run for my life? From who?" Lucci disappears with "Soru!!!" The warning was not a threat for later; it was the only mercy Lucci intended to offer.

Lucci strikes Nero and sends him flying off the Puffing Tom. Nero screams, "Gwah!!!" as he is hurled into the sea. Lucci's judgment is merciless: "You half-assed worthless trash... And you call yourself a member of CP9. You have to master all Six Forms... before you can claim to be a Choushin, brat..." A note explains that Choushin means Superman. The sea swallows Nero with a "Sploosh," and Lucci does not look back. For CP9, failure is not merely shameful; it is disposable. Sanji and Franky see exactly how cold the agents of "justice" really are.

Lucci turns away from Nero's fate and orders Kalifa to soften the official report. "Kalifa..." he says. She answers, "Yes." Lucci instructs, "On the report, put... 'The new guy was too weak.'" Kalifa replies, "Understood." Sanji and Franky look on in disbelief. Franky mutters, "These are the agents of justice...?" and Sanji says, "They're way more evil than us..." The enemy is no longer just strong. CP9's behavior makes their justice feel like a mask for absolute authority, where even one of their own can be erased as a clerical note.

Lucci studies Sanji and Franky and says, "What are you... forget it, I don't need to ask. Judging by how you opened the door, I know what kind of people you are..." Sanji, wounded but standing, answers with formality: "Ah. Please excuse my manners." Lucci says, "If you're here for Nico Robin... give up now. Her problem is beyond your understanding." He then explains the government's view: "There are some people in this world who are better off dead... Since they were born only to bring misfortune upon the world..." He gives an example: "There exists a sleeping demon capable of destroying the world... If there were someone with the ability to wake that demon... Even if she were only eight years old..." Robin's childhood wanted poster is shown as the accusation takes shape.

Lucci states CP9's conclusion without hesitation: "We should still eliminate her... for the sake of the people in this world." Sanji asks, "And your point is...?" Lucci replies, "What I've told you is exactly what Nico Robin's original crime was. Now she's a criminal with a much deeper history, but before all of that..." Kaku and Kalifa listen in silence as Lucci says Robin has "already sinned by her very existence!!!" He adds, "Only her death can bring safety and happiness to others. She has no choice but to accept her fate." To CP9, Robin is not a person to be saved; she is a danger the world government claims the right to erase.

Lucci continues, "She should have died 20 years ago, and now... before it's too late... she must die... for the sake of the world." Sanji cuts him off with fury: "Bull shit!!! Shut the hell up!!!" He kicks through the speech before Lucci can turn Robin's life into an abstraction. Lucci calmly says, "But it'll probably take the government a few years... to harvest all of Nico Robin's knowledge and experiences. And then, after that, this woman will die... in whatever horrible manner..." Franky hears this and thinks, "Wait! Robin! Don't go in there!!" But Robin is already near the door, walking into the room where her enemies and rescuers are waiting.

Robin opens the door and steps into the second car. Sanji cries out, "Robin!!!" and immediately asks, "I'm so glad!! Are you okay!? Did they do anything to you!!?" He promises, "I'll take care of these guys right away, and then we'll run away together!!" Robin's expression remains quiet and distant. Franky, seeing the bounty and the truth of her identity, thinks, "Is that Nico Robin? Hm... sure looks like the girl in the bounty." Lucci watches too, while Sanji says the climb was hard: "Why are you doing this!? It was so much work to climb in there... and took so much effort to beat that officer!" The rescue has reached her, but Robin does not answer like someone who has accepted it.

Robin suddenly turns her power against Sanji and Franky. Sanji is thrown down and cries, "Usopp!!!" while Sogeking reacts from the side with a startled "Eh?" Sanji groans, "Robin... what are you doing!?" Wanze, battered nearby, says, "Ow...!!" Robin looks at them and says, "It seems that words are meaningless to you people..." Lucci laughs softly, "Haha ha..." Robin's calmness hurts more than the attack: she is forcing the rescuers away not because she has no feelings, but because she is still trying to make them abandon her before CP9 and the government destroy them too.

Franky makes a desperate call: "Franky!! Cut the third car loose!!!" Someone asks, "Why?!" and he answers, "To get away!!!" CP9 reacts at once: "Don't let Franky escape!!" Sogeking prepares his own move while Sanji asks, "Hey! What're you trying to do!?" Franky tells him, "You should get ready, too. It'll all happen in an instant!!" Sogeking fires "Smoke Star!!!" The car fills with smoke and chaos, giving the rescuers the one opening they need. Robin's refusal has not ended the rescue; it has forced Franky and Sogeking to switch from persuasion to extraction under cover.

Inside the smoke, CP9 coughs and snaps, "What a dumb trick!!" Kalifa and Kaku react as a massive shape bursts through the confusion. Luffy appears, carrying Robin on his back with Sogeking behind him, and declares, "Nico Robin... is coming with us!!" The words cut through the entire argument CP9 has been making: Robin is not a government problem, not a demon to harvest, and not a fate to accept. She is their friend. The detached car erupts with "FOOM!!!" as someone shouts, "Run--!!!" Franky and Sanji cheer, "Awesome!!!" while the rescuers escape with Robin in hand, at least for this instant.

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