Chapter 194 — The Seven Waters Demon-Slaying Order

"A cheetah pounces only once when it's hungry—and you'd be dead before you knew it."

"A cheetah pounces twice when it's teaching its cubs—and you'll live through the longest day of your life."

Rob Lucci fixed Luffy with a cold, venomous stare.

The members of CP9 had already seized complete control of the scene.

A mere live-combat lesson was nothing—even if they fought here for three days and three nights, he was confident he could erase every trace of it afterward.

His gaze dropped to Luffy's knee, and he slowly curled his index finger.

Crimson flames and crackling lightning coiled endlessly around his fingertip.

"Finger Pistol: Thunder Flame Bullet!"

A gale surged; the air warped under this variant of one of the Navy's Six Styles, and the surrounding temperature climbed sharply with it.

Yet in that same instant, the pink-haired girl beside Rob Lucci kicked off the ground dozens of times in rapid succession, and her figure vanished.

Whish!

In the blink of an eye, the delicate-featured pink-haired girl had used the Six Styles' "Shave."

Striking first though she moved last, she arrived in front of Luffy.

"Iron Body!"

A metallic sheen rippled across the pink-haired girl's skin.

Boom!

The sound of steel striking steel rang out.

The girl let out a stifled grunt.

"Rookie... what is the meaning of this?"

Rob Lucci's expression gradually darkened.

"Close one, close one!"

Luffy stood frozen for a moment, a thoroughly dopey look on his face.

Only then did it register, and he clapped the girl on the shoulder: "Thanks! That pigeon guy is really strong!"

"Luffy, long time no see."

The pink-haired girl paid Rob Lucci's fury no mind.

She turned around, fixed her gaze on Luffy, and said with a beaming smile: "It's me, Koby."

"Koby?!"

Luffy looked as though he'd been struck by lightning, his jaw nearly dragging on the ground.

The Koby he remembered was that clumsy, stubby little kid with the round face and tiny glasses.

The girl before him now was well-proportioned, fair-featured, and powerful...

No matter how he tried, he simply couldn't reconcile the two images.

"Back then, Vice Admiral Wang Xu introduced me to Rear Admiral Nami, and that's how I came to eat the Mythical Zoan Devil Fruit—the Lighthouse Jellyfish Fruit. I gained the Power of Knowing Afar, lost my sex, and ended up looking like this."

Koby gave a brief account of her fortunes, keeping it short.

She turned around, her gaze sharpening on Rob Lucci: "Strictly speaking, I'm not one of CP9. If you're going to raise a hand against my comrade, I can't just stand by and watch."

"Koby! So cool!"

Luffy's eyes sparkled with stars as he gave her a thumbs-up.

"Tch! Pathetic sentiment."

Rob Lucci looked at Koby with disappointment.

He had thought he'd found himself a truly promising seedling.

Who would have guessed that her roots had long since rotted through.

"Straw Hat boy, Monkey D. Luffy, pirate."

Rob Lucci's face gradually shifted into that of a leopard.

Zoan type—Leopard Fruit!

CP9 was a secret intelligence agency under the direct command of the World Government, its full organizational name Cipher Pol No. 9.

As the strongest among them, Rob Lucci possessed a Doriki of 4,000 in his human form alone, granting him combat power on par with a flag officer.

And this form was his true, all-out posture!

The greater the expectation, the greater the disappointment.

Originally, Lucci had intended to groom Koby as his successor—never imagining that she would cast aside the justice in her heart for the sake of an old friend who had turned pirate.

Even a dark justice had its reason to exist!

A comrade who could not understand that principle—Lucci would not permit her to keep living!

Seeing the fury in Rob Lucci's face, Kaku, Jabra, Blueno, the lion-man Kumadori, the voiceless owl Fukurou, Kalifa, and the others at his side all felt a chill run down their spines.

Just as battle was about to erupt, six unexpected intruders broke the deadlock.

At their head was an intellectual-looking girl in scholarly robes.

From her appearance she seemed only fourteen or fifteen, yet the four girls beside her addressed her respectfully as "Teacher."

"Speaking of which, has anyone else noticed? Teacher Robin is getting younger and younger..."

"Eh? I think you're right! I wonder—once more time passes and the Flower-Flower Fruit fully awakens, reaching that legendary realm, could she hold her own against the Director himself?"

"Silly child, don't even think about it. There's no chance."

"The Director is an entity beyond all classification. Background character—do you even know what that concept means?"

"Tch! You're the child here!"

Hearing the chatter among Perona, Natasha, Vivi, and the others, Robin couldn't help but smile wryly.

The Flower-Flower Fruit really wasn't as formidable as everyone made it out to be.

Everything was thanks to the Director's help—she had crossed through time and space, and those feats were merely the product of favorable circumstance.

At the women's discussion, the eyes of CP9 instantly converged on Robin.

"A Flower-Flower Fruit user with the Power of Knowing Afar? The legendary strongest fruit?"

Rob Lucci, Kaku, Jabra, Blueno, and the rest grasped the situation in an instant.

The reason Lucci was called the strongest of CP9 in eight hundred years was precisely because...

More than eight hundred years ago, there had been a stronger one.

That figure who drifted among the great powers, whose sex and age none could tell, who had erased her very existence—the Flower-Flower Fruit user with the Power of Knowing Afar!

Within Enies Lobby there had always been a standing bounty mission regarding her.

Any intelligence agent, upon discovering a Flower-Flower Fruit user with the Power of Knowing Afar, could abandon whatever mission they were on and make reporting to headquarters their first and foremost duty!

Kalifa immediately relayed the signal back to Enies Lobby through covert means.

CP9's direct commanding officer, Spandam, responded at once.

"Stall them—and launch the Demon-Slaying Order on Water Seven!"

Upon receiving this news, the members of CP9 and the others found themselves unable to comprehend their commander's thought process.

Spandam was sinister, vicious, greedy, hypocritical, warped, and perverse—his strength was pitiful, lower even than a normal person's, with a Doriki of only 9—but he was, at the very least, a man of normal intellectual development.

He could not possibly fail to understand the value of the Flower-Flower Fruit...

"Idiots! Use those filthy, worthless lives of yours to hold these people back for me!"

"According to my intelligence, Nico Robin was trained by the Revolutionary Army years ago! She is an enemy of the World Government!"

"Damn Ohara! Curse that island of scholars! The higher-ups actually rejected my father's proposal for a Demon-Slaying Order on Ohara—a pack of fools who know nothing!"

Spandam's mad-dog howling erupted from the transponder snail's mouth.

The previously laughing and chatting crowd from the Protagonist Academy also took notice of the two opposing forces now locked in confrontation.

"Gourmet Bro!"

Luffy recognized the man called the Director.

Drooling, he sidled up to Wang Xu and counted on his fingers: "Naruto, Zoro, Sanji, Usopp, Tashigi, Koby. I've got six crewmates on my ship now..."

So it was about time to hold another banquet, wasn't it?

Surely that had to be it, right?

Hearing this, Koby stared at Luffy with a look of utter bewilderment.

She had absolutely no memory of ever agreeing to join the Straw Hat Pirates.

Koby bowed respectfully to Wang Xu: "Vice Admiral Wang Xu! Good day to you!"

"You two have both grown taller."

Wang Xu saw right through Luffy's simple intentions and smiled faintly. "Later I'll treat you all to a feast."

When one converses with a soul as pure as Luffy's, one's own spirit gradually becomes clear and unburdened.