The eastern evacuation route had almost cleared when two more CP9 agents appeared.
They emerged from a narrow service lane between the auction district and the canal, moving against the flow of Marines escorting civilians toward the safer groves.
One was round enough to resemble a ball, with a zipper stretched across his mouth.
The other wore kabuki makeup beneath a mane of wild hair and carried a long metal staff.
Fukurou and Kumadori.
They had been assigned to the rear of Saint Charlos's escort and trapped on the opposite side of the avenue when Camie escaped from the auction transport.
By the time they forced their way through the evacuation lines, Charlos had lost his slave, Jabra had been disarmed by one look from Garp, and Spandam was being dragged toward Grove 1 by the back of his coat.
The sight stopped both agents in their tracks.
"Chief?" Fukurou blurted. "Why are the Marines arresting you? Chapapa!"
"I AM NOT BEING ARRESTED!" Spandam screamed from Yamakaji's grip. "This is a temporary misunderstanding caused by insubordinate idiots!"
Yamakaji tightened his hold.
"You confessed on an open command line that Oimo and Kashii were kept at Enies Lobby through a deliberate lie."
"That information was classified!"
"That does not make it less true."
Kumadori struck the end of his staff against the road.
"Yoyoi! Release our chief at once! CP9 does not submit to ordinary Marine custody!"
Garp, still carrying Saint Charlos beneath one arm, glanced back over his shoulder.
"Ordinary?"
Kumadori's painted face stiffened.
The Marine Hero had not raised his voice or released any Haki.
He merely looked at the agent, and for one awkward second the entire declaration seemed to collapse under its own weight.
Fukurou recovered first.
"Chief Spandam is responsible for judicial intelligence. If you detain him, our unit will have to report Marine interference with Enies Lobby operations. Chapapa."
"Good," Yamakaji said. "Report that he is being taken to Grove 1 under Fleet Admiral Sengoku's investigation order. Include the part where he admitted deceiving two giants into fifty years of service."
Spandam twisted in his grip.
"Stop saying that where people can hear!"
A relay Den Den Mushi hanging from Yamakaji's belt opened its mouth.
Dorry's enormous voice rolled through the receiver.
"WE CAN HEAR EVERY WORD."
Spandam went rigid.
Brogy crowded into the snail's face beside his fellow captain.
"BRING HIM BACK ALIVE."
Fukurou looked from the Den Den Mushi to Spandam.
"Chief... those voices sound rather large. Chapapa."
"They are not here!" Spandam snapped. "They are all the way at Grove 1!"
"That is not far enough," Jabra muttered.
The wolfish agent walked several paces behind the group under the watch of four Marines.
Blood still marked the corner of his mouth from Zaraki's earlier strike with Nozarashi's sheath, and the lamp post he had hit remained bent in the avenue behind them.
His pride looked considerably more injured than his body.
Kumadori lowered his staff.
"We cannot permit the chief to be taken. Yoyoi!"
He and Fukurou moved together.
Their bodies blurred with Soru, one cutting toward Yamakaji's left side while the other circled behind him.
They were not attempting to kill a Vice Admiral in the middle of an evacuation.
Their plan was simpler: seize Spandam and retreat through the mangrove routes before the Marines could reorganize.
Neither reached him.
Zaraki stepped into the narrow space between their paths.
He did not vanish, call the movement Soru, or unleash enough force to throw civilians from their feet.
He simply drove one step into the ground and accelerated across the short distance with the physical speed of a man whose body had been built for battle.
His left hand caught Fukurou by the front of the suit.
His right closed around Kumadori's staff.
Both agents stopped so abruptly that their clothes continued snapping forward after their bodies had become still.
Fukurou's eyes widened above the zipper.
"Chapapa?"
Kumadori pulled at the staff.
It did not move.
Zaraki's golden eyes passed from one to the other.
"The city is being evacuated because an Emperor is coming, and you two decided this was the perfect time to kidnap your own chief from Marine custody."
"He is our superior!" Kumadori declared.
"That explains why the unit is a mess."
Spandam pointed frantically from Yamakaji's grip.
"Don't stand there! Attack him together! Use your strongest techniques!"
Jabra's jaw tightened.
For one foolish heartbeat, humiliation overcame judgment.
He shifted into a fighting stance and began drawing upon his wolf Zoan form, muscles swelling beneath his black suit.
Zaraki looked toward him.
"Still interested?"
Jabra froze.
The memory of Garp's casual fist against Spandam, Zaraki folding Charlos's pistol in one hand, and the western horns of the Beasts Pirates combined into a rare moment of excellent judgment.
He lowered his arms.
"I was stretching."
Fukurou made a muffled sound that might have been laughter.
Spandam's face turned purple.
"Coward!"
Jabra stared at him.
"You are being carried by your coat."
Zaraki released Fukurou and took Kumadori's staff from him with one twist of the wrist.
He inspected the weapon, found nothing interesting, and handed it back butt-first.
"You have two choices. Walk with the Marines and explain your part in Spandam's operation, or stay here until Kaido arrives and explain why you blocked an evacuation."
Fukurou pulled the zipper across his mouth shut.
Kumadori's shoulders lowered.
"Yoyoi... cooperation is the wiser road."
Yamakaji nodded toward the Marines.
"Add them to the escort. They are witnesses, not prisoners, unless they interfere again."
Spandam stared at his agents in disbelief.
"You useless bastards!"
Garp resumed walking.
"Complain faster. We have less than half an hour before the western channels become a battlefield."
Saint Charlos kicked beneath Garp's arm.
"Put me down! I am not traveling with commoners and fish!"
The freed man who had carried him was already far ahead with the civilians, limping toward the eastern berth beneath Marine protection.
Charlos could no longer reach him, but he continued screaming orders at every guard within sight.
Zaraki fell into step beside Garp.
"You could knock him unconscious."
"I'm considering it."
"You've been considering it for several groves."
"I'm trying to set a good example."
"That sounds painful."
"It is."
A World Noble escort vessel waited at the eastern evacuation berth, its white hull plated with gold and its gangway kept clear by a line of government guards.
Another bubble-helmeted procession stood near it.
Saint Rosward had arrived from Grove 66 aboard a protected carriage.
Saint Shalria stood beside him with a silk cloth pressed over her nose, furious that emergency orders had forced her into the same open air as ordinary people.
Rosward saw his son hanging beneath Garp's arm.
His jeweled cane struck the pier.
"What have you done to Saint Charlos?"
---------
Read 30 chapters ahead and support me on patreon.
patreon (.)com/Newbietranslator