CP9's Backup Plan

Huoyu Island, town center.

A crude raised platform stood in the open, with seven Giants bound in shackles and forced to lie face-down upon it, unable to move.

It was nearly noon.

More and more townspeople gathered, pointing at the Giants awaiting execution above them. Many wore expressions of hatred and anger.

The Giant Warrior Pirates were no saints.

There wasn't a single island near Elbaf that hadn't been raided by the Giant Warrior Pirates!

A public execution of Giants was exactly the sort of thing the islanders loved to see.

In a hidden room, three CP9 members, now dressed in civilian clothes, were growing anxious.

Where had that woman Yamauba gone?!

They'd waited and waited, but she still hadn't shown up.

With the execution drawing closer, Peslo gritted his teeth and snapped, "Let's use the backup plan, damn it!"

Female CP9 said, "I knew we couldn't count on someone like Yamauba. If we use the backup plan, Warden Figo of Impel Down could be a problem. Marine Headquarters will probably find out."

"It doesn't matter. They'll find out sooner or later."

Peslo took a deep breath. "Besides, if we act quickly, the Warden might not react in time if he isn't nearby!"

"Y-you're planning to leave him on the island?" another CP9 member asked in surprise.

"Mm. We'll notify him afterward."

Peslo nodded. "Let's move!"

He vanished from the room and hurried back toward the warship, while the other two turned their attention to the execution platform in the distance.

Aboard the warship, Figo sat opposite Sister Galmero, who was locked in a cell. Looking at the unconscious nun, he wasn't sure what to do.

He wasn't troubled because he'd accidentally disrupted CP9's operation. No matter how you looked at it, the nun had attacked him first and started trouble with him.

He was in the right. What did he have to fear?!

Besides, working with a human trafficker wasn't exactly a good thing. So what if he'd disrupted their plans?

What troubled him was what to do about the execution of the Giants. Regardless of whether the World Government's partnership with human traffickers tainted justice, this operation at least suggested that the World Government had no intention of truly executing the seven Giants in public.

Perhaps they feared further provoking the Giants, who had already disbanded the Giant Warrior Pirates. Or perhaps they wanted to obtain the Giants' strength by recruiting Giant Marines.

But now that Figo had captured the nun who was supposed to stop the execution, wouldn't it go ahead uninterrupted?

That would make Figo partly responsible for what followed. That was what troubled him.

There was no way he'd release a human trafficker he'd caught. He glanced at the sky. The execution would begin in about half an hour.

Figo opened the Prison Archives. Sure enough, Giant Kevin's status had changed from "In Custody" to "Being Executed." Once the execution was over, his status would become "Deceased."

The corresponding page in the Prison Archives would then turn gray. Figo had learned that over eight years guarding Impel Down.

"Let's go take a look," Figo thought.

But just then, the page for Kevin's file suddenly changed color. It wasn't gray—it turned an unprecedented, glaring red!

Figo froze. He looked at the information again.

Status changed: Escaping!

Figo immediately understood. If CP9 couldn't find the nun, they had a backup plan?

Two minutes earlier, atop the execution platform.

Xiao, the officer in charge of the execution, watched the crowds gathering below the platform. Their shouts of "Kill them!" rose and fell, and he felt nervous.

Only he, as the commander, knew that this execution wasn't so simple. The three CP9 intelligence agents would certainly make a move.

But he didn't know what they would do.

How would they act?

Would the execution go ahead?

As he anxiously wondered, his vision suddenly blurred.

The Female CP9 appeared in front of him in an instant and punched at him, giving him a look at the same time. From the other side came several heavy thuds as another CP9 member easily sent his Marine subordinates flying.

So they were going with the blunt approach?!

Xiao was shocked, but he'd grown a lot over the past few years. He reacted instantly, putting up a half-hearted resistance before Female CP9 knocked him down.

In just five or six seconds, the two CP9 agents had successfully "taken out" every Marine on the platform.

The crowd, who had been cheering for the Giants' execution just moments before, erupted in alarm. Then the male CP9 member tossed down a knife, and they scattered in panic.

"A prison break?!"

"Why are they rescuing those Giants?!"

"Run! They're killing people!"

The town center descended into chaos!

The two CP9 members quickly disabled the shackles binding the seven Giants. "Hurry, let's go!"

The seven Giants, who had been crushed and resigned to their execution, were caught off guard by the sudden turn of events. Seeing the two unfamiliar faces, they asked in confusion, "Who are you?"

"There's no time to explain!"

"Just come with us!" The two pretended to find the key to the Giants' shackles in Xiao's clothing and unlocked them.

After all, they'd been rescued right on the brink of execution. The seven Giants instinctively trusted the two CP9 agents and followed them down from the platform.

Though they were weak, their strides were long. The seven followed the agents, pushing the townspeople aside as they hurried out of town.

Only then did they think to ask, "Th-this direction... Where are you taking us?"

"The Marines will react soon! We have to leave Huoyu Island first!" Female CP9 said. "We need to take that warship!"

"Take the warship? No!" The Giants stopped at once. One of them, a tall Giant with a bushy beard, said, "Warden Figo of Impel Down is aboard that warship. That man..."

"We know! It's fine. He isn't aboard the warship right now. Another one of our men has already gone to take the ship. Don't worry!"

The seven Giants looked at one another. In the end, they chose to trust their "saviors" and ran toward the warship!

That was CP9's backup plan.

No Carmel in the middle.

They'd earn the Giants' favor themselves!

They could figure out how to handle things afterward.

Peslo had indeed gone ahead to take the ship, but the moment he boarded from a secluded corner, before he could knock out a single Marine, his expression changed dramatically.

"Figo?! What are you doing on the ship?!"

"Ah, I had a little business to take care of, so I came back. What about you?" Figo asked Peslo with a smile, as if nothing were amiss.

Peslo was at a loss for words.

Conflicting emotions flashed across his face: frustration, anger, speechlessness. He even considered trying to knock Figo out, but in the end, he forced himself to stay rational and could only tell Figo the "truth." "The World Government doesn't actually intend to execute the Giants.

"We were supposed to work with a nun. She'd arrange to rescue the Giant Pirates and earn the Giants' favor, serving as a link between the World Government and the Giants so we could recruit Giant Marines.

"But for some reason, the nun never showed up, so we had to change our plans at the last minute. Luckily, the Giants have never seen us. The other two disguised themselves as passersby and took the Giants away, while I came to take the ship and 'rescue' them.

"Warden Figo, I hope you'll cooperate with the World Government's operation. Get off the ship right now and enjoy a long vacation on the island. I'll knock out the Marines aboard and finish our plan. Once everything's settled, a ship will come to take you back."

Figo put on a look of "astonishment"!

"You said a nun? Was she a pretty nun with curly blond hair?"

Peslo blinked. "Huh?"

Figo frowned and demanded, "So it really was her! What kind of partner did you choose? That woman's a bandit. She attacked me for no reason!"

Peslo: "...And then?"

Figo pointed toward the cells.

"She's locked up in there."

Peslo snapped: You son of a bitch!

Sigh, the contract was taking forever. I mailed it on Monday, and it still hadn't arrived by Saturday. I could cry.