At the dock on Lovely Street, Luffy and the others looked grim. Conis was crying her heart out.
"That rule is ridiculous, isn't it? All of this is ridiculous."
"You big idiot!"
Luffy scolded her angrily. "You had no choice, did you? Then why did you tell us?"
It wasn't just Luffy. Sanji and Usopp wore the same expression. None of them blamed Conis in the slightest.
Rubick couldn't help saying, "See? That's the kind of people Luffy and his friends are."
Robin was genuinely surprised. She had wandered the seas since she was eight, and everyone who knew her had wanted to hand her over to the Marines for the bounty.
This was the first time she had met people like them. Even when someone hurt them, they would forgive that person if they knew there had been no choice.
Mary felt a little emotional too. When had she ever seen people like that in CP? Even the few who had trained alongside her since childhood shared little friendship.
Luffy was still scolding Conis. "You told us, but doesn't that put you in danger too?"
Rubick looked up. His Observation Haki had already sensed danger approaching. Without a second thought, he used Soru to rush to Conis's side.
"It's too late! Judgment is coming!"
As the onlookers stared in horror, a bolt of lightning as thick as a water barrel fell from the sky. It was aimed straight at Conis, who had revealed the secret, and Luffy beside her.
Luffy scooped Conis up to run, only to find Rubick standing in front of them.
"Black Vortex!"
Rubick raised his palm toward the sky. Black energy swirled like a vortex, swallowing all the lightning bearing down on him.
Luffy seized the chance to carry Conis out of the lightning's reach.