On a street in downtown Saint Poplar.
Kaku and Jabra led the way, like two bodyguards clearing a path.
Flashlight and Kalifa walked in the middle.
Blueno and Kumadori, both tall and burly, brought up the rear. They looked like attendants, too.
Passersby occasionally glanced at this strange group.
Of the six, the most eye-catching was naturally the towering Kumadori, with his wild, long white hair and black-lined face paint over a white base.
Flashlight came second. A biker who never showed his face was only the ordinary sort of strange.
These CP9 members claimed to be earning money through street performances, but they had only been at it in Saint Poplar for a few days. They weren't very well known yet.
All six wore mostly black, and their formation only added to the impression: the boss and his girl in the middle, surrounded by four bodyguards.
Most passersby assumed they were some sort of mafia group and kept a respectful distance.
Amid this atmosphere, Kaku led them to a fairly modest-looking inn.
"...Boss, this is the place."
Kaku turned back to speak to Flashlight.
Since Flashlight had come with his identity concealed, calling him "sir" in public wasn't particularly appropriate.
He simply chose a more versatile form of address.
"I didn't think you really couldn't afford a hospital."
Flashlight looked at the inn's modest entrance.
Back on Enies Lobby, after Kaku, Jabra, and Fukurou were "taken down" by Bondrewd, they had obediently stayed down and played dead. Their injuries were neither light nor severe and barely affected their ability to move.
Kumadori had been a little more stubborn, only settling down after being knocked flat three times. But he knew Life Return and had recovered fairly well.
Lucci had been pure stubbornness. He insisted on getting back up again