Chapter 449: Clash at Enies Lobby: Breakthrough on the Rails

“Gum-Gum Rocket!”

As the space ahead suddenly cleared, Luffy let out a shout and charged straight forward.

Lucci and the others watched his fist fly past, puzzled if Luffy was out of his mind, but then a screech echoed from the front of the train and its speed began dropping fast.

Luffy’s real target wasn’t Lucci and his group at all, but the control station at the very front. Only by stopping the train would they avoid being surrounded and overwhelmed.

“Damn it!”

Of course, Lucci instantly realized what he was aiming for.

“Colonel Penn, we’re counting on you!”

“Relax, leave it to me!” A man stepped out of the train, wearing a helmet topped with a long red plume.

He had long, curly black hair, a gaunt face missing an upper tooth.

His skin was ashen blue. He wore a blue breastplate with the Navy’s insignia, gold lamellar armor over his chest, a justice-emblazoned cape draped across his shoulders, rope around his waist, teal pants, and black leather boots.

He looked fierce, but in truth, he was famously kind to subordinates and civilians, even getting promoted to Rear Admiral two years later—tragically dying in a civilian uprising.

“Slash!”

They didn’t call Colonel Penn the Ship-Slashing Swordsman for nothing. In an instant, he unleashed four rapid strikes, completely blocking every escape around Luffy’s group, ready to cut them all in half.

“One Sword Style—Lion Song!”

Hummmm!

“Leave him to me.”

Zoro’s eyes lit up with excitement. At last, he’d found a real swordsman to test himself against—there was no way he’d pass up a fight like this.

“Roronoa Zoro, right? I remember you. The famous bounty hunter from East Blue. Never thought you’d join the pirates and end up an enemy of justice.” He watched his attack blocked in an instant.

Penn squinted, quickly matching Zoro to his infamous name.

“Yeah? Since when has being a Marine always meant being just?”

Along the way, Zoro had seen too many useless Marines. Sure, he knew they’d helped keep these seas peaceful, but mid- and high-ranking officers were sliding toward corruption—a fact you couldn’t ignore.

“All talk. Try this!” Penn gripped his hilt with both hands, launching a flying slash right for Zoro.

But Zoro saw through it the instant Penn attacked. He only had to tilt his head and let the slash whistle past, smashing into the train car behind him.

“That’s the best you’ve got?” Zoro taunted, “If you can’t even land a hit, your swordplay’s nothing special.”

If it was about mocking others, Zoro could more than hold his own.

Woooo… zzzt zzzt…

Finally, the train ground to a halt, stretched across the tracks with about five hundred meters still to the station.

“Kalifa, take Robin!”

“Everyone else, stop Luffy’s group from advancing!”

Whether or not they got Robin through the main gate to Enies Lobby’s center would decide if they could redeem themselves—someone had to stay behind to block the Straw Hats.

To prevent Robin from changing her mind, they’d already slapped seastone shackles on her.

Kalifa understood the urgency and didn’t hesitate. She scooped Robin up and burst into the sky, leaping toward the island’s heart with Moonwalk.

“Robin!”

“You think I’ll just stand by and watch you take my crewmate right under my nose?”

“Gear Four—Bounce Man!”

A burst of steam clouded the air and vanished, revealing Luffy’s transformed form—his body flushed red and veiled in rolling vapor.

“Nani?”

“What’s that?!”

Lucci and the others had never seen Luffy like this before, but the power rolling off him was far greater than anything back at Water 7.

“Gum-Gum Python!”

Luffy’s long arm shot straight for Lucci.

“Shave!”

Though startled, Lucci activated his Leopard Fruit powers to dodge. In his hyper reflex state, Luffy seemed to move in slow motion—yet even so, Lucci was nearly hit.

But Luffy’s attack didn’t stop—it just kept pushing forward.

“An attack that can’t even hit is totally useless.” Lucci had barely finished his taunt when two heavy thuds sounded in the distance.

He glanced back—Luffy’s Python punch had zoomed right past him and slammed into Kalifa, who was still flying away with Robin.

Kalifa was a Devil Fruit user too, so the instant she hit the sea below, she turned limp and weak. Lucky for her and Robin, they managed to cling to the tracks underneath.

“Robin-chan!”

Splash!!

Sanji saw Robin safely freed and dove into the sea without hesitation, swimming toward her.

At the same time, Luffy and Lucci tore into each other in a completely one-sided fight, while Ye Fan took on Bruno and the rest of CP9.

“Hey guys, we’re here!”

Just then, Nami and the others arrived in the Thousand Sunny, steering the ship through the now-open gate in the tracks.

“Ah! I see Robin!” Chopper was sprawled across the prow with his telescope, spotting Robin clinging to the rails ahead.

“All right, let’s get Robin back! Super!”

Franky was all in, no thoughts of turning back anymore.

“Hey, don’t you dare underestimate the World Government!”

While Sanji searched for the source of that voice, Blueno suddenly dropped from the sky, landing squarely in front of Robin and Kalifa.

Behind him, the massive first gate slowly opened as thousands of Navy soldiers poured out.

The train was supposed to go through the outermost gate and enter the first enclosure, but Luffy had derailed that plan, leaving the train straddling the tracks outside.

“Fire!”

A hail of bullets rained down on Sanji’s position, but thanks to his mastery of Armament Haki, he was just fine for now.

“Boom!”

In the distance, a dozen enemies went flying in a single explosion, their screams echoing overhead.

“I’m a cannon expert, you know!” Usopp was manning the Thousand Sunny’s cannons, each shot clearing out another swath of enemies along the shore.

But that chaos only bought time for Kalifa and the others to retreat—Blueno had already moved Robin behind the soldiers.

“You bastard, put Robin down!”

“Some lousy cook dares to bark at me? You’re nothing—come try me!” Blueno charged Sanji confidently.

But Blueno’s bravado didn’t last; as soon as he reached Sanji, Sanji kicked him in a white-hot rage, sending him crashing hundreds of meters through the gate behind.

“Robin!”

Luffy gripped Lucci, battered and bruised, and seeing Robin disappear through the gate, hurled Lucci’s body in fury.

Then he leapt, his right fist swelling to hundreds of meters wide. “Gum-Gum Kong Gun!”