Chapter Text
The mission was simple. Much simpler than what they were used to. Spandam wanted them to retrieve the blueprints for a weapon that was in the possession of Iceburg, the Mayor of Water-Seven. And the easiest way to get his hands on those blueprints was through Iceburg's daughter. Well, according to the file that Lucci had received, Iceburg had adopted a little girl of six years about ten years ago.
The Iceburg daughter's file listed the girl's name as Paulie. She was 16 years old and went to high school in Water-Seven. She had an uncle, a giant named Franky who was married to former archaeologist Nico Robin. Franky's wife was now teaching history at Water-Seven High School. Finally, the file showed that Paulie spent all her summers working on Pier 1 with the Galley-La company carpenters.
Lucci's team members then easily found covers to close in on Iceburg. Kaku went back to high school since he had the same age as Paulie and her friends. Kalifa was Iceburg's new secretary. Blueno became a bartender to listen to the gossip and to prepare the first phase of their plan. And Lucci was still waiting for his moment to enter the scene. He had a key role in this whole operation.
Indeed, Paulie was perhaps a very pretty young girl, smiling and sure of herself, she still remained relatively calm and kept her secrets close to her. After a week of getting to know her, Kaku had characterized her as the type who talked a lot to say nothing important. Not to mention that Paulie rather shared her secrets with her best friends, Nami and Vivi, than with her dad's secretary. Paulie also spent most of her time with the rest of the Straw Hat Gang which included Monkey D Luffy, Roronoa Zoro, Sanji, and Chopper.
In time maybe Kaku would manage to get Paulie's plans but none of the members of CP9 wanted to stay at Water-Seven forever. Especially since Paulie didn't seem to want to be more than friends with Kaku. The teenager was unlikely to meet Blueno or notice him. And the teenager seemed to have a dislike for Kalifa. So only Lucci remained to get really close to the teenager.
The leader had a plan in mind but all he had to do was implement it.
The opportunity he had been waiting for came a month later. Lucci had arrived at Water-Seven three weeks later so as not to arouse suspicion. His new identity said he was a carpenter looking for a job after resigning from another shipyard. He had already applied for a position at platform No. 1 and his application had been received. Lucci could still wait, make sure to approach Paulie on the dock. Make her come to him. Except he needed a more significant first meeting with the teenager and he also needed to make a good impression on the girl's father.
That was why he was sitting on a stool in Blueno's bar. Earlier in the week, Kaku planted the idea of illegally going to a bar in the Straw Hats' head. The group leader immediately agreed after Kaku mentioned food. The rest of the group had accepted, Zoro for the alcohol, Sanji to be with Nami who wanted to gamble, Usopp was planning to tell false stories to the customers of the bar, and Chopper just wanted to follow the group. Paulie had initially refused since she was helping the foremen of Galley-La during the weekend but she had ended up capitulating to Luffy's joy and stubbornness. The young man had threatened to kidnap Paulie to come with them.
Lucci was keeping tabs on the entire group that Blueno had let in just so the plan would go ahead as planned. The gang had all more or less separated at the start of the evening but ended up regrouping after an hour or two. Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper were playing a game; Zoro who had finished drinking was now distracted by Kaku –the young swordsman was keeping an eye on his friend-; and Nami, Vivi, Sanji, and Paulie were dancing together. Well, Sanji was mostly watching Nami and Vivi who were dancing together -it was the last weekend of Vivi in Water-Seven before returning to Alabasta. Paulie was dancing with a man much older than her but Lucci could feel the teenager's eyes trained on his back. It seemed that the plan was already in motion.
Two songs later, Paulie approached the bar to order a drink. She drank it while talking with Zoro and Kaku. When the glass was empty, Paulie walked away to the door of the bar.
"Oi, Paulie, you're leaving?" Luffy yelled around a meat skewer. The leader of the gang started to get up as if to stop Paulie from leaving, "but we just got here!"
Paulie chuckled, "I'm not leaving, silly. I'm just going to smoke," she gestured to the cigarette Sanji had just given her.
Luffy sat back down knowing his friend wasn't going to leave. Lucci smiled to himself knowing that everything was going as he planned. After thirty seconds, the man with whom Paulie was dancing also left the bar. None of their gang noticed the man and all continued their activity. Lucci waited more than forty seconds to finish his drink, he paid Blueno, got his jacket, and left the bar. The Devil was in the details after all. The cool night air stung his cheeks, summer had been replaced by autumn a month ago and the cold was coming fast.
As expected, the street was empty. Paulie wasn't smoking outside the bar and the stranger wasn't there either. Lucci then went to the alley closest to the bar knowing the two would be there. Nevertheless, the blood in Lucci's veins froze as he saw the scene in front of him.
Blueno had paid this stranger to flirt with Paulie, then the man had to take advantage of a moment alone with Paulie to scare her. The best would be for the man to try to rob Paulie or threaten to rape her. The deal was for him rough her up a little. Lucci would then have arrived and saved Paulie from the man.
Except the tall, broad-shouldered man had gone way too far. From where he was, Lucci had a bad vision of what the man was doing since his back was to him. In any case, the spy easily understood what the thirty-year-old man was doing: he had one leg between Paulie's legs to hold them open, one hand was on the girl's breast, while he held her face with his other hand so he could kiss her. The 16-year-old was too paralyzed to defend herself.
Lucci's eyebrows furrowed as a feeling of protection and possessiveness gripped him. Paulie was his. She was his target and this stranger could not harm her. The twenty-year-old then approached the stranger running. His hand grabbed the man's shoulder in a strong grip to make him stop.
"Leave us alone, kid, she and I are having fun," the older man said as he continued to knead one of Paulie's breasts.
From this distance, Lucci could see the tears flowing from the teenager's closed eyes.
Lucci replied by punching the man in the jaw.
Confused, the pervert let go of Paulie who fell to the ground. He then turned to Lucci, anger in his eyes, and tried to hit him but the member of CP9 was faster. The thirty-year-old fell to the ground, unconscious.
During the entire fight, Paulie remained on the ground as if she hadn't realized that the man was no longer on her; that she had just been saved.
"Are you fine?" he asked, kneeling down in front of her.
She didn't answer him. Lucci touched her shoulder asking her again if she was okay and this time Paulie jumped up and moved away from him. Paulie looked at him but her eyes were blurry and she still looked terrified.
"I won't touch you if you don't want to," Lucci promised as he took a closer look at his target. The girl had disheveled blond hair, her makeup had smudged on her face, her lower lip was bleeding, the collar of the long-sleeved t-shirt was torn revealing Paulie's chest, and the fly of her shorts was open.
"It would help me to know your name," he said, prompting her to speak.
"P-Paulie," the teenager stammered trying to come to her senses, "my name is Paulie."
"I am Rob Lucci. You feel better?"
Paulie tried to get up but her legs were shaking too much to support her weight and Lucci held her down before she could fall to the ground again.
"Thanks. "
Paulie pulled away from him once her legs were more stable. She shivered even though there was no wind and tried to warm herself by hugging her arms to her small chest. The gesture made the tear in the teen's tee shirt even more prominent. Faced with Paulie's embarrassment, Lucci took the jacket off his shoulders and handed it to her. Paulie stared at the black suit jacket for a few seconds before giving in and putting it on. She closed the first two buttons to hide the tear. Lucci had his phone in his pants pocket but had left his wallet with his name on it.
"I can walk you home if you want."
"No, you don't have to," Paulie said more confidently than before, but her voice was still shaking.
"I insist, my car is nearby."
"M-my dad doesn't know I'm here," Paulie finally confessed. “I'm supposed to have a slumber party with my two best friends. They're waiting for me inside with the rest of our friends."
Lucci didn't insist more but he followed her all the same to the entrance of the bar. The noisy place was oddly quiet when Paulie and Lucci get inside. All of her friends were worried not to see her return. Besides, Sanji, Zoro, and Luffy were now standing two meters from the front door as if they had planned to go out to check why their friend was taking so long to smoke a cigarette. The three teenagers stopped when they saw Paulie's frightened face and a stranger's jacket over her shoulders.
"Are you okay, Paulie?" asked one of the teenage girls, the redhead, Nami.
Paulie nodded but hurried over to her friends. The blond-haired teenager was quickly taken into a hug by the two girls in the group. However, all the boys continued to stare at him, and only Sanji moved to get between Lucci and the girls. The young agent kept his gaze fixed on that of the band leader who was staring at him from under his straw hat.
Finally, Luffy smiled, "I don't know what happened but thanks for helping Paulie!"Lucci hocha la tête pour accepter les remerciements.
Before leaving the bar, Lucci gave them a little advice: "You should take her home, the streets aren't safe nowadays."
He felt Kaku's gaze fixed on him but he ignored it. Both knew the plan.
The next day, Lucci had his day off so he didn't know what happened to the Straw Hats after he left. He had to maintain low contact with the others so as not to blow their covers. The young man then spent his day reading a book.
The rest of his plan continued the next day as he suspected. It was not for nothing that he had left his jacket with Paulie after all. The only unknown in his plan was who he was going to contact him first: Paulie or Iceburg?
In the end, it was Iceburg who took the lead. Lucci was working in Dock N°1 when Kalifa warn him that the mayor wanted to see him. The two agents did not speak all the way to the office since they were not supposed to know each other.
The Mayor of Water-Seven's office was a large room located at the end of a long hallway. Iceburg was signing papers when they arrived. He only recognized their presence when Kalifa coughed to get his attention.
"Oh, Kalifa you brought him to me, good," Iceburg said, letting go of his pen and taking off his glasses. "I would like to speak with Lucci in private, please."
Kalifa understood the implication and left quickly, leaving the mayor and the CP9 agent alone in the office. At this moment, Lucci could take advantage of it. They were alone and Iceburg would not expect an attack, but that wasn't in the plan. Also, the members of Galley-La would interject before Iceburg tells Lucci what he wants to know.
"Do you like the city?" the mayor politely asked.
"Very," replied Lucci laconically.
His gaze fell on a chair in the corner of the room where his jacket lay nonchalantly. The blue-haired man followed his gaze.
"This belongs to you, doesn't it?
"Yes sir. I lent it to a girl."
"This girl is my daughter," the mayor told him since Lucci was not supposed to know. "I made you come here to thank you for saving her."
"She told you what happened?" Lucci suspected that Iceburg wouldn't be so relaxed if he knew his daughter had illegally walked into a bar with her friends.
"Paulie told me the unofficial version: she was at her sleepover when they decided to go watch a movie. Paulie had even texted me to warn that she was going out to the cinema and that they had invited the boys," the mayor laughs derisively, clearly amused by his daughter's inventiveness. "She left to smoke with Sanji but he turned away from her two minutes and that's when a stranger... But you saved Paulie and brought her back to her friends. Then they went back to Nami's and the girls took care of her."
This lie might be plausible: the girls were bored, so they went to the cinema and invited the boys as safety. Iceburg seemed like a lax tutor by letting his daughter go out at eight p.m with friends or letting her smoke.
"You don't believe this story?" Lucci asked, not knowing what Iceburg expected of him. Did he really know the truth or was he only suspicious?
"I'm the mayor, I know what's going on in my town especially if Paulie is involved and then, Luffy is not the most discreet boy. Nico Robin had warned me of their mischieve plan."
Lucci frowned. That Iceburg had let Paulie out regardless was good for him and his plan but the agent did not understand why the mayor had let her. Lucci must have shown too much of his emotions since Iceburg laughed before saying:
"I could have stopped her to go, but Paulie has always been a good daughter respectful of the rules. Punishing her from coming to work here is much more effective. Not to mention that she is a teenager, if she really wanted to go, she would have gone on the sly. Besides, this accident should never have happened...," Lucci tensed softly but Iceburg didn't notice, "I guess that's the excuse I give myself to clear my conscience. If you haven't been there..."
If he hadn't been there, Kaku would never have influenced the Straw Hats to go to a bar, the attacker would not have been paid to scare Paulie, and Lucci would never have saved the teenarger since she wouldn't have needed it. No, it would have been just a boring sleepover.
"That’s why I wanted to personally thank you by offering you a job since you're new in town but you are already working for me."
Iceburg fetched Lucci's jacket and handed it to him.
"If you need anything, let me know."
The secret agent nodded before leaving the office. Kalifa accompanied him to Dock No. 1 but as earlier, neither of them spoke. Lucci put his suit jacket on a chair before resuming his work.
All day, Lucci concentrated on his work without thinking about Spandam's plan or expectations. It was just him and the wood, nothing else. In another life, Lucci was pretty sure he would have liked to be a carpenter but he quickly killed the fleeting thought. Lucci was a secret agent and nothing else.
The sun was almost set when a voice called out to him. The voice could only belong to a really young woman. Lucci stopped carving in the wood before turning back to Paulie. The teenager was much more dressed than the last time he had seen her. She was wearing baggy blue jeans, combat boots, a plain yellow t-shirt, and a black jacket with flowers and flames on it. Strangely, this style suited her.
"Lulu and Tileston just told me you had a chat with my dad. He didn't bawl at you I hope," the teenager's voice was meant to be nonchalant but Lucci knew Paulie wanted to ask him something.
He pointed to his jacket which was still on the chair and the teen looked relieved.
"Here, I brought something to eat to thank you."
Paulie handed him a package from a pastry shop from the edge of the DocksSince his work was almost done, Lucci took a lunch break and started eating the chicken sandwich. He raised an eyebrow when he saw Paulie hesitate to ask him a question.
"Iceburg didn't mention a bar when he spoke to you, did he?"
"No."
If Iceburg didn't want to tell Paulie that he knew the truth, it was his problem, not Lucci's.
"Good, good. I was afraid he wouldn't believe that lie since I've never really lied to him." If the young woman was disappointed by Lucci's lack of response, she did not show it. " Can I help you?"
"Don't you have homework to do?"
"What are you implying?" she asked while placing her hands on her hips. "I spend my summers here. I know this place better than you."
Lucci got up to throw away the paper and he stood in front of Paulie who have the merit not to flinch. He was taller and bigger than her, his body could easily hide hers.
"Given the circumstances, I'd be surprised you spent your week-end doing your homework. I don't want to find myself in the mayor's bad graces for such a trivial thing."
"Then you'll be happy to know that I finished school two hours ago and I had plenty of time to do them. It was just math, anyway. Do you want my help or not?"
"Grab that board and bring it to me," Lucci finally conceded.
"You know, it takes more to piss off Iceburg…"
And Paulie kept talking as she helped Lucci in his work.
That evening, Lucci learned a lot about Paulie but very little about his purpose. At least now that he knew the teenager a little better, it made it easier for the spy to find a way to get her to talk about the secret plan. To be gallant, Lucci brought Paulie back to her house on his motorbike. Lucci was not used to driving a motorcycle but on this machine, there would be more physical contact than in a car.
The first phase of the plan (the "first meet") has definitely been a success.