"Damn it! Bring everyone else back, along with their pirate ships. I want to see how that guy plans to leave this island without a ship!"
Upon hearing the words from the CP9 agent beside him, Spandam's face turned pale with fear. He quickly decided it was best to stick close to Garp or Momousagi in the future.
To think that so-called elite intelligence agents of the World Government—two of them together—could barely withstand a casual blow from that guy.
Before this, he had heard that Momousagi had been defeated by Wood, and he had dismissed the Navy's famous Rear Admiral as overrated.
But now, it was clear that Momousagi wasn't weak; the opponent was simply monstrously powerful.
Two superhumans who had mastered the "Six Powers" couldn't even block a casual strike from the enemy. In other words, Momousagi, who had once fought Wood to a standstill before narrowly losing, clearly had combat power far beyond that of CP9.
"Hahaha! Spandam, you little brat, did you get your face smashed in?"
"You were perfectly fine when you went in. How come now you're talking like you've lost half your teeth?"
Others might be wary of Spandam's status, but Garp, upon seeing Spandam's miserable state, didn't hesitate to mock him with loud laughter.
It's a joke, Garp thought. With his current status and achievements in the Navy, as long as he didn't openly oppose the World Government or kill a Celestial Dragon, no one could do anything to him.
There was a reason why Fleet Admiral Sengoku couldn't handle this old rogue. As for Spandam, a mere second-generation officer, even with the World Government backing him, Garp didn't have to give him any face.
And indeed, while Spandam would usually get angry at others' mockery and argue back, when faced with Garp, the hero of the Navy, he could only force a smile.
"Garp-san, you didn't see anyone rushing out when you were outside, did you?"
It wasn't surprising that CP9 couldn't handle Wood, but what puzzled Spandam was why even Garp, the Navy hero, hadn't been able to stop that damned guy.
"I saw him, but I didn't bother to stop him," Garp said with a casual expression, though his tone almost made Spandam jump with rage.
"Why? Was it because that person was once your Navy colleague?"
"Vice Admiral Garp, I hope you haven't forgotten why you're here. If you let your emotions cause this mission to fail, I don't think the World Government will be pleased."
Spandam couldn't do anything to Garp, so he pulled out the World Government card to warn him not to act on impulse.
"Stop trying to scare me with the World Government. Even if your father were here, I'd still knock his lights out if I felt like it."
"You're the one who insisted that I stay outside to avoid stealing your spotlight when you went in to capture people. Now that he's escaped from right under your nose, you want to blame me?"
"Besides, I'm old now, and it's late. It's perfectly normal for my old eyes to be a bit blurry. How was I supposed to see that the person who just left was the traitor we were after?"
Wood had just used "Moonwalk" to escape, and if anyone inside could use the Six Powers, it was obvious who it was.
However, Garp stubbornly claimed that his eyesight had failed him, leaving Spandam with no way to deal with him.
Moreover, thinking about the power Wood had just displayed, Spandam realized they would need Garp to stabilize the situation later, so he had no choice but to compromise.
After all, they had already captured Tom's Workshop members and the unfortunate bunch with him. As for capturing the Navy traitor Wood, that was a task given to the Navy by the World Government, and it wasn't Spandam's concern.
In the end, Tom's Workshop members, along with Franky and the others, were taken back to Enies Lobby by Spandam.
In the prison at Enies Lobby, Tom saw the battered and tortured Franky.
From Franky, Tom learned the truth about the so-called attack on the judicial ship.
However, the unfortunate reality was that the ship used to attack Enies Lobby was indeed Franky's creation, the "Battle Franky." Even though it was a setup, once inside Enies Lobby, they could be charged with any crime Spandam decided.
Tom could face life or death with indifference, but he didn't want to drag down his two disciples or Kokoro. So, in the end, he decided to take all the blame himself.
"It's no use trying to take all the blame. As long as I claim that you, Tom, were the mastermind and that your workshop members were accomplices, none of you will escape."
"Here's your last chance: hand over the designs for 'Pluton,' and I might just be merciful enough to spare your lives."
Would Spandam really spare Tom's Workshop if Tom handed over the designs for 'Pluton'?
Of course not! That's a joke. The World Government was keeping the existence of 'Pluton' so secret that even the Navy wasn't fully informed. There's no way they'd let anyone who knew about it live.
If Spandam had found the 'Pluton' designs when they entered Enies Lobby, he would have had them all executed on the spot.
But Tom wasn't an idiot. He knew their only reason for being alive was that the designs hadn't been found yet.
That was their only bargaining chip. If they handed over the designs, they would never leave Enies Lobby alive.
"I'll tell you where the 'Pluton' designs are, but you have to let the others go first. If you kill us all, you'll never find them. We all know how the World Government operates. If I hand over the designs here, none of us will leave this place alive."
"I'll stay here at Enies Lobby, but you have to let my disciples and the others go. After that, you can choose: I'll tell you where the designs are, or you can have my disciples bring them back to save me."
Now that they were trapped at Enies Lobby, Tom had no choice but to use his only leverage to negotiate with Spandam.
At first, Spandam was unwilling to release Franky and Iceberg, but Tom's determination to take them all down with him forced Spandam to relent.
Killing Tom's Workshop members meant nothing to Spandam. His goal was the 'Pluton' designs. That's the only thing that would please the higher-ups at the World Government and secure his promotion.
As for Tom and his disciples, they were just a fish-man and a bunch of lowly commoners. If it weren't for the designs, Spandam wouldn't have spared them a second glance.
"If you don't come back after leaving Enies Lobby, I'll kill this old man and put a bounty on your heads!"
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P/S: If you are interested, you can read up to chapter 280+ at pat_reon.com/Betek.