"Get up get up!" Pearl heard and reluctantly opened her eyes to come across a worried Chopper. From outside she could hear bells ringing informing everyone that something was off.
"What's going on?" She said as she slid out of the covers and looked around to once again not be able to find her blades.
"Kin'emon and Kanjuro entered the island!" He said rushing her out of her room.
"And why are we panicking?" She asked still half asleep, unable to understand what was going on, as Chopper forced her to walk down the stairs
"The minks!" Chopper whispered and Pearl gave him a questioning look. Chopper rolled his eyes and transformed into his walk point. "Get on and I'll explain on our way" he said and Pearl did as she was told. "That Kaido's first man, Jack, tortured them because he thought they were hiding a samurai, or a ninja or whatever. They've been traumatised by these words! We can't let the two samurai roam in here and 'reopen' those poor creatures mental wounds. They our responsibility since we brought them here!"
"And why was I woken up?" She asked with an honest expression of confusion making Chopper turn around and look at her astonished.
"You're part of the crew!" He replied and stopped. They had arrived to where the rest of the Strawhats were. To their relief Kin'emon and Kanjuro was with them and had reunited with Momonosuke.
"Why do we have to hide?" Kanjuro whined.
"Hush! They're here!" Nami hissed as Nekomamushi and Inuarashi appeared both of them having mobilised their armies to deal with the intruders as the bell warned.
However, this led to the two rulers coming face to face, and they immediately began to squabble, almost leading into a fight to death, but as the two rulers began sparring, Kin'emon emerged to break up the fight.
"No! Wait!" the Straw Hats' pleaded both of them but the samurai introduced themselves to the minks and revealed that they were searching for Raizo, the ninja Jack was looking for as well.
At first no one spoke and the Strawhats feared the reaction of the two rules. But to their shock the minks kneeled down and said that Raizo was safe,
"We were and still are friends with the Kozuki Family of the Wano Country" Nekomamushi explained.
"We would have let Jack kill us before turning Raizo over!" Inuarashi added.
"Why do you always interrupt me?!" Nekomamushi shouted at him and they began fighting again making the little boy that kept hiding behind the bushes jump out and cry for them to stop.
"Stop it! My father would be really saddened to see this!" He shouted making the both of them stop and the Strawhats to look at him in shock.
"What do you mean your father?" They said and looked at Kin'emon confused.
"I need to confess something. You now deserve to know the truth, after everything you've done for us." Kin'emon began. "I'm not lord Momonosuke's father. We merely acted as such in order to avoid drawing attention to the boy. Indeed, Momonosuke is the son of the daimyo of Kuri in Wano Country, Kozuki Oden!"
Everyone was left speechless apart from Pearl and Law. Simply because Pearl had no idea what they were talking about since no one had been thoughtful enough to explain it to her and Law was either way rarely amused. So once again Pearl found herself beside him staring at him with a confused expression to which Law replied by shrugging his shoulders and pointing at her crewmates that had began walking to god knows where.
Both of them followed along while Nekomamushi and Inuarashi led them to the whale shaped tree in the middle of the forest, revealing a hidden door in the back of the tree that lead inside a cave.
Pearl tapped Ussop's shoulders as they were walking down the steps.
"Why are we here? I didn't get that part" she confessed.
"They locked Raizo here because he wanted to turn himself in, so that the Minks wouldn't have to be tortured." Ussop explained and Pearl nodded.
The party found Raizo chained onto a red Poneglyph and Kin'emon with Kanjuro rushed to their comrade. The ninja seemed angry and relieved at the same moment seeing that even though the two rulers had suffered they were still alive and the samurai took him out so that he could finally breathe some clean air. Ussop, Franky and Chopper followed them while the rest of them sat around the cave as Robin translated the Poneglyph.
"Man I had no idea that you were an Archeologist" Pearl muttered feeling ashamed. "I really don't belong here"
Nami heard her and walked closer. "It's just the beginning, don't say that! I'm really happy you're here, one more girl in the crew means all these perverts can earn more smacks on the head when they try to creep up on us when we're showering" she smiled reassuringly but Pearl couldn't return it.
"Has Luffy ever been mad at any of you?" She asked the navigator and Nami paused for a minute as she thought the question through.
"Well... not exactly. Maybe he was mad at me when I left the crew, but I don't think that's the case. He's been mad at every enemy of his, does that count?" She asked but realised that what she had said made it worse for Pearl.
"No I don't think it counts" pearl replied bitterly. "I don't know how I manage not to go up to him and smack his donkey head!" She added and made an attempt smile.
"Nekomamushi" Robin said suddenly. "Call in the rest of them in please , this Poneglyph is a bit weird. It's message resembles... a map." She said and Nekomamushi did as she had asked him bringing in the rest of the Strawhats and the three men. When everyone was gathered Robin spoke. "I translated it and it's message resembles a map"
"Well yes. There are four Poneglyphs like that. They are called Road Poneglyphs and they each lead to an island. If all four islands are discovered the location of Raftel will be found." Nekomamushi explained. "We have one here, one has been lost, and the remaining two are being kept by the two Yonko, Kaido and Big Mom"
"How come you know so much about the Poneglyphs?" Zoro inquired and the two rulers revealed that the Kozuki Family was a family of stonemasons who invented the poneglyph 800 years ago. However, the knowledge of how to read and write the language on poneglyphs ended with Oden, who was executed by Kaido and the shogun of Wano Country while sacrificing himself to save his son and retainers.
"That's why Kaido was pursuing Momonosuke and the retainers because Oden was a former member of the Roger Pirates, and he knew about a secret of Raftel" Inuarashi concluded
"So Doflamingo was after you in hopes of learning the secret to Raftel!" Zoro realised and turned to look at the samurai.
"Yes indeed" Kanjuro confessed. "However, the secret was not passed down to us, our only mission is to open Wano's borders and seek justice for Oden by killing Kaido and the shogun."
"We have people of Wano as well as the Mink Tribe supporting us, but they we are still outnumbered" Raizo added.
"Luffy-dono, Law-dono, will you please come right beside us?" Kin'emon begged.
YOU ARE READING
•Black Hat•
FanfictionPearl is a 16 year old kid that was imprisoned at 8. In prison she meets Ace whom she sees as a fatherly figure since he's the first man she has ever talked to after 8 years. Later on she meets his brother Luffy and together with him they run off to...
