章 334: They come in red?
Cat Viper and Dogstorm were eager to get away from the minks cheering over their truce and decided that now was as good a time as any to lead Momonosuke, Kin'emon, and Kanjuro to their comrade, Raizo. The Straw Hats and Law were free to come along as well, as it was thanks to their help that this reunion could be had at all.
An odd whale shaped tree stood before them and they began to ascend on the vines thick enough to be called a road.
"Strictly speaking, Raizo is not a samurai. He is a ninja, you see, which if you're unfamiliar is-" Kin'emon started to explain.
His explanation was immediately cut off by several of the boys shouting, """NINJA?!?!?!"""
The air was filled with the boys' chants of "Nin Nin!" whilst they made hand signs.
"I suppose I don't need to explain then," Kin'emon scratched his face.
"I would appreciate an explanation, actually. I haven't the faintest clue what a ninja is, or why these dorks are so excited about it." Cherry said.
*Gasps!*
The boys looked at her in indignant horror!
"How can you not know what a ninja is! Even Chopper knows, and he spent most of his life as a wild animal or living with an old hag!" Usopp couldn't believe his ears.
"Oi!" Chopper took offense on behalf of Dr. Kureha.
"Well I spent my childhood thrashing grown men in my Grandmother's dojo or otherwise training. Forgive me for not being interested in the same nonsense as you." Cherry said, half amused.
"I kicked ass and trained as a kid too, but I still know what ninjas are!" Luffy chimed in.
Cherry patted his shoulder condescendingly. "Yes, of course you did."
"This is SUPER unexpected! We need to get you up to speed as soon as we get back to the Sunny! I have the complete manga collection of the 'Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi', you just HAVE to read it!" Franky gushed.
"I don't have time for childish frivolities." Cherry declared.
*Gasps!*
"You take that back!" Usopp shouted, pointing an accusing finger. "Ninjas are for ALL ages!"
"All ages of babies." Cherry shot a metaphorical arrow through Usopp's heart.
"That's the last straw!" Luffy said sternly, putting up his fists.
"You've got loads more straw in your hat though?" Cherry pointed out.
"Huh???" Luffy was immediately confused into submission.
"You won't defeat me, so easily! I'm shameless!" Franky declared proudly.
"I'll switch my Fizzy Pop revolver to baby formula flavor, just for you then." Cherry said.
"Please don't…" Franky begged in a tiny voice.
Chopper, the last line of defense, stood strong in the face of certain doom. He fluttered his eyelashes cutely, tears brimming in his eyes and said with a wavering voice, "Are ninjas really only for babies…?"
Cherry spat blood and slumped to her hands and knees, defeated. "No, no… I'm sure ninjas are for big, strong men…"
"Yay! Nin Nin!" Chopper was delighted.
"Should a ship's doctor really be so happy to see their crewmate spit blood?" Law mumbled.
"Fufu, maybe for others that's pretty serious, but for Cherry it's not that big a deal. She does that all of the time." Robin assured him.
Certainly he'd seen her with worse, but his instincts as a doctor were conflicting with his acceptance of her nonsensical health situation.
"Ninjas are most certainly not for babies," Kin'emon said sternly. "They are a formidable force to be reckoned with, and not to be treated lightly! Their stealth abilities alone are fearsome to the point of making many powerful men throughout Wano's history descend into paranoia."
"Ah, assassins. Gotcha." Cherry nodded.
"Well, er, yes, but they are also quite adept at information gathering." Kin'emon said.
"And don't forget their jutsu!" Usopp said delightfully.
"Jutsu?" Cherry said, playing with the unfamiliar word in her mouth.
"That is too complicated to explain on short notice. Razio may be willing to demonstrate, so be patient." Kin'emon cut off the frenzied fanboying before it could get started again.
"We're here." Cat Viper said, as if on cue.
They descended into a door-like gap in the whale shaped tree's tail and made their way down a seemingly natural set of stairs.
Soon they began to hear the desperate screams of a man and the boys became more excited, expecting that the voice must be the ninja, Raizo. They ran past Cat Viper to reach the bottom and get a good look at the man, but soon paused and gawked at what they saw.
"Why must you do this! Simply hand me over to the enemy! My small life cannot compare to the lives of so many! Release me!" the man, presumably Raizo, shouted into the dimly lit tree hollow.
The man was chained to a blood red poneglyph. He was dressed in somewhat loose robes with thick, decorative ropes wrapped around his body. His hair was styled to look a bit like an insect, six leg-like prongs of hair standing out from his bulbous head and bore a crescent shaped scar on his forehead.
Whilst the boys were recovering from having their fantasies slapped across the face by cruel, cruel reality, the three samurai rushed forward to greet their comrade.
"Ohhh, so you're well, Kin'emon, Kanjuro, Momonosuke-sama!" Raizo was overwhelmed by happiness.
"You didn't tell me they came in red, Robin." Cherry said, looking over the poneglyph.
"I didn't know they came in red either." Robin said, clearly awed by the sight.
"That's right. That's a real poneglyph, not just a replica made of inferior material." Cat Viper confirmed.
"You can decipher those characters can't you, Nico Robin? I've heard about Ohara studying them." Dogstorm said.
"Do you know why it's red?" Robin asked.
"It serves a different purpose to the others. Would you like to read it?" Dogstorm offered.
"Of course." Robin said, thrilled to her core. This was perhaps the greatest lead to the true history of the void century she had ever encountered.
Raizo was hastily unchained from the poneglyph now that the danger had passed and his comrades returned to him, allowing Robin to see the full breadth of the poneglyph's face.
The boys started to pester Raizo to show them some of his techniques, even Law chiming in quietly and revealing himself to not be as mature as he pretended.
Cherry was admittedly intrigued, but it was too late to show any interest without looking foolish, so she focused on the poneglyph and Robin.
"No." Robin said suddenly.
Cherry's hand shot behind her back. "What?"
"I know what you were trying to do." Robin said without looking. "You can't have any."
"...Just a little bit?" Cherry asked sweetly.
"NO. This is a historical artifact near a millennium old, you will not swipe some of the material for yourself." Robin stood firm.
"It's no harm, Nico Robin. The poneglyphs are nigh indestructible; she couldn't take any if she wanted to." Dogstorm said.
Cherry averted her eyes.
"I certainly believed so as well, until a certain someone casually snuck some material out of a poneglyph in Alabasta and used it to make a gun." Robin said.
Dogstorm and Cat Viper's eyes landed on Cherry, who was currently whistling innocently.
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