Chapter 115: Anything for a Guest
I do not own One Piece
3RD POV
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The two females hadn't found anything out of the ordinary other than their first inspection. This part of the kingdom was rich, and filled with nobles, but this particular part ran like it needed to. They were beginning to wonder if they would have better luck investigating one of the lower regions.
"Robin," Nami held up a book from the bookstore they had entered. "This is all about the royal family, it might come in handy."
The older woman looked at it before placing it back. "It won't be completely accurate. All it will do it make them seem good."
"Maybe they are?" Nami offered, hopeful.
Robin looked at Nami, "There is a chance they could be, but I believe those chances are slim. They blackmailed Katsu. Half of the kingdom is running with zero to little guards for the citizens protection, children are missing in the lower regions, and the only region seeming to work well is this one. At the very least, they don't care for the kingdom like they should. Something is wrong and we should find out what."
Nodding silently, followed after Robin as she left the shop. Their attention quickly went to a excited passing couple.
"We were invited for the coming of age ceremony!" The man boasted to his wife. " Most of the people in this kingdom don't even know they've found the lost princess, let alone that next week there is such an important event. We have to get better clothing for this."
His wife nodded in agreement. "Of course! I still remember Princess Ayami's coming of age ceremony. We sat too close and got blood on us. It's the only instance I'm not mad about blood staining such beautiful clothing." She giggled.
Robin looked at Nami, clearly wanting to know more. Nami, meanwhile, was both confused and disgusted. Never-the-less, Nami knew they needed to find more information. Especially since they were both certain that it was liked with Katsu.
"We can't ask them." Robin muttered, her eyes scanning through the street. She stopped when she saw a high class wine bar come into sight. "Let's go here, come one Nami."
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Luffy had made up his mind. With his stomach full, nothing was stopping the Captain from sprinting through the districts as he made his way to the palace.
"It's good that they're nice!" He grinned, "Eh, I bet they'll even throw a feast later!"
Luffy patted his waist to double check that he had brought Katsu's fans. He would have brought her sketchbooks, but Zoro held onto those and refused to let him take them. When he sees Katsu he was sure to give her back her fans. She had forgotten to bring them with her, and her sketchbooks!
Which was weird, she never forgets her sketchbooks.
The Captain's grin dropped into a frown. "Ne, she missed a whole month of drawing us."
With another nod and a grin forming back on his face, Luffy made sure to keep running. They were in a hurry to get to the flamingo. He hasn't been strict enough about keeping Katsu near him to draw everything. From now on he'll make sure one arm is connected to her like a rope!
That way when he does something cool she'll be sure to draw all of his adventures! It'll be the perfect documentary for the Pirate King.
Looking up at his hat, Luffy plucked it off of his head and pulled out a piece of paper. It was the same paper that lead them here. Something he kept forgetting to give to Katsu.
Sato's vivre card.
Placing the card in his hand, Luffy followed the direction the card inched towards. However, after the third time of the red fabric of his toga getting in his way, the Captain stopped with a whine.
"It's all tangled!" Luffy cried in complaint, pulling at the fabric in irritation. "How do they run in this?!" His initial thought of the clothing being nice and breezy had changed into annoyance now that it was beginning to restrict his movements.
Looking up Luffy's eyes caught onto the one person not wearing a toga. His eyes narrowed on the man, his head tilting in thought. The metal breastplate looked close to his size, and the pants appeared tight fitting. All Luffy had to do was rip them shorter and he would be fine.
A grin formed on his face as his arms stretched out towards the guard. "Yosh!" Grabbing onto the man's shoulders, Luffy pulled himself towards him.
The man's eyes widened in shock at the sudden interruption by such a strange way. "Wha-?!"
"Shishishi!" Luffy grinned, "Let's trade!"
"Trade what?" Sweat dripped down the guard's cheek.
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Nami and Robin had their own ideas on receiving information. Nami had set her sights on a lonely noble man and quickly walked towards him with a sly smirk and carefully adjusting her toga. Robin, meanwhile, left Nami and seated herself at the bar, in earshot of multiple couples, and smiled at the bartender.
Leaning over the table, Nami took note of the man's gaze falling fro her face as she pretended not to notice.
"Ne, why is such a fine man sitting all by himself?" Nami smiled, tilting her head. She was at least happy to note that the noble wasn't terrible looking. He was well built, which he clearly knew as he held no reserves in showing his muscular chest. Even his face wasn't too bad, almost handsome. Though Nami had seen better.
The man's tongue poked out of the corner of his lips to lick his mouth before meeting Nami's eyes again. "Well, I guess I'm not sitting alone now that you're here."
Nami resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She needed to squeeze any information she could out of him. For Katsu. She made a mental note to tell the girl she was raising her debt. All the worry Katsu had caused Nami was affecting her beauty sleep.
"That's good to hear." She gave a little wink. "Let's get a drink?"
That drink price was also going to be added onto Katsu's debt.
The man now grinned. "Oh, you're a woman to take charge. I like that, it's kinda like Princess Ayami."
That's what she wanted to hear.
"She's great, isn't she?" Nami gushed, making the man nod eagerly. "I was so disappointed when I had to miss her coming of age ceremony."
That's when the man frowned. "You look too young to have been old enough to gone to her coming of age ceremony."
Nami reacted quickly, gasping and adverting her gaze while acting bashful. "How old do you think I am?"
"You can't be older than twenty. You would have to be at least twenty-two to have just been born, since Princess Ayami is thirty." He shook his head.
Nami did the math in her head. It troubled her that this ceremony happened when Ayami was eight. She didn't let it show on her face, instead she feigned bashful pride.
"You're too kind, saying I'm so young." Nami giggled, placing her hand to her cheek. "I'm only a year younger than Princess Ayami."
The man's eyes bugged out of his head in shock. "Wow! You look incredible!"
No longer was Nami sure if that would be a compliment, since the man now thought she was older.
Then he frowned again. "How did you miss Princess Ayami's coming of age ceremony?"
She sighed sadly, "My parents and I were vacationing on another island at the time. Sadly, I didn't make it back in time for the ceremony."
The man nodded, shaking his head at the loss. "That's unfortunate. I missed it as well, since my father had passed two days before. He should have waited just three more days." The he smiled, "Thankfully we have the opportunity to see another one!"
Nami brightened, as if an idea came to her head. "We should go together!"
Her skillful eyes watched as he subconsciously patted his robes at his waist. "I do have a plus one, if you wanted to save your ticket as a souvenir."
Nami felt her lips curling upward as she leaned forward and batted her eyes. "You're as kind as you are handsome."
Sitting at the bar, Robin had been listening in to many conversations. Most circulating around the birthday celebration taking place tomorrow. She currently had little interest in that set of news.
When the bartender returned, she smiled warmly. "Do you plan on going to the coming of age ceremony?"
The woman blinked, then smiled. "Oh, yes. My parents and I were fortunate enough to have received some tickets as well, it's because our family is known for the best wine in the kingdom that we have managed to been given an invite. I know we're all quite excited to meet the hidden princess they finally found."
"We don't get to really meet her though." Robin sighed, going off of what she had heard.
The woman nodded in agreement. "Well, yes, that's true. But we'll get to see what she's like. The last heir was rejected because he failed three times." She tsked in disappointment. "I guess that's expected from a pirate though. Can't do anything right."
Robin refrained from showing any surprise at what she assumed was linked towards Sato. "Oh, yes, I had heard that. Luckily we found our missing princess. What do you think the test will be?" Here she was taking a chance, but she was sure it was some kind of test from the different conversations.
The woman tapped her chin. "Well, since she is older, I'm assuming it will have to be harder. For the last heir, he was supposed to kill two guys, but he couldn't. I think they were going easy on him too because both of the guys looked weak. I'm guessing it might be something similar."
Robin hummed in agreement. Once the woman walked away she frowned. That was enough to tell her that the royal family was messed up. Which also brought back up the missing children.
What had happened to them?
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Running was much easier now that those loose clothes were gone. The man Luffy traded with wasn't happy. So unhappy, actually, that Luffy had to knock him out to stop from yelling.
Shrugging it off, Luffy placed his focus back on getting Katsu. He found himself running up to tall golden gates, which protected a large building with marble columns encrusted in gold trimming. If he cared enough he might have actually appreciated the artichect and care taken to build the palace.
"Oi!" Luffy yelled, smushing his rubber face through the bars, his hat still on his head. "Is Katsu here?! Katsu!"
Luffy's grin widened when a woman with short white hair walked towards him. He didn't pay attention to the glaring eyes or the deep set scowl on her face. "Ah! I'm here for Katsu! Tell her Luffy is here!"
"Strawhat Luffy. Princess Mitsu has told us about you, though she said she wasn't sure if you would come right away." She pulled open the gates, then motioned for Luffy to follow her. "Come along, King Italus would love to meet you."
"Oh! You really are nice!" Luffy grinned, popping out his head from in between the bars. "Do you guys have food?"
She offered a tight smile, more resembling a line. "For our honored guest? Anything."
"Shishishi! Then a feast!" Luffy cheered.
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End of Chapter 115!
Luffy just takes a while to understand the situation.
This is not edited.
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