Up in the sky, the boat's cabin was crowded.
Wanda, Pedro, and Ella flanked Hiyori, forming a protective little triangle around her.
"You really don't have to be this tense," Hiyori said, embarrassed. "It's very safe."
Wanda shook her head.
"Please understand, Hiyori-sama."
"Alright…" Hiyori sighed.
She turned to the little porthole and watched the clouds drift by, miles of open sky and glittering sea below.
Her three guardians slowly relaxed.
The boat was steady.
The invisible barrier still kept the wind and cold out.
After hours of smooth flight, even they couldn't help it—eyes wandered to the view.
"Wow—Wanda, look!" Ella pressed her paws to the window. "The sea is so pretty from up here!"
"It is," Wanda admitted. "But don't forget—danger is everywhere on the sea."
Pedro nodded.
"We've both sailed before. Caution first."
They still stuck close to Hiyori, constantly checking for any sign of trouble.
If something did go wrong, they had to react in the first second, not the third.
"Have something to eat," Hiyori said, pulling out neatly boxed food Jin had left in the cabin. She set cakes and snacks on the little table.
"Please don't worry about us," Wanda said quickly. "We brought our own rations."
Ella tried to look away from the cake.
Her nose twitched.
Her eyes drifted back.
Hiyori giggled.
"Also," she added, "outside of Wano… it's better if you don't call me 'Lady Hiyori' all the time.
"Musashi-sama gave me a new name—Shirako. He said 'Hiyori' sounds awkward."
"That's impossible," Wanda blurted. "You're—"
Hiyori cut her off gently.
"That identity is gone," she said. "Grandfather said so.
"He told me… from now on, I have nothing to do with the Kozuki clan. It's for my own good, even if I don't really understand it yet."
The three minks exchanged a look.
They understood perfectly.
This was a contingency plan.
A way to keep one branch of Oden's line alive, no matter what the Fire Festival brought.
The alias was just another shield.
They bowed.
"Understood… Lady Shirako," they said together.
"The 'lady' too," she complained. "Just call me Shirako. I'll call you by your names. Let's just be like siblings."
"Absolutely not," Pedro said. "We can't accept that condition."
And so began a ridiculous argument.
On one side, three stubborn minks insisting on status, protocol, and "proper distance."
On the other, one equally stubborn princess insisting she wanted none of that.
In the end, they compromised.
She'd call them by their names.
They'd call her Shirako—but no –sama unless someone outside was listening.
Jin, listening through the wood with his Observation, rolled his eyes.
So noisy, he thought.
But it passes the time.
He looked ahead.
There.
The island.
Sleeping Ancient Town.
Reputed home of a Mythical Zoan: Bat-Bat Fruit, Vampire model.
In his previous life, he'd seen endless speculation—immortality, blood powers, night-dominance. Whatever the exact details, he knew one thing:
You don't let something like that rot in a coffin.
If he didn't end up eating it himself, he'd lock it away for some future kid.
His wings beat harder.
Speed surged.
"Are we close?" Shirako asked.
All four of them felt it when the flight pattern changed.
Moments later, Jin shrank back to human form and set the boat down with a thump.
They stepped out.
"Is this… an island?" Ella asked, ears twitching. "It looks so empty…"
"More like an abandoned island," Pedro said, picking up a rusted metal bar from the ground. "There used to be people here.
"Something must've happened."
Old stone. Broken wells. Collapsed walls.
A ghost town.
Jin strolled over, catching Ella's flustered stare.
She looked away so fast her ears blurred.
"Wanda, stay with them," Jin said. "Pedro, you're with me. We'll split up.
"There should be an old ruin here. Or a church."
He tossed each of them a flare.
"Wanda's is red. If something comes at you that you can't handle, pop it.
"Pedro, you pop the yellow one when you find the place I'm looking for."
They really didn't want to take orders from him.
But they'd felt his Haki.
Sometimes, you bowed to reality.
"I'll start searching," Pedro said stiffly.
"Please be careful," Shirako called. "Pedro…"
"I will, Shirako," he said, then hurried off.
"I told you, no honorifics," she muttered.
"Shirako, you should rest," Ella said, fussing. "You've been traveling nonstop—from Wano to Zou, and now here…"
"I'm alright," Shirako smiled. "I don't even feel tired. Let's walk a little.
"But don't worry—I won't leave your sight."
Wanda and Ella flanked her immediately, watching every broken step and crumbling corner as if danger would leap from the stones.
Jin swept the island at low altitude, wings barely stirring the air.
A ruin… a church…
He made a full circle.
Nothing.
He frowned.
The records say it's here.
Just as he started a second pass, a yellow flare burst in the sky.
There we go.
He turned and arrowed toward it.
Pedro stood on the edge of a collapsed plaza, arms folded.
"Some kind of ruin," he said as Jin landed. "No idea if it's what you want. But when I dug a bit, this popped up."
Below them, half-buried stairs descended into shadow.
"Good work," Jin said.
He headed down without hesitation.
The ruin opened into a crumbling underground chapel, stone pillars cracked, walls half-collapsed.
Rubble lay piled everywhere.
Jin pushed debris aside and walked down the center aisle.
Pedro followed, eyes wide.
What is he looking for…?
Tap. Tap. Tap…
Jin moved slowly, knuckles rapping on the floorboards, listening for empty echoes.
"Secret mechanism, secret mechanism… where are you hiding…"
Click.
His heel depressed a single, unremarkable board at the center of the dais.
The ground rumbled.
A section of floor slid aside, revealing a narrow stairwell leading deeper underground.
"Found you," Jin grinned.
Golden flame flared around his hand, illuminating the darkness as he descended.
Pedro stared.
"It can burn and not hurt him…" he muttered. "So that's the power of his Devil Fruit…"
At the bottom, the passage opened into a burial chamber.
A Western-style coffin sat in the middle, surrounded by dazzling piles of gold, jewels, and ornaments.
Jin didn't spare the treasure a second glance.
He went straight to the coffin, set his hands on the lid, and heaved.
It creaked open.
Inside lay a noble's skeleton in full dress, hands folded over the chest.
And right there, nestled in the ribcage—
A purple-red Devil Fruit with swirling patterns.
"There you are," Jin whispered, lifting it up.
He turned it in his hand, grin getting wider.
"Jackpot."
Pedro eyed the glittering piles.
He'd never seen so much wealth in one place.
"That fruit…" he said slowly. "It's… special, isn't it?"
"Mm," Jin said absently, gaze still on the fruit. "Very."
His eyes did a quick sweep of the chamber.
Gold. Jewels. Goblets. Crowns.
Truly vulgar.
He reached out lazily, hand passing above the nearest treasure heap.
In an instant, the entire pile vanished into his bracelet.
"Look at this guy…" Pedro thought, eye twitching. "Calling it vulgar while looting every coin faster than I can blink…"
Jin glanced at the skeleton in the coffin.
"Rich idiot," he said. "So obsessed with grave goods you'd rather rot with your money.
"Truly tacky. No taste."
His hand traced over another pile of gems.
They disappeared too.
Pedro pinched the bridge of his nose.
Shameless…
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