-KEI'S FAILED BUT SUCCESSFUL PLAN-
"You two! You're gonna regret this!"
Tsunesaburo yelled with gritted teeth while sitting on the ground. He had been tied to a tree by tree vines around him made by Kei. His missile gun was laying on the ground in two pieces along with his men.
"Y'all are just a bunch of guys who are all talk but no fight."
Zoro said with a click of the tongue and a scowl on his face. He and Kei were standing in front of him, Zoro with one hand on his hip and the other resting on his swords, while Kei had her eyes narrowed looking at the enemy in front of her.
"You......."
Kei started while crouching in front of him so that she could be at his eye level. This caused him to flinch and gulp as sweat ran down his face.
"Who do you work for?"
The question confused him but then he to suddenly puffed his chest in confidence and a smug look formed on his face.
"Who you ask? Of course, it's non-other than the head of the village himself! Even if the two villages unite, it's all a trap of our head to take over Midori village!!"
There was not even a change of emotion on Kei's face as he said that. She placed her elbow on her knee while placing her chin on the palm of her hand and looked at him with a flat face.
"Hmm, is that so? Then what's the name of your village's head?"
"......What.....?"
Tsunesaburo blinked a few times in confusion at the question while Kei just repeated her question.
"I asked what's the name of your village's head. "
"T-That's ..... None of your business!!!"
He fumbled with his words and gulped again. Kei dropped her hand where her chin was placed and hung her head as if looking at the ground, her bangs covering her eyes along with her expression.
Though a surprise look formed on Tsunesaburo's face when a chuckle suddenly left from Kei and she stood up.
"I see."
Though Zoro didn't really question her action, since he was smart enough to see the lie too and said-
"If that really is so, then why were you trying to stop us? And it's pretty weird you don't know the name of the person who hired you."
Tsunesaburo eyes widened as he was not able to say a thing at this and Zoro continued-
"It's clear you are working for someone else from your village or you are working on your own."
"I don't really think so, and that's not why I asked him the head's name."
Kei muttered, which Tsunesaburo was not able to hear but since Zoro was beside her he was able to. He looked at her in confusion not understanding why she asked him the name then.
"You bitch! Remove this thing around me!!"
Tsunesaburo spat while trying to wriggle his way out of the vines. Kei just simply lifted her hand and balled up her fist tightly, the vines around him tightened even more. Causing him to suffocate and his face to go red from the lack of air. Kei looked at him with dead eyes and asked with threat lacing her voice-
"What did you just say?"
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!!"
He begged desperately and Kei opened her fist, causing the vines to loosen but be tight enough to keep him in place. He released a huge breath and started panting desperately.
"That's what I thought."
"Kei! Zoro!!"
They suddenly heard and turned around to see their crewmates heading towards them.
"Kei-chwaaaan~~!! I'm so glad you're safe!!"
Sanji said while happily hopping towards them with heart eyes. When they reached where Kei and Zoro were, Usopp asked them about Luffy and Aiko. Kei explained all that happened.
"Ahh! This bastard!" Sanji yelled in rage when he saw Tsunesaburo.
"He sneakily ran away when I was dealing with his men!"
As he said that, everyone turned to Tsunesaburo and that's when they realized that while they were talking, he again was trying to wriggle his way out of the vines. When Robin looked at him, her eyebrows furrowed as if thinking something.
Suddenly, something popped out of the pocket of his trousers because of his wriggling and went rolling towards Kei's feet. She bend down and picked it up while inspecting the thing in confusion.
"What's that?"
Chopper asked while Kei just shrugged her shoulders. It looked kind of a round mechanical device and a *beep beep* sound was coming out of it.
She turned the device over and that's when she saw a '00:01:30' highlighted in red. She would have thought it was showing the time currently but she soon realized that was not the case when another beep went and the timing changed to '00:01: 29'.
"I think that's a bomb."
Robin pointed out causing Kei's face to go pale. She fumbled with it but immediately passed it to Zoro who was closest beside her.
"Here!"
Zoro's eyes widened in shock at the bomb that was now in his hands. "You!! Don't give it to me! Here!!"
He yelled and passed it to the person standing closest to him which turned out to be Sanji and it was his turn to be shocked.
"Why are you giving it to me, bastard!! Here Usopp!!"
Usopp looked in shock and his legs started to tremble while looking at the bomb in his hand.
" Ahh!! Here Chopper !!"
Chopper fumbled with it and tossed it to Nami."Here Nami!!"
"Noooo!!!! Don't give it to me!!"
She yelled with tears comically streaming down her face and passed it back to Usopp.
"Why did this end up with me again?!!"
He looked around to see who he should pass it to but that's when he realized that everyone was standing with hands behind their back and his eyes popped in shock.
"YOU GUYS ARE PLAYING UNFAIRLY!!"
He yelled with tears streaming down his face.
"Wait, I think that's a remote device to a bomb." Robin pointed out again and Kei blinked a few times at what she said.
"That's right. Why would he go around with a ticking bomb with him?"
She questioned while turning to Tsunesaburo who just sweated nervously. A sigh of relief left Usopp at this but then another question came ' Where is the bomb if the remote is here?'
"It's probably where the meeting is held." Sanji said and everyone looked at Tsunesaburo again. His face went pale showing that Sanji's guess was right.
"Doesn't that mean we should stop this thing soon?!!"
Usopp exclaimed and started checking the device again. The time was showing '00:00:30' now. That's when he realized that there was one blue and one red button under the timing.
"Look! Maybe by pressing one of these, the bomb will stop!!"
He said in relief while looking up but his eyes popped in shock again when he saw Kei, Nami, and Sanji standing meters away from him.
"That's right! Do it Usopp!!"
Nami cheered while throwing her hands in the air.
"Show them what you've got!!"
Sanji joined.
"We are counting on you!!"
Kei yelled.
"WHY THE HECK ARE YOU GUYS SO FAR AWAY?!!"
He looked back at the ticking bomb that now showed 10 seconds . He immediately turned to Tsunesaburo and asked-
"You know which button it is right?!! Tell us!!"
A cocky smirk formed on Tsunesaburo's lips as he said-
"Hah! As if I would tell you it's the blue button!!"
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
"So it's the blue button, huh...."
Usopp said flatly while looking down at the bomb remote that showed 2 seconds and immediately pressed the blue button. With that, the bomb stopped while Tsunesaburo's face went pale as he realized what he had done.
"Phew~, it stopped ."
Usopp said as his tense shoulders relaxed and he wiped the sweat on his forehead with the back of his hand.
"That was a close one...." Sanji said while he, Nami, and Kei were back to where they were before.
"If he put a bomb at the meeting place, it's clear that he's not working for his village's head." Nami pointed out.
Though their conversation was soon cut off when they heard a noise. They turned towards the river cause in confusion because that's where it was coming from. Squinting their eyes, they realized something was coming toward them while yelling.
Their eyes widened in realization when they saw it was Luffy flying toward them at full speed from the other side of the river with a grin on his face.
Sanji and Zoro's faces soon went pale when they realized he was directly heading toward them themes.
"H-hey! Watch out!"
They tried to say but it was too late. Luffy crashed at them and they went flying back and then the three crashed at a tree. Sanji and Zoro laid there knocked out and their soul seemed to be coming out their body dramatically.
"Aahh! Sanji! Zoro!! Are you okay?! We need a doctor!!" Chopper panicked.
"YOU MORON!! WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!!"
Sanji and Zoro yelled while Sanji kicked him in the head again and again and Luffy just laughed.
"Hahaha, Sorry!"
Though their attention was again diverted when everyone heard a plopping sound as if something fell. That's when they realized that the mushroom on Ussop, Sanji, and Zoro's heads, which was there all the time, fell to the ground.
"Looks like 24 hours got over." Robin said with somewhat of a disappointed look.
"Why are you so disappointed?!"
Zoro yelled in anger. Kei crouched down and looked down at the three mushrooms in deep thoughts. She narrowed her eyes down at them while asking-
"I wonder what will happen if someone tried to eat them...?"
Nami crouched down beside her and looked at the red mushroom that fell from Sanji with the same thought full look. Pointing at it, she said-
"Isn't that from Sanji's? I think they'll probably become a pervert or flirty. "
"Or they'll have curly eyebrows."
Kei added. They then turned towards the pink mushroom from Zoro with the same thoughtful look.
"Eating that will probably make you go all muscular," Nami said with a hand on her chin.
"I want it!"
Usopp and Chopper said in unison while lifting their hands in enthusiasm.
"Or you'll go all green." Kei stated causing the two to drop their hands and say-
"Never mind."
They then turned towards the yellow mushroom from Usopp. They looked toward it for a moment and then turned to look up at Usopp who was sweating nervously at what the two women will say.
"
It's definitely the nose."
The tow said I'm unison nodding in agreement.
"Is my nose the only thing you could think for me?!"
"What are you two doing?! A comedy show?!" Zoro finally snapped in anger.
"What's this?"
They heard Luffy say and turned their heads in unison towards him. They soon realized that he was fumbling with the bomb remote that they forgot while their attention was distracted.
"What will this do ?"
He said while looking at the red button. Everyone's eyes widened when they saw his hand raise to press it.
"Luffy, wait!"
They went to stop him but it was too late.
He pressed the button. The two seconds finished and they immediately heard the noise of an explosion from the other side of the river.
Everyone's jaw dropped to the floor in unison except for Robin's as they saw smoke coming from somewhere in the sky. It was probably where the meeting was in the Aoi village.
"LUFFY!!"
They snapped in unison towards their captain. Luffy looked toward where the explosion came from in realization. "What was that?"
Chopper started running here and there in panic while Nami grabbed Luffy by both his shoulders, shaking him furiously.
"Do you realize what you've done?! There was a bomb where the meeting was and YOU ACTIVATED IT!!"
"But-!" He tried to say but was cut off.
"Aiko-chwaaaan~~!!"
Sanji cried with dramatic tears streaming down his face while he chewed at the corner of a handkerchief in his hand.
"Hey, listen to me-! " Luffy tried to say again but was again cut off by Robin.
"Her body might have been blown to shreds and burnt to crisp."
Usopp's face went pale and this and he started trembling. "We have become criminals!"
"We are criminals though, "Kei started, while looking in somewhat shock as well.
"I know that! But now we are murderers as well! Understand the situation!"
He snapped at her while Zoro just looked at the smoke in the sky with his mouth slightly agape in shock. Sanji was dramatically crying while Nami, Usopp, and Chopper were panicking but that's when they suddenly heard a voice.
"Everyone!"
They turned their head to see someone approaching them from the other side of the river. Narrowing their eyes, they soon realized it was none other than Aiko.
The Strawhats had to blink a few times to register that it was her. Meanwhile, Luffy stretched his hand towards the other side of the river and grabbed Aiko. Pulling it back, Aiko landed safely where the Strawhats were.
"Huh, she is safe...." Kei said in confusion.
"That's what I have been trying to say! The meeting got over a few minutes ago, so no one was there!"
Luffy explained with a huff complaining how they were not listening to him. A sigh of relief left everyone while Sanji started to swoon over her, talking about how he was glad she was safe and how he bravely fought for her.
"So, what happened in the meeting?"
Zoro questioned while crossing his arms across his chest. A cheerful grin soon formed on her face and she replied-
"They agreed to the alliance!"
This caused the others to somewhat smile and grin in happiness.
"That's good for you, isn't it?"Nami replied with a smile as well.
" Yeah! And to celebrate the alliance of the two villages after so many years, we have decided to hold a huge feast tonight in our village. Both, people from Aoi and Midori villages will be there. As a way to show how much I'm grateful for all of your help, I would like to invite you guys to the feast as well!" Aiko exclaimed while bowing.
"Is there gonna be meat?!" Luffy asked with drool coming from his mouth and eyes turned to meat.
"Of course!" Aiko said with a smile which was returned by Luffy with him throwing his hands up
"Then definitely we will come!!"
Aiko them turned her head in direction of the Aoi village as a thoughtful expression formed on her face.
"But I wonder why there was a bomb over there......? I don't think it was really that big of an explosion but still...."
"That's what I was wondering. Wasn't the head of Aoi village there too, wouldn't he die as well due to the explosion?"
Robin asked while placing her finger on her chin in thoughts. They turned to look at Tsunesaburo who was tied together with the tree by vines, he seemed to have opted to stay quiet all the time which was kind of odd.
"Whoever he is working for, maybe has some kind of grudge against the head of Aoi village for agreeing to the meeting. They probably tried to kill two birds with one stone but failed miserably."
Sanji suggested as he was now smoking his cigarettes. Robin looked at Tsunesaburo with her eyebrows knitted together as if thinking something, which didn't go unnoticed by Kei and she asked in a voice that only she could hear.
"What's the matter?"
Robin looked at her for a moment and then turned to look back a Tsunesaburo with narrowed eyes.
"I think I've seen him somewhere before. Can't remember properly but I think it was in a bounty poster."
Her answer made Kei's eyes to slightly go wide and she asked her in a serious tone.
"Robin, are you sure about that?"
Robin just firmly nodded her head in answer and said, " It was probably a long time ago but I clearly remember it, and his name was something like Tsunesaburo I guess."
Kei moved her gaze away from Robin, though a smirk soon formed on her face.
"I see... This confirms my theory."
Robin wanted to ask what she meant but was distracted when she saw Kado and Ryuu along with a few guards heading towards them.
When they saw Aiko, they nervously asked what happened in the meeting. Aiko with a grin, informed them about everything that happened and about the feast held at night as well. The guards and Ryuu cheered happily at this. Taking the chance, Aiko had even introduced Ryuu to the rest of the Strawhats, who were somewhat confused at his sudden appearance.
While all this was going on, Zoro noticed how Kei didn't even once talk and involved herself. He turned his head to realize she was looking somewhere else with her back faced to others.
Though he could tell she was not looking at anything specific. Even though her half-lidded eyes seemed to be looking somewhere, he could tell she was not actually. Her face had a thoughtful expression.
She was highly focused and thinking about something, like the surroundings around her seemed invisible and she was in her own world. The voice of her crew mates and the other people present there didn't seem to reach her ears.
It made Zoro somewhat curious as to what she was thinking and he wanted to ask her. Though he dropped the idea as quickly as it came to his mind and turned his gaze away from her.
He, himself couldn't tell if he did that to not disturb her, but one thing he knew was that even if he did call out to her, she would ignore him.
Not because they didn't get along, but because even if it was some else other than him, their voice wouldn't reach her.
"Now that the meeting has ended, I think we should question him about who among the guards is working for him."
Kado suggested referring to Tsunesaburo, which earned him a few confused looks from the guards.
"Yeah, there's nothing he could do other than to answer truthfully now."
Zoro said joining the conversation and Kado walked towards Tsunesaburo until he was in front of him. Tsunesaburo looked up at him while sweating nervously, though he stayed quiet.
That was when finally Kei broke out of her trance and looked over her shoulders toward them.
"There's no way you're getting out of this now. Tell me who is the traitor and it will be easy for both of us."
Kado warned. Tsunesaburo moved his gaze towards the few guards present with them and scanned through them. Until his gaze finally settled on a certain guard and he said-
"It was him. He was the one who was giving information to us all the time!"
Kado looked at the guard in surprise and realized he was one of the 7 people who knew Aiko's location when she was in hiding. While the guard looked at Tsunesaburo in shock and bafflement. Sanji too was baffled at what was happening.
"W-What?! No! He's lying! I don't even know him!!" He tried to say, though the other guards soon surrounded him.
"It's no use denying now."
Ryuu stated sadly. Kado clenched his jaw in what seemed frustration while a sorrowful look formed on Aiko's face. Throwing the guard a stern look, Kado said-
"Yeah, you have betrayed the Kawakami family. So I expect you to be ready for the punishment as well."
" Hey wait! He-!"
Sanji seemed to have an objection and took a step forward, confusing the others. But he was immediately stopped by someone.
"Sanji, don't."
He looked back towards Kei, who still had her back faced to him but was looking at him over her shoulders. He opened his mouth as if wanting to say something, though Kei maintained her poker face.
They looked at each other for a moment, and then Sanji soon stepped back. He had questions but for now, he decided to keep them to himself.
With that, the guards and Ryuu started taking Tsunesaburo along with his men and the traitor back to their village.
"Let's go, Aiko-sama." Kado motioned to Aiko but before Aiko could take a step, Kei spoke up.
"Aiko, stay with us for a moment. I want to talk about..........
The payment."
A few Strawhats threw her a confused look since it was unlike her to bring up the payment. Even Nami hadn't spoken about that.
"Oh, okay."
Aiko said and turned to give Kado a nod, which was returned by him. Kado, for one last time, turned towards Kei and gave her a wary look. Then joined Ryuu and others who were heading towards the village.
When they were no longer in sight, Aiko asked "What did you wanna talk about the payment?"
Kei finally turned her body to face everyone, while crossing her arms across her chest, she firmly stated.
"That guy was not the traitor."
At this, everyone's eyes widened except for Robin, Sanji, and Zoro.
"He's not?!" Chopper exclaimed in shock.
"But how did know that?!" Luffy asked.
"It did seem kind of weird how he said the traitor's name without any hesitation."
Zoro said referring to Tsunesaburo, though Luffy, Chopper, and Aiko's confusion grew only more. She wouldn't say it out loud but Kei agreed with Zoro since she had read books on body language and was a good observer as well.
For her, it was also the fact that Tsunesaburo went with the guards without any hesitation. It was the same for Robin since, in all her experience as an assassin, she had become good at reading people.
"Is it alright to assume that the guy was not the traitor with just that theory?" Nami asked Zoro in a doubtful tone.
"It's not. That's why I didn't say anything." Zoro answered.
"Then how do you know he's not the traitor for sure?"
Usopp asked Kei and everyone looked at her for answers as well. Kei looked at Usopp and asked-
"Do you remember that yesterday you asked me why the team had to be divided into three parts and not two?"
Usopp seemed to think about it and his eyes soon widened in realization. In the start, the Straw hats had initially planned to divide into two groups and that too without guards, since the plan would've worked that way too.
They didn't plan to take the guards since the traitor could've been within them and their plan would've failed. But Kei insisted on not only dividing the group into three teams but to also involve the normal guards and the listed 7 guards who are under suspicion of being the traitor.
She had divided them in such a way that among the seven listed people, three were in route #2 with Kei, Zoro and Luffy. Two were in route #1 with Sanji and Nami, and two were in route #3 with Usopp and Chopper. Even though the plan kind of failed since Tsunesaburo caught up to them, the result were in their favor.
"Yeah, but you said we will know later." Usopp pointed out.
"And that later has now come. It was to reduce the number of suspects." Kei said though Usopp didn't seem to understand.
"Oh, I now see it. Since the traitor was among the guards, the traitor would've firsthand informed Tsunesaburo on which route Aiko was. In whichever route Tsunesaburo first arrived, that group of guards had the traitor." Robin explained in realization.
"But didn't he say he had lookouts on the other two routes? It's possible he just saw our group first. And in the end, he even was able to catch up with us and the plan ultimately failed." Zoro pointed out while raising an eyebrow.
"I wouldn't say it ultimately failed." Kei started while lifting a hand as if to stop him.
"I admit that him having lookouts on the other two routes caught me off guard. I thought the moment he sees I was not Aiko, he will go to the other routes. From the very start, I knew that the possibility of my plan failing would be 33.33%. But if anything, I would say it's a really good thing that my plan failed and our enemy knew Aiko was in route #2."
"Why is it a good thing that your plan failed.....?" Luffy questioned while tilting his head in confusion.
The corner of Kei's lip tugged up into a smirk as she said- "Since the plan failed, I now know that the traitor was in the same group as me."
Everyone's eyes widened in realization except for Luffy's since he was still confused. They were shocked but at the same time amused at Kei's planning.
"Only your group was there when Aiko exposed herself! So if anyone informed Tsunesaburo about her, it would be someone from your group!!" Nami said in realization.
"Exactly. And Sanji, you knew this because the guy blamed for this was probably from your group, right?" She asked while turning to the blonde cook.
"You are right. Before Tsunesaburo ran away from me, I saw him talking to someone in transponder snail. I think he was talking to the traitor, so it was not that guy from my group ." Sanji informed. Guess that was something that Nami missed.
"But what I don't understand is, why didn't you stop Kado from taking the wrong guard?"
Aiko asked since if that guy was not the traitor, Kei had let an innocent guy take the blame for someone else's fault.
But at that moment, the smirk on Kei's face widened and an evil grin formed on her face. It was as if she was waiting for that question. Chuckling a bit she said-
"To create a trap."
Zoro recognized that familiar grin he had once seen. It was unlike the one she had when she flung Zoro on the top of the cliff and unlike the one where she wanted to test if Zoro can breathe through the mushroom if buried underground.
It was similar to the one she had when she exposed Kaito on Murasaki island.
Her eyes held amusement as if what she was doing was exciting and thrilling to her.
It was a rare sight where her face, which most of the time had a bored or uninterested look would change into a fascinated one.
Like she was enjoying what she was doing. Shivers went down from Chopper, Aiko, and Usopp's spines as they sweated at how her face looked.
"Your face looks creepy," Zoro stated bluntly.
"Shut up, you insensitive marimo!!" Sanji snarled in rage at him."Kei-chwan's this side of being passionate and smart is SO gorgeous, it makes me want to drown in her sea of love~!!" He swooned with heart eyes and wiggled is body side by side.
"Then I hope you drown and die." Zoro barked with an irk mark.
"Huh?!"
"Anyway!" Kei interrupted the two.
"If we don't do something. You....."
She started while lifting her hand and pointing a finger at Aiko, who looked back at her in confusion.
"....are gonna die tonight."
Cue for everyone's eyes to widen in shock again. The sudden statement had baffled them.
"TONIGHT?!"
"Wait! Why tonight?!" Sanji asked, still confused by what she said.
"Yeah, why would he take the risk and attack two times in a day?"
Zoro asked because normally, a person would not take a risk and attack two times a day. Because their chances of getting caught would be larger and they would rather try any other random day.
"Because tonight is the perfect opportunity according to me. Don't you remember? Aiko said tonight is the feast, meaning a lot of people from both villages will be there." Kei explained calmly.
"How is that a perfect opportunity? I mean, a lot of people are gonna be there, so wouldn't someone see him doing it?" Nami asked in confusion.
"I think it's a perfect opportunity because there will be a lot of people." Robin suddenly interjected. " Since there are a lot of people, if he succeeds in killing her, the number of suspects would be countless. It could be anyone and we won't know who."
"Exactly, if I had to murder someone, tonight will be perfect." As Kei said so, another shiver went down Chopper and Usopp's spine.
"Remind me to never mess with those two."
They said with trembling legs while hiding behind Zoro's back, which only irritated him.
"But I don't understand how anything of this has got to do with the fact that we let an innocent guy be blamed as a traitor?" Nami questioned while raising an eyebrow and placing a hand on her hips.
"Because the chances of him coming tonight are 50\ 50. You see, whoever the traitor is, he is a really smart person. He was able to get away every single time he tried to kill Aiko without revealing his identity. If you think about it, do you think Sensaguro would be smart enough to place lookouts?-" Kei questioned.
"Hold a second."
Zoro said while lifting a hand as if stopping her while Kei just threw an annoyed look at him for interrupting her.
"Who in the heck is Sensaguro?"
He questioned and everyone wondered the same.
"What do you mean who? The enemy guy with butt chin and a missile gun you know." Kei tried to explain while trying to do so signs from her hands.
"I think she means Tsunesaburo." Robin corrected her.
"Yeah, yeah, that guy."
"Why can't remember a simple name?" Zoro asked while sweat dropping.
"Why should I even remember such a long ass name?" Kei retorted.
"How in the world can you think of such an intense plan but can't remember a name? Is Sensaguro even a name?!" Zoro snapped.
"I used to have a friend named Sensaguro long ago," Kei said while placing a hand on her hip.
"Well, then your friend has one weird name." Zoro retorted causing Kei to have an irk mark on her head.
"Just because you didn't have friends when you were small, it doesn't mean you can insult mine." Came Kei's reply, causing Zoro's eye to twitch in annoyance.
"Who said I didn't have friends?! And I bet you got your friend's name wrong as well!!"
Before Kei could say something back, Sanji interrupted while trying to kick Zoro on the head but it was immediately stopped Zoro's sword.
"You Marimo head! Don't trouble Kei-chan with your nonsense!!"
"You shut up, curly brows! Don't come in my way!" Zoro yelled back.
"It's called being a gentleman for your kind information!" Kei said while siding with Sanji.
"Like a give a flying shit about that crap!!" Zoro yelled furiously.
"Umm..... Shouldn't we stop then.....?"
Aiko asked with a worried look turning to Luffy beside her, who was simply just picking his nose with his pinky finger. She couldn't even tell if he was paying attention to what Kei was saying before. Their fighting noise still could be heard in the background.
"Hmm, why?" Luffy asked in confusion, a frustrated sigh left from Nami and she walked toward them.
"Stop it you three!"
She yelled furiously while hiting them in their head one by one. Soon all three of them were laying on the ground with a bump on their and steam coming out of it. Robin just chuckled at the scene.
"Kei, continue from where you left."
Nami said as she saw Kei sit up and start rubbing her head in an attempt to ease the pain.
"Uh, where was I?" She tried to remember while standing up. "Oh, yeah. Do you all think the butt chin guy would be smart enough to think about having lookouts?"
Everyone shook their head in denial at this.
"That's why I think the traitor is the one who's been planning everything. He did all this even though he had an advantage on us. He had backup measures for everything. If he got somehow fooled, he had placed lookouts. The fact that he even took measures for the possibility that his plan would fail and told the butt chin to say a guard's name except for his, which was among the 7 listed people, says a lot about him. He's one cautious guy." She explained while crossing her arms across her chest.
"If Kei hadn't placed the guards within the groups, we probably would've been unknown of this fact," Usopp said in realization.
"By letting another guy be blamed, I made the traitor believe that we don't know about the truth. If he tries to kill Aiko any other day than today, the fact that the traitor is still among the guards will be revealed since she has guards around her most of the time. I don't think that's something he would want. That way, I have somewhat made sure he will come tonight." Kei explained.
"Doesn't that mean we would need to guard Aiko all the time during the feast?" Nami asked her.
"That would be a waste of opportunity. As I said, I'm creating a trap for him here."
Nami looked at her in confusion, he face asking 'how?'.
"You see, the plan is really simple here. We are gonna guard Aiko throughout most of the party but try not to make it obvious. But just when it's midnight, we make it seem like she is heading towards the forest alone."
"Wouldn't that put Aiko-chan in danger?" Sanji asked in worry but Kei just shook her head in denial.
"That's why I said we will make it seem like she's going alone but we are gonna keep an eye on her from afar. Seeing his opportunity, he will follow Aiko in the forest as well."
"You said the traitor guy is pretty smart, you sure he would fall for this?" Zoro asked while raising an eyebrow though Kei had only seemed to smirk at this.
"He is smart but at the same time desperate. I'm 90% sure he will come since he believes no one knows he's the traitor."
"What about the remaining 10%?" Chopper asked in curiosity.
"That would include Aiko dying with us being blamed for it. You know, since we would be the only one there." Kei said bluntly while shrugging her shoulders.
"Geez, Kei! Don't say it so casually! Just thinking about it makes my heart beat faster!" Usopp exclaimed with a hand on his heart which was trembling.
"And one more thing. Aiko, what are you gonna do about the butt chin guy and his men?" Kei asked her, Aiko seemed to think about it before answering.
"I was first going to hand them over to the marines but I think I'll discuss about them with Ugarashi-san first since they are from his village."
"Don't." Came Kei's firm reply.
"Announce it to everyone in your mansion that you are gonna hand them over to the marines tomorrow. Not only that, place just a few guards to guard the butt chin and his men." Everyone looked at her in confusion, though Kei's smirk only grew wider.
"It's a feast you know, everyone needs to enjoy it."
Was all that Kei said, Aiko wanted to question her but she just nodded her head.
"And I have one last question. Aiko, did your father have any kind of health issues before he was assassinated?"
The sudden mention of her father by Kei caused Aiko to blink a few times.
" No, in fact, he was a very healthy person despite his age." Kei just nodded her head at the information.
"But...... You all don't really need to do this." Aiko suddenly said with an awkward laugh as she fidget with the helm of her yukata's sleeves, causing everyone to look at her in confusion.
"Well, the deal was for you guys to protect me until I reach the meeting. So I don't think you need to do this-"
"What are you talking about?" Luffy spoke up. Soon, a toothy grin formed on his face, while placing his hand behind his head he said,"The deal was to protect you for a day and the day is not over yet."
"And we've already come so far, so why not catch the traitor as well?" Nami said smiling at her.
"That's right, I can't really sit and do nothing, knowing that a lady's life is in danger," Sanji said while releasing a puff of smoke from his cigarettes.
"I won't be able to rest until I know who the traitor is." Kei stated with her arms across her chest.
"At such times you are supposed to say something nice like them you know......" Usopp sweat-dropped at Kei's answer.
Aiko's eyes widened in surprise by the fact that they were helping her despite being pirates. She has not met many pirates in her life but she knows that not many pirates are like them. A smile of gratefulness soon formed on her face as well.
"But you do realize that if you want this plan to work out, you can't tell this to people other than the ones present here, right?"
Zoro suddenly spoke up with a stern voice. He crossed his arms across his chest while his face held a stony expression. But Aiko just looked at him in confusion, " What....?"
"We don't know who we are up against or any information other than the fact that the traitor was in the same group as I. It would be nothing for us, even if we were to be blamed it wouldn't be hard for us to run away since we are pirates. But you can't tell about this to anyone because if the plan failed, it would affect you and the two villages. And when I say no one, I mean no one.
Even if you trust and know that person really well."
As Zoro said this, a shocked look formed on her face. Her jaw clenched as her gaze moved toward the ground. Her fists were tightly clenched by her side as all possible thoughts went through her mind.
Others and even Sanji didn't say anything since they knew what he said was true. Finally taking a deep breath, Aiko looked up to everyone with determination.
"Okay! I understand!"
TO BE CONTINUED.
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And that's it for today's chapter.
If you have any kind of question about the chapter you can ask me.
This arc has reached its climax and the next chapter will be the end. After that I'm gonna continue with the original story line.
Honestly, I was going to end it in this chapter but the words were exceeding 6000 words. I don't really like writing really big chapters since it becomes lengthy and messy.
Any ways, I really appreciate the comments and votes I'm getting on this story. I also see some constant comments from a few people which really makes my day. Thank you❤️❤️. Who do you think is the traitor? I've left a few hints.