A/N: Okay, everyone!! For this chapter, I need Lettuce…

Lettuce: Here!

Tsukiko: Keiichiro…

Keiichiro: Here!

Tsukiko: and Pai!

Pai: Present.

Tsukiko: Okay then. Here's your script for this chapter. –hands script to them-

Pai: -skimming through it and Taruto and Pai reading over his shoulder- I have a lot of dialogue.

Kisshu: You're making Pai talk a lot at one time in this chapter.

Tsukiko: He is one of the main characters for this story and I know that it's not his character but that's what showbiz is all about.

Ryou: When do I show up?

Mint: Do I or onee-sama show up at all in this story?

Tsukiko: You two should know already that, like Pudding and Taruto, you guys will show up in 'The Kyuuketsuki 2'. You two, along with Berry, are going to play the three bounty hunters who tried to kill the O'Connells at the beginning.

Mint: And die later on.

Tsukiko: -ignores them- And you, Ryou! You shouldn't be complaining since you showed up in 'You're a Girl'.

Ryou: Yeah, like two pages worth.

Tsukiko: It's better than nothing.

Pudding: Tsukiko onee-chan does NOT own TMM or the songs or the movies she uses in her stories, na no da. She only comes up with the ideas and changes for them, na no da. She is a bit sorry for Pai fans that she's going to have Pai onii-chan talk a lot in this story, na no da. Possibly, mostly this chapter, na no da. Thank you all for the awesome reviews and please keep them coming, na no da!!

Tsukiko: Thank you and please enjoy!

Ch. 3: Mumei, nameless one

"This is the man you cheated it from?" Lettuce asks in shock, staring at the man across from her from the door of a bar. The man she is referring to is sitting at the counter of the bar and he looks like a drunk, slouching over and drinking a glass of whiskey in one gulp. The clothing he appears to be wearing looks dirtied and stained with alcohol and sweat. Even from far away and from behind, Lettuce can see that his long hair is messy and possibly covered with oil, dirt, and anything else she can think of. He probably hasn't bathed in weeks and has only been living in the bar and drink.

"Don't say that aloud!" Keiichiro whispers in a small amount of fear.

Lettuce turns to her brother and whispers back, "You promised that you wouldn't cheat in a card game anymore!"

"I couldn't help it," he told her innocently. "What was I suppose to do when he was on a winning streak and we needed the money? Trust me, he was a tough one. I had to use every expert trick in the book to at least get half of his winnings, along with the blotch that he threw in."

"He threw in the blotch?" she asks, more in disbelief. She looks back at the man and crosses her arms. "How can someone just throw in something as valuable as the blotch of Emperor Sakana?"

Keiichiro smiles. "See? I'm not the bad guy here?"

Lettuce looks back at him with slightly angry eyes, but he can see that only a small portion of her anger is towards him. Most of her anger must be towards the drunken man across from her. After glaring at her brother for a bit, she lets out a sigh and says, "Well let's go talk to him. Maybe he can tell us where he found that blotch."

Now he looks surprised. "You want me to go in there?"

"It's a thirty percent chance that he'll recognize you." But when she thinks more of the situation, she pauses for a moment before asking, "Was he drinking last night?" He nods. "Then it's a ten percent chance that he'll recognize you," she corrects. She's right and Keiichiro knows it. Lettuce goes walking into the bar and Keiichiro follows after her, making sure to stay behind her as they approach the drunken man. But as they slowly approach him, Lettuce had to ask, "What's his name?"

"Ahh," Keiichiro lets out, trying to remember. "I think everyone was calling him 'Mumei' when we were gambling."

Lettuce asks, "Mumei?! As in 'nameless one'?"

"Did someone call me?"

Both Lettuce and Keiichiro look up at the counter a few feet away and Pai is already looking at them with weary dark purple eyes. Now that he's looking at them, face to face, they can tell that his skin looks dirtied. Lettuce sees dirt stains on his face and all over his body. He has a long hair beard growing on his face along with a mustache over his top lip as well. When was the last time he shaved? Now that they are closer to him, he smells worst than any sewer full of old alcohol drinks that no one finished. When was the last time he took a bath?!

From only looking at him and hearing his voice, Lettuce can already tell that he must be an American. She tries to shake off the shock of his appearance and she says, "H-How do you do, mister?"

He answers, "I'm tired as all hell and drunk as well." Lettuce's eyes widen in his rudeness as he hits the bottom of the glass on the counter. He turns to the bartender and yells, "Another glass, Mark!"

The bartender, or Mark, turns to Pai and tells him, "You used the last of your money to pay for the last one! No more."

Then a hand hits the counter besides Pai. He looks up and he sees Keiichiro slapping money on the counter. "I'll pay," he tells the bartender. Lettuce looks at her brother in surprise as Pai raises a brow at him.

But Mark shrugs his shoulder and says, "Alright." He bends over to get more whiskey as Pai looks up at him with the same weary eyes.

"And you are?" Then he looks back at Lettuce. She gasps from his sudden attention and takes a step back, uneasy. "And who's the broad?"

Lettuce's eyes widen from that, almost like she just got insulted but Keiichiro quickly says, nervously as he sounds, "W-Well, my name is Keiichiro Midorikawa and this is my little sister," he goes over and puts his hands on Lettuce's shoulders, "Lettuce Midorikawa."

"Please to meet you, mister," she greets. She offers her hand to Pai but Mark delivers another whiskey and takes the money away. Pai's attention goes to the glass.

He picks it up and says, "Don't try to be kind to me, broad." Then he takes a gulp of his whiskey as Lettuce tenses up from behind rejection, like she was turned to stone.

As Lettuce tries to recover, Keiichiro says, "Listen, Mumei, we came to ask you about the blotch you gambled with last night."

Pai lowers the glass that still contains whiskey in it and he doesn't have a trance of emotion on his face. But he says, "Oh now I remember." Then he turns to Keiichiro and throws the rest of the liquid at Keiichiro's face.

Lettuce is startled once again as Keiichiro yells out, "Ow!!" Then he turns around and winces in pain of the alcohol in his eyes.

"Hey, Mumei!" Mark calls. Pai looks at him as he says, "Don't cause any rucas so early in the day, please." But Pai doesn't answer him.

He turns to Lettuce and asks, "Are you here to pay me back what he cheated from me?"

"No," she answers, now rummaging through her bag. She takes out a white handkerchief and hands it to Keiichiro. "Here!" Keiichiro sees it and takes it to wipe the rest of the alcohol out as Lettuce takes bold steps towards Pai. "We came to ask you about the blotch."

"No," Pai tells her.

Lettuce looks confused. "No?"

"For someone who, I can tell, looks like a bookworm, you already know what the blotch is, don't you? You only came to ask me about Yomotsuhirasaka."

Lettuce is surprise by how confident he is by just saying that name so boldly and so loud in a public area! She asks quickly and quieter, "How did you know that the blotch belongs in Yomotsuhirasaka?"

"Because when I arrived at Yomotsuhirasaka, my men decide to do a little treasure digging and that blotch was what I found."

"In Yomotsuhirasaka?"

"The very island."

"It's an island?"

"What did you think it was? A volcano?"

Lettuce's cheeks turn red from the shyness and she mutters, "Ah, n-no. I-It's just that no one has ever discovered it before. Yomotsuhirasaka is said to be a place where its location is unknown."

"Well my men discovered it," he tells her. "Every one of them died on that god forsaken island a day later."

"Then you are the only one who knows the location of Yomotsuhirasaka." Lettuce gets a little closer to him and pleads, "Can you please tell me where it is? The exact location, I mean."

Pai doesn't seem affected by her as he tells her, "If I tell you, you will forget it and if I write it down for you, you will clumsily lose it. The best course of action is for me to take you there, myself."

Lettuce's eyes widen in confusion instead of hurt from his words. Her shoulders rise up with excitement as she asks, "You mean you will take us to Yomotsuhirasaka?"

"Nope," he answers. Her shoulders relax as he explains, "I have no money and airfare is expensive. Not to forget train tickets, the cost of renting a boat, food, water, and supplies. Your efforts to go to Yomotsuhirasaka are very weak, lady." Lettuce looks a little hurt and discouraged when she heard that.

But then a white long rectangle gets in between both Lettuce and Pai. The white side faces Lettuce and she gasps in surprise of it. Pai's eyes only get a little wide for being startled by its sudden appearance. Keiichiro, the one holding the paper in front of Pai and Lettuce and with blood shot red eyes, asks, "Would this be enough?"

Pai accepts the long rectangle and Lettuce quickly goes behind him to look over his shoulder. Pai's eyes are now wide with surprise as Lettuce could hardly believe what she's seeing. The long piece of paper is a check. Keiichiro just gave Pai a check with a huge amount of money on it.

Lettuce asks Pai, "Can you please excuse me, mister?" Before Pai could say anything after he looked over his shoulder at the siblings, Lettuce takes Keiichiro's hand and pulls him away for a bit. Pai watches as Lettuce whispers to Keiichiro, "Keiichiro-nii, where did you get that money? No, wait! How did you get it and please don't tell me it was from gambling."

Keiichiro lets out a slow sigh and confesses, "Lettuce, I sold the café." She could not believe what she just heard. Judging by her silence, he decides to continue. "I had no choice. Some of our debts were way overdue and I was getting no customers because of how poorly the café looked. I couldn't ask for money from Dr. Shirogane again so I sold it. Making that decision is the reason why I went drinking last night. That check is the last remains of the money we have."

"But," Lettuce says slowly. Pai heard everything and he takes in what he's seeing as well. Lettuce looks sad by her brother's decision as she looks down at his chest. She rubs his arm and looks back up at him. "Keiichiro-nii."

"I accept."

Both Lettuce and Keiichiro look up and they see Pai folding the check in half. He asks, "You don't mind if I use some bit of this money to get a room and food for the night. I promise I'll only use that money after I buy what is needed to get to Yomotsuhirasaka. You also don't mind if I use the rest to also get a few more supplies, do you?"

Lettuce stares at him in surprise as Keiichiro answers, "Do what you want. The money is yours but use it only after you pay for what we need for the journey."

Pai answers dryly, "Of course. Tomorrow morning, go to the airport and check yourselves in. Your tickets will be under your name. Midorikawa, correct?" Keiichiro and Lettuce nod their heads.

Then Lettuce bows. "Thank you, mister." She grabs Keiichiro's arm and tells Pai, "Good day." Then she pulls him out of the bar. They have some packing to do. Pai watches them leave and his eyes remain on Lettuce as she disappears from sight.

"That girl didn't call you by what everyone else calls you," Mark notes, wiping a wet glass. "Did she?"

Pai looks back at him and answers, "No. No, she didn't."

"He's not coming. It's official, Lettuce," Keiichiro says. "We've been tricked."

Lettuce turns her eyes away from the descending passengers of the plane they just got off not too long ago and looks at her brother. She tries to defend, "But, he said he'll come."

Keiichiro turns to her and says, "Lettuce, he booked us in first class. He probably did that to fool us."

After making a deal with Pai, Lettuce and Keiichiro packed that night. They didn't say anything to Dr. Shirogane because he would tell them not to go and they don't want to anger him anymore than they already have. So in the morning, they left him a note of good bye and reassurance that they will return soon and in good health before leaving for the airport. Just like Pai said, their tickets were under their name and it was for first class. They were nervous about it at first since they've never been in first class before but what can they do about that. They flew from England to Japan and now they just exited out of the plane and are waiting for the one man who will lead them to Yomotsuhirasaka, if he shows up.

Lettuce adjusts her big round glasses and tells her brother, "Yes, I'm sure that he looked like a filthy, rude, scoundrel at first but I'm sure that he's probably a good man."

"Anyone I know?"

Both Keiichiro and Lettuce turn around, startled to hear Pai's voice but when they look at him, he looks very different than how he looked yesterday. Now he looks clean. He looks like he had a bath, the dirt gone from his fair white skin, his mustached and his beard shaved off, and his hair clean, cut, and fixed. Lettuce's cheeks turn red and she gasps in surprise from this new appearance. Instead of looking at Keiichiro, who was insulting him not too long ago, Pai's looking at Lettuce, waiting for an answer. But she's speechless. Pai looks…handsome. He has broad shoulders and strong muscles on his arms as he's holding his big, long bag over his shoulders. His chin appears to be hard and set, his neck looks tough but flexible. He has short greyish purple hair, complimenting the pale skin on his face but he has the weirdest hair style Lettuce has ever seen. The strands in front of his left ear are longer than the rest of his hair length, almost shoulder length and it's wrapped by a dull green bandage. What fascinate Lettuce most are his eyes, his dark purple eyes that appear hard and cold but there is also kindness deep inside them as he stares down upon her.

Lettuce could hardly speak when she looks at him. "O-Oh, aaa…" Hearing her, Keiichiro looks at her and he sees how red her cheeks are from the very sight of Pai. They're almost as red as a red delicious apple. Keiichiro raises a brow at that and a hint of anger sparks inside him. She finally greets, "H-H-Hel-llo, mister."

He greets back dryly, "Hello." Then Keiichiro cuts in.

"We were worried, you wouldn't make it," he tells him with a cheerful smile on his face with a happy expression. Pai eyed at him curiously as Lettuce tears her eyes away from Pai and to her brother. Wasn't he just doubting Pai showing up not too long ago?

Keiichiro grabs Pai's hand and shakes it. Pai only tells him, "When I made the arrangements, they told me that there were three seats available in first class. One of them was a single seat and it was the first row. I figured the two of you being siblings, you don't want to be separated."

"How very kind of you, Mumei," Keiichiro tells him, letting go of his hand. "I hope that the remains of your money were enough to pay for a room and some food last night."

"And for some more supplies that we'll be needing," Pai adds as he adjusts the bag on his back. "Since I was ahead of you, I went down to get my bag and yours as well." Both Keiichiro and Lettuce look down at his feet and they see two suitcases next to his legs; one lime green and the other brown. "I saw your name tags on the handles and got them for you. Since you both weren't down yet, I went up to look for you."

Lettuce looks back at him, her eyes full of surprise and amazement for this man. This was a big change. Yesterday, he was rude and filthy and now all clean up, he's a complete gentleman.

But apparently, Keiichiro is not convinced. "We appreciate your good manners, but there is something we must clear up first." Pai looks at him, waiting as Lettuce looks at her brother in surprise of his behavior. "You have to look at us in the eye and swear that you're telling the truth about Yomotsuhirasaka. Because I swear that you wi-"

"Before you make some threat I won't be scared of," Pai interrupts, "let me tell you this." Lettuce and Keiichiro look back at him, giving him their full attention. "My entire garrison was crazy about Yomotsuhirasaka, similar to you two and they lost their lives to find it. I'm damn sure I know where Yomotsuhirasaka is." After that, he turns around and walks away. "Now hurry or we'll miss our train."

Both Lettuce and Keiichiro look at each other before bending down to pick up their bags and rushing over to Pai's side.

Let the treasure hunt begin.