I make no money off of this work of fiction. One Piece is the work of Oda Eiichiro and Naruto is the work of Masashi Kishimoto.
Ninja Pirates
Chapter Thirty-five: City Gates
Luffy and the others were progressively, yet slowly, making their way up the leg. "It's so high," Usopp cried. "It's really scary!"
"Don't say that Usopp," Luffy looked back. "He's giving it his all." He had been referring to the dragon they were relying on to climb up the elephant's leg. Unfortunately the dragon lost it's grip at this point and they all started to fall.
Usopp started crying how it was the end. He latched onto Zoro's waist in his fright of falling. "YOU IDIOT!" Zoro yelled at him. "DON'T PULL ON ME!"
"YOU CAN DO IT!" Luffy cheered the dragon on.
"If we hit the ocean it'll be all over," Kin'emon stared at the fast approaching water. The dragon locked it's arms and doubled it's effort to slow their unexpected descent. The fall slowed and eventually stopped. However, the dragon only stopped once they were back to where they started. The smiling face of the Thousand Sunny greeted the members of it's crew.
Usopp cheered for the dragon's efforts and named it Ryunosuke. Zoro looked down at Usopp in anger with a fist at the ready. "JUST LET GO OF ME ALREADY!"
"This thing scared the crap out of me," Law sighed.
"I wish it could fly," Franky agreed.
"Is the dragon okay?" Kin'emon asked.
"What are you talking about?" Kanjuro asked in blissful ignorance. "You saw how he held on like that."
"You can do it Ryunosuke," Luffy pointed out. "Let's go!." His hands pumped into the air in his enthuthiasm. The dragon pumped itself up and got ready to start out again.
"We're right back where we started though," Law pointed out. Just like that Ryunosuke got a defeated look on his face.
After a short while Luffy held his hand to his eyes to see further ahead on the climb. The fog was so thick that he could barely see five feet in front of him. "I can't see Sanji and the others from here," he whined.
"Are we even sure that they're up there?" Zoro asked.
"We still haven't heard back from Reecheru and Merissa," Robin pointed out. "I can only assume that they haven't reached the top. Or they have reached the top, but were captured by the Minks to be served as tonight's dinner."
"DON'T SAY SCARY STUFF LIKE THAT!" Usopp yelled.
Reecheru and Merissa continued their journey up the leg of the elephant. "How tall is this freaking thing?" Merissa demanded. "It's not natural for a creature to possibly be this large."
"You could try to ask it," Reecheru teased. "Although, I'm not sure if it speaks any human language."
"You're so funny," Merissa drolled. "I forgot to laugh." The two paused in their upward trek when they spotted something falling towards them. "Think it's the first line of defense? Are they starting by throwing cannon balls or rocks at us?"
Reecheru had shifted to a defensive position and just stared. Her look of concentration turned into one of confusion as the object grew closer, and louder. "Unless inanimate objects learned to talk and how to be scared it's doubtful." Indeed, the thing falling seemed to be crying in terror as it fell. The closer it got, the more distinguished it's features.
"A...Monkey?" Merissa asked.
The two had been so stunned by this revelation that they hesitated in catching the falling creature. The monkey fell past them while flailing it's arms. Reecheru was about to jump and try a rescue when Merissa stopped her. "It's headed straight for the pink deformed dragon," she pointed out. "I'm sure the others will notice it and rescue it from almost certain death."
"Why was it falling though?" Reecheru asked. "Is that the Mink Tribe's way of execution?"
"Brutal," Merissa gave a shudder. "But no doubt effective. I'm sure we'll learn more once we reach the top." The two then continued their climb up the elephant leg.
"Come to think of it," Luffy hummed in thought. "Kin'emon, Kanjuro. Why did you want to go to Zou?"
"Well we do owe you people a lot," Kin'emon started. "We'll eventually tell you everything, but right now we need to feel safe."
"Zou has always been our goal since setting out from Wano," Kanjuro added. "First of all, we want to see if Momonosuke is safe. Then we need to see if our friend that we were separated from, Riazo a ninja, has made it here as well."
All the men on the dragon snapped their heads to look at the two. "A NINJA?!" They all asked in astonishment. "Is he really a ninja?" Luffy asked in wonder.
"What?" Robin looked at them in confusion.
"A ninja," Luffy looked serious for an instant. Stars suddenly appeared in his eyes. "I want to meet him."
"I want to see shuriken," Zoro agreed.
"Does he mediate under a waterfall?" Usopp asked.
"Can he use supernatural ninja abilities?" Law voiced his own question.
"How about being able to disappear in an instant?" Franky added.
"What are you guys..." Robin looked at all of them in confusion. "You do realize that Reecheru and Merissa are also ninja?"
Luffy got a pout on his face. "They don't show their cool moves any time I ask them. They say 'mainly defense' or something like that."
"He can do all those things," Kin'emon interrupted.
Luffy's attention turned back to anticipated happiness. "What kind of things can he do?"
Kanjuro got a joking smile on his face. "He can see really far away. Ninpo: Telescopic Technique!" He demonstrated by forming his hands to look like glasses and put them over Kin'emon's eyes. The men on the dragon exclaimed their wonder while Kin'emon snapped at Kanjuro about speaking nonsense. Luffy looked disappointed again, but before anything else could be said a noise drew Robin's attention.
"What?" She narrowed her eyes as she looked up. "Look Luffy, there's something falling right for us." Everyone's attention was right back towards the front.
From the sky a black spot was getting larger and larger. As it got closer they could see flailing limbs. Luffy was the most surprised. The object was making a chattering noise as it fell. Luffy mimicked the noise in confusion.
Clueless to the change in topic, Kanjuro agreed that a ninja uses a rhythmic sound when running. He kept joking around, however, and blinded Kin'emon with his hands. Those in front weren't paying them attention as they ducked out of the way of the falling creature. Not being able to see what was coming towards them, Kin'emon and Kanjuro were hit squarely by it. This caused the three of them to fall off of Ryunosuke.
"They fell off!" Luffy freaked out.
"What kind of thing just fell at us!?" Usopp demanded.
"I don't know," Robin said seriously. "I believe it was a bloody person with knives sticking out all over. Possibly a message from Reecheru and Merissa." She paused for dramatic effect. It worked as the three in front of her freaked out. "Or it could have been just a monkey." Usopp snapped at her for scaring him.
Luffy and Usopp started calling out to them to see if they were alright. After a moment Kin'emon responded and said they were fine. Kin'emon then urged them to keep going and they would catch up. Luffy started to refuse and began to tell Ryunosuke to turn around. Everyone paused when they noticed how hard and stressed the dragon looked due to the climb. "How can we ask him to turn around?" they all thought.
"It seems he wants to finish his job as soon as possible," Zoro reasoned.
Reecheru and Merissa were almost to the top. Reecheru paused again to look back. "What is it now?" Merissa asked.
"Can you hear shouting?" Reecheru asked instead. Merissa quieted and listened for what had drawn her friend's attention. Indeed they could hear shouting from below. "It sounds like someone might have fallen back down."
The two were so far ahead that they couldn't determine what was said. Only two voices were distinguishable. "One is Luffy," Merissa pointed out. "The other voice, it's much further away. It almost sounds like..."
"Byakugan," Reecheru activated her blood-limit. "Kin'emon and Kanjuro are back on the Sunny," she reported. "It looks like that monkey is with them too."
"Perhaps it collided with them and caused them to fall," Merissa hypothisized. "What are the others doing?"
"They're looking at the pink thing with concern," Reecheru continued to stare. "Although, the drawing looks like it's seen better days. The poor thing looks about ready to pass out from exhaustion."
"Do you think we should turn back?" Merissa asked.
Reecheru closed her eyes and allowed them to go back to normal. "That would be pointless," she shook her head. She looked back towards the top. "We don't have that much further to go. Plus, we promised to secure an area for the others. They don't have the same stealth and recon training we do. I want to be able to report our initial findings to Robin when they catch up."
"Why not Luffy?" Merissa asked. "He is the captain." Reecheru's only response was to stare blankly at her friend. "Point made. But it brings up another question. Isn't Zoro the first-mate? If not the captain shouldn't you report to him?"
A blush adorned Reecheru's cheeks and she looked away. "I don't want to seem too eager when talking to him."
"You two shed blood together," Merissa pointed out. "I think it's past the time for being shy."
"I'm not being shy," Reecheru denied. "I don't like being teased. Which is exactly what you and Franky will do if I report to Zoro. You'll say I look like a puppy that's eager to please it's master and get a treat."
"Well I would now," Merissa laughed. "Plus you can't deny there isn't some truth to you wanting a 'treat'."
"Shut up."
The two raced the last length towards the top. They jumped past the edge and landed on even "ground" in a crouch, ready to defend themselves. The two froze in shock at the sight. "I don't believe this," Merissa whispered.
In front of them was what appeared to be large city gates. However, the gates looked broken and forced open. The two glanced at each other and moved forward as they stayed close to the shadows. When they were close enough they leapt into the trees and used them to get over the wall instead of going through the gates. It was an extra precaution they weren't sure they needed, but it was ingrained in their survival instincts to blend into the environment.
When they were close enough to the city they stopped. In the distance was nothing except the forest, that looked liked it had seen better days, and a ruined city. Doing some hand signs, Reecheru made a few clones of herself. They scattered instantly and started investigating the area. Reecheru was no exception as Merissa suddenly found herself alone on the branch. She kept watch for hostiles by activating her Sharingan.
Reecheru and her clones moved through the city. Finding evidence of a recent and fierce battle. She regrouped back with Merissa after dismissing her clones. "No signs of life in the city or forest. Let's get back to the edge," she said. "I'll summon Seelai do get a bird's view from the gates." Merissa agreed, not liking the lack of people in the area.
Once they returned to the front of the gates Reecheru immediately summoned Seelai. Once the bird was in the sky she sat and began to meditate. Her eyes snapped open with the Byakugan active. Merissa waved her hand in front of Reecheru. The lack of reaction proved that Reecheru was unaware of how close she was, as she was now connected to her ninja bird. This technique allowed Reecheru to see everything that Seelai did.
After one final scare on Luffy's part, nearly causing Ryunosuke to fall off the leg, the remaining Straw Hats and Law were close to the top. The sun was just peaking over the horizon when the sound of chanting drew the attention of the watchful woman. "Who in the hell is Ryunosuke?" Merissa asked. The top of the dragon started to pop from the side of the elephant. Luffy had his hands thrown up into the air in victory.
When the dragon stopped moving everyone was instantly off it's back. "We made it!" Luffy cheered.
"We made it to the top!" Usopp clarified.
For some reason Merissa couldn't fathom why Franky was crying as he congratulated an exhausted pink dragon. Amidst the cheering Robin stayed close to the dragon and talked quietly with it. She was the first to notice it was turning into a drawing once more. Usopp turned back to thank the dragon only to yell out the same thing. He, Luffy and Franky joined Robin as they cried for the loss of their new friend. They started yelling off the edge of the elephant.
Merissa could only raise an eyebrow at their antics. "It was never a real creature to begin with," she said under her breath.
"This is absurd," Law stated.
"It was just a bad drawing anyway," Zoro chastised. Usopp started yelling about him being uncaring. "We're in enemy territory," Zoro pointed out. "Never look back." Usopp admitted that he had a point. "Pay attention to your surroundings." This brought Usopp and Luffy to the present and noticed what Zoro was talking about.
Zoro had crouched down in front of Reecheru, who remained unmoving. Behind her was a broken gate to the city. Zoro looked up towards Merissa. "What's going on?" he asked.
"That's what we're trying to find out," Merissa glanced to the gates. "We went in a little ways for clues. There was a huge battle that took place not long ago. Only a few days if you were to ask me. The damage is recent and there's still a taint of blood spilt in the air."
"What's Reecheru-ya doing?" Law asked.
"She's connected to Seelai," Merissa explained.
"What's that mean?" Luffy asked.
"She sent Seelai to scout ahead with a bird view," Merissa went into detail. "She then connected to him so she can see what he does. Anything that he sees, she can as well. Her eyes may be open here, but she's not seeing us."
Reecheru scared everyone by letting out a gasp of air and falling down onto her hands. "Oi, oi!" Zoro shouted.
"Does she usually hold her breath?" Franky asked.
"Don't be stupid," Merissa snapped. "Obviously she saw something that startled her out of the technique." Sweat was coming off of Reecheru as she took in gulps of air to calm herself. She vaguely felt someone placing their hand on her back.
Luffy, tired of waiting, rushed forward. "I found a good spot," he declared. Using his abilities he stretched his arms up and pulled himself to the top of the watch tower attached to the gate. Usopp was calling out for him to wait. Instead of doing what he said Luffy called Usopp to come up and see the view. Usopp rushed to begin his own climb to the top.
Once Usopp joined the two marvelled at how there was a country on top of the elephant. "It's like an island," Usopp said in amazement. He lowered his goggles to get a closer view of everything. "But that town is sort of..." Luffy didn't wait to hear what he had to say. He jumped over the edge and into the trees below. Usopp called down to the others that Luffy jumped ahead.
"I knew he would do that," Zoro said in a bored tone. "Any sign of curly brows?" Usopp took another look and replied in the negative. A hand gripping his shirt drew Zoro's attention back to Reecheru. She was using him to stabilize herself as she stood. The two climbed back onto their feet. As soon as Reecheru was steady Seelai landed on her shoulder and started nuzzling her cheek almost as if in apology. It's small body was hunched in what could only be described as a sad manner. "What happened?" Zoro asked.
Reecheru's gaze snapped to him as if she suddenly just realized he was there and holding her steady. She didn't get a chance to comment, however, when Merissa was suddenly in her face. "What exactly did you see?" she asked. Death was part of the job description. What had been so bad that it would freak out a veteran ninja?
"It's better if I show you," Reecheru shook her head. "Besides, I'd rather not go into detail if I can avoid it." She turned to look at the gates. "Either way, the coast is clear of anything for a distance. As far as Seelai could see, at any rate. We should be relatively unhindered as we press forward." After checking to see that Reecheru would be fine on her own, Zoro took point and passed the gates.
"I don't see why Luffy jumped," Franky spoke. "The gate is open."
"No," Law disagreed. "The gates aren't open. Something broke them down."
"Not to mention this path," Zoro said with a smirk. "It's too wide to be an animal trail." The smirk he wore said he was looking foward to a fight.
"Blood thirsty lot we joined," Merissa teased.
"This is some pretty serious destruction," Franky looked stunned. "And it's still fresh. Are the others going to be okay?" Robin pressed a hand to a stone in examination. Bits of it immediately fell off.
"Did either of you see what did this?" Law asked the two women.
Reecheru and Merissa shook their heads. "It's deserted," Reecheru supplied. "That or the inhabitants are better at hiding then expected."
"That's not to say," Merissa put in. "That we checked everywhere. We're only two people and this is still a pretty large area. Full of a jungle forest I might add. It's impossible for us to see everything that's going on."
"Let's proceed with caution," Zoro said. The smirk on his face grew larger as he readied Wado.
"Caution isn't exactly the word I would use for that look on your face," Reecheru sighed. "It looks like you're anxious for a fight." Usopp's yelling behind her went ignored.
As they progressed the group noticed the odd texture of the ground. "It's hard to walk," Zoro noted. Law had passed him and was leading at this point.
"It's elephant skin," Law explained. Usopp was walking backwards with his slingshot loaded and ready.
"The flowers are growing strangely," Robin noted.
"It would make sense," Reecheru agreed. "Elephant skin isn't exactly dirt. Plant life can't easily attach to it. Especially the kind that has a delicate root system. But it does make for some pretty scenery." They continued to move towards the town, unaware of being watched.
"I wonder what happened here," Franky spoke. "I can still smell the odor of gun powder and... gas, can you?" Usopp began shaking and muttering about being scared and waiting to relax somewhere peaceful.
The group suddenly stopped in their tracks. Law and Zoro readied their swords while Reecheru and Merissa pulled out kunai. "What is it?" Usopp started freaking out. "Do you see something?"
Zoro was the first to pinpoint the location of the hostile intent. "I got this," he announced. As he stepped forward a person rushed out of the trees towards them. Zoro blocked her first strike only to be shocked that she seemingly jumped in mid air and somersaulted over him. She came down to strike at him again. Zoro's block was strong, but he noticed something strange in her attack. "What is up with that weapon? I felt a shock coming from it."
The attack stopped when shouting could be heard. "WAIT! STOP CARROT!" Another female voice came from the trees. The attacker, Carrot, went from aggressive to confused in an instant. The trees began snapping and a giant alligator came at them from the side. Usopp was once again the first to shout in fright. "Forget about them," a dog woman on the alligator's back called down. "More importantly we have an intruder in the whale forest." Law announced that these were members of the Mink Tribe.
The one that had initially attacked them, a rabbit girl that was ironically named Carrot, landed a few feet from Zoro. She straightened up and looked a little worried towards the dog woman still on the giant alligator. "We have an intruder in Whale Forest!?" she asked.
"Yes," the woman answered. "We're in trouble. The Guardians will be mad." The two seemed to forget about the group that were close by.
"Just a minute!" Usopp called out. "Those clothes that you're wearing! Where did you get them? They belong to a friend of ours! What did you do to Nami!?"
"Are they a cannibal tribe?" Robin asked quietly.
"It's doubtful," Merissa spoke back. "Aside from the fact that they would have to be human to actually be cannibals for eating Nami."
"STOP SAYING SUCH SCARY THINGS!" Usopp snapped at them.
Continuing to ignore the group, Carrot leapt into the air. "Look how high she's going," Franky exclaimed. "Do all of the Mink Tribe have that ability?"
"I would think not," Law stated. "That particular Mink looked like a rabbit. A creature that is well known for jumping great distances because of it's hind legs."
"It makes sense if you think like that," Merissa agreed. "A rabbit Mink would most likely be able to jump further, or in this case, higher than any other."
"How is it? Can you see anything Carrot?" The unnamed Mink yelled up to the rabbit.
There was silence for a few seconds. "I do! It may already be too late." Carrot called back down. "There's a disturbance in the distance in the Whale Forest. On the other side of Karau City."
"I thought so, let's go Warney." The Canine Mink pulled on the reins of the alligator. "Get on Carrot!" The other shouted out their agreement. The Canine then turned to the humans gathered around the alligator. "We don't have time to transport you-teia people. Do as I say!" Zoro and Law looked a little affronted by the order given. The woman continued on without pause. "Go through the Right Rump Forest on your right and turn left at a deep, dark swamp. You'll reach the Rightflank Forest. You'll find the corpse of your-teia friend there."
Usopp's eyes bugged out at her words. "C-corpse!?" Everyone around now had expressions of shocked horror on their faces. Reecheru's hands tightened around her kunai as she trembled. She grit her teeth and glared down at the path.
"Wait at the Rightflank Forest," the woman pressed on. Carrot landed behind her and the alligator started moving away. "We'll be there later." The alligator picked up speed.
Usopp fell to his knees. "You've got to be kidding," he begged. "Please tell me that you're kidding!" He then started wailing loudly when it was obvious his plea would go unanswered. "I can't believe they were killed!"
"She said that there was a corpse," Robin stated logically. "Which means that they were not cannibalized."
"That's not the problem here," Usopp cried.
"I still say they can't be cannibals if they're not human," Merissa crossed her arms.
"Will you all listen to me!?" Usopp snapped.
"Calm down," Zoro looked at Usopp. "Old 'Spiral Eyebrows' was with them. Which means that he won't let anyone get killed."
"That's right," Franky agreed. "They won't be killed that easily. This must be a trick to make us submissive."
"Reecheru," Robin called out suddenly. Everyone turned to see that the woman was shaking violently. Her knuckles were white with as hard as she was gripping the kunai. "What's wrong, Reecheru?"
Taking in a shakey breath, she forced herself to stop shaking. It wasn't as easy as it normally was. "A corpse," she finally whispered. "It's just that..." She stopped as she seemed to think over what she wanted to say next.
"Is it about earlier?" Merissa asked. Her question caused everyone to remember what had happened to Reecheru before they passed through the gates.
Reecheru nodded her head as she worked up the ability to talk again. "Before we follow her direcitons," she started. "There's a place I need to show you. It's on the far side of the city."
"Are you sure we should go there?" Franky asked. "They seem to attack first, question later."
"If we should or not," Reecheru looked at him. "I need to get a closer look. It's something that I need to look into."
"She's right," Robin pointed out. "What we need is information. Are they the only tribe on this island? Is there really cannibalism involved?"
"Why are you obsessed with them being cannibals!?" Usopp snapped. "How can you all be so calm about this? You heard what she said. 'Corpse'!"
"Tra," Robin called out as she ignored Usopp. "You said that your friends were on this island."
"Yeah," Law confirmed.
"Do you have a way to contact them?"
"No, I didn't even expect to see them again." Law's eyes widened and he started to dig inside one of his pockets. "I forgot that I had this." He pulled out a small piece of paper. "A vivre card, it belongs to our navigator Bepo."
"That's right," Usopp got excited. "You had a talking Polar Bear in your crew, didn't you?"
"He had a talking what?" Merissa asked.
"This is where he came from," Law continued. He held his hand out in front of him with the palm up. In the center of his hand was the ripped card. It started moving in one direction. "But he didn't remember much of this land. He left the island when he was still little."
"Can we trust him?" Usopp looked fearful. "For instance, just for instance, he might become aware of his instincts as a member of a cannibal tribe."
"You have a wild imagination," Franky stated.
"Now who's obsessed with cannibalism," Merissa rolled her eyes.
Law turned back to look at everyone. His eyes were narrowed on Usopp. "I've known him for a decade," he said. "We can trust him. If you want reliable information, let's head straight." He turned back and started walking.
"I got a look from up there before," Usopp said. "If we go straight then we'll head right into the town."
Reecheru started following Law without anyone else moving. "I wanted to go that way in the first place," she reminded. "That place will answer some of our questions. But, it will also add a few more."
"We don't know what will be there," Usopp whined. "Will we be alright?" Everyone else started to follow after Law.
"The cannibal tribe might be there," Robin stated with a straight face. This caused Usopp to scream in terror.
Merissa leaned in close to Robin. "Sometimes I think you just say those things to get a reaction out of him," she teased. A small smirk was the only answer she got.
Zoro walked up next to Usopp. "It's better than going along with the unknown animal," he smiled. He then walked forward to catch up, leaving Usopp behind. Now resigned, Usopp's shoulders slumped in defeat as he followed after everyone.
After walking for a distance they finally arrived to the city. The buildings were all crumbling and falling apart despite looking relatively new. "I guess this place really was attacked," Robin looked around. "This city looks like it could house several hundred thousand, but there's not a single person around."
"Let's get out of here," Usopp cried. "We'll find Sanji and the rest then leave. It's really dangerous here!"
His cries went ignored as everyone scattered about to do some investigating. Robin entered one of the houses off the street. Even though a portion of the wall had been blown off, she still entered through the door. Merissa had watched with a raised eyebrow, wondering if that was an archeologist thing to show respect to the previous tennants or if it was just Robin's thing. She came back out of the building. Merissa and Usopp were the only ones that hadn't wandered too far. Usopp was pacing back and forth, worried that the enemy was still around and would get them.
"There's evidence that people were living here until recently," Robin told Merissa. "There are signs that the destruction was recent as well." Merissa nodded in understanding, that confirmed what everyone had suspected upon seeing the gates to the island. She watched Law as he looked into buildings a distance away. He had a severe expression on his face. With so much happening, she really hadn't had a chance to discuss what was happening between the two of them. Now that they're potentially entering another dangerous situation, she didn't think they would have an opportunity to discuss it for some time to come.
Reecheru walked through the streets with determination. She had to get to the place that Seelai had spotted. Zoro was following close behind, but he paused briefly every now and then to look at the destruction. He was quick catch up to her right after. It wasn't before long that Reecheru came to the place she wanted to avoid, but needed to investigate at the same time. Several wooden steaks were stuck into the ground. They took the shape of the letter x with another pole going through the middle. There were nine crosses in total. Two were extremely large. All of them shared two things in common. Manacles were secured on each end of the crosses and they were covered in blood. "Was this a place for torture?" Zoro asked.
"This is the place," Reecheru quietly pointed out. "The ground is soaked with blood. Judging by the amount and considering how much the average body contains it was more than that. Those responsible for this allowed their victims to heal to a certain degree before beginning the torture again. Who ever was shackled here endured pain beyond measure." Zoro glanced at Reecheru and noticed she was shaking again. Her stiffness spoke that it wasn't fear that had her trembling, it was anger. She was furious over the evidence of torture. One could only imagine what she would do if she ever witnessed it, let alone got her hands on the actual person responsible.
Zoro put his hand on Reecheru's shoulder. Her shaking stopped as she looked up at him. The look he gave caused her to give a small smile. While he didn't hold as much empathy as she did, he certainly wouldn't turn a blind eye to such a heinous act. There were just some lines that you didn't cross.
"Oi," Law called out to everyone. "Come and see this." The Straw Hats began to gather around the captain of the Heart Pirates. He was staring down at a large impression in the skin of the giant elephant. "It's a large footprint," he explained.
"Do you think it's another elephant?" Franky asked.
"This city is dangerous," Usopp came running up. "We'll find Sanji and the oth... AAAAHHHH! WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!?" He finally noticed the footprint in front of him.
"Did some monsters and beasts attack the Minks country?" Law asked. "But it might be an internal discord, looking at those claw marks."
"One thing is certain," Robin walked up. "This country was suddenly ruined one or two weeks ago." Everyone was now looking at her instead of the footprint. All trying to see if she was being serious. However, this was Robin and she was always serious when it came to history. It didn't matter if it was hundreds of years ago or yesterday.
"Then that means that Sanji and the others..." Usopp began to tremble in fright. "Were involved in the whole thing?" Before anyone else could voice their opinion the island began to shake. "WHAT IS IT THIS TIME!?" Usopp was once again crying out in fright.