CHAPTER 7 - Flight of the Bamboo Cutter: Lunatic Pirate
"Doflamingo? Who's he?" Marisa wondered.
Eustass Kid took out a newspaper from his trouser pockets, dropping onto her hand.
"The glasses match." Marisa agreed, observing Doflamingo's photo on the front page.
"Let me see." Reimu rushed in.
Eirin and Yukari continued to listen to Kid and Zoro's conversation.
"What the hell?" Zoro bellowed.
"I found those outside the blonde kid's home." Kid said, looking at Marisa.
"Big bro, who's this man?" Marisa asked.
Kid took off his coat, revealing his recent injuries. Marisa and Eirin were responsible for Kid's treatment after he had arrived in Gensokyo, leaving Yukari and Reimu astonished to discover the gruesome wounds.
"Half the wounds around the right side of my torso were inflicted by him." Kid said, "He was the one who had almost torn off my remaining arm."
Marisa and Eirin began to understand the weight of the former-Warlord.
Marisa read the article getting to know that the man-at-large had been a King of a nation. The text mentioned it took a lot of effort to bring down Doflamingo and his association.
"It makes sense that he might be here." Zoro said.
"How so?" Yukari asked.
"I met him a while back at that incident written in that newspaper."
"Whoa! Roronoa Zoro. Bounty - 320 Million Berries. That's you right?" Marisa observed in the newspaper.
"Doflamingo is a sadist who had almost wiped out an entire nation. That man stops at nothing as long as he gets his goal." Zoro said, "I don't know what he has got against Gensokyo or any of you people, but since Eirin had mentioned that her Princess boss is capable of dropping the Moon, I may make a fair guess that Doflamingo might be behind her disappearance."
"No way!" Eirin bellowed.
"I agree." Kid nodded, "But it doubts me to think that Doflamingo, a former-Warlord would go to the extent of kidnapping a woman. Considering his demeanour, I can guess that the Moon-lady is already dead."
"What?" Marisa was shocked. But she remembered the article relating Doflamingo. It didn't seem impossible that Kaguya Houraisan was done for.
"That man will pay!" Eirin yelled. Tears fell down her eyes.
"We must do something." Marisa urged.
"Damn it! Doflamingo out here is no good news." Zoro winced.
"Tell me, is there any way someone's controlling that Moon right now?" Kid asked.
"Since I am here, the only one capable of controlling it is the Princess! I've told you before!" Eirin bellowed in frustration.
"Is there a place to control the fall?"
"Wait, what are you asking?" Yukari asked.
"My guts tell me, she's somewhere up there." Eustass Kid pointed at the sky, "Since, no one found her all this time, the only possible places she could be are the underground or the sky. Or maybe, she had left for the outside from where Roronoa and I had come from."
"No way. She wouldn't return back to the Moon." Eirin argued.
"Is there any way to get up there?" Zoro asked in prompt.
"The Eientei Mansion." Reimu said, looking back.
"She gave her word! She can't return back!" Eirin continued to argue. Being in shock from the possibilities, she was turning irrational.
"Maybe the red-haired man is right." Yukari said, "She might've been forced by this man, Doflamingo, to bring in destruction out here. I believe that's what Zoro had described, and I guess the same thing is described in the newspaper."
"This man is brutal." Marisa showed them the front page.
"Alright, who knows the way?" Zoro demanded.
"I'll lead." Eirin replied, calming down.
"You coming in your wrecked condition?" Zoro asked Kid.
"Hell if I'd pass this opportunity. That bastard is going to pay." Kid replied.
"Damn straight." Eirin agreed.
"I'll come as well." Marisa mentioned, "We need to stop the Moon at all cost."
"If we are choosing, I'd stay here and hold the Moon from the ground." Yukari said, "And besides, we need more help to aid the situation."
"Leave that to me. I'll check in on the others." Reimu mentioned.
"Reimu, I hope you not taking this chance to slack off." Marisa remarked.
"Of course not. My shrine's in danger from the falling Moon. I'll be right with you all, once I bring in the others." Reimu replied.
"We won't be needing your aid. That pirate is going to die tonight, by my hands." Kid barked.
"Very well. I shall begin." Yukari raised her arms and enforced her magic against the falling Moon.
"Eirin, open the door." Marisa mentioned.
Eirin went ahead opened the entrance to their new destination.
Zoro drew his Kitetsu and Shusui, getting ready for anything. Kid gathered in all sorts of metals using his Devil Fruit ability. All stored metallic items inside the Eientei merged onto his missing left arm.
"Hey, those are ours." Eirin complained.
"Shut up and lead the way." Kid retorted.
"Let's go." Zoro said.
He moved ahead with the others through the hallway, connecting the ground to the Moon.
TO BE CONTINUED...