Chapter 221: Solving the Mystery

The three watched and heard as Luffy caused trouble. It was clear that Luffy had no idea what he was doing.

"IS anyone else surprised by the noise?" asked Nami.

"No…" answered Naruto and Hinata.

After a while Luffy came back out.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" asked Hinata as they ran away.

"I'm sure." Said Naruto.

"Are you sure you can hide?" asked Nami.

Naruto turned into a girl.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine." Said the girl turned Naruto.

"Good luck." Said Luffy.

The transformed Naruto nodded then jumped off a building.

Meanwhile with the group that stayed behind at the hotel were ducking inside of an alleyway.

"Looks like this is the reason why they're chasing us." Said Sasuke holding up a newspaper.

"Seriously?" asked Kiba.

"This is bad." Said Isaribi.

"We should find the others." Said Zoro.

Back with Sanji's group they continued their search.

They tried to ask around but it didn't help due to the fact that Robin tried to kill Iceberg.

"You really don't think she tried to kill him?" asked Naruto's clone, much like the real Naruto he was unsure about it.

"Let's just figure that out later." Said Sakura.

That was when Chopper froze.

"What is it?" asked Ino.

They saw what he was looking at, it was Robin on the other side of a canal.

"Robin!" they all called out.

"Robin! I've been worried about you!" called out Sanji, "I mean the whole crew!"

"Just stay there." Said Naruto's clone, "We'll find a way over…"

"Wait!" yelled Robin, "I'm not coming back to the crew!"

"What?" asked Sanji.

Robin looked at Naruto's clone, she figured it was another clone so she knew it didn't know the other conversation.

"This is where we part ways." Said Robin.

"What?" asked Sakura.

"IS this what happened at the mayor's place?" asked Ino.

"I don't belie any of it." Said Naruto.

"Pirates get fairly accused of things all the time." Said Sanji.

"Yeah…" said Naruto's clone.

"I'm sorry but I was the one at the mayor's house last night." Said Robin, "I apologize for what happened and I shouldn't have let you get mixed up in this."

They all froze when she said that.

"You couldn't have… I mean with the 4th Hokage." Said Naruto's clone.

"I already heard enough of that from a clone today." Said Robin.

An arm appeared from behind the clone, it pulled the clone's arm so hard he went poof.

"There is a darkness in me that you and the crew does not know about… a darkness that will destroy you one day."

They all began to think back to what Aokiji said.

"Actually it's convenient that you're to blame." Said Robin, "It will make my escape easier."

"What!" said Sakura, "How dare you say that!"

"Is that that all… I mean…" Sanji couldn't even fully complete a sentence.

"You don't need to know." Said Robin.

"I don't understand." Said Sanji.

"Please don't leave!" cried Chopper, "Come back to us!"

"Things will only get worse from here on out." She said, "We haven't known each other for long, however will never see each other again. Please give the message to others for me."

"Robin you don't have to do this!" yelled Sakura.

"I didn't' deserve it, but thank you… you were all so kind to me." Sighed Robin, "Good bye."

Robin began to walk away.

"Wait!" yelled Sanji diving in to follow her.

"Mind Mind Possess!" called out Ino, however Robin managed to dodge Ino's attack.

Thanks to these two factors they lost her.

About 10 minutes later Ino woke up.

"That was stupid." Said Sakura.

"Who asked you?" asked Ino.

"Sanji was drying out his clothes.

"Hey you three, go find Luffy." Said Sanji, "Tell him what happened and don't leave out a single thing."

"What about you?" asked Ino.

"I'm going to search on my own." Said Sanji, "Don't worry about me… I won't do anything rash."

Elsewhere the town's people were searching for the straw hats, somehow missing a huge thing of sand below a bridge.

In that big thing of sand was the other two groups which merged into one, although Isaribi was outside on watch below the water.

"It's a little cramped." Said Kiba.

"Worry it's fine…" said Luffy.

"Unless Gaara decides to kill us." Said Sasuke.

"I won't." muttered Gaara.

Outside of the mound, Isaribi watched the brigade and cannel. That was when she saw Chopper, Sakura and Ino. She poked her head out of the water.

"Are you wearing your clothes?" asked Ino.

"We are having a crisis right now, fashion isn't a problem." Said Isaribi.

That was sand retreat enough for someone to poke their head out.

"Oh it's you." Said Luffy.

They managed to get out of the sand mound on top of a roof where they all talked.

"How did you find us?" asked Luffy.

"Chopper used his sense of smell to find you." Said Sakura.

"It wasn't much…" said Chopper.

"We need to exchanged information." Gaara.

"What do you mean?" asked Luffy.

"He has a point…" sighed Ino.

They told them about their run in with Robin… as well as Sanji and Naruto going on their own searches.

"Of course Naruto would do his own search." Said Sakura.

"So that's all she said?" asked Nami.

"Yeah…" said Ino, "I shouldn't have called out my attack."

"That would have saved you 10 minutes." Said Luffy.

"No to mentioned restrain her so we could get her back." Said Isaribi.

"Will you please shut up about it." Said Ino.

"What is she going to do?" asked Sakura.

"She's going to make things worse." Said Gaara.

"We need to set things straight." Saud Zoro.

"What do you mean?" asked Kiba.

"When Robin first joined she was our enemy." Said Zoro.

"So was I." said Gaara.

"And myself." Said Isaribi.

"And let's not forget that thing with Sasuke…" said Kiba.

"That was long after I joined." Muttered Sasuke glaring at him.

"Yeah but you has serious issues both of you dealt with." Said Zoro.

"Okay… you have a point." Said Isaribi.

"Regardless, if she suddenly frightened and ran off because of it I would feel right. However we have to settle this… is she friend or foe?" asked Zoro.

"We have to plan this out carefully though." Said Sasuke.

"If they see us at the scene they're assume we're the enemies." Said Gaara.

"It was that man in the mask." Said Luffy.

"He might be forcing her to things." Said Ino.

"That's the best case scenario." Said Zoro, "The worst case is that they're working together."

"ALL RIGHT!" yelled Luffy, "We're going to the mayor's house the cat Robin and make her tell us everything!"

"Are sure that's a good idea." Said Isaribi.

"We won't be able to figure anything out if we just sit here and talk." Said Luffy.

"I think they mean you can't hide very well." Said Nami.

"That doesn't matter!" said Luffy, "We have to find out why she's doing this! We have to find her catch here and see why she's doing this. She might be doing weird things right now but she's still our crew mate."

"I agree with Luffy." Saud Sasuke.

They all stared Sasuke.

"Okay who are you! And what have you done with Sasuke!" yelled Kiba.

"Did you already forget what happened?" asked Sasuke, "I did things I regret… And you all still came back for me…"

"He's right." Sighed Zoro.

"All right! Let's go!" yelled Luffy.

They didn't know what they were dealing with but what it was going to change things forever… whether they liked it or not…

Next Time: The crew stake out the place unfortunately Luffy runs off and the crew goes to confront the house... will they be able to fight off the shipwrights that gathered... considered who's in the crew more than likely...