Author's Note

This will be the first of seven chapters that will be a part of a midseason finale story arc special for Season 3 which would act as the conclusion for Part 1 of Season 3 as it would be split into two parts this time. While it would lead to 75 chapters, expect there to be more review episodes for the season's Part 2 before the ultimate third season finale arc later on to catch up with its episode count. The arc will be loosely based on the Channel Awesome movie Suburban Knights (like how the Season 2 finale was loosely based on Kickassia) while having themes to such movies like the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. But unlike the second season finale, there will be no movie reviews associated in this story arc and in the season finale later on in the third season.

P.S.: As a reminder, most of the characters that guest starred in the second season will return along with the characters introduced in the third season along with introducing characters from other shows in this story arc that may/will appear onward throughout the story and have their own spinoffs in the future.

P.S.S.: Takes place after the events of the last chapter. There will be a prologue before the rest of the chapter taking place in present time which teases the characters that will appear in this story arc and onward for more chapters and spinoff stories set in The Critique Universe.

P.S.S.S.: Sorry for the long wait again. While some of those reasons were because I saw the Oscars lately (heard about that slap), played the new Kirby game and watched some new movies like The Batman, Turning Red and Sonic the Hedgehog 2 while doing some stuff that had me busy lately, another reason was due to the chapter's long length. Won't stop me from making more of this story, I promise you.


THE KINGDOM OF CREMONA
NOVEMBER 27, 2020
12:37 AM

There was an awful storm that night on the open shores of the modern civilized archipelago known as the Kingdom of Cremona. Lightning flashed in the sky, thunder roared, rain was falling and both the waves and winds were strong.

As a truck on the countryside was heading on its way to the nearest town, the driver noticed something far out on the ocean.

Lightning striked again as a faint image of an ironclad submarine heading to the shoreline was seen.

Aware by this, the driver simply came out of the vehicle, shielding himself from the rain and trying to get a clear view.

His eyes grew wide as he noticed the unidentified transport sub approaching the archipelago...


STELLA DEL MATTINO (MORNING STAR)

"AH!"

The sound of the crashing thunder from the storm outside suddenly woke up a particularly female Royal Investigative Service detective with shoulder-length black hair and brown eyes in her home (where her family members also run a violin shop named Stella Del Mattino (Morning Star) at the residence).

As this caused her to fall from her bed, and almost around the same time as she groaned in pain, her phone was ringing. Getting up, she soon grabbed the phone and picked up the call.

"Lily. There's a strange occurrence over at the shoreline... The other detectives and I will be coming over to the scene. Please hurry up and come over here!", the voice on the other end, which she recognized as Boris Meyer, urgently said.

Lily replied, "Yes! Of course!", understood before hanging up; she then hurries and starts dressing up in her R.I.S. uniform while muttering, "There's a storm going on outside and at this time of night, I have to head down and see what's going on. I'm going to be in so much trouble."

Finally, she puts on her red R.I.S. uniform with blue pants and black-blue boots, and puts on a clear rain jacket to protect herself from the rain.

Heading out with her ID card (which her name was revealed to be Lily Hoshina) along with her keys, she closes the door to her home and heads down to her car, turning it on and rushing off to the scene.

At the coastline minutes later, Lily arrives to see a squadron of R.I.S. members and police forces while seeing her close allies and R.I.S. members Boris Meyer, Kaela Yoshinaga, Eric Toga, Brian Brandon, Mario Luis Zurita and Keith Kazama Flick at the scene, all wearing clear rain jackets to avoid getting wet.

"Lily.", Keith Kazama Flick said, "You made it."

Lily Hoshina replied, "Keith. What's going on?"

"Sorry about the wakeup call, Hoshina. It appears that there's a strange unidentified submarine heading its way here.", Kaela Yoshinaga apologized while thunder flashed in the rainy weather.

Eric Toga assumes, "We don't know if it's an enemy vessel or a transport vehicle, there's no telling whether or not if it carries any innocent individuals."

"The truck driver reported seeing a submarine in the sea that is heading this way, so we came here as fast as we could.", Boris Meyer recounted.

Lily asked Keith, "What sub? What's happening now in the middle of this night?!", as thunder roared in the sky.

"We're still investigating! It'll be coming any minute!", argued Keith.

But as they argued, the sub that was mentioned was coming closer to the shoreline.

Both Lily and Keith turn their heads to see the submarine approaching fast to the shore.

"Everyone, get out of the way!", Eric Toga shouted.

The R.I.S. members Kaela, Brian, Boris and Mario Luis help scurry the officers and other investigators out of the way as Keith and Lily run to get out of its path.

Lily yelled, "RUN!"

The submarine emerges on the shore...

CRASH!

...and crashes onto the shoreline and the wet sand as its speed slows down, progressing to a halt.

With the sub now beached, Lily looked back at the sub after she and the others braced themselves from the collision, rain still falling and thunder still roaring with the corresponding flashing lightning.

"What in the world...?", Lily asked before looking at the emerged submarine's texture, "It's...iron?"

The police officers take aim at the submarine as they soon heard the hatch opening up.

"Get ready.", ordered Eric.

The hatch opened as everyone looks intensely to who would emerge from the sub.

But Lily noticed something emerge from the hatch.

A person with long platinum-white hair.

Lily shouted to the officers, "Hold your fire!", standing them down.

The unknown person's silhouette turned to see Lily and the others, just before lightning struck in the sky...

...revealing long platinum-white hair, turquoise eyes and fair skin.

Lily looked curiously intrigued by her appearance, coming closer to the ship.

"Lily, what are you doing?", Keith worried.

Lily said, "Stand down your guard. It doesn't look like there's any hostiles.", before turning back and asking, "My name is Lily Hoshina. Who are you?"

The platinum-white-haired person soon said;

"Fena.", she said, "Fena Houtman."

RWBY'S NOSTALGIA COMMENTARY COLLECTION
SEASON 3 PART 1
MIDSEASON FINALE ARC

THE TREASURE OF THE NINJA PIRATES
CHAPTER 1

The Treasure of the Ninja Pirates


BEACON ACADEMY
APRIL 23, 2022

9:30 AM

Outside of Beacon Academy, a shuttle arrives as it opened to show Maka Albarn and her girlfriend Tsubaki Nakatsukasa arriving.

"Gee, it was wonderful for team RWBY to invite us over for a meeting.", Tsubaki delighted.

Maka said, "And even better, it looks like we're going to be winning a free car from the invitation we got! Maybe it's from a raffle or a contest, but it would also be exciting if we win the free car.", while they head inside the academy and go to RWBY's dorm room.

But what they didn't know, they were going to get an unexpected surprise when they reach the dorm again.

Upon reaching RWBY's dorm room, Maka says at that moment, "Alrighty, where's that free-", before she and Tsubaki were shocked as the former yelled in doubt, "NO! NO! NO! NO!"

What they saw was their friends present in the room, with no free car in sight.

Those friends considered of Miria Harvent, Ennis, Rachel, Anri Sonohara, Sinon, Kasuga, Maki Oze, Tamaki Kotatsu, Iris, Ohana Matsumae, Natsume, Ann Takamaki, Futaba Sakura, Leafa, Asuna Yuuki, Alice Zuberg, Saika Magoichi, Ibuki and Ty Lee, alongside Team RWBY's friends Cinder Fall, Winter Schnee, Pyrrha Nikos, Nora Valkyrie and Penny Polendina.

"NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!", Maka continued yelling as Natsume waved as good greetings, "No! No! No... Let me guess, you all were promised a free car too..."

Everyone nodded.

"...but there is no car, is there...?"

Everyone shook their heads.

"The raffle is all a prank in the end, isn't it?"

Everyone nods again.

"AH, GOD!", saddened Maka as she was almost at the verge of tears.

The sad Maka and Tsubaki Nakatsukasa walk over to sit down with the others as Cinder comforted them by saying, "Don't worry. I'm sure this won't happen again."

"It's been a while since we've last saw each other.", Ty Lee said to Ibuki.

Ibuki replied, "A lot of stuff has happened over the past year. Still sad about the cinematic recession that went on previously..."

"Not even a single pandemic or crisis during that.", Ty Lee mentioned, "But hey, at least I watched a fair share of funny videos to react to."

In the meantime, Winter turned to Natsume and wondered, "So what do you think my sister Weiss and her friends have in mind this time?"

"I don't know, but I'm so excited!", Natsume cheerfully says in her Australian accent.

Winter said, "Name's Winter Schnee. My girlfriend beside me is Cinder Fall."

"Nice. My name's Natsume.", she said as she shook Winter's hand.

"And I am Ohana Matsumae."

Her friend shook Winter's hand as well.

Just then, team RWBY members Ruby Rose, Yang Xiao Long, Blake Belladonna and Weiss Schnee, along with Athena Cykes, Cameron MacCloud, Yume and Baiken, then came into the room.

"Hello, guys! How are you today?", Ruby introduced before apologizing, "Sorry about that free-car thing. You all figured out there's no car. We would be sad too. But if we were to tell you all the real reason that we brought you all out here, we're afraid none of you would show."

Ibuki asked, "What happened?"

"The truth, my dear friends, is that there's something happening that is bigger than just the car.", Yang contemplated.

Cameron couldn't help mutter jokingly, "Maybe bigger like a boat...", trying to hold her laughter.

"We're talking about something happening over at the neighboring Sengoku Island, as well as a mysterious discovery that can get us riches beyond your wildest dreams. Something that can make every single person in this room a millionaire.", Ruby announced.

Just then, they saw Mika-Celty enter the room (for those of you who don't know, Mika and Celty now share the same body ever since the latter merged within her near the end of the Season 2 finale story arc as they are connected, and their name would now be pronounced as Mika-Celty Sturluson Harima unless if separated again).

She said in Celty's tone of voice, "Alrighty, where's that free c-", before switching immediately to Mika's personality and now devastated, "NOOOOOOOO!"

"Mika-Celty! We're so glad you made it. Go join our friends!", Blake and Weiss confided while Mika-Celty cried tears as she comes over to the group and sat down.

Cinder comforted once again, "Don't worry. It's only one time."

"My friends, we are sitting on the opportunity of a lifetime. And all the answers are on Baiken's Scroll right here.", Ruby prepared as Baiken held her phone up, just before they heard someone clear their throat behind them.

Who stood was a new friend that RWBY and the others never met before, who had a similiar knight attire like Alice Zuberg's. She had a set of full body purple-colored light armour completely tinged with a refined orchid radiance, having flowing, silky, wavy long deep purplish-black hair, purely fair silky skin, black arc-shape eyebrows and long eye lashes, and dark reddish-brown eyes that were close to gold.

"Who are you?", Team RWBY asked.

Alice asked, "Allow me to introduce.", before saying, "Her name is Fanatio. She's a dear friend of mine back in Japan. Just like me, she is a skilled swordswoman knight just like myself. I asked if she wanted to tag along with Sinon, Leafa, Asuna and I, and she agreed."

"Pleased to meet you.", respectfully told Fanatio, "You must be Team RWBY my friends here have been talking about?"

Ruby politely said, "Of course. We're official huntresses of Beacon Academy. You might've known the rest here. We'll introduce you to the others you haven't met as we go along. Anyways, we'll do the honors. Take it away, Baiken."

"Thank you, guys.", Baiken told as she turns on the phone to read the article she had learnt earlier that got their attention.

Nora anticipates, "This looks to be good."

"Already, the report is going to be darkly dire.", Blake and Weiss commented.

Ruby told everyone, "Don't review it. There's no reviews this time.", as everyone nods in understanding.

The eight girls soon read the report;

Officials from Edo Island delineate that there have been recent incidents of several mysterious attacks on their neighbor island Sengoku Island just yesterday. Although those victims who were attacked were not deceased due to their ageless immortality, there were multiple reports of stolen relics and valuables all around the island as it was described by many on the island as strangely unjust and a disharmonous dilemma to the island's peaceful community. According to the island locals, the individuals who enacted these series of crimes have unfortunately not yet been found. The assassins are described to look like they're from an early time period different from ours, along with a huge ship found along the island's coastline. Though new information shows that Sengoku Island inhabitants, including one of the island's well-known warriors and renowned couple Yukimura Sanada and Sarutobi Sasuke, managed to take control of the ship and cleared any hostiles on board, the criminals still have yet to be seen and taken to justice. It was seemed by many that these assiliants were going around and presumed to find a secret treasure hidden in Sengoku Island, and others suspect that these hostile individuals may be desperate in pillaging and plundering said treasures in the coming days, maybe inevitably as the people of Sengoku Island are told to be extremely cautious and be on the lookout.

"Wait, are they talking about pirates?", Mika-Celty said, still in the tone of Mika's personality, before switching to Celty's personality, "This doesn't sound good..."

Case in point, there are also rumors that a treasure chest that had been buried a few centuries ago is lying somewhere on the island, but it may seem like a myth as its location still lies as a mystery to this day. Please keep in touch for further updates.

After reading the news report, Ruby said, "Well...?", as she, Yang, Blake, Weiss, Athena, Cameron, Yume and Baiken look at their friends.

"What's happening?", Pyrrha asked.

Ruby told, "The treasure. The treasure it was reported while the assiliants are on the loose which we have to help stop."

"What about it?", wondered Miria.

Yang revealed, "We've done some research on the news report about this, and it turns out the treasure really exists! It's said to have treasures like gems and doubloons and its value could be very plentiful. Also, we've found these strange boxes of stuff in the closet this morning which look like they're from the Marvel Cinematic Universe and it turns out they're legit!"

"So you think that by finding it, we can get even more rich than before, right?", Maki Oze guessed.

Ruby said, "Yes. If we find this thing, it could be worth a fortune like the cheques we got from our streaming friends Mitsugu, Katarina, Ristarte and the others. I bet people would pay through the nose to get those rarities!"

"Well, what does it matter? Even if it is worth a bundle for our liking, we have no idea where it is or how to find it.", Cameron confessed to her friends.

Baiken added, "The location of the treasure on Sengoku Island is still yet to be found, surely...", pondering.

"On the contrary... Do you have a map of Sengoku Island, Baiken?", asked Yang.

Baiken sighed and said, "Me and Kasuga visited that place before, we know a few friends there but we're not romantically involved since we have loved ones back in Edo Island. A friend of Kasuga's gave this to us.", pulling out and giving RWBY a map.

"And I have the spare.", revealed Kasuga as she gave them her spare.

Sinon asked, "Wait, you have two? I suppose a spare is really efficient just in case if you were to lose one."

"We always come prepared.", Kasuga replied to her friend.

Ruby exampled as she opened the map, "With this map, we will find where it is! This leaves clues for us to solve! I suppose along with the stuff we found in the closet, I suppose we could dress up as Marvel characters in order to find the treasure. And possibly fight those assiliants that's been going around the island in search of the treasure if we cross paths with them."

"Marvel characters?", asked Ann, "A Marvel treasure hunt does sound good, so I think it could help us figure out the treasure's location?"

Yang supposed, "As you heard on the news report, the treasure is somewhere on the island, so we suppose dressing up like Marvel superhero characters would be helpful in our newest quest."

"This may feel like an RPG, but it's not.", mentioned Baiken.

Ruby told, "Well, really, the only thing why is because not only we're huntresses and such, perhaps we're more likely to figure it out if we're engulfed in some sort of Marvel character. So if we're totally in touch with our favorite Marvel characters, superheroes and all that, the more likely we are to figure this out and find the treasure."

"So it's like LARP-ing?", supposed Mika-Celty in her curious Mika personality.

Ruby reminded, "It's not an RPG. Basically we're going to be dressing up, searching and fighting for a presumed reward."

"Indeed we are going to be dressing up, searching and fighting for a legit reward.", Mika-Celty replied.

Team RWBY says in unison, "Exactly."

"So, what kind of Marvel superhero characters do we dress up as?", Ty Lee queried.

Ruby confirmed, "Anyone. As long as it has something to do with Marvel out of these costumes I'll sort it out when we head down there."

"Now, the map looks like there's two paths to it, so if we split up into two teams when we get to the island, that'll increase our chances of finding it!", Yang said.

Blake and Weiss both said, "We just realized... Do we honestly think this is gonna pay off even with the assiliants running loose?"

"My friends. After all this is over, we will not only have a ton of money. But our names will also be placed in the books of destiny, after some of us helped saved our friends from certain doom and saved the day, even at the price of becoming immortal.", Ruby said as she walks over to the window of the dorm and looked outside at the open view.

Fanatio asked Miria, "Immortal? What happened?"

"Oh, we were stuck in this dimensional plane unless every one of our friends had to drink the immortality elixir in order to return home. If it's not a bother, I've brought some of the elixir just in case you or anyone else like some. Those who drink it will never die.", Miria offered as she held a bottle of water that had the elixir.

The purple-haired Integrity Knight answered, "I may have some second thoughts, but I won't mind.", before taking the elixir and having a sip.

"Names will be remembered. Quests will become legends. And legends will become...legendary.", Ruby continued as everyone else listened, "We are standing on the threshold of greatness, of glory, and all we need to do is to take that first step.", bringing confidence to their friends, "So what say you all, proud warriors of virtue?"

Athena entrusted, "We're in."

"We're with you all. Like how we're with each other.", Penny accepted.

Natsume agreed, "All the way."

"Alrighty then. We should all get ready and take a shuttle back to Earth. We may get some snacks on the way there.", organized Yang.

Yume said, "We're gonna need some help carrying the boxes."

"On it.", Athena, Alice and Fanatio all said as they helped carry the equipment RWBY and the others found in the closet earlier in the morning.

Cameron notified, "By the way, I brought a special exoskeleton with me this time just in case for occassions like this."

"An exoskeleton?", Baiken asked.

Cameron answered, "You know? Like battle armor?"

"Okay.", understood Baiken.

Just then, all the girls then started to get ready for their next adventure to Sengoku Island.

About a half-hour later at 10AM after everyone had their meeting, team RWBY and the others have finally gotten ready for their adventure as they also notified Ozpin, Glynda and others about their trip, and had gotten their supplies for the trip including the boxes of outfits and equipment they're taking with them along with RWBY and their huntress friends' weapons.

Once getting on and everyone all set to leave, the shuttle heads off on its way to Earth.

Inside the shuttle during the trip, everyone was settled on board as Ruby, much to her curiosity, examines one of the pieces of equipment, which looked like Iron Man repulsors.

She tests it out while doing some battle stances, whirring sounds heard from the repulsors.

"Man, these things really look so legit... I wonder if they actually work.", Ruby curiously said as Yang also pulled out two blue repulsors for her to try out.

Yang said, "There's actually a few pairs of things like these in here...", putting on the blue repulsors.

Blake and Weiss both grabbed two shields from the boxes that look very much like the vibranium Captain America and Captain Britain shields.

"And Mjolnir... How did this get in here...", asked Athena as she pulls out the godly hammer itself from the boxes, "And how can I carry this?! I carried this box it was in..."

Baiken said, "If there's no bow and arrow in there, I already have a crossbow equipped on my arm.", notified, "Just in case there's enemies."

"Aside from that, they all look like Halloween costumes... Except they look so real!", Cameron told, "It'd be amazing if anyone brought some makeup paint or something if we're going to be cosplaying with these weapons during our journey."

Yume cautiously said, "But you need to be careful with them during our transport. Who knows if we could cause an accident?"

"We'll be careful with that.", Ruby hoped.

Cinder told, "I also see that there's a glowing yellow stone in one of the boxes... Is that an Infinity Stone or what? I already put my power-seeking tendencies behind me...", regretfully saying the last sentence while she examined the presumed Mind Stone.

"I know. We've been through this. You're still going on the path to redemption.", understood Winter.

Asuna Yuuki asked, "Why is that?"

"Cinder wanted to originally do bad deeds, you know, but after we both entered a relationship and finding out Salem had changed over a year ago, she now wanted to turn a new leaf...", Winter retold.

Asuna ponders, "I see."

"I forgot to mention that transport vehicles are now starting to become autopilot. It's in the testing stages, so the one we're using is autopilot-enabled.", reported Weiss.

Blake figured, "And we assume it's because of Atlas' advanced technology and that it's produced, rather financed, by the Schnee Dust Company? Just wow. We're glad that times are changing for advancing technology and easier space travel, love."

"Yes, my love. And as long as the controls and flight instruments in the spacecraft's cockpit isn't damaged, we'll be fine. Just as long as Ruby doesn't do something reckless with those repulsors.", Weiss safely said.

Ruby reassured, "Just that you're aware, we are careful. We're almost at Earth by this point, so we'll test this when we head-"

BLAST!

One of the repulsors Ruby was wearing suddenly shot out from its palm as it zoomed across the shuttle, right through the cockpit door and damaging the controls!

"Oh no...", Ruby cringed in horror.

Yang scolded, "Ruby!"

"Look, this was the first time I tried this! I didn't know these things would activate like that!", Ruby worried.

Blake said, "How close are we to Earth?"

"We're almost 10,000 kilometers towards Earth's atmosphere.", checked Weiss, "But since the controls are shot down, we're going to crash-land."

Maka exclaimed, "Crash-land?!"

"Is there any emergency system on these things?!", Miria said.

Pyrrha said, "From what we heard, I don't think there's any emergency settings that would help run it again, although it will be able to glide during landing..."

"And what is the percentage for survival?", Maki questioned.

Penny said, "Usually 89.5% with seatbelts. Without it is about 45.2%."

"We haven't forgotten that we can survive almost anything now thanks to Miria and her friends.", Yang said, "We fell one time and my arm broke in half, Ruby's spine shattered, Blake's ankle was destroyed and Weiss' legs were snapped. In a short time, our injuries fixed itself..."

Ruby noticed, "And we haven't notice that we look the same age but we're getting older without wear and tear. That is fortunate..."

But then, an emergency announcement voiceover and alarms start to sound.

Warning. Crash-landing sequence initiated. It is strongly advised to use safety belts to heighten probability of survival and lower risk of death. 10,000 kilometers till impact.

"Where exactly are we going to land in?!", panicked Sinon.

Kasuga said, "It's estimated to be not too far from Edo Island and Sengoku Island, somewhere in the Pacific Ocean!", reading Weiss' trajectories of the shuttle's flight plan.

8,000 kilometers.

"I'm terribly sorry for testing them! Our curiosity got the best of us...", Ruby apologized, "We gotta grab these boxes and make sure not to break them!", as she, Yang, Athena and Cameron all help by grabbing the boxes and holding onto them and also putting on their safety belts.

5,000 kilometers.

Yang shouted, "Everyone got their seatbelts on?!"

As mostly everyone nodded in confirmation, they suddenly saw Ohana Matsumae struggle to put her seatbelt on.

3,000 kilometers.

"Ohana! Hurry!", Natsume frantically told.

Ohana worries, "I'm trying!", as she tried to pull her seatbelt to lock it in.

"We got to help her!", Ann planned as she rushed in her seat to help pull the belt in.

2,000 kilometers.

Natsume said, "Come on..."

"Pull!", Ann shouted as she and Natsume help pull the safety belt.

1,000 kilometers.

Safely then, Ann and Natsume finally manage to put Ohana's safety belt on in the nick of suspenseful time.

And-

CRASH!

The shuttle crash-lands into the ocean, splashing across the water like a skipping stone. Water splashes on the window as loud turbulence shook the ship. None of the equipment the girls had was damaged while everyone braced themselves from the impact.

Moments later, they felt the ship float on the ocean, while everyone looked around to make sure no one was harmed.

"Is everyone okay?", Ruby said to make sure.

Everyone either nodded and said things like 'We're okay,' 'We're fine,' or 'We're alright'.

"Ohana, are you alright?", Ann and Natsume ask their friend.

Ohana replied, "Yes. I'm okay. Thank you."

"We could've sworn we almost died there...", Ann relieved, "Almost felt like I got a heart attack..."

Ennis and Mika-Celty asked, "Where did we land again?"

"Hold on.", Blake said as she volunteered to go to the back of the ship and open the hatch at the end.

As she does so, they look outside to see no islands or ships in sight, just the lush blue waters of the ocean and clear skies.

"Ibuki? Ty Lee?", asked Blake.

Both Ty Lee and Ibuki look at each other, nodding before they both acrobatically grab onto the end of the ship on top and flipped upwards, bringing them up to the top of the ship for a better view.

Landing on top of the ship barefoot, Ibuki first looked around with Ty Lee to try finding the island but have no luck as there was only ocean water around them and the shuttle.

Peeking back down, Ibuki answered, "No luck."

"That's just great.", Nora saddened, "Is there any other emergency exits like the sides of the ship here?"

Winter said, "We can use that.", as Tamaki and Ennis both help open the side hatches of the ship.

Luckily not much of the ocean water leaked inside, because if it did, the whole ship would start to carry water and sink into the sea if it wasn't for its buoyancy.

"Is there a ladder we can use outside?", questioned Leafa.

Minutes soon pass as they started to climb up to the top of the shuttle transport vehicle while it was floating in the water. They safely held the boxes while they look for nearby land.

"Any sign of land or Sengoku Island, guys?", asked Blake.

Ty Lee said, "No luck."

"So we're stranded in the middle of the ocean?", Yang asked, "This can't get any worse, will it?"

Ruby told, "Don't blame me, I didn't know the arc repulsors things actually work! They were the real deal."

"If you didn't aim it towards the flight controls, we wouldn't have crashed here.", Weiss assumed.

The leader of team RWBY apologized, "I apologize, but I wasn't trying to destroy anything! It just happened to shoot out for some reason and I never expected this to happen..."

"We're not trying to get mad at you, but dealing with untested things recklessly could lead to consequences.", Weiss reasoned.

Blake says also, "Maybe my girlfriend here is right. You should be more careful with things you're getting the hang with on."

"Guys-", Yume tried to cut into their conversation to settle them down.

Ruby said, "I wasn't trying to be reckless! Me and Yang saw the Iron Man movies before! How can you say that?", walking towards her friends on the ship, "I'm not mad also, but I'm just trying my best here-"

That is until all of a sudden, Ruby's foot slipped sideways as she lost her footing, falling off the right side of the still floating shuttlecraft.

"Ruby!", worried Yang, Blake, Weiss, Pyrrha, Nora and Penny while the others gasped in shock.

They watched her yelp as she falls and splashes into the ocean.

Yang yells worryingly, "RUBY!", calling out for her to make sure she's okay.

"Did she just fall into the water?!", Athena frantically asked.

Ruby's elder sister shouted, "RUBY!"

Just a few seconds later, Ruby gasped for air as she stood up from the water, taking deep breaths and coughing water out.

"Ruby!", delighted Yang as their friends were relieved her sister was alright.

Ruby said, "I'm alright. My apologies, I slipped and fell...but I landed on something in the water..."

"What? What did you fall on?", Yang, Blake and Weiss said before they heard a soft rumble in the ocean, where Ruby was standing.

Kasuga and Sinon exclaim, "What's happening?!"

"We don't know!", Natsume and Ohana both replied.

Maka Albarn and Maki Oze guessed, "Is it an earthquake? A volcano?"

"I feel something!", Ruby said before she felt the water level on her waistline start to lower.

Everyone then saw a shadow in the water that starts to become visible from underwater and starts rising. They see a watercraft sail emerge first, which had a ladder on the side while the pristine wooden deck emerged next where Ruby stood on after falling into the water, revealing to be a submarine-like ship. There were metal red railings on the sides, and the ship itself was revealed to be ironclad. One of the shuttle's wings latched onto the ship as it rose from the depths of the ocean, slightly tilting it as everyone maintains their balance.

And on top of that, the submarine was shaped like a bonito except for the deck, windows and sail.

"What in the world is this?!", Ruby said, "Guys, come on here!"

Yang, Blake, Weiss, Athena, Cameron, Baiken and Yume join Ruby as they head and leap down to the submarine ship's deck while the others see what was happening.

"Is this a...submarine?", Yang presumed in surprise.

Cameron examined, "This doesn't look like any regular submarine... It looks like a hybrid between a ship and a submarine..."

"What's going on, guys!?", Pyrrha shouted.

Ruby says, "We don't know. But I think there may be someone on board this ship."

Seconds later, everyone saw the hatch on top of the sail open as they look to it.

Silence happens for a few moments as it seemed no one was coming out at that time.

"Hello?", Ruby asked out loud for an answer.

Baiken sensed, "This feels ominous."

"Are you sure no one's on board, because we've got a feeling there's definitely something on board-", Yang supposed.

SWOOSH!

Just then, six people figures swiftly leaped out from the hatch much to everyone's surprise.

Shocked, team RWBY, Yume and Baiken pull out their weapons while Athena and Cameron engaged with their fists, the six mysterious figures landed and had their weapons in the ready, the tallest one of the six engaging with his brass-knuckled fists as well.

All six of them were wearing some sort of ninja armor with respective samurai helmets and moustached menpo masks (excluding half of the six). Five of them had weapons that were very familiar to an earlier period in time. The one in dark green ninja armor had a green samurai helmet and menpo mask adorned with two tall horns and a long mane, similiar to the tallest one's blue samurai helmet and menpo mask which also had blue ninja armor. Two of them had the same height, yet have different ninja armor respectively colored dark yellow-green and brown with their eyes having the opposite color of their ninja armor, and while one of their moustache-less helmets was black and had v-shaped marks under the eyeholes, while adorned with a big flat ring and a blue plume behind it. The other's helmet was dark brown, adorned with a short metal piece in between the two bull-like metal horns on the sides of his helmet which also had v-shaped marks under the eyeholes. The one wielding the bow and arrow wore a dark purple ninja armor top that has a vine imprinted on it with long sleeves along with a black inshirt, a red bow on his waistline, dark purple leg guards, black pants, black boots and archer gloves, while his helmet was colored black and adorned with one long sole horn on one side of the helmet, while his menpo mask facial armor had a blackened moustache piece. And last but not least and more prominently, the one with the red ninja armor with two samurai swords had a red samurai helmet and moustached red menpo mask with two deer antlers and a Sanada clan emblem adorned on it while sporting red leather arming garments on her chest, sode shoulder armor, kote arm guards, grey inshirt, red pants with a red waistline bow, and black boots.

Nevertheless, the six of them were looking at the four members of team RWBY, Athena, Cameron, Yume and Baiken, who they and their friends were all surprised as five of the six mysterious armored figures aimed their weapons at them thinking they may be enemies.

"What the actual fuck?!", Athena surprised.

Cameron gasped quietly, "Are they samurai?"

"Armored samurai... It looks like we're not the only samurai...", Baiken corrected and intimidated.

Blake thought, "They might be ninjas as well..."

"I never expected this to happen...", Weiss doubted.

Yume looked to the armored archer, "There's an archer too?"

"And they all have weapons... Just like us...", Ruby and Yang both said while still aiming their respective Crescent Rose and Ember Cecilia weapons before the former told the six armored warriors, "Listen. We mean no harm."

Pyrrha, Nora and Penny gasp in surprise when they saw this, "This can't be good..."

"Hey!"

Everyone looked to see who said it while the six armored figures turned around and looked too.

The seventh that came out of the submarine ship's hatch was a helmetless girl with long black hair and brown eyes who wore fuschia ninja armor with a rifle strapped on her back while having two pistols packed in holsters along her red and brown ammo belts on her waistline and on one of her upper legs, additionally with black pants, black leg guards and grey-black ninja tabi footwear.

"Stand down.", she said to the six armored figures, as they along with Team RWBY and her friends lower their weapons to make sure they're not a threat; "They're not hostiles."

Ruby asked, "Did she hear what we just said?"

"It seems to be so?", Yang guessed.

The supposed female leader, after talking to the six, then turned to team RWBY and the others before saying, "Our apologies for the inconvienience. We just heard something above the ship so we emerged the ship and wanted to see what was going on. Then my friends heard you guys say something so they wanted to make sure there weren't enemies on board."

"Okay, first of all, we're not enemies.", Ruby excused, "Second, you guys look so familiar."

Yang guessed, "You must be Karin, right?"

"What? What do you mean?", the helmetless girl said.

Ruby shrugs off, "Well, we saw the show Fena: Pirate Princess a while back. You might not know it yet, but-"

"We're aware of it, someone told us about it a while back... So, yes, my name is Karin. The six men here are Yukimaru Sanada, Shitan, Kaede, Enju, Tsubaki and Makaba."

Tsubaki Nakatsukasa says to Maka Albarn when they saw this unfold, "Looks like I'm not the only one with the same name here."

"Is there anyone else on board?", asked Yume.

Karin excuses, "Just a sec.", calling out after, "Fena! Lily! Come up here!"

In a few moments, the first of the remaining people on board the ship came into view, revealing long platinum-white hair, fair skin and tourmaline eyes.

Everyone but the seven armored samurai were surprised.

"Oh!", said Fena, "There's a lot of guests here.", before seeing team RWBY and the others before coming up; she then says, "Lily, come on up."

As she leaves the hatch and walks over to her friends, another person comes into view.

It was a familiar girl with shoulder-length black hair and brown eyes, wearing a R.I.S. uniform as usual. She then glimpsed at the surprise guests on board and on the floating buoyant shuttle near them in amazement.

"That's strange. Never expected this.", Lily thought to herself before saying, "Coming, Fena!"

"What...?", Blake and Weiss looked at each other and questioned, "Who are they, and why are they so familiar?"

Fena told Karin, "We never thought we'd meet these guests during our short travel around before we head back! As your captain, they do not seem they pose as a threat, love."

"Love?!", everyone but Fena, her friends and Lily all questioned as Fena and Karin look back at the group.

Athena sighed, "We have so many questions."

"Let's just get to introductions. Who are you?", asked Ruby.

"My name is Fena Houtman. Karin already told you my friends' names already. They seem to do this when uninvited guests or ominous passengers are around."

"And I am Lily Hoshina. I work for the Royal Investigative Service from the Kingdom of Cremona, the place where I live. A while back, I met these guys and I became friends with them and they're currently residents of Cremona, especially my friends Fena and Karin here. And you girls are?"

"I'm Ruby Rose, this is my elder sister Yang Xiao Long, and our teammates Blake Belladonna and Weiss Schnee, and we known as Team RWBY. The rest of our friends here are Athena Cykes, Cameron MacCloud, Yume, Baiken, Pyrrha Nikos, Nora Valkyrie, Penny Polendina, Cinder Fall, Winter Schnee, Maka Albarn, Tsubaki Nakatsukasa, Miria Harvent, Mika-Celty Sturluson Harima... Mika-Celty now has a split personality, there's no problem with it... And this is Ann Takamaki, Futaba Sakura, Ohana Matsumae, Natsume, Rachel, Anri Sonohara, Kasuga, Saika Magoichi, Sinon, Leafa, Asuna Yuuki, Alice Zuberg, Fanatio, Maki Oze, Tamaki Kotatsu, Iris, Ibuki and Ty Lee. We're all pleased to meet you."

Yang added, "Plus, me and Ruby, along with Blake, Weiss, Pyrrha, Nora, Penny, Cinder and Winter, we're from Remnant and we're huntresses. That is why the four of us are known as Team RWBY."

"We've heard about it before a while back. It's a neighboring planet, right?", Fena asked.

Ruby nods, "Yes. On the same rotatory path as Earth."

"And by the way...", pondered Cameron, "Yukimaru Sanada... Wait, we recieved news about someone like you, right?"

Karin said, "Wait, Yukimaru? What's going on here?"

"Yukimaru- Hold on a second, I got the name wrong. The A and U letters are mixed up... It's Yukimura we're looking for. My bad.", Cameron solved.

Yukimaru asked sternly, "What is the problem?"

"It's a long story. You see, the eight of us were spending time together and one night, we found these strange costumes and equipment that are reminiscent to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which you might or might not know about... Rather besides us remembering it so you guys don't have to.", Athena said.

Shitan commented, "Interesting."

"And speaking of Marvel, we've heard of those movies.", Makaba told.

The masked Tsubaki told, "There was even this pause in the cinema industry we've recently heard, but we did see new Marvel films during our residence in Cremona. Don't know why, but it's a very strange period of time. We found the technology here to be so advanced."

"Then we recieved rumors happening over at Sengoku Island somewhere around here which is a neighboring island miles away from Edo Island...yeah, you might not know what that place is, but they're gender-exclusive natively...which involves a mysterious treasure and the reports of a strange group going around.", Ruby said.

Fena said, "We weren't aware of that..."

"But on the way here, my sister accidentally crash-landed here in the middle of the ocean nearby the island that's supposed to be close to here. I don't blame my sister, but we'll explain more on the way.", Yang told.

Baiken contemplated, "So we were wondering if you could join us on our journey and take us to Sengoku Island? As a fellow samurai to be exact."

"I never thought we come face to face with another samurai.", Yukimaru impressed with all seriousness.

The pink-haired female samurai said, "I have one arm, but my will is strong."

"To summarize, our friend Baiken here is the leader of the Samurai Kingdom in Edo Island.", Yume excused.

Baiken said, "A natively modern yet feudal Japanese island with a female-only population. Sengoku Island has a male-only population that is a neighbor island, and that is the destination we're going to."

"We just updated the map a while back. Lily helped us with it... Though we haven't heard of this island you speak of.", Karin retold.

Fena decided, "And when you mentioned about us joining you all on your adventure? Of course. What do you say, guys?", asking her seven samurai friends and Lily.

"Why not?", agrees Lily.

Yukimaru and Shitan look at each other and nodded, "We accept the offer."

Kaede and Enju adds, "We're in!"

"That settles it then! But first things first...", Ruby said, "First, can we get on your ship on the way there? And second, we crashed our ship so would you mind if helped tow it as well? Like with wires or-"

Karin asked, "Ropes? Sure. As long as it's far from the ship and doesn't damage the rotors."

"It's a deal.", Ruby said as she shook Fena's hand while Yang shook Karin's hand.


Soon enough, the deck of Fena's ship had enough room for everyone to get onboard as they manage to get their supplies from the shuttle beforehand, although the floating shuttle RWBY and their friends used to travel to Earth was now being towed on the back of the ship with a rope that tethers it.

"Mind if we go inside the ship?", Ruby offered.

Fena said, "Sure.", as team RWBY and some of their friends head inside with Fena, Lily and the other armored samurai while a few carried the

"So what is this ship exactly?", Cameron amazed as they head inside the ship through the hatch.

Karin introduced, "This is the Bonito II."

"Bonito, huh? This ship may look like one, but looks a bit like a whale if you ask me.", Ruby commented.

Fena excused, "I thought it was too. Karin called this ship the Bonito II because she thinks bonitos are delicious...and I love that fact about her. She even told me that the ship's drive transmission system used whale blain and uses whale blubber as lubricating oil."

"Interesting technical aspects in fuel and manufacturing. Well, compared to the present, transportation advanced futuristically through the years, I can tell you that, all thanks to the Anvil and Atlas over at Remnant.", Cameron awed.

Yume guessed, "And I suppose why...?"

"Whales are awesome.", Karin added.

Yume said, "Aren't they all?"

"Majestic, even. They're the stuff of legend ever since stories like Moby Dick have been created.", Baiken thought back.

Lily nods, "Believe me, Baiken. I was surprised when Fena and Karin told me this too. Read Moby Dick once..."

As they were conversating, they went inside the ship as they walked through the hallways of the ship.

"Man, this is cramped.", Blake and Weiss said in unison.

Karin stops in her tracks for a moment as she asked intimidatingly, "You girls telling me there something wrong with my ship?"

"Nope.", both Blake and Weiss gulped.

The black-haired helmetless armored ninja said, "Good."

"She's like this whenever someone says something critical about her ship. She designed it while her father constructed it.", Fena said.

Ruby said, "Anyways... Your friends must be ninjas, Fena?"

"Better. We're pirates.", Karin told.

Yang snapped her fingers, "Wait a minute! You're ninja pirates! Man, that sounds like one of the dopest concepts we ever heard. You know what they say?", causing her younger sister to burst into song.

Ruby: Do what you want cause a pirate is free, you are pirates!

Fena and her friends turned to see Ruby and Yang sing all of a sudden.

Ruby and Yang: Yarr-har fiddle dee dee, being a pirate is alright to be, do what you want cause a pirate is free, you are pirates!

"What are you two singing right now?", sternly asked Yukimaru.

Ruby apologized as she and her elder sister stopped singing, "Oh... Sorry. It's a song we've been hearing in memes a while back that originated from that show LazyTown."

"And we're just trying to have some fun, you know?", Yang supported, "...You aren't familiar with LazyTown at all, are you?"

Shitan said, "Not at all.", before organizing, "We're going to stop by the armory room and put our helmets away. That's where we're heading, first of all."

"No problemo.", Athena replied as everyone eventually stops by the armory where the six armored men took off their helmets and put it away.

Maka Albarn asked Karin, "We gotta ask... How come you don't have a helmet? Because you'd look really badass when wearing one."

"I do have a helmet, but I haven't worn it yet. It's back at Cremona where we live. I'm thinking of wearing a helmet at some point in the future.", Karin said.

Fena said, "We'll explain more."

When the men took off their samurai helmets and menpo masks, their hair goes back into place and they turn to show their faces.

Yukimaru had long black hair in a ponytail tied with a small grey ribbon along with strands of his messy hair and a handsome appearance, Shitan had long straight and flowing shoulder-length purple hair that partially covers the left side of his face along with an androgynous look, Kaede and Enju both looked the same as they were both twins, sporting dirty blonde hair tied in a bun, Tsubaki had shaggy burgundy-brown hair that is tied in a ponytail and also had freckles between the bridge of his nose, and Makaba had short black hair in a buzzcut on the sides.

"Whoa! You guys look good!", said Ruby, "Pretty attractive for women, but we're just showing appreciation with all do respect!"

Shitan replies, "Thank you. After all, me and Yukimaru are in an affair."

"Yeah, totally-", Yang agreed before hearing what he just said, "What?"

Yukimaru simply sighed, "We're simply lovers.", as he and Shitan held hands intimately.

"Ehhhh?!", team RWBY and her friends all said but Fena, Lily and their friends.

Blake stuttered, "But, we- I- I-I-I-I...thought you-"

"We thought you...you-you-you w-were in love with Fena...?", stuttered Weiss also.

Yukimaru said, "I am still close to Fena as a friend."

"We're explain on the way.", Fena excused as they head to the Bonito II ship's bridge.

But when they enter the room, team RWBY and their friends notice a man steering the ship, who had short and slightly shaggy brown hair.

"Who's that?", Ruby asked.

Lily said, "It's my friend of mine and a fellow investigator over from Cremona. I'll let him do the honors of introducing himself."

The man steering the ship turned around, revealing dark teal eyes, glasses and a scar that ran from the bridge of his nose and under his eye, as well as wearing an unbuttoned jacket over a white button-up, undersized slacks that don't entirely cover his ankles and brown shoes.

"My name is Keith Kazama Flick."

Lily said, "He's one of the best detectives at the Royal Investigative Service we both work at back home. He and my other friends were with me on the night we met Fena and her seven friends back on late November 2020."

"November 2020? That's when me and my friends had a social event around that time, before Thanksgiving!", Ruby told.

Keith continued, "It was a thunderstorm the night we first met Fena. After she, Karin, Yukimaru, Shitan, Kaede, Enju, Tsubaki and Makaba introduced themselves to us along with a few stowaways, they didn't seem to pose a threat and also claimed to be from the 18th century."

"The 18th century? As in the 1700s? We have a friend of ours who is from that era.", Maka Albarn said.

Athena Cykes pondered, "And that begs the question... How the hell does submarines like this exist back then? Not to offend how amazing this looks or how Karin help craft something amazing, honestly."

"None taken. Thanks for the acknowledgement.", simply put Karin.

Miria Harvent theorized Athena's question, "Hard to say."

"And who are these stowaways you speak of?", Yang wondered.

Fena answered, "My friend Angie, the Burgermeister's daughter Arya, and two of the Rumble Rose pirates Artemisia and Mary Read, who happened to join our crew after surviving the enemy ship's explosion."

"We spent time with Mary, by the way!", both the twins Kaede and Enju added.

Karin excused, "Not now, ants."

"Sorry.", the twins told in unison.

Yang ponders, "Oh. Anyway, we need to go to Sengoku Island to explore for this...secret treasure they have there."

"Really?", Kaede and Enju both said in unison, "Because when we went to Eden for Fena's mission, we got a ton of treasure to keep before we left."

Nora ecstatically responds, "You did?! You guys must've been rich or something!"

"Well, we used some of it to cover three houses for us to live in.", Kaede said.

Pyrrha and Penny replied, "For whom?"

"The both of us along with Yukimaru, Shitan, Tsubaki and Makaba are living in one, while Fena and Karin got the second, and the stowaways live in their own.", Enju reported.

Blake told, "At least you guys got yourselves a place to live. How come you're taking residence in Cremona?"

"Before we met Lily and her friends, we were en route to our next destination in our journey on the Bonito II, and one night, we felt the ship shake with turbulence...and we saw strange bright blue lights outside the ship's windows...and soon after the weather was stormy and we eventually crashed onto the shore of Cremona.", Fena recounted.

Karin adds, "Thankfully, the ship didn't take damage after it was beached on the sand. Me and Fena were just about to have sex before all of that happened..."

"Same with me and Yukimaru.", Shitan smirked, causing his boyfriend's ears to flush red.

Yukimaru told his boyfriend, "Now's not the time, Shitan."

"Nah, I'm just messing with you.", Shitan said as he wrapped an arm around his boyfriend.

Karin included, "But most of all, I myself, along with Yukimaru and Shitan, have been childhood friends of Fena."

"Huh... We thought that Yukimaru was the one and only childhood friend of Fena.", Weiss confused.

Ruby muttered to her friends, "Maybe they're from an alternate universe timeline. Take notes."

"So, off we go, then?", Cameron and Baiken readied, "We also have these things we found before we got here, just to remind you guys again. Very familiar to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but we suppose they're key elements to our quest."

Keith told, "It's been a while since Fena and her friends went on a voyage, from what she and Lily told me."

"Since Fena, Lily and the seven ninja pirates agreed to come with us, we were hoping you'd come too.", Ruby requested.

The inspector Keith Kazama Flick replied, "Why?"

"While there are rumors of a hidden treasure, there are these strange ambushes by a group of unspecified strangers over at Sengoku Island. We may need you with us since you're an expert in crime solving or, you know... You get what we're saying of our plight?"

"No, I don't understand your plight. Although I would kindly take your request to an agreement."

"May be, may not be a plight, but still daring. So what do you say?"

"What say you and your three friends? Who are you girls exactly, first of all?"

"Me, Yang, Blake and Weiss? The four of us huntresses that protect our homeland back on the planet of Remnant against the Creatures of Grimm. Which happens to lessen dangerous forces by the years...for some reason. So much so that we've found reviewing movies in our spare time has become a hobby for us. And more importantly, we've made friends along the way like Pyrrha, Nora, Penny, Cinder, Winter, Athena, Cameron, Baiken, Yume, Maka, Miria, everyone else. But don't you think we know that, Keith? Don't you think we'd give anything to have you, Fena, Lily, Karin and the other ninja pirates on board?"

"Well..."

"We have chosen the lives that we lead, and you have chosen the life that you lead. I know it sounds complex, even confusing, but trust me when we say that nothing will change that! Nothing will change that! Will you answer the call?"

"If it's for the name of justice and the destiny for a bright future, I don't see why not..."

"So help us help you and your friends help us. Let's make this happen!"

"I already said yes."

"Today!"

"I said yes!"

"Then it's settled. That is why, we're giving you this secret briefcase that can't open due to this numbered combination lock.", Ruby finished as she passes the briefcase that had a numbered combination lock.

Keith sighed, "Well, then. This will take me a while to decipher it... Still a mystery what this briefcase actually contains."

"Well, since it was paired with the other equipment we found, that must have a super secret gadget inside.", theorizes Yang.

Karin signalled, "Makaba. Take the wheel."

"On it.", respected Makaba as he walked over to take control of the steering wheel.

The ninja pirate Tsubaki had a short chat with Tsubaki Nakatsukasa, the former saying, "I am very surprised you're named after me."

"Like you, I am also a ninja.", Tsubaki Nakatsukasa revealed.

The shaggy brown-haired ninja replies with interest, "Really? I'm a ninja as well. Plus a pirate and I'm a good cook, so what can you do?"

"I can transform into a chain scythe. Or a smoke bomb. Or a shruiken. Or a ninja sword.", the female demon weapon says.

Tsubaki asked, "For real? Are you joking with me?"

"No. I'm not making this up. Maka?", Nakatsukasa says back before she was engulfed in a bright yellow light that grabbed everyone's attention, mere seconds before the light fades to show a single chain scythe dropping to the floor.

Fena, Karin, Lily and their friends were surprised by this.

The ninja pirate Tsubaki takes a closer look at the scythe, picking it up for just a moment.

That was when the demon weapon herself Tsubaki Nakatsukasa appeared on the blade and said, "What do you think?"

"GAH!", startled the shaggy brown-haired ninja pirate in a jolt and instantly dropping the weapon, "Wha- Is that weapon possessed!?"

Maka comes over to pick up her chain scythe, "No, she basically can transform into a chain scythe that I use in combat and back. Watch.", just as the weapon glowed up again in the shape of a human.

Moments after, the light dissipates as Tsubaki was once again back in her human form and is carried bridal-style.

"How is that even possible?!", both Yukimaru and Keith Kazama Flick exclaim in bafflement.

Ruby told, "Trust us, we met them a few years ago and that's how the people in Death City use weapons. There's also a witch named Blair who can transform into a cat and vice versa, but at this time, Maka told us she's staying at Death City while we do our adventures... But we still keep in touch like the rest of our other friends we've met a few years ago."

"You really got a lot of friends during those few years, huh?", Shitan presumed.

Yang nodded, "And look where we are now. More friends to hang out with. And judging by the costumes we've brought, we wouldn't call this an initative nor just a fellowship, not directly referring to Lord of the Rings in that matter, but a collection of confidants who share a common interest yet establish a close camaderie."

"We can pretty much see that.", Lily and Fena agree.

Blake said, "Speaking of the costumes, I think we should get ourselves ready. How far is Sengoku Island from here?"

"Well, we don't have a GPS on the ship...", Karin told.

Weiss corrected and asked, "Right. Any clue, Baiken?"

"I can sense we're not far from land. Maybe just a few miles from here, by my estimate.", the pink-haired samurai replied.

Cameron impressed, "You know, I really love your samurai instincts, Baiken."

"Thanks. And I am intrigued by your technological aspects, Cameron.", replied back Baiken.

The blonde hacker says, "Thanks again, my friend."

"Let's just get this started.", Miria anticipated, "I am stoked to cosplay as Star-Lord."

Ann added as she held makeup, paint and contact lenses, "I got makeup and paint for this special occasion. Also a few contact lenses for good measure. Me, Celty-Mika, Futaba, Ohana and Natsume were going to cosplay as Guardians of the Galaxy characters last Halloween but we never used these as we decided to wear role-playing LARPing costumes for last year. These costumes here, which seem to look more accurate and authentic, will come in handy."

"Then it's settled. Fena, Lily, Karin, you three wanna join?", Yang offered.

Fena said for her and her two friends, "Sure thing.", as she joined the others in using any of the costumes or equipment from the boxes they brought.

"Let's do this.", Ruby said as they left the ship's bridge room and headed off back to the armory room to get dressed.


SENGOKU ISLAND
12:23 PM

Soon enough, the Bonito II was approaching Sengoku Island, which was a neighboring island far from Edo Island where Baiken, Ibuki and their friends reside.

The submarine shortly after prepares to dock by the shoreline, the crashed Atlas transport shuttle tethered to the end with a rope like a tow truck.

Unbeknownst however, there was a mysterious person watching from within the greenery plants and leaves, before heading off elsewhere.

As the submarine stops at the shore, the hatch slowly opens yet no one was coming out for the moment.

Just then, a whirring sound was heard...

ZOOM!

And someone flew out of the hatch, wearing a certain familiar suit of armor colored red and gold.

The Iron Man suit.

Landing a superhero pose on the sandy beach, the armored individual turns back to the submarine where another person, wearing a variant of the armor known as the Rescue Armor (colored blue), flew out of the sub and lands near the other person on the beach.

Soon after, the person lifts up the helmet on the Iron Man suit, revealing the wearer to be Ruby Rose, shaking her head to let her hair down.

"This is sweet! These Iron Man suits of armor really fits us well!", Ruby acclaimed.

The other lifts the Rescue armor's helmet off, revealing its wearer as well to be Yang Xiao Long.

"Don't we know it?", her sister Yang impressed, "The Rescue armor looks fascinating too. Love the colors- It's just like in the movies!"

The leader of team RWBY agreed, "Totally! Now this is a badass costume, even better than the ones we wear on Halloween!"

"Not as badass as mine!", someone said back in the sub, grabbing Ruby and Yang's attention.

The third flew out of the submarine and lands near the two girls, wearing a familiar silver suit of armor, bulkier as the person wielded a certain chain scythe.

The helmet lifts up to reveal Maka Albarn wearing it.

"Wowsers, Maka. You almost scared us.", Ruby relieved.

The meister Maka says, "How do I look? I chose the War Machine armor because of its heavy artillery, something that could go well as a reinforcement to my chain scythe weapon."

"You actually look good wearing that," said the demon weapon Tsubaki Nakatsukasa while in her chain scythe form as her appearance was seen on the weapon's reflection before she shifts back to human form, "Just promise me you'll use me in battle too."

Maka promised, "I'd never forget for sure. Just fascinated. That's all."

"Surely they'll protect us in battle, Maka.", Ruby told.

Yang proved, "And I honestly can't wait for the rest to reveal their costumes and such since the four of us came out first."

The fourth that came out of the sub and went down to the beach during this revealed Ennis wearing blue makeup on her body, wearing a familiar costume and having a metal plate on the side of her head (with her brown hair intact), although she didn't use contact lenses to make her eyes black.

"Hey.", Ennis greeted.

Ruby, Yang and Maka yelp as they saw Ennis' sudden appearance, "GAH!"

"So what do you think? I'm dressing up as Nebula for this adventure... I didn't want to shave my head for the cosplay and I didn't want to put contact lenses on my eyes that would have the black color, so at least I had the makeup paint on and the costume...", recounted Ennis.

Ruby walks up to the brunette immortal girl, "Yeah? I see.", suddenly slapping her on the face, "Don't scare us like that, Mystique.", sighing before saying, "Is anyone else ready now?"

No response at the moment.

"Anyone at all?", Yang added.

Miria was heard from the submarine, "We'd preferred if you called our names out first."

"Yeah, it's more engaging and exciting that way.", Sinon's voice was heard too.

Ruby decides then, "Okay, then. Miria."

Miria Harvent soon came out of the submarine's hatch, revealing the Star-Lord costume she was wearing for the quest as she was playing Fox on the Run by Sweet from the Walkman equipped with it.

"Something good, something bad, bit of both!", Miria reveals, "Surprise! I'm dressing as Star-Lord from Guardians of the Galaxy!"

Yang and Ruby were delighted with Maka, Tsubaki N. and Ennis, "Nice job! I see you are one who is familiar with culture and nostalgia. How about Mika-Celty?"

"Come.", told Miria as their friend Mika-Celty emerges from the hatch, revealing to have green makeup on her skin along with pink tips on her short brown hair, wearing another familiar Guardians of the Galaxy costume.

Mika-Celty waved, "Hey, guys."

"She's dressing up as Gamora too! We are on a roll with these costumes!", excited Miria, before she said to Ennis, "Loving the blue look on you, love!"

Ennis respectfully replied, "Love you too, Miria. Mika-Celty's green look doesn't look so bad at all!"

"Thanks too.", Mika-Celty told as she was suddenly carried by Miria.

Miria anticipates, "Let's go, my friend! It's time to face the music!", before she puts on the Star-Lord helmet before blasting off the submarine and landing on the beach, the song Fox on the Run playing from the Walkman just a moment before putting Mika-Celty down once they landed.

"Awesome.", Yang thumbs-upped, "Where's Blake and Weiss though?"

The seven suddenly shielded their eyes when a reflection of light shined upon them.

Blake and Weiss left through the hatch, wearing two well-known and iconic costumes. The former had the headpiece while the latter didn't, both holding shields.

"We can do this all day.", Weiss epically said.

Miria asked, "Who are you dressing up?", confused as she was distracted by the shining light.

"We're super soldiers. We're with you till the end of the line.", Blake teased gloriously.

Ruby, Yang, Maka, Tsubaki N., Miria, Mika-Celty and Ennis all ask, "WHAT?"

"I'm doing Captain America, Weiss is dressing as Captain Carter.", excused Blake as she and her girlfriend reveal to be wearing the super soldier costumes.

The reflection of light stops as the seven saw the two in their respective costumes, saying in unison, "Oh..."

"And with that...", Blake continued as she and Weiss jump off the sub and set foot on the beach to catch up with the six, "We're ready."

Their new friend, Lily Hoshina, was the next to emerge from the sub.

Although she wasn't wearing any costume specially for the quest, she donned ten familiar metallic rings on her arms.

"I may not have a costume, but... I think these would totally come in handy.", Lily prepped.

Maka asks, "Wait, so what were you gonna dress up as?"

"Apparently there weren't enough costumes, but I found these ten rings though. Guessing since The Mandarin used them but not akin to the comics, I guess I'd be using the Rings. Plus my agility would be in good use too.", Lily presumed.

Weiss shrugged, "That'll do it."

"Despite no costume, you have the Ten Rings at least. That'll come in handy.", Yang certified.

Ruby nods, "Very nice. Who's next?", thinking for a moment, "Ann Takamaki?"

The ten of them turned to see Ann come out from the sub and came down to the shore, wearing grey makeup on her body and red markings, her hair and hairclip intact as she wore a bikini top along with her jeans and shoes.

"It is good to once again be among friends. I just wanted to tell you how grateful I am about what I'll be doing for this journey. Which is why I'm dressing up as... Drax the Destroyer.", Ann Takamaki said as she showed her cosplay to the others.

At first, Ruby, Yang, Blake, Weiss, Maki, Tsubaki, Miria, Mika-Celty, Ennis and Lily all looked surprised, just before the ten burst into laughter.

"What's happened?", Ann said as she went on the sandy beach, "Something wrong?"

Ruby joked, "Nothing goes over your head! You'll probably catch it!", making a Guardians of the Galaxy reference before laughing.

"Metaphor!", snickered Ennis.

Ann rolled her eyes, "Yeah, yeah. I get it. Pretty funny, honestly."

"Hi!", Futaba suddenly said as she came into view.

The ten but Ann were startled by Futaba as she was cosplaying as Mantis, having two prosthetic antennae as part of her makeup along with black contact lenses accessorized on her eyes, though her glasses and orange hair were still intact. She also wore a green outfit, sleeves and high-heeled boots as well.

"AH!", Ruby and Yang startled, the latter saying, "What are you dressing up?!"

Futaba told, "I'm doing Mantis. She's one of my favorite MCU characters..."

"But what's with the contact lenses? It's literally giving us Edge of Tomorrow vibes right now.", Blake unsettled.

Ennis sighs, "Glad I didn't use them."

"I sense that you're feeling fear...", empathized Futaba, "But you have a great sense of adventure in your minds."

Ann impressed, "Nice empathy. It'll work too, for sure."

"You're probably not gonna like my costume."

The twelve turn back to the submarine when hearing Cameron say this, where they were surprised once again.

"What the...?", Ruby questioned.

Cameron was wearing a talk exosuit that was bulky colored white and green and excludes the headpiece, a bit reminiscent of the gen:LOCK holons she and her friends use back at The Anvil.

Yang asked, "Cammie? Why are you wearing that? You almost look a bit like a Transformer in that, no offence."

"I wanted to dress up as the Hulk, but first, I couldn't find any costume or equipment. Second, I didn't want to use makeup. And third, I felt a little uncomfortable about it. So instead, thanks to the exosuit I've brought that I've worked on for a bit just in case since I'm very good with technology, I decided to wear it as inspiration to the Hulk instead.", Cameron retold as she said, "But I guess you guys must be impressed since I added a lot of features that can prove its stability, strength, maybe not speed but also power."

Ruby nodded, "Impressive. Very nice that you've found something for this quest."

"Oh, and one more thing, any enemies that we may cross... They shouldn't make me angry. They wouldn't like me when I'm angry...", claimed Cameron.

Yang answered, "Good to know.", before saying, "Where's Ibuki at?"

The girls all turn to see the kunoichi herself leap out of the hatch and land perfectly on the sandy shore. She appeared to be wearing the Captain Marvel outfit (minus the footwear), equipped with two bracelets on her wrists.

"Ta-da! I'm doing Captain Marvel!", Ibuki informed, "The Marvel Comics version, to be exact."

Yang understood, "We're aware of DC's Shazam, yes."

"I love Shazam!", Rachel said from the submarine.

The elder sister of Ruby nevertheless adds, "But Danvers is indeed a strong superhero above all else, surely."

"Hey, everybody!", the girls heard Fena's voice, as everyone saw her and Karin run to their friends.

Fena Houtman appeared to be wearing the Shang-Chi outfit, while her girlfriend Karin didn't wear a costume but rather her usual ninja armor along with her guns.

Fena said, "I looked through the costumes and I've wanted to use the Shang-Chi costume for the adventure. Really like his martial arts skills."

"Not as much as my ninja skills, my love.", Karin smirked before saying, "I couldn't find a costume, unfortunately. But I figured my ninja armor and guns would do for this time."

Two more of their friends, Ohana Matsumae and Natsume, both arrived at the beach from the submarine as well.

"I am Groot.", cutely said Ohana Matsumae, revealing to be wearing green-brown camouflague-esque makeup on her face and body that had a wooden look, her hair intact.

Natsume also said as she had fur as her raccoon-esque makeup (complete with whiskers) when cosplaying as Rocket Raccoon with a few guns equipped (her hair, eyes and prosthetic arm also intact without makeup), saying, "Yeah. These costumes and makeup are amazing though. Rocket is my favorite MCU character, that's why I'm dressed up like this."

"Says the raccoon.", Karin joked.

The ginger-haired girl answered, "Says the ninja."

"You guys look so good!", fangirled Ibuki to Fena, Natsume and Ohana.

Ohana muttered, "I am Groot."

"My, oh my! Two Guardians of the Galaxy characters and a Shang-Chi character!", Ruby delighted.

Blake and Weiss said, "We're basically all Avengers characters, right?"

"Yes. As a whole, it's an ensemble of superheroes.", answered Yang as the others agreed.

Natsume sheepishly corrected, "Well, Shang-Chi is from China, so..."

"I am Japanese.", Karin nods.

The ginger-haired girl adds, "What a coincidence, Ohana and I are Japanese too, but I'm also authentic Australian."

"For me, I'm British but my surname is Dutch. European, actually.", Fena told.

Natsume commented, "Pretty fascinating for a pirate princess, of course."

"Has a nice ring to it.", Fena said.

Natsume replies, "Indeed it is!"

"Well, as far as we're excited as a matter of fact, you two both look equally awesome.", Ruby evaluated.

The ginger-haired girl asked, "But Ohana and I look more awesome in this makeup, right?"

"Oh yeah. But Fena and Karin look close second as awesome between you guys.", Yang nodded as Natsume and Ohana smiled at each other, "Where's Sinon?"

Sinon suddenly appeared outside the hatch of the submarine with her arms crossed on her chest in an X shape, wearing a strikingly familiar black suit.

"Wakanda forever!", Sinon shouted before she ran down on the beach and met with the others just before taking off the helmet piece.

Ruby reacted, "Hold on a second- Black Panther? Why is that?"

"First of all, I just wanted to go on the record and say that Black Panther is the best. Second, I am truly sad and do mourn the sorrowful loss of Chadwick Boseman. He's such an amazing actor. But his life was taken away too soon when he was getting so famous... It's very heartbreaking... But I also wanted to dedicate him by dressing up as the hero he was in the MCU. I don't want to cause any controversy, but I should be fine using this costume just for this occassion, right?", explained the blue-haired girl.

The leader of team RWBY answered, "Checked online a while back. You should be fine. People of different nationalities tend to dress up as Black Panther for such occassions like Halloween. As long as you just wear it and nothing else, you're alright."

"I think I should just hold the headpiece for now, don't you think? It's vibranium.", Sinon told.

Blake and Weiss says, "And so are our shields here."

"Anyways, where's Yume?", the older sister of Ruby asks next.

Yume answered, "Right here.", having left the submarine already and wearing a black suit with weapons equipped, "Doing Black Widow. She's awesome!"

"One of the six main Avengers! Perfect choice there.", Yang verdicted.

Yume ensured, "Despite her posthumous appearance in her movie after Endgame though it took place before that film, she is truly unforgettable. Totally."

"And let's not forget about the sharpshooting archer, Hawkeye.", Baiken said as she met with team RWBY and the rest on the beach shortly at that moment, wearing a black outfit (still having her toeless footwear boots) and wielding a crossbow on her prosthetic arm; "I see better from a distance."

Yang witnessed, "Hawkeye. Impressive. How come you have a crossbow? Daryl Dixon much?"

"There's no bow and arrows, sadly. I have a crossbow equipped on my prosthetic arm, so it still counts.", the pink-haired samurai excuses.

Ruby said, "I can clearly see that."

"We're cool.", Baiken advised.

Suddenly, Ruby and Yang were startled when one of their friends, Maki Oze, suddenly grown out of nowhere from a small size back to normal, wearing a familiar shrinking suit as she removes her helmet.

Maki Oze gleefully stated, "Guess what, guys? I found this Ant-Man suit in one of the boxes and it really works! But unlike in the movies, this has unlimited size changes with no Pym Particles required! Now this can be of good use with my fire powers!"

"Oh my goodness...", Fena Houtman reacted, "Is Maki dressing up as Ant-Man?"

Karin awed, "Incredible.", just before Maki's friend, Tamaki Kotatsu, suddenly grown back to normal size out of nowhere from a small size, near Karin as she and Fena yelped in fright, the helmet of the other shrinking suit removed for the time being.

"Same here! And I'm doing The Wasp! Not only it's like Ant-Man, but this also wings! This is gonna be good!", Tamaki told as she hugged Karin.

Fena says, "Shrinkage... Peculiar..."

"What's up, guys?"

A web sound was heard as everyone turned to see a familiar superhero.

Spider-Man.

"I'm decided to dress up as the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man."

The others don't answer.

"The famous web-slinger who spins a web anytime...?"

No reply.

The superhero removes the mask, revealing Ty Lee's face.

"I'm doing Spider-Man. Holland's my favorite.", Ty Lee told.

Team RWBY and the rest understood, "Oh..."

"And how's this, my friends?"

Everyone soon also turned to see Athena, wearing a familiar costume and wielding the hammer Mjolnir.

Yang greets, "Hey, Athena! You're-"

"Thor.", Athena proudly decided, "My favorite. The God of Thunder."

Ruby slams her fist on her other hand, "Of course. And thus, the original six Avengers are finally caught up!", organizing, "And I presume there's another person we can't forget about... Where's Kasuga?"

"Sorry I'm late. Just preparing the wardrobe change as the Sorcerer Supreme himself, Doctor Strange. There was no outfit besides the cloak equipped, so I had to make the best of it.", said Kasuga as she appeared shortly after, wearing a familiar red cloak, covering herself as she seemed to still wear her usual ninja outfit.

Yang signalled, "Oh my god, she has the Cloak of Levitation!"

"Yeah, but does this mean she's got her-", Baiken was about to ask just before she uncovered the Cloak of Levitation, revealing her ninja outfit and nearly-exposed breasts, prompting some to avert their eyes in surprise and to pretend they're shocked.

Kasuga told her friends, "Working on what I got."

"You're not too bad, actually. You usually dress like that, so we're cool.", Sinon assessed.

Ibuki said, "Supreme, I must say."

"I also found the Sling Rings as well, so they can be of good use for sure.", Kasuga told.

Ruby organizes again, "Guys!", as Kasuga gathered with the others; "Everyone else, come on out."

The rest of their friends soon went out of the submarine ship as some of them were wearing the costumes from the boxes they found.

Cinder was wearing red makeup on her face and hands as she wore the Vision outfit (complete with a yellow stone accessory), Winter wore the red Scarlet Witch outfit, Pyrrha wore the U.S. Agent outfit, Nora chose the Winter Soldier outfit with one of her arms painted chrome to match the prosthetic metal arm, Penny had the Falcon outfit with accessorizing wings.

As for Iris, Leafa, Asuna, Alice, Saika, Fanatio, Yukimaru, Shitan, Kaede, Enju, Tsubaki, Makaba, Rachel, Anri, Inori Yuzuriha, they all decided not to wear costumes or used accessories for their apparel during the quest as, obvious enough, there were none left.

In Keith Kazama Flick's case however, he still had the mysterious briefcase in hand since he was still trying to decipher the numbered combination lock in order to unlock it.

"Alright, guys! You all look epically heroic! Now this is the kind of initiative that's gonna get us riches and feats!", Ruby proudly said as most of her friends cheered while a few of them smiled happily.

Kaede admitted, "Me and Enju wanted to dress up as Loki since we've saw some of the Marvel movies a while back, but unfortunately there was nothing left in the boxes you guys brought. We're fine with it, though."

Penny told her friends, "I found the Falcon wings, so since I am a robot myself, I wanted to try them out along with my own thrusters."

"Couldn't find the arm though, so we decided to paint my arm chrome instead. On the bright side, this outfit looks quite good...", Nora recounted as she examined the Winter Soldier she donned.

Pyrrha informed, "I found this similar Captain America suit to the ones Blake and Weiss are wearing, so I presume it is the U.S. Agent's suit...? Honestly, I dig it."

"I was catching up on the Marvel movies with Winter a while back, and I was fascinated with the Vision , especially how he and Scarlet Witch got their own show...", Cinder truthfully unveiled.

Winter claimed, "I was also fascinated with Scarlet Witch too. Stated to be the most powerful Avenger... Especially since Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is coming out."

"Oh, yes. I am hyped for that.", Kasuga and the four members of Team RWBY all said.

Sinon adds, "Also with Black Panther: Wakanda Forever coming out later this year."

"Or let's not forget about Thor: Love and Thunder. Heard it'll be a good one too.", Athena Cykes admits.

Ruby readied, "Let's not get our sidetracks get the best of us... Get it? Because sidetracks is like the tracks on the treasure map leading to the X Marks the Spot-"

"We get it.", everyone but Yang said in unison.

The leader of team RWBY corrected, "I'll cut to the chase. Let's get started on our journe-"

They suddenly heard leaves rustle again as a familiar ninja appears right before RWBY and her friends.

He had brown spiky hair and was wearing a camouflague-style ninja outfit with a black armorpiece around his head, a high collar, black arm and leg gauntlets, and black tabi footwear. He also has some camo paint on parts of his cheeks and horizontally on the bridge of his moles,

"Sasuke?", recognized Kasuga.

Sinon asked, "You know him?"

"Sasuke? The guy mentioned on the article?", Athena figured out.

Yukimaru questioned as he rose an eyebrow, "What article?"

"It's about a series of attacks and pillaging rumored on this island, Sengoku Island. Sasuke here was mentioned, who also has a husband named Yukimura Sanada as well, like the legendary samurai from four and a half centuries ago.", described Weiss.

Fena heard this, "Wait- There's another Yukimaru?"

"Another Yukimaru- I think you've got the name mistaken. That person's name is Yukimura, not Yukimaru. Letters swapped, you know?", Weiss baffled.

Blake muttered to her lover, "Now Fena and her friends are definitely from a different universe."

Yukimaru's eyes widen for a moment after this minor realization.

"Despite that name, I can't believe there's another samurai like me...", he thought.

Sasuke gets up from his ninja landing stance before seeing Kasuga, Saika and the rest of the group.

"Kasuga. Long time no see.", greeted Sasuke in a brotherly manner, the two ninjas hugging in reunion; "I see you've come to visit Sengoku Island after a while, huh?"

The blonde ninja chuckled, "Yes, Sarutobi."

"I'm glad you've come too, Baiken.", Sasuke acknowledged, as Baiken nodded.

Baiken answered, "Much appreciated."

"On another note, why do most of you all dress up like that?", the brown-haired shinobi asked.

Kasuga looks at the Cloak of Levitation she is wearing and then to her friends wearing the costumes or having equipment as accessories or weapons in case of emergencies, "Well, we're on a mission to find this treasure as well as to investigate what's been happening."

"We found these costumes and equipment in our closet this morning, so we decided to bring them in case and dress up as our favorite Marvel superheroes based on the MCU.", Blake reminded.

Sinon asked, "There was an article online saying there was a group of assailants on this island who arrived on a pirate ship that you, Yukimura and other locals seized earlier. Any word?"

"Well, Yukimura's safe and sound. Monitoring for any signs of the individuals, saw them once earlier today but there's still a few incidences. I was undetected thanks to my ninja skills, and since you guys came, I'm happy to tag along for the ride.", Sarutobi Sasuke told.

Ruby requested, "So, any need for introductions? My name is Ruby Ro-"

"Thanks, but Kasuga already told me all about you, your teammates, and the rest of your friends some time after the social event she participated in a while back.", Sasuke understood.

Cameron asked, "She and I also went to Niagara Falls with some of our friends due to sweepstakes we won in a raffle during the time as well."

"But the ones I haven't met before are the white-haired girl with her ninja friends, that brown-haired girl with her friend with the glasses, and that purple-haired knight.", questions Sasuke.

Karin corrected, "Ninja pirates to be exact."

"My name is Fena Houtman, this is my girlfriend and leader of her ninja pirate crew, Karin, and these are our friends Yukimaru Sanada, Shitan, Kaede, Enju, Tsubaki and Makaba."

Sarutobi looked surprised a bit, "Never thought I'd meet someone who is also named Yukimura."

"It's Yukimaru.", the red-clad samurai pirate said, "Sanada, same surname for sure."

Sasuke chuckled in understanding, "Got ya."

"Also, I'm Lily Hoshina, and this is my friend Keith Kazama Flick."

Sasuke walked over to Keith as he noticed the briefcase he was holding, "What do you have there?"

"It's one of the things Ruby and her friends found this morning that they claim it's one of the items like the costumes and equipment they have. Deciphering the combination lock may be starting to get harder than I thought than it would.", the detective Keith stated.

Sarutobi supported, "No shit. But I do know that puzzles always have an answer, my friend. So I think whatever's in there must be a reward."

"I can tell.", Flick replied.

Lily said to Fena in the meantime, "I've been getting to think just now that Keith and Sasuke may get along well.", the latter nodding in agreement.

"And lastly, my name is Fanatio. An integrity knight, and a friend of Alice Zuberg, but also a friend of Sinon, Leafa and Asuna's."

The spiky brown-haired ninja replied to her after momentarily talking to Keith, "Not bad to meet with a knight."

"And we're so delighted to meet a fellow ninja!", both the ninja pirate Tsubaki and the demon weapon Tsubaki Nakatsukasa ecstatically told Sasuke.

Ruby settled, "Okay, now that everything's set up, let me organize things up for a bit.", walking a few steps away from the rest before turning around to face them and borrowing Baiken and Kasuga's maps of Sengoku Island, "According to the map Baiken and Kasuga both have, this site right here that we would identify as the starting point of our adventure. Well, it's actually a relaxing atmosphere. Clear skies, sandy beaches, calm waves, lush palm trees..."

"It's almost as if you all were pirates like us.", Fena dreamt.

Lily Hoshina proved, "It's not desolate at least. Totally looks like a summer vacation or rather not a screensaver."

"Yes! So this is a great place to start!", Ruby said, "According to this map, and the split path ahead of us, there's two paths to get there, so it looks like we're going to split up into two groups.", organizing, "Me, Yang, Blake, Weiss, Athena, Cameron, Yume, Baiken, Miria, Mika-Celty, Ann, Futaba, Inori, Lily, Pyrrha, Nora, Penny, Cinder, Winter, Kaede, Enju, Rachel, Anri and Keith will be group 1, while Ennis, Ibuki, Sinon, Kasuga, Ty Lee, Maki, Tamaki, Iris, Maka, Tsubaki Nakatsukasa, Fena, Karin, Shitan, Yukimaru, Ohana, Natsume, Leafa, Asuna, Alice, Fanatio, Saika and Sarutobi will be group 2."

The ninja pirate Tsubaki devastatingly asked, "But... Why not? Why can't I join in?"

"Well, since you, Fena and your ninja pirate friends own a submarine ship, we don't want it to get stolen. Which is why, sadly, you and Makaba have to stay behind to be on the lookout and keep the ship away from any intruders.", regretted Ruby.

Both the ninja pirates Tsubaki and Makaba were a bit disappointed as the latter hugged his friend in comfort.

"Now, Baiken and Kasuga are kind enough to give us these maps for this adventure, so I keep one map for group one, and I give the other map to you guys for group two, especially for the group two leader Ennis here.", Ruby planned out.

Ennis respected, "Thank you, Ruby. You surely have my permission to have Miria in your group for this adventure since you're the group one leader. Just keep her safe, okay?"

"And I hope you and the others will be safe since you're fellow group two leader, Ennis.", the leader of team RWBY respects back.

Yang suddenly came to Ruby's side and gloriously said to her friends who look on proudly, "Alright, people. We are on the verge of a great adventure! If we pull this off, our names and heroics will be placed in the news and possibly the history books for generations to come!"

"Excuse me," Keith interrupted as their friends (including Yume and Ann to name a few), "I tried to open this briefcase with the numbered lock, and I'm having a hard time trying to find which combination it is."

Ruby worried, "Well, it's not that we don't want to see you frustrated because of thinking the briefcase is completely useless. It's just that...there's so much more that can be unearthed from that mystery. Maybe something special. Might already know what it is, but it's nevertheless a theory we have in mind."

"Hard to say. Any clue what number you think it would open with?", Keith questions.

Both Ruby and Yang try to figure out a six-digit number code, asking, "Did you do the day, month and year for today?"

"Yes."

"How about...", both sisters try to think of something.

Blake suddenly suggested, "Why not try October 1939? That was when the Marvel Comics started, so why not try that?"

"Yes! That for sure. Hopefully that would help unlock it.", Yang agreed.

Keith nodded after pondering over this, "I'll try... I appreciate your help."

"We'll give you more tips along the way.", promised Ruby as she made a heroic stance in the Iron Man suit she is wearing, "Now, for everyone else, you will remain in your two groups, and we will find treasure and defeat the ones responsible for the disharmony of this island! But first, I think it would be a good idea if we go across the sands of the beach to show the unity of our fellowship."

Confused, Ty Lee asked as she was in the Spider-Man costume, "Why?"

A deadpan moment for Ruby happens for a second.

"...Because it will symbolize our unity, even though we are seperating our fellowship for the time being.", the red-black-haired huntress says.

Cameron shrugged in her mech suit she was wearing (as a substitute for the Hulk costume), "Why would we want to do that?"

"...It will strengthen our bonds as we-", Ruby tried to make her speech.

Baiken asked sternly while wearing the Hawkeye costume she chose, "I get what you're saying. Though are we talking about James Bond?"

"...In our darkest hour, we will always-", ensured the leader of team RWBY.

Miria pointed out, "But it's daylight!"

"But when something really bad is going down...", spoke the red-black-haired huntress, her voice raising with a hint of temporary aggravation.

Maki Oze and Tamaki Kotatsu both ask, "Like what?"

"I'm trying to make a trailer-esque speech here!", Ruby informed as the others figure out what she was doing, while the leader of team RWBY calmed down and prompted as everyone gathered again, "Okay, guys. Let's do this."

Just then, the ensemble of characters all walk to begin the start of their adventure, heading to the two paths ahead of them.

In order, the ones that all walked together that time were Ruby and Yang, Keith, Lily, Blake and Weiss, Yume, Baiken, Cameron, Ann, Futaba, Athena, Miria, Mika-Celty, Inori, Pyrrha, Nora, Penny, Cinder, Winter, Kaede, Enju, Rachel, Anri, Maka, Tsubaki Nakatsukasa, Sinon, Leafa, Asuna, Alice, Fanatio, Maki Oze, Tamaki, Iris, Ibuki, Ohana, Natsume, Fena, Karin, Yukimaru, Shitan, Ennis, Ty Lee, Kasuga and Sarutobi Sasuke.

Once everything was finally ready, Ruby arranged, "And split."

And with that, both groups finally part ways in the start of their journey in search of the treasure.

Both the ninja pirates Tsubaki and Makaba back at the submarine ship look on as the former said, "Be careful, everyone. This is just the beginning of your quest."


Deep within the island, a few individuals invaded a small minka Japanese house, stealing goods and stabbing the house's inhabitants mercilessly dead (although temporary since they're immortal).

One of those assailants there happen to have violet hair with a pirate outfit that had a spider web design on one part of it.

"They've arrived. We're not getting closer to finding the location of this treasure. But soon, we will find what these pitiful adventurers are looking for...and we will stop them in their tracks.", the unknown leader said as five of her associates, including the violet-haired one, paid attention, "That treasure will be ours."

The leader of this group wore red boots, a pirate cloak, white pants, a red brassiere top and held a sword, also having tan-skin, wavy butt-length red hair tied into a low ponytail with bangs hanging on the left side with neck-length hair strands hanging on either side, scars on her arms, brown eyes, red lips and she an eyepatch over her right eye. Most of all, her name was none other than...

Grace O'Malley.

To be continued...