SailorStar9: With Chapter 248 uploaded, I present Chapter 249 of this fic. For everyone who put this fic on your favorited and followed lists and/or story alerts, thank you, but remember everyone, a lot of authors (myself included) sustain on readers' reviews.

Pairings: Married!Ace/Sasha, Sibling!Luffy/Sasha, Sibling!Sabo/Sasha, Background Protector!Law/Sasha

Disclaimers: One Piece belongs to Oda Eiichirō-sensei. Me, on the other hand, own absolutely nothing, except my OC, the pairing and the fic idea.

Chapter 249: Arc 15: The Third One! Raizo of the Mist, the Ninja, Appears!


"I'm deeply grateful to you all." Kin'emon declared.

"It's no big deal." Cat Viper beamed. "Don't mention it."

"Thank you." Kin'emon bowed. "And now, as proof, I offer you this." turning his back, he slipped an arm out of his yakata, revealing the Kozuki Clan crest inked on his back.

"Yes, that's certainly the same Kozuki Clan crest that Duke-sama, Master and Raizo-san has." Wanda recognized the Clan symbol.

"Kozuki..." Luffy blinked.

"I can't believe they know each other." Usopp gawked. "I was really prepared for a clash against the Minks."

"We were trying to keep the samurai a secret." Brook agreed. "We were just beating our bones against the wall. I mean, heads." he chuckled as his own skull joke.

"It couldn't be helped." Robin explained. "They couldn't have told the whole story, even to us."

"You're right." Chopper concurred.

"She just said the doggy and kitty have the same crest." Nami mused. "Maybe, their bond is far stronger than we realized."

"But Dogstorm, Cat Viper," Kin'emon started. "It's surprising to see you two alive and well." he turned back to the two Minks, putting his yakata back on.

"Death would've been a relief to us." Dogstorm admitted. "But we thought if we trusted the words from that day and waited here..."

"Yeah," Cat Viper's pipe was re-lit. "Then we would get to see you-gara guys some day."

"Hey, cat monster!" Dogstorm glared.

"What do you want, dog?" Cat Viper glared back.

"I was talking to Kin'emon." Dogstorm retorted. "Don't interrupt as you please."

"I was just thinking Kin'emon must be sick of talking to you-gara, so I tactfully took over." Cat Viper fired back, both Minks staring down each other.

"Here we go again." Usopp sighed.

"Stop fighting! Dogstorm! Cat Viper!" unable to hold back any longer, Momonosuke shouted. "You two used to be such good friends. Why have you been fighting like you wanna kill each other? I forbid you to ever fight again! It's even more inexcusable if it's because of my father! It would make my father sad to see you two like this."

"Oden-sama..." Cat Viper trailed.

"I'm sorry!" both Minks went down on their knees. "Momonosuke-sama, I'm ashamed of myself. You're absolutely right."

"Would that child be..." Monji realized who Momonosuke really is.

"Momonosuke-sama is right." Kin'emon agreed, Kanjuro taking his place beside him. "Please forgive me for lying to you all, too." he turned to the assembled Straw Hats. "To tell you the truth, Momonosuke-sama and I are not father and son. This man right here," the four retainers gathered around their young master. "Is the heir to Kozuki Oden-sama, great Daimyo of Kuri in the Land of Wano. His name is Kozuki Momonosuke-sama. That means that all of us, including Dogstorm and Cat Viper, he's our lord."

"Usopp, what in the world is going on?" Chopper was really befuddled. "What lord? I don't understand."

"The dog, the cat, Kin'emon and Kanjuro are retainers." Usopp tried explaining. "And Momo must be their master, but... I don't understand either!" he wailed.

"So, he's the heir of the Kozuki Family and Oden-dono's son." Pedro gasped.

"Along the way, if his true identity was revealed, we could've attracted more enemies." Kin'emon explained. "So we pretended as if we were father and son. Although, we trusted you all, we never had a good chance to tell you. Sorry."

"I"m sorry that I was lying." Momonosuke apologized. "I'm actually an important figure."

"Whatever." Luffy shrugged.

"Here we go again." Kin'emon sighed, as another fight broke out between Luffy and Momonosuke. "He saved our lives, but..."

"You can't ask a pirate to be humble." Kanjuro reminded. "Momonosuke-sama is getting distracted, so that's good."

"It's only been a few months since, their-gara cheeriness must be helping him." Cat Viper concluded, seeing Momonosuke laugh from the antics of the Straw Hats.

"Isn't it time the two of you stopped bickering?" Sasha stepped away from the rowdy group and addressed Dogstorm and Cat Viper. "Not even your grandfathers fought this much."

"Those eyes..." Dogstorm was taken aback to see the stormy eyes of Queen Selena looking back at him.

"Suijin-sama..." Cat Viper breathed, Sasha igniting her Divine Haki. "Selena-heika..."

"To think, not only are we graced by the presence of Momonosuke-sama, even the Dragon Queen is now standing before us." Monji was instantly on his knees.

"Suijin-sama, us of the Kozuki Clan have long awaited for you." the four Kozuki Clan retainers, with Momonosuke as its lead, knelt in unison before the revealed Goddess.

"Let's make a truce, cat." Dogstorm offered an olive leaf. "If we keep dwelling in the past, not only will we make Momonosuke-sama suffer, it's also a severe disrespect to Selena-heika."

"Okay, for the sake of our lord and Suijin-sama." Cat Viper relented. "I'll communicate with you-gara but won't connect with you-gara."

"That's a deal." both Minks sealed the promise with a hand grip.


"Let's climb the whale." Cat Viper led the group, plus Law, up the Whale Tree. "If you learn which vines to take, you can reach the top.

"So Raizo is here?" Luffy's interest was peaked.

"I still don't feel well, Kin'emon." Momonosuke moaned on the samurai's back.

"You can wait at the bottom if you want, Momonosuke-sama." Kin'emon offered.

"As we get closer to the whale, the voice I hear is getting louder." Momonosuke groaned.

"You have a similar ability to Oden-sama." Kin'emon remarked.

"There was another man who used to say something like that." Dogstorm admitted.

"I was thinking about the same thing." Cat Viper agreed. "It's a long flight of stairs so be careful." he warned, opening the entrance of the Whale Tail that was located at the tree's tail.

"Is that..." Chopper heard Raizo's wails echoing through the tunnel.

"That's Raizo's voice." Cat Viper confirmed.

"Ninja!" the sparkling-eyed Chopper hurried off with Luffy, Usopp and Franky close behind him.

"Why do I get the feeling that they'll be really disappointed?" Sasha wondered outloud.

"Here we are." Cat Viper reached the bottom of the staircase. "He-gara is the ninja, Raizo."

"There you are, Cat Viper." Raizo glared, chained to the Road Poneglyph. "You! Why didn't you just hand me over to them? Everyone that brought me food here was injured. They told me the country is okay. Is it true? If it is a lie, I Raizo, will hate you."

"What?" Luffy, Usopp, Chopper and Franky chorused in unison. "He's nothing like we expected!"

"Is he crying?" Sasha asked.


SailorStar9: Any OOC-nes is regretted. *Sighs* Don't you just hate plot bunnies sometimes? Reviews are much appreciated.