Chapter 13: Kira the fox & Zolo's shadow issue
I laid on a soft bed, clearly Sanji carried me up the stairs. A loud thud was heard from downstairs. I got up and went to check it out. Loki was being chased by Luffy out of the kitchen with a large piece of meat in his beak. Sanji was pursuing them, he looked at the stairs and saw me, he said,"Hey, Luna-chan! Are you feeling all right?"
(Note: I'm having Sanji call Luna, Luna-chan. I got mixed up at some point)
"Yeah," I said, eyeing the meat in Loki's beak. The smell of raw meat was tempting for me since I'm part wolf, I switched to beast point and jumped Loki when he passed me. "Got ya!"
"Not on my watch!" Luffy yelled, he jumped on top of Loki too and the bird squawked as the air was flatteined out of him by our weight. He got a hold of my tail as we got up, I grabbed Luffy's vest and pulled on it. "Hey, let go!"
"I need to eat!" Loki and I sad in unison, Sanji grabbed the meat from the distracted Luffy and punched him in the head.
"Oi, captain, Luna-kun, if you're going to eat, let me cook it first. I'll give you raw meat and fish later, Moegami," Sanji said, heading to the kitchen. I walked over to the fireplace and laid there, Nami sat on the sofa draw a map of the island, Vivi was tending to Carue's feathers, Luffy and Usopp slept on the floor(they weren't together of course, sheesh), Chopper was still examining Zolo.
"How's he doing?" Constance asked from her seat at the counter.
⌠"'m not sure, but one of his swords are missing," Chopper said, pointing at the three scabbards, two swords were left in them. The door flew open and a fox with nine tails came strolling in, everyone jumped, Luffy and Usopp woke up, while it came over to Constance.
"Mister Kira, what a n-nice d-day t-to see you," Constance said as the fox glared at her, it was the same size as me. "How might I help you?"
"My master's to be expecting an offering from the Shirt Tail Inn this Harvest Moon Festival in the Silverback Manor," it said, I got a closer look at it and noticed it was the same one that chased me and Sanji. "He demands that your father, Old Jack, to brew him your finest sake."
"I-I'm sorry, sir, but the rice that was for this year's harvest wasn't good enough," Constance said. "With a-all the b-blizzards t-this year the Brethren created caused them to be frozen, so they couldn't grow."
"Master Trace won't be happy about this, he said that if you can't brew sake, he'll want...the diary of Edgar Silverback," Kira said, she gave a shaky nod and went behind the counter. "I believe you own the original?"
"Yes, sir," she said, she went upstairs while I looked harder at Kira. It was as though we were sucked into a black room when we made eye contact. I took note of a sword on its back, it was Zolo's. He stared at all of us.
I switched to human point and said,"Where'd you get that blade? It looks cool."
"What, this?" he asked me. ⌠I don't wanna brag, but I am the most skilled swordsman on Fannette Island. This sword, Fox Tail, is the most powerful one here."
There was a long silence, Nami broke it by asking,"If it's a sword, why isn't it in its scabbard?"
"Reasons," Kira said, Constance came in, she handed him the journal, but I said,"Don't give it to him."
"Er, ignore her," Constance said, she placed it in the fox's mouth and he left. I switched to beast point again and sped after him, I nailed him to the ground. "Luna!"
"Give me the sword!" I roared in his face. "How can you obtain it when you were after me earlier?!"
"Questions, you're full of them aren't you?" Kira smiled, he vanished in a puff of snow, but Zolo's sword was all that was left. I took it in my mouth and placed it near Zolo.
"You know, I just gave the fox a fake journal," Constance said, she gave me another book. "Here's the real one."
I switched to human point and placed the sword in its scabbard. I looked through it and found a small side note on it, I read,"When the foul beast attacks, it would first try to copy one's battle style. When it is outsmarted, or overpowered, it would then take one's shadow. It had happened to Jack, his shadow was stolen. He wasn't able to be seen by the opposite gender for the rest of his life."
"Guys," Nami said. "Where's Zolo?"
"Right where Chopper is of course," I said.
"Urgh, my head," Zolo said, rubbing the back of his neck. "Where's the fox I was fighting earlier?"
Vivi, who was next to him, jumped at the sound of his voice, she turned, but wasn't able to see him. She said,"Wasn't he just behind me?"
I looked through the journal again, I read,"He could be heard, but not seen. Animals, regardless of their gender, can see him. I'm part wolf, so, I can see Zolo."
"You mean to say that Zolo can't be seen by any girl?" Usopp asked, he clearly didn't get to anything for the pass thirty minutes. "That'd be a though life, you'll scare all the pretty girls away by just talking to them."
"Hey, it was pretty hectic out there and we had a large disadvantage," Zolo said, he got up and went up the stairs, he caught a glimpse of a mirror, he paused. "Why can't I see my own reflection?"
"And Jack wasn't able to see his own reflection in mirrors," I added, reading from the journal.
"Luna-chan, Nami-swan, Vivi! Breakfast is ready!" Sanji said, we all went to the kitchen to eat. When Zolo arrived, Constance moved out of his way, she said,"Excuse me, I need to fetch something from the storage room."
I was about to come, then I paused. Wait, aren't girls not supposed to see Zolo? How can she know where he was without moving out of the way? She's supposed to bump into him or something. I said,"Constance, how did you know Zolo was next to you if you can't see him?"
"He smells like steel," she said. "I have a very sensitive nose."
"Sure," I murmured, I took my seat near the window.
"Luna-chan, aren't you going to eat?" the cook asked me, I nodded. We ate our fill, then Nami asked,"Constance?"
"Yes?" she said from the storage room.
"Kira mentioned about the Harvest Moon Festival, what's that?" Nami said.
"Just a party they throw at the Silverback Manor," Constance said, as though it were simple. "The whole town goes there and offers sake or anything good to Master Trace. It started after Edgar Silverback died."
"Master Trace?" I asked. "You mean Nine Tailed Trace?"
"Yes, he's not alive, but his nine tailed fox is. We treat it as though it were our king. Kira, who was here, was part of the Nine Tailed Brethren, a group of nine foxes that are under Master Trace's fox's command, that organization started around the same time as the Festival," Constance said, she came out of the storage room.
"So those foxes we were chased after are part of that Brethren," Vivi said. "If we kill any of those beasts, we can get Zolo's shadow back?"
"Depends on which fox stole it," Constance said. "With each shadow a fox from the Nine Tailed Brethren steals, the more powerful they become, but it also depends on how much power that the shadow is. Take Zolo's shadow for example, he's quite strong so his shadow might be worth...50 of them."
"I wonder which fox took him," I said. "It can't be Kira, he was after me and Sanji. I guess we're gonna have to...guess. I'd say we go after all of them until we find the right one."
"If you're going to kill them, you have to know that each eight foxes-"
"Eight?" Sanji asked. "Thought you said there were nine."
"That part when Jack and Silverback drowned a fox? She was part of the Brethren, so she died," Constance said. "Anyway, the eight foxes have different abilities. Kira holds the swordsman skills. One of them has the ability to stop time, one has the power to control the weather, another gets to have telekinetic powers and can read one's mind and it handles all the illusions and stuff. This other fox can transform into anything or anybody. Then there are two other foxes that are twins, they are just advisors of their leader and they can take a Devil Fruit user's powers and use it against their opponents. All of them have the power to steal one's shadow, so it's going to be hard to kill the right one."
There was a long silence, the Usopp broke it by asking,"How do you know this stuff? It wasn't mentioned in the journals." I nodded.
"Erm, my grandfather used to tell me stories of them," Constance said, another long pause. We all stared at her. "The-the Harvest Moon Festival is tonight, how about we go and check it out?"
"Yay! A festival!" Luffy said, man, he's stupid. I slapped him in the back of his head. "What?! A party is gonna happen!"
"A death day party is going to happen if we fall for this trap!" I said, I pointed at Constance. "Tell me, why'd Kira come here? I know he wasn't here for the journal."
"You heard him, he demanded sake!" Constance said. "My father can't brew it anymore, so I gave it to him!"
"Luna-chan's got point," Sanji said. "Do you even have a father?"
"No, Old Jack the Sake Brewer is dead!" Constance said.
"You're wrong," Nami said. "I heard his voice from upstairs, he's alive. How can you he's dead if Vivi and I heard him?"
"That's right," I said, we all stared at her, she fled the room. "What if Kira wasn't here for the journal?"
"Then," Loki said, he came inside the kitchen, Sanji tossed him some raw fish. "Thanks, then Kira wanted to see how we looked and tell his master about us. Constance was framing us by having Kira come here and take note of us."
I looked at Zolo, then the two journals, then at the Silverback Manor outside the window, I said,"Let's get the party started, we're going to get Zolo's shadow back."
"Shadows, shadows, shadows," said a familiar voice, Silverback was just behind Nami.
"Why do you always appear at every end of my chapters and repeat every stinkin' thing I say?!" I yelled at the ghost, he smirked. "If you're coming from the dead to warn me about something, spill it!"
"Why are you yelling at me?!" Nami yelled at me, I ignored her.
"Brinks' alcohol, please bring it to me," he sang at me. "Would you come to the Festival?"
"Are you even listening to me?!" Nami said.
"Why should I?" I said in a very irritated tone, to both of them. Silverback vanished in gray smoke.
"You don't have to be rude!" Nami said.
"Would you two stop yelling already?!" Loki squawked at us.
"SHUT UP!" Nami and I yelled at the bird, he cowered out of the kitchen.