Chapter 14: Harvest Moon Festival's Foxes
"Luna, get a grip!" Nami said.
"Yeah," Luffy said. "Why'd Nami do anyway to make you mad?"
"I'm not mad," I said. "It's just that, the ghost keeps coming to me."
"Ghost?!" Usopp said, he was suddenly carrying a cross.
"Give me one of them too!" Chopper and Loki exclaimed, he handed them crosses. "We can drive it away!"
A loud bang was heard and we all went outside, the town was having a blast. People laughed and joked around, food, booths, and other entertainment were set up around the town square. Luffy said,"Now this is my kind of town!"
"You should"ve seen Tortuga," I said under my breath as he went to watch a magic trick being preformed at a stage like booth where two nine tailed foxes who were as big as me in beast point with garments and ribbons on them were jumping around, making the crowd laugh.
"Step right up folks!" said a fox that had a scar over its right eye, it looked at Nami and Vivi. "Young ladies, how would you like to see the most spectacular performance by me, Shadow, and my brother, Night?"
"N-no thanks," Nami said, but Night, the other fox, came up to her and gave a low bow. A bouquet of flowers was in his mouth, he gave them to her.
"Please, miss,"Night begged with puppy dog eyes.
"Say yes to them, girl!" said a man. "They're brilliant!"
"Fine," Nami said, after a while, Shadow motioned her to come closer, she leaned closer to hear.
"May I see...your panties?" Shadow asked.
She stood strait up and kicked Shadow, he flew up in the air and landed in a water fountain. "Pervert!"
"Bro!" Night said, he scampered over to the fountain. "Are you all right? Say something!"
"Man, she bruised me head, and no man with his sword can scratch me!" Shadow exclaimed, rubbing his head. Everyone except me and the crew, minus Luffy, laughed. "Ha, ha, ha!"
"Let's go," Nami said while Luffy laughed hysterically at Shadow as he stumbled out of the fountain. "They're just like Sanji, only when they hit on me, they harrass me."
"What happened here?" said a calm voice, the crowd ceased as a nine tailed fox with a black orb around its neck came. People moved out of its way as it walked over to Shadow in a regal manor. "Don't tell me you two are messing around again."
"Ah, have some fun for once, Spirit!" Night said. "The festival comes once a year, so make the good of it! All you do is predict the Master Trace's death or someone else's at every festival. Why don't you do something worth it?"
"Levitation!" Spirit said, the orb glowed and the two foxes were lifted into the air. They spun in circles until they were dizzy. "Now this is worth it!" The crowed laughed until the two twins were slammed into the ground. "You two."
He looked at me and Sanj, he said,"I had foreseen into the future. You two have a bond between each other, yet it is unrealized. " Sanji and I blushed. "That's all there is for you, young lady. As for the Straw Hat Crew-"
"How'd you know us?" Luffy asked.
"I had seen your future, boy. It lies here in the Grand Line," Spirit said, he gave a slick smile and ran off to the other side of town. "May the Harvest Moon guide you to your destinies!"
"What the heck is that thing problem?" Zolo asked as we watched it go.
"Ah, forget about Spirit," Shadow said. "He's always coming up with new prophesies to 'aid' Master Trace."
The crowd went away and I tackled Shadow, I growled,"Master Trace, huh?"
"Oh, I knew you shouldn't have said that, man!" Night whimpered. "I'll speak."
"Is Nine Tailed Trace alive? If he is, where is he? How is he alive? Why are you foxes outside the manor? How come you haven't attacked us yet? And, what part do you two have in the Nine Tailed Brethren?" I asked, my hands were at his neck.
"Honk!" Carue said, Loki and Chopper nodded.
"What did Carue say?" Vivi asked.
"He said that we can't trust what a fox says," Loki said.
"That's right, there're stories that have foxes tricking humans and killing them," Vivi said.
"Whatever," I said. "Just spill it all."
"Okay," Night said, he threw a glance at Shadow and he nodded. "Yes, Nine Tailed Trace is alive, he's at the Silverback Manor waiting for one of us to bring you people to him. I don't know how he lives, but it has to do with Spirit's powers, now please let my brother go, we're the only one's who can understand each other," Night begged me. I gave a death glare at Shadow, the released him.
"Dude, I think this girl isn't really a girl," Shadow said. "Anyway, now that I'm in your dept, which is very rare between us and mortals, we'll answer your questions. We didn't attack you yet, Master Trace gave us orders to let you people come to our home unharmed until you had made eye contact."
"Now, the next question, we are Night and Shadow, the advisors and entertainers of Master Trace and Red, the Brethren's leader. Our power is to take devil fruit user's power and using it against our opponents," Night said. "You people look like you don't have any powers from the devil fruit so we'll let you go. If you wanna see the rest of us, go head towards the Manor. I bet Master Trace is waiting for us."
"Yeah," Shadow said. "You think Spirit's there?" They ran off in the same direction that Spirit ran. "See you, if you make it!"
"That was a lot of fun, let's go and see more of those guys!-ow!" Luffy exclaimed, I punched him in the back of his head. "Why me? Why can't you slap Sanji or something?"
"Beacause he is smarter than you!" I said, Sanji blushed again. "It was your idea to make port on this island anyway! Now Zolo's shadow is stolen, the Going Merry is missing!-"
"What?! The Merry is missing?!" Usopp said, but I continued.
"I'm being stalked by some ghost of this dead guy! We're being led into a trap by some Nine Tailed Trace without even knowing that we are! And I'm running out of things to say!" I yelled, I panted a bit.
"We get your point," Zolo said. "Let's just get out of here, I can manage without my shadow."
"He won't manage in the sun," sang a voice, Silverback's ghost was behind Zolo. "He won't be having any fun!"
"I'll stay calm for this," I murmured, taking deep breaths. "What does that mean?"
"Since you're so kind, I won't deny your request," Silverback said in his normal voice. "That manor houses a man that controls deadly creatures to do his bidding. Go there, and find the fox that stole this swordsman's shadow. Slay them all, until you avenged the soles that had fallen victim. I can not rest yet."
And with that, the ghost vanished in his usual puff of smoke. We walked up a path that led to the manor. Lanterns and other decorative items made the town more...inhabitable. A nine tailed fox stood at the entrance, a pendant with cross bones was tied around her neck.
"Welcome to the Silverback Manor," she said in a soft tone. "I'm Priestess Rao. Master Trace-"
(yeah, some of the names are from Okami)
"Argh!" I yelled as I switched to beast point and jumped at her. Her tails glowed and she changed into a black wolf, we walked in a circle. "What part do you have in the Nine Tailed Brethren?!"
Rao stopped and changed back into a fox. She said,"Just go up the path to the graveyard and watch for Kira the Assassin. I'm not who I am, you know that."
"I'm betting that's the shape shifter Constance mentioned," Luffy said, we watched her head to the garden. "She looks really cool!"
"D-did she say g-graveyard?" Usopp asked, he, Loki, and Chopper tried to run to town, but I grabbed both of them and dragged them with me. "Please, please, please! I admit, I used some of your arrows to help build a new weapon!"
"That was you?!" I asked, I checked my quiver and saw that some of my arrows were missing. "Whatever, I can always make new ones. C'mon!"
We walked to the left side of the house, then we merged into a graveyard. The gates were newly kept, unlike the manor. I opened them and the whole place was suddenly lit with torches that surrounded the fencing.
"I t-told y-you t-his w-was a b-b-bad idea," Chopper said in his tiny voice.
"You didn't say anything," Nami said, she walked over to a grave that had a large tomb stone. She tapped it. "See, nothing here, now let's g-"
"Goin' somewhere?" said a deep, dark voice from the ground. A large, silver paw arose from the ground and grabbed her leg. Another came up, this time, it was a nine tailed fox that was gray. A clocked chained around his neck made small ticking sounds. His full body was seen, a long cane was tied to his back. "Tick, tock, tick tock, I'm Kasu, the Key to Time, and welcome...to the Graveyard of Nine Tails, milady."
"Fox!" Nami said, trying to run, Kasu still had a firm grip.
"Nami-swan!" Sanji yelled, he tried to kick Kasu's head, but the fox vanished with Nami and appeared behind him while he kicked the gravestone. "What the-?!"
"Time Keeper!" Kasu said, he grabbed hold of his cane in his mouth and hit Sanji's legs then his chest with it in a single stroke. The cook's legs trembled at he feel to his knees in pain as a bit of blood in his mouth.
"I know he hit once, but it looked like he striked Sanji multiple times," Vivi said, I rushed over to Sanji and helped him up.
"Thanks," he whispered in my ear, his breathing was a bit thin, but he took several deep breaths and his breathing returned to normal. "That was one hell of a blow."
"That's right, kid," Kasu said. "I'm not fast, but I've got time on my side to help kill my prey in single strokes. You were strong enough to survive it, I'm impressed."