The vast chamber before them exuded an air of solemnity. Lupin strode confidently forward, breaking the spell of the oppresive stillness of the room. Jigen and Goemon stepped inside, lighting torches to illuminate their surroundings. The chamber was enormous. At its center stood a stone pedestal, and the floor in front of it was covered with about thirty tiles, each adorned with mysterious symbols. The pedestal bore a stone plaque engraved with something in French.
Lupin approached first, his eyes gleaming with excitement at the sight of the room's setup. He stopped in front of the pedestal, his grin growing wider and wider.
"Oh, fantastic!" he exclaimed. "A puzzle! I love puzzles."
"Lupin, be careful," Goemon said in a serious tone.
"Relax, Gogo. It's a puzzle! Puzzles don't kill people. Well… in theory."
Lupin leaned closer to the inscription on the pedestal, carefully deciphering the words carved into the weathered stone.
Jigen and Goemon approached cautiously, making sure not to step on the engraved tiles. The symbols didn't seem to mean anything, at least not to them. But it was clear from Lupin's expression that he already had a theory forming.
"What does it say?" Jigen asked. He knew a bit of French, but honestly couldn't be bothered to think right now. He was still a bit foggy from the gas.
"'Seul celluy qui suit les pas du conquérant descouvrira la vérité.' That's easy!" Lupin exclaimed with enthusiasm. "'Only those who walk in the footsteps of the conqueror will uncover the truth.' The puzzle is referring to Napoléon's conquests. We just need to step on the tiles in the chronological order of his victories."
Easy, it could have been… if there weren't about thirty tiles on the floor. Jigen was already dreading the scope of the task. What made it worse was that the tiles didn't have any dates, names, or anything clearly identifying Napoleon's campaigns. Instead, they were covered in small engraved lines that, he guessed, probably formed a coherent pattern—if you knew what you were looking for.
"And how exactly do you plan on figuring out the precise order, boss?" Jigen asked dryly.
"Hmm… Well, to start with, Jiji, we can rule out his birth, his first victory, his first defeat, his coronation, and his exile… Oh, and let's not forget his great love. After all, we're dealing with the Heart of Napoléon, aren't we? Hmmm…" Lupin scratched his chin thoughtfully.
"Hooray," Jigen deadpanned. "Only 24 tiles left to figure out."
Still focused on the tiles, Lupin wagged his finger as if to say Jigen was far off the mark.
"Jigen, if I'm reading this pedestal correctly, I don't think we need to figure out that many."
He tapped a section of the pedestal with his finger. Jigen had to shuffle closer—still carefully avoiding the tiles—to see what he was pointing at. A series of stars surrounded their clue.
Lupin continued, not even glancing at him, "We only need to find eight."
Goemon, now standing nearby, remained skeptical. "And how can you associate the stars with the number of tiles? It could just be a decorative element… or a trap!"
"Nope, it's eight tiles," Lupin replied confidently, counting something on his fingers. He weaved among the tiles, murmuring calculations under his breath whenever he wasn't addressing them. "Some of these tiles don't belong at all. Look, here's Tokyo." He pointed at a set of lines that, now that he mentioned it, resembled the Imperial Palace. "Completely out of place. Definitely not Napoléonic."
Goemon muttered quietly, "But there are only symbols here, no names. How can we be sure?" His voice was low enough that only Jigen caught it.
Jigen, however, was distracted. Now that Tokyo had been pointed out, he was beginning to decipher some of the other symbols. Over there was the Kremlin—he recognized it from their trip with Lupin. Further down, he spotted the pyramids. And there—Paris, most likely.
At his feet was a large building, one Jigen recognized almost instantly. Lupin had spent half an hour rambling about its architecture just the day before.
"The Cathedral of Milan… So that's why…"
Lupin loved to play games, and judging by the spark in his smile, he had dragged them all over Milan precisely to prepare for a puzzle like this. Sometimes, Jigen could almost convince himself that Lupin had some sort of ability to see the future. The laughter bubbling out of Lupin confirmed that he had been waiting for one of them to figure it out ever since they had stepped foot in this room.
Now that they were inching closer to the solution—Goemon still eyed the tiles warily, his hand resting on Zantetsuken as though they might leap up to attack him at any moment—Lupin seemed pleased enough to reveal the answer.
"It's simple: we start with Ajaccio, the place of his birth." He pointed to a tile with a house surrounded by mountains. "Then Toulon, his first major victory." A military tower and cannons. "Next is Paris, for his marriage to Joséphine, then Cairo for his Egyptian campaign." The tiles became increasingly obvious now that the solution was being explained. Paris even had two interlocked rings to symbolize the wedding. "Notre-Dame de Paris for his coronation, Moscow for the beginning of his downfall, Waterloo, and finally, Saint Helena."
Lupin paused, clearly basking in his own brilliance. He reveled in the admiration of his companions, even if one was a nearly expressionless samurai and the other was Jigen, whose loyalty often exceeded reason, and who couldn't help but marvel at Lupin's ingenuity each time.
Jigen allowed one eye to peek out from under his hat, just in time to see Lupin wearing a wide, absurdly proud grin. He lit another cigarette, the smoke curling around his face as he used it to hide his own reluctant smile. Lupin could be entirely unprofessional sometimes.
"Alright!" Lupin declared. "Ajaccio, here I come!"
With that, Lupin took a deep breath and stepped onto the Ajaccio tile. They waited a few tense seconds, ready to leap back at the slightest sign of danger, but nothing happened. Lupin let out a barely concealed sigh of relief.
Jigen decided to take the initiative. The next tile was closest to him, so he cautiously placed his foot on it, holding his breath as he did. The tile sank slightly under his weight, but nothing more happened.
"Goemon, can you reach that one?" Lupin asked, vaguely pointing in the samurai's direction.
Jigen motioned toward the correct tile, and Goemon stepped onto it, his sandal touching down so lightly that the tile didn't sink immediately. The others had to encourage him to press down more firmly.
From there, they each took turns stepping on the appropriate tiles, choosing the ones closest to their positions. Finally, Jigen reached the last tile, marked with a small island and a skull—St. Helena, according to Lupin. As his foot settled on it, the three exchanged anxious glances. Even Lupin seemed to share in the tension that his companions had been suppressing since the start of the puzzle.
Nothing happened at first. A single second stretched into an eternity. Then, the ground beneath them vibrated gently, but no traps were triggered.
Suddenly, the wall ahead of them began to rise, revealing a new chamber illuminated by faint beams of natural light streaming through cracks in the ceiling. Lupin burst into laughter, throwing his fists into the air as if celebrating a personal victory.
Jigen and Goemon barely had time to release their pent-up tension before noticing that Lupin was already bouncing into the newly revealed room, laughing gleefully.
There, in the center of the room, stood what could only be the infamous statue of Napoleon—the one Lupin had described, built by the Italians in a futile attempt to curse the emperor. As soon as they laid eyes on it, Goemon wrinkled his nose.
The statue was… grotesque.
From what Jigen remembered of Napoleon, this statue looked nothing like him. In fact, it was horrendously cartoonish. The face was twisted into a ludicrous expression. Napoleon had been sculpted short, stocky, and almost rectangular. His posture was awkward, and his eyes seemed to be looking in two different directions. His left arm was pressed clumsily against his body, while his right hand made a victory sign, oddly reminiscent of a Japanese schoolgirl—even if the period didn't match. Jigen wasn't sure whether to laugh or not.
Lupin, however, had no such reservations. He doubled over, laughing uncontrollably, showing no respect for what was technically half his French heritage.
"Niah ah ah! The Italians did him dirty! He looks like a monkey wearing a bicorne!"
Lupin's laughter was infectious, and soon Jigen was leaning on him, both of them laughing until their sides ached. Lupin even started pulling ridiculous faces, trying to mimic the statue's grotesque expression, but nothing could match the stone-faced absurdity of the fake Napoleon.
After a while, Goemon grew tired of waiting for them.
"Lupin. I would appreciate it if we returned to the matter at hand." Goemon stood with his arms crossed, too serious to join in the mocking. "There is… a strange configuration here."
With the tip of Zantetsuken, he pointed to a hollow space in the statue near Napoleon's right hand. It was partially open, palm upward, resembling the claw of a Lego figure. On closer inspection, the inside of the hand seemed to have a specific shape.
Lupin, still riding high on his amusement, struggled to stop laughing. "Ooooh? Looks like Gogo doesn't want to hang around and have fun!"
Goemon raised his sword ever so slightly, as if considering whether to bring it down on Lupin's head.
"Gah! Fine! No sense of humor these days!" Lupin exclaimed, raising his hands in mock surrender.
Still grinning, Lupin retrieved the ruby from his pocket. A vivid red glint filled the room as a stray beam of light caught its surface. He approached the statue carefully, his usual mischievous flair replaced by calculated precision. With a dramatic pause, he inserted the gem into the hollowness.
The ruby fit perfectly, locking into place in the statue's palm. A metallic click echoed through the chamber, and the stone started emitting a soft glow. The light passed through the ruby, casting a pale red hue throughout the room. The statue was now holding the ruby in its palm, close to where its heart would be, and Jigen finaly realized how fitting the name Heart of Napoleon truly was.
A tremble grew from the statue and spread into the walls, and a section behind the statue began to shift.
Jigen had expected a large, brightly lit room, one befitting the grandeur of Napoleon's rumored treasure, but instead, the three of them were faced with a hidden, narrow passageway cloaked in darkness.
They cautiously advanced into the newly uncovered passage. The space was too tight for them to move side by side, so they filed in one after the other. Their footsteps echoed in the confined stone tunnel, the atmosphere growing tenser with each step. The lightheartedness from earlier had completely dissipated—this was clearly the moment they'd been working toward.
Jigen briefly wondered where the famed treasure was, but his thinking was cut short when he bumped his nose into Lupin's jacket.
They had reached a dead end. His hand instinctively went to his Magnum, but he quickly realized there was no immediate danger—just a wall blocking their way.
"What the…? Lupin?"
In front of Lupin was a wall etched with an ancient inscription. The usually talkative thief was silent, staring intently at the words. Jigen hesitated to push him, and instead craned his neck to catch sight of the message.
"On dit souvent que je n'ay cœur que pour mon ouvrage, mais il n'est point là mon véritable amour.
Je regrette ce divorce, ma tendre aimée. Puisses-tu un jour comprendre que mes erreurs ne venaient point d'une absence d'amour.
Pardonne-moi, ma tendre, d'avoir laissé mon labeur obscurcir les élans de mon cœur. En attendant ce jour, je te laisse le mien. "
Just beneath the inscription was a small recess in the wall, holding a round medallion. Lupin already had it in his hands, turning the small jewel silently. Jigen didn't like the look on his boss's face—it was rare to see there such a mix of sadness and deep thought reflected so clearly.
"Boss?" Jigen asked, his voice low.
Lupin lifted his head but didn't respond. He had just pieced together the symbolic meaning of Napoleon's gesture, and it was shaking the foundations of everything he had taken for granted.
No, not shaking. It was more like opening a door he hadn't known was there. He'd considered it before, of course, many times—but he'd never spoken of it. He hadn't found the words, and had often backed down at the last moment.
He, the great Lupin the Third, had let his chance slip past without realizing it, multiple times. He'd been blinded by habit, unable to see the possibility of something greater. How could he have been so ignorant? So blind?
"Lu? You okay?" repeated Jigen, pulling Lupin out of his daze.
"Haha… Yes!" Lupin plastered on a fake smile so unconvincing even Zenigata wouldn't have been fooled. "This is incredible… It's the clue to the treasure's location! It's… on this medallion! Yes, everything's connected!"
Jigen glanced back at the inscription. It wasn't the treasure's location.
Lupin began ushering them back toward the exit. Goemon dragged his feet reluctantly, clearly not as eager to leave.
"Is the treasure not here?" Goemon asked, resuming his pace only after Lupin gave him another push. Still, he kept glancing back at the wall, hoping it would answer his questions even though he didn't speak French. He too had sensed something was off. "What did you find, Lupin? That medallion?"
They emerged back into the statue's chamber, but the moment they stepped through the threshold, shapes moved out of the shadows, and a chorus of guns being cocked filled the air.
"Ah, damn it," Jigen muttered under his breath.
In front of them stood several heavily armed mercenaries of the Black Dawn, their weapons trained on the trio. Near the grotesque statue of Napoleon stood Zorin and Fujiko, side by side.
Goemon and Jigen instantly realized it was too late to fight back. They raised their hands in reluctant surrender. Lupin stepped in front of them, his expression calm yet unreadable, masking any emotions better than he had moments before.
"Well done, Lupin. Congratulations on solving all the puzzles for us," Zorin said, his voice smug. He stepped forward, extending a hand. "The medallion, if you please."
Lupin was visibly annoyed now, but he pretended to keep his composure. "Such a lack of etiquette, Zorin. Intruding at the end of a heist…"
Despite his words, he reluctantly held out the medallion. His hand lingered just a moment too long before releasing the precious relic.
Zorin snatched the medallion eagerly. Unlike Lupin, he didn't pause to reflect. He turned it over repeatedly, inspecting it from every angle, but the small jewel revealed none of its secrets. Frowning, he shifted his sharp gaze back to Lupin. "Is that all?"
Feigning disinterest, Lupin gave an exaggerated yawn and lied shamelessly, "That's all there was. But I'm sure your boundless intellect will get an immense satisfaction from it."
Zorin clenched his teeth. "Don't you play that game with me, Lupin. There was something else, wasn't there? A map, perhaps? Where's the treasure? Speak!"
"There was nothing, my dear friend. Feel free to check for yourself if you'd like…"
Jigen raised an eyebrow, his skepticism hidden beneath the brim of his hat. He vaguely wondered what game Lupin was playing. Zorin would obviously see the message on the wall.
But he didn't have time to ponder further. A menacing rumble echoed through the chamber, and the room trembled so violently that everyone had to brace themselves to avoid toppling over.
They all turned to Fujiko. She had used the distraction of Zorin's interrogation to slip closer to the statue. Now, the Heart of Napoleon was in her hand, and it looked like the statue hadn't liked being robbed of his heart. The ruby disappeared neatly between her breasts, securely tucked into her tight black jumpsuit.
"Oops?" she offered, feigning innocence.
"Fujiko!" Jigen growled.
"You bitch! What have you done?!" Zorin shouted, alarm obvious in his voice as he spun around.
The ceiling trembled, and cracks began to spread along the walls. Zorin cursed, spinning on his heel, and barked at his men, "Get out of here, you idiots! The whole place is coming down!"
Fujiko gave them a sly wink. With a playful "Bye-bye, boys!" she darted toward the exit. Zorin's henchmen scattered in the chaos, some stumbling, others freezing as chunks of stone began falling from the crumbling walls. Some of the more courageous ones stayed behind, ready to help their boss escape.
"She's always like this…" Jigen muttered, angrily checking the bullets in his magnum.
"Don't be like that, Jigen!" Lupin called back from ahead. "She did us a solid!"
Lupin was implying that Fujiko had intentionally removed the ruby to save them from a standoff with Zorin, but Jigen wasn't buying it. He could have handled a hail of bullets. Intentional or not, she'd still triggered a trap that might turn the whole place into a tomb. And that was something much harder to deal with.