In the days following their departure from Thriller Bark, Itachi had been thinking about the kinds of things he'd seen, particularly the kinds of counters that existed to his abilities. From Garp using Observation Haki to overpower his genjutsu to Kuma using his Devil Fruit to repel the very concept of it, it seemed he needed to come up with a solution to these problems. He had to carefully manage the use of his Mangekyo Sharingan as well. He'd been careful not to use it the whole time he'd been in this world, and now he had done so thrice in the short time he'd been with the Straw Hats. Admittedly, one was wholly unnecessary and rage-induced, but the other two were due to a lack of alternative in the given situation.
Without any way to acquire the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, he only had two options: either get strong enough that he wouldn't need to use his higher-tier powers, or find a way to slow the process of blindness brought on by the Mangekyo. Up to that point, his Sharingan was sufficient to handle any problems, and so his Observation Haki was underdeveloped. He wondered, though, if perhaps that was a mistake. If other peoples' Observation Haki could interact with his Sharingan and allow them to bypass his normal genjutsu, could his own Observation Haki be developed and used to achieve the opposite effect, bolstering rather than countering it?
As far as Kuma using his Devil Fruit powers, Itachi could think of no real means of preventing that, other than disabling Kuma's hands. But if he managed to do that he was probably going to win anyways, even without genjutsu.
His Armament Haki was also quite weak in comparison to many of his former crewmates back on Whitebeard's ship, since he had only trained it just enough to make it usable against Logia type Devil Fruit users. He'd have to work on strengthening it as well, but priority one was exploring the possibilities of combining Observation Haki with his Sharingan.
Resolving to become stronger, he began training his Observation Haki, spending hours at a time meditating and concentrating on refining his ability to sense his surroundings, even wearing a blindfold so as to eliminate his Sharingan from the equation.
One day, his meditation was interrupted by the sound of screaming coming from the deck, prompting him to rush his way topside to see what the issue was.
A sea rabbit was attacking. Of course sea rabbits are a thing, he thought. Why am I still surprised at this point?
The scene got weirder when Luffy punched the sea rabbit and it spat out a mermaid and a starfish, sending them careening onto the deck of the ship. Then the starfish started chastising the mermaid for not running from the rabbit. The mermaid introduced herself as Camie, and the crew began bombarding her with questions, some more appropriate than others. She then introduced the starfish as Pappagu, her teacher in the field of textiles.
Camie offered to feed the crew takoyaki as thanks, and called a friend of hers by the name of Hatchan to set up a meet, only to find out he'd been captured by a group known as the Macro Gang, with the help of another group called the Flying Fish Riders. Nami worked out a deal for them to rescue Hatchan, and in exchange Camie would show them the way to Fishman Island. Camie then summoned a school of fish to lead them to where Hatchan was being held, and the Sunny changed course appropriately.
Before long, the Flying Fish Riders found them, flying through the air on giant flying fish and dropping a few bombs. Then, some kind of message came through on their Transponder Snails and retreated back to their base, forcing the crew to follow them.
Upon seeing their bombs and getting a sense of the situation, Itachi decided his help probably wouldn't be needed, but stayed on deck just in case.
Later, when they arrived at the enemy's hideout, Hatchan turned out to be someone from Nami's past, and from the context of the conversation, there was bad blood between them. He was being held in a cage posted in the middle of the bay. At first, the crew refused to save him, prompting Camie and Pappagu to leap into the water in an attempt to save him themselves, but they got captured pretty much immediately. After giving it some thought, Nami relented, deciding she wouldn't hold a grudge against him and giving the green light to the rest of the crew to act. Luffy leapt out, stretching his arms out to grab Camie and Pappagu and landing safely at the docks. The Flying Fish Riders sprung into action, but many of them were quickly dispatched. Itachi launched several Fireball Jutsu, knocking his targets out of the sky. Luffy grabbed onto one, commandeering a Flying Fish from its pilot and pushing him into the sea. Zoro cut through the bars of the cage, freeing Hatchan. One of the Riders tried to harpoon him, but Zoro cut down the fish before he could get an attack off. Back on the ship, Brook took to the air and managed to put a large number of them to sleep with his Lullaby, landing in the water and running across the surface to get to the ship.
"Oh, I guess I could still walk on water if I ate a Devil Fruit," noted Itachi. "Good to know."
Robin had made her way up to the Crow's Nest, using her Devil Fruit to disable any Riders that came within range. Nami used her Mirage Tempo to lure them into her Thunder Tempo attack, and Franky punched the daylights out of any who got too close to the deck.
Eventually, their leader showed up. A man named Duval, wearing an iron mask over his face. Apparently, he held a grudge against Sanji for something? He fired a bunch of poisoned harpoons at the deck of the Sunny, aiming for Sanji, but Itachi blocked them with a Water Wall Jutsu, giving Luffy the chance to attack him and knock off his mask.
The reveal of Duval's face was nothing short of an absolute shock. Even Itachi couldn't hide his surprise, breathing a soft "Holy shit…"
Duval's face was identical to the rough sketch on Sanji's Wanted poster. After the events of Enies Lobby, the World Government had mistaken Duval for Sanji, forcing him to go into hiding and take up work in the slave trade just to survive. Sanji was so enraged that he ended up kicking Duval in the face repeatedly at full force, to the point that it rearranged his face and made him no longer resemble the Wanted Poster. With Camie, Pappagu, and Hatchan free, and the Flying Fish Riders soundly beaten, the Straw Hats grabbed Hatchan's boat and cast off.
As they sailed, Hatchan cooked them all a bunch of takoyaki as thanks, and Duval showed up to thank Sanji for rearranging his face. Later on deck, Camie and Pappagu informed them about the route to Fishman Island over tea. It was located thirty thousand feet below sea level, and the only way to get there was to coat their ship in a special material only found on Sabaody Archipelago. At Hatchan's instruction, they dropped anchor at Dock forty one, heading into the tourism district. Luffy, Itachi, Robin, Nami, Chopper, and Brook decided to head into town together, with Franky and Usopp staying behind to perform maintenance on the ship, and Sanji staying behind to guard Nami's treasure. Hatchan warned them that if they encountered the World Nobles, they were absolutely not to interact with or defy them.
Zoro decided to go off on a walk by himself, and immediately got lost.
As they walked, Hatchan continued to issue warnings regarding the culture of Sabaody, particularly the fact that they were very close to Marine HQ, so any number of powerhouses from there could show up at any time.
Once they hit town, Hatchan rented them two bubble riders, despite Luffy protesting that he wanted to buy one. Robin and Nami headed to a shopping mall, and the others headed to Grove Thirty One to get their ship coated for the trip to Fishman Island.
En route to the mall, Nami wondered aloud why Camie didn't join them, despite being invited. Robin noted that she'd been very nervous since arriving, perhaps because of a bad history with Sabaody.
Meanwhile, Hatchan and Luffy pedaled their way to Grove Thirty One with Itachi, Brook, Chopper, Camie, and Pappagu, but it quickly devolved from a simple bike ride into a race. Once they arrived, a scene was already developing in the square. An escaped slave was going around begging for someone to help him remove the metal collar from his neck, and eventually, it detonated, and the man collapsed to the ground. The World Nobles who apparently owned him arrived soon after, insulting him before pulling a gun and shooting him dead. Luffy badly wanted to do something, but was dissuaded by Hatchan and Itachi, who both impressed upon him the importance of keeping a low profile and not raising a finger to the Nobles.
Afterwards, it was explained by Pappagu that if anyone harms a Noble, the Navy sends a fleet of battleships and an Admiral to deal with it. Itachi revealed that he'd been to Sabaody a few times during his solo travels, and had witnessed such scenes before. They were interrupted when a group of bounty hunters ambushed them.
Itachi stood to face them. "Seeing the World Nobles always puts me in a sour mood, so if you don't mind, captain, I'd like to face these jokers by myself."
"Sure thing, go for it."
The bounty hunters laughed and blustered that there was no way one guy could take them all on. Approximately thirty seconds later, they were all bloodied, battered, and beaten, and Itachi hadn't suffered so much as a hair out of place. None of them were killed, though. Itachi had seen enough death for one day due to the actions of the World Nobles.
"Nice going, Itachi. Looking good out there!" complemented Brook.
"Thanks," replied Itachi. "Seems my body has fully recovered from being dead, and I can fight at one hundred percent again."
"Whoa, wait, you were dead?!" exclaimed Hatchan. "Are you some kinda zombie?!"
"No, I'm very much alive, but I did die for about a day. It's a long story."
These ambushes happened twice more on their trip, with Itachi effortlessly flattening them each time. Eventually, they reached their destination: Shakky's Rip-Off Bar in Grove Thirteen. The bar owner was beating up some customers who didn't pay up when they walked in. She introduced herself as Shakky, and after serving up some tea and food, as well as teasing Hatchan about Camie being his girlfriend, she asked if they were looking for Rayleigh.
That name caught Itachi's attention. "What? Hatchan, the one we're here to see is Rayleigh?"
"Yeah, he's my friend who's gonna coat your ship! Do you know him, too?"
"Not personally, but I remember hearing his name a lot back when I was sailing with Whitebeard."
"So who is he, then?" asked Luffy. "If Ace's captain talked about him, he must be important."
"I don't think I'll answer that quite yet," replied Itachi. "I think it'll be better if you find out by meeting him yourself."
Shakky then informed them that he wasn't in at the moment, explaining that their best bet would be to check Groves One through Twenty Nine, since that was the lawless area and the safest for a former pirate like him. Apart from that, he also likes Sabaody Park. She went on to explain that they should be careful where they look, because counting Luffy and Zoro, there were now eleven rookie pirates on Sabaody with bounties exceeding one hundred million berries (Itachi had been a pirate for several years at this point, no longer a rookie). Of these eleven "Supernovas," Luffy had the second highest bounty.
Capone "Gang" Bege: one hundred and thirty eight million.
"The Glutton" Jewelry Bonney: one hundred and forty million.
"The Magician" Basil Hawkins: two hundred and forty million.
"The Sea Roar" Scrathmen Apoo: one hundred and ninety eight million.
Eustass "Captain" Kid: three hundred and fifteen million.
"Red Flag" Dias Drake: two hundred and twenty two million.
"Mad Monk" Uroge: one hundred and eight million.
"Massacre Soldier" Killer: one hundred and sixty two million.
"Surgeon of Death" Trafalgar Law: two hundred million.
Luffy expressed concern for Rayleigh's well-being with so many dangerous pirates around, but Shakky assured him he'd be fine, since he's stronger than all the Supernovas combined.
"I think I'll go off on my own for a bit," said Itachi, standing to leave. "We'll cover more ground if we split up, and I also want to go visit some old contacts. I'll meet you all at the Amusement Park, okay?"
"Sure! Sounds good!" said Luffy, waving him goodbye.
Itachi made his way to the lawless district, delving into an especially seedy section, easily dispatching anyone who tried to ambush him. He stopped at the door of a decrepit building, giving it a knock.
"Who is it?" called a voice from behind the door.
"Itachi Uchiha. I have some questions."
The sound of bolts and locks being undone could be heard, and the door swung open.
"Come in."
Itachi entered, closing and locking the door behind him.
A middle-aged man with disheveled brown hair and a thick beard sat at a table. "Welcome back, Itachi. Care for some tea?"
"No thanks. I just have a few questions for you, and then I have other business to attend to."
"Well, shoot, you came all this way, so what do you need?"
"I need to know the most recent activity of each of the Yonko, including Whitebeard."
"What? Aren't you one of his Commanders? Why would you need to know about him?"
"I guess news travels slowly in these parts. I'm no longer a Whitebeard Pirate. I've joined up with a new crew, and they're making preparations to enter the New World, meaning we're bound to run up against the Yonko before too long."
"You sure that's a good idea? I mean, aren't you worried about making an enemy of your old captain?"
"You let me worry about that. Just tell me what they've been up to."
"Well, regarding Whitebeard…"
Meanwhile, Zoro was getting chastised by Jewelry Bonney for attempting to cut down a World Noble, Camie got kidnapped at Sabaody Park, and Chopper called Sanji about it, who in turn called in the Flying Fish Riders.
The Flying Fish Riders (now known as the Rosy Life Riders) guided Usopp, Sanji, and Franky throughout Sabaody, tracking down leads as to which group kidnapped Camie. Sanji had instructed them not to move since he was sending someone to pick them up, but Luffy, being Luffy, had already taken off on his own. Within a few minutes, Usopp arrived to pick up Chopper and Brook. Franky tracked down Robin and Nami in the mall, and Luffy, Hatchan, and Pappagu were picked up by a few of the other Riders. They couldn't find Itachi or Zoro
Eventually, they got word from Usopp's unit that Camie was up for auction at the house on Grove One. Coincidentally, it was the same Grove that Zoro mistakenly believed the ship was at.
Chopper, Sanji, Nami, and Franky convened at the Auction House. Meanwhile, Itachi finished his business and headed towards the amusement park.
When it became apparent that taking Camie back by force wasn't an option, Nami elected to go in as a bidder in an attempt to buy her back.
Inside the auction house, they witnessed several people get bid on, becoming increasingly angry. One pirate even bit off his own tongue in a suicide attempt, forcing an intermission. Once the proceedings resumed, Camie was brought to the stage for bidding.
Meanwhile, Luffy happened across Zoro, grabbing him and heading for the auction house.
Itachi arrived at the amusement park and was confused as to why no one else was around. Maybe they decided to try some of the rides while they waited for him? That sounds like exactly the kind of thing Luffy would do.
The intended opening bid for a mermaid was normally seven million berries, but one of the World Nobles, Charloss, opened with a bid of five hundred million, completely eliminating any chances the Straw Hats had of buying her back.
The instant the bidding closed, Luffy and Zoro came crashing through the wall of the house. The instant he spotted Camie, he tore off down the stairs, but Hatchan grabbed him in an attempt to stop him, accidentally exposing himself as a fishman in the process.
Luffy was stopped in his tracks when Charloss shot Hatchan in cold blood, bragging about how he'd managed to catch a fishman slave, dancing about like an idiot.
In that moment, several miles away, a sinking feeling crept into Itachi's chest. Was he dying again? No. Something was wrong.
Luffy, angered beyond all reason, and in spite of Hatchan's protests, Luffy walked up to Charloss and punched him, full-force, in the face.
Chaos was immediate. Charloss's father began shooting at Luffy, the civilians freaked out and ran to the exits, Sanji kicked down Charloss' father, Chopper moved to tend to Hatchan's wound, and security moved to apprehend the Straw Hats and were met with resistance from Zoro, Franky, and Nami.
Suddenly, all the Marines stationed at the amusement park mobilized, all hurrying toward the same direction. Itachi figured he should probably follow them. It was probably something to do with Luffy.
Brook, Robin, and Usopp arrived on the scene of the auction house, crashing through the roof and immediately joining the fight. Nami brought up the importance of them getting Camie and getting out before the Navy showed up. Someone sitting in the stands corrected her, revealing that the Navy was already there and had the place surrounded, likely in an attempt to capture someone else. Robin recognized him as Trafalgar Law, and also called out the presence of Eustass Kid in the back.
Charloss's sister attempted to shoot Camie, but was taken out by a wave of Conqueror's Haki from an old man who had emerged from the back room, followed by a giant. Hatchan recognized the old man as Rayleigh. Once he took stock of the situation, Rayleigh released another wave of his Conqueror's Haki, knocking out all the auction staff, then stating that he's been wanting to meet Luffy.
While following the Marine Forces, Itachi overheard townsfolk gossipping. Apparently, his captain had punched a World Noble's lights out. Itachi sighed. It was just like him to pull a stunt like this in the Navy's own backyard.
Guess I'd better hurry. There'll be an Admiral here before long.
Inside the auction house, Rayleigh used his Armament Haki to remove Camie's collar, tossing it away before it detonated. The Marines announced their presence, and Luffy, Kid, and Law went outside to fight, all the while bickering over who would be the one to handle them. The instant they engaged the Marines, the battlefield devolved into utter chaos. Kid's magnetism, Law's Shambles, and Luffy's rubber powers proved too much for the Marines to handle, and they called for reinforcements. Once they arrived, though, many of them were almost instantly dispatched, getting caught in Law's Room and disassembled. Others had their weapons ripped away from them by Kid, and still others were simply overpowered by Luffy's Gear 3.
As the Brigadier General overseeing the operation was contemplating what to do, he and the bulk of his remaining forces were cut down by Itachi, who had just arrived.
"Sorry I'm late, everyone. Seems I've missed quite the scene again. Captain, what's this I heard about you beating up a World Noble?"
"Yeah, I'll explain later, but right now we gotta get out of here!"
Itachi looked behind him, seeing more Marines approaching their location.
The remaining members of all the crews, alongside Rayleigh, exited the auction house and joined in the fight.
Itachi weaved hand signs and cast a much larger version of his Fireball Jutsu, taking out dozens of Marines and clearing a path for everyone to escape. Law and Kid went their own ways, and Duval and his crew picked up the Straw Hats, Rayleigh, Camie, Hatchan, and Pappagu. After successfully ducking the Marines, they made their way to Shakky's bar. Once they got in and got settled, Hatchan was laid down to receive treatment, and Rayleigh revealed his full name, Silvers Rayleigh, as well as the fact that he had served as Gol D. Roger's first mate back in the day. He also revealed the truth behind Roger's execution; that he had contracted a fatal disease, and managed to conquer the Grand Line before disbanding the crew and turning himself in. Apparently, Red-Haired Shanks and Buggy the Clown had also served as apprentices on Roger's ship.
Everyone was reacting with shock and awe at these revelations. All except Itachi and Robin, who were seated next to each other and stone cold silent, with pensive looks on their faces. They shared a sideways glance at each other; they were both thinking the same thing.
If he was so close to Roger, he must have information about the Poneglyphs.
Finally, Robin stood, and asked whether they knew about what happened during the Void Century, and Rayleigh confirmed that yes, they did learn about it.
"But, missy," he continued. "You shouldn't be so hasty. Just keep moving forward. This is your journey now; we and Ohara might have been in too much of a rush for our own good. Even if I told you everything about it here and now, you couldn't do anything with it. Once you've taken the time to really see the world, it might change your outlook, and you might arrive at a different answer. But, if you insist on hearing about it right now anyways, I can tell you. The choice is yours."
Robin closed her eyes and thought for a moment. Then, she looked back, making eye contact with one crewmate in particular.
"What about you, Itachi? You quite possibly have even more at stake with this than I do, so you should have a say in this, too."
Itachi simply smiled at her, the way he always did. That stupid little smile of his that was too damned cute. "I defer to your decision on this. I trust your judgment."
Robin nodded, taking only a moment longer to think it over before facing Rayleigh again. "No. I'll pass, and continue my journey."
Usopp then tried to ask if the One Piece was real, but was quickly silenced by Luffy, who stated he didn't want to know, and would rather find out for himself.
Rayleigh asked Luffy if he thought he had what it took to conquer the New World. Luffy responded by saying doesn't want to conquer anything, and that being King of the Pirates meant being more free than anyone else, which Rayleigh seemed to approve of.
Rayleigh set off to get to work coating their ship, stating that he was going to move it from Grove One to somewhere more secluded, and handing them his Vivre Card so that they could find him when the process was complete in three days. The Straw Hats decided to split up and find places to lay low while Rayleigh worked.
Meanwhile, Kid and Law's crews were dealing with a Pacifista. At the same time, a Navy battleship arrived at the Archipelago, with Admiral Kizaru in command. He made his way through the town, eventually confronting Basil Hawkins and questioning him about the whereabouts of someone named Sentomaru. When Hawkins stated that he knew of no one by that name, Kizaru attacked. While that battle was happening, Uroge fell from the sky, being attacked by another Pacifista. Dias Drake also flew into the scene, kicking the Pacifista away. The three tried their best against the Pacifista and the Admiral, and even got an assist from Apoo, but they were still taken down without much difficulty.
The Straw Hats were still looking for a spot to hide out when they were ambushed by a Pacifista, whom they at first mistook to be Kuma. As they fought, Zoro and Itachi began to realize that this wasn't actually Kuma, but something else entirely. Even with all ten of them working together, it was a hard fight. Itachi eventually managed to deal a death blow by coming at it from behind after Usopp launched an Exploding Star into its mouth, imbuing Sasuke with as much Armament Haki as he could muster and cutting its head off. The Exploding Star had weakened its neck structure just enough for the rudimentary application of Haki to provide enough cutting power.
Then, just as the battle ended, Sentomaru arrived with another Pacifista in tow. Luffy gave the order for everyone to flee and reconvene at the Sunny in three days. As the Straw Hats attempted to split into groups to flee, Kizaru appeared, driving up the desperation of the situation by another notch. Zoro tried to face Kizaru, but was brought down in one attack, on account of his lingering wounds from having faced Kuma on Thriller Bark. As Kizaru moved to finish Zoro, Itachi intervened, coating Sasuke in Haki and blocking Kizaru's kick.
"I can hold him off for a while!" explained Itachi. "He ate a Logia Fruit so none of you guys' attacks will work. You all need to get out of here!"
"Itachi's right!" agreed Luffy. "We can't win this one; we're too weak! Everyone run and look after yourselves!"
"He knows when he's beat," noted Kizaru. "Ain't that a pain."
"Shut up! Your fight is with me!" barked Itachi.
"Fine, if you insist," sighed Kizaru, who broke down into light particles, reassembling behind Itachi and aiming a kick square at his face. His speed was unreal, even greater than Kuma's. Even the Sharingan barely registered what had happened.
Just as the kick was about to land, Rayleigh swooped in and diverted it with a Haki-coated kick.
"Sorry to butt in," he said, "But you looked like you could use a hand."
"No, I appreciate it. Thank you," replied Itachi as he turned to face his enemy. "We'll face him together."
The Pacifista recovered and began pursuing Zoro, who was being carried by Usopp. Sanji tried to intercept it but was quickly beaten down. Just as the Pacifista was about to finish the job, the real Kuma appeared, ordering it to stand down. He commended Zoro on surviving back on Thriller Bark, before removing his glove to prepare an attack. With Itachi and Rayleigh too busy with Kizaru, and the others too weak to do anything, Zoro disappeared in a single swipe of Kuma's hand. Despite their best efforts, the Straw Hats were all swiped away, one by one. Itachi and Rayleigh took turns trying to break away from the fight with Kizaru, but the Admiral wasn't having it, using his superior speed to cut them off and keep them from helping, and one by one, the Straw Hats were swiped away by Kuma, even as Luffy kept screaming the order to run. First, Brook, then Usopp, then Sanji. Itachi could feel a cold rage well up within him as friends disappeared one by one. He concentrated, remembering his training, and pushed the rage down. This wasn't the time to let his emotions run wild. Next, Kuma went after Franky, then Nami, then Chopper, then Robin. With each of his crewmates that were swiped away, it became more and more difficult for him to contain his feelings. Finally, Kuma went after Luffy, and when he disappeared, Itachi snapped. That was the straw that broke the camel's back.
"Enough of this!" he bellowed, activating his Mangekyo Sharingan and calling forth the Susano'o, slashing at Kizaru. To hell with conserving his chakra, to hell with keeping his best techniques secret, and to hell with worrying about going blind! If he couldn't protect his friends, what the hell was even the point in any of that? He would have gone for a stab in order to seal Kizaru away for good within the Totsuka Blade, but he was too close to line up a clean shot. As he swung, Itachi decided to try something. He concentrated on the Totsuka Blade itself, trying with all his will to make this work. Kizaru didn't bother trying to dodge, assuming that the blade would simply pass through him. After all, it didn't have the black coloration that weapons coated in Haki normally possessed. At the last possible moment, though, Itachi managed to coat a small portion of the blade's edge, only the section that was in line with Kizaru's body. Kizaru noticed the change slightly too late, and was only just able to line his own body with Haki before the blade would have sliced him in two. Instead, he was sent crashing into the nearby mangrove tree, nearly being knocked out from the impact.
Itachi turned his attention to Kuma, who had apparently just finished a brief conversation with Rayleigh while he had been distracted by Kizaru. Itachi raised the Totsuka Blade to strike at Kuma, but Rayleigh held a hand out, signaling him to stop.
"Wait, Itachi! While Kizaru is out of commission for a moment, you'll want to know what Kuma just told me!"
"Why should I trust anything that comes out of his mouth after what he just did?" Itachi spat, venomous menace oozing from his voice like the fang of a snake.
"He is right. I wouldn't trust me in his position, either," said Kuma. "If you want to know whether or not what I told Rayleigh is the truth, feel free to use those eyes of yours. I won't stop you."
Itachi did so without hesitation, forcibly extracting the relevant information from Kuma's mind. After considering his findings for a moment, he extinguished the Susano'o.
"Well, Itachi? Is what he said the truth?" asked Rayleigh. "Personally, I find it hard to believe."
"Yes, it is the truth," confirmed Itachi. His mind was cast back to the information he had received from his contact in the lawless district earlier that day.
"In that case, I have a favor to ask of you." He looked up at Kuma. "I know exactly where I want you to send me."