30. You are Suspicious. Yes, You!
After Izumi, Luffy, Zoro, and Nami finished their meal, they didn't see Usopp. Even though at that time, they were at Usopp's house, Usopp left them as if the four of them were assigned to guard his house.
"Where did Usopp go? At this rate, we don't know who can build our pirate ship." Luffy complained.
Meanwhile, Zoro replied while laying his back on the wall.
"Leave him alone! At most, he's entertaining the three kids who are always following him."
Izumi went outside, then took out some metals, fibers, tools, etc.
Nami wondered what Izumi was doing.
"How many times I've seen him, I've been impressed to see that he has such a versatile ability. He can store his things somewhere and bring them out at will. He even looks like a magician. Are ninjas really like that?" Nami glanced at Zoro and Luffy.
"Dunno. It's my first time seeing a ninja." Zoro just shrugged.
"If I can use Ninjutsu, I will learn something like Meat no Jutsu, then a lot of meat will appear."
*Slap*
Luffy got a slap from Nami.
"How could there be such a thing!"
After a moment, Nami continued.
"Lightning could shoot out of his hands, water could be spurted from his mouth. He can also do an instant move, just like he saved me back then. Is he a Devil Fruit user like Luffy?"
"No! If he was, he would have died when I saw him plunge into the sea. At that time, he plunged into the sea, then returned to the surface. And what surprised me even more was that he could stand on water." Zoro replied. But then, Luffy responded.
"Isn't that ninja able to run on the surface of the water? That means there's nothing strange if a ninja can stand on water. After all, he's a ninja."
"..."
"Where did your logic come from?"
Luffy tilted his head. Then he replied.
"Izumi told me."
"Oi!"
"Oi!"
— — — —
Feeling Usopp was gone too long, Luffy and the others got impatient and wanted to go look for him. But they didn't know where Usopp had gone.
"Did you see a big mansion on a hilltop? That's where Usopp is." While assembling something, he pointed toward the hill.
Everyone was wondering why Izumi knew where Usopp had gone.
"Why did he go there?" Luffy asked.
"Of course, to meet someone." Izumi replied.
Luffy's eyes lit. Then, he glanced at everyone.
"Don't tell me, Usopp asked the owner of the mansion to build a ship? You guys, let's go there! We're going to get our new ship!"
But, Izumi waved his hand and refused to go.
"You go first! I'll catch up later."
After Luffy, Zoro, and Nami went to look for Usopp, Izumi stored his things back in his storage space.
Izumi thought for a moment, then he walked toward the mansion on the hilltop.
— — — —
Izumi arrived at the back of the mansion which was surrounded by a neatly natural bush fence.
He jumped over the fence silently and his feet landed on the wall. With perfect chakra control, he stood on the wall vertically as if his feet had been fused with the wall. Then, he walked toward the roof without making the slightest sound.
Landing on the roof, he could hear the commotion Luffy and the others were making. In addition, there was a man in front of them who was wearing a butler outfit.
"Round glasses with hair neatly slicked back. That must be Captain Kuro." Izumi who saw him murmured.
Quarrels and insults couldn't be separated in their verbal fight. And it seemed Captain Kuro insulted Usopp's father for being a filthy pirate. While Izumi just laughed inwardly when he heard those words from him.
In the end, Luffy, Zoro, Nami, and Usopp got kicked out of the mansion.
While sitting on the roof, he erased his presence using Ninjutsu and waited for Kuro to take action.
And it was after three hours that he finally saw Kuro walk to the opposite side of where he arrived on this island.
He immediately jumped down from the roof, stepped onto the tree branch, jumped again to the window, and sat on it.
He glanced inside, which was Usopp's friend's room, and saw a beautiful lady with straight, light blond hair.
That lady was stunned when she saw Izumi suddenly appear and sit in the window. Then, she heard.
"So, you're Usopp's friend, huh? He has good eyes."
At first, that girl wanted to shout. But, when she heard Izumi say "Usopp", she refrained from doing so.
"You are? Are you Usopp's friend?"
"Well, you could say we just met today. I'm a friend of the guy wearing a straw hat. You've seen him, haven't you?"
The lady nodded and asked.
"Yeah. When he asked me to build a ship, Kurahadol kicked them straight away. Did you come here for the ship as well?"
"Not quite. And I have no hobby of forcing a weak lady like you." Izumi shook his head. Then, he added,
"However, I can show you an interesting fact. This might be quite unbelievable, but it's for your good."
"An interesting fact?"
"Let me ask, where is usually the person you call "Kurahadol" right now?"
The lady was quite confused about why Izumi asked about him. However, since she didn't sense any malicious intent from Izumi, she answered.
"If he wasn't in the mansion, he should have gone to the village to buy necessary ingredients like food or something."
"But, I saw him going in the exact opposite direction. And he went there quietly, really suspicious."
The lady frowned, then responded to him rudely.
"Suspicious? Aren't you the suspicious one here?"
Izumi facepalmed.
"Oh, right. Hahaha. I forgot you didn't know me very well."
But, she's not stupid. She just wondered why Kurahadol, or Kuro, went there secretly. The place that he went to was a deserted place that hardly anyone other than the merchants who came from that direction would pass by. There was no reason for Kuro, who had lived on this island for 3 years, to go there, let alone secretly. Out of curiosity, she asked.
"Why do you think he's suspicious?"
"I'm a ninja. As a ninja, of course, I have to be good at infiltration, spying, camouflage, and the like. If I can't compare who's suspicious or not, I'll be beaten up by my parents." With his acting and expression that inspired fear of being beaten by his parents, the lady started to believe what Izumi said.
However, she said.
"But that's not enough to prove that Kurahadol is suspicious or not."
"Then, excuse me!"
Suddenly Izumi appeared beside the lady and carried her with a princess carry. He felt a slight pain in his right shoulder from being shot by a gun in the previous fight, but it didn't really matter to him. Luckily the woman wasn't too heavy, so the slight pain didn't bother Izumi too much.
"What are you—"
Before she could finish her words. She was stunned that she was already outside. Then, Izumi ran toward where Kuro had gone while carrying the lady.
"Wait, wait! Where are you taking me? Put me down!" The lady struggled. But then, Izumi stopped.
"Didn't I tell you already? I want to show you something interesting."
"Don't tell me, it's about Kurahadol?" The lady raised her brows.
Izumi responded with a smile, then he continued running while carrying the lady.
He found Kuro walking alone after a few moments. So, he took a different route to avoid him.
The lady was curious as to why Kuro walked towards the sea alone. Now, she understood why Izumi said that Kuro was suspicious.
Sometime later, they arrived at the cliff near the sea. There were Usopp and Luffy who seemed to be relaxing.
The two who saw Izumi and the lady certainly couldn't help but want to call out to them. However, Izumi deftly used his magic. He teleported to their place and immediately locked them with his feet to keep them both quiet.
"Shhh. We're spying on someone. Be quiet!"
Then Izumi let go of the two while putting the lady down.
"Why did you bring Kaya here?" Usopp asked in a slightly high-pitched voice.
*Smack*
Izumi smacked his head and warned him. Kaya is the lady that Izumi was carrying. Of course, because Usopp had known Kaya for a long time, he was curious about what Kaya's relationship with Izumi was. But, he got a smack instead.
"I told you, be quiet, you fool! You too, Luffy! You should keep quiet!"
However, Luffy responded.
"Aren't you also noisy since earlier?"
*Smack*
Izumi couldn't help but smack Luffy's head.