153. Yama Usagi

Izumi turned to Momo.

"Momo, heal him! He probably lost a lot of blood, so he won't wake up after you heal him. At least you can close his wounds."

Momo obeyed Izumi's words and immediately healed Luffy. Then, Izumi told Ootengu to bring him to rest and prepared a lot of meat in case he suddenly woke up.

— — — —

The next day.

After they had breakfast together, Izumi called Kuroneko.

"Come with me! I have something to talk about!"

Kuroneko nodded. Looking at Izumi's back, she smiled bitterly. She understood the reason why Izumi wanted to talk with her. She also felt guilty about what she did.

Izumi headed to the beach and sat under a catappa tree. Izumi patted the ground beside him to invite Kuroneko to sit down.

However, Kuroneko didn't immediately sit beside him. Instead, she suddenly bowed.

"I'm sorry."

Izumi took a look at her. But, he still invited her to sit beside him.

Seeing Izumi's face, Kuroneko forced herself to sit beside him awkwardly.

"I want to know the reason! Why did you send that picture to Kyouko? Even go as far as to get Tabane's help."

Kuroneko didn't seem to dare to say it. However, she bowed.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have done that."

"Save your apology for later! I just wanted to know why!" Izumi stared at Kuroneko with his sharp eyes.

Kuroneko stiffened. She bracely explained to him.

It turned out just as Izumi thought. Kuroneko just wanted revenge after Izumi saw Kuroneko's body. Unfortunately, she did it at the wrong time.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that. Because of me, your relationship ended."

"Well, it's not entirely your fault. Part of it was because of me." Izumi shook his head.

"But still—"

"What's done is done. Honestly, if you want revenge, there's no reason for you to involve my ex, right? Are you hiding something I don't know about?"

Kuroneko didn't give further explanation. Her downcast looked so pitiful. It was as if she wanted to cry.

"Fine then. I'll accept your apology. It's better if you don't do that in the future just because of a trivial matter! I saw you half-naked. You should take revenge by stripping off my clothes. It's even, isn't it?" Izumi said it jokingly.

Kuroneko immediately hid her face while embracing her legs. She didn't dare to show her face in front of Izumi at that moment. She had mixed feelings. Whether it's shyness, anger, guilt, or even sadness.

Although Izumi was quite pissed off by what Kuroneko did. It was not entirely her fault since what he did determined Kyouko's choice to break up with him. So he didn't want to blame Kuroneko one-sidedly.

— — — —

Not long after, Izumi teleported to Konohagakure using Hiraishin no Jutsu through the Jutsu formula he left in the inn.

Izumi told Warrod and the others that Kuroneko, Kazuma, and Luffy had arrived yesterday. Izumi then explained to them what happened to Luffy and that he should wait for Luffy's condition to get better before going to Konohagakure.

"Does that mean he transferred to this world after fighting Crocodile?" Rori commented.

Izumi nodded in response.

"Perhaps. Given the timeline, he should have just finished off Crocodile."

"What surprised me was, you are now able to cleanse poison." Warrod patted Izumi's head while smiling.

"Actually I wasn't too sure at first. But when the first filtering went well, I became more confident. My water control has also gotten better over time while trying to cleanse the poison from Luffy's body." Izumi stated.

"Heee, you're amazing, Izumi-chan." Tabane gave him a thumbs up.

However, Izumi crossed his hands while saying.

"I'm not going to blush at your praise."

"Tchee, not fun." Tabane pouted in response.

"Anyway, I just wanted to give you that news. I'm going back and preparing to go here with them." Izumi said while looking at them. And then, Tabane voiced out her thoughts.

"How about if I pick them up?"

If Tabane picked them up, they would have arrived in no time. However, that would also reveal her strength.

Izumi shook his head.

"We can't reveal our full strength before the time is right. We can reveal our full strength at the moment I have planned previously. Just wait for my signal!"

"Tsk. Fine."

"How troublesome."

"Well, his plan was good enough. We just have to wait before fully acting."

Other than the chat group members. No one realized that they had monsters playing behind them. And whatever Izumi was after, no one but him knew about it.

— — — —

When Izumi went back to Kaiyougakure village, it seemed that Luffy had woken up. No more visible scars on his body thanks to Momo's ability.

He looked energetic as he devoured the food in front of him non-stop. After the table was empty, everyone could hear a growl from Luffy's stomach.

"Give me more meat! I'm hungry!"

"This guy! The only thing on his mind was food." Kazuma was a little bit annoyed by Luffy's attitude. Even his portion was also devoured by Luffy.

"Well, it can't be helped. Eating was the only thing to replenish his energy anyway." Izumi said while walking toward them.

Izumi joined in for the meal as he was a bit hungry even though he had just eaten breakfast before meeting with Warrod in Konohagakure. He asked his Shikigamis to prepare more food because his portion also increased due to the influence of his water dragon slayer magic. Fortunately, Izumi could handle his hunger better than Luffy.

While he was eating, he saw a cute little girl looking at him with drool in her mouth. With white hair and long bunny ears, that little girl was naturally not human. Instead, she was one of the Shikigamis that Izumi summoned, Yama Usagi.

Izumi waved his hand, gesturing to her to come closer.

Kazuma and Kuroneko looked surprised to see a cute little girl with bunny ears.

"Eh, who is this cute bunny little girl? She's so adorable." Kuroneko lit her eyes while approaching the little girl.

However, Yama Usagi hid behind Izumi. Kuroneko refrained from talking to Izumi since the previous incident, she felt uncomfortable doing so.

"Izumi, are you into a little girl?" Kazuma commented after seeing Yama Usagi. All of a sudden, Kazuma was pulled up from the ground. Or, it could be said that he was floating uncontrollably.

Izumi's index finger raised up. When he moved his finger and rotated clockwise, Kazuma rotated clockwise as well. As soon as Izumi's fist was clenched, Kazuma fell to the ground and sprawled out.

Izumi can already control the wind perfectly. So, something like sending Kazuma up into the air is an easy thing to do.

"This girl is Yama Usagi, the Shikigami I summoned. If she uses her skill, all allies' speed and attack power will increase by 30%. Though I don't know how long it will last."

Izumi looked at Kuroneko. It seemed she couldn't bring forth her courage in front of him. Izumi sighed and told Yama Usagi to play with Kuroneko. He couldn't let the awkwardness last long. And he hoped to get rid of it as time went by.

As Yama Usagi approached Kuroneko, she couldn't help but hug her.

"Uwahh, how cute! Usagi-chan, let this Onee-chan pat you!"

Without waiting for Yama Usagi's reply, Kuroneko caught her and hugged her tightly. He even reached for the food to feed her while pinching her cheeks fondly.

Yama Usagi struggled to get away since she couldn't eat if Kuroneko kept teasing her.

"Kuroneko, if he gets angry, you can be attacked, you know!" Izumi warned Kuroneko.

Even though the little girl didn't look dangerous, her attack skill was so effective even though the one she was up against was Ootengu, one of the strongest Shikigami.

Kuroneko briefly stopped and looked at Izumi, as if she didn't believe what Izumi said.

Seeing Kuroneko's disbelieving face, he continued.

"Her attack skill couldn't be resisted. Even Rori can be cursed by Yama Usagi through her attack skill. If you still don't believe me, you can try it."

Kuroneko just shook her head. She didn't want to try something dangerous. Rori alone might be cursed by Yama Usagi's skill, let alone her.