One Piece: Dream of Immortality

Chapter 484: Robin's Night Out



The night before, Orochi's Castle.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

The figure of a geisha lurked in the dark corridors of the shogun's home.

'Where is it?' Robin thought to herself. 'Ah, here!'

She slipped into an unlit room filled with records of all kinds, from taxes to criminal reports. She hoped that what she was really searching for would have left some trace of itself here.

She had no trouble seeing in the darkness with her cultivation enhanced senses and the gentle light of the moon.

'The bureaucracy of Wano could really use some work...' Robin bemoaned the state of the records' organization.

She continued to pore over the many scrolls in search of her quarry, right up until her Life Sense picked off movement converging on her position. Her proficiency with the skill may pale in comparison to Cherry, but she could manage a short range with it and that wasn't without its uses.

Robin hastily placed the scroll in her hands back in its proper place, then her body vanished in a burst of sakura blossom petals which themselves vanished soon after.

Orochi's Oniwabanshu, a group of elite ninja under the shogun's command, arrived with perfect stealth in the records room. They had meant to surprise the intruder they had picked up on, but instead they were surprised by the distinct lack of an intruder.

A man with long earlobes and an equally long head asked aloud, "I'm certain that someone was here... Fan out, but don't disturb Shogun Orochi's feast."

The other ninjas scattered to the winds to scour over the castle for the intruder. Fukurokuju, the ninjas' leader, stayed behind to make sure the intruder was not still in the room. They were dealing with someone of great skill if they had managed to detect the ambush before it could be sprung.

An ear underneath one of the tables in the room turned into petals and vanished.

Robin opened her eyes, mildly disappointed that she hadn't found anything before being interrupted. She didn't let any of that show on her face, however, as she swiftly made her way back to the feast being held tonight.

She pulled out a small device; a den den mushi even smaller than the baby variety that had a long, stick-like shell. Activating it, she whispered into it, "Onami, Shinobu, Bonekichi. I was nearly discovered by a group of ninja, approximately eleven of them. I'm heading back to the feast now to preserve my cover, since they're apparently unwilling to bother Orochi."

"I gotcha. We'll see what we can do from here," Nami's voice came through.

Brook's voice came through next. "I hope this mission isn't a bust. I'm sick to death of gathering supplies... or I would be, if-"

"Shut up!" Nami hissed at him.

Robin clicked off the short range transmitter den den mushi and suppressed a giggle.She slid open a screen door and quietly slipped inside, no one noticing her entrance.

She may not be able to find any poneglyphs in here, but there was plenty of information to be gleaned from drunken louts with loose lips.

--

A small commotion started up a little ways into the celebrations. Shogun Orochi was working himself up into a drunken rant, and the people just trying to enjoy themselves were visibly annoyed by the man's antics.

"What's going on?" Robin leaned over and asked one of Orochi's random cronies that she didn't care to remember the name of.

"Ah, he does this whenever he gets drunk, especially around this time of year. Don't worry about it, he'll simmer down soon enough," the man assured her, his eyes not so subtly wandering over her body.

Robin didn't really need to ask what Orochi was ranting about. He was practically shouting exposition regarding a prophecy made by the late Oden's wife. It was about the return of the Nine Red Scabbards coming to kill him and free Wano.

Robin took no small amount of dark amusement in the fact that Orochi was justified in being paranoid, and that it was all the other people in the room who were wrong.

What was worse than being a raving lunatic? Being a raving lunatic who's right.

A tittering laughter rang out softly. It was so much quieter than Orochi's blustering and yet it might as well have been Mount Fuji erupting to the people in the room.

Everyone turned their shocked faces towards the source of the laughter; none other than the Oiran Komurasaki herself! Even now she continued, as if she had just heard the funniest joke and couldn't stop herself.

No one wore a more stunned expression than Orochi at that moment. Robin could swear she saw his heart break in real time.

The shock twisted into rage not longer after, though.

"Komurasaki!" Orochi's voice rose several octaves. "Why are you laughing at me?!"

Komurasaki took a moment longer to compose herself enough to speak. She didn't look the slightest bit concerned. "It's just too funny. The most powerful man in Wano, whinging about an old ghost story. It's pathetic."

Robin's realization that Komurasaki was doing this on purpose grew as quickly as the vibrant red of fury and shame upon Orochi's face. The question was, why? What purpose did it serve the Oiran to make him so angry?

Several people around the room struggled to stifle their own laughter. Komurasaki had been far too blunt, so it took them completely off guard. They might whisper such things where Orochi cannot hear, but saying it to his face when he was already angry at you was the height of absurdity.

"Pfft-!" One unfortunate fellow with a scraggly beard and a thin frame couldn't contain himself in time.

Predictably, Orochi was upon him in an instant. Orochi may be a coward, but his devil fruit was powerful. The man was literally torn limb from limb by Orochi's several monstrous heads. Blood spattered across tatami mats and the man was dead before his laugh could become a

scream.

Robin was no stranger to death; she had seen much of it in her time. However, such brutality was a rare sight, even for someone who has seen many of the world's darkest corners. "Apologize!" Orochi demanded, his heads turning back to Komurasaki. His tone of voice was deeper than normal, now, which suggested the bloodshed had calmed him enough to puff himself up like a big, brave man.

"I will not," Komurasaki spoke simply, seemingly unaffected by the carnage. Robin saw the tremble in her hands during the attack, though. "I have done nothing to apologize for." Orochi looked like he was about to explode, the veins in his many eyes pulsing along with his pounding heart. Still he hesitated, though. Anyone else, even another beautiful woman, would have been killed for the slight. Komurasaki had her hooks in him deep and that gave

him pause.

Orochi took one step toward the Oiran, then stopped. Someone else had approached Komurasaki before Orochi could steel himself to do so.

"You've offended the Shogun," the blue pompadoured yakuza, Kyoshiro, glared down at Komurasaki. "Do you have anything to say?"

"I am the daughter of a samurai. I will not disgrace myself," Komurasaki spoke with conviction.

"I see," Kyoshiro's sword was drawn and spilling her blood before anyone had a chance to

blink.

'What an interesting play,' Robin thought, even as everyone else's eyes bulged from their

sockets.