Toji
Moving through the Zen'in estate in silence, searching for the targets.
"Go get Natsugu and Soya. We'll meet outside."
That was what Zoro had whispered before we split up. Two people to retrieve: the Kukuru unit leader and our progenitor.
The word had always stood out whenever Zoro used it. Progenitor instead of father. When it finally got brought up one day, the explanation came back without any hesitation at all.
"I just can't see him as a father. A sperm donor at best, but definitely not a father. Progenitor fits far better."
He had never done anything for either of us. Seen him twice in my entire life — couldn't picture his face now if someone asked.
Same with Natsugu. He had caused real damage back then, but like the Akasha members, the face had faded completely over time. Memory had done what it usually does when something is too ugly to hold onto.
Finding two people without remembering their faces or having their names was going to be a complication. An alternative presented itself before too long.
"Are you sure it's this way?"
"Y-Yes," said a voice that was barely holding itself together.
The fear in it was uncomfortable to hear. The whole situation felt like being an assassin actually sent to hurt someone.
'Wait… that's more or less exactly what I am, isn't it.'
A maid, caught in a kitchen in the middle of getting a glass of water. Useful timing. The estate was largely unfamiliar territory and a guide would save a significant amount of time wandering in circles.
To be completely clear — entirely civilized about the whole thing. She was allowed to finish drinking before anything else happened.
"HUMPH!"
The panic was immediate and the struggling was harder than expected, which meant a different approach was needed right away.
"Stay quiet or I'll pull out your intestines and use them as a scarf."
A thin release of bloodlust alongside the words, just enough to sell it. It worked. She was still trembling, still making small whimpering sounds, but nothing loud enough to carry beyond the room.
'Not proud of that. But it was effective.'
"Good. Now — where are Zen'in Natsugu and Zen'in Soya's quarters?"
The panic spiked across her face immediately. The struggling came back, harder than before.
A long sigh.
Threatening again would only produce the same result. A different approach was needed.
"I'm not asking you to help me kill anyone. I just need to know where they sleep. That's the entire request."
She tried to respond. Nothing came out clearly with a hand across her mouth.
"Mm hmph — hmph —!"
Completely unintelligible. A calculated risk: the hand was removed. With the appropriate groundwork laid first, naturally.
"If you scream, I'll rip your heart out, roast it, and feed it to your family. Do you understand?"
She went pale and her head nodded faster than seemed physically possible.
The hand came away slowly.
"Good. Say again what you were trying to say."
"I-I said… if anyone finds out I helped you… m-me and my entire family will die. In horrible ways."
She was close to crying, eyes doing everything they could to plead for a way out of this conversation.
"Please… I won't tell anyone about any of this. Please just let me go."
A small pang in the chest. It got pushed aside. The reluctance genuinely didn't make sense from the outside.
"All I need is a location. That isn't serious. And do you really think we'd get caught? This clan doesn't even have cameras."
She looked confused at that — genuinely confused.
"What's a camera?"
Eyes went wide involuntarily.
'This clan is even more backward than I already thought.'
"Forget I said that. The point is — they will never find out you told me anything."
"Are you sure?"
Hesitation in every single syllable.
"Of course I'm sure. This is my specialty. I'm not an assassin for nothing."
Some arrogance crept into the delivery. Justified arrogance, but arrogance regardless.
A visible internal battle played out across her face for several minutes. Then she gave in.
"Alright… I'll tell you."
"Finally. And since it took this long — you're walking me there yourself."
"What? That wasn't part of—"
"Plans change. Time matters when you're an assassin. Let's move."
And that was how this exact situation came to exist: standing in front of the corridor that led to Soya's wing of the estate, the maid having done exactly what was asked.
"You're certain you don't know where Natsugu lives?"
"I-I swear I don't. All I know is he lives in a separate house somewhere near the Kukuru dormitories."
Observation Haki held steady over her while she spoke. Not anywhere near Zoro's level of refinement — not even close — but reliable enough to confirm she wasn't lying. The emotion behind the words was genuine fear, not deception.
There was something genuinely pitiable about being trapped in a place like this with no way out. No reason to make her circumstances any harder than they already were.
"Alright. You can go. I'll give you five minutes before I make my move."
She blinked, clearly not expecting that outcome.
"Th-Thank you."
No time wasted after that. She turned, and based on the sound of her footsteps, she was running the moment she rounded the first corner — probably the fastest she'd moved in years.
Back to the task at hand.
"Right. Let's finish this."
---
Genuinely, thoroughly bored.
"Couldn't this have just been a straightforward assassination? Why kidnapping? And on top of that — no advance information on the targets' locations. None at all."
Getting into Soya's house had been simple. Knocking him out had been even simpler.
"He wasn't on guard in the slightest. In a clan of this level. How is that possible."
The real problem was always going to be moving him.
Not a question of weight — that wasn't the issue. The issue was having absolutely no desire to carry both him and Natsugu simultaneously.
"Carrying one person I actively dislike is already more than enough. Two? Absolutely not."
So it became a two-trip operation by necessity. Get Soya out of the estate, find a safe drop point somewhere outside, leave him there securely, then go back in. All of it done at a pace slow enough not to raise attention — the rooftops weren't an option since they were too fragile to hold combined weight, and moving through the corridors quickly meant the risk of waking someone up.
Tedious. Every single part of it.
Locating Natsugu required an entirely different method. No willing guide this time — instead, the area surrounding the Kukuru dormitories got swept methodically with Observation Haki, scanning for the strongest energy signature in the vicinity.
It took far too long. Observation Haki wasn't the strong suit and never had been. Readings couldn't be picked up passively while moving — it required stopping, focusing, reading the space carefully, moving to a new position, and repeating the whole process. Over and over and over.
After an exhausting and frustrating search, the house was finally identified.
Natsugu was noticeably more cautious than Soya had been — not dramatically so, but the difference was there. It didn't change the outcome. The anesthetic worked the same way it always did, and he went down just as the first one had.
Out of the estate quietly and carefully, back to where Soya had been left. Both men laid out side by side on the ground.
A moment to breathe properly.
"Both accounted for. Now — get to the factory and meet Zoro."
Then a thought surfaced.
"Wait. How exactly am I supposed to get them there?"
No vehicle. Nothing arranged in advance. Which left exactly one available option.
"Damn it. I have to carry both of them at the same time. They're fully grown men. I really don't want to do this."
Didn't matter what was wanted. It had to be done.
One across each shoulder. Running toward the rendezvous point.