In the wake of the Summit War, a yōkai hunter negotiates a pact between her clan and the Heart Pirates. The alliance is fragile from the start, but things are complicated further when her tenuous relationship with the Surgeon of Death takes an unexp...
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Arisa's initial strategy - concocted based on the now-defunct assumption that the Reis Gavros and his officers were still absent - had been to simply sneak in and out through the vents, evading detection by using several strategically placed Horned Transponder Snails to disrupt the Basilisk Pirates' surveillance network.
Using the original as a basis, the revised plan was significantly riskier, requiring more face-to-face interaction with the enemy out of the both of them. The Basilisk Pirates' hideout was essentially an underground bunker built into the cliff on which Yamizo Island's main lighthouse was located. There were multiple known entrances, one of which was through the basement of the lighthouse itself. The main entrance was a large tunnel which fed into the forest bordering the coastline. This was level to the bunker's highest floor. The fourth and final floor was at sea level with several small exits feeding out onto the island shoreline. A sizable concrete pier also hugged the cliff at this elevation; it was here where the Basilisk Pirates docked their mothership and subordinate vessels.
If their activities were of any indication, the Basilisks would no doubt spend their night celebrating their safe return. It would be natural to presume that festivities would be taking place both in the bunker and onboard their ships, though if she were to bet, Arisa suspected that most of the crew would prefer the latter over the dreary confines of the underground. This meant that it would be relatively easy to enter and search the inner bunker without risking detection. Should nothing of value turn up, she and Riyu would sneak aboard the main ship and create a diversion. If all went well, the illusionary effects of their Kyōki would give the Basilisks a false impression of being attacked by a rival crew or even the Navy, prompting most of the expendables to flee into the bunker. At that point they would split up, with one assigned to distract the crew's headliners while the other searched the ship, hopefully undetected in the ensuing chaos. A direct confrontation with Reis Gavros was a last resort, reserved only for the occasion that nothing pertaining to the Kaku-Kaku no Mi turned up in the prior two searches.
The plan was by no means foolproof, but it was sufficient given how short they were on time. And like most other good plans, it met the fate of complete derailment within the first hour of execution.
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Something was about to go horribly wrong.
Arisa wasn't sure exactly how long into the mission that this feeling had first taken root; in fact, its onset had been so gradual that it had been easy for her to dismiss it on account of her nerves. But by the time she and Riyu had infiltrated the third and midmost floor of the bunker, the premonition was so palpable she could no longer ignore it in good conscience.
Riyu had to have noticed as well. In the days they'd spent here, they both had accustomed themselves to Yamizo Island's baseline Kyōki signature. The levels she'd detected back in the village had been slightly elevated which was to be expected for densely populated locales, but as was the case for naturally occurring Kyōki, the signature carried the strength of weak static, only marginally chaotic due to its dispersion. Here, however, she felt the whisper of a presence significantly more acute and magnetic in its draw.
