Chapter 672: The Disappearance of Caesar
In another guest room of the castle, Vinsmoke Family's Judge, along with his three sons, had also finished their preparations.
Their battle suits had been taken off, replaced by formal attire.
"Father!" Yonji tossed the capsule containing their compressed battle suits in his hand and asked, "Are we really going like this, without bringing the battle suits?"
Judge shot him a glare and said, "We of the Vinsmoke Family are guests. Do you think it's appropriate to attend Big Mom's tea party wearing battle suits?"
"But that guy Ian is on the island right now!" Ichiji said expressionlessly. "Don't forget, he and Katakuri had a huge fight yesterday! What if something happens at the tea party today? Without our battle suits, we won't be able to fight at full strength..."
Although Judge felt Ichiji had a point, he thought it over and still shook his head. "Don't worry about him. Even if something does happen, it'll be the Big Mom Pirates who deal with him. There's no need for us to get involved."
"Fine..." Seeing Judge's insistence, Ichiji and the others had no choice but to put the battle suit capsules back into their cases.
"Where's Reiju?" Judge suddenly asked.
"Don't know. Still in her room, probably?" Niji said.
"Heh, I bet she went to see Ian instead!" Yonji teased.
"Damn it! Didn't I tell her last night not to get too close to Ian?" Judge fumed. "Does she ever listen to me!?"
Just then, Ichiji spoke up, "Forget it, Father. Ian is also Big Mom's guest. Even if you call Reiju back now, they'll still meet at the tea party later. Let's just go first and leave her be!"
Huffing with anger, Judge thought it over and realized Ichiji was right, so he reluctantly said, "Let's go!"
Thus, Judge and his group left the room and, led by a servant, headed toward the tea party venue.
Meanwhile, Reiju was also walking through the castle's corridors.
"Ian's room... should be on the third floor, east wing, right?" Reiju thought to herself.
Unlike Judge and the others, Reiju wasn't wearing any formal attire. She still had on her pink battle suit, with its wing-like cape tied into a neat bow at her neck.
Following the stairs to the third floor, Reiju was about to continue when, at that moment, she caught a glimpse of a figure flashing past the corner of the corridor ahead.
Although it was brief, Reiju's sharp eyesight allowed her to clearly identify who it was.
"That woman named Stussy... her room is on the third floor too?" Reiju wondered. "But turning at that corridor leads to the east wing rooms. Why isn't she taking the stairs near me? Why go the long way around?"
A flicker of suspicion arose in Reiju's mind. Frowning slightly, she followed from behind.
When she reached the corner of the corridor, Reiju stopped and cautiously peeked out. She saw Stussy, who had been ahead of her, now bending over in front of a door, doing something.
A faint "click" reached Reiju's ears. Her heart stirred, and she quickly pulled her head back.
After picking the lock, Stussy straightened up and carefully looked around.
Since Reiju had already withdrawn, Stussy didn't notice her. Seeing no one around, Stussy slipped into the room and closed the door behind her.
Reiju was puzzled by Stussy's suspicious behavior, so she stayed hidden at the corner. About two minutes later, another door sound came, and Stussy emerged from the room.
Listening to Stussy's footsteps fade away down the corridor, Reiju finally stepped out from the corner.
Walking to where Stussy had been, Reiju looked up at the door in confusion.
"Strange, isn't this Ian's room?" Reiju crossed her arms and rested her chin on her hand, deep in thought. "Ian doesn't seem to be in the room, or Stussy would have run into him... But what was that woman doing, breaking into his room while he's away? Stealing something?"
"No, that's not right!" Reiju shook her head gently. She knew Ian hadn't brought anything important with him. The guest rooms were all prepared by the Big Mom Pirates. What could there be to steal?
She had to go in and check. Her intuition told Reiju that Stussy was up to something. So she looked around, twisted the lock until it broke, and stepped inside.
The room was quiet. Reiju glanced around and noticed the messy bedding on Ian's bed. She couldn't help but smile.
Lazy bum, doesn't even make the bed...
Instinctively, Reiju walked over to tidy the bed for him. But just as she reached the bedside, she spotted a strange-colored object peeking out from under the pillow.
"Huh!?" Reiju lifted the pillow and found a rolled-up piece of paper covered in ink marks underneath.
Puzzled, Reiju picked up the paper and unfolded it. Then she froze!
"This... this is..."
Having stayed with Ian on Skypiea for so long, Reiju had seen the Poneglyph in the ruins there. Although she couldn't read the ancient text, she immediately recognized that the ink marks on this paper were ancient script!
Where did Ian get a rubbing of a Poneglyph!?
"No, that's not it!" Reiju quickly realized. "This isn't Ian's. It's... Stussy's! She didn't come here to steal something. On the contrary, she came to hide something!"
Sensing something fishy, Reiju quickly folded the rubbing repeatedly until it was the size of a handkerchief.
Checking her battle suit, she found no good hiding spot, so she simply tucked the rubbing into her left chest area.
Patting her chest to make sure it wasn't visible from the outside, Reiju turned and left Ian's room, her mind heavy with suspicion.
There were no soul-bound objects in the castle's guest rooms, so neither Stussy nor Reiju's actions were seen by anyone...
…………………………
At the same time, in his own room, the white wolf Arest was hesitating.
He was debating whether to kill Caesar.
Last night's events had caught both him and Stussy off guard. The theft of the Poneglyph rubbing from the treasure room had caused chaos among the Big Mom Pirates, but contrary to Arest and Stussy's expectations, they hadn't flown into a rage and targeted Ian. As dawn broke, Arest and Stussy realized that not only Ian, but all the guests, were under suspicion.
It was easy to imagine that once the guests left for the tea party, the Big Mom Pirates would immediately search their rooms.
That was why Stussy had taken the time to hide the Poneglyph rubbing in Ian's room. They knew that once the search began, the Big Mom Pirates would find the rubbing in Ian's room, and Ian wouldn't be able to deny it.
To ensure this, Stussy had even placed the rubbing in a relatively conspicuous spot...
Stussy had set her part, but Arest had a problem. If the Big Mom Pirates also searched his room, they would inevitably find Caesar, whom they had hidden there!
Although Arest and Stussy had never revealed their true faces to Caesar, this was Arest's room. If Caesar was found here, Arest would be implicated...
Thinking it over, Arest felt that killing Caesar might be the better option. But then he would have to find a way to hide Caesar's body in someone else's room, or he'd still be exposed.
Opening the door, Arest cautiously peeked out, checking both ends of the corridor. Confirming no one was there, he withdrew and closed the door.
Forming his left hand into a blade, he slashed it across his right palm. Sharp claws cut a gash in his palm.
As blood gushed out, Arest controlled it, forming a dagger in his hand. The dagger was long but very thin, being made of liquid.
But with this blood-formed dagger in hand, Arest gradually turned it from red to black, coating it with a layer of hard Armament Haki!
Gripping the dagger, Arest walked to the bathroom door and twisted the handle. Caesar had been locked in there all night...
"I never thought that after becoming a Marine Admiral, the first person I'd kill would be a former Marine scientist..." Arest thought to himself with a hint of self-mockery as he pushed the door open.
However, when the door swung open, even Arest was stunned!
Because Caesar, who should have been handcuffed with Seastone Handcuffs and left in the bathroom, was nowhere to be seen!
What was going on!?
Arest was dumbfounded. He quickly scanned the bathroom for any possible exits.
The windows and walls were intact. The entire bathroom looked the same: toilet, showerhead, sink, mirror—all undamaged.
If Caesar hadn't been wearing Seastone Handcuffs, Arest could have figured out how he escaped. He knew from Stussy that Caesar was a Logia-type Gas-Gas Fruit user. But now, there was no trace of the Seastone Handcuffs in the bathroom. Caesar hadn't unlocked them, so how had he gotten away!?
Cold sweat broke out on Arest's bald forehead...
It seemed... it seemed like trouble!