Chapter 114: Silver Soul (Earth Arc)

"Caught you, new leader of the Ghost Relic clan." Before Okakura Bamboo could react, a soft, delicate female voice whispered right behind her ear. She turned her head, only to find the face of Yamazaki Ayako.

Okakura Bamboo’s eyes sharpened. Just as she was about to shake Ayako off, Kurosaki Ichigo appeared on her other side, chuckling as she said, "Don't move. If you dare to move, we’ll blow Kabukicho to bits."

"..." Okakura Bamboo’s face darkened. She asked in a low voice, "How do I know you’re telling the truth?"

"Don't believe me?" Kurosaki Ichigo smiled adorably and pulled out a black remote control, pressing the button.

Boom! A deafening explosion erupted from the eastern side of Kabukicho.

"What are you doing!" Okakura Bamboo raged.

"Relax. That was just an abandoned construction site I used for a demonstration. There was no one inside. But now you should believe us, right? If you dare to resist, we can blow up not just Kabukicho, but the entire Edo," Yamazaki Ayako whispered into Okakura Bamboo’s ear.

"I get it, you don't need to whisper in my ear," Okakura Bamboo said with disgust.

"Then come with us, Clan Leader," Ayako said nonchalantly.

"…Fine, I’ll go with you," Okakura Bamboo said, suppressing her anger. What kind of mess was this? She had only come to watch a competition and serve as a judge; she never expected to run into something like this.

"Wait… the competition isn't over yet, is it? If the two guests leave early like this, I won't be able to get that one million prize money," a white figure slowly emerged from the thick smoke.

"Gin-san!" Okakura Bamboo was surprised. How did this guy find her so quickly?

"Get out of the way!" Yamazaki Ayako glared fiercely at Gintoki.

"Can't do that. If you leave, I won't get the prize money. Gin-san needs to pay rent and buy dog food for the pets at home—I really need that money..." Gintoki’s hand slowly moved to the hilt of his wooden sword.

"Are you really not going to move, Mr. Sakata?" Kurosaki Ichigo spoke up. She pulled out a different, red remote control and smiled. "Mr. Sakata, if you continue to block our way, I will press this button. And then… Bang! Everyone here will go on a group trip to the Soul Society."

"As expected of Kurosaki. You want to take people to the Soul Society to find Aizen that badly?" Gintoki’s eyes narrowed, looking incredibly sharp.

"Sakata Gintoki…"

"…?" Gintoki looked at Okakura Bamboo in surprise. This was the first time she had called his name so seriously.

"Step aside," Okakura Bamboo smiled. "You good-for-nothing curly-head never had any luck with money anyway. Don't block the way here. You’d have a better chance of earning a million playing Pachinko or betting on horse races."

"..." Gintoki frowned and didn't speak.

"Let’s go," Okakura Bamboo said to Kurosaki Ichigo. If she truly caused so many people at the competition site to be blown up, her conscience would never be at peace.

However, before turning away, she took advantage of a moment when Kurosaki Ichigo and Yamazaki Ayako weren't paying attention and secretly slipped a small black bead to Gintoki. It was a tracker she had gotten from Old Man Gengai; she always carried it just in case, never thinking it would actually come in handy.

Although she appeared righteous and fearless, in reality… she still wanted to fight for a chance to live!

Just like that, Okakura Bamboo left with Kurosaki Ichigo and Yamazaki Ayako. Gintoki stood silent, staring at the small black bead in his hand. Then, he clenched his fist tightly, and his usual lazy expression became incredibly grim.

***

"Hey, where are you taking me?" Okakura Bamboo asked.

"You'll know when we get there," Ayako said.

"..." Noticing they were already far from the competition venue, Okakura Bamboo’s palm twitched slightly. She was tempted to make a move.

"Don't have any dangerous thoughts," Kurosaki Ichigo said. "If you dare to make a move on me here, my partners will turn all of Edo into a sea of fire."

"Clan Leader, let me tell you—we are the Terror-Dove tribe, recorded in the Great Universe Census as extinct. Oh, and your Ghost Relic clan is also recorded as extinct. But in truth, neither of our races is gone; we’ve just been living in the dark corners of the universe, waiting for the moment to reclaim the light."

"What does that have to do with you coming for me?" Okakura Bamboo asked.

"Of course it matters, because… 25 years ago, it was us, the Terror-Dove tribe, who stole your planet and killed your previous clan leader," Kurosaki Ichigo said with a giggle.

"Is that so…" Okakura Bamboo lowered her head.

"Eh? Is that your only reaction? I thought you’d jump up and fight us to the death," Kurosaki Ichigo said, puzzled.

"What good would fighting you now do? Edo is still in your hands, and besides… I know that in a real fight, you are no match for me," Okakura Bamboo smiled with supreme confidence.

"Heh, that’s true. We put in a lot of effort to kill your previous leader. Nearly three thousand of our warriors died, and we lost countless weapons and explosives, yet we still couldn't finish him off. But in the end, when we threatened him with a woman and a child, he killed himself. Hahahaha, what a fool. With a leader like that, it's no wonder your Ghost Relic clan ended up in this state," Yamazaki Ayako said, looking at Okakura Bamboo with sarcasm.

Okakura Bamboo stared at her coldly. She noticed they had arrived at the transport hub. Could it be… they were going to take her off Earth? She couldn't help but clench her fists. These people must have set up many traps on Earth to catch her; if she ran, everything she was familiar with would be destroyed by them.

She couldn't run! She had to go to their lair and wipe out the culprits once and for all!

Before that, Gin-san! If you’re going to save me, hurry up! She had a very bad feeling about this!

Once she boarded the spaceship with Kurosaki Ichigo and Yamazaki Ayako, she was stunned. Aside from herself, there were a whole bunch of Ghost Relic clan members there!

"What is going on?" Okakura Bamboo asked in surprise.

"Clan Leader! We are so sorry! We dragged you into this!" Dong Baoji rushed over, tears and snot streaming, and hugged her leg.

"We are so sorry! Clan Leader, I didn't know—those Terror-Dove demons had infiltrated our mercenary group! They’d been following us just to find you! Clan Leader, forgive us! We were too useless!" The more he spoke, the sadder he became, sobbing even louder while clinging to her leg. The other Ghost Relic members began to wail as well.

"..." Okakura Bamboo looked at Dong Baoji with a headache. This guy was wiping his snot on her pants!

"Alright, stop crying. Get up." She yanked him up. She noticed that he and the others had strange bruises on their faces, much darker than their natural skin tone. It looked like they’d been beaten severely.

She realized she really couldn't blame these weaklings. They had lost their planet, their combat power was even lower than humans', and they hadn't done anything truly malicious to her. Though they had been clingy on Planet Chris, they hadn't caused her any major trouble.

She really couldn't bring herself to hate these guys.

"Stop that noise and get back to your seats. In a few hours, you’ll be back at your home planet—the one we took from you, Planet Metishikuri." As soon as Yamazaki Ayako finished speaking, all the Ghost Relic members showed expressions of pain. They clenched their fists, struggling to suppress their rage.

Having their homeland stolen was their eternal shame.

Okakura Bamboo helped Dong Baoji back to his seat. She looked around; there were Terror-Dove members everywhere, all armed. They were still on the ship, and if a fight broke out and damaged the vessel, it would be a disaster. She decided to wait until they reached their destination before making a move.

***

Back on Earth, Gintoki, Kagura, and Shinpachi stood beside Old Man Gengai, the four of them watching the red dot on the large screen, their heads turning as it moved.

"This is tricky. They've left Earth," Old Man Gengai said, frowning.

"Old man! Can you build a spaceship for us to follow them?" Gintoki asked excitedly.

"Are you kidding? You think I’m Doraemon, just handing out spaceships?" Gengai grumbled. "The only way now is to go to the transport hub and find a ship to follow them."

"The transport hub, huh…" The three members of the Yorozuya fell into deep thought.

Edo’s largest space transit station—the Transport Hub.

"Hello everyone, welcome to today's Edo current affairs report. I am Hanano. Today, Prince Hata of the Oukoku Star is visiting Earth again. The Prince looks very happy. I wonder what Prince Hata thinks of this trip to Earth?" After speaking, the twin-tailed reporter handed the microphone to Prince Hata.

The camera turned to Prince Hata. "Ya~~wu~~~hu~~."

"Hello everyone, I am Hata. This time on Earth, I want to see a koala. I saw a picture, the way the koala clings to the tree… Ah!" Before Prince Hata could finish, he was sent flying by someone.

"Prince—!!" The bodyguard uncle rushed to his side.

"Who are you people? How dare you hit the Prince!" The bodyguard roared at the trio who had sent the Prince flying.

"Huh? Sorry, we're in a hurry to catch a ship to outer space. If we don't go now, the head of the Venus Republic delegation is going to take away the Nusutu." The man in black standing at the front squinted his dead-fish red eyes lazily. It was Gintoki.

"Gin-san! How can you be so impulsive? Couldn't you wait until they all left before stealing a ship!" Shinpachi, whose face was only visible behind his glasses, was going crazy.

Now that they’d caused such a scene, how were they going to return to Earth later!

"Shinpachi-kun, are you an idiot? If we wait for everyone to leave, the captain will be gone too. How would we fly the ship? We’ll use this idiot Prince as a hostage and make the captain take us to that planet," Gintoki said.

"Hey! I heard your plan! If you want to kidnap the Prince, you'll have to get past me first!" The bodyguard uncle heroically blocked the path.

"Uncle…" Prince Hata was moved. It seemed his uncle was quite reliable in a pinch…

"Oh? Is that so? Then I’ll take you down first." Gintoki clenched his fist and walked over.

"I’m sorry! I surrender! The Prince is yours!" The bodyguard immediately knelt down and played dead.

"..." Prince Hata: "Damn you, uncle! Could you at least let me stay moved for a second longer!"

"Gin-chan, hurry up, aru." Kagura urged him from the side.

Gintoki walked over, grabbed Prince Hata and the bodyguard by their antennae, and lifted them both up.

"Ah! My charm point! Be gentle!" Prince Hata shrieked.

"..." Prince Hata decided he never wanted to come to Earth again. Why did he always run into such bad luck every time he visited? Damn it! He just wanted to see a koala!