Haru walks calmly back towards the small town, a great number of questions swirling rapidly around in his mind. That woman, Nico Robin, had tracked him down just to confirm his identity… she'd tracked him with frightening accuracy and speed, at that. The ease with which it was done disturbs the red-head. Only someone exceptionally well-connected could pull off something like that. She didn't seem to be Navy either, since she hadn't attempted to apprehend him. In fact, she seemed to have every intention of killing him if he were a faker.
But the thing that most bothers Haru is the fact that she seems to KNOW both him and his father. She seemed to be absolutely certain that she would recognize him the moment she saw him… granted, his hair is a dead give away, he'd never met anyone else with a hair color like his or his father's. But that could be fixed with a bit of hair-dye. The more he thinks about it the more questions rise, and the more a head-ache begins to form. Haru pinches the bridge of his nose gently and heaves a sigh.
Best to just put it all in the back of his mind for now, and just focus on finding the crew, and then a ship. Hearing someone shouting ahead of him, the red-head rounds a small bend and finds himself approaching the exact people he was looking for. "Nami, Zoro!" Haru calls, earning their attention.
"It took you this look to pay the bill, Red?" Zoro questions him.
"I got turned around." Zoro doesn't buy his excuse, not even for a second, and it shows clearly on the swordsman's face. Although, he does drop it for the moment which Haru is grateful for. The red-head looks from Zoro to Nami and then back. "Where'd Luffy get off to?"
"Probably chasing after these kids 'Captain'." He nods in understanding. The child who was shouting earlier begins shouting again, going on and on about some strange looking "backwards guy" coming their way and as if one que the person in question appears over the hill, moon-walking in their direction and only stopping when he's in front of them.
"Hey…:who are you calling weird?" the man asks them. "I am not weird."
"Guess again," chuckles Haru.
"You seem pretty weird," Nami tells him plainly. The man introduces himself as a hypnotist much to the amazement of the children, who quickly forget about him being a "weird" guy in their excitement. The man appears upset by this...but none the less produces a ring attached to a string and dangles it in front of their eyes.
"Alright, on 'one, two, Jango,' you'll fall asleep," he tells them, beginning to swing it slowly. "One… two… Jango!" All four immediately fall asleep much to the irritation of Zoro and Haru. Unsure whether or not they should wake up the man they instead decide to wake the children and leave the man to sleep it off. After all… it wasn't exactly their problem that the man couldn't even stay awake through his own hypnotism. They wander down the path, led by the children who jabber on about this and that with Nami while Zoro and Haru walk several steps behind them.
"So, Red, you wanna tell me what really held you up?" Zoro asks him.
"Haah, I don't even… I don't even know where to start, Zoro," Haru admits honestly.
"You could start with the person tailing us."
"Her name is Nico Robin. Apparently… she was looking for me." The swordsman arches a brow in response. "Apparently, Buggy has been running his mouth to anyone who will listen. Now, suddenly, the whole world seems to know who I am and who my father is. Which is exactly what I don't want."
"Is she going to be a problem?"
"She shouldn't." He neglects to mention that the woman had every intention of throwing him to his death if he wasn't who he claimed to be. "So, what happened at the mansion? Did I miss anything?" Zoro explains the situation to him. How they'd been thrown out by a butler by the name of Klahadore, and they hadn't been able to secure a proper ship. They walk the rest of the way in silence, listening to the children talk with Nami about this or that until their orange haired navigator finally stops and hops up onto a fence rail.
"Our Captain has been gone for so long," complains one of the children.
"Luffy, too," adds Zoro. "They'll be back when they've finished whatever it is they're doing."
"Aah! Captain!" All eyes turn in the direction the kid is pointing to see Usopp sprinting in their direction.
"Speak of the devil."
"Hm? Shouldn't Luffy be with him?" Haru asks, leaning back against the fence. He rests his arms on the railing, watching the man approaching at a dead sprint.
"Hey, Usopp, where's Luffy?" Nami asks him, watching as he sprints by. "Wasn't he...?" He disappears into the distance, ignoring them entirely as he continues sprinting. "I wonder what's gotten into him? You don't think he's still mad, do you?"
"Who knows," mutters Zoro, trying to be calm but he can't ignore the feeling in his gut. "Hey, brats, where exactly is this place that Usopp goes to...?"
The place in question was a huge cliff over-looking the blue sea which seemed to stretch out without end towards the horizon. Haru crosses his arms and whistles appreciatively. "Talk about a view," remarks Haru. "I can see why he comes here."
"Well, here it is!" exclaims one of the children. "Our Captain comes here all the time." The kids take a quick look around before deciding that Luffy is not here… which is easy for the others to see. Nami approaches the edge of the cliff and kicks a small stone over the edge.
"It doesn't look very stable here," complains Nami, gazing over the edge at the rocks below.
"Hey, careful," Haru tells her, watching her carefully just in case. "A fall from here would be pretty bad, ya know." The navigator nods in understanding, and steps back from the edge carefully. Something catches her eye, however, and she locks in on what looks like a body… which she immediately identifies as being Luffy.
"L-Luffy! It's Luffy!" Everyone runs to the edge, looking down at the rocks where their Captain has fallen.
"Zoro, we're going down there!" To everyone's amazement the two leap straight over the edge, plummeting down to land heavily behind the man looking no worse for wear despite the huge fall. It takes only a few moments for the children and Nami to slide down behind them. "He fell? There's no way he's dead… we jumped and we're fine." Nami and the children go into a state of panic… which isn't even interrupted by a loud snore from the half-buried Captain in front of them.
"Quiet," Zoro tells them, silencing them immediately as another snore fills the air. Haru pinches the bridge of his nose in frustration as he stares at his oldest friend. "Son of a bitch..." Zoro jabs him in the ass with the saya of his sword, immediately disturbing Luffy's sleep who pulls himself out of the hole with a loud yawn.
"Aaaah! Morning!" Luffy greets them, smiling.
"How the hell did you end up all the way down here at the bottom of the cliff, Luffy?" Haru asks him.
"Ah… aah! That! Well, ya see, I was hypnotized… I think." The red-head sighs a bit in response. "But that doesn't really matter because that butler guy is planning to attack the village with some pirates and kill Kaya." The kids immediately go into a panic and while it is somewhat amusing to Luffy, Zoro and Haru it doesn't do anything to help the situation.
"If he's gone to tell the village that's good," Nami finally tells them. "That means that they'll have a chance to run away before the pirates show up." Agreeing with her on the issue, the children quickly took off down the beach, running towards home it would seem.
"What do you think we should do, Luffy?" Haru asks him.
"Hmm," grunts Luffy, crossing his arms. "We should definitely go into town and stock up on meat before that guy runs away!" Zoro whacks him in the back of his head with his sword in retaliation, causing him to chuckle a bit. "Well, I guess… we should probably save this town, then."
"If it's the Captain's orders," Zoro replies, all three grinning at the prospect of an impending fight.
"Why are you three so blood-thirsty?!" growls Nami, glaring at the trio. "Don't you know when it's time to run away?! Why do you always have to rush headlong into everything...?!"