Chapter 123 - The Lunar pill!

[A/N: It turns out I'm not due to classes for at least another two weeks. as such I'm back to work, which is why I am, not uploading daily. I'm sorry :( ]

Walking on Zou was quite the thing for Ian and the rest.

What with the surface being soft and all. However no one fell or anything, and after a bit, they all were already acclimated to this.

At one point Ian and co were given a crocodile-boar steed to help them reach their destination early.

Since their destination was Kurau city, which is actually the city the mink people reside in, before abandoning it in the anime when Jack destroyed it. It also served the purpose of keeping a close eye on Ian since the Inuarashi Musketeer Squad resided there as its protectors.

Ian had no reason to disagree so he jumped on the steed with his crew following soon after.

On their way, they had actually encountered the eruption rain.

Which Inuarashi proceeded to explain as it is a daily occurrence, where Zunesha twice a day will suck up seawater into its trunk and spray it over its back, which results in this large blast of water pouring down from above and washing away those who do not take cover in time.

He also explained that the water also carries sea animals, which provide them with food, and that water is later purified for drinking purposes through aqueducts.

Ian, Bert, And the duke still had something to discuss, as such as soon as they would reach the city, and be assigned the pirate crew their quarters where they would sleep, they would try to go to a building with the duke.

However, Ian and co were still surprised when at the first step of the city they were greeted with a warm welcome from the minks.

Since they saw their leader with them they knew these new people were okay. And since the bell of welcoming was rung, they did their best to welcome them pleasantly.

Many of them were holding baskets filled with food, and fruits.

They jumped at them greeting them with their signature minkship. Meaning they hugged them and pressed their cheeks together. There were even some bites mixed in from female minks in the case of Ian…

Ian noticed that the duke and his guards were standing at the side with smiles on their faces. But he just shook his head.

From various people, a certain couple stood out to Ian. They were a male monkey and a female fox mink. They were staring at Bert in particular with both happiness and tears in their eyes.

Ian nudged him from the side and pointed with his eyes at them. Only then did Bert noticed them.

He mouthed to Ian a silent 'thank you' before he made his way at them. He had been searching for them actually, but since there were a lot of people there it was quite the task.

After a while, Bert came back with them.

And they bowed to them as soon as they reached them.

"Thank you for taking care of our son for all these years." They said in unison while they bowed.

Elene stepped up and hurriedly helped them up.

"There is no need to thank us. Bert is one of our family members, of course, we would take care of him." She said with a smile.

Meanwhile, Bert's parents smiled at them.

As his mother, the fox mink turned towards Bert and said.

"You have chosen good people to be with." She said in praise.

While Bert was embarrassed a bit. Which was something the crew rarely saw from him, resulting in them laughing a bit.

The two then took Bert with them and Left Ian and the rest standing there taking various food from the over welcoming people.

But after a while, the musketeers came to help them by the order of the duke. They would take things to their rooms in one of the buildings.

Bert soon came back with the location of his parents' home since they had moved, and he was ready to talk with duke Inuarashi.

Elene and co were guided to their rooms, meanwhile, Ian tried to go with them but was stopped by Bert.

"What?" Ian curiously asked him.

"I want you to come with me of course," Bert replied matter of fact manner.

Ian knew what he meant. He wanted him to join him on the talks with Inuarashi.

"But, this is between your people Bert, I'm not sure I should be included…" Ian trailed off at the end. As he knew it was not his place to talk about the secrets of the minks.

But Bert was having none of it. He firmly stated.

"If it wasn't for you, letting me join as a member of your crew, and then letting me train at master geo's island, I wouldn't even be here to present my findings at all. So no, I think you really should be included, Captain." Bert said.

Ian sighed and looked at duke Inuarashi who was calmly listening from the side. It was not like they were talking a=in hushed tones anyways.

Upon seeing the duke nod at him, Ian smiled and gave his reply.

"Alright, then." He said.

And then they started walking to a rather large building, where the name, ruler of day, was engraved at the door.

When they entered the building, and following that, a room where they all sat, the talk was finally started. From Ian's side, there was just him and Bert, and from the duke's side, there was Wanda, the duke himself, and Shishilian.

"Well, the reason I wanted Captain Ian to visit zou, is so that I can deliver something that will help all the minks of this country." Bert started.

Immediately picking their interest, as they all focused on Bert.

"What do you mean by that?" Inuarashi asked in interest.

"As you possibly know, Captain Ian is quite strong. As such his crew needed to be strong. And for my dream to be fulfilled I had to train myself to new points each time. As such, I and the girls all asked Captain Ian to help us train. And he did." Bert started explaining from the start so that it would be easy for them to understand. As to Ian's strength, they would be fools not to know of it.

Bert gave Ian a look, and Ian nodded in return. There was no need to speak between them. Ian understood that Bert was asking for his permission to speak about Kurma's island.

"So he took us to his father's island. And had his father train us until the point we had reached right now." Bert said. And the rest were listening intently. Inuarashi was quite surprised as he tried to sense Bert's strength after his proclamation. It appeared he had surpassed them already. But he chose to stay silent for now.

Ian was not afraid they would use the information against him. After all the mink's went through various difficulties with Jack simply for their friends. They were truly loyal people.

"However, even after reaching a point where my training was done there was still a lot of time left for us at that island and all the rest had things to work on except me. So Master Geo, who is Ian's father, by the way, proposed something to me." Bert said.

Not once did any of them interrupt him. He was quite thankful for that so far.

"He said why not to train our race's trump card, the sulong form," Bert said to them.

At this Shishilian was about to point something to Bert when the duke stopped him.

"Wait, let him finish," He said to his subordinate.

"Thank you. As I was saying, he told me to train that form. But since I can only transform only under the moon, and a few times per the time I had left to train I told him my problem. And he led me to a certain person, who then came up with the help I was talking about." Bert said, and put his hand in his pocket and retrieved a case. From which he brought out one pill. A white colored pill.

"This is what I call the lunar pill. It is designed so that when eaten it will make someone transform whether it was a moon night or not." Bert started much to the astonishment and disbelieve of the audience listening, except Ian of course.