Enter The Ninjaverse

CHAPTER 81

Neither of the two continued their conversation. Monty rounded a few more corners, then emerged to the boardwalks that led out to Ronin's shop, right on the edge of Stiix. The shop was the same damp, smelly and shady place that he'd always called home. He saw nothing on the outside that looked out of place, sans the fact the waves had managed to reach up towards the bottom of the pier. Monty just rolled his eyes and strolled along his way. He took a moment to look at the makeshift house across from the shop that the others had stayed in. That moment felt so far away now, even if it was only a few weeks ago. Time had become so malleable when he wasn't conforming to just one time stream. Still, he only cared for the creaking door into the shop itself.

"Yo! Ronin!" Monty called out, looking around the room as he did, "I got something for you. Come out here before I shoot something!"

When Monty took the room in, he paused. The entire shop, was empty. The walls and floor were completely intact and clean, which was what stood out the most. He could see the walls. All of the random junk and weapons Ronin had for sale were completely gone. The counter had nothing on it. Monty looked around the room, searching for something. Anything.

"...Huh," Monty frowned, "That's not right. That's not right at all."

I do not know much about your friend, but this place seems abandoned, The sword responded, Are you certain this is your home?

"Yeah, I know where I live," Monty got down on his knees, reaching out to grip the floorboards. He pulled it up, expecting to see a safe under the floorboards. Instead, he found nothing. In fact, there wasn't anything under the floorboards at all. There was nothing there.

Monty stood up again, this time silent. He checked behind the counter, expecting to find Ronin's hidden guns. Nothing. He looked behind the walls, seeing a lack of anything valuable. He couldn't find anything at all. He soon found his way into the hallway that led back to the rooms.

Monty's own room was still half torn up from the fight with Wu and his ninjas, with only the slapdash repairs present. The cape wardrobe was still there, and Monty checked to see his capes were still there. His hidden guns were still all around the room as well, replaced after that fight. Even his bed was still there.

What are you looking for? The sword asked him.

"If this place was robbed, there'd be more damages," Monty frowned, "And if someone did rob this place, they only robbed the front room. But there's no way they'd have been able to carry that safe. So... something happened here..."

That was when Monty made his way to Ronin's room. The moment he arrived, he saw straight into it through the broken door. Calmly, Monty pushed the door open and stepped inside. The entire room was completely destroyed. Several holes had been ripped out of the wall across from the door, causing the ocean breeze to filter into the room. Ronin's bed was completely destroyed. All of the furniture was either destroyed or had massive chunks taken out of it. There were slash marks all throughout the floors and through the broken chunks of wood, telling Monty that there was some battle that had taken place here.

"Someone attacked the shop..." Monty looked across the slashes, "...Nobody in Stiix uses swords like this. At least, nobody that'd want Ronin dead. This is the only room that has any damage to it...."

Perhaps one of the others came to attack? The sword offered.

"If Prime had come here, this building wouldn't be standing," Monty shook his head, "And Ophiod doesn't seem like the type to do this... if it was any of them, it'd have to be Oni. But... why would he come and attack this place?"