Chapter Text
After the confession and arrest of the infamous Junya Kaneshiro. The Phantom Thieves got a boost in popularity as not only a ragtag group of Vigilantes, but as expert thieves that were able to get very close to the target and expose every small secret they had.
Lupin the 3rd, an infamous thief and grandson of the famous Arsène Lupin, was relaxing in a safe house, watching the TV broadcast, looking for more things to steal. That was until the TV host changed the subject. “Have you heard of these Phantom thieves that have been active in Japan?” The host got up from his seat and went to a big screen where he explains the adventures of the Phantom thieves, with the art scandal that they did against Madarame, and the newest case that they had with Kaneshiro.
Lupin had gotten up from the sofa and looked intently at the screen. “Those damn brats, they’re using my family’s name without permission. How many times do I have to put this straight? You can’t use the name of the phantom thief.” By the time the broadcast changed to an ad break, Jigen (sharpshooting gunslinger and inseparable partner of Lupin. Serious and doesn't mind adventure) and Goemon (a master of the blade and the 13th generation of the Goemon family. A wise man of respect that joins Lupin when it is needed) had arrived from buying lunch, noticing Lupin screaming at the TV. “What’s going on, Lupin? Did they show a bad photo of you on TV?” Said Jigen, in a sarcastic manner. “We’ve got a change of plans; France can wait a few months.” Lupin said in an angry mood. “Where are we going? Can we eat first?” Replied Jigen, confused. “Sure” said Lupin, as he pulled out what he ordered.
After a small retelling of what he had learned from the news, Jigen looked upset at Lupin, “So, you are telling me that you want to delay our intricate operation just to teach some kids right from wrong?” He scorned Lupin. “Relax Jigen, if we are lucky, this will only take us a few days” Lupin Justified his cause. “It would be nice to return to home turf and find if anything has changed” Goemon sided with Lupin. “See Jigen, Even Goemon is excited to go.” Lupin exclaimed happily. “Well, it wouldn’t hurt to go” Jigen said. After booking tickets to Japan, they enjoyed the last of their days in Europe before boarding the plane.
When they got to the airport, everything went fine until a security guard recognized him from the news, he informed the flight administrator about the gang. The administrator stopped them after getting their papers, “Sir, could you please walk to the waiting room?
We need to examine something from you.” The gang knew what was about to happen and instead acted, running away from them, and trying to lose them. “What do we do? We don't have our guns. Besides, it would cause too much of a commotion” Jigen screamed at Lupin, who thought of a good idea. “We have five minutes before the plane leaves, we can distract them for 3 minutes, circle back and enter a calmed pace before entering the plane.” Said Lupin, “oh, and if a cop arrives, Goemon can distract him with his sword.” Lupin added. “Wait, did you already plan this… you knew they wouldn’t allow Goemon’s sword on the plane, and we both know he wouldn’t leave it here” Jigen said while trying to catch his breath. Lupin started to chuckle, but stopped before he ran out of breath. After racing the airport security and tiring them out, they were able to enter the plane without any protest, since most were afraid that he’d shoot them… even if they didn’t have guns.
Zenigata (Interpol agent who works tirelessly to catch the thief. A man of honor and respect in his field) would love to be chasing Lupin, but he had his work put up because of the mischievous Phantom thieves, whom Zenigata found odd. While he knew that this operation isn’t something that Lupin would be a part of, it was still something that he could do with the right price, yet he found no leads. Anywhere he looked for clues met a dead end, and even Lupin, as narcissistic as he usually behaves, would give him a hint. “Inspector Zenigata, could you pass by the commissioner's office, he has something to tell you” One of his men spoke.
He got to the office and saw the Commissioner holding a folder, the chief spoke “Zenigata, Lupin was found using the alias of Wolf Hiedler while trying to fly to Japan”. “Did they finally catch Lupin, without my help?” Zenigata asked, surprised at the idea. “Nope, he was able to sneak away from the cops before getting into his intended flight.”. Zenigata took in his breath to scream a “Damn that Lupin”, but the commissioner stopped him before he could.
“While I would love to take on the Lupin case, we still need to crack down on those damn Phantom Thieves that could put the global climate in danger if they get widespread.” He said respectfully to not underappreciate the level of work that Zenigata has put in place to catch Lupin. “I understand that Lupin is dangerous, these Phantom thieves are using some kind of blackmail, stronger than anything we’ve seen before, just to get these people in jail. What they do is just, but when they do it, it’s just bad for us.” Zenigata sighed, and the chief added a tiny more to the conversation. “Well, off to work, inspector, we still need to catch at least one of these criminals.”
After arriving in Japan with little to no hiccups (Even they were surprised at the fact), they were able to set foot on the land that started their whole career. “So, what’s the plan, Boss?” Said Jigen. “Look for clues, find at least something, teach them a lesson. Oh yeah, I also rented out a place beforehand, we should get there.” After buying a cab and their famous Fiat from a dealer, they headed to the location of their “Safe house”. Getting to the safe house was a long ride through the heavy traffic in the area, ever since the subway accidents, the people of Japan were wary about the entire ordeal and decided to just take their cars instead. Lupin decided to turn on the radio and keep the mood up, Goemon decided to stay back in Shibuya to enjoy the city, buy some stuff and catch up with the gang later.
After taking an hour and a half in traffic, they arrived at the outskirts of a small town called Yongen-jaya. Goemon had arrived 20 minutes earlier, deciding to look around the area, finding a café that sold coffee and curry. With curiosity and patience, Goemon entered the café, only to be greeted by a kind glare. “Hello, may I take your order?” The rich scent of coffee and curry was the first thing that caught his attention. “I don’t really know what to order, could you recommend me a plate?” The boss looked at him for a few seconds, judging what the aloof man would like to order. “House special it is, then.” Goemon stayed silent for a minute until the boss spoke again.
“You aren’t from here, are you?”
“No, not really, I came here for a visit and to finish some business.” Goemon responded.
“What’s your name, if I may ask?”
“Goemon Ishikawa”
“What an odd name. My name is Sojiro Sakura, are you perhaps related to the real Goemon?”
“Well, it’s hard to avoid the fact.” Goemon responded in a respectful manner.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Goemon, and it seems like the coffee and the food is done.”
Sojiro said as he walked from the counter and put the plate of hot curry and coffee mug on his table.
Goemon grabbed a spoon and took a delicate bite of the curry, he was amazed at the taste of the flavor of the curry. He swallowed and took a drink from his coffee, also surprised at the boldness and complexity of the coffee. “Mr. Sakura, after tasting your delicious curry and coffee, I must say that I am honored to eat such amazing food.” Goemon spoke in honor (Like he usually does). “Relax, it’s not much, it just takes time to learn how to make such a good meal.” Sojiro spoke kindly. Goemon took his time to savor every bit of the coffee and curry, until there was no more. “Well, that truly surprised me, if I am able to come back to Japan, I’ll make this my first target” Goemon spoke. “Well, thank you for the honor and praise, Goemon” he said, though he wondered why he said it in such an odd manner, but he didn’t intrude.
Their pleasant chat was interrupted by a group of teenagers entering the café, they were holding snacks and backpacks. “Oh, are we interrupting something?” Ryuji spoke. “Oh no, I was about to take my leave, my friends are probably waiting for me.” He spoke as he picked himself up and his katana, “I must say, that was some good food you cooked up, Farewell.” While Goemon’s exit was normal, most would be freaked out if a guy with a katana was in your restaurant, even Sojiro didn’t notice. Yusuke had his eyes locked on the katana, wondering how a real one would look and if he could make a painting of the man with the sword. After Goemon had left, a confused Ren Amamiya spoke, “So, who was that? And why did you let him in with a katana?” “He said his name was Goemon, and even I didn’t notice he had a katana.” Spoke a now confused Sojiro. There was a small pause in between the group, all somewhat staring at Yusuke, then Ren spoke, “Oh well, but it seemed like he enjoyed the food.”
Goemon got to the place where Lupin had told him to go, only to see an open door, he entered it cautiously for fear that he may have entered the wrong direction. Seeing Lupin and Jigen on the sofa while sharing beer was a relief. Lupin had noticed Goemon’s arrival and spoke up, “Hey Goemon, late to the party it seems, what were you doing? You took so long, we were able to buy groceries without you.” “I got hungry and went to a café near here, it was pretty good” Goemon said “Did you buy me some sake, at least?” he added. “Of course, we’re in Japan dummy , so it’s obvious we’d buy some” Jigen spoke while taking another swig from the can of beer. Goemon sat down as he poured himself some sake. “Now… here’s the plan, we start looking for details in the morning, I heard on the radio that the Phantom thieves started in a school named Shujin , with their first victim being an Olympic medal winner. He was accused of child abuse and sentenced to jailtime.”
Lupin explained in detail. “If this guy’s actions w eren ’t out before, it would only mean one thing… the Phantom thieves, or at least one of them are from Shujin , we just need to find out who ” Jigen said and added. “We will need someone on the inside, or a way to get into the school’s records, both of them might be really hard, but we will need something to bypass any security they have . ”
They thought for a long time, until eventually Lupin had constructed a plan. “Now, I know a guy in Japan that can get us some fake papers to be able to get us in, we can use this as an excuse to enter. Jigen, you are going to be the most important guy in our act. We need you to play the role of a father.” The second he heard that, he spat out his beer . “I know I’m the guy with disguises but is it really necessary for me to be the father” Jigen spoke reluctantly. “Well, the beard really helps with the disguise, and we can’t enter the campus without a good reason” Lupin retorted. “Are you calling me old? And why can’t we just break in? ” Jigen was ready to punch Lupin but decided to calm down. “Calm down Jigen. While breaking in sounds fun, we can’t draw too much attention, or our lead might be muddied up by the police. The reason we need you in a father disguise is because we need to get a tour of the school.” Lupin said. “And why would we need that?” Jigen asked . “Simple, if we can enter the computer room of the area and insert the code into at least one of the computers, we can hijack their information from their internet and give us a backdoor to retrieve it.” Lupin said in a sly manner. “And how would we do that?” Jigen asked. “You always have to come prepared for these kinds of things, here I have a USB that could do the job. ” Lupin said as he finished off his can of beer. “Where do I come into this?” asked Goemon. “For now, we don’t really need the help, though the second we find information about the phantom thieves , or at least a clue, your queue will be put in place. ”
“We’ll start our operation by tomorrow, I’m going to need to make a few phone calls right now. For now, let’s set up shop, since we are going to be here for a while.” Lupin got off the sofa and went outside to take the necessary calls for his adventure. After about an hour of making deals with both a scout and a forgery, he was able to collect all that he needed in 2 days. In that time, Lupin could relax and take the chill life in for a while, maybe take a trip to the lakes and enjoy the view. He went back inside, locked the door, set up his bed and went to sleep.