The wind blew harder.
"Kaitou Kid!" Lupin saw Kid turn his head, realized he'd been spotted, and simply stood tall, staring back without backing down.
"Lupin the Third!" Honestly, Kid was surprised. This Earth-13 really was a strangely familiar universe.
"A clumsy imitator."
"A sleazy stinking monkey."
Their eyes clashed with sparks. As phantom thieves, their honor wouldn't let either admit defeat.
Being called a monkey was one thing, but sleazy on top of that? Lupin prided himself on being suave and charming—how was that sleazy?
"Lupin, you good?" Jigen Daisuke saw Lupin expose himself so easily and already had his pistol in hand, ready to fire at Kid.
"No need to panic. We're both thieves, so naturally we'll settle this the thief's way," Lupin said with a grin. "Kaitou Kid clearly thinks the same."
Exactly. It was about seeing whose hands the treasure would fall into. Kid spread his glider and rode the fierce wind toward Koumi Island.
"Looks like our rival already knows the treasure's location," Lupin muttered. "But treasure isn't something you can just grab that easily."
The treasure required a key. That key was in the tourism bureau's exhibition room—the curved saber and pistol discovered in the underwater ruins.
Clang—clang—the alarm rang out from the direction of the tourism bureau.
"Jigen, looks like we're not the only thieves who know where the treasure lies. Those treasure hunters aren't far behind either," Lupin laughed. "But the only one allowed to take what Lupin the Third aims for is Fujiko. Anyone else, forget it."
He sure had the nerve to say that, considering Mine Fujiko had been robbing him blind for years, and he never learned his lesson.
By morning, Ran and Sonoko went to the dive shop as planned, but were told they couldn't go out to sea today. Just as they turned back in disappointment, they ran into ruthless treasure hunters.
The hunters needed diving gear and a boat. For treasure, they'd set sail even in a typhoon. Since Sonoko was taken hostage, Ran didn't dare fight back and ended up captured too.
Ran's fate really was bitter. With Conan, she always ran into murders. With Sonoko, she always ran into danger. Her combat skills were enough to keep a group of men at bay, but once Sonoko was grabbed, Ran had no choice but to surrender herself.
"What?? Ran's been kidnapped?!" At the police station, Mouri Kogoro exploded when he heard his daughter was taken. "Impossible!"
"Uncle, calm down. Let him finish," Conan urged. He was anxious too but managed to stay steady.
The one who called was an employee from the dive shop.
Both Sonoko and Ran had been captured. Mouri couldn't believe his daughter had fallen into the hands of such vicious treasure hunters. "Inspector, hurry and find them!"
"We can't. Last night, all ships returned to port to avoid the storm. The winds still haven't stopped. It's too dangerous to sail now."
"But Ran is in danger!"
Soon, the teachers who had been notified also arrived. A student kidnapped during a school trip? They couldn't ignore it.
"Ada-sensei, what should we do?"
You're the homeroom teacher, aren't you? Ada thought. But she hadn't expected such a small place to have such ruthless criminals. It was shocking. "Leave it to the police. They'll rescue Sonoko and Ran."
Conan looked up at the stunning woman before him. The new chemistry teacher really looks like she has a way. But Ada didn't trust the police of this Earth, so she would have to find the students herself.
Though she said to leave it to the police, Ada still couldn't rest easy about her two students. If they were hurt, she would never forgive those treasure hunters.
She was going out to sea? Conan immediately leapt into Ada's boat. "I know where they're heading. Let me come with you!"
Seeing it was Conan again, Ada hesitated only for a moment. But there was no time. "Fine, let's go."
The collapsed cave on Koumi Island was so narrow only one person could squeeze through. Conan only hoped that passage still connected to the underwater treasure chamber. Inside, his heart kept shouting: Hurry, hurry.
Ada pushed the boat at full speed, ignoring the raging waves. The small craft rocked like a fragile leaf on the sea, rushing toward the island.
"Looks like everyone's on the move," Lupin the Third frowned, watching the weather. The typhoon was almost here, and the sea grew more violent by the minute. "Of all times, it had to be now."
Jigen Daisuke stared up at the darkening sky, worried. "Should we pull back?"
"No. I have an agreement with Kaitou Kid. Let's go and claim our treasure." Like the treasure hunters, Lupin and Jigen also chose the underwater route to reach the chamber.
Both passages led into the same booby-trapped tunnels. Several treasure hunters had already found the entrance, only to be killed by the traps inside. Methane gas also leaked through cracks in the tunnel walls. If it met open flames, it would trigger massive explosions. Danger was everywhere. That was why Ran and Sonoko had been taken—used as test subjects to walk the path first.
"Kid, wait!" Ada hadn't expected that while she was docking, Conan had already leapt onto the island with agile speed, sprinting straight toward the cave of the Two Goddesses.
Ran! Conan screamed in his heart. Please, don't let anything happen to you!
Ran and Sonoko looked around at the tunnels. They were dark and eerie. Without wetsuits, they had gone straight into the sea, leaving them shivering cold and trembling.
The kidnappers lit torches, testing the oxygen levels in the cave. Then they lit a few more to brighten the passage. "You two, walk in front."
Ran wanted to fight back, but in Sonoko's condition, even if she broke free, they wouldn't escape. What should we do? If Shinichi were here, what would he do?
The wind brought heavy rain. Yesterday's calm, peaceful sea had now turned into a raging beast that no one dared approach. At the police station, Mouri Kogoro had to be physically restrained by officers, stopping him from running into danger.
"Ran!" His daughter was the one in danger. How could a father sit back and do nothing? "Raaaan—!"
"Mouri-san, calm down! It's too dangerous to go out now. When the typhoon passes, we'll send every ship to search. We will definitely find your daughter."
"Let me go!" At a time like this, how could Mouri calm down?
"Mouri-san!"
Daylight had been swallowed by storm clouds. Though it was noon, the world was as dark as night. The weather mirrored Mouri's heart, smothered in gloom. His daughter was in peril, and he could do nothing. Even as a six-foot man, Mouri shed tears.
Sonoko and Ran clung tightly to each other. Only each other's body heat gave them comfort. Each step they took led into the unknown. At any moment, they might trigger a fatal trap and lose their lives.
"You're far too late, and terribly unprofessional."
The sudden voice cut through the shadows where no torchlight reached, startling everyone.
Of course, it was none other than Kaitou Kid.