"Yokohama… *sigh* I never imagined I'd end up coming down here." David said.

"Man, you really don't like this place do you?" Ace asked.

"It's not the city itself, it's a great place. But I know what the agency is like. Osamu Dazai, the guy who runs the place, he is as sharp as a tack, but he hides it under his friendly demeanor. So, we can be in good hands if Emi hooked us up. His guys on the other hand, yeesh… They'd say anything just to take a jab at us. And considering that the Tokyo Digitalization happened not too long ago…" David started.

"Yeah...they could take the chance to get a lot in." Gajeel said.

"So they basically like to snoop in on others private businesses that don't involve them. Got it. Now I understand why your agency is rivals with theirs." Ace said.

"And also why he doesn't like coming here, now that I realize it." Alphamon said.

"Ummm...does a barrel floating down the river normally have legs sticking out?" Saaya asked.

"Oh my god. That's not a barrel! That's a guy!" Usopp said.

"And he's not the only one." Spade said pointing to a boy with light gray hair swimming out to save him.

"We better touch down to check on them." Miles said as they touched down near the river just as the boy dragged out a man with brown hair.

"Whoa! Dude, you okay? We saw you floating down the river." Hope said.

"I made it...DAMN!" the man with brown hair said.

"Huh?" Saki asked.

"So...was it you guys who interrupted my submersion?" he asked.

"At it again, aren't you Dazai?" David asked.

"At it again? Wait, submersion?" Jude said.

"Yes. I was trying to kill myself." Dazai said.

"So he's a suicide freak." Kagura said.

"Sure. And I think everything was going so swimmingly until you guys and him...ruined my day." Dazai said.

"Is he always this cuckoo, David?" Simon asked.

"Unfortunately…" David said.

"Are we...being lectured?" the boy said.

"However its not all your faults. My goal is to commit a clean suicide without burdening anyone and I did trouble you so I failed and apologize for troubling you all." Dazai said. "Is there any way to make it up to you all?" he asked before they heard the boy's stomach growling. "Are you perhaps...hungry?"

"Well...the truth is I haven't eaten in several days." the boy said.

"What's your name?" Ace asked.

"I'm Atsushi Nakajima. It's nice to meet you all." the boy said. "And maybe you could…"

"As much as I would like to pay you back...I'm afraid the river has made off with my wallet." Dazai said.

"Don't worry, we'll get you something to eat." Roy said.

"Hey you blockhead!" a voice shouted as they looked across the river to a man with blond hair done in a ponytail as he wore glasses.

"Oh hey! Nice work, Kunikida!" Dazai said.

"Nice work? Don't give me that, you idiot! You have any idea how far you throw off my schedule with your shenanigans?!" he said.

"I see you haven't changed, Kunikida." David said.

"Wait is that...Ishihara? It's been too long...wait...you aren't on the schedule!" Kunikida said.

"We came here because we were looking for clues that lead to a certain...person." David said.

"You're talking about the Flux Inheritance right? Everyone and their mother's been going nonstop about it since the old man showed that video." Kunikida said.

"That much of a frenzy, huh?" Kurochi asked.

"Eh, that's not important right now. We'll have Kunikida treat our new friend to something." Dazai said.

"Are you even listening to me?!" Kunikida shouted.

"So...what would you like?" Dazai asked.

"Well...if it's not too much trouble...I'd really like some tea on rice." Atsushi said.

"Chazuke huh? An interesting choice." Aya said.

"Very well. We'll have Kunikida treat you all to some rice and 30 large bowls of tea on rice for Atsushi." Dazai said.

"Hey! Don't get generous with my money, Dazai!" Kunikida shouted.

"Like an old married couple, those two." SE observed.

It was later that the group got acquainted at a nearby tea house.

"You really are a pain Dazai. Who the heck goes 'wow, that's a nice river' and jumps right on in?" Kunikida said. "Now we're late and have to revise our whole schedule."

"Wow...this guy really likes his schedules. He should ditch them." Akane said.

"Excuse me? This is more than just some day planner. This is an ideal. This is my soul guide in life and nowhere in it is it written that my co-worker is some suicidal maniac." Kunikida said.

"Well, look on the bright side." Eddy said. "At least he didn't finish drowning."

"Wait, you mean he's done this before?" Jexi asked David.

"Pretty much every chance he could get. But they always fail one way or another." David said.

"Wait, so why isn't he on, you know, suicide watch?" Mark asked. "After multiple attempts, I'd probably try and look out for the man's well-being."

"Wow...that's a nice looking support beam." Dazai said.

"Oh no you don't!" Mark said, quickly grabbing Dazai by the back of his shirt. "You stay right here, buddy!"

"I'm not thinking about that. I'm thinking of the Hanging Health technique." Dazai said.

"The what?" Sunset asked.

"Come on. It's great for releasing shoulder tension and back pain." Dazai said.

"Wow. That would be perfect for me." Kunikida said writing it down.

"I'm messing with you." Dazai said before Kunikida broke his pen and started throttling Dazai.

"...I say we just let 'em work it out." Emo said flatly.

"By the way, how're you feeling, Atsushi?" Ace asked.

"I'm great. Thank you." Atsushi said. "I haven't eaten much since I got here from the orphanage."

"An orphanage?" Ace asked.

"Yeah." Atsushi said. "I was kicked out and haven't eaten much since."

"Hmm. By the way...why were you here anyway?" Mayumi asked Dazai and Kunikida.

"Right. We're doing a job for the government. We're looking for a tiger." Kunikida said.

"A tiger? They don't normally run wild in a city. Why would a tiger be here?" Mari asked.

"Who knows. It's a ferocious maneater that appeared in the city about 2 weeks ago." Dazai said.

"What's it look like? Like a normal tiger, or is it like...I don't know, a magic tiger?" ZS asked.

"It's a tiger. It's ransacked warehouses, killed farm animals and caused trouble." Dazai said before Atsushi looked startled.

"Uh...I just realized. I have to go." Atsushi said crawling away.

"Atsushi, what's wrong?" Ace asked putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't try. There's no way any of you can stop that animal." Atsushi said. "It's after me. It almost killed me. I have to get out of here. Just let me go!"

"Atsushi, just calm down. We'll get this whole thing sorted out." David said.

'See...it's the reason I was out here. It kept attacking my orphanage. It ruined our garden, destroyed our chicken coop and emptied our food warehouses. No one died but they were already on a tight budget. I was expelled so they'd have one less mouth to feed." Atsushi said. "But since coming here, I kept seeing it. I know it followed me here."

"Okay, first off, that's horrible and our hearts go out to you." Eddy said. "And second, don't worry. We've handled much worse than some big cat. We can take it, right guys?" he said.

"Hmm. That so. Then congratulations guys. You just signed yourselves on as tiger bait." Dazai said nonchalantly.

"Yeah, we - wait, signed on as what now?" Eddy asked.

"Oh, and we'll need Atsushi too." Dazai said. "Kunikida...take this note to the agency president. I'll explain it all when you get back."

"Look. None of us are going to be bait for…" Vector said.

"There's a reward you know." Dazai said.

"I'm not nervous about being bait. But cases like this are usually out of our jurisdiction." David said.

"Hold it...just curious...how much we…" Vector said before seeing the reward. "Wowee!" he said. "We are so in!"

"Looks like we don't have a choice now." Sectonia said.

"Looks like it. We're going on a little hunt." David said.

It was later in the night they set up near a warehouse where Atsushi, Dazai, David, Ace, Jexi, Mark, Vector and Eddy waited inside.

"Hey...how can you read in the dark like this?" Jexi asked.

"I have excellent night vision. Besides, I've read it before." Dazai said holding a book titled 'A Complete Guide to Suicide'.

"Remind me to confiscate that book later." Mark whispered to David.

"Don't bother, he's got hundreds of those." David whispered back.

"So...are you sure the tiger will find me here?" Atsushi asked.

"I'm certain it will. But don't worry. When it appears, it'll be no match for us." Dazai said.

"I admire the confidence you all have. In fact I'm kind of jealous. They called me a good for nothing at the orphanage as far as I can remember. Now I have no clue where I'll go from here. No one would mind if I died in a ditch somewhere and not be remembered." Atsushi said. "Maybe I won't mind being eaten by a tiger."

"Don't say that!" David said. "You may not realize this now, but someone like you still has so much to live for. You just need to learn to forge your own path."

"No one in this world is meant to be alone. That's the truth." Jexi said.

"They're right, even though we've just met you today, I see you as a little brother to us." Ace said.

"Thanks. Maybe the tiger won't come." Atsushi said.

"Oh he'll be coming very soon." Dazai said as they heard a pipe fall over.

"Ah! It's the tiger!" Atsushi said.

"No. Just the wind blowing a pipe over." Dazai said.

"No. It's the tiger! It's come to eat me and…" Atsushi said.

"Calm down. Listen, tigers just don't appear out of nowhere." Dazai said.

"The crazy guys' right, buddy." Eddy said. "If a tiger just jumped out from thin air, then I'm a monkey's uncle!"

"But how can you…" Atsushi said.

"Because your story makes no sense. Expelling one kid wouldn't affect their situation. They would have to send half their children to another orphanage. Think about it. You came to the city two weeks ago, the tiger was there two weeks ago. See, many people across the worlds have strange and unusual abilities." Dazai said as a blue moon shined down as Atsushi started to change before their eyes.

"What's going on with Atsushi?" Ace asked in concern.

"Simple. We didn't even need this stakeout. The White Tiger that Atsushi keeps going on about...is himself." David said.

"What?!" Ace said.

Atsushi now stood there as a large white tiger as he pounced and swiped a claw at them.

David managed to block it with his blade. "This is not good. Because he was unaware of this ability all this time, he has no control of his power."

"You are right. This is the equivalent of being trapped in a cage with a wild beast. Now that I think of it, this wouldn't be a bad way to go...being eaten by a tiger." Dazai said.

"...If we get out of this, you and I are going to have a serious talk." Mark said.

"However...even that isn't enough to stop me." Dazai said as energy gathered around his hand. "My ability! No Longer Human!" he said striking his palm against Atsushi. "I can reverse the ability of another person just by touching them." he said reverting Atsushi to normal.

"I got ya." Ace said catching him.

"There you are, Dazai!" Kunikida said running in.

"We caught our predator. He's right here." Dazai said pointing to Atsushi. "He can change into a deadly tiger."

"The kid? Seriously?" Kunikida said. "If you had the situation handled, why did you make me bring agents not involved with this case? This one's on you."

Behind him were three other people, two men, and one woman.

"Please don't tell me there are no casualties. Talk about boring." the woman said.

Yosano Akiki

Ability: Thou Shalt Not Die

"You've gotten better at solving cases Dazai...but, my logical skills will solve the big cases." said a boy dressed in detective wear.

Edogawa Ranpo

Ability: Super-Deduction

"He's not dead. What are we going to do with him? He didn't know about this, did he?" said a boy in country wear.

Miyazawa Kenji

Ability: Undefeated By The Rain

"Apparently. Or so it seems. So now what Dazai?" Kunikida asked. "He's been designated a security threat."

Kunikida Doppo

Ability: Doppo Poet

"I've already made my decision. He'll be one of us." Dazai said. "Up Atsushi!"

"Huh?" Atsushi said. "What's going on?"

"He doesn't remember. Hmm. Looks like he didn't change all the way back." Jexi said.

"Huh?" Atsushi said looking at his right hand which was still a tiger claw.

"Stay calm, Atsushi. Dazai can help undo it, besides it's so fluffy." Ace said.

"What?!" Atsushi said freaking out at the fact that his arm was unchanged.

Atsushi Nakajima

Ability: Beast Beneath the Moonlight

"Atsushi Nakajima!" Dazai said shocking him out of it. "From this point onward...you'll be one of us. A member of the Armed Detective Agency."

"Are you sure about this? I mean, he hasn't gained control of his power yet." David said.

"Okay. Then you'll be his supervisor then." Dazai said.

"You serious?" David asked. "No wait, don't answer. I know you well enough to know that you are."

"I forgot how hard it was to try and get Dazai to change his mind about something." Jesse said.

"Well, then there's only one thing to say." Mark said, looking straight at Dazai. "When do we start?"