It took a bit longer than expected, but the GGAC eventually got to Heiya Island before the Martial Arts Tournament and Showcase. Which was good since a few of them were participating. The only ones who weren't actually taking part were Andre and Melissa, who were more 'patrons of the arts' than martial artists themselves.
At least the worst of the arguing over the copper coins had been settled, or at least put on hold during the festivities. There was a rumor going around (probably baseless) that the reason the Chinese and Japanese representatives stopped arguing over the coins was because Shuixing had picked up the head official on each side and threatened to throw them into the sea if they didn't stop this nonsense. Of course, that story has had a few variations, like Shuixing bashing their heads together or it being one of the mulish members of the family she's marrying into who roughhoused the officials into behaving. Still, some of the copper coins had the patina polished off of them and were now being displayed.
"Who would have thought there would be buried pirate treasure here?" remarked Andre.
"Uh, those coins were buried by a Japanese samurai," said Jerry, "And I think there would be some people here who'd take objection about you calling it pirate treasure."
"Ok, so it was buried ninja treasure," said Andre.
"Samurais and ninjas are two very different things and you know it," said Melissa, jabbing her boyfriend in the ribs.
"I'm just making sure you're all paying attention," said Andre.
"We are paying attention," said Peter, "And if you aren't more careful, you'll give the Chinese and Japanese agree on something new; that they hate you more than they hate each other."
"Ok, ok, I was just joking," said Andre.
"The Japanese think of samurais with great reverence," said Tom, "That's part of the reason they're opening a samurai school for the teaching of bushido."
"You think they'd have a ninja school here?" asked Dela. The others gave her an annoyed look. "Oh, what am I saying? Of course they wouldn't, at least not openly. What kind of ninjas would they be if they operated out in the open?"
Lina sighed and said, "I don't think ninjas were held in such reverences. They were essentially mercenaries and assassins."
"That may be, but that hasn't stopped Japan from featuring ninjas in anime and manga," said Dela.
"You realize that those depictions of ninjas are hardly realistic, right?" pointed out Reva.
"Real ninjas were no slouches either," said Dela.
"Anyways, I doubt they'd establish a school here for ninjitsu," said Melissa, "Especially since a lot ninja training would be for criminal intentions."
"Actually, that's not completely accurate," said Dela, "The line between samurai and ninja isn't always clear-cut. There have been samurai who have trained in ninjitsu and ninjas who have studied bushido. I think there would be room at the samurai school for a ninjitsu course. More about stealth techniques than assassination though."
"Anyways, we've got a tournament and showcase to get ready for," said Peter, "And they don't hand out awards for talking about the fundamental differences between samurais and ninjas."
"What about the fundamental differences between samurais and knights?" joked Andre.
"Leave that for the real knights," said Melissa, smacking Andre lightly.