An irritable huff was the immediate reply, and Hibari glanced back at the samurai with eyes that were too dark with grave understanding for a man who was only in his mid-twenties.

"Believe my words, Ronin. We're both more well aware of that than you think. There are things much bigger than any of us at stake in this mission."

Like the fate of multiple timelines and multiple parallel worlds. Some of the people missing were the final key to the puzzle that needed to be solved before anything could be done.