Cruise Adventure Arc

The Cruise Adventure Arc is the tenth story arc in SPY x FAMILY.

The assassin Thorn Princess receives a mission to protect Olka Gretcher and her son from a group of skilled assassins aboard the Princess Lorelei cruise ship. However, when Loid and Anya also board the ship thanks to a giveaway they won, Yor begins to have doubts about her life as an assassin.

The Informant's Romance Endeavors
Loid visits Franky's store to pick up some items for an extra mission. Loid asks for some pictures he requested, but Franky says his contact that specialized in that intel got done in by Garden, an assassin group in Ostania that takes orders from the shadow government and is believed to be urban legends. Loid still requests the pictures, but Franky wants his help for a job in exchange for the extra trouble: finding a missing cat. Franky explains that the cat, Kopi, belongs to a girl he is trying to court. Completely uninterested, Loid turns him down. Franky turns to his contacts to find Kopi's location, which is near City Hall, and on his way there, he runs into Yor, who is out on her lunch break.

After Franky explains his situation, Yor decides to help him out. Franky sets up several of his own inventions to locate Kopi and uses a catnip device to lure in the feline. However, the device draws in a large crowd of cats that swarm Yor and Franky, but Kopi is spotted among them. Franky tries to catch Kopi but fails, and he decides to use his exo-skeleton power suit. But when Kopi starts heading to a major street, Yor tears off a chunk of the exo-skeleton and throws it at the cat, stopping it in its tracks and allowing Yor to capture him. While he lost ten years of his work, Franky returns Kopi only to learn that the girl already has a boyfriend. Yor returns to work at City Hall, and Director Matthew McMahon informs Yor that she has a call from her "special contact." Answering the phone, the Thorn Princess receives a new "client."

Thorn Princess's New Assignment
Yor and Matthew head to a luxurious garden maintained by the Shopkeeper. Yor and the Shopkeeper chat for a moment before the Shopkeeper suddenly attacks her, wanting to test if her skills have dulled. Yor swiftly dodges the attack, and the Shopkeeper comfortably assigns her a new job: to protect her client. The Shopkeeper explains that the Gretcher mob family, who have managed Ostania's underworld, has recently lost their patriarch and his sons in an internal dispute, with only his daughter, Olka Gretcher, and her son as the sole survivors. The new leader of the organization, Leonardo Hapoon, has put an enormous bounty on the mother and son's heads that almost every hitman in and out of the country is out for them. Because the Shopkeeper owes a debt to the previous boss, he has chosen to assist Olka, deciding that seeking asylum in a foreign country is her best option. She will do this by fleeing by sea, traveling on a normal passenger ship, and later rendezvous with another at the port of disembarkation.

Yor's assignment is to protect Olka and her son from the assassins and act as a backup in case something goes wrong. Yor is hesitant as she worries about her cover at work and home. However, Garden has already prepared a cover story that she is there as part of her work. With her mind at rest, the Thorn Princess gladly accepts the assignment. On her way home, Yor encounters Yuri, and she begins to wonder with him now grown up and independent of her if there is a point in keeping her assassin job.

Meanwhile, Loid and Anya are at the mall, where they see a raffle. Its grand prize is a pair of tickets to a three-day, two-night tour on the Princess Lorelei cruise, traveling through the islands in Ostanian coastal waters. Enticed by this opportunity, Anya is determined to go on the trip and participates in the raffle. There, she discovers that the host has rigged it for himself, so she takes the winning tickets. When Yor returns home, Anya shows her the tickets, and Loid proposes that the two go on the cruise together since he has work. However, Yor realizes it is on the same ship she is going on for her job. Anya reads her mind and after some thinking, ultimately demands to go on the trip, so Loid goes to Sylvia to ask for some time off. To his surprise, Sylvia permits him to go and tells him to consider this trip as part of Anya's care and education for Operation Strix and treat it as he would with any other mission.

On the Friday of the departure, the Forgers head to the port with Bond left at home with Franky. On their way, Yor wonders if she could make this trip her final job as the Thorn Princess. Upon reaching Princess Lorelei, the family split up as suspicious figures board the ship.

The First Day
Inside Princess Lorelei, Anya is amazed by the many activities the boat offers, but not so much for their third-class suite. Yor and the City Hall meet with Olka, who has disguised herself as "Shaty Grey," alongside her ally and acting husband, "Furseal." As the rest of the group tours around the ship, Yor stays behind with Olka. The women talk, and Yor learns about Olka's desire to live a quiet life with her son, away from power and money. Olka requests to go outside for a moment, but Yor is reluctant since Loid and Anya are also on the ship. On the lower suite, Loid and Anya explore the place, and Loid finds himself falling back to Twilight mode and is determined to attain optimal recreation. Yor explains her family situation to Olka, who questions if the family really is simply for her cover. Olka lends Yor her clothes as a disguise, and they head outside with Olka's son. Yor empathizes with Olka's circumstances and promises to finish the job without fail. Touched, Olka reveals her son's name to Yor, Gram. Their conversation is heard on a listening device, and an informant uses this new information to locate Olka's cabin room.

At nighttime, Yor's coworkers have dinner at a pub and talk about Yor's trip. On the ship, the City Hall group and the Grey family eat at a fancy restaurant. Afterward, the men leave for a bar while Yor and Olka head back to the cabin. There, Olka notes there has not been any sign of trouble the entire day, but Yor warns her that they must keep their guard up as they have no idea where the enemy is or what their plan is. She predicts that the enemy will try attacking at the last possible minute, which will be the next day. Olka asks what everyone else will do if she manages to escape safely, and Yor explains their prepared cover story. Olka then asks if Yor will see her family after she completes her mission, as the ship will stop at a resort island on the third day. She suggests that Yor could use it to spend time with her family, but Yor is unsure. On the lower deck, Loid and Anya have their dinner and take note of how strange it is to have dinner without Yor. Loid agrees and gets embarrassed when Anya calls him sappy.

Matthew and the group leave the bar, and he notices they are being watched. Matthew ambushes their stalker and interrogates him for information. Upon learning that many assassins on board know Olka's location, Matthew grabs Furseal, and they head back to the cabin, realizing that the enemy had no intention of waiting. At the cabin, the women hear someone knock on the door. The assassin on the other side attacks Yor and Olka but is quickly killed after Matthew and Furseal arrive. Matthew brings everyone up to speed and orders Yor to take the others to a cabin in the second-class suite, giving everyone domino masks to disguise themselves.

The informant from earlier informs a group of assassins that "Shaty Grey" is their target and provides information about her group. The leader of the group tells his comrades that they must work together and they can evenly split the bounty, and makes sure the informant will relay any bit of information to them.

As they head to the second-class suite, Yor explains that they are heading to a masquerade ball to blend into the crowd and lose their pursuers. Once at the ball, Yor senses the bloodlust of other assassins and quickly deals with them. As the group head to the shopping promenade, Loid and Anya are also there on their way back to their cabin. Anya spots a skeleton keychain she wants to get and throws a tantrum when Loid rejects her. Loid, who has noticed listening devices and undercover SSS officers on the ship, begins to overthink his choice. Anya hears the thoughts of Sickle-and-Chain Barnaby, a rogue assassin who plans on taking the bounty for himself and approaches Olka's group.

Anya realizes she must keep Loid away to protect Yor's identity and tricks him into staying in the souvenir shop to dress as a fun and upbeat father. Anya rushes to Yor, who has begun fighting Barnaby. Yor is scared to see Anya near, but the little girl feigns ignorance and tricks the crowd into thinking that a circus performance is taking place. Yor finds an opening when Barnaby gets distracted and defeats him by tying him up in his own chains and striking his pressure points. After Yor leaves, Anya heads back to the shop, where Loid has finished dressing up, outfitted in an outlandish combination of clothes and accessories. To his shock, Anya is unimpressed and calls him uncool.

End of the First Day
The Assassins' Leader enters Olka's cabin to obtain the group's scent. He asks the informant for any leads on Olka's location, to which he has none. Overhearing plots to backstab him, the informant decides to prepare some contingencies. Meanwhile, Loid and Anya head to their room and wonder how Yor is doing. At their new cabin, Furseal helps to calm Olka and Gram. Olka asks Furseal, whose true name is Zeb, why he accompanied her. Zeb explains that he owes her and the previous boss and promises to protect her from harm. Matthew arrives and orders Yor to secure the room while he patrols the floor to whittle down the enemy numbers. Before leaving, he warns Yor to stay focused on the job or everyone will die. As Yor keeps watch of the room for the night, she contemplates not being able to contact Loid and Anya and imagines herself with them. Yor realizes that she was holding back in her last fight because she was scared of breaking her cover and leaving her family. Yor remembers Olka's question if the family is just a cover and questions what she is doing.

The Second Day
During the early morning in Berlint, Franky walks Bond and is irritated at his current situation. However, he quickly changes gears when he realizes he can meet women with Bond and proposes that the dog be his pet. Back on the cruise, Loid reflects on his inability to understand Anya the night before and vows to overcome this challenge. As the final day begins, Matthew gives the other City Hall group members the day off as he prepares for the next step. Anya and Loid head out to explore the ship, and Anya plans to ditch Loid so she can help Yor. Anya fails to distract him as she ends up getting distracted by the ship's activities for most of their day. At dinnertime, Loid sees Anya distressed and wonders what is wrong. Anya clarifies that she likes it better when the whole family is together, and Loid proposes sending a message to Yor and checking out the fireworks show to see if they can find her. Matthew receives the ready signal from the rendezvous ship and informs Yor, prompting the group to head out in new disguises.

Yor tells the group that they are to head to a storage room at the fore of the second deck but find the passageways guarded by the enemy, as the Assassins' Leader had caught on to their scent. Yor decides to go through the upper deck, where they get startled by the fireworks. Shortly after, they are suddenly ambushed and surrounded by skilled assassins.

In Berlint, Yuri catches a cold and collapses while chasing a suspect, as his immune system breaks down whenever he remembers that Yor is away. While he recovers, Yuri remembers when he got sick as a child, and Yor eagerly tried to help him get better. The SSS Lieutenant arrives with medicine, and Yuri is keen on resuming his work, which his superior quickly rejects.

Back on the ship, Yor sees no escape for them but Matthew arrives to assist the group. Yor manages to secure Olka and the others inside a hatch and begins her killing spree of the assassins, with the fireworks drowning out the sounds of the violence. Yor finishes off all but a few assassins as Matthew cleans the bloody mess.

The Assassins' Leader steps forward and converses with the Garden assassins, distracting them long enough for the Swordsman to land a sneak attack that incapacitates Matthew. Yor fights the man alone, but during battle, her thoughts of her family and doubts about her assassin job start lingering and cause her to take a huge disadvantage. Yor gets knocked down and backed into a corner but is still able to stop the Leader from getting to Olka. As her life flashes before her eyes, Yor remembers her reason for becoming an assassin: to protect Yuri's carefree life. Yor wants to prevent tragedies from befalling her brother, and it is more true than ever now that she has the Forger family. Reinvigorated, Yor gets back up and resumes her fight with the Swordsman. Assured that Loid would respect and understand if she must leave the Forgers because of this dangerous life, Yor is determined not to give up this fight.

The Fireworks Finale
After leaving the fireworks show, Loid and Anya learn there is a bomb planted inside the ship. Loid decides to intervene while Anya asks to get dropped off at a nearby daycare, which she quickly leaves to find Yor. After gaining enough intel, Loid arrives at the bomb's location disguised as a crew member and decides to disarm it himself. During her search for Yor, Anya hears the thoughts of the informant, who reveals where Yor is fighting. Anya heads over there and finds Yor's weapon, which she lost beforehand. Anya is able to throw the weapon up to the deck and incidentally takes out two hitmen. Yor sees her weapon, which allows her to defeat the Swordsman with a finishing blow and end the fight. Loid successfully defuses the bomb, but his suspicions grow as another bomb in the ship ticks to its countdown.

Yor wonders how she found the weapon the way she did, prompting Anya to run away from the scene. While Yor checks on Matthew, the Assassins' Leader is shown to have also made his escape. Loid shares his suspicions with the rest of the crew and suggests evacuating the passengers but gets turned down by the SSS agents. As the crew sweeps the ship for any bombs, Anya encounters the injured Leader on the upper deck, and he detects a bomb inside a clock and deduces it to be the informant's doing before leaving. Having read his mind, Anya uses the intel to inform a crewmate. Just outside the boat, the Assassins' Leader finds the informant, Snoops, attempting to escape on a raft, who reveals that he planted the bombs to incite another war between the East and the West. He then turns on the Leader as he only intended a getaway for himself.

While Loid defuses the other bombs, he is informed of the bomb in the upper deck. Realizing there is not enough time to defuse it, Loid opts to throw it into the sea. Below, Snoops restrains the Leader and tells him that the "real fireworks show" is about to begin. Loid throws the bomb, which detonates above the two men and knocks them off the raft, leaving them at the mercy of the sharks. Anya, who was watching from the side, is found by the daycare worker, who reprimands her for running off and drags her back to the daycare as Loid gives the crew and agents further instructions.

End of the Second Day
Inside the storage area, Yor and Matthew prepare the inflatable boat for Olka and the others' rendezvous. While Matthew gives Zeb instructions, Yor wishes Olka a great life on the other side and receives a hug as thanks. Despite Yor's protests because of her soiled hands, Olka has her hug Gram, saying that Yor's hands are the reason he has a future. Yor appreciates the gesture and embraces the child, remarking how warm he is. After Olka leaves, the assassins watch for the signal from the retrieval ship. Noticing Yor getting sentimental, Matthew snaps her out of her daze and reminds her that they are foot soldiers. He pauses for a moment before relaying that Loid and Anya requested to meet her the next day. Matthew assures her that he will be on the lookout for any more killers and tells her to do as her family asks and consider it a reward for completing her mission. After managing to secure the ship, Loid picks up Anya at the daycare and thinks about how he had to abandon his family again, a thought that gets him to overthink things all over again.

The Third Day
On the third and final day of the trip, the Forgers reunite at the resort island, where they spend the day together having fun as a family. At an animal farm, Yor feels at peace, something she wishes could go on forever and ever, which is why she has decided to continue her assassin job. Afterward, the family goes snorkeling and surfing. At the end of the day, Yor falls asleep on Loid's shoulder, having fought all day without rest. After Anya does the same, the embarrassed spy is forced to carry the girls back to the ship. He notes that Yor must have been working hard but still found time to make Anya's day, which he admires as he tells his wife to rest up. The Forgers return home to a joyful Bond and annoyed Franky, and the family happily sit together over drinks.

At the WISE safehouse, Loid briefs Sylvia on the bomb incident on the ship, which has not been made public. She tells him of several missing passengers who all had fake passports and believes those people may have wanted to instigate a conflict between the East and the West. Loid is ordered to keep an eye out on the extremist movements in Ostania, as it could affect Operation Strix. Sylvia asks about the vacation, and Loid tiredly responds that it was way more work than any other mission as he walks away, which amuses her. Back at home, Yor, Anya, and Bond sleep soundly in the living room.

Returning to Eden
After the midterm break, Anya returns to school and is ready to impress Becky and Damian about her vacation. However, the wealthy children are unimpressed and brag about their more eventful breaks, causing Anya to embellish the details of the trip to get more attention. This backfires as Anya gets ridiculed by her classmates. After classes, Becky tries to cheer up Anya, but George warns her not to lie too much lest she becomes an outcast like him.

Yuri arrives at the Forger apartment, visibly excited to see his sister again. A dejected Anya returns home, and everyone sits in the living room to discuss what happened at school. Loid, Yuri, and Yor ironically advise Anya against lying and to be true to oneself, and Anya decides to stop lying as it seems rough.

Story Impact

 * The assassin organization Garden is introduced.
 * The Shopkeeper makes his first physical appearance.
 * After rediscovering her reason for becoming an assassin and wanting to protect her new family, Yor chooses to continue her secret assassin job.