Zoro ended up staying at Hyogoro’s house due to circumstances beyond his control. As a former yakuza boss, Hyogoro owned a very spacious home. Even after converting a large portion of it into a dojo, there was still a guest room available for Zoro.
That night, Zoro did not sleep at all, because he found a map in the guest room.
Having a map hanging in one’s house was perfectly normal. A strategic map and a tourist map were two different things. As a decoration, Hyogoro’s map was undoubtedly acceptable, but it also became the source of Zoro’s distress.
He spent the entire night unable to figure out why he couldn’t find his way out of this street. In the end, he could only blame his getting lost on the excessive number of street vendors blocking his line of sight.
Zoro wasn’t the only one suffering from insomnia. At the settlement in Kibi, a group of people sat around a campfire, looking as though they were conducting a joint interrogation.
“Now that the identity issue has been resolved, and after a full day of testing, we’ve confirmed that these IDs really do grant access to most institutions on the island.
Other than the missing Roronoa and those of you who ignored instructions and barged in, I believe most people have already found work.
So starting tomorrow, I won’t be returning here every night. According to our original plan, we need results within half a month, but these IDs are only valid for five days.
During these five days, you’re free to act on your own. I’ll do my best to return here on the last day and organize a new round of operations based on the intelligence we’ve gathered. Any questions?”
No one objected, and Law continued.
“There are still spare IDs, so a few of you can use them too. However, I don’t recommend that the two of you walk around openly outside.”
Law was referring to Chopper and Brook, who had only recently arrived. Nami might be weak, but she was smart enough that simple survival wasn’t a problem for her.
As for Franky, although his cyborg body attracted some attention, it wasn’t too bad. Wano Country was home to all sorts of people, including plenty who had modified their bodies.
Only Brook, a literal skeleton, and Chopper, a reindeer who had eaten the Human-Human Fruit, were especially conspicuous.
“At the moment, your appearances aren’t a major issue. These IDs identify us as immigrants, so being a little unusual is acceptable.
But if people keep paying attention to you, whatever you’re trying to accomplish will become much more difficult. Of course, what you actually do is up to you. I’m only making a suggestion.”
Law very much wanted to order them around, but experience had taught him that this group was extremely difficult to get to follow a plan. Whether any of his advice would actually sink in depended entirely on luck.
There was no need to mention Brook’s skeleton appearance. Unless he went out during a ghost festival, he would probably scare people the moment he showed himself.
Chopper was somewhat better off, but not by much. He could get away with not pretending to be another race for a while, but if he tried to pass himself off as a Mink or a Pokémon, he’ll be exposed in minutes for illegally using borrowed information.
The locals might not be able to tell the difference, but Pokémon certainly could. A Pokémon could determine whether another creature was truly a Pokémon at a glance. Though they came in countless species and wildly different forms, all Pokémon belonged to the same great race with a common origin. Outsiders simply couldn’t imitate that.
A talking mammal fit the characteristics of a Mink quite well, but Minks were relatively rare. Even though their quality of life had improved dramatically, their original population base was small, so their numbers had not grown quickly.
Young Minks were treasured in the Mokomo Dukedom, and many people knew them.
If a completely unfamiliar Mink suddenly appeared, it would attract about as much attention as a walking skeleton in a crowd.
That was why Law recommended that they stay put. This way, they could also keep an eye on Kin’emon or Kanjuro.
“There’s another issue. The two of you don’t exactly have a good reputation around here. There are still records of you setting fire to residential buildings two months ago.
Besides, I haven’t seen any of the conditions you described at all.”
“Yeah, yeah! The people here are clearly living pretty well, and everyone gets enough to eat. The food they’re eating is really delicious too!”
Originally, Law had been lecturing the Straw Hats. After spending so much time with them, he had even begun to feel as though he were their parent.
The Straw Hats had also become accustomed to Law directing their operations. Besides, their attempt to come help seemed to have caused trouble instead, making it even harder for them to argue back.
The moment Law shifted his attention elsewhere, Luffy quickly jumped in to voice his opinion.
Luffy’s thought process was rather unique. After all, he belonged to the chaotic faction as well, and one of the ways he judged whether something was good or bad was by the food. [TN: In Dungeons & Dragons, a chaotic faction operates on principles of absolute freedom, adaptability, and individual agency. They typically oppose rigid laws, oppressive hierarchies, and traditional authority, making decisions dynamically rather than relying on strict, long-term bureaucratic plans.]
Anyone who feeds him is automatically a good person, and a country where everyone he sees can eat their fill is naturally a good place as well.
“We had no choice. Back then, in order to escape and seek help, we were forced to set the fire.”
“So you burned down your own country, and your enemies were delayed because they had to put out the fire and rescue people?”
As an observer, Nami quickly summarized the situation into a simple chain of logic. It sounded strange, but Kanjuro and the others had no way to refute it.
Under the influence of Oden’s halo, simply stating objective facts was often enough for people unaffected by that halo to notice how strange everything sounded.
“Th-that… was because we had no choice. They’ve all been deceived. As long as the Beasts Pirates are driven out and the Kozuki bloodline returns to rule Wano Country, they’ll surely come to their senses.”
“Is that so? Straw Hat-ya, what do you think?”
“Uh… let’s keep watching for now. I don’t really know.”
Luffy’s CPU, which had long since burned out, was incapable of processing a decision like this. He could only choose to keep observing. After all, they still had a few days left, and they also needed to spend that time looking for traces of Garp.
The matter seemed to end there, but after everyone else had fallen asleep, Kin’emon and Kanjuro began whispering to each other again.
“Kanjuro, I don’t think they’re going to help us anymore.”
“It doesn’t matter. Since they’ve already come here, they’ll be useful one way or another. Their goals are the Poneglyphs and Straw Hat’s grandfather. If necessary, we can help them.
As long as they create enough chaos, we’ll have an opportunity to rescue Lord Momonosuke.”
“Can we really succeed?”
“Perhaps. We are the Kozuki Family’s last hope. Lord Momonosuke and the others are still waiting for reinforcements. How can we give up because of this?”
“You’re right… With those IDs, you and I can also try going out tomorrow to look for opportunities…”
The next day, those who had already found jobs left first. Nami and Franky formed a new team and joined the exploration group. The number of people staying behind in the house increased to four, and Kanjuro seized the opportunity to unleash the acting skills he had honed over a lifetime, beginning a new round of deception.
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