The moment Dobon finished speaking, an explosion sounded from outside Udon, making Daifugo look at him involuntarily.
“Dobon, do you have some kind of jinx type? Why do I feel like ever since that social gathering ended, you’ve been down on your luck?”
“How would I know something like that…”
The two of them could not help looking toward the smoke rising upward, but neither of them went over. This was Udon. No matter how serious things were outside, it had nothing to do with them. At a time like this, what they should do even more was suppress the inside.
“What are you looking at?! If you don’t want to die, all of you get back!”
Two water arrows shot out from Daifugo’s hands, intimidating the pirates here back into Udon’s cells. Even Luffy’s work was interrupted. Udon, having entered a state of martial law, offered no chance for him to keep toiling as a laborer.
Hercules, who sensed a trace of abnormality, flew into the sky. Then it saw a scene that was hard for a beetle to believe. Outside Udon, Luffy had actually detonated a bomb.
“Heraaacross?!”
Hercules even let out a shocked cry. Looking back at Luffy, who had a foolish grin on his face, he could confirm that all of this was an illusion, but he did not know what exactly had happened.
While Hercules was observing the situation from above, Babanuki also came to Udon’s wall. This was the division of labor that had been decided long ago. When this kind of situation occurred, Dobon and Daifugo, who were better at group battles, would handle the internal problems.
Babanuki, who was stronger in one-on-one combat, was responsible for external emergencies. Babanuki on the wall just happened to see Luffy running toward the forest. This Luffy even threw out a bomb while fleeing.
“Luring the snake out of its hole? What a stupid plan. You’re looking down on me way too much.”
Babanuki had no intention of chasing at all. Never mind that he knew the real Straw Hat kid was currently working in Udon. Even if he did not know, he would only attack people who tried to attack Udon.
In a certain sense, Babanuki was like an area boss whose range had been designated. Compared to Daifugo and the others, he paid more attention to changes outside, but that did not mean he would leave his post without permission.
But at this moment, a squad of pirates also walked toward Udon.
“Governor-General Kaido ordered us to come support this place! Lord Babanuki, please open the gate!”
“Support?”
“Yes. Somehow, outside pirates broke in here and are still setting fires everywhere. The one leading them is Straw Hat. Governor-General Kaido is worried he came to rescue his grandfather.
“So he had us come remind you, and also strengthen the security here while we’re at it!”
The voice spread across the towering wall, but for a moment, there was no response.
“Kanjuro, will this really work?”
“I think it has a certain chance of success. At least it’s more useful than just waiting.”
Whether it was the Luffy causing disturbances inside Wano Country, the Luffy who had just fled and the explosion, or these pirates now coming to support Udon, all of them were the results of Kanjuro’s drawings.
As the user of the Brush-Brush Fruit, Kanjuro possessed an ability comparable to Ma Liang with the magic brush. He could not only draw inanimate objects, but also living creatures, including humans.
Moreover, the creatures Kanjuro drew had their own consciousness. As long as Kanjuro knew that person, the drawing could communicate and speak in that person’s tone.
Just as they had said before, Kanjuro planned to use the Straw Hats to draw Kaido’s attention. He intended to use his drawings to attract Kaido’s attention, then make them spend some energy on capturing the Straw Hats.
Of course, Kanjuro knew that this kind of force definitely could not defeat Kaido, but he did not require the other party to defeat Kaido either.
As long as he could enter Udon under the pretext of providing support and get close to Momonosuke, he could try to bring Momonosuke out and fly away from here.
The sea was so vast. If they could escape, they could naturally slowly plan what came afterward. For Momonosuke, he could abandon many things, including the Straw Hats.
In any case, this group of people no longer trusted them much, and Kin’emon had also done something very impulsive. Then of course they had to use this group one more time before the matter was exposed.
After leaving, they could slowly accumulate strength. At worst, they could outlive Kaido with age, and then try to take back Wano Country after that monster died.
As for the wife Kin’emon cared about, Kanjuro could only say he was powerless.
However, Kanjuro had a very serious information gap.
For example, whether Garp was being imprisoned in Udon was a gamble he had chosen. Only if he won that gamble could he have the possibility of rescuing Momonosuke.
As the spy sent by Kurozumi Orochi, he was even more like a Kozuki retainer than the Kozuki retainers themselves. Unfortunately, many of the things he did were ultimately futile.
For example, he did not know that Luffy was currently in Udon. He also did not know that the Beasts Pirates would absolutely never send out such a group of nameless nobodies to provide support.
At this moment, Kanjuro was only waiting somewhat anxiously for movement from the gate. Drawing so many human figures was a great challenge to the limits of his stamina. After all, activating his ability also consumed stamina.
Not to mention, Kanjuro still had to reserve stamina to deal with any battles that might happen and ensure that he could draw the birds needed for retreat.
To preserve more stamina, he had even drawn a group of pirate images without clothes, then had Kin’emon use the Garb-Garb Fruit’s ability to change their outfits.
For now, Kanjuro had one piece of good news. Babanuki opened the gate and personally came before them.
“ID cards.”
“Here, Lord Babanuki. We’re all new arrivals, so please take care of us…”
“I mean everyone’s ID cards.”
After receiving the ID card, Babanuki did not withdraw his hand, but continued asking for documents.
Even though Babanuki had not been participating in the betting game the entire time, he could guess the trick here just by guessing. After all, those fake identities have special marks. The officers qualified to participate in the betting game only needed to scan it with Rotom to completely confirm the result.
Just as Babanuki expected, Kanjuro could not produce any extra ID cards at all.
“Not a bad idea, but you people are still far too naive. Did you really think we’d be that easy to fool?”
Babanuki’s body began to swell, and the clothes on his upper body were directly torn apart. A giant ape several meters tall appeared before Kin’emon and Kanjuro just like that.
“This power of mine… has been stored up for a long time!”
Slaking accumulated its strength through time spent resting. Although there was an upper limit, a Slaking that had just finished its resting period could often unleash the strongest attack.
“Megaton Hammer!”
A flash of white light shone on Babanuki’s arm, and then he smashed it violently toward the ground.
Boom!
Several cracks split open across the ground outside Udon. To make the disguise more realistic, Kanjuro had drawn a large number of human figures, even sacrificing some quality for it. He could not make every drawn figure move nimbly.
Many of the fake people fell directly into the cracks, turning back into puddles of ink. But Babanuki’s battle had not stopped. After his Hammer Arm smashed into the ground, his other arm followed the momentum and swung toward Kanjuro in front of him.
Kanjuro had not expected Babanuki’s attack to be so decisive. Although he instinctively pulled out his weapon to block, the two sides were simply not on the same level of strength. The moment they made contact, his body was already sent flying backward, rolling out together with Kin’emon.
Kin’emon practically used his face as a brake, sliding quite a long distance across the ground, and the painted skin on his face was naturally ground away as well.
“I think I remember who you are now. You sure are one tough b*stard, your spine was broken back then, and you still managed to stand up.”
Canceling his transformation, Babanuki clenched his fists and walked toward the two of them.
Babanuki was completely acting according to the rules, taking this action in a way that fully conformed to Kaido’s betting game. Unlike Luffy’s accidental entry, this group had a clear purpose: they had come to cause destruction.
The ID cards that could not be supplied for everyone had also exposed their tracks. With this logic, no one would be able to find fault with him afterward.
As for Babanuki saying he remembered, that referred to what had happened years ago. Many years earlier, Kin’emon had come into conflict with Babanuki in order to save a subordinate of his who had made a mistake. Not only had he been seriously injured, but the Oden retainers at the time had also paid quite a price.
However, Kin’emon’s vitality had always been something metaphysical. In the original timeline, he was a rare talent who could survive Kaido’s finishing blow. Compared to Ashura Doji, who was killed by a bomb, it perfectly demonstrated what it meant to be unreasonable.
“I’d like to see whether you can stand up again this time.”
The Switch Mode ended, and Babanuki once again entered his Human-Beast form. With a speed completely at odds with his size, he appeared behind the two of them and reached out with both hands toward their heads. [TN: Chapter 158 for more about Switch Mode.]
“Hahahaha! Uncle Queen, look at this. Do you have anything to say?”
On Onigashima, Yamato was sitting on Queen’s back. After a night of being chased, Queen had ultimately collapsed powerlessly onto the ground. Now, Queen could no longer rely on his disgusting stamina to leave Yamato helpless.
Although Yamato had held back, Queen still felt as if it was even worse than being beaten up by Garp. Especially when Yamato brought the screen in front of him, he felt like his mentality had collapsed.
“Robin really was right. These two are the easiest ones to expose themselves. Sure enough, they couldn’t hold back.”
“Those two b*stards…”
Looking at the information on the screen, a surge of strength suddenly welled up inside Queen, and he immediately stood up again.
“Move aside, Young Miss. I’m going to slaughter those two b*stards!”
He had risked earning Yamato’s resentment because he wanted to win the betting game. Clearly, if they had only waited a little longer, Law would have been exposed. If he had known these people were so impatient, he would have found a way to send Doflamingo to the hospital first.
But it had already happened. There was nothing abrupt about Babanuki’s actions, and Queen had no choice but to accept reality. He had simply taken a beating for nothing, and the result of the betting game had not changed at all.
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