Delia had more or less figured out Kikunojo’s personality—kind-hearted, almost to a fault. Most of the time, he was thinking about others. As long as the lingering influence of Oden could be purged, there wouldn’t be any major issues.
However, when she saw Kikunojo’s reaction after she pretended to be blind, his calmness made Delia feel a little guilty, as if something about it wasn’t quite right.
That guilt, however, didn’t last long. Delia quickly cast it aside and dragged Kikunojo along to throw a banquet.
“Miss Delia, this isn’t good for your livelihood…”
“Don’t worry about it so much. As much as I’d love to see the world that Lord Arceus and Miss Yamato have envisioned, no one can guarantee we’ll actually make it to that day.”
“If I end up dying along the way, I don’t want to leave any regrets. But if I do die, those people definitely won’t forget me—after all, if that happens, no one will be around to pay them back their money!”
“Come on, let’s go! Time for a banquet!”
Under Delia’s persistent tugging, Kikunojo was pulled along with her. This was also part of his shift in attitude—previously, Delia wouldn’t have been able to do something like this.
And all of this was observed by Denjiro from within the palace.
Although he had always supported Kikunojo in using his looks to their advantage, he felt that things might have gone a bit too far recently—especially after that one time. Since then, Kikunojo’s attitude has changed drastically.
Not long after Kikunojo left, Kawamatsu returned to the palace.
“Is there something wrong with me?”
“White fur… Kawamatsu, you’ve been playing with those two again, haven’t you?”
Kikunojo’s daily routine involved being harassed by Delia, while Kawamatsu’s consisted of exchanging “kappa knowledge” with Ludicolo. Sometimes, Meowna and Wolff also took an interest in him, and after some time, they had become quite familiar with each other.
After Kozuki Hiyori grew up and underwent a major change in mindset, her reliance on them wasn’t as strong as before. This made Kawamatsu want to find a new sense of purpose, so whenever he wasn’t assigned a task, he took on the role of a playmate.
“That’s right. The way they look at me… it’s normal.”
Nowadays, the Beasts Pirates had a large number of Fish-Men and Minks among their ranks, so they didn’t view Kawamatsu—this “odd-looking” being—with the same unusual gaze that Wano Country’s native residents did.
Especially since the high-ranking members of the Beasts Pirates included Fish-Men and Minks, they were naturally more accepting of those two races than Wano’s locals. There, Kawamatsu actually felt relaxed.
“Kawamatsu, you’ve fallen too, huh…?”
“Fallen?”
“Don’t forget back then…”
“Even though I don’t want to admit it, Denjiro, you were always very smart. You should understand the current state of Wano Country.”
“If Lord Oden was still alive…”
“He’d probably smile as he handed Wano Country over to Kaido and then take us out to sea.”
“……”
Kawamatsu wasn’t wrong. Denjiro knew exactly what kind of situation Wano Country was in now—aside from not having fully opened its borders, everything was countless times better than it had been 18 years ago.
If you asked the young generation of Wano Country to return to their past way of life, they’d probably fight you to the death.
There had been some diehard loyalists, but those people actually attempted to assassinate Kozuki Hiyori. That was something Denjiro couldn’t comprehend, and it ultimately led to Hiyori’s “darkening.”
“This is troublesome…”
“Yeah. If we really have to blame someone, that bastard Orochi is the true culprit.”
……
Having ended her time pretending to be sick, Delia once again resumed hosting banquets. King was still on his way back, the World Government was still in the middle of discussions, and meanwhile, in the Florian Triangle, Luffy and his crew had encountered their most formidable enemy yet.
They had been delayed for quite some time on Skypiea. After leaving, they participated in an adventure event hosted by a pirate, from which they obtained a treasure.
When they arrived at Water 7, they happened to run into Franky, who was planning to build a ship and set out in search of Tom.
Building his dream ship had always been Franky’s dream, but he didn’t have the money to afford high-quality materials.
At this time, he met the Straw Hats, who had money but couldn’t repair the Going Merry. Moved by their deep feelings for their ship, he decided to work with them, which ultimately led to the creation of the Thousand Sunny.
His goal was to find Tom, while the other members of the Franky Family, with the help of the business card given by Tom, started new jobs at a dismantling plant under the Beasts Fruits’ banner.
Since their shadows had been stolen, they had no choice but to fight Moria. With Bon Kurei, they even managed to successfully pull off Tactics Fifteen, but it was of no use.
In East Blue, they had already witnessed the power of the world. After being wiped out by Bat-Man, the Straw Hats began to reflect on their lives. They also developed new techniques, though they were still somewhat unpolished. Despite having a numerical advantage, they failed to achieve any significant results against Moria.
Even a dying camel is still bigger than a horse. Back in the day, Moria was a ruthless man—it was just unfortunate that he ran into someone even more ruthless.
Years of shut-in life ruined his physical skills, and his Haki disappeared due to him closing of his heart. Moria was gradually falling into a disadvantage, but because of one sentence from Luffy, he immediately flew into rage.
“Defeat Kaido? How dare you… how dare you say something like that! What gives you the right to attempt such a thing?! You weaklings—what gives you the courage to even think that way?!”
Moria stepped out from the zombie made from Oars’ body. Holding a giant pair of scissors, he was driven to near madness just by hearing a single name.
The name “Kaido” had haunted him like a nightmare his entire life. His companions, his dreams, everything he had was destroyed in that battle. Afterward, he hid away in this fog-covered area, scheming to build his zombie army.
Seeing this group of weaklings boldly declare that they would defeat that monster, Moria felt as if his very soul had been struck. It was as if they were telling him, right to his face, that he was a good-for-nothing.
“Eighty million Berries. Just a measly eighty million Berry pirate. What makes you think… that you can challenge Kaido?!”
Luffy’s achievements were nowhere near as glorious as before. Even reaching this bounty amount was already quite remarkable. Right now, while he had some strength, he wasn’t even considered one of the Super Rookies. By the way, Hercules’ bounty was only ten thousand Berries.
Ever since the appearance of Arceus, a special entity, the Marines had started increasing bounties on certain non-human creatures. Thanks to that, Hercules at least avoided being worth less than a newspaper.
The mere mention of Kaido’s name seemed to have flipped a hidden trigger inside Moria, causing him to unleash combat power far beyond his usual level.
“What the hell is up with this guy?!”
Luffy didn’t understand what had suddenly made Moria so much stronger.
“I remember now! I heard that he once challenged Kaido, one of the Four Emperors, but after losing, all of his companions were killed!”
Lola seemed to recall some information, answering the questions on everyone’s minds—but in reality, it didn’t make much of a difference…
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