In the town of Ebisu, located in Hakumai—
This small town survived by scavenging the waste from the Flower Capital. It wasn't that the people here were lazy—it was just that, after all the destruction in Wano, farmland was scarce, and the wilderness was filled with dangerous mutated creatures.
"So last night had thunderstorms and strong winds... And it was supposed to be the once-a-year *Fire Festival* too."
"Hahaha, that just means we've made it through another year—stop complaining!"
A group of ragged townsfolk, their clothes patched and worn, began their daily labor.
No matter how hard life was, they had to keep moving forward.
But because they had eaten the discarded artificial Devil Fruits just to survive, they had lost the ability to do anything but laugh—no matter how miserable their situation was.
"Everyone!!"
"Come out and gather—NOW!"
A figure rushed toward them at high speed.
The frail townspeople looked up, then immediately lowered their heads and stepped aside.
Because—
The newcomer was a samurai with a long sword at his waist.
"Boss Hyogoro, this is..."
"Is it another samurai... testing their blade?"
The so-called "sword testing" was when a newly forged katana was used on a live person to check its sharpness—while also staining it with blood. Under Kurozumi Orochi's rule for the past twenty years, this had become a routine practice for his samurai.
"Step back, let me handle this."
An old man stepped forward, his head wrapped in a polka-dotted cloth, wearing patched-up, tattered clothes. Because he had eaten a failed artificial Devil Fruit, his face was permanently stuck in a wide grin. His expression looked ridiculous, and his posture was humble, but his eyes showed no fear—he was clearly someone who had seen it all.
"Sir, may I ask what brings you here?"
"Listen up, all of you,"
The newcomer's overwhelming killing intent and the stench of blood made the people of Ebisu Town too afraid to approach. The bandages under his clothes were fresh, showing that he had just been through a fierce battle. Seeing this, the man who had stepped forward—whom the others called "Old Kyoshiro"—bowed even lower, a flicker of thought passing through his comically grinning eyes.
Could this have something to do with the thunder and raging winds from last night?
"I'm here to deliver orders from Wano's new 'shogun'—Kozuki Yamato!"
"The traitor Kurozumi Orochi, who stole the title of shogun twenty years ago, is finished! Even his ally, the Beasts Pirates' captain, Kaido, has been defeated..."
???
A new shogun? Kozuki Yamato? Orochi and Kaido defeated?
Was this some kind of twisted joke...?
If not for the katana at the messenger's waist, the people of Ebisu Town would have burst out in disbelief. But his next words immediately grabbed their attention—because:
"Everyone, bring your bowls and chopsticks to the Flower Capital! To celebrate the new shogun's ascension, there will be free meals for three days! Rejoice in the kindness of the Kozuki Clan!"
?!
Even though their minds were spinning, everyone instantly understood the meaning of "free food in the Flower Capital."
Which meant—
"Hurry! Wake up the old man—at least let him have a warm meal before he dies..."
"Bring the kids too!"
"Not enough bowls? Use broken tiles and bamboo sticks!"
The entire town sprang into action.
Eating was the most basic instinct of all living things, and hunger could drive even the weakest beast mad.
If not for the last shreds of human dignity keeping them in check, Wano might have already fallen into cannibalism long ago.
"Sir Samurai,"
Unlike the others who were fixated on the idea of food, the old man known as "Old Kyoshiro" stepped forward.
"Kozuki Yamato... Are they from the Kozuki family, the rightful rulers of Wano from twenty years ago? But..."
Didn't the Kozuki family only have two children—Momonosuke and Hiyori?
Where did this "Kozuki Yamato" come from?
"Don't ask questions you shouldn't be asking!"
The bandaged samurai glanced at the elderly man in front of him. No matter which shogun ruled, samurai had always ranked above commoners.
Besides, he himself had just been released from the Udon prison after a brutal night of battle. He had been lucky enough to avoid serious injury, which was why he was sent to deliver messages.
But honestly, even he hadn't fully grasped what had happened last night.
Those terrifying outsiders fought like monsters, splitting the earth, tearing apart the sky, moving mountains, summoning storms...
After witnessing such a battle, when a powerhouse calling himself "Kozuki Yamato" stepped up to lead Wano, the samurai's reaction was simple:
If you say so, then so be it.
"If you have doubts, save them for the shogun's coronation in three days!"
With that, the samurai took off, rushing to the next village to spread the word.
After all, all of Wano's previous "steeds"—those mutated creatures—belonged to Orochi and Kaido's forces.
Now, messages had to be delivered on foot.
And—
After the intensity of last night's battle, any samurai who survived was more than capable of outrunning a thousand-mile horse.
"This can't be... Could that prophecy really..."
The ragged old man in patched-up clothes—Old Kyoshiro—might have looked pitiful, but he was once the Daimyo of Ringo, Shimotsuki Ushimaru!
He had been a loyal ally of the Kozuki family.
If not for Kozuki Oden's reckless decisions, he wouldn't have fallen so low.
So what was really going on?
There was only one way to find out—head to the Flower Capital.
—————
In the blink of an eye, two days passed.
All of Wano was in an uproar.
But atop the tallest building in the Flower Capital, the Tenshu Pavilion, everything was silent.
"Are they still asleep?"
After that battle, even Roman—who was usually the last to collapse—had been out for two whole days.
His body could be healed with Seimei Kikan, but mentally...
First, they fought Big Mom.
Then, they spent half the night battling Kaido.
His exhaustion had been pushed far past its limits.
And once Kaido fell, one by one, the Straw Hat Grand Fleet's main fighters had all collapsed as well.
"Sigh, and there are still so many problems waiting for them to deal with..."
Marco glanced at the ones still lying on the tatami—Luffy, Ace, and Roman.
Only Yamato, with her beastly Zoan endurance, had managed to stay on her feet and take charge as "shogun," keeping Wano stable.
But the other three, after fighting Kaido at full strength, had slept ever since.
The problem was—
Now was not the time for sleeping.
After the victory, it was time to divide the spoils. The Straw Hat Crew only needed a grand feast, but what about the Whitebeard Pirates? What about the samurai of Wano Country? They couldn't just sweat, bleed, and even die, only to laugh it off over a big meal and then go their separate ways.
If that were the case, the different factions might start fighting again right away!
After Kaido fell, Yamato took charge of gathering the remaining forces of the Beasts Pirates. The three Calamities fought to the death, and among the Tobi Roppo, only "Red Flag" X Drake expressed willingness to surrender—though in reality, Drake was still a Marine undercover agent... So now, the Beasts Pirates were nothing more than an empty shell, barely hanging on.
As for Wano Country's strength... After twenty years of suffering under Orochi and Kaido, it had declined significantly, leaving only the Akazaya Nine to hold the line. Even though they managed to rally the samurai of Wano, their overall power was only on par with the weakened Beasts Pirates.
At the moment, the strongest faction seemed to be the Whitebeard Pirates. Although many division commanders had fallen in battle, none had perished. After some rest, they would be back at full strength. And with Ace gaining immense battle experience from fighting Kaido, once he woke up, it was likely that—
He would truly step into the ranks of the Four Emperors!
Then there was the Straw Hat Crew. They had the smallest numbers but the highest concentration of top-tier fighters. Since the outlaws had openly declared Roman as their leader, pledging to follow his orders from now on, the situation in Wano Country had become... tense and unpredictable.
—
Beneath the towering castle:
"Wano Country belongs to the samurai of Wano. We don't need outsiders interfering. — Who spread this nonsense?"
Hyogoro the Flower glanced at the four yakuza bosses before him. Though his body had shrunk into that of an old man, his imposing presence was as strong as ever!
"If it weren't for the Straw Hat Crew, the Beasts Pirates, the outlaws, the Heart Pirates, and the help of other outsiders, could we have defeated Orochi and Kaido?! And now, rumors like this are spreading through the Flower Capital so quickly—are you telling me none of you had a hand in this?"
The four bosses exchanged glances before the leader of Ringo, "Evening Bloom" Ocho, finally spoke apologetically. "This is what we all agreed upon."
"What?!" Hyogoro's eyes burned with anger. "Have you abandoned your samurai honor?!"
Faced with his fury, the boss of Udon, Yatapei, sighed. Udon had the least damage thanks to the presence of the Flower Town, making him the strongest of the four. Still, he spoke carefully.
"I'll be honest with you, Boss Leopard."
"Hyogoro the Flower" was a nickname, and in the underworld, nicknames were a sign of respect.
"For twenty years, the harm done to us by outsiders… there's no need to even bring it up. Yes, with their help, we overthrew Orochi's rule, but who's to say they won't become the next Kaido?"
Back then, when Orochi and Kaido took down the Kozuki Clan, the people of Wano mostly stood by and watched. Oden's foolish "dancing to save people" had destroyed his credibility as a leader, and to most samurai, it was just a change in who sat on the throne.
But after twenty years of destruction and oppression, they deeply regretted it.
"So yes, we started these rumors. If they truly turn out to be another Kaido, then we would rather fight to the death now!"
"And if we turn out to be wrong, then we are willing to commit seppuku before our benefactors!"
—
"Defeating a Four Emperor is hard,"
In a nearby room, three CP0 elites sat on tatami mats, playing a game of shogi as they chatted.
"But holding onto that position is even harder."
With Kaido dethroned, the biggest prize of this battle—the title of Four Emperor—was now up for grabs.
Would it go to Luffy, the captain of the Straw Hat Crew, who had risen from nowhere, defeating countless powerful foes along the way, and now had his sights set on the Four Emperors?
Or would it go to Ace, the second captain of the Whitebeard Pirates, who had fought off Blackbeard's invasion, stabilized his crew, and then led a full-scale assault on Kaido in an attempt to revive his fallen legacy?
Or perhaps, it would be Yamato, who overthrew his own father with the help of outsiders, seized control of the Beasts Pirates, and even dared to claim the name of Kozuki, aiming to take Wano Country for himself…
From CP0's perspective, all three of them were ambitious contenders!
As an intelligence agency, CP0 had planted many spies in Wano Country. Two years was more than enough time for them to gather a great deal of information. However, due to their personal biases and the low rank of their informants, their judgment of Luffy, Ace, and Yamato was completely off.
"Young people these days… truly frightening."
The CP0 leader, wearing a black-and-white eye mask, couldn't help but sigh. Compared to these ruthless and fearless "pirates," the rigid and rule-bound Marines seemed lacking in spirit. No wonder the chaos of the seas never settled. But—
"Even those three—how could they possibly compare to Lord Roman?"
"They have no idea that every move they make has already been calculated by him."
Once they were no longer useful, Lord Roman would get rid of them. When that time came, what kind of expressions would they have?
Now that was something to look forward to—
(End of Chapter)
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