Tengu Swordsmith, Reinforcements Arrive

"It is said that Wano Country is full of samurai, all of them of unwavering integrity—"

"I surrender! I surrender!!"

The little girl, arms raised in a French military salute, spoke with righteous indignation, choking Roman's words as he led a group off the ship. Let's see who's so disrespectful—

Hmm, isn't this the Jade Emperor?

Haven't seen you for a few days, and you've gotten such diarrhea...

"Don't panic, we're not good people."

"Roman, what are you saying? Didn't you see that you scared her to tears?"

In response to Nami's words, Roman pointed his thumb behind him and said, "Shouldn't you say that to them?"

The menacing one-eyed, Three-Sword Style greatsword master, the menacing one-eyed jaguar ranger, the... silly, tall, humanoid reindeer, the perverted swimming trunks robot, the tall, thin, skull-haired afro-headed Fish-Man uncle... Compared to them, Roman considers himself to be quite amiable.

"And the reason they surrendered was entirely due to Luffy's 'effort'."

On the nearby beach, Luffy was making a giant lion dog with cloud patterns and a giant baboon with a sword 'sit obediently'. The two huge animals bowed and scraped, appearing quite sensible.

"Luffy, what's going on with these two guys?"

Aside from a little girl and two enormous animals, there were also two henchmen lying nearby wearing leather pants, helmets, and shoulder pads—this style—

"They're Kaido's subordinates. Have we been exposed?"

In response to Sanji's question, Roman stroked his chin.

"It doesn't matter, we'll have to fight the Beasts Pirates sooner or later anyway..."

"Hey, you guys are here to cause trouble for Kaido?"

The little girl, her kimono covered in patches, stared in surprise at the group of outsiders. —Thanks to Kaido, the people of Wano Country now knew that other nations and powerful individuals existed in this world, not just that the samurai of Wano Country were the strongest. However:

"You'd better leave quickly, or we'll be finished if 'True Striker' finds out!"

Although the little girl didn't know the saying "the enemy of my enemy is my friend," she believed that anyone who wanted to fight Kaido, that big bad guy, deserved help. Furthermore:

The people in front of me didn't seem like bad people.

"Oh, is that 'True Striker' really strong?"

Zoro, who carried three katana at his waist, became interested. He had long heard that the warriors of Wano Country were all skilled swordsmen, and he was eager to see for himself.

"Hey, hey, samurai-sama!"

Upon seeing the katana at Zoro's waist, the little girl was so frightened that she immediately prostrated herself on the ground, trembling with fear. Roman calmly turned around and nodded to Nami.

"See? The one who's scary isn't me at all."

"Hey! Roman, what do you mean—"

"Why,"

Nami sighed and helped the little girl up, gently comforting her. Roman closed his eyes as well: Although Kaido shouldn't have noticed them in theory, it's better to be safe than sorry. It's best to expand the reconnaissance area, and:

Wano Country a powerful nation where Haki is as common as dogs and swordsmen are everywhere; only the greatest swordsmen can truly tremble before them. In terms of strength, it's in no way inferior to a Four Emperors crew, yet they were ruined by an idiot general. No wonder Kaido forbade Yamato idolizing Oden —no normal parent would want their child to idolize an idiot.

All I can say is: distance makes idols.

Yamato only saw Oden's heroic figure braving the boiling oil to protect his comrades, and his grand dream of opening the country, as depicted in his diary. She didn't understand that the real Oden was actually a stubborn and indecisive individual, which led to her conflict with Kaido. If Yamato knew about Oden's series of baffling actions after returning to the country, she probably would have her faith shattered on the spot...

Who are you? Let Tama go!

?

Roman, who was simultaneously controlling the white doves to scout the entire Wano Country and contemplating whether to gather the remaining rebellious samurai, was pulled back to his senses by a roar in his ear. When he opened his eyelids:

"Usopp, why do you know how to use a knife?"

"Are you blind?" Usopp roared, Luffy from behind. "Is all you remember me for?!"

"Oh, oh, could it be your grandfather...?"

"My long nose is inherited from my mom! It has nothing to do with my dad's side—"

Seeing Luffy and Usopp locked in a fierce battle, a man with a long-nosed mask, white wings, and wooden clogs... or rather, stilts, charged in, completely at a loss for what to do. It seems that when your teammates are silly enough, even your opponents are left bewildered.

"Make way, make way!"

Chopper had already taken off his medical backpack and arrived at the little girl who had suddenly fainted in Nami's arms. It was because of her misunderstanding that the man who looked like a 'tengu' had a conflict with Luffy and the others.

"What are you going to do—"

"I am a doctor!"

One sentence was enough to shut up the 'tengu' man. After Chopper quickly checked the little girl who had suddenly fainted in Nami's arms:

"This is slow-acting heavy metal poisoning? How is that possible? What does she usually eat?!"

"I····"

The man, dressed as a 'tengu' and wearing a mask, sighed.

"It's millet..."

"That's outrageous!!" Chopper exclaimed angrily. "Heavy metal poisoning, malnutrition—are you a slave trader?"

"I····"

Faced with Chopper's reprimand, the man who had been so aggressive just moments before lowered his head in shame.

"Don't... don't blame... Master,"

The little girl in Nami's arms had slowly woken up and stopped Chopper with a weak voice.

"It's my own fault for not being good enough, for not earning more money... and my master is wanted by the police..."

"Chopper,"

Luffy, adjusted his Straw Hat.

"Cure her."

"Leave it to me!"

Sanji,

"Could you please do some..."

Do you even need to tell me?

Sanji, carrying a fragrant bowl of white porridge, placed it in front of the little girl. With the combined healing from Chopper and the Life Azure Flame from Nami, the little girl quickly regained her strength and swallowed hard.

"I... I aspire to become a 'glamorous female ninja,' I'm not hungry at all..."

Glug glug~~

This·····

"Eat up, consider it payment for hiring you."

Roman looked at the little girl, Tama, in front of him. Four years ago, Ace had promised to take her to sea; and because of this, the little girl had waited for four years in this place where the river was polluted with heavy metals due to the weapons factory.

"As you can see, we are people from the 'outside' seas—we can provide Beli, medicine, and food, and in return, we hope you can act as our guides."

Luffy's intelligence and emotional intelligence are actually quite high, but he's just too lazy to use his brain usually, so most of the time the Straw Hat crew's negotiations are handled by Roman or Nami.

"Delicious... it's so delicious~~"

Watching the little girl who had finished her bowl of porridge in one gulp and started licking the bowl clean, so happy that she had even abandoned her 'samurai' principles, the 'tengu'-like man sighed.

"This way, everyone, please. We'll leave here first."

"I'm ashamed to say, but if you're looking for sightseeing or adventure, this is definitely not a good place..."

As the man, resembling a tengu, walked along, he introduced the group of people from the outer seas, noting that they all appeared to be incredibly powerful. However, they were surprisingly good-natured. Were all powerful figures from the outer seas so humble?

No, that evil spirit also came from the outer sea!

"I don't know if you all know, but Wano Country is now the territory of Kaido, one of the Four Emperors..."

The man named 'Tenguyama Hitetsu' recounted the situation in Wano Country while subtly observing the expressions of the outsiders. It was impossible for people from the outer seas not to know Kaido's name! Therefore, their next choice was obvious:

Will they flee in terror, or will they be eager to pledge allegiance and surrender?

"Hehehe, we know, because we're here to beat Kaido!"

·······

?!

Roman rolled his eyes at the 'Tengu' that had tumbled to the ground and couldn't get up.

"Luffy, this is Kaido's territory. Is it really okay for you to so brazenly state our purpose? I hope you'll still be able to laugh when we're surrounded by the Calamities and Six Powers later."

!!

"You... know this is Kaido's territory, and you even know about All-Stars 'All-Stars' and the famous 'Six Sons'? You actually..."

How can you even laugh?!

"Heh, our target has always been Kaido, otherwise what are we doing here?"

Zoro, with three katana at his waist, smiled arrogantly, catching the attention of the 'tengu' man. Especially:

"Sir... may I have the honor of seeing the sword at your waist? —Of course, I would not dare to lay a finger on your sword, but I would be so kind as to take a look at the blade!"

"Can."

Although it was a strange request, Zoro casually drew three katana, instantly freezing the 'tengu'-like man who had just gotten up in place!

Sandai Kitetsu, Wado Ichimonji, Shusui!

These three swords were extremely familiar to the "Tengu" man, because the "Sandai Kitetsu" was his own creation! And the Wado Ichimonji was the work of a close friend who had also forged a sword for the former shogun of Wano Country.

Enma!

And the other sword of that Two-Sword Style general, the Ame no Habakiri, was made by the 'Tengu' man. How could he not be familiar with it?

As for 'Shusui', it was once the weapon of Ryuma, the 'Guardian Sword God' of Wano Country, and was regarded as National Treasure by all the samurai and swordsmiths of Wano Country!

This man...

"Your weapons are all masterpieces, I wonder where they came from... Of course, it's just a matter of curiosity on my part. If it's inconvenient..."

When the 'tengu' man probed him, Zoro casually answered while sheathing his long sword.

"One was given to me by my master, one was bought, and the last one was a trophy I stole from a zombie warrior..."

... If this man wasn't lying, then the 'Wado Ichimonji' should have been given to him by Koshiro Shimotsuki. It's not unusual for an ominous sword like the Sandai Kitetsu to fall into the hands of a merchant. As for that 'zombie samurai'... could it be that Ryuma's corpse was desecrated?

Sure enough, it was that despicable tomb raider from back then!

The 'Tengu' man was not ignorant; he knew that this ocean was home to many beings called 'Ability Users,' possessing various wondrous abilities. From this perspective—

"Gentlemen, since you are warriors who have come to fight Kaido, I must offer you a word of advice:"

"Please leave!"

The man resembling a tengu turned to look at the Straw Hat crew. These people had not only healed Tama, but they might also have some connection to Wano Country. But precisely because of this:

"Perhaps you are all powerful figures on the sea, but I must say that Kaido, that demon... he's simply not human! So many swordsmen and great swordsmen from Wano Country have fallen at his hands, so..."

"Don't underestimate me, uncle."

Roman stepped forward and pointed to the middle of the group:

"This is our Straw Hat Pirates' captain, 'Straw Hat' Luffy, with a bounty of 1.6 billion, known as one of the 'Yonko' of the sea."

Then the finger moved in the direction of Zoro:

"This is our combatant Zoro, with a bounty of 800 million Beli. He recently defeated Charlotte Smoothie, one of the 'Sweet Commanders' of the BIG MOM Pirates, one of the Four Emperors, in a one-on-one duel. He is equivalent to one of the All-Stars of the Beasts Pirates."

"As for myself, I am the strategist of the Straw Hat Pirates. My proudest achievement so far is that we sailed all the way from the East Blue to here without losing a single member!"

Faced with the arrogant Roman, the Tengu man was speechless.

He simply couldn't believe that the man with the Straw Hat and goofy look was actually a top-tier pirate with a bounty of 1.6 billion; he seemed so ordinary...

"Hehehe, that's right, I'm going to be the King of the Pirates!"

Yet so confident!

"I already understand your strength. But with just a dozen or so of you..."

Tengu-man nodded, but that's precisely why these skilled fighters who dared to challenge Kaido shouldn't be allowed to sacrifice themselves so easily!

Once the quantity reaches a certain level, it will cause a qualitative change. After all, the prevalence of Haki and the resistance to Conqueror's Haki Impact among Wano Country, which has allied with Kaido, and Kaido's own Beasts Pirates, are astonishingly high! Facing hundreds of Haki users, even top-tier fighters would be hampered. Not to mention the Calamities and Six Powers of Heaven, and Kaido himself!

"Don't worry, as the advisor, everything is under my control."

Roman dared to say that, of course, because:

"Ace, the waters of Wano Country are just ahead!"

"What a chaotic sea, but—" Marco glanced at the raging waves and the lightning-streaked sky around him. No wonder his father had stopped them from coming to Wano Country. With such a climate protecting it, it was indeed very easy to defend and difficult to attack.

"But it is precisely because of this sea area that we have not been discovered by the Beasts Pirates."

The white dove leading the way preened its feathers, then spread its wings and landed on the deck of the 'Moby Dick'.

Splash splash~~

As the white dove spread its wings, which swelled into long strips, a figure slowly rose from the ground amidst swirling light, flicking its cloak! In one hand, a cane shaped like a chicken leg; in the other, it turned and pointed:

"Ace,"

"You must lead the Whitebeard Pirates to find a new home."

?!

Tsk, doesn't anyone think he's handsome?

"In short, our goal this time is to take over Wano Country!"

On the deck of the Moby Dick, all the Whitebeard Pirates were present. Although many of them were more skilled with their hands than with their brains, at this critical moment concerning the survival of the Whitebeard Pirates, they all listened attentively to Roman's explanation:

"Defeat Kaido, one of the Four Emperors, open the Wano Country, and finally take control of the Seastone production."

"My Straw Hat crew will remove an obstacle on the path to King of the Pirates, your Whitebeard Pirates will gain a stable base and source of funding, Wano Country will be freed from twenty years of tyrannical rule..."

"This is a win-win-win situation, beneficial to everyone!"

Luffy treats people with sincerity, while Roman excels at binding interests. There's no need to rank these two methods, because:

"Since he's Ace's brother, we'll definitely go all out!"

"However, acquiring a rich territory along the way would be a great thing too!"

"Haha, I've only been able to drink once a week for the past two years, my mouth is so bland! After this victory, I'll definitely drink to my heart's content!!"

We must grasp both the hearts and minds of the people and their interests, and do both firmly! Only in this way can we build the foundation for becoming a king.

P. S.: An elderly person from my village passed away. To be honest... I didn't even know him, but since it was a holiday, I was dragged into it to make up the numbers. I'll probably only be able to update once a day for the next few days... Well, I'll make up for it slowly after things are over.

P. S.: Happy Mid-Autumn Festival everyone!