"To a teahouse? Do they have good booze?"
Zoro raised an eyebrow and immediately let go of the sword hilt at his waist.
"Do they have food?!"
Luffy's eyes lit up, and his stomach obligingly growled in protest.
"If a beautiful lady invites me, I, Sanji, would brave a mountain of blades or a sea of flames!"
Sanji instantly straightened up as though he had been pumped full of adrenaline.
Ronan looked at this bunch of clowns and gave a slight nod.
For newcomers like them, a teahouse run by a local was undoubtedly the best place to settle in and gather information.
"Lead the way, then, Proprietress Atsuru."
Half an hour later.
Pickings Village, Kuri region, Land of Wano.
With Atsuru leading them, the group finally emerged from the crimson wasteland.
What greeted them, however, was a dilapidated town only slightly better than Amigasa Village.
This place called "Pickings Village" was practically synonymous with poverty and despair.
Most of the wooden houses lining the streets leaned precariously, their roofs sparsely covered with thatch.
Civilians so thin they were little more than skin and bones could be seen everywhere along the roadside, slumped on the ground with vacant eyes, without even the strength to moan.
A breeze swept past, stirring up dead leaves and dust and adding to the desolation.
In one corner of the town stood a small two-story building with a wooden sign reading "Crane Woman Teahouse," one of the few reasonably tidy buildings here.
Yet just as Ronan's Group reached the teahouse entrance, they discovered a noisy commotion underway.
"Kiku! Beautiful Kiku! Please accept my advances!"
A rough voice boomed like muffled thunder in front of the teahouse.
They looked toward the sound and saw an enormous fat man blocking the entrance.
He wore his hair