The room was clean and tidy.
Kawamatsu first carefully searched the room and made sure there were no listening devices. Then he pressed his ear to the door and confirmed that no one was eavesdropping outside before dropping to the floor in a full prostration.
"I have disgraced my lord's name. I truly, truly deserve death ten thousand times over!" Kawamatsu said in a lowered voice.
Hiyori naturally knew he was referring to his lie about her father. Her adorable little face tried hard to look solemn. "Uncle Kawamatsu only said that to protect me. Even if Father knew, he would surely be comforted by it."
"Thank you for forgiving me, Princess!"
"Oh, right, Uncle Kawamatsu." Hiyori asked in confusion, "What exactly did you mean earlier when you said the time was wrong?"
She did not understand the outside world's calendar, so Longinus's mention of the year 1503 of the Marineford Era gave her no real sense of it.
Kawamatsu sighed. "My lady intended to send us twenty years into the future, but something went wrong. Only one year has passed since that disaster."
"Only one year?" A complicated, indescribable look appeared on Hiyori's small face. She recalled the fire that had taken everything from her that night. After a long while, she forced a smile. "Mother was already at the end of her strength then. It is not strange that there was an error."
"But my lady's intention was to let time dull the hatred. Twenty years would have been enough for the brute Kaido and the traitor Orochi to forget we ever existed." Kawamatsu grew agitated and nearly forgot to lower his voice. "But if only one year has passed, Kaido and Orochi will never stop hunting us!"
"Uncle Kawamatsu, do you still not understand? The weak have