Julian had been right after all. The Human Body Dance Master, nicknamed Fool King Kozuki Oden, had brought the Roger Pirates to Wano Country. Roger had already obtained the second Poneglyph. The first Poneglyph rubbing had been seized from Big Mom's Pirates on Whole Cake Island, while the second had been obtained from the Mink Tribe on Zou, atop Zunesha's back. Wano Country and the Mink Tribe had been allies for generations, and Kozuki Oden got it with a single word.
Now they were preparing to obtain the rubbing of the third Road Poneglyph in Wano Country. By this time, Kaido had already begun plotting with Kurozumi Orochi to swallow Wano Country whole. Yet Kozuki Oden had brought along the two great kings of the Sea, Pirate King Roger and Pluto Rayleigh. All the Fool King needed to do was speak, and Roger and Rayleigh could have ground Kaido, King, Queen, and the newly established Beasts Pirates into the dirt.
But the Human Body Dance Master said nothing. He was planning to return from Laugh Tale half a year later and perform his naked-man dance. Oden had discovered that pirates had invaded his country, yet he simply ignored it.
His father, Kozuki Sukiyaki, had already been imprisoned by Kurozumi Orochi. Black Charcoal Cicada, who possessed the Paramecia Imitation-Fruit, had begun impersonating Kozuki Sukiyaki and made Kurozumi Orochi the acting shogun. This dutiful son did not care about his father at all. He merely returned to Kuri for a look, then went to the Kozuki Family's underground chamber, took the Wano Country Poneglyph rubbing, and immediately departed with the Roger Pirates.
If he had only kept Pirate King Roger around for the time it took to drink a cup of tea, Kaido would have had to get the hell out of Wano Country—after being rubbed raw by Roger and Rayleigh. But this dutiful son had only one excuse: he feared delaying Roger's limited time. Yet after becoming Pirate King at fifty-two, Roger disappeared for nearly a year. He was on Patrila Island making a child with Ace's mother, Portgas D. Rouge. He had a whole year for that, but not half a cup of tea's worth of time?
Half a year later, after Rayleigh, Red-Hair, and Roger sent Oden back to Wano Country, Rayleigh even asked, "Do you need help?" This dutiful son refused outright. "The Kozuki Clan's affairs will be handled by the Kozuki Clan." The result of handling it themselves was dancing naked for five years. In the end, he discovered that Orochi and Kaido had deceived him for five years before he finally resisted. By then, his reputation was already in the gutter, and Kaido easily had him in his grasp. Kozuki Oden truly was a remarkable talent.
Not long after he was born, he kicked his wet nurse flying. At six, he visited brothels. At fifteen, he took other men's wives, girlfriends, and daughters. At sixteen, he turned the backyard of a temple into a harem. He even cooked oden with the ashes of his dead friend. He truly never did anything decent.
Especially his son, that little beast Momonosuke. From childhood, he inherited the Human Body Dance Master Kozuki Oden's lustfulness. The father and son were both disgusting people. This time, Julian definitely supported Kaido.
At this time, Roger had already obtained the third Poneglyph rubbing and was preparing to head to Fish-Man Island for the fourth. Fish-Man Island also held Joy Boy's apology letter. Kozuki Oden happily carried the rubbing and set off for Fish-Man Island, where the fourth Poneglyph rubbing lay. He left behind bewildered retainers, the people of Kuri who had hoped for Kozuki Oden's return, and several helpless Nine Red Scabbards.
Julian thought that if Kozuki Oden fought Kaido a hundred times, he had ninety-nine ways to win and only one way to lose. Yet Oden had somehow managed it. He avoided all ninety-nine winning paths and chose that single losing one. Only Fool King Kozuki Oden could do something like that.
At this point, Kaido was merely an experimental specimen who had just escaped the World Government's research division on Punk Hazard. Vegapunk had used flesh and blood extracted from Kaido to create the Artificial Devil Fruit, Azure Dragon Form. Kaido had been an experimental specimen for years, and he had also saved another lab rat, the Lunarian boy Abel. Kaido named him King.
Researcher Queen also joined Kaido and became Queen the Plague. While searching for territory, they encountered two former Rocks Pirates crew members. The first was Black Charcoal Semimaru, the previous-generation user of the Paramecia Devil Fruit, Wall-Wall Fruit. He and Black Charcoal Cicada were siblings. The second was Black Charcoal Cicada, the user of the Paramecia Imitation-Fruit.
More than ten years ago, Kaido had been a monster apprentice of the Rocks Pirates, working alongside Black Charcoal Cicada and Black Charcoal Semimaru. Black Charcoal Cicada invited Kaido to invade Wano Country and undertake great ambitions together. That was when Kaido began his entrepreneurial life. Kaido was merely a thirty-four-year-old small boss whose career had just begun, with only two employees.
Queen was still half a fraud, though Boss Kaido was no better. Five years later, after his career had taken off, one swing of his club killed Black Charcoal Cicada, another smashed Black Charcoal Semimaru to death, and he made Orochi the shogun for appearances. The reason was that they had pretended to be Kaido's subordinates and ambushed Momonosuke. The key was that they had not even succeeded. Wasn't that infuriating?
In the end, Kaido spared Momonosuke and let that little bastard escape twenty years into the future. He went out to sea, roped in Monkey D. Luffy, clung to Luffy's thigh, and his flying daddy defeated Kaido. The little scourge became shogun again. Kaido's daughter Yamato even became the Guardian King for that little scourge Momonosuke. In the end, the little scourge Momonosuke went back to living a life of flowing soy milk.
Whenever Julian thought of what happened in Wano Country, he became furious. Julian said, "Wano Country is utter garbage. I'll definitely give those Japanese Samurai of Wano Country a crushing blow. At the very least, I'll make sure those Japanese Samurai have no descendants."
Having followed Julian for a long time, George understood some of Julian's special expressions. He even kept a notebook recording Julian's phrases. The first sentence recorded was: "I am willing to trade Momonosuke's twenty years of lifespan for one day of good luck." The second was: "How is Momonosuke worthy of being shogun? He is only fit to be a scourge." The third was: "What the hell is Momonosuke? Just a worthless dog."
Today, George took out his notebook again and wrote: "Wano Country is utter garbage. Those Wano Country samurai are all bastards." George said, "There's much to learn. Captain, your phrasing is far ahead of everyone else's."
That night, Julian held another banquet. The atmosphere was already extremely lively, and many crew members were happily singing. Julian said, "Make sure everyone has a good time." All the Division Captains replied, "Thank you, Captain."
After midnight, Julian still had something to do that night. He said, "Brothers, this is enough drinking for now." George said, "Understood, Captain." All the Division Captains returned to their own ships. Julian said, "Pablo, I'm going out for a while." Pablo replied, "Understood, Captain."
Julian prepared to use his Earth-Earth Fruit ability to raid this kingdom like a sneaky thief. Two days earlier, the Mud Dragon Pirates had arrived on this island. Julian had spent two days thoroughly scouting the country. It was the Edia Kingdom, a World Government member nation with a population of more than five hundred thousand. Julian said, "The timing is perfect now."
Under cover of darkness, Julian disembarked alone. He walked onto the dock, activated Earth Elementalization, and burrowed into the soil. He also activated Mud Bounce, swiftly tunneling toward the king's palace. Once Julian burrowed into the castle, one phrase summed it up: it was incredibly rich. The king's palace was also enormous and built with extravagant luxury.
Julian searched room by room and finally found the King's Treasure Room. He emerged from the ground and entered it. Julian smiled. "I finally found you. The Edia Kingdom's treasure room is mine now."
Julian complained, "I had to search every room one by one. That was seriously exhausting." The treasure room before him was truly wealthy, holding roughly 1.6 billion Berries. The gold and Gold Coins alone were worth 100 million Berries. Julian said, "I put in a lot of effort, but these gains make it worthwhile." Julian stored all the Berries and gold in the Mud Space within his body, then began searching for other treasures. He carefully checked whether the treasure room had any hidden chambers. He also saw two sharp katana hanging on the wall and, without another word, packed them away into his body's storage.
The room was huge, over four hundred square meters. Several portraits hung on the walls as well. Julian did not know whether they were famous paintings or not, so he ignored them. The Devil Fruits he wanted most had yet to appear.
Julian thought to himself, This country is also a World Government member nation. It must have Devil Fruits. Every year, they need to pay Heavenly Gold to the Celestial Dragons, and some kingdoms even hand over Devil Fruits to offset part of the Heavenly Gold.
The World Government had more than 170 member nations. Every member kingdom handed over some Devil Fruits, while the World Government itself stored a huge number of Devil Fruits. Those Celestial Dragons fed them to slaves just to test the fruits' abilities, or made those slaves participate in arena tournaments. They truly never did anything decent.
Moreover, this was a relatively large kingdom. Julian estimated that it should have a hidden chamber or something similar where Devil Fruits were stored. As he felt around and searched, he suddenly realized, As an Earth-Earth Fruit user, can't I sense the soil within twenty meters around me? He immediately began sensing abnormalities in the ground and indeed discovered a hidden chamber in a corner.
Julian slapped open the small door in the corner. It was the same color as the wall, and a painting hung over it. If Julian had not sensed the surroundings, it would have been truly difficult to find. Inside were many golden items: more than ten Golden Crowns, a Golden Bell, more than ten golden birds, several pairs of golden bracers, and all sorts of strange jewelry and diamonds. Three boxes sat atop the treasure pile. Julian immediately opened them. As expected, they contained three Devil Fruits. Julian looked at the Devil Fruits before him.
One looked like a banana and had patterns, one looked like an apple and had patterns, and the third looked like a cantaloupe. Julian knew that one of them was the Paramecia Devil Fruit, the Bomb-Bomb Fruit. Julian said, "I'll check the other Devil Fruits after I get back."
Julian packed all the treasures into his body, then activated the Earth-Earth Fruit again, turning into a small lump of mud and burrowing into the ground. Like Earthwalker, he traveled through the soil.
More than ten minutes later, Julian returned to the dock. He walked beside the ship, and before long, two logistics personnel lowered the gangplank. Julian boarded the ship, patted the two men, and had them continue standing guard. He headed to the third floor. It was already past three in the morning, and Beatrice and Alice had long since gone to sleep. Julian took the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia from the safe.
He took out the three Devil Fruits and began comparing them. The first was the Paramecia Devil Fruit, Bomb-Bomb Fruit. He then compared another one and found its entry in the encyclopedia: the Paramecia Devil Fruit, Gale-Gale Fruit. Julian guessed that it was likely the inferior Devil Fruit of Monkey D. Dragon's Logia Hurricane-Fruit. The third was the Ancient Zoan, Lizard Fruit, Deinosuchus Form. Julian laughed loudly. "I've struck it rich!"
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