After Inuarashi and Nekomamushi returned to the Flower Capital, they were reunited with their three old friends, Kawamatsu, Denjiro, and Ashura Doji, and were filled with emotion...
Of the Nine Red Scabbards, aside from Kin'emon, Kikunojo, Raizo Kanjuro, who were sent to "twenty years later" by Oden's Wife Toki, the other five have now been assembled in Wano Country.
At this point, our side also had many more samurai who had been suppressed and imprisoned by Kaido in batches, plus the seemingly very capable Yamato...
For a moment, some of them even had the urge to liberate Wano Country while Kaido was away!
Of course, it's not impossible to succeed by doing this...
If we first raid Udon Prison and rescue Yasu and the other captured masters, then leveling Onigashima without Kaido wouldn't be too difficult.
At its peak, Kaido was not confident of conquering Wano Country -on.
However, this approach is more likely to fail, because the guardian of the Udon is Queen the Plague!
Even if that Brachiosaurus couldn't fight off so many hands with his bare fists, he could still directly administer the plague to the Prisoner.
That guy's plague is like a zombie virus. Once infected, it not only drains the physical strength of the infected and confuses their minds, turning them into Monster who can't distinguish friend from foe, but it's also contagious.
"He who travels a hundred li is only halfway there at ninety," and Sig reassured them, telling them not to take any risks.
In any case, once Kaido and Tesoro establish a connection, every minute and every second will see the "Freedom Alliance" grow stronger, and Kaido will be "bleeded dry." Why rush things and ruin such a promising situation?
Free Alliance, that's the name Sig plans to use for now. After all, Sig doesn't know what the alliance of the Great Kingdom was called back then, or even if such an alliance ever existed!
The biggest drawback of "waiting" is...
The people of Wano Country will have to suffer for several more years!
It won't be any harder than in the original story. After all, Yamato still has some autonomy, which means it can at least give everyone a way to survive. If it weren't for the fact that there are more people to "squeeze," Yamato wouldn't have been able to hand over the 150% share that Kaido demanded.
The Red Scabbards acted impulsively, and Sig calmed them down after a little persuasion. After all, they had originally planned to wait twenty years, but they had only waited ten.
Actually, Sig also had his own ulterior motives...
With Kaido a cover, the World Government won't notice that the "Freedom Alliance" is constantly growing stronger; otherwise, they would definitely consider this damn alliance the biggest threat immediately!
In the original work, the World Government even conducted arms deals with Kaido through Doflamingo, which shows that they did not regard the "Four Emperors" as their number one enemy.
Seeing that only the Red Scabbards, Yamato Hiyori, and Shimotsuki Yasuiie were present, while Whitey Bay, Jack, and Wanda had already been arranged to rest, Sig brought up the matter of the League again.
For both ritual and legal reasons, Sig consistently insisted on "restoring the alliance from eight hundred years ago"—that is, joining the alliance not only represents a stance but also acknowledges that such a thing actually happened back then...
"Sig told me before that I think Wano Country can definitely rejoin the alliance... Hiyori, what do you think?" Yamato asked Hiyori after stating his opinion.
I agree with my husband's opinion.
At this time, Hiyori looked much more mature than a year ago, and was dressed like a general's wife.
She has lost some of her fragility and gained more composure.
When the Red Scabbards acted impulsively before, it was Hiyori who advised them against it—no one hated Kaido more deeply than her, but she was also more sensible.
In the original work, even when Hiyori saw his brother again after twenty years, he still held back and did not show himself, all in order to seek revenge.
Inuarashi and Nekomamushi exchanged a somewhat disapproving glance, but then, in perfect unison, said, "Mr. Sig, we also have something to say."
After Sig looked over, Inuarashi took the initiative to say, "We have carefully considered what Mr. Sig instructed us to do. This old cat and I... will always be retainers of the Kozuki Family. After we return to the Mink Principality this time, we will find a suitable successor, and we will also tell them about the alliance. The fact that the old cat and I represented the Mink Principality in the alliance will not be forgotten."
Inuarashi and Nekomamushi's attitude was not unexpected for Sig.
Their emotions had been constantly surfacing amidst inner conflict, Sig naturally couldn't have been unaware of it.
After all, they had been stranded in Wano Country since childhood, and their lives were exceptionally miserable due to the racial discrimination Wano Country. They were rescued by Kozuki Oden...
They would become the kings of the Mink Principality because when they returned to the Mink Principality with Roger and Oden, there happened to be a change in the country. Roger, Oden, and the cat and dog worked together to resolve the matter. So, as soon as they returned to the Mink Principality, they immediately became the new kings.
However, deep down, they still respected the Kozuki Family more than the Mink Principality.
But as Sig said, they, as the kings of the Mink Principality, couldn't be so selfish...
Although the Mink Principality may have had some kind of relationship with Wano Country eight hundred years ago, but...
Within Wano Country, the country is currently quite unfriendly towards other races, which is exactly what Oden wanted to change.
After all, the country had been closed off from the world for seven hundred years, and Sig suspected that something else might have happened in between...
Before Kaido arrived, Wano Country was a place where nobles and commoners were clearly separated, and all races other than Pure Human were discriminated against—the experiences of Inuarashi, Nekomamushi, and Kawamatsu all prove this point.
That is why Kozuki Oden was so shocked when he learned that Roger's dream was to "hold a grand banquet where everyone could sit together".
Prior to this, although Oden was not like the other Wano Country, he did not have a deep desire to change Wano Country.
Poneglyph speaking, considering that the Kozuki Clan of Wano Country were the engravers of the Poneglyphs, and that Momonosuke would later be able to command Zunesha, Wano Country should have been Great Kingdom with a high status back then.
But why did they show no trace of inheriting the will of the Great Kingdom?
Sig suspected that something must have gone wrong...
At Sig's prompting, Inuarashi and Nekomamushi also thought of the customs of Wano Country, and thus agreed with Sig's statement—it seemed inappropriate to make the Mink Principality a vassal state simply because they were retainers of the Kozuki family.
That's why they made their current decision!
They then consulted with Yamato and Hiyori, saying they would first return to Zou to choose a successor, and then return to become retainers of the Kozuki Clan.
Yamato and Hiyori naturally did not refuse, and the couple, together with Sig as their witness, signed the alliance agreement...
Sig's fictional alliance now includes the Tontatta Kingdom, the Mink Principality, Wano Country... bringing us one step closer to making the fiction real!