Kuri

Scattered farmhouses nestled on the other side of the golden wheat fields, while groups of farmers walked along the country lanes, carrying hoes, greeting each other or chatting happily. With the autumn harvest season approaching, this year should be another bountiful one.

This is a village on the border of Kuri and Izumo. Although it is only a small village with a few dozen households, the land is fertile and produces a large amount of grain every year, which is sold to various parts of Wano Country. The surplus grain is brewed into fine wine for the villagers to enjoy in their spare time.

Because Wano Country was closed off from the world, there were very few pirate invasions, and the people in the village had always lived a peaceful and prosperous life.

However, the village has become somewhat unsettled these past few days, with a strange incident occurring: the village doctor, who went outside the village to collect medicinal herbs, found a villager lying unconscious on the ground in the early morning.

With everyone's help, the unconscious villager was carried home. After sleeping for several days, he woke up with a drastically changed personality. He became timid and hid in the house, refusing to come out. When asked what had happened, he couldn't explain it clearly, only knowing that he would die as if he were exposed to sunlight.

This strange incident has occurred three or four times in the past week, with four or five victims, and the circumstances are all the same.

The whole village was talking about it. Some people said that terrible demons and monsters had escaped from the Kamakura Mass Graveyard in Izumo territory, and that it must have been them who were causing this trouble.

From then on, every household kept their doors and windows tightly shut at night, fearing that ghosts or monsters might break in.

Fortunately, it was autumn, and the joy of a bountiful harvest eased some of the anxiety in the village, making it somewhat lively again.

Where are they going?

Buggy, his body wrapped in a straw raincoat from Wano Country and his face hidden by a bamboo hat, walked along the path, watching with some curiosity the groups of villagers heading in one direction, muttering to himself.

"Oh, they went to worship the Ksitigarbha statue in the village."

A man dressed in coarse linen clothes was passing by when he overheard Buggy's words. He stopped and replied, taking a closer look at Buggy's attire. His gaze was then drawn to the burly Weevil behind him. After a few more glances, he said, "These guests seem to be from out of town. You probably don't know, but recently there have been monsters causing trouble here. To ensure everyone's safety, we can only pray to the gods for help... But how much hope there is, no one can say for sure." As he spoke, a bitter smile appeared on his face.

Along the way, Buggy stopped and started, and he also got a feel for the customs of Wano Country. Not only in this village, but almost everywhere there were legends and stories about ghosts, gods and demons. Anything that could not be explained was said to be the work of monsters. So Buggy was not surprised by what the other party said. In addition, probably because of the country's isolation, he also saw various feudal customs along the way.

The man in coarse linen clothes struck up a conversation, and Buggy didn't miss this opportunity to gather information. He asked in the Wano Country dialect, "What exactly is going on with this monster? I'm all ears."

The man didn't hide anything and explained the villagers' illness, adding, "They say it's a demon that came from the Kamakura Mass Graveyard, but I don't know if it's true or not. However, if the number of people gets worse, I'm afraid the village chief will have to ask a sorcerer from Izumo to exorcise it."

"Why not report this to Da Ming?"

"You mean the daimyo of Kuri, Lord Kozuki, right...?"

The man scratched his head. "Kozuki has already worked hard enough with all the busy affairs in Kuri. Over the years, it's all thanks to Lord Kozuki. All we can do is be more understanding of him. Compared to that, we really shouldn't trouble him with such a small matter."

"I see..." Buggy nodded.

wωω ▲ttk an ▲￠ ○

"Ahong!" someone called out from afar. The man waved in response, bid farewell to Buggy, and hurried over.

We have arrived at Kuri.

Standing there watching the man's departing figure, Buggy thought to himself, roughly understanding where he was in Wano Country.

Several days ago, they had already landed on the eastern coast of Wano Country and arrived at a place called Izumo. Since they had never been to Wano Country before, Buggy was not very familiar with the place and did not know the antipathy of the people of Wano Country towards outsiders.

On the first day, after passing through a town, he was reported by the local townspeople, so the town's soldiers took up arms and chased after the wanted man Buggy.

Buggy decided to go all the way and led the pursuing soldiers into a sparsely populated forest, where he killed them. He then stripped off his clothes and raincoat, disguising himself and his group.

Afterwards, they asked the local people for directions as they walked, and finally passed through the Izumo Kingdom and arrived here.

"Although I've always heard about demons, monsters, and ghosts, I've never actually seen one, and I have no idea what the monsters of Wano Country look like..."

Buggy became somewhat interested and decided to rest here for a day. Since they had already arrived in Kuri, there was no rush to meet Kozuki Oden; they might as well see what had happened.

That night, no one was around in the village, and every house was closed, with only faint lights shining through the paper windows.

Buggy and his group stayed overnight in the woods outside the city, sitting around a lit campfire and observing what would happen.

Weevil sat on a felled tree, his hands supporting his chin as he stared blankly at the campfire. Although he had replaced Buggy with his "guiding light," the disappearance of Miss Bakkin still had a significant impact on him, causing him to become somewhat taciturn these days. Even with the lavish meals he was being served, he had still lost a considerable amount of weight.

He suddenly looked at Buggy and asked, "Uncle, will a monster really appear later?"

Buggy didn't feel uncomfortable being called "uncle" by someone who might be older than him; it was a sense of recognition stemming from his own perceived superiority.

He sat quietly and replied, "I don't know."

Perhaps because he wasn't human, Mikuru wasn't very interested in monsters. But like most cats, he was listless during the day and became alert and alert at night, looking around curiously.

"Ah!!"

A scream suddenly came from not far away.

The usually quiet and reserved Weevil was the first to rush out; monsters and such still held a considerable attraction for him.

Buggy followed closely behind.

Before long, a person was seen sitting on the ground in the woods with a look of terror on his face. Five meters in front of the person, there seemed to be a huge black fang hanging there!

Upon closer inspection, it became clear that the bushes were swaying back and forth as if blown by the wind.

Hearing the noise behind him, the man turned around and they looked at each other. Buggy recognized him; it wasn't some monster, but the farmer Ahong whom he had seen during the day.

Ahong's tense expression hadn't subsided; he stretched out his arm, pointing tremblingly at the bushes.

"There... there's a monster there!!"