"Answer... Oh, never mind!"
With Conqueror's Haki wrapped around his hand, Lin Ye gripped the blade that had been swung down at him. Just as he spoke, his Observation Haki detected someone entering its sensing range in the distance.
Snap!
The blade broke. Lin Ye tossed aside the broken sword and turned to leave.
Behind him, the pirate dropped to his knees, clutching his throat with both hands.
A moment later, Lin Ye saw the people his Observation Haki had detected. Unfortunately, they were not pirates.
They wore ragged clothes and had frail bodies—the classic look of Wano Country.
He sized them up, while the terrified people opposite him also watched him warily.
Only after Lin Ye turned and left did they finally breathe a sigh of relief.
"Was he one of them?"
"Probably not. If he were, he definitely wouldn't have let us go."
After Lin Ye left, they spoke in hushed voices, their expressions easing slightly.
Lin Ye paid no attention to the voices behind him. His Observation Haki had already detected a large gathering of people.
Kuri!
When Lin Ye arrived, he immediately knew where he had landed in Wano Country.
Had Moria and Kaido's great battle still broken out in Ringo?
It was very possible.
Lin Ye asked some terrified townsfolk about Wano Country's map, then discovered that to reach Ringo, he would have to cross the entirety of Wano Country.
He was not disappointed. Instead, he thought this was not bad at all.
Crossing all of Wano Country would let him harvest along the way.
After asking for the route, Lin Ye set off directly.
"Hurry and report this! An outside pirate has appeared! The lords of the Flower Capital said that anyone who reports an outside pirate will be rewarded with lots of food."
After Lin Ye left, the people who had seemed so compliant moments ago immediately became excited.
This scene was noticed by Lin Ye, who had kept his Observation Haki active the entire time.
Lin Ye rested a hand on his sword hilt.
Ordinary people rarely dropped traits, so Lin Ye seldom attacked them. There was little to gain.
The chance of a trait dropping was proportional to the target's own strength.
Especially these sallow, emaciated people.
However, Lin Ye did not draw his sword. He merely slowed down.
He was alone. Rather than searching for them himself, it was better to have them come to him.
As for these people—
Once the matter in Wano Country was settled, he could take them away along the way.
Before that, it would be best if they called in more people.
Lin Ye headed toward the Flower Capital on foot.
News of an unfamiliar pirate appearing in Kuri was swiftly delivered by these people to the Wano Country samurai nearby.
In less than half a day, Lin Ye encountered the first group to arrive.
However, these people did not delay Lin Ye's steps.
As he walked, Flying Slashes shot out, cutting all the samurai blocking his path in two.
Lin Ye glanced behind a nearby hill. Someone was hiding there, but Lin Ye did not kill him.
If he killed them all, how would the news spread?
Anticipation flashed through his eyes as he continued onward.
Behind the hill, a samurai pressed his back tightly against the ground. He did not even dare breathe too heavily, his face filled with terror.
Only after a long while, when he heard nothing, did he relax slightly.
After stealing a glance, he did not dare linger in the slightest. He got up and ran.
Flower Capital.
Kurozumi Orochi stood atop a high pavilion, watching the dancing figure in the street below and letting out a smug laugh.
"What a pathetic sight!"
Kurozumi Orochi laughed until tears came out, and the crown on his head trembled as though it might fall off.
"Orochi-sama, a pirate has landed in Kuri. He is a formidable one."
Whoosh!
A figure leaped over and landed beside Kurozumi Orochi, startling him into a shudder.
Kurozumi Orochi flew into a rage, turned around, and kicked the kneeling man.
"Bastard! How dare you scare me?"
"My apologies, Orochi-sama. Kaido's side has just sent word that the moment a pirate is discovered, men are to be dispatched immediately to surround and kill him."
At the mention of Kaido's name, Kurozumi Orochi's body shuddered.
"Then send men."
With a wave of his hand, Kurozumi Orochi turned back to admire the burly man's dance below.
The ninja who had appeared raised his head at those words and looked at Kurozumi Orochi. Then his gaze shifted to the old man with long earlobes standing beside him.
Fukurokuju.
The leader of the Oniwabanshu ninja under Kurozumi Orochi.
After he gave the ninja a slight nod, the kneeling ninja rose, leaped away, and vanished.
Kurozumi Orochi muttered to himself as he watched below, but when Kozuki Oden reached an exciting part of his dance, he immediately clapped in delight.
Kozuki Oden still held considerable prestige in Wano Country. This disgraceful spectacle would surely make many people lose faith in him.
Kurozumi Orochi chuckled smugly, looking exceptionally pleased with himself.
Meanwhile, on the street below.
Kozuki Oden, naked except for a loincloth, sang his own accompaniment as he twisted his body.
Everyone on the streets of the Flower Capital stared in stunned disbelief at the sight.
Kozuki Toki hid in the shadows with her two children, watching Kozuki Oden with worry and sorrow written all over her face.
Yet the two children in her arms watched Kozuki Oden twisting his body and burst into giggles.
Elsewhere.
Lin Ye's plan succeeded without a hitch.
At first, the people who came were not samurai, and there were not many of them.
But in less than half a day, the number of ninjas decreased, and the ones arriving became Wano Country samurai.
The speed of the sword in his hand did not slow in the slightest. No matter who came, no one could halt his steps.
Even those flashy ninjas could not hide from his Observation Haki.
Quite a few miscellaneous ninutsu traits dropped, but none were useful.
The fact that most could only be broken down into a single Blank Trait showed just how lacking those ninjutsu were.
Even if their quality was poor, their numbers were enough to make up for it.
Wano Country was a fairly large island, but it was not large to Lin Ye.
Even after slowing down to let them send people to him, he still reached the Flower Capital within a day.
Lin Ye looked at the Flower Capital before him and narrowed his eyes slightly.
Besides gaining a large number of Blank Traits, he had two other objectives this time.
Two Devil Fruit users.
Kozuki Toki and Kurozumi Orochi.
Both of their Devil Fruit abilities were absurdly powerful.
Kozuki Toki's fruit ability was related to time. Not only could she travel through time herself, she could even send people twenty years into the future.
Such an ability was simply outrageous.
He just did not know whether it could travel backward in time.
But regardless of whether it could, Lin Ye would not let this ability go.
A time ability—no matter which aspect of it he obtained—would be an enormous gain.
Even if it merely accelerated his own time, it would still be immensely useful.
The other was Kurozumi Orochi's Yamata no Orochi Fruit ability.
The rest did not matter much. What mattered most was the ability to revive even after being killed.
It was equivalent to having nine lives.
If he could obtain it, it would greatly improve his strength.
Before you continue