The Oniki Clan

After lingering together for a long while, Yang Yunzhi finally let go.

But he still held Robin by the shoulders. "Let me ask you something serious."

"Mm?"

"You worked on Ghost Mulberry Island for over a year before. You should know the Oniki Clan well, right?"

Robin nodded and smoothed her slightly tousled curls. "You want to win them over?"

"No." Yang Yunzhi shook his head. "I want to wipe them out."

Robin was somewhat surprised. "Those five hooligans under Ajilu weren't very strong, so you chose to subdue them. The Oniki Clan is stronger, so why choose to eliminate them?"

"Our organization aims to overthrow the World Government." Yang Yunzhi explained earnestly. "So we need to unite the vast majority of forces—but that doesn't mean uniting every kind of force. There must be a bottom line."

He rose and paced around the room, his tone gradually turning solemn:

"For example, pirates. We should unite pirate crews that don't slaughter innocents and are more like adventurers, not pirate crews that burn, kill, plunder, and commit every evil imaginable."

"For example, the mafia. We should unite mafias like Gelaigao Celo's, ones with warmth and principles, not ones like the Oniki Clan that suppress the people with bloodshed and violence."

"The same goes for other organizations. We should take in the good ones and strike down the bad ones!"

Robin fell into thought. "But as far as I know, the Oniki Clan's suppression of the people happened eighty years ago. That was when Oniki Isshin's father first arrived on Ghost Mulberry Island. The current Oniki Clan isn't as brutal as it was decades ago. They now have standards for collecting protection fees, and they maintain order in their territory as well..."

"So what?" Yang Yunzhi asked. "If they admit their mistakes now, does that wipe away all the evil they committed in the past?"

"Besides—" He turned to Robin. "They haven't admitted their mistakes!"

"And whatever mercy they show is merely 'managing' their own territory, like managing a plantation!"

Robin fell silent.

She vaguely sensed that Yang Yunzhi's reason for exterminating the Oniki Clan was more than simply having principles.

But as a sensible woman, she knew that some questions could be asked, while others would be understood when the time came.

"I need information on the Oniki Clan!"

"The more detailed, the better."

Robin nodded and took a notebook from her small bag—the information was all in her head, so she needed to write it down as she spoke.

"The Oniki Clan came from Wano Country to Ghost Mulberry Island eighty years ago. Sixty years ago, leadership passed to the current clan head, Oniki Isshin." She opened her notebook and wrote as she spoke. "The family has two inherited treasures: one is the Origin Heart Sword, one of the Fifty Skillful Grade Blades, and the other is the matching sword style, the Isshin Style."

Yang Yunzhi's eyes lit up. "Isshin Style?"

"Yes. It was said to have been created by some great swordsman from Wano Country. Its defining feature is the 'unity of heart, skill, and body.' Oniki Isshin's strength is probably somewhere between that of a Marine colonel and a rear admiral."

Yang Yunzhi thought of the Isshin Dojo in East Blue. It seemed to teach the Isshin Style too.

Robin continued:

"He has two sons and a daughter under him. His eldest son, Oniki Ichiro, is thirty-eight and specializes in staffs, with strength around the level of a lieutenant colonel. His second son, Kijiro Oniki, is thirty-five and skilled with blades, also around lieutenant colonel level. His third child and only daughter, Nobuko, is twenty-seven and the weakest, roughly at major level."

"In addition, the Oniki Clan has two 'generals'—"

Yang Yunzhi raised a brow. "Generals?"

Robin explained, "Not the kind of generals the Marines have. It's a position in a mafia organization, usually held by someone exceptionally good at fighting."

"Got it." Yang Yunzhi nodded. They were basically top enforcers.

"One of these two generals is called Shinbei. He wears red armor and carries a two-handed greatsword. He can take a hit and dish one out. The other is Naiyuan, who uses a long sword and is a master swordsman. Both are at rear admiral level."

Robin paused, then added, "Also, there's someone in a black robe who has followed Oniki Isshin for years. This person never speaks or takes part in family affairs, yet remains at the clan head's side at all times... They're surely no ordinary person."

"Could be a guard, or perhaps a trump card." Yang Yunzhi noted down the information.

"Besides that, parallel to the two generals are the Eight Great Pillars and the Sixteen Lesser Pillars." Robin continued writing. "Each Lesser Pillar commands anywhere from three to five people to more than a dozen, handling the management of specific territories and the collection of protection fees."

Yang Yunzhi automatically translated these terms into concepts he could understand—the Great Pillars were hall masters, while the Lesser Pillars were the core lackeys under them, something like Chen Haonan.

"Here, this is the summary chart I made!" Robin handed him the notebook.

"Why not use DD?" Yang Yunzhi asked.

"I'm just used to writing by hand!" Robin brushed a lock of hair behind her ear. She certainly wasn't going to say that her posture while sitting sideways and writing was beautiful!

Unfortunately, Yang Yunzhi did not notice that at all. He merely lowered his head to look at the summary chart.

Oniki Clan Combat Strength Assessment (Estimated)

- Rear admiral level: 3 people (Oniki Isshin, Shinbei, Naiyuan)

- Colonel level: 8 people (the Eight Great Pillars)

- Lieutenant colonel level: 18 people (the Sixteen Lesser Pillars + Oniki Ichiro, Kijiro Oniki)

- Major level and below: approximately 200 people (ordinary members, thugs, clerical personnel)

After seeing the numbers, Yang Yunzhi was somewhat stunned. "Seriously? With this kind of strength... they're elite! Even an ordinary Marine branch probably couldn't afford to provoke them, right?"

He suddenly understood something. "No wonder the Marines don't dare purge the mafia... Is it because they can't beat them?"

"Not every mafia is this strong." Robin explained. "The Oniki Clan has a swordsmanship inheritance, and they seem to operate like a dojo, with a habit of training disciples. That's how they accumulated so many strong fighters. An ordinary mafia family would be doing well to have one or two people at officer level."

"Then if this Oniki Clan is so strong," Yang Yunzhi asked, "why haven't they expanded outward? Why do they only occupy Ghost Mulberry Island?"

"Ghost Mulberry Island has a diameter of twenty-eight kilometers and a permanent population of eighty thousand. It already counts as a large island." Robin said, "And mafias are tied together by bloodline, so they have high demands regarding the number and quality of core members. The Oniki Clan hasn't been around for long, and it has only a few core members with the surname 'Oniki.' Naturally, the number of islands they can effectively control is limited."

She paused. "Those mafia families in West Blue that control more than a dozen, or even dozens, of islands are all massive powers that have developed over centuries. Through marriage alliances, adoption, alliances, and other methods, they've built enormous peripheral networks."

Yang Yunzhi nodded. "I see."

He walked to the window and gazed toward the western sea—that was the direction of Ghost Mulberry Island.

"Then." Robin closed her notebook and walked to his side. "Now that we know the other side is elite, are we still fighting?"

Yang Yunzhi smiled.

There was a confidence in that smile that Robin had never seen before, one that was almost arrogant.

"What elite?"

He spoke as casually as if discussing the day's weather. "Elite are exactly what I beat."

He turned to Robin, his gaze sharp as a blade:

"But before that, we need to gather everyone for a meeting."

"Let's figure out—"

"How to pull this nail completely out of the map of Ghost Mulberry Island."