July 4, outside Pickings Village, Kuri.
On a crude road swirling with dust, pale, malnourished paupers trudged along with heavy baskets on their backs.
They were residents of Pickings Village, out struggling to make a living again today.
Some baskets held things scavenged from the Beasts Pirates' factory dumps that might fetch a little money. Others held rich people's household rubbish.
But in recent years, things had improved considerably. There were more odd jobs available, and even the household rubbish had gotten better.
"Lord Papiyas" of Amigasa Town was a demon king whose strength rivaled the Wisdom King's, and whose tastes extended to both men and women.
But even the tiniest trickle of the commercial prosperity he brought was enough to keep these scavengers fed.
They feared the rumors even as they thanked the Sixth Demon King for giving them something to eat.
"...Hey-that... that's Lord Papiyas's family crest!"
A strange hum came from farther back along the road. One scavenger turned and saw an unfamiliar iron carriage approaching without any horses pulling it.
But he recognized the emblem on it: three tomoe joined end to end in an inward-facing circle.
He immediately scrambled to the roadside and pressed his head deep against the ground, prostrating himself almost completely.
The other scavengers let out muffled cries of alarm and dropped to their knees along the roadside, one after another.
Farther back along the road-
Wano Country's infrastructure was roughly comparable to Japan's Sengoku period on Blue Star.
Calling it nonexistent would have been unfair. Its main roads were reasonably decent gravel roads.
A network of dirt roads also loosely connected the scattered settlements.
Along one such potholed gravel road, a four-wheeled beast resembling an open-top Humvee bounced wildly up and down.
It was a Titans product: the customizable electric vehicle