"Speak."
"The Beasts Pirates and Orochi are allies. What you're doing is bound to anger Shogun Orochi. What do you stand to gain from that?"
"It's simple."
Good narrowed his eyes.
"If I told you my ultimate goal was Orochi's head, what would you all think?"
"..."
An eerie silence fell over the room.
Everyone gaped, their shock plain on their faces.
This man!!!
Good's grin stretched from ear to ear.
"Boss Kaido needs weapons, money, and reliable subordinates who can get things done for him. I can provide all of that."
"As for who gets to be shogun..."
"Does it matter?"
Chapter 34: Yamato: I Love Construction Work
Flower Capital, the shogun's castle.
"Guhahahaha!"
"Without Kaido here, this booze just doesn't taste quite as good!"
In the banquet hall, Orochi drank and reveled with his trusted retainers while a host of courtesans attended him. Before long, the alcohol went to his head.
Orochi rose with his bowl of sake, waving drunkenly. "All of you, listen well! Since you're all here, I shall say this once again!"
"We must destroy the Kozuki Samurai with overwhelming force! We must never give them a chance to make a comeback!"
"Guhahahaha! I heard about Kaido's daughter opening a shop. That fellow named Good did a splendid job!"
"All of you should learn from him!"
Orochi was in exceptionally high spirits.
Ever since Kozuki Oden's death, he had had only two wishes left.
One was to wipe out the Kozuki Clan completely, especially Oden's son, Kozuki Momonosuke, and his retainers, the Nine Red Scabbards. The other was to take revenge on the people of Wano Country!
What had pleased him most recently was how Good had rounded up more than two hundred Kozuki Samurai in one fell swoop over a month ago.
That had been exactly to his liking.
His only regret was that he had not witnessed the Kozuki Samurai's gruesome deaths himself!
Orochi's eyes bulged like bronze bells.
"Do you all understand?"
"We understand, Lord Orochi!"
His retainers voiced their agreement, struggling to keep from laughing.
Here he goes again!
At almost every grand banquet, Lord Orochi reiterated how terrifying the Kozuki Clan was, even though the clan had long since been wiped out, leaving only a few rats scurrying from hiding place to hiding place.
What a coward!
Just then, Fukurokuju, captain of the Oniwabanshu, approached Orochi and whispered something to him.
"Guhahahaha! Keep drinking, everyone. I shall be right back!"
After leaving those instructions, Orochi went into the adjoining room with Fukurokuju. His expression immediately darkened.
"Tell me. What's going on?"
"Lord Orochi."
Fukurokuju gave him a detailed account of what had happened in Hakumai.
A town-building project of that scale could not possibly be concealed, and Good had made no attempt to hide it anyway.
"Building a town?!"
Orochi was bewildered and suspicious.
"Where did they get that many workers?"
"According to the Oniwabanshu's investigation, all the workers are prisoners from the Prisoner Quarry. There are around one thousand of them."
"And the money to build it?"
"Lord Orochi, when Kaido's daughter opened her shop, you specifically ordered a gift of ten thousand gold. Including the gifts from the other guests, they likely received around forty thousand gold."
Forty thousand gold was certainly not enough to build a town, but with free labor and a source of primary building materials, it was more than sufficient.
Both stone from the Prisoner Quarry and timber from Kuri's forests could be obtained for free.
Orochi grew restless.
They were spending his money to build a town and make trouble for him?
"What about food? Where are they getting food and water?!"
"Paradise Farm in Kuri!"
Fukurokuju explained calmly.
Paradise Farm in Kuri lay north of Boro Town and supplied the Beasts Pirates exclusively. With the Beasts Pirates away on an expedition, their demand for food had fallen sharply, and the surplus food and water had become supplies for the construction crew in Hakumai.
Orochi flew into a rage.
"What is Holdem doing?!"
"..."
Fukurokuju frowned at the question.
Holdem was responsible for guarding Boro Town and overseeing Paradise Farm, but he was also a member of the Beasts Pirates. Apparently, Good had once beaten him half to death. How would he dare defy Good?
Besides, the Oni Child was there too.
"Lord Orochi, Lord Kaido is currently leading the Beasts Pirates' elite forces on an expedition. All members of the Beasts Pirates remaining in Wano Country must follow Lady Yamato's orders."
"That little girl..."
Orochi's expression grew considerably darker.
He and Kaido had long since agreed not to interfere in each other's territory, yet now Kaido's daughter wanted to build a town in Hakumai.
In truth, he did not care about the state of any region outside the Flower Capital. But the site Kaido's daughter had chosen was very close to the Flower Capital, and it was bound to affect the city.
He had no desire to see the Flower Capital's residents migrate to Hakumai!
There was another point, too.
To exact revenge on Wano Country, he had gone to great lengths to make life worse than death for the people of every region, creating numerous God of Wealth Towns and Leftovers Towns.
But Kaido's daughter's town-building efforts might change that situation. In particular, her solving the problem of polluted water was something he absolutely could not tolerate.
Those lowborn wretches did not deserve clean water and food. They should suffer and die regretting their persecution of the Kurozumi Clan!
The problem was that he could not openly fall out with Kaido's daughter.
After a long period of thought, Orochi temporarily suppressed his anger. "Fukurokuju, I want to see Kaido's daughter and that Good!"
"Yes, Lord Orochi."
Fukurokuju bowed and accepted the order.
The most pressing issue now was to determine Kaido's daughter's true purpose in building a town. If she was merely playing around, that was fine, but if she had some deeper intention...
Hakumai, God of Wealth Town.
After half a month of hard work, the dilapidated town had vanished, replaced by vast quantities of building materials, construction facilities, and workers' sheds.
"Push! Put your backs into it!"
"Hurry up, hurry up!"
"Bring the stone over here!"
Shouting in rhythm, the prisoners strained to push carts of stone to the eastern side, where the new town's largest residence was being built-the place where its administrator would live and work.
They had thought an even worse hell awaited them. Never had they imagined that their hopeless lives would take a turn for the better.
That turning point was freedom!
Although there were only ten slots each month, that was enough to make them risk their lives, like drowning men desperate to grasp a lifeline.
And compared with the quarry, although their workload had not decreased, their lives were much more comfortable. They received two meals a day and even had straw mats to sleep on at night.
Most importantly, there were no cruel jailers torturing them for amusement, nor did they have to fear being killed without warning. Their lives were finally safe.
"Look! Lord Good is here!"
As soon as Good appeared at the construction site, every prisoner straightened his back. Without any prompting, they worked even harder.
"Brothers, put your backs into it!"
"Don't let Lord Good look down on us!"
"Yeah!!!"
The prisoners' spirits soared.
They knew full well that everything they now had had been given to them by that man. Even Boss Hyogoro and Lord Yasuie held him in the highest regard.
Although he was a pirate, he was different from other pirates. He was an "honorable" pirate!
So they had to repay him in kind!
"Wahahaha! I'm here to help!"
Yamato hoisted a stone weighing dozens of tons, more than ten times the size of her body, and ran back and forth with swift strides. She alone could do the work of a hundred prisoners.
Although she was a little tired, the girl's spirits were exceptionally high.
Over the past several days, sweating and working alongside the prisoners had brought her a happiness she had not felt in a long time.
She was helping the people rebuild their homes!
Night fell at the Hot Spring Shop.
The owner's private bath.
Filthy from head to toe, Yamato yanked off her clothes and jumped naked into the hot spring, splashing water all over Good's face.
"Mmmmmm, this feels so good!"
The girl narrowed her eyes in contentment.
After a full day's work, nothing was more relaxing than soaking in a hot spring.
"This girl..."
Good sighed helplessly.
Lately, Yamato had been bathing with him every evening. At first, she had been a little shy, but later she had completely let loose.
She did not treat him as an outsider at all.
"Will this girl ever manage to get married?"
Good looked at the girl's bare body and soon lost interest.
He could practically count every hair she had.
After soaking for a while, Good pulled the limp Yamato in front of him to scrub her body. Since Yamato was a Devil Fruit user, being in the water drained her strength, leaving her dependent on someone else to wash her.
"Zzz... zzz..."
Steady snores soon rang out.
A vein bulged on Good's forehead. His hand involuntarily dug into the girl's buttock, leaving five finger marks.
Before you continue