Chapter 1187: Irretrievable Things

Beep~! Beep~!

The sharp, prolonged whistle resounded on the Little Sky Island, and the resting Air Cavalry members quickly assembled upon hearing it, ready with their weapons.

“As you all saw, there are some guys flying chaotically over Wano Kuni. Let them know that the sky is our territory! Move out!”

With personnel and the Thousand-Year Dragons ready to go, even before they could take off, Kaidou dropped in front of them.

“Governor Kaido!”

“Hmm? What’s going on? What are you doing?”

“It’s like this, Governor Kaido. Lord Queen noticed some unusual activity earlier. Those people from 20 years ago have appeared again, and then Hotei from the Shinsengumi just reported….”

“Alright, you don’t need to pursue them.”

“Governor Kaido, do you mean….”

“Just adding some fun to this dull life. Why are you still here? Don’t you understand my words?”

“Yes! Understood!”

The newly assembled Air Cavalry immediately dispersed. Kaidou’s orders were absolute, and since he didn’t want to elaborate, the subordinates had no choice but to obey; they hadn’t reached the level where they could offer opinions.

It was already commendable that Kaidou bothered to explain a sentence.

[20 years ago, a ridiculous prophecy. Let’s see what you guys are capable of. I’m right here in Wano Kuni, not going anywhere.]

Besides the outward explanation, Kaidou had his own thoughts, but these ordinary subordinates didn’t know about them. They only saw Kaidou taking an attacking posture.

“Woahaha, letting you all go would be too dull. Let me give you a farewell gift instead, Hot Breath!”

Although he planned to let those two out, Kaidou didn’t want them to leave just like that, so he personally unleashed the Hot Breath.

The ink-drawn decoys had a fundamental difference from the real bodies; they could deceive those ordinary Shinsengumi members and trouble Hotei, but they couldn’t fool Kaidou.

Standing atop Ghost Island like an artillery, the continuously released Hot Breath brushed past all the decoys created by Kanjuro.

Under the attack of the Hot Breath, a series of explosive detonations occurred in the sky, with Kanjuro’s decoys crumbling instantly. Kaidou’s Haki lock wasn’t to destroy them, but to avoid accidentally hitting the real ones during the intimidation.

In the end, Kaidou purposely missed a bit, allowing them to escape successfully, followed by the absurd events experienced by Yamato and Queen.

Outside Wano Kuni, on the giant falcon drawn by Kanjuro.

They had just “narrowly escaped” from Kaidou’s attack, and for a moment, no one spoke. Kinemon was lost in thought, while Kanjuro was rehearsing his words.

His current performance was very different from before. To hide his true self, he had always drawn with his left hand.

Being naturally right-handed, combined with his deliberately distorted style, resulted in very abstract drawings, which were completely different from now.

Now that he had exposed everything to escape from Wano Kuni smoothly, Kanjuro was pondering how to make Kinemon trust him.

“Kinemon, I….”

“No need to say more. I understand. You did your best, but Lord Momonosuke has already been exposed, and Raizo made great sacrifices. You couldn’t save them all.”

“No, what I meant was…”

“I understand. Now isn’t the time for sadness; we need to quickly find suitable allies so we can rescue them.

But your drawing skills….”

“Actually, I…”

“When did it get so good? With this ability, future operations will surely go more smoothly.”

Kanjuro couldn’t imagine that he had thought of a hundred things to say, yet Kinemon, in his oblivious way, never doubted him, making all his preparations unnecessary.

But that’s also good; it saved him the trouble of explaining everything.

Despite the relief, Kanjuro felt a sense of despair inside. He had fallen too deep into his role and resolved to play the part of the Kozuki retainer to the end.

Rescuing Momonosuke was a must, but the disparity between the two sides was comically large.

He had to contend against Wano Kuni and the Hundred Beasts Pirates while carrying an oblivious companion. Even if Rocks were resurrected, this purgatory-level mission couldn’t be handled, let alone with a likely liability like Kinemon.

Kanjuro reaching this point as a double agent was unprecedented, whether looking forward or back.

If you had to find a causality, it was all Kurozumi Orochi’s fault; he exploited Kanjuro’s personality to make him a spy, only to be killed himself, ultimately leading to this situation.

…

In Kuri, the flames had already been extinguished. The Squirtles responded swiftly, cooperating with the Shinsengumi who had already commenced firefighting efforts, quickly controlling the fire. Despite significant property damage, there were no casualties, although there were numerous burn injuries.

At this moment, the Squirtles were investigating the fire scene, ensuring no lingering sources of fire remained.

The peripheral area is handled by Squirtle, the interior by Wartortle, while the center is being inspected by Blastoise.

“Kame.”

Blastoise raised an arm to block the collapsing beam.

This area was the center of the battle, heavily impacted, and had been burned to ruins, posing a high risk of collapse.

Wartortle or Squirtle’s small physiques could easily be buried here, only Blastoise’s turret-like physique could undertake this task.

Subsequently, Blastoise adjusted the turret at its back and extinguished the flames hidden under the ashes.

After a search, it found a small iron box in the ruins, which survived the fire due to its material. Blastoise dusted it off and left the ruins with the box.

“I mean, granny, there’s no need to be sad. This house was damaged in battle, we’ll give you a new one, and it was an old house to begin with, already scheduled for demolition.

Even without this fire, this street would have been rebuilt by next year at the latest, don’t be sad, your family is unharmed, right?”

Hotei clutched his head, grabbing one Raizo while two others ran off.

He didn’t know why the Air Cavalry didn’t deploy, but aerial matters weren’t his responsibility. The operation couldn’t be considered a complete failure; the intelligence from 20 years ago was sparse, lacking records of flying capabilities.

The issue was the fire set by Kanjuro causing damage, so Hotei was busy with cleanup.

“Sigh, I’ve lived here for 60 years, this place holds most of my life’s memories…”

Seeing the elderly in reminiscence, Hotei’s head seemed larger, signaling his subordinates to handle the situation, wanting to leave. At that moment, Blastoise emerged from the fire scene, carrying that box.

“Kame.”

“Thank you…..”

The elder shakily received the iron box, treating it like a treasure, holding it dearly. No one knew what was inside, nor were many interested, but just as Hotei intended to leave, the elder suddenly called out to him.

“Hotei Head, you can catch him, right, that demon from Hime…”

“Demon from Hime?”

“Yes, you might not know, being so young.

“Once, Hime had a demon that stole people’s hair, suddenly appearing during the day and cutting off people’s hair, even posthumous hair wasn’t spared. That being… was the freak who set the fire before.”

The elder narrated past events in a scary-story tone, from long ago. Kanjuro would use stolen hair to make brushes to sell, getting beaten when attempting to steal Oden’s hair, eventually becoming Oden’s household servant.

This was just one of Kanjuro’s personas. ⅇℓ.

Due to his eccentric behavior and distinctive appearance, many elders still remember him.

“Ah, I will, don’t worry granny, that guy’s an arsonist after all.”

The fire set by Kanjuro indirectly aided their escape but led to a worse consequence.

Kuri used to be Kozuki Oden’s territory. During his governance, he strived to change the impoverished state here, making efforts.

Thus, Kuri’s elders retained more vivid memories of him, and even after so many years, he hasn’t been entirely forgotten.

Yet today, this fire changed everything. They didn’t blame the deceased Oden but bore resentment towards these retainers from the past.

Nothing happened before their appearance, but upon arrival, they lost their home, eroding the remaining prestige further.

And under Hotei’s covert leading, his confidants spread word that this battle arose because Momonosuke’s retainers wanted to incite fighting.

This led to damaged property, or injuries among family, breeding dislike for this guy absent for 20 years.

…

At the Hundred Beasts Pokemon Center, within the pediatrics department, the check-up process concluded and Mandfeish was waiting for the results.

“Lord Mandfeish, there’s nothing to worry about, currently all three children seem very healthy, just wait a bit for the report to be out.”

“Thank you.”

Observing his daughter, led by Miaona and Wolf, becoming restless, Mandfeish sighed helplessly. He felt the check-up was unnecessary, but Queen insisted they must attend.

Thus, before taking the children out for fun, Mandfeish had to make a visit here.

While awaiting the test results, people injured by the fire were sent here as well, making the burn ward busy, and at the same time, Denjiro arrived with Kawamatsu and Kikunojo.

Hiyori instructed him to come here for hand injury treatment, ostensibly showing concern, yet Denjiro detected something amiss. Currently, Hiyori no longer trusts him and the situation may soon change.

Momonosuke wasn’t dead yet, but the future was uncertain. As Denjiro was mired in thoughts, he heard some people cursing aloud.

“Who is this Momonosuke anyway? Why did he come back? It’s because of his father that people got hurt!”