Chapter 1189: Public Outrage and Deadly Struggle

“Zunisha? Why so fast this time?”

Duke Hichugiskhan frowned. After the King of Zou started moving freely, it had a general route. It should still be quite a distance from Wano Kuni.

“Senior Hichugiskhan, tomorrow is a rest day. The King of Zou was already close to Wano Kuni, so it should be that the Duke received news and immediately let Zunisha head back directly.

You know the speed of Zunisha. When it rushes with all its might, it’s not slow at all.”

Pedro didn’t feel anything was wrong. The King of Zou’s usual strolling speed was already faster than most ships.

Though its stepping frequency wasn’t high, its long legs couldn’t be stopped.

Its height of over twenty thousand meters meant its legs accounted for more than two-thirds of its height, and each step crossed a vast distance. When making intentional haste, it moved even faster.

“Pedro, you’re still young and don’t understand. No matter how fast Zunisha moves, can it fly faster than those two?”

“Senior Hichugiskhan, you mean….”

“You’ll know soon enough.”

Having lived so long and been a duke for so long, Hichugiskhan saw much further than Pedro. If it was just urgency, having Zeraora carry Setsuna back would be the quickest.

But they didn’t, instead returning together with Zunisha.

Due to Fluffy Kingdom’s autonomy, even if someone in Wano Kuni violated some rules, it’s all brought back to Zou for handling. Their choice to return with Zunisha clearly stated a procedure-following intent.

Hichugiskhan didn’t feel anything wrong with this. He had no children, so to him, Zou’s young ones were all his children. If an outsider harmed a resident of Zou, he would be angry and want the other party to pay the price.

Setsuna naturally protected her own, and since those two harmed her own child, it was peculiar that Setsuna hadn’t directly confronted them.

“Senior Hichugiskhan! Zunisha has returned, and there’s this; they told me over there to give this to you.”

Before Hichugiskhan could make further actions, Bepo rolled in from outside with a booklet in hand.

Literally rolled in.

Bepo was impatient along the way and accidentally tripped on the threshold when opening the door, finally bouncing like a fur ball before Hichugiskhan. Yet, Bepo seemed to have developed some strange ability.

While rolling, he didn’t exclaim but clearly expressed his meaning and brought the dossier concerning the Momonosuke incident before Hichugiskhan.

“Be careful next time…”

“I’m sorry…”

“What are you apologizing for!”

Hichugiskhan didn’t quite understand why Bepo, as a fur-covered bear, liked to apologize so much, but he’d gotten used to it and took the dossier to read the details.

The parts concerning Inuarashi and Nekomamushi were compiled, though specific details weren’t written, nodal events were explained.

“To become part of Oden’s retainers… and disappear with Kozuki Momonosuke for 20 years… to have conflict arising from battling Miaona and Wolf…

So your motive for this is simply because this human kid is Kozuki Oden’s son?”

“Meow… is there a problem, Duke Hichugiskhan? Fluffy Kingdom is an ally of Wano Kuni; we had a brotherly pact with the Kozuki Family hundreds of years ago.

The Hundred Beasts took away the Kozuki Family’s rule over Wano Kuni; shouldn’t we help them take it back?”

“Nekomamushi, you got something wrong. We are allies, not a dependent state.”

It’s not that allies can randomly abandon each other, but no ally has been heard of throwing themselves into danger for another. Inter-country relations are tangled with interests, and when the pact cannot bring benefits and instead harms its own interests, the pact naturally no longer exists.

Not even a vassal state fights for the parent state when something goes wrong.

Becoming a parent state is because the country’s strength is greater. Enemies that even strong countries can’t beat, smaller dependent states wouldn’t stand a chance.

If the Hundred Beasts’ aim includes terror governance and extends to Zou, the Fur Race would surely fight to the death; most people understand the concept of “lips gone, teeth cold.”

But the reality they’ve experienced told Hichugiskhan that the Hundred Beasts’ rule over Wano Kuni benefited Zou even more.

In the past 20 years, Zou’s development pace was second only to Wano Kuni. Moreover, Wano Kuni still has Kozuki Hiyori as the legitimate general; Hichugiskhan doesn’t see any issue.

Hichugiskhan viewed this as the King of Zou, while Inuarashi and Nekomamushi viewed it as Oden’s retainers. What they saw was wholly different.

He wasn’t the one from eight hundred years ago with a brotherly pact with the Kozuki Family. He only saw, within his cognition, the path most beneficial to Zou.

Zou was becoming stronger, the monotonous life of the Fur Race improved, and even if the Fur Race encountered problems in other seas, Zou was now capable of aiding them.

Kozuki Momonosuke was Oden’s offspring, but so was Hiyori.

Though Kozuki Hiyori, as general, held no real power, Hichugiskhan could see that Wano Kuni’s common folk loved this way of life.

Initially, Kurozumi Orochi bore the biggest burden, giving the Hundred Beasts an external excuse of “cleaning the court.”

Expecting Zou to acknowledge this heir who vanished 20 years ago and then give up everything now to help Momonosuke reclaim Wano Kuni is utterly impossible.