As Kaido and Yamato left the courtyard one after another, the other high-ranking members of the Beasts Pirates began to disperse as well.
"Second Brother, what is the best way to arrange these artificial devil fruit users?" Jack, who had been silent throughout the demonstration, looked toward King for guidance.
King thought for a moment, his eyes scanning the grotesque new Gifters. "Send them to Queen's Mining Camp for now. There is no rush to have them here at the Headquarters."
"Mm, they're perfect for keeping an eye on those stubborn samurai," Jack agreed.
The Mining Camp in Udon was mostly filled with samurai who refused to yield to the new regime. Many of them were Kozuki Oden's former vassals and loyal followers. Among the prisoners were some exceptionally tough nuts to crack—warriors that ordinary subordinates couldn't handle, often requiring Queen's direct intervention. Now, with these artificial devil fruit users providing extra muscle, managing those rebels would be much more convenient and save Queen a lot of trouble.
On the other side of Onigashima, Yamato, Maria, and Haruko sat together in a private room, discussing the implications of the new trade.
"You saw Joker, right? Did he conduct any experiments with the artificial devil fruits he produced?" Maria asked curiously. The ability users she had seen today were far too different from what she had imagined. It had been quite a shock to see such biological failures.
"No, he's waiting to trade all the artificial devil fruits with us in exchange for weapons. Why would he waste them by doing experiments himself?" Yamato shook her head, leaning back.
"Is that so? The quality of these fruits is truly poor. We must carefully consider the price for future shipments," Maria said. Although these fruits had a small chance of turning someone into a Zoan Type user, they were still far inferior to the real thing. A natural Devil Fruit has a market price of over 100,000,000 Berry, while these artificial ones would be considered expensive even at 1,000,000 Berry each.
"That's a given. No matter how much of an idiot my Idiot Old Man is, he won't let himself be taken advantage of. Second Uncle will handle the negotiations, so let's not worry about it," Yamato shrugged. Maria and Haruko nodded, trusting King's judgment in financial matters.
"By the way, has there been any movement from that group in the Flower Capital lately?" Yamato suddenly remembered. "There's less than three years left until the twenty-year mark, right? Has that Orochi shown any reaction?"
Seventeen years had passed since Kozuki Oden's execution. According to his wife's prophecy, once twenty years had passed, the Nine Red Scabbards would reappear in Wano Country to bring light to the land. This "bringing light" was clearly a code for subjugating Orochi and Kaido, defeating them, and driving the invaders out. Kaido didn't care about the prophecy at all, but Orochi was notoriously paranoid.
"There's a reaction, of course, but it's not as serious as you imagine. After all, the time hasn't come yet," Maria explained. "Moreover, Orochi doesn't know much about the situation outside the Flower Capital. He doesn't even know that two of the Nine Red Scabbards are currently imprisoned in Udon."
"If he knew that some of Oden's vassals were still alive, I wonder what his face would look like," Maria added with a slight smile.
"Two? Isn't there only Denjiro?" Haruko was stunned for a moment.
"Besides Denjiro, there is another one—Kawamatsu. He was caught and thrown in for stealing food over ten years ago," Maria said.
Hearing this, Haruko's head was full of question marks. "Caught for stealing food?!"
"Pfft... Hahaha! He's quite the character! Caught for stealing..." Yamato burst out laughing. "If Oden knew one of his subordinates was locked up in prison for that, I wonder what his expression would be."
The idea was hilarious to all of them. One of the grand Nine Red Scabbards, a legendary vassal under Kozuki Oden, actually getting caught as a common thief sounded like a bad joke.
"Maybe it was because he was starving," Haruko suggested after a moment, offering a reasonable explanation.
"That is indeed a possibility," Maria didn't deny it. After all, if a person is hungry for long enough, they lose all their strength, regardless of how strong they are meant to be.
"I'll go check out the Mining Camp in a couple of days. I rarely visit Second Uncle's place anyway," Yamato decided. She wanted to see the condition of those two Scabbards, especially Denjiro. That man seemed disheartened; she wondered if he would simply give up and let himself die in Udon. If a legendary warrior died of a broken heart in a mine, it would be a strange end indeed.
"Are we going to get rid of them? Those two Red Scabbards?" Maria asked casually.
Yamato thought for a bit. "To be honest, I'm not that interested in them. Let's see what Second Uncle wants to do. I won't interfere."
"Speaking of which, besides those two, the whereabouts of the remaining seven Red Scabbards still haven't been found. Could they really be dead?" Haruko voiced her doubts. Back then, all nine of Oden's vassals had escaped. Although Kaido's forces were sent to hunt them down, not a single one was confirmed killed. Aside from the two in custody, the rest had vanished as if they had disappeared from the face of the earth.
"Who knows? Maybe they escaped. I remember there were two Minks among that group," Maria speculated. The Mink Tribe isn't a race native to Wano Country; they came from overseas. It was very likely they knew how to navigate the seas, so it wouldn't be strange if they led the others out of the country.
"The Mink Tribe... I remember they are a special race. Their homeland, Zou, is a mysterious place. It's said that without the guidance of a Vivre Card, one can never find it," Haruko shared.
"In that case, those people likely hid in Zou," Maria agreed.
"Actually, there's still one person who stayed in Wano Country, right in the Flower Capital," Yamato suddenly mentioned.
Maria and Haruko both looked at Yamato with expressions of surprise and suspicion.
"Really? Young Master, there's another one of the Nine Red Scabbards in the Flower Capital?" Haruko found it hard to believe. The Flower Capital was Orochi's seat of power. If one of the men he feared most was right there, how could he be so oblivious?
"There should be one, hiding right under Orochi's nose. But let's not worry about it. We'll leave it for later so we can watch a good show," Yamato chuckled.
Maria and Haruko immediately understood her intent; she was preparing to be a spectator to the chaos.
"Since you've put it that way, then so be it," Maria said. She didn't really want to bother with Orochi's affairs either. That man currently found pleasure in torturing the people of Wano; he was a total pervert. If he weren't still somewhat useful to Kaido, the Beasts Pirates would have dealt with him long ago.
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