Time rewinds to one month ago.
At that time, Oden and his family were still traveling with the Whitebeard Pirates across the Grand Line.
As usual, the 'heroic manly man' knew nothing about what was happening in Wano Country.
Although everyone in the world now knew that Wano Country had been renamed the New Amazon Lily, that the country no longer existed, Oden was simply unaware.
After all, this mentally unstable rightful heir to Wano Country didn't have the habit of reading newspapers.
Whenever the newspaper published news related to Makoto or his men, the Whitebeard Pirates would deliberately hide it.
Therefore, Oden had no idea that his home had been 'stolen'.
And recently, the ship's doctor had examined Toki and found she was pregnant with their second child.
This further captured Oden's attention.
However, not long after, Toki's physical condition deteriorated.
So, Oden decided to send his wife back to Wano Country first, while he continued sailing with the Whitebeard Pirates.
Originally, Oden planned to go back with her, but Toki said, "Sailing the seas is your dream. You can't just give it up like that."
Thus, Toki had Oden stay with the Whitebeard Pirates, while she herself took Momonosuke, not yet three, and the two retainers Inuarashi and Nekomamushi, back to Wano Country.
However, upon returning to Kuri in Wano Country, Oden's territory, the four were stunned.
The streets were completely different from what they had imagined.
There were no kimono-clad citizens, and Kin'emon, Raizo, and the other Kozuki Family's retainers were not there to greet them.
Walking the streets were entirely different-looking fish-men and mermaids.
"Wh-what is going on here?"
Nekomamushi exclaimed incredulously.
And while they were looking around, the fish-men coming and going were also looking at them.
After all, since moving from Fish-Man Island to this country over a year ago, unless they went to the capital, Flower Capital, they would rarely see humans.
"Let's go to the mansion first and find Kin'emon and the others."
Inuarashi suggested, his voice tinged with barely suppressed anxiety.
Toki agreed. So the four quickly headed to Oden Castle, which had been Oden's residence.
Watching this group leave, the fish-men couldn't help but talk among themselves, wondering who these people were.
Finally, the fish-men decided to go to the Flower Capital first and report this matter to Shakky, who was acting as Empress since Tritoma is with Makoto.
Soon, Toki and her group arrived at the former site of Oden's residence.
However, the once somewhat grand residence had long disappeared, replaced by a huge pit.
The pit was several meters deep, its edges jagged, as if torn apart by some immense force.
Toki and her group looked inside—
Then their faces immediately turned pale with fright.
Momonosuke nearly fell in and was grabbed back by Toki.
But that momentary glimpse had left an indelible shadow on the boy, not yet three years old.
At the bottom of the pit were densely packed human trunks.
They had lost their limbs, the wounds at the severed ends long since scabbed over, a gruesome dark red.
Their mouths were wide open, empty inside… their teeth had been broken one by one, leaving only bloody, raw gums.
Their tongues had also been cut out at the root, leaving only occasional strange 'ga ga ga' sounds from deep in their throats.
They couldn't speak, couldn't chew, couldn't shout.
Meanwhile, tears constantly flowed from their eyes, rolling down their dirt-caked cheeks.
Some twitched silently, some writhed painfully with their mutilated upper bodies, others lay completely still, unknown if unconscious or dead.
The air was thick with a strong stench of decay, blood, and another indescribable odor.
It was a scene of hell on earth.
"Kin'emon! Kawamatsu!"
Nekomamushi and Inuarashi's faces changed drastically, their cries tearing from their throats.
They saw familiar faces in there… the other members of the Nine Red Scabbards who had stayed behind in Wano Country.
Kin'emon lay on the top layer of the pile of people. His limbs were cleanly severed at the shoulders and thighs, the stumps wrapped in blackened bandages.
His face was covered in tear stains and blood. His mouth opened and closed, like a fish thrown onto the shore.
His eyes were half-open, his pupils unfocused. But the moment he heard the words 'Kin'emon', his body trembled violently.
He recognized that voice.
"Ah... ahhh... ahhhh..."
Kin'emon struggled to twist his body, trying to crawl towards the sound.
But his limbless body could only roll helplessly in the pile of people, each movement pressing against the wounds on his stumps, causing him to make even more pitiful 'ga ga' sounds.
Kawamatsu lay beside him, his condition no better.
His long hair was matted with blood and grime. The bones of his face were slightly sunken where his teeth had been broken.
His lips trembled constantly, tears and snot smeared across his face.
And Raizo, Ashura Doji... familiar faces, all now in this state.
"We're coming to save you!"
Inuarashi and Nekomamushi, their eyes red, prepared to jump into the pit to rescue them.
But just then, Toki heard a sound like surging water coming from a pipe beside the pit.
It was a dull, 'gurgling' sound from deep underground, like the belly of a giant beast, growing closer and louder.
The moment Inuarashi and Nekomamushi landed—
The pipe opening violently spewed a torrent of brownish-black, viscous matter.
It was feces.
A massive accumulation of unknown duration, mixed with urine and sewage, reeking of a stench so pungent it stung the eyes.
Like a breached flood, it poured from the pipe, raining down on the people at the bottom of the pit.
"That is..."
Toki's beautiful face turned as pale as paper.
She watched as the viscous liquid, carrying solid residue, covered those already disfigured bodies, flowed into their wide-open mouths, poured down their throats that couldn't close.
"Ugh—"
Toki couldn't hold it back. She doubled over and vomited violently.
Momonosuke in her arms burst into terrified wails, but soon the wails turned into dry heaves, choked by the stench.
Inuarashi and Nekomamushi, who had just landed, were also caught off guard, splattered with the viscous matter surging from the pipe.
Black liquid dripped from their faces, reeking of a suffocating odor.
The two Mink tribe members stared wide-eyed and shouted the word in unison:
"Shit?!"
Kin'emon, Kawamatsu, and the others, whose bodies had been reduced to just upper halves, tried hard to close their mouths, but the instinct to survive and the constant gnawing hunger forced them to open them.
They were too hungry.
Hungry to the point where they couldn't care what went into their mouths.
One mouthful, two mouthfuls, three mouthfuls...
They were swallowing.
Swallowing the brownish-black, viscous matter erupting from the pipe.
Kin'emon's tears flowed even harder, but his throat kept bobbing up and down.
Kawamatsu's lips trembled, but his mouth didn't close.
Raizo closed his eyes, letting the stuff pour down his throat.
Toki was too frightened to look.
She collapsed to the ground, using her hands to cover Momonosuke's eyes, but she couldn't close her own.
Tears fell from the corners of her eyes, mixing with her vomit.
"How could... how could this be..."
Her voice trembled, fragmented, as if asking the god, or asking herself.
Only then did she notice a signboard nearby.
The signboard was made of wooden boards, with the characters written in blood—
[Rebirth Pool]
Kozuki Toki stared at those characters, her pupils shaking violently.
'Rebirth.'
'What kind of rebirth was this?'
'Was it rebirth through shit and piss?'
She dared not think further.
The incredibly impactful scene still swirled in her mind, unable to be dispelled.
Those limbless bodies, those broken teeth, those severed tongues, those throats forced to swallow filth...
"Who? Who did this?"
Toki muttered to herself, her voice choked with sobs.
She couldn't imagine what kind of person could do something so cruel.
"Are you Kozuki Toki?"
Just then, a call came.
Toki whipped her head around.
There stood a stunningly beautiful woman, a cigarette dangling from her lips, leading a group of female pirates in animal hide battle gear, striding towards her on long legs.
"Wh-who are you?"
Toki instinctively shielded her son behind her, asking, her heart still pounding from shock.
Shakky didn't answer Toki's question.
She just smoked her cigarette, looking down at this woman collapsed on the ground.
A few seconds later, she ordered the Kuja female pirates behind her:
"Arrest her!"