APJ CHAPTER 156 KIN’EMON’S PLAN

In the absence of interference from the daimyos, the ordinary citizens of Wano Country naturally lack the ability to resist. In fact, some of these daimyos were also unclear about the situation, as there appears to be an agreement between the Beasts Pirates and Kurozumi Orochi.

Kurozumi Orochi helped Kaido build Onigashima, and Kaido forcibly established many factories in Udon under Orochi’s name. However, sometimes the actions of the Beasts Pirates were completely opposite to Orochi’s, giving people the feeling that they are dealing with a patient with split personality.

Kojiro’s business went smoothly due to the rare goods from the outside world and his eloquence. This allowed him to quickly repay the Beasts Pirates’ initial loan and acquire even more goods.

Because of the Beasts Pirates, Orochi’s people did not stop Kojiro, but other merchants might not do the same, especially the merchant who bankrupted Kojiro’s family. He didn’t believe Kojiro would let him off the hook if he made a comeback.

So he brought gifts to Kurozumi Orochi, hoping that Orochi could deal with Kojiro. However, to his surprise, Kurozumi Orochi accepted the gift but did not take any action. He took all the gifts but showed no intention of solving the problem.

The first couple of times he asked for an update, he received some replies. But after a few more times, he couldn’t even see Orochi in person. In this situation, he made a new choice, which was to spend money to hire some gangsters to make trouble.

Some time ago, the Beasts Pirates had cleaned up the gangsters on the streets and sent many of them who liked to make trouble to the mines to work. This made the streets peaceful for a long time.

Meanwhile, the rest of those gangsters hid when they saw the situation turning bad. However, after a while, they had no choice but to come out and look for business again. They are called gangsters precisely because they do not have stable jobs or much savings.

In the short term, it was okay, but they couldn’t survive for long if it went on like this. So, for money, a few gangsters accepted the task of destroying Kojiro’s business. They had done this kind of thing before because protection fees from vendors’ stalls were their main source of income.

Although the yakuza boss in the Flower Capital is Hyogoro, also known as “Hyogoro of the Flower,” not all gangsters were under his command. About two hundred people would follow his orders, but they also don’t earn their living by extorting protection money from ordinary peddlers.

Hyogoro himself is very friendly to the people, and he has a good reputation in Wano Country. These low-level gangsters do not have the opportunity to directly join Hyogoro, as the social hierarchy in Wano Country is strict in this regard.

As for the law in Wano Country, these gangsters only engage in minor offenses and are at most detained for three to four days. Upon release, they tend to become even more aggressive. Therefore, most people choose to pay money to avoid trouble. After Orochi took power, such incidents became even more frequent.

The last time the Beasts Pirates cleaned up, it not only replenished the labor force in the mines but also gave the common people of Wano Country a preliminary understanding of the Beasts Pirates. As for those gangsters in the labor camp, they were currently living a fulfilling life in Udon’s mining area.

Recently, the work system there has improved because some pirates who were captured after being defeated outside were sent there.

Those prisoners of war who were defeated and these gangsters are not the same. Those prisoners of war are the lowest level of existence, with no hope of work, while these gangsters at least have a prison term and a meager living allowance stored in their accounts.

If they don’t work, they won’t even have food to eat. Conversely, working hard not only improves their living conditions but also reduces their sentence.

It had been a while since anyone had been sent to the mine, but today there were new arrivals, which were precisely those gangsters who were making trouble.

Kurozumi Orochi not only took money without doing anything but also did not tell the merchant the reason. He did it on purpose, hoping to provoke conflict between the Beasts Pirates and the local residents, which is the only way he can achieve his goals.

Facing this situation, the people of the Beasts Pirates were naturally not polite and sent these people to the mines, but not everyone. One person took advantage of the chaos and escaped, and ran to Kuri.

Hyogoro was not his boss, but he had his own boss. Kin’emon, now a retainer of Kozuki Oden, used to be his boss.

Although Kin’emon was born in Kuri, he was a gangster in the Flower Capital when he was young and was also a famous gangster. Naturally, he had a group of subordinates, but with his joining Kozuki Oden, the contact between these subordinates and him decreased.

After all, he is already a samurai and could not continue to live as before. In the past, if there was nothing wrong, these people would not come looking for him, but this time was different.

Although the Beasts Pirates took those gangsters away in the name of labor reform, and did reformed them through labor, the connection between Udon mining camp and the outside world has been cut off, and the people who were captured lost contact with the outside world.

Rumors are the most terrible things. Some words spread and become distorted. In the rumors, the Udon mining camp has become a very scary place.

This left him at a loss when he saw others being taken away, so he had to turn to Kin’emon for help.

“Boss Kin’emon! Something bad has happened. Azhu and a few others were all taken away by the Beasts Pirates!”

“What did you say?! What the hell happened?!”

“It’s like this, we received some small business like before.”

“Didn’t I tell you not to do that anymore?” He used to be a gangster, so he naturally knew what business they were referring to.

“We can’t do anything else. Boss, listen to me.” He recounted what had happened before and also mentioned the rumors among the people, implying that Kin’emon should find a way to get them out.

In fact, he could ignore the situation, but after all, these people used to be his subordinates. Moreover, he always thought that the Beasts Pirates harbor evil intentions, so he decided to think of a way.

He didn’t tell anyone about this because he thought it was his own business.

After some thought, he had a unique idea. He found a leaf and put it on top of his head. Then, with a puff of smoke, his clothes transformed into the attire of the Beasts Pirates, complete with sunglasses and a fake mustache on his face.

He planned to impersonate a member of the Beasts Pirates and rescue his former subordinates.

Before arriving in Wano Country, the Beasts Pirates already had a unified attire. Besides the officers, the styles of the clothing of regular members has some similarities.

Kin’emon was able to achieve this through his own Devil Fruit ability, the Paramecia-type•Garb-Garb Fruit, which allows him to freely transform his clothes according to his own imagination.

His intentions were noble. With thousands of members of Beasts Pirates in Wano Country, it was impossible for everyone to know each other, which gave him an opportunity to blend in. However, as beautiful as his ideals were, reality was even more cruel.