APJ CHAPTER 160 OROCHI WHO NEVER STOPS COURTING DEATH

“Lord Sacred Beast,  this is today’s news from Wano Country. You should take a look at it.”

“I already told you, just handle it yourself. You don’t have to report everything to me.”

The situation in Wano Country is very complicated, with all sorts of things happening, most of which are trivial matters. If he were to personally handle everything, there would be no time left to do anything else in the day.

So after assigning some matters to others, most of the affairs in Wano Country were handed over to different officers, allowing Kaido to become a figurehead while also lightening his own burden.

Of course, the final result of this was that Acier’s hair has significantly decreased, causing Nightin to prescribe him a medicine for hair loss prevention.

“Lord Sacred Beast, there is a new development. Someone has caused trouble at the mining factory and King is handling it. What do you think should be done in the end?”

There was really nothing worth revealing about Kin’emon. His purpose in going to Udon’s mining camp had already been investigated, but there was no definitive decision on whether to execute him, release him, or throw him into the mining factory to work.

“Teach him a lesson and throw him into the mines. He seems energetic enough to work.”

To Arceus, Kin’emon was just an ordinary insignificant person, but one phone call changed his mind.

Smart Tanishi came out of its shell, and after Shayna answered the phone, a woman’s voice came through. It was someone from the Beasts Pirates who had stayed in the Red-Light District.

“Boss, the latest news is that Kurozumi Orochi is spreading news that Kin’emon, the retainer of Kozuki Oden, provoked the Beasts Pirates. So he is about to be executed by us. This news has almost spread throughout the entire Flower Capital.”

Since Kurozumi Orochi is currently the proxy Shogun of Wano Country, he has more spies in Wano Country and he soon learned about the incident at Udon’s mining camp.

Although his people couldn’t enter the Udon’s mining camp, Kin’emon’s subordinates were still searching for him outside. Orochi has an elite ninja squad called the Orochi Oniwabanshu under his command, who are quite powerful. So, it was easy for them to capture a gangster.

After learning of this, Orochi was very happy, because the Beasts Pirates had finally clashed head-on with Kozuki Oden. This was the thing he wanted to see the most.

If the Beasts Pirates killed Kozuki’s retainer, then the situation would become irreconcilable. So he wanted to further escalate this conflict, with the goal of making both sides fight directly.

He knew that this trick would not work on the Beasts Pirates, who clearly have a rational leadership.

His target was the other retainers of the Kozuki family.

If this news gets out, the Kozuki family members were likely to directly raid the prison and trigger a larger conflict with the Beasts Pirates.

Although the Beasts Pirates had been behaving differently from what he thought, one thing is for sure: they don’t allow anyone to oppose them directly. If it comes to that point, even if it’s for their own reputation, the Beasts Pirates likely won’t tolerate it.

“Kurozumi Orochi.”

“Lord Sacred Beast, let me kill him. He already didn’t deserve to live in this world after deceiving you, let alone now.”

When Shayna later learned the details, she was almost tempted to go straight to the Flower Capital and kill him. Now that Kurozumi Orochi wants to sit back and watch while others fight and reap the rewards afterwards, it’s just courting death in her eyes.

“Don’t be impatient. He still has some value. We need him to carry out a complete overhaul of the ruling class in Wano Country. But this strategy is too naive.”

“The news he spread….”

“The news was spread by Kurozumi Orochi. What does it have to do with us? It’s a good opportunity for the people of Wano Country to understand that even though we were brought in by Kurozumi Orochi, we are our own people and not Orochi’s hired thugs.”

“Shayna, you go in person. You don’t need to do anything else, just make sure the rest of the Kozuki family’s retainers can’t leave Kuri. As long as they don’t cause trouble, we will have the final say on how things end.”

“Understood, what about Kin’emon?”

“Let him live. Queen has been complaining about not having enough farmland, and the Kozuki family has a decent farm in Kuri. Let them use it to redeem him.”

Kuri was once a lawless place, but under Kozuki Oden’s management, it returned to normal. Therefore, the Kozuki family has a deep influence there.

Because his retainers believed that the Beasts Pirates had ulterior motives, they launched a partial people’s resistance against the Beasts Pirates. This led to a shortage of manpower in Kuri’s farm, and they had to recruit from other villages.

The targeted farm is an important industry for Kuri, and many people work there. If they give up this job, their families will suffer the consequences.

Towards ordinary people, Beasts Pirates mostly use a gentle policy. As long as these people realize the benefits brought by the Beasts Pirates, a part of them will naturally change their views over time, and the conflict will then become a family issue instead of an external one.

As more and more people accept the Beasts Pirates, this conflict will gradually disappear.

Afterwards, something similar to a judgment notice was sent to Kin’emon’s home. Meanwhile, as Orochi had anticipated, when the other members of the Kozuki family heard about the news of Kin’emon’s execution, they were all very angry.

“I’ve always said that the Beasts Pirates aren’t good people. Kin’emon…” Kozuki Oden’s remaining retainers were gathered together. They had already received the news, or rather, it was difficult not to receive the news.

After all, one of the people who stayed here was named Kanjuro, whose full name was Kurozumi Kanjuro. He was a spy sent by Kurozumi Orochi to Kozuki Oden’s side, and it was he who brought back the news.

“What should we do? Are we just going to watch them execute Kin’emon?”

“Definitely not! By the way, Ashura Doji, after Oden-sama left, went back to the mountain to manage those bandits. If he can bring them over, we should be able to rescue Kin’emon.”

“I heard that Kaido is very strong. Many people might die…”

“So we should just let Kin’emon die?”

Kanjuro’s mission as a spy was to provoke hostility, so he suggested from the beginning to go and raid the execution ground to rescue Kin’emon, and then everyone could hide back in the mountain and wait for Kozuki Oden to return.

The one who was worried about too many casualties was Kiku, whose real name was Kikunojo, also known as Kikunojo of the Lingering Snow. Despite being a man, Kiku was more feminine than many women. If this were in a different context, it would be considered a combination of cross-dressing and transgenderism, which is politically correct.

Kiku’s inner nature was gentle, almost excessively so, which sometimes causes indecisiveness during battles.

“I didn’t mean that…”

The matter was not yet resolved, and the group had already begun to argue among themselves. However, under Kanjuro’s deliberate lead, they decided to directly go and rescue Kin’emon.

Even without Kanjuro, they would not sit idly by and let Kin’emon die, but Kanjuro made them more impulsive. However, before they could even leave, another person came looking for them. It was not Shayna, but Hakumai’s daimyo-Shimotsuki Yasuie.