Jack glared at Ryuma with eyes full of hostility and said, word by word, "It's because of you, bastard, that we're all about to lose our lives!"
Quinn added, "You really screwed us over. Just wait—I'll kill you myself and prove my loyalty to Captain Kaido!"
Before they could escalate, king grabbed both of them firmly and said coldly, "Enough of your quarrelling. Even if we kill Ryuma now, Lord Kaido won't spare us. Right now, we need to focus on how to survive."
The group fell silent.
Ryuma considered this for a moment. Maybe this was a good opportunity after all.
If he wanted to take down Kaido, he needed more manpower. And if he could bring these three under his command, imagine the fighting power they would add.
No matter who they were, their strength was undeniable. As for their character—Ryuma believed that could be trained and improved later.
Jack took a deep breath and paced around Ryuma. Though frustrated, he knew there was no use losing his temper now.
"Are you… really Ryuma?" Jack asked in disbelief, eyes wide.
"If not, then what? The real deal, no fakes," Ryuma replied calmly.
Quinn frowned. "But I heard… Ryuma was an ancient Dragon-Slaying Samurai from Wano who died hundreds of years ago. How could you be him? How did you come back to life?"
Ryuma thought for a long moment, then shook his head gently. "That's a long story. If you're interested, I'll tell you someday. But if you want to stay alive now, you have to listen to me."
The three exchanged glances and, after some hesitation, slowly nodded.
king nodded as well. "Alright. We'll trust you this once. Tell us what to do."
"It's simple. If you want to survive, you have to take down Kaido," Ryuma said, calm and steady.
Jack sneered, shaking his head. "Kid, you don't understand how terrifying Kaido really is…"
Quinn looked disappointed. "We need a concrete plan, not just empty slogans!"
Ryuma raised a hand to stop them, his voice cold. "Don't argue. I do have a plan… First, we kill Black Carbon Orochi."
Silence fell around them.
"Of course," Ryuma continued, "Kaido is known as the strongest creature. He's not easy to deal with. Even as a Dragon-Slaying Samurai, my strength isn't fully restored. I doubt I can face him alone. When the time comes, you three will have to help me. As for defeating Black Carbon Orochi, that's my fight alone."
Jack, a rough but thoughtful man, said, "Then why don't we just go straight for Kaido? Why bother with that worthless Black Carbon Orochi?"
Ryuma laughed coldly. "Because we have to eliminate future threats. If we leave that bastard alive, when we fight Kaido, he'll be a ticking time bomb. Who knows if he won't stab us in the back?"
The three considered this and slowly nodded, saying nothing more.
Though Ryuma spoke with righteous conviction, inside he grumbled silently,
How the hell do I know why we have to take down Black Carbon Orochi first? It's all because of that damn system.
He gave a bitter smile and fell silent.
…
At the same time, elsewhere.
In the Flower Capital.
Black Carbon Orochi snorted angrily and overturned a table.
"I'm really pissed off! That bastard actually impersonated Ryuma!"
The officials and samurai around him lowered their heads, unwilling to provoke him in his fury.
Orochi grabbed a ninja captain and shouted, "What the hell are you doing? How come I didn't know that such a powerful warrior appeared in Wano?"
The ninja captain trembled under Orochi's aura and said, "I don't know, General… We never received such intelligence. After the incident, we've been conducting a census, but found nothing."
"Hmph. Keep searching! You must find out! I'm furious! What good are you? You train soldiers for a thousand days but only use them once—are you going to mess things up like this?"
"Yes, sir!"
…
That night.
Black Carbon Orochi sat in his office, staring at the dossier.
He thought to himself, no matter what, he had to find that guy and drag him out. It was infuriating beyond belief!
But Black Carbon Orochi had already gone through the records of every resident in the Flower Capital at least ten times, and yet found no trace, no clue whatsoever.
Of course, Orochi also suspected that this stranger was an outsider—just another pirate sneaking into Wano by ship.
However, the only pirate recently to arrive in Wano was Gecko Moria. After his battle with Kaido, his crew was nearly wiped out, utterly suppressed. Besides, if someone like this had been among Moria's pirates, their crew wouldn't have been so easily crushed!
What on earth was going on?
All these questions swirled relentlessly in his mind.
Just then, there was a knock at the door.
"Who is it? Who?" Orochi growled darkly.
He was in a foul mood and didn't want to be disturbed.
"It's me… General, we caught a little assassin inside the castle!" came the voice from outside.
Hearing this, Orochi knew it must be a ninja captain.
"What a bunch of useless fools. It's just a tiny assassin—kill it outright! Is there really any need to report to me?" he snapped.
"Yes, sir!"
After that, silence fell outside the door.
—
About half an hour later, the ninja captain's voice rang out again.
"It's bad, that assassin has already killed many guards!" the captain reported anxiously.
"You idiots… do you really want to drive me insane? Hmph… how laughable! You want me to handle this myself? It's been so long already, and you can't even deal with a tiny assassin?" Orochi's voice was full of scorn.
Silence returned.
—
"Knock, knock, knock."
"Damn it, will you stop? If you knock again, I'll cut you down myself!" Orochi finally snapped, throwing the dossier he'd been holding across the room.
"Knock, knock, knock."
The knocking continued, now calm and steady—far less urgent than before.
"Looks like this little ninja captain really wants to die, huh?" Orochi muttered.
Then, suddenly, he felt something was very wrong.
No matter how incompetent his men were, they wouldn't behave like this!
"Tsk, tsk, tsk… Sorry to disappoint you. Since you're not inviting me in, I'll just come in myself!"