Rumi's eyelids trembled slightly, her eyelashes fluttering, looking quite adorable.
Kenji couldn't help but curve his lips. The emotional fluctuations of the beauty before him had already given him the answer implicitly.
However, to his slight surprise, after biting her lip for a moment, Rumi actually responded.
"Amatsuki Toki… is an ancestor of the Amatsuki clan." Rumi said slowly, her beautiful brows gradually furrowing.
"Many years ago… perhaps over eight hundred years ago, this ancestor suddenly disappeared."
"It is said that she once acquired some kind of mysterious Devil Fruit ability, and a prophecy circulated among our clansmen. One day in the future, we would meet this ancestor Amatsuki Toki again."
"But centuries have passed, and there have been no further records of Amatsuki Toki in the clan. Perhaps… she is no longer with us."
"Later, the Amatsuki clan began to decline due to a certain event… now, the only surviving clansman in the entire world might just be me."
As she spoke, a hint of sadness unconsciously appeared on her pretty face.
Perhaps the decline of the Amatsuki clan had long become a fact, or perhaps she had already come to terms with it.
Though sadness was on her face at this moment, it wasn't intense, it was more like a faint melancholy.
Perhaps it was sorrow for the future of the Amatsuki clan, or perhaps it was confusion about her own future destiny.
Watching Rumi's troubled expression, Kenji couldn't help but smile, raising a hand to rub the young girl's soft little head.
"I will be leaving in a few days, and you…"
At this point, Kenji deliberately paused, looking sideways at Rumi, building suspense.
As expected, the young girl was looking up, her bright eyes filled with anticipation. Then, the young girl heard words that almost broke her heart.
"Hmm, you can't leave with me. The rules on the warship cannot be broken…"
Marines going ashore to perform duties, and then visiting pleasure districts and drinking flower wine after completing the mission, could be considered relaxation after a major battle.
However, bringing non-combatant prostitutes onto the warship was somewhat too much of a breach of rules.
As an officer leading such behavior, it would undoubtedly cause great damage to military discipline.
If morale was lost, the team would be difficult to lead, especially with Kenji's preferred 'delegation' management style.
If his subordinates all became undisciplined, how would assigned tasks be completed?
He would probably have to personally go into battle and work himself to death.
Although there was a reason, Kenji did not explain, nor was it appropriate to explain much.
And when he looked at Rumi again, he saw the young girl's eyes quickly dimming. When she met Kenji's gaze again, she still smiled, but it was clearly a forced smile.
Seeing this, Kenji couldn't help but burst into "hahaha" laughter.
His laughter instantly froze the young girl's forced smile, and a hint of indignation appeared in her large eyes, her pretty face turning red with anger.
Even if she was slow, she could now sense that Kenji was deliberately teasing her, and it was the kind of very malicious teasing, the kind that was ruthless after the deed.
But the next moment, Kenji spoke again, and his words made Rumi suddenly feel a sense of "turn of events."
"Although I won't take you with me, you can follow my warship on your own boat." Kenji chuckled.
Then his expression gradually became serious, and he said, "After leaving Wano Country, I hope you can go to Kubo Island… There's a pleasure district there, and you can manage it."
"Kubo Island…"
Rumi, who had just been beaming with joy, heard the name and couldn't help but frown slightly.
Evidently, she had heard of this 'famous' island.
But soon, her gaze shifted, as if she thought of something else, and the smile returned to her face.
"I will manage it well."
She smiled sweetly, her delicate hand quietly reaching into Kenji's clothes to gently massage him.
Kenji gave her a helpless look, then raised his hand and pointed behind him not far away.
"The window isn't closed."
"Hehe, I'm not afraid…"
Rumi's cheeks were flushed, and she softly threw herself onto him, her waist swaying wildly like a willow branch in the wind.
For several days in a row, the Marine squad led by Kuzan still made little progress in investigating Pluton.
And Kenji still remained in the pleasure district, receiving an investigation report every three days.
During this period, aerobic exercise was naturally indispensable.
Since opening her heart and receiving a response, Rumi had become even more enthusiastic and proactive, seemingly wanting to vent years of wandering hardships and bitterness on Kenji.
And Kenji naturally offered much comfort, having heart-to-heart talks with the young girl at zero distance.
In the blink of an eye, another half a month passed.
From the day he landed until now, Kenji had already stayed in Flower Capital for over a month.
After such a long time, Oden was almost fully recovered from his injuries, yet the investigation into the ancient weapon Pluton itself still made little progress.
It must be said that Oden's physical constitution was indeed tough.
One should know that the highest-ranking cadres of the Whitebeard Pirates, after suffering serious injuries, would not fully recover even after a month or so of recuperation.
Yet, look at Oden, he was almost healed after more than a month, and that was even while recuperating in a pleasure district, under circumstances that severely hampered his recovery speed.
Kenji wasn't too surprised by this physical constitution.
After all, although this guy wasn't very smart, in terms of strength, he was on the same level as Kaido, or even slightly higher, because he had wounded Kaido.
However, even though his injuries were about to heal, Oden still had no intention of leaving.
By this point, Kenji had figured it out.
The reason Oden stayed here was not just because he was enjoying himself so much he forgot to return home, but also for a very important reason. He wanted to sail out to sea with Kenji's warship.
"It's not time for you to go to sea yet."
Kenji directly refused, stating that a more suitable ship would come to take him out to sea in the future.
In fact, Kenji's words were not really a prediction, but rather a direct disclosure of future events to Oden.
Actually, Kenji also wanted to know if, when the person involved knew what was going to happen to them in the future, would the future change as a result?
This world is very special. People with special abilities can see the future.
For example, Future Vision, one of the abilities of Observation Haki.
And also, the ability of the Time-Time Fruit, which can even see decades into the future.
But will the future scenes seen in this way truly happen?
Kenji himself didn't think so necessarily.
After all, the scenes predicted by Observation Haki's Future Vision can be changed.
Otherwise, if one could see future scenes but couldn't change their own situation, what good would such an ability be?
Of course, the 'prediction' Kenji was making at this moment was history that he knew.
However, whether Oden believed it was another matter.
Judging from the latter's indifferent expression, he seemed not to believe it much.
"Wano Country has been closed off for many years, and it still hasn't opened its borders." At this point, Oden's expression couldn't help but darken slightly.
"I don't know when the next ship from the outside world will arrive."
"And one of my dreams is to successfully open Wano Country."
It wasn't the first time Kenji had heard Oden speak of this ideal, but he still felt very confused.
"If you want to open the country, just open it. Is there any difficulty in that?" Kenji was very puzzled.