"Sh-Shogun Orochi!"
Fukurokuju's eyes filled with complete disbelief, but he quickly regained his composure and unhesitatingly dropped heavily to his knees in submission.
"My lord, this humble one, Fukurokuju, wishes to lead the Oniwabanshu and our five thousand subordinate ninjas to swear absolute loyalty to Shogun Yamato!"
With their leader setting the example of surrender, the remaining samurai and servants scattered throughout the main hall immediately followed suit, all prostrating themselves on the ground and competing to shout their declarations:
"We pledge our unwavering loyalty to Shogun Yamato!"
"We swear to follow Shogun Yamato to the death!"
Kai paced slowly through the hall, finally stopping directly in front of the prostrated Fukurokuju. His eyes looked down with calculating intensity, his gaze filled with dangerous playfulness.
"So then, as Shogun Yamato's supposedly loyal subordinate, do you have any crucial intelligence about Kurozumi Orochi that you need to report to me?"
He knows about the Orochi Shogun's Devil Fruit ability?
No, that's impossible. That's a secret even Kaido doesn't know!
Fukurokuju's body stiffened with tension, unable to determine Kai's true intentions, so he could only probe cautiously: "My lord, I know the precise location of Shogun Orochi's treasure vault and am willing to surrender it to you immediately."
"How unfortunate. Wrong answer, Fukurokuju."
Kai gazed down with condescending authority, his tone suddenly turning ice cold: "You truly are loyal and devoted, not wasting even an ounce of Kurozumi Orochi's misplaced trust in you."
"My lord, I don't understand?" Fukurokuju raised his head with an expression of perfect innocence and bewilderment.
Kai simply shook his head with cold dismissal, far too impatient to interrogate Fukurokuju any further.
Until Kurozumi Orochi was genuinely and permanently dead, he would never receive Fukurokuju's authentic loyalty.
In the original timeline, Fukurokuju had been a ninja of the Kozuki clan who later betrayed them to serve Kurozumi Orochi. After Kurozumi Orochi was beheaded by Kaido, he turned to serve Kaido instead.
Though he appeared to be a servant of three masters, he actually adhered to one unwavering principle: the Oniwabanshu must serve whoever currently holds the title of Shogun.
For this principle, he had even dared to play dangerous games with Kaido himself.
Kai no longer paid attention to the prostrated crowd, silently turning around as his gaze locked onto the "corpse" lying motionless in the wall crater.
He opened his dragon jaws wide, and the surging energy within his body transformed into flames that gathered with increasing intensity.
"Great Flame Commandment!"
BOOM!
A giant flaming character shaped like "大," resembling a brand forged in hell itself, crashed toward Kurozumi Orochi's apparently lifeless corpse.
Just as the flames were about to consume the body completely, a miraculous scene unfolded.
"AHHHHHHH! I'm burning to death! Mercy! Have mercy!"
The supposedly dead Kurozumi Orochi suddenly sprang to life like a shrimp doused with boiling oil, frantically leaping up from the crater's bottom.
He rolled desperately within the blazing flames, wailing with a voice so shrill it became distorted beyond recognition: "Spare me! I don't want the Shogun position anymore! I'll give it all to you! Everything! Just stop the burning!"
At this moment of life and death, Kurozumi Orochi could no longer maintain his deception and directly activated his Devil Fruit ability.
His short, rotund body rapidly inflated and twisted like a balloon, scales erupting wildly across his skin. Within seconds, a monstrous creature with an eerie grass-green body and seven serpentine dragon heads materialized.
However, his transformation brought no relief.
"Why... why won't it extinguish?" One of the snake heads released a desperate scream of agony.
Kurozumi Orochi discovered with mounting horror that the flames Kai had unleashed clung to his massive Yamata-no-Orochi body like parasitic maggots. No matter how violently he rolled around, the flames simply refused to be extinguished.
"ROAAAAAR!"
"Hot! So unbearably hot!"
"Save me! Someone please save me!"
The seven snake heads produced successive, incoherent, miserable wails that echoed throughout the hall.
Oh? The burn effect successfully triggered?
Kai stroked his chin with mild interest, though he quickly lost enthusiasm for the spectacle.
Simply put, Kurozumi Orochi's pathetic appearance was too pitiful to witness.
The kind-hearted Lord Kai couldn't bear to watch such suffering continue.
So he decided to end it mercifully.
"Air Slash."
Kai casually waved his dragon claw, and several invisible yet incomparably sharp air blades sliced precisely through the Yamata-no-Orochi's thrashing heads.
THUD! THUD! THUD!
The Yamata-no-Orochi's wildly convulsing body suddenly stopped moving, and seven massive snake heads rolled across the ground in perfect unison.
"One, two, three... seven."
Kai leisurely counted his handiwork, using his dragon claw's fingertip to point at each motionless snake head scattered across the floor as if tallying spoils of war.
After confirming the count of seven, he nodded with complete satisfaction: "Adding the one killed by Extreme Speed, that makes eight lives total. Perfect. Exactly right."
Kurozumi Orochi was dead, perished without causing even the slightest ripple of consequence.
"Truly hopeless in your overwhelming stupidity, actually manifesting all seven heads simultaneously to ensure your death. However, this might represent the first and last good deed you've accomplished in your miserable lifetime, saving me from wasting precious time guarding a corpse."
Kai sneered with contempt, turning to address the stunned Fukurokuju: "The old king is dead. Time to welcome the new ruler's ascension."
Fukurokuju snapped out of his shock at this dramatic turn of events and immediately prostrated himself again: "I await your orders, my lord!"
"Excellent. This time your tone carries much more sincerity."
Kai nodded with approval, then took a deep breath that caused his chest to rise noticeably: "Icy Wind!"
A bitter cold wind rushed from Kai's mouth, sweeping through the entire great hall with arctic intensity.
Wherever the frigid wind passed, flames were instantly extinguished as if they had never existed.
The scorching air was rapidly cooled to comfortable temperatures, even depositing a thin layer of frost across the stone floor.
"My lord's divine might is truly awe-inspiring!"
Fukurokuju buried his head even lower in complete submission and reverence.
Kai remained perfectly calm and composed, as if he had just accomplished something utterly insignificant. He waved his dragon claw with casual authority: "Come now, follow me to the top floor. It's time to help those samurai and ninjas still fighting for Orochi face the new reality."
After all, those warriors were now part of his expanding power base.
The group had just emerged from the main hall's destroyed entrance when a familiar voice called out.
"Lord Kai!" A clear voice filled with pure joy rang across the courtyard.
Komurasaki, who had been patiently waiting in the shadows of a corner outside the hall, quickly stepped forward with obvious relief.
From the moment Kai emerged victorious, Komurasaki understood that Kurozumi Orochi had been defeated, and the oppressive shadow hanging over Wano Country's suffering people was finally about to dissipate.
"Who goes there?" Fukurokuju reacted with impressive speed, instantly embracing his new role and positioning himself protectively in front of Kai.
Even though he understood his strength was vastly inferior to Kai's overwhelming power, this was the fundamental meaning of the Oniwabanshu's existence.
"It's perfectly alright. Komurasaki is my friend," Kai said with a warm smile.
Fukurokuju stepped back half a pace as ordered, though the wariness in his calculating gaze hadn't completely dissipated. He lowered his voice and dutifully reminded: "My lord, this woman is a courtesan who was recently brought into the city by Kyoshiro to perform. And that Kyoshiro serves as one of Kurozumi Orochi's most loyal guards."
The implication was crystal clear: Komurasaki's loyalty couldn't be guaranteed or trusted.
"No matter whatsoever." Kai waved his hand with casual dismissal, turning to address Komurasaki directly: "I'm about to announce Kurozumi Orochi's death to all the people of the Flower Capital. Would you like to accompany me for this historic moment?"
"It would be my greatest honor!" Komurasaki responded with almost no hesitation.
Hidden in the distance, Kyoshiro sighed endlessly upon witnessing this exchange.
After Kai had entered the hall for his confrontation, Kyoshiro had approached the solitary Komurasaki, originally planning to escort her away from danger immediately. But he couldn't understand what kind of enchantment Kai had cast over her. She had stubbornly insisted on waiting outside the hall for the battle between Kai and Kurozumi Orochi to reach its conclusion.