Robin frowned slightly, lost in thought, and after a moment, she said, "I remember Orochimaru said that the poneglyph belongs to him?"
Nekomamushi and Inuarashi exchanged glances, nodding in understanding.
Inuarashi cleared his throat and explained, "In a sense, he's not wrong.
The Kozuki Clan of Wano Country is actually a family of stonemasons who have been involved in the mining and processing of raw stones for generations, and even now, they possess extremely advanced mining techniques.
And 800 years ago, the Kozuki Clan, with their exquisite and peerless techniques, created an immortal book, which is the poneglyph."
"Eh!!!!!" Luffy and his Straw Hat crew were all shocked, their eyes fixed on Orochimaru, who had somehow pulled out a teacup and was leisurely sipping tea.
"Why didn't you say such an important thing sooner! You narrow-minded snake!" everyone roared in unison.
Orochimaru calmly held his teacup, gently sipped his tea, without even lifting an eyelid, and leisurely said,
"Anyway, what you all care more about isn't Raizo."
Hearing Orochimaru's words, the group instantly became awkwardly at a loss, some looking up at the sky, others instinctively scratching their heads, no one making a sound.
Only Robin's face showed an unconcealable shock; her almond eyes widened, and she eagerly pressed, "The Kozuki Clan is the one that created the poneglyphs now scattered all over the world?"
Luffy scratched his head, looking curiously at Kin'emon and the others, and asked, "Then do you know what's written on them?"
Actually, he had just been following the others in acting surprised.
Kanjuro sighed helplessly, his expression a little dejected: "The events recorded on them have not been passed down to later generations, because as long as one understands those stones, one can know their content."
Raizo nodded from the side, adding, "What has been passed down is the method of reading and writing those characters." At this, the faces of several people instantly turned somewhat grim.
Raizo paused, and continued in a low voice, "But unfortunately, now even that method of reading and writing was not passed down to the next generation; it was lost in Lord Oden's generation."
"Lost??" Nami and the others were all surprised, looking at each other.
At this moment, Luffy, with a serious expression, raised his hand high and loudly declared, "I know this answer!"
Everyone could hardly believe their ears and eyes, all casting incredulous glances at Luffy—Luffy actually knew something?
Luffy nodded vigorously, his expression extremely solemn: "I know! Kozuki Oden was'snuffed out' by Kaido! Orochimaru said it before."
Kin'emon and the others, who had been immersed in a mood of loss, were suddenly struck by Luffy's words, and for a moment, they were collectively speechless.
They opened their mouths, but couldn't say anything.
Thinking about it carefully, what Luffy said was indeed a fact; Kozuki Oden was indeed killed by Kaido, but hearing it from his mouth in such a direct and peculiar way made them feel uncomfortable all over.
Their hearts felt strange and twisted, and the originally heavy and sad atmosphere suddenly became a bit subtle.
Is this not a bit disrespectful to Lord Oden... But how could they say these things to a child who had never met his parents, after all, as parents, Lord Oden and Lady Toki indeed'snuffed out' without fulfilling their duties... Lord Oden didn't even know this child, and Lady Toki knew, but still chose to'snuff out'.
Although... still, we must thank Lord Orochimaru for his existence.
Usopp looked bewildered, as if countless question marks were popping up above his head, "The reason...?" he couldn't help but ask.
As soon as Kin'emon thought of Oden, tears couldn't stop gushing from his eyes, and he cried profusely, "Because Lord Oden followed Roger and reached Raftel, learning the secrets of this world!"
Zoro heard this, fell into thought, and after a moment, slowly said,
"I see, so in order to extract the secrets of the world from you subordinates, Doflamingo and Caesar, who colluded with Kaido, tried to capture you, right...?"
At this point, Zoro suddenly frowned, looking puzzled, and looked at Orochimaru in confusion, "But it doesn't seem quite right..."
Orochimaru didn't care, crunching on senbei in his mouth, calculating how he could leave Zou without anyone noticing.
He muttered to himself, 'Really, are Big Mom's people reliable or not?'
Noticing that everyone's attention was focused on him, Orochimaru unhurriedly took another sip of tea, acting as if it had nothing to do with him.
"Oden died because he was stupid; you can tell by looking at these guys.
After all, if you were smart, who would choose Oden as a master?
Kaido killed him purely because he found him an eyesore, and Doffy helped simply because Kaido paid him.
Oh, by the way, the money was collected by me."
Orochimaru expressionlessly put away his senbei. 'Tsk, always bringing up that great genius, how annoying... It ruined his mood for eating senbei.'
The expressions on the faces of the Straw Hat crew gradually changed from initial astonishment to numbness; they themselves couldn't remember how many times they had been speechless today... Hmm... Indeed... This is very Orochimaru.
Meanwhile, not far away, Inuarashi, Nekomamushi, and Kin'emon, Kanjuro, and Raizo, these samurai of Wano Country, were weakly staring at Orochimaru, their gazes filled with an indescribable resentment—that was their admired Lord Oden.
Although Orochimaru, as an heir, was excellent in every aspect, his style of doing things was truly too unpredictable.
That kind of free-spirited attitude made people want to kill him, but also made them a little reluctant.
At this moment, the scene fell into an eerie silence; everyone's brains were short-circuited by what Orochimaru said, completely at a loss for what to say to break the awkwardness.
Kin'emon's gaze shifted back and forth on Orochimaru, his lips slightly opening and closing, as if he had something to say, but the words caught in his throat and he swallowed them back.
He looked up at Orochimaru again, and finally gave up the idea of speaking.
Alas, it's better not to bring up Lord Oden's matter, lest it cause another troublesome situation.
He could tell that their new master really didn't care for Lord Oden at all! This was all Kaido's doing!
If Lord Oden were still alive! Lord Orochimaru would definitely admire Lord Oden... If Orochimaru knew Kin'emon's thoughts, he would definitely tell him, 'You're dreaming.'
However, the person was already dead, and no matter how much the living beautified him, it couldn't change the fact that Lord Oden was an irresponsible father.
After a moment of silence, Kin'emon cleared his throat, his expression becoming serious, and he said in a deep voice,
"All in all, we now have only one goal! And that is to open Wano Country's borders."
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