The path from the coast of Hakumai to the mainland was paved with grey gravel and lined with maple trees that seemed to be perpetually shedding their leaves. It was picturesque. It was serene.
"I hate it," Hidan complained, kicking a stone. "It's too quiet. Where are the screaming peasants? Where are the torture pits? This 'Wano' place is boring."
"Quiet implies stability," Kakuzu countered, walking beside him. "Stability implies commerce. Ren says this country produces Sea Prism Stone. If we control the supply, we control the world market. The Marines will pay trillions."
Ren walked in the middle of the formation, keeping a close eye on their "guide."
Kurozumi Orochi, the man who would have been Shogun, was currently tied up with a rope, being dragged along by Kaido like a misbehaving dog. Orochi was sobbing quietly, clutching a map of the capital to his chest.
"Move faster, worm," Kaido grunted, giving the rope a tug that sent Orochi sprawling into the dirt.
"Y-yes! Yes, mighty Kaido!" Orochi scrambled up, dirt matting his purple hair. "The... the Mogura Port is ahead! It is the only official entrance! The Daimyo of this region, Shimotsuki Yasuie, guards it!"
"Shimotsuki..." Ren muttered. That was a name to respect. The Shimotsuki clan was legendary. Ryuma was a Shimotsuki. Zoro was a descendant of them. They were master swordsmen.
Ren looked at Itachi, who was walking silently on his left. The Uchiha had his hands tucked into his Akatsuki cloak, his red eyes scanning the forest with lazy precision.
"Itachi," Ren said. "What do you see?"
"Ambush," Itachi replied softly. "Twenty men in the trees to the left. Thirty in the bamboo grove to the right. And one... very strong presence standing on the road ahead."
"Samurai," Ren nodded. "They don't use chakra. They use Haki. Don't let them cut you. Their swords can cut through steel."
"Steel is not Genjutsu," Itachi said, closing his eyes.
They rounded the bend and saw him.
Standing in the middle of the road was a short man with a wide, afro-like hairstyle and a smile that didn't reach his eyes. He was surrounded by fifty armored samurai, all with their hands on their katana hilts.
Shimotsuki Yasuie. The Hedgehog Daimyo.
"Halt!" Yasuie shouted, his voice carrying authority. "You are foreigners. Pirates, by the look of you. Wano is a closed country. Leave now, or be cut down."
Kaido stopped. He towered over the samurai, a twenty-foot giant of muscle and violence. He smirked.
"Closed?" Kaido gestured to the broken barrier behind them in the distance. "I opened it."
Yasuie's eyes narrowed. He looked at the rope in Kaido's hand. He saw Orochi.
"Orochi?" Yasuie looked confused. "The servant? Why is he with you?"
"H-Help me, Yasuie-sama!" Orochi shrieked, seeing a chance. "They are monsters! They killed Higurashi! They want to destroy the Shogunate!"
Yasuie drew his sword. It was a swift, fluid motion. "Release him. Even a servant of the castle is under my protection."
The fifty samurai behind him drew their blades in unison. Shing. The sound was crisp, disciplined.
"They have discipline," Kakuzu noted, assessing them. "Their armor looks high quality. Ren, can we loot them?"
"If we win," Ren said, sweating slightly. These aren't random bandits. These are Wano Samurai.
"Deidara," Kaido commanded.
"Yeah?" The bomber perked up.
"Clear the trash. Leave the short one for me."
Deidara grinned. He shoved his hands into his pouches. "Finally! Some action, un!"
He threw his hands forward.
"Ceramic Birds!"
Dozens of small, white clay birds zoomed toward the line of samurai.
"Arrows!" Yasuie commanded.
The samurai didn't panic. Ten archers stepped forward, their arrows glowing with a faint pink aura. Ryuo. Advanced Armament Haki.
They fired.
The arrows didn't just hit the birds; they pierced through them with a shockwave of Haki, detonating them prematurely in mid-air.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Smoke filled the road, but the samurai line remained unbroken.
Deidara's jaw dropped. "They... they shot my art out of the air? With arrows?"
"Haki projects energy," Ren explained quickly. "They can hit things without touching them physically. Deidara, you need to be faster!"
"Faster? Fine!" Deidara reached for a larger chunk of clay.
But the samurai were already moving. They charged through the smoke, shouting a war cry. They were fast—blindingly fast.
A samurai lunged at Hidan.
"Die, invader!"
Hidan laughed, swinging his scythe. "Come get some!"
CLANG.
The samurai parried Hidan's scythe with perfect technique, then spun and slashed Hidan across the chest. Blood sprayed.
"Too shallow!" Hidan cackled, ignoring the wound. He swung the back end of his scythe, catching the samurai in the ribs.
The battle erupted into chaos.
Ren pulled out a kunai, channeling his own Haki. A samurai slashed at him. Ren blocked, the impact rattling his bones.
They're strong. Even the grunts are strong.
"Amaterasu."
The word was whispered, but the effect was immediate.
A wall of black fire erupted between the Beast Pirates and the Samurai. Three samurai were caught in the flames. They screamed, rolling on the ground, but the fire wouldn't go out. It burned their armor, their skin, even the dirt beneath them.
The other samurai recoiled in horror.
"Sorcery!" one shouted.
Itachi stood calmly, blood trickling from his right eye. "Do not approach the flames. They will not extinguish until the target is ash."
Yasuie looked at the black fire, then at Itachi. "You... you are not normal men."
Yasuie channeled Ryuo into his blade. He slashed the air.
Sword Art: Flying Slash!
A wave of compressed air coated in Haki flew toward Itachi, aiming to cut through the black fire.
Itachi didn't move. He didn't dodge.
"Crow Clone."
The slash cut Itachi in half.
But there was no blood. The body exploded into a murder of crows, cawing loudly as they scattered in all directions.
Yasuie's eyes widened. "An illusion?"
"Behind you," a voice whispered.
Yasuie spun around. Kaido was there.
The future Yonko had moved with such speed that for a man of his size, it seemed like teleportation. He raised his Kanabo.
"You have spirit, little hedgehog," Kaido grinned.
Thunder Bagua.
Yasuie blocked. He was a master swordsman. He put his blade up, reinforcing it with every ounce of Ryuo he possessed.
It didn't matter.
CRACK.
The impact created a shockwave that blew the surrounding trees flat. Yasuie was launched like a cannonball. He smashed through a boulder, skipped across the ground, and slammed into a maple tree, snapping it in half.
"Lord Yasuie!" the samurai screamed.
Kaido didn't let up. He swung his club again, clearing ten samurai in a single sweep.
"Weak!" Kaido roared. "Is this the power of the Samurai? Is this the land of warriors?"
Ren watched the massacre. This is the difference, he realized. The Akatsuki are strong, but Kaido... Kaido is a calamity.
The remaining samurai faltered. Their leader was down. Their arrows couldn't stop the black fire. The giant was unstoppable.
"Stop!"
A voice groaned from the rubble.
Shimotsuki Yasuie pulled himself up. His sword was shattered. His arm was broken. Blood poured from his head. But he stood up.
"Do not... underestimate... Wano," Yasuie wheezed.
He reached into his kimono and pulled out a small Transponder Snail.
"You have defeated me," Yasuie said, breathing heavily. "But the message is sent. The Shogun knows. And... he knows."
"He?" Kaido stopped, intrigued.
" The Daimyo of Kuri," Yasuie smiled through his blood. "Kozuki Oden."
Kaido's eyes lit up. A predatory, ecstatic light.
"Oden," Kaido tested the name. "The man who sailed with Whitebeard and Roger. The man who returned."
Kaido threw his head back and laughed.
"WORORORORO! Good! Tell him to come! Tell him I'm waiting in the Flower Capital!"
Kaido turned to Ren.
"Bind the samurai. We aren't killing them."
"We aren't?" Hidan looked disappointed. "Why not?"
"Slaves," Kaido grunted. "We need people to work the weapon factories. These men are strong. They will dig the mines."
Ren looked at the defeated, proud samurai. Enslaving them was crueler than killing them. But this was the Beast Pirates.
"Kakuzu," Ren ordered. "Tie them up. Deidara, make sure the port is secure."
Ren walked over to the fallen Yasuie. The Daimyo glared at him.
"You are a child," Yasuie spat. "Why do you follow a demon?"
Ren looked down at Yasuie. He remembered Yasuie's death in the original timeline—executed by Orochi, laughing to save his people.
"Because," Ren said softly, leaning in so only Yasuie could hear. "The demon is the only thing that can break the world. And I intend to steer him."
Ren straightened up.
"Take him," Ren ordered. "He's our ticket through the checkpoints. We're going to the Capital."
Meanwhile, in the Region of Kuri.
A man sat on a giant boar, eating a massive pot of oden stew while riding through the forest. He had wild, gravity-defying hair and two swords—Enma and Ame no Habakiri—stuck in his sash.
He was a force of nature. A man who charmed women and fought monsters.
Kozuki Oden.
A frantic messenger hawk dropped a scroll onto his lap.
Oden picked it up, chewing on a piece of daikon radish. He unrolled it.
Hakumai has fallen. A dragon has arrived. Foreign invaders. They wield black fire and clay demons. Yasuie is captured.
Oden stopped chewing. He swallowed.
The goofy, carefree expression vanished from his face. The air around him began to vibrate with Conqueror's Haki, scaring the giant boar into submission.
"A dragon?" Oden whispered.
He stood up on the boar's back, looking toward Hakumai.
Oden drew Enma. The blade hummed, drawing Haki from his arm, turning black.
"Scabbards!" Oden shouted, his voice echoing through the Kuri forest. "Gather! We have a demon to hunt!"
[System Notification]
[Major Event Triggered: The Clash of Myths.]
[Kaido vs. Oden countdown: 3 Days.]
[Ren's Objective: Survive the crossfire.]
Ren looked at the notification and gulped. Three days. We have three days to fortify the capital before the strongest samurai in history comes to kill us.
"Hey, Ren!" Deidara called out, holding up a strange, spiraling fruit he found in Yasuie's bag. "Is this a Devil Fruit? It looks like a smiling turd."
Ren looked at it. It was a SMILE fruit prototype. Or maybe...
"Put that down, Deidara," Ren sighed. "We have work to do."