Kozuki Oden was expressionless:
"Edie? You are not from Wano."
"I've heard a little about you. Many of the steel and weapon factories established in this country have your contributions behind them."
"In yesterday's war, the guns used by those pirates were also made by you, weren't they?"
"That's right."
Edie admitted generously, still smiling: "There's no need to harbor such hostility. Weapons themselves are innocent. Soldiers use them to defend their country, pirates use them to invade others. It's unreasonable to blame me for developing weapons."
In his previous life, the father of the atomic bomb, J. Robert Oppenheimer, exclaimed, "I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds," after the first atomic bomb was detonated.
Edie would not fall into a moral dilemma.
"What are you here for?"
Kozuki Oden's tone was calm; in one night, he had already accepted his failure.
"You have failed, Kozuki Oden. Do you regret it now?"
"If, five years ago, I hadn't believed Orochi's lies..."
"If, when I returned to the country, I had accepted Roger and their help..."
Lies are not sharp blades; truth is a keen knife.
Upon hearing Edie's words, Kozuki Oden's veins bulged on his forehead, and he clenched his fists tightly.
Edie did not continue to provoke him, but instead said:
"Yesterday, your wife asked me if she could see you before you die."
"Toki?!" Oden's expression changed, "What did you do to Toki?"
"As a Death Penalty inmate for treason, you are not allowed any visitors, let alone your wife."
Edie pulled a blood collection needle from his white coat pocket, "But I can let you see Lady Toki. As a condition..."
With a clang.
Kozuki Oden suddenly stood up, gripping the iron bars of the cell with both hands, and said excitedly, "Whatever the condition, I agree!"
"The condition is simple, I need your blood."
Blood?
Kozuki Oden didn't know what his blood was for, or what the other party would do with it, but at this point, he couldn't care less.
"Alright."
Soon, Edie drew a tube of blood from Kozuki Oden's arm.
"Where is Toki?"
"Don't be impatient, I'll give you ten minutes to meet."
Leaving that, Edie turned and left with his harvest.
A short while later, Lady Toki, dressed in a grey cloak, arrived in front of the cell.
The husband and wife met.
Edie wasn't interested in what they specifically said.
Ten minutes later, the jailer brought Lady Toki out.
When she came out, Lady Toki had both Ame no Habakiri and Enma with her.
"Doctor Edie, you took the prisoner's swords. I will report this truthfully to Lord Orochi," the jailer said seriously.
He dared not stop Lady Toki from taking the katanas, but he also dared not fail to report it.
He couldn't afford to offend either side.
Lady Toki clutched the two katanas, looking at Edie with pleading eyes.
And just then, a cold snort came.
"Who allowed you to take them?"
Orochi arrived in front of the prison, riding in a unique open-top palanquin from Wano.
"Isn't that Orochi? Not drinking with Kaido-sensei, but coming here to show off?" Eddie quipped.
"Eddie!"
Orochi gritted his teeth in hatred. He didn't care about the two swords; he was just extremely annoyed with Eddie.
He was the Shogun of Wano, yet this bastard Eddie showed him not an ounce of respect.
His gaze shifted to Lady Toki beside him. Orochi narrowed his eyes, seemingly captivated by her beauty, and his expression revealed undisguised greed and disgust.
"Guhahahahaha… Oden's woman. That's right, kneel and beg me, lick my shoes, and I might consider letting Kozuki Oden live a few more days!"
This was a lie.
He wished he could kill Kozuki Oden right now.
But before executing Kozuki Oden, thoroughly playing with his wife was another form of revenge.
It would be best if Kozuki Oden secretly watched!
Thinking of this, Orochi suddenly changed his tone and said to Eddie with a smile:
"Eddie, there's no conflict of interest between us. Let me play with this woman for a few days."
"Anyway, you're just using her as research material, right? As long as she stays alive, it's fine."
"How about this? I'll personally fund your Research Institute with 10,000 Gold!"
Wano was not a World Government affiliated country, and the currency used was platinum, gold, and silver, not the globally used Berries.
The so-called 10,000 Gold was roughly equivalent to 100 million Berries.
Eddie had a speechless expression.
To play with a woman, he would spend 100 million?
Even for revenge against Kozuki Oden, spending 100 million was insane.
"Mr. Edie…"
Lady Toki's face was pale, and her expression was flustered.
Currently, she had no power to resist. If Eddie agreed, she would have to face Orochi's torment.
Thinking of the dark future, she felt like dying.
But she couldn't die!
She had to protect her children.
Glancing at the married woman, Eddie shook his head and did not answer Orochi.
"Let's go, madam."
Upon hearing this, Lady Toki let out a long sigh of relief inwardly and suddenly felt a sense of gratitude towards Eddie.
She clearly knew that she and her two children were currently under Eddie's protection.
"Eddie, you bastard…!"
Seeing the two leave, Orochi's face instantly became extremely grim.
He had already put aside his status as Shogun, wanting to get along peacefully with Eddie, and was even willing to fund his Research Institute.
"Damn it…"
Orochi sat down furiously, his eyes darkly fixed on Eddie's back.
Kozuki Oden was to be executed in two days.
If he played with Oden's woman without Kozuki Oden watching, what was the point?
The pleasure of revenge would be greatly diminished.
He must find a way!
…
It seems I need to find a way.
Eddie thought to himself.
Orochi really didn't understand his place; it was better to just kill him.
For the past two years, he and Orochi had no conflict, keeping to themselves.
But the events of these two days had made Orochi target him.
Eddie was not the type to wait for others to make a move before retaliating. Since he felt threatened, he might as well send the other party to their death first.
"Hmm… Let me think. I've got it."
"Let Orochi and Kozuki Oden die together."
"He will die in two days."
Eddie pondered for a moment and quickly thought of several relatively simple methods, choosing the most suitable one.
"Thank you."
Suddenly, Lady Toki beside him thanked him in a low voice.
Eddie snapped out of his thoughts, his tone indifferent:
"I'm not a good person. Don't thank me. I'm just afraid Orochi will break you. If you commit suicide, I'll be a bit troubled."
Lady Toki's Time Fruit was very important for his research.
He hadn't found a way to plunder others' abilities yet.
If he cloned a Lady Toki, he felt it would be a bit of a waste of simulation attempts.
In the original work, after an ability user dies, if a fruit is placed nearby, the Devil Fruit ability will be reborn in that fruit…
This couldn't guarantee success, and he wasn't even sure if it was true.
Eddie had not yet unraveled its mystery.
Therefore, preserving Lady Toki at this stage was the best method.
…
That night, late.
Flower Capital, medical clinic.
Inside the ward.
Kurozumi Higurashi lay on the tatami, with only a breath left.
Yesterday, the Beasts Pirates and Kozuki Oden's samurai had a war.
During Kaido and Kozuki Oden's battle, she used her "Imitation Fruit" ability to create the illusion that Kozuki Momonosuke had been captured.
Kozuki Oden, unaware of the truth, was distracted, and in a duel between masters, distraction was fatal.
It could be said that Kurozumi Higurashi had an indelible contribution to Kaido's effortless victory.
However, Kaido did not like this kind of victory and struck her on the spot.
A single blow from Four Emperors Kaido directly left this old woman on the brink of death.
…Am I going to die soon?
Kurozumi Higurashi had no regrets.
"Yi hehehehe…"
She grinned, letting out a series of cackles like an old witch.
Her dark, uneven teeth truly looked like those of a monster.
As she laughed, she started coughing again.
Kala la —
Suddenly, the sliding door of the ward was pulled open.
Immediately after, a gentle young male voice sounded.
"Chen Long, guard the door."
Kurozumi Higurashi heard the movement and laboriously turned her head.
The Moonlight outside the window was bright, casting a faint Moonlight glow through the window, illuminating an area in front of the tatami.
A young man silently approached, slowly emerging from the darkness.
"It's… you… *cough*… *cough cough*…"
"Speak less. You're almost dead."
Eddie stood in front of the tatami, hands in his pockets, looking down at the old woman.
A moment later, he smiled:
"But don't worry, 'you' will soon be lively again."