This was the kind of thing her blockheaded husband Oden could never have said.
Coupled with Tenma's heroic act of saving the nation, Kozuki Toki's impression of him had skyrocketed. At this moment, two faint yet unmistakable blushes surfaced on her cheeks.
After all, the implication behind his words was far too ambiguous—carrying more than a hint of "the realm may be great, but you matter more."
Especially under the heat of Tenma's intense gaze, that feeling only grew stronger.
"Those shameless, woman-pleasing lines belong in places like the pleasure quarters," Toki scolded, flustered.
"You're already a great general revered by tens of thousands—how can you still speak so frivolously?"
"I'm not some stiff, old-fashioned general," Tenma shrugged indifferently.
"Besides, who says a general can't stroll through the pleasure quarters? It's not illegal."
As he spoke, he suddenly seemed to recall something.
The last time he went to Kaido's base, he hadn't seen members of the Tobiroppo yet.
He vaguely remembered that Black Maria was actually a native of Wano. According to the original course of events, she seemed to have deep ties with places like the pleasure quarters.
"Looks like I really do need to take a trip to the pleasure district."
Hearing Tenma muttering to himself, Kozuki Toki thought he was deliberately teasing her again. Flustered, she hurriedly stood up, looking as though she were about to flee in embarrassment.
Watching that graceful retreating figure, Tenma spoke leisurely,
"You deliberately stayed behind until the end. Shouldn't you have some serious business to discuss with me?"
At those words, Kozuki Toki immediately halted, turning back to look at him. Anticipation mixed with nervousness flickered in her eyes.
"If it's you… you can make Wano open its borders, right?"
"Is that your own wish," Tenma asked sharply, "or are you trying to fulfill the dying wish of your deceased husband?"
Faced with such a pointed question, Kozuki Toki didn't try to hide her true thoughts.
"Both," she answered frankly.
"I fled all the way from eight hundred years ago to the present."
"I crossed time for a single purpose—to witness the one who could realize my dream. I once thought Oden, who shared my ideals, would be that person."
Her gaze dimmed for a moment, but quickly grew firm again as she looked at Tenma with a trace of pleading.
"But now, it seems only you possess the ability to fulfill the dream we once shared."
"Hearing that actually makes me inexplicably irritated," Tenma clicked his tongue.
Kozuki Toki subconsciously clenched her sleeves.
"But," Tenma continued, "opening Wano is also one of my goals."
At those words, the tension in Kozuki Toki's body instantly melted away. The joy in her eyes was impossible to hide.
"Don't get happy too soon," Tenma added calmly.
"Opening the country is a certainty—but absolutely not now."
Tenma had his own calculations.
Opening Wano meant that the ancient weapon hidden beneath its soil—Pluton—would truly see the light of day.
This was likely the real mission Kozuki Oden, who had been to the final island Laugh Tale, and Kozuki Toki, who came from the distant past, wished to accomplish.
But the timing was nowhere near ripe.
Tenma's current strength was still insufficient to completely pin Kaido down and grind him into the dirt.
If Wano were opened rashly now, that madman Kaido might very well make a comeback. Even Charlotte Linlin, not to mention the most troublesome forces—the Marines and the World Government—would swarm in like sharks scenting blood.
Those top-tier behemoths were not something Tenma could confront head-on at present.
After hearing his explanation, Kozuki Toki nodded understandingly.
"I understand. As long as you've said this much, I can put my mind at ease."
"And besides," she added, her eyes glinting,
"I come from eight hundred years ago—the era now known as the Void Century. Aren't you at least a little curious about that history?"
If anyone else had heard this, they would have taken the bait immediately. But Tenma was no fool.
He knew that in the Void Century, Kozuki Toki was little more than a marginal member of the Amatsuki clan who had fled. What she actually knew of the secrets was pitifully limited.
"I'm not interested in other people's past," Tenma replied flatly.
"Rather than wasting time digging into history, I'd rather seize present power and futurebenefit."
"And you are you. Whatever so-called century you come from makes no difference to me."
As if thinking of something amusing, Tenma couldn't help but laugh.
"You still left yourself a backup plan, didn't you? Sending Oden's retainers and son into the future. Now that Wano has already been liberated, do you regret that decision?"
Twenty years later, those people would likely reappear in the ruins of Kuri.
And just so happened, Tenma was planning a sweeping reform of Wano. When old and new ideals collided, who knew what interesting scenes might unfold?
Kozuki Toki had no idea what schemes were brewing in Tenma's mind. She simply pondered his words carefully.
Sending them away had never been just about helping them escape. There were deeper reasons—ones she didn't intend to hide from Tenma.
"Regret… perhaps," she admitted softly.
"After all, I sent them twenty years into the future. But what's done is done. I can't go to that future and bring them back."
"At that twenty-year mark, the world will undergo a cataclysmic upheaval."
"A colossal war will erupt—one powerful enough to split the entire sea in two. The main actors of that war will gradually arrive in the New World, and those people will be the ones who truly possess the power to defeat Kaido."
After saying this, Kozuki Toki fell silent. But her meaning was already crystal clear—this was why she had chosen the twenty-year point.
"Is that a prophecy?" Tenma asked with a smile.
"Perhaps," Toki replied.
"These were top-secret messages Oden brought back from Laugh Tale. So I could only place all my bets on the future, twenty years from now."
As she spoke, she looked at Tenma intently.
"I just never imagined that this time… the wager would be disrupted by another gamble entirely."
"You mention wagers, and it reminds me," Tenma said with a meaningful grin.
"When we made our deal, we only discussed how to deal with Kurozumi Orochi and Kaido, didn't we?"
He continued slowly,
"Now that I'm also helping you achieve the grand goal of opening Wano, shouldn't I add a few more conditions?"
"But you just said yourself this is also your goal!" Kozuki Toki cried out in a moment of panic.
"And now it's my goal," Tenma replied shamelessly.
"Is that not allowed?"
This sudden display of rogue logic left Kozuki Toki completely at a loss for words.
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