Chapter 170: The Tengu and The Sweetness of Despair
Just as Suzaku and his group overlooked this land shrouded in despair, observing the desolation from their high vantage point, the person the villagers of Amigasa affectionately called "Tama's Grandpa" also received the news that would shake his secluded world.
Deep within the ruined bamboo forests of Kuri, far away from the prying eyes of the Flower Capital, stood a humble, dilapidated hut.
Inside, the air was thick with the scent of aged wood, lacquer, and the faint, metallic tang of polished steel.
An old man sat in the center of the room, surrounded by shelves lined with Kokeshi dolls. Their painted eyes seemed to stare into the void, silent witnesses to a fallen era. This man was Kozuki Sukiyaki, the former Shogun of Wano Country, the legitimate ruler who had once sat upon the throne, and the biological father of the legendary hero, Kozuki Oden.
But those titles were ghosts now.
After this country fell into the tyrannical hands of Kaido, the "Strongest Creature," and the treacherous Kurozumi Orochi, he had chosen a path of self-imposed exile. He lived in anonymity, donning a red, long-nosed Tengu mask to hide his shame and his identity, adopting the alias "Tenguyama Hitetsu."
He survived in this broken world as a sword craftsman, guarding the cursed blades that the world was not yet ready to wield.
Every breath he took was heavy with regret. But in this ocean of darkness, he had found a single drop of light. A few years ago, he had adopted Tama, a small girl who had become an orphan after her parents were captured and worked to death in Kaido's weapons factories.
This innocent, lively, and impossibly resilient little girl became his only comfort. She was the anchor that kept his sanity from drifting away in these dark, hopeless times.
"Master Hitetsu! Master Hitetsu! Something's wrong!"
The silence of the bamboo forest was shattered by a frantic, desperate cry.
A villager stumbled into his humble abode, tripping over the wooden threshold. He was gasping for breath, his chest heaving violently, sweat cutting tracks through the layers of soot and dirt on his face.
"Tama... It's Tama! I don't know what happened, but she seems to have offended a group of noblemen near the river! Please, you have to go and see!"
"What???"
Beneath the red lacquer of the Tengu mask, Sukiyaki's expression suddenly changed. The wrinkles on his hidden face deepened with instant, paralyzing panic.
A hint of cold, biting fear flashed through his heart, freezing his blood.
It wasn't that he was afraid of those so-called nobles or the Beasts Pirates for his own sake. He was an old man who had lived too long; death was a neighbor he greeted daily. Rather, he was worried about his true identity being recognized by Orochi's spies if he showed his face. If the ghost of the Kozuki Clan was found to be alive, it would bring a purge that would wipe out what little remained of Amigasa Village.
That would not only bring him mortal danger but also potentially implicate the innocent Tama.
But Tama... how could he not care!
The image of her smiling face, despite her empty stomach, flashed in his mind. That child was the only reason he was still alive! She was the future of Wano, a seed of hope in a desert of despair. If she were extinguished, the last light of the Kozuki legacy would die with her.
If I lose her, I have nothing.
After a moment of hesitation, his worry overwhelmed everything else. The fear of exposure vanished, replaced by the primal instinct of a guardian.
He no longer thought much. His hand shot out, grabbing his personal sword—the cursed blade, Nidai Kitetsu—leaning against the wall. He asked the messenger villager for the location in a curt, trembling voice, and then rushed out of the hut like a gust of wind.
Swish!
His speed was extremely fast. Despite his advanced age and the years of malnutrition, the foundation of a samurai and a former Shogun remained in his bones. He moved through the bamboo forest, his wooden geta sandals barely making a sound on the dry, cracked earth.
In a few leaps, he was already miles away, closing in on the scene.
As he ran, the landscape of Kuri blurred past him. It was a hellscape. He saw the withered trees that looked like clawed hands reaching for the sky. He saw the river, once blue and teeming with life, now flowing with a thick, purple sludge—waste from the factories that poisoned the land. The smell of sulfur and rot filled his nose, a constant reminder of his failure to protect this country.
From afar, through the gaps in the dead foliage, he finally saw the group of people standing near the riverbank.
Hitetsu skidded to a halt, hiding his presence, holding his breath. He narrowed his eyes behind the mask, his hand gripping the hilt of his sword so tight his knuckles turned white.
Their temperaments were distinct, radiating an aura that felt completely out of place in this desolate land. Their clothes were magnificent—clean, bright fabrics that hadn't been stained by the factory smoke or the gray ash that fell like snow.
Indeed, they were unlike the people nearby. They didn't look like the starving villagers, nor did they look like the savage, drunken brutes of the Beasts Pirates.
Huh?
Hitetsu paused, his observation sharpening.
There were even several Mink Tribe members?
He saw a girl with rabbit ears, bounding with energy. He saw a woman who exuded the cold, disciplined aura of a high-ranking military officer. And... creatures that felt like demons in human skin.
And it seemed they weren't troubling Tama...
Sukiyaki slowed his pace, his grip on the Nidai Kitetsu loosening slightly, though his muscles remained coiled like springs. He hid his figure behind a large, moss-covered rock and quietly approached to observe the situation before acting.
When he saw the scene before him clearly, he was completely stunned.
The tense situation he had anticipated—Tama crying, samurai drawing swords, blood being spilled on the wasteland—did not appear. The nightmare he had concocted in his mind dissolved.
Instead, he saw a picture of warmth that felt like a dream, a hallucination born of hunger.
He saw Tama happily circling a beautiful rabbit-eared girl. Her small face, usually smudged with dirt and hunger, was beaming with an unprecedented, brilliant smile. Her small, kimono-clad body was even dancing with joy, hopping from one foot to the other in a clumsy, adorable rhythm.
"Sister Carrot, this... this snack... it's so delicious! Tama has never eaten anything so delicious! It melts! It disappears in my mouth like magic!"
Tama's voice trembled with pure ecstasy. It was the sound of a child discovering color in a black-and-white world.
"What's its name?"
The little girl held up a small, exquisite piece of cream cake in her hand. The white frosting glistened in the sunlight, a stark contrast to the grey wasteland around them. Her big eyes were sparkling like stars, as if she were holding not food, but the most precious diamond treasure in the world.
"This is called 'cake,' and it was made by Sister Ram and Sister Rem!"
Carrot, the mink girl, smiled brightly. Her expression was open and kind, devoid of the malice Hitetsu had expected.
Seeing Tama's delight, Carrot also narrowed her eyes happily, her ears twitching.
"Wow! Sister Ram and Sister Rem are amazing! They can make such delicious things! Is this what the gods eat in the heavens?"
Tama exclaimed from the bottom of her heart. She took a tiny nibble, savoring the sugar and fat—nutrients her body had been craving for years. The taste must have been overwhelming for a tongue used to bitter herbs and toxic water.
Then, she stopped.
With great care, she wrapped the remaining large piece of cake in a piece of dirty oiled paper she pulled from her sleeve. She tucked it into her bosom, close to her heart, as if afraid the wind would steal it away.
"Hmm? Little sister, why aren't you eating it? Is it not tasty?"
The gentle Rem, dressed in her maid outfit which looked impossibly pristine in this dirt, saw this action. She curiously squatted down, her blue hair swaying, and asked softly.
"No, no! The cake made by big sister is the most delicious thing Tama has ever eaten! It's too good!"
Tama quickly waved her small hands in explanation, a hint of shyness and pride on her face. She patted her chest where the cake was hidden.
"Tama wants... wants to save it to take back for Master to try too. Master Hitetsu always gives me the best food. He hasn't eaten something sweet in a long, long time."
She looked up at Rem with hopeful eyes, her soul bared for all to see.
"When I go home, Tama will bring our rice balls for the sisters to try, okay? They are... um... maybe not as sweet, and they are hard, but they are filling!"
Her innocent words instantly touched the softest spot in everyone present's hearts. Even the stoic Albedo, a demon who usually viewed humans as insects, seemed to soften her gaze slightly.
"Wow, Tama, you really are a good child!"
Carrot couldn't help but reach out and pat her head, her furry paw stroking Tama's purple hair. She was growing even fonder of this sensible and endearing little one.
"But don't worry, eat up! Big sister has plenty more here! Look!"
Carrot pointed to a basket Ram was holding, filled with pastries that could buy a house in this impoverished country.
"By the way, if you have food at home, why were you drinking dirty river water just now? That water smells... bad. It smells like death."
Before Tama could answer, an old and steady voice came from behind everyone.
"That's because this child probably saw someone in the village secretly drinking river water to save rations, and so she learned to do the same. The rations we have... are barely enough to keep a mouse alive."
Everyone turned their heads at the sound.
They saw a tall old man, dressed in a patched, ragged kimono that had seen better decades. He wore a very strange, red long-nosed Tengu mask on his face, and huge white wings on his back. He had quietly appeared there at some unknown time, stepping out from the shadows of the withered trees like a spirit of the forest.
Suzaku and the others had long sensed his appearance.
Uchiha Madara, standing with his arms crossed, merely glanced at him indifferently. His Sharingan didn't even activate. To him, this was just an old man with a sword—unworthy of note.
Albedo didn't even turn her full body, merely shifting her golden eyes toward him with a look of disinterest before paying him no further attention.
In their extraordinary perception, although this old man was well hidden and possessed the aura of a master swordsman, he was ultimately... just a mortal. Compared to the monsters on this ship, he posed no threat.
"Wow! Master! You're here!"
As soon as Tama saw the newcomer, she immediately became like a cheerful little bird.
"Master!"
She scampered over with her short legs, pulling the oiled paper from her shirt and holding up the slightly squashed cake in her arms.
"Master, quickly try it! This is called cake, and it's super delicious! It's sweet! Like a dream!"
"Hmm?"
Suzaku stood slightly apart from the group. He looked at the iconic Tengu mask, the old man's unique topknot, and the attire. Then, his gaze fell on the sword at the man's waist. The hilt, the guard... the malevolent aura radiating from the blade.
Nidai Kitetsu.
Long-sealed memories in his mind were instantly activated, cross-referencing with his knowledge of the One Piece world.
"Tenguyama Hitetsu... Kozuki Sukiyaki?"
Suzaku analyzed the situation internally, a spark of interest lighting up his eyes.
He initially thought it was just a coincidence of names when the villager shouted "Tama." After all, Wano Country was so vast, and there could be countless girls named "Tama."
But now that the real person had appeared—the disguised former Shogun, the man who let Orochi steal the country—he confirmed that his luck was incredibly good.
Just landing anywhere, and I precisely hit the spawn point of a key plot character?
[System Note: Key Character Contact Established. Probability manipulation successful.]
He remembered that in the original story, when Portgas D. Ace landed in Wano Country years ago, he also met this grandfather and granddaughter duo. Ace had learned to weave straw hats from them, bonding over fire and food.
That guy, Ace, even seriously tricked Tama, saying that as long as she grew into a "seductive and sexy kunoichi," he would take her out to sea.
A casual joke spoken by a pirate, yet the little girl remembered it for several years, waiting by the shore every single day, looking at the horizon until her eyes hurt.
Suzaku slightly curled his lips, a complex emotion flashing in his eyes. He thought to himself:
"Now, since I'm here, that kind of funny yet somewhat poignant storyline probably won't happen again. Ace is dead in this timeline, or perhaps... fate has shifted."
We are not here to be friends like Ace. We are not here to make promises we can't keep. We are here to conquer, and in doing so, perhaps we save them by accident.
"Hey! What's wrong with you, Master!"
Carrot's voice broke Suzaku's train of thought. She didn't care who the other person was or what mask he wore. She placed her hands on her hips, her rabbit ears standing straight up in indignation, and criticized the old man with a serious expression.
"You let such a small child run around alone? In a place like this?"
She pointed angrily at the purple, foaming river.
"You don't even teach her any safety common sense! What if she gets sick from drinking such dirty water! Do you know there are factories upstream pouring poison into it? It's dangerous!"
Being lectured by a rabbit-eared girl who didn't seem much older than his granddaughter, Sukiyaki was taken aback.
However, he looked at Tama's happy face, and the cake in her hands. He realized these strangers had fed her. They had given her a moment of joy he hadn't been able to provide in years.
Sukiyaki not only wasn't angry at the scolding but instead bowed deeply and respectfully to Carrot.
"Yes, young lady, you are right. This old man has been negligent in his supervision; thank you all for saving Tama's life."
His attitude was humble and sincere. He was truly grateful.
However, the next second, he straightened up.
His hand rested instinctively near the hilt of the Nidai Kitetsu. His cloudy yet sharp eyes swept over everyone present.
He looked at the powerful, arrogant man with long black hair (Madara) who felt like a dormant volcano. He looked at the woman with black wings (Albedo) who smelled of darkness. He looked at the young man who seemed to be the leader (Suzaku), whose presence was unfathomable.
His instincts screamed danger. These were not merchants. These were not lost travelers. They carried the scent of blood and power that far exceeded anything he had seen in Wano. They were apex predators.
His tone suddenly shifted, becoming serious and wary, the gratitude replaced by the caution of a guardian protecting his last treasure.
"Then, you few, must not be from Wano Country. Your attire, your mannerisms... they do not belong to this land."
He tightened his grip on his sword slightly, ready to draw at a moment's notice, though he knew it might be futile against such monsters.
"May I ask what brings you, from so far away, to land in our Kuri region?"
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