Sukiyaki didn't last long before he truly passed away.
During this period, other regions aside from the Flower Capital were immersed in a gray atmosphere. It wasn't that the country's people loved him that much, but when a shogun died, there were many taboos—such as how many days one couldn't eat meat, or what kind of clothes one had to wear.
Thus, the entire country was shrouded in a somber atmosphere. Even children couldn't play happily during this time, for if they were seen, they might be accused of some crime.
Toki also attended the funeral. During this period, she wore a pure black kimono—just like everyone else. Whenever she appeared in public, she tried her best to maintain an expression of sorrow.
This wasn't particularly difficult for her, but for Kurozumi Orochi, suppressing the joy in his heart while wearing a grieving expression was somewhat challenging.
Sometimes, while crying, he couldn't help but curl his lips upward. Over these past few days, his facial muscles had started to cramp.
However, as he looked at Sukiyaki now lying in the coffin, he thought back to when Kozuki Oden had once used his deceased friend's bones to cook oden. How could he not want to fish Sukiyaki's corpse out of the coffin and throw it into a fire to cook a pot of sukiyaki?
Cooking sukiyaki with Sukiyaki himself would surely yield the most delicious sukiyaki in the world, for the flames burning in the hearth would be the fires of "revenge"!
Unfortunately, this could remain only a thought for now.
To actually do it, he would need to first gain complete control of the country's military forces, so that all other daimyo would be powerless to resist him.
It would be best if he could also kill Kozuki Oden with his own hands!
If that happened, he would take both father and son and dismember them bone by bone, burning each one! He would eat oden during the day and sukiyaki at night. On holidays, he'd throw two more bones into the bonfire, letting their ashes rise into the sky so they could personally watch how this country would be destroyed under his hands!
Of course, Kurozumi Orochi couldn't go too far. From this moment on, he already considered Ren the true master of this country—this was ultimately Ren-sama's country, his possession.
However, before Ren came to take over the country, at least he could use his flames of revenge to burn away the corrupt nobles who had been occupying positions of power for centuries!
These people were a nuisance even to Ren, and they were also enemies of the Kurozumi clan. It was only fitting for him to eliminate them!
Kurozumi Orochi targeted the samurai and nobles above them—these were the source of all his suffering over the years. As for the lowest-level commoners, those people couldn't even read. Their very thoughts were controlled. What use could they be?
Those people didn't care who ruled—they only cared whether they could survive.
The funeral continued for several weeks.
Following that was Orochi's inauguration ceremony.
Although there was Sukiyaki's final testament and the fabricated "Amatsuki" identity, Kurozumi Orochi's succession was still fraught with turbulence.
The attitudes of the several daimyo only represented the people in their own regions. Those people had always lived far from the Flower Capital and didn't accept the shogun's rule to begin with—no one there cared who became shogun.
But the locals of the Flower Capital weren't so easily fooled.
As the yakuza boss of the Flower Capital, Hyogoro had received an invitation to the funeral. A regional yakuza boss was practically an uncrowned king in the shadows, and coupled with Hyogoro's personal reputation, he was quite respected and beloved.
However, upon hearing that Kurozumi Orochi was to succeed as shogun, he couldn't help but show a serious expression.
"Yasuie-san, isn't this a bit too childish?" he whispered as he walked beside Shimotsuki Yasuie. Both men were tall with blue hair—at first glance, they looked somewhat similar.
As he spoke, Hyogoro looked toward some of the noble merchants in the distance.
Everyone who could attend such an occasion was either wealthy or noble, with very high status, but most of these people held opposing views regarding Kurozumi Orochi's succession.
The Kozuki clan's rule had simply become too deeply entrenched.
Decades ago, the Kurozumi family had attempted to rebel, but only because the current shogun had no heir at the time. Yet after Sukiyaki was born, the mighty Kurozumi clan instantly vanished from history, leaving behind only a few scattered clansmen who were treated like wild dogs that everyone wanted to chase away.
Now that Kozuki Oden was still alive, there was no way Orochi should be allowed to become shogun.
More importantly, these merchants and nobles had invested heavily in Kozuki Oden. In his earlier years, Oden had committed so many transgressions yet received virtually no punishment. Besides Sukiyaki's intentional protection, the fact that these people didn't pursue the matter was also key.
All of this was an investment. If Kozuki Oden became shogun, he would at least turn a blind eye to their past misdeeds.
But Kurozumi Orochi was a completely different story.
"The Shogun says Orochi is of the 'Amatsuki' bloodline. In terms of qualifications alone, Orochi does have them," Shimotsuki Yasuie could only say.
But this statement didn't convince anyone. Hyogoro continued, "The Amatsuki clan disappeared from history long ago. Nowadays, few people even know that surname exists. Moreover, there's no evidence that Orochi is truly an Amatsuki."
Hyogoro was right. Before hearing this news, he hadn't even known what an Amatsuki was. It was only later, after his wife searched through ancient texts, that she found a single record. If someone of his status knew so little, others knew even less.
"Even so, that was the Shogun's command," Yasuie said, apparently intending to support Orochi.
In his heart, he would have preferred Oden to become shogun, but now Oden was nowhere to be found. It had been over a month since he and Kuri had sent letters overseas, and Ren had already sent a response back.
Yet they still hadn't found any trace of Kozuki Oden.
Ren wasn't entirely lying. After all, the Roger Pirates were a small crew, and without clues in such a vast ocean, it was impossible to find them. Unless they made enough commotion to appear in the news, their location could only be known briefly.
But by the time one followed such news, they would have long since disappeared.
Of course, Ren made no mention of the fact that he had ways to contact the crew members who had been traveling with Oden.
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