"I'm Kaido!"
Kaido's expression was far from friendly as he gripped the Hassaikai. From the old hag's words earlier, he had not sensed much goodwill. At the very least, these two old fogeys showed him no respect.
If he could, he would not mind giving these two old things a taste of the Raimei Hakke first, and then taking his time listening to their explanation.
In fact, that was exactly what Kaido did.
"Raimei Hakke!"
The roughly four-meter-long spiked club was instantly swung by Kaido. He had not used his full strength, merely a greeting-level blow. If they could not even withstand this much, he had no interest in having anything to do with these two old things.
BOOM!
The Haki-imbued spiked club slammed toward Kurozumi Higurashi and Kurozumi Semimaru. But to Kaido's surprise, his attack was effortlessly blocked by a green, dome-shaped barrier!
The force behind the spiked club was relentless, and the Haki it released had already shattered the ground! The shockwave sent the pirates following Kaido staggering, yet these two were completely unaffected.
The barrier showed not the slightest sign of cracking.
This was far beyond Kaido's expectations.
Even at a greeting-level strike, his attack was not supposed to be this easy to block. Kaido had assumed this blow would shatter the barrier and leave these two old geezers half-paralyzed in the process.
Instead, reality slapped him in the face.
Not only was the barrier completely intact, but the two people inside it did not show the slightest hint of strain.
Given Kaido's experience, he could naturally tell that the one with his eyes closed, making strange hand gestures, was the Devil Fruit user who had created the barrier. But the man looked so utterly unfazed that it made Kaido's attack seem as weak as if he had not eaten.
Can't even hit hard, and you call yourself a pirate?
For a moment, Kaido could barely keep his composure. He felt like his subordinates were looking at him with doubt in their eyes.
Fortunately, Kurozumi Higurashi's words bailed him out.
"It's useless, Kaido. This is the power of the Barrier Barrier Fruit. This barrier is absolutely indestructible!"
Kurozumi Higurashi laughed sinisterly.
Her words brought sudden enlightenment to Kaido's followers. If the barrier was truly unbreakable, then it was not Kaido's fault.
"Hmph..."
Kaido silently put away his spiked club. As for Kurozumi Higurashi's claim, he scoffed at it. What era was this, and they were still hyping up Devil Fruit abilities?
In the current era, Haki was the true top tier. Powerful Haki could cancel out Devil Fruit abilities. At the very least, Kaido did not believe their barrier could remain intact against an attack wrapped in Supreme King's Haki.
"Who the hell are you people? Barging into my territory like this, if you don't have a reasonable explanation, what comes next won't just be a greeting."
Kaido said coldly.
His words clearly restored confidence among his followers.
That terrifying attack from earlier, and Kaido considered it merely a greeting? One could only imagine how powerful this man was!
Even though the attack had produced no visible result, at least in their eyes, the visual effects had been spectacular. Cracked ground and surging shockwaves, it certainly looked impressive.
"Our acting Shogun wishes to make a deal with you. No, cooperation would be a more fitting word."
Kurozumi Higurashi laughed. Her cheekbones were extremely prominent, and her face was practically devoid of flesh, like a skull draped in wrinkled human skin.
"This is a good thing for you as well. At the very least, you should be interested in a country."
"Did you say, a country?"
Kaido raised an eyebrow.
Islands that could be called countries were generally quite large. The settlement on the island Kaido currently occupied was very small, barely qualifying as a town.
"That's right, a country! A country that has been sealed off for hundreds of years, with a great number of samurai!"
Every word Kurozumi Higurashi spoke became a temptation in Kaido's ears.
Under these circumstances, even Kurozumi Higurashi's withered voice sounded as enchanting as heavenly music.
Taking advantage of the moment, Kurozumi Higurashi began recounting the history of the Kurozumi clan's feud with Wano Country. Naturally, it was the version that left out Ren.
"Are you really so generous that you'd hand over an entire country just like that?"
Kaido still had some sense about him.
There was no such thing as a free lunch. Kaido understood this perfectly well.
"As long as the rightful heir of Wano Country, Kozuki Oden, remains alive, the Kurozumi clan can never truly become the Shogun of Wano!"
Kurozumi Higurashi snarled.
"We are cooperating with you to deal with Kozuki Oden. If you can kill Kozuki Oden, then we can agree to hand over all of Wano Country to you after twenty years."
"And in the meantime, we can offer you some assistance as well."
Kurozumi Higurashi laid out her conditions step by step. The two sides quickly reached an agreement.
Although for now, Kurozumi Orochi was only providing Onigashima as a base of operations, Kaido did not particularly mind.
As the saying goes, it is easier to invite a god in than to send one away. Once he entered this so-called Wano Country, that fellow Kurozumi Orochi would not even have the chance to reconsider.
As for the Barrier Barrier Fruit user who was a bit troublesome, Kaido was not very concerned. Looking at the man's condition, he probably did not have many years left to live anyway.
After the two sides reached an agreement, Kaido could not help but ask.
"So where is this Kozuki Oden? I'll go take him out right now!"
"Boss, Boss Kaido! That Kozuki Oden guy, he seems to be a big pirate with a bounty not much lower than yours!"
One of Kaido's subordinates had found the name familiar when he heard Kurozumi Higurashi's words. After flipping through the bounty posters, he indeed found the ugly fellow with a bowl-cut on his head.
"Ugly as sin, but the bounty is 1.1 billion Berries!"
"A mere 1.1 billion Berries. A guy like that is no match for me."
Kaido took the bounty poster, but suddenly felt that the face looked familiar.
"This guy..."
He suddenly recalled that the man on the bounty poster had appeared on Pirate Island several years ago.
"...What's his connection to Inazuma?"
Kaido had not forgotten that this man had appeared alongside the Raiden of Inazuma at the time.
"As far as I know, after Kozuki Oden set out to sea, he apparently spent some time in that so-called 'Inazuma' place."
Kurozumi Higurashi answered without missing a beat.
In a certain sense, this was not even a lie, since it was indeed the truth. However, Kurozumi Higurashi had concealed the relationship between Ren and Wano Country.
If Kaido were to learn that Ren was one of the daimyo of Wano Country, he might not have the courage to go there at all.
[
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