Kaido didn't make Big Mom wait long. In truth, he was quite punctual — it was just that Ren had arrived even earlier.
Naturally, Big Mom, drawn in by Ren's gift, was intensely curious about what kind of present she herself would receive next.
As a result, she grew even more eager about the other guests as well.
"You're too slow, Kaido!" Big Mom complained the moment she saw him, her dissatisfaction plain.
Their relationship was a delicate one, but their banter was no different from old friends who hadn't seen each other in years.
"Worororo, I'm not late, Linlin." Kaido replied, even as his eyes swept across the venue.
He already knew that Ren was among those invited to this tea party.
He had never been able to figure out whether there was any connection between Inazuma and Wano's Kuri, so he planned to use this opportunity to find out.
It didn't take long for him to spot Ren among the guests.
The legendary man who ruled Inazuma didn't appear particularly tall, yet he stood out unmistakably in the crowd.
At first glance, Kaido might have mistaken him for a noble aristocrat rather than a pirate.
'Purple hair and purple eyes... so he's definitely not the same person as the Daimyo of Kuri.'
Kaido recalled the old newspapers he had dug through — the man in those articles had black hair.
Their overall auras didn't seem particularly similar either. The man before him clearly possessed a far more imposing presence; merely looking at him gave the illusion of being struck by lightning.
But before he could even breathe a sigh of relief, he suddenly noticed another figure seated to Ren's left.
'That woman... she was with that man called Sesshomaru back then...'
Kaido recognized Moli's identity — not because of her striking beauty, but because both Moli and the figure Ren had disguised himself as, Sesshomaru, had left an extremely deep impression on him.
Both of them were Mythical Zoan Fruit users, and one of them possessed strength great enough to clash with Big Mom on equal footing.
At the time, he had assumed both Sesshomaru and Moli had perished in that undersea cavern.
But thinking back now, that fellow called Sesshomaru could wield the power of ice — it wasn't impossible that he had frozen a portion of the sea and escaped.
'Are those two also part of Inazuma's fighting force?'
Kaido's expression darkened for a moment, but he quickly recovered.
He had absolutely no idea how much power Inazuma still kept hidden, and he treated Moli as though he had never seen her before.
The relationship between pirates was always built on nothing but profit. Their past disputes were hardly worth mentioning.
He didn't believe for a second that no one on Big Mom's side had recognized Moli either. Both parties were simply pretending nothing had ever happened.
Besides, in the undersea cavern incident, everyone had been played for a fool by that bastard John — at least from Kaido's perspective.
Since there was no winner in the end, there wasn't much of a grudge to hold.
If anything, it was the sheer number of powerful fighters in Inazuma that made Kaido both jealous and wary.
The three people already following Ren were strong enough on their own, and then there was that white-haired man hidden in the shadows...
Kaido didn't know that Sesshomaru and Ren were actually the same person, but his wariness of Inazuma had already reached a very high level.
At least for now, making an enemy of Inazuma was absolutely out of the question!
With that in mind, Kaido took the initiative and extended an olive branch to Ren.
"So you're the leader of Inazuma, the man they call the Lightning God! Didn't expect someone like you to attend one of Linlin's little tea parties."
From his tone, he seemed less than enthusiastic about Big Mom's tea party.
It made sense — a proper pirate, hosting a tea party? It felt like playing house, and it grated on him.
But the host was Charlotte Linlin. Even putting aside their personal history, Kaido couldn't possibly ignore her invitation.
And it wasn't just him — any faction that didn't want to go to war with Totto Land was in the same boat.
Even Shiki the Golden Lion wouldn't refuse if he received an invitation.
Of course, Big Mom would never invite a dangerous character like Shiki in the first place.
"I have substantial trade relations with the Totto Land kingdom. We're very important business partners," Ren replied, showing no displeasure toward Kaido.
Their positions made them enemies by default, but Ren didn't actually dislike Kaido.
Kaido's dream was to build a kingdom where everyone was equal. By that standard, he should have become a revolutionary instead of a pirate.
But the more he experienced, the more his originally pure dream became tainted.
At least from what Ren had seen in the original story, Kaido's rule over Wano didn't reflect any concept of equality whatsoever.
The Beasts Pirates, however, were relatively equal in their own way.
Not equal in status — but equal in opportunity. As long as you had strength, you could rise through the ranks in the Beasts Pirates.
It was like the military merit system of ancient Qin — the more enemies you slew, the higher your rank and rewards.
Seeing that Ren's tone was fairly amicable, Kaido figured he probably didn't care much about the time Kaido had backstabbed Sesshomaru and Moli.
Or perhaps those two had never reported the incident to him at all.
Reassured, Kaido took a seat relatively close to Ren.
He genuinely wanted to build a relationship with Ren. Kaido's Beasts Pirates were still in their early stages of development.
Despite leveraging Wano's strategic location to finally gain some traction, they remained in desperate need of funds.
The automata currently in the Beasts Pirates' possession were all secondhand goods Kaido had scrounged from the black market.
Their performance was already lacking, but they were cheap — and after being patched up by a few of Kaido's subordinates who knew a thing or two about machinery, they worked well enough.
But old gear was still old gear. Watching other factions buy advanced machines in bulk made him green with envy.
The price, however, was something that needed to be negotiated. And this tea party was a perfect opportunity.
After Kaido sat down, another batch of guests arrived. Ren didn't recognize most of them.
But Shutenmaru and Yukiko, who frequented the seas, knew them well.
"That woman with the short blonde hair is Stussy, the Queen of the Pleasure District," Yukiko whispered, sitting to Ren's right.
Ren followed her gaze and spotted a petite woman in a white hat and a fitted dress.
"That walking rooster over there is Morgans — he took over the World Economic Journal a few years back."
"Hey hey, beautiful lady, calling me a rooster is pretty rude, don't you think?" Morgans had clearly overheard Yukiko's words.
But he didn't seem angry at all. Instead, he bowed slightly toward Ren's group.
"I'm a Bird-Bird Fruit: Albatross Model user — not a rooster, mind you."
Yukiko didn't even acknowledge him. She didn't even shift her gaze from Ren's face.
In a perfectly even tone, she simply said: "No difference. Neither of you can fly anyway."
[
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