In the skies above Punk Hazard, the heavy thunderclouds seemed to part ways just to make a path for him.
Caine pushed the powers of the Storm-Storm Fruit to their absolute limit.
Buzz—
The air beneath his feet began to rotate at an incredible speed, creating an invisible vortex of lift that steadily carried his body higher into the atmosphere.
In the next second, he transformed himself into a sudden gust of wind that tore through the air, skimming just above the surface of the sea as he sped toward his designated coordinates.
Godspeed: Flowing Light.
This was the ultimate expression of speed granted to him by the abilities of the Storm-Storm Fruit.
The Sea Kings lurking along his path did not even have the time to sense his presence; they only felt a sudden, wild gust of wind pass over them before the surface of the ocean returned to its usual calm state.
Two days later.
An isolated island surrounded by massive, towering waterfalls finally appeared at the far end of the horizon.
Wano Country, he had arrived at last.
The giant waterfall falling from the heavens was the strongest natural barrier of this country; the rapid, violent currents were more than enough to smash any ship attempting to climb it into tiny pieces.
But this famous natural hazard was nothing more than a slightly damp escalator for a man like Caine.
He completely elementalized his body, merging his form into the monsoon winds blowing a thousand meters high in the sky.
Silently, he penetrated the thick layer of haze that shrouded Wano Country all year round.
Beneath his feet, there was no longer the sight of the boundless blue ocean, but instead a land characterized by peculiar terrain and an ancient, rugged appearance.
Caine deactivated his elementalization and landed lightly on the very top of a giant pine tree.
He took a moment to change out of his conspicuous Admiral uniform.
Now he wore the clothes of a commoner, a deep purple ronin haori, with a disguised zangetsu tucked at his waist and two scruffy little mustaches stuck firmly to his face.
If one managed to ignore his eyes, which still glinted with calculation and sharp shrewdness, he looked exactly like a destitute samurai who had failed to make it on the sea and had drifted back home in shame.
"Ho, so this is Wano Country."
Standing on that high ground, Caine's gaze did not linger on any of the local scenery; instead, it was fixed firmly on a dusty construction site visible in the distance.
That place was Udon.
This was not yet the famous weapon capital filled with massive factories and chimneys spewing toxic gas that he saw in his memories.
At this exact moment, everything had only just broken ground.
Countless prisoners dressed in nothing but rags were moving heavy stones through the thick mud like worker ants.
Huge foundation pits had just been dug out of the earth, and crisscrossing scaffolding stood lonely and bare on the wasteland.
There was no piercing sound of heavy blacksmithing yet, only the dull, repetitive thuds of pile-driving and the loud shouts of overseers, carried intermittently by the passing wind.
There was no sulfurous smell of industrial exhaust filling the air, only the fishy scent of freshly turned soil and the lingering bitterness of wild grass.
But to a nose like Caine's, this particular smell was more fragrant than any expensive perfume in the world.
"A Sea Stone processing plant still under planning, a large-caliber artillery assembly line with its foundation just laid, and that idiot Kaido's SMILE raw material base that he has only just cordoned off..."
Caine took a long, deep breath, and the curve of his mouth widened as a kindly smile appeared on his face, looking much like an old farmer staring at a small plot of land where fine seeds had just been sown.
"What a perfect foundation."
"Since the hand of the World Government cannot reach in here and the factories have not yet fully taken shape..."
"Then from this day onwards, this place is my, Caine's, private back garden."
As long as he managed to gain complete control over the area before the construction was finished, the G-5 Branch's source of arms and weapons would be entirely independent.
Whatever specifications of weapons were needed by his troops, they would be built exactly to those specs.
He could even turn around and resell them to the World Government and make double the money!
To turn this lawless land, which was still in its infancy, into his own private lair.
This ambitious thought grew wildly in Caine's mind, instantly transforming into a towering tree of greed and logic.
With his mind fully made up, Caine restrained his presence, tapped his toe lightly on the pine needles, and his figure faded away into the wind, sweeping toward Kuri, the center of this land.
Kuri, specifically the market area in front of the Daimyo's estate.
Even though it was the middle of the daytime, this place was noisier than a local festival.
Men, women, the young, and the old had all formed a huge circle, and some people had even climbed onto the roofs of houses just to get a clearer view of the center.
There was absolutely no reverence for their ruler on any of their faces, only unabashed mockery and the raw excitement of watching a pathetic monkey show.
"Look, look! The Foolish Lord is here again!"
"Shh... keep your voice down. It will be nothing but trouble if the Retainers of the Kozuki Family hear you."
"What is there to fear? He does not even care about his own dignity anymore, so why should we worry about it for him?"
Amidst the roar of cruel laughter, Caine mingled at the back of the crowd and caught sight of the legendary man through the narrow gaps between the shoulders of several burly men.
Kozuki Oden.
The top-tier powerhouse who had once been highly praised by men like Roger and Whitebeard, the man who had left the only scar of Kaido's life, and the man who had reached the final island and knew all the truths of the world.
At this very moment.
He was bare-chested, standing nearly naked in the thick mud.
Wearing only a simple loincloth, he held two broken pot lids that he had picked up from somewhere. Like an uncivilized simpleton, he twisted his muscular body in extremely comical and ridiculous movements.
"Hey! Ha! Hey! Ha!"
With every single wiggle of his buttocks, he accompanied the movement with a loud, out-of-tune shout.
"..."
Caine's expression, which had been somewhat playful at first, gradually turned cold and hard.
Although he had known about this specific plot point for a very long time, witnessing it with his own eyes still made him feel a faint sense of nausea from the sheer absurdity of the scene.
Was he doing this for the sake of a few hundred civilians being held as hostage?
Was he doing this for a simple verbal promise from an enemy without even getting a written note?
To give up his superior force just like that, to give up the chance to call upon the Daimyo of the whole country to rise up in arms, and to use this clownish self-indulgence to beg for the mercy of a tyrant?
"This is what is called a Wano-style hero?"
"Even if you were to charge into the Flower Capital with a blade in your hand right now and be chopped into mincemeat by Kaido and Orochi, I would still respect you as a man."
Caine flipped a single coin in his hand and caught it, a look of extreme contempt flashing in his eyes.
"Kozuki Oden, you are not just naive."
"You are hopelessly, incredibly stupid."
The stupidest thing a person can do in this world is to try and talk about credit or honesty with a beast that does not follow any rules.
With that insidious villain Orochi and that violence-worshipping maniac Kaido, if such a combination of people could ever keep a promise to "leave in five years," then pigs could fly and dance ballet!
Caine knew the subsequent script of this world perfectly well.
Oden would continue to dance naked here for five whole years like a common clown.
In those five long years, not only would he fail to save a single person, but he would also personally destroy the prestige and the popular support that the Kozuki Family had accumulated in Wano Country over many centuries.
By the time he finally came to his senses and realized he had been tricked, Kaido's influence would already be deeply rooted in the land, and the samurai and people who were once willing to die for him would have long since been utterly disappointed in him.
"A great hand played terribly."
Caine shook his head in disappointment.
He had originally thought that if Oden had even a small bit of a brain, they might be able to cooperate, using him as a blade to stab Kaido a few times.
Looking at it now, the utility value of such an idiot was not even as good as a stray dog sitting by the roadside.
If a dog is kicked, it at least knows to turn back and bite the person who kicked it.
This guy, when hit on his left cheek, would only offer his right cheek to be hit as well.
"However..."
Caine looked at the figure twisting his body vigorously in the mud, and a brilliant, yet extremely wicked idea emerged in his mind.
Since you love playing the clown so much and are so addicted to this self-indulgent sacrifice...
Then I will fulfill your wish for you.
I will make your "sacrifice" far more valuable than it currently is.
For example...
By having you become the first stepping stone for me to take over this entire country.
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