[Night]
Rosse and the others didn't choose to camp in the wild, but instead chose the nearest village.
"Tsk! Tsk! what hateful eyes... My lord clearly hasn't done anything, so why do they hate us so much?", After finding an empty wooden house at the east entrance of the village to stay in, Moria couldn't help but complain the moment the door shut.
When they had walked through the village just now, not a single person had looked at them kindly.
To someone who didn't know, it might have seemed like they had committed some heinous crime.
But honestly speaking, their plan hadn't even begun yet.
"Normal. Because we broke their rules," Rosse smiled as he said this, not caring in the least.
When it came to hatred, compared to the countless people across the seas who wanted the Celestial Dragons dead, Wano was nothing at all.
But not caring didn't mean Rosse couldn't see it.
He had always upheld the principle of equality.
If you hate me, then I'll send you to heaven.
"Rules, huh," Moria sneered.
He was a pirate to begin with. The thing he despised most was rules.
What bullshit rules, that only a Daimyo's descendants could succeed as Daimyo.
"If it were me, I'd definitely want to be Daimyo, just for the taste of it."
"You couldn't," Gion slanted him a glance.
"And why not? This so-called Wano," Moria scoffed.
"Not sure who it was that got chased out of this 'so-called Wano'," Gion said with a curl of her lips.
"Cough! Cough!... that was a mistake. If I had another chance, I definitely wouldn't lose," Moria instantly lost his bravado, his tone full of guilt.
Kaido, there was no way he could beat him.
Kozuki Oden... not a chance either.
But aside from those two, the rest of Wano he could slaughter left and right.
"All you've got left is a sharp tongue," Gion laughed out loud.
She knew exactly how strong Moria was.
Before, Moria had even been her sparring partner. Though on paper their strength was about the same, Moria was no match for her at all.
"Kishishishishi, at least I provided Lord Rosse with this weapon. I've got a sense of participation too," Moria coughed twice, then puffed himself up again.
At the same time, his eyes drifted toward Rosse.
At Rosse's waist hung a blade that looked simple and unadorned.
But it had a resounding name.
The Black Blade, Shusui.
This blade also came from Wano, stolen from Ringo's tomb when Moria had fled the country before.
Its reputation was even greater than Oden's swords, Enma and Ame-no-Habakiri.
"The famous blade Shusui... Shimotsuki Ryuma's sword. He was the strongest swordsman of Wano during its Golden Age centuries ago. They say he singlehandedly repelled the World Government's invasion, never once tasting defeat," Gion murmured with emotion.
"At that time... how many powerhouses did the World Government send?", Hearing Ryuma's story, Toki suddenly lifted her head to look at Rosse, her eyes full of curiosity.
By now, she had long since opened up.
Whether what went in or what went out, in these past days all had been thoroughly explored.
Since that was already the case, why couldn't she ask a few questions?
"Well... back then..."
Rosse smiled, "How should I know? I don't study history."
Seeing Toki's disappointed look, Rosse's lips curved, and he added, "But among us, there is a scholar of history."
"Lady Olvia!"
Toki looked with joy at Olvia, who was holding Hiyori. She had almost forgotten. Olvia was an authority in historical research.
These past days, even while caring for Hiyori, Olvia hadn't stopped researching Wano's history.
As for the texts, Moria had been tasked with hauling them straight from the Flower Capital.
The ones already read were mostly discarded in Kuri.
Whether they were unique copies or not, that wasn't Rosse's concern.
Wano was about to become history anyway. Why bother leaving records?
"The history of Wano's contact with the outside world can be divided into three stages."
Once she began, Olvia spoke more and more, "The first was during Joy Boy's era. The Kozuki family chose to follow Joy Boy. The alliance between Wano and Zou should have been formed at that time."
"I know this part," Toki nodded gently, "Back then, Wano's terrain was completely different. Lord Kozuki chose to follow Joy Boy. Zunesha was Joy Boy's companion, and that was when Wano and the island on Zunesha's back, Zou, formed their bond."
"The Amatsuki and Kozuki families both recorded this?", Olvia's eyes lit up, looking at Toki with eager anticipation.
This was history she hadn't yet seen, an unknown portion.
In the World Government's records, there were notes about Wano's past.
Their version said that when Joy Boy foresaw his defeat, he used his powers to seal off all of Wano.
The natural barriers around Wano were actually artificially made, left behind in that era.
As for further details, Olvia didn't know.
"I'm not really clear either. I haven't read related documents, I just already knew," Toki blushed.
She wasn't a historian. She had simply lived through that time.
"Eh?", Olvia hadn't known about Toki's fruit. And with Toki's position here, it wasn't something to be openly explained.
But since she knew now, Rosse gave a little explanation from the side.
After he explained, Olvia's gaze toward Toki changed completely. Like she wanted to devour her whole.
So much so that Toki nervously shrank closer into Rosse's arms.
"Lady Olvia, if it's only about that time period, I'll definitely answer whatever I can."
"Thank you for your contribution to history," Olvia, hearing the promise, withdrew her gaze.
Any historian could not resist an 800-year-old living fossil.
For the seas, that was the Void Century.
But for Toki, she had personally lived through it.
Though she had been very young then, and knew little, history wasn't only about major events. Folk customs and daily life mattered too.
"Continuing from before. After Joy Boy's defeat, Wano chose national isolation. After that, there were two periods of heavy outside contact."
"One is the present. After Oden went to sea, his information spread widely. That brought Kaido and others to Wano, indirectly causing its upheaval."
At this, Olvia couldn't help glancing at Toki.
The Kozuki family's actions had been so absurd even she found them unbelievable.
One series of blunders, and they had let a bloodline-based country fall to outsiders.
In normal circumstances, few could mess things up so badly.
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