Oden could no longer suppress the anger in his heart. He rushed out of the dilapidated Daimyo Palace and headed straight for the Flower Capital.
"Lord Oden!!!"
Kin'emon shouted from behind.
But Oden seemed not to hear, ignoring Kin'emon's shouts.
He could no longer wait to cleave Orochi in two.
Kozuki Oden had never been so angry.
As Kozuki Oden's territory, especially the Daimyo Palace in Kuri, how could Orochi not send spies to monitor it?
The moment Oden returned, someone noticed, and the news had already been sent to the Shogun's Palace. Now, seeing Kozuki Oden charging furiously towards the Flower Capital, the monitoring samurai and ninja panicked.
If Oden arrived before the news reached the Shogun, not only would the Shogun be doomed, but their own days of serving Orochi would also be miserable.
Hikawa Ogisaka, the captain of a samurai squad sent by Orochi to monitor the Daimyo Palace, had ten samurai under him.
He was originally a wandering samurai, and the men under him were all subordinates he gathered while wandering. Eventually, because he had some strength, Orochi sent people to recruit him and assign him to monitor the Nine Red Scabbards.
Seeing Oden rush out in a rage, Hikawa Ogisaka panicked slightly.
"You few, go and stop Kozuki Oden! You'll be greatly rewarded!"
Hikawa Ogisaka casually pointed at a few people and told them to intercept Oden.
The ones who were pointed at were a bit stunned.
"Huh? Me??"
Their expressions seemed to say, 'Are you joking?'
With Oden's current aura, who wouldn't be afraid? For them to go was simply suicide!
"Hmm? Is there a problem? Are you saying you're afraid of Oden or afraid of me?"
"If you don't go, I'll kill you right now!"
Hikawa Ogisaka threatened.
Under Hikawa Ogisaka's intimidation, they could only obey. Going might not mean death, but not going definitely meant death.
The few people singled out by Hikawa Ogisaka rushed out, their katanas already drawn, heading straight to kill Oden.
"Oden, today is your death..."
The few samurai had just rushed out, their words not even finished, when a red light flashed. Then they felt the world spin, saw their own lower bodies, and then completely lost consciousness.
Oden's anger had reached its peak at this moment. He couldn't be bothered with these rushing samurai. His feet didn't stop; he simply drew Ame no Habakiri and, with a single slash, cut the few obstructing samurai in half at the waist.
After Oden had rushed a certain distance, the upper halves of those samurai finally fell to the ground.
The other samurai not far away couldn't help but swallow their saliva.
That's terrifying. These few couldn't even stop Oden for a single step.
They all looked at their squad leader, Hikawa Ogisaka. Perhaps only their squad leader could offer some resistance.
"Why are you all looking at me? You want me to stop Kozuki Oden? Then what use are you to me?!"
He wouldn't admit that he was also afraid; that would be too embarrassing.
Besides Orochi, other Daimyo in other regions also learned about Kozuki Oden's return.
But they still didn't know that Kozuki Oden had already gone to the Flower Capital alone.
Among them were Shimotsuki Ushimaru, Daimyo of Ringo; Shimotsuki Yasuie, Daimyo of Hakumai; Fūgetsu Oumi, Daimyo of Kibi; and Fūgetsu Torafune, Daimyo of Udon.
The Daimyo of each region had already gathered all their existing remaining forces.
These years, they had been openly and covertly suppressed by Orochi, especially after Kaido's arrival, Orochi became even more rampant.
The current forces of the Hakumai and Ringo Daimyo Palaces were already less than a third of what they used to be. The other two regions were even worse off because, as vassals of the Kozuki family, they were suppressed even more harshly. Their original force of ten thousand men was now reduced to just over a thousand.
If it weren't for Oden's sudden return, the Daimyo of these two regions would likely soon be Daimyo in name only.
This was a heavy blow to every region. The lack of military power meant they couldn't effectively and promptly suppress and clear out bandits and wandering samurai.
Especially after learning that the forces of these Daimyo Palaces were greatly reduced, wandering samurai and bandits became frequent.
Orochi's plan was to slowly wear down these Daimyo Palaces, like boiling a frog in warm water.
Now that Oden had returned, they finally saw hope for Wano Country to return to its former prosperity.
They had already assembled their forces and sent people to Kuri to tell Oden that as soon as he gave the order, they would raise an army to overthrow Orochi's tyranny and the threat of the Beasts.
And Kozuki Oden, whom they regarded as their hope, had already single-handedly stormed into the Flower Capital.
He sped through the streets, kicking up dust that made the surrounding civilians cough.
"Is that...?"
"That looks like Lord Oden, doesn't it?"
"It seems to be Lord Oden. He appears to be heading to the Shogun's Palace?"
"Lord Oden must be going to the Shogun's Palace to inherit the position of Shogun, right?"
The civilians still didn't know what had truly happened in Wano Country. They only knew that Shogun Orochi had been appointed by the former Shogun, Kozuki Sukiyaki, to manage things temporarily and that he would step down when Kozuki Oden, the rightful heir, returned.
Orochi had already received news of Kozuki Oden's arrival in the Flower Capital. He was in extreme panic.
This wasn't like last time when Kozuki Oden returned and left immediately. This time, Kozuki Oden was heading straight for the Flower Capital.
This left him no time to notify Kaido. Aside from Orochi's panic, the siblings Kurozumi Semimaru and Kurozumi Higurashi were unusually calm, as if they didn't put Kozuki Oden in their eyes at all.
At this moment, an extremely suppressed roar approached from a distance.
"Orochi!!"
The extremely suppressed anger was like an invisible giant hand tightly squeezing Orochi's neck, making his breathing stop for a few seconds.
"Eek!!!!"
Kurozumi Orochi was so scared his eyes almost popped out.
At this point, Kozuki Oden had also reached Orochi. Kozuki Oden's eyes were bloodshot, and faint electrical arcs flowed around him, making him look truly like a merciless monster.
This made Orochi's heart stop. He stumbled and fell to the ground.
Kozuki Oden didn't care what Orochi looked like now. He only wanted to cut Orochi down. Oden raised Enma and slashed down without holding back.
Clang!!
Suddenly, an invisible barrier blocked Oden's attack. Orochi watched the blade above his head, a cold gleam flashing and disappearing. The trembling Orochi's pant leg was soaked by a warm liquid, and a pungent smell spread in the confined space.
The Kurozumi siblings frowned in unison, looking at Orochi, and saw water flowing from under his backside.
But now was not the time to think about such things. They had to deal with the troublesome Oden first.
Oden was stunned when his attack was blocked, then unleashed an even more terrifying attack, but the transparent barrier showed no signs of breaking.
Kozuki Oden, not believing it, began to search for weaknesses in the barrier, attacking furiously around its perimeter.
"Orochi!!!"
Kurozumi Orochi, seeing that Oden couldn't break the barrier no matter how he attacked, began to act arrogant.
"Hahahahaha, hahahahaha"
"Oden, if you have the guts, come and kill me! Hahahahaha"
Facing Orochi's provocation, Oden grew even more furious, and his attacks became more violent.
"Orochi! Give back Wano Country, the Shogun's position, Toki, and Hiyori!!!"
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