Kozuki Oden is different from other Kozuki Family daimyo, his martial prowess is so high that none of the remaining Kurozumi Family members are a match for him, and they have to seek external help.
Kaidou received the newspaper and looked at the headline news of that issue.
[A fierce warrior from the Whitebeard Pirates, a samurai from Wano Kuni.]
"King, have we talked about this guy before?" This newspaper wasn't a new issue, and Kaidou felt that this person looked a bit familiar.
"Yes, Lord Arceus mentioned him not long ago, but at that time you were drinking, so you said to us, 'It's just that Whitebeard has taken in another son, no need to pay much attention.'"
In the New World, understanding which cadres serve under the great pirates and what abilities those cadres might have are important aspects of intelligence gathering between pirates.
And Morgans' newspaper is the primary source of much of that intelligence.
"However, intelligence shows that Whitebeard regards him as a brother, and his own martial prowess is indeed very strong."
"So, if we take direct violent measures, will we directly clash with Whitebeard..."
Whether it's the Whitebeard Pirates alone or Wano Kuni alone, Kaidou doesn't have to worry too much. After all, besides him, there is also Arceus, and the cadres have already matured.
But if it's Wano Kuni combined with the Whitebeard Pirates, that's not acceptable. His military strength is still too little, and after some thought, Kurozumi Higurashi's suggestion is one that fits the current situation well.
"Is that Kozuki Oden very strong?"
"Without actual battle achievements as reference, our people haven't had any conflicts with Whitebeard. Morgans' news, as you know, is what we rely on."
King provided Kaidou with his response when facing his question.
Then there was one last question remaining. Any investment must yield due returns, and Kaidou needed to determine whether Wano Kuni was worth his great effort.
Whether it's the more advanced weapons or the so-called Seastone, currently, these are only rumors and information coming from Kurozumi Higurashi's mouth, seeing is believing, and he needs Kurozumi Higurashi to produce proof of all this.
"You didn't come empty-handed, did you?"
"Of course not, I've brought everything."
Wano Kuni isn't close by; she certainly didn't come alone by boat, she doesn't have the ability to navigate The Sea alone, she has several attendants with her.
The boats manned by those people followed Scotch's ship to this location.
Soon, several boxes were moved in, filled with various firearms and explosives.
Without Kaidou's consent, she wouldn't dare directly bring these things in, otherwise, it would be seen as an "assassination attempt."
"Queen, go check the goods, see if this old woman is telling the truth."
Queen excels at biochemistry, but his mechanical skills aren't bad either, after all, he's someone who installed a machine gun inside his own body. After taking the weapons brought by Kurozumi Higurashi, he dismantled them into parts amid clinking sounds and then reassembled them.
"Big brother Kaidou, they seem decent, but the power and range still need to be tested... Hey! Kid, don't play with grenades!"
Externally, the application of gunpowder is generally for dirt bombs or detonators, or old-fashioned artillery shells. Fragmentation grenades and stick grenades are rare items, due to the skewed technology development, these items are even less common than rocket launchers and shoulder cannon.
Mainly because they are somewhat impractical, facing strong opponents, these throw-based weapons are practically useless, so development in this area was overlooked.
Setsuna had never seen a grenade before, and seeing the things inside the box, she curiously picked one up.
"I'm 10 years old! At 10 years, the Fur Race doesn't count as kids anymore!"
"Here, you're just a brat, children shouldn't play with unfamiliar, unknown weapons, go continue your sparring with Zeraora." Queen grabbed Setsuna by the scruff of the neck and brought her back to Zeraora.
She and Zeraora had just finished sparring and were on a break; Zeraora was reading the newspaper Kaidou had just put down to understand the situation a bit before reporting back to Arceus. Momentarily not paying attention, Setsuna had gone to play with the grenade.
"Setsuna, be more composed, don't you want to be the king of Zou? A king can't be rash."
Saying so, he handed a newspaper to Setsuna, which contained intelligence maps about the Whitebeard Pirates from the Navy, whose photographers probably work harder than ordinary soldiers, and Setsuna recognized two familiar silhouettes from the photo.
"Why do those two backs look so much like Inuarashi and Nekomamushi?"
However, she couldn't be certain, as the camera was primarily focused on Kozuki Oden, with just a few silhouettes in the background.
The room fell silent for a while, as Queen had gone out with the goods to test the firepower, and Kaidou was waiting for the results of the testing.
After a series of gunshots and explosions, Queen returned and nodded toward Kaidou, stating there was no issue with the quality of the weapons.
"Big brother Kaidou, both firearms and melee weapons are of excellent quality, she wasn't lying."
"In that case, Kurozumi Higurashi, huh, I agree to your terms, but we need to prepare a bit."
"Hee-hee-hee, I said this was a good proposal, here are the communication tools and the Eternal Pose to Wano Kuni. Use this to contact me when you reach near Wano Kuni, and I'll come out to receive you, oh, and Master Orochi has also prepared a gift for you."
After saying this, she and her group left behind the items and then departed, at which point Arceus arrived here.
"What's going on, why was there an explosion sound?"
"Just tested some new weapons, and yes, we can start preparing to move; just now..." Kaidou roughly explained what had happened before, but Arceus frowned throughout.
"Is that fool? How much can you really extract by squeezing potential dry like that?"
"Doesn't matter, I wasn't planning to really listen to him anyway, once we take over Wano Kuni, after a while we'll just kick him out, not everyone is qualified to collaborate."
Although said nicely, to put it bluntly, the Kurozumi Family merely wants to use Kaidou to rule Wano Kuni, making him Wano Kuni's enforcer.
From the beginning, Kaidou had no intention of thoroughly cooperating with them; the Kurozumi Family wanted to use his strength, and he similarly wanted to use their layout, it's hard to feel assured if such a realm is not completely under control.
He will make them understand what it means to invite a god but cannot send him away easily; once he enters Wano Kuni, getting rid of him won't be so easy.
The development within the Hundred Beasts Territory has already proven that the current production method is much more efficient than mere squeezing.
"This works too, let him do the initial damage, a face of good and bad is necessary, only through comparison will they understand the benefit we bring, right, what's in that box?"