"Of course, ordinary methods won't work, but as long as he's still a person, he'll definitely have a weakness."
Monkey grinned, revealing his blood-stained black teeth.
"Where is Kaido now?"
"He returned to Onigashima yesterday…"
Orochi hurriedly took a sip of sake to calm himself.
Besides the six main regions of Wano, there was also an isolated island overseas to the south.
It was called Onigashima, and that was the Beasts Pirates' lair.
"He went back? This can kill Kaido!"
With a couple of strange laughs, Monkey took out a small glass bottle from his sleeve, containing a light green liquid.
"This is… poison?" Orochi was stunned.
"Its scientific name is 'NHC10'. Living in Wano your whole life, you must have never heard of it."
"That's the Four Emperors Kaido! Will poisoning him work?" Orochi's face turned grim.
"This isn't just any poison."
Monkey didn't understand anything about NHC10; it was all knowledge his heavenly father had told him.
At this point, he repeated:
"In the outer seas, only specific countries and specific doctors are qualified to use it."
"It's a prohibited item under the World Government's jurisdiction!"
"It's an expensive drug itself, used to treat certain diseases… But if ingested in more than a certain amount, it will show extremely strong addictiveness. When the residual amount of the drug in the body reaches a certain threshold, it becomes… a deadly poison!"
Monkey opened the lid of the glass bottle and poured a drop into his own cup.
Then, he drank it in one gulp.
"You… what are you doing?" Orochi was bewildered.
"Don't worry, this small amount is harmless. When mixed into sake, it won't change the color of the sake, nor will it affect the taste."
Orochi was numb; what a crazy old woman!
He heard the other party continue:
"Kaido is a drunkard. If we poison him in his sake like this, accumulating over time, he'll slowly be poisoned until one day… he's killed by the deadly poison!"
"Just like how we dealt with Kozuki Sukiyaki before?"
Recalling the days he served by Kozuki Sukiyaki's side, slowly poisoning him, Orochi couldn't help but narrow his eyes.
He was familiar with this matter.
But there was a question…
"Why are you so urgent to kill Kaido?"
"If we don't kill him, he'll kill us sooner or later!!"
Monkey showed anger, his bloodshot eyes wide: "Don't be so naive, Orochi! You're just a puppet now, do you understand? Do you want to be Kaido's puppet your whole life!"
The cooperation between the Kurozumi family and Kaido was not equal.
With unequal power, their status was naturally unequal as well.
The reason Kaido kept Orochi was only to have someone help him manage Wano, while the Beasts Pirates took the opportunity to grow stronger.
In the foreseeable future, once Kaido felt the Kurozumi family was useless, he would immediately reclaim the shogun's throne.
"What you said makes sense…"
Orochi calmly thought for a moment and had to admit that Kurozumi Higurashi was right.
He was able to sit in this position also thanks to Kurozumi Higurashi's constant strategizing.
"Is this poison reliable?"
"First, use a small dosage to make Kaido initially addicted, and after he forms a dependency, suddenly increase to a lethal dose. At the fastest, the plan can be completed in three to five months!"
Upon hearing this, Orochi was completely swayed.
No one liked being a puppet!
However, he wasn't a brainless hothead. He himself knew how to make medicine, and the poison he gave Kozuki Sukiyaki was personally concocted by him.
Although he had never seen a prohibited drug like NHC10, he could quickly learn its efficacy after conducting an experiment.
Thus, the two began to conspire in low voices.
"Tomorrow's execution will be an excellent start…"
They discussed for several hours.
Monkey stood up and said, "Next, I need to hide. If Kaido finds me, remember to collect my body. I don't want to be left exposed in the wilderness…"
"Guhehehe, I understand."
Orochi laughed happily.
…
Inside the Research Institute.
Edie was conducting a preliminary analysis of Lady Toki's blood.
Developing a "time machine" was real, not a lie.
It wasn't necessarily about what he wanted to do with it, but merely to satisfy his own curiosity.
At this moment, a knock on the door sounded.
"Father."
"Come in."
Kuzo pushed the door open and entered, "The intelligence from Monkey, he has completed the task you assigned."
"Understood. Proceed as planned."
Edie nodded.
The plan itself was not complex; in fact, it left many flaws.
However, the simpler the plan, the easier it was to succeed.
As long as the action was fast enough, once everything settled, nothing else mattered.
Orochi had charged Kozuki Oden with "rebellion" and executed him.
He could, of course, also charge Orochi with "rebellion."
Two rebellious traitors dying on the same day would also make for a good story.
…
Time flew by, and it was the next day in a blink of an eye.
10:55 AM.
The area around the execution platform was crowded with people.
A large cauldron, five meters in diameter, was set over a bonfire, with raging flames cooking oil, which sizzled in the pot.
Orochi and Kaido sat on the viewing platform.
"It's time for the execution, guhehehehe… Bring the prisoners!"
Orochi drank deeply from his sake and laughed loudly.
At his command, ten prisoners were brought up.
The main culprit, Kozuki Oden.
The nine accomplices:
Kin'emon, Denjiro, Ashura Doji, Nekomamushi, Inuarashi, Raizo, Kiku no Shin, Kawamatsu…
And the spy, Kanjiro.
These nine were the so-called "Akazaya Nine."
Seeing these ten rebels ascend the stage, the Flower Capital citizens discussed animatedly.
"In the end, he still couldn't defeat Kaido, ending up like this…"
"I thought the Foolish Lord at least had real strength."
"What are these guys doing, rebellion? They were suppressed the same day."
The constant murmurs of the crowd did not sway Kozuki Oden in the slightest.
He stood on the platform in front of the oil cauldron, gazing at the hot oil within.
"Hurry up and get into the cauldron, Kozuki Oden!" Orochi snorted coldly, then mocked with a laugh: "Do you want me to give you a hand? Guhehehe…"
The jailer, holding a long halberd, immediately shouted: "Get in quickly!"
Kozuki Oden ignored him, turned to face Orochi and Kaido, and said in a deep voice:
"I want a chance, I must survive!"
"Begging for mercy? What nonsense are you talking about now?"
Orochi's face was full of disdain.
Kaido narrowed his eyes, took a hearty gulp of sake, and said:
"Are you such a man who fears death? I misjudged you, Kozuki Oden."
"Kaido."
Kozuki Oden was calm and composed, as if he wasn't the prisoner being executed: "The ten of us will go in together. You set a time, and if anyone survives, please release them!"
"Oden-sama!" The Akazaya Nine were instantly startled.
Facing Kozuki Oden's challenge of endurance, Kaido's mouth tightened.
Orochi laughed in exasperation, mocking:
"Are you anxious, Oden? Saying such foolish things at death's door. This is a cauldron execution that can kill a person instantly. How hot do you think the oil inside is?!"
Having been heated since early yesterday morning, the oil in the cauldron was also not ordinary cooking oil.
By the time of the execution, the oil temperature was over five hundred degrees Celsius!
What was the concept of five hundred degrees?
Orochi only knew that if a person went in, they would scream a few times and then die.
If Edie were to explain, he would say:
The instantaneous heat transfer could ignite a human and rapidly destroy human proteins.
"Oh ro ro ro… Interesting!"
Kaido grinned, laughing loudly: "I'll give you one hour. This is enough time to get dizzy even in a bath. Someone, go get a clock!"
"No need, I brought one."
Suddenly, a figure in a white lab coat walked onto the execution platform.
Edie was carrying a grandfather clock.
"Edie…" Kaido smiled: "You came just in time."
"Good afternoon, Kaido-sensei."
Edie smiled slightly and placed the grandfather clock in the center of the execution platform.
"It's 11:00 AM now. As agreed, if you can last until 12:00 PM, you will be free… Kozuki Oden."
"Don't go back on your word, Kaido!" Oden said gravely.
"Of course."
Kaido drank his sake and readily agreed.
Edie simply felt speechless about it.
Would any fool actually believe it?
Or was it just the last straw for someone at the end of their rope…
Kozuki Oden roared and leaped into the cauldron.
"Ah ah ah ah ah ah!!"
High temperatures and intense heat attacked Oden's body, causing him to let out a painful scream.
Especially the soles of his feet; when he stepped on the bottom of the cauldron, the temperature there was even higher, scalding him so much that he flailed his limbs in the hot oil.
"Oden-sama!" The Akazaya Nine were in tears.
Kin'emon gritted his teeth, about to follow him into the oil pot:
"We cannot let our lord suffer alone, everyone…!"
"Wait, Kin'emon!!"
Kozuki Oden endured the pain, roaring to stop them: "All of you just stand there, don't move!"
He grabbed the plank they were standing on and suddenly lifted it above his head.
The nine retainers were stunned.
"Oden-sama…!!"
"Gu hehe hehe… delightful, truly delightful! Oden, you truly are a clown who brings joy to people, gu hehe hehe…"
Orochi's unrestrained laughter rang out.
Edie smiled without speaking.
What's the rush? I'll send you down to join him soon!.