Beside him, Kurozumi Kanjuro was about to use his Paramecia · Brush-Brush Fruit to draw a means of transport, but he was shocked by the scene before him. In this isolationist place,
Kurozumi Kanjuro's only knowledge of Hera was that she was a Marine Admiral; he knew nothing else.
Hera looked at the stunned Kurozumi Kanjuro: "What, wasn't it you who told me to come here? Or are you saying you don't recognize me anymore?"
Kurozumi Kanjuro shook his head and hurriedly stepped into the portal.
Hera and the group from the Argo followed closely behind, arriving in the Flower Capital. Unlike the dilapidated outskirts, this place seemed unaffected.
Kurozumi Kanjuro quickly tried to take credit for his master, Orochi: "The fact that this place was preserved is all thanks to Orochi's efforts; he was the one who protected this pure land from Kaido's hands."
Hera smiled. She already knew Orochi's location, and just as Kanjuro said, his close associates had all gathered in the Shoguns Mansion.
Hera watched the sun gradually setting: "Yes, the time is about right. Lead the way."
Kurozumi Kanjuro immediately notified Orochi of Hera's arrival. Orochi hurriedly tidied himself up and went to the entrance to greet them.
Orochi watched as the group walked out, first sizing up the members from the Argo, trying to find Hera's figure among them.
After ruling out Empress Hancock, whom he recognized, his eyes lit up when he saw Theseus, who was playing with the Rigging on his body.
He thought to himself: "To actually have a mechanical dragon circling around him, so domineering. It seems this person is the Nightmare Admiral."
Thus, he quickly bypassed Hera, who was walking at the very front and chewing on a candied apple she had bought from a roadside stall. As he passed her, he muttered: "Whose kid is this? Why is she walking at the very front?"
He then knelt down before Theseus: "Lord Hera, have you finally come to rescue us?"
Although Orochi's muttering was quiet, everyone present was an expert. Orochi's grumblings rang clearly in their ears.
The stick of the candied apple in Hera's hand was instantly snapped.
Just as the candied apple was about to fall to the ground, Ain had already controlled it to prevent it from falling, making it float back to Hera's lips:
"There, there, children should eat more sweets, shouldn't they, little kid?"
A surge of resentment rose from Hera's body, and the originally clear sky turned gloomy.
Hearing Orochi's words, the other members of the Argo began to stifle their laughter.
Nami couldn't hold back and burst out laughing, patting Hera's shoulder as she said: "Captain, he said you're a kid!"
Theseus looked at Orochi before him and took a step to the side: "Are you looking for our Captain? She's right there at the front."
An intense sense of crisis from behind made Orochi's entire body stiffen. He slowly turned his head to look at Hera, who had her head lowered, as cold sweat broke out on his forehead.
"Hehehehe... a kid? I didn't expect that after becoming an Admiral, someone would still call me that."
"Never mind, there's nothing to say to such vermin. I originally wanted to see what you had prepared."
Hera spoke with a hint of self-deprecation, but in Orochi's ears, it sounded full of killing intent.
He wanted to defend himself, but he suddenly felt a wave of weakness in his body. Looking down, he discovered that a large hole had already been opened in his chest.
Orochi looked down at the hole in his chest in disbelief, spitting out a mouthful of blood as he pointed a trembling finger at Hera: "You... you actually..."
He then closed his eyes. Seeing his true lord fall in a pool of blood, Kurozumi Kanjuro could no longer care about his undercover identity.
He switched his brush from his left hand to his right, and an exquisitely drawn phoenix emerged from his hand, intending to take Orochi and flee.
Looking at the magnificently drawn phoenix, Hera remarked: "So you *can* draw well after all."
Several dark shadows rose from the ground, binding the phoenix that was trying to fly away.
Orochi, who had already become a corpse, suddenly snapped his eyes open. The hole in his chest gradually healed, and his body expanded in the sky, transforming into a seven-headed serpent.
Venom spewed from the mouth of the Yamata no Orochi. Orochi no longer cared about his subordinates or the nearby citizens.
He only wanted to use this method to block the pace of Hera's attack.
But the poisonous mist he sprayed did not spread out as he imagined. A pair of wings unfolded behind Reiju, absorbing the scattered poison into them.
"Zoan · Snake-Snake Fruit · Mythical Zoan Type · Yamata no Orochi Model? It's truly a good fruit. It's a pity its taste in choosing a master isn't very good, ending up with a piece of trash like you."
Hera's figure split into seven. While her Main Body remained motionless on the ground, seven clones dressed in white military uniforms leaped into the air, and seven blade marks neatly sliced through Orochi's heads.
Orochi sensed the approaching danger, but without Armament Haki and having failed to develop his fruit's potential, how could he possibly resist saikū's sharp edge?
"How is this possible... how can she be so strong?"
Just seconds after manifesting the Yamata no Orochi form, Orochi closed his eyes forever.
In the crowd, Denjiro, disguised as Kyoshiro, widened his eyes. Orochi had died right before him, leaving him, who had lurked for twenty years waiting for the prophecy, somewhat shocked.
At the same time, he also felt something was wrong with the exquisite painting Kanjuro had drawn with his right hand. Among the Nine Shadows of the Crimson Sky, Kanjuro always used his left hand to draw, claiming to be left-handed.
They had thought at the time that it was a bit of a waste for the Paramecia · Brush-Brush Fruit to be eaten by someone with such mediocre drawing skills.
He hadn't expected that Kanjuro had been hiding his true self all along.
Things had developed too quickly. Kurozumi Kanjuro hadn't even reacted yet to the fact that his lord, the Shogun of Wano Country, had died in the street because he misidentified someone.
The corpse of the Yamata no Orochi sank into Hera's shadow. Only then did Kurozumi Kanjuro finally snap back to his senses, leveling his brush in front of Hera and shouting:
"You actually killed our Shogun in the middle of the street! Is the Marine intending to become an enemy of Wano Country?"
Hera nodded, flicking the blood of Orochi remaining on saikū: "And what if we are? Besides, do a handful of measly ninjas like you really pose any threat?"
Then, Hera revealed a bright smile, her crimson pupils staring at Kurozumi Kanjuro: "And thanks to Orochi, I don't have to go looking for everyone one by one."
The City of Devouring Time instantly enveloped the Shoguns Mansion, trapping everyone present within Hera's domain.
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