Yamato felt uneasy under Gusion's gaze.
She realized that every time Gusion looked at her like this, he'd ask something weird, and her worldview would be shaken, making her want to shut down.
"Gusion-dono, about the Monkey King…"
Yamato started.
But Gusion raised his hand to interrupt. "Yamato, I just thought of something."
"But I don't want to hear your questions, Gusion-dono…"
Yamato looked pained. She was starting to doubt whether she was really Kozuki Oden.
"Don't you want to hear the Monkey King's story?"
Gusion smiled, like an uncle tricking a little girl.
Yamato's face was conflicted. She wanted to hear the story, but not Gusion's questions.
After a bitter struggle, her desire to hear the story won out, and she nodded reluctantly. "Fine, ask."
Gusion pointed to the suffering, hungry prisoners. "Yamato, these are Wano's people, right?"
Yamato hadn't expected such a simple question and nodded. "Of course—otherwise, why would they be imprisoned?"
Gusion smirked. "So, Yamato, do you think they're pitiful?"
"Pitiful?"
Yamato tilted her head. "Not really. At least here, they get to eat. People outside have to work for food too. The old, weak, and sick can't eat their fill here or outside."
Gusion was stunned. He hadn't thought Yamato's simple mind could be so insightful.
Maybe it was because Yamato was an innocent girl, able to see through to the heart of things.
Thinking it over, she was right—people in Kuri had no way to work for food, and in Wano, ordinary people just sold their labor or whatever they had to survive.
"Do you think they're pitiful, Gusion-dono?"
Seeing Gusion pause, Yamato asked back.
"My opinion doesn't matter. Yamato, did you feel bad when you were hungry?"
Gusion changed the angle.
Yamato thought for a moment. "Yes, it was awful. So, yeah, those hungry people are pitiful."
Now, when she looked at the old, weak prisoners, her gaze changed. She'd always thought Udon Prison was a place to get food.
Every time she came, she focused on healing and eating, then escaped when better, never noticing the many still going hungry.
Using her own experience, Gusion made her recall her own hunger, triggering her empathy for these prisoners.
"Yamato, aren't you always calling yourself Kozuki Oden? What was his status?"
Gusion continued.
"He was the man who would become shogun of Wano, open the country, and overthrow Kaido—a hero."
Yamato replied without thinking.
This time, Gusion didn't argue, just nodded. "So he was Wano's hope. You said he was loved by the people, right?"
"Of course!"
Yamato nodded excitedly, thinking Gusion finally agreed with her.
But Gusion's next words left her stunned. "Then, as Wano's leader, if you think these people are pitiful, why don't you help them?"
Yamato went blank, completely lost.
After a while, she pulled out Oden's diary and flipped through it quickly, her eyes growing more confused.
"I am Kozuki Oden…"
Yamato mumbled. "So I don't have to help them."
"Yamato, do you know what you're saying?"
Gusion's expression turned serious.
Yamato shivered, dropping her diary but not picking it up, looking at Gusion in fright. "I… I don't know. I… I'm Oden, but Oden never personally helped pitiful people, or helped the country in times of trouble. I just need to be loved by the people."
Gusion saw Yamato's mental defenses crumbling and pressed on: "Doesn't it feel strange? Oden left his people in crisis to go adventuring. Even after returning, he never did anything for them. Do you think that's right?"
Yes, the original manga kept painting Oden as a hero, but in fact, he never did anything for the people.
Hungry people didn't get fed, those freezing didn't get clothes, and not to mention his wild youth. After returning, he compromised with Orochi and danced like a clown for years.
He wasn't secretly organizing a rebellion—he just wasted six years, dancing in the street, giving Kaido time to grow.
Even when he was clowning, he didn't help the poor, not even by hunting for food for starving kids. During this time, the people hated Oden.
They'd suffered for years, waiting for Oden to save them, but he compromised and danced in the street.
When he died, people said he'd endured because Orochi had hostages, and everyone was moved…
Frankly, Gusion found it all a bit ridiculous. Both Oden and the people of Wano were pretty abstract.
He could only admire Oden's strength and straightforwardness.
"But… but Oden always acted that way."
Yamato's voice grew smaller, feeling something inside her crumbling.
"Just because he always did, does that make it right?"
Gusion pointed at the old prisoners grateful for leftovers. "Yamato, you feel sorry for them. You say you want to defeat Kaido and liberate Wano, but all these years, besides fighting your father, have you helped any of Wano's people?"
Yamato was at a loss, her eyes filling with tears. "I… I feel like I should help them, but Oden's diary never says he did."
"If it's not written, you won't do it? Do you think people will love you if you don't do anything for them?"
Gusion said. He actually thought Oden probably did nothing, but people still loved him.
Wano's people weren't so much worshipping Oden as hating Orochi and Kaido. Compared to them, the Kozuki clan seemed great—they were loyal to the bloodline, not just the man.
In short, it was bloodline worship. Wano was a feudal society, and people naturally thought Kozuki rule was right. So even a kid like Momonosuke could be shogun, and people would weep with joy.
But if Oden really ruled Wano, would he do a good job?
Not necessarily…
Given his life of brothels and kidnapping women, with no management experience, he might have been a lousy shogun.
"Isn't that how it works? I'm Oden, so of course the people will love me."
Yamato said uncertainly.
Gusion smiled. "Then go out and shout that you're Oden. See if anyone loves or admires you."
Yamato fell silent. She'd tried that before, but people looked at her like she was crazy.
"Wake up, Yamato. You're not Oden. They're just numb people in a feudal system. Even if you perfectly inherit Oden's spirit and do as he did, no one will love you."
Gusion's words pierced Yamato's heart. "In a way, over the long run, he may have done less for this country than your father."
Yamato, shaken, tried to argue. "How could Kaido be better!? He only brought pain!"
Gusion looked into the distance at the factories and the smokestacks. "Kaido's environmental damage is huge, but he did bring Wano into the industrial age—a kind of progress. He's just too brutal and bad at management, which made the country this way."
From his observations, Gusion felt that while some places like Kuri were poor, the main cities were doing okay.
The country didn't lack food, just had massive distribution issues.
Overall, Wano under Kaido might be economically better than under the Kozuki clan.
Kaido wanted a whole country, so he didn't destroy Wano—he was its ruler and protector.
After Kaido arrived, weapons factories were built, SMILE fruit business, Seastone crafted goods—these brought profits to both the Beast Pirates and Wano.
Kaido was a villain, but he opened Wano's borders and pushed this closed, backward society forward.
After decades or a century, when the Beast Pirates are gone, the country will develop rapidly, thanks to its industrial and economic foundation.
If Kaido understood management, he could have made Wano great—happy people, higher factory output.
But Kaido was an uncultured pirate, only thinking short-term.
Kaido's two worst crimes were: letting Orochi rule Wano, enabling his cruelty, and building factories without any environmental care, ruining rivers and farmland. In ten years, famine and water shortages would follow.
As for the products—Seastone, weapons, and SMILEs—the latter were defective, but there were plenty of people willing to risk it for power, so they sold well.
Kaido didn't force people to eat defective fruits—Orochi's perversion caused the Kuri disaster.
Even without the SMILE business, weapons and Seastone would bring plenty of income.
One more thing: the SMILE fruits were terrible compared to Vegapunk's real Devil Fruits. They were ugly, full of side effects, and barely increased power. Most of Kaido's subordinates who ate them were useless, easily swept away by Conqueror's Haki.
Gusion suspected Kaido had been tricked by Doflamingo into this bad business, wasting money and ruining potentially good crew members.