It took a full hour before Karl and Queen entered the Daimyo Palace.
Queen had wanted to rush in much earlier, but Karl stopped him every time. To avoid exposure, they had to be cautious.
Karl and Queen walked into a room together, deliberately making some noise to test if everyone was hypnotized.
Seeing no reaction, Karl and Queen became bolder, acting as if the Daimyo Palace was their own home.
They walked to the bedroom and found a dog and a cat sleeping in the room.
"Two Mink Tribe members?"
Queen knew about the Mink Tribe, as he had conducted experiments with Vegapunk before.
"They are also Kozuki Oden's retainers. Our target this time is Kozuki Oden's wife; they are not our objective," Karl said.
"But they are just two Mink Tribe members; let's spare their lives."
Queen also felt there was no great meaning in killing these people; it would only force Kozuki Oden to fight desperately, which would not be good.
They skipped them and moved on to the next.
They maneuvered through several rooms, all belonging to members of the Nine Red Scabbards.
This time, they arrived at a room that, though simply furnished, was exceptionally tidy and had a faint fragrance.
One look and it was clear it was a beautiful young girl's room, and Queen's lecherous nature immediately flared up.
He eagerly went to the bedroom.
Karl followed closely and saw Queen standing stupid still by the bed.
Karl walked over and saw a cute-looking 'beautiful young girl'.
Watching Queen's infatuated expression, Karl's own expression was unusually strange.
Because this 'beautiful young girl' was Kiku, one of the Nine Red Scabbards!
"Karl, we don't care about the others, but besides Oden's family, take this one too!"
Queen suddenly spoke, which made Karl's expression grow even stranger.
Suddenly, as if he thought of something amusing, he grinned, "Queen, you pervert, don't tell me you've fallen for her and plan to abduct her to be your wife?"
"What nonsense! I just pity her living in such a simple place!"
Queen immediately retorted.
"Alright, alright, alright, you, Queen, are a great person!"
Karl looked at Queen with a disdainful expression and said dismissively.
"Hmph! Think what you want, I just pity her."
Queen was too lazy to argue with Karl and directly carried Kiku away, his back straightening a bit.
It was a good thing Kiku was still dressed.
Karl's face twitched, uncomfortable, so uncomfortable.
It was too hard to hold back his laughter; if Queen weren't there, he would definitely burst out laughing.
"Queen, this one is yours, Oden's wife is up to me."
Karl, enduring the discomfort, could only divert his attention, otherwise, he really would not be able to stop himself from laughing.
"Oh, you little rascal aren't being honest! Can you even use it if you want it?"
Queen smirked, staring at where little Karl was.
A vein popped on Karl's forehead. Being stared at by a man at his 'big treasure' felt too weird.
"Hmph! If I leave her to you, that old pervert, I estimate she'd try to kill herself within two days."
Hmph! You can laugh now, but in two days, you'll have something to laugh about, Karl thought.
"Ah, right, right, right, fine, fine, it's yours. But you're still young now, don't think about such things."
Queen, with the air of an experienced man, said meaningfully to Karl.
Karl didn't want to argue with Queen anymore. Laugh, go ahead and laugh, in two days you'll have something to laugh about.
I'll hold this over you, Queen, for the rest of my life.
Seeing Karl stop bickering with him, Queen showed a victorious smile.
Humming a tune, he skipped out of the room, carrying Kiku, clearly in a very good mood.
"Stop dawdling, let's go, finish quickly and go home."
Karl now wanted to get away from this dead fatty as far as possible, the farther the better.
He wanted to leave and go back to embrace the soft and fragrant Yamato.
Soon, the two arrived at the last room in the Daimyo Palace. It was no different from the other rooms, except it was slightly larger and lacked luxurious decorations.
Kozuki Toki, who was sound asleep, holding two children, could never have imagined that she would wake up in a completely unfamiliar place.
"Karl, I'm happy today, so I'll let you have this one as promised."
Queen's current demeanor reminded Karl of a nouveau riche from his previous life, waving his hand, "Annual package!"
He was as arrogant as could be, as if these things were his charity to Karl.
Karl, who was originally a bit annoyed, immediately stopped being angry when he saw Kiku being carried by Queen.
"Alright, Queen, where are the Sea Stone handcuffs I asked you to bring?"
Karl asked Queen to take out the Sea Stone handcuffs, as Kozuki Toki's Devil Fruit was too overpowered. If she escaped this time, they would have to wait another 20 years.
"Don't worry, I definitely wouldn't forget. Don't you trust me?"
Queen took out the Sea Stone handcuffs and put them on Kozuki Toki.
"These handcuffs suppress the Devil Fruit while still allowing her to move freely."
"That's not bad. Do you have any more?"
Karl suddenly thought of a good training method: training with low-purity Sea Stone, just like Bullet in the original story.
"What are you saying! This is Wano Country! All the Sea Stone circulating on the seas right now isn't even one-tenth of Wano Country's."
It must be said that Wano Country truly had a lot of Sea Stone.
"Alright then, I'll get two pairs tomorrow. For now, let's focus on the main task."
Karl directly pulled back the blanket. Although she was still dressed, Kozuki Toki's graceful figure was fully displayed.
Karl gently lifted Kozuki Toki. Now, only the two children remained on the bed.
Kozuki Toki, still sound asleep from inhaling the sleeping gas, leaned against Karl the moment he picked her up. Karl could even smell her faint, unique fragrance.
Karl shifted to holding Kozuki Toki with one hand, and with the other, he picked up the infant still in swaddling clothes.
As for Momonosuke, Karl didn't even spare him a glance.
With a child in each hand, Karl signaled Queen that they were ready to leave.
"Karl, you don't want this one?"
Queen was a bit confused. This one was clearly Kozuki Oden's son; wouldn't capturing him be more useful?
"Queen, how did your brain become a scientist? You don't even understand this simple logic."
Karl looked disdainful.
Queen immediately became interested. "Is there something more to it?"
"Think about it, if Kozuki Oden returns and sees his children, wife, and retainers all dead, what would he do?"
Karl posed a question.
"He would definitely fight us to the death," Queen answered without hesitation.
"Then I ask you again, if Kozuki Oden returns and sees his retainers and son are still here, but only his wife and daughter are missing, what would he do?"
Karl posed another question.
"I understand. This way, Kozuki Oden will be restricted and won't dare to fight desperately."
"Karl, your new brain is so useful! Do you want to come to the lab and be my assistant?"
Queen now realized that Karl not only had strength but also brains. If he didn't die prematurely, he would definitely have a place among the strong on the seas in the future.
"I'm not interested in your experiments. Oh, right, if you hadn't reminded me, I would have really forgotten."
Karl walked back to the bed and looked at Momonosuke, who was still sleeping like a dead pig.
Karl first put Hiyori down, freeing up one hand.
He raised his hand and slapped Momonosuke's face. Momonosuke's left cheek visibly swelled.
Karl raised his hand again and slapped his right cheek, which also swelled. After hitting him, he wiped his hands on the blanket, as if he had touched something dirty.
"That's more like it."
Looking at his masterpiece, Karl nodded with satisfaction.
"Karl, why are you hitting a child for no reason?"
Karl's actions truly bewildered Queen.
"Nothing, I just get an inexplicable surge of anger whenever I look at that brat's face."
When Karl said this, Queen also carefully scrutinized Kozuki Oden's son.
"Indeed, looking at him for a while does make an inexplicable anger surge. Wait, I'll hit him twice too!"
"Hey, take it easy, don't kill him."
...