In the absence of opposition from the daimyos, the ordinary citizens of Wano Kuni naturally lacked the ability to resist. In fact, even these daimyos were somewhat confused about the situation, as there seemed to be an agreement between the Hundred Beasts Pirates and Kurozumi Orochi.
Kurozumi Orochi helped Kaidou build Ghost Island, and Kaidou also forcefully established several factories in Udon under Orochi's name. However, sometimes the actions of the Hundred Beasts were completely opposite to Orochi's, giving people the impression of a split personality.
Kojiro's business was going smoothly. With rare goods from the outside world along with his eloquence, he quickly repaid the first loan from the Hundred Beasts and acquired more goods.
Due to the influence of the Hundred Beasts Pirates, Orochi's men didn't stop Kojiro; however, other merchants weren't as forgiving, especially the one who had forced Kojiro's family into bankruptcy. He didn't believe that Kojiro would let him off the hook after his comeback.
So he brought gifts to Kurozumi Orochi, hoping he would deal with Kojiro. But unexpectedly, Kurozumi Orochi accepted the gifts without taking any action; he took the gifts outright but showed no intention of resolving the trouble.
On the first two follow-ups, he could still receive some responses, but after a few more attempts, he couldn't even meet him. In this situation, he made a new choice, which was to spend money to find some troublemakers.
A while ago, the Hundred Beasts conducted a cleanup of the street hoodlums, capturing many troublemakers and putting them to work in the mines, which kept the streets quiet for quite a long time.
The remaining ruffians, seeing the situation, hid away, but as time passed, they had to come out again to find their living. The reason they were called ruffians was that they had no regular jobs or substantial savings.
Short-term living was fine, but survival was impossible in the long run. So, for money, several ruffians took on the task of wrecking Kojiro's stall. This kind of thing they had done before, as the protection fees from stalls were their main source of income.
Though Hyogoro, known by the nickname "Hyogoro of the Flowers," was the underworld boss of the Flower Capital, not all ruffians were his subordinates. About two hundred people would heed his commands, and these individuals did not live off extorting protection fees from ordinary vendors.
Hyogoro himself was very friendly to the public and had a good reputation in Wano Kuni. These low-level hoodlums had no direct opportunity to join Hyogoro. The hierarchy in Wano Kuni regarding this was quite strict.
As for the law of Wano Kuni, engaging in minor skirmishes might result in being locked up for three or four days, but after release, they often returned more aggressively, so most chose to pay up to avoid further trouble. Such incidents became more frequent after Orochi took power.
The last cleanup by the Hundred Beasts not only supplemented the labor force at the mines but also gave the local civilians a preliminary understanding of the Hundred Beasts. As for those reformed hoodlums, they were living a busy life in the Udon Mine.
Recently, the work system there had been improved again because some pirates captured from outside after a defeat were also sent there.
Those defeated captives were different from these hoodlums. The captives were at the lowest level with indefinite work periods, while these hoodlums at least had a sentence and were given a small financial allowance in their accounts.
If they didn't work, they wouldn't even have food, but conversely, working hard would not only improve living conditions but also reduce their sentence.
No one had been sent to the mines for some time after that, but today there were newcomers—these few ruffians causing trouble.
Kurozumi Orochi not only took money without doing anything but also didn't provide any reason to that merchant. He did it on purpose, hoping to incite conflict between the Hundred Beasts Pirates and local residents, as only then could they achieve their goals.
Faced with such a situation, the Hundred Beasts naturally wouldn't hold back in sending these people to the mines, though not everyone—one person escaped amidst the chaos and fled to Kuri.
Hyogoro wasn't his boss, but he had his own boss. Currently, one of Kozuki Oden's household attendants, Kinemon, had previously been his boss.
Although Kinemon was born in Kuri, he was a hoodlum in the Flower Capital in his youth, and a well-known one at that, naturally having his own subordinates. However, after joining Kozuki Oden, his connections with these subordinates diminished.
After all, he was now a samurai and couldn't continue living the way he used to. Generally, those people wouldn't come to him unless necessary, but this time was different.
Though the Hundred Beasts Pirates took those hoodlums away under the guise of reeducation through labor, and indeed they were being reformed, Udon Mine had cut off contact with the outside world. Those captured lost all outside connection.
Rumors are the most terrifying thing. As stories are told and retold, they change. In the rumor mill, Udon Mine had already become a very dreadful place.
This left him at a loss after seeing others get captured, so he came to seek Kinemon's help.
"Big Brother Kinemon! It's not good, Ah Zhu and the others have been captured by the Hundred Beasts!"
"What did you say?! What exactly happened?"
"Well, it was like this. We took on a small job like before..."
"Didn't I tell you not to do that anymore?" Naturally, being a former hoodlum himself, he knew what business they were referring to.
"We really don't know how to do anything else... No, Big Brother, listen to me first." With that, he explained everything that had happened before, as well as the folk rumors, implicitly asking Kinemon to think of a way to get them out.
In fact, he could ignore it, but these people were once his little brothers, and besides, they always believed the Hundred Beasts Pirates harbored ill intentions, so he still decided to think of something.
He didn't tell anyone else about this since he considered it his private matter.
After pondering, he came up with a rather unique idea. He found a leaf and placed it on his head. Then, with a puff of smoke, his clothing turned into the uniform of the Hundred Beasts Pirates, plus he added sunglasses and a fake mustache to his face.
He planned to disguise himself as a member of the Hundred Beasts Pirates to spring his former underlings out.
Before coming to Wano Kuni, the Hundred Beasts Pirates already had their own uniformed attire. Apart from the officers, the ordinary members' clothing styles bore certain similarities.
That Kinemon could achieve this was due to his own fruit ability, the Paramecia-type: Garb-Garb Fruit, allowing him to freely transform his appearance based on personal imagination.
His idea was good; with thousands in the Hundred Beasts Pirates in Wano Kuni, not everyone could know each other, which gave him the chance to blend in. His idea was sound in theory, but reality was harsh.