[It's all Nekomamushi's fault. If it weren't for him irritating me, I wouldn't have misspoken. We're both cat mink, so why is there such a huge difference?]
One's a round ball and also has a very heat-sensitive cat tongue, is extremely impulsive, and frequently gets into arguments with her.
The other is handsome, powerful, and takes good care of her in all aspects. In comparison, Nekomamushi's reputation plummeted in Setsuna's eyes.
She doesn't remember much from before she was two, but between three and five, she was mostly playing with Inuarashi and Nekomamushi. When she was five, Nekomamushi and Inuarashi secretly left Zou.
And she left Zou when she was seven, then very unluckily got captured, only to be rescued by Shaina along the way. Up to today, she has lived in the Hundred Beasts Pirates for almost five years.
Calculating carefully, she has actually spent more time with Zeraora.
[He could at least learn a bit from Inuarashi. Seriously, Hichugiskhan and dad never spoke to me that way—who does he think he is...] Writing this, she couldn't help thinking of Zou, then she realized she'd forgotten something crucial.
She went to find Inuarashi and Nekomamushi partly because she saw familiar faces, and partly because she wanted to get a piece of Life Card from them.
The size of the Life Card doesn't affect its function; just a small piece would be enough to guide her back to Zou. But after being provoked by Nekomamushi, she forgot all about the important matter.
[Damn that Nekomamushi!!!]
At the end of her diary, she drew a sketch of Nekomamushi and placed a big cross over it, as if trying to vent her inner anger this way.
She then turned off the lights and lay in bed, pulling the covers over her head, lost in her thoughts.
Though electricity doesn't exist locally in Wano Kuni, building a generator and laying a few circuits is a simple task for Queen. However, the generator here at the farm is a bit special; besides solar power, it can also be manually powered.
The electricity-generating setup is in Zeraora's room, whose daily training includes exercising on a bike to improve his stamina while connecting the generator wires to himself for a charge.
Giving himself a little shock now and then seems to be beneficial for him.
Meanwhile, in Oden Castle, Denjiro returned to Kuri. During the day, he runs all over Wano Kuni, basically doing three things: borrowing money, repaying money, and making money.
Kinemon's matters drained their savings, and they're now mostly relying on financial support from Shimotsuki Yasuie's household, but the debt must be repaid.
It's only right to repay debts. They owe too much to the Shimotsuki household, and Denjiro, being the best at such tasks, has all these responsibilities on his shoulders.
After losing Peach Blossom Spring Farm, he's also responsible for the food, clothing, shelter, and transportation of Oden Castle's residents.
He's pleased that Inuarashi and Nekomamushi returned, and even more so that the lord has a wife and children now. However, he's also aware that there are five more mouths to feed in his family.
Not counting the kids, both Nekomamushi and Inuarashi are heavy eaters among the Fur Race.
Thinking about it, Ashura Doji's Head Mountain Bandit Gang seems like a good place to be; at least they could be self-sustaining there without lacking food and drink.
Looking at Inuarashi and Nekomamushi, Denjiro had some odd thoughts.
They also understood why Kinemon didn't greet Oden; after enduring a series of tortures, even someone as strong as Kinemon hasn't completely recovered, though he has recently seen some improvements.
"Are all these things caused by the Hundred Beasts Pirates?"
"Sort of, but not entirely. Last time, Kinemon was too impulsive; because of his former subordinates, he had a conflict with the Hundred Beasts, and as a result..."
Bringing up this topic, the result becomes quite clear.
"Is there any conflict between Setsuna and you?"
"Setsuna?"
"It's the mink from earlier in the day. She used to be our friend; we grew up together on Zou. I didn't expect to see her here."
Compared to Nekomamushi, Inuarashi is calmer and more rational. He is more concerned about Setsuna's relationship with them, as if there's any enmity, they would feel uncomfortable being caught in between.
After all, they'd have to make a choice then, and from what he knows about Setsuna, once she decides on something, it's not easily changed.
"There isn't any direct conflict, and the residents of Kuri seem to have a rather favorable view of her."
"Kawamatsu, she's also part of the Hundred Beasts Pirates!"
"I'm merely speaking the truth. Although she's with the Hundred Beasts, the farm residents all say she's quite easy to get along with, and the kids aren't afraid of her."
"But she's still a pirate and has connections with Kurozumi Orochi. Don't forget, those people were brought into Wano Kuni by that Kurozumi Orochi."
Speaking of Kurozumi Orochi, Kanjuro even gritted his teeth, integrating himself to such a degree into his role within the undercover world; he's indeed a very talented individual.
Listening to his comrade's remarks, Nekomamushi seemed to have some different thoughts.
Over at Ghost Island, however, a strange thing was taking place.
Yamato is now over two years old. Typically, a regular child her age can speak fluently, let alone here where people physically develop well, and Yamato was no exception.
Miltank milk and Chansey eggs are highly nutritious foods, and coupled with Kaidou's lineage, even Jack with his Fish-Man lineage can hardly compare to her.
Yet today, when addressing Arceus, she used a term he couldn't accept.
"Hey, Yamato, tell me, who taught you to call me mom?"
Good days ahead for Yamato are indeed limited because, according to Kaidou's plan, she will have to begin her training with him in less than a year. Someone will also teach her some basics, like letters, during this time.
Shaina, Nightin, and Olga, with their academic skills, are more than capable of teaching a two-year-old.
But the problem is that Yamato, for some reason, stopped referring to him as godfather or stepfather and used mom instead.
"Kaidou is dad."
"That's right, and then?"
"Godfather and dad have a very good relationship, and the teacher said words like 'demo ne' are used by girls, so godfather is a girl who's close to dad, isn't that mom...."
"Phew.... Yamato, it's great to be able to deduce things like this, but don't apply it to such matters next time. Remember, I'm not your mom, nor am I a woman."
He now understands where the issue lay. He had self-taught various languages from watching anime back then, which led to an unclear grasp of many details.
Moreover, the genres of the anime he watched back then resulted in one consequence: many of his habitual speech patterns are ones that females would typically use.
Kaidou doesn't care about such details, and even if Shaina and the others noticed, they wouldn't rashly question this, which led to today's misunderstanding.