"The quality of this group is still not up to par..."
"No choice, Master Kojiro. Those who followed the Lord back then were just us few old and weak ones left. It's quite difficult to retrain capable personnel."
This operation was originally a special drill, intended to examine the quality of his subordinates. Although the courtyard guards weren't slacking off too much, they still failed to notice Raizo's infiltration.
"Little Growlithe is still more reliable, huh." He rubbed Growlithe's chin and then continued.
"Strengthen the training for those people. How's the thing I asked you to find?"
"We've already found many well-bred hunting dogs domestically, ready to start anytime."
"That's good, Little Growlithe, how about I find you a few more wives?"
"Woof?"
Growlithe didn't quite understand Kojiro's words, but this was Kojiro's basic idea — training humans takes a long time, but dogs are different.
The Tauros Ranch has already proven a point: second-generation cattle bred from Tauros are superior to native cattle from Wano Kuni, whether for consumption or labor.
So Kojiro made this decision, letting Little Growlithe act as a breeding dog to cultivate a new pack of dogs to help his men with security, which should be formed in about one to two years.
Originally, Little Growlithe couldn't achieve this goal, but since transforming into Growlithe, it experienced a second spring, creating an opportunity for it to expand its canine harem.
His steward had already found many well-bred dogs in Wano Kuni according to Kojiro's requirements, and various breeds with plans to mix them to create a new variety.
Regarding higher-end combat power, he needn't worry either, Emboar's residence is not far from here, and its size alone can handle most people's invasions.
Meanwhile, Queen also boasted upon witnessing the scene.
"Muhahaha, as I said, it's an excellent design. Just increase the current, and those rascals who go to great lengths to steal will suffer miserably."
"Brother Queen, although your plan sounds good, why do I feel there might be a problem?"
This is Asie, the only person on Ghost Island who would call Queen this way.
"What problem? It's a genius invention."
"But... isn't it better to directly install an electronic lock and place a Rotom created by Master Arceus inside?"
More intelligent, stronger current, with built-in alarm function, preventing intrusion.
It's not that Queen's plan isn't good, but compared to the convenience of Rotom, Queen's plan is slightly redundant.
"Hmm... Not everywhere can use Rotom. Look at those gatekeeper Rotoms, they need to change shifts too. Having them guard a box all the time is quite boring."
Queen's explanation wasn't unreasonable. Rotom exists differently from other Pokemon.
They are Pokemon parasitic in electrical appliances. Although they can exist as electronic phantoms, Rotom like that isn't practical.
And Rotom's personality makes long stays in one place torturous for them, hence their shift work like employees.
For instance, electronic doors and monitors, positions that remain still for long periods, periodically replace the hosting Rotoms.
Queen's fingerprint lock design holds some value, like Hundred Beasts Fruit offshore considering using this new security lock.
As for Raizo, after overcoming "numerous hardships," he finally brought out that intelligence and returned it to Shimotsuki Yasuie through some covert paths.
...
"Raizo?! What happened to you?"
"Cough cough, nothing, my Lords, just a small accident. Their box hid a mechanism, and I was caught off guard, but no worries, I brought the items back."
As he spoke, he pulled out an envelope, which, upon opening, contained information about several people's names and preferences.
"Brother Hyogoro?! How did they have connections?!"
The information wasn't all fake; most of it was about people who genuinely established some contact with the Hundred Beasts Pirates. The personnel was quite complex, including some merchants in Wano Kuni, famous doctors, hot spring owners, etc.
Across various industries, classes, and some individual aristocrats under other Daimyo, however, the intelligence on Hyogoro at the bottom was most incredible.
During Hyogoro's years of dancing, his family was among the few that didn't discriminate against him and even invited him to rest inside their house. Hyogoro's minions who couldn't see him would be scolded by Hyogoro and his wife.
Yet, his name appeared on this list now.
"That Kojiro... He frequently has connections with Hyogoro. I've often seen him entering and exiting Hyogoro's residence. Denjiro also mentioned this matter."
Though Oden's Household Attendants weren't living well, they still went out normally.
They couldn't go up Ghost Island; Zeraora at the farm wasn't someone they could deal with, so most of the time, they observed who they could.
That was Kojiro discussing issues with Hyogoro from Wano Kuni, whether the previous assassination matters or subsequent troublemakers; those people had become groups impeding development.
As an almost-cleansed gang leader, Hyogoro had quite a voice in this regard, which is why he had frequent interactions with Kojiro.
But that's their issue. Wano Kuni's national conditions are peculiar. Managing those gang members isn't something even Daimyo or General might handle better than Hyogoro, so Yasuie and Oden don't know the details.
"No, impossible. Brother Hyogoro isn't that kind of person..."
Kozuki Oden didn't believe Hyogoro would have any secret interactions with the Hundred Beasts, but when such incidents simultaneously materialized, the situation became bizarre.
"Lord Oden, although this might sound unpleasant, having some defense is always correct. Hyogoro's unusualness truly seems unreasonable now."
Everyone was blinded, except Hyogoro's unchanged attitude, which could mean he trusted Oden, or it could mean he had problems.
"No, I trust Hyogoro. I want to ask... Damn it..."
He couldn't ask about these matters yet, leaving Kozuki Oden even more entangled.
"Lord Oden, please consider patience before the plan's implementation. You shouldn't have discussed similar details with Hyogoro."
"No, though he inquired, I never mentioned that matter..."
"Then please reduce contacts with Hyogoro before the plan's implementation. We can slowly clear misunderstandings afterward, but now everything must focus on the bigger picture."