After a night of battle, the original ruling class of Wano Kuni was completely overthrown, leaving a huge void at the top. This would be a big problem in other countries, but the situation in Wano Kuni is different.
This distorted national condition has one advantage: as long as a member of the Kozuki Family can be found, there will be no usual power struggle in Wano Kuni.
Kozuki Oden's martial strength was too formidable, posing a threat to the Hundred Beasts Pirate Group. Keeping an eye on him could only be accomplished by Kaidou or Arceus personally staying behind, but the situation is different now.
After Kozuki Oden's death, supporting a puppet regime from his still-young children could easily stabilize the situation in Wano Kuni.
Shaina and Olga were handling follow-up matters, and now everything was more or less prepared. For example, Kurozumi Orochi planned to incite discord and secretly poison during the feast.
Just in time, Shaina had found a witness. All the chefs in the Flower Capital Palace were willing to testify that it was Kurozumi Orochi's people who had canceled the poison-testing process and took the dishes early.
Ordinary people did not know the outcome of the battle between Kaidou and Oden, and since Kurozumi Orochi left quite a bad reputation in Wano Kuni, yet his strength was a mystery, it was convenient to lay the blame on him.
In the hearts of the past generation, the Kozuki Family were the generals of Wano Kuni. In this generation, the Kozuki Family became merely mascots for Wano Kuni, virtually non-essential. The development across two generations was enough to fade the influence of the Kozuki.
Zeraora came here to clear the aftermath, and the members of the Kozuki Family couldn't let them act freely in Wano Kuni. Just after arriving, he witnessed Kozuki Toki's self-immolation.
The flames lit by Kazenbo did not deter Zeraora's steps. Without even contacting the fire department, the wind pressure from his punch extinguished the flames at Oden Castle. However, standing amidst the ruins, Zeraora felt something was amiss.
"Zeraora! What's happened?!"
Setsuna shouted to Zeraora from outside the ruins. As a member of the Fur Race, she was more sensitive to heat. Even though Zeraora had extinguished the major fire outside, the residual warmth made her hesitant to approach.
"Nothing much, just a bit odd."
Beneath Oden Castle were many burnt corpses, reduced to ashes in the fire, leaving nothing for identification. Zeraora also looked at the people from the "Hundred Beasts" around him.
These subordinates of Orochi were also targets for capture. After Zeraora and the others appeared, they tried to sneak away, but a thunderbolt from above blocked their path.
"Stop."
"Lord Zeraora, we came here under someone else's orders..."
Currently, their identities were still pirates of the Hundred Beasts. They attempted to impersonate and deceive Zeraora, believing he couldn't recognize all members of the Hundred Beasts pirates.
In fact, they weren't wrong, but Zeraora took out a card reader.
"If you're from the Hundred Beasts, where is your identity card?"
"Identity card... it was lost."
"Lost? Did everyone lose theirs?"
A current discharged from Zeraora's body, electrocuting these members of Orochi. Once the real Hundred Beasts members arrived, they too were captured.
As for other Kozuki household attendants, Kikunojo and Denjiro hadn't gone far before they were captured and brought back, while the situation concerning Inuarashi and Nekomamushi also changed.
Originally, due to Oden's boiling punishment, Inuarashi and Nekomamushi had a conflict, escaping to Zou from Wano Kuni. However, none of these happened in this case, and after deliberation, both were sent 20 years into the future.
For now, only Kawamatsu, who fled via waterways with Hiyori, was still at large.
He led Kozuki Hiyori by underwater stealth for a long time, nearly drowning her, finally escaping to the forests of Kuri. Just as he thought it was safe, he heard footsteps from behind.
Elizabeth appeared, following Shaina who only took Olga away, while Elizabeth and Zeraora came here along the water route.
Initially, Elizabeth intended to see if there were any remaining Kozuki loyalists here. After confirming no other loyalists were present, Elizabeth revealed herself.
As a Special Agent Pokemon, its unique organ gave it tracking abilities stronger than ninja.
"Put the girl down, fishman."
Within the Hundred Beasts Pirate Group, Elizabeth occupied a special status, retaining a bounty of only 50 million. This was left after its first mission with Olga, rescuing a drunken Kaidou from the Navy Base.
Afterward, its presence became low-profile, but it continuously trained with Olga. Although weaker due to individual differences compared to today's Olga, it wasn't a pushover.
When out, it never separated from Olga, hiding in Olga's illusion as the strongest assassin, easily dealing with Kawamatsu currently.
Faced with being called a fishman, Kawamatsu paused. Since his mother's death, he hadn't heard the term fishman for a long time.
Being a Redfin Blowfish Fishman, as a child, he and his mother mistakenly entered Wano Kuni. His mother, a rare female fishman, died from the discrimination of Wano Kuni's citizens, who stoned her without effective medical treatment, leading to her death here.
Understanding fishmen faced discrimination by humans, Kawamatsu disguised himself as a kappa.
However, even as a kappa or fishman, he'd be considered a monster in Wano Kuni, nearly burned to death, eventually saved with Kozuki Oden's help.
"Fishman... It's been a long time since I heard that name. Are you a fishman too?"
"No, but I've met other fishmen. Surrender and let her go, you have nowhere left to run."
Elizabeth gestured to the communication snail in her hand, indicating the message was already sent.
"I cannot promise that. If you want to harm Princess Hiyori, you'll have to step over... um..."
Elizabeth's tail blade suddenly pierced his chest. While they spoke, it had already made its move, its Inteleon's tail concealing a very sharp blade.
"You... despicable!"
"We are enemies. What are you talking about?"
Elizabeth's usual combat methods were long-range sniping, infiltration, assassination, launching surprise attacks within the cover of an illusion. It wasn't a heavy tank Aggron; frontal battles were not its style.
Therefore, it seized upon Kawamatsu's moment of distraction for a surprise attack, believing there was nothing wrong with such tactics.
"Don't move. Even if you can resist, the girl cannot."
The defiant Kawamatsu, looking at the blade on Kozuki Hiyori's neck, ultimately gave up resisting...