It's better to temporarily let him, the local, be the nominal leader of the Shinsengumi. After all, the current Shinsengumi is responsible for internal security in Wano Kuni. If the Hundred Beasts Pirates are the external army, then the Shinsengumi are the internal armed police.
Kojiro is more suitable for the position of leader, but since he doesn't have enough energy, it's better to switch to a nominal role. The Hundred Beasts can still find professionals in this area.
Kojiro was very satisfied with this result, as previously he didn't even have time to pet a dog.
At the same time, following Arceus's request, he found himself a deputy. Musashi, who was originally in charge of security, was thus honorably promoted.
The Flower Capital and Oden Castle are being rebuilt, and most residents' lives have not changed yet. The impact of the new policies will take some time to take effect.
For example, Kentaro's family continues their farming life as usual. Kentaro, as always, goes to milk the Miltank. At just over a decade old, he has already become the primary labor force in the family.
At this time, the family is saving money for him. Because he is at an age where he should be getting married, this process is still relatively long. Their savings from working had just gone into renovating their house, and now everything is starting from scratch.
Milk bottles were piled up on the cart. He skillfully milked the Miltank and then went to prepare new feed for them. Over the years, he had slowly learned what Miltanks preferred to eat.
At that moment, he was collecting berries in the bushes. However, this time he found a strange thing on the ground—a fruit that looked like a mushroom, only the red and green colors made him feel odd.
"This thing... should be poisonous, right?"
The more vividly colored the fruit and fungi, the more likely they are poisonous. He couldn't distinguish the type of this wild fruit and didn't dare to feed it to others or himself, but he kept it anyway.
Whether it's an herb or a poison, they can exchange for a substantial bonus with the Hundred Beasts. They often collect herbs in the mountains, and his intuition told him this was worth a lot of money.
When delivering milk, he took this fruit with him.
Meanwhile, at the procurement station of Peach Blossom Spring Farm, a pirate with a prosthetic limb was counting the crops. He was over sixty years old and had joined the Hundred Beasts Pirates as an older pirate eleven years ago.
Later, he lost a leg in a battle and had been working in a retirement-type job ever since.
"Uncle Hafat, here's today's milk."
"Got it; it's already noted. Just wait for the money at the end of the month."
"Oh, by the way, Uncle, I picked up something strange today; how much do you think this is worth?" he said, starting to rummage through the basket on his back.
"Herbs? Regular herbs aren't worth much. You didn't go up the mountain today, right? We don't accept ordinary mushrooms or... or..."
He hadn't finished speaking when he saw the bizarre mushroom Kentaro took out.
"What's wrong, Uncle Hafat? You don't accept this?"
"Gulp~"
Swallowing a mouthful of saliva, Hafat said, "Of course, we'll accept it. Kentaro, you've hit the jackpot; this is a treasure worth 500 gold coins."
The strange color and spiral pattern leave no doubt; this is indeed a Devil Fruit.
Wano Kuni's prices don't align with the outside world, but the Hundred Beasts had long established that if someone presents a Devil Fruit, they can receive a reward of 500 gold coins, and their family will get special protection from the Hundred Beasts.
This is a dream-like amount in Wano Kuni. Kentaro never thought an ordinary "poison mushroom" would be worth so much money.
Although Kentaro didn't recognize its value, Hafat had no intention of quietly keeping the Devil Fruit for himself or cashing it in. Although this position was reserved for disabled pirates, it had also gone through internal checks by the Arceus Sect.
Their own standards were a bit higher than regular pirates, and there was also an internal notification, which Kentaro hadn't seen. When he discovered the truth, he wouldn't feel good, plus there was a critical issue.
His innate talent was just that; otherwise, he wouldn't have retired after fitting a regular prosthetic limb. Those with combat aptitude usually underwent modifications like Scotch, continuing to fight on the front lines.
He never developed the habit of saving money, so whether to take this windfall to live happily for a while or rely on the Hundred Beasts to enjoy a comfortable retirement, he was clear about the choice.
He had already achieved Mandfeish's life goal and retired smoothly.
However, Mandfeish was far from retirement age, and as he mastered more, his ambitions grew larger. He aimed to retire smoothly as a high-level official, a long way off from that now.
"I'll take this for now. 500 gold is no small sum; it requires application and approval. I'll bring the money over once it comes through."
...
About half a month later, Hafat arrived at Kentaro's home, seeing a stack of gold coins on the table, they were somewhat incredulous.
"Fi...Five hundred gold?"
"Of course, it's all here. You can count them yourself, and there's also this."
Hafat then took out a small plaque.
"You can choose to join the Hundred Beasts as a pirate or join the Shinsengumi as a samurai. If you don't like fighting, you can work as a team leader or something in the weapons factory. In short, you can choose a preferred career within a certain range."
Pirates, samurai—these didn't interest Kentaro. He didn't want to fight, and the factory was too far from his home in Kuri. In the end, he gave an unexpected answer.
"Kid, there's only one chance; are you sure?"
"I'm sure, Uncle Hafat. Let me work as your deputy at the procurement station."
As someone who went to the procurement station to exchange agricultural products for money every day, he thought it was a great job. This windfall had provided his family with financial freedom, and a job close to home was very satisfying to him.
"So it is, huh? I thought you wanted to be a samurai."
"That was a childhood dream; dreams can change."
....
And the fruit that made Kentaro's family wealthy overnight is now in the Treasure Vault of Ghost Island, the Human-Human Fruit, Mythical Zoan Type—Onyudo form.
Besides this fruit, Kaidou also obtained another powerful fruit through trade, an orange persimmon-shaped fruit also placed in the box—the Dog-Dog Fruit, Mythical Zoan Type—Okuchi no Makami form.
"Wugorogoro, two Mythical Zoan types, quite the haul."
"Okuchi no Makami... the Ice Wolf God... Kaidou, give me that fruit, I want to try something."
"What are you planning to do? This fruit was obtained at no small cost."
"Just a small experiment, but I don't know if it will succeed."