Though Byakuya couldn't be completely certain, the Cabinet Ministers were within his range of suspects.
He had wiped out the Washuu Clan, and he'd previously issued a public warning to certain higher-ups. These actions had offended those people.
So it was perfectly normal for someone to be targeting him behind the scenes.
Byakuya was well aware of this. His next step was to lure the snake from its hole and find out exactly who was behind this.
After the Bureau Director's public address concluded, all CCG personnel resumed normal work.
He would handle this matter alone, without involving anyone else from the CCG.
Over the following days, Byakuya frequently appeared in public spaces.
As for the duties he needed to handle as Bureau Director, he temporarily delegated them to Akira, Marude, and the others.
At this moment, Byakuya was sitting in a coffee shop, leisurely reading while drinking coffee.
Of course, this wasn't Yoshimura's coffee shop—it was a different establishment in Ward 1.
"Hello~"
Suddenly, a familiar voice came from behind him.
It was unmistakably Eto.
"You seem quite relaxed lately. Doesn't look like you've been at CCG Headquarters much."
Eto sat down beside Byakuya, also holding a book.
"You should know about all that's happening. I don't need to explain."
Byakuya said.
"Mm, so it is related to those things?"
Eto nodded slightly. "You're still fine here in Japan, but abroad—especially in Europe and America—you're practically viewed as an actual demon. Those idiots are so easily led by the nose."
Since they were on the second floor of the coffee shop and it wasn't peak hours, Byakuya and Eto were the only two people there.
"That doesn't matter. I just want to find out who's behind this."
Byakuya didn't care about his reputation.
"...It seems someone's coming up."
Eto suddenly spoke softly.
She'd heard footsteps on the stairs—not a server's.
Before long, a tall man in a suit wearing sunglasses reached the second floor, carrying what appeared to be a briefcase.
He walked straight toward Byakuya and Eto, seemingly with a clear objective...
"Hello."
Passing by Byakuya and Eto, the suited man greeted them, then sat directly in the seat across from Byakuya.
As he sat, he adjusted his tie.
By now, both Byakuya and Eto had noticed the man was Caucasian.
Though Tokyo was fairly internationalized, given that the city had virtually the highest ghoul concentration in the world, foreign tourists rarely visited.
This was the first time since transmigrating that Byakuya had encountered a Westerner in Tokyo.
Especially since this person had approached him directly—a complete stranger—which made it highly suspicious...
"Do you know me?"
Byakuya addressed him directly in English.
But Eto beside him couldn't understand—she only knew some basic vocabulary and phrases.
"Mr. Amaha doesn't know me, but I know Mr. Amaha."
The Caucasian man removed his sunglasses. "Allow me to introduce myself."
He produced credentials from inside his jacket.
The photo, name, ID number and other information were clearly displayed. Most prominently featured were three capital letters—CIA.
Seeing these credentials, Byakuya immediately understood.
"I'm John Jonathan. Mr. Amaha should now understand my identity. I'm here to discuss certain matters with you."
The man calling himself John Jonathan stated directly.
"What are you two talking about? Could you translate for me?"
Eto couldn't help but ask.
She'd barely followed the initial simple greetings, but as the sentences grew longer and more complex, she was completely lost.
Though the matter was important, Byakuya remained patient with Eto: "Essentially, he's a CIA agent named John Jonathan who wants to discuss something with me."
Eto had already recognized he was a CIA agent from the credentials, so she showed no surprised reaction.
"You want to discuss something? Should I step away?"
Eto asked with a smile.
"Mm, I'd appreciate it if you could give us some privacy."
John Jonathan switched to Japanese to address Eto.
As a CIA agent, mastering multiple languages was the most basic capability.
"Alright, I'll head downstairs then."
Eto rose casually and went downstairs.
Though she was curious about what Byakuya and the agent would discuss, she knew that as long as she pestered Byakuya afterward, he'd probably tell her. No need to rush.
After Eto left, John Jonathan began discussing the actual matter.
"We already know about the existence called 'Dragon.' I'm here specifically to discuss the Dragon matter with Mr. Amaha."
This somewhat surprised Byakuya. He'd expected their objective to be the Tailed Beasts, but it was the Dragon?
Just then, John Jonathan placed his briefcase flat on the table and opened it after verification.
Inside lay neat rows of rectangular gold bars.
"This is merely a small token of our sincerity. If Mr. Amaha is willing to transfer exploration rights to Tokyo's underground to the United States government, the gold can be multiplied tenfold."
John Jonathan's manner was quite magnanimous.
The gold bars in this briefcase alone, converted to currency, would be an astronomical figure. Multiplied by ten would be terrifying...
Ordinary people couldn't resist such temptation. Yet Byakuya's brow furrowed slightly.
Noticing that Byakuya's expression didn't seem satisfied, John Jonathan immediately revised his offer: "Twenty times."
But Byakuya's furrowed brow still didn't relax.
Because he wasn't dissatisfied with the amount—what concerned him was that a CIA agent knew about Tokyo's underground world.
Simply put, someone had definitely leaked this information to the American government.
Byakuya's mental picture was growing clearer. The higher-ups had probably colluded with the American government.
Of course, the American government wouldn't help those people for nothing. Given America's history of maintaining military bases while extracting resources, they wouldn't act without substantial benefits.
And now, Byakuya understood exactly what those benefits were—the "Dragon" in the underground world.
Ever since Byakuya had brought "Dragon tissue" from the underground world for medical use, Tokyo's medical breakthroughs had accelerated dramatically, conquering many previously incurable diseases.
This was just the beginning—it hadn't been widely implemented yet. Currently, only one hospital directly under CCG had begun testing these cutting-edge medical treatments.
Recently, as long as ghoul investigators weren't completely dead, the vast majority could be saved. Even Shinohara Yukinori, who'd been in a permanent vegetative state, could now move slightly.
And it wasn't just medicine—Dragon tissue could potentially be used militarily. Such material was always highly attractive to America.
It was as if the underground world was full of oil—except the Dragon was far more valuable than oil.
But whether it was the underground Dragon or the medical breakthroughs, both were secrets known to very few people and couldn't possibly spread casually to foreign countries.
So most likely, those higher-ups had leaked the underground world's secrets to America.
To target him, they'd even hand over such precious "wealth" to the American government...
Byakuya found it almost laughable.
"..."
Seeing Byakuya still showing no change in attitude, John Jonathan's expression grew somewhat awkward.
Given this reaction, even thirty, fifty, or a hundred times the gold probably wouldn't work.
If not for the other party's intimidating strength and ability to command those massive monsters, the American government would never have specifically sent him with concessions to negotiate.
America had always been domineering—they only needed to fabricate any excuse to take what they wanted by force.
The "incarnation of a demon" label recently attached to Byakuya was just such an excuse.
"Mr. Jonathan, please take these gold bars back exactly as they are. I have no interest in gold, and I won't be transferring the underground world's rights to the United States government."
Byakuya's tone was even.
"...Mr. Amaha needn't be in such a hurry to decide. We can discuss this slowly, consider it carefully."
John Jonathan was still trying to salvage the situation.
But Byakuya immediately dropped any pretense of cordiality, his tone turning cold: "I don't like repeating myself. Understood?"
As he spoke, his eyes transformed into Rinnegan—far colder than normal pupils. Simply meeting this gaze sent chills down one's spine.
"..."
Cold sweat appeared on John Jonathan's face.
It wasn't just the pressure Byakuya exerted—his mind was also racing, trying to figure out how to handle this situation.
Since he'd come here, he was supposed to secure Byakuya's cooperation as much as possible, resorting to force only as a last resort.
Just then, Byakuya spoke again: "The information about the underground world was leaked to your government by the Cabinet, wasn't it? The Cabinet wants me dead, but you're secretly trying to negotiate with me instead?"
He'd figured it out. America had its own agenda.
"I'm sorry, I don't understand what Mr. Amaha is saying."
John Jonathan remained expressionless as he shook his head.
But Byakuya already had his answer. The more the other party denied it, the more it confirmed his deduction was correct.
What the Cabinet had privately arranged with the American government wasn't something a mere CIA agent could acknowledge—otherwise, he wouldn't have enough heads to lose.
"I know you're just a working man. I won't make things difficult for you. Take these gold bars and leave. Whether you want to drop missiles or nukes is up to you."
Byakuya's words grew increasingly casual, with no semblance of formal negotiation.
After all, he wasn't some shrewd merchant or politician—there was no need to use official diplomatic language.
Hearing this, John Jonathan understood there was no point continuing. He silently closed the briefcase full of gold bars and rose to leave sheepishly.
As he left, he didn't dare make any threats—nor was there any need to. Those last words made clear the other party knew they would resort to force.
He quickly left the coffee shop and got into the vehicle waiting outside to take him away.
As Byakuya had said, this was a covert operation directed by the government—they couldn't let Japan's Cabinet find out, or it would be hard to explain.
The Cabinet's condition was trading the underground "Dragon" for Byakuya's life. But the American government would naturally investigate Byakuya's capabilities first.
Even though his past battles in Tokyo were difficult to investigate, there were plenty of videos from his global Tailed Beast challenges to study.
Seeing he wasn't a soft target and could potentially cost them dearly, the American government developed its own little scheme—trying to negotiate privately with Byakuya.
As long as they could obtain the underground "Dragon," why bother with those Cabinet geezers?
But... Byakuya had firmly refused. Since soft approaches failed, America had no choice but to use hard ones...
...
Shortly after the CIA agent left, Eto came back upstairs.
"How'd it go with that guy? He didn't look too happy when he left."
Eto immediately asked.
"Naturally, negotiations fell through. I also figured out the reason for all this—America has its sights set on the underground Dragon. The Cabinet probably leaked the information..."
Byakuya briefly explained the situation to Eto.
Not having to pester him to share made Eto quite pleased.
Eto understood the severity of this matter, so her expression turned unusually serious: "So you're preparing to fight? The Cabinet wants you dead, America wants to take the Dragon from you—we're probably looking at a large-scale war..."
"Yes, so we need to prepare in advance."
Byakuya's tone was calm: "Tokyo will likely become a battlefield. To avoid civilian casualties, we'll need to evacuate the residents beforehand."
America knew his strength. Though their intelligence was surely incomplete, they definitely wouldn't underestimate him. They'd bring out all sorts of destructive weapons—even nuclear bombs weren't impossible.
But of course, Byakuya wouldn't just wait to be attacked...
"Are you planning to fight alone?"
Eto asked immediately.
"Mm..."
Byakuya nodded slightly.
Ghouls were certainly powerful, but against true weapons of mass destruction, they were actually outmatched.
In this world, aside from Tokyo where the Washuu Clan had deliberately maintained balance leading to rampant ghoul populations, ghouls in other countries were nearly extinct—after all, ordinary ghouls couldn't withstand military heavy firepower.
Meaning, once America deployed its military, massacring Tokyo's ghouls would be trivially easy.
Byakuya naturally didn't want Eto and the others caught up in this.
"I refuse." Eto grasped Byakuya's hand. "I know my strength isn't as good as yours, but don't look down on me like this..."
...
Get 20+ chapters ahead on - P.a.t.r.e.o.n "RoseWhisky"