The members of the Oniwabanshu were even more terrified, their faces drained of all color as they stared toward the shadows in horror.
With his hiding place completely exposed—his very name called out—the person lurking in the darkness finally stopped concealing himself.
Under the flickering torchlight, a ragged, gaunt figure slowly stepped forward, wary and guarded, looking for all the world like a destitute old beggar.
The instant he saw that face clearly, Kurozumi Orochi screamed like a rooster being strangled, his shrill cry piercing the chamber.
"Sukiyaki?! It really is you?! You old bastard—you're still not dead?!"
The Oniwabanshu completely lost their composure as well, shouting in unison:
"Shogun Sukiyaki?!"
In that moment, the underground chamber fell into deathly shock.
Kozuki Sukiyaki stared straight ahead, his eyes nearly bulging from their sockets, his voice trembling.
"Orochi?! And Fukurokuju too?! How could it be you scum?!"
He sucked in a sharp breath, his gaze dropping to the two figures bound tightly and reduced to utter disgrace.
Then, full of suspicion and confusion, he looked toward the calm young man standing to the side—Tenma.
Sukiyaki's mind was a complete mess. He couldn't comprehend where this man had come from, how he had uncovered the Kozuki clan's most deeply hidden chamber, or how he had even dragged these two calamities down here.
Watching the old man's bewildered expression, Tenma laughed inwardly. As expected, this old turtle had been hiding underground for so many years that he was completely blind to what had happened outside.
Smack!
Without the slightest courtesy, Tenma raised his hand and slapped Orochi hard on the forehead. The crisp sound echoed through the chamber.
"Stop playing dead. You—explain to this old man exactly what happened after he 'died.'"
Tenma's tone was icy, his gaze slicing into Orochi like knives.
"Stick to the important parts. Say anything useless and I'll shave your head off—literally."
The slap made Orochi shudder violently, a phantom pain rising in his neck as if his head were about to be chopped off again.
Sobbing uncontrollably, he began to stammer through the changes Wano had undergone over the years.
As he spoke, the childhood trauma buried deep in his heart seemed to surge back up.
What had started as a forced confession under Tenma's intimidation gradually changed in flavor.
Orochi's expression twisted, his voice filling with venomous hatred and a warped sense of revenge.
Sukiyaki stood there as if struck by lightning, forced to listen to the entire nightmare-like account.
Then came the final blow.
Upon hearing that piece of news, the old man's body swayed violently. He staggered back several steps, nearly collapsing to the ground.
"Y-you said… what?!"
Sukiyaki's lips trembled, tears streaming down his face.
"Oden… my Oden is dead?!"
Overwhelming grief instantly transformed into towering rage. The former shogun looked like an old lion driven mad with fury.
"Kurozumi Orochi! You ungrateful beast! Oden treated you far too well!"
With a roar, Sukiyaki lunged forward, swinging his fists and smashing them into Orochi's disgusting face.
Orochi, who normally would've been crying for mercy, was also driven mad by hatred at the sight of his enemy. He stiffened his neck and roared back.
"I'm a Kurozumi!"
His face contorted, spit flying everywhere.
"Don't forget how your Kozuki clan treated us back then! As long as we bore the name Kurozumi, even breathing was a crime—we were hunted down and exterminated!"
"Every single day I survived that nightmare, I swore that as long as I lived, the Kozuki clan would pay in blood!"
"And now—I've done it! Hahahahaha!"
"Not only did I take revenge on the Kozuki, I was going to drag all of Wano down with my suffering! Everyone was going to become my slaves!"
"It's just a pity I never got to drag that idiot Kozuki Oden in front of me and carve him up piece by piece—what a shame!"
Orochi laughed like a lunatic. In his eyes, the very existence of this decrepit old man was what had doomed the Kurozumi clan from the start.
Hearing this vicious curse, Sukiyaki trembled with rage. Somehow, he produced a short dagger meant for self-defense and howled as he slashed toward Orochi.
The moment before, Orochi had been laughing wildly. Now, staring at the flashing blade, his madness instantly turned into sheer terror.
Clang!
A clear ring of metal echoed.
Tenma's famed blade Shidarezura lightly intercepted the strike, blocking the hate-filled blow with ease.
"Hey, old man—calm down."
Tenma raised an eyebrow, his tone playful.
"These two are valuable bargaining chips of mine. Killing my prisoners right in front of me—did you ask my opinion?"
Sukiyaki glared at Tenma. Whatever suspicions he'd had about this man's identity were completely irrelevant now.
"What do you want?! As long as you let me kill this beast with my own hands, I'll agree to anything!"
The faint smile at the corner of Tenma's lips deepened. That was exactly what he'd been waiting for.
The tip of Shidarezura slowly lowered, coming to rest directly against Orochi's forehead. Orochi instantly broke out in a cold sweat, his teeth chattering.
"This trash may be worthless, but for now he's still the shogun of Wano in name. That position has weight."
"If you want his miserable life, you'll have to pay a price worthy of it."
"Let's keep it simple."
Tenma straightened, his smile fading as his eyes sharpened.
"My name is Tenma. Who I am doesn't matter."
"What matters is this—I want to borrow your authority and sit on the throne of Wano as shogun, openly and legitimately."
The words hit the ground with undeniable force, laying his intentions bare.
To rule a xenophobic country like Wano as an outsider, there were only two paths.
The first was brute force—crushing everything with power. That was the inferior option: it bred resentment, undermined long-term rule, and made it nearly impossible to win over the stubborn samurai.
The second was legitimate succession—the previous shogun personally naming his successor. In this isolationist land, that was the most perfect legal foundation imaginable.
If Sukiyaki were truly dead, Tenma would have had no choice but to step over Orochi's corpse to take power.
But since the old man was still alive, Orochi—the current puppet—had lost nearly all value.
"You want to be shogun?!"
Sukiyaki frowned deeply, shaking his head instinctively.
"Impossible! The shogunate of Wano has always been inherited within the line—how could an outsider ever take that seat?!"
At those words, Tenma's expression instantly darkened.
"Old man, get this straight. I'm informing you, not negotiating."
"Kozuki Oden is dead. You've been hiding in this turtle shell for years. Besides me, who else can clean up this mess?"
"You expect to rely on that missing brat? Or do you want to watch Wano rot to nothing?"
"If I truly wanted to seize it by force, who here could stop me?"
"Even a monster like Kaido backed off because of me. If I weren't aiming to maximize my interests, do you really think I'd bother coming down here to talk to a washed-up relic like you?"
A terrifying pressure suddenly erupted from Tenma's body.
The Conqueror's Haki became almost tangible as it swept through the chamber, shaking the entire underground hall to its core.
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