After all she had been through, this was the first time Kozuki Toki had met someone who left her so utterly at a loss.
And yet, looking at that roguish smile of his, she somehow understood exactly what it meant—and no matter what, she couldn't muster even the slightest sense of disgust.
Because this man truly had been willing to gamble with his life for the sake of their wager.
As if steeling herself for a major decision, she silently apologized to her deceased husband in her heart, telling herself that this too was for the fulfillment of their shared dream.
Then, with her face burning red, she moved swiftly up to Tenma, lightly pecked his cheek like a dragonfly skimming the water, and fled the room at top speed like a startled rabbit.
Tenma touched his cheek, where that fleeting warmth still lingered, and thought to himself: That little bit of sweetness is nowhere near enough to satisfy my appetite.
Just then, a voice with a rather odd tone drifted out faintly,
"General Tenma… that was the late Lord Oden's—"
Tenma didn't even bother turning around. He already knew who it was.
"A-Shinobu, you were watching from the shadows just now too, weren't you?" he replied righteously.
"Lady Toki was the one who took the initiative. I was helpless too, you know."
Shinobu stepped out from the shadows and shot him an annoyed look.
She hadn't been there long, but by sheer coincidence, she'd arrived just in time to hear Tenma talking about conditions and goals.
Secretly, she grumbled to herself: General Tenma was great and all, but deep down he was still a man—and a hot-blooded one at that.
True, the woman involved had a rather special identity, but as a former member of the Oniwabanshu, Shinobu had seen plenty of such things.
Besides, she'd heard no shortage of Oden's romantic exploits when she was younger, and judging by Lady Toki's expression, she clearly hadn't been unwilling.
In the end, Shinobu could only pretend she was blind and hadn't seen anything.
After all, she was no longer a retainer of the Kozuki clan, but the head of Tenma's directly under shadow guard.
"Alright," Tenma said, reining in his smile.
"You didn't come all this way just to watch a show. What's the urgent matter? It shouldn't be time for the Shadow Guard's regular report yet."
As Wano's internal affairs gradually returned to order, Tenma had already brought Shinobu back under the shogun's banner.
The Oniwabanshu had originally been the shogun's directly under ninja force—arguably the sharpest blade in Kurozumi Orochi's hand.
But in Tenma's view, this so-called "strongest" unit was little more than an empty reputation, full of flashy but useless tricks.
After securing his position as shogun of Wano, the first organization he planned to reform with a heavy hand was this very directly under the institution.
With a stroke of his pen, he dismantled the original Oniwabanshu and split its functions into two departments: "Guard" and "Reconnaissance."
Together with a newly established position of "Chief Coordinator," these formed the three major factions Tenma intended to build under his command.
Among these three roles, "Guard" was essentially the revamped Oniwabanshu.
No longer limited to the original nine members—anyone whose strength met Tenma's standards could become part of this combat backbone.
At the same time, all of Wano's ninja forces, samurai units, and other combat deployments were placed under this new Oniwabanshu's jurisdiction. Its members held real authority to mobilize troops.
This naturally meant that the old Oniwabanshu veterans—whose strength Tenma found lacking—were all demoted to auxiliary ninja squads.
The "Chief Coordinator" served as the central hub, bridging top and bottom—a personal secretary corps for the shogun.
They were responsible for conveying the shogun's orders accurately to each regional leader, and for compiling reports on mission progress from all sectors.
The final branch was "Reconnaissance," the unit Shinobu now belonged to—the Shadow Guard.
There was only one criterion for selection: top-tier concealment and intelligence-gathering ability. They specialized in the kind of information work that couldn't see the light of day.
Before suitable candidates were found for the first two positions, the Shadow Guard's reporting frequency had been set at once a week.
By calculation, it had only been a single day since Tenma completed this reorganization.
Seeing Tenma look over, Shinobu didn't waste words and got straight to the point.
"There's a strange little girl who wants to see you."
Tenma frowned slightly at that, but didn't think much of it.
In today's Wano, there were countless young girls who wanted to see him—enough to form a line from here to the city gates. His popularity was terrifying.
As one of the Shadow Guard's leaders and part of Tenma's core inner circle, Shinobu naturally knew this very well.
So for her to come personally meant that this girl was definitely special.
Sure enough, as if to confirm Tenma's suspicion, Shinobu's expression grew solemn, even tinged with a bit of conflicted emotion.
"She said… she's Kaido's son."
Though the identity made Shinobu uncomfortable, she also knew Tenma had signed a ceasefire agreement with Kaido, so she hadn't acted rashly.
"Hah?"
Tenma couldn't help bursting out laughing.
Kaido, that old bastard, had a son?
Other than that "filial daughter" Yamato, who else could it possibly be?!
He'd originally planned to leverage the network of interests of artificial Devil Fruits in the future to see if he could coax Yamato over from Kaido—after all, her strength, appearance, and future potential were all top-tier.
Yet not long after Kaido left, Yamato had come running over on her own.
No—more precisely, she'd secretly stayed behind in Wano on the very day Kaido withdrew.
"Where is she now?" Tenma asked immediately.
"I had Lira Blackveil keep her occupied for now. I came ahead to report to you first," Shinobu replied, glancing toward the door.
"She should be brought here in just a few minutes."
"She came to Wano alone—nothing happened to her, right?"
Tenma turned to Shinobu.
The people of Wano knew nothing about the contents of that agreement.
In the current atmosphere of boiling emotions, he couldn't guarantee that a child claiming to be Kaido's offspring would emerge unscathed from the fury of the masses—even if she happened to be an adorable girl.
"Looks like she really came just to see you—she squatted outside for several days," Shinobu said with a faint smirk.
"That little girl is sharp. She observed for a long time, and only after seeing me freely enter and leave Shogun Castle several times did she deliberately approach me and reveal her identity."
"And from the way she spoke, she was full of admiration and fondness for you. Seems like she snuck out behind Kaido's back, all the way to the Flower Capital just to find you."
As she spoke, Shinobu's expression grew strange again.
Even without using Observation Haki, Tenma could more or less guess what kind of nonsense was currently running through her head.
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