42 C42 : Alliances

• {Year : 20.6} •

At Whole Cake Island of Totto Land in New World...

"You dare to?!"

A loud voice shook the Whole Cake Island, causing the soul-infused objects and animals to shudder in fear. They were already afraid of the meeting that was happening now, but they became further scared when the Whole Cake Island appeared to become grim and slowly darken. Dark clouds slowly appeared and hovered above the island full of cakes.

*crackle*

Lightnings already manifested which showed how angered or annoyed the summoner was. As Whole Cake Island slowly became dark and covered by the dark clouds, a deep voice suddenly boomed out.

"Have you forgotten what you did to me?!" The lightning clouds froze and remained motionless until it began to swirl into the center. "I let you go with a bit of my soul, be glad I didn't cause problems while we were in front of that man!"

"Hmph! I let you go with the rest of your soul, you should be the one owing me a favor for that!"

*woosh*

A burst of air rapidly exploded and sent off waves in the ocean. This was a sign of the physical clash between Big Mom and Kaido. Just that alone showed how strong both of them were.

"I don't care! I told you I will destroy Totto Land myself if you continue to refuse me!" Kaido, the self-proclaimed Beast Emperor of New World, exploded with anger and roared out. "Now decide right here and tell me, are you willing or not?!"

The dark clouds above Whole Cake Island rumbled with frightening pressure upon the residents and Big Mom Pirates on it. Whole Cake Island slowly became grim and ghastly sounds rang from the soul-infused objects and animals, their facial appearance becoming gloomy and hollow, similar to that of Earth's Ghostface mask.

"..." There was a tense silence upon the rumblings of dark clouds, showing that Big Mom hesitated to continue her attacks on Kaido. After all, second to her former caretaker, Mother Caramel, Totto Land was the creation of her dream. The dark clouds that had been swirling around its center began to slow down and showed signs of dissipations.

After that, Whole Cake Island returned to its lively soul-infused island and colorful. There weren't any more loud explosion of voices there on for the spies to figure out what happened. Due to this, a small submarine within the oceans of Totto Land in a distance flashed red color in a direction.

…

Elsewhere away from Totto Land...

"Sir! Big Mom and Kaido's clash has receded and we do not know what happened any further." A black suited man stood in attention to the desk in front of him. He then continued to brief what possibly happened before. "It appears that Kaido has reached to Whole Cake Island of Totto Land to speak with Big Mom, for an possible alliance. Big Mom rejected him, so Kaido threatened the whole Totto Land of its destruction, which ensued a battle between the two Emperors."

"A battle between two Emperors..." The shadow-covered man behind the desk chuckled in ridicule, before saying. "So? What happened next?"

"Both of them continued to fight physically and verbally, until Kaido finally announced that he would personally destroy Totto Land if Big Mom continued to refuse. This immediately ended the fight as Big Mom stopped, evidently unwilling to lose Totto Land." The black suited man continued in his monotone voice. "Because of this, we are possibly seeing the formation of an alliance between two Emperors of New World."

The shadow-covered man behind the desk revealed a large set of teeth in a grin. "Is that so? This will play right into our hands if we tell 'her' of their intentions..."

When he mentioned 'her', the black suited man appeared to have grimaced in disgust but shook it off immediately. The shadow-covered man laughed at that.

"You find her that repulsing?"

"Sir! I find her very being absolutely disgusting that I would be willing to sacrifice myself for the sake of my comrades' eyes!" The black suited man nodded his head and did not hesitate to speak his opinions of the woman.

While both of them continued to be in their business, another spies spoke to their superiors of what they saw happened and their theories on what was going on. Due to this, Revolutionary Army got a gist of this information.

…

At Baltigo, located somewhere in the Grand Line...

"Big Mom and Kaido?" A blond-haired man with a scar over the side of his face appeared serious as he received information from the snail transponder in front of him. Although he recently went through a brief slumber while he was regaining his memories of his childhood, he was already up and ready for business after waking up. He was the Chief of Staff of Revolutionary Army, after all.

The snail transponder opened its mouth and a female voice came out of it. "Yes, they're together in Whole Cake Island of Totto Land. I think they intend to cause a ruckus in New World soon, so we should prepare for it. Tell Supreme Commander that and our affiliations as well."

"Alright. Continue to watch out for their activities, Commander." The blond-haired man then sighed. "Don't forget to mention to Koala that she still has to focus too, Belo."

"Hmm." It was a acknowledgement that she sounded out before the snail transponder clanked itself off.

The Chief of Staff stretched himself before looking at the man who was beside him. "Let's return to where we were."

"Yes, Chief." The man donned a slicked-to-back white hair with a black sunglasses upon his nose. However, the black sunglasses couldn't hide the brightly glowing blue eyes behind the shades that much.

Both of them jumped back to where they were, about twenty five feet away from each other. They then began to clash with Armament Haki-cladded fists.

…

With Ryu...

"Strange, right?" Ryu chuckled at the beautiful young woman, Rin, beside him. She was scrunching her eyebrows in confusion and gazed at him with a weird gaze. "This is how I would travel around if there isn't any ships I'm interested in riding on."

"Well, but doesn't that destroy the fun of traveling around?" She asked back, pouting. Rin had fully expected a thrill of ocean's waves and the smell of it when they were going to set out... only for Ryu to grab her and her friend, before the scene suddenly shifted and they were already elsewhere. "It's no fun if we keep going like this! We have to find or even build a boat for our journey, okay!"

Ryu smirked at her. He looked like he had expected this and so, opened his mouth. "Actually, this island is on an animal."

Both of them, Rin and her childhood friend, looked at him strangely. They never heard of such thing except for the Minks' Tribe...

"Wait, we're on Zunesha?!"

"It actually exists?"

Rin and her childhood friend looked shocked as they looked around. Indeed, there were clouds hovering slightly close to them which told them that they were somewhere up high. While her childhood friend looked in disbelief that Zunesha really existed, Rin felt excited as she looked at Ryu.

"Are we going to see those fur-skinned people? I want to see how they look!"

"Yes." Rin's childhood friend nodded quickly in agreement. Both of them were interested in the Mink race, who prided on their furs instead of smooth skin and their instinctual battle abilities.

"Haven't you already seen some of them in Wano?" Ryu rolled his eyes. There were already few Mink people in Wano Country, they were originally Minks who went with Master Nekomamushi and Duke Inuarashi on their journey of finding themselves and became apart of Kozuki Family due to their loyalty towards Kozuki Oden.

The Minks who remained in Wano Country was because they wanted to do so and keep Master Nekomamushi and Duke Inuarashi informed of what's going on. Now that Wano Country wasn't in any danger except for Kaido's revenge, the Minks now lived as retainers of Kozuki Family. They faced discrimination due to their 'beasts'-like appearances which reminded the Wano Country of Beast Pirates, though.

"That's only because the Kozuki Family decided that they would try to change Wano's mindset of judging based on their appearance. The Minks are still rare to see even in Kozuki's land." Rin stuck her small tongue at Ryu before saying. "Let's go! I've heard stories of Inuarashi and Nekomamushi being huge and powerful when they were part of Red Scabbards."

She immediately grabbed one of her childhood friend's arms and dragged her in a direction.

Ryu chuckled. "That's the way to Zunesha's head, not Mokomo Dukedom."

"O-oh." Rin blushed in embarrassment before returning to 2-steps away from Ryu's back. "T-then lead the way."

"Hehe." Her childhood friend giggled at that. Having grown up in the same place and taught to care for the young miss's wellbeing, she was used to such side of Rin.

"Don't laugh, Kumiko!" Rin pouted at her and Ryu's smirk.

The finally named childhood friend/maid of Rin, Kumiko, simply covered her smiling mouth as both of them followed Ryu to Mokomo Dukedom.

(AN : Yeeeeaah...)

While they were walking through the heavily-forested area, few scouts discovered their presence and so did they. Rin's Observation Haki was able to sense any presences around her within a mile, but could not go any further due to her inexperiences of using it. She rarely got in any physical battles nor did she need to use it in Wano County, there was also the fact that she was a family heiress taught about politics and such instead of becoming a Samurai.

"Were they the Minks?" Rin curiously asked him, while Kumiko looked confused but understood few seconds later.

The Mink scouts swiftly left the area upon seeing their savior, Ryu, on Zunesha and approaching Mokomo Dukedom. They were going to report this happy news to Duke Inuarashi.

None of them bothered staying to accompany Ryu's group because Ryu knew the way to Mokomo Dukedom and no one would dare to attack their savior and the Uncrowned Emperor... as well as the Shogun of uprising Wano Country.

"Yep, they were scouts. They probably went to report us to Inuarashi." Ryu casually nodded, uncaring. To be honest, he would have cared a bit if a certain white-furred rabbit had stayed on Zou, because Carrot would have definitely tried attacking Rin for 'taking him away from her'.

For example, Carrot viewed the vegetable, carrot, as one of her most treasured objects, and yet she didn't hesitate to give it to Ryu. So, if she saw Ryu paying more attention to Rin instead of her, Carrot would have pouted angrily and thought that Rin stole him from her, thus inciting her electric paws upon the woman.

While they approached Mokomo Dukedom, Duke Inuarashi received the news from the scouts. "Oh, is that so? Looks like we were worried for no reason, of course Ryu would not be in danger."

He inwardly rolled his eyes at himself for assuming so. Ryu was practically like a god in his eyes due to the 'miracles' he acted. A barrier that cleansed the dirt away from Mokomo Dukedom, several sudden bursts of Sword Intent's advancements, his Conqueror Haki literally shaking the whole world, and many others that happened because of him.

"A God, huh..." Duke Inuarashi mused to himself. Perhaps, Ryu was truly a God to fix up the world.

"Duke Inuarashi?" The Minks Scouts had yet to leave while the Duke was thinking to himself.

"Ah, right. Let us welcome Ryu and his group to our dukedom, of course." Duke Inuarashi rose his large body for a Mink and began to bark out orders for his Musketeers.

He then left the building he was in, intending to go to the entrance the group was approaching.

Rin noticed the Minks from a distance and saw them, commenting. "They like you a lot."

Kumiko, her friend and maid, blinked her eyes. "Of course they would. Ryu is a-"

She was interrupted from praising the handsome green-eyed man by the very same man.

"It still feels weird being praised that much, Kumiko." Ryu looked at her strangely. Ever since he met her when Rin introduced her to him, Kumiko was always fawning over him like a fan girl would to their idols.

"It just shows how much I like you." Kumiko simply stated with a smile. At her side, Rin inwardly rolled her eyes at her blatant declaration. "Beside the fact you're the Shogun of the land I'm living in, you're also going to be the one Young Miss marries... and I like you too!"

Ryu chuckled, used to her boldness. Even Rin didn't seem fazed at all, having grown up together from young age. Both of them understood Kumiko liked to speak bluntly as possible as to avoid misunderstandings, only willing to lie in consideration.

"And I know that." Ryu responded while looking ahead of them. He then glanced at Rin, noticing that she also looked at him at the same time.

She winked at him and covered her mouth to tease her childhood friend and maid. "You're going aggressive, Kumiko! Maybe he won't like that and start to avoid you..."

Kumiko briefly looked confused. "But I'm not as aggressive as you were when you were... um, 'chasing' him."

"..." Rin just quickly gave up and pouted as she looked away, still following Ryu. Kumiko, seeing that, secretly grinned in mirth.

She knew how to tease her back whenever Rin tried to, so she didn't hesitate to do so when she did so. They continued in silence as the entrance to Mokomo Dukedom became visible where a large brown-furred canine Mink stood with his arms crossed.

"Well, well! Look who came to visit us!" Duke Inuarashi suddenly opened his mouth and acted in a dramatic manner as he said. "Shogun Ryu of Wano Country has graced us with his presence! Oh dear, we might not have enou-"

Ryu casually waved his hand at Duke Inuarashi in a 'shooing' way. "Move out of the way, your big body's blocking our way."

Duke Inuarashi's eyebrow twitched when Ryu played along. Even though he was a friend and the Shogun, it was still offending when the man acted as if he was an literal dog... "O-oh, is that so...?"

However, Ryu was still far stronger than him. How could Duke Inuarashi even attempt to smack the man's head for actually playing along? He thought that Ryu would get irritated at his obvious acting like long ago, but it seemed that Ryu matured and easily shrugged it off.

"What? Surprised?" Ryu rolled his eyes. It was few years, yes, but time still did change people no matter how long. Even few seconds could abruptly change a person's mindset based on their situations. "Anyways, how have you been doing, Inuarashi? Still having fun dog/cat fights with Nekomamushi?"

Duke Inuarashi coughed violently at that. He immediately cleared his throat and said in a dignified tone. "No, the p*ss-colored cat and I are still on friendly relations, haha!"

"...Riiight." The Shogun of Wano Country felt his mouth twitching. Rin and Kumiko were appalled at the large canine Mink's vulgarism.

"Oh right, who are those two young ladies behind you? Your wives? Haha! What a man!" Duke Inuarashi fired off at Ryu before the green-eyed man could speak any further. He didn't want Ryu to embarrass him in front of the Musketeers and civilians of Mokomo Dukedom like the last time Ryu was here.

Seeing the obvious attempt at changing the topic, Ryu simply responded. "They're Rin and Kumiko from Wano Country... Rin is the one I am in love with, while Kumiko is her friend."

Rin blushed in embarrassment as Ryu casually declared his love for her. Kumiko pouted and swore that she'd do the same as Rin as before to gather a portion of his heart for hers. Both of them still curtsied and introduced themselves to the Duke of Mokomo Dukedom.

"Hello, it is nice to meet one of Red Scabbards under Kozuki Oden's reign." Rin bowed her head and looked straight at his eyes. She was still a Clan Heiress, so her nobility and dignity showed as she calmly looked at the Duke. Kumiko simply bowed and stood behind Rin, acting as the personal maid of the Clan Heiress.

"Well, no need to bow if you are Ryu's wife..." Duke Inuarashi chuckled and glanced at Ryu's dashing handsome face. He inwardly slapped himself and added. "...especially when he is the Shogun. We, the Mokomo Dukedom, have been allies with Wano Country, although it ended when Kozuki Oden fell."

"Oh?" Ryu seemed surprised at this. He thought that only Duke Inuarashi and Master Nekomamushi and their men were the ones that were with Kozuki Family, not Mokomo Dukedom and Wano Country. At the time Inuarashi and Nekomamushi were retainers of Kozuki Oden, Mokomo Dukedom wasn't being reigned by them so this was understandable as Duke Inuarashi clarified.

"Kozuki Oden intended to create an alliance with the Minks' Tribe, so he received a way when he found Nekomamushi and me. Though it was rough since Zunesha barely stayed in one spot..."

The large canine mink sighed and added.

"That is why Kurozumi Family could not take advantage of the alliance. They already knew of the dangers of walking into a dukedom full of loyal Minks."

"Hm." The Shogun of Wano Country simply shrugged. "If they were given time, the Beast Pirates could have come."

"Indeed." Duke Inuarashi sighed in agreement and smiled. "That is why I am glad you saved Wano Country from further corruption and allowed Kozuki Family to regain their prestige."

Saying this, he thought for a moment before walking to Ryu and kneeled like a servant would to their master.

"Because of this and you helped Zunesha as well as Mokomo Dukedom, we are forever indebted to you. We will always be on your side as Mokomo Dukedom as whole." Following Duke Inuarashi, Minks who came to see Ryu also kneeled down and did not hesitate to agree.

"It's unneeded, but that's not going to stop you, right?" Ryu rolled his eyes, knowing full well how annoying Minks were in their beliefs of loyalty... "Just take this matter of alliance to the next Shogun. Yes, that Kozuki Family's Heir."

"What?" Duke Inuarashi looked extremely shocked that Ryu knew of this time-traveling matter. No one but Red Scabbards and the children of that woman knew of it, yet Ryu knew. He curiously asked. "How did you know?"

Rin and Kumiko also looked confused but they already understood that the so-called next Shogun would be apart of Kozuki Family, just like before Kurozumi Orochi's overtake.

The Solitary Pirate simply shrugged. "I wonder."

"...Has he arrived yet?" Duke Inuarashi hesitantly asked. After all, this year was supposed to be the year when the heir and rest of Red Scabbards to arrive. However, it wasn't precisely exactly in the same month, so he didn't expect for Ryu to nod.

"Yes."