Command Owed to Oppression

Looking at the large dark hole he had just created, Kawaki turned to Tsukuyo and asked, "Which way are you going, Tsukuyo?"

Tsukuyo glanced at Kawaki but didn't respond.

"I see…" Kawaki said as he approached the hole. "Then let's move out…"

"Um, Kawaki-san…"

Seeing Kawaki poised to jump into the massive hole he had created, Shinpachi weakly raised his hand and asked, "What should Kagura and I do?"

"Sorry, sorry, I almost forgot about you two," Kawaki said, pulling out a Sugoroku board from the large mouth of his suit and handing it to Shinpachi. "If you're bored, play Sugoroku."

After a moment of silence, Shinpachi took a deep breath. "Why are we just playing Sugoroku?! And this board isn't suitable for minors, is it?! This is an adult version!"

"Don't worry, I wouldn't make that kind of mistake," Kawaki said with a light laugh, arms crossed. "This is the youth version of Sugoroku! It's entirely compliant with Edo's Youth Healthy Growth Ordinance! None of those things you're worried about will happen!"

"That's not the problem!" Shinpachi shouted at the top of his lungs, veins bulging and eyes wide.

"Anyway… see you in thirty… no, twenty-eight minutes."

With that, Kawaki turned smartly, but before he could jump into the hole, Tsukuyo kicked him in the butt, causing him to lose his balance and fall headfirst into the hole.

"Ahhhhhhh!!!!" Kawaki's scream echoed from the hole.

"Um… Tsukuyo-san…" Shinpachi, with twitching lips and a head full of black lines, muttered, "Are you trying to kill Kawaki-san?"

"I just gave him a little push. Isn't his goal to jump down?" Tsukuyo replied calmly, then jumped into the hole without hesitation.

"Shinpachi! Let's fight too, aru!" Kagura said seriously.

"Yeah! Let's follow them…" Shinpachi nodded firmly, but before he could finish, he saw Kagura sitting on the ground, opening the Sugoroku board. "Is this the fight you meant?!"

"I trust Uncle, aru," Kagura said casually, rolling the dice without looking up.

"Even if you trust him…"

"It's your turn. I've already earned 100,000 yen in the first round. Yosh! I'm going to win!"

"Really, you're the only one who trusts Kawaki-san unconditionally like this," Shinpachi said with a helpless smile.

"No, Zura and Gin-chan are the same, aru," Kagura shook her head casually.

"Ah, you're right…" Shinpachi sighed softly, then turned his face towards the direction Katsura had gone. "But how is Katsura-san planning to stop the vanguard? Is he going to pilot that thing? Does he even know how?"

Shinpachi's guess was correct. Katsura had entered the vanguard's operation room and headed straight for a Gundam. Without hesitation, he climbed up and entered the cockpit in the chest area.

After skimming through the operation manual and fastening his seatbelt, Katsura pressed the start switch and moved the joystick.

The BGM "Fly! Gundam!" played, and the support system brought Katsura's Gundam to the runway.

Meanwhile, Kagura and Shinpachi, half-heartedly playing Sugoroku, heard a familiar voice calling from a distance.

"Elizabeth—!"

Seeing Nobume panting and stopping before them, Shinpachi quickly asked, "Nobume-san…"

"What's going on here?" Nobume asked, catching her breath. "Why are they deploying so soon?"

"Well…" Shinpachi started explaining slowly.

Two minutes later, after Shinpachi's explanation, Nobume was frustrated. "How could this happen? I was so close to disabling all the Gundams…"

"What?" Shinpachi was surprised. "What did you do in such a short time?"

"While everyone was distracted, I tampered with the Gundams. I couldn't stop the battleship, but I did sabotage the Gundams," Nobume explained slowly.

"What kind of sabotage?" Shinpachi asked.

Meanwhile, on the runway, Katsura controlled his Gundam to step onto the auxiliary wheels and grabbed the giant gun and shield from the support rack.

"Amazing! No wonder Midou is so obsessed!" Katsura exclaimed, and then his face turned serious. "Alright, Elizabeth, wait for me!"

With that, Katsura pressed the beak of his suit. A transparent visor, like a real helmet, covered his mouth.

"Gundam, sortie! Katsura, launching—!"

As Katsura's Gundam, propelled by the auxiliary wheels, flew out of the Renpou mothership into space, it exploded in the next moment.

Boom!!!

…

"Sabotage? It was just a bomb…" Nobume replied nonchalantly.

Meanwhile, hearing the explosion outside, Shinpachi's face turned dark. After a few seconds of silence, he looked up, clutching his head, and screamed at the ceiling, "Katsura… Katsura is dead!!"

At the same time, in the governor's mansion, General Midou, standing at the window watching Earth, was approached by the red-haired right dragon general, who knelt on one knee behind him.

Midou turned slightly and raised a signboard: 「What is it?」

「Th-the Gundam we deployed exploded.」 The right dragon general reported with a signboard.

「What?!」 Midou turned fully, 「Could it be…」

Midou remembered Luffy and the Kaientai members he had imprisoned earlier.

「Those guys have accomplices…?!」

Under Midou's orders, almost all Renpou soldiers began searching for the infiltrating spies.

Hiding in the shadows, Nobume muttered, "No matter what, it seems we succeeded in stopping them."

"No, one comrade is already dead," Shinpachi replied quietly.

"But it's really incredible," Nobume continued, seemingly doubting herself. Did the bomb I planted really have such power? It was supposed to disable the legs."

At that moment, Kagura noticed something and pointed out the window. "Hey, wait! Look over there, aru!"

Following Kagura's direction, Shinpachi widened his eyes in surprise, cold sweat trickling down his face, "W-what is that?!"

Meanwhile, Gintoki and Sakamoto, though noticing the explosion, didn't seem to care, continuing to stroll towards the governor's mansion.

"Hey, Tatsuma," Gintoki glanced at Sakamoto, asking casually, "Since becoming a merchant, you haven't gotten rusty, have you?"

"Who knows?" Sakamoto replied casually, busy adjusting an earpiece. Unlike you, I've always been a pacifist. My brain's sharp, but I can't say the same for my skills."

"So your brain and skills are useless," Gintoki commented, accepting an earpiece from Sakamoto and placing it in his left ear. "I didn't know you had this hobby, eavesdropping on men and women."

"Hahahaha, if Kawaki knew you said that, he'd come after you." Sakamoto chuckled, "But he's strict, giving us only thirty minutes. Now, we have barely twenty minutes left."

"Is that guy always this early?"

"I'll relay your words to him exactly."

Just then, a Renpou soldier turned towards Gintoki and Sakamoto, raising a signboard.

「Hey, you two… That's the governor's mansion.」

Other Renpou soldiers also approached, surrounding the two.

「What are you doing there?」

Facing the question, Gintoki slowly pulled out a signboard from his suit: 「We have something to say to the governor directly.」

「Have you found spies?!」

"No," Sakamoto tore off his suit, aiming a gun straight at the Renpou soldiers, "It's samurais…"

"…who are here to invade your planet." Gintoki, discarding his suit, held a wooden sword toward the Renpou soldiers.

「You're those guys from before…」 The blue dragon general, now revealed as the left dragon general raised a signboard.

「I suspected you back then.」 The red dragon general, or the right dragon general, raised a signboard, 「Didn't expect you to be samurais…!」

「How are you in space?」 The left dragon general raised a signboard.

"I must say, your investigation is lacking. Earth's samurais are not extinct," Sakamoto began, "Well, not yet. One day, samurais may vanish from Earth, but by then, Earth will be far stronger, strong enough to deter any invasion. But for now… we, the remnants of the old era, are still here!"

"Have you forgotten?" Gintoki chuckled, "The names of the people who defended their country with just a sword, against foreign invaders…"

Sakamoto gripped his gun tighter, "Protecting the nation…"