It’s easier to invite the devil in than to send it away

Kozuki Oden is different from other Kozuki family members because of his exceptional strength. None of the remaining members of the Kurozumi family are his match, so they must seek external help.

Kaido took the newspaper and looked at the headline.

[Whitebeard Pirates' fierce commander is a samurai from Wano Country.]

"King, didn't we discuss this guy before?" This wasn't a new issue of the newspaper, but Kaido had a feeling he had seen this person before.

"Yeah, Lord Sacred Beast mentioned him not long ago, but at that time you were drunk and said, 'It's just another son that Whitebeard adopted, don't worry about it.'"

When navigating the New World, it is important for pirates to gather intelligence about the officers of the major pirate crews, including a rough understanding of their abilities, and Morgans' newspaper is the main source of such information.

"But according to the reports, Whitebeard treated him like a younger brother, and he is indeed very strong."

"So, if we use violent methods, we'll have to face Whitebeard directly?"

Kaido wasn't worried about taking on either Whitebeard's crew or Wano Country by himself, as the Beasts Pirates had Arceus and other capable officers besides him. However, facing both Whitebeard Pirates and Wano Country together was a different story as his forces were too small. After careful consideration, Kurozumi Higurashi's suggestion is a very suitable one for the current situation.

"Is this Kozuki Oden really that strong?"

"There's no actual battle record to reference. Our people have not clashed with Whitebeard before, and you are also aware of the information provided by Morgans."

King responded to Kaido's question.

Finally, it is important to consider whether the investment is proportional to the potential gain. Kaido needed to know if it was worth the effort to take over Wano Country.

Whether it is advanced weaponry or the so-called Seastone, all information thus far has been obtained only through rumors and from the mouth of Kurozumi Higurashi. Seeing is believing - Kaido wants Kurozumi Higurashi to produce tangible evidence to prove the validity of these claims.

"You didn't come empty-handed, did you?"

"Of course not, I have brought everything with me."

Wano Country is quite far from here. Of course, she didn't come here alone by rowing a boat. She doesn't have the ability to navigate the sea alone, so she has a few followers with her.

Their boat also came here with Scotch's ship.

Then a few boxes were brought in, containing various firearms and explosives.

Without Kaido's permission, she dared not bring these things in directly, as it could be considered an "act of assassination."

"Queen, go check the goods and see if this old woman is telling the truth."

Queen's expertise is in biochemistry, but his mechanical skills are also not bad. After all, he's someone who can install machine guns in his body. He took the weapons that Kurozumi Higurashi brought and after a series of clanging sounds, he dismantled them into parts, and then reassembled them.

"Boss Kaido, it looks good, but the power and range still need testing. Hey! Kid, don't play with the grenades!"

The outside world generally uses gunpowder for soil bombs or detonators, as well as old-fashioned artillery shells. Fragmentation grenades and wooden-handle hand grenades are rare things because of the skewed technology tree. Such weapons are even rarer than rocket launchers and shoulder-mounted guns.

Mainly, some weapons are considered to be lackluster, as throwing weapons are ineffective against strong opponents. As a result, the development in this area has been neglected.

Setsuna had never seen a grenade before and was curious when she saw the things in the box, so she picked one up.

"I'm 10 years old! 10 year old Minks are not kids anymore!"

"Here you're just a little brat. Children shouldn't play with strange weapons they've never seen before. Go back and train with your Zeraora." Queen grabbed Setsuna by the back of her neck and carried her back to Zeraora's side.

She and Zeraora had just finished training and had entered their rest time. Zeraora was reading the newspaper that Kaido had just put down, planning to understand the situation and report back to Arceus, but while he wasn't paying attention, Setsuna went to play with the hand grenades.

"Setsuna, be more serious. Don't you want to be the ruler of Zou Island? A ruler cannot be restless and impulsive."

Saying that, he handed Setsuna a newspaper, which contained some intelligence and images about the Whitebeard Pirates from the Marines. Their cameramen seemed to be working harder than regular soldiers, and Setsuna even recognized two familiar figures from the photos.

"Why do the backs of these two figures look so much like Inuarashi and Nekomamushi?"

But she couldn't be sure since the camera mainly focused on Kozuki Oden, and the others were just a few figures in the background.

The room was quiet for a while. Queen had already gone out to test the power of some weapon, and Kaido was waiting for the results of the test.

After a series of gunshots and explosions, Queen returned and nodded at Kaido. There was no problem with the quality of the weapons.

"Boss Kaido, both the firearms and cold weapons have excellent quality. She was not lying."

"Since that's the case, Kurozumi Higurashi, I agree to your request. However, we need to prepare first."

"Ni kyo kyo kyo, I told you it was a good proposal. This is a communication device and an Eternal Pose of Wano Country. Use this to contact me when you're near Wano Country, and I'll come to pick you up. Oh, by the way, Orochi-sama has prepared a gift for you."

After leaving something behind, she left. It was then that Arceus arrived.

"What happened? Why were there explosions?"

"We were just testing some new weapons. By the way, we can start preparing to move. Just now…" Kaido gave a brief description of what had happened earlier, but Arceus frowned at hearing it.

"Is that guy a fool? He wants to drain the pond to get at the fish, how much can he gain by exploiting the potential like this?"

"It doesn't matter. I didn't really plan on listening to him anyway. After we settle in Wano Country for a while, we'll just kick him out. Not everyone is qualified to cooperate with us."

Although it sounds good, in reality, Kurozumi family just wants to use Kaido to rule Wano Country and make him their hired thug. From the beginning, Kaido never intended to fully cooperate with them. Kurozumi family wanted to use his strength, and he wanted to use their arrangements. It's hard to feel at ease when you can't completely control a country.

He would make them understand that it's easier to invite the devil in than to send it away. Once he entered Wano Country, it wouldn't be so easy to kick him out.

The development within the Beasts Pirates' territory had already proven that the current production method was much more efficient than simply exploiting.

"Well, it's fine, let him go and cause some damage in the early stages. There is a need for someone to play the role of both the villain and hero. Only through comparison can they see the benefits we bring. By the way, what's in that box?"

You can read all three of my novels (TSLDB, APJ, DBSKS) on the same patreon.