Wano try, Udion, Quarry.

  The smell of alcohol filled the air as Kawashita Ideta, a retainer of the Uzuki assigo oversee the quarry, stumbled back to his room, heavily intoxicated. He colpsed onto his bed and began sn loudly.

  No oiced the silent figure that slipped into the room.

  “Apologies, but I’ll be borrowing your identity for a while,” Sally murmured with a sly smile, her eyes fixed on the drunken man.

  Her right hand morphed into a sticky, dough-like substance. Without hesitation, she flung it at him.

  “Mm… mmph…”

  Large blobs of sticky dough bound the man’s limbs and mouth. Startled awake, Kawashita Ideta struggled desperately, but the adhesive substance held firm.

  Within moments, his strength waned, and his movements ceased entirely. His lifeless body slumped as he drew his st breath.

  “Barry, he’s all yours!”

  Sally pulled out a gss mirror, which began to expand before her eyes.

  “Heh, leave it to me,” Barry said with a mischievous grin, stepping out of the mirror and dragging the corpse into the Mirror World.

  Ohe mirror returo its inal size, Sally stowed it away.

  In the blink of an eye, her body transformed, taking on Kawashita Ideta’s appearance. She dressed in a samurai’s attire and even took a few swigs of alcohol to maintain the drunken fa?ade.

  “Ugh…” Now reeking of alcohol, she staggered out of the room, feigning intoxication as if nothing had happened.

  …

  At the same time, in the Flower Capital, the shogun, Kouzuki Sukiyaki, issued an order.

  He summoned Kouzuki Oden, who had been fio a temple outside the capital, and tasked him with traveling to variions to deliver letters.

  The goal was to foster Oden’s diplomatic skills and give him an opportunity to meet the regional daimyos, all while showg the future heir of the Kouzuki family.

  “Huh?”

  At the temple outside the Flower Capital, a child wearing a bd-white kimono, taller than his peers, with a shaved head except for a topknot, looked surprised.

  “Father wants me to deliver letters?”

  “Yes, Oden-sama,” the samurai replied with a respectful bow.

  “Sukiyaki-sama wishes to hone your unication skills and introduce you to the daimyos of variions. He also wants them to withe grace of the future heir of the Kouzuki family. Everything is prepared for your departure.”

  “Ahahaha, that’s great!”

  Oden’s eyes lit up with excitement as he dashed outside. “I’ve been bored staying here!”

  “Wait, Oden-sama!” Miuramatsu, a loyal retainer of the Kouzuki family, hurried after him.

  “Where are we heading first, Miuramatsu?”

  Seated in a panquin carried by eight men, Oden gnced curiously at the procession ahead.

  “First, we will visit the Udion, as it is the closest. After that, we’ll proceed to the neighb Hakumai Region,” Miuramatsu expined, walking alongside the panquin and tending to the young heir.

  “Sukiyaki-sama has already sent messages by carrier pigeons. The daimyos should have received word by now and will be ready to wele you, Oden-sama.”

  As the suhe group set up camp for the night.

  The m, at dawn, the procession finally reached the outskirts of Udon.

  However, as they fiheir breakfast, the warriors and attendants began clutg their stomachs in agony, colpsing oer another with cries of pain.

  Even the four-year-old Oden wasn’t spared.

  “Damn it! The food oisoned!”

  “Protect the heir!”

  Pale and drenched i, Miuramatsu gritted his teeth and fought through the pain, rallying those who could still stand. Stumbling, he led a small group toward the panquin.

  “What’s happening?”

  Oden’s face twisted in pain as he opened his eyes wide in disbelief.

  Someone was trying to kill them?

  “Attack!”

  “Kill him! Wipe out the Kouzuki bloodline!”

  “Our Kurozumi family has fallen so low, enduring endless suffering and humiliation, all because of the damned Kouzuki …”

  The attackers surged forward with murderous i.

  At that moment, several masked figures dressed in bck burst onto the se.

  With swift, precise movements, they cut dowendants as if slig through vegetables, leaving a bloody trail in their wake. Their murderous i filled the air as they charged forward.

  “What!?”

  “The remnants of the Kurozumi family!”

  “Damn it! Shogun-sama was merciful, fiving your Kurozumi d sparing your lives!”

  “And this is how you repay us? By itting such a heinous act!”

  “Oden-sama, run! We’ll hold them off!”

  Miuramatsu and the other samurai turned pale with shod anger, fighting back against the masked intruders. But weakened by poison, they were no match.

  One by ohey fell to the ground, defeated and lifeless.

  “Now, it’s your turn!”

  The leader of the masked figures fixed his predataze on Kouzuki Oden.

  Brandishing his blood-stained katana, he chased after the young boy, who tried desperately to flee. His voice dripped with malice:

  “You brat of the Kouzuki family, don’t think you’ll survive today!”

  “It’s all because of your damned father! If he hadn’t been born at such a critical time, our Kurozumi family’s pn to take over Wano would have succeeded!”

  “Your family’s wiess and misdeeds are to bme! Stop bming others for your failures!” Odeed, pale-faced and drenched i. He gripped his katana tightly, his features distorted in pain, but his voice rang defiantly.

  “My grandfather was merciful! He only executed the masterminds and spared the rest of your , merely redug you to oners! Instead of being grateful, you plot revenge!”

  “Heh, no matter what you say, you’ll die here today!”

  Without another word, the masked figures rushed forward in unison.

  Within moments, they mercilessly hacked Kouzuki Oden to death, sshing him repeatedly until his body was reduced to minced flesh.

  The sight was utterly horrifying.

  “Oden-sama… damn it…”

  Miuramatsu, who had already lost an arm and suffered multiple wounds, y in a pool of blood, struggling weakly. All he could do was watch helplessly as the young heir of the Kouzuki —despite his exceptional potential—was brutally murdered and decapitated before his eyes.

  Coughing up blood, his vision blurred. His eyes widened in horror before he finally lost sciousness.

  “Let’s go!”

  …

  Some time ter, Miuramatsu awoke, his body wracked with pain and his vision hazy.

  “Am I… in hell?”

  Covered in blood and barely ging to life, he forced his heavy eyelids open.

  To his shock, he saw the Oniwabanshu ninja squad—the elite protectors who had once served alongside him uhe shogun. His eyes widened further, but the excruciating pai him silent.

  “Miuramatsu!”

  The leader of the Oniwabanshu k beside him, shaking him gently. “What happened? Where is Oden-sama?”

  Their faces were drenched i, filled with urgency. They had already surveyed the battlefield and found a pile of unreizable minced flesh. Judging by the remnants of clothing, they could only clude that these were the remains of Kouzuki Oden.

  The realizatiohem paralyzed with dread.

  The future heir of the Kouzuki family had been sughtered, hacked into pieces. It was unthinkable—a camity for Wano try that would undoubtedly trigger massive upheaval.

  “Cough… cough… it was… the Kurozumi …” Miuramatsu coughed up blood as he spoke weakly.

  “They poisoned us… seeking revenge… against the Kouzuki family…”

  With those final words, his head slumped to the side, and he breathed his st.

  “What!?”

  “The Kurozumi ?”

  “Damn it, those wretches…”

  “After all these years, they still hold a grudge?”

  “Damn it! The shogun should have eradicated them pletely back then!”

  The ninjas present were overwhelmed with shod fury, their faces dark with anger.

  “Leader, we found this!”

  A ninja hurried over, holding up a token they had discovered in the surrou

  nding bushes.

  “This is… the crest of the Uzuki ?”

  The leader’s pupils stricted sharply.

  Bleam