In feudal times on Earth, it was indeed difficult for a closed-off country to open its borders.
Because prolonged isolation had created vested interest groups, opening the country would be tantamount to going to war with these groups, potentially shaking the foundation of the nation.
But the situation in Wano Country was different. On one hand, its land area was small, and on the other hand, various domestic forces had loyalty to the Kozuki clan.
Was opening the country not just a matter of a single word?
What? You're saying, what if foreign enemies invade after opening the country?
Even if you don't open the country, can powerful foreign enemies not invade?
Whether it's an Admiral, or a Legendary Pirate, or the World Government's God's Knights, they can enter Wano Country without much difficulty.
One must know that even Elbaph, the Giant Kingdom, reputed to be the 'world's strongest nation,' couldn't stop the World Government's God's Knights, let alone the small Wano Country.
'Hmm, the current Shogun of Wano Country is his father.'
Kenji glanced at Oden, who was drinking and enjoying himself in a nearby seat, and speculated in his heart.
'Given his father's current attitude… he probably won't agree to open the country.'
'Forget it, let Oden worry about these trivial matters himself.'
Kenji wasn't very interested in whether Wano Country remained closed or opened its borders.
At this moment, he was more interested in when Kuzan's Marine squad would be able to investigate enough information about Pluton to pass the system's judgment.
'Let's wait a few more days. If Kuzan still can't get the information… I'll give them a little hint.'
If it weren't for the comfortable life in the pleasure district, Kenji might have lost his patience long ago and directly told Kuzan and the others the location of Pluton.
But now, he had enjoyed a comfortable life for over a month, which was enough. Relaxation also had its limits.
Kenji considered it and finally decided. In a week, if Kuzan and his team still had no findings, he would directly send them to Pluton.
As for the source of the intelligence, it was already available.
Oden had been living with him in the pleasure district for over a month.
As the son of the Shogun of Wano Country, it wasn't strange for him to know about Pluton, was it?
"Oden, you should go home and take a look." After making his decision, Kenji prepared to send Oden away.
But Oden wouldn't leave no matter what, so Kenji failed to send him away and could only try again next time.
But plans often don't keep up with changes.
Two days later, Sukiyaki, the current Shogun of Wano Country, actually came to the pleasure district in person with his men and, in front of everyone, locked up Oden and took him away.
The unexpected happened so suddenly, immediately solving Kenji's problem.
'Since there's good news, let it be in pairs!'
Kenji decided not to wait for a week and immediately informed Kuzan that day, telling him Pluton's location.
As expected, Kuzan was very surprised, but quickly calmed down and then expressed "I see."
This series of emotional changes was basically within Kenji's expectations.
That day, upon receiving the information, Kuzan immediately led the Marine squad to quietly investigate, and indeed discovered a corner of the ancient weapon—Pluton.
After all, this thing is enormous and buried within Wano Country, so it's not easy to extract it completely.
Moreover, the order Kuzan and his team received this time was not to extract Pluton, but to confirm the existence of Pluton itself.
Clearly, Kuzan and his team had taken effective action this time.
Because, when they unearthed a corner of Pluton itself, Kenji had passed the system's judgment, and the mission reward content appeared in his field of vision.
[Through long-term investigation and intelligence gathering, you have finally confirmed the existence of the ancient weapon—Pluton!]
[You discovered that Pluton is buried within Wano Country. You decided to temporarily keep this secret and wait for a suitable opportunity in the future to retrieve the ancient weapon—Pluton!]
[Mission (Main): Verify Ancient Weapon Pluton's Intelligence! —Overcompleted!]
[Reward Increased!]
[Reward has been changed to: Evolve a random owned trait 1 time!]
"…What's going on?"
Kenji finished reading the reward content and immediately felt a mix of laughter and tears, both surprised and helpless.
"Usually, it's just an increase in the number of assignable upgrades, right? It actually directly boosted the reward to Trait Evolution…!"
The Trait Evolution reward is naturally very good. It can cause a qualitative change in tge trait's abilities, for example, [Sea Beast Power] evolving into the [Sea King Power].
Or it can derivatively evolve new powerful trait abilities, such as how the prerequisite trait [Iron Body] for [Steel Balloon] came about.
It's just that before this mission, Kenji was focused on getting the assignable upgrade reward to advance the [Giant Bloodline] trait.
He really wanted to see what the so-called "Ancient God-like Creature" was all about.
"[Giant Bloodline] advancement will have to wait for another time…"
Kenji shook his head, feeling a bit speechless, but quickly his heart stirred.
"Hmm, speaking of which, there's also a side quest to escort Shiki, and the reward content is also an assignable upgrade… Hey, that's not bad either."
Now that he had obtained the Pluton intelligence and completed the system mission, the next step was naturally to escort Shiki back to Marineford.
Escorting a prisoner like this actually wouldn't take much time.
He would at most receive the assignable upgrade reward a few days later… provided that the escort mission's reward wouldn't increase significantly again, turning into a Trait Evolution reward.
"For a simple and straightforward mission like escorting a prisoner, the reward shouldn't increase dramatically, right?"
At this moment, Kenji was actually a little worried that the next mission reward increase would be too great.
If it had been a few months ago, when the system had just awakened, if such a thought had appeared in Kenji's mind, he might have thought he was crazy.
Do you need to worry about a huge increase in rewards? Are you complaining that you're eating too well?
Now, of course, things were different. For Kenji, it was…
"It truly is painful and joyful!"