While flying toward the prison cells, Reno looked at the handcuffs in his hands, muttering to himself in frustration,
"I thought there'd be loads of seastone here, but after searching the whole place, all I found were these lousy handcuffs. These tiny bits of seastone are useless as weapons how am I supposed to knock someone out with these?"
What Reno wanted were massive chunks of seastone big enough to throw and seriously injure someone not these small seastone cuffs meant only for restraining Devil Fruit users.
"Never mind. After I'm done here, I'll ask my future mother-in-law where else I can find seastone in Wano."
Talking to himself, Reno sped toward the prison cells like a flash of lightning. It wasn't long before he arrived near the area.
As soon as he approached, he saw dozens of guards blocking the way.
Seeing this, Reno couldn't resist his mischievous side. He stuck out his tongue, clawed at the air menacingly, and said in an eerie voice, "Are you here to stop me on my way to the afterlife?"
Clink… clink…
"Ahhh! A ghost!"
"There's… there's a ghost!"
The guards turned pale with fright. Their weapons clattered to the ground, their trembling hands unable to hold on. Before a single punch was thrown, they were already in chaos.
The lead guard, shaking and stammering, shouted,
"Th-there's no ghost! It's just a Devil Fruit user! Pull yourselves together!"
The surrounding guards silently cursed him in their hearts: If you're not scared, then why are your legs shaking like that, huh?
Seeing that these fools actually believed he was a ghost, Reno upped his game. He floated closer with exaggerated claw-like gestures, his body radiating green energy, resembling ghostly flames.
"D-don't come any closer!"
"Run! There's a ghost!!"
"I'd rather die than face a ghost!"
"Run for your lives!"
Before Reno even reached them, the guards were already pale as sheets, scrambling away in all directions, crawling and tumbling in their haste.
They silently cursed their parents for not giving them more legs to flee faster.
Once the guards had all fled, Reno floated to one of the prison cells, tossing a set of keys inside. Taking out a token, he declared,
"I'm a friend of Kozuki Oden. He entrusted me to rescue you. Get out and help unlock the other cells."
"When everyone's been freed, gather here. I'll get you all out of here."
The prisoners and hostages inside the cell exchanged nervous glances, hesitant to move forward.
After all, they had just witnessed what appeared to be a ghost scaring off the guards. Who would dare approach a ghost?
Seeing their hesitation, Reno couldn't help but laugh. He explained, "I was just playing around earlier.
I have Kozuki Oden's token with me. If you don't believe me, you can come take a look. A ghost wouldn't carry something like this, right?"
Finally, one hostage, mustering all his courage, stepped forward to check. It wasn't that he was particularly brave he simply couldn't ignore the mention of Kozuki Oden's token.
To him and the others, Oden was like a living deity. Whether the claim was true or false, he had to verify it.
If it truly was Oden's token, they'd rejoice. But if it was fake, he'd likely fight Reno to the death, ghost or not.
Watching the trembling yet determined hostage step forward, Reno thought to himself, That big fool Oden really has incredible charisma. He can inspire these hostages to face something more terrifying than death for his sake.
This was evident from the guards earlier, who would rather face death than confront what they thought was a ghost.
Due to the dim lighting, the hostage had to get closer to see the token. Once he saw it clearly, he exhaled in relief and turned to the others, saying,
"The token he's holding really is Lord Oden's. He's here to rescue us, not a ghost. Come on, everyone!"
Now that he was closer, the hostage also got a good look at Reno. To his surprise, Reno was just a five- or six-year-old child not a ghost at all!
"Is he really here to rescue us?"
"I knew Lord Oden wouldn't abandon us!"
"Everyone, calm down. Let's get out of here and unlock the other cells. We can celebrate once we escape!"
"Yes, yes, let's get out of this cursed place first!"
The freed prisoners and hostages quickly grabbed the keys and ran to unlock the other cells.
The first hostage who had approached Reno returned to him after the others dispersed. Bowing respectfully, he asked,
"Young mas… um, sir, may I ask for your name?"
The man had initially intended to address Reno as "young man," but it felt inappropriate, so he hastily changed it to "sir."
Feeling awkward being called "sir" by someone old enough to be his grandfather, Reno said,
"My name is Reno. I'm a friend of Kozuki Oden from overseas. I came here to help him handle things in Wano. You can just call me by my name."
The hostage, an elder from Kuri named Rushiho, had been puzzled earlier since he didn't recognize Reno. Now, learning that Reno was from overseas, everything made sense.
Understanding this, Rushiho respectfully said, "Then I shall call you Lord Reno."
"Lord Reno, once everyone is freed, how are we going to escape?"
Reno didn't bother hiding the plan.
"I'll create a passage leading outside. The other end of the passage is in Kuri, where Lady Toki is waiting. Once you go through, she'll take care of the rest."
Rushiho was stunned, his jaw dropping as he stared at Reno in disbelief. After a moment, he asked,
"L-Lord Reno, is such an incredible power even possible?"
Rushiho's reaction wasn't surprising. Having spent his entire life in Wano, which was in a state of isolation, he had little knowledge of Devil Fruits or their powers.
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