King the Wildfire's thinking was simple. He could agree to withdraw from Wano, because they had lost, and the losers naturally had to pay a price. Leaving Wano was one such price.
Even when Kaido woke up, King had more than enough reason to persuade him.
He was certain Kaido would not oppose that.
But joining Rowan's camp and becoming his subordinate… that was too big a decision. Far too big for him to make on Kaido's behalf.
Rowan glanced at Hashirama and said, "Bring Kaido over."
Hashirama nodded, clapped his hands together, created a ten-meter wooden giant, had it pick up the unconscious Kaido, and dumped him in front of Rowan with a thud.
King's eye twitched at the sight. That was his boss, one of the Four Emperors of the New World.
Not cargo.
In the past, he would have drawn his blade without hesitation.
But now… considering that they had already lost and that all their lives were in the other side's hands, King held back. When you were under someone else's roof, you had no choice but to lower your head.
He might never have heard that saying, but he understood the principle.
Rowan said, "Wake him up."
Hashirama nodded, walked over, and placed both hands on Kaido's body. He didn't know medical ninjutsu, but he did know Yang Release. After injecting Yang chakra into Kaido's body, Kaido's injuries began healing at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Before long, Kaido woke up.
Though only barely.
Getting back up and continuing to fight was next to impossible.
Hashirama had no intention of helping his enemy recover completely. Once he was sure Kaido was conscious, he immediately withdrew and stepped back.
Kaido opened his eyes, scanned his surroundings, and fixed his gaze on Rowan.
"So you're their leader, huh?"
Rowan nodded.
"So how are you planning to deal with me?"
Although Kaido had only just regained consciousness, he hadn't lost his memory. He remembered everything that had happened before he passed out and understood perfectly well that he was now a prisoner.
Whether he lived or died was entirely in the other side's hands.
Still, since they hadn't killed him outright, Kaido had no problem discussing terms.
Rowan said calmly, "The entire Beast Pirates must join my camp and follow my orders. In exchange, I won't interfere in the internal affairs of the Beast Pirates."
"You'll still be the one in charge of your crew. But you and your men must obey me."
Rowan had no interest in managing a pirate crew, so after discussing it with Nico Robin, he had decided on this arrangement.
As long as Kaido and his crew were obedient, that was enough.
Everything else, Rowan didn't care about.
Kaido burst out laughing. "I see. So you want to bring me under your thumb. Fine. But I have one question."
"Go ahead," Rowan said.
Kaido looked at him seriously and asked in a low voice, "What exactly are you planning to do after gathering me under your banner? Conquer the New World? Become the next Pirate King?"
Rowan turned toward Robin. Robin answered calmly, "We have no interest in becoming Pirate King. We only want one thing…"
"To overthrow the World Government!"
"Just with this group of people?" Kaido looked skeptically at the others. They were strong, yes, but against a government that had ruled the world for eight hundred years, it still didn't seem like enough.
"Imu, right?" Robin smiled faintly and spoke a name that made Kaido's expression change instantly.
"How do you know that?" Kaido asked, now completely serious.
"We know more than just that. We also know about the battle at God Valley more than thirty years ago, when you, Garp, Roger, Charlotte Linlin, Whitebeard, and Rocks all joined forces against Imu."
"But in the end, Rocks was taken over by Imu. After driving the rest of you back, Garp and Roger joined forces to stop the controlled Rocks."
"Afterward, the badly wounded Rocks was killed by Saint Figarland Garling, who arrived later. Roger and Garp were rescued by Silvers Rayleigh and Scopper Gaban, respectively."
"And you all took the chance to leave God Valley. Right?"
After hearing Robin lay it all out like that, Kaido's expression darkened even further. More than thirty years ago, Nico Robin hadn't even been born. How could she possibly know all of this?
"Since you know about that mysterious bastard, you still think you can overthrow the World Government?"
Robin shot back, "Why wouldn't we? More than thirty years ago, there were only six of you. Now we have far more than that."
"Besides you, we now have Dracule Mihawk, Shimotsuki Ryuma, and Hashirama Senju."
"Later, we can also recruit Shiki, Garp, Zephyr, Kuzan, Whitebeard, Charlotte Linlin, Dragon of the Revolutionary Army, Bartholomew Kuma, and even the Golden Emperor."
"On top of that, we're already working on cracking the secret of Devil Fruits."
"Maybe before long, we'll be able to mass-produce Devil Fruits."
"And once that happens, we'll be able to create an entire army of Devil Fruit users. No matter how strong the World Government is, do you really think it can stand against an army of ten thousand—or even a hundred thousand—Devil Fruit users?"
King the Wildfire and Morgans were both stunned by that.
If they really had cracked the secret of Devil Fruits and could mass-produce Devil Fruit users, then the World Government genuinely might not be able to stop them.
No matter how strong the God's Knights were, no matter how terrifying the Five Elders were, no matter how mysterious Imu was… in front of a vast army of Devil Fruit users, none of that would matter.
At that moment, Morgans was truly scared.
One big story was still just a big story. But so many explosive stories piled together stopped being news and turned into a deadly secret.
He was already wondering whether he ought to throw in with Rowan's side, because now that he knew so much, there was a very real chance he might get silenced otherwise.
He was starting to regret ever coming to Wano in person.
This was bad. Really bad.
Then Kaido suddenly looked up and glanced at Rowan.
"I want to know one thing. That man called Shimotsuki Ryuma—what exactly is his relationship to Wano's Sword God?"
Before Rowan could answer, Ryuma said calmly, "I am Shimotsuki Ryuma. The dragon-slaying samurai from centuries ago."
King the Wildfire was visibly shaken. "But you're supposed to be dead."
Ryuma replied, "Rowan brought me back to life. That's why I walk the world again."
"Reviving the dead?"
Morgans screamed, slapping his wings against his face. "That kind of thing is actually possible?!"
At least in the last eight hundred years, Morgans had never once heard of anything like that.
Robin used the Flower-Flower Fruit to retrieve one of the pirates Hashirama had beaten to death and placed the corpse in front of Rowan.
Rowan nudged the body with his foot, and the power of Yomi erupted.
Yin and Yang reversed.
Death gave way to life.
~~~
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