Chapter 140: Promising Hyougoro — Recruitment
Hyougoro listened to Brook’s words with a hint of yearning in his eyes. Although the Flower Capital where he lived was prosperous, much of the rest of the country remained poor and underdeveloped.
Some places, like Kuri, were in utter chaos — a lawless land where criminals roamed free and the people lived in constant misery, beyond the control of even the Shogun and the Daimyo.
Thanks to Wano’s thriving yakuza culture, where nearly everyone carried a sword, peace was only ever temporary. Countless defeated yakuza clans, hunted down and exterminated, fled to Kuri seeking refuge.
As a result, Kuri became even more chaotic — a breeding ground for orphans and the abandoned, and the only region disconnected from the Flower Capital.
It was as if all the filth of Wano converged there. Even remnants of the Kurozumi clan lurked within Kuri’s shadows, alongside countless fallen noble families hiding out. It was Wano’s very own no-man’s-land.
There was even a place called "Scrap Heap Town," a junkyard settlement that mirrored the Goa Kingdom’s Gray Terminal in the East Blue — a trash heap that, despite everything, managed to support the downtrodden.
Meanwhile, the Flower Capital, protected by Hakumai, Udon, Ringo, and Hakumai’s surrounding lands, thrived at the center. It served as the heart of Wano, collecting tribute from all corners, home to flourishing yakuza, bustling casinos, bathhouses, and the grandest entertainment districts.
By contrast, Kuri was cut off, isolated beyond the reach of Hakumai and Udon. With no ruler, no Daimyo, only endless conflict for survival, it descended into complete lawlessness.
The gangs there weren’t even yakuza anymore — they were little better than bandits and marauders. Power alone determined one’s fate: the strong enslaved the weak, robbing and killing without remorse.
...
"Everyone having enough to eat... What a beautiful dream that would be," Hyougoro sighed.
In Wano’s warrior culture, being oppressed was the norm. That was why he had become a yakuza in the first place — to move from being the oppressed to the oppressor.