One Piece: I'm not Roger

Fukurokuju immediately dropped to his knees before Kaido and begged desperately.

"Lord Kaido, please spare the Shogun. He drank too much and spoke carelessly."

Before he could continue, Kaido kicked him aside without hesitation.

Bang!

Fukurokuju crashed across the floor, coughing painfully.

Kaido continued tightening his grip around Orochi's skull little by little.

Although Orochi held the title of Shogun, Kaido had never truly respected him. In Kaido's eyes, Orochi and his followers were nothing more than pathetic trash useful for controlling Wano.

Crack... crack...

The sound of bones creaking echoed through the silent banquet hall.

Only after Orochi's skull nearly fractured did Kaido finally throw him aside like garbage.

Orochi rolled across the floor miserably before slamming into a pillar.

For now, he still had some value.

At least until Yamato agreed to inherit the position of Shogun.

Kaido stared down at Orochi coldly.

"Do not test my patience again. If you dare speak to me like that one more time, I'll simply replace you with someone else. Understood?"

Sweat covered Orochi's face as he hurriedly bowed.

"Yes! Yes! I understand completely, Lord Kaido!"

The pain had sobered him instantly.

Even though the two were supposedly partners, Orochi knew perfectly well that Kaido could kill him whenever he wished.

Seeing Orochi humiliated so thoroughly caused the Beasts Pirates to burst into loud laughter.

The gloomy atmosphere left behind by Aether's recent actions faded slightly because of the spectacle.

Only Orochi's subordinates remained silent with lowered heads, terrified of attracting Kaido's attention.

Nearby, Komurasaki continued lightly strumming her shamisen.

However, disappointment flashed briefly through her beautiful eyes.

She had intentionally encouraged Orochi to drink heavily tonight, hoping his recklessness might provoke Kaido further.

Unfortunately, Kaido stopped short of killing him.

As the banquet gradually ended on an unpleasant note, Komurasaki quietly picked up her shamisen and left the palace.

At that moment, no one had the mood to pay attention to Wano's greatest beauty.

...

Inside her private room, Komurasaki's seductive expression completely disappeared.

The moment the door closed, tears streamed down her face.

She swept the clutter from her table before pulling out a bounty poster hidden beneath it.

The man printed on the poster was Augustus D. Aether.

Hiyori stared at it while tears fell uncontrollably.

"Why... why did you let Kaido go, Uncle Roger?"

"Don't you know my father was killed by him?"

"You could have avenged Father and liberated Wano, but you didn't... Have you already forgotten him?"

The woman known publicly as Komurasaki was actually Kozuki Hiyori, the daughter of Kozuki Oden and the former princess of Wano Country.

After venting her emotions, Hiyori slowly collapsed onto the bed.

Memories from long ago surfaced in her mind.

Although she had only been two years old back then, she still vaguely remembered being aboard Roger's ship. She remembered how much Roger liked her and Momonosuke, and how close he had been with Oden.

After returning to Wano, Oden often told her stories about his adventures at sea.

Those stories filled her childhood with dreams.

She once longed to sail freely across the ocean like them.

But fate had crushed those dreams completely.

She did not become a pirate.

Instead, she became Komurasaki, the most famous oiran in Wano, a woman forced to survive behind fake smiles and calculated charm.

The innocent little girl who once admired freedom no longer existed.

Years of suffering had transformed her into someone skilled at reading people and hiding her true emotions.

Yet even now, she still allowed herself moments of fantasy.

Especially after learning that Roger had supposedly returned.

When she first heard Kaido had been captured, she truly believed salvation had finally arrived.

She thought Oden's former captain had come back to avenge him.

She thought Wano's nightmare was finally ending.

But when Kaido returned alive, her hope shattered completely.

At one point, she had even begun resenting Aether.

Why didn't he kill Kaido?

Wasn't her father once his companion?

Or had Oden become nothing more than a forgotten memory from the past?

Suddenly, a familiar voice interrupted her thoughts.

"Princess Hiyori, crying will not change reality."

Hiyori quickly turned her head.

The moment she saw the man standing nearby, relief appeared on her face.

"Denjiro..."

The man before her was Kyoshiro in public, but his true identity was Denjiro, one of the Akazaya Nine.

He had spent years disguised as Orochi's loyal subordinate while secretly waiting for the chance to restore the Kozuki Clan.

In the entirety of Wano, he was one of the few people before whom Hiyori could truly lower her guard.

Hiyori wiped away her tears before finally asking the question weighing on her heart.

"Why didn't Uncle Roger kill Kaido?"

Denjiro fell silent.

Truthfully, he did not know the answer either.

He had never personally met Roger and only understood him through Oden's stories.

Still, ever since the Marineford War, Denjiro had secretly paid close attention to information regarding Aether.

Because deep down, he believed that man might become Wano's greatest hope.

After thinking carefully, Denjiro slowly voiced his speculation.

"Perhaps... Lord Roger believes the time has not yet come."

"In his position, he likely has considerations ordinary people cannot understand."

"Besides, since he already defeated Kaido once, it proves he possesses greater strength. If the opportunity appears in the future, Kaido will not escape him again."

Hiyori's eyes brightened slightly.

That explanation sounded reasonable.

Maybe Aether truly had his own plans.

Maybe now simply was not the right time.

After all, defeating Kaido once meant he could certainly defeat him again.

The more she thought about it, the more hope returned to her heart.

Eventually, Hiyori made a decision that stunned Denjiro.

"Denjiro, I want to leave Wano."

"I want to personally ask Uncle Roger to save this country."

Denjiro immediately frowned.

Allowing Hiyori to travel alone was impossible.

Yet he himself could not accompany her either.

Years of effort spent building influence inside Wano would collapse if he suddenly disappeared.

Still, seeking Aether's help truly might be Wano's best chance.

After hesitating for a long while, Denjiro finally remembered someone.

"Princess Hiyori, if you truly intend to go, then you'll need someone trustworthy to accompany you."

Hiyori nodded firmly.

"Then I'll leave the arrangements to you."

Although she still remembered the prophecy from twenty years ago, she no longer wanted to passively wait for destiny.

She wanted to take action herself.

...

Far away from Wano, across the vast sea, an enormous elephant thousands of meters tall slowly walked through the ocean.

Its gigantic legs resembled pillars supporting the heavens as they stepped across the seabed.

The ancient elephant's eyes were empty and lifeless.

This was Zunesha, the colossal being that had wandered the seas for over one thousand years as punishment for an unknown crime.

On its back rested Zou, homeland of the Mink Tribe.

At the center of Zou stood the Mokomo Dukedom, ruled jointly by two kings who governed day and night respectively.

Normally, the two rulers constantly argued with one another.

Yet today was different.

Inside the palace, both kings stared at the newspaper in complete shock.

Inuarashi, the large canine mink, spoke first in disbelief.

"Captain Roger has reappeared... Whitebeard is dead... and Kaido was actually defeated and captured."

"So much happened in barely over a month. Just how much have we missed?"

Nearby, Nekomamushi scratched his chin thoughtfully.

The two had once sailed alongside Kozuki Oden aboard both the Whitebeard Pirates and Roger Pirates.

Unfortunately, because Zou remained isolated, they rarely received news from the outside world.

Only today had a News Coo finally delivered information shocking enough to shake the entire island.

Suddenly, Inuarashi frowned.

"Why would Captain Roger spare Kaido?"

"Lord Oden died because of him."

Nekomamushi shook his head.

"I don't understand either. Maybe Captain Roger still doesn't know what happened to Lord Oden."

"Otherwise, with their relationship, there's no way he would ignore it."

After Oden's death, both of them returned to Zou and became rulers of the Mokomo Dukedom.

Because of that, they understood very little about the current situation in the outside world.

This explanation was the only one that made sense to them.

After a moment of silence, Inuarashi suddenly spoke again.

"How about we go find Captain Roger ourselves?"

Nekomamushi's eyes lit up instantly.

"That's not a bad idea."

"At the very least, we should tell him the truth about Lord Oden."

Then he added seriously,

"But we shouldn't ask him for revenge directly. A war between Yonko would lead to countless casualties."

Inuarashi nodded in agreement.

"Mm."

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