Pirate: It’s not a phantom beast, it’s a phantom god!

Chapter 370 The Retainers of the Kozuki Family
Bang bang bang~
"Hey! Kin'emon!"

"come out faster!"

"General Orochi said that because you beat up the tax collectors who came to collect taxes last time, the taxes in [Kuri] will be doubled this year!"

In Oden Castle in Kuri, several shady-looking samurai, wearing muddy straw sandals, swaggered onto the floor of the front hall, tapping the red-lacquered pillars inside with their sword sheaths.

The once spotless floor was now covered in mud from their footsteps, and a large chunk of paint had been chipped off the vermilion pillars…

Not only that, the leader deliberately rubbed the soles of his shoes hard, leaving unsightly scratches on the floor.

……

Clearly, these thug-like samurai were Orochi's men, whom he had deliberately brought in to annoy Oden.

"Didn't I already say that the taxes in [Jiuli]... huh?!"

"asshole!"

boom!
Hearing the commotion, Kin'emon, with his sleeves tucked in, was about to chase away Orochi's tax collector as usual, but upon emerging from the back hall, he witnessed this scene...

Seeing that this group of thugs had made a mess of the front hall of Oden Castle, he was immediately enraged and kicked the leader away.

"You bunch of bastards, how dare you dirty the floor that Ah He worked so hard to clean!"

"If you don't lick the floor clean again today, I'll cut your tongues out!"

Enraged, Kin'emon even forgot the etiquette of a daimyo's retainer and grabbed one of the remaining men by the collar, just like he used to do when he was a thug, and began to intimidate and threaten him.

……

After Kozuki Oden left without saying goodbye, his retainers Kin'emon and others took on the responsibility of looking after Oden Castle, located in Kuri.

Since Oden was not present, and Kuri was not wealthy, they stopped hiring servants to save expenses. Instead, they took charge of maintaining the entire daimyo castle and handling local government affairs on Oden's behalf.

They could manage the various administrative tasks, big and small... but when it came to cleaning, these grown men were completely overwhelmed and flustered.
Fortunately, Kin'emon's childhood friend, Tsuru, learned of their predicament and would come over every now and then in her spare time to help with chores such as washing, cleaning, and mopping.

The floor beneath their feet had been painstakingly cleaned by Tsurugi that morning... which is why Kin'emon was so angry.

"You, you... Kin'emon, how dare you hit me!"

"Let me tell you, I'm a samurai now! And it was personally bestowed upon me by the general!"

"Be careful, or I'll report this to the authorities and have the general send men to punish you and raze this city to the ground!"

The thug leader, clutching his chest, returned to the front hall with the help of his underlings, and threatened them menacingly.

He and Kin'emon were old acquaintances; they were both notorious thugs in the city back in the day.

However, Kin'emon somehow got lucky and managed to get in touch with the Kozuki family, thus rising through the ranks to become a retainer of the daimyo!

This drove him insanely jealous...

He's a scumbag just like me, so why does he not only have a gentle and beautiful childhood sweetheart, but he's also appreciated by the general's son... Does he get all the good things for himself?!

The gang leader stared intently at Kin'emon, who was dressed smartly and had the 'Kozuki' crest embroidered on his chest, his eyes like those of a greedy hyena.

"Humph!"

Kin'emon didn't even look at the person opposite him, but said with a face full of disgust:
"What is that giant snake anyway!"

"The position of general belongs to my master, Lord Oden. What right does a mere acting general have to collect taxes in Lord Oden's territory?!"

"Get the floor clean right now, then get out of here!"

"By the way, pass on a message to Orochi: he'd better not do anything else... just wait patiently for Lord Oden to return, and then relinquish the position of shogun."

His tone was aggressive, and his words showed no regard for the giant snake.

The thug's tone grew even colder upon hearing these words.

I thought I'd see Kin'emon bowing his head and begging for mercy, but I never expected this guy to be so stubborn and refuse to listen to reason.

He shoved aside the two henchmen who were supporting him, walked up to Jinweimen, and said arrogantly:
"Yoha~"

"Kin'emon, you've got quite the nerve~"

"His temper has grown even more volatile over the years... How dare a mere retainer of a daimyo disrespect the Shogun!"

"Let me tell you, the taxes in Jiuli this year must be doubled again! Otherwise, not only will the General not be able to say anything, but Lord 'Ming Wang' will not let you off easily!"

The thug pressed his hand hard against Kin'emon's chest, as if the 'Myo-oh' he spoke of was a greater reliance than the general.

But Kin'emon clearly wasn't buying it.

"Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!"

He grabbed the thug's fingers and twisted them to a dangerous angle. Looking at the thug's face, Kin'emon asked:

"King Ming?"

"Who is this 'Myo-o' you're talking about? When did such a person appear in Wano Country?"

"Let go, let go!"

"Say!"

"I said! I said!"

"'Myō-ō' is none other than Lord Kaido of the Beasts Pirates. He was bestowed the title of 'Guardian King of Wano Country' by the Shogun during the previous ceremony!"

"If you lot don't obediently follow the general's orders, then Lord 'Ming Wang' will make you pay... Ouch!!!"

The gang leader's finger was eventually broken by Kin'emon.

After personally supervising them as they cleaned the floor and using their swords to pry open the broken pillar, Kin'emon threw the men out of Oden Castle.

He never recognized the hoodlum who used to hang out with him in casinos and red-light districts.

……

"Humph!"

With a gloomy face, Kin'emon returned to the back hall, sat back down at his desk, picked up his pen, and continued to deal with those troublesome official matters... but after writing only a few words, he irritably threw the pen onto the desk again.

*Smack!* "Huh?"

Seeing his appearance, the others at the desk also put down what they were doing.

"Lord Jin, are Orochi's men here again?"

A woman with a ponytail and pretty face looked up and asked with some concern.

"Yes, Xiaoju."

"Just send them away as usual... or simply kill them and send their heads to Orochi!"

"I'd like to see who dares to come back then!"

With his chest bare and his face full of scars, Ashura Doji wiped his beloved sword, speaking in an unfriendly tone.

Before being subdued by Kozuki Oden, he was a notorious 'monster' in Kuri, known for his brutality, and a fearsome bandit leader.

"I think this is inappropriate."

"We should try to avoid conflict with Orochi before Lord Oden returns."

"Huh? What nonsense are you spouting, Kanjuro?"

"As retainers of Lord Oden, how can we bow down to that Orochi?"

Ashura Child looked at the man in front of him with his heavy theatrical makeup and said unhappily.

"I believe that it is our duty as retainers of the Kozuki family to protect Oden Castle, which was left behind by Lord Oden, and Kuri. Only in this way can we repay Lord Oden's kindness."

"Alright, you guys stop talking."

Seeing the two about to start arguing, Kin'emon rubbed his head.

These eccentric individuals with vastly different personalities were brought together because of Kozuki Oden, but now Oden, who was the bond between them, has left without saying goodbye...

Kin'emon could sense that as time went on, cracks would gradually appear among the Kozuki retainers, and if Oden did not return, it was not impossible that they would eventually part ways.

"Whoo~"

"Raizo, do you know 'Kaido'?"

With a sigh, Kin'emon looked at Raizo, the ninja who was clinging to the roof beam and whose hairstyle resembled a crab.

"Eh? This, this... I'm not quite sure about that."

The ninja, who had just woken up, could only stammer when Kin'emon suddenly asked him about his situation.

"Huh? Aren't you a ninja?"

"Shouldn't you have gathered this kind of intelligence immediately?"

"I, I..."

Raizo's eyes darted around, but he didn't know how to explain it. He couldn't very well say that he had been spending his nights looking for the female ninjas who had dumped him before, could he?
"You wouldn't be going to see that female ninja from the 'Oniwabanshu' again, would you?!"

"no!"

"So you answered immediately...it seems you really did go~"

"I...I just wanted to see if we could win her over to our side..."

Raizo's voice grew softer and softer until finally, with a 'bang,' he used his Substitution Jutsu to replace a piece of wood and disappeared without a trace.

"Tsk~ This guy!"

"Haha~ Please don't be angry with him, Lord Jin."

"Yes, back then he was dumped and ended up becoming a bandit. Now that he's back under the Kozuki banner, he'll naturally have to give it his all again."

With a delicate and beautiful face, far more beautiful than the average woman, Kikunojo covered her mouth and chuckled softly...

He was Izo's younger brother. He had been wandering with his brother since childhood. By chance, he was taken in by Oden and eventually became his retainer.

After pouring Kin'emon a cup of warm tea to calm him down, Kikunojo, holding the tea tray, asked curiously:

"Lord Jin, who exactly is this 'Kaido' you're talking about?"

"What is his relationship with the giant snake?"

The observant man had already noticed that Kin'emon was behaving strangely today.

After chasing away the thugs who were demanding taxes, he returned with a furrowed brow, completely unlike his usual nonchalant expression.

Now that I think about it, it must be related to that 'Kaido'...

"Whoo~"

"Kiku, if I'm not mistaken, 'Kaido' is the pirate Orochi previously announced he would bring to Wano Country."

"Ah~ This matter... I remember it was a pirate crew called something like 'Beasts'?"

"Tch~ Just a pirate, huh?"

"Kin'emon, are you losing your composure like this because of a pirate?"

Ashura Doji scoffed at Kin'emon's guess, for as a former leader of mountain bandits, he had no fear of pirates.

"If that guy really is backing Orochi, then I'll go and kill him..."

As he spoke, he actually sheathed his cleaned longsword, preparing to head to the Flower Capital to kill Kaido.

"Wait……"

Just as Kin'emon was about to stop him, an urgent voice spoke first:
"hu~hu~"

"Please, please wait a moment, Lord Ashura Doji."

"Kaido, the Beasts... Kaido, Kaido is not as simple as you think. Don't provoke that man."

"Denjiro?!"*5
Everyone looked in the direction of the voice and found that the person who spoke was Denjiro, who was disheveled and out of breath.

(End of this chapter)