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

Chapter 377 Wake up
The villagers of Wano Country were given ten days to harvest the rice. When Willy returned to Inari Village, the once boundless golden rice fields had been completely cleared away...

At a glance, all that remains in the fields are neatly stacked haystacks and the figures of children chasing and playing with each other.

On the village paths, you can occasionally see a few villagers carrying sacks of rice to the open spaces in the village to dry. These people must be the ones with the biggest harvest.

Fortunately, the weather has been quite good these past few days, with fish-scale-like clouds hanging in the sky all day long. The newly harvested rice, still damp, will soon become dehydrated and dry.

...The first to discover Willie and his group's arrival were the village's komainu (guardian dogs).

They were just like the children, playing a game of chasing each other among the fields, but a scent that was both strange and somewhat familiar drifted into their nostrils on the warm midday breeze.

"Wang!"

A dog's bark broke the tranquility of Inari Village. The village chief, who was sitting under a big tree in front of the village smoking a pipe, looked up and gazed at the winding path ahead.

"Wang Wang!"

The barking of dogs grew more frequent and faster, like drumbeats reminding the villagers that guests were coming and urging them to show themselves as soon as possible.

……

"Dant, do you remember how I taught you before?"

"Yes, you said we should try to pretend that we are on the same side as the villagers and create the 'illusion' that we are here to help them."

"It's not an 'illusion,' it's a 'fact.'"

“We really came to help them... I never intended to do anything to these villagers.”

"They are all extremely valuable human resources!"

Willie adjusted his glasses, and his face once again revealed that gentle, impeccable smile.

“I will demonstrate it again in this village, and then you and I will each take half of the people to the other places to get the factory construction done as soon as possible.”

"We've already wasted a lot of time, and if we don't hurry, we'll fall behind schedule."

"do you understand?"

"Yes, I understand. I will study it carefully later, so please leave it to me, Mr. Willie."

"it is good."

Nodding, Willie didn't give any further instructions, but instead turned his head to look ahead.

Seeing the gaunt village chief running towards him from a distance, and the villagers behind him who all put down their work and rushed over, Willie waved and went to greet him.

……

"Hahaha! Sashibuli da na~ Elder Village Chief, has the rice harvest been good these past few days?"

"Oh my, you've finally arrived!"

"Wang! Wang!"

"Hey! Taro, hurry up and chase all those komainu away, lest they disturb Master Willie!"

With one kick, he sent several oblivious yellow komainu dogs in the village howling in pain... Amidst their aggrieved and confused gazes, the village chief approached Willie with a beaming smile.

"Hehe~ Thanks to the master, everyone's rice has been harvested and stored in the granary. We all had a great harvest."

"Really?! That's good, that's good!"

Holding the village chief's dark, withered hands tightly, Willie naturally began to chat with him about everyday things.

"For farmers like us, we only feel at ease when our homes are fully stocked with grain."

"Absolutely! Let me tell you, our village had a bumper harvest this year! There wasn't enough open space in the village, so everyone had to take turns drying their crops!"

The village chief's smile widened as soon as the topic was brought up, his face becoming almost entirely covered in wrinkles.

The village hasn't had such a bumper harvest in many years. In previous years, there were either heavy rains or droughts before the harvest season, and it was considered a stroke of good luck if you could harvest 30% of the yield from one acre of land.

The villagers' surplus grain was dwindling, and famine was looming. Now, after finally welcoming a bumper harvest, they were faced with this situation of the general seizing their land.

When that arrogant samurai Ono said he wanted to fill in the rice paddies to build a weapons factory, not only Taro and the other hot-blooded young men, but even the village chief himself felt an urge to fight him.

Fortunately, things took an unexpected turn for the better. Although they ultimately lost the land, they received sufficient compensation and were allowed to harvest all the crops for the year before starting construction.

But speaking of starting construction...

"Uh... Mr. Willie~"

"You mentioned before that you wanted to build some kind of factory near the village, and those young men from our village..."

After hesitating for a moment, the village chief finally asked.

Although the beasts gave them a very generous compensation, they couldn't just sit around and do nothing without their land.
Those who had connections in the city or the capital had already gone to the city with food and gold in the past few days, while the remaining villagers continued their daily lives while looking forward to Willie's arrival.

"Haha~ Don't worry."

"The factory will definitely be built. I'd welcome anyone from the village who's willing to help on our construction site!"

"The wages are as mentioned before: forty silver a month for adult men, and women who can cook and do laundry can also come and earn about twenty-five silver a month."

As he spoke, Willie pointed to Dante behind him.

"Anyone who is willing can sign up with that young man right now."

Upon hearing Willie's words, some villagers immediately raised their hands.

"I'm signing up!"

"I'll sign up too!"

"And I!"

"Me too!" "Grandpa Akaishi? Why are you here too... You're too old for that, don't join in the fun!"

"Yes, you should go to the capital with your son-in-law and enjoy a life of luxury!"

"Go away! Though I'm old, I'm still got some strength!"

"Besides, I've lived here my whole life, and I don't want to have to move around when I'm old."

……

The villagers' enthusiasm quickly overwhelmed Dante, who was in a flurry of activity; no one could resist the allure of a monthly wage of forty taels of silver.

Basically, as long as one male member of each household can get into the construction site, the family will have no worries about food and drink.

Willie stood with his hands behind his back, watching the scene with a smile, as if watching fat fish swimming into a fishing net.

I've already severed the land they used as a retreat route, and now these people have jumped onto the beasts' chariot... From now on, let's be firmly bound to the beasts!
As Willie was thinking this, he suddenly felt his trouser leg being tugged.

"Ok?"

He looked down and met a pair of bright, dark eyes—the little girl from the village chief's house.

Not only her, Willie found herself surrounded by the village children, and without exception, their eyes were shining with anticipation.

"..."

"Oh~"

Willie understood immediately, took out a handful of fruit candies from his suit pocket, and personally handed them out to the children one by one.

"Ok!"

"So sweet!"

Watching the children carefully tear open the candy wrappers and then eagerly stuff the colorful candies into their mouths, their eyes shining with delight, Willie's smile deepened.

……

"Uncle~ Are you one of Lord 'Ming Wang''s' subordinates?"

Savoring the subtle sweetness of the candy in her mouth, a girl suddenly asked a question, her big eyes full of curiosity.

"Ok?"

Willie was slightly taken aback by the little girl's question, but he immediately reached out and patted her head, answering softly.

"Of course!"

"What's wrong little girl?"

"Is Lord 'Ming Wang' very powerful?"

"I heard Grandpa Akaishi say that Lord 'Myo-o' is a divine dragon, is that true?"

“That’s right~ Lord ‘Ming Wang’ is a dragon even bigger than the general’s mansion.”

"Huh?! It's bigger than... bigger than the General's mansion~"

"Okay, great!"

The little girl's mouth was wide open.

I heard from the adults that the Shogun is the most remarkable person in the entire Wano Country... Now, Lord 'Myo-ou' is actually bigger than the Shogun's mansion!
The General's residence must be larger than the General himself, and the 'Ming King''s' residence is even larger than the General's. Therefore, the 'Ming King' must be older than the General.
After a simple 'conversion,' in the little girl's naive mind, Kaido had become the new 'most remarkable' person in Wano Country.

"I've heard that Lord 'Ming Wang' can also summon wind and rain, is that true?"

After the first person ate the mushroom, the remaining children couldn't contain their curiosity and started chattering around Willie, asking him endless questions about the animals.

"And also, I heard that Lord 'Ming Wang' has tengu under his command~"

"What's a tengu? My uncle from the capital said that Lord 'Myo-oh' also has a terrifying 'Slit-Mouthed Woman' by his side~"

"The Slit-Mouthed Woman?"

"Yeah!"

One timid girl was so frightened by the name that she covered her mouth and screamed.

"Don't be afraid, Kuzi. This is definitely fake."

Seeing this, the village chief's granddaughter quickly stepped forward to comfort her best friend... She hugged the trembling Kuzi tightly and patted her back in a convincing manner, saying:
"Grandpa said that Lord 'Myo-ō' is a divine dragon sent down from the heavens, a deity sent by Amaterasu Ōmikami to protect Wano Country. There wouldn't be any of those terrifying vengeful spirits around him~"

"Grandpa also said that it was because Lord 'Myo-o' descended upon Wano Country that the rice harvest in the village's fields was so bountiful this year, and everyone should build a statue in his honor."

"Once the statue of Lord 'Ming Wang' is completed, I believe neither monsters nor vengeful spirits will dare to approach the village again."

"Mmm, mmm~"

Hearing these words, the trembling Xiao Kuzi finally calmed down.

[Not bad~ This old man... he's quite shrewd.]
Upon hearing this, Willie raised an eyebrow and began to look at the gaunt old man not far away with new respect.

Just ten days ago, the village chief didn't even know who Kaido was. Ten days later, he not only figured out the general situation of the Beasts, but he even incorporated Kaido himself into mythology and was going to erect a statue... He's truly a shrewd old man!
[However, this 'Amaterasu Omikami'...]
Willie rested his chin on his hand and thought carefully. He remembered that he seemed to have seen it in the basic information about Wano Country that Light had provided.

[Hmm~ I remember reading something about it in the materials; it seems to be one of the original deities worshipped in Wano Country, but it's not mentioned much anymore.]
[This is indeed a very remote village; it still maintains such an obscure and ancient belief!]
The Wano Country of today has largely moved beyond its mythological and legendary belief system, with only remote villages like Inari Village still retaining this ancient faith.

[Sigh~ I wonder if the governor will mind that a random deity has suddenly appeared above his head.]
……

Just as Willie's thoughts began to wander uncontrollably, drifting into all sorts of random ideas, far away on Fenrir Island, Toron, who had been unconscious for half a month, finally opened his eyes.

Hey~
"..."

"Ok?"

(End of this chapter)