Plan

Night.

"So why is Yamato the most manly out of the three of us?"

Looking at the slightly drunk Yamato, her face and neck covered in lipstick marks, then at the courtesans on his side who had fallen under genjutsu, and Ace’s bizarre behavior of not inviting a single woman at all, Yota could not help but sigh.

"Hehehe," Yamato said, draping an arm over Yota’s shoulder. Because she was so tall, her chest pressed down on Yota’s head, making it feel somewhat heavy. "Yota, you’re so serious! We’re already on Flower Street, so of course we should have some fun!"

Rolling his eyes, Yota swept his hand through the air, black mist directly drawing all the alcohol out of Yamato’s body. Yamato shivered, finally sobering up. Seeing Yota staring at her intently, she gave an embarrassed, dry laugh.

"Well, I hadn’t had Wano Country sake in so long, so I got a little carried away and drank too much…"

"All right. Tama should have recognized us today as well. I already left her a secret signal. I believe she’ll come looking for us before long."

As Yota spoke, Kagura Shingan had already sensed Tama’s Chakra approaching this place. At the same time, there was a powerful life force beside her, not much weaker than Ace’s—at least at the level of a Squad Commander.

Although Chakra sensing could not identify someone from their life force, and Yota’s Observation Haki range was rather limited, how many strong people could there be on Flower Street? This was clearly Denjiro.

"Teacher! Brother Ace!" A moment later, Tama dropped down from the rooftop and landed before the three of them in a standard ninja pose.

Beside her stood Sleeping Kyoshiro, wearing a strange wig, with a pair of slitted eyes and a headscarf partially covering his nose.

"You finally came! I’ve already become an outstanding female ninja!" Tama waved her hand, her face full of excitement.

Denjiro, beside her, was dressed as Ushimitsu Kozo. He merely watched the three of them with a smiling face without saying a word, making it impossible to tell what he was thinking.

"That’s right, Tama. We came this time to drive out Kaido and Kurozumi Orochi! To help Wano Country open its borders and fulfill our promise!" Ace said with a resolute expression.

"Kurozumi Orochi and Kaido are not so easy to deal with." Denjiro, his eyes narrowed, was the first to throw cold water on them. "If the renowned Whitebeard had come, I might have believed it. But while you three are also famous rising stars, you are probably no stronger than Kaido’s All-Stars."

"As for Kurozumi Orochi, until that Barrier Fruit user dies, I can think of no way to deal with him!"

"A Barrier Fruit user?" Yota said in surprise.

Yota also had a deep impression of the Barrier Fruit. In his memories, it seemed to be an ability possessed by one of Luffy’s particularly annoying pirate underlings, supposedly with defense so absurdly powerful it was outrageous.

However, after hearing Denjiro’s words, Yota vaguely recalled that Kurozumi Orochi did indeed seem to have two right-hand men at his side: an Imitation Fruit user and a Barrier Fruit user.

But I remember both of them being killed by Kaido, didn’t I? Did I remember wrong?

If that’s the case, I remember that Luffy’s underling only decided to become a pirate after Luffy set sail, so he should have obtained the Devil Fruit around that time. Hmm, it has only been a little over a year since Luffy set sail. In other words, within this year, that Barrier Fruit user died for some unknown reason?

"That’s right. The Barrier Fruit user, Kurozumi Semimaru, has blocked every samurai who attempted to assassinate Kurozumi Orochi over the years. Even Oden… Kozuki Oden himself could do nothing against his barrier!"

Denjiro spoke with narrowed eyes and a solemn expression.

"All right, no matter what Fruit it is, I have a way to deal with it. Leave it to me when the time comes," Yota said directly after listening to Denjiro.

"Wait, wasn’t I clear enough? That is an absolute defense that even Kozuki Oden could not break. And Kurozumi Semimaru and Kurozumi Master are inseparable—they do not even sleep far apart. You will have no opportunity at all! We should make long-term plans."

"Don’t worry, leave all of that to me." Yota did not pay Denjiro any heed. Make long-term plans? What a joke.

Who knew when that Barrier Fruit user might kick the bucket? Wouldn’t that mean one less prize for him to collect?

Even among all Devil Fruits, the Barrier Fruit could be considered an absolute treasure. How could he possibly let it go?

"Can’t you understand human speech? That is an absolute defense that cannot be broken through at all!" Denjiro said, somewhat exasperated.

"Absolute defense?" Yamato swung the iron club in her hand with great interest.

Ace also touched his gloves, a hint of fighting spirit appearing in his eyes. "I’d really like to see this so-called absolute defense! Since getting these gloves, I haven’t fought at full strength yet."

The strong of the One Piece World truly deserved their reputation for being hardheaded. Denjiro’s words had instead stirred up their fighting spirit.

"Fine, then let’s set off…"

"Wait!" Denjiro finally could not endure it any longer and stopped them. "At least come up with a workable plan! Are you really just going to charge straight in?"

"Is there a problem with that?" Yota turned to look at Denjiro. Though he often said that people in the Pirate World were far too reckless, he himself was not much better. Thinking back to the Naruto World, he had never considered any plans either, relying entirely on his own overwhelming strength to bulldoze through everything.

Yota’s so-called rationality only existed because his own interests had not been involved. Now that he knew about the Barrier Fruit, the first thing on his mind was to charge in quickly and make sure that Devil Fruit did not slip away.

"Forget it!" Denjiro sighed in near despair. "I’ll think of a way to arrange things. I’ll get Kurozumi Orochi to come to Flower Street. Then I can provide some convenience for your assassination attempt."

"Uh, then thank you, Ushimitsu Kozo." Yota thought it over and felt that this seemed better.

Charging directly into the palace would certainly be simple, but what if Kurozumi Orochi ran away? Fleeing without even seeing their faces might seem a little pathetic, but with Kurozumi Orochi’s personality, he could absolutely do something like that.

If they could have less trouble, why not? In any case, that Barrier Fruit user probably would not suddenly die of illness overnight.

Of course, the most important thing was… if they could kill Kurozumi Orochi without anyone noticing, Yota would have far too many tricks he could pull.