Chapter 140: The Red Scabbard Nine Depart! Banquet Held
Seeing Kozuki Oden agree so readily, Lotte even suspected the other hadn't listened carefully at all. After raising an eyebrow under the mask, he continued.
"Remember—it has to be defeating me head-on."
"Otherwise, whether you get to set sail depends entirely on my mood. Staying in Wano as a daimyo isn't a bad deal either."
"At least you've got plenty of loyal subordinates."
Lotte spoke calmly.
In his view, if Kozuki Oden hadn't joined the Whitebeard Pirates, Kaido's subsequent actions would never have gone so smoothly.
And for Lotte,
Though his relationship with Kaido wasn't particularly bad, he still wanted to test just how far this man—who would later be called the strongest creature—had reached by now.
"I heard you!"
"So as long as I can beat you, you'll take me out to sea, right?!"
Kozuki Oden said with full confidence.
To him, in all his time in Wano, no matter the angle, he had never encountered any difficulty he couldn't overcome.
Lotte was the same in his eyes.
Whitebeard beside him gave Lotte a strange look. Was this guy serious?
If Lotte truly intended to make that kid desperately fight to defeat him, then without a doubt, this Kozuki Oden would only end up losing.
After all, no one understood better than Whitebeard
Just how monstrously fast Lotte's talent progressed. In front of him, even the old Rocks was nothing more than a target to surpass sooner or later.
Kozuki Oden stared at Lotte excitedly.
The wounds on both his arms had already scabbed over. Though his recovery wasn't as monstrous as Lotte's, he still possessed remarkably strong vitality.
So he planned to keep going.
Izou immediately hugged Kozuki Oden's leg, clinging tightly while shouting loudly.
"My lord! You must come back with us right now to treat your wounds—not keep messing around with these pirates here!"
"That masked guy! Our lord is the daimyo of Kuri—do you intend to provoke all of Wano Country?!"
"You will not take our lord away!"
Upon hearing this.
Lotte merely raised an eyebrow.
To him, Izou's threat carried zero intimidation. After all, from any angle, there was simply no comparison between them.
So he naturally paid the threat no mind.
He just raised an eyebrow and said calmly.
"So what if I want to take your Wano daimyo away?"
"After all, I didn't invite him—he came running over begging me to take him. If you don't believe me, ask him yourself."
"If you really want him to stay obediently in Kuri, you'd be better off finding a way to change his mind. Otherwise, him setting sail is just a matter of sooner or later."
At this point.
Lotte seemed somewhat tired of the conversation.
He raised his head and glanced at Whitebeard Newgate beside him.
"I'll leave the rest to you. I've pretty much handled things here. Since it's been so long since we last met,"
"Let's drink to our hearts' content for a while."
"I also have some things I want to ask of you."
Though Lotte had no intention of dragging Whitebeard too deeply into this conflict,
From any perspective,
Now still wasn't the time. But some matters still needed to be explained. If his plan failed, the changes brought by time travel would undoubtedly be massive.
During such a long period.
He had no intention of doing nothing—at the very least, he had to make sure that Imu didn't have an easy time.
Whitebeard simply raised an eyebrow—or rather, himself. Gripping Murakumogiri, he spoke deeply without hesitation.
"Leave the rest to me."
"Marco, take our guest aboard. Notify everyone to prepare for a banquet!"
He was also quite curious about Lotte's disappearance.
After all, what kind of existence could make this monstrous genius of the pirate world vanish for a full ten years? It was simply unbelievable!
Then Whitebeard glanced at Kozuki Oden.
"Since the fight's over, go back and treat your wounds. It'll take another week or two before the Moby Dick is fully repaired."
"You'll have plenty of chances to challenge him."
Though Kozuki Oden's injuries looked serious, they were actually only superficial. A day or two of rest would have him fully recovered.
Just as Kozuki Oden was about to say something,
Izou desperately held onto his legs. At this moment, Kin'emon and the rest of the Red Scabbard Nine also arrived in full.
Seeing the scene before them, they froze.
Their lord—whom they were always so proud of—was being clung to desperately by Izou, arms still bleeding, clearly injured.
This instantly shocked the Red Scabbard Nine.
Izou, seeing the others arrive, immediately shouted loudly.
"Hurry and take the lord back to bandage him! No matter what, we can't let him keep messing around!"
"His wounds need proper treatment!"
Kin'emon rushed to Kozuki Oden's side, along with the others, grabbing their lord and lifting him up. He directed them to carry Oden away.
At the same time, he turned to Izou.
"What happened?!"
"Why is Lord Oden injured? Was it these foreign pirates?!"
Kin'emon raised his head and scanned the Moby Dick and the crowd, gripping his sword hilt and suddenly drawing it. Flames coiled along the blade.
"To dare harm Lord Oden—this is unforgivable!"
"I absolutely will not tolerate this!"
Lotte's mouth twitched upon seeing this.
Kin'emon really was reckless enough. Did he plan to challenge all of them alone?
Izou hurriedly stopped Kin'emon.
Are you kidding?
Just the masked man's strength alone was enough to defeat Lord Oden. Even if Kin'emon was strong, he absolutely couldn't be the masked man's match.
Let alone against so many people.
"Kin'emon! Now's not the time to act rashly. Don't worry about these guys for now—I'll explain everything later!"
Izou said gravely.
Kin'emon hesitated for a moment but ultimately sheathed his sword. He glared fiercely at Lotte and the others, gritted his teeth, and followed Izou to leave.
Whitebeard breathed a sigh of relief.
Honestly, his strength naturally wasn't afraid of these people, but causing unnecessary trouble was something he disliked.
At this moment,
Newgate also noticed Toki watching from the side. He glanced curiously at Lotte and asked.
"Who is that?"
--------------------------
Support us on patreon (+Gain access to 100 chapters in advance)
patreon.com/inkshield