Chapter 739
"Let's go to the future, two years from now!"
Kozuki Oden, a cheerful, unrestrained, and unparalleled hero as dazzling as the blazing sun!
Wielding two peerless swords, "Ame no Habakiri" and "Enma," he not only conquered the lawless land of Kuri, but also followed Whitebeard and the Pirate King Roger, witnessing the world's widest ocean.
However, the hero's end was a despicable betrayal and massacre.
"Twenty years ago, Orochi usurped the position of Shogun, attracting the monster Kaido, one of the Four Emperors. Lord Oden, in order to protect the people of Wano Country, was ultimately cruelly cooked to death by them..."
Aju's voice trembled, her fists clenched tightly, her nails digging deep into her palms.
"After Lord Oden's death, Kaido and his Beasts Pirates launched a final, devastating attack on our Oden Castle!"
As Aju described it, the surrounding environment seemed to distort in an instant. The dilapidated ruins disappeared, and in their place was the extreme purgatory of the burning sky and boiling seas twenty years ago!
It was a moonless night, but the sky above Oden Castle was dyed a crimson red, more dazzling than blood, by the raging flames!
"roar!!!"
A terrifying dragon roar, powerful enough to shatter the heavens, exploded across the sky!
Kaido, whose body is as large as a mountain and covered with hard, blue dragon scales, transformed into the legendary blue dragon form and coiled above the clouds that were reddened by firelight.
He opened his gaping maw, wide enough to devour a city, and the raging fire element was frantically compressed deep within his throat.
"Heat Breath!!!"
A destructive pillar of fire, over tens of meters in diameter and reaching temperatures of thousands of degrees, descended from the sky like a divine judgment, slamming into the sturdy walls of Oden Castle!
"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"
Amidst the deafening roar, the seemingly indestructible city wall crumbled into dust as easily as fragile cardboard!
The sky was filled with rubble mixed with molten lava-like flames, which rained down on every corner of the castle like a meteor shower.
Screams and the roar of collapsing buildings mingled together as the once glorious Oden Castle was instantly transformed into a sea of fire!
Within this raging inferno, the sounds of fierce fighting soared to the heavens!
"Kill them!!! For Lord Oden! Let's fight these bastards to the death!"
The Nine Red Scabbards were covered in blood, their eyes bloodshot.
Kin'emon brandished his twin swords wreathed in flames, like an enraged lion, hacking and slashing wildly amidst the Beasts Pirates' heavy encirclement.
Kiku holds a katana, her beautiful face stained with the blood of her enemies. The katana flashes like a cold, waning moon, each swing accompanied by a sharp, piercing sound, splitting the charging pirates in two, weapon and all!
Swords clashed wildly, sparks flying everywhere!
Armament Haki, like solid black lightning, clashed and surged fiercely in the flames!
The air was torn apart by the violent slash, producing a sharp sonic boom.
However, the number of enemies was too great, and Kaido's power was terrifying!
Countless elite members of the Beasts Pirates surged into the burning castle like a black tide. The fire-wielding "Jim," with his death-like black wings, darted through the inferno, each dive taking the lives of countless samurai.
"Faced with that overwhelming power and sea of fire, we had nowhere to escape. The entire castle was collapsing, and death had completely engulfed us..."
Kiku cried in despair. The immersive bloodshed and carnage made everyone in the Straw Hat crew feel a suffocating sense of oppression.
"Just when we thought the bloodline of the Kozuki clan was about to be completely extinguished..."
Akiku suddenly raised her head, her eyes shining with a sacred light, "It was Lady Kozuki, the mother of Momonosuke, who opened the door to the future for us with her life!"
Deep within the crumbling inferno, Lady Kozuki, dressed in a pure white kimono, resembled a white lotus blooming amidst the flames.
Faced with deadly threats coming from all directions, she did not flinch in the slightest, but resolutely activated her godlike Devil Fruit power—the Time-Time Fruit!
"The lady pushed us, along with Lord Momonosuke, forward. Her hands formed strange hand seals, accompanied by a mysterious, distorting light that seemed to warp space and time..."
In Aju's memory, the air around Madam Shi suddenly rippled violently like waves.
An invisible and irresistible force of time tore a spatial rift leading to the future through the raging fire!
"Let's go! Let's go to the future, twenty years from now! Carrying the hopes of the Kozuki clan!"
As Madam Shi cried out in despair, the mysterious light instantly engulfed Aju and the others.
"In that instant, the surrounding shouts of battle and the burning sensation of the flames all vanished. It was as if we had fallen into an absolute void, devoid of sound and color. When we opened our eyes again..."
Aju covered her face with both hands in anguish, her voice hoarse with extreme sorrow:
"When we opened our eyes again, we were still standing on this mountaintop. But... the magnificent Oden Castle was gone. All that could be seen were ruins and charred tombstones."
"We rushed down the mountain, trying to find traces of the past."
"But what we see before us is a completely different, hellish Wano Country!"
"Clear rivers turned into toxic water, dense forests became factories spewing black smoke, and those once cheerful civilians became emaciated slaves scavenging for food in the mud..."
"Twenty whole years! In the blink of an eye, our country, everything we had, was utterly destroyed by Kaido and Orochi!"
Aju's cries echoed across the desolate ruins.
It was an extreme despair that transcended time and space and encompassed the pain of the entire nation's annihilation.
Sanji bit his lip hard, his eyes burning with uncontrollable rage;
Zoro's face remained expressionless, but the knuckles of his right hand, gripping the hilt of Shusui, had turned white from excessive force.
Luffy lowered his head, his fists clenched, and his breathing was as heavy as a volcano about to erupt.
"but!"
Suddenly, Aju lowered her hands from her face.
She wiped away her tears, and suddenly a sharp, indomitable warrior's edge shot out from her eyes, which had been filled with sorrow!
She turned around, solemnly looking at the few dilapidated tombstones, her voice firm and resonant, like the clash of metal and stone:
"Even after twenty years, even in this dark age where even breathing feels suffocating, Wano Country has not died!"
Kiku suddenly turned her head, her gaze fixed intently on Ronan and Luffy, her eyes filled with the extreme fervor and hope of a believer witnessing the arrival of a god.
"In the shadows of this country, amidst ruins and wilderness, countless warriors still endure in silence!"
"They still admire Lord Oden, they still await the prophecy of twenty years later, they want to serve the Kozuki family once more, and they want to reclaim this country from the rule of monsters!"
"And now..."
Kiku excitedly stepped forward, even ignoring the pebbles on the ground, and solemnly knelt down on one knee in front of Ronan and Luffy.
"And now, just when I thought my future was uncertain and the odds were stacked against me, I've actually encountered you!"