novelnext Chapter 200 The City of Flowers
Chapter 200 The City of Flowers
Chapter 200 The City of Flowers
It was an inconspicuous entrance, mostly blocked by a huge rock, leaving only a narrow gap, just big enough for a person to squeeze through sideways. If it weren't for Onimaru leading the way, Shiraha felt that even if he passed by here a hundred times, he wouldn't have noticed that it was a mine.
Onimaru squeezed into the gap, with Shiraha following behind.
Behind the crevice was a long, dark passageway, dimly lit only by a few oil lamps glowing on the walls. The air was thick with a damp, musty smell, along with a lingering, unpleasant metallic odor.
Bai Yu's Sharingan automatically activated in the darkness, and the scarlet pupils and rotating tomoe allowed him to see the entire tunnel.
The walls of the passageway were covered with cracks. In some places, they were propped up with wood, but the wood was rotten and the cracks were getting bigger and bigger, as if they would collapse at any moment.
At the end of the passageway is a large space, like the main chamber of a mine.
When Bai Yu walked in, he froze.
There were many people in the main room.
The old man sat in the corner, curled up, covered with a thin, patched quilt.
The woman held her child, leaning against the wall, her expression numb and exhausted.
The children huddled together, warming each other with their bodies, their eyes shining in the darkness like frightened little animals.
The air is cold.
It's even colder than outside.
Bai Yu saw a little girl, about four or five years old, wearing a kimono that was obviously several sizes too big. She was barefoot, and her toes were purple from the cold. She was holding a cloth rabbit, which was no longer recognizable as its original color. It was dirty, and one of its ears was almost falling off, but she was holding it tightly, as if it were the only important thing in the world.
The little girl saw Bai Yu, her big eyes filled with curiosity. She tilted her head and asked in a childish voice.
"Are you a deity?"
Bai Yu was stunned for a moment.
"My mother said that if one day a very, very powerful person comes, we won't be afraid anymore. That person is God."
She blinked.
"Are you a deity?"
Bai Yu shook his head. He was not a god, and his likes and dislikes were simply based on his own heart.
Robin crouched down, looked the little girl straight in the eye, and shook his head with a smile.
"He is not a god."
The little girl's eyes dimmed slightly.
"But he is a very, very good person."
Robin said softly, "Someone who's willing to come and see you."
The little girl nodded as if she understood, then suddenly smiled, revealing two missing front teeth.
"That's still amazing!"
She extended her little finger and raised it towards Bai Yu.
"Pinky promise!"
Bai Yu looked down at the tiny, frozen, purple little finger, reached out, and gently hooked it with her own warm fingers.
The little girl's fingers were icy cold, like tiny popsicles.
But her smile was very warm.
Bai Yu raised his head and looked at everyone in the mine, at these people who had been crushed by fate but still refused to give up breathing.
His voice wasn't loud, but everyone in the quiet mine could hear him clearly.
"I am Uchiha Hakuha."
"I am neither a hero nor a god, but my comrades and I will end this."
When we came out of the mine, it was already dark outside.
Bai Yu stood at the cave entrance, glanced back at the narrow crevice, thinking of the old people and children huddled in the darkness, the little girl holding the rabbit doll, her toes frozen purple and her two missing front teeth.
"End all of this."
He said this.
How big is Wano Country? How powerful is Kaido? How many villages kneel before the Beast Pirates, not daring to raise their heads? How many mines like this, how many rebels like this, are still hiding in the corners of Wano Country?
he does not know.
But he knew one thing.
He has never been one to say one thing and do another.
"Onimaru."
"exist."
Onimaru came up from behind. His injury had not yet healed, and his left leg was obviously weak when he walked, but he gritted his teeth and refused to let anyone help him.
"Which direction is the Flower Capital?"
Onimaru's expression changed slightly.
"Are you going to the City of Flowers?"
"Um."
"But—" Onimaru hesitated for a moment.
"The Flower Capital is Kaido's core territory. The headquarters of the Beast Pirates is there, as is Shogun Kurozumi Orochi's castle. Kaido's men are everywhere there. If you go there like this—"
"I'm just going to take a look."
Bai Yu interrupted him: "It's not like we're going to fight."
Onimaru opened his mouth as if to say something, but ultimately kept it closed. He pointed southeast, his voice slightly strained.
"Follow this road, cross two mountains, and you'll find a large river. Walk south along the river, and you'll arrive in about a day and a night."
"A day and a night?"
Bai Yu looked at Violet.
Violet immediately understood what he meant, and her eyes began to shine, her gaze passing through mountains, rivers, and forests, stretching far, far away.
"Found it."
She closed her eyes, withdrew her power, and then opened them to look at Bai Yu: "The Flower Capital is in the southeast. It's a very large city with many buildings and many people—and it's very prosperous."
Her tone was a little strange.
"Very bustling?"
Rangiku raised an eyebrow.
"At least that's how it looks."
Violet carefully chose her words: "My vision can only see the general outline and surface appearance. From the outside, the City of Flowers is completely different from the villages we just passed. There are complete streets, tidy houses, and brightly lit taverns—like a normally functioning city."
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"interesting."
Bai Yu's lips curled into a slight smile: "A country whose blood has been drained, yet its heart is still beating wildly."
He turned to look at Artoria.
What do you think?
Artoria remained silent for a moment.
"This is not normal."
She said, "If the whole country is suffering while only the capital is prosperous, then this prosperity must be based on sucking the blood of other places. Kaido is not governing Wano Country; he is feeding Wano Country, only feeding the capital and letting other places fend for themselves."
"It's not even about feeding them."
Artoria said softly, her voice calm, but her gentle eyes held a sharpness that only someone who had experienced countless life-and-death situations possessed: "He's just using the people of the capital to help him maintain his rule. He's giving them a little something to sweeten their lives and making them his accomplices to the oppressor. This is the most classic method of rule: creating a vested interest class and having them exploit the lower classes for you."
"Let's go."
Bai Yu said, "Let's go see just how prosperous this flower capital really is."
He took two steps, then suddenly stopped and looked back at Onimaru.
"You all wait here and don't do anything unnecessary. We're just going to take a look and won't alert them."
Onimaru nodded, but his expression clearly showed unease.
Bai Yu didn't say anything more, turned around and walked into the night.
Artoria, Robin, Rangiku, Unohana, Connor, and Violet followed behind, their figures quickly swallowed by the darkness.
The journey was much faster than Onimaru had described.
In less than half the time, they reached the outskirts of the Flower Capital.
Bai Yu stood on a small hill, looking down at the city in the distance.
The night view of the Flower City is beautiful.
It's really beautiful.
The streets were brightly lit, with red lanterns hanging everywhere, and the faint sounds of shamisen and people's laughter could be heard in the distance.
The tall buildings are layered one on top of another, the most eye-catching being a magnificent castle.
That's the symbol of the Beasts Pirates.
On the other side of the castle, there is a completely different architectural complex, magnificent and ornate, like a giant beast with its jaws wide open, greedily devouring everything around it.
"That's the serpent's castle."
Robin whispered, "I saw in the information they provided that Kurozumi Orochi is the shogun of Wano Country, but in reality he should just be Kaido's puppet. He is responsible for ruling Wano Country, and Kaido is responsible for protecting him. The two of them use each other."
Bai Yu didn't speak, he just looked at the city.
Then he noticed something.
There is a high wall on the outskirts of the Flower Capital.
It's not a city wall, but more like a barrier, completely separating the city from the outside world.
On this side of the wall, there is darkness, desolation, and deathly silence.
On the other side of the wall lies light, prosperity, and noise.
Separated by a wall, two worlds.
"Let's go in."
Bai Yu said.
He led the way down the hillside and soon arrived at the foot of the high wall.
There was a door in the wall, and two guards stood at the door, dressed in the uniforms of the Beast Legion, with swords at their waists and wine jugs in their hands, their faces flushed from drinking.
"I've taken in three more women today, hehehe, Lord Orochi will definitely be happy."
"Those women are really good-looking, especially the one with red hair. If it weren't for Lord Orochi's specific request—hehehe," the two guards lewdly chuckled, completely unaware of Bai Yu approaching from the darkness.
The eyes of the two guards simultaneously went out of focus, and their bodies froze on the spot like two stone statues.
Sharingan, hypnosis.
Bai Yu walked past them without even glancing at them.
Behind the gate is a wide avenue that leads directly to the center of the Flower City.
Cherry blossom trees line both sides of the avenue. Although it is not the season for cherry blossoms to bloom, the trees are covered with lanterns. The light shines through the thin red paper and casts a gentle pink hue over the entire road.
The air was filled with the aroma of food.
Grilled squid, oden, glutinous rice balls, soy sauce ramen—the various flavors mixed together reminded Bai Yu of the festival in Konoha Village.
But this is not Konoha.
This is Wano Country.
A country that is being drained of its lifeblood.
Bai Yu didn't stop walking. He walked along the cherry blossom avenue and entered the main street of the Flower Capital.
The main street was even more lively.
The shops on both sides were brightly lit, selling everything from kimonos and jewelry to swords and sweets.
The streets were bustling with people. Elegantly dressed courtesans in kimonos waved their fans and smiled as they beckoned customers. From the taverns came the sounds of rock-paper-scissors and singing, and the air was filled with the scents of alcohol and perfume.
Bai Yu watched all this, his eyes growing colder and colder.
It's not because of the prosperity here.
It's because the prosperity here was bought with the blood of those outside.
The farmland along the roadside was abandoned because all the grain had been requisitioned, but the restaurants here were piled high with food.
The children in the village were shivering with cold because their blankets had been stolen, but the shops here were filled with expensive silks and quilts.
The people of Iwami Village knelt at the village entrance to welcome the Beast Legion, not daring to raise their heads, but they laughed, joked, drank, and sang, as if Wano Country had never suffered.
"I've seen a lot of unfair things."
Unohana said softly, "When I was in Rukongai, I saw people starve to death, people freeze to death, and people be beaten to death over a single bun, but at least—at least those who lived in the Soul Society didn't flaunt their food in front of those who starved to death."
Violet's voice was also low, tinged with suppressed anger: "I saw it. People in those taverns were talking about it. They said the lowly people in the north were causing trouble again. They said Lord Kaido should have killed them all. They said those lowly people are just a waste of food to be alive."
Her fists clenched.
"They know the people outside are suffering, they know what Kaido is doing, but they don't care, they even think that the suffering of those people is to be expected, because they are their own people!"
Robin didn't speak, but her eyes said it all.
Evil is never something that one person can accomplish alone.
Evil requires the silence and cooperation of countless people.
Artoria walked at the very back of the group, her face expressionless, but Bai Yu noticed that her hand remained on the hilt of her sword.
The Knight King once ruled a country.
She knew what a ruler of a country should and should not do.
Kaido's actions have far crossed her bottom line.
But she didn't speak, because she knew that this wasn't her country, and the problems here were not something she could solve alone.
Connor followed Unohana, his big eyes looking around with curiosity about everything around him.
"Brother Baiyu, it's so lively here!"
Connor said, his voice filled with the innocent joy of a child, "The old man selling dumplings is waving at us. Can we go and eat dumplings?"
Bai Yu glanced down at Connor, the coldness in his eyes softening slightly.
"it is good."
He said, "Let's go eat glutinous rice balls."
The seven people walked up to the dumpling stall, and the old man selling the dumplings greeted them with a smile.
"You're all from out of town, aren't you? Come, come, try my handmade dumplings! They're the best in the Flower Capital, I guarantee you'll want more!"
Bai Yu didn't speak, but Robin smiled and nodded, then bought a string of tricolor dumplings and handed it to Connor.
Connor took the dumpling, took a bite, and his eyes lit up.
"tasty!"
She said happily, then suddenly remembered something, looked up at Bai Yu: "Brother Bai Yu, that little girl—"
Did the little girl holding the rabbit in the mine ever eat glutinous rice balls?
Bai Yu paused for a moment.
"no."
Connor's expression turned somewhat sad. She looked at the skewer of dumplings with a bite taken out of it in her hand, hesitated for a moment, and then carefully wrapped the dumplings in paper and put them in her pocket.