Chapter 1198: Regretful Past and Confused Future, A Choice Between Strength and Appearance

“Brother Babanuki, women are really troublesome, it’s bad luck to offend them, luckily I don’t have such worries.”

An amused voice came from beneath the boulder, but Babanuki didn’t follow up on it.

“Save it, you’re just lacking in the looks department. Even without that, you bury yourself in the ground every day, who would come looking for you!”

The most laid-back position among the Hundred Beasts is undoubtedly the Udon Quarry. Although this is a high-security prison area, most of the prisoners here don’t possess the capability to escape. Those who are sent here are either missing some parts or are tightly bound by high-purity seastone chains.

Prison breaks only occurred in the first two years. Now, ordinary prison guards do the everyday work, while people like the prison warden hang around.

They only need to sign a document when interrogating certain people.

Unlike Magellan, who has to spend long hours on the toilet, they naturally find ways to slack off.

Babanuki’s daily routine consists of sunbathing somewhere and “gathering strength” during the process, a reasonable and irrefutable reason because that’s what Slaking does daily.

Pokemon Ability Users are also influenced by the nature of their abilities, but it’s not severe. It just results in having some preferences similar to their abilities.

The person Babanuki talked about being buried in the ground every day is Dobon, whose ability is Hippowdon. For him, being buried is like lying in a warm bed during winter.

Compared to Babanuki’s hibernation, Dobon can bury himself with only his nostrils exposed. Coupled with his inherited traits making him look like a relative of the hippopotamus, he pretty much gave up on romance.

“Brother Babanuki, I still think my soul is interesting.”

“Is that so? Then I hope you soon find another interesting soul. You better not forget, this is Udon Mine, the place with the lowest female ratio in all of Wano Kuni.”

As a heavy industrial area, Udon is largely divided into the mine, smelting plant, and munitions factory. The mine also doubles as a prison, with all kinds of manual labor not suited for women.

The only beauty on site is on the level of a canteen auntie. People stationed here rarely get opportunities for transfer, and rotations are infrequent. Without taking the initiative, you might never get a chance in this lifetime.

Appearance isn’t everything, but it’s the first impression between strangers, and it matters a lot.

“Forget it, I think this place is fine. It would be more fun if someone attempted a prison break. Brother Babanuki, I heard that kid is Oden’s son. Do you think those stubborn guys might rally behind him for an escape?”

The ground around started to flow as if coming alive. Influenced by Dobon’s ability, the seemingly solid ground could transform into a Sand Tomb devouring everything at any moment, and Dobon was the terrifying predator within the sand.

Even steel would be bitten through by his giant jaws, let alone the people caught inside.

This is also a little-known defense mechanism of Udon Mine, and so far, no one has triggered it.

“I hope not. Since that Oden died, I’ve guarded this place for 20 years without incident. I don’t want anyone to break that.”

“That’s not up to you, Brother Babanuki. The people of Wano Kuni… you never know what they’re thinking.”

“Go wallow in your sand, if anything does happen, it would surely be due to your damn crow’s mouth!”

Finding an excuse to send away Dobon, Babanuki continued to accumulate power.

If Mandfeish is the victor among overachievers, then Babanuki is the victim of the internal competition era, his number gradually increased from the initial NO.3 to double digits now to finally settle.

His primary job is the prison warden, and he has no further ambitions for promotion, so he’s simply embraced a laid-back lifestyle.

…

Nightfall soon arrived, and after completing a day’s work, Momonosuke tiredly collapsed onto the straw mat in the prison, neither crying nor complaining; the heavy labor left him no energy to do so.

He fell asleep as soon as he lay down. For him now, there’s no hope in either today or tomorrow.

A mystery continued to entangle his heart; he still couldn’t understand why his sister grew to hate him so much, or what had happened all those years.

Kozuki Hiyori provided him with answers, but he couldn’t understand. Having traversed 20 years, he was still the same kid as before and could not comprehend Kozuki Hiyori’s feelings.

Denjiro, however, understood Kozuki Hiyori’s intentions and knew the current Wano Kuni was the ideal that Kozuki Oden envisioned. But the Hundred Beasts aren’t the Kozuki clan. Whether there was a puppet like Kozuki Hiyori or not, it wouldn’t change this fundamental issue.

That’s why Denjiro experienced a conflict upon meeting Momonosuke.

He tried to persuade himself, but his inherent loyalty to the Kozuki clan constantly influenced him, nearly tearing him apart.

“Is it really all Orochi’s fault, or is it our fault instead?”

On the walls of Udon, Denjiro looked at the starlit sky with boundless confusion.

If there were no Kurozumi Orochi, if there were no directional suggestions from these household attendants towards Oden, what would the situation be now if Oden, returning to Wano Kuni, sat down to have a good talk with Kaidou instead of assuming a hostile posture?

Denjiro knew that his lord’s intention had never been to become that general; Oden longed for the freedom of the sea.

He didn’t know what Oden had seen at Laugh Tale that solidified his concept of opening the country, but if he had known what Wano Kuni would become earlier, all the results might have been different.

A pot of strong wine poured down his throat, and the intoxicating effects made Denjiro’s turmoil in his heart fade a bit. He then looked at the scar on his palm, feeling incomparably conflicted.

The starry sky had not changed, identical to twenty years ago.

The clear sky didn’t have a single cloud, yet the starlight had dimmed considerably; it wasn’t any ominous omen, but the effect of the lights of Wano Kuni.

The brilliant lights of the eternal night, a scene once only found in the prosperous areas of Wano, now spread throughout the whole country. The night was no longer a hindrance, and the streets and alleys were filled with happiness, yet all of this had nothing to do with him.

Some people are destined never to return; no matter what Wano Kuni becomes, those people will never see it.

“Lord Oden… please give me an answer…”

The confused Denjiro seemed to see several beast-shaped shadows gliding across the sky, and in a daze, he thought he had drunk too much and fell into a stupor.

The wine pot in his hand fell; thanks to the material, it didn’t break but instead became an item the prisoners in a nearby cage scrambled for, a heavenly gift for them.

In the sky, the shadows were not illusions, but the nightlife of the third generation of the Hundred Beasts.

They were unable to sleep due to their high energy, so they found a Corviknight that was also used to staying up late, and started wandering over Wano Kuni.

The outer sea under the night was pitch black, with only two lighthouses guiding the course, while inside the high walls, the lights of Wano Kuni formed a special picture.

And in the cabin held by Corviknight’s claws, Miaona and Wolf were flipping through an atlas together with Melo, an atlas concerning the ability Melo would gain the next day.

Arceus’s power is gradually increasing, and the members’ chances of acquiring abilities are also increasing. This time, Mandfeish practically emptied out his achievements.

A salaryman saving up for decades accumulated quite an impressive number, luxurious enough to give Melo an additional choice.

“How about this one? This pincer looks really cool.”

The atlas depicted a Pokemon bigger in the right arm than its body, with a structure similar to a pistol shrimp. That arm, like a giant cannon, was full of deterrence.

The atlas Wolf held was of Clawitzer, one of the few Pokemon with the Mega Launcher ability. Its cannon-like arm and trait made it skillful at wave-type moves, though its attributes limited its strike power.

“Too strange… I don’t quite like this one.”

Melo imagined herself as Clawitzer, then shook her head and discarded that image.

“Really… Then how about this one? Like Uncle Turtle from the Fire Department. Or maybe like Uncle Mandfeish and Aunt Nereus, Gyarados’s ability is pretty comprehensive.”

The atlas of Blastoise and Gyarados were also included. Melo is a half-mermaid, so her potential abilities were largely limited to Water-type Pokemon; you can’t make a mermaid afraid of water.

As for Jack and Sasaki…

Both are heavyweight warriors, one used to a bottom-dwelling strategy, the other had already eaten a Devil Fruit, so they simply developed towards the Steel Type.

If Melo were to learn Jack’s bottom-dwelling strategy, Mandfeish would probably go mad looking for Jack.

“Big bro, you should ease up, can’t you pick something a little cuter?”

“Uncle Mandfeish said it, though, abilities for heavy firepower bombardment, and these look really strong.”

“That’s why Uncle Mandfeish probably misunderstood something. You don’t have to personally command an artillery unit; I think these two are better. What do you think, Melo?”

Compared to Wolf’s view of strength, Miaona chose based on appearance. She pulled out the books of Milotic and Primarina, giving Melo more options.

“Hmm… I think this one’s better, its appearance is similar to my mom.”

In the end, Miaona’s aesthetic aligned better with Melo’s preferences. As she said, liking heavy firepower doesn’t mean transforming into a cannon.

Melo’s gaze wavered between Milotic and Primarina before finally opting for Primarina’s ability.

In terms of beauty, Milotic is no less than Primarina, but Primarina’s body resembles a mermaid more. A mermaid’s tail plus a humanoid upper body excited Melo more.

After all, how Rushaka swam in the sea was just like that, and she also wished to have a pair of changeable tails like her mother…