Chapter 395: Cleaning House! The Marionette and the Purged Cancer

As Tatsuya’s light yet resonant words, “One more thing,” fell,

everyone involuntarily stopped what they were doing.

Luffy, who had just been stuffing his face with meat, stopped chewing, and Law, holding the map, also turned his head, casting a puzzled gaze toward him.

Tatsuya slowly stepped forward, and under the gaze of everyone who didn’t understand what was happening, he walked straight toward the corner of the long table.

There, Kanjuro was sweating profusely, holding his rice bowl with both hands, pretending to be nonchalant while frantically shoveling rice into his mouth.

Tatsuya stopped and looked down at the samurai from above.

A mocking smile slowly curled at the corner of his mouth:

“Stop acting. I have seen all the little tricks you’ve been using to secretly relay information to the outside world.”

As soon as these words were spoken, the whole place was in an uproar.

The sound of the wind around them seemed to freeze at that moment, followed by an eruption of incredulous gasps.

Kin’emon was struck as if by lightning, freezing in place.

His eyes widened, and the wine cup in his hand fell to the ground, shattering into pieces.

“Lord Tatsuya!”

Kin’emon stood up abruptly, disregarding the etiquette of rank, and used his broad body to block Kanjuro.

With an anxious face and veins popping on his forehead, he explained to Tatsuya, “There must be some misunderstanding here!”

“Kanjuro is a brother who has been with me for many years, through hardships and life-and-death trials.

“How could he possibly be one of that usurper Orochi’s…”

Facing Kin’emon’s weak and pale defense, Tatsuya didn’t waste any words.

He simply raised his right hand casually and threw a small, painted bird onto the wooden table.

It was a specially made painted bird he had silently intercepted, used exclusively for transmitting top-secret intelligence, and it still had wet ink on it.

Looking at the painted bird that should have been soaring high, the panic and grievance that Kanjuro had been trying so hard to maintain on his face froze completely in that instant.

His “perfect acting,” which he was so proud of, had been nothing more than a laughable joke for others to enjoy from the very beginning in front of this man with terrifying insight.

Knowing he was completely exposed and had no room left for argument,

Kanjuro simply stopped continuing that disgusting facade.

He slowly stood up from the table and pushed Kin’emon aside.

That formerly comical and loyal face instantly turned cold and morbid, as if he had changed his face.

His facial features twisted together, revealing a sense of crazy obsession.

“Hahahaha!”

Kanjuro threw his head back and let out a wild laugh.

“As expected of the great pirate who shakes the New World, Crimson Lotus Victor… This insight is truly breathtaking!”

He turned his head and looked at the stunned Kin’emon with a gaze as if he were looking at an idiot:

“Kin’emon, you hopeless fool, I am Kurozumi Kanjuro!”

Kanjuro spread his hands, looking up at the sky, his tone carrying a touch of madness and morbid regret:

“It’s such a pity that the most outstanding stage play I’ve poured my heart and soul into for my entire life has been forcibly brought to an end like this!”

“However, since the curtain call is a foregone conclusion, let’s draw the period with blood!”

Accompanied by a chilling laugh, Kanjuro suddenly drew that huge paintbrush from his waist.

He swung it rapidly in mid-air, ink splattering from the tip.

The clumsy painting skills he had always been faking instantly revealed their true, masterful capability at this moment.

Thick ink intertwined in the air, and several lifelike, massive ink cranes exuding an extremely dangerous aura appeared out of thin air.

They let out shrill cries and swooped toward the unsuspecting companions around them.

While the ink cranes created chaos, Kanjuro himself turned into a black afterimage, his face showing a fierce look, and he lunged toward the young Momonosuke like a hungry wolf.

He knew very well that in this desperate situation, the only way to have a chance of escaping alive was to take the young master of the Kozuki Clan hostage.

Momonosuke, looking at his former retainer who was lunging at him with a ferocious face and holding a sharp blade, was so scared that his legs went weak, and he fell directly onto the cold, muddy ground.

His mind went blank, his eyes filled with despair and confusion, and he could only mumble unconsciously:

“Kanjuro… why…”

“Kanjuro! Are you crazy?!”

“Stop it! You shameless traitor!”

Facing Kanjuro’s sudden and deadly outburst, Kin’emon, Tenguyama Hitetsu, and the others from Wano Country were all terrified.

They shouted loudly, wanting to step forward to stop him, but the distance was too great, and there was simply no time to rescue him.

However, in stark contrast to the panic of the people from Wano Country, the Straw Hat and Law’s group made no move at all.

They just sat there, watching this farce, which they saw as nothing more than a clown’s antics, with cold eyes.

Because they knew too well that trying to pull tricks in front of Tatsuya was simply courting death.

Just at this critical moment.

A flash of scarlet quietly flickered in the depths of Tatsuya’s eyes.

In those eyes that were like abysses, the complex and exquisite Mangekyo pattern swirled instantly.

Just at the moment when Kanjuro’s ink-stained fingertips were only a few centimeters away from Momonosuke’s clothes.

His whole body felt as if it had been struck by an invisible lightning bolt, and his consciousness was forcibly dragged into a blood-red mental space.

His lunging body instantly stiffened in mid-air, the fanaticism and ferocity on his face not even having time to fade away.

Those fierce ink cranes that were swooping toward the group also collapsed instantly into puddles of harmless, ordinary ink, spilling onto the grass, because they had lost the mental maintenance of their user.

“Bang!”

A dull impact sound rang out.

Kanjuro crashed heavily into the mud in front of Momonosuke.

The huge impact force directly smashed a sizeable crater into the soft grass.

The surroundings instantly quieted down.

A moment later, under the gaze of everyone who was suspicious and even somewhat terrified, Kanjuro, who had fallen into the crater, stood straight up.

He did not make any painful groans, nor did he continue to launch an attack.

At this moment, his eyes had completely lost focus, hollow like two bottomless black holes, and no emotional fluctuation could be seen on his face anymore.

He mechanically took out his paintbrush and special paper from his pocket.

In front of everyone, he began to write rapidly on the paper.

It was a piece of fake intelligence about the Straw Hat’s whereabouts, filled with the information Tatsuya wanted the enemy to see.

Watching Kanjuro, who stood there like a puppet after finishing the fake intelligence, Tatsuya withdrew his gaze with satisfaction.

He turned his head to look at Law on the side and said in a calm tone:

“From today on, he will continue to relay information to Orochi.”

“It’s just that… what he relays will all be the ‘good news’ we want him to relay.”

“For example, our internal conflicts, or our fake hideout.”

Hearing Tatsuya’s understated explanation, everyone suddenly realized what was happening.

He had actually used some kind of powerful illusion to forcibly rewrite the other party’s subconscious, turning an inside man into an intelligence tool controlled in reverse.

Upon hearing this, Law adjusted the brim of his spotted hat, a curve of understanding hooking at the corner of his mouth.

This way of squeezing out the last bit of the enemy’s residual value and turning a disadvantage into an excellent strategic advantage without shedding blood.

It was indeed very much in line with Crimson Lotus’s consistent style.

Tatsuya turned around and looked at Kin’emon, who was ashen-faced, and the still-shaken Momonosuke.

“I’ll leave him to you to handle.”

Kin’emon gritted his teeth tightly, tears swirling in his red-rimmed eyes.

Looking at the traitor whom he once regarded as a brother, but who had now turned into this miserable state, his heart was filled with indescribable regret and self-reproach.

If it hadn’t been for Lord Tatsuya’s keen insight.

Their great cause of restoring Wano Country would have probably been ruined by this traitor long ago.

“Thump.”

Kin’emon’s knees went weak, and he knelt heavily on the ground:

“Yes! Lord Tatsuya, thank you for your intervention… I will… handle it well.”

He knelt in the mud, weeping bitterly for his blindness and stupidity, his forehead pressed tightly against the ground.

Momonosuke, who was beside him, also knelt and prostrated on the ground, his small body trembling uncontrollably.

Having experienced this series of events and seeing Kanjuro’s puppet-like end.

They developed a deeper awe and submission toward Tatsuya’s unfathomable and thunderous methods, as well as his great kindness in saving the Kozuki Clan.

At this moment, in their hearts, this Vice Captain’s majesty had surpassed everything.

As Kin’emon took the puppet-like Kanjuro away.

Law withdrew his gaze and spread the map of Wano Country flat on the table again.

He picked up a pen and continued to tell Luffy, Zoro, and the others about the next plan:

“Alright, since the obstacle has been cleared.”

“Straw Hat Captain, let’s talk in detail about the next plan to draw fire…”