After being taught a lesson, Inuarashi and Nekomamushi finally "calmed down." However, although they no longer intended to make a move, they still glared fiercely at Sherwin.
Sherwin naturally didn't take it to heart. He leisurely continued the previous topic.
"Am I wrong? If Kozuki Oden hadn't so easily believed Kaido and Orochi lies and given them five years to develop, but instead had gathered Hyogoro and the samurai who still believed in him back then from the very beginning, Kaido would have long been driven out of Wano."
"I know what you want to say—that Kozuki Oden did it to save the hostages—but…" Raising his hand to stop Inuarashi and Nekomamushi, who were about to retort, Sherwin curled his lips.
"Why was he so confident that Kurozumi Orochi, who seized Wano through conspiracy, would keep his promise? During those five years, he never once considered what he would do if the enemy went back on their word? He followed Whitebeard and Roger as a pirate for several years, yet he could still be this naïve…"
Sherwin tone grew increasingly contemptuous. "Even if he was worried about the hostage safety and didn't want to secretly spread the truth,
why didn't he consider how to rescue them? At the very least, he could have sent you trusted retainers to secretly go out to sea and ask Whitebeard for help, right? But he did nothing.
Instead, he 'kept his promise' and danced naked for five years, completely destroying Wano hope and the people faith… I think that if Kurozumi Orochi hadn't gone back on his word first, he would probably have kept dancing, wouldn't he?"
Although even if Kozuki Oden had devised some other plan at the time, it would most likely have failed because of the spy among the Nine Red Scabbards,
having at least tried to think of a solution and foolishly pinning all hope on Kurozumi Orochi honoring an agreement were two entirely different matters.
What was most infuriating was that when they were later subjected to the punishment of being boiled alive, Kozuki Oden once again believed Kaido and Kurozumi Orochi promises.
When Sherwin watched that part of the story back then, he felt no sense of heroic tragedy at all…
Wasn't this completely self-inflicted?!
"And if we trace responsibility even further back, wasn't it also because Kozuki Oden willfully abandoned his country that Kurozumi Orochi found his opportunity?
As the heir to a nation, being willful, poor at judging people, foolishly naïve… so when I say that it was because of him that Wano ended up in its current state, what wrong with that?"
After rattling on for quite a while, Sherwin let out a long breath of stale air.
That felt good!
He didn't care at all what Inuarashi and Nekomamushi thought. He simply wanted to vent about that idiot Kozuki Oden.
After laying out his sharp, unrestrained criticism, Sherwin only felt his mind clear and his whole body lighten, as if he had shed a couple of ounces from his bones.
What a pity that Kozuki Oden was already dead. If he could have pointed at his nose and cursed him face-to-face, that would have been true satisfaction!
Meanwhile, the cats nearby had more or less pieced together the full sequence of events from Sherwin words…
"Wow! There actually an idiot in this world even dumber than Sherwin, that idiot meow!"
(=O△O=)
Haibara Meow, the sharp-tongued little schemer, didn't forget to drag Sherwin into it even at a time like this.
"When the lord is incompetent, and you, as his retainers, don't know how to remonstrate and only blindly follow, the mistakes you've made aren't any fewer than those of that Kozuki Oden meow."
Seijuro Meow gave his evaluation from a vassal perspective.
"No wonder the two of you are kings of Zou yet still like this meow," Huamei let out a long sigh.
"If you still think that idiot called Kozuki Oden had no problems at all, you'd better abdicate the throne as soon as possible. I'm worried that under your leadership, Zou will become the second Wano meow."
"Heh heh…" Jinx sneered mockingly, not even bothering to comment.
Even the little ragdoll couldn't help muttering, "That person is so dumb. Even Klee Meow knows you can't trust what bad guys say, meow."
As for Robin, perhaps because she had been influenced by Sherwin and the others for a long time, or because her perspective on Oden and Wano differed from that in the manga, she wasn't moved like she was portrayed there.
In fact, it even made Robin recall something that had happened back in Ohara—the civilians of Ohara had also believed the World Government promise, boarded the evacuation ship, and were then blasted straight into the sky by a single cannon shot.
If those people hadn't believed she would implicate them, she would have already died in Ohara as well.
As for Shirahoshi, who was affected even more deeply, her face was filled with a look of anger at their failure to live up to expectations.
Their Fish-Man race was in such a difficult position precisely because they lacked sufficient strength,
yet Kozuki Oden clearly possessed power enough to contend with the enemy,
even to defeat them—only to let his own naivety and foolishness drag an entire country into ruin.
I must take this as a warning! I absolutely cannot let Fish-Man Island repeat the mistakes of Wano!
The "tiny" mermaid princess swore silently in her heart.
After being hit with such a point-blank verbal barrage by Sherwin and the Felynes, no matter how brainlessly devoted they were, Inuarashi and Nekomamushi could only choose to remain silent.
Because…
They had no way to refute it!
Just like Camille Voicelines: "It's not lies that cut, but the sharpness of the truth."
Although they didn't know why Sherwin understood the events in Wano from over twenty years ago so clearly, everything he said was the truth.
And it was precisely because it was all true that Inuarashi and Nekomamushi found it even harder to accept…
Just like how brainless fans can't accept that their idol is actually a good-for-nothing, even when it a fact.
So, after a long silence, Inuarashi followed up on what Seijuro Meow had said:
"You're right. Failing to notice Kaido and Kurozumi Orochi wolfish ambitions on behalf of Lord Oden… that was the dereliction of duty of us retainers of the Nine Red Scabbards…"
Unwilling to admit that Kozuki Oden was an unqualified ruler, Inuarashi chose to let the Nine Red Scabbards take the blame instead.
Should one say he truly lived up to being a loyal dog? Or lament the sheer power of the "Oden virus"?
Sherwin smacked his lips, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.
In any case, he had already vented his fill, and he hadn't really been interested in changing Inuarashi and Nekomamushi way of thinking to begin with.
After Inuarashi and Nekomamushi had been beaten up and then had their defenses shattered by Sherwin, their moods visibly sank.
They stopped talking altogether, merely staying quietly to the side and waiting in silence for Robin to finish translating the Poneglyph.
Haibara Meow and Purah Meow, however, had no intention of staying idle. They ran over to Shirahoshi side, lifted their small heads, and urged her,
"Shirahoshi, weren't you going to try to 'awaken' Zunesha here, meow? Hurry up and give it a try! We can take this chance to monitor how the environment here differs from other places, meow! Check-it!"
(ゝω)~☆
As they spoke, the two research cats swiftly took out various monitoring instruments.
Of course, just like the previous brainwave amplifier and the Guardians, all of them had been miniaturized by Suika Meow using her ability.
After the two cats methodically arranged all kinds of instruments that Sherwin could not understand throughout the inner space of the Whale Tree belly, Shirahoshi finally began trying to communicate with Zunesha—this time without wearing the brainwave amplifier.
Meanwhile, Purah Meow and Haibara Meow pulled Sherwin and the other cats along, each of them staring at the data on different instruments and recording every change they observed.