-Real World-
Most people watching the Sky Screen had not expected that Kozuki Momonosuke would prove to be such a thoroughly tyrannical ruler. In terms of raw body count and systematic killing, he had accomplished no less than the Beasts Pirates themselves—perhaps even exceeding their brutality. Yet somehow he had been able to maintain stable rule over Wano Country for his entire reign. It seemed genuinely unheard of, almost impossible. Didn't the common people know how to resist such oppression? Or had they been so thoroughly broken that rebellion became unthinkable?
However, the usurper who still lived in the current timeline found himself utterly frightened and overwhelmed by these revelations. Kurozumi Orochi was suddenly in no mood whatsoever to enjoy the lap pillow service provided by the beautiful courtesan Komurasaki.
Faced with such a pessimistic vision of his personal future, the Shogun could not help but curse with increasing hysteria: "Why is that little bastard of the Kozuki family still alive?! Why can't he just die already?!" His voice rose to a near-shriek. "Wouldn't it have been better if he'd died alongside his father Kozuki Oden? Why did you have to come back and disturb my peace? I am the Shogun of Wano Country! This is my position!"
Komurasaki—Kozuki Hiyori in disguise—watched the man before her descend into complete hysteria, and genuine worry showed plainly on her carefully composed face. But outsiders would be mistaken about the target of her concern. This woman was not worried about General Orochi's mental state or safety. Rather, she felt deep anxiety about the revealed situation of her brother, Kozuki Momonosuke.
Although Hiyori knew that the enemies who had murdered both her father and mother would eventually be slaughtered by her brother in the future—justice finally served after years of suffering—the methods Momonosuke would employ troubled her greatly. Her brother intended to implicate and execute innocent people who had merely tried to survive under occupation. This would only arouse the deep resentment of lower-class citizens throughout Wano Country, and it would definitely cause severe backlash now that the Sky Screen had exposed his future actions publicly.
For the sake of their own lives and property, those common people would never willingly support the Kozuki clan's restoration efforts. They would actively oppose it, perhaps even fight against it.
In fact, the woman's assessment was entirely correct. When ordinary citizens of Wano Country learned that such a suspicious and tyrannical Shogun awaited them in the future, they immediately felt that Kurozumi Orochi appeared significantly more tolerable by direct comparison. After all, in terms of inhuman behavior, the current Shogun was merely exploiting labor and extracting resources. The future Kozuki ruler would actually be taking lives wholesale, executing people on mere suspicion or association.
The people of Wano Country simply could not imagine how they would survive under such a high-pressure environment in the future, living with a metaphorical butcher's knife perpetually hanging over their heads. Perhaps it would be better not to let the Kozuki clan return to power at all! The Kurozumi clan was doing an acceptable job as Shogun—why replace them with someone demonstrably worse? The common people absolutely could not tolerate the devil Kozuki Momonosuke wielding authority over their lives.
Shortly after watching the broadcast, Kurozumi Orochi summoned every force he could command. He did this directly in front of Kozuki Hiyori, making no effort to conceal his intentions from the courtesan. All the ninja operatives including the entire Orochi Oniwabanshu appeared before him in the palace. The Shogun was absolutely determined to locate and kill Kozuki Momonosuke to protect his current comfortable existence and prevent this nightmare future from manifesting.
He had previously attempted to negotiate with Doflamingo about providing assistance in this matter, but his requests had fallen on completely deaf ears. The Heavenly Demon himself was having severe trouble taking care of his own problems after his encounter with the Five Elders—he possessed no intention whatsoever of discussing business deals or helping others solve their difficulties.
After this shortcut option was eliminated, Kurozumi Orochi could only rely on his own resources to search for Kozuki Momonosuke across the seas. He desperately hoped the Sky Screen would provide the boy's specific current location so that the Orochi Oniwabanshu could track him down first and kill him immediately, preventing this catastrophic future from ever occurring.
The Shogun of Wano Country now harbored serious doubts about his own security measures. Could it be that the backup plan I secretly planted among the Nine Red Scabbards did not work as intended? It seemed impossible that every single infiltrator had failed to inform him of developments. There must be something fundamentally wrong with his intelligence network!
The Beasts Pirates observed the Sky Screen's depiction of their future with mounting horror. They saw their own heads being chopped off systematically and thrown into the ocean. The seas surrounding Wano Country were dyed deep crimson in a remarkably short period of time. No matter how many people Kozuki Momonosuke executed, the blood-red color of the seawater refused to fade for three full days. The carnage attracted countless carnivorous marine creatures who came to enjoy a grotesque feast of human corpses.
Plague Queen witnessed this nightmarish scene displayed in the sky and saw his subordinates being slaughtered like livestock in an abattoir. Although the broadcast had not explicitly shown his own fate, he could deduce with basic reasoning that as one of the leaders of the Beasts Pirates, he would die miserably after being defeated. The massive cyborg clenched his mechanical fists so tightly that servos whined in protest, his face covered with bulging veins. Simple anger was utterly insufficient to describe his current psychological state.
"Kozuki Momonosuke!" Queen's voice thundered across Onigashima with barely-restrained fury. "I will grind you to ashes! For the sake of the Beasts Pirates—for the sake of preventing this future from ever manifesting—I will never permit you to grow up and gain strength!"
Queen's declaration also represented the collective voice of everyone stationed on Onigashima at that moment. They had joined the Beasts Pirates specifically to align themselves with overwhelming strength and ensure their own survival. But facing this revealed future of total annihilation—of being systematically butchered like animals—they absolutely could not allow it to happen. They must make the Kozuki clan completely disappear into history and never give them another opportunity to reverse their fortunes.
Black Maria, that equally beautiful courtesan who served Kaido, had not become angry when Ulti mocked her earlier. But when the issue turned to her own personal safety and the fate of her beloved Lord Kaido, the vicious side of the Black Widow was fully revealed.
"If I can capture this brat," Black Maria said, her voice dripping with venom and dark promise, "I will make him experience a fate far worse than simple death. This despicable child must have employed utterly despicable methods to somehow achieve Lord Kaido's defeat. There is no other explanation."
The term "sealing technique" remained quite unfamiliar to most people across the world. However, according to basic literal interpretation, it apparently could imprison or seal away intelligent creatures indefinitely. The fact that Kaido—who possessed a bounty of ten billion and ten million berries—had been contained by this mysterious technique attracted the intense curiosity of more and more viewers. Perhaps this sealing method was somehow specifically related to Wano Country's unique traditions or ancient knowledge.
Who's-Who finally released a breath he felt he'd been holding for days. The content regarding his supposed future betrayal had not been exposed on the Sky Screen during this broadcast, which meant he would not be executed in the immediate future. It would be ideal if he could simply wait patiently until Lord Kaido returned from wherever he currently was and explain the situation to him personally, face to face. Perhaps he could receive the forgiveness he desperately deserved.
Who's-Who still believed—wanted to believe—that everything shown on the Sky Screen was elaborate fabrication. Everyone, including Captain Kaido himself, had been deceived by this supernatural phenomenon. The future it showed could not be real.
Most people observing Who's-Who would conclude that the prisoner had become a complete psychopath—the only one claiming sobriety while everyone else apparently remained drunk on delusion. Perhaps his brain had been genuinely damaged by the brutal labor he'd endured in the quarry. For someone already labeled as a traitor, any words he spoke would ring hollow and powerless regardless of their truth.
The assembled Shichibukai sitting in the conference room at the Holy Land of Mariejois had not expected that the third person being evaluated by the Sky Screen would be Kozuki Momonosuke. These powerful individuals held virtually no interest in yet another tyrannical ruler—the world already possessed far too many of those. However, they definitely harbored considerable interest in the sealing technique that had been verbally referenced.
If such a convenient method truly existed, it could be perfectly utilized to deal with Kaido himself. The reputation of the Four Emperors had been earned through countless battles and innumerable deaths. None of the Shichibukai particularly wanted to engage in direct hand-to-hand combat with the creature widely acknowledged as the strongest being alive.
"Another filthy scoundrel," Boa Hancock declared with obvious disgust, her beautiful face twisted with revulsion. "It turns out that all men are fundamentally the same—just garbage in different packaging."
The Pirate Empress was genuinely disgusted by Kozuki Momonosuke's behavior, particularly the absurd ram-cart selection method for choosing which woman to bed each night. Such dehumanizing treatment made her feel profound pity for those women trapped in his harem. Why would any woman willingly choose to be with such a playboy when there were so many other men in the world? Was it genuinely enjoyable to share a single husband with literally thousands of other women?
The Empress's harsh words dealt area-of-effect psychological damage to all the men present in the conference room. However, these individuals chose not to express any defensive opinions. Compared directly with Kozuki Momonosuke's excesses, even Doflamingo felt he qualified as a relatively decent person. As for playing with women and maintaining harems, the Heavenly Demon felt genuinely ashamed when measured against the future Shogun. Momonosuke was essentially a spirit of pure lust made flesh—his kidney function must be remarkably robust, perhaps a bit too robust for any reasonable person.
Crocodile sneered at the conference table, his scarred face twisted with dark amusement. "This brat is truly detestable. I suspect he won't survive very long now. Sometimes having your future exposed by the Sky Screen is decidedly not a beneficial development."
Many of the Shichibukai seated around the conference table had already sentenced Kozuki Momonosuke to death in their minds. Perhaps they wouldn't even need to take direct action themselves—the Beasts Pirates would handle the execution for them. Kaido would absolutely not be gracious enough to miss the opportunity to kill Kozuki Momonosuke with his own hands, not after learning what the boy would do to him in the future.
Observers wondered what kind of expression this revealed pervert would display when death finally came for him. Newspaper King Morgans desperately wanted to capture that precise scene and print it prominently in his publication for mass distribution worldwide. The ugly truth about the Kozuki clan absolutely must be witnessed by as many people as possible. The story would sell millions of copies.