In that instant, the moment he heard Anthony's words, Ubuyashiki Kagaya's eyes — slightly clouded as they always were — seemed to sharpen, just a little. His gaze fixed on Anthony, unmoving.
Kill Kibutsuji Muzan.
For the Ubuyashiki family — cursed since the moment a demon king like Kibutsuji Muzan had come into existence — this had been the lifelong wish of every single member of the bloodline, generation after generation.
And yet...
"I want nothing more," he said, his gaze moving between the two of them. "But how am I to trust you?"
Anthony smiled warmly.
"Trusting us won't cost you any flesh off your bones."
He gestured lightly toward Jonathan at his side, and continued: "Besides — you've already seen what my friend here is capable of, haven't you? Surely, at the very least, you'd be willing to believe we have a genuine shot at this?"
"..."
Ubuyashiki Kagaya's gaze passed slowly between the two of them, thoughts turning over in his mind — and then, after a long moment, he simply fell into silence. At last, he gave a small, quiet nod.
"If what you say is true — that you can truly kill Kibutsuji Muzan and fulfill the wish I have carried my entire life — then any transaction within the means of the Ubuyashiki family is acceptable."
"If the goal is to kill Kibutsuji Muzan... is there any assistance you would need from us...?"
Ubuyashiki Kagaya asked it carefully, feeling his way forward. His thinking, in truth, was quite simple. These two had said they were willing to try — and Jonathan was clearly formidable. So why not let them?
"Just let us rest here for a few days. We'll be moving out before long."
Anthony said this as he rose to his feet.
All things considered, this conversation had gone rather smoothly. He'd half-expected it to drag on into an endless, exhausting round of haggling — but it seemed that wouldn't be necessary after all.
"If it's not too much trouble, arranging lodgings for us would be all we need."
"Of course. I'll have someone prepare quarters where you won't be disturbed."
Ubuyashiki Kagaya finished speaking, coughed twice, and called his attendants in. Jonathan and Anthony were guided through the estate, following their escort toward a small, secluded outbuilding set off to one side.
Once the attendants had finished tidying the room and departed, Anthony and Jonathan were left alone inside. Jonathan looked over at Anthony, and after a moment, couldn't help but ask:
"So... what's our next move?"
"First, we wait. No one has more time on their hands right now than we do."
Anthony thought it over for a moment, then gave his answer: "We wait until we can resurrect Yoriichi. Then we go find Muzan, drag him out of whatever hole he's hiding in, beat him half to death, and take him alive. Simple as that."
"That said — simple as it sounds, there are still a few specifics we need to work through. A couple of obstacles to clear."
He paused briefly, then continued.
The first problem was this: to resurrect Yoriichi, the Points were simply a matter of waiting — but they still needed a physical body.
And that was nowhere near as convenient as it had been with Jonathan. Jonathan, after all, had DIO to thank for keeping his body preserved — all it had taken was peeling off a chunk of it and splashing it with an ampoule, and it was usable. Clean and simple.
Anthony had no such ampoule on hand. And besides, he had serious doubts that just slapping an ampoule onto some random lump of flesh would even work.
A body suitable for resurrection had conditions attached to it. Two possible conditions — and at least one had to be met.
The first: a neutral, highly versatile vessel with no inherent spiritual properties. Synthetically grown human tissue from a lab would work. Something like Zetsu from the ninja world would probably also qualify.
The second: a body that had originally belonged to the person themselves — like Jonathan's case, where his own preserved body could be used directly.
The problem was that Anthony had neither option available to him right now.
Which was deeply inconvenient.
And beyond that, there was a second problem he couldn't avoid thinking through: how, exactly, were they going to find Kibutsuji Muzan?
Knowing Muzan as well as he did, Anthony was fairly certain the man had crawled into whatever corner of the world felt safest and settled in for the long haul — fully resolved to spend the next fifty or a hundred years doing absolutely nothing until Jonathan died of old age before he'd even consider coming back out...
They had a dog, though.
Fortunately, it seemed both problems might actually have a solution.
Anthony turned to look at Jonathan and waved a hand in his direction.
"Jonathan — do you think you could head back for a bit and find Joseph?"
That was Anthony's final question.
......
At that same moment, deep within the Infinity Castle.
To tell the truth, Nakime had never — not once in all her time of service — seen Muzan in such a state: so utterly broken, so close to ruin, and still burning with a rage that hadn't cooled.
"Don't let anyone disturb me. The Infinity Castle is closed to all visitors, indefinitely."
The moment he set foot inside, Kibutsuji Muzan issued the command to Nakime. She bowed her head in quiet acknowledgment.
And yet, despite herself, a flicker of bewilderment passed through her mind.
Someone... did this to Lord Muzan?
There shouldn't be any swordsman in the outside world capable of this!
What on earth had happened?
The truth of it was: out there in the forest, Muzan had not dared to do so much as surface a single fragment until he had confirmed — absolutely confirmed — that Jonathan was completely gone. Even then, it wasn't until the following day that he'd cautiously crept back out, and from there he had returned to the Infinity Castle at the fastest speed he could manage.
He had regenerated himself back into his original form... but in his current state, the recovery was going to take an extraordinarily long time.
That bastard... just what the hell is he?!
Surely he couldn't be Yoriichi Tsugikuni reincarnated — could he? But even the original Yoriichi wasn't this outrageously powerful!
"Damn it all..."
Kibutsuji Muzan ground his teeth — but at the same time, he squeezed his eyes shut in pain, turning his mind toward whatever final countermeasure still remained to him.
No... absolutely no going outside. An enemy like that...
Priorities. I have to learn to set priorities. Even the Blue Spider Lily — even that — if his own survival wasn't guaranteed, obtaining it was meaningless.
And so, in that moment, Kibutsuji Muzan made his decision.
"Seal the Infinity Castle... until the day I decide it can be opened again."
The command left his lips as a final decree.
His mind was made up.
This time — he would stay inside the Infinity Castle for fifty years. No. Longer. A hundred years. Even longer than that.
Until he was completely, absolutely certain that that man was dead.
......
"No mistakes on this one, right?"
Meanwhile, back in the room Ubuyashiki Kagaya had arranged for them, Anthony looked at the photograph in Jonathan's hand and asked.
Jonathan gave a small nod.
"Yes. Got everything."
"Then there's no problem at all!"
Anthony slapped his knee with satisfaction and declared without missing a beat: "Coordinates confirmed. We'll schedule a little team-building trip to the Infinity Castle sometime soon!"
And just like that — cheerfully and without the slightest trace of difficulty — Muzan had been thoroughly doxxed.
____
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