One Piece: Dream of Immortality

Chapter 473: The Oiran's Procession



"I'll see you later, darling." Cherry gave Robin a quick smooch. "I have a babysitting gig to get to, and that Oiran's procession isn't going to attack itself."

Cherry bid farewell to the others and went off to discreetly follow after Toko to find this procession. The girl was pretty quick on her little feet, so it wasn't all that long until she found herself at a large and rather fancy building.

Denjiro was actually inside that building, which made Cherry wonder if this was his base of operations or something. She focused a little more on her Life Sense and found some of the thugs that tried to take down Sanji's soba stand, so that probably meant the answer was yes.

Now that Cherry knew where the procession would begin, she found a hidden spot to put her disguise on.

...

The citizens of the Flower Capital gathered in the streets enmasse hoping to catch a glimpse of the only Oiran in Wano, the beautiful Komurasaki.

Komurasaki herself, who was once called Kozuki Hiyori, was not as happy to see the people as they were to see her, regardless of the smile she wore on her face. She could not hate them for betraying her father, however much she wanted to at times, but they could not inspire any positive feelings in her either.

Only a handful of individuals who lived in the capital could truly bring her any joy. The closest of the two were her kamuro, Toko, and her father's vassal, the disguised Denjiro.

The conversation she had with Denjiro just before leaving for the castle still echoed in her mind.

"Orochi is too determined to make you his woman, putting this off any longer would make him react violently. We have to do this, Hiyori-sama, there's no other choice," Denjiro had said to her.

It would be dangerous for sure, but Denjiro had a plan to make it happen. She could only hope that Orochi wouldn't kill him in retaliation.

"Sorry for being late, Onee-sama!" her adorable attendant chirped.

"I was worried, you know? Don't just run off of your own like that, Toko," Hiyori said.

A commotion up ahead drew her attention away from the giggling Toko.

"Komurasaki!" Komurasaki..." "Komurasaki!!!" a trio of fools blocked the path of the procession.

They wore tattered clothes, wielded dull knives, and overall looked like they hadn't bathed in weeks.

Hiyori dropped her casual smile, but didn't frown. That would ruin her perfect image.

She knew the fools, of course. They were the worst of the worst amongst Wano's scum, men who had gathered great fortunes at the expense of the innocent. And so she had taken all that they had acquired through dirty dealings and more until they had nothing left, only to tell them to get lost at the last moment.

It was a profitable scam that she and Denjiro ran in order to divert the funds to the very people these men take advantage of to create their fortunes to begin with.

Why they thought that they would be able to attack her whilst she was surrounded by her loyal guards, she would never know. The three fools were swiftly cut down by said guards and she did not even bother to give them a second glance.

It was enough of a demonstration that anyone else with ill intent towards her should think twice about attacking the procession, she thought.

She couldn't have been more wrong.

When the castle gates were finally in sight, a masked figure in yellow clothing leapt out of the crowd. To anyone else, they would think this to be the infamous thief, Ushimitsu Kozo, but she knew this person was an imposter at first sight. She knew this because /Denjiro was the real Ushimitsu Kozo, and this was most certainly not him.

Her guards moved to form a protective circle around her, but she and they realized too late that she was not the true target of the imposter.

"AHHHHHH-AHAHAHA! I've been caught! Help me!" Toko screamed as the mysterious attacker grabbed her.

"Release her this instant!" Hiyori's panic showed on her face, but she couldn't help it.

"You can have her back. When you pay up for the ransom, that is, Komurasaki-sama-" the fraud's laughter was filled with such malice that Hiyori worried if paying the ransom would even save Toko's life. Nevermind the fact that she was planning to skip town this very night, and would be in no position to pay such a ransom.

The fake Ushimitsu Kozo did not wait for a response, immediately throwing down a smoke bomb that filled the street. Worse still, the smoke made the eyes, noses, and mouths of anyone who touched it burn like they had dipped their entire heads in spicy pepper juice.

This resulted in the people scattering away, blocking any efforts by her own guards or that of the nearby castle from making any sort of attempt to capture the criminal.

As the winds began to disperse the smoke cloud, neither the yellow clothed figure nor Toko could be seen or heard anywhere. If Hiyori were not wearing any makeup, her face would be so pale that she would need any at all.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"What should we do, Komurasaki-sama?" the guard on her left asked.

She was holding the shoulder he lent to her for balance in a death grip. "We... We continue as planned. I can't be late for the feast."

Her bodyguard nodded and motioned towards the others to get back into position.

'Forgive me Toko...' Hiyori begged without speech.

There was nothing she could do.

--

Toko squirmed and wriggled with all her little might, but it was useless. Twas not a man who captured her, but a monster. A mountain compressed into the shape of a person, immovable. She imagined that not even a thousand of her could resist such unrelenting strength.

Then that strength relented, setting her down onto the ground with a gentleness rivaling her own father.

She had hardly been able to see anything since they had started moving; with how great the speed they had done so, everything had just been a blur. Now that they had stopped, however, she saw they were well outside of the city.

"Sorry about that, little one," the voice was different from the man who had taken her.

She looked up at the man, no, the woman. She was not wearing yellow clothing and a mask like the man had been. This confused Toko a great deal.

"That was a close one, wasn't it? That horrible fellow was going to kidnap you! Good thing that I was there to jump in and save you," Cherry said with a smile.

"You saved me? Haha?" Toko asked. "You're one of the ladies from the soba stand."

"Of course! Your father sent me to pick you up, but I was going to wait until your job was over. You like your job, don't you?" Cherry squatted down to her eye level.

"Yes, haha! Onee-sama is very nice to me!" Toko said. "I should get back to her! I was already late for work!"

"It's okay, Toko-chan. Your Oiran will get by without you, and she'll forgive you for missing some work since she's so nice," Cherry persuaded. "More importantly, would you like me to help you stop smiling all the time?"