The place where Ogata was standing just now was six steps away from Uesugi.
Therefore, when Uesugi was suddenly pushed down just now, Ogata was unable to step forward and support Uesugi.
After Uesugi was pushed down by the officer who was transformed into a fire thief and his cheek was scratched, Ogata's face instantly darkened.
He walked to Ju Xiaoseng at a leisurely pace and grabbed the hand of one of the officers who was about to take Ju Xiaoseng away.
"Your Excellency." Natori's brows slightly frowned at this time, "Please cooperate with me..."
"No." Ogata interrupted, "You are the ones who should cooperate with us. Please apologize to Miss Uesugi as soon as possible and leave here - this is the greatest cooperation for us."
"If you really want Kiku-chan, please leave here for now."
"For now, Monk Ju will be kept in the prison of our club. We will then slowly negotiate where Monk Ju should be assigned to."
"I can't do it!" Natori shouted. "There is nothing to negotiate!"
"Kiku-chan is the criminal that our fire-breathed thief unit is responsible for."
"We have spent too much energy and manpower to capture Kiku-chan. We cannot return empty-handed!"
The commotion caused by Ogata and others has attracted a lot of onlookers.
There were already nearly two layers of onlookers surrounding the crowd.
Ogata's tone remained calm. " Many of us were injured in the attempt to capture Kiku-chan. Do you think we would agree to your taking away our credit?"
Natori frowned.
"Don't make me say the same thing too many times! Kiku-chan is the criminal that our Fire Thief Office is responsible for! He should be dealt with by us!"
"We, the Fire Thieves, have the privilege to use force against those who interfere with our duties!"
"Even if you are both bureaucrats of the shogunate, we can still use force against you without being held accountable!"
"So please don't get in our way any more!"
After saying that, Natori turned his head and winked at his subordinates behind him.
The subordinates understood what was going on and drew their javelin, swords or clenched their spears in their hands.
Looking at the aggressive fire thieves and officers in front of them, the guild servants around them couldn't help but swallow their saliva, with a hint of fear flashing across their faces.
Even Guasheng's face darkened at this moment.
Because she knew that the fire thieves who were part of the shogunate's special armed security force really had such privileges.
If they insist that the officials from the guild are hindering them, the officials who were transformed into Fire Thieves can really use force against them.
Guasheng's face was now filled with anxiety, and he didn't know what to do.
I don't know whether they should let the officers of the Fire Thief Kai take Kiku-chan away first, and then wait for Shirobei to come back and let Shirobei, who is good at negotiating with others, go and negotiate with the Fire Thief Kai slowly, or should they just argue with reason now and not give in at all.
Both of these options put Guasheng in a very difficult position.
The first option is to show weakness to the Fire Thief.
The criminal he had captured with great effort was finally taken away by the fire thief Kai's men - Guase could not have imagined anything more frustrating than this.
Even if we can finally get Ju Xiaoseng back through negotiation, he will definitely be gossiped about and become the subject of conversation and jokes in the future.
Not to mention the second option.
If I don't give in now, I'm sure there will be some violent conflicts with the Fire Thief.
And their strength is much weaker than that of these people who have been fighting with vicious criminals for years - although Guasheng is reluctant to admit it, it is the fact.
If a violent conflict breaks out, their club will definitely suffer.
Just as beads of sweat appeared on Guasheng's face...
"Excuse me, is Mr. Hasegawa in Edo now?"
Ogata suddenly spoke up.
Asanatori asked a question that seemed to have nothing to do with the situation at the scene.
"Hmm?" Natori frowned, "Why are you asking that?"
"Nothing, I just wanted to confirm whether Mr. Hasegawa is in Edo."
"…Lord Hasegawa happens to be in Edo right now," said Natori.
"I see... that's convenient."
"That..." Kawajiro's voice suddenly sounded.
Kawajiro, a senior member of the club, stood at the back of the club officials.
After he spoke, everyone around him naturally looked at him.
"Mashima-kun, let's hand Kiku-chan over to them." Kawajiro said in a deep voice with a troubled look on his face, "There's no need for us to make such a big fuss just for a prisoner..."
"Since Mr. Natori has promised to give us a reward for helping to capture Kiku-chan, then we..."
"Mr. Kawajiro." Before Kawajiro could finish his words, Oofang interrupted him and said, "This has nothing to do with whether or not you have received payment."
"This is a serious criminal that was caught by everyone in the club."
"Some people want to take away the honor that should belong to us without any explanation."
Speaking of this, the faces of Uesugi and others... especially those officials from the guild who were injured but still insisted on chasing Kiku-chan flashed one by one in Ogata's mind.
"I can't just sit back and watch this kind of absurdity happen before my eyes."
After saying that, Ogata turned his attention back to Natori and the others in front of him.
"Your Excellency, what you just said, I understand that if we stop you from taking Monk Ju away again, you will resort to violence against us?"
"You can understand it this way." Natori nodded slightly, "We, the Fire Thieves Kai, have this privilege."
"And you just said that you are not willing to negotiate with us slowly later, right?"
"That's right." Natori's face was beginning to show impatience, "We have nothing to negotiate!"
"...It seems that I can't get you to give up trying to take the credit by just sitting down and talking." Ogata said calmly.
“That’s enough! I don’t want to listen to any more of your nonsense!” Natori seemed to have no patience left and shouted, “Hirata! Ogura! Get this guy out of the way!”
As soon as Natori gave the order, two of the four fire thieves and police officers standing next to Kiku-no-mon immediately stepped forward and pushed Ogata in the chest with their hands.
Their actions were rough.
Ogata was pushed away directly.
But after taking only two steps back, Obi stopped retreating.
Ogata's eyes narrowed slightly.
…
"You guys have started..."
This was the moment Ogata had been waiting for.
This is the moment when the fire thieves and the police officers took the first action.
After Ogata grumbled softly...
bass!
The Great Shitian was quickly pulled out.
After Ogata pulled the Daishakuten out of the scabbard at his waist, he turned the sword so that the blade was facing himself and the back of the sword was facing the fire thieves and the officials in front of him.
After pulling out the Daishikatsu at a dizzying speed and turning the blade, the Daishikatsu turned into two afterimages in Ogata's hand and attacked the shoulders of the two officers in front of him.
The two officers screamed and fell to the ground, covering their shoulders.
“You…?!” Natori’s eyes widened in shock, and he shouted to his subordinates around him, “What are you still standing there for? Capture this guy who is interfering with our fire thieves’ duties!”
After hearing Natori's roar, Natori's subordinates, who were stunned by Ogata's audacity to attack, suddenly woke up from their dreams and held their weapons firmly.
They are not newcomers who have changed jobs as fire thieves for the first time.
Therefore, even without Natori's order, they knew that even though they could use force against others in the name of "obstructing official business", they could not casually harm people's lives.
Therefore, they only took out blunt weapons such as ten-hand weapons and thorns.
Several people who did not have blunt weapons drew the knives at their waists, but like Ogata, they turned the blades and pointed the backs of the blades at Ogata.
Ogata's sudden move not only shocked Natori and others, but also shocked the surrounding onlookers and Ueo and others.
Before Uesugi and the others could recover from their shock, Ogata's next move made them fall into even greater shock.
After swinging his sword twice in succession and knocking down the two officers who had just pushed him, Ogata subconsciously made the "blood shake" action to shake off the blood, then kicked off with his hind legs and rushed towards the remaining 23 fire thieves and officers in front of him .
After Ogata charged Natori and the others in front of him, the first person to come to his senses was Urobuchi.
"Mashima-kun! What are you doing?" Uesugi shouted with an anxious look on his face, "They are the officers of the Fire Thieves Kai! They are very powerful! You..."
At this point, Guasheng stopped talking and couldn't continue.
Because of the scene that happened in front of him afterwards, Guasheng opened his mouth wide and could not utter a word.
Ogata swung his sword at the officer standing in the front.
The back of Dashitian's knife hit the officer's left neck directly.
Following a dull thud, the officer collapsed to the ground.
Ogata didn't use any tricks or techniques.
They simply aimed at the left side of his neck and used their Sakakibara Ittoryu's horizontal slashing technique - Dragon Tail.
Ogata's sword speed is too fast.
It was so fast that the officer didn't even have time to react.
Ogata's knife had already hit his neck, but he still didn't react.
Perhaps he was knocked unconscious by Ogata and didn't even realize that Ogata had already drawn his sword.
The Fire Thieves Kai are indeed the strongest armed security force of the shogunate.
Although the incident happened suddenly, they quickly got ready to meet the enemy.
The four officers clenched their weapons and headed towards Ogata.
The four of them were holding a jute sword that was shorter than an ordinary katana.
Based on the positions and movements of these four people, it is not difficult to see that these four people have very rich experience in cooperation.
Four jūtes swept towards Ogata from different directions.
If it were someone who was not very skilled or had little experience in fighting, he would probably be overwhelmed when facing these four swords attacking from different directions.
And Ogata—neither panicked nor hurried.
With a quick glance, he saw the positions of the four jūte clearly and determined which wakizashi would arrive first and which would arrive later. Then Ogata swung the Daishakuten in his hand four times in one breath.
Relying on his superb sword speed, Ogata was able to make one sword strike like four.
The four jūte swords seemed to be knocked down and blocked at the same time.
After neutralizing the attacks of the four officials, Ogata swung the Daishakuten in his hand four more times.
This time, the four officers who were "shot down" were those using the ten-handed weapons.
He didn't even have time to catch his breath. Just as he knocked down these four men, three more officers attacked him.
Ogata had long been accustomed to the feeling of not even having time to breathe , so he didn't feel uncomfortable.
The three officers who attacked this time used spears as weapons.
Looking at these three officers wielding long weapons, Ogata's expression couldn't help but become a little more serious.
Facing multiple enemies using long weapons, and multiple enemies using short weapons - the difficulty is completely different.
These three thorns, just like the four ten-handed weapons just now, attacked different parts of Ogata's body.
One attacked Ogata's stomach, one attacked Ogata's thigh, and the last one attacked Ogata's ankle.
When these three thorns were about to pierce Ogata, Ogata jumped to the side and accurately dodged the three thorns.
After moving to the left and avoiding the three spikes, Ogata aimed at the location of the spike that had just attacked his ankle, and then raised his right foot high!
Bang!
With a small muffled sound, Ogata's right foot stepped on the ankle of the weapon that had just attacked him, so it was very close to the ground, and he had not had time to retract the spear handle.
He stepped heavily on the thorn with his right foot, and a small muffled sound was heard.
After stepping on the tip of the knife with his right foot, Ogata immediately raised his left foot and stepped on the middle part of the handle of the spear.
Ogata's current state is that he is standing on this thorn.
After stepping directly on the spear, the face of the official wielding the spear was now just inches away from Ogata.
Without any hesitation, Ogata swung the Daishaku in his hand and knocked the officer unconscious.
When Ogata just launched a charge against the fire thieves and the officers, many guild officials including Ueo were ready to "give it their all" and went forward to support Ogata.
However... they now found that they didn't seem to need to step forward to help...
Everyone, including Ueoka, stared with eyes wide open and mouths wide open, focusing their gazes of disbelief on Ogata.
Another person who also had his mouth wide open and his jaw almost dropping to the ground was Natori.
After giving his orders to his subordinates to surround Ogata, Natori quietly stood at the safe end.
Natori originally thought that the officer from the Shirobei Club who dared to fight back against them would soon be knocked to the ground due to being outnumbered.
However, the scene that actually appeared before Natori's eyes was that his subordinates were being knocked down one by one by this guy at a very fast speed.
Because the scene before his eyes was so shocking, Natori was unable to regain consciousness.
Not long after, Natori finally regained consciousness.
The reason why he regained consciousness was very simple - all his subordinates in front of him were knocked down by Ogata.
After knocking down an officer holding a spear, Ogata habitually made a blood-shaking gesture, then slowly walked towards Nadori.
The man holding the spear just now was the last subordinate of Nadori.
Looking at Ogata, who was walking towards him slowly with only slightly rapid breathing, Natori hurriedly drew the katana from his waist.
Facing Natori who had drawn his sword, Ogata was not afraid at all and continued to walk slowly towards Natori.
Cold sweat began to appear on Mingdori's face.
The lips also turned slightly pale.
My feet also felt heavy as if they were filled with lead.
Escape - this thought seemed to have a life of its own and automatically emerged in Natori's mind.
But as soon as this thought emerged in his mind, Natori immediately erased it.
The warrior's self-esteem prevented him from escaping from the battlefield.
To give himself courage, Natori shouted:
“Drink aaaaaaaaa——!”
Natori's voice was so loud that some of the onlookers around him couldn't help but raise their hands to cover their ears.
The shouting that Natori just did was just shouting, it didn't even count as a breath of air.
Many people who don't know much about swordsmanship always mistakenly believe that Qihe is just ordinary shouting - this is actually a misunderstanding.
There is a difference between Kiai and regular yelling.
Looking at Natori who was shouting to give himself courage, Ogata said softly in a calm tone:
"Screaming and yelling won't make your sword-swinging look more like 'swordsmanship'."
After saying that, Ogata suddenly pressed the center of gravity of his body, then turned into an arrow and rushed quickly to Natori.
call--!
The sound of breaking wind was heard.
The Daishakuten in Ogata's hand chopped down towards Natori's neck from top to bottom.
Perhaps it was instinct that was at work, Natori subconsciously raised the katana in his hand to prepare for blocking.
However - after the knife in his hand collided with someone else's knife, the extremely familiar pain and numbness in his palm did not appear.
The downward strike that Ogata had just made was just a feint to deceive Natori.
The purpose was just to deceive Natori and make him make a wrong defensive decision.
And Natori successfully took the bait.
The moment Natori raised his sword, Ogata suddenly stopped the sword in his hand in mid-air.
Then he tilted the sword and adjusted the direction of attack.
Just now, Ogata's sword slashed down from the upper left of Natori.
But now, Ogata's sword changed to chop down from the upper right of Natori.
Natori, who was still foolishly defending in the wrong direction, was hit in the neck by Ogata as expected. He then slowly fell to the ground while covering his neck.
The 25 fire thieves and officers of the 6th Division, including Natori, were now either unconscious or lying on the ground, wailing in pain like the hum of a mosquito.
From the time when Natori and the others were standing properly, to the time when they were all lying down - less than 5 minutes had passed.
After making sure that everyone was knocked down by him, Ogata slowly put the Daishikuten back into the scabbard.
After Ogata sheathed his sword, Uesugi and the others, with shock still on their faces, followed closely behind Ogata.
"Mashima-kun..." Perhaps because he had just recovered from the "shock", Ueyu stuttered, "You...are you so strong...you can actually beat 25 people alone..."
"Ms. Ueyu." Ogata smiled slightly, "No one can handle 25 people at once."
"I just repeated the 1-on-1 25 times."
…
Volume 6 Bonus 1: "The Mysterious Old Man"
…
…
September 19, 1790.
In a forest outside Kyoto.
"Hey, old man, don't sleep in the wilderness. Do you think your life is too long? You are already old. You should cherish your life."
Today, Sato Hiro carried his spear and headed straight into the depths of Toribe Mountain.
As soon as he reached the foot of the mountain, he saw an old man on the side of the road.
A bald man with a big beard, holding a long wooden stick, probably used as a walking stick, and wearing a kimono with wide sleeves - this is the image of this old man.
It is a very strange thing to see an old man in such a deep forest.
What Sato never expected was that the old man was actually sitting and sleeping on the side of the road, which was even more bizarre.
After waking up the old man, he slowly opened his sleepy eyes, looked around, raised his hand and touched his bald head, and said softly:
"...Where am I?"
"This is Toribe Mountain!" Sato shouted angrily, "Old man, are you all sleepy?"
"Oh! Yes, this is Toribe Mountain. I remember now. Sorry, I'm getting old and my brain is getting dull."
"Old man, why are you sleeping here? Be careful of thieves coming to rob you. Recently, a group of bandits entered Niaobian Mountain and set up a base on Niaobian Mountain. I advise you to leave Niaobian Mountain as soon as possible."
"Why did I sleep here? That's a long story. To put it simply, I was walking and walking, and I got tired, so I just took a nap on the side of the road. Well... I slept soundly..."
"Old man... I think you should try to go out less in the future. I think your brain is broken. Who would sleep on the side of the road so carelessly?"
"Forget it, now that we're awake, let's leave here as soon as possible." After saying that, Sato turned around, carrying his spear on his back, and continued to move towards the depths of Toribe Mountain.
However, before he had taken a few steps, the old man, who seemed to have some mental problems, called him.
"Hey young man, where are you going?"
"My name is Sato Hiro." Sato patted the spear behind him, "Like I said just now, right? Recently, a group of bandits have entered Toribe Mountain, so I am going to defeat them!"
"Oh? You're going to fight the bandits? Just you?"
"I'm very strong!" Sato pounded his chest, "I'm traveling around now, practicing martial arts!"
"From the time I escaped from the clan until now, I have never lost in a competition!"
"As far as I know, there are only 12 bandits stationed in Tobibe Mountain."
"A mere 12 bandits can do nothing to me!"
"I want to help the people around me get rid of those bad apples, and hone my skills at the same time!"
“Hahahaha~~!” The old man nodded. “Want to help the common people around here get rid of that gang of troublemakers… That’s a good idea. As a warrior, you should have the awareness to help those who can’t wield swords.”
"The bandits who have recently moved into Toribe Mountain... Those guys are quite arrogant. Yesterday, they even swaggered to a nearby village to observe the situation in the village."
"Isn't this terrible?" Sato's face darkened. "Since they have begun to observe the conditions of the surrounding villages, it means that they will probably start looting soon. We have to quickly eliminate those guys."
After saying that, Sato turned around and prepared to continue heading deeper into Toribe Mountain.
However, before he could even take a step, the old man's voice rang out again.
"Ah, about that gang of bandits, you don't have to look for them, they've been killed."
"Killed?" Sato's eyes widened. "Did the government send troops? I didn't expect Kyoto Prefecture to act so quickly. They killed this group of bandits so quickly..."
"No, no, no, you misunderstood." The old man waved his hand. "The Kyoto Prefecture is still busy dealing with the aftermath of the Battle of Nijo Castle two months ago. How can they have time to care about the petty thieves in the mountains?"
"Who killed the bandits?"
"Of course, I, the old man, went straight to the depths of Toribe Mountain, entered the bandits' base, and killed them one by one."
"I still have deep feelings for the land around Kyoto. Yesterday, I heard from the vegetable seller who usually takes good care of me that bandits had settled in Toribe Mountain. So I set out this morning to Toribe Mountain to deal with the bandits."
"I just killed these pests and returned to Kyoto. I felt a little tired, so I just took a nap here... Hey, hey! Why did you leave? At least listen to what I have to say."
Sato now felt that a lot of his precious time was wasted by this old man who seemed to have a very bad brain.
Sato, who didn't want to waste any more time on this old man, continued to head deep into the mountains. He turned his head and said to the old man in a helpless tone:
"Old man, please help me. It's very dangerous for a person like you with a bad brain to go out. You should go home and stay at home."
"You don't believe me... well, forget it."
The old man suddenly raised the long wooden stick in his hand that served as a crutch, and swung it above his head.
After the old man put down his cane, a bee floated down weakly from the sky.
After raising his hand to grab the bee, the old man threw the bee directly into his mouth and started chewing it.
"If you insist on looking for the bandits, I won't stop you. Anyway, the bandits have been killed by me, an old man. Now Toribe Mountain is very safe... Oh, I won the jackpot. This bee just collected honey. It's so sweet."
The old man spat out the bee sting with a "puff" sound. Then he used the stinger as a toothpick, picking his teeth while slowly walking down the mountain.
"Goodbye, old man."
Just as Sato was about to turn around and leave, he suddenly realized something.
"Hey! Old man! What happened to that bee just now? Did you shoot it down? How did you do it?"
"Huh? How do you do that?" The old man, who was still using the bee's sting to pick his teeth, raised his head and looked like he was thinking, "Of course, I just raised the stick in my hand like this and hit the bee with a 'pia'."
"If it's the kind of honey that has just been collected by bees, it tastes sweet, and I highly recommend it."
After raising the wooden stick in his hand and waving it, the old man said no more and continued walking down the mountain while picking his teeth.
Looking at the old man's gradually shrinking figure, Sato was stunned.
"Who is this old man...?"
…
…
Volume 6 Bonus 1: "That Old Man" - The End.
Although Fuma no Sato has been disbanded, the legend of the last Fuma Kotaro still exists in the world.