(As for why Shiranui is in such a miserable state now... I finally understand. Thank you for your hard work.)
(Your name is Kikutaro, right ? Now that Shiranui is destroyed, are you interested in joining my team?)
…
For no reason, Kikutaro recalled the words that Toyotomi Nobuhide had said to him after he was destroyed in the Shiranui and survived by chance and was found by Toyotomi's men and brought to Toyotomi Nobuhide.
Recalling these words from the past, Kikutaro couldn't help but let out another silent sigh.
——Having such huge financial and human resources, but not enjoying them, and instead doing things that are exhausting... Such people are really hard to understand.
——Well, it’s precisely because I can’t understand this kind of people that I’m probably destined to never achieve anything great in my life… Well, I don’t care about success or failure anyway.
If Kikutaro were asked to evaluate himself and rate his strengths, he would probably say: I only have one strength, which is that I don't have much ambition.
Kikutaro has always believed that not having much ambition is an advantage.
Because I don’t have much ambition, I can tolerate my mediocrity and my own lack of achievement, and I can live a more relaxed and happy life than those ambitious people.
To live a relaxed and ordinary life - this is the wish that Kikutaro has always had since he was old enough to understand.
It would be even better if I could marry a big bear and live with her after living an ordinary life.
This little wish seemed quite simple at first glance, but for a ninja like Kikutaro who was born in Shiranui... this wish was simply a luxury that he didn't even dare to think about.
Kikutaro was an abandoned baby who was picked up and brought back to Shiranui. He was then trained as a ninja from a young age.
A ninja born in Shiranui wants to live a simple life?
This kind of thing, just saying it out loud, is enough to make people laugh...
Kikutaro did not have the courage to defect to Shiranui, so he could only stay in Shiranui and work for Enma.
The turning point happened in the fall of last year.
Ogata teamed up with Huluya to attack and destroy Shiranui.
After Shiranui's demise, Kikutaro, who luckily survived the attack by Ogata and Huluya, first felt... confusion about the future.
Kikutaro, who has been learning Shiranui-ryu ninjutsu since he was a child, has no other skills except ninjutsu.
Now that Shiranui is gone, how is he going to make a living in the future?
But - while feeling confused, Kikutaro also felt a bit...expecting for the future.
Without the constraints of Shiranui, will I be able to live a more peaceful and comfortable life in the future?
Unfortunately, before he had the chance to experience this confusion and expectation, he was found by people sent by Toyotomi to investigate "what exactly happened in the Shiranui" and was captured in front of Toyotomi.
After telling Toyotomi everything he knew about the "truth about the destruction of Shiranui", Toyotomi extended an olive branch to him and invited him to become a member of the Toyotomi clan.
At the beginning, when Kikutaro received the olive branch extended to him by Toyotomi, he wanted to refuse it.
At that time, he did not know that the young man in front of him was a direct descendant of the Toyotomi clan. In his eyes at that time, they were just a group of suspicious people with unknown origins and identities.
And yet—he didn't dare to refuse.
His status at that time... to put it bluntly, was a prisoner of Toyotomi.
Life or death all depends on Toyotomi's thoughts.
Kikutaro was very worried that when he said "I refuse", Toyotomi would directly "clean up" him because he was unwilling to be his subordinate.
Having been a ninja in Shiranui for so long, Kikutaro has become accustomed to all kinds of darkness.
Therefore, Kikutaro, who was worried that he would be "cleaned up" by Toyotomi, had no choice but to nod his head, expressing his willingness to serve Toyotomi.
After perishing in Shiranui along with Kikutaro, there were 18 "former Shiranui ninjas" who joined Toyotomi's army, including Kikutaro.
Among these 18 people, Kikutaro has the highest status and is the only jonin among them. Therefore, he becomes a kind of "representative of the remnants of Shiranui" and is able to represent Shiranui at certain meetings.
Although Kikutaro is a jonin, he is not at all a "ninjutsu master".
His talents were as modest as his aspirations.
Even though he had received rigorous training since childhood, Kikutaro's abilities could only be described as "not outstanding".
In terms of strength, compared with other jonin in Shiranui, he is completely at the bottom. Only his level of "Shiranui-style stealth technique" can rank among the top among all Shiranui.
The reason why he was able to become a jonin was entirely due to his only relatively outstanding skill, the "Shiranui-style stealth technique" and his versatile personality.
At first, Kikutaro mistakenly thought that Toyotomi was probably the head of some smuggling group because according to his discovery, Toyotomi's financial resources were quite amazing.
It was not until later that Kikutaro realized that Toyotomi was not the head of a smuggling group! He was the ninth generation head of the Toyotomi family! He was running around and accumulating strength to overthrow the Edo Shogunate and rebuild the Toyotomi Shogunate.
Kikutaro was not very good at history and politics.
He didn't know whether it was feasible to overthrow the Edo Shogunate, which had ruled Japan for two hundred years.
He only knew that to accomplish this so-called "great cause", it would not be enough to describe it as "escaping death by chance".
After learning Toyotomi's true identity and his ambition, Kikutaro felt... fearful.
He didn't want to follow Toyotomi to accomplish this so-called "great cause" that would involve risking his life.
Moreover, Kikutaro has always had a very clear understanding of his identity in the Toyotomi clan.
He was sure that in the eyes of the Toyotomi clan, he was probably just a completely insignificant chess piece that could be discarded without hesitation...
It's just a small pawn that's better than nothing.
They were just the remnants of the destroyed Shiranui, with nothing in their possession. How could Toyotomi possibly attach so much importance to them?
In the Shiranui clan, he was at least a jonin and held a prominent position. Now in the Toyotomi clan, how high a treatment and position can he, a remnant of the Shiranui clan, have?
Following Toyotomi to rebuild the Toyotomi world... I'm afraid I'll be abandoned as consumables halfway.
So - from then on, Kikutaro had been thinking about how to get away from the Toyotomi clan.
While pretending to be loyal to Toyotomi and eager to serve him, he was secretly looking for a chance to escape.
Today, after being sent by Toyotomi to carry out the dirty work of "burning Mount Koya" and knowing that Toyotomi was going to launch the "Edo War", Kikutaro firmly believed that they were just a bunch of insignificant consumables! If he continued to follow Toyotomi, it would be as dangerous as it could be, and it would be many times more dangerous than when he was in Shiranui before!
Toyotomi, who was determined to "escape from Toyotomi", spared no effort to find an opportunity to escape.
Everything changes with time - this sentence has always been the truth of the world.
Unexpectedly, the opportunity came quietly today when he was sent to carry out the dirty work of "burning Mount Koya".
As soon as the ship set sail for Edo, it was attacked by Ogata and his men who had caught up with it.
The surprise attack by Ogata and others put both ships directly into a busy state of "highest combat readiness".
This gave Kikutaro the chance to escape that he had been looking for for a long time.
The plan drawn up by Kikutaro was very simple: while everyone on the ship was busy fighting Ogata and others and had no time to take care of other things, he would take advantage of the chaos to sneak into the No. B ammunition depot of the Hikari Maru, blow up the No. B ammunition depot, and further aggravate the chaos of the Hikari Maru.
He took advantage of the moment when the Hikari Maru became even more chaotic and jumped into the sea to escape.
The ship is not far from the land yet. Although he is prone to seasickness, he is a very good swimmer. Even in such strong winds and rough waves, he is confident that he can swim back to the shore.
There were two ammunition depots on the Hikari Maru: Ammunition Depot A and Ammunition Depot B.
The reason for choosing to detonate the latter instead of the former is that the ammunition stored in the latter is much less than that in the No. 1 ammunition depot, and the security is relatively not as strict.
It can be said that his plan was implemented extremely smoothly.
Although he was feeling very uncomfortable due to seasickness, he still managed to use his best "Shiranui-style Stealth Technique" to sneak into the No. B Ammunition Depot, which was not well controlled because the crew were busy fighting Ogata and others. He detonated the gunpowder in the No. B Ammunition Depot and exacerbated the chaos in the Hikari Maru.
The chaos on the Hikari Maru had intensified just as Kikutaro had expected, and the next thing to do was to jump into the sea to escape.
However, when Kikutaro reached the window that was large enough for him to enter and exit and was about to jump into the sea... he hesitated.
The reason for his hesitation was very simple - he was greedy.
When entering the No. B ammunition depot, Kikutaro saw rows of flintlock rifles with beautiful luster.
Kikutaro hadn't thought about taking anything from the ship when he jumped off the ship to escape from the Hikari Maru. He just wanted to escape quickly.
However, after leaving the No. B ammunition depot, the shadows of the rows of flintlock rifles kept lingering in Kikutaro's mind like a ghost that could not be shaken off.
Finally - these "shadows" turned into greed, and stopped Kikutaro when he was about to jump into the sea.
Kikutaro, who was once a member of Shiranui, had dealt with many people who ran the black market.
Therefore, he knew what were the most profitable and best-selling items in the black market.
Muskets, especially Western-style muskets, are very popular in the black market.
If he could steal a few muskets from the Hikari Maru and sell them on the black market, the money he would earn would probably be enough for him to not have to worry about money for the next ten years or so...
Delicious food, houses, beautiful women... Kikutaro vaguely saw these beautiful things waving at him.
People are like this: it is easy to be greedy, but difficult to get rid of it.
Overwhelmed by his increasingly strong greed, Kikutaro retracted his foot that was about to jump into the sea.
Yes, I also have to think more about the future. If I just run away so "cleanly", even if I succeed in the end, I will be penniless and my life will be very difficult. I still have to take something valuable with me before I run away - Kikutaro comforted and convinced himself in this way.
When Kikutaro became greedy, Genichi and others attacked Hikarimaru at the same time, further aggravating the chaos in Hikarimaru.
Seeing this, Kikutaro, who was tortured by greed and was indecisive, thought it over again and again, and finally gritted his teeth - he found a remote and dark corner, hid there, and watched the situation.
Undecided, he gave himself a choice:
If there is any sign of order gradually being restored on the Hikari Maru, he will immediately jump into the sea and escape.
If the Hikari Maru is becoming increasingly chaotic due to the attack by Ogata and his men... then we can fish in troubled waters! Steal a few flintlock rifles before leaving!
So he just kept waiting.
Been waiting till now.
The Hikari Maru was hit by the Hulu Maru, and almost all the crew members were busy repairing the big hole made by the Hulu Maru - this unexpected major accident can be said to have made Kikutaro overjoyed.
The greed in my heart quickly expanded to its peak.
He no longer hesitated - he quickly flashed out from his hiding place, using the "Shiranui-style Stealth Technique" to move at full speed towards the location of the No. 1 ammunition depot!
The No. B ammunition depot had been destroyed, so Kikutaro, who was determined to steal guns, naturally had only the No. A ammunition depot, which was still intact, as his target.
Ammunition Depot No. A is located roughly in the middle of the Hikari Maru. Not only is its area much larger than that of Ammunition Depot No. B, but the amount of ammunition it stores is also overwhelmingly greater than that of Ammunition Depot No. B.
Kikutaro had heard that if all the gunpowder in the No. 1 ammunition depot was detonated, it would directly destroy most of the Hikari Maru.
At present, most of the crew of the Hikari Maru are concentrated on the part that was destroyed by the Hulu Maru, and are speeding up the repair of the damaged ship, so that Kikutaro's "journey to the No. 1 ammunition depot" can be said to be unimpeded.
I met almost no one along the way.
In a short while, Kikutaro arrived at the door of the No. 1 ammunition depot very smoothly.
As soon as he arrived at the destination, Kikutaro saw many guards guarding the door of the ammunition depot.
——Two, four, six... A total of six guards... There are more than I expected...
After carefully counting the number of guards in front of the warehouse gate, Kikutaro frowned slightly.
First, Ogata, Genichi and others attacked, and then the Hulumaru hit the hull. Now the Hikari Maru is in chaos and the order is extremely chaotic.
There were even a few weak-willed crew members who jumped off the ship and escaped after witnessing the fall of Hulumaru and the piercing of Hikari Maru.
However, even though the order was broken and he was so busy that he wanted to use both feet, Kasu Bee did not forget to defend the No. 1 ammunition depot.
Previously, when he learned that the No. B ammunition depot had suddenly exploded, He Xufeng vaguely realized that this must have been a man-made explosion.
With the previous experience of No. B Ammunition Depot as a lesson, although the current manpower is stretched, He Xufeng still left behind 6 musketeers to guard No. A Ammunition Depot and prevent any suspicious persons from approaching.
If possible, He Xufeng wanted to leave a few more people to look after the No. 1 ammunition depot, but he really couldn't spare any more manpower.
The No. A ammunition depot was heavily guarded - Kikutaro had already anticipated this, so he was not too surprised when he saw that there were 6 guards in front of the door of the No. A ammunition depot.
In just a moment, Kikutaro had figured out a plan to deal with the situation.
Kikutaro cleared his throat gently, took several deep breaths, and then took out a set of clothes from his arms.
For ease of management and also for aesthetics, all crew members on the Hikari Maru and the Kuramaru wore the same uniform - brown kimono on the upper body and black hakama on the lower body.
The suit that Kikutaro was holding in his hand at this moment was the important "hero" who helped him successfully detonate the No. B ammunition depot.
When Kikutaro was planning to detonate the No. 2 ammunition depot, the Hikari Maru was not as chaotic as it is now.
Therefore, in order to facilitate his infiltration, Kikutaro managed to get a set of crew clothes and disguised himself as a crew member of the ship, and then he successfully sneaked into the No. B ammunition depot.
At this moment, this set of clothes once again came in handy.
Kikutaro quickly changed into the crew's clothes, put an anxious look on his face, then flashed out of his hiding place and hurriedly ran towards the six guards in front of the No. 1 ammunition depot.
"Pass the order! Pass the order!" Kikutaro shouted.
As soon as the shouting sounded, the six guards immediately turned their solemn and vigilant eyes towards Kikutaro who was running towards them in a hurry.
"Lord Kasugabee sent me to deliver a message to you! The six of you should hurry to the open deck and reinforce Lord Toyotomi!"
Among the six guards, the leader, a burly man with a birthmark on his face, raised his eyebrows and asked in confusion, "Six of us?"
"Yes. The battle situation on the open deck is not optimistic." Kikutaro said seriously, "Lord Kasu Bee requires you to rush to the open deck immediately..."
I only heard Kikutaro say half of what he was saying.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Two sounds of breaking through the air rang out.
Kikutaro deliberately left his words halfway, then suddenly reached his hands back to his waist, grabbed a shuriken in each palm, and shot them into the air at the guards in front of him!
The guards, who had been listening carefully to Kikutaro's orders, were caught off guard by Kikutaro's sudden attack.
Two shurikens were shot out and pierced directly into the throats of the two guards farthest from Kikutaro.
After killing two people in one breath, Kikutaro took out two shurikens from his lower back.
This time, Kikutaro did not throw the shuriken again. Instead, he leaped towards the surviving guards in front of him, held the shuriken in his hand upside down, and used it like a dagger.
The four surviving guards finally came to their senses and shouted "Enemy attack" while raising their flintlock rifles and aiming at Kikutaro.
Kikutaro's strength is average - he's only weaker than the rest of the jonin in Shiranui.
If compared with ordinary people...Kikutaro's strength is simply not something ordinary people can contend with.
Ikikutaro lowered his body, close to the ground, and flashed to the front of the guard closest to him. He swept his right hand forward and cut the man's throat with the shuriken. Then he turned the sword and cut open the belly of another man. The stomach, intestines and other organs were all over the ground.
Bang! Bang!
Two gunshots rang out.
The last two surviving musketeers finally had time to open fire, but the bullets they fired only hit the deck where Kikutaro had just been standing.
Kikutaro twisted his body like a snake and dodged to the side before the two men fired.
The reason why he disguised himself as a crew member and got close to them was to make it easier for him to deal with their muskets.
As long as the distance is shortened, it will be much easier to observe their shooting movements and directions so as to dodge or to eliminate the shooter.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Kikutaro threw 2 more shurikens.
As the dull sounds of two sharp blades piercing flesh were heard, there was finally no one left standing around except Kikutaro.
"Phew... Fortunately... It went better than expected." The corners of Kikutaro's mouth curled up in a satisfied arc.
As soon as Kikutaro's mouth curled up in a satisfied arc, a hint of pain appeared between his eyebrows.
——Hmm…
He raised his hands and rubbed his temples.
He felt dizzy as if his head had hit the wall, and thought to himself:
——I feel dizzy...I feel like vomiting again...
——Did the battle just now make the seasickness worse again?
— Ugh… I feel so uncomfortable… My head is buzzing…
Kikutaro took several deep breaths in one breath before he felt a little better.
Afterwards, not daring to delay any longer, he looked around quickly. After confirming that there were no other enemies around, Kikutaro carefully opened the door of the ammunition depot, leaving a gap large enough for him to enter and exit, and then slipped in.
As soon as he entered the ammunition depot, the scene inside made Kikutaro open his eyes, and greedy light burst out of his pupils.
Rows of flintlock rifles were neatly arranged in the ammunition depot, which was quite spectacular.
——How much money would it cost to buy so many southern barbarian cannons?
Kikutaro couldn't help but sigh in his heart.
——If we sell all the Nanman cannons on this ship...hiss...the wealth we get would probably exceed the annual fiscal revenue of some small feudal states...
——Forget it, let’s stop dreaming about this unrealistic thing! Just take a few and get out of here!
After suppressing these unrealistic fantasies in his mind, Kikutaro ran to the rows of flintlock rifles in two steps and began to select those that were as new as possible and could be sold at a higher price.
——Okay! Let’s take these 4!
Kikutaro carried the four carefully selected flintlock rifles on his back.
——If you take too much, you won’t be able to carry it.
A smile filled with ecstasy spread across Kikutaro's cheeks.
——Four Nanman iron cannons...can be exchanged for at least 200 taels of gold on the black market.
——200 taels of gold... hehe... hahaha...
Kikutaro smiled happily in his heart.
In Kikutaro's eyes at this time, these flintlock rifles were not weapons for killing people.
But they are pieces of gold.
It is a symbol of a "bright future".
Putting the four flintlock rifles behind his back, Kikutaro could not stop imagining the good days in the future when he would be rich.
—Hmm… I feel more and more nauseous… My head feels more dizzy and bloated…
——Okay, let’s go now before we get too uncomfortable... huh?!
While Kikutaro was still fantasizing about the future, suddenly - his pupils shrank sharply.
Because at this moment... he suddenly heard a subtle strange noise coming from behind him.
His expression suddenly changed, and he quickly turned around -
Bang!
It was like the sound of a cork popping out of a bottle.
The pain that seemed to tear his entire body apart spread from Kikutaro's side abdomen throughout his entire body.
“Ugh…!” The blood color on Kikutaro’s face faded away at a speed visible to the naked eye. He quickly raised his hand to cover his side…which was constantly bleeding.
He glanced down at his belly with fear: there was a hole in his belly, and in just a moment, his palm, which he used to block the hole, was stained red.
"Hmm... the flintlock pistol is really hard to use. It can miss even at such a short distance. I was clearly aiming at your chest just now, but ended up hitting your stomach... Well, that shot just now should have destroyed your internal organs in your stomach."
Kikutaro, whose face was covered in cold sweat due to the severe pain in his abdomen, raised his eyes and looked in the direction where the voice that had just been spoken in a cold tone came from, and looked at the figure wearing a monk's robe.
"Xianyuan... Master...?"
…
…
Nikki Maru, open deck——
"Hah!" Makimura held his large sword in one hand and swung it like a windmill.
With just one swing, two enemies were knocked aside.
While his right hand was swinging the knife, his left hand was not idle either. He clenched his left hand into a fist, raised his fist as big as a bowl, and swung it towards the other person beside him.
Mucun is the strongest person in the entire Huluwu except for Yuanyi.
As long as he wants, his fists and toes can become deadly weapons.
The moment his fist touched the enemy's face, the enemy's originally three-dimensional face immediately became flat.
After following Mamiya and boarding the Hikari Maru, he immediately followed Mamiya's deployment and split into two groups with Mamiya - Mamiya went to support Ogata, while he went to rescue Lin who was being monitored under the mainmast.
At this moment, Makimura was fighting with the five enemies who were responsible for guarding Lin.
On the open deck, Ogata and his men had the advantage of terrain. The presence of rain made the Toyotomi army's main weapon: the flintlock rifle completely ineffective.
In just a few breaths, Mucun eliminated all enemies from Lin's surroundings.
"Lord!" After getting rid of the enemies around him, Mucun immediately leaned over impatiently and held Lin's shoulders, shaking her gently.
Lin was still unconscious, her hands still tightly grasping her two swords.
There were many scars on her body - these were the injuries she had just suffered in the battle with Toyotomi.
Although he had many wounds on his body, his breathing was still steady and strong.
After confirming that Lin was not seriously injured, Mucun couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief as a huge stone in his heart fell to the ground.
While Makimura was rescuing Lin, Toyotomi, who was not far away, was watching everything coldly.
"Are they the companions of Ogata Ittosai and Kinoshita Genichi..." Toyotomi, with an extremely gloomy face, pulled out the crossbow arrow that had just been shot by Mamiya and deeply pierced into his right shoulder without changing his expression, "They really show up at the right time..."
Makimura is rescuing Lin - Toyotomi naturally cannot remain indifferent to this matter.
But—he couldn't move to stop it.
Ogata...was right in front of him now.
With Ogata present and staring at him, he had no energy left to act rashly.
At this moment, Makimura had successfully rescued Lin, and Mamiya had thrown away the crossbow that had shot the empty arrow, pulled out Vairocana, and quickly ran to Ogata's side, completing the reunion with Ogata.
"...Master Genichi. Are your internal organs injured?" As soon as he came to Ogata's side, Mamiya cast a serious look at Genichi, who was being supported by Ogata, and looked at Genichi's chest that was simply bandaged.
"My internal organs aren't seriously injured. I just lost a lot of blood." Although he was clearly covered in wounds and had just been through a near-death experience, Genichi was still like an old mischievous boy who didn't know what troubles were. He laughed and made jokes, "I have to try to drink more wine from now on to replenish my blood."
Ogata had a lot to say to Mamiya and Makimura who arrived in time and helped him a lot.
I want to thank them for arriving on time.
I wanted to complain about their feat of driving the Huluwan directly into our house.
However, the outcome of the battle with Toyotomi has not yet been decided, so Ogata has no time to chat with Mamiya and the others.
"…Mamiya. You've come just in time." Ogata, whose eyes had been fixed on Toyotomi and who had been monitoring his every move, said directly, "Mamiya, listen to me carefully."
"Master Genichi is now seriously injured, and Miss Lin is in a coma. The two of them... especially Master Genichi, need to leave the battlefield immediately and receive treatment."
"If we let them stay here... not only will it delay treatment, but it might also lead to something like 'Master Genichi being held hostage' happening again."
"So - you and Makimura, take Miss Lin and Master Yuanyi away from here now. A warship this big should have several small boats for escape."
"Leave?" A hint of surprise appeared between Mamiya's eyebrows, "...Don't you need us to stay and help?"
Ogata smiled slightly: "Mamiya, you should have figured it out, right? The guy in front of us holding a purple-handled sword is Toyotomi Nobuhide."
"To fight this guy... you can't increase your advantage simply by increasing the number of people."
"Too many people staying here...will only give this guy more opportunities to take hostages."
After saying that, Ogata put away the faint smile he had just shown, his expression returned to seriousness, he drew out his Great Freedom once again, and assumed the stance of the Muga Two-Sword Style again.
"Let's go."
"We'll see you on the coast later."