Chapter 1142: Wano Country Has Not Changed in Several Years
In response to Ryuma's request, he was able to float beside Perona and return to Wano Country with Kurozumi Tama. After all, the Beast Disaster had been out for so long, it was time to go back and take a look at his non-existent home.
"It's been hundreds of years, and it seems that Wano Country has not changed at all." Ryoma did not feel that much of the time had changed. Instead, he was extremely familiar with Wano Country hundreds of years later.
Time seemed to have stopped in Wano Country. From the perspective of ancient people hundreds of years ago, the scene that came into Ryoma's eyes gradually evoked his memories.
The women on the street were still wearing simple kimonos, with fluttering sashes and wooden hairpins in their hair, and they walked lightly.
Their makeup and hairstyle are no different from hundreds of years ago, as if the passage of time has left no trace on their clothing and attire.
The warriors still had their previous samurai hairstyles, with deadly weapons hanging from their waists. Their steps were steady and powerful, and every step was on the familiar stone road, just as their ancestors had walked on countless times.
At the market, all kinds of familiar foods exuded familiar aromas. Ryoma saw stalls displaying the same rice balls, sashimi, dango and other delicacies that they remembered, as if he had returned to that familiar golden age.
In the open-air teahouse, the warriors sat together, drinking tea, chatting and complaining about the difficult times in the world. Maids in traditional costumes walked among them, gracefully refilling tea for the guests.
The architecture of Wano Country still maintains its ancient style, with wooden houses and steep roofs, exuding an air of timelessness in the sun.
Longma strolled among them with the two girls, feeling deeply moved. All these unchanging things were a kind of persistence that allowed their culture and traditions to continue intact.
It seems that time is just an illusory dream, and Wano Country always stays in the time they are familiar with and has never changed.
"There haven't been many changes in Wano Country. Even if the outside world is in turmoil, it still does not affect the production and life of ordinary people. This conservatism is both a good thing and a bad thing."
Perona has traveled to many places with her adoptive father, so the beautiful girl naturally has a say. The terrifying conservative forces in Wano Country have infiltrated every aspect of this country.
If we only talk about the bad side, Wano Country has remained closed to the outside world for many years. The upper class maintains the channels of communication with the outside world, and the middle and lower classes can only obey the upper class and sell their bodies and labor to barely survive.
Wano Country is the most successful feudal model on the ocean, suppressing the thoughts of the people of the country. The new world outside has no chance for these people.
The Beasts Pirates want to occupy Wano Country, and Kaido wants to completely change this feudal country, allowing it to unleash more labor and financial resources and become the capital for competing for hegemony in the second half of the Grand Line.
However, he underestimated the feudal remnants of Wano Country. The people living in this land have conservatism and feudalism flowing in their pores.
Kaido can only support a puppet general and use indirect control to extract surplus value in Wano Country.
The people of Wano Country have deep respect for the general. Even though they have replaced him with a puppet for decades, it is still better than having an outsider become the general of Wano Country.
In this ignorant feudal society, after picking out all the bad points, you can still find some good points. The survival conditions of most countries in the Grand Line are mostly worse than those of Wano Country.
Perhaps the only country whose citizens are treated better than those of Wano Country is Cake Island, where they have no worries about food and drink. The other member states all have more or less serious problems and are experiencing the cycle of national destruction and nation-building.
Although Wano Country exploits its own people internally, it still gives its citizens a little breathing space compared to other member states. At least the money collected by the Beasts Pirates is much less than the Heavenly Gold collected by the Celestial Beings.
The powerful class in the member states usually collect three parts of the Heavenly Gold from the people, one part is given to the Celestial Dragons as protection money, and the other two are kept for their own groups to enjoy life.
The Beasts Pirates directly control Wano Country, Kaido takes one and Kurozumi Orochi takes the other, and there is no middleman making a profit from the difference.
Although the tax pressure is great, it is better than becoming a fugitive or a pirate. Life in Wano Country is still acceptable and there have been no large-scale riots.
Ryoma was a samurai lord during his lifetime. As a member of the powerful class below the general, he had sympathy for the lower-class people and was able to protect Wano Country during its golden age. He was already a perfect man.
When he was a child, Kurotsuchi Yu often heard the legend of Ryuma from boys of his age, and the boys who aspired to become samurai would fantasize about becoming Ryuma Shimotsuki.
Practice swordsmanship with a wooden sword, fantasize about becoming a powerful swordsman, create wealth on the battlefield with your own hands, and win the favor of beautiful women.
Kurozumi herself is a girl and cannot become a noble samurai master, but she has a heart to be a ninja and is determined to become a charming female ninja to help the monarch assassinate hostile targets.
But now Ayu knows that the imaginary ninja and the real ninja are two different concepts, and those who don’t know real ninjutsu are not worthy of being called a ninja.
Now she is appreciated by the Beasts Pirates, serving a monarch like Kaido, and Kurozumi has fully demonstrated her talents, and she feels satisfied in her heart.
A Yu's parents died when she was a child, and she experienced more hardships than some adults. She was able to survive thanks to Tengushan Hichet, who did not despise her as a girl and accepted her as his apprentice.
Why did Wano Country become what it is today? Was it because of the Beasts Pirates or the generals of Wano Country? When Ayu was young, she thought it was both of the above.
But now she has grown up mentally. Kurozumi Yu knows that even if there were no Kaido and Kurozumi Orochi, her parents would most likely die, because this is in line with the feudal laws of Wano Country.
If they have a good master, ordinary people can live well for a while, but if they suddenly have a bad master, some people in their family are bound to die. Ordinary people cannot change this feudal society.
Ayu has had personal experience of the terrifying feudal forces within Wano Country. Instead of blaming the heavens, the earth, and the country, it is better to live her own life well, find her own position, and become a useful woman.
However, she has always had a hurdle in her heart. After all, Ayu's parents died in a factory accident in the factory run by the Beasts Pirates.
When Black Maria took the initiative to bring Otama back to Onigashima, the smart woman made a decision for Boss Kaido and tied up the person responsible for the factory accident many years ago and brought him to Otama.
In the end, this person in charge and his younger brother in the factory were executed in public when Heitan Yu was hesitant, to give an explanation to the girl's deceased parents.
Originally, the girl had a very soft heart and liked to help strangers of unknown origin, but when her enemy died in front of her, she couldn't help but feel a sense of pleasure in her heart.
The feeling of revenge was so good that Heitan Yu felt that she had become a bad girl.
Under the persuasion of Black Maria, Ayu is, after all, an underage woman who longs for recognition and a good life. This is human nature.
It is not surprising that Kurozuya gradually integrates into the Beasts Pirates. The girl enjoys the feeling of being the center of attention, as if the whole world revolves around her.
The Beasts Pirates can satisfy any of her requests. This princess-like life makes Ayu not want to go back to the hard days of weaving bamboo hats in the past.