Uchiha Puppet Master, Starting from One Piece.

The young warrior walked up to Bai Yu and bowed deeply.

"Thank you."

His voice was muffled, as if squeezed from his chest: "Whether you help us in the end or not... thank you for coming to see us."

Bai Yu looked at him without saying anything, only nodding slightly.

Rangiku walked over to Shiraha and gently nudged him with her shoulder.

"You've softened your heart?"

Bai Yu glanced at her sideways.

"I'm just curious."

"What are you curious about?"

"I'm curious how a rebel group that can't even gather enough weapons has managed to survive under Kaido's nose until today."

Violet walked up from the back of the group, her eyes gleaming slightly, a state she only displayed when using the Gaze-Gaze ​​Fruit's power.

"What they said is true. There are indeed many people in that mine: the elderly, children, the injured, and..."

Her brows furrowed.

"And what?"

“And there’s something down in that mine.” Violet’s expression became somewhat puzzled: “Very, very deep down, there’s a very strange… energy. I’ve never seen anything like it before, it’s not a Devil Fruit, nor is it ordinary minerals, could it be Seastone, representing the sea?”

Bai Yu's eyes narrowed slightly.

"interesting."

The group began moving deeper into Wano Country.

Onimaru led the way, walking quickly, as if afraid that Shiraha might change his mind.

The warriors followed behind, some still bleeding, but none of them cried out in pain.

Shiraha walked in the middle of the group, followed by Artoria, Robin, Rangiku, Unohana, Kanna, and Violet.

As the port receded into the distance, the small boat that was moored became smaller and smaller in sight, finally disappearing into the mist.

The true face of Wano Country begins to unfold before Shiraha and his companions.

It wasn't the beautiful scenery that was celebrated, nor the idyllic countryside depicted in ukiyo-e prints, but a country that had been drained of its lifeblood, was on its last legs, and was struggling on the brink of death.

The farmland along the roadside was overgrown with weeds and no one was cultivating it.

Occasionally, you can see some farmhouses, but most of them are empty, with smashed doors and windows and traces of smoke and fire remaining on the walls.

There was an old man sitting in front of a farmhouse.

The old man was very old; his hair was completely white, and the wrinkles on his face looked as if they had been carved by a knife.

He sat on a dilapidated chair, holding a bundle that had been lying around for who knows how long, staring blankly into the distance.

Onimaru slowed his pace, walked up to the old man, and squatted down.

"Uncle Sato".

The old man's eyes slowly moved, looking at Onimaru, and his lips moved, uttering a hoarse sound.

"Onimaru...you're back..."

Onimaru's face paled slightly.

He didn't answer, but simply shook the old man's hand gently, then stood up and continued walking.

As Bai Yu walked past the old man, the old man suddenly looked up at him.

There was a strange light in those cloudy old eyes.

"Outsider".

The old man's voice was like a withered leaf: "If one day you also have to run away... take those children with you."

"They...are still young...they shouldn't die here..."

Bai Yu paused for a moment.

He didn't turn around.

After walking for more than an hour, the group finally reached the foot of the mountain.

Onimaru pointed to a path almost completely covered by bushes and said, "Go up the mountain from here, and it'll be there in forty minutes."

The path was steep and difficult to walk on, with loose stones and tangled tree roots everywhere.

Bai Yu noticed that this road was not naturally formed, but had been deliberately concealed.

The bushes may look messy, but they cleverly conceal the road markings, making it impossible to tell there's a road from a distance.

"Did you guys do this?" Bai Yu asked.

Onimaru nodded.

“We spend time maintaining this road every day to prevent Kaido’s people from finding it. Last winter, a patrol from the Beast Pirates almost found us here. We didn’t light a fire to cook for three whole days. Everyone hid in the mine and didn’t dare to make a sound. Also, it seems like our water here is slowly having some problems.”

He spoke very casually, as if he were talking about something very ordinary.

But Bai Yu could imagine that scene.

More than a hundred people, half of whom were children and the elderly, were crammed into an abandoned mine shaft, afraid to speak, afraid to cough, afraid to make any sound, for fear that the slightest noise would bring about their annihilation.

Darkness, cold, fear.

And hunger.

Images of children huddled in the darkness, covering their mouths and afraid to cry flashed through Bai Yu's mind.

His pace quickened without him even realizing it.

Forty minutes later, the team arrived at the mine entrance.

Chapter 200 The City of Flowers

It was an inconspicuous entrance, mostly blocked by a huge rock, leaving only a narrow gap, just big enough for a person to squeeze through sideways. If it weren't for Onimaru leading the way, Shiraha felt that even if he passed by here a hundred times, he wouldn't have noticed that it was a mine.

Onimaru squeezed into the gap, with Shiraha following behind.

Behind the crevice was a long, dark passageway, dimly lit only by a few oil lamps glowing on the walls. The air was thick with a damp, musty smell, along with a lingering, unpleasant rusty odor.

Bai Yu's Sharingan automatically activated in the darkness, and the scarlet pupils and rotating tomoe allowed him to see the entire tunnel.

The walls of the passageway were covered with cracks. In some places, they were propped up with wood, but the wood was rotten and the cracks were getting bigger and bigger, as if they would collapse at any moment.

At the end of the passageway is a large space, like the main chamber of a mine.

When Bai Yu walked in, he froze.

There were many people in the main room.

The old man sat in the corner, curled up, covered with a thin, patched quilt.

The woman held her child, leaning against the wall, her expression numb and exhausted.

The children huddled together, warming each other with their bodies, their eyes shining in the darkness like frightened little animals.

The air is cold.

It's even colder than outside.

Bai Yu saw a little girl, about four or five years old, wearing a kimono that was obviously several sizes too big. She was barefoot, and her toes were purple from the cold. She was holding a cloth rabbit, which was no longer recognizable as its original color. It was dirty, and one of its ears was almost off, but she was holding it tightly, as if it were the only important thing in the world.

The little girl saw Bai Yu, her big eyes filled with curiosity. She tilted her head and asked in a childish voice.

Are you a deity?

Bai Yu was stunned for a moment.

"My mother said that if one day a very powerful person comes, we won't be afraid anymore. That person is God."

She blinked.

Are you a deity?

Bai Yu shook his head. He was not a god, and his likes and dislikes were simply based on his own heart.

Robin crouched down, looked the little girl straight in the eye, and shook his head with a smile.

"He is not a god."

The little girl's eyes dimmed slightly.

"But he is a very, very good person."

Robin said softly, "Someone who's willing to come and see you."

The little girl nodded as if she understood, then suddenly smiled, revealing two missing front teeth.

"That's still amazing!"

She extended her little finger and raised it towards Bai Yu.

"Pinky promise!"

Bai Yu looked down at the tiny, frozen, purple little finger, reached out, and gently hooked it with her own warm fingers.

The little girl's fingers were icy cold, like tiny popsicles.

But her smile was very warm.

Bai Yu raised his head and looked at everyone in the mine, at these people who had been crushed by fate but still refused to give up breathing.

His voice wasn't loud, but everyone in the quiet mine could hear him clearly.

"I am Uchiha Hakuha."

"I am neither a hero nor a god, but my comrades and I will end this."

When we came out of the mine, it was already dark outside.

Bai Yu stood at the cave entrance, glanced back at the narrow crevice, thinking of the old people and children huddled in the darkness, the little girl holding the rabbit doll, her toes frozen purple and her two missing front teeth.

"End all of this."