The reason Inuarashi suddenly changed his mind was actually not hard to guess.
Wasn't it simply because he discovered that Shirahoshi possessed an ability similar to Kozuki Oden, directly triggering something as bizarre yet reasonable as "Zou Prestige +1000"?
Mm, there was probably another part to it as well—after witnessing the true destructive power of Klee Meow bombs, Inuarashi had once again revived that old idea of joining forces with Sherwin to deal with Kaido.
It was just that Nekomamushi didn't know any of this. Although, after seeing Shirahoshi display an ability similar to Kozuki Oden, he wasn't particularly opposed to bringing Sherwin and the others to see the Road Poneglyph.
But…
"You bastard! You actually told our secrets to outsiders so casually! Back then, you were the one who tipped Kaido off, weren't you?!"
Nekomamushi habitually started picking a fight with Inuarashi. And just yelling wasn't enough—he even pounced forward, clearly intending to throw hands.
"You—!"
"Have you two had enough, meow!!!"
Just as Inuarashi was about to fight back both verbally and physically, an overwhelming wave of Conqueror Haki suddenly pressed down on them. Huamei Meow stood there with her fur bristling all over, glaring viciously at the two good-for-nothings.
"You're both already this old! Why are you behaving worse than children, meow! And you're the rulers of this country, aren't you? How can you so casually put your personal grudges above the rest of the Mink Tribe, meow?!"
Huamei Meow had actually been holding back her anger ever since hearing about their long-standing feud.
She felt that she wasn't truly a Mink, so it wasn't appropriate for her to interfere in Zou internal affairs.
But as the two of them grew more and more excessive, Huamei Meow finally couldn't take it anymore and launched into a long, cathartic scolding, pointing right at Inuarashi and Nekomamushi noses.
Faced with Huamei Meow reprimand, neither Inuarashi nor Nekomamushi could muster even the slightest thought of resistance.
They could only lower their heads like elementary school students and obediently admit their mistakes.
"Hmph~ what a pair of idiots. To actually make Sister Huamei that angry… but they totally deserve it, meow."
Haibara Meow, who also had a bellyful of complaints toward Inuarashi and Nekomamushi, had already finished applying medicine to Zunesha.
Now she sat leisurely on Sherwin shoulder, licking her paw as she mocked them with schadenfreude.
Meanwhile, the little ragdoll happily bobbed her small head.
"Hehehe, after Sister Huamei vents her anger on them, the punishment Klee gets later won't be too severe, meow!"
(==)
Klee Meow covered her mouth, snickering softly to herself.
"So—so amazing! Huamei big sister is incredible! Duke Inuarashi and Boss Nekomamushi actually got scolded until they didn't dare talk back!"
Carrot looked at Huamei Meow, her eyes filled with admiration.
The surrounding Mink Tribe members—whether from the Musketeers or the Guardians—had no intention of speaking up for their superiors. Instead, quite a few of them quietly chimed in agreement…
"Honestly, I kind of miss the old days when we could sleep whenever we wanted…"
"At night it pitch-black. For someone like me who isn't from a feline lineage, it really inconvenient."
"Unlike you, we actually prefer basking in the sun while sleeping."
"If only the two lords could just make up like this…"
Hearing the discussions coming from all around, Inuarashi and Nekomamushi lowered their heads even further.
"…You two should really think it through yourselves, meow!"
After finishing her lecture, Lord Huamei flicked her paw and then turned around, walking back to Sherwin side.
"Well done!"
Sherwin bent down and picked her up, rubbing her fluffy head as he praised her.
Haibara Meow on his shoulder also nodded her little head and said, "Huamei big sister scolded them perfectly. Idiots like that need a good hard scolding, meow!"
As for Klee Meow on his other shoulder, she didn't jump out to seek attention. Instead, she carefully tucked her body behind Sherwin head, afraid that Huamei Meow hadn't finished venting her anger and would drag her over to continue scolding.
Fortunately, just as the little ragdoll kitten had hoped, Huamei Meow seemed to have already vented all her anger on Inuarashi and Nekomamushi.
At the moment, she was squinting her eyes and enjoying Sherwin pampering, with no intention of troubling Klee Meow at all.
"Huu…"
Sherwin heard the little ragdoll almost imperceptible sigh of relief by his ear, but even after calming down, she still chose to keep hiding behind Sherwin head.
For the time being, Sherwin set aside the thought of teasing this little naughty cat.
While continuing to stroke the small tabby in his arms, he looked over at Inuarashi and Nekomamushi.
After being thoroughly scolded by Lord Huamei, the two of them stood there in silence, staring at each other.
After a long while, no one knew what kind of tacit understanding they reached through that exchange of glances, but they snorted at the same time.
"I still can't forgive you, but Miss Huamei is right. We shouldn't place our personal grudges above the people of Zou."
"I'll return those words to you exactly as they are!"
Then the two of them snorted again in unison and announced, "Starting today, Zou will no longer enforce the day-and-night rotation system. From now on, everyone can live according to the schedule they like!"
"Oooooooo! This is unbelievable! The 'King of Day' and the 'King of Night' actually made up!"
"We didn't make up at all!" Nekomamushi immediately retorted. "I just decided not to bother arguing with this stupid dog for the time being, that all!"
A flash of anger crossed Inuarashi face, but he quickly suppressed it. He knew that if he talked back, with Nekomamushi single-celled brain, they would definitely start another round of arguing. So Inuarashi decided to endure it a little.
Nekomamushi waited for a while and, seeing that Inuarashi didn't retort, felt a bit unaccustomed for a moment.
Soon, however, he reacted, his expression shifting several times, as if he had been hit by the realization that Inuarashi was being more mindful of the bigger picture than he was.
If he continued to press the issue now, he would only lose even more thoroughly.
So Nekomamushi also suppressed the urge to keep mocking Inuarashi.
With a somewhat awkward expression, he clamped his pipe between his teeth and started puffing away with a few "puff, puff" sounds.
Sure enough, although Huamei Meow was able to make Inuarashi and Nekomamushi realize their own mistakes, getting those two hardheaded fellows to truly reconcile was still missing one crucial factor—
She was not a member of the Kozuki clan.
Even so, this was already enough to shock the other Minks.
"Duke Inuarashi and Boss Nekomamushi actually managed to hold back and didn't even start fighting, they didn't even argue!"
"That amazing! Soaring Scarlet Tiger Huamei!"
"Don't you think she actually more suitable to be the ruler of Zou than the two lords?"
As soon as these words were spoken, all the Minks present, including Inuarashi and Nekomamushi, had their eyes light up.
The reason Zou ended up with a dual-ruler system was, at its core, because Inuarashi and Nekomamushi refused to yield to each other.
Yet toward Huamei Meow, who had just scolded them both, the two of them were genuinely convinced.
Moreover, Inuarashi had thought one step further than Nekomamushi…
If Huamei Meow became the ruler of Zou, then Sherwin and his group would naturally stand on the side of the Kozuki clan.
He had actually sensed earlier that Sherwin was deliberately avoiding the topic of Kaido.
The reason he agreed to let Sherwin and the others view the Road Poneglyph was also to take advantage of that opportunity to draw their relationship closer.
"If it Miss Huamei, I have no objections!" Inuarashi declared decisively.
"Hmph! As long as… mm, same here!" Nekomamushi swallowed the biting sarcasm he was about to throw at Inuarashi and stated his stance as well.
At first, when Sherwin heard them praising Huamei Meow, he felt quite proud of her…
How did it suddenly turn into making her the ruler of Zou? Are you people of Zou really this casual when choosing a leader?!