Orochimaru was five, his grandpa… Wuwuwu—"
Before he could finish, he found his mouth covered. Orochimaru's eyes were terrifying. Luffy quickly raised his hands in surrender, indicating he wouldn't say another word, and squatted on the ground, drawing circles with his lips pursed (・x・).
Ace and Sabo's ears impossibly enlarged and perked up. They were a bit regretful they hadn't heard. Seeing the bloodshot in Orochimaru's eyes, the two scratched their heads in unison, looking up at the sky, feigning laughter to cover up.
Orochimaru felt a bit deflated. Don't be angry, don't be angry, I'm a mature snake now... These are real children. He looked at the three of them sitting neatly together, their eyes sparkling, and clicked his tongue.
"There's not much to say, it's similar to Ace and Sabo's stories." Orochimaru glanced at the system settings, pulled out a diary, and began telling stories to trick the children.
"Somewhere in the ocean, there's a country called Wano Country. This country is in a state of isolation. Isolation means this country is independent; outsiders can't easily enter, and those inside aren't allowed to leave. Leaving the country without permission is illegal. News on the open sea relies entirely on passing News Coos. The current shogun of this country is a man named Kozuki Sukiyaki."
"This shogun is pretty much like a king." Orochimaru, fearing the three children wouldn't understand, explained in detail. He also prepared snacks, worried they might get bored.
"Then this king had a son born with divine strength, named Kozuki Oden, who was greatly hoped for and was the undisputed choice for the next shogun. However, his behavior was quite indescribable. He was proficient in eating, drinking, whoring, and gambling, and committed many bad deeds that you at your age don't need to know about. He was chased by the people of the country, so his father disowned him. He then took a group of nine small rascals who admired him and established a small country in a poor area. Life wasn't bad, but his dream was to leave this country and see the world. He felt this country restricted him. So, when the Whitebeard Pirates arrived in this country, this heir shamelessly pestered Whitebeard to take him out to sea. Of course, everyone disagreed, but in the end, he still managed to sneak onto the ship, abandoning the country to go out to sea."
Watching the three engrossed, he poured himself a cup of tea, then looked at the three with crumbs all over their mouths... He couldn't help but wipe their mouths before continuing to tell the story.
"After this guy went out to sea, he rescued a woman, married her, and had children. This woman was a Devil Fruit user, a person who came from eight hundred years ago, constantly traveling through the future, and wanting to return to her homeland, Wano Country."
"Then one day, your dad—hearing about this trash—thought he was rare and had high combat power, not unlike himself, so he tricked him away from Whitebeard." Orochimaru pointed at Ace.
Ace tilted his head in confusion, "Huh? What?"
"Don't interrupt me, I'm still talking." Orochimaru held up the identity document left by the system, Lady Toki's Diary, and continued to read.
Ace's veins bulged... You were the one who got carried away and talked to me!
"One day, that trash's wife fell ill with a disease that would kill her if she didn't return to her homeland. She could only go back to her homeland, so he and your dad sent Lady Toki and her son and daughter back to Wano Country."
"At this time, Wano Country had already been usurped by a—not a—ugly person, and Shogun Kozuki Sukiyaki was imprisoned. The country was in dire straits, and everyone hoped he would stay to take charge of the situation. But this trash, for his own romance, knowing all these things, disregarded the lives of these people and continued to wander with your dad."
Orochimaru took a bite of senbei, a sip of tea, and saw that the three had lost interest and were even about to fall asleep. He physically forced them awake, wrapping a snake around each of their necks to forcefully cool them down. "You insisted on listening! So listen carefully!"
"Where was I? Oh right, the trash ran off again, and finally, he and your dad reached the final island, which is Luffy's dream, the One Piece. Then your dad disbanded his Pirate Crew and went home to live with your mommy."
"Pop quiz, what was the name of this trash?"
Sabo quickly raised his hand, "Kozuki Oden!"
Orochimaru nodded, "Hmm, good, you listened well. Luffy, Ace! There will be more questions later! If you can't answer… Hehehe ꐦ ≖ ≖"
Luffy and Ace nodded frantically.
"After Kozuki Oden and Roger parted ways, he felt his romance was complete and remembered he had a throne to inherit, that it was time to go home and take over the family business. So he returned to a ruined Wano Country. After arriving home, he heard how many things his wife had done and expressed how happy he was that his wife was so capable. After playing for a few days, he suddenly remembered, 'Where's my King father?' Then his retainers told him he was imprisoned, and there were many people who admired him. So Oden took his sword to seek revenge. Then they told him, 'I have hostages! Agree to my demands, and I won't harm the people. I'll leave in five years.' So he gave up on saving people and happily went to the streets to perform a naked dance for five years."
Even Luffy was shocked. What kind of ultimate idiot is this? I don't even believe it!
"This fool was so stupid that even the usurper, Orochi, couldn't stand it. He told him… 'I lied to you.' So Kozuki Oden broke down… He felt he had wrongly trusted Orochi. So he chose to take his retainers to cut down the boss behind Orochi. He didn't win, so he was executed. During the execution, he saved his retainers and told them to take his wife and children away."
Luffy and the other two were confused upon hearing this. Finally, Sabo couldn't help but ask, "Um, Orochimaru… weren't you going to talk about yourself… Where are you in this?" Luffy and Ace nodded in agreement.
"Aren't I telling it now? It's coming, listen carefully. The Nine Red Scabbards escaped. Oh, right, the Nine Red Scabbards are those nine retainers of Oden. They escaped and found Oden's wife, Lady Toki, and told her the news of Oden's death. Lady Toki said she didn't want to live without Oden, that this era had no hope. She decided to send her eldest son, Momonosuke, and four retainers to 20 years in the future to find a chance to open Wano Country, and then leave the remaining retainers and her daughter in Wano Country to endure humiliation and wait for the future."
"Alright, Luffy! What's the name of the eldest son sent to the future?!"
"Momonosuke!!!" ╭(°A°`)╮
Very good, Orochimaru was very satisfied. Momonosuke's future favorability -1.
Ace weakly asked, "So… Orochimaru… where are you…?"
Orochimaru slowly took a sip of tea. "When Lady Toki was preparing to die, she realized she had new life within her. With the help of the late-arriving retainer, Denjiro, she escaped. After giving birth to a child, she died not long after. Denjiro, under the alias Kyoshiro, raised this child until he was five. Then that child was put into a barrel by Kyoshiro's enemies seeking revenge, floated to Foosha Village, and was picked up by an old man wearing a dog-head hat. That's it."
"Eh!!!!!!! Just those few sentences!!!"
(Orochimaru rambled on with his story, and... well, he kept talking more and more. By the way, among these nine people, my favorite is Denjiro. Let's give Denjiro a role. Although he endured humiliation and turned gray, and lost his child, which is even more tragic, at least he has a purpose now. And as I was writing, I suddenly realized that the usurper was Orochi... and