A New Hope

**Date Started:** April 5th, 2021
**Date Completed:** April 9th, 2021
**Users Involved:** User:Berserkchart486, User:Mightyest of Shadys
**Setting:** Flower Paradise City,Wano Country, Empire of Wano, January 3rd, 1560
**Characters Involved**:
* **Black Widow Pirates**: Fukuoka Koyuki
* **Other**: Kozuki Sabishi Okami

**Characters Mentioned**:
* **Black Widow Pirates**: Draco D. Indiana, Mathison Fischer, Thatch Vincent, Kosaka Isshin

## Westernization

It was January 3rd of 1560, and it had been exactly ten years that the Black Widow Pirates marched onto the Flower Capital, slain the Shogun that rested at the helm of Wano, and claimed the nation for themselves. Ten years ago, it was a dark day for most, and a bright, promised day for others who had awaited Koyuki’s return. Yet, now, there were a handful that did not believe that Koyuki was capable of running this country. In those ten years, she and her crew had transformed Wano from the feudal hierarchy and polluted wasteland into a bustling metropolis, industrialized, modernized like much of the outside world. From her journey, she had become strong, wise, and seemingly benevolent. Yet, she hungered to truly transform Wano into an imperial superpower.

For the first five years of her rule, following her reinstatement of the imperial family of Wano, she dedicated herself solely to the rehabilitation of the country. While decades of conflict, oppression, and isolation had made their people illiterate, unhealthy, and unskilled, her crew’s expertise in the arts, literature, medicine, and even technology, greatly helped alleviate and close the gap in the faults of the populace.

Thatch, a former medical specialist within the Marines, did his best to research the afflictions of the people of Wano, and had made a name for himself as a miracle doctor, curing ailments from the Flower Capital to the inner villages of Ringo. His expertise and knowledge, having collected information from his years as a marine, and from his travels across the New World as a member of the Black Widows, and a Hunting, provided an immense outlook that very few medics of the country possessed.

His ability to reverse engineer vaccinations, having gained such experience from having to compose antibodies and antidotes for the poisons he could produce as a result of his Doku Doku no Mi, was highly coveted, and especially needed. Within those first five years, he had come to rid the populace of their most serious illnesses, and the five years that followed, he sought to establish clinics to aide in monitoring their health.

Yet, monitoring and treating the afflicted would never be enough, and with Draco D. Indiana’s assistance, a world renown archaeologist, historian, artisan, and scholar, he documented his teachings in books, novels, and distributed them to the doctors across Wano. Set on ensuring that the populace would be educated in the roles that were to be created, Indiana began erecting specialized institutions; universities it what they would become within eight years, and soon many of citizens of Wano began attending them.

As a nation of resources, rich in sea stone, golds, and precious jewels, Isshin made sure to secure as much monetary value from Wano’s seemingly infinite reservoirs of natural resources. They were rich, and because the Government was rich, they could afford to attract specialist: engineers, shipwrights, doctors, scientist, historians, artists, chefs. All these people of various professions traveled to Wano in promise of becoming wealthy, subsidized for their services by the newfound government as they desperately sought to import the world’s gifts into Wano at a rapid pace. By subsidizing those that began to study from these individuals, paying in full for their education, supplying monthly pensions to support themselves, etc., the citizens were inspired to do so.

But, above all, the technological and industrial advancements of Wano were what truly allowed the nation to blossom above all means and to catch up to the rest of the world faster than any nation had ever done in history. Within days there were complex systems of railroads, the land carved by Koyuki’s hand, and the technology and trains supplied by Fischer, one of the greatest scientific minds in the world, equipped with the Hobi Hobi no Mi which allowed him to craft any creation that he could literally think of, should he have an understanding of how it could function.

Mechas, androids, trains, automobiles; all of these things became part of Wano within months of their arrival. Railroads finally connected the regions so that travel could occur within days vs weeks of travel. Androids and Mechas plowed the lands, prepping them for harvest and improving agriculture greatly, allowing the population to explode as starvation virtually ceased. Purification machines cleansed the lands of their polluted nature, improving the health of the inhabitants of the land. Within ten years, Wano had been transformed, and with it, Koyuki was beyond pleased.

But despite the undeniable improvements that Koyukis rule have brought along with her there were those who preferred the land to remain in the dark. Dumb citizens were easier to controll and lead, and most importantly profit from. Others simply felt an illplaced loyalty to the past and how the country used to be, missing it's charms and the close connection to nature it had seemingly lost. Others were simply secretly Kozuki supporters.

As such many of those lords, warriors and nobles reached out to Kozuki Sabishi Okami. The last relative, first and only son of Kozuki Tengoku, who was the most feared and mighty warlord the country has ever seen. It was under Tengokus leadership, tactics and most of all his incomprehensible might that the samurai won the war and unified the country once. That was long ago when the flames of war consumed the very earth they were planting their rice in today. Indeed, it was not too far fetched that the son too was meant for greatness and would lead them to victory against the spider empress. And much to their delight he responded immediately, announcing that he will visit them in a few days.

A few days passed, thus it happened. His eyes filled with serene and calculated sharpness he visited each of their homes. However, not to allie with them. Honor. Honor was the trait that was most valued and present in Wano. The value that ruled the country and has sent many fools into their bloody death. It was honor that led pridefilled samurai to slit open their own stomach and honor that caused many wars. And it is honor that will, if it goes unchecked lead to a doomed revolution with little chance to suceed. He was his fathers son but unlike him he did not share the same believes. However he did share the same ruthlessness

And so he moved into their homes and castles, not saying a single word as he was slaying everyone who stood against him. Screaming their own names and cursing him traitor as they attacked him, hoping to cut this which can not be cut the samurai fell one after another to him. This new world had no place for such man, which were unable to adapt to the new age. And so he has slain them before they would become a problem. He removed each daimyos head, taking it with him before setting their homes ablaze, leaving the rest to burn. A horrible fate that he only spared the children from. The heads grew in number which each lord he visited in his bloody purge

And eventually he no longer had any invitation to discuss treason with. With this upcoming civil war unrooted before it could gain any momentum he made his was towards the Flower Capital, the heads floating around him like by the hand of a ghost. To not cause any commotion or panic he flew towards it, hight above the reach of any staring bystanders, and those who managed to catch a glimpse of his believed it to be a feverdream.

Soon he arrived in front of the main gate, slowly lowering himself down until he stood in front of the baffled guards. The around 40 daimyo heads that he had gathered throughout his 3 day long purge floated around him, all facing the capital.

"My name is...Kozuki Okami. Son of Kozuki Tengoku. Allow me to speak to your empress" He demanded, with calm collected demeanor, his eyes slightly narrowed. His family ornament along with his white hair and loose clothes swayed in the wind.

"The head of forty of the old daimyo?" Koyuki inquired, leaning forward from her throne room chair ever so slightly. "He really brought all of them here, to my gates?"

The guard nodded. "H-He claimed to be the son of Tengoku as well, my Empress."

Koyuki put her hand on her chin thoughtfully. Of course she had remembered Tengoku; he was a major figure during the Warring States Period, and an enemy to her regime during that time. He was powerful, ruthless, fierce; everything she wanted in a warrior. However, he was fiercely loyal to the Kozuki due to his past failures. She had doubts.

"Bring him here to me."

"What?!" Koyuki's adviser hissed, stepping forward from his place at the side of the room. He was someone Isshin had hired, a former attendant to the royal family of some foreign land that had been prosperous or something.

"Koyuki..."

Her eyes narrowed.

"Empress," he gulped, "I've studied your history thoroughly. The Kozuki, that Tengoku, he was a Kozuki nationalist who disappeared. His spawn is not to be trusted!"

"Perhaps," Koyuki admitted. "But, if you have studied my past, then you are to know that I was prematurely perceived a threat as well. The daimyo betrayed me for making amends, and for my attempts to establish peace, no? Perhaps this is the same."

She stood up.

"Besides, to fear him would be to acknowledge that he is a threat. And right now," Koyuki continued, exhaling deeply. A smile crept onto her visage, a sly, devious smirk. "No can challenge my rule. Bring him to me."

## Warlords and Queens

He continued to wait until the message was delivered and he allowed entrance. He still knew the castles interior layout from the times he visited during his childhood, back before legs became emperor. Now he was 17, what many consider a grown adult by wano standard. He shook his head, refusing to waiste his time with idle memorys from days long since passed. He had everything he needed to proove his worth with him and soon he arrived infront of the gigantic gate that seperated the guard filled hall with the throne room. Once the gate opened he stepped inside, the heads flowing aroung his as if carried by smoke, a feint glow underneath them. He stepped forward, stopping with respectfull distance, as was common. He looked up into legs eyes

A simple glance was enought to tell whos son he was. Those eyes could not be mistaken. The way they seemingly penetrated one as if drilling into ones soul. There were few who had that trait and even less who had it to that extend. Most normal man would feel paralyzed when staring directly into them, but legs was no man and far from normal. He patiently waited to be allowed to speak.

Even as he stood before her, there was a fraught silence that filled the room, suffocating the guards, advisors, and everyone in place with anticipation of what was to come next. The only two seemingly immune to the tension were both Koyuki, and Okami.

“Boy,” she addressed sternly, “you have his eyes.”

"One of the few things he has given me before going. I came to humbly make a proposal." The heads around him slowly began to fly forward landing in a straight line infront of him, between himself and the empress "I came with a present. Those lords and Samurai have reached out to me, aiming to gain my support for their revolution, so that they could liberate this country from you. After all there are few Kozukis left. I declined, but not before liberating their shoulders from their head. The flames of war have consumed this country for far too long already."

"Ah yes," Koyuki muttered, intensively inspecting the heads of the men that floated carelessly before her, her comfort serving as a detriment for her guards to interfere. "Lord Ieyasu...I remember him fondly, in fact. He was one of the few who actually spurred the civil war into action by denying me the peace that I so desperately fought for."

Although her tone was etched in serenity, her fist were clenched, and her eyes piercing, as if she was staring into the past itself. In what seemed to be an instant, the fraught silence that proceeded her statement turned into a suffocating pressure, the throne room itself shaking in response to the manifestation of her will. Pieces of the pillars and walls began to break and crush, and most who stood along the edges of the throne room fell onto the floor, their mouths littered by foam and saliva.

"It was mercy that I decided to spare his life upon my return; my willingness to listen to his false promises, his lies. But, it seems that I made a mistake. I would like to thank you for correcting it, Okami," Koyuki added, releasing the tension from her fist and thereby the room.

"Tell me, what do you desire for reward for quelling a rebellion. Name it, and I can make it a reality, with but a snap of my finger."

He calmly looked around as the entire throne room shook, before his eyes moved back onto legs gigantic frame. So this was the might of the spider empress. A might so great that when angered the world itself seems to shake out of fear. Which is why Okami keeps on maximum caution when facing her. She exerts pressure leagues above the every warrior he has ever faced. It's the fact that she's so overwhelming that even Okami got startled a bit, before quickly regaining his calm. It was almost as if the atmosphere around her warped. The air she had around her was not comparable to that of an living being, but a natural disaster instead. But he came for a reason, and admiring her strength was not it.

"No matter how a person acted in life, death is a simple matter. Those who have accomplished great feats, those who have committed great sins; death treats them equally, stealing their lives in the same way. In this gravely unjust world, it’s one of the few truly just parts of life. As such I do not pursuit any wealth, influence or pleasure. All I want to ask is for a position where I can continue to serve the country and sharpen my skill. A position where I can punish tyranny in this country." He said, while kneeing down, his long furry family ornament stretching across the shoulder and is dragged along the ground behind him. This was the very ornament that Kozuki Tengoku wore during the warring states. Despite being dragged through mud and blood alike it never got dirty.

“No,” Koyuki answered blankly. The eyes of those who remained conscious fell expressionless as they stared into the middle of the room, surprised at the Empress’s answer.

“That is not the responsibility of yourself, nor anyone else in this room, except my own, Okami,” she continued. “What I want…no, what I need from you is to help me in the expansion of our empire, Okami.”

She took a step forward.

“Wano is beginning an admirable transformation that will place us on the top of the world, and it is our responsibility to serve as a beacon of hope for the lawless in this world; those blinded by false praises of **justice**, justice that will only serve to empower those at the top. The people of this world, outside this nation, are ignorant to the truths of their own oppression.”

She paused, smiling again. “I want to help, and I need you to help me, Okami. Forget Wano. The tyranny that was experience pales in comparison to the oppression of the people outside this nation. Help me eradicate that tyranny from the world. Help others join our empire, and help be begin the creation of a great kingdom.”

Okamis iris became a bit smaller as he listened to her, but aside from that his expression remained unchanged. Despite the pretty words she packed her sentences in and the noble intentions he understood fully what she was talking about. The spider empress for all intends and purposes wants to take over the world and rule it. Analizing her expression and the way she spoke her words made it clear that she either means it or that she is a incredible good actor. Regardless, even if she does suceed and rules the world, her way to kingship would be paved on the bodys of countless man and woman, her throne stading on a mountain of corpses. He knew well what her goal means for the world, but his expression did not give any of his emotions away.

He could not let that happen, but he is not nearly powerfull enought yet to stand against her. He indeed needs to find a way to ensure that the death count remains as low as possible. And so he stood up, facing the empress his demeanour as calm and collected as ever "I understand. If this world you speak of truly exists, then only you can reach it." His hair as if caught by an invisible current began to flow upwards, as did his kimono as northern lights began to flow through the throneroom. Legs haki made it clear that this is not any kind of attack or danger. "I will gladly lend you my strenght, to reach that world." His hair and kimono fell down again, his bangs gently swaying as his golden eyes were focused on the spider empress. "But know that I will not stand by idly if you were to turn on those you swear to protect. There is no honor is serving a tyrant" He calmly finished, the northern lights slowly flowing around him and turning that scene into a more then gorgious picture

"I Kozuki Sabishi Okami, herby swear loyal to you. Use me as you please"

Koyuki looked towards her guard, giving a slight nod. There was no hesitation in their movements as they rushed towards the table in the throne room, grabbing a bottle of sake embellished with the black widow insignia. Pouring it into a cup, the guard approached Okami, handing him the drink, before returning to his post.

The liquor was an unfamiliar color, red and green, and the smell was slightly off.

“This is a liquor I formed for those who have sworn loyalty to me. It’s a sign of trust,” Koyuki explained. “If I am to trust you, you must trust me, no? So, drink.”

He looked at the dark drink inside the cup infront of him. Usually he was not one to drink, simply out of spite to his father who was said to enjoy himself some sake every now and then. But not drinking would not be taken well. He looked at the red and greenish drink before moving the cup to his mouth and swallowing the brew down.

“Welcome, Okami….Today is the beginning of a new dawn.”