【One Piece】
【Acquired Ingredient: Sea King Meat】
【Sea King Meat: Meat from large-sized creatures that inhabit the ocean, very nutritious, long-term consumption can enhance physique.】
Looking at the oversized chunk of meat that had turned her room into a chaotic mess, Kaguya Shinomiya didn't know what to say.
“This is meat from a large-sized creature in the ocean? It doesn’t look like anything from Earth.”
Initially, she assumed it was just a large creature from Earth, but it seemed there was quite a difference.
She walked over and sniffed it. The oversized meat didn't have much of a bloody smell, but instead emitted a strange fragrance, as if emanating from the meat itself.
“No wonder it’s something that enhances physique after consumption.”
Kaguya Shinomiya had come to understand that the diary randomly gave things that weren't easily measured by the standards of the normal world.
“Hayasaka.”
Turning around, Kaguya Shinomiya put on a slightly angry expression.
“You, deal with this today.”
“Deal with it alone.”
“Once you’re done, I’ll consider forgiving you.”
She offered a way out.
Although she was furious deep down, she was still willing to give Hayasaka a way out.
But the matter couldn't be resolved so easily.
Conveniently, this oversized chunk of meat was a perfect punishment.
She threw it at Hayasaka without hesitation.
“……”
Looking at the meat, more than three meters tall and six meters long, Hayasaka Ai was indeed surprised. However, what surprised her even more was Kaguya-sama's attitude.
This person hated betrayal the most. She shouldn't be forgiven. But Kaguya-sama's current attitude didn't seem like she wanted to continue pursuing the matter.
The punishment was simply to deal with the meat.
Although this chunk of meat was truly enormous, it was far smaller compared to Kaguya-sama's forgiveness.
Having taken care of Kaguya-sama for so long, she instantly understood.
This was Kaguya-sama giving her a way out.
Although there were many things she wanted to say, she didn’t want to cut off her relationship with Kaguya-sama like this.
She bowed slightly, as usual.
“I understand, Kaguya-sama.”
“Hmph, good.”
Kaguya Shinomiya couldn't bear Hayasaka's current dumb and clumsy look. She hummed and walked out of the room.
Hayasaka Ai, alone in the room, looked at the meat.
“Forgiveness… Kaguya-sama actually had such thoughts.”
“I thought…”
Betrayal was betrayal, it couldn’t be forgiven.
Yet she was still forgiven.
The bitterness in Hayasaka Ai's heart overflowed, and a flood of guilt accumulated in her eyes, uncontrollably spilling out.
“I thought… I thought I would be hated… I would be driven away…”
She also hated her actions, but she couldn't help it.
Yet, Kaguya-sama still let her down so gently.
Perhaps, Kaguya-sama was like her too.
She looked up again, tears still on her face, but they were different from before.
“Kaguya-sama, thank you for your forgiveness.”
“This time I have a choice, I won't make the same mistake again.”
She took a deep breath and continued looking at the enormous chunk of meat.
“Let’s begin.”
While Kaguya Shinomiya and Hayasaka Ai were repairing their relationship at the Shinomiya residence, the entire Shinomiya family was undergoing an unprecedented heavy blow.
As the current leader of the Shinomiya family, Shinomiya Koki was utterly confused.
“What’s going on?”
“Why did we suddenly receive so many warnings from the political and business sectors?”
【Shinomiya, as a businessman, just focus on your business, don’t reach out to politics.】
This was a warning, but it made Shinomiya Koki's scalp tingle.
These words were indeed quite heavy.
The island nation's politics were always influential.
But the island nation also disliked businessmen reaching into politics. If this happened in the business world, it would be considered a very serious warning.
It wasn’t just the political circles, but the business world as well.
Former allies who used to cooperate amicably now all spoke in a sarcastic manner, mostly accusing Shinomiya of being greedy for “wanting it all.”
In the past, this was considered a tradition of the Shinomiya family.
The tycoons naturally understood the principle of "leave a path for others, and there will be a path for yourself in the future."
But Shinomiya had taken this principle too far, only leaving a lifeline for his business allies, while swallowing up everything else.
This kind of behavior was bound to be annoying.
However, Shinomiya was very powerful in the past. Even if he acted this way, as long as he remained powerful, his rules would be the rules.
This was "reason."
But the situation this time was that no one cared about reason.
All the allies seemed to be pushing Shinomiya into a desperate situation simultaneously.
Shinomiya Koki habitually used some leverage, but it had little effect, and some people even spoke arrogantly.
“Shinomiya Koki, my leverage, go ahead and expose it. Let's see who ends up dead and who ends up broken!”
This firm reply gave Shinomiya Koki a headache.
Then, Shinomiya Koki received official sanctions. All the hotels and shopping malls under Shinomiya's name were closed for rectification, and the reason was simple: safety regulations were not up to standard.
Then, Shinomiya’s family’s major assets, real estate, were subjected to government sanctions, and many orders from the shipbuilding industry were also directly suspended.
Railroads, mining, and oil were all subjected to hopeless suppression. It was almost like a complete effort to hammer the Shinomiya family to death.
Even procurement was suppressed. All previous channels were unilaterally breached, and the other party even said they were willing to pay compensation.
But these words gave Shinomiya Koki a headache.
Was the problem compensation now? The issue was that the Shinomiya family had money but couldn’t spend it.
This made Shinomiya Koki, who had a smooth sailing life for the past forty years, feel overwhelmed.
He had never seen such a situation since taking over all the business of the Shinomiya family.
“Who on earth wants the Shinomiya family dead?”
This made Shinomiya Koki anxious.
This wasn't a joke. Once this kind of comprehensive boycott from the political and business sectors lasted for a while, the Shinomiya family would truly be excluded from the entire island nation, and all businesses would completely collapse.
Reluctantly, Shinomiya Koki still went to the hospital where his father was recuperating.
“Father, who has such great power to target the Shinomiya family?”
Knowing his son's intentions, Shinomiya Gan'an almost instantly knew who was behind it.
“It's the Sangenya Emperor.”
“Sangenya Emperor…”
Shinomiya Koki's expression changed drastically.
He remembered that less than half a day ago, the daughter of the Sangenya family and the daughter of the Shirobumi family met with Kaguya.
Less than half a day later, the Shinomiya family was struck by a blow from both the political and business sectors.
It was clear what the reason was.
Shinomiya Gan'an recalled the Sangenya Emperor’s past ruthlessness, and even now, he still had lingering fears.
“That old fellow… Don’t let his current kind face fool you. He used to be a ruthless man.”
“Now, besides the Sangenya Emperor, no one else can take down the Shinomiya family in one fell swoop.”
“Koki, how did you offend that old man, the Sangenya Emperor?”
“……”
How could Shinomiya Koki answer that?
He dared not even lay a finger on the Sangenya family’s daughter.
PS: New book, please give me some data.