Chapter 89

In the Japanese quarter of Ryukyu Port, there were many areas where Japanese people lived. On the hillside, there were four or five streets entirely inhabited by Japanese people, and the base of the notorious Yaburou was located here. At the entrance of a gambling den deep in the streets, a young and beautiful girl had already been pressed onto a wooden box, her upper body's kimono torn open, revealing a pair of large, trembling breasts in the air, white and glaring.

The lower part of the girl's kimono had already been pushed up to her waist, and several strong ronin were holding her hands and feet, with one of them about to start his assault.

"Please, please let me go..." The girl about to be violated was Chiharu from Sakura no Yado. She was struggling desperately, but how could a weak woman be a match for these ronin?

Next to Chiharu, a thin, fourteen-year-old boy was kneeling on the ground, desperately bowing his head and crying, pleading, "Lord Yaburou, you've already taken the money, why are you still hurting my sister? Please let her go, sniff, sniff..." The crying child, with his hands tightly gripping the grass growing in the cracks of the stone slabs, was trembling all over but dared not resist.

This child was Chiharu's younger brother, Heita. The siblings, who had relied on each other for survival, could still manage to earn a living in Naha Port. However, since Heita befriended bad company, he became known as the 'gambling addict Heita.' In Yaburou's gambling den, Heita had already accumulated a debt of over a thousand copper coins, which, in the Japanese society of that time, was an unimaginable amount of wealth for common people.

Before the Meiji Restoration, the lower class in Japanese society was extremely poor. Areas where copper coins were used for transactions were already considered relatively prosperous; most rural areas were still in a barter economy. In such a social context, for a gambling addict like Heita to owe over a thousand copper coins, he could be called a hopeless gambler.

From that moment on, Heita became a small thug under Yaburou, essentially no different from a slave. The money the siblings earned could not even cover the interest, let alone the principal.

Of course, Yaburou never intended for the siblings to pay off their debt. He used these gambling debts to control countless slaves, exploiting them until they died.

However, what he never expected was that after lunch, Chiharu would come to him with two Mexican silver dollars to pay off the gambling debt. This lowly woman actually wanted to redeem her brother.

This was absolutely intolerable. Yaburou's left eye had been irritated by lime, and he had just used a lot of vegetable oil to rinse it, which made him feel a bit better. His subordinates were wrapping his eye with a white cloth when he saw Chiharu come to redeem her brother. What was even more infuriating was that when Yaburou asked about the origin of the silver dollars, Chiharu said they were given by a Chinese guest.

"Damn! You lowly woman, you are a disgrace to Japan..." Yaburou rushed forward, beating and kicking her, not only taking the silver dollars but also accusing Chiharu and Heita of colluding with the Chinese.

Chiharu was just an eighteen-year-old girl, and Heita was only fourteen. They had no idea what the crime of colluding with the Chinese entailed. Under Yaburou's beating, the siblings could only huddle together in the corner, trembling.

Yaburou was venting his anger, "Damn, you actually took money from the Chinese, you have lost the dignity of Japan, you lowly woman. The Sun Goddess will punish you... Those Chinese, how dare they hurt my eye, those despicable Chinese slaves, using such low tactics..."

In a daze, the trembling siblings in his mind transformed into the image of Xiaole Tian, and his hands and feet became increasingly heavy. His body was filled with a violent aura, and Yaburou could not vent his anger. As he kicked and beat, Chiharu's large, white back somehow aroused his desire.

Just as Yaburou was about to strip Chiharu and vent his anger, a sudden pain came from his crotch. It was an injury from a morning fight at the dock, where a Chinese man had hit him. His attention had been on his eye, but now the sudden 'arousal' pulled at the bruised area, causing intense pain and making him gasp.

His previously erect member immediately wilted, making Yaburou even angrier. "Bring this woman out, and gang-rape her on the street. Let all the Japanese see what happens to those who collude with Chinese slaves... Tell them, if Japanese women dare to sleep with Chinese slaves, this is what will happen..."

A group of ronin pounced, grinning as they dragged Chiharu out and threw her onto the wooden box, starting to strip her clothes. No one was interested in the kneeling Heita.

Yaburou sat inside, drinking sake angrily, holding a silver dollar. "I heard these silver dollars can whistle? Let me try..." He pinched the center of the silver dollar with his thumb and index finger and blew hard. A melodious hum sounded in his ear, and Yaburou's mood immediately improved.

"Although the Chinese are very annoying, their money is quite good. We don't have such silver dollars in Japan. It seems we need to keep a close eye on these Chinese and take more from them..."

At this moment, Chiharu was already in despair. She had no idea what she had done wrong, and she was begging bitterly, trying to understand why Lord Yaburou was so angry.

Heita was no longer crying but howling like a wolf. He was filled with hatred for his own weakness and inability. He regretted being easily manipulated by these villains in the past and now really wanted to grab a knife and kill Yaburou.

As for the surrounding Japanese, they were all intimidated by Yaburou's tyranny and dared not speak.

Just as Heita was about to burst but dared not, and just as Chiharu was almost naked and about to be violated, a wakizashi suddenly flew in front of Heita, making a loud clatter that startled everyone.

"Pick it up and kill your enemy..." A calm voice sounded. The sudden change made everyone stop their actions, even the ronin who were about to assault Chiharu were distracted.

A young man in wooden sandals walked out from the crowd. His tattered kimono did not make him look unkempt but rather gave him a rebellious air. The young man had a strong face, and his eyes were as bright as stars.

"Who are you?" Yaburou sensed danger, especially when he saw the katana the young man was carrying. He immediately stood up, tense like a challenged dog.

"Who are you? Why do you have a katana with a single-character mark...?" The young man ignored Yaburou's questions and walked to Heita, kicking the wakizashi he had thrown to him and speaking softly.

"Your heart is full of hatred. I am giving you the chance to take revenge. Grab this wakizashi, and I promise you can kill this dog..."

"Damn!" All the ronin understood that this young man was here to cause trouble. They drew their katanas and surrounded him, even the ronin around Chiharu let go and drew their katanas to join.

The strange young man did not care about the approaching ronin. His eyes were only on the child in front of him, and his tone remained calm. "Heaven gives each person few opportunities. When you miss one, there may not be a second. You can choose to retreat and watch your sister be violated, and you will end up as a lowly slave for the rest of your life..."

"Is this what you want? If not, pick up the wakizashi and fight..."

Heita's body was still trembling, his forehead still touching the stone slab, but no one knew that the light in his eyes had changed, and his hands gripping the grass were deforming strangely.

"Ah!" Before the mysterious young man could finish, Heita suddenly roared, grabbed the wakizashi, and charged straight at Yaburou. "I will kill you, you devil..."

How could Yaburou care about an attack from a fourteen-year-old child? He had trained in a sword school in Edo. A commoner daring to draw a sword at him?

"Damn..." Yaburou's right hand flashed, and his katana was out of its sheath, slashing diagonally at Heita's chest. "A lowly commoner, daring to draw a sword at me... What?" Yaburou's hands slashed down, but his sure hit missed.

His hands were now hanging down, and according to logic, the tip of the katana should be pointing at the ground, and the blood on the blade should be dripping down. But when he looked with his remaining eye, the katana in his hand was gone.

"What?" All the ronin were stunned. No one saw how the katana disappeared, and at that moment, the wakizashi in Heita's hand was already stabbing at Yaburou's chest.

"Ahh..." A scream, Yaburou's chest was cut open with a one-foot-long wound. Fortunately, he rolled on the ground several times and managed to save his life. "Protect me, this man has magic..."

Only then did people notice that Yaburou's katana had ended up in the young man's hand.

"It's not magic, it's the no-sword technique of the Shin阴ryu..." Finally, someone understood. This technique, created by the legendary warrior Uesugi Shingen, was a closely guarded secret of the Shin阴ryu, and it had appeared in Naha Port today.

The young man sheathed his katana and charged into the ronin like a tiger into a flock of sheep. It was like a wind sweeping through the enemy, and the ronin's katanas were easily taken. Each time he took a katana, he threw it into the air and nailed it to the roof beams. Soon, the roof of the gambling den was filled with katanas.

The Japanese onlookers were mesmerized. The stories of Uesugi Shingen and the Shin阴ryu were well-known in Japan. Everyone had heard these stories since childhood, and now they were seeing them in real life, their eyes wider than oxen.

"Heita, what are you waiting for? Has your hand become weak again?" The young man's loud shout woke Heita from his daze. He screamed and charged at Yaburou with the wakizashi.

"Damn..." Yaburou, with his rich combat experience, was not a match for the thin and weak Heita, even without a weapon. He kicked Heita to the side. But Heita, now in a frenzy, screamed and charged again.

Heita was thrown back and charged again, and again. The once hopeless gambler was now as tenacious as a general.

The battle quickly turned one-sided. The mad Heita kept Yaburou occupied, and the young man had already intimidated the remaining ronin, who dared not approach him.

Yaburou's right eye glowed with fear and hatred. He rolled to the corner of the room and pulled out two Western flintlock pistols from under the tatami.

"Stand still, both of you. If anyone comes closer, I'll show them the power of the flintlock..." With Yaburou's command, the disarmed ronin scattered in a wide circle. Several of them pulled out long flintlock rifles from hidden corners and aimed them at the young man of the Shin阴ryu.

"Flintlocks! What a disgrace to warriors. Using flintlocks when you can't win? The code of the samurai has been destroyed by your kind..." The young man clearly knew the power of the flintlocks and protected Heita, his eyes coldly fixed on Yaburou.