Turn back time not long ago

Huluwan, on the open deck

Ogata, Mamiya, and Makimura were all stunned when they saw the mainmast, which was broken into two pieces in the middle and slid into the sea after being hit by a naval gun.

"Is this considered lucky or unlucky...?" Makimura twitched his lips.

Both Ogata and Mamiya knew what Makimura's sigh meant.

If we say they are lucky...they are indeed lucky.

If they had boarded this "bridge" just a few steps earlier, even if they were not blasted into the sky by naval guns, they would still have fallen into the sea with the broken mainmast.

If we say they are unlucky... they are indeed very unlucky.

The broken mainmast directly cut off their way to Nikki Maru, separating the three of them on different ships from Genichi and Hatsuko who had gone to Nikki Maru before them.

Although the sudden accident shocked them greatly, the three of them were not mediocre people who would mess up because of such a thing.

"Tsk... We have to rush over and join Mr. Genichi and the others...!" Mamiya, who was still covering his right arm, raised his eyebrows.

Toyotomi Nobhide is currently on the Nikki Maru. Although none of Ogata and the others have seen Toyotomi Nobhide with their own eyes. But based on the various information currently known, it can be concluded that this lunatic-like figure is not anything.

The idle people.

Let Genichi and Hatsumi be alone on a battleship with that monster around. God knows what accidents will happen.

Makimura was lying on the railing of the ship, looking down at the sea as black as ink under the dark clouds with a sullen face: "Do you still have to swim across it in the end... Damn it..."

Ogata, who was lying on the railing of the ship at the same moment as Makimura, followed Makimura to look at the water below for a few times, and then asked Mamiya and Makimura in a deep voice:

"Mamiya, Makimura, can you still survive such an angry wave?"

Makimura was silent for a moment: "Although I really don't want to admit it...I'm not a very good swimmer to begin with. Even if I'm holding a piece of wood, I probably won't be able to swim in such a sea."

Since just now, the wind and rain have intensified a lot.

Ogata and the others are now... as if they are at the bottom of a waterfall, being splashed by thick drops of water.

The waves, blown by the stronger wind... became far more violent than when Genichi, Makimura and the others swam over holding the board together.

Very few waves can even hit the open deck of a battleship directly.

Makimura was born in Kyoto, which is far away from the sea. He is not the kind of person who has been exposed to the sea since childhood. Although he can swim, he is not that proficient.

He is a down-to-earth person, and he honestly admitted that it was difficult for him to survive such a daunting situation.

"Even if I told you that I now have a way to swim with you to the Nikki Maru, you wouldn't believe it." Mamiya showed a helpless smile and shook his hand that he had just used to cut off the main mast.

My right arm was strained and has not recovered until now.

"Does that mean I'm the only one who can swim across now..."

Ogata pursed his lips and looked at the dark sea water outside the railing again.

"Then... leave the next thing to me. I will chase Mr. Genichi and the others. Mamiya, when your arm gets better, try to get back to the shore with Makimura. I will go with Mr. Genichi and the others later.

Came back to join you."

"Do you want to go to Nikki Maru alone to support Mr. Genichi and Miss Hatsumi?" Mamiya asked, "Although you and Mr. Genichi can ride a thousand horses, it is an unchanging truth that two fists cannot defeat four hands.

ah."

"Hikki Marujo may have unknown enemy strength."

"It's too risky to only ask you to support us alone."

"Don't tell me that you have to swim with me to the Riki Maru regardless of your physical condition." Ogata curled his lips.

"...Ogata-kun, please go ahead and support Mr. Gendai and the others. Makimura and I will rush over later and meet you on the Nikki Maru."

"Meet?" Ogata couldn't help but be stunned and cast a suspicious look at Mamiya, "How are you and Makimura going to come over and join us?"

Not only Ogata was stunned, Makimura was also stunned, wondering what kind of medicine Mamiya was selling in the gourd.

"It takes too much time to explain slowly. Anyway, we will rush over to meet you later." Mamiya looked at Ogata with firm and unflinching eyes.

Seeing Mamiya's gaze, the suspicion on Ogata's face slowly dissipated: "...I understand."

Ogata and Mamiya... can be considered old friends.

Although he didn't know how Mamiya was able to catch up with them and join them on the Nikki Maru without being able to swim, Ogata, who had never seen Mamiya drop his chain at a critical moment, still slowly put it away.

raised doubts about Mamiya.

I believe Mamiya, Ogata has this in his heart.

Time was running out, and the longer it was delayed, the higher the possibility of something unexpected happening to Nikkimaru, so Ogata didn't say anything more.

He just nodded vigorously, said "I understand", and then jumped into the dark ocean below.

After Ogata jumped into the sea, Mamiya and Makimura quickly leaned on the railing.

As soon as the two of them poked their heads out of the railing, they saw Ogata's head sticking out of the sea. After forcefully spitting out the seawater that he accidentally drank in his mouth, he broke through the waves and faced the sunrise on the opposite side in a freestyle style.

Maru swims away.

No matter how the rough waves beat, he remained motionless.

"Under such waves, it's like swimming on a calm lake... Is this the 'power of immortality'..." Makimura twitched the corner of his mouth again, "It seems... Ms. Atachi will have a hard time in the future...

…I don’t know if Brother Ogata’s fertility will be enhanced by the ‘power of immortality’.”

After whispering a joke that he would never dare to tell in front of Ogata and Omachi, Makimura looked at Mamiya.

"So how are you going to get to Nikki Maru without being able to swim?"

Mamiya did not immediately respond to Makimura's question.

Instead, he turned his head first and looked at the lonely fore and mizzen masts on the gourd pill after he cut off the main mast.

"...Makimura, I once learned Dutch from Mr. Gendai."

"Huh?" Makimura tilted his head and looked confused.

"Thanks to the fact that I have learned Dutch, I once... learned how to drive the Europa sailing ship from several Dutch businessmen in Nagasaki."

Mamiya slowly put down the hand that had been covering his right arm.

"Although this battleship is larger in size than the merchant ships in Nagasaki... but they all use wind power as the power source, so the driving principles should be similar."

…

…

time back to now

Nikki Maru, on the open deck

After Ogata appeared and blocked his sword, Toyotomi Nobuhide's expression immediately changed.

Without much hesitation, he jumped back a few steps to widen the distance between himself and Ogata.

Ogata did not launch a pursuit, he just stood there, silently holding Da Shi Tian and Da Zi Zai in front of him, and quietly asked Gen Yi behind him:

"Lord Gendai, where is Miss Hatsumi?"

"Chu Guang, she..."

Genichi informed Ogata roughly about Hatsuko's situation.

"Did you fall into the water with that Yoshihisa..." The expression on Ogata's face sank uncontrollably.

Since falling into the sea, Hatsuko's whereabouts are still unknown, which makes Ogata feel worried.

But the demon in front of him made him dare not move his eyes away from it.

"... Platycodon flower..." Toyotomi Nobuhide, who held the Yoshimitsu bones in front of him in a mid-section posture, looked at the Platycodon flower family pattern on Ogata's haori and raised his eyebrows, "... I must be Ogata's feet.

Ittousai, right?"

Toyotomi Nobuhide's sentence is clearly in the form of a question, but its tone is that of an affirmative sentence.

"Oh, the portrait on your wanted poster is really amazing. It can paint you so much like me that someone like me, who has never seen you in person before, can recognize you at a glance."

After hearing Toyotomi Nobuhide mention the wanted poster portrait that he had always been very upset about, Ogata's eyes twitched slightly uncontrollably.

"...Are you that Toyotomi Nobuhide?"

"That's right." Toyotomi Nobuhide, who was smiling but not smiling, admitted openly, "This is the first time we met Ogata Ittosai. I am Toyotomi Nobuhide, the ninth generation head of the Toyotomi clan."

"Your boy is that Toyotomi Nobuhide..." Ogata narrowed his eyes slightly and slowly tightened his grip on the knife.

"Be careful... Ogata-kun..." At this time, Ogata heard Genichi, who was still kneeling behind him, whispering to him in a weak voice, "Nobuhide... he is not that easy to deal with..."

"I just...had hoped to kill him..."

"But when he was about to win... he ate something... his strength increased... and he turned defeat into victory..."

"Did you eat something..." Ogata's expression became more solemn after hearing the valuable information provided by Genichi, "...I understand."

"Also...he is less human than I thought..."

Yuan explained the whole process of how Toyotomi used Xiaolin to seriously injure him in one sentence.

In addition, Genichi also informed Ogata of the swordsmanship and fighting techniques used by Toyotomi one by one.

When Ogata listened carefully to the information that Genichi had just obtained after a hard battle, he heard Toyotomi suddenly sneer, and then said to him in a weird tone:

"Ogata Ittousai, I finally meet you... I've been wanting to meet you for a long time."

"See me?" Ogata sneered, "You want to see my severed head, right?"

"Last night in Osaka... No, I have always been 'taken care of' by you."

Ogata emphasized the words "always".

"Thanks to the 'blessing' you gave Junroku Kunieda of the human skin mask that can disguise itself as me, that night in Kyoto last year was so long that I will never forget it."
To be continued...