Instead of relying on the three sisters to convince them, Byakuya had a more direct and effective method.
Before returning to the underground world, he had brought along some refrigerated "meat" from the fridge.
He stored it in the Kamui dimension, ready to retrieve it at any moment.
A single box of "meat" was enough to immediately "buy off" the gatekeepers—after all, for the native ghouls of the underground world, this was a delicacy they had never had the luxury of tasting in their entire lives.
In their eyes, Byakuya and Eto instantly transformed from suspicious outsiders to generous benefactors.
After that, Byakuya and Eto finally met with the native ghouls living in the underground base.
At a rough estimate, there weren't many of them left—only around twenty or so individuals.
Most of them were children like Amy, Echo and Alia, but their wary and ferocious expressions were completely mismatched with their young age.
The underground world was a brutally harsh place to survive, so the fact that even twenty of them were still alive was already remarkable.
Through the elders among them, Byakuya gathered some information and learned that there were hardly any other native ghouls left in the area—they were on the verge of running out of food.
"Amy, are you sure these two people you brought back can be trusted?"
"By the way, Alia, what is that thing in your hands? It smells amazing..."
"Your clothes look so nice! Where did you get them?"
The other children present whispered their questions to the three sisters.
Following Byakuya's instructions, the sisters distributed pieces of "meat" from the box among the children.
The moment they tasted it, the children were completely stunned—who knew such delicious food existed in this world?!
Then, as the sisters described what they had seen aboveground—an endless supply of food, the vast blue sky, beautiful clothes…
All the children were immediately filled with longing for the surface world.
Everything was going smoothly. Even the conversation between Byakuya, Eto, and the elders was proceeding without any issues.
"However… one of our children hasn't returned yet. We heard they encountered an enemy."
The native ghouls had no objection to going to the surface world, but they were still worried about their missing child.
"What kind of enemy?"
Byakuya asked immediately.
His first suspicion was that it could be members of the Washuu Clan.
"According to the children who were there, their clothing was very different from ours… Could they be people from your surface world?"
"That's very likely…"
Byakuya thought so too.
Just then, one of the gatekeepers ran in and announced, "Gia is back! She's safe, but she also brought two strangers with her."
"As long as she's safe… I wonder if these strangers are people you two might know."
The elder turned to Byakuya and Eto.
A moment later, Gia entered with the two strangers.
And those two strangers were none other than Tsuneyoshi and Yoshitoki.
"Well, what a coincidence. Fancy running into you two in a place like this."
Byakuya greeted them calmly.
"Still so restless, huh? Even at your age, you old fossils are still running around causing trouble."
Eto sneered at Tsuneyoshi with a mocking tone.
Their faces immediately darkened—they never expected to encounter Byakuya here, much less the One-Eyed Owl standing beside him.
However, they didn't make any rash moves.
"Relax. Why don't we sit down and have a nice talk?"
Byakuya said casually.
With no better options at the moment, Tsuneyoshi and Yoshitoki reluctantly took their seats across from Byakuya and Eto.
"You're in charge of the CCG now, aren't you? Or did you already destroy the entire organization?"
Yoshitoki asked.
"The CCG is still intact—just heading in a different direction now."
Byakuya replied indifferently.
"I see… Perhaps you're indeed more suited to leading the CCG than I ever was."
Yoshitoki sighed.
He could already tell — Byakuya's goal was genuine peace between humans and ghouls.
He had always wished for peace too, but as a member of the Washuu Clan, his hands were tied. In the past, all he could do was fulfill his duty as Bureau Director as best he could.
"So, what exactly do you want to talk about?"
Tsuneyoshi cut straight to the point.
"Simple. We can work together. The Washuu Clan doesn't have to be destroyed, but the next Washuu Leader will be Furuta."
Byakuya said bluntly.
"…Honestly, this doesn't benefit us at all, but given the current situation, we don't have much of a choice"
Tsuneyoshi admitted.
He knew that neither he nor Yoshitoki stood a chance against Byakuya—even more so with the One-Eyed Owl present.
So, agreeing to Byakuya's terms was their only option for now.
However, they assumed he was unaware of their plan to awaken Dragon. If they could stall him long enough, it would buy the Washuu Clan the time they needed.
The moment Dragon awakened, their clan would seize the upper hand.
But how could Byakuya possibly be unaware of Dragon?
Everything was already within his grasp…
After some further discussion, Tsuneyoshi and Yoshitoki agreed to return to the surface with Byakuya and the others.
As for the other members of the Washuu Clan, neither side brought them up.
The native ghouls from the underground would be taken in by Aogiri Tree.
With multiple Aogiri bases now spread throughout Tokyo—aside from the 24th Ward— Byakuya had implemented strict regulations. Just like the 20th Ward's "Anteiku" Aogiri could only collect corpses from suicides or accidental deaths as food. Hunting humans was strictly forbidden.
With the underground ghouls settled, it was time for Byakuya to deal with the Washuu Clan.
Exposing their true nature to the world was a necessary step.
The media was already arranged, and while his original plan was to have the captured Washuu members reveal the truth, he decided that using Yoshitoki instead would make an even bigger impact.
And Yoshitoki seemed willing.
"I am the former Bureau Director of the CCG, Yoshitoki Washuu . And I… am a ghoul."
Before all the media cameras, he activated his kakugan.
"Ding! The host has successfully completed 'Quest 4: Overthrow the Washuu Clan's Rule.' Reward: 1000 points!"
"Ding! 'Tokyo Ghoul' world's highest-difficulty quest has been completed. Reward: System Shop upgraded to Tier 2, unlocking new items!"