Yamato felt as though she had fallen into a terrifying swamp of thought. If she kept thinking, her entire worldview was about to shatter.
So she immediately stopped herself, terrified of reaching some horrible answer.
But while Yamato gave up thinking, Luke did not stop pressing her. "When I traveled through Wano Country, I heard Kozuki Oden’s story too. After fighting Kaido, he was captured and executed immediately. You say your father wants to kill you, so why didn’t he execute you after defeating you?"
Yamato’s mind was a complete mess. All sorts of information crashed together inside the head of the sixteen-year-old girl. At last, her eyes turned somewhat lost. "Maybe... he wanted to kill me in battle?"
Luke’s expression turned playful. "So you think Kaido’s Thunder Bagua can’t smash your head apart? That every time, it just happens to hit hard enough to knock you out?"
"That just means I’m lucky, doesn’t it? After all, I’m Kozuki Oden."
This time, Yamato answered quickly.
"Oh? But I don’t think Kozuki Oden was very lucky. He died in the end, after all. Unlike you, who survives every time."
Luke continued, "Besides, didn’t you say you’ve been getting stronger all these years?"
Yamato was completely dazed and only responded to the latter half of Luke’s words. She nodded. "Of course. I’m much stronger than I was a few years ago."
"Then do you think the current you could kill your eleven-year-old self in one move?"
Luke guided her along step by step.
Yamato only thought for a moment before reaching an answer. "Of course I could. Back then, I could barely use Armament Haki. My body wasn’t fully developed, I had far less strength, and my fighting skills couldn’t compare to what they are now—"
Halfway through, she suddenly sensed that something was wrong. It felt as if Luke had set some kind of trap for her.
She was about to take back her words, but Luke had already spoken.
"Then what makes you think Kaido, who can still defeat you now, couldn’t kill eleven-year-old you a few years ago—and even fought you for quite a while?"
It was a killing blow of a question.
Yamato was utterly dumbfounded. The defenses she had built around her inner world over all these years had been completely crushed. Under Luke’s questioning, she discovered that the "common sense" of her own world seemed to have no logic at all.
Following Luke’s logic, did that not mean her father had never wanted to kill her? That he had been indulging her all along instead?
Seeing Yamato blank out, Luke continued. "When we talked before, you mentioned that everyone here called you the Oni Princess before you turned eight. But when that guard brought you here, he called you Young Master. You also said Kaido now calls you his son. Don’t you think that’s strange?"
Yamato looked confused. "What’s strange about it?"
"Why do you think those changes happened?"
Luke asked.
"Isn’t it because I’m Kozuki Oden now? Kozuki Oden was a man, so naturally I’m a man too. I can’t be the Oni Princess anymore."
Yamato thought it through.
A smile appeared on Luke’s face. "Looks like you still have some basic logical reasoning. Since you put it that way yourself, haven’t you wondered why they would go along with you?"
Yamato froze. She had genuinely never considered that question. Wasn’t it just the natural order of things?
"Without Kaido giving the order, who would casually change the way they address you...?"
Luke said helplessly. "Your father is just playing house with you. To a certain extent, he indulged your role-playing hobby."
This was also an important reason Luke believed Kaido had fatherly affection for Yamato. After repeatedly failing to straighten her out, Kaido had practically yielded over Yamato calling herself Kozuki Oden. That was why he called Yamato his son and had everyone address her as Young Master.
Why else would he do that? Other than making Yamato a little happier, there was no point to such behavior at all.
There was only one explanation: Kaido spoiled his daughter.
That was also an important reason Kaido had raised such an absurdly rebellious daughter. Even if he was a cruel pirate and bad at expressing his feelings, he had been far too indulgent toward his girl in certain ways. That was why Yamato had grown up so warped.
In the original story, on the night Kaido was set to bring Wano Country fully under his rule, he had even announced that Yamato would become Wano Country’s shogun.
That perfectly played along with his daughter’s Kozuki Oden role-playing, letting her truly become Wano Country’s shogun.
Although he did intend to use his daughter as a puppet and a means of controlling Wano Country, Kaido was nearly sixty by then. Once he retired or died of old age, who else could inherit everything he had built?
"Impossible! Stop talking!"
Yamato roared. She covered her ears with both hands and staggered back two steps, looking at Luke with a touch of terror in her eyes.
"So Kozuki Oden is a coward who doesn’t dare listen to others speak."
Luke said coldly.
Yamato’s body trembled. Her hands fell away from her ears. "No, that’s not it. I’m Kozuki Oden. I’m Wano Country’s hero, the man who will open Wano Country’s borders."
"Do you even know what opening a country means? Do you know its advantages and disadvantages?"
Luke shot back.
"Opening the country... means overthrowing Kaido’s rule, no longer shutting ourselves off from the world, and connecting with the rest of the world..."
Yamato’s voice grew quieter and quieter. She suddenly realized that she did not actually understand what it meant to open Wano Country’s borders. Kozuki Oden’s journal had been vague on the matter too.
It had only emphasized that twenty years later, a hero would come to liberate Wano Country. They did not need to open the country before then; they only needed to do so after that hero arrived.
As for how opening the country would work, or its benefits and drawbacks, she understood none of it.
For that matter, Kozuki Oden himself may not have understood it very well either. That was probably why he had not written about it.
"See? When it comes down to it, you understand nothing. You’re just a little girl who found Kozuki Oden’s journal and worships him blindly. You’re no different from who you were eight years ago. Your body has grown, but your mind is still the same."
Luke said.
There were faint tears in Yamato’s eyes. "Why would you say something so cruel? I thought we were friends!"
"It’s precisely because I think we’re friends that I’m saying this. I’m pointing out what’s wrong with you so you can wake up."
Luke said, "I don’t think resisting Kaido’s tyranny is wrong, and your desire to free the people of Wano Country is admirable. But your views on Kaido and Kozuki Oden are seriously distorted. Haven’t you realized that?"
Yamato clutched her head and curled up in the corner, as if she had completely shut herself off.
Perhaps because she was still young, at an age when she could easily absorb knowledge and think deeply—and because she had only been calling herself Kozuki Oden for eight years—Yamato was genuinely considering Luke’s words.
She felt that everything Luke said was outrageous, yet it also seemed to make a little sense.
For a time, Yamato was deeply conflicted. The image of Kozuki Oden that she had spent eight years constructing was slowly collapsing.
She desperately did not want to admit that her father had never intended to kill her. That he had been indulging and cherishing her instead.
If that were true, would that not make her someone monstrously unfilial and heartless?
Luke felt that he might have hit Yamato with a little too much at once. Carried away in the moment, he had voiced some of his true thoughts, and it seemed he had shattered her defenses so thoroughly that she had withdrawn into herself.
So he stopped speaking as well and closed his eyes to rest. Between telling stories and sparring earlier, he had spent quite a bit of mental energy.
…………
Meanwhile, on Onigashima.
The torches inside a cavern drove away the darkness, illuminating the enormous figure seated at the central throne.
The small giant sitting there was bare-chested, his powerful muscles covered in tattoos. He radiated immense authority.
Yet despite looking so powerful and imposing, he was currently surrounded by sorrowful negativity, making the two low-ranking pirates serving him drinks beside him tremble in fear.
This man was Kaido, Governor-General of the Beasts Pirates, the Strongest Creature in the World, and one of the Four Emperors!
Bang—
Kaido hurled an empty jar of liquor against the wall. Shards scattered across the floor. His face was flushed with drunken red, and alcohol steamed from his mouth as he muttered, "So sad. I really want to die."
Anyone familiar with Kaido knew that when he got drunk, he cycled through all sorts of emotional states. The most common was his "withdrawn" state. Once he entered it, he became so sad that he wanted to kill himself.
And Kaido did not merely talk about it. He genuinely attempted suicide, but because his body was too powerful, ordinary methods rarely worked.
"Booze! We’re out of booze... Bring me more booze!!"
Kaido shouted, showing signs of a drunken rampage.
"Governor-General, more liquor is already on its way. P-please wait a moment."
One of the Beasts Pirates attendants serving nearby replied cautiously. Kaido was not a pleasant drunk. When drunk, he might fly into a rage and beat people; in the past, attendants bringing him alcohol had been severely injured by him.
That was only because Kaido vaguely knew they were his own men and held back.
"Huh? What’s taking so long!?"
Kaido slammed a hand against the armrest in fury, making the entire cavern tremble.
Just as the two servants bringing Kaido liquor were trembling like leaves, a tall woman approached and came to their rescue. "My, my. Who made our Governor-General so angry?"
The beautiful woman entering the cavern was tall and voluptuous, seductive and breathtakingly alluring. Her long, golden hair was gathered in an elaborate coiffure, and she had emerald-green eyes, snow-white skin, two long red horns, pearl earrings, and a sword used as a hairpin.
She wore a black, low-cut, off-the-shoulder kimono patterned with colorful petals, tied with a teal sash covered in white floral designs. Wisps of smoke drifted from the pipe in her hand as she spoke.
"Lady Black Maria."
The two liquor attendants bowed respectfully. She was one of the Tobi Roppo, a high-ranking officer of the Beasts Pirates, and she also had a fairly close personal relationship with Governor-General Kaido.
"Maria, you came at the right time. Drink with me."
Kaido still appeared extremely depressed, but after seeing Black Maria, he stopped taking his anger out on others. He quieted down and waited for the liquor to arrive.
"I heard Young Master Yamato challenged you again yesterday. Are you angry over that?"
Black Maria picked up the half-jar of liquor left on the ground and poured Kaido another drink, a gentle smile on her face.
At the mention of it, Kaido’s expression became despondent again. "Don’t bring it up. I just taught her a lesson and sent her to Udon Prison. I hope she reflects on herself properly this time."
Though he said that, years of experience told him his rebellious child would not reflect at all. She would only continue challenging him after getting out of prison.
"Don’t be angry. Young Master Yamato seems to really be reflecting this time."
Black Maria said with a smile.
Kaido did not take it seriously. He assumed Black Maria was merely trying to comfort him, so he did not answer and only drank in silence.
"Don’t dismiss it so quickly. I’ve had the Caiman Lady keep an eye on Young Master Yamato. This time, she met someone interesting after being thrown in prison. Do you remember that Demon Slayer who came to challenge you a few days ago?"
Black Maria smiled. "The two were assigned to the same cell. He spent ages analyzing Young Master Yamato’s life story with her, and now Young Master Yamato is questioning her entire life."
Kaido froze. He even forgot to drink the liquor in his hand. "What happened?"
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