"So... I break out first, then go apologize to my dad?"
Yamato said after giving it some thought.
"Idiot. Breaking out would make you look completely insincere. Queen came by today, didn’t he? Go tell him you know you were wrong and want to see your father to apologize. I guarantee you’ll be out by this afternoon."
Luke guided her confidently. He was so certain because he believed that the moment Kaido learned his daughter wanted to repent and apologize, he would never be able to resist releasing Yamato.
In fact, Kaido had just gotten up and started watching the broadcast when he saw this scene. He was already so excited that he shot to his feet.
He paced back and forth, unable to contain his excitement.
How many years had he waited? This was the moment he had been waiting for—the moment Yamato would lower her head and admit she was wrong!
Just imagining Yamato obediently apologizing before him made the smile on Kaido’s face impossible to suppress.
But Kaido quickly wiped that smile away and forced himself to look stern. Right. He could not let anyone see how happy he was.
He gave himself a mental warning: when he saw Yamato, he absolutely had to act cold and detached. Only then could he maintain a father’s dignity.
"Why are there so many damn empty sake jars lying around? Clean this place up!"
Kaido roared in displeasure at the filthy, cluttered surroundings.
The attendants responsible for Kaido’s daily needs had plenty to complain about but could not say a word. Wasn’t this mess made by you, Governor-General?
Still, Kaido was in an excellent mood, so he was unusually lenient with his subordinates. Before long, he had them clean the room thoroughly—and he did not call for more sake.
He did it to keep himself sober. He wanted to hear Yamato apologize while he was completely clearheaded!
At that moment, Black Maria, having caught up on her sleep, came in from outside. She looked at the scene curiously. "What made you suddenly decide to clean the room?"
In her memory, Kaido had always been a man who did not sweat the small stuff. He never cared how clean his room was. Every day, sake jars were tossed everywhere, and the air was thick with a sour, rancid stench.
Yet Kaido was not only having the room cleaned—he was even directing his subordinates to scrub his seat.
"The air feels stuffy. Clean it up a little."
Kaido’s expression was slightly unnatural. "And... I heard Wano’s hot springs are pretty good. I’m going to take a soak and relax."
With that, he walked out on his own, apparently intending to bathe.
Black Maria’s mouth fell slightly open. She had no idea what had gotten into Kaido. He was actually paying attention to personal hygiene?
What was going on? Was there some meeting between Emperors of the Sea arranged?
Was Big Mom coming to visit from Totto Land? Was Kaido planning to show off his excellent personal image in front of his old lover—or old crewmate?
Black Maria was full of questions, but Kaido offered no explanation and left directly.
Still baffled, Black Maria approached Cayman Lady. At the moment, Cayman Lady looked utterly haggard.
Unlike Black Maria and Kaido, she was the one tasked with surveillance, which meant working twenty-four hours a day.
Under normal circumstances, she had some moderation in her schedule. She rested eight hours daily and had her subordinates rotate in to cover for her.
But during this past week, with Kaido and Black Maria watching the broadcast, she had not dared slack off in the slightest. Terrified of missing important information, she had remained on surveillance duty and maintained the live feed nonstop.
"What happened?"
Black Maria asked. After thinking it over, she decided the most likely reason for Kaido’s sudden change was that the broadcast had revealed some new bombshell.
"Young Master Yamato said she wants to apologize to the Governor-General."
Cayman Lady summarized simply.
"Huh?"
Black Maria’s mouth fell open. "That Yamato... wants to apologize to Kaido!?"
To Black Maria, it sounded utterly absurd. After all these years, Yamato had firmly established herself in everyone’s mind as the perfect unfilial daughter.
After asking for the details, Black Maria finally understood the full story.
"Mr. Kaido can be like such a child sometimes. Or perhaps all men are the same?"
Black Maria sighed inwardly. Yamato merely wanted to regain her status so she could start causing trouble, which was why she intended to apologize to her father. Yet even knowing that, Kaido was still so happy. Black Maria found it rather amusing.
She looked at Luke on the screen and murmured to herself, "That little man is quite interesting. He actually managed to talk Young Master Yamato around. I’d really like to train him personally sometime~"
…………
At noon, beneath the blazing sun, Luke and Yamato sat on a rock, wolfing down their meal.
By now, Luke’s training in Life Return had produced considerable results. He still could not instantly digest food like Yamato, but in ten or so minutes, he could digest almost all of it.
By Luke’s estimate, he would completely master Life Return in a few more days.
While they ate, a tall man with an elephant’s head hanging from his waist approached them. It was Babanuki, the warden of this prison.
Luke remembered this man. He was an artificial Zoan Devil Fruit user with an elephant form, and that golden elephant head appeared to have an independent will of its own. It was rather ridiculous.
However, Luke gave him a quick scan with his detection skill and found that Babanuki was not weak. Although he was an artificial Devil Fruit user, he was one of the Beasts Pirates’ Headliners—a member of the officer class.
Babanuki’s overall attributes were all above fifty points, putting him at the level of a third-tier Explorer.
Still, Luke believed that if Yamato had her Seastone handcuffs removed, she should be able to defeat a bottom-tier Headliner like Babanuki. Yamato possessed a Mythical Zoan, and Zoan Fruits granted tremendous boosts to physical ability. Once she was no longer restrained and entered her beast form, many of her attributes would rise significantly.
Babanuki stopped before the two of them. The man himself looked at Yamato, while the elephant around his waist stared at Luke, its trunk sniffing around the food in front of him.
"Young Master Yamato, your sentence has ended. Mr. Kaido has ordered me to bring you back to Onigashima."
Babanuki’s words delighted Yamato. She looked at Luke in surprise. "Brother Luke, you’re incredible!"
Luke raised a hand and pressed it downward, telling her to stay calm. Basic stuff.
He had known Kaido would not be able to hold out. See? It was not even afternoon yet, and Kaido was already arranging Yamato’s release.
"I’m being released, but..."
After her initial excitement, Yamato looked at Luke. "What about you, Brother Luke?"
"Don’t worry about me. I eat well, sleep well, and train Haki here without a care in the world. It’s pretty nice."
Luke waved it off. He did not expect Yamato to get him released; freeing a prisoner ultimately depended on Kaido himself.
It would be best if Yamato could free him, but if she could not, it was no big deal. After lying low for a while, he could simply unlock his chains with a key and leave.
He had already checked. The chains on him used mechanical locks, and they were only Legendary-grade—well within the unlocking range of his universal key. He could unlock them whenever he wanted.
Yes, even though they were merely the common Seastone shackles found here, they were indeed Legendary-grade items.
After all, they were incredibly sturdy and could restrain Devil Fruit users. Outside Wano, they were genuinely rare and valuable items.
Not even every Marine was equipped with such shackles. Only officers received them, for capturing powerful Devil Fruit users.
"Don’t worry, Brother Luke. I’ll definitely find a way to convince Father to let you out too, so you can stay with me. I still need you to guide me."
Yamato said with a smile, making Luke’s expression stiffen.
Truthfully, Luke wanted to run away the moment Yamato left. He had no desire to keep dealing with Wano’s mess. The world was so vast, and he wanted to see it.
But Yamato seemed to have latched onto him. There was a chance he might be tied to Wano for a while longer.
"Kid, you’d better behave yourself."
After Yamato left, Babanuki shot Luke a warning glance. The other guards also looked at Luke with clear hostility.
Obviously, without Yamato acting as his shield, Luke’s treatment would no longer differ from that of the other prisoners.
Over the past few days, he and Yamato had talked freely in the prison, saying plenty about rebellion. The Beasts Pirates guards had developed quite a grudge against Luke.
Sure enough, not long afterward, that alpaca-headed man came toward Luke. The moment he opened his mouth, foul spittle sprayed everywhere—straight onto the flatbread on Luke’s plate.
Luke reacted quickly, grabbing the plate and dodging aside. He then rolled up the flatbread, stuffed it directly into his mouth, and finished lunch.
"Kid, Young Master Yamato isn’t here anymore, and you still dare act so cocky? Let’s see how I deal with you."
As he spoke, the alpaca-headed man swung his long whip at Luke.
Luke casually swallowed his flatbread while evading the alpaca-headed man’s attacks. Then he walked over, picked up his mining pick, and headed for the mine as though nothing had happened.
The alpaca-headed man followed behind Luke, wildly spitting and lashing his whip, but neither his spit nor his whip could touch Luke.
Luke completely ignored him, treating him as a living training dummy for Observation Haki.
He mined to temper his stamina while evading attacks to train his Observation Haki. It felt like a very innovative form of cultivation.
The result was that by sunset, the alpaca-headed man was panting from exhaustion, yet he still had not managed to touch Luke even once.
Meanwhile, on Onigashima, Yamato once again set foot in the Beasts Pirates’ core territory.
When she reached the cave where Kaido usually lived, she sniffed the air and looked puzzled.
She had attacked Kaido here many times before, so she was very familiar with the place. In her memory, it should have been filled with the reek of alcohol and sour decay. Why did the air smell so fresh now? There was even a faint floral fragrance.
This can’t be right. Did I take a wrong turn?
"Young Master Yamato, the Governor-General is waiting inside for you."
Only after the pirate leading the way reminded her did Yamato continue forward suspiciously.
Once she entered the cave, Yamato did not see the mountain of discarded sake jars she remembered. The entire ‘room’ was neat and spotless. Deep inside, against the stone wall, sat a massive figure she knew well.
Kaido sat bare-chested on a clean stone seat. Even his black trousers looked new and impeccably clean.
He sat there, every muscle as hard as granite, his face expressionless and radiating the majesty befitting an Emperor of the Sea.
Black Maria knelt beside Kaido, holding a sake jar and pouring liquor into the large bowl in his hand.
But even after the bowl was full, Kaido did not drink. He simply held it and looked calmly at Yamato.
Yamato felt pressure coming from all directions.
For one thing, her father was indeed immensely powerful. He was one of the Emperors of the Sea, a man known as the world’s strongest creature. Facing his aura head-on naturally brought pressure.
But the other reasons were more complicated. Now that she had realized how much her father cared for and indulged her, Yamato felt deeply guilty. That guilt made it difficult for her to even open her mouth.
And besides, though she had come to apologize, she did not truly agree with her father’s methods. Her plan to return to the Beasts Pirates was only another form of ‘rebellion.’ The deceptive nature of it made her feel awkward.
For all those reasons, after seeing Kaido, Yamato opened her mouth but could not bring herself to say anything resembling an apology.
After a long while, she finally squeezed out one difficult word. "Father..."
"Mm."
Kaido nodded and leaned forward. He held the bowl of sake without drinking from it, as though it were merely a prop meant to set the mood.
Kaido struggled to maintain his expression, but inwardly, he was impatiently waiting for Yamato’s apology.
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