Wasn’t it just a whack to the back of the head? How could someone possibly die from something like that?
Given the absurd length of Kaido’s HP bar right now, trying to one-shot him was an extremely difficult task; something an ordinary person simply couldn’t accomplish.
Yamato was already one of the very few still alive who could actually deal effective damage to him.
This kind of mutual brawling was basically daily life for Kaido and Yamato. As long as nothing got destroyed, they were already showing restraint.
“This power… I haven’t paid attention to it in a long time. Your ability to hold back has improved quite a bit.”
Rubbing the large bump on the back of his head, Kaido made his own assessment. If that sneak attack had been at full force, his face would definitely have left a huge imprint in the ground, and it wouldn’t have been shallow.
As for why? Because he had done the exact same thing before. Yamato’s sneak attacks were learned entirely from Kaido. Back then, he had ambushed her the same way. In a sense, this was just karma coming full circle.
This time, it had only forced him to bow his head. Clearly, after launching the sneak attack, she had noticed Red Hair, realized the occasion wasn’t appropriate, and pulled back most of her strength.
However, according to their family “tradition,” holding back when beating up your father or daughter was the greatest sin. If Kaido hadn’t still had a shred of sanity and had gone all out from the start, Yamato might have died young.
But Yamato didn’t need to worry about that when hitting him. Once you swung the kanabo with full force, it was nearly impossible to retract all that power in an instant—the greater the strength, the harder it was to pull back.
To some extent, Yamato had wanted to leave Kaido a bit of face in front of outsiders. She just hadn’t managed to.
“But observational skills are too poor.”
“Isn’t that your fault?! I haven’t seen you bring anyone to Onigashima for over a decade. Couldn’t you have given me a heads-up?!”
Yamato’s attack had been an interdimensional ambush. Even Observation Haki would have a hard time defending against something like that. By the time you sensed her killing intent, the attack was already in your face.
Conversely, Yamato couldn’t sense the outside either. She only knew that the position she opened was exactly where Kaido was. The opportunity was fleeting. By the time she noticed Red Hair, it was already too late.
Yamato and Kaido attacking each other on Onigashima was perfectly normal, so Yamato didn’t think she had done anything wrong.
To be precise, she could apologize to anyone, but never to Kaido.
“Even if you didn’t warn me in advance, would it have killed you to send a notification with Rotom?! Do you know how many people you’d catch off guard like this?!”
“Since when did you get so sharp-tongued?”
“Isn’t that obvious?! In the past, you’d just start attacking the moment you showed up. How many chances did you ever give me to talk?! It’s only now that you are actually listen to what I’m saying!”
The root of the problem surfaced once more, though Kaido seemed to selectively ignore that remark.
“You’ve made me lose face in front of outsiders…”
Just moments ago, Beckman’s questioning had given Kaido a sense of schadenfreude. A mighty Emperor of the Sea left speechless by his own vice-captain. But before he could enjoy it for long, Yamato had struck him squarely on the head, or rather, the back of it.
In less than a second, he had dropped to the same level as Red Hair, even half a head lower. After all, Red Hair had only been scolded, he had been physically hit.
“Then go silence him. If there are no outsiders, problem solved, right?”
There were no other Beasts Pirates present, just the three of them. As Yamato’s words fell, the air seemed to freeze.
Red Hair, who had just settled into spectator mode, stiffened. His hand instinctively moved toward the hilt of his sword.
One Kaido was already threatening enough. Add Yamato, and he might as well start thinking about where he wanted to be buried.
It was like the classic ambush: soldiers hidden behind a screen, waiting for the signal of a shattered cup. Now it seemed Kaido had used getting hit as the signal to launch some bizarre operation.
“Hey, wait….that’s Uta’s adoptive father, isn’t he? What’s with that look on your face? You weren’t seriously thinking about silencing him, were you? You b*stard old man, are you really that kind of person?!”
Seeing the look of disdain in Yamato’s eyes, several angry veins popped up on Kaido’s forehead. He had really been led astray by Yamato; he actually paused to consider whether silencing him was appropriate.
In a realm unnoticed by anyone, Yamato’s intelligence-boosting buff when facing Kaido had been upgraded, even developing into the level of verbal warfare.
“Worororo… Looks like while I was busy moving island, you really didn’t slack off.”
He clasped his hands together, and a series of cracking sounds echoed out. Kaido still intended to solve this problem the most traditional way.
“Of course! If you hadn’t suddenly brought someone back out of nowhere, this would’ve been a perfect ambush!”
Rayquaza and Giratina rarely appeared in this world, but Yamato could still find them. She would first go to the summit of the Sacred Mountain and enter Rayquaza’s dimension. After persuading it through good old-fashioned physical labor, she would then find Shaymin to open the door to the Reverse World.
After that, through a mediator she had convinced in advance, she secured a friendly agreement to open the portal.
Shaymin and Zeraora could open portals on their own, but their gateways weren’t suitable for ambushing Kaido. Only if Giratina opened it personally could Kaido’s attention be avoided to the greatest extent.
Unfortunately, the ambush she had carefully planned was ultimately disrupted.
“You’ve certainly put in the effort. Since you’re not satisfied either, let’s settle this the old way.”
“Bring it on! Who’s afraid of you?! I’ll be waiting at the usual spot!”
Yamato leapt backward and returned directly to the Reverse World. The portal Giratina opened would remain for a while longer, just enough time for them to head to the Reverse World’s training ground.
“Hey, Red Hair, I’ve got some private matters to handle. You can… forget it. I’ll have someone show him around Wano Country. I’m leaving.”
As Kaido’s body disappeared into the entrance as well, only Red Hair remained. However, Kaido’s final words hadn’t been directed at Red Hair; they were spoken toward a nearby door.
Transmitted through the Rotom network, those words, along with the earlier scene, soon reached Arceus. Looking at the all-too-familiar scene, Arceus simply sighed and reassigned personnel.
Before long, Red Hair heard hurried footsteps. Two pirates ran over from another floor.
“Please come with us.”
They weren’t as at ease as Kaido and Yamato had been when facing Red Hair, but there was no fear or reverence in their demeanor either, just the attitude of receiving a guest.
Even with Red Hair’s rather unconventional thinking, this little episode left him feeling somewhat unsettled. After all, the idea of silencing him had been brought up as a joke. He even suspected it had been a warning.
However, their subsequent behavior dispelled that doubt. The truth was simply that this family wasn’t exactly normal.
The person assigned to show him around Wano Country further convinced him that there was something very unusual about this pirate crew.
Under their guidance, Red Hair soon arrived at the first floor of Onigashima and then crossed the sea with them to Hakumai.
“So the person they brought me to see is you?”
“Ara ara, I didn’t expect something like this to fall on my shoulders either, nor did I expect the person coming would be you. I suppose we’re in the same boat.”
On the beach by the inland sea, Shanks saw Kuzan sunbathing. What followed was an awkward staring contest.
Kuzan hadn’t expected to become the tour guide for another Emperor of the Sea. Shanks hadn’t expected that the one leading him around would be a former Marine Admiral.
“A Marine Admiral joining another pirate crew… Even seeing it with my own eyes, it’s hard to believe.”
“Joining? Perhaps. I’ve just seen something different here. I stayed because I wanted to see more.”
“As for you, someone like you appearing quietly in the heart of the Beasts Pirates’ territory. That’s the real headline, isn’t it?”
Kuzan set aside his sunglasses and eye mask, folded up his beach chair, and stood up. Since leaving the Marines, his daily lifestyle had gradually started to resemble Garp’s.
There was no trace left of the former Marine’s highest combat power in him now. Instead, he looked more like a retired old man.
“My purpose isn’t that different from yours. So, would you mind taking me to where the Shogun lives? I’d like to have a look.”
“Of course. See over there? The tallest building in that direction is the Shogun’s palace. But if you want to get there before nightfall, you’d better pick up the pace.”
There were various modes of transportation within Wano Country, but the most common was walking. Though called a country, it was still just a solitary island in the sea. As long as one wasn’t physically frail, an average person could cover most of the island within a single day.
If they were in a hurry, Red Hair and Kuzan could naturally move much faster. However, Red Hair wasn’t rushing. Instead, he strolled along at an unhurried pace, observing what was happening within Wano Country.
“It’s pretty prosperous here.”
“Of course. The Shogun lives in the Flower Capital. Our current location is Hakumai. Aside from the Flower Capital, Hakumai is the most prosperous region in the country.
“You’ve probably noticed, those buildings bearing the Thousand Arms emblem were constructed later by the Beasts Pirates.
“The economy has been developing around these buildings. Hakumai receives the highest proportion of economic investment, so the results here are naturally the most noticeable.”
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