Maria was initially just waiting for Kaido's orders, but she didn't expect to overhear something interesting and couldn't help peeking over to take a look.
Ulti was purely annoyed by how noisy everyone at the banquet was, so she dragged Page One along to find a quiet spot, which ended up being here as well.
The onlookers thus increased from just Kaido and Arceus to five people.
Most of the people were engrossed in the banquet. For instance, Queen was completely unaware of what was happening, utterly absorbed in his own elegant dance moves. Otherwise, given people's herd mentality, more might have come over.
However, only officers dared to approach. Ordinary underlings would at most shout Kaido's name from afar while raising a drink in his honor.
Those who could watch this "live broadcast" here were all Yamato's close friends and allies, so nothing too outrageous would happen.
Otherwise, there are two kinds of death: one is the natural, physical kind, and the other is social death.
Given Yamato's personality, it would be completely in character for her to do something that causes social death, but she likely wouldn't care about that at all.
Even if she did care, she would probably forget about it not long after.
Maria was very obedient to Kaido's commands and remained silent the entire time; at most, she poured him drinks and massaged his back, while Ulti continued silently goofing around with Page One.
"So, what year is that place at?"
"Roughly… a year from now."
"How long do you plan to have her train there?"
"Not too long, a month at most. I haven't fully regained this power yet. Why do you ask?"
Kaido appeared to be asking about Yamato, but deep down he seemed to be pondering something else.
"I originally thought that the battle against the World Government might be the final one. I assumed the world would become incredibly boring after that, but now it seems the world is much bigger than I imagined.
But let's worry about the future later. Let's see what kind of insights that brat can gain."
Back on Yamato's side, the battle was still ongoing.
"Kaido" had formed some opinions about the Yamato before him. In some ways, he actually wished this was his child.
She wasn't constantly shouting that she was Kozuki Oden, she had a normal understanding of her gender, and although she also likes to use force, she was stronger…much stronger than his own.
In her lifetime, Yamato had, in "Kaido's" eyes, become someone else's child.
However, while Kaido had come to understand this, the others hadn't. Faced with the suddenly much stronger Yamato, they appeared at a loss and only began to take cover after a brief moment of stunned silence.
This wasn't the first time something like this had happened, if anything, their evacuation moves had become even more practiced. After all, Arceus doesn't exist here, and when Kaido got drunk and went on a rampage, it was genuinely life-threatening.
"N-no way? Young Master Yamato has gotten this strong?"
"Young Master Yamato can actually suppress Lord Kaido…"
"That's impossible! Lord Kaido must not be going all out. How could Young Master Yamato possibly be a match for him?"
In the past, during battles between "Kaido" and "Yamato," "Kaido" had always held an overwhelming advantage. Sure, that had a lot to do with the Seastone handcuffs, but none of them had ever imagined that once "Yamato" removed the cuffs, she'd be capable of something like this.
"Lord Kaido! Young Master Yamato says he doesn't want to attend the banquet!"
At that moment, a pirate outside brought in a fresh report, only to be met with a bunch of strange looks staring right at him.
"W-what's wrong?"
"What did you just say?"
"Uh, that Young Master Yamato doesn't want to come to the banquet…"
"Then take a look at who's fighting Lord Kaido right now."
And just like that, the number of confused people in the world increased by one. But his confusion didn't last long. Rather than getting caught up on whether this was the real Yamato or not, focusing on staying alive was far more important.
"Thunder Bolt!"
A thunderous bolt of lightning crashed down from the sky, blasting a huge hole through Onigashima from top to bottom. Black markings began to spread across Yamato's body, and a pair of lightning wings had sprouted from her shoulders.
"Ice Dragon Slayer!"
Though lightning typically contains extreme heat, the moment Yamato's thunderbolts landed, their nature changed completely.
The formless lightning, as if gaining physical form, transformed into an ice-lightning dragon exuding ice energy, its sharp dragon fangs biting down at the Kaido below.
"Divine Swiftness White Serpent."
As the ice thunder descended, Yamato used her footwork to close in on the "Kaido".
"Destroyer of Death Ice Thunder Bagua!"
Yamato's techniques had traces of Kaido's influence. Though she had developed her own variations, the foundation was still something Kaido had laid down.
Just as "Kaido" broke free from the restraints of the ice thunder, he was met with the kanabo wrapped in Conqueror's Haki. This "Kaido" had no Protect move to deal with the crisis, so he could rely only on his own body.
Although "Kaido" tried hard to block Yamato's attack, he was still a step too slow. Struck hard in the chest, he was sent flying backward, crashing through several walls in a row before finally landing at the shores of Onigashima.
"Crap!"
Seeing "Kaido" get blasted away, Yamato didn't feel joy right away. Instead, her first thought was that she might have wrecked the home again. Only then did it hit her: if Kaido was a fake, then Onigashima must be fake too.
With the walls broken, sunlight naturally spilled inside. Time was already out of sync between the two locations; at Arceus's banquet, not much time had passed, but here, the banquet had already been going on for a while. Dawn was already close.
As soon as Yamato shattered the wall, the sunlight streamed into the room. Thinking about how she had finally managed to send "Kaido" flying, her face lit up with joy.
However, by her judgment, even a pirated Kaido shouldn't go down that easily. So she stepped over the rubble and chased after him.
That hit had real force behind it. "Kaido" didn't get up right away, but Yamato didn't go in for a finishing blow. Instead, she was distracted by the smell of raw chemical raw hitting her nose.
Stinky.
That was the only word she could think of to describe the smell. And with a banquet going on atop Onigashima, the reek mixing with the scent of alcohol made her head throb.
"What the hell? Why does Wano Country smell like this?"
She looked up and saw thick black smoke rising. But her view was blocked by ships and other objects. As she soared into the sky with her wings, her pupils widened.
From Onigashima's position, one could see directly to Hakumai and Udon. In Yamato's line of sight, there were countless chimneys. Black smoke continuously billowed from them as the factories worked. That was the source of the stench.
Moreover, this "Wano Country" was far more dilapidated than the one she remembered. Even separated by an inland sea, she could feel the desolate aura blanketing the land.
Mt. Fuji still looked the same, though it had lost some of its mysteriousness.
Compared to the bustling Hakumai, which gathered numerous establishments like the Beasts Pirates' Pokémon Center, Squirtle Fire Department, and Machoke Gym, this place was as desolate as scorched earth.
From a distance, Hakumai had almost no living vegetation. All she could see were industrial facilities and dead trees. Even the rivers flowing into the inland sea had taken on a strange, unnatural color.
This was the "Wano Country" created by "Kaido" and Kurozumi Orochi—a weapon-producing nation that served only themselves, indifferent to the lives of others. Through Orochi's efforts, "Wano Country" had long been plunged into utter misery.
All of this was something Yamato had never imagined. And what she saw now shocked her far more than the pirated Kaido.
"Wh-what the hell is this place!?"
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