"C-Can I really do something like this?"
"Why not? You're another me, and I trust myself quite a bit. As long as you don't run into a Marine Admiral or one of the Four Emperors, no one should be able to do much to you. Just remember, if you can't win, run. Staying alive is what gives you hope."
"Kaido" didn't hold anything back either; he taught everything he was supposed to, though the process was a bit brutal.
Under these circumstances, Yamato wasn't worried about "Yamato's" strength. As long as she didn't go looking for trouble herself, there wouldn't be any major issues.
Logically speaking, with a goal in mind, she wasn't likely to do anything too stupid.
"If it really comes down to it, you can also find a few trustworthy companions. That legless, expressionless guy from before could count as one, I suppose? Assuming you two get along."
"That's up to you. I don't really have much left to teach you, but I do have one piece of advice."
"A team needs people with different personalities, like a tiger that guards the mountain, a wolf that's good at fighting... but for now, what you need most is a scapegoat."
"For things that are better kept in the dark, make sure there's someone to take the fall."
Within the Beasts Pirates, the "scapegoat culture" seemed to have become a sort of tradition, to the point that Yamato herself believed having a fall guy was an important role.
It's undeniable that Queen played a significant role in the Beasts Pirates' development, acting as a versatile screw that could be placed wherever there was a shortage of manpower.
"A scapegoat??"
"Yep. Right now, you're not a wanted person. That kind of status makes things much easier, so maintain it if you can. If it really comes to it, just find someone to take the blame. There's never a shortage of limelight-chasing idiots in this sea."
At that moment, Yamato suddenly felt a wave of dizziness. Having experienced this once before, she knew what was about to happen, so she took off her hairpin and tossed it to "Yamato".
"A little something to remember me by. Next time we meet, I hope you've found the self you've dreamed of becoming."
"I will. Goodbye..."
Yamato's figure vanished into thin air right in front of "Yamato". All that remained were the belongings she left behind and the memories of the past half-month, which became "Yamato's" new treasures.
...
Onigashima. Yamato opened her eyes again. Moonlight spilled beside her, but what lay beneath her wasn't earth, it was an island cloud.
A Swablu landed on her head, confirming to her that she had returned.
"Hmm, how long have I been gone? Do you know, little one?"
Lifting the Swablu up, Yamato asked it how long she'd been away, but the Swablu responded with a confused look. It didn't seem to understand what she meant.
"It only hatched a week ago, so it probably doesn't understand your question."
Pokémon grow rapidly. Most Pokémon pass through their infancy in an extremely short time, then begin training and growing in their base form; this Swablu being a perfect example.
Though it could fly and speak, its logical thinking ability was still underdeveloped, and it didn't understand what Yamato meant by "gone."
"Robin? You're still here? How long was I gone?"
After releasing Swablu, Yamato noticed Robin holding a stack of research documents.
"A little over half a month."
"So it really was that long... Oh! Let me tell you, I went to this super interesting place, and there..."
"You met another version of yourself there, and you had a fight with 'Kaido'."
Yamato had just started to describe her journey, but Robin cut her off with the answer.
"That's right! So my wish was kind of granted... Wait…how do you know about that?"
Looking at Robin who answered first, Yamato suddenly had a bad feeling.
"After you left, Lord Arceus opened a live broadcast. Basically from the moment you arrived over there to the moment you left that world's Onigashima, everything was streamed over here."
"Don't worry, not many people were watching. Aside from Lord Arceus and Lord Kaido, it was just me, the Ulti siblings and Maria."
"Sister Misu seems to have seen it too."
"Maybe a few others saw it when I wasn't paying attention, but one thing's for sure, Sir Queen didn't see it. He was dancing the whole time."
Yamato's brain automatically began filtering out the unimportant parts, and in the end, only one sentence remained clearly in her mind.
Kaido saw it.
"Uh... did you guys hear anything I said?"
"Mmm... if you mean calling him 'that b*stard Kaido,' then yes, we heard it."
Crack...
Robin rubbed her ear. She felt like she might be overworked lately, because she just heard the sound of stone weathering and crumbling. Meanwhile, Yamato's face turned lifeless at her reply.
"Robin, see you in a bit…no, see you much later. I'm heading out. Don't ask me where, because I don't know either."
She had originally regretted not leaving more luggage with the other Yamato, but now she was immensely glad by that decision. After checking her supplies, she immediately decided to flee.
"Is it really that bad? Haven't you called Mr. Kaido a b*stard right to his face before?"
"That's different. I mean, he is a b*stard, sure, but those times, we were already fighting."
"If he finds out I talked badly behind his back, then I'm handing him an excuse to hit me."
"I can already imagine what that lunatic old man would do."
『Worororo~ My foolish daughter, allow me to teach you what manners are.』
"He'd definitely be shouting something like that while dragging me off to fight."
After this brief trip, Yamato's acting talent seemed to come alive, directly mimicking Kaido's mannerisms right in front of Robin.
"Hahaha! That was actually spot on."
"Anyway, I'm out. See you in a while."
Satisfied that her supplies were enough to live freely for a while, Yamato spread her lightning wings and was about to go find a good hiding place, only to be interrupted again by Robin.
"Wait a second, there's actually something I haven't told you. Mr. Kaido has already left Onigashima."
"Lord Arceus specifically waited until Mr. Kaido left before bringing you back here."
The people on Onigashima could generally be divided into two camps; the battle-loving pirates who admired Kaido, and those who revered Arceus, like the scholars from Ohara and the orphans from the monastery.
Especially after seeing what the world was like without Arceus, their faith and respect for him only grew stronger.
Upon hearing that Kaido was gone, Yamato instantly felt a huge weight lifted from her chest.
"Wait, why didn't you say something so important earlier?!"
"Oh, that? I wanted to see your panicked reaction. I hadn't noticed it before, but during Lord Arceus's livestream of you, I realized that your panicked face is actually pretty funny."
"Robin... you've become corrupted too..."
****Please support on pat*eon for extra chapters; there is date to date subscription enabled on patreon. [There is a 7-day trial version availabe on patreon.]
https://www.pat*eon.com/dmtranslations
You can read ahead upto 75 chapters on my pa*reon.