"Otama, I'm leaving."
One day.
After finishing weaving straw hats at home with Otama, Karl suddenly spoke to her.
"Eh..."
Otama froze for a moment, then her little face went pale all at once.
Looking up blankly at Karl, Otama's lips trembled; her round violet eyes were about to mist over. Choking up, she said, "Big brother... are you leaving?"
"Ah..."
Seeing her in tears after saying that.
Karl reached out to pat her head and said gently, "I'm actually going to another island to visit someone. I just passed through the famed Land of Samurai and couldn't help taking a look."
"Clearly, that was the right choice—because I met you here, Otama."
Wiping the tears from her cheeks, Karl smiled softly. "But nothing lasts forever in this world. I'm not of Wano; sooner or later I have to leave."
"Big brother..."
Otama bit her upper lip hard, tears still flowing, and could no longer get words out.
"No..."
Just as she was about to burst into sobs, Karl suddenly said something that stopped her crying: "Otama, would you like to leave Wano with me?"
"R-really?"
Her eyes lit up, still a little choked. "Big brother, will you really take me with you?"
Poor Tenguyama Hitetsu.
A master's pull can never match a sunny, handsome, gentle big brother.
Karl nodded and smiled. "Of course. I can't bear to part with you either, so I'm asking—will you come with me, Otama?"
"Mm-hmm... I will, I will!"
Otama nodded hard and fast.
In the two weeks with Karl, Otama had the happiest time of her life.
Though her life was barely five years, and true self-awareness not much more than three.
Just as that awareness was taking clearer shape, she met Karl.
Like Carina, in just two weeks Otama had been molded by Karl.
Between big brother and master, Otama chose the former.
Just like back then, Carina chose Karl over the orphanage mother and her playmates.
"Good. Then keep weaving the straw hats, and I'll go talk with your master."
Karl patted her head, then vanished in an instant before her eyes.
When Karl appeared again, it was before a tall figure not far outside the house.
"You must be Otama's master!"
Looking at the tengu-masked, tengu-garbed man—Tenguyama Hitetsu—Karl smiled and introduced himself. "I'm Karl. Pleased to meet you."
"I am Tenguyama Hitetsu, a swordsmith..."
Lowering his gaze on Karl, he spoke in a samurai tone. "I have watched you for a long time, outsider Karl."
"Ah..."
Karl nodded. "I know. My Haki sensed you from the start."
"Haki—Ryuo."
He used Wano's term and continued. "I also watched with Ryuo. Your feelings for Otama—I saw them all."
"A face can be disguised, but eyes and the heart do not lie."
Then Tenguyama Hitetsu suddenly did something even Karl hadn't expected.
He dropped to both knees and bowed low with his forehead to the ground. "I heard your talk with Otama."
"Compared to you, I am unworthy to be her master."
"Since she became aware, that girl has survived on millet and well water. I couldn't even fill her belly."
"Nor could I give her a happy childhood."
"These two weeks were the most smiles and the happiest days in her few years."
"My Ryuo tells me there is great power within you, a being far beyond me."
"If it is you, you can surely protect Otama and let her grow up safe and sound."
He paused, looked up at Karl, and said sincerely, "So please take Otama away from this hellish country!"
"That was my intention. I'm glad you agree."
Karl nodded, then took the remaining gold bars from his person and handed them to Tenguyama Hitetsu. "Next, I need to leave Wano for a few days. Before I return, you can say your farewells to Otama."
"Take this gold and buy her good food."
Seeing the gold in Karl's hand, Tenguyama Hitetsu started. "That's... far too much!"
"Take it."
Stuffing the gold into his hands, Karl added, "I forgot to tell you—my name is Karl."
"In isolated Wano, you may not know the name."
"But outside, many consider me the richest man in the world."
"R-richest... in the world..."
Tenguyama Hitetsu—who could only manage two bowls of rice for Otama each year—stared blankly, stunned by those four words.
When he came to, Karl had vanished from before his eyes.
Back inside, Karl also told Otama he would be away for a few days.
Afraid of displeasing him, and though she feared he might leave and not return, Otama still nodded obediently.
Seeing that pitiful face, Karl couldn't help rubbing her cheeks and promised again and again that he would come back.
He even swore on a little pup and on Komachiyo as sworn kin, finally making Otama smile through tears.
With Otama won over, Karl had achieved his purpose in Wano.
And then...
He prepared to head for Onigashima, to call on one of the four strongest rulers of the New World's mightiest sea and see the true summit of this world.
Onigashima lay on an island near Wano.
Shaped like a demon's giant horn, it was the Beasts Pirates' stronghold, one of the New World's Four Emperors' crews.
From Wano, one only needed to cross an inland sea to reach it.
With his unique-tier perception, Karl quickly found its location.
Swoosh—
He turned into current and threaded through the field.
With successive instant shifts, Karl swiftly crossed the inland sea and reached the shore of Onigashima with ease.
"Worthy of a Yonko's base—the strong auras here far outnumber Wano's."
Karl sighed slightly, as when he first landed in Wano.
Then the corner of his mouth curled. "Found you. Seems my luck's good lately."
The one famed as the world's strongest creature had, after all, forged monstrous defenses.
In short, Kaido often chose to attempt suicide around the world or to challenge other sovereigns—including Marine Headquarters, the sea's true overlords.
Though he failed many times and was captured more than a few, since no one could kill him—or for other reasons—Kaido always escaped in the end.
Thus the world deemed Kaido the strongest in single combat.
Attempting suicide had even become one of his hobbies.
Unlike the other Emperors, who took their children or a ship of subordinates whenever they sailed, Kaido—with his unmatched might and the flying Fish-Fish Fruit, Mythical Model: Azure Dragon—liked to go alone and roam the world.
Except on certain important days, Kaido was often away from Onigashima.
To hit his first visit to Onigashima and find Kaido home would indeed be lucky.
"Hey... an outsider?!"
As Karl was about to go pay Kaido a visit.
A sudden voice made his motion to release the field pause; a rare hint of surprise crossed his face.
No way... for real? Someone's that close?!
Had his perception failed?
Swoosh—
As Karl was about to send his Observation Haki out again.
A white figure, moving at a ghostly speed, used successive flashes from afar and appeared before Karl.
At the sight, Karl was slightly startled.
Images sprang up in his mind, replaying that figure's flashes.
...Had absolute insight been triggered?
In a few seconds—almost as the white figure stopped—Karl learned that mode of movement.
It was like Soru of the Six Powers: high-speed movement through sheer physical prowess.
Unlike Karl, that figure had woven in a special trick.
That technique might have been a Devil Fruit ability or an innate gift, letting that speed lack the wild backlash Karl had before learning the Six Powers.
In a blink she went from far away to right before Karl.
Thanks to Life Return, Karl could also reproduce that special technique.
So he learned the footwork in a second.
Still, by comparison, his Lightning Blink was superior.
Trash.
Tossing the new skill into a corner to gather dust, Karl looked at the figure before him, and his face slowly turned odd.
A towering two-point-six-meter figure; with height-boosting geta she stood some seventy centimeters taller than Karl.
Though taller by that much, her build was not coarse at all.
A Hannya mask hid her face; horns rose atop her head; long green hair that almost looked fake; a kanabo hung at her back.
She wore a white kimono with blue patterns; two diamond emblems at the chest; a huge shimenawa at her waist; red hakama and geta—clearly female.
Karl did not find her unfamiliar.
One of the few in the Wano and Onigashima arc who had left a deep impression.
The paragon of filial piety—the great child, Yamato!
<><><><><><>
Read Advanced Chapters on : patreon.com/Kaizo247
~ Every 150 PS = Bonus Chapter!
~ Push the Story forward with your [Power Stones]