Chapter 29 — You Want War?
"Yes, yes, yes! Don't worry, Pops. We'll definitely save you!" Izo said with a booming smile.
The Whitebeard Pirates looked at him strangely. Marco's mouth twitched, while Jozu and Thatch looked embarrassed.
Hiyori's mouth twitched. "Ahem. I said I'm not going. I'm part of the Beast Pirates. Also, I'm the future Shogun of Wano." Hiyori turned towards Newgate and bowed respectfully. "I appreciate you all looking out for me."
Hiyori's answer caught the Whitebeard Pirates completely off guard, but Newgate looked into her eyes and laughed. "Gurarararara! Who are you thanking, you silly girl? You're the daughter of Kozuki Oden. That makes you my daughter!"
"Why wouldn't a father look after his daughter?" Newgate said without hesitation.
He looked at Ragnar and Yamato, who wore expressions that practically said, See? I told you.
Newgate continued, "And since you're willingly part of the Beast Pirates, I won't force you."
Hiyori looked at him, confused and surprised. The man standing before her was completely different from what she had thought of Edward Newgate, the Strongest Man in the World.
"Pops, how can we leave Lady Hiyori?" Izo asked, looking at Newgate in disbelief.
Marco walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Leave it, yoi. The girl gave her answer, and Pops isn't a man who will go back on his words."
Thatch also nodded. "Marco's right. And she herself doesn't want to leave, so that settles it."
The others nodded as well. Since Hiyori herself had made it clear, there was no need to provoke the Beast Pirates over nothing.
After all, war always came at a price. It wasn't some game where you could just start a war on a whim. There were countless things to consider, like the Marines, other pirates, and the World Government.
"How can we leave her with the Beast Pirates? Kaido is the killer of Oden-sama!" Izo said.
"Izo." Newgate turned towards him. "She made her choice clear. Yes, she's Oden's daughter, but as those brats said, she's more than just his daughter. She's Hiyori, a girl who has her own will and the right to decide what she wants to do."
"But, Pops, how can we leave—" Izo began, but Newgate frowned.
Marco looked at him. "Izo—"
"Hey, she said she won't be going with you, and that's that," Ragnar said, looking down at Izo. His draconic eyes stared at him with a chilling glare.
"And like we said, no one can force her to do anything as long as we're here," Yamato added, cracking her knuckles. A cold mist escaped her mouth with every breath.
Rumble!
The sky rumbled with lightning. The Beast Pirates' crew members were covered in cold sweat. Most of them trembled under the pressure. After all, they were just ordinary crew members responsible for running the ship, not combat-ready fighters.
Toto and Coco were also scared. Coco looked at Toto from the cabin. "Damn it! The call isn't going through!"
Toto gritted his teeth. "Keep trying! We have to contact Lord King or Kaido!"
His forehead was already covered in cold sweat.
Hiyori looked at Izo. "The matter between Kaido and Father is their personal matter. Me being part of the Beast Pirates is another. You don't know what happened in Wano, nor what the actual situation is, so please don't tell me what to do."
"I'm completely capable of knowing what's good for me. I can make decisions on my own."
Izo looked at her with a mixture of confusion and anger. "You… How could you say that? Are you really Lord Oden's daughter? Aren't you ashamed of working for the man who killed your father?"
He pointed at her with a trembling hand, his rage clear.
The Whitebeard Pirates looked at Izo. Thatch frowned. "Hey, Izo! Stop causing a ruckus!"
Marco looked at him. "Izo, stop it. You're not in your right mind. Don't say something you'll regret later."
Jozu nodded. "You aren't acting like yourself. Calm down."
"You… Why are you guys acting like this? She must be deceived! Otherwise, why would Lady Hiyori join the Beast Pirates willingly?" Izo said, growing even angrier.
Yes, this has to be it. Those bastards manipulated her.
In the heat of the moment, Izo became more and more confident that he was right. Believing his own assumptions, he drew his gun and pointed it at Yamato and Ragnar.
"As long as we take Lady Hiyori back, everything will be okay!"
Marco, seeing Izo acting like an idiot, snapped. "Izo! What are you doing? Stop it already!" He reached out to grab the gun.
"Marco, you don't understand—" Izo complained.
"Izo, Marco is right. Stop acting like an idiot," Jozu said, also reaching out to stop him.
"Hey, who are you pointing that gun at?" Ragnar asked, looking down at Izo.
KRA-KOOM!
The lightning in the sky intensified, and the wind began to grow violent.
The temperature started dropping.
"You wanna take her? You think you can do whatever you want? You said you wanted to hear it from her. You got your answer, and now you wanna take her?" Yamato said.
"You wanna take our friend? Not happening!" Yamato declared.
A faint pressure began leaking from her in her rage—her Conqueror's Haki.
"With us here, it's not happening," Ragnar said, his emerald body coiling in the air.
Hiyori reached for Ame-no-Habakiri. "I'm not going anywhere. Wano is my home."
Izo gritted his teeth in anger. "You—"
"Enough!" Newgate shouted, looking at Izo. "Izo, she gave her answer. Stop embarrassing yourself and Oden!"
"But, Pops—" Izo wanted to complain, but when he looked at Newgate, he stopped and lowered his head.
On the Beast Pirates' ship, Coco and Toto slumped back and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Phew! Looks like it's over. As long as no war breaks—"
"Oden this, Oden that. What's so great about that clown? Just a loser of a king who abandoned his own country and people! He didn't care about Wano when he was running around the world!"
The words came from Ragnar, who looked down at Izo.
Coco and Toto froze in pure shock and horror.
No! Damn it! Why are you talking now?!
They hugged each other in despair.
"Then one day, he comes back and wants to play king? Is this a joke? That brain-dead guy wasn't even able to see through Orochi! He believed his enemies and danced naked for five years while Wano's people suffered!" Ragnar continued, without caring about Toto and Coco's reaction.
"What did this Oden even do for Wano? All he had going for him was that he was born a Kozuki and had strength. What about his lack of brains?"
"A man who watched his people starve to death for years and did nothing but believe in his enemies' words? He led Wano to its downfall!" Ragnar said, staring at Izo.
He genuinely didn't understand what was so great about Oden. That guy might have been a great pirate, but as a king, he was a complete disgrace. Even a pig like Orochi had been better than that loser.
That guy had climbed from a lowly servant to Shogun with his brains alone, right under Oden and Sukiyaki's noses.
"How dare you say that about Lord Oden?!" Izo shouted, his eyes turning red. "What do you even know about Oden-sama?!"
"What's wrong with saying the truth?" Yamato asked, picking her ear with one finger. She looked at Izo with complete contempt.
"You—" Izo gritted his teeth.
Marco and the others also frowned. After all, Oden had been their comrade-in-arms. How could they let this brat insult him? Though Ragnar was technically correct about Oden running away from his country, that was another matter. As Oden's friends, they couldn't just let him keep badmouthing Oden.
"Hey, brats! Don't think you can keep yapping whatever you want, yoi!" Marco warned.
"We don't want a fight, but that doesn't mean we're afraid of the Beast Pirates," Jozu said as his arms transformed into diamond.
"You think we're afraid?" Yamato asked, battle lust flaring in her eyes.
Ragnar also stared at them with burning battle lust.
He didn't know if it was a special trait of the Oni race or Kaido's genes, but both he and Yamato possessed a strange battle lust.
From fragments of his memories, he still remembered that in his previous life, he hadn't been like this. He had never fought in his previous life. Yet in this life, just the thought of a fight made his blood boil.
Just as the tension reached its peak, a booming laugh rang out, followed by the thunderous crackling of lightning in the sky.
KRA-KOOM!
The already chaotic sky turned even more violent.
"Wororororororooo! So you wanna have a war, Newgate?!"
An enormous azure-blue dragon's head emerged from the clouds, following the loud voice.
Its long body coiled through the storm clouds for hundreds of meters. The sea became even more violent as enormous waves rose and fell.
Newgate looked at the dragon staring down at them.
"Gurarararara! Kaido, you brat! You think I'm afraid of a war?" Newgate replied with a grin, but his grip on his naginata tightened.
This Haki… When did this guy become this strong?