Chapter 180 – Kaido: Damn, my little cotton-padded jacket is leaking, she's stuck to Renji!
"Looks like I still beat you in one thing!"
Kaido held up his wine gourd and laughed loudly. After all these years, Renji was still single, while he already had a daughter.
"What are you so proud of?"
Kaido's smug look made Renji uncomfortable. You bastard, you had a good daughter! But she was a dutiful daughter of the worst kind, the sort he would never want.
In Renji's eyes, Yamato turning out this way was tightly connected to Kaido. That guy had no clue how to raise children, which led to Yamato becoming a brainless fan the moment she read Kozuki Oden's voyage diary.
And Yamato's head had a hole in it—she read a single diary and immediately inserted herself into it.
Who in their right mind keeps a diary anyway?
"Renji, come on. If I win today, then I'll be captain of this pirate crew!!"
Kaido was full of confidence. In the years he had disappeared, he had been training nonstop.
That was the source of his courage. This time, he would take back everything that had originally belonged to him!
Hearing Kaido's words, King, Queen, and Little Jack all turned to look.
They knew Kaido was a division captain in the crew. Even so, they followed him willingly.
But they never understood why someone so strong as Kaido would join another pirate crew.
Then, seeing Renji, they understood.
"So this guy is the captain?"
King's eyes locked onto Renji. If it was him, Kaido's decision made sense.
Queen, however, was afraid. He had seen Renji in a live broadcast before and knew he was insane. This man was even more terrifying than Kaido—especially his strength.
And now his own boss wanted to challenge this man and take the captain's seat?
What the hell?!
Was their pirate crew always this crazy?
"Hey! If there's a challenge, I should be first!"
Bullet immediately grew annoyed.
He knew Kaido—wasn't this guy from the old Rocks Pirates?
And now he had joined Renji's crew.
Good!
That guy was from the Oni race, wasn't he? He had to fight him someday.
Bullet glanced around at everyone else.
Other than the old, the children, and the weak women, he wanted to fight every single one of them!
"Renji, where did you find another lunatic?"
Old John felt a wave of bad premonition when he saw Bullet's eyes.
Don't tell him he had dragged back another madman? That look—was he planning to beat even him up?
Right now Bullet looked like even a passing dog would get punched.
Madman!
This whole pirate crew was full of madmen!
Couldn't they calm down? Couldn't they be mature like him, instead of always thinking about fighting?
Old John only felt exhausted.
"Douglas Bullet, once a member of the Roger Pirates. He left them for reasons unknown."
Queen shared Bullet's background. Most of them here had never left Wano.
King had always been locked up for experiments, and Jack was too young to know much.
Only Queen had once roamed the seas for a time after his team was disbanded. Later he met Kaido and, at Kaido's invitation, joined his division.
At first, he had doubted Kaido's talk of divisions and pirate crews.
Why would someone with such ambition and strength join another man's crew?
Then, after learning Kaido and the captain had a duel agreement, he thought Kaido would soon become captain.
In Queen's eyes, Kaido was a monster.
"Bullet, your challenge can wait. Train more and come find me later. We'll start with Kaido."
Renji directly rejected Bullet's request to fight. Kaido was the one he wanted to beat.
That guy hadn't been beaten for too long. He was probably feeling cocky again.
"Fight Father?"
Yamato's eyes were full of curiosity. At this time, Kaido was invincible in her heart.
And as her father, she naturally wanted to believe he would win.
"Kaido's probably going to get beaten by the captain again."
Ivankov muttered. He had seen Renji thrash Kaido many times before. Each time Kaido lost, he refused to accept it, only to return later and be beaten again.
So much time had passed, but likely nothing had changed. Ivankov didn't know how much Renji's strength had grown, but Captain John once said Renji was always improving.
It was easy to imagine how badly Kaido was about to get pummeled.
"Impossible! Father would never lose!"
Yamato shouted loudly, unwilling to believe or accept her father could lose.
The fight hadn't even begun, and they already thought her father would lose!
How could her father lose?!
"Ivankov, don't speak nonsense about something that hasn't happened yet!" Ginny said, walking over to hug Yamato. "I believe this will be a fierce and exhilarating battle, no matter who wins or loses."
Although in her heart she was sure Renji would win, it wasn't right to say that in front of the girl.
Seeing Yamato's tear-filled eyes, nearly crying with anger, Ginny's maternal instincts burst forth.
At this age, little girls really were the cutest.
"You think my father will win too?"
"..."
I didn't say that.
A trace of helplessness flashed in Ginny's heart. But seeing the girl's pitiful look stirred her compassion.
It seemed Yamato only wanted reassurance.
"Probably, though there could always be surprises."
Ginny nodded, agreeing with Yamato. This made the girl smile through her tears.
She only lacked a sense of security.
Since she was little, Kaido had only ever had King, Queen, and Jack at his side.
Among her father's followers, only Jack was around Yamato's age. The other two never played with her, and even Jack only thought about becoming stronger. This left Yamato feeling very lonely deep inside.
Especially after following Kaido into this new environment.
Everything here was strange and unfamiliar, which only made her unease worse.
"Yes, Father will never lose!"
Yamato puffed up her chest and looked to the sky, where Kaido was clashing with Renji.
Kaido had already taken on his most powerful hybrid form. With the beastly body of his Zoan fruit, armed with Haki, and faster than before, he was at his peak.
"Kaido, you're about the same as Bullet!"
Renji thought back to his battle with Bullet. Comparing them now, Kaido seemed no stronger—perhaps even weaker.
It made sense. Kaido had once been scarred forever by Kozuki Oden's strike, while the current Bullet would never lose to Oden.
Still, later Kaido would merge his Oni heritage with his Zoan fruit completely, surpassing Bullet.
In the end, the world truly belonged to the Mythical Zoans.
Renji sighed inwardly. It looked like he needed to secure his last Zoan fruit quickly.
Nika would be a great choice.
The only problem was the willpower influence after awakening—that was troublesome.
Back when Renji watched the anime, he seriously suspected the real Luffy had already died under Kaido's club, and the one who woke up was actually Nika.
"Renji, you bastard! Today I'll smash your face into a pig's head!"
Kaido roared in anger. After all his training, being belittled like that made it feel pointless.
Today he would prove himself to Renji!
"Is that so? I look forward to it."
"You son of a—!!"
Kaido grew even angrier.
What was with that indifferent attitude?
The two fought without pause for two days and nights. From this, Renji realized Bullet might suppress Kaido early on, but in a drawn-out battle Kaido's endurance would overwhelm him.
By the third day, the others had grown numb and even started cooking by the fire.
On the fourth, fifth, and sixth days, Kaido was nearly drained. He had tried to use his Zoan stamina to outlast Renji, but it wasn't working.
Instead of exhausting Renji, it was Kaido who was being worn down!
Had Renji's stamina become this terrifying?
By the seventh day, Kaido was at his limit. His body couldn't keep up with Renji's relentless pace.
They hadn't stopped for even a moment, and Kaido had been the one taking the blows. If he had been able to trade evenly, it wouldn't have been so bad—but as it was, he was only being beaten.
Renji's fist came slowly toward him.
Kaido, though he saw it clearly, no longer had the strength to dodge. That "slow" fist knocked him from the sky and left him unconscious in a crater.
Yamato was stunned at the sight of her father's defeat.
Her father… lost?!
For days she had been confident. At first she was excited, later she thought Renji couldn't possibly outlast her father. Only now did she realize how naïve she had been.
"He's fine, just exhausted."
Renji glanced at the worried Yamato, sighing inwardly.
At this time, the dutiful daughter really was dutiful.
How did she turn out so differently later? She was so cute now!
"You could've ended this long ago!"
Bullet looked at Renji in confusion. He could tell Renji had been capable of winning much earlier, yet he had dragged the fight out. That wasn't how he had fought Bullet.
"Because this is what Kaido prides himself on most. I fought him this way to show him he's not the only one who has been growing."
So what if you can fight?
Strength alone wasn't enough—you needed power, status, and background too!
Renji's aim was to crush Kaido at his proudest point.
Bullet fell silent.
So he wanted Kaido to lose convincingly?
"I'll definitely defeat you one day!"
Oh?
No sooner had he beaten the father than the daughter stepped up?
Yamato declared, in her childish voice, that she would take her father's place and defeat him one day. Renji couldn't help finding it amusing.
"Then you'd better work hard."
Renji smiled at her, reaching out to pat her head, but she dodged and glared at him stubbornly.
"Hmph, I will!"
"No wonder they say you'll be one of the greatest women pirates in the future. Impressive!"
"Hmph, of course!"
Yamato lifted her head proudly, full of smugness.
Though he was her father's enemy, being praised like that still felt amazing!
She was secretly delighted—until she remembered her father had just been knocked out by this man. She quickly shook her head and said defensively, "Even if you praise me, I won't be happy!"
"Is that so? But I wasn't praising you. I was just speaking the truth. Isn't it allowed to tell the truth anymore?"
"T-That…"
Yamato's eyes darted away, her flushed face betraying her heart.
Ginny, watching, felt odd. No wonder—this captain really was like a shady uncle. He'd lured them in the same way back then too.
"Yamato, you've grown. Don't live under your father's shadow anymore. I believe in you—you'll surpass him one day!"
"Really?"
"Of course. You'll be the bravest woman warrior on the seas!"
"Yes!"
Yamato no longer had her earlier doubts. Even though this man had beaten her father, and her father still lay unconscious, none of that was Renji's fault.
That's right!
Renji-sama wasn't wrong at all!
When she had first arrived in Wano she had been anxious and afraid, but now it felt better than being with her father.
Everyone here spoke kindly. She loved it!
"Renji-sama, will you teach me to cultivate one day?"
Yamato looked at him with hope. She believed that if Renji could defeat her father, he could make her stronger than him too.
"You want to take me as your master?"
Renji suddenly realized—if he reshaped Yamato's thinking early, wouldn't that change her destiny as well?
In his view, the Wano arc's Yamato was complete trash, written so badly it disgusted him.
She had even started calling herself a man and fought her own father—unbelievable!
(End of Chapter)
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