Chapter 361: Kaido's Whereabouts
In fact.
As early as the moment Rabbit appeared.
Even though she was affected by the "Drums of Liberation", Oni Princess still reacted extremely quickly.
"Mirror... Mountain..."
Accompanied by such a gritted-teeth low roar.
From her body, a layer of fine, thin ice began to spread along her body, turning into a layer of armor exactly as the long sword in Rabbit's hand fell.
Seeing this scene, Oni Princess's heart finally relaxed a little.
That seemingly very thin, even almost crystal-clear frost armor, was also a defensive method she was proud of.
Don't underestimate this thin layer of frost armor; its defensive effect is sufficient to resist a full-force 'Thunder Bagua' strike from her father, the Four Emperor 'Beasts' Kaido.
Oni Princess had also already made up her mind—as long as she withstood this strike and waited to adapt to that bizarre drumbeat, she wouldn't be afraid even if she fought one against two. But...
Just an instant later, Oni Princess's pupils abruptly contracted.
Accompanying Rabbit's slashing strike.
Squelch!
She actually heard the violent sound of breaking wind coming from the air.
The coating of Conqueror's Haki goes without saying, but the most crucial thing was...
Within that slashing strike, Oni Princess seemed to hear countless angry roars.
Those roars made her feel as if she were on an ancient battlefield, and in front of her was a vast, unstoppable, and powerful army charging towards her. Those angry roars were like blades slashing down, seemingly shouting for freedom.
Those angry roars were like fluttering banners, seemingly screaming for revolution.
Those angry roars exploded like thunder, seemingly carrying an endless thirst for freedom and liberation.
BOOM!
With one slash, the flames Ace had swung out all around were shattered in an instant, and then... they seemed to come alive as well, turning back into a part of this slashing strike.
Immediately after, Oni Princess saw...
That unbelievable strike easily shattered the 'Mirror Mountain' covering the surface of her body.
The next moment, Oni Princess's left arm was severed at the shoulder and flew high into the air.
Not only that...
Squelch!
The walls, along with the solid ice on the ground, shattered together.
The ceiling was shattered, revealing the moonlight of the sky.
The ground was also shattered, and one could see the ravines appearing out of thin air on the earth.
In the distance, Ace could even see the massive enclosing wall belonging to Udon from afar—that high wall forged from the hardest natural giant stones, at this moment... actually shattered as well!
The entire Udon was... bisected by this single strike!
"So strong."
After seeing this scene, Ace's eyes instantly widened.
He almost instinctively let out such an exclamation, his gaze looking at Rabbit in disbelief.
In all fairness.
In Ace's view, the ability Rabbit displayed earlier to conjure a powerful army out of thin air and activate everyone's fighting spirit was already terrifying enough.
Because of this, Ace actually assumed that Rabbit might not be too outstanding in terms of personal strength—after all, the other party's ability clearly seemed to be of a support type.
But now, the fact he saw clearly told him—the real situation was completely different from what he thought.
Not only possessing a strategic-level group enhancement ability, Rabbit's individual strength was similarly at a level beyond his cognition.
"So this is... The Zodiac."
His gaze looked at Rabbit, and his understanding of the words "The Zodiac" seemed to have deepened in his heart.
Rabbit didn't feel surprised at all by the effect caused by his strike.
[Liberation Fruit]
[Additional Fusion Effect: Veins Linked to Freedom]
[For the fighters who obtain 'liberation' through the power of the Liberation Fruit, a portion of their strength and Haki can be fed back inversely into the ability user's own body through the drumbeats of liberation, comprehensively enhancing the ability user's attributes]
[The more people liberated, the stronger this effect]
Yes.
Although Rabbit's own 'Star Fruit' had not yet been created.
But as a fused fruit, the 'Liberation Fruit' itself still possessed an additional fusion effect belonging to it.
Its effect was also the reason why Rabbit called himself a "revolutionary".
The more people his ability liberated, and the stronger their fighting spirit, their power would feed back into Rabbit, granting him unconventional strength. Just like right now.
The power in his body, those angry roars of resistance and thoughts of freedom, originated exactly from the prisoners fighting inside Udon. It was them who brought this massive power to Rabbit, it's just that...
This was still not enough.
Exactly when Ace and Rabbit were pondering in their respective hearts.
Rumble!
Accompanied by a massive sound and flying rocks.
From the shattered earth and piled-up rubble below, a figure stood back up.
It was Oni Princess.
The two horns on her head still stood upright, her breathing was somewhat rapid, and the position of her left arm was completely empty.
But bizarrely, looking at other aspects of her body, this person actually didn't seem to have suffered any fatal injuries.
"This guy's physique... is she a monster?"
Ace couldn't help but look solemn right now. This level of physical strength was simply more exaggerated than the Fish-Man race he had seen before.
At the same time, he clenched his fists again, and the flames on his body began to reignite.
But...
"There is no need, Mr. Ace."
Rabbit gently reached out his hand at this time, stopping Ace's movements.
"The battle is already over."
"Over?"
These words made Ace very puzzled. He frowned deeply and looked at Oni Princess below: "But that guy clearly still..."
The other party clearly hadn't lost combat capability yet.
And hearing this, Rabbit merely shook his head.
He didn't answer Ace's doubt, merely silently looking at that figure below.
"Hah... Hah..."
Right now, there was no look of pain on Oni Princess's face at all because of her severed hand—she clutched her head with her remaining right hand, seemingly not having recovered her senses yet.
"I... I am..."
She widened her eyes, murmuring softly.
Subsequently, she seemed to gradually start recalling what happened, and then her face visibly became twisted and angry: "That bastard old man, Kaido... you guy..."
She almost ground her teeth so hard they clicked.
Ace: "??"
Old man? Kaido?
"Hey... wait... Rabbit, could this guy be..."
Ace wasn't stupid. From these few words, it was naturally enough to judge the other party's identity.
But before he could ask further, he had already heard Rabbit's matter-of-course answer.
"That's right."
This member of The Zodiac leaped amidst the firelight and arrived in front of Oni Princess: "She is Kaido's daughter, the 'Oni Princess' Miss Yamato."
He said this to Yamato, his words relaxed.
"It seems, you've sobered up now?"
"Perfect... let's have a chat."
Twenty minutes later.
The sounds of slaughter inside Udon had reached the final stage—with the enhancement of Rabbit's ability, the members of the Beasts Pirates were clearly completely outmatched. It was only a short matter of time before they were completely routed.
And in the ruins deep inside Udon, Ace was still absorbing the intelligence he had just obtained.
Clearly to him, that was intelligence far too unbelievable.
"Kaido's daughter actually worships the Daimyo of Wano Country."
"Kaido has already allied with the people behind the World Government. The Devil Fruits he obtained recently and the various internal changes in the Beasts Pirates are all related to this."
He had never even heard of these things before today.
But from the conversation between Rabbit and Yamato, he could also judge... everything was true.
After all, the Yamato sitting in front of him right now and the one who acted as the "Ice Disaster" earlier were simply like two different people.
"Are you saying... the thing controlling her was that mark?"
Ace's gaze couldn't help but look at the object placed beside Rabbit.
That was the left arm he had personally severed from Yamato not long ago—on the left arm, that pitch-black mark was still extremely conspicuous. "That's right. The mark of the Deep Sea Contract, power belonging to the true master behind the World Government."
Rabbit didn't hide it from Ace.
Yes.
When he learned from Bao Huang that the 'Ice Disaster' among the three newly promoted All-Stars of the Beasts Pirates this time was named Oni Princess, he had actually faintly guessed the crux of the matter.
Although the title "Oni Princess" was completely unknown on the sea—besides the Beast elites on Onigashima, almost no one knew Kaido also had a daughter.
But as a transmigrator, Rabbit, or rather Roy, instantly realized that the identity of the Ice Disaster must inevitably be Yamato.
But the problem lay exactly here.
According to the plot he understood, although Yamato was indeed Kaido's biological daughter, and even her strength carried her father's legacy. However, due to Teacher Kaido's oppressive education, coupled with having known several Wano Country samurai including Shimotsuki Ushimaru in her youth, and obtaining Kozuki Oden's diary from their hands.
Under various reasons, Yamato was not submissive to Kaido, and even regarded him as an enemy, furthermore styling herself as Kozuki Oden.
In other words... under normal circumstances, it was absolutely impossible for her to become the 'Ice Disaster' and serve her father.
Just this point, plus the intelligence heard earlier that Kaido and Imu seemed to have reached a cooperation—Rabbit could almost conclude that Yamato's current situation was abnormal.
Thus, this plan was born.
"As long as the arm is severed, the contract can be lifted?"
After listening to the above statement, Ace looked somewhat curiously at the arm in Rabbit's hands.
"It's not that simple either."
Rabbit smiled and shook his head.
Imu's contract marks are indeed engraved on the left arm, and in the original work, someone indeed temporarily broke free from Imu's contract control by destroying their arm—for example, "Red-Haired" Shanks.
But today, Roy, who understood enough about the Source Energy of Lineage Factor, knew.
"Severing the contracted part is only one part. More crucially... the power of 'freedom', which is not bound by Imu."
"In the original work, the reason Shanks was able to completely lift the contract should also be because he was exactly beside Luffy when his arm was severed, plus his contract at the time was only the weakest 'Shallow Sea Contract'."
Of course, there was naturally no need to tell Ace about these matters.
"The true master behind the World Government?"
While Ace and Rabbit were still conversing, Yamato beside them thoughtfully interrupted their conversation.
She had already briefly treated the injury on her arm, and relying on her monster-like physique, her aura didn't even show any obvious signs of weakness. "I saw in Lord Oden's diary... During the process of exploring Laugh Tale, he and the Pirate King Roger found intelligence about that guy—that guy is the 'Abyss', right?"
She looked at Rabbit with a serious expression.
Beside her, Ace's face also slightly stiffened when he heard the name "Roger".
Rabbit noticed, but clearly paid no mind to Ace's thoughts, nodding at Yamato: "That's right—though actually, that guy's current name is 'Nerona Imu'."
"No matter what He is called, I know... that is the enemy Oden had to open the country to fight against no matter what, the guy Wano Country is destined to defeat!"
Yamato gritted her teeth: "That bastard Kaido, actually cooperated with that kind of monster..."
She clenched her right fist in anger, trembling all over.
One must know, she had been forcibly engraved with the "Deep Sea Contract" by Kaido previously, almost becoming Imu's running dog.
For her, who was determined to fulfill Kozuki Oden's dying wish, this was simply terrifying to the extreme just thinking about it.
"Unforgivable!"
Her beautiful face was full of indignation.
Subsequently, she raised her head and looked at Rabbit: "Rabbit of The Zodiac, right? I saw the situation about you guys in the newspaper... You are the biggest enemies of the World Government, right?"
Unlike Ace, who was relatively isolated inside Wano Country.
Although she was also subjected to Kaido's control and surveillance in these past years and couldn't leave Onigashima, she still had many ways to get the latest newspapers.
So compared to Ace, she was instead clearer about The Zodiac's influence on the sea today.
Rabbit didn't deny her words, merely looking at her with a smile.
"Then that's it!"
Even without getting the desired answer, Yamato still said excitedly: "Aren't you guys allied with the Giant race and the Fish-Man race? Judging from the newspaper, your Aster should be able to ignore the sea waves around Wano Country, right? If we add the few top executives of your Zodiac... we'll go occupy Onigashima right now, and when that guy Kaido comes back, we'll take him out and return freedom to this country!"
Her eyes shone with a look of anticipation.
She knew these guys could definitely do it.
Ace: "..."
Leaving aside whether this situation of a lack of paternal love and filial piety was a bit too much.
Could someone explain to him what the Aster is? And when did the Giant race and the Fish-Man race ally with The Zodiac—have such massive changes actually happened on the sea in the short time since he arrived in Wano Country?
Compared to Ace's completely bewildered look right now.
Rabbit, however, rapidly captured an extremely crucial piece of information from Yamato's words.
"Wait for Kaido to come back?"
He looked at Yamato: "Do you mean... Kaido is not in Wano Country right now?"
"Mm."
Hearing Rabbit's inquiry, Yamato nodded without any hesitation.
"Ever since he reached a cooperation with the World Government, the World Government gave him a 'weapon' sufficient to dominate the sea." "He is currently preparing to launch a war to test the 'power' this weapon possesses, and has already set off and left Wano Country with the weapon."
"And the target of his war this time is... 'Totto Land', the territory of Big Mom!"
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