"You…!!!"
Ace looked like a kid who'd just found treasure. His face lit up with pure excitement.
"You know Uncle Ozz too?!!"
"Huh??"
Ace's reaction completely threw Yamato off balance.
"Wait… you too?"
…
"So that's how it is. You met Uncle Ozz when you were little too?"
Sitting on the edge of a cliff, Ace stared out at the sea. Below them, one person after another was being rescued and carried off by his crew, yet here he was, drinking with Kaido's daughter like it was the most natural thing in the world.
"Glug, glug… ha…"
Yamato smiled brightly. After taking a long swig, she nodded.
"After Lord Ozz and I parted ways, Kaido, who'd been seriously wounded by him, recovered and the very first thing he did was slap shackles on my wrists."
"Back then, I didn't understand why he made me wear something so heavy."
"You know what he said?"
Ace shook his head, but his eyes gleamed with curiosity.
So that's what it meant.
From the way Yamato was talking, Kaido had once been defeated by Uncle Ozz.
Ace knew Uncle Ozz carried terrifying weight on the seas, and his strength was downright absurd, but this was the first time he'd heard someone say it plainly.
That he'd beaten Kaido, one of the Four Emperors, "Beasts" Kaido, so badly he was left gravely injured.
Yamato did not notice Ace's expression. She kept facing the sea, and continued, imitating Kaido's voice.
"He said…"
"Stop thinking about useless crap. Trying to imitate that bastard Ozz, are you? From now on, you're staying on Onigashima!"
"Hahahaha!"
Ace burst out laughing, even though he knew that, for Yamato, it had been cruel.
When Yamato shot him an unfriendly look, Ace waved his hands quickly.
"Sorry, sorry. But man, that really does sound like Uncle Ozz."
"You don't look sorry at all!"
Yamato threw a playful punch. Ace caught it easily. The two started roughhousing like kids.
…
Before they realized it, they were talking like they'd been friends for ages.
"Hey, Ace," Yamato said, eyes full of longing as she watched the sunset. "Tell me about the sea. Anything. Just talk."
Ace grinned. Of course he was happy to share.
"Sure, but it's gonna be long. Better brace yourself."
They drank and talked until night fell, both of them buzzing with energy.
"…And then Uncle Ozz would always flick Luffy on the head. When we were kids, we didn't get it. But when we got older, we realized…"
Ace laughed as he spoke.
"He could actually make Luffy's rubber head hurt because he was secretly using Armament Haki!"
"Hahahaha!"
Yamato slapped her thigh, laughing so hard her face turned red. She was completely into it.
Especially when the topic was Ozz.
"He really is amazing, Ozz-sama. Doing whatever he wants, whenever he wants. So insanely cool!"
Ace smiled and nodded.
"Yeah. I heard he was like that even as a cabin boy."
Yamato was fascinated by everything beyond Wano, so she leaned in and asked more.
"So what's the sea like now? Any rookies making waves?"
Ace thought for a moment.
"I heard there's some guy called Cavendish who's pretty famous. And in a bunch of seas, there are some really crazy people stirring up trouble."
"Really?!!"
Yamato looked like a child hearing legends. Her cheeks flushed with excitement as she stared at Ace.
"South Blue's Kid, North Blue's Law, West Blue's Bege. And of course…"
Ace's grin turned proud.
"My little brother, who'll set sail in a few years. He's definitely gonna be the strongest one."
"How many times is your brother going to show up in your stories?"
Yamato laughed. Truthfully, what she wanted most was an Ozz story, so she asked directly.
But that made Ace scratch his head.
"Uncle Ozz…"
He looked a little troubled.
"It's been years. The title 'Black Spear' hasn't shown up on the sea in a long time. But the entire world still remembers his name."
"If nothing else, the Four Emperors where your father sits, and the World Government's official violence organization, the Seven Warlords of the Sea…"
"They're all still working for him."
That news made Yamato's face fall.
"How could that be…"
She had thought, after so many years, someone like Ozz-sama would've done a hundred earthshaking things, because that was who he was.
Instead… he had vanished for years.
They drank a lot that night.
Ace drifted into a heavy sleep. When he woke, his head was still foggy, and he ended up talking about his little brother's dream.
To Yamato's surprise, it was exactly the same as the dream Uncle Ozz had once told her about, the dream of the man she respected most.
Gol D. Roger.
Only then did she finally understand the answer to the question she'd asked as a child.
Back then, she had sat on Ozz's lap just like this, staring out at the sea.
"Hey… Ozz-sama. If you were the strongest on Roger's ship, why didn't you become the next Pirate King?"
That was how Ozz had answered.
His expression had been complicated, but in the end he'd smiled.
"Dreams aren't the same for everyone. Only people whose dreams align can inherit another person's will."
"And what I'm chasing…"
"Is my own true happiness and freedom."
Ozz had also said this.
That Roger's dream was childish, and he could say without hesitation that it was almost impossible to truly achieve.
But still…
Anyone who dared to chase a final, ultimate ideal like that would earn Ozz's recognition.
"Then…"
Yamato fiddled with her fingers, looking shy.
"In the future, you and me and your brother… the three of us will sail out together!"
Yamato also wanted to become someone Ozz could acknowledge.
…
"Then… see you later! I'll keep your Vivre Card safe!"
Yamato ran along the hillside, waving her arms wildly.
"We have to meet again, Ace!"
After his initial shock, Ace held his hat and laughed out loud.
"Hahahaha! Of course!"
…
"Man… it really feels like Uncle Ozz's footprints are everywhere…"
As the memories caught up to him, Ace inevitably thought of Tama in Wano.
That purple-haired, adorable little girl who worshiped Ozz like a god.
He'd also learned from her that Ozz-sama had once saved her family from ruin.
"What? You said Ozz?"
That name immediately drew the attention of the entire Whitebeard crew. The mood turned strange the moment it was spoken.
Especially Teach, who pretended not to care, but his ears were practically standing straight up.
In the end, Marco answered Ace's confusion.
"You didn't know, Ace? That was a long time ago."
"When Pops was younger, he once fought 'Black Spear' in a battle that destroyed a gigantic island."
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