The arrival of the Tyrant Dragon Crew sent a tremor through the ranks of the Beasts Pirates. Souta Kiryuu's sharp gaze swept across the crowd and quickly landed on a figure trying to hide in the back—X Drake, the Red Flag.
So, the guy really had joined Kaido's crew after all.
Still, Souta figured Drake probably would've preferred joining his side. After all, top Marine officers like Gion and Peacock were now under the Tyrant Dragon Crew's command. Even the SWORD unit stationed at G-14 Fortress had already been wiped out by Souta's forces.
If Sengoku the Buddha and Aokiji hadn't managed to reinforce Drake's unit, the man would've been leading a one-man squad by now. With Garp not back at Marine HQ yet, even whether Coby and Helmeppo could join SWORD was up in the air.
"Wurorororo! You brought the artificial Devil Fruits, didn't you?" Kaido of the Beasts rumbled from his throne, his tone blunt and heavy. Compared to his constant headache—his so-called daughter Yamato—he was far more interested in his army of Zoan-type users finally taking shape.
Once that army was complete, Kaido intended to awaken Pluton, the ancient weapon, and launch a war that would set the world ablaze.
"I'd never show up to a deal empty-handed. Now be quick—bring your daughter out," Souta said with a faint smirk.
At his signal, Capone Bege opened a gate within his castle body and rolled out two chests packed with artificial Devil Fruits.
"Wurororo! That's more like it! Come—let's have a feast first. As for that unfilial girl—she's yours!" Kaido roared with laughter, as though handing over his daughter were no different from offloading cargo.
That foolish girl had angered him for over a decade. Finally, she had some use.
Led by Kaido, Souta and his crew entered the Beasts Pirates' stronghold—Onigashima's Skull Castle. The great Fire Festival had begun once again, grander than ever.
As the Tyrant Dragon Crew took their seats, Black Maria appeared from the fourth floor's pleasure quarters, dragging Yamato down to the grand hall.
The women of Souta's crew—the Pirate Empress and the others—turned their eyes to the so-called daughter of Kaido.
Her long hair shimmered from white at the crown, fading into green and then blue at the tips. She wore a sleeveless white kimono that clung to her frame, two diamond emblems adorning her chest, a massive shimenawa rope around her waist. A red hakama skirt trailed beneath, and her feet were bound in red-strapped wooden sandals.
She was stunning, with a fierce defiant beauty—but bound hand and foot in seastone shackles like a condemned prisoner.
Calling this a "marriage" was laughable. It was a sale.
"Kaido! You're really selling me off to some pirate overseas?!" Yamato shouted, fury blazing in her eyes—though beneath it flickered a faint hurt.
She had long accepted that Kaido felt nothing for her. She wanted him dead as much as he disappointed her. But hearing him discard her so easily still cut deep.
"You chose to call yourself Kozuki Oden, that idiot, and refused to acknowledge me as your father," Kaido said coldly, gulping down his drink. "Then live with that choice."
What a waste of potential—and of that Mythical Zoan fruit.
"You...!!!" Yamato's voice cracked. She pointed at him, trembling with anger, her last shred of familial feeling burning away.
"What a touching scene—such fatherly love," Souta murmured with a laugh. Kaido's parenting skills were a masterpiece of failure—worse even than Garp's. He'd managed to raise his own greatest enemy.
"She's rough around the edges, sure," Souta said, stepping forward, "but I'll take her off your hands."
He smiled lightly and, with a flick of his wrist, seized Yamato from Black Maria's grip.
"Hey! Who the hell are you? You're that Souta Kiryuu, right?!" Yamato roared, swinging a seastone-chained fist toward his head.
Clang!
Her punch landed hard—but Souta blocked it effortlessly. With those shackles, she could barely use a fraction of her strength.
"Not bad," Souta said calmly. "From now on, I'm your new captain… or your man."
He tugged her closer, pulling her flush against him and dragging her back to his seat as if she weighed nothing.
"I'm Kozuki Oden! A proud warrior of Wano! I can't just be married off! I haven't defeated Kaido, I haven't opened the country—how could I leave now?!"
Yamato struggled wildly, but Souta's grip was unyielding—his power rivaled Kaido's.
"Bonney, make her smaller," Souta said dryly. "She's getting loud."
If this weren't Kaido's territory, he'd have told the Empress to turn her to stone on the spot and deal with her later.
"On it," Bonney said with a grin. She activated her Age-Age Fruit, shrinking Yamato into a tiny three-year-old girl.
"See? Much cuter like this," Souta said, lifting the child version of Yamato and squishing her face playfully between his palms, his smile widening.
"Muh let go, you meenie~" the little Yamato mumbled, her cheeks puffing and words tumbling over each other.
Smack, smack, smack!
Souta playfully spanked her, making Kaido and his subordinates twitch at the corners of their mouths.
This guy… did he really have to humiliate Kaido's daughter in front of everyone?
"Don't mind me!" Souta shouted cheerfully. "Keep the music going! Keep dancing!"
He tossed the miniature Yamato to Bonney for "training," then raised a cup.
"Wahahaha! Drink! Drink! Three more rounds after this! One feast down, another to go!"
Burgess, the muscle-headed brawler, lifted his mug with a roar, chugging barrels of liquor and breaking the tension with sheer enthusiasm. The hall erupted again in laughter and noise.
They'd conquered Onigashima—next up was Whole Cake Island, where they planned to snatch a few more of Big Mom's women for their captain.
"Drink!" Souta shouted. The rowdy crowd echoed him, and the Fire Festival turned wild again.
After the revelry reached its peak, Souta's eyes shifted toward a figure trying his best to blend into the background—X Drake again.
A Marine spy, hiding among the Beasts Pirates. Souta saw no reason to let that go.
Drake felt the weight of Souta's gaze and froze, sweat breaking across his forehead. Had he been found out? Did Peacock and Grus sell him out?
"Kaido! You've got yourself a Marine spy among your officers! Guess I'll do you a favor and clean up your ranks for free," Souta said, smiling as he strode toward Drake, ignoring the stunned looks of the Beasts Pirates around him.
"I knew this bastard was shady!" Queen the Plague barked. He'd never trusted Drake, that ex–Rear Admiral from the Marines.
If Kaido hadn't insisted on recruiting the Ancient Zoan Allosaurus user, Queen would've kicked him out long ago and found someone else.
Even when Fuzzy the Assassin, that ex-CP9 agent, joined their crew, Queen had him under watch for two years before trusting him.
…