"Even after all that, you still won't dodge? You still won't fight back?"
As Yamato explained the cause and effect to Cain and Uta, she turned her head toward Kozuki Oden, who had climbed back up after taking a Thunder Bagua and had begun dancing that ridiculous dance again.
Her voice was full of disbelief as she questioned him.
After listening to Yamato's explanation, even Cain had not expected Yamato to become disillusioned this quickly.
He followed Yamato's gaze toward Oden and slowly gave his evaluation.
"For the sake of those so-called hostages? Why did he only start caring now? What was he doing before? Back then, he abandoned Wano without a second thought and went out to sea on an adventure. That was what gave Kaido the opening to take advantage of the country."
He paused, then looked toward Yamato and continued,
"And now he turns around and begs Kaido to spare Wano. Is that him recognizing his own mistakes, or is it hypocrisy from beginning to end?"
Beside him, Yamato gritted her teeth and tightened her grip on the kanabo in her hand, already making up her mind.
"Listen!"
She planted her kanabo heavily into the ground, swept her gaze over the gathered citizens, and shouted aloud, "MY NAME IS YAMATO—I AM KAIDO'S SON!"
"I AM THE ONE WHO INHERITED ODEN'S WILL OF FREEDOM, NOT A PUPPET CLINGING TO ODEN'S NAME!"
Yamato lifted her kanabo and pointed it straight at the ridiculous-looking Kozuki Oden before her.
"You chose to beg for Kaido's mercy through compromise, and that will only bring decades of disaster to Wano! I am different from you. I will not submit. I will follow my own will, take the position of Shogun of Wano, and save this country with my own hands!"
Yamato raised her kanabo high again, her voice echoing over the square.
"I swear on my identity as Kaido's son that I will save Wano!"
"Kaido seized this land under the name of Beasts, so I'll defeat Kaido, take control of the Beasts, open Wano's borders, and truly bring this country into the world!"
Seeing that impassioned declaration, Cain could not help sighing inwardly.
If Kaido knew that she truly wanted to defeat him, seize control of the Beasts Pirates, and then take the position of Shogun of Wano…
Tsk, tsk, tsk.
He would definitely cry, right?
He would definitely cry!
As that thought crossed Cain's mind, his gaze swept toward a corner of the buildings in the Flower Capital.
A little white-haired dumpling was curled up there, watching this side.
As if noticing his gaze, the little dumpling immediately panicked and hid away, leaving only a small flutter of clothing behind.
Uta also saw the tiny Yamato hiding there and softly sighed.
"It looks like Yamato's stirring words caught the attention of a certain little one. Unfortunately, this isn't really the past…"
Seeing the mature version of Yamato still shouting Kaido's name across the square, demanding over and over for him to come out so she could personally defeat him, Cain helplessly walked forward and advised,
"Stop shouting! This isn't real history. It's only an image of the past. Kaido isn't here at all."
"Eh, is that so? Oh, right. Now that you mention it, I think I did fall from the sky earlier. Mm, so this isn't the real Wano?"
Only then did Yamato come back from her excitement.
Remembering what had happened before, she turned to Cain and asked, her tone carrying a trace of confusion.
"That's right. But the scenes inside here did really happen…"
As Cain spoke, he turned toward the direction he had looked at just now. Yamato also followed his gaze.
There, hiding in the corner, was her childhood self.
Cain then said, "That's you when you were little. How about it? Want to talk to her?"
Yamato nodded excitedly without the slightest hesitation, then turned and ran toward that corner.
Seeing this, Uta smiled and walked to Cain's side.
"How nice. If one day I can see myself when I was little, I'd definitely say so many things to her. I'd tell her everything I wanted to say."
"Mm. I thought you'd bully the younger version of me instead," Cain replied, his tone carrying a hint of teasing.
"I'm not you. When you were little, you were clearly a bookworm who loved reading, holding books all day! Who would've thought you'd grow up to have such a bad mind?"
Uta rolled her eyes and fired back without mercy.
"Is that so? How come I didn't know that?"
Cain raised an eyebrow, pretending to look innocent.
"You still dare say that? That person you called a God's Knight—what exactly did you do to him again?"
As Uta spoke, she suddenly snapped her fingers.
In the next second, the two of them disappeared from where they stood and instantly appeared inside Uta's music space.
Light and shadow flowed through the music space.
Killingham was tied up tightly on a stone pillar at the very center.
His power was suppressed by Uta World, and he could not break free at all.
This was Uta's world.
No matter how strong he was, he could only be pinned down firmly with no room to resist.
Even if he had an immortal body, Cain had ways to deal with him.
Of course, not by relying on Conqueror's Haki, but by using the most direct and tricky method possible.
A completely ordinary metal pipe had been driven straight through Killingham's forehead, with one end exposed outside and firmly lodged there.
The brain controlling his body was completely damaged, and it had been filled with alcohol created by Uta.
Even though his immortal power kept repairing the wound, the pipe pressing through the middle prevented the repair from proceeding normally.
The alcohol also fully numbed his senses.
As a result, he now looked utterly vacant, his eyes hollow, unable to recover at all. Even his basic consciousness had scattered.
After all, if they could eat and understood hunger, then drinking alcohol should also be able to get them drunk.
"Even if he's an enemy, and even if he's immortal, this is still a bit… I knew you'd become strong, but I didn't expect the grown-up you to have such nasty tastes."
Uta looked at the scene before her and spoke with a pout, her tone carrying a trace of helplessness.
"What? Don't say it like that, Uta. This is called wisdom! Reasonably using the information you have to deal with an enemy is the most effective method."
Cain immediately defended his actions, looking completely justified.
"I am still myself, just as I was when we first met," Cain said calmly, a little pleased with himself.
"Yes, yes. Still the same as before, always able to think of all kinds of strange methods."
Uta smiled and waved her hand.
Then she raised her hand to sense the surrounding memory light spheres and said,
"Among the people who fell in, it seems only that child named Bonney is left. She's playing happily with her family, so let's not disturb her. Thankfully, they all fell into relatively safe memories, so there's nothing to worry about…"
Uta sensed the scenes in each light sphere, then pointed at one of them.
"I can feel the scene inside that memory sphere. It's far too brutal, something ordinary people couldn't endure at all!"
But before Uta could finish speaking, the two of them caught sight of several figures rapidly falling from the sky.
Without warning, all of them dropped straight into the most dangerous memory sphere Uta had just pointed at.
Cain looked toward that light sphere.
If he had guessed correctly, the memory over there should be—
God Valley.
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