By the time the sun was up, Marcus and Yamato had put Wano far behind them. Marcus wasted no time once the ship was above water again and basically put the boat at full power for a couple hours straight. The speed was ridiculous and Yamato loved every minute of it. Well, that was the case until the sun rose and all she could see was endless water. Sure she was happy with being free and enjoyed being on the water.
But Marcus's little boat had nothing for her to really do and she couldn't help out with running the ship. So after a couple of hours of talking with Marcus and getting to know each other, Yamato decided to sleep on the back seats. Marcus didn't slow the boat down until his snail started ringing and he decided to answer it.
"Kaido just stopped chasing us."
"That's fine, I already picked up Yamato from Wano a few hours ago."
"You better be careful, Kaido left by himself and he looked to be in a hurry. His ship is still chasing after us, but they've already fallen back some."
Marcus glanced at the eternal pose he was using as he said, "Well I'm headed towards Elbaph, so hopefully he isn't coming from that direction."
"And if he's following a vivre card?"
"Shit!" Marcus said before he turned towards the back seat and quickly shook Yamato as he called her name.
Yamato groggily sat up and blinked slowly as she looked at Marcus still half asleep as he asked in a concerned tone, "Yamato, does Kaido have a Vivre card for you?"
Yamato let out a loud yawn and stretched her arms over her head as she said, "I don't think so…"
"Have you made a vivre card yet?"
Yamato shook her head as she said, "I never had anyone I needed to give one to."
Marcus let out a sigh of relief as he said into the den den mushi, "We should be good. Yamato doesn't have a vivre card."
"Just in case, don't head directly for Elbaph. Turn your ship so the eternal pose needle is pointing port side and travel for a whole day like that. It will take you far out of the route that Kaido and his crew will use getting back to Wano."
Marcus immediately started to turn the ship and increased the speed to maximum again as he asked, "Done… How much longer do you think you'll be chased for?"
"No clue, but not much longer than a day. Worst case we'll see you on Elbaph in a week."
"Alright, I'll talk to you then." Marcus said before he hung up his snail.
Yamato rubbed the sleep from her eyes as she asked, "Who was that?"
"Shanks. He's the reason I was able to come get you from Wano."
Yamato nodded slightly as she moved into the front seat next to Marcus and asked, "How long was I out?
"Maybe two hours."
"Do you wanna trade?"
"My sword powers the ship and I'm not sure it would accept another person using it. Besides, I'm not tired yet. I can last until tonight." Marcus said as he pointed towards the sealed compartment and added, "There are some rations in there if you're hungry. They aren't the best tasting, but they do the job."
Yamato opened the hatch and looked around for a moment before she pulled out two of them. She held one of the packages up as she asked, "You want one?"
"Sure."
A few moments later the boat was filled with the sound of both of them eating what was basically a large protein bar Vegapunk invented. The taste was passable and worked if you were hungry, but eating them a few times in a row was a terrible idea. It was the main reason Marcus ate so much on Wano.
Yamato finished her bar first and drank some water before she asked, "Does your boat have a bathroom?"
"Nope… With its size, it's meant to be a landing or supply boat more than anything. But with its speed I'm using it as a normal boat till I get back to my main ship."
"Then what do you do when you need to use the bathroom?"
"I stop the boat and go ov-" Marcus started to say before he glanced towards Yamato and asked, "Do you need to go?"
"Yeah."
Marcus stopped feeding power to his sword and as the boat slowed down he said, "Once we stop, just go towards the back of the boat and figure out the rest yourself."
"Okay." Yamato said without even a second thought as she moved towards the cabin door and opened it.
While Yamato was outside, Marcus kept his head down and debated calling his brothers. By the time Yamato returned, he still hadn't called them because he realized it would be the middle of the night for them. Or at least close to that time. He also decided to use the bathroom before he started back up the ship.
As they traveled, the two of them traded stories about their lives. Yamato lived a pretty simple life in Wano and mostly stayed outside. She interacted with members of the Beast sometimes, but overall she kept to herself on the outskirts of the island. She hadn't fully rebelled against Kaido, but she never listened to him and stayed away from him as much as possible. Kaido on the other hand didn't care much about her as long as she didn't leave Wano. He also sent people to fight her almost daily, which was how she interacted with most people.
Marcus told her about his own life and how he trained almost constantly. By the time the sun started to set, Yamato challenged Marcus to a proper fight once they reached an island. It was Yamato's opinion that they couldn't be real friends until they had a decent fight with each other. Marcus agreed and promised they would fight once they got to Elbaph.
It was a few hours after sunset, Marcus finally cut power to the boat and shared a protein bar with Yamato before they went to sleep. Yamato took the back seat again as Marcus used the front and they both fell into a dreamless sleep. Early the next day, both of them woke up before sunrise and set out again at half speed.
As they made their way to Elbaph, Kaido arrived back at Wano in a foul mode. In front of him stood Jack in a sorry state, missing all of his hair and one of his horns was broken. Kaido glanced over Jack before his eyes roamed the other members of his crew that were in similar states before he asked, "Are you sure?"
"I had fishmen search the waters of Wano and the waters around the island where it happened… All we found was wreckage."
Kaido slammed his fist into the wall next to him which caused it to explode as he growled out, "You couldn't even find the body?"
Jack reached up and touched his broken horn as he said, "The explosion was so big it destroyed two of our ships and killed almost two hundred men. There is no way they survived that…"
Black Maria nodded in agreement before she added, "I felt her one moment and then she was gone… She disappeared from my haki in an instant."
"My only child… Gone…"
Kaido let out a hollow chuckle before he bellowed, "Bring me alcohol!"
Black Maria, already prepared, grabbed a large bottle behind her and brought it to Kaido without a word as some of her subordinates ran off to get more. Kaido took the bottle and ripped off the top before he gulped it down in a few seconds. Afterwards he threw the bottle to the side and as it smashed apart he said, "Call back the others and prepare a proper funeral for my daughter!"
As the members of his crew scrambled to fulfill his wishes, Black Maria handed another bottle to Kaido as she asked in a sultry tone, "Is there anything I can do to help, captain…"
She stepped close next to him and her hand brushed against his chest as she added in a husky tone near his ear, "And I do mean anything…"
Jack watched the interaction for only a moment before he stomped out of the room and left the two of them alone. When the rest of Kaido's crew broke off pursuit, Shanks called up Marcus and told him before they agreed to meet at Elbaph in a couple days. Just before they hung up, Uta's voice rang out, "Marcus! Are you okay? Dad said you went to Wano to find someone…"
"Yeah, I just went to pick up a new friend." Marcus said as he handed his snail over to Yamato as he said, "Yamato, say hi to Uta. She's the leader of the band I was talking about."
"Hi, I'm Yamato!"
The snail went quiet for a few moments before Uta asked in a voice that didn't sound friendly, "Did you go and find another girl?!?"
"Ummm, no…." Marcus said before he started to make static type sounds and added, "Hey- I- thi-nk w-e h-ave a bad-"
Marcus hung up the snail a moment later as Yamato asked, "Why did you do that?"
"I didn't want to deal with her craziness… Her and another girl have some issues and might think we're dating. I really should put a stop to it, but Uta doesn't listen and the other girl has abandonment issues. I just try to ignore their antics most of the time or tell them to do whatever they want."
Yamato nodded slowly before she said, "Being desirable is a hard problem to have… But if you're not interested in them, you should turn them down directly."
"I tried with Uta and she decided that as long as I still liked her, she was fine with me being with other women…" Marcus said as he shook his head and added, "Then I met another girl who has abandoned issues and who's more clingy than Uta… Uta didn't take that well and freaked out."
"And you don't like either one?"
"No, I like both of them as friends. But I also don't like to upset them because they instantly start to tear up if I try to stop them from being clingy…"
"That sounds annoying."
"Exactly."
Yamato nodded again as she said, "Still, just cut them off and treat them like friends afterwards. It should all work out in the end… I think."
Marcus chuckled and shook his head slowly as he asked, "You think?"
Yamato shrugged as she said, "Maybe… Honesty they both sound like they have issues. It could work out or they could both end up hating you."
"That would be terrible, especially since I was trying to make a band with Uta."
"The same one you want me to join?"
Marcus smirked as he said, "That was the plan."
"It sounds like a terrible plan."