Chapter 178: Ulti and Yelena
Inside the castle's main hall.
Gerd, transformed into a giant cave lion, and Goldberg, transformed into a giant bear, stood in their beast forms. As members of the giant race, they felt the power surging endlessly from the depths of their bodies, and a light of excitement flashed in their huge beastly eyes.
"So this is the boost that an Ancient Zoan provides? It's simply astonishing!"
"Unbelievable power! I feel like eating one Devil Fruit has given me a greater boost than ten years of hard training!"
In the second-floor corridor of the hall, Kuina looked up at the two giant beasts. After confirming their identities, she breathed a sigh of relief. She sheathed her Wado Ichimonji, turned, and walked back to her own dojo.
On the other side, by the railing, Yelena, dressed in casual home clothes with her white hair undone, watched the two giant beasts—one cat, one bear—with great interest.
"So big—"
Beside her, the brother and sister, who had begun to preliminarily let their guard down under Yelena's gentle offensive and were gradually taking the initiative to understand their surroundings, were dumbfounded. It wasn't that they had never seen an Ancient Zoan user transform, but it was the first time they had seen one this big.
Suddenly, Yelena, who had been observing the giant beasts, asked nonchalantly, "Ulti, Page One, is Hanafuda's beast form this big?"
Hearing this, Ulti didn't react for a moment and subconsciously shook her head. "No, this—"
But soon, Ulti reacted. Her eyes widened, and she threw her hands over her mouth, which was covered by a blue mask.
Nearby, Page One had answered without thinking. "No! These guys' transformations are too exaggerated!"
"..."
Page One also reacted, and he looked up in terror, wanting to see the expression on Yelena's face. However, Yelena wasn't looking at them; her gaze was still fixed on the giant beasts in front of her.
This situation left Ulti and Page One with strange expressions, their hearts tangled. The two siblings, standing right next to Yelena, began to communicate with their eyes.
"Did she hear that or not?"
"We're not going to be silenced, are we?"
"We should definitely run!"
However, Yelena's voice sounded again, interrupting their exchange. "Come on, let's go down and take a look."
Ulti and her brother's conversation was cut off. They stared blankly, rooted to the spot. But after a moment, they still followed her.
Soon, Gerd and Goldberg transformed back to their original forms and showed Louis a look of tearful gratitude.
"Captain, we will never forget this kindness!"
"It's nothing. If you become stronger, it's the same as my own strength increasing." Louis didn't have a particular reaction to this. As a captain, making his subordinates stronger was something he should do. Besides, with Gerd and the others stronger, there were more things Louis could do.
Afterward, Gerd and the others exchanged glances and said in unison, "We're going to the wilderness to get a feel for this power. Does the captain want to come with us?"
"No, you all go on ahead. I have other things to do," Louis replied, politely declining. "Oh, and be careful not to destroy that flower field!" He remembered that when they first arrived in Dressrosa, Uta had said she really liked that flower field.
Nearby, Uta heard this, and the smile on her face grew even wider.
Gerd and the others nodded, then turned to leave. Hajrudin, seeing this, naturally followed them.
Just then, Yelena's low voice came from behind, calling out to the two children. "Wait. You two come with us."
Hajrudin and the others froze, and some not-so-pleasant memories subconsciously surfaced in their minds.
They all subconsciously looked down and saw Yelena, leading the two small children, slowly raise her head and give them a gentle smile.
"Alright!" Gerd didn't think too much, bent down, and extended her palm toward Yelena and the two small children, gesturing for them to get on. Although the memory of being unilaterally beaten up by Yelena was not pleasant, now that they had eaten Devil Fruits, they wanted to fully understand their current strength, and a battle was undoubtedly the most suitable way. Besides, now that the three of them had eaten Ancient Zoan Devil Fruits and their strength had greatly increased, there was no way they would lose as miserably as before, right?
Gerd looked at Yelena's gently smiling face, and a bold idea rose in her heart. "Maybe we even have a chance to turn defeat into victory?"
"..."
Yelena ignored the giants' strange expressions and led the two children onto Gerd's palm.
"By the way—why did we have to come up with you?!" Beside Yelena, Ulti crossed her arms and grumbled, her eyes glaring.
Nearby, Page One scratched his head with a headache, a troubled look on his face. He tugged on Ulti's sleeve. "Keep your voice down, sis! You have to recognize our situation!"
To this, Yelena smiled, then reached out a slender hand and stroked Ulti's head. "Because it's dangerous to leave you in the castle. Remember those things that looked like people? They're very dangerous—"
At these words, Ulti and Page One's faces instantly became unnatural. They both remembered those things that, at first glance, looked like beautiful young girls, but upon closer inspection, were clearly not human and gave off a terrifying feeling.
Ulti inconspicuously shrank back and complained again, "Why did you have to make a girl remember those things!"
To this, Yelena smiled and said nothing.
Seeing this, Gerd lowered her head, smiling as she sized up the two of them. "Are you two the new apprentices of the Archangel Pirates? You're unexpectedly cute!"
Gerd's words made Ulti and Page One freeze, then they looked puzzled.
Nearby, Road also leaned his head over, revealing a smile that made Ulti a little annoyed. "We have apprentices on our ship now? This is great! Now I can finally get rid of the title of 'weakest'!"
"Since when did we join you?! And what the hell is an apprentice?! Don't you dare label us on your own!" Ulti waved her fists, protesting vigorously.
Beside her, the 11-year-old Page One stared with dead fish eyes, having lost the desire to complain.
To this, Yelena pressed down on Ulti's head and gave Gerd an apologetic look. "These two children... they were probably entrusted to Kaido by Hanafuda. But due to an accident, I picked them up."
"..."
This was the conclusion Yelena had reached after confirming the two children were Hanafuda's and combining it with what she knew. From Hanafuda's urgency in trying to snatch the flame cloud, it didn't seem like he was abandoning his children. Hanafuda had been told by Kaido of her existence and had clearly said that she was Yamato's sister. This showed that his relationship with Kaido was very good. In the end, when he saw Kaido fall into the sea, because of her identity, he had trusted her, left his children, and turned to rescue Kaido.
All of this information led Yelena to deduce that Hanafuda had entrusted his children, along with a treasure chest, to Kaido. It couldn't be that Kaido had attacked Hanafuda, snatched a treasure chest and two children, and Hanafuda would still be so anxious to rescue him after seeing him fall into the sea, right?
Ulti and Page One heard this, and their expressions froze, questioning their very existence in the cold wind. "We're done for!"
Gerd and the others were taken aback, then looked at Ulti and Page One with great interest. "So, they're the children of a Warlord of the Sea. We thought they were apprentices you brought back."
"Wait, aren't the Warlords used by the World Government to counterbalance those three top-tier monsters? Why would one of them be Kaido's friend?!" Road realized something was wrong, his jaw dropping.
"Probably a spy or something?" Goldberg shouldered his kanabō, rubbing his chin.
On the other side, Hajrudin crossed his arms, thoughtfully looking at the two bewildered brats. "In that case, Miss Yelena, are you going to keep them?"
To this, Yelena replied with a smile, "We plan to wait for Hanafuda to come to Dressrosa again, and then let him take Ulti and Page One back."
"Eh?"
"Take them back?!" Hearing this, Ulti and Page One instantly snapped back to their senses and asked subconsciously, "You're not going to kill us? Or trade us for a huge amount of Berries?" Ulti tilted her head and asked in a very naive-looking way.
To this, Yelena raised an eyebrow. "We don't have a feud with that Hanafuda guy. Even if we did, we wouldn't take it out on you children. So, you don't need to be so scared. If I wanted to kill your father, I wouldn't need to use you two kids to threaten him."
Hearing this, Ulti simply dropped her act, put her hands on her hips, and said with a frown, "Hah? He's very strong, you know!"
To this, Yelena did not answer directly, but crossed one arm, stroked her chin with the other, and assumed a thoughtful pose. "Is that so? I wonder how he compares to that other Warlord I killed with a casual blow not long ago—Doflamingo."
At these words, Ulti's face became unnatural, but she still replied without showing any weakness, "My father is much stronger than some 'Mingo'!"
Nearby, Page One felt terrible. He listlessly tugged on Ulti's sleeve. "That's enough, sis."
Near the gate at the bottom of the King's Plateau, Yelena, who had opted for a change and was not wearing armor, slowly exhaled a breath of cold air. Immediately after, the skin on her face disappeared, replaced by bone-white, and a pair of grotesque, twisted antlers sprouted from her head. Then, her figure grew a bit taller, and a chill coiled around her, forging a suit of thick ice crystal armor on her body.
The next moment, the heavy gate slowly opened. Sunlight shone on the bone-white deer skull.
Beside her, Ulti saw this and complained, "You're going to scare the children like that!"
Seeing this, Page One inconspicuously moved a little closer to Ulti.
BONK. Yelena, in her hybrid-beast form, heard her and knocked Ulti on the head.
"Ow!" In pain, tears welled up in Ulti's eyes as she crouched down, holding her head.
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