King was different from Queen.
Queen had originally been a member of MADS—one of Vegapunk's assistants.
It was only after parting ways with Vegapunk, and relying on his own Devil Fruit abilities, that he eventually decided to join the Beasts Pirates.
Then, by relying on that power, he very quickly became one of the All-Stars, second only to Kaido himself.
But King… he was someone who had followed Kaido even before the Beasts Pirates existed.
You could say that if one were to pick someone in this world to call Kaido's "family," then without question, it would be King.
After all, that bond had been cultivated since their days in the laboratory.
Although Kaido weighed every bond, he could not deny—his treatment of King had always been exceptionally generous.
So in a certain sense, King was indeed Yamato's uncle—and quite an affectionate one at that.
But precisely because there were feelings involved… Yamato's words provoked his anger.
Yet beneath the anger…
There was far more shock—and wariness.
"This is… Conqueror's Haki!"
"These brats these days really can't be underestimated!"
"But Yamato… if you think unleashing Conqueror's Haki is enough to make us fear you… isn't that a bit naïve?"
King let out a cold snort and drew the longsword at his waist.
"If this is all you can do, then you'd better surrender obediently."
As King's words fell, not only the two All-Stars, but also the Tobiroppo, the smaller Gifters, the Headliners, and the Pleasures all began clearing away the unconscious lower-ranking Beasts Pirates.
They completely surrounded Yamato, who wore a white military uniform.
Visually speaking, the current situation appeared overwhelmingly disadvantageous for Yamato.
But…
Yamato brushed aside the hair over her forehead—not a trace of fear in her expression. Instead, she grew even more… excited.
"I already told you—I'm the one who has you surrounded!"
"Since you refuse to surrender… then I'll show you what a real difference in strength looks like."
"Having more people… is the most useless tactic."
The next moment…
The first to face Yamato were the numerous Gifters.
These people, who had successfully gained strength through artificial Devil Fruits, were the backbone of the Beasts Pirates.
They weren't high-level combatants, but their bodies were far tougher than ordinary grunts, and their unique Zoan abilities kept them from fainting under Yamato's Conqueror's Haki.
But when the real fight began, they were no different from the grunts.
All of them were instantly knocked down by the kanabo.
Yamato moved as though no one else existed.
Facing the mass assault of the Gifters, she didn't even use her Devil Fruit abilities. Just one technique—
"Raimei Hakke!"
Watching the Gifters sent flying, King's expression under his mask hardly changed.
As Kaido's bloodline, it would be weird if Yamato wasn't powerful.
He never expected a handful of Gifters to bring her down.
"Everyone, don't hold back… Yamato is not a weakling!"
"Everyone—with me!"
Queen and King were no gentlemen. They were pirates—clever pirates.
They knew that the priority right now wasn't to drag out a fight with Yamato, but to capture her before the submarines reached Wano.
Yamato leaned sideways, avoiding King's eternally-burning flame sword, and swung her kanabo backward, aiming straight for his head without hesitation.
"It really brings back memories, fighting like this," Yamato grinned cruelly. "But the ending this time will be completely different from our sparring sessions in the past,."
"For stubborn children, my policy has always been… break their resistance first, talk later."
"If you think you can do that, then try."
Yamato smiled.
The next moment—Dog-Dog Fruit, Mythical Model: Okuchi-no-Makami—transformation!
Fur the same gradient color as her hair covered her body. Her mouth extended slightly, and sharp fangs protruded.
In an instant, an icy blizzard burst outward from her body.
King's eyes widened.
From Yamato's aura alone, he could tell…
This Yamato was absolutely not the little girl from years ago.
Just the frost and chill from her zoan form made the unquenchable flames on his back tremble slightly.
In that instant, a terrifying possibility flashed through King's mind—
Could Yamato's words… actually be true?
Was it really she who had surrounded everyone?
"Okuchi-no-Makami — Frost Fang!"
Yamato opened her beast-like maw—an overwhelming blast of freezing breath erupted outward.
The instant it touched flesh, countless violent ice explosions detonated.
The destructive power was essentially the ice version of a "Heat Breath."
Just this one attack was enough to show—Yamato's strength was approaching Kaido's level.
The Gifters and the weaker Headliners were defeated by this breath alone.
While Queen was still stunned and unable to react—
Yamato had already accelerated and circled behind his Brachiosaurus form.
"You're really slow… Queen."
"Ice Severing Strike!"
From above, she swung downward.
Her kanabo, wrapped in immense frost, slammed down with full force!
Under the overwhelming power, Queen's external defenses shattered instantly.
Frost and Ryuo invaded his body at once, leaving him in utter agony.
"Gah! Yamato, you little—!"
Using the massive AOE attack as cover and then following with one full-power strike—
One of the All-Stars, Queen, was temporarily taken out of the fight…
"With the combined might of a Mythical Zoan's frost and Ryuo, even a Beasts Pirates All-Star with a 1.3 billion Belly bounty—'The Plague' Queen—can only end up lying on the ground like this."
Yamato was extremely satisfied with the result.
After all these years under Michael's command, her potential had been fully unleashed.
Especially since Michael trained both her and Jack every single day…
The physical potential she inherited from Kaido had almost completely awakened.
Otherwise, a single strike wouldn't have been enough to break Queen's defenses.
Queen was, after all, one of the formidable figures of the sea.
"So? Next…"
"Will you all lie down obediently like Queen?"
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Fanfic is finished. 583 chapters in total on p@treon/tambeerg