Ron's eyes widened with anger, a fury that was difficult to suppress burning within them.
After saying that, he suddenly turned around.
His originally still figure instantly filled with a decisive aura.
His robes cut a sharp arc through the air, like a battle flag swept up by a violent wind.
At that moment, sunlight poured generously from behind the great hall, stretching his shadow long across the floor, almost completely enveloping Yamato, who stood frozen in place.
"Let us take a good look at this 'hero's' true face."
Ron coldly raised one finger, pointing straight at the disgrace hidden behind the so-called halo of a "hero."
"He trained for years aboard Roger's ship, and even sailed under Whitebeard."
His voice carried a bone-piercing sarcasm. Every word was like a shard of ice squeezed out from between his teeth.
"Yet in the end, he lost to Kaido. Was it because he wasn't strong enough?"
At this point, he paused slightly, as though deliberately giving everyone time to think about the absurdity hidden behind that question.
"Was it because no one helped him?"
The great hall was deathly silent.
Only Ron's forceful questioning echoed again and again, stripping away the false halo surrounding Oden layer by layer.
Even Kaido, who had always been calm and cold, had his dragon eyes shrink slightly at that moment.
Deep within his gaze, certain memories buried in his heart seemed to be stirred by those words.
Perhaps they were memories of Oden, or perhaps they were deeper secrets behind this entire conflict.
"None of that." Ron suddenly shouted sharply.
"It was because he was a coward who did not even dare believe in himself!"
His eyes revealed deep disappointment and anger. An icy flame burned within them, as though it could set the entire hall ablaze.
"He would rather believe in some legend of nonsense prophecy, believe in some empty promise, than believe in the blade held in his own hand!"
Every sentence struck Yamato's heart like a heavy hammer.
Her body began to tremble uncontrollably. The shaking started from her feet and gradually spread through her whole body.
The kanabo in her hand fell to the ground with a clang, producing a dull sound that echoed through the hall.
It was the sound of her shattered belief collapsing.
"All because of that ridiculous fantasy—"
Ron's voice suddenly softened, but that gentle tone was even more chilling.
"He made the people of Wano endure a full twenty years of hell!"
When he said the word "hell," he seemed to think of the suffering the people of Wano had endured over those twenty years.
He slowly leaned closer to Yamato's pale face. Under the sunlight, his figure looked especially tall, like an uncrossable mountain pressing down on her until she could barely breathe.
"If that is not idiocy, then what is it?"
His voice was low and hoarse, yet every word stabbed into Yamato's heart like a needle.
Yamato stumbled back two steps, her back slamming heavily into a stone pillar. In that instant, she felt as though her entire world was collapsing.
Her pupils trembled violently, like a calm lake struck by a massive stone.
Her lips quivered.
She wanted to say something to defend the belief in her heart that was now on the verge of collapse, but she found that she could not utter even a single word.
All she could do was let despair spread through her heart.
"A coward and fool like that is worthy of your worship?"
Ron straightened, his eyes filled with contempt.
His words were full of confusion and mockery toward Yamato. He could not understand why she had blindly believed in that so-called "hero."
He swept one final glance over Yamato. That look was like a bitter winter wind, making her shudder.
"It seems you father and daughter truly share the same foolishness."
Those words exploded in Yamato's mind like thunder.
Her legs went weak, and she could no longer support herself. She collapsed to her knees on the ground.
In that moment, she felt her world completely fall apart. The belief she had held firmly for twenty years was crumbling into dust.
The bold words in Oden's journal, the lines that had inspired her countless times to keep living, now seemed like laughable lies in her eyes.
Like bubbles beneath the sunlight, they vanished completely, leaving only endless emptiness and despair behind.
Kaido, standing to the side, looked as if he had been struck by lightning.
His eyes widened in shock as he stared fixedly at the scene before him.
On his once-firm face appeared an indescribable expression, as if he had witnessed the most unbelievable thing in the world.
He had never imagined that he, who had once used all kinds of cruel methods to try to change his daughter's unwavering beliefs, had achieved nothing at all.
All of his efforts had sunk like stones into the sea.
Yet now, Ron had shaken the belief Yamato had always held onto with just a few words, as easily as a sharp sword cutting through cloth.
"I really have wasted these past few decades!"
A complicated emotion flashed through Kaido's eyes.
Within it was deep wariness toward the clever methods Ron had displayed.
He knew very well that behind Ron's seemingly simple words was a power capable of piercing straight through the human heart.
Even a battle-hardened, fearsome powerhouse like him could not help feeling a chill from that power.
And mixed within that wariness was a strange trace of… admiration?
Even Kaido himself found it hard to believe.
In this world where the strong devoured the weak, he had actually felt such an emotion toward a former enemy.
At that moment, the hall was silent.
Only Yamato's rapid breathing echoed through the empty space.
Her body trembled slightly.
Her hands clutched tightly at the front of her clothes, her once-strong fingers now pale from the force.
It was as though by gripping her clothes, she could also hold onto the faith that was collapsing inside her, like grabbing the final straw that might save her.
Crystal tears rolled uncontrollably from her eyes like pearls from a broken string, one after another, splashing faintly against the ground.
Each tear seemed to carry her pain and confusion, shattering across the cold floor.
Ron merely watched all of this coldly. There was not the slightest pity or sympathy in his eyes.
Then he slowly turned around and walked toward the window with steady, composed steps.
Sunlight poured through the mottled window and fell across the side of his face. The terrifying sharpness from moments ago seemed as though it had never existed.
Now, he looked like a calm sage.
"Think carefully, Yamato."
Ron's voice returned to calm, but within that calm was an unquestionable strength.
"A truly strong person only ever believes in their own power."