"That's it! Worororo~~"
"Raimei Hakke!"
Bang…!!
A figure flew out from the already battered ship's cabin, landing straight into the sea.
"Kaido, you bastard!!!"
While flying backwards through the air, Bazel shouted furiously, "You promised not to use Conqueror's Haki, you actually went and added it into your attack secretly!"
Kaido walked out of the wrecked room, looking completely nonchalant, his left pinky finger digging into his ear, "Quit your nagging, I'm a pirate!"
"Bazel, since when do pirates keep their promises?!"
"Arber, go fish him out of the sea."
Seeing Bazel was about to sink, King, who was in the middle of preparing lunch, didn't even bother to take off his apron.
His black wings shook, the suspended flames merged into his body, and he immediately dove towards the sea surface at high speed.
"Cough cough cough…"
"Kaido-san, aren't you taking this too seriously?"
King looked at Bazel, who was vomiting seawater on the deck, his brow furrowing slightly as his gaze swept over the scars on the other's chest and abdomen, "Bazel's strength shouldn't be at that level yet."
Kaido picked up his gourd of sake and took a hearty drink, the alcohol spilling down his open collar onto his pectoral muscles.
"Arber, you're underestimating the power of that Devil Fruit he ate. Quit pretending to be dead, Bazel!"
"The power of the Yamata no Orochi is all-encompassing!"
This was Bazel's seventh day joining the Beast Pirates. During these seven days of sailing, Great Mentor Kaido's lessons were held daily.
As the only "student," Bazel had thoroughly familiarized himself with the power of the Yamata no Orochi Fruit in this one week.
Just as Kaido had previously speculated.
The eight serpent heads of the Yamata no Orochi each possessed eight different abilities.
Bazel currently only knew about four and a half of these abilities.
Poison, Fire, Body Manipulation, Eight Lives.
As for the Venom Body and Flame Flow Body…
Those were just special forms of Bazel's Human-Beast hybrid form, stances that utilized poison and flame for attack, and couldn't be considered head abilities.
Serpent Venom, Flame, and Eight Lives needed no explanation.
Body Manipulation was an ability accidentally discovered during Kaido's club-based teaching.
For Bazel, who was proficient in the Rokushiki and Life Return, he was inherently sensitive to changes in his body.
After awakening this ability, Bazel could clearly feel that his degree of control over his body had reached an incredible level.
No matter how severe his injuries were, no matter how much stamina he consumed, as long as all eight heads weren't cut off, given time and large amounts of food, he could rapidly recover from his injuries and replenish his stamina.
Even a broken arm could be regrown in a short time.
As for the remaining half of the ability...
The reason Bazel considered it half was purely because that head, named 'Spirit', seemed to be still in the hazy stage of initial development.
The Yamata's Phantoms!
Using the special spiritual power held by this head, it could forcibly seize the body of an atoner and transform them into a Phantom Serpent Spirit.
After being transformed into a Phantom Serpent Spirit, the Spirit Head could store these serpent spirits within its serpent neck, summoning them again when needed.
More importantly, these Phantom Serpent Spirits could utilize Bazel's abilities to spew poisonous mist and flames.
Although not as powerful as when he used them himself, it was better than nothing, and certainly better than their previous foolish close-quarters combat.
However, Bazel inexplicably had a feeling that this ability was merely the superficial aspect of the Spirit Serpent Head's power, and that within it lay an even stronger, more real power.
Because of this feeling, he had sought out Kaido and asked if he had ever had such thoughts.
"You say there's an even stronger power hidden?"
Kaido crossed his arms, a thoughtful glint flashing in his eyes.
"Originally, I didn't want to tell you this so early, Bazel. Have you heard of Devil Fruit Awakening?"
'Devil Fruit's… Awakening?'
Bazel's heart raced with speculation.
"What does that have to do with Awakening?"
"Let me put it this way. If a Devil Fruit user with exceptional talent develops their fruit to the extreme, there's a probability of triggering its awakening."
Kaido sat down cross-legged, his gaze fixed on Bazel.
"Devil Fruits of any type have the potential to awaken, though the difficulty varies."
"Once successfully awakened, the power of the Devil Fruit undergoes a sublimation."
"But!"
"The awakening of Zoan-type Devil Fruits is different. The awakening process for the fruits we eat carries a risk of failure."
"If awakening fails, the fruit remains in a semi-awakened state, and the user turns into a beast-human incapable of speech."
"I once heard that guy Rocks mention something."
Pausing here, Kaido fell silent, as if making some kind of decision internally.
After half a minute, his voice sounded again, "Devil Fruits are treasures of desire existing in fantasy, and the Awakening of Zoan-types is the most special awakening."
"Rocks said he believed the awakening of a Zoan is a battle within the soul against the animal the fruit represents."
"If you defeat that animal, then you gain even greater power and form."
"If you fail, your body will be dominated by the represented animal, becoming a monster that only knows how to vent its power."
"Bazel, that hidden power you sense is actually the true power contained within the Yamata no Orochi itself!"
Kaido placed a hand on Bazel's shoulder, his expression grave.
"If you want to know its true power, then you must awaken the Devil Fruit. That is to say, in the future, you will most likely have to battle the legendary Yamata no Orochi."
'Battle the Yamata no Orochi!?'
Bazel was dumbfounded, 'Why hadn't I heard of this theory before he transmigrated?'
'Wait!'
Bazel suddenly remembered that in the original anime, during Kaido's fight with Luffy, he hadn't used any ability resembling Awakening.
'If Kaido's words weren't a lie...'
'That meant if Kaido wanted to awaken his Mythical Zoan-type Uo Uo no Mi, Model: Seiryu, the entity he needed to defeat would be the will of the Azure Dragon itself?'
'If this theory held water, then Kaido's choice not to awaken his Devil Fruit actually made sense.'
'Beating a lion or a leopard was one thing, but a human fighting a mythical beast?'
'How the hell could you possibly win that, even if you used the collective asses of your entire crew!?'
"Of course, all of that is just Rocks's speculation. You can just treat it as a joke." Kaido said, slapping Bazel's shoulder and laughing heartily.
"Never mind what the Yamata no Orochi originally looked like, I can't even imagine what an Azure Dragon looks like or what abilities it has!"
"Your body is your capital! Haki is the only true power on these seas!!"
"Bazel, if you want to become stronger, you can't let developing your fruit consume all your energy!"
"Strength! Speed! A powerful body is the only path to strengthening your Haki!"
"Haki is the key to deciding victory or defeat!!"
Bazel looked at Kaido with a strange expression.
'Haki is the key?'
He remembered in the original work, when Kaido acted as Luffy's mentor, he had said the exact same thing.
And right after saying those words, the Great Mentor immediately transformed into a giant dragon and started breathing fire.
He completely failed to embody the idea that 'Haki is the key'.
Just as Bazel was considering how to complain about this, sudden shouts from a young girl and panicked roars from a beast echoed near the ship.
"Hey, hey! Move out of the way already, you rundown pirate ship!!!"
Bang…!!!
Kaido and Bazel froze simultaneously.
"This is terrible, Kaido-san, Bazel!!" King shouted, sweat beading on his forehead.
"Some idiot sea iguana rammed through the hull of our ship!"
"The hull is already taking on water! The Beast Pirate's ship is going to sink!!"
"Those two brats…" Kaido gritted his teeth, transforming into a dragon, his eyes filled with anger and undisguised ferocity.
"Bazel, get your woman up here! King, grab those two! I'm going to teach them a proper lesson later!"
"This was spoils I went through a lot of trouble to pick up... cough... to obtain!"
Just at that moment, Bazel, who had jumped onto the dragon's head carrying Toki, heard this.
He immediately looked at Kaido with a deadpan expression.
"Hey, Kaido! You totally let it slip just now, didn't you?!"
"This ship is just a piece of junk you picked up!"
Bolo Breath!
Kaido deliberately pretended not to hear, unleashing a Bolo Breath that directly obliterated the already sinking wreck of a pirate ship.
Amid the split wreckage, King, wings flapping, held the unconscious iguana and the blonde girl in his hands.
"Wait, Kaido-san! I recognize that girl! Her father is the scientist who created Pure Gold!" Toki exclaimed, patting the dragon's horn after recognizing the pattern on the girl's clothes.
"When I traveled through time, I once arrived at Alchemi, the legendary island where Pure Gold was made, two hundred years ago!!"