"Stop it, Ace! Calm down!"
"Dad already said this is an exception! You don't need to pursue Teach!"
On the Moby Dick, members of the Whitebeard Pirates tried to dissuade Ace, but it was futile.
"Let go of me! That guy is my subordinate. If I ignore this, how can the murdered Thatch rest in peace?!"
Blackbeard had always hidden himself, blending into the Whitebeard Pirates' second division. Ace, who succeeded as the second division captain, was good friends with Thatch of the fourth division. He couldn't accept Blackbeard killing Thatch.
"Ace, let it go, just this time. I have a bad feeling. That guy's ambition won't just run away. He'll come back sooner or later, and we'll deal with him then."
"That guy killed a comrade and ran away! After decades of your care, he brought you shame, Dad. How can we let this slide? I need to settle the score with him!"
Ace, ignoring the attempts to stop him, embarked on the path to hunt down Blackbeard. Violating Whitebeard's iron rule was like slapping Whitebeard's face, and letting Blackbeard escape from the New World only slapped it back again.
Ace had gained that recognition from Whitebeard, and he couldn't tolerate such an event. Ultimately, he set out on his custom-built small boat, in pursuit of Blackbeard.
In fact, another group, or rather dragons, were also preparing to take action.
...
On Ghost Island, the Thousand-Year Dragon tribe gathered once again, as the day of their thousand-year return was approaching. They were about to embark on their journey back to their ancestral land.
Previously, scouting teams formed by the Thousand-Year Dragons had spread across the lands of the Hundred Beasts, partnering with other pirates in small groups to execute their tasks. But now, they had all returned to Ghost Island.
After the last one returned from Zou and dispelled the appearance of the ancestor bird upon landing, the Thousand-Year Dragon tribe was fully assembled.
Ferren, who had eaten the Primitive Fruit, also transformed into his draconian form and landed on the ground.
This was the agreement, the Hundred Beasts provided them with a safe gathering place, while they served as members of the Hundred Beasts Air Cavalry, and on the day when Thousand-Year Dragons gathered worldwide, gleaned information about the Plate and Poneglyph from their other partners.
The Thousand-Year Dragons, led by their chieftain, began to eat, storing energy for their upcoming journey, while Ferren went alone into the buildings on Ghost Island to inform the Hundred Beasts that they were leaving.
This was something agreed upon long ago, really just a routine notification. But Yamato, sensing that Ghost Island had become more dangerous, planned to take this opportunity to leave together.
She discovered that Kaidou had changed and had redefined what he considered an open scheme.
Previously, when he took action, he'd always concoct a reason, even if most of the time it was because others were too weak. He still maintained appearances.
Now it's different. As Yamato's resistance grew stronger, Kaidou became more excited, outright revealing his intentions. "I just want to fight you. If you can't beat me, then tough luck."
Ghost Island was no place to linger. She decided to seize the moment while Kaidou's madness had temporarily subsided, to swiftly leave the place.
"Ferren, wait, where exactly is your gathering spot?"
"In human terms...it's in the Eastern Blue sea. Once we reach there, we Thousand-Year Dragons will naturally know where exactly it is."
An era had passed in those thousand years, and the location of Dragon Island could be described as "in a special place" every year. Only the Thousand-Year Dragons, through their inherited bloodline sense, could successfully locate Dragon Island.
"Eastern Blue, the East Sea, is it not a bit early for you to set out now?"
"Our path is very peculiar, and we have other things to do along the way, so we'll take a bit of a detour, spend some time, and if we set out now, it'll be just right."
"That's great!"
"Hmm?"
"That's not what I mean. What I mean is, would you mind if I went with you?"
"That's fine, but the journey will be quite boring. For you humans, there's not much excitement along the way."
The Thousand-Year Dragon's gathering place was a secret, but it appeared once every millennium, with some lucky people coincidentally meeting the Thousand-Year Dragons and getting to see the full view of Dragon Island.
These were people recognized by the Thousand-Year Dragons. Some older dragons would even actively seek trustworthy people to help them return to Dragon Island.
The Thousand-Year Dragon tribe had long been part of the Hundred Beasts, and Yamato's request wasn't excessive.
"It's fine, it's fine, the longer the delay, the better."
She could leave Ghost Island anytime she wanted. Now that she had much freedom, she felt like an adult who couldn't aimlessly wander without a valid reason.
So she was always looking for a legitimate reason, and coincidentally, the Thousand-Year Dragon provided her with it.
The meeting with the Thousand-Year Dragon was indeed an opportunity to seek information about the Plate for Arceus, and by extension, her accompanying them on this journey was helping Arceus locate the Plates, which seemed more justified.
"We still need a few days to prepare, but we'll notify you when we're ready. Make sure to stock up on what you'll need, though for you humans...actually, for you, it shouldn't matter even that much."
Ferren and his group fly, and if they traveled by ship, they wouldn't keep pace. They could only travel on their backs, but given Yamato's monstrous stamina and other flying Pokemon of the Hundred Beasts, Ferren realized he was overthinking it.
Even without relying on other Pokemon, the endurance of this young lady was unmatched by ordinary creatures.
...
A few days later, the Thousand-Year Dragon tribe took off on time, forming a long line in the clouds as they flew towards the island of their bloodline. Alongside them were a Corviknight and a flying shark.
Besides Yamato, who simply wanted to join in the fun, she had brought along a few others who couldn't stand the solitude, such as Ulti and Page One siblings.
"Little Pei, are you really not getting on and choosing to fly on your own?"
"Ah, no, Yamato sis, I'm fine flying outside on my own."
Page One declined Yamato's invitation to join her in the cabin, opting instead to fly outside by himself. On one hand, he enjoyed the thrill of flying, and on the other, with Ulti right next to Yamato, he thought it'd be better to stay outside for some peace.
Over the years, Yamato had become one of the few who could fully overpower Ulti, who had inherited the Hundred Beasts' headstrong skills. Few could truly earn her respect.
But Yamato's personality perfectly matched with Ulti's, and instead, could keep her quietly sitting beside her.