"What? You want to fight Kaido by yourself?"
After waiting two whole days to finally see Ace and Yamato again, Cain slammed one hand onto the table hard enough to make the teacups jump.
He stared at Ace as though the man had lost his mind.
"Is there something wrong with your head? Even if you've learned Conqueror's Coating, how much damage do you think you can actually do to Kaido with the Flame-Flame Fruit?"
"I'm not saying I have to fight him alone until the very end."
Ace rubbed his burning face, his ears turning redder by the second as his confidence steadily evaporated.
"I'll just go first and fight him for a while. Once I'm finished, you can take over."
Yamato stood beside him with her head lowered almost to her chest, nervously pressing the tips of her index fingers together.
Thin wisps of imaginary steam practically rose from her head.
Forget looking at Cain—she couldn't even bring herself to glance at Uta.
After everything that had happened over the past few nights, the two of them had finally managed to talk things through.
Ace now completely understood what had happened.
Yamato had simply developed an absolutely catastrophic misunderstanding about certain aspects of relationships.
Unfortunately, by the time they cleared it up, there was no undoing what had already happened.
They had crossed that line.
Whatever road existed behind them was already gone.
And that was precisely why the current conversation was so difficult.
Ace glanced at Yamato.
Yamato glanced back.
Then both immediately looked away, faces redder than a sunset, neither willing to say a single word in front of Cain and Uta.
Eventually, Yamato took a deep breath and forced herself to look directly at Cain.
"Don't worry, Cain. I'll fight too."
There was almost a pleading note in her voice.
"I would never let Ace face him alone."
"You two…"
Cain's gaze bounced between them several times before he finally blurted out the question he had been holding back.
"What the hell did you two do inside the shogun's residence?!"
"How did that somehow lead to this decision?"
"We already agreed Kaido was mine!"
Ace and Yamato immediately found themselves in trouble.
There was no graceful way to explain this.
Yamato glanced left and right before grabbing Uta and dragging her out of the room, leaving Ace alone with Cain.
Ace knew there was no escaping now.
So he abandoned what remained of his embarrassment.
"This concerns a man's dignity, Cain."
"We agreed before that Kaido would be yours, but this time…"
Ace met his eyes.
"Let me be selfish."
Cain scoffed.
"Dignity?"
"You're seriously talking to me about dignity?"
"You shattered whatever dignity you had left years ago when you kept begging me to call you onii-chan."
"That's completely different!"
Ace instantly protested.
"This time I have a responsibility I need to take!"
"What responsibility?"
Cain leaned forward.
"Then say it!"
From outside the room came Uta's shocked scream.
"WHAT?! YOU SLEPT WITH ACE?!"
Cain froze.
Ace froze.
Slowly—
both men turned their heads toward the door.
Then just as slowly, they turned back toward each other.
Cain pointed at Ace.
"You… you two…"
His mouth opened several times before his voice finally returned.
"…Yeah."
Ace squeezed the word out through his throat, his entire face nearly catching fire.
Cain stared at him blankly.
"So that's the dignity and responsibility you were talking about?"
At that moment, Yamato and Uta quietly slipped back into the room.
Both tried very hard to pretend that Uta's shout had never happened.
Unfortunately, Izo had witnessed everything from beginning to end.
He smiled.
"Congratulations, you two."
Ace and Yamato had no choice but to sit beside one another and endure the interrogation.
Cain watched them lower their heads like guilty criminals while simultaneously showing absolutely no regret.
Eventually, he sighed.
"Forget it."
"I'm not the one who has to deal with the consequences, so why am I getting worked up?"
He waved a hand.
"If you two want to fight Kaido, go ahead."
"Actually, do it tonight if possible."
"The Kaido I want to challenge is Kaido at full strength. So before the decisive battle starts, settle whatever business you two have with him."
Cain gestured toward the side.
Bella floated over with an ice sphere attached behind her.
The ice gradually melted.
The tiny sun inside emerged—
and immediately greeted everyone in an extraordinarily polite voice.
"Papa. Everyone. Long time no see."
Yamato's eyes lit up.
"So cute!"
She hurried over and cupped the tiny sun in both hands.
He affectionately rubbed himself against her palm before asking in a sweet voice,
"You must be my mama, right?"
Yamato's face instantly turned bright red.
Still, she answered softly.
"Mm. I'm Mama."
The instant she said it—
a familiar mischievous glint flashed through the little sun's eyes.
He sprang from Yamato's hands and dove straight into Ace's body.
"Oh, come on! Not again!"
A face immediately appeared on Ace's chest.
"Hahaha!"
The tiny sun glared arrogantly toward Cain.
"Now I can use my full strength!"
"Bring it on, you stinky old man!"
Borrowing Ace's flames, he unleashed a pillar of fire directly at Cain.
Cain pinched the entire attack out with one hand.
He flicked the lingering smoke from his fingers and wore an expression that said exactly what he had expected.
"So now he's learned how to pretend to behave."
Cain's eyes sharpened.
Conqueror's Haki precisely locked down the tiny sun's movements.
Then Cain stepped behind Ace.
"This might hurt a little."
His fist punched straight through Ace's torso.
Ace stared down at the arm protruding from his chest.
His face filled with horror.
"Cain…"
"You…!"
Never in his life had Ace expected his best friend to stab him in the back quite so literally.
"Relax."
Cain casually reached around inside the flames.
"You're elementalized."
He grabbed the struggling little sun and pulled him directly out of Ace's body.
Then he looked at Ace.
"See?"
"Kaido isn't your only problem."
"You've also got this little brat to raise properly."
Cain lifted the tiny sun by one side.
"With this personality, if you actually give him the Tremor-Tremor Fruit later, he'll become completely uncontrollable."
"My advice hasn't changed."
"If you can't fix him, put him out and make a more obedient one."
The tiny sun trembled violently in Cain's grip.
This time, he was genuinely terrified.
He could tell—
the pink-haired man was not joking.
"No!"
Yamato immediately objected.
"We're keeping Bell!"
"If it weren't for him, Ace and I never would've gotten this far."
"So he's not allowed to disappear!"
Ace nodded and met Cain's eyes seriously.
"Same here."
"I'll teach him properly."
"Trust me, Cain."
Cain looked down at the trembling little sun.
Then at Yamato and Ace standing protectively on either side like overprotective parents.
Finally, he loosened his grip.
"…You'd better."
He tossed the tiny sun into Yamato's arms.
Then his expression changed.
"Wait."
"Bell?"
"Mm-hm!"
Yamato held the little sun up proudly, eyes shining.
"I just thought of it!"
"His full name is Muspel!"
"Sounds a lot like Bella, doesn't it?"
Cain's mouth twitched.
Muspel.
Another name drawn from Norse mythology.
There was just one problem—
Muspel wasn't really a person's name.
It referred to Muspelheim, the fiery realm in the south of the World Tree, the primordial land associated with flame, heat, and light.
The fire giant Surtr, destined to bring destruction during Ragnarök, came from there.
In myth, Odin had even taken fire from Muspelheim to create the lights that traveled across the heavens, with the greatest fires becoming the sun and moon.
Looking at the obnoxious little fireball in Yamato's hands…
Cain couldn't help feeling that the name was vastly more impressive than its owner.
Still, he gave a reluctant nod.
"…Well, it certainly sounds dangerous."
…
Having just narrowly escaped being extinguished by Cain, Bell finally understood how firmly Yamato had defended him.
He had been created from Ace's soul.
His personality and little schemes were almost identical to Ace's when he was young.
And because of that, there would always be one or two people they simply couldn't handle.
For Ace, that person had been Makino.
For Bell—
it appeared to be Yamato.
As a Homie, Bell had no physical heart.
Yet for some reason, the flames inside him burned a little brighter whenever Yamato looked at him.
He didn't understand why.
"…So this is my name, Mama?"
"Mm."
Yamato nodded seriously, holding him in her palm.
"From now on, you're Bell."
Then she created an ice pop with her Devil Fruit ability and held it in front of his mouth.
"Here! Try this."
"Bella loves eating ice, so I'm sure you will too."
Bell stared at the ice pop.
Then at Yamato's sparkling, expectant eyes.
He choked back a complaint.
'How is that remotely the same?'
Bella was an ice cloud.
Of course ice didn't bother her.
Bell was literally made of fire.
But Yamato continued holding the ice pop out to him with such obvious anticipation that he couldn't bring himself to refuse.
So he reluctantly leaned forward and took a tiny bite.
Hissssss—
The instant ice touched flame, steam poured into the air.
Bell maintained a stiff expression, pretended to chew twice, then looked away.
"…It's not bad."
"Oh?"
Ace grinned and reached toward him.
"Look at that. The little brat's behaving already."
"Come on, let Dad take a look—"
Bell instantly vanished into Ace's body.
His face reappeared on Ace's arm.
Then he seized control of that same arm and began repeatedly slapping Ace across the face with his own hand.
SMACK! SMACK! SMACK!
"You old bastard! Stop interrupting me and Mama!"
"I still haven't gotten revenge for you farting on me!"
The entire room erupted in laughter.
Uta laughed so hard she had to elbow Cain.
"See? Bell isn't nearly as hopeless as you made him sound."
Cain calmly watched Ace being chased around and slapped with his own arm.
He picked up his teacup.
"Looks like Yamato is the only person who can control him."
"As for Ace…"
Cain took a sip.
"That remains to be seen."
…
That evening—
off the coast of Onigashima.
Cain had asked them to leave Kaido in full condition for their eventual battle, so Ace and Yamato came here the night before the decisive confrontation.
Ace held the Supreme Grade Blade Ace in his left hand.
In his right was the newly modified Murakumogiri, its grip and fittings altered to better suit him.
A chain now connected the ends of the two weapons, making them easier to manipulate together.
Ace lightly tapped his chest.
"Listen, Bell."
"You cooperate properly this time."
"If you screw around during this fight, your mama might end up leaving both of us behind."
"You damn old man."
Bell's voice came from inside him.
"Quit using Mama to threaten me."
"I'm not as tasteless as you. I don't deliberately cause trouble when something important is happening."
His words were as rude as ever.
But Ace could feel the flames within his body moving smoothly with each breath.
Bell wasn't darting around causing trouble like before.
Ace grinned.
"Tch. You sure talk tough whenever Yamato isn't around."
He rested both weapons over his shoulders and looked toward the enormous skull-shaped fortress looming in the distance.
A moment later, Yamato slipped back from her reconnaissance.
Ace lowered his voice.
"How does it look?"
"Not great."
Yamato shook her head.
"That horned gorilla has been angry this whole time!"
Almost on cue—
BOOOOOOM!!
The sky above Onigashima exploded.
The roof of the enormous skull shattered outward as a gigantic azure dragon burst through it and soared into the clouds.
Kaido's enormous body twisted through the night sky.
Each breath unleashed scorching waves of Bolo Breath, lighting Onigashima as brightly as day.
Then came Lightning—
and Demolition Gusts.
The dragon's claws tore through the night.
Thunderclouds gathered around him.
Deep thunder rolled together with Kaido's roar until even the ocean below seemed to tremble.
"From what I managed to learn…"
Yamato looked up at the raging dragon.
"He's been flying into the sky and losing his temper like this every few days."
She paused.
"Apparently it started after I kissed you and carried you away."
Ace stared at the section of cloud glowing dark red from Kaido's flames.
Even from this distance, the heat rolled across his face.
His Adam's apple bobbed.
Ace tightened the chain of Murakumogiri around his wrist and gave a strained laugh.
"…Why do I suddenly feel like I'm not coming back from this?"