"…Well, whatever. I'll introduce him to you later."
Sengoku waved the matter aside, clearly not all that concerned about Drake's whereabouts.
Drake was the captain of the Navy's secret special operations unit, SWORD, and one of the finest elites the Marines had ever produced. What could possibly happen to him?
Putting that thought aside, Sengoku turned back to Cain and moved on to a more important topic.
"The Road Poneglyph? Why are you asking about that?"
Cain looked genuinely surprised.
"There have always been rumors that Kaido had one too," Sengoku said. "You should be close to collecting all of them by now, shouldn't you?"
"Yeah. If we count Kaido's, I'd only be missing one."
Cain scratched his cheek.
"But I don't actually know where Kaido hid his."
He knew the stone was somewhere inside one of Wano's hidden passages, but as for the exact location, he would probably have to ask Yamato, King, or Jack.
"You don't know either?"
Sengoku sighed.
"Then I suppose we'll have to get the answer from Kaido himself."
He paused, then suddenly looked at Garp and Cain.
"But before that—both of you noticed it too, didn't you?"
Garp's expression became unusually serious.
"Yeah."
He nodded.
"Kaido…"
…
"Kaido, you're awake, aren't you?"
Inside the prison beneath Onigashima, Yamato stood in front of Kaido with her arms folded.
Layer after layer of Seastone chains were wrapped around his body, but Yamato's gaze remained firmly fixed on his face.
Kaido stayed silent for a moment.
Then his eyes slowly opened.
"Worororo… Yamato."
A grin spread across his face.
"How did you figure it out?"
Yamato snorted.
"When I said there wasn't any alcohol left on the island, your entire body tensed up."
She gave him a mocking look.
"You really thought none of us noticed?"
"How cruel."
Kaido shifted slightly, causing the chains around him to clatter heavily.
"To think my own daughter would come up with something this vicious for her father."
He looked at her.
"And even now, you still refuse to call me Dad?"
"I only came here because I didn't want people talking."
Yamato immediately became flustered.
"Coming to see you alone at all was something I thought about very carefully first."
Kaido's gaze drifted toward the bandages wrapped around his arms.
A sly smile appeared on his face.
"Then what are these?"
Yamato stiffened.
"When I woke up earlier, I distinctly remember someone personally wrapping these around me."
His grin widened.
"Almost makes me want to stay injured."
Yamato's face reddened slightly, and she immediately turned away.
"Hmph. I don't know anything about that."
"They were already there when I arrived."
"Coldhearted as ever."
Kaido leaned back against the stone wall and let out an exaggerated sigh.
"If I'd known, maybe I would've pretended to sleep a little longer."
"Could've watched you bandage me for a while."
"Heh."
Yamato's expression immediately hardened again.
She seized the opportunity to change the subject.
"Anyway, tell me what you're thinking now."
"And I'm warning you in advance—I'm not giving Wano or the Beasts Pirates back."
"Thinking?"
Kaido sounded strangely calm.
"I'm not thinking about much of anything."
"I lost. That's that."
Then his tone shifted slightly.
"But you, Yamato…"
"If Cain ever isn't around and you run into a problem you can't handle, you can always release me."
His grin returned.
"I'll take care of it."
"I won't need to."
Yamato got the answer she wanted and turned to leave.
After two steps, however, she stopped.
"You just stay here and behave."
Kaido watched her back and gave a low chuckle.
"Well then."
"I hope you and that brat Ace are happy."
Yamato's shoulders trembled.
She remained facing away from him.
Her fist tightened.
Then slowly relaxed.
After a moment, she turned her head slightly, and her voice became much softer.
"Mm."
"We will be."
A pause.
"Father."
Kaido froze.
Then his grin became brighter than it had been in years.
…
By the time Cain's group returned to the Flower Capital, the entire city was glowing with lantern light and overflowing with noise.
Cain stopped in surprise.
"What's all this?"
"Because a certain great hero spent the entire celebration sleeping."
Uta laughed.
"The banquet for defeating Kaido was postponed until today."
Sengoku gave Cain's shoulder a firm pat.
"Go on. This whole thing is for you."
"But I'm terrible with huge crowds like this!"
Cain turned just in time to see Sengoku walking away.
"Wait, where are you going?"
Sengoku didn't stop.
"There are still Marine deployments and regulations in Wano that need sorting out. Garp and I have work to do."
"We'll leave the celebration to you."
Almost immediately after he finished speaking, a loud crunching noise reached him.
"Crunch, crunch, crunch!"
Cain looked toward the sound.
Then stared in disbelief.
"This is what you meant by handling Marine deployments?"
Sengoku stopped.
Slowly, he turned his head.
"Garp!"
Garp was already standing beside a food stall with an enormous pile of takoyaki in front of him.
"Why are you eating already?! We still have work to do!"
"Mmph! I'm not!"
Garp hurriedly shoved several more pieces into his mouth and waved his hands frantically.
"I bought these for Ace!"
"I'm just checking the flavor for him!"
"He just gave birth, so he needs to recover his strength!"
"It might sound slightly more believable if you swallowed everything in your mouth before saying it, you idiot!"
Sengoku marched over, grabbed Garp by the ear, dropped several silver coins onto the stall counter, and dragged the embarrassing old man away.
Cain and Uta looked at each other.
Both struggled desperately not to laugh.
Bella didn't bother.
She floated in the air and giggled openly.
Uta gently rubbed Bella's head, then held out her hand toward Cain.
"Come on."
"Yamato prepared this specifically for us."
Her smile brightened.
"There's even the fireworks festival you kept talking about."
Bella nodded enthusiastically.
"Mm-hm! Bella helped too! It's definitely going to be really pretty!"
Cain looked at the two hands extended toward him.
He took Uta's fingers, and a smile slowly spread across his face.
"Yeah."
…
Some time later, inside a small room in the newly established Marine section of the shogun's residence, Sengoku was methodically reviewing Wano's current defensive arrangements.
Keeping Kaido suppressed long-term would require a permanent Marine presence.
Fortunately, Ashura Doji was already responsible for maintaining the full registry of Wano-born Marine samurai, so personnel management wasn't a serious problem.
The harder issue was finding a stable balance between three separate powers—the Marines, Wano's shogunate, and the surviving Beasts Pirates.
Yamato was now the ruler of Wano, but on paper, she was still technically a pirate.
The Beasts Pirates had lost, yet their remaining forces had been absorbed and reorganized under Yamato rather than dissolved.
From a legal standpoint, that made direct Marine involvement extremely awkward.
After listening to Sengoku's analysis, Garp waved one hand casually.
"Isn't that easy?"
Sengoku looked up at him suspiciously.
"Ace is right there."
Garp was still eating the pile of takoyaki he had supposedly bought for Ace.
"He left the Whitebeard Pirates a long time ago, but he's still one of the Seven Warlords."
"And what's Yamato now?"
"Ace's partner."
He spoke as though the answer were obvious.
"That means Ace is tied to the Beasts Pirates through marriage."
"The Beasts stay in the shadows, while Ace stands out in front. Even without Kaido around, the Beasts Pirates could technically be considered under Ace's banner."
"And since Ace is a Warlord, the Marines don't need to fight him."
Garp swallowed another takoyaki.
"Problem solved."
The room remained completely silent for three seconds.
Sengoku slowly lowered the roster in his hands.
Then he adjusted his glasses.
"Heh."
"You really are hoping those two get married tomorrow, aren't you?"
"Of course."
"The sooner the better."
Garp stood, brushed crumbs from his clothes, and continued,
"I was thinking that after this, I'd go find Luffy and settle his situation too."
Then he pulled a flyer from inside his clothes and handed it over.
"Anyway, forget that for now."
"You finished what you were doing, right?"
"There's somewhere I want to check out. Interested?"
"I'm not sure why, but apparently you have to go in pairs."
Sengoku took the flyer and held it closer to the lamp.
The front read:
TEST OF COURAGE!
Discover how brave you truly are!
Featuring every yokai recorded in Wano's legends!
Are you a real man of the sea? If you have the courage, come prove it!
Entry requires a pair of two!
Sengoku remained relatively calm.
Then he flipped the flyer over.
The back read:
This Test of Courage is completely safe. All yokai are fake and exist only to test your bravery.
An excellent event for couples seeking excitement, testing courage, strengthening romantic bonds, and deepening affection!
We look forward to welcoming all lovers and partners!
Sengoku stared at the flyer.
Then slowly turned toward Garp.
"…Partners?"
His voice became dangerously flat.
"…Deepening romantic bonds?"
He pronounced each word carefully.
"You're trying to deepen what kind of relationship with me?"
Garp immediately panicked so hard that the takoyaki nearly flew out of his hands.
"WAIT! WAIT, SENGOKU!"
"IT'S A MISUNDERSTANDING!"
"I DIDN'T KNOW THERE WAS STUFF WRITTEN ON THE BACK!"
---------
Read 40 chapters ahead and support me on patreon.
patreon (.)com/Newbietranslator