"Hm? Who's calling my name?"
The mysterious woman suddenly spun around, and the moment her eyes fell upon Kai, she rushed forward with thundering footsteps and pulled him into a crushing embrace.
"Shh! Don't make a sound!"
"Mmph! Mmph! Mmph!" Kai struggled desperately within what felt like a snowy white ocean of fabric and flesh.
Yamato's physical strength was absolutely terrifying. Without resorting to violent measures, Kai couldn't hope to break free from her iron grip.
"Hey, hey, hey! Don't move around! I'm not a dangerous person!" Yamato, attempting stealth infiltration tactics for the first time in her life, was nearly in tears as she hugged Kai even tighter.
Rather than trying to silence him effectively, it seemed more like she was accidentally attempting to suffocate him to death.
After what felt like an eternity, seeing that Kai had finally stopped his frantic struggling, Yamato slowly loosened her death grip.
"Huff... hah... huff... hah..." Kai gasped desperately for the precious air he'd been denied and asked with genuine curiosity: "Why exactly are you here?"
In his memories of the original timeline, wasn't Yamato supposed to be trapped in an endless cycle of escaping confinement, challenging Kaido directly, failing spectacularly, and being thrown back into her dungeon cell?
Yamato answered without any hesitation or thought: "I came specifically to find the mysterious powerful warrior who appeared yesterday! I want to invite him to join my rebellion team so we can challenge Kaido together!"
You're looking for me?
What virtue or ability could I possibly possess to catch your attention like this?
Kai felt genuinely puzzled by this development. Who could have possibly told Yamato that he harbored any antagonism toward Kaido?
The refreshingly honest child Yamato explained her reasoning: "I witnessed that incredible fighter summon meteors from space to attack Kaido and all his subordinates directly. He must obviously be Kaido's sworn enemy!"
What absolutely magical thought processes you have there.
Kai decided to test her further. "So then, do you know what this mysterious person looks like?"
Yamato obediently shook her head in the negative.
"What about his name or identity?"
Yamato shook her head again, looking somewhat embarrassed.
Kai's mouth twitched with barely suppressed amusement. "You don't know anything concrete about him. How exactly are you planning to find this person?"
Yamato responded as though stating the most obvious fact in the world: "I've fought against all the powerful individuals here at some point, so I know them personally. Naturally, anyone I don't recognize must be the exact person I'm searching for!"
Yamato placed both hands confidently on her hips with an expression that clearly proclaimed 'I'm incredibly clever and have figured everything out.'
Kai shook his head with resigned amusement, sighed deeply, opened his room door, and gestured for Yamato to follow him inside.
"Lord Kai," a young woman dressed as a professional maid greeted him respectfully.
When she spotted Yamato standing beside Kai, she appeared startled and quickly offered a deeper bow. "Young Master Yamato, good afternoon."
"Minami, you can take your leave for now," Kai instructed politely.
The dutiful maid obeyed immediately and departed with her head respectfully lowered.
"Please, sit down and make yourself comfortable. Would you like some quality sake?" Kai offered hospitably.
"That sounds wonderful," Yamato accepted readily, sitting down with easy familiarity and casually removing the hannya mask from her face to reveal breathtakingly beautiful features that seemed delicate enough to shatter at a touch.
While carefully pouring sake for his unexpected guest, Kai feigned complete ignorance and asked with calculated curiosity: "Why do you harbor such a burning desire to defeat Kaido-san?"
"Because I am Oden! I want to liberate Wano Country completely and force it to open its borders to the outside world!" Yamato responded with reflexive enthusiasm and conviction.
"Kozuki Oden?" Kai's eyes narrowed with sharp interest.
Honestly, he hadn't expected to encounter Yamato so early in his tenure, especially with her actively seeking him out for recruitment purposes.
But when heaven presents opportunities and you fail to seize them, you'll inevitably suffer the consequences of that hesitation.
A faster timeline suited his purposes perfectly well.
Since he had already committed to joining the Beast Pirates, he naturally couldn't allow such a tremendously powerful fighting force to slip through his fingers.
Who could possibly refuse a beautiful female companion who possessed a pure heart, genuine kindness, and overwhelming combat strength?
However, to successfully recruit Yamato to his cause, the toxic Kozuki Oden obsession poisoning her mind needed to be thoroughly extracted and eliminated.
Let that cleansing process begin this very moment.
"That's absolutely correct!"
Speaking of her idol Kozuki Oden, Yamato's eyes began sparkling with brilliant little stars as she continued with mounting excitement: "Kozuki Oden was the most outstanding and noble samurai I've ever encountered! He was unconventional and completely unrestrained in his approach, yet remained fundamentally kind-hearted and impossibly brave in every situation..."
Yamato launched into an endless monologue about all the Kozuki Oden stories that various samurai had instilled in her impressionable young mind, along with her own deeply personal experiences and observations.
At the tender age of eight, Yamato had been forced to witness Oden's public execution: the supposedly "legendary one hour boiling pot punishment." She had begun worshipping him as a perfect hero ever since that traumatic day.
But when she enthusiastically shared her newfound dream with her father Kaido, she was met with his characteristically violent beatings and immediate imprisonment as punishment.
Speaking of these painful memories, Yamato angrily shook the heavy seastone shackles adorning her wrists. "To prevent me from ever escaping Onigashima's borders, that absolute bastard Kaido attached these explosive bomb shackles to my body."
"I honestly don't know if that Kaido guy is lying to me or telling the truth. Who in their right mind would seriously consider blowing up their own flesh and blood child?"
Yamato's tone became deeply dejected and melancholic. "But I simply don't dare gamble with my life on the possibility..."
Kai remained thoughtfully silent, processing this information. He knew with absolute certainty that these bomb shackles were completely real and functional.
This cruel reality was also the primary reason Yamato had completely severed all emotional ties with Kaido in the original timeline.
Honestly speaking, Yamato's current psychological condition was largely Kaido's direct responsibility and fault.
What kind of family education philosophy relied purely on savage beatings? Beating a child until they were black and blue apparently wasn't sufficient. Solitary imprisonment had to be added to the punishment regimen as well.
Under such harsh treatment, Yamato's mental conditioning had only grown deeper and more entrenched over time.
At this moment, Yamato's emotional story continued flowing freely.
Having discovered a truly loyal and patient audience, the isolated girl became increasingly excited and animated, even revealing that she had discovered Oden's personal navigation diary hidden away in the Kuri region.
"Therefore, as the spiritual successor to Kozuki Oden, I absolutely must defeat Kaido in honorable combat."
Yamato raised both arms in a powerful declaration, then immediately lowered her head with obvious dejection. "But my current power level remains far from sufficient for such a monumental task. I'm not even close to being a match for King in single combat."
Kai listened with seemingly infinite patience and then posed a crucial question: "I understand your motivation completely, but what does any of this have to do with you becoming Kozuki Oden specifically?"
"What?! How could it possibly have nothing to do with it?!" Yamato's bright, expressive eyes widened even further with shock and confusion.
Having lived in complete social isolation without any genuine friends, Yamato had unconsciously begun regarding Kai, who patiently listened to her innermost thoughts and feelings, as her first and only true friend.
She desperately hoped that Kai would approve of and validate her cherished ideals.
Kai spread his hands in a gesture of logical reasoning. "Let me summarize your stated ideals clearly. Your ultimate goal is simply to make Wano Country open its borders to international trade and ensure that the people of Wano can live significantly better lives, correct?"
Yamato's mind raced frantically to process this reframing.
Is that truly what I mean? It certainly seems like it when put that way.
"But what fundamental conflict does this noble goal have with your need to become Kozuki Oden?"
Kai spoke with complete directness and honesty: "You don't need to become Kozuki Oden to achieve these aims. You are yourself: the unique and irreplaceable Yamato! Yamato can accomplish these exact same things through her own strength and methods."
"U-unique Yamato?!" Yamato appeared absolutely stunned by this revolutionary concept.
No one in her entire life had ever spoken such empowering words to her. Even the three loyal samurai she had encountered during childhood had only praised her stated ideal of becoming Kozuki Oden's spiritual successor.
"No person in this world must become someone else to achieve greatness."
Kai continued his philosophical argument with building intensity: "Moreover, a mere figure like Kozuki Oden isn't worth your imitation or devotion at all!"
"Allow me to tell you about the real Kozuki Oden that I know from historical records."
Yamato nodded eagerly, gazing at Kai with rapt attention and obvious expectation.
"Kozuki Oden was completely unscrupulous and morally bankrupt from his earliest childhood. At six years old, he began frequenting brothels regularly. At eight, he started drinking heavily and engaging in violent brawls with other children. At fourteen, he caused a devastating great flood by recklessly modifying river courses during a drought emergency. At fifteen, he threatened and extorted temple abbots before secluding himself in sacred temples, abducting innocent women every single night to build his personal harem..."
Kai sneered openly, making no attempt to hide his profound disgust for Oden's character: "When a fundamentally good person commits one wrong action, they face universal condemnation from society. When an evil person puts down their weapons and claims redemption, they somehow receive universal admiration and forgiveness."
Kozuki Oden's earlier evil deeds might possibly be attributed to youthful ignorance and poor judgment, but his systematic abduction of civilian women represented an ironclad historical fact that couldn't be disputed.
And the official narrative's addition claiming that all these women were completely free and willingly chose to serve Kozuki Oden was even more disgusting and insulting to basic intelligence.
If every civilian woman had truly willingly followed Kozuki Oden of their own free will, why would he need to forcibly abduct them against their wishes?
When the women's families and husbands came desperately searching for their missing loved ones, Kozuki Oden not only refused to acknowledge his obvious wrongs but also fought them violently, clearly demonstrating that he had absolutely no intention of repenting for his crimes at that time.