Yamato found herself completely speechless in the face of Kai's devastating revelations.
She had always known that Oden was a reformed prodigal son who had turned his life around, but she had never imagined that his past could be so utterly horrific.
"What you're telling me is completely different from what's recorded in his personal diary," Yamato furrowed her delicate brows, struggling to accept this harsh new reality.
Kai scoffed dismissively. "What decent person writes an honest diary? Who would actually record their true thoughts and darkest secrets in something so easily discovered?"
If personal diaries could be trusted as historical fact, even the most corrupt politicians would appear as worried leaders genuinely caring for their country and people.
Before Yamato could mount any defense, Kai pressed his attack relentlessly: "Even after Kozuki Oden supposedly turned over a new leaf, he remained incredibly stupid and gullible. Despite possessing tremendous physical strength and political authority, he allowed himself to be completely deceived by Kurozumi Orochi and danced naked in public for five entire years!"
"He did that to protect the innocent people of Wano Country!" Yamato's face flushed bright red as she desperately defended her fallen idol.
"Then what exactly did he protect?!" Kai retorted with crushing logic. "Did fewer people in Wano Country die under his watch, or did their daily lives actually improve in any measurable way? He wasted five precious years accomplishing absolutely nothing! He personally abandoned a situation that still held a glimmer of genuine hope. Isn't that stupidity of the highest order?"
Kai sometimes wondered if there was something fundamentally wrong with Wano Country's spiritual energy and decision-making capabilities.
Not to mention Kozuki Oden's series of catastrophically poor choices that couldn't have been conceived without suffering a decade of severe brain damage.
Even those supposedly loyal retainers serving under him displayed remarkable stupidity in their actions.
Back in those days, Shimotsuki Yasuie had generously sponsored Kozuki Oden with substantial funding, which was then systematically swindled away by the cunning Kurozumi Orochi. Instead of logically thinking to steal that money back from Kurozumi Orochi directly, those so-called loyal thugs went and robbed their benefactor Shimotsuki Yasuie instead, getting caught red-handed in the act.
If not for Shimotsuki Yasuie's remarkably good temper and unwavering loyalty, not only forgiving their betrayal but also providing them with additional funding and personally teaching them proper etiquette to become respectable samurai, whether the legendary Nine Red Scabbards would have ever existed would have remained highly questionable.
Yamato sat in stunned silence, her lifelong faith quietly crumbling like a house built on sand. The path of becoming Kozuki Oden to achieve Wano Country's liberation suddenly seemed not just impossible but fundamentally flawed from its very conception.
She spoke with obvious dejection weighing down her words: "Then what should I do instead? I want to resist this oppression, but I simply can't defeat Kaido in combat."
Kai dropped his verbal bombshell with perfect timing: "The solution is actually quite simple. Apologize sincerely to your father, replace the incompetent Kurozumi Orochi, and become the rightful Shogun of Wano Country yourself!"
Yamato was essentially someone who possessed a treasure mountain of opportunities but remained completely unaware of its value.
Kaido had always desperately wanted her to accept the position of Wano Country's Shogun, but Yamato had been so thoroughly poisoned by Kozuki Oden's corrupting influence that she'd continuously resisted and opposed him at every turn.
"Eh? M-me?" Yamato pointed at herself with trembling fingers, shaking her head like a broken rattle. "I can't possibly do that. I don't know the first thing about governing an entire country properly."
"What's so incredibly difficult about governing a country effectively? No matter how badly you might perform, could you possibly be worse than the utterly corrupt Kurozumi Orochi?"
Kai encouraged her with growing enthusiasm: "Think about it carefully: as long as you become Shogun, wouldn't every major decision affecting Wano Country fall under your direct authority?"
"As long as you avoid harming the Beast Pirates' core interests, you can open the country's borders to international trade and dramatically improve the people's daily lives. Your father won't try to stop you from these reforms. If the worst-case scenario occurs, you can always find capable advisors to assist your administration."
With Kurozumi Orochi serving as the previous precedent, even if Yamato simply laid back and accomplished nothing whatsoever, the people of Wano Country would still be able to breathe significantly easier.
"Find someone capable to assist me?"
Yamato secretly glanced toward Kai, privately thinking that such an arrangement wasn't entirely impossible to consider.
Just as she found herself hesitating between options, Kai grasped Yamato's hands firmly and encouraged her with absolutely sincere emotion: "Yamato, for the sake of Wano Country's future and its suffering people, make your debut as their Shogun!"
Yamato was already leaning heavily toward accepting Kai's revolutionary suggestion, but significant obstacles remained.
"B-but my relationship with Father is genuinely terrible right now."
"Actually, Kaido has always loved you deeply," Kai stated, a fundamental fact that Yamato found completely impossible to believe.
"How could that possibly be true? He not only beat me bloody but also threw me into solitary confinement and attached these seastone bomb shackles to my body!" Yamato appeared utterly incredulous at the suggestion.
"Then did you actually die from his treatment?" Kai posed the counter-question with devastating simplicity. "You should understand Kaido's typical attitude toward his genuine enemies."
Yamato lowered her head shamefully, unable to formulate any coherent response to that irrefutable logic.
"Moreover, you openly declared your intention to become Kozuki Oden, so Kaido treated you as both his beloved son and as Oden's successor simultaneously. Isn't that consideration generous enough?"
Every Beast Pirates member consistently referred to her as "Young Master Yamato" with obvious respect.
"Maybe... it seems like I was being somewhat ungrateful?" Yamato's beautiful face turned completely red with dawning embarrassment.
Had she been fundamentally misunderstanding her father's intentions throughout all these years?
Thinking more carefully about their relationship, over all these years of conflict, besides beating her half to death during each confrontation, Father hadn't really committed any truly excessive actions against her.
"I've made my decision! I won't try to become Kozuki Oden anymore. I want to be the unique and irreplaceable Yamato!"
After her passionate declaration of independence, Yamato immediately deflated like a punctured balloon, grabbing Kai's arm like a drowning person desperately clutching a lifeline. "But what should I actually do next?"
"Simple. Just listen carefully to my instructions..."
Later, in Onigashima's grand banquet hall, Yamato performed a formal dogeza toward Kaido, who occupied the main seat of honor.
"Father, I was completely wrong!"
"I shouldn't have wanted to become Kozuki Oden. I am the daughter of Kaido of the Beasts. I've been confused and misguided all these years. Please find it in your heart to forgive me!"
Everyone present found themselves absolutely dumbfounded, caught completely off guard by Yamato's sudden emotional assault.
Over the past ten years, they had witnessed countless instances of Yamato being beaten by Kaido until she retained only a single breath of life.
That extreme level of domestic violence hadn't managed to turn Yamato around. Had she taken some kind of miraculous medicine today?
King secretly glanced toward Kai, who had entered the hall alongside Yamato.
Was this your doing?
At the main seat, Black Maria, who had been carefully pouring sake for Kaido, forgot to stop the flow, spilling alcohol across the entire table. But Kaido no longer cared about such trivial details.
Was this truly still his daughter Yamato, who couldn't be steamed, boiled, or hammered into submission?
Kaido pushed his half-drawn kanabo back into his cloak and pressed for confirmation: "Say that again, clearly."
"Father, I know I was wrong," Yamato declared loudly with unmistakable sincerity.
"Maria, I didn't mishear that, did I?" Kaido turned to seek confirmation from his most trusted attendant.
"No, you heard correctly," Black Maria nodded with obvious amazement.
That was excellent news indeed.
Kaido immediately burst into his characteristic booming laughter: "Wororororo! Today is genuinely a good day for celebration. Spread the word immediately: I'm throwing a grand feast for everyone!"
"YEAH!" The entire assembly responded with thunderous enthusiasm.
"Yamato, stand up immediately. I'll let bygones be bygones regarding all your past mistakes and rebellions." Kaido waved his massive hand with obvious relief and joy.
"Yes, Father."
Yamato obediently rose to her feet and, completely ignoring Kai's warning glances, sat down next to him with the satisfied demeanor of a husky that had successfully completed its assigned mission, chest puffed out with unmistakable pride. "Kai, I did well, didn't I?"
He really shouldn't have expected Yamato to keep any secrets whatsoever.
Kai sighed with helpless resignation and offered appropriate praise: "Pretty good job overall."
Oh well, his developing relationship with Yamato would be exposed to scrutiny sooner or later anyway. The specific timing didn't particularly matter in the grand scheme.
After all, he hadn't employed any underhanded manipulation methods on Yamato, and he wasn't afraid of Kaido causing problems over the situation. On the contrary, he had done Kaido an enormous favor by resolving this long-standing family conflict.
"Kai, was Miss Yamato's remarkable transformation influenced by your guidance?" King was the first to pose the obvious question with characteristic directness.
Kai nodded with calm acknowledgment and selectively described his philosophical conversation with Yamato to the assembled leadership.
"Yamato's enlightenment today is entirely the result of your years of unwavering dedication and persistence, Kaido-san," Kai concluded diplomatically.
Kaido deeply agreed with this assessment. If not for his years of persistent effort, Yamato would have departed for the afterlife long ago. Where would today's victory be possible?
As for whether everything Kai described was completely truthful, it didn't particularly matter in the end.
The crucial result was that Yamato had apologized sincerely to him, and the Beast Pirates had gained another tremendously powerful fighter for their cause.
Just like those former enemies who now served as his loyal subordinates, as long as they remained willing to work faithfully for the Beast Pirates, he welcomed them all with open arms.
As long as he maintained his status as a Yonko for even one day, those people wouldn't dare betray him for even one day!