Both Kaido and Orochi were dead.
Beneath the endless thunderstorm, before the eyes of every citizen of Wano Country, lightning that split the heavens had severed their heads from their bodies.
A samurai wielding lightning, who had struck down the flying dragon!
Everyone who witnessed that moment couldn't help but recall those very words.
No — calling him a samurai wasn't enough. He should be called a god.
Ren half-lidded his eyes, gazing coldly and without emotion at the corpses of Orochi and Kaido, and at the blood spilling across the ground.
Killing Kaido was necessary.
Though he hadn't actually disliked Kaido when watching the anime, the two of them were enemies now.
Kaido was not the type to bow to anyone. Letting him escape would have been leaving a catastrophe in the making.
As for Orochi, dying here was his atonement for wasting so much of Ren's time.
In truth, Ren couldn't have cared less about any of that. He had plenty of time.
But the people of this country needed to see Orochi die with their own eyes.
After more than a decade of suffering under Orochi's tyranny, the hatred in their hearts had reached an unfathomable depth.
For them, Kurozumi Orochi absolutely had to die.
Rebuilding a nation was no simple task. Though Orochi and Kaido were gone, countless matters still required attention.
But those administrative details would be handled by the Finance Magistrate and the Commerce Magistrate.
Ren only needed to show his face once the dust had settled and announce decisions that had already been made.
For now, however, there were still remnants of the Beasts Pirates gathered on Onigashima.
At this critical juncture, the number of Beasts Pirates remaining on the island was actually quite small.
These men still had no idea what had transpired. They fully expected Kaido to return and lead them to total domination of the country.
By the time Ren arrived at Onigashima, two guards were still chatting idly.
"The pleasure district in the Flower Capital is incredible! Once things are settled, we'll be able to go there anytime we want to unwind."
"Onigashima has its own pleasure district too. That Orochi guy brings plenty of women over every year."
"That's only a handful of people. Gets boring after a few days..."
One of them curled his lip dismissively. Then suddenly, his eyes widened.
In the dark clouds above, a streak of purple lightning was hurtling toward them from the distance!
BOOM!
Lightning struck, and Ren's figure materialized before them in an instant.
The two guards scrambled to sound the alarm, but Ren didn't even move.
He simply released a wave of Conqueror's Haki.
The soul-crushing force of his willpower sent these small fry's eyes rolling back as they collapsed into unconsciousness.
Ren stepped over their bodies and walked straight into the interior of Onigashima.
These grunts were worthless to him. Once the Public Security Force arrived, they'd all be shipped off to the quarries as forced labor.
He had only one objective — Kaido's daughter, Yamato.
Yamato would grow into a formidable fighter one day. She was still young, and as long as she didn't worship Kozuki Oden, she'd be a fine child.
Of course, compared to those negligible merits, Yamato's greatest asset was undeniably her physical endowments.
Ren had to admit — that was the real reason he'd taken an interest in her.
Ren: I desire her body, and I'm honest about it!
His electromagnetic waves intertwined with Observation Haki, allowing him to pinpoint Yamato's exact location.
Ren followed the signal, but the deeper he went, the more puzzled he became.
"This direction... why does it feel like the dungeon?"
His expression was one of genuine bewilderment. He had visited Onigashima before, so he had a general sense of its layout.
Even though the Beasts Pirates had remodeled much of the island after moving in, the dungeon's location should have remained the same. It was, after all, the worst part of the entire island.
He pressed deeper inside and heard a faint voice.
"I'm so hungry..."
Yamato slumped in the corner of her cell, shackled at both wrists and ankles.
She hadn't eaten in days. A year ago, after reading that picture book, things had been fine at first.
But as her admiration for Ren had grown stronger, Kaido had begun to notice something was wrong.
He had originally wanted Yamato to learn useful lessons about ruling from that book. Instead, Yamato absorbed none of it.
She spent her days carrying around a sword, stabbing it at Kaido's head, and declaring she would slay the giant serpent.
How could he tolerate that?
He had thrown Yamato into confinement without a second thought.
Things only escalated from there. By now, imprisoning her like this was the only method Kaido had left to keep her in check.
Yamato, drained of all energy by hunger, perked up the moment she heard approaching footsteps.
"Is someone bringing food?"
"I'm here to take you away."
Ren appeared before Yamato, releasing her from her restraints.
"If you're hungry, come with me."
"Who are you?" Yamato tilted her head, studying this person she had never seen before.
She had only ever seen him in his Eight-Headed Soul form, and even then, only in the manga version. She had no idea what the real person looked like.
Who am I? I'm the man who killed your father!
Ren rolled his eyes internally, deciding it would be better to place Yamato under his control using the Snake Seal first.
If this had been the future Yamato, the Snake Seal wouldn't have worked on her.
But this Yamato was only four years old. After more than a decade of subtle conditioning, there would likely be no complications.
Once the Snake Seal was implanted, Ren revealed his identity to her.
"What? You're Ren-sama?!"
Yamato's eyes went wide with shock. Then Ren noticed them sparkling with a fervent light.
"You're so cool! I really admire you so much!"
It was as if she'd eaten a Snickers bar — her hunger vanished in an instant as she leapt to her feet.
"I told Father I wanted to become someone like you, Ren-sama. But afterward, he got really angry about it. Then he locked me up in here."
As she spoke, Yamato's excitement faded into dejection.
That was only natural. No matter what, he was still her father. She must have harbored some feelings for him, and even Yamato had wanted Kaido's approval.
"Come on. No one will ever lock you up here again. I'm taking you off this island."
"Leave Onigashima? I can't, Ren-sama."
Yamato's voice wavered. "Father put these chains on me. He said if I left the island, they'd explode..."
Her eyes grew sadder with every word. "I figured he was probably just trying to scare me, but what if they're real? That would be terrible."
"Don't worry. Let me handle that for you."
Removing the explosive collar and shackles was trivial for Ren.
A surge of flowing Armament Haki shattered the mechanisms inside the chains. Before they could detonate, Ren hurled them away at blinding speed.
BOOM!!!
The explosive collar detonated with massive force, blowing out an entire wall.
Yamato stared in stunned silence at the devastation left by the blast.
"He actually used a real explosive collar on me!"
"That man is no longer my father!"
"This family has no place for him anymore!"
[
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