...
Seeing Yamato's human-beast form, a flash of anger passed through Kaido's eyes. That Ōkuchi no Makami is the guardian deity of Wano Country.
Kaido's angry expression became extremely complex at that moment.
This Devil Fruit originally wasn't prepared for Yamato. Back then, Kaido had gone to great lengths to obtain it, but before he could choose a suitable candidate, Yamato had already eaten it…
It was fate, in a way. The young Yamato had been trapped on Onigashima, bound in chains. Once, when she was so hungry she could no longer endure it, she coincidentally ate this Devil Fruit!
If she hadn't eaten it, she would have died.
"Kozuki Oden's diary…"
Kaido's voice rumbled like thunder: "That damned diary turned you into this."
Yamato did not deny it. She simply tightened her grip on her kanabo.
"Father."
This was the last time she addressed him as such: "I will stop you."
"Just you?"
"Just me."
The instant the words fell, an ice-blue breath and purple-black lightning collided violently above the dome.
Outside the light screen, the young Kaido was completely frozen.
He stood there like a statue sealed by Seastone.
The muscles at the corners of his mouth twitched uncontrollably. From the corners of his eyes to his brows, his entire face twisted in an extremely subtle manner.
This was a future he had never imagined.
He had pictured countless scenes of fighting side by side with his own child…
His child should inherit his power, inherit his will, inherit his entire understanding of this "might makes right" world.
They would conquer the seas together, suppress those ignorant challengers together, stand at the pinnacle of the world together, and look down upon the ants prostrating at the feet of power.
That was Kaido's fantasy for his son. Yet the future shown in the light screen was telling him…
His daughter would rather live as an "enemy" than become his "family."
"Mam-ma-ma-ma—!"
Big Mom's laughter struck Kaido's already numb expression like a heavy hammer.
"Kaido, it seems your daughter really hates you!"
She laughed so hard she could barely breathe, her massive body trembling: "This is truly… Mam-ma-ma-ma! A loving father and filial daughter, moving heaven and earth!"
"Shut up!" Kaido nearly roared.
But he had no more words to retort.
Because in the light screen, his daughter stood before his future self, kanabo in hand, desperately blocking his path in the name of protecting Wano Country.
The ice-blue breath repeatedly slammed into that dragon-scaled body he had always taken such pride in.
Roger said nothing.
He simply watched the scene in silence, watching the cracks of emotion spread across young Kaido's face, then let out a soft sigh.
"Children…"
He murmured to himself: "They don't want to bear so many expectations…"
Whitebeard silently drank his wine—the wine he had taken from Captain John earlier. He thought of his future sons.
Those children with no blood relation, who had gathered under the name of "family."
Among them were the strong and the weak, the obedient and the rebellious…
But not one of them had been forced by him to become family.
"The bonds of family…"
Whitebeard set down the wine jug and looked at the father and daughter on the light screen. "That's not some chain. It's an invisible thread."
Garp had stopped laughing at some point without anyone noticing.
He watched Yamato's figure on the light screen—that girl who had been imprisoned by chains for twenty years yet still chose to become "herself"—and a complex look flashed in his eyes.
He recalled Luffy as a child, that grandson who from a young age wouldn't listen to him and was dead set on becoming a pirate.
He too had been angry, confused, and had even tried to "correct" him.
But later he understood…
Children are never subordinates. They are independent lives, independent souls, independent ships.
What family can do is not decide the direction of their voyage, but become the lighthouse that illuminates the dangers when they are about to run aground.
Kaido had never become that lighthouse. He only wanted to tie his daughter's ship to his own anchor.
And at this moment, that ship had snapped the ropes and sailed toward a sea he could never reach.
...
In the light screen, the battle between Yamato and Kaido was still ongoing.
Of course she was no match for her father. That immense gap in strength could not be bridged by determination and resolve alone.
Kaido's kanabo repeatedly knocked her back. His dragon breath repeatedly tore apart her ice mist.
But she did not fall. She did not even take a single step back.
Because behind her were the samurai locked in a bloody battle.
It was the people of Wano Country who believed dawn would eventually come. It was that boy who, even after falling into the sea, still shouted, "I will definitely defeat Kaido!"
This was the path Yamato had chosen. It was the entire reason she had become "Kozuki Oden."
"I won't let you pass."
Yamato raised her kanabo once more, even if she would be crushed in the next second.
Even if she could never escape the shadow of these chains in this lifetime!
"Not one step."
It seemed he had sensed Yamato's determination. Kaido stared blankly into her eyes.
Those eyes, at some point, no longer held any fear or longing for him as her father.
Now there was only calm. Only resolve.
Only that thing called "conviction," which he could never understand.