Chapter 100: Xiang Yu Yamato, What Does That Even Mean?
What Serie said was true; the secret to immortality was not something that could be unraveled so easily.
In the blink of an eye, half a month had passed.
During these two weeks, Vegapunk and the others remained cooped up inside the laboratory, never once stepping out. Every day was filled with a staggering number of experiments and calculations, yet the mystery of eternal life remained unsolved.
As far as the physical biological aspects were concerned, there had been some progress, but it was minimal and still required a vast amount of experimental data.
This led to a dire situation: the funds at Egghead Island were rapidly drying up.
Kazuma Yumesaki had to admit that conducting high-level research was essentially a way of setting money on fire.
Therefore, he had no choice but to take Hashirama, Smoothie, and Yamato—who had only recently joined the team—out into the world to secure some funding.
Speaking of Yamato, Yumesaki truly didn't know what Kaido was thinking. Regardless of his motives, on the second day after they returned from Totto Land, Kaido had sent Yamato over under the official guise of "training" alongside Yumesaki.
Yumesaki strongly suspected that Kaido had sent her over just to make his life difficult.
After all, when Yamato first arrived, she wouldn't stop insisting that she was Kozuki Oden.
It was incredibly grating.
He really couldn't fathom how someone like Kozuki Oden, a man whose logic was so abstract it bordered on the absurd, could be an object of admiration for anyone.
However, considering Yamato had been raised by Kaido in isolation since she was a child and hadn't exactly hit the books, it made sense that she had wandered down the wrong path.
Ultimately, it was the result of a lack of proper education.
So, Yumesaki suppressed his annoyance and decided to test Yamato's logic.
"Let me ask you something, Yamato. If you were the crown prince of a nation, and you went off to war, only to return and find your country occupied by an enemy, what would you do?"
Yamato answered without a second thought. "I'd kill the enemy and take my country back, of course!"
"And what if the enemy used your people as shields to threaten you?" Yumesaki pressed.
Yamato went silent instantly, her face a mask of uncertainty.
Following that, Yumesaki laid out a detailed list of Kozuki Oden's foolish blunders and his nonsensical train of thought.
At the same time, he offered several alternative solutions. In reality, given Oden's strength and position at the time, defeating Kaido shouldn't have been that difficult.
Any person with a shred of common sense would have known how to choose.
Whether it was contacting Whitebeard or reaching out to the members of the Roger Pirates, they all had the power to resolve the crisis.
Even Oden himself had the means to break the stalemate.
Kurozumi Orochi held the citizens of Wano hostage, but could he really watch every single one of them day and night?
With Oden's sheer power, if he had chosen the path of an assassin, dealing with Orochi would have been child's play.
If he focused on a single-target assassination, who could have stopped him?
Even Kaido couldn't have protected Orochi forever.
And yet, he chose the most idiotic method possible—dancing like a fool for five years and becoming the so-called "Foolish Lord."
Was that really the action of a sane person?
Therefore, regarding Oden's death, Yumesaki felt no pity whatsoever. If anything, he felt it was a good thing.
Initially, Yamato was furious that Yumesaki was belittling her hero, but as he laid out the cold facts and logic, her anger faded into a hollow silence. She became visibly withdrawn.
Was it possible she really had admired the wrong person? Was Kozuki Oden not the legend she imagined him to be?
Was he, in fact, just a fool?
And if so, what did that make her for idolizing him?
Seeing Yamato's identity crisis, Yumesaki couldn't help but sigh.
In the end, she was just like Kaido—lacking a formal education. Being able to read and write already put her ahead of ninety percent of the world's population, but expecting her to navigate complex sociopolitical issues was asking too much.
Then again, humans in the One Piece world didn't exactly seem to be gifted with high IQs. It was as if their intelligence had been traded away for sheer physical durability.
When a guy like Captain Kuro is considered a "genius," Yumesaki realized he shouldn't set his expectations too high for the locals.
Thus, Yumesaki handed the task over to Nico Robin, letting her deconstruct and rebuild Yamato's worldview.
"Leave it to me, Boss."
Robin claimed she only needed a week to fix Yamato's brain. As it turned out, Robin had been too conservative with her estimate.
She had underestimated how much of a blank slate Yamato's mind was. In just four days, she managed to make Yamato completely move on from Kozuki Oden.
Well, not exactly "move on." More like giving her a brand-new object of obsession.
"Boss! From this day forward, call me Xiang Yu Yamato!"
When Yamato reappeared before Yumesaki, she carried herself with an air of absolute peak-world dominance. Yumesaki was floored.
What in the world was a "Xiang Yu Yamato"?
Was this perhaps the greatest insult to the historical Xiang Yu in history? Yumesaki pulled Robin aside and whispered urgently, "What exactly did you do to her?"
Robin replied calmly, "Since Yamato has a penchant for tragic heroes, I translated the Biography of Xiang Yu and gave it to her to read."
The Hegemon-King of Western Chu, Xiang Yu.
A man who was never an Emperor, yet his name was recorded in the annals of Emperors through sheer martial might. Of course, on Earth, Xiang Yu was the pinnacle of human strength—a historical general famous for being able to face a hundred men alone.
But in this world, that level of strength was nothing. A pirate with a bounty of a few million Berries would likely be stronger than the historical Xiang Yu.
Yumesaki knew all too well how abnormal the human physique was in the One Piece universe. Logically, a simple translation of his biography shouldn't have been enough to trigger such intense worship from Yamato.
Curious, Yumesaki took a look at the "Biography of Xiang Yu" that Robin had translated, only to find that she had "localized" the text. Heavily.
In this version, Xiang Yu was a powerhouse born in the "Jiangdong Kingdom" who had mastered all Three Types of Haki. Fueled by his disdain for the World Government's oppression and the cruelty of the Heavenly Tribute, he took up arms to rebel against the tyrannical Qin Dynasty...
Wait, no. In this version, he rebelled against the World Government.
Robin had meticulously reconstructed Xiang Yu's life. Iconic moments like his declaration of "He can be replaced," the Battle of Julu, "breaking the cauldrons and sinking the boats," defeating the Qin armies, nine consecutive victories, the Feast at Hong Gate, the burning of Xianyang, and finally, being surrounded on all sides before committing suicide at the Wu River.
But every single one of them had been adapted to the local lore.
For instance, one day, Xiang Yu saw a Celestial Dragon acting like a tyrant and said, "He can be replaced."
Then, he started a revolution. The Battle of Julu was reimagined as a massive naval engagement.
It told of how Xiang Yu led his warriors against the Marines, eventually destroying their own ships to show their absolute resolve (the "breaking the bridges" equivalent), wiping out four hundred thousand Marine soldiers in a single battle, and even defeating the Fleet Admiral of that era with his overwhelming strength.
The subsequent battles resulted in nine consecutive victories that shook the very foundations of the sea.
At this point, the World Government realized Xiang Yu's influence had become too great, so they invited him to become a Celestial Dragon as a ruse to trap him at the "Hongmen Banquet."
Reading this, Yumesaki felt a lump in his throat. He didn't even know where to start.
A Hongmen Banquet for Xiang Yu? If Liu Bang saw this, he'd be the one feeling confused.
He kept reading.
At the Hongmen Banquet, Xiang Yu sensed the killing intent lurking in every corner and managed to escape through his own wit. Upon his return, he declared total war on the World Government.
He even managed to invade the Holy Land and burn Mary Geoise to the ground.
Strangely enough, as Yumesaki read this part, he didn't feel any logical inconsistency.
Burning Xianyang or burning Mary Geoise—it was all arson. No problem there.
Finally, the shadow ruler of the World Government, Imu-sama, personally stepped onto the battlefield, which led to the ultimate defeat of Xiang Yu's forces.
The fleeing Xiang Yu was eventually cornered on an island called "Wu River." Facing a total blockade by the God's Knights and the Gorosei, he let out one final, defiant roar.
"Even if I fall today, I am still the Hegemon-King of Western Chu!"
After finishing the heavily modified biography, Yumesaki looked back at Yamato, who was proudly declaring that Xiang Yu was her new idol. For a moment, he was speechless.
"So... she actually believed it?"
"I told her it was a piece of history from several hundred years ago, a history suppressed by the World Government," Robin said in her usual composed tone. "Given my reputation as the 'Light of the Revolution,' do you think she'd doubt me?"
Yumesaki: "Ah... fair point."
Now he understood why Yamato's mind had flipped so fast.
One had to remember that the only reason Yamato admired Oden was because she found his travel journal.
But compared to the epic, tragic life of Xiang Yu, Oden's journal was like a bedtime story.
Did Oden have a legend as grand as Xiang Yu's?
This was essentially a high-dimensional narrative strike.
How could the "Foolish Lord" Oden even begin to compare to the Hegemon-King?
Finally, Yumesaki patted Robin on the shoulder. "Good job."
Since Yamato had discarded her Oden persona in favor of Xiang Yu, Yumesaki no longer felt any lingering annoyance toward her.
A woman who was not only stunningly beautiful but also a powerhouse in combat, and who idolized Xiang Yu? Who could say no to that?
Thus, for this fundraising expedition, Yumesaki brought Yamato along without hesitation.
As for where they were going to find money? The answer was simple: Skypiea.
Lest we forget, there was a massive treasure still waiting in the sky.
The Golden Ship, the Ark Maxim.
Of course, anyone who has watched One Piece knows this ship already has an owner. That owner was the man who ate the Logia-type Rumble-Rumble Fruit and styled himself a god... Enel.
In terms of sheer practical utility, the Rumble-Rumble Fruit was easily among the top-tier Devil Fruits.
Unfortunately, in Enel's hands, it was a bit of a waste.
Well... maybe not a total waste. Enel's mastery was actually quite decent, and he had some unique ways of utilizing the fruit's power.
The problem was his ego. He focused entirely on his fruit powers and completely ignored his physical durability. Then he ran into Luffy, the "Child of Destiny," and got wrecked.
On a side note, readers originally thought Luffy won because the Gum-Gum Fruit was an insulator that didn't conduct electricity, making him the natural counter to the Rumble-Rumble Fruit.
But later, everyone found out that what Luffy ate wasn't the Gum-Gum Fruit at all.
It was the Mythical Zoan: Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Nika.
He was the literal Sun God Nika.
The fact that he didn't conduct electricity suddenly felt a bit forced. Rubber and Nika are two different things; one is a Paramecia and the other is a Zoan. What does rubber's insulating properties have to do with being a Sun God?
After thinking about it for a long time, Yumesaki still couldn't wrap his head around it. He could only grumble that Oda was just a manga artist and didn't actually know anything about One Piece.
Furthermore, Devil Fruits were likely born from human desires, representing an idealist manifestation of "will."
Since it was based on idealism, perhaps the Nika Fruit not conducting electricity made sense in a "because people believe it" kind of way.
After all, not long ago, Yumesaki had used "Idealist Magic" to slice Big Mom in half.
The power of belief was just that terrifying.
Anyway, he was getting sidetracked. Back to Enel.
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