Hearing his subordinate's report, Kaido could not help feeling a headache coming on.
He had never expected that his own "idiot son" would really imitate Kozuki Oden and go out to the sea!
"What about the cuffs? Weren't those things supposed to explode the moment he left the island?"
"The cuffs did explode, but Young Master Yamato wasn't hurt. After the explosion, he jumped straight off Wano's waterfall," the subordinate hurriedly replied.
Kaido fell silent.
He had been about to take out a Den Den Mushi to call King, but then thought better of it.
If he sent King to search for someone on the vast sea with no clear direction, it would take at least a year or two.
So in the end, he contacted Doflamingo instead and left the matter of finding Yamato to him.
As for the earlier tasks he had assigned him—finding Devil Fruits and gathering ability users—those would all be written off.
...
"Fufufufu, understood."
The moment Doflamingo hung up, his face darkened instantly.
Just one of Cain's casual plans had wiped out the conditions they had previously agreed on so easily.
Then what exactly did it count for when Doflamingo had gone out of his way to see Cain and got beaten until he was barely clinging to life?
That's right—the core of Cain's deal with Doflamingo had been to get news of Ace's situation into Yamato's ears in Wano and lure her out to the sea.
As for why Doflamingo agreed?
Cain knew exactly where Doflamingo's base was and what he was scheming.
Cain could easily run over there, beat him again, and kill him for real.
Doflamingo had no choice but to agree.
As for how to contact Yamato, that was Doflamingo's problem.
Cain had no intention of worrying about it.
Now that the matter had succeeded, Doflamingo stopped dwelling on it and directly contacted the inside man he had planted in Wano.
Calling him an inside man was not quite accurate.
He was more like the Joker's real little "clown."
...
Wano Country, inside Queen the Plague's prison laboratory.
"Joker-san, I did exactly what you told me. When are you going to get me out of here?"
Koby's body was covered in strange blue crystalline viruses.
Weak and panting, he cautiously took out a single-line Den Den Mushi and contacted Doflamingo.
"Fufufufu, don't push your luck, brat."
Doflamingo's laughter came through the Den Den Mushi.
"Getting in touch with you already took quite a bit of effort. And now you want me to rescue you too? I don't have that kind of free time. But as payment for passing along the message this time, I secured you one chance. Whether you can seize it and whether you succeed depends entirely on yourself."
"Oh, right." Doflamingo's voice suddenly turned cold.
"It seems the Marines doesn't care at all that you disappeared. Marine Koby is already considered dead by the Marines, no one knows you're still alive. You're just some insignificant brat nobody cares about."
Doflamingo hung up immediately, not giving Koby even a moment to think.
Then the Den Den Mushi in Koby's hand flashed red and exploded into pieces.
"How can this be?"
Koby fell into despair.
Everything he had endured these past days—the bizarre viruses, the torment they put him through, even being forced to mine every other day, and at night being strapped to an operating table for all sorts of experiments—
If this had happened to the old Koby, he would have broken down long ago.
The only reason he had lasted this long was because he believed with all his heart that his mentor would eventually come to save him.
But now even the Marines had accepted his death so easily.
So what was he supposed to do now?
'R-right. Joker still needs me. Otherwise, he wouldn't have slipped me that single-line Den Den Mushi.'
Because he had to go to Onigashima every day, it was unavoidable that he would run into that strange horned figure wearing a mask.
And because of that, he had been able to deliver the message smoothly.
So he still had value.
He definitely still had value!
But when Koby picked up the broken pieces of the Den Den Mushi, he discovered it was completely dead.
"Oi, brat."
Queen's massive body entered through the prison door.
He paid no attention at all to the shattered Den Den Mushi, and his rough, grating voice echoed through the room.
"Are you really Garp's disciple? Your body's so weak! The dosage I gave you wasn't even one percent of the normal amount, and yet you're already like this. What a waste of my time, you little punk."
"I REALLY AM VICE ADMIRAL GARP'S DISCIPLE!" Koby shouted with his frail body shaking, tears streaming down his face.
He was terrified inside, but his eyes were still full of defiance.
"I'M GOING TO BECOME A MARINE ADMIRAL!"
"You stink."
Seeing that Koby had wet himself in fear and still dared to put on a brave face, Queen said with disgust.
"Before saying stuff like that, how about learning to control your own body first?"
"I really don't know what's so special about you. Even Joker was pleading on your behalf. Fine, fine. I'll give you one chance."
Queen casually tossed a strange fruit to Koby.
The moment Koby saw it, he recognized it as a Devil Fruit—a legendary fruit that could instantly grant overwhelming power to the user.
He had never imagined that the never-before-seen Joker had actually arranged something like this for him.
'So this was the chance Joker had prepared for me to escape this place?'
'Whether i could get out or not all depended on this fruit?'
Looking at the fruit before him, Koby instantly thought of the kind of overwhelming power he had once seen from Luffy.
A trace of gratitude rose in his heart toward the unseen Joker.
He had never expected that man to treat him so well!
Koby excitedly bit into the fruit.
But the power he had imagined never came.
Instead, the corners of his mouth began to curl upward uncontrollably into a bizarre grin.
"Ahahahahahaha…"
A strange burst of laughter spilled from Koby's throat, echoing through the empty prison and making one's scalp go numb.
…
On the vast sea, Yamato stood at the bow of the ship, shouting excitedly, then lowered her head to look at her wrist.
"I REALLY SHOULD THANK THAT MYSTERIOUS PERSON. TO THINK THEY CAME UP WITH A WAY FOR ME TO GET RID OF THOSE CUFFS. BUT THAT THING REALLY COULD EXPLODE—DAMN THAT MIXED-BREED GORILLA BASTARD!!"
The cuffs Yamato had worn before were specially made explosive cuffs with trace amounts of Seastone added in.
They did not excessively restrict her stamina, but they did prevent her from using her Devil Fruit powers.
However, the letter she had received from that stranger had contained a method for freeing them—stuff paper into the cuffs to block direct contact between the skin and the Seastone.
After that, she could use her Devil Fruit ability to create an ice key.
Although her power could not be manipulated as freely as a Logia, Yamato still spent three full days and nights successfully making the right key and removing the cuffs.
After all, the cuffs had been designed to be worn and removed.
It made no sense for them to be impossible to take off once put on.
Even if they still exploded afterward.
"WAIT FOR ME, ACE! I'VE FINALLY GONE OUT TO SEA TOO, AND I'M COMING TO FIND YOU RIGHT NOW!!"
Yamato shouted excitedly, breathing in the taste of freedom.
Then she pulled out Ace's Vivre Card and prepared to follow the direction it pointed.
However, before long, all of that earlier excitement vanished.
Because she had made no preparations and had simply charged straight out of Wano.
Even the ship she was riding had been created directly from ice using the power of the Dog-Dog Fruit, Mythical Model: Okuchi no Makami.
Trying to complete a sea voyage on this ice ship was pure fantasy.
What's more, she had not followed a standard route at all.
Instead, she was sailing in a straight line according to the Vivre Card's direction, which meant she traveled for half a day without even seeing the shadow of a single island!
Even with Ace's Vivre Card guiding him, Yamato had no way of determining where the next island was.
Even supplies became a problem for her.
Though she held something that pointed the way in her hand, she was still completely lost in the endless sea.
"I-i'm starving… Ace, w-wait for me!!"