Yamato had arrived back at the treehouse and was surprised to see she had beaten the brothers back. She had transformed back to her human form and
sat back down against the wall. She had barely a moment to herself before she heard Luffy call out to her from outside.
"Oooooiiii, Yamato!! Come on ooooouuut!"
Luffy's voice died down as he stared up at the makeshift window and looked over at his brother. Ace seemed impassive as he looked over to Luffy and raised his brow. With sudden movement in their peripheral vision, the two boys jumped and braced themselves for whatever was watching them. Luffy looked tense when his attention was caught by a rustling bush in front of him. He raised his fists in a stance and readied for the enemy, no enemy would be found. Yamato shot out of the bush in her wolf form and tackled Luffy to the ground with impressive force. The blow might have concussed any normal child but luckily for Luffy, he was far from normal.
Luffy relaxed and started laughing as Yamato licked his face all over and wagged her tail. Ace was still in his fighting stance and was ready to jump at this strange-looking wolf but realized upon seeing the interaction with Luffy that no danger was present. Yamato took notice of Ace and jumped off of Luffy and stared at Ace with a deep icy gaze. Ace was mildly unnerved but looked to Luffy for answers.
"Luffy, what is this beast?"
Ace hesitated slightly at what to call it and settled on what felt right. Luffy sat up and wiped his face off as he smiled big and motioned to Yamato.
"This is Yamato. He–"
Before Luffy could finish speaking Yamato suddenly started transforming back into her human form. She exploded in size and suddenly towered over the two boys and looked down at Ace with her glistening golden eyes. Ace was caught so off guard by the explosion in size and transformation that he jumped back and yelled out in surprise.
"Holy hell! What in the world are you?!"
Yamato gave a big wide toothy grin and got down on one knee in front of Ace and offered her hand in a friendly gesture.
"Hello, I'm Yamato."
Ace hesitantly extended his hand and Yamato snatched it up with haste and shook it excitedly. Ace's entire body shook with each up and down of the handshake. He shakily greeted Yamato in return.
"HeEeeEELLllllloooooooo…"
Yamato realized she was overdoing it and stopped her persistent shaking and let Ace catch his bearings. He stood hunched over as his vision stopped shaking and he finally continued.
"I'm Ace…Luffy's older brother!"
Ace spoke it with strength and stood himself tall, or rather, as tall as he could when compared to Yamato's massive frame.
"So, Luffy kept calling you a guy so I was expecting one. What's up with that Lu?"
Ace's use of Luffy's nickname caught his attention and he quickly turned to Ace to address him but Yamato chimed in.
"Oh Luffy, he's silly sometimes. I don't think he realized but it's okay!"
She turned her eyes to look over her shoulder and down to Luffy who gave her an annoyed look. Luffy knew he could be dumb sometimes but he knows he didn't goof on this. Yamato sent an apologetic look to Luffy that said I'll explain later so Luffy dropped it and shrugged his shoulders.
Ace raised an eyebrow and seemed skeptical. The exchange between the two hadn't gone unnoticed by him and he started to feel the heat of annoyance build on his face. He greatly hated being left out of the know, especially where Luffy was concerned. Ace lingered on Yamato a bit longer and decided to try and get some information.
"You're a devil fruit user I assume? Not every day do we see a giant horned woman transform from a white wolf."
Yamato perked up at the question and quickly jumped into the routine explanation.
"You are correct my friend! I ate the Inu Inu no Mi, Model: Okuchi no Makami. It allows me to transform into a divine wolf! I can also turn into a hybrid form as well. It's a powerful devil fruit but I'm still learning to use it."
Yamato spoke sheepishly about her little lie. Since coming back she's had to reacquaint herself with the devil fruit so in a sense she was still learning to use it, for a second time. She hasn't yet tried her hybrid form and she wasn't sure when she would try it again. All in due time.
Ace nodded respectfully and seemed very impressed by the potential of Yamato's devil fruit. He turned to Luffy and back to Yamato and asked yet another question.
"Why is your devil fruit cooler than his?"
Luffy made an 'ugh' expression on his face and began whining aloud.
"Aaaaaaacceee, my devil fruit is cool!"
He pouted slightly and crossed his little arms across his chest. Yamato found the exchange to be quite cute as she let out a small giggle. She composed herself and proceeded to answer Ace's question.
"My devil fruit is a Mythical Zoan-type devil fruit so it's naturally going to be different from a Paramecia-type. Regardless of that though, if you can learn anything about devil fruits it should be this. It doesn't matter the power the fruit gives, but the proficiency and handling the user exhibits. Devil fruit powers may seem lame at first but in the right hands they could end up being far more powerful!"
Yamato smiled gently and beamed with a bit of pride at how she had explained it to Ace.
'Man, I'm good!'
Yamato thought to herself as she made a little fist-pump gesture with her arm.
Ace seemed to have more questions after Yamato's explanation than he would have liked to have and spouted out hurriedly.
"Well, what do you mean Mythical Zoan, Paramecia? I didn't know there were classifications to these things! I want to–"
"Ace, slow down! All in good time I can try my best to go over it with you. For now, though let's address the time."
Yamato finished having cut Ace off from a potentially never-ending stream of questions and directed his attention to the setting sun.
"I wanted to know if I could stay with you guys for a while. Seeing as I've been taken from my home by interested parties.."
Ace assumed Yamato was referring to the Celestial Dragons as the interested party but Yamato more so meant Chaos. Though she couldn't say it aloud Luffy stood nearby and gave her a small melancholic smile.
Ace started walking toward the base of the treehouse and looked up at it. He lingered a moment before he turned his gaze back to Yamato and gestures upward with his thumb.
"C'mon then, it would be uncool of me to deny you some shelter so sure, you can bunk with us."
Yamato smiled sweetly and began walking toward the treehouse. Luffy followed suit and the three of them hopped up and into the treehouse for a night of continued questions and silly shenanigans. Though the day had been heavy with emotion and a tone of sadness the healing process was already underway. The future was going to be even crazier than it had been previously.
The trio talked, laughed, and had a blast well into the late night. A great many stories were shared and Yamato showed off her devil fruit a little more. It was a wholesome evening that eventually died down and ended with the three of them falling asleep wherever they wanted to. Luffy passed out atop Ace and Yamato rested against the wall in a light sleep. The sounds of the night wildlife were in full swing, as though a symphony played from all corners of the jungle. After some time had passed, the moon had reached its peak in the night sky illuminating everything it could. Luffy opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling of the treehouse. How he awoke suggested he had not been asleep for some time now. He was plagued by worry and anxiety so sleep eluded him. He slowly got up off his brother and quietly got to his feet and stared out to the viewing wall. He turned his gaze to his right and spotted the giant white-haired Oni girl sleeping against the wall. Luffy let a sense of calm wash over his troubled nerves, or rather, he tried.
He walked over to the railing and peered out over the night view of the jungle. He knew the familiar sounds and smells but they brought him no comfort. He closed his eyes and flashes of his crew mates crossed his vision. He was so worried about them. He was so lost in his worry that he hadn't noticed Yamato coming up behind him. He jumped a bit and sighed when seeing her. She had a look of concern that he didn't like seeing. He much preferred smiles and laughs to anything else. Nonetheless, he went back to the view.
"You're worried about everyone aren't you?"
Yamato asked gently as she sat cross-legged against the railing and gazed up at the moon. Luffy let a sigh loose and spoke up.
"Yeah. I guess I'm not that good at hiding my worry."
He ran a hand along his face and stared at his hands.
"I'm worried about Nami, Brook, Chopper, Robin. I mean, I'm worried for all of them but some of us had harder pasts that I desperately don't want them stuck in again. Like Nami, I don't want her to suffer 10 years under Arlong again but I can't leave yet. I feel so hopeless. I can't protect them."
Yamato nodded gently and took this lull in Luffy's words to offer some of her own.
"I know you want to protect everyone but you have to have strong enough faith in them that they can handle themselves. It sucks and I empathize with you but for right now the best thing we can do is work on our strengths. We need to be ready to storm the world again in 10 years."
Luffy nodded slowly in agreement as he gently clapped his hands together. He decided that what Yamato had said was their best course of action. He turned to Yamato and suddenly remembered something that had happened earlier in the day.
"Hey, what was up with you cutting me off earlier today? I might not know a whole lot about stuff but you told me you loved Oden so much that you were a man now. I just thought you know..that remained to be fact"
Yamato chuckled nervously as she rubbed the back of her neck and looked away from him.
"I'm sorry. You didn't do anything wrong. You see, I had a moment while you were gone. A moment to think about things that have happened. For you and everyone else, this is just a rehash of old events, though I'm sure Chaos will shake things up in a crazy way. It's still the same basis. For me, however, this is a completely new adventure. I had been trapped in Wano my whole life so although this isn't ideal, it's a new adventure for me. A chance to build my relationships with all of you and see it all. I decided that I wanted to have this journey and experience as Yamato. Not Oden, though I'll always admire and hold his ideals close to me. I'm going to work on just being me and figuring out who I am in this crew. So yeah, I'm Yamato, daughter of Kaido and your quartermaster."
She offered Luffy her hand in a shake and smiled gently. Luffy knew who Yamato was but it was clear she needed this. He took her hand as best he could and gave it a firm squeeze and shake.
"Glad to have you Yamato. You're my first crew member this time around."
The two smiled at one another and went back to gazing at the brilliant light of the moon and enjoying the comforting silence between them. The next few years would be interesting for them, in more ways than one, and they would tackle it together. It was time to get to work. 10 years starts now.