"Ring-ring-ring-ring-ring! Ring-ring-ring-ring-click!"
"Report, Malice."
Standing on King's lounge balcony, Kaido half-listened as his faithful lieutenant made his call. Far below him, the waves crashed against the rocks and the mountains as the thunder rumbled overhead. Just as it had always done. Just as it ought to do.
His head wasn't aching any more. His skull no longer vibrated with every thunderclap. For the first time in as long as he could remember, he was actually completely sober. It was a strange feeling, one he wasn't sure he stood where he was, his eyes on the billowing waves, as he heard King stride up to join him.
"Any news?"
"Malice's fleet has passed outside your territories," King replied. "There is no sign of Deku or Yamato."
"I thought not." He had not, but he could not suppress a growl of irritation, of disappointment. "They had plenty of time to put distance between themselves and us."
That was what really stung. He was not humiliated. Deku had not defeated him in an honest battle. This Deku was not the better warrior. Being robbed while engaged in honest battle was not humiliating.
No, he had made a fool of himself; when he had spent weeks ravaging Wano while Deku and Yamato had flown away unseen. Weeks trashing his own domain, the source of his wealth and power; all for nothing.
"There was one small thing," King added. "A News Coo dropped off a special edition. Apparently there's been some kind of goings-on in the Kingdom of Doyle. A bunch called the Finalem Pirates tried to take it over, and got themselves clobbered."
"Doyle…" Kaido growled as the name emerged from his alcohol-free memory. "What's that got to do with anything?"
"The edition is mostly nauseating about the King of Doyle," King went on. "But the report on the final battle mentions several groups of mysterious warriors. One fought against the Finalems inside the palace, another defended the gasworks alongside the 'Lady of Victory', a Captain Doll, and another group liberated their port town."
The hackles rose on Kaido's neck. "Any actual details?"
"None, Lord. Malice is snail-faxing the edition to my people now; but he said there was little or no detail. That's what got his attention."
No detail. Mysterious warriors of unknowns that fought alongside a Marine, and not a thing said about them. Not even an attempt at a vague description.
"That's too convenient."
"It stinks of a payoff. You can hardly trust that overgrown turkey Morgans these days."
Kaido growled, as excitement and frustration warred within him. It was the best lead so far, but it was barely a lead at all. The whole thing could have been a setup; disinformation by the Marines to cover their hilarious failure.
All the same…
"Send someone to Doyle," he hissed. "Have them ask questions."
"Understood." King turned and nodded at one of the Headliners hanging around the other end of the room. The man bowed and hurried out.
Kaido stepped forward, resting his hands on the carved stone balustrade. He took a deep breath, remembering the tales the only one he truly loved, his mother, told him when he was but a young boy. Before his time as Vodka's 'hero'.
"Wano was our home, once," he said suddenly to King's ears. "Yamato, me. The home of all Oni. It is the land where our race was born, the land where we once ruled."
"I did not know."
"I never told you." He sighed. "There are so few of us left. So few who know the old stories."
His grip tightened on the balustrade. Yes, that was what it meant to be an Oni out there; even a kingdom's hero. After all he had done for them…
"We lived here with humans, King," he continued. "We were strong but few; while the humans were weak but many, and clever. They shared their food with us, made weapons and armor for us, and even made booze for us. We enjoyed the things they gave us, and in return we protected them from dangers and settled their disputes. We wanted for nothing, and we lived well; fighting our duels and playing our games. And after every battle, every game, and every festival, there was drink to be had."
How like a dream it seemed. How unreal it had appeared, even when he was a young boy; hanging on his ailing mother's every word. How unlike the world in which he had lived.
"Then a thousand years ago, the Kozuki clan came," he growled. "They climbed the cliffs of Wano, and declared the land their own; denouncing us as monsters. They were skilled warriors, more skilled than any human of Wano had ever been. With such power, they called upon the humans to rise against us. Some coveted their power and went willingly, while others went only out of fear."
He shuddered, the balustrade cracking under his grip.
"The war raged for a hundred years, until the land of Wano was destroyed; and no more records were kept. For a hundred years afterwards the wars went on, until a mighty power came to the aid of the Kozuki, and the Oni were destroyed. The survivors were scattered; while those humans who had remained loyal were slaughtered without mercy."
He fell silent again, the balustrade falling to pieces in his clenched fingers.
"Every time we tried to return, the Kozuki and their samurai defeated us. And wherever we went, the World Government hunted us down. They forced us to fight their wars, or tossed us into the fighting pits; to fight to the death for their amusement. Our numbers were whittled down, and our heritage was forgotten; and until we became little more than the brutes and thugs they always thought us to be."
He fell silent, staring down at the waves. Even that sight could not ease his angry heart.
"Maria, Who's Who, Sasaki, Page One, Ulti," confirmed Kaido. "Their horns were proof of their Oni blood. I offered them a home and a chance to get strong, and they took my offer. Wano will be their homeland, as it was for their ancestors. The descendants of Kozuki and their loyalists will toil in servitude until they die out."
"Just like Orochi always wanted," King mused. "His own homeland, his own people, cast down and destroyed."
"Indeed," Kaido agreed. "It's the one thing he has in common with us; the one reason I put up with him, beside his talent for exploitation."
It was strange, having to feel a connection with that treacherous toad of a Shogun. But it was real, for all that. Kurozumi Orochi's cruelty was not born of mere wickedness. It was the comfort he offered to the terrified, persecuted child he had once been; cast down, hunted unto death, for no more crime than being born a Kurozumi.
And after a life like that, what else could he have been? After the lives they had endured, what could the Oni have been?
"And what of Malice?" King suddenly asked. "Of your Flying Six, he is the only human. What is his place in all this?"
Kaido paused, and regarded his old comrade. The Lunarian stared back at him, his eyes as cold and hard and alien as they had always been. Kaido wondered, for a moment, if he had made a mistake; if he had given his first subordinate cause to doubt him.
"His place is with us," he replied. "He will share in our destiny; yours and mine."
"Because he is like us?"
"Yes…" Kaido's hands tightened on the balustrade, as the old anger flared again. "He knows what it means to be betrayed, despised, cast out, by those he tore out his heart to save!"
The last word came out as a roar, and the balustrade disintegrated in his glowing hands. In his mind's eye, he could still see the soft, fat face of the King of Vodka; still feel the chains about his arms and his chest, dragging him down.
"You're more than this country can handle."
He stood there, his nails driving into his palms, piercing them as no blade could; the pain drawing him back to reality. He raised his head, and turned again to stare at King. The Lunarian stood still, wings spread, while around him his lounge lay in ruins; his Headliners lying sprawled amid the wreckage foaming at the mouth. Kaido took deep breaths, letting out a deep sigh.
"You don't have to defend Malice to me, King," he rumbled. "He will succeed, or he will die trying. And if anyone who serves me can find Yamato and Deku, he can. And when he does, I will fight Deku myself."
He was no longer angry to the point of blinding fury. The thought of facing Deku thrilled him, in a way he had not felt for many years. He would fight that strange boy, and destroy him with every ounce of his fury. He would prove once again that he was Kaido, King of the Beasts; whom none but Gods could destroy.
"And when I have crushed him, and Yamato has finally accepted her destiny, we will complete our work here," he went on. "When Wano is as it ought to be, we will do what we have so long planned to do." His whole body shivered with anticipation. "We will ravage this world as we have ravaged Wano. And as his world cries out in agony, Joyboy will finally appear."
Joyboy. The savior of the world. The bringer of laughter. The one he and King had talked about so many times; back in the old days, when they were younger.
Joyboy, who would give Kaido the one thing he truly wanted.
"Kaido…I still don't believe it," King said sternly. "I don't believe he will kill you. And if he does, I will avenge you; I, and those who remain."
For the first time in a good while, Kaido felt himself smile if wryly.
"But before he dies, I will ask him something." The flames around King's neck leapt and billowed. "I will ask him why your people, and mine, could not feel the warmth of his sun! Why were we cast down, and others raised up!? What made humans so worthy!?"
Kaido growled in agreement. He wouldn't mind asking that himself. Just what had his ancestors done to make Joyboy choose humanity over them?
(X)
The Prison Mine, Udon
The sun was hot, but Hyogoro had known hotter.
Life was going on pretty much as it always did. The prisoners worked under the hot sun, cracking their way through rocks and the walls of the quarry pits. The rocks they cut away were then carried to the grinders; where they were ground down to release the precious ores within. Hour after hour, day after day, week after week.
Year after miserable, hopeless year.
Hyogoro didn't allow himself to despair. He had lived long enough to know what despair was, and he had seen too many fall prey to it in the years since Kaido had conquered his country. It didn't take much to keep hope alive, if you knew how.
And you could still do it.
He paused, watching through the corner of his eye as a pair of guards stalked past; muskets in hand, eyes watchful, suspicious. He half-expected them to stop, to look more closely, or pull the whips from their belts and start cracking. But they didn't. They just walked on, continuing on their rounds, seeing only what they always saw. Broken men. Hopeless men. The sons of a conquered country.
Let them. Hyogoro knew who he was, and what he was.
Once the guards were out of sight, he turned back to the rock pile, and the young man working at it. He swung his pack, hacking and smashing at the unfeeling rock, glaring at it as if his eyes could make it shatter.
Hyogoro sighed. They were always like that at first. The ones who had known pride, and strength. The ones still, at some level, trying to deny what they had become.
"You'll do yourself an injury lad!" he called out. The youth's head snapped towards him, red-eyed and glowering, but Hyogoro did not flinch. He had seen far worse.
"All that working," he sighed, shaking his head. "Malinger a bit, while they can't see."
He leant on his pickaxe. The youth watched him for a moment, and then did likewise.
"That's how you keep it together in here," he said. "You do the least you can get away with, and you slack like this whenever the guards aren't watching. If you don't, you'll just work yourself to death, and they'll replace you with someone else."
He grinned. The young man just looked world-weary. The klaxon sounded; marking shift change.
"And when the horn sounds, we go eat." He grinned again, and led the way around the rock pile. The young man followed, looking around with wary eyes. They reached the end of the pile…
"Damn you Spytand Malice! This is all your fault!"
Hyogoro froze, snapping out his arm to stop the young man. He darted behind the last rock, the young man doing likewise, as a great wheeled contraption went rumbling past.
"I fixed you up! I didn't let the prisoners eat you! I didn't even experiment on you! And how did you repay me!?"
The contraption was a gigantic, three-wheeled chair. Upon it lay Queen the Plague, his vast body wrapped in bandages. He was guiding it along with some kind of joystick in his good hand; his mechanical one a jagged stump. It was all Hyogoro could do not to chuckle at the sight.
"You ratted me out to Commander Kaido!" the obese tyrant whined, as his chair clattered onward. "You got me smashed into mush in my own prison mine! Now I can't dance to the tunes of Lady Komurasaki's shamisen! Just because I wouldn't pander to your dumb paranoia! I'll get you for this you lousy genocidal maniac! You two-bit turncoat motherfucker!"
Hyogoro waited until the chair had ground past, and then allowed himself to laugh. It had been quite the show; watching Queen get a small taste of Kaido's wrath. The impacts had shaken the ground, knocking many rocks loose, and generally making everyone's jobs easier.
And they even had many Queen-shaped holes to remind them. Dozens. Maybe even north of a hundred.
Hyogoro and the youth fell in with the line of prisoners, as they trudged back to the cellblock. The floors in there were hard, but it was cool, at least. Hyogoro quickly found his way to one of his favorite spots, and the young man sat down beside him.
His stomach growled. Prisoners could only collect their meal tickets, and exchange them for millet dumplings, once per day. Anyone who stole a ticket, or was caught giving or receiving it to or from another prisoner, was punished. Hyogoro had quietly given away all his own dumplings to other prisoners; prisoners who needed them more than he did.
As a result, he hadn't eaten all week.
"Here." He looked up. It was the young man, with a millet dumpling in his hand. He was frowning, as he has since he came to the prison mine. Hyogoro regarded him for a moment, wondering what the young man was doing. Then, seeing no treachery in his eyes, took the dumpling and ate it.
"Why thank you, young sir," he said, with levity he didn't have to force for once. "Wherever did you get that?"
"From the usual place, yesterday," the youth replied. Another dumpling somehow appeared in his hand, and he popped it in his mouth.
"You're something else, young fellow," commented Hyogoro. "What did you say your name was?"
"Ace," the youth replied as he looked off, far and away. "And you would be?"
"They call me Hyogoro," the old man replied. "Now tell me, Ace. How did you learn to hide food like that?" The boy let out a small chuckle wryly.
"From a guy I used to know." Ace smiled wistfully. "Or rather, from a lot of guys I used to live with. You learned to watch your food around them, let me tell you."
Hyogoro nodded. He had a shrewd idea of what Ace meant.
"So how did you end up here anyway?" he asked. Ace glowered, and looked down at his knees.
"I did something…utterly utterly stupid," he admitted. "Something you probably wouldn't believe."
"Oh I can believe a lot, young man," retorted Hyogoro. "There are some real characters in here, and I've heard all their stories." Ace paused, his eyes wary once again. Then he sighed.
"I was a pirate once, a Captain," he said. "I stopped by here in Wano, and I saw what Kaido's done to this place. I decided I didn't like it, so I tried to do something."
He seemed to shrink, as if retreating into himself.
"Didn't end well, did it?" asked Hyogoro facetiously.
"It was that bastard Spytand Malice," Ace went on. "We were fighting our way in there, everything was going fine, then all of a sudden he came boiling out, screaming like a madman. I actually had to back off, get out of there. And then…" He trailed off again, his eyes haunted.
"Spytand Malice," Hyogoro thought aloud. "Now isn't that interesting."
"How so?" Ace asked.
"It must've been…a month or two ago," Hyogoro said, trying to remember. One day was much like another in the prison mine; it was hard to keep track. "Ah, now I remember, it was the night of the Fire Festival. That Malice fellow came falling out of the sky; crashing down here like a meteorite."
"He did?" Ace's brow furrowed, as this new train of thought drew him from the darkness.
"We didn't found out what was going on until a couple of days later," Hyogoro went on. "Kaido's daughter Yamato did a bunk, along with some fellow named Deku. Kaido went completely berserk, and had his pirates tear Wano apart searching for them. They only gave up…it must have been…about the same time you got here." He frowned, looking up to the sky. "I hope the people weren't harmed too severely in their search."
"Yamato…and Deku…" Ace was thinking hard. "I think some villagers we ran into might have mentioned them. You said Yamato was his daughter?"
"Indeed, though they never got along, if the rumors were true. She wanted nothing to do with him." Hyogoro confirmed, and Ace perked up. "I can't say I'm surprised she's finally flown the coop. And for all the trouble it's caused…I'm rather glad they got away." He sighed. "This Deku… I may not know him but…my old bones are telling me that he went out of his way to save that girl. And somehow, he did it."
"Huh…" He mused. "I wouldn't mind meeting them." Agreed Ace. "From what you've told me, it must've been those two who sent Malice flying over here." He looked off to the sky. "They must be pretty strong themselves." He looked to the ground a little. "Stronger than me I bet."
"Mmm, indeed." Hyogoro grinned. "You thinking of paying them a visit?"
Ace's face fell, and he was silent. "I… don't know."
Hyogoro regarded him. Those eyes were not the eyes of a captain, a leader of men. They were the eyes of a man who had failed, who had lost everything. They were the eyes of a scarred soul.
Scarred, like the burn scar on his chest. He must have lost them all; his crew, his friends…all of it.
"So what about you, old man?" Ace asked. "What are you in for?"
"Me?" Hyogoro quipped. "I'm just an old man who said things he ought not to have said, and did things he ought not to have done."
"That can't be," retorted Ace. "I've seen you work, Grandpa. You're stronger than anyone else here. How did you get so…?"
"Gaaaaah! Easy!"
Both looked up. The cry had come from the Executive Tower, at the very center of the prison mine. Hyogoro could just make out Queen on the balcony, a pair of white-clad nurses working on his ravaged body.
"S-sorry sir!" pleaded one of them. "We're doing our best! This is the salve Lord Kaido gave us!"
"Gnnnngh… damniiiiiit! Why is it the shitty one that stings!" Queen wailed.
Hyogoro glanced at Ace. His eyes were no longer sad or forlorn. They were bright, glaring, fixed on Queen. His hands clenched into fists, his teeth clenched, his breath a snarl in his throat.
So he did have some fire left in him. It was a fire that might yet restore his strength, and his heart. But it had already scorched his soul, and could plunge him into a darkness far worse even than this.
Did he deserve to know of Hyogoro's power? Did he dare try to teach it to him, in this place?
Did he have anything better to do?
Did he have anything left to pass on?
"My power, in this land, is called Ryuo," he replied, as Ace looked back to him. "But outside Wano, it is called Haki."
Ace turned to face him, his eyes lighting up. He looked down at his scarred and bruised hands, and then smiled.
"Can you teach me this power?"
Hyogoro hesitated. He did not know the light in his young friend's eyes. There was hope there, and a twinkle of mischief; but still that same darkness, a darkness that might never leave him.
But there was something else there too. Something better than all of them.
Determination. Commitment. The will to succeed.
"Yes," he said, smiling. "I think maybe I can."
Big thanks to Juubi-K for writing this up. And for WildJoker000 and IKnowNothing 's polish, as usual.
So yeah, a little check in back on Wano. We heard Izou's take on Wano's history with the Oni. Now we get learn it from Kaido. Both sides tell different stories. Where is the truth? Will there be a flashback?
The truth is likely found somewhere in between. Or something entirely different. Or perhaps it is only known by a very scant few. One of whom likes tending to a certain garden... As for a Flashback? Nah, I ain't writing no flashback arc.
And naturally, the next step in Ace's story as he meets the man whom his little brother would have met in his time. Hyogoro has a little more energy left in the tank with it being 4 years earlier, and revenge can be an incredibly powerful motivator...
There was a mention of Godvalley being a fighting pit, but that was before the official translation came out and it was just "non-WG kingdom being seized and turned into a human safari". So I removed it.
Now I am off on vacation for a spell, so don't expect anything from me in a lil while.
Hope you all enjoyed, and I'll see you in the next one.