On the way home.
Ruun ambled on his way back to his mansion, his mind still pondering about Yamato.
He said he wanted to talk to Yamato, but where would he find her?
Although he roughly knew that Yamato could only move around Onigashima now, Onigashima was very large, and Ruun was too lazy to look for her one by one.
Just as he was wondering what to do, the imposing gate of his mansion appeared in his sight.
Ruun paused in his steps.
He saw a very conspicuous figure standing at his doorstep.
She was tall, with a bundle of smooth, gradient white hair tied high behind her head, revealing her gracefully curved neck.
A pair of red demon horns on her head added a touch of wildness to her heroic face.
A white sleeveless kimono clung to her figure, a shimenawa tied around her waist, and a flowing red long skirt on her lower body.
She wore red rope-tied wooden clogs on her bare feet, but carried a giant wolf-tooth club almost as tall as herself on her shoulder.
At this moment, she was slightly tilting her head, stealthily surveying the interior of Ruun's mansion.
'Oh? Speak of the devil! I was just thinking of looking for her, and here she is, delivering herself to my doorstep! Am I also a man with Haoshoku luck?'
Ruun cleared his throat and called out from a distance: "Hey! Yamato!"
"Huh? Who called me?" Yamato turned around abruptly.
Her golden-red eyes were filled with confusion as she scanned Ruun up and down, "Are you the owner of this house? You look a bit unfamiliar."
Before Ruun could introduce himself, Yamato took a big stride and was in front of him.
She naturally extended her arm and slung it over Ruun's shoulder.
A scent mixed with sweat and sunshine wafted over him.
Ruun's arm could even clearly feel her soft contours and warm body temperature.
This sudden intimate gesture left his mind blank for a moment.
"Hey, new guy!" Yamato was oblivious to Ruun's momentary stiffness, her face so close it almost touched his.
"Do you know where that mysterious powerhouse who appeared on the island four days ago lives? I want to form an alliance with him to overthrow Kaido!"
"Cough, cough..."
Yamato's arm strength was astonishing; Ruun was so constricted he could barely breathe.
While struggling to break free, he secretly grumbled: 'Truly a filial father and daughter... Kaido, as a father, has been quite good to her in the pirate world, but unfortunately, he's stuck with a daughter like this...'
As soon as the other party loosened her grip slightly, Ruun took the opportunity to steady his breath, his face unperturbed, and responded casually:
"Overthrow Kaido? Are you serious?... Wait, four days ago? Mysterious powerhouse?"
The description sounded somewhat familiar to him.
"That's right!" Yamato released her hand and clenched her fist,
"It was at the arena west of Onigashima! I felt the intensity of that battle! Someone with such strength must also oppose Kaido's tyranny! I must find him, join forces to defeat Kaido, liberate Wano Country, and fulfill Oden-sama's dying wish!"
Ruun's mouth twitched as he listened: 'Good heavens, so she's talking about me!'
He looked at the girl in front of him, who was single-mindedly determined to commit patricide, and pointed to his own gate: "It's inconvenient to talk outside, come in first."
Once inside the spacious Japanese-style room, Ruun gestured for Yamato to sit wherever she liked, while he went to pour a cup of sake and handed it to her.
Yamato was not polite; she sat cross-legged in a sprawling manner, took the cup, and gulped down a large mouthful, completely devoid of ladylike demeanor.
Ruun sat opposite her, deciding to start from the root cause:
"I say, Yamato... why are you so determined to overthrow Kaido? Is it just because he's your father? Or because he occupied Wano Country?"
"Of course not!" Yamato put down her sake cup, her face filled with righteous indignation,
"Kaido is cruel and merciless! He oppresses the people of Wano Country! He killed Oden-sama! He is the root of this country's suffering! Defeating him is justice!"
"Oh? Justice?" Ruun raised an eyebrow, "So Kozuki Oden, in your heart, is an absolutely righteous hero?"
"Of course!" Yamato puffed out her chest and said without hesitation,
"Oden-sama is a true samurai! A towering hero! For the people of Wano Country, he willingly endured five years of humiliation! And in the end, he bravely faced death! He is my role model! I want to become a man like him!"
"Become a man like him..." Ruun repeated, his tone playful,
"So, this towering hero in your heart, despite having sufficient power, chose to believe the promises of a usurper and a pirate, danced naked in the Flower Capital like a fool for five years, watched helplessly as the country was gradually encroached upon, its people exploited, and was finally boiled to death in an oil pot... Do you think this behavior is heroic? Wise? Worthy of your imitation?"
"You! How can you speak of Oden-sama like that!" Yamato suddenly stood up, her face full of anger, her hand already gripping her wolf-tooth club.
"Don't get excited, sit down and talk." Ruun raised his hand and pressed it down, causing Yamato to involuntarily sit back down.
He looked at Yamato's face, flushed with anger, and slowly said:
"I'm not denying his personal bravery and his determination to die. But as a leader, as someone bearing the fate of a nation, Oden was undoubtedly a failure. He had countless opportunities to change the situation, but he chose the most passive, most naive, and most irresponsible way—to pin his hopes on whether the enemy would keep their promise."
"His five-year agreement was not enduring humiliation, but a complete strategic failure, directly leading to Wano Country's twenty years of suffering that followed. It's fine to admire his martial prowess, but if you learn his way of doing things... Wano Country might just be doomed a second time."
Yamato's brows furrowed tightly.
She admired Oden's boldness, freedom, and strength, but unconsciously avoided the details that, deep down, she also felt were somewhat off.
Ruun's words were like a small hammer, cracking a fissure in her filter of faith in Oden.
Ruun looked at her expression, knowing the timing was about right, and continued:
"Yamato, to revere others as idols and learn from them is a righteous path to pursue strength and belief. However, an idol is not you, and you are not an idol. You are Yamato, the bloodline of Kaido, the master of Onigashima, not the shadow of Kozuki Oden. You don't need to imitate everything about him, but rather learn from his lessons and do what he failed to do!"
"If your heart is set on Wano Country and you want to make it better? Then you have to figure out how to do better than Oden! Find what he didn't do well, forge a more effective new path, and don't just parrot his old slogans!"
Yamato looked up, her eyes a little lost: "I... am just me?"
Ruun's words were like a stone dropped into a stagnant pool, stirring up unfamiliar ripples in her heart.
No one had ever asked her this way, nor had anyone ever told her this.
When she said, "I am Kozuki Oden," the responses she received were only two: either denying her dream or falsely indulging her impersonation.
But never had anyone directly told her: You are Yamato.
You can be yourself, and even... become a better person than the one you admire.
