A Great Victory

"Damn, this was practically a powder fracture. It was a miracle this guy was still alive."

Yota casually tossed Kaido onto the ground, then fed him some Yang Release Chakra to preserve the last breath in his body.

No matter what, Kaido was Yamato’s father. The two of them could settle their father-daughter issues however they wanted, but if he killed Kaido, it might leave some kind of knot in Yamato’s heart.

Helping Wano Country was one thing, but making his companion sad because of it would be putting the cart before the horse. Although Yamato had never shown Kaido any kindness, she had only ever said she wanted to defeat him or drive him out of Wano Country. She had never said she wanted to kill him. That showed that, despite their different ideals, there was still a little affection between father and daughter.

If Yota’s strength had truly been comparable to Kaido’s and he could not afford to hold back, that would have been one thing. But with such a vast gap in strength, he would not deliberately kill Kaido.

Of course, Yota had no intention of being polite when it came to Kaido’s body structure and the Azure Dragon Fruit.

"That was incredible, Yota. When did you become this strong?" Ace walked over, his voice carrying a trace of bitterness.

"Haha, we can talk about that later. Let’s finish this battle first." Yota scratched his head.

As soon as he finished speaking, Yota did not wait for Ace’s reply before attacking the other Beasts Pirates officers.

At Yota’s current level of strength, the Beasts Pirates officers were practically facing a dimensional difference. Even people as strong as King and Jack could only be instantly defeated in a single move. The only reason it took any time at all was that Kaido’s ultimate attack had blasted the battlefield apart and split everyone up, forcing Yota to spend a little time tracking people down.

Before long, the once-fierce battlefield fell silent. With the Beasts Pirates’ top officers and All-Stars all defeated, the remaining fodder surrendered without any suspense.

"We won! We won! Hahahaha!"

"Long live Wano Country!"

The samurai of Wano Country wept and laughed, every one of them overwhelmed with excitement.

After the battle ended, the question of how to deal with the Beasts Pirates became a problem again. According to Asura Doji and the other Nine Red Scabbards, what was there to discuss with these bastards? Just cut them down and be done with it!

The moment those words were spoken, Yamato seemed as though every piece of clothing on her body had grown thorns. She kept twisting about, looking like she wanted to say something but had no idea how to begin.

Yota’s expression immediately darkened. Ace was speechless as well. Talking about cutting down her father right in front of Yamato was a little too disrespectful, wasn’t it?

Fortunately, Kozuki Hiyori was not as crude and blunt as Asura Doji, and she quickly stopped him.

Kozuki Hiyori understood clearly that if they truly killed Kaido, then even if Yamato said nothing now, Wano Country would more or less be declaring a complete break with Yota and the other two in the future.

Wano Country was now in desperate need of rebuilding, while most of its strong fighters had already withered away. In the New World, it was nothing but a juicy piece of meat. While the Beasts Pirates still existed, other pirates had not dared to cause trouble because of Kaido’s fearsome reputation. Now that the Beasts Pirates had been defeated, other pirates—and perhaps even the World Government—might turn their attention toward Wano Country.

Especially since they wanted to carry out Kozuki Oden’s policy of opening the country, they needed powerful experts to deter others. Otherwise, they could end up being carved up by other major forces at any moment.

Therefore, although she harbored considerable hatred for Kaido, she ultimately chose not to kill him. They would merely imprison them for now and drive them out of Wano Country later.

After all, after taking Yota’s barrage of Ora Ora, Kaido’s muscle fibers and bones had been completely pulverized. He had practically been smashed into a heap of flesh.

Even if he recovered through his immense vitality and Life Return ability, his strength would be greatly reduced. That would be enough for them to vent their anger, and he would no longer pose a threat to Wano Country.

As for the remaining members of the Beasts Pirates, the people of Wano Country did not know how to deal with them.

Killing them all would clearly be going too far for these "righteous people" of Wano Country. But imprisoning them would not only waste food; these people were all formidable fighters, and their combined strength was considerably greater than Wano Country’s current forces.

In the end, Yota spoke up and told the people of Wano Country that he intended to strip the Beasts Pirates of their Devil Fruit abilities.

Ever since Yota had brought out the Barrier Fruit, Kozuki Hiyori had actually had some suspicions. But even with those suspicions, she had not asked. Now that Yota had brought it up himself, Kozuki Hiyori immediately agreed.

In the grim prison, the Beasts Pirates were all imprisoned here. As the source of Sea Stone, every cell had been extravagantly carved from Sea Stone. An ordinary Devil Fruit user imprisoned here would find it difficult even to maintain basic physical strength, let alone escape.

However, the Beasts Pirates’ high-ranking officers all possessed astonishing physiques. In addition, they had trained with low-purity Sea Stone before. Thus, they could at least still move freely inside their cells.

Footsteps gradually approached, and soon, a handsome young man entered the prison.

"Brat, have you decided how you’re going to deal with us?"

King, dressed in black, sat cross-legged in his cell. Several Sea Stone chains were wrapped around his body, yet he still carried himself with composure as he spoke calmly.

In contrast, the other two All-Stars were in very different states. Queen was nearly in tears, while Jack glared with wide eyes, clearly unwilling to accept his defeat.

As for Kaido, locked up in the innermost cell, he was sleeping soundly, snoring away. It was fortunate that the Strongest Creature in the World possessed such tenacious vitality. Despite being so severely injured, he could still sleep. In Yota’s senses, Kaido’s breathing was even relatively steady.

"It’s been decided. According to those people from Wano Country, naturally, you should all be chopped down. At the very least, you should be locked up for the rest of your lives."

"It seems you have other ideas, don’t you?" King spoke indifferently.

"Of course…" Yota said directly. "Although none of you are good people, and you’ve done terrible damage to Wano Country, frankly, it has little to do with me. You are my prisoners, not Wano Country’s prisoners."

Yota understood clearly that the most important reason he had gone after the Beasts Pirates was to seize their Devil Fruits. The next reason was the promise he had made to his two companions, Ace and Yamato. Only after that came a little sympathy for Wano Country.

In Yota’s heart, his companions Ace and Yamato held a higher place than Wano Country. He would not make his companions uncomfortable over the hatred of people from Wano Country, whose grudges had nothing to do with him.