Just as Sasuke could sense Yamato's strength, Yamato could also feel that Sasuke was no ordinary individual.
"Quite rare to encounter someone like you here."
Yamato looked at Sasuke with eager interest, clearly very intrigued.
After all, she had never seen a Devil Fruit user with such abilities before.
...
Time shifts back a bit.
"Non-Samurai Ice Fang!"
Yamato transformed into the human-beast form of the Mythical Zoan, [Okuchi no Makami], and from her mouth, unleashed a super-wide-range freezing breath, instantly turning all snake-people along with the entire port into ice sculptures.
Even snake-people who were farther away and not directly hit began to slow down under the continuously spreading cold air.
Snakes are ectothermic animals, and their body temperature changes with the environment. Therefore, they hibernate in low temperatures to survive the cold winter.
Evidently, these snake-people affected by the gas inherited the same characteristic.
Seeing Yamato's breath attack rivaling Kaido's, both X Drake and Who's-Who's hearts skipped a beat.
The former understood the power gap between himself and Yamato, realizing it was nearly impossible to escape from this Young Master to deliver a message.
The latter completely abandoned his little schemes.
—Actually, this notion had mostly faded when he saw Yamato knock out two Sweet Commanders with a few swings of her kanabo earlier. Now, it was just the final nail in the coffin.
What could he do then?
With just that breath attack, his 'Soru' wouldn't get him far enough before the freezing air turned him into a statue.
But Who's-Who, ever the experienced opportunist, quickly found a new path from the current situation.
Who's-Who's idea was simple.
Kaido was almost sixty this year, and he could probably only rule the Beasts Pirates for about ten more years, right?
Since when has there been a 'Young Master' for several decades?
Since Yamato was this powerful, inheriting Kaido's mantle probably wasn't too far off.
Regardless of whether the current situation was the Donquixote Family's doing, seizing Dressrosa definitely wouldn't go smoothly now.
His plan to gain merit with Kaido through this opportunity was successfully ruined.
So why not change his approach and sincerely curry favor with this Young Master?
If he could build a good relationship with the Young Master now...
But soon, Who's-Who remembered Yamato's undisguised disgust before they came—
'No matter! There must still be a chance!'
Who's-Who gritted his teeth, then suddenly put on a righteous and indignant expression, stepping forward to slap down Trebol, who was also affected by the freezing breath.
"Bastards! To ambush the Beasts Pirates, you actually used so many innocent people!"
Hearing this, not only Trebol, but even the other Beasts Pirates' members showed expressions of disbelief.
Among them, X Drake and Who's-Who's own subordinates were the most shocked.
They all knew Who's-Who's character, and since when did he become so kind-hearted?
But when X Drake looked at Yamato, he understood what was really going on.
'This guy is really sharp!'
Unfortunately, this deliberate act didn't earn Who's-Who much favor.
Yamato still just gave him a cold glance, then used Takeru to lift Trebol from the ground.
"What exactly is going on?"
Even though Trebol had a layer of mucus distributed on his body surface as a disguise, making the kanabo incapable of truly piercing him, he still didn't dare ignore the question from the person before him.
Such power was something the current Donquixote Family could no longer withstand.
"This... this is..."
Trebol's mind raced, quickly seizing a fleeting key point.
"... It's Orochimaru! He must be behind this!"
After hesitating for a few seconds, Trebol chose to betray Orochimaru.
This shouldn't have been a difficult decision.
—If possible, he'd love to add insult to injury.
The key was that Diamante and Sugar were still in Orochimaru's hands, so he had to consider the consequences before.
Of course, he couldn't worry too much now.
If something happened to Sugar, the Donquixote Family would probably instantly become public enemies.
But that was still better than being killed by the monster in front of him right away.
Over the years, Trebol's ability to gradually expand the Donquixote Family in the underworld relied on recognizing the situation and knowing how to play both sides.
"Orochimaru?"
Yamato looked back at the Tobiroppo, receiving only blank looks and head shakes… clearly, no one had heard that name.
"He escaped from Big Mom and came to the Donquixote Family! He's a despicable villain! The Young Master kindly took him in, but he secretly plotted to seize Dressrosa!"
Trebol's acting skills kicked in, lies flowing freely from his mouth.
However, Yamato remained unmoved.
Although she didn't have Naruto's Observation Haki ability to discern lies, having been a hero for so many years, she naturally understood the principle of not listening to just one side of the story.
At that moment, a purple giant suddenly rose from the ground, attracting everyone's attention.
"What is that!?"
Before the others could react, Yamato directly threw Trebol to the Tobiroppo.
"Keep them under guard. I'll go see what's happening over there."
Then, regardless of the others' reactions, she leaped onto a rooftop and quickly ran toward where the purple giant appeared.
While passing a certain warehouse, Yamato also saw Viola there, using her tears transformed into whales to attack snake-people.
Compared to other Devil Fruit abilities, Viola's practical combat ability was rather lacking.
"Hot Iron Tear… Ah!"
Although the steel whale had considerable power, its speed was a shortcoming.
Coupled with Viola's own physical fitness and reaction speed not keeping up, the snake-people transformed from Donquixote Family's grunts quickly adapted to this attack.
They were fast, and after sacrificing one or two snake-people, they successfully closed in on Viola. Sharp nails soon scratched this violet flower.
Just as Viola thought she was about to die at the hands of these monsters, a hero descended from the heavens!
'What a tall woman!'
That was Viola's first impression.
'What terrifying strength!'
That was the immediate follow-up feeling.
"Hah!"
The kanabo became a blur, instantly turning the snake-people into scattered meat flakes.
"Meeting me, you're really quite lucky!"
Yamato didn't mind the bloodstains on herself, slung the kanabo over her shoulder, and gave Viola a bright smile.
Most people in the city had turned into snake-people, and only Devil Fruit users could avoid this fate.
However, this wasn't necessarily a good thing.
Compared to their own kind, the snake-people seemed more inclined to target Devil Fruit users… this 'moving meat'.
Devil Fruit users capable of fighting naturally didn't fear snake-people who only had strength and speed, but there were also those like Viola who weren't very skilled in combat.
"Alright, then you stay here obediently—"
Halfway through her sentence, Yamato sensed more snake-people approaching this direction.
Looking at Viola, then at the distant purple giant, Yamato didn't think much, directly scooping up Viola with an exclamation from the latter.
"Although I have something important to do right now… I still can't just leave you here."
She didn't know anything about being gentle with women.
She simply carried Viola like a bundle under her arm and started parkouring.
It wasn't until the scenery before her began changing drastically and her body was being flung left and right that Viola reacted.
"Please... put me... ugh... down... ugh..."
The delicate violet flower couldn't withstand such treatment as a burden and soon felt nauseous from the shaking.
"Ah? What did you say?"
Yamato, whether she didn't hear clearly or was deliberate, directly ignored Viola's words and continued charging toward the purple giant she had seen earlier.
'Is this woman... crazy?'
Now, Viola's impression of Yamato changed once again.
By the time they were less than five hundred meters from the incident site, Sasuke had already dismissed the Susanoo.
But this distance was nothing to Yamato's Observation Haki.
Standing on the rooftop, ignoring Viola beside her who was about to vomit, she focused her senses slightly.
'Good, right over there!'