"Ghost Island," Yamato swung a bolt of lightning at King's Tenjison O; after swallowing the shockwave King fired, the lightning didn't disperse but instead crashed down right on his head.
Even though he was still in defensive mode, the power of the lightning flooded into his limbs, and he almost lost the ability to stay airborne.
"So King's here too, huh? Just how many of you lot are there?! Does Shaina-nee also have some bootleg copy?"
"Why… do you know that name?"
The lightning attack was powerful, but it hadn't been enough to completely immobilize King; yet this sentence now shook him far more than the attack just now.
That was a name sealed away in his memories, one that absolutely shouldn't be known by outsiders, let alone spoken aloud.
And being able to say that name meant the other side knew his race.
"I see, so you're lapdogs of the World Government? Looks like you've dug up a few things, huh. You can even fake Young Master Yamato's face? But how did you learn about Young Master Yamato? She's never left Ghost Island, you lot shouldn't know she exists."
"…What are you muttering to yourself about, saying all that weird crap?!"
King's self-questioning and self-answering only made Yamato's thoughts more chaotic, and right then, a voice came from below.
"King! Move aside, that one's my opponent!"
Kaidou hadn't left the stage yet; now that he'd recovered his breath, he had rejoined the battle.
"Wororororo, the fight… ain't over yet! Gundari Ryuuseigun!"
"Kaidou" swung the Wolf Fang Club at high speed, a barrage of overlapping club shadows smashing toward Yamato in front of him. Under Kaidou's command, King also temporarily left this battlefield with questions still gnawing at his heart; meddling in Kaidou's fight was never a wise choice.
Faced with Kaidou's sudden assault, Yamato blocked everything, but in the very next moment she suddenly slipped up and was smashed by Kaidou down toward the Inner Sea below.
After that, a huge floe appeared on the Inner Sea. Yamato didn't continue fighting Kaidou; the twin wings on her back flared with dazzling electricity and she then flew toward the outer side of Wano Kuni.
"Don't run! You wanna be a coward in the middle of a fight?!"
Watching Yamato flee, Kaidou immediately turned into a Dragon and gave chase. A few minutes later, King also flew into the sky, heading in Kaidou's direction, and after King left, a floe surfaced on the Inner Sea; as the ice shattered, Yamato stepped out from inside.
"Knew it. With that battle maniac's personality, he was bound to chase. And big bro King's habits would make him follow as well. That makes things easy."
In battle, Yamato's thoughts always stayed sharp; she could quickly find ways to achieve her goals.
She was never stupid to begin with, she just usually didn't need to use her head. Once her combat passive kicked in, figuring a few things out wasn't hard.
And she'd already noticed that this "Kaidou" was extremely close to the real Kaidou in personality—his moves, combat patterns, muscle reactions were all identical. If anyone understood Kaidou best, she definitely ranked near the top, which was why she devised this plan.
Just now, during her battle with "Kaidou," something called "wisdom" flashed through Yamato's mind, giving her a lot of inspiration.
Before she arrived at this "Ghost Island," she'd been at a banquet—Kaidou and Arceus together hosting it, every High-Level Official of the Hundred Beasts present at the feast. In that setting, no one could pull any tricks, unless the whole thing itself had been set up by Arceus and Kaidou.
For now, she'd confirmed that there were pirated copies of Kaidou, King, and Queen here, but no Arceus, and King's reaction to the name Shaina was very strange.
She had a few guesses but couldn't be sure, so she wanted to find more evidence.
Right now, she only wanted to figure out what was going on with this "Wano Kuni." If that was the case, she couldn't just keep brawling with Kaidou. According to her estimates, completely crushing this Kaidou would waste quite a lot of time.
Sure, that would feel great, but she'd already done that once just now; doing it again would feel whatever at best.
So she deliberately showed an opening, letting "Kaidou" smash her into the sea, and at that moment burned stamina to create a Stand. She had the Stand lure Kaidou away, while she herself hid in the seawater.
Since this world had no Arceus, the rule that Devil Fruit users fear seawater was ironclad. After diving into the depths, she completely suppressed her presence; to counter Kaidou's Future Sight via Observation Haki, she even stayed underwater longer on purpose.
Even if Kaidou could see five minutes into the future, if she waited ten minutes before coming out, naturally he wouldn't detect her.
"Kaidou" had never imagined there could be a Devil Fruit user hiding in the sea at all, so he didn't even think in that direction.
Besides their short duration and being easy to smash, the clones created by a Stand were otherwise no different from the original, and had always been an excellent skill for luring enemies.
Which was why "Kaidou" was drawn away by Yamato's Stand, chasing toward the outside world.
"This should be a… world without my foster father. There are no Pokemon in the Inner Sea, and it seems everything related to my foster father doesn't exist."
"King's reaction is weird too… but…"
Forget it, I'd better first see what this Wano Kuni is like, and then… then…"
After a brief moment of thought, Yamato grabbed her own horns, sinking into confusion.
"Damn it, this is annoying… Is there no newbie guide like Miss Hilona? At least tell me what I'm supposed to do, Pops! Are you there, Pops? Give me a hint!"
Yamato muttered a few lines at the empty air, but got no response.
...
"You see? When that girl's in trouble she never thinks of me; her reliance on you is heavy."
"Who told you to always scheme against her whenever you meet?"
"Wororororo, it's for her own good. In this cruel world, the weak have no room to choose."
While Yamato was trying to find a newbie guide, her "newbie guides" were busy commenting on her every word and deed, and after a bout of thinking, Yamato also made a new decision.
"In theory, there should be a version of me here too. She ought to be more familiar with this place than I am, so I should have me help me."
Once she'd confirmed this was doable, Yamato's goal temporarily became finding herself.
"The people here probably don't behave all that differently. Let me think… how would I lure myself out…"
As an excellent Hunter, Yamato started putting herself in her own shoes, thinking about how to hunt herself.
"Mm… if it were me, hearing someone beat up Father, I'd definitely dash over to watch the fun right away. So I don't have to do anything—just wait here. It's been long enough, she should be here by now."
And reality matched her thoughts: before long Yamato saw a figure wearing a Prajna Mask. She couldn't see the face, but judging by the build and hair color, that was the other her…