"That's definitely Divine Departure!"
Yamato, who had spat out a mouthful of blood, did not stay on the ground groaning in pain. Instead, she instantly sprang to her feet, her eyes beneath the Hannya mask now burning with intense excitement.
El watched her tremble in place while reciting his technique—then her figure vanished once more.
"As expected of a Mythical Zoan. Truly extremely durable." Seeing Yamato rise instantly and charge again, El sighed softly.
"Please! Please take me with you! Be my Gol D. Roger—let me be your Kozuki Oden!"
In mere seconds, Yamato used her God Foot technique to traverse several miles and appear before El.
This time, it wasn't her mace that attacked El, but a pair of slender yet powerful palms that tightly grasped El's shoulders.
Looking up at the 2.63-meter-tall figure wearing a Hannya mask, El couldn't see her face—but he could feel the excitement trembling in her voice.
El slowly sheathed his sword and deliberately teased the girl before him. "Gol D. Roger? Kozuki Oden? I don't understand what you're talking about!"
"Didn't you just use Divine Departure?"
Yamato released her grip on El's shoulders and pulled a logbook from inside her kimono. Pointing at it, she spoke excitedly: "I read it in this logbook—that's Gol D. Roger's technique!"
After speaking, Yamato removed her Hannya mask, revealing a face stained with blood. The blood didn't diminish her beauty; instead, it lent her a heroic air. She gazed at El with passionate eyes and a serious expression. "My name is Kozuki Oden. Please, let me sail with you!"
"I don't care for someone else's substitute."
El replied with a slight frown. "If you can't speak normally, then we have nothing to discuss. I'm leaving."
"Don't go!"
Seeing the one she believed to be Gol D. Roger about to leave, Yamato panicked. She quickly spread her arms to block his path, took a deep breath, and reintroduced herself.
"My other name is Yamato. I don't want to admit it, but I'm actually Kaido's son."
"Son?"
El raised an eyebrow, glancing at Yamato's chest—which was at eye level with him—and asked knowingly, "Aren't you a woman?"
"Of course not!"
Yamato retorted, then pulled out her mace and rested it on her shoulder, declaring to El: "I want to become a man—like Kozuki Oden!"
"I see..."
El pretended to suddenly understand. "Your idol is Kozuki Oden, a crew member of the Roger Pirates. You admire him deeply and want to be like him, so you imitate him and call yourself Kozuki Oden. That means you want to find Gol D. Roger, just like he did, and sail with him—right?"
"Mm-hmm!"
Seeing that El had guessed correctly, Yamato nodded excitedly. "My dream is to be like Kozuki Oden—to leave this island and explore the world! Unfortunately, because of these handcuffs, I can't..."
She raised her hands, showing her wrists still bound by a pair of manacles.
Yamato glared at the handcuffs with undisguised dissatisfaction. "To keep me from going to sea, that rotten old man put bomb handcuffs on me when I was a child—they'd explode if I left this island."
El interrupted her. "That technique you just used—it employed Conqueror's coating, didn't it? Your application is still rough, but you've undoubtedly mastered that power. They're just bomb handcuffs—why not take them off?"
"...Huh?"
Yamato was stunned for a moment, then said with a complicated expression: "If it were that simple, I'd have done it long ago..."
"Then all those passionate words you just spoke—they're utterly lacking in resolve."
Before Yamato could finish, El interrupted again. He pulled an Eternal Pose from his pocket and handed it to her as she stood there speechless.
"I would welcome a powerful person like you to follow me—even if it means offending Kaido, that's nothing. But I don't see your determination."
"This is called an Eternal Pose. Follow its pointer, and you'll find my residence."
"If you truly want to follow me and explore the world together, then make up your mind. Take off those ridiculous bomb handcuffs. Be like your idol—have the courage to come find me."
With that, El gave Yamato no chance to stop him. His figure floated upward and flew away from Onigashima.
As for Yamato—aside from her twenty-year rebellious phase in the manga—El didn't actually dislike her.
Yamato, who hated evil and possessed a strong sense of justice, also had a pure heart, much like the five girls. El felt no discomfort around her.
So he deliberately tempted her, while simultaneously testing the severity of her condition.
If Yamato truly saw herself as Kozuki Oden and El as Gol D. Roger, and if she genuinely decided to remove her bomb handcuffs and sail out to find and follow him, then her gender disorder would indeed be problematic—requiring special means to correct.
If Yamato couldn't make up her mind, it would mean she was merely imitating Kozuki Oden—pretending to be foolish, with no real gender disorder at all.
The Eternal Pose was El's test for her.
If Yamato was determined enough to come to him, El would accept her and train her as the third strongest crew member of the Flying Pirates.
Even if Kaido found out, El wouldn't fear him—it would just mean a fight. If Yamato didn't come, El wouldn't care either.
◇ BONUS & SUPPORT ◇
◇ 1 bonus chapter for every 10 reviews — drop a comment!
◇ 1 bonus chapter for every 100 Power Stones.
◇ Read 70 chapters ahead on P@treon → patreon.com/Sagamaster789