Chapter 258: He Didn't Abandon Me? What a Pity.
Kaido's grip on his kanabo tightened. He felt that before parting ways, he should leave his dear daughter with one last, unforgettable "lesson" to deepen her impression.
Ultimately, however, he held back. Instead, he and Nereus flew off toward the distant horizon, finding a barren, desolate island with a harsh environment to settle their dispute.
To call Kaido "normal" would be quite a stretch. After all, in the original timeline, he literally tossed Yamato into a cave alongside a group of highly hostile samurai. If not for Kaido's indirect assistance, Oden's "Horcrux" journal wouldn't have influenced her so easily.
But he wasn't purely apathetic, either. If someone with Yamato's rebellious personality had been born to Charlotte Linlin, the end result certainly wouldn't have been a disguised compromise.
When it came to her children, Big Mom possessed an insanely paranoid desire for absolute control. She didn't need them to have a sense of self or independent opinions; they merely existed to fulfill her dreams and blindly obey their mother's absolute commands.
This was precisely why the name "Nanamo" had practically become a taboo urban legend—an unspoken anomaly—over in Totto Land.
"So, that guy Kaido... came all this way just to drop off his kid? We should definitely be charging him child support," Nanamo muttered, sizing up Yamato. She seemed to be trying to gauge exactly how much the girl could eat.
On this sea, physical size and appetite were not inextricably linked. Top-tier powerhouses universally possessed monstrous appetites; eating several times their own body weight in a single meal was not uncommon.
Yamato, however, wasn't thinking that far ahead. She was currently busy showing off her abilities with Chloe. After watching Chloe casually manipulate both fire and lightning, Yamato eagerly demonstrated her own ability to conjure ice.
However, the current Yamato hadn't yet mastered the ability to summon her Mythical Zoan's elemental powers without actively transforming, so she shifted into a pristine, snow-white beast-human form.
This was the power of a branch of the Dog-Dog Fruit—the Mythical Zoan, Model: Okuchi no Makami. It was also the only Mythical Zoan Devil Fruit Kaido had managed to get his hands on after years of searching.
Without overthinking it, he had ultimately given it to Yamato, even though she hadn't wanted to eat the damn thing in the first place.
"I didn't want to eat that thing! Queen said it tasted absolutely disgusting! Plus, you lose the ability to swim!"
"Nereus is a Devil Fruit user too," Kaido had told her at the time. "This fruit is exactly like his. They're both Mythical Zoans."
"Then I'll eat it!"
Back then, Kaido knew exactly how to manipulate Yamato, tricking her into eating the Devil Fruit with just a few sentences. Of course, he conveniently omitted the fact that Nereus was a massive biological anomaly who could still swim underwater despite eating a Devil Fruit.
"Nereus is an ability user? That's right. But due to his unique racial traits, he has a special method of swimming underwater. It's not something other ability users can replicate."
It was only after Queen accidentally let that detail slip that Yamato realized she had been thoroughly scammed by Kaido. Furious, she marched up to him, demanding to know why he tricked her into becoming an anchor.
Naturally, the confrontation yielded no answers. Kaido didn't bother explaining himself; he simply initiated a fresh round of unilateral martial suppression to shut her up.
Since she couldn't exactly throw the Devil Fruit back up, she was forced to accept her new reality.
"Still, a Mythical Zoan... it seems that guy Kaido actually cares about you quite a bit," Nanamo noted.
Even though the number of known Mythical Zoan users currently exceeded Logia users, Mythical Zoans were still universally hailed across the seas as rarer than Logias, fetching astronomically higher prices at auction. If Kaido didn't care about her at all, he would never have handed over such a priceless fruit.
"Cares about me? I'd rather he didn't! Day in and day out, he's either beating me up or finding creative new ways to beat me up! My father is definitely a violent psychopath!"
Thinking of Kaido's "care," Yamato violently shivered. Clearly, those were not fond memories.
"So, why did he bring you all the way out here?"
"I have no idea! We got into a huge argument the other day, then he beat me up again, and finally, without saying a word, he just grabbed me and flew me all the way here."
Because Nanamo's father was Nereus, Yamato enthusiastically answered every question she asked, even if her answers weren't particularly enlightening.
"Sounds to me like he brought you out here to abandon you~" Nanamo teased playfully.
Nanamo merely wanted to tease the kid a bit. Following normal logic, a child hearing those words would show at least a hint of panic.
However, Yamato's reaction made Nanamo realize a fundamental truth: Yamato and Kaido's relationship was beyond dysfunctional. Upon hearing the word "abandoned," Yamato wasn't scared or panicked. Instead, her eyes lit up, and she excitedly bounded over to Nanamo.
"Really?! Big Sister, did he really abandon me?!"
That expression vividly reminded Nanamo of her younger self—back when Nereus had given her a pile of precious treasure, she had worn that exact same look of sparkling, absolute anticipation.
"This world... is truly getting crazier by the day..." Nanamo muttered.
Watching Yamato instantly deflate and squat dejectedly in a corner after failing to get her "abandonment" verified, Nanamo felt that the dynamics of this ocean were developing in directions she could no longer comprehend.
Right at that moment, Hermes floated over leisurely.
"Princess Nanamo, if I may be so bold to interject. I believe this might actually be terrible news for you."
"Hermes, don't tell me you seriously think an outsider is going to threaten that 'line of succession' you're always obsessing over?" Nanamo rolled her eyes.
For the longest time, Hermes had been fervently pushing the "Chloe Threat Theory." It was only after realizing that Nereus didn't even need to consider a successor that the mimic finally dropped the topic. Seeing Hermes adopting that familiar, dramatic "loyal adviser" posture gave Nanamo a sense of déjà vu.
"No, no, this humble servant is referring to something else entirely! Lord Nereus still hasn't given up on your personal training regimen, correct?"
"Yeah. Aside from Dad, nobody else can force me to go all out. Well, maybe Amphelite if we're not underwater; she's an absolute monster. But what does that have to do with anything?"
"According to your own previous evaluations, Queen Amphelite is a massive overachiever, and Princess Chloe is also a massive overachiever..." Hermes analyzed. "Lord Nereus's training is notoriously grueling, yet this girl is an absolute fanatic of Lord Nereus.
"Lord Nereus never breaks a promise once he makes it. If he earnestly fulfills his end of the bargain to train her, and she hangs onto his every word with absolute, blind obedience..."
Overachiever +1. That was the terrifying future Hermes had foreseen.
This time, Nanamo didn't dismiss it as nonsense; she actually found the logic flawlessly sound.
There were already far too many fanatic try-hards in the Ryugu Palace. Hermes had only listed the ones closest to Nanamo, but now...
"Look at how hard the neighbor's kids are working..."
In the eyes of outsiders who knew Nereus, Nanamo was the "perfect child next door"—the peerless prodigy everyone was compared against. With her overwhelming combat power, minor flaws in other areas didn't really matter. But adding another fanatical overachiever to the mix could definitely raise the bar and indirectly ruin her comfortable lifestyle.
"No," Nanamo muttered, her eyes narrowing. "I need to come up with a plan..."
☆☆☆
-> 30 Advanced chapters Now Available on Patreon!!
-> https://www.pat-reon.co-m/c/Inkshaper
(Just remove the hyphen (-) to access patreon normally)
If you like this novel please consider leaving a review that's help the story a lot Thank you