Arceus's Pirate Journey

Chapter 1093: Chapter 1081: Yamato’s Ice Substitute Plan

”Let me see... Fujitora... That blind old man really is strong, huh. Actually went and became an Admiral just like that. And this Ryokugyu... hmm, never heard of him, but he’s probably pretty strong too. There really are a lot of monsters in this world.”

New World, Galapagos Islands. Yamato was on the second-floor terrace of a tavern, reading the latest newspaper.

Compared to the Hive Island incident, the World Government had spent far more ink on this matter.

Stuff like ”the Hundred Beasts Pirates got a new calamity” only needs to be said once; the World Government isn’t going to advertise for pirates every single day. As for the topic of ”young Heroes,” it’s nice, but it doesn’t have nearly the deterrent power of new Admirals.

The intel circulating inside Rotom had already let Yamato know all about what happened on Hive Island, and besides, among the newly appointed Admirals there was someone she knew—Issho, whom she’d met a few times.

Back then she had already sensed that his strength was on another level, but she’d never imagined Issho would ride the wave of this world-scale draft and go straight to the Admiral’s seat.

”Doesn’t really seem like a problem though. With that old man’s personality, picking this path seems pretty normal. Let there be more monsters in this world—gives that bastard old man something to keep him busy.”

Muttering to herself, Yamato slumped bonelessly back against the chair behind her, even showing an expression like life had lost all meaning.

Based on the messages sent to her by the Pokemon left on Ghost Island, Kaidou had already entered his periodic ”training mode,” and she could often feel Arceus’s energy fluctuations as well.

That was absolutely not good news for her. Whatever Kaidou’s goal was in doing this, in the end it was definitely going to land on her shoulders.

”Hey, Reshiram, how about you spill a bit? What exactly is the ’truth’ as you understand it?”

”Figure it out yourself. There are no shortcuts to truth. There never have been....”

After much effort, Yamato had successfully upgraded Reshiram from completely ignoring her to occasionally replying with a sentence, but the progress was still painfully slow.

”I always feel like there’s something else in what you’re saying. You lot are always so damn mysterious.”

Yamato casually grabbed a frozen fish from the bucket at her side and flung it out toward the bay beyond the terrace. It was a special service offered by the tavern owner here—500 Belly for a bucket of frozen fish to feed the penguins.

Belly wasn’t expensive; it counted as one of the Galapagos Islands’ specialty entertainment programs. This way the tavern owner saved on the manpower needed to feed them while also bringing in extra revenue.

The penguins could stuff themselves full every day thanks to these feeding tourists. If you were interested, you could even sign up for the penguin surfing contest here. All you had to do was rent a penguin to take part, and the champion would receive a mysterious grand prize.

As for how to surf on a penguin...

The penguins on the Galapagos Islands weren’t your standard penguins. These penguins were generally several meters tall; the bigger ones exceeded ten meters. They were a unique species of this sea area, their specialty being swimming while standing upright. They were a key pillar of tourism on this island.

”Spending your own money to feed their penguins... this owner really knows how to make a profit. Tesoro should set up a similar attraction; those tourists probably wouldn’t mind feeding Cyclizar for him. I’ll ask Robin about it later.”

At this point, Yamato and Robin had already parted ways. After their vacation ended, Robin had gone back to her tedious archaeology work—even though she could use the Flower-Flower Fruit to control dozens of brushes at once to clean ruins, Yamato still found the process incredibly boring.

So not long ago, they had started acting separately, and Cyclizar had already been sent back to the Grand Tesoro.

Recently Yamato had been planning to wrap up her own trip as well, and she’d already sent word to Speed and the others, telling them to sail over and pick her up for the return to Ghost Island.

But while she was tossing fish to the penguins, Yamato suddenly spotted a ”familiar face” standing on the head of a large penguin—and he had already noticed her. He patted the penguin’s head, and that penguin swam toward the shore.

From the surface it looked like the penguin was just gliding along the water, but underwater you could see its feet pumping at high speed. That was the unique upright-swimming style of the penguins here—totally unrelated to elegance and actually kind of comical.

...

”Ara ara, isn’t this the Ghost Princess? What are you doing in a place like this?”

The penguin carried Kuzan up to the tavern, and he hopped straight down from its head onto the terrace.

”Sightseeing... no, wait, I’m looking for something. And aren’t you here too? If you can be here, why can’t I? Admiral Aokiji... or rather, former Admiral Kuzan.”

Seeing Kuzan perched on the penguin’s head, Yamato felt completely at ease inside. Ever since she’d seen Kuzan and Saka fight for ten days and nights to decide the Marshal’s seat, she’d confirmed a suspicion: the two worlds had overlapping points.

The world where she’d met ”Yamato” was in the year 1521. In a sense, she’d already gotten advance intel.

After leaving the Navy, Kuzan had started his aimless wandering, and by coincidence he ran into a penguin.

Thanks to the Ice-Ice Fruit, he got along really well with that penguin, and eventually he gained another mount besides his bicycle—Camel, a penguin named Camel. Coming to this island was just to bring his mount home for a visit.

Looking at Kuzan in front of her, Yamato suddenly had an idea. Based on the attitude of the other Kuzan, after the Marshal’s battle Kuzan had been drifting around with no clear purpose. If the opportunity was right, maybe she could talk him into something.

As a former Admiral, Kuzan’s Combat Power was still very high, and paired with that identity, he might be able to draw Kaidou’s attention away and drag him into a new fight.

Queen was no longer enough to divert fire for her; she urgently needed a new target.

Passive skill: ”Kaidou Aggro Draw.” Within tenths of a second, a plan had already formed in Yamato’s mind, and she even gave it a name.

How to use an Ice-Ice Fruit Ability User to divert Kaidou’s attention—codename: Ice Substitute Plan.

”Boss, bring me a bottle of sherry!”

...

”I’m telling you, I don’t have much spare cash lately.”

He said he was broke, but Kuzan still sat down unceremoniously across the table. The fact that he came over of his own accord meant he wanted to talk.

”Doesn’t matter, drinks are on me today. But are a former Admiral’s savings really that pathetic?”

”I just spent them elsewhere, that’s all. I’ve been too lazy to move lately; otherwise I could catch a couple of bounty heads and have money again.”

”Bounty heads... I think I’m a massive bounty head myself, aren’t I?”

”Give me a break, I’m no match for you. My ice does nothing to you, much less now.”

Kuzan pointed at his broken leg, then continued, ”See this? Scars from that fight. You know what Sakazuki said?”

”Let me think. He probably said something like... ’For contemporaries to end up tearing each other apart is really hot-blooded,’ right?”

”???”