Under Yamato's guidance, Kurosaki Rei closed his eyes and used his mind to sense the world around him.
When he finally grasped the trick—like breaking through a thin membrane—his mind suddenly felt wide open. It was as if clouds had been swept aside, revealing a clear and vivid world.
At this moment, even without opening his eyes, he could clearly perceive everything around him.
"Rei-bro, I'm coming."
Yamato gave a warning, then threw a punch at him.
Kurosaki Rei stood where he was, not moving his feet at all. He merely tilted his body slightly and cocked his head to the side, neatly dodging Yamato's lightning-fast punch.
Right after that, Yamato threw several more punches. With his eyes closed, Kurosaki Rei dodged every single one.
"Rei-bro, you really are a genius. You even learned Observation Haki this fast. I always thought this one was the hardest."
Yamato exclaimed in amazement.
However, when Kurosaki Rei opened his eyes, he frowned slightly.
"No, something's still off. I feel like I'm still missing something."
His own perception had always been strong to begin with. Combined with his natural combat intuition, he had already been able to achieve some of the basic effects of Observation Haki even before learning it.
For example, back in the Demon Slayer world, when he fought that team of Explorers, one of them had fired at him from long range. He hadn't even looked—yet he dodged the shot cleanly, using only minimal movements.
Now that he had learned Observation Haki, it felt more like the previously vague sensory world had simply become clearer. It hadn't brought about a qualitative leap in his combat power.
Kurosaki Rei glanced at the skill panel in his space menu. After mastering Observation Haki, this skill had jumped straight to Level 20, far higher than his Armament Haki level before entering this world.
He guessed this was because he already had exceptional talent in perception; learning Observation Haki merely systematized what he already possessed.
"This is still not enough?"
Yamato looked at him strangely.
"It took me many years to reach your level. Honestly, I thought I learned fast enough, but you're even faster than me. If the timing weren't wrong, I'd almost think you were…"
She trailed off, as if once again falling into that familiar pit of self-doubt.
She had almost subconsciously wanted to say that Kurosaki Rei was the hero mentioned in Oden's journal—the one who would come to Wano and save it.
But on one hand, the journal clearly stated that this would happen twenty years later, and only eight years had passed.
On the other hand, she had begun to doubt whether everything written in that journal was truly correct… and whether she herself was really Kozuki Oden.
Kurosaki Rei noticed the change in her mood but didn't press further, deciding to give her more time to digest things.
"I've more or less grasped the basics of Observation Haki. How about we take a break? I can tell you more about the outside world."
Kurosaki Rei sat down. He wasn't in a hurry to leave Wano at all. Since he had already started "re-educating" Yamato, he intended to see it through before leaving—and besides, he was also learning a lot from her.
At the mention of stories, Yamato's eyes lit up. She scooted closer excitedly.
"Last time you finished talking about Skypiea, but you didn't tell me about Fish-Man Island. Is it really a city under the sea?"
Seeing her childlike excitement, Kurosaki Rei smiled and began describing the wonders of the outside world once more.
Meanwhile, watching the live feed, Kaido was getting drowsy—like a viewer binge-watching a show and desperately wanting to skip the boring parts.
Kurosaki Rei might be young, but the stories he told about the many strange islands of the world didn't surprise Kaido in the slightest.
After all, Kaido had already been sailing the seas with the Rocks Pirates at fifteen.
He knew the outside world well, so he wasn't interested in Kurosaki Rei's stories.
What he wanted to see was Kurosaki Rei educating his daughter.
But Kurosaki Rei went on telling stories for most of the day without doing any "education" at all, making Kaido increasingly frustrated. He almost wanted to fly over, grab Kurosaki Rei by the collar, and force him to continue correcting Yamato.
Just as Kaido was getting drunk and on the verge of losing his temper, the live feed took a turn.
"That's really nice. My understanding of the outside world only comes from Kozuki Oden's journal, and even that was very rough—nothing as detailed as what you describe, Rei-bro."
After listening to another adventure story, Yamato sighed emotionally.
"Still, I know quite a lot about Wano. If you're interested in Kozuki Oden's deeds, I can tell you about them too."
Kurosaki Rei hadn't expected Yamato to bring up Kozuki Oden herself.
Judging from her expression, it seemed she had more or less "re-brainwashed" herself, so Kurosaki Rei decided to stimulate her again.
"Sure. I only know about him from what the locals say and what you mentioned before. Why don't you tell me about Kozuki Oden's childhood?"
His tone was agreeable—but he had already laid a trap.
As soon as Yamato heard that Kurosaki Rei was interested in her idol Kozuki Oden, she became instantly energized.
With great enthusiasm, she began narrating:
"Kozuki Oden's life was truly legendary…"
Her account was extremely detailed, with plenty of embellishments born from idol worship. But roughly summarized, Kozuki Oden's early life went something like this:
At age 0, right after birth, he could already hurl his wet nurse away with tremendous force—so powerful that even Kurosaki Rei felt inferior. His own natural strength suddenly seemed fake.
At age 2, he could catch two rabbits at once, displaying astonishing speed.
At age 4, he threw a massive rock and killed a giant bear.
(Big Mom reportedly shed tears of envy.)
At age 6, he began frequenting pleasure quarters.
Yes—Kurosaki Rei initially thought he'd misheard, but that was indeed the case. In Yamato's eyes, this was a glorious achievement of her idol: six years old and already "getting laid." Just ask—wasn't that badass!?
At age 8, he got drunk and beat up gamblers, taking down a group of adults.
At age 9, he was blacklisted by the yakuza. In his fury, he burned down their casino and was arrested for violent assault.
At age 10, he entered a quarry as a prisoner—yes, the very prison Kurosaki Rei was currently in. Thanks to the Kozuki family's natural talent, he eventually rose to become the head stonemason.
When she reached this part, Yamato looked worshipful and even asked Kurosaki Rei whether Kozuki Oden wasn't amazing—skilled even as a stoneworker. Kurosaki Rei could only twitch his lips and nod stiffly.
At age 14, he diverted a river during a drought, causing a massive flood, and was once again declared a criminal.
Now came the highlight.
At age 15, Kozuki Oden threatened a temple abbot and secluded himself inside the temple. Every night, he abducted respectable women to build a harem—most of them married—sparking widespread outrage and collective retaliation. Oden happily fought back. This incident became known in Wano as the "Harem Rebellion."
And yes—Yamato spoke of this episode with the same unrestrained admiration.
"Stop."
Kurosaki Rei raised a hand, his expression strange.
"Yamato, don't you think there's something seriously wrong here?"
"What's wrong with it?"
Yamato looked at him in confusion.
"Isn't this exactly what people love—Kozuki Oden, the heroic good man?"
Kurosaki Rei pressed a hand to his forehead.
He felt that both Wano's people and Yamato were… a bit unhinged. Why would anyone think someone like this was Wano's hope, a hero chosen by destiny?
"Yamato, do you think abducting married women and forcing them to do that kind of thing counts as heroic behavior?"
Kurosaki Rei asked seriously.
Without hesitation, Yamato replied,
"Of course it does. He's Kozuki Oden. Everyone loves Kozuki Oden, so whatever he does must be right."
Kurosaki Rei almost threw up.
A privileged second-generation official, using his status as the shogun's son to drive monks out of a temple, kidnap women, and rape them in a sacred place—this was considered right?
"Have you ever thought about how those women felt? Or how their husbands felt?"
Kurosaki Rei pressed on.
"Don't you think Kozuki Oden's actions were utterly evil, destroying other people's families?"
This time, Yamato froze.
She clearly still had some basic capacity for thought. Instinctively, she felt that something about it was indeed wrong—but because of her distorted gender identity and lack of understanding of sexual matters, she couldn't quite articulate why it was wrong.
"Let me give you an example," Kurosaki Rei said, changing tactics to help her understand.
"Kozuki Oden's wife—Kozuki Toki. You know her, right?"
Yamato nodded.
"I've had the honor of seeing her once. She was a beautiful and strong woman."
"Good," Kurosaki Rei continued.
"Now imagine this: while Kozuki Oden was still alive, your father Kaido abducted Kozuki Toki and raped her. Would you call that heroic behavior?"
The moment those words left his mouth—
Before Yamato could even react, Kaido—watching the live feed on Onigashima—smashed a sake jar in rage.
"What the hell is that brat saying!? How could I possibly do something like that!?"
Kaido roared.
Yes, he was a notorious pirate—but he had always acted openly and straightforwardly. That was precisely why he'd been furious when that old hag interfered in his duel with Kozuki Oden.
That was also why, after the fight, he hadn't bound Oden at all. He even wrapped him in supreme bandages, locked him in a lightly guarded prison, and returned his two swords.
His intention was obvious: break out and let's fight again.
But Oden himself was stubborn. He believed a loss was a loss and insisted on jumping into the boiling oil. Kaido couldn't exactly stop him. Victory and defeat were clear-cut—Kaido wasn't sentimental about it. If Oden died, so be it.
But despite being a pirate, Kaido had never indulged in Oden's kind of "depravity." He had never forced himself on a woman.
As one of the Four Emperors, the strongest creature alive, why would he ever need to force anyone?
At forty-seven years old, he had only one child—Yamato—which spoke volumes about how clean his private life actually was.
For Kurosaki Rei to use that example was enough to send Kaido into a rage.
"When I stormed the capital back then, I didn't even kill that man's son—let alone touch that woman. This brat…"
Kaido's expression turned dark, killing intent surging.
"Calm down, calm down. He's not really accusing you—he's just giving an example so Yamato can understand."
Black Maria soothed him gently, pouring him more sake.
Even so, her gaze flicked to the screen with a strange look.
She thought to herself that this kid really was bold—daring to make up stories about Kaido right on their own turf.
Back in the prison cell, Yamato stood stunned for a moment before reacting. Almost instinctively, she blurted out:
"That would be utterly despicable! Absolutely unforgivable! That bastard Kaido—did he really do something like that!? Is that why Kozuki Oden had to fight him!?"
Kurosaki Rei had expected this answer, so he wasn't surprised—just a bit exasperated.
But on Onigashima, Kaido, who had been watching the live feed, spat out the sake he'd just taken into his mouth and began coughing violently.
With a trembling hand, he pointed at the screen, unable to speak.
To make the strongest creature on earth so furious that his hands shook—perhaps only Yamato in the entire world could manage that.
"Easy, easy. I already know what Kurosaki Rei is about to say."
Black Maria patted Kaido's back softly, speaking in a gentle voice. She could tell that Kurosaki Rei was deliberately leading Yamato along.
Sure enough, back in the cell, Kurosaki Rei spoke again:
"Now you understand, right? That kind of behavior is utterly reprehensible. It has nothing to do with being heroic."
Then, looking at Yamato—who seemed as though she'd been struck by lightning—he delivered the final blow:
"So tell me this: why is it that when the exact same behavior is attributed to Kozuki Oden, you see it as noble and glorious…"
"But when it's attributed to your father, you see it as utterly unforgivable?"
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