Night fell quickly, and Yamato eventually returned as well, carrying an identical flyer that she promptly handed to Ace.
"A Test of Courage?"
Ace was propped against the headboard when he took it. He skimmed the page once, and the corner of his mouth twitched.
"Cain came up with this, didn't he?"
He didn't even need to think about it. If some completely new festival attraction suddenly appeared in Wano out of nowhere, Cain was the only likely culprit.
"It was Cain's idea, but I'm the one who actually organized everything!"
Yamato's eyes practically sparkled as she wheeled a chair over, her excitement impossible to hide.
"I just borrowed some people from the Beasts Pirates to help set it up. So, Ace… want to go?"
Ace looked at the hopeful expression she was doing a terrible job of concealing and sighed helplessly.
"Sure, I'll go with you. But don't forget, I literally had surgery today. You might have to protect me."
"Yes!"
Yamato jumped up in delight, grabbed an oil lantern from the table, and shouted down the hallway at the top of her lungs.
"Bell—!"
"Coming, coming!"
A streak of fire shot out from one of the rooms deeper inside the shogun's residence, bounced twice along the corridor, and flew straight into the lantern in Yamato's hand.
Yamato hung the lamp from the wheelchair armrest, got behind Ace, and immediately started pushing.
"All right! Let's go!"
…
Elsewhere, Cain was crouched in front of a goldfish-scooping stall with the concentration of a man defusing a bomb.
His paper scoop had just slipped beneath a goldfish when—
rrrip.
A huge hole tore straight through it before he could transfer the fish into the bowl.
"Ahhh! Damn it!"
Cain stared at the ruined scoop in frustration.
"Awakening boosted my strength way too much. I can't control delicate things like this anymore."
He shook the water from his fingers, increased the simulated Seastone concentration on the bracelet around his wrist, and only then picked up another paper scoop.
Uta was laughing beside him.
She had changed into a pale-colored yukata for the festival and was carrying an absurd collection of snacks and prizes gathered from the surrounding stalls: sparklers, candied apples, taiyaki, shaved ice, cotton candy, skewered meat, and several other little things she had somehow accumulated along the way.
Even Bella had been given a special hairstyle. It was technically made entirely from shaped cloud, but a few subtle changes had transformed her appearance enough to make her look especially adorable.
Uta waved the flyer she had just received in front of Cain.
"Test of Courage. I can't believe Yamato actually went through with it."
She smiled.
"Want to try it?"
Cain paid the stall owner for another attempt, then leaned over to read the flyer.
"Sure."
Then he gave Uta a sideways look.
"But are you going to be okay?"
"Relax."
Uta stuffed the remaining half of her cotton candy into Cain's mouth and tilted her head with a smile.
"As long as you're beside me, I'm not scared of anything."
"Bella will protect Mama too!"
Bella immediately puffed herself up proudly.
Cain chewed the cotton candy and answered around it.
"Mm. Then let's go."
He took Uta's hand, settled Bella comfortably on top of his head, and followed the directions printed on the flyer.
…
When they reached the location, both Cain and Uta immediately noticed that the foot of this particular mountain felt colder and darker than anywhere else nearby.
A tiny booth stood at the entrance.
There were no lanterns anywhere around it.
The only source of light was a single flame floating silently in midair.
"G-GHOST FIRE!"
Uta saw the hovering flame and immediately jumped into Cain's arms.
Through the thin fabric of her yukata, Cain could feel her softness pressed directly against him.
Several extremely inappropriate thoughts flashed through his mind before he immediately cursed himself internally and forced his attention back toward the flame.
He stared more carefully.
"…Relax. That isn't ghost fire."
Cain's expression became strange.
"It's King."
Uta slowly opened her eyes and looked again.
Once she made out the dark silhouette standing behind the flame, her entire body relaxed.
"Oh."
Her tone instantly returned to normal.
"It's just King. Dressed completely in black, with fire burning behind him, in the middle of the night… Yeah, I guess the flame really is the only thing you can see."
"You're here."
King gave them a slight nod from the darkness.
"Perfect timing."
He handed Cain a small oil lamp.
"This is your only light source. It gives off just enough illumination for you to see the path, while still leaving enough darkness to frighten you."
"You have roughly half an hour to climb Mt. Fuji."
"When you reach the summit, the fireworks should begin."
King delivered the explanation with the polished calm of an experienced tour guide.
Cain stared at him with an increasingly complicated expression.
"The Beasts Pirates lost to Yamato and this is what she has you doing now?"
He could barely contain himself.
"If Kaido finds out, he might actually cry."
King's expression barely changed.
"It doesn't matter."
"Normally, everyone either fights or holds banquets. We don't have much else to do."
"The Beasts Pirates are actually enjoying setting up events like this."
He paused.
"Besides, both you and Yamato are people Kaido-san specifically instructed me to support."
"Naturally, I won't neglect anything either of you asks."
Cain said nothing.
'This completely unquestioning loyalty is almost exactly like Katakuri's unconditional devotion to his siblings.'
He wisely kept the comparison to himself.
Taking the lamp, Cain started toward the mountain path with Uta and Bella.
Then he looked inside.
And immediately stopped.
His expression changed.
The entire trail was pitch-black from bottom to top. Somewhere in the distance came a low moaning sound that might have been wind—or might not. Grass rustled constantly on either side of the path, but there was no visible source.
The forests Cain had entered before always had something—moonlight, firelight, lamps, fireflies.
This place had nothing.
Only darkness.
And something else bothered him.
Cain narrowed his eyes at the path.
"This layout…"
He studied the surrounding trees more carefully.
"Why does this place feel familiar?"
Uta looked at him curiously.
"What? Don't tell me you're scared."
"Of course not."
Cain shook his head.
Yet the expression on his face wasn't fear.
It was something much more complicated, somewhere between nostalgia and reluctant dread.
"This scenery just reminded me of some memories I'd rather not revisit."
The moment he said that, another voice came from behind them.
"Ah… why did it have to look like this?"
Ace sounded uneasy.
"I've got a really bad feeling about this."
Cain turned.
Ace was sitting in his wheelchair with Yamato pushing him from behind. An oil lamp hung from one armrest, Bell's flame flickering restlessly inside the glass.
"You two came too?"
"Yeah!"
Yamato sounded delighted.
"But what's wrong with you two? You both keep saying the scenery looks familiar."
Ace stared into the dark path.
His expression had become exactly as complicated as Cain's.
Yamato immediately puffed out her chest with pride.
"Of course it looks familiar!"
"To make the Test of Courage feel more like what Cain described, I personally went to Grandpa Garp and asked him about your childhood."
Cain and Ace both went rigid.
Yamato didn't notice.
"I didn't tell Grandpa Garp it was for a Test of Courage, but he worked really hard helping me!"
She gestured toward the forest proudly.
"Especially this whole section. Grandpa Garp and I arranged it together!"
Cain and Ace slowly looked at one another.
Now it made sense.
Of course it looked familiar.
Of course the atmosphere carried that particular chill that seeped straight into their bones.
Even the placement of individual trees seemed perfectly designed to awaken childhood trauma.
There was only one reason.
Garp.
Ever since they were little, Cain, Ace, Sabo, and Luffy had been thrown into deadly forests at night by Garp more times than any of them cared to remember.
At first, the training was straightforward.
Garp would dump the four children in a forest crawling with wild beasts and expect them to survive until morning.
Unfortunately for him, Cain was good at planning.
Once the four boys started cooperating, the exercise became almost embarrassingly easy.
If things had remained that simple, Cain and Ace probably wouldn't have reacted this strongly.
But Garp eventually realized what they were doing.
And naturally, he escalated the training.
Instead of merely throwing them into the forest—
Garp began hiding inside it himself.
Whenever night fully settled and the wild animals came out, Garp would put on an enormous furry gorilla costume and lie in wait.
Then, without warning, a giant gorilla would explode from the darkness and beat the four children so badly that they scattered in every direction screaming for their lives.
Their formerly organized four-person survival team would instantly disintegrate.
The worst part was that Garp considered his disguise flawless.
The children could clearly see his old face sticking out through the gorilla's mouth.
Every single one of them knew it was him.
But Garp refused to let anyone expose the truth.
Anyone reckless enough to shout, "Grandpa, that's obviously you!" would be beaten until they developed very selective amnesia.
Those memories were the stuff of nightmares.
Cain and Ace simultaneously returned from the horrifying flashback and looked at each other again.
The sympathy in their eyes had never been more sincere.
Then they spoke with the same dreadful thought hanging over both of them.
"Please don't let some damn Garp-brand gorilla jump out of the forest tonight."