ONE PIECE: KAIDO'S SON

"Ice Slash!"

After transforming into the human-beast form of the Dog-Dog Fruit, Model: Okuchi-no-Makami, Yamato's physical stats—strength, speed, and resilience—rose dramatically. Her Zoan transformation granted her a bluish-white mane and a mythical wolf-like aura.

She twisted her wrists and re-gripped the kanabo, Takeru, ensuring it didn't slip. With both feet driving off the ground, she launched downward in an aerial smash.

But Ragnar, already in his hybrid form of the Mythical Zoan: Human-Human Fruit, Model: Erlang Shen, had anticipated her move.

Before her kanabo descended, Ragnar's observation haki flared, and he gripped her ankle midair.

Yamato's pupils shrank.

Before she could attack, Ragnar spun her overhead like a ragdoll and slammed her into the ground.

BOOM!

A shockwave erupted as her body cratered the earth. The result: a pit over 50 meters wide, surrounded by frost from her residual energy.

Inside the crater, blood trickled from Yamato's mouth. Despite the blow, her mythical Zoan's vitality kept her conscious. She attempted to retaliate—her breath condensed frigid energy, preparing to fire a freezing attack at close range.

But Ragnar grabbed her once again, lifted her up, and smashed her face-first into the dirt.

CRACK!

The icy breath scattered uselessly into the pit, freezing the terrain, but barely affecting Ragnar, whose body steamed faintly from internal heat.

"Another mythical Zoan user?"

"When did these fruits—rarer than Logias—become so common?!"

"Three members of one family… all mythical Zoans…"

The elite of the Beast Pirates—King, Queen, Jack, and the Tobi Roppo—watched in astonishment.

Kaido possessed the Fish-Fish Fruit, Model: Azure Dragon.

His "son," Ragnar, wielded the Human-Human Fruit, Model: Erlang Shen.

Even Yamato inherited the Dog-Dog Fruit, Model: Great Mouth Deity.

All three were born with the potential for Conqueror's Haki.

"Let me go!"

Yamato's cry tore through the frozen pit.

Despite being slammed down twice, her Zoan form regenerated rapidly. Mythical-class stamina meant pain, dizziness, and broken bones barely hindered her fighting capacity.

She launched a fierce kick, striking Ragnar square in the chest.

THUD!

Ragnar staggered, sliding back a few steps.

"無侍冰牙 — Warriorless Ice Fang!"

Yamato twisted, flipped midair, and exhaled an enormous breath of icy energy.

A roaring freezing beam, condensed into a laser of frost-blue, exploded forth.

Even the moisture in the air crystallized in its path.

"Samadhi Flame."

Ragnar, calm and composed, dusted off his chest.

He opened his mouth slowly.

WHOOSH!

A thin golden flame—Samadhi Fire, a divine internal flame said to burn through anything—spilled from his lips.

The temperature warped the air visibly. Stone turned molten. The soil bubbled.

BOOM!

The two natural forces, ice and fire, clashed.

Blue and gold. Cold and heat. Mythical beast against mythical beast.

The sky above Onigashima was shredded with energy.

Shockwaves blasted outward. Mountains of rubble and shattered walls were vaporized in the zone between them.

A frigid gust and a scorching wind swept across the shattered battlefield, carving it into two realms—one of searing flames, the other of biting frost.

"Hngh—!"

Yamato let out a muffled groan.

Her towering hybrid form—over six meters tall—was hurled backwards like a paper lantern caught in a gale. She crashed across the battlefield, gouging a trench nearly ten meters deep before her heels dug in and brought her to a grinding halt.

But before she could leap back into battle—

"Tekkai: Terra Bind."

The ground beneath her erupted. Earth and stone surged upward in a swirling flow, then solidified around her in an instant—an unyielding cocoon of hardened clay.

"Mud? You think mud can hold me?"

Yamato scoffed.

With a roar, she flexed, her muscles surging with power. Fragments of ice burst from her fur-covered body, frost lacing the air around her.

But this wasn't ordinary earth.

The stone sphere surrounding her body held firm—almost as unbreakable as seastone, yet without its nullifying effects. Yamato struggled, growling, but the reinforced Tekkai-infused technique resisted all brute force.

Before she could think of another counter—

Zzzt—

A finger crackling with thin arcs of white lightning gently pressed against her forehead.

"Have you caused enough trouble?"

Ragnar's calm voice cut through the tension.

His Conqueror's Haki pulsed faintly behind his words. There was no shouting—just quiet dominance, the kind that needed no theatrics.

"I told you... Wano and the Kozuki Clan are under my protection now."

Yamato glared up at him, sweat mixing with the blood on her brow, refusing to flinch.

"And I told you, I'll protect Wano and the Kozuki Clan. I won't hand it over to anyone."

Ragnar didn't withdraw his finger.

"With what?"

His voice dropped, colder than the frost still clinging to her fur.

"That incomplete Conqueror's Haki that can't even clash evenly?"

"That Armament Haki that hasn't even learned internal destruction?"

"That Observation Haki that still relies on emotion more than instinct?"

"Or that 'Great Mouth Deity' form you haven't even awakened?"

Each word stabbed deeper than his finger ever could.

Yamato bit her lip.

There was no room for retort. No clever comeback.

Everything he said was true.

In the brief but violent exchange they'd just shared—clashing Haki, Devil Fruit forms, and raw strength—she had been thoroughly outmatched.

Not just beaten.

Overwhelmed.

"Damn it…" she cursed softly, eyes stinging.

"Where the hell did Kaido find you?"

She scowled, her pride stinging more than her bruises.

"I'm the elder sister! You're supposed to be the kid! Why do you fight like you're the older one?"

Despite the bitterness in her heart, Yamato couldn't help but wonder.

They were both Mythical Zoan users.

Both had inherited Kaido's monstrous will and strength.

Both carried the blood of the so-called "Strongest Creature."

And yet...

While she had spent years idolizing Oden, dreaming of freedom, Ragnar had surpassed her without ever stepping outside Wano's borders.