PIRATES: I WORK IN NAVY FROM NINE TO FIVE

Hyogoro froze again.

After witnessing that overwhelming, mountain-crushing blow just moments ago, he knew one thing for sure—there wasn't a chance in hell he could ever see Luo Yu as an enemy. Not even a flicker of hostility dared rise in his chest.

Still, he couldn't help but recall that one awkward encounter decades ago with Kozuki Momonosuke.

That brat… the lecherous expression he made toward Hyogoro's maid was permanently seared into his memory.

Hyogoro solemnly patted Cat Viper and Dogstorm on the shoulder.

"You two have my respect. If one day your sense of honor can't take it anymore, give that brat a few good smacks—for me!"

Meanwhile, several miles outside Udon Prison, Luo Yu reappeared silently.

His Observation Haki pulsed outward like a radar, instantly locking onto a new set of targets.

A faint smirk crossed his lips.

"Bingo… walking Beli bags."

With a blur, he vanished once more.

In just a few minutes, he arrived at a rocky ravine nearly ten miles away—right as a group of figures charged through the terrain in pursuit of a single fugitive.

BOOM!

A jet-black arrow came screaming down from the sky like divine judgment, aimed squarely at the stumbling figure ahead.

The silver-haired fugitive's expression shifted instantly.

She dove to the side, rolling just in time.

CRACK!

The thick bedrock behind her was pierced clean through.

A second later, the embedded arrow detonated, carving a half-meter-wide crater into the earth.

Had that strike landed, it would've left a gaping hole in her body.

"Heh heh… give it up, Young Master Yamato," sneered a half-bandaged Bat SMILE user circling above with leathery wings flapping.

"Kaido ordered us personally—you're not to make any more trouble. Not while he's away."

"But…" his grin widened, "we really hope you keep struggling. That gives us the excuse we need to kill you."

"Kaido said—if you leave Onigashima and act up again, we're allowed to put you down."

"Hey now, Bat," called a Gazelle SMILE user approaching from the ridge. "Don't make it sound like Kaido-sama's so cold. After all, Yamato is his kid. If she dies... it'll just be a little accident, right?"

A Rat SMILE user chuckled beside him.

They all knew Yamato—Kaido's so-called son, the rebellious child who declared herself Kozuki Oden and had spent two decades trying to kill her own father.

Of course, Kaido had tried to kill her just as many times in return.

To Kaido, Yamato was nothing more than an accident. An accident that had eaten the Mythical Zoan: Great-Mouthed Deity Fruit he had painstakingly acquired.

That alone had made her temporarily valuable.

But if she died?

So what.

In Kaido's brutal worldview, weakness was a crime, and even survival was a luxury.

"You bastards! I'm Kozuki Oden! Not Yamato!" the silver-haired girl roared as she rose shakily, blood and dust smeared across her face.

"If you cowards have the guts, take off these damn Sea-Prism cuffs! Then you'll learn what real despair looks like!"

Despite her bold front, Yamato's body trembled from the Sea-Prism Stone's draining effects.

Her strength had already been cut by more than seventy percent. The fact she was still on her feet was a miracle.

"Young Master Yamato, you're such a comedian," the bat-man cackled. "Still, it's so satisfying watching you squirm."

"You had your chance. Now, die."

He barked the order.

The gazelle-man's muscles coiled. The ground beneath his hooves shattered.

He vanished—reappearing a hundred meters away in front of Yamato like a bolt of death.

"Fast…!"

Yamato's expression twisted. In her weakened state, there was no way she could face one of them, let alone all three.

She did the only thing she could—raise her kanabo in front of her, desperately bracing for impact.

BOOM!

A savage kick sent her flying into a rock face.

She crashed with a sickening thud, coughing up blood.

The pain was overwhelming—but what hurt more was the helplessness. Her entire body was sluggish, her limbs like lead.

"You three bastards… if I survive this, I'll make you all pay!"

Yamato knew Kaido often threatened her life.

But… kill her?

No… he wouldn't. Right?

Right…?

That hopeful thought barely formed before another arrow came shrieking down—this one even darker, laced with deadly Armament Haki.

It whistled through the air—

And aimed straight for her heart.

H-He's actually trying to kill me?

Time seemed to freeze.

Her eyes widened. Her heart skipped.

This wasn't how it was supposed to go…

But she couldn't move.

The Sea-Prism Stone burned her energy away like a leech. She couldn't dodge. Couldn't block.

All she could do was watch.

"This is it…" she thought.

But just as the arrow neared—

CRACK!

A hand appeared out of nowhere.

Five fingers snapped shut around the shaft.

The arrow shattered like brittle glass.

"!!!"

Everyone—Yamato, the Bat, the Gazelle, the Rat—froze in shock.

Their expressions twisted in disbelief.

They were elite trackers—SMILE-empowered specialists assigned personally by Kaido to monitor Yamato. No one could sneak past them.

Yet someone just had.

A ghost.

A phantom.

A man now standing between Yamato and death.

"Apologies," said the man, sipping lazily from a clay jug. "Didn't mean to interrupt your screaming match."

Luo Yu's voice was calm. Cold.

"But this girl here? She's worth twenty million in my eyes. That means... you don't get to kill her."

"Twenty million?!" Yamato blinked, confused. "Wait… are you saying… Kaido really did give them permission to kill me?!"

"Of course he did," Luo Yu chuckled, tipping the jug back.

"Why wouldn't he? It's the perfect beast father vs. unfilial child dynamic. It's practically tradition by now."

Yamato stared at him.

Then gritted her teeth.

Because deep down… she knew he was right.