The natural system started off strong, but the navy finally reached its peak!

The spiked club "Ah Jian" slammed solidly into Gern's arm!

The violent shockwave exploded in a ring, shattering a large section of the stone slabs on the courtyard ground, and filling the air with smoke and dust!

Gern remained completely still.

On the contrary, Yamato, who took the initiative to launch a sneak attack, felt as if his spiked club had smashed into an immovable iron mountain!

The immense force of the recoil caused her arms to tremble and go numb, and a tearing pain shot through her tiger's mouth!

"!?!" Yamato was shocked, but her fighting instincts were extremely strong. If she missed her first strike, she would never linger in the battle!

Using the recoil, she twisted her waist, decisively withdrew her strength, and kicked off with both feet against Gern's arm.

He tumbled backward like a startled rabbit, landing several meters away, and assumed a defensive stance.

Only then did Gern see her in full.

Her long, gradient hair, transitioning from white at the top to blue-green at the ends, refracted a strange luster in the sunlight and was tied into a neat ponytail.

He had a pair of striking red devil horns on his head and gold earrings hanging from his earlobes.

She was tall and fit, wearing a white sleeveless fitted kimono adorned with blue floral patterns and two diamond-shaped designs on the chest.

She wore a huge shimenawa rope tied around her waist, a long red skirt for easy movement, and bare feet in a pair of red strappy wooden clogs.

At this moment, that face, which possessed both heroic spirit and beauty, showed no sign of frustration at the failed sneak attack.

Instead, his eyes were filled with excitement and curiosity, wide open and fixed on Gern.

"Amazing!!!" Yamato couldn't help but shout, his voice filled with an almost childlike amazement.

"Who are you?! How dare you block my Thunderous Eight Trigrams like this!"

Zoro slowly exhaled a breath of stale air, completely breaking free from the momentary hesitation he had just experienced.

He maintained his fighting stance with both swords in hand, but upon seeing Yamato suddenly appear, his tense nerves relaxed slightly.

But upon hearing Yamato's question, he explained in a low voice.

"The current Fleet Admiral, 'Skyquake' Gern Reginald Sigmar."

“Gern...Reginald...Sigma…”

Yamato repeated the name in a low voice, his expression quickly changing from curiosity to sudden realization, followed by even more intense excitement!

She had read Oden's diary!

She knew of Kozuki Oden, the man who sailed with Whitebeard and whom she regarded as her idol and mentor.

During his journey to become famous in the New World and known as the 'Samurai', Oden suffered a humiliating defeat!

Defeating Oden was a feat that forced even the most daring and unrestrained samurai to acknowledge the difference in skill, a defeat that would haunt him for life.

It was a navy officer named Gern Reginald Sigmar!

"It's you!!!" Yamato's eyes almost lit up. "The Marine mentioned in Oden's diary! The one who defeated Oden!!"

Gern patted non-existent dust off his arms, his gaze sweeping over Yamato.

Her gaze lingered for a moment on those two red horns before finally settling back on her excited face.

"Oh?" Gern raised an eyebrow, seemingly surprised that Yamato knew about this past event, but quickly regained his composure.

"It seems that Kaido has given birth to an... interesting 'son'."

Chapter 617 Kozuki Oden Wasn't as Great as You Think

Yamato seemed completely oblivious to the fact that Gern was a naval admiral, and also to the tense atmosphere.

She simply sensed that Gern did not exude any murderous intent towards her.

Instead, it carried a kind of indifference that she had never felt before, the kind of composure that an elder would show when a younger person is being silly...

This made her even more excited.

"Hey, hey, hey! Gern!" Yamato greeted Gern with a bright smile and took a few steps to get close to him.

Her 263cm height made her only slightly shorter than Guern's nearly 287cm height.

Yamato tilted his head back, his eyes sparkling with pure curiosity and longing. "Fight me! I want to experience it for myself!"

How exactly did you defeat Oden back then? Was Lord Oden truly invincible on the seas, as he wrote in his diary?

Looking at this "girl" who has Kaido's blood, yet is filled with curiosity about "Oden," her eyes are almost excessively clear (or rather, innocent).

Gern's face softened involuntarily.

He suddenly found it a little funny; the tense atmosphere seemed to have been disrupted by this girl.

However, thinking about it, since my main purpose for this trip is not to start a war immediately, it wouldn't hurt to have a chat.

Thus, under the somewhat astonished gazes of Zoro and King...

Gern actually sat down cross-legged on the broken stone slabs of the courtyard.

"A fight? Forget it, I'm not interested." Gern waved his hand, his gaze slightly wistful.

"As for Kozuki Oden, that 'King of Endurance'... back in the day, he was truly a figure to be reckoned with on the high seas."

"Really? Really?!"

Upon hearing this, Yamato immediately blinked his eyes like a child who had received candy.

He also sat down cross-legged not far from Gern, resting his chin on his hands, looking like he was listening intently to the story.

"But... why do you keep calling him 'King of Endurance'? Is it a nickname? Does it have any special meaning?"

"'King of Boiling Resistance'?" Gern's lips curled slightly. "Literal meaning."

He paused, seemingly finding it a bit odd to explain this to a junior (especially Kaido's daughter), but still explained simply.

"It can withstand hardships and endure, its vitality is as tenacious as cowhide that can't be boiled down. That's roughly the idea."

Yamato nodded as if he understood, but his attention was quickly drawn back to the sea: "What was the sea like back then? Was Lord Oden really that amazing?"

“Back then…” Gern’s gaze drifted to the distant horizon, as if traversing through time.

As people get older, they seem to unconsciously enjoy talking about the past, and Gern was no exception.

The hostile atmosphere in the courtyard was strangely eased by this unexpected "storytelling session".

Even Zoro, who was still holding his sword and on guard, and King, who was standing there dumbfounded, couldn't help but prick up their ears.

How can brief newspaper reports and folk tales compare to firsthand accounts?

Especially since this person, who was already a top naval fighter back then, gave a detailed and shocking account.

“Back then, on the high seas…” Gern began slowly, his voice carrying a weighty sense of history, “the power dynamics were different then.”

The Flying Pirates, led by Shiki the Golden Lion, are the most powerful, with their floating island fleets blotting out the sky, and they are ambitious.

Following them were Edward Newgate, the Whitebeard Pirate, and the pirate crew led by Gol D. Roger.

These two forces were enough to rival the Golden Lion at the time, and even surpassed it later on.

"Back then, I was just a commodore," Gern said calmly, as if he were talking about someone else.

"Later, I received a mission and was transferred to the New World G-3 Division..."

He began to recount that long-forgotten story.

How to incite Sakazuki to lead his fleet in pursuit of the pirates, and...

How could he possibly contend with that young man who had recently boarded the ship, full of youthful vigor, wielding two renowned swords, "Ame no Habakiri" and "Enma"?

Kozuki Oden, wanting to "test the strength of the Navy," engaged in that decisive one-on-one duel.

Guern explained it in great detail, even vividly.

From Oden's unrestrained swordsmanship style to his astonishing physique and domineering cultivation, and the details of their fierce battle between the two on the deck and the island...

How Oden gained the upper hand at one point by relying on the exquisite skill of his dual-wielding style and his formidable physique.

He, on the other hand, relied on the unpredictable and powerful shockwaves of the Heaven-Shatter Fruit to gradually turn the tide of the battle...

He even mentioned Oden's undisguised yearning for the sea and adventure during battle, as well as the pride that belonged to the strong.

"Finally, the aftereffects of Oden's earlier show of bravado and taking the shock hit kicked in, so I used Shock Ember: Crimson Prison..."

Gurn's voice was flat, as if stating a fact: "He was still conscious at the time, but had completely lost his fighting ability."

If Whitebeard had arrived a few seconds later, or if I had finished him off with a fatal blow…

He shook his head and didn't say anything more.

The courtyard was completely silent.

The excitement on Yamato's face had vanished, replaced by a blank stare and disbelief.

In her imagination, Oden was an invincible samurai, a symbol of freedom, a hero who could drink and laugh with Roger and Whitebeard...

Oden, whom Kegen spoke of, was equally powerful and awe-inspiring, yet he was defeated.

And the defeat was so complete, so... that he needed Whitebeard's timely rescue to save his life?

"Oden... just like that, he lost?" Yamato murmured, his voice a little dry.

"It was only because Whitebeard appeared that he was rescued..."

This is a stark contrast to the image of Oden in the diary, who was always high-spirited and omnipotent.

Seeing Yamato's dejected appearance, Gern chuckled softly, his laughter devoid of any sarcasm.

Instead, it carries a sense of detachment that comes from having seen through the ways of the world.

“Yamato.” Gern’s gaze deepened as he looked at her crimson horns, which resembled Kaido’s yet were distinctly different.

"The Oden you imagine is someone you know from his diary, someone you've heard about from the legends of the people of Wano Country that have been glorified and deified."

He paused, his tone calm yet each word clear.

"But the real Kozuki Oden wasn't as 'great' as you imagine."

"on the contrary……"

Gern looked directly into Yamato's eyes and slowly but firmly uttered the second half of his sentence, revealing a cruel truth.

"He acted unusually...foolishly at many crucial moments, especially when faced with choices regarding the fate of Wano Country."

Chapter 618 Oden, completely different from Yamato's impression

The moment Gern uttered the word "stupid," Yamato's body jolted violently.

His face flushed instantly, and almost instinctively he jumped to his feet, his voice urgent as he retorted.

"No! Oden is a hero of Wano Country!"

He... he pretended to be crazy and endured hardship to protect the country and its people!

If it weren't for my father Kaido and Orochi using despicable tricks at the crucial moment...

Lord Oden... he wouldn't either..."

Yamato's defense carried an undeniable firmness.

That was the spiritual pillar she had built up over the years from Oden's diary and the legends of Wano Country.

“Can’t do what?” Gern interrupted her.

He did not get up, but remained seated cross-legged, only raising his head and calmly looking at the emotionally agitated Yamato.

“Yamato.” Gern’s voice softened. “You said he ‘feigned madness and endured hardship to protect the people of Wano Country’?”

"But...did Kozuki Oden really need to do this?"

"If I remember correctly, when Oden returned to the country, he was almost universally popular."

He returns as a legendary warrior, 'invincible under heaven,' with unparalleled prestige.

He governed Kyuri with great efficiency, and daimyo from various regions, such as the Shimotsuki Yasuie, held high hopes for him.

Even Hyogoro, the yakuza leader of the Flower Capital, is a force that can be united.

"Back then, Kozuki Oden, tsk, with a single call to action, united these forces, even though Kaido's power was formidable."