4 Chapter 4- Wano III -

Practicing with his Zoan Fruit was proving to be a challenging endeavor for the young Page-One who barely could stand on his own shaking legs after failing to complete the training regimen that his big bro created exclusively for him.

In all honesty, the eight-year-old would rather spend his time reading cool books about dinosaurs or eating savory snacks, but there was something that motivated him to give his all for the sake of becoming stronger.

"I'm booooooooored, so booooooored, Pay-Pay. When you are done exercising, carry your poor sister on your back for a while."

The more time he spent training himself to the bone, the less time he would be forced to withstand his older sister. Working out until his body begged for mercy was a small price to pay if it meant that Ulti wouldn't kill him with her unwanted and violent affection.

"You should join him in his training. Practicing with your Zoan fruit will be good for you."

The earnest advice from the tall white-haired lady that insisted on being called Oden for reasons nobody cared enough to ask was met with an angry glower from Ulti.

"Shut up, Yamato! An adorable girl like me shouldn't be ignored by her ungrateful brother who doesn't care about her tender feelings."

Kaido's 'son' had been a fairly recent and particularly forceful addition to the little group. The teenager, who was apparently desperate for company, would come to hang out with the kids whenever there wasn't anyone around (which happened fairly often as most people in the base tended to avoid Randy and Ulti as much as possible) and then they would ramble on some dead samurai from Wano for hours at a time.

"Join us, I will give you both a shoulder ride after we complete the third set." Yamato offered, beaming at the younger kids while still swinging their kanabo up and down,

Ulti huffed but reluctantly nodded.

"Fine, but only because Pay-Pay will enjoy it."

"Ulti is a very nice sister." Yamato patted the girl's head, making sure to avoid getting 'accidentally' stabbed by her horns.

Part of the reason why Page-One fully supported the lady guy joining the group was because they were really good at handling Ulti by humoring her just enough. Besides, zoning out the teenager whenever they started their ramblings was easy enough, he had a lot of practice doing that with his older siblings already.

"Have you seen Randy?" Yamato asked out aloud as they balanced both kids on their shoulders.

"He must be drinking with Kaido." Page-One suggested with a shrug.

"WHAT?!"

Neither of the siblings could understand why Yamato reacted like that. Randy hanging out with the captain was a fairly common occurrence in Onigashima.

~~~o~~~o~~~o~~~o~~~o~~~o~~~o~~~o~~~o~~~

The cold snow covered the gloomy and tenebrous land of Ringo in its entirety, the pure whiteness only served to confirm that this forgotten place was utterly devoid of life. There was no sign of the sun behind those dark clouds in the sky, it was almost as if it were scared of showing itself. What else was to be expected from the eternal graveyard? There was no place for beating hearts in these lands.

As Randy's gaze fell upon the stone graves that stood tall despite the clear lack of maintenance, some of them were older than the graveyard itself, only one thought came to the kid's mind, Kaido was an asshole.

* ---Two days ago---*

"I swear, half of the reason why I left that disgusting Orochi in a position of power was because I refuse to deal with this country's bullshit by myself. When they publicly execute entire families because of something their second cousin did ten years ago is fine, but when I burn down two or three towns when I'm drunk it is honor this, honor that, dishonor to your family and your cows." The colossal beast of a man slammed his gourd onto the wooden table, that barely survived the impact due to being made of Adam wood. "Their honor is worth shit."

"Yeah, they seem to do a lot of weird shit; like the seppuku thing." Randy nodded, taking a gulp of his own bottle of milk. "If you want to die on your knees like a bitch, go for it, but don't make a spectacle out of it."

Most people would find weird that a kid who was beaten up to within an inch of his life a few days ago was now spending some quality time with the same bastard that locked him up inside a cold and dark cave so he would starve to death. They would be totally right, Randy's relationship with Kaido was weird as fuck and they both were aware of that fact.

The moment the black-haired kid appeared in from of the King of Beasts with the seastone shackles still on his wrists and said the word 'Yamato', Kaido sighed as if this was a sadly common occurrence and ordered some grunts to bring some drinks. The two of them spent the next two hours talking shit about Wano and his son's hypocrisy.

"The kid only wanted to play to be an idiotic samurai." He gulped his sake with an angry scowl marring his already ugly face. "Had he truly cared about saving you, he would have come to here and ask me to lift the punishment."

"Yeah, that sounds right."

People should always live for their own sake, so that explanation made perfect sense to Randy.

"Actually, next time you see Yamato, tell him that I'll free you from the shackles the moment he stops with the Oden bullshit."

And that was the order that he would completely ignore. Yamato could go and die in ditch while defending his ring name for all Randy cared for, it had nothing to do with him. These shackles were his problem so the mere idea of not dealing with them by himself was utterly disgusting.

"Is that all?" Randy asked, not bothering to stifle a yawn.

The captain of the Beast Pirates grunted and shook his head at this casual attitude toward his orders but didn't make a big deal of it.

"I have half a mind to tell Yamato that I'll kill you and the other brats unless he stops being a fool, but I'm sure that I would end up with three dead fruit users and another disappointment." He scratched his chin in deep thought. "You'll be expected to carry out some jobs in Wano or die trying."

*---End of the flashback---*

Being told to go check on the apparently haunted Ringo's graveyard so Orochi would stop shitting his pants because of some ghosts sucked a lot. Why did the Beast Pirates care about that? They didn't, which was the reason why they gave him this mission in the first place.

At least walking all the way to Ringo, which was on the other side of the freaking island, made for some good training after Savage's tied some rocks to his limbs (running away from those katana wielding tigers did wonders for his cardio).

A freezing breeze caused the kid to shiver under his clothes; wrestlers were not made for this wintry weather. The cold metal of the shackles grazing his currently sensitive skin only made the suffering even worse.

Maybe he should fail this mission just to spite everyone.

How did one fail a scout mission? The kid already walked all the way to the graveyard, so like hell he was turning back now. Randy was so fucking telling everyone that he found actual ghosts after getting back. Even if ghosts didn't exist, there was little doubt in his mind that people could see them so it wouldn't be that big of a lie.

That line of thought soon was interrupted by the howling wind which kept blowing with its cold indifference toward the living. It was becoming increasingly harder for the kid to concentrate on anything but on how cold everything was. In an interesting turn of events, the stone graves protected him from the worst of the weather. It wasn't a big difference, but it was better than nothing. Had it not been for it, the kid would likely have died a shitty death before he found a cloaked figure standing next to a pair of graves with a katana in their hands.

"Leave, this is not a place for children." The mysterious person warned in a tone that was much less menacing than his figure.

Savage couldn't help but shake his head at how lacking this guy's performance was. Even though his stance did manage to convey that no one but him was allowed to put a foot in this place, there was no real heat behind his words. Such an amateurish mistake.

"Can't." The kid shrugged. "The assholes told me to check this place so Orochi would stop being a pain in our asses."

The cloaked person stiffened for a moment and his entire body language changed, becoming wat more aggressive than before. "Are you working for Kaido?"

Now that was a pro-level performance if he ever saw one. The audience would have loved the way the mysterious figure managed to sound so threatening and angry without showing any actual bloodlust.

From the way he stretched his short green arm forward, displaying his webbed hands for everyone to see, to how he puffed his chest in order to appear more imposing, everything about the cloaked figure screamed that he was a veteran that shouldn't be underestimated under any circumstance.

This guy was good.

"You are not ordinary man." His tone left no room for doubt. "I know exactly who you are."

The cloaked man shivered ever so slightly at the statement and clenched his weapon harder as he lowered his stance. This was all the confirmation Randy needed.

"What did give me away?" His glare lacked when compared to King's, but it wasn't bad at all.

The kid laughed and shook his head at the silly question.

"There is no way that I wouldn't recognize a wrestler of your caliber when I am one myself."

All wrestlers shared a deep connection that let them to instinctively recognize each other outside the ring in an instant. There wasn't a scientific explanation for that, it just happened.

The cloaked man was obviously also aware of that, so he chuckled despite himself.

"You have good eyes; it has been years since I entered a ring." He confessed in a voice painted with nostalgia as he prepared for a fight. "But as a member of the Nine Red Scabbards, I can't allow myself to be captured here."

Suddenly, the air around him changed as his sword pointed at Savage general direction, and the kid understood that moving a single step would end up with him being cut into pieces.

This person...was dangerous.

Still, there was something Randy needed to ask before calling him a worthy oponent.

"The nine what?"

Was that supposed to be a wrestling confederation or something?

"DID I JUST REVEAL MY IDENTITY AS ONE OF ODEN'S RETAINERS BY ACCIDENT!?"

He tilted his head.

"The hell is an Oden?"

After all these years, nobody has told Savage who that guy or sapient bowl of soup was yet.