#13 A Better Opponent?

Yamato desperately looked around; all of these guys looked weaker than the others.

"Just what is this? Where do these pathetic weaklings get the confidence from to even think of attacking Wano anyway?"

As she took a step forward, she felt a familiar presence behind her. She turned around and saw King landing in a swirl of dust.

Yamato quickly questioned herself, 'Odd, how did I feel him beforehand?"

immediately she thought of her answer, "Did I already unlock a kind of early version of observation Haki? Yay omg, I can't believe it.'

As Yamato was getting overly excited King bent downwards to get down to Yamato's level.

"Having fun, Yamato?" King asked, raising his eyebrows as he watched her.

Yamato Hearing King mention her name quickly calmed down again and pretended to be more professional. "All I've gotten so far are weaklings." Yamato then let out a overdramatic sigh, "I just want to have a good fight."

King stood back up and smirked. "Be careful what you wish for."

King quickly picked her up and started flying off onto the battlefield, leaving behind a flabbergasted Queen.

Queen quickly got back to his senses and started running in the direction King was flying in. "HEY KING YOU BASTARD!!! COME BACK, HOW DARE YOU TAKE AWAY MY BELOVED STUDENT!!"

King smirked as he flew away with Yamato.

"Hey, King, where are you taking me? Are we finally gonna find someone worth my time?" She asked, her voice full of anticipation.

King nodded, his voice serious. "We'll see if you're ready for what's ahead, but don't expect me to bail you out if you get in over your head."

Yamato rolled her eyes. "I don't need bailing out. Just show me where the real fight is."

King grunted in response, descending toward a section of the battlefield where some stronger members of Moria's crew were wreaking havoc. These were the decent threats, seasoned fighters with power that far surpassed the small fry Yamato had faced so far. Most had shadows stuffed into them, bulking up their strength and speed beyond what any ordinary pirate could achieve.

King flew lower until he identified An obese, almost 4-meter-tall man with long hair that wielded an axe who seemed to have awakened the initial states of Haki.

With that, King let go, and Yamato plunged downwards, laughing wildly. She landed with a force that cracked the ground, kicking up a cloud of snow and dirt around her. The Gecko pirate whipped around, eyes wide, as he took in the sight of the small girl in front of him.

The man quickly composed himself and had a lecherous smile as soon as he saw the horns on the little girl.

"Well, well, look what we've got here, a little girl. Have Kaido's forces really dropped down to this level, Braahahaha?"

Yamato quickly glanced at him and showed a face of disgust. The man was tall but almost morbidly obese, had red wards all over his body, and his teeth were all crooked and seemingly black from rot. He only wore pants, seemingly showing off his giant belly to the world. (AN: Typical Signs of Scurvy/Vitamin C Deficiency.)

After internally bleaching her eyes, Yamato screamed out, "Hey Pig, let's see if you're worth all that trash talk."

The man immediately got upset and roared loudly towards the girl, "I'm not fat; how dare you insult me like that? I'll fucking skin you alive."

The Gecko Pirate then started running towards Yamato with his axe in his hand. He decided to slash the girl in half from top to bottom.

Yamato, seeing the pirate in front of her running towards her and slashing down in the most open and obvious way, possibly got annoyed again. 'Is he fucking dumb? I think that pig had never heard of proper fighting forms. How the hell are you supposed to block anything coming your way like that?'

Yamato then merely sidestepped the giant axe coming from above and just kicked the guy on the shin.

However, different from what she expected, the man didn't scream out in pain but instead metallic-like sounds were heard on impact.

'Is that armament Haki or is it Tekkai? Damn it, I can't see if he used Haki; it's not turning black like in the manga.

The axe lifted up again and the Pig slashed sideways towards Yamato.

However, Yamato didn't dodge at all after seeing the impact of the previous strike; she was quite confident she could block it with her natural resistance.

She held open both of her hands and seemingly caught the blade with her hands after sliding back half a meter.

'Whew, I knew I could tank it haha'