Removing the Sea Stone Handcuffs

"What? How could there be a father like that?" Ace said, disbelief written across his face. "He was just trying to scare you, right?"

Yota pursed his lips. Kaido really had not been trying to scare Yamato. There really had been explosives inside.

Of course, whether they could have killed Yamato was another matter. With Yamato's current physique and powerful Armament Haki, she might only have been badly injured or crippled.

But no matter what, when Kaido had first locked those Sea Stone handcuffs onto Yamato's wrists, her defenses had certainly not been as strong as they were now. In other words, Kaido had been telling the truth. He had not lied at all.

"Even though I always thought Pops might have been lying to me, when I thought carefully about his personality, I didn't dare gamble on it either." Yamato sighed, lying sprawled on the ground like a puddle of mud.

"That's why I never truly went out to sea!"

"Um..." Yota seemed about to say something, but Ace cut him off.

"Don't worry, Yamato!" Ace's eyes shone brightly. "When I come back in the future, I'll help you break free of every restraint! Then you can go out to sea with me!"

"I mean..." Yota looked at the two excited people, hesitating to speak.

Hearing Ace's words, Yamato's face also showed a touched expression. "Okay, then it's a promise..."

"You don't actually have to wait until next time, I can remove those Sea Stone handcuffs right now, so could you two stop getting so worked up?!" Yota finally could not take it anymore. He blurted it all out in one breath without even pausing.

Yamato: "...Huh?!"

Ace: "...What?!"

"These are special handcuffs made of Sea Stone! And there are special mechanisms inside too. Can you really remove them?"

Yamato looked at Yota uneasily, both excited and worried.

"Yeah, Yota. Your Munch-Munch Fruit doesn't seem capable of processing Sea Stone, does it?" Ace asked with a frown, his face full of confusion.

Yota rolled his eyes and looked at Ace. "It's one thing for Yamato not to understand my Devil Fruit abilities, but why can't you figure it out either? Why do I have to stubbornly go head-to-head with these Sea Stone handcuffs?"

"Don't forget, my Munch-Munch Fruit can modify the human body. As long as someone isn't dead, even if their head is cut off or their body is split in two, I can put them back together without any aftereffects!"

Ace froze for a moment, then immediately understood Yota's plan. "You mean, cut off Yamato's hands directly?"

"Huh? Isn't that too high a price to pay? I want freedom, but cutting off my hands..." Yamato said blankly, her mouth hanging open.

"No, didn't you hear Yota just now? Even if someone's head is cut off, as long as they don't die immediately, he can reattach it. Your hands are nothing compared to that," Ace hurriedly explained to Yamato.

"Really? That's incredible." Yamato's eyes lit up. "Let's start now!"

Yota was somewhat stunned by Yamato's decisiveness. He had thought Yamato would at least doubt him and had even been prepared to demonstrate the Munch-Munch Fruit's abilities for her.

After all, Yamato and the Spade Pirates had still been enemies just moments ago. He had not expected her to trust him so readily.

But since Yamato trusted him, Yota was spared the trouble of wasting more breath.

"Then relax your arms first. With your physical strength, even without Haki, ordinary weapons would have a hard time cutting through your flesh."

Yota used the Summoning Technique to take out a Great Grade Sword, then swallowed it whole. His entire arm then transformed into a blade, instantly coated in jet-black Armament Haki.

"Okay, I understand." Yamato held out both hands and relaxed completely.

There were plenty of people in this world whose bodies could withstand steel, but that was generally when they were prepared. Like Iron Body, they accelerated the flow of blood through their bodies to increase their physical strength.

But when completely unprepared or exhausted, their physical strength would drop drastically. Just as Roger had been executed by two ordinary men, and Kozuki Oden could be killed by gunfire, as long as she completely relaxed her muscles, even a Child of the Oni like Yamato could not withstand the sharpness of Armament Haki combined with a Great Grade Sword.

A flash of blade light swept past, and blood sprayed through the air. Yamato's two hands immediately fell to the ground.

Yota opened his mouth, which expanded to an enormous size. He swallowed Yamato whole, then removed the Sea Stone handcuffs from her severed arms before stuffing both arms into his mouth as well.

Then Yota closed his eyes, seemingly using his Devil Fruit abilities. After a while, he opened his huge mouth and spat Yamato back out.

"Wah, wah, wah! What happened? Did I just get eaten?" Yamato stood up with a panicked look, patting herself all over before suddenly freezing when she saw her hands.

"Amazing! My hands really are reattached, and the Sea Stone handcuffs are gone too." Yamato's face broke into a delighted smile as her aura suddenly erupted.

Having worn Sea Stone handcuffs ever since she was little, Yamato's strength had been suppressed considerably. Now that she had cast off those shackles in a single stroke, her power surged dramatically.

Feeling Yamato's aura, Ace's expression immediately stiffened. He had known the Sea Stone handcuffs suppressed part of Yamato's strength, but he had not expected her to become this powerful after they were removed.

This was bad. Yamato was supposed to join the Spade Pirates!

As the Captain, if he could not overpower his own crew, he would be utterly humiliated.

Having Yota chasing right behind him had already put enormous pressure on him. Now there was going to be a Yamato even stronger than him...

Ace was not worried that Yamato joining the crew would lead to some sort of power struggle. After all, he trusted her character.

But he had always been the pillar of the Spade Pirates, protecting the crew beneath him, and he saw that as a Captain's responsibility.

Now that he was weaker than one of his crew members, was Yamato supposed to protect him, the Captain, from now on?

Ace was an optimist too, but he was not as thoughtless as Luffy. He still cared greatly about his pride.

He had already made up his mind. Once they returned, he would train hard! Unless he grew strong enough to at least fight Yamato to a draw, he would not go looking for Whitebeard!

Otherwise, after Whitebeard beat him black and blue, he might still need Yamato to save him. Then he would lose every shred of dignity he had as Captain of the Spade Pirates.