King's Enthusiasm

"That woman is a complete lunatic!"

On Onigashima, in Kaido's reception hall, Queen complained loudly. "She charged right out of the castle on horseback, and even after getting shot, she acted like nothing happened."

"She rode all the way down to the town at the foot of the mountain and started giving a loud speech to the villagers!"

"Wororororo, as expected of Oden's wife—she's quite an interesting woman too."

Kaido tipped his giant gourd of sake and chugged, looking utterly unconcerned.

But Kaido might not care; King, however, said coldly, "It's all because this idiot was too busy making oshiruko and neglected his post that the woman found an opening to break out of the castle."

"I hadn't had a proper meal in two whole days! What's wrong with eating a little something?!"

Queen was in the wrong, but he still blustered. "Besides, where the hell were you at the time, bastard?"

"I was guarding the back gate!" King said coldly.

"Alright, it's nothing worth worrying about,"

Kaido waved a hand dismissively. "Putting hope in some damn prophecy—utterly foolish!"

Kaido trusted his own strength above all else; prophecies, fate, and the like held no sway over him whatsoever.

"She probably just wanted to give the people of Wano Country a glimmer of hope,"

King said flatly. "Orochi will become the night that shrouds Wano. If there's not a single light to be seen in the darkness, surviving won't be easy."

"But speaking of which, that Orochi guy was scared out of his wits," Queen mocked. "I heard he went home and took a hot bath but still shivered cold, screaming all night that Kozuki's ghost had returned."

"Ignore that waste."

Kaido was already getting tipsy, letting out a burp. "Once Yamato grows up, he'll lose his usefulness. Wano is special. In the future, Yamato will replace Orochi as the shogun ruling this country."

King didn't ask what made Wano special. He simply said calmly, "I'll train Yamato into a strong one worthy of Mr. Kaido's expectations."

"Good," Kaido looked up, his expression turning slightly serious. "By the way, King, did you get the stone back?"

"Of course. It's already in the storage room."

"Wororororo! That thing needs to be carefully protected!"

"Sirius, time to get up."

Sirius opened his eyes, and the first thing he saw was a slightly chubby face.

"Oh, it's just Jack."

Sirius rubbed his eyes and sat up in bed, yawning with droopy eyelids, looking exhausted.

"What do you mean 'just Jack'? Are you disappointed to see me, Sirius?!" Jack picked up the clothes Sirius had set aside, tossed them in front of him, and grumbled with some displeasure.

"Haha, how could I be?"

Sirius laughed it off. "I'm really happy you came to wake me up."

It was mainly because the past few days, Yamato had been the one waking him, so it took some getting used to.

"Shouldn't you be learning to get up on your own by now?"

Jack urged him. "And hurry up! Brother King should already be waiting for us."

Sirius then remembered—right, they were back on Onigashima now, and King had returned too, which meant—

"Time for morning training again?"

Sirius let out a groan.

He'd only experienced it once, but that one time of being knocked down twice still stuck fresh in his memory.

And more importantly, Sirius recalled what King had said before!

Sirius jolted with a start.

Were those ominous premonitions from before about to come true today?

"I told you to hurry up. If you're late, Brother King won't let it slide!" Seeing Sirius still dawdling, Jack grew anxious.

Right.

Can't be late.

If he was already facing unprecedentedly harsh training, showing up late would just give King an excuse to pile on more.

Sirius quickly threw on his clothes and jumped straight onto Jack's shoulder. "Jack, let's go!"

"Get down and walk yourself!"

His good brother complained loudly.

But a good brother was a good brother—despite the grumbling, Jack didn't shake him off, carrying him all the way to the training ground.

When the two arrived, Black Maria and Yamato had just gotten there too.

"Sirius, good morning."

Black Maria smiled warmly and waved at Sirius in greeting.

"Yo, Maria, morning."

Sirius hopped down from Jack's shoulder, smiling as he waved at her, then looked at Yamato. "You too, Yamato."

"Heehee, good morning, Sirius!"

Yamato was full of energy, her smile radiant, though the gap where her two front teeth were missing made her speech a little lispy. "And Jack."

Jack nodded steadily. "Mm."

"Are you brats done with the pleasantries?"

A cold voice came from the side.

All-black Uncle King stepped forward like a shadow, a bag in his hand. "Seems like you've been slacking off these past few days. But that's fine—"

"After today, you'll remember everything all over again."

Sirius twitched the corner of his mouth. Starting off with threats, huh.

As if noticing Sirius's little expression, Uncle King looked down at him. "Especially you, Sirius. Are you ready?"

Sirius swallowed. "If I said no, could I take the day off today?"

Uncle King withdrew his gaze without hesitation, his voice low. "Enough nonsense. Today, it's also five laps around Onigashima."

"Oh!!"

Yamato pumped her fist excitedly in response. "Sirius, let's give it our all together!"

"Too bad, this kid probably won't be able to give it his all with you." Sirius heard a thick malice in Uncle King's voice.

And that was exactly the case. Uncle King tossed the bag in front of Sirius.

"Try it on, kid. Queen, that idiot, whipped it up overnight. Should fit you."

"Huh? Uncle King prepared a gift for Sirius?"

Yamato was shocked. Before Sirius could even move, she crouched down and opened the bag.

What spilled out from the bag were some clothes.

Including wrist guards, gloves, knee pads, shoes, a vest—could be called a workout set.

"Look, Sirius! A gift Uncle King got for you!"

Like she was presenting a treasure, Yamato picked up the vest and waved it at Sirius.

Sirius's mouth twitched. Was this really a gift? It looked way too suspicious!

"If you want to call it a gift, sure."

Uncle King's voice carried amusement. His eyes locked onto Sirius as he spread his right hand toward him. "Full set weighs fifty kilograms. Today's the first day, so I'll let you slack off a little, kid."

What kind of slack was that?!

Sirius really wanted to curse.

His own body weight wasn't even close to fifty kilograms!

Were you trying to commit child murder or what?

"What are you standing around for, kid?"

Uncle King's voice held a smile. "Put it on. The pleasant morning exercise is about to start."

Pleasant my ass! Where's the pleasant in that?!

Only you would find it pleasant!

This guy's got an abuse fetish, doesn't he! That's definitely it, right?!

Wearing all that and running five laps would absolutely kill someone!