Archive of Our Own ^beta

When Yamato told the Straw Hats he was going to join them after the battle of Onigashima, he wasn’t expecting them to accept him.

‘Kaido’s son?!’ ‘We should kill you!’ ‘Stay away from Luffy!’ ‘Ew.’ Those were the words he had expected to hear. But instead, the pirates who were present and awake at the time looked at him, then at each other.

“You’re Kaido’s son?!” God Usopp asked, cowering slightly behind Black Leg Sanji. 

Yamato clutched his kanabo but smiled, refusing to let his nerves show. He was going to sail with these people; he needed to show them he was no danger—

“I'm not complaining if you join us!” Sanji announced immediately after, looking at Yamato with a very strange expression on his face. Did—were those hearts in his eyes…?

“I swear, Luffy always picks up the weirdest people,” Cyborg Franky sighed.

Nami rolled her eyes in response but there was a small smile playing at her lips as she shot back, “Look who’s talking. You’re the weirdest one by far.”

“Yow! Thanks!” Franky called loudly, striking a pose, and Yamato had to fight back his excitement at the sight of the cyborg’s large, metallic arms clanking together.

“That wasn’t—never mind,” Nami muttered before shaking her head in disbelief. Yamato noted her smile was still firmly in place, however.

Nico Robin approached him then. “Yamato, right?” she asked.

Yamato simply nodded, meeting her eyes which seemed to peer right into his soul. He was surprised to realise that it wasn’t an entirely bad feeling. Not when she smiled at him, a small chuckle passing through her lips.

“It’s the captain’s decision who gets to board his ship. But if Luffy’s fine with it, no one is going to complain. You don’t have to hold back.” There was this knowing spark in her gaze when she gestured behind herself—at her crewmates, who were currently busy shoving at each other, laughing and bickering. They looked perfectly relaxed, as if the son of the enemy they had barely just managed to defeat wasn’t standing right in front of them.

Just looking at them, hearing their carefree laughter… It was making Yamato feel lighter, happier.  

He didn’t even mind that Robin could see right through him—although knowing himself, he was likely being painfully obvious. He was never very good at hiding his feelings, after all.

“Sanji, I’m hungry! Make me your special soba!” Usopp whined, hanging onto Sanji’s waist.

“Me too, please!” Brook joined in.

Sanji clicked his tongue, trying to shake the sniper off. “Shut up! I only take requests from ladies!” he snapped before he looked away from him, his voice turning softer. “What would you like, Nami-san, Robin-chan, Yamato-chan?”

Yamato blinked, taken completely aback by the sincere blue eyes and a genuine smile thrown his way.

Before his mouth could fall open in shock, Robin’s soft chuckle reached his ears. “Looks like you’re already a part of the crew.”

Yamato’s lips stretched into a wide grin and he laughed, his hand shooting up eagerly. “Soba for me, too!”

“Your wish is my command, my lady,” Sanji said, giving Yamato a bow—

—only to yelp when Usopp poked his side. “I think you missed the ‘son’ part.”

There was a beat of silence while Sanji processed Usopp’s words but then he hummed, looked at Yamato critically for a moment, then nodded seriously. “I’m sorry for my oversight. No votes on the menu for you.”

“What?! No fair!” Yamato cried, his eyes going wide.

“Hey, Sanji! No take-backs!” Usopp agreed, shaking the cook for good measure.

Sanji tried to ignore the protests but one pout from Usopp and a single glare from Nami made him break. "Fine! But just this once."

It was about four in the morning a few days later that found Yamato sitting in his room in the Shogun’s castle, recounting the events of that night in his journal. 

The party to celebrate the end of Kaido’s reign—the first dawn after twenty long years of darkness—had died down only a short while ago. Yamato wondered if anyone beside him was awake now; last he knew, only Zoro, Nami, and Kyosh—Denjiro were still drinking and chatting. Everyone else was asleep, completely exhausted. 

And Yamato was too but he refused to go to bed yet—he had too much to say!

When Luffy and Zoro had woken up that morning, the cooks of the castle had insisted on making a feast… but of course, there was no way the pirates could wait for that. Especially since a festival had been ready to go for days, just waiting for the stars of the show to come to.

And some festival it was! Everyone was happy, happier than Yamato could remember. If he closed his eyes, he could still hear the happy laughter of the citizens and the sound of Hiyori’s shamisen. Not to mention the sheer amount of food and games!

Needless to say, the Straw Hats raided every stall, much to the chagrin of their owners. 

It was the worst with the food. After all, as Yamato had learned, Luffy could eat. Yakisoba, takoyaki, taiyaki, shaved ice, dango… all of it was gone in the blink of an eye as soon as Luffy got to it, with Yamato not far behind. And even though everything was free—or maybe because it was—the crew ended up getting chased away every time.

In the end, the only stall that let them even close was Sangoro’s Special Soba.

“It’s so good!” Yamato moaned, slurping up the perfectly cooked noodles.

“I know, ‘ight?” Luffy agreed, speaking with his mouth full and pointing his chopsticks at his companion. “Sanji’s cookin’s the best!”

“For real! I can’t believe I can eat this perfection every day now!” Yamato grinned, happily shoving more noodles into his mouth.

“Shut up, you cavemen! ! I only take compliments from ladies!” Sanji snapped, but there was an undeniable, satisfied smile on his face.

There was a sly smirk on Usopp’s lips when he spoke up next, “Ladies and Zoro.”

Sanji nearly dropped the bowl he was pouring right then. “Excuse me? I’d take the shitty Marimo’s compliments least of all.”

“Sure,” Usopp drew out tauntingly before he burst out laughing.

As he looked between Sanji, Usopp, and a snickering Luffy, Yamato tried to understand what was going on… but when he noticed the pink dusting on Sanji’s cheeks, the answer became quite obvious. Huffing in amusement, he threw a smirk of his own at Sanji before the cook clicked his tongue and a throbbing, angry vein appeared on his forehead.

Taking that as a cue, Usopp and Luffy grabbed their bowls and bolted. 

Quickly following their lead, Yamato gulped down the rest of his broth, then shot up and sprinted after the madly laughing duo. Judging by the chair that came flying after them, Yamato wouldn’t be surprised if they ended up without lunch tomorrow…

After they lost their last source of food, the game booths were the next in line.

“Usopp, you’re amazing!” Chopper called excitedly from where he was hanging onto Yamto’s shoulder after yet another booth’s grand prize got shot down.

“Just watch!” Usopp said, showing the others a thumbs up. “I’ll shoot down every single prize with flawless accuracy!”

Yamato’s eyes widened as the booth owner broke out of his stupor only to glare at Usopp. “We’d better scram,” Yamato mumbled, taking a step back while tugging at Luffy’s shirt.

By the time the owner came to menacingly loom over an oblivious Usopp, the rest of them were long gone. The cry of “Traitors!!” was barely heard over their laughter.

But food and games were not the only things the festival had to offer. Wherever Yamato went, the sound of singing and dancing could be heard in tandem with the playing music. Of course, there were the geishas and Hiyori’s traditional Wano songs but there was also someone else, someone who played music the likes of which Yamato had never heard before. 

It resonated right through him, touching the deepest parts of his soul. Obviously, the skeleton wasn’t called the ‘Soul King’ for nothing.

“Do you like Brook’s music?”

Yamato startled at the soft voice behind him. He turned around to stare owlishly up at the woman and cyborg approaching him and, judging by the chuckle Nico Robin gave him, his surprise had to be pretty obvious.

“You didn’t answer my question,” Robin noted when she sat down on the ground next to him.

“I do. It’s so different from the music in Wano or Queen’s party songs,” Yamato replied before he gratefully accepted the cup of sake Franky had offered him.

“Enjoy it while you can. You’ll be hearing so much of his singing from now on that you’ll be super sick of it,” Franky laughed easily.

Yamato hummed thoughtfully at his words. “I doubt that.”

“Remember what you just said when he wakes you up at four in the morning for the fifth time the same week,” Robin remarked with a teasing lilt to her voice.

“Don’t scare me!” Yamato cried in mock horror even as his voice shook with laughter. Somehow, he couldn’t imagine getting sick of it—although he supposed he should hold that thought until he was being dragged out of bed that early on a regular basis…

Right now, however, he didn’t care.

He was too happy and there was too much joy around him… and too much alcohol buzzing in his mind.

But it was a festival; drinking just a little too much was fine!

Although it wasn't like he had much choice in that matter. Earlier that evening, he had learned the hard way that once Zoro and Nami got ahold of someone, there was no way they were leaving sober.

“Yamato, where are you going?” Nami asked with a raised eyebrow, the alcohol swirling in her glass.

“Giving up already, Son of Kaido?” Zoro joined in, his lips curled into a smirk.

Yamato groaned, stopping in his tracks. “I’m just going to get food!”

“Coward,” Zoro muttered once he drained the last drops from his sake cup.

“Coward,” Nami agreed solemnly.

“Excuse me?!” Yamato snapped as he slammed his hands on the table. “I’ll be right back!”

“Sure you will.” Nami leaned back in her chair before she brought her glass to her lips and took a long, taunting sip. There was a teasing spark in her eyes that was very hard to not pick up on and Yamato—

Yamato knew what they were doing.

They were riling him up on purpose, making fun of him and provoking him, all to get him to have just one more drink, get drunk just a little more, lose the undeclared drinking contest just a little faster. It was a clear bait, easy to see through. Like hell was he falling for cheap tricks like that.

“You’re fucking on,” Yamato hissed and sat back down, pouring himself a generous cup of sake.

“That’s more like it,” Nami laughed.

Zoro, too, huffed in amusement and the look he gave Yamato seemed almost proud in the meanest way and Yamato couldn’t help but laugh.

His voice still shaking with glee, Yamato shook his head. “You’re both terrible. Don’t complain to me when you get hungry.”

Just then, a giant plate full of yakitori and a pitcher of clean water appeared on the table. Yamato blinked in surprise before he tore his eyes away from the deliciously smelling meat to look at the one who had placed it there—the whale shark fishman who was looking right back at him with warm eyes and a wide smile.

Yamato’s face split into a grin and he immediately grabbed for one of the sticks. "Thanks, Jinbe!" he said before he bit down, a moan escaping him as soon as the juicy, amazing flavour hit his tongue.

"Thanks, man." Zoro nodded at Jinbe gratefully before grabbing a stick for himself.

Nami smiled at the fishman, pulling out the empty chair next to her. "Here, I saved you a seat, Boss." She winked, making the fishman laugh heartily.

The moment Jinbe sat down, Yamato placed two bottles in front of him. "Queen's whisky or Kaido's sake?"

A beat of silence passed before Jinbe started laughing all over again. "That's what you raided Onigashima for earlier?"

"Right after the packed treasury, yes," Nami agreed. "It's good stuff. Some of these could sell for so much money."

Before Jinbe could even say which one he wanted, a shout came from somewhere on the opposite side of the banquet area. 

"I smell meat!!'

Immediately, both Zoro and Nami's eyes widened. 

"Oh shit," Zoro cursed quietly.

That seemed to be the cue for the both of them to start scrambling to grab as many things off the table as they could, Nami snapping at both Yamato and Jinbe to move.

Yamato had no idea what was going on but Nami's frustrated glare sca—did not scare him. Still, he obeyed as quickly as he could, taking the yakitori plate in one hand and his sake cup in the other—

And a mere second later, something grabbed onto his shoulders.

His eyes went wide as he tried to process what was happening. Hands. Bodiless hands on his shoulders, pulling and pulling… until they weren’t. 

Yamato stumbled forward when the force disappeared, struggling to keep his balance and not drop anything while the panicked cries of ‘Careful!’ and ‘Not again!’ were not helping. Yet, the hands kept firmly clutching at his shoulders and Yamato could only assume the worst.

He took a deep breath, bracing himself for impact as a whole human body came hurtling towards him at the speed of recoiling rubber. 

This idiot. 

Yamato could barely finish the thought before loud laughter filled his ears, coming closer and closer and… further?

Blinking once, twice, he looked blankly in the direction of the loud crash next to him. Apparently, Luffy had managed to completely miss him and instead went flying right by him, toppling over the table… and crashed right into Zoro.

“I’m… going to… kill you one day,” Zoro groaned, lying on the ground under a snickering Luffy and holding one of the expensive sake bottles in the air as far away from Luffy as he could.

Luffy only laughed harder.

Honestly, the way Nami and Zoro had reacted as if this was a normal occurrence was mildly terrify—disconcerting. Was Luffy flinging himself at people from the other side of the room, the building, the whole festival… normal? Was this Yamato’s life now?

Well…

Yamato didn’t fight the smile that spread on his lips at the thought. This was his life now! He could laugh with friends, drink and eat with them, be who he was next to them. No one around to yell at him to just shut up and do what he’s told, no one to laugh at him, no one to tell him to stop being Oden.

No chains on his wrists or soul anymore.

From now on, he was finally free.