#2 No Cruel Life ??
The next 3 years dragged on slowly. I took advantage of the time to relearn how to walk, read, write, and speak. Over time Walking posed no problem, but the others proved challenging. From what I could gather, there was one language in this world: Japanese.
Japanese was a nightmare. I knew Spanish and English, and since they shared Latin roots, grasping their writing systems and languages wasn't too tough. From watching alot of anime I understood some words, but in the end it did not help me much. Japanese was entirely different Monster, there was no familiarity to guide me. Did the characters read vertically or horizontally? Was each character a complete word or part of a phrase? In short, a nightmare.
But I persisted, stubbornly pushing forward, and managed to at least grasp rudimentary Japanese and read it with difficulty, though writing remained impossible for me.
Of course, I engaged in typical baby activities to avoid drawing too much attention. I had no interest in being seen as too much of a genius. So, as soon as I could crawl, I set out to explore, trying to pinpoint my exact location and learn more about my father's crew. Father... it was strange to think that my father was Kaido of the Beasts, one of the future Four Emperors ruling over the seas of the New World.
From what I could observe, the pirate crew was still in its early stages, and it would take years for them to become the feared crew they were destined to be. It was surreal to see them so, so young. The only ones I recognized were my father and King. I didn't see Jack or Queen anywhere; had they not joined yet? And I didn't see my potential mother; had she died during childbirth? I hoped that was the case and not something more terrible. I had no nurses or servants; the two of them took care of my upbringing. I knew their characters from the series, but here, I could see a new side of them.
King (or Alber, I think that's his real name) didn't show much emotion, but he was responsible and took care of me diligently. I think his calm demeanor helped, as he didn't cause many problems.
It was my father who exceeded all my expectations. In the series, he was portrayed as a bloodthirsty maniac, cruel, addicted to battle, a hardened alcoholic who tried to commit suicide as a pastime. Here, I saw a side of him I never thought existed. He fed me, bathed me, and changed my clothes with care that I didn't think he was capable of. Goodness, he even changed my diapers without complaining, unlike King!
As for me, to avoid getting bored and attracting too much attention, I played with the toys I had at my disposal, but what I loved most was using the crayons they gave me to draw. I drew everything around me, even my two caretakers, and showed them.
"I'm the favorite; she draws me more than you!"
"Wororororo, you're wrong. Obviously, I'm her favorite because I'm her father!" - declared Kaido, then lifted me up with his arms - "Right, Yamato?"
I gave him my best baby smile and said - "Dada!"
My father's smile grew even bigger, though it seemed impossible, and he cast a haughty look at his subordinates. King grumbled under his breath.
It was hard for me to believe the adoration and affection they had for me. I knew Yamato's childhood had been quite brutal; I was sure that by the age of 8, she was already regularly beaten, and she wasn't even given food. One of their own crew members was even brutally executed just for giving the girl some food and a blanket! I wasn't sure if the original Yamato's suffering was due to her constant proclamations of being Oden or simply being Kaido's child. If it was the latter, I guess he was showing me so much affection now because I was a baby and couldn't survive his training methods for now.