Chapter 28: Battle Against Black Maria
The expression on Black Maria's face shifted slightly. It was clear that Ayaan had accurately described the current situation.
In truth, Black Maria was the least battle-hungry among Kaido's senior officers. She was fine bullying the weak, but if sent on a dangerous expedition, she would politely refuse.
The reason she remained one of the Flying Six despite her personality—and even held higher status than the others—was simple: she was Kaido's mistress.
Pillow talk, as it turns out, can be more powerful than any strategy. Even though Kaido was a tyrant, which lessened the effect of such talk, Black Maria still enjoyed special privileges in the Beasts Pirates.
For instance, during this large-scale mobilization, she was the only one left behind to guard the base.
As for why she didn't intervene in the fierce battle between Yamato and Ace outside—well, she may not have been much older than Yamato, but she was Yamato's stepmother.
It would have been weirder if they did get along.
Fight alongside Yamato? Yamato hated the Beasts Pirates, and loathed Maria, his stepmother, even more. If she dared to show up, Ace would probably knock her out, and Yamato would cheer him on.
This also explained why Ace never encountered Black Maria in the original timeline.
Think about it—no matter how arrogant Kaido was, or how much he trusted the natural defenses of Wano Country, would he really leave his entire leadership away from the base with only Yamato, the "filial son," to watch the fort? Wasn't he afraid that someone might just… take the whole place?
This wasn't the Red Hair Pirates, who were so broke that 100 million berries was a miracle. Their only valuable asset was their pride.
The commoners in Wano were poor, sure—but Wano itself was not. It was the only place producing both seastone and sake iron ore, and was home to skilled craftsmen, swordsmiths, and stonemasons.
Kaido had hoarded gold, silver, jewels, legendary swords—even Devil Fruits—in his lair. Of course he had to leave someone behind to protect it.
And knowing Kaido, leaving behind Black Maria and Yamato was already a compromise. They could handle small-time pirates. As for the other Four Emperors—unless they wanted an all-out war, none would dare sneak into his base.
Truthfully, Black Maria's main job was keeping an eye on Yamato.
But unexpectedly, a group of rookies from the Spade Pirates had shown up—and powerful ones, at that.
"Ha, beautiful lady, you think you can stop me alone?" Ayaan sneered, eyes glinting with amusement. His tone clearly didn't consider the half-human, half-demon monsters behind Black Maria to be a threat. A faint metallic shimmer radiated from his body.
Black Maria's expression darkened. Though she was promoted for reasons beyond strength, she was still as strong as the other Flying Six. Being underestimated by Ayaan made her seethe.
Yet, she remained composed. Holding her Wheel of Life, she didn't rush forward. Instead, she shouted, "Kill him!"
Her subordinates, slightly above average elites or mid-level officers, charged at Ayaan.
Of course, even if she didn't know Ayaan's exact power, she could sense his aura. The minions were mere cover—used to test him and mask her upcoming poison gas attack.
"Hmph. A mental toxin?" Ayaan smirked, sniffing the air. "Playing with poison in front of a medical ninja? You're clueless."
As he spoke, he began weaving hand seals. "Genjutsu: Hell Vision Technique!"
This illusion, while entry-level, was Ayaan's only offensive genjutsu so far—designed to target the psyche and reveal a person's deepest horrors.
In the original Naruto, Kakashi used this to terrify Sakura during a test. She saw Sasuke impaled with kunai—a scene from her worst nightmare.
It wasn't a strong genjutsu in the ninja world, but in the pirate world?
Suddenly, the yokai-like monsters under Black Maria screamed in terror, their eyes wide in madness. They ran amok in the halls, their twisted appearances only adding to the chaos.
"Lord Kaido—what? No, that's wrong!" Black Maria wavered at first but quickly snapped out of the illusion. As a Flying Six member, she used her Observation Haki to break free.
Realizing her poison had no effect—and that Ayaan had outmaneuvered her—Maria lost her patience. She tore off her kimono, revealing her massive spider lower body, and swung her Wheel of Life down at Ayaan.
"Furisode Randō!"
With a loud crash, Ayaan was smashed across the room. Maria smiled sweetly. "Little brother, you shouldn't get distracted in a fight."
Ayaan stood up, red-faced and slightly bruised. He was clearly embarrassed at being caught off guard.
Still, he was a man. With a sudden reveal like that, anyone would be distracted.
Maria cooed sweetly, but her next move was ruthless. Before Ayaan could recover, the spider mouth on her lower half opened wide—unleashing a torrent of fire.
"Flame Maria!"
Flames roared across the room. Ayaan didn't understand how a Rosamygale grauvogeli spider could breathe fire, but he'd anticipated it.
Opening his mouth, he generated an immense suction force, swallowing all the flames. His body ignited with controlled fury as he charged forward like a meteor.
"Hard Gum!"
She responded by spinning massive webs of white spider silk to halt his momentum. Unfortunately for her, fire—while good for offense—was a fatal flaw when it came to web defense.
Ayaan's flaming form tore through the webs like paper. He drove a flaming punch into the spider head on her lower body, releasing all the stored flames in a concentrated blast.
Her spider half ignited instantly.