Work Text:
Soulmates had not been a relevant topic in Yamato's life for a long time.
When they were really little, when they still lived on a ship, they were too young to understand it when or if it was mentioned. They had a half-there memory of warm arms around them, lips on their forehead and hair as white as snow cascading around them as they felt over the reddish drawing on someone's wrist.
(They don't remember what it was, now, and each day the memory gets vaguer and blurrier. They think, with the weight of age and experience, that it was their mother. They also think that whoever that person was, they weren't Kaido's soulmate.)
After that, all they remember is snippets of time: flying on their father's back through the skies, being held secure on a firm grip as laughter and conversation went around them, sleeping with their head on a strong heartbeat, warmth all around.
They remember a bit more from when they got to Wano.
They remember running along the halls of the Skull Dome, maids and servants trailing after them. Being put to bed by unknown woman and woken up by unknown men. Eating new foods they'd never tasted before. Playing on the snow until their fingers were blue.
They remember when they met Black Maria, just-brought from her family, brought to Onigashima to be Yamato's playmate.
Black Maria was just one year older than Yamato, but she was already a lot bigger, big enough enough that she could carry Yamato around. They remember having so, so much fun with her, their own big sister.
Black Maria had a spot of color on her right hip, just as Yamato had on their back, but they were both too young to know much about soul marks, too taken by the wilderness of Wano and all the places to explore to daydream about something as silly as soulmates.
When Yamato reached the age when the mark started clearing up, and when children started getting curious...
Well. That's the age they saw a man dance for the safety of his people, saw Oden save his retainers with a smile on his face, while Orochi and their father did nothing but monstrous acts, and laughed at the bravest thing Yamato had ever seen.
After that, Yamato didn't have time to worry about soul mark. He had better things to do.
"I am Kozuki Oden!" He'd screamed, and there was a furious thump-thump-thump of his heart in his chest. He wasn't sure what part of the phrase would infuriate Kaido more: would it be the declaration of himself as he is now, recently discovered as a boy? Would it be the denial of his name, something Kaido choose himself? Would it be the audacity of declaring himself as one of Kaido's enemies?
"Be quiet! No son of mine will claim such a thing and remain unpunished!" He said, and Yamato barely had time to process it before a fist was headed to his head.
It took a while for the people of Onigashima to get used to it, which wasn't something Yamato understood; Kaido, his own father, had taken it in stride and never slipped up; Yamato was his son, and that was it.
Black Maria, well. It took a while. It had less to do with her unwillingness to see him as a boy, and more to do with the row they were having. Black Maria found his fight against Kaido petty and stupid: she was only nine, but she understood Kaido fed and clothed her, and was unwilling to speak up against him. That meant that she took his father's side, and after weeks of hurried whispers and wearily patching him up, all he took from her was a huff and a "what an idiotic otouto you are!".
(After he had been chained, after he had been delegated to jail and a lifetime of solitude for not giving his dreams up, not even that. His nee-san was gone, and he doubted he'd ever get her back.)
The people of the castle took months, if not a full year, for so long he was the Oni Princess, their little mistress. Eventually, after Kaido fired the maid who happened to call Yamato ojou, he became Yamato-bocchan.
(Orochi never really got into the program; he kept eyeing him, as he grew up and was dragged into formal dinners. As he hit teenage hood, eyeing turned to leering, albeit not nearly as much as he did to Black Maria. He only tried gifting Yamato a revealing kimono once, before Kaido threw a fit; Yamato wasn't required at formal dinners, after that.)
When Yamato got sent to jail, he'd taken to wrapping his chest in bandages. It served several purposes, most important of all was protecting his ribs from the kicks Kaido got into the habit of sending his way.
The samurais in prison, the kindhearted souls who fed Yamato when his own father wouldn't, convinced him to give it up, or at least to wear them only when Kaido was around— one of the samurai said he had a cousin who used to bind due to a back problem, and that it heavily impaired his breathing.
Yamato needed to be able to breathe easily to fight. Even though he had no skill with the sword the samurais trained him in Ryuo, which meant that soon enough he'd ditched the bandages and settled on a loose haori, warm enough to protect him as he runs through the snow, and hakama pants, large enough he could practice his katas.
He knew the samurais had seen his soul mark, because a day or so after he'd ditched the bandages a few of the louder ones started talking about their own: wives left behind, childhood sweethearts long gone, a few who showed off their own matching marks.
Yamato paid it no mind; his own mark was right between his shoulder blades, so he'd never looked at it, and even then, he was barely nine. He really was more preoccupied with the growing distance between him and his father, and learning more and more kanji, so he could read all of Oden's journal for himself. Apparently, his lack of interest was noted.
Oji-san, who was some sort of leader between the samurais, took him aside to ask if he'd ever seen his soul mark, and if he wanted to. Yamato declined, far more interested in learning more Ryuo, and Oji-san nodded, and led him through another lecture on "hearing the voice of the world".
(Not long after, they were all gone, and Yamato was alone in the caves. He regretted not asking about his mark, sure, but he regretted losing his friends more. He broke his chains, them, and spent far more time hiding on Onigashima than hunting Kaido down; Yamato had to survive, above all else. He had to be here in 19 years for Oden's prediction. He had to.)
Meeting Ace was, to Yamato's surprise, both a saving grace and a slap to the face. Having someone look at you, hear your struggles, and call bullshit on it while opening the door for the future you never thought you could have was... an experience.
The almost two days he spent with Ace felt like he was a whole new person, and at the same time it felt like he was rediscovering his own self. It was like remembering who he was before the chains, before his fight for freedom and the good of the people got boiled down to "I hate my father."
That evening spent hearing about Ace's adventures, about his little brother who'd set sail soon, about all the places he'd been to, brought a longing inside Yamato that he didn't know what to do with.
The nights spent with Ace beside him, sometimes even on him, those were something Yamato knew he'd treasure forever. His shackles prevented him from leaving, but at the end of the day they only solidified his will to stay, and to fight for what he believed in.
After Ace left, Yamato knelt on the snow, and choked back the sobs he wanted to let out. There was this thing rising on his chest, a mix of hope and sorrow, something far too big for his skin, something just waiting to burst open and be free.
Then Ace's Vivre card was burning, ashes drifting to nothing on the snow, and Yamato raged. He raged, and sobbed, and took his kanabo to his own chain like he hadn't had the courage to before.
It was the first time in years Black Maria tended to his wounds, tutting over the torn skin and broken bones.
Yamato didn't even have it in himself to marvel at having some part of his sister back. He felt empty.
Hollow.
When he saw a commotion near where he was fishing his dinner — heard talk about invasion and pirates — he took the time to shake down the nearest servant of his father that he could find, and could not contain his joy.
Strawhat pirates, they'd said, along with some other crews. It was time. Not only was it time for the war Oden had foretold, but also for him to finally have a real chance at dethroning his father, at obtaining freedom.
Time to meet Ace's little brother.
Time to meet his destiny.
Meeting Luffy was as much of a riot as he'd expected, and talking to the man even more so. He didn't resemble much the little brother Ace had told him about, but that was obvious; it had been years, and Luffy was a man grown now.
Yamato pleaded his case, his words clumsy in his mouth. "I am Oden!" he'd said, and meant so much more. He meant he wanted freedom, for himself and his country, wanted to travel and see the world as Oden had.
When Luffy took off his cuffs, Yamato felt an enormous weight taken away, finally able to move freely, unladen of the heavy weight of kairosekki. He was finally free, and could sail away as a free man as soon as this mess was done with.
At the same time, his heart was heavy. He did not want to believe Kaido (not his father, never again his father) would jail him with explosive handcuffs. The explosion that followed would definitely have killed Yamato, and damn, he'd had the same cuffs for almost ten years. The weight of knowing with certainty that his father would kill him was a sobering thought.
Yamato put the thought behind him, and kept fighting.
He fought Kaidou. They beat Kaidou.
(He discovered a new part of himself: the wolf trapped in his rib cage free to roam, the ice in his veins for once settled like the blanket of snow settles on the top of a mountain, like it was supposed to be there, like the world was in danger if it melts away.
Yamato is a wolf, wild and feral and untamed, and he's never felt more free than when he put four paws on the ground and glided above the snow.)