"Got it—you still need to rest a bit longer, right?" Uta nodded after taking in Arton's expression. "Okay. I'll go tell everyone to wait a little more."
"Thanks, Uta," Arton said sincerely.
Uta waved it off and headed for the door. A moment later, the sounds of it opening and closing reached Arton's ears—and Kaya's, somewhere under the water.
"Finally… she's gone." Arton let out a quiet breath, then lightly patted the back of Kaya's head. "Kaya, you can come up now."
Under the surface, Kaya made a muffled, hard-to-parse sound—and didn't surface.
Arton frowned, confused for half a second… then his eyes sharpened.
He could feel it.
Kaya's presence—her pressure—suddenly surged several times over, like she'd flipped a switch.
Arton immediately steadied himself on instinct, focus tightening, bracing as if he was about to get blindsided.
…
Outside the room, Uta leaned against the wall, one hand resting near her lips.
"Captain, seriously…" she muttered, cheeks flushed a bright, adorable red. "You said you were going to rest—how are you supposed to rest like that?"
"And Kaya too," Uta grumbled, half sulky. "She promised she'd keep an eye on him… and look what she's doing."
Uta huffed, then shook her head. "Whatever. I won't interrupt them."
"Besides, that Enel guy isn't exactly some impossible opponent." She exhaled, a little helpless. "If Captain wants to do things his way, then… fine. Let him."
With that, Uta turned and strode toward the deck on her long legs.
…
Elsewhere—down on the Blue Sea.
"Boss, are we really sending the paper out right now?" A Morgans' employee hesitated through a Den Den Mushi call. "Isn't it kind of… bad to push out extra editions this often?"
He genuinely didn't get it. Why was Arton worth the world's biggest news agency doing back-to-back special printings? Even the Emperors in the New World didn't get treated like this.
"What do you know? That's Arton!" Morgans roared into the Den Den Mushi. "Just do it. Get the papers out!"
He snapped the call shut.
The employee could only obey.
As for Morgans, he lifted his head and stared up at the sky with a complicated look—like his gaze could pierce straight through the thick clouds and see the Sky Island hidden beyond them.
"A man like Arton doesn't do anything without a reason," Morgans muttered. "If he was willing to let his ship ride a terrifying upsurge like that and shoot into the heavens…"
"Then there's something up there."
"So behind those clouds… there has to be a Sky Island."
Morgans scratched his cheek, conflicted. Even with wings, flying straight up to a Sky Island wasn't simple—it would burn through stamina fast.
Of course, that wasn't the real problem.
Stamina was stamina. You could always rest and recover.
The real issue was timing.
He'd just left Arton. If he marched right back up and tried to force another interview, Arton probably wouldn't give him anything—certainly nothing juicy enough to headline.
"…Forget it. I'll watch and wait," Morgans decided quietly. "Let's see if the Navy makes a move."
A Navy Admiral—Kuzan—had gone after Arton and still couldn't take him down. Worse, Robin had even shown off bizarre flames and overwhelmed Kuzan's ice—at least, that was how Morgans planned to sell it.
Yeah, he'd made that part up to juice the story.
But Morgans didn't believe the Navy would sit still after a headline like this.
And as long as the Navy, the World Government, or any other major power reacted… that reaction itself would become fresh material.
Thinking that far, Morgans felt his anticipation rising higher and higher.
He couldn't wait to see how the Navy, the World Government, and the other giants of the world would respond.
Chapter 524: Ace Finally Catches Up to Blackbeard
Grand Line — an abandoned town.
The Blackbeard Pirates.
"How's it feel, Captain Teach?" Doc Q asked after using his newly developed medicine on him.
"Haa… finally," Blackbeard let out a long breath, his face easing for the first time in a while. "That's better. Good thing you're here, doc—otherwise I might've actually died from the pain."
"As long as you're fine," Doc Q chuckled lazily. "We're still counting on you to lead us to ruling the seas."
"Of course," Blackbeard said, teeth grinding as his mood flipped. "Once we collect enough strong Devil Fruits, the sea is ours. And when that day comes—Navy, World Government… and that bastard Arton too—I'm gonna grind them into the dirt."
The moment he said Arton's name, his anger spiked like a fuse had been lit—like if Arton appeared in front of him right now, he'd lunge without thinking.
Which, realistically, would end terribly.
Now that Arton knew the Dark-Dark Fruit had that strange pull ability, there was no way Arton would ever give him the breathing room to use it again.
"If Arton sees you again, he won't give you another chance," a familiar voice cut in coolly. "Not after he's already accepted Robin as a companion—and you tried to make a move on her."
Blackbeard and the rest of his crew froze, then snapped their heads toward the source.
"You…" Blackbeard's eyes widened. "Ace?!"
Standing there was a shirtless man with freckles across his face—calm, sharp, and deadly familiar.
"Yo, Teach," Ace said, tilting the brim of his hat with one finger. His voice was low, icy. "Found you at last. Guess my luck isn't so bad."
"Zehahahaha! Never thought I'd run into you here!" Blackbeard's surprise twisted into greedy excitement in an instant. "This is perfect—how about it? Join my crew!"
Ace actually laughed—short and humorless, like he couldn't believe what he'd just heard.
This man murdered a crewmate… and now he wanted Ace to become his companion?
What a joke.
"Fire Fist!"
Ace's arm swung forward.
BOOM!
Heat exploded outward. A massive fireball dropped from above, warping the air as it slammed toward the Blackbeard Pirates.
Teach and his men scattered fast, throwing themselves aside.
The fireball detonated where their borrowed building had been, blasting the ground into a huge crater and leaving the ruins still burning.
"Hey, Ace! You didn't have to come out swinging like that!" Teach barked, cold sweat running down his face as he glanced at the flaming wreckage.
"I've got more than enough reason to hit you first, Teach," Ace shot back, staring down at him like a hawk sizing up prey. "Now come on—use that Dark-Dark Fruit. Let me see how this 'suppresses other Devil Fruits' trick really works."
"Show me what you can do with the fruit you killed a comrade for."
"Tch… so you do know," Teach clicked his tongue, scowling. "Not surprising."
"It's obvious," Ace said flatly, like Teach was slow. "Arton talked about you during Morgans' interview. I was there—I heard it. So yeah, I know exactly what the Dark-Dark Fruit does."