"All right, then it's settled, little Aisa."
After taking Aisa by the hand, Raki turned to Arton with a bright smile. "Captain Arton, I'm heading back for a bit, but I'll be right back."
Arton nodded with a smile of his own. "All right. Go and come back quickly. I've thought it over, and once Nami and the others get back, I think we should leave Skypiea."
Raki blinked in surprise. "That soon?"
"There's nothing left for us to do here, so it's better to move on to the next stop," Arton said seriously.
He had thought it through. He had just fought Admiral Kuzan down in the Blue Sea below Skypiea, so in a sense, the Marines already knew where he was.
To be safe, it was better to leave sooner rather than later.
"All right, I'm going."
With that, Raki left with Aisa.
Before long, the two of them disappeared from the sight of Arton, Robin, and Ain.
"Since we're leaving soon, I'll go let Nami and the others know."
After making that suggestion, Ain glanced at Robin.
Earlier, Robin had stepped aside so she and Arton could spend some uninterrupted time together. Ain wanted to return the favor and let Robin have some uninterrupted time with Arton too.
Whether Arton opened his diary and recorded anything or not, he would at least deepen his impression of Robin.
And if that happened, then for a while afterward, he would probably favor Robin a little more.
That could mean anything from recording more about Robin in his diary to helping her look for Poneglyphs more proactively.
Ain felt that was exactly what Robin needed.
Robin was far too sharp not to see through Ain's thoughts immediately.
"Then thank you, Ain."
Robin smiled warmly.
"There's no need to thank me, Miss Robin. Besides, before we leave, I'd like to take another good look around Skypiea too. This place really is something special."
Ain nodded, then turned and ran straight for the City of Gold, where Nami and Carina were.
"She really is full of energy. I guess that's what you'd expect from a young girl."
Watching Ain's figure disappear into the distance, Arton sighed in admiration.
"So Captain Arton really does have a soft spot for young, cute girls. I wonder whether you can still bring yourself to like an older woman like me."
Robin slipped both arms around Arton's waist and pressed her whole body against his back.
Arton didn't even need to make an effort to feel it—he could clearly sense the soft, full pressure from behind.
"What are you talking about? A girl like you, Robin , isn't old. I'd call you mature."
Arton said it with total seriousness.
And not just mature—mature in exactly the right way.
For Arton, a woman like Robin was exactly his type.
Otherwise, there was no way he would have gotten so thoroughly charmed by the little tricks she had used on him earlier.
"My, Captain Arton really does know how to talk."
Robin nibbled on his earlobe and whispered into it, "Nami and Carina may be back soon. Before that happens, let me give you a proper massage and finish what we started earlier. What do you think, Captain Arton?"
Hearing that, Arton felt a little helpless.
He had only just managed to get free of Raki and Ain. He had thought he might finally get a little peace and quiet for a while.
Who knew Robin had been waiting right here for her turn.
But before Arton could even refuse, Robin had already started moving.
With just a light use of the Flower-Flower Fruit, the defenses around Arton's body began slipping away on their own—and the faster it went, the less chance he had of stopping it.
Chapter 629: Robin Really Is Something Else
"Ain! Everyone!"
Spotting Nami and the others each carrying a bundle, Ain happily waved and hurried over.
She really was in a great mood right now, considering she'd just gotten what she wanted from Arton not long ago.
"Ain, what are you doing here?" Nami asked with a smile. "Don't tell me Arton sent you over to help us haul treasure. I'm telling you, we seriously hit the jackpot this time."
"Yeah. This really is the City of Gold," Carina added in agreement. "What we got this time should be enough to keep us going for a long, long while."
She might not love treasure quite as much as Nami did, but that was only by comparison. Next to most people, Carina was still a full-blown treasure addict.
"That's not it." Ain shook her head and explained, "Captain Arton sent me to call everyone back. He said it's about time we set sail and leave Skypiea, so he told me to come tell you all to get ready."
That made Nami, Carina, and Uta all blink in surprise.
"That soon?" Nami said. "I thought we'd still have a little more time before that."
"I figured we'd get to rest here for at least a day or two," Uta muttered, puffing out her cheeks.
As a singer, she actually liked Skypiea quite a bit. If she could, she'd even wanted to hold a concert here with Conis.
Uta turned to Conis, wanting to hear what she thought.
"I'm sure Captain Arton has his reasons for deciding this," Conis said. "Since he's made up his mind, we should just follow it."
"Conis, aren't you going to say goodbye to your father?" Nami asked.
"I already went back earlier while everyone was moving the gold," Conis said with a smile. "I told him what happened with Enel and that I'd be going out to sea with Captain Arton. He was surprised, but he understood my decision."
To avoid delaying Arton's departure, she had naturally made sure to get everything taken care of ahead of time.
"Seriously, Conis, you really are something," Nami said with a sigh of admiration.
Then she looked at Ain and said, "All right, we know what's going on, but could you give us just a little longer? There's still some gold left over there, and I want to bring all of it back with us. It'll definitely come in handy later."
Ain nodded at once. "Then I'll help too. My hands are still free."
Now that she was a member of the crew, Ain naturally wanted to fit in more with Nami and the others.
The moment she made up her mind, she followed Nami and Carina to gather the rest of the gold.
Uta, Conis, and the others grabbed the bundles that were already packed and ran for the ship.
Meanwhile, elsewhere.
Up in the ship's lookout tower, Arton was leaning by the window, keeping an eye on things outside.
"Nami and the others are taking forever. It's already this late and they still aren't back."
Kneeling in front of him, Robin smiled and said, "Isn't that a good thing? It just means we can keep enjoying ourselves a little longer. Or is it that Captain Arton can't hold out anymore?"
With that, Robin flashed him a big, teasing smile.
"How could that be? You know how strong I am, Robin."
Arton flexed his bicep with a confident grin.
"Captain Arton really is strong. Sometimes you're so much that I can hardly swallow it all," Robin said with a light laugh, licking at the corner of her mouth.
"That's not that exaggerated, is it?" Arton shot back. "You seem to be handling it just fine. Sometimes I really have to wonder where you even learned all this stuff."
"I just read a lot of books, that's all. That's why I know how," Robin replied.
"So just from reading books, you got this good? You really are insanely gifted, Robin."
Arton couldn't help marveling again.
The last woman he'd seen who was this good had been Uta.
He hadn't expected to run into another one like Robin so soon.
He couldn't help wondering if, later on, he'd meet even more women as talented as Uta and Robin.