"Captain Arton, want another round?"
Robin tilted her head up at him and smiled.
"Another round? Come on, everyone's about to get back. No—seriously, can you stop sucking for a second? I'm trying to say something important here."
Arton rubbed his forehead and said it with a helpless look.
With his Observation Haki, he could already sense Uta, Nami, and the others heading back.
The treasure in the City of Gold was abundant, sure, but it wasn't infinite.
Nami and the others had been hauling loot for quite a while now, so they were more or less done.
Only then did Robin rein herself in a little.
She fixed Arton's clothes for him, then moved behind him with a smile and let her body rest against his back.
"I still have to clean you up for them, don't I? It's just a shame I didn't get to make you come. Want me to stop by your room later?"
"We'll talk about that later. We need to go meet Nami and the others."
Arton patted his sore lower back, turned, and headed for the lookout room door.
Seeing that, Robin 's lips curved into a beautiful smile.
She wiped the traces from the corner of her mouth before following after him.
She didn't have much choice. Everyone on Arton's ship had at least a decent amount of practical knowledge when it came to this sort of "battle," so if she wanted to keep Nami, Carina, and the others from noticing anything off about her, she had to tidy herself up a little first.
By the time she jumped down from the ship, Arton was already standing at the rail.
And Nami, Carina, and the others were racing toward the ship with boxes and bags full of treasure in their arms.
"Captain Arton, we seriously hit the jackpot this time!"
With one leap, Nami cleared around ten meters, then crashed straight into Arton's arms along with the treasure she was carrying.
"Captain Arton, we won't have to worry about Berries for a long, long time."
Her face was glowing with joy as she spoke excitedly.
"The way you're saying that makes it sound like you're willing to let me spend all the treasure you found."
Arton raised an eyebrow and looked at her with amused interest.
"Uh... can I at least keep some of it saved up first?"
Nami pressed her lips together and answered.
"Yep, that's the Nami I know. Still, the fact that you're willing to let me use part of it is already pretty nice."
Arton reached out and pinched her cheek.
Then he turned to Uta, Tashigi, and the others and said with a smile, "You all worked hard too."
"It wasn't hard at all." Uta shook her head. "I'm thrilled, if anything. Right, Tashigi?"
Tashigi nodded with a smile.
Now that she had become a pirate and fully switched sides, Tashigi was gradually starting to realize that walking away with a huge mountain of treasure all at once really was an incredible feeling.
Back in the past, she couldn't even imagine how many years she would have had to work to get this much wealth.
Of course, what made her happiest was that none of this treasure was illegally obtained.
In a sense, the treasure of the City of Gold had belonged to Enel.
Now that Enel was gone, it had become ownerless wealth.
So Tashigi felt no moral burden at all about taking it with them.
"Go put the treasure down. Everyone worked hard this time."
"Take a short break, and then we'll get ready to leave Skypiea and continue our voyage."
That was Arton's decision.
Chapter 631: Tashigi Knows Exactly What Uta Is Up To
Once the crew received Arton's order, they immediately started preparing to set sail.
With Conis and Raki—two girls from Skypiea—on board, Arton wasn't worried that Nami and the others would fail to find the right route off the sky island.
After going through several brutal fights in a row, Arton promptly decided to soak in one of Kaya's medicinal baths, then get some proper sleep.
The moment Kaya heard what he wanted, she wholeheartedly prepared the bath for him before heading off to help the others on the ship.
Closing his eyes, Arton enjoyed a rare moment of peace.
Then suddenly, he felt a strange power wrap around him.
Since that power felt very familiar, Arton didn't resist.
And when he opened his eyes again, he found that although he was still sitting in the bath, the surroundings had completely changed.
The closed room had been replaced by Skypiea's clouds.
His bath had been set right in the middle of them.
"You're the one who did this, aren't you, Uta?"
Shaking his head, Arton called out to the empty air.
"Of course you figured it out, Arton."
Uta's figure appeared at once, walking over with a bright smile on her face.
Her hands rested on her hips, and her eyes openly roamed over the bath as if she wanted to see straight through it.
"I know your abilities well enough by now. We've been together how long?" Arton said. "So tell me—what exactly did you pull me into your dream space for?"
"If you already understand me that well, Captain Arton, shouldn't you already know what I want?"
Uta smiled, then casually waved one hand.
The clothes on her body dissolved into golden light and scattered into the wind.
"Arton, I could smell so many of the other girls on you earlier. And I could smell you all over them too."
She floated up until she was level with the rim of the bath, then slowly lowered herself down toward it.
"Seriously, after noticing something like that, how was I supposed to not come looking for you?"
She wrapped both arms around Arton's head and dropped her weight against his chest.
"All right, all right. As expected, I can't hide anything from you, Uta."
"That's because I'm the crewmate who understands you best, Arton."
"So what are you planning to do next?"
"Isn't that obvious? I'm going to have some fun with you."
"Aren't you supposed to be helping Nami and the others?"
"Hehe, let me slack off a little. This kind of thing actually makes it even more exciting."
"I just hope Nami and the others don't complain to you later."
Arton let out a sigh.
He already knew he probably wasn't getting any rest after all.
But there was no helping it. This was Uta—one of the very first companions who had followed him.
The only thing that comforted him was that inside this dream space, he did feel a little more mentally refreshed.
Looking at Arton's expression, Uta knew he had agreed, so she happily lowered herself the rest of the way down onto him.
Meanwhile, outside the dream.
With help from Raki and Conis, Nami, Carina, and the others successfully got the giant octopus to carry the pirate ship down toward the sea below.
That unusual way of flying left Nami, Carina, and the others both fascinated and excited.
"It's a shame Captain Arton went off to rest," Nami sighed. "Otherwise, I'd love to hear what he thinks of a flying method like this."
"Speaking of which, Uta actually fell asleep. Is she really that tired?"
Carina looked curiously at Uta, who was leaning against the wall.
"She's probably having a very nice dream," Robin said.
"That sounds right," Ain agreed with a nod. "Otherwise she wouldn't be smiling that happily in her sleep."
Tashigi opened her mouth, but in the end, said nothing.
Because from what she knew of Uta, there was really only one possible explanation for that expression on her sleeping face.
Uta had already found Arton in her dream.
And as for what she would do after finding him… Tashigi knew that perfectly well.