"Arton's the kind of guy who likes enjoying life. With this many people already on his ship, there's no way he'll keep sailing around forever on some little pirate boat. And since he's definitely going to keep recruiting all kinds of new crewmates, that just means he'll need an even bigger ship."
At that point, Kuzan paused, then looked toward Zephyr.
"Teacher Zephyr, that's why I think Arton will head to Water 7. You know as well as I do that, in the first half of the Grand Line, that place has the best shipbuilding technology. If he wants to enjoy his life at sea even more going forward, he'll obviously want the best shipwrights there to build him a new ship."
Hearing Kuzan lay it all out so logically, Zephyr couldn't help nodding again and again.
Then, grinning, he slapped Kuzan hard on the back and said, "Kuzan, you really are a fine student of mine. You're right—Arton is definitely going to Water 7. I'm heading there right now to wait for that brat. Borsalino, learn a thing or two from Kuzan instead of walking around half-dead all day."
"Me?" Borsalino's mouth twitched.
The two of you were having a perfectly good conversation, so how the hell did this suddenly turn into a shot at me?
"Wait, Teacher Zephyr."
Kuzan hurried to his feet and grabbed Zephyr before he could leave. Wiping the sweat from his forehead, he said, "Teacher Zephyr, this is just a guess, so don't get your hopes up too much."
No wonder Kuzan felt the pressure piling up.
Come on—this was only a guess.
And it was a guess Zephyr had practically forced out of him.
If he turned out to be right, great.
But if he turned out to be wrong... Kuzan didn't even want to imagine how disappointed Zephyr would look.
"But your reasoning makes perfect sense, so of course I have to go check it out. Relax—even if your guess is wrong, I won't blame you."
It was obvious Zephyr had seen straight through what Kuzan was thinking.
"Uh..." Kuzan scratched the back of his head, then added, "Even if Arton is going to Water 7, there's no guarantee when he'll get there. Teacher Zephyr, why not stay at Marine Headquarters and wait until more concrete information comes back before heading out?"
After all, with Arton's current strength, Zephyr wouldn't be a match for him anyway.
Of course, that part was something Kuzan definitely wasn't about to say out loud.
He didn't want to hurt Zephyr's feelings.
But Kuzan had clearly underestimated how stubborn Zephyr could be.
Zephyr shook his head and said, "If I stay at Marine Headquarters, I'll just sit around overthinking things. I'd rather use this break to go take a look at Water 7. Even if Arton isn't there, I can at least treat it like a little trip. And if he really does show up, I'm not going to do anything reckless. So don't worry, Kuzan."
"Uh..."
Kuzan rubbed the back of his head again.
With Zephyr putting it that way, he really couldn't find any reason left to stop him.
Zephyr gave Kuzan's shoulder a firm pat, forced down the worry he felt for Ain, and smiled at him.
Then he turned and walked toward the cafeteria exit.
"Teacher Zephyr really is in a hurry. He didn't even get a chance to eat a single bite," Borsalino said with a sigh, shaking his head.
Kuzan let out a long breath.
"I just hope Teacher Zephyr doesn't end up running into trouble in Water 7..."
Chapter 644: Kuzan, You Want Someone to Share the Blame, Don't You?
"Come to think of it, if we're trying to track down Arton and the Flameblade Pirates, shouldn't we ask Gion what she thinks? I've got a feeling she probably knows something about Arton and his crew."
Borsalino turned to Kuzan as he spoke.
"Because she's been tracking Arton the whole time?" Kuzan shoved a piece of meat into his mouth, then continued, "Now that you mention it, isn't Gion a little too focused on Arton? Ever since he showed up on the seas, she's been paying an awful lot of attention to him."
The more Kuzan thought about Gion, the stranger it felt.
Right now, sure—Arton had already made a name for himself. He was a major figure on the seas now, and to the Marines and the World Government, he was a highly dangerous pirate.
Under those circumstances, it was only natural for the Marines to keep a close eye on him.
But when Arton had just set sail, he hadn't shown off much ability yet, and he barely had any reputation to speak of.
And even back then, Gion had already started paying close attention to him.
Naturally, that struck Kuzan as more than a little odd.
"Maybe it's just that so-called female intuition," Borsalino said with a shrug. "Maybe the first time she ran into Arton, she already sensed he'd become a major player. I heard she even tried to recruit him into the Marines. He turned her down because of how much he hates the Celestial Dragons."
"I heard that too. Supposedly the Celestial Dragons attacked him before, which is why he hates them so much."
Kuzan nodded.
"That said, even if Gion has been paying more attention to Arton than most people, that doesn't necessarily mean she has any real intelligence on him."
"I'm only guessing," Borsalino said, spreading his hands. "But Gion's movements may not make much sense on the surface, yet somehow she always ends up closest to wherever Arton appears. Once or twice is one thing. But once it happens enough times, it stops looking like coincidence."
As he spoke, golden light flickered in Borsalino's eyes.
"I see..."
Kuzan nodded and started thinking back over the Gion he knew.
And honestly, after Borsalino pointed it out, he really did notice something a little off.
"When Arton comes up, Gion's had that look on her face more than once—like she wants to say something, but keeps holding it back because there's something she can't talk about."
Kuzan rubbed his chin and muttered thoughtfully.
"Don't tell me Gion's fallen for Arton?" Borsalino asked. "If that's true, Tokikake's going to take it hard."
"You'd better not joke about that, Borsalino."
Kuzan shot him a warning look.
Everyone at Marine Headquarters knew Tokikake had been chasing Gion for ages.
It was hard to imagine how badly he'd take it if rumors started going around that Gion had fallen for a pirate.
"I'm just talking," Borsalino said with a shrug. "But I still think Gion's hiding something."
"She probably has her reasons. When the time is right, maybe she'll tell us. But for now... Borsalino, you were right. We really should have Teacher Zephyr talk to Gion more. Maybe she can at least give him some kind of lead on where Arton might show up."
Kuzan nodded as he said it.
Borsalino looked at him and said, "Sounds to me like you're worried your guess is wrong, so you want somebody to share the blame."
"If I wanted to do that, I would've dragged you into it first."
Kuzan's mouth twitched as he shot back.