As everyone knows, information tends to become distorted as it passes from person to person.
What one person describes inevitably gets mixed with the next person's own assumptions and interpretations.
Rockstar, the newest member of the Red-Haired Pirates, knew nothing about the crew's past on Elegia.
He only knew that Uta held a special place in their hearts.
From Gordon, he learned that a man named Cain had recently come to the island and had grown very close to Uta, with a certain intimacy in the way they interacted.
As for Cain, Rockstar had only ever glanced at him once on a wanted poster and assumed he was just an ordinary pirate in the Straw Hat crew.
After all, the Red-Haired Pirates had always kept their attention fixed on Luffy.
Cain's name was rarely brought up, and no one had ever told Rockstar that the Red-Haired Pirates actually knew Cain.
So by the time the news reached Shanks, it had already changed in flavor:
The "cabbage" he had raised so carefully—Uta—was about to be "snatched away" by Cain of the Straw Hat Pirates?
Because Shanks had not explained much to Rockstar at the time, the seeds of a misunderstanding had been planted.
By the time Rockstar figured out the truth and wanted to clarify things, Shanks had already departed.
Now, listening to Cain's aggrieved complaints, Shanks's thoughts only twisted further in the wrong direction.
—The thought that the two of them had already been sleeping together, and that Uta had been tormenting Cain to the point he could not sleep at night—
At that, Shanks's pride as a father shattered completely!
The anger in his heart surged higher and higher, burning more fiercely by the second.
That was exactly why he kept grabbing hold of Cain and pressing him with question after question.
Cain, meanwhile, was utterly baffled.
He could not make heads or tails of it.
'What in the world was wrong with this guy? Why were his emotions swinging so violently?'
The more Shanks thought about it, the more cheated he felt, and almost instinctively his hand went to the Gryphon at his waist.
Black-red Conqueror's Haki crackled like lightning in his palm.
He looked ready to split the brat in front of him in half on the spot!
"HEY, HEY, HEY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"
Cain panicked at once.
He hurriedly pressed both hands down on the sword that Shanks was about to draw and shoved it back into place.
"Didn't you say you wanted to keep this low-key? Why are you even using Conqueror's Haki now?!"
Only after hearing that did Shanks slowly suppress the surging anger inside him.
He calmed down somewhat and fixed Cain with a stare as he asked:
"Cain, what do you think of Uta?"
'What do I think? And what's with that look on your face—that judging, critical expression? What's your problem dude?'
Cain screamed inwardly, but in the end all he could do was sigh helplessly and answer honestly.
"Uta's a very good girl. But all of you seem to have forgotten that music isn't the only thing she needed to be taught."
"That's exactly what I've been asking you about the whole time—how the lot of you raised her."
Cain continued, "Even if her musical talent is extraordinary, you can't let her devote herself to nothing but that. She still needs to understand basic common sense, doesn't she? Sure, that old man Gordon can take care of her daily life…"
"But there are some things he just can't teach her. And now look—she has absolutely no concept of the boundaries between men and women, or of personal limits. She's practically turning into a second Luffy! The problem is, who exactly am I supposed to get to teach Uta these things?"
At those key few lines, the fog in Shanks's heart instantly cleared.
He relaxed all at once and hurriedly asked, "So at night, you two…"
"HUH? WHAT KIND OF NONSENSE ARE YOU EVEN THINKING?!"
Cain rolled his eyes at him. He instantly understood that Shanks had gotten the completely wrong idea.
No wonder he had been looking at him like a man whose carefully raised daughter had just been stolen away!
"Uta spent ten whole years living on this island with Gordon. Have any of you ever known what the pain of being abandoned has been like for her?"
"I only just managed to find her here, and she was happier to see me than I can even describe—and that's exactly the problem!"
Cain looked utterly exasperated.
"Uta has no sense of boundaries at all in that area. These past few nights she's kept dragging me into sleeping with her. If I hadn't held the line, then by now I probably would've…"
Before he could finish, Cain met a look from Shanks that was practically murderous.
He was so startled that he hurriedly covered his own mouth, lowering his voice a little:
"Anyway, that's the situation. When you get down to it, isn't all of this still your fault?"
"Whew. So that's what it was."
By now, the two of them had already landed on the shore near one of Elegia's side harbors.
Shanks let out a long breath and looked up at the gray sky.
Something complicated flashed through his eyes—relief, guilt, and the solemn weight of being a father.
A long silence stretched between them. The waves crashed against the rocks, throwing up fine sprays of water.
At last, as if he had made up his mind about something, Shanks slowly turned his head and looked straight at Cain with burning eyes.
"Cain, what do you plan to do after this? Keep sailing with Luffy, or… come with me?"
Cain arched a brow.
He lifted his hand and dug at his ear, speaking in a mildly teasing tone.
"What kind of thing is that to say? Poaching from Luffy's crew right in front of him—aren't you worried he'll refuse to give your straw hat back when the time comes?"
Shanks shook his head lightly.
His expression turned serious, and his tone followed suit.
"Now that you're a pirate, with the level of strength you have, staying on Luffy's ship won't actually help him much in any sense. If anything, it'll only limit his growth without either of you noticing."
He paused, then added, "The power you showed just now—it's the same kind Kaido has, isn't it? I don't know how you obtained it, but I'm not interested in that part."
"What I want to do is to train you into something that surpasses Kaido."
Cain froze for a moment, then understood.
Shanks was one of the Four Emperors of the New World, after all.
It was not strange that he could see through it.
So Cain answered firmly, "Now that you've noticed it, even if you didn't said anything, I was going to surpass him sooner or later."
But Shanks did not respond to that.
Instead, he stepped half a pace closer. His voice lowered, losing the majesty of a Yonko and gaining something almost pleading.
"It's more than that. This isn't a proposal from Red-Haired Shanks, one of the Four Emperors. This is a request from Shanks as a father. I'm asking for your agreement. Because only that way…"
He looked straight into Cain's eyes and said, word by word.
"…can I truly entrust Uta to you."
"W-WAIT! HOLD ON! WHAT KIND OF NONSENSE ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!"
Cain's eyes flew wide open.
His face turned bright red in an instant, and he instinctively took half a step back.
Even his voice started to stammer.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, 'ENTRUST HER TO ME'?! …MY RELATIONSHIP WITH UTA… TH-THAT STILL HAS TO DEPEND ON WHETHER UTA HERSELF AGREES, DOESN'T IT?!"
A sly glint flashed in Shanks's eyes, and the corner of his mouth curled upward as he deliberately teased him.
"What, after taking advantage of Uta in every possible way, now you want to deny responsibility?"
"TH-THAT'S NOT EVEN REMOTELY THE SAME THING!"
Cain flailed in a panic.
He wanted to explain himself, but had no idea where to even begin. Even the tips of his ears had gone red.
"HAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Seeing his reaction, Shanks burst into loud laughter. The sea wind whipped his cloak behind him, making him look all the more at ease.
"Sure enough, pirate Cain is a lot more interesting than the old you ever was."
Cain stared blankly for a moment, looking at Shanks who's laughing so freely.
Only then did he realize he had been toyed with!
"So what you said just now was…"
Shanks's laughter gradually subsided.
The smile vanished from his face, and the seriousness returned. His eyes were sincere and steady.
"I meant every word of it."
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