"Looks like Luffy's made another new companion."
Cain set Uta down, then quickly smiled and introduced her.
"Oh, right—let me introduce her. This is Uta. She'll be traveling with us for a while."
"Hello, everyone. I'm Uta."
Uta raised a hand politely and greeted them.
"O-of course that's fine!"
The moment he heard a beautiful woman was joining them, Sanji immediately nodded with a lovestruck look on his face.
Zoro looked disgusted and moved farther away from him.
Nami, meanwhile, said, "We'd definitely raise both hands in approval, but shouldn't this kind of thing be decided by Luffy?"
"That guy would agree a hundred times over."
Cain replied with a grin, then suddenly looked puzzled.
"By the way, where did that idiot run off to?"
"He was yelling about being hungry. The moment the ship docked, he rushed off to look for food."
Zoro picked up the thread.
"Looks like our cook isn't very competent either, huh? Setting sail without enough ingredients prepared?"
Cain teased Sanji.
"Hey, hey! That's only because that guy ate everything!" Sanji shot back at once. "With someone like him around, no amount of supplies would ever be enough, right?!"
Cain nodded, then suddenly caught sight of little Chopper in the corner.
His eyes lit up at once.
"Sanji, at least put some effort into your lies—there's still a backup ingredient right here. Hm? And there's even a duck next to him."
Chopper jumped in fright and immediately hid behind Zoro. Karoo also hurriedly shrank closer to Vivi.
"Wait! Cain, Chopper is not food!"
Nami quickly stepped forward to stop him.
"He's our companion, and the ship's doctor! Oh, right, I haven't properly introduced him yet. This is Chopper…"
Peeking out timidly from behind Zoro, Chopper stammered.
"H-hello."
"And this is Vivi, princess of the Kingdom of Alabasta. She's also our companion."
Nami kept introducing people, then paused.
"Uh… you two should've met before, right? The one behind her is her pet duck, Karoo."
Cain nodded in greeting, but Vivi shook her head lightly.
Back inside Laboon, Cain's overwhelming Conqueror's Haki had knocked her unconscious, so she had no memory of him at all.
"Hello. I'm Cain."
Cain inclined his head toward Vivi, then crouched down in front of Chopper, softening his tone.
"Sorry, Chopper. I scared you just now, don't worry—as long as nothing unusual happens, I won't eat you."
"R-really?"
Chopper timidly stuck his head out.
"Of course—as long as nothing unusual happens!"
Cain suddenly bared his sharp teeth and grinned viciously.
Chopper instantly caught the meaning behind that line, shrieked, and ran all over the deck in panic.
Uta reached out, scooped him up lightly and greeted him with a smile.
"Hello there."
"Uh… hello."
Chopper answered blankly.
"Stop scaring Chopper already!" Nami quickly protested.
"Sorry, sorry."
Cain stood up while smiling.
"He's just too funny. I couldn't resist it!"
"Oh, right, Cain—what was that whole thing just now?" Nami changed the subject. "You ran all the way here from Nanohana, and people were chasing you."
"Uh…"
Cain scratched his head awkwardly.
The truth was that as soon as he neared the coast, he had already spotted the Going Merry from far away.
He had wanted to make an emergency landing with Uta, but was afraid that moving too abruptly would hurt her, so he first settled her on a flame cloud and went ahead to regroup by himself.
Unexpectedly, when he dropped down from the sky, he crashed into someone's house.
After paying compensation, he hurriedly grabbed his luggage and ran—only to accidentally take the owner's money pouch instead.
Cain had thought the owner was still chasing after him to hold him responsible even after being paid.
He ran all the way to the shore before realizing he had picked up the wrong pouch.
After a round of explanations, the misunderstanding was cleared up.
Meanwhile, Uta had slowly descended on her flame cloud and landed atop the Going Merry.
"Phew. That's basically what happened! I caused trouble by accident, hahahahaha."
Cain scratched his head and laughed.
"Your talent for causing trouble is practically on the same level as Luffy's."
Sanji, who had already moved closer to Uta to introduce her to the other crew members, could only comment helplessly when he heard that.
Just then, Usopp suddenly pointed into the distance and shouted, "It's Mr. 3's ship! That bastard didn't die after all!"
"It has to be him. That ship's powered by the Wax-Wax Fruit." Vivi said firmly.
Looking at the ship with the huge number 3 painted boldly on its side, Cain could not help but want to complain— It was so conspicuous that there was no way not to recognize it!
"So he chased us all the way here."
Sanji's face darkened.
"This is bad. He's already seen what we look like."
Zoro frowned.
Cain and Uta both looked confused, so Nami immediately pulled out a marker and drew an X on each of their left forearms, then handed them two strips of cloth.
"This is our identification mark. The enemy can disguise himself as our companions, and he's already memorized everyone's faces, so we have to use this mark to confirm identities. If we get separated, or if an enemy sneaks in, make sure you check the mark first."
"I see."
Cain looked with interest at the mark on the back of his hand, then naturally tied the cloth around Uta's arm when she held it out.
"Everyone's already been recognized, so how are we supposed to get into the city now?" Vivi asked anxiously.
Usopp's eyes rolled, and suddenly he got an idea.
…
Meanwhile, in the city—
"Food! Food! Where's the restaurant?!"
Luffy was running wildly around while looking in every direction.
The moment he spotted a restaurant sign in the distance, he immediately stretched out his arm.
"Gum-Gum—Rocket!"
As his arm snapped back, Luffy shot forward like a cannonball and smashed straight through the restaurant door, apparently colliding with something inside, because a huge hole appeared in the center of the building!
"Finally found a restaurant! I'm starving!"
Luffy completely ignored the stunned customers all around him and shouted at the owner:
"Mister, I want food! Food, food!"
"Ah… but you…"
The owner looked at the giant hole smashed through the wall, hesitated for a moment, then hurried off to prepare food anyway.
"You'd better run, though…"
"Wow—this is so good!"
Luffy stuffed food into his mouth as fast as he could, completely ignoring the huge hole beside him.
Or perhaps he did not even noticed it.
"Y-you bastard! Where did this little brat come from?!"
Not far away, amid the collapsed wall and rubble, a figure struggled to his feet.
It was a half-naked man.
He casually straightened his crooked hat, clearly the person Luffy had slammed into just now, creating that giant hole in the wall.
And behind him, equally battered from the collision, was Smoker, who had chased the Straw Hats all the way to Alabasta.
At first, the man's face had lit up with delight the moment he saw Luffy.
But just as he was about to call out, Smoker slammed his head into the ground and roared toward Luffy inside the restaurant.
"MUGIWARAAAAAA!!!"
Luffy, focused entirely on stuffing his face, did not respond at all.
"STOP EATING YOU BASTARD!" Smoker shouted as he charged inside.
Back in Loguetown, Cain had intercepted Smoker halfway and saved Luffy, so Luffy did not actually know him.
But Cain had mentioned him earlier while explaining Haki and Logia-type abilities.
Seeing the white hair, cigars, and Marine uniform, Luffy immediately recognized him as the Logia user he could not beat at his current level.
Luffy might be reckless, but he was not stupid.
When he ran into a Marine he could not defeat, of course he had to flee!
He immediately swept all the food on the table into his mouth, puffing up his cheeks, then turned and bolted.
Smoker chased right after him.
Meanwhile, the man who had been slammed into the ground slowly lifted his head and shouted after Luffy's back.
"OI LUFFY! IT'S ME!"
That man was the very person Cain had been searching for—
Portgas D. Ace.
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