"Gramps... do I look like that kind of person?"
Cain reached out and pushed Garp's big face a little farther away.
He could clearly feel the hand clutching at the hem of his clothes behind him—Uta was gripping him tighter and tighter.
"Hey, hey, this old man's just worried you might stray down the wrong path!"
Garp stroked his chin, staring straight at Uta behind Cain.
The more he looked, the more familiar she seemed.
"And besides, this little girl… I feel like I've seen her somewhere before…"
"Of course you have!" Cain quickly smoothed things over.
While gently patting Uta's back to calm her, he leaned close to her ear and whispered, "My grandpa just looks scary. He's actually even less reliable than Luffy, so don't be afraid."
Then he turned back and raised his voice.
"Uta's a very famous singer now, so it's not strange if you've seen her in the newspapers!"
"No, no, I don't think that's it." Garp shook his head and desperately searched his memory.
"Grandpa, you must be remembering wrong! Definitely remembering wrong!"
Cain's heart skipped a beat, and he hurriedly cut him off.
How could Garp possibly have seen Uta?
Every time the old man came back to Foosha Village when they were little, Shanks would take them far away and hide.
They'd always missed each other by a hair—there was no way Garp could have discovered her!
"OH! I REMEMBER NOW!" Garp suddenly slapped his thigh and shouted.
"That brat Luffy showed me your sketchbook before! This girl was in one of the drawings! It was some group picture of the Red-Haired Pirates. Back then he was yelling something like… right, he said she was Shanks's daughter, didn't he?!"
"Pff—"
Cain nearly sprayed out the milk he was drinking.
His face flushed red in an instant, and he cursed Luffy eight hundred times in his heart!
That little bastard usually couldn't even be bothered to open a book, so why had he flipped through the sketchbook of all things? And even pointed it out to Garp!
The next time they met, Cain swore he was going to beat that brat's ass flat.
He immediately stepped sideways to shield Uta and stared at Garp warily.
"OLD MAN, DON'T GET ANY IDEAS ABOUT UTA! SHE'S JUST AN ORDINARY SINGER. SHE HAS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH PIRATES!"
"Ah, right, I almost forgot about that." Garp scratched the back of his head and laughed.
But in the very next second, his expression changed sharply, and his iron fist came whistling through the air.
"But even if she's not a pirate, you definitely are! So shouldn't this old man give you a proper 'execution'?"
Bang!
The punch landed squarely in Cain's face, sending him flying into the clouds like a kite with its string cut.
"Hey! Grandpa, you're serious?!"
Bang!
Another punch followed, smashing him even farther away and punching a hole straight through the clouds.
"Old man! Go a little easier on me!"
Bang! A third punch came right after it, shrieking through the air.
"STOP, STOP! I STILL HAVE TO KEEP THE FLAME CLOUDS UNDER CONTROL!"
Cain yelped while trying to steady the flame clouds in the distance, splitting his focus to keep both Uta and Vice Admiral Tsuru safe as he barely managed to control his direction and slowly descend toward the warship.
"You really think—" Garp chased after him through the air with Geppo, throwing punch after punch, "—that this old man—"
His fist slammed hard into Cain's back.
"—came here just to beat you up?"
His punches looked ferocious, but not a single one carried full strength.
They could not even break Cain's defenses.
He was just using the force, one blow after another, to keep sending Cain flying in the same direction.
Uta stared in shock.
She had no idea why the two of them had suddenly started fighting, and immediately looked toward Tsuru beside her.
Even though she knew Cain was familiar with this vice admiral, she still could not help but remain on guard.
"What are they…"
Tsuru sighed helplessly.
From the exchange between grandfather and grandson just now, and from the way Cain was deliberately covering things up, she had already seen through the act.
She said nothing.
She simply ordered the marines to steady the warship, her gaze fixed on the figures brawling overhead as the ship slowly followed the direction Cain was being punched toward.
"YOU—"
Cain took a solid punch to the face, cutting his sentence off midway.
His teeth nearly bit his tongue.
"—ARE WAY TOO—"
Before he could catch his breath, another fist smashed into his stomach.
He doubled over with a muffled groan and flew even farther.
"—HARSH!"
The final punch landed precisely on his backside, sending him tumbling through the air like a kicked ball before he finally managed to steady himself.
Cain was being knocked all over the place by one punch after another, but by now he had fully understood Garp's intention—this was all an act, something to show the people on the warship.
So whenever Garp's Geppo was about to run out of footholds, Cain would quietly form a small patch of flame cloud under his feet for him to step on, silently cooperating with the "beating."
Even so, being chased around and hit one-sidedly was still infuriating.
Cain had just been thinking of pulling out his weapon to at least block a little when he realized that Garp had already snatched it away and was casually toying with it in one hand.
"Nice weapon."
Garp weighed it in his hand, then suddenly narrowed his eyes.
In the next instant, he swung it with full force straight at Cain's head.
Bang—!
This time, Cain was sent flying so far he turned into a tiny point of light and vanished over the horizon.
Only after confirming that Cain was now far enough away from the warship did Garp turn around and drop back onto the deck.
Then he shouted to the marines below, "KAIDO RAN OFF THAT WAY! FULL SPEED AHEAD! CONTINUE THE PURSUIT!"
Tsuru and Uta looked at his dead-serious expression with speechless faces, but they still cooperated with his orders and continued sailing in the direction where Cain had "disappeared."
Tsuru cast a grave look at Garp, who was forcing a hearty laugh, then at Uta, whose face was full of anxiety as she kept glancing up at the sky.
By now, she understood everything.
From all the clues so far, Cain had not only already been in contact with Garp, but had clearly learned about Ace as well.
And now, Garp had accidentally exposed Uta as Red-Haired Shanks's daughter.
On top of that, there had been Katakuri's earlier contact with Cain, as well as his copied Kaido-like Azure Dragon Devil Fruit ability…
All of those links together were making the situation far more complicated.
Originally, the plan had only been to execute Ace. But now, things clearly would not be that simple.
This affair was very likely to drag in all Four Emperors and even throw the whole sea into turmoil!
Sengoku had sent her along with Garp precisely to keep watch on him.
But what Garp and Cain had just staged was, on the surface, nothing more than a "driving Kaido away" performance.
Even though she strongly suspected that Cain and Garp had long been in contact, she still lacked proof.
Without that, there was no way to convict Garp of anything.
Even if Sakazuki really showed up later, all Garp had to do was say, "I just happened to run into him," and he could brush the whole thing off.
What was more, even if she knew that "Kaido" was really Cain in disguise, that matter itself was top secret.
Sengoku would never make it public, nor could he openly hold Garp accountable for it.
Cain and Garp had clearly seized on that weakness of Sengoku's—that was why they were being so brazen.
'Sengoku, this move of yours was far too risky. At a moment like this, this grandfather and grandson pair are far more complicated than you imagine,' Tsuru thought heavily to herself.
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