"Homies? Those little guys? I didn't know they could eat Devil Fruits too." Uta asked curiously.
The moment Lilith heard Uta's voice from the other end of the call, she instantly remembered the pain of being strung up and whipped during the Summit War.
Her body trembled, and she hurriedly answered,
"Of course they can. My main body already perfected the technology for making inanimate objects consume Devil Fruits, although it's currently limited to Zoans…"
"But if an inanimate object is granted life like a Homie, then eating a Devil Fruit becomes perfectly natural."
"Mm-hmm! Looks like I'll need to go back and collect some of Big Mom's blood."
Cain began calculating in his mind.
The chances of convincing Big Mom to create a Homie for him were far too low, and Cain intended to use a piece of his own soul to make it.
No matter how he looked at it, there was no way he would hand his soul over to Big Mom.
Just then, Lilith's voice came through again.
"Ah, you don't need to worry about that, Cain. If all we need is a sample of Big Mom's Lineage Factor, she's probably already gotten it by now."
Lilith spoke casually, but Cain immediately thought of someone.
Stussy—the clone of Buckingham Stussy.
She was the Queen of the Pleasure District in the Underworld and outwardly served the World Government's Cipher Pol, but in truth, she only followed Vegapunk's orders.
With the same appearance as Buckingham Stussy in her youth and her past connection with Charlotte Linlin, she certainly had the means to obtain Big Mom's Lineage Factor.
Still, Cain did not remember seeing her at the banquet earlier.
Uta listened to their conversation.
Although she did not understand all the details, she had grasped the general idea.
"Cain, are you planning to make a Homie too?"
"Of course. Don't you think they're cute?"
Cain scratched his head, deliberately hiding the fact that he intended to use his own soul.
"If I had a cloud like Zeus, I wouldn't need to spend energy creating flame clouds. Making them isn't exactly tiring, but having a Homie would still save me some effort."
"I see. But if we really make one, we'll have to think carefully about what to name it."
"Then I'll leave the naming to you, Uta."
Cain smiled.
Lilith promptly ended the call.
She had no desire to be inexplicably whipped again because Uta had gotten jealous!
Cain wanted to call back and ask for the Kamabakka Kingdom's contact information so he could reach Sanji through Ivankov, but the line remained busy and he could not get through.
Cain sighed helplessly.
Looking at the clouds continuously sweeping past them, he quickly turned to Uta.
"Uta, where are you planning to hold the first stop of your tour? Oh, right—we should go to Water 7 first and retrieve the Going Merry. Is that okay? We need a ship if we're going to sail the seas. We can't keep flying around on clouds like this forever."
Cain explained his idea.
Luffy and the others had left the Going Merry in Water 7, waiting for Cain and Uta to collect it.
As for the Sunny, Kuma had already been taken away by Sabo and the Revolutionary Army, so there was no need to worry about anyone targeting the ship.
Cain remembered that before they left, Shakky had personally said Rayleigh would make time to watch over the Sunny for Luffy and the others.
It would also give the old man less time to waste gambling.
…
Hearing Cain's suggestion, Uta readily agreed.
She also wanted to visit that city of water and see strange wonders like the Sea Train.
However, there was clearly something more important to do first.
"Cain, do you remember all those things you said last night that we still haven't done together?"
"Uta, you mean…?"
Cain swallowed, instinctively shifting backward.
Uta caught both his hands, leaned closer, and kissed him.
The two embraced and kissed above the clouds, ten thousand meters in the sky.
Cain felt Uta's breathing grow heavier as the emotions between them rapidly intensified.
Here, far above the sea, Shanks was nowhere around and no one could interrupt them.
Cain decided that this time, he would take the initiative.
With that thought, he turned his hands around to grasp Uta's wrists, rolled over, and gently pinned her beneath him with her arms spread to either side.
"Cain… I…"
Uta's face was flushed, and her clothes had become slightly disheveled. She breathed softly, warm air escaping her lips.
She had clearly been the one to make the first move, yet now she had suddenly become the passive one, leaving her too embarrassed to speak properly.
"Uta…"
Cain stopped holding back and leaned down to kiss her again.
Their kiss deepened, and Uta wrapped her legs around his waist.
Cain instinctively placed a hand against her back, slowly letting it drift lower…
At that exact moment, a wave of Conqueror's Haki suddenly surged over from the distance and wrapped around Cain's body.
Cain stiffened instinctively.
Uta did not notice anything unusual and took advantage of the opening to push Cain down beneath her again.
"Wait…"
Cain tried to struggle, but Uta kissed him firmly and pinned his hands down, giving him no chance to speak.
Then, out of the corner of her eye, Uta saw an airship break through the cloud layer and fly up beside them.
It was Morgans' airship.
Morgans was still badly injured, and his subordinates were all inside the airship tending to him.
None of the reporters were looking outside, which made Cain feel incredibly relieved.
That relief did not last long.
Standing aboard the airship with an extremely stern expression was Shanks, staring directly at the embracing couple.
Uta looked toward the airship emerging from the sea of clouds.
The moment she saw Shanks, she froze before screaming.
"AAAAAH! SHANKS, YOU PERVERT! BASTARD! IDIOT! BAKA! GET OUT OF HERE!"
In an instant, a huge number of soldiers from Uta World appeared and charged straight toward Shanks!
…
"Cain, do you have anything to say for yourself?" Shanks asked with several large bumps swelling across his face.
Cain, whose own head was covered in matching bumps, lowered his gaze and replied,
"I have nothing to say. If you're going to hit me or curse me, please get it over with quickly."
"Honestly…"
Shanks sighed.
"I came all the way up here specifically to deliver your sail, and this is what you let me see. It looks like I really will have to double your training, Cain."
Shanks stared at Cain, only for Uta to glare back at him, leaving him momentarily speechless.
When Cain and Uta had left earlier, Shanks discovered that Cain had forgotten to take the custom sail he had prepared for Uta.
He happened to encounter Morgans and his crew leaving Totto Land in their rising airship, so he used the opportunity to catch up and deliver it.
Instead, he walked in on that scene.
"In any case, although I've entrusted Uta to you, that doesn't mean you're free to do whatever you please. Do you understand?"
Shanks stood and turned toward Cain, his expression becoming stern.
Now that the sail had been delivered, he could not remain for long.
He planned to jump back down, since the Red Force was still waiting below.
"Yes! Of course!"
Cain nodded repeatedly.
Just then, Uta wrapped an arm around Cain's shoulders and rested his head against her.
Protectively shielding her boyfriend, she raised her eyes toward her father and declared in a forceful tone that allowed no argument,
"But I'm allowed to do whatever I want to him."
The moment Shanks heard that, his foot slipped and he fell straight out of the sky.
"Will he be okay, Cain?"
Although she had spoken so rudely just now, Uta still looked slightly worried about Shanks.
"He should be fine. He's still an Emperor, after all."
Cain nodded, then shook his head.
At that moment, however, Cain suddenly remembered something.
Or rather, he felt as though he had forgotten something important.
What exactly was it?
"Cain-ya! You left without even telling me! I'm not letting this go!"
At that very moment, Law was piloting his submarine through Totto Land's waters, constantly fleeing and changing direction.
Chasing close behind him was a fleet led by Katakuri…
Along with the mechanical shark specifically designed to hunt submarines!