Two days later, inside a passenger carriage on the Sea Train departing Water 7.
"Everyone, how have you been? It's Uta!"
Sitting beside the window with her legs swinging happily, Uta waved enthusiastically at the Visual Den Den Mushi in front of her.
"I'm really sorry I haven't contacted you for so long and made everyone worry!"
She turned the Den Den Mushi toward the window, showing the sea and tracks racing past outside, her voice brimming with excitement.
"Look, everyone! I'm riding a train that can travel across the ocean! Isn't that amazing?"
"Uta is in Water 7 right now. I'm sure everyone has already received the news and is on the way here, right?"
She turned the camera back toward herself, placed a finger against her chin, and sighed.
"This will be Uta's first time singing live in front of everyone. Now that I think about it, I'm actually a little nervous!"
"I'm sure the announcement must have felt really sudden. After all, we only just revealed it, and this is also my first time preparing a live concert. There are still plenty of things I haven't handled properly, and I'm not very experienced yet, so please forgive me!"
"And anyone who can't make it because the notice was too short doesn't need to worry. Uta is going on a world tour, which means there will be many, many more live concerts like this afterward. So look forward to them!"
As soon as she finished, she suddenly turned toward the opposite seat and pointed the Visual Den Den Mushi at the man sitting there.
"Oh, right! Mayor Iceburg, you should say a few words too."
"Huh? Me too?"
Iceburg froze at being called on so suddenly.
He instinctively raised a hand to cover his face, then slowly lowered it after a couple of seconds.
Clearing his throat, he faced the camera with a serious expression.
"Ahem… I am Iceburg, mayor of Water 7. Regarding Miss Uta's upcoming world tour, Water 7 will provide full…"
…
The broadcast inside the carriage remained warm and cheerful.
Several hundred meters behind the train, however, the scene over the sea was entirely different.
Cain raced across the water using Geppo, dodging through one explosion after another.
Not only did he have to avoid the attacks coming straight at him, but he also had to watch every explosive bullet carefully, making sure none of them struck the railway ahead.
After enduring the edge of another blast, Cain instantly leaped several hundred meters away from the tracks.
He turned toward Yasopp, who was standing on the railway sleepers in the distance and firing his sniper rifle at him like a madman, and shouted with utter despair.
"HEY! TWO DAYS AGO, YOUR BULLETS ONLY CAUSED SMALL EXPLOSIONS! HOW DID THEY ALREADY GET UPGRADED INTO WARSHIP-GRADE BOMBS?! AND WHAT KIND OF SNIPER USES A RIFLE LIKE A DAMN GATLING GUN?! ARE YOU SERIOUS?!"
Yasopp calmly rested the rifle across his shoulder and raised an eyebrow.
"Huh? Do you even understand what you're saying, brat?"
"Uta grew up right in front of us! I spent more time with her than I ever did with my own idiot son."
"Letting you peacefully spend two whole days with her was already incredibly generous of me, and you're still asking for more? Don't forget why I came here!"
He raised his rifle again, instantly locking the barrel onto Cain.
A roguish grin spread across his face.
"Did you really think I've been doing nothing these past two days? I've already figured out that trick you use to disrupt other people's Observation Haki. The effect is pretty good."
"But your range is pathetic! What use is an effective radius of only a few meters? At the very least, expand it until it covers an entire island!"
Rat-a-tat-a-tat-a-tat!
Before he had even finished speaking, Yasopp's sniper rifle erupted with a dense barrage of gunfire.
Haki-coated bullets poured out like a torrential storm, each carrying enough explosive force to destroy a large sailing ship as they swept toward Cain.
This time, the shots were no longer indiscriminate.
Every bullet accurately predicted the direction Cain would dodge, completely sealing off every possible escape route.
Staring at the sea of flames filling his vision, Cain could only brace himself and withstand the attacks with his body.
"HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE?!"
He shouted at the top of his lungs.
"IT'S MEANT TO DISRUPT OBSERVATION HAKI, NOT SENSE THINGS! ITS RANGE IS NATURALLY ONLY A FEW METERS! SPREADING IT ACROSS AN ENTIRE ISLAND IS IMPOSSIBLE!"
Hearing that, Yasopp's assault became even more ferocious.
"Idiot! How do you know it's impossible when you haven't even tried?!"
"Observation Haki doesn't have fixed advanced training methods like Armament or Conqueror's Haki. Different powerful users develop all kinds of bizarre applications for it! You don't get to give up just because you decided it 'can't be done'!"
"Train! If it won't kill you, then train until you wish it would!"
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
…
Thirty minutes later, Uta and Iceburg had safely reached their destination.
Cain soon arrived at the shore using Geppo, streaking down like a meteor with smoke and dust still rising from his clothes.
Uta looked at him worriedly, then glanced behind him.
A hundred meters away, Yasopp stood on the tracks and slowly lowered his sniper rifle.
Now that they had entered the island, he had stopped firing.
Only seconds after putting away his weapon, he reached the shore, nodded to the two of them, then turned and disappeared into the shadows of the city streets.
"Cain! Are you hurt?"
"I'm fine. My body's ridiculously tough!"
Cain dusted off his clothes and smiled.
"So this is San Faldo, the Carnival City?"
"Yes." Iceburg nodded beside them. "As a city famous for its carnivals, this is an excellent place to purchase professional musical equipment."
"And since Miss Uta's concert is about to begin, the city has recently produced enormous amounts of fan clothing and merchandise. It's become extremely lively."
"You two should wear masks later and keep your faces covered."
"Your ship is also being stored here."
"Huh? I thought it would be at the shipyard in Water 7," Cain asked in confusion.
For the past two nights, he and Uta had stayed at a hotel in separate rooms.
Had Yasopp not constantly watched Cain from the shadows and fired Haki-enhanced rubber bullets at him in the middle of the night, Cain would have booked a room with one large bed ages ago.
Hearing his question, Iceburg explained helplessly,
"It was originally at the shipyard. But after Luffy's and your bounties increased so dramatically, several factions began targeting the ship."
"For safety, we moved the Going Merry into a secret warehouse here."
"I see…"
Cain nodded quietly.
He remembered that the Thousand Sunny had also attracted attention from several factions in the original story.
Iceburg had certainly thought things through carefully.
Iceburg led the two of them onto the street and toward the warehouse.
Cain and Uta both put on masks and sunglasses, hunching slightly to avoid being recognized by passersby.
They had only taken a few steps when both suddenly stopped.
"Here you go. Everything you asked for. I didn't expect a young man like you to be an Uta fan too."
A roadside vendor smiled and handed a package to a man wearing sunglasses and a mask.
"Ah, well… I listen to music occasionally when I'm taking a break from work."
The man wore sunglasses, yet still had a sleeping eye mask resting on his forehead. On his head was a pair of headphones matching Uta's own design.
Each accessory was unremarkable on its own, yet somehow looked incredibly conspicuous when worn by him.
Cain and Uta recognized him almost instantly.
Marine Admiral Aokiji.
At that moment, Aokiji also turned his head and looked at them.
Even through their sunglasses and masks, he recognized the pair at a glance.
The merchandise package he had just received slipped from his hand and fell to the ground with a soft thud.
Aokiji froze for a moment, then slowly raised one hand, his voice carrying unmistakable awkwardness.
"Yo… long time no see."