Only after hearing Beckman's warning did Uta and Hongo finally switch off the megaphone.
Unfortunately, the damage had already been done.
Up in the sky, Cain's concentration had been completely shattered by what they said.
"E-everyone knows now!"
His face burned red as he covered his butt with one hand and continued fighting Shanks.
That overwhelming humiliation created a brief opening, and Shanks seized it instantly.
Conqueror's Haki wrapped around Gryphon as black-and-red lightning erupted from the blade, releasing a tremendous pressure.
A gigantic gryphon formed from condensed Conqueror's Haki appeared behind Shanks.
As he swung his sword, it transformed into a devastating slash filled with absolute dominance.
"Sorry about this, Cain!"
"DIVINE DEPARTURE!"
'What the hell? What the hell? What the hell?!'
'He's using Divine Departure, and what's with that giant gryphon? Is this bastard actually Shanks after all?'
'Forget it. No time to think!'
"EIGHTY GODS VACUUM STRIKE!"
Shanks' slash came straight for him, and Cain showed no intention of dodging. He swung his weapon and met it head-on.
In terms of raw strength, Cain was currently Shanks' equal.
As a technique, Eighty Gods Vacuum Strike even held an advantage over Divine Departure.
However, the quality of Cain's Conqueror's Haki still fell far short of Shanks'.
The two attacks collided with a thunderous explosion.
A violent shock wave swept across the sky, powerful enough that Uta and the others could feel it even from far below.
Cain was blasted backward, coughing blood as he crashed into a distant mountain.
The same mountain Garp had once shattered with a punch was struck again, and Cain's impact collapsed what remained of it into a massive basin.
(This version of Divine Departure was even stronger than the one Shanks used against Kid. Kid merely broke through a ship's mast before stopping, while Cain was sent hard enough to collapse an entire mountain.)
"I didn't think the gap would still be this large!"
Cain climbed back to his feet and quickly checked his body.
Thankfully, there were no new scars.
Just as that thought crossed his mind, he jerked his head aside.
Gryphon's blade stopped directly beside his neck.
Seeing Shanks preparing to swing again, Cain hurriedly shouted,
"Wait! Shanks, you really are Shanks, right?!"
"Of course I'm Shanks."
Shanks stood before him with Gryphon still pressed against his neck.
"But what about you? Who exactly are you right now?"
"Tell me the truth, or I'll never allow Uta to marry someone like you!"
Bella was still clinging to Shanks' head and biting him repeatedly. Her tiny teeth scraped furiously through his red hair as she shouted,
"You're not Grandpa! Let Papa go! Let go of my papa!"
Shanks paused slightly beneath her attacks.
He did not reach up to remove her, merely glancing at the little cloud latched onto his head.
Bitter cold spread from Bella and wrapped around his scalp, only to be dispersed the instant it approached by the Conqueror's Haki leaking from his body.
He was mildly surprised that Bella could withstand the pressure of his Haki at all, but he did not allow himself to become distracted.
His gaze quickly returned to Cain.
The sight was so ridiculous that Cain had to struggle not to laugh.
However, the moment Shanks mentioned his relationship with Uta, Cain finally realized that he had made an enormous mistake.
He quickly forced his voice to remain serious.
"I'm obviously Cain. Why would I need to prove that?"
"And what does any of this have to do with Uta?"
"This is all your fault! Who told you to suddenly show up wearing clothes like that? I thought you were…"
Before Cain could finish, Shanks noticed that his speech was now perfectly coherent, without any sign of outside control.
Even so, he did not lower his sword.
Instead, he asked cautiously in a low voice, "You've met him?"
"I mean the man who looks exactly like me."
"Shamrock. Your twin brother, right?"
Cain immediately continued,
"Uta and I were involved in something related to him before. Old Man Rayleigh told us about him."
"When I saw you wearing the same kind of clothes as those people we encountered, I instinctively mistook you for him!"
Shanks' grip on Gryphon loosened slightly.
The blade resting against Cain's neck lifted a little, while most of the tension in his posture finally faded.
At last, he understood how this pointless conflict had begun.
"So that's what happened."
"It seems I was too sensitive."
Before Shanks could finish, however, he completely forgot that Bella was still attached to his head.
The Conqueror's Haki that had been dispersing her cold vanished along with his hostility.
With nothing left to suppress it, freezing air instantly engulfed his entire body and transformed him into a solid block of ice.
Cain looked at the frozen Shanks and knocked lightly against the ice.
"So what exactly did you think happened to me?"
"And why did I need to prove that I was myself?"
"More importantly, judging from that expression earlier, you were clearly planning to beat me to death!"
The ice shattered the next second.
Shanks broke free and gently lifted Bella from his head.
He did not dwell on the fight and instead calmly compared everything he knew with Cain's account.
After a long conversation, the two finally untangled every misunderstanding.
Cain was left with only one repeated thought.
'What a complete fucking disaster.'
He should never have stubbornly refused to explain what happened that night.
All he had accomplished was creating a completely unnecessary calamity for himself.
No—he still had to keep that secret at all costs.
If Shanks learned the truth, Cain would face far worse than one sword strike and a shattered mountain.
After considerable persuasion, Cain finally convinced Shanks to temporarily abandon the investigation into the supposed attacker from that night.
After all, no such attacker existed.
It would be terrible if Cain received another beating because of an imaginary enemy.
Shanks said nothing.
He simply watched as members of the Red Hair Pirates gradually arrived, then unconsciously touched his missing arm and looked up toward the sky.
…
Meanwhile, in Dressrosa, Doflamingo was rubbing the aching scar where his arm had once been torn off.
Cain had ripped it away with brute force.
Fortunately, the String-String Fruit had allowed Doflamingo to stitch it back on, sparing him from permanent disability.
At the moment, he was angrily demanding answers from Caesar.
What had happened to the raw materials for SMILE production?
Why had the shipment been delayed yet again?
On Punk Hazard, Caesar was drowning in frustration with nowhere to vent it.
At the beginning, he had been captured by that pink-haired brat Cain and Garp working together.
Caesar had never forgotten the humiliation and remained determined to take revenge someday.
Once he escaped, his first thought had been to contact Doflamingo—the Joker—and have him teach that pink-haired brat a lesson.
Unfortunately, he could not reach Doflamingo at the time.
All he heard was that the man had suffered serious injuries.
With no other option, Caesar temporarily set aside his revenge and focused on restarting the Punk Hazard factory.
The facility had been damaged too severely, so he demanded a massive amount of funding from Doflamingo's subordinates to rebuild it.
Only a few months later, however, news spread from Dressrosa that Doflamingo had been captured.
That terrified Caesar.
The factory's reconstruction could only be suspended again.
Later, while watching the broadcast of the Summit War, Caesar saw Doflamingo appear on the battlefield alive, healthy, and completely intact.
He also saw the pink-haired brat Cain once again.
Cain's abilities immediately aroused Caesar's intense curiosity.
He became determined to capture the brat and dissect every secret he possessed.
After all, Cain's power was connected to Vegapunk.
Caesar might speak of Vegapunk with contempt, but privately, he remained deeply interested in any technology associated with him.
After the Summit War, however, Doflamingo was repeatedly investigated by the Marines.
To avoid becoming involved, Caesar was constantly transported from one location to another by members of the Donquixote Family.
Naturally, the factory's reconstruction was delayed yet again.
Once the investigations finally ended, Caesar managed to contact Doflamingo.
But whenever Cain's name came up, Doflamingo immediately developed a headache and refused to discuss him.
Instead, he repeatedly ordered Caesar to hurry and produce the raw materials needed for SMILEs so they could satisfy Kaido.
When the factory was finally completed, Caesar realized that Joker would offer him no help in getting revenge.
So he placed his hopes on the Four Emperors behind him.
After all, Caesar was supported by both Kaido of the Beasts and Big Mom.
So what if rumors claimed Cain was Big Mom's son?
Kaido would still protect him!
Then, only a few days later, news broke that Cain had joined three different Emperor crews in succession.
From that moment onward, Caesar no longer possessed even the slightest courage to tell anyone that he wanted revenge against Cain.
All he could do was sink into despair and accept that vengeance had become completely hopeless.
Even Cain's former identity as a Marine seemed worthless to him.
Revealing it would hardly help Caesar obtain revenge, so he buried the information deep within himself and refused to tell anyone.
That suited his arrogant personality perfectly.
Being humiliated by some brat and then proving unable to take revenge was far too shameful.
It sounded much more impressive to claim that the Marine Hero Garp had captured him alone.
Thus, the truth about Cain's real identity never leaked through Caesar.
(Of course, Sengoku was constantly monitoring Caesar, since he was one of the rare individuals who knew Cain had once been a Marine. Sengoku was fully aware that Caesar currently occupied Punk Hazard. And so…)
The decisive battle between Aokiji and Akainu began on Punk Hazard.
Under normal circumstances, the aftermath of their duel would never have reached Caesar's factory.
Unfortunately, Caesar could never have predicted that Cain would grow bored and fly directly into the area, only to be chased around by both Aokiji and Akainu.
During the chaos, the factory Caesar had only just finished rebuilding was destroyed all over again.
By now, Caesar had become completely helpless whenever Cain was involved.
What he did not know was that, because of Cain, his current conversation with Doflamingo was being transmitted through an extremely tiny Den Den Mushi directly into Sengoku's hands.