Under everyone's expectant stares, Sabo eventually gave in and agreed.
Before long, they had changed into their gear and set the operation in motion.
Around one corner, Makino was pushing a cart loaded with drinks toward the area reserved for the Red Hair Pirates.
Behind the corner—
Four heads popped out in a neat vertical line.
From top to bottom were Uta, Cain, Sabo, and Koala.
"Confirmed. She's delivering drinks. Nothing suspicious yet."
Koala analyzed the situation using the professional language of someone experienced in surveillance and intelligence work.
Cain nodded thoughtfully.
Uta held a pair of binoculars and carefully studied Makino's expression and body language, trying to guess what she might be thinking.
Only Sabo looked increasingly uncomfortable.
"I hate to interrupt whatever this is, but can someone explain why we're dressed like this?"
He looked down at the black ninja outfit covering his body.
"Anyone who sees us will know immediately that we're suspicious. So what exactly is the point of this disguise?"
The others were dressed exactly the same.
"Well, we're following someone," Cain said with a grin. "We need the right atmosphere."
"And the people we're dealing with belong to an Emperor's crew. If we don't disguise ourselves somehow, we'll get spotted too easily."
"As for the real reason…"
Cain shrugged.
"Because it's fun."
"Ever since everyone went out to sea, it's always one conflict after another, one battle after another. We hardly ever get to do something peaceful and stupid like this anymore."
Uta, whose head was currently at the top of their little stack, nodded enthusiastically.
"Exactly! If all we ever do is run around working and fighting while forgetting how much fun we used to have, we're going to exhaust ourselves."
"You two finally got some vacation time, so enjoy it properly."
What Cain and Uta said applied to all of them.
Koala was constantly busy with the Revolutionary Army.
So was Sabo.
Cain and Uta were equally occupied chasing their own goals.
None of them had much time anymore to simply enjoy ordinary life and fool around.
As they grew older, opportunities like this had become rarer and rarer.
Cain and Uta had no intention of wasting a chance to relive a little of their childhood.
"I think I understand."
Sabo quietly discarded his original idea of simply using the Rumble-Rumble Fruit to listen in on Makino and Shanks.
Following them was already questionable enough.
If he simply cheated and listened directly to everything they said, then there really would be no point in playing along.
Better to sneak around with Cain and the others and enjoy himself.
His nerves had been stretched tight for far too long by Revolutionary Army work anyway. Perhaps he really did need to relax.
Even so, Sabo still looked at their clothes with deep skepticism.
"But… we're backstage."
"The stage area may be dark, but everything back here is brightly lit. Wearing black ninja outfits makes us stand out more, not less."
Cain had obviously never worked a proper infiltration mission before and knew nothing about this kind of thing, so Sabo offered a suggestion.
"If we're seriously trying to stay hidden, shouldn't we wear something that blends in with the surroundings?"
"Because right now, we look incredibly suspicious."
"I understand, Sabo. Relax."
Cain looked upward toward Uta.
Then paused.
Something was blocking his view.
'Wait.'
'Since when was Uta that…?'
And then it clicked.
"Uta! Didn't you bring Bella with you?"
"This is exactly when we need her."
"Of course I brought her!"
Uta manifested two blindfolds and slapped them over Sabo and Koala's eyes.
Then she glanced around to make sure no one else was nearby before pulling open the collar of her outfit.
Bella immediately crawled out.
"Whew! It was so stuffy in there, Mama!"
Uta quickly pulled her collar closed again and explained,
"Bella stands out way too much and doesn't match these outfits at all, so I hid her inside my clothes."
Then she noticed Cain's expression.
"…Why are you looking at me like that?"
Cain stared directly at her collar.
"So jealous…"
"So jealous…"
"So jealous…"
"Huh?"
Cain snapped back to reality.
"Sorry. Got lost in thought."
He quickly asked Bella to use Mirage to conceal them.
That way, they could follow Makino without being noticed.
Bella happily activated her ability.
Light bent around the group, blurring their figures until they almost disappeared from sight.
Then they quietly continued after Makino.
Not long after Bella activated Mirage, another figure emerged from a different corner farther behind them.
He too was wearing a black ninja outfit.
He looked around in confusion.
"Strange…"
"Where did they go?"
…
A few minutes earlier, while Cain and the others were still inside the dressing room…
"Boss, do we really need to dress like this?"
A large group of men wearing black ninja outfits stood around Bartolomeo.
He answered without hesitation.
"Of course we do, idiots!"
"We left a whole week early just to get here, and we still missed the start of the concert!"
"Worse, I haven't even gotten to see Cain-senpai yet!"
"This time, we finally managed to sneak backstage."
"No matter what happens, I'm meeting Cain-senpai and Lady Uta!"
While he was speaking, Bartolomeo noticed a nearby door handle move.
He immediately motioned for his men to hide.
A moment later, Cain cautiously poked his head out.
After checking that the coast was clear, he slipped into the hallway with Uta, Sabo, and Koala.
Bartolomeo's eyes widened.
"Isn't that Luffy-senpai's brother—Sabo-senpai?!"
Even with part of his face obscured, there was no fooling a fanatic like Bartolomeo.
He knew everything worth knowing about the people connected to Luffy.
"Cain-senpai is there too!"
"And Lady Uta!"
"I finally got to see them!"
Tears immediately poured down Bartolomeo's face.
At the same time, however, he noticed how cautiously the four of them were moving.
He instantly covered his mouth to keep himself from making a sound and quietly followed.
Realizing that bringing his entire crew along would attract far too much attention, he motioned for his men to remain farther back and follow at a distance.
The closer Bartolomeo got, the harder his heart pounded.
'What do I do?'
'Should I go over and say hello?'
'But Cain-senpai and the others must be carrying out some top-secret mission!'
'If I interrupt them…'
'But this might be my only chance to meet them! And maybe through Cain-senpai, I could even get to meet Luffy-senpai!'
While Bartolomeo was still tormenting himself with indecision, Cain's group suddenly vanished.
He hurried to the next corridor.
Still nothing.
Cain had already used Mirage to hide the group from view.
Bartolomeo looked around, then waved behind himself.
"Come on! Hurry!"
He immediately rushed ahead in search of Cain.
What he failed to notice was that none of his subordinates followed.
They had all been detained by the Marines.
"Ah, well…"
Kuzan scratched his head as he looked over the subdued group.
"I heard there were some suspicious people sneaking around backstage."
"Looks like these were the guys."
"Pretty careless of us to let this many people slip through."
Issho stood nearby.
"I can sense their emotions. These people harbor no malicious intent."
"Still, for the sake of the concert's security, it would be best to escort them back to the audience area, Aokiji-san."
Kuzan nodded.
"You can just call me Kuzan."
"And if that's your judgment, I've got no reason to object."
He gave a slightly awkward smile.
"Though I should apologize."
"I'm not a Marine anymore, but I still keep instinctively giving orders to the Marines around me and moving personnel around like I'm still in command."
"That merely shows that you still carry considerable respect within the Marines," Issho replied. "People are still willing to follow your instructions."
"However…"
He tilted his head slightly.
"According to the earlier report, the numbers do not quite match."
"There appears to be someone else nearby."
Issho had clearly sensed Bartolomeo lurking farther ahead.
"We should take a look."
"If there are any more suspicious individuals wandering around, we can restrain them as well."
And so, what had begun as a simple little tracking game between Cain and his friends…
quietly evolved into a full-scale group surveillance operation.