Cain and Uta had not heard a word Sabo and Koala said.
Shanks was only about a hundred meters away, so none of them dared speak too loudly.
Which meant Sabo and Koala could do nothing but stand there awkwardly and wait for the two of them to finish.
Smack!
With a crisp sound, Cain and Uta's lips finally separated.
Still sitting on Cain's lap, Uta wiped the corner of her mouth and looked at him.
"Well? Have you calmed down?"
"Yeah. That was definitely effective…"
Cain paused.
"Though I'm still a little… worked up."
"Worked… up?!"
Uta suddenly felt something pressing against her from below.
Her face turned scarlet.
She immediately shoved Cain onto the floor and began furiously kicking and stomping him.
"Cain, you IDIOT! Pervert! Creep! Shameless bastard! How can you be thinking about that at a time like this?!"
Because they could not risk being overheard, Uta had to keep her voice low despite being utterly mortified.
As for exactly what she had felt…
Perhaps only Cain knew.
"Ahem."
A very quiet cough interrupted them.
Cain and Uta instantly froze.
Their minds raced as they remembered that they were, in fact, not alone.
Cain currently had one hand wrapped around Uta's ankle while his other hand clutched her shoe.
He stiffly turned his head.
Uta instinctively curled her toes and turned as well, her face still blazing red.
Sabo and Koala were both standing there with equally red faces, holding Bella still as she curiously looked around.
They were just about to speak when—
"Ah… ngh…"
Uta accidentally let out a sound.
The instant she remembered they could not make too much noise, she grabbed Cain's arm and bit down hard.
Her teeth hurt from biting into him, but apparently that was not enough to vent her embarrassment.
So she immediately went after Cain's tongue next.
Cain's eyes flew wide open.
A moment ago, they had been kissing affectionately.
Why had teeth suddenly become involved?!
He clawed desperately at the floor with both hands, legs kicking wildly while tears gathered at the corners of his eyes.
Sabo sighed helplessly.
'Once was already enough. Why are they doing this again?'
Two tiny sparks appeared at his fingertips.
The current was not strong—barely more than static electricity—but it made Uta's hair stand straight up and distracted her enough to stop panicking.
The moment she released Cain, Sabo unceremoniously zapped Cain too.
His hair immediately puffed into an enormous afro.
"Both of you, behave yourselves and be quiet."
…
"WE'RE SORRY!"
Cain and Uta stood obediently against the wall like two students being punished by a teacher.
Koala held Bella in her arms and stared sternly at them.
"You two are unbelievable."
"You really can't control yourselves anywhere, can you?"
"At this point, Sabo and I have figured it out."
"Neither of you is remotely qualified to be a parent."
Koala sighed.
"You're making us want to adopt Bella ourselves."
"The fact that this child has somehow remained this innocent while living with you two is practically a miracle."
Sabo shook his head.
"Anyway, for Bella's sake, we've already decided something."
"As long as Koala and I are still staying in Windmill Village, Bella will stay with us whenever necessary."
Cain and Uta's eyes immediately lit up.
Did that mean they would have more opportunities to be alone together?
Koala instantly covered her forehead.
"See? Sabo, I told you these two were thinking something shady!"
"You're Cain's older brother. You're way too soft on him."
She thought for a moment, then added,
"Let's add another condition."
"If you two still haven't learned to control yourselves by the time my month-long vacation is over…"
"I'll have no choice but to take Bella away with me."
"No, no! Bella doesn't want to leave Papa and Mama! (＞﹏＜)!"
Bella struggled in Koala's arms, though she still remembered to keep her voice down.
Cain and Uta were instantly moved.
Bella really was such a good child.
Meanwhile, the two of them kept causing one ridiculous incident after another.
Every time, someone else had to cover Bella's eyes and shield her from whatever inappropriate scene her own parents had created.
Maybe they really did have a problem.
Cain and Uta immediately sobered up.
For Bella to grow up in a healthy environment, they could only nod obediently.
"We understand."
"Bella, don't worry. We're never going to leave you."
…
After that brief interruption, the group gradually returned to their original mission.
Then they looked back—
And discovered that both Shanks and Makino were gone.
"Huh? Where did they go?"
"They probably left. Maybe they went into one of the nearby rooms. Should we search?"
"No need."
Cain's expression became more serious.
"Something probably happened."
"The Red Hair Pirates were already preparing to move the moment Big Sis Makino arrived."
"That means something must have happened near the stage."
Uta's eyes widened.
"Wait, so someone broke in?"
"Cain, why didn't you say that earlier?!"
"I only just realized it!"
Cain had barely finished speaking when someone came sprinting past them.
Bartolomeo.
And unbelievably, the black ninja outfit he was wearing was almost identical to theirs.
"Was that Bartolomeo?"
Cain stared after him.
"What's he doing here? And why is he dressed exactly like us?"
Before anyone could answer, cold air began spreading through the hallway.
The others sensed it too.
At first, they assumed Bella was unconsciously releasing cold and paid little attention.
Then Cain's Observation Haki suddenly screamed a warning.
Everyone whipped around.
Kuzan had somehow appeared directly behind them.
And he was already attacking.
"Ah, well…"
Kuzan looked over the suspicious group.
"Seems there really were more shady people hiding back here."
"And apparently there's a whole gang of them."
With the Ice-Ice Fruit, Kuzan could naturally sense the figures and clothing of the people ahead of him through the cold spreading around them.
He did not hesitate.
A wave of freezing air exploded outward.
The entire corridor instantly transformed into something resembling a giant freezer, with thick ice covering most of the walls and floor.
Then Kuzan chased after Bartolomeo.
"Issho-san, I'll leave those guys to you!"
Issho did not reply immediately.
He could not see and instead perceived the world through Observation Haki.
Which meant he knew perfectly well that Kuzan had frozen the wrong people.
Or rather—
Kuzan had failed to freeze them at all.
Cain and Sabo had both reacted the moment the cold arrived, and with Bella's abilities protecting them as well, almost no one in the group suffered any meaningful injury.
"What the hell is Kuzan doing?"
Cain brushed away some frost.
"Does he really need to turn the entire hallway into an icebox just to chase one guy?"
"Now we got dragged into it too."
He sighed.
"There goes our tracking game."
Then Cain turned—
And saw Issho approaching.
Before either of them could even greet him, Issho suddenly drew his sword and firmly blocked an attack coming from behind.
Lola had charged forward wielding two swords.
"Cain, little brother! Run! Leave this place to me!"
Cain stared at her.
"Uh… Chif—Lola?!"
"What the hell is going on?! Why are you here?!"
BOOM!
A powerful impact suddenly shook the area.
Immediately afterward, Conqueror's Haki swept through the corridor.
Katakuri came rushing toward them with Brûlée close behind.
Farther back, Beckman was leading members of the Red Hair Pirates toward the scene.
"Run!" someone shouted. "Katakuri's after you and Uta!"
Then another voice came from a different corridor.
Cain looked over.
Lucky Roux was charging toward them from the audience entrance.
Because he had come through a different route, he had avoided Kuzan entirely.
Lucky Roux reached Cain and Uta, grabbed them both, and immediately dragged them toward a nearby room.
Sabo and Koala hurried after them.
Katakuri saw them escaping and instantly stretched out a mochi arm to seize Cain.
Issho moved past Lola and slashed, blocking Katakuri's path.
"That Conqueror's Haki just now…"
Issho faced him calmly.
"I assume it came from you."
Watching the situation collapse into utter chaos in the span of seconds, Cain shouted helplessly,
"CAN SOMEONE TELL ME WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!"
"And put me down! Lola's still back there—!"
"Don't worry! Leave it to us!"
Lucky Roux shouted back.
…
While complete chaos erupted outside, Shanks and Makino were sitting together inside a small room.
Both seemed strangely nervous.
After hesitating for a while, Makino finally spoke.
"Shanks…"
"This situation feels exactly like that night."
"That night, when it was already so late…"
The moment she said "that night," Makino's cheeks reddened and her voice became quieter.
Shanks blinked before scratching his head with an awkward smile.
"Ah… you mean your first…"
"Mm!"
Makino's face grew even redder.
"That really was my first time doing something like that."
"Even when I couldn't keep going anymore, you kept encouraging me and telling me to hold on…"
Shanks tilted his head while pouring a drink.
"I don't remember being that rough."
He scooted slightly closer and placed the glass in front of Makino.
"And if you really didn't want to continue, wouldn't you have refused?"
"That doesn't match what I remember happening."
"That was the first time I ever drank until I passed out!"
Makino protested, her entire face red.
"Shanks, I already told you I couldn't drink anymore, and you still kept pouring alcohol into my mouth!"
"And now you're trying to make me drink again?!"
"Oh. You meant getting drunk."
Shanks suddenly understood.
"I thought you were talking about…"
He moved the glass away.
Thinking back, he had indeed been rather pushy about convincing Makino to drink that night.
He probably could have handled that better.
But the moment he set the glass down and turned his head—
Makino's face was suddenly only inches from his.
Her breathing became a little heavier as she looked directly at him.
"You thought I meant… what?"
"I thought you meant what happened after that."
Shanks' voice dropped.
"When we…"
He never finished.
Their breaths were already mingling.
And then—
BANG!
The door flew open.
"You guys hide in here!"
"We'll handle Katakuri and make sure that maid lady is safe!"
Lucky Roux did not even bother looking inside.
"Don't worry, this is the boss's private room. You should be safe in—!"
He shoved Cain, Uta, Sabo, and Koala inside and immediately locked the door behind them.
Cain and the others stared blankly ahead.
Shanks and Makino were kissing.
Everyone froze.
Cain and Uta instinctively slapped their hands over Bella's eyes.
Unfortunately, she had already seen everything.
Bella tilted her head innocently.
"Papa, Mama…"
"Why is Grandpa biting someone else's mouth too?"
Their tracking operation might have been a complete failure from beginning to end.
But at least they had gotten their answer.