"How could that be? Devil Fruits are the sort of legendary things I've only ever read about. I've never actually seen one in person." Cain shook his head repeatedly.
"Really? If you truly haven't seen one..." Uta trailed off playfully.
As she spoke, she edged a little closer to Cain on the barstool.
He immediately shifted the other way, keeping a steady, safe distance between them.
"Why are you hiding so far away?"
After several attempts to move closer that all ended with him dodging away, Uta simply reached out, grabbed Cain by the collar, and pulled him down to whisper right against his ear.
"I'll tell you a secret. Shanks has a Devil Fruit hidden on his ship."
"Th-Th-Then... why are you telling me that?!" Cain's face instantly flushed bright red.
He started stammering and jerked backward to pull away from her.
It wasn't just because she had leaned in so close. It was also because of the fruit she had just casually mentioned—the legendary Nika Fruit!
Uta just blurted out one of the most dangerous secrets in the world!
If Shanks found out she told him...
He hurriedly turned to check the room. Shanks and the senior officers were almost done fooling around by the rum barrels, and none of them seemed to be paying any attention to their side of the bar at all.
Only then did Cain let out a long breath of relief.
Uta laughed at how flustered he looked.
She stood up, smoothed out her skirt, and smiled. "Well, that's because Shanks keeps being all secretive and won't tell me anything about that fruit."
Then, she walked into the center of the tavern and gave a small, theatrical bow.
Seeing that, Cain stopped overthinking, because it was time for Uta's performance to begin.
He set down his book, sat quietly in his corner, and simply listened and watched.
A clear, beautiful song flowed effortlessly from Uta's throat.
The hardened pirates all clapped along to the rhythm, keeping the beat. Even Luffy, who had been jumping around the tavern nonstop just moments earlier, quieted down obediently and listened, his head tilted up in pure fascination.
The rowdy, noisy atmosphere gradually mellowed into something warm, cheerful, and incredibly peaceful under the influence of her singing.
When the final lingering note faded, Uta bowed deeply. The bar instantly erupted into thunderous, roaring applause!
Luffy suddenly shouted at the top of his lungs. "I CAN SING TOO! I CAN SING TOO!"
"Seriously?!"
"LET'S HEAR IT! LET'S HEAR IT!"
The drunken crowd immediately started egging him on.
Cain's heart sank into his boots. He knew there was absolutely no stopping Luffy now!
He hurried over to Uta, intending to cover her ears to protect her, only to forget she was already wearing her signature headphones.
His hands slipped—and instead of covering her ears, he ended up grabbing her cheeks firmly.
The soft feel under his fingertips made him pinch it lightly twice before his brain even registered the action.
"HEY! WHAT EXACTLY ARE YOU DOING?!" Uta yelped, her face turning red.
"I didn't mean to! I—"
Cain hastily tried to explain, but at that exact moment, Luffy opened his mouth wide and began belting it out at maximum volume.
"THE SKY IN THE EAST—GETS BRIGHT SO EARLY—! EVERYTHING'S ALL FOGGY—FULL OF IDIOTS EVERYWHERE—!!"
It's over.
Those were the only words left in Cain's mind as the terrible, screeching noise assaulted the room.
Uta immediately pressed her headphones tightly over her ears. Only now did she finally understand what Cain had been trying to protect her from!
"NO, NO! THIS DOESN'T COUNT AS SINGING AT ALL! It's terrible! It's totally off-key! If I listen any longer, the Red-Haired Pirates are going to turn into the Idiot Pirates!"
Clutching her ears, Uta ran straight out of the bar.
The rest of the crew burst into booming laughter and chased after her in a massive chaotic crowd.
Luffy scratched his head as he wandered outside too.
"Huh? I thought I sounded amazing."
"AMAZING MY ASS! YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND THE FIRST THING ABOUT SINGING!" Uta shot back, standing in the street with her hands on her hips.
At that moment, Shanks strolled out slowly, chuckling as he patted Uta on the shoulder.
"Hey, you're both the same age, you should get along with him."
"I don't want to! I'm already nine years old! How can I be lumped together with a seven-year-old kid?!" Uta muttered, turning her head away stubbornly.
Shanks smiled, letting his gaze fall on Cain, who had just stepped out of the tavern. "Oh? But from what I saw, you and Cain were getting along pretty well."
The moment he said that, Uta's cheeks turned red.
Cain, meanwhile, quietly edged one leg backward, instinctively trying to slip back into the safety of the bar.
"Th-That's different! Anyway, Luffy is just an idiot!"
The flustered way Uta yelled made the entire pirate crew burst into roaring laughter all over again.
Shanks laughed the hardest, waving his hand and telling Luffy and Cain to take Uta around Foosha Village for a bit to smooth things over.
...
The night sea breeze carried a salty dampness as it swept over the calm ocean water.
Cain sat on the grassy cliff overlooking the bay, gazing out at the endless dark sea in the distance while Uta's clear singing drifted into his ears.
Moonlight spilled down over her, bathing her in a silver glow as she stood near the edge, singing at full voice.
Then, Luffy's voice floated up from far below the cliff. "WHY AREN'T CAIN AND UTA CLIMBING UP THE SAME WAY I DID?!"
"YOU IDIOT! WHO SHOWS GUESTS AROUND BY MAKING THEM CLIMB A SHEER CLIFF WHEN THERE'S A PERFECTLY GOOD PATH?!"
Cain reached down and hauled the huffing, puffing boy up the rest of the way, pointing to the grass beside him so Luffy would sit down.
Uta happened to stop singing just then and nodded in firm agreement.
"Exactly! A diva is supposed to bring dreams to everyone. How could I go climbing some dirty cliff like a monkey?"
"If you can't even climb something this high, then how are you supposed to help Shanks—"
Bang!
Cain smacked Luffy on the back of the head.
This idiot really don't know when to keep his mouth shut!
"Luffy, you really don't understand anything. I keep telling you to read more, but you never listen. At this rate, you probably haven't even learned all your letters yet. A ship doesn't sail smoothly across the sea just because the captain is strong. Every single crew member has their own vital role..."
Cain went on a long, detailed tangent about crew dynamics, but Uta lightly pinched his arm and gestured for him to look at Luffy.
Cain turned his head.
Sure enough, Luffy was snoring loudly, fast asleep in the grass.
He quickly shook his brother awake.
"Ah, sorry, Cain. Listening to what you were saying just now made me sleepy." Luffy rubbed his eyes and yawned widely.
"Forget it. Forget it. Let me explain it another way. The kind of nonstop pirate adventure you imagine only happens a tiny fraction of the time. Most of the time, all a crew can do is stare out at the endless sea with absolutely nothing around them. That is when Uta's importance really shows. And having sailed the Grand Line with Shanks, Uta definitely understands that best."
At those words, Uta nodded proudly and gave Luffy a small serious bow.
Cain continued. "Just imagine it! Drifting at sea for a whole week. No islands, no entertainment, nothing at all. Not even singing. A life like that..."
"NO WAY! NO WAY! If it were like that, I couldn't stand it for even one day!" Luffy shook his head hard, finally acknowledging the absolute necessity of having a musician on board.
Cain looked up at the night sky, sounding a little regretful. "It's a pity the sun has already gone down. Otherwise, I would've loved to show you the sunset in Foosha Village, Uta. It's especially beautiful from up here."
"Now that you mention it, I kind of want to see it too. But it's okay. Even without the sunset, a night sky like this is beautiful too." As she said that, Uta simply lay back on the soft grass.
Seeing her do so, Cain followed suit.
While he was at it, he tugged Luffy down by his messy black hair and made him lie down too.
The three children lay side by side, gazing up at the millions of stars filling the dark sky.
Uta spoke softly while looking up at the sky. "When we are on the ship, everyone gets drunk after a party. Every single time, it's Shanks and me cleaning up the mess afterward. But Shanks gets really drunk too, so in the end, it's always just me doing the cleaning alone."
She smiled. "When I'm done, I look up at the sky. At first, I thought staring at it was boring. But the more I looked, the more I realized how beautiful the night sky really is."
"There is a saying," Cain said quietly as he stared upward. "That if you cry because you missed the sun, you will miss the stars as well. It feels like that saying really suits something you'd say, Uta. Like I once read in a book... a lot of people are separated by all sorts of reasons. But above their heads, there is always the same sky, and the same moon. As long as you look at it, it almost feels like you can see the person you miss."
Luffy frowned, wracking his brain so hard that the few remaining cells in his head were practically about to burn out.
"So how could looking up actually make you see another person? Cain, explain that properly!"
"That's just a metaphor, Luffy, it means—"
Cain patiently started to explain, but then a faint, rhythmic snoring sound reached his ears.
He looked down. Luffy had fallen fast asleep again!
Uta and Cain looked at one another and couldn't help laughing at the exact same time.
This time, Cain didn't wake Luffy up.
He could feel it clearly—after bouncing off the walls all day, the kid was genuinely exhausted.
..
Later that night, with the sleeping Luffy strapped to his back, Cain escorted Uta down the path back to Makino's bar.
Before parting ways for the evening, he looked seriously into her eyes. "Uta, you have to get up early tomorrow. I'll take you to watch the sunrise in Foosha Village!"
Uta nodded hard, her eyes shining as bright as the stars in the night sky.
"Mm!"
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