"Uta, are you leaving?" Cain asked softly.
Uta nodded. "Yeah. Wasn't it you who said so? Your grandpa's coming back soon, and he's a Marine. If he catches us together like this, it'll be a huge mess."
"NOOOO! UTA!"
Luffy flopped onto the dirt and started rolling around. He grabbed the hem of her clothes and refused to let go.
"Don't be so sad." Uta crouched down and rubbed Luffy's head.
Her smile was as bright as sunlight on the water. "I'll come back again after a while, just like before."
In the past, whenever Garp was due to return, Cain would warn the Red-Haired Pirates ahead of time.
He often helped hide them from the scary Vice Admiral. This kind of goodbye had happened many times already.
For them, it was normal.
Uta stood up, her eyes shining with hope. "Our next stop is a place called the Island of Music. I'm sure my singing will shine even brighter there!"
The moment she said 'Island of Music', a strange feeling hit Cain.
Pieces of information from a movie he once saw crashed through his mind.
His body moved faster than his brain. He grabbed Uta's hand and shook his head hard, his eyes full of worry.
Uta let out a soft sigh.
She gently pushed his fingers away, then took Luffy's hand and smiled. "Hey, Luffy, let's have one more contest! Cain can be the judge again. Let's see if you can find me!"
"That doesn't even count as a contest," Cain said with a sad smile.
"Then how about this—" Uta's smile got deeper. "Cain, you join too! This will be a contest for the three of us. You two come find me, and I'll look for you both too. Whoever gets found first loses! How about that?"
Cain could only stand there holding Luffy's hand, watching Uta walk away.
He knew better than anyone that some things couldn't be stopped. He wanted to make her stay, but he knew it was impossible.
The 'Island of Music' was the light her heart was reaching for.
It was her dream.
Expecting the Red-Haired Pirates to change their route was even more unrealistic.
Those adults would never take a child's opinion seriously. At that moment, Cain understood something perfectly: if he wanted to protect the people he cared about, if he wanted to be strong enough to change the world, it all came down to strength.
Without power, every bond and every worry he had meant nothing.
Cain patted Luffy's shoulder.
Not a single tear fell from his eyes, but they were red and shining.
...
Later, when Garp came back, he found Cain standing there with a look of seriousness.
"GRANDPA! I WANT TO BE STRONGER! STRONG ENOUGH TO SURPASS ROGER!"
From that day on, Cain entered Garp's hellish training and never slacked off again.
....
Flashback end.
In the first half of the Grand Line sat the kingdom of Elegia, the Island of Music.
The island was long and narrow, split by seawater into two parts with stone bridges linking them.
The center of the city once had a grand concert hall that could hold tens of thousands of people.
Now, only silence filled the place.
It looked like a ruined wasteland. The sun hadn't shined here in a very long time.
All the tragedy began ten years ago when the Red-Haired Pirates were called invaders.
The newspapers back then wrote: 'The Kingdom of Music, Elegia, is destroyed. Only two survivors were found. The culprit was Red-Haired Shanks.'
But was that the truth? Ten years had passed, and only two people lived on this island.
"Good morning, Cain. Luffy."
Uta smiled at a painting on the wall.
For just a second, her eyes looked warm, but then, the warmth died.
Her smile vanished, and her eyes went dim. This painting used to have many people in it, but she had painted over them.
Only her, Luffy, and Cain were left.
Uta was one of the survivors.
She believed she had been left behind by Shanks—the man she once called her father.
She believed Shanks had destroyed the island for treasure and threw her away without a second thought.
For ten years, she studied music under Gordon, the former king.
He wanted her to be the greatest singer in the world, but that didn't heal her broken heart. Her days were a loop, repeating over and over.
The damp, salty sea breeze was the same every single day.
When Uta walked out of her room, Gordon was already at the table.
He had two bowls of porridge and some stale, hard bread.
"Morning." His voice was low and hoarse.
It had sounded the same for ten years.
Uta sat down and chewed the dry bread.
It tasted like her life—bland and numb.
After breakfast came song practice. She stood in the empty space, singing the songs Gordon taught her.
The words were in her bones, but there was no joy in her voice. It was just an empty habit.
Many times, she went to the shore early, hoping to see a sunrise.
But the gray sky stayed dark, just like the day Shanks left her. Without sunlight, even the stars stayed hidden behind thick clouds.
Her footprints on the beach were washed away every day, and she just walked the same path again.
She often thought back to being a kid—how Shanks used to hold her and sing on the pirate ship.
Those days had warmth and color. Now, she only had cold memories.
The pain of being left behind was like a needle poking her every day.
She knew Shanks wasn't a brutal, treasure-hungry man like the reports said.
But she couldn't understand why he destroyed the island. And she really couldn't understand why he left her.
That pain grew into hatred—for Shanks, and for all pirates.
'You were abandoned,' the clouds seemed to say.
Uta walked the beach like a ghost. She stared at the sea, her heart blank.
"What's this?" Cold water hit her feet.
Several strange 'shells' were carried to her by the waves. They looked like Den Den Mushi she had never seen before.
Just as she reached down to pick them up, a loud shout came from the sky.
"GET OUT OF THE WAY! MOVE!!!"
The voice sounded familiar.
Uta looked up—only to see a figure flash past and slam into the ground with a loud BOOM!
The beach exploded into a huge hole. The person inside was stuck headfirst in the sand with their butt sticking up in the air.
The falling sand almost buried them.
The noise was so loud that Uta covered her headphones with her hands. It was like a rock dropped into a still pond.
When the person in the hole finally pulled his head free and shook off the sand, he turned toward her.
The colors of her life burst back into brightness.
It was that bright pink hair—the mix of red and white.... her hair color.
Cain climbed out of the hole with a smile, brushing sand off his clothes.
He looked at the frozen Uta with warm, happy eyes and his voice shook with joy.
"I found you, Uta."
Uta's eyes filled with tears.
Her throat felt tight, like she couldn't speak. She stared at the familiar figure. The corners of her mouth lifted, and she couldn't stop it.
The promise from that old contest—the one she had forgotten through the pain—came rushing back.
She forced out a stubborn, tearful complaint. "Yeah, you found me... b-but you were the judge! If the judge finds me, it doesn't count as a loss!"
"Dummy! Since I was the judge, of course I remember the rules. You're cheating, Uta." Cain shook his head with a smile and gently rubbed her hair.
"Well, I'll let you be selfish this one time."
The moment he said that, Uta's strength broke.
She threw herself into Cain's arms, wrapping her arms tight around his waist and hiding her face in his shoulder.
Ten years of tears came out at once.
They were hot on her cheeks, soaking Cain's clothes. All the loneliness and pain poured out.
Her voice was thick with sobbing, but she spoke clearly.
"No need... This time, I lost."
-----
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