Ace immediately ran off in the direction Luffy had gone.
"A… dine-and-dash?!" The restaurant owner was so shocked his voice trembled.
But Cain, pulling Uta along with him, walked in through the huge hole Luffy had smashed in the wall.
He carried a large bag of Beli in one hand and wore an apologetic smile.
"I'm terribly sorry for that. When you've got brothers like mine, headaches are unavoidable. Boss, this should cover their meal, plus the damage to the wall, right?"
"It's enough! More than enough!"
"That's good. I was worried it might not be enough to cover everything." Cain replied with a smile.
At the moment, the two of them had already changed into Alabastan clothes.
Cain wore a simple long white robe that hung down to his calves.
Uta wore a white-and-yellow dress with distinctive patterns worked into it, giving her an even gentler elegance.
It was a conservative style too, not the kind that showed her cleaveage.
Since they had never crossed paths with Baroque Works before, there was no need for them to hide on purpose.
They had split off from Zoro's group back at the shore.
With such a big commotion happening here, the two of them had changed clothes and rushed over immediately.
They had not managed to catch Ace, but they had arrived just in time to clean up after these two reckless fools.
Cain and Uta reached the entrance and looked out at the chaotic street.
Then Cain said to Uta, "Let's follow them."
"Okay."
…
Elsewhere, Nami was complaining to Sanji.
"The clothes you bought are way too revealing! And outfits like these are completely useless for crossing the desert!"
In truth, they had not had much choice.
Only Sanji and Chopper had never run into Mr. 3, so only Sanji could go shopping.
The only reason they had made it this far without being spotted was because of one of Usopp's thoroughly unreliable ideas — they had crouched their way here under a huge cloth, inching along as carefully as they could.
At the moment, Usopp and Zoro were devouring meat by the mouthful, while Chopper kept wrinkling his nose in discomfort, nearly overwhelmed by the thick perfume hanging over Nanohana.
With their shopping done, the group began discussing what to do next.
Vivi wanted to go to Yuba, the rebel army's base of operations, and stop the unrest there.
Just then, Zoro suddenly grabbed Vivi and pulled her into hiding.
A squad of Marines was rushing down the street.
"Marines? Why are they here? Don't tell me there are pirates—"
Before Zoro could finish, Luffy dashed right past them.
As if sensing him, Luffy turned his head, spotted Zoro, and immediately waved.
"Hey, Zorooooooooo!"
And with that, he started running toward them.
"Idiot! Don't come over here! Lead them somewhere else!"
Zoro hissed in a panic.
"We found Straw Hat's accomplices!"
The Marines chasing after Luffy had spotted Zoro's group as well and shouted the report at once.
"Run!"
Seeing the situation go bad, Zoro hurriedly snatched up the supplies they had just bought and dragged Vivi and the others into a run back toward the ship.
Behind them, Smoker suddenly accelerated, thick smoke boiling all over his body as he barked.
"All of you, fall back! You're not getting away — White Blow!"
A fist wrapped in smoke shot straight at Luffy.
Just as it was about to hit him, a clear voice rang out.
"Heat Haze!"
A surging blaze crashed violently into the smoke and blew it apart.
Within the flames, Ace's figure slowly appeared, his eyes steady and resolute.
"That's why you're smoke, and I'm fire. With powers like ours, there's no way to decide a winner."
"Who's that?" Usopp asked, turning his head.
"Ace? Is that really you, Ace?"
Looking at the familiar figure, Luffy asked tentatively.
Ace turned to look at Luffy, a familiar smile curling across his lips.
"You really haven't changed at all, Luffy."
"Ace, you ate a Devil Fruit?"
Seeing the flames around Ace, Luffy asked immediately.
"Yeah. The Flame-Flame Fruit."
While they were talking, all the Marines under Smoker had gathered there.
"At this rate we won't even be able to talk. You guys go first — I'll catch up later."
Ace said this to Luffy and the others, and at that, they all grabbed their bags and fled.
"Why are you helping Straw Hat?" Smoker glared at him.
Ace's expression softened, and there was a trace of helplessness in his voice.
"If you've got a troublesome little brother, then as the older brother, you can't help worrying."
"Little brother?" Smoker frowned.
The familiar wording struck him, but he still said, "Move aside, Portgas D. Ace!"
Just as the two were about to clash, a long, drifting song suddenly floated through the air.
"What's going on?! Didn't I tell you to clear out the civilians?!"
Smoker turn around and barked at his men, only to find that the Marines beside him had already collapsed to the ground one after another.
Then his own eyelids started growing heavier, and his vision began to blur.
Ace immediately sensed that something was wrong and swept his gaze around in alarm, but his body would not obey him.
His eyelids slowly drooped, completely beyond his control.
In no time at all, every Marine on the street had fallen asleep, leaving only the song softly lingering in the air.
The instant the singing died away, Cain appeared with one arm around Uta, leaping lightly down from the rooftops.
His feet touched the ground without a sound as he landed steadily in the street.
"Thanks, Uta. That saves me the trouble of tying him up myself."
Cain smiled as he patted her on the shoulder.
"It's nothing. If it's something you want, I can do it for you."
Uta waved it off, then turned her curious gaze to Ace.
"So this is Ace? Yours and Luffy's brother?"
"Yeah. He's another reckless idiot who never lets anyone relax."
Cain reached out and lightly poked Ace in the cheek with one finger. Then he bent down and hoisted the sleeping Ace securely onto his back.
"Come on. Let's head back to the Going Merry."
With that, Cain carried the unconscious Ace away, holding Uta's hand as the two of them quickly headed toward the ship.
…
The Going Merry had already left the shore and was floating steadily on the sea.
Before the ship departed, Vivi had immediately entrusted Karoo with a letter to her father — one that laid out Crocodile and Baroque Works' conspiracy, along with some of the evidence she had gathered.
Finally able to catch their breath, everyone crowded around Luffy and eagerly demanded to know who exactly the person was who had just saved them.
"My brother—!!"
"That guy just now… was your brother?!"
Nami, Usopp, and the others all stared in shock.
"Oh, yeah. He's my big brother."
Faced with everyone's astonishment, Luffy answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"Then he and Cain…" Sanji murmured, rubbing his chin in confusion.
"Of course they're brothers!"
Luffy slapped a hand against his chest.
"But why would he be here on the Grand Line?" Zoro asked coolly, his arms crossed.
"Because he's a pirate! His goal is One Piece too!"
Luffy grinned.
"He's three years older than Cain and me, so he set out to sea three years earlier."
"I didn't expect all three of you brothers to have eaten Devil Fruits."
Sanji raised a brow, his voice full of surprise.
"Yeah! Back before he ate one, I never beat him even once!"
Luffy clenched his fists, his eyes burning with fighting spirit.
"Now that he's eaten a Devil Fruit… no matter what, this time I'm definitely going to beat him!"
"You never beat him even once? Then what about Cain?"
Usopp leaned in to ask.
"Cain, huh…"
Luffy's face fell, looking aggrieved.
"He cheats every single time! There were a bunch of times I should've won, but he'd always say things I didn't understand and insist I didn't win! Huh? What's wrong with you guys?"
Only then did Luffy notice how strange everyone's expressions had become.
The very next moment, Luffy was knocked flat onto the deck!
The person who had crashed into him was Cain.
There he stood at the rail, holding Ace in one hand and Uta in the crook of the other arm, perfectly steady.
"Don't listen to his nonsense!"
Cain shot back with a grin.
"It was obviously Luffy who didn't understand the rules, started cheating, and broke them. I tried explaining it to him and he wouldn't listen."
"I can testify to that," Uta called out loudly.
"Oh, Cain, you're back!"
Luffy instantly forgot everything he had just been saying. His eyes lit up, and then he noticed the person dangling from Cain's hand.
"Ah, Uta's here too! Wait—Ace?"
The sudden appearance of three familiar people at once left Luffy too confused to process it.
He turned to look at his crewmates, only to find all of them wearing expressions of realization.
Cain and Uta casually raised the cloth strips in their hands and waved them.
In an instant, Luffy understood.
They had already met up with Cain earlier.
Compared with the joy of seeing Uta again, Luffy was clearly far more worried about Ace, and he hurriedly asked.
"What happened to Ace?"
"Oh, nothing much. He just passed out."
Cain answered lightly, then turned and rummaged in the store room until he found a thick length of iron chain.
"I heard you guys are brothers…" Usopp said uncertainly, eyeing the chain in Cain's hands.
"Yeah. We're—"
Cain did not even finish the sentence.
To everyone's utter horror, he used the heavy chain to bind the unconscious Ace tightly, fastened the other end securely to the bow of the ship, and then, with one violent swing, hurled Ace straight into the sea.
"—loving brothers."
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