Cain looked at Ace, who was still complaining in front of him, and for some reason, a strange feeling rose in his chest.
He lowered his eyes and stared thoughtfully at his own palm.
He had casually brushed Ace off by saying it was an accident, but deep down, he knew very well that something had gone wrong with his Haki.
The essence of Haki was to condense intangible perceptions, such as aura and killing intent, into the will to fight.
A person's emotions and state of mind were often the key factors that determined how strong their Haki could become.
That was also why some powerful fighters would decline in strength after suffering a crushing defeat.
Sometimes, they might even become unable to use Haki at all.
Only when their state of mind became whole again could they push their strength back to its original height, or even reach beyond it.
Then what about himself?
When had his Haki started having problems?
The first time he caught Ace, he had submerged him in the sea.
Back then, he had thought victory was already guaranteed, but an accident happened, and Ace escaped.
The second time, he had dragged Ace into Uta's music world, completely convinced that he would be able to persuade him.
Yet, because of all sorts of unexpected changes, Ace had once again slipped away.
Those repeated failures, almost as if fate itself were mocking him, had already caused cracks to appear in Cain's state of mind.
Even his transformation into his human-dragon form had become strangely sluggish.
Although he had forced himself to act as if nothing was wrong, the Haki in his heart had already begun to surge with unrest.
At the moment he grabbed Ace's wrist earlier, he had nearly failed to suppress the wild joy in his heart.
He no longer wanted to let Ace leave.
But the forced calm in his heart, mixed with the intense joy that followed, ultimately could not soothe his chaotic Haki.
More accurately, at that moment, his Haki had actually begun to flow through his palm.
In the end, after Buffalo's group left, at the very instant Ace asked Cain to let go of his hand, that power reached its peak.
The moment Cain raised his hand, it shattered the Log Pose on Ace's wrist.
Although the movement of that power had been incredibly faint, it had truly flowed through his palm.
That was the advanced application of Armament Haki.
In Wano, people called it Ryuo.
What Cain had used unconsciously was the embryonic form of Ryuo.
This fluctuation in his state of mind had not caused Cain's strength to drop.
Instead, by sheer accident, it had allowed him to touch the threshold of Ryuo.
'Maybe once I fully master the trick to making Haki flow, Conqueror's Haki coating won't be far off either.'
Cain secretly pondered this in his heart.
He could not help thinking of the original story.
Luffy had only mastered the use of Conqueror's Haki coating during his life and death battle against Kaido after first grasping Ryuo.
Since both involved making Haki flow, there had to be something they shared in common.
Thinking of this, Cain looked at Ace in front of him and smiled gently.
"Ugh. That smile is disgusting as hell!"
Ace's whole body shuddered at Cain's sudden smile, and he backed away two steps with a look of pure disgust.
"But putting that aside, where exactly are we now? Is this still Alabasta?"
Ace's gaze swept across the endless desert before him.
Yellow sand filled the air, carried by the wind until it stung his eyes, and he could not help asking.
"It should be. Across the entire Grand Line, Alabasta is probably the only place with a desert on this scale. Come on, get on."
As Cain spoke, a large mass of flame clouds had already risen beside his feet.
He lazily leaned against it and waved at Ace.
"You don't even have a Log Pose now, and you've got nowhere to go anyway. You might as well travel with me for now."
Ace didn't refused.
He sprawled directly onto the flame cloud, and immediately after, the cloud carried the two of them forward.
Although Ace found the flame cloud interesting, he still turned his head toward Cain and asked what they planned to do next.
"Luffy and the others are going to help Vivi save this country, so we just need to head straight to the royal palace," Cain said, as if it were only natural.
"But do you actually know which direction the royal palace is in?"
Ace raised an eyebrow and asked back, clearly suspicious of Cain's judgment.
"Uh… look, the sun's over there."
Cain raised his hand and pointed in a direction, his tone sounding slightly vague.
"I remember that when we were in Nanohana before, the royal palace was probably around that direction. If we head that way, we definitely won't be lost."
"That sounds way too unreliable."
Ace rolled his eyes dramatically, his tone full of helplessness.
"But I guess this is all we can do for now. Since you've got this cloud for transportation, I can at least save some energy."
In his heart, Ace silently decided that the moment they passed a town along the way, he would definitely buy a new Log Pose.
There was no way he could keep wandering aimlessly around with Cain forever.
Cain, however, was making a completely different plan in his own heart.
He secretly thought that if they happened to run into that chain-smoking Smoker on the road, then no matter what, he had to pry off the Seastone embedded in the tip of Smoker's jitte!
As long as he had that thing, he could keep Ace firmly under control and never have to worry about him suddenly running off again.
Each of the two carried their own schemes as they headed in the direction Cain had pointed to, a direction that may or may not actually lead anywhere.
Seastone was an extremely hard special mineral in the world of One Piece.
Under normal circumstances, it could not be broken.
Smoker's jitte only had Seastone embedded at the tip, the entire weapon was not made of Seastone.
This was clearly stated in Chapter 169 of the manga, "The Kingdom's Strongest Warrior."
…
Yuba Port.
Waves slapped against the hull of the ship, making a rushing sound. A ship was quietly docked by the shore.
"Uta, are you really not coming with us?"
Luffy stood on the deck and turned his head to ask Uta, who was standing beside the ship's rail.
"No."
Uta gently shook her head. A faint smile rose on her face as she waved to everyone.
"I don't know how to fight. I'm just a musician, I'm not as strong as you guys. If I go with you, I'll only get in the way."
"Then we'll be troubling you to watch the ship for us!"
Sanji bowed at the waist and said this with a respectful expression.
After everyone left, the smile on Uta's face slowly disappeared.
Her eyes also turned dazed, as if she had returned to those days when she had been alone in Elegia.
She had once longed for adventure too.
In the past, Uta had always dreamed of going on adventures with everyone in the Red Hair Pirates, experiencing all kinds of new and exciting things with them.
But those adventures had been far too dangerous for her as a child, and everyone in the Red Hair Pirates had protected her too well.
Because of that, she could only sit quietly on the ship, full of anticipation for the day she grew up and could finally travel the world with everyone.
But in the end, Shanks and the others still left her behind.
Uta had heard from Luffy about his promise with Shanks, and she also knew that it was something between the two of them.
There had never been any room for her to interfere.
In her heart, she hated the feeling of abandonment Shanks had left her with.
Because of that, she subconsciously wanted to keep some distance from Luffy.
Besides, everything was different now.
Luffy had his own dream.
He had companions willing to fight by his side.
As for her, she was not one of his crew, and she still could not truly fit into their circle.
Luffy had actually grown up a lot.
Although he still looked just as silly as ever, he had already walked far ahead. He was no longer that clueless little brat from when they were children.
A sour ache rose in Uta's heart.
It felt as though everyone around her was moving forward, while she alone remained frozen in place, unable to take even a single step.
Only Cain, while walking forward himself, had still looked back at her where she stood motionless.
He had reached out and pulled her away from those unbearable days.
But now, Cain had left too.
Since reuniting with him in Elegia, this was the first time he had been this far away from her.
Without him by her side, what's the point of an adventure like this?
Uta dragged her feet dejectedly into the cabin, pushed open the door to Cain's room, stepped inside and locked the door behind her.
She quietly lay down on Cain's bed, staring at the ceiling with empty eyes.