Garp had planned to meet Cain a few days ago and take Ace into custody himself, but unexpectedly, an urgent notice disrupted his plans.
A meeting of the Seven Warlords of the Sea was about to be held.
Although he was not required to attend, the World Government had clearly ordered him to remain on standby at Mary Geoise.
The Seven Warlords were "official pirates" authorized by the World Government.
Unfortunately, among that group, there were very few who could actually behave themselves.
The Alabasta incident had caused a massive uproar.
On the surface, the World Government had packaged Smoker as the hero who saved the country.
They framed Luffy as the culprit who had incited the rebellion. But everyone who truly knew the inside story understood perfectly well that the real mastermind behind everything was clearly Crocodile, one of the Seven Warlords.
The core of this meeting was to discuss the follow-up arrangements after removing Crocodile from the Seven Warlords list.
At the same time, it would also serve as a warning and pressure tactic for the remaining Warlords.
At this moment, Doflamingo, who was above Mary Geoise, also received the notice to attend the meeting.
But he was full of disdain for it and had no intention of attending at all.
After all, the shady things he did in secret were not much different from Crocodile's deeds.
The only difference was that Dressrosa, which he currently controlled, had originally belonged to his family.
With that in mind, Doflamingo directly refused the request to attend.
Instead, he used the power of his String-String Fruit to manipulate the clouds and sped toward Mock Town.
At the same time, Katakuri had already completed the coating work for his ship and was preparing to pass through Fish-Man Island, cross the Red Line, and head to the first half of the Grand Line.
Among all these people, only Garp was restrained by this order, unable to move.
…
On the deck of the Merry, Luffy had his eyes covered with cloth.
He grimaced in pain and shouted, "AH—OW, OW, OW! THAT HURTS! IT REALLY HURTS!"
As he spoke, he yanked off the cloth and looked at Ace in confusion.
"Ace, can you really train Haki like this?"
Ace nodded, then raised a hand and pointed toward Zoro and Sanji not far away.
"Look at them, they're learning from Cain right now."
Cain's hands were wrapped in Armament Haki, and his fists shot out like a violent storm.
At the same time, he shouted like a madman.
"ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA! MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA!"
Zoro and Sanji had already been beaten until smoke was rising from their nostrils.
They lay flat on the deck, stiff as boards, mouths open, eyes shut, and their mouths twitching.
They had completely lost all their strength!
Seeing this, Ace smiled at Luffy.
"If this doesn't work, you could always try Cain's method too."
Luffy glanced at the two sprawled on the ground and quickly waved his hands.
"Uhhhhhh, never mind!"
"THIS IS WAY TOO UNRELIABLE! WHO LEARNS HAKI BY GETTING BEATEN UP?!"
Sanji lay on the deck and sighed mournfully, red slap-like marks still visible on his face.
"Heh. You're complaining over just this much?"
Cain folded his arms and chuckled.
"Back then, my old man beat me for three days and three nights before I finally figured out the basics of Haki."
'That's way too terrifying!'
Chopper and Usopp clung tightly to each other in fright, staring wide-eyed at Zoro and Sanji lying on the deck.
They secretly felt very lucky that they had not joined in on this mess!
On the other side, Nami was talking with Viola, listening to the disaster that had once befallen her country.
Although Nami wanted to help, she was absolutely not the type of overly kind person who ignored priorities.
Back when they helped Vivi, that had only happened because of many coincidences and circumstances lining up together.
Now, they had only just defeated one Warlord.
They were not inflated enough with confidence to dare provoke another Warlord right away.
"So that's how it is… I'm very sorry. My request was far too selfish."
Viola lowered her head, her tone filled with guilt.
"I had originally thought of offering you a large sum of money, but I didn't expect that even you wouldn't have confidence in defeating Doflamingo."
The instant Nami heard the words "large sum of money," and then thought of Viola's status as a princess, her eyes immediately sparkled. She spoke gently,
"No, if you truly need us, we're still willing to help—of course, only within the range of what we're capable of."
She neither shut the conversation down nor quietly let go of her boundaries.
"AHHH—!"
A sharp cry suddenly cut through the noise on the deck, instantly drawing everyone's attention.
Everyone immediately rushed toward the cabin entrance. The fastest one was Cain.
That was Uta's voice.
Following the sound, everyone looked over and saw Nico Robin sitting cross-legged in a corner, seriously reading a book.
Her sudden appearance had startled Uta badly!
Seeing this, Cain quickly shielded Uta behind him and comforted her.
"Are you here to avenge Baroque Works? If you've got the guts, come at me!"
Zoro instantly tensed, his hand pressing against his sword hilt as he prepared to draw.
"WHY ARE YOU HERE?!" Nami shouted in horror.
Sanji, meanwhile, had hearts in his eyes and had already fallen into lovestruck mode, his gaze stuck firmly on Robin and unable to move away.
"ENEMY ATTACK! ENEMY ATTACK!"
Usopp raised a megaphone, his voice trembling with fear.
Everyone reacted so strongly because Nico Robin had previously been one of Crocodile's core fighters.
Now that she had suddenly appeared on the ship, it was only natural for everyone to be on guard.
Only Luffy looked completely puzzled.
He scratched his head and said, "So you're still alive."
Robin did not mind at all.
She slowly reclined on the seat beside her and said calmly,
"After all, you made me suffer an unbearable blow. So, you must compensate me."
"Let me become your companion."
Everyone quickly grabbed Luffy and began asking all at once what had happened.
After Luffy's stumbling explanation, everyone finally learned that during the final battle with Crocodile, Robin had been suddenly attacked by Crocodile.
After that, severely wounded and wishing for death, she had been rescued by Luffy at the critical moment.
Then Robin slowly recounted her past.
At eight years old, she had already become an archaeologist.
But because of certain events, she had been given a bounty by the World Government.
After that, she had hidden her name and identity for twenty years, constantly evading pursuit.
A young girl could not possibly sail the sea alone.
Out of helplessness, she had joined Crocodile's organization to seek protection. Everything she had done had been beyond her control.
After listening to her story, Luffy immediately agreed to let her join.
He accepted her one hundred percent!
Sanji naturally had no objections either. Although the others had more or less some doubts, Robin resolved them one by one with either words or actions.
As for Ace, who was not part of the Straw Hat Pirates, she simply skipped over him and ignored him.
Finally, everyone's gazes landed on Zoro, and on Cain, the 'unofficial' member of the Straw Hat crew.
Cain shook his head.
"Aren't you all forgetting something? Don't we have a little too many people on this ship now? The Merry is too small. It can't hold this many people."
He looked at Luffy, his tone serious.
"Luffy, I actualy wanted to bring this up with you for a long time. Now is the perfect time to say it."
"Although you all cherish this ship, you've never truly understood how to take care of it. Back when we crossed Reverse Mountain, if I hadn't protected it, the Merry would have already been damaged in the rapids."
"Once we reach the New World in the second half of the Grand Line, the situation will only become more complicated. You'll recruit more companions, and plenty of people will temporarily stay on the ship. With just the Merry alone, there's no way to fit that many people."
"You all have your own dreams, but the Merry can no longer accompany you into the end."
Cain's voice was steady and powerful.
"Luffy, you need a bigger, sturdier ship."
This was the reason that, after Cain returned from Elegia, even though he silently accepted Shanks's request, he still chose to remain with the Straw Hat crew.
This was the true purpose behind bringing Uta here and continuing to travel with Luffy.
Not only because of Ace, but also because of the Merry.
Even if Cain protected it and the Merry could temporarily remain intact, without a ship like the Thousand Sunny, Luffy would eventually struggle to handle the battles of the future.
And Cain's goal was to "take" the Merry from Luffy's hands.
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