"So, the old man has already gone to the New World?" Cain asked tentatively.
Hearing that, Ace shook his head, clearly indicating that was not the case.
Law then continued,
"Mm… no. After you passed out, Katakuri received a call from the Big Mom Pirates, ordering him to bring you back to Totto Land as soon as possible."
"But your condition was too sudden at the time. Luffy-ya absolutely wouldn't have agreed to let him take you away, so the two sides ended up locked in a stalemate."
"With no other choice, I used that move and swapped the personalities of everyone present. That way, we could delay the time before you were taken away. But because your exhaustion wasn't only physical, but mental as well, you didn't even notice that your body had been swapped."
Only then did Cain suddenly understand.
No wonder everyone had been acting like that earlier.
He raised his head and continued asking,
"Everyone present… meaning you all got swapped too?"
Rayleigh smiled and nodded.
"That's right. We all swapped. Me and Shakky, Katakuri and Marco, and Gloriosa and the gorilla."
"Hey, don't bring that up right now, Rayleigh!"
Gloriosa hurriedly cut him off.
"Sorry, sorry."
Rayleigh chuckled and continued,
"That's roughly what happened. Marco was the first to switch back. After he learned of Ace's decision, he immediately rushed to the New World. Of course, he was also the one who helped analyze the loopholes in the Marines' Warlord contract. As for the rest of us, we only switched back one day earlier than you two."
Cain silently nodded.
So Marco had done it.
Then again, that made sense.
If Ace had been able to see through the loopholes in that contract on his own, that would have been a miracle.
"Oh, right. Sengoku and Garp swapped bodies too, but they still haven't switched back yet," Rayleigh added. "Though judging from the way Sengoku looked when he left, he seemed to be enjoying it quite a lot."
Hearing this, and then imagining the absurd situation of his old man swapping bodies with Fleet Admiral Sengoku, Cain could already picture Garp's current circumstances very clearly in his mind.
…
At that moment, inside the temporary office at Marine Headquarters, the atmosphere was especially interesting.
Sengoku, currently using Garp's body, was happily eating a doughnut in his hand, looking smugly at Garp as he worked busily in front of him. Inside, he was utterly delighted.
'Who told you that you're the Fleet Admiral now, Garp? Hahahaha.'
Although both of them could use Haki to undo the effect, they were not certain what would happen if one person used Haki while the other did not.
To avoid any accidents, neither of them tried using Haki.
The real reason was simply that Sengoku had no intention of switching back yet. He wanted to borrow Garp's body for a few more days and get some proper rest, dragging things out until now. During this period, Sengoku had been enjoying himself immensely.
Garp was currently sitting in Sengoku's position, handling the mountain of official documents.
At the very least, he had been a Vice Admiral for many years, so he did have some experience processing paperwork.
Although the final decision-making still had to be handled by Sengoku, this had genuinely made Sengoku's life much easier.
On top of that, being able to eat Garp's doughnuts without restraint felt absolutely wonderful.
"I say, Sengoku, haven't you thought about switching back? What are we supposed to do if things stay like this? This old man still has to go to the New World and hold the fort! What, do you want to go instead?"
Garp asked helplessly while handling documents.
"I'm not going."
Sengoku bit into a doughnut and spoke indistinctly.
"You don't need to worry about that. That brat Law talked with me before. He has plans to become a Warlord, and I gave him a temporary appointment document. As long as he proves his strength, he can take the position, so the Marines won't stop him from coming over for now."
"When the time comes, we can just call him over and have him undo this for us. So I'll be troubling you for a while, Garp. Crunch, crunch."
"Hahaha, I finally understand how you felt back then. This is fantastic!"
After finishing the doughnut in his hand, Sengoku casually picked up another one. Garp's tea had also been brewed beside him. He stretched lazily, his face full of satisfaction.
"Stop eating my doughnuts. One day, you're going to regret this, Sengoku!"
"You're the Fleet Admiral now, Garp. Puhahahahaha!"
…
The discussion on Cain's side was still continuing.
Cain now understood the cause and effect.
Because of Law's body-swapping operation, Katakuri had no choice but to repeatedly reconsider how to smoothly bring him back to Totto Land.
Until yesterday, when Katakuri received news that Big Mom had returned to Totto Land and suffered a craving fit, forcing him to leave alone.
Before leaving, Katakuri had left behind an Eternal Pose.
He still believed that Cain would honor their promise.
Looking at the Eternal Pose handed to him, Cain felt deeply conflicted. Even at this point, Katakuri still trusted him that much. He was genuinely touched.
Then his head suddenly felt heavier.
Uta rested her chin lightly on the top of his head and spoke softly.
"So, Cain, are you still going to that place called Totto Land?"
"Mm! Of course I'm going. Not for myself, but for you, Uta."
"For me?"
Only then did Cain suddenly remember that he had never told Uta about the next part of his journey.
He immediately became flustered and hurriedly explained everything, carefully telling her why he needed to go to Totto Land.
When he got to Pudding, he was afraid Uta might misunderstand and hastily defended himself again and again.
Uta only smiled softly and reached out to hug him tightly.
"It's okay. I understand."
"Eh, really?!"
"Of course. After all, your body is with me right now. Now that it's in my hands, you won't be escaping that easily."
Cain instinctively hugged "his own" body tightly, his voice trembling slightly.
"I don't have to run away, but can you please stop touching your 'own' body like that? If something really ends up happening and a life gets made, Shanks will definitely kill me!"
"Shanks won't be the only one killing you."
Shakky exhaled a puff of smoke and spoke calmly.
"Rayleigh and I will too."
"Don't say such dangerous things with that perfectly natural expression! I know you probably won't really kill me, but it still feels terrifying, okay?!"
"Hahaha, I'm just joking."
Uta smiled and tilted her head, looking at Cain as he turned back toward her.
"Besides, I can tell. There's no lie in Cain's eyes."
Cain instinctively blushed, his heartbeat speeding up.
It was not because he was embarrassed by seeing his own face, but because of this body's instinctive reaction.
As a result, even Cain himself was affected.
He hurriedly covered his cheeks and muttered,
"Using my own face to act cute is way too unfair!"
Law silently rolled his eyes and grumbled inwardly.
'Hey, hey, you two are seriously enough already!'
Shakky held a cigarette between her fingers and thought to herself,
'Even after swapping bodies, they can still show off their love so brazenly? The younger generation's view of romance really is strange.'
Yamato stood to the side with her arms folded, completely unconcerned about Ace sitting on her shoulders.
She silently sighed in admiration.
'As expected of Pink Beast Cain, the strongest of the new pirate rookies.'
That was almost the thought of everyone present.
Rayleigh, on the other hand, offered no comment.
He had long since seen through matters like this, though a little dissatisfaction still lingered in his heart.
Uta had already started calling him Grandpa, only to be snatched away by this brat in the blink of an eye!
And this brat was even his "disciple."
Luffy, meanwhile, did not notice anything unusual at all and simply started gnawing on the fruit beside him.
Hancock, however, was blushing as her gaze clung to Luffy.
As if sensing her stare, Luffy broke off a banana from the one in his hand and offered it to her.
"Want some?"
Those three short words instantly left Ace and Cain completely stunned.
Luffy was actually sharing his food?