Cain slammed heavily into the bathhouse ceiling.
Then, pulled down by gravity, he dropped straight back into the faintly pink pool.
He flailed his arms hard beneath the surface and finally managed to steady himself enough to stand.
At that moment, his brain was in a half-shutdown state. The scenery before his eyes kept overlapping and swaying.
Because the image he had just seen had been far too powerful, the heat inside his nose still had not stopped. Blood continued pouring out endlessly.
"Cain! You… what's wrong? Don't scare me!"
Uta's voice echoed through the spacious bathhouse, clearly carrying panic.
She had been caught in the shyness and anticipation brought about by her own bold action, but she had never expected Cain's physical reaction to be this intense.
No longer caring about anything else, she quickly used both arms to cover the important parts of her body and rushed toward Cain.
"Don't… don't come over…"
Cain pressed one hand tightly over his mouth and nose while desperately retreating.
His body had already reached its limit.
It felt as if all the blood in his body had been pulled by some unseen force and was rushing madly toward his head—both of them.
"But you're bleeding so much! And didn't you hit your head just now?"
Uta had already rushed close, her voice filled with worry.
In her memory, this was the first time she had ever seen Cain lose this much blood.
That vivid red looked especially alarming against the white background, even more shocking than the sight of Cain bleeding all over back in God Valley.
"Don't come over! Uta, I'm begging you, put your clothes on first!"
Cain's voice had grown extremely hoarse.
His gaze kept flickering between desire and reason, between wanting to look and not daring to look.
"I understand." Uta answered, then turned around.
She bent down and reached beneath the pink surface, searching for the bath towel that had fallen earlier.
As she bent over, everything behind her came fully into Cain's line of sight without the slightest cover.
Cain's face went from flushed red to ashen white in an instant.
In his eyes, he gradually saw heaven, and the angel welcoming him was Shanks with a murderous glare, looking like a demon from hell.
A chilling sensation rushed over him.
Cain seemed to foresee some inevitable ending.
He slowly closed his eyes, his tone carrying a kind of calm acceptance after seeing through life and death.
"Uta…" [3]
"Actually, on that wall…" [2]
"There are bathrobes prepared…" [1]
Before Cain could finish the last few words, the image of Uta's back as she bent over instantly filled his entire brain, and the pressure inside his nose completely erupted.
This time, the force was far greater than before.
Bright red liquid sprayed out violently!
Under the massive recoil, Cain's body lifted upward again, his head embedding straight into the ceiling.
He hung there in midair, his body swaying slightly with the hot steam in the bathhouse.
"CAIN!"
Uta no longer cared about retrieving the towel from the water. She screamed, jumped up, and reached for Cain's dangling legs.
After quite a while, Cain was finally pulled and dragged down by Uta.
The two of them leaned exhaustedly against the edge of the bath.
Uta had already changed into a loose, pure-white bathrobe.
The collar was pulled tightly closed, her damp hair fell over her shoulders, and tiny beads of sweat still clung to the tip of her nose.
She brought over a cold towel and pressed it firmly against the back of Cain's neck and the bridge of his nose, her movements gentle.
"Hold it there for a while and it should stop. Just now… I'm sorry. I didn't think it would turn out like this."
Uta spoke softly, her eyes fixed on the red dots staining the towel.
"No, my self-control just wasn't good enough."
Cain pressed the towel against his nose.
After keeping the cold cloth there for a while, he looked at Uta's face, flushed from the steam, and her lips pressed together in worry.
His thoughts kept spinning.
He was obviously a decent person.
He was not lustful, and he did not fool around with other women. From beginning to end, there had only ever been Uta in his heart.
Could it be that all of his "H-factor" had been concentrated entirely on Uta?
Then, after adding the scene from earlier, it had all detonated at one single point, causing him to lose control and erupt like this?
This was even more embarrassing than Sanji two years later.
If just seeing her was already enough to make him like this, how was he supposed to actually do anything in the future?
Was he really going to have to close his eyes and lie there while Uta took the lead herself?
No way!
…
With Cain's recovery ability, the nosebleed soon stopped.
The impulse that might have caused him to "take off" again was also forcefully suppressed beneath the dam of reason.
"Hah… I'm alive again."
Cain let out a long breath, feeling the blood in his nose finally clot.
At this point, the milk bath could no longer be used.
The bathwater that had originally been milky white had become a faint, ambiguous pink because of the "tragedy" just now.
The two of them tacitly avoided eye contact and got up together, walking toward the shower area nearby.
The bathhouse design was full of the Big Mom Pirates' signature style. Even the shower area had a sweet, fairy-tale feeling to it.
They entered neighboring shower stalls, separated only by a semi-transparent gauze curtain.
When Cain saw that there were no mirrors here, he immediately breathed a sigh of relief, afraid someone might peep.
Through the curtain, which had become almost transparent after getting wet, Cain could faintly see Uta's hazy outline.
After he finished cleaning himself, he used cold water to rinse himself down.
"Um… Cain?"
Uta's tentative voice suddenly came from next door.
"Mm? What's wrong?"
"The milk seems a little hard to wash out. My hair keeps feeling sticky…"
Uta's voice grew quieter.
"Can you… come over and help me comb it out? I can't really see the back myself."
Cain's movements stiffened.
He rigidly wrapped his bathrobe properly and confirmed that there were no signs of "leakage" from his nose before walking into Uta's stall.
Uta was already sitting on a special washing stool with her back to him.
A small part of her bathrobe had been soaked by water and clung to her back. Her half-red, half-white hair fell damply over her shoulders.
Seeing that Uta was properly covered, Cain finally relaxed. He threw every messy thought in his head far away.
He took the comb, ran his fingers through Uta's hair, and carefully helped clean and smooth it.
Time seemed to quiet down.
The only sounds were their breathing and the steady rush of flowing water.
Everything was still, peaceful, quiet, and faintly intimate.
"Hey, Cain. Aren't you going to say something?"
Uta spoke first, feeling the pressure of his fingers sliding through her hair as she gently leaned back toward the man behind her.
"…Beautiful."
"What?"
"I said beautiful. You just now…"
"Stop, stop, stop! That's not what I wanted to hear!"
Uta quickly stopped Cain before he could continue.
Blushing, she changed the subject and spoke in a soft, warm voice.
"I mean this feeling right now… it's really nice… quiet, simple, and happy. Just you and me, here in this place…"
She paused and looked around, a trace of wonder flashing through her eyes.
"This is clearly a pirate's main base, but it feels like a fairy tale here… candy houses, biscuit roads, even a bath made of milk. It's so magical it's hard to believe."
Cain looked at the red-and-white strands gradually becoming smooth in his hands and said softly,
"Yeah. If this place weren't pirate territory, it would probably be a dreamlike, perfect kingdom. Just like the final destination of your dream."
Cain knew this.
Becoming the world's greatest songstress was only Uta's beginning.
Her true wish—or rather, the end point of her dream—was to bring happiness to the world through her songs and create a New Genesis without sorrow or conflict.
Hearing this, Uta turned her head slightly. Her amethyst-like eyes lifted and looked straight at Cain.
"That seems to overlap with your dream, doesn't it? After all, a simple ordinary life is already a happiness many people can't obtain right now. Ah, this topic got a little too heavy… But no matter what, a happy life usually requires people to work hard for it, doesn't it?"
She paused, then a sly yet gentle curve appeared at the corner of her mouth.
"Just like this peace we have now. We worked hard to 'steal' it from the territory of a Four Emperor. As long as you're by my side, even if this is the territory of a Four Emperor, to me, it's still a fairy-tale world that belongs only to you and me!"
Cain's hands stopped moving.
He looked at Uta's serious eyes, and his heartbeat, which had finally calmed down, seemed to grow restless again.
Only this time, it did not rush anywhere else.
It was simply his heart beating faster!