"Starting a family???"
Cain clutched the spot on his head that had just been hit, while Uta beside him tilted her head in perfect sync.
Both of them wore the same blank, adorably confused expression as they blurted out,
"Who is?"
"WHO ELSE COULD IT BE BESIDES YOU TWO?!"
Garp raised his hand and delivered another solid knuckle to Cain's head, knocking up a second bump that sat diagonally opposite the first.
Then he roared in irritation, "OR WHAT? DID LINLIN DECIDE TO GET MARRIED AGAIN?!"
"That…"
Cain covered both bumps on his head with his hands and turned to look at Uta, just in time to meet her eyes.
They saw the exact same confusion reflected in each other's gaze, then turned together toward Shanks and asked, "Is that really true, Shanks?"
"Yeah. Today… no, I guess it was yesterday morning, we received an invitation from the Big Mom Pirates. It was for your wedding."
Shanks nodded, took the wedding invitation from his pocket, and explained from start to finish why they had come here and how they had ended up running into Marine Hero Garp.
After Cain and Uta listened, they immediately understood what Chiffon had meant by the banquet conspiracy.
But no matter what, neither of them had expected that the conspiracy would turn out to be a wedding prepared for the two of them.
At the same time, they turned their gazes toward Katakuri, who had been paying close attention to the situation from the side, wanting confirmation from him.
Meeting their eyes, Katakuri first glanced at Big mom who's not far away, who had finally gotten to eat the cake she had been craving and had now fallen into a deep sleep.
Then he immediately stepped forward, lowered his head, and apologized.
"I'm truly sorry, Cain, Uta. We used both of you in this matter. I apologize."
At this point, the truth had already been exposed.
Red-Hair and his crew had also arrived, which meant the plan had completely failed. There was no possibility of continuing it anymore.
Seeing this, Garp and Shanks also understood that Cain and Uta had known nothing about the matter, and all the doubts they had been holding earlier disappeared with that.
Cain, however, was still completely dazed.
Used or not used, he did not understand any of that.
How had this somehow turned into people arranging a wedding for them?
But when the original Vinsmoke family incident flashed through his mind did Cain barely manage to sort out the rough idea.
Most likely, Big Mom had her eyes on the Red Hair Pirates and wanted to use marriage to bind them to her.
But his old man had suddenly barged into the New World, accidentally making them arrive in Totto Land even faster.
But when it really came to marriage, Cain subconsciously glanced at Uta beside him.
Immediately afterward, his Observation Haki began screaming wildly, and a chill shot up his spine.
He jerked his head around and happened to meet the fierce, murderous eyes of the Red Hair Pirates, all of them staring fixedly at him.
Now he finally understood why those guys had treated him like that earlier!
"Cain!! What are you thinking about? Don't tell me… you don't want to marry me?"
Uta suddenly leaned close to his ear and spoke in a drawn-out tone.
Cain shivered and immediately turned back, waving his hands repeatedly.
"N-No, that's not it, I…"
Before he could finish, a furry hand landed heavily on his shoulder.
It was Monster, the monkey.
Behind him stood Limejuice and a whole group of Red Hair Pirates officers, all cracking their knuckles with vicious looks in their eyes.
"BRAT! HOW DO YOU WANT TO DIE?!"
"HEY! MONSTER, DON'T MAKE TROUBLE HERE!"
Uta immediately stepped forward.
With a slight pinch of her fingers, Monster was instantly lifted into the air by an invisible force.
Then she turned and swept her gaze across the Red Hair Pirates, her voice turn cold.
"And the rest of you too!"
"Uta-chan, we…"
The Red Hair Pirates wanted to say something, but the moment they thought of what had happened back in Elegia, the words all jammed in their throats.
None of them knew how to speak.
Uta was holding back anger too.
Even if they had left back then to protect her, all the loneliness and pain she had suffered over the years could never be brushed aside with one simple "it was for your own good."
So…
Uta snapped her fingers.
The next second, aside from Monster, who was still dangling in midair, and Shanks beside her, huge full-coverage helmet headphones appeared out of nowhere on the heads of every Red Hair Pirate present.
As for the design of those headphones, they were naturally printed with Luffy's big carefree face in full detail.
Since these were headphones meant for "brainwashing," of course she had to choose the most impactful style.
Then Luffy's iconic off-key singing blasted at maximum volume.
"The island in the south is so warm! The pineapples are tasty, and my head gets hot! Stupid idiot, the island in the north! It's so cold, and the carp are tasty! My head is freezing, stupid idiot!"
That demonic melody poured violently into everyone's ears!
Even if their physiques could withstand the deafening volume, they could not withstand that virus-like tune that refused to leave, wildly corroding their hopes for beautiful music.
Back on Skypiea, Uta had been forced to listen to Luffy's entire song.
Now, she had returned that "unforgettable" torture to this group exactly as she had received it.
Seeing everyone crouch on the ground, clutching their heads and wailing as they desperately tried and failed to pull the headphones off, Uta smiled in satisfaction.
Then she turned back to Cain, lifted her chin, and said,
"All right. You can keep talking now, Cain!"
After seeing the miserable state of the Red Hair Pirates, Garp and Katakuri both looked at Cain at the same time, and their gazes carried the same hint of sympathy for his future.
Even Jinbe and several of the Charlotte brothers looked at him the same way.
With so many eyes suddenly fixed on him, Cain swallowed. A thin layer of sweat had already formed in his palm.
He did want to marry Uta.
But all of this had come too suddenly.
Wasn't it a little too early?
But if he said that directly, would it…
Cain's thoughts were a mess.
The alcohol had already cleared completely, yet his head still felt heavy, and for a long time, he did not know how to speak.
After a moment of silence, he slowly took a deep breath and pressed down the panic in his heart bit by bit.
His gaze passed over everyone and landed directly in Uta's eyes.
His voice softened, and he spoke word by word.
"Of course I want to marry you, Uta. But marriage is another stage of life. There are still so many things we should do together as a couple first…"
"I still haven't taken you on a world tour. I haven't let the whole world hear the songs of the greatest diva standing beside me."
"I haven't kissed you above a sea of clouds twenty thousand feet in the sky. I haven't knelt properly on one knee in a field covered with rose petals and proposed to you with all my heart."
"And I still want to be like an ordinary couple with you. I want us to argue unreasonably over tiny, meaningless things, clumsily make up, argue again, make up again, and experience all those small, noisy, ordinary days one by one."
"I want to do all of those things with you. I want us to walk every road we're supposed to walk."
"I don't want your wedding to be a calculated conspiracy arranged by someone else for their own purpose. When you marry me, I want you to be happy and willing. I want it to be only because you want to marry me, and for no other reason."
Uta stared at him in a daze.
Her tightly clenched fingers slowly loosened, and the tips of her ears quietly turned red.
Cain looked at her, his tone growing even more solemn.
"Right now, even if many people accept us being together, there are still plenty of people who oppose it. Even if you don't care, I can't let you bear that with me. I'll use my strength and my resolve to earn their recognition!"
Watching this from the side, Shanks could not stop the corner of his mouth from rising.
'The heart that had been hanging in suspense for so long finally settled.'
'This Cain brat…'
'What he said was actually pretty good.'
'If Uta is with you, then I can also—'
'…Wait.'
In that instant, Shanks felt as if his long-lost left arm was fiercely slapping him across the face while roaring like mad.
'How did you agree so easily, you bastard?!'
Shanks hurriedly came back to himself and put on a serious expression.
Cain met Shanks' gaze as well.
He glanced at the Red Hair Pirates, who were still wailing, then looked back at Uta and spoke again.
"So I can't acknowledge this forced wedding arranged by someone else. But I promise Uta that one day, I'll give her a wedding that belongs only to the two of us, and one that everyone will accept!"
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