"A-la-la-la-la-la-la! Oh, Papa! You're here!"
The moment Bella saw Cain approaching, she flew straight toward him.
Hearing her, Uta turned around as well.
Cain walked over with Bella and sat down beside Uta.
The two gazed out at the sea without saying anything, while Bella flew in circles above their heads.
Uta glanced sideways at Cain.
Seeing that he was still silently watching the water, she turned away again.
A short while later, she looked back.
Cain had not moved at all.
So Uta grabbed his hand, pulled his arm closer, and opened her mouth to bite him.
"Uta… don't."
Cain pressed his palm against her forehead and held her back.
"You know how tough my skin is. If you bite me like that, you'll only hurt your teeth."
"Hmph. It's your fault for sitting there without saying anything. How am I supposed to start a conversation?"
Uta released his arm.
Cain scratched the back of his head.
"I was only trying to respect your feelings. If you didn't want to talk about it, I wasn't going to force you."
"I wouldn't have minded if you asked."
Uta stretched out her legs, pulled Bella over, and rested the little cloud on her lap.
"Time passes so quickly. I don't know how I'm supposed to act around Shanks anymore."
"There were so many things I could do when I was little that I can't do now."
"I can't spend every day clinging to him like I used to. Shanks may look exactly the same, but… some things simply aren't possible anymore."
"Even so, I still wish our relationship could go back to the way it was."
Bella lay on Uta's lap and spoke quietly.
"Will Bella grow up too? Will Bella become distant from Mama and Papa?"
"Bella doesn't want that. Bella wants to stay with Mama and Papa forever."
Uta lowered her head and looked into Bella's eyes.
"Don't worry, Bella. Mama and Papa will always stay beside you."
"Mm-hmm. Mama and Papa would never lie."
Cain turned his gaze back toward the waves and answered what Uta had said.
"As people grow older, they have more things to think about. Naturally, the way they interact with each other changes too."
"That isn't your fault, and it isn't Shanks' fault either."
Uta looked down at her own palm and remembered her childhood.
Back then, she had been so small that she could only cling to the leg of Shanks' trousers.
Whenever she raised her head, his face had always been right there above her.
Cain continued watching the sea.
"This is only my personal opinion, but I don't think you need to worry so much."
"People often make things far more complicated than they really are. Once you separate the problem into smaller pieces and sort through them one by one, you'll usually realize it was never anything that serious."
Hearing that, Uta suddenly felt much lighter.
She rested her head against Cain's shoulder.
"Like how I used to overthink everything because I didn't understand what kind of feelings I had for you?"
"Uh… more or less."
Cain thought for a moment and nodded.
The instant he answered, Uta grabbed his wrist and pulled his arm around herself.
She snuggled deeper into his embrace, her voice becoming soft.
"Hold me properly."
"If someone steals me away one day because you weren't paying attention, I'm not going to come running back on my own."
"Haha, that'll never happen. Who would dare take you away from me?"
Cain laughed softly and tightened his arm around her.
"What if it's Shanks?"
Uta looked up at him, deliberately drawing out the question.
"In that case, I'll steal you back."
Cain raised an eyebrow, but there was unmistakable seriousness beneath his teasing tone.
"And this time, I'll never return you."
"Hahaha!"
Uta burst into laughter.
The two laughed together while Bella looked back and forth from Uta's lap, completely out of place in the romantic atmosphere.
She had no idea what they found so funny and could only remain still while Uta gently stroked her cloud body.
…
As the sun slowly descended, night quietly settled over the island.
Cain and Uta spent the evening talking about amusing stories from their childhood.
Bella listened with interest at first, but Cain kept rambling through long explanations about their various rules and all the shameless tricks Luffy used to pull.
Before long, she fell asleep just like Luffy used to.
Cain pointed toward the distant mountains.
"That's Mount Colubo. Dadan lives there."
"Luffy and I met Ace there, and we stayed in those mountains for a long time."
"And there was Sabo too. Ace brought us to the Gray Terminal, and that's where we met him."
"I wonder what the place looks like now. We should go visit when we have time."
"Mm-hmm, sure!"
Uta's eyes brightened before she suddenly changed the subject.
"Come to think of it, Cain… I don't think I've ever been inside your house."
"When we were kids, Grandpa Garp was around, so the entire Red Hair crew and I were always hiding from him."
"But now I'm finally qualified to visit your home, right?"
"Of course you are."
Cain smiled and nodded.
The two began walking hand in hand toward Cain's house, with Bella sleeping peacefully on top of his head.
Along the way, Uta kept feeling that something was strange.
"Cain, ever since I came back, something has felt different."
She pointed toward the distance.
"Is it my imagination, or is that mountain smaller than I remember?"
Cain followed her gaze toward the oddly shaped ridge and nodded.
"You're not imagining it. There used to be a tall mountain there."
"After you left, I told Grandpa that I wanted to become stronger, so he gave me a demonstration."
"He flattened the entire mountain with one punch."
Cain paused, then added with a helpless smile,
"It terrified me at the time."
"But now… I could probably destroy a mountain too."
"Your hands must have hurt."
Uta pulled his hand closer and gently traced her fingertips across its back.
Even with the support of his Devil Fruit powers, Cain's hands still carried clear marks left by the years.
The wounds that had once split his skin apart, the bones that had shattered and healed over and over again, had all become scars of different depths across his knuckles and the back of his hand.
"They don't hurt anymore."
Cain squeezed her hand in return and gave her a reassuring look.
Uta tightened her fingers around his.
They continued walking until they arrived in front of a house.
"Oh… we're here."
Cain led Uta onto the porch and casually lifted the doormat, pulling out the spare key hidden beneath it.
With a quiet click, the door opened.
A clean and orderly interior greeted them, clearly the result of the village mayor tidying the place up earlier that afternoon.
Cain took Uta inside, while Bella continued sleeping soundly atop his head.
Uta gently closed the door behind them.
Then she paused and leaned against the hallway doorframe.
Her eyes curved mischievously as she deliberately drew out her words.
"Welcome home, darling."
"Would you like dinner first? A bath first? Or…"
Cain instantly froze.
His ears turned bright red.
He hurriedly raised both hands to protect the half-asleep Bella on top of his head and whispered urgently,
"The child is still here!"
…
At Makino's bar, warm golden light and lively laughter kept the chill of the night outside.
Shanks was holding a large glass of freshly squeezed juice and cheerfully clinking glasses with the villagers when he suddenly sneezed loudly.
He rubbed his aching nose.
The smile on his face faded, and his brow furrowed instinctively.
An inexplicable sense of danger suddenly rose from the depths of his heart and crawled up his spine, leaving him strangely restless.
"What was that?"
He lowered his glass and muttered in confusion.
"Why do I suddenly feel like something terrible is happening? My Observation Haki isn't sensing anything unusual."
Benn Beckman leaned against a nearby pillar with a cigarette between his lips. He raised his eyelids and casually ruined the mood.
"Someone's probably talking about you behind your back."
Shanks rubbed his chin.
The more he thought about it, the more suspicious he became, and Cain's face immediately appeared in his mind.
He clicked his tongue and grumbled,
"Don't tell me… that brat Cain is using that strange Observation Haki technique of his again."