"What are you standing around for? Go change your clothes. Nobody here is going to help you out of those white strawberry panties."
Cain tossed Sanji's lighter toward him.
Sanji was far too distracted to catch it. He hurriedly looked down at himself and sighed in relief when he saw that he was still wearing his suit.
Then he noticed what was underneath.
"Why am I still wearing these?! Ow!"
Every piece of strawberry-patterned women's underwear remained neatly in place beneath his suit.
Too busy panicking, Sanji failed to notice the lighter flying toward him until it struck him squarely in the face.
"Of course you are. Ivankov changed your clothes for you," Cain said, raising an eyebrow. "You should be grateful anyone helped at all. Did you expect him to change your panties too?"
"Caroline would probably be happy to help. Should I call him?"
"No, no, that won't be necessary!"
Sanji picked up his lighter and frantically waved both hands in refusal.
Then he hurried over to Cain and bowed his head with extraordinary politeness.
"My beautiful lady, may I ask your name? I cannot thank you enough for rescuing me. Without your help, I might still be trapped inside that cage of depravity. I have no way to repay you except to offer—"
"Hiya!"
Afraid something horrifying would come out of his mouth, Cain brought a hand-chop down on his head.
"What the hell are you doing? You still haven't figured out who I am?"
Cain demonstrated the technique she had once used to light his cigarette. She breathed out a tiny fireball, gathered it on her fingertip, then extinguished it with a pinch.
Sanji's lecherous expression vanished.
He stumbled back three steps, staring at her as though he had seen a ghost.
"Y-y-y-you're Cain?!"
"That's right. It's me."
"Then the person who came with you—the one with that hair—"
"That was Uta."
Sanji stared at her in terror.
The Cain he remembered was an overwhelmingly powerful man. It was almost impossible to connect him with the impossibly beautiful, tall woman standing before him—with her long legs, shapely backside, and everything else equally oversized.
Then Sanji remembered Ivankov's powers and quickly pieced the situation together.
Unfortunately, that also meant remembering how shamelessly he had stared at Cain earlier.
His frightened expression instantly transformed into pure delight, his face changing faster than someone turning a page.
He lunged toward Cain as though she were his savior.
Cain vanished from his reach.
Sanji still attempted to cling to her leg, but Cain stepped on his approaching hand and pinned it firmly to the floor.
"Don't even try."
She ground her heel down harder, unwilling to let Sanji take advantage of her.
Sanji grimaced as the back of his hand scraped painfully against the floor, but he still began wailing with tears in his voice.
"Take me away from this island, Cain! I'm begging you!"
"If I were still a woman, I might have survived here, but you turned me back into a man! How am I supposed to live now?!"
"Two years! I have to spend two whole years surrounded by okama!"
"I'll die! Please take me with you!"
By the end, Sanji was practically howling, his eyes turning red.
"Hey, weren't you thanking me a second ago? What happened to all that gratitude?"
Cain's head began to ache.
Leaving Sanji here really was cruel, but she could not simply take him away either.
If he ran back to Sabaody Archipelago and tried to find the Straw Hats' ship halfway through his training, everything would be ruined.
In the end, Cain sighed helplessly and softened her tone slightly.
"Forget about leaving. That isn't happening."
"NO! Cain, this is all your fault!"
"You turned me back to normal, and now you're abandoning me! Look at you acting all noble and righteous!"
Still trapped beneath Cain's foot, Sanji screamed through his tears,
"Do you have any idea what kind of torture I've suffered here?! I almost became completely useless—an okama!"
"I only want to leave this island one step at a time! I only want to survive!"
Faced with his despair, Cain came up with an idea.
She told Sanji that if he endured the training, she would leave him a Den Den Mushi and introduce him to a girl.
At least he would have something to keep him from losing all hope on the island.
Whether anything came of it would depend entirely on Sanji himself.
The moment he heard that, Sanji called Cain his foster father.
He climbed to his feet, thanking her profusely, then repeatedly warned Cain not to tell the other Straw Hats what had happened—especially the part where he became a woman and wore strawberry panties.
He also insisted that the strawberry underwear had not been his choice.
Caroline had forced it on him.
Then he sprinted toward his room as though a ghost were chasing him.
He needed to change out of the panties and destroy every photograph he had taken, along with all the other incriminating evidence.
Not a single trace could remain.
Cain leaned against the wall and watched Sanji disappear around the end of the corridor, the corners of her lips rising.
'He's terrified over a pair of strawberry panties? What's so scary about that?'
Cain had never actually seen what strawberry panties looked like, but from Ivankov's description when he changed Sanji's clothes, they probably sounded rather cute.
'Wait. Why do I think they sound cute?!'
Cain shook her head and forced the strange thoughts out.
At that moment, light footsteps approached from behind her.
Uta entered through the doorway carrying two pieces of lingerie, one purple and one pink. Both were decorated with delicate lace and thin suspender straps.
"Cain, there you are! Come try on the ones I picked for you!"
After Sanji fell asleep, Uta had finally found time to check whether Cain's physical discomfort from the previous night had improved.
When he discovered that it had not, he immediately dragged Ivankov out shopping.
Besides the lingerie, Uta was holding a square packet covered in symbols Cain could not quite understand.
"Come try these on. I think pink suits you better, but Iva-chan says purple has more mature appeal."
"And I should put this on for you now."
Uta unfolded both pieces of lingerie and held one in each hand, comparing them against Cain's body with sparkling eyes.
"Wait, wait… Isn't this a little too much?"
Cain's entire body tensed, and her scalp went numb.
Until now, she had been wearing the plain white disposable underwear Ivankov provided. It felt strange, but at least it was simple and discreet.
These lace garments looked far too provocative. Merely seeing them made Cain's face burn, never mind wearing one.
This time, Cain was the one who panicked.
"It'll be fine."
Uta locked the door behind him.
The click of the bolt sliding into place sounded unusually loud in the quiet room.
He hurried to the bed and drew the curtains, plunging the room into shadow apart from a thin strip of light from the corridor.
Then he slowly turned and approached Cain with a smile.
"U-Uta, let's talk about this—"
"No discussion."
…
Cain struggled for a long time, but in the end, she could not overcome Uta and obediently put on the lace suspender lingerie.
As for which color she wore—pink or purple?
Had Brook been there, he would probably have shamelessly asked whether she might let him see.
Though, of course, Brook had no flesh on his face with which to be shameless.
But even with Brook absent, Cain would never reveal the answer.
Not even under threat of death.
"There, there. I already told you I'd take responsibility for you."
Uta gently patted Cain's back, speaking as though soothing a child.
Cain had put her outer clothes back on, so nothing looked unusual from the outside.
Her walking, however, remained awkward and stiff. Every part of her body felt uncomfortable.
"I can't let anyone see me like this!"
Cain regretted everything.
Her clothes concealed the lingerie completely.
But she knew exactly what was underneath.
The two thin suspender straps stretched upward from her lower abdomen beneath the fabric, tugging lightly with every step and constantly reminding her what she was wearing.
She felt as though the entire world was staring at her, even though the corridor was completely empty.
"It's fine. Everyone on Momoiro Island dresses like this."
Uta took Cain's hand, laced their fingers together, and pulled her forward.
"Come see the stage Iva-chan prepared for us. We're holding a small concert tonight."
"Wait. What do you mean by us?"
Cain's heart sank, and she stopped walking.
"Obviously, you'll be performing too. Come on. Bella is already waiting for us."
"Wait—"
Uta dragged Cain forward, leaving her stumbling behind him.
She opened her mouth to refuse, but when she saw how excited Uta looked, the words died in her throat.
Regret filled Cain's face.
She could not sing, so she would have to dance.
And if she started jumping around, wouldn't those suspender straps become visible beneath her clothes?
Why had she laughed at Sanji earlier?
Strawberry panties were far better than the lace suspenders she was wearing now.