Faced with Shanks' questioning, Katakuri answered with only two words.
"A wedding."
The moment those words left his mouth, a series of tense sounds immediately echoed around the room.
Click.
Guns were cocked.
Shing.
Blades slid from their sheaths.
Lightning crackled across weapons, while several attacks seemed only a breath away from being unleashed.
The atmosphere instantly dropped to freezing point.
Apparently, the mere mention of the word wedding was enough to trigger everyone present.
They were all terrified that the next sentence would somehow turn into another ridiculous scheme involving Cain and Uta being dragged off and forced into marriage.
Katakuri took in the scene with an utterly helpless expression.
"…Is all this really necessary?"
"It's just a perfectly ordinary wedding."
…
Some time later, Bartolomeo had already left to spread the sacred teachings of the "Luffy-senpai faith," while the members of the Red Hair Pirates had returned.
"A wedding?!"
Cain and Uta stared incredulously at the invitation in Shanks' hand.
"That's right."
Shanks cleared his throat.
"It's the wedding of Charlotte Chiffon and Capone Bege, captain of the Fire Tank Pirates."
"We thought it might be…"
"You thought it was another trap aimed at forcing Uta and me into some ridiculous wedding, didn't you?"
Cain rubbed his forehead and sighed.
"So most of that chaos earlier was something you guys created yourselves?"
Shanks laughed awkwardly.
"I didn't expect one wedding invitation to cause that much trouble either."
"Maybe we… overreacted a little."
Cain gave him a flat look.
Then he and Uta opened the envelope and examined the invitation inside.
Cain sighed again.
He would have to attend this wedding.
Whether it was because of everything Chiffon owed him—or anything else—it was still one of the biggest days of her life.
She genuinely regarded Cain as her little brother.
There was no way he could simply skip it.
Thinking about that, Cain glanced toward Lola, who was quietly standing nearby.
For her, the situation was even more painful.
Her twin sister was getting married, yet Lola could neither return home nor witness the ceremony herself.
Uta noticed the look on her face and walked over, gently taking her hand.
"Don't worry, Lola."
"We'll find a way to let you see Chiffon's wedding with your own eyes."
Cain nodded as well.
He would definitely think of something.
Lola froze.
Then tears almost instantly welled in her eyes.
"Thank you so much…"
Her voice trembled.
"…little sister-in-law."
The Red Hair Pirates quietly nodded at the touching scene.
Shanks, however, still did not feel completely at ease.
After everything that had happened before, he could not help worrying that there might be another scheme hidden behind the invitation.
"Should I send a few people with you?"
"In case it turns into something like last time…"
"Yeah, that one was way too close!"
Several crewmates immediately agreed.
Cain looked exhausted.
Exactly how little faith did these people have in his strength?
Unexpectedly, Lola was the one who saved him from having to argue.
Her eyes swept excitedly across the men of the Red Hair Pirates.
Every one of them was strong, rugged, and mature.
She immediately clasped her hands together.
"If all of you are willing to protect us…"
"Would any of you like to marry me?"
Naturally—
Everyone rejected her in perfect unison.
Although none of the Red Hair Pirates accepted Lola's proposal, they did pay her quite a bit of attention.
Not because any of them had suddenly become interested in her.
Rather, it was because of a certain rumor.
The story that Loki had once proposed to Lola.
They did not know the exact details and had only heard bits and pieces from others.
But looking at Lola now, then thinking about Loki—who was currently still tied beneath a tree somewhere—
they all reached the same conclusion.
Lola had been incredibly wise to run away from that marriage.
Cain immediately understood the strange thoughts running through their heads.
'Well, Lola can't exactly inspect the cave the way Gaban did.'
'If she tried something like that, somebody might genuinely die.'
With that thought, Cain turned toward Shanks and asked what had happened to Katakuri and Brûlée.
Shanks explained that they had not done anything to the siblings.
They had simply allowed the two to leave.
"So that's it?"
Cain looked slightly surprised.
"I thought they might stay and watch the concert."
"It didn't sound like they wanted to leave."
Shanks shook his head.
"Apparently, they received some kind of urgent message and had to return to the New World immediately."
"Did Big Mom have another hunger pang?"
"Doesn't seem like it."
…
Meanwhile, aboard the Queen Mama Chanter, Katakuri once again contacted Totto Land through a Den Den Mushi.
"Red-Hair was nearby earlier, so I couldn't speak freely."
"Why did you suddenly order me back to the New World?"
"Don't tell me you came up with another plan involving Cain without telling me."
"How could that possibly be the case?"
Perospero's smug voice came through the receiver.
"This time, your only job really was delivering an invitation."
"In fact, none of our current plans revolve around Cain at all."
"Mama's attention has shifted completely toward the giants."
He sounded extremely pleased.
"And we really do have the person you captured to thank for that."
"Still, to avoid worsening relations any further, we only took a small sample from him before letting him go."
"Smoothie has also obtained some of Little Oars Jr.'s blood."
"We were quite lucky that old Garp wasn't around. Otherwise, taking it would never have been so easy."
"The reason we're calling you back now is because we need you to make a trip to Punk Hazard."
"Put some pressure on Caesar and make sure he finishes the experiment properly."
"That bastard has gotten lazier and lazier."
"His gigantification research still hasn't produced anything worthwhile, and now we're changing the research direction again."
"So he probably needs a proper little 'reminder.'"
"I'll forward you his communication frequency shortly."
"While you're at it, test him and see what state he's really in."
Perospero chuckled.
"With Little Oars Jr.'s blood and the flesh sample we collected from that other person…"
"We should finally have enough material to create what we've been aiming for."
"Ancient Giants."
Hearing that there was no strange plan involving Cain, Katakuri visibly relaxed.
"I don't know much about this kind of research, but the chances of success should increase significantly."
"Little Oars Jr. is already a descendant of Oars."
"And the other sample came from the prince of Elbaf."
"Exactly."
Perospero nodded on the other end.
"If we can't form an alliance with the giants, then we'll create giants ourselves."
"If creating giants from scratch takes too long, then we'll simply clone them."
"Oh, and Mama is especially excited about this project."
"She personally chose a codename for the new series."
Perospero's voice became almost theatrical.
"Codename—"
"Thor Series."
…
Punk Hazard.
After receiving Caesar's Den Den Mushi frequency from Perospero, Katakuri contacted him directly.
He intended to probe Caesar a little and see exactly what state the scientist was in.
Instead, the first thing he heard was complaining.
"Why does everyone keep throwing impossible problems at me?!"
"I've studied Lineage Factor technology, sure, but it isn't my specialty!"
"My main field is weapons of mass destruction!"
"And now you want me to clone something?!"
"Worse, you want me to extract the Ancient Giant Lineage Factor from mixed-blood samples?!"
Caesar clutched his head and wailed on the laboratory floor.
His voice echoed through the vast room.
"Do you have any idea how difficult that is?!"
"Do you know how much money and time this will take?!"
"Anyway, I don't want this jo—"
"Money won't be a problem," Katakuri said flatly.
Caesar's entire attitude changed instantly.
"I'LL DO IT!"
"This is exactly my area of expertise!"
"I'll take the job! Absolutely! Leave everything to me!"
He had accidentally burned through the money Doflamingo had previously given him.
That mistake had resulted in Monet being sent to supervise him, and now every single Berry flowing through the laboratory was carefully monitored.
Caesar had no spending money whatsoever.
He had been desperately wondering how he was supposed to maintain his extravagant lifestyle under these conditions.
And now someone was offering him effectively unlimited funding.
Naturally, he accepted without thinking twice.
Lineage Factor research might not be his specialty, but he had studied it before.
Cloning should be manageable.
Probably.
Maybe.
…Right?
Besides, they were the ones canceling the previous gigantification project.
He certainly was not refunding any of the money they had already spent.
And since they personally said money would not be a problem…
there was nothing unreasonable about requesting a little extra funding, was there?
…
Back with Uta—
The second half of the concert eventually reached its finale.
Uta closed the entire performance with "New Genesis," the first song she had ever truly written herself.
Applause surged through the venue like a tidal wave and continued for a long time before finally beginning to fade.
As the concert ended, the fans reluctantly started leaving.
Even the Marines who had spent the event standing on high alert finally lowered their weapons and began organizing an orderly evacuation.
Lola exchanged contact information with Cain and the others before saying goodbye.
Soon, only a few people remained backstage.
Uta.
Cain.
Koala.
And Sabo.
The four sat closely together, heads nearly touching as they lowered their voices like conspirators planning something enormous.
Uta glanced around to make sure nobody else was nearby.
Then she spoke quietly.
"Chiffon getting married reminded me of something really important."
"Next…"
"We need to prepare a wedding."
As she said it, she deliberately looked toward Cain, waiting for his response.
Sabo and Koala exchanged glances.
Excitement immediately appeared in both their eyes, and they turned toward Cain as well.
Cain, however, went completely blank.
"Uta…"
"Isn't that a little early?"
"We're not at that point yet."
"Besides, Grandpa and Luffy aren't even here."
"And Shanks hasn't actually agreed to anything, has he?"
Uta immediately knocked him on the head.
"You're usually so smart."
"How did you suddenly become an idiot now?"
She leaned closer.
"I'm talking about Shanks and Big Sis Makino's wedding."
"Right here, on this stage."
"And only a small number of us will know about it."
Uta spoke each word clearly, unable to hide the growing smile on her face.
Then she looked directly at Cain.
"And remember to bring Luffy and Ace back!"
"…Oh."
Cain nodded.
Apparently, he had gotten completely ahead of himself.
Still, picking up Luffy and Ace should be easy enough.
Probably.
…
Somewhere in the New World—
Ace suddenly sneezed.
"Achoo!"
Garp immediately grabbed his head and rubbed it vigorously, grinning.
"What's wrong?"
"Being around this old Marine bothering you that much?"
Ace shook his head.
"No, it's not that."
He frowned.
"I just suddenly feel like…"
"I'm about to miss something really important."