"Garp, stop making things more complicated. He doesn't understand anything right now. Other than Cain, he barely knows anything about the world. You can tell him to join the Marines all you want, but what does that even mean to him?"
Sengoku shouted from nearby.
And he was right.
Thor remembered Cain and almost nothing else, which was why he had been staring so intently at Cain's wanted poster. He had no memories of Totto Land or Big Mom whatsoever, so there was no homesickness, no longing for Mama, and no urge to return.
The only thing he wanted was to see Cain.
Fortunately, Garp was enough to keep him calm for now. The old man certainly had no shortage of Cain-related pictures, stories, and assorted nonsense to distract him with.
After some discussion, they eventually decided to take Thor to Sphinx Island first and teach him about the world before asking what he actually wanted to do.
Whatever choice Thor made afterward, they would respect it and protect him.
There was only one condition.
He couldn't become a pirate.
Deep down, Sengoku was still very much hoping Thor would join the Marines.
His raw strength as an Ancient Giant alone was easily enough to justify the rank of Vice Admiral. Add in his ridiculous potential and the room he still had to grow, and Sengoku could practically see the word Admiral stamped across his future.
More importantly, once Thor officially wore Marine justice on his back, those five old men sitting in the Holy Land could covet him all they wanted, but openly snatching a serving Marine out of the organization would be another matter entirely.
Most of the political pressure would also bypass Garp and land directly on Sakazuki.
And even if the Five Elders decided to trample all over Sakazuki's authority, there would still be Garp's fists waiting behind him.
Want Thor?
They would need both men to agree first.
Which was about as easy as climbing to the moon.
Perfect.
The sea avoided another pointless conflict, while the Marines gained a genuine top-tier prospect practically for free.
And Thor only remembered that he needed to protect Cain. As for how well he was getting along with Garp…
Well.
Those two were already having a suspicious amount of fun together.
Thinking about it, the corner of Sengoku's mouth began to rise.
'Really, I should thank Big Mom and Cain.'
'Thanks for delivering the Marines a future Admiral.'
Then—
his smile froze.
Sengoku's thoughts slammed on the brakes.
He hadn't earned the title of Strategist Sengoku by lacking imagination.
His head snapped toward Smoker.
Then one face after another flashed through his mind.
Tama, the granddaughter Garp had once introduced to him, who had actually written Sengoku a letter saying she wanted to become Fleet Admiral someday.
Smoker, currently one of the most talked-about and respected younger Marines, and someone who very plausibly had Admiral potential himself.
Then there were those three lunatics from the East Blue who had already turned half the world upside down—
Luffy, who wanted to become Pirate King.
Ace, now one of the Seven Warlords.
Sabo, the Revolutionary Army's second-in-command.
Then Cain, whose loyalties were so tangled that Sengoku had stopped trying to neatly categorize him.
Kuzan, the pirate hunter.
And, of course, Garp's own son—
the man openly preparing to challenge the World Government itself through the Revolutionary Army.
Pirates.
Marines.
Pirate hunters.
Revolutionaries.
Everywhere Sengoku looked, there was someone connected to Garp.
Then he glanced at Thor again.
Another future Admiral candidate.
Sengoku slowly went rigid.
His neck turned toward Garp one stiff degree at a time, the joints making dry little cracks as he moved.
His face became black as the bottom of a cooking pot. His pupils shrank while the whites of his eyes seemed to expand as he stared at his longtime comrade, who was currently picking his nose without a care in the world.
"So your damn ambition was never limited to becoming Pirate King after all…"
Sengoku's voice trembled.
Then he exploded.
"YOU BASTARD, YOU'RE TRYING TO BECOME KING OF THE WHOLE WORLD!!!"
Obviously, it was an angry joke.
But once the joke had been spoken aloud and Sengoku followed the thread a little further, a genuine chill crept up his back.
The network surrounding Garp had quietly spread across the Marines, pirates, Revolutionary Army, and half a dozen other factions until it resembled an enormous invisible web.
The more carefully Sengoku thought about it—
the scarier it became.
…
Back in Totto Land, the excitement had finally begun to fade.
After being subjected to a sequence of revelations that amounted to man becomes woman, woman becomes man, my idol turned out to be my romantic rival, and the person I like is in love with the other person I like, the audience gradually dispersed in various states of shock.
The confusion might have sounded impossibly complicated when explained aloud, but ultimately, every ridiculous relationship involved only two people.
Cain and Uta.
Naturally, the spectacle immediately gave birth to an entire ecosystem of related entertainment.
Aside from Morgans' upcoming bombshell feature, The Secrets of Cain and Uta, there was now endless room for writers to get creative.
Titles such as The Curious Adventures of En-chan—Cain as a Woman—and Uta, or Ado—Uta as a Man—and Cain's Mysterious Night Together were practically writing themselves.
Morgans had already decided to add an entire new page to the newspaper devoted specifically to such stories.
Most of it would probably have very little connection to reality.
That didn't bother him.
He was having fun.
Besides, Cain was an infuriating bastard, and Morgans intended to get his revenge properly.
But that would come later.
For now, Katakuri had only just returned to Totto Land and was preparing to report to Big Mom.
Then he saw her.
Big Mom was sitting on her throne with an enormous lump on her head.
A massive slab of ice had been pressed against it.
Katakuri needed only one glance at the ice to guess who was responsible.
Cain.
And Bella.
After Perospero explained what had happened, Katakuri finally understood.
Cain had somehow calmed Mama down.
Of course, Cain and Uta had also been the ones to make her angry again in the first place.
As for the exact process, Perospero didn't really know. All he could say was that Mama had been dragged into that strange world of Uta's—
and apparently beaten up.
Katakuri immediately understood.
The same place where Mama had once eaten that enormous cake.
Meanwhile, Big Mom sat on her throne with one cheek resting against her hand, replaying the incident in her mind.
She had just started feeling pleased about the possibility of cooperating with the Vinsmokes and was preparing to order Katakuri to bring Thor back as quickly as possible when Cain and Uta appeared.
Cain had clearly come because Sengoku asked him to resolve the situation surrounding Thor.
That alone reignited Big Mom's anger.
Far too many things had failed to follow her plans.
Her fury exploded—
and then Uta dragged her into the Uta World.
After that, Cain became enormous.
Absurdly enormous.
The sheer volume of Conqueror's Haki he radiated in that form was something Big Mom had only experienced once before—
at God Valley.
Then Cain attacked without hesitation.
…
Even now, Big Mom remembered what he had said.
"Do you know why you keep losing, Big Mom?"
"The more you rely on schemes and calculations, the more likely something completely unexpected will drive you into a corner."
"That's why your plans keep falling apart."
Those words had genuinely affected her.
Not because of the philosophy.
Because Cain had been gigantic.
Big Mom still had no idea how he achieved that form, but considering the sheer strength he displayed, Cain suddenly seemed far more valuable than Thor.
She had already become desperate enough to pursue artificial gigantification in the first place.
And here was Cain, capable of becoming a hundred-meter giant—larger than even an Ancient Giant—and apparently able to enlarge and shrink himself whenever he wanted.
Compared with that?
Losing one Thor didn't seem nearly as important anymore.
Katakuri already knew where the giant had gone anyway.
The Marines could raise him for a while.
They could always deal with it later.
Combined with her upcoming cooperation with Germa, Big Mom's anger gradually faded.
That was why she had ultimately ordered Katakuri to return rather than continue chasing Thor.
As for why Cain had deliberately fought her inside the Uta World—
that was because his giant form depended on Bella's More-More Fruit.
Inside an isolated world, there were no outside witnesses to see how the transformation actually worked.
As long as Cain refused to admit anything, and the only eyewitnesses were a tiny handful of people, Big Mom could tell the entire world what she had seen and most people would simply think she was exaggerating.
But one fact was no longer disputable.
Cain truly possessed enough power to defeat Big Mom.
…
Cain himself had already left Totto Land with Uta.
The two were back aboard the Going Merry.
Bella was currently playing on deck with the ship's spirit.
Yes—
the Going Merry's klabautermann.
Using her ability, Uta had given Merry's spirit a visible form while leaving the ship itself completely unchanged.
The only limitation was that the spirit couldn't leave the Going Merry.
Uta had done this for one very practical reason:
to keep Bella and Merry occupied.
And, more importantly—
to stop either of them from interrupting her private time with Cain.
What exactly happened inside the cabin that night was impossible to say.
Bella and Merry only knew one thing.
It was very loud.