"Ahem… Captain, where are we heading next?"
Faced with everyone's probing looks, Ain ultimately couldn't hold back her embarrassment anymore and spoke up.
She wanted to use this to temporarily shift the other Flameblade Pirates' attention—as well as Arton's—so Arton's hand wouldn't keep spreading toward the sensitive places on her body.
Earlier, the crew's eyes had all been drawn to Skypiea's scenery, and no one had noticed them.
If the girls saw it now, she was afraid she'd want to crawl into a crack in the ground.
At the end of the day, she was still a young woman.
Even though, when competing with Robin, she'd already made up her mind and steeled herself for all kinds of situations with Arton… In broad daylight like this, she still couldn't stand everyone's searching gazes.
"That's a good question." Arton stroked his chin and looked around. "Normally, at this point we should head straight for Skypiea's center and take a look."
"After all, Robin, you're probably already itching to go, right?" As he spoke, Arton glanced at Robin, whose eyes were half-open and half-closed. "You're pretty tired, aren't you? Should we rest here for a bit, and then go explore Skypiea?"
Arton asked.
"No need, Captain." Robin forced herself to perk up and spoke. "I don't want my situation to slow everyone down while we're exploring Skypiea."
And she really was impatient to find the Poneglyph, and properly translate what was written on it.
"Even so, the fight with Kuzan already drained your stamina. Are you sure you can hold on?" Arton chuckled, then continued, "Don't end up falling asleep while we're walking, okay?"
"And I need to rest too—Kuzan is a Marine Admiral. Don't let appearances fool you. I burned through a lot of stamina in that fight as well."
"In other words, I need to recharge my mind and body too."
Even though his fight with Kuzan hadn't lasted long, the drain was absolutely real.
And to make Robin last as long as possible, Arton had gone all-out using his own stamina to offset Robin's stamina.
Even if he looked energetic right now, he was actually already worn out.
Once Arton told everyone the truth about being exhausted, the other members of the Flameblade Pirates had no objections.
"Since Captain is also in a weakened state, then let's rest for a while." Kaya, the ship's doctor, suggested. "So that if we run into a powerful enemy later, Captain Arton won't be unable to bring out his strength."
Because of her position, she was almost the crewmember most attentive to Arton's condition.
If possible, she didn't want Arton moving around while weakened.
"Since our doctor has spoken, then let's stop here for a bit."
"Perfect timing—I want to try what it feels like to swim in a sea made of clouds." Nami raised her hand and said with a smile.
"I have no objections." Nojiko smiled and nodded—of course she wouldn't oppose her little sister Nami's idea.
After that, the other crewmembers also voiced their agreement one after another.
Before long, everyone had a clear division of labor.
Some of the crew disembarked to play in the cloud-sea, while others went up to the lookout to keep watch.
Robin returned to her room to rest.
As for Arton, he was brought by Kaya to the infirmary to help him recover his energy.
Originally, Kaya planned to arrange Arton's rest strictly by medical standards, but very quickly, Kaya realized she'd been wildly, completely wrong.
With Arton's personality, trying to get him to lie down and rest obediently… was just far too difficult.
Chapter 499: Leave the Captain to Kaya
[I have to say, Kuzan really does have some tricks up his sleeve. I went all-out with big moves fighting him like that, and he still didn't get hurt. Granted, I didn't get hurt either, and I wasn't truly trying to defeat him or anything, but I burned through that much stamina, and he still looked like he hadn't spent much at all.]
[Could it be that Marine Admirals are just stamina monsters?]
[Or is he like me—looks like he hasn't used much, but he's actually used a lot, and he's in a relatively weakened state right now?]
[Mm… yeah, that's probably it. The gap between me and a Marine Admiral shouldn't be that huge.]
[The reason he and Akainu could fight for three days and three nights is probably because they knew each other too well—neither side could guarantee that high-intensity, high-consumption techniques would actually land on the other.]
[So they chose the purest form of attrition—just grinding stamina down. Like what Kuzan and I did at the beginning.]
[If we kept up that initial level of consumption the whole time, and if Robin's stamina could keep holding out, then Kuzan and I could probably fight for an entire day, too.]
Smoothie: "Hm? So Arton is actually in a relatively weakened state right now? Damn… If I could run into him at a time like this, I could tie him to my bed and really force him a good time"
Cinnamon: "If it's you, Sister, Arton definitely wouldn't resist going to bed with you."
Smoothie: "Hehe. If we add you in too the odds of him not resisting would be even higher."
Cinnamon: "Sister…"
Domino: "A relatively weakened state…"
Sadi: "What a shame. If there were a strong Marine on-site right now, they might actually be able to catch Arton."
Doll: "In that case, can we roughly estimate Arton's strength—and how hard he is to deal with?"
Gion: "After Kuzan used an attack at that level, his consumption should be significant too. Mm… maybe I should question him properly later."
Uta: "Arton really is something—he actually leaked information about his strength."
Carina: "Whatever. As long as the diary system exists, Arton's strength will grow fast. If those female Marines and female agents plan a capture operation based on Arton's current strength, they'll definitely fail."
Ain: "I wonder when Captain Arton will get a new template. Wait—speaking of it, Captain Arton specifically mentioned two people on Skypiea named Raki and Conis before. If they also have diary copies, they wouldn't take this chance to join the Flameblade Pirates, would they?"
When Ain thought about Raki and Conis possibly becoming her rivals, she got a little unsettled again.
You had to understand—right now, she was the only crewmember in the Flameblade Pirates without a template.
In other words, she had no competition, but if Raki and Conis joined later… then she wouldn't be the only one without a template anymore.
The moment she imagined the two of them competing with her for a template, anxiety surged in Ain's chest.
And because of that anxiety, she even slipped back into the same state she'd been in when she'd competed with Robin before.
She was just about to go find Arton right now—use her charm to show Arton her sincerity—when she remembered that Arton was currently in recovery mode, rebuilding his stamina.
In the end, she could only let out a sigh and choose to stay on the deck.
"I'll look for another chance later." Ain glanced at the livestream footage in the diary system. "For now… I'll leave Captain Arton to Kaya."
At this very moment, Arton was lying with his eyes lightly closed, enjoying Kaya's massage as she pressed acupoints at the back of his head—his head resting on her lap.
But unlike a normal lap pillow, Arton was lying face-down on Kaya's thighs.
It made it easier for Kaya to press the points on the back of his head… but it also made Kaya's face even redder than usual.
Seeing how much Arton seemed to be enjoying himself on Kaya's lap, Ain grew even more jealous that Kaya had gotten the Tsunade template.
After all, the growth the Tsunade template gave Kaya wasn't limited to her bust alone.
Aside from that, Kaya's entire body was also developing in a more mature direction.
Which, naturally… included her thighs.