"What a beautiful eyes…"
Sanji stared at Pudding in a daze, not even realizing when the words had slipped out of his mouth.
Yet that simple, instinctive remark struck Pudding more deeply than any carefully prepared confession ever could. It wasn't dramatic, there was no grand declaration or elaborate buildup, and that was precisely why it felt so real. The words had come naturally, without hesitation, giving her no room to convince herself they were merely something he had said to comfort her.
The tears Pudding had been holding back finally spilled over.
She threw her arms around the Visual Den Den Mushi and hugged it tightly against herself as though doing so could somehow pull Sanji through the connection and into her embrace.
"Uwaaaah…!"
All the insecurity she had carried for years—the constant fear of rejection, the anxiety that someone would see her third eye and recoil in disgust, and the careful caution with which she had approached this relationship—seemed to dissolve all at once.
Unfortunately, Sanji was about to suffer an entirely different kind of emotional crisis.
"P-Pudding! Ah… uh… w-wait! Don't—ah!"
As she squeezed the Den Den Mushi closer against herself, the camera's view became increasingly intimate.
And Sanji's reaction was immediate.
Blood burst from his nose, enormous hearts appeared in his eyes, and he toppled backward onto the bed in a blissful faint.
"Sanji?! Are you okay? Sanji, wake up!"
Pudding called anxiously toward the screen, but fortunately, unlike the previous night, the camera remained pointed directly at Sanji's face.
Only then did she relax.
Looking at the unconscious cook with hearts still floating in his eyes and blood under his nose, Pudding couldn't help letting out a small laugh.
"Well, you spent the entire night watching me sleep."
She settled beside the Den Den Mushi and rested her chin in her hands.
"So this time, I'll watch you sleep, Sanji."
And that was exactly what she did, quietly gazing at the exhausted man who had stayed awake all night for her and had now finally passed out from getting far too excited.
The Den Den Mushi on both ends could only silently lament their fate.
These two humans already spent hours talking every day, and now, after keeping the poor snails awake for an entire night, they apparently still had no intention of letting them sleep.
Humans in love really were unbearably troublesome.
Pudding was still peacefully admiring Sanji's sleeping face when a voice suddenly came from outside her room.
"Pudding? That's strange… is the café not opening today?"
Chiffon stood outside with her swollen pregnant belly, sounding confused.
Beside her, Bege shook his head and lowered his voice.
"Maybe she's been overworking herself lately. Let's knock first."
"I'm coming!"
Before either of them could touch the door, Pudding hurriedly wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes and opened it.
"Chiffon-onee-san! Mr. Bege! What are you doing here?"
Chiffon had just started to answer when Bege gently stopped her. He glanced past Pudding into the room before speaking quietly.
"This isn't something we should discuss in the hallway. Let us in first."
Once they were inside, Bege closed and locked the door behind them. Only then did his expression become truly serious.
"Pudding, what I need to tell you concerns that Sanji you've been talking to all this time."
He paused before continuing.
"Yesterday, during the tournament, we saw three extremely conspicuous men."
His eyes narrowed.
"And we suspect Sanji is connected to them."
…
The three suspicious men Bege referred to were, of course, Vinsmoke Ichiji, Niji, and Yonji.
Sanji was one of quadruplets with them, so aside from their different hair colors, the resemblance in their facial structure and curled eyebrows was obvious enough that anyone paying close attention could notice it.
While most participants had been randomly scattered across separate islands, the three Vinsmoke brothers had somehow been unlucky enough to get assigned to the same battlefield.
And because all three wanted the victory for themselves, they had abandoned any pretense of cooperation almost immediately and started fighting each other in the middle of the tournament.
Eventually, the battle became intense enough that they were forced to activate their newly developed battle suits made from memory metal.
The instant that happened, their identities as Germa 66 were exposed for everyone to see.
"Honestly, you three…"
Reiju sat idly on the railing of the cake ship carrying them toward Whole Cake Island, watching her brothers continue arguing nearby.
"Why is this the one thing that suddenly makes you act almost human?"
She sighed.
"Well, your identities were exposed, but at least nobody disqualified you."
Ichiji had technically been the only winner of their free-for-all, but Niji and Yonji clearly refused to accept the result. Even now, the three were still wrestling and arguing, with nobody willing to back down.
Reiju watched for several seconds before deciding she had heard enough.
She poisoned all three of them.
At least that bought her a little peace and quiet.
Their ship was now heading toward Whole Cake Island, where the remaining winners from the various preliminary rounds would be gathered and narrowed down further until only those with a genuine chance of winning the entire tournament remained.
For Reiju and her brothers, this was also their final opportunity to locate the person they were searching for.
And if they still couldn't recover what had been stolen from Germa—
then they would have to destroy it.
…
Meanwhile, Cain and Uta had finally gotten themselves ready for the next stage.
After enjoying Cain's massage for most of the previous night, Uta stretched with a refreshed expression and had to admit that it really had helped.
It would have been even better if Cain hadn't kept trying to sneak in extra touches.
Cain's defense was that he had technically kept his hands where they belonged.
Other parts of him, however, were apparently a different matter.
Uta rewarded that explanation with an embarrassed slap.
It didn't hurt much.
Judging by Cain's expression, he might even have enjoyed it.
Uta could only sigh.
If Bella hadn't fallen asleep early the previous night, Cain never would have dared behave so shamelessly.
Once the two had dressed again and used what remained of the hormone medicine to switch back into their tournament identities, Uta headed out to begin the next stage of her challenge.
Her opponent this time was—
Cavendish.
"Contestant Ado wins!"
The result wasn't particularly surprising.
Anyone who made direct contact with Uta's sword had virtually no chance of continuing the fight.
Unfortunately, Cavendish had one unusual complication.
He wasn't the only personality occupying his body.
Even after Cavendish's conscious mind was dragged into the Uta World, another presence remained asleep within him.
Fortunately, Cain had warned Uta about Hakuba beforehand, and with his Observation Haki having already shown him the immediate future, he wasn't worried that she would be caught off guard.
Sure enough, the moment Cavendish's main personality fell unconscious, the restraint keeping his other self suppressed disappeared.
His features twisted.
Then Hakuba moved.
The blade in his hand flashed toward Uta's back at terrifying speed.
At that exact instant, both Ace and Sabo—waiting nearby for their own matches—saw the danger.
Neither hesitated.
Both rushed onto the stage.
Flames, lightning, and electric light erupted almost simultaneously, yet strangely enough, none of them actually collided.
Instead, Cavendish froze.
So did Ace.
And so did Sabo.
All three had been dragged into the Uta World at the same time.
Only then did the audience notice what had happened.
Countless nearly invisible threads had spread throughout the space around Uta, each one formed from tiny musical notes arranged in parallel lines.
A musical staff.
The threads were so fine that the naked eye could barely detect them, yet they had already wrapped around all three men and transmitted Uta's music into their bodies through resonance.
Even Doflamingo, watching from the stands with his usual dry grin, paused.
"Fuffuffuffuffu… strings, just like mine?"
His smile widened.
"This world really is interesting."
Uta merely glanced at him with open disdain.
If she were fighting Doflamingo now, all he would have to do was send one of his strings toward her. The vibration traveling through it would be enough to transmit her music back through the connection and drop him before he even realized what happened.
Probably a hundred times over.
Uta turned back toward Cavendish, put him down properly once again, then looked at the two men still restrained nearby and smiled faintly before releasing them.
"So it really was this ability…"
The instant Ace returned from the Uta World, he finally understood.
The young man standing in front of him was Uta.
He had rushed onto the stage because of several details that had been bothering him. En-chan's gaze toward contestant Ado had seemed strangely affectionate, Ado's hair color was suspiciously familiar, and Cain himself had already demonstrated that gender-changing methods were involved in this whole ridiculous mess.
Ace had acted on instinct.
And sure enough, he had been right.
Ado was Uta.
He didn't say it aloud.
Instead, he swallowed the realization and immediately turned to glare at Sabo.
Because Sabo was still disguised as that ridiculous bearded old man, Ace had absolutely no idea who he really was.
Sabo, on the other hand, had rushed onto the stage for the same reason—he had recognized Uta.
In fact, he had identified her far earlier than Ace.
That was thanks to the combination of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit and Observation Haki, which allowed Sabo to hear sounds from across an enormous area.
To be fair, he had only confirmed Uta's identity shortly before the tournament began.
He had not deliberately listened in on Cain and Uta's private activities.
At least, that was his defense.
By then, Perospero had already fired streams of hardened candy around Cavendish, binding him firmly in place so the chess soldiers could secure him with Seastone cuffs.
Then he turned toward Ace and Sabo.
"Contestant Lucy and contestant Ann interfered with an active match. As a result, both of you are disquali—"
"Ahem."
Cain coughed lightly from the viewing platform.
Perospero stopped.
He immediately changed direction.
"…However, my younger sister has graciously decided that because you acted out of concern for another contestant's safety, and because your interference did not ultimately affect contestant Ado's victory…"
He spread his hands.
"…we'll make an exception."
Perospero looked between them.
"Since both of you are already on the stage, there's no point changing arenas."
"So fight each other here."
Ace's fists immediately tightened.
"Gladly."
He glared murderously at Sabo.
"I've wanted to beat the hell out of you for a long time."
Inside his disguise, Sabo went completely speechless.
'How long have you wanted to beat me up?!'
'And why the hell did you choose now to say it?!'
Elsewhere, Stussy had finally gotten a good look at Ace's hilariously poor disguise and nearly lit up with excitement.
That was Fire Fist Ace.
Definitely.
She could finally send Edward Weevil after him and get this whole mess over with.
Before she could act, however, something about Cain caught her attention.
His expression looked…
wrong.
That smile was far too strange.
Cain was staring down at his two older brothers on the arena floor, and for a brief moment, he genuinely felt touched.
'Wow.'
'You two really came all the way here to enter my marriage tournament?'
'Do you want your little sister's approval that badly?'
Warm emotion swelled inside him.
Then it was immediately smothered by a rapidly growing urge to cause trouble.
Cain clasped his hands together with a sweet smile.
'My dear big brothers…'
'Please, whatever you do, don't start fighting over me.'
'You absolutely mustn't get jealous and compete for your adorable little sister's affection.'
'Hehehehehe…'
To be fair, Cain really was grateful that both of them had rushed onto the stage the moment they thought Uta was in danger.
That part genuinely moved him.
But there was another undeniable truth.
They had both seen him dressed like this.
And Cain was still deeply, painfully embarrassed about it.
So naturally—
his beloved big brothers deserved to suffer a little too.
'Please, Big Brothers.'
'Whatever you do…'
'Don't fight over me.'
'Hehehehehehehe…'
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