Over the next few days, Cain spent most of his time around Uta in his child form, indulging her whenever she wanted to fuss over him, hug him, squeeze his cheeks, or generally treat him like the little Cain she remembered.
Being small did have its advantages when it came to getting spoiled by Uta, but spending half the day smothered against her chest was honestly suffocating.
Still—
she was Uta.
Cain could only let her have her fun.
Gradually, Uta recovered enough strength to get out of bed again.
She also took an immediate liking to Bonney. After all, Bonney was still a kid who had been brave enough to set out to sea and search for her father on her own.
Uta liked her so much that she even asked Bonney to use her ability to make Uta younger too.
And just like that, the children all started playing together without looking particularly out of place.
Cain, meanwhile, found himself spending time with little Uta and reliving a surprising number of memories from their childhood.
At that point, aside from Kuma—
there wasn't a single adult-looking person aboard the ship.
Fortunately, steering the Going Merry no longer required constant attention. With Uta's power supporting the ship, Merry was perfectly capable of sailing herself.
…
Before long, the weather grew noticeably colder.
Soon, they reached the waters surrounding Egghead.
Bonney pulled her shoulders in as snow began drifting through the air.
"It's freezing!"
She looked toward Cain.
"Hey, Cain, if it's already snowing down here, why are we flying even higher? Isn't it going to be even colder up there?"
Although Bonney acted like a child around Uta and happily called her Big Sis, she was still one of the Supernovas of the Worst Generation.
She was grateful to Cain, certainly, but treated him more like an equal pirate than someone she needed to speak respectfully to.
Cain, who had already returned to his adult form and was standing near the bow, turned toward her.
"Koala already mentioned it. There are Marines stationed around Egghead, and the Going Merry is way too recognizable."
He flexed one hand.
"I'm not exactly afraid of the Marines or the World Government, but making unnecessary trouble is a pain."
"And I promised Sabo I'd keep you two safe."
Cain pointed upward.
"So instead of sailing straight in, I'm taking us down from above."
"Egghead has island clouds in the sky, just like a Sky Island. We can hide the Merry up there without anyone noticing."
At that moment, the Going Merry was being carried upward by Cain's Flame Clouds.
Bonney immediately complained,
"Even if that makes sense, it's still freezing!"
Uta glanced toward Bella, who was happily flying around the Merry nearby.
Cold weather was practically Bella's natural environment.
"Bella!"
Uta called out.
"Come warm things up for us!"
The clouds surrounding Bella spread outward, absorbing much of the surrounding cold.
Almost immediately, everyone felt warmer.
At the same time, Cain used the communication headset Koala had left behind to contact Vegapunk.
He hadn't forgotten that Egghead currently had an infiltrator—
or, more accurately, a traitor.
There was absolutely no chance Cain intended to let that person learn that he and Kuma had come here.
In fact, if possible, he wanted to deal with the traitor in advance.
After all, no matter how you looked at it, Cain and Kizaru had once spent plenty of time slacking off together.
Rather than someday watching that man put on his sunglasses and personally kill one of his closest friends because "orders were orders," Cain would much rather cut off that possibility before it ever took root.
Unfortunately, the moment he thought about Kizaru—
Kizaru appeared.
Cain had just finished speaking with Vegapunk when he instinctively looked downward.
Far below, a Marine warship was heading in the same direction they were.
Among the endless white uniforms aboard the ship, one speck of yellow stood out immediately.
Cain recognized him at a glance.
Kizaru.
Without hesitation, Cain had Bella conceal the Going Merry.
Then, using his Flame Clouds, he sent Uta, Bonney, Kuma, and the others toward the island clouds above Egghead.
They would regroup near Punk Records.
Cain himself stayed behind.
He wanted to see whether Kizaru had noticed them.
After all, Cain had spotted Kizaru.
There was no good reason Kizaru shouldn't have noticed him in return.
More importantly, Cain had no idea what Kizaru's current position regarding Kuma actually was.
Cain wasn't worried about fighting him.
The real problem was whether a fight would interfere with Kuma's chance to recover.
Borsalino had always been disturbingly good at separating "Kizaru" from "Borsalino" in his own mind.
One was the government employee carrying out orders.
The other was the man with personal feelings.
Even Vegapunk had once described the working version of Kizaru as someone who effectively had no heart.
And Egghead fell under Saint Saturn's jurisdiction.
If the Marines discovered Kuma and reported it to the World Government, all it would take was one direct order.
After that, Cain and Kizaru would almost certainly end up as enemies.
So it was safer if Kizaru never learned Kuma was here.
And if necessary—
Cain would simply draw his attention elsewhere.
…
"Sure enough, when the weather gets this cold, nothing beats a piping-hot bowl of ramen…"
Slurp.
Borsalino sat aboard the Marine warship, eating ramen while wearing the troubled expression of a man trying very hard not to think about paperwork.
His superiors had been pressuring him more and more lately.
The report they wanted concerned Thor, the Ancient Giant.
Originally, the Five Elders had assigned the matter directly to Smoker, so technically Smoker should have been responsible for writing the report.
Unfortunately, Garp had flatly refused to cooperate.
Then Sengoku had dodged responsibility from every possible angle.
And eventually—
the entire troublesome mess landed on Kizaru.
Nobody could do anything about Garp, which meant they couldn't simply force answers out of Smoker.
Sengoku hid behind the excuse that he was retired.
That left Kizaru as the only senior officer who had participated in the incident and still possessed enough authority to be pressured into handling it.
As if that weren't enough, his superiors had also assigned him another new mission.
For the moment, however, Kizaru had decided to ignore both problems.
Lunch came first.
"Another bowl!"
…
Several hundred meters above the ship, Cain watched him from the sky and sighed in relief.
"Whew… good. Looks like he didn't notice us."
Cain narrowed his eyes.
"Still, I need to find some way to lure him away—"
His Observation Haki suddenly screamed a warning.
"Lure who away…?"
A golden flash appeared behind him.
Kizaru materialized silently, still holding his bowl of ramen.
Cain had been right about one thing.
Kizaru hadn't noticed the Going Merry.
But Cain had been staring openly at him from the sky.
How could Kizaru possibly fail to notice that?
And since he had finally run into an old acquaintance, why not stop by and catch up?
Besides, that annoying report still needed writing.
Maybe Cain could help him with it.
Kizaru could always buy him a few bowls of ramen in return.
That was roughly what Borsalino had been thinking when Cain moved.
Actually—
Cain's body moved before his conscious mind did.
His instincts reacted faster than his thoughts.
Kizaru had appeared behind him so suddenly while Cain was already on edge that Cain simply lashed out in reflex.
"AAAAAH—!"
Lightning erupted across the sky.
Conqueror's Haki burst outward as Cain swung with everything he had.
"Great Virtue Thunder Bagua!!!"
The heavens changed color.
Purple lightning completely swallowed the yellow glow surrounding Kizaru.
The problem was that Kizaru had approached with absolutely no intention of fighting.
He had come over to greet an old acquaintance.
His guard had been almost completely down.
By the time he realized what was happening, Cain's Conqueror's Haki had already locked onto him.
Even Kizaru hadn't expected Cain to greet him by immediately trying to launch him into another country.
(Although, really—whose fault was it for sneaking up behind Cain while he was already suspicious of everything?)
And then—
BOOM!!!
A golden streak shot across the sky.