Chapter 620 - 846 – Kalifa Wants to Be a Little More Cautious

Raki and Kalifa were both women. Although they had started out on opposing sides, their relationship had developed remarkably quickly after they shook hands and made peace.

Naturally, the two chatted and laughed as they made their way toward the clothing store.

To their surprise, however, they ran into someone they both knew quite well along the way.

"Zephyr."

Kalifa stared at the tall figure standing beneath the sunlight and muttered his name.

"So that's Zephyr? He really does look old."

Raki couldn't help commenting.

Then again, Zephyr was already quite old. After suffering several devastating blows over the course of his life, it was perfectly normal for him to look somewhat aged.

What was remarkable was that despite everything he had been through, Zephyr still possessed tremendous strength. That alone made him worthy of respect.

Raki actually felt a little sympathy for him.

There was no doubt that Zephyr was a very good man.

Unfortunately, good people like him didn't always receive good endings.

He had devoted his entire life to the Marines, only to be abandoned by them in the end.

Raki felt that if she were in Ain's position, she would have made the same decision Ain had—clinging tightly to Arton's side.

Even if Zephyr misunderstood her for a while because of it, once the tragedy destined to occur in the future arrived, at least she would have gained enough power through Arton to change that future.

To Raki, that choice was completely worth it.

At that moment, she felt somewhat relieved that Ain had succeeded.

At first, Raki had thought Ain might never manage to win Arton over.

After all, Arton didn't know about the voyage diary copies, so he had no idea why Ain had so passionately thrown herself at him.

Fortunately, Ain had managed to use her charms to win Arton over to a certain extent.

"You're... Mayor Iceburg's secretary, aren't you? I remember your name was Kalifa."

Zephyr had clearly noticed Kalifa and Raki as well. He walked over with interest as he addressed them.

"That's right. I'm Kalifa, Mr. Zephyr. Is there something you need?"

Kalifa pushed up her glasses, slipping back into her usual professional secretary demeanor.

As far as Iceburg was concerned, she no longer cared if she occasionally let that perfect-secretary facade slip. Even if he became suspicious, it wouldn't affect her much.

Zephyr, however, was different. If she made him suspicious, it could genuinely cause trouble for Arton.

Water 7 wasn't far from Marine Headquarters, and the Sea Train provided transportation as well.

If news that Arton was in Water 7 got out, the Marines might very well dispatch a fleet from Headquarters.

That was something Kalifa absolutely did not want to see.

Even if Zephyr sensed something strange about her, she didn't want him connecting it to Arton.

After all, to the outside world, she still appeared to have nothing whatsoever to do with him.

As for Raki, she had never appeared on either the Marines' or the World Government's wanted lists.

So Zephyr naturally had no idea who she was.

Even through Raki, he shouldn't be able to notice anything unusual.

Still, Kalifa wanted to be a little more cautious.

She really didn't want to cause Arton any trouble right now.

...

"Nothing in particular. I'm just wandering around Water 7."

Zephyr spoke casually.

Although he suspected Arton might come to Water 7, Arton hadn't actually arrived as far as he knew.

Besides, it had been a long time since Zephyr had last visited Water 7.

Now that he was here, he naturally wanted to walk around and reminisce.

"Come to think of it, shouldn't you be working right now? Why aren't you with Iceburg?"

"Don't tell me you went to check the coast to see whether Arton's ship had arrived?"

Zephyr looked at Kalifa curiously.

"No. I don't have enough free time to go around watching for a pirate's arrival."

"I believe that's supposed to be the Marines' job, not mine."

Kalifa shook her head. "As for why I'm not with Mayor Iceburg, the reason is simple. My current job is to accompany an important client."

"An important client?"

Zephyr looked at Raki in confusion.

"That's right. We're having Iceburg build us a commercial ship for entertainment."

"Besides being sturdy enough, it needs to be large enough to hold all kinds of entertainment facilities, as well as rooms designed for different kinds of recreation."

"So ideally, it should be about the size of a warship."

Raki's explanation surprised Zephyr somewhat, but as someone who had seen a great deal over the years, he quickly accepted it.

After all, somewhere in the New World, there was an enormous entertainment vessel known as Gran Tesoro, owned by the man called Gild Tesoro.

Zephyr had seen other very large entertainment ships as well.

So although Raki wanted a pleasure vessel as large as a warship, it wasn't all that difficult for him to understand.

"Come to think of it, you're from a Sky Island, aren't you?"

Zephyr suddenly changed the subject.

"You know about Sky Islands?"

Raki looked genuinely surprised.

Arton had never mentioned that to her.

"Of course. I spent many years as a Marine, so I know a thing or two about Sky Islands."

"I've even met people from them before."

Zephyr waved dismissively.

"That makes sense."

Raki nodded.

Just as Zephyr said, he had already lived for several decades. With such a wealth of life experience, knowing something about Sky Islands wasn't particularly strange.

Besides, Arton couldn't possibly record every single detail about Zephyr in his voyage diary.

So it was perfectly normal for holders of voyage diary copies to learn something about Zephyr that Arton had never mentioned.

In truth, Arton himself didn't know about this either.

The original anime had never described anything like it.

And if Arton didn't know about something, how could he possibly record it in his voyage diary?