Chapter 644 - 894 – Reiju’s Reflection

Whitey Bay: "Who is this woman? I don't recognize her at all. She doesn't seem to be a pirate, but she doesn't look like a Marine either."

Makino: "If even Whitey Bay doesn't recognize her, then there's no way I would."

Reiju: "She actually made Arton spare her by begging for mercy—and she even took off her clothes. Could it be that Arton wasn't the one who stripped her, but that she did it herself?"

Reiju knew that the blonde woman currently shown in the Sea Diary might also possess a copy of it.

If she did, then she would naturally know what kind of person Arton was. In that case, if Arton defeated her, it would make sense for her to choose a method more likely to earn his forgiveness.

"Come to think of it, she really is quite beautiful. Maybe she actually could use a method like that to successfully beg for mercy."

Reiju smiled, but the thought of what her father had been doing lately made her let out another long sigh.

"When will I finally get a chance to truly meet you? If I can meet you, maybe I'll finally be able to get away from Father."

Reiju sighed deeply under her breath. She was finding her father's cruelty increasingly difficult to tolerate.

Compared with him, she no longer cared much about Arton using her likeness to create overly suggestive manga and other derivative works. At least after seeing those drawings, she did not feel angry anymore. Sometimes, she even found herself looking at them with a critical eye.

Reiju had to admit that it was extremely difficult to examine those derivative works with complete emotional detachment. They were simply too effective at stirring a person's emotions, and she was naturally affected as well.

"Maybe I should suggest to Father that we head to the first half of the Grand Line and look for Arton. If I do that, perhaps Father will take me there himself."

"If it really is Arton, he probably wouldn't mind dealing with Father for me, would he?"

Reiju lightly licked her lips as a bold idea surfaced in her mind. She was far from the only person currently entertaining thoughts like these.

The photos of the blonde woman were daring enough that they were bound to inspire quite a few women to imagine approaching Arton in a similar way.

You're becoming more and more popular, Arton.

I just hope that when the time comes, you won't reject me simply because too many people want to join you.

Reiju sighed softly.

On second thought, though, she did have one advantage over the female Marines and female World Government agents who possessed copies of the Sea Diary: women from those groups would have a much harder time integrating into Arton's crew.

There was no helping it. Given everything Arton had been through, he had good reason to remain wary of both the Marines and the World Government.

And all of that could ultimately be traced back to the Celestial Dragons—and even to Gion.

After all, Gion had once found Arton, and Arton had also ambushed and injured her.

Perhaps Gion did not hate Arton because of that, but Arton would probably worry that the Marines might retaliate over what he had done.

Under those circumstances, it made perfect sense for him to be even more guarded around the Marines.

…

Water 7, Flame Blade Pirates.

"Carina, do you see this?"

The moment Nami entered the bedroom, she saw Carina lying there with her copy of the Sea Diary open, looking at the very same thing.

"Of course I see it." Carina nodded repeatedly. "How could I possibly sleep after seeing something like this?"

Nami let out a long sigh as she stared at the photos of Kalifa in her own Sea Diary.

"If my guess is right, this woman is the special agent Kalifa Arton mentioned in his diary before."

"I seriously don't understand why she would appear in Arton's Sea Diary in a pose like that."

Nami frowned as she spoke. "You know what? I'm even thinking about going straight into the city to look for Arton."

Carina took a deep breath.

As someone who liked Arton, there was simply no way she could remain indifferent after suddenly seeing a person displayed in such an outrageous pose inside the Sea Diary.

Kalifa's posture was simply far too bold.

Given Carina's understanding of Arton, she suspected he would have a very hard time restraining himself.

"What's there to worry about? Isn't she just showing herself off in front of Arton without any clothes?"

"Don't we have experience with that sort of thing too?"

Uta walked into the room from her own quarters and yawned.

Naturally, she had also seen the photos of Kalifa in her copy of the Sea Diary.

Compared with Carina's anxiety, however, Uta was not particularly bothered. After all, she and Arton had already done practically everything they should—and should not—have done together.

Besides, if Arton happened to take a photo of Kalifa while she was lying there and included Uta in the frame, she would not mind in the slightest.

To Uta, it was no different from Nami and Carina playfully fighting with each other nearby.

With so much excitement around them, they could spend quite a long time having fun with Arton.

In fact, Uta felt a little regretful that back when she had not yet joined in Nami and Carina's little game, she had chosen to use her Devil Fruit ability directly on Arton instead.

Of course, she was also glad that she possessed the powers of the Sing-Sing Fruit. Her ability had allowed her to bypass Nami and Carina entirely and meet Arton privately inside the dream world.

Uta felt that if Nami and Carina knew she had already monopolized Arton long before they realized it, they would probably be furious.

Still, she would not regret it. At worst, she could make it up to the two of them later and use her own experience to teach them how to properly enjoy themselves with Arton.

She was confident that as long as she willingly helped the two of them bring Arton down, neither Carina nor Nami would blame her.

"Our situation isn't the same. At the very least, we were still wearing clothes."

Nami sighed before asking, "Uta, what do you think Captain is doing over there right now? Could it lead to him taking photos like these of Kalifa?"

"Yeah." Carina nodded in agreement. "According to Captain's plan, he shouldn't still be tangled up with Kalifa right now."

According to the plan, the operation over there was supposed to be handled mainly by Conis and Raki.

Arton, for his part, was only supposed to keep watch from a distance.

...

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