Chapter 569 - 744 – So It Was Because of Kalifa

"Miss Hina, I hope you'll become one of us this time."

"Even if you don't want to become Captain's woman, please at least become his companion—and ours."

Tashigi clasped her hands together and prayed silently.

She was no fool. On the contrary, she was quite intelligent.

With her wisdom, she could naturally imagine what would happen if Hina refused to join the Flameblade Pirates Arton had created.

It was not that Arton would attack Hina if she refused to join his crew.

Rather, if Hina escaped from Enies Lobby without joining them, the World Government would never let her go.

Previously, because of Zephyr, Garp, and the others shielding her, the World Government had at least refrained from killing Hina outright.

After this escape, however, Tashigi believed the World Government would no longer care even if Garp and Zephyr still wanted to protect her.

Once Hina fled, the World Government would have ample justification to kill her and give the Celestial Dragons an explanation.

Naturally, Tashigi did not want Hina to reject Arton and Ain's goodwill and leave Enies Lobby.

Although Hina was still alive now, Tashigi believed that if she remained on Enies Lobby, the World Government would eventually harm—or even kill—her.

The facts proved Tashigi's judgment correct.

Spandam had already tried to hurt Hina. Fortunately, Arton had arrived in time, or the consequences would have been disastrous.

"Speaking of which, who's that wolf-man following Arton, Ain, and Hina?"

"And who are the two people on his back?"

Uta rested her chin on one hand and asked in confusion.

"Even if you ask me, I don't know either."

Nami spread her hands before looking at Carina beside her.

"What do you think, Carina? Captain actually brought several men back with him."

Carina nodded thoughtfully.

The fact that Arton had brought several men back aboard was undoubtedly astonishing.

Normally, Arton would never do such a thing.

"If I'm guessing correctly, those men should be CP9 agents."

"Captain must have run into them by chance. Since he didn't intend to hurt them, he brought them back with him."

Nico Robin analyzed the situation.

"Captain has no connection to CP9. Why would he treat those people so leniently?"

Uta remained puzzled.

Arton had not attacked the CP9 agents. Wasn't he being far too gentle?

"Could it be because of that woman named Kalifa?"

...

Nami's eyes lit up.

"Kalifa?" Carina blinked before understanding. "I see."

Everyone knew of Kalifa's existence. Arton had previously mentioned her name in the voyage diary.

Although none of them knew exactly what kind of woman Kalifa was, Arton's ability to mention her from time to time despite never having met her was enough to prove that she was an exceptional woman.

That explained why Arton had brought several men back aboard.

Needless to say, he must have brought them as a prelude to inviting the woman named Kalifa onto his ship.

...

"Miss Hina, we finally meet again. Are you all right?"

The moment Hina stepped onto the deck, Tashigi hurried over to greet her.

Although the two were not particularly close, they had spent some time together during a previous operation.

More importantly, as fellow Marines who had made different choices after similar incidents involving the Celestial Dragons, Tashigi could not help worrying about her.

In a way, even though she wanted Hina to repay Smoker's kindness, Tashigi still hoped she would remain alive and well.

"Thank you for your concern, Tashigi."

"Although Hina went through a few things, she's doing very well now."

Hina smiled softly.

Meeting Tashigi again, she felt that the woman before her was vastly different from the Tashigi she remembered.

Her face still appeared somewhat youthful, but her presence had grown far more mature.

Of course, the place where Hina felt Tashigi had matured the most was naturally her figure.

The old Tashigi had merely possessed a pretty face. Her figure could not have been considered especially impressive; at most, she had been cute.

The current Tashigi, however, fully deserved to be called sexy.

Hina could not help feeling envious.

After all, she had already decided to serve Captain properly for the rest of her life.

Without an excellent figure, Hina feared she would be unable to realize the ideas in her heart, much less recreate some of the techniques depicted in those manga.

Tashigi, on the other hand, now looked entirely capable of performing the techniques shown in Arton's fan works.

At the very least, Hina felt that Tashigi could handle the techniques depicted in the manga contained within her voyage diary copy.

As long as Tashigi was generous enough, she would never leave Arton dissatisfied.

"Tashigi, you really have changed tremendously since before. You've become much fuller."

"I suppose it's because of the power Arton gave you, right?"

Hina looked Tashigi over curiously before asking.

"Huh?"

Tashigi blinked. Hina's question left her somewhat bewildered.

Hina had only just escaped danger. Shouldn't she be more concerned about what would happen to her now?

Why was she suddenly concerned about how Tashigi had changed?

Compared to her personal safety, that should not have mattered very much.

What Tashigi did not yet know was that Hina had already decided to become a member of the Flameblade Pirates.

She had even resolved to become Arton's woman.

Because she trusted him, Hina was no longer worried about her personal safety.

What concerned her now was her appearance, her figure, and similar matters.

To Hina, those would become indispensable weapons in the future—weapons to use against Arton.

Although Hina had not yet truly trained with Arton or tested herself against him, the time she had spent on Enies Lobby had already made her fully aware of how formidable Arton was—and how formidable his "weapon" was.

That realization made her understand that unless she became formidable enough herself, she might not be able to handle Arton during their future encounters.

That was the last thing Hina wanted to see.

...

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