'This guy, he actually took such a photo.'
'Now, everyone with the journal has seen it?!'
Uta, lips pursed, her face flushing red, looked towards Carina.
Indeed, she saw Carina looking back at her with a smile on her face.
In that instant, a wave of embarrassment washed over Uta.
Though she had hoped Arton would take more photos of her, the exposure of her bear-patterned underwear was not something she had anticipated.
"Damn it, I need to control my tail."
"I can't let him see it again."
Holding her somewhat unruly tail, Uta pouted as she glanced at Arton.
"What's wrong, Uta? Are you puzzled by my gift?"
"Hehe, don't be too surprised."
"You've seen Carina's performance. It's a power similar to what Carina used before."
"You can think of this power as a different type of Devil Fruit."
Arton, seeing Uta's reaction, thought she was amazed by the gift he gave.
He didn't realize Uta was embarrassed because of her photo.
So, when Uta looked his way, Arton naturally began to explain the power of Lancer Elizabeth Bathory to her, to help Uta better adapt to this power.
However, due to seeing her bear-patterned underwear photo, Uta was somewhat distracted during Arton's explanation.
In the meantime, Jango and the others also arrived but were immediately dispatched by Carina to transport the Treasure Pirates' treasure.
...
"In summary, Elizabeth Bathory's power is basically like that."
"Although you might not be able to use Elizabeth's Noble Phantasm right now,"
"I believe that after extensive training, you'll be able to master Elizabeth's power quickly."
"Uta, I have very high hopes for you."
Arton patted Uta on the shoulder, laughing as he spoke.
"Leave it to me."
Uta took a deep breath, her gaze resolute.
After some time to mentally adjust, Uta had managed to shake off her embarrassed state.
"Good!" Arton nodded slightly. "Things here are pretty much settled, so let's leave... Huh?!"
Suddenly, Arton frowned, the patterns on his forehead appeared, his consciousness entered the transparent world state, and the Conqueror's Haki he had acquired not long ago instinctively emanated from him.
Buzzing.
For a moment, the air around Arton seemed to wail.
Uta and Carina both paused, looking at Arton with a bit of confusion.
At that moment, a surprised voice came from across the street.
"Eh! Conqueror's Haki?"
"There's someone with such an aura here?!"
"Kid, do you want to become a marine?"
Uta and Carina followed the voice and saw a tall man with white hair, robust despite his age, wearing a dog-head mask.
"Who is this guy, and why does he seem so strong?!"
Uta also frowned deeply.
She was currently using Elizabeth's powers.
And since Elizabeth inherently had dragon attributes, Uta was exceptionally sensitive to danger.
She felt a tremendous oppressive force emanating from the old man across from her.
Uta felt it so, and naturally, Carina did as well.
Her brows furrowed, and strands of electricity began to coil around her.
However, at this moment, Arton withdrew his Haki and placed a hand on Carina's shoulder.
"Carina, you just used your electric power."
"Let's take a break here."
"I know that old man over there."
Arton remarked.
How could he not recognize such an iconic figure? In the entire navy, only the Marine Hero Garp had such a distinctive appearance.
'I didn't expect this guy to show up here,' Arton mused internally.
Previously, he had instinctively adopted a battle stance upon sensing the presence of a powerful individual nearby.
"What, so you know him?" Carina naturally retracted her power upon hearing Arton's words.
Of course, she didn't completely let down her guard. After all, the man in the dog-head mask was wearing a marine officer's uniform.
And while they hadn't yet hoisted the pirate flag or been wanted by the navy, Arton was ultimately planning to form a pirate crew.
The old man glanced at the Treasure Pirates scattered on the ground but didn't pay them much attention. Although he was a marine, the attire of the Treasure Pirates clearly didn't suggest they were ordinary citizens.
Given they weren't ordinary citizens, they could potentially be criminals. Without understanding the true nature of the situation, he wasn't about to defend these fallen Treasure Pirates.
Instead, he approached Arton, Carina, and Uta, stopping about a meter away, and looked at them with interest.
"The power of lightning, I saw lightning strike this town from a distance earlier."
"That must have been your doing, young lady," the Marine old man said to Carina.
"So what if it was? Just to be clear, they're not exactly good people."
"And they attacked me first."
"At most, I was defending myself."
"You, as a marine, wouldn't go out of your way to defend them, right?" Carina, with one hand on her hip and the other pointing at Garp, said.
***
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