Jango reflected on events that had happened not long ago.
Shortly after leaving Syrup Village, he encountered Luffy and Zoro sailing on a small boat on the high seas.
At the time, Jango was in a particularly foul mood. Consequently, when their boats met, he tried to take out his frustrations by teaching Luffy and Zoro a lesson, only to be taught a lesson himself by them.
During this encounter, he learned Luffy's name.
Having spent some time with Arton, Jango naturally heard Luffy's name mentioned multiple times by Uta and knew that Luffy was Uta's childhood friend. In light of this, Jango quickly saw an opportunity to "hitch a ride."
Jango's hypnotism intrigued Luffy, and combined with Jango's knowledge of navigation, it naturally led to him becoming Luffy's companion.
If Arton knew about this, he would certainly be amazed. The original diamond-level navigator Nami had been replaced by the bronze-level navigator Jango.
Luffy's future sails might now face even more challenges.
"Uh, Luffy, actually, I have something to tell you," Jango suddenly said seriously to Luffy.
"Hm? What is it, Jango?" Luffy stopped examining the ship and asked Jango curiously.
"Luffy, do you know Uta?"
"Uta?! You mean Uta?"
"Yes, that's her, a girl who is very good at singing."
"Yes, Uta is indeed great at singing, you know Uta, Jango?"
"Yes, I know Uta; she is a crew member of Arton."
"Eh?! She's a crew member of Arton? I thought she had given up on being a pirate?"
Luffy was puzzled.
After all, according to Shanks, Uta had given up being a pirate to strive to become an idol.
"I don't know the details, but soon after I met Arton, I encountered Uta on his ship." Jango nodded.
"I'm not sure what happened, but Uta should still be on this island."
"That's great, I need to go see her," Luffy said, and immediately jumped off the boat, planning to run towards the center of Syrup Village.
However, before he could take more than a few steps, Usopp jumped out from behind a large rock and spoke to Luffy:
"About Uta, she has already left with Arton and the others."
"Eh?! How could this be?! Wait, who are you?"
Usopp had already clearly heard the conversation between Luffy and the others, so he knew they posed no danger.
Luffy looked at Usopp, slightly confused, and asked.
"That's a good question."
"Yes, I am the great Captain Usopp."
"The ship beneath your feet, that's my pirate ship!"
Usopp grandly waved his hand, about to introduce himself properly.
However, before he could finish, Jango interrupted him.
"This ship doesn't look like it's yours at all."
"Wait, does this mean Arton has already left?"
"And he left the ship in your charge?"
Jango, puzzled, jumped down from the ship and approached Usopp. He knew Arton had been thinking about switching to a brand-new ship, so it wasn't surprising that Arton might one day abandon his old ship.
Zoro also approached. He was eager to have a swordfight with Arton, so he was particularly interested in Arton's whereabouts.
Usopp, seeing the three men staring intently at him, paused to think before sharing the specific details of Arton's departure.
Some time passed.
Luffy stood at the bow, grandly gesturing forward and shouted:
"We're setting off, everyone."
"Let's go find Arton."
Usopp twitched his mouth and shouted back at Luffy:
"Luffy, I should be the captain, right?"
"The captain's orders should come from me."
Luffy immediately turned around:
"I'm the captain!"
Meanwhile, elsewhere.
"It's done, this will be our pirate flag from now on."
Arton held up a huge pirate flag, smiling at Kaya, Carina, and Uta on the ship.
The three women, hearing Arton's words, immediately looked over curiously.
On the flag, a sword and a knife replaced the traditional pirate crew's crossed bones at the bottom.
Over the sword and knife symbols, there was a slightly menacing skull.
To be precise, it was a skull drawn by Arton based on the image of his brother, the Demon King. (t/n: no idea about this)
Around the flag, there were some music notes that seemed to be pulsating.
"Is this our pirate flag? It looks pretty good."
Uta's eyes sparkled as she looked at Arton's flag.
"It is quite nice-looking, truly worthy of a professional artist," Carina nodded slightly, hinting at something to Arton.
"Yeah, it looks pretty good."
This was Kaya's voice.
"After all, since we're going to be carrying this pirate flag forever, it has to be well-made."
"Carina, could you please hang this up for us?"
Arton said, handing the pirate flag to Carina.
"No problem."
Carina reached for the pirate flag, and the next moment her body turned into a flash of blue lightning, quickly appearing at the top of the mast.
Arton looked up, slightly disappointed, and shook his head:
"Tsk, she wore safety shorts today."
"That's a bit too much, Carina."
Although Arton spoke softly, Kaya and Uta were right beside him and heard everything clearly.
Uta was fine; after traveling with Arton for a while, she had a good sense of Arton's personality.
And Kaya, in an instant, her face turned red.
She glanced at her own dress, wondering if she should also wear safety shorts.
***
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