[Conis: Raki, did you see it?!]
[Raki: If you mean Arton's diary… yeah. I saw it.]
[Conis: I'm so excited… the person Arton's talking about has to be us, right?]
[Raki: If there aren't any other diary-copy holders on Skypiea besides us, then yeah—it should be us.]
[Conis: That's seriously amazing. Whether you get the template or I do, it'll be a huge win for Skypiea.]
[Raki: Yeah. Even though Enel has the Rumble-Rumble Fruit… if it's Serval as a Pathstrider, her lightning should be superior to Enel's.]
[Raki: If Serval's lightning can deal with Enel, I really want to see his reaction when he realizes he can't handle us after we get Serval's template.]
[Raki: …But I don't think the person Arton meant is me.]
[Conis: Raki—w-what do you mean?!]
[Raki: Right. I've thought it through, and the one Arton meant is probably you. You match three of Serval's attributes perfectly: "female," "beauty," and "music."]
[Raki: I don't have "music." And as for things like "mechanical" and "lightning," I don't have those either.]
[Conis: I… I see.]
After reading that, Conis couldn't help getting nervous.
If she could choose, she actually wanted Raki to get the template—because Conis wasn't good at fighting, while Raki was a Shandian warrior. If Raki got the template, maybe she could defeat Enel head-on.
[Conis: Raki, can I come see you? I… I'm kind of freaking out.]
Conis wasn't stupid. After Raki pointed it out, she realized she really might be compatible with Serval's template.
Even if she only matched three attributes, that was still enough to meet the minimum requirement. But compatibility didn't mean anything if Arton hadn't actually given her the template yet.
Before meeting Arton, she wanted to talk things through with Raki—ask what she should do to make sure she could become Arton's companion.
Right now, Conis was stressing over how to join the Flameblade Pirates… not realizing Arton was stressing too—over how the hell he was supposed to invite Conis into the crew.
[Raki: Sorry, Conis. My people went to the Outer Sea—they want to mess with a ship that came up from the Blue Sea.]
[Raki: And I'm pretty sure that ship is Arton's pirate ship.]
[Raki: No matter what, I have to get there and stop them. If I don't, this is going to get ugly.]
[Conis: W-what?! I understand—Raki, please be careful!]
While running, Raki closed the chat window.
Then she looked back at Arton's diary—saw the new lines appearing—and let out a quiet sigh.
"So it really is Conis… she's the one compatible with Serval's template but… Arton knows me too. Maybe I can join the Flameblade Pirates as well?" Raki shook her head, her gaze sharpening. "Still… if Conis takes down Enel herself… do I even need to fight for the template anymore?"
"No matter what… I need to join the Flameblade Pirates. You only live once. You have to see a world this vivid with your own eyes."
"And if Arton knows Aeons exist… then maybe one day, the Flameblade Pirates will follow him… all the way into space."
"A future that beautiful… missing it would be unforgivable." Raki whispered those words to herself.
And she wasn't the only one.
A lot of women who'd originally only been interested in Arton's templates—after hearing about Aeons, Paths, and the universe—found their thoughts starting to shift.
Because the possibility of reaching space was… absurdly tempting to women in a world built on adventure.
Even if Arton didn't show any signs of going to space yet.
Chapter 514: Ain — "I'm Going to Miss Out Again…"
["Beauty," "female," "music"—no doubt Conis fits this template.]
[If I hadn't met Uta afterward, I probably would've invited Conis to be the Flameblade Pirates' singer.]
[But it's fine—having Uta doesn't stop me from inviting Conis too.]
[Uta's the singer, Conis can handle instruments. They could even work as a duo.]
Conis: "S-So it really is me?!"
Uta: "So she's a music person—nice! That's perfect."
Carina: "Hello? I'm a pretty good diva too… wow. The world forgets me."
[That said, Serval's style is rock—she's basically rock incarnate.]
[Conis probably specializes in softer, gentler music. Their styles are kind of far apart.]
[Even their vibe is totally different—Serval's got that edgy energy, Conis is the gentle type.]
[But it shouldn't matter. Conis definitely has the "music" attribute.]
[And vibes aren't a hard requirement anyway—Nami didn't exactly have the Raiden Shogun vibe, and she still accepted that template just fine.]
[So Conis should still be able to use Serval's template.]
Nami: "Could you not use me as the example right now, Captain?!"
[Speaking of Skypiea… there's also Raki up here.]
[I should probably go meet her later too. She's one of my girls, after all.]
Belo Betty: "So Raki really is a Diary Copy holder."
Koala: "Arton mentioned Raki and Conis having that future pumpkin drink shop on Skypiea before. Back then, it was basically confirmation they were Diary Copy holders."
Uta: "So we're getting another sister?"
Paula: "Must be nice. They don't even have to chase Arton—Raki and Conis can just stand there and he'll come to them."
Whitey Bay: "Unlike me. I have to keep running after him."
Makino: "Maybe we should pick a place Arton's likely to visit and just wait there?"
Whitey Bay: "Not a bad idea. He likes checking out famous locations in this world—Reverse Mountain, Skypiea… Maybe he'll stop at the Sabaody Archipelago next?"
Doll: "If Arton shows up at Sabaody… he's not going to start slaughtering Celestial Dragons, is he?"
Boa Hancock: "If he can truly do that… then I wouldn't be opposed to considering his company."
Gion: "If we station people at Sabaody to wait for him… no. Whether he'll even go there is unknown—and even if he does, we wouldn't know when. The Navy can't keep elite forces camped there indefinitely."
Kujaku: "So in the end… we just take it one step at a time."
…
"…Man, this is a headache."
Inside the Flameblade Pirates' ship, Arton let out a long sigh.
"What's wrong, Captain?" Kaya asked.
"I pulled a template… but it doesn't really suit Ain." Arton rubbed his forehead, sounding genuinely troubled. "I already told her I'd give her a template. Now I don't even know how to explain this to her."
Just imagining Ain's disappointed expression—after he handed the Serval template to Conis—made Arton feel even more conflicted.