"Forget that. I don't want to be the one taking the fall with you," Borsalino said, hurriedly waving his hand.
"If you don't want to get dragged in with me, then stop making jokes like that, Borsalino," Kuzan said helplessly.
"Got it." Borsalino nodded, then added with a smile, "Still, I think you'd better keep a closer eye on Teacher Zephyr. He's been way too anxious lately. If this keeps up, he might crack under the pressure and do something he'll regret."
"That Arton guy may be a pirate, but he's not the kind of lunatic who runs wild like Kaido. Ain's been doing just fine on his ship. Teacher Zephyr really could afford to slow down a little when it comes to finding a way to bring her back."
Hearing that, Kuzan shot him a look.
"It's not like I don't know Arton isn't some especially dangerous man. I already confirmed with my own eyes that Ain's fine on his ship. But you saw Teacher Zephyr earlier too. What I said about Ain being fine didn't change his attitude at all. He's still dead set on finding Arton as soon as possible and taking Ain back."
"That's true." Borsalino nodded, then looked at Kuzan with a trace of sympathy.
"And as for what you said about keeping an eye on Teacher Zephyr... you should be saying that to yourself, Borsalino. If something really does happen to him, who do you think Sengoku is more likely to send out? Me, or you?"
Borsalino's mouth twitched.
"...Yeah. What a pain."
There was no question about it. Under normal circumstances, if something happened to Zephyr, Sengoku would definitely send him out to help.
After all, he was the Glint-Glint Fruit user—the fastest man in Marine Headquarters.
"Figures. I was born for overwork." Borsalino shook his head. "Seriously, I've lost my appetite. I'm heading back to rest early. If they really do call me out, at least I'll have gotten some sleep first."
With that, Borsalino picked up his tray and headed for the cafeteria doors.
Once Borsalino was gone and the area quieted down, Kuzan should have been able to eat in peace.
But even so, Zephyr's situation had killed his appetite too.
In the end, he could only pick up his tray and head for the cafeteria exit as well.
He needed to get some rest himself and settle his thoughts.
Meanwhile, elsewhere…
On the Flameblade Pirates' ship.
"Captain Arton? Captain Arton?"
Ain shook the Arton lying in her lap and called out in confusion.
"What is it, Ain? Something wrong?"
With his face buried in Ain's tits, Arton asked the question.
Ain let out a relieved breath, a smile appearing on her face.
"I thought you'd fallen asleep."
"Yeah, I was starting to think Captain Arton hadn't really been listening when we were talking about Miss Hina," Tashigi said, nodding along with Ain as she looked at Arton resting in Ain's lap.
There was a trace of envy in her eyes.
If she could choose, how badly she wanted Arton to be lying in her lap instead.
That was true even though he had already spent some time in her lap earlier.
"How could I not listen? We're talking about Hina." Arton replied. "And since everyone's safety is involved, of course I need to listen carefully to everything about Hina. Enies Lobby is still a pretty dangerous place, after all."
Chapter 646: Tashigi Worries About Arton's Body
"So you really were listening to us, Captain Arton. I honestly thought you'd definitely fallen asleep in Ain's lap."
Tashigi pushed up the glasses on her face and smiled at Ain and Arton.
It was only natural she'd think that way. After all, Ain had already lifted up her shirt, and Arton's head was buried beneath it.
Even if Tashigi couldn't see what was happening inside, just listening with her ears was enough to understand exactly what was going on in Ain's lap.
Before she knew it, Tashigi started thinking of a newborn nursing.
Seriously... I never imagined Captain Arton had a side like this.
If I have children someday, I wonder if Captain Arton would do this to me too?
No, wait, why am I thinking about children? Stop it, Tashigi.
Tashigi's face instantly turned bright red.
Even though she tried her best to stop herself from imagining more, once the thought started, it was hard to shut it down.
She even found herself picturing a future where she and Arton raised their children together, and those children grew up to become top talents in all kinds of fields.
No, wait, why am I even imagining multiple kids?!
Do I really want children that badly?
Her face flushed deeper and deeper, even redder than Ain's while Arton was buried in her chest.
That made Ain shoot Tashigi a strange look.
Arton wasn't using Observation Haki right now, so he didn't notice anything unusual about Tashigi's state.
He bit down on the soft mound in front of him, then said—under Ain's startled gaze, "After all, Hina got arrested because of me. No matter what, I have to take responsibility for that."
"Honestly, I never expected the World Government to target her when all she did was stand there and watch. Should I say the Celestial Dragons really are the Celestial Dragons? When it comes to being unreasonable, they never disappoint."
Hearing Arton say that brought Tashigi a little more back to her senses.
She nodded, fully agreeing with him.
"Yeah. The World Government really never disappoints when it comes to letting people down. I seriously don't know how I ever ended up joining a Marine force controlled by people like that. Good thing I saw their true face in time, or I might've gotten trapped much deeper."
Arton smiled at that.
"If you put it that way, doesn't that mean you should be thanking me, Tashigi?"
Tashigi awkwardly scratched the back of her head.
"That's true. I should thank you, Captain Arton. But I don't think just thanking you for now really means much. I'll spend the rest of my life thanking you."
She looked at Arton's body with open affection.
If Arton weren't lying in Ain's lap right now—making things a little awkward—Tashigi would've already thrown her arms around him and given him a huge hug to show her gratitude.
Of course, if she could express that gratitude in a more exciting way, Tashigi wouldn't have minded that either.
But after everything Arton had gone through in just this one day, the number of "battles" he'd fought was already way too high.
Tashigi honestly felt that the fights she didn't know about probably outnumbered the ones she did.
Even though Arton's stamina had always been incredible, after that many consecutive rounds, Tashigi still couldn't help worrying about the condition of his body.
...
For every 50 Power Stones → +1 extra chapter.