"Idiot! Idiot! Idiot!"
"Alright Uta, don't be sad. We'll always be watching over you, and the sooner you grow, the sooner we can see each other again."
The problem with Radio Snails is that they can't hide emotions. Right now, the snail in Shanks' hand had tears streaming down its face, truly reflecting Uta's situation.
Recalling what Stella said to him, he might really not understand women's thoughts.
This was the result of his farewell. If he had truly left without saying goodbye, the Uta in the lie might have been even more despairing.
"Beckman? Do you think I really don't understand women?"
After hanging up, Shanks looked at Beckman beside him. Beckman, who seemed serious, was actually a playboy who often mingled with women during breaks.
"Don't you have any idea? Just like Uta said, you're nothing but a fool."
Amidst the crew's mocking laughter, the Red Force returned once again to Windmill Village, where they had some matters to attend to.
Meanwhile, on Tesoro's ship, Heracross was holding a roll of tissue and looking at Ann and Uta in front of him.
Ann was closest in age to Uta, and Stella thought this could shift Uta's attention, so she arranged for Ann to comfort Uta, helping her to quickly move past this matter.
"Don't worry, with your talent, you can quickly grow into a world-class songstress. By then, he'll come back to pick you up."
She needs to grow not in status, but in mental resilience, something a child cannot easily learn. She needs enough time, and during this period, becoming a songstress also became her goal.
This was her own ideal and the reason why Tesoro initially wanted to sign her.
"Here, let me show you something fun."
With that, Ann took out Shanks' wanted poster, then tore off the photo. Under her ability's influence, a fake Shanks quickly appeared in front of Uta.
"Sha...Shanks?!"
"I'm a Viso-Viso Fruit user. Although it's fake, I can create phantoms to help you during calls, making it feel real."
Back on Ellegia, they were classmates, and now, leveraging this fruit ability, their relationship was rapidly growing, while on the other side, Darkrai also resumed his journey, telling Tesoro some things before he left.
"That thing inside the girl still exists. If it comes out again, you can contact Lord Arceus, and I will deal with it."
This time, the Singing Demon King was quick enough to escape. A bit slower, and Darkrai might have made it disappear forever.
But for Darkrai, this was also a good thing, as such delightful entities were rare.
However, it was currently too weak—even if Uta sang Tot musica again, it wouldn't have the ability to appear.
Considering Darkrai's own desires, he hoped the Singing Demon King would reappear after some time.
But the only way to contact him was through Arceus. Beyond Arceus, no one could find him, as he was as elusive as a phantom on The Sea.
As for whether contacting Arceus for such a trivial matter was appropriate, in different terms, he just wanted to relay something to his "father" when he wanted a snack—such trivial matters wouldn't affect anything.
Subsequently, Darkrai disappeared before them, and Tesoro looked at the newspaper that had just been delivered to his hand.
"The Navy's actions... are they fast or slow?"
Say they're fast, but Tesoro and Shanks fought with that demon on Ellegia for half a day without even a sign of the Navy.
Say they're slow, but right after finishing the matter, they arrived, and even the newspaper had been compiled and issued.
The newspaper covered the incident at Ellegia, where, according to final statistics, the injured and deceased accounted for half of Ellegia's total population, leaving the nation in ruins, equivalent to destruction.
When only Gordon was left, he could not resent Uta. To be precise, he wasn't qualified to do so, because he knew about the sealed Singing Demon King. To be correct, most people in Ellegia had heard the story, but most treated it as a legend.
In Gordon's view, Uta was also a victim, and it was his own forgetting of this matter that was the culprit of the Demon King's revival. But now, things were different; this incident caused the remaining citizens to lose much, and they needed an outlet for their emotions.
Under Shanks' request, he became the person whom the people of Ellegia resented.
While they certainly resented the Singing Demon King, at the same time, they also blamed the person who released it.
Moreover, to exaggerate the threat of pirates, the Navy placed the title of the destroyer of nations on Shanks.
The Navy's information was already exaggerated, and Morgans went even further.
[The Destroyer of Ellegia, the man closest to the Sea Emperor.]
That's the title he bestowed upon Shanks—the West Kai Kingdom destroyed by the Hundred Beasts, and BIG MOM who had also obliterated kingdoms and islands over food issues. Whitebeard, although somewhat decent to people in his territory, was a pirate to the outside, naturally doing similar things.
The ability to destroy worlds wasn't just an exaggeration because the Navy had witnessed islands destroyed by Whitebeard's power.
"Country Destroyer" nearly became synonymous with Sea Emperor, and Shanks, who accomplished half of this feat, was naturally given this title.
Such things as the Singing Demon King couldn't be publicized everywhere, so in the announced information, Shanks and the Red Hair Pirates were the culprits.
...
"Madam, should we show this newspaper to Uta?"
"Hold on. She's still emotional right now; give it some time. By the way, what about the things I asked you to handle?"
"All cleared. We searched the entire island for similar items before leaving; there shouldn't be any video materials circulating."
"Yes, be vigilant. If you find any, deal with them promptly—it's not the time for her to see this yet."
The popularity of Radio Snails was high, and Ellegia also had recording equipment. To prevent Uta from accidentally seeing this information and disrupting their plans, Stella had people collect the island's equipment before leaving.
And the events occurring in Ellegia also impacted many others. For instance, in an unknown place in the East Sea, a certain red-nosed man was startled into pieces after seeing the newspaper.
"What's wrong, Captain Buggy, any big news?"
"Oh, it's about Shanks. I heard he did something truly terrifying—quite impressive."
In the eyes of pirates, Shanks' actions were undoubtedly an accomplishment, but his casual remark irritated Captain Buggy beside him.
"Get back to work right away!!"