It wasn't just Uta.
Even Gordon stood there with a stunned expression.
The reason he had agreed to come aboard Yuuki's pirate ship was simple—he wanted Uta to have some exposure to the outside world.
In his mind, no matter how unusual it was, a pirate ship was still just a pirate ship.
At most, he had imagined some kind of lively pirate banquet, with Uta perhaps singing a few songs to liven up the atmosphere.
That way—
she could gradually get used to interacting with strangers.
At least, that was what pirates had always been like in Gordon's memory.
But now—
his neck turned stiffly.
Golden light shone in every direction, stretching as far as the eye could see.
Luxury and splendor were everywhere.
Rather than a pirate ship—
this looked more like a thriving city.
Gordon's eyes filled with confusion.
Is this really a pirate ship?
Did Yuuki bring us to some kingdom instead?
"Welcome to the Gran Tesoro."
A smiling voice sounded beside Uta and Gordon.
"Of course, you could also call this the 'Sea Kingdom,' Gran Tesoro. It's a giant ship over ten thousand meters long."
The two instinctively turned to look at Yuuki.
Meeting their stunned gazes, Yuuki smiled warmly.
"I'm the captain of this ship."
"And also the king here."
At that, he looked toward Uta and teased lightly,
"So, in a sense, I'm not exactly a pirate either."
Gordon fell silent.
He suddenly realized he might have encountered someone truly extraordinary.
Until now, all he had known from the newspapers was that Yuuki was a great pirate with a bounty of 1.3 billion Berries.
But now—
it was clear he was far more than just some notorious pirate.
"I'll show the two of you around."
Yuuki spoke gently.
Still somewhat stiff and reserved, Uta and Gordon followed behind him.
Soft lights illuminated both sides of the smooth streets.
Though there were many people walking around, no one paid them excessive attention.
After all, Yuuki spent most of his time at the top floor of the Golden Hotel.
On the entire Gran Tesoro, only a handful of people had ever actually seen him.
Along the way—
Uta remained extremely cautious.
She barely dared make eye contact with anyone passing by.
Whenever someone walked past, she instinctively lowered her head.
Having lived alone for so long, she was visibly awkward in such a lively, crowded environment.
Yuuki seemed not to notice.
He continued casually introducing the surroundings.
Just then—
several children carrying bouquets of flowers came running down the street.
As they passed by Yuuki's group, they suddenly stopped.
Their eyes lit up with anticipation as they looked at Yuuki and Uta.
"Pretty big sister, would you like to buy a flower?"
The oldest-looking boy among them lifted a bright pink blossom toward Uta.
It gave off a faint, pleasant fragrance.
Compared to adults, children made Uta far less nervous.
"All right… um, how much is it?"
Uta bent down slightly and gave the child a smile.
Though her voice still carried the timid awkwardness of someone unused to social interaction.
"One flower is 500 Berries."
The boy's eyes brightened instantly as he replied.
"500 Berries?"
Uta froze.
That price was clearly expensive.
She didn't know much about market prices, but even she knew a newspaper only cost 100 Berries.
Still—
faced with the children's hopeful expressions, she reached toward her pocket.
Then her face reddened.
Only now did she realize—
she had no money on her.
After all, on Elegia, it had always just been Gordon and her.
There had never been any need for money.
"I'll take this one."
Yuuki handed the boy a 500-Berry note and picked a flower.
"Thank you, big brother!"
The boy happily accepted the money and bowed deeply.
Then he led the other children off down the street.
"Here."
Yuuki handed the pink flower to Uta.
Flustered, Uta accepted it.
The blush on her face deepened.
Her other hand unconsciously began twirling the white strand of her left twin-tail.
Clearly embarrassed, she quickly changed the subject.
"Who were those children?"
Yuuki turned and continued walking.
At the same time, he answered softly,
"This is not only a sea kingdom."
"It's also the largest entertainment city in the world. A huge number of people come and go every day."
"The residents who live on this ship work in reception, service, and many other roles."
"The work may be tiring, but the wages are far above outside standards."
"So naturally, prices here are a little higher."
"As for elderly people who can no longer work, the state provides them with monthly support for retirement."
"As for those children… they're probably earning pocket money after school."
Yuuki looked over the luxurious street as he spoke.
Ever since taking control of the Gran Tesoro, he had erased all debts on board.
Especially for the people who had originally lived here.
Given the nature of the world's largest entertainment city, jobs were naturally abundant.
At the same time, Yuuki had also established a retirement support system and schools.
None of these things were particularly difficult.
The only slightly troublesome one had been the pension system.
After all, in this world, there was no such concept as government retirement payments.
Fortunately—
the ship's population wasn't particularly large.
With the overwhelming income of the entertainment district, the expense was insignificant.
Besides—
on this ship, no one dared oppose Yuuki's word.
As Yuuki continued explaining, Uta's eyes gradually lit up.
From time to time, the corner of her gaze drifted toward his profile—
only for her to hurriedly look away again.
Gordon deliberately slowed his pace by a few steps.
His gaze rested on Uta and Yuuki walking side by side ahead of him.
Behind his sunglasses, his eyes flickered slightly.
He had heard everything Yuuki said.
To him, it was almost unbelievable.
Perhaps he had simply been isolated on Elegia for too long.
His understanding of the outside world had clearly fallen behind.
What an indescribable person.
Gordon thought silently.
Yuuki was unlike any pirate he had ever met.
Even compared to that man, Red-Hair…
No.
They were completely different kinds of people.
And yet—
there was still something strangely similar between them.
At the very least, Gordon was now certain of one thing.
Yuuki held no ill intent toward Uta.
For him—
that alone was enough.
Meanwhile—
the children who had just sold the flower arrived beneath a streetlamp in the opposite direction.
There stood a tall woman in an elegant blue patterned dress, a faint smile on her lips.
Robin.
"This is your payment."
"But next time, don't push too hard when selling flowers."
Robin tossed them a stack of bills.
At the same time, she casually took one pink flower from their bouquet.
Raising it to her lips, she lightly inhaled its fragrance.
"It really does smell nice."
"Got it!"
The boy instantly stuffed the money away.
Not caring at all that Robin had taken one flower, he quickly ran off with the others.
Watching them disappear, Robin smiled faintly.
Then—
whoosh!
A sharp sound cut through the air.
"Who is that woman?"
In the next instant, Marianne's figure appeared beneath the streetlamp.
Her voice carried clear surprise.
"If even you don't know, then naturally I wouldn't know either."
Robin's eyes flickered slightly.
Then she smiled.
"Perhaps she's a girl the captain likes."
"No."
Almost the instant Robin finished speaking, Marianne denied it.
Robin's eyes showed brief surprise.
But she quickly concealed it.
Rather than asking why Marianne was so certain, she simply shrugged.
"At the very least, it's obvious the captain values that girl highly."
"She might even become one of our future companions."
This time, Marianne did not respond immediately.
After a moment of silence, her figure vanished from Robin's side.
"The situation aboard the Gran Tesoro is rather complicated."
Robin glanced toward where Marianne had disappeared and murmured softly.
She had only been here for a few days.
She had met most of the Magic Eye Pirates.
Aside from Buggy the Clown, who was easy to find as the manager of the grand entertainment district—
Marianne, Cabaji, and Mohji all remained strangely elusive.
Even as a fellow crew member, meeting them was surprisingly difficult.
From what she had managed to learn from Mr. Tanaka—
the Acrobat Cabaji and the Beast Tamer Mohji spent most of their time training.
Now, from the way Marianne had dumped most of the Gran Tesoro's affairs into her hands—
it seemed Marianne intended to do the same.
"What a strange group."
Robin couldn't help muttering.
This enormous ship, with profits beyond imagination—
and yet they had handed it over to her, a newcomer who had only just joined.
She truly didn't know how to describe it.
Still—
at least it gave her a chance to prove her worth.
And more importantly—
even as a newcomer, she could already sense just how loose the ship's management was.
As well as how many spies from different factions were secretly mixed into the vessel.
Up until now—
Robin had come to understand one thing.
The reason Gran Tesoro had not descended into chaos—
the reason money from all over the world still flowed through it daily—
was entirely because of one man.
As long as Yuuki was here—
this ship would never fall into disorder.
"As for Morgans' proposed cooperation…"
Robin brushed a strand of hair behind her ear.
"It seems that report will have to wait."
Right now—
it was clearly not a good time to disturb the captain.
However—
just as Robin followed the crowd toward the entertainment district—
a sneaky figure suddenly began tailing her.
Robin's pace did not change.
She merely lifted the white-rimmed brown sunglasses from the bridge of her nose to rest atop her hair.
Her eyes showed both surprise and amusement.
What surprised her was not that someone was following her—
but rather how utterly terrible they were at it.
Click.
The sound of her heels stopped abruptly.
Robin suddenly turned around.
A figure dressed in extravagant clothes froze mid-step.
Their body was practically dripping with gold and jewels.
They looked like a walking nouveau riche.
Robin's sudden turn clearly caught the person off guard.
They instinctively tried to dodge to the side.
But the moment they saw Robin's face—
their expression turned ecstatic.
"Usopp?"
Robin raised a brow in surprise.
"Robin! It really is you!"
Usopp dashed over in a blur, his face full of excitement.
"How are you here?"
"Did Luffy and the others come too?"
Earlier, he had noticed a familiar silhouette on the street and followed out of curiosity.
He had never expected it to actually be Robin.
Seeing his excitement, Robin could already guess why.
She smiled lightly and shook her head.
"No. I came alone."
Ever since arriving at the Gran Tesoro, she had been too busy cleaning up the mess Marianne had handed her.
She had almost forgotten that before her—
Usopp had been the first to be captured and brought aboard.
Curiosity flickered in Robin's eyes as she looked at him.
He had not been present during her meetings with the Magic Eye Pirates.
Clearly—
Usopp had not joined them.
"You were captured too?"
Hearing that, Usopp's face immediately filled with indignation.
Then he quickly glanced around cautiously.
Making sure no one was paying attention, he waved Robin over.
Robin followed him curiously across the street to a quieter corner.
"Robin, don't be fooled just because you can't see anyone from the Magic Eye Pirates around."
"The entire Gran Tesoro is monitored by visual Den Den Mushi."
"So, whatever happens, be careful."
Only after reaching the quieter spot did Usopp finally let out a breath.
Then he lowered his voice.
"You seem to be doing pretty well here."
Robin's lips curved slightly as she looked over his obviously expensive attire.
"Hehe, I've had pretty good luck."
Usopp grinned proudly and scratched his slightly curly black hair.
"You know the lottery?"
"I won the jackpot twice."
This time, Robin was genuinely surprised.
The "lottery" system introduced by the entertainment district had brought enormous profits to the Gran Tesoro.
While people won every day—
the jackpot was rare.
After all, first prize was a full 10 million Berries.
"But that's not important."
Usopp immediately lowered his voice again, his expression turning serious.
"I already bought a small boat at the Golden Port under a merchant's name."
"We need to leave this place as soon as possible and regroup with Luffy and the others."
Seeing Robin remain silent, Usopp assumed she doubted his plan.
"Don't worry."
"I've already memorized the patrol routes during this time."
"As long as we create enough chaos, and move fast enough, we can reach the harbor first and get out of here."
Create chaos?
Robin's eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly.
Her gaze toward Usopp became more thoughtful.
Creating chaos aboard the Gran Tesoro was no easy task.
Robin knew Usopp liked to exaggerate.
But she also knew that when it came to certain things, he could be surprisingly reliable.
At the very least—
there was no reason for him to bluff here.
And with his abilities alone—
there was no way he could create a disturbance on this ship so easily.
So…
someone is helping him?
(End of Chapter)
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