"Uta..." Shanks looked in the direction of Elegia, his eyes filled with heartache. He knew his stubborn daughter too well; she must be bearing all of this alone. His finger hovered over the video call button, but he hesitated to press it.
"Is it really appropriate to contact her now?" Shanks muttered with a bitter smile.
After more than a decade of absence, would suddenly appearing as a father make things worse? This man, who remained expressionless even during the Four Emperors' decisive battle, now hesitated over a call invitation.
Finally, he sighed deeply and turned off his phone screen.
"Beckman!" Shanks turned and called out, his voice regaining its usual steadiness, but his familiar First Mate still detected a subtle difference.
"Change course, full speed ahead to Elegia." A hint of determination flashed in Shanks's eyes as he gave the order. "Have everyone prepare. This time... it might be very troublesome."
Beckman, with a cigarette in his mouth, nodded knowingly: "Finally decided to go see your daughter?"
Shanks didn't answer, merely gazing silently in Elegia's direction. The Red Force cut a graceful arc through the sea, speeding towards Elegia.
The waves crashed against the hull, as if speaking of a father's belated concern.
.....
Meanwhile, in the concert venue in Elegia, Uta sat alone on the empty stage, the blue light of her phone screen illuminating her pale face.
Negative comments constantly refreshed, but she stubbornly refused to close the page, as if punishing herself in this way.
Kaido sat on his throne in the Onigashima live stream room, his thick fingers continuously scrolling through his phone screen, his brow furrowing deeper and deeper. His usually ferocious face now uncharacteristically showed a hint of regret.
Under the dim lights of the live stream room, his dragon-scale tattoo subtly rose and fell with his heavy breathing.
"These idiots..." Kaido's low voice echoed in the empty room.
He had only intended to annoy Red Hair, but he hadn't expected the online bullying to be unleashed so ferociously on Uta. The unseemly comments on the screen made even this Four Emperor uncomfortable—words like "pirate's bastard," "get out of the music industry," and "go die" densely flooded the screen.
Kaido violently smashed his sake gourd onto the ground, fragments and liquor splashing everywhere.
"What a joke!" He roared, even as a pirate, Kaido had always been clear about his grievances. "Someone! Prepare the live streaming equipment!"
Kaido's roar made all of Onigashima tremble.
In less than ten minutes, an emergency live stream room was quickly set up. When the live stream started, Kaido's fierce, dragon-scaled face appeared before millions of viewers.
"Listen up, all of you!" Kaido's opening was a deafening roar, the microphone in the live stream room crackling with a harsh electrical noise. "That little girl Uta is innocent! If you want to curse, curse that bastard Red Hair!"
Kaido's eyes blazed with anger. He raised his massive hand, counting off Shanks's transgressions one by one on his fingers: "First, he abandoned his own daughter in Elegia for over a decade! Second, he never gave her even the most basic fatherly love! Third..."
At this point, Kaido suddenly paused, his tone uncharacteristically softening slightly, "...Leaving a little girl to face this messed-up world alone, is that something a human does?"
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