Uta and Cain's fingertips touched the door-like picture-book panel at the same time, and in the next instant they were swept into the enormous index by an invisible force.
In the blink of an eye, the two of them found themselves standing inside the world sketched by the picture book—this was the second layer of the dream.
The sense of reality was overwhelming.
Even though Cain had watched countless anime and read countless manga, he had never experienced anything this shocking.
If one had to ask who in the world of Naruto was least understood by others, yet possessed the most perfect personal charisma, and loved and trusted his child forever, the answer would undoubtedly be Minato Namikaze.
Cain intended to use Minato's story as a starting point, planting the seeds of understanding step by step.
That way, when the time finally came to tell Uta the truth, perhaps her reaction would not be so extreme.
As early as last night, Cain had already been thinking about how to tell Uta this story.
Now, with the power of the Sing-Sing Fruit allowing her to experience it firsthand, it would move her far more deeply than mere words ever could.
Because they held control over the dream, they could either turn themselves invisible and quietly observe, or freely enter the story and become part of it.
It was a novel kind of experience.
But both Cain and Uta tacitly chose the former.
"Cain, are these people ninja? Is this Wano?" Uta asked curiously as she watched the figures on the rooftops leaping about and chasing the young Naruto.
"They're ninja, yes, but this isn't Wano." Cain shook his head and replied softly at her side. "This is a story I once saw. There may be answers here to the things that confuse you, so let's just watch carefully."
The scenes shifted freely along Naruto's point of view, sparing them the trouble of moving around.
"Shadow Clone? Let me try that too!"
Uta eagerly mimicked the hand signs, and Cain could not help smiling.
'Uta really was still as innocent as ever. There was no chakra here, so how could it possibly work?'
"IT WORKED!"
Before the thought had even fully passed through his mind, dozens of Uta clones crowded around him.
Some hopped excitedly at his side.
Some tugged on his arm.
Some simply wrapped their arms around his neck, leaving Cain's face flushed bright red on the spot.
Only then did he remember—this was a dream. Uta held control here, and could shape it however she wished.
Chakra had nothing to do with it.
Realizing that, Cain's mind stirred.
Taking advantage of Uta's distraction, he created a clone and quietly retreated back to the first layer of the dream.
Another "him," meanwhile, stayed behind and continued quietly watching Naruto's dramatic life unfold at Uta's side.
He could enter the story itself, the stamina cost was borne by himself, and he could even use clones.
'…So this was it. A high-level application for Conqueror's Haki had just fallen right into my lap.'
Cain swallowed and turned toward the index for One Piece, flipping straight to the God Valley arc—
'No, still too risky.'
He turned back several pages, stopping on the scene where Roger and Garp were clashing.
Garp's fist smashing toward Roger's head, Roger's blade slashing toward Garp's waist at the same time—their classic confrontation.
Cain steeled himself and used his control over the dream to step directly into the story.
Facing the two men fighting in midair, he showed no hesitation.
He summoned his personal weapon, took on his human-dragon form, and inserted himself right into the middle of the story before even their Observation Haki could register him.
His feet planted right on their faces as he brought his weapon crashing down into the gap between their attacks.
'After all, these were only story phantoms. It would not affect his old man, and it would not alter real history, so there was no harm in fooling around a little.'
With that thought, clouds bloomed beneath Cain's feet.
He raised his long staff and shouted at them arrogantly.
"IF YOU'VE GOT THE GUTS, COME AT ME!"
Those provoking words naturally landed badly on the already hot-blooded, youthful Garp and Roger.
Cain swallowed again and thought to himself.
'It's fine. Even if I'm not stronger than the two of them, I'm the one holding control here. Why should I fear them? Better yet—why not ask whether they fear me?'
The next second, Cain got beat up by the two of them working together.
If that little episode had happened in actual history, then the first true alliance between Roger and Garp would not have been against Rocks.
It would have been against him, Cha D Cain!
"WHY? HOW DID THIS HAPPEN? I'M SUPPOSED TO HAVE CONTROL HERE, SO WHY DID I STILL GET BEATEN THIS BADLY?!"
Bruised and swollen, Cain crawled out of the picture book.
After shooting a glance at the still-fighting pair inside, he hurriedly reset his own condition.
After thinking for a long while, he finally flipped to the Whole Cake Island arc—specifically the moment when Big Mom was crazedly pursuing Luffy's group.
At that time, Carrot had already transformed into her Sulong form and driven off the pursuing enemies, but Big Mom had caught up to the Thousand Sunny.
Jinbe was telling everyone to prepare to abandon ship, while Big Mom raised Napoleon and was about to cleave the ship in two.
At that critical moment, Cain, wrapped in Armament Haki, suddenly appeared and met Napoleon head-on with equal force.
"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT THING?!"
"IT JUST APPEARED OUT OF NOWHERE!"
The ship could not withstand such a violent collision and began rolling wildly across the sea.
Seeing this, Cain immediately transformed into his Azure Dragon form, coiling his dragon body tightly around Big Mom and shouting furiously at the crew aboard the ship.
"GET OUT OF HERE, NOW!"
"A DRAGON! THAT'S A DRAGON!"
Chopper was so shocked that his eyes nearly fell out, but Jinbe had already reacted.
Clenching his fists, he led the others swiftly out of the battle zone.
"YOU'RE THAT BRAT KAIDO? NO, WAIT—THE COLOR'S DIFFERENT!"
Big Mom struggled and roared in anger.
"Heh. Old hag, what if the color is different?"
Cain reverted to his human-dragon form, standing above the sea on flame clouds as he faced Big Mom, his tone haughty.
"DOESN'T MATTER WHO I AM. TODAY, RIGHT HERE, I'M GOING TO TAKE YOU DOW—"
Before Cain could even finish speaking, Big Mom had no patience whatsoever to listen.
Her entire heart and mind were fixed on the cake she had been obsessing over.
There was no room in her head for some nameless brat barging in and making trouble.
In the blink of an eye, Napoleon, coated in Conqueror's Haki, was already smashing toward Cain's face.
…
Outside, in reality.
The moment Uta's consciousness entered Cain's dream, even though she was the Sing-Sing Fruit user, her body in the real world fell asleep right there on the grass alongside Cain, her breathing even and calm, as though she had become one with the quiet landscape.
After who knew how long, the two of them opened their eyes in reality almost at the same time.
Their cheeks were flushed, their breaths came in heavy pants, and their chests were still heaving—clearly, neither of them had yet recovered from the far greater exhaustion the dream had cost them than expected.
"Looks… looks like maintaining a dream takes way more out of you than I thought…" Uta said weakly, wiping a sheen of sweat from her forehead.
"Yeah."
Cain nodded in agreement, though there was a trace of guilt in his tone.
The situation was like a computer running normally.
Uta had only been quietly watching a video.
Cain, meanwhile, had been running multiple AAA games in the background.
Even though most of the physical burden had been carried by him—the "graphics card," so to speak—Uta's own expenditure had still been substantial.
Dreams were fundamentally different from reality.
The rate at which time flowed inside the dream, inside Uta's musical mental space, and in the real world was completely different.
They did not pass in sync.
One minute in reality could equal a very long time inside the dream.
To avoid exhausting themselves too much, the two of them had silently agreed to leave after finishing the main storyline of Naruto.
Cain also recalled the clone that had been battling Big Mom in Whole Cake Island, absorbing the experience from that fierce fight along with it.
As for Naruto Shippuden, there would be plenty of time to slowly savor it later.
"Without even noticing, we stayed in the dream for so long and saw so much. Uta, it's time to go back."
Cain pushed himself to his feet and held out a hand to her.
"Yeah. But…" Uta moved her legs, her face taking on an awkward expression.
"What's wrong?"
"I… I can't stand up. You'll have to carry me back."
"HUH?! WHAT?!!!"
Cain's eyes flew wide open, and his face instantly turned even redder!
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