Inside a pristine Marine warship cabin, in a temporarily converted rehearsal room.
There was no beautiful music, only the sound of someone fuming, apparently for quite a while. "How could Luffy be involved in a kingdom's rebellion? Are the World Government's intelligence divisions just eating dry rice? How dare they publish such absurd news?!"
Uta put down the thick collection of bounty posters in her hand. "Newspapers are just newspapers after all, utterly unreliable... Teacher?"
"Shh! My dear girl, lower your voice!"
The door to the rehearsal room was gently pushed open. Gordon, with his graying hair and scholarly demeanor, entered carrying a tray of delicate pastries and hot tea. Hearing Uta's complaints, he hurriedly made a shushing gesture, his face a mixture of amusement and exasperation. "We're surrounded by Marine ships. Walls have ears." He lowered his voice, sounding both amused and helpless.
Gordon had once been a king of a member nation. Though his country was no more, his former high status had left him with some connections. This time, accompanying Uta back to the East Blue to handle private matters, he had used his World Government connections, flying their flag and using their ships. Now that their business was done, they had again used these connections to contact the World Government. The fleet led by Rear Admiral Hina was assigned to escort them back to the New World.
Uta sat down huffily, picking up a pastry and taking a fierce bite as if she were biting the heads of those World Government bureaucrats. "The problem is, it's just too ridiculous."
After getting the bounty posters of Luffy's crew from Hina, Uta returned to the ship and bought various newspapers and bounty poster collections from a News Coo. She had thought Luffy's bounty soared because he defeated a famous pirate. But to tell her it was because he abducted the Princess of Alabasta? "It is... he doesn't seem like that sort of person," Gordon nodded.
Luffy was, in a way, half his student, wasn't he? Music could, in some aspects, reveal a person's character. In Gordon's eyes, Luffy had the potential to become a musical master, perhaps even more suited than Uta, because Uta's music had always carried a problem: extremism.
The specific details now were a matter of public speculation. The version officially released by the World Government was, of course, embellished. However, it was certain that Luffy's crew had been deeply involved in Alabasta's civil war and had defeated the former Warlord of the Sea, Crocodile. And Princess Nefertari D. Vivi was indeed now on their ship. Gordon, with his own connections, could gather quite a bit of information. In the world of pirates, having money was often enough.
He paused, then added, "As for whether the princess was abducted or went willingly, only those involved know."
"Hmph!"
Uta angrily slapped the table, making the stack of newspapers jump. The new bounty posters for Luffy's crew were prominently displayed, especially Luffy's, with its skyrocketed amount of 200 million Beri, and the accompanying report about the shocking news of Alabasta's Princess Nefertari Vivi being abducted by Straw Hat Monkey D. Luffy, with a bounty of 500 million Beri.
Her chest heaved, clearly very angry. She knew Luffy too well. That rubber-brained idiot who only thought about meat, adventure, and his nakama—how could he possibly instigate some kingdom rebellion? Their last meeting after so long made her feel Luffy had changed, but in Uta's eyes, Luffy probably couldn't even be bothered to learn how to write the characters for "rebellion."
"I just don't believe Luffy would do something like that!" Uta muttered, lowering her voice a little. "I know exactly what the World Government is like. Distorting facts, reversing black and white—that's their specialty, to cover up the truth or achieve some goal."
The Uta of now was no longer the naive little girl of before. As a world-famous singer who rose to stardom rapidly, she had released multiple bestselling albums. With her unique Uta Uta no Mi powers and her captivating performances, she had won over countless global fans and become a regular feature in many entertainment newspapers.
The world of pirates didn't have just the World Economic News monopolizing the press, though all the truly major events were reported by them—it was simply more authoritative. Newspapers were one of the few forms of entertainment in this world, so there were plenty of so-called "entertainment papers" as well.
These "entertainment papers," unlike the World Economic News which focused on major events shaping the world, were more about digging up various scraps and gossip. Their content was often less than serious, filled with speculation and hearsay, yet they generated extremely high discussion.
Normally, if Uta released a new song, she could easily occupy the front-page headlines of these entertainment papers. However, this issue, several entertainment papers had their headlines dominated by a pirate—Luffy.
The headlines were sensational:
"Straw Hat Luffy: The Mystery Behind His Soaring Bounty! The Untold Love-Hate Story with the Fallen Princess?"
"The Scarlet Scandal of a 200 Million Beri Rookie: Uncovering the Truth Behind the Abduction of Alabasta's Princess!"
"Is This a Distortion of Humanity or a Degradation of Morality? On the Untold Story Between Straw Hat and Alabasta's Princess Vivi."
The articles did their utmost to engage in wild speculation, analyzing and fabricating reasons for Luffy's rapid bounty increase, linking it to the princess's abduction in every way possible. They even published some ridiculous reader comments.
Things like:
"I bet the princess fell in love with the pirate and betrayed her country!"
"Straw Hat must have used some underhanded method!"
"200 million Beri? More like he got lucky and is using the princess to get attention!"
"Stay tuned for the next chapter of the forbidden love between pirate and princess, the true face of the evil pirate..."
And so on.
Reading it made Uta furious, while also giving her a strange sense of how time had flown. How long had it been since she and Luffy parted ways? How had this guy caused such a huge stir and ended up surrounded by so many women?!
Uta's finger traced over the blurry images of Nami, Vivi, and even Robin captured in the newspapers. Her heart felt like a mixed-up spice jar.
If she could, she'd love to contact Nami immediately, grab her by the collar and demand, "Are you even trying? If not, step aside! Weren't you quite the tough talker when you confronted me back in the East Blue?"
And the result?
One after another, these inexplicable women—an archaeologist, a kingdom princess—had boarded the ship.
Based on Uta's understanding of Luffy, that so-called "abducted" Princess Vivi was, nine times out of ten, someone who wanted to join the crew. Meaning, she was a nakama acknowledged by Luffy!
A kingdom's princess... The pressure that identity brought was indeed different from that of an ordinary girl.
***
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