"I should've expected this from you, Ain," Arton said with a sigh of admiration.
He'd originally just been thinking about asking Ain for a lap pillow.
Instead, she went and pulled this.
Arton had been a little worried that after he let Ain stay on the ship, she might slowly become less outgoing.
But now it looked like he had worried for nothing.
"Still, since you already suggested it, I may as well turn around."
As he spoke, Arton braced both hands against the deck, rolled over, then relaxed his control and let his body drop.
Ain, who had already been expecting that, naturally caught him in her arms.
Feeling Arton's warm breath so close, the blush on Ain's face deepened even more.
"Captain, can Tashigi start telling you about Senior Hina now?"
Watching the way Ain and Arton were pressed together, Tashigi asked with a smile.
She didn't feel jealous at all seeing Ain that close to him. If anything, she was genuinely happy.
Having someone like Ain on the Flameblade Pirates—someone who had once been in the Marines just like her—really did comfort Tashigi.
"Not yet. I still feel like something's missing," Arton said, his voice muffled.
"Something's missing?" Ain asked.
"Yes. It suddenly feels like my mouth is missing something."
"Your mouth is missing something?"
"Yeah. I've got the sudden urge to suck on something."
"Oh..."
Ain tilted her head, still looking confused.
But Tashigi, who understood Arton a little better by now, instantly caught what he meant.
She leaned down and whispered something in Ain's ear.
"So that's what you meant? I understand now."
Ain gave a small nod, lifted up her T-shirt, then settled Arton back down against her.
"Mm. Yeah, this is better. Now I've got something to keep in my mouth."
Arton's voice came out muffled again.
"I-I'm glad you're satisfied, Captain," Ain said, her body trembling.
"Then can we talk about Miss Hina now, Captain?" Tashigi asked with a smile.
Arton didn't answer. Instead, the wet, steadily growing sounds coming from Ain's chest answered for him.
"I'll take that as a yes from Captain."
Tashigi smiled faintly.
"All right, then I'll begin. Hmm... where should I start?"
She hesitated for a moment, then suddenly remembered the circumstances around Hina going to see Smoker.
"Yeah. I should start there."
After choosing her words, Tashigi slowly began telling Arton about Hina.
Still, listening to the increasingly obvious sucking sounds coming from Ain's chest, Tashigi couldn't help wondering whether Arton was actually hearing any of what she was saying.
If Arton knew what Tashigi was thinking right then, he would've told her not to worry so much.
For someone at his level, splitting his attention wasn't difficult at all.
Besides, all he was doing right now was sucking on something soft and delicious. Sure, it felt amazing, but not so amazing that he would tune Tashigi out completely.
After all, Arton really did have some interest in the possibility of inviting Hina onto the ship.
And that was exactly what happened.
Once Tashigi finished telling him about Hina, Arton calmly repeated the main points of everything she had said.
That left Tashigi genuinely impressed.
"I didn't expect Captain's memory to be this good."
Chapter 640: Kizaru Feels a Little Uneasy
"That's right." Arton lifted his chin proudly. "If I didn't have a good memory, there's no way I'd be able to create all those comics."
The moment he thought about all the good stuff he had recorded in his notebook, Arton couldn't help feeling proud.
But then he remembered that all of it had been destroyed because of the Celestial Dragons, and his mood immediately darkened.
Lost in his own thoughts, Arton didn't notice that the moment he brought up his comics, the expressions on Ain and Tashigi's faces turned extremely strange.
"Oh, right. Doesn't that mean it's your turn now, Ain, to tell me what you know about Hina?"
Arton suddenly turned and looked at Ain.
"No problem. I'll start right now."
Ain took a deep breath, and once she had adjusted her emotions back to normal, she was about to begin—
"Wait."
"What is it, Captain?"
"No rush. Let me find something to suck on first."
Arton smiled at Ain, then turned to look at Tashigi.
The two girls instantly understood what he meant.
"O-Okay. If that's what you want, Captain..."
Blushing, Tashigi nodded and opened her arms to him.
"Then I won't hold back."
Arton flipped himself around and did a full-body flop straight toward Tashigi.
Of course, with Tashigi there to catch him, there was no way he'd actually smash his face into the ground.
Instead of hitting the hard deck, he landed squarely on a pair of soft, yielding "hills."
Tashigi quickly glanced around. Once she confirmed Nami and the others hadn't come over, she lifted her clothes and tucked the proper thing in where it belonged.
Very quickly, she understood exactly how Ain had felt.
And she also understood why Ain had been making those faces the whole time earlier.
Now it was Ain's turn to smile, openly entertained as she watched Tashigi.
"So, Tashigi—how does it feel?" Ain asked with a light laugh.
"I think you already know what it feels like, Ain. More importantly, shouldn't you start talking about Miss Hina now?"
Tashigi took a deep breath and asked the question while doing her best not to let her body tremble.
"That's true."
Ain nodded and began, "Honestly, I don't know all that much about Senior Hina. Most of what I know about her comes from the praise Instructor Zephyr used to give her..."
At that point, Ain faltered for a second.
I wonder how Instructor Zephyr is doing right now. Is his body still holding up?
Forget it. This isn't the time to be thinking about that.
Ain shook her head and started talking about Hina again.
Meanwhile, elsewhere—
At Marine Headquarters, in the cafeteria—
"So I heard you got burned by Arton too, Kuzan?"
Admiral Borsalino carried over his tray and sat down beside Kuzan, who was eating.
"So it's you, Borsalino."
Kuzan glanced up at him and drawled lazily, "I just got back from outside. Mind letting me eat in peace first and recover a little strength?"
Borsalino shrugged and said with a grin, "It's not like I'm stopping you from eating, is it? I'm just curious what exactly happened over there with Arton."
Kuzan raised an eyebrow and looked at him.
"What, did Fleet Admiral Sengoku decide to send you out to capture Arton?"