Marine Headquarters, cafeteria.
"Borsalino, don't tell me Fleet Admiral Sengoku is planning to send you after Arton next?"
Kuzan looked at him curiously as he asked.
"Not yet," Borsalino said with a shrug, "but I've got a feeling it won't be long before he sends me out."
"That does sound about right."
After hearing that, Kuzan couldn't help nodding in agreement.
Borsalino was absurdly fast, and when sudden incidents happened, he was always the one who could arrive the quickest.
If Arton showed up again somewhere, there was a very good chance Sengoku would send Borsalino running after him.
The reason the mission had fallen to Kuzan last time was simply because he'd happened to be closer to where the Flameblade Pirates showed up.
"So, tell me about Arton. How strong do you think he's gotten by now, and what new weird ability users have shown up on his ship?"
Borsalino asked the question while casually eating his fried rice.
"As for Arton himself, he didn't really show off any new abilities. If I had to point something out, though, it'd be Nico Robin—"
Before Kuzan could finish, a familiar voice suddenly came from not too far away.
"Kuzan. So this is where you are."
Both Borsalino and Kuzan turned toward the voice, and a flicker of surprise passed through both their eyes.
"Teacher Zephyr, why are you here?" Borsalino asked in confusion.
"Yeah. Weren't you supposed to be staying with Hina?" Kuzan frowned.
After Hina was arrested, Garp had been the one watching over her most of the time to make sure the World Government didn't really send her off to Impel Down.
If something like that actually happened, the Hina incident would definitely affect the morale of part of the Marines.
After all, Hina was fairly well known in the Marines.
Plenty of Marine men had crushes on her.
It was just that Hina had never responded to any of them.
And since she also had a habit of driving off men who pursued her with her Devil Fruit powers, eventually nobody dared chase after her openly anymore.
Although Garp watched over Hina most of the time, he obviously couldn't stay beside her every second.
So now and then, that responsibility fell to Zephyr instead.
"Don't remind me. Those World Government bastards won't let me stay at Enies Lobby for too long, so I had no choice but to come back to Marine Headquarters first."
Zephyr waved a hand and quickly walked over to sit beside Kuzan.
"Kuzan, you had contact with Arton before, right? Did you see Ain on his ship, and how is she now? That bastard Arton hasn't been tormenting her, has he?"
"Well... Ain is definitely on Arton's ship. As for whether Arton's been tormenting her, I can't say for sure. But she looked healthy enough to me, so I don't think he's been mistreating her."
Kuzan answered honestly.
"I see."
Zephyr nodded, and his mood eased a little.
But the tightness in his brow still didn't go away.
There was no helping that.
His beloved student was still on the ship of a pirate like Arton.
As her teacher, Zephyr was naturally worried about Ain.
"Kuzan, give me your guess. Where do you think that bastard Arton is headed next?"
Zephyr asked the question with a grave expression.
Chapter 642: Kuzan's Guess
"Teacher Zephyr, even if you ask me that, I can't give you a real answer."
Kuzan scratched his cheek, feeling a little helpless.
First Borsalino had come over, and now Zephyr too?
Was this ever going to end?
He was just a Marine Admiral, not some elite intelligence officer.
If anyone should be asked this kind of question, it ought to be Fleet Admiral Sengoku.
As if he had guessed exactly what Kuzan was thinking, Zephyr said with a stern expression, "I already asked Sengoku. He has no way to figure out where Arton is heading next."
"So that's why you came to me?"
Kuzan pointed at himself.
"Exactly."
Zephyr planted both hands on Kuzan's shoulders and said with absolute seriousness, "So you have to give me a location."
This is just making things hard for me.
Kuzan's mouth twitched.
If even Fleet Admiral Sengoku had no way of knowing where Arton and the Flameblade Pirates were, how was a subordinate like him supposed to know?
"Teacher Zephyr, the only thing I can tell you for sure is that Ain looked like she was doing fine. Beyond that, I really can't help you."
Kuzan let out a long sigh.
"Really no idea at all?"
Zephyr frowned.
On the way here, it wasn't like he hadn't considered this possibility.
But Ain was with Arton now, and she had boarded his ship in the first place to keep Arton from hurting her teacher.
As her teacher, there was no way Zephyr could stop worrying about her.
Seeing Zephyr like this, Kuzan quietly sighed to himself too.
After all, he had trained under Zephyr for a very long time.
Without exaggeration, Zephyr and Garp were practically life mentors to him.
Watching one of those mentors look this tired and worn down didn't sit well with him.
"If I had to say something, Arton might be heading to Water 7."
Kuzan rubbed his chin as he spoke.
"Hm? Why do you think that?"
Zephyr immediately lifted his head and looked at him.
Borsalino turned over too, equally curious.
"Just so we're clear, this is only a guess."
Kuzan made that point first.
Zephyr nodded and said, "Go ahead and guess. I'm listening. Even if you're wrong, I won't blame you."
That took a good deal of pressure off Kuzan.
After gathering his thoughts, he said, "At this point, Arton's pirate crew has already reached a decent size. Even if he's taking the elite small-crew route, his current ship is only barely enough for the number of people on board. But the crew keeps growing, so if they want to live more comfortably, they'll probably want a bigger ship."
"From what I've seen of Arton, he's also the kind of guy who likes enjoying life."
At that, Borsalino nodded in agreement.
"That part's definitely true. Every one of his crewmates is a gorgeous woman. If it were me living on a ship like that, I'd be having a great time too."
"Borsalino."
Zephyr shot him a reproachful look.
"Sorry, sorry."
Borsalino raised both hands in surrender.
He had no intention of provoking Zephyr right now.