Tashigi looked at Arton with open affection in her eyes.
If she weren't worried that something might happen to his body, she would've wanted to reach out and help "polish his weapon" with her own hands while he was still nestled in Ain's chest.
They were out on the deck, sure, but everyone else was down in the cabin right now.
Tashigi wasn't that worried about anyone seeing what she was doing to Arton.
After all, it would just be her using her hands to polish Arton's weapon—not burying her head and working hard with her mouth or anything like that.
She felt she could totally keep one eye on the cabin door while working him with her hands.
If someone did come out, she could just pull her hands back right away.
Honestly, if someone really did come out at a time like this, Ain would probably need to hurry up and pull Arton out of her chest too.
Otherwise, Nami, Carina, and the others might end up getting a little too stimulated.
Still, even if this wasn't the moment to use her hands to help Arton polish his weapon, that didn't mean Tashigi couldn't find something else for her hands to do.
Her gaze dropped to Arton's calves, and she reached out to knead the muscles there.
The moment Arton felt her hands on his legs, a smile spread across his face.
Tashigi wasn't as professionally skilled at loosening up someone's muscles as Nico Robin was, but the fact that she wanted to make him feel good and comfortable was enough to make Arton happy.
"Captain Arton, can I ask you something?"
As she massaged his calves, Tashigi looked up and asked.
"Of course."
Arton nodded, then tried to turn over so it would be easier for Tashigi to work on his legs.
But with his face still buried in Ain's chest, moving around wasn't exactly easy.
After thinking it over, he reluctantly pulled himself out of that warm harbor, then rolled onto his back on the deck.
The moment he did, Ain hurriedly caught his head so the back of it wouldn't slam against the planks.
Holding his head in her lap, Ain quietly let out a breath of relief.
If Arton had stayed tucked in against her the way he was before, she was worried her willpower might've dropped straight to zero.
At that distance, it was just way too easy for him to start making little moves.
And every single one of those little moves had been putting a ridiculous amount of pressure on Ain.
Looking at the two of them, Tashigi smiled and asked, "Captain... are you in love with Senior Hina? Do you want to make her into someone who likes you the way I do?"
That surprised Arton a little.
In his mind, Tashigi was usually the more reserved type.
Even if she had a question like that in her heart, he wouldn't have expected her to ask it so directly.
What he didn't know was that after spending this much time with him, Tashigi had become a lot more open when it came to talking about whether she liked someone or not.
If she hadn't, she probably would've already started getting jealous every time she saw Arton getting close to other girls—just like Nami and Carina did.
Of course, part of why Tashigi had changed like this was Uta.
A girl as bold and shameless as Uta had taught Tashigi far, far too much.
"As for whether I like Hina... if you want the honest answer, then yeah, I do."
After thinking about it for a moment, Arton smiled and answered both Tashigi and Ain, who was still cradling the back of his head.
"She's definitely my type."
Chapter 648: Ain — I Really Do Need to Get Closer to the Captain
"So that really is how it is."
Tashigi nodded.
Then again, that made sense. If Arton weren't interested in Hina, he never would've created so many derivative works with her as the heroine.
And if Arton hadn't used Hina as the model for those works, Hina never would've ended up with a diary copy in the first place, nor gained the chance to learn what Arton was thinking through it and possibly draw strength from it.
"Liking her is one thing, but this time, when I go save her, I'm not trying to make her become like you."
As he said that, Arton let his gaze roam up and down Tashigi in an openly suggestive way.
His eyes lingered in particular on her mouth, her chest, and all the places that could be used to give him a great deal of "help."
By now, Tashigi knew Arton well enough that one look from him was enough for her to understand exactly what he meant.
Her face instantly flushed bright red.
Arton chuckled.
"All right, I'll stop teasing you."
Just seeing Tashigi react like that was already enough to make him happy.
"You know me, Tashigi. I don't like forcing people. There's a saying: a forced melon isn't sweet. So even if I save Hina later, I'm not going to demand that she do anything for me. I'm only rescuing her so I can put my own mind at ease. After that, whatever she chooses to do has nothing directly to do with me. At the end of the day, she isn't my crewmate, is she?"
Folding his arms, Arton spoke to Tashigi plainly.
In the end, the only reason he wanted to pull Hina out of prison was because of that lingering fondness he still had from before he crossed over.
And even then, that was only because rescuing her didn't seem especially difficult.
If the risk got too high, there was no way he'd drag his whole crew into danger just because of Hina.
If he ever did something that reckless, Arton felt he'd lose all respect for himself.
Once he saved Hina, if she ran into trouble again after that, then whatever happened would simply happen.
After all, by that point, he would already have fulfilled the lingering wish he carried from before.
Listening to Arton and watching the look on his face, Ain found herself nodding in deep agreement.
Wasn't Arton's attitude toward her basically similar to the one he had toward Hina?
There were plenty of works in Arton's notebook based on Ain too.
And yet even so, if she wanted to climb aboard Arton's "big ship," she'd had to put in a tremendous amount of effort.
Without exaggeration, if she hadn't taken the chance to slip in while Nico Robin was servicing Arton—and caught him in a moment of impulse that made him agree to let her stay on the ship for now—she'd probably still be worrying that one day Arton might throw her overboard.
If that ever happened, her hope of saving Teacher Zephyr would probably be over.
As expected, I need to get even closer to Arton. I need to take up more space in Captain Arton's heart. Only then might he be willing to help Teacher Zephyr because of me.
Ain's eyes sharpened as she thought that to herself.
She knew very well that even if she received a template, she probably still wouldn't be able to save Teacher Zephyr from the danger waiting for him in the future.
If she wanted to be one hundred percent certain of pulling Zephyr out of the fire, then in the end, she would still have to rely on Arton's strength.
...
For every 50 Power Stones → +1 extra chapter.