After seeing Arton draw more and more templates—and seeing the upper limit of those templates keep rising—Smoothie had long since started thinking very differently than she had before setting sail.
Arton might refuse the invitation she and Cinnamon wanted to extend and decline to join the Big Mom Pirates.
But no matter what, Smoothie had already decided she had to get a template from him.
Even if the process meant casting aside her pride and lowering her head beneath Arton's body.
Even if it meant doing things so shameless they'd make her burn with humiliation.
That said, for Smoothie, crouching on a tabletop for a man like Arton wouldn't really count as humiliation at all.
A man as extraordinary as Arton had more than enough right to make her do those things.
Even if she had to share him with other women, that would still be true.
"His crewmates are guarding him way too tightly. At this rate, when are we ever supposed to find Arton?"
Smoothie let out a long sigh and muttered to herself.
Then suddenly, she noticed new movement in Arton's sailing diary.
This time it wasn't just text.
A moving image had appeared instead.
"No... not just a video. Arton is livestreaming this."
"He's planning to record what happens next in the diary in video form."
By now, Smoothie already understood Arton well enough that after a little thought, she immediately grasped what he was doing.
Looking at Nami, Ain, Robin, and the others appearing in Arton's live feed, Smoothie felt a surge of envy she could hardly suppress.
"Every second they appear in the video, they're earning a huge amount of points. By the time I finally find Arton, are all those women going to be even stronger than me?"
She sighed again and thought bitterly to herself.
And she wasn't the only one thinking that way.
One of the others who felt exactly the same was Hina, locked away in a dark prison cell.
"So it's finally not just cold words on a page anymore. Now there's sound... and moving images."
"Tashigi and Ain are both in the feed."
"They're going to get stronger again from the video points, aren't they?"
"If Hina could get stronger like them too... then even if the World Government wants to do something to me, maybe Hina could escape."
Hina lowered her eyes to the Seastone cuffs around her wrists and murmured quietly.
At this point, she no longer had much hope that the World Government would simply let her go.
If the rest of her life was really going to be spent rotting in a cell, then Hina felt she might as well break out.
"But Arton hasn't mentioned Hina's name in his diary for a long time now."
"And the chances of him bringing Hina up again are only going to get lower and lower."
"If that keeps happening, there's no way Hina'll ever get enough points to strengthen myself and gain the power to escape this prison."
Muttering to herself, Hina let out a deep sigh.
If possible, she genuinely wanted Arton to mention her more.
"Ah, Arton... what could Hina possibly do to make you think of Hina more?"
"If you started drawing more works with Hina as the model... would that make you mention Hina's name more often?"
Hina sighed again.
If Arton would just mention her name in the diary, Hina felt that even if he created more exaggerated derivative works using her as the model, that might still be something she could accept.
More than that, she even felt that standing naked in front of Arton as a model wouldn't really matter.
Being seen by Arton was still better than being locked up here forever.
After all, Arton had already drawn so many comics based on her.
In a way, that already meant he had "looked over" every part of her body countless times.
If that was the case, then letting Arton see the real her shouldn't really matter that much... right?
Halfway through that thought, Hina froze.
She raised a hand and smacked her forehead, frowning.
"How can Hina even be thinking like this? Lewd drawings and the real Hina aren't the same thing at all. Have those World Government bastards really locked Hina up in here so long that Hina's head's gone fuzzy?"
Still, even as she said that to herself, another thought rose up right after it.
"But then again... if all it took to be free was letting Arton look at Hina's body, that price doesn't really seem so high."
The moment that thought took shape, Hina felt her whole mind start loosening up in a dangerous way.
No matter how much she wanted to suppress it, crushing it now had already become impossible.
"...What a headache."
Hina let out a quiet, troubled sigh.
Chapter 658: The Template Draw — Both Ain and Raki Are Excited
Even Hina herself had never imagined that one day, she would want to rely on Arton's power.
Even if that meant satisfying some of Arton's desires.
It made sense, really. As a Marine, Hina knew the situation inside Impel Down better than most.
In simple terms, it was not a place any normal person could endure.
At the very least, Hina had no intention of becoming a prisoner there.
Compared to being a prisoner, she would much rather be a wanted criminal.
At least as a wanted criminal, she could still rely on her own strength to resist capture and enjoy freedom while she still had it.
But if she became a prisoner in Impel Down, then all that would await her was endless torment.
"Hina never thought her resolve was only this strong."
"If Teacher Zephyr knew what Hina was thinking, wonder if he'd blame Hina."
"If Tashigi and Arton knew what I was thinking, maybe they'd laugh at me."
Hina let out a deep sigh.
After all, just like Tashigi, she had once had a chance to board Arton's big ship.
The difference was that even after seeing the darkness of the Celestial Dragons with her own eyes, she still hadn't been able to gather the courage to strike one down.
Tashigi, on the other hand, had been pushed far enough that she could bravely raise her sword against a Celestial Dragon.
Maybe only under those circumstances could a Marine like Tashigi finally earn Arton's trust and become one of the Flameblade Pirates.
Honestly, faced with her current imprisonment, Hina did feel a little regret.
Unfortunately, no matter how much she regretted it, she had no way to turn back time.
And even if time really were turned back, Hina still didn't think she would actually have the courage to assassinate a Celestial Dragon.
"Tashigi and Ain really are keeping a tight watch on Arton."
"They still haven't let him reveal where he's heading next in the diary."
"Hina wonders where Arton has gotten to by now."
Hina sighed and murmured to herself.
Meanwhile, aboard the Flameblade Pirates' ship—
"So, does that mean one of us is finally about to see Ain or Raki get a template?"
Nico Robin rested her chin on one hand and smiled.
"Um... I think it'll probably be Miss Ain who gets one."
Raki scratched the back of her head awkwardly.
After joining Arton's crew, she had gotten to know Ain much better.
And because of that, she knew just how hard Ain had been working to get a template from Arton.
Seeing that, Raki had no desire to compete with Ain for one.
That was why, whenever she saw Ain by Arton's side these past few days, she had deliberately given her plenty of space.
Of course Raki wanted to taste Arton too, and maybe absorb some of his "training essence" for herself while she was at it.
But in the end, she still wanted to see Ain get a template first.
After all, Arton had promised that every one of them would get a template eventually.
So Raki wasn't actually in that much of a hurry anymore.
Compared to Ain, who still hadn't resolved the issue surrounding Zephyr, Raki had already dealt with the whole Enel affair a long time ago.
"No, it could also be your template, Miss Raki."
Ain smiled at Raki.
No matter how much she wanted a template, she still felt too embarrassed to declare that the next one Arton pulled would definitely be hers.
Raki was her crewmate, after all, and Ain wanted them to get along well.
...
For every 50 Power Stones → +1 extra chapter.