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...
When Arton heard Morgans' question, he couldn't help being a bit speechless.
Good grief, he'd thought for sure Morgans was going to ask whether he had any interest in becoming Pirate King.
Yet the question turned out to be this.
"Morgans, you really are quite the capable newsman." Arton said, his words carrying a double meaning.
"You flatter me, you flatter me. I just feel like everyone out there would definitely want to know the answer to this question." Morgans scratched his head as he spoke.
"I get it." Arton nodded.
At this point, he more or less counted as a well-known figure. At least in the first half of the Grand Line, he was absolutely a household name.
Given that, plenty of people were bound to care about his private life.
It was just like in his original world, where tons of people were curious about celebrities' lives.
If he dropped Morgans into the world before he transmigrated, Arton would honestly think Morgans was a paparazzo—and the kind who loved digging into celebrities' private lives.
However, while Arton could understand Morgans' question, for many of the diary copy holders watching this interview, it was hard to feel satisfied with it.
Because to them, this stopped being a question a long time ago.
There was no doubt that Arton was extremely fond of pretty women.
If he weren't, how could he have created so many doujins that made people blush and their hearts race?
Doll: "Can't this Morgans guy ask some questions that are actually more valuable?"
Gion: "If we could learn more about Arton's abilities and his thoughts on the sea through this interview, wouldn't that be much better?"
Kujaku: "News King Morgans, at least show a little of your worth here."
…
"So then, Arton, can you answer my question?" Morgans asked.
"Of course I can." Arton nodded and said carelessly, "Naturally, I like beautiful girls."
"Of course, aside from being beautiful on the outside, they also need to have a beautiful personality. And if a woman becomes mine, she has to be loyal. I hate disloyal women."
Arton didn't mind revealing some trivial personal details.
At the end of the day, a lot of the powerful pirates in this world were like this.
For him to have these preferences really wasn't strange at all.
"I see, so you don't like disloyal women." Morgans rubbed his chin and continued, "In that case, aren't you worried that Robin might betray you?"
"All these years, she's betrayed many people and organizations."
"On top of that, I've also discovered some Marine women aboard your ship."
"Even if they are all rather beautiful women, they could still betray you, couldn't they?"
"If they really did betray you, would you kill them?"
Seeing Morgans say this through the diary copies, Robin, Ain, and Tashigi all felt their hearts sink with displeasure.
If bursting into the kitchen to teach Morgans a lesson right now wouldn't make Arton suspicious about them being able to hear Morgans' conversation with him, they would have already stormed in to rough him up.
That said, putting aside the relatively gentle and straightforward personalities of Tashigi and Ain, Robin had already started thinking about whether there was some way to quietly give Morgans a little punishment.
"Tashigi is already a crewmate I trust, and I have faith in her. So I'm not going to answer that question in regard to Tashigi." Arton said with a smile.
Tashigi now was a woman who had already been shaped into his form. There was no way someone like her would ever betray him.
"As for Robin and Ain, they're currently in a period of being tested by me." Arton said. "If they truly earn my approval, I believe they likewise won't betray me."
Tashigi: "Arton trusts me—that's wonderful. Later, I'll serve him in the way he likes!"
Ain: "At the very least, Arton has confidence in me. I still have a chance to become his crewmate."
Robin: "So I'm still in the middle of a test, huh… I wonder if becoming his woman would shorten the length of that test."
Chapter 412: Nojiko Was the One Who Went Out and Defeated Blackbeard Together With Arton
"Looks like you are quite a confident man." Hearing Arton's so-self-assured reply, Morgans said with a laugh.
"If I didn't have confidence, there's no way I could've made it this far. Also, I think you could stand to ask some more serious questions." Arton folded his arms and said to Morgans. "If all the questions after this are the same kind as that, I think we can just end this interview early."
"All right then, since you put it that way, Arton, I'll ask some more serious questions." Morgans let out a breath, adjusted himself to his best state, and then continued to ask.
"Arton, may I ask if you previously ran into Blackbeard and furthermore, whether you fought against Blackbeard and the members of the Blackbeard Pirates?"
Based on what he'd seen when he passed by the Blackbeard Pirates earlier, their injuries should have been sustained while they were fighting Arton's Flameblade Pirates.
But he still wanted to confirm it with Arton, the person involved.
What? Arton ran into Blackbeard? And he even fought that guy? When Ace heard Morgans' words, he nearly spat the food out of his mouth.
He turned his head and stared at Arton in disbelief.
After swallowing the food in his throat, Ace asked Arton solemnly. "Arton, is what Morgans said true?"
Arton nodded and answered, "I did indeed run into that guy, and I did fight him."
He really had no reason to hide that.
"That's great. Can you tell me where he is now?" Ace stood up as he spoke. "I've got some things I'd like to have a proper talk with him about."
He'd been searching for Blackbeard for so long and still hadn't managed to find him.
Now he'd finally gotten some news from Arton—he was so worked up he could barely even keep eating.
"In truth, I don't know where he is. After all, that guy's Devil Fruit ability seems very good at running away." Arton shook his head, then looked at Morgans thoughtfully.
"Speaking of which, Morgans, how did you even know that Blackbeard fought us?" Arton asked curiously. "Don't tell me you ran into that guy Blackbeard earlier?"
"That's right, I did run into them. Their condition right now looks pretty miserable and I vaguely heard them mention Nojiko's name. So, I started wondering if that not-yet-famous crewmate of yours, was the one who defeated the Blackbeard Pirates." Morgans fixed Arton with a burning stare.
If Nojiko—whose bounty was still quite low—had really defeated the Blackbeard Pirates' group, then without a doubt, the terrifying level of Arton's Flameblade Pirates would become even more astonishing.
If news like that went out, it would definitely shake the seas.
Unfortunately, his hopes were destined to fall through.
"Nojiko's ability is certainly unusual but the one who defeated the Blackbeard Pirates wasn't just Nojiko." Arton said, "She went out and fought together with me, and we drove the Blackbeard Pirates back side by side."
On the point that Nojiko's bounty deserved to be higher, Arton had the same idea as Morgans.
After all, Nojiko's Mirajane template even allowed her to receive an enemy's Devil Fruit, and she could even restore the received Devil Fruit abilities back into actual Devil Fruits.
If that information were really exposed, Arton felt Nojiko's bounty might climb to second in the Flameblade Pirates—just below himself as captain.
Of course, Arton currently had no intention of publicizing Nojiko's ability like that.
If all the other Devil Fruit users found out and started avoiding the Flameblade Pirates on sight, that would really be a loss-making deal.
Arton turned his head and glanced at Ace, thinking of his Flame-Flame Fruit ability.
Naturally, it was only a passing thought.
Ace was, after all, Luffy's older brother, and Luffy was Uta's younger brother.
Arton had no need to make Uta unhappy just for the sake of one Flame-Flame Fruit.
"I see, so Nojiko went out together with you." Morgans nodded. "No wonder, then."
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