This girl is actually a thief

It's been a few days since I was out in the middle of the ocean, and even though it's my job to keep watch over this area by patrolling it, I have to admit that doing so is incredibly boring for various reasons.

I muttered to myself, "East Blue sure is peaceful. At least the Grand Line would be a good place to guard," as I stared blankly at the vast, blue ocean that was completely flat and dull.

"That girl, since when did she have so many fans?"

When I turned around, I saw a large group of marines gathered on the midship deck, and the roaring cheers they were emitting indicated how excited they were. In the midst of all of their excitement stood Uta, who was slowly beginning to pioneer her dream of becoming a Diva.

"You are so cool, Uta-chan…I want to hear your singing one more time."

"Yes, your singing voice is absolutely stunning... It's something that I could listen to every single day...

"We beg you to sing for us. Only your singing can cure our boredom."

'These guys, did they fall for that girl's trick that easily, *sigh... but remembering her singing back then when we first met, Uta's voice had changed a lot,' I said to myself, but not long after that, captain Hina came and dismissed them all.

"Listen, Uta, I let you sing only during your free time. If you break it again next time, I won't let you sing at all, understand."

I could only make out the faint sound of Captain Hina reprimanding Uta, who, at that point, could only lower her head in silence. Nevertheless, I could see the corners of her mouth rising as if she didn't feel the least bit sorry for what she had done.

After Captain Hina had finished reprimanding the rest of the crew, she left, and everyone went back to their respective posts. But, not before Uta promised them that she would perform her new song for them someday, and they responded favorably to it.

When I saw Uta approaching me, I gave her a warm smile and asked, "How do you feel? Did you enjoy it?"

Uta then returned my smile with an even bigger one before suddenly hugging me and saying, "Yeah, that was such a thrilling and satisfying feeling. At least I feel relieved. My training was not in vain."

"Hoo, so you've been practicing your voice all this time. Did you do it secretly? How did I not know about that?"

After that, Uta let go of her embrace and responded with a chuckle-inducing snort by asking, "Do you really care about that? Haven't you been busy getting close to Vice Admiral Gion?"

Since I can't give an answer if Uta asks about that topic, I moved on to other topics before asking again, "You can't possibly practice by yourself, right?" Did Makino help you too?"

"I think so. There are one or two suggestions from her that are quite helpful when I'm stuck in practicing my voice."

I want to ask more about her future as a Diva by using Marine because Uta right now is just an ordinary girl who doesn't have enough power or strength to make her dreams come true, considering that her success as a Diva is heavily influenced by the Uta Uta no Mi devil fruit which she hasn't gotten yet.

"Quick, someone gets over here! I just saw something fishy."

Suddenly, a marine who was stationed at the stern of the ship yelled out while pointing in a certain direction. The people who heard it immediately ran toward him out of fear that pirates would attack the ship.

Uta and I also came to see, and from the place pointed by the marine, there was a small boat, already on board 3 people, 2 men and one little girl of my age.

One of the marines yelled angrily, "Those two bastards, what did they do to that little girl?" The others were also carried away by the emotion of how the girl pleaded for help while struggling to get away from the two men, but she couldn't go anywhere because the sea was all around her.

In the end, Captain Hina arrived as well, and when she saw what was going on, she immediately and angrily ordered her men, "What are you waiting for? Hurry up and save the girl! Go! You can swim there!"

Because these marines do not consume devil's fruit, they can easily swim in this deep sea. Considering that this was also like their daily practice, it did not take long for them to arrive at the small boat because they immediately dove into the water without removing their clothes or their equipment.

"don't you want to help?" Uta asked when she saw me remain silent, and she seemed curious because I was suddenly acting strange.

I responded mockingly, "Are you stupid? If I try to swim there, I will be in trouble first," and Uta seemed to realize her mistake and could only remain silent.

But in all honesty, that is not the reason I'm acting unusual, because it turns out I know the three of them, especially the orange-haired girl. Because she plays such an important role in the story and is, without a doubt, one of the women I would like to meet.

"wait, you guys misunderstood. This girl is actually a thief. She stole our money."

After they were brought aboard our vessel, one of the men who was wearing a pair of sunglasses and had a black tattoo on his left cheek that read "sea" hurriedly explained, but judging by the sharp stares of the marines around them, no one believed him.

"what my partner said is true. You have to believe. This girl suddenly hitched a ride on our small boat and asked to be escorted to the nearest island, but while we were sleeping, she suddenly took our hard-earned money."

This time it was the turn of the man in a black shirt with a green coat and red headgear to explain. He has plaid yellow boxer shorts over unshaven legs and dark shoes and, like his partner, carries a sword.

"Shut up! I saw for myself how you attacked this girl. Your reasons don't make any sense, either. How could this cute and innocent girl be a thief?" cried Captain Hina in annoyance, her gaze darting disdainfully at them.