Elegia's Rising Star

Elegia, Music Academy.

In the corridor outside the piano recital room, Elegia's king, Gordon, walked slowly with a stack of sheet music in his arms.

As he walked, the faint sound of a piano reached him and caught his attention.

He was the king of this country and the headmaster of this academy. He remembered the melodies played by every student.

But now, he could hear a piano melody that was unfamiliar, yet every bit as good as the others. Curiosity compelled him to follow the sound and find out where it was coming from.

As he passed a corner, he noticed a recital room illuminated by the lights. The increasingly clear piano notes told him this was where the unfamiliar music was coming from.

"..."

A girl with red-and-white hair sat at the piano, her long, slender fingers dancing over the ivory keys.

Uta's eyes were closed, and the corners of her mouth lifted slightly, forming a serene smile on her fair face. Her petite body swayed gently to the beautiful melody.

Uta's extraordinary musical talent, combined with the expensive, high-quality instrument, produced a melody as lovely as a babbling spring, giving Louis and Yelena an unprecedented musical experience.

After a long while, the melody continued to fill the piano recital room, but its moving notes gradually grew softer.

Louis watched Uta, whose performance revealed her serene and graceful poise, then asked quietly:

"Uta, after we meet up with Shanks and the others, we'll leave the East Sea for another sea. Would you like to come with us?"

As she played, Uta slowly opened her eyes, which were like purple gemstones. She turned to look at the two people sitting beside her, watching quietly, and smiled brightly.

"Sure..."

To Louis and Yelena's surprise, Uta didn't seem to give it much thought—or perhaps she had already made up her mind. She quickly answered that she was willing to leave with them.

Louis and Yelena exchanged glances, then smiled together.

"Welcome aboard, Uta!"

"Please take care of me, Captain and Vice Captain!" Uta's eyes curved into crescents, her smile blooming like a flower.

Just then, the door to the piano recital room swung open. A tall, middle-aged man with long blond hair and a slightly odd-looking chin hurried in and stopped in front of Uta, his face full of excitement.

He looked at Uta as if she were an uncut gem waiting to be polished.

Then, under Uta's bewildered gaze, he straightened his clothes and cleared his throat before speaking solemnly. "My name is Gordon. I'm the king of this country and the headmaster of this academy."

"And then?" Uta asked, her eyes full of confusion. She didn't quite understand what he meant.

In the next moment, Gordon dropped his solemn act and struck a comically earnest pose as he made his request to Uta.

"Dear young lady, you seem to have a great talent for music. Would you be interested in learning more here?"

"Huh? Learning more?"

Uta's eyes widened.

Then a glimmer of interest appeared in her eyes, and she turned to Louis with a questioning look. With Louis and Yelena there, she didn't need to worry that the man was trying to trick her.

The words of this man who called himself a king had made Uta intensely curious.

Following Uta's gaze, Gordon realized that there were two other people in the recital room.

When he saw the wings on Louis's back, his pupils contracted. He had thought the rumors about an angel appearing in Elegia yesterday were just gossip.

He never expected they were true—and that the angel was right here in the Music Academy.

Louis met Uta's eager gaze and nodded gently. "We're waiting for Shanks and the others, too, so we'll be staying here for a while."

"Yay!" Uta was stunned for a moment, then broke into a radiant smile.

Some time later.

Uta's musical talent far surpassed what Gordon and the instructors teaching her had expected.

Whenever it came to anything related to music, Uta mastered it in an incredibly short time and quickly learned to apply it in new ways.

In a very short time, Uta had surpassed and won over many of the instructors who had devoted themselves to music.

Before long, Uta's name was being talked about throughout Elegia. Everyone was discussing the musical genius who had come to their island.

Thanks to Elegia's strong musical culture, most of the musicians, students, and townspeople responded with praise and lively discussion.

Everyone here knew that slander and envy would never improve their own musical abilities. Only by learning with humility could they go further.

Another performance came to an end.

Louis and Yelena sat in the audience of the large concert hall, quietly watching Uta, surrounded by musicians who treated her like a star.

Amid the crowd's praise and gasps of amazement, Yelena turned to look at Louis's profile and asked quietly, "Louis, can we still not reach Shanks and the others?"

Louis shook his head without speaking.

Given Shanks and the others' strength, they shouldn't have been so hard-pressed in the East Sea that they couldn't even answer a Den Den Mushi. It made Louis think of something unlikely.

He suspected that Shanks and the others' attempt to kidnap some military heirs in Foosha Village had been exposed, and that Garp was now pursuing them.

Yelena's heart sank.

She thought Shanks and the others must have run into an emergency they couldn't handle, leaving them no time to respond to Louis.

"Do you think he'll make it here?" Yelena looked at Uta, whose radiant smile shone from the stage, and felt a pang of sympathy.

If Shanks didn't show up as promised, Uta would be heartbroken.

Louis thought about Shanks's current strength, then about Garp, still in his prime, and gave a noncommittal answer.

"I can't say..."

Yelena sighed at his reply.

Of the three of them, only Uta firmly believed Shanks would come to Elegia to meet them.

"Bulu~ Bulu~ Bulu."

Suddenly, the Den Den Mushi on Louis rang.

Yelena paused at the sound, then thought of the Red-Haired Pirates.

"Click." Louis quickly answered.

Just as they had expected, a familiar voice came through the Den Den Mushi.

The Den Den Mushi mimicked Yasopp's appearance as he spoke quickly between breaths. "Louis, sorry, we might not be able to make it to Elegia!"

"Garp?" Louis asked, as if he had already guessed.

Yasopp was silent for a moment, then replied helplessly, "That's right. We happened to run into that old geezer Garp. He's really strong. We might not be able to make it to Elegia..."

Besides, they didn't want to bring danger to Uta, Louis, and Yelena.

Louis looked up at Uta, then said expressionlessly, making sure the Red-Haired Pirates couldn't ignore his words:

"Uta has learned a lot here in Elegia. She's become Elegia's rising star."

"Tomorrow night at seven, Uta will hold the first concert of her life."

"Everyone in the Red-Haired Pirates surely wouldn't want Uta to be disappointed in Shanks—and in all of you—because you didn't show up, would you?"

"..."

At the same time, aboard the Red Force.

Yasopp, battered and covered in bandages, froze when he heard that.

"Uta's first concert?!"