The moment Sephiroth mentioned Sphinx Island, Isabella abruptly sat upright.
She knocked Sephiroth, who had been resting above her head, backward against the sofa.
"So you're going to Whitebeard's hometown?"
Isabella sat sideways on Sephiroth's lap and looked back at him, her eyes shining with a thirst for adventure.
"Yes."
With Isabella's long golden hair sweeping across his cheeks, Sephiroth met her sparkling eyes and couldn't help parroting his agreement.
"-I'm coming too."
Isabella immediately lunged at him, pressing both hands against his shoulders.
"You can't get away, can you?"
Sephiroth reached out and gently flicked her forehead.
"We still need you for the start-of-year work."
Isabella was knocked back and made a show of clutching her forehead.
"...Mmph."
She knew that, aside from Sephiroth, she was the only one who could handle certain tasks at the beginning of the year.
For instance, no one else quite had the standing to serve as an envoy to their major allies.
As for armed intervention in the Whitebeard Pirates' civil war, Isabella didn't think she could handle an issue of that magnitude.
"Ugh-of all the times to ask for help... why did it have to be when I'm busiest...?"
Isabella let out a regretful wail.
For one thing, Princess Vivi's birthday was coming up on February 2, just half a month away. Isabella still had to make that trip to Alabasta.
Sephiroth's Teleportation only transported him; he couldn't take anything along.
Although Sephiroth could arrive on time for events like that, someone else still had to handle everything else.
"Lord Sephi-I want to sign up too!"
Baby 5 pattered over in quick little steps and excitedly raised her hand like a schoolchild, holding it high and waving it back and forth.
"Of course."
Sephiroth accepted her request and reached out to give