Time flew by; seven days passed in a blink.
Over those seven days, Yami and his crew were ridiculously happy, discovering that life at sea wasn't boring at all. It had felt dull before only because the little cutter had been too cramped—aside from mahjong, cards, and a bit of fishing, there hadn't been much to do. When they weren't playing, Carina and Robin trained or read, and Nami drafted sea charts.
Now their days were full.
After training, there was plenty of entertainment to pass the time. Sometimes they played chess on the deck; sometimes they fished and tossed the catch into the aquarium; sometimes they hit the multi-sport courts; sometimes they gambled in the mini-casino; sometimes they played tag in the little maze—on and on.
Of all of it, Yami loved the ball sports the most. He still couldn't really play them himself due to his strength, but nothing stopped him from refereeing and watching the three women compete.
Since the day he crossed into this world, Yami had never forgotten the scene of Robin and Nami playing beach volleyball. He'd always wanted to recreate that classic.
So one hot day he used the heat as an excuse to skip the lower-deck courts and set up a volleyball and tennis court right on the turf deck. The three, utterly unbothered by Yami's gaze, played matches either in school gym uniforms or in bikinis.
Even if it couldn't quite match the original scene, it was more than pleasing to the eye.
Once Carina and Nami finished filling out, Yami was sure his dream would come true.
At Yami's suggestion, the three also wore breezy cheerleader outfits for basketball. When their skirts swished and they went up for "dunks," the referee Yami got an absolute eyeful.
They hadn't been into ball games before, but now all three were hooked.
For the record, Carina once invited Yami onto the court for a 1-vs-3. Yami took the ball in both hands, pulled a fancy dribble, then bulldozed straight through their tight defense to the rim. After that, the three refused to "play with Yami" again.
Until he mastered Life Return and could cap his output to normal human levels, they probably wouldn't be inviting him to their games.
He could join for football, though—as a goalkeeper.
With Yami "taking it easy," the three could score one or two times out of ten shots. The sense of accomplishment from beating Yami only made them love sports more.
They didn't slack on training, either. The Pegasus had a special training room. It wasn't huge, but the floor, walls, and ceiling were lined with iron plates—soft enough that Carina and Robin couldn't break them, but Nami could pierce them with a casual strike.
When Yami used the More-More Fruit to multiply the plates' mass a hundredfold, the room became practically indestructible, and Nami could develop her Fruit and Rokushiki inside without worry.
Ever since eating the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, Nami's strength had grown visibly day by day—not only because of her affinity with it, but because she took Yami's advice to heart. Every time she finished eating and training, she used micro-currents to stimulate her cells, ease fatigue, and speed digestion. As a result she absorbed more energy than Carina and Robin.
Nami wanted to help the other two with electrotherapy, but her control wasn't refined enough yet, so Yami didn't allow it. As compensation, he personally massaged Carina and Robin.
There was even a wellness room aboard.
Almost every night Yami lay back there while Carina and Nami, in maid outfits, gave him a foot bath; Robin joined in on the pretext of "courtesy returned," using the Flower-Flower Fruit to sprout extra arms and massage him everywhere at once.
In those moments, Yami finally tasted the life of a winner.
Stretched out on the massage chair, two maids at his feet, while Robin's many hands worked his shoulders and back—bliss.
And so their seven days were satisfyingly full.
One day, the Pegasus continued her voyage. The sky had been clear… and then suddenly dimmed.
A dense fog seemed to appear from nowhere, pulling the Pegasus into a special sea.
"It went dark all at once? Did the weather turn on us again?"
The three, playing on the lower-deck courts, noticed the darkness through the windows immediately. Carina couldn't help wondering aloud.
"No… this isn't just a weather shift," Nami said, shaking her head, expression grave. "Feels like we've entered a special sea. It's thick fog everywhere, and the area is enormous."
"If even you call it enormous, it must be bigger than usual," Carina said, turning to Yami. "Master, is this that place?"
"Yeah. The Florian Triangle," Yami nodded.
"The… the Florian Triangle?!" Carina and Nami blanched—they clearly knew the name.
Robin tapped her chin thoughtfully. "The Florian Triangle is regularly ranked one of the scariest seas in various magazines. Especially in recent years—it's said three digits' worth of ships vanish here annually."
"Some of the lucky ones who got out claimed to have seen ghosts… or a singing skeleton."
At that, Carina and Nami both went pale. It wasn't about strength—girls just don't like ghost stories.
"Relax," Yami said. "It's just a Devil Fruit user's trick."
"A Fruit user?"
"Devil Fruits can even make ghosts and skulls?"
The two exhaled in relief, while still grumbling a little.
"If mythical beasts are real, then ghosts and skeletons are perfectly normal," Robin said with a smile.
"Your nerves are something else, Robin," Carina and Nami said, impressed by her calm.
"In recent years, the reason so many ships 'vanish' is that a certain government-sanctioned pirate moved his base here," Yami went on. "The 'ghosts' people see come from a subordinate's Fruit—she's a Paramecia: the Hollow-Hollow Fruit. The singing skeleton ate the Revive-Revive Fruit."
"A government-sanctioned pirate?"
"A Warlord of the Sea? Which one?"
Now that they knew the truth, Nami and Carina weren't scared anymore—just curious.
"Gecko Moria," Yami said with a little smile, glancing at Nami. "Paramecia: the Shadow-Shadow Fruit. And, Nami—he's your next opponent."
"Eh?!"
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