Luffy deliberately made his eyes cold. "I am the captain of this ship. Anyone who wants to join needs my permission, and anyone who wants to leave needs it too! Did you think you could just come and go as you please? What do you take us for? A public restroom? Furthermore, we accompanied you all the way from the East Blue into the Grand Line, helped you deal with Baroque Works, defeated Crocodile, and nearly lost our lives! Now that it's all over, I don't think I've even heard a proper thank you, and you're already thinking of parting ways with us? Are you planning to throw us away like trash after using us? In your heart, have you always seen us as lowly, disreputable pirates, never truly accepting us, thinking we're not worthy to be your nakama?"
Luffy racked his brains, saying every harsh thing he could think of.
The distance between them closed even further. He had almost trapped Vivi between the wall and his body.
"No, that's not it... I haven't..." she murmured, tears finally bursting forth like a broken string of pearls, rolling down her cheeks in large drops.
Suppressed sobs echoed through the spacious room. Her fair, smooth skin, washed by tears, glistened pitifully under the light.
No, are you messing with me?
Seeing Vivi crying so intensely, Luffy instantly lost his composure. His earlier facade completely crumbled, and he became flustered.
"Hey, hey, Vivi, don't cry! Isn't this what you wanted to hear? You told me to pretend and say these forceful things... They aren't true! I was just making stuff up!"
Luffy was so anxious sweat beaded on his forehead as he tried to explain.
But the more he explained, the harder Vivi cried.
The sobs grew louder, threatening to escalate into full-blown wailing. Her beautiful blue eyes were like a fountain with its gate opened wide; the tears just wouldn't stop.
Luffy was terrified. If this crying attracted the guards or King Cobra, and they saw he'd made his daughter cry like this, no amount of explaining would help. Forget the banquet—whether he could walk out of the palace in one piece would be the real question!
"Don't cry. I was wrong!"
"Wuu wuu..."
"I'm begging you, don't cry."
"Wuu wuu..."
The more Luffy pleaded, the harder Vivi cried. Finally, Luffy steeled himself and growled, "Stop crying!"
His voice wasn't loud, but miraculously, Vivi's crying stopped instantly. She halted her sobs, simply opening those blue eyes—washed even clearer and brighter by tears—to look at him tearfully, her nose red. Long teardrops still hung on her eyelashes, giving her the look of a startled fawn.
Sure enough, this trick works.
Luffy breathed an inward sigh of relief. But looking at Vivi's pitiful state, he had no idea how to comfort her.
You wanted it. I didn't want to give it at first.
You insisted, even though I warned you.
And now it's my fault?
Women were truly terrifying beasts. Luffy felt this was more exhausting than fighting Crocodile.
Crocodile:
" "
"
You're kinda disrespecting Croc there.
"All those awful things I just said were according to your wishes, to seem forceful," Luffy said, reaching out a hand as if to soothe a bristling cat. "How come you were the first one who couldn't take it?"
He felt wronged too! He was just following instructions!
Vivi's mouth quivered, her eyes rapidly filling with tears again.
Suddenly, she reached out with both arms, tightly hugging Luffy around the waist, burying her tear-stained face into his chest.
"Wuu wuu... Who told you to say such terrible things... wuu..."
She wailed like a boiling kettle.
Luffy's body stiffened instantly. His hands instinctively flew open, and he didn't dare move a muscle, letting Vivi cling to him tightly as she vented her emotions.
Lucky this time it was just harsh words, like last time. If he had actually resorted to physical "interrogation" like during their first meeting, this situation today would have been completely impossible to handle!
Women, truly incomprehensible creatures!
But at least the [Plan] was completed.
"Women are so hard to understand."
Luffy was doing squats, huffing and puffing, holding several hundred pounds of weights in one hand. His rubber muscles bulged, and sweat dripped down his reddened face.
So we got through it with a scare? He could consider what happened in the room with Vivi a secret. The kind you tell no one. Vivi also seemed to be acting as if nothing had happened.
She probably didn't dare let anyone know. A princess with that kind of preference? How embarrassing.
"What are they even thinking in their heads?" Luffy looked over at Nika, who seemed to have turned into a seasoned drunkard nearby.
"Gulp, gulp..."
Not far away, Nika was holding a wine jug disproportionately large for her size, tilting her head back heroically as she drank. Clear liquor trickled from the corner of her mouth, wetting the white fur on her chest. "Are you talking about Nefertari?"
"I guess so."
Nika let out a loud belch. Her blood-red eyes squinted with a hint of schadenfreude and her usual instigating tone. "Burp... I already told you, just taking direct action would have settled everything! It's not too late even now, heh heh. Want me to teach you a few moves?"
Whack!
A crisp sound rang out.
Luffy's free hand moved at a speed barely visible to the eye, slapping the back of Nika's head with the back of his hand.
The force was perfectly controlled—not enough to send her flying, but enough to make her dizzy for a moment.
"Tsss..."
Nika almost dropped her jug. Her drunkenness dissipated significantly as she clutched her head, dazed. It took her a good moment to clear her head. She immediately bared her teeth, waving her claws at Luffy. "Ow! What was that for?!"
"You still want to lay hands on Vivi?"
"I was just giving you good advice! Are you doing entrapment here? Hitting me just like that?!"
Luffy picked his ear, looking utterly unapologetic. "Call it what you want."
"Serves you right for getting confused by women!"
Nika puffed up her cheeks angrily, hugging her jug as she turned her back to Luffy, presenting him with her rear as she muttered under her breath.
Luffy felt his throat was parched. The thirst from intense training washed over him. His gaze swept around and landed on the very thirst-quenching-looking jug in Nika's arms.
"I'm thirsty," he declared, then unceremoniously reached out and snatched the jug right out of Nika's embrace.
"Hey! That's my booze! Give it back!"
Nika jumped up and down in a panic, lunging to grab it back, but Luffy held her off with a single finger on her forehead. No matter how she waved her limbs, she couldn't reach it.
When had the Sun God Nika ever suffered such humiliation!
Gulp, gulp...
Luffy took several big gulps from the jug's mouth. The spicy liquid burned through his throat, but strangely alleviated the dryness. He smacked his lips, looked down at the furious Nika below, and his eyes lit up with a mischievous grin.
***
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