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Chapter 24
Iron Axe Nock's eyes darted around before he shouted loudly:
"Big rewards for anyone who kills those two women!"
Hearing the promise of bounty, the morale of the Iron Axe Pirates instantly surged.
The remaining fifty or sixty pirates charged straight toward the Aitrias crew.
The Aitrias women showed no fear at all.
Following Annie and Rouge's lead, they met the charge head-on, relentlessly cutting down every pirate who came at them.
The scene turned incredibly bloody in moments.
Annie and Rouge slaughtered the incoming fodder pirates without holding back.
As the battle progressed, the two women's combat experience accumulated at a rapid pace.
By now, both had become quite fluent in using the Six Powers of the Navy.
Especially Rouge. Her Smooth-Smooth Fruit allowed her to perform Rokushiki techniques with virtually zero friction.
This made her attack speed many times faster than an ordinary person's.
All she needed was to continuously strengthen her body to become extremely powerful.
Combined with the cellular enhancement Vilin had already given her, Vilin believed that if Rouge could awaken her Smooth-Smooth Fruit in the future, reaching the level of an Admiral wouldn't be difficult.
Vilin watched as pirate after pirate was killed by his crew.
His legs had long since transformed into thick tree roots that silently absorbed every fallen pirate, turning them into withered corpses.
Ever since Rouge learned about Vilin's special training method, she had endlessly pestered him with all kinds of adorable pleading until he finally agreed to help strengthen her body.
As for the "repayment"… let's just say it was extremely satisfying.
This constant use had caused Vilin's stored life energy to deplete at an alarming rate.
To replenish it, every pirate and slave trader they encountered on the journey had been turned into pure life energy stored within his body.
Ten minutes later, all the fodder of the Iron Axe Pirates had been swiftly killed by the Aitrias crew.
Only Captain Iron Axe Nock and swordsman Wild remained standing in the distance, watching.
When Nock saw every one of his crew members dead, his face turned deathly pale and his legs shook uncontrollably.
He collapsed to the ground in terror.
"Ladies—I was blind! I offended you!"
"Please spare our lives!"
"We're willing to join your pirate crew!"
Nock begged pitifully after seeing how ferocious the two women were.
"Heh. Our ship doesn't take trash."
Annie glared at him with eyes full of killing intent and spoke coldly.
"Exactly. Everyone on our ship is family."
While speaking, Rouge charged toward the two men.
Her slender fingers left two afterimages in the air.
With two soft pfft sounds, blood holes the size of fingers appeared between Nock's and Wild's eyebrows.
Immediately after, both women watched as sharp tree roots shot up and pierced straight through their bodies.
They knew this was Vilin's doing.
They had already grown accustomed to it.
Rouge even showed a trace of excitement at the sight.
It had been more than ten days since she last used Vilin's power for training.
Once all the Aitrias crew members returned to the Flying Bird, Rouge wrapped her arms around Vilin's neck like she was showing off her achievement, looking at him expectantly.
"Vilin, how did we do?"
Seeing the two women like this, Vilin couldn't help pinching their cheeks and smiled.
"You did very well."
"I'm giving you two days of rest!"
"Let's have a feast to celebrate today's victory!"
"Yay～!"
The moment they heard "feast," the entire Aitrias Pirate crew broke into happy smiles.
They rushed into the cabins to start preparing for tonight's banquet.
Thanks to the joint efforts of all Aitrias Pirate crew members, table after table of delicious food was quickly brought up to the deck.
To celebrate the two days of rest, Rouge specially brought out the precious wine she had been saving.
The banquet continued until midnight.
By then, most of the crew were pleasantly tipsy.
Rouge lay directly in Vilin's arms.
Her beautiful eyes gradually turned hazy as she looked at him.
After sending all the crew members back to their rooms, Vilin scooped Rouge up by the waist and carried her toward his own cabin.
Soon the Flying Bird began rocking rhythmically.
Tonight was destined to be a passionate night.
The next day, another refreshing morning with a gentle breeze.
Inside Vilin's room, both Vilin and Rouge were somewhat exhausted from the overly intense "battle" the night before.
A ray of sunlight slipped through the curtains and shone on the two entwined bodies.
Vilin slowly opened his tired eyes.
He looked down at Rouge's still-flushed pretty face and gave a wry smile.
Last night was really too wild.
Vilin rubbed his somewhat sore waist and sighed.
"The waist of a woman truly is a bone-scraping knife. The ancients never lied."
Looking at the glaring sunlight, he felt Annie would probably wake up soon too.
Yawning, Vilin patted Rouge's soft rear, signaling her to turn over.
After tucking her in properly, he got dressed and walked toward the deck.
As he stepped onto the deck, Vilin looked out at the boundless sea before him.
His heart and mind felt wide open.
His current life was so much better than his previous one.
No more 996 overtime, no more living under someone else's thumb.
"This is exactly the life I wanted!"
"Free to do whatever I please!"
In the mess hall, many of the female crew members were already eating breakfast.
When they saw Vilin appear, they all turned to him with sweet smiles.
"Good morning, Captain Vilin!"
Feeling everyone's warmth, Vilin greeted them very gently in return.
Since there were no training tasks today, everyone on the Flying Bird was enjoying a very relaxed day.
Vilin sat on the deck.
In his hand was a black fishing rod.
His ink-green eyes stared unblinkingly at the sea surface, hoping to catch some plump, delicious sea fish.
Annie and Rouge lay on soft lounge chairs, basking in the sun with contented expressions.
The whole ship was filled with a relaxed, leisurely atmosphere.
Under this peaceful mood, the Flying Bird sailed steadily toward Reverse Mountain.
New World, Beehive Island.
In a hidden room,
Shakky was quietly flipping through the latest intelligence reports about Vilin that had come in from across the Four Blues.
"Ability to control plant-based Devil Fruit powers."
"Auctioned a Paramecia-type Bloom-Bloom Fruit for his little sister."
"Gifted a Paramecia-type Smooth-Smooth Fruit to his lover?"
"Everyone on the ship is family?"
"Hehe… what an interesting little guy."
South Blue, Southリス Kingdom.
This place was known among pirates as a supply station before entering the Grand Line.
Every day, large numbers of pirates challenging the Grand Line would stop here.
As a result, management was extremely chaotic.
Pirate raids on villages happened daily.
Only after the Navy established a presence did public safety improve noticeably.
However, due to the need to pay the Heavenly Tribute, the people here remained poor.
Their annual income was barely enough to survive.
After sailing for another ten days or so at sea, the Aitrias Pirates had been away from Baterilla Island for a month and a half.
Finally, Vilin and his group set foot on land again.
This made the entire Aitrias Pirate crew extremely excited.
South Kingdom.
One man and two women walked along a wide street.
Their presence immediately attracted countless stares from passersby.
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