The dark-skinned female captain wearing a black headscarf appeared, her arms thicker than Robin's waist.
Poking her lips with one finger in exaggerated shyness, she cooed:
"Would you like to come play in my cabin? My room's quite spacious."
Dier frowned and quickly retreated behind Robin.
Even divided into eight pieces, this woman would still be bulkier than Robin - such "blessings" were beyond his capacity to enjoy.
But business had to be attended to; they needed to leave the port quickly.
Raising his head, Dier locked eyes with the female captain and activated his long-unused hypnosis ability.
"Do you trust me?"
"Absolutely! Completely! Without question!!"
The female captain nodded frantically,
"I'd believe anything you say!"
This reaction made Dier doubt his own confidence.
Was his hypnosis ability really this effective?
"Then set sail? Depart?"
Without the slightest hesitation, the female captain waved her massive hand:
"All hands, prepare to sail!"
"But our cargo hasn't—"
"I said SAIL!!"
"Aye aye!"
The female captain's authority remained unchallenged. At her command, two disheveled sailors emerged from the cabin, joining five others on deck to prepare the ship.
Anchor raised, sails unfurled, rudder turned.
Soon the vessel left the harbor behind.
Dier stood at the stern, watching the strange Hunter Island recede into the distance.
Several frenzied townspeople broke through the barricades, leaping into the sea.
The water erupted briefly with splashes and bursting bubbles.
Then calm returned.
They had drowned.
"Due to the curse and restricted zones, most never truly experienced the ocean."
"A bunch of landlubbers who can't swim, now desperately rushing to drown themselves."
"What a cruel sight."
Dier sighed with melancholy before turning back toward the deck.
He was no saint - running circles around the island trying to save these townspeople wasn't in his nature.
Had he the capability, he wouldn't mind doing some good deeds in passing.
But with his own survival uncertain, such thoughts were pointless.
"I remember the treasure vault had piles of gold and Adam Treasure Tree branches. What a shame to leave all that behind."
Robin caught his implication and rolled her eyes:
"Stop obsessing over that pocket watch. Just buy another later."
"What's with that woman?"
She was referring to the female captain currently sneaking glances their way.
Dier stroked his chin thoughtfully:
"He would charm married women in villages, entering their homes to devour all their food."
"Come again?"
"The origin story of my abilities."
He gestured for Hina to join them and recounted the legend of the Flame Devourer.
He could breathe flames that parched the earth, leaving no land to farm;
He could seduce village wives, entering their homes to consume their last provisions.
The flame-breathing and food-devouring corresponded to fire and consumption.
These were abilities Dier could consciously activate.
"So charming married women represents a passive charm enhancement?"
He looked down and asked:
"Do you feel anything special? Like I'm extraordinarily handsome or something?"
Both shook their heads. Hina gave him a strange look before hesitantly offering:
"The term specifically refers to married women - what people call 'taken wives.'"
Dier: "..."
Why this obsession with married women? It wasn't like his surname was Cao.
Pursing his lips, he turned toward the eavesdropping female captain:
"Hey, are you married?"
"Ah, I... am."
The Female Captain hastily waved her hand,
"If you mind, I'll go get divorced right now."
"Dole, get over here! I've got something to tell you!"
She strode toward one of the sailors on deck. If Dier wasn't mistaken, that was one of the two disheveled sailors who had emerged from the cabin earlier.
The private lives on this ship were truly chaotic.
"No need to go. Let's have a heart-to-heart talk instead."
Dier led the Female Captain into the cabin, preparing to perform Hypnosis.
"First rule: Kali Dier is immune to the curse of the Devil Fruit. Even if he falls into the sea, there will be no adverse effects!"
"Second, Kali Dier possesses the ability to breathe underwater."
"Third..."
Gulp—!
Hina swallowed hard, her finger trembling slightly as she pointed toward the cabin.
"Are they... going to..."
"What's the matter?"
Robin tilted her head in confusion. It was just Hypnosis, wasn't it?
Back on Coron Island, Dier had to hypnotize someone every day.
Sometimes it was a capable gang member, other times the leader of a certain industry.
She was long used to it.
"N-nothing."
Seeing Robin's innocent expression, Hina could only wave her hand and pretend nothing was wrong.
After all, Robin was just a ten-year-old child. It was normal for her not to understand these things.
"Ah, my face!"
Robin suddenly gasped, covering her face and hiding behind Hina.
In their haste, she had forgotten to use her ability to conceal her appearance.
Hina had no bounty, and Dier remained in his two-meter-tall Beast Form. The only one at risk of exposure was her.
"Hina, help me out!"
"With what?"
"Get the Den Den Mushi first. We can't let them report me."
Hina glanced around. Thanks to Dier's public display of eating a gun and the Female Captain's favor, none of the seven sailors on deck seemed inclined to cause trouble for them.
Judging by their tanned skin and patched-up sailor uniforms, she doubted any of them even owned a Den Den Mushi.
Still, out of caution, she gritted her teeth, mustered her courage, and approached one of the sailors, brandishing the Black Gun with feigned ferocity.
"Hand over the Den Den Mushi!"
The sailor blinked, then looked at her with exasperation. These three really had no talent for robbery.
"We don't have anything like that. Only the Captain carries one."
"I wouldn't go in there looking for them right now. They're probably... busy."
Hina secretly sighed in relief, though her cheeks flushed slightly.
Her parents had raised her to be a noblewoman, so she had been taught about such matters.
Just as she was debating when to enter, Robin suddenly grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the cabin without a word.
"Let's go!"
"W-wait, is it really okay to barge in now?"
"Why not? I've seen it plenty of times."
Click~
The two pushed open the cabin door and stepped inside.
The cabin contained a sack of provisions and several beds—nothing else.
Dier, now back to his usual 1.6-meter height, was munching on a carrot while sitting cross-legged on the floor, performing the Hypnosis.
Noticing Robin's urgency from the corner of his eye, he spoke:
"Good. Now, close your eyes and imagine that feeling of lightness and freedom~"
The Female Captain obediently shut her eyes.
Dier walked over to the two girls and asked quietly:
"Did something unexpected happen outside?"
Robin shook her head, then pointed to her own face.
Dier instantly understood her meaning and patted her head reassuringly:
"Don't worry, leave it to me."
Just seven sailors—nothing to fear.
"By the way, Hina, why do you have such a strange look in your eyes?"
Hina quickly waved her hands:
"N-no reason."
"If you say so. You two find somewhere to rest. I'll get back to work."
The Hypnosis wasn't over yet—he had to continue.
An hour later, the Female Captain left, leaving only Dier and the two women in the cabin.
"Look at this—your bounty has multiplied."
Robin pulled out a wanted poster from yesterday's newspaper.
"Pyromaniac, Kali Dier, bounty: one million Belly."
The act they put on at Coron Island the day before had worked. The World Government finally realized that a thousand Belly was ridiculous.
Robin looked a little regretful—she wouldn't be able to tease him using the newspaper as a unit of measurement anymore.
Dier, however, was thrilled. One million was nothing to scoff at.
Sig the Mountain Bandit King, with an eight-million bounty, had killed fifty-six guys like Shanks.
With a one-million bounty, Dier could easily take down seven Shankses!
Click~
The cabin door opened as the Female Captain dragged a sailor inside.
Clearing his throat, Dier looked at the sailor and asked:
"Do you trust me?"
Three hours later, the Hypnosis session ended.
He stretched with an irrepressible grin.
Truly worthy of a Mythical Zoan.
The passive charm ability saved him time when hypnotizing married women.
For impatient types like the Female Captain, it saved even more time.
While hypnotizing men offered no bonus, the Animal-Type's abundant stamina allowed him to perform multiple high-intensity Hypnosis sessions in a single day.
With enough food, he could even eat while hypnotizing to recover stamina, enabling nonstop Hypnosis all day long.
Three hours per person meant eight people a day, two hundred forty a month, and two thousand eight hundred eighty a year!
"What are you grinning about?"
Robin waved her hand in front of his face, reminding him:
"We're about to dock. Are we getting off?"
"That fast? Yes, of course we are."
"And once we're ashore, we're eating like kings!"