The rapids flowing backwards through Reverse Mountain were now nothing more than a passageway for my ship.
Nami's exceptional navigation skills and Alvida's superhuman steering skills, enhanced by me. And I am the one who controls them all.
The Going Merry slid its bow into the Grand Line with ease, as if mocking the devil's seas.
A huge whale was singing at Futago Cape, but I didn't even glance at it.
The sentimental drama of someone living in the past is unnecessary noise in my story, where I hold the entire future in my hands.
And finally, we arrived at the first island of the Grand Line.
Whiskey Peak is a strange island made up of a series of gigantic, cactus-shaped rock mountains.
When we docked at the port, an unbelievable sight awaited us.
"Welcome, heroes!"
"Welcome to this island!"
The townspeople were playing instruments, throwing confetti, and giving us a warm welcome.
Leading the group is a man with an ostentatious hairstyle who calls himself the mayor, Mr. 8, also known as Igaram.
And next to her, smiling affably, was a blue-haired woman, Miss Wednesday, also known as Nefertari Vivi.
Nami, Kaya and the others are confused by the unexpected welcome, but they also look happy.
"What a wonderful welcome..."
"Hehe, it's wonderful to know that Eros is already such a famous person."
But I looked down at this hypocritical scene with cold eyes.
(...What a farce.)
Even without any memories of his previous life, he could tell right away that this all-too-convenient welcome was a trap.
They're all lowly bounty hunters from the secret criminal enterprise Baroque Works, a pack of hyenas out to get their hands on the bounty on our heads.
But I decided to take the plunge.
Because among that pack of hyenas is the finest prey I'm after.
When I got off the ship, I stood in front of Igaram and Vivi, who were welcoming us with big smiles on their faces, and shook their outstretched hands.
"Thank you for your welcome. Let's have a fun party tonight."
Hearing my words, the townspeople cheered even louder, as if their plan had worked.
Alone in the midst of all the commotion, I began to piece together in my mind the plot of the show that was about to begin.
I will turn this welcoming party into a stage for my silent humiliation.
Then, with my own hands, I slowly peeled off the princess's perfectly affixed mask.
The stage is already set for that.
◇
The banquet was held on a grand scale in the central plaza of Whiskey Peak.
The table is filled with more delicious food and alcohol than one can eat, and cheerful music is playing.
My women gradually opened up to the townspeople's skillful hospitality and enjoyed their time together.
At first glance, I too was behaving like a normal customer, wholeheartedly accepting the welcome.
He shares a drink with Igaram and listens with interest to his stories about his hometown.
But beneath the surface, I had begun a cunning "game."
"Oops, the glass is empty."
When I muttered this in a deliberate tone, a nameless female agent with a distinctive ponytail who had been standing nearby hurried over with a bottle of alcohol in her hand.
"S-Sorry! I'll pour it for you right away!"
She pours me a drink.
I grabbed his wrist gently, but not letting him slip away.
"Yaah...!"
"Don't panic. I'm just saying thank you."
Saying this, I slowly brought the back of her hand to my lips, just like a European aristocrat would do to a lady.
Then he respectfully kissed her white skin.
The woman was taken aback for a moment by his overly gentlemanly behavior, then her cheeks flushed as she let her guard down.
Taking advantage of that opportunity.
I intertwined my fingers with hers and, without anyone noticing, let a tiny amount of pleasure hormones flow into her body.
"Hmm...!"
The woman's body jumped slightly in shock.
Her eyes were filled with surprise, confusion, and an inexplicable heat rising from deep within her body, unrelated to her own will.
"Um...um..."
"What's wrong? Your face is red."
With a look of ignorance on my face, I released her hand.
The woman tried to say something, but no words came out. She simply bowed and fled the scene.
I repeated this "game" over and over again throughout the party, changing targets as I went.
He puts his arms around the waist of the woman who brought the drinks, whispers sweet words in her ear, and injects hormones into her ass.
As he passes the woman setting out the food, he puts his arm around her shoulders and, pretending to smell her hair, plants the seeds of pleasure in her neck.
The women's faces are distorted with confusion, fear, and a faint sense of pleasure.
I enjoyed all of this as snacks to go with my drinks.
And finally.
I headed over to see the blue-haired princess, the main character of the day.
"It's a fun party."
I sat down next to her quite naturally.
Even though Bibi was secretly very wary of the creepy behavior I'd shown to other women, she kept putting on the perfect smile as an agent on an undercover mission.
"Yes, really. This is all thanks to you, the hero."
"I see."
I nodded in satisfaction at her words and put my arms around her slender waist.
"Hii...!"
Vivi's body stiffens.
"Wh...what...!"
"It's a thank you. To you for preparing this wonderful banquet."
I whispered, leaning my face close to her ear and licking her small earlobe with my tongue.
At the same time, he tightened his grip on her waist, injecting a tiny amount of pleasure hormones directly into her, but it was more than enough for her innocent body.
"Hmm...!"
A voiceless scream escapes Vivi's mouth.
My brain is numb.
Something hot that I had never experienced before welled up from deep within my body.
She still doesn't understand what this is.
However, his body instinctively understood that the man in front of him was an incredibly dangerous being.
After a few seconds, I let go of her as if nothing had happened.
"What's wrong? Your face is red."
I whispered in a voice that only she could hear, and stood up from my seat.
Vivi sat there, unable to move, shivering from the vivid sensations in her ears and the strange heat that ran through her body.
Neither Igaram nor anyone else knew what I had done to her.
I watched with amusement as small but definite cracks began to appear in her perfectly affixed mask as "Miss Wednesday."
That was exactly when it happened.
A huge explosion roared from the direction of the town entrance, cutting through the distorted atmosphere of our party.
The bounty hunters in the plaza all turned in that direction and became upset.
"Wh, what?!"
"An enemy attack?!"
When I hear that sound, I don't move at all.
Rather, the smile on his lips deepened, as if he had been waiting for this.
(…Here comes one of the main characters.)
Soon, from the center of the explosion, two figures were seen slowly approaching in this direction.
One of them was a tall man wearing strange sunglasses, Mr. 5.
The other was a woman in a yellow lemon-patterned dress, gracefully holding a parasol: Miss Valentine, or Mikita.
Mr. 5 declared in a deep voice so that everyone in the room could hear.
"Listen up, you guys! Among us are two rats who have betrayed the organization!"
He took out a wanted poster from his pocket and held it up high.
"Mr. 8! And Miss Wednesday! Your true identities have already been revealed to the boss!"
Mikita's words were topped off with a high-pitched laugh.
"Kyahahaha! Too bad for you! It seems you were trying to find out the true identity of the boss (Mr. 0), but I see through it all!"
Then she pointed precisely at Bibi and Igaram.
"Her true identity is Nefertari Vivi, princess of the Kingdom of Alabasta! And her guard captain, Igaram!"
With that declaration, the atmosphere in the square became completely frozen.
The town's bounty hunters are shocked to learn that the two people they had previously thought were just colleagues are actually members of royalty and traitors to the organization. Imagining the enormous reward that will be placed around Vivi's neck, they smile vulgarly and all point their weapons at Vivi and Igaram.
Bibi and Igaram are completely surrounded and forced into a desperate situation.
I looked around the perfectly set up stage with satisfaction.
All the actors were in place, and the protagonist was on the brink of despair.
Now, it's my showtime.
I slowly stand up from my seat.
"Alvida, clean up. Five seconds. But leave the bomb man and the flying woman to me."
"As you wish, Eros."
With those words as a signal, Alvida charged into the group of bounty hunters in an instant. Screams and shouts erupted, but after a few seconds, they were replaced by silence.
Then I stood in front of Mr. 5 and Mikita, who were about to kill Bibi.
"Don't get in the way!"
Mr. 5 fires his Nose Fancy Cannon at me.
Before the filthy booger bomb could reach me, I dove into his arms and delivered a powerful kick to his face.
"Don't point that dirty thing at me."
Mr. 5 was knocked unconscious by the blow and fell to the ground like trash.
Seeing this scene, a cold voice rang out from above, freezing the air.
"...How dare you."
I looked up to see Mikita's beautiful face twisted in quiet rage.
"How dare you... Mr. 5...!"
Her anger at her partner's defeat quickly turns into a sadistic, twisted smile.
"Very well...! In return, I'll make sure you suffer even more, Princess!"
She was directly above Vivi, imbuing her delicate body with immense mass.
"Kyahahaha! We just need to eliminate everyone who gets in the way of our mission...! Let's start with you!"
"Take that! 10,000 kg press!!!"
With a thunderous roar, her body falls, transformed into a lethal weapon.
However, the weapon did not crush Bibi.
Before I knew it, I had moved to the point where it would fall and caught it all with one outstretched hand.
Zzzzzzzzz!!
The ground beneath my feet shattered radially from the impact, but I myself didn't move a single step.
"What?! You're kidding me?! You ran 10,000 kilometers with just one hand?!"
For the first time, Mikita's face, once confident and angry, contorts into one of pure shock and confusion.
While easily supporting her body with one hand, I looked up at her beautiful face and whispered.
"You have to pluck the wings off your flying toy first."
With those words, a thick stream of pleasure hormones flowed from my palm directly into her body.
"Huh?! Wh, what is this?! Ahhhhhhh!!!"
Her high-pitched screams quickly turned into pathetic, sweet moans.
"Mmmm...! Ah, ahhh! No, it feels so...! Kyahaha, ha... ahhh...♡"
Even her proud laughter melts away in the waves of pleasure and turns into lascivious sighs.
In my arms, her eyes rolled up, her whole body convulsing violently, she suddenly lost consciousness.
I carelessly tossed the limp toy at Alvida's feet as if it were a broken doll.
Her body is no longer that of a proud female agent.
She was a powerless woman whose pride and consciousness had been stripped away by just one caress from me.
I'm looking forward to seeing what kind of sounds the doll will make with my hands.
He then turned to Vivi, who had been watching the whole thing with eyes filled with fear.
"Well then, Princess. Are the nuisances gone?"
Hearing my voice, Vivi came back to her senses.
Before her was only one man, her loyal retainer Igaram, who stood there trembling but risking his life to protect her.
Faced with my overwhelming power, his eyes no longer showed hostility, but awe.
I slowly walked towards Igaram.
Then, with a smile on his face as if he were speaking to an old friend, he made the suggestion.
"Igaram, captain of the Alabasta Kingdom's guards. I'm the mastermind behind all this, Crocodile, who is undermining your country. I'll eliminate him."
"Wh, what did you say...? Crocodile, one of the Seven Warlords?!"
"Yes. In return, I will accept one billion berries as compensation. I will also escort you all to Alabasta. What do you think? I think that is an incredible price to pay for saving the life of a princess and the future of the kingdom itself."
My proposal was very businesslike, a far cry from the man who had been treating women like toys up until then.
This gap confuses both Igaram and Vivi.
But with the country facing a crisis, they had no choice.
Igaram knelt on the ground and accepted the terms in tears.
"I...will accept...! Please, save our country, Alabasta...!"
Although Bibi felt relieved by the sight, she was still in a state of intense confusion that she could not shake off.
(Really? Is money really all it takes to get this guy going?)
She could not forget the eerie yet sweet humiliation I had experienced with my body at the banquet.
That feeling of a tongue crawling along my ear.
And then, that incomprehensible heat that burned my body to the core.
There's no way this man could be a legitimate mercenary motivated by mere money.
I looked at her eyes, filled with suspicion and a faint premonition, and smiled.
Then he pointed his outstretched hand not at Igaram, but at Vivi.
"The deal is made. Welcome to my ship, Princess Vivi. I promise that the voyage to Alabasta will not be boring."
His voice was utterly gentlemanly.
But Vivi already knew.
The true face hidden beneath that gentlemanly mask.
The face of that predator that had imprinted an unknown sensation on my body at that banquet.
The voyage that is about to begin will not be a peaceful one.
And she already had a premonition in her body that the true "price" she would have to pay would not be in the form of money.
With trembling hands, she had no choice but to take my hand.
It was no longer a step towards hope, but the first ritual of entrusting oneself to an inescapable fate.