To the Wind

In the middle of Thomas's discussion with Vivi and Nami, Astolfo returned from surveying the island, leaping from her Hippogriff before it landed on the deck.

"I'm baaaaaaaack~!" shouted the bubbly pinkette, leaping toward Thomas before he had the chance to return her greeting.

"Oof..."

As he had been sitting cross-legged, Thomas ended up on his back as a result of Astolfo tackling him. His hand instinctually moved to her head, but it soon ended up on her rear end as she crawled up his body to steal his lips.

Observing Astolfo's antics, Nami exhaled an exasperated sigh while Vivi covered her mouth and giggled. Then, with narrowed eyes, she remarked, "Thomas's Spirits are very devoted to him..."

With a skeptical look on her face, Nami questioned, "That's your takeaway from this...?"

Maintaining a calm, unperturbed demeanor, Vivi softly replied, "Everyone has their own circumstances, Nami. Thomas left behind his past life to live in our world for a reason. Until he has found what he is searching for, I will continue to support and wait for him..."

Exhaling a tired sigh, Nami leaned back and stared at the dimming sky above as she muttered, "You're a much stronger woman than I am, Vivi..."

Adopting a sad smile, Vivi replied, "I have borne the responsibility of more than ten million lives since I was a child. Once people have something to protect, they can endure anything..."

Hearing Vivi's silent utterance, Nami couldn't help recalling her adoptive mother, Bell-mere. If the latter had lied and said she didn't have any kids, Arlong wouldn't have killed her. Instead, she proudly announced she was the mother of herself and Nojiko, utilizing the 100,000 Berries that would have ensured her survival to protect them...

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After Astolfo had gotten her fill of kissing, Thomas sat with the bubbly pinkette on his lap as she gave her report. She easily managed to find the camps of Broggy and Dorry, each occupying the skulls of the Sea Kings they had slaughtered. More importantly, she found two ships concealed within a grotto and a house made of wax on the far side of the island.

Hearing Astolfo mention wax, Vivi's expression became serious as she said, "If it's really made from wax, it must belong to Mr. 3, Galdino. His Bounty is only 24,000,000 Berries, but he is a skilled tactician and one of the more terrifying members of Baroque Works. When it hardens, his wax is said to be more robust than steel..."

Nodding his head, Thomas demonstrated his own knowledge, adding, "And his partner, Miss Goldenweek, can hypnotize and control people by painting symbols on their bodies. She possesses no combat ability, but she's more dangerous than Galdino if she manages to leave her mark on you. If given time to prepare, she can even create an army of animals to overwhelm her opponents."

"So, what will you do?" asked Nami, her voice uncharacteristically calm.

Shrugging his shoulders, Thomas replied, "I can't reach the pinnacle of the world sitting on my ass. I'm going to at least 'try' fighting them."

Though she wasn't surprised by Thomas's response, Nami crossed her arms and asked, "You don't want to wait for Lucy and Zoro to return first?"

Shrugging a second time, Thomas replied, "They went out to experience an adventure. Sending Astolfo to locate the members of Baroque Works was something I decided. I wouldn't mind backup, but I'm not going to tell Lucy and Zoro how to spend their time. Besides, unless they fell into a trap, opponents like this are nothing to them."

Following his response, Thomas rose to his feet, picking up Astolfo as he did so. At the same time, Vivi asked, "Can I come with you? My strength might be lacking, but I'm sure I could be of assistance."

Since he was planning to take Astolfo and Benienma with him, the latter concealed within his shadow, Thomas answered, "Sure, but you'll have to leave Karoo behind since we'll be taking Astolfo's Hippogriff."

Hearing Thomas's words, the nearby Karoo exhaled a very human sigh of relief. It might be as fast as a leopard, but plenty of creatures were faster and stealthier. In a jungle dominated by dinosaurs, it barely qualified as a snack to a Tyrannosaur...

Nodding her head, Vivi adopted a smile and was about to respond in the affirmative when Nami asked, "What about me? Can I come along...?"

Before Thomas could respond, Astolfo responded, "Due to Master's size, three people is already pushing it. The weight isn't an issue, but there isn't enough space on Griff's back for four people."

Thinking of potential solutions, Astolfo proposed, "If you insist, our best options are to make two trips or have Griff carry Master with his talons."

"Yeah, I'll pass on that second one..." responded Thomas. He was no longer as afraid of heights as he used to be, but the thought of being transported in a Hippogriff's claws unnerved him.

As she didn't want to be left out or forced to cower back at the ship, Nami surprised everyone by stating, "I don't mind being carried. Either that or I could ride on Thomas's back. So long as we don't accelerate too quickly, I'm pretty confident I can hang on."

Scratching the back of her head, Astolfo's smile became awkward as she exhaled a nervous laugh and replied, "If anyone is going to ride Master, it should be Vivi or myself. You kind of missed the boat on that one..."

Crossing her arms, Nami narrowed her eyes and gave Thomas a side-long glance, asking, "Really...? So if I invited him back to the woman's cabin to have some 'fun,' he would refuse?"

Without missing a beat, Thomas replied, "Probably not. I just can't see our relationship developing any further than 'fuck buddies.' Not as you are, at least..."

Though she was tempted to ask what was wrong with her, Nami returned her gaze to Astolfo, affirming, "See? It's fine."

Smiling wryly, Astolfo awkwardly replied, "Well, if Master's okay with it..." before bringing her fingers to her lips and whistling loudly. As she did so, her Hippogriff burst out of the void, veiled in rainbow-hued light before it manifested completely and landed on the deck. Then, with Astolfo and Vivi seated in front of him and Nami pressing her voluminous breasts into his back, Thomas enjoyed the short flight over to where the unsuspecting members of Baroque Works were waiting...

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After reaching their destination in less than a minute, everyone alighted Astolfo's Hippogriff. Once they had, Thomas directed his gaze to Astolfo, saying, "Keep them safe." in a firm tone.

Reacting with a salute, Astolfo replied, "Leave it to me~!" in a voice that was a little too loud for comfort. This was one of the downsides to her Evaporation of Reason(D+), as she rarely considered the consequences of her actions.

Fortunately, even though Astolfo's outburst had garnered the attention of his enemies, it didn't matter. Thomas had decided to borrow a page from Lucy and Zoro, forgoing a plan entirely. If he had wanted to play it safe, he could have just gathered a ton of Magical Energy from a distance and nuked the wax house without getting close...

Immediately causing Thomas to regret his lack of preparation, four people promptly emerged from the wax house. There was a lanky, bespectacled man with his hair styled in the number three, a dark-skinned man wearing sunglasses and a trenchcoat, and two girls. The first was a fairly tall and attractive woman with bobbed blonde hair, a blue and yellow parasol that resembled a target, a yellow cap, and a pale yellow dress with a pattern of lemon slices. The second was a petite girl with reddish-brown pigtails and a very 'peculiar' outfit that consisted of a wide-brimmed pink hat, a jacket resembling a cloudy sky, a turquoise undershirt, a dark pink skirt, striped leggings, and an apron suitable for a painter. She looked like an art-obsessed 10-12-year-old, but she was fairly 'famous' within the One Piece Community for being a 'legal loli.'

Though Thomas took note of the little girl, Miss Goldenweek, she was like a background character compared to the attractive blonde, better known as Miss Valentine. Under more 'opportune' circumstances, Thomas might have attempted striking up a conversation with blue-eyed, lemon-themed Bounty Huntress. Instead, he removed his shirt normally before tossing it to Vivi as he said, "Hold that for me. I'll be back in a few minutes."

Hugging Thomas's shirt as if it were a bouquet, Vivi replied, "I believe in you, Tom..." before observing silently as he made his way toward a group that would have terrified her days prior...

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Seeing Thomas approach, Galdino snorted in contempt as he remarked, "Another brutish lug with more brawn than brains. Does he really think he can take on the four of us on his own? Such arrogance..."

Markedly more amused by the situation, Miss Valentine, also known as Mikita, issued a unique "Kyahahaha~" laugh before remarking, "He really is a hunk, though. If he manages to survive our onslaught, I think I'll take my time crushing him~."

Pushing up his sunglasses, Mikita's partner, Mr. 5, remarked, "Remember. The boss ordered us to take him alive. Don't get ahead of yourself, Miss Valentine..."

Instead of responding to Mr. 5, also known as Gem, with words, Mikita issued another one of her characteristic laughs before jumping well over a hundred meters into the sky with extreme ease. At the same time, Mr. 3, Galdino, said, "If it's capturing prey alive, you can leave it to me..." before the three on his head suddenly ignited like a candle's wick.

Waving his arms forward, Galdino shouted, "Candle lock...!" as torrents of candle wax emerged from his body at high speeds, crisscrossing as they attempted to ensnare Thomas's feet. Fortunately, while Galdino probably wouldn't make his Top 100 One Piece characters, Thomas recalled most of the man's moves and, more importantly, his weaknesses.

The moment Galdino launched his attack, the hazy white aura around Thomas's body became flame-like as he charged forward, leaping over the waxy torrent and propelling himself toward the group like a meteor.

Rather than contempt, Galdino's expression became one of shock as he exclaimed, "He can manipulate flames!? Why wasn't this mentioned in the report...!?"

Instead of answering Galdino's question, Gem aimed an ornate revolver at Thomas, pulling the trigger to discharge invisible projectiles that exploded on contact. The resultant explosions failed to penetrate Thomas's barrier, but they were able to slow his momentum enough for Mikita to drop down from above, shouting, "10,000 Kilo Press~!"

As he hadn't simply forgotten about Mikita's presence, Thomas dodged to the side as the lemon-themed blonde impacted the ground like a meteor, shattering the ground beneath her and causing a large explosion of dust and debris. Her Devil Fruit drastically increased her durability and allowed her to adjust her weight from 1kg to 10,000kgs in an instant. This was well beyond Thomas's lifting capabilities, so he needed to be careful not to get caught under the blonde-haired beauty's admittedly perky-looking ass.

Instead of waiting for the dust column produced by Mikita's attack to dissipate, Thomas charged directly into it, surprising the cackling blonde within with a lariat to the throat. Striking her was like clotheslining a metal statue with incredible inertia, but he still managed to inflict some damage to her since she wasn't expecting him to 'sneak attack' her.

Falling onto her butt, indenting the ground beneath her, Mikita massaged the front of her throat as she shouted, "You asshole! You're going to pay for that...!"

As the cloud of dust still hadn't settled, Thomas aimed his hand in the direction of Mikita's voice, firing off a continuous blast of Magical Energy that hit her like a truck and prevented her from rising. She could endure falling from hundreds of meters while weighing 10,000kgs, so he assumed she would be okay even if he unleashed a fully charged blast right at her. If she couldn't, well, it wouldn't be the first time he had killed someone...

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(A/N: Feminism, ho...!)