Damn you, bounty hunter!

That night was long and exhausting for me and my crew because we had to fight two troublesome devil fruit users. I say troublesome because their strength isn't that great, so the only way I could lose to them is by being careless.

"Especially this little girl's paint, I don't want to get hit by it at all."

I saw how her devil fruit works when Uta and Captain Makino were accidentally hit by her paint. They acted silly for a while, but they returned to normal when the paint that formed the symbol was destroyed.

"hmph! Who are you calling, little girl!" Miss Goldenweek, who had previously displayed a calm expression, became enraged at me, and she even began targeting me, which I managed to avoid each time.

I could hear Captain Hina and Uta fighting with the wax man being equally fierce, so I didn't have a choice but to face this girl for the time being. But to be honest, I would have preferred to switch opponents because she was very troublesome.

"You've all been calling me a devil fruit user. You're totally wrong, you know," Miss Goldenweek abruptly stopped attacking and said something unexpected. Even her partner was taken aback.

"Oh, you don't eat devil fruit? I thought you were using your devil fruit powers to influence our enemies all this time," Mister 3 exclaimed, pausing for a moment to question her.

"No, what I've been doing all this time is just some kind of hypnosis... but that's not important now."

I never expected her to take advantage of the situation and smear pink paint on my hands. My body reacted instantly as strange emotions appeared at the wrong time.

'If this is just a coincidence, this isn't funny,' I thought, as my lower body became aroused for no apparent reason, and when I looked at Miss Goldenweek, she just smiled slyly.

I realized she was purposefully making me horny, but she had to be disappointed if she thought that would be enough to deter me. Even though I was a little uneasy with my dick being so erect while fighting, I fought with all my might to defeat this little devil.

Everything became simple after I managed to land a punch powerful enough to render Miss Goldenweek unable to fight any longer. When I assisted in Mister 3's care, he fell easily in the end after the fight became 3 on 1.

After tying both of their bodies, I helped Makino free herself from the wax traps that were preventing her from moving before approaching Nojiko, who looked nervous for some reason.

"Why are you still nervous, didn't we already win?"

"L-Luffy... actually I... there's something I want to talk to you... it's about Nami..." Nojiko, who was becoming increasingly nervous as I walked away, hurriedly pursued me. Even though she stated that she wanted to talk, she eventually became stumped as to what to say.

I suspected it from the start when I didn't see Nami with them, but I wasn't angry about it. I'm just a little irritated, and I'll make sure to bring her back, but for the time being, I have to finish my business in Arabasta.

"Somehow I have a strong feeling she will be there as well," I muttered with a little enthusiasm that slowly started to burn, but Nojiko misinterpreted my smile because her face turned pale.

"I'm sorry... instead of stopping her, I helped… her... but I had no other choice!..." Seeing Nojiko suddenly cry with guilt made me wonder because she shouldn't have reacted that way, given that I'm the bad guy here.

Nojiko flinched when I turned around at the same time as my steps came to a halt. Before pressing her body against the wall, I forced her light blue eyes to look at me.

"I'll deal with you later, don't think I'll forgive you easily," my threat even stopped Nojiko's tears, even though I wore a cold expression on the outside, but she wouldn't know how I kept myself from laughing when I saw her terror-filled reaction.

Of course, I wasn't really angry at her. In fact, I wanted to praise and pamper her for staying, but my inner sadist didn't want to miss out on the chance to tease her. In the end, I continued walking away while Nojiko followed me in a sob that she was desperately trying to suppress.

The first thing I wanted to know was how Vivi was doing. Since we arrived on time, she should still be in her room, and when I opened the door to her room, I heard someone rushing out of bed.

"Is that you, Makino?... what happened? The ship had a big shock earlier. Is everything all right?"

Vivi looked surprised when she discovered me and Nojiko behind the door. She didn't know what to say at first, but I didn't waste time and assured her that everything was fine. She had time to ask to come out, but I kept trying to persuade her, and when she became defiant, I was forced to lock her up again.

After that, we went to Igaram and Mister 9's rooms, where they both seemed curious about what was going on outside, especially Mister 9, who began to regain hope after all the bad things that had happened to him. I didn't want to bother them, so I quickly shut the door again.

Meanwhile, when I returned outside, I was surprised to see Captain Hina stomping on Mister 3, who was bound and helpless. He looked pitiful because he couldn't fight back with the Sea Stone handcuffs, but I didn't stop her because I knew she wasn't satisfied yet.

"Damn you, bounty hunter! Your ugly face annoys me even more! Who was so arrogant before, huh!"