HST: Chapter 76/77

Chapter 76: Coming For You

New World, Dressrosa.

"Sir, have you heard that Caelan defeated Aokiji?"

Violet looked down at the newspaper and asked Doflamingo, seemingly casually.



"Hmph, I knew long ago."

"Why? Is something bothering you?"

Doflamingo's voice was calm, as if he didn't care.

But Violet clearly saw Doflamingo's hand tremble slightly.

So, you're afraid too!

"No, I just wanted to remind the young master that this is a dangerous man."

There was no emotion in Violet's brown eyes, as if she were merely stating a fact.

After delivering a cup of freshly brewed coffee to Doflamingo, Violet left the study.

"What are you pretending for? Weren't you all excited to go pick a fight with him a few days ago? Now you're back in disgrace. You've offended someone that strong, Doflamingo... your death isn't far off."

Finding a quiet corner, Violet's thoughts grew active.

She was originally the princess of Dressrosa and had been forced to serve under Doflamingo to save her father.

Now that she saw Doflamingo shaken by Caelan, she started to form a plan.

Violet took out two newspapers—one reporting Caelan liberating Alabasta, and the other his defeat of Aokiji.

"If you could accept Princess Vivi's commission to save Alabasta…"

"Then accepting a commission from me and Rebecca to save Dressrosa should be no problem, right?"

Violet smiled with hope.

If it meant saving their country, both she and Rebecca were willing to sacrifice anything.

…

In the Florian Triangle, aboard Thriller Bark.

"This guy defeated Crocodile and beat Aokiji? So brutal!"

Gecko Moria trembled as he held the newspaper.

Based on the route Caelan was traveling, he was getting dangerously close to his territory.

Please don't come here. He just defeated an admiral!

Moria had been in a slump ever since losing to Kaido years ago.

Facing someone like Caelan, who could beat an admiral, he really didn't have the courage to go head-to-head.

"Oh God, please don't let him come here. I'm one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, but I'm not worth anything. I'm not as strong as an admiral. I'm just a small fry."

Moria pressed his hands together, muttering like he was praying.

"Wait... if I think about it this way, there's really no reason for him to come after me!"

Moria listed out all his own shortcomings and suddenly froze.

As long as I'm useless enough, no one will want to provoke me?

So I'm safe!

Thinking of it that way... it's kind of sad.

"If you're gonna fight someone, go find Kaido! He's the one with power and a huge bounty. He's the one you should face!"

"I'd love to see both of them injured!"

Mocking himself, Moria suddenly felt a surge of malice.

Whether it was Kaido or Caelan, both were people he couldn't afford to offend.

If those two fought, Moria would laugh in his sleep.

In the next moment, Moria threw the thought aside and returned to studying how to find a suitable shadow for Oars.

…

At this time, Caelan, the one Moria was so afraid of, had entered a dark sea covered in dense fog.

"So weird, it was sunny just a moment ago. Why did it suddenly turn so gloomy and creepy?"

Nami hugged her arms tightly, a little uneasy.

"This is the Florian Triangle, shrouded in fog with no sunlight year-round and no sense of direction. Even with a Log Pose, navigation is extremely difficult."

"Please don't let us get lost here, Nami-chan!"

Robin, knowledgeable as always, smiled and explained while teasing Nami a little.

"Who do you think you're talking to? No matter how dangerous the sea is, as the best navigator, I won't get lost!"

Nami puffed out her ample chest proudly.

"Haha, is that so?"

"But I heard there are ghosts in these waters."

Robin's lips curled into a sly grin.

"G-Ghosts?!"

Even though they were all strong, hearing about ghosts still gave them chills.

"Robin, that's just a legend!"

Nami forced a smile, tugging at the corner of her mouth.

"But the books say people have seen ghosts here."

"Nami-chan, if we meet one... should we exorcise her?"

Robin deliberately slowed her speech and made a cutting motion across her neck.

"Ahhh!!!"

Nami and Vivi, one on each side, instantly threw themselves into Caelan's arms.

"Oops, I went too far!"

Robin looked at the two girls and chuckled behind her hand.

She had only meant to tease Nami, but didn't expect Vivi to get scared too.

"Caelan, look at her!"

Vivi and Nami's heads pressed against Caelan's chest as they rubbed against him and acted cute.

"Ahem, Robin, see what you've done!"

"I'll have to teach you a lesson later."

Caelan gently stroked Nami and Vivi's backs, pretending to be serious.

"Alright then. I'll wait for the captain to punish me."

Robin rolled her eyes at Caelan, not bothered at all.

"Caelan, I'll help you teach her a lesson!"

Nami's eyes sparkled mischievously.

"I want to join too!" ×3

Vivi, Tashigi, and Kalifa, who had fully embraced their new roles, all shouted in unison.

"Fine, fine. You wanna play like this? Bring it on!"

Caelan welcomed them all without hesitation. With full A-rank stats, dealing with them was like child's play.

Hearing his response, the girls burst into laughter.

After a while, Nami still felt uneasy and asked nervously, "Caelan, are there really ghosts here?"

"There aren't ghosts... but there is a Ghost Princess."

Caelan smiled as he answered half-jokingly.

"G-Ghost Princess?!"

Nami's eyes widened instantly as she dove back into Caelan's arms.

Seeing her get tricked again, the other girls couldn't help laughing like a chorus of silver bells.

"That's not a ghost. It's just one of Moria's subordinates."

Caelan patted Nami's head with a helpless smile.

"Ugh, I hate you. You scared me again!"

Nami lightly pounded Caelan's chest with her small fists.

"Alright, stop messing around. Look at what's ahead."

Caelan turned Nami's head toward the front of the Wind Rider.

A massive three-masted ship appeared before them. The enormous vessel exuded a dilapidated and eerie aura, like a floating island of the dead.

"This is Moria's stronghold?"

"It feels like something out of hell!"

Nami looked at the gloomy ship and couldn't help but complain.

The girls all nodded in agreement. Choosing such a depressing place as a base was definitely not normal.

Caelan didn't feel anything, though. On the contrary, he was excited.

Moria, Perona... I'm coming for you!

(To be continued.)

Chapter 77: Public Humiliation

The outer perimeter of the massive, eerie three-masted sailing ship was surrounded by a giant city wall, and the city gate resembled a gaping maw that swallowed the Wind Rider whole.

Caelan knew this was how Gecko Moria captured passing ships, so he didn't resist.

Soon, the Wind Rider landed steadily onshore, officially entering Moria's territory.

"Be careful. There's a creepy guy watching us."

Caelan activated his Observation Haki, and immediately sensed the Clear-Clear Fruit Fruit user ahead—a humanoid with a tiger's head.

"Is there really a ghost?"

Nami wasn't scared this time. Instead, she looked at Caelan with a bit of suspicion.

Was he trying to mess with her again?

"It's just a Devil Fruit user who can turn invisible."

Caelan knocked her lightly on the head and sighed.

Is there no trust left between people?

At Caelan's reminder, the others activated their Observation Haki and soon found the invisible man hiding in the air.

"I'll handle him!"

Robin called out and rushed forward.

"Fleur—Punch!"

Hundreds of arms grew out from the ground, punching all at once into the air.

"Damn it!"

Invisible, Absalom was horrified. There was no way to dodge that barrage.

He was only here to peek on pretty girls, why did it have to end like this?

MUDA MUDA MUDA!

In an instant, hundreds of powerful punches landed on Absalom. A thick spray of blood burst into the air.

When Robin was done, a limp, bloody figure collapsed to the ground.

The pervert was beaten to death before he could even say a word.

"Well done, Robin."

Caelan gave her a thumbs up in praise.

This version of Robin might really inherit Garp's title and evolve into Iron Fist Robin.

"No, no, it's all thanks to what you taught me, Caelan."

Robin quickly waved her hands and gave a humble reply.

Her technique had been directly inspired by Caelan's concept. Combined with her Flower-Flower Fruit ability, it had devastating effect.

According to Caelan, if she combined it with Armament Haki, the potential would be even greater.

"This guy's really disgusting."

Nami looked at Absalom's corpse with clear disdain.

His tiger-mouth face was grotesque even in death.

"He's probably one of Moria's creations. His Shadow-Shadow Fruit can sever the shadow of any creature. Stitching them together isn't surprising. It's a powerful ability."

Caelan described it as powerful, but he didn't take it seriously.

With A-rank Divinity, he was immune to all physical alterations caused by Paramecia-type abilities.

Abilities like the Hobby-Hobby Fruit and the Hollow-Hollow Fruit, which were usually a nightmare for others, were useless against Caelan.

As for the Shadow-Shadow Fruit, it couldn't even cut his shadow.

The majesty of Divinity couldn't be touched by an ordinary Devil Fruit.

"Let's go. Keep moving forward."

Caelan passed Absalom's corpse and led the women toward the ghost castle.

Soon, they passed through a dead forest and entered the gloomy castle.

As soon as they stepped inside, a floating girl with pink twin-tails appeared in front of them.

"Ah? Are you the ones who killed Absalom?"

The ghostly girl floated in midair, glaring at Caelan surrounded by beautiful women.

"Yeah..."

Caelan raised his hands in a helpless gesture.

Perona snapped out of it and gritted her teeth.

"Negative Hollow!"

At her shout, several white ghosts shot toward Caelan and the girls.

Swish!

Caelan casually swung his giant sword coated in Armament Haki and smacked one ghost away.

But the women weren't fast enough and were all struck by the ghosts, falling into kneeling, slumped poses.

"So useless. I can't do anything right. I even need help to get closer to Caelan."

"I don't deserve to live like this."

Tashigi slumped to the ground, emitting waves of dark, depressive energy.

Caelan's mouth twitched.

"Caelan, just let me die here. A useless woman like me isn't worthy of love."

Vivi looked at Caelan with an expression of despair.

Nami, Kalifa, and Robin were also overwhelmed by negativity, muttering outrageous and melodramatic things.

"Alright, that's enough! You're saying way too much!"

Caelan quickly slipped behind Perona and smacked her on the head with a Haki-covered fist.

Bang!

A large bump swelled on Perona's ghostly head, and she fainted in Caelan's arms.

At the same time, the girls recovered from their negative state, their expressions a mix of shame and horror.

"I want to die…"

Tashigi and Vivi covered their red faces with both hands, steam practically rising from their heads.

Kalifa and Robin weren't much better. Their faces were etched with deep black lines.

"That ability's really terrifying. If you let your guard down for even a second, you're hit."

Caelan sighed as he helped ease the group's awkward mood.

These Paramecia-type powers really were cheat codes.

Even though Armament Haki could block them, it wasn't something you could keep active at all times.

"So... this girl will be joining our crew, right?"

Nami stared at Perona, her tone a bit dangerous and probing.

"Yep. I plan to bring her aboard."

Caelan nodded without hesitation.

"Heh. Then we'll just have to teach her the rules of the ship."

The girls sneered together, clearly planning to make this cute girl suffer.

After all, she had just exposed them to extreme public humiliation.

"Sigh…"

Caelan let out a long sigh, feeling a little sorry for Perona in his arms.

The group continued on and soon found Perona's room. They reunited her ghost body with her physical form.

Perona slowly regained consciousness and looked up at the group of girls radiating black energy.

There's no way they'll let me live, right?

Perona silently cried, her heart wailing.

Perona looked at Caelan and felt even more pitiful.

She could already imagine the horrible scene of herself being bullied and tortured by these group of women.



(To be continued.)