Angel Island, Mountain Villa, Living Room. Swish!
In the void, a red light flashed, and a spatial door silently opened. Sephiroth, butcher knife in one hand and Pudding in the other, stepped out of the door and into the living room.
Sephiroth's gaze swept across the room. When he saw the scene outside the garden, where Hancock and Reiju were acting intimately, his eye twitched. If one day all his girls fell in love with the same woman and left him... No need to think; that woman would definitely be Hancock!
Sometimes, Sephiroth wondered if giving the Sweet Fruit to Hancock had been a major miscalculation. Generally, when facing her Amazon Lily citizens, Hancock would display a cold and aloof queenly demeanor to avoid them getting too close, which could lead to crazy romantic advances. Even so, most of the female warriors of Amazon Lily still fawned over her all day long... From this, one could see how terrifying Hancock's charm was, captivating men, women, old, and young alike! When facing Sephiroth's girls, although Hancock would emphasize her position as the main wife...
But when getting along with his other girls, she wouldn't put on airs or act aloof to keep people at a distance. As long as they didn't challenge her dignity, she would get along well with them, treating the others like her own younger sisters... However, perhaps the problem lay precisely in this point. Hancock's excessive amiability instead caused some of the other girls to develop certain unusual feelings for her, and Reiju was one of the more serious cases.
After all, the other girls' fascination with Hancock would decrease after a few intimate encounters with her, but Reiju showed no sign of it decreasing at all. Sephiroth had no solution. He could only silently comfort himself that the fertile water wasn't flowing into someone else's field, and the meat was at least rotting in his own pot. He wasn't losing out no matter what…
In the villa's garden, Sandersonia, who was eating a strawberry sundae, suddenly caught sight of two figures appearing in the living room out of the corner of her eye.
"Huh!? Look, Sephiroth brought another girl home!" she exclaimed, pointing toward the living room.
Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish! As soon as she said this, the girls playing in the garden all turned their heads to look into the living room. When Hancock saw that Sephiroth had actually brought a girl back to the villa holding hands, she instantly understood that this deadbeat must have been messing around outside again. So, she immediately pushed away Reiju's hands, which had unconsciously reached her smooth, fair chest, and gritted her teeth as she quickly walked into the living room.
Raising her right hand, she directly grabbed the soft flesh on Sephiroth's waist, and while slowly twisting it with force, she said with a forced smile:
"Hehehe! When Hancock just arrived at the Angel Island villa, she heard them say you went to attend Big Mom's tea party..."
"Unexpectedly, in less than half a day, you've brought another girl home!"
"You're really getting better and better at winning girls' hearts!"
Out of guilt, Sephiroth let Hancock twist his ear and didn't dare to dodge. He stammered, not knowing how to explain. "Cough!... Uh... I... I..."
Pudding saw that Hancock seemed very angry with Sephiroth, and not knowing that Hancock was actually just complaining and grumbling as usual, she quickly said with a nervous expression, "I'm sorry! Actually, Sephiroth did this just to help me escape Mama's restraints!"
"I am very clear that I am just a tool for political marriage, used to maintain the relationship hub between the Umbrella Corporation and the Big Mom Pirates. I will firmly remember my identity and will not overstep in the slightest! After all, I understand very well that I am neither beautiful nor cute."
Hancock's gaze shifted away from Sephiroth. She took a slight glance and then noticed that the girl next to him had a third eye on her forehead, which made her feel a bit out of place and uncomfortable. "He clearly could have had better choices..." However, if this girl in front of her covered her third eye with her bangs, she could actually be considered cute, not as bad as she self-deprecatingly claimed. Political marriage... Big Mom Pirates?
Hancock, who had already guessed something, released her right hand that was twisting the soft flesh on Sephiroth's waist and turned to sit on the single sofa. Her legs were crossed, her body slightly tilted to the right. She propped her elbow on the armrest of the sofa, gently rested her palm against her chin, and her gaze scrutinized the two people in front of her. "Speak! What exactly is going on?"
"Hehehe-! Uh..." Sephiroth gave an awkward laugh, scratched his head, and prepared to give the excuse he had just concocted in his mind. However... Before he could even start explaining, Hancock directly raised her left hand and interrupted him. "Forget it! You deadbeat are glib-tongued and will definitely find ways to deceive Hancock!" Sephiroth: "..." "Little sister, you tell me!" Hancock pointed at Pudding with her left index finger. Hearing this, Pudding turned her head and glanced at Sephiroth beside her. She subconsciously gripped the hem of her pink dress tightly with both hands.
She thought about it in her heart, and then recounted everything from meeting Sephiroth to suddenly being notified about the political marriage, telling it all truthfully:
"Actually, it's like this..." The girls in the garden, after seeing what was happening in the living room, also walked in one after another and listened carefully to Pudding's words. Only then did the girls realize that Pudding, as the daughter of Big Mom Charlotte Linlin, was actually living such a tragic life.
Shirahoshi couldn't help but comfort Pudding in a soft voice.
"Actually... having three eyes isn't that strange!"
"Among our Fishman race, there are Fishmen with multiple legs, multiple arms, and all sorts of other variations!"
"In Sephiroth's words, this seems to be called biodiversity..."
Marigold crossed her arms and sighed slightly.
"Indeed! When will Sephiroth's habit of bringing home girls who need help finally change..."
Hearing this, Sandersonia couldn't help but cover her mouth and chuckle lightly, teasing, "No! I think Sephiroth is beyond saving. He probably won't be able to change in this lifetime."
"Just get used to it!" Uta said with a helpless expression, lightly sighing.
Reiju smiled lightly, extended her right hand, touched the top of Pudding's head, and softly comforted her. "It seems Pudding's situation is somewhat similar to mine! I also became Sephiroth's woman because of the mutual interests between the two sides. However, I am quite fortunate about this matter now and have no regrets... Although a certain guy is a philanderer!"
Looking at Pudding's demeanor and tone, which were not like a person of action, Hancock couldn't help but feel a sense of pity for the girl. She no longer maintained the posture of interrogation, but stood up from the sofa, gently embraced Pudding, and comforted her. "Ah! Little Pudding, you can actually be more confident... That guy Sephiroth is a man who can't walk when he sees a beauty. The fact that he chose you must be because you are inherently very cute."
Sephiroth just stood there.
Although Pudding being accepted so easily by the other girls made him feel relieved, why were they all scolding him? But... Thinking carefully, this matter was originally his fault, and it seemed fine to be scolded a few times. He smirked to himself. Tonight, I must make all of you cry!
After Uta took Pudding to choose a room in the villa, this matter finally came to an end. Next, Marigold walked up to him holding several wanted posters. "Sephiroth, when I flew the ship to Sky Island, I stopped by a newspaper-selling seagull and bought a newspaper, which came with a few wanted posters. I think you'll be quite interested in five of them."
"Huh!? Let me see..."
As he spoke, Sephiroth took the wanted posters from Marigold's hand. However... After he clearly saw the photos on the wanted posters, he couldn't help but fall into a long silence. Yamato is wanted for 80 million Berries, Xiao Zi for 65 million Berries, Kuina for 45 million Berries, Perona for 35 million Berries, and Iska for 30 million Berries.
In the end, Sephiroth could only cover his forehead with his hand and let out a long sigh:
"Can someone tell me what in the world is going on!?"...