Let's rewind a while back, to the moment Zeus successfully destroyed the last two Marine warships.
"OOOohhh… the Marine warships are down! Let's get out of here!"
The crew immediately sprang into action, scrambling to escape the storm.
"Full sail! Get us out of this mess!" Rob shouted.
The helmsman wrestled with the wheel, straining against the violent pull of the sea, "The currents are too strong—!"
The rope men and several others rushed to assist, working together to force the rudder and wheel into position as a whirlpool began forming near the ship.
Most of the crew focused on maneuvering the vessel away from danger.
Meanwhile, Pudding clung tightly to the railing, as she stared at the sky, watching Zechs and Linlin confront the Admiral above the raging sea.
She couldn't hear what they were saying, but she could see everything clearly.
And she saw it, the moment Admiral Kong suddenly glanced toward the ship with a smirk.
"He is…"
The instant she noticed that expression, a chill ran through her. A terrible feeling settled in her chest. She was certain he was about to do something.
And she was right.
The next moment, Kong opened his mouth and fired a breath attack straight toward the ship.
"!!!"
All three of Pudding's eyes widened in shock.
But that was all she could do.
The attack was too fast. Even though she saw it coming with all three eyes, she had no time to react, no time to warn anyone, no time to do anything. The rest of the crew were busy struggling with the wheel and hadn't noticed the attack at all as the blast struck the ship in the middle deck.
BOOM—!
The explosion tore through the ship as a blinding white flash swallowed the mid-deck.
Kong's breath attack, pure compressed soundwave, detonated against the planks and immediately reached the powder magazine below. A chain reaction followed, secondary blasts erupting one after another, each louder and more violent than the last.
Cannonballs cooked off in their racks.
Timbers shattered outward like deadly shrapnel.
Flames burst across the deck, climbing the masts and rigging despite the relentless rain.
The ship seemed to scream, a long, splintering death cry, as the keel buckled, the cracked mast burst apart, and the hull folded inward.
People were hurled in every direction by the violet explosion.
Some were thrown clean over the rails by the shockwave. Others, closer to the impact, vanished instantly in the resulting explosion. A few lucky ones managed to grab hold of ropes or broken spars before being tossed into the churning salt water below.
Pudding had been clutching the starboard railing, her eyes fixed on the battle in the sky. She saw the breath attack coming, but she never saw it complete its arc.
The next moment, the deck beneath her feet heaved violently, as if the entire world had been kicked upward.
And then, there was no deck at all.
A wave of extreme heat slammed into her from behind, burning through her rain-soaked maid clothes as the explosion hurled her sideways. Her fingers tore free from the railing, and for a surreal heartbeat, she hung suspended in smoke, flame, and screaming wind.
Then gravity took hold, and she hit the water face-first.
Plop.
'So… cold.' The thought flashed through her mind as the shocking, suffocating chill swallowed her. Saltwater burned her nostrils and flooded her open mouth before she could even gasp.
'Have to… swim…!' Her survival instincts kicked in. She tried to thrash her arms and legs, trying to push herself back toward the surface.
It's a pity, she could barely move at all. Her body felt weak, heavy, powerless, helpless, and slowly, she began to sink.
'Damn it… I can't swim…' she wasn't surprised. She was a Devil Fruit user, and like all fruit users, she was cursed by the sea. Once submerged, her strength drained away, and her body would inevitably sink.
This was the fate of a Devil Fruit user, and this was exactly what was happening now.
Even so, she tried to do something. Desperately, she searched for floating debris, wooden planks, or anything she could cling to and remain afloat. For a brief moment, luck was on her side. Her hand brushed against something solid, and she grabbed it with what little strength she had left.
Clinging to it desperately, she struggled toward the surface.
She managed half a choking breath before another wave crashed down on her head, forcing her back under.
In her weakened state, she could do nothing against the monstrous currents.
The waves dragged her sideways and downward, spinning her like a leaf caught in a drain.
The whirlpools created by the sinking warships were already merging into something far worse, a single, gaping maw of white water and black depths that pulled everything toward it.
Behind her, she could still hear the dying ship: timbers snapping, men shouting, fire roaring even as the sea swallowed it.
But those sounds faded quickly.
Water filled her ears, her nose, her throat.
Her vision began to tunnel, and whatever strength remained in her body drained away at a terrifying speed.
Then, through the rushing water, she heard a roar, muffled but unmistakable.
"Fucker… I'll kill you!!!!"
It was Zechs-sama's voice, and she could feel the fury in that angry scream.
It cut through her fading senses like a lifeline, igniting a small spark of desperate hope.
'Zechs-sama…!!!' She tried to call out, to scream his name, but only bubbles slipped from her lips and dissolved into the dark water.
Another wave crashed over her head, dragging her farther and deeper into a colder, darker, more merciless part of the ocean where ancient currents had control.
'Am I… going to die here?' Fear gripped her, raw and overwhelming as tears mixed with the seawater around her.
She had only just escaped her Mama's control and could be genuinely free. Even more important than that, for the first time in her life, she had met someone who didn't see her third eye as something disgusting, and for the first time, her heart had begun to race like this for someone.
And now she was going to die?
'Zechs-sama… p-please… s-save me… I-I… don't want to d-die…' The plea echoed weakly in her fading thoughts.
It felt unbearably unfair.
She didn't even get to tell him that she had fallen in love with him.
If she had known it would end like this… she wouldn't have wasted her time being confused, afraid, and all tsun-tsun and confessed her feelings to him regardless of whether he was supposed to be her stepfather.
'I should have…' Regret tightened painfully in her chest.
Ahh…
But it was too late now. There was nothing she could do.
At last, the ancient currents, older than anything she could imagine, that worked underneath the surface ocean seized her body and carried her wherever they wished.
As the relentless waters dragged her deeper and farther away, she felt as if her body were being torn apart.
She could tell she was dying.
The realization filled her with a deep, aching sadness, 'If only… one more time… I could be kissed by Zechs-sama…'
The thought drifted through her mind as her consciousness began to fade.
Then, in that fading awareness, she felt something.
It felt as though something had wrapped around her body, like a rope coiling tightly around her arms, legs, and torso, holding her completely still.
She wondered if this was death.
Perhaps she had already lost control of her body, and her mind was simply imagining these restraints as everything slipped away.
Yet, strangely, she didn't hate it. Instead, the restraint felt warm.
Death was supposed to be cold, that was what she had always heard, but right now… it felt strangely warm.
Then she felt a pair of lips against hers.
Air flowed into her mouth, filling the emptiness in her lungs.
Having been taken advantage of by those lips more than once, she seemingly recognized them immediately.
'Zechs-sama?' For a moment, she wondered if she was simply imagining it, another illusion of him taking advantage of her even in the moment of her death.
But as more and more air filled her lungs, her foggy mind began to clear.
Through her fading vision, she caught a glimpse of the face pressed against hers, and her eyes widened in shock. 'Z-Zechs-sama?!!!!'
He didn't say anything, but the look in his eyes told her everything, 'Have you come to save me…?'
Hope rekindled in her heart.
A surge of emotion overwhelmed her, and tears streamed down her face. She wanted to throw her arms around him and hold him tightly, never letting go.
But her body was still bound by whatever had wrapped around her.
All she could do was stare at him as the violent currents seized both of them, dragging them farther away through the dark water.
…
Meanwhile, on the sea above…
"Boss Lady… except for those who died in the explosion earlier, almost everyone has been rescued. The only ones left are the Captain and his maid," Rob from Zechs' crew reported to Linlin.
Linlin nodded lightly, though she paused at the mention of the 'maid'. She recalled the woman she had seen Zechs kissing earlier. That girl had definitely been dressed in a maid's clothing.
'So that must be the one he went to rescue…' The thought made her frown. 'Does he love her or something?'
Her fist clenched unconsciously, 'Bastard… if you already loved another woman, then why did you agree to marry me… and even sleep with me?'
She didn't know what to think. Clearly, this was something that needed to be addressed later.
Still, the thought that the man she had begun to feel attached to might already be in love with another woman stirred an uncomfortable jealousy inside her.
For now, however, she forced those feelings down and waited for Zechs to return.
Her gaze drifted toward the direction he had flown earlier.
Clenching her teeth, she muttered under her breath, "How much longer are you going to make me wait, you bastard…?"
Just then, Streusen stepped beside Linlin and spoke quietly, "Linlin… we should leave."
Linlin frowned and looked at him sharply. "Leave? Zechs hasn't returned yet…!"
Her meaning was obvious. How could she leave without him?
Streusen suppressed the jealousy rising in his chest and replied calmly, "That may be true… but we can't stay here either. Admiral Kong is finishing the rescue of his Marines. Once he's done, he'll definitely come here to capture you."
He paused before continuing, "Don't forget, his original target was you. That probably hasn't changed. And there's no telling when more Marines might arrive. Staying here is too dangerous."
"But…" Linlin still tried to argue.
"You can't fight Admiral Kong alone," Streusen added firmly. "If you're captured here, everything will be for nothing."
Linlin knew he was right, yet she hesitated. She didn't want to leave without Zechs.
Seeing her hesitation, Streusen couldn't help cursing Zechs in his heart. The girl he had carefully raised and groomed for years was now worrying about someone else instead of listening to him. How could that not anger him?
Truthfully, he wished Zechs would simply disappear, get lost at sea, die somewhere, anything, so that he would never return.
But right now, there was a more urgent problem. If Linlin didn't leave soon and ended up captured, all the years he had spent grooming her to become a great pirate would be wasted.
So he tried another approach. "If Asmodeus Zechs were here," Streusen said, "he would probably tell us the same thing. We should leave."
Hearing this, Linlin paused and turned to Rob. "What do you think?" she asked. "Should I leave without your captain?"
Rob clearly hadn't expected the question. After a moment of thought, he nodded, "Captain… he'll probably be fine. Right now, we should focus on saving ourselves."
Linlin narrowed her eyes slightly and studied him. "Are you sure about that? Are you really willing to leave him behind?"
"Well…" Rob hesitated. In truth, he didn't want to leave. He had served under Zechs for years; how could he willingly abandon his captain like this?
But he also understood the reality of their situation. Staying here would be no different from courting death.
So he nodded, "Captain will probably come find us later on his own. It's not the first time he's done something like this. He often tells us to retreat first, and then he tracks us down afterward. We can just regroup with him later."
Linlin listened, then let out a quiet sigh, "…Alright then. Let's leave."
Streusen immediately gave the order, "Set sail. Full speed."
The crews sprang into action, both Linlin's men and Zechs' surviving pirates.
As the ship began to move away from the battlefield, Linlin looked in the direction Zechs had flown earlier and cursed angrily, "If you dare die before clearing everything up with me… I'll drag your soul out of the underworld and punch you to death myself."
…
Kong hovered in the air using his tail, holding the broken warship above his head with both hands, and watched Linlin's ship sail away with a frustrated expression.
Honestly, he wanted to chase after her.
He had seen Asmodeus Zechs fly off earlier, which meant Linlin was now alone. In this situation, he felt confident he could capture her.
But he couldn't act on that thought.
The shattered warship he was carrying was still filled with sailors, men who were injured, paralyzed, and barely clinging to life. If he abandoned them to pursue the pirate ship, they would all be left behind and die. Naturally, he can't allow that.
If the warship were still intact, he might have risked it. He could have left the injured sailors aboard while he chased Linlin.
But that wasn't the case.
The ship was half-destroyed. If it touched the ocean, it would sink almost immediately, dragging every sailor on board down with it.
In the end, Kong had no choice but to abandon the pursuit.
He turned around and began flying out of the storm, carrying the ruined warship and its surviving crew while cursing, "Where the hell are you, Sengoku?"
…
"Fuck…" Zechs cursed as he struggled against the powerful currents.
He had managed to find Pudding and had wrapped his incubus tail tightly around her to keep them from being torn apart by the raging waters. The tail held her firmly against him so neither of them would drift away.
But a new problem had emerged after that.
The currents were so powerful that they dragged him along with Pudding, and he had no idea how far they had already carried him.
If it continued like this, he didn't know where the currents might take him.
He had to get out of them.
How were they supposed to escape these violent currents?
Under normal circumstances, it wouldn't have been an issue. Zechs had the physical strength to fight against the pull of the sea. But right now, he was severely injured from his battle against Kong, and in this condition, resisting the currents was far more difficult than usual, especially with very little air left in his lungs.
He had dived deep with only the air in his lungs.
He had already given much of that air to Pudding to keep her alive.
Now he had very little left for himself.
He had succeeded in finding her, but after giving most of his oxygen to Pudding, he was now starting to struggle.
As he struggled to break free, the currents battered his body from every direction. The violent pressure tore at him, making him feel as though his limbs might be ripped apart at any moment.
If not for the Armament Haki he was using to shield his body from the violent currents, he would have already been torn apart.
Even so, there was a limit to what he could endure, especially now that his lungs had begun to burn from the desperate need for oxygen.
In that desperate moment, he couldn't help but turn to his system, 'Miss System… aren't you going to help your host in this situation?'
Miss System was clearly worried as well, but her reply was firm. [Unfortunately, host, I can't do anything about it.]
Even though she wanted to help, she was bound by the rules. She couldn't simply interfere whenever she wished.
Zechs already knew that.
He sighed.
Then another thought crossed his mind. 'What about the quest reward? Maybe you could give me the reward early… something that could help me survive this.'
Miss System immediately refused. [The quest isn't complete yet, so the rewards cannot be distributed.]
'You can't make an exception?' Zechs asked, his thoughts growing more desperate.
Miss System sighed. [Unfortunately, there's nothing I can do. You'll have to rely on yourself, host.]
'Really…?' Zechs felt like crying.
But this wasn't the time for that.
In the end, he had no choice but to give up asking for help from the Miss system and depend on himself.
He looked at Pudding and noticed she was losing consciousness again.
Worry tightened his chest. Compared to his physique, she was incredibly fragile. She didn't even know how to use Armament Haki, so she had no way to protect herself from the crushing currents. On top of that, she was a Devil Fruit user, and being in the water made her even weaker.
'Fuck it… I just have to force my way out with everything I have got.'
Gritting his teeth, Zechs pulled Pudding tightly into his arms, shielding her body as best he could. Then he began kicking violently, using Moon Walk even within the water.
It was incredibly difficult. The raging currents spun and dragged at them, giving him almost no opportunity to move properly.
Even with Moon Walk, he couldn't break free.
The raging currents dragged him back every time he tried to push forward. With each failed attempt, his consciousness began to fade further.
'Damn it… damn it… damn it… There's no way it's ending here. I haven't even become the Harem King yet… there's no way I'm dying like this…' Gritting his teeth, Zechs released a burst of Conqueror's Haki. At the same time, he stopped coating his entire body in Armament Haki and focused it solely on his feet.
It didn't matter if the rest of his body was torn apart by the violent currents; all that mattered was getting out of them.
He poured every bit of strength he had into his legs.
Pudding noticed his desperation. She also noticed the blood spreading through the water, his blood. Seeing him in such a battered state made her chest ache.
'Zechs-sama… l-leave me… just save yourself… If you escape alone… maybe you can still—'
But Zechs paid no attention to her thoughts. With all his strength concentrated in his legs, he kicked with incredible force.
For a brief moment, the scene resembled a King Punch, except this was a 'King Kick'.
The explosive power shot him forward like a torpedo from a submarine.
He blasted through the ancient current, which seemed to spit them out with a violent splash.
Suddenly, they were back in normal waters, and his momentum carried him a long distance away from the ancient current until the force finally faded.
Exhausted, he slowed to a stop and let out a long breath. 'Finally… broke free…'
In the calmer waters beyond the violent current, the flow of the sea was still present, but it was no longer strong enough to tear him apart.
All he needed to do now was reach the surface, but the surface was far above.
Worse, he was completely drained. There was no air left in his lungs, and his chest burned as he struggled for breath.
He tried to swim upward despite his body barely responding and his consciousness already beginning to fade again, but he gritted his teeth and continued despite it all.
"!!!" But just then, he sensed something approaching.
He couldn't properly make out the presence, but through his fading vision, he caught a glimpse of a massive shadow moving through the water.
From what he could tell, it was a Megalodon.
The creature had likely been drawn here by the scent of blood leaking from his wounds and was planning to eat him to fill up its belly.
'Damn it… what kind of terrible luck is this…' He couldn't help but curse.
First Kong.
Then the violent storm.
Then the destruction of his pirate ship.
After that, the ancient sea currents he had barely escaped.
And now… a Megalodon.
It felt as if something or someone was curse him to death…
'It must be people like Streusen whom I've cuckolded… damn… are they really so jealous and hateful of me for stealing and fucking with their women that they'd wish such a terrible fate upon me?' he complained.
Miss System seemed unimpressed. [Host… aren't you taking your actions too lightly? What you've been doing is certainly worth a thousand deaths.]
'How is it worth a thousand deaths?' Zechs protested. 'I'm just saving those beauties from their misfortune.'
In his view, he was being cursed unfairly. After all, he believed he was doing something noble, helping those women escape their unfortunate fates. And yet he was still being treated like the villain.
There's no justice in this world…!
Miss System fell silent for a moment before replying dryly. [There it is… those shameless double standards again.]
But on a more serious note, Zechs couldn't help asking, 'Miss System… that's not really the reason, right?'
So far, he had cuckolded quite a few people, yet nothing this extreme had ever happened before. Because of that, he refused to believe this was simply the result of wounding the pride of a few weak men. Could their feeble Will really curse someone like him, who has an incredibly strong Will?
The strong people have the capability to bend the world before them. In this case, how could people of feeble will, those who couldn't help but be cucked by him, curse him to death?
Zechs refused to believe it.
Miss System remained silent for a moment before giving him a response. [It's probably not… This is more likely the reaction of fate—and the will of the world itself.]
'Fate and the will of the world?' Zechs murmured in surprise. He hadn't expected something so heavy to come up so suddenly. 'Miss System, are you serious? What did I ever do to fate or the will of the world? I don't think I've cuckolded either of them… yet.'
Miss System rolled her eyes at his remark about 'yet' before explaining, [Host, you are an existence that does not belong to this world. You are an anomaly—a foreign presence whose actions are already starting to create significant butterfly effects. Perhaps fate, or even the will of the world itself, sees you as a problem, like a virus in a perfectly working system, and they are trying to eliminate you in order to correct the timeline and restore things to their natural course.'
'Is that so…?' He fell silent, thinking about it.
He wasn't an expert on such matters, but he did know that concepts like fate and destiny existed in this world. What Miss System said might indeed be possible. Considering everything that had happened, both to him and to Pudding, two people who arguably shouldn't even exist in the natural order, it did seem like they had just experienced something unnatural.
Perhaps they really had been targeted by fate… or by the so-called will of the world itself.
After a moment, he asked another question. 'Is there any way to avoid being targeted by fate… or the will of the world?'
[Live somewhere in isolation and avoid causing any butterfly effects…] Miss System replied.
'I'm definitely not doing that,' Zechs answered immediately. He hadn't appeared in this world just to live like a shut-in. He had already experienced that kind of life once. This time, he intended to enjoy himself.
[Then there's no avoiding being targeted…] Miss System said with a shrug.
'Fine then.' His resolve hardened. 'If that's how it is… then I'll just have to screw fate and the will of the world.'
There was no way he was going to die before becoming the Harem King.
But all that aside—
Right now, he had a far more immediate problem: the Megalodon closing in on them.
Fortunately, dealing with it wasn't as difficult as getting out of the water current from earlier.
Zechs stopped struggling and forced his fading consciousness to focus for just a few seconds more. With the little strength he had left, he released a burst of Conqueror's Haki toward the approaching predator, attempting to dominate its psyche.
Domination was one of the applications of Conqueror's Haki. It allowed the user to temporarily overwhelm the minds of others through sheer willpower. It was particularly effective against animals. Under its influence, beasts either fled in fear or became docile for a short time.
That was exactly what Zechs was aiming for.
The Megalodon, which had been charging toward them with its massive jaws open, ready to swallow both him and Pudding in a single bite and digest them without even leaving behind bones, suddenly paused.
For a brief moment, its killing instinct faltered.
Then it closed its mouth and, instead of chewing, began moving through the ocean at great speed.
As if obeying an unseen command, the giant mackerel shark turned toward the direction of the surface, toward air, toward land, carrying them with it under Zechs's imposed domination.
'Finally… I just hope… nothing else—no… better not raise a red flag.' That was Zechs's final thought before his strength gave out, and still clutching the unconscious Pudding tightly in his arms, he lost consciousness, leaving his fate entirely upon the Megalodon.
.
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Hmm, didn't reach the PS goal again... welp... doesn't matter, I guess, here's the Chapter anyway. And thanks for donating the PS so far.
The new PS goal is to reach 280 PS within the next 24 hours. You guys, please help me reach it this time!!!
And don't forget to leave comments and reviews to keep me motivated.
Of course, if the readers wish, they can certainly read up to 20 advanced Chapters on p-a-t-r-e-o-n: Knockturn_Alley