Lily turned her gaze away and said calmly,
"I can't kill you, and I don't want to."
Carl could understand the first half of her sentence, but the second half puzzled him.
His eyebrows twitched slightly as he put a bit of distance between them, no longer as aggressive as before.
After all the probing, Carl realized Lily really didn't harbor any hostility toward him.
So he stopped testing her altogether and spoke bluntly,
"In that case, hand over the Empty Throne. You've occupied it long enough. From today onward, the Figarland Family will rule this world."
A smirk played on Lily's lips, as though she'd been waiting for those very words. Turning her back to Carl once more, she said,
"As you wish. Come take it. Use your Dark-Dark Fruit power and extract all the strength of the Empty Throne!"
As she spoke, the mark of the Empty Throne on her back shimmered with golden light. Carl narrowed his eyes and tentatively placed his darkened hand upon the mark.
The moment his palm touched it, Lily let out a sound—a suggestive moan—that made both of them freeze.
A sultry tension hung in the air.
Carl coughed lightly.
"Lady Lily, are you feeling unwell? Should we... change locations?"
A faint blush crept up Lily's cheeks. Biting her lip, she murmured,
"I'm fine. Your hand was just too cold—I wasn't prepared for it."
With a snap of her fingers, a sphere of dark-purple energy expanded around them, silencing all sound inside.
Clearly, Lily had activated the power of the Silence Fruit.
Carl wasn't about to hold back. Gathering his dark power, he summoned a vortex that drilled into the mark on Lily's back.
As the darkness poured into her, Lily's head suddenly tilted back, her sea-blue hair cascading wildly and brushing against Carl's stunned face.
But rather than just blocking sound, Lily's ability outright erased it. Her eyes squeezed shut and her mouth opened wide as if she were screaming—but no sound emerged.
To an outside observer, it would look as though Carl and Lily were doing something... indecent under broad daylight.
And with so many familiar faces around, Carl didn't want to invite any misunderstandings. With his other hand, he snapped his fingers. Darkness surged outward, forming a spherical space that wrapped around them, concealing them completely from view.
...
Now enclosed in a fully soundproof and hidden bubble, and face-to-face with Lily—the most powerful woman in the world—Carl's darker side began to stir.
With a thought, he devoured a portion of her Silence Fruit ability using his Dark-Dark Fruit, crafting a "sphere within a sphere" effect.
In short: inside their small bubble, sound returned. But any sound that passed beyond its boundary would still vanish into nothingness.
Lily, caught up in the moment, failed to notice this subtle shift. And without her ability shielding her...
Her loud, alluring cry echoed directly in Carl's ear.
"Take it! Take it all!! I'm sick of this damned seat! Freedom!!"
Carl was moved by the desperation in her voice. Wrapping an arm tightly around her neck from behind, he leaned in and whispered into her ear,
"Lady Lily, what exactly do you mean by 'freedom'?"
That snapped her out of it. Her eyes widened as she realized the Silence Fruit's effect had been nullified.
Carl's palm remained pressed to the mark on her back, his body closely pressed against hers.
A strange tingling sensation coursed through Lily's entire being. She tried to resist, but with the Empty Throne's power still being drawn from her, she was helpless—utterly unable to unleash any of her Devil Fruit abilities.
That said, even without any Devil Fruit powers, Lily's physical strength was second to none. Among the women of the pirate world, even Charlotte Linlin couldn't match her raw strength.
Unfortunately for her, she had run into Carl.
Right now, Carl's physical prowess was the strongest in the world. And given the position he had her in, pressed from behind, her strength and resolve melted away.
Seeing no way out, Lily finally raised her trembling hands and grabbed the arm wrapped around her neck.
"C-Carl... Saint... what do you think you're doing? Let go of me! Or else..."
A devilish grin spread across Carl's face—like a true villain. Not that "hero" was ever a label that suited him.
After all, he possessed a power that could literally destroy the world. And not just metaphorically—actually destroy it.
Since Joy Boy's death, Lily was the only person alive who could stand toe-to-toe with Carl. But now, she had handed him her greatest vulnerability on a silver platter.
Carl wasn't one to hold back. He wasn't someone clinging to morals. This meant, right now, Carl could do whatever he pleased.
When Lily dared to threaten him, he leaned in and gently bit her soft earlobe, whispering,"Or else what?"
That did it.
Lily's composure shattered. She began to struggle fiercely, twisting her body—which only made things worse.
Carl's darkness surged through his hand, instantly dissolving Lily's clothes.
She had never encountered anything like this before. Though she'd lived for over 800 years, every man she'd met fit the stereotypical "Pirate King" mold—tough, stoic, and emotionally oblivious.
Carl, on the other hand, was a breed entirely his own.
His voice, low and demonic, whispered again,
"Lady Lily... I get the feeling you had an agenda all along. But I don't like taking losses, you know."
Lily's chest heaved violently. Clutching his arm tightly, she shouted,
"You bastard! Do you even understand what the Empty Throne means?! You're a fool!"
"Of course I know. It's the peak of power. And power... is addictive."
"Then why aren't you satisfied?!"
"Truth be told—I'm not."
"..."
Lily was momentarily speechless, choked up by his response. Taking a deep breath, she tried her best to remain calm.
"So what else do you want?"
"Well, usually... the transfer of supreme authority comes with the death of the previous holder."
"You want to kill me?"
"No, no... that'd be a bit too inhuman, wouldn't it?"
"Saint...Carl, if you're really human, could you at least give me back my clothes?"
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+150 chapters on p@treon/tambeerg