Chapter 94: Life Is Always Full Of Surprises, Like Beating Up Sengoku
"Roy lied to me!!!"
"Huh!?"
Clatter.
In the small room, around the dinner table, a girl with long sky blue hair glared furiously at Roy. A pink haired girl stared at him in shock, while a green haired woman covered her mouth and laughed softly as she watched her boyfriend.
Charlotte Linlin hugged an extra large bowl of rice, shoveling food into her mouth in huge bites. She blinked her wide eyes, waiting happily to see the drama unfold.
Toki shot Roy a playful wink, her gaze full of encouragement as she tried to silently cheer him on.
Roy stared at the two of them in disbelief. Toki was one thing, she had always been a seasoned undercover agent, but what was up with Linlin?
Feeling his gaze fall on her, Linlin quickly dropped her head and devoted herself to her meal like her life depended on it.
Tsuru's eyebrow twitched. She looked at Roy with a big, bright smile, clearly ready to watch him embarrass himself.
These last few days, Tsuru really had been secretly trying to cleanse Charlotte Linlin with her ability.
It came with pros and cons.
On the plus side, putting aside questions of power, Linlin's heart had genuinely grown purer. With Tsuru's wash wash ability quietly working and Roy's constant guidance, Linlin had become much clearer about right and wrong, and her values had grown far more normal.
On the downside, Roy still disliked the World Government. Under his deliberate nudging, Linlin, whose sense of right and wrong had sharpened, now clearly felt that the World Government was the root of all evil in this world.
There was nothing Tsuru could do about that.
She could focus on her own relationship with Roy, but she could not guide Linlin's worldview.
As for her relationship with Roy, all of Roy's effort to cleanse and soften Linlin's heart had led to Linlin making a lot of compromises. That part was very good news for Tsuru.
Yes.
The Tsuru Linlin Alliance had officially formed.
"Cough, cough, I did not see anything. Do not look at me," Linlin muttered shyly, lowering her head and wolfing down her rice.
"Look at Sister Tsuru," she added under her breath.
The moment the words left her mouth, Linlin froze. She obviously cared deeply about Brother Roy, but for some reason, her guard toward Tsuru had dropped a lot recently.
Maybe it was because her brother was leaving in a few months.
That had to be it.
In a few months, once her brother was gone, that girl could throw herself at him all she liked and she still would not get anywhere.
"By the way, what did you lie to her about?" Toki asked, watching Roy with amused curiosity.
Was it a kiss?
Holding hands?
A hug?
Tsk tsk.
Or something even more outrageous?
Thinking back to her own experiences of being "victimized," or rather pleased, Toki looked at Tsuru with great interest.
Were they about to become sisters?
How exciting.
Roy glanced at Toki, then at the mischievous Tsuru, then at Linlin sneaking glances at him between mouthfuls of food.
Two girls and one woman.
Not a single easy one among them.
Either they were naturally domineering, or they had picked up all his bad habits.
"She worked so hard for so long and still did not manage to trick me," Roy finally said, completely merciless.
Typical straight man comment.
Tsuru, who had been grinning in triumph, immediately deflated.
Toki looked at her with a mixture of sympathy and disappointment.
Linlin, on the other hand, started eating even more enthusiastically.
Gulp, gulp.
The young Tsuru snatched Roy's cup of water, tilted her head back, and drained it in one go. She slammed the cup back down on the table with a bang, glared at Roy, let out a sharp huff, and got to her feet.
"That was my cup," Roy muttered, twitching at the corner of his mouth.
"It is none of your business!" Tsuru snapped, then turned and marched out.
…
Roy watched Tsuru leave and said nothing.
An angry Tsuru was truly terrifying.
That was why she had so boldly used his own old tricks against him, using her anger as an excuse to "taste" from his cup.
Whatever.
He could only let her go.
Roy had no intention of going back to those old routines.
…
A few days later, in the Kingdom of Torino.
A young man with an afro stepped into the village.
The Lieutenant, sitting under a tree while "walking" his bird, looked up in surprise.
"Sengoku!?"
"Senior!?"
Sengoku had bumped into the Lieutenant assigned to protect Tsuru. After a brief conversation, the Lieutenant agreed to lead him toward Roy's home.
Sengoku easily fooled his senior with a few excuses, saying he had been granted official permission to challenge Roy.
However, as his gaze swept over the large flock of big birds the Lieutenant was walking, his eyes narrowed slightly.
The older Marines were happily chatting and playing with the birds. But in reality, those highly intelligent birds were watching them.
They were being watched.
Sengoku kept that thought to himself.
There were too many people and birds around. Everyone was under surveillance.
Thump, thump, thump.
The Lieutenant knocked on Roy's door, but no one answered even after a long wait.
"They must be out training," the Lieutenant said with a helpless shrug, then turned and headed toward the open field on the edge of the village.
"Training?" Sengoku asked.
"Yes. On the biggest open field in the village. Roy often teaches Charlotte Linlin and Toki some basic training there."
At other times, Linlin received more specialized training suited to her, along with various academic lessons.
Whenever Toki had time, she would practice simple sparring with Tsuru and work on some advanced drills.
"What about Roy?" Sengoku asked, looking sideways at the major.
Right now, all he cared about was that powerful rival of his. At most, he would pay some attention to Linlin.
A strong opponent was all that mattered to young Sengoku.
"He is a monster," the Lieutenant said quietly.
…
When they reached the open ground, Sengoku finally saw Roy in the middle of training.
On the sunlit grass, Roy had a massive boulder strapped to his back. He supported himself on his hands, doing one weighted push up after another.
Off in the distance, Toki, Tsuru, and Linlin were training together, but Sengoku barely spared them a glance.
He only had eyes for Roy.
Of course he did.
"This really is a rival worthy of me," Sengoku said, folding his arms as he watched.
Boom.
Roy flipped backward, letting the boulder crash onto the ground behind him. He stood up, clapped the dust from his hands, and looked over at Sengoku.
"Afro, what are you doing here again?"
"I brought rice crackers. Do you have tea?"
"No."
"…"
Sengoku froze mid reach, still holding the bag of senbei.
That felt a little disrespectful.
"Ahem, finding a worthy opponent is hard. I am actually here to…"
"A fight?"
"…," Sengoku's smile twitched.
He really wanted to punch this kid.
Roy was clearly doing it on purpose, baiting him.
Sengoku lived for rivals.
Roy lived for his wife.
They were not even looking in the same direction.
One was Sengoku, full of ambition, walking the path of a Navy protagonist.
The other was Roy, bold to the point of madness, dreaming of traveling through time to become the ultimate womanizer of the seas.
There was no way they would ever be on the same wavelength.
"Roy, I wonder how much you have improved in these past few months. I, on the other hand, have been…"
"You want to fight? Then stop talking."
"…"
Sengoku kept his polite smile, fists clenching at his sides.
He really, really wanted to beat this brat up.
<><><><><>
[P@treon Christmas Discount: 20% OFF]
[Check Out My Patreon For +40 Advance Chapters On All My Fanfics!]
[[email protected]/FanficLord03]
[Every 100 Power Stones = +1 Bonus Chapter]
[Join Our Discord Community For Updates & Events]
[https://discord.gg/MntqcdpRZ9]