"Gion! Gion!"
"When will you come back?! What will I do without you!"
By the time the warship had nearly become a small, insignificant black dot on the horizon, Tokikake finally rushed over from the Marines' office, skidding to a halt at the edge of the pier.
He was panting, his face full of betrayal and despair.
Watching the departing warship, Tokikake let out a heart-wrenching, truly pathetic howl, like a defeated dog who had just watched his only friend drive away.
The Marines soldiers standing guard on either side of the dock visibly flinched.
They both stared very hard at the ocean, pretending they couldn't see or hear their lovesick superior having a complete meltdown.
But aside from them, Gion and Raleigh were destined not to witness this scene.
...
Raleigh, on the other hand, was having a fantastic time.
He lay comfortably on his favorite sun lounger—the very one Gion had personally repaired for him.
He had a pair of sunglasses on, a cold drink in his hand, and a spectacular view.
Today, Gion seemed... different.
Since they had passed by a small island for supplies, Gion had gone ashore.
Raleigh had assumed it was for snacks or necessities.
He was wrong.
She had gone to buy clothes.
Now, she had shed her usual, unchanging Marines uniform.
Instead, she was wearing a form-fitting, soft pink short-sleeved top that did an incredible job of accentuating her full, rounded chest.
Below that, she wore a pair of dark-blue hot pants, revealing her long, slender, snow-white legs.
Raleigh had deliberately put on the sunglasses for this very reason: so Gion couldn't see him openly leering.
But to be honest, Gion's long legs were truly, world-class stunning.
From Raleigh's perspective, in the entire world of one piece, perhaps only the future Empress, Hancock, could compare.
But Hancock was still just a child right now, probably dealing with her own trauma.
One could only say that the beauty right before his eyes was just right.
"Gion," Raleigh said, his voice smooth as silk. "You've become even more beautiful than before."
To be fair, the development rate in the world of one piece was truly extraordinary.
Back in the East Blue, although Gion's body had already matured, her demeanor still carried a sense of youthful, sharp-edged innocence.
She was all-business, all-sword.
During these days spent with Raleigh, however—slacking off, fishing, and bickering—Gion's entire temperament had begun to change.
It was softening.
In simpler terms, Gion was increasingly resembling a ripe, perfect peach, just waiting to be picked.
"Hmph. When have I not been beautiful?" Gion, who had been staring at the sea, turned.
She casually picked up a coconut, her expression offhand, and asked the most dangerous question known to man.
Hearing this, Raleigh broke out in a cold sweat under his collar.
'Damn it! How come women in another world also ask such tricky, landmine questions?!'
If this were on Earth, Raleigh would still find controlled nuclear fusion an easier problem to tackle.
In this one piece world, answering this wrong was probably equivalent to trying to step on the Five Elders' heads and leave a footprint in the Flower Room.
It was a no-win scenario.
"Ahem. Ha," he cleared his throat, adjusting his sunglasses. "I think, you're beautiful every day. That's a given. But from the moment I first saw you, I've noticed you just grow more beautiful day by day. Today is just... a new record."
"Hmph. Smooth talker." Though Gion spoke disdainfully of Raleigh's words, a small, pleased smile tugged at her lips.
She turned away, but not before using Shigan to expertly poke a perfect hole in a second coconut.
She handed it to him.
"Hehe." Raleigh took it, his grin wide. "This is the first time I've had such sweet coconut water."
He drank from the coconut with a hint of genuine pride, as if he had just been given a high honor.
Gion felt quite embarrassed by his obvious, cheesy actions and turned her back to him completely to avoid looking at him, though her shoulders were shaking slightly with a suppressed laugh.
[Romancing during work hours, Slacking Points +300]
In the sky, a white News Coo flew by, circling the mast.
"Coo!" Cleveland, Raleigh's long-suffering aide, waved his hand.
The bird descended, landing on the rail beside him.
Cleveland took fifty Belly from his pocket, placed it in the news coo's bag, and retrieved the day's newspaper from another compartment.
As Raleigh's aide, he often performed the duties of a commander, simply because Raleigh refused to bother with any administrative work.
Fortunately, Raleigh had promised to train him and teach him more advanced Six Styles techniques, which was the only reason he reluctantly agreed to be the man's secretary.
He scanned the front page.
[Rankings of the Strongest in the New World!]
[Will Golden Lion Become the King of the New World?]
[Marines Deserter Bell-mère KILLS CP Agent in East Blue! Suspected to Have High-Level Assistance!]
Cleveland skimmed through the paper, mentally extracting useful information to report to Raleigh later.
However, when he saw a familiar name in the Bell-mère article, he called out.
"Rear Admiral Raleigh, there's news about Captain Momonga here."
He was well aware of Raleigh's relationship with Momonga, so he notified Raleigh immediately.
"Oh? Bring it here," Raleigh waved his hand, not sitting up.
Cleveland jogged over and handed him the newspaper.
Raleigh carefully read through the article a few times, and a slow, satisfied smile spread across his face.
A weight lifted from his heart.
It's working. It's working perfectly.
Currently, the East Blue was in utter chaos due to Bell-mère's "escape."
World Government officials, desperate for achievements (and to cover their own asses), had tried to bypass the Marines to capture Bell-mère, resorting to using their own CP agents.
But Momonga, along with some of the veterans Raleigh had personally trained, had been secretly eliminating many of those CP agents during the "pursuit."
Moreover, because of this high-stakes chase, long-dormant intelligence operatives in the East Blue—spies for other kingdoms, for everyone—had also become active, trying to figure out what was going on.
These typically hard-to-detect agents were now emerging one after another, right into the open.
Raleigh couldn't help but imagine how secretly thrilled the East Blue commander must be.
His sea was getting a free deep-cleaning, all thanks to Raleigh's little scheme.
"Already reached this point, huh?"
Bell-mère's progress was smooth.
Following the plan Raleigh had provided, Momonga had several loyal soldiers disguise themselves as Bell-mère's companions and join her group, "protecting" her as they "fled."
They were advancing perfectly along the route Raleigh had laid out.
"Tch. But judging by the situation, it'll still take at least half a month to reach the North Blue," Raleigh muttered, feeling bored.
He wished these matters would just resolve themselves sooner so he could go back to slacking off comfortably, without all this "planning."
[Slacking off and lazing around during work hours, Slacking Points +100]
[Host has accumulated 10,000 Slacking Points. Would you like to draw a prize?]
[Notice: This is the host's 100th lottery draw. The rewards obtained from this draw will be doubled.]
Raleigh's eyes widened behind his sunglasses.
"Huh? Double rewards? Is there really such a good thing?" he muttered to himself.
This system of his truly lived up to its name.
It was just as lazy as he was.
Aside from mechanically notifying him of Slacking Points increases, he could only feel its existence during each lottery draw.
Something this crucial, this world-changing, Raleigh was unwilling to let others know about.
Even if they were to find out, it would have to wait until he had the strength of a top-tier Admiral.
"Gion," he said, suddenly standing up. "I just remembered something. I need to go to the office to make a call to Momonga. Check in on the... situation."
"Alright," Gion obediently agreed, not questioning it.
She contentedly lay back on the sun lounger—his sun lounger—by herself.
Raleigh stood up, entered his private office on the ship, and locked the door.
He stared nervously at the glowing blue interface of his slacking system.
And then, another message popped up.
[Due to the host's consistent diligence and effort in slacking off, the system has doubled the rewards once again. We hope the host continues to strive for excellence on the path of slacking!]
"...Holy crap," Raleigh whispered. "This is huge!"
Looking at the items now shimmering in the prize pool, Raleigh was practically drooling.
'Catastrophe-level Devil Fruit! World-class Martial Arts! World-class Swordsmanship! A Supreme-Grade Blade! World-class Weapons!'
No matter which one it was, Raleigh wanted it.
Badly.
At this moment, he wished he could sacrifice fifty years of Borsalino's lifespan.
And Tokikake's!
Fifty years from both, in exchange for just one more draw.
Devil Fruit? Want it! Martial Arts? Want it! Swordsmanship? Want it!
In the past, Raleigh had been quite casual about his lottery draws.
If he got something good, he'd use it. If not, he'd just shrug and wait for the next one.
But now, these lavish, quadruple-value prizes had completely overwhelmed his mind.
"Draw!" Raleigh said through gritted teeth, his eyes red, looking every bit like a desperate gambler betting his entire life.
The wheel spun. The lights flashed.
[Ding! Congratulations, host, for drawing the Catastrophe-level Devil Fruit—Logia-type Storm Storm Fruit!]
"Holy... crap!" Raleigh stared at the object that materialized on his desk.
It was a strange, turquoise-colored fruit, shaped like a cluster of grapes, but each grape swirled with a milky-white pattern, like a miniature storm.
He was so excited he nearly fell backward off his chair.
"This is really huge!"
---------
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