9: Chapter 9 The Cat Next Door

Late at night.

The hustle and bustle of Orange Town had completely quieted down with the arrival of night.

The waves gently lapped against the hull of the white dove, making a rhythmic "swish-swish" sound.

On the deck, the Moonlight spread out like a silver veil.

Rice sat alone atop the high mainmast, one leg bent, his long legs wrapped in washed-out jeans, hands in his pockets.

He had a blade of grass in his mouth, his dark, messy hair fluttering in the cool night breeze, and a pair of dead-fish eyes gazing deeply into the pitch-black sea.

Tonight, he was thinking about two things.

The first, about the killing during the day.

He had kicked Beast Tamer Mohji's internal organs to pieces during the day, originally thinking that the mysterious "World Will" would jump out to stop him, or even impose Heavenly Dao rules, just like it had protected Koby on the nameless island.

But until Mohji was dead, the surroundings remained calm without even a ripple.

"Hoo..."

"Koby is quite something."

Rice exhaled a breath of stagnant air, a cold, disdainful sneer curling the corner of his mouth.

"As expected. Koby is an important figure in the future Marine storyline; if I touch him, the world line will collapse. But trash like Mohji, who abuses animals, isn't even a speck of dust in the history of pirates. Killing him, the Heavenly Dao couldn't even be bothered to blink."

But he didn't feel smug about it.

On the contrary, sobriety made him realize another cruel reality—he wasn't strong enough yet.

Today, dealing with a fringe small-fry in the East Blue, he had used [Shave] and [Iron Body] effectively, but what if he left the East Blue?

When he reached the Grand Line and the New World, facing those top-tier monsters who could easily destroy the world with Logia powers, Awakening, or who had mastered Armament Haki and Haoshoku to perfection, his current pure physical techniques wouldn't even be enough to scratch them.

The martial arts Garp taught him were the foundation, but to live with absolute freedom in this world, he had to break the shackles of his physical body and fully develop Haki and more hardcore moves.

"Arlong, Crocodile, and that bunch of monsters from the Marineford War..."

Rice clenched his fists, his knuckles cracking like popping beans in the night.

The laziness in his eyes completely vanished, and that flame called ambition burned wildly within his young, powerful frame.

And the second thing he was thinking about was that soft, beautiful woman who had been making his heart itch for days—Makino.

As a hot-blooded transmigrator whose body had been honed to the limit of human aesthetics, the extreme tension on the deck during the day, where they almost kissed, had left him about to explode.

Since the landlady had bet her lifelong happiness on him, what kind of sense did it make for a grown man like him to be eating vegetarian every day?

Tonight, with the moon dark and the wind high, it was the perfect opportunity.

But thinking about the thief cat, Nami, who had just been fished onto the ship during the day and was as shrewd as a ghost, living in the side cabin, Rice clicked his tongue.

"Forget it, whatever. On my ship, could a living person really be stifled to death?"

Rice gave a wicked smile, his figure like a wisp of white smoke, without making a sound, floating down from the ten-meter-high mast back to the deck, then familiarly pushed open the door to the innermost master bedroom.

Inside the master bedroom, a dim wall lamp emitted a sticky, ambiguous glow. Makino had clearly already bathed.

She was currently facing away from the door, sitting on a soft couch covered with clean sheets, her soft black hair cascading down both sides of her rounded shoulders like a waterfall.

She was wearing a light, pale pink silk nightgown. Due to her posture, the hem was slightly lifted, revealing a pair of delicate, fair, and tender ankles that glowed like jade.

"Rice?"

Hearing the movement, Makino turned her head. Seeing that it was Rice, her apricot-like eyes, clear as autumn water, flickered, and a touch of moving docility instantly appeared on her pure, refined, and beautiful face.

"Makino, I really couldn't sleep because I was thinking about you."

Rice took his hands out of his pockets and locked the cabin door behind him. He unbuttoned his white shirt, revealing a large expanse of solid chest muscles, while striding with long legs toward the soft couch.

"Don't... don't, can it wait until tomorrow? Nami is right next door. These wooden walls aren't soundproof, she'll hear it..."

Looking at the man's perfect, beast-like, explosive physique, Makino's earlobes turned completely red in an instant.

She hurriedly tried to stand up, but before she could take a step, Rice's tall shadow pressed down like a mountain.

"Ah..."

Makino let out a charming cry of surprise, her whole body turning into a pool of spring water under the immense contrast of strength, her fair, tender arms instinctively climbing around the man's neck, burying her blushing face deep into the crook of his neck.

"Forget her, tonight you must listen to me."

"No, not just tonight."

Rice's low, heavy breathing sprayed onto the woman's ear without reservation, the rough, scorching heat of his palm pressed against her taut, delicate skin through the thin silk fabric, like a branding iron.

Softness collided with hardness, the bed curtains swayed, and the most primitive sparks of ambiguity between a man and a woman completely exploded in the dim cabin.

However, at this very moment.

In the side cabin just one thin wooden wall away.

"Clatter."

Nami, who had been tossing and turning in bed, unable to sleep because of the new environment, froze on her pillow as if struck by lightning.

The Moonlight from outside the window passed through the porthole and shone right onto her beautiful little face, which was red enough to drip blood.

"These... these two, in the middle of the night, actually..."

"Can't they at least avoid others? I'm still here..."

Nami bit her full lower lip, her pair of long, slender, rounded legs shamefully twisted tightly together under the thin quilt.

Although she clutched the pillow tightly with both hands, using it to cover her ears, the creaking sound of the white dove caused by the swaying waves, as well as the low, heavy panting coming from the wall next door, were still like feathers, constantly scratching at her pure maiden soul.

Driven by a strange, unprecedented sense of taboo, Nami climbed out of bed, light on her feet.

She walked with her bare little feet on the cold wooden floor, not even daring to make a sound of breathing.

The maiden's body pressed tightly against the wooden wall.

She pressed her flushed ear tightly against the cold wooden board, her beautiful brown eyes wide open in the darkness, filled with panic, shame, and an extreme tension that she couldn't bear to look away from.

Through the wooden wall, she could even clearly hear the dull thuds of muscles hitting the wall.

"This bastard devil... killing people like slaughtering chickens during the day, at night... actually torturing people like this too... can Sister Makino handle it..."

Nami clutched her heart, which was about to jump out of her chest, listening to the movements from the other side of the wall, her temples throbbing wildly.

That night, on the white dove, a ship filled with domestic warmth yet overflowing with scorching desire in the dead of night, the heart of this thief cat was completely stirred up by that man.