Feeling more stressed than ever after her partner was uppercut straight through the sky with his status unknown, Valentine looked at the captain of this ship with equal parts fear and caution as he now sat in front of her and the remaining two agents with a fresh set of clothes.
"Alright, since you made it pretty much clear that your Boss will send men after us if we defy him, I'll just do that," Brody declared smugly, "That way we won't be bored. Oh, and you two, whatever your story is, I don't care! We'll drop you off on the next island." He looked at Miss. Wednesday and Mr. 9, "Of course, you two aren't entering anywhere near where my Crew lives! And you," his gaze fell on Miss. Valentine with a grin filled with adulterous desires touched his lips.
Seeing his strength and how he even had the sky as his battlefield, Miss. Valentine realized that escape was not an option without claiming the ultimate sacrifice. Yet, even if she held fear that greatly carved and built her decisions, it never stopped her or the Grandline would have swallowed her long ago!
"If you intend to force me then you're out of your mind! I'm Bone Crusher Mikita before I became Miss. Valentine of Baroque Works and try anything funny, you'll lose your manhood with a single snap!"
Brody blinked and looked at Reiju who was equally stunned.
"Hey... that's a good training practice, right?" His question made Alvida and Reiju nod as the latter agreed, "Surprisingly, yes."
Grinning, Brody proceeded to lick his lips eagerly, "Well, prepare yourself, Bone Crusher Mikita..." He stood up, his physique towering over her while her shoulders shuddered. Even Miss. Wednesday, who was about to be killed by Mikita's partner not long ago suddenly stood up in front of Mikita and shouted, "Please! You can make us work in any way you please but don't strip her off of her dignity!"
"Y- yeah! Even if they were ordered to kill us, we are in the same boat!" Mr. 9 stood up, "We'll protect her at any cost, baby!"
"Please, when I'm done with her, she'll feel like the most dignified woman of Grandline!" Brody scoffed and reached out for Mikita as tears flickered in Miss. Wednesday's eyes when a mace swiftly rushed out and stopped right in front of her face.
"Don't do anything stupid, girl," Alvida smiled, "Or our medic will—"
"Oh, I already paralyzed him," Reiju blinked as Wednesday and Mikita looked at Mr. 9 laying on his back stiffly.
"Oi! We should have been in better sync!" Alvida scowled, "It would have made the standoff more dramatic!"
"Oh, sorry, we'll try it again in front of someone else. I don't think it will be as spectacular now," Reiju shrugged.
"Come on! I'll use you dearly!" Brody pulled Mikita up who screamed in defiance with tears building in the corner of her eyes!
---
'Man... all that emotion... wasted.'
Mikita gazed at the horizon as her body moved up and down. Her thighs cushily wrapped around his neck and her legs crossed over his chest. She could feel his sweat against her thigh and his shoulders shuddering. The ability to 'fly' while making her sit on his shoulders and back with her weight already 2000 kilograms was a feat too astonishing to not see. Others watched on from the Sea King they call Pinky. Sure, Mikita did think of just increasing her weight to the max and bringing him to hell with her but...
"That's a good form, Bro," Reiju smiled, idly 'laying' in the middle of the sky as one would over a couch and all of Mikita's plan seemed idle thoughts suddenly!
"Yeah!" Brody's training at the moment included explosive strength training by kicking the air constantly to keep himself in flight. Ordinary methods would work on him, too, but why wouldn't Brody choose the superior method to train? He could usually 'stand' in the air, giving the illusion that he wasn't even kicking against the air but with Mikita on top of him, things turned out harder and thus, exciting.
The entire time Mikita remained silent. Since she was caught with both of her missions ruined, the only way to earn back the Boss's favor was to deliver him something equally important and the intel on this crew could be good enough!
"Alright! Air Push-ups!" Brody shouted, psyching himself up as he suddenly fell down with a yelp escaping Mikita's lips when he 'stopped' with his palms 'pressed' against the air, trembling violently. With his face increasingly reddening while Mikita shuffled onto his back and crossed her legs instead, Brody manage to push up once before he remained up and gasping for air. Sweat dripped from him crazily with even his entire back drenched but before she could complain internally, Mikita sensed something.
While Brody's entire body was trembling, Mikita's gaze was briefly attracted to his sweat-layered back, which made his muscular definition more pronounced. And there she saw it, aside from the usual trembling of his body, closer to the cut of his larger back, Brody's muscle actually 'shifted'. This was a sight Mikita would have missed if not for just idly 'observing' his back to eventually turn in the report when the Boss destroy this crew.
"Man... that was intense. I wonder when my arms can get as strong as my legs!" Brody heaved as he muttered, "Mikita, let's keep this pace up! We'll train for another hour."
"Just tell me how much weight I should keep," Mikita replied, bottling up whatever she felt to the best of her abilities.
"You can smile, you know?" Reiju chuckled.
As Reiju suggested, Mikita did smile, but it wasn't a happy one. With her smirk filled with mockery, Mikita chimed, "I would rather not! Smiling and laughing with you? Forming a bond and then adventuring into the sea? A Romance Dawn? Don't make me laugh." Her expression and tone turned stormy, "Boss will kill all of you. In our line of work, emotions rarely work. See? If Mr. 5 and I were friends, I would be a mess but thanks to remaining a professional colleague, I'm only feeling pity. His abilities were rather convenient, Kyahaha!"
"I see," Brody muttered, still having not stood up, "So you're afraid of crossing limits, huh?"
Reiju closed her eyes and placed her hands behind her head as her butterfly-like cape fluttered while she flew as if she was an actual butterfly.
"Afraid? That's just how life is," Mikita replied in a non-committal manner.
Heaving deeply, Brody's arms suddenly bent and his chest reached down. His triceps tensed crazily with veins becoming apparent on his arms even more while Mikita saw it even more clearly, again, only for a second. His muscles shifted unnaturally.
"Do you want me to lower my weight?" Mikita questioned in an amused tone as Brody was stuck midair in between a push-up.
"Nah..." he gasped for air. She couldn't see it but she imagined his face all red and puffy in exertion but Brody turned around as her lips parted in surprise. With his eyes more determined than ever, a confident smile marring his face alongside veins popping in the corner of his temples, Brody replied, "If only 1 push-up is my limit then I'll show you... some lines are drawn to be crossed!"
"That wasn't the point!" Mikita replied but she was soon alleviated as Brody shouted, finally pushing himself up. Frowning, Mikita scoffed under her breath and muttered, "As if stupid optimism will ever change my mind."
"That's fine... phew! That was even more intense than super intense! Alright, I'll focus on my arm for the next month! Mikita, 1000 kilos and sit on the base of my feet!"
"Huh?" Mikita hurried over his legs as Brody did a handstand. Easy to do while falling but extremely hard to slap the air ten times at once with a 1000 kilos worth of butt pressed on his feet.
"Eh? Oi, Mikita, your entire back is wet. Gross."
"That's your doing, dimwit!"
---
Dinner time came soon enough as Mikita had spent her day observing everyone including her original target— Miss. Wednesday. Of course, Wednesday stayed as far as possible from Mikita and stayed with Mr. 9 on the outskirts of Pinky's forest since they had food anywhere they went.
It was fruitful. She realized many things about the crew. Their Captain despite how he presented himself was far from an ignorable rookie. His strength was beyond fearsome and his drive to improve whenever the opportunity presented itself was unlike Mikita had ever seen. But, that wasn't all. This man's relationship with his crewmate was too intimate. Reiju and Alvida would leave no chance to press their lips on him and for some reason, instead of getting flustered or showing an over-the-top reaction, the women around him would reveal a sense of embarrassment with the woman named Nojiko being the only one who seemed ready to step forward and kiss, too, only to falter whenever she and the orange-head Nami glanced at one another.
Not only that, when idle, aside from stuffing his face with food, Brody would look at his crewmates as one would look at a lover. The thought was concerning but whenever he did gaze at them, the girls would in fact train harder as if to prove themselves to him or maybe just to make their assets looks more pronounced. Well, everyone did that except Tashigi who would genuinely increase the pace of her strength exercise and train wholeheartedly without a care for her calloused palms or her tired body. So, Mikita concluded that the Captain of this ship had more to him than he let on. Or maybe it wasn't intentional? Maybe that's how he lived.
Devil Fruit users like her and Mr. 5 become quite lethargic to physical training with their superb skills... so, Mikita felt that all this training was useless for her.
Only if that were true.
Nojiko not only trained physically but also her devil fruit. When Mikita was THIS close to knowing what Nojiko's devil fruit was, Nami appeared and interrupted the whole plan.
Then there was the ship's enigmatic medic— Reiju. Little was known about her but if Alvida's competitive nature was to be believed then the Vice-Captain was actually working hard to surpass Reiju instead of Brody which meant that Reiju was strong.
She also noted Nami's unconventional navigation as she would feel the wind more often than using any equipment and while this didn't work at first since they encountered a storm early on, Pinky was the one who picked up their slack.
Pinky was quite rightly the true treasure of this crew, this assessment was all this Sea King needed who could provide food, drinks, and materials of many kinds!
But if Mikita had to say who she was the most interested in then that would be—
"If you heat milk for 5 more minutes and then use it with sugar flowers, you'll not only get a better texture but the slightly suffocatingly sweet scent of the flower that carries on will be removed," Mikita idly sat on a table not far from the kitchen and muttered.
While she saw Carmen blink in surprise, the fiery-tempered cook as hot as her flame-kissed hair suddenly spiraled on her toes while clapping a musical note while the heels of her shoes tapped the floor in compliment. An ordinary sight. Carmen danced and cooked. Her movements included exaggerated steps. But, Carmen waited for 5 more minutes before continuing and a tray filled with bowls holding a creamy, sugary-scented dessert was ready.
"Hmm, true. The materials of grandline can be hard to process," Carmen smiled pleasantly as she took a deep sniff of her tray and then walked over to Mikita, "I didn't know you were a cook. Here, try some."
"I used to bake, still do when I'm not off completing missions," Mikita idly hummed and took a bite out of the treat as her gaze brightened, "Hmm? This is delicious!"
Carmen smirked and stood up, "I heard from Captain that you don't want to smile with us so I'll leave. Enjoy it with a smile, will you."
She left while calling loudly, "Dessert is ready!"
"About time!" Brody laughed, "I'll eat them all, they look super delicious!"
"Like hell, you will!" Others rushed out as their laughter echoed from outside the room.
Meanwhile, looking at her own share, Mikita finally smiled and ate in her quiet peace.
Mikita's Report, Initial Assessment:
1) Brody Hanma: Strong, driven, accepting of challenges, and has good interpersonal skills to have confirmed relationships with a few of his crewmates while the rest are ambiguous.
2) Alvida: Strong, Driven, Mean, and a Narcissistic Bitch.
3) Reiju: Mysterious, strong, and the kind of woman who doesn't like insubordination from strangers which makes her somewhat unreasonable.
4) Nami: Quick-witted, playful, and a deceptively talented Navigator.
5) Nojiko: Sweet, simple, fun-loving, and highly devoted to the crew and the captain aside from her drive to get stronger.
6) Tashigi: Dedicated in her training and clumsy with almost falling over without anything tripping her 10 times over.
7) Pinky: A Treasure.
8) Carmen: ... A cook and person worthy of respect.
'Talk about keeping things professional,' Mikita leaned back and ate the remaining dessert.
***
Alternate Title: The Incubating Devil
***
Shoutout to Basilisk Basilisk, runningFree, Thed Nilson-strang, Sakuya, Matthew S Crowe, Franzisko, and Brandon Dixson!!
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***
Enjoying this fiction? Then do give my other active works a shot~
1)Paradise of Infinity
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