"Yes, Master."
Shalria nodded with a blush, clearly understanding what Sora meant.
"What about me, Master?"
Anna looked up at Sora, her face equally flushed. She wasn't about to let Shalria monopolize all of Sora's attention.
"Then join us," he replied with a smirk.
"Thank you, Master."
"…Ugh," Reiju muttered. Unable to take the twisted exchange between the trio, she turned away, her cheeks red, and quickly left the room.
...
"You pervert!"
The next morning, Reiju stomped out of the captain's quarters and spat in frustration. Despite her resistance, she had failed to escape Sora's grasp the previous night.
Soon after, Sora emerged from the quarters with Anna and Shalria. After enjoying the breakfast Reiju had prepared, he began overseeing the day's physical training.
The stronger the three women became, the more experience Sora earned from the system. Slacking was not an option.
Thanks to her Snow Wolf Devil Fruit, Shalria performed quite well. Reiju came next—despite her genetically enhanced body, she had never trained seriously before, so her performance was still lacking.
Instead of standard physical training, Reiju focused on mastering Armament Haki, which Sora had taught her, and refining her own Poison Powder abilities.
The weakest of the trio was Anna. Every day of training was sheer torture for her.
After about ten days, Sora finally navigated the Divine Slave into the waters surrounding Reverse Mountain.
"Heh, another pirate ship trying to tail us?"
"How many is that today?"
From the bow, Sora lounged in his chair, raising an eyebrow at the distant ship approaching them.
Ever since they'd entered the area near Reverse Mountain, pirate ships had been constantly targeting his "merchant vessel."
But that only meant more spoils. Though no new Devil Fruits had dropped yet, he'd already collected 150 million Berries in treasure.
"This is the fifth time today, young master," Shalria said, holding an umbrella over Sora.
Anna stood behind him, massaging his shoulders. After days of conditioning, both Anna and Shalria had reached over 90 affection points—almost maxed out.
"Fifth time already, huh. Reiju, any idea why this keeps happening?"
Sora sipped his iced drink and spoke into a mic connected to the lab, where Reiju was tinkering with a combat diving suit.
"You idiot! Obviously, it's your fault," Reiju snapped through the speaker, clearly annoyed.
"Because of your actions, the Marines are making major moves in the North Blue. Rumor has it that even Admiral Akainu is preparing to head back here."
"That scared the pirates into fleeing toward the Grand Line. So yeah, no surprise we keep running into them."
She hung up without another word.
Hearing that, Sora's eyes lit up.
If pirates from the North Blue were all trying to escape into the Grand Line, then hanging around this area to rob them sounded like a great plan—and maybe, just maybe, he'd snag a few more Devil Fruits in the process.
Without hesitation, Sora pressed a button on his armrest.
The Divine Slave swiveled sharply, heading straight toward the pirate ship.
He'd stopped wasting cannon rounds lately—too much trouble restocking. Ever since the area filled with pirate ships, Sora preferred to ram straight into them.
Most pirate ships, regardless of size, relied on sails. Compared to the Divine Slave's power and maneuverability, they were slow and clumsy.
A single ramming strike from him was enough to split a ship clean in two.
Crash!
Before long, the Divine Slave rammed its target right down the middle.
As the wreckage drifted apart, ropes shot out from the ship's sides, crew members aboard raising matchlock rifles and firing relentlessly into the remains of the pirate crew.
"Aaahhh!!!"
"We surrender!"
"Stop, please—we give up...!"
Shalria and Anna watched with blank expressions. They had seen this exact scene countless times.
They knew Sora had no mercy for wicked pirates. He always went for total annihilation. He never attacked merchant ships—in fact, he often helped them.
At the railing, Reiju shook her head at the carnage.
In her eyes, Sora operated more like a Marine than most Marines.
Typical Marines captured surrendering pirates alive. Only the iron-blooded Admiral Akainu had the same ruthless approach as Sora.
If she didn't know he had killed a Celestial Dragon, she might've thought he was Akainu's disciple…
『Ding! Pirate crew defeated. Treasure and bounty acquired automatically.』
『Ding! 50 million Berries added to ship's treasury.』
Sora frowned slightly at the system prompt and then ordered a few cannons to fire, blasting the wreckage into the sea.
Anna looked a little disappointed—still no new Devil Fruit.
"Young master, another pirate crew spotted—looks like they're chasing a merchant ship," Shalria said urgently, peering through her telescope and pointing off the starboard side.
"Hm?"
At her words, Sora gave instructions for everyone to mask up and turned the Divine Slave toward the fleeing ships.
Ram. Gunfire. Cannon cleanup.
Another flawless takedown. This time: 10 million Berries collected.
With all of them masked and maintaining distance from the merchant vessel, none of the survivors were able to identify Sora's crew.
For the next week, Sora kept roaming the waters around Reverse Mountain with the Divine Slave, systematically crushing dozens of pirate crews fleeing to the Grand Line.
In total, he gained 300 million Berries and a new Devil Fruit.
His exploits rescuing merchant ships soon spread through news outlets, earning his organization—the Five Seas Trading Company—widespread recognition across the North Blue.
『Ding! Defeated Explosive Bear Pirates. Choose to collect treasure and bounty or take their Devil Fruit.』
『Ding! Acquired Paramecia-type…』
"It's time to head to the East Blue."
After dispatching another crew, Sora tossed the newly-acquired Devil Fruit in his hand and smiled.
This marked the second Devil Fruit he'd acquired in just one week.
With the area now swarming with reporters and barely any pirate ships left, Sora decided to move on.
He turned the Divine Slave and sped off toward the base of Reverse Mountain.
_____
[You give me a power stone, and I will give you a mass release deal? And if you like this story, add it to your library and give me a review, and I will reward you with mass release.]