A Joke
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One Piece: Desperate
🕑 Added 2021-06-02 03:13:56 +0000 UTCChapter 21
Title: You can't stop young love!
….
Aokiji sighed in annoyance as he looked at the two people sitting down and drinking coffee together. They looked more like a couple than a kidnapper and a victim.
'Did the higher-ups get it wrong? She seems happy here.' Thought the Admiral as he looked at them and narrowed his eyes.
Max gazed back at Aokiji with a cringing look on his face, he wasn't comforted at all. He had predicted that a Marine would find them here, that was why he walked in the middle of Sabaody Archipelago, busting heads with Sharlia being around him too. Obviously, they would notice in a day or two, even though the World Noble looked so different now as she had no ridiculous hairstyle and no suit the others of her kind wore. But she still was a World Noble after all, so it wouldn't take long.
He knew something like this would happen, but Max hoped that it would be at most a Vice Admiral who would confront him when found. But with Aokiji it's a whole other deal since he didn't know if he could lie to the man or how developed the Admiral's Observation Haki was.
Could Aokiji sense emotions like Fujitora? If asked in a normal setting, Max's answer would be 'No'... after all, no matter what, Aokiji couldn't have trained his Observation Haki as much as a blind man who did so all day long for years. Also, Fujitora had a strong desire to see people's true selves, he blinded himself from the cruelty of the world, so that could have been a big reason why his Observation Haki developed like that.
But… there was still a chance that Aokiji had the same ability for all Max knew. So he had to be extra careful with his words during situations like these.
"Ah," Max noticed the awkward silence and decided to change that, "Nice to meet you…"
He looked at me, his hands in his pockets and an unreadable expression on his face. Sharlia shrugged and started drinking the coffee.
"Sooo… how can I help you, admiral?"
…
Sharlia frowned, she looked at the tall man and back at Max. The situation was so tense, that was the forethought in her mind.
Maybe Max would entertain her enough, how he looks when nervous? – she wondered, but immediately that thought of her's stopped in its tracks once she saw Max's eyes. The warmth and confident look that once seemed to radiate out of him was replaced by a cold gaze. One that belonged in the face of a cold killer.
For the first time in a while, she remembered that Max wasn't a nice guy. He had kidnapped and threatened her multiple times.
But even then, her mind wandered to a time where he would be nice. Not out of fear for her status, but because of her help that she offered.
Maybe it wasn't that bad? – That was the first thought that put Sharlia past the breaking point. After all, Max wasn't the bad guy. Feelings that she never knew before sprouted within her, memories of him being nice kept sprouting in her mind. He could have killed her but didn't.
'Actually the smart decision would have been to kill me.' Contemplated Sharlia. 'But he didn't... so he is not that bad.'
In the end the young World Noble couldn't do it. She couldn't tell the truth of what happened. The fun moments they were having, the date she was going on, maybe acting normal isn't so bad. Every day was filled with the excitement of the unknown… she didn't want to lose these experiences.
Going back to having slaves and whipping people wasn't all that it used to be. A repetitive life, she would die without ever experiencing anything this world had to offer.
Suddenly wind rolled about and the air got a little colder, Max clenched his fist and his arms both started darkening in a deep shining color. Signifying that he was infusing his arms with Haki.
"Oy, why are you here ice popsicle dude?" Sharlia asked, feeling that the tall man was ruining her moment. After all, Max was the first man she had ever felt like this for. He had a cute body, unlike those brutes. His face when he smiled made him seem genuine like a harmless puppy.
Ahh~ how gentle he seemed~ like a spring breeze in the coming of summer.
Aokiji seemed to get the memo and walked away while muttering something that Sharlia couldn't hear. He seemed annoyed for some reason. But he couldn't be, right? After all, Admirals being angry at a World Noble is very bad. They are the people the Admirals serve after all.
...
A smirk made its way in Max's face as he observed all this. Stockholm Syndrome was one hell of a thing. After all, sometimes the mask became the real thing, Sharlia started acting nice so she didn't get her head bashed in but eventually started liking Max's company. Not wanting him to suffer even after all he had put her through.
Acting bad, and then doing nice things to the person, made the good things look so good after all the bad that he did.
This also showed to her that Max had a good side too, it made him human, it made him real in Sharlia's eyes. He wasn't someone who would just say Yes likes a trained drone.
All of this… also made him immune to the World Government's law. So doing something illegal, like stealing from pirates, well it wouldn't matter much in the end because he can just blame Sharlia for that.
Max couldn't help the small chuckle that escaped his throat, after all, he now was above the law. Why change the system when you can use it to your advantage?
He had planned this all along, ever since Sharlia called him back then to come to her bed. All along, the woman had been dancing on the palm of his hands. Her naive emotional range is tangled in just the right amount of excitement for the female World Noble to make life interesting.
"Hey~ Max, where are we going next?" Asked Sharlia, her voice annoying and whining. But to Max, it sounded like birds singing on a nice spring day. She was his cheat sheet against the law.
"Well, the carnival ride of course." He answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Sharlia pouted, "I mean after the date. What will we do next?"
"Well… as I said, we will go to an amusement park."
"Hmph!" She turned around in annoyance, "Well, keep your secrets then! I will figure it out on my own!"
Max's smirk widened at that. He then picked up two small rocks and shot them in two 'random' locations. As if he didn't know whether it was an enemy or Cipher Pol agent observing them. Max didn't need to worry anymore, any spies observing him would be killed off. He would like to see someone come and arrest him with Sharlia here.
….
At the same time, on another part of the island. A 'nameless' pirate had bandages wrapped around his head and his eyes suddenly opened widely.
"Captain Ace!!" Yelled out the doctor in elation, he was a man wearing a blue eye mark with slicked-back blue hair.
"I told you, it wasn't good to pick up fights with pirates in this place. Who knows when a monster marine might show up." Said a round man with a top hat and rectangular sunglasses.
Ace blinked, "I lost…"
"Yeah, but don't worry captain, there is always a next time!" One of the other crew members encountered him.
"I lost on two hits…" Ace seemed put off by that, "Damn, I got a big head over that other flamethrower guy. Thinking all Vice Admirals were at his level. I was excited to try and fight gramps, maybe finally caught up to that monstrous old man."
Ace's face then scrunched up like he had swallowed a bitter lemon, "No way I am losing like that! Where is the guy?! I will fight him again!"
….
A/N: If I was in Ace's place, I would be careful, Max isn't the kind of guy that… well..
P.S: The MC knew that Sharlia had a physical attraction towards him when they first met. After that, romantic emotional attachment is easy. I mean, that works even in real life, it's easier to fall in love with a nice pretty girl than a nice ugly girl. This works both ways for men and women too.
