One Piece: Wild Hunt - Chapter 88: Reason

Instead of immediately returning to his and Caenis’s love nest, Thomas decided to spend some time with Vivi while checking on the others. He could really use the break.

Fortunately, shortly after dealing with the Officer Agents left behind to protect Rain Dinners, Crocodile’s secret base and casino, Lucy and the others rushed to Alubarna to offer assistance. Their help was ultimately unnecessary, but their efforts had earned them guest rooms within the palace, not too far from where Thomas and Caenis were staying.

Entering the room shared by most of the girls, Thomas was unsurprised to find it a complete mess. Lucy and several others were currently in the middle of a fairly intense pillow fight, so there were feathers all over the place and mattresses stacked up to form barricades.

Less than a second after he had entered the room, Thomas experienced a bout of whiplash as a pillow impacted his face like a cannonball, followed by Lucy shouting, “You’re wide open, Tom…!”

Pulling the pillow from his face, Thomas smiled wryly as he resisted the urge to join in on the fun. He was a little too old for such things, but, more than that, he was the only guy present among a group of girls in their PJs. There was no one around to judge him, sans Nami, but it didn’t feel right to intrude any more than he already had.

“I just came by to see how everyone was,” said Thomas, his eyes briefly scanning the room. One of the principal reasons for his intrusion was to inform Robin of the King’s decision. To his surprise, he found the mature, raven-haired beauty among one of the mattress forts, exploiting her Devil Fruit to wield six pillows at once…

Seeing through Thomas’s thoughts, Robin adopted a faint smile as she remarked, “I didn’t have a lot of time to play as a child. Besides, I’m still young at heart.”

Adopting a more natural smile, Thomas gave a curt nod before saying, “The King finally gave his permission to inspect the Poneglyph. Since we already know the location of you-know-what, he didn’t see any reason to stop us.”

Offering a nod of her own, Vivi appended, “I can take you over whenever you’re ready.”

As she had already been waiting years to peruse Alabasta’s Poneglyph, Robin wasn’t in a hurry, calmly responding, “It’s still daylight outside, and there is an increased Marine presence within the city. I’d rather not create an opportunity for the World Government to discover the location of an Ancient Weapon, so we should wait until things calm down before making our move.”

“Sounds good,” said Thomas. Then, as he didn’t want to get in the way of the girls’ playtime, he added, “Enjoy your pillow fight,” before half-turning to try and leave the room.

Before Thomas could complete a single step toward the door, Lucy’s hand stretched across the room, grabbing his shoulder. However, instead of simply trying to stop him, she rubberbanded over to him, placing him in a headlock as she wrapped her legs around his torso and shouted, “Where do you think you’re going!? Stay and play with us…!” in an assertive tone.

Tapping Lucy’s arm, which perfectly contorted around his throat, Thomas choked, “Can’t…breathe…” as his vision darkened. Lucy hadn’t just cut off his airway but the flow of blood to his brain. As a result, it only took a few seconds before his eyes began to roll back, and his legs buckled…

Just as Thomas believed he was about to be choked out, Lucy released her noose-like grip, allowing a tingling warmth to fill his head as she said, “Even if we separate, you’re still a member of my crew. There are only a few days left before we have to set sail, so you shouldn’t be spending all your time playing with Caenis. It’s not fair to everyone else!”

While massaging his neck, Thomas adopted a wry smile and said, “I’m not exactly ‘playing’ around…”

Crossing her arms in defiance, Lucy exclaimed, “I don’t want to hear your excuses! You’re here now, so play with us! If you don’t…I’ll break into your room and steal your mattress!”

“…”

Though he knew Lucy could be ‘selfish’ at times, this was Thomas’s first time experiencing her obstinance directly. He knew she wasn’t going to take no for an answer, so, after a brief period of deliberation, he exhaled a sigh and replied, “Fine…” in a defeated tone.

Adopting a massive grin, Lucy snickered like a mischievous kid that had just succeeded in a prank. Then, before Thomas could change his mind, she ‘drafted’ both him and Vivi onto her team before forcing him to act as a meat shield in the pillow war that followed…

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“You’re late,” said Caenis with half-lidded eyes, her body lazily splayed out atop their shared bed in nothing but a pair of white lace panties. She had expected Thomas to be gone for an hour or two, so she was a little annoyed that it had taken him nearly five to return.

While stripping out of his clothes, Thomas offered a wry smile as he replied, “That Captain of mine can be pretty selfish when she wants to be…”

Rolling her eyes, Caenis snippily retorted, “Only because you let yourself be pulled into other people’s paces. If you had more of a backbone, you could make that woman submit to you in a heartbeat.”

Removing his final piece of clothing, Thomas shook his head and said, “I don’t ‘want’ her to submit to me. Though she appears to be a lot smarter than Luffy, Lucy has the mental capacity of a child. Even the thought of putting my hands on her feels wrong…”

Rising to a seated position, Caenis remarked, “That’s one of the things I don’t understand about you. You won’t lay a hand on Lucy because of how naive she is, but you also refuse to touch that Chloe girl despite how mature she behaves. So, which is more important to you? Mental maturity or physical appearance…?”

Furrowing his brows, Thomas asked, “Does it matter?” in an annoyed tone. He expected these sorts of questions from Nami, but Caenis had made it clear she wanted him to make his own decisions. Her ‘challenging’ him like this was out of character.

Adopting a glower of her own, Caenis replied, “Don’t misunderstand my intentions. I’m trying to help you figure your shit out so you can make the best decisions for yourself. I don’t give two fucks what you decide to do, so long as you don’t whine and bitch about it later.”

Exhaling through his nose, Thomas approached the bed as he remarked, “You really know how to get under my skin…”

Leaning backward, supported by her elbows, Caenis adopted a wolfish grin as she retorted, “Yeah, and? Even though I made it clear we’ll never have anything more than a physical relationship, you still fell for me like a love-starved pup. If I don’t regularly call you out on your bullshit, you may actually start believing the feeling is mutual…”

Balling his right hand into a fist, Thomas briefly considered using his final Command Spell to order Caenis’s ‘honesty.’ He refused to believe she felt nothing for him, not when she was the one that kept dragging him back to bed the past couple of days.

Seeing through Thomas’s intentions, Caenis’s smile became even more vicious as she said, “I fucking dare you…”

Unclenching his fist, Thomas responded with a faint yet firm, “No…I promised never to use my Command Spells to compel you or anyone else’s obedience…”

Snorting through her nose, Caenis spread her legs invitingly as she said, “Yeah, yeah. Now, less talking and more fucking. These rainclouds aren’t going to upkeep themselves.”

Though he wasn’t really in the mood, Thomas didn’t hesitate to remove Caenis’s white panties, revealing her glistening vulva and visibly pulsating insides. She may not ‘love’ him, but her body hungered for his cock…

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As it only took five days for a Log Pose to calibrate on Alabasta, the only thing keeping the Straw Hats on the island was Lucy. The moment she was ready to depart, they would set out immediately. Thus, in preparation for that inevitability, Thomas met with Chloe, Illya, Ruby, and the taciturn Artoria to discuss having them accompany the Straw Hats.

“Are you serious?” asked Chloe, crossing her arms and adding, “I get that you’re worried about the Straw Hats, but how am I supposed to teach you Magecraft from halfway around the world?”

Though Chloe made a ‘very’ good point, Thomas had a few of his own, stating, “You and Illya joined me to assemble Install Cards. Since I’ll be staying in Alabasta for at least a few months, you’ll have a better chance of encountering additional cards by accompanying the Straw Hats. Lucy has a powerful fate, so I’m absolutely certain she’ll encounter several on her journey. With my actions weakening her crew, I’m worried that things won’t end as well as they should…”

Using Thomas’s words against him, Chloe pointed out, “If her fate is as powerful as you say, she’ll have no trouble finding new allies to replace those you’ve poached. Also, even if we stay here, it doesn’t really reduce the time it takes us to require the remaining cards. We might be able to assemble a few accompanying the Straw Hats, but we’ll eventually need Astolfo’s help to track down the rest.”

Deciding on a more ‘direct’ approach, Thomas’s expression hardened as he said, “Then let me make myself clear, Chloe. You and Illya are in the way of me doing as I please. I don’t mean to sound rude, and I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings, but I can’t act freely so long as you’re around…”

While Chloe’s expression morphed into a frown, Illya appeared genuinely hurt by Thomas’s words, hanging her head as she asked, “Are we really in the way…?”

Before Thomas could respond, Ruby darted forward and smacked him with one of her wing-like appendages, exclaiming, “How dare you say such a cruel and insensitive thing! I thought you were better than that, Tom…!”

Though Illya’s response caused him to feel guilty, Thomas responded with a grimace when Ruby smacked him. Despite her diminutive size, she had a surprising amount of power, enough to leave a crisp red mark where her wing connected with his cheek.

Restraining the urge to shout, Thomas rubbed his cheek as he argued, “You’re misinterpreting my words. I’m not trying to say anyone is useless or anything. In fact, without the EMIYA Card, I’m pretty sure I would get my ass beat by anyone here. The problem is-”

Interrupting Thomas’s words, Chloe flatly asserted, “This conversation is utterly pointless. How do you think people like Lucy and Zoro would react if they knew you were asking us to babysit them? Half the reason you’re separating from them is to give them a chance to grow, yet, here you are asking us to watch over and protect them from harm. We already let them borrow the David, Diarmuid, and Paracelsus Cards. Unless they encounter someone with a Grade 7 or higher card, they should be able to manage on their own. Just how little faith do you have in them?”

“…”

Taking advantage of Thomas’s silence, Chloe rose to her feet and added, “I already gave Nami the means to contact us if they encounter a threat that’s too much for them to handle on their own. Now, unless you want to include the Straw Hats in this discussion, I say we drop the matter here. You’re the one that agreed to let us accompany you, so you should learn to live with us rather than trying to pawn us off on other people…”

Feeling the need to blow off some steam, Chloe teleported away instead of leaving the room normally. She had been wondering what kind of crap Thomas would pull to try and get rid of them, but she never expected him to make such a contrary, completely asinine suggestion. She knew he was foolish, but this was on an entirely different level…

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