"Damn it! What happened here?! Will someone tell me what's going on?!"
The moment Peter returned from a shopping trip with Stussy and the two sisters, his eyes landed on Dolores, lying unconscious on the floor of the cell. Her face was covered in blood, and it was impossible to tell whether she was alive or dead. His furious roar echoed throughout the room.
As for Charlia, who had only moments ago been acting with arrogance and madness while assaulting others, the instant she saw the savage look in Peter's eyes and the murderous aura surrounding his body, she trembled and backed into the corner of the cell.
But the moment she moved, his gaze locked onto her.
There were only two people inside the cell. Peter didn't need anyone to tell him who had done it.
"N-No... Don't look at me! I... I don't know anything."
"You don't know?! Then did she smash herself into a wall until she ended up like this?!"
Seeing that she was still trying to deny it even now, he crossed the distance in just two steps, seized her by the throat with one hand, and pinned her against the corner wall.
Charlia choked as she desperately struck his arm with both hands, while terror gradually filled her eyes.
Peter leaned in until their cheeks were nearly touching, then shouted into her face in fury.
"You bitch! Who permitted you to damage my property?! Both you and her are mine. Who gave you the nerve to hurt my pet without my permission?!"
Crushed beneath his suffocating killing intent and the lack of air, Charlia's eyes gradually lost focus.
Suddenly, Peter's nose twitched as it caught a foul odor.
The next moment, he let go of her with a look of disgust, causing her to collapse to the floor as she slid down the wall.
"Disgusting... And you call yourself a goddess? A goddess who wets her pants?"
Stussy, Kalifa, and Alpha stood behind him, their bodies completely frozen. They didn't even dare to breathe.
During that brief moment, they had sensed an overwhelming aura from Peter, unlike anything they had ever experienced before.
In the face of that power, each of them felt like a grain of sand in the middle of the sea, and fear completely paralyzed them.
Only after Peter grabbed the two women, one in each hand, and dragged them out of the cell as though they were corpses, did they finally regain their composure.
Stussy let out a sigh of relief before stepping forward to examine the situation.
She pulled open Dolores's eyelids, inspected her injuries, and breathed a sigh of relief.
"It's fine. Just superficial injuries... She won't die."
She then turned to Charlia, who had also lost consciousness.
Without even bothering to examine her, she said directly,
"She only fainted... She'll wake up after a while."
Peter threw the two of them onto the ground, but his expression remained dark.
Especially when he remembered that his new toy, which he had barely begun enjoying, had been damaged and would need time to recover. His anger flared once more, and he kicked Charlia two more times.
"Call Kaya and have her brought back immediately to treat the little green one.
As for this bitch... Wash her thoroughly, strip off every piece of clothing she's wearing, then throw her into the deepest cell."
The moment the Kalifa sisters heard the order, they both shuddered. They glanced sympathetically at the unconscious Charlia, whose face still bore an expression of pain, before hurriedly carrying out the command.
Meanwhile, Bonney lifted a small corner of her blanket and secretly peeked outside.
At first, she didn't pay much attention, thinking Charlia had simply received the punishment she deserved.
But the instant Alpha turned around, Bonney's eyes widened.
"Alpha?! What are you doing here, you bitch?!"
She jumped out of bed while pointing at her, then shouted at Peter,
"Hey, monkey-tailed man! What the hell are you doing?! Haven't you noticed that a government agent has infiltrated your side?!"
All four of them stopped at once and turned toward her simultaneously.
As for Alpha, the moment she saw her old acquaintance, a mocking smile appeared on her lips.
"You idiot."
"Y-You...!"
At first, Bonney couldn't process what was happening and prepared to snap back in anger.
But when she saw Charlia hanging from Alpha's hand like a plucked chicken, she suddenly realized something was terribly wrong.
"Wait... A CP... agent... carrying her master like that?!
Th-That makes absolutely no sense!"
Alpha looked at Bonney, who had frozen in place from sheer shock, then let out a mocking laugh. She walked over to the cell bars and lightly tapped them.
"Don't be in such a hurry... I'll take care of you later."
She then licked her lips in a way that sent chills down Bonney's spine, causing Bonney to hurriedly retreat onto the bed and wrap the blanket tightly around herself.
Even after the four of them had left, Bonney still couldn't comprehend what had just happened.
How had everything suddenly descended into such madness?
A short while after receiving Kalifa's call, Kaya hurried back.
And she wasn't alone.
All of the girls who had been off the ship returned with her.
They had been about to have lunch together when Kalifa's call came, so they all decided to return and see what had happened.
The moment Nojiko arrived, she immediately noticed something strange.
"Huh? Where did all these women come from?"
Her face changed as she looked at the rows of women being escorted onto the ship one after another.
Carina let out a helpless sigh.
"He really did it... With this many, he must've bought nearly all the slaves in the Sabaody Archipelago's slave market."
But what pained her the most was the amount of money that had been spent.
Hina, meanwhile, bit her lip hard.
When she saw the slave traders and the lifeless-faced women being brought onto the ship one after another, anger ignited within her heart.
"All these slave traders... What have Hina and the Marines been doing all these years?!"
She clenched her fists tightly.
But she soon relaxed them again, as though every ounce of strength had left her body.
"...What right do I have to blame others now?
Hina is no longer the Hina she used to be.
And perhaps... for these women, being chosen by Peter is the best ending they could hope for."
She shook her head, casting aside the last of her illusions about justice. Then she raised her head once more and walked with steady steps behind the other girls toward the ship.
Outside, Stussy was receiving the slaves from the traders, while Kalifa directed the maids, whose numbers continued to grow.
As for Peter and Alpha, neither of them was anywhere to be seen.
Nami approached while holding a rope tied to the hand of her newly captured prisoner and asked,
"Why are only the two of you here? Where are Peter and Alpha?"
Kalifa glanced at Perona, whose hands were tied behind her back as she trudged miserably behind Nami, then pointed toward the passage leading to the lower deck.
"Just like you... they went to tame two new pets."
Nami's eyes lit up.
"Really? That's great! I'll go learn a few tricks from them."
She then gave the rope a hard tug while wearing a mischievous grin.
"Move it, or I'll hang you from the tree again and tickle you with a feather until you collapse."
Perona's body trembled violently, as though she had recalled a horrifying nightmare, and she hurried after Nami.
"Waaah... Master Moria... where are you?! Save Perona..."
Kalifa called out from behind,
"Wait, that's not the kind of taming I meant, not like your games!"
But it was already too late. The two had already disappeared into the passage leading below.
Kalifa shook her head helplessly, then asked Mikita and Carina to help her as she began explaining everything that had happened while the girls were away.
Meanwhile, Nami hummed a cheerful tune as she led Perona toward the prison area on the ship's lowest deck.
It was her first time going down there, so she curiously looked around at her surroundings.
As for Perona, although she was accustomed to gloomy atmospheres, merely seeing the prison and hearing the word "taming" reminded her of every terrifying adults-only story she had ever read.
Afraid that she would be turned into something she couldn't even imagine, she pleaded with tears in her eyes,
"Please... can we not go inside?
I know everything was my fault... I'll apologize, and I'll make it up to you however you want... but please... don't take me to prison."
A wide grin spread across Nami's face.
"Hehe..."
"If a simple apology and compensation were enough, then what would be the point of Impel Down?"
Nami sneered at the annoying pink-haired girl, having already decided to give her a proper scare today.
Just scare her, nothing more.
After all, Nami wasn't a pervert, she didn't have any strange fetishes, nor was she into women. She had no intention of turning Perona into some strange girl whose only concern was pleasing her mistress.
She continued walking deeper into the prison area without looking back, but it wasn't long before something felt off.
After walking this far, she hadn't seen a single prisoner inside any of the cells lining the corridor.
"Strange... Does imprisoning someone really require going this deep? If we keep going, this doesn't even look like an ordinary prison block anymore."
While she was still puzzled, the faint sound of someone being scolded drifted over from ahead.
"Found it!"
Nami's eyes sparkled as she hurried toward the source of the voice, dragging Perona behind her.
Inside an interrogation room whose walls were lined with all kinds of terrifying torture instruments, illuminated only by dim lamps...
Bonney was suspended in the air by ropes in the shape of an "X."
Standing before her was Alpha, who had changed into a leather outfit. She held a whip in one hand while looking at Bonney with a sinister smile.
Crack!
The whip sliced through the air with a sharp whistle that echoed throughout the room.
Alpha spoke coldly,
"You little brat... that punch you landed on me was incredibly accurate.
How dare you hit my beautiful face?
Do you know how much it hurt when my face swelled up?
But that's not the most important part... the important thing is that your escape caused my mission to fail, and I was nearly eliminated by the government.
Do you know what it's like to live in constant fear, never knowing whether you'll still be alive tomorrow?"
Bonney wasn't the type to submit so easily.
The woman before her had prevented her from setting sail to search for her father, had secretly monitored her under government orders, and had even used her as leverage.
So she answered without the slightest hesitation,
"Hmph! I should've smashed your head in with that punch.
And who cares whether the government punishes you or not?
They should've thrown you into Impel Down!"
Instead of getting angry, Alpha smiled.
"Now that you're the prisoner, all you can do is bark.
I'll give you one last chance.
Call me, 'My Dear Lady Alpha'... and I'll let you go."
Bonney spat at her in contempt.
"To hell with that disgusting title! I'll never say it!"
Alpha chuckled wickedly.
"Then... we'll see how long you can hold out."
Hidden nearby, Nami could hear the conversation more and more clearly, and her heart began to race.
"What on earth is Alpha doing? Does she have this kind of hobby? And who is that other woman? It sounds like they have some old grudge."
Driven by curiosity, she turned toward Perona and gestured for silence before continuing to sneak forward carefully.
The interrogation room was much more secure than the ordinary cells. There was only a small window in the iron door through which the inside could be seen.
Nami cautiously approached and pressed one eye against the window.
Perona, wanting to know what fate awaited her, pressed herself against Nami so they could share the tiny viewing space.
Inside, Alpha stood with her back to the door and failed to notice the two intruders behind her.
She held a plate of grilled meat slices, waving it beneath Bonney's nose as she said teasingly,
"Ah... what a delicious smell... it's making my mouth water... I really want to have a taste."
Because of the narrow viewing angle and the dim lighting, Nami couldn't clearly see what was happening. She could only make out that the two women's heads were at the same height and that they were standing extremely close to each other.
Since the view was unclear, Nami unconsciously began filling in the blanks with her imagination based solely on their conversation.
"A delicious smell? What's giving off that scent?
N-No... don't tell me... could she be talking about the smell of someone's body?!"
Nami's brown eyes slowly widened, her face filling with curiosity as she waited to see what would happen next.