"Ah, you..."
Before Athena could react, she had already fallen into Nox's embrace. The towel in her hand involuntarily slipped, and her limbs went limp and weak.
Nox had just woken up and was feeling extremely hungry and thirsty. At this moment, Athena automatically came to him, and he certainly didn't have the habit of not eating.
A great battle quickly began. After lasting for an hour, Athena fell asleep due to exhaustion.
"That was really comfortable!!"
"Kong's Haki is really strong. When my Haoshoku reaches the advanced level, I'll go back and settle the score!"
After the battle ended, Nox walked out of the cabin, thinking.
If his Haoshoku reached the advanced level, he would be able to defend against Kong's external Haoshoku damage. As long as a punch didn't hit him directly, it would be within his tolerance.
The reason he lost so badly this time was mainly because his Haki and physique were too weak.
After all, he had been at sea for less than a year, and it had been less than a year since he Awakened his Busoshoku Haki. Busoshoku Haki still needed to be accumulated.
"Really, you're so energetic as soon as you wake up."
Lesley looked at Nox walking out and couldn't help but feel a little jealous.
Since learning she was pregnant, she hadn't fought with Nox again. For a young woman who hadn't experienced battle for long, this was difficult to bear.
"After you give birth to our little baby, I'll make sure you're very energetic too."
Nox said teasingly as he looked at Lesley's perfect face. Even pregnant, it didn't affect Lesley's charm at all.
"Senior Brother, the roasted meat is here!"
At this moment, Karoo came over pushing a cart full of roasted meat.
"This roasted meat is really good!"
Seeing the carts of roasted meat, Nox immediately began to eat heartily.
Currently, his body was lacking nutrition. One cart of roasted meat wasn't enough for him at all; there were several more carts waiting for him.
"I'm revived!"
After eating for a full half hour, Nox was finally full, having replenished all the missing energy in his body.
"Senior Brother, where are we going next?"
Kano asked.
"Shakky, please make the arrangements and see which route is better. Let's go back to the New World through the Calm Belt. This is a Sea controlled by the Marine and the World Government, it's too dangerous."
Nox said.
He could still hold off one Kong, but if another top combatant came, they would be in trouble.
Although the Marine's top combatants were tied up by the Rocks Pirates in the New World, he hadn't forgotten that the Marine also had the World Government behind them.
He wasn't strong enough yet, so it was better not to provoke the World Government for now.
"It's already planned. Kano, have them sail along Route 1."
Shakky took out a Sea chart and handed it to Kano, saying.
While sleeping, Shakky had already thought about the upcoming voyage and had prepared several routes, just waiting for Nox to wake up and make a decision.
The next few days were calm, and nothing unexpected happened.
Nox also cultivated peacefully, familiarizing himself with the power of a Grand Swordmaster.
And then there was the continuous baby-making with Athena every day.
After seeing that both Lesley and Shakky were pregnant with Nox's child, Athena, whose maternal instincts were overflowing, also wanted a child to accompany her.
Furthermore, Athena didn't want to be just a pretty face; she wanted to help Nox with something, so she started learning to be a doctor with Lesley.
"What a strong aura of despair!!!"
After sailing for several days, Nox was cultivating normally, but from afar, his Kenbunshoku Haki sensed that familiar aura of despair.
"A slave ship?"
Nox looked at the large ship sailing towards them. Even without using his eyes, his Kenbunshoku Haki could clearly sense that there were a great many slaves on board.
"Karoo, come with me to take a look!"
Nox called out to Karoo and said.
"Yes, Senior Brother!"
Saying that, Karoo transformed into a giant white tiger over six meters tall and flew up.
Nox used Moonwalk and jumped onto Karoo's back. He found the feeling of riding a flying mount very interesting and impressive.
"Sir, this is bad! A giant tiger is flying over from the front!"
On the slave ship, a grunt holding a telescope shouted loudly.
"What? Let me see who they are! How dare they stop our ship!"
Boss Denton snatched the telescope.
"Rocks Pirates Executive Officer Nox! It's actually him! How did we run into him!"
"This is bad! Quickly send out the message and have our superiors send people to rescue us!"
Boss Denton's face instantly changed drastically when he saw Nox standing on the giant tiger.
"Buzz!!!!"
However, before he could make a move, a wave of red and green Haoshoku Haki, carrying sharp sword energy, swept over.
On the entire slave ship, except for the slaves, everyone else was knocked unconscious by the shock of the Haoshoku Haki. Even Boss Denton was no exception.
Before coming, Nox had been constantly monitoring the situation here with Kenbunshoku Haki. The moment Denton recognized him, he directly released Haoshoku Haki to deal with these guys.
"I didn't expect this to be a World Government slave ship. They're probably slaves captured for the Celestial Dragons."
After arriving on the slave ship, Nox discovered that the leader was actually a CP member. As soon as he thought of the Celestial Dragons' nature, Nox knew what was going on.
"Karoo, kill everyone except the slaves and throw them into the Sea."
Nox gave the order and walked inside the ship.
Here, he saw many slaves, about fifty or more people.
Some were young and beautiful women, some were strong men, some were Pirates, and there was even a Fishman!
"You were all captured as slaves before. Now, the people who captured you have been killed by me."
"And I am Nox, an Executive Officer of the Rocks Pirates. From now on, you are all considered people on my ship. So, I will remove your slave status, and you will work properly on my ship!"
Nox looked at the slaves in front of him and said.
"Please, can you let me go? My father is a big merchant, he has a lot of money!!"
A young and beautiful woman mustered her courage and spoke after hearing Nox's words.
"You're welcome. For slaves who refuse to submit to me, there is only death!"
Nox used a flying Finger Pistol and directly ended the life of this naive woman.
"I'll give you a chance to commit suicide. If anyone doesn't want to follow me, just kill yourselves. I'll throw your bodies into the Sea to feed the fish."
Nox was not a good person who would grant freedom to the slaves he seized.
At least for now, he wouldn't do that. Doing so would be equivalent to exposing his location to the World Government and the Marine.