Seeing that the chaotic battle in the desert was finally over, the women hurriedly ran over from the safety of the riverbank.
"Darian, are you alright?"
Darian's direct, seemingly suicidal charge into the massive Category 5 sand tornado had really startled them. Nami looked at Darian with genuine concern etched across her face, completely forgetting her anger from the previous night.
Seeing Nami's concerned expression, Darian, who was completely fine just a moment ago, decided to play a little trick. He knew he was still in deep trouble.
"I'm... alright," Darian groaned softly.
He smiled weakly at Nami, saying he was fine, but then he intentionally stumbled, swaying and leaning heavily toward her.
Seeing this, Nami was startled and quickly stepped forward, throwing her arms around his waist to support his weight.
He hugged Nami tightly. The two soft mounds of her chest cushioned the impact against Darian's torso. Darian rested his head heavily on Nami's shoulder, taking a deep, greedy breath of Nami's signature tangerine-like fragrance.
Noticing Darian's intimate actions, and acutely aware of being watched by everyone else, Nami blushed furiously. But she still asked with concern, "What's wrong? Are you injured somewhere? Did his sand cut you?"
"I'm fine, Nami. Just... a little exhausted," Darian murmured. As he spoke, he deliberately breathed hot air directly onto her sensitive neck.
The battle with Crocodile had taken a toll on his stamina, but he had absorbed a massive amount of kinetic energy from the giant tornado Crocodile created. Although he didn't have full stamina left, he certainly wasn't so weak that he needed to be physically supported like a wounded soldier.
Feeling Darian's hot breath against her skin, Nami's neck quickly turned a bright shade of red.
The others had already arrived, which made Nami blush even more, but she didn't push him away. She used her shoulder to support Darian's arm and her other arm to hold his waist, helping him stand upright.
Feeling the softness of her body against his ribs, Darian smiled smugly beneath his mask. Nami really does care about me, he thought mischievously. If I just play my cards right and show her I need her, she'll eventually accept the fact that I'm going to have a harem.
Seeing that Darian still needed Nami's support to stand, Princess Vivi asked anxiously, "Mr. Darian, are you really alright?"
"It's nothing, Princess. I'm just a little tired from using so much electricity!" Darian replied with a weak smile.
Vivi breathed a massive sigh of relief when Darian said everything was alright.
"And... Crocodile?" Vivi asked hesitantly, glancing in the direction where the Warlord had been sent flying by Darian's vibration punch. Her words suddenly trailed off.
The battle between Darian and Crocodile had drastically altered the terrain of the desert. The sand dunes were completely reshaped, flattened into glass craters and deep trenches. Looking in the direction Crocodile had been knocked away, there was absolutely no sign of him.
Darian also looked in that direction, narrowing his eyes. "He should still be over there somewhere. That punch shattered his jaw."
After Darian and the others cautiously searched the general area where Crocodile was shot down, they found nothing but a massive crater and a trail of blood. It was clear that the Warlord had already escaped.
Seeing this, Darian sighed and apologized. "I'm so sorry, Vivi. Crocodile got away."
Actually, given Crocodile's ruthless, arrogant nature, he wouldn't have simply run away from a fight. In reality, he had fallen into a deep coma upon impact, and had been quickly scooped up and carried away by his loyal subordinates.
Darian and his group were so close to the city that they could clearly see the towering casino pyramid of Rainbase. Given the massive explosions and the sandstorm, the remaining members of Baroque Works would definitely come out to investigate what had happened soon.
Seeing Darian apologize to her, Vivi quickly waved her hands and said, "Don't apologize, Mr. Darian! I'm the one who should be thanking you. Thank you for driving him away and protecting us. I'm very grateful to you."
Darian apologized to Vivi not because he failed to capture Crocodile, but because he had missed the perfect opportunity to finish the job right then and there. If he wasn't strong enough to beat Crocodile, he would have accepted it. However, he had already promised Vivi that he would defeat the Warlord, but because of his own selfish thoughts—wanting to play the victim to reconcile with Nami—he had let the target slip away.
Ashamed as he was of his tactical blunder, pretending to be weak had given Darian a pleasant surprise with Nami's affection.
After their search yielded no results, Darian and his group snuck into the city and checked into a relatively quiet hotel in Rainbase, deciding to wait for Crocodile to reappear.
Darian had even briefly broken into the Rain Dinners Casino, the known headquarters of Baroque Works, but apart from some terrified low-level henchmen, Crocodile wasn't there at all.
If they couldn't solve the Crocodile problem here, they would have to wait in Alubarna, the capital of Alabasta. After all, if the rebel army and Baroque Works truly wanted to overthrow the country, they would eventually converge on the capital.
Lying on the bed in his hotel room, Darian—who had been completely "exhausted" all afternoon—suddenly felt entirely energetic. His Devil Fruit vitality had recovered, and he couldn't fall asleep.
Darian couldn't sleep, and neither could anyone else.
Crocodile being knocked away by Darian was not a good thing for Paula and Marianne; it meant their boss had been defeated, and they could no longer hope to escape Darian's grasp.
Vivi was sick with worry about the future of her country and the impending rebellion.
Nami was also worried about Vivi's state of mind. And, despite her lingering anger, she was still worried about Darian, whose "weakness" today had been portrayed a little too well.
Nami, who had been tossing and turning in her own bed, finally sat up. She threw off the covers and walked toward Darian's room.
Perhaps to make it easier to confront Darian tonight without an audience, Nami had made the painful, expensive decision to book a separate room for herself, rather than sharing a large suite with the others. The rooms were all close together on the same floor—firstly for safety, and secondly to prevent their new captives from escaping.
The desert hotel wasn't very luxurious, and the soundproofing was poor. Vivi, who was in the room across the hall, heard Nami's door open and close.
While lying in bed, staring at the ceiling, Darian was bored to tears when he heard a soft knock on his door.
Knock, knock, knock.
Hearing the knocking, Darian felt strange. He had specifically and sternly told Mikita, Carmen, and Alvida not to barge into his room tonight, wanting to avoid a repeat of the previous disaster.
He walked over and opened the door, only to see Nami standing there in her nightgown. Upon seeing her, Darian's dark eyes lit up instantly.
"Nami? What's wrong?" Darian asked, his voice thick with genuine excitement.
But Nami just crossed her arms and said coldly, "You're just going to leave me standing out here in the hallway?"
Although Nami had a cold expression, the fact that she took the initiative to come to his room and say those words made Darian's heart skip a beat.
"Please, come in," Darian said warmly, stepping aside and making way for her.
Seeing his expression—looking like an eager servant welcoming his master home—Nami's icy demeanor began to melt just a fraction, revealing a very slight, reluctant smile. She thought to herself that this idiot actually cared about her quite a bit, despite his inexcusable flaws.
After Nami entered the room, Darian quickly closed and locked the door.
Vivi, who had originally intended to go talk to Darian about their strategy for Alubarna, had peeked out of her door and witnessed their hushed conversation. It piqued her curiosity.
After shedding her delinquent 'Miss Wednesday' persona, Vivi appeared quite demure and proper, but she also had a mischievous, tomboyish side. As a child, she was capable of fighting with the neighborhood boys.
Because Nami's period had started a few days ago, the irritable navigator hadn't let Darian get close to her. Vivi had also seen Darian and Carmen being intimate while making breakfast on the reef, plus she had heard the violent, screaming commotion Darian had caused with Mikita and Alvida.
Feeling extremely curious about the strange, highly volatile dynamics of this pirate crew, and still not entirely understanding what had happened the previous night to make Nami so furious, Vivi, acting completely on impulse, tiptoed over to Darian's door and pressed her ear against the wood.
Inside the room, Darian turned around, grabbed Nami by her slender waist, and playfully threw her onto the soft hotel bed.
"Ah!" Nami let out a soft yelp of surprise, thankfully not too loudly.
Startled and annoyed, Nami was about to loudly scold Darian for being an ape, but before she could open her mouth to yell, Darian was on top of her. He covered her mouth with a deep, silencing kiss, leaving her only able to make weak, muffled whimpering sounds against his lips.
It wasn't that Darian was simply impatient, but rather that Nami's opening line—*"You're just going to leave me standing here?"*—had caused Darian to severely misunderstand her intentions for coming to his room. He thought she was ready to forgive him.
Nami initially resisted, pushing against his chest, but she was no match for Darian's overwhelming physical strength and the passive charm of his Devil Fruit. Her struggles weakened, and her eyes quickly became glazed over as the kiss deepened.
But when Darian's hands eagerly slid down to cup her majestic peaks, Nami finally realized he wasn't going to stop to talk. Furious that he thought he could just sweep her anger under the rug with sex, Nami bit down hard on Darian's tongue, which had been exploring her mouth.
As a superhuman with a silicone physiology, Darian's body was incredibly resilient, so it was unlikely that his tongue would bleed just from being bitten by Nami. However, since the tongue is a highly sensitive organ, he was startled by the sharp pain and instantly recoiled.
"Ow! What's wrong, Nami?"
Darian released Nami's lips, moving his jaw to make sure his tongue hadn't been bitten off. He looked down at her with genuine confusion.
"What's wrong?! You dare to lay a hand on me after last night?!" Nami glared at him angrily, wiping her mouth.
Upon hearing this, Darian subconsciously replied, "Uh... didn't you come to my room to... you know, talk to me?"
Hearing Darian's dense answer, Nami almost exploded with anger. If she hadn't been physically pinned beneath him, she would definitely have delivered another Conqueror's kick to his head.
With her face flushed and panting heavily, Nami took a deep breath, forcing her anger to subside. She had a more important topic to discuss.
Thinking of the Princess, Nami pushed Darian's chest until he rolled off her. "Have you thought about how we're actually going to help Vivi?"
Darian was somewhat disappointed, and highly surprised, that Nami had come to his room at 2:00 AM just to discuss Vivi. He hadn't expected that Nami and Vivi would become so close after only a few days of getting to know each other. They had originally agreed to work for a billion Berries, but now Nami was genuinely prioritizing Vivi's feelings and her country's safety over her own relationship drama.
*It's safe to say that the bonds between women are simply inexplicable,* Darian thought.
After his initial surprise, Darian quickly changed his expression. A lewd, confident smile appeared on his face. "I'm already helping Vivi! You know perfectly well that as long as we continue our 'Dual Cultivation', my strength will only increase. If you want me to be strong enough to definitively crush Crocodile tomorrow, I need to train tonight."
Hearing Darian's shameless answer, Nami's face turned an even deeper shade of red. She felt like a naive lamb that had willingly walked right into a tiger's den.
Vivi, who was eavesdropping outside the door, overheard their entire conversation. Her eyes widened in shock in the dark hallway.
Seeing Nami's cheeks flushed red as if they were about to bleed, and her beautiful brown eyes filled with moisture, making her look incredibly alluring, Darian didn't hesitate. He pounced on her again.
The temperature difference in the Alabasta desert is always huge; it's unbearably hot during the day, while the temperature at night drops close to freezing.
It took Darian quite a while to gently remove the layers of clothing from Nami.
After stripping Nami naked, her shapely, athletic body—as smooth and pale as jade—was revealed to Darian. Seeing Nami's cute appearance, with goosebumps rising on her skin from the chill of the desert night, her hands wrapped modestly around her chest, and her body curled up slightly, Darian became even more excited.
Having shed her restraints, Nami's valley was already slick with anticipation. Spreading Nami's long, toned legs apart, Darian pressed his heavy body down onto hers, warming her up.
He navigated the familiar, welcoming path with practiced ease, brushing past her soft folds until he reached the tight, slick entrance.
Even after tasting Mikita's unique teardrop shape and Alvida's supernaturally smooth texture, Darian still firmly believed that Nami's neat, perfect "White Tiger" anatomy was the absolute best.
Soon, the heavy breathing, the violent creaking of the cheap hotel bed under their weight, the wet slapping of flesh against flesh, and their muffled moans formed a symphony of reconciliation that got the blood pumping.
Like a knight who never gives up, Darian charged forward again and again.
Enduring Darian's repeated surges, experiencing the exhilarating sensation of wave after wave of impact, Nami felt her anger melting away completely.
Nami was driven to a loss of rational thought by Darian's relentless, punishing rhythm. She felt she couldn't ever leave the monstrous man on top of her.
It was an undeniable fact that Darian had slept with the other women on the ship. For Nami, if she truly wanted to give up on him, she would have turned around and left the crew in the first place. Since she had already decided to stay, she had no choice but to accept reality and fight to occupy the biggest, most irreplaceable place in Darian's heart.
Besides, wasn't she already prepared for this? When Carmen and Alvida first boarded the ship, she had asserted her dominance as the First Mate that very night with her loud moans.
He felt Nami's long, powerful legs tighten possessively around his waist, making the path even narrower and tighter. Her heels would occasionally dig into his lower back, stimulating him and driving him deeper.
Sensing Nami's enthusiastic, forgiving response, Darian sprinted even harder, his hips moving in a blur.
After what seemed like an eternity of intense pleasure, Nami mumbled a desperate plea for mercy into the pillow. "D-Darian... I... I can't... take it anymore! You... you're too much!"
Hearing that the proud Nami had finally submitted completely, Darian became even more excited.
Although Nami said that, Darian would absolutely not stop or go looking for the other women right now. If he did, he would be too ignorant of a woman's true heart, and she would murder him.
While sprinting forward for the final stretch, he excitedly replied, "It's not over yet, Navigator! Didn't you say you wanted to help Vivi? You wanted to improve my strength to fight a Warlord? Then you'll have to endure it a few more times tonight!"
Inside the room, the two were so lost in their passion that they forgot to control their volume. Not only did Princess Vivi, who was secretly watching through the keyhole outside the door, hear and see everything clearly, but the other women in the adjacent hotel rooms could also vaguely hear the rhythmic, undeniable sounds of their Captain reclaiming his First Mate.
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