The Marine Soldiers across the entire ship became instantly excited upon hearing the sound, their muscles bulging as they felt their bodies surge with power.
Even the seagulls circling in the sky were affected by this power; after a brief pause, their speed suddenly exploded, soaring into the clouds at a pace difficult for the eye to track!
Inside the lounge, the effect on Taro was even more intense. His hair stood on end, his eyes shone with brilliant light, and his body abruptly became more robust, tearing through his well-tailored Vice Admiral uniform.
An unprecedented sense of power filled his entire body. At this moment, he felt that even if the Gorosei or even Imu were before him, he could knock them to the ground with a flurry of punches!
Opposite him, Betty was drenched in sweat. Perhaps because the latent energy had finally been released, the flush on her face was fading, and she was simply gasping for breath, slumped in her chair.
After a long while, the Marine Soldiers on the deck were the first to return to normal.
Although they felt somewhat physically and mentally exhausted, the fire of gossip in each of their eyes was burning brightly.
The Marine Soldiers gathered on the deck at the bow, peeking into the lounge and occasionally letting out exclamations of wonder.
"As expected of our Vice Admiral, even doing that kind of thing can release such immense energy!"
"Yeah, Vice Admiral Taro is too strong. To be able to affect all of us just with sound—even Fleet Admiral Sengoku probably couldn't do that, right?"
"Exactly, that's the man known as the light of the marines and the ink dragon, Vice Admiral Taro. We're so lucky to serve under him!"
"That woman's cries were quite pleasant to hear... Ow!"
"You bastard, that's the Vice Admiral's Wife! You dare talk nonsense? Brothers, beat him up!"
"Ow, don't hit me, don't hit me! I was wrong, I'm sorry!"
For a time, the deck was in utter chaos.
Inside the lounge.
The sense of power gradually dissipated, and a double wave of mental and physical fatigue hit, causing Taro to collapse onto the floor.
After an unknown amount of time, Taro felt a sharp pain on his face. He reached out to rub it, but soon another sharp pain came, accompanied by the loud sound of a slap.
"Holy crap, you crazy woman, why are you hitting me?" As Betty swung another slap, Taro finally reacted and grabbed her wrist.
"You bastard, you scoundrel, how dare you treat me like this?" Betty cursed loudly.
"Are you insane?" Taro pushed her away and scrambled up. "What did I do to you?"
Betty was furious, pointing at Taro. "Bastard, you dare do it but won't admit it?"
"You're sick... Huh?" Taro thought Betty was out of her mind. He swatted away her pointing hand, only to realize his arms were bare. Then he looked down and cried out in shock,
"Holy crap, where are my clothes?"
Then he saw the shredded remains of his uniform on the floor and was dumbstruck. "What the hell did you do to me?"
Betty had never seen a man more shameless than Taro. "You scum, you're actually turning it around on me?"
"Something's not right, something's not right. Wait, let me think!" Taro took two steps back, raising his hand to stop Betty. He frowned and thought for a while before it finally clicked.
"It's not what you think. I didn't do anything to you!"
"Are you saying I did something to you?" Betty became even more ashamed and angry, her voice turning somewhat raspy.
"No, you didn't do anything to me either. Listen to me..." Taro spoke quickly, remembering the System notification he received before the transformation. "It's your Devil Fruit Ability Awakening..."
Betty was also stunned upon hearing this, and her emotions temporarily stabilized.
"That's what happened, I'm not lying to you." Taro, wrapped in a bedsheet, lowered his head and told Betty about the situation at the time.
"Are you calm now? You should be able to tell for yourself if you were violated, right?"
After listening to Taro's explanation and considering the inconsistencies she noticed after calming down, Betty began to hesitate. "Did I get it wrong?"
"I think so!" Taro nodded helplessly.
"I'm sorry, Taro. I misunderstood you." Betty had a straightforward personality; once she realized her mistake, she apologized decisively.
"Forget it, it's fine." Taro waved his hand, sighing inwardly. Damn, what a mess!
Then, neither of them spoke again. The atmosphere in the room was awkward for a moment, and the air seemed to stagnate, smelling a bit strange with the mixture of their sweat.
"Hey, send a set of..." Taro picked up the den den mushi on the bedside table and connected to the ship's operator, then glanced at Betty. "Send two sets of clothes over! Also, is dinner ready? I'm hungry!"
After hanging up, Taro added, "Why don't you go wash up first?"
The Marine Soldiers moved quickly. Before long, a knock came at the door. "Vice Admiral, the clothes have arrived!"
"Yeah, just leave them at the door!"
Taro glanced at Betty, then toward the shower room, and opened the door while draped in the bedsheet.
"What are you looking at? Look any more and I'll gouge your eyes out!"
While picking up the clothes, Taro noticed two rows of Marine heads peeking from the end of the corridor, looking inside with lewd expressions. He was instantly enraged.
"Whoa~!"
The Marine Soldiers burst into laughter and scattered.
"A bunch of bastards!" Taro cursed under his breath and retreated back into the room.
In that short time, the sound of running water already came from the bathroom. Taro placed one of the sets on the nearby table and called out to the bathroom,
"I've left the clothes on the table for you!"
Having said that, he took his own uniform and pushed open the door to the opposite lounge. He was also covered in sweat and needed a bath.
An hour later, Taro appeared in the Marine cafeteria. The Marine Soldiers were quite used to this.
Almost all Marines knew that Vice Admiral Taro always came to the cafeteria to eat by himself and rarely ordered Marine Soldiers to deliver meals.
However, today the Marines looked at Taro with playful eyes, all wearing strange smiles.
Taro glared at them. "Just eat your food. Why are you looking at me?"
The Marine Soldiers' expressions turned solemn as they lowered their heads to eat, only to hear Taro say, "Send a portion to the lounge."
Before Taro's voice even faded, several Marine Soldiers sprang up, ready to go get the food.
Before they could even take two steps, they saw a Marine Soldier at the cafeteria entrance leading a woman in a Marine uniform inside.
Then, these Marine Soldiers stood at attention in unison and gave a military salute. "Hello, Vice Admiral's Wife!"
Other Marine Soldiers also dropped their knives and forks, stood up, and shouted in unison:
"Hello, Vice Admiral's Wife!"
Taro was so startled by the Marines' reaction that he nearly choked on his food.
He swallowed hard a few times, getting the food down, then turned around to look at Betty.
"Why are you here?"
Also, how did you guys get so used to calling her 'Vice Admiral's Wife'?
What Vice Admiral's Wife?
---------------------------------
I hope you're enjoying the fanfiction so far! If the story has you hooked and you can't wait to see what happens next, you can unlock 30 chapters in advance over on my Patreon: patreon.com/TLHimejima1
Every bit of support means the world to me so if you're loving the ride, don't forget to drop a Power Stone and let me know.