One Piece: Wild Hunt

Chapter 43: Killing Time

Shortly after departing the girl's bathroom, Thomas found himself nearly face-to-face with a glowering Igaram. The misshapen man was just over 7'1''(218cm), so they were roughly eye-level as he gestured towards the back house of the tavern, asking, "Care to see some of our finer brews...?"

"Sure, why not?" replied Thomas. He imagined Igaram was thinking he was attempting to take advantage of Vivi and Alabasta's predicament for personal gain. However, as their nation was doomed without external aid, they didn't have much choice but to rely on outsiders.

After passing through a kitchen area and descending a flight of stairs to a large wine cellar, Igaram turned to Thomas, staring daggers at him as he asked, "Who are you? What are your intentions toward our Princess...?"

Hardening his gaze, Thomas replied, "If I had any 'intentions' toward her, I would have acted upon them last night. Now, before you ask any other stupid questions, know I don't appreciate being interrogated by someone I'm trying to help..."

Narrowing his eyes, Igaram reached into his pocket, pulling out a handful of iron-rich red sand, demanding, "Then show me you have the power you profess. If you truly possess the ability to make Alabasta's land arable, I'll have nothing else to say on the matter..."

Inserting his finger into the clump of sand, Thomas used Reinforcement Magecraft to convert it to rich, mulchy soil in less than a second. Igaram's eyes widened as he did so, a subdued, "Remarkable..." emanating from his throat before he coughed a few times to cover it up. Then, with a serious countenance, he declared, "I will defer to the Princess's judgment on this matter. Tell me what you require."

As he had already formulated a plan with Vivi, Thomas replied, "For now, you should continue to act as a member of Baroque Works. We'll pretend to tap out prematurely tonight, so you can order your men to attack once night falls. Once the dust settles, we'll oust the Millions and Billions from the city while taking you and the other Frontier Agents hostage. Once the higher-ups learn we're occupying the city, they'll invariably send someone to 'deal' with us. Depending on who they send, we can drastically reduce the strength of Crocodile's executive forces."

Nodding his head in approval, Igaram remarked, "It's a sound plan. That is, assuming you and your ilk are as capable as you purport them to be..."

Shrugging his shoulders, Thomas left Igaram at a loss for words as he replied, "The strongest people in Baroque Works are Sir Crocodile and Daz Bonez. We already know the weakness of the former, and the latter is no match for our crew's First Mate, Roronora Zoro. As for Miss All Sunday, you can just leave her to me. Anyone ranked lower than them barely even qualifies as fodder."

"..."

Though he felt Thomas was being a little presumptuous, Igaram decided to trust in the former's assertion, responding, "Very well. Just know that I won't be pulling my punches. We need to make things convincing, just in case things go South and you're not nearly as powerful as you claim..."

Understanding that Igaram just wanted to punch or shoot him with his shotgun saxophone, Thomas resisted the urge to roll his eyes, narrowing them as he stated, "I give at least as good as I get. Be careful you don't hurt yourself..."

"Hmph...!"

After snorting through his nose, Igaram walked past Thomas, stating, "I hope you know what you're doing..." before making his way up the stairs, leaving the latter alone in the wine cellar. Thomas eventually followed suit but not before picking up a large keg to justify his visit to the underground storage area. It weighed close to 300kgs, but he was able to heft it onto his shoulder without straining himself in the slightest...

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With nothing else to do until sunset, Thomas spent a few hours hanging out with Caenis, Astolfo, Atalanta, and Benienma after apprising them of the situation.

Though men were prohibited from entering the women's cabin, it was a one-way street as the girls were allowed to come and go as they pleased. Thomas and Zoro didn't really care, but it had caused Usopp a great deal of stress as he wasn't very good at dealing with women. It didn't help that everyone but Astolfo practically ignored him.

Fortunately, Usopp wasn't present, so Thomas didn't have to worry about the long-nosed man staring at him as he sat nestled between Caenis and Astolfo. The latter was snuggling against him while squeezing his arm and rubbing her cheek against his bicep, but Thomas didn't mind. He felt like a substantial weight had been removed from his shoulders after confiding in Vivi, so he was in too good a mood to let Astolfo's gender perturb him. So long as she didn't take things too far...

"Astolfo..."

Despite several light warnings, Astolfo's finger invariably found their way to Thomas's inner thigh, a playful smile developing across her face as she mused, "You're alone with a bunch of cute girls. Just drinking is bland. We should liven things up so that you're properly 'motivated' before going into battle..."

Exhaling a faint sigh through his nose, Thomas was about to reject the pink-haired imp's proposal when Caenis supplied, "It's a good idea. Back in my day, soldiers going into battle would spend the hours before eating, drinking, and fucking freely. Only the Fates knew when they would meet their end, so they made the most of what could be their final moments."

Smiling wryly, Thomas removed Astolfo's hand from his semi, remarking, "I have no intention of dying anytime soon..."

Instead of getting upset, Astolfo grinned like a mischievous succubus as she appended, "And we have no intentions of letting you. All I'm saying is that we should spice things up. You know, like playing a drinking game? If we set some ground rules and ensure things are fair, even Atalanta should be willing to play with us..."

Hearing Astolfo's words, Atalanta's brows immediately furrowed. She had acquiesced when Thomas arrived with a barrel of wine and asked if she would like to join them for a few drinks, but there was a reason she was seated away from the rest of the group. She became clingy and enjoyed cuddling when intoxicated.

Before Atalanta could refuse, Astolfo's smile became wry as she implored, "Come on, Lanta. You allow Master to caress your head when he restores your Mana, don't you? This isn't that different. And besides, there's no one around to judge us..."

Raising her hand, Caenis adopted a wolfish grin as she teased, "I wouldn't say that. I can be pretty judgmental when I want to be..."

Adopting a pouty, almost teary-eyed expression, Astolfo looked to Caenis as she said, "You're not helping..."

Shrugging her shoulders, Caenis replied, "I'm not in a hurry to lose the 'exclusivity' I enjoy. If our Master isn't ready to fuck you, suck it up and find a post to sit on. Trying to force the matter by relying on others is just pathetic."

Though her response wasn't 'meant' to be harsh, Ceanis's brash words caused Astolfo to tear up legitimately. She was hoping the others would support her, so she couldn't help feeling betrayed. Fortunately, just as the first tears were about to fall, Atalanta exhaled a sigh and said, "I'll play..." in a faint, nearly inaudible tone.

Bouncing back immediately, Astolfo was all smiles as she replied, "That's great~!" in a cheerful tone. There were still traces of tears at the corners of her eyes, but she quickly wiped them away before looking at Thomas with visibly glistening, unrepentantly expectant eyes.

Suppressing a sigh, Thomas adopted a faint smile as he asked, "What are the rules? I will have to refuse to play if it's too risque..."

Understanding Thomas's concerns, Astolfo's smile became even more radiant as she replied, "We'll have Benienma act as an impartial 'dealer.' Since each of us has quantifiable Luck Parameters, it wouldn't be fair if we took turns rolling dice or playing cards. We also know she won't cheat, so she's the best person to play the part. You can always reward her by letting her wash your back or something later."

Though she initially wasn't interested in Astolfo's proposition, Benienma's eyes lit up at the prospect of washing Thomas's back. One of the official duties of a Kosho was cleansing their Lord's back, so his refusal to let her do so caused her a considerable amount of frustration. She even offered to violate bathroom etiquette by wearing a swimsuit, but her Master was obstinate over the most insensible things...

Seeing Benienma 'glaring' at him, Thomas nearly refused to participate on the spot. The petite sparrow was the one who undressed and cleaned his body when he lost consciousness, but he still wasn't comfortable with the idea of letting her join him in the bath. He might relent if she 'only' washed his back, but his instincts told him she would want to ensure every part of his body was squeaky clean...

Not wanting to waste Atalanta's kindness or quash Astolfo's excitement, Thomas exhaled a faint, ostensibly defeated sigh through his nose as he replied, "Fine. But if things get out of hand, this is the last time we play a drinking game for the foreseeable future. Now-"

Before Thomas could ask what the rules were a second time, Astolfo pounced on him, throwing her arms around his neck as she exclaimed, "Yay~! Thank you, thank you, thank you~!" before pressing a prolonged and somewhat sloppy kiss on his cheek. Then, after alighting from the sofa, she excitedly explained, "The rules are simple! Benienma will roll dice within a cup, and everyone will guess whether the total value is odd or even. If you guess correctly, you get to move on. If there are only two people left, the first person to state their guess gets priority. The last man or woman standing becomes the Master and gets to command two of the eliminated players to engage in an 'activity' for between 3-7 minutes. Any questions~?"

Raising her hand, Caenis adopted a cheeky grin as she asked, "What are the limits as far as orders are concerned? I'm down for anything goes, but Atalanta might get butthurt if I ask her to sit on our Master's cock."

Furrowing her brows, Atalanta asserted, "I will only offer my virginity to the one who defeats me in a footrace without relying on external aid or underhanded means..."

Rolling her eyes, Caenis maintained her smile as she retorted, "We both know the Priestesses of Artemis were into pegging. Taking it up the butt isn't the same as relinquishing your chastity."

"..."

Instead of refuting Caenis's words, Atalanta turned her attention to Astolfo to see what she had to say. She would never admit it, but the thought of doing 'butt stuff' had crossed her mind a few times over the past year. Thomas was kind and considerate, so she sometimes felt she owed him more than just permitting him to touch her ears.

Unfortunately, while she was the closest thing Atalanta had to a friend within the group, Astolfo wasn't aware of the dichromatic cat girl's desire to repay Thomas's 'kindness.' She was ultimately just using the game as an excuse to expose her 'secret' to Thomas, so she raised her finger and assured, "Though stripping is allowed, let's limit touching to over the clothes, or, at the very least, panties. If the game proves enjoyable, we can always play with fewer restrictions in the future. Now, unless there are more questions, shall we begin~?"

With no one else having anything to ask, Astolfo whipped out the cup of dice she had prepared in advance, entrusting it to Benienama. Then, with bated breath, everyone watched intently as Benienma gave the tiny cup a good shake, covering the top with her hand as she asked, "Odds or even? No changing your minds once you decide..."

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(A/N: A variation of the King's Game, a common theme within my novels xD...)