Vice Admiral Tsuru's Request

"Fine, then."

Kujaku pretended to give up, but she was actually harboring sinister intentions. The moment Lin Qi turned around, she lashed out with her whip.

"Smack!"

Lin Qi caught the whip with one hand, yanked hard, and pulled Kujaku over. He sneered.

"You brought this on yourself."

"W-What are you going to do?!"

For some reason, Kujaku panicked a little when her hands were restrained.

It felt like something bad was about to happen.

"What am I going to do? Heh heh, of course I'm going to teach you a lesson. Don't think you can do whatever you want."

Lin Qi pressed Kujaku to the ground and slapped her little butt with a smack.

"Ah! That hurts!"

Kujaku cried out in pain, her Long Legs kicking wildly.

"Heh heh, it should hurt. When you whip other people, why don't you consider whether they hurt?"

Lin Qi wore a wicked grin as he delivered more than a dozen rapid slaps to her pert little butt.

He slapped it until it swelled up all around.

"Waaah~ It hurts so much!"

"Stop it already, pervert!"

"Help! Somebody help! There's a bad man here harming an underage flower of the motherland!"

Kujaku wailed, tears forced from her eyes until her face was streaked with them.

"Say it. Apologize, and swear you'll never whip others again. Then I'll let you go," Lin Qi said.

"I won't!"

"Even if you beat me to death, I won't submit to a big bad guy like you."

Kujaku cried as she stubbornly declared it.

Stubborn to the core.

She was clearly in unbearable pain, yet she still refused to give in.

"Fine. You said it."

Smack, smack, smack~

Smack smack smack smack~

Lin Qi hit even harder.

For a while, strange sounds echoed throughout the small grove.

Half an hour later...

"Waaah~ I was wrong! I apologize! Please, stop hitting me already."

"If you keep... keep hitting me, you're going to break it."

Kujaku's eyes were red and swollen. Covering her nearly ruined little butt tightly, she begged without pause.

"Begging now? Weren't you acting so tough just now?"

With that, Lin Qi pulled away Kujaku's hand and slapped her again.

The butt that had already taken all it could bear was instantly wracked with agonizing pain.

"Ah! It hurts! I already apologized, what else do you want from me?"

"Jerk!"

Kujaku was on the verge of despair. Had she known things would end up like this, she never would have provoked this man.

What kind of person was he? Not only was he unafraid of her grandmother, he had no pity for women whatsoever.

When he said he would hit hard, he truly hit hard.

She could barely feel her butt anymore.

"Say it. You'll never use a whip to hurt people for fun again."

"I won't! Just beat me to death."

The moment her hobby was mentioned, Kujaku became stubborn again.

"Fine."

Lin Qi laughed in anger. Today, he was determined to cure Kujaku of her sadistic habit.

Smack, smack, smack~

Smack smack smack smack~

Another half hour passed like this.

Kujaku rolled her eyes back and fainted, drool spilling from her mouth.

Lin Qi felt awful. What kind of person was this? She would rather be beaten unconscious than even verbally pretend to give up her hobby.

She really loved it that much, huh?

Any more, and he would beat her to death.

He couldn't cure Kujaku of her sadistic hobby after all.

Better leave Vice Admiral Tsuru to worry about it.

"What do I do now?"

Kujaku definitely could not move in this state, but he could not personally take her back either. Otherwise, Garp would beat him to death.

"Boom!"

Lin Qi stomped heavily on the ground, creating a huge noise before quickly leaving.

Not long after he left, a group of Marines followed the sound over.

"Quick, there's an unconscious girl over there."

"This... isn't that Vice Admiral Tsuru's granddaughter?"

"Hurry and inform Vice Admiral Tsuru!"

Lin Qi, hiding in the distance, was relieved. He took his breakfast and went home.

In the plain white hospital room.

Kujaku lay face-down on the bed, her butt wrapped in Bandages, looking like she wanted to cry but had no tears left.

Once she had calmed down from her sadistic excitement, Kujaku was still fairly normal.

She had no choice. Her butt hurt terribly the moment it touched anything, so she could only lie like this.

What made her even more desperate was her grandmother's death glare.

Grandpa Garp was still there, baring his big teeth. If Grandpa Sengoku had not been holding him back, he probably would have burst out laughing.

Kujaku had never suffered such a social death before. She truly wanted to find a crack in the ground and crawl into it.

"Tell me the truth. How exactly did you end up like this?" Vice Admiral Tsuru asked sternly.

"I already told you, Grandma. I fell down by myself."

Kujaku still remembered Lin Qi's threat. If she dared tell on him, he would tell on her too and tell Tsuru about how she whipped people.

"You just happened to fall on your butt badly enough to end up like this? Do you take your grandmother for a senile old fool?"

Tsuru's face darkened. No one could be happy seeing their granddaughter in such a state.

"I heard that something happened between you and Lin Qi in the cafeteria. Could this have something to do with Lin Qi?"

"No, it has nothing to do with him!" Kujaku hurriedly denied it.

Vice Admiral Tsuru narrowed her eyes and did not continue questioning her.

As the Marines' chief staff officer, she had already gotten her answer from her granddaughter's tone.

"Go see how much longer before Hinaid arrives. Have him use his Devil Fruit to hurry over and treat Kujaku's injuries."

"Garp, help me call Lin Qi over."

"Grandma~" Kujaku pleaded cutely. "It has nothing to do with him. Why call him here?"

Kujaku's coquettish pleas usually worked, but Vice Admiral Tsuru was furious right now.

Even Garp did not dare provoke her, so he obediently went to fetch Lin Qi.

One hour later.

With the help of Hinaid's Devil Fruit, Kujaku stood up with a limp.

Aside from her somewhat awkward walking posture, everything looked normal.

The swelling on her butt had gone down as well.

However, Lin Qi felt increasingly awkward watching this scene.

Not everyone could withstand Vice Admiral Tsuru's death glare.

"You old geezers, get out first."

Tsuru gave the order. Garp and Zephyr obediently left, while Sengoku had already departed to handle official business.

That left only Kujaku, Lin Qi, and Vice Admiral Tsuru in the room.

"Speak. Tell me everything exactly as it happened."

"Grandma~"

Kujaku still tried to struggle, but Lin Qi sighed, stood up, and explained everything from beginning to end.

Naturally, he had polished up the story.

He definitely could not mention stealing her black silk stockings.

He also preserved a bit of Kujaku's dignity, ensuring she would not dare report him.

After hearing it, Vice Admiral Tsuru fell silent for a long while.

Even with her wealth of experience, she seemed to need time to process what she had heard.

After a while.

Vice Admiral Tsuru opened her eyes.

"Lin Qi, you did well."

"Huh?"

Lin Qi, who had closed his eyes and awaited death, was stunned. Where had that praise come from? Could it be sarcasm?

"Grandma, what are you talking about?"

Kujaku was dumbfounded too.

She had been beaten, so why was her grandmother praising the culprit instead?

"However." Vice Admiral Tsuru changed her tone.

"Praising you does not mean I forgive you. You must admit that you were also at fault in this matter."

"This child Kujaku's hobby is something this Old Woman cannot change."

"So this Old Woman wants to entrust Kujaku to you."