That night.
Annus washed away his fatigue, wrapped himself in a bath towel, returned to his bedroom, and lit a kerosene lamp.
Come to think of it, when he had first obtained the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, bathing had troubled him for quite some time.
Because he would often involuntarily turn into lightning, warm water could not wash the skin on his body.
It was not until he had fully assimilated the Devil Fruit's power and could freely control his elemental transformation that this problem was solved.
Annus often wondered whether the other Logia users had suffered from the same problem after gaining such power.
Rubbing his hair dry with a towel, Annus was about to sit down by the bed when he suddenly noticed a human-shaped figure writhing strangely beneath the covers, accompanied by soft, coquettish panting.
The scent of flowers that usually filled the room was unusually strong today. Upon closer inspection, he could detect a peculiar smell within it that made his heart race.
"..."
Annus fell silent.
"Lilith, what are you doing in my room again?"
The figure beneath the covers stopped writhing. Lilith's exquisitely seductive face poked out from under the blanket, her fair shoulders and collarbones clearly visible, followed by a breathtakingly deep cleavage.
Further down... was indescribable. It was all hidden beneath the covers.
"L-Lord Annus, you're back! I'll leave at once!" Lilith raised a hand to cover her mouth. As the blanket slipped lower, more of her pale skin was exposed to the air. "I'm terribly sorry!"
"I just wanted my scent to keep you company on this lonely night!"
Annus sighed, feeling a surge of heat.
"No need. Stay tonight."
At his words, the flush on Lilith's stunning face deepened, and an expression of delight flowed over her like water.
"Really? It's such an honor! Please indulge me to your heart's content, Lord Annus!"
The next day.
Annus opened his eyes amid softness.
He pushed Lilith off his body, stretched, got up, and changed clothes.
There was no need to bathe. Lilith had already cleaned him thoroughly.
On the bed, Lilith watched Annus leave the room, then buried her face in the soaked sheets, intoxicated by the mingled scent of the two of them.
"The big baby will be called Odin, and the little one will be called Haion... No, what if it's a girl?"
"No, no, Lord Annus should be the one to name them!"
Though she had not even borne a child yet, Lilith had already planned everything out in her mind.
Because her body already belonged to the great Lord Annus!
By the time Annus arrived at the shore, Diumil had everything prepared.
"Lord Annus, the new members of the Angel Legion are already on board and awaiting your orders at any time."
Taking his gaze from the bowing Diumil, Annus looked toward the ship moored at the dock.
In the sixth year since the Rocks Pirates had been established, nearly all the officers had built ships and gathered subordinates of their own.
Annus was no exception.
What he truly wanted was a ship like Enel's ark, the Maxim. But he had left Sky Island too early and had not had time to build one, so he planned to make it after returning to Sky Island someday.
If he could build the ark Maxim, traveling between the Blue Sea and Sky Island would no longer be such a headache.
The ship before him had originally been a Marine warship. After Annus seized it, he had refitted it into his own pirate vessel.
At that moment, the deck was packed with people. Each wore white wing-like ornaments on their backs and matching white Roman-style casual clothing.
Some were Skypieans from different Sky Islands, some were pirates who had pledged themselves to Annus, and some were slaves Annus had taken in.
But now, they shared a single title—the new recruits of the Angel Legion.
As for those wings, they were merely decorations, a special cultural symbol of the Angel Legion.
One day, I'll give every member of the Angel Legion the ability to fly.
The thought flashed through Annus's mind. Like gathering Lunarians, it was one of the short-term goals he intended to achieve.
The wings on Skypieans' backs were decorative and could not be used for flight. Yet because of some custom passed down since ancient times, almost no Skypiean would remove their wings, not even when bathing or sleeping.
As for the differences between Skypieans and Blue Sea people... they were probably limited to their physiques.
Annus knew only fragments about such matters.
For example, Skypieans always weighed less than Blue Sea people. The reason was that their bones were less dense, commonly known as "air bones," something Blue Sea people mistook for osteoporosis.
Yet this did not affect Skypieans' lives in the slightest. On the contrary, it allowed them to thrive in the thin air of high altitudes.
At the dock, quite a few pirates noticed Annus's arrival and quickly kept their distance.
"The Angel Legion is heading out again. I wonder whether the unlucky ones this time will be Marines or pirates."
Annus often took the Angel Legion's new recruits out to sea for live combat training.
The pirates had long grown accustomed to it.
Though they did not know whom Annus intended to use as a whetstone this time, that did not stop them from predicting the outcome.
It was a force that even Rocks called "valiant."
"Don't you think the elites of Marine Headquarters would definitely be stronger than the Angel Legion?"
An discordant voice suddenly rang out from the crowd. The pirates' gazes naturally gathered on the speaker. When they saw that he was only a green youngster, they exchanged looks and burst into laughter.
"Kid, why would you think that?"
Many of the pirates could not understand the youngster's statement.
"Wahahaha! Let me tell you all!" A pirate who was on good terms with the youngster and knew the reason laughed loudly.
"Because the pirate crew this kid used to belong to was wiped out by a fleet from Marine Headquarters!"
The moment those words were spoken, the pirates at the dock all showed looks of understanding and began laughing.
"So that's what it was! No wonder!"
Seeing this, the youngster's face flushed red as he tried to argue.
But an elderly pirate nearby interrupted him and said, "Listen up, kid!"
"As long as Annus leads them, the Angel Legion cannot fail!"
The youngster retorted red-faced, "You're that certain? What's your basis?!"
At that, a proud expression appeared on the old pirate's face. "I've never left this place since Rocks occupied this island! You could say I'm one of the island's old hands!"
"I've been fortunate enough to witness every duel between the officers!"
"Annus is practically one of the youngest officers aside from Kaido... but that doesn't mean he is weak! From beginning to end, Annus has never once looked even remotely troubled in battle!"
"I've seen it with my own eyes... Every time Annus led the Angel Legion into battle, they returned safely. There was even one time when the newspapers reported that Annus had defeated a Marine Admiral!"
The World Government would certainly crack down harshly on news like that. Yet there were always reporters unafraid of death, willing to gamble their lives to report such things.
Although that issue was quickly ordered destroyed by the World Government, the news still spread in the end.
Most pirates on Hachinosu knew about it.
The old pirate spoke with such force that no one present could offer even half a rebuttal.
To the youngster, who held the Marines' strength in awe, those words struck like thunder.
"Even a Marine Admiral can be defeated?" the youngster muttered, his worldview collapsing and rebuilding all at once.
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