...What should he do?
"Lord Shining, you're holding me so tight."
You're the one holding me tight, aren't you?
Perona.
In the Thunderhawk's communal lounge, Sephiroth was sorting through documents transmitted by satellite. Perona was hanging off him like a clingy cat.
After nearly two months together, Sephiroth had more or less figured it out: Perona genuinely liked the form he took when he voluntarily turned into his element.
The Ghost Princess certainly had different tastes from ordinary people. What most people would consider the handsome [Satellite Shining Jetstream] was "absolutely adorable" in her eyes.
"Sniff... sniff~ Ah-! It's Lord Shining's scent... Horo horo, I love this smell. It's my absolute favorite..."
"...Just so you know, this smell on me right now... should be ozone."
Perona hugged Sephiroth's head tightly, burying her face in his hair, which resembled bundles of electric current.
If Sephiroth hadn't developed the Rumble-Rumble Fruit version of the Pseudo-Biofield, Perona would have suffered electrical burns long ago.
A pair of burdens wildly out of proportion to her height and appearance pressed heavily against Sephiroth's face.
Referee-she's charging me with those balls!
"Hey, Perona, you know about my situation."
Sephiroth wasn't the sort to trick someone into a relationship first, then offer a hypocritical explanation afterward.
When he had revealed his identity to everyone a month earlier, he had already told them he currently had two "God Consorts" and two "Acolytes."
(Isabella and Lilith existed to make the early plot plausible and provide the protagonist with a reasonably stable home base.)
The distinction between God Consorts and Acolytes was whether they had children. Their access and authority within Birka's Church also differed.
God Consorts had the same access as the Pontiff and the same authority as the twelve bishops.
Acolytes had the same access as the twelve bishops and the same authority as Holy Knights.
As for having children, Isabella's case aside, which had been for religious reasons...
After all, in a feudal society, a religious nation where church and state were one, a god-or king-being married for several years without an heir... really was hard to justify.
If he truly had none, it wouldn't just be a political issue. Who knew what his subjects might think? Whether the others wanted children was entirely up to the women themselves.
(From an omniscient perspective, this was for plot plausibility. The children were merely plot devices, mentioned occasionally when needed.)
Of course, Sephiroth wasn't being coy. He had already made up his mind to take Perona as his own.
And not just Perona. He had come to this world and successfully become a Rumble-Rumble Fruit User. He wasn't planning to turn into Homelander, so what was wrong with enjoying himself a little?
Sephiroth even planned to gather an entire soccer team someday... complete with substitutes.
"Lord Shining... you just think too much. This is the first time I've ever felt... truly in love. I like you, I like you, I like you so much..."
Perona brought her face right up to Sephiroth's.
Although she was actually older than Sephiroth, her cute appearance really did make her seem like the younger girl.
Almost involuntarily, Sephiroth stopped maintaining his elemental form and returned to his original appearance.
Perona's long pink curls mingled with Sephiroth's bangs as though melting together, and from her soft skin... wafted a fragrance like lily of the valley.
It was a sweet scent, enough to leave his mind completely blank.
Sephiroth wasn't exactly overthinking things. They had only known each other for two months, and things were moving so quickly... something could go wrong.
After all, even with those he had spent twelve years, nine years, or two years living alongside, he still felt as though someone was talking behind his back.
"...Lord Shining..."
"Hm?"
"Change back-!"
"Huh-!?"
Wait... girl~ Is your fetish operating system really that weird?
...Just as Sephiroth was about to discuss some issues with that system, he suddenly sensed two "powerful bioelectric fields" appear.
"...All right, little princess. Looks like we have something to do."
Mantra, or Observation Haki, was generally an active skill. Its passive effect normally triggered only when someone who knew Mantra was attacked.
To Sephiroth, it felt something like an electric current passing across his forehead...
Maintaining Observation Haki's active effect for extended periods wasn't particularly easy. It was essentially the same as staying completely focused.
However, Mantra could be given certain preset "conditions" to include in its passive detection.
For example, Enel in the original story had probably set his own name as a "condition." If anyone dared talk behind his back, he would follow the connection and deal with them in person.
Who knew whether that was a result of his experiences when he was young...
Through practical experience, Sephiroth had discovered that these "conditions" resembled psychological autosuggestion, and normally only one could be set.
No wonder experts in the original story who clearly should have known Observation Haki could still be ambushed or eavesdropped on.
"Lord Shining, what happened?"
Seeing Sephiroth instantly turn into his element and transform into Satellite Shining, Perona hadn't even had time to celebrate before he stood up.
"Two big shots are about forty-five kilometers away, and they're getting closer."
The "condition" Sephiroth had set was: immediately sound an alarm if a humanoid life-form with a biological strength reading greater than Heavenly Yaksha's at fifty percent appeared within fifty kilometers horizontally and ten kilometers vertically.
In Sephiroth's view, anyone with fifty percent of Doflamingo's physical strength deserved cautious handling. Better safe than sorry.
He had excluded nonhumanoid creatures because otherwise the movements of Sea Kings would set off endless alarms. Sea Kings were so enormous that even without deliberately sensing them, he could detect their approach once they came within a certain distance.
"Where's Brook?"
"...Horo~ Horo~ That perverted skeleton is still at that shop we can't mention."
"..."
-On the sea, forty kilometers away.
Out on the ocean, a fleet of five warships cut majestically through the waves. Two were Vice Admirals' personal ships, while the other three were standard Marine warships.
Leading them was the personal ship of Headquarters Vice Admiral Momousagi.
A huge brush-written character for "rabbit" adorned its main sail, just like the one used by her "sworn older sister," Vice Admiral Tsuru.
(In the original story, Vice Admiral Tsuru's ship had the character for "crane" written on it.)
Moreover, Vice Admiral Momousagi's and Vice Admiral Tsuru's ships were the Marines' only two all-female warships, with exclusively female crews.
Although this warship's general structure was much the same as those belonging to other Headquarters Vice Admirals, its decorative details showed a touch of Wano Country's style.
In principle, anyone ranked Rear Admiral or above could customize their personal ship, but most merely put their epithet on the main sail and made a few minor alterations.
A show-off like Vice Admiral Garp was still quite rare.
Of the other four warships following behind, one bore "G-2," marking it as the personal ship of Vice Admiral Comil, commander of G-2 Base.
The other three ships dutifully displayed the large word "Marines."
There's more coming later. I'm planning to write extra while I'm on holiday.
I won't put pictures in the author's notes anymore either. They got stuck in review before, leaving me unable to do anything for ages.
It only passed after I deleted the author's notes. Unless there's a special reason, I won't use them anymore.
My account level isn't high enough to post images in the main text.
I can only add the pictures afterward in the paragraph comments, or wait for someone kind enough to post them.
Before you continue