Hiyori's private residence was "nested" within the Inner Court, with its interior decorated in the style of Wano Country.
However... thanks to Sephiroth's peculiar tastes, this was no Japanese palace, but a "courtesan house" of the most luxurious kind.
In a room deep within this residence-
The tatami gave off a faint scent of rush grass. Meticulous landscape paintings adorned the sliding doors, and an oil lamp burned on a bronze stand in the corner, its flame dancing gently inside a thin glass shade.
"...King Mara, I will not submit..."
Holding himself in something like a plank position on the daybed, Sephiroth looked down at Hiyori, pinned beneath him.
Her emerald hair spilled across the cream-colored bedding. Her bun had come completely undone, several loose strands clinging to her cheeks and the sides of her neck, while a thin sheen of sweat covered her forehead.
Hiyori breathed rapidly, her chest rising and falling. The lamplight cast a faint sheen over the skin around her neck and collarbones.
"You won't submit...? How interesting. Then how did you... end up like this?"
Sephiroth leaned down, closing the distance between them entirely, and reached out to catch her restlessly swishing fox tail.
Despite her prickly words, she had still activated her Devil Fruit ability and turned into a "fox spirit."
"...Nnh-no-"
A pair of fox ears trembled gently with Hiyori's panting.
Her fox tail curled slightly.
Hiyori felt that without drawing on her Zoan endurance, she would never have been able to hold out.
The people of Wano Country... were treated well by this demon king mainly because of the efforts she made here.
What if he imposed a brutal reign on Wano Country if she refused to cooperate?
"...Don't go too far. The moment foretold in the Kozuki Family's prophecy... is almost