Luffy was utterly dumbfounded, his mind completely blank.
His eyes went wide, and his heart felt as though it would leap out of his chest.
His body stiffened without him realizing it, and he did not know where to put his hands.
He felt an unprecedented jolt of electricity shoot through his entire body.
His thoughts descended into chaos, and he lost all reason.
The air around them seemed to freeze, and even the breeze stopped blowing. Sunlight filtered through the gaps in the leaves, spilling over them.
The world around them seemed to stand still.
After only an instant, Marguerite pulled away.
Then she ran off into the distance, her face flushed with bashfulness.
Originally, he had thought he could face Luffy with complete composure and confidence.
To let that kiss last longer-ultimately, she was just a young girl who had never had any romantic experience.
Besides, this was her first kiss.
So their soft lips touched for only a few breaths before they parted.
Even after Marguerite fled into the jungle, Luffy remained rooted to the spot in a daze.
He did not know what had just happened, nor did he know what this touching of lips meant.
Yet his thoughts remained frozen in that instant.
The feeling was wondrous, unlike anything he had ever experienced in his life.
When he finally came to his senses, Marguerite was nowhere to be seen.
"Marguerite!"
"Marguerite?"
Only Luffy's cries remained there, without any answer from the girl.
Luffy panicked, as though he had lost something important.
He hurriedly activated his Observation Haki and finally found the girl in a corner of the jungle.
Only then did his anxious heart settle.
Immediately afterward, his figure slowly disappeared from the spot.
When he arrived beside Marguerite, he found her crouching beneath a