The Donquixote Family's Loving Father and Filial Son

Blackness spread rapidly up his arm. A beast seemed to awaken in his belly, and an explosive hunger steadily devoured Lu Ye's reason.

"Hey, hey, hey! You damn rat, what's going on? Something feels really wrong with me!"

Lu Ye's eyes glowed red as he urgently questioned Jinbao.

"Hmm... it's probably... maybe an effect of the trait. Little Lu Ye, why don't you consider the suggestion in the message and eat something, quick?"

Jinbao shuddered and flew a little higher.

If he remembered correctly, that damn trait didn't seem to distinguish between friend and foe.

"Eat?"

Lu Ye looked at the empty milk bottles scattered across the table, bewildered. "But I was drinking milk just a few minutes ago!"

Jinbao scratched his cheek and gave an awkward laugh. "Well, the little butler will be back soon anyway. Try to hold on with your willpower for now..."

"Are you sure I can solve this by holding on?"

Lu Ye clutched the bedsheet, his brow tightly furrowed and his body trembling in agony.

Jinbao cheered Lu Ye on from the air. "Believe in yourself! You're a Double-flower Red Pole!"

"I'm a Double-flower Red Pole. I have willpower... I'm a Double-flower Red Pole. I have willpower..."

Lu Ye kept muttering to himself, but as the blackness spread, his expression grew increasingly vacant, and his limbs began to flail without coordination.

At that moment, Homing, who had once again spent the entire night reading, noticed Lu Ye's agitation. He picked Lu Ye up and sat him on his knee, then patted his own cheeks and giggled:

"Ooh-hoo-hoo-hoo... I must have gone so long without sleep that I'm hallucinating. Longinus, why does it look like you've turned black?"

"Hungry!"

A low growl rumbled from Lu Ye's throat.

The blackness had covered the top of Lu Ye's head, and his eyes had turned a chilling blood red. His fine, pale golden baby hair stood on end, making him look like a demon child descended upon the world.

The conscious mind controlling his body was completely suppressed by a bloodthirsty, savage instinct.

Staring at the rice cake piled high on Homing's head, Lu Ye drooled. A thick strand slid from the corner of his mouth and slowly dripped onto the feather pillow.

"Little Longinus, why are you drooling? Honestly... ooh-hoo-hoo-hoo! You're just too cute!"

With heavy dark circles under his eyes, Homing failed to notice anything wrong with Lu Ye. Giggling, he took a handkerchief from his pajama pocket and wiped away Lu Ye's drool.

As Homing's big hand moved back and forth in front of Lu Ye's eyes, Lu Ye's gaze settled on it.

The fingers were pale, tender and slender, without a single callus. Fried, every one of them would surely be crisp.

The palm was plump, but not overly so, with veins faintly visible beneath the skin. It was a prime ingredient for soup.

"Ahh..."

Lu Ye put Homing's hand in his mouth.

Homing's eyes crinkled with a smile. He poked Lu Ye's chubby baby cheek with his other hand. "Ooh-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo... little Longinus, you can't suck milk from Father's fingers!"

"Hungry..."

An evil smile tugged at the corner of Lu Ye's mouth. He suddenly bit down and shook his head, tearing at the hand with all his might.

Homing immediately howled in pain and flailed his arm wildly, with Lu Ye hanging from it.

"Ah, ow, ow, ow, ow! Let go, Longinus!"

Fortunately, Lu Ye's teeth had yet to fully come in, and his soft, smooth gums could do no more than hurt Homing.

As Homing struggled desperately, Lu Ye was suddenly flung away. He slammed into the corner with a bang, rolled several times and sat dazed on the floor.

Homing came to his senses and hurriedly jumped off the bed. He knelt before Lu Ye and looked at the child, at a loss:

"Are you... are you all right, Longinus? Father didn't mean to."

Lu Ye slowly raised his head. Seeing the rice cake swaying atop Homing's head, he began to drool again.

"Hungry..."

Lu Ye crawled forward a few quick steps, drawing closer to Homing. Then he suddenly stood upright and toddled toward him.

The sweet-smelling, soft little baby had put the incident behind him and was wobbling toward him like a fledgling returning to its nest. He was cute enough to melt anyone's heart!

Though he was a little black baby now...

Homing's eyes filled with tears of emotion. He hugged Lu Ye close and nuzzled him. "Longinus, you're such a good boy. Father is really sorry about what happened."

"Hungry!"

Still in the air, Lu Ye raised one hand and abruptly clenched it. The blackness on his fist suddenly solidified with a faint hum!

Seeing this, Jinbao jolted in midair, the fur on most of his back already soaked. "Hey! Little Lu Ye, don't tell me you're going to eat your blond Pops!"

"Hungry!"

As if he couldn't hear Jinbao's cries, Lu Ye swung his fist at Homing's head.

"Stop fooling around! Where's your willpower?!"

Jinbao was beside himself. He swooped down and slammed into Lu Ye.

Rumble-

Stone fragments flew as a hole was smashed through the wall behind Homing.

The fierce blast scattered the rice cake on Homing's head, leaving it hanging messily over his face.

Amid the dust, Homing's eyes rolled back, and he fainted.

Lu Ye had aimed that punch at Homing's forehead, which would have taken off the rice cake and smashed open the dipping sauce too. But Jinbao knocked it off course an instant before it landed.

"Protect Saint Homing and Saint Longinus!"

Hearing the enormous crash, the armored guards at the door rushed into the room.

The earlier roars and cries could still have been considered a normal little game between father and son in the Donquixote family, but that crash was anything but normal.

The guards who rushed in immediately found Homing lying on the floor.

Rustle, rustle, rustle-

Amid a faint rustling, a small, slender black figure darted out of the dust, agile as a lizard, and swiftly scrambled up a stone pillar.

Two eyes glowed a terrifying red, fixed on an empty patch of air, while drool dripped onto the floor.

In midair, Jinbao, whom nobody could see, trembled with tears misting his eyes and a look of grievance:

"Little Lu Ye, snap out of it! My meat tastes really rotten, and we're on the same side! You said you'd look after me!"

"On guard!"

The captain of the guards shouted, "Get Saint Homing out first! Form up and attack the assailant!"

Clank, clank, clank-

With a series of synchronized metallic clanks, the guards held their spears backward, taking positions to throw them at Lu Ye.

Whoosh-

Three tall CP Agents flashed in front of the guards, and one said indifferently:

"Take a good look! That's not an assailant. That's Saint Longinus."

Only then did the guards see that the little black monster was wearing a diaper bearing the Donquixote family crest. Cold sweat instantly soaked their backs.

"U-understood. Put your weapons away! We mustn't hurt Saint Longinus!"

"Hungry..."

Lu Ye jumped onto the guard captain's helmet, with its towering plume, and his gaze shifted between the people and Jinbao.

The guards averted their eyes and swallowed nervously.

"Saint Longinus, I have been ordered by the Holy Knights to test whether you are still in your right mind. Please forgive any offense..."

The CP Agent in the lead took off his white suit jacket, then slowly rolled his shirt sleeves up to his elbows. He bowed slightly and held both hands out to Lu Ye. His sharply muscled forearms instantly took on a metallic sheen similar to Lu Ye's.

"Chirp, chirp, chirp, chirp-come to me, little cutie..."

The CP Agent whistled, forcing a trace of tenderness onto his resolute face, which was framed by a full beard and strongly resembled Third Master Zhang Yide's...

Looking at that face, which seemed to have killed countless people, it was hard not to wonder whether what he would later wrap around your crotch would be a diaper or a shroud...

Even Lu Ye, who had lost consciousness, instinctively sensed the threat. The [Strongman] trait activated instantly!

"Hungry!"

Gripping the plume, Lu Ye growled at the bearded agent.

"Yare yare!"

The curvaceous female agent burst out laughing. "Hoffman, a hard man like you isn't suited to looking after children at all. I've never seen anyone need to coat themselves in Armament Haki to hold a baby."

"Is that so? I just thought Saint Longinus was a little dangerous."

Hoffman scratched the back of his head and said seriously to the other agent, "Evan, you try. Remember not to use Armament Haki."

"Yare yare!"

The man in the crying-face mask complained lazily, "Boss, shouldn't Flora be the one to try? I'm still a virgin. I have no experience with this sort of thing at all..."

The female agent seized him by the collar and shook him hard. "Damn it, Evan, stop copying my catchphrase!"

The bearded Hoffman turned and separated the two, saying calmly:

"This is for the Celestial Dragons' sake. Evan, you know all the boyfriends Flora has ever had died in battle, and Saint Longinus is male too."

Flora clenched her teeth, but remembering that she couldn't beat him, she had no choice but to let it go.

"Then I'll do my best, boss."

Evan sighed and stepped forward, cupping his chin in both hands. "Saint Longinus, please look over here. I'm your loyal Evan!"

Lu Ye tilted his head and looked at the ridiculous crying-face mask. Two seconds later, he threw a punch. With a thunderous crash, Evan, who stood nearly three meters tall, flew straight backward and slammed hard into the wall.

The terrifying force sent cracks spiderwebbing across the wall. Evan lay motionless on the floor.

The guards' hearts pounded in alarm.

Hoffman briefly assessed the situation and said coolly, "All right, stop playing dead, Evan. Go notify Saint Garling. An out-of-control Celestial Dragon is beyond what we can handle."

"What a pain, boss!"

Evan, lying there like a corpse, sighed, scratched his head and stood up. His figure flickered and vanished from the room.