Blink

"Bastard. He only knows how to bully girls."

Nami worked the helm with a sour twist to her mouth, her gaze drifting toward the cabin again and again. After leaving Foosha Village, Rafe had taken Makino straight to a room. That left the helm to Nami, naturally. She was the navigator, not the whole sailing crew.

Was there no justice on the sea? In her head, Nami had already called him a bastard more times than she could count. He was enjoying himself. And he had made it sound so innocent, too.

Makino had only just come aboard and did not know how things worked on the ship, so he had claimed he needed to teach her a few simple sailing basics. Poor Makino had believed him. She had even prepared a little notebook for the lesson. The lesson lasted four hours.

"Could he at least be a little gentler?"

Inside the room.

[System]

Congratulations, Host. You have successfully conquered crew member Makino.

Reward available. Claim now?

The System prompt arrived right on time. Rafe ignored it for the moment. Makino lay quietly on the wide bed, her cheeks faintly flushed. She stared at him without saying a word, her eyes full of accusation.

'Liar.'

He had said he would teach her sailing. How had it turned into that?

"Once you join my crew, you're mine," Rafe said softly, soothing her. "Don't worry. I'll treat you well."

It was not empty pillow talk. He was not the kind of man who took what he wanted and then washed his hands of the woman afterward. Once Makino spent more time with him, she would understand that.

In truth, although Makino's lesson had lasted for four full hours, Rafe knew there was a clear difference between her stamina and Nami's. So he had changed his approach. With Nami, he could keep pushing the lesson forward with very few pauses. With Makino, he slowed the pace himself and kept it within what she could handle.

"Mm." Makino answered in a soft, tired voice.

Rafe closed the door gently behind him and turned toward Nami's room. Why? To claim his reward, of course.

[System]

Congratulations, Host. You have received a new skill: Blink.

Blink? Joy surged through Rafe. In the fantasy novels he had read in his previous life, teleportation was often treated like a basic high-level ability. In the One Piece world, though, it was broken. Completely broken. He opened the skill description.

[System]

Blink:
Within your perception range, the Host may ignore obstacles and instantly move to any location he chooses.

Spatial Transfer:
The Host may leave coordinates at locations he passes through. No matter where the Host is, he may instantly return to a marked coordinate.

In simpler terms, short range was instant movement. Long range depended on perception and coordinates. Rafe nodded, deeply satisfied. In the One Piece world, strong fighters were often described as if they could teleport during battle, but that was only a way of exaggerating their speed.

The naked eye might fail to track them, but Observation Haki could still catch their movement. What Rafe had gained was true teleportation. And what did true teleportation mean? He moved as fast as thought. Even if Observation Haki detected his position, the body still needed time to react.

In that gap, Rafe could already Blink across a battlefield before anyone's body could react. Even better, Blink paired with the Restoration Fruit made him absurdly hard to kill. Rafe found himself looking forward to the future even more.

Once he conquered every woman tied to the original storyline, how far would his strength rise? At that point, could he even crush Imu with ease? Wait.

'Wasn't Imu probably a woman?'

Then killing was off the table. He would have to fuck her instead. Night fell. At the dining table, Rafe, Nami, and Makino sat together. Nami ate with absolutely no concern for appearances.

"Slow down," Rafe said. "No one is stealing it from you."

"It's good. It's really good."

"Makino, your food is way better than Rafe's."

Nami spoke around a mouthful, praising Makino while still finding room to jab at Rafe.

"You could have stopped before that last part."

Rafe gave her forehead a light flick. Nami rubbed the sore spot, glared at him, then went right back to eating. The sight made Makino lower her head and smile.

She had not known Rafe for long, but he did not feel quite like the man she had seen in the bar that day. Or was that only her imagination?

"Makino, from now on, you'll be the Marlow Pirates' brewer and cook."

Rafe was honestly surprised. Makino was a brewer by trade, yet her food was delicious, fragrant, and beautifully prepared.

"No problem."

Makino smiled gently and agreed. In truth, from the moment she agreed to join the Marlow Pirates, she no longer had many choices. Since she was already aboard, she would settle in. Besides, she had already given Rafe something precious, and in her heart, she had accepted him. If he liked the food she made, that made her happy.

"Captain, are we still going to recruit more companions?" Makino asked as she eased into the group's rhythm.

There were only three people on the ship. They did not even have the basic shape of a proper pirate crew yet.

"We are."

Rafe nodded. "For a while, we'll be visiting several places to recruit new crew members." Nami tipped her head back and sighed.

"We're doomed. Who knows how many innocent girls you're going to ruin next?"

Rafe's face cooled.

"Nami. What did you just say?"

"Kidding, Captain. I was kidding."

When he raised his hand again, Nami immediately surrendered. Were all the new crew members going to be women? Makino froze for a second. Then memories of Rafe's so-called sailing lesson flooded back, and heat rushed into her face. Her captain was far too shameless.

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