If there was one person Perona feared most, without a doubt, it was Luffy.
Scaring others all day long eventually results in being scared by others.
On Thriller Bark, Luffy had shattered her ghost dreams with three punches.
During the great escape, she had run right into Luffy's face again.
And now this again!
"I'm dreaming. I must be dreaming. This is a nightmare. I'll be fine when I wake up. Goodnight, Kumashi..."
She kept muttering, but the impact of Luffy's face kept irritating her nerves.
Shocked beyond measure, combined with days of exhaustion and hunger, her eyes rolled back, and she very fainted, collapsing softly to the ground.
Luffy had just gone nearby to find another spice he thought smelled good. When he came back, he saw a pink-haired woman in a Gothic Lolita dress carrying a small parasol, skulking next to his roasted meat, drooling.
That face looked a bit familiar.
Luffy scratched his chin and thought for a moment. Then it dawned on him. "Isn't that the woman who sent out ghosts on Thriller Bark?"
He looked at Perona, unconscious on the ground, then at the meat on the fire, almost done cooking. An idea suddenly popped into his head.
Why not make do?
After all, she was a Devil Fruit user.
"Whatever. Stomach comes first!"
He picked up the unconscious Perona and placed her in a relatively clean spot near the fire. Then all his attention immediately returned to the lifesaving roast pork leg.
"Time to eat!"
He tore off a huge piece of meat, cooked just right, without even caring that it was hot. He opened his mouth wide and bit down hard!
The rich, fragrant meat instantly burst in his mouth. The fatty oil and firm texture brought unparalleled satisfaction.
Luffy was almost moved to tears.
"I'm alive! Finally alive!"
"Hey, you let me out! How can you eat like that by yourself?!" Nika was yelling curses.
"Hah? You need to eat?"
"Bullshit. You sucked all my energy dry. Hurry up."
After much persuasion, Nika was finally let out. Seeing that more than half the meat was already gone, her eyes went wide.
Was this guy even human?
Luffy ate and ate, and his muscles seemed to be cheering.
This reminded him of when he was a child, thrown into the forest by his grandfather Garp.
Luffy: "..."
He really didn't want to remember that.
Better just eat.
While he was feasting, Perona, unconscious beside him, had her eyelashes flutter slightly. She seemed to be waking up.
Perona was having a nightmare.
In the dream, she was in her room, with Kumashi and her ghost zombies. As the Ghost Princess, she was in her element.
But suddenly, her ghost zombies all disappeared. The face that appeared before she was Luffy's.
"Yo. You're awake?"
A voice came from beside her.
Luffy leaned in. Perona groggily opened her eyes and saw him. Her eyes rolled back.
"Fainted again? She's really timid. Robin will have to properly train her once she's on the ship."
This could go on forever. So Luffy pinched Perona's nose, blocking her air supply.
After a few seconds, the suffocation forced Perona back to reality from the edge of her chaotic nightmare.
"MMMH!"
Perona's eyes snapped open. She instinctively slapped Luffy's hand away.
Luffy let go.
Perona gasped for breath. Her pink eyes, from terror and just waking up, were covered in a misty haze.
This time, she didn't faint again. But grievance and lingering fear surged into her heart.
"Hey, I haven't even done anything yet."
Luffy raised his hands. Perona was reacting as if he were a heinous criminal.
Wait. I'm a pirate.
Luffy slapped his forehead.
Perona hugged herself tightly, her body curled up. Her eyes quickly reddened.
She looked on the verge of tears, staring at Luffy. Her small nose twitched, as if her pearly tears were about to burst at any moment.
This was an uninhabited primitive island. Right now, only she and this Straw Hat were here.
A man and a woman alone—who knew what terrible things could happen!
Perona had grown up on Thriller Bark and never left.
And because of that, she had a lot of free time. She liked to read all sorts of trashy stories and the like.
Now, this scene matched perfectly, didn't it?
Perona: "What do you want?!"
"I just wanted to..." Luffy said.
Then you wanted to do something!
Perona wailed inwardly. Why was she so unlucky?
She had already escaped Thriller Bark. Why did she have to run into Luffy on this remote, unfamiliar island at the ends of the earth?
Her ghosts were useless against this rubber monster. She had never forgotten the painful experience of his three punches.
Seeing Luffy standing here completely unharmed, his shadow safe and sound, another sinking premonition emerged.
Moria-sama was really in trouble, I'm afraid.
Otherwise, how could Luffy, the enemy's main force, be so leisurely here?
What had happened outside?
After being sent flying by that nasty bear's slap, she had landed in this nightmare place of giant plants and beasts. Not even a news bird, let alone a normally sized living thing—she was completely cut off from the outside world.
Why was she so scared?
Was she the timid type?
But using ghosts to scare people in a place like Thriller Bark didn't seem to have anything to do with the word "timid."
Luffy didn't consider himself at all. He looked at her with a bewildered expression.
"D-Don't come near me!"
Perona frantically waved her hands in front of her. Her voice distinctly trembled as she tried to drive away this number one enemy in her mind.
"I'm not near you."
Luffy even leaned back a bit and sat back down by the fire. He grabbed a piece of meat still sizzling with oil and took a big bite.
His reaction caught Perona off guard. The violence or coercion she had expected did not happen. He really seemed to just be eating meat?
She slumped to the ground, feeling relieved.
She glanced at Luffy secretly and couldn't help but ask, "Why are you here?"
"Same as you," Luffy said. "Kuma sent me here."
He had noticed when he landed that next to his paw-print shockwave crater, there was another crater the same size. At first, he thought it was a crewmate. He hadn't expected it to be Perona.
But it had been many days since Thriller Bark, hadn't it? Perona had been nearby this whole time and hadn't left?
Did she like it here?
Perona: "..."
You're the one who likes it! Your whole family likes it!
Seeing Luffy showed no sign of leaving, Perona moved her feet a little.
Did she have to stay with this guy?
She secretly glanced at the fragrant roasted meat in Luffy's hand, then felt her stomach, which was silently protesting.
I'm not hungry. Not hungry at all!
She struggled to stand up and escape this place.
But her feet seemed to be nailed in place by invisible nails. She couldn't take a step.
The reason was simple: the smell of the roasted meat was like the most captivating spell, constantly teasing her hungry nerves, making her whole body weak.
"Just sit back down." Luffy said without looking up.
"Why?" Perona instinctively retorted.
Luffy didn't answer. He just gestured with the hand holding the meat toward something behind her.
As if sensing something, Perona's alarm bells went off.
She stiffly turned her head, bit by bit.
Behind her, on a giant tree trunk, a mottled python, thicker than the tree flicker itself, was silently twined down. Its cold vertical pupils were locked onto her. Its red tongue constantly in and out, making a spine-chilling hiss.
"KYAAAH!"
Scared out of her wits, Perona's survival instinct instantly overrode everything. Without thinking, she activates her ability. "Negative Hollow!"
Several white, semi-transparent ghosts flew out of her body, letting out "Wohohoho" laughs, and passed through the giant serpent's body.
The giant python, which had been so ferocious a moment ago, instantly seemed to have all its spirit drained. Its huge body dropped limply from the tree with a thud, collapsing to the ground. Its head buried itself in the fallen leaves, letting out an indistinct, low hiss.
"I'm sorry for being born a snake."
"I can't even catch a rabbit. I'm useless."
"Can I just die already?"
Luffy could understand what the Python was saying. Since the Python itself had said so, he would grant its wish.
He stood up, nimbly removed the mostly eaten wild boar skeleton from the grill, walked over to the python, which had fallen into a deep negative state.
He brought his hand down. A hand blade covered in Busoshoku Haki ended its suffering with precision.
He began skillfully processing it, putting this new, door-to-door ingredients on the fire as well.
"Your ability is pretty convenient." Luffy said.
Perona was so scared her legs went weak. She plopped back down on the ground.
She didn't hear a word Luffy said.
The food chain in this forest was too terrifying!
She had to escape quickly.
But soon, her attention was again drawn to the rekindled campfire and the delicious snake meat being grilled.
The sizzle of fat dripping onto the fire, mixed with the strange aroma of the unknown spices Luffy had found, created an temptation she could not resist.
Who could resist such temptation?
Especially for someone who had been surviving on sour wild berries for days and was extremely hungry.
Perona quietly swallowed her saliva, her eyes locked on the snake meat, which was gradually turning golden.
Taking advantage of the moment when Luffy seemed focused on flipping the meat, she stuck out her tongue, blinked, and cautiously reached out her hand, trying to secretly break off a small piece.
SMACK!
The back of her hand was lightly slapped by Luffy. It reddened slightly.
Perona froze, looking at Luffy in disbelief.
He had his back to her. How had he noticed?
Undaunted, she reached out again, a little more boldly.
SMACK!
She was slapped away again with precision. This time, the force seemed a bit heavier.
Only then did Luffy look back.
Seeing Perona's about-to-cry, aggrieved expression as she clutched the back of her hand, he asked knowingly, "What are you trying to do?"
Perona pouted, forcing back tears, and tried to be reasonable. "I helped subdue this Python too, didn't I? What's wrong with me eating a little?"
She looked at the giant snake and thought this was a very good argument.
"Hmph. Don't butt in, ghost girl."
A sudden voice from beside her made Perona jump.
She then noticed that sitting next to Luffy was a white tanuki, hugging a piece of meat bigger than its own body, chewing with grease all over its face, and glancing at her with a look of disdain.
Was I beneath even a tanuki?
Perona's heart took a massive hit.
"He deliberately used the smell of meat to attract these beasts as a buffet. You wouldn't make a difference either way."
Nika tore off a big piece of meat and mumbled, "If you're going to make excuses, at least make good ones."
Perona's big eyes darted around. She realized that brute force and reasoning seemed useless. So she decided to change tactics.
She cleared her throat, tried to squeeze out a smile she thought was sweet, and put on a slightly cutesy, pleading tone.
"Hey, Straw Hat. Look, we were both sent flying to this deserted island by that Kuma. That's kind of fate, right?
As the saying goes, meeting is fate. Sharing some food is only right, isn't it?"
As she spoke, she secretly condensed a few tiny Negative Hollows behind her back.
She planned to hit Luffy with them when he wasn't looking, make him experience being negative too, and then she could feast!
But the moment her ghosts condensed, Luffy, as if he had eyes in the back of his head, without turning around, sent a precise rubber pistol behind him.
With a soft poof, he dispersed the tiny ghosts in mid-air.
"Behave."
Luffy withdrew his hand and, with his finger, lightly flicked Perona on the forehead, making a crisp tap sound.
"Waaah,"
Perona clutched her slightly reddened forehead. Her last shred of hope was shattered. It didn't really hurt, but the feeling of being seen through made her extremely frustrated.
She had truly lost all her spirit.
But she had no idea what Luffy wanted.
He didn't give her food. He didn't explicitly treat her as an enemy, capturing her or driving her away.
What was this?
Some new kind of torture specifically for her?
Like making her die of craving?
Perona's throat uncontrollably moved again. Looking at that tantalizing roasted meat, her inner thoughts were in turmoil.
Fine! I just won't eat!
"I'll leave then!"
Perona said indignantly, trying to regain some Ghost Princess dignity.
But she had realized too late.
Luffy's actions of tempting her were all foreshadowing for the formal invitation that followed.
"Back when I invited Vivi onto the ship..."
Luffy remembered Vivi's would rather die than obey expression. She had nearly bitten her tongue.
This Perona in front of him also seemed like someone with her own convictions. If he invited her directly, it would probably be another tug-of-war.
In a way, he wanted Perona to join the ship, which was like stealing Moria's subordinate.
So, a stroke of genius occurred to him.
He thought of a brilliant plan.
First, make her experience the bad side of not being with him. Then, make her experience the good side of being with him. That way, the chances of success should be much higher, right?
Perona resolved to endure her hunger and temptation.
"I just won't eat!"
She stood up to leave this sad place. Suddenly, she felt something tighten around her waist.
She looked down. Luffy's rubber arm had at some point extended, like a flexible rope, wrapping around her waist.
"WAAAH! What are you doing?! Don't eat me! This is so scary, Kumashi! Moria-sama, help!"
Perona was so scared her tears instantly shot out. Her newly built determination collapsed instantly.
She watched Luffy walking toward her, holding a few vines that looked incredibly tough. Her mind instantly flashed through countless horror stories about cannibals from those trashy stories.
Had Straw Hat really gone crazy from hunger and planned to use her as emergency food too?!
"Stop yelling." Luffy pinched Perona's mouth shut.
Vivi had indeed taught him quite a few useful things. Sometimes, you needed to be a bit tough.
Perona didn't dare yell anymore.
She watched as Luffy used the vines to skillfully bind her hands and feet. Then he placed her like an ornament at a spot not too close to the fire, not too far, but where she could clearly smell the aroma.
"Hey! Straw Hat! What exactly do you want?! Just kill me or whatever if you're going to!" Perona shouted tearfully.
This kind of cryptic play was the most torturous. It made her far more fearful and anxious than directly telling her "I'm going to eat you" or "I'm going to hand you over to the Navy."
The unknown was the greatest source of fear.
Luffy, seeing that the timing was about right, and that the giant boar was nearly completely devoured, leisurely tore off a piece of snake meat and crouched in front of Perona.
He waved the deadly aroma-filled meat in front of her eyes.
"Do you want to eat?" Luffy asked.
The aroma went directly up Perona's nose.
Nika, watching Luffy's actions, looked somewhat strange.
What kind of negotiating tactic was this?
Did he really think everyone was as much of a hopeless foodie as you?
No matter how hungry, no one would yield for a piece of meat, right?
Then Nika heard a sound of swallowing saliva.
"This is the most essence, most delicious part of the snake meat." Luffy said, also swallowing.
Perona's eyes were fixed unblinkingly. Her throat dramatically bobbed up and down. The sound of her swallowing was clearly audible in the quiet forest.
"I...I..."
Perona's inner thoughts were in turmoil. Her last shred of tsundere made her look away. She snorted. "I don't want to eat!"
"Alright then."
Luffy didn't rush. He acknowledged and stood up.
He went back to the fire and continued eating. He had been unable to resist for a long time.
He even intentionally made satisfied chewing noises.
Perona's inner self was waiting.
Her original thought had been that no matter how big Luffy's stomach was, he would eventually get full and leave some leftovers, right?
Any meat was fine!
And then what happened?
That strange tanuki seemed to have long since eaten its fill and was dozing off. Luffy himself had devoured the entire python at an alarming rate!
Then a wild bull had arrived, and, unsurprisingly, also became a guest on the grill.
Now, even this giant bison was about to be completely devoured by him!
What was his stomach made of? Connected to another dimension?
Seeing that the last piece of meat in Luffy's hand was also about to go into his mouth, hunger and the craving for delicious food finally overwhelmed Perona's psychological defenses.
"I want to eat!"
She almost sobbed it out. Her voice was full of humiliation.
***
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