"Linlin… Linlin, wait! Listen to me!" Streusen called as he hurried after her.
"…" But she ignored him and continued walking toward her cabin.
Streusen refused to give up. He rushed ahead and stepped in front of her, blocking her path. Linlin stopped and looked at him, her eyes turning cold, "Streusen… move."
"Linlin, you need to listen to me," Streusen insisted.
"I'm not in the mood to listen to anything you have to say," Linlin replied lightly, pursing her lips.
"So when will you be in the mood?" Streusen pressed. "When you've killed yourself? When you get arrested by the Marines? Or when the rest of the crew ends up destroyed as well?"
Linlin stared at him coldly, anger beginning to flare within her. No one dared to speak to her like that. Under normal circumstances, she would never tolerate such defiance.
But Streusen was different.
He had raised her for years and was, in many ways, like a foster father to her. Because of that, his words still carried weight in her decisions and behavior.
So she couldn't bring herself to immediately lash out at him.
Seeing Linlin fall silent instead of shouting at him, Streusen felt a measure of relief. In truth, he had been worried she might lash out. Fortunately, Linlin was still young and had not completely slipped beyond his influence. He could still control her to some extent.
"Linlin… It's already been a month… you need to stop this," he said.
Linlin asked, raising an eyebrow, "Stop what…?"
"If you really want me to spell it out, then so be it. We should stop this foolish search," Streusen replied.
For the past month, ever since Asmodeus Zechs disappeared, they had been searching for him relentlessly. Sometimes they sailed from one island to another, sometimes they combed the surrounding seas and islands where Zechs disappeared. Recently, they had even begun actively attacking Marine warships in hopes of learning whether Zechs had been captured.
"Escaping Admiral Kong was already difficult enough," Streusen continued. "If we keep provoking the Marines like this, we'll once again draw the attention of the Marines."
"So what?" Linlin snorted. "I'm not afraid of that Admiral Kong."
Normally, she had no desire to fight an Admiral without reason, and she wasn't absolutely certain she could defeat one either. But if the situation ever forced her into such a battle, she would not hesitate.
Besides, when faced with an admiral, she was no longer without the ability to fight back.
Having learned Conqueror's Infusion and mastered the ability to stay airborne by wrapping Prometheus around her hands and feet, her confidence had grown considerably. On top of that, she now had Oceanus, her third homie. Because of all this, she feared the Marines even less.
"Perhaps you're not afraid of one Admiral," Streusen said, "but the Marines have more than just one. If we keep attacking their warships, they may send others as well. I've heard that Admiral Zilla is just as strong as Admiral Kong, perhaps even stronger. What if both Admiral Kong and Zilla come after us? Can you handle the two of them?"
Streusen pressed the point deliberately.
In fact, he didn't believe the Marines would deploy two Admirals against Linlin. Sending two at once would be an enormous move, and Linlin is definitely not that big of a threat to warrant two admirals. Still, he raised the possibility because he wanted to force Linlin to reconsider and abandon this reckless pursuit.
If it had been the old Linlin, perhaps she wouldn't have worried much about two Admirals coming after her at once. But the current Linlin was only eighteen, and she wasn't entirely certain whether two admirals would come or not. The possibility made her hesitate.
Streusen noticed the hesitation and pressed further.
"Moreover… just look at the state you're in and what you've been doing," he said. "Even those Marines—you would normally steal their lifespan. But instead, you killed them all without even bothering with that."
Ever since Zechs disappeared, Linlin has not been her usual self. She has been acting far more ruthlessly than she does normally, killing any enemy who proved useless or obstructive without hesitation. If it had stopped at that, it might still have been tolerable. But the changes went deeper.
She had become constantly irritable and rarely smiled. It had been over a month since the crew last held a banquet, something almost unthinkable for them. Banquets were common, and every victory was usually followed by one. Yet for the past month, there had been none.
The atmosphere aboard the ship had grown tense. Nothing had happened yet, but if this continued, the accumulated stress would eventually cause problems and internal conflicts.
On top of that, Linlin had not been eating or sleeping properly. The dark circles beneath her eyes and the slight hollowness in her appearance were proof enough. As for sweets, she hadn't touched them at all, either.
They also hadn't returned to Totto Land for over a month. They were supposed to have gone back two weeks ago, but instead they had continued roaming the seas, searching for Asmodeus Zechs. Supplies were barely being maintained through pillaging, fishing, and so on, which Streusen considered a growing concern.
More than anything else, however, what troubled him most was seeing Linlin like this.
This was not the woman he had groomed her to become. Seeing her so fixated on a man made him unhappy, especially a man she had only known for two days, and a man who was not him. The very thought that Zechs had not only taken her virginity but also somehow taken a place in her heart filled him with fury. And now, watching Linlin obsessively search for that same man only made his chest tighten with bitterness.
Putting all the other issues aside, Streusen simply wanted her to stop searching for Zechs.
"Linlin… It's already been a month," he said carefully. "If Asmodeus Zechs was going to be found, we would have found him by now, or at least heard some news about him. Even if the Marines had captured him, the news would have appeared in the papers. He isn't some small-time pirate; he's a well-known name. If they arrested him, they would certainly publicize it."
He continued, keeping his tone steady, "But they didn't announce his capture. In fact, they raised his bounty instead. That alone proves he hasn't been taken by the Marines. Since neither of those possibilities has happened… it means something else must have occurred. And I think we both know what that might be."
He paused before finishing quietly, "We should accept the worst—"
"Shut up!" Linlin interrupted coldly. Let alone acknowledge it, she refused to even hear that possibility.
But Streusen had no intention of stopping. Even though he knew she didn't want to hear it and might really end up lashing out at him for saying it, he continued anyway. "If he isn't dead… then tell me," he said. "Why has he been missing for more than a month? Could it be… that he ran away and abandoned you?"
If the possibility of Zechs being dead was something Linlin refused to even consider, then the idea that he had abandoned her was even worse.
It was her reverse scale.
Linlin had already been abandoned twice in her life—first by her parents, who left her on the shores of Elbaph, and later by Mother Carmel and the other children from the Sheep's House. Even though deep down she already had a vague suspicion of what had truly happened to Carmel and the others, and she just doesn't want to acknowledge it, hoping that she was really abandoned, rather than that being the alternative, so the feeling of abandonment is very strong.
Because of that, the thought of being abandoned a third time, this time by the man whom she was supposed to marry and even gave her first time to, was something she absolutely could not accept.
"No… he wouldn't abandon me…!" she retorted immediately, her voice dark and cold.
Whether Zechs had truly abandoned her or not, she didn't know. But she refused to accept that possibility.
The chill in her tone made Streusen flinch slightly, sweat forming on his brow. He could sense that Linlin didn't want to continue this conversation. But in his mind, it meant he was getting somewhere.
'It's working…' he thought. 'If I push a little more, she'll either start hating that bastard for abandoning her, or she'll finally accept that he's dead. Either outcome works for me.'
So despite the risk that she might lash out at him, he continued. "Don't you know Asmodeus Zechs' reputation?" Streusen said. "Ever since he started his career as a pirate, how many women has he been involved with? How many has he slept with?" He paused before continuing more sharply. "And yet, every single one of them was abandoned. For all we know, he may have fathered countless children, but I doubt he's acknowledged a single one of them. That's the kind of man Asmodeus Zechs is."
Streusen let out a short breath. "He only cares about enjoying the meal. Responsibility, consequences, those things don't matter to him."
Linlin clenched her fists.
She knew Zechs's reputation. She had heard enough to understand that he was the kind of man who used women freely, someone who would sleep with them, leave them behind in their hometowns, and move on without a second thought. That much, she couldn't deny.
But that didn't mean she was willing to believe he had done the same to her.
Every woman wanted to believe she was different, that the man who had abandoned everyone else would not abandon her because she was special.
And for Linlin, that belief ran even deeper. Having already been abandoned by her biological parents and her foster family, she simply could not accept the thought of something like that happening again.
"No… it doesn't matter what his reputation was," she said firmly. "He… wouldn't abandon me."
Her words were meant more to convince herself than to persuade Streusen.
And she wasn't entirely without reason to believe them. After all, she had spent two nights with Zechs. Because of that, she knew him on more than just a superficial level, more than what newspapers or rumors claimed about him. During that time, she had sensed a certain possessiveness in him toward her. She wasn't completely sure, but the feeling had been there.
There was also something else.
He had helped her achieve one of her dreams. If he truly didn't care about her at all and had planned to abandon her from the start, why would he help her with that?
Not to mention the battle with Admiral Kong. Zechs had stayed by her side and fought alongside her, even though he had no real reason to. He had been injured because of that fight. In fact, it was only because of him that she had managed to escape Kong in the first place. Without his help, she would likely have been captured and taken to the Holy Land, forced to serve the Celestial Dragon she had offended.
If Zechs had wanted to abandon her, he could have done it then.
That fight had been her battle, not his. On more than one occasion, he was offered a way out by Kong, yet he refused to accept it and continued to help her out. He had nothing to gain from it, but he still helped her. If anything, he had only suffered losses. He had lost his ship and been severely injured. Yet even so, he had remained at her side until they were certain Kong could no longer be able to arrest her. Only after that did he leave… moreover, that was also to rescue a member of his own crew.
Knowing all of this, Linlin refused to believe he had abandoned her.
"No… he didn't abandon me," she repeated, this time with greater firmness and conviction. "That much… I'm certain of."
She then calmly explained her reasoning to Streusen.
Streusen could only feel a mix of helplessness and resentment. It frustrated him to see Linlin place such trust in a man she had known for only two days.
But it didn't matter. Since the idea that Zechs had abandoned her wasn't working, Streusen shifted to the other possibility. "Since you're so certain he didn't abandon you," he said, "then the only other explanation that makes sense is that he's already—"
Anger flared in Linlin's eyes as she cut him off. In a single stride, she stepped forward, grabbed Streusen by the neck, and slammed him against the wooden wall. "Didn't I tell you not to say that?!" she repeated coldly.
Streusen hadn't expected Linlin to go this far. Her grip tightened around his neck, cutting off his breath, and he kicked his legs helplessly.
"Linlin… Linlin… you're…" he choked out.
Fear gripped him, and for a moment, he regretted pushing her this far. 'Damn it…'
At the same time, anger toward Zechs burned inside him, the very man because of whom he was now being treated like this. After all, he had been the one there for Linlin first, raised her, groomed her. Yet now she was even willing to harm him for Zechs.
The resentment in his chest only grew.
Then, as he looked into Linlin's eyes, he noticed something. Beneath the anger… there was fear.
And seeing that, he realized the truth. 'She… she's already started to consider it herself…'
If that was the case, then he knew exactly what to do. Even as he struggled to breathe, Streusen forced out the words, gathering what little courage he had left. "Haaah… who are you trying to convince, Linlin?" he rasped. "Are you trying to silence me… or are you refusing to admit… that deep down… You suspect it too?"
"Don't say it…" Linlin warned, tightening her grip. The pressure around his throat increased, making it even harder for him to breathe.
But Streusen continued anyway. "…That he might already be—"
"Didn't I tell you not to say it?!" Linlin snapped angrily.
Yet Streusen forced the final word out. "…dead!"
"!!!" Linlin's body trembled. In a surge of fear and anger, she tightened her grip and slammed Streusen against the wooden wall again.
Bang—crack!
The impact splintered the wood, cracks spreading across the surface. Blood trickled from Streusen's head where it had struck the wall.
After the blow, Linlin's arm trembled. Slowly, her fingers loosened, and she released him. Streusen collapsed to the floor.
He wasn't dead, nor had he lost consciousness. But he felt dizzy, pain throbbing through his head as blood flowed. Even so, he could tell that his words were having an effect.
Despite the pain and the lingering fear, he forced himself to continue. With a resolve that even he didn't know where it came from, he looked up at her, ready to say more.
But Linlin had already heard enough; she no longer wanted to listen. Without giving Streusen another chance to speak, she stepped past him and walked toward her cabin.
As she moved away, Streusen still called out after her, his voice hoarse but firm. "You can't escape this, Linlin," he said. "You have to accept it… Asmodeus Zechs may already be dead!!!"
Bang!
The only response Streusen received was the door of Linlin's cabin slamming shut in his face.
"Damn it!" he roared hoarsely, anger boiling within him.
Still, despite his anger at Linlin's behavior and the way she had stormed off, he didn't truly mind.
What mattered to him was only one thing: that she eventually accepted the possibility that Asmodeus Zechs would never return.
Once Zechs was out of the picture, Streusen believed he could slowly work his way back into Linlin's favor.
'No… in fact, this might even be better,' he thought with a malicious smile. 'If she's grieving, things will be easier for me...'
In fact, the Streusen of the original timeline had never been this obsessed with Linlin. But that was because he had never faced any real competition back then. He had properly groomed her and also successfully fathered her children, Perospero and Compote. After that, even when Linlin took other men as partners and husbands, he could tolerate it. After all, he had been the first to taste the fruit of his efforts. If others came later and took some share, it hardly mattered.
But now things were different.
The pie he had carefully prepared for years had been taken by someone else before he ever had the chance. Not only that, the man had openly flaunted it in front of him, making him feel jealous.
That humiliation festered inside him and turned into an obsession.
Now he had to claim a piece of that pie.
Fortunately, fate seemed to favor him. After only two nights with Linlin, Zechs had disappeared and had been missing for more than a month.
Streusen genuinely believed Zechs was already dead. And if that were true, he intended to seize this opportunity to grow closer to Linlin and make her bear his children, Perospero and Compote, at the very least.
As for what would happen after that… he would think about it when the time came.
'It's only a matter of time… sooner or later, she'll get over it,' he thought.
With that in mind, Streusen decided to prepare something for Linlin, perhaps some sweets or a proper meal that might help ease her grief over the loss of her fiancé.
'She hasn't been eating properly… maybe after this, she'll finally start eating again.'
At that moment, he suddenly recalled something he had heard Linlin admit while kneeling before Zechs—that she liked the taste of Zechs's semen more than Streusen's cooking.
The memory made his face twist with irritation, but he quickly snorted. 'Hmph. If Asmodeus Zechs is already dead, then there's no way she'll ever taste that again.'
Yet the thought also sparked another idea. 'If she liked that so much… then…'
His eyes suddenly lit up as a plan formed in his mind. Without wasting another moment, he hurried toward the kitchen, grabbed a bowl, and headed somewhere private where he could be alone for half a minute.
While Streusen busied himself after unzipping his pants, Rob, who had secretly listened to the entire argument between Linlin and Streusen, remained hidden nearby.
Frowning slightly, he thought to himself with concern, 'Boss… you're not really dead, are you?'
But even Rob didn't know if that was truly the case. He wanted to believe that the captain he had followed for the past five years wasn't dead, but he had no way of knowing for certain.
All he could do was hope that Zechs was still alive.
…
Meanwhile, inside the captain's cabin, Linlin sat on the bed, propped up with a dazed expression.
Zeus, Prometheus, and Oceanus tried to comfort her. "Mama… you don't need to—"
But before they could finish, Linlin raised her hand and cut them off, "Leave me alone."
The three homies exchanged helpless looks. With no choice but to obey her order, Zeus, Prometheus, and Oceanus quietly left the room, leaving Linlin alone.
Lying on the bed, she found her thoughts drifting back to Zechs.
Even though she refused to admit it aloud that he might be dead, the thought had already taken root in her mind, especially after Streusen said it.
A month had passed. And in all that time, there had been no news of him, nothing at all.
Slowly, against her will, the worst possibility began creeping into her thoughts, 'Perhaps he really is…'
Her body trembled as she clutched the bedsheet tightly in her fingers and bit her lip.
"You bastard…" she muttered hoarsely. "You were supposed to marry me. Why did you go after that maid instead…? If you had just left her to die, wouldn't you still be alive… and already married to me?"
She remembered the two days they had spent celebrating together, and the two nights they had shared in each other's arms. Although that bastard had taken advantage of her, and she had even fought with him the next morning, it had mostly been out of embarrassment and a bit of indignation. Deep down, she hadn't truly hated it.
After all, he was the one who had helped her fulfill her dream. Because of that, she had been willing to tolerate him taking a little advantage of her.
She also remembered the battle they had fought side by side against Admiral Kong… and the songs he had sung for her.
Before she realized it, she began softly humming one of those songs under her trembling breath. As the quiet melody and lyrics escaped her lips, a tear slipped from the corner of her eye.
"Damn it… why the hell… am I crying?" she muttered, her voice tightening as it caught in her throat. "He was someone I had only known for two days…"
She was not someone who usually indulged in sentimentality or deep emotions. She is carefree and ambitious… not someone who'd cry just because someone might have died. Especially someone she had known for only two days.
Yet for some reason, she couldn't stop herself from crying. She didn't understand why, but the tears kept coming.
Could the reason be love?
'Did I really fall in love with him in just two days?' she wondered, finding the thought hard to believe. But the ache in her chest at the possibility of never seeing Zechs again, at the thought that he might be dead, only made the tears flow even more.
Love was an emotion difficult to explain. For some, a single moment was enough to fall in love; for others, even a lifetime was not enough.
Linlin wasn't sure whether she had truly fallen in love with Asmodeus Zechs or not. But she couldn't deny that she liked him and had become somewhat infatuated with him for what he had done for her, and she had been deeply drawn to him with the desire of wanting to bear his children.
It wasn't only because of her dream of creating a country where all races could live together. She was also physically attracted to him, to his strength, his charm, and even his unique bloodline.
Yet now, faced once again with the possibility that he might be dead, she couldn't stop her heart from grieving.
"Damn it…"
She cried for a long time, and at some point, she didn't even realize when exhaustion overtook her.
These past days had drained her. She had barely slept and hardly eaten, leaving her entire body heavy and lethargic. Soon her eyelids grew unbearably heavy, and before she knew it, she closed her eyes and drifted into sleep as the silence and darkness took over her.
…
In the silence and darkness, a faint voice echoed.
"Linlin…"
"…uhh." Linlin stirred slightly. She felt as if she had heard something, but she wasn't sure. She was exhausted, half-asleep, and all she found herself surrounded by was darkness.
The voice came again, louder than before. "Linlin!"
"Hmmm…?" She felt more certain that she had heard something this time, yet she also wondered if her mind was playing tricks on her. More than anything, she just wanted to keep sleeping.
"LINLIN!!!"
The voice echoed a third time, louder than ever.
Startled, she jolted awake. "W-what? What?"
But strangely enough, she was no longer in her cabin aboard the ship.
Instead, she found herself sitting on one side of a bench inside a quiet gazebo. In front of her stood a fountain, yet it wasn't filled with water. Something thick and white filled its basin instead, carrying a peculiar scent that drew her attention.
The smell attracted her, but so did the strange objects scattered around the place. They were things she remembered or had encountered before, yet the setting itself made no sense.
"What is this place? Where am I?" she wondered aloud.
"This place?" the voice from earlier answered. "This is your plane of consciousness."
This time, Linlin heard the voice more clearly than ever. And now she recognized it.
Startled, she quickly turned to the other side of the bench.
Someone was sitting there.
Her eyes widened, and her body trembled as she struggled to speak his name. "Zechs…?"
"Yo!" Zechs raised his hand casually and greeted her with a smile.
At that greeting, her throat tightened. Tears welled in her eyes and began to fall as she suddenly lunged forward and hugged him tightly.
"?" Zechs was genuinely surprised to see Linlin crying and wailing like this the moment she saw him. He hadn't expected the woman, who, in the original timeline, was known for her cold indifference even toward her own children, to break down in tears for him.
Still, he let her cling to him. As she sat on his lap, hugging him, he gently caressed her trembling back and reassured her softly, "There, there… no need to cry."
But his words had little effect. Instead of calming down, she cried even harder.
"You bastard… you… you… where were you…?" she choked out before completely breaking down. "Wooo…!"
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Power Stones aren't coming, guys. What's going on, guys? Don't let them fall like this. Drop all your power Stones!!!
Goal 180 PS. Help me reach it.
And don't forget to leave comments and reviews to keep me motivated.
Of course, if the readers wish, they can certainly read up to 23 advanced Chapters on p-a-t-r-e-o-n: Knockturn_Alley