Sora narrowed his eyes at the sight of Laki and Conis standing before him in bikinis.
Laki had a slender, graceful figure, while Conis was cute and sexy. The two standing together were a stunning contrast of styles.
Pulling his gaze away from their bodies, Sora smiled and said,
"I have two Devil Fruits that can give you the ability to fly. Do you want them?"
The moment they heard they could gain the power of flight, both Laki and Conis lit up with joy and nodded.
"I want it!" they said in unison.
As Skypieans, their greatest wish had always been to fly freely.
"Come on, I'll take you somewhere more private to eat the Devil Fruits."
He stored the two fruits in his subspace inventory, then scooped both women into his arms—one in each.
Seeing his actions, Laki and Conis instantly understood his intentions. Their faces flushed bright red, and they shyly nodded.
"Okay, Lord Sora..."
Ever since he had saved Skypiea from Enel, the two had respected and adored him from the bottom of their hearts.
Whatever Sora wanted to do, they would never refuse.
Seeing their expressions, Sora chuckled and leapt off with the two of them in his arms, heading toward the Divine Slave.
Devil Fruits tasted awful. He planned to add some extra flavor for Laki and Conis.
Watching them leave in Sora's arms, Anna pouted.
"I wanna go too!"
Shalria: "..."
...
A few days later.
Waters near Water 7.
"Reiju, still no word from your father?"
Sora sipped a cold drink as he stood at the stern of the ship, watching Vivi, Nami, Mikita, Nojiko, and the others surfing on the ocean behind the Divine Slave, holding onto ropes.
Nearby, Robin, Makino, and Sara lounged on a floaty being towed by the ship, sunbathing peacefully.
Meanwhile, Laki and Conis—now with flight powers—soared overhead, keeping watch over the girls. If anyone fell into the water, they dove down for a quick rescue.
Elsewhere on the ship, Kaya, Golden Week Marianne, Jessica, and the rest were engaged in leisure—reading, painting, and practicing cooking.
"No contact. They must have gone silent," Reiju replied.
"But I have a permanent Log Pose to Germa. You can ask them yourself when we get there."
Reiju finished her drink and handed it to Shalria behind her.
"You want me to go?" Sora asked, surprised. "You're not going? Judge is your father, after all."
They were about to arrive at Water 7, and Sora wanted to know if Judge had managed to seize the Pluton blueprints.
If he had, then great—Sora would invest some money in Germa to help build it, and once it was done, he'd take the completed Pluton for himself.
If not, then he wouldn't mind grabbing the Pluton plans from Franky while stealing Kalifa from CP9 and handing them over to Judge to build. Either way, the Pluton would be his.
Weapons of that level had to be under his control.
Reiju shrugged indifferently.
"Besides Sanji, my only family now is you—my lover."
"As long as the others don't die, I don't care about them."
"So I don't want to see them."
Lover, huh?
Hearing her words, Sora grinned.
He handed his drink to Anna, then walked over and wrapped Reiju in his arms, whispering in her ear with a smile:
"If you really don't want to see them, then I'll go in your place."
"I needed to talk to Judge anyway."
"Mhm." Reiju leaned into his chest, closing her eyes and enjoying the warm moment between them.
Anna and Shalria looked on enviously.
They wished their master would treat them that gently too.
Not long after, Nami, Vivi, Nojiko, and the others returned to the ship after finishing their water play.
Soon, under Sora's control and guided by Reiju, the Divine Slave arrived at the Germa Kingdom.
Inside the Germa reception room...
Led by Germa soldiers, Sora met with Vinsmoke Judge, who had been waiting for him. His brothers-in-law were nowhere to be seen.
"So those are the world noble Shalria and Princess Anna of the Kachinov Kingdom that Sora abducted..."
Looking at the two girls behind Sora dressed in maid outfits, Judge was quietly shocked.
To take a Celestial Dragon and a royal princess and turn them into maids—Judge himself, despite all his ambition, would never dare imagine such a thing.
If the other Celestial Dragons found out, they'd see it as a disgrace to their status—and they might hunt Sora to the ends of the earth. Even Shalria might be executed.
But what did that have to do with him?
Judge smiled and looked at Sora.
"Why didn't Reiju come?"
He didn't actually care—just needed a way to start the conversation.
"She's watching the ship for me. So she couldn't make it."
Sora casually explained and sat down across from Judge. Anna and Shalria stood obediently behind him.
Sora glanced around the room, then cut to the chase.
"Did you get the Pluton blueprints?"
"No," Judge replied confidently.
"Why not?" Sora frowned.
With Germa's resources, stealing the blueprints from Franky should've been easy.
Judge sighed and explained:
"By the time I crossed the Red Line from the North Blue, entered East Blue, and finally made it to Water 7 in the Grand Line... Admiral Akainu had already arrived."
"He stayed here for an entire month. Because of him, all pirates around Water 7 were arrested. Even the local underworld vanished—including Franky."
"I still haven't found a trace of him. I have no idea where he's hiding."
"And I didn't want Akainu to realize my intentions, so I went into stealth mode."
Akainu showed up at Water 7?
Was he here to hunt me down?
Is this the butterfly effect caused by my actions?
Hearing that, Sora raised an eyebrow.
No wonder there were no pirates around Water 7—and not even a stray Devil Fruit to be found. Akainu had cleaned house.
After thinking it over, Sora asked:
"I want to feed a Devil Fruit to an object. Do you have the tech to make that happen?"
His main purpose for this visit was to implant the Swallow-Swallow Fruit into a machine so it could produce memory alloy.
Judge nodded.
"That's simple for me."