Ron lowered his gaze, looking at the pretty face in his arms that was flushed red enough to drip blood.
“Why did you come to the back mountain all by yourself?”
Ron deliberately slowed his tone, carrying a touch of reproach and teasing.
“This forest is full of wild beasts.
It’s so dangerous.
If you were snatched away, your big brother would be heartbroken.”
Uta’s two small hands were clutching tightly at the muscles on Ron’s chest.
Even her breathing had become hurried.
She buried her head, and after a long while, she hummed in a very low voice.
“I…
I missed you, big brother…”
Her voice was soft and sweet.
Coupled with that shy and timid appearance, it went straight to the heart.
In fact, after Uta had fallen earlier, she could have stood steady on the bottom of the pool long ago.
But the little girl had rubbed her feet randomly on the bluestone slab at the bottom.
Instead of letting go, she wrapped her long, snow-white, smooth legs directly around Ron’s lower back.
Her arms were tightly clasped around the back of Ron’s neck.
Her whole body was completely hanging on him, refusing to let go no matter what.
“The bottom…
the bluestone is too slippery, and the current is too fast.
I can’t stand…”
Uta found a very lame excuse for herself, burying her head hard into Ron’s sturdy chest.
A soft warmth filled his arms.
Ron naturally wouldn’t expose this little trick.
Not only did he not push her away, but he freed his left hand and, taking the initiative, pinched Uta’s rosy cheeks.
His fingers used a bit of skillful force, pulling that soft, sweet cheek into a cute, fleshy shape.
“You’ve gotten bold, haven’t you?” Ron leaned into her white-and-red ear.
The hot air he exhaled hit it directly.
“So blatantly clinging to me, aren’t you afraid that Red Hair old man of yours will come up the mountain with a sword?
If he knew his precious daughter was sneaking off to bathe with me behind his back, I reckon this entire Mt.
Colubo would be leveled by him.”
Being pinched by Ron like this, Uta pouted in defiance.
“I’m not afraid of him at all!” Uta lifted her face, which was covered in water droplets, and boldly retorted.
“He only knows how to drink and compete in drinking with his subordinates all day long.
He doesn’t care about me at all.
Only Ron big brother is the best to me, and this outfit was designed for me by you too.”
When she got excited, she even let go with one hand, cupped a handful of warm spring water in her palm, and splashed it directly at Ron’s cheek.
Water splashed everywhere.
It wetted the black bangs on Ron’s forehead, dripping down his handsome contours.
“You dare to ambush your big brother?
Take this.”
Ron laughed out loud, directly wrapping his arm around her waist and spinning half a circle in the pool.
He casually lifted a wave of water and splashed it back.
The two began to play and frolic in the spacious hot spring pool.
Crisp, delicate laughter echoed through the mountain forest.
As the water churned, Uta dodged and begged for mercy repeatedly.
But since she was hanging entirely on Ron, how could she escape?
Every time she struggled, those wet, graceful curves would rub directly against Ron.
The water temperature rose, and the ambiguous atmosphere between the two that made one blush and heart race kept climbing.
A crisp electronic prompt sounded on time in Ron’s mind.
[Ding!
Detected deep physical interaction with plot character Uta, triggering a Heartbeat Critical Hit!
Congratulations to the host, dropped a top-tier reward: Vocal Resonance Skill (can influence the mind)!]
A large amount of complex and strange knowledge was instantly poured into Ron’s brain.
This was not just simple singing technique.
But a terrifying method of how to precisely control sound frequency to directly interfere with others’ nerves and even their minds through sound wave resonance.
Combined with Uta’s future Uta Uta no Mi, this was simply a perfect match.
Ron was just about to test the frequency control of the new skill.
From the depths of the dense, secluded forest behind, a disaster-level commotion suddenly erupted.
First, patches of century-old giant trees let out teeth-aching snapping sounds, and large flocks of birds fled, screaming.
Immediately after, a heaven-shaking, mournful tiger roar tore through the tranquility of the entire back mountain.
The roar was so loud that it caused a dense layer of ripples on the surface of the hot spring.
Uta’s face, which had been smiling just a moment ago, instantly turned pale.
The little girl was terrified, screamed, and buried her face tightly into the crook of Ron’s neck, not daring to move at all.
Disturbed, Ron turned his head impatiently and looked towards the forest.
The bushes were flattened by an extremely brutal force.
Three mud-covered brats scrambled out of the edge of the woods.
It was Luffy, Ace, and Sabo.
The three brothers looked miserable at this moment.
Luffy’s rubber arm was dragging long behind him, his face covered in fearful tears and snot.
Ace had lost one shoe, and the vest on his body had become tattered rags.
Sabo’s black top hat was knocked crooked, and he was clutching a broken piece of iron pipe in his hand.
“Help!
Big brother, help!
We’re going to die, we’re going to die!”
Seeing Ron in the hot spring, Luffy screamed miserably at the top of his lungs.
Less than five meters behind them, a mutated, colorful giant tiger, two stories tall with blood-red eyes, was sprinting wildly.
This beast was extremely huge and terrifying.
Its fur stood on end, and foul-smelling drool flowed from its bloody mouth.
Just now, it had swatted away the rockfall trap set by Sabo with one paw and ignored Ace’s torch attack, forcing the three brothers into a dead end.
The giant tiger’s front paws slammed heavily onto the bluestone slab at the edge of the pool, sending gravel flying.
A fishy wind rushed directly toward the center of the hot spring.
Ron’s eyes darkened.
A perfectly good bath for two was interrupted by these few blind monkeys and a wild dog.
This made him quite unhappy.
He didn’t even have the inclination to stand up.
His left hand gently brushed over Uta’s red and white hair covered in water droplets, pressing her head firmly against his chest to block the view outside.
“Don’t look.
It’ll dirty your eyes.” Ron said in a low voice.
At the same time, his right hand reached out casually toward the shore.
There happened to be a dry, rotten branch left over from when Ace and the others had made a fire.
Ron took the dry and brittle branch in his hand.
There was no extra wind-up motion.
The top-tier Armament Haki within his body poured out without reservation in an instant.
The surface of the originally withered and brittle wood was immediately wrapped in a layer of black, shiny luster.
Following that, all the supreme sword intent inventory that had burst out from Ron’s system was poured into it.
The giant tiger let out a brutal roar.
Its massive body leaped into the air.
A huge shadow completely covered this area of water, preparing to swallow these people along with the pool water into its belly.
Facing the dangerous predicament before him, Ron lifted his right hand nonchalantly.
The pitch-black dry branch casually traced a short arc in mid-air.
There was no deafening roar, no blinding light, and it didn’t even stir up any extra splashes on the water surface.
A restrained yet domineering sword intent shot out, cutting through the air along the trajectory of the branch’s swing.
In mid-air, the pouncing motion of that overlord-level giant tiger froze eerily at its highest point for half a second.
The roar in its throat was abruptly cut off, and a straight line of blood appeared abruptly in the center of its massive body.
The blood line extended all the way down from its broad forehead, piercing through the entire abdomen without any obstruction.
With a loud boom.
The giant tiger didn’t even have time to scream.
Its massive body snapped into two pieces on the spot in mid-air, slamming heavily onto the muddy ground dozens of meters away.
Viscera and blood gushed out, instantly staining a large patch of grass red.
The entire back mountain instantly fell into an eerie silence.
Except for the gurgling sound of the hot spring water, there was no other noise.
Luffy maintained his running posture, his chin slamming directly onto the pebbles, his tongue hanging out, unable to retract it.
Ace’s legs went weak, and he slumped onto the ground.
He stared blankly at the half-pipe in his hand, then looked at the remains of the tiger in the distance, his Adam’s apple bobbing desperately.
Sabo rubbed his eyes frantically, his head buzzing.
The monster that had forced the three of them into a desperate situation and couldn’t even be scratched was split in two by their big brother with a piece of rotten firewood left over from a fire, from dozens of meters away?
In the hot spring pool, Ron casually threw the useless branch onto the shore.
He took the bath towel draped over the steps, scooped up a pool of warm water, and continued to gently scrub the back of Uta, who was still trembling in his arms.
After doing this, he turned his head and glanced at the three mud monkeys on the shore who were in a state of daze.
“Where are you looking?
Get lost and turn your heads away.” Ron’s tone carried a hint of nonchalance.
The three little brats collectively shuddered and hurriedly covered their eyes and turned around.
“Go drag that dead cat to the leeward side, bleed it, and skin it.” Ron tapped the bluestone slab behind him.
“Also, hurry up and add firewood to the stove.
If the water gets cold, the three of you will be stewed in the pot with this big cat today.”
Hearing this, the three brothers didn’t have a shred of the bandit spirit of wanting to be Pirate King left.
That sword strike just now had completely crushed the pride in their hearts.
Now their worship of Ron had reached the point of prostration.
“Yes!
Big brother!
Adding firewood immediately!”
The three nodded repeatedly, wiping the mud off their faces, and ran off diligently to act as furnace-tending laborers.