The Marine base exploded into noise.
Not literally—Romance Dawn didn't burn down—but the moment Luffy moved, everything else followed like fate had been kicked down a staircase.
"HEY! SWORD GUY!" Luffy yelled, already stretching his arms. "I'M GONNA GET YOU OUTTA THERE!"
Zoro groaned. "I didn't ask—"
Osamu laughed.
Not a chuckle. Not a snort.
A sharp, manic laugh that cut straight through the shouting Marines and clashing steel.
"Oh, this is good," he said, rolling his shoulders. "I haven't had a proper stress release since I died."
A Marine squad rushed them—rifles raised, boots pounding the ground in neat, terrified rhythm.
Osamu snapped his fingers.
[System Shop — Purchase Confirmed]Item: Industrial Binding SlimeCost: 300 Belly
A bucket appeared in his hand.
The Marines barely had time to blink.
Osamu threw it.
The slime burst midair like a living thing, splattering across the ground, walls, and legs—then moved.
Thick. Glossy. Translucent.
It wrapped around boots, climbed calves, glued rifles to hands and hands to torsos.
"What the hell—?!""I can't move!""MY LEGS—"
Osamu doubled over laughing.
"HOLY SHIT," he barked. "It's even better than the reviews!"
One Marine tried to pull free and face-planted as the slime yanked him back like a bad decision.
Osamu stepped forward, eyes bright, grin too wide.
"Guys, guys," he said cheerfully. "Stop struggling. That's how it gets you."
Another squad rushed in from the side.
Bad call.
Osamu's hands blurred.
Shadow Clone Jutsu.
Five.Ten.Fifteen.
The yard filled with him.
Not standing still—moving, laughing, throwing slime buckets, kicking rifles away, tripping Marines into each other like bowling pins.
"THIS IS THERAPY!" one Osamu shouted as he slid under a rifle swing.
Another clone slammed slime directly onto a cannon, sealing it shut with a wet glorp.
A third vaulted off a wall and landed on a Marine's shoulders.
"Sorry," the clone said politely, before shoving him face-first into the slime pile.
In the center of it all stood Axe-Hand Morgan.
The man roared, fury and pride boiling over. "YOU THINK THIS IS A JOKE?!"
Osamu turned toward him, still laughing, chest rising and falling like he'd just run miles.
"Oh, absolutely," he said. "You're a tyrant with a metal arm running a base full of idiots."
Morgan charged.
Osamu didn't dodge.
He threw slime.
Straight at Morgan's axe-arm.
The metal hit the slime and stopped dead—frozen mid-swing as the substance hardened instantly, binding steel to shoulder, shoulder to torso.
Morgan staggered.
"What—what is this?!"
Osamu walked up to him, close enough to smell sweat and rage.
"This?" he said lightly. "Three hundred Belly well spent."
Morgan roared and tried to move—
—and Luffy's fist stretched past Osamu's shoulder.
"GOMU GOMU NO—"
Osamu leaned aside, laughing again, eyes wild.
"—PISTOL!"
The punch landed square in Morgan's face.
Bone cracked.Pride shattered.The tyrant flew.
Morgan slammed into the far wall and didn't get back up.
Silence fell.
Then—
"…WE WON!" someone screamed.
The Marines dropped their weapons. Townspeople poured in. Cheers exploded like fireworks.
Osamu dispelled his clones one by one, the feedback rushing into him in hot waves—fatigue, soreness, exhilaration.
[Quest Complete: Romance Dawn Suppression][Rewards Granted]• Experience Increased• Title Unlocked: Slime Tyrant]• Bonus: Reputation Boost (East Blue)
"…Slime Tyrant," Osamu repeated, then laughed again. "Yeah. I'll take it."
That night, the town drank.
Barrels of beer were rolled out. Food disappeared faster than Luffy could eat it—which was saying something.
Osamu leaned back on a bench, beer in hand, bruised, sore, buzzing with leftover adrenaline.
A woman with dark hair and sharp eyes sat beside him.
"You're not from around here," she said.
"Is it the chaos," Osamu replied, "or the slime?"
She laughed. "Both."
Another woman joined them. Then another.
Osamu talked. Joked. Flirted shamelessly—not smooth, not poetic, just honest and loud and alive.
"You really scared the Marines," one of them said.
Osamu took a long drink and smirked. "Good."
Luffy laughed somewhere nearby, mouth full. Zoro drank quietly. Nami counted coins with a smile that promised trouble.
Osamu tipped his head back, staring at the stars.
For the first time since waking up on that ship—
He felt free.
And somewhere deep inside, something laughed with him.