William's Exclusive Pillow
The next morning at dawn, William yawned loudly. "Aha——" He released the pillow he had been hugging, feeling refreshed by how soft and comfortable it was.
"Lord William..." Perona's pretty face turned red. Her big black eyes looked at him with grievance. This guy was really treating her like a pillow?
"Morning..." William smiled at the petite 18-year-old legal loli. He patted her fair, delicate, pretty face. "You performed well yesterday, you'll need to keep working hard!"
"Ah?" Perona's eyes went wide as her cute face flushed red. She clenched her little fists angrily. "How can this be allowed?"
She thought it was over after last night. It was the first time she had served someone like this. Yesterday while giving him a bath, she kept saying she just wanted to bite him once. "You can relax," she had told him, struggling to steel her resolve. But then all her advantages were exploited until she was reduced to a pathetic pillow. Would she end up regretting this?
"Because holding Perona feels so comfortable..." William said matter-of-factly. How could he let go of such a good pillow?
"You dishonest jerk, I'll fight you!" Perona glared fiercely, ignoring the seastone handcuffs binding her as she lunged at him angrily. But William easily subdued her.
"It's getting late, time to get up..."
Some time later, having saved up enough money, William stood and stretched his waist. Looking at Perona's flushed, puffy-cheeked face as she fought back tears, he casually tossed her the key to the seastone cuffs in the delighted little girl's eyes. "But as a reward, here's the key. Though being my pillow every day is your obligation from now on!"
William had decided unilaterally. Perona would be his own exclusive pillow going forward. But until she truly returned home, he felt keeping her in seastone cuffs overnight was still necessary for safety.
"Hmph...what a bad guy!" Perona watched him leave to wash up. Recalling last night's experience, she felt flushed with a mix of embarrassment and annoyance. She made a face. "Lue~~Lue~~, if you didn't look so handsome, I wouldn't want to do any of this!"
"Such an uncute Sir William!"
After washing up, William brought Perona to the living room on the castle's first floor, where the former genius surgeon Dr. Hogback had been waiting a long time. Dark circles under his eyes stood out starkly - he clearly hadn't rested at all last night.
"Lord William..." Hogback's eyes lit up eagerly as William arrived. "The powers of the Repair Fruit you gave me are incredible...I've already repaired all those rotting corpses!"
"Oh, is that so?" William raised his eyebrows. To test the newly-obtained fruit's abilities, this Hogback had obviously been hard at work overnight.
"I even fully repaired the swordsman Ryoma's corpse, restoring his original appearance..." Hogback grinned happily. "As long as you use your Shadow Fruit's powers to imbue them with shadows, they'll be revived immediately - and far more powerful than before!"
"That giant Oz is too big for me to move back yet. Give me more time, and I'll return him to his prime appearance 500 years ago in peak condition, the strongest zombie!"
"Hey, are you saying you can restore them to just as they were in life?" Perona's ghostly form floated out, eyes wide in disbelief. "Hogback, are you telling the truth?"
She knew his technical mastery well. While his corpse stitching and repairing skills were top-notch from creating zombies for Gecko Moria, it should be impossible to make a corpse exactly as it was when alive, right? The Repair Fruit's powers seemed exaggerated.
"Hiss~hiss~hiss~, this is the Repair Fruit ability all doctors dream of, Perona!" Hogback bared his fangs in a strange smile, chest puffed with pride. "Using my techniques combined with the Repair Fruit, it's now completely possible to restore those corpses to their fullest, even their original living appearance - the effect is indistinguishable from the real thing!"
"It seems you've prepared well..." William chuckled, surveying the confident Hogback. "Then I'd like to see just how far the corpses you've repaired can go!"
It happened that he too was ready to fully test the Shadow Fruit's capabilities, in order to further develop his mastery and set future goals. After all, William's beliefs about its powers were by no means limited to ordinary zombie creation - on the contrary, there were infinite possibilities.
More than creating zombies, what he wanted was for the shadows robbed from others to move autonomously in shadow form after separating from their original bodies, 100% obedient to his commands without needing a corpse vessel. He could even directly possess a target, turning them into his puppet. But was such a thing possible? That remained to be verified.
"Alas, I cremated Sindry's body myself! Wuwu..." Hogback suddenly thought of something and burst into tears without warning, utterly dejected.
What he truly regretted was not obtaining the Paramecia Repair Fruit abilities sooner. Just days ago, he had reluctantly cremated the corpse of his dream girl Sindry after Moria accidentally crushed her. For that, Hogback had grieved for three long days and nights.
Otherwise, he would have asked Sir William to create the most perfect Sindry zombie for himself using the Shadow Fruit's power.
"Here we go again..." Perona was speechless. Ever since Sindry's body was destroyed, this guy didn't just mourn for three days - he still cried over it sporadically like a sick man whenever the thought crossed his mind.
The corners of William's mouth twitched. An obsessive dog who couldn't lick, with a twisted psychology - that was his evaluation of Dr. Hogback. By aspiring to turn his former dream girl Sindry into a zombie, this guy's mind had slowly become warped over time.
From the start, all he ever wanted was Sindry's body, not her heart. For Dr. Hogback, he just needed a replacement. Unfortunately, that replacement was destroyed by Moria. No wonder the guy rebelled so easily.
(end of chapter)