You've got to be kidding me.
So this "Radiant Smile" skill… just activates automatically the moment I show eight teeth while smiling?
I don't even need to confirm it?
That's straight-up dangerous.
Good thing I realized in time. If I hadn't figured out the trigger, I could've accidentally activated the skill on someone totally inappropriate later on—and who knows what kind of disaster that'd cause.
Nao glanced toward Miss Vedona again.
—The blonde beauty of a chef had already snapped back to normal. She was casually whistling while rinsing her ladle under the faucet. Still, her cheeks carried the faintest leftover blush.
He subtly checked his surroundings. Monica and the other girls in line behind him looked normal, and the guys waiting at the other counter didn't seem affected either.
Good. There were men in that line.
He really didn't want to accidentally charm another guy and end up in a faceoff over something like that.
But still… Why had Vedona been "preliminarily conquered" from just a smile? There was no physical contact, no confession, nothing.
Nao tapped his tray thoughtfully as he walked back to his seat.
Maybe he'd misunderstood how "initial conquest" worked this whole time. Could it really just be based on affection level?
That would explain things. When Shia got marked as "preliminarily conquered" despite him rejecting her, it was probably just because her affection level was way higher than the average admirer.
As for the other girls—like Monica—who got flagged during interactions with Gion, it was likely just those moments of close contact pushing their affection across the system's threshold.
If that's the case…
Now that his Charm stat had increased, and he had a passive skill like Radiant Smile, just walking around and flashing grins could start stacking flags like crazy.
Nao absentmindedly munched his breakfast as he opened his quest log and reviewed the brand new side mission that had just popped up.
[New Side Quest: "Hundred-Heart Conquest"]
[Your extraordinary Charm makes preliminary conquests absurdly easy. A simple smile may now captivate countless hearts. Player, it's time to aim higher.]
[Objective: Complete 100 preliminary conquests within 15 days.]
[Reward: 60,000 points + 2 × A-Rank Loot Boxes]
He'd expected it from the title, but still... this quest was wild.
Ten targets last time. Now it's one hundred?
Next time, what—a thousand? Ten thousand? A hundred thousand?
At this rate, forget a love triangle or a love hexagon—he'd be staging a full-blown Marineford war arc with all the women involved.
Nao sighed.
He'd always considered himself someone with solid principles when it came to love. Even now, only two women truly had space in his heart: Gion and Bell-mère.
He really wasn't trying to rack up romantic debts left and right.
Still, at least the quest didn't require anything… intimate. Just raising affection to the threshold would do. No harm, no foul.
If the system had asked for real romantic conquests? No matter how many points it offered, he wouldn't have touched it.
"One hundred targets, huh…"
Nao fell deep into thought, wondering if he could come up with a loophole like he had for the last two quests.
"Hm. This one doesn't specify they have to be Marines, and the rewards are smaller… maybe it's meant to be easier?"
Wait…
It doesn't say anything about the targets needing to be human either.
[System Note #7: Eligible targets include all beings, not limited to humans.]
Nao suddenly remembered that line from the system tutorial he skimmed on day one.
He hadn't paid it any mind back then—but now? This might be very exploitable.
"…"
He glanced down at his tray.
Right next to his croissant sat a few pieces of grilled fish.
One of them had a full fish head, and under the lights of the mess hall ceiling, the fish's glassy eye reflected with an almost eerie glint.
"Damn it. Doesn't work."
Thirty minutes later, Nao walked into the training room, tossing his jacket onto the wall hook as he grumbled with disappointment.
He really had tried everything.
He'd gone out and caught a full net of fish from the sea. Tried sweet-talking them. Smiled. Complimented their fins. Even pulled out all the worst dad jokes he knew.
By the time all the fish were dead, not a single "Target Conquered" message had popped up.
So yeah. Apparently, not all carbon-based life forms could appreciate the charm of the great Nao.
He'd just have to wait until Radiant Smile came off cooldown and try again—maybe with a higher-spec mammal.
But for now?
Time to train.
The training room was nearly empty.
Not surprising, really. The final assessment had just wrapped up. Most people were exhausted and resting in their cabins.
Not everyone was blessed with Nao's absurd regeneration rate, after all.
He opened his inventory, activated the Martial Arts Training Booster, and then turned to the item he'd been dying to try all morning:
Gravity Field.
Ever since it showed up in the shop, he'd been itching to use it.
"Gravity can be adjusted from 1x to 100x normal. Precision goes down to one decimal place, so 1.1x or 99.9x are both valid."
He reread the item description carefully one more time. No mistakes.
Nao decided to start slow—no reason to go full Vegeta on his first try.
[Gravity Field Activated – Current Gravity: 2.0x]
The system notification flashed briefly.
And immediately, Nao felt it—the air itself thickened, as if space had turned syrupy around him.
The discomfort only lasted a second.
He rolled his shoulders, twisted his hips, stretched his neck. A few seconds later, he was moving normally again.
Barely any pressure.
"Too easy. Not enough for real gains."
He raised an eyebrow and bumped the setting up.
2.5x… 3x… 3.5x…
Each time he increased the gravity, he ran through a few training routines to test his limits.
Still... not enough.
He needed more.
—Shia's Diary—
Day 324 of liking Nao – Heavy Rain
Father called today. He said he found a few decent Devil Fruits and wants the guards to bring them to Marineford.
I wasn't interested at first…
But one of them sounds kind of useful.
Maybe it could help me out in this situation?
Not sure yet.
Also, Nao looked even more handsome today.
I had to take another shower after lunch and change pants again…
And later that night, I saw Rear Admiral Gion hiding up in the lookout tower, staring toward the back of the ship.
She looked exhausted, yawning nonstop…
But she wouldn't go back to her room.
Funny thing is… there was no one at the back of the ship.
That woman… she's so weird.
PS: Read Advance Chapters at https://www.patreon.com/c/ReadJin