My liege

Hiromi snapped her head up to look at Hikaru with excitement and relief.

"But I won't be letting you go."

Hiromi looked confused and worried.

"May I ask what you mean by that? Are-are you... going to make me your slave?"

"Hmm. It 'would' be like that. You will obey my every order."

"Every order... even... I'll do anything. Even give you my body."

"Hm. That won't be necessary unless you disobey me."

"Disobey... punishment..."

Hiromi blushed.

Hiromi was worthless of them all and didn't seem to have any useful abilities. Since he has grown so much stronger, his power was reaching a plateau from absorbing regular people. This was proportionally indicated by his rate of absorption.

It took three seconds to absorb an adult and his speed was increasing only in the millimetre cubed per second for each person. There wasn't a need to take in Hiromi's body and she was more useful as a soldier.

'Then why did she offer me her body? To prove her loyalty? But she just begged to live a moment ago...'

Hikaru then realised what she meant. He looked at Hiromi sitting on her knees. She was hugging herself with an arm below her breasts and biting the fingernail of her other hand.

"Ah!" Hiromi exclaimed.

"?"

"Since I attacked you, I should be punished. We can do it now if you want."

Hiromi lifted her crop top, revealing a full-sized chest that would be less surprising on a more mature body. Instead of looking to her side, she held her ground and looked at Hikaru in the eyes.

This was an extremely bold move. Most guys would jump her right now but Hikaru only squinted.

"Are you so readily obedient when I just killed your family?" Hikaru asked soberly.

This was not the reaction she was expecting. Hiromi fixed her crop top and took a moment to carefully word her next sentence. Her life depended on it.

"We weren't a real family... At least not to me. I actually feel relieved that I'm free of them. Right now, I just don't want to die. Not when I think my life can change!"

The possibility of her betraying him and taking revenge was a blatant consequence. He had to address the "elephant" or the "snake" in this room.

It seemed like she was telling the truth. Hikaru saw in the memories of her family members that Luffy was scum. She was already disturbed by Luffy's pervert tendencies and sexual harassment all her life. That was even more true after he had raped her several days ago.

Juro had lied about the true history of the family. It was unknown for how long but for generations, the tradition wasn't about bringing luck into the family but it was about consuming humans to gain vitality and strength. By absorbing their souls through their vessel, the flesh, they strengthen their souls.

The recent parasite infestation had only made it easier and truer for them. They did grow stronger. Except for Hiromi, her parasite genome wasn't activated to the extent of an enhancer's genome.

She was right that they weren't a real family. They didn't have real feelings for each other and were distant. There was no culture of a functional family. No typical values or morals. Hikaru would have fared better in this family of killers. Except cannibalism wasn't his style.

He was glad that he only needed to absorb people through his skin. Though he would be alright with mechanically digesting people because he wasn't strictly "human". He was eating prey. Being a human and eating another person for no benefits at all except for the placebo effect, was disgusting.

There was no way to know for sure if she was telling the truth unless he absorbed her memories. Although that would end up killing her. He had experimented on restoring the people he absorbed but he had failed each time.

People were simply spat out from his body and laid unmoving on the ground. Some of the bodies weren't alive and some of them had a beating heart but they were brain dead.

It's because he didn't revive them. He simply constructed them from their genetics and anatomical data from his parasitic cell's extrasensory and mimicry abilities.

They were failed clones. At first, because he hadn't absorbed many people, he lacked the data to properly produce a human. Limbs were in the wrong places. Sometimes the features weren't symmetrical or they were mirror images.

Even if the limbs were in the right places, the next difficulty was the internal organs. They wouldn't last long otherwise. The hardest was the brain cells and arrangement of the neurons. He hadn't successfully made a thinking and walking human. They were all mannequins to upon birth.

"Are you sure you wouldn't have any grudges?" He questioned.

"Honestly, that thought never crossed my mind. However, doesn't the fate of anyone naturally rests on the outcome of a battle? The loser loses all… The winner proclaims his justice. And so… I, who had been forgiven by You, my lord. Can only feel gratitude!"

'Lord?'

Hikaru raised his eyebrow in surprise and then smiled a moment later.

'Oh well, I could kill her if she defects.'

He wasn't worried. With eyes on the back of his head literally, he won't have to worry about getting backstabbed.

"Then serve me until I die."

"Yes! I hope you never do my master!" Hiromi pronounced excitedly.

After sparing Hiromi, the weight on Hikaru's chest lifted and the voice inside him was quieter. It wasn't the voice of the dead, but it was their will that combined to a singular voice that kept nagging him. There was a deep connection to that voice. A familiar feeling but he wasn't sure what it was.

He couldn't locate the source as he did with organism x that had infected his mind before. It seemed to have been created by his own mind. It was difficult to say if he was going insane. He never had a benchmark to accurately judge that in the first place.

"Hm, then my first order for you is to step outside for a bit."

"Huh?"

"..."

"Ah yes! My liege!"