A single-player post-apocalyptic game, but with an all-female teammate mod.

If they are alone, they are likely to be unable to suppress their desires, or they may harbor a sliver of wishful thinking.

However, with mutual supervision, such wishful thinking was completely extinguished.

About half an hour later, Saeko Busujima and Esdeath heard footsteps.

Aono led Kage and Ika through the cleaned stone chambers and arrived at the bronze gate.

Looking at the two women standing on either side of the gate, their eyes practically brimming with fighting spirit, yet neither of them making any rash moves, Aono smiled with satisfaction.

“You’ve done a great job. As a reward, you can make one request later that doesn’t violate my principles.”

As for what the principles are, Aono himself has the final say on that.

Saeko Busujima and Esdeath exchanged a glance, and simultaneously loosened their grip on the sword hilts.

“Aono-kun, I will make good use of this request.”

Esdeath grinned, as if she had finally found a way to vent the anger she had been holding back for so long.

Saeko Busujima, who just joined, is much more reserved.

She didn't speak, but simply nodded silently to indicate that she had heard.

In reality, outside of battle, her personality is that of a typical Yamato Nadeshiko, completely obedient to the man she has chosen, and giving him sufficient dignity and respect.

Because of her memories of being recruited, she sees Aono as her husband.

However, Aono never mentioned it, so she kept the thought to herself.

Aono glanced at Esdeath, who was becoming increasingly audacious, and planned to find an opportunity to teach her a lesson later.

This crazy woman has some personality issues. If we don't keep her in check for a while, she'll start to rebel.

Thinking about it, Aono turned his gaze back to the familiar bronze gate.

Just like the one I saw last time, this door is much taller than the ordinary hidden door. The door frame is carved with a complete sandstorm totem, and the relief on the door panel is inlaid with gold material, emitting a faint golden light.

But this time, he made a different decision than before.

"Everyone stay outside."

Aono glanced back at Kage and Ika who were following behind him. "I'll go in alone this time."

Ika tilted her head slightly, "Master?"

Kage looked at Aono with a puzzled expression and asked, "Husband?"

"You can come in if you want, but don't make a move."

Aono gripped the handle of the alloy battle axe, his eyes also blazing with fighting spirit.

"Since I transmigrated to this point, I have never actually fought a BOSS one-on-one."

He paused, his gaze falling on the bronze gate.

"As our combat strength increases, we'll probably have even less of a chance later on."

Shadow and Ika didn't ask any further questions.

They had witnessed Aono's last battle and knew she was telling the truth.

If this snowball continues, the later bosses will probably all be instantly killed by Aono.

Esdeath and Saeko Busujima, especially the latter, only knew that Aono's stats had exceeded 5,000, but they didn't understand what that actually meant.

Filled with curiosity, the two followed Ika and Kage into the BOSS room with Aono.

The scene in this BOSS room is somewhat similar to the Tsar's palace, but the style is completely different.

This is a more spacious circular stone chamber, with countless luminous yellow crystals embedded in the dome, like a miniature starry sky.

The ground is no longer a mosaic of stone slabs, but a smooth expanse of sandstone, with huge sandstorm totems carved on its surface.

Instead of a throne, there was a slightly raised sand platform in the center of the stone chamber.

A figure stood on the sand platform.

He was tall and wore a dark coat with a fur collar. He held a huge golden grappling hook in his left hand, his right arm was wrapped in bandages, and he had a cigar in his mouth.

The system label above was bright red and glaring.

Crocodile, user of the Sand-Sand Fruit, level 40 (BOSS)

Aono stopped in her tracks.

"???"

He stared at the figure for a full three seconds, then slowly exhaled.

Crocodile from One Piece is here?

No matter how you look at it, the BOSS in front of you is Crocodile, the Shichibukai from One Piece who ate the Sand-Sand Fruit.

"It seems the mod's creator hid quite a few Easter eggs..." Aono's lips twitched.

Crocodile lowered his head at that moment, his sharp eyes hidden under the brim of his hat coldly looking down at the intruder.

His appearance is almost identical to his first appearance in Aono's memory.

The grappling hook gleamed coldly, and his right arm, hidden beneath bandages, seemed to conceal something, exuding an aura of ambition.

"Hey?"

Aono spoke tentatively, his alloy battle axe hanging limply at his side instead of being raised, "Do you have self-awareness? You know Luffy..."

"Noisy."

Crocodile replied with only two words, his voice low and hoarse, filled with undisguised killing intent.

The next second, it swung its right arm violently, and the bandages instantly tore apart.

"Shalan!"

A massive sandstorm tornado roared out from its hand, causing the entire stone chamber floor to tremble.

The totems on the sandstone surface seemed to come alive, and countless grains of sand gathered into a thick, yellow storm column that crashed down on Qingye.

Aono did not dodge.

It wasn't out of arrogance, but because he wanted to see just how strong Crocodile really was.

The moment Sha Lan collided head-on with him, he felt a tremendous impact.

The sand grains cut into his skin like countless tiny knives, but his absurdly strong body allowed him to withstand the damage, with only minor cuts and scrapes at the worst points.

"His combat strength... is about the same as the Tsar's." He squinted in the storm. "At most, it's about the same combat strength he had when he first appeared in One Piece."

Now that he had confirmed the upper limit of the opponent's strength, Aono felt relieved.

He continued to try to communicate, but Crocodile did not respond to anything he said.

But judging from his eyes, he clearly understands what he is saying, and even shows obvious emotion towards words like Luffy and Shichibukai.

But for some unknown reason, they consistently refused to communicate.

After a few minutes of effort, Aono's patience ran out.

He charged forward, lightning exploding on his alloy battle axe, cleanly shattering the oncoming sand tornado.

Following the blue arc of electricity came crimson sparks, the two intertwining to form a violent spiral impact that slammed directly into Crocodile's chest.

If it were an ordinary monster, this attack would be fatal.

However, Crocodile is a Logia-type Devil Fruit user, and his body became elemental the moment he was hit.

The moment the axe blade pierced through, he turned into a pile of loose sand to avoid it.

However, elementalization is not invincible.

As expected, Aono stomped on the ground, and a ring of blue lightning pulses erupted around him.

A fierce blue lightning bolt hurtled towards the sand grains that Crocodile had transformed into.

In One Piece, only Haki can counter elemental transformation, but that's not the case in this world.

Following the blue lightning, fierce flames began to burn, directly incinerating the sand grains that Crocodile had transformed into glassy crystals.

The sand grains lost their activity, forcing Crocodile to revert to human form.

But a large chunk of the sand on his chest had already melted away.

A flash of surprise and anger crossed his eyes, followed by a silent silence.

The next moment, the heavily injured Crocodile suddenly swung out his grappling hook, beginning his final struggle.

Seeing that he still had no intention of communicating, Aono stopped holding back.

boom!!

The shockwave from the thunder and fire explosion completely engulfed Crocodile's entire body.

When the light faded, all that remained on the sand table was a pile of crystals that had solidified into a glassy appearance, along with scattered debris.

Aono stepped forward and collected the gold coins and materials first.

The remaining half of the Heart of the Sun also automatically entered the backpack.

The Heart of the Sun (Half)

He took it out and then pieced it together with the upper part he had previously received from the Tsar.

The golden patterns on the edges of the two fragments fit together perfectly, and the golden light inside the crystal was finally complete.

"All complete." Aono breathed a sigh of relief and put the complete Heart of the Sun into his backpack.

Then he squatted down, flipped open the solidified crystal, and finally saw the familiar card again.

[Random Recruitment Ticket (Limited to the One Piece World)]

He looked at the card that emitted a faint golden light, and his guess was confirmed once again.

Only humanoid, or rather, anime-related humanoid bosses, will drop recruitment items.

"By the way, I don't really like the art style of One Piece..."

He muttered something under his breath as he activated the recruitment voucher.

Golden light exploded in front of him, and a tall figure gradually condensed within the light.

After a careful look, Aono breathed a sigh of relief.

It was much better than he had expected. Considering the art style of One Piece, the mature woman in front of him was definitely a top-tier beauty.

The mature woman named Hina has an extremely tall and sexy figure.

Aono estimated that he was about 1.8 meters tall.

Moreover, it's not the kind of height that's slender and thin; it's the height of a top-quality car, as full and mature as a shadow.

But her art style is more reminiscent of One Piece.

Her frame is well-proportioned, her waistline is taut, and her legs are exceptionally long.

A purple low-cut shirt covered her upper body, with a gold-trimmed collar that flipped up to her collarbone, leading down to a pair of fair, slender, yet voluptuous legs.

She had long, pink hair that reached her waist and cascaded down her back. A pair of purple sunglasses perched atop her fair forehead.

A snow-white navy coat was draped over his shoulders, with the classic word "Justice" written on the back.

As for her face, Aono didn't care much, but she was definitely a beauty; it's just that he had seen too many beauties before.

That's why the naval lady in front of me seems so ordinary.

While she was still processing some information from her sudden transmigration, Aono took the opportunity to open her panel and check it out.

After all, he still couldn't remember who the mature female naval officer in front of him was...

------

Name: Hina.

Occupation: Navy.

Level: 11 (1/1000)

Talents: Haki (Legendary), Cage-Cage Fruit (Epic, Evolvable)

Talent Effects: 1. Proficiency in Observation Haki and Armament Haki; able to sense the flow of surrounding energy within a five-meter radius, detect enemy killing intent and movements, condense Haki to attach to the body and weapons, increasing attack and defense, and can destroy elemental structures (Haki).