Chapter 286: Mediation
Waiting until Vahn had set Wendy down, released her, and caressed her head, Bonney, channeling Busoshoku Haki into her right fist, approached him with quivering, furrowed brows as she exclaimed, "You wishy-washy lizard! If you were going to appear randomly after a year, you should have just come with us from the start...!"
"It’s good to see you, Bonney..." responded Vahn, maintaining his smile even as the pink-haired Pirate adopted her adult form, reared back, and directed her fist at the center of his face. He could have dodged it, but he instead chose to turn his face to the side, allowing her to strike his cheek and send him flying backward as Wendy, startled, covered her mouth with her hands and exclaimed, "Vahn...!" in a concerned tone.
’Mmmn...B-Rank Strength is nothing to sneer at...’ noted Vahn, his body leaving a deep trench in the terrain before the build-up of dirt and stone debris stopped him around twenty meters. His Strength was only C-Rank since he couldn’t consume Stat-Enhancing Crystals like an Ascendee, but with B-Rank Constitution, A-Rank Pain Tolerance, and near-instantaneous regeneration, his cracked molars had reseated themselves even before he hit the ground.
Before her friends and Party members could stop her, Bonney appeared standing over Vahn with her arms crossed, her expression fixed in a teary-eyed glower as she asserted, "That was the least you deserved..." before abruptly plopping down, landing heavily atop his lower abdomen. A sense of urgency swelled within Vahn as he feared she might try to kiss him, but she remained upright, her expression softening as she sat like a thug with her forearms resting atop her spread knees and asked, "How long are you planning to stay...?"
"Very likely to the end..." affirmed Vahn, offering a slight nod as he once again had to suppress his instincts, this time to avoid habitually placing his hands on and caressing Bonney’s exposed sides. Instead, he caused her frown to deepen as he grabbed her knees and casually closed them.
"Do you got a problem with how I sit...?" asked Bonney, removing Vahn’s hands from her knees and readopting her aggressive, unladylike posture as she asserted, "No one’s forcing you to look, and even if you did, I don’t give two shits. It’s not like you haven’t seen what’s underneath..."
"I see you’re still as feisty as ever..." noted Vahn, exhaling from his nose before placing his hands on Bonney’s sides to prevent her from falling as he rose from the ground without needing to push off from it. She tried to wrap her legs around him in defiance, but before she could, he vanished, reappearing behind and catching her by her sides as he faintly muttered, "I would like to give you a hug and possibly caress your head...could you calm down for me?"
Having tucked her feet up to resist being set down, Bonney deliberated Vahn’s request in the awkward position, only lowering her feet as Wendy, Fran, Carla, and Ghislaine made their way over, the white-haired Exceed exasperatedly sighing, "How uncouth...as a member of the same Party, I feel embarrassed for us all..."
"Bite me, fish-breath..." retorted Bonney, glaring at Carla but allowing herself to be set down. Then, turning around and raising her gaze to glower at Vahn, she crossed her arms and asked, "What makes you think you even have the right to hug me?"