CHAPTER 633: CHAPTER 152: WHAT A STRANGE SWITCH

"P-Punishment?" Stussy’s voice trembled. She couldn’t hold Darren’s gaze and turned her face away.

His hand roamed; a shiver ran through her, a bright prickle like an electric touch, and her knees threatened to give. It wasn’t the first time—and that damned man was perfectly at ease—but tonight something was different.

She had walked in certain of victory; now she was the one defeated. Her mind hadn’t caught up with the fall. The sudden reversal left her wrong-footed, unready... embarrassed.

"That’s right," Darren murmured, thumb idly stroking the pale silk of her cheek, a teasing smile at the corner of his mouth. "Remind me—what were the stakes of our little wager?"

He feigned consideration. "Do you remember?"

The wager...

Heat flooded Stussy’s face, shame rising like a tide. Her body tensed; she twisted, restless.

Could it be... I have to call him that—right now?

No. I refuse to lose like this.

She bared her teeth, her aura snapping sharp. Resolve lit her eyes.

Whoosh.

Black, delicate bat wings burst from her shoulder blades, shredding evening silk as they spread. Her pale gold irises bled into a deep, eerie crimson; two slender fangs lengthened, gleaming.

With one hard beat, Stussy tore free of his hands.

A gale ripped the hall, flinging delicacies, shattering porcelain. A slim black tail tipped like an arrow unfurled behind her, twitching in the air.

Ethereal black fire curled around her like ribbons as she hovered, the Queen of the Pleasure District cloaked in mystery, allure—danger.

"Darren, I will never submit to you," she hissed, pouring every ounce of her newfound power into the words. "Don’t think you’re the only one who grows on this sea. I’m not the woman you remember."

Vampire: Perfect Form—Awakening.

"So, you’ve awakened," Darren said, unruffled, almost amused. "Your Fruit mastery’s improved... and you’ve even grown a tail."

His eyes slid to that devil’s tail, and his expression turned... odd. A thought clearly occurred to him—indecent and unhelpful.

Stussy knew that filthy mind too well. Fury flashed.

"You’re begging for death!"

She moved. One violent stroke and she vanished, speed peaking until the air held only afterimages. It was the Vampire’s apex—speed and grace in one.

In the next breath she was behind him, breath warm at his neck, fangs bared.

A closer look and purplish-black wisps coiled around those teeth, an ominous sheen catching the lamplight.

Confidence burned in her eyes.

She hadn’t come unprepared. For months she’d leveraged CP0’s armory and archives, drilling until her bones ached. She’d pried open Awakening, heaping regeneration atop vitality, and forged her Armament Haki to a higher edge. Internal Destruction eluded her, but she had studied the Indestructible Body’s weaknesses until the pages blurred.

It wouldn’t kill him. But it didn’t need to. All she needed was the smallest breach—one scratch. Then the Vampire’s kiss would pull him under, let her rewrite what she pleased, and take control.

Closer... closer...

At this distance, at this speed—he can’t react.

A smile bloomed on her crimson mouth.

She struck.

"Hehe... in the end, I—"

Crack.

The sound was tiny and cruel. Stussy froze mid-lunge, the smile collapsing.

Fine fissures spiderwebbed across all four fangs.

Then, together, they shattered.

Stussy: ...

Darren turned his head, mildly exasperated. "Didn’t you try that already?"

For a heartbeat she felt unmoored, weightless, as if the world had slipped its axis.

"This... this is impossible!" She forced the words out. "My power has grown—so much!"

Darren shook his head, expression taking on a mournful cast. "You have no idea how many trips to the toilet I’ve made in the past two months."

She stared at him, blank.

He touched his neck, fingers finding four shallow dents. Skin unbroken. Two months ago—before Magellan’s, ah, toilet hell—his Indestructible Body at ninety might have been pierced. But now... after those sleepless nights and very eventful days, his Physique had climbed to 96. Even he wasn’t sure where his, ahem, lower-body resilience ended anymore.

"So... done with foreplay?" he asked, wry.

Something cold seized Stussy’s heart. Panic lit her nerves.

Her wings hammered, whipping the air as she instinctively tried to bolt.

Darren moved first.

His step cracked like lightning.

One rough hand closed on her throat.

"Damn—!" The word strangled in her.

His other hand flashed—and caught her tail.

Stussy’s body jolted.

Rage vanished; color flooded her cheeks to the roots of her hair.

Darren blinked at the sudden change, baffled. On reflex he gave the captured tail a firm squeeze.

"Mmm..."

The sound slipped from her like water over stone—soft, involuntary, devastating. Her limbs lost strength; she folded into his arms, pliant as melted wax.

Her lips parted on quick breaths; her eyes turned liquid at the corners.

What...?

Darren stilled.

He stared at the black devil’s tail in his hand, silent for a beat. Then the smile that curved his mouth went distinctly crooked.

What kind of strange switch did I just find?

To be continued...