...
Only then did Hancock slowly turn around. Her mesmerizing eyes, capable of captivating all who gazed upon them, carried a touch of languid grace and an inviolable majesty.
She swept her gaze toward the distant Marine warships that had dared to open fire. Her voice was like heavenly music, yet laced with bone-chilling coldness: "Who… dares to be so discourteous as to casually station warships in the path where I am sailing…
and even have the audacity to fire these crude cannonballs? Disturbing my refined mood."
Merely her aura and that otherworldly beauty left the Marine soldiers on the opposing warships collectively dazed, their minds blank, hands loosening on their guns.
Even the commanding Marine officer, upon seeing Hancock's true appearance, felt a wave of dizziness and enchantment.
The stern reprimand he had prepared softened on his tongue, turning into a near-stammering explanation: "We are carrying out our mission to pursue the Straw Hat crew… We, we had no idea you were here…"
On the Straw Hat side, aside from Luffy, everyone else was extremely surprised by Hancock's sudden appearance and her relationship with Luffy.
Robin, with her vast knowledge, immediately recognized the other party and quietly introduced her to the crew: "That is one of the Warlords of the Sea, the 'Pirate Empress' Boa Hancock, known as the 'World's Most Beautiful Woman.'
Her ability is the Mero- Mero Fruit, which can turn anyone who feels attraction toward her into stone."
"World's Most Beautiful Woman?!"
Upon hearing this, Brook immediately raised a telescope (though he only had eye sockets) and looked toward Hancock.
"Let me have a look too… Ah! This, this is truly… too beautiful! Even though I have no eyes! Yohohoho!"
Sanji, who had just been somewhat listless from excessive blood loss, sprang up from the deck the instant he heard "World's Most Beautiful Woman," as if injected with a shot of adrenaline. Huge red hearts burst from his eyes.
With lightning speed, he rushed to the ship's railing and snatched the telescope from Brook's hand.
"Move aside! Let me see! The World's Most Beautiful Woman!!"
Sanji excitedly adjusted the focus.
However, the moment the telescope clearly framed Hancock's peerless face and stunning figure…
Sanji didn't even have time to exclaim in admiration. His entire body froze instantly. An expression of utter infatuation spread across his face, and almost immediately, a layer of grayish-white stone rapidly spread upward from his feet…
"Thud!"
A lifelike statue of "Sanji"—frozen in the act of snatching the telescope, still wearing a perverted grin—stood rigidly on the deck.
"Ah, it's Hancock!"
Luffy paid no mind to the petrified Sanji. Seeing Hancock, he happily waved at her.
"She came to see me off too! That's really considerate of her!"
In his mind, Hancock was simply a very kind friend who took great care of him
(even if that "care" was a bit overly intense).
"NANI?!!"
Sanji, who had just been unpetrified, completely broke down again upon hearing Luffy's casual remark.
He lunged at Luffy, grabbed him by the collar, and wailed with tears and snot streaming down his face.
"You're friends with the World's Most Beautiful Woman?! And she came specifically to see you off?! Luffy! Did you actually train properly these past two years?!
Why were all the places you got sent to filled with beautiful big sisters and cute little girls?!
While I… while I was stuck in that literal hell!!"
Sanji's tragic lament echoed across the deck, leaving everyone speechless and "sympathetic."
It seemed the two years on Kamabakka Kingdom had left this gentleman with profound and painful psychological trauma, causing his resistance to women not to increase but to plummet straight into the negatives.
[Current perspective from God Valley]
"This Hancock… really is even more beautiful and imposing than I was back then…"
Shakky watched the peerlessly elegant and domineering Hancock on the light screen, a faint, appreciative smile on her lips—completely free of jealousy. "Truly, the student has surpassed the master.
But as long as I can be with Rayleigh, even if it turned me into an ugly monster, I'd be perfectly happy."
Hearing Shakky's words, Rayleigh instinctively pulled her a little closer into his embrace.
On the other side, the Giant King Harald carefully cradled Rocks in the palm of his massive hand.
He bent down and asked in a voice like muffled thunder—though he had clearly tried to lower it: "Hey, Rocks, what exactly is that glowing thing up in the sky?
And… that old man in black over there, is he really one of the Five Elders? One of the World Government's highest rulers?"
Even though Harald had tried to keep his voice down, a giant's "whisper" still drew the attention of quite a few people nearby.
"Yeah, that's right."
Rocks sat cross-legged in the rough but steady palm of Harald, replying with certainty.
"That old bastard is one of the Five Elders—goes by Saint Saturn. As for this light screen…"
Rocks looked up at the enormous stone slab radiating mysterious light, then shrugged.
"I have no idea what its deal is either. All I know is the current situation: it can play scenes from the future, and it's trapping all of us here. Anyone who makes a move gets dealt with."
The moment he confirmed that the person was indeed one of the Five Elders in the flesh, the rugged, massive face of Harald became extremely complex and unsettled.
He was one of the reformists among the giants who strongly advocated for contact with the outside world, hoping Elbaf could become a World Government and gain official status and a voice.
To that end, he had personally traveled to the Holy Land of Mary Geoise in an attempt to meet the Five Elders and express Elbaf's wishes.
Unfortunately, due to various reasons, he never even got to see the Five Elders' faces and was even misunderstood by others.
That experience left him deeply frustrated and helpless.
However, it was precisely during that trip to the Holy Land that he happened to meet Rocks, who held the World Government in utter contempt.
Though their ideologies seemed opposed—one wanting to join, the other wanting to overthrow—they shared a rebellious attitude toward authority and immense personal strength, creating a strange resonance between them…
They became friends in a certain "birds of a feather" sense.
Now, learning that the very Five Elder he had once sought an audience with was right here in front of him—and witnessing so many unsavory secrets of the future World Government…
Harald's shock and doubt toward his original "franchise" plan grew wildly like weeds.
The way he looked at Saint Saturn became incredibly complicated.
...