Krrk-kheh!cough!cough!
Reflecting on the past, Hancock sank to her knees on the floor, while Luffy—who'd just been choking—lay sprawled on the bed, coughing.
She glanced down at her own hands, still tingling with the sensation of having strangled him, the same hands that had drained the color from his face.
She remembered Thunder Sonia's pale, dying face staring up at her, Glutos's hands tightening around her sister's throat, and her own helplessness.
"I'm... a monster."
"I just stood by and watched my sister die... and then I almost killed the one who came to help me."
"I'm as ugly a monster as he is."
Hancock collapsed, her upper body going limp as she planted her palms on the floor.
Meanwhile, Luffy dragged himself up from the bed, bloodshot eyes flickering with a mix of anger and confusion as he stared at Hancock and spoke.
"How... am I supposed to accept this?"
Luffy cast a golden aura of Haki around both his fists and glared down at her.
Hancock knew Luffy had risen, but she kept her gaze fixed on the floor as she spoke.
"You saw it back then... what I had on my back."
"Anyone in the know knows."
"The dragon hoof mark—proof that I'm a slave of the Celestial Dragons... so you tried to kill me for that?"
"Right. If anyone discovered I was an escaped slave of the Celestial Dragons, they'd drag me back to [Holy Land Mariejois]."
Her shoulders trembled, her voice coming out in a sob interwoven with ragged breaths.
"That place was hell. No matter how hard I try to forget, those horrific days keep replaying in my mind."
"I didn't want anyone to find out—because I couldn't stand being under someone's control ever again."
"So you were scared of being discovered, yet you pretended to be a queen and a pirate?"
"To survive, I needed power—both force and authority."
"On my way back, I happened to eat the [Mero Mero Fruit], and since [Amazon Lily] is so isolated, no one there knew anything about Devil Fruits."
"So I made the islanders believe that in exchange for my newfound power, I was cursed—anyone who looked at my back would die."
As she spoke, Hancock's voice grew increasingly agitated.
"After I became queen, I put on a show—strong, arrogant, merciless—anything to maintain the façade."
"It didn't matter if I deceived Amazon Lily, the Celestial Dragons, hell, the entire world!"
"I... wanted to be that person!"
...
Luffy remained silent at Hancock's outburst.
His fists were still clenched, but the aura of Haki around them had faded, and his expression had softened somewhat from before.
After a brief pause, her shoulders stilled, and Hancock spoke in a low, subdued voice.
"I'm... truly sorry."
"...Do you mean it?"
"You helped me, and then I tried to kill you... I hate what I've become."
"I still tried to hold on, but... I don't think I can bear it anymore."
"So what do you want me to do?"
"...Could you help me just one more time?"
As Hancock said that, she slowly lifted her head and looked up at Luffy.
Kill me.
Her unfocused gaze was hollow.
Her tear-soaked eyes and weary, darkened face held nothing but despair.
This is annoying, in more ways than one.
For a moment, the swirl of emotions in Luffy's head left him dizzy.
The desperate fear he'd felt at death's door, the anger at being assaulted by the one he saved, his confusion, and the hopelessness in her eyes—all of it collided like a storm in his mind.
Then, a memory from another day began surfacing in Luffy's mind.
*****
"Dad!!!"
Ughhh... Aaahhh...
Beneath a sky heavy with storm clouds, a small village lay in ashen gray.
Charred wooden pillars stood like grotesque sentinels, and among the rubble, children wailed.
A Celestial Dragon had passed through here, which was why the village lay in ruin.
Children cried, and some adults screamed in low, agonized groans.
The dead lay silent, survivors sat in stunned silence, and Luffy spotted one woman among them.
She clutched the corpse of a child amidst the ashes, her eyes reflecting pure despair.
It was the very same look that filled Hancock's eyes before him now.
*****
Hngh... Hoo...
He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, and the anger was gone from his face.
He then perched on the edge of the bed behind him, and Hancock, her eyes trembling, spoke.
"What are you... doing?"
"Can't you see? I didn't want to stand, so I'm sitting."
"Why aren't you killing me? I... tried to kill you...!"
"You did try to kill me."
"But why..."
"Because your eyes just now reminded me of someone... not a slave like you, but someone with that same look."
"That's it...? I tried to kill you just because I felt pity for you...?"
"You said you were sorry—was that a lie?"
"It's not a lie, but... how am I supposed to forgive you... why?!"
As she spoke, Hancock's eyes changed.
Her unfocused gaze trembled, yet those hollow eyes stared clearly at Luffy.
"My grandfather once told me something."
Hearing that, Luffy recalled his own childhood.
Back then, little Luffy, still new to life with Dadan, was spending time with Garp, whom he hadn't seen in ages.
*****
"Grandpa, you said Dadan was a bandit—why don't you arrest her?"
"Because sometimes it's better to just leave her be."
...
"Why do you ask? Does she bother you a lot?"
"No, not really... bandits are bad guys, and you're a Marine who arrests bad guys."
"But because you won't arrest Dadan, Grandpa, you seem like a real wimp."
"Hahaha! So you think Grandpa's a wimp, huh, Luffy!"
"Th-that's not it..."
Garp, who had been smiling down at the flustered little Luffy, grew serious and continued speaking.
"Luffy... the world we live in is more rotten than you can imagine."
"In such a world, people have no room in their hearts, so they've grown used to suspecting, hating, and beating each other."
"But if even the smallest mistake or wrongdoing can't be forgiven, the world will only grow more twisted."
"And before you know it, it'll turn into a hell where no one can live."
The weight and sorrow in Garp's voice left Luffy speechless and listening intently.
Garp smiled warmly at Luffy and said,
"So, here's the thing, Luffy..."
*****
Drawing from Garp's words back then, Luffy said to Hancock, continuing his grandfather's advice.
"Don't lose that gentle heart—if you can forgive, make the effort."
"No matter how painful and hard it gets, don't give up on becoming a better person."
"Live your life doing the best you can."
Luffy continued, gazing at Hancock's stunned face.
"You apologized to me, but I'm not completely forgiving you yet."
"Instead of pardoning you outright, I want you to live by what I just told you."
After Luffy spoke with a firm expression, the silence stretched for a moment, then Hancock lowered her head and spoke again.
"My eldest sister... died because of me."
Hancock said this as a single tear slipped down her cheek.
"No matter how hard things got, no matter how the whips tore her flesh, my sister always thought of me and our younger sister first."
"Because of her, we were able to endure."
As she spoke, Hancock remembered that moment.
The three sisters were locked behind iron bars, and their eldest, Thunder Sonia, held her younger sisters close.
A silent warmth enveloped them.
Among the horrific memories of that hellish place, it was one of the few she held dear.
"But when my sister was dying right in front of me—begging me to save her, to help her—I could do nothing but watch."
"After that, Marigold stopped smiling at me... now there's no one who truly loves me."
"So I'm so lonely... but it's all my fault."
"I ruined everything."
Another tear slid down Hancock's cheek as she spoke.
"I should have died..."
Then two, three, and countless more tears began to fall without end.
Luffy looked down at her, his eyes no longer burning with anger but softly filled with compassion.
As he walked toward the door, he glanced back at Hancock, who was looking up at him, and spoke as he passed by.
Don't say that.
Hearing those words, Hancock's mind went blank.
His unwavering gaze and simple words lifted her collapsing spirit as she clutched her chest.
The moment Luffy left her room and shut the door, something inside her burst forth like water spilling from a broken dam.
Huh... Huhhh...!
Bent over with her hands on the floor, her shoulders began to shake uncontrollably.
She sobbed silently as tears streamed endlessly, soaking the floor.
'I really wanted to die... there was no one to tell me not to.'
'It's all my fault... I did this... I wanted to hear him say that.'
The single sentence from a man she'd barely met and normally despised shook her to the core.
Of all the words she'd ever heard, none had ever felt as genuine as his.
'Don't die, live right, don't give up... it was the first time I'd ever heard such words, and my head's spinning.'
'Sis... Big sis... I'm sorry... I'm so sorry.'
'But that one warm sentence... I can't stop crying...!'
His single sentence reached her like a small light piercing the darkness.
She never heard words like that from anyone else afterward, but they were simple and warm.
As Hancock wept in her room, her sobs drifted softly into the hallway.
There, leaning against her door, Luffy stood.
'Me comforting the woman who tried to kill me... it's absurd.'
'Anyway, telling her not to... was that really enough?'
Luffy stepped away from the door, turning toward the dim hallway.
'Still... it's better than saying nothing.'
With the faint light from her room at his back, he walked down the hallway.
He wanted to believe that if that single word could somehow catch her as she fell apart inside, then it was enough.