*TAP*
*TAP*
"..."
"Hey, are you with me? Earth to Ali"
"..."
She wasn't responding... but she wasn't unconscious. Veyron knelt to the lady's still-smoking body and repressed the urge to roll his eyes when he found a smile on her lips, her eyes unfocused and looking at the skies, answering no calls or shouts.
She was in her own world and it looked blissful.
'This isn't what I expected... I hope I didn't awaken something I shouldn't'
Unbeknownst to him, as he looked at her body, he didn't realise that was a two-way statement.
...
It would be a disgrace to abandon her like this and Hancock would surely return soon with all her matters in order. As he tapped on her cheeks, Veyron noticed a slight trail of saliva leaking out of her mouth.
With a neutral gaze, he cleaned it with his thumb and before he noticed, his thumb was firmly pressing down her tongue, inside her mouth. Ali's body started to contort a little until the light returned to her eyes to notice the situation she was in.
Their eyes met and he felt a subtle lick that slowly turned into a soft sucking.
"Did you expect this to be some sort of lewd punishment?" He asked her.
"..."
No answer was returned to him as she began sucking on his thumb even more vigorously until he realised what they were doing, who she was, and retreated his finger.
"I'll have Hancock get you a room in Amazon Lily where you can sleep, they hold commute banquets every night where you can eat too".
He picked up her coat and covered her with it, the woman just took it and refused to look at him in the eye after her earlier display.
'What did I just do...?' She berated herself, trying to regain her calm but unable to. Thankfully, the art of making a poker face had been deeply ingrained within her survival skills.
"Just go... I'll do my job and call you when it is done".
"I see... but-"
Just in time when Veyron wanted to break the awkwardness a lady walked out from the woods and onto the beach wearing a delightful white dress and carrying a bag, behind her were two royal guards of Amazon Lily.
Seeing the situation, they immediately stood on guard against Ali with a huge misunderstanding, Veyron defused the situation and told them to back off.
"She's with me, settle down".
"Yes, my god!".
"Darling? What happened…? this is?"
"I'm Rocks D. Ali but you knew me as Crocodile"
Veyron tilted his eyes at the sudden change in her mood, she stood up, still covering herself, but her display failed to irradiate confidence and might considering her body was
still releasing a mild smoke from earlier.
"Crocodile, huh? Darling told me you had turned into a woman".
"I was always a woman hiding behind the carcass of a man".
"You're beautiful, I must admit".
"Thank you, snake".
"But not as beautiful as me".
*SNORT!*
Sparks clashed in the air... Ali and Hancock were never particularly friends. The same could be said for Hancock and Robin, although they weren't enemies, they also weren't besties.
The snakes usually stood for one another... and although I realised that my girls were dividing themselves into factions, I didn't care as long as they were able to coexist.
...
After that little incident, Hancock got her guards to show Ali her room where she'd be staying in the meantime, she hooked her arms with him and the married couple was ready to go continue their date in Rusukaina.
The Hebihime would be staying in Rusukaina together with the rest of the girls until he was done running some tests for their hair and body.
Little did he know, oddities hadn't only awakened him and Ali...
**
**
*BOOOOOMMMMMM!!!*
A tornado of sharp sand wreaked havoc underground, in the middle of this catastrophe there was the body of a woman levitating and controlling the might of her power.
She waved her hands and the hard sedimentary rocks that served as the foundation of the island crumbled beneath her sharp sand imbued in Haki. It may have looked simple, but it was a technique developed with years of practice.
It had been two days now, it was all it took to dig the foundation.
The citizens of the flying island had been told that there would be recurrent quakes for the next three weeks or so as the foundation was being built, it wasn't like they cared at all. Before Ali even knew, there were crowds of women coming to look at her every day and help her by removing the leftover stones that could later be used for metallurgy and processing.
What shocked her the most was that all of those procedures took place before she even had to say anything. Amazon Lily was as highly organised as an ant colony.
...
"It is already deep into the night nyon, you should go and have your dinner, girl".
"Elder Nyon".
Among the women who would usually pay attention and take care of her, there was an elderly lady. At first, she was stubborn but under the relentless yelling of the elder, there was nothing she could do except reluctantly stop working and go eat.
'I want to finish this as quickly as possible... then I can ask for a reward and then...'
Her mind wouldn't stop dilly-dallying.
They brought her food during the morning, afternoon and evening she'd meet up at the official Kuja commute banquet, a meeting of the Kuja Pirates
It was safe to say she never felt so cared for and upon asking she was told that the Hebihime ordered them to treat her that way.
'Unnecessary' Ali harrumphed and checked up the buffet which consisted of an assortment of fish dishes, they all looked appetizing, but she couldn't help but notice...
"Why is it only fish you eat and not meat?" She asked the gigantic beauty who was eating next to her and gossiping with her group, Aphelandra.
"We have a healthy and cooperative relationship with the fauna of Rusukaina, Shandora and Skypea. It was our god who domesticated them… all of them are his pets so naturally we're not allowed to hunt them. We're only allowed to hunt and eat the fish from the sea or animals on other islands. But fish constitutes a healthy diet and hence, we only have fish".
'I can't deny it is tasty but I'd get bored after a while'.
Walking across the bustling city of Amazon Lily during the night, she realised how much of an impact Veyron had in that society.
'Gigantic buildings, gadgets, revolutionary transportation and technology… all of this in less than a decade. There is nowhere else in this world that looks like this… and the world government still labels him the enemy of the world? Ridiculous…'
"When that boy came... I couldn't have ever expected he'd bless Amazon Lily like this nyon. We went through a time of extreme poverty during my reign... for my foolish decisions".
"..."
"But now thanks to him... we live in the skies, even higher than the red line in one of the most advanced nyon cities. Although it wasn't all due to him, his leadership was all we needed nyon. The inherent potential of Kuja, he exposed it".
"You have been following me the whole time, I'm starting to think it is not a coincidence" Ali frowned and stopped mid-track, in the middle of one of the most bustling avenues.
For the past two days, this elder lady had stuck along and acted polite, but she had gone too deep down the roads to know something was not right.
Elder Nyon frowned and held her snake baton as if the world around them had stopped.
"That man is the pillar of Kuja, the pillar of Amazon Lily... and he will become the pillar of this world nyon. Hebihime ordered to keep an eye on you, but when I look at you, I don't see a good person hiding beneath the shade, Rocks D. Ali".
The sharp glare coming from her was not something she expected, it may have looked like a senile old woman, but she seemed to be concealing an unyielding character ready to sacrifice herself for the bigger picture. Alas, it wasn't her turn to act heroic.
"If she's not a good person... what does that make a traitor like you, Gloriosa?"
!!!!
If before the world looked like it had stopped. Now, it truly had.
*RUMBLE!*
A purplish shade shrouded the darkness of the night and a sea of flowers manifested like a sea, stopping both Ali and Gloriosa's heart. From that sea of flowers manifested a lady with a purple dress, silver hair with a fringe and equally purple hair. When she moved her fringe aside, her shining purple eye looked at the two of them.
"It has been a while".
"Isabel?!"
Ali wasn't surprised by the appearance of the knight she had met in Marie Geoise. What had surprised her, however... was the radical transformation that the elder underwent upon seeing her.
RUMBLE!
The snake staff she was holding was coated in a thick layer of advanced armament haki that she didn't even know if she was capable of making. She waved it skillfully before sticking to the ground.
BOOOMMM!!!
A wave spread across and cracks began manifesting in the purple world, creating a frown in Isabel's immaculate face.
*CRACK*
*CRACK*
*CRACK*
"All that time ago since God Valley... you still haven't forgotten how my power works".
"I'd be damned to forget it".
*BOOOOMMMM!!!!*
The world shattered giving way to the true reality, Ali glanced left and right and saw how the three of them were surrounded by literal crowds of Kuja.
If one looked closely, one would even be able to see two gigantic yellow eyes staring down from the darkness alongside a subtle growl.
Instead of feeling threatened, the knight of god clapped her hands in admiration, earning the ire of the Kuja. Gloriosa nearly flickered, groaning in the process and pointed her staff to the woman's neck.
"Give me a reason to not kill you".
"You couldn't kill me then... after you have withered and your beauty scattered... what makes you think you can do so now?".
There was a history between these two... and it was deep.