"Just knowing how to serve someone isn't enough."
Rei Ao patted Hancock's smooth, sleek back.
"As a queen—especially as my woman, Rei Ao's woman—being too weak doesn't look good."
Hancock lifted her head, a little uneasy in her eyes. "I… I'll work hard to become stronger!"
"Working hard is too slow."
Rei Ao smiled faintly. "I'll give you a hand."
He extended a finger and tapped the center of Hancock's smooth forehead.
There was no earth-shaking commotion.
Hancock only felt a warm, vast torrent surge from his fingertip into her body, instantly coursing through every limb and vein!
She let out a muffled groan, her body trembling slightly.
It wasn't pain.
It was a strange sensation—like her very level of existence was being forcibly lifted, her power exploding in growth.
In her mind, her perception of Observation Haki expanded at breakneck speed.
It was as if she could "hear" every person on the island—the faintest heartbeats and even their emotions.
Armament Haki began to flow of its own accord, forming an incomparably tough defense beneath her skin, its intensity climbing at an unbelievable pace.
Conqueror's Haki… her kingly potential ignited like kindling—and erupted!
A subtle, invisible tremor rippled through the air. The flowers and grass at the edge of the terrace silently bowed low.
At the same time, the power of her Love-Love Fruit was also boiling, transforming.
Her control over charm—her understanding of techniques like "Slave Arrow" and "Perfume Femur"—shot to an entirely new level, almost instinctive.
The whole process lasted only a dozen or so seconds.
Rei Ao withdrew his finger.
Hancock slowly opened her eyes. A sharp pink gleam flashed in them, then faded.
She clenched her fist, feeling an unprecedented surge of power roaring through her body—like one punch could bring down a small mountain.
"Th-this is…"
Her voice trembled with excitement.
"The three types of Haki, plus your Devil Fruit ability—I've raised them to this world's theoretical 'peak,'" Rei Ao said casually.
"Unless someone steps outside the framework of this world… you shouldn't be able to find an opponent on the seas."
Truly invincible across the seas.
Hancock stared at him in a daze, adoration nearly overflowing from her eyes.
To her, being powerful was of course thrilling—
but what intoxicated her even more was the fact that the one who bestowed that power on her was Rei Ao-sama.
She was just about to express her gratitude in a more passionate way—
when Rei Ao's brow twitched, almost imperceptibly.
"Hm?"
"Rei Ao-sama?" Hancock keenly caught the instant his attention drifted.
"…Interesting."
The corner of Rei Ao's mouth curled into a faint, playful smile.
"The new member in the group seems to have run into a little trouble."
He was naturally referring to that trading chat group that connected different worlds.
"Is there anything you need me to do?" Hancock asked at once.
"No."
Rei Ao leaned back into the soft couch again, his gaze returning to its lazy calm.
"It's a small matter."
He pulled his attention back.
Then he looked at Hancock beside him, who was a little tense and curious because of his reaction.
"Continue."
He patted the empty spot on the couch, his tone utterly matter-of-fact.
Hancock immediately tossed the whole "group" and "new member" matter to the back of her mind. Her cheeks faintly red, obedient and carrying a hint of anticipation, she nestled over.
Moonlight spilled across the terrace, and the sea breeze remained gentle.
On Amazon Lily, the night was peaceful and alluring.
…
The Naruto world.
In a moonlit forest.
Staring at the hoarse-voiced ninja closing in step by step, her heart almost leapt into her throat.
Am I going to die?
I'll be captured.
As a jinchūriki, they'll extract the tailed beast… and I'll die a miserable death?
Despair, like an icy tide, began to drown her consciousness.
The hoarse-voiced ninja seemed to lose patience.
With a flip of his wrist, a short blade coated in an eerie blue sheen appeared in his hand.
"If you won't behave, then taking you back half-dead works just the same!"
His figure blurred. The dagger drew a cold arc of light as it stabbed straight toward Kushina's shoulder—
meant to make her lose the ability to move!
Kushina's pupils shrank.
She threw herself back with all her strength, while the kunai in her hand snapped up to block!
Clang!
Sparks flew.
A massive force crashed down through the kunai, numbing her grip and nearly knocking it from her hand.
The gap in strength is too big!
In the pitch-black woods, there was only ragged breathing and the soft hiss of footsteps grinding through fallen leaves.
Kushina felt like her lungs were on fire.
Every breath came with the taste of blood.
She ran while desperately defending herself, her vivid red hair whipping wildly behind her—an obvious target under the moonlight.
Behind her, three ghostlike figures pursued without letting up.
"Don't waste your strength, kid."
That hoarse voice drifted from behind like it was clinging to her bones, carrying the cruel amusement of a cat toying with a mouse.
"You can't get away."
Kushina gritted her teeth and made a sharp turn, trying to use the trees as cover.
A shuriken thudded into the trunk beside the path she'd just taken, the edge glinting with an eerie blue—poisoned.
Her status as a jinchūriki—
to other villages, she was a highly valuable "strategic asset."
She didn't dare imagine what would happen if she were taken.
Despair, like cold vines, wrapped tighter and tighter around her heart.
Her stamina was draining fast. Her chakra was already bottoming out.
The distance between them was shrinking.
She could hear the steady, rapid footfalls of the ninja behind her.
Is this the end?
Dying alone in this unfamiliar forest—just like Grandma?
No!
Suddenly she remembered that strange interface in her mind—the trading chat group.
It was her last, and only, possible lifeline.
Last time… that older sister named Hancock seemed to have been saved by asking the group leader, "Rei Ao," for help!
A trade!
Yes—trade!
She didn't understand what it meant at all, but it was the only thing she could think of!
Kushina clumsily dodged another whistling kunai—
and at the same time, desperately "called" for that interface in her mind.
A pale blue light screen struggled into view within her consciousness. The chat records scrolled rapidly, but she had no time to read them.
She copied what she remembered Hancock doing, focusing every ounce of willpower as she cried out toward that name she'd never spoken to before, yet that seemed to hold unimaginable power.
"Please! Help me!"
At the same moment,
Rei Ao received a notification.
[Ding! Kushina has initiated a trade request with you!]
[Trade content]: Save her!
[Ding! Please choose your trade conditions!]