Kael's sigh of "So boring" echoed through the spacious private box.
Karon stood respectfully to the side, eyes lowered, breathing steady, long since accustomed to his boss's occasional bouts of dramatic whining.
Just then, the door to the box was gently pushed open.
A tall, radiant figure walked in with a plate of neatly sliced fruit. It was Boa Hancock, now even more breathtaking than before.
She carefully set the fruit platter beside Kael's hand, her movements soft and attentive, nothing like the stubborn girl from two years ago who dared to be angry but didn't dare to speak, who even walked like a storm.
"Kael-sama, please have some fruit."
Her voice was sweet and syrupy, and when her gaze brushed the side of Kael's face, a strange light unconsciously bloomed within it.
Kael gave a simple "Mm," casually speared a piece of apple, and kept watching the arena below, where two new challengers had already stepped up to begin the next deathmatch.
Hancock didn't leave.
She stood there, eyes fixed on Kael, dazed and utterly absorbed.
This man was a living legend.
Two years of living under the same roof, plus the bits and pieces she'd coaxed out about the battle of Mary Geoise, had pieced together in her mind an image both complete and terrifying.
One man fighting four of the Five Elders alone, cracking the Red Line itself, and then returning to recover as if nothing had happened.
His strength had long surpassed the limits of Hancock's understanding.
And yet, in daily life, he was always like this, lazy and easygoing, witty, humorous, occasionally telling jokes she didn't fully understand but still found oddly funny.
That extreme contrast held a destructive kind of charm to a girl whose heart was just beginning to bloom.
Or rather, in any world, a mature, steady, rich and powerful "diamond bachelor" like Kael Grylls had a naturally lethal appeal to young girls.
Back then, she'd privately egged Robin and Sakura on plenty of times, urging them to join forces and resist this "devil's" enslavement.
But now, when she saw Robin naturally helping Kael organize documents, when she saw Sakura and Rin thoughtfully preparing tea and snacks for him, what rose in her chest was no longer solidarity.
It was a sharp, urgent sense of danger.
These so-called sisters were getting far too close to Kael-sama.
While Hancock was spiraling into her own thoughts, Robin walked in with a fresh report.
"Kael, this is the latest intel from the New World."
Robin handed him the documents and smoothly took away his empty teacup in the same motion, effortless and perfectly in sync.
Hancock watched, her teeth unconsciously biting into her lower lip.
…
In the beginning, not long after Hancock had been brought to Sabaody, two special visitors arrived at the villa.
"Dark King" Silvers Rayleigh, and his "old flame," Shakky.
"You brat, you're living way too leisurely," Rayleigh said, taking a huge swig of alcohol as he looked at Kael sprawled on a beach chair, basking in the sun. He couldn't help shaking his head.
Shakky lit a ladies' cigarette, her gaze drifting toward the distance, where Hancock was watering the garden with Sakura and Rin.
"So that's the girl from Amazon Lily?" Shakky exhaled a ring of smoke. "She's very pretty."
Rayleigh set down the bottle, worry rising on his face. "Kael, you just took her out like that. Over on Kuja Island… Gloriosa won't let this go, will she?"
Kael opened one eye and glanced at Rayleigh.
"Shakky-nee hasn't said a word, so why is an outsider like you worrying so much?"
Shakky laughed. "I haven't been the Empress for a long time. And besides, staying with you is better than rotting away on that little island."
Kael's words choked Rayleigh so hard he couldn't even respond.
He wasn't wrong. Shakky had once been the Empress of Amazon Lily. If anyone had the right to speak, it was her.
"Besides," Kael said, closing his eye again, voice lazy, "if she really comes knocking, I've got my ways."
Rayleigh's worry became reality very quickly.
Half a month later, one afternoon, a ship bearing the Kuja emblem docked at Sabaody's port.
A middle-aged woman with a snake cane barged into the villa in a fury.
It was the former former former Empress of Amazon Lily, Gloriosa, the woman who would later be known as "Elder Nyon."
At this time, though her body had already begun to shrink with age, the trace of her once peerless beauty from her days in the Rocks Pirates still lingered between her brows.
"Aaron Kael!"
The moment she stepped inside, she slammed her snake cane against the floor, thump thump, the sound ringing sharply.
"You little punk! How dare you abduct one of my Kuja sisters! Hand Hancock over right now!"
Kael, who had been reading the newspaper in the living room, lifted his head and looked at the furious old woman with no expression at all.
Gloriosa planted her hands on her hips, chin raised in pride. "Kael! I don't care if you're some 'Aura King' or some kind of monster. Today I'm going to teach you a lesson on Roger's behalf, you disrespectful brat!"
She spread her stance, as if she really meant to fight.
Kael lowered the newspaper and slowly stood up.
He didn't release any killing intent. He simply looked at her calmly and said a sentence nobody there expected.
"Roger never loved you."
It hit her weakest point.
A critical hit.
The words were like heavenly lightning striking Gloriosa straight in the head.
Her entire body froze. The rage on her face instantly solidified, then shattered into shock and sorrow.
Her lips trembled for a long time, but no sound came out.
It was her deepest secret, the greatest regret she'd buried her whole life.
"Waaaaah!"
Gloriosa finally snapped.
Decades of grievance and unwillingness exploded in a single moment.
She tossed away her snake cane, covered her face, and let out a world-shaking wail before bolting out of the villa.
That retreating figure looked nothing like a legendary Empress.
Hancock stood there, dumbfounded.
Robin, Sakura, and Rin exchanged stunned looks.
That was… psychological murder.
…
After Gloriosa left in tears, she never appeared again.
Another year passed, and Hancock welcomed her eighteenth birthday.
She had grown from a green girl into a woman of peerless beauty.
That night, she went to Kael on her own.
"Kael-sama, this one wishes to return to Amazon Lily."
Kael was reading in the study. He paused at the words.
"Living here isn't comfortable?"
"No." Hancock shook her head. She stepped closer, gathering her courage to meet his eyes. "It's very good here, but… if I remain here, I'll forever be nothing more than a flower under your protection."
She paused, and her voice hardened into steel.
"I want power of my own. I want to become a blade you can wield, not a vase that only serves tea and fruit. I want to become the Empress of the Kuja, lead the Kuja Pirates, and plant a flag for you in the New World!"
Kael looked into the ambition and resolve burning in her eyes. After a brief silence, he smiled.
He reached out and flicked her smooth forehead, just like years ago.
"Go."
Hancock's eyes reddened.
She threw herself into Kael's arms, then turned and left the study without a shred of hesitation.
A few months later.
Kael lay on the couch, flipping through the latest newspaper.
The front page headline dominated the spread.
"WORLD SHOCKED! A STUNNINGLY BEAUTIFUL PIRATE EMPRESS IS BORN! The Kuja Pirates' first voyage delivers an astonishing record of victories. The World Government officially invites her to become the newest Warlord of the Sea!"
The paper featured a photo of Boa Hancock's proud side profile.
In the picture, she looked down upon all others, domineering and dazzling, already carrying the full aura of an Empress.
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