-Real World - Mary Geoise-
Events developed with catastrophic velocity, sliding onto a trajectory nobody had anticipated. Information flooded through the Sky Screen broadcast so rapidly that most observers couldn't process the implications immediately.
Boa Hancock remained physically present in the holy land of Mary Geoise at this precise moment. When she witnessed her deepest secret exposed to the entire world, the Empress's formidable presence began shrinking instantly. Her face turned deathly pale. Sweat beads rose on her neck like physical manifestation of psychological collapse.
She felt like she was experiencing public execution—stripped naked before millions of witnesses. The dignity she'd painstakingly constructed over years was being ruthlessly trampled underfoot. Painful memories of serving as a Celestial Dragon's slave kept replaying like slides in a projector she couldn't turn off, deepening traumatic impressions with each repetition.
Although Donquixote Doflamingo hadn't seen the complete Hoof of the Celestial Dragons branded on the Empress's beautiful back, as a former World Noble he was intimately familiar with that particular slave mark. After all, virtually all Celestial Dragons had raised slaves to varying degrees—it was fundamental to their lifestyle and worldview.
The Hoof of the Soaring Dragon was a mark designating inferior creature status—not a badge of honor any rational person would voluntarily inscribe upon themselves. Nobody except the mentally disturbed would carve such branding into their own flesh.
As Queen of Amazon Lily—ruler of an entire nation—Boa Hancock wouldn't need to debase herself by becoming a slave even if she somehow admired the so-called God Clan. Many Celestial Dragons would eagerly pursue marriage with the world's most beautiful woman, seeking to add her exceptional genetics to their bloodlines.
The Hoof of the Celestial Dragons displayed on the Sky Screen couldn't be falsified or misinterpreted. Doflamingo, an obscene smile spreading across his features, didn't mind testing the Empress's psychological state at this gathering: "Tsk tsk tsk... So this is the great Empress's secret. Perhaps I took care of you personally when you were a child slave. I only regret that I can't remember what that particular female slave looked like at the time."
As a veteran in exploitation of women, the Heavenly Yaksha fundamentally believed women were interchangeable commodities. Beyond satisfying immediate physical needs, he rarely bothered remembering faces of women he'd violated. Those individuals who possessed no inherent value weren't worthy of Doflamingo's mental storage space.
Apart from outliers like Donquixote Mjosgard—the reformed World Noble who'd developed genuine conscience after Fish-Man Island experiences—Celestial Dragons generally divided into two categories regarding slave treatment.
Some Celestial Dragons maintained such exalted self-image that they considered physical contact with foreigners fundamentally contaminating. They believed touching inferior races would pollute the divine bloodline. Yet these same individuals still raised slaves extensively.
Slaves suffered the most catastrophic abuse at the hands of this first category. These owners didn't regard other sentient lives as possessing any value whatsoever. They experienced zero psychological burden while persecuting and ravaging their property. In their perspective, slaves were merely strings of cold numerical data—livestock inventory to be used and discarded.
The second category of Celestial Dragons engaged in more direct physical contact with foreigners who appeared aesthetically pleasing. Both female and male World Nobles within this group demonstrated extraordinary promiscuity—maintaining multiple partners simultaneously without meaningful commitment.
However, this was purely verbal posturing without actual binding force. The slaves' fundamental status never changed regardless of favoritism or affection. Children born from Celestial Dragon parentage and slave mothers were almost invariably consigned to slavery themselves. Countless individuals had been psychologically destroyed and subsequently abandoned when novelty expired.
Which specific category of Celestial Dragons had owned Empress Boa Hancock remained subject to speculation. The time span created obstacles, and most World Nobles were essentially golden pigs raised in captivity—their memories unreliable, their records deliberately obscured.
Fisher Tiger's catastrophic raid on Mary Geoise—the fire he'd ignited—had saved numerous slaves while simultaneously burning original documentation. Evidence had been systematically erased.
If the Sky Screen hadn't revealed this explosive information, ninety-nine percent of people across the seas would never have known that the noble and seemingly inviolable Boa Hancock had once been enslaved by the so-called gods. But now ninety-nine percent of the world's population possessed this knowledge.
It could no longer be called a secret.
"Doflamingo, shut your mouth!" The voice carried tremendous energy, tone saturated with resentment. "I don't want to hear any Celestial Dragon filth emerging from your throat."
The speaker clearly wasn't the Empress. Nobody present initially expected that the first of the Seven Warlords of the Sea to defend Hancock publicly would be Sea Knight Jinbe of the Fish-Man race.
The Sun Pirates had been the first crew Fisher Tiger formed after his legendary escape. Every fish-man aboard that vessel had been a Celestial Dragon slave. All bore the branded Hoof of the Soaring Dragon marking them as property. Captain Fisher Tiger had personally taken the initiative, using red-hot iron to create a crimson sun symbol covering the original hoof print—proving everyone had gained freedom and new life.
Regarding this humiliating shared history, Sea Knight Jinbe empathized with Boa Hancock more profoundly than anyone else present. Although they belonged to different species, they possessed a common enemy: the God Clan truly represented the source of all maritime evil.
Boa Hancock could have departed this troublesome location immediately. But she insisted on remaining, compelled by morbid necessity to witness her own ending before leaving. She needed to observe until she'd glimpsed that other self dwelling within her body through the Sky Screen broadcast.
The alternative Boa Hancock wasn't as sensitive and fragile as the original personality. Her aura and demonstrated strength vastly exceeded those of the deeply traumatized slave queen.
Within the mental landscape that had been labeled the "Pure Land of Heart," the original self still wore the slave outfit the Celestial Dragons had provided. This realization made Hancock even more frustrated and despairing. Her memory of that clothing was so profound that she would never forget it across her entire lifespan. No wonder her inner world had manifested this way.
When the alternative Empress—that Devil Fruit consciousness calling itself Medusa—completely replaced the original personality, Boa Hancock witnessed the scene without protest. Instead, she displayed an expression approaching relief.
The ending was neither ideal nor catastrophic.
Even if consciousness possession represented the final outcome, it was infinitely preferable to being pinned down by Blackbeard Teach. Becoming that grotesque man's woman, bearing children with that hideous creature... the mere thought inspired physical revulsion. A fate worse than death was genuinely too horrible to contemplate.
"Medusa..." Hancock whispered to herself, processing the revelation. "Is this the true name of my other self? Does every Devil Fruit represent a demon inhabiting human flesh?"
If Hancock's prediction proved accurate—if consciousness replacement could occur in countless Devil Fruit users across the seas—the spectacle of universal paranoia would be darkly amusing.
For a Devil Fruit user to hear another voice dwelling within their body, certain prerequisites must be satisfied. The case of Boa Hancock proved that if one's inner psychological defenses were broken to sufficient degree—if one descended into inescapable despair—the Devil Fruit consciousness could seize the opportunity to invade and replace.
The critical question remained unanswered: if the Devil Fruit became master and the mount reversed positions to ride upon the king's throne, could the original consciousness ever reclaim bodily control?
More likely, after spiritual possession occurred, the authentic self-consciousness would be permanently devoured and replaced by the demonic entity dwelling within. The body would become merely a container for the Devil Fruit's independent existence.
"Devil Fruits are genuinely dangerous artifacts," Hawkeye Mihawk observed coldly, his penetrating gaze sweeping across the gathered Warlords. "The gifts of fate invariably arrive with price tags already attached."
Most of the Seven Warlords of the Sea were Devil Fruit users—a ratio of five to two. Only Mihawk himself and Jinbe remained safe from this particular threat.
Learning a powerful individual's secret could be exciting initially. But afterward, once rational thought reasserted control, the brains of these extraordinary characters regained composure. The Devil Fruit—a time bomb they'd previously ignored—was actually bound intimately to the host body day and night, tied inextricably to their very existence.
It was extraordinarily difficult for Devil Fruit ability users to feel genuine happiness after comprehending this reality.