Try reading my new peoject, that is also PEAK.
You will find the book at the end of this chapter.
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The human trafficking mess started unexpectedly. But after that, the joint operation between the Black Cats and the Navy spread fast through the West Blue.
It wasn't just Navy ships anymore. The Black Cat's new fleet, which had grown significantly during the winter, was fighting for the first time. Surprisingly, the liberation mission was going well.
These were people who became pirates because they couldn't eat, only to be taken in by the Black Cats. Their training was short, but they had learned discipline. Now, they were helping with rescue missions and clearing land.
Maybe because many used to be farmers, they adapted to the manual labor faster than the new Marines. Even now, they were moving wood brought by Capone Bege's ship, taking it to a workspace in the port to cut and carry.
Some carried firewood. Others tied up wooden boards and loaded them onto Navy wagons. On the other side of the docks, huge piles of bricks wrapped in straw were being loaded onto carts heading to the castle town currently under reconstruction.
"Oh boy..." Kuzan sighed, leaning back against a crate. "Honestly, seeing pirates working hard is such a weird sight."
"Why the long face, Kuzan?" A voice called out, sharp and commanding. "An Admiral shouldn't look like that."
This was Mogwa Port, now a hub of daily life. It was the spot where the Navy Admiral and the Black Cat captain had once fought together to beat the Pirate Alliance. Kuzan was sitting there, complaining to the air, when Boa Hancock appeared. She was the Admiral of the Black Cat Pirates' First Fleet, dressed in her usual suit with an overskirt.
Kuzan looked up lazily. "Hancock-chan, you're back?"
"Stop adding 'chan' to my name," she scolded, though there was no real bite in her tone. "...Yes, the man who surrendered was right. We seized the spy ship and secured the hideouts nearby."
Hancock shook a small liquor bottle in her hand, the glass clinking softly. "Here. This is your favorite, right?"
Kuzan's eyebrows rose behind his sunglasses. "Oh my, Sherry wine? Where did you get that?"
"There was a huge stock of liquor in the base we attacked. I found it there," the Pirate Fleet Admiral said, handing it to the Navy Admiral. "You suggested this to our Captain before. You said it would suit him."
"...Yeah. My teacher liked this one."
Before opening it, Kuzan turned his hand into ice. The winter air had already cooled the bottle, but he chilled it further, frost creeping up the glass. He looked at the label with nostalgic eyes.
"He said it's the coolest drink in the world," Kuzan murmured.
"Haha, it certainly seems to suit the Captain."
Hancock sat down next to Kuzan, holding a bottle of water in her own hand. She took a sip before glancing sideways at him. "So?"
"Hmm?" Kuzan grunted, distracted by the wine.
"Why were you making such a gloomy face just now?"
"Oh my... you're asking that?"
"I can ask how our ally is feeling," she replied smoothly. "I am a Black Cat executive, after all."
"...Well, I guess that's true."
The bottle was cold enough now. Kuzan turned his hand back to normal, cracked the seal, and took a long sip.
"You know Kuro set Area A as the most important defense zone and protected it? And you know I went to ask the member nations there for aid?"
"I know," Hancock nodded. "That is why you came back, right? But it seems you brought back some bad news too."
"Sorry about that, Hancock-chan."
"I told you to stop calling me that!" She kicked Kuzan lightly with her knee while sitting, but Kuzan didn't change his expression. He just kept drinking.
"Hmph," she huffed, settling back down. "Judging by your face, you didn't get the aid."
"Yeah," Kuzan admitted. "...Did you expect that?"
"The Captain did. He said people who kept their wealth are very likely to be arrogant toward those who didn't." Hancock frowned, staring at her water bottle. She seemed to be recalling something similar from her own territory in the Calm Belt. "He wrote notes warning about this. He said some might try to raise food prices or hoard goods out of fear. He told us to be careful when managing and handing out supplies."
Kuzan stared at her. "Is that guy really a pirate...?"
"Even his executives question that sometimes. It is nothing new."
They wore similar suits, just different colors. Sitting side by side, watching the sunset, they might have looked like brother and sister to anyone watching from a distance.
"But..." Kuzan swirled the sherry in the bottle. "If it was just money, I would understand. I was ready to pay Berries for it. I even got the budget approved."
"Ah, so that is what you were working so hard on at your desk."
"Yeah. But... it was a no-go."
Hancock tilted her head. "They need a good reason to refuse a Navy request. What was it?"
Kuzan sighed deeply. "---The Celestial Dragons."
Hancock's frown deepened instantly, her expression twisting into pure disgust. "Them again."
It was a disrespectful thing to say, but Kuzan just nodded in agreement. "Every year at this time, a certain Celestial Dragon family... Saint Roswald, I think? The head of the house has a celebration."
"So, like a festival?"
"Yeah. ...And they are gathering food for that."
Hancock gripped her water bottle tighter. "...Don't tell me, from the West Blue too?"
"Luckily, no requests came to the West Blue specifically."
"Of course not," she spat. "Do they know how many people are starving...?"
The First Fleet was built for fighting, but they also helped people. Hancock knew the reality of the situation from her own eyes and the reports she managed.
"But if there was no request," she asked, confused, "why refuse us?"
"If they are late with their yearly tribute, the Celestial Dragons won't like them... or so they say."
"...For a reason like that, they ignore the starving people around them?" She looked incredulous. "Bandits will increase, and it will cost them more in the end."
"Yeah. I told them that too."
"And what did the rulers say?"
"...They said that is the Navy's job and not their concern."
"Fools," Hancock muttered. "Worse than bandits."
"Haha, getting called that by a pirate is the end of the line for them."
Leaving aside her past with the Kuja, the Black Cats now only stole from other pirates and the mafia.
Realizing this, Kuzan's face changed. The disgust he felt toward the government faded, replaced by a complicated, weary look that was hard to describe.
"Pirates are the ones understanding the situation and giving supplies and soldiers. The member nations we are supposed to protect won't lend food or workers because they only care about themselves. ...It makes me wonder what we are fighting for."
Kuzan drank more Sherry and sighed, staring blankly at the port.
As they were drinking, a group of men in suits bearing the three-clawed cat logo were carrying heavy barrels out of a ship and as the sun set, Navy ships and pirate ships were coming back to port together, using flag signals to coordinate their paths.
"Hey, Kuzan," Hancock said suddenly.
"Hmm?"
"I have been thinking since then."
"...About what?"
"You fool. You asked me before." The young pirate girl, who was looking more mature by the day, brushed her hair back from her face. "About what Justice is."
"...Ah."
Just before Kuzan left for the member nations, he had asked her that. He had asked it without thinking much, a fleeting thought, but now he remembered.
"Since you asked," she continued, "I have been thinking about it."
"...Oh. And?"
"I do not know."
"Hey!" Kuzan lightly tapped her shoulder, exasperated. "Why bring it up then?"
Hancock hit him back immediately. "Listen to me!"
She took a breath. "As you know, I was part of the Kuja."
"Yeah. One of the strongest pirate groups in the Grand Line. Even merchant ships with strong guards ran away when they saw your flag."
"Yes. ...Thinking back, it is a convenient word, but we were a tribe of warriors... or to use the Captain's word... yes, a culture. A warrior culture."
Hancock and her sisters had stopped using the bows they made after eating Devil Fruits. She had given her favorite bow to a guard who was best at using it. Still, perhaps out of habit, she put her hand on the leather strap on her chest, under her jacket. She looked sad for a moment.
"So, I didn't feel anything about looting. The strong take everything. Those who do well get the biggest share. ...It was normal."
"For a pirate," Kuzan noted.
"Exactly. ...No, sorry. I am not being sarcastic. That was the Justice of the Kuja." The girl who now led city reconstruction while looting pirates sighed again. "Since being captured, and since the Captain saved us, I have been surprised by the difference in culture."
"I am surprised and confused every day. ...Though, it feels strangely comfortable."
If Hancock was just a soldier, she wouldn't think this way. But she was given soldiers, a territory, and people to manage.
"Now, I believe we must protect the people. The Captain values production over force, but the common people who support production cannot be replaced. They are not things to be used up and thrown away."
Kuzan looked at the girl next to him as if looking at something bright. She was a pirate. But her will was far from that of a looter.
"What the people built—no, the people themselves are not light," she said firmly. "Skills, experience, and their feelings of belonging are very heavy, and so they have value. ...However."
Hancock's eyes hardened. She was still a pirate.
"I still think it is natural for the weak to have things taken from them. If you are not strong, you get robbed. To stop that, you must become strong. Even for people who have no time to train."
"...That's the theory of the strong."
"Yes. I think so too. But it is also the truth. Without power, you can do nothing. That is why... I was captured and almost sold. ...Because I was weak."
Kuzan opened his mouth to argue but couldn't find the words. As someone in the Navy where power is absolute, he knew her words held weight.
"I think the Kuja culture, where the strong take all, is correct. That is Kuja Justice. But I also see the Captain's Justice. He tries to use everyone's power—no... abilities and experience properly. He sees fighting strength as just one personality trait. And part of me thinks that is how it should be."
Hancock turned her empty water bottle upside down over a small flower growing through the cracks in the stone and shook the last drops onto it.
"I am also lost about what Justice I should follow within the 'Black Cats'." She put the empty bottle down and looked straight at him. "Just like you, Kuzan."
"...You think I'm lost?"
"The other day, you said you got lost on the way to ask us for advice, right? You fool. There is no way you would get lost in a place like that."
Kuzan looked awkward. He tipped his bottle, but he didn't drink. He just wet his lips, stalling.
"You were probably wondering if you should involve us 'Black Cats' in the slave problem," she pressed. "Or if the Navy—or you alone—should solve it. You hesitated, and that is when I called out to you. Because of Amisu and the others... you fool."
"How many times are you going to call me a fool..."
"I will say it as many times as I want while you worry about silly things. But, including that—" She paused, her voice softening. "I will never laugh at your hesitation."
Hancock looked straight at Kuzan—Admiral Aokiji—who looked a bit guilty. Her eyes were young but sharp.
"I only know Pirate Justice, whether it is Kuja or Black Cat. So I do not know how your worries look from the view of Navy Justice." Deep down, she thought their boss Kuro might understand, but she continued. "But that hesitation comes from you searching for your Justice—the pride you should keep in your heart, right? That is not something for others to laugh at or dirty."
"..."
Kuzan stopped speaking and stared at his bottle. About three minutes passed in silence.
Finally, the Admiral spoke. "Wait, have you been trying to cheer me up this whole time?"
"...You fool," she muttered, looking away. "Do not say it out loud."
Hancock stood up and dusted the sand off her pants and skirt. She looked down at Kuzan. Some might find it rude, but Kuzan just smiled a troubled smile.
"You were fine for a while after the Captain left, but you haven't looked well lately."
"Sorry. Did I make you worry?"
"If you feel sorry, then pull yourself together. The Captain's friend should not have such a gloomy face."
"When nothing goes right, you end up making a face like this."
"Soldiers follow a commander who can enjoy even a bad situation," she lectured, pointing toward the construction site. "Look—"
"Horohorohoro! You've got good taste!" a high-pitched voice echoed from the work area.
"Fufufufu! I am honored you think so!" came a deep, distinct laugh in response.
"I'm counting on you for the house! We can't use fire, but with walls this thick, we can survive the cold!"
"If you handle the window glass, I can mass-produce these easily!"
"Horohorohoro! Keep it up!"
"Be like them," Hancock said.
Kuzan sweat-dropped. "Is it okay for prisoners who just surrendered to be like that?"
"If they are useful, it is fine. They are actually helping."
"...Yeah, well, I guess so."
"Horohorohorohoro!!!!!"
"Fuhahahahahaha!!!!!"
"Those guys are really enjoying life..." Kuzan muttered, shaking his head.
(End Of Chapter)
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Man... that was good.
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