"Huff... huff... Ha... Hathaway?"
Kuina gripped the exaggerated oar, desperately rowing with arms that had long gone numb. She gasped for air, calling out to Hathaway, who was sipping tea and reading a newspaper nearby.
"What is it?" Hathaway put down her teacup and lifted her eyelids.
"I... I just remembered, the golden rose can be electrically powered, right?"
"Not just electricity, but other special energies too. This ship was custom-made by Her Majesty with the world's best shipwright."
Hathaway stopped reading her newspaper and explained to Kuina, "The golden rose can convert the ocean's tides and sunlight into energy. As long as it doesn't constantly encounter extreme weather, this ship can sail indefinitely..."
"Wait... that's not... what I wanted to know!" Kuina threw down the giant oar, her voice breaking. "What I wanted... to know is, if that's the case... then why have you been making me row with an oar ever since we entered the Calm Belt?"
Hathaway calmly picked up her teacup, took a sip, and returned her gaze to the newspaper, saying indifferently, "Wasn't that your own request?"
"When did I ever request that?" Kuina's face was full of black lines.
"In the training room three days ago, didn't you say that lifting weights was getting a bit boring and you wanted to try something different?"
Kuina's mind slowly recalled the training room three days ago. Back then, she had been lifting weights all day to train her arm strength, and it had indeed become a bit boring over time.
She had heard Kuzan say that when he was young, he used his fists to smash abandoned warships. Wasn't that much cooler than lifting weights?
So she had casually mentioned it to Hathaway... and then she had been rowing a boat for three days, sleeping only four hours a day?
"Ah, but now that you mention it, the efficiency is indeed too low. We need to speed up. You should get some good rest for the remaining time."
Before Kuina could complain, Hathaway preempted her, using a series of smooth moves that successfully left Kuina's words stuck in her throat, neither up nor down.
Finally, she could only let out a helpless sigh: "Alright then, I'll go take a bath first."
"Hey, change into some clean clothes," Hathaway casually reminded her.
Kuina gave her a suspicious look. Hathaway would say such polite things to her?
...Thirty minutes later.
After showering, Kuina came to the deck and silently looked at Amazon Lily, which was now close at hand.
Hathaway hung up the den den mushi: "Her Majesty is already on her way and is expected to arrive in about twenty minutes. We'll disembark first."
Kuina didn't want to speak. She had originally thought Nero was a pit, and Hathaway was mature and steady, but it turned out they were birds of a feather.
She somewhat suspected that both of them amused themselves by toying with her when they were bored, but she had no evidence, and the training was indeed very useful... Inside the Amazon Lily Royal Palace.
The bright sunlight streamed in, but it couldn't dispel the heavy atmosphere in the room.
Boa Hancock sat on the throne, a giant python behind her.
"Grandma Nyon, you said that Nero Claudius, that woman, is coming to Kuja?"
Hancock's heart was restless, her fingers constantly tapping the armrest, unconsciously pressing harder and harder.
The old woman called Grandma Nyon, whose real name was Gloriosa, was also a former empress of Kuja.
Her face was full of worry, and she stamped her snake staff: "Yes, she just announced her dislike for Fishmen, and now she's coming to Kuja. It can only be for that matter."
Hancock bit the tip of her thumb: "Is her target truly this concubine? Does that mean that matter has also been exposed?"
"Snake Princess, take your sisters and hide for a while. This old woman will personally deal with Nero. It's not yet certain that Nero is coming for that matter."
Looking at the panicked Hancock, Gloriosa steeled her heart and prepared for sacrifice, planning to stay behind and deal with Nero herself.
"You? How can a good-for-nothing like you be worthy?" Hancock lifted her head, looking at her disdainfully with her chest.
"Snake Princess! Now is not the time for your willfulness! Only with you alive will Kuja have a better future!"
Gloriosa's eyes widened in anger, speaking with a tone of disappointment, and then in the next second, she was kicked away by Hancock.
Hancock retracted her foot and immediately reverted to looking at people with her chest: "Haven't you recognized reality yet? If this concubine only left an old woman like you in Kuja, it would truly enrage Nero."
The remaining two people in the room, Sandersonia and Marigold, who were also Hancock's sisters, frowned even deeper at her words, both looking at Hancock with worry.
Hancock's expression, while she looked up at the sky, became incredibly complex in a place no one could see.
"Moreover, Nero Claudius is no longer a pirate, but a Celestial Dragon..."
When she straightened her body, Hancock had regained her composure: "No one understands the despicable shamelessness and wickedness of those guys better than this concubine."
The room suddenly fell silent again. Everyone understood that this was an unsolvable problem.
Nero's objective could only be the three Hancock sisters; there was no other possibility. Could she really be coming for tourism and sightseeing?
In their view, for Nero to become a Celestial Dragon, she must have had some unspeakable dealings with the World Government.
Otherwise, how could Nero's status change from a mere pirate to a Celestial Dragon, a World Noble?
"Her expressing dislike for Fishmen is because of your savior, Tiger. Her coming to Amazon Lily is also specifically to capture you three sisters who escaped from Holy Land Mary Geoise."
Gloriosa was also enlightened by Hancock's words, her eyes showing despair: "This... this must also be part of Nero's deal with the World Government to become a Celestial Dragon, right?"
Hancock sat back on the throne, her wrist resting on her forehead as she closed her eyes.
What Gloriosa said was exactly what she was thinking. To this day, she and her two sisters still bore the humiliating mark on their backs.
"Report, Lady Snake Princess!"
The messenger outside knocked on the door.
"Speak!" Hancock didn't let anyone in, nor did she open her eyes.
"The golden rose has arrived, estimated to disembark in about ten minutes!"
Haoshoku Haki erupted. The confusion and fear in Hancock's eyes vanished, replaced only by the unwavering determination of a desperate gamble.
"..."
"..."
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