The charm power born from the Love-Love Fruit normally only causes petrification. It does not produce separate physical force unless it is backed by Armament Haki.
Just the same, Kizaru had blocked Hancock’s attack with Armament Haki of his own, and as always, his Logia body took no meaningful damage from a physical strike.
The problem was that Hancock had never been aiming for Kizaru in the first place.
Crack.Craack.
The warship’s hull, struck head-on by the rain of Love-Love Fruit arrows, turned to stone. Then the physical force carried by Armament Haki multiplied the destruction several times over and shattered it apart.
It did not stop there. The fire caused by the ship’s destruction spread in an instant to the stockpiled gunpowder among the cargo, setting off a chain of explosions.
A catastrophic disaster, all because of one moment of carelessness from Kizaru.
Things had spiraled completely out of control.
That warship, which exploded on the sea’s surface and was reduced to ashes, carried not only the Marine soldiers under Headquarters who had come with Kizaru, but also enormous supplies including the gunpowder meant to coax and placate the Kuja Pirates... and Solomon.
The Marines were veteran subordinates, elites who could survive even an explosion like that.
The supplies were a loss, but they were munitions close to expiration anyway, things that would have been discarded soon enough.
But Solomon?
Even if he had inserted himself out of nowhere, he was still a Celestial Dragon.
That fact alone meant Kizaru should have thrown every other concern aside and focused all his attention on him...
And yet it was hard to imagine that a Celestial Dragon like Solomon, who had not looked sturdy in the slightest, could have survived unharmed atop the thoroughly destroyed wreckage of the warship.
A major incident had erupted.
A completely insane disaster that would never be settled with a mere report: a Celestial Dragon had died despite being personally escorted by a Marine Admiral, staining the credibility of Marine Headquarters itself.
Even Akainu, strict as he was, would have suffered a full mental collapse over an incident on this scale. The death of a Celestial Dragon was not something Kizaru, who usually drifted through life with the mindset of a corporate drone, could easily endure with his soft disposition.
The instant he grasped what had happened, Kizaru dropped to his knees in shock, staring blankly and stammering. At the sight of the enemy suddenly crumbling like that, Hancock clenched a triumphant fist in her heart. She had succeeded in striking where he least expected.
On top of that, the hateful presence unique to a Celestial Dragon, which she had sensed with Observation Haki, had vanished together with the sunken warship. Two birds with one stone.
Given Amazon Lily’s nature, there were effectively no witnesses. Even if Kizaru tried to pin the full blame for the Celestial Dragon’s death on Hancock, it had happened in the middle of their clash, making it difficult to blame only her attack. The situation was far too tangled for that.
Hancock had not improvised this through some cold supercomputer-like calculation, but her single strike had miraculously reversed a battle that had been overwhelmingly against her.
"You let your guard down, strongest force of the central powers!"
Haki is deeply affected by one’s mental state.
Shaken by the shocking sight, Kizaru’s Armament Haki and Observation Haki faltered for a moment. Hancock did not miss that opening. She swiftly fired [Mero Mero Mellow], and Kizaru was petrified.
"Waaah! The Snake Queen defeated the central powers’ strongest force!"
The warrior women of Amazon Lily poured out fervent praise for the pride of the Kuja Pirates and the ruler of Amazon Lily, who had fought on without giving up despite her many wounds and had finally seized victory.
Even Hancock herself was drunk on triumph, striking her signature victory pose with her chin tilted so high it was almost absurdly arrogant.
Only Gloriosa sensed that something was wrong.
"Snake Queen! Snake Queen, it’s not over yet!"
"Hmph! Old woman! No matter how much you deny it, this beautiful me has defeated even a Marine Admiral... wait."
There had been no warning at all.
Though elated by victory, Boa Hancock’s Observation Haki was still active.
She could not see the future, but even so, Hancock’s Observation Haki ranked among the finest on all the seas.
And yet despite reaching such a high level, she had failed to sense the arrival of this new figure at all.
Only after Hancock caught sight of the presence with her own eyes did her Observation Haki properly react again, and what it told her sent a violent shock through her.
A dizzying sensation.
Her breath caught in her throat. Nausea surged up.
As if she had been dragged back to that horrible time in childhood she never wanted to remember.
The moment Boa Hancock sensed the presence unique to a Celestial Dragon that Solomon inevitably carried, both her body and mind tore down every defense mechanism she had built, overwhelmed by rising trauma.
Like the brutal hands that had toyed with her and her sisters as if they were playthings.
Like the searing pain of that day, when a shameful and horrific brand had been burned into her back.
The shadows of the past stirred up by Solomon’s mere existence soon dragged Hancock’s body and soul down into darkness.
"Snake Queen! Snake Queen, get a hold of yourself!"
As Hancock staggered, then sank to the ground and wiped away tears with trembling hands, Gloriosa rushed over and wrapped her in her arms.
Gloriosa understood exactly what this was.
It was trauma. Back when Hancock and her sisters had first escaped from the grip of the Celestial Dragons as children, they would suffer attacks like this from hearing even the words "Celestial Dragon."
And Gloriosa had clearly seen the identity of the young man who was unmistakably one of them.
Shock rose one after another in her widened, aged eyes.
"Impossible... W-why is the Mage King with a Marine Admiral...? W-why does he look exactly the same as he did back then, decades ago...? Is he really some kind of mage?!"
Solomon had merely been taking a nap behind a casually deployed barrier when disaster struck. Hit out of nowhere, he had used teleportation to make an emergency escape, and by pure chance, he landed beside the petrified Kizaru.
Because of the timing and the circumstances, Solomon somehow ended up giving off the exact aura of a demon king appearing after the mid-boss had been defeated, as if the real final boss had been somewhere else all along.
Faced with this inexplicably hostile atmosphere, Solomon blinked in confusion for a moment. But the instant he noticed Kizaru petrified at his feet, he showed the true face of Solomon the mage.
"Answer me, Mage King! Even if I’m old now, don’t tell me you’ve forgotten me!"
"...I see. You are in my memory. Gloriosa. After Rocks fell, you wandered without purpose for a long time. So you finally returned to your homeland."
So he had remembered after all. Shameless bastard. Gloriosa was just as afraid as ever. The old memories of God Valley made her knees go weak.
Before a true monster like the Mage King, even a mere Marine Admiral was hardly the real problem.
Right now. If I do not do something somehow. Then Amazon Lily’s destruction is all but certain.
Panicked, Gloriosa first hurried to stop the other warriors from rashly pointing their weapons at him.
"Grandma, he doesn’t even look that strong, so why are you acting like this?!"
One inexperienced warrior tilted her head as she looked at the extremely tense Gloriosa.
"Listen carefully from this moment on. In place of the current Empress, whose mind is not sound, I, a former former Empress of Amazon Lily, command you. Take all the people of the kingdom and flee to the outer seas. That is the only way even one of you might survive."
"I... don’t really understand what you mean..."
"Don’t even try to understand. You cannot survive against that man through some half-baked trickery."
Hurry! Evacuate everyone at once!
"I do not wish to harm you."
"Don’t lie. You true ‘god.’"
Solomon felt slightly irritated.
He had deliberately stayed quietly inside the warship to avoid friction, and yet it was Hancock and the Kuja Pirates who had attacked first and dragged him out.
And now some extra woman pirate he had passed by in the distant past had grown into an old crone and was treating him like some incomprehensible monster while casually calling him a "god"...
Was there any reason for him not to be annoyed?
The one stroke of luck for Gloriosa was this:
Solomon was more concerned about Kizaru’s incapacitated state than about his own irritation.
If anything, Solomon wanted this matter resolved peacefully through conversation even more than Gloriosa did.
"I dislike speaking lies. If you undo Kizaru’s petrification, I will smooth over today’s incident on my end. What do you say, Gloriosa?"
I hope you make the wise choice.
I am not especially fond of conflict. Hard as that may be for someone who once stood at God Valley to believe.
"And why should I believe that?"
"Then don’t."
Then die.
Solomon had no interest in dragging this into a tedious, pretentious exchange, so he delivered a sharp stimulant straight into Gloriosa’s wavering state of mind before paranoia could take root.
"Fine. I accept the deal. But the one who cast the petrification is our Snake Queen. Right now, her condition is poor, so it will be difficult for her to undo it immediately. Wait. I will somehow persuade Hancock."
"...Is the current Warlord Boa Hancock suffering from some illness? She’s trembling so badly it looks like she might stop breathing at any moment."
"It’s all because of your kind. You disgusting Celestial Dragons."
Solomon did not hear Gloriosa’s mutter clearly.
Still, he could easily tell that the gaze she fixed on him carried no ordinary resentment.
If Solomon had retained a proper memory of One Piece, he would have understood at once how this situation had come about and responded with the greatest effect through the smallest action. Unfortunately, after living for so many years, almost nothing remained in his fading memories of Boa Hancock’s story.
"We have no idea when she’ll come back to her senses. Are we just supposed to stand here and wait?"
"...Tch. It can’t be helped."
As acting Empress, Gloriosa rescinded the evacuation order she had just given. She had no choice.
"Follow me."
With the heart of a gambler, Gloriosa supported Hancock and granted only Solomon special permission to enter the kingdom as an official "guest."
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