Aside from a few unofficial visits, this was effectively the first time since the nation’s founding that a "man" had been invited into Kuja Castle on Amazon Lily.
And not just any man, either, but one of the most important figures tied to the "World Government," the very power the women of Amazon Lily considered the core of the outside world. A living god of the world. A Celestial Dragon.
Thanks to Gloriosa’s quick thinking, the whole affair had ended with no worse humiliation than allowing a "man" onto the island. For Amazon Lily’s people, that might actually have been the least terrible outcome possible.
Whatever the circumstances, one of the Seven Warlords, who was ultimately nothing more than a state-sponsored pirate that could be replaced at any time if the World Government wished it, had recklessly attacked both a Marine Admiral and a Celestial Dragon.
From Amazon Lily’s perspective, they could protest that the World Government had violated the treaty first. But by the World Government’s standards, there was neither obligation nor value in respecting the insolent national laws of a mere non-member state, a place whose entire country was, for all practical purposes, just a pirate crew with local rules.
That was all Amazon Lily was worth to the World Government. Nice to have, perhaps, but hardly indispensable.
If an overexcited hunting dog forgot its place and bit its master, then no matter how regrettable it was to throw away the effort spent raising it, putting it down was only proper.
Gloriosa prayed that the Celestial Dragon, a creature of pure whim, would not suddenly change his tune now.
She did know the individual called Solomon, but the only side of him she had ever seen was that of the Mage King.
"How is the Empress, Belladonna?"
"Elder Nyon."
Gloriosa entered the room where Hancock lay, her mind broken by trauma. At that moment, Belladonna, Amazon Lily’s doctor, was placing a fresh cold cloth on Hancock’s forehead. Gloriosa asked after Hancock’s condition.
"Not good. Honestly, I may be called a doctor, but I’m not a proper physician. I only know a few folk remedies. But I’m certain of this: the Snake Queen is gripped by extreme fear. It makes me wonder what in the world happened between her and the man invited into Kuja Castle for someone as strong as her to end up like this."
"Do you happen to know anything about that man, Elder Nyon?"
Gloriosa brushed aside Belladonna’s question with a vague answer.
There was no need to spread information that would only stir needless terror across Amazon Lily.
After leaving Hancock’s room, Gloriosa had to face two others.
They were Boa Hancock’s blood sisters.
Boa Sandersonia and Boa Marigold.
Gloriosa intended to conceal as much unnecessary information about the outside world as possible, but Hancock’s own sisters needed to know what was happening.
"Urgh... retch."
"I-is what I heard really true? The first man ever invited into Kuja Castle... and of all people, he’s one of the gods at the center of the world...?"
Not as badly as Hancock, but they too showed similar signs of trauma and could barely keep themselves upright.
Hyperventilating, each leaned against a wall or pillar and struggled to steady herself. Only after a long while were they able to listen to Gloriosa’s explanation again.
"I hated it too. But there was no other way. Better to suffer the humiliation of breaking an ancient tradition than to let Amazon Lily be destroyed."
Misery. Humiliation. And resentment spread through Kuja Castle.
"Fine, Elder Nyon. I can understand that much somehow. Like you said, this is better than letting Amazon Lily be trampled by the armies of the outer seas. But what do we do now? He’s a Celestial Dragon. You know how Celestial Dragons see people like us, those from the so-called lower world. Even if they seem reasonable on the surface, they can change their attitude at any moment. They aren’t people you can trust. The only ones they keep faith with are other gods equal to themselves."
At Sandersonia’s words, Gloriosa could think of nothing to say in rebuttal. No, in truth, she herself harbored a hatred close to loathing toward Celestial Dragons, so she was more inclined to agree.
"There’s no point in empty talk. One way or another, we need to buy time until Hancock comes to her senses. Only when she wakes can we meet their demand, and only then will that Celestial Dragon known as the Mage King leave the island of his own accord."
"There’s one thing I want to ask, Elder Nyon. Just how strong is that man who calls himself the Mage King, for our sister to end up like this?"
Gloriosa let out a sigh of resignation.
"Hancock collapsed for another reason... but I saw this much with my own eyes. The Pirate King, enraged because his companion had been hurt, could do nothing against his intervention and had no choice but to withdraw quietly. Is that explanation enough?"
Like Hancock, her two sisters were not especially knowledgeable about the world’s common sense, but even they knew the legend of the Pirate King of the outer seas.
A strength worthy of even such a legend’s "respect."
If circumstances had been better, these women, who revered the law of the strong, would naturally have shown proper respect to such power.
Gloriosa led the Gorgon sisters, excluding Hancock, toward the reception room where Solomon was temporarily staying.
Sandersonia and Marigold barely suppressed the fear amplified by the story of the Pirate King as they stepped into the room with Gloriosa.
There, beside a trembling handmaid, sat a gray-haired man quietly lifting a teacup.
Solomon was merely thinking, Amazon Lily’s tea has an unusual taste... maybe I should buy some before I leave, a remarkably ordinary impression. But to Gloriosa and the others of Amazon Lily, it looked like nothing less than the ease of a superior being who knew he could crush people like them by force whenever he wished.
After the clash on the shore had ended and he had been invited into the imperial palace of Kuja Castle, Solomon had relaxed again and slipped back into his usual timid mode, smiling warmly.
"A whole day has already passed. Mm. The accommodations weren’t bad, Gloriosa. The tea has a unique flavor. Is it a specialty of Amazon Lily?"
"The Marine Admiral is still lying petrified on the beach, and yet you seem remarkably calm. You may have been invited here as a guest, but you are still in the heart of enemy territory. What would you have done if we had poisoned the tea?"
"Kizaru will be fine. I already took measures. I could force the petrification to break, but if I used such a rough method, there would be aftereffects. I’d prefer the one who cast it to release it herself. I’ve been saying the same thing since yesterday, but has the Empress still not awakened?"
Gloriosa had spoken threateningly to probe Solomon’s intentions, but Solomon showed no agitation at all. His calmness, as if he could see straight through the future, felt not merely strange but chilling to Gloriosa and the two sisters.
"I think waiting a full day counts as being patient. So may I make a suggestion? I’m fairly skilled in medicine. I think I could help the Empress regain her senses. What do you say?"
Solomon made the offer out of genuine concern for Hancock’s suffering, but to Gloriosa and the others, it was utterly unacceptable.
As if they would ever entrust Hancock to the very man responsible for reducing her to this state...!
Chicken Solomon, who had wanted to show off his impressive doctor skills, wilted at their firm refusal, seeing him as an evil Celestial Dragon whose clutches Hancock had to be protected from.
But though dejected, Solomon was beginning to feel pressed for time. He had waited long enough. If this dragged on any further, then with news of the Marine Admiral cut off, Marine Headquarters would surely dispatch reinforcements in haste. If that happened, quietly smoothing things over at Solomon’s level would become impossible.
So Solomon explained this point clearly to Gloriosa, who was obviously trying to avoid the issue and stall for time.
Having grasped the position of the powers at the center through Solomon’s explanation, Gloriosa found herself unable to do anything. There was no immediate way to restore Hancock to normal.
Then suddenly, a tingling surge of Conqueror’s Haki swept through the imperial palace.
The massive torrent of Conqueror’s Haki erupted without warning, and even Solomon could not avoid it.
Feeling the qualities of a king for the first time in a very long while, Solomon shivered.
On the Island of Women, there was only one person capable of unleashing such intense Conqueror’s Haki.
The Pirate Empress herself.
"...Kh."
Hancock entered the reception room while forcefully radiating Conqueror’s Haki, and no matter how one looked at her, she was far from well.
The release of Conqueror’s Haki was Boa Hancock’s resolve, and also her defense mechanism.
Faced with a Celestial Dragon, the source of her trauma, the only way she could maintain her sanity was by endlessly heightening her mind through the violent discharge of Conqueror’s Haki.
Her trauma toward Celestial Dragons ran that deep.
Hancock staggered forward in a pitiful stumble.
Still pouring out Conqueror’s Haki.
Pushing herself so hard that she coughed up blood, as if the moment the candle flame of that Haki went out, she would no longer be able to keep hold of her reason.
And so, only by barely standing as the ruler of Amazon Lily, Hancock managed to face Solomon. With the help of Conqueror’s Haki, she succeeded in meeting his gaze head-on.
Breathing raggedly.
Hancock asked,
"What do you want?"
"Who knows."
Solomon had not meant to do it on purpose, but by delaying his answer, he made Hancock’s insides burn black with anxiety.
As a result, the pressure of the Conqueror’s Haki bearing down on Solomon grew even fiercer.
To Solomon, it gave the pitiable impression of a hedgehog desperately raising its spines against a natural predator.
"Say it! You bastard! You Celestial Dragons filled my sisters’ and my childhood with nightmares, and now one of you shamelessly dares to step onto the soil of my homeland... I can’t endure it! Tell me what you want and get out before I kill you! I can turn you into stone right here and now whenever I please!"
Haki was an energy that could be exhausted.
With that hatred-filled shout, the defensive mechanism of Conqueror’s Haki that had been keeping Hancock’s mind intact died away all at once.
"Ah, ahh... ahh... I-I’m sorry! H-how could trash like me dare be so rude to a god! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Please, at least spare my younger sisters! Let it end with me!"
Having completely spent the Conqueror’s Haki within her, Hancock’s mental state once again deteriorated beyond control.
The proud and dignified Snake Queen Hancock, whose pride usually seemed to reach the heavens, was nowhere to be seen. Instead, she screamed, threw herself flat against the ground, and pitifully begged for mercy.
If not for the burst of Conqueror’s Haki knocking out everyone in the imperial palace except Gloriosa, the sisters, and Solomon, Hancock’s disgraceful collapse would have spread through Amazon Lily as rumor. And then the horrifying childhood past tied to the Celestial Dragons, the secret the Gorgon sisters had desperately wanted to hide, would have been dragged into the open.
And if that happened, the people of Amazon Lily, who followed the law of the strong, would mercilessly cast Hancock down and choose a new queen.
That was Amazon Lily’s law and custom.
But for the moment, this was obviously no situation where Amazon Lily’s laws or Hancock’s dignity could come first.
Looking at Hancock crawling miserably on the floor, Solomon could not bring himself to speak.
Just what...
In his heart, Solomon apologized to Kizaru.
It seemed the man would have to remain petrified a little longer.
Then it happened.
A voice came from the heavens.
[Revelation B].
A skill possessed by Solomon when summoned as a Servant, and the heaven-granted miracle King Solomon had been permitted even in life.
The revelation of the great father who heard the voice of God for the sake of mankind and brought the Age of Gods to an end reached him across time, space, and dimensions.
[O king of wisdom who wishes to become human. Why do you turn away from her?]
"Ah."
[In my stead, comfort that pitiful woman.]
Though he was a being acting in place of Solomon’s life...
The life he had lived as Solomon had never been false.
The king who wished to become human cast aside the shell of the false god called a Celestial Dragon and sincerely wished to become human.
Carefully, and slowly.
With all his heart.
He wrapped his arms around the sobbing Hancock.
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